Homeland Security opening private mail

"Last month Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words “by Border Protection” and carrying the official Homeland Security seal."

"The letter comes from a retired Filipino history professor; Goodman declined to identify her. And although the Philippines is on the U.S. government’s radar screen as a potential spawning ground for Muslim-related terrorism, Goodman said his friend is a devout Catholic and not given to supporting such causes."

See how incompetent the implimentation of this war on terror is. To pick out correspondence between two retired seniors, neither of which, from what little info this article contains, fits any profile of any terrorist anywhere, seems to indicate that they either just randomly pick out letters for inspection, or inspect all letters between certain countries. Most likely, they're doing the same thing the NSA is doing; using a wide net to look at everything, with no real evidence that anything is going on with anyone specific, but just hoping to get lucky. They're probably doing the same thing airport security is doing, when they search everyone, including 80 yr olds and children, who obviously are not middle-easterners. The same way they ban babies from flights, just because they have names that are on some secret watch list. All this adds up to the fact that they don't have a clue as to who they're looking for, so everyone ends up falling into the net.

Prone to Violence

"THE BUSH Administration has argued that promoting democracy in the Islamic world, rogue states and China will enhance America's security, because tyranny breeds violence and democracies co-exist peacefully. But recent experience in Iraq and elsewhere reveals that the early stages of transitions to electoral politics have often been rife with violence."

"These episodes are not just a speed bump on the road to the democratic peace. Instead, they reflect a fundamental problem with the Bush Administration's strategy of forced-pace democratization in countries that lack the political institutions needed to manage political competition. Without a coherent state grounded in a consensus on which citizens will exercise self-determination, unfettered electoral politics often gives rise to nationalism and violence at home and abroad."

"Absent these preconditions, democracy is deformed, and transitions toward democracy revert to autocracy or generate chaos. Pushing countries too soon into competitive electoral politics not only risks stoking war, sectarianism and terrorism, but it also makes the future consolidation of democracy more difficult."

Here's an interesting piece that goes into the reasons, with examples, as to why our new foreign policy of changing the regimes of anyone we don't like, to promote democracy in certain countries, should be taken more intelligently, if at all.

While this article should give pause to anyone who supports Bushs' democratization policies, we still shouldn't lose sight of the fact that that was not the reason we went to war in the first place. Ridding the world of the "Evil Saddam", only later came to be promoted as a prime excuse for war after we learned that the main reason (WMDs) was a lie. It was an attempt the divert attention away from the lies. Several other excuses were given, and still being made, like fighting terrorism there, so we won't have to at home, even after most intelligent humans understand that there was no terrorist threat to us from Iraq, before we invaded. That being said, Bush still has never given us his real reasons for going to war, considering the fact that he knew all along Iraq was not threat. He knows that neither Syria, Iran, or North Korea, pose any threat to us, even if they do have nuclear weapons. Invading them, are next on his hit list. But why? Is it necessary to totally ruin our economy, as well as the lives of countless military personel, just to spread democracy? Well that's the plan regardless of the consequences.

While we all ponder the likelihood of a successful outcome in Iraq, you should all look into the people responsible for taking us down this road, and see that it's not for our benefit at all. There's a power-hungry group pulling the strings, who care little for anyone other than themselves, gaining power, and the riches they will gain by profiteering off of Americas war machine, as well as placing economic strangleholds on other nations, begining with Iraq. Read for yourself about them, they aren't hidding, and they aren't some invisible secret society only conspiracy theorist can see. Check them out....

Practice to Deceive (from April '03)

Bush wanted Bin Laden, Neoconservatives wanted Iraq, Why?

Neo Con Artists

Neo-Conservatism Archives

Neoconservatism in the United States

Harris Survey: Many Americans Still Think Saddam Was Behind 9/11

"More than four years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 22% of adults believe that Saddam Hussein "helped plan and support the hijackers who attacked the United States on September 11," according to a new Harris Poll. And nearly one in four (24%) of all adults wrongly believe that "several of the hijackers who attacked the United States on September 11 were Iraqis."

This is just disgusting (if accurate. You know I don't trust polls). It's incredible that so many may still believe the lies, even after the media, who almost blindly accepted them too at first, has reported time and time again since, that none of it had any basis in fact. It's as if these people are living in a different dimension where the revising of ones' own perspective, based on new information, simply doesn't exist. Somehow they managed to pay attention when the President told these lies, but missed the part where he's had to admit the information was wrong (even though aspects of that was a lie too). If this were a lesser developed country, I'd tend to think that the news simply hasn't reach their isolated villages yet. But I refuse to accept that in this country, anyone can be so isolated, they have no access to current news. Even without online access, or cable TV, everyone who wants, can immediately find out what's happening in the world today.

I am, however, aware of a sizeable minority of the population who seem to wish to remain ignorant of the world outside their own little rabbit-hole, exihibiting little or no curiousity of anything outside. I'm almost ashamed to admit this to myself, but over years of meeting people like this, I'm slowly comming to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, some people shouldn't be allowed to vote. I'm not there yet, but only because I can't honestly agree with any proposed method of weeding out the incurably stupid and ignorant.

And before anyone get the idea I'm referring to the poor, some of the most highly educated and financially successful people I've ever met, fall squarely into that catagory.

Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax Set Free

"Why is it not bigger news that those infamous Iraqi female scientists once routinely referred to in the media as “Dr. Germ” and “Mrs. Anthrax” have been quietly released from imprisonment in Iraq without any charges being brought by their U.S. captors? Don’t the newspapers and TV networks that all but pre-convicted them of crimes against humanity owe them—and us—the courtesy of an explanation for the sudden presumption of their innocence?"

Once again, falls another excuse for war. Once again, we find that not only can we not trust anything this government says, we cannot even trust the press to do it's job in not taking the governments word for everything. Again we see how the media simply "believes" everything they say, but is also reluctant when it comes to revealing the truth when it does manage to seep out. Even after a story like this is exposed (several days ago), where are the corrections by the media, explaining that "they got it wrong"?

There is so much talk of the lack of credibility in government, and in particular, this administration, but with each revelation of government misdeeds, we also find a stark lack of credibility in the very institutions tasked with reporting the truth. Instead of being advocates of honest government, they're found all but complicit in the deceptions fed to us by our leaders.

They think no one is watching. They think that by exposing sensational stories like the NSA spying on Americans, no one is paying attention to the fact that they helped hide the story from the public in the first place. They think that by quietly allowing a story like the one I linked to, to pass by without much comment, no one will remember how much they simply took the word of government as fact, and repeated it to us, over and over. Is it simple laziness on their part, or are they actually the willing tools state authority? Hint: media is big business, and big business is in it only for the money, and big businessmen are always in partnership with big government, both of whom are in it for the money and power over....you.

The Greatest Thomas Jefferson quotes

It's always nice to look back and see what was said by those who had a hand in the formation of these United States. By looking back, you can see exaclty where they stood on subjects, as opposed to only listening to those who claim to hold the ideals of the Founders, yet in practice, betray them.

For all those who've fallen victim to false "Patriotism" and "Freedom" as defined by government officials and their "fifth columnists" in the media and elsewhere, I present a sampling of the words of a true patriot........

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."

"To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association—the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

"I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."

"In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock."

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all."

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

"I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others."

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty."

The Earth Is Not Moving

The Earth is not rotating...nor is it going around the sun.

The universe is not one ten trillionth the size we are told.

Today’s cosmology fulfills an anti-Bible religious plan disguised as "science".

The whole scheme from Copernicanism to Big Bangism is a factless lie.

Those lies have planted the Truth-killing virus of evolutionism

in every aspect of man’s "knowledge" about the Universe, the

Earth, and Himself.

That, in a nutshell, is the premiss of this site. It's kind of comical until you realize they're serious. This is the kind of "science" that's been promoting Intelligent Design, but this goes much further, in believing that all science is corrupt, and that the Bible states the truth. The author states that he's able to prove every aspect of science is wrong without relying on the Bible itself, but by scientific method.

Every great scientific mind from Copernicus to Einstein, were all wrong. He spends a lot of time trying to prove it, too. Ordinarily, this kind of nonsense would remain relegated to the fruity fringes, but with so much effort to infuse ID into scientific teachings, this crap could make real sense to those who would like to force religious teachings on everyone via puplic schools. This is the kind of thing your kids will be taught if they get their way.

Robertson Links Sharon's Stroke to Wrath

"Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land."

"God considers this land to be his," Robertson said on his TV program "The 700 Club." "You read the Bible and he says `This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, `No, this is mine.'"

"Sharon, who ordered Israel's withdrawal from Gaza last year, suffered a severe stroke on Wednesday."

I simply couldn't pass this up. I just posted yesterday about what a complete asshole this guy is, and here he goes and proves my point yet again. Notice how selective he is in choosing who suffers Gods' wrath. With all the death, disease, famine, etc., in the world, only those that, just by coincidence, do things he doesn't like, are subject to punishment by (his) God. Bad things happen to all types of people, including those who strictly adhere to Robertsons' brand of theocratic middle-ages dogma, yet, only a select portion of those are suffering Gods' wrath. The rest, presumably, just happen to be collateral damage, you know, victims of the "God works in mysterious ways" excuse.

He makes the case for the separation of Church and State so eloquently, much better than the advocates of continued separation, ever have or ever could.

France divided over colonial past

"A controversial law on history education reveals deep societal fault lines."

"Hardly had the fires died down in the Paris suburbs, as the November rioting by immigrant youths petered out, than the flames of another conflict fed by France's colonial past began to sweep through the political landscape here."

"This time they are metaphorical. But the passionate debate under way over whether French history teachers should stress positive aspects of colonialism is generating almost as much heat. The argument reveals the same ambivalence among French politicians about their country's former empire and its peoples which also fuels much of the immigrants' alienation. It has also raised questions about whether a democracy can have an "official history.""

It seems that the French government has slipped into law a provision that requires teachers to "recognize in particular the positive character of the French overseas presence, notably in North Africa.". A question pops into mind, wondering just what a "positive character" of colonialism could possibly be. Only from the viewpoint of the conquerers, could there be anything "positive". Colonialism is nothing less than pure economic subjugation of other people that results in exploitation of their land, it's resources, and it's people, for the sole benefit of an Imperial homeland. To the homeland, there's certainly a positive aspect, albeit temporary, since they reap the rewards at the expence of the conquered. But you can't expect those on the losing end of such a "partnership" to see any benifit at all. Even those few among native populations who prosper by collaborating with the colonial rulers, are only able to do so by aiding in the rape of their own sovereignty.

While it's undeniable that history should teach what benefits rulers exact from conquered lands, the equally undeniable history of the consequences, should also be taught. To that end, politicians should stay out of it, since (in this case) they represent the very institution that benefitted the most, and many of those who were involved during the Empires' waning days, are still living, and some still reaping rewards.

State mandated history has no place in this world. Governments do not dictate history to provide truth, but to hide the truth of it's own actions, and often to spread propaganda to justify whatever misdeeds are already known. Governments don't like to be blamed for anything, so mandating what history is to be taught to it's population, will only be done for political reasons, and that kind of reasoning tends to corrupt the truth and distort historical reality.

That's a lesson that people here in America should learn and remember, as we embark on our own Imperial conquests. We should not just accept whatever curriculum the Department of Education and the individual state and local systems force on our schools. Even then, parents should never assume their children are being taught real history, simply because they attend school. They should look inside those books and see if what they're learning is impartial history, or propaganda, designed to make past misdeeds nothing more than footnotes, if mentioned at all. If there are errors, omissions, or outright lies, and the system refuses to correct them, take your kid to the library or book store and teach them that they can't rely solely on information they're fed, by showing them there's a world of information they will never be taught in state sponsored schools, that must be sought after on their own.

If people don't know their true history, no matter how painful it may be, it certainly leaves open the probability that mistakes in judgementwill be repeated time and time again.

But....then again, people have short memories anyway, so even when they get that deja vu feeling, when they're being led once again down a familiar, often repeated path that leads to ruin and the collapse of society, they gladly go along, as long as they're told there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Revisiting Congressman Conyers' Iraq Report

While I realize that the government is still on holiday vacation, and no action has been taken yet, I can't help but see that all signs point to the fact that neither the public nor the media seem to have taken the time to read Conyers' report, as I'm still seeing the fallacy being propagated that the President was led astray by faulty intelligence.

Last night, I watched the Late Show with David Letterman, who had as a guest, Bill O'Reilly. During the interview in which David took issue with some of O'Reillys' statements, they both seemed to agree on one thing; that Bush was misled by bad intel.

Well dammit, that's just not true. Bush was not misled. The intelligence he got on Iraq, as proven in the Iraq Report, was absolutely correct. It was the intelligence he gave to the rest of us, that was bad. And he knew it was bad. He knew long before 9/11 that Iraq had no WMD. He also knew immediately after 9/11 that Iraq had nothing to do with the attack, or Al-Qaeda. He lied to us, and lied to the Congress and the world.

The intel he got, from around the world, told him that Iraqs' WMD were destroyed by the first Gulf War, as well as later by the U.N. inspectors. He was told that Iraq would not have ever supported Al-Queada, because Saddam ran a secularist government that Al-Qaeda wanted to see brought down. They would never have cooperated. Bush lied in his recent speech where he appeared to accept the blame for invading Iraq, while still blaming bad intelligence.

What he didn't admit to, which is at the heart of the matter, is that it was only after the direction, and extreme pressure, from the White House that the intelligence community was forced to reverse all its' assessments, and promote what it knew to be false, just to provide him justification to invade.

The facts are clear, and available, for everyone to read, and although the Report is quite lengthy, even a few pages will reveal that there was a plan to invade Iraq, and other mid-east countries even before Bush first took office.

What pisses me most, is that I know very little will come of this without a LOT of pressure on a Republican Legislature to take appropriate action. That means us leaning on them, pushing them, needling them, threatening to ensure their defeat in this years elections. Anything it takes, to keep these people from getting away with what amounts to the murder of every single member of our armed forces who've died in Iraq. Not to mention all the deaths of Iraqis' who never posed any threat to us, or even their own region. EVERY DAMNED THING WAS A LIE!

Sure, support the troops. Give them the moral and material support they need to finish a job that should never have begun. We have to at least stabilize the place. BUT, we cannot allow our leaders to get away with dragging us there in the first place.

Read the report for yourself, it disproves absolutely every excuse the administration ever made, and is still making, for going into Iraq. This is a crime against us and the world, that only we can correct.

Previous post containing link to Iraq Report

Board Rescinds 'Intelligent Design' Policy

"Dover's much-maligned school policy of presenting "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution was officially relegated to the history books Tuesday night."

"On a voice vote, and with no discussion beforehand, the newly elected Dover Area School Board unanimously rescinded the policy. Two weeks earlier, a judge ruled the policy unconstitutional."

"This is it," new school board president Bernadette Reinking said Tuesday, indicating the vote was final and the case was closed."

Let's hope the case is closed, but expect that it won't be, as far as other school districts around the country. You know how religious zealots can be.

As long as they still have influence in the Republican party, they'll keep pushing for a theocracy. I suspect that most of the followers of these evangelical leaders think that once they get God back into American society (believing the lie that He somehow left it), this will be some kind of paradise. In reality it would be nothing less than what was seen in Iran after their revolution, and Afghanistan after the Taleban took control. All you have to do is listen to people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, and hear the things they'd like to see happen in this country, and what they think of it's people, to see this is true.

They would force everyone to strictly adhere to religious dictates, and the only appeals would be to religious courts that would rule based on their version of the scriptures. Which means, you would lose all choices in your life. You would be told what to do, see, say, wear, where to live and who you could and couldn't live with. No choice of abortion. No choice of marriage, especially if you're gay, or even marrying into another race or religion. Science would suffer because our schools would teach everything was created by God, as is, and shouldn't be tampered with. Medical science would suffer because any research that wasn't compatable with religious doctrine wouldn't be allowed. Instead of meddling in other countries in support of big business, our wars would be fought to convert the world. Bad things that happen to good people (like hurricanes), are explained as punishments from God, for bad behaviour.

Censorship would be the law of the land. You would not be allowed to see, hear, or read, anything that they consider to be sacrilegious, or anything else that might corrupt their version of paradise on Earth. Religious freedom would be curtailed, as promotion of their version of religion would take precedence in all things, and any other religions, as well as other denominations of (real) Christianity, would be shoved aside.

I consider the majority of people who are followers of this new wave of evangelism, misguided in their belief that their leaders are really speaking for God. Most all of their leaders seem to prefer Old Testament guidance, to the New Testament, which is odd, considering their supposed to be Christian. They just don't seem to get that their leaders are precisely the types of religious leaders Christ himself fought against in his lifetime. They seem to forget that Christ advocated peace and love towards ALL people, not just those that believe as they do. There is nothing 'Christian' about their ideology.

Rapping up this rant, I thought I'd post links to Falwell and Robertsons' websites so that those readers outside the country, and anyone else who may not know why I'm so against these people could see for themselves what I'm talking about. In doing a search for their sites (surprise, surprise, they're not in my bookmarks), I ran across a site that takes the same position I do about what dangerous hypocrites they are, so I'll post those links too:

The Official site of Pat Robertson

The Two faces of Jerry Falwell


The Religious Right, the Christian Coalition and Their Attack on Religious Freedom

Falwell Quotes

Robertson and Falwell talking about 9/11

Well I wanted to include a site run by Falwell himself, but his listed site www.falwell.com doesn't seem to be working (anymore?), and I don't even seem to be able to find any websites that support him and his teachings. I'm sure there must be at least one out there somewhere, but I can't spend all day looking. If you're interested, try searching yourself, but you'll mostly find nothing but sites exposing his vicious attitudes towards those he feels are "unworthy".

If I ever find a site run by him, I'll make a new post and link to this. I don't like not knowing what vermin are up to, because it could be a bad sign when they're hiding, you know, like mad scientists.

Book: CIA Ignored Info Iraq Had No WMD

"New York Times reporter James Risen uses the anecdote to illustrate how the CIA ignored information that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction. His book, 'State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration' describes secret operations of the Bush administration's war on terrorism."

"The major revelation in the book has already been the subject of extensive reporting by Risen's newspaper: the National Security Agency's eavesdropping of Americans' conversations without obtaining warrants from a special court."

This is the only reason you know of the NSAs' spying; profit. This book is the reason the New York Times finally decided to reveal the information they'd kept secret for the government for over a year. I'd still like to know how long they would've held this story back, were it not a profiteering reporter. A real reporter would have published the information in this book, through the free media, and immediately. I mean, this information is important for us to know, about our government, isn't it?

We need real reporters like Jack Anderson. Where are they?

Roberts urges pay raises for judges

"Chief Justice John Roberts picked up where his late predecessor had left off, declaring in his first year-end report that the problem of pay for judges "has gotten worse, not better."

"The remarks came in a nine-page assessment of the federal judiciary, a tradition for chief justices begun 30 years ago."

"Roberts, who took over leadership of the high court in late September, used strong language to urge Congress to boost judicial salaries. He called current pay levels "a direct threat to judicial independence."

Isn't this a bitch. Just like a true Conservative. A true Republican. A member of a party that claims to want smaller government, couldn't wait to lobby for government pay raises. I'm sure the Republican Congress will oblige.

Why do people still believe that rhetoric about smaller government from Republicans. Isn't it clear after all these years that they're no different from Democrats when it comes to spending money? Isn't the hypocracy transparent enough by now that whenever these small-government advocates get into positions of authority, government size and expenditures grow ten fold? The only difference between them and the Dems, is in which programs get targeted for cuts and which ones get damn near unlimited funding. The end result is alway the same; bigger government.

Generally, the only difference bettween the parties is that one seeks only self-benefit (more money for them and their corporate backers, and less for those that need help), while the other uses money to keep the needy, in need, so as to maintain a voter base (oh, yeah, and the self-benefit thing, too). Exaggeration you say? Well that's exactly how it works out in the end.

The two-party system no longer works for the public interest (assuming it ever did). We need at least a third one, and maybe a fouth or fifth. We need a new party that actually believes in smaller government. One that believes that big business can take care of itself, and focus only on those that really need help. One that gives the most attention to issues at home, instead of meddling in the political affairs of other countries on behalf of big business interests (you know, like oil in the mid-east, fruit in South America, etc,. Certainly one that doesn't seek global domination, but instead helps the helpless to better themselves, here at home, first. One that creates a law preventing any government officials from receiving any raise in pay unless or until budgets are in balance (hint, hint).