Life in OUR America, Volume 2, The Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

And so .......

It is a good thing to have a little levity in here from time to time, to break up the seriousness of the "commentary", and I will be the first to admit that, which is why I am glad for Mr. A.B. and jeffmoskin and Gabrielle, and those others of you who from time to time leave hints of your passage through here.

For anyone just stopping by for the first time, and maybe wondering what "Life in OUR America" is really all about, it is about life in OUR America, with an emphasis on that word "OUR"!

Who does America really belong to?

Can it even?

And what exactly is America?

These are the issues that we "delve" in here, and one of the "vehicles" by which we do that is the "news", or what purports to be the "mews", anyway, which in fact, actually may be a lot of "propaganda" at times, especially that which is put out on the radio or especially television "News", as starts to become more and more evident when we look at what I am going to call "alleged subversive" organizations" such as this "Lexington Institute" which I have begun researching above, in here.

Which brings me to the point that maybe most important thing that I discuss and explore in here is this concept of "LIBERTY", here in OUR America, and exactly what it might be, and where we have gotten the notion of "LIBERTY" from, IF in fact "LIBERTY" is nothing more than a "notion".

Those of us who comment in here, myself, jeffmoskin and Mr. A.B. in large part, are all what might or could be called "older Americans", althought to be truthful, I have trouble thinking of myself as being any age, really.

If you are alive, what else makes a difference?

What's the NEED to have an "age"?

I don't find being alive now any different than when I was young, to be truthful, IN ESSENTIAL WAYS INTRINSIC TO BEING A HUMAN BEING!

Certainly, the times around me have changed, but they always have been doing so, and they always will be!

It is the essential nature of things to rise, and then settle again, sometimes into oblivion, sometimes simply back into a state of quiesence or dormancy.

For those of you who remember "LAVA LAMPS", that is my concept of the workings of the universe we inhabit, either in here, or "out there", something rising, something settling, or maybe sinking, although "sinking" is a misleading term, in actuality, since it implies something going out of sight, perhaps forever, and with respect to the workings of "mankind", that is a form of delusion, perhaps, to consider something passing by, or out of style, as being really "gone".

Case in point is this thing called "LIBERTY", which IS NOT AT ALL AN AMERICAN CONCEPT?

"WHAT, LIVYJR, ARE YOU A COMMUNIST OR SOMETHING, EVERYBODY KNOWS IT WAS AMERICANS WHO INVENTED THE TERM 'LIBERTY', SO YOU MUST HATE AMERICA, THEN, TO TALK THAT WAY!"

And NO, everybody DOES NOT KNOW that LIBERTY is or was "invented" by Americans, BECAUSE IT WAS NOT, and I am not a communist, since that is nothing more than a stupid, empty word fraught with connotation, but devoid of any actual, substantive meaning whatsoever.

It is nothing more than a pejorative term that can be slung handily at one's political enemies, to fool the naive and just plain ignorant, and outside of that, it don't mean nothing at all, to me, anyway, who has met plenty of people from alleged Communist countries, and after looking at them for a while, and talking to them, why, they look human to me, and many of them are decent hard-working people so far as I can tell, so what's with the word?

In fact, back in the days of the Ronald Raygun presidency, when he was going on and on and on and on and on about the "Evil Empire" of Russia, I had occasion to have to go to Ireland on business, and with me were two other Americans, and when we got to Shannon Airport in Ireland, why, lined up outside the terminal, off-loading and taking on passengers were several Aeroflot airplanes, which were Russian planes.

When the one "ole boy" with me saw that, he went near apoplectic, with his eyes bugging out, and right there in the airport, in front of the world in there, he began an incredible rant about "COMMIES, will ya looka that, they let COMMIES into this country, what the hell is this", and on and on and on.

It was quite embarassing, to be truthful, and it caused a bit of a scene, to boot.

As if the Irish should have checked in with us before we got there, TO DETERMINE OUR PREJUDICES, so that they could then INSURE that everything that we did not like, would not be found in the whole of IRELAND!

What a crock!

Later, I asked some Irish people about the Aeroflot planes, and them apparently having some kind of commerce with the Russians at a time when Ronald Raygun was near to bursting a vein in his own head with his own apoplectic fits of pique about the Russians, and the Irish thought he AND WE were nothing more than a raving pack pure fools!

"A HELL of a lot better folks than the British" was how I recall one person saying it!

"AT LEAST THE RUSSIANS HAVE NEVER TRIED TO STEAL ANYTHING FROM US, LIKE OUR COUNTRY AND LIBERTY!"

SO.

Perspective!

Not a bad thing to have, either these days, OR EVER!

Life in OUR AMERICA!

And let us have it be OURS, and not give it over lightly to the bigots, and the haters, out there, who would gladly take it from us and make it into an image of themselves, instead.

[Livyjr]

SUBVERSION: The act or process of overthrowing, destroying OR CORRUPTING!

- Black's Law Dictionary

[Livyjr]

SUBVERSION: The act or process of overthrowing, destroying OR CORRUPTING!

- Black's Law Dictionary

From New York State Penal Law:

TITLE X ORGANIZED CRIME CONTROL ACT

ARTICLE 460 ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION

S 460.00 Legislative findings.

The legislature finds and determines as follows:

Organized crime in New York state involves highly sophisticated, complex and widespread forms of criminal activity.

The diversified illegal conduct engaged in by organized crime, rooted in the illegal use of force, fraud, and corruption, constitutes a major drain upon the state's economy, costs citizens and businesses of the state billions of dollars each year, and threatens the peace, security and general welfare of the people of the state.

Organized crime continues to expand its corrosive influence in the state through illegal enterprises engaged in such criminal endeavors as the theft and fencing of property, the importation and distribution of narcotics and other dangerous drugs, arson for profit, hijacking, labor racketeering, loansharking, extortion and bribery, the illegal disposal of hazardous wastes, syndicated gambling, trafficking in stolen securities, insurance and investment frauds, and other forms of economic and social exploitation.

The money and power derived by organized crime through its illegal enterprises and endeavors is increasingly being used to infiltrate and corrupt businesses, unions and other legitimate enterprises and to corrupt our democratic processes.

S 460.10 Definitions.

The following definitions are applicable to this article.

2. "Enterprise" means either an enterprise as defined in subdivision one of section 175.00 of this chapter or criminal enterprise as defined in subdivision three of this section.

ARTICLE 175 OFFENSES INVOLVING FALSE WRITTEN STATEMENTS

S 175.00 Definitions of terms.

The following definitions are applicable to this article:

1. "Enterprise" means any entity of one or more persons, corporate or otherwise, public or private, engaged in business, commercial, professional, industrial, eleemosynary, social, political or governmental activity.

[Livyjr]

"Ya got yoreself some enemies" is what the State Trooper told me, and what I told him back is "yeah, I do, but they are cowards, aren't they, if all the guts they got is to come after my mailbox, instead of me!"

And perhaps, in the end, that is why the path of my life wended its way through Viet Nam, as it did, where I was twice-wounded, and where I saw violence in technicolor, right in front of my own face, so as to enable me today to be able to stand up to the HARD BOYS and all the harassment and intimidation crap that they so far have been able to dish out to me to date, which has been a bit more than just pushing down my mailbox and pole.

I have been at this "citizenship game" that I am playing at in here for quite a while now, and while I do get disgusted, and while my standard of living has been reduced to one of abject poverty, still I am here.

Many times, "slings and arrows" have come in my direction from the BID-NESS BOYS who pray the coming of CORPORATIA and the complete and total end of any responsibility whatsoever for them; and miraculously, at the last moment, those "sings and arrows" are turned aside, SO LONG AS I DO NOT ACT TO CREATE AN ADVANTAGE FOR MYSELF OVER ANOTHER LIVING HUMAN BEING!

"He who lives by the sword had always better know where the sharp edge of that sword really is at all times, lest the sharp edge find itself pressing in on the flesh of his or her own throat."

God's words, not mine, and I heed them well.

This is no game, folks, this is in fact deadly serious stuff that I and we are about in here, and make no mistake about that!

What is at stake here for CORPORATIA?

For an answer to that, just go up to the post right above here, in the little view window, and take a look at Donald Rumsfeld's own CORPORATE WORTH of between $61 and $242 MILLION, and ask yourself this question - DOES DONALD RUMSFELD NOW HAVE ENOUGH?

And then think of all the turmoil in the world, and think how that turmoil just might benefit the corporate holdings of Donald Rumsfeld, who along with George W. Bush, and Condo Rice and Richard "HALLIBURTON DICK" Cheney, IS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE TURMOIL IN THE WORLD THAT BENEFITS HIM, at OUR expense, unless, of course, you are one of those who has him as YOUR KIND MASTER, in which case, I am your enemy, right, because I certainly am not one of those here in MY America who is standing with you in YOURS?

From New York State Penal Law:

TITLE X ORGANIZED CRIME CONTROL ACT

ARTICLE 460 ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION

S 460.00 Legislative findings.

The legislature finds and determines as follows:

Organized crime in New York state involves highly sophisticated, complex and widespread forms of criminal activity.

The diversified illegal conduct engaged in by organized crime, rooted in the illegal use of force, fraud, and corruption, constitutes a major drain upon the state's economy, costs citizens and businesses of the state billions of dollars each year, and threatens the peace, security and general welfare of the people of the state.

The money and power derived by organized crime through its illegal enterprises and endeavors is increasingly being used to infiltrate and corrupt businesses, unions and other legitimate enterprises and to corrupt our democratic processes.

S 460.10 Definitions.

The following definitions are applicable to this article.

2. "Enterprise" means either an enterprise as defined in subdivision one of section 175.00 of this chapter or criminal enterprise as defined in subdivision three of this section.

ARTICLE 175 OFFENSES INVOLVING FALSE WRITTEN STATEMENTS

S 175.00 Definitions of terms.

The following definitions are applicable to this article:

1. "Enterprise" means any entity of one or more persons, corporate or otherwise, public or private, engaged in business, commercial, professional, industrial, eleemosynary, social, political or governmental activity.

SO?

How about this for a question, then, CAN A "POLITICAL PARTY", such as the REPUBLICAN PARTY be considered an "ENTERPRISE" in the State of New York for the purposes of Title X, Article 460 of the New York State Penal Law?

YES?

OR, NO?

AND, can a political party such as the REPUBLICAN PARTY be involved in "ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION"?

YES?

OR, NO?

CAN MEMBERS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, who are "an entity of one or more persons engaged in political or governmental activity" be suspected of CORRUPTING OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES?

OR ARE ALL REPUBLICANS ACTUALLY BEYOND THE REACH OF ANY AND ALL LAWS, SUCH AS ARTICLE 460 OF TITLE X OF THE NEW YORK STATE PENAL LAW BECAUSE THEY ALREADY ALLEGEDLY CONTROL THOSE SAME DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES, AND SO CAN "SAY" WHAT "CORRUPTION" REALLY MEANS, OR IS, ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN "DEFINITION" OF THE WORD, OR TERM?

Most definitely questions for OUR times, at least up here in George Pataki's EMPIRE STATE, and here I will say, having been involved in the answering of these questions since the 1980's, that IT IS VERY DANGEROUS INDEED TO ONE'S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING TO EVEN CONSIDER THAT THESE QUESTIONS MIGHT EXIST, OR THAT A MERE CITIZEN HAS A RIGHT TO CONSIDER FIRST ASKING THEM, AND THEN SETTING OUT TO PROVE, BY DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE, THAT CONCRETE ANSWERS ACTUALLY CAN AND DO EXIST, AND THAT THOSE ANSWERS JUST MIGHT BE IN THE AFFIRMATIVE!

"Don't watch your ***, boy, you just might find yourself getting whacked!"

"Yeah right, send me a fax, and let me know when it happened!"

[jeffmoskin]

Boy, Mr. A.B., what a line, and you have cracked me right up here, with it.

Well said, well done!

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised"!

I'm going to be chuckling all day long about this, I think.

In fact, maybe a "horse laugh", or two, which is never a bad thing, at all.

or...

"You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think."

[jeffmoskin]

On a more serious note, way back somewhere in this thread we were talking about the raising of the flag on Mt Suribachi on Iwo Jima, culminating one of the worst meat-grinder ordeals of WW II. A man I know was a doc on a hospital ship just offshore. He saw a lot of wounded Marines.

Here is an excerpt from an article by Max Boot in the LA Times:


Rethinking the Iwo Jima Myth
Max Boot

March 10, 2005

On Feb. 19, 1945, 30,000 Marines splashed ashore on a small volcanic island in the central Pacific. After four days of bitter fighting, a small patrol reached the peak of Mt. Suribachi, where it planted a U.S. flag in an iconic scene captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal. This famous image was hardly the end of the battle. Iwo Jima would not be secure until March 26. Almost all of the 21,000 Japanese defenders elected to die rather than surrender. Rooting them out cost more than 6,000 American dead and 20,000 wounded, making this the costliest battle in the storied history of the Marine Corps.

It is right and proper that there should be 60th-anniversary commemorations of these heroics. For, as Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz famously said, " … on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue." Yet it would be a mistake to bury this battle in a haze of "Greatest Generation" sentimentality. Our awe at the bravery of the Marines and their Japanese adversaries should not cause us to overlook the stupidity that forced them into this unnecessary meat grinder. Selective memories of World War II, which record only inspiring deeds and block out all waste and folly, create an impossible standard of perfection against which to judge contemporary conflicts.

That is why Marine Capt. Robert S. Burrell, a history instructor at the Naval Academy, has performed a valuable service by publishing in the October 2004 issue of the Journal of Military History an article called "Breaking the Cycle of Iwo Jima Mythology." Burrell examines the planning of Operation Detachment, as the invasion was known, and shows that it was badly bungled.

The planners actually thought that Iwo Jima would be lightly defended. Nimitz had no idea that the Japanese had been preparing an elaborate defensive network of caves, bunkers and tunnels. As a result, he failed to allocate enough aircraft or warships to seriously dent the enemy defenses before the infantry landings. This oversight consigned the Marines to what a war correspondent called "a nightmare in hell." And for what?

The rationales for taking the island were shaky at the time and utterly specious in hindsight. The original impetus came from the U.S. Army Air Forces, which wanted a base from which fighters could escort B-29 Superfortress bombers on missions over Japan. But Iwo Jima was so far away from most Japanese targets — a 1,500-mile round trip — that even the newest fighter, the P-51D Mustang, lacked sufficient range and navigational equipment for that purpose. In any case, Japanese air defenses were so weak that B-29s didn't need any escort; they were able to reduce Japanese cities to ashes on their own.

When the fighter-escort mission didn't pan out, U.S. commanders had to come up with another rationale for why 26,000 casualties had not been in vain. After the war, it was claimed that Iwo Jima had been a vital emergency landing field for crippled B-29s on their way back from Japan. In a much-quoted statistic, the Air Force reported that 2,251 Superforts landed on Iwo, and because each one carried 11 crewmen, a total of 24,761 airmen were saved.

Burrell demolishes these spurious statistics. Most of those landings, he shows, were not for emergencies but for training or to take on extra fuel or bombs. If Iwo Jima hadn't been in U.S. hands, most of the four-engine bombers could have made it back to their bases in the Mariana Islands 625 miles away. And even if some had been forced to ditch at sea, many of their crewmen would have been rescued by the Navy. Burrell concludes that Iwo Jima was "helpful" to the U.S. bombing effort but hardly worth the price in blood.

...end excerpt.

He then goes on to draw a parallel with Bush's bungling in Iraq, attributing it to the uncertainties of war, so I cut it iff where I did. I don't need his apoligies for the neo CON ARTISTS.

I also disagree about Iwo not being vital to us. It was. We needed it as a staging area for the air attack on Japan, P-51s or not. It had three airfields ready to go. Proof of its importance to the US is how much effort the Japanese took to make sure we didn't capture it! Their soldiers were instructed to DIE defending it. No retreat, no surrender.

Sounds like an important island to me.

I don't know why I'm posting this. It just looked like a fresh view to explain away some old myths.

[Livyjr]

I don't know why I'm posting this.

It just looked like a fresh view to explain away some old myths.

All points of view are ultimately important in coming to an informed point-of-view on issues of importance to all of us, here in OUR America.

Iwo Jima to me, was simply Iwo Jima!

What took place there, took place, and as a warrior, I attach no values to that battle above any others.

"Conduct your victories as though in mourning!"

Was this island important?

I would agree with you, jeffmoskin, that it was!

Should it be glorified?

There is the question!

I would say, "conduct your victories as though in mourning!"

[Livyjr]

Here is an excerpt from an article by Max Boot in the LA Times:

"Rethinking the Iwo Jima Myth"

Max Boot

March 10, 2005

He then goes on to draw a parallel with Bush's bungling in Iraq, attributing it to the uncertainties of war, so I cut it off where I did.

I don't need his apologies for the neo CON ARTISTS.

Uncertainties of war?

What a crock!

What war?

It was an invasion of Iraq by land to support an airborne take-over of the oil fields in Iraq, kind of a "Bridge Too Far" scenario, Operation Market-Garden all over again, except this time, by pre-arrangment, many Iraqi military units had agreed to not resist.

They stood down while we went in and caputred Baghdad.

What war?

Hence, HOW CAN THERE BE ANY REAL UNCERTAINTIES?

THE CERTAINTY IS THAT THIS BUSH CO. CROWD HAD NO IDEAS AT ALL WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN ONCE THE AIRBORNE GUYS HIT THE GROUND, AND SO, IT HAS BEEN UNCERTAINTY, AND KNEE-JERKNG, FOR THEM EVER SINCE!

Now, Bush Co. has the PROPAGANDISTS WORKING OVERTIME TO TRY AND GLOSS OVER HIS INEPTNESS AS A COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, and the question on everybody's mind is whether they will be able to pull that off.

Interestingly, there is now on the cable channel a friend of mine gets, something called the MILITARY CHANNEL, and on that channel, they are showing what is purported by them to be LIVE FOOTAGE of OUR military units on operations inside Iraq.

I go there on Sunday mornings, and watch this footage, which is extremely revealing of a lot of things, one of which is that this war is TV ENTERTAINMENT, AND BIG-TIME, AT THAT!

IN FACT, THE WHOLE THING, AS I WATCHED IT, IS STAGED FOR TV!

This morning, the TV showed the "troops", who are like "MOVIE ACTORS", going through Iraqi houses, and searching through people's possessions, and I was watching the Iraqi people while this was happening, watching their faces, watching their demeanor, because they are on camera too, as their homes and possessions are being rifled through and trifled with; and I was thinking that in Viet Nam, where we were doing that same crap, as we were doing that, and especially when we left, we would be "SHADOWED", and they would see who we were, and where we were going, and knowing the land, they would hit us as soon, and as hard as they could, in retaliation.

Each time another village got torn apart, or a person robbed, or a house searched, more retaliation would come OUR way, and since we were the stangers there, without a home, so to speak, we were on the losing end.

What I saw on TV this morning IS MORE FORMULA FOR THE SAME, from the NEW CON FOOLS WHO CONTROL THE PUPPET GEORGE W. BUSH!

And they are broadcasting all of this to the CANDID WORLD!

INCREDIBLE!

[Livyjr]

Here is an excerpt from an article by Max Boot in the LA Times:

"Rethinking the Iwo Jima Myth" by Max Boot

March 10, 2005

He then goes on to draw a parallel with Bush's bungling in Iraq, attributing it to the uncertainties of war, so I cut it off where I did.

I don't need his apologies for the neo CON ARTISTS.

I don't know why I'm posting this.

It just looked like a fresh view to explain away some old myths.

George W. Bush is most definitely a secular leader here, with what appears to be a very powerful "GOD-complex" in what I am viewing as a very passionate "PASSION PLAY", and I believe that what is happening right now is some of the most important times for all on earth that we have ever been in, and I believe that OUR collective thoughts are very important, right now, especially in light of what took place out there in Wisconsin, with this SECT-related killing that just took place out there.

Somehow, words are being given TO US to consider, and I think that is what is really important, while at the same time continuing to observe the actions of George W. Bush, who to me is really a BELWEATHER here, like a clock ticking away the hours and minutes until doomsday goes down.

Stay tuned!

Jungian synchronicity, jeffmoskin?

U.S. National - AP

"Wisc. Sect Focused on 'End Time' Prophecy"

1 hour, 25 minutes ago

By The Associated Press

Terry Ratzmann, the man who police say killed seven people and then himself during a church service, was a member of the Living Church of God, a denomination that focuses on "end-time" prophecies.

The church's estimated 6,300 members in 40 countries place a strong emphasis on using world news to "prove" that these are end times, to be followed by Christ's second coming.

This year, the group's leader, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, wrote that events prophesied in the Bible are "beginning to occur with increasing frequency."

"We are not talking about decades in the future."

"We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life," he wrote in the church's magazine, Tomorrow's World.

He advised members to gather emergency food supplies and follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency.

He also warned about a coming "financial emergency" and cited an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the financial fallout as baby boomers retire.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based Living Church of God grew out of a schism in the Worldwide Church of God, formed in 1933 as the Radio Church of God by Herbert W. Armstrong.

Armstrong, an Oregon advertising man, preached that Anglo-Americans were Jews, descendants of the lost "ten tribes of Israel."

The Worldwide Church of God changed their doctrine after Armstrong's death in 1986, but more than half the membership withdrew and formed splinter groups.

Meredith and Raymond McNair led one of the numerous groups that broke away, forming what was then called the "Global Church of God" in 1992 to perpetuate Armstrong's original teachings.

Armstrong's followers worshipped Saturday mornings, as Ratzmann did, and often rented facilities rather than erecting its own buildings.

Adherents believe in faith healing and strict opposition to divorce, among other things.

Members are told to shun worldly involvements, including politics, military service or participation in juries.
___

Sources:

Encyclopedia of American Religions, 7th edition.

Living Church of God: http://www.livingcog.org

Center for Studies on New Religions: http://www.cesnur.org

end quotes

Follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency?

HHHHHhhhhmmmmm.

YES!

Does anyone smell the "smell" of Karl Rove in here?

[Livyjr]

Jungian synchronicity, jeffmoskin?

U.S. National - AP
 
"Wisc. Sect Focused on 'End Time' Prophecy"

By The Associated Press

Terry Ratzmann, the man who police say killed seven people and then himself during a church service, was a member of the Living Church of God, a denomination that focuses on "end-time" prophecies.

The church's estimated 6,300 members in 40 countries place a strong emphasis on using world news to "prove" that these are end times, to be followed by Christ's second coming.

This year, the group's leader, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, wrote that events prophesied in the Bible are "beginning to occur with increasing frequency."

"We are not talking about decades in the future."

"We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life," he wrote in the church's magazine, Tomorrow's World.

He advised members to gather emergency food supplies and follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency.

end quotes

Follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency?

HHHHHhhhhmmmmm.

YES!

Does anyone smell the "smell" of Karl Rove in here?

Or in here, for that matter?

The coming of CORPORATIA is upon us!

And George W. Bush is alleged to be the "SECOND COMING OF CHRIST" predicted by these "END OF TIME" people in that LIVING CHURCH OF GOD, above, which prophecy may have triggered this man to kill all those other people, and himself!

Positively uncanny stuff going on here, is what I think!

"AP review: Gov't reducing access to info"

By MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:27 p.m., Sunday, March 13, 2005

Since 1998, many federal departments have been reducing the amount of information they release to the public -- even as the government fields and answers more requests for information than ever, an Associated Press review has found.

The locations of stores and restaurants that have received recalled meat, the names of detainees held by the U.S. overseas and details about Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy task force are all among the records that the government isn't sharing with the public.

The tightening began even before the Sept. 11 attacks, and now government defenders say the nation needs protection from its enemies in the war on terror.

But open government advocates worry that U.S. citizens' freedom is eroding with every file they can't access.

"This is an immensely troubling clampdown," said Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy Project.

"The law itself is unchanged, but it's being interpreted more broadly to withhold more information."

Under the 38-year-old Freedom of Information Act, the so-called "sunshine law," the federal government is supposed to share its records with the public, though it may withhold material for national security reasons or to protect the privacy of individuals or businesses.

In a review of about 130 annual FOIA reports submitted to the Justice Department by the 15 executive departments between 1998 and 2004, the AP found that:

--Requests for public records have been on the rise and jumped by another 1 million after the Sept. 11 attacks, topping 3.2 million in 2003.

More than half of this increase was due to an unusually large number of requests received by the Social Security Administration, where requests are ordinarily simple, personal and turned around on the same day they are received.

The next largest category consisted of queries to the Veterans Administration about personal records.

--The total number of requests being granted in full has increased from about 66 percent of all requests in 1998 to 88 percent in 2003.

However, a closer look at those figures shows that almost all of the increase came from requests made to the Social Security and Veteran's administrations.

--The percentage of requested information that is eventually released in full has been declining since 1998 at the Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Interior, State, Transportation and Treasury departments.

The Justice Department began reducing the information it releases in full after the 2001 attacks.

--At the CIA, just 12 percent of the FOIA requests processed were granted in total in 2004, down from 44 percent in 1998.

The FBI gave people asking for records everything they asked for just 1 percent of the time in 2004, compared to 5 percent in 1998.

The AP's review started from 1998 because that's when all federal agencies and departments were required to standardize their annual reports about FOIA requests.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration set a higher threshold for disclosure, advising agencies to make sure the information they released would not jeopardize national security.

But Charles Davis, executive director of the Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has said that court decisions before 2001 indicated the momentum already was swinging toward closing off information.

Edward Whelan, president of the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former Justice Department legal adviser, said it was logical for government officials to reevaluate the information they release after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"In the aggregate, there's good reason that there would be an increased recognition on the government's part that information previously thought to be harmless is, in fact, sensitive," he said.

In addition to decreasing some types of information released under FOIA, the federal government is increasing the number of documents deemed secret and has pulled thousands of documents and databases off public Web sites.

The federal government -- not including the CIA -- created 14 million new classified documents in fiscal year 2003, a 60 percent increase over 2001, according to the Information Security Oversight Office.

At the same time, the agency reports that it cut back on the number of documents that were declassified.

"The Bush administration's attitude is that public information is largely a dangerous thing in the wrong hands."

"Because there's some people who could use this information improperly, we shouldn't let anybody see it."

"I just think secrecy of that nature is almost always the exact wrong decision," said Harry Hammitt, who publishes Access Reports, a newsletter on Freedom of Information laws.

But officials involved in national security note that, in a post 9/11 world, disclosure of some material can put the public at risk.

States all have their own public records laws, and have closely followed the federal government's lead.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, at least 20 states have proposed new laws to control public records, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

These changes mostly try to prevent terrorists from seeing evacuation, emergency and security plans.

But in the process, limits are being placed on everything from birth and death records to architectural and engineering drawings of public buildings, said Davis, at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

A new state-by-state study of public records laws by the Better Government Association concluded that the array of legislation is so haphazard that it hampers "the citizenry's ability to examine even the most fundamental actions of government."

Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, introduced a bill in February that would significantly reform federal FOIA laws, requiring agencies to give people seeking documents a tracking number that could be checked online.

The bill also aims to reduce the kinds of excuses the government can give for refusing to release material.

The AP found several excuses are being used much more frequently by the security agencies than in past.

For example, the Justice Department has doubled the percentage of rejections because there are "no records" from 10 percent to 20 percent since 1998.

At the FBI, a Justice Department agency, about 37 percent of all requests were refused in 1998 for that reason -- but that number bumped up to about 55 percent last year.

FBI officials say this reflects an increase in the percentage of requests they receive for reports they simply don't have, though FOIA does allow agencies in some cases involving criminal law, terrorism and foreign intelligence to say "no records" when they do exist.

Some advocates, meanwhile, say that agencies aren't looking hard enough for records or are being disingenuous to the public.

The FBI is being sued by a Salt Lake City attorney who claims that he was told no records existed in a case when they were, in fact, being held in the agency's files.

Another reason for rejecting a citizen's FOIA request -- that the documents are internal administrative records that are of no interest to the public or could make it easy to circumvent the agency -- also is on the rise at the State, Justice, Defense and Transportation departments and at the FBI and CIA.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft had urged departments to consider using this exemption as a way to prevent release of in-house studies that showed weaknesses in various systems such as dams, nuclear power plants and pipelines.

The CIA used this exemption fewer than 10 times a year in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

In 2004, the CIA used it 101 times.

Leahy, who is calling for a new FOIA ombudsman, said he's concerned that the law is being weakened.

"The Freedom of Information Act is an invigorating mechanism that helps keep our government more open and effective and closer to the American people," he said.

"FOIA has had serious setbacks in recent years that endanger its effectiveness."

------

EDITOR'S NOTE -- The week of March 13 has been declared Sunshine Week by media organizations and other groups pressing for government access, contending information is being withheld more often by officials who cite post-Sept. 11 security concerns. This is the last part of a two-part series examining the use of the Freedom of Information Act by U.S. citizens, and the government's willingness to make its records available. ------

On the Net:

Sunshine Week: http://www.sunshineweek.org/

[Livyjr]

Somehow, I believe the situation has become what it is because those in power were able to effectively do the one thing that they had to do.

And that one thing is -----

They accomplished the "dumbing down" of the citizenry.

How could a man who tells us he reads his Bible every day, not be telling us the truth?

"Democracy is taking hold in the Middle East?"

In a pig's ear, it is.

It wouldn't take much to push Lebanon into another civil war.

A.B.

CUI BONO!

Let's start there, since Mr. A.B. really got me to thinking about that when he asked that rhetorical question in the top post of this "STRING OF PEARLS" above here - WHO DOES BENEFIT FROM CONTINUED TURMOIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

The people who live there?

Yeah, right, give me a break!

WHO IN THE HELL IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WANTS TO LIVE IN A WAR ZONE?

And Lebanon?

IF LEBANON IS PEACEFUL, THEN WILL THERE BE A NEED TO PROJECT AMERICAN POWER OVER THERE, AS THESE LEXINGTON INSTITUTE BOYS ARE ADVOCATING, IN THE INTERESTS OF CORPORATIA, OF COURSE, WHO SHALL REIGN OVER ALL THE EARTH, THE HEAVENS, AND THE STARS?

CUI BONO, indeed!

NOT US!

The coming of CORPORATIA is upon us!

And George W. Bush is alleged to be the "SECOND COMING OF CHRIST" predicted by these "END OF TIME" people in that LIVING CHURCH OF GOD, above, which prophecy may have triggered this man to kill all those other people, and himself!

Positively uncanny stuff going on here, is what I think!

"AP review: Gov't reducing access to info" 
 
By MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:27 p.m., Sunday, March 13, 2005

Since 1998, many federal departments have been reducing the amount of information they release to the public -- even as the government fields and answers more requests for information than ever, an Associated Press review has found.

The locations of stores and restaurants that have received recalled meat, the names of detainees held by the U.S. overseas and details about Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy task force are all among the records that the government isn't sharing with the public.

"The Bush administration's attitude is that public information is largely a dangerous thing in the wrong hands."

And while we are being shut right out of OUR own government over here, BY THE BUSH CO.'S, and wierd stuff is happening vis-a-vis the END OF THE WORLD folks, and the Bush Co., what is happening in Mr. A.B.'s Lebanon, BECAUSE of the Bush Co.?

World - Reuters

"Syrian-Backed Hizbollah Rallies Against U.S."

1 hour, 45 minutes ago

By Kamel Jaber

NABATIYEH, Lebanon (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people turned out for a Hizbollah rally against the United States Sunday, even as a U.N. envoy met the Lebanese president to press demands for a Syrian pullout.

Washington, leading the calls for Syria to withdraw its forces from the country, said it welcomed promises by Damascus to do so but wanted to see deeds and not just words.

Many placards at Hizbollah's demonstration in the southern town of Nabatiyeh said "No to foreign intervention," but were aimed at the United States and Israel, not Syria.

"America out!" yelled supporters of the Syrian-backed Shi'ite Muslim group, mocking the chants of "Syria out" at opposition demonstrations in recent weeks.

It was the second time in a week the Hizbollah guerrilla group, Lebanon's most powerful political organization and the only one with weapons, had flexed its muscles.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in central Beirut Tuesday to support Hizbollah's right to bear arms and to thank Syria for its role in Lebanon, where Damascus has kept troops since intervening in the country's civil war in 1976.

Waving Lebanese flags, the crowd chanted "Death to America, death to Israel" at the rally organized by Hizbollah and the smaller Shi'ite Amal party.

A few burned U.S. and Israeli flags.

U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen met Lebanese leaders and opposition figures Sunday on United Nations resolution 1559, which calls for foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon and the disarming of all militias there.

Roed-Larsen said he and President Emile Lahoud agreed at a "constructive" meeting that elections, expected in May, must go ahead on time.

Political tensions had stirred talk of a delay.

Roed-Larsen last visited Lebanon days before the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which sparked daily protests in Beirut against the Syrians many blamed.

Roed-Larsen said Saturday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had promised to withdraw all his troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon in line with the resolution.

He said he would present U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan next week with details on a timetable for a complete pullout.

Witnesses said personnel were packing up to leave at three main intelligence centers, taking down flags and huge pictures of Assad and his late father Hafez al-Assad.

Syrian troops left their posts in Mount Lebanon, northeast of Beirut.

Some crossed the Syrian border, where several hundred Lebanese showered the departing soldiers with rice and flowers.

Washington cautiously welcomed Assad's promise to the U.N. envoy, having previously demanded Syria's immediate withdrawal.

"Initial reports are encouraging," White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley told U.S. Fox television on Sunday.

"In the end of the day, it's going to be deeds, not words, that matter."

SUPPORT FOR HIZBOLLAH'S ARMS

Hizbollah, the main guerrilla group which fought Israeli occupation of Lebanon's south, was allowed to keep its arms after the civil war to fight Israeli forces occupying the south.

It claimed credit for driving them out in 2000.

Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud told reporters Lebanon's leaders had told Roed-Larsen they rejected the part of 1559 calling for militias in Lebanon to be disarmed.

"We said to him: We don't have any militias, we have a resistance that is supported by all the Lebanese people," he said.

Protesters, mostly Shi'ites but joined by Druze and others, came from across southern Lebanon to support Hizbollah's armed "Islamic resistance," witnesses said.

Some protesters held up Lebanese identity cards so that no one could say they had been bussed in from Syria, as some media reported happened at last week's Hizbollah rally in Beirut.

Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition movement plans to hold a big demonstration in central Beirut Monday, a month to the day since Hariri was killed.

They have demanded an international investigation into his death.

A few thousand protesters held a candlelit vigil in Beirut's Martyrs Square Sunday evening.

Hundreds of flickering flames formed the word "Truth."

end quotes

Truth!

Something we could use over here as well, but are unlikely to get from this Bush Co.

[Livyjr]

And who else in the world is "DISRESPECTING" George W. Bush today while the Lebanese people are also "DISRESPECTING" George W. Bush?

Besides about everyone, that is?

How about Iran?

World - Reuters

"U.S. 'Hallucinating' Over Nuclear Talks, Iran Says"

2 hours, 23 minutes ago

By Paul Hughes

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Washington is "hallucinating" if it thinks Iran will scrap its nuclear fuel production plans in return for economic incentives, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying Sunday.

The United States offered the encouragements in support of the European Union which is negotiating with Tehran to try to persuade it to give up sensitive nuclear activities.

"U.S. officials are either unaware of the substance of the talks or (they are) hallucinating," Sirus Naseri, a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, told the official IRNA news agency.

Iran says it needs atomic technology to generate electricity and will never use it to make bombs, as the United States fears.

London's Sunday Times said Israel had drawn up plans for a combined air and ground attack on Iranian nuclear installations if diplomacy fails to halt Tehran's atomic program.

The newspaper said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his inner cabinet had given "initial authorization" for a unilateral attack at a private meeting last month.

Israel, which bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, played down the report.

Iran has said it will respond vigorously to any attack on its nuclear plants.

Washington gave practical backing for the EU's diplomatic approach Friday, offering to allow Iran to begin talks on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and consider letting it buy civilian airline parts if it ceased all activities that could produce fuel for nuclear power plants or atomic weapons.

Washington and the EU have warned Iran it faces referral to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose economic sanctions, if it fails to allay fears it wants the bomb.

U.S. PROPOSAL "DISRESPECTFUL"

Iran dismissed the U.S. offer as insignificant.

Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi told IRNA it was "funny and disrespectful."

"The U.S. should apologize to Iran for making this proposal," he said, going on to describe Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a "queen of war and violence."

Naseri said it was not clear if greater U.S. involvement in the negotiations was "helpful or an obstacle to progress."

He said the EU, which has persuaded Iran to suspend potentially weapons-related activities like uranium enrichment while the two sides try to reach a solution, was close to accepting that Iran would not give up enrichment.

Instead, Tehran has offered to give "objective guarantees" that it will not divert nuclear fuel to military uses.

"It seems the Europeans are ready to adopt a logical position," Naseri said.

Iran has refused to disclose its guarantees publicly but diplomats and analysts say it is offering to allow intrusive inspections that ensure it only enriches uranium to a low grade which would be unsuitable for weapons.

It may also be prepared to restrict its enrichment activities to a pilot project, too small to make weapons production practical, diplomats and analysts say.

Such a solution would allow Iran to save face while meeting most of the West's concerns.

So far EU officials have said the only acceptable guarantee would be for Iran to mothball its enrichment plans and rely on imported nuclear reactor fuel.

The two sides are due to hold a crucial meeting in Paris on March 23 to review their talks.

"If the policy of the United States and Europe is for Iran not to go after nuclear weapons, we are ready to negotiate and reach an agreement," Hossein Mousavian, another of Iran's nuclear negotiators, told IRNA.

"However, if they want to prevent Iran producing the fuel it needs for its nuclear power plants, Iran will not welcome negotiations or these incentives."

end quotes

This Bush Co. keeps it up, this boy is gonna have "ENEMIES" coming out every end all at once, and then, what is he going to do?

[Livyjr]

CAN MEMBERS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, who are "an entity of one or more persons engaged in political or governmental activity" be suspected of CORRUPTING OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES?

OR ARE ALL REPUBLICANS ACTUALLY BEYOND THE REACH OF ANY AND ALL LAWS, SUCH AS ARTICLE 460 OF TITLE X OF THE NEW YORK STATE PENAL LAW BECAUSE THEY ALREADY ALLEGEDLY CONTROL THOSE SAME DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES, AND SO CAN "SAY" WHAT "CORRUPTION" REALLY MEANS, OR IS, ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN "DEFINITION" OF THE WORD, OR TERM?

"AP review: Gov't reducing access to info" 
 
By MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:27 p.m., Sunday, March 13, 2005

Since 1998, many federal departments have been reducing the amount of information they release to the public -- even as the government fields and answers more requests for information than ever, an Associated Press review has found.

The locations of stores and restaurants that have received recalled meat, the names of detainees held by the U.S. overseas and details about Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy task force are all among the records that the government isn't sharing with the public.

The tightening began even before the Sept. 11 attacks, and now government defenders say the nation needs protection from its enemies in the war on terror.

But open government advocates worry that U.S. citizens' freedom is eroding with every file they can't access.

"This is an immensely troubling clampdown," said Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy Project.

"The law itself is unchanged, but it's being interpreted more broadly to withhold more information."

"The Bush administration's attitude is that public information is largely a dangerous thing in the wrong hands."

States all have their own public records laws, and have closely followed the federal government's lead.

A new state-by-state study of public records laws by the Better Government Association concluded that the array of legislation is so haphazard that it hampers "the citizenry's ability to examine even the most fundamental actions of government."

"Growing secrecy threatens public"

By ERIN DUGGAN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Sunday, March 13, 2005

ALBANY -- Every day, New Yorkers try to get public information -- tax records, minutes of government meetings, accident reports and any of thousands of other documents.

Mundane or not, vast numbers of those records are available to the public under the state's Freedom of Information Law.

But those seeking information complain government officials use FOIL to literally foil attempts to access it.

Reporters, government watchdog groups and even lawmakers say access to information has gotten worse under Gov. George Pataki and President Bush, and that government's frequent inclination toward secrecy was bolstered by the threat of terrorism.

Government, some worry, is using loopholes in its own law to stymie requests for information, discouraging those who don't have the time, money and enthusiasm to bring their case to court.

"I think people are beginning to realize the lack of government responsiveness and the denial of rightful information is becoming more of a daily occurrence," said state Sen. Carl Kruger, D-Brooklyn.

FOIL and the state's 1976 Open Meetings Law are considered "Sunshine Laws," designed to shed light on formerly secretive aspects of government to guarantee that democracy is conducted openly.

How well government is responding is being looked at across the country this week as news organizations and other groups mark Sunshine Week.

State agencies get tens of thousands of Freedom of Information Law requests each year, from regular citizens, lawyers, reporters, businesses and anyone else who needs documents held by the state.

Under the law, an agency or government body has five business days to respond to the request.

There's no penalty for failure to respond.

But the law says the response must either provide the information, deny the request or simply acknowledge the request and give an approximate date of when the request will be fulfilled or denied.

Too often, critics contend, officials use the last clause to indefinitely delay dealing with requests.

"If you don't get a denial, you can't go to court to request that the documents are turned over," said Diane Kennedy, president of the New York Newspaper Publisher's Association.

Kennedy and her colleagues were in the Capitol last week lobbying lawmakers to amend the law's timetable for responses.

They found majority-party lawmakers in both houses -- Oneida Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito and Yonkers Sen. Nick Spano -- to take up their cause.

The New York Public Interest Research Group concluded late last year that many state agencies were not complying with the law.

Of 142 agencies that the group sent requests for information, about 20 percent failed to respond in a timely manner.

A recent national study by the University of Florida ranked New York as average for its response time.

Blair Horner, NYPIRG's legislative director, said Albany is getting more secretive.

"I think the Pataki administration has been most notable for its efforts to operate in secret, and I think that's reflected in how they disclose information either under the Freedom of Information Law, or just generally speaking," Horner said.

"I think the trend in Albany, which has always been too secretive, has become more secretive."

Pataki spokesman Kevin Quinn said the state is doing a good job.

"We take our Freedom of Information responsibilities very seriously," Quinn said.

"We're proud of our efforts to ensure state agencies promote an open and responsive government."

"Not only do agencies process thousands of FOIL requests each year, they also now offer a tremendous amount of information on their Web sites."

"Today, there is no question that we provide New Yorkers with more access to state government than ever before."

The public can take agencies to court for information, and many people have prevailed in their quest for documents.

But victory isn't cheap -- few people get their legal expenses paid for even if they win, because judges must find that the plaintiff strongly prevails, the information wrongly withheld is of significant public interest and the agency had no cause to withhold the information.

Kruger and Assemblyman Alexander Grannis, D-Manhattan, want to make it easier for victorious plaintiffs to recover their legal fees.

The two sponsored a bill now pending in each house.

The idea is supported by the state's Committee on Open Government, part of the state Department of State.

Robert Freeman, the committee's executive director and the state's leading expert on freedom of information laws, said security concerns that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks created a lot of rash decisions on public information.

In 2002, for example, the state Senate passed a series of anti-terrorism bills that limited access to information.

Opponents argued the law already protected sensitive security material.

For example, Freeman said, a bill was proposed that would have allowed government to withhold anything related to terrorism or investigations of terrorism.

"That was much too broad," said Freeman, who said he recommends a harm test -- where withholding information would require an explanation of why the release of the information would be harmful.

"In some instances, the instant reaction is to say no," Freeman said.

"From my perspective, there are unique circumstances where some records or portions of records can be withheld, and there are other times when a knee-jerk reaction is short-sighted and wrong."

One person frequently ringing Freeman for an opinion is William Van Allen, a Hurley, Ulster County, resident who estimates he has filed more than 500 information requests and has gone to court over many of them.

Van Allen has asked for such things as minutes of meetings from the state Board of Elections, records from local library and school board votes, and voter petitions from local county boards of elections.

His latest case is over lists of poll inspectors.

"Going to court is expensive and it takes forever," said Van Allen, a retiree who represents himself.

"And you have to go through two or three levels of jerks to get there."

Before pushing a FOIL request in court, Van Allen said, he calls Freeman for an opinion.

"Without him there, it would be hopeless," Van Allen said.

State Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, said sunshine laws aren't limited to documents and open meetings.

Making the legislative process more transparent through reforms would bring the state more in line with the spirit of sunshine legislation.

"There are a lot of sunshine questions that aren't just how you run the Legislature," Krueger said.

For example, she said, public authorities control hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money but operate less openly than other government agencies.

Citizens also are largely in the dark when it comes to understanding the state budget and other issues that affect them, like eminent domain proceedings.

"It's the people's business," she said.

The Legislature operates under different rules than the rest of the state: Instead of all documents being presumed public unless there is a valid reason to withhold them, only certain categories of legislative records must be released.

The list is expansive -- bills, laws, resolutions, messages from the governor, audits, transcripts and almost any other documents that would normally be covered under FOIL, Freeman said.

But one area not covered by FOIL or the Open Meetings Law is party caucuses -- where ruling majorities essentially decide the fate of legislation.

Even lawmakers say they find roadblocks.

Krueger said she has had to file many FOIL requests to get information that agencies are required by law to provide the Legislature.

"How ridiculous is that?" she asked.

"Didn't we get elected to oversee this?"

Freeman's office produces an annual report to the governor and Legislature, detailing progress in Freedom of Information that it would like to see.

One of the sharpest criticisms in the latest report is that "state and federal court decisions glaringly indicate that government agencies may not be forthcoming when responding to requests, that the law has no teeth and that failures to comply carry no penalty of substance."

To give the state more incentive to comply with requests, the committee offered a series of legislative recommendations, many of which have been introduced by members.

Assemblywoman Susan John, D-Rochester, is sponsoring a bill supported by the committee to invalidate actions taken at meetings that violate the Open Meetings Law and impose a $500 fine on the governing body.

John said Open Meeting Law violations are a problem in some smaller municipalities she represents.

"I think that enforcement has been a serious reason why some of the municipalities may feel that they don't have to pay attention to it," she said.

"There are some communities that try to hold important meetings in a phone booth."

"Or try to hold open meetings without interpreters for the hearing impaired or that are not accessible for the disabled."

The Committee on Open Government also is pushing for a three-strikes rule against members of a public body that habitually violates the Open Meetings Law.

Members with three strikes would be removed from office.

State lawmakers, especially those who themselves have been foiled when trying to access state information, said it's time to give the 30-year-old law more heft, especially in a year in which the Assembly and Senate are fighting to out-reform each other.

"If we're half of what we claim to be," said Kruger, "then we should pull open the curtains, raise the Venetians and let as much light onto the process as possible."

Dozens of bills dealing with public information and open meetings are pending in the state Legislature.

Here is a sample. (Letters preceding bills indicate Senate or Assembly.):

A1675/S2641: Would make it easier for people to win back legal fees from wrongful denials of access to records under Freedom of Information Law.

A5625: Strengthens the timeline by which requests for a record under FOIL is granted or denied.

A3468: Creates a penalty for up to $1,000 for willful failure to make timely disclosure of public records.

A4402/S0496: Would expand the amount of information available to the public, via the Internet, about registered sex offenders.

On the Web: To read these bills or search for more, check out http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/ or http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menuf.cgi

[Livyjr]

Jungian synchronicity, jeffmoskin?

U.S. National - AP
 
"Wisc. Sect Focused on 'End Time' Prophecy"

By The Associated Press

Terry Ratzmann, the man who police say killed seven people and then himself during a church service, was a member of the Living Church of God, a denomination that focuses on "end-time" prophecies.

The church's estimated 6,300 members in 40 countries place a strong emphasis on using world news to "prove" that these are end times, to be followed by Christ's second coming.

This year, the group's leader, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, wrote that events prophesied in the Bible are "beginning to occur with increasing frequency."

"We are not talking about decades in the future."

"We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life," he wrote in the church's magazine, Tomorrow's World.

He advised members to gather emergency food supplies and follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency.

end quotes

Follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency?

HHHHHhhhhmmmmm.

YES!

Does anyone smell the "smell" of Karl Rove in here?

Or in here, for that matter?

The coming of CORPORATIA is upon us!

And George W. Bush is alleged to be the "SECOND COMING OF CHRIST" predicted by these "END OF TIME" people in that LIVING CHURCH OF GOD, above, which prophecy may have triggered this man to kill all those other people, and himself!

Positively uncanny stuff going on here, is what I think!

"AP review: Gov't reducing access to info" 
 
By MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:27 p.m., Sunday, March 13, 2005

Since 1998, many federal departments have been reducing the amount of information they release to the public -- even as the government fields and answers more requests for information than ever, an Associated Press review has found.

The locations of stores and restaurants that have received recalled meat, the names of detainees held by the U.S. overseas and details about Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy task force are all among the records that the government isn't sharing with the public.

The tightening began even before the Sept. 11 attacks, and now government defenders say the nation needs protection from its enemies in the war on terror.

But open government advocates worry that U.S. citizens' freedom is eroding with every file they can't access.

"The Bush administration's attitude is that public information is largely a dangerous thing in the wrong hands."

And isn't this an interesting juxtaposition, above here?

At the very same time that this LEADER of this Living Church of God, a denomination that focuses on "end-time" prophecies, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, is writing that events prophesied in the Bible are beginning to occur with increasing frequency: "We are not talking about decades in the future; We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life," and at the same time that he is advising members to gather emergency food supplies and follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency, the Bush Co. is literally assuring that the FLOCKS will have no INDEPENDENT MEANS of verifying what they are being told, EITHER BY THE CHURCH, OR BUSH CO.!

"PUT YOUR TRUST IN GEORGE W. BUSH, DO NOT QUESTION GEORGE W. BUSH; JUST TRUST GEORGE W. BUSH, AND YOU WILL MAKE IT THROUGH THE END TIMES OKAY, AND YOU WILL BE THERE TO SEE THE GLORY OF GEORGE W. BUSH AS THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST!"

Interesting!

And very powerful to boot!

Mind control!

In spades!

Who has the KOOL-AID?

[Livyjr]

And isn't this an interesting juxtaposition, above here?

At the very same time that this LEADER of this Living Church of God, a denomination that focuses on "end-time" prophecies, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, is writing that events prophesied in the Bible are beginning to occur with increasing frequency: "We are not talking about decades in the future; We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life," and at the same time that he is advising members to gather emergency food supplies and follow government instructions on how to prepare for an emergency, the Bush Co. is literally assuring that the FLOCKS will have no INDEPENDENT MEANS of verifying what they are being told, EITHER BY THE CHURCH, OR BUSH CO.!

"PUT YOUR TRUST IN GEORGE W. BUSH, DO NOT QUESTION GEORGE W. BUSH; JUST TRUST GEORGE W. BUSH, AND YOU WILL MAKE IT THROUGH THE END TIMES OKAY, AND YOU WILL BE THERE TO SEE THE GLORY OF GEORGE W. BUSH AS THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST!"

Interesting!

And very powerful to boot!

Mind control!

In spades!

Who has the KOOL-AID?

"Church gunman said upset over sermon"

By JULIET WILLIAMS and RYAN NAKASHIMA, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:27 p.m., Sunday, March 13, 2005

BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- The man who fatally shot seven people during a quiet church service before turning the gun on himself was on the verge of losing his job and upset over a sermon he heard two weeks ago, investigators said Sunday.

Terry Ratzmann, 44, left no suicide note and gave no explanation for the killings during Saturday's weekly meeting at a suburban Milwaukee hotel.

It was unclear what specifically upset him, but Ratzmann was a member of the Living Church of God, a denomination whose leader recently prophesied that end times are near.

Fifty to 60 people were at the service when it turned into a bloodbath.

Ratzmann, a buttoned-down churchgoer known for sharing his homegrown vegetables with his neighbors, walked into the room and fired 22 rounds from a 9mm handgun.

He even dropped a magazine and reloaded another.

One of Ratzmann's friends begged him to stop, calling him by name and saying, "Stop, stop, why?" police Capt. Phil Horter said.

Chandra Frazier dove under a chair.

The man sitting in it died.

"I just remember crawling on the carpet and just praying, screaming out and praying," Frazier told "Good Morning America" on Sunday.

After killing seven people and wounding four others, Ratzmann took his own life, leaving four rounds in his gun, police said.

The church's minister, Randy L. Gregory, 51, and his son, James Gregory, 16, of Gurnee, Ill., died, along with Harold Diekmeier, 74, of Delafield; Richard Reeves, 58, of Cudahy; Bart Oliver, 15, of Waukesha; Gloria Critari, 55, of Cudahy; and Gerald A. Miller, 44, of Erin, according to police and published reports.

Marjean Gregory, 52, of Gurnee, was hospitalized in critical condition.

Matthew P. Kaulbach, 21, of Pewaukee and Angel M. Varichak, 19, of Helenville were hospitalized in satisfactory condition Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A 10-year-old girl police identified as Lindsay also remained hospitalized.

The church group was 20 or 30 minutes into Saturday's service when the shots rang out.

Ratzmann regularly attended the gatherings at the Sheraton each Saturday -- the church group did not have a building of its own.

But Frazier said Ratzmann walked out of a recent sermon "sort of in a huff."

"Something that the minister said he was upset about."

"I'm not quite sure what exactly," she said.

During the shooting rampage, Ratzmann told the friend who approached him that he was upset, said Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, although he was unsure over what.

He was not known to have threatened anyone and had no criminal record, police said.

They seized three computers, a .22-caliber rifle and a box of bullets from the modest two-story home Ratzmann shared with his mother and adult sister.

Neighbors said Ratzmann built his own greenhouse, kept a well-tended garden and even used humane traps to free squirrels that got in the yard.

"He wasn't a dark guy."

"He was average Joe," said Shane Colwell, a neighbor who knew Ratzmann for about a decade.

"It's not like he ever pushed his beliefs on anyone else."

But another neighbor called Ratzmann a drinker, and church members said he struggled with depression for years.

"Terry suffered from depression, on and off."

"When he was really depressed he didn't talk to people."

"Sometimes it was worse than others," said Kathleen Wollin, 66, who was sitting at the front of the room during Saturday's service.

The district attorney said Ratzmann was on the verge of losing his job as a computer technician.

Ratzmann had been working for an employment agency, assigned to a health care company.

Colwell said Ratzmann was so devout about attending church that he skipped Colwell's wedding because it was on a Saturday.

The Living Church of God, based in Charlotte, N.C., places a strong emphasis on using world events to prove the end of the world is near.

Earlier this year, the group's leader, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, wrote that events prophesied in the Bible are "beginning to occur with increasing frequency."

"We are not talking about decades in the future."

"We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life," he wrote in the church's magazine, Tomorrow's World.

The church branch that met in Brookfield was started by Randy Gregory, who moved his family from Texas to Gurnee, Ill., five years ago, said next-door neighbor Toni D'Amore, 47.

Gregory and his 16-year-old son, James, were among the victims.

"Their children were probably, I'd have to say, were probably some of the nicest and most respectable young men I've ever met," she said.

She said James excelled in school.

"He just had potential coming out of every pore of his body."

"You know, the world's lost something there."

Don Free's niece, Angel Varichak, was one of the wounded.

Free said she was expected to survive.

"I wanted to know where God was when this happened," Free told the Chicago Sun-Times.

"He was supposed to be everywhere."

"He could have at least been there."

end quotes

"I wanted to know where God was when this happened?"

Well, let's ask Scottie "BOY" McClellan, the SPOKESCREENPERSON: WAS HE IN WASHINGTON THAT DAY, OR DOWN AT THE RANCH IN TEXAS?

[jeffmoskin]

Ratzmann, a buttoned-down churchgoer known for sharing his homegrown vegetables with his neighbors, walked into the room and fired 22 rounds from a 9mm handgun.

He even dropped a magazine and reloaded another.

I'm wearing my tar and feather repellant, so I will say that articles like these make me wish that the ownership of guns was limited to flint-lock, black powder types. The idea of one man being capable of so much firepower is disturbing.

Chris Rock did a comedy piece where he suggested that bullets cost $5.00 each, the idea being that drug lords would have to do a "mental profit and loss sheet" before riddling the 'hood with 9mm rounds.

With a popluation of nearly 300 million people, the number of loony tunes out there is fairly high. And ANYBODY can get hold of a gun, no matter what kind of "background checks" are done. You could probably just buy one on the street.

It's such a tragedy when one person can wreak so much havoc.

In Church, no less.

[Livyjr]

Good morning, America!

Another day up here in the GREAT NORTH-EAST, as the wags and pundits call it, and the sun is shining, and so ....

Life is good!

If the sun wasn't shining, well, life would still be good, but on a sunny day, well, maybe it is just a touch better, and so ....

As always, when I come in here, it is a totally random thing, as I am not in the pay or employ of anyone, and I am not pushing an "agenda" on behalf of any special interests groups and being not in control of much in this world other than where I set my feet, and the extent to which I extend my arms at any given time, so as to not try and occupy the space already occupied by someone else's head, I never know what I am going to encounter on my way in here, and so, until I am actually here, which I am right now, I never really know what will be said next in here until it is said.

Which right now is all of this above!

My "INTENT" this morning was and is to get back to this thing called "LIBERTY", but that is indeed a circuitous route, it seems, to get back to there, since so much is going on in the meantime that precludes us from having the "LIBERTY" that I want to talk about!

And so, I talk about those other things instead, as they are, to me, impediments to "LIBERTY", and to understand the one, it seems you have to really discuss the others, and then make an attempt to tie it all together to make a comprehensive whole out of it, WHICH IS NOT EASY TO DO!

And admittedly so, because there is just so much to be assimilated, that it simply overwhelms people, and so, the conversation is just never had.

And now, perhaps we are facing a mountain where once a molehill stood.

Things tackled when small are easier to deal with than when procrastination allows them to become very big!

A fire in a frying pan, for example, is much easier to deal with in relative terms than a fire consuming your whole house, because you were too busy talking on the phone to take a moment to remove the heat from the frying pan, so as to not set it on fire in the first place!

A matter of priorities, I think it used to be called, when I was young, in the country!

DON'T PLOW THE FIELD AFTER YOU HAVE PLANTED THE CORN!

Things like that!

Simple things like that, actually, and we don't seem to "SEE" things like that in simple terms no more, and so, maybe now things are not so simple anymore, AND THEN WHAT HAPPENS?

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PLOW THE FIELD AFTER YOU HAVE PLANTED THE CORN, FOR EXAMPLE?

Or is that really too hard a question?

How about this one, then?

WHAT HAPPENS TO "OUR" NATIONAL ECONOMY AFTER DICK CHENEY AND HIS CROWD OF "NEVER WILL HAVE ENOUGHS" HAVE SUCCEEDED, WITH CONTINUED "FEARS OF TAY-RAH", IN DRIVING UP THE COST OF A BARREL OF OIL RIGHT ON OUT OF SIGHT, SO THAT THEY CAN THEN GOUGE US WHEN WE HAVE TO BUY HEATING OIL AND GASOLINE FROM THEM?

Business - AP

"Concern Over Inflation Could Intensify"

Sun Mar 13, 2:43 PM ET

By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - The stock market's obsession with inflation could intensify in the week ahead as Wall Street's major brokerage houses start reporting their first-quarter earnings.

Earnings in the financial sector typically come under pressure in a rising interest rate environment.

When inflation is a concern, the Federal Reserve is particularly aggressive in raising rates to combat rising prices.

The Fed has raised the short-term benchmark rate from 1 percent to 2.5 percent since last summer.

That tightens the availability of capital, making it more expensive, and that hurts brokerages' bottom lines as the margins on their own borrowing shrink and the value of their rate-sensitive holdings, like bonds, decreases.

Investors will look to earnings from the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and the Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. this week for signs that the Fed's rate hikes are working, and also that the brokerages are adjusting their business plans to make up for the shortfalls.

Last week, a sharp climb in oil prices and a weaker dollar raised fears of inflation once again, sending the markets sharply off the 3 1/2-year highs reached the previous week.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 1.52 percent for the week, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 1.8 percent.

ECONOMIC DATA

The upcoming batch of economic data this week won't do much to assuage inflation fears, but should give a clearer picture of the health of the economy.

On Tuesday, the Commerce Department will release its retail sales report for February.

Economists expect sales to improve by 0.6 percent for the month after a 0.3 percent drop in January.

With sluggish auto sales removed, retail sales are expected to climb 0.8 percent, versus a 0.6 percent rise in January.

The Federal Reserve will release its industrial production figures Wednesday.

The output of the nation's factories is expected to rise 0.5 percent in February after a flat January.

Also Wednesday, the Commerce Department will report on housing starts and building permits for February.

Both are expected to decline slightly from January due to seasonally poor weather conditions.

EARNINGS

Bear Stearns will start the brokerage earnings reports before Wednesday's trading session.

The company is expected to earn $2.34 per share, compared with $2.37 a share a year ago.

Bear Stearns' stock has been a steady performer, rising 34.9 percent since closing at a 2004 low of $76.62 on May 10.

It closed Friday at $103.33.

Morgan Stanley, which announces earnings Thursday morning, has climbed 25 percent from its low close of $46.80 on Aug. 6, ending Friday at $58.49.

The brokerage is expected to earn $1.14 per share, up from last year's $1.11 per share.

Also Thursday, Goldman Sachs will report its earnings and is expected to post a profit of $2.21 per share, down from the $2.50 per share a year ago.

Like rival Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs has risen substantially since its August lows, climbing 30.9 percent from its close of $83.86 on Aug. 12 to close Friday at $109.55.

Among the other companies reporting this week is FedEx Corp., due out Thursday morning.

The shipping company is expected to earn 98 cents per share for the quarter, up substantially from 71 cents a year ago.

FedEx has been one of the market's most solid performers the past two years, rising steadily from a close of $49.80 on March 14, 2003, to end Friday at $99.73, a two-year gain of 100.3 percent.

[Livyjr]

I'm wearing my tar and feather repellant, so I will say that articles like these make me wish that the ownership of guns was limited to flint-lock, black powder types.

The idea of one man being capable of so much firepower is disturbing.

Chris Rock did a comedy piece where he suggested that bullets cost $5.00 each, the idea being that drug lords would have to do a "mental profit and loss sheet" before riddling the 'hood with 9mm rounds.

With a popluation of nearly 300 million people, the number of loony tunes out there is fairly high.

And ANYBODY can get hold of a gun, no matter what kind of "background checks" are done.

You could probably just buy one on the street.

It's such a tragedy when one person can wreak so much havoc.

In Church, no less.

Tar and feather repellent, indeed, jeffmoskin!

I'm personally surprised that in situations like this, especially where the guy had to actually reload, that everybody actually stood around, EN TABLEAU, while he did so!

"ALL RIGHT FOLKS, EVERYBODY JUST HOLD YOUR POSITIONS HERE FOR A MOMENT, HE HAS TO RELOAD!"

When he ran out of bullets the first time, the "slide" would have had to have been worked after he put the second magazine in, so as to get another round back into the chamber, and what was everybody doing in that period of time?

And according to the article, one guy was actually talking to him while he was blazing away!

SO!

What's with that?

And bullets for some guns are about $4 apiece, and that does not seem to stop anybody from shooting up the "hood", or the local church, or courtroom or whatever, just as the cost of a pack of cigarettes does not seem to stop anyone from smoking those things.

In this story which follows, the Police Lieutenant being honored WAS KILLED by a FEDERAL PAROLEE, one of those that George W. Bush has direct responsibility for as CHIEF EXECUTIVE of the United States FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND THE FEDERAL PAROLEE WAS ARMED WITH A MAC-10 "KNOCK-OFF", WHICH WOULD BE A RAPID-FIRE WEAPON AKIN TO AN UZI!

SO?

How and where did a FEDERAL PAROLEE get this MAC-10?

AND THE BULLETS?

AND GEORGE W. BUSH WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE WE ARE "SAFE" HERE IN THIS BOTCH-JOB "AMURKA" THAT HE AND HIS CROWD OF INEPT INCOMPETENTS ARE CREATING IN THE EXACT IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF THEIR "MASTER", GEORGE W. BUSH?

"FBI honors fallen Albany police officer - Lt. John Finn recognized for volunteer work in the community he served"

By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Tuesday, March 8, 2005

ALBANY -- The FBI posthumously honored Lt. John F. Finn Monday, recognizing the officer for his work in the community.

William D. Chase, special agent in charge of the Albany office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, presented the award to Finn's widow, Maura McNulty-Finn, as fellow officers looked on.

"We all know the heroic way John Finn gave his life to this community," Chase said.

"This award is to honor the heroic and caring way in which he lived his life."

The ceremony was held at the Albany Citizens Council on Alcoholism office where Finn volunteered.

Finn, a popular patrol supervisor and former detective who worked in the Juvenile Unit, died Feb. 12, 2004.

He had been shot three times on Dec. 23, 2003, while responding to a store robbery in the South End.

The 12-year veteran underwent multiple surgeries before dying at Albany Medical Center Hospital.

He was 37.

Keshon Everett, 27, of Albany, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.

McNulty-Finn held the couple's toddler daughter, Molly, as she accepted the award that recognized, in part, Finn's "unselfish dedication and leadership."

There is an older Finn daughter, Clara.

McNulty-Finn thanked the FBI and her husband's colleagues, saying they "have made it possible for us to keep going."

The police force's newest K-9, an 18-month-old German shepherd named Finn in honor of the fallen officer, was on hand, along with his handler, Officer Kyle McGraith.

The council's office on McCarty Avenue is near FBI headquarters.

When Chase was assigned to Albany last summer, Catherine Doherty, the council's executive director, invited him over.

It was during that visit, he said, that he learned that Finn volunteered at the center and "reached out to youth (to) mentor them before they got into trouble," Chase said.

"Our hope is that John's life will inspire others to volunteer."

Albany Police Chief James Turley called the FBI award "a national recognition for John (and) his leadership abilities."

He talked about Finn's attributes, saying, "Everybody who worked with John were followers, even me."

County Executive Michael Breslin and Mayor Jerry Jennings spoke of Finn's devotion to children.

Jennings said that when he was vice principal at Albany High School, he met Finn, watched how he related to children and thought, "this guy gets it."

[jeffmoskin]

Last week, a sharp climb in oil prices and a weaker dollar raised fears of inflation once again, sending the markets sharply off the 3 1/2-year highs reached the previous week.

And good morning to you, Livyjr. And to all of the people reading this thread.

Sadly, and there are many books on the subject, we are in an era of "Peak Oil" which means that while the slimy stuff will be with us for most of the new century, diminishing return have or are about to set in, meaning that less and less will be available to a world (now with 1.3 Billion Chinese included) that demands more and more.

Yes, I know that Money has become a narcotic to BushCorp, Halliburton, Carlyle Group. Even to my favorite mousketeer: Mikey Eisner, whose $600 million salary strikes me as "excessive," but hey what do I know.

The salient issue here, IMHO, is that we have KNOWN this was coming.

Since 1956.

And other than a small adjustment in the 70's to smaller cars, more efficient refrigerators, better house insulation, since the 80s we have been BACKSLIDING as though there was no tomorrow.

This is tomorrow, and we have been plowing up the seed corn.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that before long oil will cost many times what does today, and that our life style will suffer for it because we have not been paying attention.

And while I can rant all I want at BushCorp on this forum, SUV FEVER is really a Clinton era phenomenon. He just looked the other way.

Other than Jimmy Carter, for whom I have always had the highest regard as a human being but not as a president (and I am gradually seeing his presidency in a better light) American Leadership has been totally wanton when it comes to long range strategic planning about energy.

And now the clock is striking midnight.

And I hate the cold and the dark.

This post has been edited by jeffmoskin: Mar 14 2005, 08:39 AM

[Livyjr]

Tar and feather repellent, indeed, jeffmoskin!

In this story which follows, the Police Lieutenant being honored WAS KILLED by a FEDERAL PAROLEE, one of those that George W. Bush has direct responsibility for as CHIEF EXECUTIVE of the United States FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND THE FEDERAL PAROLEE WAS ARMED WITH A MAC-10 "KNOCK-OFF", WHICH WOULD BE A RAPID-FIRE WEAPON AKIN TO AN UZI!

SO?

How and where did a FEDERAL PAROLEE get this MAC-10?

AND THE BULLETS?

AND GEORGE W. BUSH WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE WE ARE "SAFE" HERE IN THIS BOTCH-JOB "AMURKA" THAT HE AND HIS CROWD OF INEPT INCOMPETENTS ARE CREATING IN THE EXACT IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF THEIR "MASTER", GEORGE W. BUSH?

"FBI honors fallen Albany police officer - Lt. John Finn recognized for volunteer work in the community he served" 
 
By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Tuesday, March 8, 2005

ALBANY -- The FBI posthumously honored Lt. John F. Finn Monday, recognizing the officer for his work in the community.

William D. Chase, special agent in charge of the Albany office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, presented the award to Finn's widow, Maura McNulty-Finn, as fellow officers looked on.

"We all know the heroic way John Finn gave his life to this community," Chase said.

"This award is to honor the heroic and caring way in which he lived his life."

The ceremony was held at the Albany Citizens Council on Alcoholism office where Finn volunteered.

Finn, a popular patrol supervisor and former detective who worked in the Juvenile Unit, died Feb. 12, 2004.

He had been shot three times on Dec. 23, 2003, while responding to a store robbery in the South End.

The 12-year veteran underwent multiple surgeries before dying at Albany Medical Center Hospital.

He was 37.

And here, I am always interested IN WHAT WE NEVER SEEM TO HEAR, which is WHERE DID THIS FEDERAL PAROLEE GET A MAC-10?

Why does that part of the story never seem to get told?

This particular shooting actually took place within blocks of the main Police Station in George Pataki's "CAPITAL CITY" of Albany, New York, and it was just down the hill from George Pataki's GOVERNOR'S MANSION, to boot.

And if I were to put in here ALL the stories of the daily SHOOTINGS right here in George Pataki's CAPITAL CITY of Albany, New York, I'd never have room or time for anything else!

QUESTION: WHO IS NOT ARMED AND DANGEROUS UP HERE?

ANSWER: THE HONEST FOLKS!

In the meantime, of course, George W. Bush and George Pataki are shutting off OUR access to OUR government so as to be able to "PER-TECT" us from these so-called and alleged "TAY-RISTS" in the mountain fastnesses TEN THOUSAND MILES AWAY in Afghanistan!

What absolute B*** S*** is that?

The other day, the local radio news carried a story that in GEORGE PATAKI'S CAPITAL CITY of Albany, New York, Chinese take-aways will no longer deliver to certain areas of GEORGE PATAKI'S CAPITAL CITY because it is just too dangerous, as it is for pizza delivery men as well.

BUT ...

AT LEAST THEY DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING BLOWN UP BY A "DURTIE NU-CLAR DEEVICE" HIDDEN IN A SAMSONITE OVERNIGHT BAG, as if that is some kind of consolation, here!

Over on Mr. A.B.'s "Religion and Politics" thread, he asks what may or may not be a rhetorical question: "HOW STUPID DOES GEORGE W. BUSH REALLY THINK WE ARE", and the answer is VERY!

BECAUSE WE ARE!