411 ON 911
Since I wrote 911 so much has happened to include heightened fear, prejudice and a very deliberate and contrived diminishment of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights. First and foremost in my mind is the continual obfuscating nomenclature of that day as nine eleven and its terribly tragic events. The day should be referred to as Nine-One-One as in dialing for emergency help. To anyone, even from the “dumb down generation” and those who haven’t figured out television stations co-ordinate their commercials to be simultaneously shown in order to retain their audience, it should be abundantly clear that September 11th was specifically chosen as the day to inflict this harm on our homeland, as an incisive derisive mocking statement. Yet the media and government use “nine eleven” rather than the correct and meaningful nine-one-one intended reference. Why? Since this new day of “national infamy”, we’ve had much discussion on who, what, when and why. We’ve had a woman named Ann Coulter write a condemning book attacking “the Jersey Girls”, widows of the twin tower hits, chastising their efforts to have a more objective and inquisitive ( read integral) investigation of all the events before, during and after 9-1-1. Thomas Jefferson said, “Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error”. Yet this Colter woman chastises these widows as only being selfish, indulgent, publicity seekers stirring up sad memories. As a point woman for the dedicated wrong, one might think she could have been a bit more considerate, compassionate and commiserative toward these ladies and respect for their effort. Anyone who has read their book or having seen their interviews, see beyond a shadow of a doubt they indeed are, the genuine article, trying to use our system of checks and balances (what’s left of it, that is) in seeking the deserved justice, still not achieved. Whatever Colter’s purpose is, it proves there must be much left unexposed, for her to libel, slander and mudsling to the degree she has viciously anointed the “JERSEY GIRLS” with in an effort to refocus and debunk.
As with any national event, there are always nuts and kooks coming out of the wood work to give disinformation or gain fortune and fame with their latest crazy version of what really did transpire. They are lumped together as “conspiratorialists”. There are though, credible and responsible books, articles and web sites which give reason to our worst fears of government collusion, if not cover over. Just put it in the context that if a President of the United States can be gunned down on an open public street with a Disney World fairy tale, called the WARREN REPORT as the official explanation and is still accepted (taught in school) and let stand for forty-four years with no valid disclosure, it is unfortunately, not such a stretch.
I have had problems with the credibility of President Bush long before 911. In 2,000, after a strong showing by Senator John McCain in the New Hampshire Primary, George Bush had to handily win the South Carolina primary to position himself for the Super Tuesday of primaries just weeks away. Instead of going straight to South Carolina, Bush’s handlers regrouped with him in Crawford, Texas and re-invented, so
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to speak, their candidate, with just having him practice reading and delivery from almost invariably the same short speech, with the suggested nuances and emphasis and told him they would have a constant group of your supporters sitting down front to his right. After each declarative quasi-patriotic sentence, a prompt would be issued and wild delirious cheering would be exhibited, as if spontaneous. Watch the videos and see after each pre-arranged point, he’d look down at his “fan club” and give that smirk/smile as in the little boy who has just pleased his mother and teacher. Positive reinforcement with brief select worded spiels gave him a new political life and shielded him from the “gotcha questions”. Not to mention the dirty tricks his handlers pulled on the Honorable Senator John McCain. Then the Republicans, in his governor brother Jeb’s state, stole the 2,000 election fair and square, with a little Supreme Court improper and illegal opinion. Speaking of JEB!, had he won the Florida Governorship in 1994, preventing “Walkin” Lawton Chiles (he walked across the state to earn his political shoes, no pun intended) from being elected to a second term, JEB! would have been 2,000’s front runner. As slow as #43 (kegboy) is on the uptake, brother Jeb is fast and formidable. He is also bi-lingual in Spanish and has proven himself many times over, especially during the hurricanes. While during gubernatorial media info’s, Jeb has insisted the networks give him extra time to relay the same directives in Spanish! He is also adamant about being a non-candidate in 2008! Who’s kidding who?
Fast forward to a Sarasota elementary classroom and Press Secretary Andrew Card coming in, while President #43 is attentively listening to children reading MY PET GOAT and telling him that yet a second plane had hit the other Twin Tower and watch Bush #43’s face for seven (7) long minutes. It shows he has no clue what to do sitting frozen (watch him in Fahrenheit 911) until a staffer comes in to yank him. What other real U.S. President in our brief history have witnessed such obvious bellicose acts and have shown demonstrated such non-response to obvious ongoing terrorist action of the highest degree??? My first question after the failure to even allude to nine-one-one, is that if these terrorists were so intent on maximum damage effect, then why not wait until the hours of 11A.M. to 2 P.M. when the Towers would be full to their complement of workers and an additional three to five thousand tourists? Thank God they didn’t, but why did they not?
Among the questions and/or inconsistencies associated with responsible criticism of the Official Versions of the 911 Commission Report are the tracking of Flight 93 when it turned in the radar shadow of another jet liner, is the contention it followed it in its radar swath and landed in Cleveland on a parallel runway. The pit in Shanksville, Pa. where Flight 93 allegedly crashed after heroic efforts to deter its terrorist mission, was so obliterated, no items of particular (suitcases, briefcases parts of the wreckage etc..) were said to be found and the coroner quit searching for body parts when he could not after an hour, even find traces of blood! One engine was found some two miles from the pit, suggesting maybe the courageous passengers were successful and since there could not be any contradictive witnesses, Flight 93 was indeed, shot down. The absence of any identifying parts, luggage and/or human effects etc… save the “black
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boxes”, in such a crash debris field is, incredible. At the Pentagon (five sides), a five ring stone and steel re-enforced building, for some odd reason, there exist very few odd reason there exist very few eye witnesses claiming to have seen a 767 jet airliner come out of the blue at a height of 20 to 30 feet and crash into its side. The explosion left a much smaller gap than theoretically should have been wrought. I would be irresponsible if I agreed with the conclusions of some of the skeptics who claim a missile hit it, but I do know a jet airliner of such capacity cannot fly that low to the ground for long before inertia and gravity stalls it out and the only available video clip of the strike shows a projectile hitting the Pentagon wall almost perpendicular to the ground and in an area that was under redecoration. The tape recorders, giving constant view of the area, were pulled by the FBI almost immediately after the event and have been suppressed. With the Twin Towers, a number of hierarchy of Fire Officials and ex-military security people all witnessed sharp brief glows of light (read explosions) at corners of the buildings just prior to both collapses. In a rather persuasive argument, made by a number of knowledgeable people, all claim towers of such solid structure should collapsed and neither of them would have had the tendency to implode symmetrically and fall down so efficiently upon their self. We had explosive riggers here in St. Petersburg who discussed in depth the techniques they would use to destroy (implode) an old eight (8) story hotel upon it self without damaging anything near by. But yet we witnessed perfect implosions on two heavily constructed buildings because the heat from aviation jet fuel melted random steel frames. Experts in this field agree the plane fuel could not reach the heat degree necessary for the collapse. These assertions/questions here are viably responsible, yet none were properly addressed in 911 Commission Hearings. Try reading THE SECOND PEARL HARBOR.
Then there is the alarming reality that FBI Special Agent Harry Samit arrested Zacarias Massaoui 26 days before the attacks yet the investigation of all his background activity from flight school training (flying, not takeoff and landing and absent a real pilot’s license) on a Boeing 747 simulator and other spurious activity, was summarily dismissed at some level of hierarchy and the agent was stymied in his effort to search Massaoui,s belongings and lap top computer. A request to put an Arab speaking ringer in a cell next to his to try and glean information on his unrealistic activity was denied. He was to be the 20th hijacker on 911. The absence of these questions are reminiscent of the Warren Commission’s failure to identify who was responsible for changing JFK’s motorcade route the morning of the 22ND so it would run through Dealy Plaza with its slow turns, making for a perfect ambush forum. The Dallas newspaper had published the motorcade route that very morning, with the path avoiding any such non protocol turns going straight to the under pass to the Stemmons Freeway to his Trade Mart speech! Read people, there is so much more inconclusiveness and unanswered questions, more so, those unasked! Oh yeah, and what about the people told not to report that day in the Pentagon, Armed Forces, New York Port Authority and Security. I don’t have the space to enumerate all. You look it up. I will say, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the well known “Gonzo” political author (“Hells Angels, A Strange and Terrible Saga”, “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas” and Fear and Loathing On The
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Campaign trail, 1972” are among his many books) and was reputedly, the only man to ever ride with both Hells Angels and Richard Nixon, expressed his opinion that our BUSH #43 government caused or allowed 911 to happen. He used the lawyer axiom of “qui bono” to justify his doubt. From a man with such an astute and experienced knowledge of our government, in and out, I have no doubt in respecting his view and seeking commensurate fact.
To understand how the mid east and Moslem fanatics play such a large role, I believe one must understand Iran as a key. First, Iranians are not Arabs nor are they Arabian in any sense. They are a Shiite Moslem based religious country. PERSIA is the original name and the Persians/Iranians have maintained a sovereign, integral border with the same indigenous people, for over twenty-five hundred years. Alexander the Great, during his eastward conquest campaign, chose not to destroy Baghdad and Persia and particularly its ever growing Library and Archives of antiquity. The Persian poet, Omar Khayam, may ring a bell with his famed Rhubyat, of some 80 verses. One of my more favored is, “The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on. Nor all your piety or wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it”. In 1941, with WW ll ongoing, at the age of twenty one, Mohaamad Reza Shah Pahlavi took over the Peacock Throne from his deceased father. Strong ties with the United States Military Industrial Intelligence Community aided him in preserving power, particularly over Prime ministers of its Parliament and Moslem fundamentalist religious clerics. The U.S. helped the “Shah” (king) organize a dreaded secret police called the Savak. In fear for his life, the main cleric player, Ayatollah Khomeini, a Shiite fundamentalist with a large following, left Iran in 1951, for exile in France. In 1967, Shah Pahlavi declared himself Emperor.
I served in the United States Naval Air in the late ‘60’s to early ‘70’s attached to a jetfighter squadron called VF-84 (the Jolly Rogers) which flew F-4J Phantoms. At sea, we were attached to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. FDR and I made two Mediterranean cruises, which proved to be a vast learning experience. The year after I got out, the Air Force and Navy Air switched its main fighter jet to the new F-14 Tomcat. In 1974, the U.S. sold the Shah, 80 of these state of the art fighters (Air Force version), along with its sophisticated armament and advisers to train their air force in all its features. This made Iran (our proxy in that region) the pre-imminent power in the mid east along with its much despised neighbor, the democracy of Israel which becoming a state, displaced the Palestinians, creating refugees. If the powers that be had preserved land for them, I believe peace could have prevailed. Iran also happens to be one of the top three oil rich producing countries on the earth. I believe Gerald Ford (the only man never elected to serve as either Vice president or President of our United States) was in Office agreeing to the sale. Oh yeah, he was one of the seven members of the infamous Warren Commission! AND by the way, the price of oil in 1973 was $2.59 a barrel. In 1974, it jumped to $10.95 and the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC or cartel!) now was realizing over $100 billion a year in American dollars! Supposedly, the jump was from an oil (OPEC) embargo in the fall of1973. By 1980, a barrel of crude sold for
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only $30 and Iran was the only mid-east country with a blossoming industrial base to build on. The other countries could only invest in real estate etc…(read U.S. interests) or bank deposit profits. In 2005 -2006, a barrel of crude fluctuated between $70 and $75. As of this writing (1/14/08) a barrel of crude has passed $100 a barrel!
As a returned vet, I worked as a mailman and went to college at night, until I could afford to finish out my degree at the University of Maryland, in my hometown of College Park, Maryland. My first semester there was January of 1975. In March of 1975, Geraldo Rivera, hosting a late night show called Good Night America, showed for the first time, the one known film of John Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, November 22, 1963.The film was made by a dressmaker named Abraham Zapruder, from the so-called “grassy knoll”and the original had been held in the National Archives by officialdom on the premise of preserving the dignity of the Kennedy family. Obviously, it showed just the opposite of what the Warren Commission had maintained of there being a lone gun man shooting the president from the rear. From the beginning, as a 15 year old kid, I had many questions about the report which bothered me as unanswered or nasked. It was then that I came upon a book called WHITEWASH by one Harold Weisberg, at the off campus book store. He had to publish it with his own funds and sold on consignment, because, in his own words, “no publisher would dare print the truth”! The book was critical of the Report and every sentence had a documented footnote, mostly from the twenty six volumes of evidence, documents and testimony upon which the Report was based. Even more credible was the responsibility it used in not theorizing, but comparing and contrasting the finding with the body of evidence. He had published two more books on the Warren Report and one on the investigation of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination by this time. The showing of the film caused such an uproar (read cause of the moment) that I called Mr. Weisberg, who fortunately lived just seventy miles north in Frederick, Md., and I asked him to come speak at the Campus, not having any plan A or idea how I would accomplish such a feat. But Harold said yes and asked me to visit him to go over details. A week later and much preparation (read perspiration and anxiety), I drove to his home to discuss the details. On April 14, 1975 Harold spoke to an overflow crowd of 2,000 and as a result of the interest, a group of us started a petition drive to have Congress hold open hearings on just the Investigation. There were several Resolutions of such, in the House of Representatives, at the time. One was by The Honorable Thomas Downing of Virginia and the other House member was Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, who by the way, had ridden in the motorcade that fateful day in Dallas. Our Congresswoman, the late Gladys Spellman from our Fifth District agreed, after some urging, to join as a co-signer of the Resolutions and enter mention of our 7,000 plus, petition signatures in the Congressional Record. She did ask me if I could provide some type of substantiation to justify her entry. I gave her a document Harold had just recently received under a Freedom of Information Act request. It was notes of the Warren Commission and counsel, in executive session (verbatim) on January 22, 1964 (this was before them reviewing any documents, evidence or the hearing of any testimony) discussing explicitly, that there was to be no real investigation and they
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were to rubber stamp the FBI’s version of Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone and unassisted, in accomplishing the murder. Read it for yourself in The Congressional Record of May 14, 1975 on page E2442 in the Extension of Remarks.
This all ties together that May, when my long time friend Dan and I went to Georgetown University in NW Washington D.C. to visit our contact, Jenifer, representing a group of interested students there. We parked on “N” street and walked a block to the Administration Building entrance. The campus had an old wrought iron fence and gate surrounding the area, probably for ambience. As we approached, we could hear vehement chants of a marching demonstration on the out sidewalk, of maybe a thousand people. They had brown bags over their heads and slits cut to see through. Some were painted various colors. They were protesting the Shah of Iran and his Savak’s atrocious acts on his own citizens. They obviously were afraid to reveal themselves, to prevent harm to them and their relatives back home. This made me realize that there were indeed thousands of students in the U.S. on visas attending some of the most prestigious Universities in America, paid for by their oil rich families. This was apparently true of all the oil wealthy mid east countries. Engaging in conversation, I began to learn they believed the U.S. Government had controlling interests in these nations and did not wish to see democracy take root. These people loved our society and culture and freedom but were abhorrent, on the whole, we as citizens were so politically naïve. They thought so much of us as a people, that if we knew first hand about the atrocities they spoke of, we would vote out the politicians who were allowing such anguish and abuse. They were also very moderate in their Moslem beliefs with even the Shiites not so interested in seeing fundamentalism take hold in their respective nations (read religious right and Jerry Fallwell etc…here). Right now, in the year 2006, with all that has taken place, I have strong doubts the majority of these peoples’ feelings have only grown stronger in this forum. I believe they just resent what our unchecked, greedy, dedicated wrong group have fomented in the region. I declare this from the many conversations I had with some of the foreign students and their American friends. Ironically, I had a professor in Ancient to Medieval History who spent a week discussing Allah, Mohammed, the Koran and the spread of the Moslem Empire, which of course led to the Crusades and the fight for JERUSALEM. He predicted that the 1974 Oil Embargo which was just the beginning of Moslems uniting in a Jihad (holy war) against the arrogant imperialism of the west which had been virtually stealing their oil for mere pennies. Funny life!?
Back to the future, in 1978 President Jimmy Carter visited the mid east and Iran during the New Year Holidays. He stoutly declared that Iran was, “an island of stability” in the volatile mid east region. After much civil unrest, even at the peril of the infamous Savak, the Shah, alleged to have cancer, was forced to leave Iran in January 1979. The next month, the fundamentalist Shiite Cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini, returned from exile in France, victorious and formed his own government. Sounds to me like Jimmy Carter, a very decent man with extreme integrity, was given some very poor intelligence or, just plain disinformation. My opinion was he was deliberately
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deceived and sabotaged to look bad. On November 4th, 1979, groups of “students(?)” to include the current President, stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the Capitol and held all in the compound, prisoners (the hell with Diplomatic Immunity!). After a failed military rescue in April of 1980, President Carter turned to diplomacy but the channels would not open. It is now common knowledge that Ronald Reagan, candidate for the Republican nomination for President of these United States, through secret emissaries, held back channel meetings with Iranian officials (in Paris) to keep the hostages held until he won the election and took office. It remains to be seen exactly what the quid pro quo (Iran/Contra scandal ala Ollie North etc…) was, but at 12:30 P.M. on January 20th, 1981, with Ronald Wilson Reagan sworn in as our 40th President, on the 444th day of captivity, the announcement came that wheels were up on a plane carrying the Embassy Hostages to safety. Again, you tell me!
In neighboring Iraq on July 22, 1979, a bully of a scoundrel named Saddam Hussein, took complete control over the military and the country (with U.S. help), after forcing the puppet President Baks, to step down. In the next few days he murdered anyone in power he perceived to be a threat. Iraq is divided geographically into three very separate groups. In the north there are the Kurds. In the mid region, around Baghdad, there are the Sunni Moslems and to the oil rich south, are the warlike Shiites. The Kurds are more the nomadic type having their population contiguous to Turkey, Iran, Syria and Armenia as well as Iraq. With the breakup of the old Ottoman Empire, the Treaty of Sevres created several of these nations and held clause for a state of “Kurdistan” which never came about. With the loss of Iran, the U.S. powers that be, decided to support Saddam Hussein to keep a foothold in the region. Which of course, meant weapons, armament, advisers, etc… and a turned head to human rights violations. In 1980, the former Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, (USSR) invaded Afghanistan, which became for them, a quagmire just like our war in Vietnam. Some countries just will not submit to conquest, no matter how overwhelming the strength or duration of occupation. Coincidentally, Saddam’s Iraq invaded Iran the same year(?). One can only speculate why, eh??? Iran’s air force was immediately destroyed (remember the F-14 Tomcat acquisition ….well it needs maintenance and upgrading, which the U.S. obviously denied). Iraq’s forces were nearing Tehran and victory, when the Ayatollah influenced thousands of weaponless Iranians to blindly charge the Iraq army. With wave after wave of weaponless men of all ages confronting the Iraqi’s, Iran’s military behind them, pushed over the bloody corpses and turned the invasion back to the border where it remained as a standoff for eight long years; about the same length as the Soviet incursion of Afghanistan.. One incredible incident was Saddam Hussein using lethal gas to murder perhaps a million Kurds in the north. One other interesting bit from the 1981 time frame, was Israel’s air force striking and destroying a uranium refinery where Iraq was trying to manufacture fissionable material for an Atomic bomb. If this is starting to bore you as a history lesson, hang in there because when I’m finished, I’ll be at your doorstep.
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The United States has an indispensable interest in this region and as the old saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, the U.S. supported Afghanistan with a bushel of assistance. The Moslem fundamentalists declared the USSR invasion to be a “Jihad” and many Moslems, particularly rich Saudi Arabians (Osama Bin Laden), journeyed to join the romantic fight. Our Intelligence Community was equipping the Afghans with armament, missiles, technology and strategy, all of which Bin Laden was absorbing at the same time he was carving himself out safe houses, mountain enclaves and influence of the Moslem fundamentalists there and afar. Spreading his family fortune around did not lose any friends either. With the war over and the Soviet Union breaking apart, Bin Laden and friends had helped form a political group to rule Afghanistan, called the “Taliban”. Inside this circle was a terrorist group, called Al Quaeda. But I’m ahead of myself again.
You see, Ronald Reagan (a grade “B” movie star) was President from 1981 (he beat the twenty year elected in a year ending in zero curse of dying in office, dating back to 1840…call it the luck of the Irish, but ballots not bullets should bequeath our leadership, amen) to 1989, but George Bush as Vice President (“#41” as opposed to his son whom the intimates refer to as “#43”) was really the “Man” (as in the THE WIZARD OF OZ). This scenario repeats itself with Dick Cheney (“Vice as kegboy calls him) running the show. Since when has Vice ever presided over the Senate as prescribed? So #41, beats Dukakis in ’88 for a virtual third term and now with hostilities ceased in the region, something’s gotta give. We need boots on the ground (read a large military base of operations) in one or more of these, getting smarter everyday, oil rich nations (hey, they gotta do something with all those petro dollars). As it appears, Bush “41”gave Saddam an incidental wink to invade the small oil producing neighbor of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. There’s evidence to support this impropriety (read treasonous act) like let’s have a little live drill with our weapons and tactics, to see how well they function and we’ll just drive you out of Kuwait. Or, the wink is to shake up Saudi Arabia (oil rich and virtually defenseless) so we can have a strong hold there for staging the re-liberation of Kuwait and we’ll stay there as status quo. Or a simple answer is, Saddam just got too big for his britches and did not believe a consensus coalition with the United Nations could be put together, to repulse his forces. The price of a barrel of crude oil doubled over night in July of 1990 and we had in place “Desert Shield” at Saudi Arabia’s border with Kuwait and Iraq, pronto. Now pop quiz: who did this infidel’s occupation piss off more than anyone??? Osama Bin Laden, naturally. His ego (read power strive) was so off the chain, he was deported from Saudi Arabia. Awww gee maw! Desert Shield, with the proper patience and intelligence, allowed the Commanding General, Colin Powell in now Desert Storm, to kick butt in early 1991 and basically, the air contingency destroyed Saddam’s whole front line. The boots just served to clean up. Bush ”41” gave, at best, confusing signals to the Kurds up north that he would guarantee protection for them if they chose to rise up and fight for independence. He did declare their region a “no fly zone”, as he did in the southern Shiite region, but he didn’t keep his word and they suffered staggering, inhumane losses trying to break free from Saddam. In effect, we said we’d be there
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when their coinciding rebellion ignited. Instead, #41 let them rot and die. At that juncture, there was nothing of substance standing between us and Baghdad to oust Saddam and divide the separate entities and create a tentatively stabile sovereign region for each party. There was no Taliban or Al Quaeda then, formidable enough to create any insurgency or civil strife, like we see today. No matter what Bush “41” says his reason was not to pursue the dragon, (he actually wrote an apologist book on the lack of follow through) because he did not have,”an exit strategy”. I say BS. There were nefarious reasons he let Saddam stay in power. Osama Bin Laden grew legendary in stature, especially after his video declaration of Jihad against America in 1998, because there were infidels on holy soil (Saudi Arabia, home of the Rock/Dome) which came to initial fruition with the twin Embassy bombings on the same day/time in Africa and the suicide boat bombing of the USS Cole, at anchor off the coast of Sudan.
In 1994, the Republicans with Newt “NUT” Gingrich and his little pamphlet called Contract With America (should be Contract ”On”…it reminds me Of Mao tse Tung’s “Little Red Book”, which pamphlets were distributed to the two billion or so Chinese, to read each day and memorize, on why Communism in China was so correct etc….) led his Republican Party to majorities in both Chambers of Congress, the first time in memory. They had a Lobbyist/fundraiser by the name of Jack Abramoff with an office on “K” St. NW (“K” St. became a sort of lobbyists’ row, finding unique means to raise and channel millions of solicited funds for strategic Congressional races in return for lock step voting and a multitude of various political favors…mostly unethical and illegal) who began to grow money trees and with the help of Congressman Tom Delay of Texas (who by the way, is now looking at a criminal indictment from his own home district with heavy prison time looming; Abramoff is already convicted and in prison) who succeeded Gingrich as Chairman of the House. By the way, Tom Delay currently suffers the same indignities as Abramahoff did. The ciphering off of millions dollars to candidates of choice, in every important state race, fattened their war chests with more than enough grease to win each one. In those early heady days, these Congresses spent over thirty-five million dollars to investigate President Bill Clinton as he proceeded to balance the budget in his first term, changing billions in deficit spending to a surplus of $236 billion with efforts to try and get Congress (read Republicans) to put it in the Social Security coffers for the baby boomer generation to have back what they legitimately earned, for their golden years!. Not concerned with healthcare, education, jobs or affordable housing, the Republican held House, spent over 140 hours in Committee, investigating alleged misuse of then President Clinton’s Christmas card greeting list (among other issues, like his sex life!). When representative John Conyers, Dem. Michigan, and some fifty other members asked for hearings on a document from the British government called “ the Downing Street Memo”, which that stated Bush”43”had “fixed” the intelligence about the reasons to take out Iraq, they were flat out denied! There have been less actual hearings in this Congress since Harry Truman’s “do nothing Congress” of 1948. According to the Constitution,” the Congress shall from time to time, advise and consent to the
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Executive Branch”. Basically it is supposed to hold hearings (with full subpoena power and penalties for perjury or the subornation of such) and legislate laws and send such bill(s) to the President to sign into law or make recommendations on matters of state. Since 2,000, when Bush “43” stole the Presidential Election fair and square, the Congress has held very few hearings. When Clinton lied, nobody died, makes a great talking point and bumper sticker. In #43’s absurd abuse of power(s), Rep. Conyers has a Bill of Particulars calling for the Impeachment and Removal from office of George Bush. In his role as the President of our country for our constitutional democracy, I would take a bullet for #43. As a citizen, I whole heartedly support Representative Conyers’ Bill. The previous was scribed prior to the 2006 Congressional elections. There is so much to put into an effort such as this, to awaken the regular Jane or John DOE American. In 1984 (George Orwell was just a few years ahead of his timing), I wrote of the re-election of Ronald Wilson Reagan “the Hawk won’t fly and the Turkey will certainly flop and the mule will be left to wallow in the slop!”. Benjamin Franklin, co-author of our beautiful Democracy, lobbied for the Turkey to be our National Bird. In a way, I am glad the EAGLE won out, but in the same vein, I’d rather have AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL as our National Anthem. The Wednesday after Tuesday’s 2006 elections, Bush #43 fired Donald Rumsfeld, his Secretary Of Defense and co-author of the war in Iraq and main point man on the bogus Weapons of Mass Destruction reasoning for making the war with Iraq and turning out Saddaam. Until the Democratic pummeling, Bush #43 was adamant about keeping his key war cabinet members intact throughout the remainder of his final term! Now it is incumbent upon the Democrats to offer viable solutions to ending the strife and turmoil (read torture and mass murder) and stabilize Iraq. As you can imagine, this will take the wisdom of Solomon. You can’t always get what you want, but if you try real hard, you get what you need! When I was working the JFK Petition and related efforts at U.of M., I was interviewed by the Campus Newspaper, THE DIAMONDBACK. I was asked about our democracy and my JFK effort and I said, “It is a shame America depends on one person so often, for so much”. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, JFK, Martin L. King etc…”O sweet illusions of the brain.. O sudden thrills of fire and frost. The world is bright while ye remain and dark and dead when ye are lost (!)”.(The Hanging of the Crane, LONGFELLOW)
There is so much to include in this attempt to have real regular people read and understand how bad things are going for our dear country. Let me try by inserting the first paragraph of a book I started thirty years ago, to be named, THE DAY AMERICA WOKE UPAND DECIDED TO CALL IN SICK (or drunk, which ever you prefer!) “After all”, said Scarlett, ‘tomorrow is another day’”. Ah yes, TOMORROW….what else has been said about tomorrow? Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps on its petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time. And we are but poor players who strut and fret their hour upon the stage (actually Andy Warhol only allows us 15 minutes of fame in the future!) and then are heard from no more. Tis’ a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. Shakespeare penned that goody. Really though, what about tomorrow? Actually, these days, this is more of
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an if, when, how and where question. That is if you possess enough fore thought to consider the opportunity. And although the drive for survival wins top priority in all species known, as the basic need, it seems ludicrously absent in today’s modern society, especially in America where Peep Hole magazine tantalizes us at the check out counter with what TomKat, BritFed and Mad Donna are up to and what have they done lately like their derigueur African baby adoption duty a la’ Angelina Jolley (sp?, no casting aspersions here AJ because I believe her to be the real thing). The concept of our succeeding ourselves is as if it were some fore gone conclusion, undemanding of any consideration. It is as if Mother Nature (read GOD) has taken that one last voluntary leap for mankind (womankind also) and decreed on CNN, we are now safe and secure from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and planetary destruction. ( don’t believe the Mayan Calendar and the 12/21/12 prediction) No Miss Fortune for good ole God Blessed America and we can now take survival for granted. Thusly, we have copped out for various reasons to not worry. What a rude awakening lays in store for US, I will not venture to predict. I shall only concede the awakening to the event. Of course, it is obvious I have updated the euphemisms to be contemporarily significant. But they mean so much more now, than ever.
Actually, Bush #43’s stay the course policy on Iraq reminds me of the three legged chicken my son and I witnessed while crossing the state on the way to a NALC Seminar which I was a paid delegate (mailman) as to many of the functions and conventions. We got off the interstate for gas and I made a wrong turn and wound up down an ole Florida lane on farm land. As we were turning around, a three legged chicken ran in front of my truck and Buck (my youngun’) said, “Look Pops”. About then a farmer appeared with a shotgun and being like most country folk, not enthusiastic about intruders, was directing us to skedattle. Buck yells out to him, “Didn’t we just see a three legged chicken?”. “Yup”, he replied, “now get on”. My son, being persistent (family trait?) inquired further. The farmer says,“ I’ll tell you, then y’all git”. Seems he and Ma were partial to drumsticks and Jr. came along, thus the need to hack two chickens a night for supper and so he would complain about it. So Jr. says “Pop, why not breed them with three legs, one for each of us?”. The farmer said that was a great idea and proceeded to do so. Buck yells out as we’re leaving, “How do they taste?” The farmer frowns and says,“ I don’t know, I haven’t been able to catch one yet!”. So goes the Iraq dilemma.
Be it far from me to trivialize the blood and last full measure of our troops, in any hostile arena. My thoughts and prayers go out to them and theirs, as I breathe. Yet I don’t sense the same code of ethics in our Executive Branch. For instance, Iraq had a museum and archive of material from antiquity even Saddam Hussein would not plunder. Many historians and scholars tried to covey to Bush #43 the message that when our troops reached Baghdad, we should secure this location ASAP, to protect it against looting. Three days in to the attack, our forces reached the city, but they had no orders to heed this pleading. The first building to be secured was the MINISTRY OF OIL! Unbridled rioting saw ancient treasures taken, even as our troops looked on! I
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believe this to be as good an indicator of Executive #43’s priorities, as any yet. Saddam was as brutal a murdering dictator as they come, minus Weapons of Mass Destruction and had no truck with Osama Bin Laden, as he would never tolerate anyone in His country, to share power or glory with him…get real folks. At the time, it was extremely obvious he had no part of Al Qaeda’s terrorism with the US and no desire for Uncle Sam to kick his ass again! Bin Laden had ingratiated himself to the various tribes of Afghanistan which allowed the Taliban, an ultimate fundamentalist group to gain control, in post Soviet Union occupancy. The Taliban allowed Al Qaeda to build its blossoming world wide terrorist group by recruitment, development and training of eager zealot wannabees, for the growing JIHAD. A very important distinction between the two has been publicly ignored by the Executive Branch from either, less than truthful intelligence or ignoring truth to power. Osama’s money and his successful terrorists’ missions began to draw Moslems to him like a lightning rod. With 911, his stature became legendary but in his home of Saudi Arabia and Iraq and Iran, he became persona non grata, out of fear he might foment the same type of unrest and following he was to enjoy in Afghanistan. As of this writing, there is no monolithic Arab/Moslem plot to destroy America and her Allies. There is though, a common feeling among these mid-east and other OPEC countries which would relish all problems and tragedy that could befall our dear country.
From my point of view, I would question just how much Bin Laden and his ancient fundamentalist cronies really were involved as procreators of the 911 disasters, simple as they are made to be seen. His name and bio popped up on that tragic day, in all the news feeds, just as Lee Harvey Oswald’s did on 11/22/63, with an array of alleged connections, none justifying culpability of the act. It was more like disinformation being spread to support a predilected conclusion. The paternal Bin Laden was prolific in mating, with wives (17 plus) and children (50-60?) and had made his vast fortune on construction of virtually a massive amount of the Saudi infrastructure (highways ,buildings etc…) with Osama being in the back ground of the fold. Some of the Bin Laden family and financial group, were in America during 911 and even though all flights were grounded for about four days, special Executive Privilege was granted these potential witnesses and they were allowed to fly out of the country back to Saudi Arabia. After all, BUSH #41 had a sweetheart relationship with The House of Saud, the Rulers of Saudi Arabia, going back to the 1960’s or longer! The U.S., in its initial effort to gain footholds in Afghanistan, was to bribe tribal chieftains with $ millions for help (many opposed the Taliban and their main strategic tribal chief was gunned down on 9/10) and intelligence. It was with their selective help (remember, they had to be careful and hesitant on hedging their bets on the outcome) which enabled the U.S. to invade Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban and put Al-Qaeda on the run into the Tora Bora Mountains which border Pakistan (remember the Khyber Pass?). Again, the main announced priority was to fetch Osama Bin Laden and bring him to American justice by invading Afghanistan in mid to late October 2001. As late as November 12, 2001, Bin Laden was giving his last public speech at the Center for Islamic Studies in Jalalabad, some thirty miles from these mountains, with some of the same tribal
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chieftains in attendance! Two days later, U.S. forces had taken Kabul, the capitol and a major city, some 40 miles to its west, which coincidentally, is his last public appearance and was known to have left from the Center, in a caravan of 7 to10 vehicles, heading toward the southeast and the mountains of Tora Bora, where he was known to have built fortified cave dwellings (recall, his family was the construction company in Saudi Arabia) To this writer, I have trouble believing the best and the brightest of INTELLIGENCE, in the world, failed to identify his location at this point and take him (out?). There are certain principles of warfare with the most important being (1) know your enemies, (2) identify your friends (and enemies of your enemy) and (3) think it through before you plug and play. The appearance, in retrospect and I emphasize appearance, is the U.S. had insufficient intelligence, poorly chosen allies and used very dubious military tactics, particularly an insufficient amount of Special Forces to apprehend the villain(s). It must be understood, Central Command asked for more boots on the ground early on and retired patriotic Generals have spoke and written to confirm this necessity. I must add, General Patton’s 3 principles of warfare are “audacity, audacity and audacity”! I have used the Christian Science Monitor articles for some of this background, specifically the March 4, 2002 issue. It is a well respected periodical that generally gets its facts straight. Rumor had Osama holding up in one of the many caves his construction country carved out (a favored modified redoubt, so to speak) in the Tora Bora mountains and is at large, to this day, irregardless of Bush #43’s voicing of the old western saying, “WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE”! One would think a $50 million bounty would stir the greed for a corpus delecti, but noooo. Periodically, a new video or just audio, of Osama Bin Laden, shows up through the Arab Al-Jazeera network, invoking his urge for a collective worldwide Jihad against the “infidels”, code for western civilization as a whole and America specifically. One must understand our Intelligence Community is second to none in this world, therefore it should be being used as effectively as possible, as long as Bin Laden is at large. But with the main bad guy still an active influence, the War on Terror is alive and viable. This is one hell of an indictment of those Constitutionally pledged and responsible to “preserve and protect” our dear democratic country.
Five months into U.S. incursion in Afghanistan and no Bin Laden in March of 2002, an Operation named ANACONDA, was in full battle in the Tora Bora Mountains with Al Qaeda leaders and thousands of so called terrorists. Most escaped across the border to our supposed ally, Pakistan. We have captured several top Al Qaeda figures along with hundreds of “political” prisoners, bringing many to our Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, for interrogation. We have held thousands of others, in secret locations around the globe, in order to extract information. It is widely known we have used all sorts of torture on these Prisoners of War (detainees?). This is a WAR on terrorism, correct? Is it OK for the US to torture these detainees, but not alright for other countries (say Hanoi, North Vietnam) to torture our G.I.s upon capture? Double standard or paradox (?), hey, you tell me. I agree there has to be a different technique obtaining vital information pertaining to a verified threat of clear and present mass
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destruction, but not an en masse carte blanche abuse as desired. The Geneva Conventions of War do not apply to this Administration, or so says BUSH #43, his Vice President Cheney (nicknamed “vice”) and his (now ex) Defense Secretary Rumsfeld (Rummy). Each of these illegalities and questionable acts/events all deserve enough delving for a book, in and of itself. Suffice it to say, the November Elections swayed enough mainstream Americans in both red and blue states (despicable connotations), to give a Majority to Democrats in both Chambers of Congress. This happens just when I had about given up on our citizenry to the old parable of the door to door survey taker, asking just two questions. Do you think Americans of today, are politically uninformed and apathetic? The answer from 9 out of 10 being, “I don’t know! And I don’t care!” It is now the responsibility of the mule. What a symbol, huh?
So what does all of this malfeasance, greed, hypocrisy, ineptitude and treason yield to the American people? Well, we have a President whose distinguishing high point was at Yale U. being social chairman of his fraternity (keg boy!) and his pappy (BUSH #41) had to fly into town and talk him into joining the ultra secret SKULL AND BONE’S SOCIETY instead of another similarly secret society, for what it’s worth. We have a national tragedy that that stinks with so much left in question, it rivals (or surpasses) the JFK Warren Commission myth. We have a closet Vice President Cheney who never does his Constitutional job of presiding over the U. S. Senate, save when BUSH #43 addresses Congress for a State of the Union speech etc… But he does call all the shots for BUSH $43. We have a Republican Congress which was in session for only 103 days, Tuesday through Thursday, doing nothing but getting so many under indictment or convicted, I won’t waste space delineating specifics. We have a war we seemingly cannot win nor afford to lose and have managed to alienate most of the other countries on our dearly beloved planet into hating us as mongers. We have a porous southern border that allows ILLEGAL immigrants, drugs and terrorists to cross daily, infiltrating our society at the taxpayer’s expense and harm, initially procreated by greedy crop farmers for cheaper labor (Caesar Chavez, where are you now?) and all this Congress wants to do is build a wall? This joke’s on us. The mid-east is now more volatile than ever with a sham of a standup President of IRAN (Cleric controlled) speaking of destroying Israel and there never having been a holocaust. We have one out every three returning veterans exhibiting Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) and their suicide rate is twice the national average, women as well. Oh yeah, and this Republican Leadership has created such a false economy that it has middle class America up to their ears in financial obligation with over priced re-financed housing and unmanageable credit and superficially created, alluring INTERESTS RATES, with the majority of the of some 7-10 trillion dollar debt, held by China, RED China, that is. (Napoleon made a prophetic quote in 1803 about China being, “…a sleeping giant and when she awakes, the world will take notice!”) Oil, money and power have fueled this disaster and our citizenry care more about obtaining Play Station #3 or whom America’s next IDOL will be or whose side are you on, The Donald or Rosie “O’Donnell in their squalid public squabble, than what really matters; survival and
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success, guaranteeing a better and safer world to our children, than the one we inherited. Let us not forget KATRINA and “Brownie’s good job”….DEBACLE in our beloved “Big Easy, New Orleans.
In 1916 a man named Woodrow Wilson ran for President of the United States on a platform of no foreign entanglements. The Great War (WW1) was underway in Europe over some simple crap, as usual. It was between England, France and Russia against Germany and other antagonists. The U.S. had just become the world’s largest industrial and military power but an overwhelming majority of Americans wanted no truck with anyone else’s war. Wilson won handily and then by late 1917 had Congress agree on a vote of war with the slogan, “Remember the Lusitania!” Thousands of our “forever young” died fighting and for what? In 1919-1920, a pandemic flu was brought back by the survivors, ravaging our east coast, leaving between 500,000 to a million people dead (records not exactly being modern), for lack of a cure. Official Declaration of the war’s end was with the Treaty of Versailles, among the express items was one which read, Germany was not to be allowed to militarily re-arm. Of course there was a vacuum of power in Europe with Russia becoming a communist state and the rest of the community trying to reconstruct and repair from the devastation. But who was to enforce this stipulation. Wilson was a man before his time, as he tried to form a LEAGUE OF NATIONS which could have steered world peace to reality. He died prematurely, falling short of seeing such a great idea. A must reading is “WHEN THE CHEERING STOPPED”. In the same context, American capitalists were in a paranoid frenzy that the collective bargaining Union movement in America would ultimately result in radical governmental change, which in the next 20 years saw thousands of organizers and workers protesting the unjust and inequities, maimed and killed. They put their lives on the line for laws against child labor, equal pay for equal work for both sexes, a forty hour work week, adequate pay scales and benefits such as paid Holidays and Medical benefits! Real communistic, huh? Well, the powers that be thought so, (thank God For FDR and integral elections) and you might want to read a book called “The Secret Funding of Adolph Hitler” (it’s hard to find) because a secretive conglomerate conspired to fund German groups including the Nazi Party, in an effort to refortify Germany as a proxy to take Communism out of Russia, thus the world arena. In the ‘30’s, even Charles Lindbergh led a multitude of citizenry toward strong feelings for a rejuvenated Germany, as did JFK’s dad, “ole Joe”. FDR dispatched him to the Court of St. James to stifle his run for President. Hey! You can’t make up this kind of s…! The rest is, shall we say history or herstory or, or….
What most Americans can’t imagine is having their homes invaded by insurgents, guerillas or military, having their wives and daughters and sisters and young boys, raped in front of their eyes, then subjected to all sorts of torture and then killed slowly or beheaded, one by one, that is, after any needed information can be extracted. Or just because “ethnic cleansing” is in order; see the blood flow, the screams of pain heard, the indignities of slow but sure death by goons who relish this activity with no hope of help. Durfar, in Africa, is happening as I write and you shop for your dearly beloved
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Christmas presents etc…There was Bosnia and Laos and, and, and….but not here, not yet. How many millions have seen this as their last vision on planet Earth. As Jackson Brown sings, “don’t think it won’t happen, just because it hasn’t happened yet!” You people just don’t get it, with your Play Station war games with no real blood or in your face anguish. Oh, the rich can adopt a child, planet hopping, finger in the Dyke so to speak (read what you will) but no ass of theirs is on the line, nor yours, right now. Since our invasion in March 2003, we have lost near three thousand brave men and women in Iraq and twenty some thousand terribly wounded, all scarred for life. Yet most of the troops seem to differ on their opinion of this conflict vis-à-vis with Vietnam. They appear to believe, absent the insurgency (what a term for undermining freedom, with horrible bloodletting and by who?), that it is a realistic and possible attempt to attain the first real Democracy in the Moslem mid-east and that Iraq‘s diverse population would revere such. Mind you, on the whole, they are less educated/sophisticated than Iran, to the eastern border, whom the ruling fanatical clerics have much to fear from a Moslem democratic government. And then Syria, to the western border, has the same fears and they are allegedly part proxy to Iran in their support of the Hezbollah faction in Lebanon, which had the rocket conflict with Israel this past July as an effort to harm the Jewish state and demonstrate lack of government rule in Beruit. And most important the player, is Saudi Arabia which believes it dictates major U.S. policy in the region and does not at all, want to see a full blown bloodletting civil war in Iraq if we pull out, unilaterally.
In February of 2006, BUSH #43 created a panel of eight prestigious Americans, called the International Study Group (ISG), not to give him alternative possible positive strategy for his failed Iraqi mission, but to be perceived as becoming open to suggestions and taking some heat away from his cloistered little war group. Ex-Congressman, Lee Hamilton of Ohio and former Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor are several of the members. None of the eight speak Arabic, none had visited Iraq (save maybe a quick trip to Baghdad and its supposedly safe, “Green Zone” and none had any relatively close or knowledgeable affiliations with the region. In late November, they published a report suggesting success could be secured with our troops being disbursed in different areas, with more of a supporting role. And, they expressed a requisite need to hold multi-national dialogue with neighboring Syria and Iran in seeking their assistance to eliminate any connection or assistance with those responsible for the violence and insurgency. One ISG side note is of our Iraqi Embassy staff of about 1,000, of which only 33 speak Arabic with just six (6), fluent! A strategic element I find absurdidly absent, is the need to teach our boots on the ground there and those elements scheduled for rotation to Iraq, a rudimentary grasp of Arabic, Iraq’s main language. Communicating in the native tongue serves many purposes, most important, the commitment of respect! However, BUSH #43 has shelved the ISG report under advisement, by saying he will make a policy statement to the Nation, after the Holidays.
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If the U.S. forces were to just leave Iraq, besides immense slaughter on all sides, Iran stands to become, with its nuclear potential, the mini super power in the region and super powers have a behavior of acquisition and control! The poor rich Saudis would literally be between Iraq and a hard place (Kuwait is still very fresh in their minds) and as of now, the BUSH #41 relationship is souring, what with the ISG recommendations and a Democratic Congress…things may get real bizarre. I don’t believe we’ve had martial law and suspension of Habeas Corpus since our own Civil War. But, put all I’ve illustrated in perspective and its easy to see, without looking too far, not much is really sacred and there is a lot at stake with peace not so important, to those important. American history is fraught with myth and lie. For ultimate necessity, one might rely on Manifest Destiny and the big Hollywood facade covering our genocide of the Native American, Wounded Knee and Custer complete! I side step prophecy other than the paragraph on the karma deal, but things do go bump in the night. Pearl Harbor was necessary for us to will our way into WW11. Any problems with it, find out why our four aircraft carriers sailed eastward out of Pearl unscheduled and post haste, the Thursday before Sunday, December 7, 1941. Read “EAST WINDS, RAIN”. We needed those carriers to win Midway that next summer, to stem the Japanese Pacific aggression! “Remember the Maine” and our “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution” deserve revisiting. View the number of cover-up attempts the Army has tried to make stick with the friendly fire demise in Afghanistan of former All American and Pro Bowl Arizona Cardinals’ Free Safety, Ranger PAT TILLMAN! If any one deserved truth to power about his death, it was this patriotic volunteer on his second tour of duty in the region! Oh yeah, by the way, the opium crop from Afghanistan in the year 2,000 was 72 thousand metric tons. In 2005, it was over 400 thousand. Do the math folks! Connect the dots and reveal the acceptable losses and collateral damage.
I sure as heck don’t have the wisdom of Solomon and in many ways I’m relieved such a burden is absent from my character. But logic and common sense follow me doggedly. We changed the complexion of politics in the middle east, not just by the Iraqi invasion, but by giving Israel sovereignty in 1948. Israel displaced the Palestinians who had a homeland and had peacefully co-existed with the Hebrews for centuries. An immensely meaningful feature to be mentioned is that of three opposing religions, tolerating each other in one city; JERUSALEM. Moslem, Jews and Christians all hold sacred certain sites and icons in this city and this mutually understood respect has allowed no terrorist to destroy or defile any of them. I believe we could, with the right diplomat(s) and diplomacy, find a dignified resolution to the Iraqi conflict. I also believe Israel is the key. It could be as simple as influencing Israel and the Palestinians into re-creating an actual Palestinian State, with each guaranteeing the other’s security, thus Peace. This takes Syria and Iran out of the immediate “destroy Israel” picture. Commensurate with the aforementioned unimaginable, open talks with both Syria and Iran, using the carrot and the stick as incentive. This effort must have other countries to include Saudi Arabia, as participants. All the while, a measure of good faith toward peace, a cease fire of all aggressions, is a must.
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ONE NATION UNDER GOD, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. What a beautiful edict. What a terrible crest fall when one learns the truth about the BIG LIE. We have had numerous national tragedies and the official versions are so often white washed with disinformation and brutality to maintain the story. In times of such, there should be no conspiracies left to spout. No questions left unanswered truthfully and responsibly, and more important, none unasked! Because if there exist loose ends, then the full and complete accurate account is lacking. How can a government conducting business in such an irresponsible manner, ask its citizenry to have faith and trust in it? This is simple logic and the American people deserve the TRUTH and nothing less. Until we have a government of UNTOUCHABLES who will make the system work, we are less for it and things will change but not for the better. Don’t tell me Americans can’t take the truth and don’t confuse it with the Issue of real National Security. The truth shall set you free…and keep us free. We used to be thought of as the hope of the (free) world. These days, we are feared as the bully. The influence of compassion and kindness will always win out over rogue arrogance and bellicose belligerence. There is no option for planet earth other than PEACE. Trust me on this one.
PROPI VIGORE QUIDAM
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Nine-one-one truth
CAMPAIGN UNCONVENTIONALImagine those of you who care about dwelling in a real Democracy with Free Speech, Assembly, Petition of Redress of Grievances AND Privacy with our beloved Constitution which is being slowly shredded and thrown away by the Dedicated Wrong. You are a Catholic from Billy Joel Pennsylvania and you work your way through college with some help from your working class hero parents. You gain admission to Law School in Delaware, just down the road and in the summer working (as usual) but visit Bahamas meet the love of your life. Except she is rich and Protestant. She even picks up the tab, when you underestimate the bill where you met. Against all odds, You and her fall in love (she loves your dedication to principle, dignity and freedom, i.e. our American Dream), marry and set up family in Wilmington Delaware, on Route 95 (Washington D.C. is an hour and a half away on the NE Train Corridor) and he is plucked by the Democratic Party to run for this or that and then Senator in1972. He won’t turn the Constitutional mandated age for Senator of 30 until after the election. With much family deliberation as underdog and daily commuting, thumbs go up and he wins! Talk about decency and the American Dream…..God Bless it. One day the world is in your hands, then on a mid December pre-Christmas Day at the Capitol, working on the rules, his staff and new office etc… he receives a phone cal from his brother telling him to come home ASAP due to a family car accident, absent the terrible details. He arrives home to find that someone had crashed cars and his beloved wife was gone as was his infant daughter and his two young sons were hospitalized as critical. What the hell does one do with this burden? His first statement was, “Delaware can get another Senator but my two boys can not get another father”! He was sworn in from his sons’ bedside on January 3rd, 1973 with every intention of abdicating graciously. Back in the Watergate years, Congress reached across the aisle, absent the Political Action Committees throwing millions of dollars to get the wrong people elected with a debt and writing the legislation for them. Numerous members, to include a very right wing Senator, reached out to Joe and urged him to try for just six months and work through it for his constituency if nothing else. With much family and professional help he some how endured. How would you or I have done? He, with the awful grace of GOD, persevered and prevailed to be one of the most respected, experienced and decent men in the Senate for the last 35 years. He ran for President in1987-88 but had headaches which were brain aneurisms. Surviving and making the most again, of yet another possible lethal challenge, he wrote and successfully sponsored significant legislation, to include the Violence Against Spouse Act in1994. Joe ran for this current campaign (I must add, the most arduous, long and vetting this citizen has ever seen….and bizarre) but his presentation is based on facts and Americans have been dulled into short term sound bites. He didn’t stand a chance with the government controlled (Operation Mockingbird’s support) so he withdrew. But Barack Obama knows an experienced gem of knowledge when he works with one and Senator Biden graciously accepted the V. P. to run against McPain and Pain!.Much of the same cookie cutter can be used for Barack Obama’s rise to aspiration. College Grants and good grades can still equal a degree. He went to HARVARD Law School and was named Editor of their prestigious Law Review as a senior. He could have accepted a generous legal position on Wall Street to cheat working class heroes out of-2-their hard earned 401 K’s etc… but noooo, he went to Chicago’s south side and started working on securing more job possibilities (please remember, it’s all about jobs! here in the good ole US of A.) One good deed led to another and he ran for State Legislature. Won there and became so successful with his populist legislation, he was asked to run for U.S. Senate in 2004 from the Land O’ Lincoln. One with incredible insight, nominated him to be the Key Note speaker at John Kerry’s 2004 Democratic Convention and he brought the house down with a king hell bastard of a speech targeted to anyone who has been put out and longing for the AMERICA we were taught existed in school! The rest is his story. He won the Senate seat and was encouraged to run for President, even though Hillary was slated to be the nominee. The first of many crazy things to this particular campaign was it started some ten months early and the states of Florida and Michigan being uppity, moved their primaries to early January just after the Iowa caucus. A rude and arrogant move, which ticked off the Democratic Party Chair who declared the votes would not be included in the race, nullifying their importance. It was a lose, lose move and should not have been. Anyway, starting a Presidential campaign so early created a monster and was incredibly disingenuous. To much surprise, Barack Obama won the Iowa caucus and then Hillary came back and won New Hampshire (the legitimate forever first primary) with Florida and Michigan ignored. The two top candidates fought it out with Mr. Bill getting in the fray and making it ugly. His Presidency could have been considered one our greatest but (it’s best made humorous with the joke about daughter Chelsea coming home for Xmas after her first college semester at Stanford. Hillary, in a mother and daughter talk, asks Chelsea if she’s had sex yet. “No” answers Chelsea. “Are you sure dear”? Again, Chelsea claims innocence. Then Hillary asks again very demandingly, “Are you sure you haven’t had sex yet?”. “Not according to Dad!”. ) And away we go! Actually, Hillary took the high dignified road and stuck it out to do whatBobby Kennedy did in 1964. She set up residence in New York and won them over. Then bided her time as a freshwoman in the Old Boys Club (there are now 16 women serving in the U.S. Senate) and earned respect on both sides of the aisle. She repeated her New York win in 2006 which created higher expectations for her to run for President in ’08, which she did. She did not anticipate the charisma and charm and ideology of Barack to make this race close and edge her out. I truly believe Bill took it worse than she. Again, her dignity shown with her presence at the Convention with interrupting the vote to ask the Chair to suspend the rules and ask for unanimous consent for Barack and pledged Clinton true support to elect him as the 44th President. I say, “Good show!”.John McCain ran for President first in 2000, defeating George Bush in New Hampshire. The Bush handlers retreated and in preparation for the upcoming South Carolina primary, brought out the mud and re-tooled Bush#43 (please refer to 411 on 911). I can’t put my finger on it, but Maverick John McCain has shifted from moderate to do boy for BUSH #43. He has picked up the Obama mantra of real Change, but his position indicates four more years of despair. He needed some star quality so right before the Republican Convention he selected an unknown 2nd year Alaskan Governor named Sarah Palin. She has a seventeen year old unwed pregnant daughter, was mayor of a small town, has tried to get her ex-brother-law State Trooper fired on family feud, fired the man in charge who refused to do this bidding and threatened the local Librarian with removal if she had unacceptable books (none to name) in stock. She is good looking though empty headed or-3-lost in inner space. She even believes in Creationism. Wait’ll she starts getting briefed on the 12/21/12 probability! Or reads about documented ancient Sumeria and their alien friends! McCain is a true national hero for being shot down over Vietnam and spending 5 ½ years in tortuous captivity in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Though his Admiral father was Commander of Pacific forces during this brutal time, John refused to be released before others who were captured before him. Very reputable. What is not is he never read enough to understand that the “Domino theory” was a paper tiger and the Vietnam War was to re-establish the French connection to the opium market, courtesy of the CIA/mob alliance, was the real stake in South East Asia. Read people! Who knew? Same as Afghanistan is now. Again, read 411. The almighty poppy for diverse crowd control. Do you know how many GI’s returned home from Vietnam as junkies? Too many.Just when I think I’m ready to move on to compare this twisted entirely unprecedented campaign with what has evolved over the years, the Republicans bring out a woman star to front for Mac and put Obama off message. With all her baggage and unvetted, she has singularly switched off all major issues and made this race about a pig with lipstick in the White House, something Mac had alluded about Hillary. Who knew how fickle the public can be? Remember war, outsourcing, Wall Street created inflated mortgage foreclosures and, and…and?! I’ve got to compare this with 1964 and 1968 starting with JFK being offed and no Constitutional Amendment to replace LBJ’s VP. He had to wait until the Democratic Convention to nominate as VP Hubert ( “I was one of those once myself!”) Humphrey and then defeated Republican Barry Goldwater. AuH2O was a decent moderate Senator from Arizona (Mac succeeded his retired seat) but got slammed by LBJ making the US voters believe he would be trigger happy with our Nuclear arsenal. LBJ was slick. Early on in his career, in a key race to gain the US Senator from Texas, he faced a tough incumbent. The story goes that being told the polls had him behind, he instructed his aids to put out a story that the opponent was gay (homo back in the day). They replied everyone knew the man was a womanizer. LBJ said, “…hell, I don’t care, just make him DENY IT!”. And here we are.To divert America’s attention to the Warren Commission inadequacies, LBJ with his forceful influence pushed through Congress, Civil Rights Legislation affording the disenfranchised opportunity and racist policies to be eroded. There was much blood shed and violence during the Civil Rights Movement which came to National attention when a courageous and graceful Montgomery Alabama African American lady (the southern term was”uppity nigger”) refused to give up her seat at the back of the bus to a white man. ROSA PARKS went to jail and the situation created a bus boycott by the black majority of riders for nearly a year. One MARY LOUISE PARKER had committed similar action which in 1946 resulted in a favorable Supreme Court Decision, not to be honored. Parks action inspired a young black preacher named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to become an activist/pacifist ala Mahatma Ghandi. Rosa was Secretary of the Montgomery NAACP at the time and they prevailed in 1956. Ms. Parks notoriety in Montgomery created an environment of white resentment so she moved to Detroit where again she made a mark by talking John Conyers into running for the US Congress and winning in 1966. He promptly hired her has been one of the most successful, influential and respected members in the House. I had the distinct privilege of meeting him with Harold Weisberg in 1975to seek a room for a press conference which he produced.-4-Dr. King went on to become the leader of Civil Rights working through our system of Government being jailed, beating and delivering a most eloquent speech on August 28th 1963 saying, “ I HAVE A DREAM”. In 1965 Muhamed Ali the World Boxing Champ had changed his “slave name (Cassius Clay) and become a Black Muslim. He refused to enter the draft under religious convictions (MORMONS had no problems as such) and was arrested convicted, stripped of his title and finally was vindicated by the United States Supreme Court. He went on with bodacious grace to become a legitimate symbol of our system of freedom and checks and balances. Dr. King picked up on the concept that black people were bearing the brunt of being drafted to fight our dirty little war in S.E. Asia. He began in late 1967 to organize a boycott of African Americans to this draft. All the time he fought for Civil Rights he never was hurt. Only when his projected successful effort to foment disruption to another inequity was he assassinated on April 4th, 1968. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Much happened before and after, to make1968 one our most sad and shameful years as a nation.In 1967 enough of our boys had come back from ”Nam” to know what I’ve expressed to be true along with those college educated, whom in a heart beat would not hesitate to fight and sacrifice their last full measure to keep our country secure for the correct cause. On November 30th 1967, a Senator from Minnesota named Eugene McCarthy announced his candidacy for United States President on a one platform issue. Stop the WAR! Hundreds of thousands of kids and Vets went “clean for Gene” meaning they cut their hair and cleaned up, dropping protest and to try to make the system work. In the New Hampshire on March 12, 1968 (gee, how’d we get to January with Florida and Michigan and beginning the campaign a year previous to them???) Gene took 42% of the vote vs. LBJ’s 49%. This was a stunning upset clearly demonstrating the measure of how much America had become disillusioned to the war and the nightly news body counts. At the time, Super Tuesday(s) were just a glimmer in Uncle Sam’s fly, er eye. This vote encouraged Senator Robert F. Kennedy to join the campaign on March 16 saying his entry could no longer be construed as a personal vendetta toward LBJ. On March 31st, President Johnson gave a national TV speech about Vietnam and an effort to begin peace talks. Knowing he could not win a Campaign, he shocked us ending on a personal note, saying he would not seek nor accept the nomination from his party (Dem.) for President. LBJ’s legacy of a man older than his years, would become Vietnam rather than his accomplishment in Civil Rights Legislation. What will Bush’ 43’s be???Robert Kennedy’s persona transformed from tough Attorney General to caring candidate who quickly won the hearts of many with his on point compassionate eloquence. The1964 Democratic Convention may have been the epiphany as he tried to speak after a film about his brother, JFK, was shown. Bobby had to stand at the podium to a 20 minute standing ovation without a dry eye to be seen. A record of acknowledgement I believe. In ’68, he had won this naïve nostalgic 19 year old over. I was driving to work at the Post Office as a mailman at 5:30 on the morning of June 6th when I could find no music, only talk about how incredible that another Kennedy could be shot. I had to pull over and hang my head. Bobby died later that day after having won the California primary and several others the night before and had the Democratic Nomination for President all but locked. Wasn’t it just two months before when Dr. King was gunned down in Memphis which caused riots in some 60 American cities that night and the next day. But not in-5-Indianapolis, where RFK pleaded with the residents to stay clam and honor Dr. King’s memory as a preacher of non-violence. One man. One city. PEACE prevailed. Nuff said, save their murders were plotted and then covered up with “patsies” so the dedicated wrong could forward their agendas. Read People! Question everything! Oh Lord, where is your terrible swift sword with the grapes of wrath.The 1968 Democratic Convention was held in Chicago Illinois in the last week of August. By then the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and most other anti-war protest had galvanized into seeing some 10,000 gather in Chicago to peacefully protest the war (protest is Americans’ last effort for of Petition of a Redress of Grievances through our Rights of Freedom of Assembly and Speech). The infamous Chicago Mayor, Richard Daly and the FBI had pre-decided to have some 23,000 police and National Guard on duty to “protect” the citizenry. The protestors had been infiltrated just as the Memphis gang, the Invaders, to foment violent actions to provoke the authorities and undermine the peaceful protest. This resulted in the clubbing, beating and tear gassing the mass who had gathered at Grant Park for speeches and camaraderie. Tom Hayden, a student co-ordinator got the word out to disperse the crowd throughout the business district and let the mainstream see the carnage and smell the tear gas. It backfired on Daly, with many innocents, to include the media, becoming targets and tear gas even wafted into the Convention Hall while outside police had black tape over their badges and chanted “KILL, KILL, KILL”. Television brought all of this into every home in the country. My Aunt June was a delegate fro Gary Indiana, just down the road and stayed in a hotel across from Grant Park. She gave a first hand rendition of the above and how gruesome, bizarre and flagrant this attack was. Mayor Daly had a front row seat in the Convention Hall to orchestrate everything. When Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff came to the podium to nominate Senator George McGovern for President, he used the occasion to relate to the Delegates the situation outside. Mayor Daly can be seen yelling at him, “F… you, you Jew Son of a Bitch, you lousy M….F….go home!” Several cameras caught close ups of this and there was a consensus of lip readers it was verbatim.LBJ and Mayor Daly made sure the peace plank, a litmus test for the nomination vote, was defeated by some 500 votes thus insuring Hubert Horatio Humphrey would be the Democratic Candidate to run against Richard Nixon. Remember Nixon lost to Kennedy invariably by Dad Joe’s influence with Chicago’s (Illinois) Daly grave yard vote with a little help from the mob. Joe Kennedy’s initial fortune was made by surreptitiously supplying the mob imported hooch early in Prohibition (an incredibly stupid Amendment giving the mob their financial stronghold in America, which was repealed in 1933). Nixon went on to run for Governor of California in 1962 and lose. It was then he made his infamous statement that, “You won’t have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore!”. Basically it should have been Tricky Dick’s swan song ending his political career, but Noooo. As Nixon said, “The mark of man is not how many times you’re knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up”. In 1968, the Republicans resurrected team player Richard Milhouse Nixon to carry on the dedicated wrong’s agenda of Vietnam. In October with the polls showing a virtual tie, Nixon had emissaries secretly negotiating with the North Vietnamese about winding down the war with concessions. This of course was illegal and Humphrey was allegedly informed of it, but was reluctant to act. This waswhen Nixon proclaimed he “had a secret plan to end the war”! With this hubris, he won-6-in November and the Enemies list and dirty tricks/plumbers and Watergate were spawned. In 1972, George Wallace ( an original southern segregationist who lost the race for Governor in Alabama in 1958 saying he got “out niggered by his opponent and it would never happen again!”) would become his biggest threat for re-election.I personally don’t believe George Wallace was the racist he tried to portray himself for political expediency. He changed his position for the 1972 Presidential by denying his segregation stance to being anti-busing. He started using “code” words to pursue his ambitions. Living in the Washington D.C. area, one is more than likely to have a brush with history, particularly when one is politically inclined. As a Vet, working as a mailman and doing night school at JC, I shared an apartment in College Park with my lifelong friend, Bobby. He and his father were supportive of the “States Rights” platform which George Wallace was running on and campaigning for, in the May Maryland primary. On a day off, Bobby and I went over to Landover Mall to see him speak. It was an impromptu setting, stage and podium with several thousand people in attendance. Wallace was formidable in his run with a 42% win in Florida over McGovern, Humphrey and nine other candidates winning every county! He was becoming a possible spoiler in Nixon’s re-election bid. Since the’68 debacle, all significant candidates were receiving Secret Service protection. While the crowd pressed Bobby and I closer and tighter toward the podium a strange looking dude with dark sunglasses, Wallace buttons and an eerie smile, turned around and looked at us. Bobby and I shared a synchronistic silent exchange with each other as only old friends can. When Wallace finished his usual speech, we (the crowd) expected him to exit stage right and we all pushed that way to try and shake hands, including the strange dude. Instead, he went with the Secret Service in a circuitous route to his motorcade. The next day, May 15th, a 21 year old nobody, with no apparent source of financing, who had been stalking Wallace for weeks, shot the Governor (5?) times at a Laurel shopping center appearance. When we saw the news, with the usual incredibly quick background data bias, we recognized the face and called each other until one phone was open. Could it be? Damn straight! Why not the day before when he and I could have stopped it, or mitigated to the degree possible? Not that I was a Wallace fan, just I advocate a ballots not bullets elective process. Funny life. Bremer received a 53 year sentence and was paroled last November(’07).Chronologically speaking is not a requirement to understand most elections are not decided over issues but by popularity contests where Miss Congeniality is vote tampering. Just as such we live in a representative Democracy, not a participatory one, where the people are truly involved in decisions which ultimately fashion their society and fate. We abdicated that privilege and have been manipulated since. What is real and what is fraudulent is so intertwined that when you hear incredible fiction you lend belief and when one speaks logic and fact about our national atrocities ignore, yet you know the impossible, one accepts the apologist hooey. The disturbing events of the sixties decimated if not destroyed Americans from any faith they so fervently held in what we were taught in school, patriotically fought and died for and tried to hold on to some last shred, which Watergate washed away. In our hearts, we all knew something was terribly wrong, particularly when we looked through the eyes of those few who obliviously held blindly firm to incomprehensible and unquestioned dedication to the BIG LIE. I have always questioned their intelligence or their motivation. OR BOTH. They alone have-7-perpetuated the untruth and thus the wrong history and present we now face. Because of this we are so disillusioned with the real American Dream, we have all but given up hope.I must interject that Sarah (barracuda/pit bull with lipstick etc…) is not the first person to come out of nowhere and be nominated as the Veep candidate, just the most obvious one lacking in any real knowledge or experience. She can sling the mud well with Barack having a terrorist friend, claiming to read all sorts of books and periodicals yet not being able to name even one and the defining significance is illustrated in the lack of confidence McCain and company have in her by her not allowing her even one press conference since nomination as opposed to her opposite, Senator Joe Biden giving some 89, to include the Sunday Morning Talk shows like MEET THE PRESS and so on. Sarah could be one heartbeat away (God Bless Him) from being our Chief Executive. Harry Truman had been a shoe sales man one day and the next, FDR’s running mate in 1944, succeeding him in April 1945 and changing the whole post war outlook, to include the only person to ok the use of an atomic bomb(s). No, no thought of a Constitutional provision to have a V.P. inserted as I have succinctly pointed out in previous articles. It took Richard Nixon just six years (’46 to ’52) to gain inclusion on Eisenhower’s ticket as his running mate. Nixon’s compelling initial use of national television in his now infamous “CHECKER’S “ speech diverted attention from a scandal in order to retain his place on the ticket. In 1968, Richard Nixon picked a little known Maryland Governor named Spiro T. Agnew to be his V.P. In 1962 Agnew was elected County Commissioner of Baltimore Maryland and then Governor in ’66 so within a year and half he was plucked by Tricky Dick to be his point man. It turns out Agnew was incredibly corrupt, something not lost on Nixon’s inside intelligence connection and could/would be used to out him as a diversion should it become necessary. Agnew created quite a stir reading Nixon speech writers’ (William Safire and Pat Buchannan to name several) controversial pulp to stir up the “Silent Majority” with phrases like, “Nattering nabobs of negativism” etc…. Not quite the venomous level which Palin is at or how bad it’s going to get. The sixties carried over to May of 1970 when the U.S. found out about Nixon ordering troops into Cambodia eliminating Vietcong strongholds and student protests escalated. The National Guard was called out in Ohio and Mississippi as their Governors claimed “State of Emergency”. The result was four students shot to death at Kent State University and many wounded. A lesser publicized event at Jackson State U. in Ole’ Miss had 7 students slain and more wounded, probably because Jackson State was mostly black. No action was taken even though overwhelming evidence showed no need for use of deadly force. Since the American Revolution, contingency plans have been in place to quell rebellion and revolution as such. In 1878 the POSSE COMITATUS ACT was passed to prevent our Armed Forces from being used as Police or Law Enforcement purposes, per se. This excluded the Coast Guard. In 1968, for Civil Defense Planning, a long time Army contingency code named Operation Garden Plot became legal via Department of Defense Plan 55-2. It stemmed from the civil unrest, both anti-war events and inner city rioting, although it was not made public until, as I understand, 1984 under Freedom of Information requests. Both this plan and Posse Comitatus were majorly abridged after nine-one-one by the Homeland Security Act and in the Senator John Warner National Defense Authorization Act in 2006 (H.R.5122). It was repealed in 2008 under H.R. 4986 Section 1068. President Bush signed the Bill saying, “ …the Executive Branch did not-8-feel bound by the changes enacted in the Legislation…”. I hope one can begin to see how the past is actively present in shaping our world. To wit: When I began this article in August 2008, our Stock Market was hovering around 13,500 and has been on a downward spiral to this day, October 9, at about 8,500. But there are many dots to connect with popular (not common) knowledge in why we are in this terrible situation.One can start with whose watch all of this transpired on and go down the ladder from there. There has got to be open accountability, but for now back to the precursors.On June 17th 1972 amid the non-campaign of the most honorable man in the Senate, George McGovern, a night watchman at one of the two new high rise condominiums next to the Potomac River at the end of what Washingtonians have forever referred to as Foggy Bottom, named the WATERGATE Complex, discovered a “third rate burglary” in progress. What made this burglary so auspicious was it was five men ransacking THE Democratic National Headquarters! Two city beat reporters at the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein covered the arraignment the next morning and sensed a much bigger picture. In short, on September 15th, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy along with these five were indicted on charges of conspiracy, burglary and Federal wiretapping laws. The following January all were convicted and given maximum sentences by the “Hanging Judge” the Honorable John J. Sirica. One or more decided not to take the fall for higher ups and turned state for reduced time. In a short time, with help from an anonymous source code named “DEEP THROAT”, the Post reporters, under the byline, WOODSTEIN, exposed an extensive cover up attempt leading to President Nixon himself. As the scandal unraveled, it was learned all of these men were CIA connected and some had even participated in the ill fated Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in JFK’s (E. Howard Hunt had allegedly been the point man on the beach leading a rag tag group of Cuban exiles seeking to displace Fidel Castro and give the Mafia back their little off shore play ground) 3rd month in office. For the record, Kennedy was given less than accurate intelligence and at the last minute saw the real plan Nixon had surreptitiously developed, which included recognizing the invasion as a legitimate government and giving them U.S. air support for success. He wisely decided to avoid such an avenue and the mission failed, pissing off the whole exile community (which would grow by the thousands with “Mariel Boat Lift” in 1980 when Castro emptied his prisons and undesirables dumping them on Florida, with the concurrence of then Governor Bob Graham, but that’s a whole other story). JFK on national T.V. took responsibility of this “failure” and his truthfulness gave his administration an unexpected boost in popularity. The Senate, in 1973 began special hearings under the leadership of North Carolina Senator, Sam Ervin a self described “…ole country lawyer…” and began a bipartisan aggressive investigation which eventually led to Articles of Impeachment being drawn up on President Nixon who had been named as an “unindicted co-conspirator. On April 30, 1973, Nixon’s two top aides, H.R. Haldeman and nicknamed the “Berlin Wall” for the way they shielded Nixon, resigned and later endured prison for their roles. During the committee’s tenure, a White House aide, named Alexander Butterfield revealed Nixon had initially installed a secret voice activated taping system and thus they requested all pertinent tapes. Nixon refused citing Executive privilege, but finally turned over a large number of transcriptions of them, one having an inexplicable 18 ½ minute gap. These tapes revealed a dark sinister presidency, and served to substantiate Nixon’s White-9-House lawyer, John Dean, who had given damning and believable testimony to the Committee concerning numerous criminal activity amongst most of Nixon’s staff, save Henry Kissinger, his one time National Security Advisor, turned Secretary of State. Kissinger’s historical connections go back to the early 1950’s as a protégé of Nelson Rockefeller and various study groups ( read plot planning) and was instrumental in having Nixon opening relations with Communist China. He also spurred Nixon on in Vietnamese War strategy to include the massive 1972 Christmas bombing of Hanoi to entice them to return to the Paris peace negotiations. It must be noted of the outrage in America upon learning our POW’s had endured horrible torture over their years of captivity, yet 30 years later the Bush Administration has no problem condoning torture, including former POW Senator and GOP candidate for U.S. President John McCain, a hero in his own right. Nixon’s real agenda has never been revealed fully, but it was full of nefarious acts of political sabotage, enemies lists, subversive and illegal (read criminal) acts and God knows what else. Whatever it was, Nixon was undermined, even with sacrificing Agnew in the fall of 1973 to Maryland law and resignation did nothing to stymie his obviously necessary removal. Maryland had acquired another Governor named Marvin Mandel who incurred his legal political downfall which led to a bumper sticker which I displayed on my bedroom door reading, “MARYLAND HAS THE BEST POLITICIANS MONEY CAN BUY!” True but not just there. Political corruption is nothing new in America. It’s like apple pie, just don’t cross the wrong crony. Under the 25th Amendment, Gerald Ford was appointed Vice president. This twisted story results with Nixon trying to have several Attorney Generals fire the Special Prosecutor, one Archibald Cox, called the Saturday Night Massacre, to prevent turning over the actual tapes of Watergate related data. This issue went before the Supreme Court which found Executive Privilege did not extend. When the Prosecutor’s Office and Congress reviewed the tapes, it found the “smoking gun” with Nixon discussing on June 23 1972, hush money for the Watergate burglars in a cover up attempt. It might be noted as spurious that throughout the tapes when Nixon referred to that “Cuban thing”, he was also including the JFK murder. Read what you will. A Congressional delegation led by Senator Barry Goldwater visited the White House on August 7th and informed Nixon he had lost his political base in Congress and would be impeached and removed from Office if he did not resign. This event where the Chief Executive’s party takes issue with and opposes his/her policy or action has been labeled a “GOLDWATER Moment”. Nixon resigned on August 9th of 1974 and Gerald Ford (a member of the Warren Commission seven) took the oath of Office as the only President never elected to either V.P. or Chief Executive. He chose Nelson Rockefeller for his Vice president for succession of Office. Then on Sunday September 8th, 1974, Ford issued an unconditional Pardon to Richard M. Nixon. I sincerely believe team player Ford was holding up his end of a deal which got him the Veep seat. Whatever, as Ford announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, our long national nightmare is over!”, thus preventing any real indictment and trial of HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMANORS. Does this have any likeness to McCain saying he will change Washington (though he has been a part of it for 30 some years) meaning Bush’s policies have caused our own generational nightmare?It bears repeating, this appearance of making the system work as designed by our Founding Fathers created an elation amongst the population that we really could realize-10-the hope JFK had instilled in our generations. It gave us the feeling we would have pot de-criminalized even for medical purposes, the ERA Amendment (women’s rights) passed, the space program re-invigorated, gay rights progressed, civil rights and liberties advanced, affordable health care for all, no hungry children going to bed, universal education progress; to wit, see our country, America, become the real thing the world so desperately needed. Peace and prosperity for all. Profoundly Unfortunate, the view was illusory and has jaded our citizens, if not destroyed them and their sub-cultures which are the melting pot of American success. Heartbreak Hotel in my world.So much for a sketch of 1968 and its Watergate ending with the only President to resign from office in disgrace. In 1976, Ford was the incumbent choice on being the GOP standard bearer with the exception he replaced Rockefeller for Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, a WWll vet, for unknown reasons. Ford did survive unscathed, two assassination attempts by women, one an original of the Charlie Manson crew. The Democrats, sensing a real chance to win the White House had the usual primary suspects including Hubert Humphrey etc… and a Georgia Governor named Jimmy Carter who had been a peanut farmer. Also, the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, an enigma of zen meets Hollywood and politics who just happened to be dating LINDA RONDSTADT and whose father, Pat Brown had previously held the Governorship. The two were the front runners by May and again I found myself directly crossing paths with a Primary Candidate as Gov. Brown wanted to speak at the U. of Md. before the Maryland primary in May. Seems our Governor Marvin Mandel had differences with the Carter camp and was throwing the full weight of his political organization behind Brown. By this time, I had become recognizable on Campus for my relative success toward having Congress hold open hearings on the Warren Commission’s findings, what with my Congressional entry and the paper I drew up (credit goes to Harold Weisberg for this effort) labeled the SEVEN POINTS in which some 19 pages summarized the blatant discrepancies in the REPORT and the twenty-six(26) volumes of evidence, documents and testimony upon which it was allegedly based, with footnotes to almost every sentence. The Seven Points was already being used by professors at several Universities as a primer for a course on the Warren Commission I am proud to say. We had started a Student Organization on our campus with affiliates on numerous others, though not as active or enthusiastic. I was also a Legislator on the Student Government Association and when the SGA President came to me and asked me, in my role as Coordinator of the JFK SGA student group to sponsor Jerry Brown’s appearance in Ritchie Coliseum on campus, I was aghast. See, we could sponsor a political candidate’s appearance as a sanctioned SGA group because we were financially independent or something to that effect. After deliberation (to include my dear mentor, Harold) and not having an endorsement of any candidate, I acceded to Bruce’s (SGA Prez.) request under one condition. I ran the show. Of course Mandel’s bunch tried to take over the SGA office space and ramrod, but circumvented the cronyism as best I could. On the appointed day with a capacity crowd (Ritchie Coliseum was the original basketball field house right on Route 1, later to be succeeded by Cole Field House up on the campus hill, to be replaced in the ‘90’s by the Comcast Center. Cole opened in 1955 and had the fortune to sponsor the 1966 NCAA Final Four which had Kentucky’s storied all white program in then a major upset by Texas Western’s all black five starters now known as U. of Texas at El Paso) I was there to open Governor-11-Brown’s Limousine door, greet him and walk him in and through the crowd to the Podium. I suppose it was Ritchie Coliseum’s last hurrah. All I could think about during his twenty minute address was about all of these political hanger ons behind him elbowing for “B” reel camera time and all the hours I spent as a kid playing pick up basketball games on court. As I escorted him out through the crowd along with the Secret Service I could hear one voice above others yelling, “Look this way, Governor, look this way”. My only thought was not here, not in my back yard, not on my watch! My Adrenaline was blasting for a brief moment, but it was innocuous….When Brown got into the Limo he thanked me and I gave him a packet of documents on the responsible JFK work done. He promised to read it. I doubt if he ever did, because if he had and used it as a major platform issue, on the heels of Watergate, he could have had the White House in a landslide. But noooo, not even a thank you note and so it goes. It is what it is.Jimmy Carter had an aide named Hamilton Jordan who had been with him from his 1972 successful run for Georgia Governor. He came up with a bit of a bit unorthodox yet winning plan for Jimmy to win the Democratic Nomination and then the November Election. Jimmy was a likable progressive southerner and ran as a Washington outsider. The 1976 Election was President Ford’s to lose as he went to the last Presidential Convention not having a clear majority of delegates. For the first time since 1960, debates were held and in the second one, Ford committed an incredible lapse of reason when he pronounced that, “….there was no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a FORD Administration.” Further he stumbled with he, “….did not believe the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union(!)”. What WARSAW PACT? Either he had insight the public was not privy to or, or well you fill in the blank. Carter took all of the south and most of the N.E. as a moderate and with the early Christian right; except for Virginia which hasn’t voted Democratic since LBJ in ’64. Ford took all of the west but Minnesota and Wisconsin put Jimmy in. The Carter Presidency meant well and had the Camp David Peace Accords in 1978 with President Anwar El Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and he holed up in cabins at the Presidential retreat in northern most Maryland which IKE opened and named after his son, who, oh by the way is still happily married to Julie Nixon, God Bless’em! For 12 days Jimmy diplomatically went between these two leaders who had no great love for each other, but a strong desire for peace. The Accords were the frame work for the March 1979 Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel. I came to have a very high esteem for Mr. Sadat as visionary and individual. Unfortunately, for waging peace, not war, he was assassinated on October 6th 1981 in an Islamic Jihad coup by his own military, sitting next to his wife in a review of troops. Jimmy Carter also signed the Treaty returning the Panama Canal to Panama for 1999, a fairly unpopular move which inspired the slogan, “There is an American Canal in Panama!”. Jimmy had a man named ZBIGNEW BRZEZINSKI as his National Security Advisor and I can’t say this is where his advice was corrupted but for someone as connected and astute as ZB (read Henry Kissinger Jr.) he certainly received an inordinate amount of incorrect intelligence and disinformation which virtually sabotaged his efforts and made him a one term President. A brief synopsis of BZ’s (I just can’t spell this man’s name out each use with my hunt and peck plus corrections’ method of typing. Yes I can spell it sight unseen, little good that does!) BZ has an extensive record of being connected to many of the top players,-12-having a dual citizenship from his native Poland and America (1958). One might refer to him as a geo-political strategist. At Georgetown University in 1977 a think tank called the Center for Strategic International Studies which was formed to advance global security and political policy solutions. The group gradually became autonomous and is either under the radar or has melded with other organizations similar in purpose. ZB has been on its Board of Directors along with Henry Kissinger. In 1973, David Rockefeller and ZB and a few other major players formed the notorious Tri-Lateral Commission which is blamed by many as THE world group which is absurd because of its diverse membership, not withstanding it probably has multi levels of power and knowledge who do have influence in what I call the really secret cabal of decision makers, GROUP X.. Jimmy Carter became a member in 1975 and was taken by ZB’s alleged world views and probably his public version of curriculum vitae, to include being an advisor on JFK’s run for President in 1960 and his relationship with LBJ (particularly his contention of the Domino theory being realistic). Carter immediately appointed ZB to the position of National Security Advisor. This ultimately key position is directly responsible to the President to translate, corroborate, filter disinformation, reconcile reports from the various Intelligence Agencies (to include the National Security Agency, NSA other wise known as No Such Agency!) and deliver it as forthright and accurate to the Oval Office. This person must literally be of the most honest, trustworthy, patriotic and loyal (not to mention intelligent and incisive) character to maintain America’s safety and security on a daily basis while at once viewing such matters in long term consequences. During this era a gradual change in the Intelligence modus operandi shifted from human intelligence to technical means like aerial photography, advanced eavesdropping and modern technology still classified. But there is no substitute for human under cover infiltration with a deep background in the country’s language (dialects, colloquialisms, idioms etc…) customs, idiosyncrasies and ability to infiltrate the highest levels of power and communicate pertinent data back all the while your life is at risk 24-7 in so many ways. Supposedly, our government did not see the need for Mid Eastern Humint until nine-one-one. Farsi, Arabic, Persian, Kurdish and Hebrew etc…were not being taught in commensurate degree with the progression of events necessity. Neither was the recruitment of people indigenous to this region with a desire to help gain peace and stability. All the while the U.S. was becoming, with its blunders and shady black ops, the realistic target of the Khomeini initiated Western Jihad, which enabled religious clerics to become zealots and create the terror of the Osoma Bin Ladens, with our continued dependence on their oil financing this reality. Schools of thought vary from planned neglect to ineptitude. I hesitate to say it is orchestrated for the fear factor of control. I can say, without a doubt, Jimmy Carter’s Presidency was sabotaged. For an acute instance consider Carter’s mid-east tour in December of 1977 visiting the major players in an effort to get a consensus that peace could and should be established in the region. On New year’s Eve 1977 at a State Dinner with the Shah of Iran, in Tehran, Carter toasted the country as being, “…an island of stability in the region.”(!). Not considering, what I discussed in 411 on nine-one-one about the Shah’s iron fisted rule over his people with his deadly secret police, the SAVAK. As often substantiated, the Iranian people like Americans very much. It’s our government they despise. Carter did discuss (lecture?) with Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of the Peacock Throne the issue of human rights which conflicted the Shah on where he-13-stood with America. After all, he was installed by our CIA in 1953 to rule, after we deposed Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh in Operation AJAX, who had been named Prime Minister by a duly elected democratic parliament in 1951. For the life of me, I can’t comprehend the motives given in these black ops coups, when we have leaders who publicly seek U.S. support. The ensuing year lead to public accord on change and the Shah, alleged to have cancer, left the country with his family for Egypt on 1/16 1979. Shortly thereafter, the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran from his 1964 exile to Iraq and then Paris, France and created a puppet parliament for him to control and vulcanized the pent up mid east resentment of U.S. control and manipulation to include its behemoth support of Israel and the suppression of the Palestinian plight. On November 4th 1979, a group of religious zealots, with Khomeini’s approval, stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took the grounds and occupants hostage. This event was to last for 444 days being counted with each night the lead story on nightly news, only to end the day Ronald Wilson Reagan took office as President. A foot note to this action had the current puppet Prime Minister Mahmoud Amadinejad, being a leading participant in the hostage takeover. As P.M., he has publicly called for the State of Israel to be wiped off the map and Iran has been working on gaining nuclear potential for years. They may already have one, certainly the potential, which would change for the worse, the entire world stability (God forbid the damage to Israel and Palestine). .By this point, Jimmy had no idea who he could turn to for true information as a Washington outsider and being cornered I am sure he would like to see his learning curve have progressed quicker. JFK was one step from understanding what those with the real power had at stake. In my mind, he is the last President to walk the walk of his talk. My friend Harold used to say, “unless JFK murder’s official version is reversed, no President is safe to make an unpopular decision”. Clinton is the prime example. He and Hillary quickly learned the limits, particularly by the relentless offensive (read dirty) they faced from day one. I can’t help not interjecting events of the current race, ads and debates. JFK had numerous quotes so acutely appropriate and many spontaneous. In the last debate with McCain, Obama had an excellent chance to refer to JFK in answering a question about what either initially might do as Chief Executive. I was immediately praying he was schooled for just such an opportunity. Kennedy answered a similar impromptu inquiry as President with, “I would say the problems are more difficult than I imagined them to be. The responsibilities placed on the United States are greater than I imagined them to be. And there are greater limitations upon our ability to bring about a favorable result than I imagined them to be. But I think that’s probably true of anyone who becomes President.” Invoking such honest spontaneity would have been a walk off home run for Barack and resonated from sea to shining sea.Carter did ok a well rehearsed plan to extricate the 53 hostages from the Embassy in mid Tehran on or about April 14, 1980, but multi unanticipated failures forced us to abort. A successful rescue could have given Jimmy a second term but as Omar Khayam, the Persian poet wrote in his Rhubyat, “The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on. And all of your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line nor all your tears wash out a word of it”(!) The other feature which crippled this most honorable President wasPresident was Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D. Mass. deciding that he should finally make his long anticipated run for the money, Chappaquiddick not withstanding yet-14-another unexplained morass which nearly ended his political career on the same weekend the U.S. was realizing his brother JFK’s projection of landing a man on the moon. Coincidence? On one of the Nixon tapes, John Dean with Haldeman allegedly present, made a comment about, “wouldn’t Teddy be surprised if he knew about the bear trap he was walking into this weekend?”) Teddy’s ill timed run served only to undermine Carter more and he lost the nomination by over a thousand votes. I take nothing much else away from a man who has since his 1962 election been a Senate stalwart for all the right reasons and issues, however unpopular they may have become at any juncture. In the Republican Primaries, Reagan and George Bush were the front runners. Bush had an impressive resume as a Yale graduate (SKULL & BONES) including several terms as a U.S. Congressman, Ambassador to the U.N., Envoy to China and Director of the CIA. Reagan made s splash in a New Hampshire debate which he had funded (absent Bush) when the moderator tried to cut him off. Reagan a defining sound byte (I hate these new fangled terms!) by saying, “Mr. Green (Breen), I paid for that microphone!” Leave it on. Reagan picked Bush as his V.P. running mate and they won over Carter in a land slide with the Electoral College vote 489 to 49. That October, Bush and his emissaries met quietly with Iranians in Paris to arrange a quid pro quo. Remember, this nation was at war with the U.S. backed Iraq and our ally(?) Saddam Hussein. Who got what remains speculative, but consider this: on January 20th, 1980 immediately after Ronald Reagan’s swearing in, wheels were up in Tehran, Iran bringing the released 53 Embassy Hostages home on day 444 of their captivity. No questions or inquiry.In 1811, the Shawnee Indians of the Ohio Valley tried to unite all Native Americans against what their Chief Tecumseh’s brother, called “The Prophet” had for seen as the coming genocide. They battled against the U.S. Army in a battle called Tippecanoe labeled a draw. Tecumseh released prisoners with a message to Harrison to become TECUMSEH’S CURSE. He proclaimed Harrison would become the Great White Chief in a year ending in a 0 and thus every twenty years, the U.S. would suffer the continuing fate! In 1840, Harrison ran for President with the slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!” He gave his Inaugural Speech in a cold rain and died three months later. In 1860 Lincoln was elected and kept maintained our Union in the terrible war against brothers only to be assassinated in April of 1865. James Garfield elected in 1880 was killed on July 2, 1881. William McKinley was elected in 1900 and murdered on September 6, 1901 with Teddy Roosevelt succeeding him. Warren Harding elected in1920 died of food poisoning on August 2nd 1923. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and literally rallied our nation out of the Great Depression. He became so well liked by mainstream America he was encouraged to run for a third term. The precedent of limiting one to two terms was set by George Washington, the first President and Father of our country, with the Nation’s Capitol built and named after him. Not only under the Articles of Confederation did he refuse to be a monarch, but at the end of his second four year term (1796) as he was begged to run again, he said no one should serve more than two terms as Chief Executive because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This position had been honored until Roosevelt yielded to overwhelming feeling and ran a third term in1940 and again in 1944. He passed in April of 1945, having seen victory in Europe. Ina very short time, a Presidential Term Limits being the 22 Amendment was introduced by the Congress and ratified on February 22, 1951 1960 a young Irish Catholic named John-15-Kennedy won in a close race over Richard Nixon. Kennedy held Office for a thousand days and made a huge impression of nationalism and patriotism to a vast number of Americans. Unfortunately his progressive programs and idea of world peace were negated by a plot which assassinated him on an open street in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963. His successor, LBJ appointed a supposedly independent commission headed with our own Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren to find and make known the whole truth. Unfortunately, in making a terrible American tragedy worse, the Commission decided to hold a non-investigation and support the FBI finding of a single gunman, as they so went on record during their January 22nd 1964 Executive Session (posited in the Congressional Record of May 14, 1975 under the Extension of Remarks by Congresswoman Gladys Spellman (D.Md. 5th District) page 2442. It bears repeating we are all the worse for this whitewash. In 1980 another Irish American named Ronald Reagan was elected to face this feared feature, but the “Great Communicator” had indeed the luck of the Irish and when John Hinckley tried to kill him on March 30, 1981 coming out of the Hilton Hotel from addressing a meeting of the AFL-CIO, he and several other people were wounded. With true grit, Reagan minimized the seriousness of his wound by asking if his Doctors were all Republicans and told his wife Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck!” Now how can one, setting aside political differences, not like a man like that? He went on to survive colon cancer surgery and stand at the Berlin Wall to say with the world watching, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear this wall down!” He encouraged Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet premier to adopt perestroika and glasnost (restructuring and openness) in efforts toward peace and prosperity. A lot was kept from Reagan as he became known as the “Teflon President”. George Bush orchestrated many under the radar operations and it’s easy to see, he really was President for twelve years, 8 under Reagan and his own one term. It’s a subjective view on whether Tecumseh’s curse was a reality or a useful tool for changing administrations. In the world I’ve grown to know and understand, to the degree possible, there really are no accidents. But before I’m labeled a nut, let’s get back to documentation and have you connect the same dots.I’ve tried to emphasize Vietnam was about poppy control and distribution. Reference the book, THE POLICIES OF HEROIN IN SOUTH EAST ASIA by Alfred W. McCoy a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It provides substantial evidence of the CIA using their own airline, AIR AMERICA to smuggle opium to heroin producers in the U.S. The profits supplement the black ops budget Congress appropriates.I have already addressed the opium influence aspect of Afghanistan on the U.S. which we stole that trade away from the Taliban. In all fairness, I don’t for one minute believe the CIA, NSA, Homeland Security or the FBI are involved in massive plots or engaged in black ops or illegal activity such as we are reviewing here. I believe most people in the major law enforcement and intelligence communities are upstanding hard working loyal and patriotic Americans who do their job as mandated with true honor of our beloved Constitution. It is a small contingent of them who have rose to positions of trust and power and are swayed by Group X needs and rewards. And it is their underlings, desirous of attaining the same, who do their bidding, without question. They have joined the old boy networks with their predilected centuries old master agendas of how the world isto be manipulated. The engine providing the energy to accomplish their ends is FEAR. Keeping nations at ends and starving or gaining in the realm of prosperity, are Religious-16-theologies and preventing real communication by accentuating differences, seeding distrust and creating prefabricated inflammatory events/incidents. All lead to fear and thus instability and war. Fear is the killer and false enemies are flame the fire. When people sit down and talk they generally find they have more in common than divergence. To quote JFK once more; “We all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And, we are all mortal”. And I must add, we may have little time remaining to solve a dignified guarantee of survival of our civilization, as we know it.We have a policy called the MONROE DOCTRINE, which President James Monroe spoke of in his annual message to Congress (which in time became the STATE OF THE UNION speech given by the President each January}simply stating the upstart United States would no longer tolerate European colonization in the western hemisphere, North or South America. We have a varied history of invoking this dictum up to present day for any political expediency an Administration perceived. One view of this is well depicted in the 1958 novel THE UGLY AMERICAN, which portrayed the third world view of our arrogant austentacious pillaging of these countries’ resources under protection of puppet iron fisted dictators, rather than help bring them education, democracy and a fair share of the wealth. This reality manifested itself in the southern America’s more profoundly than anywhere and was the basis for the Cuban overthrow of its Dictator, Fulgencio Baptista led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Castro became a dictator in his own right announcing he was a Communist and thus the 13 days in October 1962 when we could have had nuclear war with Russia over their installing rockets which could reach Washington D.C. in 10 minutes! JFK and Russian Premier Nikita Kruschev somehow allowed common sense to prevail and the rationale for the first substantial Nuclear arms talks resulting in the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of October 10, 1963.A direct result of this revolution created hope in all of the Central and South American countries which were under American Imperialism. Che Guevera proceeded to foment opposition under the flag of communism in many of these “Banana Republics” and became a fatal target for our CIA with the interest of protecting our capitalistic investments. Ironically, this concept had been growing for years, particularly in Nicaragua where a man named Augusto Ceasar Sandino had similar ambitions back in the late 1920’s and early ‘30’s. He was influenced by a Mexican named Joaquin Trinidado who had a tremendous respect for the original native Central and South American peoples and an early uncanny appreciation for the spirituality of Light and Truth. This doctrine emanates from the Mayans and their predecessors, the Olmecs. Among their remarkable accomplishments, they produced the world’s most accurate Calendar thousands of years before any western civilization existed. Sandino was so successful, his elimination was a necessity, even though claims of his connection to the Russian Revolution and their COMINTERN ( a term of spreading communism abroad which had Wall Street and big business unduly scared sh..less) were untrue. His murder was committed by a General named Somoza whose family, with U.S. support, ruled Nicaragua until 1979, when a man named Daniel Ortega and several others gained rule under the Sandinista Liberation Front National (SLFN from exact Spanish translation).This effort had grown powerful because of such an immense popular support for genuine independence. Ortega was a communist, but not your garden variety crop. He did accept-17-support from Moscow, but I don’t believe he had any intentions of allowing the USSR to use their land as a base for a military position like Cuba had. But the powers that be could not allow such precedent of change or adjust to a more humanistic approach to our relations with our little empire. The old Somoza guard had re-united in small groups with our help to return their little fiefdom and became known as the Contras. Enter George Bush’s Oz like behind the curtain influence with help from a Lt. Colonel named Oliver North assigned to NSA ( remember No Such Agency?) and a plot to use very secretive alliance cooperation to fund the Contras. Like supply military equipment to Israel who in turn would sell it to “moderate IRANIANS” for use against Iraq and Afghanistan vs. the USSR war. The profits would go to supporting the Contras save some of the funds to buy Coca from the Columbian rebels to be transported by Air America and converted into crack for target in the inner cities beginning with Los Angeles! Talk of strange bed fellows accomplishing a range of agendas with one Operation!? This small sketch deserves more attention than I can allocate here, save it to read it was exposed in 1986 and President Reagan went on national TV and denied any knowledge or involvement (Teflon for real, but I don’t think Ronnie had exact knowledge of the whole) even though his Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger was convicted as were Ollie North and some 14 top players. In George Bush’s last days in Office after Slick Willie beat him in 1992, Bush #41 pardoned all the convicted, none of whom served much time do to Appeals etc…The book, DARK ALLIANCE: CIA, the CONTRAS AND THE CRACK COCAINE EXPLOSION by one Gay Webb details this with exacting documentation. Webb had been a reporter for the San Jose Mercury and for years detailed as it was revealed, the seamy Un-Constitutional dealings. I must interject Manuel Noriega who took over Panama from Omar Torrijos, had been a CIA Operative under Bush#41 from the early “70’s assisting in any wet work or operations required in black black ops. His reward was to steward Panama as the repository of Cocaine laundered profits in National Banks with an iron fist. Billions went through the Bahamas to accounts in Panama City (many were US owned for under radar global use). Noriega became so consumed by his own prosperity and having so much experience with the Bush Intel crowd and his own drug abuse, he felt bullet proof and could black mail his handlers to remain the Man. Going from asset to liability in the spook world, no matter who you think you are, can be an immediate and rude awakening, depending on political expediency. Operation JUST CAUSE directed by President George Bush did just that by sending our military in on 20 December 1989, to take out a “major drug dealer” ending with a tiff Federal Sentence of ninety (90) years for Noriega. The moral of this story? Don”t f… with ….! As for Nicaragua and Daniel Ortega who became a democratically elected President in 1985 until losing the next election in 1990, he was more fortunate by surviving assassination or brutal regime change probably due to the publicity generated by the Contra Scandal. Gary Webb whose journalistic series and book won him a Pulitzer Prize did not fair so well. The Washington Post (Watergate lead, New York Times, Pentagon Papers lead and the L.A. Times spent a multitude of articles denigrating Webb and refuting his documented work. A Post Ombudsman named Geneva Overholser groused that the ferocity of attack on Webb by these three national newspapers, “…showed more passion for sniffing outthe flaws in the Webb series than for probing the more important issues Webb had raised in U.S. Government relations with drug smuggling(!)”. Besides most of this information-18-having been divulged to the public in the Contra scandal, these papers 10 years later besmirched Webb’s documentation of labeling the Contras as the “CIA’s army”, an absurd objection since by all accounts, even from the now defunct Contra members, a CIA group had set up, supplied and orchestrated the whole movement. Worse, in 1985, Charles Rangle, D. N.Y. the Chairman of a sub committee on Narcotics submitted a finding from an initial probe of Contra funding, which urged Congress to pursue a larger inquiry into the plausibility of Government collusion in drug trafficking. The next day, The Washington Post (Ben Bradlee still at the helm) distorted this fact with an article head lined, “Hill Panel Finds No Evidence Linking Contras To Drug Smuggling”. Representative Rangle’s letter to the Editor taking issue with such irresponsible journalism was ignored without ink! Mockingbird is alive and well. Gary Webb is not, having been found dead of a coroner declared “suicide” on December 10th, 2004, from two gunshot wounds to the head! No note and by all accounts of friends, he was not even depressed, just concerned about retribution. One player in this odious design was “Freeway” Ricky Ross who Webb interviewed on numerous occasions. Ross was a small time player who with the help of government plants (read suppliers) a trusted acquaintance with the L.A. Gangs (Crips and Bloods) and an entrepreneurial spirit for the capitalistic American Dream, grew into the largest distributor of cocaine turned crack in Southern California. He was schooled by his handlers in low profile profit conversion into equities and real estate. He eventually went national and was estimated to be selling 2-3 million dollars a day, supposedly without the slightest hint of whom he was subsidizing with his operation. Somewhere in late 1989, he was busted and turned state to name his providers. With a light sentence he was back out by 1996, but was snagged again and with more cooperation is due out in 2010. The line was drawn on who would be named and indicted, thus damage control prevailed. In November 1996, then CIA Chief John Deutsch, visited a high school in South Central Los Angeles to speak to locals and deny any CIA involvement in drug trafficking, particularly the crack cocaine “Freeway Rick” conspiracy. He was met with overwhelming documented evidence from Rep. Maxine Waters, other officials and a former L.A. Narcotics Officer who witnessed the morass and had to resign under death threats for trying to do the right thing. Deutch gave a terribly self implicating denial of his knowledge and left the event resigning his position the next month. Just reflect for a moment on the immense deliberate damage done to inner city citizens and the havoc which was made possible from such blood profits around the world. And, no doubt, it continues to this day. I must ask, is this the kind of society you want to live in? Is this the way you desire to allow your/our government to behave? Do you understand the majority of the educated world has a better understanding of all I am relating, than you do?President Reagan was welled liked across the country and as an incumbent, appeared unbeatable for a second term in1984. Walter Mondale, former Vice President to Jimmy Carter was the front runner for the Dems and historically picked a woman to be his running mate. Rep Geraldine Ferraro from New York’s 9th District since 1978 was a good pick for a lost cause, at least to set a precedent. It wasn’t until this year we almost realized a woman, Senator Hillary Clinton, also from New York, to lead the ticket andbecome the first female President. The Republicans, desperate for an equalizing boost to help 71 year old John McCain, also nominated a woman, the Governor of Alaska, in a-19-surprise move. He picked Sarah Palin, a virtual unknown who has given the appearance of having political savvy but very little, if any, grasp of the crucial issues confronting our country in the worst times this writer has ever witnessed. Mondale lost to Reagan in the biggest landslide ever with 525 Electoral College votes to the former Senator’s home state of Minnesota (13). In the mid term elections, with the Contra Scandal looming large, Democrats regained control of the Senate 55 to 45, a very significant fact since they now had control of both chambers (255 to 177) and could leverage Reagan when necessary. The 1988 race was shaping up with Senator Gary Hart, D. Colorado as the plausible choice, that is until May 1987 enticing pictures showed up of Donna Rice sitting on his lap on a yacht named (of all things) MONKEY BUSINESS! It reminds me of Desi Arnaz sayin, “Luuucy, you’ve got splaining to do!” Obviously this event killed his campaign, leaving it to The Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, who chose the Honrorable Senator Lloyd Bentsen from Texas to run with him. There are several remarkable events from this campaign to relate as Bush was considered nearly an incumbent. First, Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush (BUSH#41) chose Indiana Senator Dan Quayle for V.P. Quayle had already committed a severe faux pas when he visited an elementary school and participated in class only to misspell potato with an ”e” on the end. To Quayle’s credit, Sarah Palin makes him appear credible and astute. In the only Vice Presidential debate Quayle had invoked a reference to JFK which infuriated Bentsen who gave the famous response, “Senator I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you certainly are no Jack Kennedy!” It still resonates in various versions. The other determining factor is the Willie Horton fiasco. It seems Massachusetts had a furlough program for incarcerated felons. That’s right, allowing those with good behavior the liberty of leaving the state joint for a weekend. The Legislature passed a measure in the mid seventies eliminating first degree murderers from such a lenient and generous (and I add irresponsible) luxury. For some crazy reason, Governor Dukakis vetoed the measure. Having had my own unfortunate acquaintance with the Maryland and Florida Criminal Justice System, much reform is needed to decimate recidivism to include programs and incentives. Maybe conjugal visits should be rethought but furloughs for only the least violent offenses under strict conditions, is anywhere near reasonable. In On June 6, 1986 Willie Horton a convicted murderer from 1972, serving a life sentence was given a weekend furlough. (one wonders what Vegas odds would have him returning?). He turned up in Oxon Hill Maryland (Prince Georges County) on April 3rd 1987 to rape a house wife twice and beat and bind her husband and steal their car. He was eventually apprehended and given two consecutive life sentences by Judge Vincent J. Femia who stated extradition back to Massachusetts was out of the question because he might receive another furlough. Incredible, I say. What could the Mass. State Legislature be thinking? The Republicans naturally turned this incident into a muddy commercial with a fence and revolving gate allowing uniformed prisoners to swing out, all either black or Hispanics. Interpret as you will. Dukakis did not help himself with a commercial posing in military gear driving a tank. Whomever ( I don’t want to know) was running (ruining) his campaign, I have to question his/her intelligence or motivation. Or both. Obviously, Bush won in a landslide.In 1989, George Hebert Walker Bush inherited a changing world with the end of Iran and Iraq war (which we gave immense support and intelligence to Iraq in an unsuccessful-20-attempt to regain our previous domination), the withdrawal of the USSR’s dreadful decision to think it could occupy Afghanistan which has never succumbed to domination in known history and most important, the anticipated falling apart of Russia’s “Iron Curtain” in Eastern Europe, orchestrated in part by a Polish Pope and an economic drain from years of a military budget to fight the Cold War rather than concentrating on internal growth. A major geo-political policy, as yet unrealized by the Bush alliance was to reacquire a stronghold (read military presence for oil and influence) in the Mid-East. He had Brent Scowcroft as his National Security Advisor ( a devout Henry Kissinger protégé) and an Ambassador to Iraq named April Glaspie. If you view a 1989 map of Iraq, considering its economic loss from the Iran conflict, it has only a small area for access to the Persian Gulf of some 18 (?) miles and borders to the south, oil rich Kuwait, a small country (6,880 square miles) having the world’s fifth largest proven oil reserves and some 100 miles of gulf coastline for exporting it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure Saddam Hussein’s desire to have such a fruitful acquisition, of course with the tacit approval of the US, who oh by the way, has maintained his military as the Gulf region’s most formidable. By June 1990, Saddam had massed his loyal elite 30,000 strong Republican Guard along the Kuwait border, with another 70,000 troops in striking distance. On July 25, 1990 the US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie has a sit down with Saddam in Baghdad. There are several versions to what she communicated to him, but it had to have been favorable to the taking of Kuwait because can logic infer he would commit himself to the devastation by a US response? Flip the nod and you get a world wide grievance to reversing such belligerence. With a US backed international coalition, we are able to place a multitude of foreign (read “infidel”) troops in Saudi Arabia for staging a counter assault to return Kuwait’s territorial integrity. Seven days after Glaspie’s visit, Iraq takes Kuwait in a mere 12 hours. President Bush patiently sets up an international diplomatic military coalition named Operation Desert Shield with some 34 countries partnering and staging it in Saudi Arabia for their protection (?) and to counter attack at our convenience. The US could have militarily intervened immediately, but the price in lives would have been significant. He has the first black General as Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff named Colin Powell as well as general Arnold Schwarzkopf as Supreme Commander. After settling in with all his assets for battle and much diplomatic wrangling for show, we cunningly strike back against Saddam with the air battle commencing on January 17, 1991 which ultimately led the fleeing of Iraq’s Air Force, not to Jordan where we anticipated, but get this, to Iran! Who knew, literally? On February 28, 1991 we began the ground assault with a flank move inland behind Saddam’s troops for a rout. Two things standout in my mind about the aftermath (as in do the math?!) One is President Bush gave his word to the Kurds in northern Iraq to rebel and repulse Saddam’s occupation (read my previous work or do your own to understand the Kurds are self indigenous) but when they stuck their necks out for freedom, they were chopped off with nerve gas and genocide. Where was the US support promised? How desolate can one become? Second, the troops after witnessing the horror of Kuwait from Saddam’s army were ready to move on to Baghdad and get rid of him once and for all but nooooo, Poppy Bush stopped and developed a no fly zone for the absent Iraqi air force.Poppy seems an appropo term for the nefarious running involvement with an assortment of various unexplainable operations. Bush said at the time the Coalition’s mission was-21-completed. He later wrote and continually states “there was no exit strategy” to disengage our troops leaving a stable government. This is years before the ex-patriot Saudis created a terrorist network using left over weaponry and knowledge accumulated from us helping Afghanistan beat back the Soviets. This is where the zealot mullah’s influenced Muslim warriors created a real jihadist Shi’a based state to spread world wide terrorism. The fatahs and anti-western scorn blossomed unaddressed by the US despite horrific incidents created by the likes of Osama Bin laden and his cohorts making the jihad seem strong and romantic. Once again, the United States had a paper tiger enemy whom we set up (inadvertently?) and let loose. In Michael Moore’s flick FAHRENHEIT 911, he clearly shows the Bush and House of Saud cozy connection over 40 years. While filming standing across the street in front of the impeccably grandiose Saudi Embassy, he was accosted by the Secret Service on why he was there. The Secret Service, a branch of the U.S. Treasury has as its major task, protection of the President. As in not waving off men trotting along side the President’s Limo for protection, in the unanticipated turn into Dealy Plaza, to allow an unimpeded aim for the ambush of JFK. Watch the film, it shows implicit conspiracy. How sad. But back to the future, why are they covering the Saudi Embassy? Moore asked them and the response was no comment! Who’s on first?Obviously, Bush #41 felt real comfortable as a War winning incumbent in 1992 for re-election. He just overlooked a young Rhodes Scholar Governor from Hot Springs Arkansas potential as a relentless, educated and commensurate politician who could spin with the best! Clinton had been at age 28, the youngest Governor of Arkansas in January 1979. Arkansas has two year term limits for governor, but no prohibition on the number of terms one can be re-elected. He lost in 1981, but regained the position in 1983 and maintained it until he had won the Presidency in November 1992. He had earned the name of the “Comeback Kid” and was still relatively a national unknown in January 1992. This earned him the term of “Darkhorse” which originally applied to a long shot in Thoroughbred Horse Racing until James K. Polk became a compromise Presidential Candidate on the Convention’s 8th ballot in May 1844. From the early 1800’s to late in the century, both conventions were usually held in Baltimore or Philadelphia while the west was being conquered and developed (meaning getting rid of that dirty little redskin problem). There is no Constitutional provision for party nomination, conventions or the Electoral College. The original measure of how much suffrage a state could use in Presidential Elections was based upon population which determined how many voting districts were used for representation in the House (remember the upper chamber is allotted two (2) Senators per state) came from Article ll, Section 1, Clause 2 which reads each state shall appoint by the legislature the number of electors equal to the (number of delegates) House of Representatives which the State is entitled to, in Congress. §ll Clause 4 reads Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and the day upon which they shall give their votes, being the same across the US. This of course gives ground for a President to win a minority of the popular vote, yet win the National Election by holding a majority of electoral votes, which has happened just three (3) times to include the 2,000 when Bush stole the election fair and square, in his Governor brother’s home state of Florida. This is paraphrased without loss of exactness (hopefully). Until the late 1940’s, Congressional Representatives were usually the delegates or picked a stand in, as Party Bosses in smoke filled backrooms dickered and bargained on who-22-should represent their party. Gradually the large middle class demanded a more of a fair share in the candidate decision and made the primary or caucus more influentially inclusive with a state wide vote. This vote was often binding, at least on the first convention ballot, then the old school method would creep into play. The art of the Deal is still alive and well, although under the radar, in our current system. I believe the 1924 Democratic Convention holds the record for most ballots with 103.I know I’ve digressed several times in this article and it does carry much information to digest, but I fret on what I’ve had to leave out to try and publish it long enough before the voting, to give people a chance to consider the bigger picture. I have had a certain capacity for synchronicity from an early age to wit, in December 1959 I was riding with my father’s mother and her second husband with whom raised me. We were in North West Washington D. C. on KENNEDY St. when the news gave the official announcement of JFK running for President. My grandmother said she liked him and her husband says something like Honey, do you realize we are on Kennedy St. N.W. ? She gasps and says that has to be an omen! Believe me, we were one superstitious family. I must also interject that McCain voted for the Senate version of “lending” money to Wall Street fiduciaries to turn the Stock Market around which is, in and of itself , Socialism. So is Social Security and many other government programs from Food Stamps to government loans for education and small business starts, to name a few. But when it comes to using the term for our hard working middle class, MAINSTREET, the back bone of our once great nation, any tax breaks or direct monetary relief for them, “socialism” is derogative. I say flat out, Bullsh…! It’s just another buzz word to confuse prospective voters who haven’t read so much. I reaffirm in my articles all along, that I am no intellectual, college professor or authority. I just read documented information and connect the dots and being holed up from an accident and various maladies, I write in hope my effort will affect or inspire even just one person toward bettering our beleaguered country. The Republicans have been losing state by state in the polls and with one week to go to exercise our most sacred right and duty, have been going as dirty as possible with any outlandish, baseless accusation imaginable. I will wind up this article with 2000 to present, but for now I must insert two quotes made by Republican Candidate John McCain’s personal hero. “We grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well used. It is not even enough that it should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community….the really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size, acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and….a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safe guarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate.” This is from President Teddy Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” speech in1910. Yet one more is, “My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s going to be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re going to be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you. And right now, everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody. And I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody”. 1907 State of the Union Address.-23-How coincidental for this to appear in an article in the St. Petersburg Times just thispast Monday 10/27, reprinted from Slate Magazine. I have to question just how much familiarity McCain has with Teddy Roosevelt beyond, “Walk softly and carry a big stick!”, which by the way, he misquoted in the last debate. I also wonder if “Joe the Plumber” would agree in principle with a broad brush of TR’s equitable consideration for all Americans? Funny life, huh? Not for those who trusted Wall Street to protect their nest egg and for Congress to monitor illegalities and correct them before this type of damage could crippled our nation’s economic strength.Now for William Jefferson Clinton. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the stream of conscious thought and “GONZO” Journalism where the writer integrates his/herself into the story either intentionally(as with Hunter) or accidentally. For three or four elections, one Theodore White chronicled the election events in books titled “THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1960(64, 68, 72). Thompson who became the National Affairs Editor of the upstart ROLLING STONE Magazine on the basis of several off the chain Novels( about the Hall’s Angels and a police convention in Las Vegas) which quickly propelled him into a cult figure. His bi-weekly dispatches to the magazine enhanced its distribution and the compilation became a book called FEARING AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL which is an incredibly insightful masterpiece of relating true political reality for public dissemination. This crazy(like a fox) madman advertised himself as the only living person who had ridden with both the Hell’s Angels and Richard Nixon and named is modus operandi as the “San Francisco speed booze acid rap; that weird combination of meanness, madness and shear Fu….genius! He wrote much more and in 1992 was influenced to do another Presidential Campaign book. To give substance to Hunter’s political acumen, he had become friends with the Governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter and was invited to attend the yearly University of Georgia’s LAW DAYSpeech held on May 4, 1974. Senator Ted Kennedy had spoke the night before and caused Jimmy to change his speech. Hunter, who had had a long night before, showed up at he Governor’s Mansion around 8:00 A.M. in a cab and a bag with a half empty bottle of Wild Turkey Liquor. Of course the cab driver was much relieved when after two minutes, the guard waved the through the gate and Jimmy came out to personally welcome Thompson. In the Rolling Stone article, Hunter labeled Jimmy’s speech “one king hell bastard of a speech” and predicted the next President. The speech is well worth reading as Carter, humble as ever, said two people influenced what a mere peanut farmer was going to impart to them. They were Reinhold Niebuhr (a legal expert) and BOB DYLAN. He also related that an African American on work release from the State Prison System, who had been his cook for his first two years in office had asked to borrow $250. He replied that he felt a lawyer would require more money than that. Oh no she said, “it’s for the judge. I got 7 years or 750 dollars. I’ve saved $500 and can pay you back soon”. Well, Jimmy didn’t loan her the money, he had his legal aid investigate and snap she was free and soon things changed pretty quick! The speech is that and more! With legendary credentials, Hunter befriended Bill and Hillary Clinton and made his mind up they were the real thing. In the book though, there exists a disclaimer which is repeated at the end. He uses the parable of the old woman and the snake to describe Slick Willie. Read into it what you may but Clinton’s proclivity toward the female was paradoxical to an extreme and cost him a seat as one of the greatest President’s. We are now into modern history so-24-you are aware of the rise of Political Action Committees (PAC’s) which originated from the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended in 1974 with the creation of the Federal Election Commission which among other controls, limited individual campaign contributions to $1,000 per person and groups (PAC’s) to $5,000. Of course the Republicans became very innovative in the ‘80’s with Ronald Reagan’s religiosity and his MORAL MAJORITY(is neither!) and the ‘90’s with the advent of “K” St. Lobbyists {see 411 on 911) and praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (money) became the monster which has brought us to date. Now it’s not ok for Muslim Countries to be Theocracies, but it’s just fine for a Jerry Fallwell or Pat Robertson or Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and their Praise the Lord (PTL) network to tell us God speaks to them and they dictate to millions what is right and wrong and how to live. They tell you to send God money, but they give you their address. Albeit the Muslim Clerics and Ayatollahs have declared a holy war (Jihad) on the Western infidel and fomented the worst in terrorism, how close have we come in disparately abusing so many real God loving Christians toward the same venomous character? A real time line on beginning was the atheist Madeline Murray (O’Hair) winning a Supreme Court religious decision on the ban of school prayer on June 17, 1963. In an 8-1 decision, the lone dissenter, Potter Stewart (Yale with Skull and Bones) gave an excellent counter point by writing the Supreme Court began each hearing day with “May God save this Honorable Court” and that both Houses of Congress opened their session with prayer!!! The second fire was Roe V. Wade which struck down most bans on abortion using a trimester theorem. The Republicans began with Barry Goldwater, to steal the solid Democratic South, not by segregation but with religious zealotry. Even though he was trounced by LBJ, the south and its (then) still rural nature nature remained the perfect region for conception and perpetuation of fundamentalist religious beliefs and the misuse and abuse of these good people. With the use of the above flashpoint issues and other unfamiliar or misunderstood life styles (I point to the infamous Scopes monkey trial of 1925 in Dayton Tennessee which challenged the Butler Act which made it unlawful to teach any theory that denies Divine Creation as the Bible states in Genesis. It caught national attention with two famous lawyers, William Jennings Bryan to prosecute and Clarence Darrow to defend. The issue supporting an alternative view was Charles Darwin’s book, ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES which argued natural selection and survival of the fittest. Teacher John Scopes lost the trial but prevailed in the appeal) it challenged a people entrenched with common cultural heritage. I have to say this region is as loyal and patriotic as any other. Their commonality was grimly obfuscated for political gain, beginning with Nixon in 1968. Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat to carry the South in a Presidential Election. While the concept as a whole progressed from being distinctly black or white to shades of grey, it bears repeating the adage of the High School teacher, fresh out of college was applying for a job before the local Board of Education in north Georgia was asked if she taught Creationism or Evolution. She innocuously replied, “Why I can teach either”!In the late 70’s, while the purposeful undermining of the Carter Administration was in full swing, a man named Lee Atwater was coming into his own as a brilliant political strategist, mentoring Carl Rove and the likes, who would help coalesce the Religious Right, Lobbyist’s money and PAC groups into a monolithic Republican regime. ThisEnabled an unknown Georgia Congressman to write a pamphlet called CONTRACT-25-WITH AMERICA, helping Republicans gain a strangle Congress and making him Speaker of the House. He grouped these people together outside the Capitol after the swearing in Ceremony and gave them their marching orders to be team players and remember their roots. Lee Atwater had invented, improvised and improved the techniques of modern electoral politics with the help of PACs and other unofficial out lets, made use of unflattering rumors, entrapment and deep background research of the opposition for any activity which could be helpfully misconstrued. Thus the origination of fully vetting a candidate or running mate. His genius earned him the title of Dart vader, which unfortunately destroyed many lives and families, politically and otherwise. He later lamented the 1980’s were about acquisition of power, money and position as he learned he had incurable brain cancer. Recognizing his wrongdoings, he was man enough to disassociate himself with a very touching and genuine public message apologizing to all he had hurt. May God let his soul rest, because forgiveness is all things Christian.To the nation’s detriment this insidious Nazi like approach to control created a life of its own to haunt the Clinton Presidency and allow George Bush to rule. An initial victim was the Equal Rights Amendment for women passed by Congress in march of 1972, which needed 38 state legislatures in a duration of seven years to make it law. It came as close as five states but support waned as the ‘70’s progressed and the Religious Right gained strength. It’s sad and disgraceful that the majority of our citizens are not guaranteed equal standing in the most crucial areas.The Bush crew started right in on Clinton when they saw he was making progress in the primaries by getting his alleged long time mistress, one Gennifer Flowers to tell all. Hillary and Bill appeared as a loving partnered couple on 60 Minutes which actually boosted his ratings propelling him to the Democratic Nomination. In my opinion, Clinton did superb in the debates with Bush#41, seeming very comfortable and knowledgeable as opposed to Bush seeming stodgy and arrogant. Ross Perot ran on a third party ticket winning 18% of the popular vote but gained no electoral votes. Experts/pollsters (those who claim to see over the horizon…for our collective sake, I pray they are right about a Democratic sweep this November 4th) claim Perot took votes on an equal basis and did not cost Bush re-election. Clinton received a diverse collection of 38 states (southern also) and 370 electoral votes. This victory has to be recognized in complete context as an incredible achievement, almost totally unpredicted (save Dr. Thompson and few others) and in my mind, without precedent. An incumbent rarely loses and with a war win (however fabricated, having read my articles, you have to understand by now those who really control our reality, consider human life as chess pieces on a large board) to boot, who knew??? Clinton, save Jimmy Carter, was the first President to hold the American people as the administration’s priority since JFK. He appointed his wife Hillary and others, to study improving on Health Care which was critically sabotaged in its infancy. His (their, she and he were really allied politically) learning curve on limitations was fairly quick as compared to JFK who couldn’t bring himself to believe his policies would actually result in his elimination. Clinton did balance the budget and make the social programs of the ‘60’s function more effectively by placing responsible people in the Executive Branch who were accountable in their respective Departments both financially and managerial wise. Less than five years of such stewardship, began generating a surplus which he really wanted to convert into an untouchable Social Security repository.-26-I’d like to cover more of the Clinton Presidency but being November 1st, I need to wrap this article up so I can try and last minute blog it. The art of the Blog is as hard for me as, as….Well it’s like when Ray Charles what he felt the hardest part of not being able to see was and he replied, “Not being able to SEE!!”. Suffice it to see, the dedicated wrong went on an offensive from nomination up to his last day in the oval office. Talk about Newt Gingrich’s Contract On America, check out his infamous GOPAC MEMO, the founding document of the modern hate speech movement. Gingrich urges Republican candidates to smear opponents with words like, “sick, disgrace, corrupt, cheat, decay, pathetic, radical traitor, greed, anti-family, gay etc….Understand all Republicans are not like minded, just in particular the cult of personality group who opted their souls for the vicious recriminative measures expected of them from the dedicated wrong bunch who came too close to gaining a stranglehold on what’s left of our Constitutional Government and implementing their own fascist rule. For a great example of very decent Republican, one need look further than our own District in Florida and the Honorable Bill Young and his wife Beverly. His good list is way too long for the thirty years I’ve been here, but just one ongoing unselfish deed encapsulates his tenure. After the Iraq War began taking its toll on wounding our troops whose lives would have been lost in previous conflicts but with our modern medicinal technology, they survive and must learn to adjust to horrific trauma, Congressman Young began visiting Walter Reed Army Hospital where they stay for treatment, recovery and rehabilitation with facilities for their spouses and families. Rep. Young and wife Beverly would drive up town, unannounced almost every day before the House convened to spend time, one on one, with our boys and girls let them know we care and give them hope. They would discreetly inquire if there was any thing they could do (no matter how trivial) to help them in any way. As the months passed, other Members joined the journey (some for political gain) and it became a caravan. Only because of the participation of so many other Congress Reps did it come to the media’s attention. Only God knows how many they helped and gave hope to, but this action is so commendable it brings a tear my eye, for it is all things AMERICAN. Doing the right thing in the midst of all the trappings brought on by political celebrity is not easy. Bill Young and his wife are the standard, in my humble opinion, to be measured by. Mr. Young, to my knowledge has never engaged in anything but genuine statesmanship, particularly in the electoral process and I am proud to have voted for him. A hundred of him in the House and twenty-five in the Senate and our country would be so much the better for it. Our community has benefited enormously from his consideration.I used to think a lot of John McCain and when he beat George “W” Bush in New Hampshire, I seriously was considering his vote. I’ve already discussed how W was taken back to Crawford Texas to be re-invented and the Campaign took on a more nefarious tone. To understand the menacing audacious mentality of “W”’s camp one only need to read about one story and do a progression/extrapolation. W was to speak at the N.Y. Yankees spring training stadium, Legion’s Field in Tampa, Florida. To access a W rally, one had to get tickets ahead of time from campaign outlets or through their cronies. You could not carry in an opposition banner or even wear an opponent’s button! Their storm troopers would politely ask you to relinquish the banner or sign and tell you take the to button off! If you were uncooperative, you were escorted out and/or arrested. You tookyour cues from prompters and clapped and hollered as if it were spontaneous and-27-genuine. Law suits challenging infringement of 1st Amendment rights have been stalled and prolonged, if not out right dismissed. In Tampa, brave elderly people stood up as did Rosa Parks did fifty years before, in an effort to fight the oppressive fascist tactics of the W campaign. It was an evidently obvious harbinger of things to be in a Bush Administration. There is no time to delineate the daily abuses of Bush with Dick Cheney orchestrating activity and defiance from “undisclosed locations”, certainly not presidingover the Senate as its President, to cast a tie breaking vote. Cheney and Donald Rumsfeldcame to the Executive Branch under Gerald Ford. Rumsfeld was Ford’s Secretary of Defense and Cheney was his Chief of Staff. In the 1960’s Vietnam War draft era, Cheney sought and received six (6!) deferments, later claiming he , “had better things to do”. His failing grades forced his transfer out of Yale and a took a total of six years to obtain a degree. His last two exemptions were due to being a father with another child under way. Some example for a man who oversaw the gulf war as Defense Secretary and architect of the ruse used to put us in Iraq as in weapons of mass destruction and Saddam having ties to Obama. In my opinion it takes a “real” man to put our men and women in harms way for an agenda of political reasons rather than national security. Straight up, “my ass ain’t on the line!” Nor has it ever been. I’ll just hole up somewhere, let a NEW PEARL HARBOR happen and you’ll yell, let’s raise the flag patriots. I don’t have the time to finish this article because the Bush years deserve their own stories which after you connecting the dots, you won’t think of you being in a Blue state or a Red state, but a RED WHITE & BLUE state. We are all Americans who have been divided by those who could care less about Ole Glory. When truth be told, we shall be set free. Thomas Jefferson said, “A nation’s best defense is an educated citizenry”. “A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance (!), and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives”. (James Madison) One very poignant aspect of President Bush’s public appearances is he has given fewer press conferences than one can count , which should give the public an acutely accurate pulse on the Chief Executive’s political metabolism on truth! Generally, when you see him live, he has been at a military base with troops and families doing back ground hoorahs with pre made signs reaffirming their support of his war efforts. Never have I seen him at a free to attend and show your disappointment with his policies, rally/speech. He is guided by Cheney and Karl Rove and the fascist crew who have an un-American agenda. And I say that with regret, because anyone who seeks to propel their own agenda, absent any obvious other opinion, called dissent, is not Democratic, not American and certainly, treasonous in meaning and action. It is the very definition of the concept. HELLO!!!??? I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to my death for your right to say it! That is what our Lives, our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor are all about. What has been allowed to flourish since Bush #43 took office is despicable, illegal, corrupt and undermines the very principles of which our country was founded. On which so many believed in to give their last full measure with their blood, not have their posterity hear these lies and the fabricated activities to lure them into wars which had no contention with our freedom, but agendas of those who have smartly gained influence in power while most of us are working hard to become the strongest nation, both economic and militaristic, on earth. For their benefit. Not ours and-28-not the free world’s. Nor the largest population of the hunger, freedom deprived third world. While we’ve laid our trust in those who have held power by our proxy, we have tried to hold on to our jobs to keep America, American, we’ve seen them outsourced or disappear, with the CEO’s having 20-30 $50 million dollar retirement benefits. Yet so many people, not rich, have been finagled into voting for these same traitors under false issues and failed (deliberately) policies, meant to increase the deep pockets of the silver tongued devils. As I wrote, I had a deep respect for John McCain in 2000. After his win in New Hampshire, the Bush campaign smeared him mercifullessly by inferring homosexuality, no fags in our (Bush) administration, his wife being a drug addict, having sex with a black prostitute, having an illegitimate black daughter and cheating on his wife, to reference some. Mac, needless to say lost the state and his momentum and stayed in the Senate only to behave as if he had never been ambushed and vote with Bush policies (so many in direct conflict with his original stance) some 95% of the time. He was willing to sacrifice his alleged own decent humanistic politics for the opportunity to run for President in 2008. There is a picture of him hugging cozily up to W in 2004 which makes me sick. I now wonder who the real John McCain really is. Indirect contrast to him is a human being who has worked hard, against all types of adversity and continued to let his soul shine with humble success and against those same odds, stands to become our nation’s 44th President tomorrow. For his running mate, he chose another person with the same credentials and desire to make America, America once again. The Honorable Joe Biden from Delaware. Together, they have run a remarkably decent campaign and tomorrow, God willing, have the chance to change our direction and give us better history and stature, as those who founded this country envisioned. I fervently pray this comes to pass. May God have mercy on our souls and shine his awful grace on our people once again in leading us to the promised land! To be continued! CAMPAIGN UNCONVENTIONALImagine those of you who care about dwelling in a real Democracy with Free Speech, Assembly, Petition of Redress of Grievances AND Privacy with our beloved Constitution which is being slowly shredded and thrown away by the Dedicated Wrong. You are a Catholic from Billy Joel Pennsylvania and you work your way through college with some help from your working class hero parents. You gain admission to Law School in Delaware, just down the road and in the summer working (as usual) but visit Bahamas meet the love of your life. Except she is rich and Protestant. She even picks up the tab, when you underestimate the bill where you met. Against all odds, You and her fall in love (she loves your dedication to principle, dignity and freedom, i.e. our American Dream), marry and set up family in Wilmington Delaware, on Route 95 (Washington D.C. is an hour and a half away on the NE Train Corridor) and he is plucked by the Democratic Party to run for this or that and then Senator in1972. He won’t turn the Constitutional mandated age for Senator of 30 until after the election. With much family deliberation as underdog and daily commuting, thumbs go up and he wins! Talk about decency and the American Dream…..God Bless it. One day the world is in your hands, then on a mid December pre-Christmas Day at the Capitol, working on the rules, his staff and new office etc… he receives a phone cal from his brother telling him to come home ASAP due to a family car accident, absent the terrible details. He arrives home to find that someone had crashed cars and his beloved wife was gone as was his infant daughter and his two young sons were hospitalized as critical. What the hell does one do with this burden? His first statement was, “Delaware can get another Senator but my two boys can not get another father”! He was sworn in from his sons’ bedside on January 3rd, 1973 with every intention of abdicating graciously. Back in the Watergate years, Congress reached across the aisle, absent the Political Action Committees throwing millions of dollars to get the wrong people elected with a debt and writing the legislation for them. Numerous members, to include a very right wing Senator, reached out to Joe and urged him to try for just six months and work through it for his constituency if nothing else. With much family and professional help he some how endured. How would you or I have done? He, with the awful grace of GOD, persevered and prevailed to be one of the most respected, experienced and decent men in the Senate for the last 35 years. He ran for President in1987-88 but had headaches which were brain aneurisms. Surviving and making the most again, of yet another possible lethal challenge, he wrote and successfully sponsored significant legislation, to include the Violence Against Spouse Act in1994. Joe ran for this current campaign (I must add, the most arduous, long and vetting this citizen has ever seen….and bizarre) but his presentation is based on facts and Americans have been dulled into short term sound bites. He didn’t stand a chance with the government controlled (Operation Mockingbird’s support) so he withdrew. But Barack Obama knows an experienced gem of knowledge when he works with one and Senator Biden graciously accepted the V. P. to run against McPain and Pain!.Much of the same cookie cutter can be used for Barack Obama’s rise to aspiration. College Grants and good grades can still equal a degree. He went to HARVARD Law School and was named Editor of their prestigious Law Review as a senior. He could have accepted a generous legal position on Wall Street to cheat working class heroes out of-2-their hard earned 401 K’s etc… but noooo, he went to Chicago’s south side and started working on securing more job possibilities (please remember, it’s all about jobs! here in the good ole US of A.) One good deed led to another and he ran for State Legislature. Won there and became so successful with his populist legislation, he was asked to run for U.S. Senate in 2004 from the Land O’ Lincoln. One with incredible insight, nominated him to be the Key Note speaker at John Kerry’s 2004 Democratic Convention and he brought the house down with a king hell bastard of a speech targeted to anyone who has been put out and longing for the AMERICA we were taught existed in school! The rest is his story. He won the Senate seat and was encouraged to run for President, even though Hillary was slated to be the nominee. The first of many crazy things to this particular campaign was it started some ten months early and the states of Florida and Michigan being uppity, moved their primaries to early January just after the Iowa caucus. A rude and arrogant move, which ticked off the Democratic Party Chair who declared the votes would not be included in the race, nullifying their importance. It was a lose, lose move and should not have been. Anyway, starting a Presidential campaign so early created a monster and was incredibly disingenuous. To much surprise, Barack Obama won the Iowa caucus and then Hillary came back and won New Hampshire (the legitimate forever first primary) with Florida and Michigan ignored. The two top candidates fought it out with Mr. Bill getting in the fray and making it ugly. His Presidency could have been considered one our greatest but (it’s best made humorous with the joke about daughter Chelsea coming home for Xmas after her first college semester at Stanford. Hillary, in a mother and daughter talk, asks Chelsea if she’s had sex yet. “No” answers Chelsea. “Are you sure dear”? Again, Chelsea claims innocence. Then Hillary asks again very demandingly, “Are you sure you haven’t had sex yet?”. “Not according to Dad!”. ) And away we go! Actually, Hillary took the high dignified road and stuck it out to do whatBobby Kennedy did in 1964. She set up residence in New York and won them over. Then bided her time as a freshwoman in the Old Boys Club (there are now 16 women serving in the U.S. Senate) and earned respect on both sides of the aisle. She repeated her New York win in 2006 which created higher expectations for her to run for President in ’08, which she did. She did not anticipate the charisma and charm and ideology of Barack to make this race close and edge her out. I truly believe Bill took it worse than she. Again, her dignity shown with her presence at the Convention with interrupting the vote to ask the Chair to suspend the rules and ask for unanimous consent for Barack and pledged Clinton true support to elect him as the 44th President. I say, “Good show!”.John McCain ran for President first in 2000, defeating George Bush in New Hampshire. The Bush handlers retreated and in preparation for the upcoming South Carolina primary, brought out the mud and re-tooled Bush#43 (please refer to 411 on 911). I can’t put my finger on it, but Maverick John McCain has shifted from moderate to do boy for BUSH #43. He has picked up the Obama mantra of real Change, but his position indicates four more years of despair. He needed some star quality so right before the Republican Convention he selected an unknown 2nd year Alaskan Governor named Sarah Palin. She has a seventeen year old unwed pregnant daughter, was mayor of a small town, has tried to get her ex-brother-law State Trooper fired on family feud, fired the man in charge who refused to do this bidding and threatened the local Librarian with removal if she had unacceptable books (none to name) in stock. She is good looking though empty headed or-3-lost in inner space. She even believes in Creationism. Wait’ll she starts getting briefed on the 12/21/12 probability! Or reads about documented ancient Sumeria and their alien friends! McCain is a true national hero for being shot down over Vietnam and spending 5 ½ years in tortuous captivity in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Though his Admiral father was Commander of Pacific forces during this brutal time, John refused to be released before others who were captured before him. Very reputable. What is not is he never read enough to understand that the “Domino theory” was a paper tiger and the Vietnam War was to re-establish the French connection to the opium market, courtesy of the CIA/mob alliance, was the real stake in South East Asia. Read people! Who knew? Same as Afghanistan is now. Again, read 411. The almighty poppy for diverse crowd control. Do you know how many GI’s returned home from Vietnam as junkies? Too many.Just when I think I’m ready to move on to compare this twisted entirely unprecedented campaign with what has evolved over the years, the Republicans bring out a woman star to front for Mac and put Obama off message. With all her baggage and unvetted, she has singularly switched off all major issues and made this race about a pig with lipstick in the White House, something Mac had alluded about Hillary. Who knew how fickle the public can be? Remember war, outsourcing, Wall Street created inflated mortgage foreclosures and, and…and?! I’ve got to compare this with 1964 and 1968 starting with JFK being offed and no Constitutional Amendment to replace LBJ’s VP. He had to wait until the Democratic Convention to nominate as VP Hubert ( “I was one of those once myself!”) Humphrey and then defeated Republican Barry Goldwater. AuH2O was a decent moderate Senator from Arizona (Mac succeeded his retired seat) but got slammed by LBJ making the US voters believe he would be trigger happy with our Nuclear arsenal. LBJ was slick. Early on in his career, in a key race to gain the US Senator from Texas, he faced a tough incumbent. The story goes that being told the polls had him behind, he instructed his aids to put out a story that the opponent was gay (homo back in the day). They replied everyone knew the man was a womanizer. LBJ said, “…hell, I don’t care, just make him DENY IT!”. And here we are.To divert America’s attention to the Warren Commission inadequacies, LBJ with his forceful influence pushed through Congress, Civil Rights Legislation affording the disenfranchised opportunity and racist policies to be eroded. There was much blood shed and violence during the Civil Rights Movement which came to National attention when a courageous and graceful Montgomery Alabama African American lady (the southern term was”uppity nigger”) refused to give up her seat at the back of the bus to a white man. ROSA PARKS went to jail and the situation created a bus boycott by the black majority of riders for nearly a year. One MARY LOUISE PARKER had committed similar action which in 1946 resulted in a favorable Supreme Court Decision, not to be honored. Parks action inspired a young black preacher named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to become an activist/pacifist ala Mahatma Ghandi. Rosa was Secretary of the Montgomery NAACP at the time and they prevailed in 1956. Ms. Parks notoriety in Montgomery created an environment of white resentment so she moved to Detroit where again she made a mark by talking John Conyers into running for the US Congress and winning in 1966. He promptly hired her has been one of the most successful, influential and respected members in the House. I had the distinct privilege of meeting him with Harold Weisberg in 1975to seek a room for a press conference which he produced.-4-Dr. King went on to become the leader of Civil Rights working through our system of Government being jailed, beating and delivering a most eloquent speech on August 28th 1963 saying, “ I HAVE A DREAM”. In 1965 Muhamed Ali the World Boxing Champ had changed his “slave name (Cassius Clay) and become a Black Muslim. He refused to enter the draft under religious convictions (MORMONS had no problems as such) and was arrested convicted, stripped of his title and finally was vindicated by the United States Supreme Court. He went on with bodacious grace to become a legitimate symbol of our system of freedom and checks and balances. Dr. King picked up on the concept that black people were bearing the brunt of being drafted to fight our dirty little war in S.E. Asia. He began in late 1967 to organize a boycott of African Americans to this draft. All the time he fought for Civil Rights he never was hurt. Only when his projected successful effort to foment disruption to another inequity was he assassinated on April 4th, 1968. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Much happened before and after, to make1968 one our most sad and shameful years as a nation.In 1967 enough of our boys had come back from ”Nam” to know what I’ve expressed to be true along with those college educated, whom in a heart beat would not hesitate to fight and sacrifice their last full measure to keep our country secure for the correct cause. On November 30th 1967, a Senator from Minnesota named Eugene McCarthy announced his candidacy for United States President on a one platform issue. Stop the WAR! Hundreds of thousands of kids and Vets went “clean for Gene” meaning they cut their hair and cleaned up, dropping protest and to try to make the system work. In the New Hampshire on March 12, 1968 (gee, how’d we get to January with Florida and Michigan and beginning the campaign a year previous to them???) Gene took 42% of the vote vs. LBJ’s 49%. This was a stunning upset clearly demonstrating the measure of how much America had become disillusioned to the war and the nightly news body counts. At the time, Super Tuesday(s) were just a glimmer in Uncle Sam’s fly, er eye. This vote encouraged Senator Robert F. Kennedy to join the campaign on March 16 saying his entry could no longer be construed as a personal vendetta toward LBJ. On March 31st, President Johnson gave a national TV speech about Vietnam and an effort to begin peace talks. Knowing he could not win a Campaign, he shocked us ending on a personal note, saying he would not seek nor accept the nomination from his party (Dem.) for President. LBJ’s legacy of a man older than his years, would become Vietnam rather than his accomplishment in Civil Rights Legislation. What will Bush’ 43’s be???Robert Kennedy’s persona transformed from tough Attorney General to caring candidate who quickly won the hearts of many with his on point compassionate eloquence. The1964 Democratic Convention may have been the epiphany as he tried to speak after a film about his brother, JFK, was shown. Bobby had to stand at the podium to a 20 minute standing ovation without a dry eye to be seen. A record of acknowledgement I believe. In ’68, he had won this naïve nostalgic 19 year old over. I was driving to work at the Post Office as a mailman at 5:30 on the morning of June 6th when I could find no music, only talk about how incredible that another Kennedy could be shot. I had to pull over and hang my head. Bobby died later that day after having won the California primary and several others the night before and had the Democratic Nomination for President all but locked. Wasn’t it just two months before when Dr. King was gunned down in Memphis which caused riots in some 60 American cities that night and the next day. But not in-5-Indianapolis, where RFK pleaded with the residents to stay clam and honor Dr. King’s memory as a preacher of non-violence. One man. One city. PEACE prevailed. Nuff said, save their murders were plotted and then covered up with “patsies” so the dedicated wrong could forward their agendas. Read People! Question everything! Oh Lord, where is your terrible swift sword with the grapes of wrath.The 1968 Democratic Convention was held in Chicago Illinois in the last week of August. By then the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and most other anti-war protest had galvanized into seeing some 10,000 gather in Chicago to peacefully protest the war (protest is Americans’ last effort for of Petition of a Redress of Grievances through our Rights of Freedom of Assembly and Speech). The infamous Chicago Mayor, Richard Daly and the FBI had pre-decided to have some 23,000 police and National Guard on duty to “protect” the citizenry. The protestors had been infiltrated just as the Memphis gang, the Invaders, to foment violent actions to provoke the authorities and undermine the peaceful protest. This resulted in the clubbing, beating and tear gassing the mass who had gathered at Grant Park for speeches and camaraderie. Tom Hayden, a student co-ordinator got the word out to disperse the crowd throughout the business district and let the mainstream see the carnage and smell the tear gas. It backfired on Daly, with many innocents, to include the media, becoming targets and tear gas even wafted into the Convention Hall while outside police had black tape over their badges and chanted “KILL, KILL, KILL”. Television brought all of this into every home in the country. My Aunt June was a delegate fro Gary Indiana, just down the road and stayed in a hotel across from Grant Park. She gave a first hand rendition of the above and how gruesome, bizarre and flagrant this attack was. Mayor Daly had a front row seat in the Convention Hall to orchestrate everything. When Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff came to the podium to nominate Senator George McGovern for President, he used the occasion to relate to the Delegates the situation outside. Mayor Daly can be seen yelling at him, “F… you, you Jew Son of a Bitch, you lousy M….F….go home!” Several cameras caught close ups of this and there was a consensus of lip readers it was verbatim.LBJ and Mayor Daly made sure the peace plank, a litmus test for the nomination vote, was defeated by some 500 votes thus insuring Hubert Horatio Humphrey would be the Democratic Candidate to run against Richard Nixon. Remember Nixon lost to Kennedy invariably by Dad Joe’s influence with Chicago’s (Illinois) Daly grave yard vote with a little help from the mob. Joe Kennedy’s initial fortune was made by surreptitiously supplying the mob imported hooch early in Prohibition (an incredibly stupid Amendment giving the mob their financial stronghold in America, which was repealed in 1933). Nixon went on to run for Governor of California in 1962 and lose. It was then he made his infamous statement that, “You won’t have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore!”. Basically it should have been Tricky Dick’s swan song ending his political career, but Noooo. As Nixon said, “The mark of man is not how many times you’re knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up”. In 1968, the Republicans resurrected team player Richard Milhouse Nixon to carry on the dedicated wrong’s agenda of Vietnam. In October with the polls showing a virtual tie, Nixon had emissaries secretly negotiating with the North Vietnamese about winding down the war with concessions. This of course was illegal and Humphrey was allegedly informed of it, but was reluctant to act. This waswhen Nixon proclaimed he “had a secret plan to end the war”! With this hubris, he won-6-in November and the Enemies list and dirty tricks/plumbers and Watergate were spawned. In 1972, George Wallace ( an original southern segregationist who lost the race for Governor in Alabama in 1958 saying he got “out niggered by his opponent and it would never happen again!”) would become his biggest threat for re-election.I personally don’t believe George Wallace was the racist he tried to portray himself for political expediency. He changed his position for the 1972 Presidential by denying his segregation stance to being anti-busing. He started using “code” words to pursue his ambitions. Living in the Washington D.C. area, one is more than likely to have a brush with history, particularly when one is politically inclined. As a Vet, working as a mailman and doing night school at JC, I shared an apartment in College Park with my lifelong friend, Bobby. He and his father were supportive of the “States Rights” platform which George Wallace was running on and campaigning for, in the May Maryland primary. On a day off, Bobby and I went over to Landover Mall to see him speak. It was an impromptu setting, stage and podium with several thousand people in attendance. Wallace was formidable in his run with a 42% win in Florida over McGovern, Humphrey and nine other candidates winning every county! He was becoming a possible spoiler in Nixon’s re-election bid. Since the’68 debacle, all significant candidates were receiving Secret Service protection. While the crowd pressed Bobby and I closer and tighter toward the podium a strange looking dude with dark sunglasses, Wallace buttons and an eerie smile, turned around and looked at us. Bobby and I shared a synchronistic silent exchange with each other as only old friends can. When Wallace finished his usual speech, we (the crowd) expected him to exit stage right and we all pushed that way to try and shake hands, including the strange dude. Instead, he went with the Secret Service in a circuitous route to his motorcade. The next day, May 15th, a 21 year old nobody, with no apparent source of financing, who had been stalking Wallace for weeks, shot the Governor (5?) times at a Laurel shopping center appearance. When we saw the news, with the usual incredibly quick background data bias, we recognized the face and called each other until one phone was open. Could it be? Damn straight! Why not the day before when he and I could have stopped it, or mitigated to the degree possible? Not that I was a Wallace fan, just I advocate a ballots not bullets elective process. Funny life. Bremer received a 53 year sentence and was paroled last November(’07).Chronologically speaking is not a requirement to understand most elections are not decided over issues but by popularity contests where Miss Congeniality is vote tampering. Just as such we live in a representative Democracy, not a participatory one, where the people are truly involved in decisions which ultimately fashion their society and fate. We abdicated that privilege and have been manipulated since. What is real and what is fraudulent is so intertwined that when you hear incredible fiction you lend belief and when one speaks logic and fact about our national atrocities ignore, yet you know the impossible, one accepts the apologist hooey. The disturbing events of the sixties decimated if not destroyed Americans from any faith they so fervently held in what we were taught in school, patriotically fought and died for and tried to hold on to some last shred, which Watergate washed away. In our hearts, we all knew something was terribly wrong, particularly when we looked through the eyes of those few who obliviously held blindly firm to incomprehensible and unquestioned dedication to the BIG LIE. I have always questioned their intelligence or their motivation. OR BOTH. They alone have-7-perpetuated the untruth and thus the wrong history and present we now face. Because of this we are so disillusioned with the real American Dream, we have all but given up hope.I must interject that Sarah (barracuda/pit bull with lipstick etc…) is not the first person to come out of nowhere and be nominated as the Veep candidate, just the most obvious one lacking in any real knowledge or experience. She can sling the mud well with Barack having a terrorist friend, claiming to read all sorts of books and periodicals yet not being able to name even one and the defining significance is illustrated in the lack of confidence McCain and company have in her by her not allowing her even one press conference since nomination as opposed to her opposite, Senator Joe Biden giving some 89, to include the Sunday Morning Talk shows like MEET THE PRESS and so on. Sarah could be one heartbeat away (God Bless Him) from being our Chief Executive. Harry Truman had been a shoe sales man one day and the next, FDR’s running mate in 1944, succeeding him in April 1945 and changing the whole post war outlook, to include the only person to ok the use of an atomic bomb(s). No, no thought of a Constitutional provision to have a V.P. inserted as I have succinctly pointed out in previous articles. It took Richard Nixon just six years (’46 to ’52) to gain inclusion on Eisenhower’s ticket as his running mate. Nixon’s compelling initial use of national television in his now infamous “CHECKER’S “ speech diverted attention from a scandal in order to retain his place on the ticket. In 1968, Richard Nixon picked a little known Maryland Governor named Spiro T. Agnew to be his V.P. In 1962 Agnew was elected County Commissioner of Baltimore Maryland and then Governor in ’66 so within a year and half he was plucked by Tricky Dick to be his point man. It turns out Agnew was incredibly corrupt, something not lost on Nixon’s inside intelligence connection and could/would be used to out him as a diversion should it become necessary. Agnew created quite a stir reading Nixon speech writers’ (William Safire and Pat Buchannan to name several) controversial pulp to stir up the “Silent Majority” with phrases like, “Nattering nabobs of negativism” etc…. Not quite the venomous level which Palin is at or how bad it’s going to get. The sixties carried over to May of 1970 when the U.S. found out about Nixon ordering troops into Cambodia eliminating Vietcong strongholds and student protests escalated. The National Guard was called out in Ohio and Mississippi as their Governors claimed “State of Emergency”. The result was four students shot to death at Kent State University and many wounded. A lesser publicized event at Jackson State U. in Ole’ Miss had 7 students slain and more wounded, probably because Jackson State was mostly black. No action was taken even though overwhelming evidence showed no need for use of deadly force. Since the American Revolution, contingency plans have been in place to quell rebellion and revolution as such. In 1878 the POSSE COMITATUS ACT was passed to prevent our Armed Forces from being used as Police or Law Enforcement purposes, per se. This excluded the Coast Guard. In 1968, for Civil Defense Planning, a long time Army contingency code named Operation Garden Plot became legal via Department of Defense Plan 55-2. It stemmed from the civil unrest, both anti-war events and inner city rioting, although it was not made public until, as I understand, 1984 under Freedom of Information requests. Both this plan and Posse Comitatus were majorly abridged after nine-one-one by the Homeland Security Act and in the Senator John Warner National Defense Authorization Act in 2006 (H.R.5122). It was repealed in 2008 under H.R. 4986 Section 1068. President Bush signed the Bill saying, “ …the Executive Branch did not-8-feel bound by the changes enacted in the Legislation…”. I hope one can begin to see how the past is actively present in shaping our world. To wit: When I began this article in August 2008, our Stock Market was hovering around 13,500 and has been on a downward spiral to this day, October 9, at about 8,500. But there are many dots to connect with popular (not common) knowledge in why we are in this terrible situation.One can start with whose watch all of this transpired on and go down the ladder from there. There has got to be open accountability, but for now back to the precursors.On June 17th 1972 amid the non-campaign of the most honorable man in the Senate, George McGovern, a night watchman at one of the two new high rise condominiums next to the Potomac River at the end of what Washingtonians have forever referred to as Foggy Bottom, named the WATERGATE Complex, discovered a “third rate burglary” in progress. What made this burglary so auspicious was it was five men ransacking THE Democratic National Headquarters! Two city beat reporters at the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein covered the arraignment the next morning and sensed a much bigger picture. In short, on September 15th, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy along with these five were indicted on charges of conspiracy, burglary and Federal wiretapping laws. The following January all were convicted and given maximum sentences by the “Hanging Judge” the Honorable John J. Sirica. One or more decided not to take the fall for higher ups and turned state for reduced time. In a short time, with help from an anonymous source code named “DEEP THROAT”, the Post reporters, under the byline, WOODSTEIN, exposed an extensive cover up attempt leading to President Nixon himself. As the scandal unraveled, it was learned all of these men were CIA connected and some had even participated in the ill fated Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in JFK’s (E. Howard Hunt had allegedly been the point man on the beach leading a rag tag group of Cuban exiles seeking to displace Fidel Castro and give the Mafia back their little off shore play ground) 3rd month in office. For the record, Kennedy was given less than accurate intelligence and at the last minute saw the real plan Nixon had surreptitiously developed, which included recognizing the invasion as a legitimate government and giving them U.S. air support for success. He wisely decided to avoid such an avenue and the mission failed, pissing off the whole exile community (which would grow by the thousands with “Mariel Boat Lift” in 1980 when Castro emptied his prisons and undesirables dumping them on Florida, with the concurrence of then Governor Bob Graham, but that’s a whole other story). JFK on national T.V. took responsibility of this “failure” and his truthfulness gave his administration an unexpected boost in popularity. The Senate, in 1973 began special hearings under the leadership of North Carolina Senator, Sam Ervin a self described “…ole country lawyer…” and began a bipartisan aggressive investigation which eventually led to Articles of Impeachment being drawn up on President Nixon who had been named as an “unindicted co-conspirator. On April 30, 1973, Nixon’s two top aides, H.R. Haldeman and nicknamed the “Berlin Wall” for the way they shielded Nixon, resigned and later endured prison for their roles. During the committee’s tenure, a White House aide, named Alexander Butterfield revealed Nixon had initially installed a secret voice activated taping system and thus they requested all pertinent tapes. Nixon refused citing Executive privilege, but finally turned over a large number of transcriptions of them, one having an inexplicable 18 ½ minute gap. These tapes revealed a dark sinister presidency, and served to substantiate Nixon’s White-9-House lawyer, John Dean, who had given damning and believable testimony to the Committee concerning numerous criminal activity amongst most of Nixon’s staff, save Henry Kissinger, his one time National Security Advisor, turned Secretary of State. Kissinger’s historical connections go back to the early 1950’s as a protégé of Nelson Rockefeller and various study groups ( read plot planning) and was instrumental in having Nixon opening relations with Communist China. He also spurred Nixon on in Vietnamese War strategy to include the massive 1972 Christmas bombing of Hanoi to entice them to return to the Paris peace negotiations. It must be noted of the outrage in America upon learning our POW’s had endured horrible torture over their years of captivity, yet 30 years later the Bush Administration has no problem condoning torture, including former POW Senator and GOP candidate for U.S. President John McCain, a hero in his own right. Nixon’s real agenda has never been revealed fully, but it was full of nefarious acts of political sabotage, enemies lists, subversive and illegal (read criminal) acts and God knows what else. Whatever it was, Nixon was undermined, even with sacrificing Agnew in the fall of 1973 to Maryland law and resignation did nothing to stymie his obviously necessary removal. Maryland had acquired another Governor named Marvin Mandel who incurred his legal political downfall which led to a bumper sticker which I displayed on my bedroom door reading, “MARYLAND HAS THE BEST POLITICIANS MONEY CAN BUY!” True but not just there. Political corruption is nothing new in America. It’s like apple pie, just don’t cross the wrong crony. Under the 25th Amendment, Gerald Ford was appointed Vice president. This twisted story results with Nixon trying to have several Attorney Generals fire the Special Prosecutor, one Archibald Cox, called the Saturday Night Massacre, to prevent turning over the actual tapes of Watergate related data. This issue went before the Supreme Court which found Executive Privilege did not extend. When the Prosecutor’s Office and Congress reviewed the tapes, it found the “smoking gun” with Nixon discussing on June 23 1972, hush money for the Watergate burglars in a cover up attempt. It might be noted as spurious that throughout the tapes when Nixon referred to that “Cuban thing”, he was also including the JFK murder. Read what you will. A Congressional delegation led by Senator Barry Goldwater visited the White House on August 7th and informed Nixon he had lost his political base in Congress and would be impeached and removed from Office if he did not resign. This event where the Chief Executive’s party takes issue with and opposes his/her policy or action has been labeled a “GOLDWATER Moment”. Nixon resigned on August 9th of 1974 and Gerald Ford (a member of the Warren Commission seven) took the oath of Office as the only President never elected to either V.P. or Chief Executive. He chose Nelson Rockefeller for his Vice president for succession of Office. Then on Sunday September 8th, 1974, Ford issued an unconditional Pardon to Richard M. Nixon. I sincerely believe team player Ford was holding up his end of a deal which got him the Veep seat. Whatever, as Ford announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, our long national nightmare is over!”, thus preventing any real indictment and trial of HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMANORS. Does this have any likeness to McCain saying he will change Washington (though he has been a part of it for 30 some years) meaning Bush’s policies have caused our own generational nightmare?It bears repeating, this appearance of making the system work as designed by our Founding Fathers created an elation amongst the population that we really could realize-10-the hope JFK had instilled in our generations. It gave us the feeling we would have pot de-criminalized even for medical purposes, the ERA Amendment (women’s rights) passed, the space program re-invigorated, gay rights progressed, civil rights and liberties advanced, affordable health care for all, no hungry children going to bed, universal education progress; to wit, see our country, America, become the real thing the world so desperately needed. Peace and prosperity for all. Profoundly Unfortunate, the view was illusory and has jaded our citizens, if not destroyed them and their sub-cultures which are the melting pot of American success. Heartbreak Hotel in my world.So much for a sketch of 1968 and its Watergate ending with the only President to resign from office in disgrace. In 1976, Ford was the incumbent choice on being the GOP standard bearer with the exception he replaced Rockefeller for Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, a WWll vet, for unknown reasons. Ford did survive unscathed, two assassination attempts by women, one an original of the Charlie Manson crew. The Democrats, sensing a real chance to win the White House had the usual primary suspects including Hubert Humphrey etc… and a Georgia Governor named Jimmy Carter who had been a peanut farmer. Also, the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, an enigma of zen meets Hollywood and politics who just happened to be dating LINDA RONDSTADT and whose father, Pat Brown had previously held the Governorship. The two were the front runners by May and again I found myself directly crossing paths with a Primary Candidate as Gov. Brown wanted to speak at the U. of Md. before the Maryland primary in May. Seems our Governor Marvin Mandel had differences with the Carter camp and was throwing the full weight of his political organization behind Brown. By this time, I had become recognizable on Campus for my relative success toward having Congress hold open hearings on the Warren Commission’s findings, what with my Congressional entry and the paper I drew up (credit goes to Harold Weisberg for this effort) labeled the SEVEN POINTS in which some 19 pages summarized the blatant discrepancies in the REPORT and the twenty-six(26) volumes of evidence, documents and testimony upon which it was allegedly based, with footnotes to almost every sentence. The Seven Points was already being used by professors at several Universities as a primer for a course on the Warren Commission I am proud to say. We had started a Student Organization on our campus with affiliates on numerous others, though not as active or enthusiastic. I was also a Legislator on the Student Government Association and when the SGA President came to me and asked me, in my role as Coordinator of the JFK SGA student group to sponsor Jerry Brown’s appearance in Ritchie Coliseum on campus, I was aghast. See, we could sponsor a political candidate’s appearance as a sanctioned SGA group because we were financially independent or something to that effect. After deliberation (to include my dear mentor, Harold) and not having an endorsement of any candidate, I acceded to Bruce’s (SGA Prez.) request under one condition. I ran the show. Of course Mandel’s bunch tried to take over the SGA office space and ramrod, but circumvented the cronyism as best I could. On the appointed day with a capacity crowd (Ritchie Coliseum was the original basketball field house right on Route 1, later to be succeeded by Cole Field House up on the campus hill, to be replaced in the ‘90’s by the Comcast Center. Cole opened in 1955 and had the fortune to sponsor the 1966 NCAA Final Four which had Kentucky’s storied all white program in then a major upset by Texas Western’s all black five starters now known as U. of Texas at El Paso) I was there to open Governor-11-Brown’s Limousine door, greet him and walk him in and through the crowd to the Podium. I suppose it was Ritchie Coliseum’s last hurrah. All I could think about during his twenty minute address was about all of these political hanger ons behind him elbowing for “B” reel camera time and all the hours I spent as a kid playing pick up basketball games on court. As I escorted him out through the crowd along with the Secret Service I could hear one voice above others yelling, “Look this way, Governor, look this way”. My only thought was not here, not in my back yard, not on my watch! My Adrenaline was blasting for a brief moment, but it was innocuous….When Brown got into the Limo he thanked me and I gave him a packet of documents on the responsible JFK work done. He promised to read it. I doubt if he ever did, because if he had and used it as a major platform issue, on the heels of Watergate, he could have had the White House in a landslide. But noooo, not even a thank you note and so it goes. It is what it is.Jimmy Carter had an aide named Hamilton Jordan who had been with him from his 1972 successful run for Georgia Governor. He came up with a bit of a bit unorthodox yet winning plan for Jimmy to win the Democratic Nomination and then the November Election. Jimmy was a likable progressive southerner and ran as a Washington outsider. The 1976 Election was President Ford’s to lose as he went to the last Presidential Convention not having a clear majority of delegates. For the first time since 1960, debates were held and in the second one, Ford committed an incredible lapse of reason when he pronounced that, “….there was no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a FORD Administration.” Further he stumbled with he, “….did not believe the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union(!)”. What WARSAW PACT? Either he had insight the public was not privy to or, or well you fill in the blank. Carter took all of the south and most of the N.E. as a moderate and with the early Christian right; except for Virginia which hasn’t voted Democratic since LBJ in ’64. Ford took all of the west but Minnesota and Wisconsin put Jimmy in. The Carter Presidency meant well and had the Camp David Peace Accords in 1978 with President Anwar El Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and he holed up in cabins at the Presidential retreat in northern most Maryland which IKE opened and named after his son, who, oh by the way is still happily married to Julie Nixon, God Bless’em! For 12 days Jimmy diplomatically went between these two leaders who had no great love for each other, but a strong desire for peace. The Accords were the frame work for the March 1979 Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel. I came to have a very high esteem for Mr. Sadat as visionary and individual. Unfortunately, for waging peace, not war, he was assassinated on October 6th 1981 in an Islamic Jihad coup by his own military, sitting next to his wife in a review of troops. Jimmy Carter also signed the Treaty returning the Panama Canal to Panama for 1999, a fairly unpopular move which inspired the slogan, “There is an American Canal in Panama!”. Jimmy had a man named ZBIGNEW BRZEZINSKI as his National Security Advisor and I can’t say this is where his advice was corrupted but for someone as connected and astute as ZB (read Henry Kissinger Jr.) he certainly received an inordinate amount of incorrect intelligence and disinformation which virtually sabotaged his efforts and made him a one term President. A brief synopsis of BZ’s (I just can’t spell this man’s name out each use with my hunt and peck plus corrections’ method of typing. Yes I can spell it sight unseen, little good that does!) BZ has an extensive record of being connected to many of the top players,-12-having a dual citizenship from his native Poland and America (1958). One might refer to him as a geo-political strategist. At Georgetown University in 1977 a think tank called the Center for Strategic International Studies which was formed to advance global security and political policy solutions. The group gradually became autonomous and is either under the radar or has melded with other organizations similar in purpose. ZB has been on its Board of Directors along with Henry Kissinger. In 1973, David Rockefeller and ZB and a few other major players formed the notorious Tri-Lateral Commission which is blamed by many as THE world group which is absurd because of its diverse membership, not withstanding it probably has multi levels of power and knowledge who do have influence in what I call the really secret cabal of decision makers, GROUP X.. Jimmy Carter became a member in 1975 and was taken by ZB’s alleged world views and probably his public version of curriculum vitae, to include being an advisor on JFK’s run for President in 1960 and his relationship with LBJ (particularly his contention of the Domino theory being realistic). Carter immediately appointed ZB to the position of National Security Advisor. This ultimately key position is directly responsible to the President to translate, corroborate, filter disinformation, reconcile reports from the various Intelligence Agencies (to include the National Security Agency, NSA other wise known as No Such Agency!) and deliver it as forthright and accurate to the Oval Office. This person must literally be of the most honest, trustworthy, patriotic and loyal (not to mention intelligent and incisive) character to maintain America’s safety and security on a daily basis while at once viewing such matters in long term consequences. During this era a gradual change in the Intelligence modus operandi shifted from human intelligence to technical means like aerial photography, advanced eavesdropping and modern technology still classified. But there is no substitute for human under cover infiltration with a deep background in the country’s language (dialects, colloquialisms, idioms etc…) customs, idiosyncrasies and ability to infiltrate the highest levels of power and communicate pertinent data back all the while your life is at risk 24-7 in so many ways. Supposedly, our government did not see the need for Mid Eastern Humint until nine-one-one. Farsi, Arabic, Persian, Kurdish and Hebrew etc…were not being taught in commensurate degree with the progression of events necessity. Neither was the recruitment of people indigenous to this region with a desire to help gain peace and stability. All the while the U.S. was becoming, with its blunders and shady black ops, the realistic target of the Khomeini initiated Western Jihad, which enabled religious clerics to become zealots and create the terror of the Osoma Bin Ladens, with our continued dependence on their oil financing this reality. Schools of thought vary from planned neglect to ineptitude. I hesitate to say it is orchestrated for the fear factor of control. I can say, without a doubt, Jimmy Carter’s Presidency was sabotaged. For an acute instance consider Carter’s mid-east tour in December of 1977 visiting the major players in an effort to get a consensus that peace could and should be established in the region. On New year’s Eve 1977 at a State Dinner with the Shah of Iran, in Tehran, Carter toasted the country as being, “…an island of stability in the region.”(!). Not considering, what I discussed in 411 on nine-one-one about the Shah’s iron fisted rule over his people with his deadly secret police, the SAVAK. As often substantiated, the Iranian people like Americans very much. It’s our government they despise. Carter did discuss (lecture?) with Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of the Peacock Throne the issue of human rights which conflicted the Shah on where he-13-stood with America. After all, he was installed by our CIA in 1953 to rule, after we deposed Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh in Operation AJAX, who had been named Prime Minister by a duly elected democratic parliament in 1951. For the life of me, I can’t comprehend the motives given in these black ops coups, when we have leaders who publicly seek U.S. support. The ensuing year lead to public accord on change and the Shah, alleged to have cancer, left the country with his family for Egypt on 1/16 1979. Shortly thereafter, the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran from his 1964 exile to Iraq and then Paris, France and created a puppet parliament for him to control and vulcanized the pent up mid east resentment of U.S. control and manipulation to include its behemoth support of Israel and the suppression of the Palestinian plight. On November 4th 1979, a group of religious zealots, with Khomeini’s approval, stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took the grounds and occupants hostage. This event was to last for 444 days being counted with each night the lead story on nightly news, only to end the day Ronald Wilson Reagan took office as President. A foot note to this action had the current puppet Prime Minister Mahmoud Amadinejad, being a leading participant in the hostage takeover. As P.M., he has publicly called for the State of Israel to be wiped off the map and Iran has been working on gaining nuclear potential for years. They may already have one, certainly the potential, which would change for the worse, the entire world stability (God forbid the damage to Israel and Palestine). .By this point, Jimmy had no idea who he could turn to for true information as a Washington outsider and being cornered I am sure he would like to see his learning curve have progressed quicker. JFK was one step from understanding what those with the real power had at stake. In my mind, he is the last President to walk the walk of his talk. My friend Harold used to say, “unless JFK murder’s official version is reversed, no President is safe to make an unpopular decision”. Clinton is the prime example. He and Hillary quickly learned the limits, particularly by the relentless offensive (read dirty) they faced from day one. I can’t help not interjecting events of the current race, ads and debates. JFK had numerous quotes so acutely appropriate and many spontaneous. In the last debate with McCain, Obama had an excellent chance to refer to JFK in answering a question about what either initially might do as Chief Executive. I was immediately praying he was schooled for just such an opportunity. Kennedy answered a similar impromptu inquiry as President with, “I would say the problems are more difficult than I imagined them to be. The responsibilities placed on the United States are greater than I imagined them to be. And there are greater limitations upon our ability to bring about a favorable result than I imagined them to be. But I think that’s probably true of anyone who becomes President.” Invoking such honest spontaneity would have been a walk off home run for Barack and resonated from sea to shining sea.Carter did ok a well rehearsed plan to extricate the 53 hostages from the Embassy in mid Tehran on or about April 14, 1980, but multi unanticipated failures forced us to abort. A successful rescue could have given Jimmy a second term but as Omar Khayam, the Persian poet wrote in his Rhubyat, “The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on. And all of your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line nor all your tears wash out a word of it”(!) The other feature which crippled this most honorable President wasPresident was Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D. Mass. deciding that he should finally make his long anticipated run for the money, Chappaquiddick not withstanding yet-14-another unexplained morass which nearly ended his political career on the same weekend the U.S. was realizing his brother JFK’s projection of landing a man on the moon. Coincidence? On one of the Nixon tapes, John Dean with Haldeman allegedly present, made a comment about, “wouldn’t Teddy be surprised if he knew about the bear trap he was walking into this weekend?”) Teddy’s ill timed run served only to undermine Carter more and he lost the nomination by over a thousand votes. I take nothing much else away from a man who has since his 1962 election been a Senate stalwart for all the right reasons and issues, however unpopular they may have become at any juncture. In the Republican Primaries, Reagan and George Bush were the front runners. Bush had an impressive resume as a Yale graduate (SKULL & BONES) including several terms as a U.S. Congressman, Ambassador to the U.N., Envoy to China and Director of the CIA. Reagan made s splash in a New Hampshire debate which he had funded (absent Bush) when the moderator tried to cut him off. Reagan a defining sound byte (I hate these new fangled terms!) by saying, “Mr. Green (Breen), I paid for that microphone!” Leave it on. Reagan picked Bush as his V.P. running mate and they won over Carter in a land slide with the Electoral College vote 489 to 49. That October, Bush and his emissaries met quietly with Iranians in Paris to arrange a quid pro quo. Remember, this nation was at war with the U.S. backed Iraq and our ally(?) Saddam Hussein. Who got what remains speculative, but consider this: on January 20th, 1980 immediately after Ronald Reagan’s swearing in, wheels were up in Tehran, Iran bringing the released 53 Embassy Hostages home on day 444 of their captivity. No questions or inquiry.In 1811, the Shawnee Indians of the Ohio Valley tried to unite all Native Americans against what their Chief Tecumseh’s brother, called “The Prophet” had for seen as the coming genocide. They battled against the U.S. Army in a battle called Tippecanoe labeled a draw. Tecumseh released prisoners with a message to Harrison to become TECUMSEH’S CURSE. He proclaimed Harrison would become the Great White Chief in a year ending in a 0 and thus every twenty years, the U.S. would suffer the continuing fate! In 1840, Harrison ran for President with the slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!” He gave his Inaugural Speech in a cold rain and died three months later. In 1860 Lincoln was elected and kept maintained our Union in the terrible war against brothers only to be assassinated in April of 1865. James Garfield elected in 1880 was killed on July 2, 1881. William McKinley was elected in 1900 and murdered on September 6, 1901 with Teddy Roosevelt succeeding him. Warren Harding elected in1920 died of food poisoning on August 2nd 1923. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and literally rallied our nation out of the Great Depression. He became so well liked by mainstream America he was encouraged to run for a third term. The precedent of limiting one to two terms was set by George Washington, the first President and Father of our country, with the Nation’s Capitol built and named after him. Not only under the Articles of Confederation did he refuse to be a monarch, but at the end of his second four year term (1796) as he was begged to run again, he said no one should serve more than two terms as Chief Executive because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This position had been honored until Roosevelt yielded to overwhelming feeling and ran a third term in1940 and again in 1944. He passed in April of 1945, having seen victory in Europe. Ina very short time, a Presidential Term Limits being the 22 Amendment was introduced by the Congress and ratified on February 22, 1951 1960 a young Irish Catholic named John-15-Kennedy won in a close race over Richard Nixon. Kennedy held Office for a thousand days and made a huge impression of nationalism and patriotism to a vast number of Americans. Unfortunately his progressive programs and idea of world peace were negated by a plot which assassinated him on an open street in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963. His successor, LBJ appointed a supposedly independent commission headed with our own Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren to find and make known the whole truth. Unfortunately, in making a terrible American tragedy worse, the Commission decided to hold a non-investigation and support the FBI finding of a single gunman, as they so went on record during their January 22nd 1964 Executive Session (posited in the Congressional Record of May 14, 1975 under the Extension of Remarks by Congresswoman Gladys Spellman (D.Md. 5th District) page 2442. It bears repeating we are all the worse for this whitewash. In 1980 another Irish American named Ronald Reagan was elected to face this feared feature, but the “Great Communicator” had indeed the luck of the Irish and when John Hinckley tried to kill him on March 30, 1981 coming out of the Hilton Hotel from addressing a meeting of the AFL-CIO, he and several other people were wounded. With true grit, Reagan minimized the seriousness of his wound by asking if his Doctors were all Republicans and told his wife Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck!” Now how can one, setting aside political differences, not like a man like that? He went on to survive colon cancer surgery and stand at the Berlin Wall to say with the world watching, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear this wall down!” He encouraged Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet premier to adopt perestroika and glasnost (restructuring and openness) in efforts toward peace and prosperity. A lot was kept from Reagan as he became known as the “Teflon President”. George Bush orchestrated many under the radar operations and it’s easy to see, he really was President for twelve years, 8 under Reagan and his own one term. It’s a subjective view on whether Tecumseh’s curse was a reality or a useful tool for changing administrations. In the world I’ve grown to know and understand, to the degree possible, there really are no accidents. But before I’m labeled a nut, let’s get back to documentation and have you connect the same dots.I’ve tried to emphasize Vietnam was about poppy control and distribution. Reference the book, THE POLICIES OF HEROIN IN SOUTH EAST ASIA by Alfred W. McCoy a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It provides substantial evidence of the CIA using their own airline, AIR AMERICA to smuggle opium to heroin producers in the U.S. The profits supplement the black ops budget Congress appropriates.I have already addressed the opium influence aspect of Afghanistan on the U.S. which we stole that trade away from the Taliban. In all fairness, I don’t for one minute believe the CIA, NSA, Homeland Security or the FBI are involved in massive plots or engaged in black ops or illegal activity such as we are reviewing here. I believe most people in the major law enforcement and intelligence communities are upstanding hard working loyal and patriotic Americans who do their job as mandated with true honor of our beloved Constitution. It is a small contingent of them who have rose to positions of trust and power and are swayed by Group X needs and rewards. And it is their underlings, desirous of attaining the same, who do their bidding, without question. They have joined the old boy networks with their predilected centuries old master agendas of how the world isto be manipulated. The engine providing the energy to accomplish their ends is FEAR. Keeping nations at ends and starving or gaining in the realm of prosperity, are Religious-16-theologies and preventing real communication by accentuating differences, seeding distrust and creating prefabricated inflammatory events/incidents. All lead to fear and thus instability and war. Fear is the killer and false enemies are flame the fire. When people sit down and talk they generally find they have more in common than divergence. To quote JFK once more; “We all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And, we are all mortal”. And I must add, we may have little time remaining to solve a dignified guarantee of survival of our civilization, as we know it.We have a policy called the MONROE DOCTRINE, which President James Monroe spoke of in his annual message to Congress (which in time became the STATE OF THE UNION speech given by the President each January}simply stating the upstart United States would no longer tolerate European colonization in the western hemisphere, North or South America. We have a varied history of invoking this dictum up to present day for any political expediency an Administration perceived. One view of this is well depicted in the 1958 novel THE UGLY AMERICAN, which portrayed the third world view of our arrogant austentacious pillaging of these countries’ resources under protection of puppet iron fisted dictators, rather than help bring them education, democracy and a fair share of the wealth. This reality manifested itself in the southern America’s more profoundly than anywhere and was the basis for the Cuban overthrow of its Dictator, Fulgencio Baptista led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Castro became a dictator in his own right announcing he was a Communist and thus the 13 days in October 1962 when we could have had nuclear war with Russia over their installing rockets which could reach Washington D.C. in 10 minutes! JFK and Russian Premier Nikita Kruschev somehow allowed common sense to prevail and the rationale for the first substantial Nuclear arms talks resulting in the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of October 10, 1963.A direct result of this revolution created hope in all of the Central and South American countries which were under American Imperialism. Che Guevera proceeded to foment opposition under the flag of communism in many of these “Banana Republics” and became a fatal target for our CIA with the interest of protecting our capitalistic investments. Ironically, this concept had been growing for years, particularly in Nicaragua where a man named Augusto Ceasar Sandino had similar ambitions back in the late 1920’s and early ‘30’s. He was influenced by a Mexican named Joaquin Trinidado who had a tremendous respect for the original native Central and South American peoples and an early uncanny appreciation for the spirituality of Light and Truth. This doctrine emanates from the Mayans and their predecessors, the Olmecs. Among their remarkable accomplishments, they produced the world’s most accurate Calendar thousands of years before any western civilization existed. Sandino was so successful, his elimination was a necessity, even though claims of his connection to the Russian Revolution and their COMINTERN ( a term of spreading communism abroad which had Wall Street and big business unduly scared sh..less) were untrue. His murder was committed by a General named Somoza whose family, with U.S. support, ruled Nicaragua until 1979, when a man named Daniel Ortega and several others gained rule under the Sandinista Liberation Front National (SLFN from exact Spanish translation).This effort had grown powerful because of such an immense popular support for genuine independence. Ortega was a communist, but not your garden variety crop. He did accept-17-support from Moscow, but I don’t believe he had any intentions of allowing the USSR to use their land as a base for a military position like Cuba had. But the powers that be could not allow such precedent of change or adjust to a more humanistic approach to our relations with our little empire. The old Somoza guard had re-united in small groups with our help to return their little fiefdom and became known as the Contras. Enter George Bush’s Oz like behind the curtain influence with help from a Lt. Colonel named Oliver North assigned to NSA ( remember No Such Agency?) and a plot to use very secretive alliance cooperation to fund the Contras. Like supply military equipment to Israel who in turn would sell it to “moderate IRANIANS” for use against Iraq and Afghanistan vs. the USSR war. The profits would go to supporting the Contras save some of the funds to buy Coca from the Columbian rebels to be transported by Air America and converted into crack for target in the inner cities beginning with Los Angeles! Talk of strange bed fellows accomplishing a range of agendas with one Operation!? This small sketch deserves more attention than I can allocate here, save it to read it was exposed in 1986 and President Reagan went on national TV and denied any knowledge or involvement (Teflon for real, but I don’t think Ronnie had exact knowledge of the whole) even though his Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger was convicted as were Ollie North and some 14 top players. In George Bush’s last days in Office after Slick Willie beat him in 1992, Bush #41 pardoned all the convicted, none of whom served much time do to Appeals etc…The book, DARK ALLIANCE: CIA, the CONTRAS AND THE CRACK COCAINE EXPLOSION by one Gay Webb details this with exacting documentation. Webb had been a reporter for the San Jose Mercury and for years detailed as it was revealed, the seamy Un-Constitutional dealings. I must interject Manuel Noriega who took over Panama from Omar Torrijos, had been a CIA Operative under Bush#41 from the early “70’s assisting in any wet work or operations required in black black ops. His reward was to steward Panama as the repository of Cocaine laundered profits in National Banks with an iron fist. Billions went through the Bahamas to accounts in Panama City (many were US owned for under radar global use). Noriega became so consumed by his own prosperity and having so much experience with the Bush Intel crowd and his own drug abuse, he felt bullet proof and could black mail his handlers to remain the Man. Going from asset to liability in the spook world, no matter who you think you are, can be an immediate and rude awakening, depending on political expediency. Operation JUST CAUSE directed by President George Bush did just that by sending our military in on 20 December 1989, to take out a “major drug dealer” ending with a tiff Federal Sentence of ninety (90) years for Noriega. The moral of this story? Don”t f… with ….! As for Nicaragua and Daniel Ortega who became a democratically elected President in 1985 until losing the next election in 1990, he was more fortunate by surviving assassination or brutal regime change probably due to the publicity generated by the Contra Scandal. Gary Webb whose journalistic series and book won him a Pulitzer Prize did not fair so well. The Washington Post (Watergate lead, New York Times, Pentagon Papers lead and the L.A. Times spent a multitude of articles denigrating Webb and refuting his documented work. A Post Ombudsman named Geneva Overholser groused that the ferocity of attack on Webb by these three national newspapers, “…showed more passion for sniffing outthe flaws in the Webb series than for probing the more important issues Webb had raised in U.S. Government relations with drug smuggling(!)”. Besides most of this information-18-having been divulged to the public in the Contra scandal, these papers 10 years later besmirched Webb’s documentation of labeling the Contras as the “CIA’s army”, an absurd objection since by all accounts, even from the now defunct Contra members, a CIA group had set up, supplied and orchestrated the whole movement. Worse, in 1985, Charles Rangle, D. N.Y. the Chairman of a sub committee on Narcotics submitted a finding from an initial probe of Contra funding, which urged Congress to pursue a larger inquiry into the plausibility of Government collusion in drug trafficking. The next day, The Washington Post (Ben Bradlee still at the helm) distorted this fact with an article head lined, “Hill Panel Finds No Evidence Linking Contras To Drug Smuggling”. Representative Rangle’s letter to the Editor taking issue with such irresponsible journalism was ignored without ink! Mockingbird is alive and well. Gary Webb is not, having been found dead of a coroner declared “suicide” on December 10th, 2004, from two gunshot wounds to the head! No note and by all accounts of friends, he was not even depressed, just concerned about retribution. One player in this odious design was “Freeway” Ricky Ross who Webb interviewed on numerous occasions. Ross was a small time player who with the help of government plants (read suppliers) a trusted acquaintance with the L.A. Gangs (Crips and Bloods) and an entrepreneurial spirit for the capitalistic American Dream, grew into the largest distributor of cocaine turned crack in Southern California. He was schooled by his handlers in low profile profit conversion into equities and real estate. He eventually went national and was estimated to be selling 2-3 million dollars a day, supposedly without the slightest hint of whom he was subsidizing with his operation. Somewhere in late 1989, he was busted and turned state to name his providers. With a light sentence he was back out by 1996, but was snagged again and with more cooperation is due out in 2010. The line was drawn on who would be named and indicted, thus damage control prevailed. In November 1996, then CIA Chief John Deutsch, visited a high school in South Central Los Angeles to speak to locals and deny any CIA involvement in drug trafficking, particularly the crack cocaine “Freeway Rick” conspiracy. He was met with overwhelming documented evidence from Rep. Maxine Waters, other officials and a former L.A. Narcotics Officer who witnessed the morass and had to resign under death threats for trying to do the right thing. Deutch gave a terribly self implicating denial of his knowledge and left the event resigning his position the next month. Just reflect for a moment on the immense deliberate damage done to inner city citizens and the havoc which was made possible from such blood profits around the world. And, no doubt, it continues to this day. I must ask, is this the kind of society you want to live in? Is this the way you desire to allow your/our government to behave? Do you understand the majority of the educated world has a better understanding of all I am relating, than you do?President Reagan was welled liked across the country and as an incumbent, appeared unbeatable for a second term in1984. Walter Mondale, former Vice President to Jimmy Carter was the front runner for the Dems and historically picked a woman to be his running mate. Rep Geraldine Ferraro from New York’s 9th District since 1978 was a good pick for a lost cause, at least to set a precedent. It wasn’t until this year we almost realized a woman, Senator Hillary Clinton, also from New York, to lead the ticket andbecome the first female President. The Republicans, desperate for an equalizing boost to help 71 year old John McCain, also nominated a woman, the Governor of Alaska, in a-19-surprise move. He picked Sarah Palin, a virtual unknown who has given the appearance of having political savvy but very little, if any, grasp of the crucial issues confronting our country in the worst times this writer has ever witnessed. Mondale lost to Reagan in the biggest landslide ever with 525 Electoral College votes to the former Senator’s home state of Minnesota (13). In the mid term elections, with the Contra Scandal looming large, Democrats regained control of the Senate 55 to 45, a very significant fact since they now had control of both chambers (255 to 177) and could leverage Reagan when necessary. The 1988 race was shaping up with Senator Gary Hart, D. Colorado as the plausible choice, that is until May 1987 enticing pictures showed up of Donna Rice sitting on his lap on a yacht named (of all things) MONKEY BUSINESS! It reminds me of Desi Arnaz sayin, “Luuucy, you’ve got splaining to do!” Obviously this event killed his campaign, leaving it to The Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, who chose the Honrorable Senator Lloyd Bentsen from Texas to run with him. There are several remarkable events from this campaign to relate as Bush was considered nearly an incumbent. First, Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush (BUSH#41) chose Indiana Senator Dan Quayle for V.P. Quayle had already committed a severe faux pas when he visited an elementary school and participated in class only to misspell potato with an ”e” on the end. To Quayle’s credit, Sarah Palin makes him appear credible and astute. In the only Vice Presidential debate Quayle had invoked a reference to JFK which infuriated Bentsen who gave the famous response, “Senator I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you certainly are no Jack Kennedy!” It still resonates in various versions. The other determining factor is the Willie Horton fiasco. It seems Massachusetts had a furlough program for incarcerated felons. That’s right, allowing those with good behavior the liberty of leaving the state joint for a weekend. The Legislature passed a measure in the mid seventies eliminating first degree murderers from such a lenient and generous (and I add irresponsible) luxury. For some crazy reason, Governor Dukakis vetoed the measure. Having had my own unfortunate acquaintance with the Maryland and Florida Criminal Justice System, much reform is needed to decimate recidivism to include programs and incentives. Maybe conjugal visits should be rethought but furloughs for only the least violent offenses under strict conditions, is anywhere near reasonable. In On June 6, 1986 Willie Horton a convicted murderer from 1972, serving a life sentence was given a weekend furlough. (one wonders what Vegas odds would have him returning?). He turned up in Oxon Hill Maryland (Prince Georges County) on April 3rd 1987 to rape a house wife twice and beat and bind her husband and steal their car. He was eventually apprehended and given two consecutive life sentences by Judge Vincent J. Femia who stated extradition back to Massachusetts was out of the question because he might receive another furlough. Incredible, I say. What could the Mass. State Legislature be thinking? The Republicans naturally turned this incident into a muddy commercial with a fence and revolving gate allowing uniformed prisoners to swing out, all either black or Hispanics. Interpret as you will. Dukakis did not help himself with a commercial posing in military gear driving a tank. Whomever ( I don’t want to know) was running (ruining) his campaign, I have to question his/her intelligence or motivation. Or both. Obviously, Bush won in a landslide.In 1989, George Hebert Walker Bush inherited a changing world with the end of Iran and Iraq war (which we gave immense support and intelligence to Iraq in an unsuccessful-20-attempt to regain our previous domination), the withdrawal of the USSR’s dreadful decision to think it could occupy Afghanistan which has never succumbed to domination in known history and most important, the anticipated falling apart of Russia’s “Iron Curtain” in Eastern Europe, orchestrated in part by a Polish Pope and an economic drain from years of a military budget to fight the Cold War rather than concentrating on internal growth. A major geo-political policy, as yet unrealized by the Bush alliance was to reacquire a stronghold (read military presence for oil and influence) in the Mid-East. He had Brent Scowcroft as his National Security Advisor ( a devout Henry Kissinger protégé) and an Ambassador to Iraq named April Glaspie. If you view a 1989 map of Iraq, considering its economic loss from the Iran conflict, it has only a small area for access to the Persian Gulf of some 18 (?) miles and borders to the south, oil rich Kuwait, a small country (6,880 square miles) having the world’s fifth largest proven oil reserves and some 100 miles of gulf coastline for exporting it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure Saddam Hussein’s desire to have such a fruitful acquisition, of course with the tacit approval of the US, who oh by the way, has maintained his military as the Gulf region’s most formidable. By June 1990, Saddam had massed his loyal elite 30,000 strong Republican Guard along the Kuwait border, with another 70,000 troops in striking distance. On July 25, 1990 the US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie has a sit down with Saddam in Baghdad. There are several versions to what she communicated to him, but it had to have been favorable to the taking of Kuwait because can logic infer he would commit himself to the devastation by a US response? Flip the nod and you get a world wide grievance to reversing such belligerence. With a US backed international coalition, we are able to place a multitude of foreign (read “infidel”) troops in Saudi Arabia for staging a counter assault to return Kuwait’s territorial integrity. Seven days after Glaspie’s visit, Iraq takes Kuwait in a mere 12 hours. President Bush patiently sets up an international diplomatic military coalition named Operation Desert Shield with some 34 countries partnering and staging it in Saudi Arabia for their protection (?) and to counter attack at our convenience. The US could have militarily intervened immediately, but the price in lives would have been significant. He has the first black General as Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff named Colin Powell as well as general Arnold Schwarzkopf as Supreme Commander. After settling in with all his assets for battle and much diplomatic wrangling for show, we cunningly strike back against Saddam with the air battle commencing on January 17, 1991 which ultimately led the fleeing of Iraq’s Air Force, not to Jordan where we anticipated, but get this, to Iran! Who knew, literally? On February 28, 1991 we began the ground assault with a flank move inland behind Saddam’s troops for a rout. Two things standout in my mind about the aftermath (as in do the math?!) One is President Bush gave his word to the Kurds in northern Iraq to rebel and repulse Saddam’s occupation (read my previous work or do your own to understand the Kurds are self indigenous) but when they stuck their necks out for freedom, they were chopped off with nerve gas and genocide. Where was the US support promised? How desolate can one become? Second, the troops after witnessing the horror of Kuwait from Saddam’s army were ready to move on to Baghdad and get rid of him once and for all but nooooo, Poppy Bush stopped and developed a no fly zone for the absent Iraqi air force.Poppy seems an appropo term for the nefarious running involvement with an assortment of various unexplainable operations. Bush said at the time the Coalition’s mission was-21-completed. He later wrote and continually states “there was no exit strategy” to disengage our troops leaving a stable government. This is years before the ex-patriot Saudis created a terrorist network using left over weaponry and knowledge accumulated from us helping Afghanistan beat back the Soviets. This is where the zealot mullah’s influenced Muslim warriors created a real jihadist Shi’a based state to spread world wide terrorism. The fatahs and anti-western scorn blossomed unaddressed by the US despite horrific incidents created by the likes of Osama Bin laden and his cohorts making the jihad seem strong and romantic. Once again, the United States had a paper tiger enemy whom we set up (inadvertently?) and let loose. In Michael Moore’s flick FAHRENHEIT 911, he clearly shows the Bush and House of Saud cozy connection over 40 years. While filming standing across the street in front of the impeccably grandiose Saudi Embassy, he was accosted by the Secret Service on why he was there. The Secret Service, a branch of the U.S. Treasury has as its major task, protection of the President. As in not waving off men trotting along side the President’s Limo for protection, in the unanticipated turn into Dealy Plaza, to allow an unimpeded aim for the ambush of JFK. Watch the film, it shows implicit conspiracy. How sad. But back to the future, why are they covering the Saudi Embassy? Moore asked them and the response was no comment! Who’s on first?Obviously, Bush #41 felt real comfortable as a War winning incumbent in 1992 for re-election. He just overlooked a young Rhodes Scholar Governor from Hot Springs Arkansas potential as a relentless, educated and commensurate politician who could spin with the best! Clinton had been at age 28, the youngest Governor of Arkansas in January 1979. Arkansas has two year term limits for governor, but no prohibition on the number of terms one can be re-elected. He lost in 1981, but regained the position in 1983 and maintained it until he had won the Presidency in November 1992. He had earned the name of the “Comeback Kid” and was still relatively a national unknown in January 1992. This earned him the term of “Darkhorse” which originally applied to a long shot in Thoroughbred Horse Racing until James K. Polk became a compromise Presidential Candidate on the Convention’s 8th ballot in May 1844. From the early 1800’s to late in the century, both conventions were usually held in Baltimore or Philadelphia while the west was being conquered and developed (meaning getting rid of that dirty little redskin problem). There is no Constitutional provision for party nomination, conventions or the Electoral College. The original measure of how much suffrage a state could use in Presidential Elections was based upon population which determined how many voting districts were used for representation in the House (remember the upper chamber is allotted two (2) Senators per state) came from Article ll, Section 1, Clause 2 which reads each state shall appoint by the legislature the number of electors equal to the (number of delegates) House of Representatives which the State is entitled to, in Congress. §ll Clause 4 reads Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and the day upon which they shall give their votes, being the same across the US. This of course gives ground for a President to win a minority of the popular vote, yet win the National Election by holding a majority of electoral votes, which has happened just three (3) times to include the 2,000 when Bush stole the election fair and square, in his Governor brother’s home state of Florida. This is paraphrased without loss of exactness (hopefully). Until the late 1940’s, Congressional Representatives were usually the delegates or picked a stand in, as Party Bosses in smoke filled backrooms dickered and bargained on who-22-should represent their party. Gradually the large middle class demanded a more of a fair share in the candidate decision and made the primary or caucus more influentially inclusive with a state wide vote. This vote was often binding, at least on the first convention ballot, then the old school method would creep into play. The art of the Deal is still alive and well, although under the radar, in our current system. I believe the 1924 Democratic Convention holds the record for most ballots with 103.I know I’ve digressed several times in this article and it does carry much information to digest, but I fret on what I’ve had to leave out to try and publish it long enough before the voting, to give people a chance to consider the bigger picture. I have had a certain capacity for synchronicity from an early age to wit, in December 1959 I was riding with my father’s mother and her second husband with whom raised me. We were in North West Washington D. C. on KENNEDY St. when the news gave the official announcement of JFK running for President. My grandmother said she liked him and her husband says something like Honey, do you realize we are on Kennedy St. N.W. ? She gasps and says that has to be an omen! Believe me, we were one superstitious family. I must also interject that McCain voted for the Senate version of “lending” money to Wall Street fiduciaries to turn the Stock Market around which is, in and of itself , Socialism. So is Social Security and many other government programs from Food Stamps to government loans for education and small business starts, to name a few. But when it comes to using the term for our hard working middle class, MAINSTREET, the back bone of our once great nation, any tax breaks or direct monetary relief for them, “socialism” is derogative. I say flat out, Bullsh…! It’s just another buzz word to confuse prospective voters who haven’t read so much. I reaffirm in my articles all along, that I am no intellectual, college professor or authority. I just read documented information and connect the dots and being holed up from an accident and various maladies, I write in hope my effort will affect or inspire even just one person toward bettering our beleaguered country. The Republicans have been losing state by state in the polls and with one week to go to exercise our most sacred right and duty, have been going as dirty as possible with any outlandish, baseless accusation imaginable. I will wind up this article with 2000 to present, but for now I must insert two quotes made by Republican Candidate John McCain’s personal hero. “We grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well used. It is not even enough that it should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community….the really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size, acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and….a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safe guarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate.” This is from President Teddy Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” speech in1910. Yet one more is, “My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s going to be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re going to be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you. And right now, everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody. And I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody”. 1907 State of the Union Address.-23-How coincidental for this to appear in an article in the St. Petersburg Times just thispast Monday 10/27, reprinted from Slate Magazine. I have to question just how much familiarity McCain has with Teddy Roosevelt beyond, “Walk softly and carry a big stick!”, which by the way, he misquoted in the last debate. I also wonder if “Joe the Plumber” would agree in principle with a broad brush of TR’s equitable consideration for all Americans? Funny life, huh? Not for those who trusted Wall Street to protect their nest egg and for Congress to monitor illegalities and correct them before this type of damage could crippled our nation’s economic strength.Now for William Jefferson Clinton. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the stream of conscious thought and “GONZO” Journalism where the writer integrates his/herself into the story either intentionally(as with Hunter) or accidentally. For three or four elections, one Theodore White chronicled the election events in books titled “THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1960(64, 68, 72). Thompson who became the National Affairs Editor of the upstart ROLLING STONE Magazine on the basis of several off the chain Novels( about the Hall’s Angels and a police convention in Las Vegas) which quickly propelled him into a cult figure. His bi-weekly dispatches to the magazine enhanced its distribution and the compilation became a book called FEARING AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL which is an incredibly insightful masterpiece of relating true political reality for public dissemination. This crazy(like a fox) madman advertised himself as the only living person who had ridden with both the Hell’s Angels and Richard Nixon and named is modus operandi as the “San Francisco speed booze acid rap; that weird combination of meanness, madness and shear Fu….genius! He wrote much more and in 1992 was influenced to do another Presidential Campaign book. To give substance to Hunter’s political acumen, he had become friends with the Governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter and was invited to attend the yearly University of Georgia’s LAW DAYSpeech held on May 4, 1974. Senator Ted Kennedy had spoke the night before and caused Jimmy to change his speech. Hunter, who had had a long night before, showed up at he Governor’s Mansion around 8:00 A.M. in a cab and a bag with a half empty bottle of Wild Turkey Liquor. Of course the cab driver was much relieved when after two minutes, the guard waved the through the gate and Jimmy came out to personally welcome Thompson. In the Rolling Stone article, Hunter labeled Jimmy’s speech “one king hell bastard of a speech” and predicted the next President. The speech is well worth reading as Carter, humble as ever, said two people influenced what a mere peanut farmer was going to impart to them. They were Reinhold Niebuhr (a legal expert) and BOB DYLAN. He also related that an African American on work release from the State Prison System, who had been his cook for his first two years in office had asked to borrow $250. He replied that he felt a lawyer would require more money than that. Oh no she said, “it’s for the judge. I got 7 years or 750 dollars. I’ve saved $500 and can pay you back soon”. Well, Jimmy didn’t loan her the money, he had his legal aid investigate and snap she was free and soon things changed pretty quick! The speech is that and more! With legendary credentials, Hunter befriended Bill and Hillary Clinton and made his mind up they were the real thing. In the book though, there exists a disclaimer which is repeated at the end. He uses the parable of the old woman and the snake to describe Slick Willie. Read into it what you may but Clinton’s proclivity toward the female was paradoxical to an extreme and cost him a seat as one of the greatest President’s. We are now into modern history so-24-you are aware of the rise of Political Action Committees (PAC’s) which originated from the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended in 1974 with the creation of the Federal Election Commission which among other controls, limited individual campaign contributions to $1,000 per person and groups (PAC’s) to $5,000. Of course the Republicans became very innovative in the ‘80’s with Ronald Reagan’s religiosity and his MORAL MAJORITY(is neither!) and the ‘90’s with the advent of “K” St. Lobbyists {see 411 on 911) and praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (money) became the monster which has brought us to date. Now it’s not ok for Muslim Countries to be Theocracies, but it’s just fine for a Jerry Fallwell or Pat Robertson or Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and their Praise the Lord (PTL) network to tell us God speaks to them and they dictate to millions what is right and wrong and how to live. They tell you to send God money, but they give you their address. Albeit the Muslim Clerics and Ayatollahs have declared a holy war (Jihad) on the Western infidel and fomented the worst in terrorism, how close have we come in disparately abusing so many real God loving Christians toward the same venomous character? A real time line on beginning was the atheist Madeline Murray (O’Hair) winning a Supreme Court religious decision on the ban of school prayer on June 17, 1963. In an 8-1 decision, the lone dissenter, Potter Stewart (Yale with Skull and Bones) gave an excellent counter point by writing the Supreme Court began each hearing day with “May God save this Honorable Court” and that both Houses of Congress opened their session with prayer!!! The second fire was Roe V. Wade which struck down most bans on abortion using a trimester theorem. The Republicans began with Barry Goldwater, to steal the solid Democratic South, not by segregation but with religious zealotry. Even though he was trounced by LBJ, the south and its (then) still rural nature nature remained the perfect region for conception and perpetuation of fundamentalist religious beliefs and the misuse and abuse of these good people. With the use of the above flashpoint issues and other unfamiliar or misunderstood life styles (I point to the infamous Scopes monkey trial of 1925 in Dayton Tennessee which challenged the Butler Act which made it unlawful to teach any theory that denies Divine Creation as the Bible states in Genesis. It caught national attention with two famous lawyers, William Jennings Bryan to prosecute and Clarence Darrow to defend. The issue supporting an alternative view was Charles Darwin’s book, ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES which argued natural selection and survival of the fittest. Teacher John Scopes lost the trial but prevailed in the appeal) it challenged a people entrenched with common cultural heritage. I have to say this region is as loyal and patriotic as any other. Their commonality was grimly obfuscated for political gain, beginning with Nixon in 1968. Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat to carry the South in a Presidential Election. While the concept as a whole progressed from being distinctly black or white to shades of grey, it bears repeating the adage of the High School teacher, fresh out of college was applying for a job before the local Board of Education in north Georgia was asked if she taught Creationism or Evolution. She innocuously replied, “Why I can teach either”!In the late 70’s, while the purposeful undermining of the Carter Administration was in full swing, a man named Lee Atwater was coming into his own as a brilliant political strategist, mentoring Carl Rove and the likes, who would help coalesce the Religious Right, Lobbyist’s money and PAC groups into a monolithic Republican regime. ThisEnabled an unknown Georgia Congressman to write a pamphlet called CONTRACT-25-WITH AMERICA, helping Republicans gain a strangle Congress and making him Speaker of the House. He grouped these people together outside the Capitol after the swearing in Ceremony and gave them their marching orders to be team players and remember their roots. Lee Atwater had invented, improvised and improved the techniques of modern electoral politics with the help of PACs and other unofficial out lets, made use of unflattering rumors, entrapment and deep background research of the opposition for any activity which could be helpfully misconstrued. Thus the origination of fully vetting a candidate or running mate. His genius earned him the title of Dart vader, which unfortunately destroyed many lives and families, politically and otherwise. He later lamented the 1980’s were about acquisition of power, money and position as he learned he had incurable brain cancer. Recognizing his wrongdoings, he was man enough to disassociate himself with a very touching and genuine public message apologizing to all he had hurt. May God let his soul rest, because forgiveness is all things Christian.To the nation’s detriment this insidious Nazi like approach to control created a life of its own to haunt the Clinton Presidency and allow George Bush to rule. An initial victim was the Equal Rights Amendment for women passed by Congress in march of 1972, which needed 38 state legislatures in a duration of seven years to make it law. It came as close as five states but support waned as the ‘70’s progressed and the Religious Right gained strength. It’s sad and disgraceful that the majority of our citizens are not guaranteed equal standing in the most crucial areas.The Bush crew started right in on Clinton when they saw he was making progress in the primaries by getting his alleged long time mistress, one Gennifer Flowers to tell all. Hillary and Bill appeared as a loving partnered couple on 60 Minutes which actually boosted his ratings propelling him to the Democratic Nomination. In my opinion, Clinton did superb in the debates with Bush#41, seeming very comfortable and knowledgeable as opposed to Bush seeming stodgy and arrogant. Ross Perot ran on a third party ticket winning 18% of the popular vote but gained no electoral votes. Experts/pollsters (those who claim to see over the horizon…for our collective sake, I pray they are right about a Democratic sweep this November 4th) claim Perot took votes on an equal basis and did not cost Bush re-election. Clinton received a diverse collection of 38 states (southern also) and 370 electoral votes. This victory has to be recognized in complete context as an incredible achievement, almost totally unpredicted (save Dr. Thompson and few others) and in my mind, without precedent. An incumbent rarely loses and with a war win (however fabricated, having read my articles, you have to understand by now those who really control our reality, consider human life as chess pieces on a large board) to boot, who knew??? Clinton, save Jimmy Carter, was the first President to hold the American people as the administration’s priority since JFK. He appointed his wife Hillary and others, to study improving on Health Care which was critically sabotaged in its infancy. His (their, she and he were really allied politically) learning curve on limitations was fairly quick as compared to JFK who couldn’t bring himself to believe his policies would actually result in his elimination. Clinton did balance the budget and make the social programs of the ‘60’s function more effectively by placing responsible people in the Executive Branch who were accountable in their respective Departments both financially and managerial wise. Less than five years of such stewardship, began generating a surplus which he really wanted to convert into an untouchable Social Security repository.-26-I’d like to cover more of the Clinton Presidency but being November 1st, I need to wrap this article up so I can try and last minute blog it. The art of the Blog is as hard for me as, as….Well it’s like when Ray Charles what he felt the hardest part of not being able to see was and he replied, “Not being able to SEE!!”. Suffice it to see, the dedicated wrong went on an offensive from nomination up to his last day in the oval office. Talk about Newt Gingrich’s Contract On America, check out his infamous GOPAC MEMO, the founding document of the modern hate speech movement. Gingrich urges Republican candidates to smear opponents with words like, “sick, disgrace, corrupt, cheat, decay, pathetic, radical traitor, greed, anti-family, gay etc….Understand all Republicans are not like minded, just in particular the cult of personality group who opted their souls for the vicious recriminative measures expected of them from the dedicated wrong bunch who came too close to gaining a stranglehold on what’s left of our Constitutional Government and implementing their own fascist rule. For a great example of very decent Republican, one need look further than our own District in Florida and the Honorable Bill Young and his wife Beverly. His good list is way too long for the thirty years I’ve been here, but just one ongoing unselfish deed encapsulates his tenure. After the Iraq War began taking its toll on wounding our troops whose lives would have been lost in previous conflicts but with our modern medicinal technology, they survive and must learn to adjust to horrific trauma, Congressman Young began visiting Walter Reed Army Hospital where they stay for treatment, recovery and rehabilitation with facilities for their spouses and families. Rep. Young and wife Beverly would drive up town, unannounced almost every day before the House convened to spend time, one on one, with our boys and girls let them know we care and give them hope. They would discreetly inquire if there was any thing they could do (no matter how trivial) to help them in any way. As the months passed, other Members joined the journey (some for political gain) and it became a caravan. Only because of the participation of so many other Congress Reps did it come to the media’s attention. Only God knows how many they helped and gave hope to, but this action is so commendable it brings a tear my eye, for it is all things AMERICAN. Doing the right thing in the midst of all the trappings brought on by political celebrity is not easy. Bill Young and his wife are the standard, in my humble opinion, to be measured by. Mr. Young, to my knowledge has never engaged in anything but genuine statesmanship, particularly in the electoral process and I am proud to have voted for him. A hundred of him in the House and twenty-five in the Senate and our country would be so much the better for it. Our community has benefited enormously from his consideration.I used to think a lot of John McCain and when he beat George “W” Bush in New Hampshire, I seriously was considering his vote. I’ve already discussed how W was taken back to Crawford Texas to be re-invented and the Campaign took on a more nefarious tone. To understand the menacing audacious mentality of “W”’s camp one only need to read about one story and do a progression/extrapolation. W was to speak at the N.Y. Yankees spring training stadium, Legion’s Field in Tampa, Florida. To access a W rally, one had to get tickets ahead of time from campaign outlets or through their cronies. You could not carry in an opposition banner or even wear an opponent’s button! Their storm troopers would politely ask you to relinquish the banner or sign and tell you take the to button off! If you were uncooperative, you were escorted out and/or arrested. You tookyour cues from prompters and clapped and hollered as if it were spontaneous and-27-genuine. Law suits challenging infringement of 1st Amendment rights have been stalled and prolonged, if not out right dismissed. In Tampa, brave elderly people stood up as did Rosa Parks did fifty years before, in an effort to fight the oppressive fascist tactics of the W campaign. It was an evidently obvious harbinger of things to be in a Bush Administration. There is no time to delineate the daily abuses of Bush with Dick Cheney orchestrating activity and defiance from “undisclosed locations”, certainly not presidingover the Senate as its President, to cast a tie breaking vote. Cheney and Donald Rumsfeldcame to the Executive Branch under Gerald Ford. Rumsfeld was Ford’s Secretary of Defense and Cheney was his Chief of Staff. In the 1960’s Vietnam War draft era, Cheney sought and received six (6!) deferments, later claiming he , “had better things to do”. His failing grades forced his transfer out of Yale and a took a total of six years to obtain a degree. His last two exemptions were due to being a father with another child under way. Some example for a man who oversaw the gulf war as Defense Secretary and architect of the ruse used to put us in Iraq as in weapons of mass destruction and Saddam having ties to Obama. In my opinion it takes a “real” man to put our men and women in harms way for an agenda of political reasons rather than national security. Straight up, “my ass ain’t on the line!” Nor has it ever been. I’ll just hole up somewhere, let a NEW PEARL HARBOR happen and you’ll yell, let’s raise the flag patriots. I don’t have the time to finish this article because the Bush years deserve their own stories which after you connecting the dots, you won’t think of you being in a Blue state or a Red state, but a RED WHITE & BLUE state. We are all Americans who have been divided by those who could care less about Ole Glory. When truth be told, we shall be set free. Thomas Jefferson said, “A nation’s best defense is an educated citizenry”. “A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance (!), and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives”. (James Madison) One very poignant aspect of President Bush’s public appearances is he has given fewer press conferences than one can count , which should give the public an acutely accurate pulse on the Chief Executive’s political metabolism on truth! Generally, when you see him live, he has been at a military base with troops and families doing back ground hoorahs with pre made signs reaffirming their support of his war efforts. Never have I seen him at a free to attend and show your disappointment with his policies, rally/speech. He is guided by Cheney and Karl Rove and the fascist crew who have an un-American agenda. And I say that with regret, because anyone who seeks to propel their own agenda, absent any obvious other opinion, called dissent, is not Democratic, not American and certainly, treasonous in meaning and action. It is the very definition of the concept. HELLO!!!??? I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to my death for your right to say it! That is what our Lives, our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor are all about. What has been allowed to flourish since Bush #43 took office is despicable, illegal, corrupt and undermines the very principles of which our country was founded. On which so many believed in to give their last full measure with their blood, not have their posterity hear these lies and the fabricated activities to lure them into wars which had no contention with our freedom, but agendas of those who have smartly gained influence in power while most of us are working hard to become the strongest nation, both economic and militaristic, on earth. For their benefit. Not ours and-28-not the free world’s. Nor the largest population of the hunger, freedom deprived third world. While we’ve laid our trust in those who have held power by our proxy, we have tried to hold on to our jobs to keep America, American, we’ve seen them outsourced or disappear, with the CEO’s having 20-30 $50 million dollar retirement benefits. Yet so many people, not rich, have been finagled into voting for these same traitors under false issues and failed (deliberately) policies, meant to increase the deep pockets of the silver tongued devils. As I wrote, I had a deep respect for John McCain in 2000. After his win in New Hampshire, the Bush campaign smeared him mercifullessly by inferring homosexuality, no fags in our (Bush) administration, his wife being a drug addict, having sex with a black prostitute, having an illegitimate black daughter and cheating on his wife, to reference some. Mac, needless to say lost the state and his momentum and stayed in the Senate only to behave as if he had never been ambushed and vote with Bush policies (so many in direct conflict with his original stance) some 95% of the time. He was willing to sacrifice his alleged own decent humanistic politics for the opportunity to run for President in 2008. There is a picture of him hugging cozily up to W in 2004 which makes me sick. I now wonder who the real John McCain really is. Indirect contrast to him is a human being who has worked hard, against all types of adversity and continued to let his soul shine with humble success and against those same odds, stands to become our nation’s 44th President tomorrow. For his running mate, he chose another person with the same credentials and desire to make America, America once again. The Honorable Joe Biden from Delaware. Together, they have run a remarkably decent campaign and tomorrow, God willing, have the chance to change our direction and give us better history and stature, as those who founded this country envisioned. I fervently pray this comes to pass. May God have mercy on our souls and shine his awful grace on our people once again in leading us to the promised land! To be continued!To be continued back to Ocean City, Maryland, summer of '74 when I'd rented a condo for the season in search of the Real American Dream. With friends visiting and enjoying the good life, it was less Margaritaville than Frozen Pina Colada Land! We were waiting for the denouement, being the resignation of the President who George "W" Bush makes look like a Boy Scout. Richard Milhouse Nixon did not disappoint and things changed (right Buzz!) on August 9, 1974. It was my most delirious summer and then some, back where it all began! I had worked hard, gone to college at night as a Veteran and earned a real time of peace of mind with no worries. Now, it seems so distant but back in the day, everything was on track to go right or so this budding scholar/party animal so I thought. Talk about rude awakenings, but I did have several more good years and I put them to a use I can be proud of and still reference the effort in current terms. We should learn from every day's experience to draw on how we may respond to tomorrow's. Who knew by 2008, we would have trained monitors responsible for viewing every living American’s communication and corrupting them if their content red flagged attention and that key words would trigger the eye to prevent popular information from becoming responsible “common” information. The likes of which if disseminated accurately, would foment an unprecedented animosity with a proper and correct response, in defense of our right to privacy, never witnessed by those who in secret, as JFK warned in his April, 27th 1961 speech to the Association of American Journalists? I wrote a brief article surrounding this ominously prophetic speech in REASON AND FREE INQUIRY. Forty-five years ago, as a ninth grade student, our principal spoke over the P. A. system and announced the shooting in Dallas and results. Living in College Park, I grew up with kids whose parents were either educators or employed by our government just twenty minutes down U.S. Route 1, at the time allegedly the world’s most traveled highway. Some of the parents worked in the intelligence community or State Department and would brag (read exaggerate) on what they knew about inside dope. Several would directly express the sentiments of their parents in their conservative disdain for President Kennedy. When the final bell rang an hour after the news, there’s always a rush in the flow of students to get their weekend needs and catch the bus, etc….One boy I knew from my neighborhood will always remember my response to his running down the steps hooting about, “…they got him…”. I tagged the son of a bitch with an upper cut that he probably feels to this day. I never heard anymore about it, maybe because our Principal was Catholic and JFK was his hero. It took a long time for this national tragedy to sink in and my grandmother had told me that “things weren’t right”. But I could feel it myself and then I found Harold Weisberg’s self printed book, WHITEWASH, on consignment at the off campus book store. This was to be the first of a series of books which were incredibly footnoted from the twenty-six volumes supporting the THE WARREN COMMISSION REPORT, with its evidence, testimony and exhibits and explicitly contradicted all conclusions to include the final verdict of the possibility of one person being physically able to achieve this act. For an average student, who would have no home save for his grandmother, he began working after school to have the material items his contemporaries possessed. Studying? Grades? What’s that? I barely got by, but I was an avid reader and by ninth grade had exhausted the City and County Library collection of Astrophysics/Astronomy and Science Fiction books, so I was somewhat prepared, mind you no one can realistically-2-be prepared for the wealth of knowledge and writing style of Mr. Weisberg. You want to learn? Pay close attention. But in 1974, an attempt to have Congress openly review the Warren Commission findings was the farthest thing from this hard working, harder partying kid. I deserved a Dr. Hunter Thompson described trip through the heart of the “American Dream” and I was getting it. Sleep in, stumble down to the beach with a cold one to play a pick up football game and check out what few babes lived way up in the nearly deserted North end of Ocean City. The 1973 Oil Embargo had caused a recession and all construction was on hold, so save for the few inhabitants in this desolated area, we were fortunately isolated. Good thing too, because there was no one to complain about the hellacious parties we through. I had a private dock on the inlet and I had my own personal social director, Captain Del who knew everybody from the grocery store he worked to the life guards and Phillips Crab House girls and where the “A” list parties were each night, if not at #13 California Avenue, Ocean City’s annex for my I Eta Thi Fraternity. There are so many daily stories of stuff we pulled, it’s worth a laugh book. Even the law students who worked as supplemental Law Enforcement Officers each summer, loved the atmosphere. I believe I went through at least a hundred friends and their entourages, as guests during the Memorial Day to Labor Day joy ride. Always room for one more and too much is never enough! I remember most of it, I think!?I will always have that time which earned me a short termed nickname, “Last Legs Lamore”. That fall I earned the entrance letter to finish my education at my life long dream at the University of Maryland. Opening that letter could not give me more pride and pleasure and know my long gone Mother would be proud of my accomplishment. I had come so far from being a know it all, to one who needed to learn. From working as an 18 year old on the old Post Office dock, envying at 8:00 A.M., the sorority girls walking up to class on campus in1967, I was now scheduled to be a Junior in January of 1975, at my beloved college and could not have imagined what I was about to engage in. Pardon my indulgement, but I am relating my experience as the regular guy with the dream, not to be confused with a real winner like Barack Obama, who had real influence and encouragement. I’ve always been rudderless to the degree, that is until I found myself making waves my first semester.I witnessed an interview today of an intern at Parkland Memorial Hospital who was the third Doctor to enter Trauma Room One and , “…see his hero with a lethal wound but still agonal. I treated a suction wound in his neck with a breathing technique (tracheostomy) and recognized a massive frontal head wound with part of his skull missing”. He also said he could eliminate a conspiracy and that day he lost, “…his hero and hero to his contemporaries…”. It has been difficult to accept my country has allowed this lie to prevail for all of these years and yield the opportunity to have the Bush, Cheney, Rove crowd to perpetrate the 911 incident to gain a political agenda of Atlas proportions in order to control the last years before the consequences of December 12, 2012 arrive. I have written in depth as a neophyte about what probably lies awaiting our world as we know it and those who have knowledge way beyond my comprehension. How does one fight a battle to seek coalition to try and minimize what danger lies in store for us as predicted by so many, unbeknownst to so few. Knowledge can be a blessing or a curse and carries a responsibility to act upon it. How ignorant and blissfully indulgent was I in the summer of 1974. How much and how far I’ve come in connecting dots I-3-never believed could have existed. I put off reading responsible criticism of 9-1-1 as long as I could because I did not want the burden of knowing details of the falsity of events. I was finally brought to begin responsible review of what is obviously another mammoth lie and treasonous act of murder and insurrection. Since nine-one-one, the Bush government has virtually destroyed our Constitution and Civil Rights. It has allowed the slow and deliberate dismantling of our economic infrastructure and fiduciary system. A direct response to who might still retain what commodible goods for trade and survival. We are now in a depression worse than the 1929 fiasco with huge banks and corporations to include all three Detroit Auto makers asking Congress for loans to bailout and salvage their existence. In short, the country in its entirety is being undermined in the most subversive of fashions by those who believe they were meant to live after the Deluge. Look for the simplest solution and it’s easy to see without looking too far…not much is really sacred! Why else would grand Ma’s Da Vinci is sold for chump change, or the price of oil was gouged for as long as the market would stand it, or all of our jobs being outsourced to peeeplewhootaawklikegrittingsmumshoze??? We have a fire sale going on and I’m a million miles from that poor senseless hard working College Park Kid who got himself an all expenses real vacation to Ocean City Maryland and two year later a week in Jamaica with the biggest mistake in his life, EVE! I can still sense the bitter sweet taste and hear the Siren song of, “…here, take a bite. You’ll love it!”. The big lie is a killer when you find your truth hanging in front of you like the dark side saying, “Hey it was good, No?”. NO it wasn’t. “You felt like your guts were gone and you’re life had been looted clean of all of all that it once held dear.”. DANGEROUS DAN MCGREW (Robert W. Service) And now, after plodding along trying to get your life back, you realize you are one of the few people on the planet aware of …..Pop quiz! What do you do?Still dots to connect, but 2009 will yield us more than comprehension and how we respond will decide what, if any future we shall have for our berth on this beautiful planet. It is time for attention to factual detail, ego’s and myth set aside, to collaborate an equation to overcome the Group X version of control.Yes Virginia, there is a God. Your little (and big) friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see and even then most will not accept what is obvious. They think that nothing can be which is no comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, are little or used only to the capacity society allows. In this great universe (not just) of ours, man is a mere insect, in her intellect as compared with just the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge through experience. Yes Virginia, there is a GOD. Its essence exists as certainly as the morning bird song, the purple mountains’ majesty, our fruited plain, the shining blue ocean, love, generosity, devotion, those who have give their last full measure, that we shall be free and those who stand in the way of tyranny which allows the kindness which abounds from the hardest of hearts and give to your life its highest beauty and joy in the shortest of an eye blink which will remain seen for generations to come, GOD willing. Alas, how dreary would the world be without the awful grace and forgiveness of Him. It would be as dreary if there were no Virginia (or children to be amazed by). There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry no song, no romance to make tolerable this miserable existence. We would have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight of the material world.-4-The external light with which childhood fills this world would be extinguished ad infinitem.Not believe in GOD? You might as well not believe in Santa Claus! Why leave any cookies and milk out for the ole geiser and try and stay up near the chimney to sneak a peek? Even if you did not see Santa or God, what would that prove? The gifts (for the privileged) and all the other existential aforementioned would still be. The most real things in our dear little corner of this great Universe are those that neither children nor grown can see. We may not have seen Santa or God, but that’s no proof they aren’t there. We’ve seen their work yet nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are sight unseen and unseeable in our life. You tear apart the baby’s rattle and try to see what makes the noise inside. It is no longer. There is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man (woman) or even all of our United strength that ever lived could change. Only by faith and the poetry, romance, loyalty and love it creates, can push aside that curtain and view the supernal beauty, glory and grace beyond. Is it all real? Ah Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else more real and binding than our Creator. No God? How quaint and wrong can one be than to not comprehend this? I pray for these people devoid of hope of the now and our tentative posterity. Yes Virginia, there is a real and true GOD who abides in the light we bask in every moment of the life its essence bequeathed us. As Dennis the Menace said in his evening prayer, one cartoon, “Please take care of yourself, I don’t know what we’d do without you!’ I still enjoy the rendering of a conversation I had with my father driving his ole Singer Sewing Machine Company panel truck with Mom sitting next to him during my 5-6 Beaver Cleaver treasured years (Mom passed with cancer in my 9th year) and me riding shotgun back to Warner Robbins to our home from Macon where he worked. It was near Christmas and I must’ve been seven. I hit them with the inevitable question, “Is there really a Santa Claus?”. They paused, swapped stares and decided since I got a globe on my birthday (June 25th, 6 even months betwixt the event, I had a better perspective on the strategic probability. No they said. It’s time to fess up. I paused and then asked, “ How about the Easter Bunny?”. No, it’s made up. “Well, how about the Tooth Fairy?” No, it’s the adult ploy to get your baby teeth out. After a moment of heavy reflection, I inquired, “Hoe about Jesus?”. I swear I heard a pin drop. They turned white and about gagged. What in the world has come over this chile? My Mother, bless her heart, comforted me with a hug and encouragingly said, “ Darling, He is the one thing you can always really believe in.”. Nuff said.Now for the clincher. A L I E N S ? No, I didn’t know about them to ask. But in 1974, my friend John, who spoke excellent Spanish and would visit an acquaintance in the hills of Columbia for some exportable snow related to me his sighting of an unidentifiable craft which flew like nothing he could imagine. It whooshed and turned so fast he could not possibly determine its shape nor size. That’s when I realized there is indeed something more to UFO’s than nuts and kooks. In 1996, I read a book by Lt.Col. Philip Corso named ROSWELL, THE DAY AFTER. Corso was an under the radar liaison to the ranking member, Senator Strom Thurmond, of the Senate Committee on Defense and held office in a small Pentagon space with several file cabinets containing extremely sensitive information and material relating to the Roswell event in July 1947. He had always been in the Intelligence loop and was a trusted friend of Korean hero General Arthur Trudeua who assigned him the task of identifying which Public Contactor was working on concepts he felt might benefit from ultra secret reverse engineering of a-5-specific item in his care and designating them to tinker. He had the trust of Thurmond and a handful of other Congressional members for black funding, no questions asked. The military benefited immensely from his keen ability to associate and after 10 to 15 years of use and/or improvement, which evolved into popular knowledge of a non-specific commodity, the contractor was freed to morph the technology into an item for public marketing. As in, “Who knew?”. This is where patent pending allowed the massive reward of monetary benefit from their patriotic discretionary work Senator Thurmond gave the book credibility by writing a glowing for word about Corso being a leading patriot. The day after the book was published, SenatorThurmond was encouraged to retract his written complements which only served to give the book extreme credibility. Lt. Colonels and Lt. Commanders do the under the table little noticed leg work for their respective branches. So there it was in a nutshell and I am left speechless. In a religious vein, The Vatican’s chief astronomer, The Reverend Jose Gabriel Funes was quoted in May 2008 as saying, “… the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside earth. How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?”. The Reverend further stated science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion and why should we not talk about an extraterrestrial brother? If the Papacy allows (read condones) this statement, be ready to meet MY FAVORITE MARTIAN ! Obviously, this divergence of opinion has come to accept what I am ready to spell out for you as I touched on in AMERICA’S CLARION CALL. We have to resolve a very age old disparate geographical oral and written history with alien interaction and the same for 5,000 plus year old calendars which all predict future events borne out of various unconnected civilizations and cultures to be the same exact day as end of earthly time, December 21, 2012.At U.of Md. In 1976, the Anthropology Department offered a course on ecological limitations, (I’ve forgotten the catchy name but a girl I knew insisted I take it) which was so well received, the U. had to expand the space to an auditorium. We had already had Earth Day One on May 1st, 1971, which the D.C. Government spent thousands of bucks to clean up after the hundred thousand or so participants. Word got out and if I’m not mistaken, the 1972 event went by clean. Collective unconscious or conscience? You tell me, I just write this sh….! The course was my awakening to limited resources and population capacity for our little blue rock and that nature doesn’t leave any trash! What a rude awakening to the concept of Horace Greeely’s newspaper about Manifest Destiny and his excoriation of “Go West young man, go west!”. Convert them savages or kill’em, whichever, it’s our land to be had, they’re just visitors (THE GOOD SHEPHARD in reverse) I grew up watching John Wayne and Erroll Flynn sing GARY OWEN and march of as Custer to win one for the Gipper. Get them redskins or they’ll be voting, just like the “Nigras”. Well, bury my heart at Wounded Knee also. The big LIE is alive and well in Hollywood. What’s wrong with all this mythology they taught us in school? Try transparency and it doesn’t resonate well for modern SARAH PALIN colloquialisms.I am so looking forward to working with all my fellow governors on change and being progressive to keep things our American way, particularly those states where there are really true Americans who are sooo devoted to being sooo patriotic and wanting change like ROE v. WADE and other Congressional cases as opposed to those in the state of Africa where there is too many kids to feed. It’s sooo important to care about what is-6-important for global peace in vetting terrorism to an end and securing our national security by closing our borders and opening the gates for those who desire the American Dream and help us obtain these ideas, which by the way, we are working on, as I speak!. As for 2012, I would obey a shout out from God if He told me to run for President or run for cover on December 21…ooops, I’m not suppose to mention that Mayan Calendar thing or the Aliens we deal with. Can you scratch that please and don’t tell Jack Cafferty I goofed on y’all.!Unfortunately, the Bush Doctrine and the McCain defeat have a common thread running through the very fabric. McCain was given Palin to guarantee losing. If he had chosen someone like Louisiana’s Governor, Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, a young intelligent new comer whose presence on the ticket would have created a crap shoot. Those in the know don’t really want a Republican to be Chief Executive when 12/21/12 rolls around so Barack will be the bad guy if the philosophical approach to it does not change. He will be responsible for not having a plan to limit damage, havoc and institute Marshall Law to maintain a semblance of order for as long as possible. Bush’s OZ created nine-one-one to gain staunch Constitutional legal control for any and all contingencies. Without delineating the massive amount of deliberate abuse of power and criminal activity and having the “Vice” President as a virtual dictator, suffice it to say the rationale was to garner all things deemed necessary to possess, for those who believed they were meant to survive the DELUGE. Just look at it as the simplest solution to the bizarre, unchecked and unprecedented actions of our Federal Government. For those of you who have not read the documentation I lean this reality on you, don’t worry, you’ll be hearing enough of -the December 21st, 2012 scenario(s) and the Mayan Calendar and the Sumerian written experience with extraterrestrials and the huge effect on homo erectus to date soon enough!!!.I started writing this chronicle with Jackson Browne singing, “Whoa people, look around you, the signs are every where. You’ve left it for some body other than you to be the ones to care(!)”. We are all in this together. Today is the 31st of December, my dear Mother’s birthday. If I had only had her presence for a few more year I can only speculate how much more I would have accomplished from her divine Christian charitable guidance. I have so many coincidences to relate post mortem, relating to her. I thank God for the short time I did share with her. Perhaps in the overall confluence of reality and destiny(as opposed to fate) I still can make some poignant noise for good and ever. I have shown some similarity in this unconventional campaign and that of the distraught tangled web of 1968 to provoke connected sorrow and challenge. The aught years are so predicated upon the ‘60’s to an implausible yet exact result. The dots people, the dots. Same players or their protégé’s, weaving the tangled travesty of confusing and abusing the American people for their own deviously deadly ends continue. The audacity of hope is of a black man with the courage of Teddy Roosevelt, the comfort of FDR and the charismatic vision of JFK. He appears to be the real thing and stands a chance of walking that thin line to save us from Group X and our own delusions. Irony is the fuel of time which burns our existence. Pray he sees around the learning curve and is able to influence those who can, to do the right thing…or at the very least, give peace and humanity a chance to prove we also can. Barack Obama just may be the holistic catalyst to bridge all the broken bridge of our milineums of manipulation into participation. Pray the broken bridges of our millineums of manipulation morphe into participation. Pray.
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