SAD SATIRE ON STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

by Connie Cook Smith


Every time that we hear
our soldiers have died
We recall all the times
that the Bush Machine lied

U-ra-ni-um
and WMDs
The Bushmen were told
there really were none of these

Condoleeza and Powell
joined in on the howl
of lies about labs
and “mushroom-clouds!” most foul

Oh say, should these traitors
go to Iraqi jail?
They've ruined so many lives
they should go straight to hell!

 
HINCKLEY AND BUSH FAMILIES WERE CLOSE FRIENDS
Connie Cook Smith's "What America Needs to Know"

We all know who John Hinckley, Jr. is, now being released from a mental facility in D.C. for nearly killing President Reagan in 1981. A much more interesting subject is, who is John Hinckley, Sr.?

In 1980, Hinckley Sr. was a Texas oilman who, the records show, strove mightily to get fellow Texas oilman George H.W. Bush the Republican nomination for president. The Bushes and the Hinckleys were frequent dinner companions.

But far beyond their social connection, neither Bush nor Hinckley wanted Ronald Reagan to become president, because Reagan was opposed to the tax breaks for the oil industry which Bush and Hinckley and other Texans were highly dependent on.

The effort to make Bush Sr. president in 1980 failed, but he and his backer Hinckley Sr. got the next best thing -- the "heartbeat away from the presidency" office of Vice-President of the United States.

A few months later, Hinckley Jr. shot Reagan, and Bush very nearly did become president at that time, after all. Only one time was it announced on the news about the connections between the Bush and Hinckley families: An almost bewildered John Chancellor on NBC Nightly News reported "the bizarre coincidence" that Neil Bush and Scott Hinckley had dinner plans for March 31, 1981 -- now cancelled, of course.

In other words, the brother of the shooter and the son of the vice-president (and their wives) had a dinner date for the day after the shooting. But it really wasn't such "a bizarre coincidence." Those two families were very close, but the press never focused on that, as it should have. If Reagan had died, the oilmen's interests would have been served.

Some people think that Hinckley Jr. was mind-controlled, CIA-style, to shoot Reagan. Bush was head of the CIA a few years before, by the way. Others think that Jr. wanted to please his dad and get Bush, his dad's candidate, into the presidency for him after all. And legal experts note that the crime occurred in Washington, D.C., the only venue in the United States at that time which recognized an insanity defense. If the kid committed the crime in D.C., he would never serve hard time? Well, coincidentally, that's where he committed it.

A very good read on the Hinckley-Bush connections is a book that came out about 20 years ago, entitled "The Afternoon of March 30." It was published as a novel in order to protect the author. This book is now more relevant than ever, and you can obtain it at click here.

In closing, there's another coincidence to mention. I just learned that in January of 1963, President John F. Kennedy announced a plan to cut the tax breaks for the oil industry. Oilmen H.L. Hunt, George H.W. Bush (head of Zapata Petroleum), and others were no doubt enraged. What a coincidence that Kennedy was shot in Texas later that same year.

In the 1990's LBJ's now-undisputed mistress Madeleine Brown announced that LBJ told her Kennedy was murdered "by the oil people, and aspects of the CIA."

And gosh, one more coincidence! We now have another Bush, the oilman's son, becoming U.S. President in a very quirky election. And apparently, he gave the American people completely phony reasons for invading Iraq, one of the most oil-rich nations in the Middle East.

Hmm.

 
SADDAM AND BUSH BOTH SHOULD BE IN CUSTODY

Connie Cook Smith's "What America Needs to Know"

My reaction to the announcement that Saddam Hussein is in custody is the same as thousands of people in America and around the world: When are they going to get George W. Bush in custody?

It's a felony to lie to Congress, and we've all grown weary of counting Bush's lies, to Congress and to the world. Like the popular bumper sticker says about this president: "Over a billion whoppers told." But unlike a previous president's harmless lying about his sex life, our soldiers are dying because of Bush's lying.

As perhaps the most horrific example of his deceit, his administration was clearly told by the intelligence community that Saddam getting uranium from Africa never happened. Yet Bush psychologically terrorized us all with that false claim to the contrary. Then Cheney and Rice went on the road with the same psy-ops con-game, dishonestly frightening people with images of "mushroom clouds" from Saddam Hussein.

Well, now just look at the powerless man-in-the-rat-hole that Bush immorally manipulated us into fearing. If Saddam had nukes or other WMD, he would have used them against our troops during the invasion in March. He had nothing, and he's been on the run with nothing.

Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell said on tape in 2002 that Saddam was "no threat." But that was before Bush's arrogant epithet was reported in Time Magazine: "F*k Saddam, we're taking him out." That was before Bush's goofy grin and stupid statement in September of last year: "This is the guy who tried to kill my dad."

I say, how dare this little thug -- who hid out from Vietnam in the National Guard and never even completed those duties -- how dare he lie to us about reasons for a pre-emptive strike, and then send our loved ones to death and destruction in a war that has had absolutely no justification!

Let's hope at Saddam's war-crimes trial it becomes crystal clear that Rumsfeld's and Bush Sr.'s deals with Saddam in the 1980's were precisely what kept Saddam in power. Bush Jr. now says "a dark and painful era is over," even though his father's deals helped create it. I join with thousands of outraged citizens in hopes that our own "dark and painful era" -- under both Bushes' monumental deceits and destructions -- will also soon be over.

Connie Cook Smith

 
JFK ASSASSINATION 40 YEARS LATER -- CONSPIRACY THEORISTS WERE RIGHT

Connie Cook Smith's "What America Needs to Know"


According to UPI reporter Don Fulsom, a Nixon White House tape from May of 1972 was released last year, and it reveals Nixon saying that the Warren Report was "the greatest hoax that has ever been perpetuated."

Anybody who ever spent a few minutes looking at the Warren Commission's shoddy, "Oswald acted alone" conclusions LONG ago knew THAT. Outrage over this cover-up finally resulted in a 1977 House committee investigation. It quietly concluded in 1979 that there were at least two shooters, and that Kennedy likely was "assassinated as a result of a conspiracy."

About that conspiracy, Bay of Pigs/CIA veteran Rafael Quintero has said publicly if he were ever granted immunity and compelled to testify, what he knows about Dallas "would be the biggest scandal ever to rock the nation." On this 40th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's murder, I say, "Lets' rock!"

According to H.R. Haldeman's book, The Ends of Power, whenever Nixon talked about the Kennedy assassination, he used a code phrase: "the Bay of Pigs thing." This takes on startling significance considering that Nixon's June 23, 1972 White House tape, known as "the smoking gun," features discussions on how to stop the FBI investigation into the Watergate burglary -- because it would connect Nixon to "the Bay of Pigs thing."

Amazingly, Watergate burglar Frank Sturgis openly stated in a May 7, 1977 San Francisco Chronicle interview: "the reason we burglarized the Watergate was because Nixon was interested in stopping news leaking related to the photos of our role in the assassination of President Kennedy."

Photos of "tramps" arrested but released in Dealey Plaza that day have long been thought to be Frank Sturgis -- and E. Howard Hunt, who later was given a private office in Nixon's White House, and whose wife was killed in a plane crash as she carried $10,000 in cash as a pay-off to someone in Chicago.

But the part that might "rock the nation" isn't limited to the deceased Mr. Nixon. When he was re-elected in 1972, the first thing he did was to demand the signed resignations of his entire government. According to Sidney Blumenthal's book, Pledging Allegiance, Nixon told Ehrlichman: "Eliminate everyone, except George Bush (Sr.). Bush will do anything for our cause."

Nixon was indebted to the Bush family because, according to Nixon's own memoir, Prescott Bush financed Nixon's first political aspirations, and paved his way to become Eisenhower's vice-president. It needs to be realized that this power behind Nixon was so entrenched that even Prescott Bush's decade of money-laundering for Adolf Hitler, which was forcibly stopped by Congress in October of 1942, didn't hurt the Bush family reputation.

(These facts about the Bush family's more-than-a-decade's support for Hitler are in the previous column -- and they appeared on the CNN crawl and in AP news stories on October 17th, 2003.)

The real tragedy is, profitable deals with dictators is the Bush family business up through the present day, resulting in body bags for our soldiers -- and money bags for themselves! If the media and the American people will trace back these facts, the reasons why JFK was murdered will become clear.

JFK represented World Peace and Equality -- but the Bush Machine perpetually stands for War Profits and World Domination. Obviously, the latter's assassinations and machinations are triumphant now -- thanks to ignorant American compliance.

Yes, it would be -- will be -- "the biggest scandal ever to rock the nation." But I pray it all boils over and spews out. We need this cleansing -- and reversal -- of the disastrous direction in which America is being taken.

Connie Cook Smith

 
BUSH-NAZI TREASON LIVES ON IN THE PRESENT
Connie Cook Smith's "What America Needs to Know"

In the 10/22/03 issue of The New York Observer, Joe Conason writes about George W. Bush's grandpa -- Prescott Bush's money-laundering and lengthy support for the Nazis -- until Congress forced the man to stop in late 1942.
http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi+Link

Yet Joe apparently believes that's all there is to it. He writes:

"Imputing Nazi sympathies to the President or his family (now) ought to be beneath his adversaries."

Joe and I are usually on the same page, politically. But minimizing the Bush-Nazi connection is a deep disservice to all Americans, who have a right to know the horrific truth.

Joe-- and any interested reader -- ought to check out the Congressional Record, September 4, 1969. (It's not yet available online, but it can be viewed at all federal deposit libraries in most large cities). Here's what you will find:

George Bush Sr., then a congressman, sponsored testimony from race scientists William Shockley http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/shockley.html and Arthur Jensen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Jensen.

These Hitler Junior Geneticists -- enthusiastically sponsored by George Bush Sr. -- wanted to pay/bribe African-Americans to accept government birth control programs -- in order to stop them from "down-breeding the quality of the U.S. population."

And surely it's become well-known that the Skull and Bones cult at Yale, which the Bushes belong to, is based on vicious white-supremacist, master-race fantasies. If you don't know that, you must see Alexandra Robbins' best-seller, Secrets of the Tomb http://www.secretsofthetomb.com/

It all started with Sam Bush, Prescott Bush's father, who sold war materiel to both sides during WWI -- and thus the traitorous family business begins.
http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/issues/v2issue3/features/bushempire.shtml

Prescott did the same -- and much worse. He was a manager of the Auschwitz inmates, who were "free labor" (slaves!) for his coal and steel interests in Poland http://www.clamormagazine.org/features/issue14.3_feature.html

Yes, there was Prescott Bush, seeing nothing wrong with that, along with his father-in-law, George Herbert Walker -- the two were financially supporting Hitler from 1924 - 1942. http://www.spectrezine.org/resist/bush.htm

Even though the Trading With The Enemy Act was passed right after Pearl Harbor in 1941, even though American soldiers were being to sent overseas to die, Grandpa Bush didn't care. He kept financing Hitler until Congress FORCED HIM to stop. http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/012303A.ma.dead.htm These are just the Bush Family Values.

We know very well about George Bush Sr.'s illegal arms deals to the Contras (de-stabilizing a democracy in Nicaragua) -- and arranging for our hostages in Iran to be held in misery longer so that Jimmy Carter wouldn't get credit for freeing them, and thus Reagan/Bush would win the 1980 election. (Read October Surprise, by Barbara Honegger, and Trick or Treason, by Robert Parry.) And even though Iran was our murderous enemy, Bush Sr. made sure they got all the arms they wanted, because this is the Bush family business -- TREACHERY and TREASON.

Not to mention Bush Sr.'s/Reagan's well-known arms deals with Saddam Hussein all through the 1980's! Then in 1990, Bush Sr. tricked Saddam by conveying through our ambassador that it was okay for Saddam to invade Kuwait http://www.thetip.org/art_April_Glaspie___US_Ambassador_to_Iraq______292_icle.html (Kuwait was side-drilling out Iraq's oil.)

But what happened when Saddam trusted Bush Sr.? Bush turned and used Saddam's Kuwait invasion as an excuse to send our soldiers after him (and to establish our troops in Saudi Arabia, the real goal.) This was called The Gulf War. Saddam's no peach, but who can blame him for putting Bush's face on a mosaic floor for everyone to walk on?

And let's not forget that the Bushes and the bin Ladens have been thick as thieves (they ARE thieves) for over 20 years. http://www.geocities.com/burningbush2000/3.html

And naturally, like father, like son unto the next and current generation. George W. cashed out his Harken stocks a week before they tumbled in 1990 -- an early Enron. Dubya came out with a hefty profit, while all his partners lost their shirts. http://www.geocities.com/burningbush2000/3.html

(If Martha Stewart, a Democrats contributor, goes to prison for insider trading, Dubya certainly ought to have the cell next door!)

But much worse: Dubya screwed the American people by doing nothing whatsoever when warnings of "hijacking airliners" poured in during his vacation in 2001. Just as he did nothing on the day of 9/11. He did not jump up from his chair at that elementary school and say, "Excuse me, children, duty calls." Instead -- he sat there for 20 minutes, making no inquiries, issuing no orders!

Due to no action from this "Commander-in-Chief," the Pentagon strike was not prevented, as it easily could have been. At 9:05 am, he was told "America is under attack." The plane hit the Pentagon at 9:37. If Bush had immediately ordered air defense for the nation's capital or the eastern seaboard --which you'd think any Commander would do! -- then jets from Andrews AFB only 12 miles from Washington would have been up and protecting the skies within that critical half hour -- actually, within minutes.

But no, Dubya did nothing, even as as another airliner (it's now known) headed for Congress and the Capitol Dome! "Fortunately," it crashed in Pennsylvania. Later, Bush just high-tailed it to an underground bunker with other globalists who "happened to be there" -- while the nation fended for itself.

And now this President who is "restoring integrity and honor to the White House" doesn't bother to condemn and rout out those on his staff who exposed the name of a CIA operative, a deep-cover agent whose work was protecting Americans from rogue possession of WMD! How ironic. A woman who was actually protecting our country has been rendered useless and likely placed in danger by the Bush administration -- by those who are SUPPOSED TO BE protecting our country -- but didn't and aren't.

The ENTIRE criminal history of these genuinely evil people -- all the Bush brothers and uncles, too, from 1898 - 2001 -- is available for a quick read at http://www.spectrezine.org/resist/bush.htm

A writer on the Internet (who I regret I've lost track of) summed it up well -- and I paraphrase: For generations, the Bushes have represented BODY BAGS FOR OUR SOLDIERS, MONEY BAGS FOR THEMSELVES.

I hope Joe Conason will apologize to his readers for scolding people who KNOW that the Bushes are rotten traitors and actual Nazis.

Mainly, I hope other journalists will pick up the torch and awaken the American people to this dynastic family's colossal deceptions and horrific crimes.

 
THE WHITE HOUSE GOES PSYCHOTIC -- AND THE TIGERS ARE TURNING
Connie Cook Smith's "What America Needs to Know"

Four new White House Deputy Dictators are appointed! There's a new Looter-in-Chief for Iraq --
plus a just-created "Forget About Democracy" Department --
and more!




In a complete psychotic break from reality, the White House is fantasizing it can remove power from the Pentagon, the State Department, and the CIA -- seriously! -- and consolidate it instead under Condoleezza Rice's operations.

First the Bush White House imagined it could go it alone against the world. Now it is hallucinating it can usurp authority from the military, intelligence, and foreign policy divisions -- and somehow survive.

Ms. Rice, of course, whose ties to Chevron resulted in an oil tanker being named after her, is allegedly our National Security Adviser. When Sandy Berger of that same office under President Clinton informed Rice in early 2001 that counterterrorism on American soil should be her highest priority -- and gave her all the documents -- she did NOTHING with all that helpful information, and further, did nothing about all the 9/11 threats that came in right beforehand.

So now Her Incompetency continues to be rewarded (as all Bush administration personnel are rewarded for failure) with a big fat increase in responsibility and funding -- i.e., POWER.

According to CNN/Reuters ( http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/10/06/sprj.nitop.oversight.reut/index.html ), Rice has been placed in charge of the new "Iraq Stabilization Group." Discerning readers understand that, in reality, as the "Iraq Subjugation Command."

The CNN/Reuters report says the "reorganization" announcement occurred in a confidential memorandum on Thursday to Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, and George Tenet. In other words, the State Department, the Pentagon, and the CIA have been informed that THEIR subjugation-of-Iraq efforts are too wussy, and now some real Dictators are being put in place.

The memo, of course, was written "together with Vice President Dick Cheney" -- and with Powell and Rumsfeld, who -- if they want to stay in the administration -- have no choice but to go along.

The new policy was formulated "after talks she held with Bush in late August." Can you just imagine Rice trying to explain to Bush -- just as she carefully had to explain to him a few years ago that yes, South America has black people, too -- that things in Iraq now are desperately out of control -- and there will be no more putting on flight-suit-costumes and doing landing-stunts on aircraft carriers -- unless Georgie's "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq actually gets, well, accomplished!

Indeed, Ms. Rice says to the public this move is "a recognition by everyone that we are in a different phase now." Indeed, truly desperate now.

The "working groups" in the White House will be run by four Deputy Dictators: Gary Edson will oversee economic issues like oil, electricity, currency -- in other words, he's been designated Looter-in-Chief.

Robert Blackwill (are they making this up? Great name for a villain -- Bob Blackwill ! ) is in charge of "creation of political institutions in Iraq" and Afghanistan -- also known as the "Forget About Democracy" Department.

Frances Townsend is in charge of counterterrorism, which means "Operation Crush Iraqi Resistance."

And Anna Perez will head up "clearer messages to the media regarding worries about reports of attacks on US troops, and unrest in the cities." Reports of attacks on our soldiers? Worries about what's going on over there? CAN'T HAVE THAT. We can count on good news from now on, as Ms. Perez sets up her Department of Disinformation.

Gosh, first it was paranoid delusions that caused the neo-cons to be afraid of (or greedy for) Iraq, and to attack without any provocation. Now it must be a psychosis causing the White House to pretend they can usurp power from State, the Pentagon, and the CIA.

I think the Bush administration is going to go down as fast as the towers did on 9/11.

And one more thing -- seemingly unrelated. Y'all have heard the news stories about two tigers lately? In Las Vegas, Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy remains in critical condtion after a tiger in his act nearly mauled him to death. And in New York, a guy who was keeping a 425-pound tiger IN HIS APARTMENT was hospitalized with his leg nearly torn off.

Ya see, these critters have been manipulated and used for their owners' profit and pleasure for a long time. But it seems the tigers are waking up and realizing, "Hey, wait a minute, who REALLY has the power here?"

I can't imagine the power of the military and the CIA much longer putting up with the childish and dangerous policies of the George W. Bush White House.

And like awakening tigers, I can't imagine the American people much longer not "going for the jugular" of the likes of Bush and Cheney. These guys hijacked our government in 2000. They are ruining America and wrecking the world. And I think it's time for us tigers to turn on our manipulative masters.

Connie Cook Smith
Canton, Illinois

Since I wrote the below commentary about Bush, and below that, about Republican hypocrisy and media protection (Republican stories you never hear about), some lids have blown off!

Morals guru Robert Bennett was caught using the fees he earns from Christian groups to hang out in Las Vegas casinos, to gamble lavishly in pre-dawn hours when he was least likely to be seen.

A former Republican governor, ticketed many times for speeding and often joking about it, ran a stop-sign at high speed and killed a volunteer firefighter on his motorcycle.

A Republican Senate aide was fired and forced to take down his website which was named after the numbers on the tail of the plane which crashed and killed Democrat Mel Carnahan. Displayed like some sort of scalp, or trophy, the plane's tail numbers referred to the Republican triumph of John Ashcroft.

(Ashcroft was actually defeated in that senatorial election by the newly deceased Mr. Carnahan -- but Bush swooped in and elevated the embarrassed Ashcroft to power as Attorney General. Hence the plane's tail numbers represented GLOATING at the death of the Democrat, and celebration of the default power position of the Republican.)

Rush Limbaugh has been exposed for his complete lack of human decency (racist remarks) on ESPN and had to step down from that position. And meanwhile it's been reported that he's the subject of an investigation into a "hillbilly heroin" (oxycontin) drug ring. The deafness he suffered a few years back (for which he received much sympathy) may have been caused by his illegal drug use.

Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger -- IF YOU READ THE DETAILS OF THE ALL THE WELL-DOCUMENTED ACCOUNTS IN THE LOS ANGELES TIMES -- there's no question Arnold has been until very recently the very creature of one of his movies: "Predator." As late as 2000, he has overpowered women -- both strangers in restaurants and elevators, and assistants on movie sets -- with strong-arm, physically painful, and humiliating grabs for their breasts and buttocks. Laughing all the way.

And now we're seeing the White House ethics of trying to harm the wife of a truth-teller against Bush. Ambassador Wilson's report was one of several which revealed Saddam had no nukes, contrary to Bush's lies. But the White House saw fit to punish Wilson for telling this truth by exposing Wilson's wife's secret status as a CIA agent. National security and lives are endangered -- all because, I think, Wilson's article ruined Bush's birthday when it appeared on July 6th!

Yup, tigers are turning, lids are blowing off, and the bad guys are going down!

 
WHAT MR. BUSH IS REALLY LIKE...
by Connie Cook Smith

Bush cut out on military service
Assistant quits and goes to Democrats
9/11 families "sickened and disgusted"

I hope Mr. Bush doesn't stage any more stunts like putting on a flight suit and declaring the Iraq war over. It is cruelly painful to all who have loved ones in the service -- to fill families and troops with hopes of homecoming -- and then for our soldiers to face continuing danger and death.

Further, many consider it an insult for Mr. Bush to don military garb, because over a year of his stint in the National Guard is still unaccounted for. The Boston Globe in May of 2000 -- and many sources since then -- have thoroughly documented Young George skipping out on flight physicals and not showing up for duty for months at a time, while his contemporaries were fighting and dying in Vietnam.

I don't understand how he got a pass on this when he was running for president. And I don't understand how he can send our loved ones off to the horrors of war, while he himself always dwells in luxury and safety.

There are two very telling developments that I think indicate what kind of man George W. Bush really is. One pertains to a 35-year-public-service veteran -- including years in the White House under Reagan and Bush I -- now giving Bush II his resignation and going straight over to the Democrats to help them defeat the president next year.

And the other is the 9/11 victims' families announcing that they are "disgusted and sickened" at how badly they are treated by everyone in the Bush administration, from the top down.

The first case is very alarming. The Washington Post on June 16th quoted Rand Beers, a special assistant to the president on counterterrorism, as leaving the White House and going over to the opposition because "the administration is making us less secure, not more secure."

Beers asserted, "There has been little, if any, follow-through on cybersecurity, port security, infrastructure protection..." This includes minimal security at nuclear plants, of special concern to Illinois residents. Beers said our basic security requirements since 9/11 "have been avoided, neglected, and shortchanged."

And why? "Politically," he said, "it's easier to go to war."

But Mr. Beers claims that war, too, is not done well by the Bush administration. The Post article said, "Beers thinks the war in Afghanistan was a job begun, then abandoned." And that war in Iraq has been "ill-conceived and poorly executed."

Commentator Paul C. Light has declared, "I can't think of a single example, in the last 30 years in Washington, of a person who has done something so extreme" as Rand Beers. "The way he wants to make a difference in the world is to get George W. Bush out of office."

Indeed, Mr. Beers has no qualms about this being a necessity. He's now on record saying that he's "never felt so strongly about something in my life."

Meanwhile, there is the continuing heartbreak of the 9/11 families.

Contrary to an AP article in the Friday, June 20th Daily Ledger, wherein a Bush spokesperson claimed, "The president strongly supports the commission," 9/11 widow Monica Gabrielle said in a recent interview with Eric Boehlert: "We've been fighting the administration for 21 months. The White House is just blocking everything."

It is a matter of record that Bush and Cheney personally phoned former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and pressured him to limit the investigation surrounding the September 11th attacks. Senator John McCain complained that the administration "slow-walked and stonewalled" every step of an inquiry process.

Despite these obstacles, a bipartisan committee produced a 900-page report about 9/11 on December 2, 2002, and that officially launched the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks. However, this 9/11 Commission is allowed only a total of 18 months to conclude its work, whereas several years of depositions may need to be taken.

The American people need to consider this: First, it took a year and three months to establish the commission. Second, enough time to do the job is scarcely allowed. And third, a budget of only $3 million was initially allotted.

By comparison, for the recent space shuttle disaster, a special commission was set up that very same day. And a $50 million budget was immediately allotted.

No price can be put on anyone's precious life, but 9/11 family members can't help but bitterly notice that an immediate investigation and $50 million was granted to investigate the loss of 7 lives -- whereas over a year of obstructions and finally only $14 million was allocated -- to investigate the loss of nearly 3,000 lives.

Not to mention -- what about ANSWERS to the the most critical questions about how the United States could be so completely defenseless!

The 9/11 families find it staggering that there have been no repercussions whatsoever for anyone in the administration, the military, the intelligence services, nor in aviation. Not even despite the fact that after the World Trade Center was hit twice and before Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, there was three-quarters-of-an-hour during which no one gave any thought to defending Washington D.C.! Yet authorities knew that other hijacked planes were in the air.

This is so inexcusable, it makes me think that maybe they had it right in Asia. Leaders there who failed this badly used to fall on their swords in shame. It's no wonder there are suspicions that high-level orders must have been given that day for the military to stand down and let it happen. The skies over Washington should have been a-buzz with fighter jets, because there was plenty of time for defensive action over the nation's capital after New York was attacked.

And now, there have been seven more months of stalling from the White House, seeking to re-classify information that was previously released -- apparently, to keep the public from seeing it again. Specifically, according to Newsweek, it's those troubling presidential briefings in August of 2001 about "planes being hijacked" -- John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial airliners in July -- plus discomforting reports about the Saudis, long-time business partners of the Bush family, being responsible for the funding of terrorism.

Widow Kristin Breitweiser is "sickened" that President Bush mentioned 9/11 over 10 times in his last State of the Union address, while at the same time, the White House was blocking funding for the 9/11 investigation. And she's likewise angry at the major media, saying, "The commission is doing the most important work for this nation and it's not even on the nightly news. I've been scheduled to go on 'Meet the Press' and 'Hardball' many times, but I'm always canceled."

Widow Monica Gabrielle is equally upset: "Bush has never personally met with the [9/11] families to discuss any of this, so for him to use Sept. 11 and its victims to justify his agenda, I myself am disgusted."

Personally, I am wondering when the American people are going to wake up and get disgusted. The way it's going now, the Bush White House will stall out the investigation to its premature conclusion-date next May. Then they'll move blithely on into Campaign 2004 -- with the appalling idea of "winning big" regarded as a virtue, while "serving well" is never even considered.

 
REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY PROTECTED BY CONSERVATIVE MEDIA BIAS
Part II

Yesterday I explained my concern on this topic by pointing out that “a media report about power or goodness on the left is often attributed to the idea that the media is liberal -- not to the fact that the liberal might happen to be good.”

And that “lack of reports on crimes by conservatives leave us with the totally false impression that conservatives always have exemplary morals.” Then I provided the account of Democratic Congressman Gary Condit being hounded into the ground when Chandra Levy was missing, while at the same time, Republican Joe Scarborough and the dead woman found in his office was given a pass.

So now I ask, how many of you have heard about Richard Delgaudio? Were the TV cameras all over him on April 23 when this key Republican operative was sentenced after pleading guilty to child pornography? Has he been followed and hounded and joked about ever since November of 2001, when he was first busted in Baltimore?

Has his patriotism been blasted for obsessing on child porn while the rest of the nation was pulling together after 9/11? No, for some reason, we’re still hearing Clinton and Condit jokes, and spewing criticism at genuine patriots who are sure that war is bad for the United States.

I’ve seen nothing on TV about Republican activist Richard Delgaudio. He was found guilty, a week ago today, of using a 16-year-old girl for pornographic photo sessions. This girl allowed herself to be in this situation because she had a baby and dropped out of school, and she needed the money that Delgaudio paid her.

I express no approval of this girl’s personal situation. But she needs rehabilitation, not exploitation! Is this Delgaudio’s private “compassionate conservative” program? A young girl in desperate circumstances being given “support” – only if she does the perverted things he wants?

According to Michael Laris’ Washington Post story on April 24: “Delgaudio, 50, heads an array of conservative activist groups from offices in Fairfax County (Virginia)...He is listed as president of Legal Affairs Council Inc...also listed as chairman and director of the United States Intelligence Council, and president of National Security Center, Inc.” Are we constantly hearing about this Republican’s sleazy behavior?

This outrage takes me back to 1994, when that pillar of morality Newt Gingrich – 3 wives now, one of them abandoned during her cancer therapy – attributed Susan Smith’s drowning of her children as being due to our “sick system” (a Democrat was in the White House). Newt even went so far as to say that “the only way” to make it better “is to vote Republican.”

Well, no amount of sugar could help with the words he had to eat, not too much later --although I don’t recall the media pointing this out. Susan Smith’s stepfather publicly apologized to Susan, saying, “You don’t have all the guilt in this tragedy” – because – he had molested her early on, then drew her into a full-blown sexual affair later. He knew she was already traumatized by her father’s suicide. As her stepfather, he should have been there FOR her – not there to USE her.

And just who was her stepfather, this man named Beverly Russell? He was a key operative in the South Carolina Republican Party and a Christian Coalition member. Susan testified that one morning after he had been out putting up campaign posters for Pat Robertson for president, he came into her bedroom and put her hand on his genitals and kissed her and fondled her. Later, he made her his full-time sex object.

What about Robert Hanssen, the FBI mole whose spying caused a number of deaths. He was a member of the far right-wing group, Opus Dei. A TV movie depicted him being pleased with his family for disapproving of “that horrible Bill Clinton.” With all the revelations that emerged about his character, it’s clear we have another registered Republican who is obsessed with “morality,” but who is a total traitor to his country, his family, his church, and humanity. And yet there is still a perception that the right is always right, and the left – is always wrong.

And now we have Katrina Leung, a southern California Republican fund-raiser, in character much like Robert Hanssen. Working for the FBI, selling secrets to the Chinese, and sleeping with two FBI agents despite still being married to her husband. Why is there no outcry about right-wing immorality?

Last year, a Virginia Republican Party head was busted for illegal wire-tapping. And has anyone given any thought to the father of Mary Kay LeTourneau? She’s the teacher who kept getting sexually involved with her student and having his babies, despite court orders prohibiting any further contact. She sacrificed her marriage and her previous children to this sexually compulsive behavior.

Should we be looking at HER father, John G. Schmitz? He, too, was an ultra-conservative Republican congressman who was forced into retirement by the discovery that HE was siring babies with HIS student! Although the student was college-age, and therefore at the age of consent, still – ! Mary was very, very hung-up on her father, she lived out her life as he did, and I can’t help but wonder if her out-of-control sexuality came from an unnatural bond that he may have forced upon her as a child.

Well, I think you get the point. I’m NOT saying the right-wing is always and automatically immoral. But I am certainly tired of hearing in the media that the LEFT is.

If you’re tired of it, too, please refer people to this site. There is a downright evil campaign to discredit good people and to elevate questionable people, and I think we all need to do something about it by pointing out the truth.

 
REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY PROTECTED BY CONSERVATIVE MEDIA BIAS

(While the media hounded Gary Condit everyday about a missing intern, they shielded a Republican congressman whose assistant was found dead in his office.)

I sincerely believe that where there is no honesty, there is no health, and there is no peace.

America now is not healthy, is not peaceful. I'm convinced that's principally because honesty is too often forbidden. And to me, the most egregious violations of honesty appear frequently in the enmeshed and inaccurate phrases: "liberal media" and "conservative morality."

Enmeshed? Well, you can’t have one of those distortions without the other. A media report about power or goodness on the left is often attributed to the idea that the media is liberal -- not to the fact that the liberal might happen to be good.

And lack of reports on crimes by conservatives leave us with the totally false impression that conservatives have exemplary morals. (Or as Bush pronounces it, “exemplarary” morals.)

The lead-in example above is one of the most sickening. Chandra Levy was only MISSING when the media was dishing up all-Gary, all-the-time. (Note that he was a Democratic congressman.) Although Chandra’s disappearance was certainly serious and alarming, it was during the same time-frame, July of 2001, that 28-year-old Lori Klausutis was found DEAD with a smashed head, right IN Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough’s office.

Did the media follow Joe Scarborough around, asking questions, day after day? Was he the subject of constant jokes on late-night TV? No. The very first newspaper reports stated “no evidence of foul play,” and that was that. Simply incredible! Evidently, this healthy woman who jogged a few miles everyday just smashed herself in the head in Joe’s office and dropped dead.

If there were ACTUALLY a “liberal media bias,” Democrat Gary Condit would have been downplayed, and Republican Joe Scarborough would now be an O.J.- style household name and national joke. (And maybe a lifer in prison.)

But no. He was allowed to discreetly leave his congressional seat, “to spend more time with the family.” And recently he was rewarded for his eyebrow-raising past by being hired at MSNBC as a commentator. Clearly, this Republican has been protected and elevated by the media. The Democrat was destroyed by it.

Have YOU heard of Joe Scarborough and the death of Lori Klausutis? Or just Gary Condit and Chandra Levy. My search engine shows over 100 outraged voices about Lori. (Look her up.) But there was and there has been practically nothing in the “liberal media” – which, if it indeed it WERE left-biased, would have crucified this Republican – instead of keeping him out of the headlines and giving him a nice new job.

TOMORROW: More facts and examples of outrageous media protection – protection for questionable conservatives -- and some of their UNquestionable crimes.