Recycled News

April 28, 2006 US war costs 'could hit $811bn. So says BBC and others.

July 23, 2005 "BushCo doesn't get any flack from anyone over the cost of his War of Terror on AfghanIraq, which stands at $300+ billion, and predicted additional costs of $450 billion over the coming decade."

No public or political fuss over the cost a year ago when these figures were out there.

The "left" leaders and shakers have been too busy making headlines with t-shirts, nappyhappy hairdos, Charlie Restraining-Order Sheen, and a fried brain has-been Young musician.

Sigh ... Red Rover Red Rover...

Dummy Dennis

Kucinich, pandering to the lowly classes, has a message regarding H. R. 2070, his proposal to help ease the high cost of gassing up for us little folks. If you trot on over and check his link to Thomas.loc.gov you find a dozen other "related bills" with similar proposals, some by Republicans. A few believe excess oil profits should help fund energy assistance to the poor – heating and a.c. etc.

I'd rather outlaw offshoring and force a decent wage on folks to cover their own cost of living. I'd rather fine and/or confiscate from slum landlords to upgrade housing to more energy efficient habitats. I'd rather ban the 16-year-old guppies who must drive a car to Central High because they're too special to ride a bus. I'd rather invest in affordable public transit for commuters but lets watch how those mass transit funds are played around with. Or how 'bout this Dennis: You introduce a bill where no one pays income taxes at all on yearly income below $75,000? The savings would gas up all the Dodge trucks in my town for a few weeks. Earl and Bubba, now that they're drawing disability on a bad back, always have a new pick-up; for fishing and hunting, but in their words "the old lady works and pays taxes." I guess that means they're entitled.

Having lived in places where driving was banned on certain days why not propose that? Sure folks will have to plan and organize their motoring but they'll adapt. One such method was using the last or first number of the license plates to drive on certain week days (weekends were for all). The fines were so heavy few would risk driving on their non-drive days. And, being a politician you'll like this part, the fines brought in much needed REVENUE which the cities could use in other programs. It is astonishing what folks can do when they have to – but Americans feel they don't have to. And with pols like Dennis willing to rob oil thugs to give to the poorer hoods – why should Americans have to.

I wouldn't mind seeing oil executives punished at all Dennis, but obviously you have not been paying attention in DC. If oil companies are taxed on excess profits they will 1) Recoup the monies elsewhere through other means, likely through the House and Senate passing a lavish "incentive" package for them of some sort. 2) Drop production levels in which case prices rise even more (supply/demand). 3) Oil, and companies thereof, will be first in line for those "grants" which their windfalls fund.

Where are the political voices telling us to conserve? I have cut my energy consumption by ½ since 2001. Imagine if everyone could and would. Kucinich & friends do no more than encourage the peasants that, especially if someone else pays for it, it's okay to keep wasting resources; keep consuming like there's no tomorow. An unusual way to help big oil. You're a real political pro Dennis.

Pass the Ammo

There are folks who for months have found glee in reciting Bush's plummeting poll numbers and more recently applaud the fact that individual States are now calling for impeachment proceedings – but, I find all this good "bad news and new lows for Bush" a bit concerning.

Impeachment changes nothing but the name and face of the High Command Liar, and polls are only an invention of the elite to manufacture public opinion, not gauge it.

The rulers anticipate the masses reaction; hell they manufacture Joe Blow's reaction and he follows, on cue. The Bush fall from popular grace is a perfect example of how manipulated Joe can be. High prices at the pump is all it takes for most of Bush's best friends among the peasantry to abandon him. As more "Bush lied" spreads across mass mentality even the fanatic racist "kill 'em all" backers go silent and follow the herd; yep, all Bush's fault. Just git rid of Bush and clean up his world 'o mess and everything will be okie-dokey.

And too, there is always the fact that millions would live and die believing all the misery and horror is unavoidable because of that old standby – religion. God told us He would end times very unpleasantly for most of us, and if He uses the elite controlled nukes to do it – so be it Bubba, praise the lord and pass the ammo.

As long as Bush retained his place in the cockles of Joe Blow's heart, as long as Bush peacocked and strutted as the admired leader of the free world – we the peons were semi-safe from the global elite's perverse greed and divine-sized egos.

Recall 3 to 4 years ago the high profile neocon names around Bush were the main targets for anti-Bush bloggers. Those names (Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith, Bolton, Ledeen, Fleischer, Zakheim, etc.) began dropping off the bashing radar the same time (May '05) that we the people, the media, and congress were empowered to publicly and patriotically jump on GW himself. After that long "unpatriotic" hush protecting Dubya was removed, anyone and everyone sang and tap danced the "truth." Some of it may be choreographed.

In a military tribunal the above guy-cabal would easily be acquitted of any criminal charges. The "inner circle" is, or has, quietly and conveniently put sufficient desk space between themselves and the madman Dubya.

Cheney is no longer written up in the left blogosphere as the man running the country. And Rove, "Bush's brain," relieved himself of his domestic policy portfolio on April 19, 2006, to concentrate on '06 election strategy (sure, wink wink). Bush the twisted and deficient manboy has deservedly been left naked and hanging in the wind (and apparently even peed on by Rove).

It is possible, even likely, that if Bush goes down as the insane dupe of an evil neocon cabal then the blame for a world of atrocity will be placed at his cloven hoof alone. Nuclear holocaust, population reduction by mass murder, WWIII … written in history as instigated by GW and his group of bad boys whose names will escape us, or number a small group of characters with 3 or 4 upfront doers (AIPAC chiefs, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc). We have been here, done that before (1930 to '45).

The wetwork clean-up necessitated by the fall guy Bush would take decades and alter global peonage dynamics, but particularly the "American way of life." Of course all cleaning would be under the direction and guidance of the rescuing good-guy elites, pretending they are as shocked and awed as the rest of us, as they sit in their global villas sorting out the pie pieces, taking on the responsibility of assuring the mangled masses that life will eventually return to tolerable. They will praise our sacrifices and talk of appreciating our efforts.

Fascism will become a warm fuzzy, marketed as corporate philanthropy, necessitated by the BushCo Fiasco. Talking heads will gently explain to us how there is no other way out of the situation we find ourselves in. Government control will be packaged as a reluctant but essential activity in these exceptional times of grief and chaos.

Our grandchildren will not remember the world any other way.

As stated here at KAB, the ruling elite have a plan and I see nothing to contradict the idea they are not on target. We the people are not creating obstacles for anyone. You can sign petitions, camp out in Crawford, vote Democrat, send notes to thank a couple of "leftwinger" pols – but you are not an obstacle. The same historical clans are controlling the show. As long as we continue to give blood and money, they will spend it.

Retired Generals

Attack of the Generals, flap flap flap, six, count 'em, six retired generals to date are asking for the head of Donnie Rumsfeld. In this Nation article General Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf was credited as having "conquered Iraq almost single-handedly in 1991." Huh? We're still waging war on a nation we conquered and carcassed 12 years previously? Maybe Norman received more credit than deserved.

NATION: "The generals might not have broken tradition and silence if there had been a civilian political party with the onions to attack Rumsfeld. Instead, all that could be heard from the bunch of tapioca-eaters in Congress, collectively known as the Democrats, was the murmur of demurral. Make an exception for Representative John Murtha and Senator Russ Feingold, who don't lack onions but do lack followers. Somebody had to do something, and soldiers are doers. So this time, at least, forgive the generals. Let's hope the Democrats can give us a plausible imitation of impassioned, fighting politicians. Then the generals can go back to their war games."

Onions? Tapioca? Murtha and Feingold have onions? Maybe they lack followers because even Joe Stupid is smart enough to know a tossed salad when he sees one. I seldom read The Nation anymore but did they always have morons writing like this?

At least one of these retired generals, John Batiste, admits waiting until retirement to publicly speak out. Wouldn't wanna lose any benefits. Batiste is not against war. He's just against Rummy running it. As he said to Lehrer "I'm not indicting the president one bit. I'm just saying that I came back from Germany to my country and I found that the people were not mobilized, not sacrificing for this incredible effort. If it's the country's main effort, let's all get behind it."

The generals just want we the people to "get behind it." More sacrifice. Do more than trash-up the bumper with decals and stickers. Mobilize : to assemble and make ready for war duty.

They want to see a WWII type sacrifice – enlist now, put Rosie Riveter to work, ration supplies, give all for the Homeland effort. The generals want a Secretary of Defense the public will get behind since Donald hasn't whipped the public up for more gung-ho hooya militarism. Get your khaki in gear. "Let's all get behind it."

The way the "left" yaks it up you'd think these generals want to join hands, sing harmony and give the world a soft drink. Go ahead. Fire Rumsfeld. Give the generals a Defense Mobilizer, one more suited to this incredible effort.

Al-Qaida Chief

Latest bin Laden tape from Al-Jazeercia television has another message from Chief Osama bin Dead-Longtime.

Chief Osama says the West is supporting what he calls a : "Zionist crusader war against Muslims."

You see? Even Ol'samma is telling we the people it's that insane gang of Anglo Christo-Zionist Westerners making war on the world. (Known officially in the US as that crazy BushCo neocon cabal.)

How many Western Zionists and/or supporters can you name and prove are members of a Zionist crusade against Muslims? Hurry – we need to commence the purge of these crazy crusaders.

Chief Osama is doing the West another favor – giving Christians and Jews overall a pass and placing blame on Zionista crusaders. Ain't that mighty white of him.

Twenty

Big thank you to 'amj'


(Robert Cray) Video

When you're used up, where do you go
Soldier
Mother dry your eyes, there's no need to cry
I'm not a boy, it's what I signed up for

When you're used up, where do you go
Soldier
I can't take the heat, and I hardly sleep anymore
What'd we come here for

Standing out here in the desert
Trying to protect an oil line
I'd really like to do my job but
This ain't the country that I had in mind
They call this a war on terror
I see a lot of civilians dying
Mothers, sons, fathers and daughters
Not to mention some friends of mine
Some friends of mine

Was supposed to leave last week
Promises they don't keep anymore
Got to fight the rich man's war

When you're used up, where do you go
Soldier
Late in 2004
Comes a knock at the door
It's no surprise
Mother dry your eyes

Mother don't you cry, no, no
Someone told you a lie
Yes they did, why
Mother don't you cry, oh no
Mother don't you cry

When you're used up, where do you go
Soldier

More Music

Pink performs Dear Mr President Live in NYC. A controversial song from her new album.

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Sometimes I Wonder ...

*To the Kreisleiter Party Member Michael Gerstner Weissenburg/Bavaria
Subject: Your letter of 24 Feb 1941
Alarm of the population of Absberg.
The Reich Office [Reichsstelle], Berlin, informs me that the transfer of the sick from the Ottilienheim was not carried out by Berlin, but by Munich. Therefore, I have now turned to Munich. In the meantime, I have found from the Regierungspraesident that we also raised a complaint against the ways and means of the treatment of the sick. I therefore hope, that such cross mistakes will not occur in the future.
Heil Hitler
S 297/11
[Initial: Semmler]
Gaustabsamtsleiter

*Only with IBM's technologic assistance was Hitler able to achieve the staggering numbers of the Holocaust. Edwin Black has now uncovered one of the last great mysteries of Germany's war against the Jews -- how did Hitler get the names?

*Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. was chairman of the board of IBM Corporation from April 1993 until his retirement in December 2002. He served as chief executive officer of IBM from 1993 until March 2002. In January 2003 he assumed the position of chairman of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm located in Washington, DC. (Hey Louie, any relation to German Mike?)

*Former president George H.W. Bush only recently resigned as a board member of the finance giant the Carlyle Group, heavily associated with military and security contracts. The Carlyle Group was 43rd among federal contractors in 2002, with $676.5 million in contracts. In 2003, the Carlyle Group moved up to 11th place, with $2.1 billion in contracts, partly from the war on terrorism and partly from Iraq. Insiders at the company also cashed in millions of dollars' worth of options in 2003.

*IBM and Scripps Research Institute to Collaborate on Pandemic Research. "This is a very exciting and timely collaboration between two of the finest institutions in our state." —Governor Jeb Bush

*In recognition of his efforts on behalf of public education, as well as his business accomplishments, Mr. (Louis) Gerstner was awarded the designation of honorary Knight of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2001.

America has quite the Knighted-hoods : GHW Bush, Reagan, Caspar Weinberger, Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell, Rudolph Giuliani, Bernard Kerik, Greenspan, Spielberg, Wesley Clark … pandemic even.

And the Loot Goes On

"Mississippi's two U.S. senators included $700 million in an emergency war spending bill to relocate a Gulf Coast rail line that has already been rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina at a cost of at least $250 million.

Republican Sens. Trent Lott and Thad Cochran, who have the backing of their state's economic development agencies and tourism industry, say the CSX freight line must be moved to save it from the next hurricane and to protect Mississippi's growing coastal population from rail accidents. But critics of the measure call it a gift to coastal developers and the casino industry that would be paid for with money carved out of tight Katrina relief funds and piggybacked onto funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lott cited his father's death "on a narrow, two-lane road" as a reason for his safety concerns.

"There's nothing wrong with this if Mississippi wants to do it. Mississippi wanted to do it before the hurricane," Coburn said. "But why is it a federal responsibility? Why should our grandchildren pay for it?"

The $700 million in the emergency spending bill is just short of the price CSX set for selling its right of way, buying into the Norfolk Southern line, making capacity improvements on the main line and bolstering a short line railway to bypassed areas. The high price was inevitable, Appropriations Committee aides said. CSX just spent as much as $300 million in insurance payouts and its own money to rebuild the track that Lott and Cochran now want to destroy."

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran is calling for an extra $4.6 billion on top of President Bush's request of $19 billion. That would include $700 million to acquire the land from CSX, which will move its traffic to other lines inland.

CSX's domestic lines was sold in December 2002 to the Carlyle Group.

Mo' money for Bush Family Evil Empire.

Red Rover

Why has "progressive" not progressed in America? Inclusiveness. Yep Bubba. I think it's because progressives think they can and must include just about everyone – because they have big hearts and everyone can be assimilated into the "movement" if the approach is right.

This tentative treatment of all potential converts to progressionism gave rise to political correctness. Wouldn't want to offend any possible rank and filer.

Or, it could be progressives are too cowardly to weed out the stupid among their own ranks. But when a movement's talking point is inclusiveness I suppose stupid is included, right Bubba? But maybe that's not cowardly … just stupid.

It is impolite to call Joe Stupid, stupid. Joe could be a possible progressive if he is shown the truth, using the gentle and kinder approach. Liberals (recently re-termed 'progressives') believe most Americans will join as soon as said Americans realize it's in their own best interest - for their own good - therefore best to not insult, berate, belittle, laugh at or piss off Joe Stupids.

The liberal/left gets little traction because it waits for Joe Stupid to "wake up" and join the cause. But Joe likes – needs – someone to tell him his opinion, his predilections, his desires. Have progressives not noticed Joe's love life, family life, consumerism, habits, manners, mores, etc. all imitate the televised screen? Sports, soaps, comedians, drama, pay-per-porn, evangelical perverts for dollars, information pundits – all misused and spun to fit the logic of stupid people.

Joe is as stupid as that which he views, as stupid as the music he grinds and crotch grabs to, as stupid as the video games he plays, the rigged sports he bets on, and the artificial talk shows he chooses to guide his emotional life. Joe is an imitator. Monkey see monkey do.

And all the while Joe Stupid is programmed to believe he thinks for himself because - by God he has the remote control and it's the other people who are sheeple.

If somehow Joe avoids the mass marketing of stupid – he can still manage to be stupid by imitating his surroundings – the behavior of those who did not avoid stupid. Kind of like the hundredth monkey phenomenon. Joe has his own televised mini-mental screen where he writes, produces, directs and stars himself. He always looks good, is funny, wise, intelligent, sexy and sought after.

Joe is not in the minority. He is mainstream majority America. He is Black, white, brown, male, female, working, unemployed, drawing a government check, married, single, childless or with a pack of kids, urbanite, country bumpkin, gay, straight, "educated," dropout, young, old, middle-age, law abiding or criminal. But always stupid.

Conservatism attracts more stupid simply because the word 'conservative' carries a notion of proper gentility, of a person who prefers to keep life tidy; a safe and secure state of being, i.e. moral, thrifty, refined, responsible, a real Scout. Joe needs to be told he's all that.

Regardless how immoral, trash-nasty, self-absorbed liar and stupid he is in real life, Conservatism gives Joe the bent principles to claim he's everything he's not - and permission to play stupid about it.

Progressives on the other hand prefer waiting for Joe to recognize that which he is too stupid to see – reality-self. This is where progressives are conservative – they dally, stall, wait – in an attempt to include, awaken and embrace more Joes. A sort of political game of playing Red Rover Red Rover send Joe Stupid right over.

Open Thread

I'm having the usual spring fever. Clearing the old, the dead, preparing for new life in the garden/yard makes me giddy as a girl nominated for homecoming queen. Doesn't Spring hope eternal?

Kuzy Niche

Dennis Kucinich, the best little leftist from Cleveland, has earned his place on The Phony Pols list.

For a while I considered Kucinich one of the chosen - a "left" voice planted for the sake of appearance; so democrats can gnatter they have party diversity within the party. As in moderate dems, the far left dems, and far right dems - "factions" - something for everyone.

Kucinich is in a cozy niche where it's okay to be damn near socialist because it matters for naught; has no effect on the grand scheme of the Potomac. He's the serial marriage vegan politician tofu progressive man who happened to be at the right place at the right time – when a Democrat pol slot opened up for someone who the public would buy as left of "left."

You can discover how Dennis found love and romance with the latest Mrs. Kucinich. Elizabeth Harper, a Brit with waist length red hair, a pretty lass. The article states there are 3 decades age difference between the pair; Dennis is older than Elizabeth's 56 y/o father. What ever happened to buying sports cars and a toupee? But, nothing wrong with age differences (I'd take Banderas if that beeatch Melanie would get out of my way). And 3 decades isn't as bad as Anna Nicole bedding that old codger with one foot in the grave and one on a banana peel.

Not that Kucinich's banana peel is worth much as he is said to be one of the least wealthy members of congress, with a net worth of between $2,000 to $32,000. Well …. I'm not one to put down those less fortunate but ... geeeeeeze. The man is 60 years old and hasn't done better financially than that? Come on Denny, which sibling has all your wealth in their name?

I don't have a problem with him being on his third wife but in politics it's usually best to keep a minimum of 1 ex. Nor do I mind that he eats bean curd, but give me a T-bone at least once a month (preferably from a cow raised on the Pampas in Argentina).

According to Wiki Kucinich voted for a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning and voted for the resolution calling for an investigation into the Clinton and Monica peckerdillo. He has since criticized the flag-burning amendment and voted against the impeachment of President Clinton. Dennis, if the pecker was worth peeking at why was it not impeachment worthy? How much did that pointless petering cost the taxpayer?

"His voting record has also leaned strongly toward an anti-abortion stance, although he is quick to note that he has never supported a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortion altogether. In 2003, however, he began describing himself as pro-choice and said he had shifted away from his earlier position on the issue."

Nothing wrong with altering our views on political issues as we mature (but shit he's 60 already).

Reading the latest from his website, a piece entitled What Happened to the Soul of the Democratic Party? I kept thinking of circus hawkers, and is he serious? (I'm not certain dems ever had a soul Dennis, it may have been blown away with Kennedy's brain in '63 when the dems rolled over for that too.)

In Soul of the Democratic Party Kucinich appeals to everyone. He mentions MLK for us colored folks. He mentions Roosevelt and JFK for moderate to middlin' folks and liberal folks. Dennis quotes Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) as being right when he said that "one person with courage makes a majority."

Dropping Jackson's name must be for the liberal bigoted folks since Old Andy, a prideful and jealous hayseed from Tennessee often brawled and once killed a man who insulted his wife. He forged and helped father the new Democrat party technique of political campaigning, aimed at the newly enfranchised masses – parades, barbecues, buttons, cigars, etc. Jackson was so courageous he lived the American dream – worked hard, prospered, and bought himself slaves and built a mansion, the Hermitage.

In the quest to find the Soul of the Democratic Party Kucinich refers 3 times to things Christian - to an earlier speech he gave, Prayer for America, the Book of Matthew on vision, Matthew in the Beatitudes. His appeal to the god-fearing and god-loving folks. I guess a 3x married Catholic would spend a lot of time on his knees but it seems to me pols are name dropping more God and Bible in their rhetoric since Dubya made politics and religion a trendy mix.

Dennis then reminds dear reader that he organized a "bipartisan coalition towards ending the war in Iraq." Yes and …… that legislation went where? HJ 55 . More reminders on his list : his efforts which opened up investigations, pushed for inquiries, and brought a resolution of Inquiry, (that last one for global warming for environmentalists voters). But rather than see his stances as good I see it as a boast of how to waste time on investigations, inquiries, resolutions, probes, while GenghUS Con slaughters on.

He ends with the usual request for dollars and a final reminder that if returned to the House, he will, as he has since 1996, encourage Democrats to take a stand … and he will "offer real alternatives to the prevailing thirst for empire and plutocracy." Tell me Dennis - how will you stop 230 years of prevailing thirst.

If Kucinich really wants to know what happened to the soul of the democractic party, tell him the party never had one. They just play one on TV.

And hey Dennis, where do you stand on the 9/11/01 official story? Was it really 19 guys with boxcutters?

Bookmarks

Three or four years ago my browser's "favorites" had so many bookmarks I had to create folders to manage them. Eventually most were dragged and dropped into the Rare Use folder. It was easy to spot the too far out for me crowd – Prison Planet, Jeff Rense, Sender Berl & Sons; places to visit when there was nothing else to read on a long winter night.

But other sites, WhatReallyHappened, DailyKos, BuzzFlash, SmirkingChimp, AntiWar, RawStory, Huffington Post, InformationClearingHouse, etc., hundreds of them, took a little longer to be exiled into the Rare Use folder. I'm better served for news at Ice Rocket or my local paper, Yokels & Redneck Daily News.

Today, in the sparsely populated world of wanting more than revelations of Libby or the crisis headline or the meme of the day, my favorites bookmark has dwindled to a tiny half dozen. The others having become insufferable, no more than an occasional skim over the headlines, to see what anti-neocon anti-Bush shills have on the menu.

I definitely pass up the comments at the sites, as they sound, you know, like middle school, where everyone is trying to impress everyone else that they are like so cool and whatever the discussion is they are so on it. And if you're not hot to trot for it, then you know, it's because you just don't get it.

My seldom used bookmarks, are predominantly sites which are now fond of touting poll numbers where not long ago polls were bogus (when polls supported the enemy Bush). The sites that keep the masses informed of Plame, latest leaks (little pee on yous), the goodness heroics of some Dem candidate or another, and other useless political trivia. Baffles me why anyone loiters in such places - but each to his/her own.

Some misguiding sites deliver news and opinions on how "we" can and must clean up the Democratic party. All silk sow ears and swines with purses of pearls or something like that. These sites are indicative of the "base" who consider themselves progressive, liberal, democratic, paleosomething, independent, carrying the banner for all mankind, etc. One site even has a "warm fuzzies" page, proof of being the highest trafficked weblog. If not for spring and the odor of my first lawn mowing, I might despair - as the aforementioned "warm fuzzies" prove how emotionally and intellectually pubescent the public.

Proof enough for me that "we" are going nowhere but the status quo, cheered on by weblogs and blog stars who are crashing gates and telling us what happened, as if any of we the serfdom have more than a passing clue to formulate but a few good guesses. Our news is too controlled to be otherwise.

And the sites which buzz about war on Iran – as I've stated more than once – war with Iran is not likely to happen. Look at a map of Iran, the oil fields, pipelines, the corporatocracy invested there, whose in whose pocket, yada yada.

And (yawn) those websites promoting impeachment, as if that will do us any good. We were so much better off after Richard Nixon, right? As if getting rid of Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney and others will put us on the yellow brick road to utopia. I can overlook the young for such misguided pollyanna-ism but the old bloggers of Oz should know better. We need more than Toto and a democrat in the rose garden.

And finally Lord, please don't let either of the Cindys get arrested or harassed this week as it will clog the cable and blog arteries for days on end. By the way, whatever happened to the prophecy of Iranian oil bourse to crash the US dollar? Haven't seen that one around lately.

Open Says Me

Open thread if anyone has anything on any subject. I plan on being in the garden as much as possible this weekend. Although I may be rained out as more storms are threatening our area (TN/MO). The last one roared through a few days ago but missed us by 14 miles, and tonight thunder rumbles.

Much Ado Hairdo

Cynthia McKinney apologizes for "misunderstanding" that recently took place. "What McKinney called a "misunderstanding" on Thursday she had labeled "racial profiling" and "inappropriate touching" a day earlier. For nearly a week, she and her lawyers had insisted that she had been assaulted and had done nothing wrong. She is black and the police officer is white.

As I blogged below, it was all a charade. Of course it may well be "racial profiling" but I was embarrassed by her week long performance on television. The type of incident she describes happens, as she said, every day to millions of Blacks across America.

I wonder if I'm "profiling" when I find myself summing up white guys with mullets as trailer trash, white men with big bellies as drunks with bloated livers, and hairy white men in old beat up trucks as probable serial killers. Oh, and those bland looking white men in vans could be pedophiles. And I swear, standing in a store here in the heartland, most white people all look alike.

If McKinney wants to make profiling a major issue present real victims who suffered more than a smack down to their pride or hairdo. Remember Martin Anderson the 14 y/o beaten to death in a Florida boot camp, Amadou Diallo shot 41 times, or Abner Louima tortured and maimed with a plunger, 5 y/o girls handcuffed for temper tantrums, Rodney King, and thousands of others across the country who physically are murdered or maimed or humiliated. Because, gotta tell ya – we cannot legislate respect for one another – but we can send to prison those who physically abuse and torture anyone because of the color of their skin, or use their authority to humiliate and terrorize children. And that's all I have to say about that Forrest.

Truth Slayers and Sayers

Ever wonder if the sudden blip coverage of high profile 9/11 doubters is part of the overall game? Something to occupy the public while the empire marches on. Or, per Thomas Jefferson's term, as the "empire of liberty" marches on.

After reading Max Boot and Thomas Donnelly (principal author PNAC Rebuilding America's Defenses) I do believe US Empire is on track. Boot states : "America should not be afraid to fight the savage wars of peace if necessary to enlarge the empire of liberty. It has been done before." Boot goes on to detail the histories of US wars large and small and savage.

In earlier times killing for empire was acceptable but then the masses sprouted an unruly conscience (grown from centuries of history's dung no doubt). In the last century that conscience pestered the ruling elite, but the elite held the methods and means of containment. Information.

Communications and living standards exposed most Americans to information – here comes TV and news marketing. The success of the JFK assassination gave the ruling elite an A+ in "truth mangement." Add to the most trusted names in news the experts from numerous front foundations and NGOs to assure the public their information is unbiased, fair and balanced, analyzed by people who will keep TPTB honest and in check. Enter the experts, bureaucrats, and media heroes. The guardians of truth.

We may be too young to personally remember that radio once held the masses captive – so much so that Orson Wells convinced and panicked a region with "play news" of Martians landing in the US. Of course today we the people are much too savvy and smart to fall for something like that (right?). And the Wells drama was not a serious or staged attempt to fool the listeners (so Wells claimed). Imagine the uses powerful people, with serious agendas, could do with controlled communications.

Ever wonder why nearly 5 years after 9/11 all these honorable experts are coming forward? There may have been little time to voice doubts between the 9/11/01 attack on the US and the US 10/7/01 attack on Afghanistan, but where was the doubt before the US launched a wider war in Iraq on 03/19/03? Where were the johnny-come-doubting-911 during those 18 months before the US intitated another war? Why was there a delayed 9/11 truth epiphany in the "reliable people" community until after Operation Oil began?

Not given air time you say? These are high level officials, professors, experts, scholars, celebrities, physicists, engineers, ex-CIA and military, with a wide assortment of contacts available to them, many with their own organizations and foundations as a platform to speak from. A blog from these guys presenting inconsistency and government complicity would have spread quickly online, and possibly stopped another war, saved lives. How many of these reliable experts (Alex Jones doesn't count) were personally blogging the 9/11 truth before March 2003 or even blogging in 2004?

Was it the "orgy of patriotism" that kept voices still? Thousands dead and trillions stolen, and these qualified folks (apparently unfamiliar with Reichstag methods), now carry the torch of truth? Tell me why that evil neoncon cabal lost control over the official version of 9/11 as they were doing so well with it for 5 years. Have they lost control?

Is it so hard to believe that the "cabal" which pulled off 9/11 and muzzled the media for 5 years can and does control what the masses focus on? Why do they direct our focus to 9/11 now? How big do you really think the audience is for 9/11 truth?

The alternative press has been around as long as any media, and McNews has always highlighted the "conspiracy theories" although solely for entertainment value. Remember the worldwide coverage of Jim Garrison's JFK trial. In the end it only sealed the official story tighter. It did not harm Garrison, appeased nonbelievers for years, and was filed in the history bin. Dozens of expert authors built mini-empires on JFK theories, many wrote 7 or 8 books over the years on nothing but JFK's assassination. We still revisit the JFK official story and theories, but harmlessly, like tourists strolling through a museum of artifacts. Was it Russia, Cuba, the mafia, CIA, Oswald, right-wing radicals in Louisiana swamps, the Bush Family, Zionists, Republicans. We know at least a few old men around the country know the truth of JFK – and none will ever tell.

The US government will never be exposed as the perpetrators who blew off a sitting president's head in broad daylight at high noon, or of killing 3000 New Yorkers. But like battered spouses the victims (we the people) believe the abusers love them and won't do it again, until the next time and the next time and the next time. It's a syndrome - Americans themselves coverup so no one knows how abusive this marriage really is between the weak and the powerful. And lordy there is so much money to be made giving support and counsel to those who do know better.

But do keep seeking truth and opening investigations into 9/11. I personally have no desire to focus on that aspect of the game. I'm here just to rant and ask questions - and judging by the responses – to piss off both sides of the aisle.

And if, some snowball has a chance in hell, and Bush, Cheney, and the echelon do a perp walk, do be ready for worldwide restitution and a new government. Keep in mind, the Bolsheviks didn't do so well. And oh yes, ask the new guv to release all truth from the last century so we can be sure their hands and connections are clean.

Hoo Baby It's Crazy Out There

Reading the MUJCA website yesterday I thought "the crazies are really coming out now." MUJCA stands for Muslim, Jewish, Christian Alliance, for 9/11 truth. The site is from Kevin Barrett, a professor from Madison, Wisconsin. He links to the usual 911truth.org, praises the usual Griffin, Sheen, Tarpley, Steven Jones - who also gives a letter of endorsement, includes such illuminaries as Catherine Austin Fitts, Captain Eric May; reccomends Loose Change,and pushes the current "truth" book list, with Barrett's own book a work "in progress."

- By the way, Loose Change, "began when a star-struck teenager met James Gandolfini, who suggested Dylan Avery make his own movies. Inspired by what he thought was an original story idea, Avery began writing about three conspiracy theorists who believed the government planned 9/11. (Original? even the dullest blokes at Dolly's Diner talked about an inside job). Avery's plot line was 9/11 was to panic Americans into exchanging freedom for safety, etc.. “It was completely fictional,” Avery says. Avery believed the 9/11 Commission’s report and thought he just had a good story. Fiction evolved into fact when “I began to research the facts for my story," says Avery. Fact truly was stranger than fiction, for Avery, and a documentary was born. "I was making the video for fun,” says Dylan, and “I released it on the Internet on a whim." He had no intention of screening it at theatres, of selling or distributing it. – Sure you didn't Dylan. Gandolfini was just advising you to peckerwood around with movie making while waiting to outgrow your star-struck teenhood. The young narrator recites history, rumor, theory, some facts, edits in Hunter Thompson and others, tells us the speed, height, and logistics of the 9/11 planes, and that no plane hit the pentagon, etc. Avery uses the Michael Moore School of emotional docudrama and should be titled Loose Truth. Or "Send Dylan All Your Loose Change."
- It is Hollywood folks. Hollywood. Whether Moore, Avery, or Oliver Stone, it's Hollywood. Movies based on factual "tidbits" will not move masses.

- MUJCA and friends believe a plane hitting the pentagon is preposterous, that 9/11 is a "gargantuan Satanic lie," and that the "truth revolution" has began, and the "source of this revolution is the courage and intelligence of the people."
- People so intelligent and courageous they believe every film that gives goose bumps, every expert's book, and every scholar who repeats the truth party line will bring a "truth revolution" to the streets. Warm fuzzy spielbergish pablum for those Americans wanting "revolution" but too lazy or too dumbed down to get off their duffs and do one. Give 'em emotionally ominous music scores, flickering screens, and something to discuss for a while.
- MUJCA "truth" is 9/11 was the "big lie … designed to sow hatred between the faiths." Not for oil, Halliburton, Bush cronies, Israel, profit or all the aforementioned? Back to the start a "crusade" theme? Actually, crusade was Bush the Reborn language in the early days of the War on Terror. I suppose MUJCA may be for those sheeple seeking "truth" with just a dash of an interfaith political inquisition.

MUJCA: "It is a revolution from below at every level, even in government itself. Dozens of honest agents and bureaucrats, stymied by their treasonous superiors, have spoken out. Colleen Rowley and the other Minneapolis FBI agents have made it abundantly clear that Dave Frasca, the mole and former head of the FBI’s Radical Fundamentalism Unit, intentionally blocked their most intensive efforts to call attention to the “hijacking plot” before it happened. Yet the traitor and mass-murderer Frasca, who stymied not only the Minneapolis agents, but also the Phoenix FBI agents and others, was promoted after 9/11! The many thousands of honest agents in the FBI, disgusted with their superiors’ complicity in high treason and mass murder, are a key part of our revolution from below, and will surely be dealing with the likes of Frasca one way or another.

It is a revolution from below in journalism as well as government. First it was the complete outsiders, the devil-may-care small-time bloggers, the folks at the very bottom of the journalistic food chain. (Note that some of these ultra-outsider bloggers, such as From the Wilderness and Global Research, have been outperforming the “real journalists” on key issues for years.) The outsider bloggers’ incessant agitation put 9/11 truth on the radar screen of the more respectable bloggers and the occasional honest academic. When the highly respected David Griffin’s The New Pearl Harbor came out, compiling and validating the bloggers’ research, low-level people at C-Span began urging their company to report “the other side of the 9/11 story.” The result was the nationwide broadcast of Griffin’s landmark University of Wisconsin talk 9/11 and American Empire last year. Now it appears that the actual working journalists at CNN have followed their C-Span colleagues away from their billionaire bosses’ fantasy land and back toward reality-based journalism, by giving Charlie Sheen a national platform for truth-speaking."

- Hoo boy. Keep reading. Read the entire MUJCA site. What began reasonably went off the crazy bullshittermeter quicker than any "truth" site I have read to date.

"The 9/11truth revolution from below will overthrow a good part of the American power structure. Billionaires will have their fortunes confiscated and spend the rest of their lives in prison. Most, perhaps all of the current administration will be tried and, presumably, either hanged or given some kind of truth-for-mercy deal. Its supporters throughout the judicial and legislative branches will be forced to resign. The CIA and other covert-op apparatuses will be broken into a million pieces and scattered to the four winds, finishing the job that JFK was unable to start. The media monopoly that enabled the 9/11 cover-up will be shattered into hundreds of fragments as the mother of all trust-busting eras commences. The uniformed military, and especially the Pentagon, will be purged of neocon moles, as the venerable institution of the firing squad is revived. Every last member of Skull and Bones, starting with the whole Bush crime family, will be hunted down, jailed, and forced to recite his entire sexual history to his cellmates while lying on the floor of the prison shower. And after the troops have pulled out, Rumsfeld, Perle and Feith will be air-dropped into Fallujah as a demonstration of how an undermanned invasion-of-three can be welcomed by adoring crowds strewing flowers at their feet.

Ultimately, though, the 9/11 truth revolution is not about vengeance—it’s about hope. The story of the triumph of the 9/11 truth movement, against such apparently insurmountable odds, is a story of ordinary people’s heroism, a veritable Frank Capra movie for the information age."

- Billionaires will not have their "fortunes confiscated" nor will "perhaps all of the current administration be tried … and hanged …" The CIA will not be "broken into a million pieces" (remember JFK supposedly said that). Nor will the "uniformed military … and Pentagon … be purged … as the firing squad is revived." Every member of Skull and Bones will not be jailed and reciting his sexual history. (WTF is that all about for Barrett? Kinky.)
- As expected the fruitcakes and money grubbers appear like midnight roaches in a ghetto kitchen. In the past one year, now that the green light go-ahead has been okayed by the ruling elite, every son and his mother will shill for "truth" book sales, DVDs, lectures, and 15 minutes. The MUJCA particular statement above falls into the JFK category of theorists who believed JFK survived and was on life support machines in a basement at NSA. None of MUJCA's cast of characters seem smart enough to be CIA, but certainly dumb enough to be manipulated by the CIA.
- Frank Capra made a lot of propaganda film too.
- I repeat, we know the truth, we just keep mucking around with it. Does Barrett and friends really believe we will take to the streets and confiscate billions and hang liars? Sounds like lawless anarchy to me. The only method is our wallet. As I've said before – stop funding the bastards. On an individual basis or with like-minded friends - stop funding the bastards.
- It's about outsmarting the ruling elite. But how? Well, if you fear mobs and/or that robbing billionaires and lynching pols might land you in front of the purge, you could, without even leaving the comfort and privacy of your own home, try these, and get back to me:
- 1. Become a tax protestor (stop funding the bastards).
- 2. Don't vote, scares them that you have caught on.
- 3. Eliminate your debts.
- 4. Turn off the damn TV and a good deal of the internet.
- 5. Boycott, strike (alone or in a group, without fanfare and coverage).
- 6. Quietly let the troops know you will support a stand-down.
- 7. Question why the truthseekers continue to fund "the American power structure."
- 8. The seven suggestions are or will be considered sedition and treason – but the alternative is keep paying, voting, spending, watching, shopping for "truth" - and bury our dead. A real "movement" will not be painless, which is why there probably won't be one.

Charades

This week's tabloid politics is the Cynthia McKinney scuffle with police, or as McKinney herself refers to it, the "being Black while in congress" escapade. Quick rundown : McKinney seldom wears her congressional identifying pin because she "forgets." She recently changed her hairstyle. White police officers pick on her.

"Do I have to contact the police every time I change my hairstyle? How do we account for the fact that when I wore my braids every day for 11 years, I still faced this problem, primarily from certain white police officers," the statement says.

She had a racial profiling problem for 11 years and only now bitching about it?

Typically I stay away from Black heroes like McKinney, simply because political fan clubs are so vicious, but this incident smells like another politician with too much self-importance and too little sense. McKinney should know that breathing while Black demands she wear her identification prominently. And the sister has to know that life is simpler (and safer) if there is at least some sort of nodding acquaintance with those "certain white officers" who apparently she runs into on a regular basis. She cannot be this naïve about her personal security even and especially "being in Congress while black." Didn't she learn in childhood that a little extra caution is generally mandatory in a white world?

Remember that McKinney had a brief fall from grace before being reseated in congress, which I blogged on last August.

Lets look at what Ms. McK has been doing since her return:
HR 2297 - Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area Act (passed). The Robert Woodruff (Coca-Cola king) Foundation, Inc., a recipient of funds, will thank you.
HR 3998 - African-American Farmer Relief and Anti-Discrimination Act. More "Anti" legislation that doesn't do diddly for anyone.
HR 4139 - Gulf Coast Hurricane Emergency Environmental Protection Act.
HR 4210 - Tupac Amaru Shakur Records Collection Act (To provide for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the life and death of Tupac Amaru Shakur.)
HR 4279 - The Frank F. Church Federal Building Act (To redesignate the Federal building located at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest in the District of Columbia as the "Frank F. Church Federal Building".)

Poor Cynthia, relegated to sponsoring toadeater legislation and tabloid scuffling. The only victim here is McKinney's pride, which is likely what she willingly dumped in exchange for re-election.

Under the Bigtop

Come on in and see John Dean. Career political criminal turned hero. Part-time lawyering clown and full-time elite lackey salesman.

Step right up folks and see the spectacle. Step right up – no cons, no dirty girlie show, no shell games. Just Dean the Forceful Conservative on censuring Bush – step right up, get your tickets. See the world's oldest Watergate felon.

He sings. He nods. He'll distract you.

Dean (Nixon henchman) was sentenced to four months in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal; he spent the four months under a "witness protection" program.

Step right up. Show your little woman how Republicans are so honest they censure – even impeach – themselves. (Remember that in November.)

Step right up – see how the ruling elite call in their political markers. Dean the Felon who never really did time, still able to coverup messes for TPTB. He writes, he speaks, he'll amaze you with an air of serious censure b.s.

Step right up as old crooks and liars are pulled out of thin air and silk hats to poke fingers at the new crooks and liars.

JD, witness to the panel on the hill on censure: "I appear today because I believe, with good reason, that the situation is even more serious." Dean, whose testimony three decades ago helped lead to Nixon's resignation in 1974, said in support of the seldom-used measure to discredit a president."

Good gawd almighty – we need a "seldom-used measure" to discredit George W. Bush? He does that every time he opens his own mouth.

"The panel must decide, however, whether to send it [censure resolution] to the full Senate where it seems certain to be defeated."

Step right up. Watch Dean dance the dance of IOU powerful people. Buy your ticket and sit down on the very first row to watch a pointless show that seems certain to be defeated. Step right up.

"Dean is also the author of a book titled "Worse than Watergate," [about politics and secrecy] which slams the Bush administration as obsessed with politics and secrecy." Come on Dean, stop the secrecy – tell us what Watergate was really about, not the burglary cover-up stuff.

Step right up as John Dean facinates, manipulates, pontificates, and fornicates - in his own words : "I assume it is stipulated that no one disagrees with the Administration’s desire to deal aggressively with terrorism."

The puerile absurdity of the political show has reached laughable … if you don't think about the millions buying tickets to the show, or that Dean used the word "assume."

Dancing With Laughing Lies

Since returning to the US in 1995, rarely a month goes by I haven't asked myself that famously appropriate question : "Did IQs drop sharply while I was away?"

TVNewsLies (appropriate title there) calls on Oprah for 911 Truth.

TvnewsLies' states: "Despite their credibility and expertise, high-powered and extremely convincing voices of truth have been denied access to the public via the mainstream media. In the years following the attacks of 9/11, a significant number of knowledgeable people have attempted to alert the nation about the mountain of evidence that has been unearthed by their investigations, and which shoots large holes in the ‘official’ version of events sold to an unsuspecting and unquestioning public.

These people include former Bush administration officials, CIA analysts, FBI whistleblowers, scholars, academics, theologians and eye witnesses to the events of that tragic day. Not one of these people has been allowed to present his or her individual and collective conclusions that the Bush administration was either totally negligent or fully complicit or in the events of 9/11."

Of course the official story is a lie. Most of the world knows that.

But officials, analysts, whistleblowers, scholars, academics, theologians? Must be talking about that motley psyop crew of paid actors hinting and insinuating or shouting and screaming negligence and/or complicity. Or those "buy my book and come to my lecture wanna15 minute folks." A year ago I tried to jump on the bandwagon of proof and truth but after looking closer at the "knowledgeable" characters who were whipping the horses I had to say whoa. Wilson/Plame, Griffin, Tarpley, Sheen, McGovern, Edmonds, Curly, Moe, Laurel, Hardy, Rowan, Martin? Every 3 months it's a new whistle blowing. Damn, seems like everyone gets to blow a job but me.

TVNL says "Sad but true, a large number of Americans believe nothing until they see it on TV!" Oh yea, that's the segment of American society I want marching behind me, the jerry-springers of the incestuous truth movement. (Incestuous websites pretending daddy government isn't the prick behind them.)

It gets even more hilarious. TVNL claims "Last week Charlie Sheen became a legend." But since Charlie's message is from a "tainted package" (lol, I bet his package is tainted) TVNL believes "9/11 truth seekers and truth bearers … efforts to alert the public will be victorious if Oprah Winfrey gets on board."

An appeal to Oprah? The biggest corporate made fake the media ever foisted on the touchy feely inner child of the sappy loving public? That Oprah?

TVNL: " Oprah Winfrey is the closest thing our generation has to a Walter Cronkite."

Oh ho ho whew, ha ha ah please, ah ha, ahem - stop. The truth movement has gone comedy. (God we are so doomed.)

Demonstration of Servilitude

New Yorkers to Gather at CNN Studios Wednesday

Press(For Immediate Release - Thu. 3/23/2006)
9/11 Truth Seekers To Stage "DEMONSTRATION OF GRATITUDE"

"Last week the "Showbiz Tonight" program on CNN Headline News aired three programs we believe deserve commendation. We, of the 9/11 truth and justice movement in New York City are heartened that the network saw fit to air extensive segments giving fair coverage to Charlie Sheen's comments about September 11th - as well as a platform for 911Truth.org spokesperson Mike Berger, uncompromising radio host Alex Jones, and Webster Tarpley, author of 911 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA. For the first time since the fateful day in September of 2001, mass-audience television broadcast alternative perspectives on what really happened."

Can you say controlled psyop circus for nonbelievers of the official story? Yes slave, run down there and show gratitude to your MSM (main stream massa).

I got their commendation (making lewd gesture).

Are Americans truly this dumb?

We Dont Need No Stinkin' Pundits

For all Lou Dobbs talking the borders are not broken, whether keeping out terrorists or brown people. We could build a wall from south Florida to San Diego and block Canada too, but if wealthy terrorists in caves wanted to "attack" they could. There's at least one group among the several deranged sociopathic organizations residing in America who would be willing to "attack" and place blame on the appropriate patsy.

Dobbs is correct only in that tightening border control and law will crimp the style of coyotes, and raises the price of coming to El Norte. But, other than leaving Black folks alone and filling US prisons with more brown people, stiffer penalities will not stop many illegals.

Border control is controlled as much as the ruling elite want it to be.

Is there a boredom driving folks to shop for anything that sounds like a "humanitarian" cause? Sometimes folks just buy things on impulse. Who benefits from millions of immigrants working cheap? Cui bono? Big business and small get their wish and liberals hand it to them. I predict this latest political round will go the way every other immigrant dispute has – amnesty, in one form or another, made to look like a win-win for both parties.

I studied some of the "logic" behind the justification of our cyclic amnesty for illegal immigrants. Some writer writes "there are no illegal humans." Sounds like the liberal equivalent to a "choose life" bumper sticker. I'll agree the use of "aliens" sounds dumb, not because it conjures up images of racism and bigoty but images of Sigourney's odyssey with an acid-bleeding alien. (I guess you could say Ripley was bigoted against the Alien's race though.)

A representative from La Raza on Lou Dobbs claims immigrants "pay in more than they take out" and she knows this because Social Security has the invalid SS numbers paid into which SS will never be able to pay back to because the number was phony. Do these numbers come from the same government that misplaced a few trillion at the Pentagon?

She cited a 500 billion figure paid in by illegal immigrants - but are those numbers the total over the past 30, 40, 50 years or last year alone? She also remarked the figure was arrived at by taking the Hispanic sounding surnames and adding up the contribution. My surname is often mistaken as Hispanic – but it's not. Lets hope her counters know their surnames. Many times I have heard Guzman in Latin America – so on their list is that counted as a social security paying Hispanic or a white guy on the lam?

The bigger question is why SS doesn't haul in employers who accept fake SS numbers? Surely a pattern can be seen. How many times can an employer claim he's been tricked into hiring illegal immigrants? Talk about a turnip wagon, or is it melon? I forget my racial vegetables.

BushCo has more Hispanic support than liberals acknowledge or want to admit. Due I think in large part to common cultural values. I.e. women know their place (at least in public), male superiority, ethnocentric, and most upper class affluent Latinos are sufficiently white male enough to find a safe haven in tight-assed macho hooyah neoconservative circles.

I have questions : 1) Where were the massive Mexico flag waving protestors during the more recent anti-war marches? 2) Where are progressive/liberals when Haitians, Black Dominicans, etc. are turned back by the boatloads or jailed and deported? And 3) What response if 12-20 million Black immigrants illegally crossed the border every few years? We'd be looking at an entirely different legislation and spin. There certainly wouldn't be signs in Zulu and Swahili in public bathrooms.

(When Dobbs mentioned the Mexico flag waving at the protests the La Raza lady responded that folks celebrate St. Pat's day and wave the Irish flag. Excuse me hon, but I must have missed massive Irish flag waving among all the shamrock, leprechauns, and green beer. And isn't there a difference between celebrating and prostesting? Anyway, remember what we progressives think of flag waving, wrapping self in a flag, etc. so both Dobbs and La Raza score high on the flag bull-shitometer.)

Talk about making common cause – best be knowing who's cause is what and remember we have one political party disguised as two who work only to their own benefit. Some prominent Black pols are attacked for supporting stiff penalties on illegals. I.e. Kasim Reed of Georgia. Maybe liberals in Georgia need to take a longer harder look at the Georgia textile industry. Look at the once unionized J H RUTTER-REX MFG CO (makers of Army combat uniforms) now nonunion, deemed a sweatshop by many with most workers earning $6.50/hr without healthcare. That came about not because of global competition – but cheap labor, immigrant labor, illegal labor, too many hands in the field.

Black liberals, if they're honest about it, know that the whiter lighter skin Hispanic has not been there for Black causes.The solution would be to join forces with all, not on one specific cause or the other, but in order to clean corruption in government, to the betterment of every race, creed, color. But the "fights" are cut and dried already, neatly divided and packaged for us, by MSM and the politicians. Keep our minds from dwelling on the real criminals. If you think Mexico's government is corrupt – remember US pols have been in bed with the Mexican elite a long time.

Anyway immigration, legal or otherwise, may soon peter out as the latest official reports state that Mexico's future is as bright as our own. :)

But what the hell, if pundits weren't shilling on immigration it would be gay marriage or abortion and I really don't care who is gay and who has abortion, anymore than I care who is legal or illegal. Too bad rallying to clean up the broken executive, legislative, and judicial branches isn't on the agenda.

Baghdad Burning

Hoaxster (my opinion only) wins literary honor. The 24 y/o Iraqi native, former computer programmer, writing from Baghdad under the pseudonym Riverbend - or if you've been following the blog, more likely a jokester in River Bend, USA.

Sunday Tilling (Warning Long-Winded)

Breaking garden ground today and thinking. I love digging, raking, tilling, staking and stringing vegetable plots, flower beds. Something peaceful about getting down and dirty.

We head into mid term elections and the "news" is as awful as ever. Spin, spin, spin. Rake rake rake. Dig dig dig. Good news is Democrats can point to bad news as the messes of the incumbents. If democrats prevail in the coming elections we will hear "cleaning up their mess" and "blame Bushites" as often as we once heard "blame Clinton." All said with a straight face as if democrats didn't pave the BushCo way.

Democrats can yammer how the Republicans treat the constitution like a "goddamn piece of paper." Republicans will issue more and more rhetoric to remind us daddy guvmint knows best and in God they Trust. Bad news is both parties keep voting yea to finance the "mess."

For the "left" – there's the "immigration" situation. Both my daughters-in-law are Mexican nationals. One is active Army reservist, married to #2 son. The other an executive with a large company. I love both young women, and knowing my sons, I couldn't have chosen better life companions myself for them. But, I have to agree with the anti-immigrationists. At the moment the US does not need more hands for anything. Remember the '60s phrase "if you're white all right, if you're brown hang around, if you're Black get back." In many ways for most of Black America that's the way it has worked.

Hispanics, in particular Mexican nationals, should face their own government and demand change. Likely the US would send aid to help out the Spanish white oligarchy in Mexico, DF, but American citizens could refuse if we had any say over anything in our government. I wonder, if Hispanics don't feel their own country worth standing up for – perhaps they fit nicely with the US elite overseers. Maybe expecting immigrants to stand up to their own ruling elite is asking too much as Americans can't seem to do it either. If the fascism becomes too overbearing in America – millions of Hispanics have the option of going home. Most Americans have only America.

For "left" and "right" this week there was the Afghan Christian convert. A man said to have mental problems by family members and I would agree. Returning to Afghan after years away, knowing the climate there, and announcing his new religion the guy was looking for attention or a crusade. Will they or won't they execute; evangelicals love a good persecution to focus the flock on. Perhaps Afghan law will show the man more mercy than Tookie Williams was shown by The California Groper (son of a Nazi) who felt Tookie did not meet the requirements of redemption.

Tony Blair, prissy counterpart of prissy Bush, is making a comeback in the news today. He told Australians to "tough it out" after a poll showed two-thirds want all 460 of their soldiers home by May. Blair says they must "stand by their allies in the war on terror." All 460 soldiers of them. Oh my, what will we do if they pull out.

In the Ukraine the "orange revolution" has turned blue. For all the mass protesting a couple of years ago Ukranians are still stuck with two corrupt guys with surnames beginning with 'Y' and the usual "vich" or "enko" ending. Didn't take the fickle masses long to swing the other way. Likely they too know more about Homer Uri Ysimpsonenkovich than their constitution.

And when not fed the spin of politics there's other news to dig through. I think it tragic irony in the Seattle murders at the Better Off Undead rave party. I wonder if the beating and rape accusations against the preppy Duke lacrosse team will draw much attention. This week, for more bio-fright, are stories of inspect or not inspect for "mad cow" and the usual humans with bird flu getting closer. And the weekly dollar war, trade war, the political left, right, and green war for our hearts and minds.

I noticed Condi's hair this weekend had more body and sway; a new stylist? She almost had the floppy-haired white girl motion when she announced a couple of hours ago the Afghan man's death sentence may be dropped, an assurance to religious freedom via BushCo? Barely gave the "left" time to point at BushCo failure before the "right" saves the man, a success story to show BushCo brand of democracy works? Shouldn't Condi be referred to as Dr. Rice, no one ever referred to Secretary of State Kissinger as Hank. OTOH there are better names to reference war criminals than Condi or Hank.

Count on both parties to bang us regularly over the head with the constitution, although we skipped having a "constitutional crisis" this week. But they will remind us in another week or two that the founding fathers reverently penned the constitution for us, to protect us from tyranny, and the other party has all the tyrants. Some might even think the constitution was written for all mankind, since the US likes to beat other nations over the head with it too. Yessiree, those fathers of the constitution inked mankind's protection from tyranny; composing those reverent words of freedom as they, much like today's ruling class, were humping and grinding their slaves. And give us your poor, your huddled masses … the wretched refuse of your teeming shore … send these, the homeless - we need more cheap labor.

I'm so glad planting and gardening will take up more time. Reading news and views could give a person a bad attitude. Which reminds me, some are yammering about the BushCo "Leave No Child Behind" forcing schools to cut back on other subjects to concentrate on reading and math. What's the problem here. With reading skills a person can teach him/herself anything. With a love of reading the mind expands. Reading doesn't have to cut out history and social studies fool – it can incorporate the subjects. As a home schooler (surprise – not all homeschoolers are cultish white survivalists) reading was the #1 focus. We should all know the 3 R's better : Reading, 'Rithmatic, and Revolution.

Hollywood Trot 'Em Out

Caught a few minutes of televised Pat Boone today speaking for the other wing of Hollywood. The theme seemed to be a shame-shame on fair-weather conservatives.

I missed most of his pro-Bush speak as his neck, wrinkled as a 200 y/o turtle's, held my attention.

And I wondered, wasn't his heavy-metal phase around the same time he lost his mind?

Charitable Babes

Barbara Bush gave money to a hurricane relief fund on the condition that it be spent to buy educational software from her son Neil's company.

No surprise, as I've blogged previously on the inner workings of charity, grants, funds, foundations, etc. Babs act is SOP. What some call "philanthropy" I call "philandering" (casually screwing many). If we could view the stipulations, conditions, provisions, earmarks, dispositions of monies "donated" by the wealthy we'd find a maze of Barbara-ism. And where definitive written transfer of funds are not found there is a handshake agreement. But more likely you'll find all the charitable philandering in writing as they don't trust one another to not screw one another at times.

I'll "scratch" (donate) to your organization, fund, foundation, charity if you "scratch" (buy, donate, found, fund) mine. Charity is one of THE biggest scams the elite run on us. The elite might be the first to tell you charity does begin at home, with home being a palace, an estate, a compound, etc. It is "their" money though, and tax deductible. (There are a few charitable exceptions, St. Jude Hospital for example.)

In my small town of 17,000 I stopped counting the number of local elite who do receive federal tax dollars to administer grants/funds "earmarked" for the disadvantaged in our community. Big bucks, thousands of programs nationwide, public and private foundations, operate more or less the same.

Example: Linda (pretty white lady), wife of a physician receives $1,000,000 per year to operate a soup kitchen in the Sunset area (our Black section of town, pop. 3000). For a steep price Linda rents the old school house in Sunset from Richard, town mayor and her hubby's golfing buddy. Ms. L. provides 1 lunch 5 days a week to perhaps 50 hungry folks per day, if it's a busy day. Foodstuffs and supplies are purchased from businesses of friends, relatives, and national suppliers who occasionally thank Ms. Linda with "extras" which will perk to her own cupboard and kitchen.

One must have an official "organization" or institute to receive these grants and with such a not-for-profit business comes the credit cards, company car, office space, cell phones, business trips, etc. Whose to know that flight to San Fran for a "seminar" was 2 days "seminar" and 4 days fun in the sun? And can she help it if the organization's credit card is inadvertently used to fill up the Navigator's tank on the way to the soccer match?

(There is one Black not-for-profit organization in town but – that's right – their funds must go through the City Fathers, who skim a lot to make sure Black members only pilfer a little. This org. was setup by the City Fathers as soon as they learned money was out there but earmarked only to org's that had Black administrators.)

Sometimes, over a few years, a few poor actually benefit from these programs locally, despite all the hands in the till. These non-profits often have in their title words such as Mission, Relief, Community and/or Faith.

When applying for this grant each year, and received for several years, Linda has the arduous task of stipulating her own salary and that of tennis club friends who might wish to dally part-time as secretary or other openings in the administrating part of her charitable business career. She must appoint non-salaried board members who meet every blue moon (literally) to advise and oversee that she is running the program and funds properly. Board members are upstanding cohorts of Ms. L. She may at times reciprocate and serve as a board member on their charitable org./foundation.

The good part is most weekdays Ms. Linda gets to spend an hour a day in the old school house kitchen, supervising the local Black church volunteers who cook and clean up. She may mingle with and rub a few heads carrying on about how cute the children are of these people, charming as she can be in $400 jeans and cashmere.

Doing the math it averages out to about $80 per person per meal. Now Bubba or Willie May will tell you that bowl of chicken soup or styrofoam plate of chicken wings and instant mashed potatoes don't taste like no $80 worth. But, to folks like Linda and Babs Bush, do-gooding can look and taste like a million bucks.

Letter to Congress

Excerpts from a letter that a Military Families Speak Out member wrote to her elected officials about this National Support the Troops day/moment of silence (I received in MFSO email, writer not identified) :

"I am writing in reference to the resolution passed by the House and Senate last week supporting a “National Moment of Silence”, which asks for a moment of silence to honor the sacrifices of our troops.

As a member of a military family whose son has made this sacrifice you seek to honor, I can not help but point out to you that our troops and their families have already experienced three long years of silence with no honor from our representatives in Congress.

Most members of Congress have remained silent about the horror of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal... When only rank and file soldiers were accused of crimes at Abu Ghraib, and none of the commanders and Pentagon officials, including Rumsfeld, who oversaw and authorized the torture were accused, you remained silent.

When our sons and daughters, and husbands and wives went without life-saving clothing and equipment in Iraq, most remained silent. When vehicles were not armor-plated against IED’s you remained silent. When even simple things like batteries for night vision goggles and radios for communication were not provided, except by terrified parents and friends, you kept silent.

The list of chilling and heartless silences can seem endless to angry and deeply disappointed military families. There was no outraged response from Congress when the commander-in-chief taunted and dared insurgents to “bring em on” to kill our soldiers.... No concern when the Bush administration impugns military families’ patriotism when they dare to bring up uncomfortable basic facts about this war, no concern that thousand upon thousand of innocent Iraqis have been killed, that contractors continue to reap fortunes on the backs of the American people. Congress remains almost completely silent regarding the destruction of Iraq, the lack after three years of basic water and electricity, lack of oil for Iraqis’ cars, no sewage, few jobs.

May I make some suggestions for authentic ways of honoring the service of my soldier-son? Instead of a moment of silence designed to make Congress feel better, how about each and every member of Congress making regular visits to the wounded soldiers you sent to war? How about assigning a specific staff member to help soldiers in their districts with VA benefits and to monitor how they are doing with employment opportunities when they get home? How about asking the soldiers who have been to Iraq for their assessments of what we should be doing to get out, instead of blindly following the arrogant and incompetent draft-avoiders who sent them there?

And finally, how about honoring our troops by taking positions and voting, not based on your re-election chances, but based on conscience and decency and honor, those values our thousands of troops have consistently displayed for three years and which they see all too rarely from the Congress who sent them to Iraq."

Haditha & Isahaqi

By now presumably everyone has seen/read the stories of Marine massacres at Haditha and Isahaqi.

Haditha incident occurred last November. According to the Time article military officials in Baghdad were presented Iraqi accounts of the Marines' actions by Time. The magazine's reporter, Aparism Ghosh, initially took the video (filmed by a young local journalism student the day after the attack) to the Marines who were "hostile." Then to military officials in Baghdad. The video details not the atrocity but the village and villagers talking about the incident. That the 15 Haditha victims were killed by an IED has been admitted as a lie. Whether or not the Marines went on a killing rampage that day is still under investigation.

Information Clearing House has the above footage from British news. The report shows video footage of wrapped bodies, and mentions the fact that Haditha has been a "hotbed" of terrorist/insurgent activity at least since last August.

There is footage of two vets stateside at a peace rally who comment on shooting anyone anytime, "killing anybody you want." The two are not connected to the Haditha incident and not proof that Marines massacred 15 civilians, but inserted into the "news" footage. Is that objective reporting of the incident? A 9 y/o boy, not shown but supposed witness to the event, says they (Marines) shot his grandfather and then his granny. There is no explanation of how the boy escaped the "massacre."

(Last July 4 issue of Time (via ICH), Aparism Ghosh had an article on arranging a meet with a would-be suicide bomber. "One day soon, this somber young man plans to offer up a final prayer and then blow himself up along with as many U.S. or Iraqi soldiers as he can reach." Fueled by the fact that US troops have "stayed and stayed.")

In Isahaqi, the photos from Chris Floyd site, sad though they are, are proof of the horror of war – not a massacre. That the Floyd website lobs emotional knee-jerk language is sufficient to destroy credibility with me. Language to shock and awe, trigger a gut experience rather than thought. Granted there are some animals in uniform, but what sort of mind can so easily and quickly believe that US Marines would tie and bind babies and shoot them in the head?

I do not understand the rush to judgement when it comes to our own troops, and on flimsy evidence thus far. It almost feels like the American public is being set up for something. One of the many things keeping me awake tonight.

Just Some FYI

March 6, 2006 – Censorship of the worst kind. by Vanessa Redgrave : "This is censorship of the worst kind. More awful even than that. It is black-listing a dead girl and her diaries. A very brave and exceptional girl who all citizens, whatever their faith or nationality, should be proud and grateful for her existence. They couldn't silence her voice while she lived, so she was killed. Her voice began to speak again as Alan Rickman read her diaries, and Megan Dodds became Rachel Corrie. Now the New York Theatre Workshop have silenced that dear voice."

March 14, 2006 response from NY Theater Workshop : "I have heard from many of you in the past few weeks about the Workshop’s decision to request a postponement in producing My Name is Rachel Corrie. In researching My Name is Rachel Corrie, we found many distorted accounts of the actual circumstances of Rachel’s death that had resulted in a highly charged, vituperative, and passionate controversy. While our commitment to the play did not waver, our responsibility was not just to produce it, but to produce it in such a way as to prevent false and tangential back-and-forth arguments from interfering with Rachel’s voice. We spoke to friends and colleagues in the artistic community and to religious leaders as well as to representatives of the Jewish community, because the play involved Israeli action. It was this piece of our research that has attracted attention and led some of you to conclude that we sought to postpone the production based solely on their response. This was not the case. No outside group has ever or will ever participate in the artistic decision-making process at NYTW.

As we listened to various opinions and read thousands of entries on websites and blogs, we realized we needed to find ways to let Rachel’s words rise above the polemics. We regret that requesting more time to achieve that goal was interpreted as failing to fulfill a commitment and, worse, as censorship. If we have erred, it was on the side of trying to be sensitive to all communities, in order to keep a public dialogue open and civil.

I also regret any pain or confusion we have caused in trying to fulfill our responsibility to the art itself and to the community we serve. I can only say we were trying to do whatever we could to help Rachel’s voice be heard."

James C. Nicola, Artistic Director
New York Theatre Workshop

So, is it postponement or censorship or both or what.

Sugar Sugar

For some time I've mulled around the theory that the US could be energy dependent of foreign oil if we truly wanted to be. I concluded since we're not, perhaps it's no more than the oil boys, stockholders, investors, government and related businesses who prefer another century to drain the last blood soaked dime from oil before announcing with great fanfare and accolade, that they have a renewable cheap, clean, easy energy substitute for us. Of course such fuel would not be cheap after its initial introduction and we the taxpayers would certainly subsidize it for eternity, as with all things corporate, but we would at least not be sent to kill and die in oil wars.

The heartland recently opened or are in the process of constructing ethanol plants – lots of them, giving me more reason to suspect we're heading toward such fuel eventually. God knows with EPA's shoddy oversight what such production will do to the environment or our lungs but at least we would not be sent to kill and die in oil wars.

Then, a couple of nights ago I caught a few minutes of a tv clip on Brazil's energy independence which sent me to googling, In the '70s and '80s Brazil began a 100 percent ethanol push. During the '70s crisis they were importing 90 percent of their petroleum consumption. Today Brazil is almost energy independent of foreign oil. What they do import is predominantly for diesel fuel in trucking.

If Brazil can do it, why can't the US? I came across this article at Bloomberg by John Berry, naysaying the US using ethanol on a grand scale. He cites a variety of problems (excuses) although they appear solvable to me. And apparently Bush's promise of alternative fuel is no more than the underhanded BushCo method of subsidizing corn farmers.

Berry also cites this reason : "One big problem with ethanol is that it is more corrosive than gasoline. Gasoline stations need special equipment and tanks."

Question for Mr. Berry: Duh, how many gas stations can we specially equip with the billions spent on Iraq? And at least we would not be sent to kill and die for oil.

He also points out that "… it takes a lot of energy to grow and transport the corn, the main ingredient of ethanol, and to turn it into a liquid fuel. The latest studies indicate the process consumes about 80 percent as much energy as it produces, though that figure depends on a variety of assumptions such as corn yields and the location of ethanol plants relative to the corn fields."

Okay, let's ask Brazil how they made it feasible. And as for studies, who funded the studies, big oil? Of course the "figure" depends on yields and location. And does he not know better than to make an ass out of umptions? Brazil does it all with sugarcane, much more perishable than corn.

"One hectare of sugarcane can yield 80 metric tons of cane after the leaves are stripped by machete-wielding workers. However, the cane, which is a perennial that takes 18 months to mature, is perishable and must be processed within 24 hours. After crushing the stems and fermenting the cane juice, about 6,400 liters (1,664 gallons) of hydrated ethanol is captured. The fibrous pulp by-product, called bagasse, is piled and either burned for steam-powered electricity generators for the ethanol plants or returned to farmers and applied to the land. The Brazilian ethanol plants are completely energy self-sufficient."

Berry then whines of what ethanol in Brazil has done to the price of sugar : "So much of Brazil's sugar cane is being used for ethanol that the world sugar price has reached a 24-year high of more than 19 cents a pound. The world price used to be only about 40 percent of the price of U.S. produced sugar, which is protected by import quotas. The world price now is up to about 75 percent of the U.S. price." Berry might want to check the effects Clinton, NAFTA, and recent farm bills from congress had on sugar pricing too. (I'm so old I remember what Fidel's revolution did to the price of sugar.)

Berry ends with : "For purposes of improving national security, ethanol is at best a bit player."

Ties national security in nicely with oil. And I'm sure that's the way many many investors and government want it.

Two Men & Half Propaganda

PrisonPlanet reports "Charlie Sheen has joined a growing army of other highly credible public figures in questioning the official story of 9/11."

Handsome and head turning as Sheen may be, when did this booze, drugs, and sex hound become "credible." Sheen actually isn't saying anything risky, nor is he any more "credible" than you, me, or the public figures of Bubba and Earl at the diner. And hon, of 290 million Americans this is by no means a "growing army." Jones has to be the star of false hope and hyperbole.

Where are Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Barbara Streisand, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, etc. after making their anti-war appearances three years back? What took so long for MSM to trot out another "lefty celeb" for our consumption.

Stars such as the above have joined various anti-war groups and stated "… we will not give our sons and daughters to a war for oil." Damn right they won't. The only enlistment these kids will make is the audition and producer rosters.

A few celebs don't mind stepping in career doodoo, remember Ed Asner's 1980s politics? Definitely not studio approved as he quickly slid down the Hollywood totem pole. Belafonte is old enough to not care about a career now, nor have his children entered the life of big cinema and need daddy to keep his mouth shut.

Ever wonder where the recent famous anti-war anti-Bush 9/11 theorists stand on Israel-Palestine? I know Madonna, Kathleen Turner, and Sharon Stone recently flocked and posed on a pilgrimage or to the Peres birthday bash in Israel, but what does Charlie, Susie, Tim, Barb, Kathy, really think of Israel in regard to the war on the Middle East.

Do they whisper among themselves this is a war for oil or a war for Israel? Do celebs discuss the Zionist/AIPAC control of the US government with a studio mogul such as Viacom/Paramount's Sumner Redstone (nee Rothstein)?

When celebs make applaudable statements such as Robbins : "Cloaked in patriotism and our doctrine of spreading democracy throughout the world, our fundamentalism is business, the unfettered spread of our economic interests throughout the globe. Our resistance to this war should be our resistance to profit at the cost of human life" - do they run to divest their portfolios of profit on human life? Tim, if I am to think you speak for me – show me you put your money where your mouth is. Stock it to me.

Hollywood and/or the stars have yet to solve questions around any event in history. Are celebs, as with WWII's Hollywood propaganda machine, cogs grinding tabloid grist for the PTB? Must be, why else would Sheen speak to a conspiracy nut like Alex Jones (same GCN as Daryl Smith/Iamthewitness).

Tipping Again

At CounterPunch Ralph Nader tells us we're at the "tipping point" :

"There comes a tipping point, however, when the opposition of the establishment, the public opinion of the citizenry, the disgust of the soldiers--their spreading casualties, diseases and mental traumas - and the corruption of the large corporate contractors to whom much of the military's functions have been outsourced, all congeal and overcome the cowardliness of most members of Congress. Then a surge of Congressional followers and allies of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), war veteran and leading voice against the Bush Iraq policies, will come to the forefront."

Lemme see, didn't I write something about a "tipping point" a while back? Oh yes, last September when the last "tipping point" was tipping around : "In the past several weeks some on the left claim the press is waking up, the press is finally doing it's job, the media is finally asking the tough questions. Suddenly the press has testicles. Sure. Almost overnight the press tell us polls have turned against Bush. We've reached a "tipping point." This near instant "tipping point" began to emerge around May, picked up speed with the Sheehan coverage, and Katrina definitely put Bush down the Zogby. Another term coined for the peons, "tipping point" and almost as useful as urban legends of "cow tipping."

Nader says now comes "400,000 lawyers--whose House of Delegates has overwhelmingly approved a task force report accusing President Bush, in polite legal language, of violating both the Constitution and federal law."

Wow, wish they had been around 3 years ago. Lawyers. And all those "former" high level officials coming out now. The best and the brightest took 3 years to recognize a "foreign disaster" when they see one? And then they are polite about it.

But wait, "task force." Is that not like investigation, commissions, hearings, panel, etc. and did I not write something about that last June, and said : "The time is upon us for hearings, bipartisan congressional bills, homeboy Acts named to induce a warm fuzzy and insinuate the end is near. We're at the political stage of not questioning the justification for our engagement in the War or hold anyone accountable, but the years of debating military withdrawal strategy, aka carrying water for the warmongers."

How many, raise your hands, knew when Election 2000 went down like it did that we would be at war very soon under Bush? Too many to count. See, we're smarter than 400,000 lawyers and former high levelers.

But maybe the "tipping point" will really really "congeal" this time and Congress will ride to the rescue with John "Defense Porker" Murtha leading the cavalry to shitcan the neocons and put the good, but cowardly and slow to come out, congress critters in charge.

Leaping Sadly Through the News

Startling research from the biggest study ever of U.S. health care quality suggests that Americans — rich, poor, black, white — get roughly equal treatment, but it's woefully mediocre for all."

What a puff piece : "health care quality … Americans – rich, poor … get roughly equal treatment" and "the study even challenged some stereotypes" and found "blacks and Hispanics actually got slightly better medical treatment than whites."

Included were U.S. Veterans Affairs personnel and a study group which represented a broad picture of the nation's health care practices. That's right Sargent Bubba Washington – you get the same mediocre medical care as any other rich, poor, insured or uninsured, black or white veteran; like John McCain, John Kerry, Colin Powell. And Grandma Millie's medical care is as good as Babara Bush's HMO.

Rand Corporation conducted the study. Rand describes its "Corporate Mission" as a "nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis."

Rand also has headquarters in the Netherlands and the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute to analyze "complex policy problems and help implement enduring solutions for clients across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia." Rand's list of major sponsors, advisers, board of trustees, etc. includes enduring solutions folks such as guys from Bechtel Group, Scowcroft Group, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Carlyle Group. Past and present business and political figures : Francis Fukuyama, Ann McLaughlin Korologos, Paul H. O'Neill, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Paul Bremer, Frank C. Carlucci.

To the elite with unlimited funds and access to quality worldwide health care the above junk news would be jest. A few souls may be convinced that regardless of class status we are all equal on the examining table under a paper sheet. Equality in health care, presented with certitude and by a group with the prestigious Rand rap sheet shows how "news" can seem truthful yet be complete b.s., empty of any pertinence.

But my mind takes a leap here. The piece is representative of what the media give us on all sorts of subjects. Pieces by qualified people, from corporations like Rand, who are only here to help us – to improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. To "enlighten" us. A smorgasbord of national and international politicians and corporate heads, left and right, advising, helping us realize the complexities of it all. I'm not sure how to define "it," however, on Rand web page I notice they cannot proofread or spell check "it" (decisionmaking).

This type of dishonest news reminds me of the "turn around" in political news the past few months. The courageous messengers of late delivering the "liberal" point of view to MSM, each revelation hinting, or guaranteed by some interpretations, to "bring BushCo down."

So I ask myself – how is it so many politically aware folks, some who shout the loudest about a Zionist neocon pack having a stranglehold on US media, Hollywood, business, banking, industry; controlling our pols, the Pentagon, CIA; so powerful "they" pull SS Liberty and 9/11 ops, "they" dictate when and where we war, rig our elections, and even wiretap Bill Clinton phone sex, etc., how can aware folks pant over the crumbs of recent "liberal slanted news"?

"News" from the same mogul-dom that faithfully published BushCo lies and/or ignored truth, ignored dissent as they printed, filmed, and spread propanganda. The same Hollywood that gave us a 3 year dose of pro-war themes. Same entitites that posed Bush with flags, halos, flight suits and turkeys, a tear squeezed from his eye. It's the same Pentagon and CIA, still taking orders from the same PTB (powers that be). It's the same experts, think tanks and pols who hammered our ears with silence for 5 long years and now come forward with "second thoughts" and new, more informed interpretations, as they continue to force us to fund wars … business as usual.

Is it good news that a "liberal" mogul, dem donor, who counts Bill Clinton and Al Gore among his friends, is buying out Knight-ridder? Does that guarantee truth in news? Or just another mogul, friend of Clinton and Gore, neither of whom lifted a voice to fight BushCo when they should have.

Sad when a pol's censure slap is considered an act of bravery. Sad when the 3rd anniversary of illegal war and invasion brings only a trickle of protest. Sad when we applaud Hollywood royalty for doing what they do best – putting on a second rate show, applause, bow, limo home until the next performance.

Sad so much energy spent on Dixie Chicks and Swift Boats, Mockingbirds and Able Danger and 1001 conspiracy theories, Wilson/Plame, uncle Sam snooping on everyone, Iran is next, plane/no plane hit the pentagon, renditions, Iran is next, free speech zones, Cindy's teeshirt, port deals, bird flu is coming bird flu is coming, Bush's poll numbers, Iran is next - yet we still don't know when a bombing is real or an inside job, whether OBL is dead or alive, or who mailed the anthrax.

So the ruling elite get our attention – and we don't get theirs as they divert our minds to the next mediocre act in the political circus. Do the democrats not recognize their side of the aisle plays them as skillfully as the republicans play theirs?

Fire the liars and they give us new liars. Loss of freedom of speech is always the democrat's popular fear to push in times like this – yet we can hear everyone with a keyboard or bullhorn. Name one high traffic legitimate website shut down by the government. Saddest thing this week is high profile webmasters who encourage readers to email ABC praise for a few sound bytes on a nighttime soap - or push the belief that a liberal mogul is more honest than a conservative mogul - when we could be marching on DC to burn 1040s in the squatters front yard - just, you know, to get their attention.