Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth Who We Are

Dear Friend:    

As some famous writer once said, I would have written you a shorter letter but I didn't have the time.  It's been at least six weeks since the last Notes came out, and I've started and restarted at least four different pieces, only to find that events of the moment shifted my perspective.  So I apologize for being out of touch for so long, and also for the length of this piece.  I hope it inspires perspective, encouragement, and effective action.

Steve Bhaerman

http://www.wakeuplaughing.com

How to End the Real Looting and Lawlessness: It's Time To Launch “Project Total Recall” By Steve Bhaerman

As America recovers and rebalances after the huge tragedy in New Orleans, we can expect political rhetoric to seek pre-flood levels.  From the left we can expect to hear help was too little too late because most of the left-behinds were black folks.  And no doubt, that is a factor.  You too probably saw the two AP news photos and their captions.  The white guy slogging through the bog with a garbage bag is “finding food.”  The black guy is “looting.” 

From the right, we will hear that those folks should have left when they could (many of them couldn't) and the real crimes were the snipers sniping at helicopters and young thugs raping young girls (which turns out, the mainstream press now reports, to be little more than rumor -- a convenient fabrication perhaps, to justify the subsequent military response).  But the point that both sides are missing -- because it is such an awful notion to contemplate -- is that to this Administration, we're all black folks.

The predictable rhetoric will continue, the sides will polarize even further, and things will get much, much worse -- unless we the people of the country face the truth.  We have excused and sanctioned the most inexcusable crime of all:  The looting of the commonwealth from the top down, and the lawlessness that permits it.  If you think this is hyperbole, I suggest you wake up and smell the coffins.

Consider first of all the bloated military industrial complex, the dysfunctional spoiled child spawned by an unnatural alliance between military folks and weapons makers after World War II.  To make sure our government protects us from the Communists, the Terrorists, or whatever the designated “dreaded gombu” d'jour, we have given carte blanche to the evil-doers on our side to out-evil-do the evil-doers on the other.  And in this original “don't ask, don't tell” alliance of denial, the public has agreed to not ask what is being done in our name, and our government has obliged by not telling us.

(For a very thorough and telling background of why we went to the death economy sixty or so years ago, please click here to read a piece by Brian Bogart.) http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/War_Peace/US_Programmed%20_War.html

And the appetite of that bloated, aging kid is growing.  That Big Iraq Attack we gave into a couple of years ago has now cost us nearly $198 billion.   Add that to the $400 billion we spend each year so that our jets are busy doing something else when hijacked planes are hitting our buildings, and add to that the secret budget that not even your congressperson knows about.  And don't forget that trillion dollars that went missing from the Defense Department a few years ago.  As the Swami says, “Boy, we sure do have a lot of wealth hidden behind defense.”

Surely the chump change that fell out of some of those well-lined pockets could have shored up the Louisiana shore and then some.  But that's only a small part of the looting that has taken place.  Agencies like FEMA are not headed up by those experienced in managing disaster relief, but by revolving-door political appointees who can expect to receive large future paychecks from whatever industry they're “regulating” now.

While officials after Katrina found no evidence that young thugs robbed and raped the helpless in New Orleans, there is plenty of evidence that older thugs  ( “gold collar criminals,” the Swami calls them) disguised as public servants and businesspeople have helped rape the planet and plunder the commonwealth -- because they could.  More accurately, because we let them.  Yes, we elect our public officials ostensibly to protect our interests.  But thanks to election campaigns which cost zillions of dollars (with money primarily being used to trick the voter into believing they are not being tricked), the people's voice is drowned out by -- well, let's face it, nothing talks louder than money, right?

In this new dysfunctional system, the drug companies and other cartels realize that instead of paying so much in taxes, they can eliminate the middle-man and pay the legislators directly.  If you imagine that legislators are not influenced by influence-peddlers, just consider the drug industry.  Or Halliburton.  These sweetheart contracts exist because people in these industries and people in government are -- well, sweethearts.  If you think about all the fuss about Bill Clinton carrying on with an intern, and then consider how President Bush was in bed with that Lay at Enron who screwed millions, you can see how we the people have been deceiving ourselves -- with the media's help, of course.

Speaking of Enron, Kenny Boy was snuggled up with plenty of Democrats too.  Which brings us to the first key point of this article:  People of America, wake up!  Forget Democrats and Republicans.  Neither one can help us.  The Republicans -- so-called “moderates” notwithstanding -- have come under the control of the neocon con artists who will lie right in your face because they are so sure they're right that they will do or say anything to get their way.  Any real Christian who falls for this Administration's hogwash ought to be washed with the hogs.  Sure, Bush & company praise Jesus.  But they worship Machiavelli.

And the Democrats?  With the exception of a few brave souls, they're enablers for the bullies on the right.  If you consider the 2004 election, which Swami has characterized as Ruthless (Bush / Cheney /Rove) vs. Toothless (Kerry), moderated by Truthless (the “liberal” media) and Couthless (the right-wing media), here was an opportunity to de-elect a misleader who promised us a future of endless warfare, loss of civil liberties, environmental destruction, and growing gap between rich and poor.  Oh, and top of that, theocratic rule by the ayatollahs of the religious right who -- in the words of Dennis Miller -- “make Jesse Helms look like Freddie Mercury.” 

Instead, someone at Candidate Central (aka the Michael Dukakis School for Political Charisma) drained the lifeblood out of John Kerry and replaced it with embalming fluid.  Kerry barely confronted George Bush on the basic issues and failed even to present a vision that was more compelling than the hell George Bush promised.  In the end, there were far more people inclined to vote against Bush than for Kerry.  What could have been an overwhelming victory for a Democrat who showed authentic courage and vision, turned out to be an even more questionable win for the Bushies than the 5-4 squeaker in 2000.

So who is to blame for this state of affairs?  Well, if we start blaming -- we're already playing the wrong game.  Who is responsible?  That's a better question.  And I would have to say that in a democracy where we the people supposedly elect our leaders, and where in fact the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution guarantee it, I think it means we are responsible.  Not the Democrats, not the Republicans, not Ralph Nader for being a spoiler nor Gavin Newsom for touting gay marriage, not Karl Rove, not Dick Cheney.  Yes, the American public has been sold a bill of bads, but we bought it.  To put it bluntly, if we don't expect any better we don't deserve any better.  And at this point neither the Democrats or Republicans can help us.  We must help ourselves otherwise we are truly helpless.


It's Time for Total Recall

So, what can we do?  I thought you'd never ask.  What we can do is take a cue from three courageous voices -- an Independent, a Democrat, and a Republican -- who have called for the impeachment of the Bush Administration.  They are Ralph Nader, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and conservative commentator and former Reagan administration official Paul Craig Roberts.  In addition, here is a Baltimore Sun editorial that all but calls for impeachment.

(American Conservative magazine editor Pat Buchanan has also called for impeachment over more questionable issues -- failure to secure our borders against illegal immigrants.  Nonetheless, his conservative magazine has long opposed the neocon's neo-con game, from the war in Iraq to loss of civil liberties.)

Now of course, there are those who insist that an actual impeachment is impossible with a Republican Congress in session, that we should wait until the 2006 election, where there could be a Democratic majority.  Wrong.

When you think of the Democrats, think of the Peanuts comic strip.  We the people are good ol' Charlie Brown, and the Democratic Party leadership is Lucy, who has sworn on Linus's blanket that she will hold the football in place while Charlie kicks it.  Well, we all know how this scenario invariably turns out.  Lucy pulls away the football, and we the people fall on our ass.  Of course it makes sense to take back the Democratic Party, just as it makes sense for the non-criminal element who believe in true conservative values to take back the Republican Party.  I suggest that a grassroots impeachment effort from the groundswell up will encourage and empower the healthiest elements in both parties.

Why impeachment?  Because it is a legal action that is taken not because  a President's is unpopular (which in this case is well-established) but because of illegal actions and abuse of power.  I was simply going to outline the charges against the President and have you the reader click on to it.  But since the charges are so clear and so profound, I am reprinting them directly from the website.  Please read and consider these very carefully, even if you think you already know too much about this Administration.  At the end, I think you will see why this issue is bigger than partisan politics, and goes to the very core of our liberty and the world we want to live in in the future:

Some of the charges outlined by Ramsey Clark at Vote to Impeach.org  include:

1)  Seizing power to wage wars of aggression in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, the U.N. Charter and the rule of law;  carrying out a massive assault on and occupation of Iraq, a country that was not threatening the United States, resulting in the death and maiming of tens of thousands of Iraqis, and thousands of U.S. G.I.s.

2)   Lying to the people of the U.S., to Congress, and to the U.N., providing false and deceptive rationales for war.

3)  Authorizing, ordering and condoning direct attacks on civilians, civilian facilities and locations where civilian casualties were unavoidable.

4)  Threatening the independence and sovereignty of Iraq by belligerently changing its government by force and assaulting Iraq in a war of aggression.

5 )  Authorizing, ordering and condoning assassinations, summary executions, kidnappings, secret and other illegal detentions of individuals, torture and physical and psychological coercion of prisoners to obtain false statements concerning acts and intentions of governments and individuals and violating within the United States, and by authorizing U.S. forces and agents elsewhere, the rights of individuals under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

6 )  Making, ordering and condoning false statements and propaganda about the conduct of foreign governments and individuals and acts by U.S. government personnel; manipulating the media and foreign governments with false information; concealing information vital to public discussion and informed judgment concerning acts, intentions and possession, or efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in order to falsely create a climate of fear and destroy opposition to U.S. wars of aggression and first strike attacks.

7 )  Violations and subversions of the Charter of the United Nations and international law, both a part of the "Supreme Law of the land" under Article VI, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, in an attempt to commit with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes in wars and threats of aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq and others and usurping powers of the United Nations and the peoples of its nations by bribery, coercion and other corrupt acts and by rejecting treaties, committing treaty violations, and frustrating compliance with treaties in order to destroy any means by which international law and institutions can prevent, affect, or adjudicate the exercise of U.S. military and economic power against the international community.

8 ) Acting to strip United States citizens of their constitutional and human rights, ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to counsel, without charge, and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the Executive of a citizen as an "enemy combatant."

9 )  Ordering indefinite detention of non-citizens in the United States and elsewhere, and without charge, at the discretionary designation of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Defense.

10 )  Ordering and authorizing the Attorney General to override judicial orders of release of detainees under INS jurisdiction, even where the judicial officer after full hearing determines a detainee is wrongfully held by the government.

11 )  Authorizing secret military tribunals and summary execution of persons who are not citizens who are designated solely at the discretion of the Executive who acts as indicting official, prosecutor and as the only avenue of appellate relief.

12 )  Refusing to provide public disclosure of the identities and locations of persons who have been arrested, detained and imprisoned by the U.S. government in the United States, including in response to Congressional inquiry.

13 )  Use of secret arrests of persons within the United States and elsewhere and denial of the right to public trials.

14 ) Authorizing the monitoring of confidential attorney client privileged communications by the government, even in the absence of a court order and even where an incarcerated person has not been charged with a crime.

15 )  Ordering and authorizing the seizure of assets of persons in the United States, prior to hearing or trial, for lawful or innocent association with any entity that at the discretionary designation of the Executive has been deemed "terrorist."

16)  Institutionalization of racial and religious profiling and authorization of domestic spying by federal law enforcement on persons based on their engagement in noncriminal religious and political activity.

17 )  Refusal to provide information and records necessary and appropriate for the constitutional right of legislative oversight of executive functions.

18 )  Rejecting treaties protective of peace and human rights and abrogation of the obligations of the United States under, and withdrawal from, international treaties and obligations without consent of the legislative branch , and including termination of the ABM treaty between the United States and Russia, and rescission of the authorizing signature from the Treaty of Rome which served as the basis for the International Criminal Court.
     
I apologize for the length of these charges, which I guess is more than the Administration will apologize for.  But I think it is important for us all to see clearly without prejudiced eye just how much of the mechanism for a police state has been put into place in response to the “9/11 terrorist attack.”  You will also note -- if you're willing to look at it -- that the New Orleans “rescue” operation has way more to do with creating martial law on American soil than it does with rescuing. 

You may or may not have seen this article reported in TruthOut indicating that mercenary killers in the employ of Blackwater-- a firm supplying murder-for-hire worldwide -- have been dispatched to New Orleans as well.  A related article indicates that the U.S. military is now recruiting non-citizen soldiers from third world countries -- a trend that suggests that our cherished land is in the process of becoming a third world country itself where paid soldiers will have no qualms doing to us what we're doing to detainees at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib.  Apologies for reporting this disturbing and upsetting information, but to quote the Swami again, “The truth shall upset you free.”

In the wake of the New Orleans horror there was a window of awakening as the long-dormant media began to express outrage at the outrages of a system that puts property first and human life way down near the bottom.  That window seems to be closing as the reverse spin is spinning to obfuscate this truth, and we can expect the corporate media to fade back into the customary mealy-mouthing of the party line -- unless ...

Unless we the people demand otherwise.  The good news is, people are waking up.  The question is, can we stay awake -- and stay encouraged -- as we look directly into the heart of darkness?  Many more people are finding themselves on the other side of that thin line between paranoia and clarity of vision.  When something is unspeakable -- well, it's hard to get people to speak about it, and even harder to get people to listen.  But just as surely as the city of New Orleans existed in normalcy one day, and was washed away the next, that is how quickly and easily the next “disaster” can wash away the what remains of our civil society.  Imagine the military in your town “restoring order” as you watch “uncooperative” friends and neighbors being taken off to some undisclosed location.

 Now is the time -- because it's too late to do it sooner -- to establish a national voice to “press the press” and bring the charges to media attention in a way that hasn't been done before.  This requires a council of nationally and internationally-prominent leaders who see the danger, and are willing to speak clearly, calmly and bluntly about about it.  In addition to Ralph Nader, Ramsey Clark, and possibly Paul Craig Roberts and Pat Buchanan, we need a unified movement of liberals, conservatives, and independents who are willing to put aside during this time of crisis the divisive issues like gay marriage and abortion, and call attention to the fact that unholy matrimony of government, industry, the military and a propaganda machine disguised as a free press has already aborted our liberty and Constitutional rights.

In addition to this air cover from prominent figures, this movement needs ground support.  The Vote to Impeach website now has about a half a million signatures on its petition.  We need 100 times that many, roughly the 50 million who voted for regime change last November.  So how can we bring this about?
 
The Truth Shall Upset Us Free

Let's fast forward fifteen or twenty years from now --assuming a world where we still have human life and civilization -- and we are talking with our grandchildren.  Will we be basking in the joyful warmth of a solar society, or huddling in the shadow of some nuclear or environmental nightmare?  If the sad scenario is the latter, how will we justify our complicity in the matter?  “Well, I complained and protested ...” won't cut it.

So yes, many of us have been complaining, and now there needs to be a shift from the relatively powerless stance of complaint and protest to the empowering one of truth-telling and visionary imagination.  In order to face the “awful truth” with courage and hope, people need to see the “awesome opportunity.”  In other words, if we weren't doing this, what would we be doing instead?  If we weren't spending so much of our resource on weapons of deadlihood, what kind of amazing livelihood could we be creating?

In her courageous and compelling challenge to George Bush and company, Cindy Sheehan has asked, “What noble cause did my son die for?”  I submit that Casey Sheehan and those poor folks in New Orleans died from the same thing -- a failure of imagination.  Stuck in ancient, unconscious and obsolete habits and beliefs, we have been unable to imagine a world that actually works for all of us.  And we've certainly been unable to imagine how we can get to such a world.  Consequently, we prepare only for war and war is what we keep re-creating despite all the noble rhetoric.  Meanwhile, human enterprise has taken us so far away from the practical wisdom of nature that we spend huge amounts of money to build unworkable structures instead of using our most abundant human resource, imagination, to co-create with the natural world.

But as we learned earlier this month in New Orleans, nature -- i.e., life -- will have the last word.  As Swami says in another one of his sadly ironic jokes, “There will indeed be peace on earth.  I sure hope we humans are around to enjoy it.”  And this relentless forward progress of life -- along with our willingness to understand it, surf on it, and co-create with it -- may hold the key for us in this key time in history.

There is a wall of lies that hold in place the deadly structures that threaten life on the planet.  At the same time, there is a tsunami of truth building.  In fishing for a strategy to help bring about the necessary changes it occurs to me that life is unpredictable.  A few months ago, who could have predicted the impact that Cindy Sheehan would have had in awakening the populace, not to mention the media?  There was a “space,” and she filled it.  That “space” was created by a growing number of individuals discovering, facing and speaking the truth.

So our job in moving the inevitable wave of truth forward is to keep speaking the truth, clearly and calmly. I've discovered that most individuals in our society are two or three socratic questions away from awakening.  I've spoken to octogenarian conservative women and dittoheads who pride themselves on their limited perspective.  In each case, and with very different approaches I've been able to open up a crack in the wall of lies to shine the light of truth into the heart of darkness.

Despite all of the programming, brainwashing and fear-mongering, there is a growing awareness among citizens of all political persuasions that “we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”  But because of the level of denial and complicity on the part of corporate media, these suspicions haven't taken hold.  For example, the 80-something-year-old woman I spoke with knew something wasn't right.  When I began poking holes in the official 9/11 story, she thanked me profusely for giving voice to her intuition.  In another case, my wife Trudy was having a conversation with someone else about how the Twin Towers collapse looked suspiciously like a planned demolition.  A third woman listening in suddenly got her own epiphany -- and began quietly sobbing as she faced the horrific betrayal of trust that has taken place.

As we speak the truth forward, we can expect two things:  awakening and resistance to awakening.  The best way to transform the resistance is by asking questions, not offering answers.  The 9/11 questions I've found useful include:  “How is it that the most expensive and sophisticated air defense system stood down in the face of attack, and why was no one held accountable for the worst defense failure in our history?”  “Why did George Bush fail to act as commander-in-chief with our country under attack?”  “Why has the anthrax case never been solved -- and not even talked about?”  “With all of the sophisticated satellite imaging, why have we never captured Osama?”  Regarding the war, a provocative question I've found useful is:  “Who exactly gave our government the authority to condemn tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians to death by bombing?”

For those who have awakened, we must provide recourse.  Here are a few suggestions:

1.  Ask “Awakening” Questions of Friends, Family and Associates.   A friend of ours who is a dentist in a conservative midwestern town makes it a point to educate her patients by asking questions and then providing information.  Like many others across the country, she is discovering that after the initial discomfort people feel in looking down the deep, dark hole there is relief when their own suspicions are acknowledged.  Just as the American public has “misunderestimated” the current gang's capacity for lawlessness, Rove & company have likewise misunderestimated the intelligence of the public.  At some point, the masses critical of the Administration will reach critical mass and the wall of lies will crumble like the Berlin Wall.

2.  Press the Press.  Should democracy survive this sad and shameful episode, we the people will have to acknowledge the saddest and most shameful betrayal of all:  the “free press” being transformed into a massive media impropaganda machine.  If reporters and editors are being intimidated from the top down, then we must provide an even greater pressure from the bottom up.  While huge demonstrations in Washington have their place, we need to mobilize by the hundreds outside our city newspapers and radio and TV stations.  We need to meet with editors and executives -- and if need be phone them at home -- and let them know that we the people will tolerate nothing less than a free press.  This will embolden and encourage those newspeople who have not been “ethically cleansed.”  Meanwhile, the threat of boycott will certainly give those concerned about the bottom line pause.  What if millions of people gave up their mainstream media subscriptions and channeled that money instead to the news sources that are more dedicated to truth than profits?

3.  Put Aside the Peripheral Issues -- Go for Total Recall.   I've said it before, but it bears repeating.  Progressives have been like the classic fool who loses his car keys in the bushes, but looks for them in the parking lot -- because there is more light there.  Unless we are willing to face the unfamiliar darkness with courage -- instead of huddling behind familiar positions and issues -- we will be unable to take advantage of the huge opportunity that faces us, an opportunity to establish a genuine moral authority in this country that stands as a living model for the world.

If that sounds too idealistic, consider the alternative.  The current regime -- and its wicked stepchild slated to come to power in 2008 -- can only stay in power through increasing lies and totalitarianism.  Each time we give in to fear, apathy, hopelessness or helplessness, we enable this potentially-fatal disease of the body politic to tighten its grip.  So instead of reacting to this Administration outrage by outrage, we'd do better to go right to the heart of the matter:  Total Recall.

(As a matter of fact, just today David Swanson of after downing street.org sent out a call for donations to help fund an actual public opinion poll to determine what percentage of Americans would support impeachment.  To find out more and / or donate, please click here.)

At the peace demonstration last weekend in Washington, some 300,000 people chanted for the impeachment of the Bush administration.  If you think the movement to impeach doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell, consider how much momentum that snowball would gather as ten, twenty or fifty million Americans give this regime a vote of no confidence.  What if the Vote To Impeach or other impeachment website had a running tally -- like that Cost of War website -- of how many American by the minute, hour and day sign the Total Recall petition?  At some point, the groundswell of grassroots support would encourage, embolden and empower those in Congress, in government, in the military-intelligence community who have not been “ethically-cleansed” to step forward.  Imagine a broad-based council of prominent citizens from all fields of endeavor -- clergy, science, business, government, media, entertainment, arts and letters -- standing together and speaking the truth:  that we have a regime that has used fear and misinformation to overrule the rule of law and loot the commonwealth. 

Two hundred and thirty years ago, a few brave visionaries stood up for an outrageous notion:  That we the people are sovereign citizens, not subjects.  Since that time, each generation has been called upon to “defend freedom” and those founding principles.  In the past, this invocation has sent our soldiers to foreign shores armed with weapons.  Our “rendezvous with destiny” in this most dangerous and opportune age looks entirely different -- ordinary, well-meaning citizens armed only with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the law of the land, and the moral law at the foundation of every religion, taking a stand for truth, justice and transparency.

The good news is, we don't need a revolution in this country.  We already had one.  Now what we need is an evolution to “overgrow” the current obsolete system.  We the people need to evolve into the conscious, sovereign citizens the Founding Fathers envisioned.  We can no longer afford the luxury of looking “up the line” for the “leaders” who will save us.  We are the leaders we seek.  If we want to transform the septic field that has become American politics into a genuine field of dreams, it is up to us.  If we build it, “they” will come.   

Steve Bhaerman

http://www.wakeuplaughing.com