Jennifer, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.~Abraham Lincoln In war, truth is the first casualty.~Aeschylus Any excuse will serve a tyrant.~Aesop No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.~A. J. P. Taylor Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it. ~Adolph Hitler So right on thanks for the great quotes.

Cassandra, I very sorry for the loss of your daughter. You’re right…it bites. It is managed never gone…and the milestone days bring all back up. My brother just died and I keep on hoping and believing that we see our loved ones again. That just made me stupidly laugh a little because it reminded me of something. Sharon Stone used to live in San Francisco and was a very respected and popular figure for her charity work and fundraising…and of course she’s super beautiful in person too. She had a brain bleed and was officially dead on the operating table…and she said she experienced seeing the light and relatives who’d died…but she was pulled back to life….and said she was no longer afraid to die because her experience gave her such strong belief in an another world. Some find that so hard to believe….but with the complexity of the universe…why is that so difficult? It’s true we never know what another’s grief is….Robert Wolders the long time partner of Audrey Hepburn said after her death that your grief is in relation to how much you love. Nothing is worse that losing a child and especially as a mother my heart really goes out to you.

Lawrie- “And I feel a sense of immense, indescribable sadness to think that the rightwing fanatics are trying to take over the 2008 elections yet again and that we may have a third term of the same as a follow up to the past 8 years. “Sicko” made the valid point that Americans are afraid of their government and that it is easier for a government to rule by keeping people frightened and uneducated. How much more of this can America take?” Exactly my thoughts. My son has dual US-French citizenship, an excellent education and lives in Europe with no intention of returning to the US. Not because there isn’t plenty that is wonderful but because of of the right-wing fanatics destroying everything decent and terrorizing the world. And now Palin says she ”will not hesitate to go to war with Russia.” Isn’t that great? I’d planned to relocate France in Spring 09…but if they wine…I will be gone by 1/20….I can’t take any more of this. It is so upsetting and unsettling, I’ve wasted years of my life trying to be a finger in the dyke, and from Europe…America seems like a sad case of something wonderful being devolved by a small group of insaniacs helped along by their supporters.

Joan, I once dated a Fire Captain (a real departure from doctor/lawyer/ceo type for me) and a heck of a nice, sporty guy. They work 10 days a month and most have a side business. He owned a contracting business and built nice houses on a lake. I had the impression that many do the fireman thing for the great retirement and benefits, and for some lingering little boy fascination and truly wanting to be a hero. I am not a fireman’s wife type….but we had a lot of fun for a year, and got to see that firehouse culture. These are people who really want to serve and help. The one face that has stuck vividly with me these seven years was that of a big, handsome fireman. It makes me angry that he has missed his life….as far as I’m concered because of the adminstration. Lucky you to be near St. Patrick’s. Love that church. Thanks for what you wrote.

DeB- Some of the first foreign policy words out of Palin’s mouth: she wouldn’t hesitate to wage war with Russia. I didn’t think it was possible to deplore this person anymore than I already do.

DeBurca—-I just watched a video of the GMA interview with Palin/Charlie Gibson. Truly. I’ve hired a lot of professionals over the years, architects, contractors, designers etc. If she showed up for an interview with that poor diction, that sloppy appearance, those canned stock answers…I would have smiled and tried not to glance at the clock, cut it short, shook her hand and said, Thank you for comming in (or commin’ in, in her parlance). We’ll get back with you soon.” Then I’d mark the resume for a thanks but no thanks response. Even Pamela Anderson when asked what she thinks, rolled her eyes and said, “I can’t stand her. She sucks. You can quote me.” There goes the BayWatch vote…I can’t wait for this one to go down. Just as I have no respect for John Edwards any longer. I have no respect for her.

“And we would all survive.” First, that may or may not be true. And second, while some may not object to survival mode….I prefer to thrive…and nothing thrives under Dark Ages mode except the Dark Agers. We’ve already had our 8 years of hell under the club-wielding knuckle-draggers, thanks ever so much.

Co— No, it’s very far from being that simplistic, and yes, it has everything to do with life experience, and being an ardent researcher, in being able to see pattersn, in knowing historical reference, ie how this relates to the BCCI, in having read the PNAC that laid down the groundwork and spelled it out in 1998, in knowing how buildings are put together and what does and will bring them down or not. In letting the irrefutable laws of physics rule your thinking. The buildings fell faster than gravity, that is impossible without a vacuum. This nearly same Black OPs plan ‘North Woods Operation” that was put together by the head of the GOP Joint Chiefs of Staff under JFK (inherited from Eisenhower) as a pretext to going to war against Cuba——ie staging terrorim, blowing up our ships in Gitmo Bay, etc etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods BTW—In Operation North Woods, written by the GOP head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (who was removed by JFK aft he presented it) and which documents were released under the Freedom of Information Act in 2003 or there abouts…..one of the suggestions in the plan was creating decoy planes that would be filled with CIA disguised as college kids on vacation…the remote control decoy would be blown up over Cuba and the other safely land elsewhere. This was written by the Jt Chiefs of our military. If you don’t know all the Black Ops this country has done, this is precisely what I am saying—-the uninformed and naive can’t even conceive of it because they lack the information of how much of this has gone before. The heads of all the intelligence operations in the world believe that bush inc did it. so does his GOP assist Secty of Treasury under Reagan, Paul Craig Robertsm who was also an editor of the Wall Street Journal, and in the Cabinet of GWM… among many, many others. And re this: “has more to do with whether u like GWB or just want to think he is the devil.: Again, reducing very critical events in simplistic terms. FYI—that poll was done and GWB was selected as more evil than Satan, Saddam, OBL, King Jong II and the Prez of Iran…and why is that? Because most people in the world (ie his approval ratings have been in the cellar for many years) think he is. Here’s the MSNBC where Bush even outpolled Satan as the worst villian in the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVC1QqKTIXQ When Will Bush Come Clean? By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS The recent disclosure that the latest National Intelligence Estimate concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapon program several years ago, assuming Iran ever had such a program, has caused consternation among neoconservatives, right-wing Israeli government officials, and Bush regime ranks. Members of the right-wing Israeli government have denounced the NIE finding as contrary to Israel’s interests. Former Bush regime official John Bolton accused America’s intelligence agencies with conspiring to discredit President Bush with politicized intelligence. According to Bolton, it is US intelligence agencies, not the neoconservatives, who have their “own agenda.” President Bush has promised to continue his threats against Iran regardless of the NIE finding. The NIE finding puts Bush on the spot by bringing US intelligence up to speed with the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose director has repeatedly reported, as he did on December 4, that “the agency has no concrete evidence of an ongoing nuclear weapons program or undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran.” Bush has been trying to work up an attack on Iran based on a non-existent nuclear weapon program. When asked how he could be threatening World War III with a nuclear-armed Iran when US intelligence (and the International Atomic Energy Agency) cannot find evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, Bush said that “nobody told me” about the new finding. Absurd say intelligence officials. The White House has known about the finding for six months while Dick Cheney tried to suppress the NIE finding. Neocon National Security Advisor Steve Hadley even lied to the press that the NIE finding was new and that’s why Bush didn’t know about it. The unasked question is: What is the real reason the Bush Regime is so determined to attack Iran? We now know for certain that the reason has nothing whatsoever to do with Iranian nukes any more than the US invasion of Iraq had to do with Iraqi nukes. What is the real reason that is driving the Bush Regime to seek to overthrow with military invasions the only MIddle Eastern states that are not US puppets or dependents? Until we have the answer to this question, we cannot know why the Bush regime wasted two administrations and $1 trillion at the minimum in order to kill and maim civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush’s insane wars have seen the US dollar plummet in value, the price of oil skyrocket, American’s soft power destroyed, and the hardening of opposition to the US worldwide. What has been gained by these extraordinary sacrifices? How can the American people and their representatives in the two parties in Congress tolerate a criminal executive branch that uses lies and deceit to lead them into illegal wars for secret reasons? Surely, no one believes that Bush invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, or that Bush and Cheney were working up an attack on Iran because the executive branch did not know of the intelligence findings of its own agencies. The invasion of Afghanistan also remains unexplained. The Taliban are not Al Qaeda and had nothing to do with 9/11 even in the official version of that event. Bush clearly did not invade Afghanistan in order to capture Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, who escaped scot free. The Bin Laden/Sept. 11 rationale for Bush’s wars has completely disappeared. Osama and 9/11 were never more than public excuses for a pre-determined agenda. Why do the US media and the investigative committees of Congress have no interest whatsoever in finding the agenda behind Bush’s wars? How can Americans be a free people living under a rule of law when the president can commit the country to catastrophic wars on the basis of deception and escape all accountability? And Bush has the chutzpah to call on Iran to “come clean” about its nuclear program or face diplomatic isolation. When is Bush going to “come clean” and tell us the real agenda behind his lies, deceptions, and wars? Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com

Frank, If you are referring to your post re German psychologists and intelligence officers (includ Nazis) that came over on Operation Paperclip and straight into the CIA, and the whole left brain hierarchal/cognitive style thing that predisposes you for being a Republican…I think that’s all exactly right. The world has been battling between holistic thinkers and ‘power over’ types since it began. It is definitely a polar “mind set” in the most primoridal and inherent terms, as day balances night, as tides go in and out, as winter is the opposite of summer, and love/hate. Now the other one about Biden stepping down and HRC stepping in. Can they do that? Give him Sec State. Wouldn’t that be characterized as the ultimate flip flop. Could it be that Obama will pull an October surprise on the October surprisers?

Love it, love them, the term click flick is fine with me, can’t wait to see. And glad to know that Meg and Jada…two women I really admire are voting for Obama/Michelle.

DeB- “As far as Ms Reed’s thoughts that people are being a tad “melodramatic” far from it. People are tired of being handed a bill of goods and that is what Sarah Palin is, a cynicle attempt by the Republican Party to distract people and the media even MORE from the issues and the fact that they have had control of our government for years now and it’s a mess McCain is offering us more of! …As far as Charlie Gibson goes, I’m not surprised they chose him to do this interview, but a staged, planned interview is not media scrutiny an that needs to be done sooner rather than later.” Exactly. And maybe someday since Julia Reed is a conservative she can explain what they conserve. Because it isn’t peace, the environment, the value of our dollar, our treasury, our schools, our security, our Constitution, our respect for Intl Law or the good opinion of the world. It isn’t separation of church and state, or the Fairness Doctrine, or the party of Lincoln, or even Eisenhower who warned against the Military complex that GWB has institutionalized, nor Goldwater who warned about letting the extremist religious right control the GOP, which they now do. They don’t conserve the 18th C Enlightenment ideals on which this country was based, nor the basic principle of the government of, by and for the people and the collective good. And please spare me any farcical notion that they do. In fact the only thing I’ve ever discerned that the ‘Conservatives’ conserve is the enrichment of the already very rich, and the protection of the ‘personhood’ rights of the corporations, while denying us our own.

Thanks Kermie….I’ve been very involved for 7 years. The polls have shown that 60+% of NYers do not believe the official story. “I believe it is our responsibility to try to get out the truth in our lifetime.” The truth can be stated in one word. Treason.

Hysterical. Has her down cold and in a few words. I don’t believe the Kennedys enjoyed Vaughn Meader who gained fame satirizing them. We loved the Kennedys but also had VM records in the house, which were really amusing. If you’re in politics you’ll be satirized…on both sides.

(One of these days I’ll read and edit before post so it will appear as I know basic grammar and can spell. Sheesh.

Dear Liz, I’m always thought you were fantastic, and from having been on this site a few months I know why. You are such a fair and reasonable person, like a great and sane aunt whose seen and done it all. Bet you’re wondering, “I invested $200K for this?” Everything is context and this election for many of us is at the center of 8 years of raw, open, festering wounds. Roy Cohen didn’t mass murder 1 million innocent Iraqis, trash our Constitution and the environment, and purposedly govern by the divisive Doctrine of Chaos and now in the most cynical of manners introduce a puppet for Exxon to do more of the same when if Gore (elected as many of us believe) were president the world would be a much better place today and not hanging on by a string. “Now I am just going to cool my jets, unbuckle my saddle and take off my spurs. Somebody spurt some cool water on my head.” I often go to pick up my mail and there will be boxes of wine from vintner clients. Yesterday there was a box of 4 bottles from a winemaker whose wine is served at the White House, was picked as one of the best 20 in the world, and is served in many of the Four Seasons and Ritz hotel restaurants. Sent the owner of my mail place of 15 years has become a friend he rarely gives me a bill, so when I receive wine I give half the bottles to him. I’ll find wOw’s address and send you the other bottle. You might need a few sips before this is over. Cheers!