He wanted to be what he isn’t

We respectfully reject the official explanation

I recently read an article showing images of war devastated areas in the Middle East that had been doctored by adding items such as a child’s teddy bear to enhance the emotional impact of the picture. Nothing was mentioned about the impact of finding an undamaged passport on the street below the World Trade Center after it was destroyed, or finding other incriminating documents as if they were placed to insure that credit for a deed was not misplaced. It is interesting that the media is so knowledgeable in the area of ”enhancing the obvious”, and it begs to question how the “news” about issues and situations is routinely manipulated to help the consumer arrive at a predetermined conclusion about the truth.

We, the consumers of news, have learned to accept rather than question, and that learning has been exploited handsomely by the power conglomerate that has been entrusted to make decisions and policy on our behalf. If you are familiar with the (party poker) advertisement showing a woman convincing her husband that “another” meteor found its way to the hood of her car while she was stopped at a light, you have been exposed to the mentality of the folks running this Government at the present time. They are sitting at the final table with a seven two off suit and all their money in the pot… and they are desperately trying to convince you that they hold the absolute nuts.

When you can turn the system upside down, the ability to confuse any issue, or hide the truth about any hideous act becomes your obvious best ally.

The best ally we, the people, have is open and honest debate. The fact that honorable people have come to differing conclusions is not at all a bad thing so long as all aspects of an issue are placed on the table for discussion. It is only in that environment that our minds can function as designed… and a well informed decision arrived at.

It is way past time to apply this concept to the 9/11 events, and to the issue of corruption in the political process, including using corporate money and voting machines to alter the will of the people in the election process.

Where annual elections end, there slavery begins

~ President John Adams

A link from Lionheart

When an election is stolen in Florida, Ohio, or any of the other United States, the reaction is slow to build (but it is building). When an election is stolen in Mexico, the reaction is a little more intense, and visible.

Check out this blog for more information.

Sad..sad news

(Excerpt)
The former Giuliani administration aide found strangled in a million-dollar Manhattan apartment was killed by a male prostitute he picked up for $40 in cocaine, sources said yesterday.
Edwin Ramos, 26, who came across Martín Barreto, 48, during a chance meeting on the street and agreed to go home with him in exchange for the drug, told cops he crushed the victim's larynx after objecting to a form of kinky sex, sources said.
"It was bad luck," a police source said. "He picked the wrong guy to take home."
The tattooed suspect gave a sorry excuse for the killing, according to Bernard Cosenza, deputy inspector of the Manhattan South detective squad.
"He said he didn't mean it," Cosenza said.
Read the rest of the story

When God speaks to Liberals...they listen!

Check out this "free energy concept"

The Energy Project

In 2003 Steorn undertook a project to develop more efficient micro generators. Early into this project the company developed certain generator configurations that appeared to be over 100% efficient. Further investigation and development has led to the company’s current technology, a technology that produces free energy. The technology is patent pending.

Our Technology and the Laws of Physics

Steorn’s technology produces free, clean and constant energy. This provides a significant range of benefits, from the convenience of never having to refuel your car or recharge your mobile phone, to a genuine solution to the need for zero emission energy production. It also provides a secure supply of energy, since the components of the technology are readily available.

The technology is in a constant state of development. The company has focused for the past three years on increasing power output and the development of test systems that allow detailed analysis to be performed.

Steorn’s technology appears to violate the ‘Principle of the Conservation of Energy’, considered by many to be the most fundamental principle in our current understanding of the universe. This principle is stated simply as ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only change form’.

Steorn is making three claims for its technology:

1. The technology has a coefficient of performance greater than 100%.
2. The operation of the technology (i.e. the creation of energy) is not derived from the degradation of its component parts.
3. There is no identifiable environmental source of the energy (as might be witnessed by a cooling of ambient air temperature).

The sum of these claims is that our technology creates free energy.

This represents a significant challenge to our current understanding of the universe and clearly such claims require independent validation from credible third parties. During 2005 Steorn embarked on a process of independent validation and approached a wide selection of academic institutions. The vast majority of these institutions refused to even look at the technology, however several did. Those who were prepared to complete testing have all confirmed our claims; however none will publicly go on record.

In early 2006 Steorn decided to seek validation from the scientific community in a more public forum, and as a result have published the challenge in The Economist. The company is seeking a jury of twelve qualified experimental physicists to define the tests required, the test centres to be used, monitor the analysis and then publish the results.

Steorn has decided to publish its challenge in The Economist because of the breadth of its readership. "We chose it over a purely scientific magazine simply because we want to make the general public aware that this process is about to commence and to generate public support, awareness, interest etc for what we are doing."

Are you a reluctant contributor?

Unsolicited phone calls

Even though my phone number is listed with the National Do Not Call Registry, I begin receiving calls for bogus solicitations early in election cycles, and the calls increase in frequency as the election approaches.
Is there any connection between these bogus charities and our friends scrambling to financially support their favorite political sleazebag?
All I can say is “do not make contributions over the phone”. Have the caller send you some verifiable information in the mail before you decide to support. If they don’t already have your address, they are probably not local anyway, so you might be smarter to simply hang up the phone.
When you find a number on your caller ID that you don’t recognize, run a google search on it. If it is one of those “under the rock” GOP solicitation stations, you can probably figure it out by the search results.
Google was kind enough to show me the following for 800-557-1454:

MCGRUFF HOUSE DOES NOT SOLICIT DONATIONS VIA PHONE

Date: September 1, 2004

VERIFY WHO YOU ARE GIVING TO
BEFORE DONATING:

MCGRUFF HOUSE DOES NOT SOLICIT DONATIONS VIA PHONE!

Each year, this alert goes out to our region regarding the McGruff House, and how it handles its funding as an organization. PLEASE be aware of this yearly issue that comes up, and CHECK FIRST with The Local BBB and the official and legitimate ORGANIZATION before DONATING!

Yesterday, a woman contacted us at The Local BBB stating that she received a call from the Washington State Law Enforcement Association soliciting donations for the McGruff House. The number that came up on the woman's Caller ID was: (800) 557-1454.

When the BBB Customer Service Representative placed that number into the BBB National Database at: www.bbb.org it came up with 10 matches for that number to the following groups:

State Police Officers Council

Kentucky State Police Professional Association

Massachusetts Reserve Police Federation, Inc.

Fraternal Order of Police Michigan State

Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association

Missouri Federation of Police Chiefs

Nebraska Sheriffs Association

State Peace Officers Council

Association of Oklahoma Narcotic Enforcers

Washington State Law Enforcement Association

What The Local BBB comes to find is that the 800# used by each of these associations is a third party calling group—telemarketing group that has been hired by these organizations to conduct their donation drives. The name of this third-party agency is called THE PLEDGE OFFICE.

The CATCH HERE IS THIS:

McGruff House DOES NOT solicit donations from the public via phone. The National McGruff House Network has verified with Spokane Police that in no way have they hired the Washington State Law Enforcement Association to conduct ANY donation drive for their organization. They clarified that they NEVER solicit the public for donations in this manner.

When The Local BBB shopped the 800# yesterday, our BBB rep stated that they got the answer that, Yes, they do solicit donations for McGruff House.

Just today, after shopping them again, the person at the 800# who answered stated that NO, they do not solicit for the McGruff House.

We are left to conclude that this may possibly be a case of a questionable telemarketer deceiving innocent donors into handing over their personal info or pledges and pocketing the donations, and not getting them to the official source at all.

The BBB rep read the report to the woman for the Washington State Law Enforcement Association. According to information on file with the Washington Secretary of State, Washington State Law Enforcement Association is a 501 (c) 4 organization. It is not a charity and therefore contributions made cannot be considered as a charitable donation for tax purposes. For the fiscal year ending June, 2002 the report shows that of revenue of $1,139,956, the organization devoted $31,966 (3%) to program services. Total expenses for fundraising and management/general costs were $1,056,424.

Unfortunately, these numbers disclose that this organization is using a majority of its donations to pay its third-party telemarketers!

This organization has an unsatisfactory record with the bureau for one unanswered complaint. However the business has resolved one complaint presented by the bureau.

TIPS

Know how your donation will be utilized by a charity or organization. If it's a third-party calling on behalf of a group, contact that group specifically and ask them questions before donating. Verify that they are actually being represented by a third-party calling group.
Check on breakdowns of monetary disclosures and funding at: www.give.org or contact your Secretary of State's Charitable Division for details.

Ask wise questions!

Donate wisely!

Not for public opinion

Pastor Accused of Molesting Girls
(From Newsday)

By MARCUS KABEL
Associated Press Writer
August 23, 2006, 11:14 PM EDT

WASHBURN, Mo. -- The minister of a rural Ozarks church, his wife and her two brothers have been accused of molesting young girls from their congregation for years, sometimes as part of a religious ritual, officials said.

The county prosecutor says the Rev. Raymond Lambert, 51, of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, repeatedly had sex with two underage girls with the help of his 49-year-old wife, Patty, according to court records.

For 10 years, the pastor told the girls, "We are preparing your body for service to God," the prosecutor said.

Patty Lambert's brothers -- Paul Epling, 53, and Tom Epling, 51 -- each are accused of repeatedly having sex with girls as young as age 4 in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

All four defendants face molestation and sodomy charges.

Their attorney said they denied the allegations.

All four turned themselves in on Monday and were released on bond. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Oct. 2 to determine whether formal charges will be filed.

Lambert's church is on property owned by the Epling brothers and houses up to 100 people on a 100-acre farm in western McDonald County, Sheriff's Deputy Michael F. Le Seuer said.

"They refer to it as a compound," Le Seuer told The Associated Press.

The compound is behind a high gate marked "Grand Valley Farm" on a gravel road about 13 miles west of the small town of Washburn. The gate was barred with "No Trespassing" signs on Wednesday, and attorney Robert W. Evenson said the four would not speak to reporters.

"This is a matter of facts for the court, not of public opinion," Evenson said.

Via What Really Happened

New Conyers Report

Washington Dispatch: Propaganda from the President: a step-by-step look at how Bush misled the nation into war.

By Jennifer Wedekind
August 7, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Rep. John Conyers, Jr., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is releasing a 370-page report, describing in full numerous instances of lawlessness and misconduct by the Bush Administration. Many members of congress were quick to hail recent court cases, including the Hamdan decision, as “victories” for democracy, but Conyers refuses to buy it. “The unfortunate reality is we are a long way from being out of the constitutional woods under the dangerous combination of an imperial Bush presidency and a compliant GOP Congress,” he writes.

Beginning with post-9/11 false intelligence and public deception, Conyers uses sources including public statements, the Downing Street Memo, CIA reports and intelligence briefings to refute Bush’s carefully constructed propaganda advocating a war with Iraq. Step by step Conyers traces the different reports citing no links between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and the lack of evidence of WMDs. Beginning with Bush’s State of the Union claim that “Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium for Africa,” he demonstrates how the CIA, the State Department and the National Intelligence Council all informed the administration that the Niger uranium claim was “equivocally false.” French intelligence authorities went so far to say the Niger story was “bullshit.” And there is no doubt the administration knew they had faulty intelligence. One CIA official recounted his superior giving orders saying, “You know what? If Bush wants to go to war, it’s your job to give him a reason to do so.”

The Conyers report goes on to cite evidence that not only was torture and cruel, inhumane treatment tolerated by the administration, it was encouraged. Going against the Geneva Conventions and the Anti-Torture Statute, Rumsfeld approved a Nov. 27, 2002 memo which advocated the “use of scenarios designed to convince the detainee that death or severely painful consequences for him and/or his family are immanent.”

Continuing on, the report illuminates the political retaliation taken against any and all whistleblowers, and lists several such cases—the most publicized being that of Valarie Plame. Another, widely unknown case is that of ABC reporter Jeffrey Kofman, who was outed as being gay after reporting the troops in Iraq were frustrated.

While Bush’s wiretapping program was deemed illegal, Conyers takes it one step further, pointing out the numerous instances Bush and other high-ranking members of the administration made “misleading” statements to Congress about the program. Ironically, in doing so Bush violated his own National Security Act, which ruled that the President is required to keep all members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees “fully and currently informed.”

The report makes clear that the blame cannot lie solely with Bush and his inner circle. Conyers faults the Senate and House Intelligence Committees for refusing to conduct any independent, serious investigations into these matters. He also faults the courts for being slow to act and easily stymied by the “procedural defenses” asserted by the administration.

Conyers quotes Martin Luther King Jr.’s warning that “there comes a time when silence is a betrayal,” concluding, “In my judgment, that time is now.”

The truth about Cheney, Lieberman, et. al.

Think on this...

The following post was taken almost verbatim from 60s & Beyond, a yahoo group that boasts some of the finest human beings currently walking the earth.

Iraq War Tidbits by LionHeart and Hippie Song.

The Missing Wounded
Injury and Decorum in Iraq

By STAN GOFF

There are no longer any American troops being wounded in Iraq. Now they are "injured." Listen closely to the news and you will be hard pressed to hear the word "wounded." "Wounded" conjures up a different image than "injured," and here we see yet again the invertebrate nature of the American press. Yesterday, while preparing some onions and butternut squash, I got carried away with the knife and injured myself. That injury was treated with cold running waterand a band aid that I'm not even using today.

On the other hand, if I had been hit in the same hand in my kitchen with a 7.62 X 39mm bullet traveling in excess of 700 meters per second, I would have lost several fingers and possibly my whole hand. That's the difference between being injured and wounded. Contrary to what Hollywood would have us believe, being hit by bullets and shrapnel and secondary missiles from high explosives seldom causes something that might be dismissed as a "flesh wound." Tearing and cavitation of tissue, the shattering of bone, the severance of vessels and tendons, not to mention the absolute septic filth of these insults to the human body are anything but "just" a flesh wound. This is not the image the Department of Defense and the US press want us to carry around inside our heads. We might lose our stomach for war, just as most of these "injured" troops do the very moment they are confronted with bleeding deformities, disfiguring burns, amputations, shock and pain, and often permanent disabilities.

Now you have your leg. Now you don't. Get your head around that, and you've got your head around war.

We all know the count of the dead, even though the DoD and the press wants to somehow separate the combat deaths from the non-combat deaths (as if suicides and fatal vehicle accidents are no more common among GIs in Iraq right now than they are in Hinesville, Georgia or Fayetteville, North Carolina). But well over 1,000 of our sons, husbands, fathers, and even a few daughters, wives, and moms... have been wounded.

They likely would be alright if they had not been there in the first place. This is an embarrassing fact. Almost as embarrassing as the fact that all this maiming and killing - which by the way includes thousands of Iraqis - was started for no nobler purpose than plunder and power.READ THE REST: http://www.counterpunch.org/goff08012003.html

As many as 1 of every 10 soldiers from the war on terror evacuated tothe Army's biggest hospital in Europe was sent there for mental problems.

Between 8 and 10 percent of nearly 12,000 soldiers from the war on terror, mostly from Iraq, treated at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany had "psychiatric or behavioral health issues,"according to the commander of the hospital, Col. Rhonda Cornum.

That means about 1,000 soldiers were evacuated for mental problems.

The hospital has treated 11,754 soldiers from the war on terror, with9,651 from Iraq and the rest from Afghanistan, according to datareleased by the hospital.

The Pentagon estimates that as many as 100,000 new combat veterans nationwide will suffer from mental issues ranging from depression and anxiety to the more debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder, characterized by angry outbursts, flashbacks, nightmares and hypervigilance. An estimated 900 service members have been evacuated from Iraq since the start of war due to psychological problems,according to the Defense Department.

Military hospitals and clinics will be challenged, as will the families and communities of returning soldiers.

Rationale:

Most actors in conflict, whether state or non-state, have historically displayed little serious interest in documenting and investigating civilian deaths and their causes. Inertia in this respect is also displayed by transnational organisations who could be expected to have particular concern for civilian casualties (such as the Red Cross or appropriate agencies of the United Nations).

Be they men, women or children, civilian casualties, are the most unacceptable consequence of all wars. Each civilian death is a tragedy and should never be regarded as an acceptable cost of achieving political aims. We believe it is a moral and humanitarian duty for each such death to be recorded, publicised, given the weight it deserves, compensated appropriately and, where possible, investigated to establish whether there are grounds for criminal proceedings.

The UN Secretary-General has called the world community to advance a new human-centred approach to conflict, which places the security needs of ordinary people above the interests of regimes or state powers. As a contribution to this effort, the Commission on Human Security (CHS) was founded in 2001 and delivered its final report"Human Security Now"in May 2003.http://www.iraqbodycount.org/background.php#rationale

The Pentagon does not provide a comprehensive accounting of the humantoll of the war from the American side, not to mention the larger toll on the Iraqi people. The Administration only reports the strictly combat-related fatalities and injuries. Neither injuries nor disease-connected sicknesses nor severe mental illnesses are reported.http://icasualties.org/oif/

# Leishmaniasis, also known as "Sandfly Disease" or "Baghdad Boil" is faced by the U.S. military in Iraq. The disease is caused by parasites transmitted via sand fly saliva (when female sandflies bite humans),and comes in three forms: cutaneous, affecting the skin; mucosal, affecting the mouth, nose and throat; and visceral, affecting internal organs, which can be fatal if untreated. Symptoms may include fever, frontal headache, lethargy, malaise, retroorbital pain, conjuctivitis, photophobia, neck rigidity, low back pain, myalgia, meningitis, encephalitis, confusion. No complete list of U.S. military affected bySandfly Disease is available, press reports indicate over 2,000 have been affected. Specialists also warn that blood donations from the affect could infect public blood banks.Source: Deployment Health Clinical Center, Common Endemic Diseases:Sandfly Fever,http://www.pdhealth.mil/deployments/gulfwar/sandfly.asp;

Elsewhere in the world over the same period, paramilitary forces hostile to the USA have killed 408 civilians in 18 attacks worldwide (see Table 1). Adding the official 9-11 death toll (as of October 29th, 2003) brings the total to just under 3500:http://www.iraqbodycount.org/editorial_feb0704.php

The civilian death toll has risen inexorably for the entire durationof the US-led military presence in Iraq following the initialinvasion. That is the grim reality uncovered by ongoing tracking ofmedia reports by the Iraq Body Count project (IBC).

Figures released by IBC today, updated by statistics for the year 2005from the main Baghdad morgue, show that the total number of civiliansreported killed has risen year-on-year since May 1st 2003 (the datethat President Bush announced "major combat operations have ended"):
* 6,331 from 1st May 2003 to the first anniversary of the invasion, 19th March 2004 (324 days: Year 1)
* 11,312 from 20th March 2004 to 19th March 2005 (365 days: Year 2)
* 12,617 from 20th March 2005 to 1st March 2006 (346 days: Year 3)

In terms of average violent deaths per day this represents:

* 20 per day in Year 1
* 31 per day in Year 2 and
* 36 per day in Year 3.

"MONSTER"
By Steppenwolf

Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new visionFar from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has it's share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

All politics being local...

I don't pay enough attention to what is going on in my own community, but every now and then I am reminded that you don't have to wander very far to bump into the "attack mode ink slingers" who believe that a difference of opinion is just below treason. Last-Word-Lary displays his nimble wordsmithing abilities here:

The Last Word by Lary Coppola

My thoughts regarding Lary Coppola vs. Charlotte Garrido

People become leaders in their communities for a variety of reasons, which tend to be agenda driven. They don’t like the way things are presently being done, and feel they could do better… or they see their participation in community politics as an opportunity to create advantages for themselves, usually in the business world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Displaying your skills as a strong, ethical, and caring leader should bring people to your doorstep whatever business you are in.

I have a lot of respect for a strong personality who leads by example, delves into all aspects and both sides of any given issue, and is willing to make decisions based on the higher good of the entire community. I have little respect for a strong personality who leads by throwing out random innuendos to muddy an issue and slight an individual without backing the innuendos up with indisputable facts.

Lary Coppola swings a heavy hammer with his opinion column in the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal (where he also serves as Editor and Publisher), and has the ability to praise or ridicule projects, events, and other community members as his personal agenda dictates. Recently (August 2006 issue of the Journal), he was opining about the South Kitsap Community Park situation, and he offered some praise regarding newest board member Steve Horn’s acting as a moderate, common sense, voice of reason (no clarification on why he thinks this), and then he jumps out with:
“But it’s become obvious that this isn’t about the park for the majority of the board. It’s all about control, and partisan politics. Don’t think so? Why did former Park Board Chair Charlotte Garrido, who was unseated as County Commissioner by Angel and who didn’t run for re-election to the board after a single, chaotic term, still control the district’s Web site and the flow of email between board members until just recently?”

Now, I have to admit that I don’t know very much about the park controversy, but I do know a sleazy cheap shot when I see one written, and Mr. Coppola has definitely swung his heavy hammer at “former Park Board Chair Charlotte Garrido”. There was a time not so long ago when I might have glanced over this article, formed a partial impression about what is probably going on with the park, and moved on. Unfortunately, and to my bitter distaste, the media landscape is covered with this kind of writing, which is misleading, incomplete, and the sign of a bully with a long stick whacking at someone from a very safe distance.

Hey Lary…

How about validating your opinion with reason, if not fact, Mr. Coppola? Why do you feel that Steve Horn is moderate, acting with common sense, and the voice of reason? More importantly, why do you state that it has become obvious that this is about control and partisan politics, and then use as your proof some inane question about Garrido controlling a Website and the flow of email between board members? What is obvious in my mind is that you have an aversion to laying things out in an orderly, concise manner with the facts intact, which can only mean that you are trying to create an unrealistic description of a situation, and you don’t want it ruined with factual debate.

If I am totally off base with my thinking, please revisit this issue in your next opinion column explaining the reasoning behind your comments. I don’t know Charlotte Garrido personally, but she showed up at my house one day and spent two hours soliciting my thoughts about the future of the park, and explaining what the board at that time was attempting to accomplish. I was very impressed with her obvious concern about the community, and I would hope that she will continue to be involved in any community project. She has people skills that tell me she is a natural leader. If you have an issue with this person, lay it out in a way that doesn’t sound like you are trying to gossip her down to your level. She might like to respond.

Respectfully,

(Name Removed)
Port Orchard, Washington