Why Are We Back In Iraq?

There's really not much point in arguing with a right winger. Especially when they happen to be clairvoyant right wingers.

Meet the Truth for Troops brigade. True believers who claim to believe in the truth but who do so primarily on faith and brand recognition.

I first found out about "Fahrenhype 9/11", which won't be released until the first week in October, at a Media watchdog website called Watching the Watchers which seems to sum up the movie sight unseen (but trailer downloaded): "The one contrast I will draw without having seen the movie (you can expect a full review when I do), is that this looks to be just a bunch of people mouthing off about Michael Moore, not facts, figures, and actual public record pointing to the veracity of their views. F/911 was two hours of footage, two hours of public record with commentary thrown in, not commentary with footage thrown in."

Of course, I haven't seen it either. But neither have these guys: Editors In Pajamas, Infidel Cowboy, Indepundit, Spacecraft, and who-knows-who-else via member posts at Free Republic. It used to be that the reactionaries from the right only wanted to burn books that they haven't read. Now, it appears that they want to buy videos for our troops that they haven't even seen yet.

The idea originated at the JunkYardBlog. This dude (I won't namecheck him...I shouldn't even be providing a link to his site...some liberal bloggers get mad when I help them get hits...but the truth can only be found if you're told where or where not to find it) isn't upset - so much - at the $100 million-plus gross of Michael Moore's documentary. He's mostly pissed because Mr. Moore has encouraged "illegal" file sharing in order to send burnt copies to the troops in Iraq and Aghanistan which might cause some troops "to despise the very country and leadership that sent them to war. For commanders in the field, this can create a potential morale and discipline problem." Too bad he doesn't feel the same way about Rush Limbaugh's broadcasts on Armed Forces Radio which have downgraded the Abu Ghraib sadism to little more than run-of-the-mill frat boy behaviour.

So the Junkyard dog, along with the Michael Moore player haters at Moorelies.com and Moorewatch, are on a mission to buy truckloads of videos to donate to the boots on the ground so they can throw away their Fahrenheit bootlegs. As the fine folks at Moorewatch put it, "The Film is already completed, and is a better “product” to send as opposed to our photocopied lists and such." I don't suppose they spend a whole-lot-of time parsing through the information on those "photocopied lists" either. And even if they do, it doesn't matter, since tricks like this undermine their integrity.

Of course, I'm not going to begrudge our troops for the free videos that they are about to be receiving. It's about time they got something other than stop-gap solutions and jungle camouflage for desert military actions. Although it would probably be more appreciated if the right wingers sent our poorly paid troops fifteen dollars each (the cost of the dvd) instead.

Oh, by the way, "Fahrenhype 9/11" is touted as a bipartisan production. At least that's what the JunkYard blogger claims. I guess this must be the god-given truth because Zell Miller is prominently featured in the trailer. And he's definitely bipartisan. Isn't he? I believe he has plans to switch parties every other presidential convention.

The dysfunctional "Truth for Troops" website alleges that "generous corporate donors have stepped forward to cover the costs associated with our first campaign." I wonder if that means builder Bob Perry (a high profile Republican campaign donor from Texas, as well as the initial funder for the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth and Dirty Campaigning) may have anted up some ground floor greenbacks.

The honest truth is that there will be no "truth for troops" unless there is regime change on November 2nd. And that ain't no hype, either.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/28/2004 08:55:00 PM

Here's a little something I suggested in a thread on Daily Kos requesting zingers for J.F. Kerry to use in his debates with George Bush.

For the past twelve months, President Bush has tried to peg me as a flip-flopper.

But the truth of the matter is, for the last three years, instead of facing facts and telling the truth to the American people during a period of great danger and insecurity all we've gotten are flippant answers to serious questions from the flapping lips of this flop of a President.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/26/2004 01:51:00 AM

At the 2000 Republican National Convention a biographical video entitled “George W. Bush: The Sky’s The Limit” was played for the delegates gathered at the First Union Center in Philadelphia. Inthe video, George W. Bush fondly recalled his whereabouts during the the first six months of 1973, a period in which he had been contractually obligated to complete his National Guard Service (this is just after he received permission to transfer to the Alabama National Guard so he could work on the unsuccessful campaign for Bush family friend Winton "Red" Blount). According to Dubya: "A wonderful man named John White asked me to come and work with him in a project in the 3rd Ward of Houston called Project P.U.L.L.; it was a mentoring program."

This same promotional video also featured an ex-football player for the Houston Oilers (as well as the AFL San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs) by the name of Ernie Ladd - who was billed as the co-founder of Project P.U.L.L. (Professionals United for Leadership League). According to Mr. Ladd: "The meaning of P.U.L.L. was Professionals United Leadership League. We had professional people who were school teachers, football players, basketball players, lawyers and doctors involved in helping go into the community and help minority kids."

But George W. Bush wasn't a teacher, a football player, a basketball player, a lawyer or a doctor.

So just what was he doing there? Why was he doing full-time charity work instead of reporting for his National Guard Service?

The infamous book "Fortunate Son" by J.H. Hatfield postulated that the young George Bush performed community service at Project P.U.L.L. in order to erase a cocaine-possession infraction from his record.

Well, I don't have anything new to report that would add credence (or disbelief) to this theory. But there is something else about this story which has caught my eye.

Did John White - another ex-football player for the Houston Oilers who died in 1988 - really ask George Bush to come work on Project P.U.L.L.?

When news about Hatfield's book first broke in October of 1999, Charles Kelly and Kris Mayes - writing for The Arizona Republic - reported that they had contacted three people who said they "never heard that Bush performed the work to erase a cocaine-possession infraction from his record. One of those contacted, Ernie Ladd, a former Houston Oilers football player and co-founder of the program with fellow Oiler John White, said White never mentioned that the younger Bush's service was in any way linked to drugs. "If this would have been true, John White would have told me, and John White has gone to his grave and he never told me about it," Ladd said.

But did John White take the truth with him to his grave?

Or are Ernie Ladd and George W. Bush lying?

Because if it had been true, John White would have never have had to tell Ernie Ladd.

Ernie Ladd would've known. After all, Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd and Dubya's Poppa, George Herbert Walker Bush, had been buddies ever since the late sixties (Sfgate.com).

Why would the 6-foot-9, 320-pound ex-football player and Hall of Fame wrestler lie for the Bushes?

The same boring motives it always winds up being: power and money.

Ernie Ladd was born in Rayville, Louisiania on November 28, 1938 and grew up in Orange, Texas. Due to his large size and natural agility he first made a name for himself as a high school football player. Mr. Ladd won himself a full scholarship to attend Grambling State University, where he played as a defensive tackle for legendary coach Eddie Robinson, the most winning coach in college football.

Earning the nicknames "Little Samson" and "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd always sported the number 77 on his uniform. Selected by the American Football League's San Diego Chargers with their 15th pick in the 1961 draft, Ernie Ladd, along with future-hall-of-famer Earl Faison, developed into a star as one of the "Fearsome Foursome" from 1961-1965, in the years before the AFL merged with the NFL. He then played for a season with the Houston Oilers in 1966, before winding up his career with the Kansas City Chiefs. Injured, Mr. Ladd missed the opportunity to play in the first Super Bowl in 1967 which the Chiefs lost to the Green Bay Packers.

"Big Cat" had begun his pro-wrestling career in 1963, initially wrestling only in the summer during the pro-football off-seasons. He quit football in order to devote himself full-time to professional wrestling. Ernie had gained notoriety in the AFL for his frequent contract disputes, but he was able to rake in more money as one of the few marketable black wrestlers, nearly six figures a year.

According to Steve Slagle at Wrestling Museum Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd was "[k]nown equally for his treachery and penchant to cheat at every opportunity as he was for his talent and overwhelming size, Ladd was perceived by fans as one of the most dangerous men in the sport." One of his signature motifs was to sport a taped thumb, allegedly an old football injury, which he frequently used to jab at the throats and other extremities of his foes. His most famous wrestling move consisted of a "giant boot to the face." Although he began his wrestling career as a "good guy" Ernie became a legend after he assumed the role of "bad guy."

"Big Cat" fought over 2000 matches in an assortment of leagues (including the AWA, WWF, WWA, NWF and NWA), and against such notable grapplers as Andre the Giant, Killer Kowalski, Fred Blassie and Dusty Rhodes. Although he was often serenaded with the "N" word at many of his matches in the south, Ernie also once threatened to "beat the black" out of another renowned African-American wrestler - the late Junkyard Dog aka Sylvester Ritter. Years later, Ernie would be the one to induct Junkyard Dog posthumously into the Hall of Fame.

In 1977 Ernie Ladd teamed up with Dusty Rhodes in a tag team match against Buddy Wolff and Nikita Koloff which is still vividly recalled today by professional wrestling fans worldwide. Here's what happened in the match, according to Championship Wrestling from Florida:

Ladd was no stranger to the heel turn. He had turned heel previously on several former tag partners, such as Sailor Art Thomas in the WWA, and Cowboy Bob Ellis in the IWA. The team of Ladd and Rhodes was about to grind to a bloody halt in the main event at Miami Beach on June 8. Midway through the tag battle, Buddy Wolff drove an already dazed Rhodes into the ringpost. Rhodes lay bloody on the arena floor as Ladd made numerous attempts to tag his partner, but found nothing more than an empty ring apron.

After several minutes, Rhodes climbed back to his corner, staggering to hold onto the ropes. Ladd, angered with Rhodes lack of participation in the match, tagged him so he could enter the ring. When Rhodes, who was semiconscious at this point, didn't enter the match, Ladd picked him up and bodyslammed him over the top rope. Wolff and Koloff destroyed Rhodes, who continually tried to tag his partner. Ladd instead argued with several of Miami Beach's ringside regulars and ignored every tag attempt. Koloff finally pinned a very bloody Rhodes after a kneedrop.

With the match over, Ladd picked up a piece of paper and made a writing gesture several times to referee Sonny Myers. Ladd confronted a battered Rhodes, who was on his knees, and made the writing gesture several more times asking him why he was signing autographs during the match. Rhodes shook his head, and mouthed the word "no," but Ladd nailed him with a couple of hard rights.

Ladd continued to berate "The American Dream" as well as argue with a growing number of fans that had made their way to ringside. Within minutes, a hundred or so spectators had gathered near the ring to voice their displeasure at Ladd's cowardly turn on Rhodes, when cups and other objects started raining from the stands, with Ladd as their intended target.

Members of Miami Beach's Finest immediately rushed to apprehend the perpetrators who would be subject to a fine and/or prosecution for throwing an object towards the ring. A small group of fans rushed at Ladd, who along with several more policeman, quickly fended off the would-be attackers. Ladd, who had successfully turned heel and nearly incited a riot, was rushed back to the dressing room and then escorted from the building under heavy security.

The Republican Rassler later claimed that dirty tricks were employed to doctor the video of the controversial match. In a televised interview with Gordon Solie, Ernie Ladd exclaimed, "What are you trying to make this thing look like? A Watergate situation?"

In the mid-eighties, after retiring from wrestling, Mr. Ladd managed - for a time - the Wild Samoans, the most extreme tag team of the decade, and filled in as a commentator at WWF events. Eventually, Ernie Ladd was recognized for his ring prowess and was elected into Baltimore's WWF Hall of Fame in 1994. He was also inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall Of Fame and the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame.

The back of his 1963 Topps football card notes that "Ernie is the most prodigious man in football, from his size 18-D shoes on up to 6 feet 9 inches and 321 pounds of muscle." Known for his voracious appetite, Mr. Ladd competed in a charity pancake-eating contest in 1965, where he managed to suck down 124 pancakes smothered in maple syrup. Ernie lost. But to a two-man team.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/23/2004 01:09:00 AM

Yesterday's front page of The New York Times(Monday, September 20, 2004) featured the article "Portrait of George Bush in '72: Unanchored in Turbulent Time," as reported by Sara Rimer, Ralph Blumenthal and Raymond Bonner and written by Ms. Rimer. The first sentence of this not-exactly groundbreaking investigation: "Nineteen seventy-two was the year George W. Bush dropped off the radar screen."

If you read my last couple of posts (if not...scroll down), it is actually the period between late-December 1972 and the summer of 1973, when George W. Bush did volunteer work for the P.U.L.L. program in Houston, Texas - and when he still owed eighteen months out of a six-year commitment to the National Guard - that has been shamefully neglected and hardly examined by the news media.

As The Times reported, documents released by the White House show that he received pay for attending drills with an Alabama unit in January, April and several days in early May 1973; even though he had only been authorized to drill there from September through November 1972 in order for him to work on the unsuccessful Winton Blount Senatorial campaign.

The article maintains that "[b]y January 1973, Mr. Bush had a new job, with an inner-city youth program organized by John L. White, a former professional football player who knew his father."

Yet again, Mr. White - who died in 1988 - is credited as the founder of P.U.L.L. and friend of Herbert Walker, but there is no mention of former professional football player/former bad-guy wrestler Ernie Ladd. Even though Ernie Ladd happens to be the co-founder of Project P.U.L.L. and he has maintained (and profited from) a bosom relationship with the Bush family for over thirty-five years.

Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd is the missing link which will shed more light on the mystery concerning George W. Bush's sudden devotion to charity work which - for some reason - superseded his commitment to fulfilling his contract with the United States National Guard.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/21/2004 07:26:00 PM

At the 2000 Republican National Convention a biographical video entitled “George W. Bush: The Sky’s The Limit” was played for the delegates gathered at the First Union Center in Philadelphia. Inthe video, George W. Bush fondly recalled his whereabouts during the the first six months of 1973, a period in which he had been contractually obligated to complete his National Guard Service (this is just after he received permission to transfer to the Alabama National Guard so he could work on the unsuccessful campaign for Bush family friend Winton "Red" Blount). According to Dubya: "A wonderful man named John White asked me to come and work with him in a project in the 3rd Ward of Houston called Project P.U.L.L.; it was a mentoring program."

This same promotional video also featured an ex-football player for the Houston Oilers (as well as the AFL San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs) by the name of Ernie Ladd - who was billed as the co-founder of Project P.U.L.L. (Professionals United for Leadership League). According to Mr. Ladd: "The meaning of P.U.L.L. was Professionals United Leadership League. We had professional people who were school teachers, football players, basketball players, lawyers and doctors involved in helping go into the community and help minority kids."

But George W. Bush wasn't a teacher, a football player, a basketball player, a lawyer or a doctor.

So just what was he doing there? Why was he doing full-time charity work instead of reporting for his National Guard Service?

The infamous book "Fortunate Son" by J.H. Hatfield postulated that the young George Bush performed community service at Project P.U.L.L. in order to erase a cocaine-possession infraction from his record.

Well, I don't have anything new to report that would add credence (or disbelief) to this theory. But there is something else about this story which has caught my eye.

Did John White - another ex-football player for the Houston Oilers who died in 1988 - really ask George Bush to come work on Project P.U.L.L.?

When news about Hatfield's book first broke in October of 1999, Charles Kelly and Kris Mayes - writing for The Arizona Republic - reported that they had contacted three people who said they "never heard that Bush performed the work to erase a cocaine-possession infraction from his record. One of those contacted, Ernie Ladd, a former Houston Oilers football player and co-founder of the program with fellow Oiler John White, said White never mentioned that the younger Bush's service was in any way linked to drugs. "If this would have been true, John White would have told me, and John White has gone to his grave and he never told me about it," Ladd said.

But did John White take the truth with him to his grave?

Or are Ernie Ladd and George W. Bush lying?

Because if it had been true, John White would have never have had to tell Ernie Ladd.

Ernie Ladd would've known. After all, Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd and Dubya's Poppa, George Herbert Walker Bush, had been buddies ever since the late sixties (Sfgate.com).

Why would the 6-foot-9, 320-pound ex-football player and Hall of Fame wrestler lie for the Bushes?

From what I've been able to drudge up so far, it appears to be the same old, boring motive that it always turns out to be: power & money.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/19/2004 03:14:00 AM

Boy, do I have a story to tell.

A story that involves cocaine, wrestling, right-to-lifers, the Pentagon roof, George W. Bush in 1972, and much-much more that I am slowly unearthing.

This is a big one. A very, very big one.

It's going to take me some time to piece what-I-can together. But I'll try to provide some more details within the next 24 hours.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/19/2004 01:46:00 AM

Just saw a link to a new hard-hitting advertisement by the Democratic National Committee on Daily Kos submitted by Anna from Annatopia.com. As she says, "Fund this ad! The DNC finally has a kickass attack ad, and they are trying to raise money to put it on the air in swing states. Look, normally i'd be pissing and moaning about the dnc, but this ad IMHO kicks ass and hits hard."

I saw another link for an even better ad on Daily Kos submitted by Matt S. from Bop News. Though in Spanish, this advertisement also has a beat that you can dance to. Check it out at New Democratic Network.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/18/2004 06:11:00 PM

Does anybody ever look forward to reading an article in The New York Times written by Jodi Wilgoren?

A plethora of pundits and bloggers from the right and the left (and somewhere inbetween) repeatedly rail against this "political" reporter's non-stop sloppy hackwork. Some of my favorite Wilgorenisms include: once calling John Kerry a "caged hamster"; a Father's Day attack on Kerry (as a "limousine liberal") which made sure to mention the cost of the "gentleman's fishing vessel" he used while on holiday in Nantucket Island; and the classic "Dean smirking his trademarked smirk" line - which would probably be a good case for George Bush's attorneys to invoke copyright infringement. A google search combining "Jodi Wilgoren" and bias (Google-a-hack) produces 1260 hits (1261 after I hit "publish post").

Last January, Tim Withers, an enterprising Deaniac, started his own (sadly discontinued) blog called Wilgoren Watch to keep an eye on her blunders. Not long after, other bloggers followed suit, mounting an "adopt a journalist" campaign to track the political bias of some of the most egregious third estaters such as Patricia Wilson from Reuters and Associated Press reporter Nedra Pickler. An article on Wired News written by Noah Shachtman revealed that Ms. Wilgoren had even visited Mr. Withers' blog: "It's always great to have people reading my work and discussing it," Wilgoren wrote in an e-mail.

Elsewhere, Ms. Wilgoren also e-mailed Mark Glazer at Online Journalism Review and wrote that "I don't think Wilgoren Watch or the comparable blogs are motivated by profit or other cynical incentives," she said. "I just think that what we're sure of about them is that they have a particular agenda, and what we're not sure of is their particular qualifications as critics." I'm assuming that her use of "we" includes her editors at the Times (but - hey - I'm just an average, unqualified critic who carries an obviously liberal agenda).

The staff at Time Watch, the website for the staunchly conservative Media Research Center, dedicated to documenting and exposing the (according to them) liberal political agenda of The New York Times, can't stand her either: Neocon Wilgoren Watch. But, then again, they also believe (or pretend to believe) that the middle-of-the-road Dan Rather is some kind of Noam Chomsky clone.

The Times editors probably believe that since both sides hate her so much, well then, she must be doing something right. In the aforementioned Wired News piece Wilgoren also claimed that her "adoption" hadn't changed her reporting: When asked if the Wilgoren Watch has influenced her coverage in any way, she responded, "Not that I can tell."

But - again I ask - does anybody ever look forward to reading an article in The New York Times written by Jodi Wilgoren?

In yesterday's edition (Wednesday, September 15, 2004), The Times offered up Jodi Wilgoren's "Kerry Says Washington Hides Medicare's Cost to People." While I could easily nitpick the article and point out the numerous instances of bias and cheesey-cheese, I'll limit myself to the final sentence of the story which talked about John Edwards (the one-man-Dick-Cheney-counter-assault team). "His standard campaign speech is now chock full of references to Halliburton, the energy company Vice President Cheney once headed, and accusations it overcharged the military on contracts related to the Iraq reconstruction."

"Accusations?"

Perhaps The New York Times Public Editor Daniel Okrent can take some time to explain to Ms. Wilgoren that there is no need to hurl accusations (which inherently imply that the accused is innocent until proven guilty) after a criminal has already confessed. I'm sure she's well aware that Halliburton has been forced to admit that they did overcharge the U.S. government, on more than one bill, for services rendered (or not rendered) in Iraq and, as a result, their open account at the public trough - until recently - was even temporarily frozen.

At least Judith Miller (my least favorite Timeser and a key reason why we are back in Iraq) - even when she's lying - can be counted on to stick to an established agenda: a neoconservative one. Not to her credit, Ms. Wilgoren's agenda is nonexistent; unless it's to be regarded as nothing but a nincompoop.

Therefore, I accusingly accuse Jodi Wilgoren of possessing no particular qualifications to be anything that even closely resembles a real, live journalist. Nor even a "caged hamster."

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/16/2004 08:20:00 PM

On her dangerously addictive Air America radio show, Randi Rhodes weighed in on the (long overdue) controversy over George Bush's National Guard service (or lack thereof). In reference to Mr. Bush's 30-minute address to about 3,000 members of the National Guard Association at the Las Vegas Convention Center this past Tuesday, Ms. Rhodes said "I'm amazed he even showed up. And I think the Guard was too."

A document - just recently released by the White House - shows that Mr. Bush agreed to serve in the Air National Guard well beyond the termination of his six year Military Service Obligation (Not-so-gentleman's Agreement). Ms. Rhodes added: "And you know what they should do? They should make him stay there and fulfill that contract. That's what they should do. And check this out, here's what happens in the Guard if you don't fulfill your contract as a Guardsman. Do you know what the punishment is? No, you don't go to Guantamano. You go on active duty. They activate you. That's what happens. Especially during the Vietnam War...that was the biggest threat...and now it is too. So I think they ought to activate him."

Will Dubya soon be reporting for duty somewhere in the so-called Sunni Triangle in Iraq?

Doubtful. But there's no doubt that he should.

As Ms. Rhodes explained, "I don't think that there's any statute of limitations on the uniform code of military justice."

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/15/2004 07:52:00 PM

August 29th - Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum on 42nd Street near Broadway. I couldn't resist staging a photo, so I persuaded an easily persuaded protester to pose next to Rudy with his Impeach George Bush sign. The Wax Museum employee was on alert that day for anarchist candles.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/14/2004 07:03:00 PM

Another shot from the August 29th March against the RNC.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/11/2004 11:01:00 PM

Because I spent most of my time during the RNC taking pictures and yelling at delegates (I'm sick of reading about how rude the protesters were to Republicans during the invasion...they weren't simply Republicans...they were Republicans that came to New York City to exploit our 9-11 fallen...they were Republican delegates who were here to re-select Bush to lord over us...no protesters were denying them their free right to speech...we were denying them the right to do their thing without being called on it), I'm still a little behind in catching up on the cornucopia of hate speeches that were spewed in my precious Garden (Madison Square Garden is for Knicks, not Dicks!).

But I made damn sure to catch Rudy's speech, because I can't stand the racist, philandering son-of-a-bitch. As much as I detest the current Administration, I have no doubt that America would become a true police state if Rudy assumed power. (Arrest everyone and let God sort them out!)

First off, Rudy's knocking the Democratic Party as being "wrong about everything" is more than a bit (to quote John McCain) disingenuous. After all, Rudy spent more than half of his life as a fellow (yucky...did I really just say "fellow") Democrat. It wasn't until 1976 that he even voted for a Republican for President - and he picked a great one: the un-elected-by-anyone Gerald Ford.

Next, I think it is positively disgraceful the way he kept referring to the victims of 9-11 as sacrifices. They weren't sacrificed, they were stone-cold murdered. Just think what Rudy would say if the defense attorney for Colin Ferguson (the infamous Long Island Railroad mass murderer), during his trial, referred to the innocents who died as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter.

There is no "greater good" to come out of the death of more than 3,000 men, women and children. Iraq is not an altar. If Rudy truly believes that the 9-11 victims were sacrificed so that the Project For A New American Century (PNAC can come about, well then, he knows more than he's telling.

Which brings us to...

What does Rudy know? How connected is he?

Near the end of his speech, he said, "The horror, the shock and the devastation of those attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and over the skies of Pennsylvania lifted a cloud from our eyes."

"Over the skies of Pennsylvania?"

What the hell does that mean?

According to the "official" reports, the United Airline Flight 93 smashed into the ground.

Did Rudy slip up? Did Flight 93 actually blow up "over the skies of Pennsylvania" due to a terrorist bomb or fighter jet missile?

Why hasn't anyone else caught on to this possible bombshell?

Why did The New York Times investigate the Whitewater non-affair for years upon years but choose to leave it up to the government to account for everything that's happened on September 11th? How come Daniel Hopsicker (Mad Cow Morning News) seems to be the only journalist in this country who still cares about what really happened?

I'm just asking questions, is all. In the hopes that more and more people will also begin to ask more questions. Then - maybe - someone who can do something about it will begin asking, too.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/10/2004 01:08:00 AM

Not many people are aware that on September 11th, 2001, a number of terror attack simulations happened to be scheduled by various government agencies including the Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office.

Fundamentally flawed as it may have been (in that it was too connected to the establishment to be truly impartial), the 9/11 Commission was able to uncover some previously undisclosed information about some of these war game exercises; but they didn't make enough hay about it (to set anyone's hair on fire). Of course, the corporate media (not to mention - the mainstream political opposition) has also failed to focus on this crucial aspect of the tragic day.

The failures of N.O.R.A.D. and our pre-Ridge homeland security defense (to at least prevent the attack on the Pentagon) may hinge on the fact that too many possible defenders were confused about whether the attacks were happening for real or not. At 8:38 a.m on 9-11, after being alerted by the Air Route Traffic Control Center about the possible hijacking of American Airlines flight 11, the duty officer who answered the phone at the Northeast Air Defense Sector of Norad asked "Is this real-world or exercise?"

This link takes you to a website (which I won't entirely vouch for as I respectfully disagree with many of their conclusions) that details the various war games: Oil Empire: War Games. In addition, Michael Ruppert, a former narcotics investigator from the LAPD who discovered the CIA drug connection in 1977, of From The Wilderness has a book "Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil" - due out soon - which will (hopefully) more thoroughly explore the ramifications of all of this (admittedly) unpleasant-to-digest material. Apparently, Mr. Ruppert spoke at Symphony Space in Manhattan earlier today, but I was unable to attend.

If you ask me, one way to get to the bottom of all this is to ascertain who was responsible for scheduling the various war games on 9-11. Students of history are well aware of the assortment of significant events which had previously occurred on 9-11 - such as the 1973 assassination of Chilean President Salvador Allende during a violent military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, and the 1972 murder of eleven Israelis at the Munich Olympic Games, and the 1922 British mandate which was proclaimed in Palestine - it is only fair to assume that the finest minds involved in - or with - our intelligence agencies were also acutely aware.

America had a strong and secure defense mechanism firmly in place to withstand aerial attacks, no matter what N.S.A. Condi Rice and her cohorts tried to convince a willingly, gullible public.

Either the conspirators who murdered over 3,000 lives on that dark day were extremely lucky (lucky like the people who picked 9-1-1 in the 2002 New York State lottery or lucky like the unknown individuals who purchased put options before 9/11/01 on certain 9/11 connected stocks under the belief that they would fall) that or they had inside knowledge about when the best time to conduct such an attack would be.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/09/2004 07:09:00 PM

Sick of the lying Swift Boat Veterans, then check out Texans For Truth

I've also heard through the grapevine that another 527 group is about to go public: Incurable Alcoholics & Cokeheads For Bush.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/08/2004 10:24:00 PM

Damn, these thugs play dirty. Well, we can too.

Hot off the A.P. wire: "It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney told about 350 supporters at a town-hall meeting in this Iowa city."

So...let's turn this fear-mongering right back around.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and your children might get drafted, forced to fight another unjust and illegal war, and get sick (and pass on to their children) from their exposure to U.S. weapons that contain depleted uranium.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and your grandparents will lose their social security, medicare and nest eggs which will be diverted to enrich the stockholders of Halliburton.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and babies and small children will die from overexposure to the high arsenic levels in our nation's water supply.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and more teenagers will become addicted to heroin, which is harvested to fund all future "dirty little (and-not-so-little) wars."

Vote for Bush/Cheney and Osama bin-Laden will never be captured as long as he hangs out with Dubya's buddies in Pakistan.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and the Anthrax mailer will be free to keep on mailing his anthrax to Democratic politicians and Media representatives.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and all the horrors depicted in the book of Revelations will come to pass.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and you might never got another chance to vote in a free election in this country again.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and the dark forces of Mordor will rampage over our land, and rape and pillage for the sake of evil.

Vote for Bush/Cheney and there won't be anymore cocaine left for people to party with...because it will all be lost forever up George Bush's nose.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/07/2004 09:36:00 PM

Mick Arran of LitBlogs wrote a nice article about my article on CBFTW's My War blog. Check it out at Update-My War Over & Out.

Here's a fantastic account by a photographer rounded up in the A31 mass arrests at Static Ephemera.

I've also been recently linked to by Jude Nagurney Camwell at Iddybud, Loaded Mouth, Rook's Rant, My 95 Theses and The Art of Peace

That's how it works; link to me and I'll gladly link to you back.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/07/2004 07:19:00 PM

From the March Against Bush/Cheney on Sunday, August 29th.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/06/2004 10:22:00 PM

This picture was taken on Thursday, September 2, 2004 in Union Square.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/06/2004 10:15:00 PM

Save America, Defeat Bush
Originally uploaded by Ron Brynaert.

Photo taken on Sunday, August 29th, 2004. The billboard says it all.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/05/2004 11:41:00 PM

Bush's Speech On the Street
Originally uploaded by Ron Brynaert.

This picture was taken by me last night at about 11:00 PM, while less than sixty protesters remained outside Madison Square Garden (out of about 6,000 that had dispersed). Protesters took turns listening to Bush's speech on a walkman and repeating it to the crowd. Sometimes we fake clapped our approval. Sometimes we booed. Sometimes we added our own lines. Another protester circled around us like a madman screaming "Bullshit!" over and over again. The police left us alone and didn't bother us, since there were so few of us.

Soon, about two thousand people marched uptown, joining us from a candlelight vigil held at Union Square. As they reached us, I started slowly clapping - just like a character in a bad sports movie - and some others clapped along. If we hadn't stayed, the police would probably have sealed up the area and pushed us further away from Madison Square Garden.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/05/2004 11:35:00 PM

I took over 150 pictures over the last six days to document some of the most important (and newsworthy...though the Corporate Media failed to see this...again) displays of civil disobedience and non-violent protest held in this great country, since the 1960s.

The Bush Administration - and its lackeys in the GOP/Media - like to throw around the word "freedom" a lot, yet they never adequately explain what it is they mean by it. In all actuality, since November, 2000, the Bushies and the GOPers - along with much of America's Media - have worked together to curtail our freedoms. Forget about the hateful speeches filled with lies launched from inside Madison Square Garden over the last four days. These pictures (and the stories that I'll be adding over the next few weeks) demonstrate the truth about what freedom (and our way of American life) really means.

NOTE to all the Bush supporters that may have landed on this website: I was disappointed that I didn't see that many of you out there on the streets of New York City the last few days...but to those of you who were...even the ones that shouted and argued with me...even the ones that belonged to organized groups devoted to stifling our messages...thanks for coming to New York City and expressing your views. I firmly support your freedom to speak, just as I do the friends and fellow citizens of America and the world who were on our side of the barricades.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/04/2004 05:40:00 PM

This picture was taken by me on Thursday, September 2, 2004 in Union Square.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/03/2004 03:32:00 PM

This picture was taken by me on Thursday, September 2, 2004 in Union Square.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/03/2004 03:30:00 PM

This picture was taken by me today on Thursday, September 2, 2004 in Union Square.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/02/2004 07:19:00 PM

This picture of Alex Jones (Prison Planet & Infowars.com) was taken by me today on Thursday, September 2, 2004 at a rally near Ground Zero. He claimed, "There are 600 points that we can prove without having to speculate."

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/02/2004 05:20:00 PM

I still don't have my pictures from the rallies ready to post yet (check back Saturday). But here's a link to a friend's site with some pictures that show more than you might have seen on the evening newscasts:

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/01/2004 08:49:00 PM

Somehow...I woke up early this morning, and half-asleep (but not necessarily half-awake) took a trip to the Wall Street District. Wednesday's first official protest was a silent one: a symbolic unemployment line that would stretch up Broadway from Wall Street, past the garden, to 34th Street. Since Bush assumed office (thus making an ass out of you-and-...fuck that...Ralph Nader). The line was organized by People For the American Way; The Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues, and Ideas; and the New York State AFL-CIO.

I joined a pack of credentialed reporters just before eight a.m. The protesters I saw (from Wall Street to Canal Street) were mostly dressed conservatively and a hearty mix of different races, ages and genders. Each person held a pink flyer - warning "The Next Pink Slip Might Be Yours!" over their head. It was truly an inspiring sight to see (check back in a few days to see my PICTURES!); although I doubt that it will attract as much media attention as the 1,000 arrests on Tuesday.

Just as it turned 8:13, I heard a voice screaming, "Shine my shoes!" Just as I suspected, the Billionaires for Bush (Billionaires For Bush) had joined the proceedings. Buddy Gaddeway Withett (and another "billionaire" whose name I didn't get) taunted the protesters: "Oh, woe is me. I've lost my job. Whose country? Our country! Whose taxes? (pointing at the line) Your taxes!"

The line was formed to represent the net loss of 1.2 million jobs lost in America since George Bush came to power and the - roughly (and boy is it rough...I was out of work for almost half of Dubya's tenure) - 8.6 million Americans who are currently unemployed. The organizers were hoping to attract a crowd between four and five thousand (I personally saw a few hundred in my zone), but I think they were a little short on manpower. It's more than likely that some willing applicants had been rounded up the day before and were unable to attend.

As I headed uptown, I overheard a protester say to another, "We made the effort." "That we did," his friend responded. Further up along Broadway, I spied a father and daughter walking along the sidewalk with pink flyers in their hands. "A lot of people saw it because everyone was going to work," he proudly told her.

# posted by Ron Brynaert : 9/01/2004 11:26:00 AM