The slaughter of American GIs and other impeachable offenses: George Bush's "Shock and Awe" campaign is succeeding. He has definitely left ME in shock and awe. Instead of writing witty, tightly-argued pleas against an unprovoked war, now all I can manage is incoherent babble.

Mr. Bush has progressed from blowing up frogs to blowing up Muslims to blowing up American GIs. Who can make sense of this nightmare? Certainly not me.

Our money says, "In God we trust." How can we?

On KGO Talk Radio, the HOST of the show actually said, "Bleeding heart liberal Sheeple are totally discounted from this discussion." The gist of his argument was that Iraqis eat the beating hearts out of live dogs; that REAL Americans need to blow every person in that accursed country up ASAP; and that anyone who disagreed with him was weak and UNPATRIOTIC.

This obscenity was proudly broadcast on the publicly-owned airwaves of mainstream radio.

Why are advertisers actually paying money to broadcast such hate? Why would KGO radio would even consider putting it on the air? And, more important, why do such people hate so deeply? People that they have never even met? Including me? Is THIS the real America? With our government setting the example? Whatever happened to red Jello, potato salad and Kool Whip being the American example? Now it's DU, torture, maiming civilians and GI body bags that get us off. America deserves better.

In God we trust? This talk-show guy obviously would have considered Jesus a bleating wimp, clearly a Sheeple -- a loser who DESERVED the Old Rugged Cross because he was WEAK. And soft.

I talked to a Middle Eastern friend of mine yesterday. "Do you have any relatives in the Middle East?" I asked him. "Do you worry about them?"

"I've got brothers, sisters and a father over there," he answered. "But I don't worry about them. I trust in God. And when your time has come, your time has come." I wish that I still believed in God. But after George Bush et al. has finished with Him, what's left to believe in?

Americans seem to be so afraid -- so afraid of losing their...stuff... that they are willing to sell out their democracy, their ideals and even their God. Our fear causes us to attempt to kill everything that moves rather than to take a deep breath and remember that all humans have been offered a contract by God:

"If you are kind and good and wise and obey the ten commandments," says God, "I will watch out over you, protect you while you live and take you up to Heaven when you die." He promises us that good, kind, loving, idealistic people will always live under an umbrella of Grace. And that even if we die a violent death while living our values, then our immortal souls will wear the crown and we will have won the game of life -- the object of which is to keep the bastards of the world from having us become just like them.

Bush et al. are slaughtering frogs, foreigners, GIs and Jello salad. But what really makes me mad is that they are also slaughtering my faith in God. If that's not an impeachable offense, what is?

America deserves better.

Sincerely, Jane Stillwater, Brkeley, CA

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World Peace in one generation!"

Links:

And God Bless and Light A candle
for our Military who are trying to protect our Country
for our freedom -- even though
they are doing it in the wrong place.
From t r u t h o u t | 03.30Air Raids Pound Baghdad, 50+ Civilians DeadGOOutspoken Army General Upsets White HouseGOA 'Turkey Shoot,' but With Marines as TargetsGORobert Fisk | Raw, Devastating Realities About BasraGONews From Iraq Causes Americans to Think AgainGO
Reprinted from The American Reporter:
http://www.american-reporter.com/2070/2.html Randolph T. Holhut: 'Gulf War II: U.S. and Britain defy international law' Posted on Saturday, March 29 @ 09:28:17 EST By Randolph T. Holhut, American Reporter

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Picture President Bush and Saddam Hussein sharing a cell in The Hague after they have been tried and convicted for crimes against humanity.

Sound improbable?

Maybe the bunking up in the cell part is improbable, but the words "war crimes" and "President Bush" are starting to be uttered in the same sentence with total seriousness in the wake of Persian Gulf War II....

Put these things together, and it adds up to an embarrassing situation for the United States and Britain. The two nations that helped to forge the principles of international law in the years after World War II now stand in violation of those principles.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=10781&mode=&order=0

Molly Ivins: 'Government secrecy and other little steps toward fascism'
Posted on Saturday, March 29 @ 09:31:55 EST By Molly Ivins, Reprinted from The Sacramento Bee:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/
AUSTIN, Texas -- See if this doesn't make you wince. The Washington Post reported last Saturday on how the Bush administration's attempts to bully Turkey had backfired....Courtesy of John Marshall's website, TalkingPointsMemo.com, I found this paragraph: "But one senior U.S. official acknowledged that U.S. pressure in recent months has backfired, saying that at one point Pentagon officials insinuated to Turkish politicians that they could get the Turkish military to back the request for U.S. troop deployments in Turkey. 'It was stupid stuff. These are proud people,' he said. 'Speaking loudly and carrying a big stick wins you tactical victories from time to time, but not a strategic victory."'

Marshall explains, "The backdrop here is that the military pushed out an Islamist government only a few years back. Going over the civilians' heads to the Turkish General Staff would inevitably raise the specter of a repeat of those events."

Think about it. We're supposedly fighting a war to bring democracy to Iraq, and we threaten one of our strongest democratic allies with a potential military coup? Is this nuts, or what?

Letter from Baghdad: mailot:wildthing@burntmail.com
http://www.bristolfoe.org.uk/wildfire/
009641 7192303 or 7184290 room 506. Baghdad 3hours
ahead of GMT, March 27th: Nowhere is Safe

This morning the sky had cleared: a mixed blessing. It
was good to be able to see through the daylight again,
although the view of smoke plumes across the city
wasn't the most soul-fulfilling sight. At the same
time it seemed likely to mark the end of our period of
grace, such as it was, when the weather was holding up
the onslaught.

In Al Shaab market, Mohammed Al Zubaidi told us he had
a shop where he made and sold cushions for car seats.
It was the second one from the left as you look at the
remains of the building which the bomb hit. It's burnt
out but you can see the small compartment which was
his. His assistant, Faris El Bawi, was crushed in the
blast and his body incinerated in the fire that
followed, along with his eleven year old son Saif who
was helping him, because his school was closed for the
war.

Husham Hussein said he was about 200 metres away,
indicating a set of traffic lights, when it happened.
He saw the missile hit the front of the building where
Mohammed's shop used to be. It wasn't a huge missile,
he said, which fits with the relatively small size of
the crater. He said a lot of people were injured in
the flats above the shops. The shops were all open and
the market was busy. He thought 25 people were killed.
Someone else said 45-50 people had gone to hospital.
No one could think of a military target nearby.

From Concerned Women of America at alerts@ cwfa.org: "Pre-order Armageddon today!"

Forwarded to me by a friend:


The Iraqi people and the U.S. GI's who have been killed and wounded and are suffering, are the casualties of George W. Bush's unprovoked war of aggression. We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families of all those who have been killed and wounded as a consequence of this illegal imperialist war.
A result of U.S. led air strikes over Basra on March 22. AP/Nabil


More defense contractor/stateman news:

1) Advisors of Influence: Nine Members of the Defense Policy Board Have
Ties to Defense Contractors
http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=513&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0

2) Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee (as of December 2002)
http://www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=514&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0

3) Corporate Affiliations of Defense Policy Board Members
http://www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=515&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0

---- 1
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0328-11.htmPublished on Friday, March 28, 2003 by CommonDreams.orgSupport the Warrior Not the War: Give Them Their Benefits!by Ashley L DeckerThe recent rally cry "Support Our Troops" seems to me little morethan a perverted, propaganda ploy to "Support the War." But we cansupport our troops, without supporting the war, by rectifying some ofthe following conditions.The House of Representatives have recently voted on the 2004 budgetwhich will cut funding for veteran's health care and benefit programsby nearly $25 billion over the next ten years. It narrowly passed bya vote of 215 to 212, and came just a day after Congress passed aresolution to "Support Our Troops." How exactly does this votesupport our troops? Does leaving our current and future veteransveterans without access to health care and compensation qualify assupporting them?The Veteran's Administration, plagued by recent budget cuts, has hadto resort to charging new veterans entering into its system a yearlyfee of $250 in order for them to receive treatment. It is a sad ironythat the very people being sent to fight the war are going to have topay to treat the effects of it.According to the Veteran's Administration, 28 million veterans arecurrently using VA benefits. Another 70 million Americans arepotential candidates for such programs. This amounts to a quarter ofthe country's population. Veterans and their families will sadlybegin finding that they have no place to turn for their medicaltreatment as V.A. hospitals across the country face closing theirdoors. With the budget shrinking, staff will be let go. This couldmean the loss of over 19,000 nurses. Without these nurses, this leadsto the loss of over 6.6 million outpatient visits. Approximately oneout of every two veterans could lose their only source of medicalcare. That is, if they even realize help is available to them. TheBush Administration recently ordered V.A. medical centers to stoppublicizing available benefits to veterans seeking assistance. Thisfollows discontinued enrollments of some eligible veterans forhealthcare benefits as of January, 2003.Bush Administration funding cuts will also prevent veterans fromreceiving their disability pensions. My father was granted 100%disability six years ago for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorderassociated with the Vietnam War. He deserves every cent of it. As doall soldiers who are willing to go to war. Under the Bushadministration, being granted the ability to receive war relatedcompensation has become a rare privilege, not a right as it shouldbe. Nearly a third of Gulf War veterans, about 209,000 veterans, havesubmitted claims to to the VA for disability. The backlog ofunprocessed claims has reached the astronomical count of 489,297, anumber which is unfortunately increasing all of time. There are alsocurrently 500,000 Compensation and Pension cases still pending.Making matters worse, forty percent of Vietnam Veterans are homeless.They went from the jungles of the war to the jungles of the street.Before President Bush decided to declare war, maybe he ought to haveconsidered correcting this situation first. How many current veteranswill return home, only to find themselves in the same situation?I have seen the effects of war written upon the face of a man whogrew old at 17. I have seen it in the way he awakes from yet anothernight terror. I have seen it in the countless pills he has to take.They have only succeeded in erasing his memory, but the images of thewar he fought are so graphic that they will never be able to stopplaying themselves upon his mind.Even I, his daughter, have not escaped unscathed. Exposure to thechemical Agent Orange has left me with several genetic problems,including growth problems and digestive ones. I fear that thesecurrent soldiers will be exposed to toxins that will not only affectthem, but their future offspring as well.And today we are told that we must "Support Our Troops." "Wear ayellow ribbon, wave your flag, support the Bush Administration's Waron Terror and War on Iraq." Questioning the war is equated withdeserting our troops or treason. And yet how are the warmongerssupporting our troops? By eliminating their healthcare and slashingtheir pensions. Let us support the warrior without supporting the war.Ashley L Decker is a student at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
And of course Joe Thompson has something helpful to say:
The Idiot has placed our military in deep shit in Iraq, evidenced by
the fact that he is sending 120 thousand troops from Ft. Hood, Texas
to the rescue and they won't be enough. Be outlandish, be satirical,
be heard. China and Russia are poised to enter into this war, but not
on our side. They know his threats cannot be backed up. They know
that "we are the mightiest military in the world" is a pile of empty
rhetoric. In Korea we were the mightiest military in the world, but
got our asses kicked back to the sea by an army of peasants, who
overwhelmed us with sheer numbers. Half of them didn't even
have weapons before they took them off our dead soldiers.
Our law enforcement is well equipped, but they are no match for
the unarmed numbers confronting them in the streets of America.
High tech becomes very low tech, very quickly. Keep fighting,
these little computers are mighty weapons in OUR war against
the terror of our government. We are linked together throughout
the world.