By George-Finally!!

In October 2006 at www.sanetime.blogspot.com I wrote that the George Tenet "slam dunk" comment was taken completely out of context, and done so in a nefarious manner.

The comment was uttered in a meeting at which the Bush administration was trying to decide the best way to "sell" the Iraq war to the American people. The options included playing up the alleged ties between Saddam Hussein, al Qaeda, and 9/11; the fact that Saddam was a brutal tyrant, or the danger that was posed by Saddam possessing WMDs which he could supply to the terrorists. George Tenet used the phrase stating that the choice of using the WMD threat as a way to garner support for the war was a "slam dunk". He NEVER used the phrase to describe the CIA's case that Iraq HAD WMDs.

It has taken quite a while for Mr. Tenet to remove his tail from between his legs, but he has finally admitted that his comment was taken completely out of context.

Nepotism Rules

Mr Wolfowitz has defended his blatant cronyistic nepotism at the World bank by asserting that he was new to the job and was in uncharted waters. What a crock. Nepotism is a cut and dried issue. Maybe the "uncharted waters" that Wolfowitz referenced has to do with the fact that he had been accustomed to the Bush administration wherein nepotism is not challenged or discouraged, and that the rules at the World bank were based on ethics. Ethical behavior for any member of the Bush team would indeed be uncharted waters.

The Znewz1 blog: GOP insider: 9/11 fit White House plan

The Znewz1 blog: GOP insider: 9/11 fit White House plan

Say What???

Listening to the AM news as I had my morning coffee, I almost spilled the hot java in my lap. CNN was reporting that there is a themepark in northern Kentucky that is "Creationist". The report stated that the park is built around the belief that the earth, and the universe, were created 6000 years ago, and that there were dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden.

I had heard creationists posit that dinosaurs never existed. The proponents of this theory alleged that scientists made plaster casts of the mythical dinosaurs in an attempt to debunk creation and the existence of God.

The new creationist theory is that dinosaurs lived peacefully with Adam and Eve until the pair committed original sin. The dinosaurs' extinction is based on the idea that they were too large to fit on Noah's ark, hence they all died in the deluge.

Science and religion will never advance to their full potentials until they cease being mutually exclusive. The big bang can be viewed as an act of creation by a power unimaginable to modern man. The delicate sophistication and beauty of the double helix of DNA could very well be evidence of a "God".

Theologians know well that the Bible in its present form was the creation of very fallible men. The idea that our Bible is the unadulterated word of God is patently ridiculous. When the first Christian Roman Emperor asked for a sacred text, it had to be produced under a severe deadline. A myriad of texts, gospels, epistles etc. could have been included. To assert that the "editors" were divinely inspired is naive. The "editors" were more inspired by what might happen to them if the requested text was not produced in a timely fashion.

I have not decided if I will visit the Creationist Park in Kentucky. It might be fun to experience the "Cain feeds Abel to the dinosaurs" ride. Maybe I'll wait until the religious right has the Ten Commandments carved into the walls of the Grand Canyon- which is one of the most spectacular monuments left behind by Noah's Flood.

Terrorists can use maps too!!

John McCain is losing his grip on reality almost as quickly as the Bush administration. Aside from making the ludicrous claim that Americans can stroll Baghdad streets with no fear, Senator McCain continues to parrot the ridiculous idea that if we leave Iraq, the terrorists will follow us here to the USA.

The terrorists know where America is. They allegedly visited us on 9/11/2001. Why they cannot find America without our help now is not known. We are repeatedly told that if we set a date for re-deployment or withdrawal, they will simply lay low until we leave and then proceed to raise hell. If that were their mindset, they'd lay low now and let the US believe that they have defeated the insurgency and leave.

The USA had no right to invade Iraq, Saddam or no Saddam. We did it with an army prepared for the best case scenario and not the worst. We have damaged another generation of our young people, and created the mess that is, (and has been in the past), Iraq.

The Media is off its meds

The media has ADD. The evidence is overwhelming. And the media is apparently off its meds. We are bombarded by "breaking news" and the focus is decided for us. If a viewer is interested in finding out the latest news about the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, that viewer will be frustrated if something has happened that day in the world of "pop". This strange world is not exclusively the realm of the rich and famous. Consider the Peterson murder trial in California. It is a sad reality that pregnant wives are being murdered every year and possibly every month. Why did the entire nation have to know about this one particular case?

If Paris Hilton, Michael Richards, or Mel Gibson do something stupid and offensive it is not national news. When our government loses billions of tax dollars that is news. There has been evidence of war profiteering in Iraq since the early days of the occupation of Baghdad. It was the responsibility of the media to follow the thread of that story when it was fresh. Almost four years have passed since the invasion and the Democratic Congress is beginning to investigate some of the Iraq irregularities. They are beginning their chase late in the race.

I was in high school when the Washington Post doggedly followed the Watergate story. The high crimes and misdemeanors that have been committed by the Bush administration make the Nixon administration look like mischievous schoolboys, and the media have left them alone, and at times have treated them with kid gloves.

9/11 scared the hell out of everyone (with the possible exception of the Vice President), but the media had the responsibility to keep their cool and their bearings. In 2005 approximately 60% of Americans believed that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. The Bush administration is to blame because they purposely and repeatedly used the terms 9/11 and Iraq in the same sentences and paragraphs. The media has to share that blame. They reported that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, but they did not do so in a manner that would dispel the myth. The media has abetted a concerted misinformation campaign since the election of 2000.

We can only hope that the Fourth Estate gets back on its meds and remembers the critically important role that they play in the funtion of our democracy. Until then beware of "breaking news".

The Wolf and the Cockroach

Tom DeLay is an ex-congressman who was repeatedly called on the carpet for ethics violations, and eventually lost his powerful post because of his apparent lack of morals and scruples. And yet, there he was in the CNN Situation Room being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer, who fawned on this exterminator while asking his opinions about potential GOP presidential candidates in the 2008 election. This is wrong on two levels. DeLay's expertise is in the area of strongarm, corrupt politics. He should not be considered as a source of intelligent information concerning legal political affairs. There is also no reason for the election of 2008 to dominate the news. With hundreds of our soldiers being killed monthly, New Orleans still in shambles, people starving and having to choose between food or medicine, and the destruction of our planet, why are we forced to listen to prognostications that will probably be meaningless when 2008 arrives?