It seems like it took forever, but it's finally happened. My book, Inside, is now available at online booksellers, and can be ordered from bookstores almost everywhere. Amazon.com and Borders were the first to list it, and I expect Barnes and Noble to do so shortly.
So if you haven't read it, please do! You can find it by ISBN 978-1435710184, and most retail booksellers can find it for you that way.
So do they teach anything in American schools???
Current mood: angry
Category: disgusted News and Politics
I was able to answer every question they asked... and yet the average person on the street couldn't answer any... or, even worse, their answers were 100% wrong. With this level of ignorance, how are they getting out of school? (Of course, one look at Washington should tell me, if our leaders are clueless, why should anyone else bother to know anything?)
You've got to be taught To hate and fear You've got to be taught From year to year It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught To be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made And people whose skin Is a different shade You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught Before it's too late Before you are 6 or 7 or 8 To hate all the people your relatives hate You've got to be carefully taught
(From the musical South Pacific; Rogers & Hammerstein)
Hey folks, I've published a book! I hope my friends will support me by purchasing a copy. It's nothing heavy. Fiction/fantasy. For more info, or to buy a copy, click the button below. Thanks!
Fruit Loops... or which is really the crazy conspiracy theory?
Category: News and Politics
The 9/11 conspiracy theory
An article by Gerard Holmgren
Astute observers of history are aware that for every notable event there will usually be at least one ,often several wild conspiracy theories which spring up around it. "The CIA killed Hendrix" " The Pope had John Lennon murdered ", "Hitler was half Werewolf", "Space aliens replaced Nixon with a clone" etc,etc. The bigger the event, the more ridiculous and more numerous are the fanciful rantings which circulate in relation to it. So its hardly surprising that the events of Sept 11 2001 have spawned their fair share of these ludicrous fairy tales. And as always, there is - sadly - a small but gullible percentage of the population eager to lap up these tall tales, regardless of facts or rational analysis.
One of the wilder stories circulating about Sept 11, and one that has attracted something of a cult following amongst conspiracy buffs is that it was carried out by 19 fanatical Arab hijackers, masterminded by an evil genius named Osama bin Laden, with no apparent motivation other than that they "hate our freedoms."
Never a group of people to be bothered by facts, the perpetrators of this cartoon fantasy have constructed an elaborately woven web of delusions and unsubstantiated hearsay in order to promote this garbage across the internet and the media to the extent that a number of otherwise rational people have actually fallen under its spell.
Normally I don't even bother debunking this kind of junk, but the effect that this paranoid myth is beginning to have requires a little rational analysis, in order to consign it to the same rubbish bin as all such silly conspiracy theories.
These crackpots even contend that the extremist Bush regime was caught unawares by the attacks, had no hand in organizing them, and actually would have stopped them if it had been able.
Blindly ignoring the stand down of the US air-force, the insider trading on airline stocks - linked to the CIA, the complicit behavior of Bush on the morning of the attacks, the controlled demolition of the WTC, the firing of a missile into the Pentagon and a host of other documented proofs that the Bush regime was behind the attacks, the conspiracy theorists stick doggedly to a silly story about 19 Arab hijackers somehow managing to commandeer 4 planes simultaneously and fly them around US airspace for nearly 2 hours, crashing them into important buildings, without the US intelligence services having any idea that it was coming, and without the Air Force knowing what to do.
The huge difficulties with such a stupid story force them to invent even more preposterous stories to distract from its core silliness, and thus the tale has escalated into a mythic fantasy of truly gargantuan proportions.
It's difficult to apply rational analysis to such unmitigated stupidity, but that is the task, which I take on in this article. However, it should be noted that one of the curious characteristics of conspiracy theorists is that they effortlessly change their so-called evidence in response to each aspect, which is debunked. As soon as one delusion is unmasked, they simply invent another to replace it, and deny that the first ever existed. Eventually, when they have turned full circle through this endlessly changing fantasy fog, they then re-invent the original delusion and deny that you ever debunked it, thus beginning the circle once more. This technique is known as "the fruit loop" and saves the conspiracy theorist from ever having to see any of their ideas through to their (il)logical conclusions.
According to the practitioners of the fruit loop, 19 Arabs took over the 4 planes by subduing the passengers and crew through the use of guns, knives, box cutters and gas, and then used electronic guidance systems which they had smuggled on board to fly the planes to their targets.
The suspension of disbelief required for this outrageous concoction is only for the hard-core conspiracy theorist. For a start, they conveniently skip over the awkward fact that there weren't any Arabs on the planes. If there were, one must speculate that they somehow got on board without being filmed by any of the security cameras and without being registered on the passenger lists. But the curly question of how they are supposed to have got on board is all too mundane for the exciting world of the conspiracy theorist. With vague mumblings that they must have been using false ID ( but never specifying which IDs they are alleged to have used, or how these were traced to their real identities), they quickly bypass this problem, to relate exciting and sinister tales about how some of the fictitious fiends were actually searched before boarding because they looked suspicious. However, as inevitably happens with any web of lies, this simply paints them into an even more difficult corner. How are they supposed to have got on board with all that stuff if they were searched? And if they used gas in a confined space, they would have been affected themselves unless they also had masks in their luggage.
"Excuse me sir, why do you have a box cutter, a gun, a container of gas, a gas mask and an electronic guidance unit in your luggage?"
"A present for your grandmother? Very well sir, on you get."
"Very strange", thinks the security officer. "That's the fourth Arabic man without an Arabic name who just got on board with a knife, gun or box cutter and gas mask. And why does that security camera keep flicking off every time one these characters shows up? Must be one of those days I guess..."
Asking any of these basic questions to a conspiracy theorist is likely to cause a sudden leap to the claim that we know that they were on board because they left a credit card trail for the tickets they had purchased and cars they had rented. So if they used credit cards that identified them, how does that reconcile with the claim that they used false IDs to get on to the plane? But by this time ,the fruit loop is in full swing, as the conspiracy theorist tries to stay one jump ahead of this annoying and awkward rational analysis. They will allege that the hijackers' passports were found at the crash scenes. "So there!" they exalt triumphantly, their fanatical faces lighting up with that deranged look of one who has just a revelation of questionable sanity.
Hmm? So they got on board with false IDs but took their real passports with them? However, by this time the fruit loop has been completely circumnavigated, and the conspiracy theorist exclaims impatiently, "Who said anything about false IDs? We know what seats they were sitting in! Their presence is well documented!" And so the whole loop starts again. "Well, why aren't they on the passenger lists?"
"You numbskull! They assumed the identities of other passengers!" And so on...
Finally, out of sheer fascination with this circular method of creative delusion, the rational skeptic will allow them to get away with this loop, in order to move on to the next question, and see what further delights await us in the unraveling of this marvelously stupid story.
"Uh, how come their passports survived fiery crashes that completely incinerated the planes and all the passengers? " The answer of course is that its just one of those strange co-incidences, those little quirks of fate that do happen from time to time. You know, like the same person winning the lottery four weeks in a row. The odds are astronomical, but these things do happen...
This is another favorite deductive method of the conspiracy theorist. The "improbability drive" , in which they decide upon a conclusion without any evidence whatsoever to support it, and then continually speculate a series of wildly improbable events and unbelievable co-incidences to support it, shrugging off the implausibility of each event with the vague assertion that sometimes the impossible happens (just about all the time in their world). There is a principle called "Occam's razor" which suggests that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the simplest explanation is most likely to be correct. Conspiracy theorists hate Occam's razor.
Having for the sake of amusement, allowed them to get away with the silly story of the 19 invisible Arabs, we move on to the question of how they are supposed to have taken over the planes.
Hijacking a plane is not an easy thing to do. Hijacking it without the pilot being able to alert ground control is near impossible. The pilot has only to punch in a four-digit code to alert ground control to a hijacking. Unconcerned with the awkward question of plausibility, the conspiracy buffs maintain that on that Sept 11, the invisible hijackers took over the plane by the rather crude method of threatening people with box cutters and knives, and spraying gas (after they had attached their masks, obviously), but somehow took control of the plane without the crew first getting a chance to punch in the hijacking code. Not just on one plane, but on all four. At this point in the tale, the conspiracy theorist is again forced to call upon the services of the improbability drive.
So now that our incredibly lucky hijackers have taken control of the planes, all four pilots fly them with breath taking skill and certainty to their fiery end, all four pilots unflinching in their steely resolve for a swift meeting with Allah. Apart from their psychotic hatred of "our freedoms" , it was their fanatical devotion to Islam which enabled them to summon up the iron would to do this. Which is strange, because according to another piece of hearsay peddled by the conspiracy buffs, these guys actually went out drinking and womanizing the night before their great martyrdom, even leaving their Korans in the bar -really impeccable Islamic behavior - and then got up at 5am the next morning to pull off the greatest covert operation in history. This also requires us to believe that they were even clear headed enough to learn how to fly the huge planes by reading flight manuals in Arabic in the car on the way to the airport. We know this because they supposedly left the flight manuals there for us to find.
It gets better. Their practical training had allegedly been limited to Cessnas and flight simulators, but this was no barrier to the unflinching certainty with which they took over the planes and skillfully guided them to their doom. If they are supposed to have done their flight training with these tools, which would be available just about anywhere in the world, its not clear why they would have decided to risk blowing their cover to US intelligence services by doing the training in Florida, rather than somewhere in the Middle East, but such reasoning is foreign to the foggy world of the conspiracy theorist , too trapped in the constant rotation of the mental fruit loop to make their unsubstantiated fabrications seem even semi-believable.
Having triumphantly established a circular delusion in support of the mythical Arabs, the conspiracy theorist now confronts the difficult question of why there's nothing left of the planes. Anybody who has seen the endlessly replayed footage of the second plane going into the WTC will realize that the plane was packed with explosives. Planes do not and cannot blow up into nothing in that manner when they crash.
Did the mythical Arabs also haul a huge heap of explosives on board, and mange to deploy them in such a manner that they went off in the exact instant of the crash, completely vaporizing the plane? This is a little difficult even for the conspiracy theorist, who at this point decides that its easier to invent new laws of physics in order to keep the delusion rolling along.
There weren't any explosives. It wasn't an inside job. The plane blew up into nothing from its exploding fuel load! Remarkable! Sluggishly combustible jet fuel which is basically kerosine, which burns at a maximum temperature of around 800 C has suddenly taken on the qualities of a ferociously explosive demolition agent, vaporizing 65 tons of aircraft into a puff of smoke. Never mind that a plane of that size contains around 15 tons of steel and titanium, of which even the melting points are about double that of the maximum combustion temperature of kerosene - let alone the boiling point - which is what would be required to vaporize a plane. And then there's about 50 tons of aluminum to be accounted for. In excess of 15lbs of metal for each gallon of kerosene.
For the conspiracy theorist, such inconvenient facts are vaguely dismissed as "mumbo jumbo". This convenient little phrase is their answer to just about anything factual or logical. Like a conjurer pulling a rabbit out of a hat, they suddenly become fanatically insistent about the devastating explosive qualities of kerosene, something hitherto completely unknown to science, but just discovered by them, this very minute. Blissfully ignoring the fact that never before or since in aviation history has a plane vaporized into nothing from an exploding fuel load, the conspiracy theorist relies upon Hollywood images, where the effects are always larger than life, and certainly larger than the intellects of these cretins.
"Its a well known fact that planes blow up into nothing on impact." they state with pompous certainty. "Watch any Bruce Willis movie."
"Care to provide any documented examples? If it's a well known fact, then presumably this well known fact springs from some kind of documentation - other than Bruce Willis movies ?"
At this point the mad but cunning eyes of the conspiracy theorist will narrow as they sense the corner that they have backed themselves into, and plan their escape by means of another stunning back flip.
"Ah, but planes have never crashed into buildings before, so there's no way of telling." they counter with a sly grin.
Well, actually planes have crashed into buildings before and since, and not vaporized into nothing.
"But not big planes, with that much fuel ", they shriek in hysterical denial.
Or that much metal to vaporize.
"Yes but not hijacked planes!"
"Are you suggesting that whether the crash is deliberate or accidental affects the combustion qualities of the fuel?"
"Now you're just being silly".
Although collisions with buildings are rare, planes frequently crash into mountains, streets, other aircraft, nosedive into the ground, or have bombs planted aboard them, and don't vaporize into nothing. What's so special about a tower that's mostly glass? But by now, the conspiracy theorist has once again sailed happily around the fruit loop. "Its a well documented fact that planes explode into nothing on impact."
Effortlessly weaving back and forth between the position that its a "well known fact" and that "its never happened before, so we have nothing to compare it to", the conspiracy theorist has now convinced themselves ( if not too many other people) that the WTC plane was not loaded with explosives, and that the instant vaporization of the plane in a massive fireball was the same as any other plane crash you might care to mention. Round and round the fruit loop...
But the hurdles which confront the conspiracy theorist are many, and they are now forced to implement even more creative uses for the newly discovered shockingly destructive qualities of kerosene. They have to explain how the Arabs also engineered the elegant vertical collapse of both the WTC towers, and for this awkward fact the easiest counter is to simply deny that it was a controlled demolition, and claim that the buildings collapsed from fire caused by the burning kerosene.
For this, its necessary to sweep aside the second law of thermodynamics and propose kerosene which is not only impossibly destructive, but also recycles itself for a second burning in violation of the law of degradation of energy. You see, it not only consumed itself in a sudden catastrophic fireball , vaporizing a 65 ton plane into nothing, but then came back for a second go, burning at 2000C for another hour at the impact point, melting the skyscraper's steel like butter. And while it was doing all this it also poured down the elevator shafts, starting fires all through the building. When I was at school there was a little thing called the entropy law which suggests that a given portion of fuel can only burn once, something which is readily observable in the real world, even for those who didn't make it to junior high school science. But this is no problem for the conspiracy theorist. Gleefully, they claim that a few thousand gallons of kerosene is enough to
:completely vaporize a 65 ton aircraft
:have enough left over to burn ferociously enough for over an hour at the impact point to melt steel ( melting point about double the maximum combustion temperature of the fuel )
:still have enough left over to pour down the elevator shafts and start similarly destructive fires all through the building.
This kerosene really is remarkable stuff! How chilling to realize that those kerosene heaters we had in the house when I was a kid were deadly bombs, just waiting to go off. One false move and the entire street might have been vaporized. And never again will I take kerosene lamps out camping. One moment you're there innocently holding the lamp - the next - kapok! Vaporized into nothing along with the rest of the campsite, and still leaving enough of the deadly stuff to start a massive forest fire.
These whacks are actually claiming that the raging inferno allegedly created by the miraculously recycling, and impossibly hot burning kerosene melted or at least softened the steel supports of the skyscraper. Oblivious to the fact that the smoke coming from the WTC was black, which indicates an oxygen starved fire -therefore, not particularly hot, they trumpet an alleged temperature in the building of 2000 C , without a shred of evidence to support this curious suspension of the laws of physics.
Not content with this ludicrous garbage, they then contend that as the steel frames softened, they came straight down instead of buckling and twisting and falling sideways.
Since they're already re-engineered the combustion qualities of jet fuel, violated the second law of thermodynamics, and re-defined the structural properties of steel, why let a little thing like the laws of gravity get in the way?
The tower fell in a time almost identical to that of a free falling object, dropped from that height, meaning that its physically impossible for it to have collapsed by the method of the top floors smashing through the lower floors. But according to the conspiracy theorists, the laws of gravity were temporarily suspended on the morning of Sept 11. It appears that the evil psychic power of those dreadful Arabs knew no bounds. Even after they were dead, they were able, by the power of their evil spirits, to force down the tower at a speed physically impossible under the laws of gravity, had it been meeting any resistance from fireproofed steel structures originally designed to resist many tons of hurricane force wind as well as the impact of a Boeing passenger jet straying off course.
Clearly, these conspiracy nuts never did their science homework at school, but did become extremely adept at inventing tall tales for why.
"Muslim terrorists stole my notes, sir"
"No miss, the kerosene heater blew up and vaporized everything in the street, except for my passport."
"You see sir, the school bus was hijacked by Arabs who destroyed my homework because they hate our freedoms."
Or perhaps they misunderstood the term "creative science" and mistakenly thought that coming up with such rubbish was in fact, their science homework.
The ferocious heat generated by this ghastly kerosene was, according to the conspiracy theorists, the reason why so many of the WTC victims can't be identified. DNA is destroyed by heat. (Although 2000 C isn't really required, 100C will generally do the job.) This is quite remarkable, because according to the conspiracy theorist, the nature of DNA suddenly changes if you go to a different city.
That's right! If you are killed by an Arab terrorist in NY, your DNA will be destroyed by such temperatures. But if you are killed by an Arab terrorist in Washington DC, your DNA will be so robust that it can survive temperatures which completely vaporize a 65 ton aircraft.
You see, these loonies have somehow concocted the idea that the missile which hit the pentagon was not a missile at all, but one of the hijacked planes. And to prove this unlikely premise, they point to a propaganda statement from the Bush regime, which rather stupidly claims that all but one of the people aboard the plane were identified from the site by DNA testing, even though nothing remains of the plane. The plane was vaporized by the fuel tank explosion maintain these space loonies, but the people inside it were all but one identified by DNA testing.
So there we have it. The qualities of DNA are different, depending upon which city you're in, or perhaps depending upon which fairy story you're trying to sell at any particular time.
This concoction about one of the hijacked planes hitting the Pentagon really is a howler. For those not familiar with the layout of the Pentagon, it consists of 5 rings of building, each with a space in-between. Each ring of building is about 30 to 35 ft deep, with a similar amount of open space between it and the next ring. The object which penetrated the Pentagon went in at about a 45 degree angle, punching a neat circular hole of about a 12 ft diameter through three rings ( six walls).A little later a section of wall about 65 ft wide collapsed in the outer ring. Since the plane which the conspiracy theorists claim to be responsible for the impact had a wing span of 125 ft and a length of 155 ft, and there was no wreckage of the plane, either inside or outside the building, and the lawns outside were still smooth and green enough to play golf on, this crazy delusion is clearly physically impossible.
But hey, we've already disregarded the combustion qualities of jet fuel, the normal properties of common building materials, the properties of DNA, the laws of gravity and the second law of thermodynamics, so what the hell - why not throw in a little spatial impossibility as well ? I would have thought that the observation that a solid object cannot pass through another solid object without leaving a hole at least as big as itself is reasonably sound science. But to the conspiracy theorist, this is "mumbo jumbo". It conflicts with the delusion that they're hooked on, so it "must be wrong" although trying to get them to explain exactly how it could be wrong is a futile endeavor.
Conspiracy theorists fly into a curious panic whenever the Pentagon missile is mentioned. They nervously maintain that the plane was vaporized by its exploding fuel load and point to the WTC crash as evidence of this behavior. (That's a wonderful fruit loop.) Like an insect which has just been sprayed, running back and forth in its last mad death throes, they first argue that the reason the hole is so small is that the plane never entered the wall, having blown up outside, and then suddenly back flip to explain the 250 ft deep missile hole by saying that the plane disappeared all the way into the building, and then blew up inside the building (even though the building shows no sign of such damage). As for what happened to the wings - here's where they get really creative. The wings snapped off and folded into the fuselage which then carried them into the building, which then closed up behind the plane like a piece of meat.
When it suits them, they'll also claim that the plane slid in on its belly, (ignoring the undamaged lawn) while at the same time citing alleged witnesses to the plane diving steeply into the building from an "irrecoverable angle." How they reconcile these two scenarios as being compatible is truly a study in stupidity.
Once they get desperate enough, you can be sure that the UFO conspiracy stuff will make an appearance. The Arabs are in league with the Martians. Space aliens snatched the remains of the Pentagon plane and fixed most of the hole in the wall, just to confuse people. They gave the Arabs invisibility pills to help get them onto the planes. Little green men were seen talking to Bin Laden a few weeks prior to the attacks.
As the nation gears up to impeach the traitor Bush, and stop his perpetual oil war, it's not helpful to have these idiots distracting from the process by spreading silly conspiracy theories about mythical Arabs, stories which do nothing but play into the hands of the extremist Bush regime.
At a less serious time, we might tolerate such crackpots with amused detachment, but they need to understand that the treachery that was perpetrated on Sept 11, and the subsequent war crimes committed in "retaliation" are far too serious for us to allow such frivolous self-indulgence to go unchallenged.
Those who are truly addicted to conspiracy delusions should find a more appropriate outlet for their paranoia.
Its time to stop loony conspiracy theories about Sept 11.
Copyright Gerard Holmgren. Jan 2003.
This work may be freely copied and distributed without permission as long as it not for commercial use. Please include the author's name, the web address where you found it and the copyright notice.
Show your support!
Current mood: determined
Category: News and Politics
The Constitution was meant to protect rights... not take them away! Make sure your legislators know you oppose any attempts to enshrine discrimination in the Constitution!
Taking the message to Lansing
Current mood: awake
Category: Life
The following is a short speech I made in Lansing, MI. The occasion was the Alzheimers Associations Legislative Day 2006.
My name is Bill Carey and I'm 47 years old. I was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease two years ago at the age of 45. Prior to my diagnosis, I worked in southeast Michigan for 8 years as a manager of apartment complexes. I was previously fluent in several languages, including French, Hebrew, and Russian, and still enjoy studying languages, and collecting phonographs and records.
Approximately 2½ years ago, I began noticing trouble remembering things. Since I have a family history of early onset Alzheimers, I didnt ignore it or attribute it to getting older, but consulted a neurologist for testing. When the doctor told me I had Alzheimer's disease, I was not so much shocked as I was disappointed. There were still so many things I wanted to do, that I suspect will never be done now. I'm fortunate in that I have a very supportive life-partner, as well as a very supportive social network to help me cope with this disease.
How has the disease impacted me? Well, the disease has robbed me of my independence: I've had to leave my job, because even simple tasks like answering the phone became too confusing for me. As you can imagine, without a job I had no income and no benefits. As a result, I had to eat away at my savings to pay for my living expenses and my medications.
A few months ago, we contacted the Alzheimer's Association - Greater Michigan Chapter to get help. We met with the social worker, who helped us access the medication assistance programs offered by the various pharmaceutical companies. Although there are many ways to enhance my quality of life, I depend on these medications and was concerned about how I would continue to pay for them. In addition, the Association has provided emotional support in so many ways. Just knowing they were there, and that resources were available was a tremendous relief. For my partner and me, this is all uncharted territory. But the Alzheimers association has the expertise to help us navigate it. Without their help, I dont know what I would do.
Many people with Alzheimer's disease can no longer speak for themselves, so I am here to speak for all of us. The only way we're going to get funding and help those with Alzheimer's disease is to make people aware. This is the task of everyone attending Legislative Day, and I hope each and every one of you will continue your efforts to help me, and the millions of others afflicted with this disease.
The Madness of King George
Current mood: tired
Category: News and Politics
What's At Stake? A message from Ramsey Clark
George W. Bush and his principal officials are the greatest threat to world peace, to human rights, to economic justice, to the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law that the American people and the world at large face today. His personal, unilateral war of aggression has wrecked Iraq, taken 250,000 lives or more, created tensions worldwide and significantly isolated the United States, costing us international friendships, trust, respect and alliances. War of aggression was judged to be the Supreme International Crime by the Nuremberg Tribunal.
Proclaiming himself the Decider, President Bush insists he decides what is right. He threatens North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Sudan, Venezuela, and most critically at the moment, Iran. The threats themselves violate international law and the U.N. Charter. His threats are made real by his personal record of false claims followed by arbitrary acts including the criminal aggression against and occupation of Iraq with its painful consequences just beginning for Iraq and the world. The additional U.S. military costs approach a trillion dollars and the occupation stretches the limits of U.S. military capacity. Yet he has ordered detailed plans for attacks on Iran that he could order to be executed as early as this summer. He may believe some radical action can save his presidency.
Iran has more than three times the population of Iraq. It was not debilitated by the Gulf War which cost Iraq more than 150,000 lives and destroyed its basic infrastructure. Thirteen years of sanctions, from Hiroshima Day, August 6, 1990 to Mission Accomplished Day ending the war of aggression against Iraq announced from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln by President Bush on May 1, 2003, cost Iraq 1 million lives, half children under the age of five. Iraq suffered near total isolation. Without international commerce, or the ability to rebuild, Iraqs economy was devastated. It suffered physically and psychologically from frequent punitive bombings by U.S. aircraft throughout the sanctions period. Irans economy and power fueled by its oil, grew steadily through all these years.
Nothing could unify Iran like a military strike against it by the U.S. Few acts could better convince Muslims worldwide that George Bush is on a crusade against them. Iran with its long border with Iraq could radically alter political alignments and the level of conflict in Iraq and serve as an open conduit for fighters from many nations. Violence could spread from Egypt to neighboring Pakistan and beyond.
The Geneva Conventions prohibit assaults on inherently dangerous facilities, which would threaten civilian populations. Nuclear power plants are the prime example. Iran has a right to develop such plants. The Shah had ambitious plans 30 years ago, well financed and advanced, to construct nuclear plants across Iran to replace depleting oil reserves. Iran is six years or more away from the ability to build nuclear warheads if that is its purpose. The U.S. could incinerate Iran with a single launch from its worldwide land, sea and air nuclear missile capacity in place and alert today. Iran knows this. Surely it is better to seek to stop threatening and start seeking better relations and understanding with Iran and other nations that may be hostile.
Aside from the criminal nature of an attack on Iran, further aggressions by George Bush could put the United States in a rapid decline in international standing, economically and military on the defense, globally and at home.
This is only to suggest what might happen if George Bush remains President. The immediate question is whether We, the People of the United States of America, believe the future of our country is a spectator sport, or whether we will be players.
Will we let George Bush decide the fate of the nation?
Have his judgment and actions been acceptable?
With thirty-two months remaining in his Presidency, George Bush can inflict greater, even devastating injury on our people and the poor of the rest of the planet. He has squandered the largest federal surplus in history and created the largest national debt with his determination to be a War President and his ambition to enrich the rich.
He continues increasing military expenditures including the unlawful development of a new generation of nuclear weapons and a Star Wars shield for the U.S., insuring an arms race and increasing the probability of war.
His threats against other governments have strengthened opposition to the U.S. throughout the Muslim world, Latin American, former Soviet Union bloc countries, China, Africa and even West Europe.
President Bushs tax cuts and Free Trade pressures have accelerated the concentration of wealth in oligarchies at home and abroad and further impoverished the poor. Nearly 1/3 of his tax cuts have gone to the top one percent of the population. When his estate tax cuts take hold the top one percent of the population will receive 40f his tax cuts.
The number of billionaires is increasing rapidly while incomes of workers and the poor decline and organized labor continue to decline. And tax cuts combined with increased military expenditures and increasing deficits in balance of payments which make the U.S. the largest debtor nation are compelling cuts in federal expenditures for health care, education, social security, Medicare, humanitarian foreign aid and other needed programs for the poor. The real income of college graduates fell more than 5rom 2000 to 2004 under President Bush, eroding the middle class while concentrating wealth in the few. The richest ten percent of the population received more than half of all his tax cuts benefits.
But the concentration of wealth is accelerating most rapidly in the top 1/100th of one percent, about 30,000 individuals. The rise in income of these very rich has been astronomical. Just look at the growing number of billionaires and the bonuses and stock options of corporate CEOs.
President Bushs contempt for human rights and civil liberties is unprecedented in the American Presidency. He is not only above international law, he is above the Bill of Rights. He can arrest and detain people worldwide, including U.S. citizens, as enemy combatants. He condones torture. He wiretaps U.S. citizens and foreigners alike without court approval. Proclamations concerning his Presidential powers by his Attorneys General, Ashcroft and Gonzales, have stunned the international community. Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo now symbolize U.S. regard for human dignity. Yet George Bush proclaims himself the champion of freedom and democracy!
Katrina is only one measure of the incompetence and indifference of the Bush Administration. Secretary of State Rice has acknowledged thousands of mistakes in Iraq without acknowledging the greatest mistake: the unilateral criminal invasion and occupation.
President Bush adheres ideologically to the belief that global warming is not caused in major part by the ever increasing human consumption of oil and other hydrocarbons.
He believes he can bully the world into accepting his way and the American people into accepting his decisions as right. For him, his ideology is truth. He professed to believe, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Because Iraq was "evil," and the U.S. is free and democratic, he believes Iraq should be controlled by the U.S. Iran is racing to develop nuclear weapons in his view, because of its dangerous hatred for freedom and democracy and must be stopped by force now. His truth translated into force has done more to damage freedom and democracy at home and abroad than all the evil empires he threatens. For him, his tax cuts, free trade policies and deficits benefited the poor and lower income groups most, if not in dollars, because his ideology holds that when the oligarchy rule, all will fare better.
The imperative need is action now. We cannot risk delay.
If the American people fail to impeach George Bush and his principal officials for his war of aggression, the world can only see the American people as either powerless, or supportive of it. If he is charged only, or primarily, with misleading, or lying to the American people, the world can only believe the American people will accept mass murder if it is not lied about.
Why should any other nation refrain from Wars of Aggression against oil rich states and others unable to defend themselves if they believe they can win and get away with it, while the U.S. proceeds with impunity with its threats and attacks?
Impeachment is essential to the integrity of constitutional government. It is the most urgent duty of the American people. We have the power to cause impeachment, if we have the will. Do your part now! Participate and contribute to the Constitutional Crusade to Impeach George Bush.
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