14 years ago

I kissed you for the first time

in this existence


- Happy Anniversary, Sarah,
my heart -

"Who watches the watchmen?"


Data backing Iraq war called weak

Leaders of the House intelligence committee have criticized the U.S. intelligence community for using largely outdated, "circumstantial" and "fragmentary" information with "too many uncertainties" to conclude that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda.

- Dana Priest, THE WASHINGTON POST via MSNBC -

To focus this investigation into the current Administration's case for war on the alleged failure and incompetence of the intelligence community is to lose sight of a larger and much more instructive picture. It is a picture which we may find includes , if we could just peek through the mist of lies which obscures the lines and details, the elusive architects of 9/11.

Has not the U.S. intelligence community also taken the fall, or much of it, for failing to prevent the attacks of that horrible September day?

Can you say scapegoat? We've got a big one here, folks, in the form of "The Intelligence Community". To whom does this goat belong? looks to me like this particular animal bears the brand The Bush Administration.

It certainly seems to me that George W. and his cabal have something to hide.

Bush's 9/11 Coverup?

While the administration of President George W. Bush is aggressively positioning itself as the world leader in the war on terrorism, some families of the Sept. 11 victims say that the facts increasingly contradict that script. The White House long opposed the formation of a blue-ribbon Sept. 11 commission, some say, and even now that panel is underfunded and struggling to build momentum. And, they say, the administration is suppressing a 900-page congressional study, possibly out of fear that the findings will be politically damaging to Bush

"We've been fighting for nearly 21 months -- fighting the administration, the White House," says Monica Gabrielle. Her husband, Richard, an insurance broker who worked for Aon Corp. on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center's Tower 2, died during the attacks. "As soon as we started looking for answers we were blocked, put off and ignored at every stop of the way. We were shocked. The White House is just blocking everything."

Another 9/11 family advocate -- a former Bush supporter who requested anonymity -- was more blunt: "Bush has done everything in his power to squelch this [9/11] commission and prevent it from happening."

- Eric Boehlert, Salon.com via Information Clearing House-

Even now, it must be pointed out, the so called "Independent" Commission trying to get over the Bush Administration's stone wall and into the truth at the bottom of 9/11 is chaired by a Republican hand picked by Bush.

Bush Nominates Himself to Chair 9/11 Investigation

It is vital in this to remember that the Bush administration thwarted this independent investigation for 18 months, until they got the two things they wanted. One was a requirement that any subpoenas would be issued only after six of the ten people on the commission voted for it. The commission is composed of five Democrats and five Republicans. If a particular subpoena seems to cut too close to the political bone, the Republicans on the committee need only stand shoulder to shoulder to stop it.

The other requirement the Bush administration demanded was the right to pick the chairman of the commission.

- William Rivers Pitt, TruthOut.com via Altarnet -

The second anniversary of 9/11 has come and gone completely unmarked by yours truly.

This is hardly surprising in light of the fact that it has been quite some time since I have filled this space with any socio-political vitriol.

Tony at Abuddhas has inspired me to leap once more into the fray with a (relatively) recent post he made regarding the power of blogging - here's a snip:

In these dire times I am as deeply distressed by introspective, narcissistic "blogs" as I am by the solitary driver in an SUV on the way to score (whatever) who pointedly ignores the hitch-hiker. Both move on without care for the wider consequences of wasted energy and opportunities for interaction and understanding.

Now, with the aid of those fine subversive folks at Disinfornmation, who have corralled a number of 9/11 related articles right here, I hope to begin making amends for my blog silence on these vital matters by highlighting some of the pieces they have made available to anybody with eyes to see beyond the lies fed to us by the Bush propaganda machine.

9/11/01: Where Was George?

September 11 is often said to be the defining moment in the Bush presidency, even of modern history. How strange, therefore, that Bush's behavior that morning--along with that of his Administration--is almost never examined in any detail. This is all the more incredible when one considers the fact that 9/11 is among the most exhaustively chronicled days in human history and Bush among its most heavily covered individuals. No less odd has been the media's willingness to let the many inconsistencies in White House stories pass unexamined.

- Eric Alterman, The Nation -


Quest for Truth, 9/11 Widows Fight Government Stonewalling

So afraid is the Bush administration of what could be revealed by inquiries into its failures to protect Americans from terrorist attack, it is unabashedly using Kremlin tactics to muzzle members of Congress and thwart the current federal commission investigating the failures of Sept. 11. But there is at least one force that the administration cannot scare off or shut up. They call themselves "Just Four Moms from New Jersey", or simply "the girls".

- Gail Sheehy, Free-Times.com -


A Post 9-11 Reality Check
The Soaring Cost of Iraq 'Peace,' the Soaring Cost of Life in America

You may think 9-11 is the somber anniversary of a terrible event in American history, but for the Bush campaign managers it is yet another opportunity for spin.

- James Ridgeway with Phoebe St John, The Village Voice -


WHY DON'T WE HAVE ANSWERS TO THESE 9/11 QUESTIONS?

NO EVENT IN recent history has been written about, talked about, or watched and rewatched as much as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - two years ago today.

Not only was it the deadliest terrorist strike inside America, but the hijackings and attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington were also a seminal event for an information-soaked media age of Internet access and 24- hour news.

So, why after 730 days do we know so little about what really happened that day?

- William Bunch, Philadelphia Daily News -

5/19/03

a neighbor sobbing

on this warm May night -

all windows open. . .


9/22/03

There she is again

sobbing in the night, her sadness

ours

Two of the submissions mentioned below have already come home to roost! Thanks to the editors for their quick responses. If only they had born better news. At times like this I am reminded of a classic (for me, at least) Charles Schultz Peanuts strip wherein we see Snoopy atop his dog house writing a letter to an editor who has, apparently, made a habit of sending the imaginative beagle's stories back to him. Snoopy writes, as I recall (it's been a while since I've seen this particular strip), something to this effect:

"Dear editor, why do you keep sending my stories back to me? Don't you know you are supposed to publish them and make me rich and famous?"

As I suggested nearly two years ago in my very first blog post, I write primarily for myself. This remains true but so does the fact that I consider what I write worth sharing with others, most of the time. Toward that end I have made myself busy this past week, submitting a variety of fiction and poetry to five different publishers as follows:

One poem, long and previously seen here and over at Ray's old place, to The Salt River Review . It remains to be seen whether or not the editors will consider a blog appearance as previous publication. I hope not as their guidelines indicated that they would not accept work that had already seen the light of day, though the poem has been revised slightly - so I could argue that it is not the same piece that I have featured here or that was honored by Ray.

Three poems to Tebot Bach's (it's welsh for "teapot"!) New Anthology of California Poetry

One long short story to Omnidawn. Actually, only 3,666 words of more than 11,000 per their guidelines.

One short story, previously published in '98, to Dhazie Book's upcoming anthology, Mean. I am pleased to note that I did not have much to offer the folks at Dhazie books on the subject of mean except for this previously published short. Thank goodness previous publication is not an issue for them.

And, Finally, a bunch of haiku inspired forms from my journal to The Heron's Nest.

The odds are that most of this stuff will come back rejected, and it wouldn't be the first time for some of the pieces, but I am hoping for at least two acceptances from this group of submissions.

This and That

This: My comments have been on again off again the last three days or so due to a YACCs server issue.

That: The much appreciated spell check feature included in BloggerPro does not, ironically enough, recognize the word blog or any of it's variations - i.e. blogger, blogging, blogged, etc.