I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

– the Litany against Fear, Paul
Herbert

This is from the novel, Dune; author was Frank Herbert. Good selection, though.

I disagree that the U.S. is at war.

Call it what you will, it ain’t war.

In war, you’ve got a military foe and some objective.

The U.S. has neither in Iraq.

What the U.S. has going in Iraq is an illegal occupation. Etc.

A-FUCKIN-MEN !!! Please, everyone with a tongue remember this…….and even if you don’t have one, QUIT CALLING THIS INVASION A WAR.

– the Litany against Fear, Paul Herbert

“When the Twin Towers were attacked in 1993″

About that, I was watching NY Channel 1 back then, a local news channel on cable. I saw the NYC Fire Chief make his first report, having just come out of the Tower’s basements – face blackened with smoke. He went right on camera to NY1 and all the other media gathered around. I’ll never forget what he said:

“The blast was centered in the Secret Service [underground] parking lot, and nothing less than 200 lbs of C4 could have done this.”

That story changed by the next morning and later they arrested some college kids from Jersey…

After 911 happened our local newspaper said it happened because they wanted the 1993 bombers of the WTC released from prison.

It would be nice to hear Sandra Day O’Connor’s opinion on the carnage of the wars and also on the health of the nation overall…after all she is inadvertently part of all what is now happening.

After all she did that ended up harming our country so much, in March of 2006 she warned us of a dictatorship:

“Sandra Day O’Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party’s rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary.
In a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University, reported by National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Ms O’Connor took aim at Republican leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for alleged liberal bias could, she said, be contributing to a climate of violence against judges.

Ms O’Connor, nominated by Ronald Reagan as the first woman supreme court justice, declared: “We must be ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/…..96,00.html

I didn’t know they had a Dick Day in Minnesota.

Well, that explains what Sen. Larry Craig was doing in that airport restroom in Minnesota…celebrating Dick Day.

Anyway, Rachel Maddow on Air America last week had an interesting segment on why conservative Republicans always use fear as a political propaganda tactic. (Basically for the same reason religious fundamentalists use the “fear of hellfire and damnation” tactic).

She reported on a study involving some court judges, divided into two groups, who were given a questionnaire. One group’s questionnaire contained questions relating to death and dying, while the “control” group’s questionnaire didn’t.

Then each group of judges was asked to judge a hypothetical court case.

When asked to assess a fine, the “test subject” group of judges who were exposed to death and dying questions levied fines averaging $450.00, while the “control group” of judges not exposed to fear-mongering only assessed fines averaging $50.00.

Conclusion: fearmongering works great for “get tough on crime” rulings, which plays well in “get tough on crime” Republican circles.

This one study indicates why conservative politicians and religious leaders (and racists) always pump up the fear volume. It not only plays well to their base “base,” but is used as a fearmongering recruitment tool.

This is why the 29-percenters who rabidly back the Republicans and the Bush administration cling so desperately to their own fear and the perverse right-wing agenda certain conservative Republicans (and a few conservative Democrats) have in mind for our freedom-loving democracy.

Fear, and pushing even more fear, is an intimate friend to these conservative folks. Which automatically makes them a foe to all peace-loving, Constitution-honoring U.S. citizens.

And explains why the Bush administration appears to be nothing more than a “terrorist tool” being wielded by religious fundamentalist fanatics, including Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda gang, who also regard fear as an intimate friend.

All patriotic Americans should reject and shun this “friend” that all the conservatives wishing harm to our nation seemingly have embraced. Be courageous. Denounce the fearmongers. Save our nation. Save our freedoms.

How the West was lost?

Will anything calm the wrath of radical islam? No.

The plot: three Islamic radicals blow up Ramstein Air Base, Frankfurt International Airport, and maybe some discos and pubs frequented by Americans.

The subplot: the three radicals collect unemployment benefits while planning the attacks, thus making German taxpayers the unwitting financiers.

The moral of the story: There are two, really: 1) Western governments need to be more selective about whom they’re supporting with welfare and unemployment benefits and 2) Islamic radicals don’t just want Americans out of the Middle East; they want us out. Of everywhere. Period. Including America.

So, no matter how long or short we stay in Iraq, our departure will do nothing to calm the enemy. They will always want more ground.

And why would they stop with Americans? Aren’t most of the governments of Europe also run by infidels?

Meanwhile, the radicals are playing the West for suckers.

“The three had no steady work and were collecting unemployment benefits while their main occupation was the plot,” according to a news report.

German authorities managed to foil this plot, which was real enough: Armed with a “profound hatred of U.S. citizens,” and 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide – “This would have enabled them to make bombs with more explosive power than the ones used in the London and Madrid bombings,” a German official said – the three were stopped in their tracks by months of surveillance.

But Germans aren’t helping themselves, or U.S. interests, by paying immigrants – or homegrown terrorists, for that matter – to stay at home and plot attacks on their own soil.

Fact is, research by Augusta State University political science associate professor Dr. Paul Harris indicates that Germany’s immigration policies – which can inhibit new immigrants from working, but allow them to accept welfare and unemployment – actually hurts the immigrants’ abilities to assimilate. …

Western Europe needs to get its immigration systems in working order, every bit as much as we need to secure our southern border.

Meanwhile, American liberals are whistling past the graveyard if they think our coming home from Iraq, or anywhere else, will satisfy Islamic radicals.

About that, I was watching NY Channel 1 back then, a local news channel on cable. I saw the NYC Fire Chief make his first report, having just come out of the Tower’s basements – face blackened with smoke. He went right on camera to NY1 and all the other media gathered around. I’ll never forget what he said:

“The blast was centered in the Secret Service [underground] parking lot, and nothing less than 200 lbs of C4 could have done this.”

That story changed by the next morning and later they arrested some college kids from Jersey…