My family life seems to be heading back to its normal course here on the northern tip of Kentucky…I’ll be grateful for some peace and a regular schedule.
Talking with friends around the country and the occasional mental health care professional it seems the climate of fear so fanned by Washington corporate constituency and the sugary dissembling of their pet news outlets is taking a severe toll among many segments of the population.
One imagines White House imagists are busily spray-painting disinformational memes one a whole new series of Presidential speech backdrops. The anxious American public might want to consider the particular paraphrased advise of a favorite movie Wizard and “pay no attention to that man [in front of] the curtain…”


It has been two weeks since I called Congressman Steny Hoyer’s office about a promise he made to a caller on C-SPAN’s Journal to seek information about the status of Marine Colonel Joe Dowdy.
Colonel Dowdy is the former Commander of 4,000 troops comprising Marine Combat 1. He was removed from command without explanation shortly after the Battle of Kut at the end of the first week of the Iraq II War of alQaeda Distraction on Friday April 4, 2003. No government or news organization has mentioned the status of the Colonel or his family in these many weeks of corporate media focus on “our troops”.
While I certainly don’t hold Congressman Hoyer responsible for the disappearing of the Colonel, I deeply regret the odd lack of candor evidenced by his staff’s failure to reply to my request.
But, then candor might distract from a game plan intent upon greater corporate and political power. According to this morning’s Washington Post story about the elevation of the “telegenic” Paul Bremer over the wacky Jay Garner:

The appointment of…the new head of the U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq, portrayed by the Bush administration as part of a smoothly running postwar plan, was a hastily arrived-at decision by a White House increasingly worried about collapsing civil order in Iraq…The decision to dispatch Bremer…came after senior White House advisers and President Bush agreed that both the image and reality of the reconstruction effort were flagging, officials said.


US Senator Robert C. Byrd

I, again this morning, emailed Senator Bobby Byrd to express my support for his brave and erudite criticism of the arrogant occupant of the White House.
I would highly recommend Peter Carlson’s feature about Senator Byrd in this morning Washington Post headlined, The Senator Votes Nay.
Three days ago the Senator said this on the Senate floor:

…The American people may have been lured into accepting the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation, in violation of long-standing International law, under false premises. There is ample evidence that the horrific events of September 11 have been carefully manipulated to switch public focus from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda who masterminded the September 11th attacks, to Saddam Hussein who did not. The run up to our invasion of Iraq featured the President and members of his cabinet invoking every frightening image they could conjure, from mushroom clouds, to buried caches of germ warfare, to drones poised to deliver germ laden death in our major cities. We were treated to a heavy dose of overstatement concerning Saddam Hussein's direct threat to our freedoms. The tactic was guaranteed to provoke a sure reaction from a nation still suffering from a combination of post traumatic stress and justifiable anger after the attacks of 911. It was the exploitation of fear. It was a placebo for the anger…We cower in the shadows while false statements proliferate. We accept soft answers and shaky explanations because to demand the truth is hard, or unpopular, or may be politically costly. But, I contend that, through it all, the people know. The American people unfortunately are used to political shading, spin, and the usual chicanery they hear from public officials. They patiently tolerate it up to a point. But there is a line. It may seem to be drawn in invisible ink for a time, but eventually it will appear in dark colors, tinged with anger. When it comes to shedding American blood - - when it comes to wreaking havoc on civilians, on innocent men, women, and children, callous dissembling is not acceptable. Nothing is worth that kind of lie - - not oil, not revenge, not reelection, not somebody's grand pipedream of a democratic domino theory. And mark my words, the calculated intimidation which we see so often of late by the "powers that be" will only keep the loyal opposition quiet for just so long. Because eventually, like it always does, the truth will emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall.

- posted by Sean @ 12:01 PM