Hit the Streets of D.C.! Again!

Demonstrate in Washington DC on March 17th. http://www.gsfp.org/article.php?id=333

Only street level opposition will stop this bloodbath.

Demonstrations, General Strikes, national work & school walk-outs. Take over the damn Dean's offices again! The rich war profiteers and their lackeys are licking their chops about the endless profits they can reap from endless Mideast War, no matter how many poor people have to die. Momentum is real and builds slowly but surely. Never underestimate the power of your own contribution -- even if it's only typing on a laptop. Raising consciousness is a necessary and powerful action. Also it's great to be visible (and LOUD). Now is the time to hit the streets like they did in the '60's. This could be FAR worse than Vietnam if we don't ground this smirking frat boy (and his juvenile Neocon puppetmasters) and take away his war toys.

Compassion over Cruelty

"Resist much. Obey little." Edward Abbey.

Has anyone noticed that "cruelty chic" is being foisted on us in a big way via the media?

Consider the rash of "horror" -- but really "torture" -- movies we've been subjected to: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Hostel, Saw (I & II) the repugnant Wolf Creek, just to name a few. "torture porn" has become a new genre; one that neatly meshes with the needs of an imperial goverment for desensitized, brutal cannon fodder.

We can still stop this war though; we need to hit the streets and turn up the heat against these dead souls just like we did during Vietnam. The fascist's biggest problem is the population's inborn feelings of empathy towards those we drop white phosphorus on while they sleep (Fallujah) and whom we murder indiscriminately.

The media/government use torture porn to bulldoze our empathy; we can short-circuit their brainwashing attempts by keeping our compassion alive and getting politically involved.

Hit the Streets!

Demonstrate in Washington DC on January 27th.

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/index.php

Only street level opposition will stop this bloodbath. Demonstrations, General Strikes, national work & school walk-outs. Take over the damn Dean's offices again! The rich war profiteers and their lackeys are licking their chops about the endless profits they can reap from endless Mideast War, no matter how many poor people have to die. Momentum is real and builds slowly but surely. Never underestimate the power of your own contribution -- even if it's only typing on a laptop. Raising consciousness is a necessary and powerful action. Also it's great to be visible (and LOUD). Now is the time to hit the streets like they did in the '60's. This could be FAR worse than Vietnam if we don't ground this smirking frat boy (and his juvenile Neocon puppetmasters) and take away his war toys.

Letter to McCain

Dear Senator McCain,

I hope you will reconsider your support of this illegal war. We have become the Soviet Union under Stalin, complete with torture Gulags. You have undergone torture, so you of all people must understand what our future captive serviceman will face, if we continue to condone it ourselves.

I am literally sickened by the images I see on the internet of the men, women, and children -- on both sides of this disgusting mess -- who continue to be summarily slaughtered every single hour of the day (of course none of this is shown on the Nightly News). They have no names and no histories -- they are just statistics since we are also not permitted to see their mutilated corpses buried in roadside graves or their coffins returning to this country.

Some mornings I wake up literally disoriented as to which country I am living in. It feels like a Twilight Zone episode where someone made a bargain with the devil and the course of history of a good country was forever altered -- to the dark side. Why can't you see and admit to the injustice of this epic failure of a war? How can you possibly support the insane idea of sending 21,000 more young people into this meaningless meat grinder?

Please wake up, Senator. We need to take our country back from the madmen currently driving us into hell.

Thanksgiving thoughts

Thanksgiving always creeps me out. Not only does it summon visions of Native American genocide, it also brings to mind the cruel and unnecessary slaughter of millions of harmless Turkeys. The year-round, relentless daily slaughter of millions of animals -- which hardens both arteries and hearts -- creates a culture of slaughter and desensitizes us to the pain and suffering we needlessly inflict on innocent animals and -- this time 'round -- the citizens of Iraq.

I've been wondering lately how Fox news -- given a time machine -- would have covered the genocide of the Native Americans: "War on the Savages! Freedom on the March" or something equally vile. The same media that screamed and clamored like homicidal banshees for this war to commence -- Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC --now maintain a coy reticence in the face of daily bloodbaths against American military personnel and Iraqis on a scale of hyper-violence that would make Clive Barker faint. We rely on Iraqi citizens to give us a true picture of this genocidal campaign from street level. This is truly underground resistance video, and these videographers are heroes of humanity. The owners of the US & British mainstream media, on the other hand, should receive embossed invitations to the same necktie party that the NeoCons and the Bushbaby will ultimately attend -- at the Hague.

The Thumping

I'm not trying to be cynical - I think it's awesome that the Dems are back in, but it's naive to forget what kind of society we really live in -- a corporate plutocracy, not a true democracy.

In a true democracy 6 things would happen within the first month of the Dems assumption of power:

1) An immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq and their replacement by a UN monitoring force until the civil war has subsided.

2) The immediate closure of the American run torture-gulags -- from Gitmo to Abu Ghraib and all the secret CIA run ones -- and the immediate release of all illegally held & tortured prisoners.

3) War Crimes trials for the primary architects of the Iraq & Afghanistan wars, the Neoconservatives: Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, Scooter Libby, David Frum, Ari Fleischer, Dick Cheney, Rummy, Colin Powell, Condi "The Dark Queen" Rice and Chucklenuts* Bush himself. (Others too whose names escape me at the moment.)

4) Immediate nullification of the Military Commissions Act, which has stripped every American of Habeus Corpus rights.

5) Immediate nuillification of the Patriot Act, which is the exact opposite of patriotic.

6) An all-out investigation -- with full subpoena power granted to the investigators -- of the 911 massacre & hoax.

None of these things will happen, but it's still great to see the Neocons get bitch-slapped anyway.

Here's a good article by the editor of Truthout, William Rivers Pitt:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110906Z.shtml


*Thanks to Mike Malloy for this apt description of our Loser in Chief.

It's All Connected

LETTERS TO GOV'T OFFICIALS IN JAPAN AND ICELAND RE: WHALING

RE: BARBARIC INDUSTRIES

Dear Sir,

My wife and I were considering a visit to Iceland this year until we learned that whaling, i.e. the brutal slaughter of magnificent, sentient beings, is still sanctioned by the Icelandic government. We have been on many whale watches, from Massacusetts to Hawaii, and have witnessed these amazing beings in their natural habitats. They are family oriented, playful, and beautiful.

Why, in this post-modern age -- where blubber and whale oil are no longer essential to human survival -- any country would deem it necessary to engage in the most foul and unnecessary "industry" of butchering whales is a mind-boggling mystery to anyone with even a modicum of reverence for life.

Please re-consider your policy of hunting whales; they have a right to life, and surely there are more honorable ways to make a buck than murdering peaceful, slow-moving mammals.

655,000 Dead Iraqis

"A single death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic." -- Joseph Stalin

"The Department of Defense always regrets the loss of any innocent life in Iraq or anywhere else," said Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros. "The coalition takes enormous precautions to prevent civilian deaths and injuries."

What a relief that our Defense Department regrets this loss of innocent life. I wonder how the Colonel would feel if one of his family or friends were among these poor bastards whose deaths we took such "enormous precautions" to prevent.

I'm ashamed to be an American.

Another US Genocide in Iraq

655,000 and counting. Meaningless numbers to soul-dead polticians. The genocide in Iraq is reminiscent of the slaughter of Native Americans, only this time thousands of miles away, providing an emotional "buffer zone" for IPod-encased zombie Americans. We truly have made a bloody slaughterhouse of this beautiful world, and greed is at the root of it all. The only hope for preventing future Iraqs is the dismantling of the Raytheons and Lockheed Martins and the General Electric's. Anyone who works for or has their retirement portfolio invested in the laughingly labeled "Defense" industry has the blood 655,000 Iraqis -- over 95% of them civilians -- on their hands.

War is Over if you Want It

If people are determined to make a hell of their brief time on this planet, nothing can stop them. Those with the ability to get out of war zones should do so. Anyone who can assist in helping those without the means to get out of war zones should do so. Wars will never end until consciousness changes and weapons are not so widespread. In the mean time, sane, creative people have to evacuate from places where this sad product of our primitive brains runs rampant and find sanctuary wherever they can among the many communities around the world that reject Us/Them thinking.

It is not cowardly to honor your creative potential and claim your right to live in peace. CSN&Y said it well in the '60's "We are leaving, you don't need us."

Don't waste your breath and energy trying to convince the death-mongers that there's a better way; it's the only path their withered souls can walk.

Military-Industrial Complex Ho's

The problem with the military-industrial complex is that the pay's so good. I know a perfectly "nice" guy who programs tracking systems for fighter jets. He works at Raytheon in central Massachusetts, lives in a nice and big and boring McMansion, and has gentle manners. He enjoys art and listens to everything from hip-hop to Mozart -- a very cultured dude. Probably pulls down $100,000/year. These people are the heart and soul of the war machine, and there are hundreds of thousands of them in the USA, well-hidden behind their cloaks of respectability. They put yellow ribbons on their bumpers and politely decline to discuss the war in public. If they ever connected the dots from their fat paychecks to Iraqi babies dying in agony from the white phosphorus sizzling into their skin, white phosphorus their "good German" programming skills enabled US pilots to drop so precisely at night on sleeping Iraqi families, these people may puke the next time they look in the mirrors of their SUV's.

As Bob Dylan wrote many years ago in "Master's of War":

"You who fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul."

Until we start convincing workers tempted by the fat blood-money paychecks offered by the military-industrial complex to do something better with their lives, war after war will continue to be shoved down our throats.

The Heel on Our Necks

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." -- From President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Speech (1961)

Eisenhower's farewell speech warned us about the dangers of the unchecked growth of the military-industrial complex. Today we are experiencing the full blast of his worst-case scenario. How do most people react to the heel of President Cheney on their necks? (Bush is his finger puppet). Denial is still the best medicine it seems. It's hard to believe that a conscience-less tyrant like Cheney is representing us on the world stage, so we prefer to focus instead on the chances for our favorite team this year, or what's up with Ben and Jennifer. It's understandable, but each one of us who is alive to the cruelty and dishonor of the most criminal political regime our country has ever suffered under has to dig deep and do something; write, protest, talk to your friends, hit the streets. It's the only thing that will stop Cheney and the Neo-cons from killing hundreds of thousands more while tapping our phones, secretly monitoring the library books we check out, and scouring poor neighborhoods for fresh teenage blood for their next genocide -- in Iran.

He Was Such a Nice Boy

The mass denial that now exists in this country regarding the guilt of our "leaders" in the pre-meditated murder of their own countrymen on 9-11 is reminiscent of those neighbors you always see on the news who can never -- no matter how often they've seen the same thing happen to other people time and time again -- bring themselves to believe that the nice boy next door would be capable of slaughtering the entire Smith family.This phenomena leads me to conclude that a course in Psych 101 should be mandatory for every citizen. Every human being has a dark side, and the lure of money and power can be overpowering, especially in a land where basic needs like health care and a living wage go so widely unmet. Social Darwinism ensures that those who attain high places in say, the military or the defense industry, have already self-selected out of the common bell curve of human compassion. These are not the candidates for self-actualization via a class in creative writing or by volunteering at the soup kitchen; these are the hard-grabbers. Cheney's chilling snarl exemplifies this worldview of gloves-off rapacity. These are the types justifying the war in Iraq, and these are the types capable of planning and executing 9-11. They may indeed be your next door neighbors, but that doesn't mean they're innocent.

The Sour Elite (with apologies to C. Wright Mill)

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, you can't take part. And you've got to put your body upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop."-- Mario Savio (1964)

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre." – Frank Zappa, (1977)

Note to reader: I am a New Yorker (born in Queens) who worked within ½ mile of the twin towers for 4 years.

I therefore take the attacks of 9-11 personally, and am amazed that every newspaper and TV station in America didn’t immediately cry "Foul!" after the towers exploded (so cinematically) and collapsed (so symmetrically). It also felt like a gigantic con-job was unfolding when a lumbering commercial airliner (allegedly – more likely a cruise missile) smashed into the Pentagon, so impossibly unopposed.

Does anyone actually believe that the professionals manning our trillion-plus dollar military defense system -- who knew the planes were heading towards both NYC and Washington D.C. way ahead of time – really couldn’t get their act together enough to protect the central nervous system of the nation’s greatest city and the planet’s most well-protected military headquarters? It’s a scenario that would end up on the cutting room floor as "too unbelievable" if it was proposed for a B movie.

We all know that if a school boy tried to fly so much as a $2.00 kite near the Pentagon, it would automatically be accompanied by a bristling escort of F-14's in about five minutes. They – and I mean American "theys" – obviously allowed the planes (and missile) to hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. And to make sure that their attacks were spectacular and deadly enough to spark worldwide outrage, they also demolished the twin towers and building 7 with pre-placed explosives.

Consider Building 7; it is the most glaring mistake the planners made and, therefore, the event most totally ignored by the media. Building 7 was a 47 story steel structure that was never even scratched by a plane on 9-11. It fell straight to the ground, collapsing neatly in on itself without causing any damage to adjacent real estate, in under 10 seconds. The only plausible explanations for this astounding event is controlled demolition, a process that takes days, even weeks, of advance preparation. However, since the collapse of building 7 couldn’t be explained away by blaming Muslims, it was tacitly deemed a non-event and went virtually unreported by the major networks. Read even more about this embarrassing screw-up by the sour elite at http://www.wtc7.net/.

Why would a government murder it’s own citizens? To justify a protracted and wildly profitable series of oil wars (a.k.a "make-work" projects for the defense and re-construction industries) in the Middle East. And to begin the political takeover of the Arab world, a scenario dreamed up by the most right-wing members of BushCo , (who have documented ties to the Likud party; Sharon & co.) Note; there are many anti-war groups in Israel whose message is being stonewalled by the mainstream media over there. Israeli citizens who oppose militarism are being muzzled as effectively by the Israeli media as American peace activists are by our "fair and balanced" networks.

Anyone who scoffs at the notion that our sainted Generals, Politicians, and Captains of Industry are capable of such treasonous atrocities should study the Northwood Documents, a plan authorized in the early 1960's to fake the shoot-down of a jet filled with college students and blame it on Cuba, thus giving the US an excuse to go after Castro. Read about this and other fake attacks (such as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident which started the Vietnam war) designed to make the defense contractors richer and to further hidden political agendas here:http://www.attackonamerica.net/operationnorthwoods.htm

In order to prevent the deaths of countless more Americans and Iraqis, it is our duty as citizens to demand a truly independent investigation into the 9-11 attacks. The "official" story is the shaky base that supports the entire teetering stack of BushCo’s justifications for the war; we need to yank this base out and conduct a true investigation, thereby forcing this bogus war to come crashing to an end as soon as humanly possible. The two 9-11 investigations that have already occurred have been an insult to everyone’s intelligence. This enormous unsolved crime — one that happened in broad daylight in what are usually the two most ferociously guarded airspaces in America; New York City and Washington D.C. – continues to motivate young recruits to kill and be killed every single day. It is a tragedy and a high crime; one for which powerful Americans must be held accountable.

Until we have an authentic investigation, one that will inevitably expose very influential men and women at the highest levels of the American corporate, military, and political pecking orders, this war will continue to metastasize, slaughtering many more thousands while making the tiny clique of 9-11 planners who faked us into it even wealthier than they already are.

Please get involved: A good place to start is by reading The New Pearl Harbor by David Ray Griffin and by watching The Great Conspiracy; the 9-11 News Special you Never Saw by Barry Zwicker. Write letters to the heads of the weapons manufacturers listed below and let them know you see through their blood-for-money rackets.

Then ask how they manage to stomach themselves when they look in the mirror.

Write to newspaper, TV, and radio editors demanding an end to the media blackout of alternative 9-11 views (of which there is a large and ever-growing, evidence-based library). Check out the websites listed and connect with the 9-11 skeptics movement.*

Connect the dots; 9-11 was a self-inflicted attack that gave the defense, oil, government, and re-construction fat-cats the excuse they needed to get richer than their wildest dreams by unleashing their arsenals.

We are being played for saps by the sour elite; they are using a constant barrage of fear – courtesy of their bought off news networks – to silence our critical faculties and to make us ashamed to question the "official" 9-11 conspiracy theory.

It’s time to grow a spine and fight back.

*Great 9-11 websites:
www.911truth.org
www.911citizenswatch.com
www.911busters.com
www.hugequestions.com

Top War Profiteers

See who's getting fat off the blood of our countrymen: (Thank you WarProfiteers.com)For more information go to www.warprofiteers.com or www.corpwatch.orgThe following Chief Executives are the top recipients of U.S. military dollars:David J. Lesar, CEO, Kellogg, Brown & Root (subsidiary of Halliburton) 2003 military contracts revenue: $3.9 billion. Runs US military bases in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Djibouti, Georgia, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey and Uzbekistan, built Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prisons, South Vietnam & Diego Garcia military bases.Vance D. Coffman, CEO, Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Maryland.2002 Salary: $25.3 millionCampaign Contributions in 2002: $9.7 million, Military Contracts 2000-2003: $69.1 billion. Products: F-16, F/A-22 jet fighters, C-130J air transport, Hellfire, Javelin missilesPhilip M. Condit, CEO, Boeing of Chicago, Illinois. 2002 Salary: $4.1 million. Campaign Contributions in 2002: $1.6 million, Military Contracts 2000-2003: $60 billion. Products: F-15 fighter, C-17 air transport, Apache Helicopter, JDAM "smart" bombs.William H. Swanson, CEO, Raytheon of Lexington, Massachusetts. 2002 Salary: $8.9 million, Military contracts 2000-2002: $27.5 billion. Products: Patriot & Tomahawk missiles, "Bunker Buster" bombRonald Sugar, CEO, Northrop Grumman of Los Angeles, CA. 2002 Salary: $1.5 million, military contracts 2000-2002: $34.6 billion (including TRW)Products: B-2 stealth bomber, amphibious assault shipsNicholas D Chabraja, CEO, General Dynamics of Fall Church, Virginia. 2002 Salary: $15.2 million. Campaign Contributions in 2002: $1.64 million, Military Contracts 2000-2002: $25 billion. Products: Abrams M1 tanks, Trident submarinesGeorge David, CEO, United Technologies of Hartford, Connecticut2002 Salary: $9.7 million, Military contracts 2000-2002: $9.8 billion. Products: Black Hawk, Sea Hawk, Comanche helicoptersJohn F. Welch, Jr., CEO, General Electric of Fairfield. Connecticut. 2002 Salary: $15.1 million.Paul V. Lombardi, CEO, DynCorpOwned by Computer Sciences Corporation of El Segundo, California Campaign Contributions in 2002: $221,350, Military Contracts 2000-2003: $5.5 billion. Products: Rent-a-cops in Afghanistan, Bosnia & Iraq, US-Mexico border, defoliation missions in Colombia.

A Clarion Call to Anyone with Clout

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."– Ed Abbey, author of The Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire.

I am writing as a concerned citizen who is frankly amazed by the fact that American print and media journalists have largely ignored – either by conscious editorial fiat or a simple lack of curiosity (or plain old fear) a social phenomenon that many thousands of patriotic Americans – including more than 50 victim’s of 9-11 family members – are becoming involved in; I refer to the the 9-11 Truth movement (http://www.911truth.org)./

It is my fervent hope that as a result of this letter, patriotic Americans -- especially those who have some clout -- will take the time to really study the compelling arguments made in recent books and videos, especially the ones listed below, and tell as many people you know about them. Even more fervent is my hope that another Clarence Darrow will emerge from the legal system to begin indicting the murderers who are currently ruling – and ruining – our country.While researchers may disagree on some details about 9-11, many, including Professor David Ray Griffin http://www.garlicandgrass.org/issue6/PerfectCircle_Griffin.cfm and former Bush administration Chief Economist Morgan Reynolds http://www.lewrockwell.com/reynolds/reynolds12.html do agree about one huge fact: it was our own government who assisted the cold-blooded murders of 3000 American citizens on September 11, 2001.

Yes, this is a horrible and unthinkable thought. But does that mean it’s false? After studying the mountains of damning evidence over a three year period, the researchers below can say with confidence – NO.

Why would our government do such a thing? As a much needed excuse to launch a huge, open-ended, and previously planned war. The motive? Billions of dollars for weapons manufacturers and oil companies, and the demonization of the Muslim world to provide an excuse to occupy their oil and gas rich lands. So far they have been hugely successful – most Americans are looking under their beds for terrorists before turning out the lights at night. But anyone whose mind isn’t hermetically sealed against the truth should really bother to read or watch one of the items listed below. They will discover that the real murderers of 3000 people in the twin towers, the Pentagon, and Shankseville, PA that day were not living in the caves of Afghanistan or on the streets of Baghdad, but in the White House. And since that day, 1500 American soldiers, and God knows how many tens of thousands or Afghans and Iraqis – have been added to their death toll in war they justify by pointing to an atrocity they themselves engineered – 9-11.

As a New Yorker by birth, I am especially determined to help in the effort to bring the true murderers of 9-11 to justice, no matter where the trail leads. At the time of this writing, March 5, 2005, the killers and their accomplices who perpetrated the most horrific massacre of all time on American soil are, to quote Bob Dylan "free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise." I don’t know about you, but the thought of this makes me sick.

There is nothing as healing as the truth, and as a nation we are sorely in need of relief from the deafening silence emanating from our major media about the greatest self-inflicted calamity in American history. But this healing is impossible without the help of ‘braveheart" American citizen's with clout. The highest mission of journalism is, according to H.L. Mencken, "to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." If our "free"press doesn’t begin breaking this terrible silence, we can all look forward to an endless succession of 9-11's, courtesy of the military-industrial complex.Here is a short list of excellent books, videos, and websites about the 9-11 attacks:Books: The New Pearl Harbor, by R. Griffin, Painful Questions, by Eric HufschmidVideos: The Great Deception, by Barry Zwicker, Painful Deceptions, by Eric Hufschmid.

Websites:

http://www.911truth.org,/
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/

9-11 and the Untapped Power of Art

There have already been some powerful artistic responses to the 9-11 calamity, but not enough to make a serious dent in the official story for most Americans. The US government officials who planned and carried out this hoax knew that the emotional power of their atrocity would overwhelm rational debate and create, with the unstinting help of the bought and paid for mass-media, a thoroughly compliant public more than willing to sacrifice a few civil rights and –and their sons and daughters too – to confiscate mideast oil and slaughter Moslem resistance fighters wherever they may roam.Their trump card was, and still is, the emotional response they evoked by their 9-11 massacre, emotions which continue to surge to this day, even in the face of the ever-rising sea of evidence pointing to Bush, Cheney and their leather-winged neocon minions as the true perpetrators of 9-11.

The 9-11 movement, for all it’s incredible research and talent, is still making the mistake of attempting to use mere reason to convince their fellow Americans (and the world) of the truth of it’s evidence. If mere reason were enough to inspire a population into action, our government would have simply argued their case for invading the Mideast and stealing their oil via their CNN, ABC, CBS and FOX affiliates, and we would have all agreed that yes, in order to keep our Humvees on the road and to make multi-billionaires of the banking, oil, media, defense and government fat-cats, that yes, thousand of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis would indeed have to die, and that would be that.Unfortunately for us, human psychology doesn’t work that way. As an example, take my friend , who for the purpose of this essay I’ll call Sam.

Sam has been listening to my harangues about 9-11 for 3 years now. He usually nods in agreement whenever some new outrage – such as the likelihood that the Twin Towers were demolished by explosives – is brought to light by a 9-11 researcher. Sam will curse long at hard at Wolfowitz, Perle, and the entire neocon snake pit until he’s ready to stroke whenever I mention the impossibility of Osama ordering our entire trillion-plus dollar air defense system to stand down on 9-11. Occasionally when I’m with Sam at a public gathering, however, his skepticism suddenly recoils and he reverts back to a good ol’ Arab hating, flag waving, war-promoting super-patriot.

My conclusion is that the stark horror of 9-11, coupled with years of unceasing media reinforcement promoting the government’s fairytale, has been hammered down so deep and for so long into so many Americans that nothing, short of equally strong barrages of emotionally-charged experiences – i.e Art – promoting the 9-11 truth movement’s version of events, will convince Americans of our own government’s guilt in the events of that godawful day.We need movies. We need novels. We need music, art, poetry, dance. Painting, operas, plays.

But especially movies.

Let’s face it, today the movies are the most influential and widespread artistic medium, period. Imagine a film about 9-11 (from a 9-11 truth perspective of course) of the quality, depth, and power of say, "The Perfect Storm." A movie of that calibre would be the most effective way to get our message out. More powerful than technical essays about shaped charges and impossible cell phone calls, more useful than endless rounds of 9-11 chatroom flaming.

Screenwriters and Directors of America: don’t let fear stand in the way of expressing your deepest suspicions about 9-11! Let it all hang out; rock our worlds, don’t be afraid to shock us. We’ve survived 9-11 and we can survive the truth. Because no matter how loathsome and treasonous the truth about 9-11 might be, and no matter how cliched it sounds, truth – delivered with strong emotion – is still the only thing that will set us free.

Talk to a Teenager

Try to convince one teenager in the next month not to join the army/navy/air force/marines. Not only will you save more than one life (the kid's and however many Middle Easterners he eventually kills), you'll also be helping America. This is 2006. We should no longer be invading other countries and killing their citizens in their homes. This is madness and barbarism. American values do not include dropping white phosphorus -- worse than napalm -- on people who are upset that we are on their land. Don't believe our troops are capable of such things? See this short video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1124770688802666702&q=secret&pl=true

How do you feel when someone occupies the parking space you've spent 2 hours digging out from the latest blizzard? Pissed off? I'm guessing that's about how others feel when we occupy their country -- only 1o million times worse. America should be a Republic, not an Empire. Empires are cruel and stupid and never last. Republics are self-contained, encourage innovation, and endure for centuries.Most teenager's minds are open enough to listen to an adult with a compassionate world-view. You may be the one to prevent him or her from traveling down the path to become a state sanctioned killer, a path that commonly leads to lifelong bouts of guilt, depression, and other PTSD related miseries. Even if they are lucky enough to survive the war, many will commit suicide; either quickly with a gun or slowly with drugs and booze.

See What's Really Happening in Iraq for Once

Other people can't read our minds, they can only interpret our words and our deeds. Our thoughts are forever a mystery to other people in the world. They have no choice but to guess why we do what we do. To others, our actions define us. To ourselves, our thoughts, memories, plans and dreams contain more reality than our daily activity in the world.As I shake my head in disbelief these days, trying to fathom the mentality of those in charge of this tragic and revolting war, it occurs to me that Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Rice, ad nauseum must believe in the higher justice of their actions, at least a little. They are, after all, simply following the ideas of their guru Leo Strauss, who believed that it was often necessary for those in power to outright lie to the public in order to achieve political dominance.

Here's an excerpt about Leo Strauss from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia:Strauss noted that thinkers of the first rank, going back to Plato, had raised the problem of whether good and effective politicians could be completely truthful and still achieve the necessary ends of their society. By implication, Strauss asks his readers to consider whether "noble lies" (Plato) have any role at all to play in uniting and guiding the cities of man. Are certain, unprovable "myths" taught by wise leaders needed to give most people meaning and purpose and to ensure a stable society? Or can society flourish on a foundation of those "deadly truths" (Nietzsche) limited to what we can know absolutely?

Therefore, if lying is an essential part of the code of your philosophical guru, there is no need to feel guilty about doing it over and over again. This may be the only reason the aforementioned war criminals -- er, "wise leaders" -- haven't already fallen on their swords in shame.

Shame is certainly a feeling I have been experiencing on a regular basis these past 3 years since "Mission Accomplished." Especially after seeing Dahr Jamail's war photos. Every American should take the time to see how about 1/3 of their take home pay is being spent.

Every human being -- no matter what country they happened to be born into -- should take the time to understand what really happens in a war. Hopefully these photos will help counteract the gung-ho movies, videogames, and military recruiting commercials that glorify the act of murdering men, women and children.

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album28&page=1

These photos don't show the horribly mutilated bodies of American soldiers. Those are much harder to come by. Out of sight, out of mind is the US government's policy. We are being treated like mushrooms; kept in the dark and fed shit.

Free Videos Everyone Should See

Below are links to videos that -- if you still believe the US government's particular conspiracy theory about 9-11 -- will be a profoundly disorienting experience for you.


http://www.911revisited.com/video.html

http://question911.com/linkout.phpfilename=Painful%20Deceptions%20-%20An%20Analysis%20of%20the%20911%20Attack%20part%201.wmv

Folks, we've been scammed by the neo-cons. We have to act to get our country back.