Letter Never Sent

Hear from Osama bin Laden in his own words from a transcript on the PBS Frontline website from an interview in May 1998. From the bin Laden family background on Frontline, both the brother and father of Osama bin Laden have died in mysterious plane crashes in Texas:

Like his father in 1968, Salem died in a 1988 air crash…in Texas. He was flying a BAC 1-11 which had been bought in July 1977 by Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd. The plane’s flight plans had long been at the center of a number of investigations. According to one of the plane’s American pilots, it had been used in October 1980 during secret Paris meetings between US and Iranian emissaries. Nothing was ever proven, but Salem bin Laden’s accidental death revived some speculation that he might have been “eliminated” as an embarrassing witness. In fact, an inquiry was held to determine the exact circumstances of the accident. The conclusions were never divulged.

Is there some sort of Texas connection here too?

For further reading on the coming war with Afghanistan, the trap of retaliation.

And in case all you zombies forgot what it’s about, listen to this and get pumped. War by Edwin Starr. “War is an enemy to all mankind.”

My fearless highschool French teacher Lillian Parker passed away on the 13th. She was only 56. I have so many good memories of her. Madame Parker used to encourage me to become a ‘Philosopher King’ and she always went out of her way to make me feel smart and important. She treated her students as equals and blessed us with her respect and humor. She was a master at bridge, smoked Winstons, and had a great laugh. Madame Parker was one of my favorite teachers and will be sorely missed.

Chanson d’automne

by Paul Verlaine

Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon coeur

D’une langueur
Monotone.

Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand

Sonne l’heure,

Je me souviens

Des jours anciens

Et je pleure;

Et je m’en vais
Au vent mauvais

Qui m’emporte

De çà, de là

Pareil à la

Feuille morte…

Clear Channel communications, the largest radio station conglomerate, has sent out a list of songs they suggest should be pulled from their affiliates as part of some idiotic response to the WTC disaster. Not only is the whole idea ridiculous, but particular songs are glaringly stupid choices for censorship. Take for example, the anti-war classic, “WAR” by Edwin Starr, or how about “Imagine” by John Lennon or “She’s not there” by the Zombies. What the fuck? Is this part of some right-wing bullshit to stem anti-war sentiment? I know Red McCombs is a huge ‘conservative’. I don’t get it.

Read all about the Bush family chronology. From their dealings with the Nazis to their complete and utter corruption. It’s business as usual. Better yet, read the entire Bush Files at The Progressive Review Index.

Howard Zinn speaks out against the insanity dressed up as justice advocated by our ‘leaders’.

Information warfare brought to you by your government (from braino at memepool):

At about the same time Commander Randall G. Bowdish wrote Information-Age Psychological Operations, members of the Fourth Psychological Operations Group were working for CNN and NPR. Bowdish writes: The power of TV and radio to influence behavior has not been lost on military PSYOP personnel. During Operation Uphold Democracy, radio and TV programming was used in a carefully crafted interagency campaign “to prepare Haitians for democracy’s restoration and the imminent arrival of US forces.” Although it would be imprudent to claim a causal link, the mission was a resounding success-with PSYOP playing a major role.

Oops. That last post wasn’t by karen in case anyone’s keeping track.

The hammer dropping on Afghanistan as part of some larger geopolitical extraregional battle for the heartland of eurasia and all its resources? Major interests in the United States could stand to benefit from an American interference in that region. Consider the planned Caspian pipeline. It is a little strange that coverage of the Taliban has eclipsed many other international issues. The destruction of ancient buddhist statues, the Christian missionaries, and now Osama bin Laden. Was it all part of some preparation from what will surely take place? An American move predicated on a ‘war against terror’ legitimized by an international ‘coalition’? Likely thousands more innocents will die as the American goverment loads up the war machine. Be prepared for a domestic lockdown. I read on some guy’s website today:

1. Best Buy is removing copies of the Die Hard series of movies from their stores because the first one featured terrorists blowing up a skyscraper, the second featured terrorists hijacking and crashing airliners, and the third had the subway under the World Trade Center exploding.

2. FOX has permanently pulled the Simpsons episode ‘The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson’ from syndication because a snippet includes the WTC.

3. Retailers are taking copies of the computer game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 off the shelves because the game includes a NYC battle scene and fighting over various landmarks; and future copies of the popular computer game Metal Gear Solid 2 are reportedly being modified to take out references to NYC and the WTC.

Undoubtedly, the oil business is involved somewhere. American business interests are itching to get their noses wet in that area. By the way, you can thank your government for spending wads of dough to train terrorists who would later (assuming we can believe anything in the media) mastermind the WTC disaster.
I find it hard to believe that the US is so doggedly in pursuit of bin Laden when other groups have taken reponsibilty for the attack and the Taliban and bin Laden deny having anything to do with it. What’s the problem with getting the story out?

A must read by Noam Chomsky on the terrorist attacks. Some other from Michael Moore. Everywhere I go on the internet people are just as worried about this lock-step march towards warfare. What the hell is going on? The media portrays a broad, unanimous consensus. One which I don’t think exists in reality and any degree to which it does is completely cultivated. My advice is turn off your television.

I saw a neat idea today. Social and cultural theory, gender and identity, and media studies trading cards. They’re FUN and INFORMATIVE.

More insanity from our government. Regarding the opinionof Florida Senator Bob Graham: He said that in response to the attacks he would be willing to “reassess” the government’s ban on assassinations of foreign leaders. My friend Brian made some interesting points with regard to fighting terrorism. Look at how hard Israel is on terrorism. Where has it gotten them? Their society is in a state of complete lockdown. Their government murders people every day. Adding more death to the pile doesn’t solve anything. Bomb Afghanistan, bomb Pakistan and their children will be our next terrorists. Bush is a stupid lunatic and all this bloodthirst and saber-rattling will get us nowhere. Our government will use this opportunity when the people of our country are scared to push through something horrible. Furthermore, look at the parallels: during the early 90’s, danger of recession, Bush 1 has Gulf War. Early 2000s, danger of recession, Bush 2 announces new war on ‘terror’. The best thing to do is to turn off your televisions and start doing some thinking and asking questions.

More lunacy: This is a war situation we’re in,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said, adding that Tuesday’s tragedy likely would alter Americans’ sense of security and lead them to forgo some freedoms for added safety in the future.

It has begun. Civil liberties are being rolled back. Federal authorites have been given unprecedented leeway with their investigations. Only hours after the World Trade Center attack the FBI showed up t webmail providers and ISPs to install their carnivore systems to monitor arabic email accounts. The United States should try to think carefully about how it acts after this tragedy. We should wonder why someone would harbor such animosity towards our government. On the television Bush made it sound like the US is a target because it’s a beacon of freedom or some shit like that. When will people start asking the real questions about why the American government is reviled around the world. I think our government represents the worst aspects of America and until these issues are dealt with and our government restores its relationship with the world attacks like these are likely to happen. You can’t build a security shield around the u.s.