American Values - Exactly WHAT are they?

I guess it depends who you talk to these days. It was pretty black and white for a while there - you know we ALL agreed that torture was NOT an American value and that racism was BAD and that our constitutional freedoms were practically SACRED. Not anymore. Nowadays, it depends which party you belong to as to which 'values' are and are not American. Basically the Republican Party believes that democratic party values are not American, that racist comments are fine while you are campaigning, that some forms of torture are okay and that the constitution is 'old-hat.' As long as you believe in God, you can pretty much believe in anything else and be considered a patriotic American as far as the Republican Party is concerned. Senator McCain and the other top Republicans who vehemently fought Bush on his terrorism 'clauses,' gave in a few days ago. They found common ground, you ask? No, what they did was find acceptable WORDING to allow Bush to breach the Geneva Convention and International and Constitutional law. As long as it SOUNDS like we are following the proper codes of conduct, and as long as it APPEARS that the President has stopped breaking American laws, then it's okay with McCain, Warner and Lindsey.

911 Conspiracy Theorists - bunch of crazies or what?

I am by no means a Bush supporter. In fact while I don't agree with Chavez's assessment of him, I got a good laugh out of his little rant. Bush may not be the devil, but I wouldn't be surprised if the God that he thinks talks to him ended up having horns and a tail. Evil is as Evil does. 150,000 dead Iraqis might agree with me too.

But the idea that he had anything to do with the September 11th attacks is a repugnant one, quite aside from the impossibility of what these theorists say. I 've looked at the 'proof'- they either claim that the towers were shot at by a small military craft, or that it was a planned demolition. A planned demolition is so ridiculous that I am not even going to address the total impossibility and ludicrousness of that thought.

But a military strike - what are they thinking?
Exactly who was driving this military craft? That's never answered. Nor is the question: "Eh, what about all those phone calls the passengers made to their families?" In fact, not only do they NOT answer that question, I have heard reports that claim that there were NO phone calls. Jesus Christ - how many thousands of people do they think were involved in this conspiracy? It's hard enough to get two people to keep a secret. As Twain once said, the only time a secret can be kept between two people is if one of them is dead.

And then the videos that they show, well they don't convince me at all. Just because it doesn't look like other plane crashes doesn't mean anything. You have to remember that most plane crashes happen with the pilots doing everything in their power to minimize the damage - these happened with the 'pilots' going at it full blast.

And as far as the government keeping certain documents and videos secret, well even police do that when they are investigating a case, so that they have something when the crazies start to pop up confessing to the crime. It is, of course, also possible that the pentagon and/or the administration is holding back certain documents or videos for arbitrary reasons (like they did something stoo oo oopid they don't want others to know about), but I cannot imagine even 30 or 40 people, and even at that level of government, keeping something under wraps for so long for any any any other reason - it's just illogical to believe otherwise - in fact, you have to consider these people to be something other than human to believe otherwise... and I don't think the Klingons have invaded the USA yet.

I haven't seen anything that would convince me that any American could possibly have anything to do with those attacks - and even if they did have proof of anything, they would still have a hard time convincing me that ANYONE, anyone AT ALL had any sort of motive. The idea that Bush or his oil buddies had a monetary interest in it is quite ridiculous, and very disgusting - even I, who believe that he and his cronies, Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney and the rest of the PNAC crowd are monsters, cannot believe that any of them are capable of such monstrosity. No, not even Cheney, not even Rove.

Chavez & Bush - The Culture Gap

Of course Bush and many many Americans are horrified at Chavez's comments, but the culture gap makes the comments all that more outrageous. While the rest of the world might laugh, America is ranting and fuming today. To be called a devil is one thing when you don't believe in such things; but when you are a member of the Armageddonists, "Here comes the Devil," Born-again, Christian Fundamentalist Party to which Bush belongs, the comments take on a more sinister touch.

And America has reacted in much the same way that a kindergartener would react to being called a devil. Instead of laughing and brushing it off for the wild rhetoric that it is, we have chosen to take the matter seriously and are now so worked up about the whole thing, that serious debates are being held by TV "experts" as to whether we should remain paying members of the UN. According to these folks, the fact that the rest of the world applauded at the end of Chavez's speech means that we are being "ganged up on." This is so hilarious.

Come on now. You've seen this before. If you think back to your early school-days, the same thing happened when the school bully was told off by the only brave kid in your class. And you DID applaud, didn't you?

We're Almost There Folks

WorldCantWait is rounding up the usual suspects - yes you know them, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, all of the PNAC crowd - and we're about to place an AD in the most widely-read paper right in this crowd's backyard - USA Today. We needed $250,000 - we have all but $15,000 of it. Check out the Worldcantwait.net web site - if you agree with what we're doing, please consider donating - $10.00, $20.00, $100.00 whatever you can afford. Help us oust this WHOLE administration.

Remember the date - October 5th - the day that will CHANGE this country.
WORLD CAN’T WAIT

Another Scary Report on White House Activities

The White House could not get JAGs to sign a letter that dismisses objections raised by OUR Supreme Court last year and endorses a White House proposal for handling "terrorism trials," BEFORE NOW. Then yesterday, late at night, Jags went ahead and signed the letter. The letter gives their support for the exact same proposal that they derided vehemently for the past 4 years - publicly denouncing it even (a very strong action for any military officer to take).

What changed between now and 2002? One thing is for sure, not only did the Supreme Court inform the White House that their proposal was unconstitutional, since then, Congress has also rejected the proposal. So, Jags dissension has MORE support from THEIR own government now, and the Executive Branch has even LESS support for its vicious proposal that dismisses what our founding fathers thought was the LINE in the SAND when it comes to executive power.

This letter that these Judge Advocates General signed is a scary little thing, especially coming up on the very LATE NIGHT BEFORE the Senate is to vote on Bush's torture plan in Guantanamo. Many people in TOP government posts believe the Jags were coerced into signing the letter. Just the fact that they BELIEVE that to be POSSIBLE is VERY VERY SCARY Folks, but also chilling to me is the fact that NONE of these Judge Advocate Generals were willing to RESPOND to that question: were you indeed coerced? Should be an easy question to answer, don't you think?

This administration is getting scarier and scarier. It reminds me of those movies about the Roman Senate and their fights with various Emperors. Are we about to FALL?

Little Big Man - by Thomas Berger - my primer book

After any of the parties at my parents' house and now that they've passed away, after any of the parties at any of my sisters' houses, guests always start asking us to point out books for them to read. Having heard some impassioned discussion over why Hemingway was not a schmuck, or how Faulkner fought racism or why "The Last of the Just" will make you cry tears of blood, people who aren't as well-read feel a little out of the loop. And the passion in the arguments makes them realize how MUCH the books can GIVE us, them, the world. Almost everyone in my family is going to point them to "The Last of the Just," by Andre Schwarzbart. Not I. No. The first book on my list is always "Little Big Man," by Thomas Berger. I use this book because it is so much FUN to read. Anyone who's reached the age of 30 without reading any of the books or authors mentioned above needs a book that will inspire them to read MORE, and Little Big Man is sure to do that. And, you know what? People always come back to me and ask for the second book on my list.

Shhhh - The NSA Is Listening, or Maybe I Should Say Reading

Considering how heavy-handed those in law enforcement have been of late when handling protesters, it sent more than a small chill up my spine yesterday when Congress sprinkled holy water over the NSA's domestic spying program. I can understand why it is so important for this administration to have a close handle on any means of communication. This is, after all, a war of PROPAGANDA. And they need to know WHO knows WHAT in order to fight it better.

For example, on 9/11, Iraq Veterans Against the War handed out pamphlets in front of the Pentagon that informed those willing to read them about the 'depleted uranium' ammunition that the USA has been using in its last few wars. It's not NEW information. After the first Gulf War, there was a very small outcry concerning these special bullets. So what was the threat here? Perhaps it's not as easy for the Pentagon to discredit veterans who have firsthand experience, as it is for them to discount documentaries and newspaper stories. Yeah, better put those guys in jail. Veterans are definitely a BIG threat to this administration. No doubt whatever about that.

It seems that we, the American people, have become this administration's prime suspects in the war against terrorism. I have chills folks, don't you?