It is difficult to imagine what Fox is up to: If they think their new series on FX “Over There” is a recruiting tool, I believe they are mistaken. If they think it will fill impressionable young minds with that gung ho spirit of patriotic fervor, they will surely be disappointed. Only the psychopathic would find this depiction of war attractive.
There is a lot wrong with Steven Bochco’s Iraq war series. Virtually everyone in the platoon is young and attractive, belying the fact that so many of the soldiers in this war are drawn from the Guard and Reserves. Check the latest casualty list: It is no longer an army of high school graduates, the young and naïve. There is probably more bravado and thoughtful reflection than reality allows but there is also something beneath the surface of this Hollywood production that strikes deep and rings true.
What comes across in “Over There” is a potent message concerning the duality of war, the same message that Stanley Kubrick delivered in the Vietnam classic “Full Metal Jacket.” It is the acknowledgment that no matter where the individual begins in philosophy, values and character, the experience of war will force every soldier to confront internal demons. In war, only a soldier’s duty is clear and even that may be called into question. It is the realization that the soldier on the far side of the field is not fundamentally different than the soldier on the near side. It is the understanding that words like democracy, insurgency, terrorist, freedom, occupation, liberation, good and evil have very little meaning in the line of fire. It is the reality that war is hell and no one escapes unscathed.
It will be interesting to see where the series goes from its beginning, whether it will temper the antiwar portion of the equation that compels the viewer to confront a moral dilemma. If it remains true and gains a growing audience, Fox will confront its own dilemma: Whether to kill a rare program with critical and popular appeal or allow it to raise the very questions its news division has fought so long and hard to deny.
If it lives up to its pilot, “Over There” has the power to reach many American hearts and minds. When both are engaged in sufficient numbers, the end of the occupation will be at hand.
Jazz.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
SHORTSTACKED: SPOTLIGHT ON ROVE & CHENEY
By Jack Random
An article on Common Dreams (“Rove Scandal Could Stick” by Mark Weisbrot) was the first I have seen to seriously ask the obvious question: What did the president know and when did he know it?
My own reading of this sordid affair (the exposure of a CIA agent and its subsequent cover-up) is that it will not reach the desk of the president but that is hardly a reason to relent.
If anyone in the White House were to have informed the president, the question would be: Why would he do that?
The elders among us may recall how forces conspired to knock out vice president Spiro Agnew (the president’s hatchet man) before Nixon took the fall. In a parallel twist of irony, if someone in Cheney’s office gave information to the president that exposed him to liability, it would be a vice presidential insurance policy. It would be Cheney saying to Bush: If you take us down, we’ll take you with us.
There is an enormous difference between Dick Nixon and George W. Bush. There are similarities as well: In psychoanalytical terms, both seem blessed or cursed (depending on your point of view) with the combination of gigantic egos and dwarfed super egos. The critical difference, however, is that Nixon did not need a Karl Rove because he was a Karl Rove. For all his moral shortcomings (or perhaps because of them), Nixon was a master politico and one can be sure that many Republican candidates consulted him even in exile.
Watergate would not have had a profound impact on American politics if it had not gone to the very top. Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichmann [1] may have been capable of any number of immoral deeds but they were not essential to the Nixon White House. The Chief Executive wore all the hats and had his finger in every pie. By contrast, our current president’s greatest virtue (again, a two-edged sword) is that he knows his limitations. He depends on others to formulate policy and guide the ship of state.
Colin Powell, George Tenet, John Ashcroft and (most curiously) Paul Wolfowitz have already jumped ship. With her promotion to Secretary of State, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney have effectively removed Condoleezza Rice as the president’s daily adviser. They can send her off on global publicity tours, leaving themselves to run the office.
As enamored as the president is with Condoleezza and Rummy (Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld), he is as dependent on Cheney and Rove as Rush Limbaugh is on pharmaceutical remedies. The president’s enormous ego gives them carte blanche to secure his legacy and record his pages in history. Without Cheney and Rove, he is what he is: A notoriously incompetent and ill-informed executive who has failed at every venture he has attempted short of politics.
Having won a second term in the last election, we might be tempted to think that Rove no longer has a function. We would be wrong. Aside from orchestrating White House spin, Rove has two critical items on his agenda: Building Republican dominance in the midterm elections and positioning the Republican Party to continue the Bush legacy. Dick Cheney’s agenda is to forward the current policies of free trade and expand the war on terror with all that entails.
To the extent that Rove and Cheney succeed, the horrors of the Bush administration will be visited on future generations not only in America but in the world at large.
The stakes are high and both men are short stacked with a diminishing supply of cards to be played. Rove and Scooter Libby (Cheney’s Chief of Staff) have fully exploited their access to privileged information and their connections in the media. While they may have pulled it off in Florida and Ohio, it is extremely difficult for politicos to operate in the spotlight. As long as the Plame-Wilson-Miller case hangs over them, they are compelled to spend most of their time and efforts covering their trails.
With Times reporter Judy Miller in jail, a parade of her colleagues under subpoena, and every other operative in Washington cowering in their executive suites, anyone who receives a call from Rove, Cheney or their minions is conveniently on vacation.
It does not matter if the president himself takes the fall. As long as the dirty underside of his manufactured case for war is fully exposed, a legacy will be secured. The younger Bush pages will combine with the Nixon pages in a chapter on infamy.
If Rove and Cheney take the fall, the legacy is mortally wounded and even the spineless Democrats may be emboldened to distance themselves from the policies of the Bush White House. Who knows but that they may even be so emboldened as to demand an end to the occupation?
If not, the door to an effective third party or independent political movement will swing wide open.
Jazz.
[Note: Attorney General John Mitchell resigned in disgrace. Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and Domestic Policy Advisor John Ehrlichmann were fired as intended fall guys.]
An article on Common Dreams (“Rove Scandal Could Stick” by Mark Weisbrot) was the first I have seen to seriously ask the obvious question: What did the president know and when did he know it?
My own reading of this sordid affair (the exposure of a CIA agent and its subsequent cover-up) is that it will not reach the desk of the president but that is hardly a reason to relent.
If anyone in the White House were to have informed the president, the question would be: Why would he do that?
The elders among us may recall how forces conspired to knock out vice president Spiro Agnew (the president’s hatchet man) before Nixon took the fall. In a parallel twist of irony, if someone in Cheney’s office gave information to the president that exposed him to liability, it would be a vice presidential insurance policy. It would be Cheney saying to Bush: If you take us down, we’ll take you with us.
There is an enormous difference between Dick Nixon and George W. Bush. There are similarities as well: In psychoanalytical terms, both seem blessed or cursed (depending on your point of view) with the combination of gigantic egos and dwarfed super egos. The critical difference, however, is that Nixon did not need a Karl Rove because he was a Karl Rove. For all his moral shortcomings (or perhaps because of them), Nixon was a master politico and one can be sure that many Republican candidates consulted him even in exile.
Watergate would not have had a profound impact on American politics if it had not gone to the very top. Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlichmann [1] may have been capable of any number of immoral deeds but they were not essential to the Nixon White House. The Chief Executive wore all the hats and had his finger in every pie. By contrast, our current president’s greatest virtue (again, a two-edged sword) is that he knows his limitations. He depends on others to formulate policy and guide the ship of state.
Colin Powell, George Tenet, John Ashcroft and (most curiously) Paul Wolfowitz have already jumped ship. With her promotion to Secretary of State, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney have effectively removed Condoleezza Rice as the president’s daily adviser. They can send her off on global publicity tours, leaving themselves to run the office.
As enamored as the president is with Condoleezza and Rummy (Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld), he is as dependent on Cheney and Rove as Rush Limbaugh is on pharmaceutical remedies. The president’s enormous ego gives them carte blanche to secure his legacy and record his pages in history. Without Cheney and Rove, he is what he is: A notoriously incompetent and ill-informed executive who has failed at every venture he has attempted short of politics.
Having won a second term in the last election, we might be tempted to think that Rove no longer has a function. We would be wrong. Aside from orchestrating White House spin, Rove has two critical items on his agenda: Building Republican dominance in the midterm elections and positioning the Republican Party to continue the Bush legacy. Dick Cheney’s agenda is to forward the current policies of free trade and expand the war on terror with all that entails.
To the extent that Rove and Cheney succeed, the horrors of the Bush administration will be visited on future generations not only in America but in the world at large.
The stakes are high and both men are short stacked with a diminishing supply of cards to be played. Rove and Scooter Libby (Cheney’s Chief of Staff) have fully exploited their access to privileged information and their connections in the media. While they may have pulled it off in Florida and Ohio, it is extremely difficult for politicos to operate in the spotlight. As long as the Plame-Wilson-Miller case hangs over them, they are compelled to spend most of their time and efforts covering their trails.
With Times reporter Judy Miller in jail, a parade of her colleagues under subpoena, and every other operative in Washington cowering in their executive suites, anyone who receives a call from Rove, Cheney or their minions is conveniently on vacation.
It does not matter if the president himself takes the fall. As long as the dirty underside of his manufactured case for war is fully exposed, a legacy will be secured. The younger Bush pages will combine with the Nixon pages in a chapter on infamy.
If Rove and Cheney take the fall, the legacy is mortally wounded and even the spineless Democrats may be emboldened to distance themselves from the policies of the Bush White House. Who knows but that they may even be so emboldened as to demand an end to the occupation?
If not, the door to an effective third party or independent political movement will swing wide open.
Jazz.
[Note: Attorney General John Mitchell resigned in disgrace. Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and Domestic Policy Advisor John Ehrlichmann were fired as intended fall guys.]
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
CounterPunch Response: Miller Time
[Note: This is a response to "Miller Time/Pull the Threads" as posted by CounterPunch 7/15/05]
Read your Miller Time ...
I have a feeling that the right is making us go in circles. Too much time is being spent in opposing their lies, which is making us look partisan.
We should shift the focus on to Judith Miller, as in my opinion that is where the real truth lies. Rove seems to be a distraction and is rightly taking the flak at present because nothing really may be proven against him.
If we shift the focus to "Special Plan Office" in the White House operating under the VeePee and the disinformation they generated with "General Judith Miller" etc., in the lead-up to the Iraq fiasco, we will be getting closer to where all this should be leading.
It looks like Libby and Miller had a conversation, which is the root of this. My feeling is that subsequently Miller told Novak about Valerie [Plame] but in the context of being Wilson's wife in the CIA, who so called "engineered" the trip, rather than being a covert agent. Again my gut says both Novak and Rove were ignorant of the covert status, otherwise Novak would not have gone public. Rove is highly disciplined in what he does, thus exposing a covert agent does not really fit into being his modus operandi.
The problem is that Miller has taken on a so-called martyr role and the liberal media has rolled over in her favor. They have to get out of this and realize how she is taking us all for a ride to hide her own "false journalism" and "march beats to war".
I think Miller is the key and the prosecuter "is telling us so" based on whatever he has said or done till now. Cooper/Rove is not in the same category as Miller/VeePee/Rumsfeld in lead up to war. That is the story Americans need to know, and then we can talk treason of the highest order!!!!
-- Allwar Isbad
Read your Miller Time ...
I have a feeling that the right is making us go in circles. Too much time is being spent in opposing their lies, which is making us look partisan.
We should shift the focus on to Judith Miller, as in my opinion that is where the real truth lies. Rove seems to be a distraction and is rightly taking the flak at present because nothing really may be proven against him.
If we shift the focus to "Special Plan Office" in the White House operating under the VeePee and the disinformation they generated with "General Judith Miller" etc., in the lead-up to the Iraq fiasco, we will be getting closer to where all this should be leading.
It looks like Libby and Miller had a conversation, which is the root of this. My feeling is that subsequently Miller told Novak about Valerie [Plame] but in the context of being Wilson's wife in the CIA, who so called "engineered" the trip, rather than being a covert agent. Again my gut says both Novak and Rove were ignorant of the covert status, otherwise Novak would not have gone public. Rove is highly disciplined in what he does, thus exposing a covert agent does not really fit into being his modus operandi.
The problem is that Miller has taken on a so-called martyr role and the liberal media has rolled over in her favor. They have to get out of this and realize how she is taking us all for a ride to hide her own "false journalism" and "march beats to war".
I think Miller is the key and the prosecuter "is telling us so" based on whatever he has said or done till now. Cooper/Rove is not in the same category as Miller/VeePee/Rumsfeld in lead up to war. That is the story Americans need to know, and then we can talk treason of the highest order!!!!
-- Allwar Isbad
Monday, July 18, 2005
Mark of The Beast
Unlike the White House propaganda machine, numbers do not lie; rather, they speak for themselves:
1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9
a......b.....c.....d.....e.....F.....g.....h.....i
j.......k.....l.....m.....n....O.....p.....q.....r
s.......t.....u.....v.....w....X.....y......z
What are the odds?
1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9
a......b.....c.....d.....e.....F.....g.....h.....i
j.......k.....l.....m.....n....O.....p.....q.....r
s.......t.....u.....v.....w....X.....y......z
What are the odds?
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Why I Love The British
Sunday will mark the final round of the 134th Open Golf Tournament at the Old Course of Saint Andrews. The Open dates back to 1860 (play was suspended for the world wars) on a course that is centuries old.
I love The Open. Here’s why:
The Royal & Ancient course was landscaped by the earth.
A trap is a trap – a hazard that punishes a wayward shot, not a safe haven from which to par or birdie. Traps at the Old Course sport names like the grave, cat’s trap, the coffins, Nick’s bunker, the Hell bunker and the Beardies.
Greens are greens, not pool tables on a putt-putt layout.
The elements are in play: the wind and the rain, the weather and terrain.
The Royal & Ancient refuses to pretend that a championship course is anything but par 72. The combined greens at Saint Andrews add up to 18, keeping faith with the mystical bond of golf to the number nine.
At its best, an Open course requires an array of shots not required of an American style course. With few exceptions, you cannot win an Open without mastery of the knockdown, the bump-and-run, the stinger, the low runner, the bank shot, the draw and the fade.
Despite American dominance in recent years (8 of 10 champions), the Open is the truly international major. While Americans may be infatuated with the Masters and the US Open, the rest of the world recognizes the Claret Jug as the most prized treasure in golf.
The islanders love their champions and know the game, from the least recognized golfing masters (Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris) to the contemporary greats. All who would rise to the status of immortals (Hogan, Jones, Nicklaus, Woods) must pass the test of the Open.
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. A ball lost in the gorse, out-of-bounds at the Road Hole, or five shots out of a pot bunker is always possible. According to script, the leaders come back to the field as the afternoon winds kick up and the sun bakes the already hard ground.
As they say, play on and may the best golfer win.
Postscript: All hail the Tiger! Long may he reign!
[Tiger Woods Major championships: 2 Opens, 4 Masters, 2 US, 2 PGA + 3 US Amateurs. If the Amateur is included, Tiger now ranks second, tied with Bobby Jones, seven behind Jack Nicklaus, two ahead of Walter Hagen, and four clear of Gary Player and the immortal Ben Hogan.]
I love The Open. Here’s why:
The Royal & Ancient course was landscaped by the earth.
A trap is a trap – a hazard that punishes a wayward shot, not a safe haven from which to par or birdie. Traps at the Old Course sport names like the grave, cat’s trap, the coffins, Nick’s bunker, the Hell bunker and the Beardies.
Greens are greens, not pool tables on a putt-putt layout.
The elements are in play: the wind and the rain, the weather and terrain.
The Royal & Ancient refuses to pretend that a championship course is anything but par 72. The combined greens at Saint Andrews add up to 18, keeping faith with the mystical bond of golf to the number nine.
At its best, an Open course requires an array of shots not required of an American style course. With few exceptions, you cannot win an Open without mastery of the knockdown, the bump-and-run, the stinger, the low runner, the bank shot, the draw and the fade.
Despite American dominance in recent years (8 of 10 champions), the Open is the truly international major. While Americans may be infatuated with the Masters and the US Open, the rest of the world recognizes the Claret Jug as the most prized treasure in golf.
The islanders love their champions and know the game, from the least recognized golfing masters (Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris) to the contemporary greats. All who would rise to the status of immortals (Hogan, Jones, Nicklaus, Woods) must pass the test of the Open.
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. A ball lost in the gorse, out-of-bounds at the Road Hole, or five shots out of a pot bunker is always possible. According to script, the leaders come back to the field as the afternoon winds kick up and the sun bakes the already hard ground.
As they say, play on and may the best golfer win.
Postscript: All hail the Tiger! Long may he reign!
[Tiger Woods Major championships: 2 Opens, 4 Masters, 2 US, 2 PGA + 3 US Amateurs. If the Amateur is included, Tiger now ranks second, tied with Bobby Jones, seven behind Jack Nicklaus, two ahead of Walter Hagen, and four clear of Gary Player and the immortal Ben Hogan.]
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Response from The UK
[Note: This was a response to "London & Madrid: Days of Sorrow & Refection" as published on Buzzle.com.]
Thank you
I was born and raised in London; all of my family still live there, and I just a few miles away. Of course it is difficult not to get caught up in the outrage, the sorrow, and the accompanying rhetoric and tub-thumping. Of course we must not bow to terrorism, and of course we never will.
But we must not forget that these events are the fruit of a poisoned tree which we have allowed to be planted.
Sadly we in the UK, as in the US, have elected a leader for whom the concept of Crusade is as fresh and as meaningful as that of Jihad is for those who have perpetrated these acts.
It is a mentality which is self perpetuating; it justifies any act, any intervention, any interference we may wish to perpetrate in the name of righteousness and in pursuit of our own interests. It denies utterly our long history of colonial abuse, political betrayal and bloody-minded double -dealing. It then demonizes those on whom we inflict our will, and denies any justice there might be in their viewpoint or their actions or re-actions.
My viewpoint is not one of Marxist self-abuse, it is simply that I lack the nationalist penchant for ignoring any truth [that] does not sit well with our benevolent self-image.
You have spoken a truth which is unfashionable, even unpalatable, but which must find a way through the propaganda if we are ever to bring these horrors to an end for all concerned.
This was the first of your articles I have read, but I will be seeking out others, and sending this one to my friends, whether they want it or not.
best regards
Neal Dowsett
Thank you
I was born and raised in London; all of my family still live there, and I just a few miles away. Of course it is difficult not to get caught up in the outrage, the sorrow, and the accompanying rhetoric and tub-thumping. Of course we must not bow to terrorism, and of course we never will.
But we must not forget that these events are the fruit of a poisoned tree which we have allowed to be planted.
Sadly we in the UK, as in the US, have elected a leader for whom the concept of Crusade is as fresh and as meaningful as that of Jihad is for those who have perpetrated these acts.
It is a mentality which is self perpetuating; it justifies any act, any intervention, any interference we may wish to perpetrate in the name of righteousness and in pursuit of our own interests. It denies utterly our long history of colonial abuse, political betrayal and bloody-minded double -dealing. It then demonizes those on whom we inflict our will, and denies any justice there might be in their viewpoint or their actions or re-actions.
My viewpoint is not one of Marxist self-abuse, it is simply that I lack the nationalist penchant for ignoring any truth [that] does not sit well with our benevolent self-image.
You have spoken a truth which is unfashionable, even unpalatable, but which must find a way through the propaganda if we are ever to bring these horrors to an end for all concerned.
This was the first of your articles I have read, but I will be seeking out others, and sending this one to my friends, whether they want it or not.
best regards
Neal Dowsett
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
FDR THEY AIN'T
Excerpt from "George & Tony Get Their Al Qaeda Fix" by Greg Palast.
The cruel, evil jerks who blew up the London subway last week, despite appropriating al-Qaeda's name for their website and T-shirts, have about as much to do with al-Qaeda as a Beatles tribute band has to do with the Fab Four.
I'm not belittling the heartbreaking hideousness of this crime, but let's get the facts straight. If al-Qaeda is the Panzer Division of terrorism, these London bombers were terrorism's Cub Scouts. We're talking a few pounds of nitro wired to a clock -- a design badly copied off the Internet.
Al-Qaeda this ain't.
Blair knows it. And Bush knows it... because Blair and Bush are al-Qaeda junkies. They've sold us on everything from fingerprinting five-year olds to invading Baghdad to tolerating plummeting paychecks all on the slick line that we are under attack by a well-trained, well-armed, well-funded hidden army called al-Qaeda.
For Bush and Blair, organized terror's diminishing powers was a political problem -- until last week, when the al-Queda addicts of the White House and Downing Street got a new terror fix. Even if it wasn't the real al-Qaeda, it was enough for them to mainline into the body politic a big, fat dose of fear.
FDR calmed a nation when he said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." But the Bush and Blair slogan is, "We have nothing to sell but fear itself."
[Note: Greg Palast is the reporter who blew the lid off the Great Disenfranchisement Florida 2000. SEE: www.GregPalast.com.]
The cruel, evil jerks who blew up the London subway last week, despite appropriating al-Qaeda's name for their website and T-shirts, have about as much to do with al-Qaeda as a Beatles tribute band has to do with the Fab Four.
I'm not belittling the heartbreaking hideousness of this crime, but let's get the facts straight. If al-Qaeda is the Panzer Division of terrorism, these London bombers were terrorism's Cub Scouts. We're talking a few pounds of nitro wired to a clock -- a design badly copied off the Internet.
Al-Qaeda this ain't.
Blair knows it. And Bush knows it... because Blair and Bush are al-Qaeda junkies. They've sold us on everything from fingerprinting five-year olds to invading Baghdad to tolerating plummeting paychecks all on the slick line that we are under attack by a well-trained, well-armed, well-funded hidden army called al-Qaeda.
For Bush and Blair, organized terror's diminishing powers was a political problem -- until last week, when the al-Queda addicts of the White House and Downing Street got a new terror fix. Even if it wasn't the real al-Qaeda, it was enough for them to mainline into the body politic a big, fat dose of fear.
FDR calmed a nation when he said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." But the Bush and Blair slogan is, "We have nothing to sell but fear itself."
[Note: Greg Palast is the reporter who blew the lid off the Great Disenfranchisement Florida 2000. SEE: www.GregPalast.com.]
Monday, July 11, 2005
Even The Dead Stand On End At The End Of The Day
Lock and load fellow citizens and let him have it with paint guns filled with the same hate he has spewed at so many others.
- Chris Mansel
Karl Rove sits in front of several television sets taking notes on the coverage of the attack on Fallujah. He counts how many times each network mentions the number of dead, the number wounded. Like a ghastly documentarian he organizes the numbers and leaks stories to the press in ways that will change the story of Iraq so subtlety that it would take constant attention to each newscast to tell the difference. Staffers come and go and bring fresh wine coolers for Rove to swill down and laugh a menacing uncontrollable laughter.
Karl Rove (on the phone): Yea, the latest report is that the citizens of Iraq are offering meals to the soldiers as they enter their homes. Many of the wounded Iraqi soldiers are asking about the prize on Saddam?s head.
A Reporter from the Fox Network: Ok, we?ll get it on the air. Any news on any changes in the cabinet yet?
Karl Rove: I should know something in about two weeks tops.
A Reporter from the Fox Network: Is there any word on the massacres in the Sudan?
With that comment the line goes dead.
- Chris Mansel
[See the Mansel Report: www.chrismansel.blogspot.com]
- Chris Mansel
Karl Rove sits in front of several television sets taking notes on the coverage of the attack on Fallujah. He counts how many times each network mentions the number of dead, the number wounded. Like a ghastly documentarian he organizes the numbers and leaks stories to the press in ways that will change the story of Iraq so subtlety that it would take constant attention to each newscast to tell the difference. Staffers come and go and bring fresh wine coolers for Rove to swill down and laugh a menacing uncontrollable laughter.
Karl Rove (on the phone): Yea, the latest report is that the citizens of Iraq are offering meals to the soldiers as they enter their homes. Many of the wounded Iraqi soldiers are asking about the prize on Saddam?s head.
A Reporter from the Fox Network: Ok, we?ll get it on the air. Any news on any changes in the cabinet yet?
Karl Rove: I should know something in about two weeks tops.
A Reporter from the Fox Network: Is there any word on the massacres in the Sudan?
With that comment the line goes dead.
- Chris Mansel
[See the Mansel Report: www.chrismansel.blogspot.com]
Sunday, July 10, 2005
From the Mind of Chris Mansel
Air Force One (The Sadistic Wagon With A Squeaky Wheel) [Random Note: Shades of Gonzo.]
(for Jack Random)
Air Force One left London and as soon as it was in the air the flight crew disrobed and the alcohol started to run in-between the aisles. President Bush went into his secret office near the fuselage and put in a DVD that contains a montage of Condi Rice strolling in front of the camera. The creases in her pants suit moving in slow motion. The President thrusts his groin into the television screen, aides gather together intelligence on the bombings and begin to make secure phone calls to Saudi Arabia to schedule another. When the President gets all worked up to the point of climax he opens a door located inside his closet to enter a small pool of oil so he can commit coitus with himself. President Clinton kept vagina cigars in this secret room and former President Reagan kept stag films of Hedy Lamar and Clara Bow. Jelly Beans tied on gold string reeking of excrement.
In the President’s office Karl Rove and Karen Hughes watch footage of the attacks in London and sculpt data for Scott McClellan and the White House press core, for speeches in the upcoming elections and to use in the files that Rove keeps in his secured bunker of misinformation. Rove laughs greedily and spits in his hand and grabs Karen Hughes by the neck and bends her toward him. Karen Hughes performs a sadomasochistic act on Rove’s person. The President walks in and opens a beer.
President Bush: Now Karl, when I go sign this book at the embassy what do I write…a message of some sorts or what? Sorry you didn’t die Tony, something like that?
Karl Rove relieves himself into a bucket on the floor and Karen Hughes hits a button and a Secret Service agent arrives instantly to dispose of the waste. Karen Hughes arranges herself and the talk continues.
Karl Rove: You just sign your name and express your sympathies.
President Bush looks at Karen Hughes and at Karl Rove with a confused expression.
Karl Rove: Sympathies, how sorry you are…(laughs) ok just write whatever you want to.
Karen Hughes: Mr. President can we please turn off this tape of Condi?
The President looks across the room at Condi and then returns his gaze to the television screen.
-------------------------------------------
Predictions: The Bush/Clinton Alliance
I have seen the line in the darkness and it is hellish. I have a prediction and it is so goddamn twisted it just might come true. Okay, former President Clinton was appointed by current President George W. Bush to serve with his father former President Bush to aid in raising money for victims of the Tsunami. They have gotten to be friends despite their “differences” and Barbara Bush has even referred to former President Bill Clinton as her son. The Bush family is friendly with the Clinton family and Senator Hillary Clinton will most certainly run for President. This is where it gets weird.
Senator Hillary Clinton will run on the friendship of the Bush family, the photo-ops, etc., and will garner the attention of Bush Republicans. She will win the presidency with his “further than center” views but now the kicker, a preemptive strike. I can’t believe I am saying this; Hillary will get her second term by pardoning either Karl Rove or current President George W. Bush for his role in using 9/11 for a reason to invade Iraq illegally and the approval of torture beyond the restrictions of the Geneva Convention. When does torture get to beat something even the Republican Party will not allow? When it interferes with the votes being tallied in the home districts of the candidates in the house and the senate.
This is so twisted like I said that it just could come true. Slicker than Willie, darker than Nixon, and crueler than Idi Amin the Bush/Clinton alliance could dispel any and all rumors that true evil rests only in the hearts of men.
- Chris Mansel
See The Mansel Report: www.chrismansel.blogspot.com.
--------------------------------------------
Random Note: Say a prayer for Jimmy wZ, hunkered down in the path of Hurricane Dennis. Somewhere on the Florida panhandle, the celestial sounds of a silver flute are praying for us all. Be well, wZ man. Mitakuye Oyasin. Let it be so.
(for Jack Random)
Air Force One left London and as soon as it was in the air the flight crew disrobed and the alcohol started to run in-between the aisles. President Bush went into his secret office near the fuselage and put in a DVD that contains a montage of Condi Rice strolling in front of the camera. The creases in her pants suit moving in slow motion. The President thrusts his groin into the television screen, aides gather together intelligence on the bombings and begin to make secure phone calls to Saudi Arabia to schedule another. When the President gets all worked up to the point of climax he opens a door located inside his closet to enter a small pool of oil so he can commit coitus with himself. President Clinton kept vagina cigars in this secret room and former President Reagan kept stag films of Hedy Lamar and Clara Bow. Jelly Beans tied on gold string reeking of excrement.
In the President’s office Karl Rove and Karen Hughes watch footage of the attacks in London and sculpt data for Scott McClellan and the White House press core, for speeches in the upcoming elections and to use in the files that Rove keeps in his secured bunker of misinformation. Rove laughs greedily and spits in his hand and grabs Karen Hughes by the neck and bends her toward him. Karen Hughes performs a sadomasochistic act on Rove’s person. The President walks in and opens a beer.
President Bush: Now Karl, when I go sign this book at the embassy what do I write…a message of some sorts or what? Sorry you didn’t die Tony, something like that?
Karl Rove relieves himself into a bucket on the floor and Karen Hughes hits a button and a Secret Service agent arrives instantly to dispose of the waste. Karen Hughes arranges herself and the talk continues.
Karl Rove: You just sign your name and express your sympathies.
President Bush looks at Karen Hughes and at Karl Rove with a confused expression.
Karl Rove: Sympathies, how sorry you are…(laughs) ok just write whatever you want to.
Karen Hughes: Mr. President can we please turn off this tape of Condi?
The President looks across the room at Condi and then returns his gaze to the television screen.
-------------------------------------------
Predictions: The Bush/Clinton Alliance
I have seen the line in the darkness and it is hellish. I have a prediction and it is so goddamn twisted it just might come true. Okay, former President Clinton was appointed by current President George W. Bush to serve with his father former President Bush to aid in raising money for victims of the Tsunami. They have gotten to be friends despite their “differences” and Barbara Bush has even referred to former President Bill Clinton as her son. The Bush family is friendly with the Clinton family and Senator Hillary Clinton will most certainly run for President. This is where it gets weird.
Senator Hillary Clinton will run on the friendship of the Bush family, the photo-ops, etc., and will garner the attention of Bush Republicans. She will win the presidency with his “further than center” views but now the kicker, a preemptive strike. I can’t believe I am saying this; Hillary will get her second term by pardoning either Karl Rove or current President George W. Bush for his role in using 9/11 for a reason to invade Iraq illegally and the approval of torture beyond the restrictions of the Geneva Convention. When does torture get to beat something even the Republican Party will not allow? When it interferes with the votes being tallied in the home districts of the candidates in the house and the senate.
This is so twisted like I said that it just could come true. Slicker than Willie, darker than Nixon, and crueler than Idi Amin the Bush/Clinton alliance could dispel any and all rumors that true evil rests only in the hearts of men.
- Chris Mansel
See The Mansel Report: www.chrismansel.blogspot.com.
--------------------------------------------
Random Note: Say a prayer for Jimmy wZ, hunkered down in the path of Hurricane Dennis. Somewhere on the Florida panhandle, the celestial sounds of a silver flute are praying for us all. Be well, wZ man. Mitakuye Oyasin. Let it be so.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
LEONARD PELTIER IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center
--------------------------------------------
As Americans celebrate their myth of freedom and justice for all, Leonard Peltier is moved without warning or notification to Terre Haute, Indiana, USP and is held in solitary confinement at least through the long holiday weekend.
At a time when this country seeks understanding for its obvious wrongs around the planet and cannot understand why the global village mistrusts it, the U.S. government is mistreating and using extraordinary domestic rendition upon the most beloved contemporary Native American warrior. Leonard Peltier, whom - again in defiance of the global opinion - this country refuses to acknowledge as a political prisoner, today sits in a tiny cell without windows and human contact as the American people prepare to celebrate their myth of justice and freedom for all.
After twenty nine years in prison for a crime he didn't commit he was moved without rhyme or reason, and without notification to his family and attorney, from Leavenworth USP to Terre Haute Indiana USP. He was immediately placed in solitary confinement, "the hole". Leonard is sixty years old, he suffers from arthritis, bone spurs, all the discomforts associated with diabetes, and recently had a stroke.
The Bureau of Prisons may argue that placing a transferred prisoner in solitary confinement is a routine procedure until all the appropriate paperwork is processed, but the timing of this action adds to its cruelty since it was carried out right before the long weekend preceding this 4th of July. In addition, this development comes at a time when Peltier’s legal team is successfully arguing very important motions and the US Courts might be obligated to release him. It is no too far fetched to imagine that to prevent his release, he is subjected to this psychological and physical torture in hope that it will break his body and spirit, and literally kill him.
As seen in the world stage today, the U.S. concepts of freedom fighters, terrorists, illegal combatants, murders, and battle casualties, are relative at their best, and duplicitous, deceptive, and capricious in their application. The same government that manipulated Canadian sovereignty and false affidavits to obtain the extradition of Leonard Peltier, our freedom fighter, today protects Jose Posada Carriles, a real terrorist, and denies his extradition to Venezuela where he was involved in the bombing of a Cuban airliner resulting in the murder of all its passengers. On the other hand, the “crime scene” in which they have framed Peltier is a battle in which armed and trained US government combatants, illegally entered non-US territory, and attacked a group of armed civilians defending their land and families, and they, as well as one of those civilians (Joe Stuntz), became casualties of war. Why must then Peltier pay with his life?
Does the FBI feel any remorse for any of its victims: Joe Stuntz, Buddy Lamont, or Frank Clearwater? How about Pedro Bissonette or the Jimmy Little Incident? Both murdered by US backed forces, using deadly force, and bludgeoning Jimmy Little in front of his family. His son Jimmy, Jr. witnessed this terrible act and when he reached 21 committed suicide--a note revealed that he missed his Dad and saw no reason to live. Jimmy, Jr was an Olympic cross-country talent when he was at Loneman School as a 7th grader. He was the next Billy Mills but the trauma of the US invasion and its violence killed him before he had a chance to mature, he really was dead before he lived.
Who pays for our dead? Or are our lives still as worthless to the American people as when they would pay money for our skins red with our blood (hence the term redskins so celebrated by this culture). Our wounds are deep, and the torment that created them is unforgettable. We know we cannot go back in time, but what can be done today is to put an end to the assault on indigenous people, that has been taking place without reprieve since the beginning of this country. Enough is enough America! Basta ya! Honor our treaties, stop taking and destroying our land and resources, respect our sovereignty and our culture, rectify the language of your history, and free our warriors! Free Peltier!
Wanbli Watakpe aka Russ Redner
Executive Director, LPDC
Paula Ostrovsky
Media PR Officer, LPDC
leonardpeltier.org
--------------------------------------------
As Americans celebrate their myth of freedom and justice for all, Leonard Peltier is moved without warning or notification to Terre Haute, Indiana, USP and is held in solitary confinement at least through the long holiday weekend.
At a time when this country seeks understanding for its obvious wrongs around the planet and cannot understand why the global village mistrusts it, the U.S. government is mistreating and using extraordinary domestic rendition upon the most beloved contemporary Native American warrior. Leonard Peltier, whom - again in defiance of the global opinion - this country refuses to acknowledge as a political prisoner, today sits in a tiny cell without windows and human contact as the American people prepare to celebrate their myth of justice and freedom for all.
After twenty nine years in prison for a crime he didn't commit he was moved without rhyme or reason, and without notification to his family and attorney, from Leavenworth USP to Terre Haute Indiana USP. He was immediately placed in solitary confinement, "the hole". Leonard is sixty years old, he suffers from arthritis, bone spurs, all the discomforts associated with diabetes, and recently had a stroke.
The Bureau of Prisons may argue that placing a transferred prisoner in solitary confinement is a routine procedure until all the appropriate paperwork is processed, but the timing of this action adds to its cruelty since it was carried out right before the long weekend preceding this 4th of July. In addition, this development comes at a time when Peltier’s legal team is successfully arguing very important motions and the US Courts might be obligated to release him. It is no too far fetched to imagine that to prevent his release, he is subjected to this psychological and physical torture in hope that it will break his body and spirit, and literally kill him.
As seen in the world stage today, the U.S. concepts of freedom fighters, terrorists, illegal combatants, murders, and battle casualties, are relative at their best, and duplicitous, deceptive, and capricious in their application. The same government that manipulated Canadian sovereignty and false affidavits to obtain the extradition of Leonard Peltier, our freedom fighter, today protects Jose Posada Carriles, a real terrorist, and denies his extradition to Venezuela where he was involved in the bombing of a Cuban airliner resulting in the murder of all its passengers. On the other hand, the “crime scene” in which they have framed Peltier is a battle in which armed and trained US government combatants, illegally entered non-US territory, and attacked a group of armed civilians defending their land and families, and they, as well as one of those civilians (Joe Stuntz), became casualties of war. Why must then Peltier pay with his life?
Does the FBI feel any remorse for any of its victims: Joe Stuntz, Buddy Lamont, or Frank Clearwater? How about Pedro Bissonette or the Jimmy Little Incident? Both murdered by US backed forces, using deadly force, and bludgeoning Jimmy Little in front of his family. His son Jimmy, Jr. witnessed this terrible act and when he reached 21 committed suicide--a note revealed that he missed his Dad and saw no reason to live. Jimmy, Jr was an Olympic cross-country talent when he was at Loneman School as a 7th grader. He was the next Billy Mills but the trauma of the US invasion and its violence killed him before he had a chance to mature, he really was dead before he lived.
Who pays for our dead? Or are our lives still as worthless to the American people as when they would pay money for our skins red with our blood (hence the term redskins so celebrated by this culture). Our wounds are deep, and the torment that created them is unforgettable. We know we cannot go back in time, but what can be done today is to put an end to the assault on indigenous people, that has been taking place without reprieve since the beginning of this country. Enough is enough America! Basta ya! Honor our treaties, stop taking and destroying our land and resources, respect our sovereignty and our culture, rectify the language of your history, and free our warriors! Free Peltier!
Wanbli Watakpe aka Russ Redner
Executive Director, LPDC
Paula Ostrovsky
Media PR Officer, LPDC
leonardpeltier.org
Friday, July 01, 2005
SCHIZO SCHERZO: THE LAST WALTZ
By Jack Random
Schizo: Split, irrational, bizarre.
Scherzo: A playful movement in a symphony.
The psychological theory of cognitive dissonance holds that two incompatible thoughts cannot be held in one mind simultaneously – or rather, they cannot be held without damage to the psyche.
For example, if you believe that good people do not do bad things and that Joe is a good person and then learn that Joe hit his wife, you are confronted with a dilemma: Either Joe is not a good person or good people do bad things. Something must give.
A recent poll suggested that nearly 70% of Americans no longer support the war in Iraq. They do not believe that the war was necessary, justified or worth the cost. A subsequent poll suggested that fully 60% of the people believe we must stay in Iraq to a successful conclusion.
Curiously, these polls mirror the position of the mainstream Democrats and support the current policy of the Bush White House (though they object to certain administrative details). It is a portrait of two parties in spasmodic harmony, waltzing in blissful ignorance while the flames of war rage just beyond the sight and sound of our fearless patriotic leaders. It is the portrait of a mythology-pathology designed for cinematic rendition and set to the tune of Schizo Scherzo in B flat major. It is strangely reassuring and hauntingly stimulating but it is not founded in reality. Something must give.
With all due respect, the consensus position is a hybrid of incompatible beliefs. We are in effect saying we oppose the war but support the occupation. It is like acknowledging that we raided the wrong house but we might as well finish the search. More accurately, it is like slaughtering half a village only to learn that the victims are innocent. Rather than acknowledge our mistake, apologize and make amends, we wipe out the survivors so that no one lives to tell the tale.
This is the American pathology and it has never been more dangerous than it is today. To us, Iraq is like a walk in the park – even if the park is a little risky at night. To the Iraqis, having lost over a million people, more than half a million children, to the western liberators over the last decade, it is an endless nightmare. Not only do we destroy and occupy their country, laying contractual claim to their bountiful resources, but we expect them to be grateful as well: Schizo Scherzo.
It is time we confronted our own dark truths. We have been allowed to shelter ourselves from responsibility by pretending that we have faith in our leaders. We are not to blame if our leaders deceived us. We were told Iraq was the enemy. We were told they posed a threat to the world. We were told they conspired to knock down the Twin Towers. We were ill equipped to distinguish between the lies, the deceptions and the ultimate truth.
The truth is the polls do not tell the story they pretend to tell. They pretend to be a snapshot of public opinion at a given time. They are no such things. We have taken our cues from our leaders. It is not what we believe but what we say we believe that matters. The polls are nothing but a façade, a masquerade, so much puff and stuff.
We Americans are neither stupid nor ignorant. We did not believe in the weapons of mass destruction fantasy. We did not believe even for an instant that Saddam Hussein knocked down those towers. We did not believe that diplomacy was played out at the United Nations. Rather, we simply required something to tell our children and grandchildren now and in the future. Our leaders gave us the lies so that we could hand them down through the decades like Manifest Destiny and absolve ourselves of blame.
The fact is, like Cheney and Wolfowitz and all the president’s men, we believed it would be a cakewalk. We believed that no matter how many Iraqis died in Shock and Awe, they would be grateful and no more than a handful of our soldiers would pay the price. We believed it would be a long weekend in the desert (like the first Gulf War) and when it was over there would be parades and parties and medals of distinction.
We believed that the world would salute in awe and allow us to play the Cowboy King one more time. Just another episode of Duke Wayne, the Lone Ranger, 20 Mule Team Borax and How the West Was Won. We’re the best and the brightest. We’ve earned our stripes. When the chips were down and all the cards were on the table, we picked ourselves up by our own bootstraps, summoning every last ounce of courage and willpower, gave it one last college try, and won one for the Gipper. Why?
Cue music (Queen):
We are champions, my friend!
We’ll keep on fighting ‘til the end!
No time for losers ‘cause we are the champions … of the world!
What a shame it is not a movie. We could demand a better ending. As it is, we are saddled with the reality we have helped to create. There is no more pretending. As we stand with the president and his vision of endless war, we will find no redemption. The blood is on our hands now and all the waters of the Tigres and Euphrates will not wash the stain from our collective soul.
We have lost our senses. We have gone mad. What is the world to do when its most powerful member has wandered over the rainbow to the dark side of the moon?
It’s a waltz and we’re spinning our way through history like Scarlet O’Hara and Rhett Butler, pretending that the war is about honor and not slavery, like Charlotte Corday with a dagger to the heart of Jean Paul Marat, convinced that Marat is the source of all evil, like brave Colonel Custer at the Little Big Horn, Chivington at Sand Creek and the eighteen recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of 350 unarmed Lakota at Wounded Knee.
It’s Schizo Scherzo and we all have our parts, dancing continuously in the flames of war and bathing in the waters of penitence.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE & OTHER SITES. SEE JACKRANDOM.COM.
Schizo: Split, irrational, bizarre.
Scherzo: A playful movement in a symphony.
The psychological theory of cognitive dissonance holds that two incompatible thoughts cannot be held in one mind simultaneously – or rather, they cannot be held without damage to the psyche.
For example, if you believe that good people do not do bad things and that Joe is a good person and then learn that Joe hit his wife, you are confronted with a dilemma: Either Joe is not a good person or good people do bad things. Something must give.
A recent poll suggested that nearly 70% of Americans no longer support the war in Iraq. They do not believe that the war was necessary, justified or worth the cost. A subsequent poll suggested that fully 60% of the people believe we must stay in Iraq to a successful conclusion.
Curiously, these polls mirror the position of the mainstream Democrats and support the current policy of the Bush White House (though they object to certain administrative details). It is a portrait of two parties in spasmodic harmony, waltzing in blissful ignorance while the flames of war rage just beyond the sight and sound of our fearless patriotic leaders. It is the portrait of a mythology-pathology designed for cinematic rendition and set to the tune of Schizo Scherzo in B flat major. It is strangely reassuring and hauntingly stimulating but it is not founded in reality. Something must give.
With all due respect, the consensus position is a hybrid of incompatible beliefs. We are in effect saying we oppose the war but support the occupation. It is like acknowledging that we raided the wrong house but we might as well finish the search. More accurately, it is like slaughtering half a village only to learn that the victims are innocent. Rather than acknowledge our mistake, apologize and make amends, we wipe out the survivors so that no one lives to tell the tale.
This is the American pathology and it has never been more dangerous than it is today. To us, Iraq is like a walk in the park – even if the park is a little risky at night. To the Iraqis, having lost over a million people, more than half a million children, to the western liberators over the last decade, it is an endless nightmare. Not only do we destroy and occupy their country, laying contractual claim to their bountiful resources, but we expect them to be grateful as well: Schizo Scherzo.
It is time we confronted our own dark truths. We have been allowed to shelter ourselves from responsibility by pretending that we have faith in our leaders. We are not to blame if our leaders deceived us. We were told Iraq was the enemy. We were told they posed a threat to the world. We were told they conspired to knock down the Twin Towers. We were ill equipped to distinguish between the lies, the deceptions and the ultimate truth.
The truth is the polls do not tell the story they pretend to tell. They pretend to be a snapshot of public opinion at a given time. They are no such things. We have taken our cues from our leaders. It is not what we believe but what we say we believe that matters. The polls are nothing but a façade, a masquerade, so much puff and stuff.
We Americans are neither stupid nor ignorant. We did not believe in the weapons of mass destruction fantasy. We did not believe even for an instant that Saddam Hussein knocked down those towers. We did not believe that diplomacy was played out at the United Nations. Rather, we simply required something to tell our children and grandchildren now and in the future. Our leaders gave us the lies so that we could hand them down through the decades like Manifest Destiny and absolve ourselves of blame.
The fact is, like Cheney and Wolfowitz and all the president’s men, we believed it would be a cakewalk. We believed that no matter how many Iraqis died in Shock and Awe, they would be grateful and no more than a handful of our soldiers would pay the price. We believed it would be a long weekend in the desert (like the first Gulf War) and when it was over there would be parades and parties and medals of distinction.
We believed that the world would salute in awe and allow us to play the Cowboy King one more time. Just another episode of Duke Wayne, the Lone Ranger, 20 Mule Team Borax and How the West Was Won. We’re the best and the brightest. We’ve earned our stripes. When the chips were down and all the cards were on the table, we picked ourselves up by our own bootstraps, summoning every last ounce of courage and willpower, gave it one last college try, and won one for the Gipper. Why?
Cue music (Queen):
We are champions, my friend!
We’ll keep on fighting ‘til the end!
No time for losers ‘cause we are the champions … of the world!
What a shame it is not a movie. We could demand a better ending. As it is, we are saddled with the reality we have helped to create. There is no more pretending. As we stand with the president and his vision of endless war, we will find no redemption. The blood is on our hands now and all the waters of the Tigres and Euphrates will not wash the stain from our collective soul.
We have lost our senses. We have gone mad. What is the world to do when its most powerful member has wandered over the rainbow to the dark side of the moon?
It’s a waltz and we’re spinning our way through history like Scarlet O’Hara and Rhett Butler, pretending that the war is about honor and not slavery, like Charlotte Corday with a dagger to the heart of Jean Paul Marat, convinced that Marat is the source of all evil, like brave Colonel Custer at the Little Big Horn, Chivington at Sand Creek and the eighteen recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of 350 unarmed Lakota at Wounded Knee.
It’s Schizo Scherzo and we all have our parts, dancing continuously in the flames of war and bathing in the waters of penitence.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE & OTHER SITES. SEE JACKRANDOM.COM.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Reading from the Script: In Response to The President 6/28/05
By Jack Random
Tonight the president addressed a solemn assembly of soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. His case for the continued occupation of Iraq can be summarized in one word: Tired.
Did he respond to the Downing Street memos? No.
On a day when two more American soldiers and 30-40 Iraqis, including a member of the Iraqi Parliament, were killed, did he offer a realistic assessment of where we are in relation to where we have been? No.
As our investment in this war approaches 1,800 dead, 20,000 wounded and $400 billion dollars, did he provide any assurance that our mission would be completed in the coming months, years or decades? No.
The president repeatedly reasserted his false and discredited claim that this war was somehow related to the attack on this nation nearly four years ago.
If we are to take the president at his word, it was never about weapons of mass destruction. If it was our troops would long be home. Instead, it was all about ideology. If we take the president at his word, he cleverly deceived the American people and tried to deceive the world community in order to fan the flames of Islamic jihad by implanting an ideological war in the Middle East – an ill-fated venture by any objective analysis.
The president makes no distinction between terrorists and insurgents fighting a foreign invader. He implies that the “coalition” allies are growing in number and strength when in fact nation after nation has drawn down their troops and pledged withdrawal in deference to the democratic will of their people: Ukraine, Italy, Spain and Poland. The allied forces that remain will not engage in battle and the second largest fighting force in Iraq is neither Britain nor Australia but the army of American paid mercenaries.
The president claims that we are making significant progress but the reports on the ground tell a different story. There is no progress on security, jobs, electricity, water or sewage and the insurgency is growing daily. Ironically, if we were to succeed in establishing a truly democratic government in Iraq their first act would be to demand our removal.
The president has the audacity to quote Osama bin Laden the day after an American helicopter is shot down in the forgotten war in Afghanistan and a week after political appointee and Director of Central Intelligence Porter Goss testified that we know where bin Laden is but we cannot violate sovereignty. Since when has sovereignty prevented military action in this administration?
The president asserts that ours is an ideology of freedom while the enemy has an ideology of hatred but the occupier of a foreign land cannot bestow freedom on the occupied and it is not for us to define Iraqi freedom.
Finally, the president claims that we will stand down when the Iraqis stand up. The difficulty is that the Iraqis that are standing up now (against the greatest fighting force on earth) are not standing by our side.
It is an insult to every American for our president to compare this war to the American Revolution and the Civil War. We have brought civil war to Iraq and civil war will be our legacy whether or not we honor our promise to leave. As for the revolution, we fought for our freedom against a colonial power and one that brought a scourge of Hessian mercenaries to oppose us. Whom in this equation do we most resemble?
Before another life is lost in this historical misadventure, take a hard look at where this president has led us and where he intends to go.
Stop the war machine.
End the occupation.
Bury the doctrine of perpetual war.
Jazz.
Note: For a responsible withdrawal plan see www.democracyrising.us.
Tonight the president addressed a solemn assembly of soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. His case for the continued occupation of Iraq can be summarized in one word: Tired.
Did he respond to the Downing Street memos? No.
On a day when two more American soldiers and 30-40 Iraqis, including a member of the Iraqi Parliament, were killed, did he offer a realistic assessment of where we are in relation to where we have been? No.
As our investment in this war approaches 1,800 dead, 20,000 wounded and $400 billion dollars, did he provide any assurance that our mission would be completed in the coming months, years or decades? No.
The president repeatedly reasserted his false and discredited claim that this war was somehow related to the attack on this nation nearly four years ago.
If we are to take the president at his word, it was never about weapons of mass destruction. If it was our troops would long be home. Instead, it was all about ideology. If we take the president at his word, he cleverly deceived the American people and tried to deceive the world community in order to fan the flames of Islamic jihad by implanting an ideological war in the Middle East – an ill-fated venture by any objective analysis.
The president makes no distinction between terrorists and insurgents fighting a foreign invader. He implies that the “coalition” allies are growing in number and strength when in fact nation after nation has drawn down their troops and pledged withdrawal in deference to the democratic will of their people: Ukraine, Italy, Spain and Poland. The allied forces that remain will not engage in battle and the second largest fighting force in Iraq is neither Britain nor Australia but the army of American paid mercenaries.
The president claims that we are making significant progress but the reports on the ground tell a different story. There is no progress on security, jobs, electricity, water or sewage and the insurgency is growing daily. Ironically, if we were to succeed in establishing a truly democratic government in Iraq their first act would be to demand our removal.
The president has the audacity to quote Osama bin Laden the day after an American helicopter is shot down in the forgotten war in Afghanistan and a week after political appointee and Director of Central Intelligence Porter Goss testified that we know where bin Laden is but we cannot violate sovereignty. Since when has sovereignty prevented military action in this administration?
The president asserts that ours is an ideology of freedom while the enemy has an ideology of hatred but the occupier of a foreign land cannot bestow freedom on the occupied and it is not for us to define Iraqi freedom.
Finally, the president claims that we will stand down when the Iraqis stand up. The difficulty is that the Iraqis that are standing up now (against the greatest fighting force on earth) are not standing by our side.
It is an insult to every American for our president to compare this war to the American Revolution and the Civil War. We have brought civil war to Iraq and civil war will be our legacy whether or not we honor our promise to leave. As for the revolution, we fought for our freedom against a colonial power and one that brought a scourge of Hessian mercenaries to oppose us. Whom in this equation do we most resemble?
Before another life is lost in this historical misadventure, take a hard look at where this president has led us and where he intends to go.
Stop the war machine.
End the occupation.
Bury the doctrine of perpetual war.
Jazz.
Note: For a responsible withdrawal plan see www.democracyrising.us.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
HEALING AN ANCIENT SORROW
JAZZMAN CHRONICLES: DISSEMINATE FREELY.
THE DISHONOR OF WOUNDED KNEE
By Jack Random
“The Sun Dance is the most enigmatic of all Lakota ceremonies. It is a blood sacrifice, a trial by fire, and a vision quest by pain and suffering. It is not, as the white man believes, a rite of passage or a test of manhood. It is a pipeline to the overworld, a sacred bond connecting mother earth to father sky, connecting all sentient beings to the Great Spirit beyond. It is the tree of life and the great wheel of the universe.”
From the novel Cries for a Vision by Jack Random.
Buffalo Man took the vow of Kablaya, the Lakota spirit guide who received the vision of the Sun Dance. A thong from the hide of a buffalo was tied to the Sun Dance Tree and its two ends were attached with wooden spikes to his chest. He would sing the ancient chants beneath a blistering sun and dance until the thongs broke free.
He prayed for the people who were massacred on a cold winter’s day at Wounded Knee. He prayed for the soldiers who killed them. He prayed for the great healing that would mend the Sacred Hoop and help his people live good and fruitful lives.
On the third day of the Sun Dance, he received a vision. He was told that the Sacred Hoop was broken on December 29, 1890. He was told that it would take seven generations to heal the wound and that the healing could not begin until the Medals of Honor bestowed on the soldiers at Wounded Knee were rescinded. Since that day, he has worked toward this end.
On Monday, June 13, the United States Senate took the belated measure of apologizing to the African American descendants of the victims of lynching. Combined with reopened cases of Emmett Till and a 1964 KKK murder of three civil rights workers, it was a powerful reminder that justice will be heard and the wounds of great wrongs require decades, even centuries to heal.
On Tuesday, June 14, J.D. Kotrla-Chipps (AKA Buffalo Man) wrote me to request assistance in fulfilling his mission. He informed me that eighteen Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to the soldiers and officers of the Seventh Calvary for their actions in the Massacre of Wounded Knee.
He did not need to recount the events of that massacre. I am certain that I do not need to retell the story here for it is familiar to every man and woman who has studied this nation’s history. To know the story is to know the greatest crime ever committed by Americans on American soil.
It is not necessary to summon the memory of the Paiute prophet Wavoka, whose fevered vision gave birth to the Ghost Dance, a dance that called forth the spirits of the ancestors and prophesied the return of the buffalo. It is not necessary to retell how the Ghost Dance spread across the plains like a raging wildfire. It is not necessary to tell how it gave birth to renewed hope in defeated peoples and desperate lives. It is not necessary to tell how it captured the hearts of brave warriors and chiefs like Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and Big Foot of the Lakota nation. It is not necessary to tell how an elderly Sitting Bull was killed by turncoat Indian police acting on the fears of the bluecoat war chiefs. It is not necessary to tell how the Seventh Calvary, revenge still burning in their hearts for the demise of Custer at the Little Big Horn, tracked down and encircled Big Foot’s band to prevent them from dancing the forbidden dance, to prevent their cries from reaching the ancestors, and to block their prayers to the Great Spirit.
It is not necessary to retell how the encircled Lakota, mostly old men, women, children and infants, were disarmed before an uncertain catalyst – a dropped gun or an untimely cry of remorse – triggered the massacre of 350 defenseless Lakota Indians. It is not necessary to recount that the Lakota had been peaceful for fourteen years and that Big Foot carried the white flag of peace. It was 1890 and the first opportunity the bluecoats had to employ their Hotchkiss cannons. The rolling thunder of bullets mowed down the renegade dancers with record efficiency.
It is not necessary to draw a portrait of the mass grave or the body of Big Foot frozen in his dance of death on the barren landscape of a South Dakota winter. It is not necessary to pull once more at the strings of the reader’s heart for it has been done a thousand times by words more powerful than mine.
It is not necessary to tell the story of Wounded Knee again and yet, why do I sense that the young are happily unaware, as if the story skipped a generation of school children?
Every child in every town and city in America should be compelled to read Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee for until they know the story they do not know what it is to be American. Until they know and understand, as a child always understands the truth, there will always be a dark and toxic seed within the soul of the nation.
We are not asking that the land be returned to its rightful owners. We are not asking for full and just reparations. We are not asking that the sacrilegious images of the Great White Fathers be removed from the sacred mountains of the Lakota Black Hills. We are not asking that the church of the Black Robes be swept from the holy burial ground of the Wounded Knee Memorial.
We are only asking that eighteen medals of dishonor be rescinded. We ask not only for the victims of Wounded Knee and their descendants but for the perpetrators and theirs as well. Imagine having committed this crime, having its bloody spectacle etched in your memory, knowing that what was done that day would not be forgotten as long as the rivers run and clouds inhabit the sky, and being “honored” by your government for this deadly, horrendous deed.
We cannot know what ran through those soldiers’ minds that day, as the bullets flew and the bodies fell, but we do know that what any human being would feel on the day they were honored was not pride but unbearable shame. Little wonder there was no ceremony. It would surely have been spoiled by cries of horror and tears of shame.
If those soldiers were alive today, they would tell you enough is enough. They have carried the burden of hypocrisy beyond the grave. For their sake, as well as for 350 lost Lakota souls, their descendants and survivors, rescind the medals and let the healing begin.
It is the mission of a man who has buried his heart at Wounded Knee, planted his staff, and committed his life. It is not too much to ask. Indeed, it is the very least a civilized nation can do.
Mitakuye Oyasin.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS).
Contact J.D. Kotrla-Chipps at www.woptura.com.
THE DISHONOR OF WOUNDED KNEE
By Jack Random
“The Sun Dance is the most enigmatic of all Lakota ceremonies. It is a blood sacrifice, a trial by fire, and a vision quest by pain and suffering. It is not, as the white man believes, a rite of passage or a test of manhood. It is a pipeline to the overworld, a sacred bond connecting mother earth to father sky, connecting all sentient beings to the Great Spirit beyond. It is the tree of life and the great wheel of the universe.”
From the novel Cries for a Vision by Jack Random.
Buffalo Man took the vow of Kablaya, the Lakota spirit guide who received the vision of the Sun Dance. A thong from the hide of a buffalo was tied to the Sun Dance Tree and its two ends were attached with wooden spikes to his chest. He would sing the ancient chants beneath a blistering sun and dance until the thongs broke free.
He prayed for the people who were massacred on a cold winter’s day at Wounded Knee. He prayed for the soldiers who killed them. He prayed for the great healing that would mend the Sacred Hoop and help his people live good and fruitful lives.
On the third day of the Sun Dance, he received a vision. He was told that the Sacred Hoop was broken on December 29, 1890. He was told that it would take seven generations to heal the wound and that the healing could not begin until the Medals of Honor bestowed on the soldiers at Wounded Knee were rescinded. Since that day, he has worked toward this end.
On Monday, June 13, the United States Senate took the belated measure of apologizing to the African American descendants of the victims of lynching. Combined with reopened cases of Emmett Till and a 1964 KKK murder of three civil rights workers, it was a powerful reminder that justice will be heard and the wounds of great wrongs require decades, even centuries to heal.
On Tuesday, June 14, J.D. Kotrla-Chipps (AKA Buffalo Man) wrote me to request assistance in fulfilling his mission. He informed me that eighteen Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to the soldiers and officers of the Seventh Calvary for their actions in the Massacre of Wounded Knee.
He did not need to recount the events of that massacre. I am certain that I do not need to retell the story here for it is familiar to every man and woman who has studied this nation’s history. To know the story is to know the greatest crime ever committed by Americans on American soil.
It is not necessary to summon the memory of the Paiute prophet Wavoka, whose fevered vision gave birth to the Ghost Dance, a dance that called forth the spirits of the ancestors and prophesied the return of the buffalo. It is not necessary to retell how the Ghost Dance spread across the plains like a raging wildfire. It is not necessary to tell how it gave birth to renewed hope in defeated peoples and desperate lives. It is not necessary to tell how it captured the hearts of brave warriors and chiefs like Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and Big Foot of the Lakota nation. It is not necessary to tell how an elderly Sitting Bull was killed by turncoat Indian police acting on the fears of the bluecoat war chiefs. It is not necessary to tell how the Seventh Calvary, revenge still burning in their hearts for the demise of Custer at the Little Big Horn, tracked down and encircled Big Foot’s band to prevent them from dancing the forbidden dance, to prevent their cries from reaching the ancestors, and to block their prayers to the Great Spirit.
It is not necessary to retell how the encircled Lakota, mostly old men, women, children and infants, were disarmed before an uncertain catalyst – a dropped gun or an untimely cry of remorse – triggered the massacre of 350 defenseless Lakota Indians. It is not necessary to recount that the Lakota had been peaceful for fourteen years and that Big Foot carried the white flag of peace. It was 1890 and the first opportunity the bluecoats had to employ their Hotchkiss cannons. The rolling thunder of bullets mowed down the renegade dancers with record efficiency.
It is not necessary to draw a portrait of the mass grave or the body of Big Foot frozen in his dance of death on the barren landscape of a South Dakota winter. It is not necessary to pull once more at the strings of the reader’s heart for it has been done a thousand times by words more powerful than mine.
It is not necessary to tell the story of Wounded Knee again and yet, why do I sense that the young are happily unaware, as if the story skipped a generation of school children?
Every child in every town and city in America should be compelled to read Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee for until they know the story they do not know what it is to be American. Until they know and understand, as a child always understands the truth, there will always be a dark and toxic seed within the soul of the nation.
We are not asking that the land be returned to its rightful owners. We are not asking for full and just reparations. We are not asking that the sacrilegious images of the Great White Fathers be removed from the sacred mountains of the Lakota Black Hills. We are not asking that the church of the Black Robes be swept from the holy burial ground of the Wounded Knee Memorial.
We are only asking that eighteen medals of dishonor be rescinded. We ask not only for the victims of Wounded Knee and their descendants but for the perpetrators and theirs as well. Imagine having committed this crime, having its bloody spectacle etched in your memory, knowing that what was done that day would not be forgotten as long as the rivers run and clouds inhabit the sky, and being “honored” by your government for this deadly, horrendous deed.
We cannot know what ran through those soldiers’ minds that day, as the bullets flew and the bodies fell, but we do know that what any human being would feel on the day they were honored was not pride but unbearable shame. Little wonder there was no ceremony. It would surely have been spoiled by cries of horror and tears of shame.
If those soldiers were alive today, they would tell you enough is enough. They have carried the burden of hypocrisy beyond the grave. For their sake, as well as for 350 lost Lakota souls, their descendants and survivors, rescind the medals and let the healing begin.
It is the mission of a man who has buried his heart at Wounded Knee, planted his staff, and committed his life. It is not too much to ask. Indeed, it is the very least a civilized nation can do.
Mitakuye Oyasin.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS).
Contact J.D. Kotrla-Chipps at www.woptura.com.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
THE DISHONOR OF WOUNDED KNEE
Dear Reader:
Yesterday, the United States Senate took the belated measure of apologizing to the African American descendants of the victims of lynching. Combined with the case of Emmett Till and the reopening of the case of the 1964 KKK murder of three civil rights volunteers, it is a powerful reminder that justice will be heard and the wounds of great wrongs require decades, even centuries to heal.
It has recently come to my attention that there were 18 Medals of Honor awarded to the soldiers and officers of the Seventh Calvary for their participation in the Massacre of Wounded Knee. I need not recount the events of that massacre. They are burned into the conscience of every man and woman who has studied the history of this nation. I am certain you are fully acquainted with them and feel, as I do, that a greater crime has never been committed on American soil.
The wounds of Wounded Knee have never healed. Perhaps it is too much to ask for reparations (I do not believe so) but I have no doubt that no individual of conscience can possibly believe that those medals should still be honored.
In recent years, our government has apologized for past crimes, including the internment of Japanese Americans during WW II. Presidents have apologized for our nation's exploitation of blacks as slaves. Our nation has never apologized for genocide.
I ask your assistance in contacting your representatives in Congress to affect a simple act of atonement: Repeal the Medals of Dishonor. Let the healing begin.
Sincerely,
Jack Random - Author of Ghost Dance Insurrection
Contact: J.D. Kotrla-Chipps (aka Buffalo Man) www.woptura.com
Yesterday, the United States Senate took the belated measure of apologizing to the African American descendants of the victims of lynching. Combined with the case of Emmett Till and the reopening of the case of the 1964 KKK murder of three civil rights volunteers, it is a powerful reminder that justice will be heard and the wounds of great wrongs require decades, even centuries to heal.
It has recently come to my attention that there were 18 Medals of Honor awarded to the soldiers and officers of the Seventh Calvary for their participation in the Massacre of Wounded Knee. I need not recount the events of that massacre. They are burned into the conscience of every man and woman who has studied the history of this nation. I am certain you are fully acquainted with them and feel, as I do, that a greater crime has never been committed on American soil.
The wounds of Wounded Knee have never healed. Perhaps it is too much to ask for reparations (I do not believe so) but I have no doubt that no individual of conscience can possibly believe that those medals should still be honored.
In recent years, our government has apologized for past crimes, including the internment of Japanese Americans during WW II. Presidents have apologized for our nation's exploitation of blacks as slaves. Our nation has never apologized for genocide.
I ask your assistance in contacting your representatives in Congress to affect a simple act of atonement: Repeal the Medals of Dishonor. Let the healing begin.
Sincerely,
Jack Random - Author of Ghost Dance Insurrection
Contact: J.D. Kotrla-Chipps (aka Buffalo Man) www.woptura.com
Monday, June 13, 2005
SCHWARZENEGGER BLUES
RECALL THE GOVERNATOR
By Jack Random
Aside from the fact that the governator suddenly looks old and fragile, there is little encouraging about Schwarzenegger’s latest political maneuvering. His call for a special election might be admirable if he or his sponsors were paying for it. After all, it is more about a man’s ego and ambition than any concept of good governance.
The worst thing about the governor’s abuse of the initiative process is that it will likely damage the process itself. Initiatives and referendums are the application of direct democracy and those of us who truly believe in democracy are wary when politicians attack the process when it does not serve their purposes. Certainly, there should be reform to remove big money and restore the grassroots to the process. No one should be paid to collect signatures and contributions should be limited to individuals at fixed limits but that is not the issue now. The real question is: Since we are going ahead with this lame brained special election, why is the governor not on the ballot?
It is not difficult to understand the governor’s motives. Arnold loves the lights. A Democratic legislature has brazenly chosen to stand in his way rather than to demure and assist him in building a national campaign. If a constitutional amendment is not in the cards, Schwarzenegger’s persona ought to be good for a cabinet post or a high-profile ambassadorship. Certainly, he would be a suitable Emperor for the next occupation.
I understand the governor’s distaste for teachers and nurses. They tend to read, listen to the news, analyze policies and events, and communicate their ideas to family and friends. They know a fraud when they see one and Arnold’s compassionate conservative act is growing old. He wants to get rid of tenure so unruly teachers can be fired, neglecting the critical shortage facing both the state and the nation for years to come. He wants to deny the nurse-to-teacher ratio demanded by the people in a previous initiative. If he succeeds, health professionals will find greener pastures elsewhere but the governator will be able to hire more energy and political consultants.
I understand the need for redistricting reform but it is not a pressing matter for a state in fiscal crisis and it is nothing more than self-serving in the hands of this governor.
What I do not understand is why Recall Arnold has not already qualified for this ballot. Where is the party of opposition? Asleep at the wheel? Gone fishing? Striking a pose for the cameras? There is only one effective restraint to the abuse of the initiative process that began with the recall of Gray Davis: Recall Arnold. What comes around goes around and all that jazz. Unfortunately, we are saddled with a gutless and self-serving brand of politician on both sides of the proverbial aisle.
It is thick with irony that this special election ballot will offer a proposition to “re-regulate the power industry.” How special indeed. It has been five years since the fleecing of California to the tune of fifty billion dollars by a handful of Texas energy companies. Made possible by a Republican drive for deregulation that is still in process, with the corrupt cooperation of corporate Democrats, it is in fact the reason for our current crisis. There is something truly rotten in the bowels of the state legislature. What have they been waiting for? Another episode of massive fraud and redistribution of wealth, California to Texas, with the blessings of both parties? The last chapter ended with the crucifixion of the governor. Who will take the blame for the next?
If we have learned anything at all from these sorry events, it is that neither major party offers any real solution to our long-term problems. Both are more interested in securing their power base and lining their pockets with corporate payoffs. The obvious answer is not to disable direct democracy but to enable greater, broader and uncorrupted participation in electoral politics. Give democracy a chance: Vote for an independent or third party candidate. When enough people say no the political machinations of entrenched politicians, they will finally begin to listen.
Meantime, regulation of the energy industry is the only sure Yes on the special election ballot but there ought to be another: Shall the governor of the state of California be removed from office? Yes, Yes, a thousand times Yes!
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE & OTHER SITES. SEE JACKRANDOM.COM.
By Jack Random
Aside from the fact that the governator suddenly looks old and fragile, there is little encouraging about Schwarzenegger’s latest political maneuvering. His call for a special election might be admirable if he or his sponsors were paying for it. After all, it is more about a man’s ego and ambition than any concept of good governance.
The worst thing about the governor’s abuse of the initiative process is that it will likely damage the process itself. Initiatives and referendums are the application of direct democracy and those of us who truly believe in democracy are wary when politicians attack the process when it does not serve their purposes. Certainly, there should be reform to remove big money and restore the grassroots to the process. No one should be paid to collect signatures and contributions should be limited to individuals at fixed limits but that is not the issue now. The real question is: Since we are going ahead with this lame brained special election, why is the governor not on the ballot?
It is not difficult to understand the governor’s motives. Arnold loves the lights. A Democratic legislature has brazenly chosen to stand in his way rather than to demure and assist him in building a national campaign. If a constitutional amendment is not in the cards, Schwarzenegger’s persona ought to be good for a cabinet post or a high-profile ambassadorship. Certainly, he would be a suitable Emperor for the next occupation.
I understand the governor’s distaste for teachers and nurses. They tend to read, listen to the news, analyze policies and events, and communicate their ideas to family and friends. They know a fraud when they see one and Arnold’s compassionate conservative act is growing old. He wants to get rid of tenure so unruly teachers can be fired, neglecting the critical shortage facing both the state and the nation for years to come. He wants to deny the nurse-to-teacher ratio demanded by the people in a previous initiative. If he succeeds, health professionals will find greener pastures elsewhere but the governator will be able to hire more energy and political consultants.
I understand the need for redistricting reform but it is not a pressing matter for a state in fiscal crisis and it is nothing more than self-serving in the hands of this governor.
What I do not understand is why Recall Arnold has not already qualified for this ballot. Where is the party of opposition? Asleep at the wheel? Gone fishing? Striking a pose for the cameras? There is only one effective restraint to the abuse of the initiative process that began with the recall of Gray Davis: Recall Arnold. What comes around goes around and all that jazz. Unfortunately, we are saddled with a gutless and self-serving brand of politician on both sides of the proverbial aisle.
It is thick with irony that this special election ballot will offer a proposition to “re-regulate the power industry.” How special indeed. It has been five years since the fleecing of California to the tune of fifty billion dollars by a handful of Texas energy companies. Made possible by a Republican drive for deregulation that is still in process, with the corrupt cooperation of corporate Democrats, it is in fact the reason for our current crisis. There is something truly rotten in the bowels of the state legislature. What have they been waiting for? Another episode of massive fraud and redistribution of wealth, California to Texas, with the blessings of both parties? The last chapter ended with the crucifixion of the governor. Who will take the blame for the next?
If we have learned anything at all from these sorry events, it is that neither major party offers any real solution to our long-term problems. Both are more interested in securing their power base and lining their pockets with corporate payoffs. The obvious answer is not to disable direct democracy but to enable greater, broader and uncorrupted participation in electoral politics. Give democracy a chance: Vote for an independent or third party candidate. When enough people say no the political machinations of entrenched politicians, they will finally begin to listen.
Meantime, regulation of the energy industry is the only sure Yes on the special election ballot but there ought to be another: Shall the governor of the state of California be removed from office? Yes, Yes, a thousand times Yes!
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE & OTHER SITES. SEE JACKRANDOM.COM.
Friday, June 10, 2005
RANDOM'S SOUND & FURY
A Random Death & Resurrection by Chris Mansel
The body of Jack Random is being exhumed for the second time in this exhaustive trial, a trial that began with the demise of Jack Random after he experienced the ?sickness? of righteousness in the Bush namesake. Jack Random started supporting the war in Iraq and began soliciting his friends for donations to elect Bill Frist, the scourge of Tennessee.
Jack Random was done away with in the simplest of ways and it is that vivid night that brings the jury to this desert known as the Joshua Tree monument. First the body was exhumed to see if the body was in fact located in the grave. The second was for the carbon dating to exact the time of death in concert with the phase of the moon. Both times the body was unearthed the corpse of Jack Random had managed to roll him self over and hide his face in shame.
Upon the exhumation of the body of Jack Random it was found that Jack Random had obviously been forgiven by his demons and reassumed his life's work known as the Jazz Chronicles. Jack Random disappeared in the back of a red Cadillac being driven by a mysterious figure from Alabama known only as that guy who writes those reports. That night in the sunset several spectators swore they saw Gram Parsons strumming a guitar and smoking a joint the size of Texas.
SEE THE MANSEL REPORT (www.chrismansel.com)
The body of Jack Random is being exhumed for the second time in this exhaustive trial, a trial that began with the demise of Jack Random after he experienced the ?sickness? of righteousness in the Bush namesake. Jack Random started supporting the war in Iraq and began soliciting his friends for donations to elect Bill Frist, the scourge of Tennessee.
Jack Random was done away with in the simplest of ways and it is that vivid night that brings the jury to this desert known as the Joshua Tree monument. First the body was exhumed to see if the body was in fact located in the grave. The second was for the carbon dating to exact the time of death in concert with the phase of the moon. Both times the body was unearthed the corpse of Jack Random had managed to roll him self over and hide his face in shame.
Upon the exhumation of the body of Jack Random it was found that Jack Random had obviously been forgiven by his demons and reassumed his life's work known as the Jazz Chronicles. Jack Random disappeared in the back of a red Cadillac being driven by a mysterious figure from Alabama known only as that guy who writes those reports. That night in the sunset several spectators swore they saw Gram Parsons strumming a guitar and smoking a joint the size of Texas.
SEE THE MANSEL REPORT (www.chrismansel.com)
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
APOLOGY TO IKE (& Gonzo)
By Jack Random
It has been brought to my attention that it was Truman and not Eisenhower who made the decision to drop the big ones on Nagasaki and Hiroshima as I stated in a recent chronicle (Defending Dick Nixon). To be falsely accused of unleashing the horror of the millennia on an unsuspecting world, even fifty years after the fact, is simply inexcusable.
I feel like Hunter Thompson on a desolate highway somewhere in the Amargosa Desert. The highway patrol with its swirling red light and screaming siren is bearing down in the rear view mirror. I go through a checklist of must do activities in this circumstance: Hide incriminating evidence, assume a posture of calm sincerity and polite respect, license and registration, straighten the shades, take a breath. The officer pulls over, steps out of his patrol car and approaches, one hand on his pistol.
“Name?” he asks as I hand over the documents.
“Crap!” I reply. It is the one question for which I am not prepared.
As one who is profoundly appreciative of historical ironies, it is irony upon irony that I should forget that arguably the most important decision in history to date was made by a man who assumed the presidency only months before decision time. Roosevelt died and Truman stood in for the end of the war and the beginning of the Cold War era.
My personal theory is that the chemicals in our water supply and the trails that are being used to create artificial cloud covers are affecting the channels of my brain, leaving gaps and holes that may trigger a jump in the continuum of my knowledge at any given time. I am fearful that the mass consciousness is similarly afflicted. I am fearful that our senses are being dulled and our ability to see through the distractions, decoys and deceptions is being impaired.
If my theory is correct, the reader may begin to see an increase in the usual errors gradually glossed over while the underlying analytical process is increasingly diseased. You may find the chronicles defending international monetary policy and the occupation of Iraq. You may find the Jazzman attacking the liberal press and the radical fringe. You may find Random referring to himself in third person and advocating a constitutional amendment to enable a canonized president to serve a third and fourth term. Who needs an Arnold when you can have another round of Bush? Sin of all sins, you may find me defending the two party system as if it was enshrined in the constitution.
If these things come to pass, you will know my disease has progress too far. You have my permission in advance to put me out of my misery.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS CHRONICLES APPEAR ON THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE.COM, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE & OTHER SITES. SEE JACKRANDOM.COM. See Defending Dick Nixon on Albion Monitor (www.monitor.com).
It has been brought to my attention that it was Truman and not Eisenhower who made the decision to drop the big ones on Nagasaki and Hiroshima as I stated in a recent chronicle (Defending Dick Nixon). To be falsely accused of unleashing the horror of the millennia on an unsuspecting world, even fifty years after the fact, is simply inexcusable.
I feel like Hunter Thompson on a desolate highway somewhere in the Amargosa Desert. The highway patrol with its swirling red light and screaming siren is bearing down in the rear view mirror. I go through a checklist of must do activities in this circumstance: Hide incriminating evidence, assume a posture of calm sincerity and polite respect, license and registration, straighten the shades, take a breath. The officer pulls over, steps out of his patrol car and approaches, one hand on his pistol.
“Name?” he asks as I hand over the documents.
“Crap!” I reply. It is the one question for which I am not prepared.
As one who is profoundly appreciative of historical ironies, it is irony upon irony that I should forget that arguably the most important decision in history to date was made by a man who assumed the presidency only months before decision time. Roosevelt died and Truman stood in for the end of the war and the beginning of the Cold War era.
My personal theory is that the chemicals in our water supply and the trails that are being used to create artificial cloud covers are affecting the channels of my brain, leaving gaps and holes that may trigger a jump in the continuum of my knowledge at any given time. I am fearful that the mass consciousness is similarly afflicted. I am fearful that our senses are being dulled and our ability to see through the distractions, decoys and deceptions is being impaired.
If my theory is correct, the reader may begin to see an increase in the usual errors gradually glossed over while the underlying analytical process is increasingly diseased. You may find the chronicles defending international monetary policy and the occupation of Iraq. You may find the Jazzman attacking the liberal press and the radical fringe. You may find Random referring to himself in third person and advocating a constitutional amendment to enable a canonized president to serve a third and fourth term. Who needs an Arnold when you can have another round of Bush? Sin of all sins, you may find me defending the two party system as if it was enshrined in the constitution.
If these things come to pass, you will know my disease has progress too far. You have my permission in advance to put me out of my misery.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS CHRONICLES APPEAR ON THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE.COM, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE & OTHER SITES. SEE JACKRANDOM.COM. See Defending Dick Nixon on Albion Monitor (www.monitor.com).
Sunday, June 05, 2005
TAO 30: A Message for Our Leaders
He who knows how to guide a ruler in the path of Tao
Does not try to override the world with the force of arms.
It is in the nature of a military weapon to turn against its wielder.
Wherever armies are stationed, thorny bushes grow.
After a great war, bad years invariably follow.
What you want is to protect efficiently your own state.
But not to aim at self aggrandizement.
After you have attained your purpose
You must not parade your success,
You must not boast of your ability,
You must not feel proud,
You must rather regret that you had not been able to prevent war.
You must never think of conquering others by force.
For to be over-developed is to hasten decay.
And this is the Tao,
And what is against Tao will cease to be.
Lao Tzu,
Tao teh ching (XXX)
Does not try to override the world with the force of arms.
It is in the nature of a military weapon to turn against its wielder.
Wherever armies are stationed, thorny bushes grow.
After a great war, bad years invariably follow.
What you want is to protect efficiently your own state.
But not to aim at self aggrandizement.
After you have attained your purpose
You must not parade your success,
You must not boast of your ability,
You must not feel proud,
You must rather regret that you had not been able to prevent war.
You must never think of conquering others by force.
For to be over-developed is to hasten decay.
And this is the Tao,
And what is against Tao will cease to be.
Lao Tzu,
Tao teh ching (XXX)
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
STIR IT UP!
By Chris Mansel
Just a day after Memorial Day and the celebrating is over. A new story breaks about the suspected deep throat and the news wires and television erupt over his identity. Pundits get face time on television and the required stand-up message from the family is read. But in South Africa on Memorial Day over 6,000 people died of AIDS. In Iraq a child was too terrified to tell his parents about the soldier he saw poking a weapon into a car. In the streets of America a man sits in a truck on the Arizona border and waits for a man to cross the fence and illegally detain him at gunpoint until the authorities arrive. A woman dies trying to give birth by herself. Where is the holiday from suffering? If they could pick a day would it be observed? If a day off from work is all the public wants from Memorial day, Martin Luther King day, or New Year?s day then give them a day off. Give them every day they want off with pay and let an immigrant who doesn?t take a work day for granted do their work. This immigrant who came to America to escape starvation, or to escape torture, who is now in hiding in the same country that detained him in his home country. The land of the free and the home of the brave are but a melting pot stirred with someone else's hand.
SEE THE MANSEL REPORT
Just a day after Memorial Day and the celebrating is over. A new story breaks about the suspected deep throat and the news wires and television erupt over his identity. Pundits get face time on television and the required stand-up message from the family is read. But in South Africa on Memorial Day over 6,000 people died of AIDS. In Iraq a child was too terrified to tell his parents about the soldier he saw poking a weapon into a car. In the streets of America a man sits in a truck on the Arizona border and waits for a man to cross the fence and illegally detain him at gunpoint until the authorities arrive. A woman dies trying to give birth by herself. Where is the holiday from suffering? If they could pick a day would it be observed? If a day off from work is all the public wants from Memorial day, Martin Luther King day, or New Year?s day then give them a day off. Give them every day they want off with pay and let an immigrant who doesn?t take a work day for granted do their work. This immigrant who came to America to escape starvation, or to escape torture, who is now in hiding in the same country that detained him in his home country. The land of the free and the home of the brave are but a melting pot stirred with someone else's hand.
SEE THE MANSEL REPORT
Sunday, May 29, 2005
In Memorium: A Tribute to The Fallen
NOTE: JACK RANDOM WILL BE INTERVIEWED ON GORILLA RADIO MEMORIAL DAY 5PM PACIFIC TIME. WEBCAST AT http://cfuv.uvic.ca.
MEMORIAL DAY 2005
By Jack Random
It is Memorial Day. It is a time to remember those who have fallen in war. It is a time to pay tribute to the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in duty to country. It is a time to reflect on the absence of so many, on the sorrow and loneliness of those they left behind, and the contributions they might have made in fuller, richer lives.
On this Memorial Day, of all memorial days, it is a time to wonder why.
Today, there will be speeches in every town and city, in parades decorated with stars and stripes, in gatherings of uniformed veterans and the halls of the American Legion, giving praise to the nation’s best and bravest who gave their lives so that we might be free.
Here we must take pause and reflect that rhetoric has meaning and words can be employed to both good and harmful purpose. For too long we have nodded in thoughtless agreement to words that must be questioned for the good of our nation and the betterment of humankind.
It has been a long time since the end of World War II. While few would deny the justification and righteousness of that war, all subsequent military actions are far less clear. The history of intervention from the Cold War era (Korea, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Panama, Columbia, Lebanon, etc.) to the modern anti-terrorism era (Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq) is shrouded in doubt. Even the most loyal and patriotic historian will have difficulty rescuing the narrative of modern American warfare from the moral purgatory that former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara christened the “fog of war.”
Now, on this Memorial Day, as our troops are on the fields of battle in two foreign wars, let us finally take an honest account and a solemn oath that we will never again commit a single soldier to a cause of war that is neither necessary nor justified.
We can no longer place our faith in the leaders of both major parties who accede to war at every calling. If ever there was a clear example of unnecessary and unjustified war, we are currently engaged in it. It is one thing to hold accountable an administration so bent on war it twisted intelligence and tailored facts to its own design, yet what can be said of an opposition party that instantly threw up its hands in unison once the bombs began to rain on Baghdad?
I do not believe that any man or woman, in war or civilian life, dies in vain. People die in vain only when the lessons of their fallen lives are not learned by those who survive them.
The lessons of every soldier lost and wounded in the land of ancient Mesopotamia are that we cannot rule the world by virtue of our might; that we cannot make a cause righteous when it is founded on lies and deceptions; that we cannot right a wrong by continuing the abuse to its bitter end; and that we cannot trust our own government on the critical matter of war.
Let us pay tribute to our fallen soldiers by withdrawing those who have survived, by granting amnesty to those who have abandoned an immoral cause, by dismantling our military bases, by making just reparations and by declaring an end to this modern day crusade.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS CHRONICLES APPEAR ON BUZZLE.COM, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE & OTHER SITES.
MEMORIAL DAY 2005
By Jack Random
It is Memorial Day. It is a time to remember those who have fallen in war. It is a time to pay tribute to the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in duty to country. It is a time to reflect on the absence of so many, on the sorrow and loneliness of those they left behind, and the contributions they might have made in fuller, richer lives.
On this Memorial Day, of all memorial days, it is a time to wonder why.
Today, there will be speeches in every town and city, in parades decorated with stars and stripes, in gatherings of uniformed veterans and the halls of the American Legion, giving praise to the nation’s best and bravest who gave their lives so that we might be free.
Here we must take pause and reflect that rhetoric has meaning and words can be employed to both good and harmful purpose. For too long we have nodded in thoughtless agreement to words that must be questioned for the good of our nation and the betterment of humankind.
It has been a long time since the end of World War II. While few would deny the justification and righteousness of that war, all subsequent military actions are far less clear. The history of intervention from the Cold War era (Korea, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Panama, Columbia, Lebanon, etc.) to the modern anti-terrorism era (Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq) is shrouded in doubt. Even the most loyal and patriotic historian will have difficulty rescuing the narrative of modern American warfare from the moral purgatory that former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara christened the “fog of war.”
Now, on this Memorial Day, as our troops are on the fields of battle in two foreign wars, let us finally take an honest account and a solemn oath that we will never again commit a single soldier to a cause of war that is neither necessary nor justified.
We can no longer place our faith in the leaders of both major parties who accede to war at every calling. If ever there was a clear example of unnecessary and unjustified war, we are currently engaged in it. It is one thing to hold accountable an administration so bent on war it twisted intelligence and tailored facts to its own design, yet what can be said of an opposition party that instantly threw up its hands in unison once the bombs began to rain on Baghdad?
I do not believe that any man or woman, in war or civilian life, dies in vain. People die in vain only when the lessons of their fallen lives are not learned by those who survive them.
The lessons of every soldier lost and wounded in the land of ancient Mesopotamia are that we cannot rule the world by virtue of our might; that we cannot make a cause righteous when it is founded on lies and deceptions; that we cannot right a wrong by continuing the abuse to its bitter end; and that we cannot trust our own government on the critical matter of war.
Let us pay tribute to our fallen soldiers by withdrawing those who have survived, by granting amnesty to those who have abandoned an immoral cause, by dismantling our military bases, by making just reparations and by declaring an end to this modern day crusade.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS CHRONICLES APPEAR ON BUZZLE.COM, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE & OTHER SITES.
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