Letter Never Sent

Our Criminal in Chief, in an unsurprising move, has passed a new executive order making it harder to see a past president’s records. Of course, this has been done in the name of ‘national security’, that well-worn chestnut of newspeak. The term ‘national security’ has the power to invoke all the requisite seriousness and legitimacy without the need for further elucidation. This has not been done in the name of national security. In fact, there have long been strict measures to prevent the disclosure of information vital to national security. The sole reason for this move should not escape anyone. It is to protect the puppet-masters of the Bush administration. Many of the people installed in the Bush administration are part of the same cabal that was the real brains and power behind each of the last five Republican presidents. A few have been around since the time of Richard Nixon. The last thing they want is to have the records of Ronald Reagan released to journalists and historians. That would be very embarrassing for them if the world saw a little glimpse of the truth. The nearly uninterrupted line of power and influence that has perverted the notion of an elected representative government into a thirty year war against the principles that support our democracy.

I ordered some stickers for Letter Never Sent from stickernation. If you want one or two let me know.

Some losers in the Delta Force got wounded in a firefight with some Taliban fighters. The American military always sound like such whiners. They always have some excuse why they got whooped. Even though we spend 4% of our GDP on the military and our annual military budget is somewhere around the obscene territory of 325 billion dollars a year. Most of this money is simply a tax-payer funded handout to defense contractors. Welfare, in other words. If you’re gonna be stupid enough to join the military don’t be surprised when all the crap you’ve been fed doesn’t hold up. American dupes die just like everyone else. Remember: live by the sword, die by the sword.

Surgeon General David Satcher will be stepping down soon. He got into trouble with the Republican politburo recently for supporting findings of science over dogma.

“Satcher drew criticism from the White House during the summer after his office released a report that said there was no evidence showing the success of abstinence-only programs, which promote sexual abstinence while barring discussion of birth control. The report called for schools to encourage abstinence among students, but also teach the value of birth control. Additionally, the report found that there was no evidence that a gay person could become heterosexual.”

Conservatives are so ridiculous. They must be the most miserable people in the world. They’re intent on turning the world into a joyless, sterile prison. They refuse to acknowledge reality and are hostile to common sense and reason.

Anyone who has actually seen a hard copy of Letter Never Sent may notice the absence of people who contributed to its creation. I wish they would contribute because I think some people would like to see thoughts other than my own. I plan on bugging the hell out of a few of my friends to contribute. I have my own ideas about what I like to write about but I’d like to see what some of my friends would write about if given the chance. It would be nice to have some commentary on something other than what the government is currently doing to make things suck more.

Sheesh.Green Party USA coordinator detained at airport. Prevented by armed military personnel from flying to political meeting in Chicago.

I thought it would be neat in light of the current situation to share some anti-war quotations. If anyone can send me some good pro-war quotations I would like to look at them for curiosity’s sake. I have a pet theory that no great writers or artists have had a conservative temperment.

The objectives are clear….. the propaganda war is in full effect! (Affects late 80’s rapster pose) CNN reports for war duty. The head of CNN, Walter Isaacson, tells his reporters to make sure they emphasize why we’re bombing Afghanistan (ok, well, Afghan civilians at least) in the first place! They started it!

“As we get good reports from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, we must redouble our efforts to make sure we do not seem to be simply reporting from their vantage or perspective. We must talk about how the Taliban are using civilian shields and how the Taliban have harbored the terrorists responsible for killing close to 5,000 innocent people.”

For those of you who cannot read between the lines I will translate:

Do not report on civilian casualties. Stay on message: America good. Taliban bad.

Anyone interested in the working relationship between the supposed free media and the corporate/government power structure should read or watch Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent.

I can’t for the life of me figure out why CNN is trying to compete with FoxNews for the same viewers. FoxNews is so insipid and without value. It is worse than unwatchable. I have severe reservations about anyone who enjoys watching it. Not to mention the fact that few FoxNews viewers find significant, the fact that Rupert Murdoch and some other luminaries of the Right Wing have extremely cozy relations with the brutal Communist government of The People’s Republic of China. (Exhibit a, b, c) Just goes to show how the American religion of Capitalism has no respect for morality, freedom, or humanity. In fact, American corporatism has much in common with Chinese-style communism.

I’ve been very sick the past few days which has caused me to sleep for like 14 hours a day. The upside is I’ve been having some wicked fever-induced dreams.

For all the patriotic yahoos out there. I can’t express this enough. Make sure you display your flag properly! Know the rules. There will be a test on Friday.

I discovered a new site worth mentioning: wartimeliberty.org. From their site:

Freedom does not prosper in the bloody soil of war. In national emergencies, the uneasy relationship between freedom and order edges toward greater control. Politicians seek to smother dissent in hopes of feeding patriotism’s fire. Courts turn away from peacetime precedent and find ways to justify wartime acts of Congress. Some erosions of liberty are predictable and defensible. Others are not. At wartimeliberty.com, we will document this struggle between liberty and security by posting transcripts, documents and analyses — and letting you make up your own mind.

The poor FBI is having trouble extracting information from intractable terrorist suspects (2 brown guys with box-cutters) without the use of torture. Damn those pesky civil liberties. We should be able to assassinate and torture anyone we like! This is America, dammit.

Is Usama bin Laden the new messiah? He looks like Jesus and there’s this other evidence.

I haven’t felt much like commenting on things lately. What is being done to our liberties in the name of fighting ‘terrorism’ has eroded my optimism about any likelihood that this trend can be reversed. A good article I found while at infowars.com about the similarities between Orwell’s 1984 and our current situation. It is highly recommended.

Though the propaganda war has been a success, it has not resulted in increased military enlistment. Maybe people aren’t so stupid after all. To anyone thinking about joining the military, take a deep breath and don’t fret too much. There are jobs to be had with a high-school degree. Being in the military is about as cool and exciting as working as a busboy for 4 years. Don’t fall for the pretty uniforms and exciting commercials. I’ve known many a dupe who joined the military because of career anxiety. They all agree on one thing: the military sucks like no other job AND you have to be away from your loved ones and at risk for an early death. War and violence are the real enemies. Read Johnny Got His Gun it’s all in there. From a 1970 introduction by the author, Dalton Trumbo:

Numbers have dehumanized us. Over breakfast coffee we read of 40,000 American dead in Vietnam. Instead of vomiting, we reach for the toast. Our morning rush through crowded streets is not to cry murder but to hit that trough before somebody else gobbles our share.
An equation: 40,000 dead young men = 3,000 tons of bone and flesh, 124,000 pounds of brain matter, 50,000 gallons of blood, 1,840,000 years of life that will never be lived, 100,000 children who will never be born.

You can usually find several copies of this book at the used book store. It has been in the past and it should be now required reading in school.

Somehow Counterpunch has escaped my notice for a few years. This is an excellent site for the newsletter by Alexander Cockburn of The Nation. It has great articles by Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, and a piece by Russ Feingold about why he opposed the idiotic anti-terror legislation.

I picked up a new web cam this evening because the old one I was using didn’t belong to me. See for yourself. It really sucks. I’m going to take it back and get a new one this week, so enjoy the crappiness while you can.

Much of the recent legislation designed to combat terrorism has frightening consquences for civil liberties. But only one man in the Senate has cared enough to try to moderate these assaults against our liberties. Russell Feingold single-handedly stopped a vote because he argued that the bill needs a floor debate in order to offer ammendments.

If you care about this subject, go to the aclu website and send your representatives an email about your opposition to this expansion to government authority.