Post - 9/11

Friday September 11, 2009

. . . . .Today is a day of very mixed emotions for me. On a very close, personal basis, yesterday was a day that I knew was coming, and was as prepared for it as I could be, but when it happens, I don't believe that you're ever prepared. My spiritual grandfather, my ate, Elmer (Norbert) Running passed into the next life at 12:20 PM Central time yesterday. If you're a casual reader, you probably don't realize where I work, or write from, it's fairly remote. I'd like to thank all the members of that extended family who all got a hold of me right away, so I would know.

. . . .He was in his mid-90's, and not in good health. We all knew it was coming, and we all owe him a great deal for teaching us how to walk, to live, to be, in this world. A great man has passed, and the world is better because he was here, and did the things he did while he was here; and a little emptier now that another good teacher, a good mentor, has moved on. I am happy that we all were able to see him in August, that he was able to see all of us living, working in the way he taught us, and doing our best at it. I think that is most likely the best thank you and reward we could have given him, not talking about it, but doing it and living, being it.

. . . .Today also marks the anniversary of the criminal acts and murder committed at the South end of Manhattan 8 years ago this morning. It's a given for anyone who reads this regularly that I am a political animal, and that day, and the subsequent events changed everything for me forever.

. . . .First and foremost, with the way I live my life, the ones that I always need to remember, to always commemorate are the firefighters, police, and emergency workers of the NYFD and the NYPD. People who weren't on site when it happened, and rushed to be there and go inside to help, they rushed in, without thought for themselves when everyone else was running out, fleeing for their lives. They didn't care who had done it, how it happened, what the politics or idealogy behind it was; they only did their job, and their job is one of the most selfless, brave, courageous, dangerous jobs on the face of the Earth. Their names, their families, their legacy should be forever honored. They made the ultimate sacrifice. The names and faces of the 343 fallen firefighters can be found here, at the comprehensive database.

. . . .Today, there will be the obligatory memorials today, the endless tape over and over from that day, coverage of the memorial, there will be on-line posts, testimonies, and those who swear they will never forget, and life will move on tomorrow.

. . . .For me, that day marked a radical shift in my thinking, and ultimately led me to where I'm at today.

. . . .I'm angry, that's obvious. An angry voter, an angry political animal.

. . . .So, if you want to know the facts, the reality, the timeline, behind why I'm so angry, and why I classify the wingnut "truthers" on the Left with the "birthers" on the Right, here's why.

. . . .To understand what happened on 9/11/2001, we have to start all the way back in 1979.

- Jimmy Carter was President of the United States
- Very late in 1978, the Iranian Revolution had stopped production of oil in Iran.
- The price per barrel of crude oil jumped from $14 per barrel in 1978 to $35 per barrel in 1980.
- The Iranian Revolution, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini, led to the overthrow Shah Reza Pahlavi in Iran and his Secret Police, the Savak, the installation of the Shariiya law, the installation of the High Cleric (Khomeini), and the installation of the High Council, the Mullahs.
- After Pahlavi left the country, the American Embassy was stormed on November 4th, and the Revolutionary Council took 66 American hostages.
- Carter unsuccessfully negotiated for the remainder of his term for their release, which did not occur until 444 days later, the last 52 hostages being released a few hours after Carter left office, and Reagan was sworn in.
- In 1980, a secret military mission to free the hostages ends in total disaster in a sandstorm in central Iraq.
- In 1979, a young member of the Saudi royal family, an educated engineer, traveled to the United States to Indiana and Los Angeles; Indiana to meet a Palestinian radical named Abdullah Azzam. The member of the Saudi royal family who traveled here? Osama Bin Laden.
- In 1979, the Soviets invade Afghanistan, and the Soviet-Afghan war begins.
- In 1979, Saddam Hussein took control of Iraq. A Ba'athist, Hussein was an entirely secular man, who had no use for Islam, and it's tenets or Christianity. Hussein was only concerned with power and money.
- In 1980, concurrently with the Soviet-Afghan War, the Iran-Iraq war begins.It last until August 20, 1988. It is essentially a war with the Shi'ite sect of Islam, which since the revolution has been the dominant sect in Iran. The United States supplies 4,508 missles to Iraq to aid in it's efforts to achieve victory over Iran. Iran acknowledges over 300,000 dead; but military strategists put the actual figure at near a million. Iraq loses approximately 375,000 dead. In both cases, the extreme loss of population and oil production inevitably alters the course of history for both countries.
- In 1988, oil price per barrel slips below $14, despite curtailed production from both Iran and Iraq, due to the war, decimated populations and damaged facilities.
- In 1988, the terrorist network of the criminals known as al-Quaeda is established by Osama bin Laden, the member of the Saudi royal family, bringing together Sunni Arabs who had fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets. Based in Afghanistan, al-Quaeda helped recruit, train and finance Jihadists for the Soviet resistance.
- In 1990-1991, the First Gulf War is successfully fought by the United States in defense of Kuwait, led by President George H. W. Bush. Baghdad is not invaded, and Saddam Hussein is not removed from power. [Presumably, a brilliant strategic move on Bush's part. Hussein was the balance of power in the region, keeping Iran and it's Cleric and Council of Mullahs in check. As well, Saddam Hussein had expressed antipathy and outright hostility towards Al-Quaeda and Osama bin Laden. Hussein, being an entirely secular Ba'athist had no understanding of, nor use for, bin Laden's jihadist brand of fanaticism. His Revolutionary Guard was able to maintain both borders, Iran and Afghanistan, and keep the region in line.]
- In 1993, Ramzi Yousef leads a terrorist cell in the unsuccessful truck bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. The group, presumably, is al-Quaeda backed.
- In 1996, the terrorist group of criminals, al-Quaeda, with a suicide boat, successfully attacks the U.S.S. Cole.
- In January of 1997, President Bill Clinton begins his second term.
- In 1998, the Indonesian intelligence service identifies al-Quaeda and Osama bin Laden as the leader of that group, plotting an attack on the United States.
- In 1999, The British Intelligence Service tries to warn the U.S. that al-Quaeda has plans to use "commercial aircraft" in "unconventional ways" "possibly as flying bombs".
- March 1999, Germany's intelligence service provides the name of phone number of one of the hijackers to the CIA.
- August 12, 2000 the Italian Intelligence Service wiretaps an al-Quaeda cell in Milan, Italy and learns of a plan for a massive aircraft based strike on U.S. soil. With FBI help, the conversations are translated. In early 2001, the FBI and the Italian Intelligence Service learn of a pair of brothers headed to the United States for a large attack, a "very, very, secret plan".
- In January of 2001, George Walker Bush begins his first term as President.
- In June of 2001, the Germans warn the CIA of a plan to use aircraft on U.S. soil in a large attack, in the summer of 2001, the Israeli intelligence service warns of a plan to use aircraft. On June 4, 2001 three Afghans are overheard discussing a large surprise attack on New York City.
- On June 13, 2001 Egypt warns that Osama bin Laden wants to assassinate President Bush with a large explosive-filled plane.
- In July of 2001, India tries to warn the U.S. of an attack.
- On July 16, 2001, the British intelligence agency, MI-6, tries to warn the U.S. that al-Quaeda is in the final stages of preparing for a massive attack on the U.S.
-In late July 2001, the Taliban foreign minister tries to warn the U.S. of an attack. In that same month, Eqypt tries to warn the U.S. of 20 al-Quaeda operatives in the United States, 4 being trained to fly. The C.I.A. isn't interested.
- In late July 2001, Argentina's Jewish community receives a warning that a major attack is planned inside the United States, the information is relayed to the CIA
- In the late summer of 2001, Jordan warns the U.S. that there will be a major aircraft based attack inside the U.S. from information picked up by their intelligence agencies.
- In August of 2001, a Morrocan intelligence operative who had infiltrated al-Quaeda warned U.S. intelligence agencies of a large scale, imminent attack in New York.
- In August of 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin warns the United States that suicide pilots are training for attacks on U.S. targets.
- August 23, 2001 Mossad gives the CIA a list of terrorists living in the United States, 4 of the hijackers are on it, followed on Sept. 4, 2001 that a massive attack is imminent
- On September 7, 2001 the French Intelligence Agency gives very specific information to the CIA about the WTC attacks.
- On September 7, 2001 an Italian priest is told of an attack using airplanes against the U.S., he immediately relays the information to politicians and police, consciously breaking his vows, so the information can be relayed to the CIA
- On September 8, 2001 George W. Bush is given a CIA report detailing the information given on September 7. He leaves it on his desk, and goes on vacation for a couple of days to Crawford, Texas.
- On September 11, 2001, two employees of an Israeli based corporation are given instant text messages two hours before the attack, working in the Towers, warning them of the attacks.
- September 11, 2001 19 criminal terrorists, members of al-Quaeda, men between the ages of 19-35, fly two airplanes into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and the one destined for the White House is brought down by it's passengers, killing all aboard, before it's deadly mission can be accomplished. al-Quaeda is led by a Saudi national, a member of the Royal Family, Osama bin Laden. 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. 3,000 American citizens are killed in the attacks.
- On March 19, 2003 the bombing of Baghdad begins for the second Gulf War, with invasion following soon after. Saddam Hussein, an open critic of Osama bin Laden, who had barred bin Laden from the country, and refused, with great anger all overtures to meet, is said by the Adminstration in power to have ties to 9-11. When this proves false, it is stated that Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction, again proven false. Over 4,000 good, brave, American soldiers, of an all-volunteer army lose their lives in the war. Their sacrifice and their service under the flag needs to be respected and honored. Our wounded need to be cared for and honored. Every young man or woman who volunteers to put that uniform on, serve under the Flag of the United States needs to be thanked and respected.
- Osama bin Laden, the architect of 9/11, the mastermind of al-Quaeda, fades back into Afghanistan, his traditional base for over 3 decades now, and al-Quaeda, the criminal terrorist network of Jihadists grows stronger, in strength, numbers and financing over the course of 7 years, while the campaign in Iraq continues.
- On October 23, 2001, President George W. Bush suspends the 4th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America as it applies to U.S. citizens, through executive memorandum. It is in place until October 6, 2008. President George W. Bush suspends the 1st Amendment of the Constitution of the United States on October 23, 2001 through executive memorandum, in place until October 6, 2008. President George W. Bush suspends Posse Comitatus with the same set of executive orders.
- Osama bin Laden still remains free, and al-Quaeda and the Taliban have now infected Pakistan, and are 60 miles from Islamabad, in the Swat valley, and are 60 miles from a nuclear arsenal.
- The Saudi royal family, of whom bin Laden is a member, enjoys the profit from oil trading at over $140 dollars a barrel in the summer of 2008, up from it's 2001 price of $28 dollars a barrel.
- Iran runs roughshod over it's populace, and continues to develop a nuclear program, free from Saddam Hussein keeping them in check.

. . . . .The timeline and factcheck for the above listed foreign intelligence sources can be checked here, at History Commons.

. . . .Two separate administrations were given over 20 specific warnings about what would occur and did nothing, absolutely nothing about it.

. . . .The "truthers", rather than face reality, cook up the "inside job" theory, and completely ignore all principles of structural engineering, materials engineering and the Laws of Physics and Thermodynamics. (Please note that bin Laden is an educated civil engineer)

. . . .GWB, Cheney and Rumsfeld consciously abandoned the hunt for bin Laden in Afghanistan, and using the WMD lie, go into Iraq on a fool's errand, that of installing a Jeffersonian democracy, not learning from history that we still have troops stationed in German, Japan and Korea 60 years later, as part of those treaties. Why?


. . . .The current administration, as part of it's campaign, promises to get out of Iraq. We still have 160,000 troops there, and we are preparing to put even more troops into Afghanistan, with no clear definable goals yet. Are we after bin Laden still? Are we looking to build a stable Jeffersonian democracy?

. . . .The nature of al-Queada has changed significantly in the last 7 years, it has metastisized into a pervasive cancer throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan and much of the Mideast. How do you fight a moving target in a campaign where the targets shift constantly? How do you defeat an enemy that defeated the Soviet Army with little more than horses and RPG's? How do you defeat an army whose existence is in the psyche now of it's members? It has become a religious/political idealogical part of the everyday fabric of everyone's existence over there. It is almost impossible to defeat an enemy with that fanatical belief system.

. . . .When will we decide, looking at the mess that our own country is in; economically a disaster, societally fractured in half, 16.2% unemployment rate that our own interests domestically outweigh someone else's problems? When?

. . . So yes, I'm angry, very angry.

. . . .Paul Reickhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America:

Do you remember where you were during our generation’s defining hour? When the towers fell and the Pentagon was ablaze, our nation took pause. Now eight years later, it seems that we are still standing still, frozen in time, and as a country, still waiting for the healing to begin.

On September 11, 2001, I stood on the pile of burning rubble at the south end of Manhattan with thousands of other Americans who did what we could to make a difference. Firefighters, doctors, soldiers, cops, steelworkers, and nurses--we all came together to serve our country in a time of exceptional need. I will never forget the demonstrations of courage and the expressions of sorrow, the sight of the bodies and the smell of the smoke. And I will never forget the bold promises of our leaders, uttered loudly before the smoke cleared.

They stood on the pile with bullhorns, they issued press releases, and spoke at benefit concerts. We heard politicians from every corner of America swear: "Never Again! We'll make them pay! The terrorists won't win! We will rebuild!"

Eight years later, that hasn't happened. And we should all be embarrassed as a nation for one simple reason more than all the others--there is still a mammoth, gaping hole at Ground Zero.

Bureaucratic gridlock, partisan bickering, old-fashioned greed and failed leadership have all been blended together perfectly in one big pot to create a colossal, historic stew of inaction. And that stew has given the terrorists a score that not only have we failed to avenge, but we have failed to fully recover from. The wounds of 9/11 are not healed, the statement has not been made, and the country seems to have forgotten about the recovery of Ground Zero altogether.

This year, we'll get the standard, annual photo ops, bold promises and tough talk. Rudy Giuliani will be celebrated, and plastered on every TV network in America. Emotional remembrance videos will run on a loop all weekend long. But then what? We’ll be left with no monument, no building, and no attention. No one in Washington seems to give a second thought to the south end of Manhattan anymore. Unless of course, it will help them bolster their position on the health care debate.

New York is the city I love most in the world. As I detailed in Chasing Ghosts, I lost friends on 9/11. I recovered remains from the rubble at Ground Zero. I, along with almost two million other troops, were sent to war because of what happened there. And I am sick and tired of walking and driving by it and seeing a stalled construction site. Too many lives were lost that day, and too little attention has been given to memorializing them.

So today, I call on President Obama to pledge to all those that died, all those that served, and all those that remember, that Ground Zero will be re-built by the end of your first term. Blow through the logjam, bring the divided interests together, craft a plan, flex some muscle, and start moving forward briskly. If you want to unite the country as President, this is a perfect place to start. If we can put a man on the moon, create the Internet, and fight two wars simultaneously, I am sure that America can mobilize all its political will, ingenuity and resources to rebuild one of the most important pieces of real estate in the world. And it can start with new leadership under your watch. You can't shake up Washington, if you can't even rebuild Ground Zero.

On September 11, 2001, millions of young Americans like me promised to take a bullet for this country. Eight years later, the least our country can do is make a promise to rebuild a few sacred acres of it.

. . . .Richard Clarke, former National Counterterrorism Adviser to 3 administrations:

Rumors have circulated for months in Washington that the US commanders in Afghanistan want more troops and would be sending a formal request to the President. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is supposedly sitting on such a request until later in the year. Vice President Joe Biden and National Security Advisor Jim Jones are said to have expressed doubts about a further troop escalation. It is likely that President Obama will soon face a decision whether to increase US forces in Afghanistan above the 70,000 he has already authorized. When he does, what questions should he ask, what decision criteria should he use?

Before we suggest a way of thinking about this decision: As government officials in the 1990s,we advocated US military intervention in Afghanistan and advised candidate Obama on the need for increased US resources and troops for Afghanistan in 2008. Specifically, we recommended and Senator Obama proposed adding two brigades, about 8000 personnel. Since then, President Obama has authorized over 30,000 additional troops.

This is not, however, a numbers game. There is no precisely right or wrong number of US forces that should be in Afghanistan. Some number will be needed for several years. The issue is whether we are pursuing a strategy that defines our goals and tailors our means to them. Thus far, none of our publicly articulated goals seem to reflect what we are actually doing. Depending upon what you think our goals are, we are either doing too much or too little. If our goal is to deny al Qaeda a safe haven in which it can prepare and plan attacks, it might be possible to achieve that outcome with a much smaller US effort. US Special Forces, tactical aircraft, and drones based in and around the capital of Kabul could target and eliminate the terrorists. A nation building effort would not be necessary for such a counterterrorism strategy.

Yet this is what administration officials have proposed: a counter-insurgency program, creation of a national government, a national army, a democratic process, an economy not based on narcotics. If our goal is foster a strong central government, then we are knowingly pursuing something essentially at odds with Afghan history. A strong Afghan national army would mean doubling the number of trained Afghan military personnel that the US is now struggling to field. According to metrics developed by Gen. David Petraeus, a counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan would require 1.3 million troops for a decade. That is five times the size of US, NATO, and Afghan government forces today. No one thinks this is feasible and we are not attempting to do so. A classic counter-insurgency strategy therefore is not in the cards.

Apart from the question of strategy, how long can we sustain a deployment of 75,000 troops, the funding, and the public's casualty tolerance If the US presence in Iraq is cut by two-thirds over the next year, the US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan would be about 125,000, more than President Bush deployed. To support that number, a force twice as large would be constantly either preparing to deploy or recovering. Thus, half of US ground forces would be committed to Iraq and Afghanistan for the indefinite future, while Afghanistan emerges as the largest recipient of US foreign aid. An effort of this size enjoys domestic support if the public thinks we're going to win and Congress, the White House and the pundits line up behind the policy. These conditions are already fading. The Administration would be wise to consider a glide path to lower casualties and reduced spending over several years.

In the short term we should continue to attack Taliban and al Qaeda commanders, while offering security to more Afghans. The goal would be to induce Pushtuns in the south and east to disengage from terrorists or violent opponents of the Afghan or Pakistani governments. The Pushtuns must believe that backsliding would cost them financially and militarily. Some US forces would needed as the hammer to enforce these deals for the foreseeable future, but not on the scale required for a nationwide counter-insurgency.

The Obama Administration may not want to say publicly that it is pursuing such a strategy, wanting instead to convince Afghans of all stripes that we are willing to keep a large presence indefinitely. The truth is, however, that we cannot. In deciding whether to accede to requests for more troops, the President should prepare the ground now for an approach that meshes the threat to US security, prospects for success and a sustainable level of funding.

. . . .So yes, I'm angry.

. . . .Let me say something else as an entirely politicized human being. Rep. Joe Wilson would not have yelled out "You lie!" if it had been a white President standing at the podium. As someone who was schooled by Strom Thurmond, as yet another crazy South Carolina politician, Joe Wilson comes from that stripe of people that we used to call Klansman, before it got scary to say that. The stench of racism pervades the Republican Party right now, the Right and it's house organ Fox News, who as of this week, doesn't even make a pretense towards objectivity any more, calling itself "The Voice of the Oppostion".

. . . .When they've taken "their country" back; when you're under the demagogic rule of an all-white Christian Taliban, who will dictate your every move under their own twisted moral code, and finally achieve their goal of perverting Jefferson's, Adam's and Paine's ideal of a Republic and make their organized religion our political philosophy, it will be too late to wake up.

. . . .Bill Maher, the smartest man in media:

New Rule: Democrats must get in touch with their inner asshole. And no, I'm not being gratuitously crude when I say that. I refer to the case of Van Jones, and I'm sure you know who Van Jones is. At least I hope you do, because I haven't a clue, or at least I didn't until this week, when I found out he was the man the Obama administration hired to find jobs for Americans in the new green industries. Seems like a smart thing to do in a recession, but Van Jones got fired because he became the Scary Negro of the Week on Fox News, where, let's be honest, they still feel threatened by Harry Belafonte.

Now, I know that right now, I'm supposed to be all re-injected with yes-we-can fever after the big health care speech, and it was a great speech -- when Black Elvis gets jiggy with his teleprompter, there is none better. But here's the thing: Muhammad Ali also had a way with words, but it helped enormously that he could also punch guys in the face.

What got Van Jones fired was they caught him on tape saying that Republicans are assholes. And they call it "news." And Obama didn't say a word in defense of Jones and basically fired him when Glenn Beck told him to. Just like we dropped "end of life counseling" from health care reform because Sarah Palin said it meant "death panels" on her Facebook page.

Crazy evil morons make up things for Obama to do, and he does it.

Same thing with the speech to children this week. If you missed it, the president attempted to merely tell school children to work hard and wash their hands, and Cracker Nation reacted as if he was trying to hire the Black Panthers to hand out grenades in homeroom. Of course, the White House immediately capitulated. "No students will be forced to view the speech," a White House spokesperson assured a panicked nation. Isn't that like admitting that the president might be doing something unseemly? What a bunch of cowards. If the White House had any balls, they'd say, "He's giving a speech on the importance of staying in school, and if you spineless jackasses don't show it to every damn kid in your school we're cutting off your federal education funding tomorrow."

The Democrats just never learn: Americans don't really care which side of an issue you're on as long as you don't act like pussies. When Van Jones called the Republicans assholes, he was paying them a compliment. He was talking about how they can get things done even when they're in the minority, as opposed to the Democrats, who can't seem to get anything done even when they control both houses of Congress, the presidency, and Bruce Springsteen.

I love Obama's civility in the face of such contumely, his desire to work with his enemies, it's positively Christ-like. In college, he was probably the guy at the dorm parties who made sure the stoners shared their pot with the jocks. But we don't need that guy now. We need an asshole.

Mr. President, there are some people who are never going to like you. That's why they voted for the old guy and Carrie's mom. You're not going to win them over. Stand up for the 70% of Americans who aren't crazy.

And speaking of that 70% -- let's call them the sentient majority -- when are we going to actually show up in all this? Tomorrow Glenn Beck's army of zombie retirees are marching on Washington in protest of, well, everything. It's the Million Moron March, although they won't get a million of course, because many will be confused and drive to Washington state -- but they will make news. Because people who take to the streets always do. They're at the town hall screaming at the congressman, we're on the couch screaming at the TV. Especially in this age of electronics and Snuggies, it's a statement to just leave the house. But leave the house we must, because this is our last best shot for a long time to get the sort of serious health care reform that would make the United States the envy of several African nations.

. . . .We can salvage this shipwreck of a Nation. It will take all of us working together. It will take all of us understanding the concepts of the Great American Experiment, the political process of the Republic. It's amazing, I don't see eye-to-eye on every issue with my friends, but we respect one another's opinion, share information, share facts, and we don't talk over one another or at one another, we talk with one another. It's amazing what happens when a group of people who share the common goal of leaving a better country for their children and grandchildren can do when they sit down with one another as human beings, and realize that we each have power, and together, we are unstoppable.

. . . .I'm going to ask this of you for the next 30 days. Turn your TV off, turn your radio off. Start to use that beautiful mind that your Creator gave you, that your underpaid, underappreciated High School teachers tried to develop. If you hear something, if you read something, if someone sends you an e-mail that says "this bill will do this", or "this politician says this", I'm asking you to check it out. Check it out this way, use some of the following fact-based sites, who exist solely for the purpose of data and fact-checking.
- If whatever you've heard or read concerns a bill in Congress, use the following -
- Open Congress, it's non-partisan and devoted to a complete tracking of every bill in Congress, both houses. How a bill is developed, who is sponsoring it, what the riders are, what the discussion around it is.
- GovTrack, again non-partisan, non-commercial and open source; devoted to the same things, tracking Congress.
- Open Secrets, one of the most important ones, it tracks the lobbying money and campaign contributions flowing to your congressperson, and most of the time is a pretty good predictor of how they'll vote.
- Political Party Time, non-partisan, devoted to solely tracking political fundraisers, and letting you know exactly what parties your Representative and Senators are throwing for fundraisers and who is attending and how much money they're throwing at them to gain influence.

. . . .If someone sends something to you saying "this is so" or "that is so" or "the President/Senator/Representative said this" use the following:
- Fact Check, non-partisan, designed to separate fact from bullshit and fiction
- Snopes, devoted to the same thing.
- Politifact, devoted to getting to the truth, and separating out the lies that are spread.


. . . .I keep doing this not because I don't have faith, but because I do have faith. I have faith in the ultimate triumph of the spirit, intellect and heart of the American people. I have faith that the people I know want to leave something better for future generations, and know that something is terribly wrong, and want to do something about it. I do it because Paine and Jefferson were brilliant, unique singularities and were right.

. . . .I keep doing this because I don't believe in big imaginary friends for adults, I don't believe in alien conspiracies running the Government, I don't believe the Roswell bodies are at Wright-Patterson, I don't believe that a big portal will open up on Dec. 21, 2012, I don't believe that the spaceships will show up.

. . . I do believe that the people who have fucked everything up are greedy, avaricious human beings who have been able to steal from the American people, to harm them, who have run unchecked because no one calls it out for what it is. I believe that if we shine the light of day on it, if the people of this country have had enough, we can change it, and change it for the better.

. . . . I keep doing this because I do believe that people, human beings, unchecked will continue to do what they've done throughout history, and throughout the history of this country. Together, they will find the solutions and provide better for their children and grandchildren.

. . . .I believe in us, I believe in people. I believe in the beauty, power and grace of the individual.

. . . .I do this for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of knowing what they do, what they believe, what they know is right. I do it for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of faith, hope, love, hate, justice, war and peace.

. . . .I do it because I believe in justice, in all it's forms.

. . . .I do this everyday for the people and kids who are tattoed, pierced and inked and keep getting told to get "into the mainstream". I do this everyday for those guys who wear black that you don't understand, you just know there's something about them, and that when the chips are down, when you have to walk down a dark alley somewhere, and you know what's waiting for you at the end of it, and you can only take one person with you, that's who you want walking with you, because you know you'll come back out alive, and that guy doesn't care what it costs him.

. . . .I do this everyday for the outcasts, the misfits, the ones who don't fit and who will turn their back on you and walk away when you try to make them fit into a mold. I do it everyday for everyone who does it their way, knows that they're paying a high price for it, but the freedom is worth the cost.

. . . . I do this everyday for outlaws, cowboys, renegades, pirates and fallen angels. I do it everyday for the people who understand that rock and roll can save their soul, that redemption can be found in a 3-chord lick from a vintage Les Paul. I do it for the men and women who aren't afraid to turn it all the way up, who keep looking for an 11 setting on a volume knob that only goes to 10, who know that rock and roll's got nothing to do with age.


. . . .If right now, you're doing something you don't want to do, stop it. If you've surrounded yourself with people who want you to do or be something other than who you are, walk away. If you've got people around you who actually let it slip out that they think you "should be doing (fill in the blank here)" and it involves your life, your future, your existence as an individual, walk away, right now, and don't look back. You don't owe anyone anything. Live fearlessly. If the people around you can't accept it, can't accept you as you are, really are, they aren't and weren't friends anyhow.

. . . .Don't march to anyone else's drumbeat, don't drink the Kool-Aid, anyone's. Right, Left, conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan. Use your own mind, that's why you were given one. Examine, question, do what's right for you first, everything else will fall in place from there, quit looking for the path, you're already on it.

. . . .Come out of the gate each morning with both barrels blazing, pedal-to-metal, full-tilt boogie, all-in and balls-out, what's stopping you? Do you want to live forever? That'd be boring.

. . . .Got your back. somewhere out there in the night

. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they're ripped away from you. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, absolutely no one gets out alive. There aren't a lot of second chances, and we don't get to dictate terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. This ain't no dress rehearsal, and the curtain's gone up, it's real and right now. It's not about yesterday or tomorrow. It's about right fucking here, right fucking now. This, what you're reading, what you're hearing, is the proof, the words, the sounds and the sights of someone changing his own life and his own world and not being afraid to put it out there. What have you done for yourself lately and why are you waiting? Do it now.

The Desolation Angel
from somewhere halfway to Heaven, and just a mile out of Hell

You know someone like me, there's still a few of us left. If we have to, we'll stand at the gates of Hell and hold the last train home for you.