land of the greed, and the home of the slave

Robert Greenwald keeps finding new reasons for being my hero...



Please visit War on Greed

This, unfortunately, is the new America. Even more unfortunately, it's just the tip of the iceberg. And once again, not too many of us seem to care...

(By the way, the Ebay suggestion toward the end was my personal favorite.)

money changes everything

More evidence of this administration’s integrity…

Condi Snoozed While Chevron Paid Off Saddam

…Near the end of (Condoleeza Rice’s) decade on Chevron's board (she joined it in 1991 while a professor at Stanford University), the corporation cooked up the very responsible-sounding "The Chevron Way to a Strong Board." As chairman of the "Public Policy Committee," she should have been tuned in to the open secret of kickbacks being paid to Saddam starting in June 2000…

While she left the board to head the National Security Council seven months later, there was plenty of time to keep Chevron from buying millions of barrels of crude from Iraq and sending around $20 million to Saddam's private accounts and "pet projects" like aiding Russian whacko bigot, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Chevron will pay around $25 million to settle the charges - an amount the company will recoup hundreds of times over if the Iraq oil law goes forward with Production Sharing Agreements in the legislation.

The commentary above is referencing this article right hyah…

Chevron seen settling case on Iraq oil

Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, is preparing to acknowledge that it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein on oil it bought from Iraq as part of a defunct United Nations program, according to investigators.

The admission is part of a settlement being negotiated with United States prosecutors and includes fines totaling $25 million to $30 million, according to the investigators, who declined to be identified because the settlement was not yet public.

The penalty, which is still being negotiated, would be the largest so far in the United States in connection with investigations of companies involved in the oil-for-food scandal.

The $64 billion program was set up in 1996 by the Security Council to help ease the effects of United Nations sanctions on Iraqi civilians after the first Gulf war. Until the American invasion in 2003, the program allowed Saddam's government to export oil to pay for food, medicine and humanitarian goods.

Using an elaborate system of secret surcharges and extra fees, however, the Iraqi regime received at least $1.8 billion in kickbacks from companies in the program, according to an investigation completed in 2005 by Paul A. Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

A report released in 2004 by an investigator at the Central Intelligence Agency listed five American companies that bought oil through the program: the Coastal Corporation, a subsidiary of El Paso; Chevron; Texaco; BayOil; and Mobil, now part of Exxon Mobil. The companies have denied any wrongdoing and said they were cooperating with the investigations.

As part of the deal under negotiation, Chevron, which now owns Texaco, is not expected to admit to violating the United Nations sanctions. But Chevron is expected to acknowledge that it should have been aware that illegal kickbacks were being paid to Iraq on the oil, the investigators said.

The fine is connected to the payment of about $20 million in surcharges on tens of millions of barrels of Iraqi oil bought by Chevron from 2000 to 2002, investigators said.

These payments were made by small oil traders that sold oil to Chevron. But records found by United Nations, American and Italian officials showed that they were financed by Chevron.

The negotiations, which might take several weeks to conclude, follow an agreement reached in February by El Paso, the largest operator of American natural gas pipelines, to pay the United States government $7.73 million to settle allegations that it was involved in illegal payments under the oil-for-food program.

Thus far, only former United Nations officials, individual traders and relatively small oil companies have come under scrutiny in the United States.

According to the Volcker report, surcharges on Iraqi oil exports were introduced in August 2000 by the Iraqi state oil company, the State Oil Marketing Organization. At the time, Condoleezza Rice, now secretary of state, was a member of Chevron's board and led its public policy committee, which oversaw areas of potential political concerns for the company.

In sworn statements last year to an Italian prosecutor, an Italian businessman, Fabrizio Loioli, said he sold Iraqi oil to many companies, including Chevron, and all were aware of the Iraqi request for payment of a surcharge. "In fact, each final beneficiary involved used to add this amount to the official price to disguise it as a premium to be paid to the intermediary," Loioli said in his statement. "In reality, they were perfectly aware that only a part of that would go to the intermediary, while the remaining part was to be paid to the Iraqis."

It just shocks me to no end that people in the U.S. actually believe the bullshit fed to them by the Bush Administration. This has nothing to do with Republican versus Democrat…it’s just plain old greed and dishonesty for the sake of greed. Democrats are just as capable (the Kennedys, Gores and Clintons didn’t get where they are based on hard work).

Are conservatives just afraid to call out the folks they elected for their lack of ethics and hypocrisy? Or is it just a case of being steadfastly stubborn about admitting you were wrong about – or fooled by – someone you once supported?

I cannot wrap my head around the allegiances Americans have to the two parties.

it's the criminals (or evil), stupid...!

This is a really interesting article from last week about the Virginia Tech shootings, and similar episodes from the recent past…

A Volatile Young Man, Humiliation and a Gun

"God I can't wait till I can kill you people." – a message on the Web site of the Columbine killer Eric Harris

In the predawn hours of Monday, Aug. 1, 1966, Charles Whitman, a former marine and Eagle Scout in Austin, Tex., stabbed his wife to death in their bed. The night before he had driven to his mother's apartment in another part of town and killed her.

Later that Monday morning, Whitman gathered together food, water, a supply of ammunition, two rifles, a couple of pistols, a carbine and a shotgun and climbed the landmark 30-story tower on the campus of the University of Texas.

Beneath a blazing sun, with temperatures headed toward the mid-90s, Whitman opened fire. His first target was a pregnant teenager. Over the next 80 or so minutes he killed 14 people and wounded more than 30 others before being shot to death by the police.

More than four decades later we still profess to be baffled at the periodic eruption of murderous violence in places we perceive as safe havens. We look on aghast, as if the devil himself had appeared from out of nowhere. This time it was 32 innocents slaughtered on the campus of Virginia Tech. How could it have happened? We behave as if it was all so inexplicable.

(acs note: Some folks are content on some level to ascribe such behavior to simple “evil.” But then those kinds of people excel at simplistic, religious-based sociology. Not to sound too elitist, but this post – and probably this blog – ain’t for those people.)

But a close look at the patterns of murderous violence in the U.S. reveals some remarkable consistencies, wherever the individual atrocities may have occurred. In case after case, decade after decade, the killers have been shown to be young men riddled with shame and humiliation, often bitterly misogynistic and homophobic, who have decided that the way to assert their faltering sense of manhood and get the respect they have been denied is to go out and shoot somebody.

Dr. James Gilligan, who has spent many years studying violence as a prison psychiatrist in Massachusetts, and as a professor at Harvard and now at N.Y.U., believes that some debilitating combination of misogyny and homophobia is a "central component" in much, if not most, of the worst forms of violence in this country.

"What I've concluded from decades of working with murderers and rapists and every kind of violent criminal," he said, "is that an underlying factor that is virtually always present to one degree or another is a feeling that one has to prove one's manhood, and that the way to do that, to gain the respect that has been lost, is to commit a violent act."

Violence is commonly resorted to as the antidote to the disturbing emotions raised by the widespread hostility toward women in our society and the pathological fear of so many men that they aren't quite tough enough, masculine enough - in short, that they might have homosexual tendencies.

In a culture that is relentless in equating violence with masculinity, "it is tremendously tempting," said Dr. Gilligan, "to use violence as a means of trying to shore up one's sense of masculine self-esteem."

The Virginia Tech killer, Cho Seung-Hui, was reported to have stalked female classmates and to have leaned under tables to take inappropriate photos of women. A former roommate told CNN that Mr. Cho once claimed to have seen "promiscuity" when he looked into the eyes of a woman on campus.

Charles Whitman was often portrayed as the sunny all-American boy. But he had been court-martialed in the Marines, was struggling as a college student and apparently had been suffering from depression. He told a psychiatrist that he absolutely hated his father, but he started his murderous spree by killing his wife and his mother.

The confluence of feelings of inadequacy, psychosexual turmoil and the easy availability of guns has resulted in a staggering volume of murders in this country.

There are nearly 200 million firearms in private hands in the U.S., and more than 30,000 people - nearly 10 times the total number of Americans who have died in Iraq - are killed by those guns each year. In 1966 Americans were being killed by guns at the rate of 17,000 a year. An article in The Times examining such "rampages" as the Charles Whitman shootings said:

"Whatever the motivation, it seems clear that the way is made easier by the fact that guns of all sorts are readily available to Americans of all shades of morality and mentality."

We've learned very little in 40 years.

Oh, to live in Norweigia...

(...courtesy of the fine folks at the National Labor Committee)

Wal-Mart Dumped From One of the World's Largest Pension Funds

The Norwegian Government's pension fund, with $285 billion in holdings, is dropping Wal-Mart - the world's largest retailer - from its fund due to the use of child labor and systematic sweatshop abuses in its huge global supply chain.

In its 2006 Annual Report, released on March 20, 2007, the Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund-Global reached the following conclusion:

There is no doubt...that Wal-Mart purchases a number of products that are manufactured under unacceptable conditions. There are numerous reports of child labor, serious violations of working hour regulations, wages below the local minimum, health-hazardous working conditions, unreasonable punishment, prohibition of unionization and extensive use of a production system that fosters working conditions bordering on forced labor, and employees being locked into production premises, etc. in Wal-Mart's supply chain. All the above examples represent violations of internationally recognized standards for labor rights and human rights.

The Petroleum Fund's Council on Ethics considers that there is an unacceptable risk that the fund, through its investments in Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Wal-Mart de Mexico SA, may be complicit in serious or systematic violations of human rights. The Council recommends that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Wal-Mart de Mexico SA be excluded from the Petroleum Fund's portfolio.

On the U.S. front, the fund found Wal-Mart guilty of "discrimination of female employees," "active obstruction of employees' right to unionize," "violations dealing with the employment of minors," "mandatory overtime without compensation" and the "use of illegal labor."

In the section of the report dealing with Wal-Mart's abusive offshore sweatshop practices, the Norwegian Government's Council on Ethics largely relied upon the National Labor Committee's research in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bangladesh and China. The NLC's research was corroborated by other independent human and worker rights organizations.

Points which emerge in the Fund's report:

- Wal-Mart imports products from 70 countries around the world.

- In 2003, Wal-Mart imported goods valuing more than $15 billion from China and is the world's largest importer from China.

- In 2004, Wal-Mart had 5,300 direct suppliers, but overall depends upon "our 68,000 suppliers worldwide."

- Wal-Mart's annual sales exceed the Gross Domestic Product of 161 countries in the world.

The full report ("Annual Report 2006 / Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund-Global")…

I know what necrophiliacs are...

But is there a word for people who fuck the survivors of the deceased? I know all major newspapers are guilty of this, but this is what $400+ gets you in the Dallas Morning News obituary section...

REID, SYBIL ELAINE, Born December 19, 1913 in Denver, CO and passed away March 23, 2007 in Dallas, TX. She is preceded in death by her husband, Percy R. Reid and brother, James Dilts. Elaine is survived by her sons, James D. Reid and wife, Lynda, Robert L. Reid and wife, Helen and John R. Reid; 3 grandchildren, Ray, Deborah and Daniel Reid; 4 great grandchildren, Matthew, John and Rachel Reid, Caroline Roberts; sister-in-law, Mae Rene Dilts; niece, Rebecca; nephew, Russell. She loved her family, liked to read and was a 50 year member of Trinity Presbyterian Church. A graveside service will be held 11:30AM, Monday, March 26, 2007 in Restland Memorial Park. Family will receive friends from 10-11:00AM, prior to service. A memorial service is scheduled for 3:00PM at Grace Presbyterian Village. Memorials may be made to Grace Presbyterian Village, 550 E. Ann Arbor, Dallas, TX 75216 214-376-1701. Restland 972-238-7111 restlandfuneralhome.com

OB6 Obituaries, Notices - Published in the Dallas Morning News on 3/25/2007.

"She loved her family and liked to read." Well, that's a nice summation of a lifetime of ninety-three years, isn't it? There was quite a lot more to my grandmother's story than that, obviously. And our family certainly would have liked to include more about her history and the type of person she was. But after shelling out $500+ on flowers and whatnot to the Restland folks (who also tried to swindle us out of some additional money...but I won't get into that little breach of ethics), that's pretty much all the family could afford for the obituary.

The death/funeral-related industry has got to be the biggest racket allowed by law. And it shouldn't be because the "sevices" they provide - or, more accurately, the amounts they charge the grieving relatives because they know the families have no other options - are downright criminal, in my opinion. I've never understood how it's any different than price-gouging or mafia shakedowns. The whole industry is one big scam. They operate under the pretense of helping those in need who are in vulnerable situations. But what they really do is use that vulnerability to drain every last cent they can from the survivors. From the funeral home folks down to the newspapers. Obituaries aren't expensive because they need to be. Everyone knows the obituary writers occupy the lowest rung on the journalistic totem pole...they don't get paid for shit, they don't actually write the obits themselves...they just type up the pre-written notices provided to them. Where's the expense? I'll answer my own question: nowhere. Obituaries are expensive because the papers who print them know they can get away with it.

So I'm going to take it upon myself to write what I think is a more appropriate obituary for my grandmother. And the Dallas Morning News can kiss my ass.

REID, SYBIL ELAINE, Born December 19, 1913 in Denver, CO and passed away March 23, 2007 in Dallas, TX. She is preceded in death by her husband, Percy R. Reid and brother, James Dilts. Elaine is survived by her sons, James D. Reid and wife, Lynda of Waxahachie TX; Robert L. Reid and wife, Helen of Houston TX; and John R. Reid of Larned KS; three grandchildren, Ray, Deborah and Daniel Reid; 4 great grandchildren, Matthew, John and Rachel Reid, Caroline Roberts; sister-in-law, Mae Rene Dilts; niece, Rebecca; nephew, Russell.

Elaine, known as "Mimi" to her family, was a caring, devoted and generous person. She was a fifty-year member of Trinity Presbyterian Church and often volunteered with church functions and activities. During her 70s and early 80s, Elaine was a regular volunteer for Meals On Wheels, delivering meals to people her age and older who had limited means with regard to providing food for themselves. She was a survivor of the Great Depression and was forced to relocate to Dallas after fleeing the hardest hit Dust Bowl regions of Kansas and Oklahoma. Elaine lived alone for the remainder of her life after her husband's untimely death at the age of fifty, but she was never lonely. Elaine had a good-natured and often self-deprecating sense of humor that never left her, even toward the end of her life when her physical condition was no longer able to keep up with her lively personality, wit, intelligence and empathy. Her generosity in spirit, sincere caring, and selfless character made her loved, admired and respected by her family. Her life was and will be forever intertwined with those whose lives she touched.

A graveside service will be held 11:30AM, Monday, March 26, 2007 in Restland Memorial Park. Family will receive friends from 10-11:00AM, prior to service. A memorial service is scheduled for 3:00PM at Grace Presbyterian Village. Memorials may be made to Grace Presbyterian Village, 550 E. Ann Arbor, Dallas, TX 75216 214-376-1701. Restland 972-238-7111 restlandfuneralhome.com

acs 1, brainless chickenshit conservative 0

…in my humble estimation, of course. And many, many thanks are owed to my debating partner in crime, The Amazing Bill, who is infinitely more patient and polite than I obviously am. Bill rocks.

Anyway, here are all the comments on the ACLU / Hutto prison article on Unfair Park. To paraphrase the dumbass in question, calling someone a moron is probably the last resort put forth by someone that has no argument.

(And, yes, I know “dumbass” is the equivalent. But he started it. Or ended it, as the case may be…)

“They treat us like we’re nothing”
17 Comments

Whatever you think about illegal immigration, you understand that the people we are discussing here are coming here fleeing persecution? We are then jailing some of them, some of whom are children, right? How do I feel about that as an American, as a Christian? Well, I’m appalled. It reflects badly on our country and as us as citizens that we just look away. Shame on us. Shame.

1) Comment by bill h — March 6, 2007 @ 3:25 pm


…Which is why it’s so good that you do what you do, Bill. You kick ass. Sez me.

By the way, does anyone happen to know who runs the facility in question? Is it a private company by chance…?

2) Comment by Danny — March 6, 2007 @ 3:56 pm


According to the ACLU
“Pursuant to a contract between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the private prison company, Corrections Corporation of America, Inc. (CCA), Hutto is a converted maximum-security prison that bills itself as a “Family Residential Facility.”
Thanks for the kind word Danny.

3) Comment by bill h — March 6, 2007 @ 4:21 pm


Thanks, Bill. You just defined where the problem lies, at least to my mind…

Somebody PLEASE tell me why we’re allowing our government to source out industries with moral (at the very least) obligations - but no legal regulations, of course - to uphold international (or American) laws regarding human rights, military intelligence, homeland security, the Geneva Conventions, immigration laws, etc., to private corporations. When you do, this is the kind of shit that happens.

Abu Graib, Guantanamo Bay, the tens of thousands of contract employees running around Iraq and Afghanistan with automatic weapons and absolute no oversight whatsoever…All this story is is what happens when unregulated privitization happens on U.S. soil. I really, sincerely hope Amnesty International is paying attention to this story also. Not that the current administration gives a shit what those folks think…

This completely sickens me.

4) Comment by Danny — March 6, 2007 @ 5:26 pm


Now I know why this country is in trouble. It’s reporters that distort the facts and the ACLU that perpetuates them.

First these people chose to bring these children to this country, they are not American citizens. The parents are resisting voluntary deportations and this facility houses them in the interim approximately 30 to 60 days at most. Do you really think they would return for their hearing? Duh…

This was an effort to keep the families together while their status was determined. The alternative is to separate into segregated facilities or go back to “Catch and Release”.

This facility is a converted minimum custody prison, but it is modern and clean. No one is abused.

If you believe everything the Observer and ACLU reports you have a real problem with reality. Next time instead of tugging at the heart strings, tug at the truth.

5) Comment by Kestrel — March 7, 2007 @ 7:48 am


Kestrel, (beautiful name, lovely falcon, often seen around town.)

It’s important to bear in mind that some of these people are Asylum applicants. They are resisting deportation, because they are claiming persecution in their country of origin. Asylum applicants are often not detained and typically do return for their hearings. I’ve personally seen that many many times.

6) Comment by bill h — March 7, 2007 @ 8:24 am


For years we had a wonderful catch and release policy on our southern border. We’ll release you just promise to show up for your hearing. How many showed up for their hearing not many. It’s time to get tough on illegal immigration, as far as I’m concerned they can all sit in detention pending their hearings

7) Comment by Tom — March 7, 2007 @ 10:56 am


Billy h,

Come now, Canada, Lithuania, Honduras, maybe Somalia if they are christian and tell everyone they love Americans, but the fact is most will not seek political asylum until they are detained for immigration violations.

The nonsense in the article about Medical care. They have a small clinic on site, although not staffed 24/7 medical care is available if needed.

They have outdoor play grounds, indoor Gym, and TV. Clothing is provided if needed plus a healthy diet, really shameful No Butler or Spa.

Billy, maybe you would be willing to open your home to these people, It’s possible they are security threats. You know Hezbollah trains their suicide bombers very young. If you are willing to expose my family to a possible threat, shouldn’t yours face the same threat.

8) Comment by Kestrel — March 7, 2007 @ 2:54 pm


I’m making a very narrow point. I’m addressing my comments primarily about Asylum seekers.

The families and children of Asylum seekers should not, in my opinion be jailed. The following report from the Washington Post discusses one of the people incarcerated.

Kestrel, I have known alot of Asylum seekers, all of whom were free, waiting on Court Dates. they could have disappeared and did not, showing up for court dates, because they believe in our system of justice. Some, no all, of them entered the country illegally, because it was virtually impossible for them to enter legally. Somalis in particular come from a country of no infrastructure. Some of them had been tortured, jailed because of their pro-democracy activities, or for being Christian. Many of them turned themselves in to the authorities, as did some of these people. Yes, I realize that some people abuse the system. Yes, I realize that there are security risks. I am expressing my own opinion that it is a risk, I think we should take.

“The report recommended that ICE parole asylum-seekers while they await the outcome of their hearings. It also said that immigrant families not eligible for parole should be released to special shelters or other homelike settings run by nonprofit groups and be required to participate in electronic monitoring or an intensive supervision program that would use a combination of electronic ankle bracelets, home visits and telephone reporting.

The 72-page report also criticized the educational services for children; the food service and rushed feeding times for children; the health care, especially for vulnerable children and pregnant women; the therapeutic mental health care as insufficient or culturally inappropriate; and the recreation time as inadequate for children. The review said that families were being held for months in Hutto and for years in the case of the longer-established Berks facility.

The report also cited inappropriate disciplinary practices used against adults and children, including threats of separation, verbal abuse and withholding recreation or using temperature control, particularly extremely cold conditions, as punishment.

Hosen, who traveled with Mustafa on an inner tube across the Rio Grande from Mexico and insisted that a stranger in Texas call the Border Patrol so she could surrender to authorities, lived in Hutto from June 30 to Jan. 30.

Granted political asylum and now living temporarily in a home for immigrant women and children in Austin, Hosen said that she and other parents in Hutto were threatened regularly with separation from their children for minor infractions such as youngsters running inside the prison. She lost 30 pounds while detained, and her son lost weight and suffered from diarrhea. Concerned about her son’s health, Hosen asked for a multivitamin for him but was denied the request, she said.”

billy

9) Comment by bill h — March 7, 2007 @ 3:49 pm


What you are talking about is spending more Tax dollars on people that shouldn’t be here. If someone catered to my every whim I wouldn’t want to leave either.

The facility in Taylor is for temporary detention for hearings. Most have hearings within 45 days. If they are there longer it’s because they appeal the decision of the magistrate. So, if they are held for long periods it’s because they chose to stay. No They don’t cook Anjara, Sopa De Mondongo or Chicken Taquitos. There is playground equipment and soccer balls. Yes, some toys too. Again, They can leave at any time they volunteer to self deport. The Hilton it’s not Motel 8 maybe.

I don’t have the luxury to rely on journalist for perceived truths, they have an agenda the majority of the time. I do believe what I’ve seen and experienced myself. If you are relying on a report from the ACLU, you need to trash it and go see for yourself. If it were up to the ACLU we would have already lost this country to anarchism.

If we don’t protect our sovereignty as a country we won’t have a country.

10) Comment by Kestrel — March 7, 2007 @ 5:11 pm


I understand your frustration, but the issue is whether our country will continue to provide sanctuary for refugees. I think we should. You say,”What you are talking about is spending more Tax dollars on people that shouldn’t be here.” It is not true that people coming here fleeing persecution, shouldn’t be here.

I don’t think it’s coddling, to provide a non- custodial place for people to live, as they pursue their legal rights to apply for asylum. Our Country has always welcomed people fleeing persecution. For goodness sake, that’s who the Pilgrims were.

You seem to have first hand knowledge of the facility, that I don’t have. I haven’t seen it, and maybe you have. My point is that it is custodial, a prison, even a nice one, is not a place for kids and families, who are seeking refuge here. You and I will just have to agree to disagree as to what should happen while they wait for their day in court

Okay, on to something else,

blessings

billy

11) Comment by bill h — March 7, 2007 @ 7:36 pm


Most refugees of political persecution flee to adjoining countries. Somalia refugees usually go across the border to Ethiopia, much safer than trying for the United States, especially after the Battle of Ras Kamboni.

Well, anyway Homeland Security is a vital interest of mine and these are dangerous times. Compassion with weighted caution must be exercised to keep us safe.

Enjoyed the discussion.

God Bless,

KESTREL

12) Comment by Kestrel — March 7, 2007 @ 10:32 pm


I can’t decide which makes me feel more ill…the story itself or the flat-out racist, hateful and closed-minded comments from Kestrel. Kes, if your condescension in general and your indifference and hostility toward persons not lucky enough to be born in the U.S. is a reflection of ANY measurable portion of American society, then I am truly embarrassed to share this soil with you.

And I know you were addressing Bill’s comments, but the original point I was trying to make is that most of this can be traced directly to the privatization of the most sensitive and crucial industries. Our government is so consumed with making obscenely rich corporations even richer by “awarding” them the operations of functions and institutions that SHOULD BE overseen by the federal government. Human rights, military intelligence and operations, prison systems, veterans’ health care - most of which should have to uphold international laws and regulations (if not basic common sense and decency) - are all sold to the highest bidder. And usually those bidders have direct ties to the folks “awarding” the jobs. Which is very convenient, of course.

As an example (and speaking of veterans’ health care), here’s a blurb from an email I received today from Americans United for Change. Yes, I’m sure you’ll dismiss it the way you have any other information that doesn’t agree with your narrow views, but at some point doesn’t the information begin to gel into something resembling an accurate snapshot of what is going on? Or is it simply not true because you say it isn’t…?

=============

What do you get when you mix Halliburton and health care? Walter Reed.

The stories of abysmal living conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center are bad enough. But there’s more to the story.

To cut costs, the support services and facilities management at Walter Reed were outsourced to a company called IAP — which is run by a former Halliburton official and whose board consists of people like Dan Quayle. If IAP sounds familiar, that’s probably because it’s the same contractor that was asked to deliver relief services to Katrina victims but came up short.

The lack of responsibility is not a new development, nor is it an isolated incident. Stories similar to Walter Reed have cropped up all across the country, and it’s important that people know the truth behind what really happened.

The privatization of support services has proven grossly ineffective and lacks the kind of accountability that our government is founded upon. In the case of Walter Reed, it drove out skilled doctors, psychologists, and caseworkers in favor of penny-pinching government contractors.

First it was Iraq, then Katrina, and now this. The disturbing stories from Walter Reed Medical Center have unleashed huge amounts of criticism, name-calling, and finger-pointing — but little accountability. This nickel-and-dimed approach to serving those in need is par for the course in the Bush Administration.

Americans United for Change
www.americansunitedforchange.org

13) Comment by Danny — March 8, 2007 @ 10:59 am


Danny,

Racism is an argument put forth by someone that has no argument. Anyway, enforcing laws are not racist, the law is blind. I think a dose of truth might have that sickening effect on you. I’ll try not to give it to you in such a large dose.

You need not be embarrassed, you can leave the cover of the blanket of freedom; I have provided for you and cuddle close to the likes of Hugo Chavez. People like yourself makes grandiose comments on the human condition without the true experience or knowledge of it.

As for Walter Reed the civilians fall under military control and supervision, this was an absolute failure of those in command. Our warriors deserve the best and nothing less.

If you had been paying attention my argument with Billy was, being informed and not trusting everything the media and ACLU spoon feeds you. But, you wanted to jump in with personal attacks of racism. So, don’t be surprised at my response. I deal with the real world were ever it might take me, I would suggest you do the same.

14) Comment by Kestrel — March 8, 2007 @ 7:42 pm


No, “racism” is an argument put forth in response to actions or attitudes that are racist. For example, presumptuous comments like, “They don’t cook Anjara, Sopa De Mondongo or Chicken Taquitos…” One could also argue that immediately accusing someone you don’t agree with of being a commie pinko (”the likes of Hugo Chavez”) is a pretty cheap, meaningless shot. Not to mention the fact that most people stopped doing that sort of thing at least twenty years ago. Which, perhaps not coincidentally, seems to be where your ideals seem most comfortable. But if you want to remove talk of racism and Hugo Chavez from the argument, that’s certainly preferable to me.

This “truth” to which you refer…Do you have anything more specific you’d like to provide? Personally, I would never make the assumption that any of my beliefs are “truth”…merely what I believe to be true. You can certainly change my perspective by providing a bit more information. For someone to refer to anything they’re saying as “truth” is a pretty clear indication that they’ve hung the “do not disturb” sign outside the door to their mind a long time ago. Unlike the impression I get of you, I’ll gladly change my opinion when I have evidence that compels me to do so.

You’re correct in stating the law is blind. As well it should be. Which makes it all the more imperative that we as people are not. We create the laws to govern ourselves, but we also change or overturn them when we feel the moral justification to do so. No laws exist in perpetuity. Unfortunately, a sad example of this is probably your leader Dubya and his disregard for habeas corpus. We’re seeing the ugly results of our current administration’s intentional disregard for human rights, international law, and basic human dignity…all over the world – or at least in places where we can make some money – and back here at home.

You’re also absolutely correct with regard to my tendency to make grandiose comments (in fact, I think I just did it again…oops). I’ll give you that. But I do so in the hopes that, if someone thinks I’m full of shit, they can not only tell me so, but they can also tell me WHY I’m full of shit. I’ve there’s something going on that I don’t know about (and I’m not completely naïve…I know there always is), by all means, please…fill me the fuck in. I’m here to learn, not preach. Even if I do occasionally fall into the trap of coming off as preachy…

You keep telling people to be informed, to not believe everything “the media and ACLU” tells us. I couldn’t agree more. Is the basis for your assumption that Bill and I are doing so simply the fact that we don’t agree with you? What information have you read that has allowed you to form the “truth” you so proudly possess? And what exactly is the “true experience or knowledge” you keep referring to? Please…enlighten us.

And stop fucking calling him “Billy.” His name is Bill, he’s a good man and he deserves to be spoken to with more respect than you seem willing to give anyone else.

15) Comment by Danny — March 9, 2007 @ 1:31 pm


You haven’t a clue you moron.

16) Comment by Kestrel — March 9, 2007 @ 10:22 pm


I think you just told us everything we need to know about you and your “truth”…whoever you are. Nicely done.

17) Comment by Danny — March 12, 2007 @ 9:20 am

nothing

I can’t decide what bothers me more…the story or some of the comments some folks posted which were somewhere between indifferent to downright hateful.

If the first two non-Bill non-me comments are at all representative of the collective attitude in this country, then we truly have already lost control. And I want…the…fuck…out.

“They treat us like we’re nothing”

Looking for dog fighting and cock fighting materials? Amazon.com's the place for you...!

Though I wrote Amazon much the same message, I’m going to quote my best friend Wendy’s message to them because she was a bit more specific and articulate…

“I have recently become aware that Amazon.com sells books and DVDs promoting dog and cock fighting even though they are illegal activities and obviously inhumane. I have spent a LARGE amount of money at Amazon.com over the years and am a devoted customer. I am telling now, though, that I will not make any further purchases as long as these reprehensible items are sold on your site.”

As you might gather from Wendy’s message, yes…Amazon.com actually sells books, magazines and DVDs the promote dog fighting and cockfighting. As appalling and disturbing as that is in itself, the “official” Amazon response to both Wendy’s and my messages is as follows…

“Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your concerns about selling books and DVDs promoting dog and cock fighting.

“As a retailer, our goal is to provide customers with the broadest selection possible so they can find, discover, and buy any item they might be seeking. That selection includes some items which many people may find objectionable. Therefore, the items offered on our web site represent a wide spectrum of opinions on a variety of topics.

“Amazon.com believes it is censorship not to sell certain titles because we believe their message is objectionable. Therefore, we will continue to make controversial works available in the United States and everywhere else, except where they are prohibited by law. We also allow readers, authors, and publishers to express their views freely about these titles and other products we offer on our web site. However, Amazon.com does not endorse any opinions expressed by individual authors, musical artists, or filmmakers.

“We value all feedback from our customers, and I thank you again for taking the time to send us your comments about this issue. We hope you will allow us to continue to serve you.”

I’m speechless…unfuckingbelievable. That these people would use freedom of speech as justification for selling material that promotes illegal and grossly inhumane activities is completely offensive. As my friend Ginger said, “I can appreciate they don't want to censor, but I seriously doubt they would sell kiddie porn magazines and that's the same type of thing. They just don't want to take animal abuse seriously. That's very disappointing from such a huge company.”

Another of my friends, Shonda, said, “Yeah, that is crap. I just happened to go looking for some stuff on Amazon today but remembered your email. Glad I didn't order from them after all.”

And that’s exactly what I hope to achieve with this blog/bulletin. Please forward this to all your friends so that we can boycott Amazon.com. That Amazon sells this kind of crap – and uses the soapbox of “freedom and censorship” from which to stand when justifying their right to do so – is unconscionable.

Thanks for reading this and please let me know if you need additional information with regard to how I found out about this particular issue…

they’re trying to build a prison...

Following the rights movements
You clamped on with your iron fists,
Drugs became conveniently
Available for all the kids.

Minor drug offenders fill your prisons,
You don’t even flinch…
All our taxes paying for your wars
Against the new non-rich.

They’re trying to build a prison…for you and me to live in.

The above was published by the smart guys in System of a Down just prior to September 11, 2001. Chuck D has been saying more or less the same thing since the mid-80s. Why is it only now starting to make sense to me…?

Seriously, is there anyone who still feels privatization of what should be government functions is a good idea? We have hundreds of thousands of weekend warriors running around Iraq right now functioning either as security or soldiers, and more contracted civilians over there attempting to deliver things to and from the other contractors. Then comes news that private firms are taking on roles in “intelligence” (gathering, securing, reporting on, storing) – and how fucking scary is that? And, because they’re not actual government operations, they can do so without any regulation or oversight…just pay them, let them do what they claim they can, and deal with any problems later. Works brilliantly, right? Just like at Abu Graib. Just like Guantanamo Bay. Just like the illegal ties they’re now discovering between CIA staff members and certain contracted companies. And, of course, there’s nothing fishy at all about the corporate ties between all the groups that are “awarded” these jobs and any of the members of the current administration…the neo-cons don’t get any financial benefit from this sort of thing, right? Halliburton/KBR…? Anyone…?

My previous – completely unrelated – post mentioned something about a “cancer of corruption” and “the institutionalized looting of national wealth.” Completely unrelated, right? Does anyone notice a pattern? Perhaps some sort of connection between the increasing business and/or profits for shadowy “global” corporations with probable conflicts of interest (direct and indirect ties to our federal government) and the increasing erosion/abuse of civil rights both within and outside U.S. borders, and the increasing lack of accountability with regard to honoring international law…?

Well, apparently, the system of privatizing anything that might be considered sensitive or might need to be overseen by international law is working so well that we’re taking “Gitmo” on the road. Or bringing it back home, as the case may be…

The Bush administration's penchant for privatizing virtually all government operations has combined with the current furor over border security to create another perfect storm - this time for suspected illegal immigrants.

These thousands of people held in detention under the aegis of the US Department of Homeland Security - increasingly in privately-owned jails - are failing to receive timely medical treatment and adequate food, being subjected to frequent sexual harassment, and having their access to lawyers, relatives and immigration authorities improperly limited.

You can read the rest of the article – along with a second, more personal story – by following the jump. And then let me know at what point it’s okay for me to throw my hands up and fucking scream…

Home-Grown Gitmo

“We’ve got to get what we can now, now.”

The other day, I posted a little something on Boca Tinta about a nifty article in the February issue of National Geographic about the Big Bend National Park area. It’s not atypical, though, for the magazine to follow up an uplifting article about the environment and/or good public works programs to protect it (in this case from Mexico…not America, of course). So I should have seen what was coming when I finished the Big Bend piece…

The magazine’s next article is one of the most disturbing and depressing yet with regard to greed and the tendency of the obscenely rich to make themselves even more obscenely rich at the expense of the obscenely impoverished. It examines current conditions in Nigeria and, more specifically, the Niger River Delta region, where the same oil companies we all know and love move in like locusts to extract what they need - with no consideration for the environment or the people who live there - then move on with the same reckless and greedy agenda to the next area. The pictures speak volumes about what’s being done there and, not surprisingly, an increasingly violent movement by the locals to benefit from what, geographically speaking, is rightfully theirs. One picture of the Niger Delta looks uncomfortably like the current state of the Mississippi River Delta here in the U.S. And that’s no coincidence. You can see much of the article here…

Curse of the Black Gold - Hope and Betrayal in the Niger Delta

Among the many facts and quotations that caught my eye…a reference to a report by “an International Crisis Group” and what it calls “’a cancer of corruption.’ A Western diplomat quoted in the report was even more direct, referring to ‘the institutionalized looting of national wealth.’” As in the U.S., while the world’s mega-energy companies – Dutch Royal Shell, France’s Total, and, of course, our own Exxon/Mobil and Chevron/Texaco – have what amounts to free reign to loot whatever lands they choose regardless of any environmental concerns (and it’s an absolute orgy of land-rape in the less powerful areas of the world, as you might imagine), they usually require some level of cooperation from the governments whose lands are being pillaged; the “cooperation” coming in the form of the rich (government) officials receiving handsome financial benefits that are rarely shared with the peoples they govern. I’m hard-pressed to think of any impoverished nation anywhere in the world where the root cause of the poverty is anything other than simple, insidious greed and corruption. The folks running the oil companies are well beyond being aware of this…they count on it. They are vultures with no competing predators and a seemingly endless supply of dying lands and peoples on which to gorge themselves.

If you think this sort of thing only happens in “poor” countries, think again. The people of New Orleans know first-hand what can happen when energy companies destroy natural ecosystems in the process of doing their business; the wetlands of the Mississippi Delta region are scarred to the point of obsolescence, at least with regard to serving as a protective barrier for the populated inland areas. And while Nigeria isn’t on the receiving end of mega-hurricanes, the industries (if you can call them that) that once existed before oil and natural gas were found to be in large quantities below the surface of the land – meaning, sadly, above the surface of the folks who call the area home – have been largely eradicated. Fishing, in particular, has become impossible because the wetlands have been destroyed and the waters polluted to horrific levels.

As I alluded to earlier, the “cancer of corruption” isn’t limited to folks abroad with more limited means than those of us in America. Please note the following article that confirms what virtually all of us already knew was going on during the latter half of 2006…

Exxon Record Profits Also Shows Company Took Less Profit in Run-Up to the Election

If you recall at the time, industry “experts” were doing their best to convince us all that the suddenly lowering prices of gasoline had nothing at all to do with the November elections…that the energy companies were only giving us the pricing they could based on international price demands beyond their control. Conservatives and liberals alike…we all knew it was bullshit. We just had no proof. Now we do. Now we know that the oil companies were simply cutting their margins…and were still able to profit at what should be illegal levels. Dig this quote from the article…

(The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights) noted that, despite the temporary and limited relief of election season pump prices, the record annual profits of Exxon and Shell show once again that last summer motorists were the victims of one of the greatest rip-offs of all time when gasoline prices topped $3 per gallon. The industry has long claimed that gasoline pump prices are attributable to external factors such as the price of crude oil, but today's profit data make it clear that high gasoline prices are directly tied to oil company decisions.

"The proof in Exxon's profit report is that oil companies are robbing Americans blind and that the companies can have tremendous influence over gasoline prices at any time they want simply by taking a little less in profits," said FTCR President Jamie Court. "That's a very different portrait than the industry paints of being captive to global economic forces. Congress needs to hold hearings and ask company executives under oath about whether Exxon's sudden profit drop in the fourth quarter was based on a political motivation and subpoena company documents to determine the root of the change."

I guess the point of this post can actually be condensed into one very unpleasant statement. Which is that the mega-corporations of this world can, have and will turn any areas they so desire into Lagos, New Orleans, Kiev, the Caspian Sea region…all without the slightest concern for anything other than, “We’ve got to get what we can now, now.” That they can, have and will do so with the assistance of a system that allows for, if not encourages, the “institutionalized looting of national wealth.” Indeed, we need look no further than Washington for confirmation.

I don’t know if money is the root of all evil. But I do know greed is. And while I’m not a Christian, I also know that greed is the very concept of Satan incarnate. By my definition, we’ve elected Satan to the executive and legislative branches of our government. At what point do we decide to stop feeding the beast…?

they get by with a little help from their friends

Only in Texas...?

Who's Funding Global Warming

While we do seem to contribute more than our fair share of Appallingly Greedy Bastards With No Conscience Whatsoever - and TXU was more than eager to step to the front of the line after Enron imploded / got busted - greed must always have partners in crime in order to function. It's not surprising to see who those accomplices are. (Though, I will admit being a little surprised to also see who some of the accomplices were not.)

If TXU and our sleazebag governor get their way on this thing, I think I just might lose all faith in the notion that Texas has any functioning democratic principles left. Outside of lining the pockets of already rich people, this project serves no useful purpose on any level. Why must it be so flipping embarrassing to live in this state sometimes...?

from the “boo-hoo” file...

E. Howard Hunt died a couple days ago. (Unfortunately, Chuck Colson and G. Gordon Liddy are still around.)

Hunt once said, “I had always assumed…that anything the White House wanted done was the law of the land.” Not quite, though he’d fit in perfectly with the current administration. (And why does everyone else in the country seem to also be making the same assumption these days…?)

Hunt was apparently annoyed by the fact that he was often referred to as a Watergate “burglar” rather than “conspirator.”

I, however, am a somewhat vindictive little shit who takes some joy from the fact that he had to suffer this minor annoyance. My only concern is whether the word “scumbag” is spelled correctly in his obituary…

Say “hi” to Tricky Dick for us, E. Howard…!

Master of Puppets

This one’s a tad dated, but what can I say...I’m still pissed off.

Clearly, dead Shiites are still no concern to the American rulers of Mesopotamia. Total domination is all that matters.

Read the rest by following the link, if you’re so inclined...

Puppet Kills Puppet

the plot thickens...

Growing up in Dallas, you have no choice but to be hyper-aware of the most obvious infamy ever connected with the city: the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It’s not anywhere near as sore a spot with locals as it once was, but it’s still there. There’s always been something a little odd about the fact that the site of the assassination is so central and so visible to everyone in Dallas, though we all do our best to mostly ignore it. But you can’t miss seeing the actual spot where the killing occurred as you drive north on I-35E past the downtown area. Just to your right you’ll see the Texas Schoolbook Depository building (now the Sixth Floor Museum), Dealey Plaza, the now mythical “grassy knoll” area, and the equally famous triple underpass, along which the motorcade sped on its way to Parkland Hospital after the shooting occurred. There’s even an “X” painted on Elm Street to mark the exact spot where Kennedy was shot. And when I say it’s “odd” that the area is so visible, I don’t mean that in any conspiratorial way. It’s that it’s just kind of sitting there, hiding in plain sight, right smack dab in the middle of everything. Objectively, it’s a really beautiful area, I think...visually and architecturally one of the nicest places in Dallas.

As for me, I’ll never have to make special effort to remember the date of the assassination, as it occurred on my mother’s birthday, the year my sister was born. My parents were actually living briefly in northern California where my dad was stationed with the army when it happened, and they’ve both told me about some really ugly comments they were on the receiving end of after JFK’s murder when people learned they were from Dallas. And I’ve read and heard plenty about the climate of hatred toward the Kennedy family in Dallas (and the south in general) at the time of the event. It was certainly nothing to be proud of. So people here are still understandably a little squeamish about the topic because so much of the world blamed everyone in the city for it. And some folks still consider Dallas, first and foremost, “the city that killed Kennedy.”

(To provide a somewhat unseemly, albeit dated example of that mindset, here’s some of Glenn Danzig’s fine work with the Misfits circa 1980-ish. From the song “Bullet”...

“President's bullet-ridden body in the street...ride, Johnny ride
Kennedy's shattered head hits concrete...ride, Johnny ride
Johnny's wife is floundering, Johnny's wife is scared...run, Jackie run

“Texas is an outrage when your husband is dead,
Texas is an outrage when they pick up his head,
Texas is the reason that the president's dead”

[As ridiculous as they were, the Misfits were actually a pretty damn good punk band. Though Danzig himself has since become a completely embarrassing human being with a serious Napoleon complex. To me, the perfect assessment of him can be found in this negative review of one of his solo records, where the reviewer notes with much genius, “Someday the sages will point at Danzig and murmur a...warning about the hazards of mixing steroids with Brylcreem.” Love it. But, once again, I digress.] )

Anyway, as we all know, the JFK assassination was and remains the mother lode for conspiracy theorists. Due in no small part to the number of different people and/or groups that would have loved to see JFK dead...the Soviets, the Cubans, the mob, the CIA, the FBI...there was such a clusterfuck of sordid, secret activity being conducted on all sides back then that it might be impossible for anyone to ever figure it out. The Kennedy family was – and probably still is – the ultimate political dynasty and they set the bar impossibly high with regard to ill-gotten influence and deceit (thought, the Bushes seem to be gaining ground). The whole ugly scene was an orgy (sometimes quite literally) of corruption and seediness that didn’t begin to reveal itself until many years after the bodies started piling up.

I don’t think I know anyone who believes the “lone gunman” conclusion the Warren Commission came to. Myself, I always figured it was the mob that did it. The Kennedy family was up to its eyeballs in illegal, mafia-connected activity dating back to Joseph Kennedy. There’s more than a little proof that the Kennedys would never have attained and maintained their status – both with regard to wealth and political success – without their mob connections. However, once Jack became president and appointed Bobby his attorney general and they decided to “crack down” on organized crime to score political points...well, if you believe all those mob movies, you don’t do that shit. Otherwise, you wake up with your favorite horse’s head next to you...or your movie star mistress “accidentally” dies...or you end up dead, yourself. Oddly coincidental that both Kennedy brothers were killed under such mysterious circumstances within a few years of each other, don’t you think? And that both killings just reeked of “professional hit.” To me, anyway. And, while I’ve never been all that educated about Bobby’s murder, I also find it a little unbelievable that some doofy Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan was able to take RFK out so easily, with “murder fantasy” or some shit as his only real motive. I just can’t believe it’s that easily and neatly explained.

So I find it a little surprising and totally intriguing that the BBC has apparently uncovered evidence that places three CIA operatives at the scene of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination in Los Angeles. Turns out the three agents in question – who have been positively identified – were in southeast Asia as far as the rest of the world knew...until now. You can read the story here.

Now, it’s not surprising that a foreign news agency would be able to uncover this before anyone else, considering how ineffective the media here has become. But I wonder if this story will generate many headlines in the U.S...?

Very, very interesting...

war machine

Most folks know wars can be profitable. But as with all other forms of commerce that we’re trying to deregulate, the industry itself becomes a machine which turns everything on its ear so that it controls us.

I’m sure we’ve been doing this for years...selling weapons to both sides of a conflict so long as they’re considered “allies.” (I’m sure we also sell to those considered enemies, just far more discretely.) I don’t know why I find it shocking that the rest of the world lets us get away with it. But, then, that’s one of the reasons we installed John Bolton in the U.N...to remove any official obstacles to challenge our actions.

US is Top Purveyor on Weapons Sales List

So the circle – for the time being – becomes unbroken. We make the weapons, we sell them to everyone with the money to buy. We sit back and watch the destruction, then we bid on the contracts to repair the infrastructure we helped demolish. And we encourage the hostilities to continue so that we may sell more weapons to destroy more essential services and property and bid on more contracts to repair more damage. Job security, I believe it’s called. (Some of the I.T. guys I work with do the same stuff, just on an obviously less harmful level.)

Not many folks would consider Motorhead lyrics intellectually stimulating, but Lemmy can write some good shit when he wants to. This article brings some to my mind...

“I march before a martyred world, an army for the fight
I speak of great heroic days, of victory and might
I hold a banner drenched in blood, I urge you to be brave
I lead you to your destiny, I lead you to your grave
Your bones will build my palaces, your eyes will stud my crown
For I am Mars, the god of war, and I will cut you down”

You standing beside this too, John Mellencamp...?

PLEASE...debunk this film

Lest anyone think I’m just searching for something to fit a pre-conceived answer I’ve already reached, I think it’s probably only responsible of me to also forward a few links to sites devoted to debunking the various conspiracy theories regarding 9/11…

http://www.no911conspiracy.com/mythsvsfacts.html
http://www.no911conspiracy.com/otherlinks.html
These can also be reached from the “links” section of the above website:
http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories
http://www.alternet.org/story/41601/
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/q0274.shtml

My personal opinion…As with everything, there are three sides to every story: one side, the opposing side, and the truth, which usually lies somewhere in between.

I get the feeling the 9/11 Commission will be eventually viewed as another Warren Commission. And, as with JFK’s assassination, we’re all ultimately going to believe what we choose to believe. There’s a whole lot of baloney to be found in that movie I forwarded you. But there’s also a whole lot of baloney to be found in the “official” conclusions the 9/11 Commission reached. (If I understand correctly, the original conclusion that “pancaking” caused the WTC collapses has since been abandoned by the national engineer organization who are most often sited by non-conspiracy folks as providing proof that controlled demolition didn’t take place.)

Like I said before….I don’t know what to believe anymore. I only know what I don’t believe. I have my theories….I’m sure you have yours.

***********************

I originally sent the above as an email to the friends and acquaintances to whom I also sent the message about the film to which it refers. I have no idea if any of them actually watched the movie, nor whether any of them checked out the links above that are intended to discredit the conspiracy theories and questionable information presented by the 9/11 Commission. I do know, though, that the response I received most often with regard to this subject was a variation of, “I just cannot imagine why or how our government would intentionally kill or place in harm’s way three thousand of its own citizens.” This is absolutely a valid statement, and it mirrored my sentiments and my reservations about paying any attention to the various conspiracy theories or just the simple idea that there was more to the story we were given surrounding the 9/11 attacks.

The notion that our own government – the model for democratic government in the world today – exists, as far as most people are concerned, for the sole purpose of protecting us. All other functions, while undeniably important, are secondary. So there’s that. But also there is the fact that we know of no other instances in our history where the government has carried out or even proposed such a plan. There are theories that FDR “allowed” the Pearl Harbor attacks in order to generate public support for our entering World War II. I won’t get into those except to say there’s evidence to promote and discredit that idea. That aside, the idea of our government allowing or participating in the 9/11 attacks – or engaging in terrorist activities abroad – is inconceivable for most people simply because there’s no precedent to suggest we either would or could.

However, I just recently read a passage from Noam Chomsky’s “Hegemony or Survival,” published in 2003 (Henry Holt & Co. – www.henryholt.com; www.hegemonyorsurvival.net). In a section in which he’s discussing the pre- and post-Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 and our government’s obsession with regime change in Cuba from the moment Fidel Castro took power to modern times, please take note of the following…

“The March (1962) plan was to construct ‘seemingly unrelated events to camouflage the ultimate objective and create the necessary impression of Cuban rashness and responsibility on a large scale, directed at other countries as well as the United States,’ placing the U.S. ‘in the apparent position of suffering defensible grievances [and developing] an international image of Cuban threat to peace in the Western Hemisphere.’ Proposed measures included blowing up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay to create ‘a “Remember the Maine” incident,’ publishing casualty lists in U.S. newspapers to ‘cause a helpful wave of national indignation,’ portraying Cuban investigations as ‘fairly compelling evidence that the ship was taken under attack,’ developing a ‘Communist Cuban terror campaign [in Florida] and even in Washington,’ using Soviet bloc incendiaries for cane-burning raids in neighboring countries, shooting down a drone aircraft with a pretense that it was a charter flight carrying college students on a holiday, and other similarly ingenious schemes – not implemented, but another sign of the ‘frantic’ and ‘savage’ atmosphere that prevailed.” (source cited: Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, “Justification for the U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba {TS},” Operation Northwoods, 13 March 1962)

Does any of that sound uncomfortably familiar…?

Again, I’m not trying to promote my own or anyone else’s propaganda here. I’m just asking everyone to please question everything they hear, what they believe, and their own instincts regarding the capabilities and motives of our government.

PLEASE...watch this film

Does anyone remember when Charlie Sheen made some public statements a few months ago regarding his crackpot conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11...?

I've been working on something (trying to, actually…I keep getting put off the project by other things) for a few weeks now regarding our government's activities and focus since 9/11, especially the past couple years or so. (And I still plan to finish it as soon as I can, though it may be in two parts by the time I'm done.) In the course of my "research" I keep finding other sidetracks to follow. One such sidetrack was this site: http://www.911truth.org/.

After dinking around on that site for a week or so, I found myself most troubled most by the weirdness surrounding the World Trade Center 7 building. That was that third building in the complex that also collapsed that day. I watched the video of it and remembered how it was such a perfect destruction, even though the cause of its collapse was described as being due to fires created from the planes hitting the WTC 1 and 2 towers. Something doesn't add up. So I visited this site: http://wtc7.net/.

It's the WTC 7 building I can't get past. It just makes absolutely no sense that that building would have collapsed in the manner in which it did for the reasons it supposedly did. There have been fires in skyscrapers for as long as there have been skyscrapers. Why are these three buildings – 1, 2 and 7 – the only steel buildings that have ever collapsed from fire? But more than that…why did these three buildings collapse straight down the same way controlled demolitions do?

Stay with me folks…I promise I haven't turned into a paranoid weirdo. (Or maybe I have. I guess the last people to know they're paranoid weirdos are the weirdos themselves, huh…?)

Anyway, at this point, I go back to the first site I was looking at: http://www.911truth.org/. After scrolling down almost all the way to the bottom of the home page, I saw the following….

"Great New WTC Science Film: 9/11 Mysteries
"Watch it now at Google Video!
"Hands down, the most detailed, accurate and persuasive documentary on the WTC collapses/demolitions yet to appear. The producers at 911weknow.com have also made this extraordinary teaching tool available for free download and viewing at Google Video here. We urge everyone to watch it, buy a copy, and get it out to groups, schools and Public Access TV stations in your region. - Ed ."

Needless to say, the "here" can be clicked on to take you to the film I'm asking you all to watch. If it doesn't, you can also use this link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6708190071483512003&q=9%2F11+mysteries

The movie, I gather, is in turn created by the folks who created this website: http://www.911weknow.com/.

Warning up front: this is a long-ass movie to watch on your computer – ninety minutes long. But I implore you to please watch it when you can. Even if you can't watch it all at once and can only watch it in segments. Even if you have to watch it at work (I don't think there's any way my home computer could download this thing)…please watch this movie. And watch it all; don't give up on it when it starts to get hokey (as it will a few times). Watch it to the very end.

Please watch the film with an open mind, but also with all your common sense. Actually, common sense is probably your best ally when watching this film and considering all the questions it raises. There are, as you will see, some really obviously outlandish and far-fetched suggestions. But there are far more truly disturbing facts to combine with evidence (which is in need of further explanation at times) and then combine with hindsight. Since history cannot be established without hindsight…are we watching history reveal itself?

I don't mean to sound melodramatic. I've never been a conspiracy theorist, I don't think. I hate to think of myself as one now. But I don't know what to believe anymore. I only seem to know what I don't believe…

Anyway, please watch the movie. If you think it's crap, just delete it. But if you feel like there's even the slightest possibility that we've been conned…please forward it along to anyone else you know. And if you care to share any opinions about this email, the topic at hand or the movie itself, please holler.