MIB-BLOG
chaper one - 2004

MIB - D.N.C. Convention Blogs, July, 2004

MIB-BLOG, 07-23-2004
Ok politicos and wackos, as promised the daily mib-blog is beginning its daily coverage of this year's D.N.C., direct from Boston. Now is this 'De ja Vu' all over again or what? Another presidential convention for the Demos, we're at war, the protest are planned and I'm sure the man plans to stop um, again. For you younger kiddies who can't remember, way back in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam Fiasco, the Demos met in the great city of Chicago to nominate a presidential candidate to replace the Texas quitter, LBJ. Mayor Dick Daley of Chicago rackets fame would have none of this Hippie, un-American protesting on the streets of his beloved Chicago. He let the kids have it with both barrels, tear gas, dogs, billie clubs, mace, smoke, hardcore carnage, the whole while this was broadcast to the nation, hey... who wanted to hear some Yokel from Iowa make a boring speech from the convention floor when America could watch their children get their asses kicked on the streets of Chicago. This all made for great ratings for the networks and did as much as the Tet offensive did in changing John Q's opinion about Vietnam. This also resulted in the trail of the Chicago 7, I mean 8, no, back to Chicago 7 being another big waste of resources for the man and free promotion for the soon to be underground counter culture.
This brings us to where we're at today with the Demos due to coronate John Kerry to lead the class struggle's crusade to depose the false king who had seized the throne by trickery four years before. The Dean Scene, Howard Dean that is and his folks are planning some stuff this weekend, as well as your usual group of 'misfits and drug addicts (phrase taken from "Ed Wood" by Tim Burton) stirring up the pot in the streets even before the convention starts on Monday. We have a few reporters there this time, one delegate to report from the floor and another no name soul in the streets with the view from the bottom. Until next time.. stay tuned, pass this on, and contribute.
Rev. First Duval, mib

This just in, a report from our delgate inside the convention...
Made it here by 10AM local time- Security is the word but only haphazardly. All settled in and found my contact spot- The Boston Public Library @ Copley Square. No Convention stuff until tommorow. Might try to see the RED SOX at Fenway tonite though.
Miquel

MIB-BLOG 07-24-2004
"You know I often wonder, 'Who are those guys really trying to impress?'", Don Loomy
With less than 100 days to go till the big dance, both sides appear to be playing their cards mighty close to their vest. A prevent defense and offense for that matter. Both looking like they want to take a knee and run out the politico clock. What are they both so afraid of? Why are they refusing to play their games and stick to their dogmatic game plans. Are they appealing to the rank in file party members? The big money elite? Falwell? Sorros? You or me? Hell no! The only ones that matter in this deadly game game are the all important swing voters. Hence, this has caused both sides to act more appealing to the fools who can't seem to make up their mind. 'Let us both, G.O.P. and Demo alike, try and confuse thou even further by not acting like ourselves.'
Face it, it's the truth. If you don't live in a swing state, you don't matter. Not that Californians mattered at all anyway, already being written off as cocaine addict - homosexuals. The red and blue states are takin' for granted by their respective parties. So Bush is talking and acting less Nazi, Condi is doing the talk show circuit to ease the 911 commission report and Wolfy hasn't been seen since his hair combing trick in Michael Moore's movie. Act nice, act human, act like you care about your fellow man is the mandate for the Repubs. Even Dick and Lynn have eased off their b-hole images. Don't scare the precious swing voters, not now for goodness sake.
Kerry and company are no better than the PREZ for not sticking to one's guns and showing the people what you really believe in. With the Demos convention starting this Monday, they revamped they line up of entertainers, again trying not to scare those undecided swing voters. If one didn't want a militant lezbo Asian comic offending the Bible Belt, then I guess one shouldn't have booked the Notorious C.H.O. in the first place. And if one is ever lucky enough to book The Dead, then why on this once green planet cancel them? Are they really afraid that letting Margret Cho and the surviving Dead perform at their convention's events will taint the whole Democratic Party as a bunch of homosexual acid heads? It appears to be so.
What this is really pointing to is that neither side has the balls to stick to their guns when they're really going to be scrutinized. It is all smoke and mirrors, political rhetoric to keep the money flowing and the status quo just that.
Bi for now, just kidding!
Rev. First Duval, MIB


MIB-DNC Reports from Miquel:

Saturday, 7/24
Boston is overcomming an orgy of ecstacy and pain- that is the renewal of yankees- Red sox rivalry. Made it into Fenway on Fri to see atypical game- a seesaw battle with the Yanks pulling it out in the 9th. Saturday was a damper day, it rained about 2 inches and most outdoor activities were canceled, downsized or delayed (just like our country). Even Yanks/Red Sox 2 was delayed an hour.Most of the passion in town was at Fenway Park, with multiple ejections including ARod & Varatek, plus the Red Sox manager. The big names started appearing towards evening and more were probably at the Media Event, which for the first time in my experience was closed to Delegates. Rain continued with signs of a break for Sunday - even the so-called concentration camp/protest Zone was rained out and somewhat flooded.
Miquel

Sunday, 7/25:
The dy started sunny and dry for a change, the bigger news was the settlement of Labor contracts @ 2:30pm EDT that allowed the official 'welcoming' events, which began @ 5pm to be picket free. The major Demonstration of the day was a Stop the War March on the Boston Common. The March had about 1500 participants according to mainstream media and about 1/2 that according to Alternative Media observers. The tone was serious, but subdued and the police had saved most of their venom for the Mayor. Many marchers were charactorized as reluctant Kerry supporters. The only real conroversy was caused by anti- choice protesters who when confronted were joined by Neo Nazi skinheads. The Red Sox won the nationally televised rubber match @ Fenway 9-6 so that's where all the heavyweights and well conected attendees were.
Miquel

Monday, 7/26
The first day of the convention and the stops are out. Most delegates were concerned about the so called security plan, but other than inconvinencing some suburban commuters, this is really some where between parody and satire. Most of the Security help is young 20 somthing college kids mixed with some P.C. inner city youth. If you don't like the attitude you get from one guard go to the other door and pass right through. Due to the fears of lockdown the downtown venues were all booked by Convention participants and groups. That means that all the alternative events are in Cambridge/Harvard, along with uncertain transportation. The offical breakfast program was routine for CA until Nancy Pelosi got up and said, "She didn't care what the convention organizers though "" The Iraq War is wrong and I'm proud that 2/3 of the House Democrats voted against it"". Standing ovation followed. The big ticket of the early day was former USMC Sgt James Carville and Former General Westley Clark speaking to the first ever Veterans Caucaus.

7/26 Night
The Bus ride to the Fleet Center was circuitous and at one point did double back on itself. I wonder if that's in the security plan to throw off the Terrorists? Entering the Fleet Center itself wasn't that much different than before, except you had to walk thru metal detectors, and like the airport there were TSA people there to operate them. The Protest Square was empty except for a few Tourists and chanting christians, ugg. Inside was every seat was at a premium as the night got later. In fact the usual Fire Marshal/ Whip Dance over occupancy and especially crowed aisles was taken up in full force. However when Clinton started to speak, all the Fire personel crowed into the crowd to get a good look. The return from Fleet was chaotic but worked and every one with any kind of credential slid off to be wined and dined by lobbists.
Miquel

Tuesday, 7/27
Miquel meets Clinton
A rainier day. The convention is in full swing with all the attendant celebs etc. Ran into BillClinton in Cambridge as I was going to hear Sen. Byrd speak on his book at a historic church. Ted Kennedy and Westley Clark introduced him. I know that Clinton is not the Anti-Christ because I met him on the bus up Mass Ave to get there. The Anti-Christ got off at Cambridge City Hall - I guess to see the mayor.
The Fleet center was the usual craziness, so I checked out the protest pit,but only found anti-Illuminatists protesting( this may have been some sort of satire). If you watched on TV you saw all the Action. Went to a GREAT after party with the Planned Parenthood open Bar, whoopee, and Celebs, including the cast of West Wing plus Steve Brushiemi(sic) and his date. A real rain fell on the way home.
Miquel

MIB - BLOG, AUGUST 2004

MIB-BLOG 08-02-2004
DNC Wrap and Thanks
A big thank you goes out to Miquel for his near daily reports to us from Boston and the DNC, a men in black exclusive no less. He never followed up on the 4 unknown paratroopers that penetrated the secure zone at dawn on Monday, but no other media source followed up on it either. His final report showed the wear and tear on his body and mind. Garbled images mixed with name dropping of celebs and politicos alike, the biggest being doing shots with Gray Davis till dawn at one of the many open bars.During the convention out hits tripled, so someone either linked us or forwarded the pages. Either way, thanks a bunch, we 'preciate it.
Over all I think the Demos got the eight ball rollin', as Easy E might say. It is true that the demos and the g.o.p.'s are both paid by the same bosses, it's just that going against the Bushite record it becomes mighty hard to look bad. Shit, good luck to us all.
WHITE WASH ALL AROUND
The long awaited 911 commission report was released last week and what a disappointment to those in the know. Can somebody say Warren Report? I knew that you could. This let's all the guilty off the hook and places the blame on the system in general. Hey, wasn't that what the terrorist were attacking in the first place. The commission only looked at certain aspects of the the attack, while ignoring others like it didn't even happen. Michael Moore has come under criticism from the progressive front for not going far enough in implicating guilty parties of 911. He kept it simple enough for the residents of 'Tard Nation' could follow the events without coming off like a complete conspiracy nut. The 911 commission did the same. They beat around the bush, pardon the pun, until the time was up and then present a white washed document that all could live with. They recommend a complete overhaul of our intelligence system. This would involve creating a Terror Czar with executive powers, a real mean mother fucker who only answers to the president. Pallezz, spare me! They didn't indicate if this would be a life time position, all powerful and unimpeachable. The two chairpersons of the commission say that either one of them would be perfect for the job. And to make matters worse or better, let's hurry up and cut these changes into stone before the election. "It's what the people demand," they say. Bullshit. Why not clone J. Edgar Hoover, Beria and Himmler? Any of these three souls have proved themselves worthy of such powers before. Why not? One third of the nation already know the war on terror is a fake. Let's not funnel billions more to be kicked back top the rich in the name of terror. Look, it's real easy to see. They only spent $600,000 on the 911 commission and $70 million to investigate a blow job. Now you tell me what's rotten in Denmark.
Rev. First Duval, MIB

MIB-BLOG 08-08-04
THE MODERN WORLD BLOGS THE DNC
While thumbing through the CNR over some grub the other day, I put on my glasses to read the always printed too small comic,"the Modern World." Seems the author had sent the strips retarded dog to Boston to blog the convention. The biggest story that the poochie could sniff out of the Fleet Center was all people who had come to blog the event. This was the first national political event in this country since the advent of blogs and seems like no one missed their chance to inject their own two cents in, myself included, ha ha. As far as the message coming from the convention floor, well that centered on an over emphasis on Kerry being a war hero. The toon also played up Kerry's best presidential attribute, that being that he's not George W. Bush. this little 5 frame comic captured the essence of the whole convention as good as CBS, PBS and CNN combined, I'm guessing on the CNN part since I refuse to pay for cable. With the moratorium on Bush Bashing, only a minimum of protesters with little blood and guts, and already knowing who the choices were, there was very little to report on besides the bloggers themselves and that Kerry's a war hero and he's not Bush. Good Job Modern World.
DESTINY RUSHIN', THE CITY AND PLUTO
Last Friday night I had a vivid dream that involved DJ Screamo and myself running around San Francisco taking care of frantic business. We spent most of the night in the North Beach area at various strip bars, balancing the books, going over the money and putting people straight on the proper way to account for the money flow in this business. After closing time we took a short cut through the Fillmore district. There we found a drunk, elderly biker with no legs being assaulted by a gang of Black alcoholics. We discovered remnants of his Honda cycle along the way. Now you ask, how can a biker have no legs? Well he must've had some sort of hand controls, but that still doesn't explain what he did at red lights. The following day found my wife and myself hurdling towards San Francisco for an early afternoon nude age wedding in Golden Gate Park. We trudged down the redwood grove near 12th Ave. and Fulton and found the wedding party. The bride was dressed like a gypsy and the groom like a Russian cossack. A self proclaimed pagan witch conducted the event with words words of her own creation. We stood together in the darkened grove on white rose pedals sprinkled beforehand. At the end I led a impromptu samba band of noisemakers and illegal fireworks. The party then moved to the Mission. This gave us time enough to drive by some old dwellings of ours and hit the Moscow Bakery on Geary for some of their famous piroskis. The food was great, the line was long, people were speaking Russian, reading Russian newspapers, ordering Russian pastries from Chinese workers and we got eveything to go. The sign in the window is still painted in Cyrillic, as well as most of then product labels. We entered the reception in the Mission, a beautifully restored, pre-quake Victorian, four levels, ornately painted and empty for the party since the building was just sold. It is rumored to have been a famous whore house in the 1890's and the residents swear at night you can hear and see the madam making her rounds on the upper floors, not to mention smell her perfume. We entered and waded our way through a host of sushi, vegan dishes, A.A.'ers with 21 year chips, dot com'ers, artist, carpenters, diet soda, exotic breads, Asian women, lamb steaks, stir fry, prime rib, flavored soda water, children, moms, dogs, dog walkers, clean and soberites, anchor steam for those who weren't and gay psychics. We settled near the back patio by the bar-b-que with a view, joking our way through the party in the smoking section with the psychics. Our hostess lumped us in with the gay contingent, ordered us to mingle with the straights, which was fine with us, since the gays were the funnest and friendliest people there. I spent part of this time commiserating with a gay astrologer about being clean and sober, the ups and downs, the good and bad. Finally we were joined by the main gay psychic,a guy named Frank, who had much to say about channeling, auras, Buddhism, past lives, numerology and the stars. The biggest revelation that came about and everyone is buzzing about, is the movement of Pluto and it's relationship to the inner planets. Now I didn't ask the obvious, which is, is Pluto wasn't discovered until 1939, how can it have any known effect existing astrological tenants? I let it all go and absorbed what I could. This 'destiny rush' I've been blabbing about since November is being caused by Pluto's movement into it's new house, where it'll stay for seven years. I correctly asked if this occurred right at the beginning of April, this year. On the money. So what's going on is a lot of change, hopefully for the better, but change none the less. Change is what you make of it, so they say. So sit back, chill out and enjoy it all as we try to live through it all. Does that make sense? I hope so.
REV. FIRST DUVAL, MIB

hardcore 9-11
08-13-04
I realize that this era is a good time for kids to be into punk. I mean in the 80s the punk scene had Reagan's bullshit to deal with and the fear of MAD between the US and Russia. Nowadays times are crazier than ever with terrorism, war in Iraq, and our Twin Towers being destroyed three years ago. Yeah, this is an insane time to be into the punk scene and be totally enraged about the bullshit going on. I'm sure there must be a bunch of "new school" hardcore bands singing about it too. I've heard there's a bunch of "old school" bands making comebacks and at first I was interested in checking them out because some of those bands broke up when I first got into the scene but then I realized what's the point? I'm almost 35 years old and I'm not into slam dancing and I don't want anyone crowd surfing me or being crammed in like sardines. That's not my thing anymore, I'm more into seeing "Indie" type bands and just grooving to the music. But I still enjoy listeing to KBD punk because it's a part of me. I've been listening to it since i was 12 yrs old. I think it's good for the new punks to see those KBD bands reunion. Yeah, I fucking rambled and I'm sure none of you is reading this but I hope I made my point, if not, fuck it!
Poly Sub, reposted from kbd yahoo group

MIB - BLOG, August 16, 2004
"Incarceration Nation"
Woe be to us, the collected residents of this incarceration nation, all breathing the same air, heavy with fear and uncertainty. You probably know this but the United States, this land of the free is the most incarcerated place on the planet. I know it's much easier to forget these facts. For the country as a whole, we have a little over one percent of our population behind bars at any given moment. If you factor in the people on parole, the number jumps to nearly eight million. One can get more specific by breaking it down state by state. Texas is number one, with a little over two percent of all Texans behind prison bars. Louisiana is a close second to Texas only by a few decimal points, but still having over two percent of it's citizens in jail. Now this isn't a Southern state problem, it's nationwide. The great state of California's prison population has shot up from 22,000 in 1981 to over 180,000 today, with more piling in every day and they say they have a budget crisis. The crime rate has seen a steady decline since the early 1990's, but the nation's prison numbers continue to grow and grow. Unless you or a loved one is in the system, it is easy to believe that all these people deserve to be where they are. This is a defense mechanism we use to quiet the terror within us so we can make it through another day. That the exact same technique used by the people who lived under Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany. They believed without question,"there must be a dam good reason who those neighbors they arrested this morning. The Government knows what it's doing. The people in the camps must be enemies of the state. Papa or the Fuhrer are protecting us from these enemies because they love us. That must be it." It essence they were practicing a basic form of survival. Not one of them could afford to be caught, even by accident, emphasizing with the enemy. That would surely mean the same for me and my family. "Strange. They seemed like a nice family. Kind of quiet, but always polite."
So what's causing this huge spike in our prison cell numbers. Almost all of the federal prison have gone over to pure SHU (secure housing units), as well as a lot of state prisons as well. They are extremely unpleasant to say the least, bordering on inhuman torture, so no one is getting these long prison sentences on purpose just for the 'three hots and a cot.' Is it the very popular 'three strikes' laws that are sweeping the nation or maybe the system finally got serious about repeat offenders and put some teeth into those mandatory sentences. If the later was the case, everyone who been super bad would have already be serving life terms for the year 2000. So why the prison ppopulationincrease? Why the urgent need to build more and more maximum institutions while schools take an extreme second seat? Here's the really bad news. The people getting these 'slam dunk', mandatory or life sentences are not, I repeat, not career criminals. They are our moms, wives, daughters, room mates, coworkers, dads, boyfriends, etc.. average joes! Most super bad guys don't ever get mandatory sentences. The housewife and the preppy college kid, they get dunked. The criminal knows the system, hey, it his career, he better. He also knows that the information stuck in that drug damaged brain can be used to wheel and deal with even the hardest DAs. John Q. public has no useful information for the prosecution. The judge's hands are tied. He's bound by law to administer on long hard mandatory sentence after another. Also if you think about it, it is in the system interest not to permanently remove the bad guys from the equation of the streets. Some cleave accountant in the system might realize that there's no reason to have this many cops on the payroll. I cited as examples female versions of these non criminals that our criminal institutions are being over populated with for a reason. The women prison population in the U.S. has increased a good nine fold over the last 10 years. Judges can no longer be sensitive to the needs of small children, sentencing guidelines for multiple felony convictions are very harsh. Judges are bound by the system itself to lock up somebody's mom.
The unadvertised reasons for all these John Q's crowding up our expensive prison space has absolutely nothing to do with crime. It isn't even drug related or political, oh no. A one word reason I give you. Economics! Disgusting, huh? This the ugly family secret hiding in the closet. Capitalism depends on some sort of industry of suffering for it's survival. In most cases those doing the suffering are part of the system as well. This came about in the middle ages when money made it's reappearance in Europe, when people began moving into the villages, that soon became cities, when it became painfully obvious, even at that early stage that there just isn't enough money in the system to go around. Well in a pinch there might be, but that would mean that the vulgarly rich would have to sacrifice somethings and that'll never happen, then or now. The people seemed to like getting paid in cash rather than recycled pig shit for a change. Private property was becoming addictive. The middle class began to emerge. As good as this was, its very existence was a threat to the whole system of church and state in Europe. Then suddenly, a miracle. The Catholic Church came riding out of the west to save the fledgling middle class' butt and just in the nick of time. The rescue the church provided came in the form of the Inquisition or witch trials. The first trial may well have been cases of heresy, but it didn't take the powers long to realize that witch trials could be very profitable for all. Cottage industries sprung up around the centers where the trials were held. This called for people to do the torturing, the cooking, the housing, the cleaning, crowd control, recording the events, security, this called for new building projects for jail space, torture space, lodging for visiting officials, torture devices invented and manufactured, wood had to be chopped for the burnings, someone had to build the pyre, someone had to light the pyre, etc., etc. And all these people had to be paid and here's what the church and state thought was the really good part about all this wicked business. The accusassertstts were seized upon the initiaccusationion. Being accused of heresy meant you were as good as guilty and what would you do with all your gold now that you're going to hell? The accused property and money went to pay all these bills. What was left over went to the church and state. This allowed the kings and cardinals to pump all kind of money into the system without having to pay one rotten pence of it. On the contrary, business was booming anditr was good for all,exceptt the poor accused, but they were sinners anyway so who cares? This proved o be such a good thing that when the supply of evil witches was depleted from an area, well, it didn't take long to come up with a new list of heretics. The powers simply went shopping for booty and were loved for providing such a wonderful life for their people. The skills and crafts associated with all this became very specialized and became generational. This ride lasted for at least 300 years in most of Europe. It was only with the arrival of industrialization that's Europe's economy and conscious could even entertain the idea of getting rid of this sweet, sweet system on suffering, he he. This allowed the church to firmly establish its iron fist, death grip rule over all aspects of society in the face of hard money. This also served to cull the herd of non nobles, preserving the eternal flow of gold into the church's pocket and keep any serious political opposition on the gallows or in the flames. Everything old is new again, what's new? This is exactly the system of trial and punishment we live under today. It is never really about crime, politics or even religion, it's always about the Fuckin' Money. Today one's value is assessed by what good they can provide for the system and the economy. If you can support a few families by a 25 - life stint, then unless you got the scratch, you can already kiss your butt good bye once they realize they have a 'paying customer.'
POVERTY IS NOT A CRIME
to be con't
Rev. first Duval

August 22, 2004
The news just showed a beer drinking bear that broke into a campers beer cooler. It drank a case and a half of Rainier Beer but did not drink the Busch Lite. The camper got it all on video tape and the bear was drunk. It was captured the next day and the trap was baited with Rainier Beer. Even the bears don't like Busch.
Walter

August 29, 2004
"The Good Life is Free!," Roseanne



August 30, 2004
This began as a response to someone who seems so very angry and looks for opportunities to blame George W. Bush for everything that's wrong with the world, so that there never seems to be time for a game of Scrabble with an old friend. Anger is counter-productive.
Part of my response turned into a tribute to my brothers, whom I admire dearly. The Tribute starts at FACT IV in case you want to skip FACTS I, II & III. Please forgive my ignorance if some inaccuracies may have been committed here since I was only a teenager when Saigon fell.
FACT I) The planning of 9-11 began during the Clinton Administration and was originally scheduled for April of 2000.
FACT II) We are not at war with a nation. The war against terror is very much like the war we wage in our own country against drug dealers & murderers, often synonymous.
FACT III) Our nation is slowly being undermined from within by politicians who encourage the financing of failing public schools that hand out diplomas yet fail to educate, under-restricted food programs that overfeed, yet under-nourish, welfare programs that allow the purchase of candy & ice cream, yet exclude soap and laundry detergent - all paid for by any of us who make an honest living and earn at least one dollar above the poverty level, who often come home to mow the lawn, check for attractive nuisances that bring lawsuits, remove debris from catch basins to prevent flooding, pick up junk food wrappers and broken beer bottles off the lawn, sidewalk and street; then, while appreciating the fruits of honest labor, are often subjected to an assault of 200 decibel foul language and ear-splitting bass coming from the gas-guzzling vehicle cruising up the street.
It costs nothing to be a kind, respectful, responsible human being, yet we pay dearly for unkind and disrespectful acts, for irresponsible and unethical behaviors of the very same species!
FACT IV to the best of my recollection) All three of my brothers served honorably in Viet Nam. Every buddy they brought home on leave was invited to our home. My eldest brother, Mark, also served and retired as a Major in the Army National Guard 141st. He has been employed by the same company since he came back from Nam, I think it's around 35 years and has been married almost as long to the same woman. What a guy! Need I say more? My middle brother, Charlie, received a commendation for outstanding service as a communications specialist in Nam. He has since accomplished so much with kindness and cheerful spirit, I wouldn't know where to begin; John, the youngest,(still 7 years my senior) enlisted in the Marines back then and now leads the life of a model citizen, father and grandfather. My nephew, Captain John Edward Bezou,Jr., US Army, originally stationed in Germany with the Medical Corps, served at Central Command in Iraq. My other nephew, Paul Gervais, who served in the Gulf War is now headed for Iraq. My eldest sister also served in the Army and is now one of the most dedicated teachers I know. My father, George M. Bezou, Sr. served during WWII. His Tanté Odile, a photographer in France, was kind enough to provide photographed memories of him standing on the Champs-Elyseé. His hearing was damaged in the war and was subjected to additional health issues, so for most of my teenage life, we lived on Social Security Benefits when he could no longer make a living.
MY OPINION) We are obliged, as the richest, most powerful nation in the world and member of the UN, to protect, aid and empower the innocent and to seek peace, truth & justice, whatever the cost. I may continue to struggle at times, I may be pushed down and robbed by a drug-crazed thug, I may walk outside and find my 10-year-old sub-compact stolen by some punks who left it out-of-gas, battery dead and steering column destroyed, on the I-10 Westbound, but I will never call myself a victim. I will make my life count for something. I will continue to seek only truth. This, my friend, can only be found on the path of faith.
Period
Rose

August 31, 2004
Left Right Paradigm is fake
The election is pre-determined. While there are those who see through the lies of the new world order, many don't. Many protestors who are against Bush do not realize that Kerry has closer ties to the royal family. The fact is that of the last 42 presidents of the United States of America, the candidate for presidency with the most royal bloodline has always become president. Here is an article straight off of the Guardian to confirm this. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1284632,00.html The probability of this happening by chance is 0.5 raised to the power of 42 which equals 2.27373675 × 10-13. This cannot be by chance alone. The protests are excellent, and if I was in America I would join in without doubt. But the truth is that the both major parties are controlled by multinational - royal - corporate elite. In other words, when Kerry wins, things will be no different. The pressure may subside for a short time but incrementally the changes needed to bring about a new world order - in George Bush Snr's, Tony Blair's, and many other world leaders own words, will take place. The people will heave a collective sigh of relief that Bush is out, but anyone with a thinking mind knows that Bush is a puppet. The only solution is to educate people in these matters, ie, that the left - right paradigm is an illusion that is used to control the masses and make them think they have a real choice in the direction of the USA. The people of the USA MUST NOT vote for Kerry or Bush as that is playing right into the hands of the NWO elite. I urge you to see Alex Jones' website www.prisonplanet.com and infowars.com and go through the information contained therein. Although some of his views are anti-gay and anti-abortion - which I don't happen to believe in - the basic premise of his outlook is small government, freedom of speech and his excellect exposes of the 911 attacks, the new world order and many other issues ranging from water fluoridation to toxic vaccines. I have been listening to his radio show for some time and have found through my own research that what he is saying is true. He also wants you to help educate people by sharing his videos and making copies. There is one site I know of that offers a download of his best (in my opinion) film: 911 The Road To Tyranny. http://www.c0balt.com/resources/911/download.shtml He has also made a follow up video backing up his claims with news articles and this can be downloaded from a peer to peer application such as Shareaza. That video is called "The Masters of Terror". I am not endorsing his site or all of his views but have found his research to be very very compelling and has given me new insight into the structure of world politics. Check it out. BTW - I love everyone who protested yesterday and the day before, and who will continue to protest throughout the RNC. I've been to NYC once and loved it, because when I first arrived at Union station, there were a group of protestors holding banners stating that the bush regime engineered 911 - it was a beautiful thing to watch. Pics of that are included. Stay strong, search for the truth, and the evil in this world will tumble for sure. Also I do not like the "If you do not validate, users will be encouraged to distrust your information." Comment on the website...as it does not encourage true dissemination of anonymous material.
truthagent

MIB-BLOG 09-25-2004
forwarded to me by alan evil.
Thanks to Harry Browne of the Libertarian Party for bringing us this reminder. It's a speech by Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, and delivered to the German people almost 65 years ago. Nearly every line was met with thunderous applause. Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid but I could swear I heard an eerily similar speech from Dick Cheney recently. I realize that some of you feel any criticism of the current administration or its methods is tantamount to treason but read this and tell me it doesn't sound familiar.
"I ask, which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower, and yes, the backbone to best protect us?
The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight.
There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust our future and that man's name is Adolph Hitler.
There are some crazy men who would kill us if they could. So Adolph Hitler has told us: 'All private plans, all private lives, have been in a sense repealed by an overriding public danger.'
But where is the national unity in this country when we need it most?
Now, while young Germans are dying in the mud in Czechoslovakia and the mountains of Poland, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Social Democrats manic obsession to bring down our Fuhrer.
What has happened to the nation I've spent my life working in?
I can remember when Social Democrats believed that it was the duty of Germany to fight for freedom over tyranny.
Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Germans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today.
Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Social Democratic leaders see Germany as an occupier, not a liberator.
And nothing makes me madder than someone calling German troops occupiers rather than liberators.
Tell that to the Czechs, Poles, Frenchmen, and Belgians who have been freed because Adolph Hitler led an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the millions of men, women, and children who are free today from the Baltics to the Crimea, from Poland to the Balkans, because Adolph Hitler built a military of liberators, not occupiers.
Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the German soldier. And our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad; they preserve it for us here at home.
Right now, the world just cannot afford an indecisive Germany. Fainthearted, self-indulgence will put at risk all we care about in this world.
In this hour of danger, our Fuhrer has had the courage to stand up. And I am proud to stand up with him.
God bless this great country and God bless Adolph Hitler."

Hi Duval,
This speech by Goebbels is indeed very comparable to what Bush and Cheney say. Last December, when I visited my family in Virginia, I happened to take the tour at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. At the begining of the tour, they showed how the first thing that Hitler did upon coming to power, was to outlaw all political opposition. Opposition party leaders were immediately arrested, and many were beaten and tortured. I am very concerned that this will happen here, if Bush gets another term. Having taken this tour, played a part in my decision not to back Ralph Nader for President this year. Had the Socialists and Communists worked together in Germany in 1933, Hitler's path to power might very well have been blocked. My family came here from Germany. Most of my family got out before the war. There were a few members who were killed. I was born here.
Walter

09-30-2004
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Members of the State Board of Elections were surprised to hear reports Tuesday that Diebold touchscreen voting machines similar to those used in Maryland were found abandoned recently on a street and in a bar in Baltimore.
Joseph Torre, voting systems and procurement director for the agency, confirmed that one machine was found, but assured board members it did not belong to Maryland.
"It wasn't one of ours," he said. "All 16,009 units are present and accounted for."
"That takes your breath away," board member Joan Beck said.
Torre said he was aware of only one machine being found, although election officials from Baltimore said they got a second call from someone saying he had found two machines on the sidewalk. He was told to notify the state agency, but Torre said no call was received.

The Times (London)
October 02, 2004
Pop
Carlos Guitarlos
David Sinclair at Borderline (5 stars)
THERE is talk of making a Hollywood movie about the life of Carlos Guitarlos, and you can see why. As the guitarist with the LA blues-punk group Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs in the 1980s, he lived a life of unbridled excess. By the time Top Jimmy died of liver failure, Guitarlos was drunk, divorced and diabetic, and forced to earn a living busking on the streets of San Francisco. At the age of 54 and sober at last, his already prodigious performing and songwriting talents are now informed by a wealth of hard life experiences and his career has belatedly bloomed. His current album, Straight from the Heart, is a roots-rock gem, but even so it hardly prepares you for the musical and emotional masterclass that is a Carlos Guitarlos gig. He seemed a little grumpy at first, berating the lighting engineer while rifling through a plastic bag filled with guitar accoutrements. And he was halfway through the zydeco-influenced shuffle of the opening number, Damn Atchafalaya, before the sound engineer located the fader to switch up his black Stratocaster Once he had done so, however, and Guitarlos had moved into the testifying R’n’B of The Love I Want followed by a blasting version of the Motowninfluenced Ain’t That Lovin’ You, the extent of the man’s talent was beginning to be revealed. Blessed with a gruff but heartfelt singing voice and possessing a huge vocabulary of guitar chops, he performed like a rogue angel. With his long grey hair spilling out from under a fedora and an easy smile that suggested a lifelong mistrust of dentists, he looked and sounded every inch the battle-scarred survivor. As if this was not enough, his three-piece backing band included the singer and guitarist Marcy Levy. Known for her work with Eric Clapton, for whom she wrote Lay Down Sally, Levy is also remembered as one half of Shakespears Sister, whose biggest hit Stay she also wrote. Tall, dark and exuding a Chrissie Hynde-like cool, she sang these and other songs in a beautiful, clear soprano, that was the perfect foil for Guitarlos’s street-hardened holler. She also took a two-verse harmonica solo during the 12-bar shuffle Women & Whiskey that was the sexiest thing I have ever seen on a rock’n’roll stage. The easy rapport between Guitarlos and Levy — “Beauty and the beast,” as Guitarlos described it — added yet another dimension to a performance that was already superlative. They rounded off with a sure-footed revival of Robert Johnson’s Rambling on My Mind and a blistering instrumental wig-out apparently called Pigfoot Shuffle. As far as basement-club blues goes, this was simply as good as it gets.
reposted by BJ

TRAVEL NOTES FROM JON
10-25-2004
Hi Momentarily back in Newport, where HOMECOMING was shot. Shortly further north, and then on to Italy to shoot a new film, via a brief stop in London. 2+ weeks of shooting, then back to London and then, it would appear, to the Philippines and perhaps another stop or two in Asia for December. And then back to London to try to sit tight and work on many things.
Following are notes from the last few weeks, observations from a drive from here to Southern California and back. Happy thanksgiving, election day, or whatever it is that pleases you.
Finished with screenings in LA (full house for OUI NON - sounds great until I note for you the house has 70 seats, a speck in the vastness of the place), I wandered southward, through Orange County, down to North Coast just above San Diego, to visit friends. I'd lived there a while back in 1977-78, and then visited often in the interim. The changes down there, even since 2002, my last visit, have been profound. The once desert realm just a mile or two inland is now an LA-style sprawl, as far as the eye can see or the soul can cope: condos and houses and cookie cutter shopping malls, chic boutiques, and cars and cars and more cars. The rural areas, once only a few miles from the ocean, now begin only at the edges of the mountains, inland 20 or 30 miles. The funky arroyo where I lived a while in 77 is now a swanky realm of $500,000 duplicate homes, just out of that Beverley Hills by the sea, Del Mar. No more funk to be seen, and where the Mexican laborers - the ones who care for the pools and yards, who do the household cleaning and cooking - find a toe-hold is unclear. A friend informed they live in the few yet-undeveloped ravines left. It is clear that here money has triumphed, though at the cost of what the buyers presumably were purchasing: a slice of So Cal sun and fun, now reduced to LA-South: the not-so-freeways jammed, the beatific beach life now caught in the hustle of managing to make that $80,000 a year which a UCSD acquaintance assured me was the requisite sum to live OK in the area. Naturally the chic streets of Del Mar and Encinitas, as well as the more inward shopping malls, are full of balming cures - yoga and pilate and all the customary fixer-uppers of California: tits droop? we got the answer. getting old? Botox or Viagra? Scripps Clinic, sitting on the bluffs overlooking the vast Pacific outside La Jolla (most expensive/classiest burg of the union it is said) has a kitchy billboard at the north end of Encinitas, a gigantic flower against white and the phrase, "A World of Healing: Scripps." Scripps is a very high-end check out clinic, a last ditch if-you-have-the-money-we-(may)-have-the-cure end game joint. You go there to die. Ah, but you get a most unhospital-like place and a handsome look at the endless horizon off to the west. Go west old man, very west. And in classic SoCal manner, if you go far enough West you will get East, and a little Buddha will greet you in deathland way off there in the big Pacific beyond.
Friends were in their particular rat-races. Marshall, star of my silver screen (Slow Moves, Bell Diamond, Bed You Sleep In) is trapped in cubicleville, working for a big IT corporation, whose place now sprawls in classy anonymity across the once-desert east of Carlsbad, which itself has burst from sleepy next-to-Marine-Jarhead-Oceanside, into burgeoning competition for Del Mar. The newly minted swathes of tarmac are lined with industrial and corporate parks, instant warehouses of labor that can't be outsourced to cheaper places, though they are trying hard. Marshall treads the fiscal waters trying to stay afloat while writing english lingo manuals for esoteric computerese stuff, he's the interface between zero-one geek and customer. His ex lives in one of the endless houses, this one with swimming pool, vast square footage and a mortgage designed to kill. However Dad had property in once worthless desert, now worth as many zeroes as you care to add. But there's still a mortgage, which in my book translates from the french, "death-measure." Pay til you drop, but another variant of the patriotic duty of all Americans, so our President said after 9/11, "shop til you drop." So Cal is very patriotic, though I would shudder to tally up the personal and business debt. Not to mention ponder the matter of such elemental stuff as "water" which these days mostly is hauled from the far away and dwindled Colorado River. What these new millions will drink soon I wonder. I am told desalinization plants are on tap as the solution. And then, all of this sprawl firmly rooted in the All American premise of cars cars cars, and attendent freeways and tarmac connective ribbons, I wonder what happens when 30 years hence the oil is gone, and in the interim, oil costs (lots) more: present cost of lowest octane fillerup is a mere $2.40 or so at the moment. And due to climb (and climb and climb).
I spent a little time on the beach, shooting some nice stuff, and then fled inland to visit another friend, who has a spread at the foot of Mt. Palomar. Enroute into the so-called "inland Empire" I passed no less than 3 new giant Indian res casinos. Last time I went there, only 2 years ago, there was only one, now there's four. These are really huge things, buildings erupting from what only a few years ago was a desert of scrub brush, cactus, and sparse ramshackle homes with junker mobiles adjacent. The latter remain, now abutted to sprawling multi-level parking lots and bloated hotels and the sacred casino, horn of plenty born of the apparent American belief that instant wealth is a constitutional right. The guys in Vegas, having exponentially bloated that desert mirage into a million soul city, have managed to insinuate themselves fully into the American landscape anywhere an alleged Native American has a plot of other-law land. California, as well as many other places, now blooms with casinos, where in the name of the social and economic improvement of the local inhabitants, a vast Mafia, in collusion with that other mafia, our wonderful federal and state governments, a wonderworld of fraud is installed, carefully calculated to extract a special tax from the TV besotted mostly lower-end citizenry who verily seem to believe that the horn of plenty lies in the statistical odds of loss. I am sure the casino population is a solid Bush world. I am informed that the investment for these elaphantine gambling joints is normally recouped in a year, and from then on it is pure frosting. One wonders if the "profits" from these enormous machines is included in the GNP? I bet so. Barnum is happy in his heaven, rolling in coins like Scrooge McDuck. How very American it is.
My friends have a small horse ranch, at the base of Mt Palomar. Gretchen recently got 3rd best mare in the country, not sure what that means in that world, but given some of the horse country I have driven through in the last month, it must mean something pretty big. Their horse ranch is small and funky, but SoCal, with trees dripping with fruits which the boxful of exotic items I brought to Newport with me attesting to the fecundity of lots of sun and watering. As the billboards I saw enroute down through the San Joaquin valley attested, "Plants grow where water flows." All of that valley and SoCal are ecologically actually a desert....
Under the press of lots of things to do I left sunny SoCal for the north, and instead of driving slowly as I had imagined to do, the accumulated things-to-do kept the pedal to the metal, my old '88 Subaru running fine, up through the backside of Orange County, the deserts east of LA, a vast sprawl of yet-to-be chic'ed terrain, though Wal-Mart is paving the way for sure, up past the landing place for the now hesitant Space Shuttle, Edwards Air Force Base, and then on the Pear Blossom Highway where I was tempted to stop and do a live variant of Hockney's lovely piece (will await HDV), and then up into the Owens Valley from whence comes a good chunk of LA's water supply (see Nicholson in Chinatown for a bit of local lore), behind Mt Whitney, highest mountain of the contiguous states, where the valley has been drained from greenery to desert thanks to the masses to the south. The small towns began again to be small towns, untainted with the urban wealth after passing Mamouth Lakes, a ski resort.I had a $10.99 all-u-can-eat beef rib and salad dinner as the TV brawl began. I bedded down in an Indian run (India Indian, but she was from South Africa she said as I bantered about having been in India a year ago) old motel in Bishop, catching the last half of the 3rd so-called Presidential debate. Bush again deflated, this time in his 3rd reincarnation, this one an ever smiling and joking 50's throwback, none other than Alfred E Neuman of Mad Magazine renown. Columnists assert this is his just-plain-folks persona, the guy you'd go to an NFL game or a bar with (except he don't drink he says), a regular good old boy. Personally I find him phony as a 3 buck bill, and certainly no one with whom I would care to spend 2 seconds. He trotted out his threadworn phrases, desperate to shore up the lost credibility of his last two outings. Yep, George has been outed. No, he's not gay. In outing #1 he was befuddled by the apparent wiring, his direct line to whomever (Rove? Cheney? God?) making for inexplicable pregnant pauses which begot verbal abortions. And the Quasimodo lump was seen, giving some game away. Round two he came out the loud tough-guy slugger, though maybe seeming more the out of control madman, and then he settled down into lumpen civility, if lacking any intelligence. The critics said he was "good" in his last half hour; I thought he was pathetic. Round 3 he came out as smiling Joe, your barroom chat-mate, Mr Regular, regurgitating stale old cliches just like the guy in a bar, looping a dead conversation for the umpteenth time. But smiling all the way, spittle on his lips, making one shiver at the thought that this schizoid creature has been sitting in the White House for 3+ years making mayhem, while still half the nation allegedly admires and respects him. If this is statistically correct, then we have a nation headed to perdition, and fast: Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but at least he had the character to commit suicide when the game was up; I sincerely doubt that our George has the modicum of grace to exit in such manner. Actually, given his performance in these three episodes of As The World Turns, I expect him as I thought possible a year ago, to simply go over the edge and flip out, resume drinking, or snorting, or whatever his last resort m.o. would be. When push comes to shove, George throws a tantrum and then runs. You can run, but you can't hide, to quote one of his supposedly clever retorts. Whether Kerry held his fire or is simply not up to skewering replies himself, I cannot say. One suspects a fraudulent respect for the institution of the Presidency and our utterly corrupted government held things in check, since bottom-line, Kerry is part of this totally bankrupt system himself. America is in the deepest trough of corruption - moral, ethical, social, economic, political - that I have ever seen. We would have to go back to the 1890's or so for an equivalent, and even so I think this likely trumps our past. These fake souls we have for politicians and judges and bureaucratic middle-men are pathetic, as shown in the wreckage of their policies and thoughts, sitting in their comfortable upper class realms speculating quite incorrectly on how other cultures and humans think and behave and how they should bow down to our supposed superiority in all matter, nevermind the lipservice about multi-cultural values: bottom line, MacDonald's is better for you than kebabs.... Yes, Mr Tenant, a real "slam dunk." These people are akin to Hitler, biting off far more than they can chew, filled with themselves and their imaginary powers, hunkered down in think-tanks where thought is an alien form. American universities (which I visit too often) are full of the same, and breed the same detached-from-the-real-world "thinking." Little wonder as America wanders in the wide wide world it bumps into things in the dark and wonders waaa the hell...? Ignorance is far from bliss.
Driving up the Owens Valley, the landscape a stunning one of autumn trees turned vivid yellow, alders tracing the moisture of creeks running down the vast arid mountainscapes, the late afternoon sun illuminating these bursts of primary colors, tempting me to stop to shoot, I turned on the radio instead, unusual for me. Flicking through the modest selection I got the expect C&W, now a canned corporate kind lacking, like rock, any originative qualities - over produced, slushy lyrics far removed from any real experience. Next was religious stuff, exactly the same, either the country twanged minister reciting chapter and verse from his holy text, fulminating about Caladeans, hell and damnation, or alleged music, lyrics of such tripe "god, cross, died for you and me" to the accompaniment of something that has to do with music as Kincaid has to do with painting, pure unadulterated kitch posturing as uplifting "religion." The combination of this Hallmark Card sincerity in the form of purported music, and the Jimmy Swaggart phony sermons stridently serving up alleged morality, coupled with the landscape to make a portrait of an America of appalling provinciality, a perfect mirror for that other world of mullahs, buried against the mountains of Afghanistan, where the same religious fervor and fear evokes a similar deadly response. Here in the USA such a program might sit on the same frequency with a followup program of C&W, the lyrics of which are mostly about picking up pussy at the local bar, and beating beaver for a quicky one-night stand. That these two can share the same station sometimes is a schizophrenia left untouched by the irony-lacking locals who somehow manage, like good little human beings, to couple their fears and their sexual organs in the same breath. Shifting programs, Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh come into range, foaming and yelling their toxic brew of hates, feeding the already boiling social atmosphere with still more irrationality, begging for a Hitler strongman to step in to impose order. Slipping in on the on/off FM range, NPR comes with soothing voices, the horror of Bush's L word floating across the dried up lakebeds of Nevada as I headed into Reno where another small city had mutated in the last 15 years, like a cancerous growth, sprawling out into the surrounding desert, a gush of suburban settlements all built upon still more casino cash, the American dream writ in spades across the harsh terrain of Nevada, all nicely air conditioned for summer, and heated for winter (it gets real cold in Reno then). The rush of SUVs matches the energy consumption needed to make this place hospitable to present day Americans, busy doing slots, awaiting that call from on high to suddenly anointed millions. Gods Bless America.
I zipped right through, somewhat shocked at what had happened in only 12 years - Reno blooming from "friendliest little city" into bloated semi-LA North rushing headlong into the Nevada night. I felt as if I were in the midst of some rapidly metastazing cancer called US. Plywood and 2 x 4s, with thin veneers of "class," quarter million buck and up homesteads built to last 20 years if lucky. Again, the American ethos of move in, wreck the place, move on, seemed to shout as the umpteenth Wal-Mart, Target, Albertsons, and shop-til-you-drop fillerup slid by.
North of Reno, on US 395, after about 50 miles this more or less disappeared, and the old (well, sort of old, depends on the measuring stick) American west resumed, thin in population, up into the Sierra Nevada, ponderosa stands with thick trunks lining the highway, though clear-cuts lay behind, somehow not as brutal and warlike as those in Oregon. The pace slowed down, and Susanville, seemed still unphased by the bustle further south. No Starbucks in sight. Over the high plateu of the Sierras, large blanched meadows by which stood signs asserting "lake" underlined the 7 years drought, as did a fat plume of smoke to the south. Still though gorgeous, and being a national forest, very thinly populated. I should have stopped for the night but kept moving on, up into Oregon, pausing in Ashland, pretentious little town of "culture" (The Bard is their man, having an annual Shakespeare festival, college, etc.) it's little downtown an oasis of "culture" imbedded in the redneck of Medford and Grants Pass, places hosting survivalists and such, and that very evening, none other than George Bush, come to the area to speechify in his peculiar manner. Off I-5 parking lots filled with cars and lots of police were to be seen. I am told the man pulled 12,000 in for the night, of whom today's papers say 4 women were arrested for the evidently illegal matter of wearing T-shirts which said "Protect our Constitutional Rights." The newspaper said they did nothing else to warrant removal from this rally. Welcome to police state America I guess, where asserting there is a constitution or rights which need protecting is an offensive concept to Our Great Leader and his minions. I fled on, northward i the dark, getting to the coast at Reedsport only to find highway 101 up the coast was blocked at the Seal Caves, nightwork on a tunnel closing it down 8 to 6am. I found a reasonably hidden place and parked and slept in the back of the car. It is getting hard to find places to camp anymore - all the state and national forest campgrounds run $10 or more, nevermind the simplicity of your rig. In California along the coast any place that has room for a car or van is heavily posted NO OVERNIGHT PARKING, etc. Valhalla is gone.
As noted on the journey down, given the intensity of the present campaign the absence of bumpstickers and yard displays for Bush/Cheney or Kerry/Edwards is remarkable. Very few the entire route, though in rural areas the occasional and often outscale absurdist Bush/Cheney display, accompanied by gigantic flags, literally Christo does politics in RWandB. I take the giganticism to be a sign of vast insecurity posturing as macho B(u)S(h)[it]. Otherwise I think the lack of outward signs is a fear that to disclose one's views will result in never talking to your neighbor again. Or of the government should Bush pull this one out. All the signs of imminent jackboots have been on ample display and Americans seem to be showing the same spine our German friends did some 60-70 years ago. I hope not.
Newport now, a gray fog hanging along the coast, and boxes of things for me to cope with in the next 2 days. Then northward on to Portland, Port Angeles, absentee voting and then on the London and Italy on Oct. 25, from where I will watch the election unfold. Should Bush win I think I will not return for 4 years, at least. And if America proves so terminally intent on strength and ignorance, perhaps I will excuse myself from its citizenship.
JON

NOV. 10, 2004
Subject: We all need to vent sometimes
I love Corey Welch, Whoever the fuck he is...
From: Corey Welch
Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep.
And now what do we get? We're the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite?
How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really?
Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your automatic weapons in the glove compartment because you didn't bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard?
No, No. Get the fuck out. We're not letting you visit the Liberty Bell and fucking Plymouth Rock anymore until you get over your real American selves and start respecting those other nine amendments. Who do you think those fucking stripes on the flag are for? Nine are for fucking blue states. And it would be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their fucking Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier. Get it? We started this shit, so don't get all uppity about how real you are you Johnny-come- lately "Oooooh I've been a state for almost a hundred years" dickheads. Fuck off.
Arrogant? You wanna talk about us Northeasterners being fucking arrogant? What's more American than arrogance? Hmmm? Maybe horsies? I don't think so.
Arrogance is the fucking cornerstone of what it means to be American. And I wouldn't be so fucking arrogant if I wasn't paying for your fucking bridges, bitch.
All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you're the ones who built on a fucking swamp. "Let the Spanish keep it, itąs a shithole," we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice.
The next dickwad who says, "Itąs your money, not the government's money" is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess. Thatąs right, motherfucker, they're red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? Itąs too easy, asshole, theyąre blue states. Itąs not your money, assholes, itąs fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes.
Letąs talk about those values for a fucking minute. You and your Southern values can bite my ass because the blue states got the values over you fucking Real Americans every day of the goddamn week. Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? Itąs fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, thatąs right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation. Think thatąs just some aberration? How about this: nine of the 10 lowest divorce rates are fucking blue states, asshole, and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? Care to fucking guess? 10 of the top 10 are fucking red-ass we're-so-fucking-moral states. And while Nevada is the worst, the Bible belt is doing its fucking part.
But two guys making out is going to fucking ruin marriage for you? Yeah? Seems like you're ruining it pretty well on your own, you little bastards. Oh, but that's ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we fucking get to hear about it every goddamn year at election time. Yes, we're fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you're fucking towers of moral superiority. Yeah, that's a workable formula. Maybe us fucking Northerners don't talk about religion as much as you because we're not so busy sinning, hmmm? Ever think of that, you self-righteous assholes? No, you're too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by the fucking Northeast Liberal Elite. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain't us up here in the North, assholes.
Well this gravy train is fucking over. Take your liberal-bashing, federal- tax-leaching, confederate-flag-waving, holier-than-thou, hypocritical bullshit and shove it up your ass.
And no, you can't have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off.

Dear Corey,
Someone showed my your commentary, "Fuck The South." Here's something else that has gone through my mind over the years. Regarding senior citizens who vote Repblican, take away their Social Security and their Medicare! Republicans opposed starting those programs, and Bush wants to privitize them. So why should those fucking old Republicans be entitled to those programs? And while we're at it, those who are not seniors yet, also should not be able to get Social Security and Medicare.
Walter Ballin
Chico, CA

BE OUTRAGED
11-11-2004
Peter Coyote
Nov 09 2004 22:49:01
There is a bumper sticker I saw months ago that sums up the current state of affairs in our country regarding what is the biggest news story you'll never see on the General Media reported. It said "IF YOUR NOT OUTRAGED, YOUR NOT PAYING ATTENTION". On Friday I received a phone call from a good friend who works at CBS--I've known her for years and she is a Producer for some of the news programs, one well known one in particular. She tipped me off that the news media is in a "lock-down" and that there is to be no TV coverage of the real problems with voting on Nov. 2nd. She said similar "lock-down orders" had come down last year after the invasion of Iraq, but this is far worse--far scarier. She said the majority of their journalists at CBS and elsewhere in NYC are pretty horrified--every one is worried about their jobs and retribution Dan Rather style or worse. My source said they've also been forbidden to talk about it even on their own time but she was pissed and her journalistic and moral integrity as what she considers to be a gov't watchdog requires her to speak out, while be it covert and she therefore asked me to "spread" the word...She said that journalism and the truth is at stake. She said another friend of hers, a producer at MSNBC, said that an anchor by the name of Keith Olbermann had brought it up on his show on Friday eve and the axe came down. He's atleast fighting back and talking about it on his "Blog", but she said that people there are worried that he's going to be fired by higher ups. She said at this point the only way that the "real news" was going to be if the people started talking about it and made a big enough stink about it to our elected officials, the FEC, and "noise" to the international media, that our own media won't have any choice but to cover it. (Yes, this is really happening in the good ole' supposed "democratic" free press of the US of A). The only place you'll see this talked about right now is on the internet and on AirAmericaRadio.
Everyone--this is serious....I can't emphasize it any more than saying if there was ever a time to speak up and take action it is NOW. If you are feeling sick to your stomach (like me) about the possibility of 4 more years under Bush and the future of our country, and yet you feel helpless, here's your opportunity to take action. Imagine if you saw a loved one drowning--what do you do? Well, our country's democracy is drowning and she needs us. In an email I sent you last night, I used the F-word--FRAUD and mentioned to you that I felt strongly that there is a lot of mounting evidence that this election was not clean. I say that not only out of a result of my observations while out in the field as a poll watcher in the key battleground state of Ohio, I say it with the knowledge and information of reports that have been circulating around the country in various voting precincts involving irregularities and problems with the voting machines and numbers not matching up with the exit polls or actual numbers of registered voters in various precincts. I've been busy researching this issue and compiling for you below some details of these reports and where you can get more info:
To believe that Bush won the election, you must also believe:
1- That the exit polls were WRONG...(remember--they have been used for over a decade and considered reliable)
2- That Zogby's 5pm election day calls for Kerry winning OH, FL were WRONG. He was within a less than 1/2 % point margin of error in his 2000 final poll and previous polls for other elections.
3- That Harris Poll last minute polling for Kerry was WRONG. They were also within a 1/2% point margin of error in their 2000 final poll.
4- The Incumbent Rule #I (that undecideds primarily break at the end for the challenger)was WRONG.
5- The 50% Rule was WRONG (that an incumbent doesn't do better than his final polling)
6- The Approval Rating Rule was WRONG (that an incumbent with less than 50% approval will most likely lose the election)
7- That Journalist Greg Palast was WRONG when he said that even before the election, 1 million votes were stolen from Kerry. He was the ONLY reporter to break the fact that 90,000 Florida blacks were disnfranchised in 2000.
8- That it was just a COINCIDENCE that the exit polls were CORRECT where there WAS a PAPER TRAIL and INCORRECT (+5% for Bush) where there was NO PAPER TRAIL.
9- That the surge in new young voters had NO positive effect for Kerry, even though it was the largest number of youth voters 18-29 ever and a huge jump from 2000 and they were over 55% in favor of Kerry. >> 10- That Bush BEAT 99 to 1 mathematical odds in winning the election.
11- That Kerry did WORSE than Gore against an opponent who LOST the support of SCORES of Republican newspapers who were for Bush in 2000.
12- That Bush did better than an 18 national poll average which showed him tied with Kerry at 47. In other words, Bush got 80% of the undecided vote to end up with a 51-48 majority--when ALL professional pollsters agree that the undecided vote ALWAYS goes to the challenger.
13- That Voting machines made by Republicans with no paper trail and with no software publication, which have been proven by thousands of computer scientists to be vulnerable in scores of ways, were NOT tampered with in this election.
Some Examples: (There are many more, but I won't list them all here--this is to give you an idea)
- The City of Gahanna in Ohio discovered a discrepancy that gave 4,000 votes to George Bush. After media scrutiny, city officials have admitted to an electronic "glitch" that caused the problem.
- In Broward County, FL, errors in software code caused a referendum on gambling to be completely overturned. The error caused totals to count backwards after reaching a ceiling of 32,500 votes. The problem existed in the 2002 election as well however the issue was never resolved by the manufacturer of the electronic voting machine.
- In North Carolina, a Craven County district logged 11,283 more votes than voters and actually overturned the results of a regional race.
For more info, go to: http://www.blackboxvoting.org

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1106-30.htm

http://www.rense.com/general59/ememd.htm
Peter Coyote
thanks SWEEJAK

November, 19, 2004
Richard Roth
I am forwarding this. Thought you might be interested. http://www.boycottbush.net/
______________________________
When I woke up Wednesday morning and saw the news that Bush had "won" another election, I went into mourning. I wore black and ate lots of chocolate. I was in a haze. "How could Americans be this stupid?" I wondered. I felt powerless. The corporations and the Republicans would take over everything, it would be like 1984 or Stalinist Russia. "Get a grip", I told myself. As the depression dispersed, I started to get angry. I was angry at the Democrats for being such wimps, I was angry with the Republicans for being so greedy and mean. I decided to fight back with the only weapon I had, MY WALLET.
I realized every time I buy something I am casting a vote in favor of that product; the packaging, the price, the manufacturer, and the way that product is being manufactured. If I buy a can of organic beans, I just voted for organic farming. If I buy my kids sweatshop sneakers, I just voted to pay workers fifty cents an hour. Well, I decided to use the power I had.I sat down with the kids and asked them, "Could our family go cold turkey on the products advertised on FOX TV?" http://www.infoshop.org/boycottfoxnews.html "Could we stop eating foods made by the top Republican corporate donors?"
For top donors look here:
http://www.boycottbush.net/

Number one on the list, donating 6.5 million dollars, is Altria. Never heard of it? This is the new name for Phillip Morris Tobacco. They have diversified and are making almost all the snacks and junk food in my pantry. They own Nabisco, Starbucks, Post cereal, Stella D'oro cookies, Kraft cheese, Planter's nuts, Good Seasons, Grey Poupon, Louis Rich lunch meats, Oscar Meyer, BOCA Burgers and so many others. Altria had infiltrated my private food chain so quietly, I never even had a clue what was going on. "No Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Boca Burgers or Wheat Thins? No Problem." I was expecting a fight, but the kids were all for it. "George Bush is a very bad man." My fourth grader said. He makes his mother so proud. If our votes don't count, tell Diebold to count this!
Remember when Cesar Chavez started the boycott of table grapes and suddenly conditions improved for migrant workers? Remember when Nestle was giving away free baby formula in Africa and babies were dying so we boycotted Nestle and they stopped? Boycotts hit them in the wallet, right where it hurts. But a boycott is not as effective unless we write these corporations and tell them why. You can copy and paste this if you want to join in. http://www.boycottbush.net/

Altria Group, Inc.
120 Park Avenue, 25th fl.
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 917-663-2144
Fax: 917-663-5544

Dear Sirs:
In the past I have enjoyed your products, but for the next four years I will not be buying these products. I am worried about the future of Democracy in our country and you gave six and a half million dollars to the Republicans. I do not support the policies of the Republican party. I will start buying your products again when you get out of politics.
Sincerely,

A concerned Citizen

You can email using this link:
http://www.altria.com/contact_us/default.asp

Please send this on to your friends who are alarmed about the stench of election fraud, who do not support the war in Iraq, who disapprove of our cavalier foreign policies, who oppose the torture of political prisoners, who denounce our government's use of depleted uranium, who oppose the government's support of the World Trade Organization and the World Bank's policies. Send this to friends who think we should have signed the treaty banning land mines and the Kyoto accord. Send this to people who think we should abide by the Geneva Convention. Send this letter on to anyone who loves this old planet enough to still dream of world peace.
http://www.altria.com/contact_us/default.asp
More campaign finance info:
http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topcontribs.asp
Bush is finished!
Richard H. Roth

STRIKE!!!!
I'm taking as much money as i can out of the banks, buying Silver Liberty 'dollars' instead, cut off cable and TV, cut off commercial radio and no longer consider myself a member of the USA.
They can count every dollar, but not every vote?
SWEEJAK

Letter: Stop my taxes from going to Israel
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Dear Somerville City Aldermen:
I am participating in the Somerville Divestment Project, an organization supporting divestment of Somerville taxpayers' earnings from Israeli bonds and all companies that provide arms and equipment to carry out Israel's violations of international law and human rights.
I don't have a relative living in the Israeli-Palestinian war zone, and I do not subscribe to a religious or political affiliate of either party. Though I am not directly involved in the intricacies of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I do consider my involuntary role in it: I earn money; a percentage of that money is paid to the City of Somerville though taxes; a portion of those taxes are invested; and a select number of those investments support "companies that profit from Israel's human rights violations." Maybe some think the issue is not that simple. I do, and I feel the answer is simple as well: make every effort to stop my earnings from entering that channel.
In signing a petition, writing a letter, attending a meeting with an Alderman, or making a phone call, many of your constituents have voiced their requests to redirect their earnings into more socially responsible investments. I wrote this letter because I feel I have resources that others, especially the victims, do not have; you have other resources than we, and you are aligned with other people and organizations who have yet more resources.
In representing those who support this effort, please consider your own obligation - whether as a political representative, or merely as a person who supports human rights for all people regardless of religious, political, or other affiliation - to help further evaluate this opportunity, provide insight into the obstacles we face, inform us on how to move forward, and assist where you can with the resources you are privileged to have.
Katherine Tirone
Wallace Street

November, 27, 2004
America is more fragile than it looks
By Rajinder Puri
Years ago, I attended a private dinner at an Indian diplomat's house in London. Also present was the late Bunderovsky, a Soviet specialist on Asian affairs and a frequent visitor to India. A young British diplomat asked if the Soviet Union could eventually disappear like the British Empire. Bunderovsky exploded. "You are foolish, you know nothing," he roared. Two months later, the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union started.
The moral of the tale is that accidents not only happen to the other guy. It is a moral that America should heed. In his second term, President George Bush appears invincible. That is precisely why his administration should be very, very cautious.
America is more fragile than it looks. Not since its civil war has America been as bitterly polarised as it is today. A study of maps of the civil war and of the second Bush victory show amazing similarity. The pro-slavery states conform almost exactly to the pro-Bush states. Bush gained Ohio where a recount will take place.
What could happen if another 9/11 occurs? Michael Scheur was the CIA official dealing with counter-terrorism. He offered ten options for catching Osama bin Laden. He was ignored. He recently quit in disgust. He believes that Al Qaeda can create another 9/11 in America. "I don't believe in inevitability," he told an interviewer. "But I think it's pretty close to being inevitable. A nuclear weapon of some dimension, whether it's actually a nuclear weapon, or a dirty bomb, or some kind of radiological device. Yes, I think it's probably a near thing."
A major terrorist strike inside America cannot therefore be ruled out. If it happens, what would be the fallout? Two aspects deserve consideration: the reaction among Americans and the reaction among people worldwide.
The fact that an emotive issue has polarised American states as it did during the civil war 150 years ago calls for serious reflection. What would the intensity of the blame game be if a disaster occurs? Would all Americans unite as they did after 9/11? Or would bitter recriminations escalate to revolt and to collapse of the constitutional process? The mere idea was laughable a few years ago. Now one should think the unthinkable. Could America actually witness a coup or disintegration? The world's reaction if a second 9/11 occurs is, on the other hand, predictable. In 2001, almost the whole world mourned. Now large sections might actually gloat.
That is why all Americans should reflect. American stakes are inordinately high.

Dec. 3, 2004
Atar Rant from Sweejak
Via Atar at Hraunfjord forum
http://hraunfjord.com/whatreallyhappened/viewtopic.php?p=33691#33691
Subtlty, friends.
I suggest no direct attacks at all. I suggest instead that our most powerful weapon at this point is SURVIVAL.
There is no point to die fighting the Empire, when we are both under attack by...reality. I suggest that there are several imminent threats at hand, and that if we (actually, our heirs) survive them, then we have won a battle without drawing a sword. This will probably turn into a war of attrition.
I'll only name a couple of threats to be dealt with:
Petroleum production falling below current demands. This is a serious problem. It takes roughly 10 calories of fuel to produce one calorie of grain. It takes roughly 10 calories of grain to produce one calorie of meat (don't blame me; I'm a vegetarian and a rather frugal one at that). This has probably already occurred to most of you but if not stop for a few minutes and cogitate on where this is leading...
It's not just food. A lot of our infrastructure breaks down if it gets too expensive to haul materials and goods accross the planet.
Why do you think Monsanto wants to own the world's seed stock? Why do you think that all the world's major English-speaking countries all regulate the importation of seeds? New Zealand and South Africa have virtually shut down the seed markets accross their borders. The USA slaps a big license fee on importers, making imported seed too expensive. Plus they are starting to implement "the white list", as if tomatoes are going to turn into a noxious weed. They are intentionally destroying the international free trade in seeds, to create a monopoly on food production.
While we could re-tool our industrial infrastructure to be less fuel-dependant if we were organized enough, our industrial infrastructure has broken down past the point of no return. We die of starvation and the Chinese die with goods rotting on the piers. The global economy is far too delicate and unnecessarily complext to withstand any shock.
Now then, here's another one: the world's monetary system is breaking down. No pure fiat currency has ever lasted more than 200 years, and that was in the massive, slow-moving economy of China under Mongol rule. John Law's funny money blew out and took the economy of 18th century France with it in a relatively few years. The Weimar Reichsmark, Lira, and the Franc have all blown out within the past century. The value of a dollar is based in part on a stable price in dollars for petroleum, courtesy the House of Saud. It is not a coincidence that the dollar falls when petroleum prices rise (1970s, now). Much longer, and all the good will of the Saudis in the world will not save the dollar.
A weaker dollar is said to be good for exports. Too bad Americans don't have practically any (and the European export economy is breaking down). We are even net importers of food! (contrary to a lot of jingoistic propaganda about "feeding the world"). Actually, lack of capital will prevent us from being able to start up new industries--just like happened the last time the dollar plummeted, and the trade deficit actually ROSE.
We've got drastic social breakdown too. This is too big a topic to do justice to so I will only take a small example: school shootings used to not happen. Then there was that gal in San Diego who "didn't like Mondays" and told the police that "it was like shooting ducks" and "shooting at kids makes the day". Now unless the body count is particularly high, school shootings no longer make the news. They are trickling in regularly, and spreading to other countries.
What happens as both the economic and the social structure break down at the same time?
One of the problems with the status quo is that our governments are narrowly obsessed with foreign policy, to the detriment of all other problems (assuming they are even competent to do anything about them).
One more problem I'd better mention: our school systems are all collapsing. People outside the USA tend to shake their heads at our system, but the disease is spreading and will eventually hit their own shores. Australia for example is implementing the "Outcome Based Education" model developed by crypto-marxist Benjamin Bloom to make sure we have the right attitudes towards authority. New Zealand is probably next. Eventually the model will make its way to the EU or the UN and Europeans will use it too. The American model for teaching foreign language has already spread into Asia, where American textbooks are starting to show up in places like Singapore that brag about how great their system is.
One of the consequences is that attitude training has taken the place of actual learning. Ask a typical American high school student how to calculate the square root of a number. Now here is the scarey thing: ask a typical American high school student what a square root IS. A lot of them will not even know which buttons on the calculator to push. When I was in high-school you could take any one of 4 foreign languages, and sometimes a 5th; you could also take chemistry and calculus at any of the high schools. Now most local high schools only have "world language" (meaning Spanish), no chemistry, bogus physics because neither the kids nor the teachers (!!!) can do the math, and only some of the high schools have calculus. Their computer classes are a joke. This of course is more-or-less academic knowledge. They don't have any practical knowledge either. They don't know how to tie a useful knot or how to raise a crop or how an economy works. If it doesn't come from Wal*Mart or Best Buy, they don't need it.
(There is widespread ignorance of this crisis. The average soccer mom believes everything's OK, because the local politicians and educrats brag about what a great job they are doing, and she sees her own daughter with a ton of homework. Too bad she didn't take a closer look at the nature of that homework, with a critical eye).
Try finding art supplies retail in the USA. I live in a city that used to have a lot of business-to-business professionals, like commercial artists; most of their studios have shut down, and while you can still find art supplies it is impossible to find really complete supplies, just minimal basics and a lot of those cheap far eastern imports of poor quality. Try finding serious sheet music--say Rachmanninov's 4th piano concerto. It has to be special-ordered, and it shows up looking like a cheap Xerox (I have a file-cabinet filling up with poorly-printed sheet music). Try finding someone who can play it. The USA is a nation of helpless consumers; we buy music, we can't play it. It's not just fine arts, it's a lot of practical skills we are losing. There's a severe nursing shortage for example. Computer science departments at universities are getting trashed, and they might as well since the jobs are going to India.
What I have mentioned is only the tip of the iceberg. I perceive plenty more trouble coming down the pipeline, but some of it would take some explaining if you don't already see it coming for yourself.
What will happen to the Empire? It will collapse. I am not sure how--maybe the Imperials will sit in their ivory towers and watch the riots they are helpless to bring under control. Maybe they completely trash the homelands and we get invaded. Civilizations usually crumble from internal collapse long before the invasion. Maybe it turns into Mad Max under martial law. Maybe the Imperials fly to their favorite safe havens and leave us to fend for ourselves in a collapsed civilization.
Your best weapon is survival.

Dec. 7, 2004
CyberChrist
I was born in Argentina, during the time of the military dictatorships there. We had to flee Argentina when I was about 6 years old because my father had been arrested and charged with crimes against the state for writing a letter to the editor of the newspaper decrying the lack of religious freedom in Argentina. He had friends in the jail and they let him out and told him to get himself and his family out of the country as soon as possible. We literally left overnight and went to Brazil.
That's my first memory of governments and thus I know when things start moving in that direction. It's something that was ingrained in me early on in life.
I look around at America today and I see a lot of the same things going on, although moving in a much slower rate. It seems like the stage is being set for America to become the same kind of state that Argentina was, except that this time the people will welcome the tyrants with flowers in the air and with flags waving and so on. Protestors are shunned into "Free Speech Zones" and the attitude in Washington D.C. that is prevalent is that criticism of the government is something that is done by terrorists. Just look at this quote from the incoming Director of Homeland Security, Bernard Kerik:
"Political criticism is our enemies' best friend." New York Newsday, 10/20/2003.
These are things that concern me more and more every day. Big companies running the show, the general populace being drugged up and acting like sheep. No one seems to be able to look up and see the tags on all of their ears. The endless corruption, the ignorance of the end of the age of oil and how it will affect us all, the coverups going on, and many other topics that we have discussed here.
I really can't see myself running a computer security site that only focuses on computer security anymore. HackerJournal.com is a great site for me 10 years ago, but it's not something that I can put daily effort into anymore. Mostly because I think that there are bigger fish to fry.
Being in the hacker/underground world, it's actually easier to see the problems that we are facing today. Hackers and people who ask too many questions in general are targets for many of the policies that are being enacted right now. They make our skills criminal, even if it's just to have the ability to make a backup copy of a DVD that you legally own. They don't allow for questions to be asked that are not prepared. You can't reverse-engineer technology that you own. But even with a vocal and activist group such as the 2600 group and the such, acts like the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and the Patriot Act were passed and rights were trampled without a second thought. Most people didn't notice because they were too busy grazing at the megamalls and can't understand the things that we ask for. "Why would anyone want to make a backup copy of a DVD?" It never enters their mind that it's your right to do so.
Things are getting worse and worse, but only in tiny drops. But those drops are adding up and I see the levee breaking very soon. The next terrorist attack on America will likely be a doozy and I don't have any illusions about any Bill of Rights remaining. But I do believe that we will come through it and many will ask "why didn't we do anything to prevent this?"
You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis-- Tyler Durden, Fight Club
I'm not going to stand on the sidelines and use my resources to document the horrific escalation that we are staring at right now. I am going to dedicate myself and the resources that I have to document what is going on and stand up and fight. Now that I know the truth, now that I know what has happened, I cannot sit idly by and use my spare time to update a computer security website, as much as I love security and the community. To be frank, the lines between that world and the world of post-911 has blurred and it's bizarre that even discussions about cryptography are seen as terrorist activities now.
We're sliding towards Armaggedon right now. I don't think it can be avoided. But I do think that when the smoke clears, it should be evident to the rest of history that there were voices warning about these events and that there were people within the belly of the beast that actively fought.
So I am not going to live on my knees. I am going to die on feet if I have to, but it will be my own feet. I will document the struggle against this, and I will actively pursue an agenda to dismantle the system. I know that I can't expect to take down the Master's House with the Master's Tools, so I have other means that they simply are not going to be able to handle.
Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his [Lot's] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. -- Genesis 19: 24-26 (KJV)
One way or another, this whole thing is going to fall and it's probably going to happen rather quickly. The people inside are corrupt. The people on the outside are asleep. I don't pretend to have all of the answers, but I do know that I am not going to be afraid to ask all of the questions that are needed to be asked. I may not be Michael the Archangel, but I will sure as hell be his sword.
The thing is though, a lot of this is done for my own sanity. I don't have any illusions of saving the world. But I can't live with myself and know what is going on and not say a damn thing. This is really for me to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know that I have tried to say the things that need to be said. But I am going to take things a step further and I am going to advocate the fall of the consumer machine that is America and ask for it to be rebuilt on a more sound structure. That involves exposing companies such as big pharmaceutical companies, companies like Wal-Mart, mass media companies, and so on. They are the ones that are driving this machine and they are a lynchpin in all of this. Rattle them and the whole thing begins to shake.
The revolution will not be televised. But it will be blogged.
--CyberChrist

Dec. 31, 2004
GOODBYE
2004 – Year of the Slave
You are a slave.
I know that’s not what you want to hear as you hoist your New Year’s champagne, but it is the unpleasant truth that we all face going into 2004.
Movies and public school like to portray slaves as bound by chains and beaten with whips, creating a polarized image of slavery that can be pointed to with the comment, “You are not like that, therefore you are not a slave.” But history shows that slaves have been treated in all manner of ways, some more cruel than others, yet even with the most kind treatment, a slave remains a slave.
Setting aside the stereotyped image of a slave as a bleeding chain-bound wretch, slaves throughout history are often hard to recognize. In some cases, such as the Medieval Serfs, they were held slaves to the rulers by religious belief, and did not see themselves as slaves even though they were treated as such.The favored slaves of Asian potentates wore jewels to make a movie star gasp, yet were still slaves for all their finery and comfort.
So, what is a slave? How do we define a slave? What test do we use to tell if someone is a slave. What makes them different from free people?
Free people can say “no”. Free people can refuse demands for their money, time, and children. Slaves cannot. There is no freedom without the freedom to say “no”. If someone demands that you do something and you can say “no” and refuse to do it, then you are a free human being. If you can be forced to do something or surrender something that you do not wish to, then you are a slave. No other test need be applied.
When you are forced to surrender half your life’s work to the government in ever-increasing taxes, then you are a slave.Throughout history, slaves were expected to perform the work needed for their own upkeep, then perform additional work for the rulers. For Roman slaves, the ratio of work-for-self versus work-for-rulers was about 50-50. The same ratio applied to Medieval Serfs, and even to the slaves of the American south. And, when you add up all the overt taxes, covert fees, tariffs, excises, plus the increased price you pay for products to pay the taxes of the companies that make those products, you will find that Americans are at that same “half-for-self” versus “half-for-rulers” ratio! Can you say “no” to the confiscation of half of your life? Can you even get the masters to maybe reduce the burden by a significant amount? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
The masters have decided they want wars on anyone living over oil. The idea is that it is better for American corporations to steal the oil they need than to pay for it. Millions of Americans (and millions more around the globe) did not want the war, but the masters started them anyway, by lying to the people. Could you refuse the war? Can you refuse being lied to? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
The rulers want your children for their future wars. Legislation for a draft is already in Congress. Can you refuse the confiscation of your children? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
The government has been caught lying over and over again to the people, from who really did 9-11, to the legality of the tax system, to Cheney’s Energy Task Force papers, to Saddam’s WMDs. Americans are the most lied-to people on Earth. Can you refuse to be lied to? Can you punish the liars? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
Vote fraud is rampant in the nation, and the mandated imposition of audit-less electronic voting systems means that elections will be decided (as Stalin admitted) not by those who vote but by those who count the vote. Can you refuse a dishonest voting process? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
Just because you cannot see the slave-chains doesn’t mean they are not there. Chains made of steel are obvious, but chains made of beliefs are not always recognized for what they are. Hitler enslaved the German people to war with a belief that Poland was about to invade. LBJ enslaved the American people to war with the belief that Vietnam had attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. Poland wasn’t invading. There were no torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin, but the slaves, held by invisible chains of beliefs, went to war. Millions died.
In 2003, however, the chains started to become visible. The Constitutional right to freedom of expression was confined to “free-speech” zones. A slave may have an opinion, so long as it is not expressed where it might upset the other slaves. The Constitutional right to an armed populace, the means by which the men who set up a nation of free citizens hoped to keep them free, is under constant attack from those who fear a nation of free citizens, and who will not sleep soundly until we are a nation entirely of slaves. Armed citizens can, after all, say “no” and make it stick. That was why there was a Second Amendment, to allow the people to say “no” to those who would return them to the slavery they had so recently escaped from. Other Constitutional rights and protections have been set aside. The government can now search through your private records without cause and without warrant, even break into your home and not have to tell you. Simply by declaring a citizen an enemy combatant, the government can now lock up US citizens without a charge and without a lawyer. You can be prevented from traveling simply for having the wrong name. If you purchase too much gold or take home too much cash, or hoard food, the government will take notice. Having a Farmer's Almanac is grounds for suspicion. Talking about the Constitution is now deemed grounds to suspect a terrorist link. Torture is now espoused as “necessary” to “deal with the crisis”. Were you able to refuse those changes to the Constitution? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
The government (at all levels) has borrowed trillions of dollars and stuck your kids with the payments. Children not even born will be paying off the bills. To declare the lives of children not yet born, let alone old enough to vote, indentured to the state is slavery most obvious and odious. Can you refuse responsibility for payments on debts the government incurred without your permission? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
The government has borrowed so much money that it has long ago run out of gold to pledge as collateral on the debts. Starting in Nixon’s administration, natural resources were used as collateral for the mounting debts. Borrow more money, promise a chunk of public lands as collateral. These land pledges were concealed behind “Environmentalism” to disguise the real purpose. Numerous names such as “Wilderness Reserve”, “Wetland”, “Heritage River”, and so forth were used to conceal the true scale of the confiscations. But the end result was the same. Huge tracts of public land containing natural resources were walled away from the public that owned them, mortgaged to the holders of the US Government debt. We are well on our way from being citizens, to being mere tenants. Were you able to refuse having your public lands placed at risk by the US Government to cover loans you never authorized the government to make? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
Trust funds under government control are being looted, from the Social Security trust fund to Native American trust accounts to Federal Retirement Funds. Congress pays lip service to the looting of Social Security, but considers only more taxes to cover the looted shortfall. Meanwhile, court cases over other looted trust accounts drag on without resolution. Are you able to refuse corrupt and dishonest government? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
You are a slave because the ruling class can do what they want, take what they want, and you cannot refuse. You may have freedom to decide what TV channel to watch tonight, or just which style car you will drive to your work in, but little power over the rest of your life. Even that home you have worked to pay for over the last decade can be taken from you at a moment’s notice via “eminent domain”. Can you refuse? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
In October 2001 I wrote that more damage would be done to our nation by those claiming to save us from the terrorists than by any actual terrorist act. Even as Bush claimed that the terrorists hated the US because of our freedoms, he took what few remaining freedoms we had away until we are more watched, more spied on, more limited, more silenced, more taxed, and more enslaved that at any other time in our nation’s history. Not only are we slaves, we are at last starting to see that we have been slaves all along. We did not have rights, because a right cannot be taken away. What we had were indulgences, granted by the masters to the slaves, to be removed when the masters grow fearful of the slaves’ resentment and anger.
I know this is a very depressing article to read on the New Year, but I have watched through 2003 as people I care about lost their homes and businesses, as the labors of a lifetime evaporated in stock market manipulations by corporate crooks.These Americans who had worked hard to achieve the American dream lost it all through no fault of their own. Our schools are broke, hospitals under-staffed, the roads and bridges and rails of the nation are crumbling while billions of dollars are given away to foreign nations, favored cronies, and the ravenous war machine. The priorities of the government that feeds on taxes seems focused everywhere but on those who pay those taxes. And we can’t seem to refuse that either.
I think the state of the nation can be summed up by a simple contrast. Tommy Chong is in jail for selling a pipe, while Ken Lay walks around a free man with the billions he stole from his employees and investors. Any way you slice it, that’s a pretty screwed up situation.
I promised a reader that I would make some predictions for 2004 in this article. I wish I hadn’t because I am hoping I am wrong on most of them.
1. There will be another fake terror attack. The Neocon war agenda cannot move forward without it. Those who hoped Iraq would be the end of the wars are in for a rude shock. The hawks want the entire planet, either directly ruled by the US, or ruled by obedient puppet regimes. Another “attack” is needed.
2. The US will eventually lose their war of conquest of the world. The US does not have enough troops to garrison the planet, and as Hitler learned much too late, merely having superior weapons isn’t going to win a war when you’ve pissed off absolutely everyone else in the world. On a more practical level, sooner or later the US will wind up at war with someone who really DOES have nuclear weapons of mass destruction. That this is the government plan is witnessed by the numerous underground facilities which have been built or upgraded in recent years. You paid for them, but you won’t be allowed in them. Such an attack on the US is small price to pay for those who promote these wars, not for America, but for another nation standing by while its victims are tricked into fighting each other.
3. Minus a war, the US Government will eventually collapse as did the Soviet Union, dragged down by debt and corruption. As the final collapse looms closer, look for the looting of the nation to become even bolder than it is now. The last official act of any government is to loot the nation.
4. I am opposed to violence. I wish it could be avoided but I do believe that this nation is headed towards a collision between the rulers and the ruled. The government fears this as well or we wouldn’t see so much bullet-proof Lexan between us and our “public servants”. I think that the reason we have not seen it yet is that Americans have been conditioned to expect a hero or savior to come and make things right. We know things have gone wrong, but we are waiting for someone else to fix it, Superman, the cavalry riding to the rescue, Spartacus, the Messiah, Batman, What Really Happened, etc. This belief that one should wait quietly for a hero is part of the slavery mechanism, to keep you in your place, rendering unto Caesar, breeding more slaves, waiting for salvation that never comes. However, as history has shown, even the patience of an entire people can run out, and I predict that when the final upheaval comes, it will arrive as suddenly as that which occurred in Romania. In November 1989, Romania seemed stable under the rule of Nicholai Ceausescu. One month later, a sporting event erupted into a spontaneous political protest and on December 25th, Nicholai Ceausescu was tried and sentenced to death. Ceausescu proved that tyrants should not confuse silence with consent. The Romanian people finally realized that nobody was coming to save them, and they had the courage to save themselves. The collapse of the USSR was equally rapid and almost as unexpected. So shall it be in the US.
Like I said above, I hope I am wrong in my forecasts. However it is clear that the US Government is under the control of individuals intent on personal enrichment, or loyalty to a foreign nation above our own, and seeing no reason at all not to continue on their present course. Confrontation seems inevitable.
The founding fathers set up a nation in which government was by the consent of the people. We The People agreed to certain obligations, and the government we allowed to care for our national sovereignty agreed to abide by certain limits set forth in the Constitution. The present government has broken the agreement, discarding the Constitutional limits on their power and authority while at the same time piling more and more obligations onto the people. Were you able to refuse them? No? This more than any of the other reasons is why you have ceased to be a free human being, and are now a slave.
You are a slave. When you live under a government that takes your wealth and your children and lies to you to keep you docile and scares you to keep you obedient, how can it be otherwise?
You are a slave. You can stay that way, or not. It’s that simple. Nobody is coming to save you. There are no heroes, no cavalry riding to the rescue. Whether you and your children will live as slaves or as free human beings is entirely up to you.
thanks
W.R.H.