An Unconventional Convention: The 2008 Democratic convention has, I believe, captured the American mind and spirit in a way that no other single event in modern political history ever has. It has been a mirror of our country and a yardstick for our time. America has been called to greatness once again and once again America can, if it wants to, respond. Once in a lifetime a leader crosses our path who can lift us up, inspire us, give us courage, provide us hope that better days are ahead. I believe Barack Obama is no ordinary man for our no ordinary time.

Great leadership has been, I believe, illusive. Perhaps it took the systemically foul leadership of a George W. Bush presiding over the most corrupt political machine in US history for a leader to emerge who can provide a new way. George Bush's egregiously inept leadership has been well documented. He was a leader who took this nation to war based on lies, imbued himself with unconstitutional powers; he was a man who did not protect us from the onslaught of 9/11, and a man who botched badly the ensuing war on terrorism soon to cost trillions catapulting us into recession or worse. He sanctioned torture, squashed science and committed other immoral acts. George Bush, too, provided us with a Justice Department by unethically stuffing its ballot box with political cronies so that allegiance to George Bush was the only qualification for admittance into his restricted club of extremist Republican politics. His oligarchic love of unregulated crony capitalism and a loathing of government regulation has made George Bush into arguably the worst president in US history. He has run the ship of state aground. His leadership was not about the many. It was about the few. John McCain voted with George W. Bush 95% of the time.

Instead of basking in the sunlight of great leadership George Bush squandered that leadership and relegated it to the darkness of a secret presidency conducted behind closed doors and out of the people's view so that his secret meetings with the minions of millionaires could never be seen. Perhaps, though, his presidency existed so that finally this nation can undergo systemic transformation.

I have always yearned for the FDR experience that my parents adored. I have heard it said as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's casket rolled past tearful onlookers one black man who shed tears for FDR was asked if he knew him. His answer was "I did not know him but he knew me." I hope in the coming few months this country sees that Barack Obama knows us so that we propel him into the great leadership I know, if given a chance, he can provide.

"That's a negative": I could not agree with the Boston Globe more in its August 27, 2008 editorial. Jim Leach, the Iowa Republican, who spoke at the Democratic convention was one of the best most informative speakers of the night. It was well worth listening to him as he articulated so well the rationale for why Republicans ought to eschew their party. His reasons for abandoning his party were exactly correct. The Republican party, as it exists today, bears absolutely no resemblance to the ideals it once articulated. Unfortunately, it is sometimes testament, I believe, to the nature of the American public who needs fiery speeches, heavy on platitudes, which say little, to capture its attention. Jim Leach said so much albeit with not too much pizazz. Everyone could have learned something if they only listened!

Herculean Hypocritical Heights: Jeff Jacoby had me right up until the last sentence of his op editorial "China's totalitarian games" in the August 24, 2008 Boston Sunday Globe. His last sentence in that editorial reads "As in 1936 and 1980, the 2008 Games were a showcase for a dictatorship. In such a travesty, Americans should have played no part." China's human rights abuses and its many behavioral crosses into unethical territory are no doubt worthy of intense criticism. The US with its eight years of a Bush presidency which has crossed so many ethical boundaries unpunished make us a paragon of hypocrisy when we criticize other nations for their abuses of power. It is a black pot calling another black pot blacker. Where does the US get off holding its head in the clouds of the moral high ground when it has taken a country to war based on lies and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people? Where was the US moral compass as it created 2 million refugees, blew apart infrastructures and destabilized an entire Middle East under false pretenses?

In addition, team Bush demolished Constitutional rights here at home, neutralized habeas corpus, spied on Americans without warrant, exposed a US CIA agent, countenanced and, indeed, created so many other illegalities and abuses of power which question commitment to our own democracy that we have zero -- I repeat zero -- credibility with which to criticize other breaches of democratic values by other countries. It is possible (perhaps not probable) that because of the Bush administration's various Protect America Acts that even Jeff Jacoby could be plucked from behind his computer, whisked off to a place unknown, and, perhaps, even tortured simply on the whim of one single man. To me that is tyranny. Because that is possible in the heretofore world's greatest democracy makes any criticism of any other state on those grounds absurd.

Another Man for Our Time: What a marvelous VP choice Joe Biden is. The family values crowd should be so pleased. I cannot think of one individual who is more representative of that. Joe Biden, as most know, lost his wife and daughter in a terrible automobile accident. His sons were badly injured. He went home from Washington on Amtrak every single day to be with his sons.

Most importantly he is a man of great ability and foreign policy experience. He balances the ticket beautifully. I hope with all my heart they prevail in November. It will be a tough road because the other side is employing Rovian tactics which sucker punch without conscience. This ticket though, will withstand the onslaught and can play, I know, the same game. Moreover, they can play a better game. I am extraordinarily hopeful. Perhaps it is morning in America again!

The Case of the Missing Mail: The news reports today about the 225 days of missing White House email which just happens to have begun in 2003. How odd that just happens to be when the Iraq War began. How surprised am I? I am not surprised by anything surreptitious this administration has done. The press, in general, seems to have forgotten all about that curious coincidental lost email. Will it forget about the phony letter to justify the Iraq War, or the dubious Anthrax investigation, or the bogus aluminum tubes, or the non-connection between Al Qaeda and Sadam Hussein, or the lack of WMD in Iraq? The list of trumped up reasons the Bush administration used to justify taking a country to war and the illegalities attendant to that goes on and on and on and on. I won't extrapolate, too, about the exposure of a CIA agent because her husband had the audacity to say Bush's war was phony from the beginning and there was, in fact, no uranium sent from Africa. Ah, those16 infamous words George Bush, with his suspiciously shifting eyes, used to lie to Congress to commit US troops and so many others to die in a fraudulently perpetrated war. Does this administration know how to do anything else but lie? Have they ever in eight years told the truth? If so about what? I have yet to find the truth except the few times those within that corrupt White House, at great cost to their own well being, braved administration retribution to tell it like it really was.

From the day George Bush began campaigning for the presidency lying about challengers within his own party, when he used a listening device to cheat at a debate explaining a bulge in the back of his suit as a wardrobe malfunction, when he fixed the 2004 election with machines that were rigged, stole Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 by perpetrating irregularities, George Bush knew how to win only by lying.

When he first set foot into the White House not heeding warnings about an Al Qaeda impending attack up through and including all the lies about the war when on God's earth has this Republican administration told the truth? From 2000 to 2006 there were nothing but lies from an immoral president assisted by an utterly corrupt Republican Congress with the help of a few Democrats too. Hasn't the American public had enough? How many more lies, how many more deaths, how much more money will be spent on fraudulently concocted policies to support political cronies who pay lots and lots of cash to ensure things remain the same and never change. It is up to the American public to not just ask for honesty but demand it by demanding an accounting of those we the people place in office for the egregious lies they tell and the illegal things they do. If not now when?

The Truth: Jeff Jacoby, I really do try to see your point of view. Sometimes, though, I wonder if we are living on the same planet or if our eyes are biologically constructed of completely different stuff. With all that has happened in Iraq, all that has been written, all the corruption, lies, half-truths and murderous behavior that has been exposed how you can write what you do I will never understand. How you can write in support of a policy that has wrought one of the greatest human disasters in modern history, with the exception of the Hitlerian era, is beyond me. Do you even realize the hundreds of thousands of human beings who have been decimated, how many millions have been uprooted not to mention the trillions spent and wasted?

There is often not one Iraqi family to be found who has not lost someone as a direct result of George Bush's Iraq war. While the insurgency is probably temporarily squelched, water, sewer facilities, electricity, hospitals and other modern constructs in Iraq are often non existent or spasmodic at best. Buildings are ruined, bodies are ruined and there is still the killing and still the death. Of course, as you put it, success is now measured by "just five Americans killed in combat in July 08." Just five -- mmm -- I wonder who those five are. Are they members of YOUR family? Are they YOUR son or YOUR daughter or YOUR wife or YOUR cousin? Who are those "just five?" How easy it is for you to talk about those "just five" as if those statistics were representative of merely lines on a graph. Moreover, and maybe more disturbing to our security is that US occupation of Iraq has destabilized the entire region including Pakistan, a nuclear armed country. It is evidenced today with yet another bombing there. Our preoccupation with Iraq and the reemergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan has even emboldened Russia as it knows the US can do nothing. We have no army left with which to do anything. The border of Georgia, a thoroughfare for possible nuclear enriched uranium contraband, is closed to US monitoring of possible terrorist smuggling. A dirty bomb, because of that, could find its way into the US. I am more than frightened I am horror stricken.

What is there in the conservative brain that is the missing link to a concern for humanity -- ALL humanity not simply American humanity. I would love to know where the missing synapse is located in the conservative cerebral hemisphere that sees only American life as valuable life or thinks it can bamboozle an uninformed public to think our country is benevolently spreading democracy all over the world. If there were no oil in Iraq we would not have cared a wit about democracy there. To the contrary at a different time in the history of Iraq and when the US found it convenient, Saddam Hussein was our friend even as he gassed his own people. I would love to know how you can eradicate truth so easily. How can you deny all the deceit? How can you not see all the evidence showing documentation of events -- letters fabricated, dubious anthrax investigations, cover ups galore, not to mention exposing a CIA operative and thereby compromising the efforts to uncover terror? There is, too, the ever-present advocacy and implementation of torture. Under different circumstances the perpetrators of these fabrications, lies and illegalities would be apprehended and tried by an international criminal court. I do not know how anyone, after so much that has been shown to be false, horrendously executed, woefully wrong about the nature of Iraq its real threat and the cultural realities of its people, could offer a rationale for this war and say if they could they would do it all over again. I am staggered by your utterly imperviousness to truth.

I have watched Generation Kill -- an excellent HBO documentary which follows a company of marines as they invade Iraq during the first phase of the war. I am struck dumb by the stark difference between the two peoples who face each other in combat. The US military and the Iraqi citizen look like two different species from different planets. Each has no idea who the hell the other is. I think this captures the essence of why this war is utterly futile. The insurgent enemy is nameless, faceless, endless and alien. When one dies another is replaced. Life is cheap. Fighting terrorism, as Gore Vidal has quite rightly said, is like fighting dandruff. To wage a war against it requires continuous maintenance and can never be curtailed no matter how much professional military might is used. It needs prescient national and international localized police vigilance to capture or kill those few who would do great harm to this country and to others all over the world. It also needs, most importantly, insightful foreign policy behaviors which do not antagonize people but try to win them over -- hearts and minds and all. War does not do that. Winning a military victory or the glorious fight in Iraq is an ILLUSION. It will never happen. You are duped. The cruel immorality is you dupe others into believing up is down and wrong is right. I don't mind if you and your ilk sacrifice your own lives but the frightful thing to me is you will sacrifice my life and others I love for your blinded vision which does not see the truth.

The Pastor's Question: The media’s handling of Pastor Rick Warren’s exchange between Barack Obama and John McCain about abortion was obviously biased. The question that Pastor Warren posed: When does a human being get human rights is a TRAP question. The answer Barack gave "it is above my pay grade" meant, I believe, that he is not God, therefore, he cannot answer that question. Perhaps he could have answered that question more completely BUT I believe he meant that when life begins is a profound determination which each person has to make for herself. He could, and perhaps should, have said that decision is between her and God not her and the state or the president.

The media editorialized and called his answer flip. It was not flip. The media holds Obama to a different standard from McCain. Every word Barack Obama utters is parsed to try to "get" something on him. The news media made McCain, during that exchange, look direct and sure. That audience which is from, generally, the religious right, liked McCain's answer and, of course, as described, appreciated it.

Perhaps, Senator Obama should have said if abortion is made illegal many women, probably mostly poor women because the rich always find a way to do what they want, will seek abortions often times from a person who is not a doctor carrying the obvious risk of a full term human being dying from infection and other toxic occurrences. This was the fate of many women when abortion was illegal.

In addition, possibly, he SHOULD have said there are other very complex factors where the mother's life is threatened, other fetal complications occur, or when a pregnancy is conceived through rape or incest which MUST be taken into account when determining the fate of a pregnancy and the answer to that question.
The moral question should be: Do we want full term human beings being killed by abortions performed by unqualified persons in filthy settings for money?

I suspect most media moguls want McCain to win for their own avaricious reasons. If John McCain wins we will get a presidency which not only will attempt to sink Roe v. Wade but, most importantly, will sink this country with respect to the other grave life threatening issues we all face.

The audience in this decidedly biased arena espouses, generally, its well known view. One should try asking that same question at Boston University, Harvard, MIT or Yale and see the response one gets. I suspect it would be quite the opposite. Perhaps, John McCain should give his answer there?

The Victims of Victory: The horrific the consequences of Bush's Iraq War are evident. Nearly every single problem of magnitude we now suffer both domestically and in foreign affairs can be laid at the foot of the Iraq War. This quagmire has had extenuating consequences which include a trillion buck war responsible in pertinent part for an economy gone sour, nearly 5000 dead, thousands wounded, and yet thousands more returning home with significant psychological disorders. What victory have we won? I submit, victory in Iraq is an illusion.

We have almost no credibility throughout the world and no way of defending ourselves against anything as our military is stretched so thin. The Taliban have reemerged stronger than ever in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, probably harboring Bin Laden, and are out anyone's control. Iraq is a direct cause of the unrest in Pakistan (a country which actually has the bomb) and our guy Musharaf will either be gone, exiled or worse. The entire region is unstable with millions of Iraqi refugees having fled to Jordan and Syria, two countries which cannot support them. The refugees languish. Can you imagine the social consequences of that? Families have been ruined probably for generations.

Most importantly, Bush's war is directly responsible for the rise of Iran, a threatening country, which now has hegemony and great influence in the region and beyond. Iraq, too, is responsible for Russia's brazenness in the Caucuses i.e. Georgia and probably in other Baltic states soon. After the unilateral unprovoked invasion of Iraq, George Bush calling the Russian advance in Georgia aggression is laughable if it were not so utterly hypocritical and consequential. The Decider-in-Chief thinking he can flex his muscles with a "defense" system in Poland in response to that is idiocy. Russia will not stand idly by. It understands American weakness. The United States cannot, because of Iraq, devote its necessary attention elsewhere where it needs to.

The fact that bellicose McCain can even be thought of as a possibility for the continuation of the George Bush presidency is testament to the lack of the American public's understanding, foresight and lack of caring about issues which threaten all of us. If we elect the same as usual we will have only ourselves to blame if the usual remains the same. When times were tough our country often was blessed with great leadership. That needs to happen now. If we do not experience systemic change we may not have a country left to change. Potential war with Russia is serious business ... VERY serious. There needs to be someone in charge who has a degree of intellect and a penchant for systemic change if our nation is to survive. We have no time left.

No Time Left: John Turman "What Counts as Success in Iraq" see link below, was right on the money. He is EXACTLY correct in EVERYTHING he says about the so called "victory" in Iraq.

The AWFUL the consequences of Bush's horrific execution of the Iraq War are evident. Every single problem we now encounter can be laid at the foot of the Iraq DEBACLE. A trillion buck war, an economy gone sour, 5000 dead, hundreds of thousands wounded, not to mention hundreds of thousands with psychological disorders. We have NO credibility and no way of defending ourselves against anything as our military is stretched SO thin. Worse the Taliban have reemerged stronger than ever in the tribal areas of Pakistan which will be OUT of Musharf's control very very soon. Iraq is a direct cause of the discombobulating of Pakistan (which actually HAS the bomb) and our guy Mussharf will either be gone, exiled or killed shortly. The WHOLE region is unstable with MILLIONS of Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria languishing. Can you imagine the social consequences of that? Families have been ruined.

MOST importantly Bush's war is directly responsible for the rise of Iran, and responsible for Russia's brazenness in the Caucuses i.e. Georgia and probably other Baltic states soon. The Decider in Chief thinking he can flex his muscles with a "defense" system in Poland in response to that is IDIOCY. SURE, the United States has as much credibility as NOTHING. The fact that bellicose McCain can even be thought of as a possibility is testament to the insipidness of the American thought OR lack of it. If we do elect the same as usual we will have only ourselves to blame for the coming catastrophe. When times were tough for our country often great leaders came to the our rescue. It better happen now. If we do NOT change our ENTIRE system, Republican AND Democrat alike, we will not have a country left. We may not even have our life. Potential war with Russia is serious business ... VERY serious. There needs to be someone in office who has a DEGREE of intellect. We have no time left.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/08/15/what_counts_as_success_in_iraq/

The Love of My Life: Is there some kind of eternity life pill that we could give to Bill Moyers? What would we do without him? I have no idea. He is priceless. Bill, you are not just loved you are adored. Every time I tune in I learn something new. Every time I tune in what I learn new is yet another scurrilous episode of the rich and powerful or big business, big money or big media going wild at the expense of those who cannot fight back. Money always wins except when Bill Moyers and a few righteous others point their spears. Where, indeed, is the America that I knew as a child? Gone to graveyards everyone. It is no longer. Without Bill us little Americans would NEVER know how big America is ruining our lives. Long may you live, Bill. You are justice's only hope.

No time to waste:

A relative of mine asked me what I hoped to gain by an Obama presidency. I gave it a lot of thought. What did I really feel would change for our country through an Obama presidency? Often people say that it really does not mater who occupies the seats of power as things usually stay the same. George Bush has shown that to be false but will the Obama presidency really change anything?

I concluded after much thought that an Obama presidency WILL significantly alter the course of our nation. I believe the very core -- the very essence -- of Senator Obama is different from all others who have occupied or attempted to occupy the most powerful position on planet earth. I am HOPING and believing not only for a change to occur, I am hoping for an about face in the course of our ship of state.

I believe Barack Obama does not have to use, as George Bush and the Republican Party did, the word “compassionate” modifying a word conservative. The Democrat Barack Obama is ABOUT compassion. His party does not need a modifier explaining it as such. I believe compassion sits in the circumference and depth of Barack Obama’s heart because he has known difficulty, he has known disappointment, he has known loneliness and he has known rejection. Barack Obama has risen above the vicissitudes of life to create a movement unparalleled in US history and perhaps unparalleled in the world. The character of the man comes not from privilege or from marrying into great wealth but from appreciating what it feels like to be relegated to the back of the bus. He is an example to all.

I believe Barack Obama is about intellect. He has a LOT of it. He is about reading and searching for truth. He is about using science over ignorance to fight disease and to fight the melting of our planet. I believe he will not simply TALK about reversing global warming, stem cell research or alternative sources of energy he will DO something to create these life saving remedies. I believe in his heart he is about we the people those who gave a lot of money BUT more for those who gave five, ten or even two dollars to his campaign. There are reasons his presence brings so many adoring crowds and his campaign coffers are full.

He will change the course of this nation. I believe he will enact a new foreign policy. He will rely on not bombs, the superficialities of swagger and the bellicosity of war first but understanding, dialogue and negotiation with our adversaries. He will not be afraid to use our nation’s awesome force BUT only as a last resort. He will never relegate our country, its resources and its blood to a preemptive war based on lies with no end in sight.

By redirecting the course of our nation we could use its abundant resources to improve our human condition. Roads could be built, bridges could be repaired, a crumbling infrastructure could be renewed and healthcare, most of all, could be afforded to everyone and not to simply the few who were blessed with either money or good health. Never to have to worry about the onslaughts of disease mixed with the reality of poverty which seals a person’s fate will, I believe, truly be one of his greatest legacies.

I believe he will turn this country around. I believe he will bring hope but more than hope I believe he will bring that hope to reality. He must do that as the time is short and our burden is heavy. I believe by changing the course of our ship of state, Barack Obama can deliver a NEW New Deal and keep our Titanic ship of state from its impending disaster. We have no time to waste.

George Bush's China Syndrome: It is the height of hypocrisy that George Bush is lecturing China on the birthright of freedom. This coming from a man that pushed for anything but in his own country with the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, signing statements galore, torture and executive orders stripping one of the bedrocks of our republic, habeas corpus. It is utterly ridiculous for him to preach to anyone. While China has a lot of improvement to go incorporating a Bill of Rights and changing its policy toward most especially Tibet and Darfur, China has made ENORMOUS economic and cultural strides in their nation. They are PROgressing not regressing. The US is going backwards -- our economy in the tank, our infrastructure crumbling, our Constitution shredded, quagmired in a war for over five years based on lies for no reason which it cannot end.

The only thing positive taken from the failed presidency of George W. Bush is that presently Barack Obama is ahead in the polls and may win in November. I surely hope so. I am looking forward to a new day in my country I love. It will be a day without George W. Bush or one like him and a day which I hope sees to it that another president with an utterly corrupt agenda and savage bullying soul never crosses the threshold of our beautiful White House again. He never deserved the honor in the first place and has proven that over and over again. Go home from China, George, and take the speck out of your own eye before you criticize the one in anyone else!

What ME Worry?: I enjoyed Jeff Jacoby's editorial "What them worry?" in the August 6 Globe. I cannot argue with any of it. It was well written, as usual . There is truth to this one. Conservatives, though, start worrying me when they begin to wax on and on about the horrendous deficit and what they perceive are its causes. The similarities between I as a progressive and Jeff Jacoby as a conservative are that we both agree the Bush deficits are absolutely humongous and will be a horrific burden for future generations to undo. The difference between the two of us, though, is what government expenditures we would love to trim. When conservatives decry all the "entitlement programs" they are speaking about the various humanitarian programs government since the New Deal has employed. I then start to get nervous as those so called entitlements save my and the whole country's life. When conservatives want to cut entitlements they mean they want to cut programs for the poor, the sick, the elderly, the handicapped, the retired or the dispossessed. When I talk about balancing the budget I mean cutting huge wasted expenditures on a military and now a war industrial complex gone haywire. The operative word here, I believe, is humanitarian. I know, of course, a military is necessary so please do not think I am stupidly naive and want to cut out military spending to the degree it would put our country at great risk. Even Dwight Eisenhower, president and five star general, though, talked about the dangers of a bloated military and I believe Dwight Eisenhower was no liberal. If the cuts come anywhere, I believe, they should start trimming our military budget and revisiting nature of our foreign policy which gets us into purposeless no-end-in-sight wars which cost a fortune. That is the real culprit which puts this nation at great risk.

I tried to email benfurw as he asked me to respond to his comment about the Anthrax investigation and the alleged perpetrator's suicide. The email did not for some reason go through. So I will do it on my blog itself. Thank you for your comment.

If you read well what I said I never make a statement saying that there is proof positive that something conspiratorial occurred. I would NEVER do that without having absolute proof positive that it did. All I am saying is there are questions. I am NOT absolutely NOT a conspiracy theorist advocate usually ever. I am one of the few who believe Oswald actually acted alone. In the Bush's administration's case though the corruption -- documented corruption -- has been SO systemic and so part of this administration's modus operandi, I really said the thing about THINKING this government -- the Bush government -- complicit in the Antrax attack to push its insane war was that it really did NOT seem totally kooky. THAT is what I find surprising.

In Ron Suskind's new book, "The Way of the World", this administration, to drum up advocacy for the war, allegedly did impeachable and very illegal things. Yet more questioning occurs about this rancid administration's proclivity to, by any means necessary, do what they have to do to support their cause INCLUDING, according to Suskind's taped reliable sources, constructing a fake letter stating the connection between Mohammad Atta and Sadam Hussein. Of course, there was none.

This administration EVEN has US attorneys fired because they are not political enough in the right direction (Pardon the pun). Really, sir, there is ample proof of a thousand different scandals of corruption and manipulation of facts whether it's Anthrax or global warming or justification for Iraq. They even fudge science. This administration promulgated a war which we now know UNEQUIVOCALLY was falsely based on lies. Sir, we are talking LIVES. 4000 of them plus hundreds of thousands of others and horrendously wounded and a Middle East discombobulated like it needed to be discombobulated any more. Now Iran is a huge player and top dog and could gain hegemony in the worst of all possible areas, the Middle East.

The funniest part is that I, an ardent Democrat and more often than not a progressive, actually supported the Iraq war initially because I really thought in my stupidity that my president was telling the truth. I thought, what if what our government told us was true. Others more savvy and in-the-know than certainly I said it could be true based on the "proof" of what the government said. I even once entertained the idea that maybe it was divine purpose, even though I never supported Bush for the presidency, that he with his cowboy bully mentality was in there for a reason. I was so utterly angry and aggrieved by 9/11, I forgot to question everything this government said. I should have known better. Truth be told I suppose I am SO angry now that what I believed initially was so categorically false in every way. I look like an idiot to all my very smart friends and am constantly having to defend the indefensible.

So to recap..it's not that I see the truth of an Anthrax government conspiracy staring me in the face. I don't -- not yet. There are questions though and more today in The Boston Globe as the FBI tried to PAY Iven's daughter to turn in her father. What is that about? So it's that it really does NOT seem preposterous that an attempt was made by this White House to either perpetrate the Anthrax attack or USE the Anthrax attack to sell its agenda. That I can even entertain the possibility of that is what is startling to me and says so much about this administration. They surely verbally tried to link the attacks to Iraq and Iraq to all things terrorist but surprise they were wrong. Iraq had nothing to do with anything. How could a government go SO wrong and the people let it happen?

My point is this government is capable (as probably all governments are) of anything and does, in fact, do unethical and even illegal things. True they do not do much well so it probably was not a conspiracy. I just thought this country was above going to the sewer or as Cheney characterizes it "the dark side". I'm all for "going to the dark side" IF there is some light shed on truth. MY mistake. That is what I am really so angry about.

Rakan's War: I have never read a more poignant overwhelmingly emotional story than the Sunday, August 3 Boston Globe front page story "Rakan's War". It is absolutely beautifully written and, I believe, says so much. It says much about man's kindness and abilities to do good. The sadness, too, was piercing. I read it with tears streaming down my face. It says all people Christian, Muslim and Jew are capable of such good. It is an incredible story that should, I think, be memorialized in film.

It is about most especially, too, our country's staggering Iraq invasion which after all is directly related to the young boy Rakan's ultimate fate. Although I do not often wax Biblical there are some things said within it that, I believe are true. I thought of two: Hosea 8:7 "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind"; I might add: Father, forgive us for we know not what we have done! I paste the link below.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/

Suicide? What do YOU think? The suicide of the Bruce Ivans the alleged perpetrator of the Anthrax attacks is problematic at best. Could our own government have had any knowledge of the 2001 Anthrax attacks before they even occurred? Could our government have been involved in the perpetration of these Anthrax attacks or in any way used these horrendous attacks which killed five people and sickened 17 others to help push its war in Iraq? Ask Valerie Pflame how far this government will go to silence its critics of the war. It is seemingly ridiculous to think our government could, in any way, be linked to the knowledge of the Anthrax attacks of 2001. Yet it is not ridiculous. It is believable. John McCain in 2001 said on the David Letterman Show that the Anthrax attacks COULD have been perpetrated by Sadam Hussein. Tell me another lie. For eight long years our government has lied, cajoled, corrupted, destroyed peremptorily and without cause a sovereign nation, destroyed our constitution and our nation has become the closest thing to a fascist state that I would ever imagine in my wildest dreams possible in this our once democratic country.

There are too many questions that are unresolved about the Antrax attacks. Who knew what and when did they know it? Why did it take so long and why did they harass and accuse initially the wrong man when the "right" man was in the same locale and cameras were always rolling in this top secret US government facility? Why were only liberals like Tom Dashle and Senator Patrick Leahy targets as well as Tom Brokaw of NBC News? Could the CIA and NOT the FBI have been involved in the Anthrax debacle so that the Iraq war would be wholeheartedly accepted by the American public in 2001? These are questions now that do not seem outrageous. They do not seem nutty. That is what is outrageous.

A government which can conduct a Bay of Pigs, remove an Iranian democratically elected leader and place in power the puppet Shah of Iran which led to the current Islamic fanatical regime, fib about the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam ultimately getting nearly 60,000 troops killed in a futile war, help defeat Allende of Chile who was ultimately assassinated putting the fascist Pinochet, then more to US liking, in power, try to poison Castro, conduct a war in Iraq based on lies, talk about dressing up Americans to look Iranian to shoot on American ships to provoke an incident, and the list of unthinkable documented behavior or considerations of behavior by our government against other governments as well as our own people which come back to haunt us, goes on and on and on and on.

Can we REALLY believe someone somewhere in highest echelons of the government knew about the Anthrax attacks? I ask YOU.

A Local Candidate for our times: While attending a couple of the Framingham-on-the-green concerts and attending a political event for a reception for Senator John Kerry, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Dawn Harkness, a candidate for the office of State Representative from the Town of Framingham. I had seen her name around the area but never encountered her personally before then. I spoke with her about her candidacy and some of the issues facing the Town of Framingham, our state and even our nation. I was distinctly impressed by the depth of her knowledge of the issues, her verbal excellence and her humanitarian concern for our people.

She is a Wellesley College graduate, an attorney and the expertise of her background, indeed, shows. In addition, I tuned in to the Audrey Hall Show and the David Hutchinson Political Discussion on local Framingham cable programming where she was interviewed. Yet again, I was significantly impressed by Dawn Harkness's command of the issues. She has a refreshing and, I think, unique way of addressing those issues absolutely on point without political evasion understanding the detailed intracies and nuiances of everything about which she was asked. I told her I thought her abilities were so impressive she should go far in the political arena. Because of my perceived excellence of her candidacy, I have decided to give her my vote. I urge the people of Framingham who care about the issues facing our town and state to give her your consideration. If you want more information about her go to her web page (www.dawnharkness.com) and I hope, ultimately, you will decide, as I have, to give her your vote. I think it will be a vote well spent. She is, I believe, a credit to our town, understands the issues extraordinary well, is independent of thought and would do her best to serve. I believe she is the choice for our times.