We all know that Bush’s attack on Iran is going to come. In fact, the bombing of civilians at night in Pakistan and Afghanistan is just the opening act for the bombing of Iranian civilians that is being planned. It will most certainly also be done at night, too, simply because it lights up the night sky so bright. This imagery will show how tough Bush really is against ‘Arab terrorists’. Not afraid to bomb them babies is he. So don’t tickle us with details, now, y’all hear? ‘Mericans going to pour out another trillion dollars in support of their ignorance after this bad boy bombing comes down. It’ll be the best patriotic American light show since Belgrade!

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In working to communicate non-violently with one another, there is a form of verbal violence that I find very difficult to steer around: the brutality of violence against logic.
 
Whilst the rest of us watch our Ps & Qs, hold our punches and bar our holds, half-wits get a free pass. Here to my mind is the Achilles heel of NVC and most mechanisms of popular consensus: the slowest common enumerator. Critical, analytic tongues are held to standards of civility, but a cowhand’s wag is excused in light of his circumstance, because it’s the best probably he can do.

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I’ve been content to think of George Dubya as an ugly little monkey, as dangerous as he is rabid perhaps. But -and this is no joke- the comparison vastly undersells monkeys.

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Election fever is once again in the air. All around us we see Liberal Democrats with their yard signs and bumperstickers as the delirium builds. And once again, they will try for change by promoting their Tweedle Dees against the others guys’ TweedleDumbs. If there any content to be found, it is simply in that the Democratic Party ‘loyal oppositionists’ seem to have rather more polite candidates, as opposed to the ruder ones the Republicans run. All the election paraphernalia is generally without differentiating slogans, or even differentiating colors. Yet this is somewhat deceptive, as the opposing religious brethen have convinced themselves that this is a battle of socialism versus fascism! Yes, that’s what it is in fantasy land America. Sad to say, but both sides just go on simply ignoring that it is the corporate world that funds both these 2 political parties, and that the corporate world is not about to give up the charade that having both these parties dominating the electoral game provides.

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The murder of journalist Brad Will by Mexican government death squads in Oaxaca City last Friday, has brought out multiple US protests at Mexican consulates around the US. And once again, the international spotlight is being turned on the Mexican government like it was previously, when the Zapatistas began their uprising in Chiapas. Mexico, prodded by the US Clinton Adminstration to allow the reign of another polticial party other than the PRI, has in actuality changed not in the least. The PRI institutional dictatorship of old has now morphed into a PRI-PAN alliance for the updated dictatorship of today. A PRI-PAN alliance that conspires together to steal elections, murder off opposition, and to rape and pillage the country on behalf of the US multinational corporations.

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At last, an up to date replacement for our family’s RISK game. We were beginning to tire of this stodgy old war game almost as out dated as chess itself. The last time we called it quits after only some 8 1/2 hours, so when we heard about this awesome new game, we went a little bananas. And this fabulous game of stealth and strategy is actually coming out just at the perfect time! It is, in fact, the perfect Christian Christmas gift! Mail one to friends and family, along with a fruitcake. You can play like the pros do, too! So have some fun, and go play War on Terror- the boardgame!

I know it’s Monday and I should be toiling away at my job, thinking about bringing home a large rasher of bacon, double-checking the kids’ Halloween costumes, deciding what to do about the brand new fake fingernails I bit off in a weekend fit of pique.

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The city of Oaxaca, Mexico is now under direct military assault. For days now death squads have been killing the people there who have been demanding the dismissal of the state governor, who is the guiding force and organizer behind that state’s death squad activity. One of those victims, murdered just a couple of days ago, was an American reporter for IndyMedia, Brad Will. He was dedicated to bringing to light, the fight for justice of the Mexican people against the US supported Mexican dictatorship. See the last film he ran as he was shot down in cold blood: Brad Will- Presente .

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My siblings and I frequently talk about our “activist” upbringing. We grew up with parents who walked their talk. Our mom hung out with the radical nuns protesting around Rocky Flats. And I can’t remember a single Thanksgiving where we didn’t have a couple of homeless men sitting at our dinner table. Our parents introduced them by name and we were expected to be gracious and make interesting conversation.

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One of the most frustating things about our society to me, is the cynical belief by most everyone in America that activism is a complete waste of time. Meanwhile, people drive mindlessly for hours on end, in essentially circles. They spend hours upon hours watching brain dead programs on TV. They waste much of their off work hours on mindless shopping for mindless products. Yet, if it comes to giving 15 minutes to some form of activism, then that’s out! How bizarre is that, to think that independent activism is a wasteful use of energy?

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Narcissism is defined as “erotic gratification derived from admiration of one’s own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development…”

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I was holding my little boy (at almost 9, not so little anymore) on my lap the other day and I was looking at his hand. His long fingers, still slightly pudgy, tapering to perfect little fingernails. I took off his sock and looked at his little foot, again with clear beautiful skin and perfect tiny toenails. He, of course, thought I was weird for doing this but my thoughts were, “What if I never got to see this again? What if I could never hold this warm little hand, or look into these lovely clear green eyes? Or touch these sweet adorable freckles?” I’m not sure how I’d get my head off the pillow each day.

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view The Children of Lebanon

A close friend of mine wants to give more visibility to his grassroots political group by adopting a highway. In exchange for a small sign giving credit to the West End Democrats, we plan to don safety vests and one morning every month be mistaken for roadside chain labor.

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Every week now, it seems that the US puppet president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is ‘investigating’ another tragic ‘accidental bombing of civilians. He demands that these ‘accidents’ stop. But these are not accidents, and Karzai knows this well, as every other Afghan must now know it well, too. An accident occurs once or twice, but an intentional strategy of targeting civilians becomes constant, as have become the US bombings of Afghan civilians in the more remote regions of that country.
 
The strategy is ‘to destroy the sea that the guerrilla fighter must swim in’, as it was once explained in the Vietnam War era, years ago. In short, the quickest, easiest way to combat the enemy, is simply to target his wife and family, including the kids. So the cowardly US-led NATO army of occupation in Afghanistan, is systematically doing that instead of engaging the enemy on the ground, where politically dangerous casualties might occur. Bomb the Afghan women and children in their homes from up high, if there is even the remotest military resistance to US forces in their general neighborhood.

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Vice-president Cheney has just explicitly admitted that US interrogators use waterboarding as a method of interrogation. The decision to use it is a “no brainer” Cheney says, it’s not torture, referring to the practice as more like dunking.

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Eyes Wide Open, the price paid. Since it was just a week or so ago that the exhibit passed through our town, I thought that I would post this for all those who were unable to see it then. Unfortunately for Americans, there is no exhibit, that I know of, of the 1,400,000+ Iraqi shoes ‘paid.’ Boothill

Oh those illegal immigrants! Something has got to be done now to stop this. My buddy, Jeff Henry of the Colorado Springs Minutemen, would be proud of what this town did to stop this plague from continuing to infect them. ‘Infect’, that’s something Jeff’s worried about coming from illegal immigrants. He’s a very clean Anglo dude, who washes his hands each time he goes to the bathroom or engages in other functions with his privates.
 
So Patrick, uh I mean Jeff… Henry makes it his hobby to warn folks that their All American gringo kids might get infected form Mexican kids (without documents) infecting our All-American public schools with their germs. He’s worried about National Security and public health he is. What a civic minded dude. Well, Jeff, stand up and applaud Kondopoga for how they handled their illegal immigrant problem, when they got overrun by hordes of this illegal vermin from the South.

Johnny Got His Gun is probably the most horrifying antiwar book ever written. And it is more pertinent today than even when it was written.
 
Still, any American English literature teacher at any US university might risk his/ her position for having it on her/his list of required reads. Here are excerpts from the book Johnny Got His Gun.

Can you believe this new recruitment slogan: Join the Navy: accelerate your life TM? It looks good on video with a rapid progression of tracking shots of incredibly busy warfare technicians. Sign up and before you know it you’ll be dropped into the thick of the action. Maybe your grave as well. Accelerate your lifespan TM.

I have just been visiting over at the Focus on Family website and am relieved to find that Dr. Dobson approves on allowing children to go Trick or Treating in the neighborhood. As long as they don’t go as black cats, witches, devils, or Satan himself. Nothing occult, he says. And certainly don’t allow your little ones to go in drag.
 
This is a relief to me, since too many of our kids have been finding themselves shuffled off to shopping malls and churches, on what used to be the best kid Holiday of them all. Just finding a neighborhood with Trick or Treating kids on the prowl has become increasingly more difficult for parents with kids. So thank you, Dr. Dobson, for taking this particularly controversial stand. Next we know, you’ll be encouraging parents to play penny ante poker with their kids, and teaching them to dance with the other sex without a Bible in hand. Praise the Lord!

This year’s Colorado Springs Veteran’s Day Parade falls on Veteran’s Day. The theme is “a nation at war, a community of support.” Doesn’t sound much to do with honoring veterans. Are we holding an active-duty support-the-war parade on honor-the-Veteran’s Day?
 
There will be 92 entries and five helium balloons. There are no entry fees because the city business community is so supportive of our soldiers over there, fighting to make the war safe for the contractors. Lots of military profiteers in Colorado Springs.

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May I address City Staff Liaison Bob Stovall’s assertion in the Gazette that, contrary to what was reported, the City of Colorado Springs was willing to host the Eyes Wide Open 2,757 boot memorial? I represented the Justice and Peace Commission in asking the city for the use of Memorial Park. The Park and Recreation Department declined our request, telling us Memorial Park was unavailable because of previously scheduled football leagues. Since it was the PPJPC’s opinion that the first and only visit of the EWO traveling Iraq War memorial might merit relocating a couple days of regular football games, we approached the City Council to prevail upon the park supervisors on our behalf. This the City Council would not do.

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Oliver North is in Nicaragua advising voters there not to vote for Daniel Ortega for President this November 5. He is one of a series of benevolent GOP thugs who have gone down there the last couple of weeks to help ‘bring democracy’ to that country. And part of democracy, according to the GOP, is to intervene in the affairs of foreign, and supposedly sovereign, states.
 
Here is what MSN says that he told Nicaraguans…. Ollie told them that they had suffered enough from the influence of outsiders! Now that’s Bizarro World! He was referring to Hugo Chavez, and not the GOP of the USA, of course. But it’s too bad that the Nicaraguans can’t arrest this war criminal and have him shot. In fact, it’s too bad that Americans can’t do the same. Our national security certainly is not helped by allowing terrorists like Ollie to run loose.

Okay, I’m finally ready to admit it. I have penis envy.