Coastal
Post Online
January
2002
Letters To The Editor
Dictatorship
In America?
On December 14th I
received a solicitation from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
stating its pride in having "acted in the finest tradition of our
party" and "with courage and determination, casting aside
partisanship and uniting behind our Commander-in-Chief" (incidentally,
under the Constitution the President is the Commander-in-Chief of military personnel not of civilians). With one exception
all Democratic Senators, along with the Republican Senators, had just voted for
the so called Patriot Act which gives unprecedented powers to the FBI and
Justice Department to wiretap and to infiltrate any domestic political
organizations, including, even church foreign policy study groups, they wish
to. The bill established that those suspected of terrorism will be tried by a
military tribunal which means the trial will be in secret, the defendants will
have restricted rights in reviewing the evidence against them, the identity of
the prosecution witnesses will be withheld, and there is no appeal.
A few days later Attorney General Ashcroft
stated before a Senate committee that any criticism of President Bush's war
policies constitutes aid to terrorists. Can we expect that in the not so
distant future the Congress of the United States, including all those
"liberal" Democratic Senators, Paul Wellstone among them, will vote
into legislation a bill making criticism of the government's war policies
illegal in spite of the Constitutional protection of free speech as clearly
stated in the First Amendment? It has happened before in our history --- John
Adams's Alien and Sedition Act, the suspension of habeas corpus during the
Civil War, and the Sedition Act of 1917 which made criticism of the government's
war policy illegal. Then American citizens of Japanese ancestry were
"racially profiled" and lost all of their Constitutional rights in
World War II. If such a law is passed will those who criticize any aspect of
the President's war policies in whatever degree be tried in a civil court or by
a military tribunal?
As a
combat veteran of World War II (B-17 co-pilot, 8th Air Force. Serial
no.0-778691) who thought he was risking his life for both the territorial
integrity and the Constitution of the United States against the worst
terrorists of either the 20th or 21st century, I am appalled that Americans and
their government have allowed legitimate anger to evolve into panic and begin
slipping into a form of American fascism. On December 17 The Publisher and
Editor of the Sacramento Bee was prevented from finishing her speech on the
importance of preserving our civil liberties in time of war because many of the
thousands of students in attendance at a Sacramento State University event
clapped their hands and stomped their feet to drown her out. Members of the
Social Democratic Party had the same problem in the German Reichstag from 1932
until January 31, 1933 during which time the Nazis had a large number of
delegates in the Reichstag. On January 31st, just after the Reichstag fire,
President Paul Von Hindenburg granted the new German Chancellor, Adolph Hitler,
the power to rule by decree and suspend the Constitution of the Weimar
Republic.
The late Hughy Long,
the governor and "Kingfish" of Louisiana in the 30's, once said,
"if dictatorship ever comes to American it will come in a form of
Americanism." Is this where we are headed ?
Phil Arnot
Lagunitas,
Ca. 94938
Interest Cuts Do Nothing
The Federal Reserve has cut the prime interest rate 11 times in
12 months and the economy continues to sink. It's only a matter of time until
the prime rate reaches ZERO at which time the Federal Reserve will effectively
loose a major weapon (the lowering of the prime rate) that can be used to
revive the economy. This is the same scene that happened in Japan with the
prime rate reaching zero with the economy continuing to sink and Japan is now
in a recession that seems to have no end, with deflation and falling real
estate values. What to do.
First
it must be realized that this is not a recession America is in, it is in fact a
long decline that started many years ago, but was interrupted by the rise of
the computer industry that temporarily raised the economy. But with the end of
the computer revolution, America has gone back to continue it's long decline.
You see, the computer industry replaced many jobs that American industry sent
to many third world countries to exploit cheap labor. But with the down turn of
the computer industry and the loss of it's many jobs there is just not enough
well paying jobs to get the economy going again (you can only go so far flipping hamburgers). The dynamics are
the same here as the effect of World War II in ending the great depression that
started in 1929. This is because jobs were created to build guns cannons, bombs
and other weapons. And the people making the weapons used their pay to buy
goods and services and so created other jobs and so kept the economy going. In
other words, the computer industry had the same effect as World War II in
creating jobs and workers with money in their pockets to buy goods and services
to keep the economy going, There is no sizable computer industry anymore and
the war we have now is just not big enough to impact the economy by creating
enough well paying jobs. The 200 billion deal to build fighter jets may offer
the chance to linger some more before the final fall.
The main problem is that our elections are
over influenced by corporation money thus creating a government staffed by
corporation financed politicians, it is a government that has a mind set that
mostly considers corporation profits as a primary necessity and completely
forgetting that a successful economy must have people on the streets with money
in their pockets to buy industrial products to keep the economy going. A
solution for this boom and bust cycle (or war economy) of free enterprise is to
take another look at the Federalist Papers that clearly stated that all sectors
of society must have equal voice in government to provide a stable society for
all to live in. In other words, get big money out of government so that the
voice of all the people can be equalized. The so called stimulus package being
considered by the government is just not what is needed to rebuild American
industry to the healthy balance between well paying jobs and efficient
industry, it is in fact just another freebee for the corporations, it will do
nothing. Democracy it the cure.
Jose Lugo
Producer Direct Democracy
TV
New York, N.Y.
Open Letter Of Thanks From Sandy Leon
I am writing on behalf of myself and my
husband James Vest to share with you an experience we believe to be something
of a 'holiday miracle.'
The
December 8 benefit at the Bolinas Community Center has left us humbled,
inspired and infinitely grateful for the outpouring of community support in the
face of our struggle with B-Cell Lymphoma. Literally hundreds of people have
come forward to give whatever they could. In Bolinas and Stinson, every small
business that was asked gave generously to either the Silent Auction or the
"Friends of Sandy Leon Vest."
Friends, students, clients and colleagues from all over West Marin
attended the benefit at the Bolinas Community Center. Others gave food, time or organizing and decorating skills. The event was further graced by the awesome
music of West Marin's finest musicians - among them, Taylor Brooks, Luke
Anderson, Cole Tate, James Vest, Chris Brown, Adam Berkowitz, Buddy Craig,
Charlie Docherty, Bo Brown and Sara Franklyn.
More than a few people have told us that this was the most beautiful
event they have ever attended at the Community Center. It would take an entire page of newsprint to
publicly credit all those involved in this monumental act of love, and we're
still not sure how to manage that! (Any
suggestions?)
The year 2001 was
a disheartening one for me in many ways.
As a longtime radio activist, my failing health was compounded by a
growing sense of disillusionment in people and politics. It seemed that our 'corporate value system'
had infiltrated every level of community, that even 'progressives' had lost the
ability to think and act in the interest of anything but the 'bottom
line.' I was plagued with what I would
describe as a 'crisis of faith.'
At the time of my surgery (July 26, 2001) and subsequent diagnosis of
what researchers at UC Stanford have labeled an 'incurable hematological
malignancy,' Jim and I were heartsick and devastated. Doctors at Marin General
were unable to completely remove a massive tumor from my head, as it was
severely impacted and wrapped around auditory and facial nerves. Compounding
that news, we discovered in our research that, although the chemotherapy of
choice (Rituximab) has proven successful in many cases, the average time of
remission is only 18 months to 3 years.
Suffice it to say, that with the love and support of good friends and
family, I have decided to beat those odds.
How could we have guessed that this dreaded disease would prove
to be a blessing - albeit in a very strange disguise? It has taught me by necessity, not only to remain steadfastly in
the moment, but to count each day, each friend, each loved one as an incredible
gift.
Thanks again for the most
beautiful benefit ever, and thanks especially to my most precious friends in
Bolinas, who insisted on going ahead with their fundraising, despite my
reservations. The attendance was
phenomenal - and the cards and donations from those who could not attend are
still coming in!
Finally, I
want to assure every one of you that, although it may take awhile, it is my
absolute intention to contact each of you personally. The task of sorting
through the hundreds of cards and letters received over the past few months is
a daunting one and Jim and I still receive them on a daily basis. To those who left anonymous gifts at the
benefit, we thank you from our hearts.
Blessings upon each and every one of you for restoring our faith in
human nature, and the infinite power of love.
Sandy Leon Vest and James
Vest
Stinson Beach
Postscript: Update
The results of a December 18th MRI show Sandy's tumor responding
well to chemotherapy (Rituxan), and currently in remission. Sandy and Jim believe this development
testifies further to the infinite power of love.
Although Sandy's doctors say she is not
'cured,' and have declared a 'watch & wait' mode, Sandy and Jim are
committed to her full recovery. The remission of her tumor and your generosity
mean she can now begin alternative therapies and a nutritional regimen to boost
her immune system so she can continue to fight this cancer.
According to recent research (July, 2001/
Stanford University) there is still no 'cure' for this hematological
malignancy, and average remission time for Rituxan therapy (in B-Cell
Lymphomas) is approximately 1-3 years.
Sandy Leon Vest/Managing
Producer
West Marin Radio Project (WMPR)
email address:
globalnews@altavista.net
Phone: 415 868-1340
URL: www.WMRP.net
Camouflaged
Preferential Treatment
According
to the 11/17/01 Marin Independent Journal, Floyd Andrews, the prosecutor who
was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury is
already in a diversion program for committing a recent act of violence upon a
juvenile. Having seen a distinct pattern of favoritism by the DA's office and
Marin's judges, it is a safe prediction that Mr. Andrews will receive some
carefully camouflaged preferential treatment.
The Marin DA's office and Judge Graham sent a man to prison to
serve a 25 Years to Life sentence for missing a court date. Marin's citizens
should watch closely now to see the stark contrast in how lenient they'll
likely be with a fellow prosecutor who hurts children and allegedly sliced up a
man's internal organs.
James Samuel Kor, Jr.
Soledad
Chile's
California Correlation
I enjoyed
reading Jim Scanlon's Letter From Chile in the December Coastal Post.
Interesting to hear about the southern extremes of the Western
Hemisphere.
What's fascinating
to me about Chile is its geography. Its most populated region from 30 degrees
to 40 degrees south latitude correlates directly with California. Situated on
the west coast of South America at the corresponding latitude of California,
central Chile also has a Mediterranean climate along with a western coastal
range, a long north-south agricultural central valley, and a formidable inland
eastern mountain range, the Andes, analogous to our Sierra Nevada.
If we superimposed Chile on the west coast
of North America while simultaneously flipping Chile upside down so that the
southern and northern latitudes would correlate, we'd find Cape Horn just north
of Ketchikan, Alaska, and Punta Arenas, where Jim Scanlon was reporting from,
around Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The Chilean city of Puerto Montt would
be situated around Crescent City, California, and the coastal city of
Concepcion would fall near San Francisco. The capital city of Santiago and its
seaport Valparaiso would be located between Los Angeles and San Diego, while
1,000 air miles to the south, the Atacania Desert would be located on the
Mexican coast between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Chile's border with Peru
would fall right around Manzanillo, Mexico, almost due west of Mexico
City.
All in all, we'd travel an
incredible 2,650 miles of coastline stretching from the higher latitude
coniferous forests and glaciated regions of southern Chile through the
Mediterranean mid-latitude regions of central Chile to the lower latitude
desert area of northern Chile.
A
pure geographical cornucopia all within the borders of one nation!
Keith
Bramstedt
San Anselmo
Arab And Islamic World Can Take A Lesson
From US
The word hasn't sunk in
yet to the millions of Muslims around the world when it comes to serving the
downtrodden Islamic peoples that is America which provides help. Just as the
wealthy Arab kings and potentates abandoned their co-religionists and ethnic
brothers by looking the other way from Arab refugees in camps and squalor, they
were visibly absent from the stage as the United States demonstrated its
unflinching support for the Muslim refugees in Afghanistan. The Arabs of the
Gulf and I must include Iran have one not only abandoned their Palestinian
brothers but seem to have no interest in helping the starving Afghanis. Their
one goal is to encourage Palestinian refugees to stay in squalor misleading
them into thinking that they can go home some day. One million Arabs in
Michigan and almost one million Koreans in Los Angeles and hundreds of
thousands of other Islamic and non Islamic peoples settled in the United States
give proof that you can find happiness and fulfillment in a friendly foreign
land. Arab nations should take a lesson from the United States.
Dr. Norman
E. Mann
orthdr@home.com
Object To War Letter To Boxer Feinstein
And Woolsey
September 11, 2001
pushed our country to a place of terrible fear. Fear often causes extraordinary and adverse reactions. We are writing to you to protest
congressional responses that have instigated a brutal and unnecessary war and
have denigrated our rights as citizens.
We object to:
The use of
force to attack the Afghan nation resulting in the slaughter, maiming and
starvation, of millions of innocent women, children and elderly.
The
partnership of our government with the Northern Alliance, a group known to be
anti-democratic and brutally opposed to the rights of women.
The refusal to acknowledge the devastating
effects of: US policies of
globalization, anti-democratic practices and subversions of political
organizations, labor unions and peace organizers.
The degeneration of our civil rights in the
name of this "war on terror," which has put all of us at terrible
risk as citizens and which is being used to harass many of our peace loving
neighbors in our communities.
The expansion of the military industrial complex to junta status.
The use of government bail-outs to support
corporate leaders and stockholders without assurance of the creation or
salvation of any jobs.
Wanton
arms sales which have aggravated the political and civil stability of many
nations.
The use of foreign aid in support of Israeli
suppression against the people of Palestine who have a right to a
homeland.
We believe terrorism
on US soil is the direct result of these causes. We believe we all have an obligation to seek to reverse the
effects of this violent movement against our nation. We also believe we must offer support and resources to our poor
and jobless during this recession. As
well, we must do what we can to relieve suffering in the wider world.
In the international arena, we call
for:
An immediate cessation of
all hostilities against all nations.
This includes an end to the bombing of Afghanistan, as well as an end to
the bombing of and embargo of Iraq
An immediate end to all foreign aid to Israel and demand that Israel cease all acts of war
against the Palestinian nation
An immediate rescinding of all legislation that has given the president
overweening and unconstitutional powers especially those to make war
independent of the legislature
An immediate Judiciary Committee censuring of the Attorney General's
office and its unconstitutional actions including wire-tapping without
warrants, military tribunals and suspension of first amendment rights which
have illicitly curtailed the rights of all Americans, particularly those
involved in peaceful protest against American foreign policy
A cessation of all US military occupation
of any bases in Saudi Arabia
A
summit meeting of all nations of the Arab world and a like number of western
world nations to negotiate policies and procedures for peaceful
co-existence.
The immediate
establishment of a provisional government in Afghanistan that will include the
women of Afghanistan in number equal to that of the men.
At the same time , our nation has slid into
recession. Hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs and unemployment has
reached 1986 levels. Something must be
done before millions slip into poverty and homelessness.
In the domestic arena, we call for:
A freeze on evictions and mortgage foreclosures.
A moratorium on cut-offs of household electricity, gas and phone lines
A protection of the poor
through real welfare programs
An
end to corporate bail-outs unless they manifest real jobs
A program of economic boosts to support jobs
not war
An end to the
denigration of the poor and people of color through our reprehensible prison industrial complex
An end to government harassment of
independent media
Congress acted
preciptiously following the events of September. And in acting in this manner, you, as members of Congress, have
looked shortsightedly at our rights and your obligations. We cannot continue to battle enemies we
cannot see. Nor can we persist in policies that have given
egregious powers to corporations and individuals not elected by us, your
constituents.
It is time to do
right by those who empowered you. The
mainstream media polls are false. Significant numbers of us do not approve this
war or this usurpation of our rights or this corporate dominated foreign
policy. We also know the mainstream
news reports are false. We are not
saving people in Afghanistan, we are creating millions of refugees and starving
children. As we did in Iraq, so we do
here. And on a moreterrible scale.
We ask that you take stock of
your conscience and that you consider ours as well. There are other solutions than putting the world constantly at
risk to support the demands of avarice.
It is essential that you refocus your energies on peaceful, generative
activities that will bring peace to our world and stability to our
economy.
Mary Ann Maggiore
Fairfax
Maryam Karimabadi
Woodacre
Deep
Concern
I am extremely
upset. At the stroke of a pen George W.
Bush has broken a treaty, created a missile "defense" that won't work,
that wouldn't do any good if it did work, and is likely to spark a nuclear arms
race in Asia.
The world just got closer to Armageddon
just so Bush's buddies in the arms business could make a few bucks. For a while, we believed Bush was
presidential timber. Now we see that
his heart is rotten to the core. Is
this "back to normal?"
Could somebody please tell me "why?"
Steve Wallis, MA
Petaluma
http://www.myideahamster.com
Greetings
To Smiley's From Finland
Gongratulations!Smiley's has always been my favourite bar anywhere.I
visit Marin county every two years or so and always make a point of visiting
Smiley's.You've got a great place and maybe next time around I'll stay at the
Hotel if possible.Keep on keeping on folks. The way I see it I'll have to wait
for awhile to let the terrorshit settle before visiting "cause being a
foreigner I don't want to be suspected of anything but having a good time and
Smiley's is the best place for it. Have a Corona with a shot of Sauza for me.
Peace.
Timo Toiviainen
Finland
timt50@yahoo.com
The
Dominion of Death
Dylan Thomas
wrote a war poem entitled "And Death Shall Have No Dominion." In
Israel, it does. Here death governs: the government of Israel rules over a
dominion of death. So the most astonishing thing about yesterday's terrorist
attack in Jerusalem and all similar attacks is that Israelis are
astonished.
Israeli propaganda
and indoctrination manage to keep coverage of these attacks detached from any
Israeli reality. The story in the Israeli (and American) media is one of Arab
murderers and Israeli victims, whose only sin was that they asked for seven
days of grace.
But anyone who
can remember back not even one year but just one week or several hours knows
the story is different, that each attack is a link in a chain of horrific
bloody events that extends back 34 years and has but one cause: a brutal
occupation. An occupation that humiliates, starves, denies jobs, demolishes
homes, destroys crops, murders children, imprisons minors without trial under
appalling conditions, lets babies die at checkpoints and spreads lies.
Last week, after the assassination of Abu
Hanoud, a journalist from Yediot Ahronot asked me whether I felt
"relief." Hadn't I been frightened that "a murderer like that
was roaming free"? No, I did not feel relief, I told her, and I will feel
no relief as long as the murderers of Palestinian children continue to roam
free. The murders of those children, like the murder of a suspect without trial
or the murder of a ten-year-old boy yesterday, shortly before the attack,
guarantee that no Israeli child can walk to school safely. Every Israeli child
will pay for the deaths of the five children in Gaza and the others in Jenin,
Ramallah, Hebron.
The
Palestinians have learned from Israel that every victim must be avenged
tenfold, a hundred-fold. They have said repeatedly that until there is peace in
Ramallah and Jenin there will be no peace in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. So it is
not up to the Palestinians to keep seven days of quiet but up to the Israeli
Occupation Force.
On Friday it
was reported that politicians from both sides had reached a deal in Jerusalem
to allow the reopening of the casino upon which their own livelihood depends.
They did it without American intervention, without high-level committees, with
just the assistance of lawyers and business people, who promised the parties
what was required. What this shows is that the conflict is not between the
leaders: when an issue affects them directly (unlike the deaths of children)
they are quick to find a solution.
It strengthens my belief that all of us, Israelis and Palestinians, are
victims of politicians who gamble the lives of our children on games of honor
and prestige. To them, children are
worth less than roulette chips.
But these attacks serve the interests of Israeli policy - policy
designed to make us forget that the war today is about protecting the
settlements and the continuation of the occupation, policy that drives young Palestinians
to commit suicide and take Israeli children with them, animated by Samson's
invocation "let me die with the Philistines," policy contrived to
make us believe that "they want Tel Aviv and Jaffa too" and
"there is no one to talk to," even as they liquidate all those who
might have been able to talk.
Now that we know our leaders are capable of peace when there is an
economic motive, we must demand that they make peace when lesser things, like
the lives of our children, are at stake. Until all the parents of Israel and
Palestine rise up against the politicians and demand they curb their lust for
conquest and bloodshed, the underground realm of buried children will continue
to grow. Since the beginning of time, mothers have cried out in a clear voice
for life and against death. Today, we must rise up against the transformation
of our children into murderers and murdered, raise our children not to support
evil machinations, and force the politicians - who say, with Abner and Joab,
"Let the young men arise and play before us" - to make way for those
who can sit at the negotiating table and agree to a true and just peace, who
are prepared to engage in dialogue not with the aim of tricking and
manipulating the other side, not to humiliate the other and force him to his
knees, but to reach a solution that considers the other, a solution free of
racism and lies. Otherwise death shall continue to have dominion over us.
I suggest that parents who have not yet
lost their children look beneath their feet and heed the voices rising from the
kingdom of death, upon which they step day by day and hour by hour, for only
there does everyone understand that there is no difference between one life and
another, that it matters little what is the colour of your skin or the colour
of your ID, or which flag flies over which hill and which direction you face
when you pray.
In the kingdom of
death Israeli children lie beside Palestinian children, soldiers of the
occupying army beside suicide bombers, and no one remembers who was David and
who was Goliath, for they have faced the sober truth and realized that they
were cheated and lied to, that politicians without feeling or conscience
gambled away their lives as they continue to gamble with the lives of us all.
We have given them the power, through democratic elections, to turn our home
into an arena of never-ending murder. Only if we stop them can we return to a
normal life in this place, and then death will have no dominion.
Nurit
Peled-Elhanan
Yediot Ahronot, Dec. 1, 2001
Translated by Edeet Ravel,
Montreal.
Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan is
long-time Israeli peace activist and recent winner of a peace award from
the European Parliament. Nurit was the
mother of Smadar Elhanan, 13 years old when she was killed by a suicide bomber
in Jerusalem in September 1997.
John Birch Society Solutions For
Terrorism
I notice the John
Birch Society sources at www.jbs.org have come up with some solutions to
terrorism that certainly make sense to me. Like investing some of the billions
of dollars, now being thrown into an open-ended foreign war, into increasing
the budget of the immigration and naturalization service to properly expand our
border patrol, and have Congress bring back our traditional internal security
and investigative bodies that have been abolished to our demonstrated
peril.
These agencies are: The
subversive activities control board; The internal security division of the
justice department; The house internal security subcommittee; The senate
internal security subcommittee; The attorney generals list of subversive
organizations, and the many intelligence units of state, county, and local
police departments abolished over the years by left-wing pressure groups. I say
that our freedoms need not be diminished as media talking heads are suggesting.
Instead of straining what brains they have trying to throw away another freedom
or section of our constitution for "security" reasons, our Chicken
Little, lemming-like leaders should be reinstating the above organizations and
letting Congress and our police departments do their jobs. Meanwhile, the
terrorists should be taken out quickly by a force we have neglected for over 20
years. I refer to the professional mercenary counter-terrorist agents
throughout the world who track terrorist movements like some people follow
football games and have a near 100 percent success record eliminating terrorist
leaders by means that even Don Corleone could learn from.
With a declaration of war, its all legal,
cost-effective, and eliminates massive military deployment and casualties. Lets
contact our congressman now; demand these reforms, and bring our troops home.
Ed Nemechek
Landers, California
Register As An
Alien
The Marin IJ reported that
Novato High School Student Andrew Smith's article, in his school newspaper said
that he did not care whether potential illegal immigrants were starving! The full story is that Andrew's Novato High
School article said exactly this: "I don't care if you're living in a
country where oppression is everywhere or if you're starving or whatever the
excuse. All these people have to do is
just register as a refugee...".
Coastal Post readers may want to decide this crucial point for
themselves. Mr. Smith has now been
physically assaulted and told to "Watch his back" by Novato High
School Hispanic gang members.
In my opinion, Mr. Smith's article was direct, honest, 100%
compassionate and absolutely needed to be voiced in our local free press. Student Andrew Smith's article on immigration
can be read -- in full at www.michaelsavage.com. If you actually do offer the fair and balanced local news you
appear to champion, I thank you for publishing this letter.
Scott
Black
Sausalito
Expressing Concern, Criticizing Bush Diminishes
Liberty?
In Senate hearings on
whether the current administration has exceeded its constitutional authority,
Attorney General John Ashcroft said
those who express concern that Bush's policies could diminish our liberty,
"They only aid terrorists-for they erode our national unity and diminish
our resolve."
If you
weren't concerned about our eroding civil liberties before, you should be
now. The chief guardian of American
justice has just spoke ill of the very liberties he has sworn an oath to
preserve. He has given aid and comfort
to the enemies of freedom here at home who would silence our opinions in order
to impose their own. He has place
loyalty to the government above loyalty to the people it serves and the
principles on which it was formed.
The Bin Laden's of the world come and go, but the enemies of freedom are
relentless. It is they who, "
encourage people of good will to remain silent in the face of evil." Jefferson and Adams must be twitching in
their graves.
Brian Lynch
Mine Hill,
New Jersey
BRILYN37@aol.com
Organized Crime Masquerading
As Government
The banking
industry resistance to anti-terrorist legislation to crack down on
money-laundering demonstrates the temptation for business and government alike
to be corrupted by association with the proceeds of criminal activities.
The picture painted by such notorious
events as the BCCI banking scandal and Iran-Contra is one of transnational
criminal networks aided by "above world" institutions and abetted by
influential officials. As Phil Williams, an international expert on transnational
crime has said, organized crime is simply the extension of business by criminal
means.
Legitimizing criminal
activities (such as stealing elections, overthrowing elected governments, and
privatizing public assets), links underworld enterprise, legalized money-laundering,
and political protection. Kill one of these three elements and the system of
organized crime collapses.
Congress' reluctance to resist the abridgment of freedoms by the current
Bush administration is explained by this scenario. Among the power elite, the
fear of reprisal by fascists in the White House is a much more demonstrable
source of motivation than fear of a progressive uprising.
How far will we go down this road?
Jay
Taber
Mill Valley
tbarj@yahoo.com
Is President Bush Chasing
the Wrong Enemy?
As the
Afghanistan campaign winds down, attention is shifting to a "second
phase" of the anti-terror war. Signs emanating from the Bush
administration indicate that it may be getting ready to target Iraq. This
amounts to pulling wool over the eyes of US citizens and betraying the victims
of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
It is not Iraq or North Korea where future September 11s will be
plotted, but in extremist centers of Pakistan, as pointed out by a Washington
Post editorial on December 2nd, 2001. A shameless betrayal was carried out in
the nights of Kunduz leading up to the Taliban surrender, when US authorities
surreptitiously allowed Pakistan to evacuate trapped personnel without any
accountability, as reported by the Wall Street Journal (Nov. 27), and the New
York Times (Nov. 22) indicated otherwise.
An unknown number of fighters have already escaped to Pakistan,
with US complicity. There is no accountability about their involvement with
terrorist planning. These escapees are free to conceive and implement future
attacks against the US.
Pakistan
has taken this US double dealing as a signal that it can continue its
sponsorship of terrorism in India's Jammu and Kashmir state. Over two dozen
civilians and two dozen security personnel were killed last week in the region
at the hands of Pakistan-trained terrorists.
As the US chases red herrings in Iraq and elsewhere, Pakistan
continues with its sham participation in the anti-terror war at the same time
it is continuing to shelter and sponsor international terrorists.
Subodh
Atal, Lalit Koul
Columbia, MD
Much More Government On
The Way
"Under regulation
the people no longer need to discuss, to compare, to plan ahead; the law does
all this for them. Intelligence becomes
a useless prop for the people; they cease to be men; they lose their
personality, their liberty, their property."
Claude Frederic Bastiat
A quote worth studying,
especially given the current trend to further increase government intrusion in
the name of the "war" on terrorism. If this "war" goes like
our previous "wars" on poverty, teenage pregnancies, and drugs, we
can reasonably predict more federal bureaucracy, more federal employees, and
more people dedicated to making their livings through the earnings of the more
productive segment of society, all the while claiming with great earnestness,
that they need more money, more regulation, and more power to accomplish their
mission. Unfortunately, like the warriors of the previous "wars",
these will never accomplish their stated mission; but they will, unless
actively resisted, accomplish the unstated mission of most every bureaucracy:
to survive, expand, and never, ever give any reason to be dismantled.
Phil
Graf
Bureau Chief
Coast Writers Syndicate
Terrorized By
Military Planes
To: President
George Bush, Congress c/o Sen. Trent Lotte, D.O.D. at Pentagon,
Over the past five years, I have been
terrorized by squadrons of military planes flying over my home in the middle of
the night.
Two days ago, on
November 11, 2001, a multi-engine (6-8 engines) military bomber escorted by
helicopters flew over my home in San Rafael at 500 feet.
I fully anticipated either being bombed or
crashed into. I now understand from acquaintances that this action was taken to
celebrate Veterans Day. But to me, this was no celebration -- I was traumatized
and filled with fear.
Is this
the government's way of indoctrinating us to air war over our homes and
businesses? My insurance does not cover my house for acts of war or aggression.
My health insurance does not cover me for psychological trauma.
I feel this was an act of indifference
toward us by the federal government. The government has also been terrorizing
up with prognostications of anticipated attacks and using the public for
military air practices over our communities -- as every day helicopters are
flying over our houses here in San Rafael.
We have felt uneasy and very uncomfortable toward the government
since Oliver North took over the White House to wage war from the basement in
Nicaragua when President Reagan was stricken with Alzheimer's.
We feel like victims of the military
industrial complex who use us to broaden their program of global order.
We feel very uncomfortable and lack
confidence to consume or invest in such a climate and fear we are making
worldwide enemies.
Olga Goldsmith
San Rafael
Day Of
Reckoning
"We will not rest
until we stop all terrorists of global reach, and for every nation that harbors
or supports terrorists there will be a day of reckoning," says President
Bush.
Let's hope he means it.
Until we overwhelmingly smash every government responsible for all the
terrorism against the United States, Israel and the West of the last twenty
years -- we have not won. Until Saddam Hussein, the mullahs of Iran, the
behind-the-scenes terrorists of Syria and the PLO all join the ash heap of
history, we remain in mortal danger.
The easy US/British military victories in Afghanistan have not saved us
from future terrorism in the United States. If anything, they have increased
the danger. Why? Not because it was wrong to attack Afghanistan -- but because
it's wrong to underreact to such a grave threat as the one we now face.
Stopping in Afghanistan -- or stopping with bin Laden -- would be an
underreaction of epic and catastrophic proportions.
It is now clear that World War III began
with the Iran hostage crisis of the late 1970's. Subsequent terrorist acts
(throughout the 1980's and 1990's) against our embassies, soldiers, and
civilians culminated in the (so far) worst events to date of 9/11/01. We fool
ourselves if we think this current war in Afghanistan is a new war -- or if we
think it's soon to be over, even with the capture of Osama bin Laden. The third
world war is, at the core, a war of secular values against the values of the
Dark Ages -- that is to say, the values of the fundamentalists who inhabit and
rule the Middle East, with Israel being the lone exception to the rule.
Just as Soviet Communism was falling back
in the early and mid-1980s, the actual war against the United States was
escalating. The determination of these fundamentalist organizations and nations
to destroy us surpasses any prior desire of Communists or Nazis to overcome us.
The Communists and the Nazis merely wanted to rule us; the Islamic
fundamentalists want to destroy us, and take themselves with us. This is truly
the greatest danger we have ever faced.
The war against terrorism will be over when the peoples of the terrorist
nations -- and we know full well who those nations are -- become so frightened
that they would never even say a word against the values of freedom, individual
rights, capitalism and secularism of the West -- much less raise so much as a
slingshot against us, for fear of being bombed into the pre-Dark Ages. Can this
be accomplished without an escalation to nuclear warfare at some point? It's
inconceivable to me that it won't. The escalation which began in the late
1970's continues to grow. Even our cautious current leaders such as President
Bush openly acknowledge that the next terrorists are planning the next attacks
as we speak. How can it not eventually go all the way in a war already more
than twenty years old? Presently there are credible reports that Moslem terrorists
are in the early stages of developing nuclear weapons. Do you think the concept
of mutually assured destruction will stop people who crave destruction of self
and others? If so, you are most naive.
Has our own military action so far, however successful, been enough to
save us from those whose only purpose in living is to destroy all things
Western, all things secular -- all things which make life worth living? Of
course not. Does President Bush recognize this? We can only hope so. Your or my
very life may depend upon it. Our own days of reckoning are upon us.
Michael
J. Hurd Ph.D.
Psychologist/Author/Webcast Host
Chevy Chase MD
drhurd@drhurd.com