By: Al Martin  

I'm sitting here waving the American flag, secure in the knowledge that, by the end of the day, the armed forces of my country will have squandered another $150 million of the American people's money. So far the cost of the campaign in Afghanistan to the American people has been $1.5 billion. The score currently stands - US Department of Defense: $1.5 billion vs. The Taliban: $38,000. And that is very typical of the wars we fight.

For that $38,000 worth of ammunition, they have been able to shoot down two of these ultra-modern, sophisticated surveillance drones, which cost the US taxpayers $10 million a piece. Or else they just came down because of mechanical failure.

By: Isaac Peterson

Since September 11, I've had the feeling they're going to get away with it, and it's been damned depressing.

And I'm not talking about the terrorists. I mean "Big Time" Cheney and "Not Ready for Prime Time" Bush and his administration. They stole the presidency and proceeded to push a hard right-wing agenda down the throats of this country and the entire world. They pressed on despite the fact that this country made it clear that the opposite was called for. When you consider that most people who voted chose the two men who had run from a position to the left of the GOP, the right-wing agenda wasn't what most voters wanted.

By: Vermont Bear

This opinion could be a single line. It could be a single question. But the ramifications of the answer to that single question are far greater than the question itself. I believe however that it is however one of the most important questions I may ever have to ask. This question is how could an executive order simply and without review, over ride a duly debated and enacted law passed by congress?

By: Greg Palast and David Pallister  

FBI documents shown on BBC Newsnight last night (11/6/01), and obtained by the Guardian show that they had earlier sought to investigate two of Osama bin Laden's relatives in Washington and a Muslim organisation, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), with which they were linked.

But the FBI files were closed in 1996 apparently before any conclusions could be reached on either the Bin Laden brothers or the organisation itself. High-placed intelligence sources in Washington told the Guardian this week: "There were always constraints on investigating the Saudis".

They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Pakistan.

"There were particular investigations that were effectively killed."

"When I make contributions to a candidate, it's not for some special favor... it's because I'm supporting a candidate I strongly believe in personally."

- Ken Lay, CEO of Enron, in an interview on PBS' Frontline

By: Michael Gabriel  

That Josephette Goebbels of the conservative media, Peggy Noonan, is about to release a new book about Ronnie Ray-Gun - a work of fiction, we must assume - titled "When Character was King". That title is certainly her idea of a creative and hilarious jab at - surprise! - Bill Clinton. What an original stroke of genius. How good it must make her feel to keep jabbing at the man who bounced Ronnie Ray-Gun's hand-picked successor, George Bush Sr., out of the White House, then trounced dour conservative icon Bob Dole in the next presidential election. Deal with it honey.

By: Tom Teepen  

An awkward question, unpleasant to ask at any time and especially in these war-like circumstances, but inevitable after Bush signed an executive order last Thursday (11/1/01), putting the lid on presidential papers that had been scheduled to become public.

The wonder is that the question isn't being asked more broadly and urgently than it has been so far.

By: Cragg Hines  

House Republicans - mesmerized by the Abbott and Costello of the legislative world, Majority Leader Dick Armey of Lewisville, and Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Sugar Land - laid out their hand early. They opposed the Senate measure because it would create a 28,000-person new federal work force that could be unionized.

By: Tally Briggs - Actress at Large  

"Get back to normal" has become Bush's non-stop rallying cry. "Get back on the airplanes!" Yet, he and the GOP are fighting tooth and nail to keep airline security in the private sector, while releasing vague terrorist threats on what is becoming a weekly basis. Obviously, our safety is not high on their priority list, but keeping us 'on guard' and on edge, is. National security is apparently not as important as the interests of the airlines and all the money that they can contribute to the GOP. We can't have all that money wasted on security staff making a living wage when it can go into GOP campaign coffers instead, now can we? "Get back to normal, get back to work, get back to the malls, spend money" is the other ridiculous cheer that is repeated over and over. Yet unemployment continues to grow, last month reaching twenty-year highs, and there is no sign of it leveling off, let alone reversing. But George can't wait to give the most successful multi-billion dollar corporations even more cash in not only big money tax bonuses, but also tax refunds for the last 15 years. Why give money to people who need it least? Evidently, payback for his big money contributors is also far more important in this Time of War than food or medicine for US citizens that have suddenly found themselves without a paycheck. What do these pathetic bleatings have in common? Money.

By: Troy Headrick  

Either/or arguments promote a vision of the world that is the stuff of comic books and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. It's perfectly fine for children to think like children, believing in fairy tales about "pure good" versus "pure evil" (where good always prevails), but one expects more out of the man in the White House.

Editorial from:  

The debate over aviation security should never have gone into a second round. It is unfortunate that the White House indulged conservative House leaders by lobbying for their weak bill. The Senate recognized that airline security was an unseemly issue for partisan bickering when it unanimously passed a bill that would create a federal security force to protect the nation's air travel system.

By: Leon Friedman  

There is a solution to this debate that will save small farms and businesses, eliminate the "death tax" for all Americans, and still preserve the integrity of the federal budget: Tax the net worth of the very richest Americans on a regular basis during their lifetime. Eleven European countries already have such a tax. A 1 percent net worth tax on the top 1 percent of households would allow us to eliminate the estate tax, thus solving the family-business problem, while still raising enough revenue to pay off the national debt, save Social Security, and have money left over for targeted tax cuts.

How to Feel Calmly Patriotic and Yet Not the Slightest Bit Reassured by Bush & Co.

By: Mark Morford  

This much is true: It really is possible to love your country and value your freedoms and still believe the government is full of fools and prevaricators and BS artists and Dick Cheney. Really.

Part-Time Officers Buy Machine Guns to Form Small-Town SWAT Team

By: Kit Wagar  

Perhaps it's the courthouse square, with its cobblestone streets and old-fashioned storefronts, that makes this western Missouri town seem so hospitable. Maybe it's the shrieks of children chasing each other on their bicycles on a sun-splashed afternoon in early autumn. Or maybe it's the way strangers call out, telling you not to use the pay phone that will take your money. Use the one at the laundry, they tell you.

In those and a dozen other ways, this community 65 miles south of Kansas City, with its single traffic light, seems a remnant of a simpler time. You half expect to see Sheriff Andy Taylor, Opie and Aunt Bee coming out of the Farm Bureau office. In the fictional town of Mayberry, however, the deputy sheriff was limited to one bullet. In the real-life town of Butler, four part-time deputies decided they needed machine guns.

By: Robert Reno  

The last thing President George W. Bush needs is any hint that it takes an effort for him to be coherent.

Editorial from:  

A five-page executive order signed by President Bush on Thursday (11/1/01) would nudge the nation's highest office back toward democracy's dark ages, when history could effectively be kept from the public. The decree permits an incumbent president to veto the release of a former president's papers even if the former president has agreed to make them public. It rolls back historians' and journalists' timely access to historical documents, giving even members of a former president's family veto power over the release of material.

Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Long Beach) will chair a meeting of a governmental reform subcommittee today to look into Bush's move, and with luck someone will begin the process of reversing the order.

From:  

Clinton administration officials gave the Taliban evidence in 1999 that Osama bin Laden was behind the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, two former diplomats said Tuesday.

But they said because of the close ties between Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and bin Laden they were unsuccessful in getting the Taliban to bring bin Laden to justice.

Karl Inderfurth, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state, said U.S. officials met with the Taliban repeatedly over a three-year period.

Michael Sheehan, a former U.S. counterterrorism official, said the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI built "a strong case against bin Laden and al Qaeda".

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask

By: Kris Millegan

The story begins at Yale, where three threads of American social history - espionage, drug smuggling and secret societies - intertwine into one. ParaScope is pleased to present this treatise on the Order of Skull and Bones, whose initiates fill the ranks of the global elite. Is Skull and Bones the American branch of the Illuminati? Are national and global events manipulated as part of a grand Hegellian equation, thesis and anti-thesis yielding a New World Order synthesis? The evidence and events surrounding the Order of Skull and Bones will shock you. Read on.

Well... He did say: "This will be a different kind of war."

By: Hyphenate  

Here I sit, less than a month before being canned from my current job, unsure of what December, a dwindling economy, and a high unemployment rate will bring, but certainly I think that perhaps I will continue to survive - just barely. Although being an out-and-out bleeding heart liberal under the Bush administration is not going to be the easiest thing in the world.

My mind flutters briefly to an event that is still three years away - a new election, and I wonder - how many Americans are going to be sick and tired of this asshole by then?

Will the masses of unemployed people, whose benefits from their states hardly equal their normal paying jobs, who might have to be put onto the welfare lists, who will seek out as much public assistance as they are legally (and perhaps illegally) able to obtain - will these people vote for the man they perceive as putting them there?

Will the masses of people whose sons and daughters have been sent to fight a war of revenge vote for the man who helped kill or endanger their children?

Will those whose relatives and close friends died in one of the terrorist attacks vote for the man whose administration likely contributed to their demise, through ignorance, lack of intuition, or simply lack of foresight?

Will those who are part of a large corporation vote for a man who is feeding the coffers of their already rich bosses, but who is not contributing to their own financial future?

By: Allen Hope  

Watching these folks spin their way into the Liar's Hall of Fame is both hypnotic and infuriating. I honestly believe that should I suffer a heart attack while tuned to the FOX News Channel, I could sue on the grounds of assault with verbal deception and not a jury in the world would rule against me.

Suppose, for a moment, that I file such a lawsuit. Suppose, too, that at every step of the way I win. Finally, the Supreme Court agrees to hear FOX's appeal. Now I know that with the Felonious Five currently in control of the Supreme Court I wouldn't stand a chance. But this is my fantasy so bear with me. In the end, the court rules in my favor. As part of their ruling the justices also decide that false and misleading information violates the public trust. To right this wrong, they mandate a policy of truthfulness whenever public opinion is at stake.

Think of the repercussions. The FOX News Channel would be forced to change its motto to Hateful and Without Merit. CNN and MSNBC would have no choice but to run a disclaimer stating that: "While we know there are plenty of equally important stories to cover besides Anthrax All The Time and Terrorism 24/7, we choose not to cover them because neither are they as profitable nor do they promote our corporate agenda as much as anthrax and terrorism."

But what I would most like to see is a press briefing in which Ari Fleischer must adhere to the truth.

By: Scott Lindlaw  

President Bush on Tuesday (11/6/01) compared Afghanistan's terrorist-harboring regime and its "mad global ambitions" to the totalitarian leaders who enslaved Europe for much of the last century. He asked Europe's new leadership to join his anti-terrorism campaign.

"No nation can be neutral in this conflict", Bush told officials from Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Republics and the Balkans. He warned that terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks are seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, posing a threat "to civilization itself".

By: Paul Corrigan  

It is time for the Republican Party to change its name. I nominate "Surprise Party" as the new moniker. Americans walked over the bridge to the twenty-first century to a great big surprise. Peace and prosperity are lost. In their place are insecurity, economic recession, and eroding civil liberties, health, education, welfare, and environment. Is this what a minority of Americans voted for last November?

If my memory serves me correct, the Bush-Cheney campaign slogan was not "No Pain, No Gain". Bush-Cheney told us that they were more experienced, that Gore was a liar, and that Clinton was a fraud. Bush-Cheney promised to run the country like a corporation. Instead, they are running the country like a Texas high school football program. It is our team against the bad guys. Rhetoric reigns supreme. Loyalty is our duty. America is draped in symbols. The coach is omnipresent on television, while he keeps one eye on the polls. The president should pay attention to the real score.

By: Karen L. Snell  

To the French, Kenneth Starr is known as the "Ayatollah sexuelle", but after his recent comments in the Washington Post suggesting that we should cast aside traditional civil liberties in the fight against terrorism, just plain "Ayatollah" seems more fitting.

According to Starr, five justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have signaled that they would give "heightened deference to the judgments of the political branches with respect to matters of national security", and thus, would be willing to bend the constitutional rules in a case involving terrorism.

By: Dave Conroy  

Dear George,

A few weeks ago in this very space I warned you to get rid of the liars. I told you to fess up to your role in the lies. I said if you did not then no one would believe you. It's beginning to look like I can say I told you so.

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) reported today 2001 third quarter net income of $179 million ($0.42 per diluted share). Net income from continuing operations was $181 million ($0.42 per diluted share), an increase of 39 percent over the prior year quarter and the highest earnings since the merger with Dresser was completed in 1998.

Revenues from continuing operations were $3.4 billion in the 2001 third quarter, an increase of 12 percent compared to the year ago quarter. Operating income of $342 million for the quarter represents an increase of 38 percent compared to the 2000 third quarter operating income of $248 million. Excluding a non-recurring gain in the 2000 third quarter, operating income more than doubled. Compared to the 2001 second quarter, operating income increased $70 million on increased revenues of $52 million. Both the Energy Services Group and Engineering and Construction Group contributed to these improved results.

"Both our business segments delivered outstanding results", commented Dave Lesar, Halliburton's chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer. "Our performance in the quarter highlights the earnings capacity of this dynamic organization. While the near-term industry outlook is less robust, the longer-term fundamentals are strong. Our global presence and market leading products and services position us extremely well to perform under all market conditions."

From:  

At least 47 families have been deprived of child support funds by a federal program that requires welfare mothers to sign over checks to help pay for benefits, a new federal report found.

Action Alert

"The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one."

- David Hume

"Why has a religious turn of mind always a tendency to narrow and harden the heart?"

- Robert Burns

"I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it."

- Albert Einstein

By: Cheryl Seal  

It has become the joke of the day that the Bush Administration is stuffed full of "political dinosaurs" from the Cold War era who want to rattle their sabers and make one last stand like geriatric John Waynes. They are everywhere, both in front of the curtain - Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, et al. - and behind it - Bush, Sr., James Baker, Henry Kissinger, and God only knows who else. However, what these men truly represent is no joke at all. Behind the smokescreen of patriotism, national security and ideology they are driven by just one motive: greed. Every single one of these players is a politician simply as an expediency (power can buy more power). First and foremost, they are corporate tycoons whose primary goal is to advance the cause of corporations. Each one is worth millions and each one is now in a position to engineer policies that will insure they will ultimately be worth millions more.

These policies are now in the process of being pushed forward, and have so far being met with an astonishing lack of resistance. This may be because many Americans, including some Congresspeople, are too young to recall the true nature of the Cold War era. It may also be that some have simply failed to make themselves sufficiently informed on the nation's political history. It is impossible to believe that anyone armed with the facts would fail to see the ugly template that is now being forced down over the face of the nation.

Site content © 2001-2002 J. Mekus - - except wherein noted.
All rights reserved.