FREE THE SHMINISTIM – ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

Show your support for these brave young people by signing the letter at http://december18th.org/

Send Bush Your Shoes

Send Bush Your Shoes!

America: We were unable to give President [sic] Bush the boot, but we *can* give him the shoe!

It is time to carpet the lawn of the White House and carpet both the lawns of Bush's new homes.
What better way to stand in solidarity with Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi?

Send virtual shoes, too! A CLG reader wrote, 'I urge everyone around the world who thinks it appropriate to email George Bush at president@whitehouse.gov a picture of a shoe.'

Contacting the White House

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

10151/10141 Daria Place
Dallas, TX 75229

Damn, He Missed!

Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi shouts "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," and hurls his shoes at Bush during his press conference in Baghdad.

(Reuters)

In the Arab world, merely displaying the soles of ones shoes (e.g. putting your feet up) is considered quite rude. To actually throw them at someone is a major insult. When Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled after the invasion, many in the crowd threw shoes at the fallen statue.

Deny, Deny, Deny!

Today's International Herald-Tribune editorial about Bush's recent interview on ABC begins: "We long ago gave up hope that President Bush would acknowledge his many mistakes, or show he had learned anything from them. Even then we were unprepared for the epic denial that Bush displayed..."

Indeed! I think Bush took his cue from the 1967 movie A Guide for the Married Man.

Did Mumbai Attackers Have Inside Help?

Were Mumbai Police ordered to stand down and not fire on the attackers?



In an interview with Jerome Taylor, Sebastian D'Souza, a picture editor at the Mumbai Mirror and witness to the attacks said the police he saw did not attempt to engage the attackers.

But what angered Mr D'Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. "There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything," he said. "At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back."

There are many differences between the US and India, but whether it's Mumbai or Miami, when you shoot at cops, they shoot back. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to. Why would Mumbai Police not return fire against the attackers unless there was a stand down order? And if that was the case, who gave that order?

Just asking...

Don't Blame Me - I Didn't Vote For Him

(click pic for story)

Change we can believe in? I don't think so!

Wake Up America! A Coup Took Place Oct 1

In this (28 min) vid, Naomi Wolf makes the case that the deployment of US Army troops on American soil amounts to a coup.



For some time I have feared (among various nightmare scenarios) another 911-type event, this one blamed on domestic terrorists. (Like the ones Obama's been pallin' around with?) Could we see an "October surprise" which results in martial law and/or cancellation of the elections?The troops are now ready to round up patriots who object. The polls are indicating too many states would have to be rigged to let the neocons keep power. How far will they go in order to keep Obabma out of the White House?

Sarah Palin - USA's #1 Energy Expert?

That's what McCain said in an interview. I couldn't believe my ears, so I had to listen to it twice. When asked about Palin's national security qualifications, he actually said: "She knows more about energy than probably anybody else in the Unites States."

Click here to watch the video.

Bin Laden To Be October Surprise?

US propaganda outlet Voice of America is calling the recent raids inside Pakistan a "Bin Laden Hunt."

I can't help but wonder if they're planning to attempt to salvage W's legacy and produce an October surprise by claiming to have captured or killed bin Laden.

That he's been dead for years doesn't matter. Recent history shows the sheeple will believe anything if the corporate media repeats it enough.

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another?

Reuters reports the latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows McCain with a four point lead over Obama.

Could the American public really want to continue the disaster of the past two terms? I'm not buying it. I think the electorate is being softened up to believe the results of another rigged election.

Jesse Ventura - A True American Patriot

Governor Jesse, speaking to the Ron Paul convention in Minnesota

Part 1



Part 2

Key 9/11 Witness "Commits Suicide"

From the good people at Brasscheck TV



Bombs in the basement

The Daily News reported yesterday that Kenny Johannemann - a key witness in the WTC 9/11 bombings - recently committed suicide.

I call him a key witness because in spite of aggressive prodding from reporters about "the planes," he clearly called what happened on the upper floors of the World Trade Center "explosions."

More important, Johannemann reported a massive explosion in the basement of one of the Twin Towers and rescuing someone who received full body burns from an explosion that took place at the base - not the top - of the building.

(The Daily News obscured this part of the story in their report today.)

The suicide note purportedly left by Johannemann stated that he had "lost friends and family" over "his drinking" which the letter attributes to his depression since 9/11.

Here is the entire text of the note as reported in the Daily News:

"The reason I killed myself was 'cause I was getting evicted and can't handle homelessness. I was also very depressed since 9/11. I've been drinking way too much and it's ruined my life. I've lost friends and family over drinking and I'm very lonely. There is nothing left for me to be happy about other than my cat. Sounds weird, but it's true. I just wanted to say I'm sorry 2 any people I ever hurt in my life. I really was a good person when I wasn't drinking. I hope people remember that.

Goodbye!!!

Kenny Johannemann"

I wonder if the person who wrote this suicide note bothered to spend any time listening to Johannemann speak.

Johannemann had a large extended family and large social network which, according to his cousin Gerald Maya, universally held him in high regard. Maya had offered him a place to live.

You have to ask yourself two things:

1. Would a man shoot himself in the head because he faced eviction when he had a family and social safety net like that?

2. Would someone as well spoken as Johannemann demonstrated himself to be on live TV, write a suicide note that sounds more like a teen aged boy's text message than a grown man's final testament?

Keep in mind that there are other people, more visible than Johannemann, who are actively telling the same story he did in public venues. You can bet that Johannemann's "suicide" has sent them a message loud and clear about their safety or lack of it.

Jon Stewart Exposes Fox "News" (GOP-TV) Hypocrisy

A major weakness of the Democrats is thinking the average American voter is "smarter than that." The GOP knows they're sheep who will believe anything.

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
- H. L. Mencken

Now HERE's A Palin I Could Support!

The Pegasus File

Vietnam Special Forces Air Combat Controller; 25 year CIA deep cover agent; US Army pilot flying classified missions during the US invasion of Grenada; Iran-Contra pilot flying cocaine shipments labelled as medical supplies; and member of the ultra-secret, international G7 run Pegasus "Hit Team" - this is the extraordinary story of Gene "Chip" Tatum. by David Guyatt
Part 1
Part 2

Chip's story in his own words:
Testimony of Government Drug Running By D.G. "Chip" Tatum

Fascism Comes to Minnesota

RNC Raids Have Been Targeting Video Activists

Placid Lake Wobegone Begets A Nasty Police State

Federal Gov't Involved in Pre-emptive Raids

More Videos

None of this, of course, is being covered by corporate news. If it's not on teevee, it didn't happen.

McCain's Brain

From the funny folks at Secretsauce.tv

McCain & Elaine '08

If they ever make a movie about this year's presidential campaign, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss (Elaine of Seinfeld fame) has a lock on the Sarah Palin role.

Obama Veepstakes

I'll guess Wesley Clark.

US Gov't Experimentation on Human Guinea Pigs

From very bookmarkworthy WantToKnow.info

1931 - Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.

1932 - The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.

1935 - The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occurred within poverty-stricken black populations.

1940 - Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.

1942 - Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty.

1943 - In response to Japan's full-scale germ warfare program, the U.S. begins research on biological weapons at Fort Detrick, MD.

1944 - U.S. Navy uses human subjects to test gas masks and clothing. Individuals were locked in a gas chamber and exposed to mustard gas and lewisite.

1945 - Project Paperclip is initiated. The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence, and the CIA recruit Nazi scientists and offer them immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top secret government projects in the United States.

1945 - "Program F" is implemented by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This is the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoride, which was the key chemical component in atomic bomb production. One of the most toxic chemicals known to man, fluoride, it is found, causes marked adverse effects to the central nervous system but much of the information is squelched in the name of national security because of fear that lawsuits would undermine full-scale production of atomic bombs.

1946 - Patients in VA hospitals are used as guinea pigs for medical experiments. In order to allay suspicions, the order is given to change the word "experiments" to "investigations" or "observations" whenever reporting a medical study performed in one of the nation's veteran's hospitals.

1947 - Colonel E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission issues a secret document (Document 07075001, January 8, 1947) stating that the agency will begin administering intravenous doses of radioactive substances to human subjects.

1947 - The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon for use by American intelligence. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge.

1950 - Department of Defense begins plans to detonate nuclear weapons in desert areas and monitor downwind residents for medical problems and mortality rates.

1950 - In an experiment to determine how susceptible an American city would be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of bacteria from ships over San Francisco. Monitoring devices are situated throughout the city in order to test the extent of infection. Many residents become ill with pneumonia-like symptoms.

1951 - Department of Defense begins open air tests using disease-producing bacteria and viruses. Tests last through 1969 and there is concern that people in the surrounding areas have been exposed.

1953 - U.S. military releases clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide gas over Winnipeg, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, the Monocacy River Valley in Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia. Their intent is to determine how efficiently they could disperse chemical agents.

1953 - Joint Army-Navy-CIA experiments are conducted in which tens of thousands of people in New York and San Francisco are exposed to the airborne germs Serratia marcescens and Bacillus glogigii.

1953 - CIA initiates Project MKULTRA. This is an eleven year research program designed to produce and test drugs and biological agents that would be used for mind control and behavior modification. Six of the subprojects involved testing the agents on unwitting human beings.

1955 - The CIA, in an experiment to test its ability to infect human populations with biological agents, releases a bacteria withdrawn from the Army's biological warfare arsenal over Tampa Bay, Fl.

1956 - U.S. military releases mosquitoes infected with yellow fever over Savannah, Ga and Avon Park, Fl. Following each test, Army agents posing as public health officials test victims for effects.

1960 - The Army Assistant Chief-of-Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) authorizes field testing of LSD in Europe and the Far East. Testing of the European population is code named Project THIRD CHANCE; testing of the Asian population is code named Project DERBY HAT.

1965 - Project CIA and Department of Defense begin Project MKSEARCH, a program to develop a capability to manipulate human behavior through the use of mind-altering drugs.

1965 - Prisoners at the Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia are subjected to dioxin, the highly toxic chemical component of Agent Orange used in Viet Nam. The men are later studied for development of cancer, which indicates that Agent Orange had been a suspected carcinogen all along.

1966 - CIA initiates Project MKOFTEN, a program to test the toxicological effects of certain drugs on humans and animals.

1966 - U.S. Army dispenses Bacillus subtilis variant niger throughout the New York City subway system. More than a million civilians are exposed when army scientists drop lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto ventilation grates.

1967 - CIA and Department of Defense implement Project MKNAOMI, successor to MKULTRA and designed to maintain, stockpile and test biological and chemical weapons.

1968 - CIA experiments with the possibility of poisoning drinking water by injecting chemicals into the water supply of the FDA in Washington, D.C.

1969 - Dr. Robert MacMahan of the Department of Defense requests from congress $10 million to develop, within 5 to 10 years, a synthetic biological agent to which no natural immunity exists.

1970 - Funding for the synthetic biological agent is obtained under H.R. 15090. The project, under the supervision of the CIA, is carried out by the Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, the army's top secret biological weapons facility. Speculation is raised that molecular biology techniques are used to produce AIDS-like retroviruses.

1970 - United States intensifies its development of "ethnic weapons" (Military Review, Nov., 1970), designed to selectively target and eliminate specific ethnic groups who are susceptible due to genetic differences and variations in DNA.

1975 - The virus section of Fort Detrick's Center for Biological Warfare Research is renamed the Fredrick Cancer Research Facilities and placed under the supervision of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) . It is here that a special virus cancer program is initiated by the U.S. Navy, purportedly to develop cancer-causing viruses. It is also here that retrovirologists isolate a virus to which no immunity exists. It is later named HTLV (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus).

1977 - Senate hearings on Health and Scientific Research confirm that 239 populated areas had been contaminated with biological agents between 1949 and 1969. Some of the areas included San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Key West, Panama City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.

1978 - Experimental Hepatitis B vaccine trials, conducted by the CDC, begin in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ads for research subjects specifically ask for promiscuous homosexual men.

1981 - First cases of AIDS are confirmed in homosexual men in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, triggering speculation that AIDS may have been introduced via the Hepatitis B vaccine.

1985 - According to the journal Science (227:173-177), HTLV and VISNA, a fatal sheep virus, are very similar, indicating a close taxonomic and evolutionary relationship.

1986 - According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (83:4007-4011), HIV and VISNA are highly similar and share all structural elements, except for a small segment which is nearly identical to HTLV. This leads to speculation that HTLV and VISNA may have been linked to produce a new retrovirus to which no natural immunity exists.

1986 - A report to Congress reveals that the U.S. Government's current generation of biological agents includes: modified viruses, naturally occurring toxins, and agents that are altered through genetic engineering to change immunological character and prevent treatment by all existing vaccines.

1987 - Department of Defense admits that, despite a treaty banning research and development of biological agents, it continues to operate research facilities at 127 facilities and universities around the nation.

1990 - More than 1500 six-month old black and Hispanic babies in Los Angeles are given an "experimental" measles vaccine that had never been licensed for use in the United States. CDC later admits that parents were never informed that the vaccine being injected to their children was experimental.

1994 - With a technique called "gene tracking," Dr. Garth Nicolson at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX discovers that many returning Desert Storm veterans are infected with an altered strain of Mycoplasma incognitus, a microbe commonly used in the production of biological weapons. Incorporated into its molecular structure is 40 percent of the HIV protein coat, indicating that it had been man-made.

1994 - Senator John D. Rockefeller issues a report revealing that for at least 50 years the Department of Defense has used hundreds of thousands of military personnel in human experiments and for intentional exposure to dangerous substances. Materials included mustard and nerve gas, ionizing radiation, psychochemicals, hallucinogens, and drugs used during the Gulf War.

1995 - U.S. Government admits that it had offered Japanese war criminals and scientists who had performed human medical experiments salaries and immunity from prosecution in exchange for data on biological warfare research.

1995 - Dr. Garth Nicolson, uncovers evidence that the biological agents used during the Gulf War had been manufactured in Houston, TX and Boca Raton, Fl and tested on prisoners in the Texas Department of Corrections.

1996 - Department of Defense admits that Desert Storm soldiers were exposed to chemical agents.

1997 - Eighty-eight members of Congress sign a letter demanding an investigation into bioweapons use & Gulf War Syndrome.

Note: For more information on these important matters, see http://www.WantToKnow.info/mindcontrol10pg. By informing your friends and colleagues of these little-reported facts, you can help to build the critical mass necessary to force the media to give adequate coverage and stop these abuses. Let us work towards ever greater transparency both in government and in our own personal lives. Thanks for caring.

Bush's Blustering Not Being Bought

"The entire world, except for Americans, knows that the outbreak of armed conflict between Russian and Georgian forces in South Ossetia was entirely due to the US and its Georgia puppet, Saakashvili."
Paul Craig Roberts lays it out in a great piece for Counterpunch.
excerpt:

On August 12, 2008, Pravda ridiculed Bush, “Bush: Why don’t you shut up.”

Americans may think they are a superpower before whose presence the world trembles. But not the Russians.

Those Americans stupid enough to think that America’s “superpower” insures its citizens from danger need to read the total contempt shown for President Bush in Pravda:

“President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? In your statement on Monday regarding the legitimate actions of the Russian Federation in Georgia, you failed to mention the war crimes perpetrated by Georgian military forces, which American advisors support, against Russian and Ossetian civilians

“President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? Your faithful ally, Mikhail Saakashvili, was announcing a ceasefire deal while his troops, with your advisors, were massing on Ossetia’s border, which they crossed under cover of night and destroyed Tskhinvali, targeting civilian structures just like your forces did in Iraq.

“President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? Your American transport aircraft gave a ride home to thousands of Georgian soldiers from Iraq directly into the combat zone.

“President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? How do you account for the fact that among the Georgian soldiers fleeing the fighting yesterday you could clearly hear officers using American English giving orders to “Get back inside” and how do you account for the fact that there are reports of American soldiers among the Georgian casualties?

“President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? Do you really think anyone gives any importance whatsoever to your words after 8 years of your criminal and murderous regime and policies? Do you really believe you have any moral ground whatsoever and do you really imagine there is a single human being anywhere on this planet who does not stick up his middle finger every time you appear on a TV screen?

Do you really believe you have the right to give any opinion or advice after Abu Ghraib? After Guantanamo? After the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens? After the torture by CIA operatives?

Do you really believe you have any right to make a statement on any point of international law after your trumped-up charges against Iraq and the subsequent criminal invasion?

“President Bush,

Why don’t you shut up? Suppose Russia for instance declares that Georgia has weapons of mass destruction? And that Russia knows where these WMD are, namely in Tblisi and Poti and north, south, east and west of there? And that it must be true because there is ‘magnificent foreign intelligence’ such as satellite photos of milk powder factories and baby cereals producing chemical weapons and which are currently being ‘driven around the country in vehicles’? Suppose Russia declares for instance that ‘Saakashvili stiffed the world’ and it is ‘time for regime change’?

Nice and simple, isn’t it, President Bush?
[CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE]

Attack Iran? Scott Ritter warns, "Pick a City!"

From: Middle East Times Aug 11, 2008

The small oil-rich emirate of Kuwait has reportedly activated its "Emergency War Plan" as a massive U.S. and European armada is reported heading for the region.

Leading the pack is the nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its Carrier Strike Group Two; besides its 80-plus combat planes the Roosevelt normally transports, it is carrying an additional load of French Naval Rafale fighter jets from the French carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently in dry dock.

Also reported heading toward Iran is another nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan and its Carrier Strike Group Seven; the USS Iwo Jima, the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and a number of French warships, including the nuclear hunter-killer submarine Amethyste.

Once the naval force arrives in the Gulf region it will be joining two other U.S. naval battle groups already on site: the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Peleliu; the Lincoln with its carrier strike group and the latter with an expeditionary strike group.

Telephone calls to the Pentagon were not returned by publication time.

Scott Ritter's Warning

More Evidence 9/11 Video was Faked

From Brasscheck TV

'DC Madam' left instructions if 'ever found dead of apparent suicide'

Attorney: "Jeane was very clear with me that if she was ever found dead of an apparent suicide, I was to make sure that all the evidence was publicly disseminated so that it could be independently evaluated."

Exclusive: Citizens For Legitimate Government has learned that Deborah Jeane Palfrey's lawyer, Montgomery Blair Sibley, has intervened to stop a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Tarpon Springs, Florida, Police Department from releasing information requested by Sibley pertaining to the investigation of Jeane's death.

On July 22, 2008, Sibley requested under the Florida Public Records Act, "copies of any and all records, including without limitation police reports and photographs, related to the investigation of the death of Deborah Jeane Palfrey on May 1, 2008, at [redacted] Tarpon Springs, Florida. This request includes copies of every document related to the matter, regardless of the format in which the information is stored. I note that information stored on a computer is as much a public record as a written page in a book or stored in a filing cabinet."

Citing his obligation to discharge explicit instructions from his former client, Jeane Palfrey, the so-called DC Madam, to "fully investigate and reveal the circumstances of her death if deemed a suicide by authorities," her attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, has moved to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Jeane's mother, Blanche Palfrey. That lawsuit seeks to prevent the Tarpon Springs, Florida Police Department from releasing information requested by Sibley pertaining the investigation of Jeane's death on May 1 of this year.

Sibley said, "While I don't mean to cause Jeane's family additional grief, an attorney's first duty is to his client, and Jeane was very clear with me that if she was ever found dead of an apparent suicide, I was to make sure that all the evidence was publicly disseminated so that it could be independently evaluated."

A hearing has been set in that matter on August 15 before Florida Circuit Court Judge Linda Allan in Clearwater, Florida.

10 August 2008 http://www.legitgov.org/dc_madam_update_100808.html

Anti-War Website Operator Threatened By Armed Thugs

Information Clearing House editor victim of home invasions, warnings to “stop what he is doing on the Internet, NOW!”

The operator of a leading alternative news and strongly anti-war website has become the target of nefarious thugs apparently in the employ of the U.S. government who have continually harassed him and ordered him to shut down his website.

Tom Feeley, owner and editor of InformationClearingHouse.info, has endured public harassment, home invasions, death threats and threats to his family simply for running a website.

Counterpunch writer Mike Whitney has circulated an e mail describing what happened to Feeley in an attempt to draw attention to the matter.

Whitney writes that earlier this week Feeley’s wife was startled to suddenly discover three well dressed men standing in her kitchen who told her that Tom must “Stop what he is doing on the Internet, NOW!”

To emphasize the point, the thug pulled back his jacket to reveal a gun while barking out the warning.

Tom’s wife was hysterical and refuses to go back to the house. She contacted the FBI but was told there was nothing they could do.

Story continues HERE

War Is A Racket

Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933 by General Smedley Butler, USMC

War is just a racket. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

from: http://www.wanttoknow.info/warisaracket


For powerful information on the war cover-up: www.WantToKnow.info/warinformation
To order General Butler's book War is a Racket on Amazon.com, click here
For an excellent article on the intrepid Butler, including a plot of intrigue, click here
For key, engaging book on Butler's exposing of a plot to overthrow FDR, click here
For a History Channel video on how Butler stopped a plot to overthrow FDR, click here

Hey Technorati!

Big Brother, the Big Picture

Recent (July 6th 2008) presentation by David Icke (3 hours)



Visit his website for tons more. He's been warning us about this for years.

Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Marketing Executives

Sharp's current ad campaign uses the tag line, Change your TV, change your life.

Take it, Bill...

J.C.

(click pick to view full size)

Be Patient This Gets Amazing

BushCorp displays an arrogance that is beyond Nixonian in its assholishness.

clip from The Daily Show

George Carlin R.I.P.

George Carlin died yesterday. I'm bummed.

Hey, I Got a Job!

I'm in the newspaper biz! I'm now the Assistant Editor of Mendocino Country Publications.
Check out the back seat of the old Crown Vic.




Of course, Assistant Editor is not my only title. Another one is: The Staff.

Homemade Crude Oil? Sapphire Energy Says They've Done It

Sapphire Energy, a San Diego based start up, issued a blockbuster press release the other day. The suits at Big Oil must have been ordering doubles at their three martini lunches after learning someone has produced renewable 91 octane gasoline that conforms to ASTM certification.

It's called Green Crude Production, and Sapphire says their "scientists have built a platform that uses sunlight, CO2, photosynthetic microorganisms and non-arable land to produce carbon-neutral alternatives to petrochemical-based processes and products. First up: renewable gasoline."

I don't know if I believe it or not, and it won't slow global warming, but with over $200 billion a year leaving the country to purchase foreign oil, homemade crude could certainly have a positive impact on our economy.

Below is the full text of the press release:

Sapphire Energy unveils world’s first renewable gasoline

Sonoma, California – May 28, 2008 – Sapphire Energy announced today they have produced renewable 91 octane gasoline that conforms to ASTM certification, made from a breakthrough process that produces crude oil directly from sunlight, CO2 and photosynthetic microorganisms, beginning with algae.

“Sapphire’s goal is to be the world’s leading producer of renewable petrochemical products,” said CEO and co-founder Jason Pyle, speaking from the influential Simmons Alternative Energy Conference. “Our goal is to produce a renewable fuel without the downsides of current biofuel approaches.

“Sapphire Energy was founded on the belief that the only way to cure our dependence on foreign oil and end our flirtation with ethanol and biodiesel is through radical new thinking and a commitment to new technologies.”

The end result — high-value hydrocarbons chemically identical to those in gasoline — will be entirely compatible with the current energy infrastructure from cars to refineries and pipelines.

Not biodiesel, not ethanol. And no crops or farm land required.

The Sapphire platform offers vast advantages – scientific, economic and social – over traditional biofuel approaches.

Company scientists have built a platform that uses sunlight, CO2, photosynthetic microorganisms and non-arable land to produce carbon-neutral alternatives to petrochemical-based processes and products. First up: renewable gasoline. Critically important, in light of recent studies that prove the inefficiencies and costs of crop-based biofuels, there is no ‘food vs. fuel’ tradeoff. The process is not dependent on food crops or valuable farmland, and is highly water efficient. “It’s hard not to get excited about algae’s potential,” said Paul Dickerson, chief operating officer of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy “Its basic requirements are few: CO2, sun, and water. Algae can flourish in non-arable land or in dirty water, and when it does flourish, its potential oil yield per acre is unmatched by any other terrestrial feedstock.”

Scalability key to success

Sapphire’s scalable production facilities can grow easily and economically because production is modular, transportable, and fueled by sunlight – not constrained by land, crops, or other natural resources.

“Any company or fuel that hopes to solve the biofuel conundrum must be economically scalable – and that requires conforming to the existing refining distribution and fleet infrastructure,” said Brian Goodall, Sapphire’s new vice president of downstream technology. Goodall led the team responsible for the highly visible, first-ever Virgin Atlantic “green” 747 flight earlier this year. In addition to a three-decade career in the petrochemical industry, he is a corporate inductee at the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Domestic production a matter of national security, economic growth

A new domestic energy platform based on sunlight and CO2 has the economic potential to herald a tectonic market shift as well as make the country more secure. Last year, the nation imported over $200 billion of foreign oil, and, with oil prices reaching record heights every week, that number is expected to increase dramatically. Protecting these strategic overseas interests is an increasingly expensive proposition.

“It is imperative, both economically and for national security reasons, that American companies figure out ways to produce oil here at home,” said Sapphire co-founder Kristina Burow of ARCH Venture Partners, the company’s founding investor. “Imagine if even a portion of the $200 billion we spend on foreign crude stayed here: The payoff in new jobs, and domestic economic growth would be huge.”

Developments require new industrial category: Green Crude Production

In fact, Sapphire’s processes and science are so radical, the company is at the forefront of an entirely new industrial category called ‘Green Crude Production.’ Products and processes in this category differ significantly from other forms of biofuel because they are made solely from photosynthetic microorganisms, sunlight and CO2; do not result in biodiesel or ethanol; enhance and replace petroleum-based products; are carbon neutral and renewable; and don’t require any food crop or agricultural land.

The final products meet ASTM standards and are completely compatible with the existing petroleum infrastructure, from refinement through distribution and the retail supply chain.

Leadership team stars in their fields

Sapphire’s founders and leadership team includes top scientists in the fields of petro chemistry, biotechnology, algal production, plant genomics, and biogenetics. ARCH Venture Partners, with a long history of taking innovative life-science technologies to market, is the founding investor. ARCH is joined by the Wellcome Trust, the world’s largest biomedical research charity, and Venrock, one of the oldest and most respected venture capital firms in the country. The strength of the syndicate is unparalleled: between ARCH and Venrock, they have launched well over 500 companies. Sapphire is also collaborating with the leading scientists and organizations in the field including the DOE’s Joint Genome Project; University of California, San Diego; The Scripps Research Institute; and the University of Tulsa.

“Sapphire’s interdisciplinary team hit milestones within three months that everyone thought were impossible,” said ARCH managing director Robert Nelsen.

“We realized at that point we could change the world, so we sat them down and told them, ‘the checkbook is completely open; tell us what you need’.”

“When the Wellcome Trust made the decision to invest in Sapphire, we evaluated the energy landscape to find a solution with the potential to realistically address the world’s current challenges in energy production,” said Danny Truell, Wellcome’s chief investment officer.

About Sapphire Energy

Sapphire Energy was founded to address the overwhelming inadequacies of current biofuel approaches and the profound costs of American dependence on foreign oil. The company has built a revolutionary platform using sunlight, CO2 and microorganisms such as algae to produce renewable, 91 octane gasoline that meets ASTM standards; it is not ethanol and not biodiesel. Sapphire is led by an interdisciplinary team of entrepreneurs and experts in cell biology, plant genomics and algal production, as well as investors with long histories of taking innovative technology to market, including co-founder ARCH Venture Partners, along with the Wellcome Trust and Venrock. Sapphire’s scientific supporters include Scripps Research Institute; University of California, San Diego; the University of Tulsa, and the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Project. The company is located in San Diego. For more information, visit www.sapphireenergy.com and www.greencrudeproduction.com.

About ARCH Venture Partners

ARCH Venture Partners is a premier provider of seed and early stage capital for technology firms, with a special competence in co-founding and building technology firms from startup. ARCH invests primarily in companies co-founded with leading scientists and entrepreneurs, concentrating in innovations in life sciences, physical sciences, and information technology. ARCH enjoys special recognition as a leader in the successful commercialization of technologies developed at academic research institutions and national laboratories. The company manages seven funds totaling over $1.5 billion and has invested in the earliest venture capital rounds for more than 120 companies over 22 years. Portfolio companies where ARCH was a co-founding or early investor include Illumina, Aviron, Impinj, Xenoport, Alnylam, Ikaria, Microoptical Devices, New Era of Networks, Netbot, Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Adolor, Nanosys, Caliper Life Sciences, Ahura, Xtera, Array Biopharma, Everyday Learning Corporation, Nanophase Technologies, and deCode Genetics, among others.

About The Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending around £650 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.

About Venrock

Venrock is a premier venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park, New York, Cambridge, MA, and Israel. Originally established as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family, Venrock continues a seven-decade tradition of partnering with entrepreneurs to establish successful, enduring companies. Having invested $1.9 billion in 405 companies resulting in over 120 IPOs over the past 39 years, Venrock’s investment returns place it among the top tier venture capital firms that have achieved consistently superior performance. With a primary focus on technology, healthcare, and energy, portfolio companies have included Adnexus Therapeutics, Apple Computer, Centocor, Check Point Software, DoubleClick, Gilead Sciences, Idec Pharmaceuticals, Illumina, Intel, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Sirna Therapeutics, StrataCom, and Vontu.

Regarding Rulers Throughout History

There's one thing you can count on!

What's It Going To Take??

One Plant Can Save Us All

There is a lot of talk on teevee lately about "ending our dependence on foreign oil." Foreign oil. What they're really saying is: "Let's drill for oil off the coasts, in the Alaskan wilderness, and in your backyard if if there's any there."

The problem is not foreign oil, it's oil period! The government, of course, won't acknowledge that. Not while the corporations who profit from oil hold the reins of power.

Corporate Drug Pushers

Might as well call 'em exactly what they are.

Americans spend more on medicines (drugs) than do all the people of:
Japan
Germany
France
Italy
Spain
Great Britain
Australia
New Zealand
Canada
Mexico
Brazil
Argentina
COMBINED!!!

100,000 Americans die every year from their prescription drugs - that they took just as the doctor directed. This isn't when a doctor or a pharmacist made a mistake or the patient accidentally took too much. This is when everything supposedly went right.

What the fuck??? Are so many of us that sick? Of course not.
So why do Americans take more drugs than everyone else?
It's simple - drug companies aren't allowed to advertise (lie) on television in other countries.

Journalist Melody Petersen's book OUR DAILY MEDS, makes a solid case that America has become the world's greatest medicine show. The full title of her book is:

OUR DAILY MEDS:
HOW THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES
TRANSFORMED THEMSELVES INTO SLICK MARKETING MACHINES
AND HOOKED THE NATION ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.

She was recently interviewed by Bill Moyers. Here's the video and transcript.

Congress Scrutinizes Drug Dealers' Advertising

Yesterday a house subcommittee held a hearing on big pharma's use of misleading and deceptive tactics in advertisements for their drugs.
...
"The pharmaceutical industry insists that DTC ads are mainly an educational endeavor designed to educate consumers about new products."
from sootoday

Educate consumers my ass! Anyone who believes that disingenuous tripe should contact me about buying some genuine Elvis fingernail clippings. I have an unlimited supply.

My Little Buddy Butch - R.I.P.

"If I Were A Terrorist"

Palfrey Feared Murder Disguised as Suicide

Watch for news of the "discovery" her client list has somehow "vanished."

New Penguin Species Discovered

George Carlin & Bill Hicks

George Carlin gets relevant.

Bill Hicks was saying it 20 years ago.

Tell Ashcroft, Tenet & Yoo to Show Up

So far, John Conyers has no takers.

The powerful and persistent Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has invited a number of the leading figures in the Bush torture scandals -- John Ashcroft, George Tenet, John Yoo, Douglas Feith and others -- to appear at a crucial hearing on May 6th.

As of yet, not a single one of them has agreed to show up. In fact, John Yoo and John Ashcroft -- central figures in the Bush strategy for defending torture -- have already refused.

The recent revelations about the Bush administration confirm our worst fears about subversion of the Constitution and betrayals of the rule of law by top government officials -- that they met regularly and approved the CIA’s use of “combined” “enhanced” interrogation techniques.

We must get to the bottom of these allegations, and now we need your help. We’re flooding Chairman Conyers and the whole House Judiciary Committee with “Citizens’ Subpoenas.”

Let Chairman Conyers and the Judiciary Committee know you want them to go all the way by issuing real subpoenas, legally compelling Bush’s torture team to show up.

Stop the Stonewalling: Send your own “Citizens’ Subpoena” now.

The Committee’s May 6th hearing is the right forum for getting clear answers to questions such as what role high government officials played in authorizing torture and bullying through a policy that has disgraced our country. But, we won’t get those answers if the people with the information refuse to show up.

The House Judiciary Committee needs to get to the bottom of which officials were involved in ordering or authorizing torture -- and what laws were broken. Did high government officials violate the War Crimes Act, the Anti-Torture Act, or federal criminal assault laws?

Take Action: Send your own “Citizens’ Subpoena” now and demand that Yoo, Ashcroft and others testify about their role in top-down torture.

Days after President Bush acknowledged that he knew about and approved of high-level White House torture talks, ACLU members generated over 100,000 letters to Congress urging that those who authorized and condoned torture be held accountable.

That’s exactly what John Conyers and the House Judiciary Committee are trying to do. In fact, John Conyers has already threatened to serve subpoenas on Chief of Staff to the Vice President David Addington, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, and Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, if they don't agree to testify. But, standing up the White House isn’t easy. The more Citizens’ Subpoenas we can generate, the more we can strengthen the hand of Chariman Conyers and other defenders of freedom in Congress.

Sincerely,


Caroline Fredrickson, Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office

The Calendar Might Say It's Spring, But ...

Over an hour past sunrise this morning, there was frost on my car.

[click pic for full size]

This just isn't right!

Hope For Corporate America

By Chris Hedges

The corporate state is our shadow government. Candidates who aspire to higher office get corporate money if they promote corporate interests. They are shut out of the national debate—look at Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader—if they do not. Defy the corporate state and you get handed a ticket to oblivion. You become invisible. Work for it and you are showered with tens of millions of dollars and the possibility of political power.

Barack Obama’s campaign message, filled with lofty promises of change and hope, is also filled with repeated reassurances to the corporate elite. Pick up a copy of Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope.” The subtext is clear. It is a steady reminder to corporate America, a reminder bolstered by Obama’s voting record, that corporations would have nothing to fear from an Obama presidency.

read on...

Wright is Right

Truckers Protest Fuel Costs

It's a bit disappointing to hear some truckers call for more domestic drilling as a means of lowering fuel costs. There is a better way. End cannabis prohibition and run those big rigs on hemp oil!


Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel that runs in any conventional, unmodified diesel engine. Its use can extend the life of diesel engines, because it is more lubricating than petroleum diesel fuel. Fuel consumption, auto ignition, power output and engine torque are relatively unaffected by biodiesel and it is a proven fuel with over 30 million successful US road miles and over 20 years of use in Europe.

It can be stored anywhere that petroleum diesel fuel is stored. Biodiesel is as biodegradable as sugar, 10 times less toxic than table salt and has a high flashpoint of about 300 degrees Fahrenheit compared to petroleum diesel fuel, which has a flash point of 125 degrees F.

When burned in a diesel engine, biodiesel replaces the exhaust odor of petroleum diesel with a smell something akin to french fries. Biodiesel is 11 percent oxygen by weight and contains no sulfur, so instead of creating sulfur-based smog and acid rain as by-products, it produces oxygen instead. Biodiesel can be made from domestically produced, renewable oilseed crops such as hemp.

Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel in the US to complete EPA Tier I Health Effects Testing under section 211(b) of the Clean Air Act, which provide the most thorough inventory of environmental and human health effects attributes that current technology will allow. The Congressional Budget Office, Department of Defense, US Department of Agriculture and others have determined that biodiesel is the low cost alternative fuel option for fleets to meet requirements of the Energy Policy Act.
from: montana.edu

Straight Talk from Jesse Ventura

Lee Iacocca is Righteously Pissed Off

Excerpt from his new book: Where Have All The Leaders Gone?

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.
(read on...)

Miley Cyrus' Savvy Career Move

Miley Cyrus is everywhere! (Pick one) Every local TV channel is carrying the story of her claimed "embarrassment" at the glamorous photos in Vanity Fair.

My congratulations to the publicist who came up with this one. She was outgrowing the prepubescent girl demographic, and this manufactured "scandal" has, I have no doubt, jump started her move into the equally lucrative teenage boy demographic, just in time for her first movie. Ten million dollars couldn't buy the publicity this non-story is getting. The Disney money-machine has done it again!

Ahh, Nature!

"Many thousands of people enjoy a peaceful and relaxing return to nature using their kayaks."
http://www.allkayaking.com/

Not For the Faint of Heart

This walkway in El Chorro, the famous rock climbing region of Spain, was built in 1901 to allow the King to view construction of the dam in the gorge below. It is officially closed to the public, but apparently that isn't rigidly enforced. All I can say about it is: Holy Crap!!!

Good Advice

The Cosmic Landord's Eviction Notice

Japanese animation of last call at all the bars on Earth, simultaneously.

Body of War

A Submarine to Fight al-Qaida’s Navy?

Robert Scheer reports on the multi-trillion dollar scandal the teevee news ignores.
Read it at Truthdig

Sign the Freedom Pledge

Click HERE to sign the pledge.

Earth Hour 2008 is Tonight

Show you care. Turn off the power for an hour, tonight from 8 to 9 pm. There's nothing good on TV anyway
http://www.earthhour.org/
http://www.earthhour2008.com/

Foxification of US Media Alarms Scientists

The mainstream media has taken to repeating the smears and attacks made by the rightwing thugs of Fox news and it has scientists baffled.

Dr. Giacomo Spumoni, Professor of Physics at the Keokuk Academy of Kinetic Arts, said "What was once considered a truism of settled science, 'shit flows downhill', will now have to be reexamined in the light of this clearly documented instance of uphill fecal flow. I guess 9/11 really did change everything."

Demand the media stop spreading the FOX virus!
Click here to sign the petition.

Rousing Speech - Rev. Graylan Hagler

A seriously kickass speech by Reverend Graylan Hagler - National President, Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice and Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ Washington, D.C.

Here is a collection of clips of the Rev. from the film Finding Our Voices.
Also check out the short film We Will Not Be Silenced.

Dem Wimp Throws His Truth-Telling Preacher Under the Bus

Ted Rall nailed it again! In his column of March 18 he takes Obama to task for wimping out in his recent race speech, saying, "If Obama can't bring himself to speak the truth, he could at least support those who do."

Since yahoo links often disappear after a while, I re-post the full piece here.
---

NEW YORK--If Americans were represented by an animal, it wouldn't be an eagle. It would be a tiny shrew, nervous and paranoid and living in constant terror of being attacked by predators.

Our national prey mentality doesn't have much basis in reality. The last attack on U.S. soil took place two-thirds of a century ago; Hawaii wasn't even a state at the time. Before that, you have to go back to 1846--and we provoked that one. Whatever the historical basis--or lack thereof--for this innate fearfulness, U.S. voters look to their president as a Father Protector figure--someone who, if threatened, will ferociously defend what is now called, stupidly and horribly, das Homeland.

Republican candidates win elections in years when national security is a top concern. In 2004, it didn't matter that John Kerry volunteered for, fought in, and returned with medals from Vietnam. What mattered was that he turned the other cheek to the Swift Boat ads. He held his fire in the debates. If Kerry wasn't willing to stand up for himself, voters reasoned, how would he protect them? Bush may have been a coward during Vietnam, but his "dead or alive" cowboy movie bravado, not to mention starting a couple of wars from scratch, conveyed a comforting, if imbecilic bellicosity. The monosyllabic tough-guy act soothed a savage, terrorized electorate.

Hillary Clinton has figured this out. Her policy actions--voting for war twice, the Patriot Act, keeping silent about torture and Guantánamo--have been engineered to project Republicanesque hawkishness. She dresses butch and talks like a female prick--i.e., bitch. You don't like her. She doesn't want you to. She wants you to think that she's macho enough to deal with Them the next time They pick a fight at three in the morning.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has already given away a store he doesn't yet own. He's the new century's version of Dukakis.

"I would explicitly reach out to disaffected Republicans and remind them of some of their traditions," Obama told U.S. News & World Report. "Very rarely do you hear me talking about my opponents without giving them some credit for having good intentions and being decent people." "I think I can reach out to Republicans and independents more effectively than any other candidate," he said on "Meet the Press," citing his "ability to focus on getting the job done, as opposed to getting embroiled in ideological arguments." No wonder Republican pundits love him! Not only will he be easier to beat in November--if McCain loses, they'll get the same love from President Obama.

Obama's attempt to transform himself into the living embodiment of girly-man wimpiness led him to throw his own priest under the bus. This latest display of X-Treme wussosity came in response to demands by Rush Limbaugh, The Wall Street Journal and other braying hounds of the right who feigned offense at quotes pulled from his pastor's old sermons. Jeremiah Wright, long-time leader of the Trinity United Church of Christ of Chicago, officiated at Obama's wedding and inspired the title of his book "The Audacity of Hope."

"I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue," Obama said in a statement.

First rule of politics: never apologize. It won't satisfy your critics, and it makes you look weak. If Eliot Spitzer had followed that dictate, he'd still be governor of New York.

First rule of presidential politics: fight for those near and dear to you. Michael Dukakis lost points when he was asked what he'd do if his wife got raped. (Correct answer:
"I would kill the rapist.") If a man won't stand up for his own wife--or his own pastor--how can we trust him to fight the terrorists?

Obama's Sister Souljah act may erode his base of support: African-Americans and younger whites, many of whom agree with Reverend Wright's "controversial" homilies.

"Racism is how this country was founded and how it is still run," Wright said. Well, duh. The Journal's editorial page, which still thinks Iraq was the best idea ever, is particularly agitated about...this...this obvious fact. Who could say, with a straight face, that racism wasn't a founding principle of a nation with legalized slavery? Who could argue, after reading countless newspaper headlines announcing the acquittal of white cops for shooting unarmed black men, or while driving through urban slums, that we've put racism behind us?

Murdoch's right-wing rag, noted The New York Times, also criticized Wright for "accusing the United States of importing drugs, exporting guns and training murderers." These things are all true (please reference "Iran-Contra," "U.S. as top arms exporter," and "School of the Americas"). If Obama can't bring himself to speak the truth, he could at least support those who do.

Most damning of all, say Limbaugh et al., was Wright's post-9/11 sermon urging his flock not to yield to the urge "to pay back and kill" or act "holier than thou." His advice proved prescient--wars against Afghanistan and Iraq killed a million innocents, yet none of the criminals of 9/11. It also happened to be quintessentially Christian. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians [true] and black South Africans [true], and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is brought back to our own front yards," he continued. "America's chickens are coming home to roost."

Chalmers Johnson wrote a bestselling book in 2000 about this phenomenon. It's called "Blowback," named after CIA jargon for foreign policies that result in unexpected, negative effects. Johnson wrote that blowback "is a metaphor for the unintended consequences of the U.S. government's international activities that have been kept secret from the American people."

It is well-established that the radical Islamists who launched the 9/11 attacks were motivated by their contempt for American policy in the Muslim world and their desire to bring the war, as they saw it, to the U.S. Everyone knows that Al Qaeda has its roots in the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan, which the Reagan Administration funded and armed. Calling 9/11 a case of "chickens coming home to roost" isn't offensive. It's painfully, boringly obvious.

Obama found it necessary to state that "the violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification."

Wright never said otherwise. Most of the victims of September 11^th were office workers. They weren't responsible for U.S. policy in the Middle East. Many were opposed to it. As Johnson wrote: "Terrorism by definition strikes at the innocent in order to draw attention to the sins of the invulnerable."

People who deny that U.S. foreign policy mishaps provoke long-term consequences are liars. People like them--people like Barack Obama--are laying the foundation for the next 9/11.

---

Right on, Ted!