I am deeply saddened, and at the same time outraged by what this Congress and this illegitimate president has done to my country. All Americans should hang their head in shame for the bills passed this week that give this criminal administration free rein to torture, free rein to detain people without habeas corpus, free rein to drag this country down to banana republic state.
Bush and Cheney should be impeached for their crimes against the people of the United States and the innocent people in Iraq. Instead our duly-elected (by the people) representatives compliantly give them more power.
The perpetrator of the 911 attacks is alive, and well, and living in Pakistan (our ally???), while we carry on an illicit and uncalled for occupation in Iraq, wasting billions of dollars and countless lives. And all the while our beloved Constitution, the foundation of our country, is being shredded before our very eyes.
While we are remembering all those who were lost on this day, 5 years ago, I thought we should also remember this ...
And this ...
A few days after, 9/11/06, I wrote up my recollections of the day. You can read them here ...
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
The Merriam-Webster New Collegiate dictionary (my favorite) describes the word conspire thusly:
Such a simple word, isn't it - stripped of all the rhetoric and tinfoil hats that generally get attached to it? Basically it's a plot to do something wrong. History is filled with such plots.
There is nothing wrong with developing a theory either. This word also has a perfectly respectable dictionary definition:
All of this serves as a preamble for my thoughts on the events of September 11, 2001 - 5 years later. I'm posting this today rather than on Monday, because I'd like to keep that day as a memorial to those who died - needlessly.
I am one of a growing number of people who do not completely accept the findings of the 911 commission. Were it not for the efforts of the "Jersey Girls" - Kristin Breitweiser, Mindy Kleinberg, Lorie Van Auken, Patty Casazza, and Monica Gabrielle - all 911 widows, we would not even have had an investigation at all. The worst crime committed in the history of the United States, and no one in any official capacity thought we should investigate. Astounding.
Make no mistake about that - this was a crime of the highest magnitude - all acts of terrorism are crimes. Terrorists are not soldiers in the army of some country. Terrorist organizations are not countries with whom we can go to war. They are criminals and should be treated as such.
I am also one of a growing number of people who believe that our government, either let the events of September 11, 2001 unfold, or that our government - yes the Government of the US of A - took an active role in those events.
Actually all these people are now joining me in my belief, because i have believed this since I read through the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) web site just a few weeks after 9/11/01. Right there on page 63 of this document, I found these chilling words: "Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor. "
What was 911 if not a "new Pearl Harbor?" How nice of those 19 hijackers (and not an Iraqi among them) to provide exactly what the members of PNAC longed for. And who are these conveniently fortunate fellows? Why they fill various important positions in George Walker Bush's administration!
The Statement of Principles on their web site is signed by the following: Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes, Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle, Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz, Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen, Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel, Paul Wolfowitz. Notice any familiar names?
So armed with that alarming bit of information, I began noticing events, and the people involved in those events. I began listening to who was calling for war with Iraq - a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the September 11 attacks, despite what some in this government would have you believe. I began to wonder just exactly what was transpiring before our very eyes.
There simply are too many convenient coincidences. Now, I'm not one who thinks that coincidences don't happen. I just get very suspicious when they are not only convenient, but serendipitous as well.
If you read this exceptionally thorough and precise explanation by David Ray Griffin, a retired professor of theology. I think you will see why I think the way I do, and I think that you will draw the same conclusions as well.
Dr. Griffin does not believe in some of the flagrantly bizarre theories such as: No planes flew into the buildings, missiles hit the buildings, the buildings were brought down by explosives, etc - and neither do I. I just think that when it comes to the events of September 11, there are fat too many unanswered questions and they are very disturbing questions, indeed. We need the answers, no matter how disturbing they are. We need the truth.
This article in Alternet is definitely required reading.
The author - Joshua Holland - does an excellent job of explaining why we are waging "The War on Terror" on the wrong "enemy." He also explains to those, ignorant of the fact, that not all terrorists are Muslims. So many right wing pundits and talk show hosts insist that "not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."
This is so not true. According to the CIA website listing of terrorist organizations 36 out of 58 are NOT Islamic groups. This listing does not include ones that I remember like the Bader-Meinhof and Red Brigade that I remember from a decade or so back.
So check out this article - it will give you plenty of amunition to combat those who insist that Islamists are the only terrorists. Perhaps someone should tell George Bush.
"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular." --Edward R Morrow, 1954
Keith Olbermann read those wise words from Edward R. Morrow on his program on Aug. 30, 2006, and I take them to heart. It makes me feel good to know that others in our history have wrestled with bullies in their neighborhoods and worse in their government. Bullies who will smear thier patriotic comrades when they try to hold on to the torn and tattered pages of our Constitution. It makes me feel good and hopeful to know that the bullies of the past were defeated.
We need more Keith Olbermans and Edward R. Morrows - men who are not afraid to speak truth to power. We need to have these leaders emerge so we can find the courage in our own hearts to speak up. We all need the courage to say, "Enough" and to say it loudly.
We are not disloyal, in fact just the opposite. We care enough about our country to fight for it. To fight for every line in the Constitution, to fight for the very rights and freedoms this president (not mine) ostensibly sent our men and women to fight for in an illegal war in Iraq
You can find a transcript of Keith Olberman's editorial at Truthout or you can listen to it at Crooks and Liars
"One of the great attractions of patriotism it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous." --Aldous Huxley quotes (English Novelist and Critic, 1894-1963)
When we are sitting on the largest stockpile of nuclear arms on the planet, where do we get the nerve to tell other countries that they can not arm themselves in the same way? When there is a bully in your neighborhood and you have a club, you'd best be getting yourself a club so you can defend yourself.
Right now the US is the bully with the club in the Middle East, and I can understand why Iran wants to arm themselves - even though they claim their nuclear program is for energy only. Why doesn't anyone see the irony here? We are threatening to use tactical nukes to stop Iran from developing nukes of their own. What is wrong with this picture?
Don't get me wrong - I don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons - I don't want ANYONE to have nuclear weapons. We need unilateral disarmament NOW. Everyone step away from the nukes! We can only hope to get others to disarm when we do as well. or we are just kids in a playground saying, "I double dog dare you!" One day someone will take that dare ... and God help us all.
Call your Congressional Representatives and Senators. Tell them not to accept this president's act two of lies and fear-mongering. Lets talk with Iran and Europe and others and see if we can come to some compromise. NO WAR WITH IRAN!
"And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence. " --Paul Simon
What does this - Three Polls Find Workers Sensing Deep Pessimism - NY Times article have to do with this one - There Is Silence in the Streets; Where Have All the Protesters Gone??
I was listening to Thom Hartman as he filled in for Randi Rhodes on Air America Radio yesterday, and basically he answered that question. People who are worried about their jobs, feeding their families and keeping roofs over their heads barely have time to contemplate the state of our country, let alone the time to do something about it. Students who are worried about keeping up their grades so they don't lose scholarships (if they have them) or working to pay tuition (if they don't) also don't have time, or the energy to take to the streets.
Which is exactly what our illustrious government officials want.
They are probably rubbing their hands together in glee over the prospect of an underpaid, overworked populace who not only put lots of extra bucks in these oligarchs' pockets, but who are sapped of any energy to protest their situations. Don't forget Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the Neo-Con cabal were there during the late 60s and the 70s when protestors mobbed at every turn. They remember what it was like and they remember what it did to Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. They don't want it to happen to them. Best of all, it's a 2 edged sword - they reap the benefit of the increased production without paying increased wages, and they get to listen to the sounds of silence from the masses.