Mail Brane Blog: Readers Seeking Answers to Questions

I was very interested in your blog post on Josh Fox's Gasland II and how your wife found it too intense to keep watching (on to Part 2).  But I still find it incredible that these fracking interests and state security folks would put citizens onto terrorist rolls. Do you really believe that, or is Fox exaggerating for effect?  -  Alicia, Louisville, KY

A. I don't think Fox is exaggerating at all. As a person involved in deep politics I am well aware of the extent of the existing spy-surveillance state and how it networks (through fusion centers) throughout the country.  I also noted (June 19th) on the COG or 'continuity of government' program, and the recent discovery that a representative for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation told a group of concerned citizens that "complaining about water quality could be considered an act of terrorism,”.  (See: http://www.alternet.org/environment/tennessee-official-says-complaining-about-water-quality-could-be-considered-act)

Make no mistake the same rubric was adopted to harass and persecute Occupy protestors two years ago. Idealistic kids merely trying to exercise their supposed 1st amendment rights, but actually put in the sights of sniper rifles, e.g. in Houston. So no, it's not a stretch to accept that now all domestic protests are to be considered "terror",  ever since the Bushies' expanded such adaptations to COG  which haven't been altered. And to reinforce that, you might also wish to read William Rivers Pitt's recent blog:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/william-rivers-pitt/50167/you-terrorist

I am interested if you ever found out for sure if you contracted the corona virus in Europe? Were any tests ever done to confirm it? -  Ramone, Pacifica, CA

A. No tests were ever done, because as I noted in the blog post I had no intention of seeing a doc. However, about two weeks after the post went up the symptoms vanished entirely and I was back to my usual jogging-walking exercise routine 3-4 times a week.  So what I suspect is that I'd actually caught a bad (cold) virus that might have been exacerbated because of a depressed immune system (this brought on by the long, sleepless plane flight home). If it was the worst (MERS) form of the corona virus I doubt the symptoms would have ended with no other effects. Of course, I could be wrong and you are right that only a test would confirm it, or negate it.


I enjoyed your posts about Germany, especially the one about Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the one on how the Germans you met dissed Tom Hanks' upcoming HBO series. I have two questions here: 1) Is Hanks really considering still going through with it, after all the buzz? and 2) Why do you suppose the National Archives refuses to release the records on George Joannides the CIA guy who tried to set up Oswald? - Murray, in Enid, OK

A.  Hanks definitely plans to go ahead, from all accounts I've heard. But he's also wise to try and stay under the radar until the immediate premier because he likely knows how it will be skewered by those in the serious research community. This is why there really isn't that much "buzz" - except on a few blogs like mine, which let's face it - don't have the audience of Politico, Daily Kos or Buzzfeed.  Maybe very soon they will catch wind of what Hanks is up to and scrutinize him and his self-professed reasons for doing it. (Which I still believe make for sophisticated brainwashing)

As to why the National Archives refuses to release the Joannides' files, it's fairly obvious: if the government was involved at any level in the assassination - and it's pretty clear it was - then they'd surely want to suppress anything that would impugn guilt or association. This also serves another purpose: keeping the process of ambiguation ongoing. That is, by not releasing anything definitive most people (not in the research loop) are kept guessing and their doubts keep growing: 'Hmmmm....maybe I'm wrong and Oswald is guilty after all!'. Indeed, recent polls now show only 59% reject the Warren Report compared to 73% a few years earlier. Ambiguation works because most people, average citizens, aren't confident enough of their sources or their own research to stand with a position and so flow or blow whichever way the last pundit heard or seen on the tube blows.

Look for the 'Oswald did it' reactionaries (including embedded CIA and NSA assets)  to pump up the volume of their PR- disinfo cant as we approach Nov. 2nd  this year, since it's the 50 th anniversary. The astute reader, however, can obtain a number of excellent antidotes for his brain, mental health by obtaining books such as James Douglass' 'JFK and the Unspeakable' and the new book, Dallas 1963 (available by Oct.) which shows what a nasty, reactionary place Dallas was ca. 1963 and why it wasn't Oswald that put up those ten thousand or more "Wanted for Treason" posters.  I am also planning to have my scifi novel, The Lancer Expedition, out at least by early October, and will keep readers informed.



After all your posts on fracking, I am really REALLY worried about it! I've seen Gasland II but is there any book you can recommend that is worth reading?- Cary B., Tampa, FL

A. I would say it's Robert Heinberg's Snake Oil: How Fracking's False Promise of Plenty Endangers Our Future.  Recall Heinberg is the author of The Party's Over, which warned of the imminent approach of Peak Oil (and the consequences - which we're seeing all over now) years before it happened. Thus, I'd actually advise getting both books because to me, they represent a continuity of argument. Peak Oil transpired when the easiest available, high EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) oil bottomed out, now we're forced to put up millions of natural gas and shale oil frack wells to make up for it. Most people don't even know that the natural gas taken from all the wells marring the countryside isn't even for American use, it's dispatched overseas to places like China where the market price for natural gas is much higher than in the U.S.


You've written a lot on the NSA mass spying stuff. What is your opinion of the Bradley Manning verdict and what do you think will become of Snowden?- Albert H., Detroit


A. Personally, I believe the Manning verdict (20 odd "espionage" charges) was nonsense,  but the judge did get one thing right: tossing out that idiotic "aiding the enemy" charge. As Chris Hayes' explained last night ('All In With Chris Hayes'), had THAT stood, we'd all(using the internet) be in a bad situation, because anything we ever wrote, say in a blog,  complaining about the country, how it does things, its aggressive military empire, the killing of JFK in a coup d'etat, the inequality, the Wall Street vultures, and infrastructure decline - found later on an al Qaeda laptop- could have us condemned for "aiding the enemy". It is total horse manure and based on the egregious use of the 1917 Espionage Act, in the era where the U.S. first began to get neurotic about "Reds". This was after the Russian Revolution, and the resident capitalists in the U.S. had just begun to get paranoid about "Reds" or anarchists, especially making complaints about U.S. entry into WWI.

It is incredible that Obama, a constitutional scholar and former prof, would even remotely consider resorting to this draconian measure to try to stifle speech and let's admit it - letting the people know what their gov't is doing in their name in these misbegotten "wars".   I have to believe, as I wrote earlier e.g. http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2013/06/one-blog-every-citizen-needs-to-see.html, that Obama is so fearful of the shadow players who really run things, that he feels he has no alternative. After all, what happened to JFK 50 years ago still conveys a terrifying message to any sitting president not to rock the boat. JFK did, in multiple ways, and he paid dearly.

My other problem with the "justice" thrown at Manning is that it ignores the true traitors (Cheney, Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Gee Dumbya etc)  who got us into an illegal war in Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands, as well as condoning the practice of torture on dozens of people - violating the Geneva conventions. WHY let those bastards go while you pile on to Manning, who merely exposed war crimes? Hell, the man did us all a favor showing how low the militarists will go to preserve their war -spy state. But such is the nature of "law" and "justice" now in this nation that the traitors escape it and the patriots get prosecuted. It's nuts! NO wonder 44% of the American population is certifiably mentally ill!

As for Edward Snowden, another TRUE patriot, as opposed to the state terrorists who try to claim the label, I believe he will ultimately get asylum in Russia and live there. I certainly don't believe he'd be dumb enough to turn himself in despite those ridiculous promises not to torture or kill him. And the Russians will make no deals unless they can get something out of it, like some of their own (e.g. Viktor Bont)  returned. Quid pro quo.


I just read a book, How We Survived Prostate Cancer,  by Victoria Hallerman, which was depressing as she related the horrible after effects of the brachytherapy radiation treatment her husband received and how he totally lost his sex drive. Is this book really serious? How does it compare to your experience?  - Abby W., Des Moines, IA

A.  Hallerman's book was written before  high dose rate brachy  (using the "IPSA" contouring procedures) became available. Hence, the method she described was still based on the actual implantation of radioactive iodine seeds into the prostate which of course, wrought havoc on the poor guy having it done - ok, many of them. Such was the case with her husband, for whom the burning at urination was so bad he apparently screamed aloud in agony - even when using urinals in restaurants.  Well, when you place 100 odd seeds into the prostate this is what can happen.

In my own case, I received one high dose (1920 CGy) which was geared to a specific region and which targeting could be done superbly because of the IPSA (inverse planning) contouring program (that avoided bladder, rectum) which had been perfected at the Univ. of California at San Francisco Helen Diller Cancer Center, see e.g.

http://radonc.ucsf.edu/research_group/jpouliot/pages/ipsa/ipsa_hdr.htm

 The bottom line is that the method her husband received and that I received is like comparing chalk and cheese. My total treatment (administered by the hDR afterloader) lasted barely 20 minutes, though granted the prostate implantation surgery lasted about an hour. But the worst effects I had - burning urination, frequent bowel movements- were gone within 2 weeks. His lasted months. Bear in mind Hallerman's husband also had to go on a regimen of hormone therapy to try to reduce the size of his prostate from 95 grams to about half - so the seed implantation could be done properly. The hormone treatment itself is what apparently stole his sex drive, as it would any male's.

Will Millennials Save Us All?

A Millennial Unlikely to Save Many: Abby Huntsman

One of the stranger articles appearing in the popular media lately is entitled: 'The New Greatest Generation: Why Millennials Will Save Us All' (TIME, May 20, p. 26) by Joel Stein. It is strange given my already raised concerns over the Millennial set, e.g.  http://www.brane-space.blogspot.com/2013/04/bernie-sanders-schools-millennial-moron.html   and also the facts- data that Stein himself introduces in his article, including:

- The incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times higher for people in their 20s than for the generation 65 and older. According to data from the National Institutes of Health, 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissim scale in 2009 than for those in 1982.

- They are too fame- over- substance obsessed (Three times as many middle school girls aspire to be personal assistants to famous people rather than Senators or environmental activists or substantive persons in their own right)

- Their development is "stunted" - more people ages 18-29 live with their parents than with a spouse (according to the 2012 Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults.)

- They display an overbloated sense of self esteem fed by over-doting parents who rewarded 'em when tots even if they drew a crappy sketch of an egg. Hence, they've come to expect rewards from society for just showing up.

- A sense of "entitlement" - including when living with mom and pop at age 26, being able to get satellite TV or at least cable, having cell phone access, and not being given any miserly curfews!

But never mind all that, Millennials -at 80 million strong - comprise the biggest age grouping in American history. This also suggests that they potentially could have the most profound effects on shaping any future America. As Stein puts it (p. 28): "They are the most threatening and exciting generation since the baby boomers brought about social revolution".

And given the headlines of the past week or so- what with Bradley Manning's trial, and Edward Snowden coming forth with leaks on the monster NSA 'snuff out all 4th amendment rights' dragnet program - who can blame oldsters for agreeing? Both Manning and Snowden are Millennials, though granted not your "instagramming  24/7 to make sure I'm alive for friends"  types. But don't tell that to John Boehner, who called Snowden a "traitor", or Saxby Chambliss who opined yesterday:  "Well if he ain't a traitor he's pretty close to it."  This coming from a Georgia chicken hawk who escaped the Vietnam War out of some dubious excuse but had the nerve to cast unpatriotic aspersions on then Sen. Max Cleland (a wounded Viet Vet) to snatch his seat.  

So, pardon me while I don't dump on these two upstanding newsworthy Millennials who, if as Stein also insists will "save us all" - may be the models that 18- 29 year old generation ought to shoot for.  Which brings us to Stein's positive points on their behalf:

- Because Millennials don't respect authority they also don't resent it.

- Millennials have especially close bonds with their parents who they regard as 'friends'.

-Millennials are "nice". They have none of that David Letterman irony, and prefer a boundless optimism to negativity. On the net they therefore tend to dwell on things positive and stay away from things negative (likely including blogs like mine which probably have way more negative stuff than they can handle - but which I call REALITY).

- Millennials are more accepting of differences, not just among gays, women and minorities - but in every one. In other words, you can kind of visualize them as the exact opposites of my brother, "Pastor" Mike.  As one Millennial was quoted in the piece: "There's not this us-vs.-them thing now. Maybe that's why Millennials don't rebel."

Stein then goes on to cite Tom Brokaw (not exactly one of my favorite sources, after he caused Marina Oswald to terminate a rude 1993 interview with him, and his recent insistence 'better off' oldsters give up their social security for the next generations - thanks, but no thanks, Tom) who calls them the "wary Generation". This is because they " exhibit a certain cautiousness in life decisions which is a smart response to their world".

On this basis, Stein ends with a "more rounded picture" and even - some might say - an exaggerated one, given he ends by suggesting this group might "save us all". His reasons?

- They're earnest and optimistic (check)

- They embrace the System (Uh-oh! Better then read my blog post  http://www.brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/09/america-haters-uhhno-system-haters.html

- They are pragmatic idealists, tinkerers more than dreamers, life hackers.

-  Their world is so flat they they have no leaders which is why the OWS movement had even less chance than previous rebellions.

- And, of course, the usual pompasetting set up: they have delivered more techie wonky products, including apps, new iPhones, etc. then any other group.

Fair enough, but is that enough to save us all? Now, note I don't discount the notion because - truth be told, I regard what both Pfc. Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden have done at least on a par with Millennial Wunderkind Zuckerberg's Facebook. That may be  "Treasonous" to say, but there it is. The reason is simple: if we have information on how the government is curtailing our rights we can still have time to at least ACT (if we can get enough Americans off their asses - latest polls show 56% agree with the NSA program) instead of ending up with a possible condition like the Chinese have - where their Googling choices are severely restricted.  And don't think it can't happen here if extreme right wing paranoids occupy the oval office!

BBC Anchor Katty Kay tried to emphasize that on 'Morning Joe' this morning, but both Mika Brzezinski (emulating more the dumb blonde this a.m.) and Donnie Deutsch (emulating the clueless Madison Avenue adman know-nothing) expressed disbelief: 'That would never happen here!'  Sorry, folksies, that's also what the Germans thought ca. 1931-33 until Hitler became Chancellor!

My point here is a  search device like Google or even the social media Facebook would mean nothing if we lived under a giant surveillance spy state that was also tyrannical and imposed extreme censorship- and slipped in photos of smiling tyrants on your FB pages with the words 'We're watching you!'.

So I grant that Millennials can conceivably save us all, but if they do it will be along the lines of exhibiting not so much entrepeneurial genius (though they may well be important - say if they invent a device that can neutralize all potential gov't snooping making leaks unnecessary) but the courage to act in the interest of all citizens - like Manning and Snowden have done.

Here's some other advice for those Millennials who aspire to saving us all:

1. Don't accept the System! The "system" is exactly that corrupt nexus of government, big business, the military and banksters which gave rise to the surveillance state. Read my blog post on the link shown above.

2. Remember: People in power will always try to manipulate you into acceptance of their rotten System and memes!

This is why it pays to have at least part of your suspicious - negative 'lizard brain' working and aware since the power mongers' brains surely will be. The most recent gross mass manipulation was before the Iraq War when millions marched round the world to protest any potential U.S. involvement - but the mammoth protests were marginalized by the too cozy U.S. press, who also then began their disgusting pro-war drumbeating, to drive public opinion to the favorable threshold the Bushies felt comfortable at launching an invasion.

3.Doing Nothing is Obeying a Deadly Order.

Yes, there is such a thing as a sin of omission and too many commit it because of the fear of sticking necks out, or leaving places of comfort. Just look at young Edward Snowden who might easily have remained living in his Hawaiian apartment while raking in $200,000 a year and ignoring the distressing things he saw with PRISM. But he threw that all away to act out of conscience. (And no, asshole Jeff Toobin, hate to break it to you  -but no "narcissist" permanently tosses that much of his life away!)

As fellow blogger David Swanson put it:

"But a sin of omission is morally and effectively equivalent to a sin of commission. We need to be saving the earth and we're not doing so. We're allowing global warming and other major environmental destruction to roll ahead. We're allowing militarization and warmaking to advance. We're watching the concentration of wealth. We see the division of society into castes. We know we're building prisons and drones and highways and pipelines while closing schools and condemning our grandparents to poverty. We are aware that we're funding multi-billionaires with our hard work while fueling mass suffering, bitterness, rage, frustration, and violence."


4. Obedience Is Extremely Dangerous Because It's What the Fascists Depend On

Obedience, too much of it, is what most Germans of the WW II era still around agree sunk their nation. They were too docile, too agreeable while one small step, then another, then another was taken to remove their liberties. First the newspapers and their editors were challenged, their windows broken, presses destroyed and they said or did nothing. Then the editors were taken and sent away and they did nothing. Then the labor unions were shut down and they said nothing. Then the existing Constitution of the Weimar Republic was changed - replacing it with Reich laws - and no one spoke out. Then, the Gestapo began appointing neighbors to spy and report on neighbors and it was essentially too late.

The "Good German" - that solid patriot who was a rock behind what he believed to be a resurgent nation, was in reality the assistant architect to a dictatorship that sought global domination. Will the contemporary "Good American" be the same? Or will he manifest as something different, say like Bradley Manning or Edward Snowden - thereby postponing or eliminating a future that could resemble Germany's Nazi past?

The answers to those questions will determine if the Millennials really can save us all, or actually become part of the problem: a real world disconnected, cyber- hyper-connected group of mostly tech -app consumers - unaware of history, or even our own nation's politics, economics. Steeped more in the glitzy lure of  the Kardashians than the Kennedys of the 1960s.

I guess it boils down to whether most Millennials will become more like Abby Hunstman, or more like Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning.

Why Do The War Mongers Want to 'Kill' Manning The Millennial Messenger?

Nazi defendants wait to be tried at Nuremberg. Why haven’t the Bushie terrorists who launched the unprovoked Iraq War met the same fate – as opposed to Pfc. Bradley Manning?

“A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. “ - John Fitzgerald Kennedy


In an earlier blog I harped on the pathetic Milliennial Abby Huntsman who appeared on Bill Maher's REAL TIME show woefully unprepared and basically giving a good emulation of a moron. I also added that I didn't believe all Millennials fit this mold. Some undoubtedly had courage - lots of it- and were invested in the truth because they grasped this was what democracy was all about. This is also why Pfc. Bradley Manning, a Millennial (but not to be confused with Abby Huntsman) merits commendations for seeking to help his fellow citizens out as opposed to being kept in the dark - regarding the "wars" raging in their name.

Manning, as readers may know, is being tried on trumped up charges of "treason" and "aiding the enemy" which is about the biggest laugh there is given the fact Manning has released no more critical files than Beltway  Über hack Bob Woodward. As blogger-columnist Glenn Greenwald has pointed out  : "Let’s apply the government's theory in the Manning case to one of the most revered journalists in Washington: Bob Woodward, who has become one of America’s richest reporters, if not the richest, by obtaining and publishing classified information far more sensitive than anything WikiLeaks has ever published ". 

Greenwald also noted, parallel to the Army prosecutor's claim in the Manning case, that Osama Bin Laden was "one of Woodward's most enthusiastic readers."  But then Woodward is the darling of the Beltway's Neoliberal hacks and corporate -bankster warmongers so can't be touched. Not like a little 26-year old Millennial whose only shroud of protection is democracy or democratic principles. You remember those?

For clarity one may also invoke the proposition put forward earlier by blogger Amy Davidson to the effect that: "If it is aiding the enemy 'to expose war crimes committed by American forces or lies told by the American government,' then in reality 'who is aiding the enemy' -- the whistleblower or the perpetrators themselves?” The answer seems fairly obvious if one isn't brain dead.


When the deceptive operation of the warfare state can’t stand the light of day, truth-tellers are a constant threat and the powers-that-be will have a yen to squelch them. Thus, culpability must stay turned on its head. So now I can get this straight: Bushie vermin who launched a pre-emptive war (against Iraq) violating the war crimes article (VI) of the Nuremberg Laws walk away scot free while Manning gets prosecuted to the hilt? WTF is going on here? Has this nation totally lost its mind, moorings, moral ballast?

Truth be told Manning’s release of so-called classified files to do with clear criminal war crimes committed in Iraq, Afghanistan by U.S. troops was no worse than Daniel Ellsberg’'s release of the Pentagon Papers  and the hidden rot and abominations underscoring the Vietnam War. Those Ellsberg revelations set a moral tone about what a morally responsible nation does, as opposed to kowtowing to a crazed military culture that is all about waging perma-war. JFK himself warned in his June 4, 1963 speech at American University about the dangers of “Pax Americana” – that is, imposing an American version of peace on the world using American weapons of war.  Long before JFK's words, President John Quincy Adams  warned that America "goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy". Somehow that message has been lost as we're a nation burdened by military overstretch - the same syndrome that brought down Rome.

JFK  further understood that the war state also had to be controlled to secure any kind of future for ourselves and our offspring or it would control us and suck up everything of value.  This is why he did several notable things, including: signing the August, 1963 Nuclear Test Ban treaty, and initiating rapprochement with Castro’s Cuba in early 1963 as well as softening positions toward the then Soviet Union (mostly done with Nikita Khruschchev behind the scenes.)


Of course, the crazed warmongers – led by Gen. Curtis LeMay- weren’t able to handle this, so they saw to it Kennedy met an untimely demise. The violent head shot in the center of a major American city (Dallas) sending Kennedy’s bloody brains spattering all over Elm Street in Dealey Plaza sent a message to all future presidents to heave to, obey the war state – or suffer similar consequences. This is why all American presidents since Kennedy have demonstrated cowardly, compromised behavior that has enabled war mongering and virulent Pax Americana – whether Reagan in his war on the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, or Clinton in his cruise missile attack on a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory producing anti-malaria drugs (believed at the time to be an al Qaeda hangout) to Bush Jr. invading Iraq on false pretenses causing the deaths of 600,000 Iraqis, to Obama and his drone killings as well as continuing a U.S. presence in Afghanistan that is only causing more alienation and blowback.


While Obama promised transparency on being elected, he has gone after whistle blowers with ferocity, as well as clamping down on files with directed over-classification. One major example has to do with the JFK assassination files which the National Archives now has refused to release in this 50th anniversary year. Key among those files are the CIA activities of agent George Joannides – suspected in manipulating Lee Oswald to be the patsy. If we can’t see the files, how are we to ever assess the final truth? (See also: http://www.brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/06/national-archives-to-jfk-file-seekers.html )


But maybe we can't have the final truth because for one thing it would mean the U.S. gov’t finally admitting after 50 years that its relentless defense of the Warren Commission was all wrong.  Given the same government likely had major roles in altering files (as documented by John Newman in his 'Oswald and the CIA') as well as suppressing other evidence or altering it, why would they be invested in the truth now?


In terms of kowtowing to the military-industrial spy state many of us are still prepared to give Obama the benefit of the doubt- that he accedes to the secrecy wishes of the mammoth military state (including prosecuting Bradley Manning to the hilt) because of the fear of experiencing Kennedy’s end. Kennedy crossed the MIC with his National Security Action memorandum 263 to pull all personnel out of Vietnam by 1965, and look what happened to him. Perhaps Obama fears a similar end if he courageously ceases all drone strikes and pulls immediately out of Afghanistan – which would be no more detrimental than if we leave in another year and a half. At least if this is the case one can assuage doubts that a former constitutional law professor would deliberately prosecute a leaker and ignore the real war criminals – most of whom ought to have been hung by now.

---------------
Manning is charged with crimes for sending hundreds of thousands of classified files, documents and videos, including the "Collateral Murder" video, the "Iraq War Logs," the "Afghan War Logs" and State Department cables to Wikileaks. Many of the things he transmitted contain evidence of war crimes.  The "Collateral Murder" video depicts a US Apache attack helicopter killing 12 civilians and wounding two children on the ground in Baghdad in 2007. The helicopter then fired on and killed the people trying to rescue the wounded. Finally, a US tank drove over one of the bodies, cutting the man in half. These acts constitute three separate war crimes.

Manning fulfilled his legal duty to report war crimes. He complied with his legal duty to obey lawful orders but also his legal duty to disobey unlawful orders. He also complied with Nuremburg Article VI to report war crimes, something the Nazis were tried for in Nuremburg (see photo).

Section 499 of the Army Field Manual states, "Every violation of the law of war is a war crime." The law of war is contained in the Geneva Conventions.

But perhaps, as in the case of the Senate post-hoc altering the wiretap surveillance laws to conform with lawlessness, after the Bushies broke them, we are no longer a nation of laws or morality. In that case Bradley Manning has not much to look forward to, other than a life sentence.

Rachel Maddow Exposes the Bush Library for the Sham and Farce It Is

Rachel Maddow in her show last night outdid herself again, exposing the newly opened Bush Presidential Library as the total sham it is, especially certain parts (e.g. the "Decision Points Theater") which tries to lead the unwary toward the insane path of accepting the Iraq invasion and war. As Rachel put it last night:

"This whole library area is a museum designed to make you think the Iraq war was a great idea".

Maddow then noted the Library gave MSNBC permission to film, and her crew went directly to the ‘Decision Points Theater’ with its interactive, push-button displays. You get to select advice from assorted Bush lackey knotheads, warmongers and fellow Neocon travelers - interrupted only by ominous "breaking news" developments. ("We have just learned Saddam now has ....blah, blah and blah" etc.)

When you approach the console you have the option to seek advice before making your choice on what you'd do if you were in Dumbya's place. There are three options to choose from when the time comes to render your decision:

Seek another UN Resolution

LEAD an International Coalition

Take NO Action

Obviously, for any intelligent and well-read person, the last is the superlative option - which also would have avoided a wasteful occupation that in the end cost us over $3 trillion and more than 4400 American lives as well as 600,000 innocent Iraqi lives (according to WHO, the World Health Organization).  But woe betide you if you choose that option in the Bushie Decision Theater!  At that point, a dopey Bush avatar appears to lecture you on why you made the wrong choice.


Bush then spouts off for ten minutes on why invading Iraq was the right answer. This includes all the usual baloney sold like pig shit at the time, including: Saddam’s “WMD”, and association with terrorist organizations. Bush notes 25 million Iraqis having the chance to “build freedom” but doesn’t mention the 600,000 killed by Amerikkan shock and awe, Nazi-style 'blow em up and let God sort 'em out' tactics. As Maddow describes it the choices are ludicrous: Be a “man” and “LEAD” or a sissified wuss and “take no action” thereby accepting Saddam remains in power.

An especially remarkable wake up call for those who buy the whole world was behind us, was when -to  make a glaring graphic point-  Maddow displayed a map of the world with all the nations supporting the invasion(red), and those that didn’t (in blue). Easily seen is the map is awash with blue regions and the red are relatively small and isolated - occupied mainly by the U.S. and a few outliers.(Australia, Poland).


Of course, in the next televised imagery we see Texas school kids standing in line, waiting to be brainwashed by this 'Decision Theater' and gobbling up the history......errrr....horse manure. Maddow bluntly references this travesty, before declaring that -  in line with the kids being mesmerized by the display - the Iraq war was a “ hoax perpetrated on the American people. All cooked up and a national scandal”.


A national scandal indeed! But incredibly too many Americans lack the historical memory or education to be able to see through this crap. Why is the Bush Library selling this bunkum? Because it can! Because they know a majority of Americans have limited historical memories.  Col. Lawrence Wilkerson then discussed how “fast we rehabilitate things” in America. He referenced a national security turkey like Phil Mudd who ought to be unemployed, but is “still around”


Why should all this matter? Well, because we ought to be awake and alert enough as citizens not to allow ourselves to be led into another bogus war! Col. Wilkerson then cited Iran and all the officious bloviation we keep hearing now about "red lines" and other horse shit. But, he warned, if we allow ourselves to be manipulated like we were 10 years before with Iraq, we will have another $1 trillion war and more enemies than we can possibly imagine.

There is also the issue of evil - real human evil - at work. One of the canards circulated about human evil over the years is that it’s irrational. If the person only knew better, or reasoned properly, he’d arrive at the generic good. Fortunately, philosopher John Kekes disposes of this myth quite forcefully in his book, The Roots Of Evil (p. 168).As Kekes observes, abundant historical examples disclose that people often robustly justify their actions on the basis of a good perceived in their minds, but which in retrospect turns out to be evil. Therefore it’s not the lack of reason or rationality that infuses their actions but instead the false beliefs that supported the reasoning!

In the case of Bush's justifying the Iraq invasion and butchery we behold a perfect example. Using every sort of ruse - from 'yellowcake' to aluminum tubes and alleged claims of WMD (from a rat named 'curve ball') - the Bushies pumped up a bogus case for invasion, just like Hitler and the Nazis did (using faked imagery of German fraus being raped by Poles) to justify an invasion of Poland in 1939. Once he had the U.S. corporate media on his side it was merely a matter of drum beating a sheep-like American public into giving him the poll numbers he desired to launch an invasion in March, 2003.

Bush’s aggression also exposed unsavory aspects about ourselves as a nation:  a willingness to violate Nuremberg Article IV to actually launch a pre-emptive, aggressive war just as the Nazis did when they invaded Poland. The rich humor of it all is that at the time the Bushies actually compared Saddam to Hitler!  Some 'Muricans actually swallowed this shit up and took it as gospel!

So, all this being considered, Rachel Maddow rightly called out the Bush Library for what it is, a National Disgrace - even if only one part featured the Iraq  meme makeover.

The most incredible and unsettling  thing of all? A dirt bag,  nose- picking moron like Dumbya Bush can be walking around rehabilitating his criminal history – launching a pre-emptive Nazi style war that killed over a half million and spawning rendition and torture methods-  while Bradley Manning sits in federal stir somewhere accused of simply ‘leaking’ documents that exposed the Iraq invasion and occupation as the fucking travesty it really was. Now, how fucked up is that? A lot!