For your sins

A handicapped man named Scooter is taking a hit for your sins. Well, I don't know that Scooter is handicapped, but he appeared on all the internet news services on crutches yesterday. And there may be a back door open for him after the Bush administration lets him take the hit for Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, George W. Bush and his flunkies, the White House Iraq Group. But yeah, this guy has been selected to take the bullet for all of them. Oh yeah, and you.

In his January 2003 State Of The Union, President Bush included the following statement in his package of lies: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Too bad it's not a crime to lie on CNN. Bush had known for nearly a year that this was bullshit. In February 2002, the CIA sent former Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate the unsubstantiated claim that Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium from Niger for use in nuclear weapons. Wilson had discovered that the claims were bogus and documents used to support the claims had been forgeries. He reported this to the CIA, and the CIA told the White House.

Now why did Bush want to lie about Saddam Hussein looking for uranium in Africa? Because he wanted to invade Iraq. Why did he want to invade Iraq? Well if you'd been awake the last few years, you 'd have learned about George H.W. Bush's ties to the Saudi royal family that led him into the first Gulf War. Yeah, that's the one where Uncle Zeke came back with an ailment the VA won't admit he has. You'd also remember that Papa Bush stopped short of invading Babylon and toppling Saddam. We'll never know why. Maybe he thought Vietnam was too recent a memory for America (he forgot that modern Americans don't have memores). Maybe he thought. "Invading a foreign country for no good reason would be a huge PR blunder which might taint my Presidency." He didn't realize that today most young Americans don't remember that he was ever President. Maybe he thought, "My son is a loser, a coker and a drunk. Let him do it, the little dumbass." We'll never know.

Now, even in 2002 after months of spin from Georgie and pals trying to blame 9/11 (perpetuated mostly by Saudi nuts, if you don't remember), the American sheep, er, people weren't willing to buy another strike at Saddam. The WHG kept cranking at disinformation. Too bad Goebbels was dead.

Six months after the President's 2003 State of the Union Address, as Bush's WMD and nuclear claims began to unravel, former Ambassador Wilson went public and exposed the Bush Administration's false nuclear claims in a New York Times op-ed called "What I didn't find in Africa."

The White House saw Wilson as a major threat. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff was so angry about the public statements of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a Bush administration critic married to an undercover CIA officer [pssst! that would be Ms. Plame] that he monitored all of Wilson's television appearances and urged the White House to mount an aggressive public campaign against him, former aides say."

The week after Wilson's op-ed in the New York Times, "two senior administration officials" were cited by conservative columnist Robert Novak in his column outing CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. The White House Iraq Group (WHIG), originally formed to sell the war to the public, morphed into a virtual hit squad that took aim at critics who questioned its claims. WHIG was run out of Vice President Cheney's office, and included Cheney's Chief of Staff "Scooter" Libby, top Bush strategist Karl Rove, and other top Bush administration officials. Not only did this leak end Valerie Plame Wilson's 20-year career as a CIA covert agent, but it also exposed a longstanding CIA front company, Brewster Jennings & Associates, where Plame worked and put at risk many of the undercover agents who had worked with Wilson in the past.

Yesterdays' indictment says Libby illegally obstructed the investigation into the White House outing of an undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson. He also was charged with perjury and making false statements to FBI agents. The ongoing investigation of Karl Rove , among others, revolves around the same issues.

In 1999, Papa Bush said , "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors." Former Republican National Committee Chair Ed Gillespie said, "I think if the allegation is true, to reveal the identity of an undercover CIA operative—it's abhorrent, and it should be a crime, and it is a crime."

Well, whatever. Now, I think that if you volunteer to play Spy vs. Spy, this is one of the liabilities you sign up for, just like I think that if you volunteer to participate in the invasion of a foreign soverign nation that has not attacked you, you should not be surprised when you are shot in the ass by the locals. But these spies, you know, after a lifetime career of skulduggery, don't they deserve a little safety and peace? My cousin outed her husband as having worked for the CIA after he retired, on a Christmas card. Oops. Luckily he and Ms. Plame are still alive.

But the big sin is, after Bush lied and knew he lied, after Karl trained him to lie and lied himself, after Dick dicked us, Scooter is the trash who is gonna go down for their sins. But I bet Scooter will come out OK. You just watch.

Who should be punished? George, Dick and Karl lied to us. John Kerry bought their shit and voted for the war. And you, you dumbass. You don't study history. If you didn't spend all your time watching CSI Miami, you'd have taken the time to wake up and look at your world. And you wouldn't have voted for Bush, Jr. And you would've seen the lies for what they are.

And the moon would be made of green cheese. Sad, so sad.

Who is this bitch anyway?

The latest wire reports show that Harriet Miers, as president of the Texas Bar Association, championed "self-determination," at least in terms of women's issues, at least in one speech. This would appear to be self-determination in terms of abortion, the separation of Church and State, and women's issues. Of course we also know she is now a "reborn Christian" and the running dog of George W. Bush. Please realize that in the pic to the left, Ms. Miers was the White House Staff Secretary!

Honestly, I love it that President Bush nominated Ms. Miers. I love it that thru his unrelenting devotion to cronyism and his premature lame-duck laziness, he has lobbed the ultimate softball to the Judiciary committee and the nation, prompting Arlen Specter to note that the Supreme Court nominee needs a crash course in Constitutional law. Unless Ms. Miers' nomination is withdrawn, her confirmation hearings will probably be the swan song of the Bush administration.

Ironically, I think Ms. Miers would probably do just fine as a Supreme Court Justice. After all, in a room with intellectual heavyweights like Clarence Thomas, how could anyone appear inadequate? Of course, she could be a Trojan horse, just like John Roberts could still prove to be a pig in a polk. But if you look at the history of the Supreme Court, you may realize that by the nature of its lifetime appointments, the Supreme Court is the last bastion of integrity in the U.S. government. It is easily observed that the Justices appointed, at least in my generation, have often failed to support the agendas of the regimes that nominated them, which is as it should be. Sandra Day O'Connor may have been the best legacy of the Reagan administration. I have grudging respect for Justices with whom I disagreed, but who had at least had integrity in their agendas. Look at the career of the late Chief Justice Rehnquist, nominee of Richard Nixon in 1972 just before Watergate, appointed as Chief Justice by Ronald Reagan in 1986.

I was in law school from 1980 thru 1983. Stanford was a liberal environment, and Rehnquist was often seen as the new devil on the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, who was a guest instructor in my second year but the eminent Tony Scalia.

Now I won't hold it against Justice Rehnquist that if you look at the Supreme Court Reporter for the late 70's you'll see in the group photo that he is passed out from his painkiller addiction. In fact, once he became Chief Justice history reveals that he did his job as administrator of the Court, and gave up his job as conservative hatchet man. But now, Tony. Tony looked like Richard, the swarthy scowl, the skulk. I was terrified that Bush would nominate Tony the Knife as Chief Justice. But he didn't .

Now it appears to me that what has happened with these Supreme Court nominations is that Bush, at the end of his political career, doesn't give a shit. Roberts was just easy. Miers is the equivalent of JFK nominating Byron Young, more or less because he was underfoot at the time.

So it doesn't matter if Miers is confirmed or not. She probably will not be. If she were to be, I would not be too concerned, worse things have happened. What is significant here is that the Bush administration has given up any attempt at legitimacy or credibility, and let it shine. So next time, think more. Vote your mind, not your ass.

Hey, about Christianity

In my first post, I noted that Christians might be offended by this blog. That still might be the case, and honestly I have to admit that offending Christians is not something that bothers me, because Christians offend me every day. Now, if you want to believe that human beings erupted into existence out of dust three thousand years ago because a big guy in a white beard got bored or lonely, that's your right. And if you want to believe that what is right or wrong for you to do in your own life is determined by something written thousands of years ago in a book intended for a particular sect of desert dwellers, independently of your present circumstance or awareness, fine, as long as you don't try to inflict that decision on me. You can live your life however you want.

But we live in a world poised on the outbreak of the next Plague, and you want to stop teaching science in the schools, and tell the next generation of potential doctors and scientists that evolution is a theory. Do you know that know that no one can begin to understand how a disease evolves without the basic theory of evolution? Do you want the people upon whom the lives of your children -- who are many because you won't stop having them or take the basic steps to safeguard the world from your lust -- depend, to be working on solving the problem of disease and plague, or to be huddled in the corner mumbling and praying to a "higher authority" to save themselves from the results of their own irresponsibility? When I was younger and more naive, this would have been a no-brainer, but now this country is run by no-brainers.

A good friend of mine who happens to be Christian, apparently, reminded me of the Zen-Catholic link through Thomas Merton. I have no problem with that; anyone whose spiritual search has led them to that level of awareness is on a path from which I would never dissuade them. Having devoted most of my life to the basic problem of, what the hell is this? -- I understand those of you who promote the Unity of all religions. I understand and respect your conclusion that there is one God who is beyond all name and definition, whose works are not contradicted by science or the logical observations of modern man. These Christians are not the ones satirized by by web link to Landover Baptist. A lifetime of contemplation is not bad.

However, to these sincere people whom I respect, I ask, if you are one with God, why do you externalize the God you worship? Is he not yourself? And having come to this realization, can you not accept that the concept of God is superfluous? If you and God are not the same, you are practicing a lower, superstitious version of your religion. If you are the same, what do you need God for? Is He not an impediment, a false wall between yourself and the present moment?

I am going to try to stop ranting against Christians, mostly because if you are still There, you are not willing to accept responsibility for your own actions, etc. -- mostly, you are going to miss the point of what I say here. Again, you can live your life in delusion, that is your right. Christianity is better for you than crack, so whatever gets you through the night. But just realize that's your drug of choice.

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that living is something I have to do right here, right now. My whole job right now is to live my life, one measureless moment at a time.

Intro to this blog - THIS MAY NOT BE FOR YOU.

I finally decided to quit just reading other people's blogs and post my own. I do occasionally post and appear in multiple places on the internet; when I post in the Zen rooms, I try to be somewhat politely Zen. When I am hosting something I try to be polite, neutral, etc., although I can rarely help being something of a smartass.

This is different. If you are a Christian, a right-winger, an illiterate, a redneck or a child, THIS MAY NOT BE FOR YOU.

All day long most days I am surrounded by idiots and have no one to talk to but idiots. I spend as much time as possible in the company of people who have actually undertaken to learn and understand something about their world, but that time is the minority. So I am not going to pander here to anyone's lack of understanding; simple ignorance is excusable and forgivable, as well as curable, but if you are an adult and you have never even begun to try to think things out for yourself, or to investigate or step out of the box, there is something seriously wrong with you. You are deficient. If you believe in Santa Claus for adults and that is the way you reconcile the wretched nature of your own existence, perhaps you should realize that you have been spoon-fed comfortable lies by everyone beginning with your parents, perhaps because they didn't know any better. It is in the interest of the entities who control your world today to keep you as the sheep you are.

WAKE UP! Your life today, right here and at this moment is all you have. Take off the blinders; throw away your dope, your pills and powders, your idiot religions and totalitarian indoctrination We live in a society which becomes less literate, less educated and intelligent every day. We are racing towards a new Dark Age. Your President is not the cause, he is a symptom. The society that would inculcate, manifest and empower such an obviously shallow parody of a leader was diseased long before he appeared. He is as much of a victim as the rest of us.

Victim of what? Ignorance! Self-perpetuating, self-aggrandizing ignorance. Evil is not the problem; it doesn't even exist, it's just a label for things different from you. Greed is a natural animal characteristic. Ignorance is the whole problem, the only problem there is. Most of the people I encounter are not only stupid, but aggressively stupid -- they want you to be stupid too, and they are hurt and pissed-off and aggressive if you are not.

So this blog is for me to vent steam. It may piss you off. You may choose not to read it. As Jethro Tull said, "I may make you feel, but I can't make you think."

So if you want to think, you need to find out how to do that on your own. If you want my help I'll give it to you, but you have to be willing to listen.

But isn't it about time?