THIS THING WE CALL GOD

THIS THING WE CALL GOD

I have often wondered how so many of the religious, extremists or moderates, can read parables and think they are factual or true. To me, the bible and it's wonderful stories are comparable to "Cinderella", "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs", "Alice In Wonderland" and of course "The Wizard of Oz", fictional fairytales with a moral to them. Made up accounts created by human writers in the hope of making children and the naive, better adult people. The moral of these stories are meant to be tidbits of hope and love filling a reader's mind with wonderment and inspiration counteracting the despair and hatred that being born into this life of negativities and inequities can impose upon the innocent.

What is wrong with a fictional fabrication written in parables to illustrate moral lessons, why must these parables be true? What we get from these tales of heroes and heroines, who conquer good over evil is that being good is what makes us better social beings and being bad upsets the balance.

Click

Life is so strange, you suddenly exist for awhile and then, that thing you call YOU, that is the center of the universe for only you, ceases. While in existence, you look at this macrocosm, this extraordinary arena of time, space and matter, and cannot at all imagine that perhaps it was always there, HAD NO BEGINNING, AND NO END. Since you had a beginning and knowingly you will have an end, it just doesn't add up for you.

The infinitesimal sphere of intelligence, we human beings possess, can only fathom that the YOU and the MATERIALITY of this presence, had a beginning and had to be created by some ALL KNOWING BEING, WITH WISDOM SO TREMENDOUS THERE'S NOTHING THAT CAN TRANSCEND IT'S KNOWLEDGE. And that one "DAY" (what ever a day was suppose to be) PERCHANCE, FEELING A BIT BORED, DECIDED TO CREATE IT.

That is the grand flaw of being human, since we once did not exist, we must believe every thing around us did not exist until something or someone gave it tangibility. To me, this is sad and so narrow, it's like being in one dimension, if it doesn't fit our little space of recognition then it cannot be. Thank Goodness for SCIENCE, without this body of exploration we would forever remain, slightly above the apes in discovery.

Too many of us think of GOD as some Big Daddy in the sky and feel safe because the little book that Big Daddy told a handful of HIS PET, Homo sapiens to write, will answer all our small-minded, insubstantial, timorous questions about the Universe and about ourselves. AND, if we believe that these glorious illustrations, written so long ago, about fictional characters and events really did HAPPEN, we can go to bed believing we will never die and we will forever BE.

("BE" AS IN SOME STATE OF BEING, ONE WITHOUT BODY OR A SENSE OF ONE'S PERSONAL OR COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, ESPECIALLY WITHOUT THE COMPLEX ATTITUDES, BELIEFS, AND SENSITIVITIES CONSIDERED CHARACTERISTIC OF AN INDIVIDUAL. In other words, a state that doesn't remotely resemble the reality we were born into... So what good does it do?
Makes no sense to me!).

Below, is an article written by the former priest, James Carroll, which says volumes in only a few paragraphs about the topic "God". ThinkingBlue

parable n. A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson.

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All God, all the time
By James Carroll
October 17, 2005

WHEN THEY told us in Sunday School that God is everywhere, they could have been talking about the recent news cycle. With Harriet Miers, we see that God lives in the politics of the US Supreme Court nomination process. In a culture defined by the separation of church and state, President Bush and his allies have mastered the use of religious affirmation as a deflection not only of criticism, but of critical thought. God is thus a TRUMP CARD, a free pass. If the president, senators, and members of Congress can justify their decisions by appeals to God, why not judges?

''Acts of God" is the phrase applied to staggering natural disasters, from Katrina and the Pakistan earthquake to the coming avian flu. At the same time, survivors of such catastrophes credit God for having saved them, as if God callously let all those others die. Humans are perplexed when wanton suffering occurs, especially among children, and assumptions about God are overturned. The question becomes, How could God let this happen? Today, in Pakistan, where fatal disease, hunger, and thirst go unabated, the very ones who praised God last week for sparing them are pleading with God now, to no avail.

In the argument between creationists and scientists, those aiming to defend God make absolute claims about mysteries of the deep past as if they themselves were there. Air Force flyers have thought of God as their co-pilot in the past, but in today's Air Force, God sits atop the chain-of-command. At the US Air Force Academy, which was rocked by sex scandals not long ago, God is now the designated dean of discipline, but this jeopardizes infidel careers. Unit cohesion requires conversion. Indeed, displays of faith can be a prerequisite for promotion throughout a government where the White House itself is a House of God. In Iraq, meanwhile, someone will turn his body into a bomb today, killing others by blowing himself up while saying, ''God is great!"

Who is this ''God" in whose name so many diverse and troubling things take place? Why is it assumed to be good to affirm one's faith in such an entity? Why is it thought to be wicked to deny its existence? Most striking about so much talk of ''God," both to affirm and to deny, is the way in which many who use this language seem to know exactly to what and/or whom it refers. God is spoken of as if God is the Wizard of Oz or the great CEO in the sky or Grampa or the Grand Inquisitor. God is the clock-maker, the puppeteer, the author. God is the light, the mother, the wind across the sea, the breath in every set of lungs. God is the horizon. God is all of these things.

But what if God is none of them? What if every possible affirmation that can be made of God, even by the so-called religions of revelation, falls so far short of the truth of God as to be false? Who is the atheist then? The glib God-talk that infuses public discourse in contemporary America descends from an anthropomorphic habit of mind, dating to the Bible and beyond, that treats God like an intimate friend or well-known enemy, depending on the weather and the outcome of battles. But there is another strain in the Biblical tradition that insists on the radical otherness of God, an otherness so complete that even the use of the word ''God" as a name for this Other One is forbidden. According to this understanding, God is God precisely in escaping and transcending comprehension by human beings. This can seem to mean that God is simply unknowable. If so, humans are better off not bothering about it. Atheism, agnosticism, or childish anthropomorphism -- all the same.

But here is where it gets tricky. What if God's unknowability is the most illuminating profundity humans can know about God? That would mean that religious language, instead of opening into the absolute certitude on which all forms of triumphal superiority are based, would open into true modesty. The closed creation, in which every question has an answer, would be replaced by an infinite cosmos where every answer sparks a new question. If what we mean by ''God" is the living pulse of such open-endedness, then God is of no use in systems of dominance, censorship, power. God is everywhere, yes. But, also, God is nowhere. And that, too, shows in America, especially in its fake religiosity.

James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.

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Fearless Bible Study

by Kyle Williams

The Bible is a valuable collection of ancient documents. It enhances
the annals of history, preserves literary genius, and inspires the
imagination with entertaining stories. It is a precious book, many people
having lived and died to place it into our hands. Of all books, the Bible
is among the most influential. It is also among the most misunderstood.

One basic misunderstanding concerns the origin of the Bible. Is it the
word of an inerrant god, or is it the product of fallible human minds?
This is an important question. If the Bible were Jehovah's word, it would
behoove all of us to worship him and order our lives according to the
Bible's teachings, thereby avoiding eternal torture at the hands of a
not-always-merciful god. If the Bible is a human fabrication, we can set
aside our groundless fears, futile hopes, and costly rituals, claiming the
freedom of a happier, more prosperous life. Is the Bible an essential
guide to eternal bliss? Or is it merely a collection of ancient legends
and parables, to be placed on a shelf with Homer's Odyssey, Aesop's
Fables, and Virgil's Aeneid?

What is the best approach to this important question? Some people
objectively and fearlessly examine the evidence and arrive at a logical,
reasonable conclusion. Others choose the most convenient default, and
disregard any evidence to the contrary. They may fear the loss of family
or friends, or they may fear an upheaval that could deprive them of their
emotional security blanket. Before deciding between the objective approach
and the convenient evasion, it is wise to weigh the benefits and count the
cost of each.

Believers may find it difficult to study the Bible objectively. Many
churches encourage Bible study, but only through the rose-colored glasses
of assumed inerrancy. Their members rarely feel free to question the
veracity of the Bible. Reason, disdainfully called intellectualism, is
discouraged. Faith, the acceptance of the Bible without requiring cogent
evidence, is regarded as a virtue, and given top priority as the first
principle of the gospel.

A Christian's reluctance to question the Bible is not unwarranted. His
relationships, social connections, philosophy, and lifestyle are
profoundly affected by Christianity. It is the foundation on which he
builds his entire life. The Christian religion is founded on the belief
that the Bible is God's word. Destroy the doctrine of a divine Bible, and
Christianity crumbles into a heap of ruins. Destroy a man's religion, and
his life is dramatically changed. This can put a tremendous strain on
relationships and result in the loss of family, friends, social standing,
and even employment.

Many believers consider the risk too great and recoil from the thought
of examining their foundations too closely. They study the Bible
selectively. They emphasize the passages that seem to defend their
religion, avoiding those that might prove embarrassing. They demand logic
and evidence in everyday life, but shift their minds into neutral when
religion is discussed. They maintain the status quo by sacrificing reason
on the altar of convenience.

Hans Christian Andersen wrote a delightful short story called "The
Emperor's New Suit." In the story, two charlatans pretend to weave a
fabric that is invisible to fools; only the wise can see it. From this
imaginary fabric they pretend to tailor a suit of clothes for the Emperor
to wear in a procession. Since nobody wants to be thought a fool,
everybody claims to see the "beautiful" robes as the Emperor parades down
the street in the nude. The pretense is shattered, however, when an
innocent child exclaims, "But he has nothing on at all." The Emperor
blushes because he knows that the child is right, but he thinks, "Now I
must bear up to the end," and he continues down the street, parading his
imaginary clothing.

This story illustrates the human tendency to ignore the facts and
follow the current of popular opinion, accepting as true whatever is
deemed most advantageous in gaining or maintaining the respect of family
and friends. Certainly, popularity is desirable, but at what cost?
Self-deception? The deception of others? Willful ignorance may enhance
one's reputation in some circles. It may temporarily provide a sense of
security. In the long run, however, it will prove to be an embarrassing
weakness. Those who claim to see the emperor's imaginary clothes will be
put to shame by the innocent child who proclaims the truth.

Those who dare to face the issue – whether the Bible is really God's
word – may experience some emotional discomfort. They may pay the high
price of strained or severed relationships. For their honesty, though,
they will gain the freedom and peace of mind that result from a knowledge
of the truth. They are heroes, standing up for the right and refusing to
deceive for the sake of their own convenience. They fearlessly take
responsibility for their own research, not relying on mere opinion, but
demanding accurate evidence.

Dear Christian reader: You alone can decide your own stance. If you
decide that your present relationships are more important than the truth,
you must stop reading at once and take up the slogan that "ignorance is
bliss." If you are determined to seek out the truth, regardless of
consequences, read on, my courageous friend.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John
8:32) Copyright by Kyle Williams 1999

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Skeptical Views Of The Bible

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A BOOK OF LIFE

When the door of life opened for me.
How much of it did I really see?.
Is life a state, a place of being?
Are we encaged till this day of freeing?

What is the zone between birth and death?
This state of being after one’s first breath?
We live day by day creating events,
Days of honor and some of laments.

You live and make your own history
A book of sorts of a great mystery.
Then someday your being finally ends
Records gone of family and friends

Best write it all down while you exist
Pages and pages of life reminisced
A book of life, a one of a kind
A history of you to leave behind. - THINKINGBLUE

MORE THINKING BLUE LINKS

CAROLYNCONNECTION.COM

Warning very Graphic REAL PICTURES OF WAR

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it! ThinkingBlue blogspot
BlogRankings.com

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For whom the bell tolls a poem
(No man is an island) by John Donne

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
These famous words by John Donne were not originally written as a poem -
the passage is taken from the 1624 Meditation 17, from Devotions Upon
Emergent Occasions and is prose.
The words of the original passage Click Here

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DON'T LET BUSH PARDON THIS TURKEY!

Please sign the petition to tell Bush, we will not stand still for this pardon...
Click here to sign petition and read my note to President Bush.

Dear Mr. Bush, if you pardon Scooter Libby, after he is found guilty of his charges, you will be displaying your own guilt in the matter. But I know, you boys don't care about that or you wouldn't have blatantly showed America's middle and lower classes what you really think of them by all your Social Cuts, caving in to the Banking Corporations demand to change the Bankruptcy Laws and of course the really BIGGIE nose-thumb of Declaring an unnecessary WAR for the same proletariats to fight and die in! Thinking Blue

Only Real Turkeys Deserve a Pardon
Every Thanksgiving the president pardons a turkey. But this year George Bush may try to use the holiday to slip in another pardon -- of his friend and former senior aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was indicted for perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
Conservatives around Washington are buzzing with rumors that George Bush will regain control of his lame-duck presidency by ending the investigation into manipulated intelligence on Iraq and the subsequent cover-up with a pardons for anyone involved.
Show that you are watching -- let George Bush know he can't get away with pardoning this turkey over the Thanksgiving holiday: https://www.democrats.org/page/petition/nopardon
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A Cyber Friend sent this my way:

Please read this. Consider the ending of this article carefully. It
would seem to be a true statement from all I've heard, witnessed, and
seen in my lifetime, whether in Haiti or here in the U.S., whether with
people of color or of religions or no religions or of "you name it." We
seem to have this insane racism that grows and feeds on itself and is
almost impossible to be rid of. It is the mother of all battles to be
won. It is the foundation for battles in places like Iraq and
Afghanistan and in all the Latin American countries. It is the mother
of all Freudian Projections that WE DO to our brothers and sisters
around the world. It is white-skinned arrogance that is killing the
world. We've seen that arrogance in the VX battle here in Dayton --
which continues elsewhere. We've seen it in the horrors of Fallujah
where our military is doing the same things as done in Vietnam with
White Phosphorus and Napalm where skin is literally peeled off to the
bone.

If we have been afraid to confront racism on our doorstep by speaking
out, by taking a stand, let's consider why we do that. And, let's give
THANKS for our bounty -- but let's also be strong in inviting "others"
to join in the bounty. Amen and have a nice Thanksgiving. God love
all of you who continue to stand up for peace, for dignity, for love,
for real freedom and democracy................................
Undermining Haiti

By Mark WeisbrotThis op-ed was printed in the December 12, 2005 issue of
The Nation. If anyone wants to reprint it, please let me know.
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History is repeating itself in Haiti, as democracy is being destroyed
for the second time in the past fifteen years. Amazingly, the main
difference seems to be that this time it is being done openly and in
broad daylight, with the support of the "international community" and
the United Nations. The first coup against Haiti's democratically
elected government, in September 1991, was condemned even by the George
H.W. Bush Administration. This although the CIA had funded the leaders
of the coup and--according to a founder of the death squads that
murdered thousands of people during the 1991-94 military
dictatorship--also sponsored the repression. All this was covert, and
the official position of the United States and most other countries was
that the dictatorship was not legitimate.

But when in February 2004 Haiti's democratically elected president,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown for the second time by remnants
of that prior dictatorship--including convicted mass murderers and
former death squad leaders--this was considered a legitimate "regime
change." The Caricom countries, showing great courage, objected
strenuously, as did some members of the US Congress. But these voices
were not powerful enough to influence the course of events.

The fix was in: The US Agency for International Development and the
International Republican Institute (the international arm of the
Republican Party) had spent tens of millions of dollars to create and
organize an opposition--however small in numbers--and to make Haiti
under Aristide ungovernable. The whole scenario was strikingly similar
to the series of events that led to the coup against Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez in April 2002. The same US organizations were
involved, and the opposition--as in Venezuela--controlled and used the
major media as a tool for destabilization. And in both cases the coup
leaders, joined by Washington, announced to the world that the elected
president had "voluntarily resigned"--which later turned out to be
false.

Washington had an added weapon against the Haitian government. Taking
advantage of Haiti's desperate poverty and dependence on foreign aid, it
stopped international aid to the government, from the summer of 2000
until the 2004 coup. As economist Jeffrey Sachs has pointed out, the
World Bank also contributed to the destabilization effort by cutting off
funding.

Now the coup government, headed by unelected Prime Minister Gérard
Latortue, is trying to organize an election. But it is an election that
would not be seen as legitimate in any country, not even Iraq.
Everything is being arranged so that the country's largest political
party, Fanmi Lavalas--which at any moment before the coup would have
overwhelmingly swept national elections--cannot win. Many of the party's
leaders are in jail, generally on trumped-up or nonexistent charges,
including the constitutional prime minister, Yvon Neptune, and Father
Gérard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest and likely presidential candidate
if he were not jailed. Jean-Juste has been declared a prisoner of
conscience by Amnesty International. Other leaders are in hiding or in
exile, since the murder of political opponents is common. In one
massacre in August, witnesses described Haitian police arriving at a
soccer match and pointing out people in the crowd, who were then hacked
to death by civilian accomplices with machetes. UN troops have also been
implicated in some of the violence, and the UN has promised an
investigation.

The coup government, with an electoral commission that has no pretense
of impartiality, is also set to disenfranchise a huge number of its
opponents. There have been about one-twentieth as many registration
sites for this election as there were for previous elections, and it is
mostly Fanmi Lavalas voters who have been excluded. According to party
spokespeople, the party has not registered any candidates for president,
and many of its voters will boycott the election unless their demands
for the release of political prisoners and an end to the persecution are
met.

The election has been postponed three times, most recently to December
27. Setting the date two days after Christmas will also help minimize
voter turnout.

Will the world accept this farce of an election? The Bush Administration
and its allies seem to be hoping that Haiti is just too poor and too
black for anyone to care about whether democratic, constitutional or
even human rights are respected there. They have also cited the violence
from both sides of the conflict to disguise the fact that most of that
violence is directed at supporters of the ousted government to prevent
them from returning to power through a fair election.

But if this election goes forward without the release of political
prisoners and the restoration of basic rights and security, it will not
only be a tragedy for Haiti. It will be a throwback to the days when the
United States was able to destabilize, overthrow and replace elected
governments that it did not like. It will be a huge step backward for
democracy in this hemisphere.

Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
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My reply:
For the life of me... I could not figure out why Bush and his Bullies were
interested in Haiti... After reading your article I searched Google and
came up with these few reasonings, from this link... http://www.madre.org/articles/lac/haiticoup.html

Thanks m, for your heartfelt words of wisdom, ThinkingBlue

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Why is the US Interested in Haiti?

• As pointed out by the Dominion weblog and other observers, the
  fact that Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere makes it,
  paradoxically, important in several ways.

• As a source of cheap labor: For years, US-based assembly
  plants have paid Haitian workers pennies an hour to produce
  name-brand clothing sold in the US.

• As an anchor against rising wages: Haiti’s poverty wages keep
  production costs down across the hemisphere: corporations can
  always threaten to relocate to Haiti when workers elsewhere demand
  better pay.

• As a dangerous example: Haiti, the first country founded by
  slaves, has always been suspect in the eyes of the US, founded by
  slave-owners. Today, the US worries that if the hemisphere’s
  poorest country can determine its own course, other countries may
  also claim the right to formulate their own policies without
  interference from Washington. (Bingo!
  ThinkingBlue)

Double Standards and Double Speak

• We have been told that Aristide is a tyrant guilty of human
  rights abuses. Yet Colombia, the hemisphere’s worst human rights
  offender, is also the hemisphere’s number one recipient of US aid.
  We’re told that Aristide presided over flawed elections in May
  2000 – the same year that Bush stole the White House. Also in May
  2000, Peru’s President Fujimori denied an outright victory to the
  opposition presidential candidate, without retribution from the
  US.

• Since 2000, the US has encouraged Haiti’s opposition to refuse
  to participate in elections and, at the same time, declared that
  elections will only be considered legitimate if the opposition
  participates. In fact, the Bush Administration has upheld a long
  US tradition of talking about respect for democracy in Haiti while
  supporting the country’s most anti-democratic, pro-business
  forces.

• The US role in Haiti’s overlapping crises has consistently
  been obscured by mainstream media, which routinely refers to
  terrible conditions in Haiti without context or explanation. We
  hear about the death squads that killed thousands in the 1990s,
  but little about CIA funding and training for these forces. We
  read that international aid to Haiti is suspended, but not that
  the embargo is entirely a product of US demands. We hear about
  hunger and poverty in Haiti, but less about the US policies that
  created those conditions (e.g., forcing Haiti to lift tariffs on
  heavily-subsidized US-grown rice, bankrupting millions of peasant
  farmers and forbidding Aristide from raising the minimum wage).
  
  THAT IS HOW THE REPUBLICANS CONTROL.... ThinkingBlue

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MORE THINKING BLUE LINKS

CAROLYNCONNECTION.COM

Warning very Graphic REAL PICTURES OF WAR

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it! ThinkingBlue blogspot
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BlogRankings.com

THANKSGIVING DAY IN AMERICA 2005

Thanksgiving, is a day for giving thanks for all the blessings bestowed upon us through the year. But, for the past Bush years, many households are experiencing sadness and strife. I can't imagine how somber a gathering must be, on this day, with an empty chair where once a loved one had sat for turkey dinner and now is buried in a flag draped coffin.

Call me a bleeding heart Liberal, I don't care. This is beyond sadness and if a family has lost a member to a worthless war perpetrated by chicken-hawks, whose dinner table holds no empty chairs, and they are proud, for they think their loved one died for their country. Well to you my dear misguided friend, perhaps, you are the lucky ones. For most families of the lost, to this horrible war, are grieved beyond words. I am so glad that Cindy Sheehan finds strength in all she has accomplished.

Hats off to you Cindy, who found steadfast power in your profound melancholy. ThinkingBlue

Blessings?

By Cindy Sheehan t r u t h o u t Perspective
Thursday 24 November 2005
It was hard to feel blessed today as I sat at Casey's grave here in Vacaville, California. Sure, a lot of good things have happened in my sphere of influence this year, but the blessings are always hampered by the reason for the blessings.

If Casey had not been killed in Iraq in George's imperialistic war for power and wealth, I wouldn't be on this path. I wish to God I weren't on this path. But I am, so here are the blessings I am thankful for this year.

The main blessings that I can thankfully still count are my three children: Carly, Andy, and Janey. They are incredibly wonderful children who didn't ask for the trail that George Bush has set them on by the murder of their oldest brother. They didn't ask to have a mom who is away most of the time trying to make the world a better place to leave for them. They didn't ask for it, but they are handling everything with the courage and integrity that are the hallmarks of Sheehan children.

I can look at the events of the past week or so and be thankful that some Democrats are finally displaying a modicum of courage in speaking out against the war and for bringing the troops home from this monstrosity. I hope we can look toward this with the expectation that the Democrats will finally unite against the immoral occupation of Iraq that has put an empty place at the holiday tables of over 2100 American families.

I can also hope against hope that the war criminals in power that advocate and condone torture and use the same chemical weapons against innocent Iraqis that they hypocritically accused Saddam of using against his own people will finally have to resign in disgrace before a mostly complicit Congress has to impeach them. After George and Co. resign in shame, someone needs to haul them off to The Hague for war crimes trials. That would be something to celebrate.

I am especially thankful for the inspiration that led me to Crawford in August to confront the criminal on his own turf. I am thankful to George, who very predictably did not meet with me and so sparked the Camp Casey Peace movement. I am extremely appreciative for the thousands of Americans who came out to Camp Casey over our three-week miraculous stay, and I am also gratified for the millions of citizens who stood behind us with their prayers and support. The peace movement is gaining momentum, and we will see our troops come home soon. This fact is overwhelmingly miraculous to me.

I have met so many amazing, loving, and delightful people since I started my quest to end the occupation of Iraq. My Gold Star Families are especially dear to me. In their tragedies they have found a way to bring their horrible grief to the forefront of the American consciousness and help America see the terrible price some of us have had to pay. One of my Gold Star Moms had her son commit suicide two years ago as George was smirkingly serving the plastic turkey. Another dad got in touch with me this week to tell me that they are sadly burying their son on the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year. The Gold Star Families for Peace are handling their losses with grace, courage and integrity. The Bush crime family and their cronies can take lessons from them. This administration full of neocon crooks has ruined the holidays for so many people worldwide. I don't know how they can choke down their turkey!

I am profoundly grateful for the life of my son Casey Austin. He always lived his life with grace, courage and integrity. His life has been a model for me in my resolve to bring his buddies home alive. Unlike George, Casey never got anything handed to him on a silver platter. Casey put himself on a silver platter and handed his young life over to save the lives of his buddies. I am not grateful for the way he died and the too many others who have tragically come home in flag-draped coffins, too. The atrocity has to end before too many more families experience the emptiness of a chair at the family table that once rang with laughter and now rings with sighs and forced, mostly false, mirth.

Since Camp Casey, I do have hope that one of these days our holidays will have real joy and laughter again. I have hope that America is ready to take back our rights, freedoms and responsibilities. I have hope that people will be held accountable for the needless death and destruction they have caused the world. I am intensely grateful for the return of hope.
I also have high hopes that we are at a unique point in history where we will be able to change the paradigm of our existence from one of perpetual war and killing to one of perpetual love and peace. This will be the best blessing that a mom could ever ask for! Maybe next year!
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CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!

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LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!

LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!

I called today's blog LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY! Because that is what the Republicans have encouraged us all to chant. Their theme has always been BE AFRAID, BE VERY, VERY AFRAID OF THE CAMOUFLAGED TERRORISTS THAT ROAM THE WORLD. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE AND YOU ARE NOT SAFE UNLESS WE ARE IN CHARGE.
My goodness, I was so tired of hearing their dire warnings, I started to laugh at them... the coded colors of fear. I thought, one day they are going to tell us we are going to be attacked and we will all laugh in their face and say "WHAT ELSE IS NEW?". But it will be real this time and they will not be able to keep us safe because the CRY WOLF maneuvers will backfire, just like it did in the fairytale.
And so it seems, their worn-out CRY WOLF, not only doesn't work, they have nothing to replace it with. So, they still use it. And because it no longer works, it infuriates them because they don't know which way to turn now. When you rely on one modus operandi and refuse to hear any deviation on it and it suddenly breaks, there are no other systems available in a pinch.
TALK ABOUT A PINCH? They are being so pinched I even think I hear a right wing collective OUCH! Oh, what's that, do I also hear a one word loud outcry: "UNCLE!"? I certainly hope so for the sake of our country. ThinkingBlue
PS: The below Tomgram tells it all:

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Tomgram: An American Tipping Point?

Losing the Fear Factor

How The Bush Administration Got Spooked
By Tom Engelhardt

It's finally Wizard of Oz time in America. You know -- that moment
when the curtains are pulled back, the fearsome-looking wizard wreathed
in all that billowing smoke turns out to be some pitiful little guy, and
everybody looks around sheepishly, wondering why they acted as they did
for so long.

Starting on September 11, 2001 -- with a monstrous helping hand from
Osama bin Laden -- the Bush administration played the fear card with
unbelievable effectiveness. For years, with its companion "war on
terror," it trumped every other card in the American political deck.
With an absurd system for color-coding dangers
to Americans, the President, Vice President, and the highest officials
in this land were able to paint the media a "high" incendiary orange and
the Democrats an "elevated" bright yellow, functionally sidelining them.

How stunningly in recent weeks the landscape has altered -- almost
like your basic hurricane sweeping through some unprotected and
unprepared city. Now, to their amazement, Bush administration officials
find themselves thrust through the equivalent of a Star-Trekkian
wormhole into an anti-universe where everything that once worked for
them seems to work against them. As always, in the face of domestic
challenge, they have responded by attacking -- a tactic that was
effective for years. The President, Vice President, National Security
Adviser, and others have ramped up their assaults, functionally accusing
Democratic critics of little short of treason -- of essentially
undermining American forces in the field, if not offering aid and
comfort to the enemy. On his recent trip to Asia,

the President put it almost as bluntly as his Vice President did at home: "As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their
elected leaders who voted to send them into war continue to stand behind them." The! Democrats were, he said over and over, "irresponsible" in their attacks. Dick Cheney called them spineless "opportunists" peddling dishonestly for political advantage.

But instead of watching the Democrats fall silent under assault as they have for years, they unexpectedly found themselves facing a roiling oppositional hubbub threatening the unity of their own congressional party. In his sudden, heartfelt attack on Bush administration Iraq plans ("a flawed policy wrapped in illusion") and his call for a six-month timetable for American troop withdrawal, Democratic congressional hawk John Murtha took on the Republicans over their attacks more directly than any mainstream Democrat has ever done. ("I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done. I resent the fact, on Veterans Day, he [Bush] criticized Democrats for criticizing them."! ) Perhaps more important, as an ex-Marine and decorated Vietnam veteran clearly speaking for a military constituency (and possibility some Pentagon brass), he gave far milder and more "liberal" Democrats cover.

For the first time since the war in Iraq began, "tipping points," constantly announced in Iraq but never quite in sight, have headed for home. Dan Bartlett, counselor to the President and drafter of recent Presidential attacks on the Democrats, told David Sanger of the New York Times that
"Bush's decision to fight back… arose after he became concerned the [Iraq] debate was now at a tipping point"; while Howard Fineman of Newsweek dubbed Murtha himself a "one-man tipping point."

Something indeed did seem to tip, for when the White House and associates took Murtha on,
John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, and other Democrats leaped aggressively to his defense. In fact, something quite unimaginable even a few days earlier occurred.

When Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio, the most junior member of the House, accused Murtha (via an unnamed Marine colonel supposedly from her district) of being a coward, Democratic Representative Harold Ford from Tennessee "charged across the chamber's center aisle to the Republican side screaming that Ms. Schmidts's attack had been unwarranted. ‘You guys are pathetic!' yelled Representative Martin Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts. ‘Pathetic.'"Click here to read more of this dispatch.

MORE THINKING BLUE LINKS

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it!
ThinkingBlue blogspot

BlogRankings.com

SHAME ON THEM

SHAME ON THEM MR. MURTHA FOR SWIFT-BOATING YOU!

Dear Rep. John Murtha, When I saw you on TV "live" the other day, I couldn't believe my eyes. There stood a brave man speaking words of truth. A scarce event these days. Only on the Internet can we read such opinions. But there you were exposing all and jeopardizing your career and respect. I thought immediately, "HOW WILL THEY SWIFT-BOAT THIS HERO?" I didn't have to wait long. The chicken hawks are out there trying to discredit you BIG TIME. But things have changed for them and like you said " The American public is way ahead of us".

I was one of those people who thought this war was wrong from the get-go and used my webpage abilities to try and get the message out to others. But, I have no fame and I have no clout so the farthest my statements would go were to a few family members and friends.

That is why your word means so much, you can convey the truth to millions and millions who feel the same way you do. Please stand by this pledge to reality and honesty. Don't allow the cowardly Republican ideologues, who hide behind the troops they have sent to die for their naive ideology, to disquiet you. It is all so sad, nevertheless, just remember, we love you and you are the crème de la crème MR. MURTHA! The bottom-line is, we need to bring our troops home as quickly as we can, in a safe and timely manner, that is all that matters. Thank you again,

This was my message to Rep. John Murtha, I hope you
will write words of encouragement to this wonderful man, who cares about
WE THE PEOPLE. He may be the only one who does. ThinkingBlue

Please write a note of encouragement to Rep. John
Murtha: Click Below

http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/shameonthem/fdwkao

REP. JOHN MURTHA
AN AMERICAN HERO
CLICK TO GO TO HIS WEBSITE

Always great when a Republican noted figure like Larry Johnson comes out against the war and the thugs pushing it. Judy (this was just sent to me by a friend... It is so good I made it an addendum to my original SHAME ON THEM... ThinkingBlue)

Why John Murtha Is Right!

By Larry Johnson - Booman Tribune
Friday 18 November 2005
John Murtha's courageous call for American troops to leave Iraq is the right policy at the right time. The Bush chickenhawks already are impugning Murtha's patriotism, but when you have a purple heart and a silver star compared to a President with a spotty attendance record with the National Guard and a Vice President with five deferments, that dog don't hunt.

The situation in Iraq is clear. The United States does not have enough troops on the ground to contain and destroy the insurgency. The Iraqi insurgency consists of at least 26 different groups and draws upon as many as 250,000 supporters. These groups represent a spectrum of beliefs ranging from secular nationalists to hard core jihadists. The only thing they agree on is that they hate the invader; which is us.

To defeat the insurgency we will need at least 400,000 troops on the ground. At the present time, the United States does not have sufficient troop strength to ramp up to that level. Our choice is simple - either we come up with the additional forces and commit ourselves to an effort that will stretch on for at least five years with 400,000 plus soldiers and marines in theatre or we withdraw.

How do we get 400,000 troops on the ground? That will require a draft or a commitment by NATO forces and other countries to provide forces. Even if we start a draft tomorrow, we will not be able to field combat capable divisions for at least two years. Basic training requires 10 weeks. Advance infantry training adds an additional six months. Once the troops are trained they need to train as units. The unit training, starting with companies and working up to division level exercises, will require at least 18 months (and that is an optimistic scenario).
In the interim we would need to call upon NATO forces to deploy to Iraq and conduct a coordinated counter insurgency effort. This effort, over the next two years, will likely produce at least 10,000 fatalities and 80,000 wounded. Are we willing as a country to pay that price? I don't think so.

Meanwhile, our efforts on the ground are succeeding in killing and capturing a large number of suspected insurgents. But our kill capture effort is producing a blowback - Iraqis who are incarcerated and the surviving relatives of those killed respond to our effort by joining the insurgents. Instead of reducing the insurgency our efforts are providing a catalyst that recruits new insurgents faster than we can kill them.

There also is no doubt that our efforts are providing a recruiting poster for jihadists. Last year, for example, the number of terrorist attacks that resulted in people being killed and wounded was the highest number ever recorded since the CIA started keeping statistics in 1968. The Al Qaeda groups have reduced the planning time required for mass casualty attacks. Prior to 9-11, Al Qaeda carried out such attacks every 18 months. Now, they are able to mount operations in only three or four months. The trend line is going in the wrong direction

I see no political will on the part of the American public to accept a draft and to accept 90,000 casualties during the next four years. The elections in December will not produce a political outcome that will persuade the various insurgents to lay down their weapons and focus their energies on political debate in a legislature and in newspapers.

Our best alternative is to withdraw from Iraq and establish covert relations with the secular insurgents. Over the long run our interest as a nation is to prevent the religious jihadists from consolidating their control over Iraq and forging a closer relationship with Iran. The question is not, will there be a civil war? A civil war is already underway. Rather, the proper question is what can we do as a nation to protect our longterm interests?

We have two key long term strategic interests. First, we want to promote a secular society. The current Iraqi constitution enshrines the Quran as the law of the land and encourages sectarian strife. Second, we must enlist the support of Russia, China, Europe, and the Muslim nations in rooting out and destroying the jihadists. Most of that effort can be handled with intelligence and law enforcement work rather than military operations. The Beatles had it right - we can get by with some help from our friends.

Given these facts, John Murtha is right. We must withdraw, sooner rather than later, from Iraq. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in a quagmire reminiscent of Vietnam. Only this time, the jihadists who are carrying out urban combat operations will be equipped and trained through their experience to carry out future attacks against our interests around the world. John Murtha and Chuck Hagel are patriots who understand this dilemma. We have lit a fuse on the next generation of jihadist terrorism. We must douse the fuse with water, and put it out sooner rather than later.

Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and US State Department's Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC's Nightline, NBC's Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world.

---------------------------------------------------------------

RADIO ADDRESS FROM LARRY JOHNSON July 23, 2005

It isn't often we let a Republican give the weekly Democratic Radio Response, but we thought everyone should hear Larry Johnson's story. You can click here to listen or read the text below.

Good morning. I'm Larry Johnson, an American, a registered Republican, a former intelligence official at the CIA, and a friend of Valerie Plame.

I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985 with Valerie. We were members of the Career Trainee Program. Senator Orin Hatch wrote the letter of recommendation for me which I believe that helped open the doors to me at the CIA.

From the first day we walked into the building, all members of my training class were undercover, including Valerie. In other words, we had to lie to our family and friends about where we worked. We could only tell those who had an absolute need to know where we worked. In my case, I told my wife.

I knew the wife of Ambassador Wilson, Valerie, as Valerie P. Even though all of us in the training class held Top Secret Clearances, we were asked to limit our knowledge of our other classmates to the first initial of their last name.

So, Larry J. knew Val P. rather than Valerie Plame. I really didn't realize what her last name was until her cover was betrayed by the Government officials who gave columnist Robert Novak her true name.

I am stunned that government officials at the highest level have such ignorance about a matter so basic to the national security structure of this nation.

Robert Novak's compromise of Valerie led to scrutiny of CIA officers that worked with her. This not only compromised her “cover” company but potentially every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company or with her.

We must put to bed the lie that she was not undercover. For starters, if she had not been undercover then the CIA would not have referred the matter to the Justice Department.
Val only told those with a need to know about her status in order to safeguard her cover, not compromise it. She was content with being known as an energy consultant married to Ambassador Joe Wilson and the mother of twins.

I voted for George Bush in November of 2000 because I was promised a President who would bring a new tone and a new ethical standard to Washington.

So where are we? The President has flip-flopped on his promise to fire anyone at the White House implicated in a leak. We now know from press reports that at least Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby are implicated in these leaks and may have lied during the investigation.

Instead of a President concerned first and foremost with protecting this country and the intelligence officers who serve it, we are confronted with a President who is willing to sit by while political operatives savage the reputations of good Americans like Valerie and Joe Wilson.

This is wrong and this is shameful.

We deserve people who work in the White House who are committed to protecting classified information, telling the truth to the American people, and living by example the idea that a country at war with Islamic extremists cannot focus its efforts on attacking other American citizens who simply tried to tell the truth.
I am Larry Johnson. Thank you for listening.

Which Bush Brother Do Floridians Hate More? Tough Call

MORE THINKING BLUE LINKS

CAROLYNCONNECTION.COM
Warning very Graphic REAL PICTURES OF WAR

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it! ThinkingBlue blogspot

BlogRankings.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VERACITY IN THE AIR

CLICK TO GO TO PAGE "VERACITY IN THE AIR"

There has recently been the scent of veracity in the air, and it smells so good! Since 2000 and even before that, most of us progressives had known what type of person, one, GEORGE W. BUSH was. We knew he was a bumbling, simple man with little character, but anytime we would mention this, we were shouted down by the right, telling us how stupid we were and how, we possessed little insight... "GEORGE W. BUSH was a brilliant man and would go down in history as one of the BEST PRESIDENTS WE EVER HAD" this, they would reiterate as they held their hands to their naive ears, so not to hear any derogatory remarks about THEIR (as in, not our) LEADER. Now it seems we were RIGHT all along and not only did we possess INSIGHT...

We were unequivocally clairvoyant (not really, we just sort of used, plain old common sense).

Below, Katrina vanden Heuvel gathered the bits and pieces of the Bush and the Far Right's deceptions in a book and I for one, want to get my hands on this book.
A publication that should go down in history as one of the TRUTH TELLING STORIES OF ALL TIMES. Thank goodness, for the BRAVE TRUTH TELLERS. ThinkingBlue

PS: The picture below is how the Bush Words look in my FRONTPAGE 2000 spell checker... notice the red lines highlighting Bush's malapropisms. I wonder if his speech writers smack themselves in the head every time Bush, ludicrously misuses a word they have written down... if so they must be, A BIT NUTTY FROM HEAD TRAUMA BY NOW.

malapropism n. 1. Ludicrous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound.

Also Read An attempt to excuse the inexcusable
Published: 15 November 2005

AND

DEMAND YOU REPRESENTATIVE TAKE ACTION ON TORTURE

WATCH MOVIE

MORE THINKING BLUE LINKS

CAROLYNCONNECTION.COM
Warning very Graphic REAL PICTURES OF WAR

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it! ThinkingBlue blogspot

BlogRankings.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HEY Massachusetts' BRING HOME THE GUARD!

This sounds like such a good idea... especially since we the anti-war people have had no voice in War-mongering Congress, after the Republican take-over took place. I hope everyone with conscience will support this movement. ThinkingBlue

con·science n. 1.a. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong: Let your conscience be your guide.

Bringing Home the Guard

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111105E.shtml

Fed up by the inaction of politicians on both sides of the aisle, a new
group is by-passing Congress to take the issue directly to the voters.
Calling itself HomeFromIraqNow.org, it is sponsoring a binding initiative in
Massachusetts to stop future deployment of National Guard troops overseas.
If successful in Massachusetts,
HomeFromIraqNow.org
hopes to repeat the feat in some of the other 23 states that allow citizen
petitions, creating nothing short of a national referendum on the war
itself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it!
ThinkingBlue blogspot

BLOGRATINGS.COM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SAVE HABEAS CORPUS please sign petition

BEAM ME UP SCOTTIE, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

I just composed the below script as a comment on a
petition sent to the representatives and newspapers of my state of
Florida. Since it seems, this may be the only way we can speak out against
the Neoconservative's destruction of our civil liberties. I hope everyone
reading this and who feels the same way about this abominable movement to
destroy habeas corpus, will also sign the petition below. Thanks, Thinkingblue

Habeas corpus n. Abbr. hab. corp. Law. One of a variety of
writs that may be issued to bring a party before a court or judge,
having as its function the release of the party from unlawful restraint

Every human being just by being a member of the modern
species Homo sapiens, should have the right to declare innocence until
proven otherwise. I can't believe the representatives of “we the people of
the United States” are trying to obstruct this
Alienable Right, although I understand our rights have been slowly chipped away at, since after the 911 attack on US soil.

Of course we need to protect ourselves from murderous invaders but do we
really believe becoming a Totalitarian State, will make us safe? I believe
this has been a neoconservative goal and dream from the get-go?

Shame on the whole lot who voted to exclude detainees (or anyone) from
access to the U.S. courts jurisdiction to examine the legality of
“detainee detention” in Guantanamo and elsewhere. It reminds me of the
poem written during the Nazi terrorist regime by Pastor Niemöller an early
supporter of Hitler, which I will create, still, another variant of:

First they came for the detainees at Guantanamo,
I did not speak out
because I was not a detainee there.

Then they came for the Abu Ghraib prisoners
I did not speak out
because I was not a prisoner there.

Then they came for the those they wanted to torture,
I did not speak out
because I was not in jeopardy of being tortured.

Then they came to take away Habeas Corpus
I did not speak out
because I felt, this does not pertain to me.

And then they came for me,
All my Rights were gone and there
were no Laws left to protect me.

THINKINGBLUE

The 36 page Nazi police dossier offered here is the complete police file
regarding the transportation of five prisoners from Wien (Vienna - the
second largest city in Großdeutschland) to Berlin, Germany in October
1940.

While the dossier does not cover the specific arrest of each of the
prisoners, they were probably arrested by the Gestapo as a part of a
single conspiracy earlier in 1940. They were tried and convicted in Wien
in September 1940 and sentenced to the hellhole prison, Berlin Alt-Moabit.
TO VISIT THE NAZI PRISONER SITE CLICK HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SENATOR GRAHAM PULLS A FAST ONE TO ABORT HABEAS CORPUS

With virtually no advance notice the Republican majority in the Senate
(with the shameful complicity of Democrats Conrad, Landrieu, Lieberman,
Nelson, and Wyden) approved a last minute amendment to the Defense
Authorization Act to deny U.S. courts jurisdiction to examine the legality
of detainee detention in Guantanamo and elsewhere. They did this in
defiance of the not yet completely packed Supreme Court (another reason to
reject Alito), whose authority they would annul.

This is all despite the well-known FACT that many scooped up into these
hell holes of torture are not terrorists at all, some even having been
sold for bounty. Senator Bingaman immediately responded with a proposed
corrective amendment (S.AMDT.2517) to restore jurisdiction.

ACTION PAGE:

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/habeas.htm (Restore Habeas Corpus)

Is our government telling us that there is no possible way any of those
people can be convicted of a crime, by even an American jury, if they were
to have a fair trial? We also know that our own military attorneys were
fired for protesting because the tribunals already established were such
miscarriages of justice. If there is nobody in detention who can be
convicted of anything without special kangaroo courts, then the real
terrorists have indeed won, for we will then have abdicated all moral
authority. Please contact your senators at once to tell them to support
the Bingaman amendment.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to
be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at
http://www.millionphonemarch.com/habeas.htm

Powered by The People's Email Network
Copyright 2005, Patent pending, All rights reserved
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please read this from blogger Cenk Uygur

We Didn't Torture the Nazis (66 comments )

READ MORE: Washington Post, Scooter Libby, New York Times, Saddam Hussein, Dick Cheney, Fox News, CIA, John Roberts

Conservatives these days talk about the war on terror being a new kind
of war that demands new tactics. They say it’s nothing like any war we
have ever fought and the terrorists are more vicious than any previous
enemy. Really? How about the Nazis? They seemed pretty vicious – and we
never felt the need to torture them.

We won a couple of world wars without ever having to torture anyone. In
fact, we treated the German soldiers so well when the war was over some of them wanted to stay (true story). Yet, I recollect us winning that war.

How about Tim McVeigh? Wasn’t he the “worst of the worst” as the
Republicans keep calling our current detainees? Why didn’t we torture him?
Remember he was thought to have a second accomplice, a John Doe Number Two, who was never caught (this is not the same person as Terry Nichols and the authorities later claimed he never existed). I don’t know if there ever was a John Doe Number Two, but shouldn’t we have tortured McVeigh to find out just in case? How about the Ramzi Yousef and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the two men who were involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings? Why did we just arrest them, try them and lock them up for the rest of their lives when torture, secret detention and Eastern European jails were still an option? God, we were such softies back then.

How about Jeffrey Dahmer? Isn’t he the worst of the worst? He ate people. What were we thinking when we let him off the hook by not treating him to a little good old-fashioned American “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment?”

Here’s a list of other people certainly worthy of torture:

John Wayne Gacy, the Killer Clown (he raped and killed 33 people,
mostly young boys, and buried them under his house). Ted Bundy. Charles
Manson. Your local child molester. Someone who raped your daughter. A
rapist like Mike Tyson. Someone accused of slicing the heads off of two
Americans – OJ Simpson (OJ was never convicted, but neither has anyone
we’ve detained in the war on terror). A traitor like Aldrich Ames who sold
out our national secrets and endangered the lives of our secret agents. A
man who exposed the identity of a CIA agent and endangered her life and
the lives of her contacts, I. Lewis Libby.

We haven’t even gotten to dangerous gang members, drug dealers, violent
criminals, bank robbers and so many other people richly deserving of torture.

Hey, I got another idea. Why don’t we just change the name of the country from the United States of America to just … Syria? The Syrians know how to keep people in secret prisons, never report them to the Red Cross, torture them and never bring them to court. They’re really good at it. There’s a thing or two we could learn from them.

Wait a minute, I have an even better idea. You know who knows a lot about torture rooms – Saddam Hussein. He’s in our custody right now. That’s a valuable resource. We shouldn’t just let that go to waste. Let’s torture him so he can tell us the best ways to torture other people.

Remember when we used to believe in the American justice system?

Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) says a little torture never hurt anybody
because we are trying “to detain and interrogate the worst of the worst.” Senator Roberts voted against an amendment to ban “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.” Inhuman treatment? Does that sound like the American way to you?

Vice President Dick Cheney says the detainees are “really bad people” who are getting “better than they deserve.” The Washington Post has written an editorial called the “Vice President for Torture.” They highlight the energetic efforts of Cheney to stop a bill in the Senate that would outlaw torture. This is the Vice President of the United States of America. How can we argue torture is un-American when our Vice President is lobbying for it?

And then Fox News Channel puts up this doozy of a graphic: “Why the Fuss About Torturing People Who Wants Us Dead?”

Indeed, why all the fuss? The American way of life is such a hassle. The burdensome legal system, giving people rights, trying to act like decent human beings. It can really wear a person down. Let’s just scrap the whole thing.

Remember when we used to proudly say the American justice system was
the best in the world?

I know the excuse a lot of people will have is that most of these
detainees are not American citizens. So true. They’re not like us, so
let’s treat them in sub-human ways. No need to be decent to people who
weren’t even born in this country. Were the Nazis American citizens? We
still managed to treat them humanely and still win -- and eventually even
win over the hearts and minds of the German people so they adopted our
system of government. Or the system of government we used to have.

By the way, lest you forget, Jose Padilla is still in a secret prison and has never been given any of his constitutional rights – and he is an American citizen. Though his skin is so brown, I don’t know if Republicans think that counts.

And my favorite excuse – they weren’t wearing the right uniforms. So,
we torture people because we didn’t like what they were wearing? Talk
about a killer fashion statement. I love the idea that we invade a country
and when people fight back in whatever clothes they happen to be wearing,
we tell them we can torture them because they weren’t wearing what we told them they should be wearing when we invaded them.

This administration really knows how take absurdity to a whole new level.

We have to make a decision. Do we want to change the tenor of this
country? Do we want to change our principles? Do we want to become a whole new country? It’s a democracy. If you keep voting for these republicans, they can take us in that bold new direction. Maybe we can even amend the constitution, withdraw from all international treaties, and repeal our own anti-torture laws and roll back some of our pesky rights.

Or we can throw out all of these abhorrent politicians who never understood what this country is all about, who don’t believe in the American justice system, and who don’t believe in the American way of life. We can tell the world that they are an embarrassment to the country, they are not what America stands for, they are unpatriotic and un-American.

These cowards have let al-Qaeda accomplish one of their goals – making us change who we are. They have let us get a little uglier, a little less just, a little less decent and a little less American.

And there are people who still applaud these traitors to the American cause. People who are selling out our principles from the inside. Now, I have one question left for you – are you one of them or do you still believe in America?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hunter S. Thompson once said:

"We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world --
a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live
peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores
with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how
history will judge us. No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out
of our way, or we'll kill you. "Well, shit on that dumbness, George W.
Bush does not speak for me or my son or my mother or my friends or the
people I respect in this world. We didn't vote for these cheap, greedy
little killers who speak for America today -- and we will not vote for
them again in 2002. Or 2004. Or ever. "Who does vote for these dishonest
shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this
innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking
half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid rich kids like George
Bush? "They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up
for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid
and vicious in the American character. They are the racists and hate
mongers among us -- they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats
of these Nazis. "And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or
not. F--k them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GOP Memo Wishes for Another Terror Attack BY Bob Cesca

READ MORE: George W. Bush
I have this crazy theory that warnings of the 9/11 attacks were ignored because elements of the administration and the PNAC neocons, who had previously mused about a "Pearl Harbor event", needed to secure popular support for war in the Middle East. The "Greater Good" theory. They (the neocon leadership) saw a massive global threat from the Middle East which could potentially kill millions, so they felt sacrificing a few hundred or thousand might be acceptable if it allowed them to prevent exponentially more casualties.

Like I said, it's just a crazy theory. But while I'm in tin-foil hat territory, look up something called Operation Northwoods; look up something called The U.S.S. Maine; and then read this PNAC memorandum.

But this week, Capitol Hill Blue published an article detailing a top secret GOP Memo which includes language that should infuriate even the most hard core Bush apologists. Capitol Hill Blue:

A confidential memo circulating among senior Republican leaders suggests that a new attack by terrorists on U.S. soil could reverse the sagging fortunes of President George W. Bush as well as the GOP and "restore his image as a leader of the American people."

By God, let's hope a terrorist kills a bunch of civilians on
American soil so Bush and the Baby Jesus won't cry any more! Words can't describe how pathetic and dangerous this line of thinking is. More:

The closely-guarded memo lays out a list of scenarios to bring the Republican party back from the political brink, including a devastating attack by terrorists that could “validate” the President’s war on terror and allow Bush to “unite the country” in a “time of national shock and sorrow.”

It certainly worked on September "the" 11th. An marble-mouthed
frat boy who lost the popular vote and had never succeeded in life
on his own merit suddenly became the hallmark of strength, honor,
and American might. And he can do it again -- if there's another
attack. But what'll it be this time? Dirty bomb in New York? An RPG
fired at the Indian Point nuclear power plant? Suicide car bombings
in Los Angeles? Or worse?

Rest assured that your Republican leaders are hard at work
brainstorming ideas which include hoping for a terrorist attack in
order to increase their poll numbers. This is how your Republican
leadership thinks. This is their idea of "moral values". Be as
corrupt as you want: lie, steal, cheat, kill, torture, pollute,
protect your cronies, and collect the checks -- there's always more
terrorism.

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