Mything the Point

Someone is gonna be red in the face...

2007-03-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

“The Cherokee people exercised the most basic democratic right, the right to vote,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

How are you going to argue with an Indian Chief named Chad Smith? Besides, what better weekend to exercise this right than the first weekend in March?

When marchers gathered at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965, to demand voting rights, the nation was forced to acknowledge the depth and breadth of racial discrimination and bigotry that existed in the United States.

Sounds like a success story to me. I mean, an historically disenfranchised nation that has suffered discrimination and hardship on a truly epic scale should be proud they have overcome the odds. Free at last, free at last, free to embrace their heritage by exercising their rights to determine their destiny.

Before you start doing a victory dance, you might want some background information about the Constitutional Amendment they are voting on....

The Cherokee voted on a Constitutional Amendment to restrict membership in the Cherokee Nation only to those listed as "Indians" on the Dawes Roll. That means a lot of folks who thought they were Cherokee are going to get pink slips at the next pow wow.

Don't feel bad if the Dawes Roll doesn't ring any bells. You probably slept through this part of American History. Actually, they probably skipped this part of it.

The Dawes Roll is: "an index to over 14,000 records of individuals in the Five Civilized Tribes that applied for citizenship under the Act of 1896. The Five Civilized Tribes include the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Creek and the Seminole... This compilation, in effect an Indian census, was also used as the basis for the allotment of tribal lands to individual Indians."

So far so good right? I mean if your great-grandpappy was an Injun according to the official census than dadgummit you deserve the right to reclaim your heritage.... sure as shootin'...

For those of you speed reading through this ... let me redirect your attention to a term of art, that Five Civilized Tribes reference. Seems a little odd to use that term when you are referring to tribes that got their butts kicked across the Appalachian Mountains and put on a forced march to Oklahoma under military "escort" in the dead of winter. Is that any way to treat "civilized" people?

Turns out these tribes, in spite of their abuse at the hands of White settlers intent on stealing their land and gold actually embraced several of the institutions and cultural norms of the settlers. For example, many of them were baptized as Christians. Another institution and value they adopted is particularly relevant for this recent vote. It turns out the "Civilized Tribes" also subscribed to the "peculiar institution" of slavery.

A lot of the folks who trudged West were slaves. Although thousands of Indians died on the Trail of Tears, there is no record of how many of their slaves died along the way. At the time it would not have made sense to record the loss of property... it wasn't like anyone was going to be filing insurance claims when they got to Oklahoma. Of course some of the slaves survived. After the Civil War they became "freedmen."

As we all know, the end of slavery didn't mean the end of segregation. It sure as heck didn't mean the former slaves and their offspring could hop a train back East and resettle in the lush land of Georgia, Tennessee or Florida. Never mind that under the Treaty of 1866 the "Civilized Tribes" were given the option of adopting their former slaves as citizens of the Nation. If they did not, The United States agreed to remove the blacks from Indian Country. Some tribes failed to adopt the freedmen, which prompted the United States ... to ignore that part of the treaty agreement. Gee... what a surprise.

This brings us back to the Dawes Commission formed in 1893... out of Washington. You really have to be naive if you think these folks came out West to do the Indians any favors. After all, these tribes sided with the Confederacy! Nope, the Dawes Commission was basically a ploy aimed at destroying the tribes by offering them plots of land as individuals. There was a lot of strife around who was and who was not defined as an Indian. Take the Chickasaw for example. In 1898, according to the Dawes Roll, there were about 4200 Chickasaw... and 4500 Chickasaw Freedmen! Suffice to say, there was a reason the Chickasaw didn't adopt their former slaves into the tribe. That would be like asking Israelis to adopt Palestinians and give them citizenship. Ain't gonna happen.

As long as folks are deciding who to dole out 40 acres to that kind of distinction makes sense. The Freedmen did fight for their rights, seeking redress through the legal system. But ... well suffice to say there's a reason you didn't study this in American History... ain't a whole lot of history to tell. In 1898 Congress passed the Curtis Act which abolished the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole legal systems putting everything under the direct control of the United States. Basically, everyone Indian and Freedman alike, got screwed.

Time passes... actually a LOT of time passes... little over a hundred years worth of time....

Folks stuck on the reservation don't have a whole hell of a lot of options. The Indians and the Freedmen shared a common culture, a common language, and for better or worse, a common heritage. So you get a fair amount of intermarriage, blood lines comingle... children are born...they have kids of their own ... and after a century or so it gets kind of hard to decide in some cases who exactly is a Cherokee, or a Cherokee Freedman, or both. Full-blooded Cherokee are pretty rare. But a lot of folks have Cherokee ancestors. Even more have Cherokee Freedmen ancestors. And this brings us right up to the present.

Just like the 1890s, the distinction has to do with land rights and financial benefits. To be fair, the Cherokee are not the first tribe to cast out the freedmen's descendents. The Seminole did this back in 2000, but with the Presidential elections on everyone's mind I guess no one noticed. Besides, the Federal Government weighed in and revoked Seminole funding as a result of the vote so the Seminole rethought things. Whether that happens with the Cherokee or not is an open question.

I'm not bringing this up to abuse the Cherokee. I mean it is ironic and all, but this whole surreal pas de deux has broader implications for a discussion that has been going on a long time in this country.

When you listen to lunatics like Tancredo and his Confederate Flag waving followers, you might think that the only issue about assimilation is whether you are a legal or illegal alien. I don't mean to put Lou Dobbs in the same category, but where he goes off the rails is that he makes a similar sort of mistake. Like Tancredo, Dobbs casts the assimilation question as a matter of choice. If you chose to immigrate than you should choose to assimilate...or go back to where you came from. I think most voluntary immigrants would agree with them. Certainly the second generation of these voluntary immigrants would agree. That's the generation that changes its name and pretends it doesn't speak the language of their parent's generation.

But what do you say to people who found themselves forcibly removed, displaced, or surrounded? Some guy in Washington draws a few lines on a map and voila, you're a stranger in a strange land. Never mind if your grandparent's grandparents are buried right over the hill... your status is not something you get to vote on. It's assigned to you by some White guy in Washington.

When all is said and done, I'm glad the Cherokee have been able to re-establish themselves as an independent nation. I'm glad they have chosen to adopt some of the useful practices of the surrounding culture. I just hope they shake off the contagion of discrimination that has hobbled America for so long, otherwise I think Chad and his cronies are going to be awfully red in the face.

War Is Sell

2007-02-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

Ima Notherhoare slipped into her Manolo Blahniks, looked in the mirror and smiled. Admiring herself in the mirror was the closest she got to self-reflection. Self-reflection was an occupational hazard in her line of work. That way led madness...

Heading out the door, she scooped up the newspaper and glanced at the headlines. "Fear Grips Baghdad as Death Squads Run Amok," read one. "Court Drops Kurdish Charges Against Saddam," read another. She rolled her eyes and wondered, "When are they going to start printing the good news from Iraq?" The truth was Ima Notherhoare found facts boring. The policy wonks who lived on them bored her even more. She preferred the company of men who created their own reality. Besides, who cared about the past? Winners focused on the future.

She dropped the paper in her Hermès Birkin. She loved that bag. Men could flash their Pateks and Rolexes, but this was a status symbol -- compliments of Scooter Libby himself. He had given it to her on the first anniversary of the invasion, as a token of his appreciation for everything she had done for him that year. It was beautiful. It was also a $14,000 inside joke. It was a perfect example of his sarcastic and dark sense of humor. After all, this was the bag Martha Stewart made famous... and look what happened to her.

Stepping to the curb, Ima flagged down a cab and slid inside. The cabbie looked at her and knew he had seen her somewhere before. As she closed the door, he asked, "How are you doing today ma'am?" Ima didn't waste time with pleasantries. "607 14th Street, Northwest," she said. "The Federal Relations Labor Authority?" He asked. He enjoyed showing off his encyclopedic knowledge of Washington. "No. Hill & Knowlton," she replied icily.

Realizing he had gotten off on the wrong foot, the cabbie tried flattery. He tried one of his sure fire lines. "Didn't I see you on TV last night?" He always asked that question because even if he was wrong, folks liked to think they were being confused for someone famous. "It's possible," she said, actually smiling. She realized this was the very demographic they wanted to reach with her FOX News appearances. The cabbie smiled too. He knew celebs enjoyed being recognized by cabbies; it helped them pretend they were connected to "average joes" like him. More importantly, it usually brought a bigger tip.

He winked and said, "Anne Coulter, right?" If looks could kill, he would have died right there. "Not Coulter" she snapped, "Ima Notherhoare." She said it in a tone that made it clear she blamed him for not knowing her name. He knew better than to reply, but couldn't help thinking to himself, "you'd think the high priced ones would at least be polite."

He could feel her eyes boring holes in the back of his head as he turned on the meter. The meter reminded her of a dream from the previous night. In her dream, she was riding a cab from the Baghdad airport to the Green Zone. She knew no one actually took cabs from the airport in Baghdad, but the weirdest part of the dream had been the cab’s meter. Instead of numbers, it had letters. She remembered looking at the letters I - R - A - Q and watching the last letter slowly change from a Q to an N.

IRAQ.... IRAN...? A light bulb went off. She pulled out her cell phone and hit speed dial.
"Hill & Knowlton, Public Affairs" answered the cool female voice.

"Sandy, it's me," Ima said excitedly, "I want you to pull every one of our press releases, talking points, white papers, and backgrounders for Iraq and the Global War on Terrorism."

Sandy gasped, "All of them?" Sandy was so startled she didn't even remind Ima the Global War on Terrorism had been rebranded as "The Long War." Ima didn't give her a chance to catch her breath. "Yes. All of them," she instructed.

"Okay..." Sandy answered tentatively, "What am I supposed to do with them?"
"Relax, I just want you to do a few strategic edits," Ima reassured her. "Replace every mention of 'Iraq' with 'Iran', that's all," Ima said calmly.

Sandy couldn't help but ask, "What about all the Saddam references?"

"Replace them with whatshisname...Imgonnaneedajob... you know, the Iranian nut job," Ima replied. "I want them on my desk when I arrive."

"Yes Ma'am!" Sandy replied with enthusiasm once she realized she had dodged a bullet.
"Mission Accomplished," Ima laughed as she bent over and dropped the phone back in her bag. So many billable hours, so little actual work. "This is why they pay me the big bucks," she cackled to herself.

Something about her laughter sent a chill up the cabbie's spine. He glanced up at the rearview mirror. What he saw made his blood freeze. There was no reflection in the mirror!
Horrified, he couldn't help but turn around to look at the back seat. When he saw she was just leaning over, he breathed a sigh of relief. "I gotta cut back on those vampire movies," he thought. He was so shook up he over reacted when the bicycle courier zipped in front of him. He slammed on the brakes so hard his passenger was thrown forward into the partition with a resounding thud.

"Pay attention to what you are doing," she barked, "before you kill somebody!" She shook her head in dismay as she settled back in her seat. Ima Notherhoare never ceased to be amazed at how careless people could be, especially when other people's lives were on the line.

When Sock Puppets Attack....

2007-01-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

I can't help it. When I see a headline quoting Gates, I immediately assume they're quoting Bill Gates. It's a reasonable mistake. Bill Gates is a successful entrepreneur with a grand vision to change the world and improve the lives of future generations. He's worth quoting. When Gates talks, people listen.

Of course, I lose interest once I get past the headlines and it turns out they are quoting Robert Gates, Rumsfeld's replacement. He is just the latest in a long line of sock puppets on TV since Shari Lewis first stuck her hand up Lambchop's ass and made her dance.

Now that anyone with any brains has tuned out everything this administration says in defense of Mr. Bush's War, I'm sure the bozo's left on the bus are constantly looking for new ways to catapault the propaganda. After his recent press conference, it's clear the only thing Gates has going for him is his name. It buys them a brief window of confusion to get people's attention one more time. Trading on confusion to borrow credibility when you have none left is an old parlor trick, but it works. Don't take my word for it. Ask Frank Luntz.

The same ploy was used in the SOTU when Dubya, in a vain effort to justify HIS War, quoted from a letter allegedly written by Zarqawi.

When asked to comment on Bush's rhetorical flourish, Frank Luntz provided a revealing response:

[T]his president has lost a great degree of credibility ... among the American people. And so the only way for him to establish the intensity of the threat he feels faces this country is to use somebody else's words rather than his own words.

You know they have hit bottom when Frank Luntz admits Dubya has less credibility than a deceased second-stringer the CIA intentionally misrepresented as a major threat. You can smell the desperation as the drama queens of communications pimp their new message of the day. Here's a quick sample of headlines:

Gates: Iraq resolution 'emboldens' enemy.
Gates: Congress' opposition aids the enemy.
Gates: Anti-Iraq Plan Resolution Emboldens Enemy

I'm starting to feel like Rip Van Winkle here. Seriously. I go to sleep and we are living in a democracy. I wake up and we are being told to hush so we don't embolden the boogey man under the bed? When did this bunch of gutless pussies start running the government? Who are they kidding? I don't know about you, but where I come from, you make decisions based on your interests. You don't worry about how bullies are going to react.

The notion that debating a policy that is demonstrably counterproductive to our national security emboldens anyone is some of the most twisted pretzel logic I have heard since ... well since Cheney shot his mouth off. As one reader sarcastically noted in the comments on Dailykos:

Questioning the war doubtless emboldens the terrorist, unlike "Mission Accomplished" and "Bring It On" which persuaded them to give up and go home.

Maybe I'm inconsiderate or culturally insensitive or selfish, but I don't give a rat's ass what terrorists think. I really don't. I don't evaluate my options based on what "Al Qaeda wants"...hell I don't even evaluate my options based on what Al Sharpton wants. I make my decisions based on what I want.

I don't care if terrorists are bold, old, sold, polled, cajoled, bankrolled, extolled, consoled, uncontrolled, taking hold, or catching cold. I do care if I'm throwing good money after bad to chase a chimera. I definitely care if I'm watching our future squandered in a meat grinder of mendacity.

When you have all the architects and apologists for this administration stomping on each other in their rush for the door, it's no wonder the dead-enders like Cheney, Bush, and their sock puppets don't carry a lot of weight. That is why we see them desperately deploying second-rate rhetorical dodges in support of a third-rate policy.

The bottom line is this: Dubya and his minions are going to fail. It's not a question of "if" but "when" they realize that shiny black object rushing towards them is the ground and they got no parachute. I know it. You know it. The Europeans know it. The Iranians know it. The Saudis know it. Hell, everyone knows it. That includes the people fighting in Iraq. The only question is how many people are they going to kill on the way? That's why I think we should have a simple answer to the simpletons telling us to hush: Put a sock in it.

Mything the Point of "Targeted Killing"

2006-12-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

Imagine the horror of watching someone drowning before your eyes.   Now imagine watching it in slow motion.   Repeatedly.   For years I have been watching Israel's suicidal spiral with that kind of despair.

I used to explain Israel's current situation by comparing the occupation of the West Bank to the period in American history when Andrew Jackson was president.   He was willing to violate the law of the land and there was no political will to stop him.   His famous contempt for "John Marshall's decision" paved the way for the Trail of Tears and all the genocide that followed.

Now we learn even this fig leaf of judicial restraint is gone.   In a strange, sad Hanukkah gift to itself, the Israeli Supreme Court delivered a unanimous decision declaring extra-judicial executions are now legal.

The first time I ever heard my grandfather curse, I didn't understand why he was so angry.   We were sitting down to breakfast.   Grandpa took one look at the New York Times and started yelling, "THAT DIRTY RAT BASTARD!" Grandma looked over and said, "Oh, so after all these years, now there's a problem?" "This is different!" Grandpa shouted.   "He's always been a criminal," Grandma said with disdain.   "This is different," Grandpa insisted, "That was his business, this affects all of us!" He was really furious.

Looking at the picture, I still couldn't figure out how this old man could be such a big deal.   I had no idea who he was, so I asked.   It turned out Grandpa grew up with the guy.   What Grandma said was true.   The guy was a serious criminal, even as a kid when everyone called him "Spider" for reasons Grandpa couldn't remember.   That's why Meyer Lansky was in the paper.   The reason Grandpa was so angry was Lansky was invoking the Jewish Right of Return as a last ditch effort to avoid going to jail.

Grandpa and Lansky were Polish immigrants who grew up on the Lower East Side of New York.   Grandpa took us to see the old neighborhood once.   It was a slum, but he had fond memories about it.   He could afford to be nostalgic about the neighborhood.   He got out, just like Lansky.   The difference being that Lansky followed the road of crime, Grandpa went into entertainment.   College wasn't even on the map for these guys.   The truth is they didn't even have a map.   They were just doing their best to survive, and Grandpa did better than most.

In spite of that, the only gold in my grandparent's house was their wedding bands and maybe a couple of Grandma's earrings.   It wasn't like they couldn't afford nice stuff.   What happened was Grandma pawned all the good stuff and sent the money to the UJA (United Jewish Appeal) when Hitler offered to ransom the Jews.    Even after the war was over she kept finding ways to send money.   I don't know if they supported everything that was done in Israel, but doing anything was better than nothing.   As far as they were concerned, disagreement was a luxury they couldn't afford.    This was not about religion, they were secular Jews. This was about survival.

It wasn't until many years later, April of 1984 to be exact, that I finally understood Grandpa's rage.   This time, the picture was in Newsweek.   It was a black and white shot of a stunned guy being led somewhere by two Israeli soldiers.   The problem was after the picture was taken of this terrorist in Israeli custody, he turned up with a crushed skull.   It was the first time I had ever seen documented proof of Israelis committing extra-judicial executions.    Don't get me wrong, everyone knew about the Mossad hit squads hunting down the Black September terrorists after Munich, but somehow that was different.   Maybe it wasn't, but we just liked to think it was.   I guess people viewed it as professionals fighting professionals or something.

What became known as the Bus 300 Affair had nothing to do with professionals, defense, or justice.   It was cold-blooded murder.   Ehud Yatom, acting with knowledge of his superiors, crushed the skulls of not one, but two captives while their hands were bound behind their backs.   Today, he is a member of the Knesset.   A government that would seat a confessed murderer like Yatom is worthy of people like Lansky.   That's a broad stroke, but that's the problem.   Once you go down that path, everyone gets tarred with that crap.   It's malignant.   It spreads like rust.

Here's a clear example of how perverse things have become.   In 2000, Dennis Ross and Eric Yoffie were guest speakers at a synagogue in suburban Maryland as part of an ongoing discussion about the Middle East. (For those who don't recognize the names, Dennis Ross is a former ambassador, and Eric Yoffie is President of the Union of Reform Judaism.) Each of the distinguished panel members talked about their many decades of service in the region.   Opening comments lasted for about an hour, with each panelist talking about how much Israel wanted a partner for peace, how Arafat would never make a choice until he had no choice, etc., etc.    There was a lot of handwringing and lamentation.   Then they opened up the floor for questions.   So I got up.

"Listening to all of you today, I am struck by how blessed we are to have almost a century's worth of expertise to draw on. So I would like you each to answer a question that has troubled me for some time. What is your position on extra-judicial executions? Do you support them or not? If you do, how do you reconcile that with everything you have been saying for the last hour?"

Have you ever been stuck in a crowded elevator when someone farts? That was more or less how they reacted to my question.   They were stunned for several seconds.   No one wanted to touch this.   But the longer they sat there looking at each other, the more the congregation started mumbling and chattering.   Eventually, Ross took a stab at it.   He hemmed, he hawwed, he meandered about and eventually got his bearings only to end up with this surprising justification: "It's politically stupid, but morally defensible." I thought he had said it backwards, but then Eric Yoffie chimed in with gusto saying, "Besides, there is Talmudic justification!" Things descended into chaos at that point and the moderator had to take control of the room.

It is important to understand Eric Yoffie is basically a liberal.   He is opposed to the death penalty.   He supports gun control.   He was a featured speaker at the Million Mom March.   He is constantly battling with the ultra-orthodox crazies, like Yishai of the Shas Party, who don't think converts to Reform Judaism count as real Jews.    Oh and another thing, according to Israeli government official estimates, about 40% of the casualties in targetted killings are innocent bystanders.    Oh... and another thing... about that "Talmudic justification," that was Yigal Amir's defense for shooting Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.   So I honestly don't know where they draw the line anymore.   I can't help but think there is no moral center and we're just circling the drain when someone who is generally considered as decent and thoughtful as Yoffie starts carrying water for people who make Ariel Sharon seem moderate.

The saddest part of all this is I know most Israelis, and even most Palestinians, would have been happy to reach an accomodation.   The problem is extremists on all sides have betrayed the aspirations of the people they claim to lead.   I hate to say it, but the last time Zealots controlled Jerusalem, things ended badly.   Really Badly.   Fortunately, my grandparents aren't around to see if history repeats itself this time.   Happy Hanukkah Grandpa.

"What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your neighbor.
That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary."

-- Hillel

naval operations in an ice-free arctic

2006-11-29T22:46:00.000-08:00

I always get a chuckle out of the folks who say "some scientists" question global warming... because the US NAVY sure as hell doesn't have any question about it. This slide from one of the presentations makes it pretty clear what NOAA thinks the Arctic is going to look like in the next few decades. This and much more data is provided in this recently declassified report:

It's called "Naval Operations in an Ice Free Arctic"

The big predictions:
· Within five years, the Northern Sea Route (aka the Northeast Passage) will be open to non-ice-strengthened vessels for at least two months each summer.

· Within 5-10 years, the Northwest Passage will be open to
non-ice-strengthened vessels for at least one month each summer

· Both Russia and Canada assert policies holding navigable straits in the NSR and Northwest Passage under their exclusive control. The United State differs in its interpretation of the status of these straits, with a potential for conflict

· Within 5-10 years, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan will remain ice-free throughout the year.

This raises at least one interesting question. Why are the tree-huggers in the navy all worked up over this? It means the navy will need a whole new fleet to defend/patrol these waters! That's a lot of ships. Of course these hemp-wearing, granola-munching, denizens of the reality-based world don't have much impact on the opinions of shills like Krauthammer. I am still steamed about his crap from last year following Katrina. He seriously argued in an op-ed piece there was no relationship between warmer water and hurricane strength. Talk about not having a leg to stand on....

Krauthammer's point was ludicrous to the point of irresponsible. Of course there is a relationship between global warming and the intensity of hurricanes. The fact that people are publishing this in places like Science and Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science demonstrates just how well this stuff is understood by scientists. The fact that the people arguing the opposite are shills for oil,coal,automotive, and deforestation interests does nothing to undercut the scientific consensus.

Here's another slide from one of the presentations, in case you think they are unclear on the concept:

This just makes last week's news regarding NTSA's refusal of 50,000 free copies of An Inconvenient Truth all the more outrageous. It is a clear example of the sort of politically motivated ostrich behavior we have grown accustomed to over the last several years. But that's not the worst part. Scalia's ad lib during today's oral arguments shows how positively surreal this whole debate has become. When he was corrected for not knowing the difference between the stratosphere and troposphere he responded by saying, "I told you I'm not a scientist. That's why I don't want to deal with global warming."

The sad truth is whether Justice Scalia likes it or not, we are all going to be dealing with global warming for one simple reason: The laws of physics are strictly enforced. If you don't want to take my word for it, ask Sonny Bono.

Washington Post misses the forest for the trees (still)

2006-11-12T08:58:00.000-08:00

In today's Washington Post, Zach Goldfarb reviews the political staff's prognostication skills. The article makes some good points, but raises serious doubts about their ability to analyze data.

In July, the [Post] political staff came up with a list of eight questions that would frame the campaign. Over the past four months, individual articles -- which remain online here -- looked at races where the bellwether questions were most vividly on display.

I give the Post credit for intellectual honesty. Unfortunately, it appears they have trouble reconciling the data with their preconceived notions. They also have trouble counting to eight, so maybe we shouldn't expect too much too soon.

Here's the point they keep dancing around: We have a mandate. Unlike the "moral mandate" of 2004, this mandate for change is broad, but not deep. If we deliver real change, we can make this durable. Since this is Sunday, I will stick to clickable graphics. This one is from The New York Times and shows the Senate victory adjusted for population.

Their list starts with BALLOT ISSUES

In 2004, Republicans tended to benefit from ballot proposals against same-sex marriage that revved the conservative base. This year, Democrats hoped to turn out their own partisans with initiatives to raise the minimum wage and promote stem cell research. The strategy did not hurt, but it's not clear how much it helped.

This raises an interesting strategic point to consider for 2008. Ballot initiatives have traditionally not been a centerpiece of Democratic GOTV strategies. Now that we are building the netroots and Dean is leading the charge with the 50 state strategy, this is something we seriously need to revisit.

Their next point is IRAQ

All year long, polls had registered voters' rising disaffection with the Iraq war and their doubts that it was contributing to U.S. security... Two-thirds of voters said the war was very or extremely important to them. They favored Democrats decisively.

Instead of noting the thumping Republicans took for their policy fiasco, the Post acts like voters only connect this issue to candidates who are veterans. Of course, they failed to mention the fact that all the Iraq War vets were running as Democrats. Then as a non sequitor they note, "In Connecticut, Rep. Christopher Shays (R) prevailed over Democrat Diane Farrell." Gee, I guess the war wasn't much of an issue in Connecticut. I wonder what the burning topic was in the primaries? And what happened in Virginia? I wonder if the Democrat running for the Senate seat there had any thoughts about the handling of this war? Oh well, you won't find the answer in the Post.

They next tackle IMMIGRATION

Many Republicans thought for much of the year that they knew the key to winning close elections: anti-illegal-immigration appeals aimed at consolidating the conservative base and attracting independents upset about border security. But in virtually every competitive race, that strategy failed.

They hit that right, look at the map from USA today showing the regional house victories and it's clear Democrats flipped quite a few seats along the Mexican border in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. If you click on the map, you will also see that Democrats picked up House seats across the country. That point will take on additional significance later.

This leads them to MONEY MATTERS

Perhaps the most confounding question for the GOP all year was why the economy wasn't lifting Republican candidates' fortunes... By most measures, the economy was doing well, with low unemployment and a high stock market. Gasoline prices, which had caused Republicans such distress, had dropped considerably by Election Day.

One of the reasons we have a mandate is the looting of the Treasury. We picked up Senate seats in states with low average incomes, moderate average incomes and generally affluent voters. Voters are not thinking just about the price of gas today, tomorrow or last week. Everyone knows these guys took a surplus and poured it into a money pit called Iraq. Consequently, working wage earners haven't seen real raises and health care costs are killing them. Middle class voters are watching college costs go through the roof and the dream of college for their kids disappear along with that. Young wage earners can't afford to buy housing. Even the affluent are getting edgy as they wait for interest rates to take off and erode their fixed income asset base.

They recognize the inevitable ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM:

In 2002, President Bush was the weapon many Republican House and Senate candidates successfully used against their Democratic opponents. This time, Bush was featured prominently in close campaigns -- but almost exclusively in the ads of Democratic candidates using the president as a weapon against Republicans.

That they got right. Although they never mention exactly why Dubya was such a liability. It's almost as if voters were behaving irrationally and simply engaging in mean-spirited Bush Bashing. Maybe the Post staff just wanted to avoid a laundry list of complaints and kept this section mercifully short.

Next, they take a run at TOUGH TERRAIN:

In 1994, when the Republicans won control of Congress, they did so in large part by evicting Democrats from seats in the South, where the electorate had grown steadily more conservative. This year, the opposite phenomenon took place in the Northeast, where many once-safe Republicans representing Democratic-leaning districts discovered that the GOP label was radioactive.

It's true Pennsylvania is in the Northeast, but that's not the only place Democrats had big wins. I could be wrong, but I always thought Montana was in the West. I could have sworn Lewis and Clark thought Missouri was the gateway to the West. I know General Robert E. Lee would be mighty flummoxed to learn the Old Dominion was no longer in the South. And when did the Ohio Valley get moved East? Democrats won big turnovers in all those venues.

On the right are more results from the CNN site showing a couple comparisons between the Senate races in '04 and '06 from Ohio and Missouri. It is clear the map is turning blue in Midwestern states.

This brings us to the point they forgot to cover. Although Democrats lost the senate race in Tennessee, I think it is a mistake to ignore the gains made there as well. In fact, they look more substantial than the gains made in Virginia. These CNN comparisons between the presidential race in '04 and the '06 Senate race shows just how much penetration Democrats have made deep in the South.

Although you can blame the drubbing in Florida on Katherine Harris, you can't ignore the fact she was the best the Republicans could field. Even with that, notice the blue along the panhandle, even in 2004. Northern Florida is very much a part of the South. I have no doubt that Floridians looked to Louisiana and saw their future. Global warming is not going to disappear as a problem in the next couple years. One more hit like Katrina, and I think Mississippi and Alabama may be rethinking their loyalties as well.

They save the best for last and go after SCANDALS:

By the fall, it seemed that many voters were shrugging off the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and ethics was fading as an important election issue. That changed in September when the Mark Foley page scandal erupted, including allegations that the House GOP leadership had averted its gaze from Foley's advances toward young males. In exit polls, 74 percent of voters said corruption was very or extremely important in their decision.

I am sure that outrage over corruption, waste, and abuse were major reasons independent voters favored Democrats by a 3 to 2 margin over Republicans this time. In 2004 they were about evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, so this is a significant shift. It's interesting the Post is silent on the independent voters. Their vote is a significant piece of the new mandate. Their contribution to that mandate is why I think we need to deliver concrete results quickly. I don't think independent voters are going to wait another six years for Democrats to start fixing the mess Dubya and the Corrupt Bastards Club have left us.

Icarus says "bipartisan," Americans say "Bye partisans!"

2006-11-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

When you examine the data, there is only one word that accurately describes the midterm results. The word is MANDATE. When you look at the turnovers at the federal and state level, it wasn't even close. Republicans got ZERO. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Nuthin. Not.A.Single.One.

55% of America voted against Republicans running for congress.
59% of America voted against Republicans running for the senate.
62% of America voted against Republicans running for governor.

Adding insult to injury, Independents broke 2 to 1 for Democratic candidates.

This thumping will leave a mark. Bush might have avoided Icarus' fate if he had spent more time in the reality-based world. ~~The Decider~~ Icarus can make all the noise he wants about bi-partisan intentions. No one is listening. Here's the beauty of this victory: Armed with a popular mandate that spans the nation, our job is simple. We have to keep the Corrupt Bastards grounded in reality. I want to revisit a strategic vision that should help put cement shoes on the neo-cons, their apologists, shills, and cronies.

I could put up a laundry list of items I think we need to work on, but I won't. Instead, I will take a step back and repeat a strategic perspective I've shared before: We need to be clear, consistent, committed and credible. In the past, I have championed that strategy as critical to winning. It is also critical to leading. As long as we do that, I am comfortable with the wisdom of our collective decision making.

1) Clarity matters:
We are here to protect and defend the Constitution.

2) Consistency matters:
We are here to uphold the rule of law.

3) Commitment matters:
We are here to leave a legacy worth inheriting.

4) Credibility matters:

We are here to return transparency to government.

We do not have to be timid here. The Corrupt Bastards had their accountability moment, and lost -- Big Time. Now we have a MANDATE. However, that is only useful if we use it. Moreover, we must never lose sight of the fact that we won because Independents broke 2 to 1 for Democrats.

We have to deliver real change. If we are going to turn that mandate into a public trust, we need to prove there is a material difference between Democrats and Republicans. That is not just a matter of words, spin, positioning, framing, or slogans. We have to be committed to demonstrating that difference every day -- clearly, consistently, and credibly. I believe it all boils down to the difference in how Democrats and Republicans define a single word:

OVERSIGHT

After looking at the data, I believe that is why Americans sent Democrats to the House, the Senate, and the Governor's Mansion. Exercising oversight (as opposed to pretending things were missed due to oversight) is going to be a constant battle, so rest up, eat your Wheaties, and don't forget to Give Thanks this year for all the folks who helped us reclaim our country. We'll be here when you get back.

The John Birch Society speaks for me, probably for you too.

2006-10-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Although the Washington Post chose to bury the story on page A18, we all know (at least here) this Executive has now brought new meaning to the term, Executing Authority. Unfortunately, the corporate media has enabled this by constantly referring to his signing of "terrorist interrogation legislation" and never once referring to his wholesale destruction of the Bill of Rights.

After all, what does it mean to say you have freedom of expression, the right to bear arms, freedom from unreasonable seizure, the right to speedy trial, trial by jury, the right to avoid self-incrimination, the right to petition, right to equal protection, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment when "no court, justice, or judge" can comment on your disappearance?

In these dark times it is encouraging to note we are not alone in our concern. Here is what our friends at the John Birch Society have to say about the new face of Compassionate Conservatism:

Absent from any discussion is who is going to protect Americans from the Executive branch, whether headed by President Bush or any other future president who continues to amass power in the White House.

Besides that, this question is worth entertaining as well: If Bush is protecting the American people by taking away our freedoms, then what are we supposed to be fighting for in Iraq?

That's the John Birch Society talking. The title of that article is Saving American Lives By Stripping Away Our Freedoms.

No one is surprised the ACLU similarly opposes this abomination. Unfortunately, I fully expect the Execution Branch will spin this universal condemnation by pointing to critics on the left and right as proof their actions are truly moderate. If history is any guide, the press corps(e) will echo that nonsense as if it made sense. Just once, I would love to see more than one news anchor make the bold statement that when people who routinely disagree find themselves agreeing that some policy is terribly wrong, that probably means it really is terribly wrong.

Lest people think this is just gonna be terrists and furners who will suffer, let me remind you of the case concerning Brandon Mayfield. Remember him? He was the Portland Oregon lawyer the FBI held in detention as a "material witness" because his fingerprint was allegedly found on materials associated with the bombing in Madrid. Never mind the fact they were told that was not true by european agencies. Never mind the fact that Brandon is a privileged white male who served with honor as an officer in the United States Army.

His brother Kent got it right away:

"I think the reason they are holding him is because he is of the Muslim faith and because he is not super happy with the Bush administration. So if that's a crime, well you can burn half of us."

Back then, folks called it "hyperbole", "hysteria", "liberal whining," etc. Now even the John Birch Society is on record agreeing with Keith Olbermann.

Never mind the fact that the military didn't ask for the "Military Commissions Act," the latest in misleadingly named laws. They know this law is not for their protection. Not by a long shot. The reason the Execution Branch was so gung-ho to get this signed was to protect contractors working on covert operations. That's right. The major beneficiaries of this are people outside the chain of command, outside the scope of congressional oversight, and now outside the rule of law.

The only relevant questions now are "Who is next?" and "How many?"

For those pinning their hopes on a Supreme Court overturning this abomination, may I remind you "no court, justice, or judge" has jurisdiction here. If you think they will not stand for this, let me remind you the Supreme Court ruled the "Indian Removal Act" of 1830 was unconstitutional. How did that work out? (Hint: Can you say "Trail of Tears?") President Jackson's famous retort to the decision forbidding the forced removal of the Cherokee from their ancestral lands in Georgia was brief and to the point. "John Marshall has made his decision; let him enforce it now if he can."

That open contempt for law is why Andrew Jackson will always be remembered for the death of thousands and the opening salvo of what eventually became a genocidal policy known as Manifest Destiny. That stain to our national honor has grown darker with the passage of time and will never be washed away. This week, a new stain has sullied our national fabric. Only time will tell how dark, how deep, and how wide it will become.

I wonder what future historians will call the present atrocity and how we will explain it to our children and their children. I am already changed by this event. For the first time in my life I have empathy for the Germans who bowed their heads in shame and said "We didn't know." I used to dismiss that with an air of moral superiority. Now I'm not so sure. I doubt the silent crowds watching the thugs work over Jews on Kristallnacht really understood the only relevant questions that night were "Who is next?" and "How many?"

FOX News Anchor Lays War Dead at Bush's Feet. (video)

2006-10-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Foley pedo scandal ate up so much bandwidth most people don't even know Baghdad is under a daytime curfew. Therefore, it's no surprise this shocking exchange on FOX News fell completely off the table. It's so tasty, I just had to pick it up, transcribe it, and share it around. This is a dog bites man kind of story.

Click the image above or here to see the video on YouTube.

Shep Smith is a popular FOX News anchorman, yet even this avid supporter of the war, Bush, and all things conservative finally got so enraged, he stomped Bill Kristol like a grape. Talk about making Kristol whine. Shep started off calling this administration's policies horrifying and repulsive and it went downhill from there. By the end of the segment, Shep was holding Bush responsible for any deaths that occur in Iraq between now and the mid-term elections! In so many words! On FOX NEWS! This is Must See TV. Transcripts and links to this "come to Jesus" talk below:

The clip begins with the tail end of a discussion about the Clinton/Wallace interview and Kristol (who has never been near combat in his life) makes a point of using military language to spin what happened there... thats when things go completely off the rails:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

SHEPARD SMITH: "Can't you say beyond...beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt that what's happening in Iraq is not working as we had hoped it would happen?

BILL KRISTOL: Yes.

SMITH: That the terrorism is getting worse? That they are feeding off it? Today, one side is talking about secession if they don't get over it, that the sectarian violence is spreading, that we're clearing out one area and not able to hold it and the insurgents ... that stay the course isn't working? Any more than, maybe, cut and run would work? And that everyone seems to know, but won't say the answer is to add troops not take them away? Where are the people who are looking out for our best interests?

KRISTOL: Well, I've said that many many times, so often I've been ridiculed for saying "more troops, more troops, more troops." I hope the president...

SMITH: If they really want to win it! [agitated]

KRISTOL: I agree...I hope...

SMITH: But I think they are just paying lip service to all this! [yelling]

KRISTOL: Well, I hope not because it really wouldn't be the right thing to do and I think President Bush wants to do the right thing and I think he knows there's a problem. He can't probably do anything until election day. I very much hope after election day he takes a fresh look at Iraq, sends enough troops, surges the...goes on the offensive there and plays for victory because..

SMITH: Bill..

KRISTOL: it's just too important to just, you know...

SMITH: It's horrifying that you just said he can't do anything until after the election. We've got men and women over there who are dying every day and you just said that the man who you support can't do anything even though you believe he knows it's wrong.

KRISTOL: I...I...urged him...

SMITH: OK, but what is worse that? What is worse than that, Bill Kristol? This isn't working. Well, isn't that what you are saying?

KRISTOL: It's not working....

SMITH: It's not working.

KRISTOL: It's not working, but some of the alternatives would work, would work worse and to be fair to him he has been....look ... I....Two months ago a Democratic senator said to me, I was saying Bush was going to stay the course and I admire him for his sticktoitive.. for his courage on Iraq and he said, "You're kid... You're crazy...everyone in Washington knows he is going to pull troops down before election day. He wants to give those Republican congressional candidates the benefit of seeing troops come home." It is to Bush's credit that he did not do that. We have moved a few more troops into Iraq. Bush has committed...

SMITH: A few more troops. [sarcastically]

KRISTOL: We should... We should ...

SMITH: We're still losing ground in city after city every day...

KRISTOL: I agree we should move more, but I think Bush has done...at least he has held his own ...ummm... I don't know...it's going back and forth there right now... I agree we could hit a crisis in two, three, four months unless we surge troops after the election. I thinks its hard to ask Bush to do something in the middle of this election season. We've seen how poisonous this political debate has gotten and I think... I just hope... I think he's right to hang tough and I hope he does the right thing after election day.

["could hit a crisis"...sheesh...Shep goes balistic]

SMITH: That's a disgusting and repulsive reality Bill you have to admit that. That we can't do anything about something that is not working and where people are dying until after our elections are over...

KRISTOL: Well, we could do something... we should do something...but I'm just telling you that....

SMITH: The political reality is we can't.

KRISTOL: it's been a poisonous political debate ...both sides.

SMITH: If I were the mother of a father of a young man who dies between now and that election in this war I would be raising holy hell. Wouldn't you?

KRISTOL: Well, no....

[holy moley... Did Bill just say he would sacrifice his kids to this?]

SMITH: Wouldn't you, Bill? If you believed that this isn't working...

KRISTOL: No. They do..they're doing..They think they're doing the best the military strategy

[un.believe.able! He really did say that!]

SMITH: Do you think they think that, Bill, really?

KRISTOL: I think they, I think so.

SMITH: Because you don't think so, you just said so.

KRISTOL: Well, I've been critical of them. I think they should send more troops, but other people differ. I think Bush is going to reconsider when he thinks uh..after he gets through this election here. I wish he would have reconsidered six months ago. I urged him to six months ago. He chose not to. But to be fair to him, to be fair to him I think he is doing what he thinks is his best for the country and I think he is right, that the alternative of somehow pulling down wouldn't help. And incidentally, for the mothers and fathers who have kids there my solution does not...does not... decrease the chance of casualties. I'm willing to.. I think we may have to take more casualties there.

[Nice. At least he's clear that he is willing to sacrifice more of other people's kids.]

SMITH: To win! But what they keep saying is they want to win. And yet you talk to soldiers and captains and colonels who come home or who talk to you on the phone or who send you an email and they say, "Look! We win individual battles. We leave the individual battle and go to the next town and the insurgents come back." It's happening in Afghanistan right now.

KRISTOL: I agree.

SMITH: The Taliban had been wiped out. Now the poppy production is up to supplying 92% because we don't have enough people there. So how fair is it to the people of this country and to the world to be in a process that you know is not working, to know what the solutions are, yet because of the election system and the political process you allow a losing thing to continue?

KRISTOL: Well I think we can make it a winning thing, I think Bush will make it a winning thing, It's a democracy. It has drawbacks.

[Wha?!?! STOP THE TAPE! WTF does that mean? Democracy has drawbacks? Compared to what?]

I agree on Afghanistan,incidentally, that's another place where we're going to have to increase troop levels in the next few weeks.

SMITH: Yeah, but when?

KRISTOL: Soon.[smugly]

SMITH: We'll see. Bill Kristol, good of you to come.

KRISTOL: Thank's Shep.

After a "come to Jesus" talk like that, all I can say is Kristol sure has a lot of work to do this Yom Kippur. I won't hold my breath waiting for him to fast or anything, but I would love to hear which "drawbacks" of democracy Kristol would like to do away with first. This raises another question. If it's so flawed why are we working so hard to spread democracy around the Middle East? Or is this just another example of Kristol advocating a failed policy?

Emily Perez is dead...

2006-09-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Emily Perez had a passion for books. She loved to read. In 2001, she graduated from a public high school outside of Washington DC in an area known mostly for gangs, drugs, death and despair. Emily was straight-A student. She could have attended any university she chose. She chose West Point.

Getting admitted to West Point is no easy feat. First, you need to be nominated for consideration -- usually by your senator or congressional representative. Then you are evaluated in three areas: academic performance, demonstrated leadership potential, and physical aptitude.

Emily was a leader among leaders. She was the first black woman to serve as corps commander sergeant major at West Point. She graduated in the top 10% of her class. In spite of all that promise, this story does not have a happy ending.

You will probably not see this story on FOX (she's not blonde enough), or The Today Show (she's not shallow enough), or BET (she's not freaky enough) ... that doesn't mean her story is not important enough.

Lt. Perez joined the Medical Service Corps because she wanted to help people. It was something she always focused on. As a high school student, Perez pushed her church to begin an HIV/AIDS ministry after several family friends became infected with the virus. She was honored in 2001 by the American Red Cross Board of Governors for her work as an AIDS educator.

Because of her desire to help and serve, Lt. Perez gave of herself. Literally. Shortly before shipping out to Iraq with the 204th Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, she flew cross country to be a bone marrow donor for a stranger who was a match. Donating bone marrow is a painful and difficult procedure. I am sure those who knew her would not be surprised to learn she volunteered to endure the suffering simply because it meant she could help someone. By all accounts that's who she was.

As I study Emily's picture, I'm captivated by the strength of her gaze, how firmly she grasps the sword, and smitten by the half smile that breathes confidence. It's been said the eyes are the windows to the soul. Through them we see the past, present, and future. I'll bet there was a time her father in an unguarded moment looked at her and fell in love. You see the truth is no matter what kind of a guy you are, there comes a point in every father's life when he looks into his daughter's eyes and is simply awed by how beautiful they are. It's not the sort of experience guys share over a brew.

If you've ever had that moment you probably recognize the one that followed it. That's the moment when we offer up that silent prayer -- that when she falls in love, he'll be a better man than we are and he will be worthy. Sadly, some prayers go unanswered. This angel of light died in Al Kifl, Iraq, on Sept. 12th.

It is easy to grow numb as this increasingly pointless war churns on and they throw more of our children into that meat grinder. But every now and then a story comes along that gets past my defenses and it leaves me wondering how much longer we will let the Pied Piper of hatred and violence lead our children to a place of no return.

Contemplating this sad tale of a life cut short, words fail me as I confront the reality that only God knows the treasures we bury with our children.

"I am not haunted by the fear that my brother will be sent to war. I believe there are beliefs and causes worth taking risks for, worth fighting and dying for. Rather, I am haunted by the fear that he will be sent to war thoughtlessly, carelessly."

-- Cara Cannon Byington (Jan. 15, 2003)

Hitting Diebold Systems in their Achilles Heel

2006-09-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

By now you have probably heard about the Princeton Video that shows yet again how easy it is to compromise the Diebold systems. Here is a picture of our heroes: Dr. Felten and his students, Feldman and Halderman

As you can see, not all patriots are firebrands from central casting. They are normal folks like you and me. And that is important because Diebold is starting to push back... and it is going to take normal folks like you and me to help our heroes keep Diebold's feet to the fire. Let's look at where Diebold is vulnerable and how Diebold is trying to defend itself.

Diebold is a publicly traded company, trading under the stock symbol DBD. First some facts about the company. The vast majority of the stock is traded in large blocks by institutional investors. It's currently trading around 42 bucks. Yet its book value (what you would get if you sold it off as parts) is only about 16 bucks a share, so the trading value includes future expectations of great earnings. If those expectations are not met, or there is serious reason to question them...for example if there is a hidden liability that may come out down the road... folks are not going to want to be holding the bag when it comes time to pay the piper. You can be sure Diebold is aware of this potentially devastating problem.

Here's how Diebold is pushing back in the public relations arena. They are certainly issuing press releases designed to obfuscate the issue. For example, they claim the system hacked by the Princeton group outdated and thus not relevant. cough cough.....say WHAT!??! You are telling me they admit the systems used in the 2004 Presidential Elections were security sieves? Or was it the 2000 Presidential Elections that were flawed? Or both? Remind me again, how is that not relevant?

Of course that sort of defense is for the wonks like us and to keep the press off their ass... it allows them to be "balanced" by presenting the damning evidence and then watering it down by saying "Diebold, in an official statement countered these charges by ....." Doesn't matter if they are irrelevant or not, Middle America hears "it's complicated like global warming ...blah blah blah blah ...change the channel." This is not the first time they have done this. Here's an example from Ohio as recently as August, 2006.

Here's an idea: How about they let the Princeton group test their current generation of machines and software before they get certified? Gee .... is that the sound of crickets I hear?

Another way they fight back is more subtle. It's called "editorial placements." These are pieces written by agencies for Diebold which are then provided as filler to local papers around the country. They generally run as editorials and "news you can use" type pieces which appear to be informing the public about something of general interest, but they are really designed to position the product/service/company in a positive light. It's one of the most cost-effective forms of publicity out there.

Here's an example of a pro-Diebold editorial from earlier this week titled

.... wait for it.....

"Diebold system could cut down fraud." Can you say "chutzpah"? Sure you can. I won't say they are lying here... I mean it could cut down fraud... or not... who knows, right? Expect more of the same to blanket the nation between now and November. Diebold has more at stake here than their rapidly expanding e-voting business. I have no doubt that Diebold's marketing department is keenly aware of the potential meltdown they could face if institutional investors started to dump their stock.

Why do I think that a concern for them?

Institutional investors hold the vast majority of Diebold's stock (about 83% of all its publicly held stock). This means that their holdings are concentrated in relatively few hands and even fewer decision makers. Even if they are held by a mutual fund or a pension fund, very few people are making the decision of whether they hold it or sell it. These are not sentimental people. Do they really want to be the ones riding DBD down? Do they want to explain why they chose DBD over competitors like NCR and GLYT, when the competitors have better financials?

And who are some of the big institutional holders?
Glad you asked. The Morgan Stanley Mid Cap Value funds, for starters. DBD is in the top ten of holdings in several Morgan Stanley funds.

Ticker	Name	% of Fund
BNSMX	Banknorth:Sm/MC Core	4.02%
AVEDX	Ave Maria Rising Div	3.26%
RCMFX	Schwartz Inv:Value	2.85%
MDFBX	Morg Stan MC Value;B	2.58%
MDFCX	Morg Stan MC Value;C	2.58%
MDFDX	Morg Stan MC Value;D	2.58%
MDFAX	Morg Stan MC Value;A	2.58%
MPMIX	Morg Stan Inst:MCV;Inv	2.57%
MPMVX	Morg Stan Inst:MCV;Ins	2.57%
MMCAX	Morg Stan Inst:MCV;Adv	2.57%

Take those together and I think you can see how Diebold's problems could spread and become Morgan Stanley's problems -- especially if they are not willing to divest.

Lest you think that is a fanciful scenario, here's a recent demonstration of how problems for a corporation can lead long term financial supporters to abandon it; I am talking about the campaign targeting potential advertisers for this season's Survivor on CBS. Here's part of an email that arrived earlier yesterday from a Mistubishi executive:

"In light of this information and our genuine interest in promoting positive ethnic relations -- [Mitsubishi] has decided to withold advertising on this program unless the plot changes dramatically. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

Still think longterm business allies will stand behind a corporation suffering from a public relations catastrophe?

I suggest we get busy and look for every opportunity to turn the financial pressure hose on Diebold and its financial supporters.

Why? Because it works.

"Brothers and sisters, if you and I would just realize, that once we learn to talk the language that they understand,
they will then get the point. You can't ever reach a man if you don't speak his language.
- Malcolm X

To err is human. To really screw things up, use Diebold

2006-09-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

I'm a technically savvy guy. I've had my own PC since the 8088 days when DOS was putting the final nails in the coffin of CP/M and Leading Edge was getting flak for cracking the compatible wars wide open. I was online before BIFF stole his brother's Commodore 64. Before spam. Before nuking. Before Gopher. I think UNIX is a nice place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit. I even know the plural for VAX (hint:it's not VIXEN).

When it comes to computers, I know Jack. So trust me when I tell you, "To err is human, to really $#@#!!*& things up you need a computer." I say all that to underscore the fact that my discomfort with electronic voting machines is not borne of ignorance. My contempt is a direct result of my familiarity with the technology. The only reason I use Diebold machines is because I have no choice. In the last election cycle (2004) I screwed up my Diebold machine from the interface. No programming tricks, no hardware hacks, no wifi attacks... I found an "undocumented feature" on the touch screen. I'm not claiming any special powers, I used to get paid to crash systems from the screen (User Interface, or UI, to those in business).

I don't know who is blowing who, but someone is definitely trading favors when entire voting districts (and in some cases, entire states) are converting to a system that has documented security problems. Sure, folks can ignore this stuff as long as it is geeks and techies talking shop. Who listens to geeks and wonks? Well, I'm here to tell you there is new unambiguous documentation of how easy it is to hack these systems, implant malicious code, steal votes, and cover your tracks.

For all the folks who dismissed people like Bev Harris at BlackBoxVoting.Org, or The TrueVoteMD crowd, or the folks at VerifiedVoting at Stanford, or Rebecca Mercuri from Bryn Mawr, or Doug Jones at University of Iowa, or Avi Rubin at Johns Hopkins because you had to actually read what they wrote to realize how screwed up these systems are, things just got a lot easier.

The good people at Princeton's School of Engineer and Applied Science have taken their engineering expertise and applied it to these machines. Fortunately for you, they made a video!

All I'm saying is, if you watch that video and still don't see how the very foundations of our democracy are being threatened, then you deserve the gummint you git. For the rest of you, it is time to write your representatives, senators, local officials, and election boards to let them know Hell No! If you are still at a loss of where to start, remember Google is your friend. Try searching the keywords "local election boards list" and add your state's name to the search string. For example: local election boards list maryland.

What are you waiting for? It doesn't matter whether you are Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, Yankee or Southern Belle, metrosexual or Marlboro Man. If we don't demand reliable, verifiable, valid and accountable voting systems, this most fundamental aspect of our democratic process will be wiped from the face of the earth as surely as they can wipe out votes on a Diebold AccuVote running MS Access.

Who the $#*!x?!@ are they kidding?

2006-09-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

Everyone is all excited the president admitted we have secret prisons. Now that this administration and its apologists are busy fessing up to stuff they used to deny, claiming credit for stuff they didn't do, laying blame where it doesn't belong and asking us to blindly trust them to get things right while they keep doing exactly what they used to say they weren't doing... all I want to know is: Who do they think they are kidding?

Here's my problem...actually two problems...actually three problems...well more than three, but for now I will only focus on two.....

First off ...just to get this out of the way.... let's look at the "We haven't been attacked in five years" line that is the foundational justification for this.

The WTC was first attacked in 1993. The guys that were responsible were caught and brought to justice. They ain't running around doing crazy shit or inciting crazy muthafuckas to do crazy shit. They are in jail. Done. Case closed. What happened? Nothing. That's right. For the remainder of the Clinton administration they were not able to attack us on US soil. That's a pretty good run. How did the Clinton administration accomplish this feat?

Did they deploy a massive army? No.
Did they invade anybody? Nope.
Did they blow a hole in the budget? Nah.
Did they scrap the constitution? No way.
Did terrorist attacks dramatically increase? Uh Uh.
Did they alienate our allies? No.
Did they convince congress to provide the executive with extraordinary powers? Absolutely not.
Maybe it was luck? Doubtful.

Whatever it was they were doing .... it worked for eight years.

The Corrupt Bastards Club takes over and what happens? Less than a year into their first term, we get attacked! But somehow they are protecting us better than the guys who kept us from being attacked for eight long years? That just doesn't add up. Maybe I am just a poor publick skool produck but where I come from an eight beats a five every time.

When you consider the facts it is clear the previous administration did a better job of protecting us than the current one at a fraction of the cost.

For some reason that simple fact eludes the talking heads on TV. I won't even bother with the attacks overseas... this administration's own data shows the attacks have grown dramatically since we invaded Iraq. So much for "cakewalks", "last throes", and "birth pangs of a new Middle East."

So let's go to problem two. The lack of historical perspective. Sure, we can forget who was running the show when things went bad. We can forget the guy who told us "We know where they[WMD] are," didn't. Now we are supposed to forget this administration repeatedly denied the existence or illegality of the very prisons the President of the United States has just admitted we have. I'm not going to dance through the historical record, you don't need me to help you search Google using the keywords Rice denied secret prisons united states. To quote Rummy..."Goodness Gracious!" Do these people still believe they create their own reality? Golly Gee Whiz! They remind me of the guy who gets caught lying who then says, "Ok. Ok. This time I'll tell you the truth." Oh yeah, that engenders confidence.

Oh, and another thing..... While everyone is focusing on the latest head fake, here's a tidbit that seems to keep falling out of frame: According to Bloomberg News

President George W. Bush's proposal for trying suspected terrorists captured overseas would allow the use of evidence obtained by coercion and let judges bar defendants from hearings where classified evidence is discussed.

I'm not even going to comment on that nonsense except to say that when I started writing this I was going to make some snarky references to how Orwellian this administration's doublethink has become. Between you and me, I think they are way past Orwell... they are positively Kafkaesque.
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When I was young, "1984" used to be a book about the future....

Introducing the 'Corrupt Bastards Club'

2006-09-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

I remember when Richard Pryor dropped the n-word from his routine. It was after he went to Africa. He realized there weren't any over there...even though the continent was chock full of black folk. He came back and decided to label himself, his brothers and sisters in a more dignified and respectful way.

What we call ourselves says a lot about how we view ourselves and how we want others to view us.

We do the same thing with political labels. Democrats become "Liberals" become "progressives" become "reality-based." Republicans have gone from calling themselves "Conservatives" to being members of the "GOP," the "Party of Lincoln," or more recently, the "Corrupt Bastards Club." This is not an epithet I am hurling around like "fascist" or "liar." I wish I had thought of it... but I didn't. This is a term Republicans used among themselves behind closed doors. That gave me an idea....

According to FBI SEARCH WARRANTS executed against several Republican legislators, Corrupt Bastards Club was the nickname 11 legislators, (including the son of Republican Senator Ted Stevens) used to jokingly refer to themselves. The Republican legislators are being aggressively investigated by the FBI for taking bribes from an oil company (I know... what a surprise...?).

To be fair, there was one Democrat in the group. But as Joe Lieberman has shown, it will take more than finding a single Democrat willing to get into bed with Republicans to innoculate them from being known as the Corrupt Bastards Club. It seems a particularly apt name for the Party that brought us no-bid contracts for political cronies, Abramoff, the K Street project, Paris Hilton tax relief, and widespread looting of the treasury.

I realize a little while back, Dailykos' very own Christoper suggested a more appropriate name for the Republicans. Although Christopher's suggestion has the ring of truth to it, I have decided that Corrupt Bastards Club is what I will be going with this season, at least until the elections are over. Why impose an epithet when someone embraces one of their own invention? Considering the problems of the Permanent Incumbent Party, it is refreshing to see the Pary of Family Values is willing to speak honestly and accept responsibility for its actions. I think we should celebrate that and take them at their word and help the search engines locate the GOP by using search words they themselves prefer to use. Let's help the GOP this season, and let everyone know that for Republicans, Corrupt Bastards Club is the new black (eye).

Iran flexes military muscle near Straits of Hormuz

2006-08-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

A few hours before Iran delivered its response to the UN regarding its nuclear program, an Iranian warship fired on a Romanian oil rig off the coast of Iran. Troops from the vessel then boarded and seized it, according to the rig's owner said.

Since this is not getting any significant play in the US yet, here is some other stuff you might like to know. For starters, bloomberg news reports:

The U.A.E.-registered drilling company had signed a preliminary contract with Halliburton Co. after winning an estimated $310 million contract to develop phases 9 and 10 of Iran's offshore South Pars gas reservoir.

Here's the brief version according to the Taipei Times:

Radu Petrescu, spokesman for Grup Servicii Petroliere (Oil Services Group, GSP), said the Iranians first fired into the air and then fired at the Orizont rig. Half an hour later, troops from the ship boarded and occupied the rig, and the company soon lost contact with the 26 crew members, he said.

Gabriel Comanescu, GSP president, said, "They fired on the rig. They destroyed one of the cranes. Four armed soldiers climbed aboard the rig." Realitatea TV reported that 20 Romanian crew members and seven Indians were on the rig. Romania's charge d'affaires in Iran, Mircea Has, said the Romanian crew members were not injured, but that they were being detained on the rig's helicopter pad.

GSP was in Iranian courts earlier this year over a dispute involving another oil rig, Fortuna, the financial weekly Saptamana Financiara has reported. It was unclear whether yesterday's incident was related to legal issues.

Kish is located in the southern Persian Gulf. In this satellite shot, Kish Island is the roundish island just off the south coast of Iran. You can see it is almost in the center of the image. The Straits of Hormuz are the narrow waterway to the right.

Think of it as Iran's Hong Kong. Since the mid-1990s the Iranian government has been working to develop Kish as a rival to Dubai. This has resulted in massive development designed to attract foreign investment and trade.

Within the area of the Kish Free Zone, as it is known, the standard laws and mores of the Islamic Republic of Iran are far more relaxed than on the mainland, which has enabled rapid and significant increases in the foreign tourist population over the years, as well as in international trade on the island.

Turning that area into a warzone could easily impact traffic of oil from southern Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE as Kish is just north of the Straits of Hormuz. It is worth noting that there is a longstanding dispute between Iran and UAE over ownership of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb Island, and Lesser Tunb Island, all located in the Straits of Hormuz. In case you are wondering why this is a particularly important stretch of water: One fifth of the world's oil is shipped through the Straits.

With China sitting on a 100 Billion USD deal for oil from Iran, and Russia also standing behind them, I doubt they are going to sit by quietly if the US tries to shake a big stick here. Back in May, Bloomberg News anticipated an attack by Iran on the Straits in retaliation to any US attack. I think this may be the opening gambit designed to forestall such an attack. This did not escape the attention of people reporting on the financial markets.

Storming the Romanian rig ``sends a message that Iran can project its power and could interfere in oil production,'' Heinrich Matthee, Iran analyst for Control Risk Group, said in a phone interview today from London.

Going after a Romanian company's property avoids a direct confrontation with Arab nations while militarizing the area. Although Romania is a NATO member, this is private property. However, this adds a potential new spin to the statement by Romania's former oil minister, Mircea Geoana that, "The oil rig Orizont is Romanian territory."

Is it me, or is it hot in here?

A moment of clarity -- a Joe-free comment

2006-08-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people commit suicide. Sometimes they do it passively. Sometimes they do it deliberately. Sometimes it is over in an instant. Sometimes it takes years. Sometimes it is done out of anger, or desperation, or madness, or ignorance. Sometimes it is a final defiant act in the face of untenable choices. But one thing never changes. It always hurts the people left behind.

When I think about the Hezbollah rockets and the recent Israeli cabinet vote to expand the fighting, they both strike me as suicidal, but in very different ways. This brings to mind a third example very different from either of those two.

I was very young when it happened. But the image left an impression on me and everyone who saw it. I guess it comes to mind because like a finger pointing to the Moon, it points to A Third Way - a way out of this mess.

One summer day much like today, an aged Buddhist monk sat down in the middle of a busy intersection. As a large crowd of Buddhists and reporters watched, another monk poured gasoline over him. Seated in the traditional lotus position, clutching Buddhist prayer-beads in one hand and a box of matches in the other, he gently lit a match and burst into flames.

A New York Times reporter, David Halberstam, later wrote:

I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think.... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him."

There was no note, no polemic, no explanation. This forced people to confront the disturbing image and meditate on its significance. Many interpreted this act as a protest against the intolerable gap between morality and the reality of the Diem regime. It was later explained that by taking the pose of Buddha, Thich Quang Duc was "indicating to both Vietnamese and Americans a morality and a responsibility for others that lay beyond the divisions of political systems and culture."

When Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc was later cremated for burial, his heart did not burn.

This sacred relic is revered in Viet Nam as a symbol of the Holy Heart, the Buddhist version of the Catholic's Sagrado Corazón, or Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In the hustle and bustle of the digital age, when honest-to-goodness discussions are becoming as antiquated and quaint as tea parties and calling cards, Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc reaches across time and space to remind us there is more to life than politics. The real key is connection.

--

"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.
That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary." -- Hillel

No body. No crime. How to get away with murder.

2006-08-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

Most of you may not recognize this image:

Those are US National Guardsmen in the foreground attacking unarmed students on the hill at Ohio's Kent State University in May, 1970. Seems like ancient history, doesn't it? Times have changed, right?

From Kent State to Police State
Some will say, "We're focused on the future! We are working to win back the congress!" Who cares history? Well, you should care -- if you care about what congress will be able to achieve in 2007 and beyond. Let me show you. Come with me to the scene of another crime against citizens of the republic that recently happened in Ohio: The theft of the 2004 election You need to hurry up. In 30 days the smoking gun will be history. Unless you act now.

Here's the good news: You can help preserve the evidence we need to bring criminals to justice.
Here's the bad news: We've only got 30 days to act.

I'm talking about impeachment.I'm talking about jail-time. Some may think that once Democrats gain control of the Congress, Conyers' excellent tome with all its footnotes and extensive leg-work is going to be enough to hang the bastards who have been working nonstop to bury the constitution. Unfortunately, that is necessary but not sufficient.

If we are going to have support for that, we need something concrete people can sink their teeth into and the opposition can't ignore, spin, or deny. Think about the reaction of people to $300,000,000,000.00 in supplemental spendings... a big yawn. $3 a gallon... that's a whole different matter. People can relate to that.

We can talk about voter fraud and Diebold hacking with flash memory cards or the need for a paper trail, but you quickly get PEGO (People's Eyes Glazing Over) after about 10 seconds. We need a smoking gun. We need something for people to relate to. We need evidence they can put their hands on and go "Holy Cow! It's true!"

What would the evidence look like? It would look like the contents of this box:

Pretty boring looking, isn't it? Well what if I told you those are the actual ballots from the Ohio election? What if I told you they are slated for destruction on September 3, 2006?

What if I told you, there is something you can do to help preserve this evidence? Would you do it? Or would you walk on by and look for something fun to rant about from the safety of your keyboard?
Make no mistake.

It's time to make a choice: Pre-emptive action now, or Perennial Whining later? If you are even thinking about acting, now is the time. Click on the image below to make your voice heard.

The Columbus Institue for Contemporary Journalism

I don't believe in soliciting for people unless I can tell you who they are and where the money is going. You may not know who the people behind CICJ are, so let me tell you a bit about their history. CICJ is the nonprofit arm of the Columbus Free Press.

The original Columbus Free Press grew out of the anti-war movement on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio in October 1970. Inspired by the activism against the Vietnam War and the senseless killings at Kent State, the underground paper was published for 25-years (1970-1995).

The Free Press published it's 25th anniversary edition in 1995 and temporarily folded. Fortunately, they were early adopters to technology. The Free Press was resurrected as a website in early 1996. The website grew and now includes articles by such notable writers as Molly Ivins, George Palast, and Harvey Wasserman. The printed publication re-emerged as a quarterly journal in the Winter of 1998.

With time, the Free Press founders grew older, less militant, and got jobs. But the paper survived. The Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism,a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1986 as the sponsor of the Free Press newspaper. Today it is embroiled in the fight to protect the vote.

We are talking about a classic grass-roots organization forged in the cauldron of dissent and watered with the blood of patriots.

We are talking about a continuous thread of participatory democracy.

We are talking about journalists who fight valiantly for the rights of citizens long after the corporate media packs up its bags.

We are talking about survivors who refuse to back down from a tough fight.

We are talking about the last best chance to secure evidence we need to bring people to justice and restore the Republic.

These aren't merely Ivory Tower academics. The executive director for the Columbus Institute of Contemporary Journalism is Bob Fitrakis and he is running for Governor of Ohio. He has been fighting against Diebold for years. "How a Republican Election Supervisor Manipulated the 2004 Central Ohio Vote" was Project Censored's #3 Most Censored story in the world in 2005! In the WORLD!!!!

These people in Ohio are fighting for our rights. These people deserve our support. These people are running out of time. Will you give them your support or will you change the channel? Corporations exercise their free speech with their wallets. Now you can too.

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Clean Energy, Clean Environment, Clean Politics, Clean House!

Boeing, Ford and the politics of extortion

2006-08-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

In a detailed explanation of the Justice Department's decision, [Deputy US Attorney General] McNulty noted there were limits to the government's potential punishment of Boeing, given its place as one of a few large defense contractors and its role in Pentagon projects that extend through 2020.

"Contracts at issue are critical to national security; they cannot practicably be terminated," McNulty said.

I suppose I could generate a lot of sparks pointing out players in this scandal included Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Dennis Hastert, Andrew Card and George Bush. But no one would be surprised to learn that. So I won't go down that path.

Instead of focusing on a bunch of people looting the treasury I want to focus on the how they get away with it even when everyone knows exactly who is doing what to whom.

Let's look at the politics of extortion.

Here's the background, Boeing has been involved in a couple of contracting scandals worth anywhere from $17 to $100 Billion dollars. After investigating this for the last few years, the Justice Department negotiated a settlement with Boeing that included $50 million in criminal fines and $565 million in civil penalties.

Here's the problem: We are talking multi-billion dollar contracts, so a few hundred million dollar settlement is basically overhead. Since the scandals first broke, Boeing's stock has not merely doubled in value, they've paid dividends every quarter.

Here's the kicker: This deal precludes criminal prosecution of the company and would have allowed Boeing to deduct settlement costs from its taxes! In other words, they ripped us off, and we get to pay for the investigation, the settlement, and the fine. Why? Because they are critical for "national security." This brings a whole new meaning to "protection" don't it? Boeing decided to forgo the double dip after people starting yelling about that. Note: the Justice Department didn't remove it, Boeing did. That alone speaks volumes about who is protecting whom.

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

Holding people hostage to fear and getting them to pay for "protection" is an old and venerable practice among criminal organizations. We have been letting people do that to us for decades. Remember the "bomber gap" that justified a huge build up in long range bombers? Remember the "missile gap" that justified the building of ICBMs and MIRVs? Remember the "window of vulnerability" that justified "Star Wars"?

Some would argue that Star Wars was a brilliant plan to spend the USSR into oblivion, and the fear mongering was just the window dressing they needed to justify it; one version of the "ends justifies the means" approach to public policy. Personally, I think that is hindsight and revisionist history. I say that because everyone, including the Soviet desk at the CIA and State Department were caught off guard by the collapse of Communism in the former USSR. In other words, it wasn't like they planned for the collapse.

Now of course we don't worry about Communism ruling the world. Not because it is a failed ideology heading towards the trashbin of history. Once again, the politics of fear hold us in check. We are more than happy to let China hold all our money since we buy all their stuff. No one dares comment that for every 100 shipping containers entering the US from China,60 containers are sent back empty! People are justifiably afraid of what would happen if China got angry and decided to dump dollars for euros. We all know that could destroy what's left of America's economy.

Which brings us to Ford and the politics of fear. I'm not talking about Ford Motor Company. I'm talking about Harold Ford of Tennessee. I recently pilloried him and 33 of his Democratic congressional colleagues by name as sell-outs who should be voted out. Here's why I take that position:

We simply cannot afford representatives who vote in favor of illusory increases in the minimum wage and a real repeal in the estate tax.

I got a lot of negative responses, not because their policy position was good, but because people were afraid. Afraid of the perception that Democrats would be cast as anti-minimum wage. Afraid that a Republican will win the Senate seat in Tennessee unless Harold Ford votes like a Republican now. The "realist" crowd offered the apologist argument that they "had" to vote like this to protect themselves at home. "Besides," they rationalized, "the bill will die in the Senate so it's really a non-issue."

Time will tell if they are right, but today's news raises the possibility this bill might actually pass:

The bill contains various "sweeteners" to make it hard for key Democrats to vote against, including tax breaks for the timber industry in Washington state and miners in West Virginia and bond-related perks for Arkansas. Senators from those states facing potentially tough re-election fights in November - including Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. - may be loath to block the legislation for fear that losing those special breaks could cost them votes back home.

"It's kind of a political box they've tried to put us in," said Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., adding that he'd been in private meetings with colleagues on both sides of the aisle all day. "It's such a big, enormous, wide-ranging proposal, there are a lot of merits to consider here."

"The Democrats are going to have to explain why they were against tuition tax deductions, timber capital gains. . . . They're the ones that got the problem," said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.

Senate Republicans could fend off a Democratic filibuster and pass the wage and tax package this week before leaving town for a month-long recess if all 55 of their members support it - and they pick up five Democrats. Two Republicans have indicated that they'll consider breaking ranks, but seven Democrats are considered possible defectors.

So there you have it folks, because Democrats in the House did not stand firm, Democrats in the Senate are potentially going to follow suit. Instead of working as a party to stand for something fundamental, they have opted for the politics of the moment, triangulation, strategy, and perception management. Why? Because they are afraid. Just like the enablers who support them.

Blinded by panic, these politicians and their apologists are too busy looking over their shoulders to realize they are rushing headlong over the cliff as they abandon fundamental principles of fairness, honesty, and equity.

Conrad Burns is a Flaming Jerk

2006-07-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

I guess if your last name is Burns, and you made your money shooting off your mouth on radio, that magically gives you the right to tell firefighters how to do their job. I mean after all, how hard can it be to put out a forest fire, right?

Apparently Conrad Burns, a Republican senator from Montana, suffers from the same unwarranted sense of entitlement most senators get after becoming the incumbent. As Joe Lieberman has demonstrated, we really do have a two party system. There is the Incumbent Party and Everyone Else.

If you doubt it, consider Exhibit A from a local Montana newspaper.

"HELENA - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a "poor job" of squelching a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows.

Burns and the firefighters - members of the Augusta Hotshots from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia - were at the Billings Logan International Airport awaiting flights, according to Burns and U.S. Forest Service representatives.

Burns approached the firefighters and told them they had "done a poor job" and "should have listened to the ranchers," according to a report prepared by Paula Rosenthal, a Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation employee who was sent to the airport to speak with the senator.

The 92,000-acre timber, grass and sagebrush fire was contained on July 19 and the 368 people who came to fight it began dispersing a few days later."

Actually, what he really said was this:

“See that guy over there? He hasn’t done a God-damned thing. They sit around. I saw it up on the Wedge fire and in northwestern Montana some years ago. It’s wasteful. You probably paid that guy $10,000 to sit around. It’s gotta change.’’

What kind of asinine arrogance is needed to chew out firefighters who have traveled thousands of miles to help control a raging inferno in your home state? Oh wait ... this is the SAME guy who said it "was a hell of a challenge" when a rancher asked him "Conrad, how can you live back there [Washington] with all those niggers?" The only firefighting experience this fool has is probably limited to putting out fires in the media from all the crap he spews while hardly working as a Signing Statement Stenographer lackey in the US Senate.

Someone should remind this neanderthal that firefighters run into burning buildings while everyone else is busy running out of them. That's why people revere firefighters like them and revile political hacks like him.

Next time Burns shows up to "work" at Congress, he should take time out from his busy day of pork-barrel politics to apologize to the firefighters from Virginia he dared insult. Instead of spending his days kissing the asses of overpaid lobbyists he should get down on his knees and kiss the boots of men and women who risk their lives to protect his constituent's life and property.

Since the firefighters came thousands of miles to help total strangers, the least he can do is make the three hour trip to Staunton, VA to thank them in person. Of course that would require him to pull his head out of his ass, and we all know that would be "a hell of challenge" for this guy.

This electric car will make you drool....

2006-07-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

When I say "electric car" you probably think of something like this:

I am here to let you know the rules have changed. It is time to say "Good bye, EV1. So long, GEM. Sayonara, honorable Prius." Make room for the new king of the road, the "next big thing", the "must have" vehicle of the future! I have seen the future and Tesla himself would weep with joy to have been honored with this sleek, sexy, powerfully hot bitchin' machine loaded with torque! Lemme take you for a test drive and blow your socks off....

It's all American but it ain't from Detroit, baby. Tesla Motors is going into production with a roadster that goes from zero to 60 in four seconds! To put that in perspective, the new Porsche 911 goes from 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds. The Tesla Roadster has a top speed of 135 mph and can go for more than 200 miles between charges.

And did I mention it looks Sweeeet? Look at this puppy and tell me you don't love it:

What? you don't want it in black you say? No problem:

Between you and me, my favorite color of the twelve they offer is Hunter Green. But no matter what color you choose, if you can't get laid driving this whip, you're not trying.

Now for the good news. This car is slated to hit the show rooms in 2007 and there is already a waiting list for the bad boys, so don't expect them to offer any incentives to lower the $100,000.00 sticker price. But don't despair. This isn't just a plaything for the rich and famous. Some serious coin is getting tossed into the company by Silicon Valley royalty.

Tesla Motors got $60 Million to put these on the road and they got it from the Google guys, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with executives from eBay and PayPal. We're talking winners here. People who know how to create value and dominate the market. People who know how to create major industrial changes that impact millions of people. People who have deep pockets and won't fall prey to the DeLorean curse of too little capitalization and too big a dream. We're talking "ready for prime time" baby. This first run is proof of concept. Expect the next generation to be in the range of most families.

And here's more good news. They are not the only game in town! Kids from West Philadelphia High School Electric Vehicle Team have built a 300 hp biodiesel car that won the 2005 Tour de Sol for fastest car. It goes from 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds also! 50 mpg on soybean oil! For some local TV news coverage, check out this News 4 video report. If you can't open the streaming video, just feast your eyes on this honey:

The cost to build the prototype? 15,000 bucks for the body kit from Slovenia and lots of sweat equity from lemme say it again for all you Public School Haters...KIDS FROM WEST PHILADELPHIA HIGH...that's right an urban public school located at 47th and Walnut baby! Who are these wizards? Glad you asked. I figured we should give some props to the boys and girls who make this stuff happen. Here's some of the team:

So next time you roll up behind a Hummer, or an Escalade, or any other gas guzzling dinosaur lumbering towards its rendevous with destiny....wave and smile as you pass em in style.... I have seen the future and it is SWEEEEET!!!!!.

The message all progressives should drive home:
Clean energy, clean environment, clean politics, CLEAN HOUSE!

Rejecting Torture and Torture Advocates

2006-07-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here's an important story that got knocked off the front page as all eyes turn to the Middle East and watched the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, and proof through the night we've no plans over there.

The nomination of the Defense Department's general counsel, William J. Haynes II, to a U.S. appeals court is endangered by concerns about the truthfulness of testimony he gave at his confirmation hearing, senators said.
Their assessment came after the Air Force's judge advocate general, Maj. Gen. Jack L. Rives, disputed Haynes's assertion that he had consulted career military lawyers before recommending the use of physical and mental coercion to interrogate terrorism suspects."

For all those hysterical polemicists who ignored career military commanders when it came to invading Iraq and career military lawyers when it came to using torture. Prepare to be shocked ....

We've all heard about the "one percent solution" and seen how it got generalized to every sphere of operations. Anyone who tried to argue for sanity when it came to implementing torture was met with Dershowitz's "ticking time bomb" nonsense.

From there, it was a slippery slope to imminent threats, probable threats, possible threats, potential threats, and pretty much any thing else.

After all, if the President and/or the Secretary of Defense are personally approving stuff then surely it must be legal, necessary, or at least useful...right? Besides, we gotta soften these hard core cases up...and what better way than to use Man's Best Friend like this:

We've known for some time that just as career military commanders warned against invading and occupying Iraq, career military interrogators warned against the use of torture or abuse of the Geneva Convention. Of course that didn't stop the hysterics from screaming "What about that ticking time bomb scenario?" or "What about our troops in harm's way?"

Funny you should mention that. I'll see your "ticking time bomb" and raise you "hot lead in the middle of armed conflict". I'll see your "contractors posing as troops" raise and call you with "the most effective United States Marine Corps interrogator during the Pacific Campaign of World War II."

Time to lay the cards on the table: I'm talking about Maj. Sherwood Moran, shown here interrogating a captured Japanese pilot during the battle of Guadalcanal:

For those not familiar with Maj. Sherwood F. Moran, it is important to note that he was admired and loved by his comrades in the USMC. He loved them back. "In his final years, in his room at the nursing home, there was no cross, but over his desk were the presidential citation for the First Marine Division, the Guadalcanal patch, his own ribbons, and a photograph of JFK."

He also loved the Japanese. For more than 20 years, he worked as a Christian missionary in Osaka where he and his family were embraced by the community. As fortune would have it, he and his family were on vacation in the United States when war broke out. His fellow missionaries in Japan were incarcerated and shipped to the Philippines. His Japanese friends in the United States were relocated and sent to internment camps. Against this backdrop, he came to the realization that he was perhaps the most fluent Japanese speaker in the United States, at least idiomatically. He also knew the culture deeply. He was 56 years old; a liberal, a pacifist, a missionary, a worldly man with a wife and family. He did the only thing he thought made sense. He immediately traveled to Washington DC and went straight to Marine headquarters. He enlisted and was made a captain on the spot.

He quickly found himself in the Pacific as part of the First Marine Division. He landed on Gaudalcanal in the first wave on August 8th, 1942. He and the other Marines were stuck on Guadalcanal with no leave, relief, rest, laundry or toilets. They were lucky to get two meals a day as they lived for months in the jungle fighting for control of Henderson Field. Half a world away, a baby girl had made him a grandfather. He did not know that at the time. He was busy doing his job. His job was to interrogate the captured Japanese prisoners.

Now remind me again... what are the advocates of torture saying about "ticking time bombs", "imminent threats", "ruthless enemies"? Forgive me if I say the imagery seems a bit shallow when you deliver those lines to men spending months sleeping, fighting and dying under continuous fire in the mud half a world away. It's enough to drive a person mad. So let's consider how Sherwood Moran reacted.

It wasn't until the Marines were evacuated to Australia that his superior officer, Lt. Col. Edmund Buckley, sent word of his interview style and impressive results back to headquarters. Moran was called back to Washington DC. awarded a Citation and a Bronze Star by Admiral Halsey. In DC he lectured, retrained interrogators, and revised the manual. Part of his rewrite effort was the newly transcribed memorandum, "Suggestions for Japanese Interpreters Based on Work in the Field."

I am going to publish it here in full because this document is no longer available on the Internet and it needs to be made available. As his grandson notes, the document is important because of its "clear, emphatic, and persuasive explanations of why sympathetic, familiarly grounded prisoner interrogation was altogether preferable to its opposite." That is why this document is still being taught today within the US military for its intended purpose, and, as has been pointed out by many others, is perhaps more important than ever given our present circumstances.

As a postscript it is important to note that after the war was over, Moran returned to Japan where he was warmly greeted by his former friends in Osaka. With his family, they renewed their missionary work and built institutions which exist to this day. There is little doubt that had he comported himself as the contractors in Abu Gharib did, that avenue would have been closed to him. Fortunately, for him, his family, and the rest of us, he made the wiser choice.

As you read the document, it will become clear that men like Sherwood F. Moran do not roam the Earth; they bless it. They do not bring glory to our nation; they honor the family of man. They do not teach us how to live better lives; they inspire us to be better people. They do not remind us of what is important; they demonstrate the importance of decency. They do not offer impassioned speeches about the courage of their convictions; they speak to us about the value of compassionate courage.

As the world once again slips into chaos, Sherwood Moran's enduring legacy offers a moral compass for those who must navigate the treacherous and uncharted waters in our future. This is not a lesson in "Why We Fight." It is a lesson in "How to do it right."

Read it, take what is useful to you and pass it on.

=

SUGGESTIONS FOR JAPANESE INTERPRETERS BASED ON WORK IN THE FIELD
by Sherwood F. Moran, Major, USMC

REPRINT
Division Intelligence Section,
Headquarters, First Marine Division,
Fleet Marine Force,
C/O Fleet Post Office, San Francisco, Calif.
168/292 17 July, 1943.
SUGGESTIONS FOR JAPANESE INTERPRETERS BASED ON WORK IN THE FIELD
(Being selections from a letter to an interpreter just entering upon his work.)
First of all I wish to say that every interpreter (I like the word "interviewer" better, for any really efficient interpreter is first and last an interviewer) must be himself. He should not and cannot try to copy or imitate somebody else, or, in the words of the Japanese proverb, he will be like the crow trying to imitate the cormorant catching fish and drowning in the attempt ("U no mane suru karasu mizu ni oboreru"). But of course it goes without saying that the interpreter should be open to suggestions and should be a student of best methods. But his work will be based primarily upon his own character, his own experience, and his own temperament. These three things are of prime importance; strange as it may seem to say so, I think the first and the last are the most important of the three. Based on these three things, he will gradually work out a technique of his own, his very own, just as a man does in making love to a woman! The comparison is not merely a flip bon mot; the interviewer should be a real wooer!
What I have to say concretely is divided into two sections: (1) The attitude of the interpreter towards his prisoner; (2) His knowledge and use of the language.
Let us take the first one, his ATTITUDE. This is of prime importance, in many ways more important than his knowledge of the language. (Many people, I suppose, would on first thought think "attitude" had nothing to do with it; that all one needs is a knowledge of the language, then shoot out questions, and expect and demand a reply. Of course that is a very unthinking and naive point of view.)
I can simply tell you what my attitude is; I often tell a prisoner right at the start what my attitude is! I consider a prisoner (i.e. a man who has been captured and disarmed and in a perfectly safe place) as out of the war, out of the picture, and thus, in a way, not an enemy. (This is doubly so, psychologically and physically speaking, if he is wounded or starving.) Some self-appointed critics, self-styled "hard-boiled" people, will sneer that this is a sentimental attitude, and say, "Don't you know he will try to escape at first opportunity?" I reply, "Of course I do; wouldn't you?" But that is not the point. Notice that in the first part of this paragraph I used the word "safe". That is the point; get the prisoner to a safe place, where even he knows there is no hope of escape, that it is all over. Then forget, as it were, the "enemy" stuff, and the "prisoner" stuff. I tell them to forget it, telling them I am talking as a human being to a human being, (ningen to shite). And they respond to this.
When it comes to the wounded, the sick, the tired, the sleepy, the starving, I consider that since they are out of the combat for good, they are simply needy human beings, needing our help, physical and spiritual. This is the standpoint of one human being thinking of another human being. But in addition, it is hard business common sense, and yields rich dividends from the Intelligence standpoint.
I consider that the Japanese soldier is a person to be pitied rather than hated. I consider (and I often tell them so) that they have been led around by the nose by their leaders; that they do not know, and have not been allowed to know for over 10 years what has really been going on in the world, etc. etc. The proverb "Ido no naka no kawazu taikai o shirazu" (The frog in the bottom of the well is not acquainted with the ocean) is sometimes a telling phrase to emphasize your point. But one must be careful not to antagonize them by such statements, by giving them the idea that you have a "superiority" standpoint, etc. etc.
But in relation to all the above, this is where "character" comes in, that I mentioned on the preceding page. One must be absolutely sincere. I mean that one must not just assume the above attitudes in order to gain the prisoner's confidence and get him to talk. He will know the difference. You must get him to know by the expression on your face, the glance of your eye, the tone of your voice, that you do think that "the men of the four seas are brothers," to quote a Japanese (and Chinese) proverb. (Shikai keitei.) One Japanese prisoner remarked to me that he thought I was a fine gentleman ("rippana shinshi"). I think that what he was meaning to convey was that he instinctively sensed that I was sincere, was trying to be fair, did not have it in for the Japanese as such. (My general attitude has already been brought out in the article "The Psychology of the Japanese.")
In regard to all the above, a person who has lived in Japan for a number of years has a big advantage. One can tell the prisoner how pleasant his life in Japan was; how many fine Japanese he knew, even mentioning names and places, students and their schools, how he had Japanese in his home, and vice versa, etc. etc. That alone will make a Japanese homesick. This line has infinite possibilities. If you know anything about Japanese history, art, politics, athletics, famous places, department stores, eating places, etc. etc. a conversation may be relatively interminable. I could write two or three pages on this alone. (I personally have had to break off conversations with Japanese prisoners, so willing were they to talk on and on.) I remember how I had quite a talk with one of our prisoners whom I had asked what his hobbies (shumi) etc. were. He mentioned swimming. (He had swum four miles to shore before we captured him.) We talked about the crawl stroke and about the Olympics. Right here all this goes to prove that being an "interpreter" is not simply being a Cook's tourist type of interpreter. He should be a man of culture, insight, resourcefulness, and with real conversational ability. He must have "gags"; he must have a "line". He must be alive; he must be warm; he must be vivid. But above all he must have integrity, sympathy; yet he must be firm, wise ("Wise as serpents but harmless as doves".) He must have dignity and a proper sense of values, but withal friendly, open and frank. Two characteristics I have not specifically mentioned: patience and tact.
From the above, you will realize that most of these ideas are based on common sense. I might sum it all up by saying that a man should have sympathetic common sense. There may be some who read the above paragraphs (or rather just glance through them) who say it is just sentiment. But careful reading will show it is enlightened hard-boiled-ness.
Now in regard to the second point I have mentioned (on p 1), the knowledge and the use of the language. Notice that I say "knowledge" and "use". They are different. A man may have a perfect knowledge, as a linguist, of a language, and yet not be skillful and resourceful in its use. Questioning people, even in one's own language, is an art in itself, just as is selling goods. In fact, the good interpreter must, in essence, be a salesman, and a good one.
But first in regard to the knowledge of the language itself. Technical terms are important, but I do not feel they are nearly as important as a large general vocabulary, and freedom in the real idiomatic language of the Japanese. Even a person who knows little Japanese can memorize lists of technical phrases. After all, the first and most important victory for the interviewer to try to achieve is to get into the mind and into the heart of the person being interviewed. This is particularly so in the kind of work so typical of our Marine Corps, such as we experienced at Guadalcanal, slam-bang methods, where, right in the midst of things we had what might be called "battle-field interpretation", where we snatched prisoners right off the battlefield while still bleeding, and the snipers were still sniping, and interviewed them as soon as they were able to talk. But even in the interviewing of prisoners later on, after they were removed from Guadalcanal, first at the advanced bases, and then at some central base far back. The fundamental thing would be to get an intellectual and spiritual en rapport with the prisoner. At the back bases you will doubtless have a specific assignment to question a prisoner (who has been questioned a number of times before) on some particular and highly technical problem; something about his submarine equipment, something about radar, range finders, bombsights, etc. etc. Of course at such a time, a man who does not know technical terms will be almost out of it. But he must have both: a large general vocabulary, with idiomatic phrases, compact and pithy phrases; and also technical words and phrases.
Now in regard to the use of the language. Often it is not advisable to get right down to business with the prisoner at the start. I seldom do. To begin right away in a business-like and statistical way to ask him his name, age, etc., and then pump him for military information, is neither good psychology nor very interesting for him or for you. Begin by asking him things about himself. Make him and his troubles the center of the stage, not you and your questions of war problems. If he is not wounded or tired out, you can ask him if he has been getting enough to eat; if he likes Western-style food. You can go on to say, musingly, as it were, "This war is a mess, isn't it! It's too bad we had to go to war, isn't it! Aren't people funny, scrapping the way they do! The world seems like a pack of dogs scrapping at each other." And so on. (Notice there is yet no word of condemnation or praise towards his or his country's attitude, simply a broad human approach.) You can ask if he has had cigarettes, if he is being treated all right, etc. If he is wounded you have a rare chance. Begin to talk about his wounds. Ask if the doctor or corpsman has attended to him. Have him show you his wounds or burns. (They will like to do this!)

The bombardier of one of the Japanese bombing planes shot down over Guadalcanal had his whole backside burned and had difficulty in sitting down. He appreciated my genuine sympathy and desire to have him fundamentally made comfortable. He was most affable and friendly, though very sad at having been taken prisoner. We had a number of interviews with him. There was nothing he was not willing to talk about. And this was a man who had been dropping bombs on us just the day before! On another occasion a soldier was brought in. A considerable chunk of his shinbone had been shot away. In such bad shape was he that we broke off in the middle of the interview to have his leg redressed. We were all interested in the redressing, in his leg, it was almost a social affair! And the point to note is that we really were interested, and not pretending to be interested in order to get information out of him. This was the prisoner who called out to me when I was leaving after that first interview, "Won't you please come and talk to me every day". (And yet people are continually asking us, "Are the Japanese prisoners really willing to talk?")
A score of illustrations such as the preceding could be cited. However, all this is of course preliminary. But even later on when you have started on questioning him for strictly war information, it is well not to be too systematic. Wander off into delightful channels of things of interest to him and to you. But when I say it is well not to be too systematic, I mean in the outward approach and presentation from a conversational standpoint. But in the workings of your mind you must be a model of system. You must know exactly what information you want, and come back to it repeatedly. Don't let your warm human interest, your genuine interest in the prisoner, cause you to be sidetracked by him! You should be hard-boiled but not half-baked. Deep human sympathy can go with a business-like, systematic and ruthlessly persistent approach.
I now wish to take up an important matter concerning which there is some difference of opinion. At certain bases where prisoners are kept, when some visitor comes to look over the equipment and general layout, as he comes to each individual cell where a prisoner is kept, the prisoner is required to jump up and stand at attention; even if he is asleep, they prod him and make his stand stiffly at attention. Again, when a prisoner is being interviewed, as the interpreter or interpreters come into the room used for that purpose, the prisoner must stand at attention, and for the first part of the questioning he is not asked to sit down. Later on he is allowed to sit down as a gracious concession. He is treated well, and no attempt is made to threaten him or mistreat him, but the whole attitude, the whole emphasis, is that he is a prisoner and we are his to-be-respected and august enemies and conquerors.
Now for my own standpoint. I think all this is not only unnecessary, but that it acts exactly against what we are trying to do. To emphasize that we are enemies, to emphasize that he is in the presence of his conqueror, etc., puts him psychologically in the position of being on the defensive, and that because he is talking to a most-patient enemy and conqueror he has no right and desire to tell anything. That is most certainly the attitude I should take under similar circumstances, even if I had no especially patriotic scruples against giving information. Let me give a concrete illustration. One of our interpreters at a certain base was told that, when a prisoner is to be interviewed, he should be marched in, with military personnel on either side of him; the national flag of the conqueror should be on display, to give the prisoner a sense of the dignity and majesty of the conqueror's country, and that he should stand at attention, etc. In this atmosphere the interpreter, according to instructions, attempted to interrogate the prisoner. The prisoner replied courteously but firmly, "I am a citizen of Japan. As such I will tell you anything you wish to know about my own personal life and the like, but I cannot tell you anything about military matters." In other words, he was made so conscious of his present position and that he was a captured soldier vs. enemy Intelligence, that they played right into his hands! Well, that was zero in results. But later this same interpreter took this prisoner and talked with him in a friendly and informal manner, giving him cigarettes and some tea or coffee, with the result that he opened up perfectly naturally and told everything that was wanted, so far as his intelligence and knowledge made information available.
Of course all this dignity emphasis is based on the fear that the prisoner will take advantage of you and your friendship; the same idea as that a foreman must swear at his construction gang in order to get work out of them. Of course there always is the danger that some types will take advantage of your friendliness. This is true in any phase of life, whether you are a teacher, a judge, an athletic trainer, a parent. But there is some risk in any method. But this is where the interpreter's character comes in, that I have so emphasized earlier in this article. You can't fool with a man of real character without eventually getting your fingers burned.
The concrete question comes up, What is one to do with a prisoner who recognizes your friendliness and really appreciates it, yet won't give military information, through conscientious scruples? On Guadalcanal we had a very few like that. One prisoner said to me, "You have been in Japan a long time. You know the Japanese point of view. Therefore you know that I cannot give you any information of military value". (Inwardly I admired him for it, for he said what he should have said, and in the last analysis you cannot do anything about it; that is, if we are pretending to abide by the international regulations regarding prisoners of war, or even the dictates of human decency. I reported this conversation to the head of our MP, a man about as sentimental as a bulldozer machine. He said, much to my surprise, with admiration, "He gave just the right answer. He knows his stuff!")
But even granting all the above, there is something that can be done about this. In the case of a salesman selling goods from door to door, the emphatic "No" of the lady to whom he is trying to sell stockings, aluminum ware, or what-not, should not be the end of the conversation but the beginning ("I have not yet begun to fight!" as it were). As for myself, in such a situation with prisoners, I try to shame them, and have succeeded quite well. I tell them something like this, "You know, you are an interesting kind of person. I've lived in Japan many years. I like the Japanese very much. I have many good friends among the Japanese, men, women, boys, girls. Somehow or other the Japanese always open up to me. I have had most intimate conversations with them about all kinds of problems. I never quite met a person like you, so offish and on your guard." etc. etc. One prisoner seemed hurt. He said, with surprise and a little pain, "Do you really think I am offish?" Again, I sometimes say, "That is funny, you are not willing to talk to me about these things. Practically all the other prisoners, and we have hundreds of them, do talk. You seem different. I extend to you my friendship; we have treated you well, far better probably than we would be treated, and you don't respond." etc. etc. I tell him that we purposely try to be human. I say to him, "You know perfectly well that if I were a prisoner of the Japanese they wouldn't treat me the way I am treating you" (meaning my general attitude and approach). I then say, "I will show you the way they would act to me," and I stand up and imitate the stern, severe attitude of a Japanese military officer toward an inferior, and the prisoner smiles and even bursts out laughing at the "show" I am putting on, and agrees that that is actually the situation, and what I describe is the truth.

Now in all this the interpreter back at one of the bases has a big advantage in one respect: He will have plenty of time for interrogations, and can interview them time and time again, while in many cases, we out at the front must interview them more or less rapidly, and oftentimes only once. But on the other hand, those of us right out at the front have what is sometimes a great advantage: we get absolutely first whack at them, and talk to them when they have not had time to develop a technique of "sales resistance" talk, as it were.
It may be advisable to give one illustration of how, concretely, to question, according to my point of view. Take a question such as this, "Why did you lose this battle?" (a question we asked on more than one occasion regarding some definite battle on Guadalcanal). A question presented in this bare way is a most wooden and uninteresting affair. The interpreter should be given leeway to phrase his own questions, and to elaborate them as he sees fit, as he sizes up the situation and the particular prisoner he may be interviewing. His superior officer should merely give him a statement of the information he wants. A man who is simply a word for word interpreter (in the literal sense) of a superior officer's questions, is, after all, nothing but a verbal cuspidor; the whole proceeding is a rather dreary affair for all concerned, including the prisoner. The conversation, the phrasing of the questions, should be interesting and should capture the prisoner's imagination. To come back to the question above, "Why did you lose this battle?" That was the question put to me to interpret (in the broad sense) to a prisoner who had been captured the day after one of the terrific defeats of the Japanese in the earlier days of the fighting on Guadalcanal.

Here is the way I put the question: "We all know how brave the Japanese soldier is. All the world knows and has been startled at the remarkable progress of the Japanese armies in the Far East. Their fortitude, their skill, their bravery are famous all over the world. You captured the Philippines; you captured Hong Kong, you ran right through Malaya and captured the so-called impregnable Singapore; you took Java, and many other places. The success of the Imperial armies has been stupendous and remarkable. But you come to Guadalcanal and run into a stone wall, and are not only defeated but practically annihilated. Why is it?" You see that this is a really built-up question. I wish you could see the interest on the prisoner's face as I am dramatically asking such a question as that. It's like telling a story, and at the end he is interested in telling his part of it.
There is a problem of what questions to ask a prisoner. What kinds of questions? Of course there are many questions one would like to ask if he had the time, simply for curiosity, such as, What do you think of the war? Do you want to go back to Japan? Can you ever go back to Japan? I have asked these questions more than once when we had time, and discoursed at great length on the philosophy of the Japanese soldier; also on the sneak-punch at Pearl Harbor, getting their point of view of this and that. But of course questions such as these are not often asked by us, for they are more or less what I might term curiosity questions, i.e. questions the answers to which we should like to know just to satisfy our own curiosity, as it were. But usually we do not have time for such questions. A prisoner may be too tired or wounded to question him long, and only vital information is dealt with. Then, too, you can only question a prisoner for so long before he, and you, get stale and more or less tired, and you lose your brilliance and ingenuity.

In the case of our own Marine Corps front line Intelligence, with which this particular discussion primarily deals, where we often had our interviews with prisoners out in the open under palm trees interrupted by a bombing raid and such side-shows, we must usually stick to questions dealing with imperative information. In our particular situation on Guadalcanal, here are some questions we nearly always asked, after getting the name, age, rank, and unit, where from in Japan, and previous occupation before entering the armed forces. (The six items mentioned above are more or less statistical. But by rank we can judge the value of the man's replies in many instances. The last question is of value in order to judge how much of a background the man has, which helps one to evaluate his answers. But of course though these questions are routine questions, each one is of value in its own particular way.)
After these six questions are disposed of (and often I do not ask them right away but amble along discussing other things, so that things won't be too stiff) we asked questions such as these: When did you arrive at Guadalcanal? Where did you land? (Very important) How many landed with you? What kind of a ship did you come in? (Don't ask leading questions; don't say, "Did you come on a warship?" Let him say.) Ask the name of the ship. How many troops were on the ship? If, for instance, he says he came on a destroyer, ask how many troops usually travel on a destroyer. (Of course you have many opportunities to check on such a question with other prisoners.) At this point you might ask him if he was sea-sick while on the destroyer. "Did you throw up?" "I've been terribly sea-sick myself a number of times; it's a rotten feeling isn't it?" you can add with deep feeling! (Be sure that you distinguish between crew and troops when you ask him how many troops the destroyer carried. Don't be "fuzzy" in your questions; be clear-cut.) How many other ships were with yours? What kind of ships? Where did you sail from and when? Were there many ships in that harbor? When did you leave Japan? Where were you between the time you left Japan and the time you landed on Guadalcanal? When you landed were any munitions landed? Artillery? Food supplies, medical supplies? After you landed where did you go? Where were you between the time you landed and the time you were captured? What experience in actual combat warfare have you had; your company, battalion or regiment? How is the present food supply in your unit? Sickness? What was the objective of your attack last night? How do you keep in contact with one another in the jungle at night? Of all our methods and weapons used against you, what has been the most efficient, the most terrific and deadly? (i.e. We want to know the effectiveness, for example, of our artillery, mortars, trench mortars, machine guns, airplane bombing, airplane strafing, shell fire from the sea, etc. etc. We found out that what we had thought was probably the most devastating and most feared was not what they thought, in some instances.) Of course we always asked about numbers of troops, and in our particular situation we always asked most eagerly about number of artillery pieces and their caliber. We had personal reasons!
Well, many more such questions could be cited, but these are enough to illustrate the immediate nature of the questions and the information desired in the case of our Marine Corps amphibious forces. If the prisoner is an aviator, and we had many such, of course the questions would be quite different. If the prisoner is one of the destroyer crew, for example, the questions would be still different. Our experience was that soldiers seemed far more ready to talk than sailors; aviators talked very readily.
s Sherwood F. Moran,
SHERWOOD F. MORAN,
Major, U.S.M.C.R.,
Japanese Interpreter
OFFICIAL:
s E. J. Buckley
E. J. BUCKLEY
Lt. Col., USMCR,
D-2.

Dear Jay, about last night.

2006-06-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

Dear Jay,
I caught your show last night. It's been a long time since I've watched The Tonight Show, but George Carlin was on and who can pass that up? You know what I'm saying. We're from the same neighborhood. He's a bit older than me and we traveled in different circles, but I still feel a sort of misplaced local pride in his success. Besides he's funny as hell.

Listening to him last night was an eye opener for me. Not the "I'm a modern man..." riff. That was just a rollercoaster fun ride. What struck me was how long he's been in the business and how many times he's been on the Tonight Show. It never occurred to me how much NBC has been a part of my life, especially when I was growing up.

It seems like half my family worked at NBC. My uncle started there as a page. He went on to become a big shot on the Today Show. That sounds like a big deal now; back then he used to joke how he was second banana to a knuckle-dragging ape. It's true. One of his jobs was taking care of Mr. Muggs. As he got older and more unruly (Mr. Muggs, not my uncle) he used to take Mr. Muggs out back in the alley behind Radio City for exercise. To keep him in line, he used to whack Muggs on the head with a blackjack. Apparently, chimps have thick skulls and it was the only way to get his attention. One day a lady saw them and called the cops. She said there was a thug out back of Radio City beating up a midget. That was the end of those field trips.

Grandpa was also in the business, but a different generation. He and Lou Walters were friends. He helped Lou's daughter, Barbara, get her foot in the door by sending her to my uncle. I am sure grandpa watched more than NBC, but the only TV news we ever watched was Huntley and Brinkley. Their sign off was a running joke with us. We'd leave to go back to the city, Grandpa would kiss my Mom goodbye and then we'd have the same manly exchange "Goodnight Grandpa...Goodnight Kid." Even at the end, when he was senile and no longer recognized me, Grandpa and I still said goodbye like that.

Then there was Johnny. Grandpa liked him. He said Johnny was the kind of guy you were happy to let into your living room. I got to thinking about that last night while listening to your other guest, the blonde woman with the book called Godless. You mentioned how people had sent you email complaining about her before she even showed up. Now I can see why.

I think her presence explains why Carlin looked so jumpy as you went to the break. His knee was bouncing up and down and he was rubbing his knuckles like he was going to pop someone in the kisser. Like Carlin, I'm a native New Yorker. If I knew I would have to sit next to someone like your guest and listen to that bilge, I don't think I would have been able to stay silent, let alone keep a civil tone.

It was obvious you were really trying to help her make amends, to show a bit of humanity and compassion. You were really making a yeoman's effort to inject some civility back into the conversation because you know people invite you into their living rooms and I believe that means something to you. She clearly didn't give a damn whose carpet she crapped on. I don't know where we went wrong that someone could use that like a political prop. Mr. Muggs was tame compared to her.

I don't have any illusions here. We don't have a relationship and you don't owe me anything. I know the show is about promoting product and having a laugh. I know the bottom line is about market share and Nielsen ratings so advertisers can calculate their CPM. I know this isn't Meet The Press; you aren't there to grill people. But I also know the lack of civility your guest wallows in is not (as she claimed) simply the result of more channels and talk radio. People like her and the other hate mongers that clutter the airwaves flourish because the Fairness Doctrine was repealed. That's not my opinion, that's Richard Viguerie's opinion. When the Funding Father of the New Right says it, I believe it.

There is something more upsetting about the show than a guest whoring a book and making money off the suffering of others. It was the audience. During your monologue, I think you referred to them at one point as "The Right Wing Cheering Section." I guess you were making it clear that you recognized they weren't merely partisan Republicans. If that is what you were saying, I agree. They are something else. Something uncivil.

I listen to that bloodlust and I hear echoes of Bavarian beer halls and lynch mobs; echoes I never thought I would hear in my living room. I don't want them in my living room. I don't even want them in my country. Fortunately, I can still change the channel. But my options are dwindling. The more I think about it, the more I fear the lights are going out across the dial, and they won't be lit again in my lifetime. All I can say is I'm glad my grandparents didn't live to see this happen again. It would have broken their hearts.

Goodnight Jay.

Goodnight and Good Luck.

The Department of Pre-crime and The Thought Police.

2006-06-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

While the media was focused on the story of Goldstein's, er... Zarqawi's latest death, there was another story that got very little play. This was from the most important "central front" of this global war -- the home front. I'm talking about a recent case where secret evidence was used to charge people with crimes the jury didn't think they committed, yet they were still convicted and sentenced to terms the judge felt were unjustified.

You read that right. The department of pre-crime is handing out warrants to the thought police, and they're forcing courts to hand out life sentences.

To paraphrase shpilk over on Dkos, here is why you should care:

"Going after people based upon 'what they are thinking'
should set off alarm bells in any thinking person's head."

Most people, haven't followed the "Virginia Jihad" case, sometimes referred to as "the paintball gang" case. You probably think it was about a group of American Muslims who were training for terrorist activities against the United States. A less compelling tale emerges if you look at the actual convictions. To begin with, no one was charged with anything representing a threat to the United States. That didn't keep some of them from getting sentenced to life in prison without parole.

None of the convictions handed down were for planning an act of terrorism. Prosecutors presented no evidence that any of the 11 convicted men had planned U.S. attacks. At best they were convicted for being pro-terrorist. That may seem like a fine point to some, but I will let a supporter of this trial and its verdict demonstrate the real threat this represents -- to all of us right here in the USA:

"We're arresting people for talking about things, thinking about things, training for things," said Andrew McBride, a former federal prosecutor in Alexandria. "I think you will see more of it as the government moves from a traditional criminal law model of post-event reaction to pre-event interdiction.

When you consider this in the context of the NSA's data mining program, it is clear we are looking at a department of pre-crime dedicated to convicting suspects of thought crimes. As one anonymous source told the Washington Post:

"They were walking around the national capital area with training in small arms, infantry tactics, any number of skills that could be used to mount a strike," the official said. "It has to be unacceptable to wait until there is a threat of actual direct violence to take action."

On the face of it, that sounds ominous. No one suggests waiting until the Mall is littered with bodies, but the key point that gets glossed over here is the doctrine of pre-emption has come home to roost. They are not going to even wait until there is a threat. That is a far cry from what happened in Canada recently. Those guys tried to buy three tons of ammonium nitrate. The magnitude of this shift becomes obvious when you consider the description of these guys used to justify their prosecution describes virtually anyone who has ever had military training, or hunting experience.

It is true six guys plead guilty to conspiracy charges. Some would point to that as clear evidence that they were terrorists. Others might point to that as evidence that they didn't want to roll the dice in the Rocket Docket or risk being reclassified as enemy combatants with no rights at all. That's a problem when secret evidence is used to make decisions about people who are convicted because they were considered potential threats. Consider the most recent conviction:

Ali Asad Chandia, was convicted on three counts of providing material support to Lashkar [a Pakistani group fighting India over Kashmir] or conspiring to do so and acquitted on a fourth. He faces up to 45 years in prison. Prosecutors said Chandia trained at a Lashkar camp in Pakistan and worked with others to help the group acquire equipment with possible military applications.

A juror, Robert Stosch, said yesterday that most panel members did not believe Chandia attended the camp but convicted him primarily because he had helped another defendant ship 50,000 paintballs for use by Lashkar.

But Stosch added that he thought the case "shouldn't have been brought at all. It was very insignificant." And he said the whole investigation was "way too minor, regardless of whether they convicted 11 people."

I am all for going after terrorists and criminals. However, something is terribly wrong when the jury convicting you doesn't believe you did the crime you are being charged with committing. The problem I have is that new mandatory sentencing guidelines put the prosecutors in the drivers seat by effectively removing judicial prerogatives. Here's what the judge reportedly said about this case when she reduced the sentences:

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said at the time she imposed those sentences that they were "draconian" and "sticking in my craw" but that she had no choice because of congressionally mandated minimum sentences for certain firearms convictions.

At Friday's hearings, Brinkema repeated her assertion that the sentences were draconian, but said she had limited ability to alter them. That's because the Supreme Court ruling affects only the federal sentencing guidelines and not the mandatory minimums imposed by Congress that drove the lengthy terms imposed on Khan and Chapman.

As a result, Khan's sentence was reduced only to life plus 45 years. Chapman, 32, had his sentence reduced from 85 years to 65 years. There is no parole in the federal system, so both will have to serve the vast majority of their terms.

"I have a limited ability to impose what I consider to be an appropriate sentence," Brinkema said. "These statutes are really draconian. I've said it before and I'll say it again."

What does it mean when the judge who convicted two of the men on weapons charges also acknowledged they both have a strong argument on appeal for getting the firearm counts overturned? If you think that means these guys get treated like Fastow, Skilling, and Layn until their appeals are exhausted - think again.

For those who want to paint this as a limp-wristed terrorist sympathizer who is in bed with the anti-American commies at the ACLU, consider this: If the government can put people in jail for life for exercising their second amendment rights based on what they were thinking... what makes you think they can't put you in jail for exercising any other right based on what they say you are thinking?

Diagnosing Coulter's Affliction

2006-06-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

Like everyone else, Mean And Colder has jumped on the 6-6-6 bandwagon to pimp her latest book by dressing like a Whore and Babble On about some crazy thing or other...verily she comes across like a Beast.

It's true she is an easy target. After all, she makes a living being outrageous. Some days I think she was the one who started the rumors of her being a post-operative transgendered person.

I admit I used to watch her with the same morbid fascination I normally reserve for car crashes, until I realized the woman is sick... as in clinically afflicted. Since we are now at a point where medical diagnoses can be dispensed remotely, let me walk you through the differential diagnosis.

Some have wondered where I get the right to make this diagnosis. I'm glad you asked. I got my degree from the Dr. William Frist School of Remote Clinical Diagnosis, located in his home district of the Land of Make Believe. My specialty is in the Online Analysis of Alien Life Forms and I am a board certified online diagnostician, licensed in all 50 states and the Western provinces of Iraq.

Let's look at the woman. Ok, not directly. Let's look at the woman on TV so we don't turn to stone. What physical observations are immediately apparent?

1) She is painfully thin. You could lose an eye if she popped you with her elbow.

2) Her eyes have a "perpetually startled" look to them. The clinical term for that is "exopthalmic"... kind of like Barbara Bush used to look.

3) The girl is fidgity. Watch her on TV, she can't sit still. Something is always moving. If she was a child, you would say she was hyperactive.

4) She has wild mood swings. She can go from laughing inappropriately and mocking Colmes (a natural response, I admit) to viciously attacking his patriotism with no provocation. That is politely referred to as "emotionally labile"...think PMS and you get the picture.

5) She has poorly controlled rage. She is extremely irritable. That makes her very irritating, but I digress.

6) She has unstructured thought. If you read the transcripts of what she says, it sounds like she was making an argument, but she is just stringing together talking points of questionable relevance.

7) She seems to fatigue easily. She can't sustain a running dialogue, but is only good in short encounters. The rare occasions where I have seen her go more than a few minutes, she runs out of steam.

8) Finally, there is that throat thing. Lots of people swear it's an Adam's Apple. I think it's a goiter.

Diagnosis: hyperthyroidism (Grave's Diseases) or granulomatous thyroiditis

Grave's Disease is more common in women, usually in their 30s or 40s. It is an autoimmune disease, which means the body is attacking itself. That makes a lot of sense. There is definitely something unnatural about her.

Granulomatous thyroiditis usually occurs in females between 30 and 50 years of age. It is believed to be viral in origin, often preceded by a upper respiratory tract infection.

Given the persistent speculation about her gender, it is worth noting for the sake of completeness that cross gender hormone therapy can also activate hyperthyroidism.

Of course, I could be wrong with this diagnosis. I recently heard from the Ghost of Frank Zappa (I'm not making this up) and he proposed an alternative explanation worth considering:

There is an old saying in medicine that when you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras. Meaning that the most common diseases are most common for a reason. So, your differential diagnosis seems sound.

However, there is more to Ann than mere hyperthyroidism. Ann Coulter is a tragic figure.

She was conceived in a horribly failed medical experiment done by the Russians from the vaginal swabbings taken from Eva Braun shortly after she had consummated her marriage to Adolf Hitler. They spent their honeymoon in a ditch. On fire.

Apparently a mixture of the Fuhrer's semen and Eva's yeast infection, heated by the gasoline fire, melded into a frightening mixture of disease and wasted humanity. This potent mixture was secreted off to Russia where it was stored near Chernobyl. When the Chernobyl catastrophe occurred contamination from the site activated the growth cycle of the latent yeast infection/Fuhrer amalgam and Ann Coulter was "born."

Blue eyes. Blonde hair. A vision her father could truly love. And she makes bread rise. Thanks to her mother.

Bottom Line: She is definitely suffering from some sort of affliction. The real tragedy is it's probably treatable. Of course, she'd no longer be a freak show and then how would she make a living; biting the heads off chickens?

The Revelations of John Q. Public (completed 06/06/06)

2006-06-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

1:1 This is the Revelation of a New Doctrine, which Double Ewe received from his base showing the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his operatives to his servants on FOX,

1:2 Blessed is he who reads many news sources, and keep in mind the things that are written, for the time is at hand when events once uncovered are finally seeing the light of day.

1:3 I John Q. Public, your brother and partner with you in oppression, empire, and faith in the Rule of Law, was on the isle called Gitmo because of the New Doctrine and the testimony of a Cowboy.

1:4 I was trying to survive yet another day, when I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet saying.

1:5 "What you see, write in a diary and post to various blogs and newsgroups."

1:6 I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw the Coalition of the Bribed.

1:7 And among them was a Cowboy, clothed with orange jumpsuit, adorned with shackles around his wrists and ankles. Yea, did he frog march.

1:8 His head and his hair were unkempt. His eyes were red like a flame of fire.

1:9 His smelled of oil, as if he had been showering in a refinery. His voice was like the voice of many waters, all slurred and garbled. He walked like one drugged.

1:10 He lifted the middle finger of his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a forked tongue. His face was flushed with anger.

1:11 When I saw him, I fell Rolling On The Floor, Laughing.

1:12 He looked down at his shackles, saying, "Don't be amused. I am the first but not the last, there will be others. I thought I got away with murder, and behold, I may be condemned forever. Behold, I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

1:13 Write therefore the things which you have seen in Fallujah, and the things which are being uncovered in Haditha, and the things which will happen in Anbar Province hereafter."

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2:1 I looked and saw a door open in the wall, and the first voice that I heard, like an intercom speaking with me, was saying, "Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this."

2:2 Immediately I was in the Oval Office. Behold, there was a throne set in the middle, and a Cowboy sitting on the throne. He wore a big hat, but boasted no cattle.

2:3 There was a bright yellow carpet on the floor, which cynically gave the room a sense of optimism.

2:4 Around the throne were twenty-four saddles. On the saddles were twenty-four pioneers sitting, with crowns of gold on their heads.

2:5 There were seven oil lamps burning before his throne, which are the Spirits of the Seven Sisters.

2:6 Before the throne was something like a sea of oil. In the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four creatures full of eyes before and behind.

2:7 The first creature was like a Central Intelligence , and the second creature like No Such Agency, and the third creature had a face like a Negro man who spoke Spanish, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.

2:8 The four living creatures are full of eyes around about and within. They have no rest day and night for they suckle off phone lines.

2:9 As long as the living creatures give information, secrets, and privileged communications to the Cowboy on the throne, they believe they will reign forever and ever,

2:10 the twenty-four pioneers fall down before the Cowboy who sits on the throne, and worship him who doles out contracts, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying,

2:11 "Worthy are you, Double Ewe, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for we created all things, and because of our desire they existed, and were created!"

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3:1 I saw, in the right hand of the Cowboy, a Policy written for him inside and outside, sealed shut with seven seals.

3:2 I heard a loud voice proclaim, "Who is worthy to open the book, and to break its seals?"

3:3 And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look in it.

3:5 A small voice said to me, "Don't weep. Behold, the Lies which supported this Campaign are overcome; now comes she who opens the book and its seven seals."

3:6 I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the pioneers, a child looking as though it had been slain, wrapped in a bloody blanket.

3:7 Then she rose, and she took the book out of the right hand of the Cowboy who sat on the throne.

3:8 Now when she had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four pioneers fell all over themselves trying to grab the book back. A great noise was sent out over the airwaves to confuse and confound.

3:9 Then I saw, and I heard something like a voice of millions around the throne, the living creatures, and the pioneers; they were marching and chanting in many tongues;

3:10 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the child who has been killed to receive the power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing!"

3:11 The four living creatures said, "Damn!" The pioneers fell upon their cell phones and labored to draw up a new communications strategy.

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4:1 I saw that the Child opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures speak in an Elder voice that brayed, "Get Over It Already!"

4:2 And behold, a white horse, and a Cowboy who sat on it had a microphone. A crown was given to him by a Court, and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.

4:3 When she opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying in a Savage voice, "Terrorist Appeaser!"

4:4 Another came forth, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.

4:5 When she opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying in a Colder voice, "Traitor!" And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand. His thumb weighed heavy on one scale. Thus, justice was not dispensed, it was denied.

4:6 I heard a hidden voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A tax-cut for the haves, and two tax-cuts for the dead! Don't damage the oil and the wine!"

4:7 When she opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature exclaim with a Rush, "Conspiracy Nut!"

4:8 And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Chainee. Halliburton followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by chemical weapons was given to him.

4:9 When she opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the throne the souls of the innocents who had been killed for the War on Terror, and for the testimony of Double Ewe which they had.

4:10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long before you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

4:11 An orange jumpsuit was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, could enjoy similar liberation.

4:12 I saw when she opened the sixth seal, and there was a great explosion. The sun came out at night and the world watched with shock and awe.

4:13 The basis of international law was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every treaty and accord began to burn.

4:14 The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, looked in astonishment.

4:15 They turned to each other and I heard one say, "the law of the jungle has returned; and we know what that means."

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5:1 When she opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Congress for no one asked them for their advice or consent.

5:2 Then I saw seven Mercenaries and seven RPGs were given to them.

5:3 A Private Military Contractor came and stood over the altar, having a golden handshake. A contract was given to him, that he should add it to the bonfire that was before the throne.

5:4 The Mercenaries all signed the contract, and they fulfilled it with awesome firepower. There followed thunder, lightning, and shrapnel.

5:5 The seven Mercenaries who had seven RPGs prepared themselves to fire.

5:6 The first fired, and there followed depleted uranium, mixed with blood. One third of the earth was burnt up, and one third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

5:7 The second fired, and something like liquid fire rained from the air. One third of the city became blood.

5:8 The third fired, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of the waters.

5:9 The name of the star is called "Blackwater." Many people died from the Blackwater, for they drowned in a sea of lead.

5:10 The fourth fired, and new stars appeared in the heavens. Fast moving and silent, they trained their deadly light on nearby stars and destroyed them. As those stars exploded, communications ceased.

5:11 I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Bring `em on!" bold because of the three mercenaries, who are yet to sound.

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6:1 The fifth mercenary fired, and I saw a private jet drop from the sky. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him.

6:2 He opened the pit of the abyss, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

6:3 They were given power not to kill, but to torment. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person.

6:4 In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

6:5 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name is "Rendition," but in Latin, he has the name "Torquemada"

6:6 The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this.

6:7 I heard a voice saying to the sixth mercenary, "Free the four battalions who are bound at the great river Euphrates!"

6:8 The sixth mercenary fired. The four battalions were freed who had been prepared for that hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind.

6:9 One rolled to Fallujah, one rolled to Haditha, one rolled to Ramadi, and one covered the pipeline, no longer discerning friend from foe from potential friend or future foes.

6:10 The number of the armies of the horsemen was legion. I heard the number of them sent to Ramadi alone numbered 1,500 fresh from Kuwait.

6:11 Thus I saw the iron horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of lions. Out of their mouths proceed lead, fire, and depleted uranium. By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed.

6:12 For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For their tails are long like serpents, and have heads, and with them they harm men even at great distances.

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7:1 I saw a mighty drone coming down out of the sky, clothed with stealth technology. It flew in with the sun behind it, and took pictures as it began to fire.

7:2 Dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called The City of Mosques, also called Fallujah.

7:3 From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

7:4 Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, and proclaim The City of Mosques is now The City of Rubble.

7:5 In that day there was a great explosion, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the rubble, and the rest were terrified.

7:6 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe comes quickly.

7:7 The seventh Mercenary fired, and great voices were broadcast around the earth, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the realm of a New Doctrine. We will reign forever and ever!"

7:8 The twenty-four pioneers, who sit on their thrones before the Cowboy's throne, fell on their faces and worshiped him,

7:9 saying: "We give you thanks, Dear Leader, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned.

7:10 The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time to give your bondservants the profits, their reward; and to deny benefits to those who resisted."

7:11 The treasury was opened, and the treasure of the nation was seen flying out the doors, out the windows, up the chimney.

7:12 All the wealth was carried in a great cyclone many thought was headed towards Babylon, but they were misled. Once the whirlwind reached international waters, it split into many smaller tempests. These separated and headed towards the isles of Cayman, Bahamas, and Mann.

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8:1 A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman, once called Columbia, borne of Apollo, with the moon under her feet.

8:2 Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great two-headed red dragon, once at war with itself, now a once and future foe.

8:3 His tail covered one third of the sky, and spread across the earth from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

8:4 There was war in the sky. The Cowboy and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war.

8:5 They didn't prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven.

8:6 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, who once was called the Evil Empire, once called The Middle Kingdom, reviled as the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

8:7 The Cowboy reveled in his glory, but the dragon was not slain, merely defeated and stunned. Out of favor and out of view, it set about enhancing its dominions, recruiting more angels into its alliance.

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9:1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast come from across the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names. The dragon's defeat gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

9:2 The beast which I saw emerge from the sea was like a wrestler covered in Ivy and Rheumy. The body was covered in hair like a Wolf or witch.

9:3 Each head was distinct. One head had a Bolt On it's neck. It said "I am the Walrus," and had no ears so it ignored the words of all who spoke against it.

9:4 One head, covered with stars uttered assertions masquerading as facts. It spoke with a fetid breath, like the stench of a distressed Colon.

9:5 One head did naught but lie through its teeth. The lies were promoted so forcefully they could not wait to be released, thus they pressed the teeth forward, leaving a huge gap in the front from which they escaped. It used a grain of Rice in a futile effort to cover the gap.

9:6 An awful paper-thin head lay as if dead. It was black and white and red all over, with glazed eyes the pallor of an Old Gray Lady.

9:7 Another head, like a funnel, poured words into the mouth of the Pressed Corpse head and kept them fresh by packing them in Snow.

9:8 One head, like that of a parrot, echoed the words of the others but always spoke with a noticeable Delay.

9:9 One of its heads looked like it had been wounded fatally. Her fatal wound was healed; save she was blind. This was the head that directed the others.

9:10 From this head, a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was born of itself. The fruit of an illicit congress thus became her ward and she embraced it.

9:11 Authority to make war was given to the beast, though this appeared to violate its constitution, yet it was ferocious.

9:12 It was given to him to make war without end, and to overcome adversaries actual, potential and imagined. Authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation was given to him.

9:13 Rampaging across the sea, the beast sought vengeance upon those who had blinded her. Climbing into the mountains, the beast slew its enemies. Those it could not slay, scattered like poppy seeds, carried on the wind to the four corners of the earth.

9:14 Although the enemies were routed, the beast was not satisfied, it slew the neighbors and then the victims of its enemies. And still the beast was not satisfied. Through a perversion of its constitution, the more it devoured, the more its hunger grew; and the whole earth marveled at the beast.

9:15 The pioneers worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? It is Savage and always in a Rush. Who is able to make war with him?"

9:16 The beast Roved across the land on a Scooter powered by faith, looking for a new game of chance. To this purpose, it held a stacked deck, and drew Cards which contained the faces of its quarry.

9:17 He caused all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given purple marks on their right hands, or on their foreheads;

9:18 and that no one would be able to buy or to sell, unless he has that mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name.

9:19 Here is wisdom. He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is only six hundred sixty-six, yet he wields a club of seven hundred.

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10:1 I saw, and behold, the Child standing on the nation's tallest peak still with no name, and with her a number, five-hundred thousand, having her name written on their foreheads.

10:2 They sing a new song that reveals the name of the peak. No one can learn the name of the peak except the five hundred thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth.

10:3 In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless.

10:4 I saw an angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

10:5 He said with a loud voice, "Fear the Cowboy, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come. "

10:6 Another, a second angel, followed, saying, "Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her immorality."

10:7 Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger.

10:8 I looked, and behold, a mushroom cloud; and on the cloud one sitting like a mean SOB, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. His heart was mechanical.

10:9 Another voice was heard, crying to him who sat on the cloud, "Send forth your sickle, and reap; for the hour to reap has come; we won the midterms, this is our due!"

10:10 He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

10:11 The winepress was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out from the winepress thick like oil, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.

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11:1 I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky a Walled Street, inside of which are seven sisters fettered by stocks, struggling against their bonds, they reach for the seven last plagues, for in them the Cowboy's wrath is finished.

11:2 I saw something like a sea of gas mixed with fire, and walking on the surface were those who held all the rights of men, yet no blood ran in their veins, worshipping the beast, his image, and the number of his name.

11:3 They sang the song of legal fictions, the servant of the Cowboy, saying, "Great and marvelous are your works, and truly profitable are your ways." They sang the praises of people like themselves who simultaneously belong to multiple nations and none at all.

11:4 After these things I looked, and the Walled Street in heaven was opened. Seven sisters were released from their bonds, clothed with paper, and wearing golden parachutes they spread across the earth.

11:5 As they flew by, the four living creatures gave to the seven sisters seven golden bowls full of the wrath of the Cowboy.

11:6 The air was filled with smoke from the glory of the Cowboy, and from his power generation.

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12:1 I heard a loud voice out of the earth saying to the seven sisters, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath on the earth!"

12:2 The first went, and poured out her bowl into the earth, and it smelled of sulfur and caused a sickness on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.

12:3 The second sister poured out her bowl into the sea, and it became calm and the surface was congealed. All the birds that lived in the sea were covered with this plague and they died.

12:4 The third poured out her bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became congealed as the blood of a dead man. All the animals that drank of the river died. Fish floated to the surface and showed their bellies to the Sun.

12:5 The fourth poured out her bowl on the sun, and it was given to her to scorch the surface of the sea.

12:6 People were scorched with great heat, and even glaciers retreated in the face of this plague. The North Pole wept.

12:7 The fifth poured out her bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was snarled in endless rivers of asphalt. They gnawed their tongues because of the tedium,

12:8 and they blasphemed the Cowboy because of the expense and their boredom. They didn't repent of their works and avoided the HOV-2 as if it were a plague.

12:9 The sixth poured out her bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the horsemen that come from the sunrise.

12:10 The seventh poured out her bowl into the air and people fell choking. A loud voice came forth out of the Walled Street, from behind the throne, saying, "It is done! The bubble has burst!"

12:11 There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.

12:12 "Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his mouth shut, so that even if you were misled, no one can say we lied."

12:13 The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of Babylon fell in great waves, drenched by the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

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13:1 One of the seven sisters who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,

13:2 with whom the captains of industry committed fornication, and those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication."

13:3 She carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored animal, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

13:4 The woman was wrapped in a flag with white stars, a blue field and scarlet streams of blood, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication.

13:5 And on her forehead a name was written, "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

13:6 I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Child, and the five hundred thousand. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.

13:7 The angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

13:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present.

13:9 Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven kingdoms, on which the woman sits.

13:10 Three of the heads were very large and aged. One has the All Seeing Eye, one is a Peacock, one is a cipher.

13:11 The four smaller heads were more diverse and garrulous. One wears a crown on its Head Lying Loose that it offers to the world every 30 minutes, one is sly as a Fox but brays like an ass, the other is Seen In End, the final has not yet come. When he comes, he will make a Daily Show of spinning falsehoods into gold.

13:12 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction in a Rush.

13:13 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour.

13:14 These have one mind, which is delivered to them every day and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will war against the Child."

13:15 He said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

13:16 The beast is really the dragon in disguise, it will help but hates the prostitute, and will make her desolate, and will make her naked, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire.

13:17 The woman whom you saw is the great city, Columbia, which reigns over the kings of the earth."

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14:1 After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory.

14:2 He cried with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird!

14:3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of her impure passion, the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury."

14:4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don't receive of her plagues,

14:5 for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities.

14:6 Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.

14:7 However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, 'I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.'

14:8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.

14:9 The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her, will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning,

14:10 standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.'

14:11 The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more;

14:12 for every vessel of ivory, steel, and silicon, every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 100 fly to the West;

14:13 for every 100 vessels flying West, 60 return to the East, but behold they are empty.

14:14 The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you, and all things that were made by you have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all.

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15:1 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far away for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her great wealth!'

15:2 For in an hour such great riches are made desolate.' Every shipmaster, and everyone who sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood far away,

15:3 and cried out as they looked at the smoke of her burning, saying, 'What is like the great city?'

15:4 A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down, and will be found no more at all.

15:5 The voice of harpists, minstrels, flute players, and trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. No craftsman, of whatever craft, will be found any more at all in you. The sound of a mill will be heard no more at all in you.

15:6 The light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you; for your merchants were the princes of the earth; for with your sorcery all the nations were deceived.

15:7 In her was found the blood of the Child, and of all who have been slain on the earth, for verily the chickens do come home to roost.

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16:1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth from Sea to Shining Sea: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and it was Projected this new earth would last another Century and spread across the globe.

16:2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven on transports, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.

16:3 I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, the Director’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and Director himself will be with them as their God.

16:4 We shall leave the insurgents with only their eyes to cry with. Death will be more; there will there be mourning, crying, pain, and more. The first wave have passed away, but more will take their place; if more do not arrive we will create them as needed to justify our presence."

16:5 He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new, for we create our own reality." He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true because I have a signing statement that proves it."

16:6 He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the trough of contracts.

16:7 He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.

16:8 But for the cowardly, unbelieving, fretful ones who dabble in the ancient signs of international law, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

16:9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb's bride."

16:10 He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the Emerald city within a city, coming down out of heaven from afar,

16:11 having the glory of power. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it was a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

16:12 having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve contractors; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

16:13 In General, Electric gates were everywhere; and Up North were three gates; and down south three gates; and on the west three gates. Nothing ran without Gates.

16:14 The wall of the city had four foundations, the Heritage of the Castle Rock sets the Course of the foundation, strongly to the right regardless of which direction it is approached.

16:15 He who spoke with me had for a measure, a golden reed, to measure the city, its gates, and its walls.

16:16 The city lies foursquare, and its length is as great as its breadth. He measured the city with the reed, Twelve thousand twelve stadia. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.

16:17 Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.

16:18 The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass.

16:19 I saw no temple in it, for though this is a battle of civilizations it is really about oil.

16:20 The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for there is plenty of oil to illuminate it, and its lamp is fed from the ground.

16:21 The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

16:22 There will in no way enter into it anything, or anyone, but only those who are written in the Status of Force Agreement.

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17:1 I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great checkbook in his hand. All the checks were blank

17:2 Checks were written unchecked, and the abyss grew, until eventually the Emerald city within a city was swallowed up into the abyss.

17:3 He was surprised to be seized by the dragon, the old serpent, which was called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, for even the Cowboy had seen the soul of the Cagey Beast and pronounced it good.

17:4 The dragon encircled the Emerald city within a city as it was cast into the abyss, and taking the key shut it, and sealed it, that he should be free to deceive the nations unmolested.

17:5 Those frightened by the Beast which had rampaged across the desert a short time, those once at each other’s throats, were now driven into each other’s arms and they flocked to the dragon for protection from the Beast.

17:6 I saw thrones, and the dragons angels from Shanghai Cooperated to Organize them in a circle across one half the world.

17:7 The throne in the West and the throne in the East were large and red. The Bear sat on the throne in the West and as it opened its paw, many smaller white thrones descended, landing in the Central parts where they stand.

17:8 The throne in the East was occupied by a Serpent, and such as didn't worship the beast nor his image, were lured with gold to the circle. I heard a voice say “I ran to observe, then I ran to join, then I ran to center stage.” The Himalayas grew quiet and peace reigned for a thousand years.

17:9 The rest of the people didn't live until the thousand years were finished. They were consumed in the abyss as a new denomination will be heralded as the standard and reserve.

17:10 The New Century will belong to the dragon as a it stretches from the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Arctic to the Indian,

17:11 and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

17:12 They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the Cowboy where the poppies grow, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven and devoured them.

17:13 I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.

17:14 I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books of accounts. Another book was opened, which is the company book. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the company books, according to their works.

17:15 The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.

17:16 If anyone was not found written in the company books , he was cast into the lake of fire, for the balance of trade must be restored.

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18:1 He said to me, "These words are faithful and true as far as I know, for the things which must happen soon will happen."

18:2 "Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book; pretend they, like your opinion, are valuable and do not share them."

18:3 Now I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of he who had shown me these things.

18:4 He said to me, "Don't seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.

18:5 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood; I say it sounds like a party. Let’s dance and rejoice at the fall of Sanctorum.

18:6 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" He who hears, let him say, "Come!" He who is thirsty, let him come. He who thinks Gay Marriage is the most serious threat to our nation, let him take the water of life freely but only if he take it like a man.

18:7 I testify to everyone who hears the words of this prophecy, be not foolish enough to forego counsel, for then anyone looking to write a book may plague thee by writing a book replete with unnamed sources.

18:8 If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy anything that even resembles people actual, imagined, pre-packaged, or positioned by media handlers, may reality TV take away his part from the script, and cast him out of the City of Angels never to be invited back.

18:9 He who testifies to these things should not be concerned about losing constitutional protection, you were not using those rights anyway.

18:10 He who refuses to testify says, “Yeah though I walk through the media scrum to the grand jury, I fear no evil because there’s a presidential pardon with my name on it!

18:11 "Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, I drive an Alpha Romeo and wear an Omega.

18:12 I will be the first to say what a long, strange trip this has been. I fear this is the End. Or is it just the beginning?

18:13 And as the scene faded away, I heard a voice say, “May you live in interesting times.” Amen.