Farmers and your local meteorologist are Terror Suspects

Just when you think it really couldn't get any more absurd...an FBI warning to keep the proles on their tippy toes:

The FBI (news - web sites) is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning.

In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning."

Does that include employees of The Weather Channel, and Weather Underground? What about viewers of The Weather Channel? That's gotta be several million almanac-type people right there. Doh! But wait...what if...what if the FBI themselves used almanacs?

At some point, hopefully, Bill O'Leilly himself will start to feel like a tool being used by 'the man' and will begin to denounce the Bush gubment's scare tactics.

Truely comical...

Sept. 11 Detainees Abused by Officers, Report Says

Just another report that proves, once again, the benevolence of the POH-LEESE and the rest of the violent criminals shielded with a badge. Bastards. Cowards.

Foreigners held at a federal prison in Brooklyn after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks suffered verbal and physical abuse, with officers slamming them against the wall and twisting their arms and hands, the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites)'s inspector general said on Thursday.

WTF?! KBR Files for Bankruptcy?!

Somebody's has got to by lying. What kind of Ken Lay/Jeff Skilling/Enron/Worldcom shi*t is this?!

Halliburton said in Tuesday several of its subsidiaries, including Kellogg Brown & Root, which holds the controversial US government contract in Iraq, had filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors to provide for a permanent resolution to the company's asbestos liabilities.

9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable

Wonder if this is gonna show up in the headlines tomorrow? Thomas Kean, former Republican Governor of New Jersey, says:

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."

Someone forgot to tell Bush that Kean is not a wimp. Oh well.

More trouble for Bush in the article:

Asked whether we should at least know if people sitting in the decision-making spots on that critical day are still in those positions, Kean said, "Yes, the answer is yes. And we will."

Well, glad to know we are now safe.

Unreal.....

I did the Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy meeting the other day. Wow. I got to see Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers) - he had some really interesting things to say. I was definitely not prepared to hear a bunch of people droning on about the obvious dangers of Nuclear Weapons or the evil of the Bush Administration, and Ellsberg delivered some crazy-cool imagery. More to come...

Sony has a flick coming out soon which seems like it'll be as shocking as it is compelling. Hawk-turned-liberal Robert McNamara, former Defense Secretary during the Vietnam was under JFK and LBJ, is the main character in this real-life bio-docudrama. It's called Fog of War and I'm sure it's going to cause a stir.

Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy

Wow. That's a name for ya. I'm tellin ya - DC is teaching me stuff all the time. Did you know why Native Indians (in America) are called 'Indians'? Ummm.....well, ok, so I'm the only one who didn't know. The answer lies here, where also lies a little rip from Howard Zinn's book - A People's History of the United States. It's the account of history that they don't tell you about in grade school - or any school. Not at the University of South Carolina, anyways. It disturbs me beyond to find out the truth about these great conquering heros that I was told about for all of the years of my formal education. These great conquering heros were no better than Hitler. Great. Someone needs to get pimp-slapped - a lot of people, in fact. Why can't we get the truth? Would the truth be that bad?!





Talking about truth - I have a little thing going on with George Washington University. I just don't think I'm down with going to a school whose namesake was an unabashed slaveowner. I've got issues with this - big issues. We in Washington, DC celebrate the man like he was some kind of conquering hero. Really? If George Washington was a great man, I guess that would make Stalin, Hitler, and Saddam hussein true saints?! More on this....I'm sorry, I just don't agree that being a champion of 'progress' absolves you from your shameful acts of slave-holding, slave-trading, slave-selling, slave-profiterring, etc. I'm just talking about GW here. Columbus' exploits are worse - much worse - so bad as to be unbelievable - sickly - dastardly - unthinkable. Believe me - the Columbus list goes on and on and on. Back to G-Dub, did you know good 'ol GW once got a whole barrel of molasses for one of his fine slaves? A WHOLE BARREL! You don't even know the half. And listen, we've been layin down and bowin down for four hundred years!!! I don't need to hear anymore GW apologists! I want the truth!





Anyway, on to other topics you never gave enough thought, what about the bombing of Japan? You know the atomic bomb and all that? Well, did you ever hear the term...'war crime'? Well, the title of this post is a group of people that know about the horrors of war - and about the horrors of nuclear war. Now don't go getting yourself all stopped up because you're not liking what you're hearing - sometimes the truth is ugly - but you shouldn't hide from the truth. I'd argue that it's your duty as an American to seek out the truth, always. The DC area has been getting some attention for a new airplane display that is about to go up in one of the umpteen Smithsonian museums - the display is of the Enola Gay - the plane that dropped the first A-bomb, on Hiroshima. Now, the details of the who and the how and the why are many and varied, and you can bet your bottom dollar that if you try to tell people the truth about this stuff it will shock their senses to the point that they'll want to vomit - and then punch you in the face - but like I said, the truth needs to come out - no matter how detestable.





This group is going to host a one day conference, on a Saturday, about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. It sounds totally cool. I can't believe that not once during my entire schooling up through twelfth grade did any history teacher of mine ever suggest that dropping those atomic bombs might not have been the best option - might have been avoidable - might have been wrong!. Not once. Brilliant. Or as the annoying LA film jerk who was watching the Swiss film the other day about milk kept repeating - over and over and over - Bravo! Loser. That makes me mad as all get-out. I'm sitting there sleep-walking for twelve+ years of edumacation! Fudge! Check out the pdf flyer for details. It's on Saturday, December 13, 2003 at American University in DC.

Occupation => Indignation => Circle of Violence == Israel/Palestine Conflict == Iraq Conflict == ...

Article on MSNBC.com talks about the inevitable anger aroused among the civilian populations of occupied territories, and how that anger leads to inevitable circle of violence. Was Britain in India a different story? Why?

The book, Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill, goes down this path. I've long held that this view is what causes the attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Of course, the violence in Iraq is no different than the violence in the occupied territories.

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Crackin me up...

Are you a bored first grade schoolteacher? Want to 'up the ante' a bit so as to, I dunno, get some attention for yourself, or prove to your students how smart you are, or maybe just have a little fun? Well, I've got an idea for you, but you've got to act FAST. Christmas, after all, is right around the corner!

Mind you, it's not my idea, so I can't take credit for it, but I can take some credit for helping to disseminate joy around the world with this little tale of how a nice first grade schoolteacher in Florida told her students that Santa was make believe. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

I swear I'm still laughing! I can imagine this schoolteacher having a battle of wits with one of his/her students:

teacher: Christmas is around the corner.

student: I can't wait to see Santa!

teacher: Santa is make-believe.

student: huh?

teacher: Santa is make-believe. You didn't know that?

student: <gulp>

teacher: Yeah, it's just something adults tell children to make them happy around Christmas.

student: Santa is not make believe...

teacher: Duh! How do you think Santa could have time to get to everyone's chimney in just a few hours?! And most people don't even have chimneys!

student: <bawl><cry><bawl><cry>!!!

teacher: Don't worry - you'll still get your presents.

More good news from Iraqistan...

A U.S. soldier loses a leg to a...grenade attack from an....Iraqi police officer? Ummmm...yeah. So, let's see. Where to start? Too much bad stuff. It's like Juliette Lewis's character, Mallory Knox, from Natural Born Killer....'Bad! Bad! Bad!'. She was scolding Woody Harrelson's character, Mickey Knox, for killing the old Indian man in the desert. The Indian man had been so nice to them - fed them, gave them a place to sleep, and now Woody hauls off and kills the old man. Mallory is just so overwhelmed by the wrongness of what Mickey has done that she starts yelling and pointing at Mickey 'Bad! Bad! Bad!'.

There's not so much an association between the U.S. soldier getting attacked by one of his own and the old man getting killed by Mickey Knox, but the bad of the situation is all-engulfing. It's bad that we broke international law to invade Iraq. It's bad that we're still in Iraq. It's bad that we've run the occupation so poorly (and brutally). It's bad that U.S. soldiers have to worry about the forces they've armed (sound familiar?). It's bad that this soldier lost his leg. It's bad that he won't be the last soldier to lose a leg in Iraqistan. It's bad that this soldier will not be taken care of by his government when he gets back home. It's bad that Bush might get re-elected for having started this war. It's bad that the press is little more than a mouthpiece for this Administration. It's bad that Iraqi-police-on-U.S.-forces attacks have happened many times already and will continue to happen - probably with increasing frequency and effect. It's bad that we've spent hundreds of billions of dollars on Iraqistan and will probably spend several hundred billion more by the time it's over - all without making America any safer from terrorism. It's bad that we don't know what 'over' is in Iraq. It's bad that Iraq is headed towards theocracy. It's bad that we've established a mind-numbingly dimwitted and dangerous precedent by invading another sovereign country. It's bad that the UN has put its stamp of approval on the invasion. It's bad that the Bush is putting nuclear weapons 'back on the table'. The list goes on. As Mallory Knox said, 'Bad! Bad! Bad!'.

Another dead body...

New York Newsday reports that:

A body was found inside United Nations headquarters on Monday, a U.N. spokesman said. U.N. security and the New York police department are investigating the matter.

Well, we know this is not the first dead body to surface, and my instincts tell me it won't be the last. The 04 election is right around the corner - can't take any chances.

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