What Could Go Wrong?

Godzilla bless you, Daryl Hannah. We need more celebrities to step up and get busted for speaking out against the XL Keystone Pipeline.

The Keystone XL is a proposed 1,700 mile pipeline that will carry Canadian crude oil across the middle of America, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

What could go wrong? It's just raw crude oil, and the Oil Industry hasn't spilled any oil since, like, forever.  I mean, we can be pretty sure that the Big Oil's streak of bad luck is over and nothing bad will ever happen, anywhere along the entire length of the pipeline. No earthquakes, no tornadoes, no floods and...

...hey, did you notice this- the line runs very close to Oklahoma City, which , sadly is still remembered as the place where American terrorist Tim McVeigh blew up an office building. My guess is that he'd have picked the pipeline as his target instead, had that been an option.
The Keystone XL pipeline would be a tempting target for anyone with explosives and a serious grudge against America.

The objective is to reduce our dependence on 'foreign'  oil, which I guess means America annexed Canada and it didn't make the news or something, because last time I checked, Canada was a foreign country.

I wonder if Saudi Arabia is worried about the competition from the XL line? It would be in their best interest if some wackjob did something horrific to the line. Not that anyone would.

Speaking of Saudi Arabia:

Did you know that they are building solar powerplants in Saudi Arabia? They would rather export the oil than burn it in their own air. Right now the plants are in their first stages, but it is only a matter of time and research  until the technology is developed into an advanced enough state to be commercially viable. My totally non-scientific guess would be that it will take decades before 'Green' energy can be produced at massively commercial levels, so the sooner we get started the better.

If America won't lead the way in renewable energy, the Saudis will. Of course, they'll be building nuclear power plants as well, so it isn't as if they Saudis are 'Green', they are just smarter than we are. They'll be powering their luxury resorts with wind farms and solar arrays and exporting their smog to us.When the oil runs out, they'll sell us the technology we should be developing now.


Remember how we finally succeeded in our mission to spread Freedom on Iraq, at the cost of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars? Did you know what the newly-Freedomed Iraqis want to do?:

Many of the world's biggest energy companies may have to surrender most of the gas from Iraq's vast southern oilfields to a processing and export project led by Shell, a final draft contract between Baghdad and Europe's biggest company shows.

Under the $17bn gas deal to be ratified by the Iraqi cabinet, Baghdad has pledged to do what it takes to ensure these fields supply the Shell-led Basra Gas Company (BGC) joint venture with all the raw gas and natural gas liquids (LNG) it needs, including for an LNG export plant.

We spilled all that blood and treasure to set up a State that promises to give OUR oil to the damned Europeans. What a bunch of ingrates! Are we gonna have to invade them all over again?

Maybe we should invade Holland instead, Shell is a Dutch company.

.

Bobbing

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell made national headlines recently when he declared April to be Confederate History Month while  omitting the subject of slavery from the aforementioned history. McDonnell said he  wanted to "acknowledge the sacrifices" of the soldiers who fought against the United States during the Civil War, which is pretty crazy if you think about it. I mean, the Confederacy seceded from the United States and went to war against them. We need an entire month to honor that?

More recently, McDonnell has appointed former Nixon and Bush I operative Fred Malek to head his new Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring. Fred Malek is a major GOP donor and has worked for both John McCain and Sarah Palin. One of the first tasks the new commission is scheduled to undertake is selling off and privatizing the state-run liquor stores.

The current state monopoly on liquor stores makes it a pain to get booze, especially if you are already drunk or if it is Sunday. The state liquor stores are scattered rather thinly, making a drive necessary but problematic for many alcoholics. With privatization,  liquor merchants can bring their wares into the neighborhoods that need them most- the crumbling, impoverished inner city, for example. After all, nothing says "urban renewal" like a liquor store on every corner. I mean, just think of all the winning lottery tickets that will come from behind the plexiglass-encased counters of the new  booze shops.

And there will be a lot of jobs created. All those liquor stores will need cashiers and security guards and somebody will have to drive the  liquor distribution trucks over the state's rapidly disintegrating roads. Sadly many inner-city kids don't have many options in life other than choosing between dealing drugs and getting shot or joining the military and getting shot. A job as a liquor store clerk allows them to experience a little bit of both worlds, getting fired upon while dispensing intoxicants and learning vital job-related discipline at the same time.  A decent education would probably be better than training as a combat cashier, but public schools are likely to have their budgets slashed by McDonnell's "reforms". After all, money spent on helping kids learn and develop is money wasted, right? Wouldn't it be better to close the schools and use the empty buildings as liquor warehouses? All we need is a  couple minor adjustments to those pesky labor laws and poor kids can start jump-starting their careers as lift-drivers and box-handlers. Do we really need a Big Brother Government that tells us who we can and can't hire? How is industry supposed to create jobs if they can't hire Mexicans and children?

The state will also save money by cutting jobs when they close their stores. It was one of the better retail jobs available, with benefits and pensions for full-timers. I doubt if the new, privately-owned stores will offer benefits.

A woman at work told me that the proposal will save people a lot of money, especially if they routinely buy thousands of dollars of liquor. Bars will become more profitable, which will create jobs. In bars.

It is now legal for Virginia citizens to carry handguns into bars and it is easier than ever to buy a handgun in Virginia. Soon it will be easier to get liquor as well. What could go wrong?

Stukas Over Dixieland

The Junkers JU-87 Stuka Dive Bomber was, for a time, one of Nazi Germany's most fearsome weapons. It was, among other things, equipped with an incredibly loud, air-powered siren that would increase in volume and pitch as it descended at great speed on a target, the sound was intended to strike terror into the hearts of it's victims and it worked admirably, if one is inclined to admire terrorism.
(I am not.)

Speaking of high-pitched, fear-inducing sirens, Sarah Palin was in my hometown today; she held a rally at the very same NASCAR track that I worked at earlier this year.
She and McCain had a rally together in Virginia Beach earlier this morning, with Palin continuing up here this afternoon.

This is remarkable because my state, in my lifetime, has NEVER voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate- most years, the GOP doesn't lift a finger to contest Virginia- it's a given that it'll go Republican. This year might change that. McPalin wouldn't be visiting if they weren't afraid.

Speaking of fear, what the heck are McPalin talking about at these rallies? It can't be McPalin policies, because they, by their own admission, don't have any.
This morning, McCain’s policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said, “I have no comment on anything, to anybody.”
It's three weeks before the election and McPalin's campaign platform is "no comment"?

That's pathetic.

So anyway, what are they talking about at those rallies?

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It should be noted that the Stuka was quite effective at destroying slow-moving or immobile targets such as homes, factories, railroads, people and bridges.
Look around your American neighborhood. Did a Stuka dive bomber foreclose your home, close the local factory and shut down your Amtrak station? Did the Luftwaffe bomb New Orleans?

It should also be noted that the Stuka was no match for a true fighter plane such as the American P-51 Mustang or the British Spitfire. The JU-87 was a slow, unwieldy aircraft that was all but incapable of protecting itself in an aerial dogfight.

It had two primary functions:

1) Terrorize
2) Destroy

******************
So anyway, what are they talking about at those rallies?

Fancy Strikes Again

I don't recognize that phone number but I know the ring. It's my imaginary friend, Fancy. I don't want to answer it but Fancy has a siren-like quality to her, as compelling and irresistible as an air raid warning.
I pick up the phone and wait for the bombs to fall.

"Hiya! Long time! How ya been? News bad enough for ya?"

"Hi Fancy. Long time, yeah. I've been OK. You never call when I'm happy, so I guess I must be miserable now."

"Are you saying that I make you miserable?", Fancy asks. She sounds hurt.

"Yes." Ouch.

"Fuck yeah! I still got the touch!" Her tone of pain becomes one of triumph. I've been played.

"Look, you didn't call me just to prove that you can drive me nuts," or did she?, I suddenly wondered to myself, "so there must be some point to this call."

"Yeah, it's about the Republicans."

"The Republicans?"

"Yep. Well, them and the Democrats. I don't know what to call them...Powers That Be? The Illuminati? Military-Industrial Vampires? Anyway, the Evil White Men (EWM) who run everything are making their move right now and it's going to work, mark my words."

"I hate agreeing with you but I think I do. Explain."

"See, right now, America's in trouble. It's not in trouble because of the falling markets, it's the fear of the falling market that's the trouble. Fear is driving bad decision making. The same people who caused the mess will get hired to fix it. I can tell you how that's going to pan out: breadlines, soup kitchens, dust bowls, angry grapes..."

"Damn, girl. You sure do cheer me up. Thing that really scares me is that the McPalin ticket is a set-up, that the-EWM- wants them to lose the election- Obama will inherit two unwinnable wars, a looted Treasury and the very real possibility of being the Head of a broken State and the Republicans are throwing 2008 to regroup for 2012. Obama may or may not be a good President, but he'd have to be a great one to get us out of where we are going and I no longer sense any greatness...by 2012, the public will be broken in wallet and spirit, desperate enough to vote for just about anyone- by 2012 Sarah Palin will be an experienced Governor and campaigner. She will run on a platform of faith and values, reprising Bush's 2000 themes, which will work again...we will elect the neo/ theo-con Christian dictatorship that we, as a people, deserve."

"Well, yeah. Even if she blows this debate, she'll have four years to work on the spin...voters won't get any smarter but she will. Rove will still be here, the PNAC hasn't gone away..."

"God Rest your soul, Uncle Sam."

There's a pause as Fancy and I share an imaginary moment of virtual silence for the grandest illusion of all, The American Dream.

"Oh, right", she picks it up," I wanted to give you shit about your dreams."

"My dreams? You mean the one where I'm dating a 21-year old Nina Hagen and we escape from East Germany by joining a musical circus and after we get married, she inexplicably changes her name to Greta Drake and starts smoking crack on stage...that dream was pretty cool until she started getting high and seeing ghosts...it was creepy."

"Um. As your subconcious, I gotta say that there are somethings that I don't really wanna hear, alright? Your Nina Hagen fetish is best kept to yourself."

I make a mental note to do a Nina Hagen post soon.

She continues, "I was thinking a little less dramatic and metaphorically than that. Basically, if you are to dream properly, you need to return your balls to their sockets."

"My what?"

"Your eyeballs. They need to go into the sockets in your face so that you can see where you are going. Right now you have them shoved so far up your ass that all you can see is tomorrow's shit."

"Wow. I thought you were going light on metaphor. That one was pretty icky. But , yeah, I see what you mean. I'll be OK. It'll be worth being happy just so I don't have to listen to you anymore."

"Hhaha", she laughs giddily, hurting my ear,"I am so fucking good at my job. Bye for now!"

Click.

Troubles

What did you do with your "economic stimulus" check? Did you give it to China? Probably.
Wal-Mart, America's favorite source of Chinese goods, declared it's profits rose 17% last quarter, at least partially due to the recent helicopter dump of cash onto American consumers...money that was borrowed from China in the first place. Borrow, spend, borrow...

Me, I tried to break that cycle. I gave my "stimulus" (plus two hundred dollars of my own) to my landlord...who probably spent it at Wal-Mart.

In July, U.S. inflation rates hit a seventeen-year high...who was President seventeen years ago?

Just asking. Meanwhile, home foreclosure rates rose 8% last month and 55% since July of 2007. If you didn't already know, a home foreclosure means: "you used to own a place to live and now you don't". The consequences can be severe, especially if you are addicted to kitchens and indoor plumbing.

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During the run-up to the American invasion of Iraq, I made the rather unpopular argument that Iraq posed absolutely no military threat to the U.S. whatsoever- how could Saddam manage to send an unmanned drone through the world's most heavily patrolled air-space, the Iraq "No-Fly" zone,across the Atlantic and onward to Kansas? Colin Powell waved a crack vial around the U.N. Assembly chamber- so what? The anthrax that Powell told us to fear came from an American source, after all...

To certain people- and behind closed doors-I asserted that the only reason to invade Iraq was to make rich people richer...I had to watch who I expressed my anti-war sentiments to- back in 2003 I wasn't afraid of terrorists, but I was afraid of being fired, beaten and /or having my property vandalised...in short, I was afraid of my fellow citizens. The terrorists had won, after all.

I wish I'd been wrong about that. I have been wrong before- early in 2000, I predicted John McCain would be the Republican nominee- that was before Karl Rove's political wehrmacht smeared McCain with false rumors about his illegitimate black baby.

This year,Karl Rove is on McCain's side and I'm deeply afraid that McCain will be our next President. I don't know if the John McCain of 2000 would have reacted to a Saudi Arabian-led attack on American soil (9/11) the same way as BushCo did- by invading Iraq- but I am dead certain that the John McCain of 2008 will attack both Iran and Russia, which will more than likely finish WWIII, and not on favorable terms for the survivors, should there be any.

I have heard McCain referred to as "Bush Lite". I disagree. I think the 2008 version of McCain would be better known as "Bush Ultra-Plus", a McCain regime would bring:
-MORE tax-cuts to people and corporations who don't need them.
-MORE wars for the sake of wars.
-LESS domestic spending of Education, Health Care and Social Services.
-MORE domestic spending on for-profit prisons and joint corporate/government domestic surveillance programs.

In short, just like Bush, only more so.

Sadly, I think the chances of McCain "winning" are pretty good- 3:1 in favor or better...I'm guessing that the so-called "unity" speeches that Mr. & Mrs. Clinton are to give at the Dem Convention will actually further the intra-party divisions rather than mend them and McCain and his surrogates will carpe the motherfuck out of that diem.

Still, I could be wrong. I won't mind if I am. Two wrongs sometimes do make a right, after all.

Same Old News

A couple of weeks ago the Pentagon announced that a disabled U.S. spy satellite would soon fall harmlessly to Earth. Today we are told that the satellite poses a potential hazard and the military plans on launching a missile attack on our own surveillance device.

President Bush ordered the action to prevent any possible contamination from that hazardous rocket fuel on board, and not out of any concern that parts of the spacecraft might survive and its secrets be revealed, officials said. The challenging mission to demolish it instead on the fringes of space will rely on an unforeseen use of ship-based weapons developed to defend against ballistic missile attacks. That makes it a real-world test both of the nation’s antiballistic missile systems and its antisatellite capabilities, even though the Pentagon said that they were not using the exercise to test their most exotic weapons or send a message to any adversaries.

Gosh. I thought it was just a cynical opportunistic ploy by BushCo and the Star Wars defense lobby to drum up support for the useless, lucrative contracts they've been seeking since the Reagan era, but it's really just for our own safety. The Pentagon is going to use missiles to save us from our own space trash, targeting the satellite as it hurtles out of orbit. To make us safe.

If we don't shoot down that spy junk, maybe it'll land on a FEMA trailer park and make the 'temporary' housing even more toxic and uninhabitable than it already is.

ATLANTA -- U.S. health officials are urging that Gulf Coast hurricane victims be moved out of their government-issued trailers as quickly as possible after tests found toxic levels of formaldehyde fumes.

Given this administration's record on public safety, it's probably better if they stay the fuck out of gravity's way and just let the goddamn thing burn up in re-entry. I'm from the generation that survived Skylab; I'm not afraid of space junk. I am afraid of incompetent fuckwads with more bombs than sense though. They'll probably wind up blowing the moon out of orbit by mistake.

The government also feels that it cannot protect America unless it first protects AT&T, Verizon and other telecom giants that are currently subject to dozens of multi-million dollar civil lawsuits for illegally spying on Americans. If we, the people, are allowed to sue Verizon, the Taliban wins and everyone dies.

Meanwhile, John McCain has changed his mind and decided that waterboarding isn't torture after all and has decided to support Bush's decision to veto any anti-torture legislature that might cross his desk.

In [a recent] BBC interview, Bush was asked whether, given waterboarding and other human rights abuses, he could claim the US still occupied the moral high ground.
Bush said: "Absolutely."

I'm not sure if he said that before these letters from Gitmo were released or after the House of Representatives ruled that his confidantes Harriet Miers and John Bolten are in contempt of Congress for refusing to respond to Congressional subpoenas during the investigation into politically motivated Justice Dept. firings.

I guess it really doesn't matter. No one who deserves punishment will get it. We the people will have our asses waterboarded by Verizon and the government will be there to make sure we stay gagged...on the positive side, it's pretty unlikely that we'll be crushed by a falling satellite.

Chicken Little Was An Optimist

Whoops. I was wrong. I thought that the catalytic event that shifted an idling WWIII into full gear would be the assassination of Pakistani dictator 'Pervy' Musharef- I hadn't anticipated the return and subsequent murder of former Prime Swindler Benazir Bhutto.
Bhutto- who was a politician, not a saint- was Pakistan's best hope for 'moderate' rule- a chance to build a corrupt democracy instead of a corrupt military dictatorship.



A good example of a corrupt democracy would be America.
A corrupt military dictatorship might resemble North Korea. Or Pakistan.

In politics, corruption is inevitable- the price of doing business as they say- we will always be given the choice of lesser evils; the choice of lesser evil must be made with the greater good in mind- money will get stolen, lies will be told, favors will be granted- of greater concern are issues such as: do the people have food?
And: Are we still fighting?

General Musharef has been playing 'double agent' for years...taking billions of US dollars to 'fight terra' while simultaneously allowing the Taliban and al-Queda to become resurgent in the remote Pakistan/Afghan border regions- and Osama bin Laden* is, of course, still a free man.

Pundits and politicos have started asking questions regarding what exactly we are getting in return for our generous material support of Pervy's regime. Ostensibly, he's fighting terrorism, but his nation's most popular leader was just killed on a crowded street in a military neighborhood- overlooked in the uproar was the sniper who killed at least four people at another political rally earlier the same day. The news of the suicide bomber who killed nine on 23, Dec. didn't seem to reach the American media , but it did happen.
Such incidents are increasingly common in Pakistan.

In short, it doesn't look like Pervy is very good at fighting terrorism. He may, according to recently released emails from Bhutto, be committing terrorism... I imagine we will learn the truth about Bhutto's murder at the same time we find out who killed JFK.

Anyway, why are we giving Pakistan so much money? Hmmm...

Pakistan, you probably know, has a nuclear arsenal. Bombs with upper-case B's.

I haven't heard anyone ask the obvious question regarding our 10 billion dollar aid package to Musharef: What if the payments are nothing more than a shakedown? Protection. I mean:
Give us tanks, guns and money and we will make sure Osama doesn't 'accidentally' get his hands on one of our shiny nuclear weapons, you see what I'm saying?

There was a time not long ago when overwhelming American military superiority could deter tinpots like Pervy and North Korea's Lil' Kim from ever becoming serious threats- but that time is past. Unfortunately, at the moment our military is busy elsewhere and would be hard-pressed to fight an actual 'war of necessity', should one occur. I hope it does not.
Iraq, Afghanistan (and potentially Iran) are not wars of necessity- no matter how many times you say "9-11" and point to Afghanistan, it doesn't change the fact that the large majority of the 9-11 murderers were Saudi Arabian- as is Osama. It also doesn't change the likelihood that Osama is comfortably holed up in Pakistan. Nor does it change the fact that the Taliban have regrouped and are more influential than they have been since 2002.

In any case, it's long been a simple matter of time before a suicide bomber gets strapped to a nuke- this inevitability has been hastened by recent events...when? Where?

Another possibility is the establishment of an openly anti-American theocracy in Pakistan. (See notes on nukes, above). Our troops in Afghanistan would suddenly face an overwhelming number of hostile fighters on their border. Historically, this sort of scenario tends to end poorly.

There's a possible upside: These events may lead to our military being pulled out of Iraq.

The downside: They will be pulled out and re-deployed to combat duty in an all-out war on the Afghan/Paki border.

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An Unrelated Note of Appreciation

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has sent kind wishes for my grandmother; at the moment there is nothing new to report. These ER trips are serious, but not uncommon for her- some are more severe than others. She is stable and resting at the moment, tomorrow I will drive back home and learn more. Assuming that we haven't been nuked, that is.

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*who?

Advanced Technique

The painting below is on display at Cambodia's Tuol Sleng Prison, which is currently serving as a Torture Museum, a reminder of the horrors perpetrated by Pol Pot's despotic regime. The artist is Vann Nath, a former inmate.


According to John Dean, there are at least ten preliminary investigations regarding the CIA's destruction of ' advanced interrogation' videotapes, tapes on which waterboarding and other 'advanced' techniques are demonstrated.

There are more than a few things wrong with the 'official story', whatever that is at the moment. Like the reasons behind the Iraqi occupation, the rationale for torture and the subsequent obstruction of justice seems to change over time.

- The initial BushCo defense, that the tapes were destroyed to protect the ID of CIA agents, is laughable. First, Cheney didn't hesitate to out Valerie Plame, who was an honest-to-Godzilla anti-terrorist secret agent; second, doesn't the CIA have the ability to pixelate images?
If pixelation is too high-tech for our CIA, couldn't they simply take a cue from the terrorists they are supposed to be monitoring and wear ski masks?

- In the course of the waterboarding discussion, defenders of 'advanced techniques' like to claim that valuable anti-terrorist information was obtained using 'advanced' methods...that assertion reeks of bullshit. If we obtained such invaluable data during these 'advanced' sessions, why were all the tapes destroyed? Shouldn't that valuable data be preserved?

-In typical BushSpeak, what are called "advanced techniques" aren't advanced at all. Water torture has been used for thousands of years- it's about as basic as you can get. See that painting, above? That is waterboarding. All you need is water, a blindfold and a victim. Gravity does the work for you.

- Here's a scary thought : Some of the 'advanced' sessions were held with terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps, under torture, they gave up information that connected certain 9/11 dots, dots that BushCo would rather not have connected. These are not hard dots to connect.

In other Bad News:

- I am listening to George Bush on live TV and I find, to my horror, that I agree with him on something:
The Democratic Congress sucks at their collective job.
My reasons for believing this are different than his, however. Bush is upset that Congress waited until the last minute to collapse into jelly...I am pissed off that they caved in at all.
Not surprised, but pissed nonetheless...

- Bush just used the term 'shooters' to refer to soldiers from allied nations who are stationed in Afghanistan...'shooters' is the term used by Blackwater and other mercenary corporations to describe their combat employees. Calling a real soldier a 'shooter' is a show of disrespect.
To be precise, Bush said he was "grateful for the shooters"...perhaps he meant the Jello shooters that Pelosi and Reid were serving last night.

- He just called what we did to Iraq "bestowing the blessing of liberty".
I have to admit that the Second Amendment seems pretty healthy in Iraq...perhaps that is what he means.

-What was Dick Cheney's staff burning?

We Already Know That

After seven years of George W. Bush, it should be clear that any white man, regardless of intellectual capacity, can be selected as President of the United States.

So why is Mitt Romney making such a big deal out of being a Moron? We already have a Moron in the White House. Not for the first time, either.
I'm not sure if we, as Americans, are ready to elect a black man or a woman (of any color) to the Presidency, but I'm absolutely certain that we are willing to vote for a Moron.

Perhaps Romney wanted to point out that not only is he a Moron, he's also unfamiliar with American history and civics in general or that he specifically doesn't know Jack* about the Constitution of the United States.

Ask anything? OK, here goes:

1 ) What legally binding document contains the following stipulation?:
"...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
Hint: It's the United States Constitution.

2) How many times is God mentioned in the United States Constitution? Be specific.

3) What does the first line of the First Amendment to the Constitution say?

4)Why do you think the founders felt it necessary to include this language?
Hint: The answer is in your mirror.

Take your time with these stumpers. It's easy to become distracted when one reads the documents on which this nation was founded...I was searching for God and facts kept drawing me away on tangents...have you ever read the Declaration of Independence, for instance?
It's pretty short reading; it's not an outline for democracy; what it is, is a petition of grievances against a power-mad lunatic named George.
It mentions a 'Creator', but not 'God'. According to correspondence between James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, this was meant to include: "Jew and Gentile, [ Native Americans] heathens and infidels."
It's meant to be inclusive, not exclusionary.

From the Declaration of Independence:

"'When in the Course of human events..." is what it says.

NOT: " During the mysterious movements of God..."

OR: "...due to the capricious whim of the Almighty..."

BUT: "...human events..."

The case for the "new religion of secularism" was made on July 4, 1776.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some of the DoI grievances against Mad George seem disturbingly current.

Does any of this sound familiar?:

-He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good

- He has obstructed the Administration of Justice

- He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people and eat out their substance.

- For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury

- For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

- He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

-He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and [he is] totally unworthy [as] the Head of a civilized nation.

Dudes! I couldn't have put it better myself.

Anyway, we eventually got rid of George, which gave us the freedom to design our own three- branched government; a system of checks and balances was used to insure that no one branch gained control over any other. Certain rights were given to specific Branches.

Congress, for example, was given the sole power to wage war. (Art. 1, Sec. 8)
Congress chose to give this power back to Mad George. The current anarchy in Iraq is the direct result of this dismantling of the American system of checks and balances.
Patrick Henry, it seems, died in vain.

Hey, check this out. It's in the Constitution too:

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

When the founders wrote ..."or Invasion...", they meant foreign invasion of American soil, not American invasion of foreign soil, but BushCo suspended Habeas Corpus anyway.


The United States Constitution also contains this wording regarding the Executive Oath of Office:
"Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

That parenthetical "(or affirm)" was placed there for a specific reason. It directly relates to the first question, above. It allows for the possibility that the person taking the Oath may not have the same -if any- theological beliefs as the persons who wrote the Oath.

But I am digressing.

Mitt, it's time for a hard question.

You said: " You cannot have freedom without religion".
This is in direct contradiction to the First Amendment.

Can you explain what you meant by that remark -or are there some things that your faith doesn't allow you to discuss?

Spreading Freedom

I'm not the slightest bit surprised to learn that Iran suspended it's nuclear weapons program in 2003, nor did I raise a brow when I read that the U.S. has known this for years. Despite this knowledge, BushCo has been busily trying to lie us into attacking Iran under the pretense that they might be building bombs.

Bombs that aren't there.
Does that sound familiar?

After invading Iraq, we learned what was already obvious to anyone who paid attention to reality: Iraq presented absolutely no military threat to America. None.

BushCo should have been impeached, disbanded and jailed for starting that war, but instead there was a general consensus that well, maybe there weren't any WMD, but "the world is a better place without Saddam."

How? In what real, human terms has the removal of Saddam improved the world?

More importantly, BushCo has yet to provide a satisfactory reason for our invasion of Iraq.

Our mission is to spread freedom/democracy? Give me a fucking break. A 3rd grade history student could knock down that spurious claim:

The region now known as Iraq is home of one of the earliest civilizations in human history. The people who live there have had roughly 5,000 years to 'invent' democracy. They have had over 2,000 years to adopt Christianity and Western ideals. That they haven't done so speaks volumes as to what they want in their homeland.

Our hypothetical 3rd grader would point out that the Christian West has a long history of trying to spread freedom on the Muslim East and that it has always ended badly. Always.
Our imaginary student could use their cursory knowledge of world history to give true, supportable and specific examples; something that our real President seems incapable of. Our real President is painfully, dangerously ignorant of history.

He also seems oblivious to basic human psychology and motives. He apparently doesn't understand the direct cause-and-effect relationship between war orphans and suicide bombers.

I would wager that the odds of one of these kids growing up to be a suicide bomber increased dramatically the moment they started seeing body parts strewn about the streets of their neighborhood.


One of the many sad, overlooked facts in this whole debacle is that before the American invasion, it's quite likely that these kids liked America.
They wanted their MTV.
They wanted to play WoW.
Now they'd be lucky if they have two living parents, indoor plumbing and a roof.


You don't need to be a spy to understand why Iran doesn't have a nuclear enrichment program- they don't have one because they don't need one. If Iran really wanted a nuke, they could get one on the black market- if they haven't already done so...North Korea and Pakistan both have the bomb and the collapse of the USSR has led to some serious security concerns regarding nuclear warheads...the demand will inevitably create a supply. It will. The weapons already exist- it's merely matter of time and espionage until one falls into the wrong hands.

In the real world, it is extremely unlikely that Iran would ever launch a nuclear first strike against anyone- Israel included. The inflammatory rhetoric coming from Iran re:Israel is mere rhetorical demagoguery- American politicians do not have a monopoly on political bloviation and lies. The Iranian Mullahs are fully aware that to launch a nuke would spell the utter destruction of them and their nation. They would lose everything. Being in charge, they stand to lose a lot.

War orphans, on the other hand, have nothing left to lose. When Kris Kristofferson wrote, "freedom ain't nothing but another word for 'nothing left to lose'", he wasn't referring to the kind of freedom that we are spreading on Iraq, but he was right.

Unlike despotic heads-of-state, war orphans understand the liberating freedom of nihilism, even if they don't know the word. They understand that they have lost all hope and that just maybe if they wear this special jacket and press this magic button, they will have some part of what they have lost restored to them.
The technology has changed but the psychology has not. If you kill someone's family and destroy their home, the survivors will want revenge. That should be obvious. Violence begets violence.

Believe it or not, the #1 reason for Iran wanting the Bomb is to deter an American invasion- the Mullahs are very aware that we haven't invaded North Korea- a nation that sorely needs freedom if there ever was one...we haven't invaded because of Lil Kim's atomic deterrence and Iran knows that. The entire world, with the possible exception of 250 million Americans, knows this.

The next time a nuclear device explodes in a civilian area, it will probably be the work of individuals, not of nations. It's not unreasonable to speculate that the perps will be war orphans with the new freedom to have nothing left to lose.
Freedom that was spread on them by America.

If Bush actually wanted peace, he'd have greeted the belated 2003 security report with relief.
"Thank God", he would say," there is now one less threat to worry about. Now we can start concentrating on fixing our real problems without this additional distraction."
That is what a real leader would say.

This is what Bush said:

"“I think it is very important for the international community to recognize the fact that if Iran were to develop the knowledge that they could transfer to a clandestine program, it would create a danger for the world,” he said."

What he means is: We should start a war now because it's possible that at some future time Iraq may acquire a nuclear bomb. Or something. And that would be bad.
In any case, he's still hell-bent on beating the war drums...he's created a trillion-dollar for-profit war machine and peace would ruin all the hard work his cabal has done over the last seven years. For example,100,000 Blackwater mercenaries would be out-of-work. Those people are trained killers - I don't look forward to standing in the unemployment lines with them.

With any luck, this development will derail BushCo's war plans. The American people are growing visibly tired of endless, pointless war and it's unlikely that the average Iranian citizen has much interest in fighting yet another war-they know they will lose, and badly- given time, luck and a bit of clarity, both nations will eventually replace their leadership -from within.
We can do it here in 2008.

It may take a bit longer for the Iranians to make a wholesale change in their civics- if ever- but that is up to them, not to us. Normalizing relations with Iraq would be a possible first step. I am convinced that we could win more hearts and minds with Shrek DVDs, MySpaces and music videos than we could with depleted uranium shells, land mines and laser-guided smart bombs.

It would be cheaper too.

Survival

Who are these guys? Taliban? PKK? Al-Queda? A Saudi rap group?
Nope.
They are NASA trainees, photographed after a Death Valley survival vacation.

This might be a good time to brush up on your survivalist skills- it seems as if the end times are just around the corner...what else is new, right?

The current state of martial law in Pakistan is troubling, to say the least. Pakistani president 'Pervy' Mushareef's sham government is teetering on the brink of collapse, with radical Islamic fundamentalists poised to take power- we know from our own history that when the religious lunatics take over government, the first thing they do is start wars. One need look no further than our current regime for an example of what happens when religious fanatics are put in charge of dangerous things like armies, prisons and nuclear bombs- just wait until the Islamic wack-jobs get their hands on the modern military equipment and atomic weaponry that the United States sold to Mushareef...oh and yeah, do you remember a guy named Osama? He's in Pakistan- the same Pakistan that has nukes and U.S.-built F-16s.

Then there's Turks and Kurds and Iranians, oh my. The Turks and Kurds are fighting each other, both sides are armed and supported by the U.S. , which is a wee bit dicey...things are complicated, to put it mildly. It seems that the PKK has kidnapped a number of Turkish soldiers and the Turks are pretty much determined to go to war to get them back- against the wishes of the White House. I imagine that a conversation much like this fictionalized dialogue has taken place recently:

Turks: "We are going to invade Iraq and get our soldiers back."

BushCo: "Please don't do that."

Turks: " Why? When Hezbollah kidnapped two Israelis, you guys gave Israel the green light to bomb the living shit out of Lebanon...the PKK nabbed eight of our guys and you are telling us to 'take it easy' and NOT to retaliate? Your foreign policy makes absolutely no fucking sense."

BushCo: "Um...well, if ya gotta go into Iran, would ya consider not using the guns marked 'Made in the USA'? We are trying to convince a skeptical world that Iran is a global menace and it just wouldn't look right if people found out that we are helping terrorists to kill Iranians..."

Turks: "You are talking to the wrong Turks. Go fuck yourself, cowboy."

Do you remember a while back when it was reported that the US in Iraq had 'lost' a huge shipments of arms and munitions, including RPG's, anti-aircraft missiles and nearly 200,000 automatic rifles? Nobody seems to know what happened to all those guns...coincidentally, the Kurdish PKK rebels have recently obtained a seemingly endless supply of modern weaponry, the source of which no one seems to be able to identify.

Fuckin' mysterious, man...one pile of guns vanishes, another cache materializes...hmmm. Obviously, the problem in the Middle East is this: Gun shortages.

The U.S. Defense industry cannot keep pace with the escalating demand for weapons that the BushCo foreign policy has created, which has in turn generated a great new profit center for the burgeoning Chinese War Machine...of course, BushCo doesn't wan't the Chinese to supply the Iraqis with weapons, since that will almost certainly lead to Iraq shipping more oil to China, which means less for the US and higher prices everywhere...I swear, if I didn't know better, I would speculate that the entire purpose behind the 'War on Terra' is simply to raise oil prices and increase arms sales.

Mission Accomplished, motherfuckers.

To make things even more complex, the PKK has a splinter group that operates in Iran, fighting against the Iranian government, often using terrorist tactics- and presumably U.S. aid- to carry out attacks on Iranian infrastructure- meanwhile BushCo , with the limp capitulation of Hillary Clinton and other Senate Dems, has labeled certain Iranians as 'terrorists', which, by default, gives BushCo the unconstitutional authority to declare yet another unilateral war of aggression...when viewed from a distance the situation is much like one of those grade-school word puzzles, except without the underlying logical foundation:

Q:All Sneets are Snoots, but not all Snoots are Sneets. Some Sneets are Snaaps, but no Snaaps are Snoots. What is a Sneet and whose side are they on?

A:Who cares? 9-11!

Help Wanted

Above is a snippet from one of my job searches. This one searches these categories: Government/Military, Insurance and Legal; three fields I have experience in.

At the top is the omnipresent banner ad for the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.The Border Patrol , it seems, is always hiring. That ad has been at the top of this particular search for weeks or longer...I can exclude that one. I'm looking for unarmed work.

The next job is offered by a private security firm and a military/law enforcement background is preferred. I forget the exact salary, but I think it was in the $80k range, which is probably more than an honest Border Patrol agent makes.


After that:
-Management Training- Infantryman : Army National Guard. WTF?
-Language and Translator Opportunities- Navy
-Weapon Systems Technician [read:artillery]-NG
and
-News and Media Opportunities-Navy. This one pops up on my 'telecommunications' and 'admin/clerical' searches as well.

The major downside to all of these jobs involves joining the military during what will almost inevitably be a time of escalating warfare. Also, those specific jobs are not guaranteed upon enlistment.

Here are a few ways that America can fill it's military staffing needs:

- Develop and/or encourage wide-spread socioeconomic conditions that present limited financial, employment and educational opportunities to young adults ; if lower-class kids are given a choice between poverty, incarceration or enlistment , then enlistment rates will increase.
The word 'opportunities' didn't accidentally find it's way into the wording of those ads- the military is fully aware that their target audience has a dire shortage of 'opportunities'. That $20k signing bonus must look pretty sweet to a great many 18-yr olds, but not enough, apparently, or they wouldn't be swamping the civilian papers with recruitment ads.

- A draft. It would be funny as hell if Blackwater mercenaries were drafted and forced to survive on G.I. pay- and with G.I. body armor. Delicious irony aside, I hope we never resort to that again.

-Peace.

My guess is that we'll see the first two items before we see the third.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Democrats seem to have forgotten that we, the people, don't want any more war.
I hope I'm wrong, but it seems like almost no one in our government really wants this war to end. On the rare occasion that a Democrat tells the truth, they are shunned and rebuked by their own party.

A day after successfully sustaining President Bush’s veto of a bill to provide health insurance to 10 million children, Congressional Republicans remained in an uproar over comments made by Representative Pete Stark, Democrat of California, who accused the Republicans, in a speech on the House floor, of sending American soldiers “to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”

On Thursday, Republicans immediately demanded an apology from Mr. Stark. “Our troops in Iraq are not fighting 'for the president's amusement',” Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said in a statement. “Congressman Stark should correct and clarify his statement - our troops are fighting for the financial gains of a handful of defense contractors and their network of lobbyists. To say that they are there for 'amusement' undermines the seriousness of our profit motive. Mr. Starks should apologize to defense industry shareholders and their families.”

So, at the urging of Democrat 'leaders', Starks sorta said he was kinda sorry. What he should have said is:

" Are you fucking kidding me? This war is the biggest mess in American history and it's just one of dozens of reasons that we should be pushing for impeachment- the founding fathers gave that ability to us for a reason- we need to let this and future administrations know that they are not above the law or the Constitution. What I said was mild compared to the whole truth- but you bunch of milquetoast pussies are too worried about your careers to do what THE PEOPLE want you to do. "

He continued," I propose we attach the vetoed SCHIP legislation to the President's new request for a $46 billion dollar war budget. It would give Bush a chance to save face with moderates while allowing him to blame the 'wasteful' spending on us Democrats. Personally, I don't think there's any such thing as 'wasteful spending' when it comes to the well- being of the children who will inherit America- attaching it to the war budget is our best chance of getting this important bill expanded."

"Furthermore,' Mr. Starks went on," did you know that one Senator can put a hold on a bill, requiring a 3/5 override- and you can filibuster if you have the stones- but not one of you lamefucks decided to do that with the last war budget. I move that we applaud Sen. Dodd for putting a hold on the Bush administration's unconstitutional FISA wiretapping bill, a bill which most of you were more than willing to roll over on, and follow his example by putting our nation's interests ahead of our political ambitions."

"Sen. Dodd placed that obscene bill on hold without any help from us. Are you telling me that all of us, together, can't give this administration at least a bit of the ass-kicking they so soundly deserve? Damn, at least attach SCHIP to the war money...that's totally fucking obvious, but you haven't done it yet. Sometimes I think my colleagues are almost as bad as our opponents on the other side...sheesh.
We should be ashamed of ourselves.
And by the way- fuck you and your apologies. God bless America. "

That's what he shoulda said.

Loud Obbs-ervations

Lou Dobbs

A friend was recently exhorting me to watch Lou Dobbs.

Dobbs, explained my interlocuter, was the spokeswhiteman for the latest incarnation of the KKK and was busily spreading his message of hate and bigotry on CNN and nobody was doing anything about it.
My friend suggested that I, being a famous DJ and notorious blogger, could do something to put an end to Dobbs.

"You gotta stop Dobbs", plead my friend, "he's more politically incorrect than a month of Columbus Days."

"Slow down", I said in response, " when you get excited, you no speak English so good, ya know?"

I didn't have the heart to tell my amigo that I actually like Lou Dobbs. I disagree with Lou on a great many things, but how could you not like a man who attracts women with such excellent 'fiction names'?

KITTY PILGRIM

I can't think of Kitty Pilgrim without thinking of Kurt Vonnegut.

She has traveled to the top of Mt. Cable and discovered that the guru on the peak is Lou Dobbs and the Mount is really just another offal heap.
I would like to write a Vonnegut tribute riff featuring a heroine with Ms. Pilgrim's name , but she has already claimed it.



CHRISTINE ROMANS

If the Revelations are to be televised, I can't think of a better person to deliver the scoop on the End Times than an announcer named Christine Romans.

Romans is also one of my favorite books in the Bible. Like many people, I take Bible excerpts completely out of context and interpret them to fit my needs; to me, Romans Chapter Seven suggests that the best way for a married woman to avoid adultery is to kill her husband.
Amen!
But I digress...

KELLY ARENA

I once started a short story featuring a young schizophrenic woman named Kelli Arena. Her only friends were hundreds of tiny plastic soldiers and dinosaurs, she had given unique personalties and backgrounds to each toy warrior and saurian...in her mind, the two groups were always forming plots and conspiring against each other- and her...anyway, once I found out there was a real person named Kelly Arena, I lost interest in the story.

Kelli Arena might seem like the sort of name one would expect to see featured on productions such as Midsummer's Night Bukkake Vol. 26, but changing that 'i' to a 'y' makes a world of difference and you will see the real Mrs. Arena on CNN, not exiting a van in the parking lot of a Van Nuys 'Studio 6'.

Her quasi- Puritanical garb, friendly but professional smile and confident posture strike a stark contrast to the bleak future faced by her deleted, demented namesake, whom I suddenly feel like rescuing from the recycle bin.



Well.
I pretty much feel like writing about anything but Lou Fucking Dobbs, but a promise is a promise...oh hell, I can't stop Lou Dobbs.
Are you nuts?

---------------------------------------------

Next: Answers?

Some Why

Is there anyone out there who doesn't understand why the United States is at war?

Here's why:


Bartcop did the math. He points out that if you owned 1 million shares of Halliburton before
the wars, you would have roughly 6 million dollars- today,with the stock split in 2006, those shares would be worth $80 million.
That's a profit of $74 million dollars in 4 years.

$19,000 per dead soldier.

Is it worth it?



You've surely heard of Blackwater by now- they are America's largest corporate militia, a shadow Army of mercenaries who are accountable to no one but the Grim Reaper and Erik Prince- who may be the same person.

Blackwater numbers:


-Federal Blackwater contracts in 2001 : $736,906

-Federal contracts in 2006 : $ 593 million

-Total value of Blackwater contracts, end 2006: $ 1 billion

-Percentage growth since 2001: 80,453

Eighty THOUSAND percent?

The funding for this enormous growth has come almost entirely from the Federal Government, with the approval of the same President who just vetoed children's health care. Priorities.

It's probably just a coincidence, but Exxon's profits doubled as soon as the war started and have continued to rise at a meteoric pace- yet Exxon still gets extremely generous tax breaks from BushCo- the same BushCo that claimed some of the children's health care he just vetoed might go to families that can "afford" medicine.

How about the tax cuts that go to people and corporations that can afford to pay taxes? Why doesn't BushCo scrap those?

It's a rhetorical question.

That's $108 million dollars a day. Is it worth it?

Ask this woman.


Or this family.

Ask this man. You might have to wait until he can get his baby to stop crying.

Hush little baby, Exxon just made $108 million dollars. Besides, you don't want to be the only kid on the block without a combat dressing, do you?

Priorities

Dear Kids,
I understand that some of y'all might have mommies and daddies who want you boys and girls to be able to see the doctor when you feel funny. As a daddy myself, I 'ppreciate that. That is how daddies feel. Funny, but not ha-ha.
But don't you hate going to the doctor? And isn't the dentist scary?
It's nothing to be ashamed of- heck,even I was afraid to show up for my doctor visit when I was in the National Guard- that was back before you were born, but people still talk about it. Dan.

Well, you can stop worrying 'bout getting scared. No more icky doctors or yucky medicine for you!

See, y'all gotta understand something. Progress costs money. And you can't have progress without giving big tax cuts to people who make enough money in one day to pay for your insulin for life -which may be considerably shorter if I use my veto.

Tax cuts = progress dollars.

Anyway, all them progress dollars gotta come from somewhere, which got me thinking...y'know, people like to make fun of me and say that I don't read books, but them folks are wrong.

I do. I was reading some stuff by this old guy named Charles Dickens when I had this great idea:
There's nothing I want that I can't simply take from poor people.

Aha! I will use poor people to pay for my progress! And my war. Wars cost money, y'know.
I'm trying to keep this war going so that you can grow up and help spread freedom in Iraq, but some people want to cut off my allowance and take away your future job opportunities.

Well, they can't do that. I'm the Decider and sometimes my decisioning is hard work.
Hard work means sacrifice.

In the interest of progress I regretfully insist on vetoing your allowance instead of cutting mine. N'yahh!

But don't worry! I'm gonna relax those 'big-government' child labor laws so that y'all can work in our nation's coal mines- you cute little kids are the perfect size for crawling in tunnels!

In the Cliff notes to the Dickens books I read, they mention factories as being good places to give children job opportunities, but we don't have enough factories here in 'Merica to give y'all jobs. If y'all give my progress a chance, I'll make sure you have construction jobs building factories in other countries.
Heck, I'll pay you to knock them down and then I'll pay you to rebuild them. Talk about job security!

Don't go thinking that I'm some kinda lefty, book-readin' intellectual though.
I'm regular folk, just like you- 'cept your daddy might not have been President- and I get my ideas from reg'lar folks too.
For instance, take my idea of progress: I learned it from watching NASCAR.


I thank you for your sacrifice in this time of national need.

Best,
Unca Dubya

P.S. You teens might wanna check out some of the sweeet enlistment bonuses available at a military recruiter near you! (Act now-those bonuses won't be given to draftees)

Boil Away

I once worked in a Big Insurance office that was being closed down. I was working as a temp, processing claims from Hurricane Isabel, and was one of the last people to actually occupy the building. One of my final tasks was to box up all the office supplies left over from the Isabel Catastrophe operation (which once consisted of 300+ workers) and arrange for a company truck to take them back to the Catastrophe Team Warehouse.
Some items were deemed disposable - too expensive to ship back and re-distribute- and were to be discarded.
One of those items were the loose ballpoint pens. There were three Zip-Loc freezer bags full of pens- probably 1,500 or more- and it didn't feel right to throw away so many perfectly good writing sticks.
I had been reading a website that was collecting "care packages" for the troops in Iraq and one of the Army chaplains had written an email on behalf of the local schools. He said something akin to :
" We need pens and paper. Entire classes are sharing a single pencil and there is no paper. "
There was a military APO to send stationary and supplies to.

I thought it would be a great idea to send these pens ( and pads, pencils, staplers etc) to this chaplain in Baghdad- I mean , we were gonna throw 'em away- so I told my boss what I was doing.

"No! You are not doing that."

"But why? It's a good cause."

"I'm not debating that. But those pens all have the Company logo on them and if one of those pens winds up inside a terrorist car-bomb, it'll be my ass that gets hanged."

I thought he was being a bit paranoid, but I saw his point about the logo. A few people were starting to realize that the war was going badly and the boss was a bit leery of putting the Company in a position where it looked like it was sponsoring the war.

So I sorted out the 100 or so pens that didn't have the logo on them and sent them anonymously to the chaplain. The rest I kept, gave away or donated to the radio station.
I had forgotten all about it until I read about the Executive Order signed by Bush on 17 July:

"I have issued an Executive Order blocking property of persons determined to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq or undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people."

The new Executive Order authorizes the Sec. or Treasury to seize the property and economic assets of any American citizen who is "threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq...undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq..," or those who "have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of...[people who do bad things].

(It's interesting that the European press caught this story but the American media has ignored it. It's also a bit ironic that Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, had his assets frozen for trading with the Nazis in WWII.)

Under this new order, I would be afraid to send those pens to the chaplain - what if one of the pens fell into the wrong hands and the ballpoint spring was used to create a detonator for a roadside bomb? My vast fortune would be seized by the Treasury Dept.

But the real target of this order are anti-war groups and organizations. It will be interesting to see if BushCo invokes this New Order to punish Cindy Sheehan for having the temerity to publicly point out the obvious. Sheehan, you may have heard, was arrested yesterday after being told by John Conyers (D-Wuss) that Congress "doesn't have the votes" to impeach Bush.
I would submit to Mr. Conyers that the Founders intended for us to exercise the checks and balances built into our Constitution - use 'em or lose 'em- and that impeachment is needed right now- but I digress.

Speak out about the war? The right-wingnuts often call that "undermining" the efforts, so it's possible BushCo might try to freeze the assets of Sheehan and any group ( CodePink, AfterDowning Street, Move On et. al.) or individual who assisted or supported her in any way.

If that Executive Order isn't scary enough, read this:

Just last month new legislation was signed which declares that in the event of a "catastrophic event", the President can take total control over the government and the country, bypassing all other levels of government at the state, federal, local, territorial and tribal levels, and thus ensuring total unprecedented dictatorial power.

The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, which also places the Secretary of Homeland Security in charge of domestic "security", was signed on May 9th without the approval or oversight of Congress and seemingly supercedes the National Emergency Act which allows the president to declare a national emergency but also requires that Congress have the authority to "modify, rescind, or render dormant" such emergency authority if it believes the president has acted inappropriately.

If you follow the link above, you will find the official White House release. At the end , it chillingly notes that the rest of the Order is classified- by Executive Order.

Rep. Peter DiFazio (D-OR) recently asked the White House for access to the classified Bush plan of action in case of another terrorist attack. DiFazio, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, had his request denied.

The White House didn't want to admit that it had a secret plan, and now that we know it exists, the Bush administration won't tell us what it is.
I wonder if it involves these Halliburton-built concentration camps?

Republican Ron Paul said this in 2005, regarding a Bush proposal to declare martial law in case of an Avian Flu epidemic:

"To me it's so strange that the President can make these proposals and it's even plausible. When he talks about martial law dealing with some epidemic that might come later on and having forced quarantines, doing away with Posse Comitatus in order to deal with natural disasters, and hardly anybody says anything. People must be scared to death."

To me it's strange that Bush is still President. He has recently declared himself and Cheney to be above and exempt from the law:

Domestically, they're no longer even trying to hide their aversion to democracy and the Constitution. With his new Executive Order on "executive privilege," for example, Bush openly proclaims that he is untouchable by the rule of law; now there are only two branches of government-- the Legislative Branch is ignored as irrelevant -- and Cheney/Bush more or less control them both. More on this issue [here].

So without consulting Congress or notifying the public, BushCo has signed laws that , in the case of certain events (such as a terrorist attack), gives the President unchecked power over the entire government- he becomes the the government- and if you don't like it, you might be "undermining" the war effort and have your property stolen.

Stephen Pizzo calls this the "boiling the frog" method of destroying our Constitution. You place a frog in a pan of water and slowly turn up the heat. By the time the frog realizes the water is lethal, it's too late to jump.

Soup's on!