HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Yes, Gentle Reader, I'd been wondering, of late, whether we would have good reason to shout that oft-over-used statement to the hills this holiday, when, lo and behold, a glimmer of hope dawns on the virtual horizon.

First of all, there is the rather belated move on Attorney General John Ashcroft's part to step down from the CIA leak probe.

It seemed to me that the probe had just 'disappeared into thin air' after the White House supposedly made the deadline to turn over documents related to the incident. Of course, we'll probably never know how useful that whole exercise proved to be. But, then again, with a Special Prosecutor appointed from Chicago, you never know. I've heard this guy described as Elliot Ness with a better sense of humor. Hmmm. We'll all be watching. I'm praying for an open hearing on the whole mess - televised no less.

Secondly, there's this wonderful tidbit. Why do I feel like the fox is guarding the hen-house in all this? For those of you who are too lazy to check out the link, the story is about how the US Military is taking over the Iraqi Oil Deal, essentially removing it from Halliburton's hands.

Yes, I'm glad that Halliburton has been exposed for the price-gouging company we all know they are and yet, I'm not exactly comforted to know that the US Military is taking over the responsibility for transporting the oil. Why, you assiduously ask?

1. In case you've been living in a cave with Osama bin Laden in the past two years, the US Military is being attacked DAILY in Iraq, and while I understand the hope is to contract out the work to another company - this time through a hopefully, legitimate bidding process, the winning bidder will still be seen as a US Military pawn and will draw more fire than before!

2. If there is anything we know about the Military, it is that they have a tendency to fight rather than negotiate their way out of conflict. They also have a nasty habit of entrenching themselves into a region and never leaving. This business with oil production will continue, potentially forever, and I can't see us pulling out of Iraq for many, many moons - maybe never. This will further destabilize the region - considering the Muslim extremists have a strong voice there - and who knows what will result from our continued presence.

Still, amid all that's happened this last year, I still look forward to 2004. For one thing, the US people will not continue to stand behind a dictator of a president if they find out he took advantage of their patriotic naivete. That's what I expect will happen with the 9/11 Investigation later in 2004. I personally believe that Bush is directly responsible for the towers being attacked, as well as the Pentagon, whether by intention or negligence. IF the American people find out he was responsible for this, I hate to think what will happen, but I have a nasty, awful feeling they will find out.

At least in 2004 we can look forward to a Presidential Election. My faith in the process was pretty shaken in 2000, when Bush clearly stole election from Gore. I'm giving it one more chance.

If Bush pulls some game to steal it again, I'm moving to New Zealand!

FOOT IN MOUTH AWARD GOES TO... DONALD RUMSFELD

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was awarded the "Foot in Mouth" prize for the most baffling comment by a public figure on December 2, 2003. The annual prize awarded by Britain's Plain English Campaign.

Rumsfeld was awarded the prize based on the following comments from a February 2002 news briefing: "Reports that say something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

Source: Plain English Campaign"

"Preemptive Self-Defense"

TEXT OF THE AD

Hmmm, what do the words above tell you?

Preemptive - "Marked by seizing the initiative: initiated by oneself."-Merriam-Webster's On-Line Dictionary

Self-Defense - "1. A plea of justification for the use of force, or for homicide. 2. The act of defending oneself, one's property or a close relative." - Merriam-Webster's On-Line Dictionary

Hmmm. Am I the only one that sees a problem here? I mean, by engaging in this occupation of Iraq, or war, depending on how you look at it, I don't see HOW we are defending ourselves, our property or a close relative. Do you?

Iraq, in essence, means nothing to us in the United States. Sadaam Hussein did not do business with terrorists, Iraqis were not involved in any attack on the U.S. Come on, we know there never was any WMD, and even if there were, we in the U.S. were never in any danger from it.

We don't get any imports from Iraq, they have no real domestic product that we Western consumers use. We don't owe them any money, like we do Israel. They aren't even distant relatives to our way of life. That leaves the defense of 'property'. True, we don't have property over there, unless you call the spoils of war, property.

Oil. Hmmm.

Bush's use of the term 'preemptive self-defense' is an incredible oxymoron, with emphasis on the third syllable.

Maybe it should be 'preemptive excuse', instead?

Are we, the American public, really stupid enough to go along with this track of self-destruction in order to feed some politician's inflated ego?

How about the idea of getting entirely out of Iraq and letting the nation make its own decisions about its future? Why don't we mind our own business? Do we have to wait until the U.S Soldier body count gets into the thousands before we take this boondoggle seriously? Or are we going to 'Macho' ourselves out of existence?

Color Change Complete!

Background test 1

O.K. New website is up and running well. It already feels like home! Geocities really has changed its site, and for the better I might add. This is going to be interesting. Now, if I can just tweak the colors on this blog, life will be complete.

Naw.

I rather miss the old templates that Blogger used to offer. My old one was dark but I liked it more than this 'in your face' color and font size they have now. Of course I could change it, but it will take more time to do so than I have now. *Rats!*

Oh Happy Day! I've finally finished changing my Website. Yes, it is linked and forthwith, I will be getting rid of the offending 'freeservers' site that used to give me fits.

The new one is a Geocities site and so much easier to change if I so desire. It will make this site a lot more fun to work with as well.

Now... if I can only find the time to change the lousy colors on this blog! Orange sucks!

The Writer's Almanac

Years ago, when I had to commute over 30 miles to work each day, I used to listen to 'The Writer's Almanac' on our local classical station. It was the one bright spot of my long journey each morning. Then, the station decided to make some changes and discontinued the broadcast. Honestly, I was despondent, going so far as to write a letter to the station and call to complain - which is certainly uncharacteristic of me...

Today, while visiting woodge.com, I hit a link to someone else's website where I found, to my utter surprise and delight, a link to The Writer's Almanac on the Web!

Please check it out for daily inspiration!

DAY OF THE DEAD

October *Sigh*

Autumn is here again. The air is cooler and the end of Daylight Savings time is blessedly near. I don't care WHO you are, another hour of sleep is always a good thing!

It is the month of the beginning of holiday preparations and celebrations, beginning with Halloween, that ubiquitous day when it's PC to openly pretend we are something other than we are.

This year, I'm adding a personal celebration of a new holiday to my current culture. I'm planning on celebrating the Day of the Dead on Nov. 1st and 2nd.

Yeah, I know, we Westerners, especially in North America find death to be a morbid subject, one not worthy of notice, until it is too late. But, on inspecting the holiday further, in my own personal way, I've seen that it is one way we can take back some modicum of control that is lost when we lose our loved ones to death. It's been over a year since we lost our parents and the pain is as close to the surface as ever. Sometimes it feels like it is threatening my sanity. I'm hoping that the humor and the consciousness of a celebration of The Day of The Dead will put life and death into another context.

If you've never seen the movie 'Frida', I suggest you do so, if you want to begin to understand the Mexican culture that created the Day of The Dead. There is a resilience in the face of hardship and death in these people. They revere and yet laugh at death, embrace and encircle themselves with the concept. Somehow, I don't understand why, but it helps.

In this year, when the smell of death seems to follow every newscast from Iraq and Israel/Palestine, it may do us all some good to look it squarely in the eyes and decide, what, if anything, should be done to prevent the violence. We, as a nation, have a lot to ponder in the next year. Are we going to allow this current Administration to continue to invite death upon us and all those we touch? Are we going to keep sending our youngsters to the Middle East to die in the desert and draw fire from those we invaded and are now occupying?

I hope not.

Oh Happy Day!!! General Wes Clark has joined the fray!

Yes, Gentle Readers, your intrepid blogger has decided who to support for President in 2004! Wesley Clark IS the MAN!

Never was I so delighted to hear the news that someone has joined the race, as I was today! This isn't your daddy's General, this guy is one of ours. Now, please, don't get me wrong, I'm NOT a warmonger, nor could I ever be accused of being even a little bit conservative, politically, but how can you argue with a person with Clark's credibility in wartime and the economy? And, he's against the Iraq War, to boot! Talk about a call for sanity!

Don't know what the guy is all about? Been under that rock a little too long, have you? Check out Wesley Clark's Website for more information. There will definitely be more regarding him in future posts!

Until then, just rest easy, America, salvation is at hand!

Yes, yes, I KNOW - I changed the damn site, AGAIN!

What can I tell you? Well, if you don't like this site, go to woodge. I LOVE this site, except, Daddy gets a little carried away by his little 'man-cub' in the pix dept. sometime. I don't have kids, and I don't want them, so maybe I just lack the requisite gene to appreciate 10 Bazillion photos of the same kid everywhere I turn~! Yes, the kid IS cute. I'll give you that. But, my cats are cute too and I don't have one photo of them on my site!

Still, woodge is worth a 'look-see'. The guy has boundless patience to tweak his site ad-nauseum. *Sigh*, maybe some day I'll be so disciplined. (Don't hold your breath, though.) -----<;)

Meaningless post, aren't they all?

Website has been added to, as well.

Check out my Journal for the latest entry.

Added My Amazon Wish List.

Not sure I like this template change, but the other one was too dark.

Hey, we're down to 5 days since my last post! That's MUCH better - maybe not for you, but definitely for me. Been feelin' the urge to impose my opinions on the unsuspecting masses. (Yeah, like everyone is beating a path to THIS blog! Not Likely, Gentle Reader.)

So, Yes, we got our Desktop computer back. The rogues at Best Buy were NOT helpful. Never got a call from them after dropping the thing off on Friday, so I called in to see how they were progressing. First of all their new, less than stellar, phone system changed and the public cannot get any department directly. Instead, we now have to talk to an Operator - didn't those go the way of the 'horse and buggy' in the 80's? - anyway, he couldn't reach the Tech Dept. either! He tells me to call back in two hours! Well, your' intrepid writer will do no such thing when a computer is at stake, so off to the store I go.

Two hours later, I've been 'discussing' my computer issue with a guy named 'Sim' - I kid you not! Supressing the urge to make a vague reference to The Sims, thinking he'd probably heard all of them by now, I couldn't believe that after 3 days, they hadn't even LOOKED at the computer! Yes, friends, it's true. (Seems the Blaster Virus has been a huge Boon to Best Buy! They've been fixing 40 computers a day from the thing at one store! Makes you wonder who dreams up these pesky virus', Hmmm? )

In fact, Sim told me that the note on the job ticket was 'too vague' for him to diagnose the problem. TOO VAGUE. Hmmm, Customer has brought computer in 3 times for crashing and the ticket is too vague!

Yes, I've about had it with these guys. Can you believe this 'Sim' person told me he thought I needed a Tune-up and increase the memory? All for a tidy fee of over $100? One, I just got it back from them - it should be 'tuned up' already! Two, the thing has 256Mg of Memory and I'm not running complicated software. No DVD burning, no Movie Downloads, no heavy programming! Mostly internet usage and wordprocessing! Hell, he tried to tell me that I was 'multi-tasking' when I was in the middle of burning CD's! First of all, he'd have no way of knowing such a thing, and two, it insults my intelligence to think that he'd suppose I'd be that stupid!

So, he thinks that the problem is because we lost the original OS when the system totally crashed the first time, and we don't have the System Restore Disks from HP because the computer model we have doesn't come with them! So, he says we have to get the disks from HP and re-install Windows XP again. They'll be happy to do it for $60! My ASS!

My Sweetie wants to buy another computer for our business. I'm against it at this point. So far so good. I'm waiting for the CD's from HP and I'll do the install myself. If it doesn't work after that, I'll have to throw the unit out our second story balcony!

O.K., Over a month is TOO long between posts. And I call myself a Writer? (Hangs head in shame.) Yes, and we all have excuses don't we? Yes, we changed ISP's and yes, I installed the new DSL - but wait! Our *&&&%$%#$%^&* Desktop Computer keeps crashing. No, it's not the Blaster virus - I checked. Anyway, we've had trouble since we bought it a year ago, the trouble has just gotten more pronounced lately. Suffice it to say, the issue has taken up a LOT of my time in the last month and a half. Now, I just put it into the shop again today. They think it was the memory slot. Not Good! But, then it's under warranty, so Not So Bad.

Let's talk a little about current affairs, shall we?

Ahem, rather interesting, don't you think, that less than 6 hours after the massive power outage on the East Coast, our President has the brass ones to mention how we need to upgrade our power plants! I live in California, you know, the state that got royally screwed by the Power Companies as they hiked energy prices 1000% for no real good reason? Yeah, that one. Anyway, all this talk about the 'Third World Power Grid' we have in the U.S. seems more than a bit suspicious to me. Enron was more than partially responsible for the Energy Crisis in California, and guess who's Administration hail mostly from Energy Industry backgrounds?

Need further convincing? Look at a map of the Three Power Grids. Is is just me, or do you find it strange that the ONLY Power Grid to stand alone, represents most of the State of Texas? Why is that? Have you ever been to Texas? Does it REALLY need its own Power Grid?

This whole thing is getting Way out of hand. First, we go into Iraq and take over the country and the oil production, and now, Bush is setting up the country to spend probably Trillions more dollars on upgrading the power grids in North America, instead of pushing energy conservation! That's crazy. We consume more that the rest of the world combined. Sometimes being a rich country can mean being rather irresponsible too.

Bush just hiked up the National Defecit to record levels, gave out Iraqi reconstruction contracts and a huge tax break to all his rich cronies, and NOW, he's going to be hitting us up for more money to upgrade power grids. God help us.

Well, sports fans, it's going to be a long, hot, (hopefully) dry summer!

Yes, I know I've been remiss in not keeping up this blog, but, what can I say? Life, has just gotten in the way.

Life for me, at least in cyberspace, is about to change once again.

Drumroll, please.....

We are changing ISP providers and making the BIG MOVE to DSL this week.

Me, hopes, that I will be able to post EVERY DAY after the change. Yes, I know, that's a lot to hope for, but it could happen.

With the ISP change, I'll be changing my e-mail address as well and while I'm at it, do a proper job on the main website - which, if you can believe, I've neglected even more sorely than this blog!

Well, there is a lot to do. I've been reorganizing my life off-line as well. For now, I've decided to devote my time to helping my better half with his new position at a new company. The work will allow me to stay home and provide us both with better flexibility. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe I'd be able to do this kind of thing.

Imagine, not working for an 'employer'. (She lowers her head, wringing her hands conspiratorily, whilst emitting an evil 'Heh, heh, heh...) There's no telling what possibilities this holds.

Yes, I am aware of my, heretofore, obsession with the damned War on Iraq in most of my previous posts. Don't think for a moment that it will all just, poof, go away. Nope, in fact, I intend to spend at least a modicum of time discussing the issues that are creeping up around next year's Presidential Election.

By the by, you've Got to see this.

Well, that's it for now. We install the DSL on Thursday, so I don't think I'll be publishing til at least then. Meanwhile, I'll be redesigning the website and I'm toying around with some ideas for a different template for Ephemeral Utterances. A new life calls for a new look, doncha think?!

Til then.
-A

Yes, yes. We've all breathed a collective sigh of relief now that the 'war' on Iraq is over.

Or is it....?

All the regular news stations, which NEVER really told us the truth about what was going on there anyway, have all gone back to their normal programming and the general public seems to be more than happy to follow suit.

Seems to me, though, that this is the time which is the most dangerous, the lull after the storm. Of course, the Iraqis are not happy that our troops are still occupying their land and influencing their choice of government, not to mention regulate to whom and for how much we sell their oil for them. Seems those 'wacky Iraqis' can't seem to shake the sight of our troops completely abandoning hospitals, and residential areas in favor of protecting - with avengence, I might add - the Government Oil Ministry!

Anyway, I've been reading a book by Gore Vidal called 'Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace'. It is a series of essays he wrote after September 11th and mostly concern the question of how our government has gotten to be so hated.

In it he quotes from a letter from accused Oklahoma City Bomber, the late Timothy McVeigh, in which he explains WHY he blew up the Murrah Federal Building. For those with short attention spans and memories to go along with it, let me remind you that McVeigh was one of the soldiers deployed in the First Gulf War in 1991. He was a good soldier who did what he was told and learned military strategy to all our detriment. He explains:

"...For all intents and purposes, federal agents had become 'soldiers' (using military training, tactics, techniques, equipment, language, dress, organization and mindset) and they were escalating their behavior. Therefore, this bombing was also meant as a 'pre-emptive' strike against those forces and their command and control centers within the federal building. When an aggressor force continually launches attacks from a particular base of operations, it is sound military strategy to take the fight to the enemy. Additionally, borrowing a page from U.S. foreign policy, I decided to send a message to a government that was becoming increasingly hostile by bombing a government building and the government employees within the building who represent that government. Bombing the Murrah Federal Building was morally and strategically equivalent to the U.S. hitting a government building in Serbia, Iraq or other nations. Based on observations of the policies of my own government, I viewed this action as an acceptable option. From this perspective, what occurred in Oklahoma City was no different than what Americans rain on the heads of others all the time and, subsequently, my mindset was and is one of clinical detatchment." -
I don't know about you, but, this scares the hell out of me. If you had any sense, it should send alarm bells going off in your head and heart as well. It is easy to say that McVeigh, was a 'homicidal maniac' - read CRAZY, but how many of us ever dreamed in our wildest nightmares that 19 crazies would ever intentially fly three planes into buildings on our soil? In fact, McVeigh was NOT crazy - he was determined. The 19 hijackers on September 11th weren't crazy either. That's what hurts.

We are now dealing with countries in the Middle East who have seen CENTURIES of conflict and who are desperately trying to prevent the deteriorization of their fundamentalist Islamic religion. Every liberal idea, every Westernized mode of dress, each erosion of moral conduct, in their eyes - pulls followers farther away from Islam. We are the Infidels who are forcing our ways on them. We play favorites with countries like Isreal, who, they believe, basically stole the land from the Palestinian people. We set up our military bases on Arab land and refuse to leave for reasons that do not benefit the occupied. The way most of fundamentalist zealots see it, we bring destruction and economic ruin on countries we touch. They are frightened. Fear breeds anger. Anger breeds violence. Violence breeds distrust, and then distance and finally prejudice.

What happened to us on 9/11 is nothing compared to the violence they visit upon each other on a weekly basis. Sure, we were outraged by the attack on our soil, but we are more frightened than angry at this point. Why else would we allow a self-appointed President and his group (The Project for a New American Century) to actually engage in pre-emption against a country who we were told - on non-existant evidence - threatened us.

What's next?! Re-read McVeigh's statements above. They came from an American - who we want to believe isn't like us. But he is. We just bombed an innocent country and threw them into chaos in the name of democracy. Don't believe it. If you wonder why we are so hated, you aren't paying attention.

It is time we all wake up.

So, you think that the Patriot Act, passed last year, was the only sacrifice we as a nation will be making to our Civil Rights?! GUESS AGAIN, Gentle Reader. Alas, it has come to my attention that Mr. Bush is not done with us yet. Go here to see the, up to now, secret PATRIOT ACT II.

Read Paul Berman's article 'Al Qaeda's Philosopher' in The New York Times Magazine this last weekend.

It provides a wonderful explanation of how the philosophy of Islam differs from Christianity and Judaism. The current winds of frenetic terrorism began as smoldering embers in the mind of an Egyptian Islamist, Sayyid Qutb, who was jailed for over 10 years and eventually executed in 1966. His masterwork, 'In the Shade of the Qur'an', is a highly detailed study of the Koran and was written while Qutb was imprisoned under horrendous conditions. This piece of literature has been used as the 'blueprint' for Al Qaeda's belief in martyrdom for the cause of Islam. Berman's examination of this work and the ideas it advocates clearly gives us a picture of WHY there is such a gulf between the Muslim world and West.

I HIGHLY recommend this article to anyone who truly wants to move beyond rhetoric into understanding.

If Berman's interpertation is true, on any level, we will have to brace ourselves for an enormous wave of terrorist activity directed at the West. This is not an idle supposition, anyone with a pulse and half a brain will recognize that the world is in for a prolonged period of war, both internal and without.

By the way, where IS Osama bin Forgotten?

Now Showing at a Desert Theatre Near You!

Some erstwhile views on Media Propaganda from a Nazi who knew...

PR practitioners say it's easy for politicians to have their way... Hermann Goering was more specific:

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," he told G.M. Gilbert at the Nuremberg war-crimes tribunal. "Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders . . .

All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

Sound familiar?

Read the Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush.

I'm not kidding! These Articles of Impeachment were written by a Former Attorney General, Ramsey Clark. This makes the Clinton Impeachment look like a Jay Walking Ticket.

MOVING FROM REVULSION TO RESOLVE

O.K., so the War Machine is moving relentlessly on and there is, sadly, nothing, nothing, any of us can do about it now.

All we can do is sit back and watch what's happening - and learn.

Learn what? Well, if we can all step back from emotionally reacting to this event, we can more clearly see what's happening. It is very tempting to personnify the war in George W. Bush. However, if you look deeper, it is clear that there are many, many others who are advising and assisting him. Here is a list for starters:

George H. Bush, Sr. - Clearly now, the smartest one in the family. (said with tongue firmly tucked in cheek)
Dick Cheney - Come on, does this need explanation?
Colin Powell (reluctantly, until recently)
Paul Wolfowitz - The architect of the push to war against Iraq
Richard Perle - Citizen advisor - I STRONGLY suggest you read Seymour Hersh's article in the March 17th edition of The New Yorker.
Several Members of the Congress - Those who walk the 'party line', all afraid to be called 'unpatriotic' for not backing the War.
The Mainstream Media - Yes, boys and girls, the media is owned by Big Business who have a vested interest in keeping people like Bush & Co. in office because of things like the outrageous tax cuts that are sucking the life out of our economy.

So, we can do something about all this.

We can try our best to be informed - REALLY informed about what is going on.

The old saying 'Question Authority' is the best advice I can give. Don't buy what CNN or Fox or MSNBC or ABC tell you. Their reporting is ALL biased. Do you want proof? Go to BBC or check out the coverage that C-Span has providing throughout the course of this war. The stories that the European news agencies (BBC, Canadian Broadcasting, Irael Broadcasting, Lebanese, etc.) provide are giving in-depth reporting without a spin. They are not tugging at our heartstrings by talking to the families of the soldiers at war. Most importantly, they are not puppets of any corporate entity whose financial security depends on this president and his administration!

Watch other news agencies and see what they have to say, try The News Insider for news you won't be likely to see in the mainstream media. Then, after you read or watch these reports, decide for yourself, if we are fighting a 'just' war.

If you disagree with what's happening and you feel impotent and want to do something, go here and tell the President how you feel, tell members of Congress that you disagree. Be respectful and logical, we've had enough zealots emotionally cramming their views down our throats. It doesn't work with the public, it won't work with politicians. Be firm and let them know you don't agree with war for unjust purposes.

PATRIOTISM -

And, what's with the attitude that people who are against the war are 'unpatriotic'? What's the deal with that? What is more patriotic, to want our soldiers to come home safely or to put them at risk of death or maiming?

Let's get one thing straight, most of us who rail against this action in Iraq, love our young men and women serving at the behest of their Commander In Chief. It WAS their choice to serve, of course, but they, like most of the people in this country, trust that their elected officials know more than they do. This lack of confidence of the American Public will be our undoing. These service men and women want to work to keep us all free, I believe that with all my being, but, they never expected that a President would have himself appointed illegally and begin a war that could be the beginning of a Third World War!

We demand that the President bring our troops home. We know, unfortunately, that he won't. So, we need to support the troops, but not the war. If we are religious people, we should pray for all the people affected by this action, including the troops.

Then, we need to get MAD!

We need to make a decision to get this President out of office. He should at the very least not be elected for another term! At the most, he should be impeached for treason (this war was NEVER declared by Congress as our Constitution dictates!)

So, get ready to get involved. I haven't been politically active since college. This is about to change. This weblog has been a start. I will be educating myself about what this President continues to do and I will look for a decent candidate for President that I can consciously back. I suggest you do the same. Don't allow this to continue, our way of life is at stake.

If you don't think that this country will be the Number One target for terrorists, you are truly deluded. We will be hit, probably several times and President Bush will be to blame. And so will we, if we don't do something.

REGARDING THE BOMBING OF BAGHDAD:
I think Robert Plant and Company said it best...

GREAT SPIRIT
From the Album 'Fate of Nations'
Robert Plant
by: Plant/Johnson/MacMichael

Great Spirit come, Great Spirit come
Who has chased away the moonbeams?
Who has pulled a blanket across the sky?
Who will sing in celebration
Throughout this land that's bound to die?
Oh - that's bound to die.

Great Spirit come, Great Spirit come
Who will put an end to all this sadness?
Who hears the Earth that cries beneath the burning rain?
All truth reduced to piles of greed and madness
The accident remains the same
Great Spirit come Oh - Always the same

Great Spirit come Mm, said it's alright, seems okay
Robbery and evil and the stealing
From the body and the mind for the healing
Of the spirit and the pride and the will and the will of the land
Grace, courage, honesty and love
Grace, courage, honesty and love
There's evil, there's evil, there's evil going on.

Great Spirit come, Great Spirit come
I love my brother, I must share the seed
That falls through fortune at my feet
The Fate of Nations and of all their deeds
Lies trapped inside these hearts of greed,

O.K., So we've now heard it from the 'horse's (ass's) mouth --- we are now at least 48 hours from WAR.

We are doing this, let me remind those of you who have blacked out for the past 6 months, reputedly to save us from 'terrorism'. Hmmm. Terrorism.

Forgive me, but if that's true, WHY did the government change the Terrorism Alert Status to Elevated (Orange) within 5 minutes after the President's speech tonight? Is that because the act of war is expected to RESULT IN INCREASED TERRORIST ACTIVITY?!!! Of course.

By the way, isn't it sadly ironic, we spent the past 50 years railing against Communism and now it's Terrorism that's the big bugaboo? The irony being that we are fighting terrorism by engaging in Communistic activities. Yes, it is communistic to slowly strip the American public of their civil rights in the name of 'the coalition of the willing' to fight terrorism. It is communistic to invade another country, force a regime change, occupy the land and force our way of government on another that has not moved to do so itself.

'My Country, Right or Wrong.' is a completely uneducated and immoral statement. Patriotism should not mean 'Stupidity'. Contrary to the people claiming this war is patriotic, I contend that it is reckless to not use our brains to think this whole thing out, logically.

We as a country, are almost out of our available oil. Bush doesn't want to use our reserves and we are threatening a country that is the 3rd largest producer of petrolium in the world. Our President and many in his administration are from oil backgrounds and he is being advised by civilians who stand to financially benefit from the war. (Richard Perle and Dick Cheney). So, in order to serve the American Public's insatiable greed for oil, we are going to take over a country and put ourselves in a position of control. We may not 'steal the oil' directly, but make no doubt, Bush will have a direct say on what happens to the oil that Iraq produces, which we in the end, will benefit from.

So, think of it. We are going to kill thousands of civilians and our own soldiers in order to continue to gas up the millions of gas guzzling SUVs we drive every day! And, to add insult to injury, Bush is using your retirement and future medicare coverage to do it! They announced today in Congress that Medicare will be completely used up by 2026, just when the majority of us will need it!

If you are for this war, I hope this is something you can live with.

I can't.

Today's Odds of Going to War...

A funny thing happens when we get older. When we are kids we believe what people tell us, like it was ‘gospel’. We expect people to be consistent with us. If they tell us we are going to Disneyland on Wednesday, we just ‘know’ we are going to go. We expect Christmas to come every year, that we’ll get goodies if we were good and we’d be overlooked if we were bad. I guess, you’d call it ‘secular faith’. At least that’s what I call it.

What happens to that when we grow up?

‘Well, (you nod your head sagely and retort, clearing your throat,) we learn to distinguish between fantasy and reality. That’s what ‘growing up’ means. You just can’t expect things from people, it’s not realistic.’

I say it’s not. I say, that’s bullshit, period.

We lose faith when we are lied to by people or things we trusted. THAT’S what happens. As really young humans, we only expect good from others, unless they prove to us otherwise.

Why am I bringing up this subject? What’s all this navel gazing about?

It is about the state of our lives, that’s what!

Why are so many people up-tight right now? Why do I see anxiety and confusion in internet posts to such benign groups like Purple-Ink on Yahoo (a crafting and paper enthusiast group)? What’s with the weird ass television commercials telling us we need to believe in ‘freedom’ and be patriotic? What about the libraries warning us that the books we check out may be reported to the government? The constant threat of war? The worry about being the next victim of terrorism? The shame so many of us seem to feel that, we Americans are the ‘aggressor’ in an inevitable conflict that seems to be without provocation. There is a general malaise in the air, a kind of March Madness, I’m detecting.

I think it’s because we are being lied to, again.

We all want good things to happen, but, we are being told to be ‘realistic’ again. Suddenly, peace is a dirty word. It’s being replaced by words like ‘coalition of the willing’ and ‘axis of evil’. We are being told that Iraq is harboring weapons of mass destruction, but nobody can show us these weapons, or even the means to manufacture them. We are being told that the horror of September 11th (don’t you just love how a date is now a symbol for an event?) is linked to Iraq but nobody can show us where the link
is?

Look, I’m not saying Saddam Hussein is a decent man, or even a good human being. I’m not pretending that he isn’t a liar or even a sadist. All I’m saying is, at least with the Gulf War the whole world saw he had invaded Kuwait, an innocent neighbor, who figuratively screamed to the world community for help to stop the aggressor. The whole world backed the move to stop the invasion! The situation was clear, there were no doubts, there were no questions about what was happening. We did the right thing in driving the Iraqis out of Kuwait.

But now, now, there are lots of questions and way too much speculation. Now, we are the aggressors, without a clear motive.

I remember another time we were lied to. Several actually.

Does anyone remember a little document called ‘The Pentagon Papers’?

For those of you who weren’t born at the time, let me tell you a little story…

Once upon a time, in a kingdom not far from here, there were a group of men, soldiers at a place called ‘The Pentagon’, who believed that the people they served weren’t as smart as they were. These men, thought that the people they served couldn’t handle the ‘truth’ about the world, that they were naive, so these men decided to start a war, because it served them, and not the people who paid them so handsomely to run things. These men were worried that because their country didn’t have any real enemies anymore, that they would end up losing their jobs if there weren’t any wars, so they made one up, that had nothing to do with their country. They said they were worried about, what we in 2003 would call, terrorism. Back then it was called ‘Communism’, and it was a very bad thing to be called a ‘Communist’ back then.

Anyway, these men wrote down everything they did to start, promote and continue this war against a little tiny country half a world away, and they labeled this document ‘Top Secret’. The document told all about the lies these men told the people they worked for, about the number of soldiers that were killed by the enemy, but how the number really was of the civilians our soldiers had killed. It told about how the soldiers decided that the only way to win the war was to send lots more teenagers to go fight, even though they knew they would all die horrible deaths, or at the very least be scarred for life, emotionally, all for nothing. It was so secret, and it revealed so many lies that people in the government, the Senators and Congressmen, weren’t allowed to look at it. These men did show their King, however. In fact they showed it to 4 consecutive kings of the realm, who all realized that they would be better served if they kept this document a secret too. So they went along with the soldiers from the Pentagon and called it National Security. They said that if anyone read this document other than them, that they would be put in jail for life for something they called ‘treason’.

One day, a young man, who believed in what these men told him without question, was asked to read the document, because he was considered smarter than ordinary people, and more than that, he was ‘loyal’. These men wanted him to speculate on certain things, so they could decide what else they could do to drive this war they loved so much.

Then the men made a big mistake. They sent the young man to the war, as an ‘observer’. That changed the man’s mind. He saw how the men back home lied to people and how many soldiers and civilians died hideous deaths because of the men and this document. He decided that he had to do something about it.

So, he went to a town crier, called ‘The New York Times’, who was very good at getting the attention of people. He made copies of the secret document and then gave them to the town crier who began announcing it from the rooftops. The men responsible for the document got very angry and attacked the town crier. They actually stopped the town crier from giving ANY news to the people of the realm. That had never happened before! So many people were upset by this that they had to talk to Judges and ask them to decide if the news could be told to everyone.

Meanwhile, the young man was tired of running away from the men from the Pentagon and he turned himself in for punishment.

Then, a funny thing happened. The King of the Realm of the time had told his political toadies to hire some goons to break into the doctor’s office of the young man, to get some dirt on him. The King was very angry at the young man, because he was exposing the King and his friends the soldiers from the Pentagon for what they were – crooks! Bad King, Bad King.

Anyway, the Judges finally decided that the town crier could tell everyone about the document that hurt so many people. Then, shortly afterward another Judge found out about the bad things the King did and decided that the young man should go free!

And they all lived happily ever after… except the people who died unnecessarily in the war and their families who missed the people who died, and the little children who lost their mommies and daddies and brothers and sisters.

The young man’s name was Daniel Ellsberg. He exposed many, many lies and in my opinion, is a real hero! I wish we had more people like him in the world.

Remember, I said, there were other ‘untruths’ we’ve been told? If you want to see how we’ve continued to be lied to in this country, go here. Before you get all wiggy on me, the article is an excerpt from the book ‘Secret Government’ by Bill Moyers, a pretty credible guy, in my opinion, at least.


It is all ‘noble and stuff’, to go on and on about being lied to by our government, I realize. And yet, I expect some Neanderthal bumpkin out there is reading this and thinking, ‘so what?’

The So What is, we NEVER, as a country, expected the Towers and the Pentagon to be attacked, but they were. What else are we going to allow to happen, in the name of ‘Patriotism’? The people who perpetrated the devastation on September 11th thought they were doing the right thing for a ‘just cause’.

I just don’t think we have to be like them.

I think we are smarter than that.

Don’t you?!

Well, it's good to be back. Actually, I haven't really gone anywhere, I just haven't been HERE!

The last several posts have been rather political in nature and I thought I'd start the new year by 'giving it a rest'. We all know that Bush is sending us headlong into a war that has no real justification, so, why belabor the point, hmmmm? Don't worry, I'll be back to this topic shortly. For now, we'll touch on the more mundane.

Like the L.A.2003 Auto Show. Before you get too excited, today is the last day of the show, but the website is still worth checking out.

Being a woman, the show was the opportunity to see the opposite sex in a place that most very nearly approximates a woman in a Neiman Marcus/Saks Fifth Avenue/enter your favorite shopping place here/Department Store. Men take on the most delightful qualities in the presence of fine automobiles, I found. They are at once, highly engaged and duly reverential when looking at chrome, tinted glass and glossy automotive paint. A fine automobile can evoke feelings more akin to love than just sheer admiration. When you think about it, a car can give a man the things they desire most, beauty owned and the potential that resides in a vehicle providing freedom. A car never becomes jealous of other cars, and if chosen wisely, it can actually grow more beautiful with age. At a visceral level, a woman can never achieve the level of admiration and in some cases adoration that a car can in most men's eyes. While a car can't provide physical orgasm or children, it can give something more emotionally lasting, the reminisence of memory, usually childhood memory. That is TRULY priceless!

It is this knowlege that helps me to appreciate cars myself. Sometimes I don't know why a particular car or truck holds such appeal to me. For instance, I am completely entranced by Hummers. Yes, the political part of my brain is totally appalled to think that another part of my brain can't take my eyes off of such an obviously oppressive military vehicle. Why, why do they hold such fascination for me? They are large and boxy. They are usually seen with gun turrets and painted camoulflage green. Still, they remind me of the low, chop top Mercurys of the late 40's. You know the kind, the low rectangular rear window that somehow mirrors the wide rear end that has beefed up suspension and a low front end. There is something a bit 'dangerous' about Hummers. They look radically different from other vehicles and seem almost indestructable. When we went to the Hummer Display at the Car Show, I was amazed at the number of young urban individuals, people of color, who milled around the Hummers displayed. There were vehicles that reflected the 2003 model year, the H2, painted canary yellow with black accents. They were impressive, but the later model examples, the ones first available to the public were the vehicles that everyone couldn't get enough of. This is the one closest to the original military version, with 10 foot long benches inside and the amazingly wide spaces between the driver and the passengers, that people obviously loved.

The reason for this is clear. The old Hummer the H1,would probably never be run off the road and I doubt that bullets could penetrate the armor of the huge doors. The thing is a tank, a symbol of power and screams 'Don't even THINK about f***king with me!'. Who wouldn't want to make that statement to the world? Isn't that why the U.S. Government made them? Gotta wonder. With the injustice that most inner city people deal with from those who are supposed to 'protect and serve' them, it is no wonder people love the idea of a Hummer. Where do you see them on TV the most? Yep, Rap Videos. I don't blame them, a bit!

O.K. - Now, I have a bone to pick. Porshe has always had a pretty stellar reputation, but it seems that keeping things in the high performance realm wasn't good enough. They had to go and throw their hats into the SUV race. The car itself, is pretty unremarkable, having been to most of the other SUV displays at the show. Seen one, you've seen them all. Their entry is disappointingly called 'The Cayenne'. Can you believe it? The Cayenne. (I had to type it again, because I STILL couldn't believe anyone approved such a ridiculous name for a car.) The Porshe executives actually put out a full-on media blitz for this car, devoting an entire room to it in various colors complete with a 20 foot long video screen that looped a glitzy presentation touting the 'it-ness' of the Cayenne. We weren't there 3 minutes when we overheard the first onslaughts of jokes about the erstwhile name. 'Who in God's name would name a car after a spice?', 'Next year they'll come out with 'The Nutmeg' or maybe the 'Rosemary', perhaps 'Cilantro' to get the Latino market.' On and on. Bad move, Porshe.

The cars that seemed to hold the most fascination was a new kind of 'mini SUV called the SCION, by Toyota. (Nissan had an entry that looked almost exactly like it, but it was tucked away in the back of the room and had no name badge on the car. Poor planning.) The car has to be seen in person to be believed as I'd never be able to describe it adequately. For one thing, the damn car is small, and I mean, infintesimal small, almost like a toy. If you thought the new British Mini was small, you've got to see the Scion. Interestingly enough, pricing won't be available until Spring 2003. The car actually launches in June. Let's just say, 'boxy' must be the new 'in' thing this year.

By the way, did I happen to mention the most marvelous thing about the show? It was the first time I've ever been at a public event where, not only didn't I have to wait in a line to go to the bathroom, but I was the ONLY woman in the Ladies Room at all! Believe me fellas, THAT'S a miracle!

Ciao!