My fears for the planet Earth would be far fewer if I sincerely believed that
the Bush administration, attempting to solidify power, conspired to allow the
attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  A fiendish plan such
as that, as successful as it was in achieving the target goal, would show a
certain competency on the part of Bush and the other zealots who surround him.
Unfortunately, I think the situation is far worse than that.  America, quite frankly,
is faced with stunning and fatal incompetency.  Having been spoiled over the
previous eight years by a political genius, it is very difficult for us now to look
utter stupidity in the face.

This is not to say the Bushies are not criminal, because they are.  But we are not
faced with the diabolical Professor Moriarty, the evil nemesis of Sherlock Holmes.
There are no secrets here.  We are faced, instead, with the gang that couldn't
shoot straight.  If we had a national press corps that was nearly as competent as
the Bushies, or a majority in congress with an ounce of political courage, the
impeachment of both Bush and Cheney, on the charge of corruption and
dereliction of duty, would already be underway.  Ashcroft would be just a
bitter memory-the same as those in our history who used to burn witches.

We had this administration appointed by five members of a Supreme Court
who owe their careers to right wing fruit loops, who themselves managed to
take control of the Republican party by buying both the party and the American
press.  These right wingers are so looped that they couldn't take power by
selling their agenda through the open exchange of ideas, so they had to buy
the press in order to mischaracterize their greed.

The Dr. Strangelove, cold warriors that surround Bush are still living in the 1950's.
 For them, understanding that we ultimately won WWII by denying Hitler access
to the oil necessary to power his military machinery, world security is about nothing
more than the control of the oil fields.  And, to them, security is everything.  It doesn't
matter with whom one has to align oneself, or who one has to kill.  These are the
same folks who thought it just dandy to protect and hide Nazi war criminals simply
because they were good anti-Communists.  They don't give a jot for democracy
because, to them, patriotism is about borders, and not about philosophy.
They believe that our constitution is a pleasant fiction to sedate the masses.

These relics of a past century firmly believe that the way to US security is to control
the governments that control the oil fields.  It doesn't matter if free people must be
enslaved, or if barbaric criminals must be propped up, and this is why they want to
stay far away from any notions of a world court.  Once the nations that own the oil
fields are controlled, US business can be sent in to develop the resource, to pay off
the corrupt, and to serve as the advance warning system in case the locals get uppity.
While they used to believe that military leaders made the best American leaders,
George H.W. taught them otherwise.  Military leaders tend to get caught up in
unhealthy ideas such as honor, while robber barons always know which way the
financial winds blow, and into which holes to crawl in a pinch.  Daddy Bush taught
them that if you want America to control the oil, oil men need to control America.
And that is why the CIA named a building after HW.

In campaign 2000 the lust for oil was there for all to see, but the public relations
division of the oil companies and the military industrial complex (formerly known
as the US News Media, or the "Fourth Estate") told America that the election was
about the color of Al Gore's suits and what was beneath Bill Clinton's zipper.
After stealing the election, with little complaint from cowering democrats (yes, I
use a small 'd' here), the frat boys and the tycoons danced a jig in the White House,
and set about emptying the treasury into their pockets in front of all the world.
Their one major priority was to clear the opposition of US oil interests from the
Middle East and South America, and to wipe out regulation of their products and
business practices at home.  I put it to you that the minor oil fields in Alaska were
merely a misdirection.  "Tree huggers won't gripe about what we do somewhere
else if they occupy their time with the Alaskan wilderness.  As a matter of fact,
they might even encourage us if it will save their precious caribou."

John Ashcroft was named as Attorney General (again while democrats were
hiding under their beds) to placate the one solid faction of current Republican
support-the "I'll let Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson do all my thinking for me,"
religious lunatic fringe of the extreme right wing.

When John Ashcroft claims that he did not have any clues that served as
sufficient warning to prevent the attack on America, he is a bald faced liar.
He simply paid no attention to it, nor did Bush, nor did any higher up in the
current administration.  It is a part of Ashcroft's job description that he is the
repository for all intelligence gathered in this country regarding foreign nationals
who enter our borders and intelligence gathered related to potential crimes that
may be committed here.  If he didn't get the evidence it is because he specifically
indicated that he didn't want it.  And he didn't want it because he had other more
important things to do-rebuilding America into a "Christian nation."  Bush didn't
want it because he didn't want to offend the corruptible in the Middle East.

The departing Clinton administration didn't spend their last hours trashing the
White House or Air Force One.  They spent their final hours briefing the Bushies
on the importance of security precautions and intelligence gathering regarding the
clear and present danger of terrorism.  "You will be spending more time on this
issue than any other," Sandy Berger warned them.  Because of their greed,
because of their stupidity, because of their long since discredited notions of
"world security," the Bushies ignored Berger's warnings, and demonstrated fatal
incompetence which cost the lives of thousands of Americans, thousands of
Afghan civilians, and destabilized the entire world.

For what?  Oil!  Greed! Stupidity!

For over two hundred years our Chief Executives and Attorney Generals have
paid homage to our constitution and worked within its boundaries to protect
Americans.  If there was ever anything that our founding fathers were clear about,
it was the necessity of giving the concepts of constitutional law maximum priority.
To fight threats, both internal and external, within the boundaries of that admonition
took courage, intelligence, and creativity.  Yet the response of this administration to
the threat against our security is to merely rip up the document.  The response from
the democrats is to hide under their beds.

"Don't hurt us!  Don't make anyone think that we're 'unpatriotic.'
There's an election coming up!"

To any in congress who find it more politically expedient to avoid the duty of
"advice and consent," republican or democrat, I say it is time for you to go!
It is time to openly begin the discussion of the impeachment of George W. Bush
and Dick Cheney.  It is time to demand the firing of John Ashcroft.  "We can't
because we're at war," is not an excuse when it is the Bush administration that
created and defined (or rather, failed to define) the war.  It is not an excuse because,
as you seem to have forgotten, there is no war until congress says there is a war.

Impeach him now!  End this incompetence while we still have some freedom at home,
and some respect abroad!  There is no question that you will be damaged by the
patriotism card.  When you go on "Meet the Press," Tim Russert, owned and
operated by General Electric, which has a major interest in the Afghan oil pipeline,
will probably accuse you of treason.  You will simply have to remind Tim that he's
owned by oil interests, and question his impartiality.  Personally, I'd give the largest
campaign contribution that I could afford to any politician, Republican or Democrat,
who showed that kind of courage.  (I'd offer the same to a Green Party candidate,
but let's face it-Tim will never let you on the show.)

Mid-twentieth century cold war strategies in the twenty-first century will profit only
a few, and America nothing.  "The dogmas of the...past are inadequate to the stormy
present... As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew, and then we will
save our country."  Oil and non-renewable gas are a dying resource.  Technology can
replace them in a relatively short period of time.  Technology is the key to our
independence and our security.  The only purpose oil will soon serve is to squeeze the
last profits from the struggling third world, to shake down the already suffering.

Bill Clinton understood that, but George W. Bush is still drilling??