Apparently, the words "Let's Roll" are now copyrighted by Lisa Beamer, a Flight 93 widow.

So if I say "Let's Roll" I will get sued.

So what happens if I say "Let's Roll the car down the hill"

or "Let's Roll some french twist bread"

or "I wonder when Lisa Beamer's attorney's will say Let's Roll on Terstorm"

Look lady. I'm very sorry that your husband was killed. What he did on Flight 93 was one of the most heroic, and honorable things that any American has ever done, and he may have saved thousands of more lives. But let the whole "Let's Roll" thing go, ok? You cannot copyright such a thing. People have been saying it for years! So I'm gonna keep on saying it whenever I want, when I want, where I want. If I want to use it in an article, I'm going to use it in an article. Deal with it. my obnoxious ending: Let's Roll!

flight of the chickenhawks

special thanks to the rittenhouse review for this site.

trr

note the position of the book. Of course, he had no trouble on September 11 2001 when he sat there reading about goats to little kids for a half hour after he found out about the second plane strike while the WTC burned and chaos reigned supreme, but that's another rant for another day.

if miTTens ruled the world

A special thankyou goes out to Ron for this one. It's so simplistic its tragic. We could say it's tragically simplistic. Or simplistically tragic. I wish Blogger had a spell-check...I hate having to write all this out in Word and then cut and paste it.

Song of the Day: Adagio For Strings by Samuel Barber (from the Platoon soundtrack)
CD of the Day: Faure's Requiem.


Believe it or not, I'm not depressed today, even though I'm listening to depressing music.

I really must get to my bizzywork so I will post more later on tonight when I do all my forum posting. Tonight's post will probably focus on some aspect of war and peace.

this bloG is excellent


Take a look. I enjoyed this blog.

I am also happy to note that my blog can be read by the Chinese.

yay


chinatest

Update on the Uranium: They released the guys, and it turned out not to be as much uranium as originally thought.

Update on the Tropics: Izzy's gone. Lili's here to take his place. stOrms are cOoL

Full post later tonight (maybe, I have a lot of bizzywork to do. I freaking hate bizzywork.)

get yoUr war on get yOur war on

seems they found uranium headed for Iraq in Turkey. I'm not making any judgements: but why would uranium made in West Germany have "made in w. germany" written in English on it? This looks like disinformation to me. it has pIctures of the uranium


make your own conclusions kids, i'm out.

No more posts till Monday...I think.

Man I must have been lit last night. But I made my point.

One Apology(only one...I feel the rest is relavant): My roommate...I shouldn't have called him an idiot for his idea.

I think I have West Nile...I'm off to the doctor's to find out.


Full Post tonight.

my roommates not an idiot, but the argument still stands.

fuck donald rumsfeld for not answering the fucking questions fuck powell for getting his leash yanked fuck condi rice for advocating isolation of the palestinians fuck israel for killing innocents cause they dont want piece fuck mini-nukes for being just as polluting as big nukes fuck dubya for being born fuck wars for being evil fuck saddam fuck the UN for being cowardly fuck congress for being cowardly fuck wealthy snobbish rich people of privlage and fuck the world for letting us run them over

now im ending my rant for the night. good night.

as promised: an eXtra long post for the day.

first: here's a real funny website I found today. our pResident is such a fucking moron

Now I begin. I'm on the attack tonight.

I had the biggest argument today over Iraq. I concide that he is a no-good-very-bad-person. But I also believe that he is no personal threat to me.

All the evidence shown is circumstansial. Even Prime Minister Tony Blair's "dossier"blairspeak
is suspect. All it is is more rehashed information of the same things we already know.

So today, I felt I should let it be known that I oppose all wars and I was promptly told that I was asking for it. What the fucking fuck. Let's examine this logic: I oppose war. I feel that Dubya the Boy King is a bigger threat to the world than Saddam Hussein is (Logically this makes sense: we do spend nearly half a fucking TRILLION dollars on defense. Saddam has some Soviet-era tanks and old biochem weapons that we fucking gave him in the '80s. OOOOOO WHAT A THREAT OOOOO OH MY FUCKING GOD!) proof of our 80's cOmplicity

But of course, I'm automatically wrong because I'm giving Saddam, who the press and our fucking leaders say is evil, the benifit of the doubt.
moRe blair speak

I still contend that all that juicy oil under Iraq is our true objective. If it isn't, then why are Russian oil companies scared to death that they will be pushed out of the Iraqi oil buisness?the russiAns are not pleaseD

My roommate is an idiot to believe that "liberating" Iraq will make the whole Arab world love us. First of all, that's listening to Dubya the Moron Boy King logic that they hate us "because we are free." So if they are free, they'll love us 'cause America Rocks! YAY! well, you(as in Bush and his dumbass warmonger cronies) can take that logic and fuckyourselfwith it I found a flow chart that says quite the opposite.
uggabugga is so cooL

Uggabugga has an excellent blogspot, as an aside. After tonight I will be permenantly linking to them. uggabugga

Back to my rant. This argument took a decidedly ugly turn when I laid out the possiblity that "Gulf War II" could go horribly wrong and the whole Arab World could rise up against us, in which case we probably had it coming. I stated that I would not participate in any such war, draft or no draft. I am a Conscientious Objector. I was again, promptly told that I would still have to aid the government's war. I object to this. It is clearly an infringement on my beliefs: I oppose war in all fashions. I will not, under any circumstances, aid in any war. War is evil. War does not mean peace. Fuck that logic. So then, in this hypothetical situation, I would end up in exile or in jail for having a belief system that war is evil and I want no part in it. Fuck that logic.

but of course, I'm automatically wrong.
HMMM...does the Patriot Act, the same act that makes dissent terrorism, sound really free to you? Do the slow erosion of civil liberties sound like we're all that free? "Those who give up their liberty for a little bit of security deserve neither." Thank you Ben Franklin.


Perhaps there is some light at the end of this long and dark tunnel called the Bush Presidency: 1- Germany's Gerhard Schroder won the parlimentary elections this week on the slimmest of margins. I fear his government won't last a year..that's just how parlimentary governments work. But his opponent is equally anti-war. Excellent! 2- Canada today said they would not support the US's little military adventure.
O canAda!

More ranting: Bunker Buster (mini-nukes). There's no such thing as a clean nuclear weapon. There's no such thing as a good nuclear bomb. Nuclear weapons, in any way, shape, or form, are an evil that we've inflicted upon this world. If you dont believe me, do your own research: but start here:nukes suck
and then start here:nukes still suck

What fucking right do we have to do this to another country. So fucking what if they don't like us! We should stop DOING things that MAKE other PEOPLE not LIKE us. HOW'S that for a plan of action? But BOY king is TOO stupid TO think OTHERWISE.

If we do this preemptive-regime-change-strike then I hope someone gets the idea to replace the regime down in DC.

Call YOUR fucking CONGRESSPERSON damnit!

end of rant.

Full post later on today: I'm just too to write just now.

there's definatly a storm raging here tonight. its in my head.


PS: Yes- my article didnt run this week in The Snapper, but it will next week with that conservative punk's piece.

ugh

Guess who's back. Izzy's back. And his little sister too


wow two storms at once, no wondeR I can't concentrate! izzY izzy bo bizZy

everything bascially sucks so dont expect anything positive or nice out of me for a loooonng LOOOONNNGG TIME! FUCK!

Izzy has a little sister this afternoon. the stoRmy nurserY


I still feel like crap.


Izzy looks like crap this morning but I think he'll pull through. Bad news for Louisiana though.

Hypothesis confirmed. Mercury retrograde in Libra and the full moon= drama and misery for all. This is a bad time to start a war, I might add.


Oi...!

forgot
u
couldn't
know


that
happiness
is a
sham

borrowed from Ron's profile.

I am so misreable. seems everyone else around me is misreable too.

as promised: this week's column-unedited.

I admit it. I am a peace-lovin peacenik pacifist.

I believe it started when I began school. I went to a fairly prestigious Quaker school in downtown Philadelphia. In my formative years, I was taught all about the Quaker way of peace and tolerance.

It could also be my religious beliefs. I'm not quite a practicing Christian althought I was bought up that way. I believe in what Jesus said, when he stated "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God." That's Matthew, 5:9 by the way.

This world we live in is not peaceful. Currently, we remain on alert for more terrorism while worldwide, there are no less than 60 armed local and regional conflicts. Two nuclear powers stare each other in the eye with the specter of creating a nuclear holocaust. The world's lone superpower prepares to invade another power who may or may not have weapons of mass destruction. This superpower has also laid out a national security plan that could lead to endless entanglement, whether it's their buisness or not.

I will be the first pacifist to admit: when I saw those towers fall on September 11, 2001, the first thing I did was use Afghanistan on my world map for target practice. In the initial hours and days, I was all for turning that country, and any other country that supported terrorism into a sheet of radioactive glass. I will also admit that military force is sometimes necessary, as it was in World Wars one and two, and other wars of self-defense such as most of the current War on Terror. My violence-caused violent shock soon faded so I could see clearly.

This is my argument this week. I wish to defend my fellow peaceniks. Since September 11th, we've been called pro-terrorist, pro-Saddam, cowards, treasonous and unpatriotic. A columnist last September called pacifists "evil." Others recommened that pacifists be sent to the front lines. Because most pacifists do not support the Bush Administration's War on Terror, they are "for the terrorists" under the new Bush logic and, by logical extenstion, terrorists. This is nothing new, for in times of war, pacifists have always been called evil and cowardly, and punished horribly for it. I can accept that, that's just the way things are. But some of our greatest leaders were pacifists and they created such awesome gains for humankind. Dr. Martin Luther King, through the Civil Rights movement, helped to even the playing field for millions of disenfranchised Americans. Gandi was able to free India from British rule through non-violent resistence. Nelson Mandela's movement tried the same thing through work-stoppages in South Africa. Pacifists all through history have risked their lives in the name of peace, from Quakers smuggling slaves to people sneaking Jews out of Europe during the Holocaust.

Now, more than ever, we need people like King, Gandhi, and Mandela, and the people who risked their lives to save others. Here's why: We're going to go to war with Iraq, soon. There's no doubt about it. We're going whether the world wants it or not. This is wrong. Pacifists will cite the example of thousands of sick and dying Iraqi children poisoned because the sanctions will not allow Iraq to import water-purification systems. My example is that it is simply wrong and will prove nothing. More terrorism will result. More pacifists will lament. More innocents will die.

Here's how what you can do, if you love peace or even if you don't. Call Congress. It takes all but 10 minutes. Tell them how you really feel about this coming war. If you want it, tell them. If you don't want it, tell them that too. Hopefully they'll listen and perhaps, there can be some peace.



Film at eleven.

damN


Izzy is beautiful this afternoon. It's perhaps the best formed storm I've seen in quite some time. People may think its sick I have such an interest in these things but I am often awed and sometimes shaken by the power, and fury, of nature.watch hiM swirL

Izzy seems to have absorbed the upper low that was pulling it southwest. I expect a more westerly path tomorrow, followed by a turn toward the US later in the week. I hope that all in its path are aware of what's coming, as Izzy is a monster, and could become even more of a monster when it moves back over the open Gulf. Whoever gets this storm is gonna get fucked up by it, theres no mistaking it. Now, Merida, Mexico is in its path, so my thoughts are with them.

I must have been Catholic in a past life, because I am feeling really guilty today. That and I believe my bad mood is back. Didn't take long. Sheesh.


Izzy is still a big boy. an iZzy ouTlook

dude this is so funny.


dis be waCked out

Izzy looks gorgeous this afternoon. A classic pinwheel storm. Awesome.looK at dis fuckEr


watch out.

hmmmmmm....not much to say. Except that my bad mood has been somewhat lifted, for now ;-)


and again I must implore, do not mix ice cream and beer. Totally disgusting.


Ok Izzy update: He's a real big boy today. eat yoUr wheAties


Here's a website that's pretty cool with weather and stuff. dt giVes good forEcasts

He's kinda being pulled W to slightly South of West by an upper low in the Bay of Campeche. I still think Izzy is US bound, though...the upper low is moving out of the way. A trough will pick the storm up, i believe.

More later, I smell like beer and ;-)

This is just a randon observation. But I observed tonight that Yuengling+Turkey Hill Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is so increadibly foul. Do not attempt. It's nasty.

observation #2: beer, and all other alcohol, makes you very horny.


nectar oF the gOds

Today, the probe into what happened on September 11, 2001 finally revealed what most of us already knew: missed warnings, failures, and hints of foreknowledge. It's about time.

Of course, Cynthia McKinney lost her career over her stand on this. Poor woman...she was so brave to stand up and say something. That's the most patritotic thing I've ever seen.

Now, Bush has layed out his plan. A new "First Strike" Doctrine. It's looking scary. I feel terrified to be an American.

Under the plan, the US would reserve the right to strike first, alone if necessary, and squash terrorism throughout the globe with military force. This defies logic. All the "smart" bombs in the world couldn't end terrorism. bombing people just creates HELLO more terror! I mean, when Israel bombs the Palestinians and confines them to squalid slums and doesnt allow Palestinian children to get an education and access to medical care does that stop the terrorism in Israel? NO.

I pray that our leaders in Congress do the right thing, and stop this madness before it starts. That would be an effective "first strike."

I had some letters delieverd to my congressmen today. Monday I'll strike up the fax machine. I hope they listen to me. I'm urging all my friends to do the same: We have to put a stop to terrorism yes, but my way is better, and won't result in the deaths of millions over the next few years. So call your congressman now! today! and call teh White House too! Be polite, they probably get a lot of wacked out phone calls.


Bush says "you are either with us or you're for the terrorists." Why is this so wrong. I'm obviously not with Bush and his cronies. So am I a terrorist? Should I just give in to the Chickenhawks false patriotism and promote endless war?

Hell no.

So I guess I'm a terrorist under the Bush logic.

This is a speech made by Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, recently ousted in Georgia.

A brave and courageious woman. May God bless her brave, courageous, and patriotic soul.


Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
U.S. Policy Toward Iraq
House International Relations Committee Hearing
Thursday, September 19, 2002

Mr. Chairman:

Once again the world now waits with fear and
trepidation regarding the threat
of a US attack on Iraq.

The President provides as justification for this
impending attack the Iraqi
refusal to comply with UN resolutions regarding
weapons inspections, the
alleged Iraqi threat to its neighbors and the Iraqi
government's mistreatment
of its own citizens.

The American people are being called upon to send
their young sons and
daughters to go and kill young Iraqi sons and
daughters. This war, like all
wars, will be brutal and will leave many American
and Iraqi families mourning
the loss of their children.

We're not allowed to publicly question the Bush
Administration for fear of
being called unpatriotic.
Aren't we entitled to really know why we're being
urged to go to war? Aren't
we entitled to be confident that the Administration
is telling the truth?
We know that this Administration has some trouble
with telling the truth.
You might recall that the White House had a kind of
amnesia a few months ago
and didn't tell the truth about September 11 until I
asked some pretty straightforward questions. In so doing, it seems I
helped them remember that they had in fact received a whole raft of reports warning of terrorist attacks against this country.

And this is the same Administration, which stole the 2000 election in Florida and then lied about it.

There have been so many times I wished our country could use its massive military resources for such noble goals as
protecting civilians and enforcing UN Security Council Resolutions. I'd be their greatest supporter. But I've
sat upon this committee for 10 years and I have seen our country repeatedly refuse to use to its military to save civilians from
slaughter.

I need only remind you of our country's shameful failure to intervene in
Rwanda in 1994 and in so doing we allowed 1,000,000 Rwandan men, women and
children to be butchered with axes and machetes in 100 days.

And, yes, we are the same country that abandoned the
people of Afghanistan to the Taliban, that abandoned the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo to
the invading Rwandans and the Ugandans, that abandoned the people of East
Timor to the invading Indonesians, that abandoned
the people of Sierra Leone
to the brutal hand chopping killers of the RUF, that
abandoned the people of
Chechnya to the brutal Russian Army, that abandoned
the people of the
Philippines to brutalities of Ferdinand Marcos, that
abandoned the people of
Chile to monstrous crimes of General Pinochet and so
on and so on.

But the President would have us believe that this
time things are different –
for once, he says, we're going to war to save
people's lives.

However, just last Sunday, September 15, 2002, the
Washington Post's lead
story carried the banner headline "In Iraqi War
Scenario, Oil is the Key
Issue." The article then went on to describe how US
oil companies were
looking forward to taking advantage of the oil
bonanza, which would follow
Saddam Hussein's removal from office. Apparently,
so the article says, CIA
Director James Woolsey, indicated that non-US oil
companies who sided with
Hussein would most likely be excluded from sharing
in Iraq's massive oil
reserves – reserves said to be second only to Saudi
Arabia.

And I find the current Bush fervor and alleged
urgent justifications for
attacking Iraq startling because I recall reading an
article from the London
Guardian on December 2, 2001 last year, which had a
banner headline "Secret
US Plan for Iraq War." The article, almost a year
old now, is interesting
because it reports that the President had already
ordered the CIA and his
senior military commanders to draw up detailed plans
for a military operation
against Iraq. The operational commander was General
Tommy Franks working out
of the US Central Command at McDill air force base
in Florida. Apparently,
other key players were, low and behold, the CIA
Director James Woolsey and
the Deputy Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz.

What I found most incredible about the article,
especially after reading this
week's Washington Post article, was the last
sentence which said:

"The most adventurous ingredient in the anti-Iraqi
proposal is the use of US
ground troops . . . significant numbers of [US]
troops could also be called
on in the early stages of any rebellion to guard oil
fields around the Shia
port of Basra in southern Iraq."

Isn't it amazing the London Times didn't refer to US
troops guarding the new
parliament, or the schools or hospitals full of
ravaged civilians, or saving
the men, women and children brutalized under years
of Hussein's rule.

I wonder why the President hasn't talked about these
plans, which were being
cooked up nearly a year ago.

I learned this week from the Times of London that
Bush Administration plans
to spend some $200m on convincing a skeptical
American and world public that
the war on Iraq is justified. I didn't realize that
telling the truth would
be so expensive.

And surely if we were really interested today in the
truth about whether Iraq
has weapons of mass destruction wouldn't this
Committee want to hear from
Scott Ritter. I just cannot believe that he's not
here today.

Before we send our young men and women off to war,
we need to really make
sure that we're not sacrificing them so that rich
and powerful men can
prosecute a war for oil.
I love this country too much to see it abused this
way and I implore other
Members of Congress to join me in denouncing this
war of aggression.

Thank you.


Full analysis later on the whole damn situation.

looks like another weekend night of staring at the walls or drinking and feeling unfulfilled. yay. fun.

I seem to be entering this phase in my life where...well.. I simply don't know what to do. I like writing my column and I like reporting the news for WIXQ. college raDio But I don't really know what I want to do after college. I don't even like my major anymore. It's gotten kind of ..dull.

Anyway I rant too much. Prozac may be required hehehe.

anyway check out Izzy.izzY is a big boy now


One of my favorite forecasters (despite his often poor manners with other internet posters) is calling for a New Orleans strike by the middle of next week. Not good for New Orleans. I doubt they have enough beads for Izzy to play with. If Izzy does tremondous damage, I doubt the US will be able to easily handle it. Boy King squandered the surplus on more smart bombs that miss and hit little kids at weddings.

Izzy is a big ole boy this morning whoa nelly! izzy biG daddy

105mph and getting stronger. Izzy has been eating his Wheaties and he's gonna do a number on Cuba today. They're ready, Cuba has one of the best civil defense networks around--almost as good as ours. Unlike other Caribbean islands and countries when thousands die when storms like Izzy form, Cuba barely loses anyone. they'Ve had a long tradition of tracking storms and they do listen to our hurricane center's forecasts and even collaborate with them. take that boy king lol your weather service is helping out the Cubans.

but anyway, it wont be till later today that we figure out where Izzy is gonna go. He looks like he'll be a fickle boy too.

spreading the gooD word

I found this absolutely hysterical. the iraQ fight song

I'm borrowing (if its not okay I'll take it down) the text too and placing it here.


If you're happy and you know it, bomb Iraq (clap clap)
If you're happy and you know it, bomb Iraq (clap clap)
If you're happy and you know it,
And you really want to show it
If you're happy and you know it, bomb Iraq


If your equities are falling, bomb Iraq
If your equities are falling, bomb Iraq
If your equities are falling,
and your losses are appalling
If your equities are falling, bomb Iraq.


If the euro keeps on climbing, bomb Iraq
If the euro keeps on climbing, bomb Iraq
If the euro keeps on climbing,
put your trust in W's timing,
If the euro keeps on climbing, bomb Iraq


If the GDP is shrinking, bomb Iraq,
If the GDP is shrinking, bomb Iraq,
If the GDP is shrinking,
And W's back to drinking,
If the GDP is shrinking, bomb Iraq,


If my polls are falling, bomb Iraq,
If my polls are falling, bomb Iraq,
If my polls are falling,
and Congress is stalling
If my polls are falling, bomb Iraq.


If the GOP is hurtin' , bomb Iraq
If the GOP is hurtin' , bomb Iraq
If the GOP is hurtin'
And November looks uncertain
If the GOP is hurtin' , bomb Iraq



If the talk has turned to Harken, bomb Iraq,
If the talk has turned to Harken, bomb Iraq,
If the talk has turned to Harken,
and that Krugman-dawg is barkin',
If the talk has turned to Harken, bomb Iraq!



Are they checking Halliburton? Bomb Iraq


Are they checking Halliburton? Bomb Iraq
If they're checking Halliburton
Cheney's rep will soon be hurtin'
If they're checking Halliburton, bomb Iraq


If your brother is a turkey, bomb Iraq
If your brother is a turkey, bomb Iraq
If your brother is a turkey
And Florida's goin' bazerk-y
If your brother is a turkey, bomb Iraq


If the pundits call you "moron," bomb Iraq
If the pundits call you "moron," bomb Iraq
If the pundits call you moron
Then it's time to get your war on
If the pundits call you "moron," bomb Iraq


If Noelle gets caught with crack...bomb Iraq
If Noelle gets caught with crack...bomb Iraq
If Noelle gets caught with crack
and the twins drop booze for smack
If Noelle gets caught with crack...bomb Iraq




To divert public attention bomb Iraq
To divert public attention bomb Iraq
To divert public attention
From the doings of your henchmen
To divert public attention bomb Iraq


To get drilling in the Artic, bomb Iraq,
To get drilling in the Artic, bomb Iraq,
You can run us out of oil,
With the Middle East aboil,
To get drilling in the Artic, bomb Iraq.

---from Atrios's blogspot. its funny as hell.


In other news: kids at millersville are so painfully insulated. Apparently, they believe theres no recession. But my parents aren't working and can't really find it. Gee...what about all those other people who were laid off and dont have jobs. Gee...what about the increadibly shrinking surplus (isn't it gone now). Gee. What about the incredibly plummetting Dow. Gee. Sounds like a recession to me. But I'm apparently a libreal and by default, a moron (sarcasm emphasized).

Izzy musing: If he hits Florida, will he blow the broken voting machines away?

Bush(from here on in he will be known as Baby Shrub) musing: I wonder if he has a toga, since he is the new Caesar and Washington D.C. is now Rome-On-The-Potomac.

Millersville musing: I have no musing on millersville today, other than the fact that it's ungodly hot in my room, and very pleasant outside. And I'm on the alleged "cool" side of the building too.

Izzy is getting to be a big boy. He looks like he'll be a big boy too. storm cenTral


I can't help but thinking that if Izzy does tremendous damage in the United States, they will find a way to blame it on Saddam Hussein.

I meant to say force in the last post.

Yea so class was okay...I hadn't read for Comm Research as I should have so I was kind of unprepared. She said Freybotanandkreps 5 times today (We keep a tally...long story, maybe later.) Comm Research was kinda fun.

We watched On The Waterfront in Film today. It disturbed me.

The film is supposed to be an allegory for HUAC and the McCarthey hearings. The mobsters depicted in the film are supposed to be the Communists. But I saw them as HUAC, and I saw them as something else too.


I saw the mobsters as America...not the current America, but the America that we're leading up to. People are increasingly becoming sheep, like the longshoreman in the film who were "D&D" or Deaf and Dumb. and the mobsters...well they reminded me of our current Administration because they are bullies to the rest of the world. Of course, I kinda identified with Terry Malloy...he was kinda dumb but in the end, he was a force of nature against the tide of wrong. I'm trying to be that tide.

I suddenly realized that my version of America sounded a lot like my roommate this morning when I broke my glasses. He was quite hostile. I like him anyway, he's a cool kid...he's evil from the lack of sleep too.

ok I couldn't wait.

I do not understand why the Bush Administration is rejecting the Iraqi government's overture to inspections. The Iraqis agreed to our "demands." Now we say no? But we got what we wanted!

This is how I read it. I'll put it in kindergarden (well maybe without the cursing...but you never know these days) terms.

AMERICA: GIMMIE THAT OIL OR I'LL BEAT YOU UP. AND GET RID OF THOSE NASTY WEAPONS TOO. AND BE NICER TO PEOPLE. AND DO WHAT I SAY. AND LET PEOPLE IN SO THEY CAN LOOK AT YOUR TOYS. OR I'LL BEAT YOU UP. EVERYONE LIKES ME. NOONE LIKES YOU...YOU PUNKASS BITCH.

IRAQ: Okay.

AMERICA: (looks shocked and thinks: Damnit. Damnit. DAMNIT. DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT!)

AMERICA: (throws tantrum) YOU'RE A LIAR. I'M GONNA BEAT YOU UP ANYWAY. AND IM GONNA TAKE YOUR OIL. BIACH. I WIN CAUSE IM BIGGER AND BETTER THAN YOU ARE.


Sigh. I only forsee more madness.


this, by the way, was my introspective post for the day.

What is your Alter-Ego
Personality?

Apparently this is me. Okay, no more blogging till the end of the day. If I ever get there, I may pull out my hair first. Oh wait, I'm already bald, I shaved it last Friday. Oh well . . .

lack of sleep definatly makes ya evil. I'll post a more introspective post on the state of the Universe later today. as you can see, i never made it up into my loft.

hmmmmmmmmmmm a new storm in the caribbean...Isidore (from now on it will be called Izzy) looks like he'll be naughty with Florida. uh oh...hope the fam down there is ready. I'm sure they are...they're native Floridians (so they know not to punch the Pat Buchanan box) so they're ready for anything Izzy can throw at them.

Hopefully Izzy can come up this way and refill our well. I really hate Lancaster City Water. It tastes like slime and lead and swimming pool. ew.

blah.

I'm unusually unfocused this week. Beware, Millersville. Unfocused moods make me cranky...and when I get cranky I get introverted and antisocial and mean. Plus the current geopolitical situation isn't helping.


now its time for bed.

Which Bjork Song Are You?


I just thought this was funny.

Time for bed.

Here's the first column of the semester: archived here since The Snapper website isnt up and running just yet.

like the others, it is unedited. The sheep comment at the end was taken out...probably for the better.

You may have missed it, but CBS News last week reported that The First Amendment Center surveyed Americans this summer on what they thought of the first amendment, the most basic of freedoms. The results of this survey, which were designed to probe the public's willingness to have their civil liberties curtailed in the wake of September 11th, 2001, were shocking.
49% of Americans feel that the First Amendment goes too far. Nearly half of all Americans! Unreal! Apparently, it is an obstruction to the government's war on terror.
If that doesn't make your blood boil, I'll continue. Almost half of those surveyed felt that the media has been too aggressive in querying the government about the war on terror.
There's more: 48% of those surveyed felt that the government should have the freedom to monitor religious groups even if that monitoring infringed upon the religious freedoms and rights of that group. 42% said that the government should have more authority to monitor Muslims. There were also significant drops in the numbers of people who felt that newspapers should have the right to freely criticize. Even worse, 40% of the respondents favored restrictions on the academic freedom of professors to criticize the government's policies during war, with 22% of those respondents strongly supporting such measures.
Are Americans really that stupid? How on earth can they want to give up the most basic of all freedoms?
This isn't the first time that the first amendment has come under fire. In 1798, under the threat of war with France, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. The Sedition Acts curtailed free speech, and newspapers were shut down for publishing opinions against the government's policy. People went to jail for exercising their right to free speech. Ever since, censorship has reared its ugly head in World War I, where communists, socialists, pacifists, and pro-Germans alike were jailed under the Espionage Act. It wasn't until 1931 that the Supreme Court intervened by making it nearly impossible for the government to censor free speech. Even so, World War II bought back more censorship only this time; it was "voluntary."
It's happening again. Students at Ohio State University were threatened with arrest and expulsion from the University if any dissent was shown to the commencement speaker, who just happened to be George W. Bush. Dissent is an essential part of free speech. The White House Press Secretary has stated that people should watch what they say. The Attorney General ranted last December that public debate would "give ammunition to America's enemies"- in short, he equated civil liberties with aid to terrorists. Indeed, some interpretations of the new Patriot Act, passed in haste by a frightened and cowed Congress (some of whom did not even read the damn law--more on this next week), see certain forms of dissent and protest as "terrorism."
You should be enraged at your fellow Americans. I'd like to remind you that freedoms and liberties are not just given to us by the government. They are specifically mentioned and emphasized that these rights are the natural born rights of every single American man, woman, and child and nothing short of God can take them away. No one can take them away. It is my belief that suggesting that the first amendment, our most basic freedom, be curtailed for a little bit of security is the death knell of a free society. Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who give up liberty for a little bit of security deserve neither." I happen to agree with him.
Those who give up their rights are no better than sheep.

Here's last week's column. I got a long letter for this one.

One year later, many people still have strong feelings over September 11, I among them. I, at first, felt extreme rage, which, as directed, I focused on the terrorist, and then the Taliban. But today, one year later, that same rage that was once so focused on our enemy is now directed within. I am angry with the government of the United States of America. There are two reasons: one present and one past. I’ll deal with the present first.
The War on Terror began almost flawlessly. Nearly every world government felt our pain; nearly every world government committed resources. Terrorist cells were broken up. Funds were frozen. Future attacks were foiled.
The belligerent Taliban, hiding the enemy Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda cronies were wiped out by a global coalition. Al Qaeda lost its safe haven.
But then: things went decidedly south. The US withdrew from the ABM treaty that has slowed the proliferation of our most deadly foe, nuclear weapons. The US attempted to block the International Court by threatening to pull peacekeepers out of the volatile Balkans. Afghanistan remains a mess. US forces did not capture Osama Bin Laden, and it’s rumored that he escaped to Pakistan. The Bush administration began its hostile and bellicose rhetoric on Iraq that may lead to an unprecedented preemptive strike on that country. In addition, as Israel escalated its conflict against the oppressed Palestinians, the US did very little to stop the horror.
At home, an anti-terror bill that many Congressional leaders did not read was passed in haste. The Patriot Act redefines terrorism with very vague and broad terms. Under the new definition, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, even simple acts of civil disobedience could be defined as terrorism. Also at home, the government rounded up thousands of people and deported many of them in secret. We still do not know who these people were, and what happened to them. The government has blocked all attempts to find out this information. A number of people are being held because of ties to Al Qaeda. One man, Jose Padilla, has not been charged with anything- a clear violation of his constitutional rights. Yet he is still being held. Att. General John Ashcroft proposed internment camps for “enemy combatants.” The prisoners being held at Guantanamo have been denied their rights under the Geneva Convention’s provisions for prisoners of war, which they clearly are. On top of all of this, the administration has attempted to block a Congressional investigation into the attacks that killed 3000 people. I won’t even discuss Operation TIPS, which would have had Americans spying on each other much like the Secret Police in 1984. I’ll save that for next week.
All of this left me bewildered and angry. Why all the subterfuge? I got an inkling this May, when it was reported that in August 2001, the Bush administration received some kind of warning that Al Qaeda was ready to strike. Wait. Wait, wait…AUGUST? Until last May, we had been led to believe that no one could have known what was to come. I had to learn more. I did extensive research this summer, and what I found infuriated me.
During the summer of 2001 beginning just after Memorial Day of that year and continuing into mid-August, there were many State Department warning of an impending attack. Some were very vague and some were deadly specific. One threat against the life of President Bush during the G8 Economic Summit in Genoa, Italy was so specific that all flights were rerouted and antiaircraft guns were deployed around the city. What was this threat? Someone was planning on flying an airliner into the summit.
It has also been reported that the intelligence services of no less than seven countries knew something was up and warned us. What did we do? Nothing.
It has been reported that FBI agents tried to warn headquarters and the CIA about the suspicious flight school activities and no one did anything. Also, the suspicious insider trading and put options on 38 stocks that stood to lose during August and early September, 2001 has never been investigated. In addition, vast sums of transactions flowed through the trade center during the hours before the attacks, as shown in hard drives recovered from the rubble. Salman Rushdie, the controversial writer, was banned from flying domestically within the US in early September 2001. The mayor of San Francisco was asked not to fly on September 11. Top military leaders, it was reported in Newsweek, received some type of warning not to fly. The NSA intercepted two messages on September 10, 2001 but never translated them. The messages stated: Tomorrow is Zero Hour. An instant-messaging firm named Odigo confirmed that two of its employees received some type of warning not to come to work two hours before the first plane hit. Odigo was based in the WTC. The weirdest thing of all: two kids, one of Pakistani descent, in two different cities made cryptic comments about the World Trade Center. What does this suggest to me? Someone, perhaps even the government, had some foreknowledge of what was to come and may have even known when. Someone let this happen. Someone was complicit. Perhaps that is why the administration has attempted to block a Congressional Hearing.
I am very angry over these developments and dismayed. I feel that the dead of September 11 are not correctly honored, as they should be. The first proper thing to do would be to hold an investigation…a public investigation. They did it in WWII with Pearl Harbor while mobilizing on two fronts. They can do it now. The families of the 3000 dead deserve to know what went wrong and why. They deserve to know who knew what and when they knew it. Another way to honor the dead would be more global cooperation. Here’s my proposal: We should give the administration one full year to fix our global coalition and to hold open and full investigations on September 11. If not, on September 11, 2003, Americans should crowd the mall in DC and “redress their greviences.” That is the way to honor the dead.


Sources available upon request.

I'm new to this whole blog thing, but my mind was racing as it usually does (angst can suck) so I decided to make one. I hope someone reads me.

Anyway, I write a semi-political column for my school's paper. It's fun. It's a good stress reliever. And I love the feedback I get too---even when it's not from my side of the fence.

Here's my column for this week: Unedited. I think that's what I'll be doing from now on: putting my unedited columns up on here before they get read.


With war with Iraq looming, which could possibly commit hundreds of thousands of troops, I am shocked to hear almost no national debate on this topic. 12 years ago last month, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The next 6 months were swollen with a furious national debate not seen since Vietnam. Even the House Resolution authorizing force in Iraq, in that case, barely passed with almost 200 Congressional leaders voting no. This time around, there's barely nothing. And it's wrong. And it will blow up in our face.
First, last week, President Bush pleaded his case before the United Nations in New York, using some unbelievable falsehoods to further his warmonging goals. I'd like to clarify many of those falsehoods, because you won't get to read them anywhere else, or hear them any place else.
President Bush's first argument was that Iraq attacked Kuwait without provacation. However, it's a well known and well established fact that Kuwait was drilling into Iraq's oil fields using a method known as slant drilling. Imagine the uproar that would occur if Mexico drilled into our Gulf of Mexico oil fields, or if Canada slant drilled into our Alaskan oil fields. We would feel invaded and our national soverignity violated. Thus, Iraq acted although it's speculative whether slant drilling is a case for invasion. Thus, Bush twisted the truth in a classic Orwellian fashion.
Bush also mentioned that Iraq was poised to march across the Arabian Peninsula. False. Satillite photos proved in 1990 that this was not going to happen. The St. Petersburg (Florida) Times proved this in January 1991 in a series of articles. In addition, Bush also stated in his speech that Saddam hadn't been appeased over these last few years and that Saddam brutalized and repressed the Iraqi people in the period since the end of the Gulf War. First of all, we bomb Iraq almost weekly, and we've been doing so for many years. If that's not appeasement or even containment, I do not know what is.
Human rights was big in Bush's speech to the United Nations, where he cited the UN's own report on President Hussein's brutal repression of the Kurds, the pervasiveness of the Iraqi government, and the supression of free political thought. Bush conviently left out the same UN report where they cite the horrors of the sanctions that have blocked shipments of water purification systems and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. Why punish the kids if we're after the leader? It makes no sense. Bush also ignores the fact that many Middle Eastern governments are just as repressive. I can name Saudi Arabia, Turkey (who declares the same Kurds we look to as freedom fighters in Iraq as terrorists), Pakistan (where the current leader changed the constitution so he would be leader-for-life), and our favorite, Israel (who is currently mounting a campaign of ethnic cleansing against a people who were clearly there first.) Bush loves that "gassing of the Kurds" argument. The gassing of the Kurds occured in 1988. The US provided the technology for Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program because in 1988, Iraq was an ally with us against our enemy, Iran. Of course, in 1988, we stood by while Iraq gleefully used those weapons, made by American technology, against the Kurds and then the Iranians. Bush, of course, would deny that we were ever allied with Iraq---more Orwellian tactics. Bush's final insult to the UN: The argument that Security Council mandates must be upheld. Currently, Israel is in violation of Security Council Resolution 242, which called for an end to their occupation of Palestinian lands. They've been in violation of this resolution for 35 years. Why the double standard?
So Bush fabricated and twisted the truth to the UN. Why?
Meanwhile, here at home, there has been very little debate on sending troops to Iraq. And worldwide, most countries have remained indifferent to a pre-emptive strike or outright hostile. But I wish to concentrate at home.
Vietnam and even the Gulf War bought out strong anti-war movements. It wasn't that people were too scared to fight, although perhaps some were. Most of the movements were based on the fact that some wars are simply wrong. It seems that these days,to have a politcally dissenting opinion makes you unpatriotic. Some have even argued that being a pacifist makes you a terrorist.
We have absolutely no buisness in Iraq. It is not America's place to "replace regimes" that are distasteful to us. If the argument that he has weapons of mass destruction and he's gonna use them is our case for war, then we need to then move after India and Pakistan, who came deadly close to starting their own version of Apocalypse Now. If the argument that he is brutal to his people is our case for war, then we then need to go after Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, India, China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, North Korea, Nigeria, and a host of other countries. And if the argument is that we're America, and the world does what we say, then I feel sorry for us.


That's my Snapper column, unedited, for this week...I guess I'm trying out this blog thing...it seems cool and I read a lot of them on the web.