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27 April 2004

 

The octopus of power surrounding Bush
Make no mistake about it, George W. Bush is the key to a great many nefarious plans. The ironic part is that he may be an unwitting accomplice in all of them. Here are the facts. We all will process them within the confines of our individual world views. So the conclusions you draw from them may not agree with mine. However, the facts are not in dispute.

1. Bush is a true believer in a deep fundamentalist vein of Christianity.

2. The Bush family, Cheney, Rice, and many of their closest friends are major players in the world's oil business.

3. Bush himself, while not stupid, is a studiously ignorant man. His beliefs are all very simple and always black and white. His inability to think of a single thing he had done wrong regarding the war on Iraq speaks volumes about him.

4. Some of the most influential men in Washington, Ashcroft and DeLay, are also true believers.

5. The oil people think primarily in terms of controlling the oil reserves, wherever they may be.

6. The true believers think primarily in terms of speeding up their rapture.

For these two unlikely bedfellows, Big Oil and Fundamentalist Christianity, a man like Bush is heaven-sent (just like he believes!). Everyone can draw their own conclusions about all of this, but one thing for sure is that before the shooting is all over things are going to get very surreal. For example, there was a brief film clip on the news today that was just taken in Fallujah. The scene was at night, and the city was under intense gunfire from the air, explosions were all around and quite frequent. Above the din of the battle, however, was singing coming from a mosque. For a moment I truly believed that the station had mistakenly played a scene from the movie Apocalypse Now. Things are already very surreal.

posted by Lorenzo 3:38 PM

25 April 2004

 

US Troop Deaths Mount ... Milestone Passed
As of today, there have been as many US troops killed in action during the month of April 2004 as there were from the beginning of the war through the fall of Baghdad. From the moment US bombs and missiles began falling on Iraq until a US Army force pulled down Saddam's statue, 117 US troops died in combat. In the first 25 days of April 2004 the same number of US service personnel have been killed in action. So what then did Bush mean when he said "mission accomplished"? What was his mission? It certainly isn't to protect American lives, for we are losing Americans every day in Iraq in an unnecessary, unprovoked war.

Another interesting fact is that while the network television pundits are bemoaning the fact that other nations are pulling their troops out of Iraq, the US is also losing a significant amount of troop strength due to battlefield wounds. In just the month of April 2004 we have lost over 787 US troops due to wounds that were severe enough to prevent the injured from returning to battle. At this rate we are going to need an additional 1,000 replacement troops each month just to replace those who are falling in battle. It looks like no matter who takes control of the White House in November we are going to have to reinstate the military draft in this country. ... Maybe that will get the college students involved at last.

posted by Lorenzo 10:34 AM

20 April 2004

 

Calling all grayhat hackers
It's bad enough that I receive over 200 spams a day, but now these sub-human spamers are using this domain in their spurious email headers. Personally, I would like to see all spamers tied to the front of Humvees and driven around Iraq until they are blown up ... and this is coming from a guy who is against violence!

So here's a less violent idea. Why don't some of you good hackers out there combine forces and attack the spamers. If you are looking for an intellectual challenge, these messengers of chaos should be a good match for you. Let's see how good you hackers are. Why don't you bring some of the spamers to their knees? Maybe We the People should put up a prize for the hacker community to share each time they put a spamer out of business. Obviously, the government isn't about to help here.

If we're going to return email to the useful tool it once was, the online community is going to have to come together and solve this problem on our own. If you've got any other ideas about how to stop this scourge, please put it in a Comment. Let's see if we can come up with a way to put these jerks out of business.

posted by Lorenzo 9:55 AM

19 April 2004

 

Thought for the day
A man who claims to know what is good for others is dangerous.
-- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

posted by Lorenzo 12:21 PM

18 April 2004

 

Something to think about
When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

posted by Lorenzo 11:48 AM

17 April 2004

 

Thought for the day
Consciousness is energy received by structure.
-- Timothy Leary

posted by Lorenzo 10:17 AM

16 April 2004

 

More insanity from the Pentagon
Recently, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "I would characterize what we're seeing right now as a — as more a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq,"

I wonder what the general was smoking before he made that statement. It reminds me of the comment another US Army commander said during the American war on Viet Nam, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."

posted by Lorenzo 12:27 PM

12 April 2004

 

Some thoughts on fascism
I wouldn't call it fascism exactly, but a political system nominally controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy either.
-- Edward Zehr

FASCISM n. 1. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
-- The American Heritage Dictionary

posted by Lorenzo 4:53 PM

10 April 2004

 

Thought for the day
We are explorers of consciousness, making our way through seas of insanity, searching for new ways of being.
-- Lorenzo Hagerty, from "Psychedelic Thinking and the Dawn of Homo Cyber"

posted by Lorenzo 4:06 PM

09 April 2004

 

Dr. Rice is Either Incompetent or a Liar
The link above will take you to my latest essay. Here is a little sample:

. . . Another example of her chutzpa was where she blandly smiled and said she couldn't remember if she had bothered to tell Bush that there were 70 Al Queda cells operating in the US . . . and those were only the ones we knew about! Couple that little tidbit with the fact that one of Bush's daily briefings was titled "'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" and at the very least this is incompetence. Personally, I don't believe Dr. Rice is that stupid, which only leaves one alternative, she is lying. So what's really going on here? Let's follow the money. . . . How very clever it was of those powerful businessmen to hide their point person right out in the open. All this time we thought that Cheney was the brains behind this criminal enterprise. But he may only be a decoy. Could it be Dr. Rice who is the source of all the bad policy coming out of this junta?

posted by Lorenzo 5:20 PM

08 April 2004

 

Thought for the day
Those who seek the truth are more than friends. They are brothers.
-- Dan Brown

posted by Lorenzo 4:01 PM

07 April 2004

 

Something to think about
When a great multitude seek largely after pleasures, they act as if their own children and close friends are the whole of mankind. They become strangers to their fellow citizens. No matter how physically close they may be, they do not see or touch those outside their immediate circles. Each citizen then exists in and for himself and his close kindred alone; he has lost his country.
-- Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy

posted by Lorenzo 10:46 AM

06 April 2004

 

What is a "terrorist"?
According to The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary, a "terrorist" is "a person who uses or favours violent and intimidating methods of coercing a government or community." According to that definition, the leaders of the criminal enterprise that has taken over the reins of government in Washington seem to qualify as some of the world's leading terrorists.

posted by Lorenzo 8:38 PM

 

Thought for the day
O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.
-- Thomas Paine, Common Sense

posted by Lorenzo 8:11 PM

05 April 2004

 

Thought for the day
There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. Everybody's crew.
-- Marshall McLuhan

posted by Lorenzo 4:05 PM

04 April 2004

 

Thought for the day
Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.
-- Peter Ustinov

posted by Lorenzo 8:52 PM

03 April 2004

 

Instructions for Life in the New Millennium
from the Dalai Lama:
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, respect for others and responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go some place you've never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

posted by Lorenzo 11:18 AM

01 April 2004

 

Thought for the day
We have it in our power to begin the world again.
--Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)

posted by Lorenzo 1:11 PM