Welcome to the Police States of America

Scrounging around for news, as I am wont to do, I noticed something that was quite startling to me. Actually, I have noticed it for quite some time, but I am seeing a dramatic rise in these instances. For a while now, I have been thinking that there appeared to be an emergence of the police state here in the United States. Now I know it without any doubt.

I will start with the now infamous tasering incident of Andrew Meyer at a Senator John Kerry speaking engagement at the University of Florida. This is so well known now that I won’t even bother linking to it. At issue here is not whether or not Andrew Meyer deserved to be removed from the event, but whether or not the police went too far in their efforts to do so. In my opinion, they did. Andrew Meyer is one guy and they were many. Let’s not forget that police officers are trained in techniques for perpetrator removal. I view taser usage in this type of instance as nothing more than laziness on the part of the police. There also seems to be an issue with the fact that he was subdued at the time of his tasering. There was even a statement that I read on someone’s blog that he was actually handcuffed at the time. If that is true, then the police were definitely in the wrong. So that is instance one.

Instance two involves a 13-year-old girl being strip-searched in an effort to locate that horrible street drug that has forced women everywhere to sell their children into slavery and men to resort to performing oral sex on drug dealers, just for a taste… ibuprofen. Yes, you read that correctly. The school forced a 13-year-old girl to disrobe and expose her breasts and pubic are in an attempt to find ibuprofen. Worse than this, the court system actually agreed with the school! On top of that, the school didn’t even notify the parents that the search was going to take place. I have a 13-year-old daughter. If that happened to her, there wouldn’t be any lawsuit. I would be at the school with the police and I would have someone arrested for assault. That’s assuming I didn’t just beat someone within an inch of their life first.

Instance three involves a man in North Carolina coughing on a police officer during a traffic stop and being arrested and charged with assault as a result. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I wouldn’t consider coughing to be violent behavior. I’ve always understood assault as an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to a person, coupled with an apparent ability to do so. I don’t really see how coughing on someone could be construed to fit this definition. Maybe it could… if you were coughing up blood directly into an open wound of the person you were coughing onto and you were infected with HIV or hepatitis or some other blood-borne illness. Otherwise, this is just silly and is a serious indicator as to the level of paranoia that exists in this country today.

Instance four involves, what is likely the most serious of offenses that I have read about recently. It’s the story of 16-year-old Pleajhai Mervin in Palmdale, California. Apparently, she attempted to commit a terrorist attack involving cake laced with some sort of biological agent and the cafeteria floor. Upon the realization of the seriousness of the spilling of cake onto a high school cafeteria floor and the potential for mass casualties, a school security guard played the part of hero and apprehended the vicious terrorist and proceeded to break her arm in the process. The security guard even informed her of her rights under the Constitution by instructing her to “hold still nappy-head”. You can watch the action-packed video of the thrilling prevention of this heinous act. Pleajhai was at the center of this dastardly plot, but she was not alone, as her mother was also arrested once she came forward and attempted to defend her daughter. Also arrested was the person who documented the attempted event on his cell phone and his sister, who stood by and watched. The official charges against Pleajhai were battery and littering, as authorities could not legitimately prove anything more substantial was afoot.

The previous paragraph was littered with sarcasm, in case you didn't know. The case is real, however. See, this is how media spin works. I just spun a story of obvious police brutality into a story of police heroism by simply adjusting a few key words. I even made it exciting by using the term “action-packed”.

Anyways, the point of this writing is that I fear for the state of our nation. Our civil liberties were being eroded prior to 9/11. Now they are just being destroyed in chunks. Our politicians used to use a chisel, now they use dynamite. I don’t know about you, but I’m worried about this. The four stories I’ve just relayed to you are but a few among many. I fear that they will wind up being the first among thousands.

Homeland Security? For Whom?

Can anyone tell me why Magal Security Systems is the US Government’s contractor for security over our nuclear weapons facilities? I find it curious that this company, which started out as a division of Israel Aircraft Systems. This company changed its name to Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. In 2006 and it is a manufacturer of military and civilian aircraft, ground defense systems, missiles and various other products associated with defense. When the company was first started, it was partially owned by the Israeli government. I don’t know about you, but it seems a bit on the shady side to allow a foreign company with obvious allegiances to a government other than our own to have any sort of control over the security of our country. Especially when it comes to something as serious as nuclear weapons, for Christ’s sake!

It seems to me that we should never have a situation where our own security is in the hands of a company whose allegiance is to anyone other than us. Everyone became up in arms over the proposal to turn over US port security to a country based in Dubai, but not one person, until now, is saying anything about an Israeli-owned company being in charge of the security of nuclear weapons. Where the hell are our priorities? We are actively accusing Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and we leave ours in the hands of a country that has been known to engage in “false-flag” terror attacks like the Lavon Affair? We engaged in a false-flag attack once before when we implemented “Operation Ajax”, so what is there to stop it now? All that needs to happen is for one warhead to “disappear” and be detonated somewhere in Iraq, blame it on Iran and the entire Middle East explodes. No one would be the wiser. The only thing that the American general public (along with the rest of the world) would know is that a nuke went off and hundreds of thousands of casualties were counted. Then the world would line up to destroy Iran while the Bush administration and the Israeli government sit back saying: “See, we told you”.

I’m not saying that this is going to come to fruition; I’m just saying that no one should be surprised if it does. We already had an incident where 6 nuclear missiles were “accidentally” flown 1500 miles across the United States where none of the people loading the missiles or flying the plane knew that there were warheads on board. By the way: how in the hell do you “accidentally” load 6 ARMED NUCLEAR MISSILES onto a B-52? Are our safeguards really that weak or the people in charge of them really that incompetent? This is some scary shit, people!

I Like This... A LOT!!

Iranian University Chancellors Ask Bollinger 10 Questions

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Seven chancellors and presidents of Iranian universities and research centers, in a letter addressed to their counterpart in the US Colombia University, denounced Lee Bollinger's insulting words against the Iranian nation and president and invited him to provide responses for 10 questions of the Iranian academicians and intellectuals.

The following is the full text of the letter.
Mr. Lee Bollinger
Columbia University President
We, the professors and heads of universities and research institutions in Tehran , hereby announce our displeasure and protest at your impolite remarks prior to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent speech at Columbia University.
We would like to inform you that President Ahmadinejad was elected directly by the Iranian people through an enthusiastic two-round poll in which almost all of the country's political parties and groups participated. To assess the quality and nature of these elections you may refer to US news reports on the poll dated June 2005.
Your insult, in a scholarly atmosphere, to the president of a country with a population of 72 million and a recorded history of 7,000 years of civilization and culture is deeply shameful.
Your comments, filled with hate and disgust, may well have been influenced by extreme pressure from the media, but it is regrettable that media policy-makers can determine the stance a university president adopts in his speech.
Your remarks about our country included unsubstantiated accusations that were the product of guesswork as well as media propaganda. Some of your claims result from misunderstandings that can be clarified through dialogue and further research.
During his speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad answered a number of your questions and those of students. We are prepared to answer any remaining questions in a scientific, open and direct debate.
You asked the president approximately ten questions. Allow us to ask you ten of our own questions in the hope that your response will help clear the atmosphere of misunderstanding and distrust between our two countries and reveal the truth.
1- Why did the US media put you under so much pressure to prevent Mr. Ahmadinejad from delivering his speech at Columbia University? And why have American TV networks been broadcasting hours of news reports insulting our president while refusing to allow him the opportunity to respond? Is this not against the principle of freedom of speech?
2- Why, in 1953, did the US administration overthrow the Iran's national government under Dr Mohammad Mosaddegh and go on to support the Shah's dictatorship?
3- Why did the US support the blood-thirsty dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iraqi-imposed war on Iran, considering his reckless use of chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers defending their land and even against his own people?
4- Why is the US putting pressure on the government elected by the majority of Palestinians in Gaza instead of officially recognizing it? And why does it oppose Iran 's proposal to resolve the 60-year-old Palestinian issue through a general referendum?
5- Why has the US military failed to find Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden even with all its advanced equipment? How do you justify the old friendship between the Bush and Bin Laden families and their cooperation on oil deals? How can you justify the Bush administration's efforts to disrupt investigations concerning the September 11 attacks?
6- Why does the US administration support the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) despite the fact that the group has officially and openly accepted the responsibility for numerous deadly bombings and massacres in Iran and Iraq? Why does the US refuse to allow Iran’s current government to act against the MKO's main base in Iraq?
7- Was the US invasion of Iraq based on international consensus and did international institutions support it? What was the real purpose behind the invasion which has claimed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives? Where are the weapons of mass destruction that the US claimed were being stockpiled in Iraq?
8- Why do America's closest allies in the Middle East come from extremely undemocratic governments with absolutist monarchical regimes?
9- Why did the US oppose the plan for a Middle East free of unconventional weapons in the recent session of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors despite the fact the move won the support of all members other than Israel?
10- Why is the US displeased with Iran's agreement with the IAEA and why does it openly oppose any progress in talks between Iran and the agency to resolve the nuclear issue under international law?
Finally, we would like to express our readiness to invite you and other scientific delegations to our country. A trip to Iran would allow you and your colleagues to speak directly with Iranians from all walks of life including intellectuals and university scholars. You could then assess the realities of Iranian society without media censorship before making judgments about the Iranian nation and government.
You can be assured that Iranians are very polite and hospitable toward their guests.

My Commentary:
How can anyone argue with any of these questions? I don't think that Mr. Bollinger should be the one answering these questions, however. I think that the Bush administration needs to answer these questions, along with at least a dozen more that I cannot think of right off hand, before they rush off to another morally bankrupt and needless war. By the way, has anyone else noticed that George W. Bush's father was involved with both Iraq and Iran in some capacity? Don't believe it? Here's a picture of George H. W. Bush welcoming the hostages from the Iran Hostage Crisis home.

So, maybe Shrub is just a good little Daddy's boy?

American Shame

September 24, 2007 was a bad day for me. It was bad because it was the first time in my life that I actually felt ashamed to be an American. That being said, I must also say that I realize that this may make me look bad and may even draw the attention of authorities my way. So, allow me to explain the thought process behind that expression of shame.

On September 24, 2007, the United States received a visitor from the nation of Iran. This visitor was no ordinary visitor. It wasn’t a diplomat, an ambassador or even a representative. It was none other than the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The sense of shame I feel stems from the treatment that he received once he  was here. His arrival was met with derision and nastiness, the likes of which I have never witnessed for anyone other than a murderer, rapist, animal abuser, child molester or something else along those lines. Why are we treating the leader of another country in this manner? Have we lost any and all sense of what diplomacy means? I am not saying that we should never question the motivations of the leader of another nation. What I am saying is that we should be doing it with a sense of dignity and a display of manners and etiquette.

So why are we treating Mr. Ahmadinejad this way? Is it because he threatened to “wipe Israel off the map”? Well, if the truth about this alleged statement were told, this is not what he said. What he said was actually quoting someone else and it went like this: “Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad.” When translated, what he said was: “The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.” Where in that statement does it say anything about wiping anything off of any map, much less a whole country or its people? It doesn’t. It implies destroying a government, which is entirely different from destroying a nation. If Ahmadinejad’s desire to destroy the Israeli regime is a bad thing, then what of the Bush administration’s actual destruction of a regime that it didn’t like? What is more destructive and damaging; stating that an oppressive regime should be destroyed or actually destroying the regime?

I suppose that some of you (assuming anyone is actually reading this) are wondering why anyone would consider the current Israeli regime as being oppressive. Do I really have to explain it? Yes? Alright then, I will. The Israeli government has occupied Palestinian territory since 1967. Since this time, they have gradually settled Palestinian land while systematically removing the Palestinian people from the land that is rightfully theirs. They have done so through the bulldozing of their homes and farmland, the imprisonment of over 9000 of their citizens, the targeted assassinations of suspected “terrorists” and roughly 500 permanent “checkpoints” that restrict the freedom of movement within these territories. These are but a few. Take a look at this document, where I found this statement on the last page:

“The Occupied Palestinian Territory is of special importance to the future of human rights in the world. Human rights in Palestine have been on the agenda of the United Nations for 60 years; and more particularly for the past 40 years since the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967. For years the occupation of Palestine and apartheid in South Africa vied for attention from the international community. In 1994, apartheid came to an end and Palestine became the only developing country in the world under the subjugation of a Western-affiliated regime.

Herein lies its significance to the future of human rights. There are other regimes, particularly in the developing world, that suppress human rights, but there is no other case of a Western-affiliated regime that denies self-determination and human rights to a developing people and that has done so for so long. This explains why the OPT has become a test for the West, a test by which its commitment to human rights is to be judged.

If the West fails this test, it can hardly expect the developing world to address human rights violations seriously in its own countries, and the West appears to be failing this test.

The EU pays conscience money to the Palestinian people through the Temporary International Mechanism but nevertheless joins the United States and other Western countries, such as Australia and Canada, in failing to put pressure on Israel to accept Palestinian self-determination and to discontinue its violations of human rights.

The Quartet, comprising the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and the Russian Federation, is a party to this failure. If the West, which has hitherto led the promotion of human rights throughout the world, cannot demonstrate a real commitment to the human rights of the Palestinian people, the international human rights movement, which can claim to be the greatest achievement of the international community of the past 60 years, will be endangered and placed in jeopardy.”

Can this point be made any clearer? Can the importance of this need be stressed any harder? If you need more convincing, take a look at this UNICEF report.

So, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants an oppressive regime held responsible for the actions that it takes that harms an entire culture, eh? How dare he come to the United States demanding that sort of nonsense! That’s simply preposterous! That sort of behavior is exactly what this war on terror is designed to prevent! We can’t have these members of the “Axis of Evil” actually asking for something positive! That would undermine American sovereignty and inhibit the desire for freedom the world over!

I kid, of course. Well, I should say that I used a generous portion of sarcasm for that last paragraph. I really wasn’t kidding. I think that the Bush administration, the government controlled mainstream media and the flock of lemmings that follows them actually believe that way. I also think that that is sad, disgusting, disheartening and is a sign of terrible things to come.

The President of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, stated during his “introduction” of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Mr. Ahmadinejad exhibited “all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator”. I’m sorry, but my understanding of etiquette was that, when you invited someone to come as a guest to an event that you were holding, you didn’t insult the guest. This was akin to inviting someone to a party under false pretenses and then beating the shit out of them once they arrived. I can understand not agreeing with him, but verbally assaulting him during his introduction was in poor taste at best. Maybe I’ll win the lottery and, once he is out of office, I will invite George W. Bush to be a paid speaker at an engagement and introduce him as “that idiot who somehow got elected President and proceeded to murder hundreds of thousands of people on behalf of his corporate friends”. It might not be true, but was the statement made by Lee Bollinger true? I suppose he forgot that Ahmadinejad was actually democratically elected with a margin of 62%, which is more than Bush received in either national election that he has participated in. The truth is this: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is hated in this country because of his opinions regarding Israel and, more importantly, the Holocaust. Since the US government feels somehow beholden to Israeli interests, they can not tolerate any questioning of Israeli policy or the veracity of the Holocaust. The fact that Shimon Peres has now come forward and criticized Columbia University and this is national news speaks volumes to this fact. It seems a bit silly to me.

As for the Holocaust, I see no issue with performing more research on the subject. This is what Ahmadinejad asked for. He never said that it did not happen. He merely stated that more research was needed. I would not call this Holocaust denial; I would call it Holocaust Revisionism. Given the fact that Mr. Ahmadinejad is himself and academic, it makes sense that he could also be a historical revisionist. Historical revisionism is an academic approach that holds that a given slice of history, as it has been traditionally told, may not be entirely accurate, and should hence be revised accordingly. Is it wrong to question a history of which you were not a part and know only one side of? Either way, the use of the Holocaust as a justification for the treatment of the Palestinians holds no water with me. No more so than paying reparations to former slaves. It seems like a great idea except that you are punishing a person who has committed no crime to benefit a person who has done nothing to warrant the reward. I am about to commit an unpardonable sin here, so consider yourself warned. The Holocaust did not only affect Jews! GASP! Literally defined, the word Holocaust means “destruction by fire”. I suppose that the other 4,109,500 – 6,286,000 who were killed in the concentration camps don’t count. These people included Soviet POWs, political dissidents, Serbs, Poles, Roma (Gypsies), Freemasons, disabled, Spanish POWs, Gay men and Jehovah's Witnesses. But don’t worry about them, they do not matter here. In fact, they do not matter at all. The funny thing about these other groups who were persecuted, tortured and killed is that they didn’t ask for a whole country to call their own that was on already occupied land. Another funny thing about them is that there aren’t hundreds of thousands more people dead at their hands since 1948.

I don’t want anyone to come away from this blog thinking that I hate Jews or that I am a Holocaust denier anything of the sort. Despite my previous statements within this writing, I am nothing of the sort. I do not dislike Jews any more than I dislike anyone else. I view no race, religion or ethnic group on anything more than an individual level. What one member of an ethnic group does to me has no bearing on the ethnic group as a whole. I wish that everyone else felt the same way. The Holocaust is a historical fact and there is no denying it. In fact, I think that research should be continual regarding it so that we never forget it and that it remains fresh in our minds.

I am, however, an anti-Zionist. I will remain this for as long as I shall live. No one has any right to occupy the land of another at the expense of the life and liberty of the previous occupant. I also have a problem with the current Israeli regime. I actually have more of a problem with the United States government’s support of it. I do not understand the logic behind sanctioning South Africa for its Apartheid policies but supporting Israel in theirs. I do not wish to see Israel fall. I merely wish to see it live in peace with its neighbors the Palestinians as part of a two state solution. Equality for every human, not just a select few. That's what the world needs more than anything else.

This and That and The Other Thing

I don’t know how many of you saw it, but Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert) basically destroyed his career a couple of days ago. He made some remarks about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that were dripping with sarcasm and it pissed off a whole bunch of Jewish people and supporters of Israel. The funny thing is that he didn’t say ONE WORD about Jews nor did he imply anything negative about them. See, these days, it is considered anti-Semitic to say anything negative about the policies of Israel. In fact, the word “Semite” is now a Jewish-only term. Never mind that it represented all of the descendents of the Biblical figure Shem, which includes Arabs, Aramaeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Sabaeans and PALESTINIANS. Look it up. Do the research. Don’t accept the word of someone with an ulterior motive.

Then there is this whole Blackwater U.S.A. thing. Basically, Blackwater is a contractor with the United States government who was contracted to operate inside Iraq as a “private military”. In other words, they are effectively mercenaries. It has been shown on video that these people kill Iraqi civilians at random and without provocation. The Iraqi government has now revoked Blackwater’s license to operate within Iraq, or has at least limited it. Hopefully, Blackwater will wind up being disbanded permanently and its owners will be imprisoned as the inhuman piles of excrement that they are. I know that war is nasty and horrible, but to allow innocent people to be murdered with impunity is simply unpardonable.

To make matters in Iraq worse, the Pentagon has now started up a new sport for our troops. It’s sort of like fishing, only without the fish. I guess Iraqis aren’t human, so it’s perfectly o.k. to treat them as anything but. I’m starting to think that the Bush administration has absolutely no intention of bringing Democracy to the Iraqi people. That is unless, of course, their definition of Democracy is DEATH.

I will never cease to find it silly the links to which the Bush administration will go in order to keep us “safe”. I cannot even believe that this question is being asked of anyone. A poll was taken on ABC’s “The Chaser” where people were asked if Muslims in the United States should be required to carry a special form of identification. What’s next, yellow Stars of David for Jews and pink triangles for homosexuals? I thought we had moved past that sort of thing. Wouldn’t this be a form of terrorism? I don’t think that this is necessary. Personally, I’m not that scared of terrorists nor am I that afraid of dying as a result of a terrorist incident. Also, there are over 1.3 BILLION adherents to Islam in the world today and very few acts of terrorism committed by them in relation to their numbers. I’m not positive, but I think that the Ku Klux Klan has perpetrated more terrorist acts by comparison than Muslims have. For that matter, how many abortion clinics have been bombed or burned down and how many doctors who perform abortions have been murdered? I suppose what I am driving at is that we cannot start lumping people into groups because we might be afraid of them. I don’t like people with bad body odor, but I don’t want them rounded up and forced to wear deodorant. Everyone is entitled to smell bad if they want to. Timothy McVeigh brought down the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, so are we going to start rounding up every white, ex-military guy with short hair who has read “The Turner Diaries”? If so, I guess I should start getting my affairs in order because I am all three of those things.

What people need to realize is that this country was not founded by White Christians for White Christians. It was founded by Deists and for everyone who sought freedom from oppression and opportunity for a better life. People also need to understand that freedom does not come with a guarantee like some lawn mower you bought from Wal-Mart. We don’t get to run around screaming about how much we love freedom while denying that freedom to people who may make us feel uncomfortable yet have committed no crime.

"War on Terror"...Negated!

According to a report that I just read, the Bush Administration is supporting a terrorist organization now. In fact, it is supporting an enemy of one of its allies. The Kongra-Gel (KGK, formerly Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, KADEK) is an enemy of Turkey, who has been our ally for many years in the Middle East. Not only that, but our own State Department actually has the Kongra-Gel on its list of terrorist groups. The hypocrisy is so thick now that one would need an acetylene torch to cut through it.

If this report is to be believed, this means that everything that our so-called enemies have been saying about us is true. Our government only supports and aids people who benefit their corporate needs without regard to the consequences of said support. We have been engaging in this sort of intervention for decades now. This has lead to “blowback”, which is a CIA term for unintended consequences. The Central Intelligence Agency has “intervened” in and manipulated the affairs of other nations since it was first formed just after World War 2. Just take a look at “Killing Hope U.S. Military and CIA interventions since World War II” by William Blum. For a synopsis of the listing of CIA interventions from Mr. Blum’s book, visit here. When one looks at the multitude of these so-called interventions and compares them to what happens in these places now and then adds the condition in which these places are currently under, the term “freeing the world to death” seems awfully appropriate.

I have a strong fear that I know what is coming next. What is coming is a war with Iran. The Bush administration is so convinced of its own superiority that it is willing to destroy everything to prove it to the rest of the world. I believe that what we are witnessing is a Greek tragedy in the making. Hubris is the order of the day and not one person within the Bush administration knows humility. They do not see that they can possibly be wrong. To this very day, no one in the White House has admitted any sort of error in judgment with regards to Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. We all know that lies were told and exaggerations made. Yet the Bush administration is heel bent on following the same path into Iran, even if it means siding with the very thing we are allegedly at war with, which is a terrorist organization. The Bush administration is willing to throw its own ally, Turkey, under the bus in order to attack Iran. How disgusting is that?

The Bush administration swears that Iran is helping the insurgency in Iraq with attacks on Americans and American interests. I cannot help but think that Iran never did anything to the Iraqi people or American troops prior to our invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. They never attacked us on our soil. Sure, they took some of our people hostage at one point, but our people shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Oh, and let us not forget that it was the actions of our own CIA that saw the overthrow of Iran’s leader Mohammed Mossadegh and installed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (the Shah of Iran), who brutalized and oppressed the Iranian people and destroyed the country economically. The CIA helped overthrow Mossadegh because he wanted to nationalize the oil reserves they had for the benefit of the people of Iran. Instead, Pahlavi leased the oil fields to American and British oil companies and squandered the money on lavish palaces, never doing anything for the people he ruled. This is why we are labeled “the Great Satan”. It isn’t because we are free. It isn’t because of our stance on equal rights for women. It isn’t for any of that. The Bush administration would have you believe otherwise, but they are lying to you. After having seen some of the things that past administrations have done and what the current one is doing; can you honestly say that you blame them for hating us.

The bottom line is this: we have got to adopt a foreign policy of non-intervention. On top of this, we have got to learn the give and take of diplomacy. We must drop this idea that we are better than everyone and that it is “our way or the highway”. We must also learn to accept that we live in a glass house. We cannot solve the world’s problems without ever addressing our own.

R.I.P. Liberty: July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001

Most people who know me know that I am somewhat of a conspiracy theorist regarding 9/11. Actually, I am more of a 9/11 Truth Movement advocate than I am a conspiracy theorist. I am open to the idea of conspiracies but I do not particularly accept them as truth. What I want is the truth of what happened on 09/11/01 and nothing but. I want it in its purest, unadulterated form. I don’t want excuses for why it happened. I know that truth already. What I want is for our “leadership” to explain to us why it was allowed to happen. I want to know how our great government, with all of its resources for preventing such atrocities, allowed this to happen. I want to know why 2,948 people were permissibly murdered and between 71,824 and 78,403 Iraqi civilian deaths have been documented during the time afterward. I want to know why more Americans have been sacrificed to avenge 9/11 than actually died during it. I want to know why 27,004 American men and women have been injured in the line of duty to allegedly avenge 9/11. Can anyone logically explain any of this to me?

The previous paragraph being stated, I suppose you may be wondering why I posted nothing about the anniversary of 9/11 on the day of said anniversary. Well, I didn’t because it wasn’t necessary. It wasn’t necessary because you all know how you feel about it and you do not need me to tell you what to think. I did my grieving yesterday while I watched the minute-by-minute replay of the events of that morning on MSNBC and I didn’t need any blog to do it. Now I’m angry, to put it mildly.

I am angry for all of the reasons that I stated in the first paragraph. I am angry because the Bush administration stood on the shoulders of a national tragedy and attacked an innocent nation. I am angry because the Bush administration did not complete the mission they began in the one nation that actually did harbor the enemy who attacked us. I am angry at the audacity that the Bush administration displays when they tell us that they care about the victims of 9/11, while sacrificing the lives and well-being of our troops in carrying out a war of aggression against a people who did nothing to us. I am angry at the utter hypocrisy of the Bush administration in their decrying of the loss of innocent life in the World Trade Center attacks while causing the deaths of the aforementioned innocent Iraqi civilians. Pot, meet kettle.

I am also angry at the fact that my name as an American is being dragged through the proverbial mud to appease the imperial goals of a group of intellectual troglodytes. To top this off, the rights that so many people fought, suffered and died for are being limited and, in some cases, taken away from me in the name of “security”. I do not need nor desire that kind of security. Life is not meant to be without danger. Life is not meant to be “safe” and without risk. No government can protect me from the dangers that life throws my way and I would not ask the government to do so. This has been proven time and again throughout our relatively short history as Americans. When will we follow the rules of history and the observance of it?

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather die free than live as a slave.

Yikes and Gadzooks!

This kind of speaks for itself. I am distressed by this.

C. Montgomery Burns for President '08!

Wow! Fred Thompson finally officially entered the race for the Presidency in 2008. The race should get really interesting now! NOT! Why is this important? From where I sit, he isn’t offering anything any different than what we already have. The only difference is that he actually has some foreign policy experience. Other than that, he’s a war hawk just like the administration that we have now who has bastardized the term “conservative” so that he can pay lip service to the Republican Party base.

I look at it this way: if I walk into McDonald’s and ask for a hamburger with the mustard placed on the bun before the ketchup, does it really taste any different than the hamburger that came with the ketchup before the mustard? No, it’s still a ground up, low quality cut of beef loaded with preservatives and sodium that will most likely kill me at an early age if I continue to eat it on a regular basis, despite the fact that it may taste good. Likewise, Fred Thompson will run this country into the ground both literally and figuratively if he is elected. He is the mustard-first hamburger to Bush’s ketchup-first burger. Same poison, different warning label.

Oh, you want proof? Here you go! This is Thompson on Fox News during his first interview after his official announcement. According to this interview, he thinks that we should all back up the current foreign policy course, no matter how bull-headed and wrong it may be. Does he think that we are lemmings? My admiration for his role as District Attorney Arthur Branch on “Law and Order” aside, Fred Thompson is an asshole!

Insanity or Incompetence?

Has anyone heard about the “accidental” transportation of 6 nuclear missiles via B-52 bomber over 1500 miles of American soil?

That scares the shit out of me, and on a number of levels. It scares me because someone in the military who is responsible for these things “accidentally” loaded 6 nuclear missiles onto a bomber instead of a cargo plane. How on this big blue marble can anyone accidentally put 6 nuclear weapons into the wrong place? That’s like me telling a friend “I’m sorry guy, I accidentally screwed your wife, my bad”!

It also scares me because of the distinct possibility that this was done on purpose. I know, that sounds awfully paranoid. Think about it for a minute, before you think that this is just too crazy. The Bush administration has been spoiling for a fight with Iran for at least a year now. They claim that it is because Iran is trying to produce a nuclear weapon. The IAEA says that Iran is not. The Bush administration is trying to do to Iran what it did to Iraq, which is to say that it is trying to make up intelligence reports indicating what they want it to indicate. The unfortunate part is that the American people won’t fall for it this time because we do not like being lied to about something so major. So how could the Bush administration go about getting what it wants without having to forge intelligence about it?

It’s called a “false flag operation”. This term is defined as: “False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to appear as if they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and have been used in peace-time; for example, during Italy's strategy of tension.” False flag operations have been carried out by numerous government and intelligence agencies in the past, including ours. Some examples would be: Operation Ajax (in which the U.S. aided in overthrowing Iran’s leader), Operation Susannah/Lavon Affair (in which Israel bombed American and British targets in an attempt to frame Egypt), the Gliwice Incident (in which German SS officers disguise themselves as Poles to give the appearance of a Polish attack) and the aborted Operation Northwoods (in which the US concocted plans to commit terrorist incidents on American soil and frame Cuba). Now, with all of these past incidents of false-flag operations coupled with the fact that the Bush administration lied about the intelligence to go to Iraq and their apparent desire to invade Iran; does it not make sense that they would do something of this nature? Is it paranoia or is it an observation of seemingly random yet connected events?

This incident also scares me because, if it was indeed a prelude to a false-flag operation, it displays a callous disregard for human life on the part of those behind it. Invading a country with conventional weapons is one thing, staging a nuclear attack on your own people is something else entirely. I say that it would be an attack on our people because it wouldn’t make any logical sense to attack Iran with nuclear weapons to stage a terrorist or militarily aggressive incident. I suppose that they could have been transporting the weapons for the simple purpose of preparation to act in self-defense. However, why ship nuclear weapons to any place in the Middle East knowing full well that they could quite possibly fall into the wrong hands? None of this makes any sense whatsoever.

Oh, and the US Air Combat Command issued a complete stand down for September 14th. This sounds an awful lot like the stand down that preceded the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I know, I sound paranoid. But don’t be shocked or surprised if and when something happens then. The Islamic holiday of Ramadan starts on the 12th and goes until the end of the month. So an attack within that timeframe wouldn’t be unexpected. Naturally, I don’t know this, but I am preparing to say “I told you!”

Spell Check and the Rise of Partial Illiteracy

As usual, I received my CNN Political Ticker e-mail this morning. While reading through it, something caught my eye that bothered me. In fact, it stuck in my eye as if it were a grain of sand. This something has led me to decide that I think that I have found one of the many things wrong with America, and Americans in general.

What I found was this: “Fred Thompson set a mark for obstinateness during his eight years in the Senate”.

Yes, you read that correctly. The author of that sentence actually used the word “obstinateness”. I say word when referring to that… that… affront to the English language. See, “obstinateness” is NOT A WORD! Try it out for yourself and see. Just open Microsoft Word and type the following sentence: Obstinateness is not a word. Then perform a spell check. If you’d rather, you can just go to Google and type “define: obstinateness”. I guarantee that your search results will come back with nothing. It will come back with nothing because the word DOES NOT EXIST!

The reason that I say that this is a problem with America is that this was written in an American newspaper called the Washington Times. I say that it is indicative of a problem for Americans because someone other than I has read this article and did not notice that this “word” was used in place of the correct word, which was most likely “obstinacy”. It is also interesting to note that the person who wrote the article is the national political reporter for this newspaper. I would imagine that a position such as this would require some sort of college level education. Worse than that is the fact that the editor of the newspaper actually missed this atrocity. I know that position requires a college degree of some sort.

What bothers me worse than the fact that newspapers misspell words on a frequent basis is when schools do it. I see it fairly regularly because of my daughter being in middle school. The school sends some sort of paper home (usually asking for money) and I read it and find both spelling and grammatical errors. I am no expert on grammar or spelling, but I am not a school, nor am I trying to educate a couple of thousand children in the ways of spelling and grammar. When I notice these errors coming from a school, it makes me want to be a teacher because, surely, I can do a better job than these people. It’s sickening to me, and it just goes to prove my theory about the dumbing down of America. The teachers cannot spell and are expected to teach other people who cannot spell how to do it. It is almost literally a case of “the blind leading the blind”. Again, these are college educated people.

I know. I sound like a nit picky crank. I honestly do not care if I sound that way. I, personally, am tired of witnessing the utter destruction of the English language in print. I am not necessarily a grammar cop, but spelling isn’t all that difficult. In this day and age of fancy things like spell-check, I see no reason for newspapers to have misspellings in their articles. For that matter, we’ve had English language dictionaries since 1656. Then again, the words “phat” (adjective), “Google” (verb) and “himbo” (noun) are now a part of the dictionary as well, so I suppose I should not be so picky. Wait. SCREW THAT! Why are these a part of any dictionary? Is it simply because people use these in normal language? That’s pretty ignorant, if you ask me. It’s one thing to use a word in normal conversation, but to add it to the dictionary gives it legitimacy and makes it appear acceptable to use the word in a capacity other than general spoken conversation. Take this hypothetical conversational exchange, for instance:

Me: “Good morning, sir. I would like to submit my resume’ for your consideration. I think that you will find it most satisfying to your needs. Thank you for your time.”

Prospective Employer: “Good morning to you, as well. Thank you for submitting your resume’ and I look forward to speaking with you again soon regarding any potential employment situations. Thank you again and have a nice day!”

Now, let’s break that down into the “New English”.

Me: “Yo, dude. I got a phat resume’ for you to look at. Thanks, homie.”

Prospective Employer: “Get the hell out of my office!”



Y’know what I’m sayin’, dog?

Here's To A Longer Life!

At first, I seriously considered not writing this. Mostly because I don’t want to jinx myself, but also because I don’t want to risk being a hypocrite should I fail.

Anyway, I have quit smoking cigarettes. For those of you who do not know, I have been smoking for 21 years now (minus a year or so that I stopped briefly). I didn’t plan this out at all. I didn’t plan it because every time I have planned in the past, I typically find a reason not to go through with it. It’s the usual laundry list of excuses such as: “I’ll pick a less stressful time in my life to stop”, “I’ll quit when this pack/carton runs out”, “I’ll start the new year out smoke-free”. I wonder how many times those reasons have actually been successful?

I decided to quit on a whim. My co-worker, who has been smoking longer than I, decided to quit. I told him that if he quit, then I would too. I figured it would be easier to quit if I had someone to quit with. It will be especially helpful if he doesn’t step out to smoke. Truthfully, I don’t think he will actually quit because he doesn’t have the will power to actually go through with it. Why do I think this, you ask?

He went to his doctor and got a prescription for this new drug called Chantix to help him. I chose to do it the hard way by going “cold turkey”. The primary difference between quitting cold turkey and seeking the assistance of a drug is that no real will is involved when using the drug. To stop the way that I have is harder because not only am I breaking the physical addiction, I am also forcing myself to break the force of habit without any sort of cushioning. All of the triggers that I had before now that would have normally seen me running for the smoking area have been broken. I drove to and from work without a single smoke, whereas I would have normally smoke 3 cigarettes. I had a stressful day at work because my co-worker didn’t show up (he was “sick”) and I did so without a single cigarette. I went to the grocery store on Monday afternoon and did not light up even once. I even refrained from smoking after meals and when I first woke up in the morning. It has now officially two days since I stopped. I know that the road is not nearly smooth just yet, but I feel good about it so far because most of the toughest parts are out of the way.

I have had people ask me what I was using to help me stop. They’ve asked about the patch, gum, Zyban and Chantix. I tell them that I use nothing because “I am a MOTHER-F**KIN’ MAN”! While that statement is true, it is only true to an extent. I have to admit that I have been a crabby asshole since I have stopped and Stacie has been a saint to put up with me. I try not to say much so as to avoid unnecessary arguments, but some things just cannot be avoided. I am just happy that I have Stacie here to help me get through the toughest parts. Without her, I wouldn’t even try to stop. So far, so good.