Government Dirt

Washington D.C.--Remember that these sessions were suggested by the Republicans, and not the Democratic leadership of the House. It only takes one member of Congress to call a closed-door session, however, so a proxy for the rest of the GOP helps to avoid many embarrassments. But the Democrats have agreed to do so, with reservations on the degree of secrecy from such lights as Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.).

Some of this begins with Iran-Contra, the last time that the House was forced to convene a closed-door session to debate the criminal acts of another Republican presidential administration in another time. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was taking the world by storm, and the Cold War was being preheated in the Reaganite microwave to keep war-profiteering bellies full. The more things change, the more they stay the same, especially when Congress refuses to hold criminal administrations accountable. Precedents get set, and Americans cannot be blamed for assuming it was all by-design, because it was.

At this very moment, the House is meeting in a closed-door session to discuss the issues surrounding the conflicting versions of the Protect America Act amendment to FISA and the issue or retroactive immunity for the lawless telecommunications companies who aided in widespread and illegal wiretapping. Tonight, they're all looking at declassified records regarding the warrantless NSA surveillance program initiated by the Bush administration in 2002. But what's it all really about? One could easily assume that members of the House don't want us all to know.

The Vatican (population unknown)--Once again, the Vatican has gone out of its way to underscore its insignificance in the modern world by making a belated list of new "mortal sins" that would do Native Americans proud--except that they were saying it 200-years-ago, then were crushed-to-earth thanks to many of the Church's doctrines on "just wars" that have continued into today.

The last time the Church added to the list was in the 6th century C.E., during the reign of Pope Gregory the Great. The Roman Empire had just fallen. It was a period of barbarism. How little has changed since then. Here are the original sins, taken from the horse's mouth:

Pride: Broken on the wheel
Envy: Put in freezing water
Gluttony: Forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes
Lust: Smothered in fire and brimstone
Anger: Dismembered alive
Greed: Put in cauldrons of boiling oil
Sloth: Thrown in snake pits

Keep-in-mind that these were punishments prescribed for in this life, not the punishments in the underworld. It was the 6th century, enough said. What's interesting is that the punishments are worse than the crimes themselves. Considering the political credentials of the current Pope, it all sounds like the torments of Dachau or Auschwitz. It doesn't take a genius to understand that the Church itself is still systematically guilty of the vast majority of the older-sins, so some new ones would have to be trotted-out for the purposes of the smokescreen. Unfortunately, they're also guilty of many of the new ones. What are they?

Polluting the natural environment
Genetic research and manipulation
Excessive wealth
Causing others to live in poverty
Drug smuggling and the use of drugs
Morally debatable experiments [?!]
The violation of fundamental rights of human nature

Sioux Falls, South Dakota--Apparently raping the Native Americans in his state wasn't enough--former state representative Ted Klaudt wanted some young-uns to feed his unquenchable lust and desire to defile the bodies of his constituents. The solution was simple: there was a large body of molested and victimized (by society in-general) teenage girls he and others could choose from who were wards of the state.

While Klaudt's fate is already sealed legally, the AP was providing cover for him today, thanks to the scribbling of journo Carson Walker--coincidentally the name of the town that Klaudt's former sex-ranch is located on. Right, there are no coincidences in life. Now Klaudt is being sued by one of the molested/raped girls:

The girls lived in Klaudt's home as part of a program that provides foster care for young people who have no safe home to return to after completing time in juvenile reform programs. One of the girls served as a legislative page, running errands for lawmakers. The girl who sued now lives in Mandan, N.D. The Associated Press has a policy of not identifying sexual assault victims. ("Foster Child Sues Abusing Ex-Lawmaker," AP, 03.11.2008)

That's very kind of AP not to reveal the identities of victims of sexual abuse and assault. What's peculiar, and suspicious, is not mentioning that Klaudt is a Republican. Thanks go to AP and Klaudt's wife for the cover, no mean feat considering Klaudt's George Grosz-inspired girth. Fat, dumb, and perverted is no way to go through life, son. But hey, at least he had a lot of money at one time. Now he'll just be fat, dumb, perverted, and incarcerated. Sex shouldn't be a problem for him anymore.

"Foster Child Sues Abusing Ex-Lawmaker," AP, 03.11.2008: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20080311/47d611d0_3421_13345...

Jake and the disgustingly fat man:
http://www.paulvolle.com/tedklaudt.html

New York State--In addition to allegedly being Black, Lt. Governor Paterson is also legally-blind. Therefore, he would be the first Black governor of New York State. He would also be their first legally-blind governor. Best-of-all, he would be the first Black and legally-blind governor! The wheel of progress makes another inevitable turn! Who said revolution was dead in America? Now THAT'S change, brothers and sisters (Kick out the jams!). Now go listen to some Funkadelic and Parliament, and get really loaded beforehand. Our worker's paradise is at-hand, it's just that the greatest leaps in human progress usually happen on-accident. It's rare that it ever happens for the right reasons--namely,to meet human needs rather than wants. I'd take-it-up with the manufacturer, but nobody has heard from him in recent-days, and we're not counting El Presidente's talks with Satan. So mote it be.

"I think that serving America is the right thing to do, and I wanted to be in the military. I know[,] it's kind of a stock answer, but I really believe that. I feel that I've been given a lot of privileges, and I feel like I have a responsibility to pay them back. I always wanted to have an exciting career and this will help me accomplish that." --Mark Capansky, who can be reached at 540-459-9215.

Annapolis, Maryland--Today's Baltimore Sun has a very intriguing piece on the sexual shenanigans of--you guessed it--the school's male population at the Naval Academy. One has to ponder whether any studying or saluting is possible in a prone position, or how they can get anything done there with all that sex going on. Take the case of one Lamar S. Owens Jr.:

Former Navy quarterback Lamar S. Owens Jr. was acquitted of rape in July 2006 but found guilty of two lesser charges, including conduct unbecoming an officer, for having sex with a female midshipman in the Naval Academy dormitory. He was expelled earlier this year and ordered to repay more than $90,000 in education costs. (Baltimore Sun, 10.20.2007)

You know, the young people do these things, but there's a problem. It's endemic at the Naval Academy, and Lamar isn't alone on the team. Not at all. Before Lamar was downed, one of his other team players named Kenny Ray Morrison was also charged with sexual misconduct, this time in a hotel, and "without the consent" of the female midshipman. In addition to this, a female "supply officer" has been named as a former employee of so-called "DC Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey. My-oh-my. Somehow, some way, she's still holding a position there, and it's not the missionary.

Why not marry someone you want to have sex with like 10% of all married men in America? My advice to politicians and would-be politicos is to marry a former-prostitute. But why stop there? There could be a lifelong secret rendezvous between husband-and-wife. They could meet each other in incredibly sordid circumstances, both in-disguise! Better yet, a political couple could go to Vegas, get divorced, have sex, then get remarried. No one would be the wiser...

New York--It's hardly surprising. Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer is just one more politician who prefers not to have sex with his wife. That would be alright, but he--and all the incumbent parties involved in soliciting prostitutes--broke the law. The statue of limitations hasn't expired on this four-hour romp with an anorexic call-girl on Valentine's Day. Sex with hookers is a bipartisan-affair. Pun intended. When one party is in power, they take-the-reigns and the spoils. Sex with prostitutes is just part of the play-book.

Like the gauntlet of Republicans before him, Governor Spitzer has gotten preferential treatment already. If he was a "regular" citizen, he'd be facing arrest and minor charges, possibly even an embarrassing lineup and a mugshot at a police station, but at least he's getting a brighter spotlight than the average "John."

Point-blank: he's a hypocrite. The question remains--why do these politicians marry women they don't want to have sex with (anymore)? You tell me, it escapes me. Perhaps it's the lure and sordidness of not getting caught...so much for that one. If you're going to "fight corruption," you had better be clean yourself. I'd still take him over our wretched governor, Mitch Daniels, former economics adviser during the first term of the Bush administration. Clearly, politics in America is the domain of the whore-monger.

Washington D.C.--How could any foreign or domestic corporation outside of the telecommunications industry ever believe that their communications were secure? Who would want to do business here after that? How can any US-based telecommunications company look a business client in the eye and be able to promise that they can provide real security for their transmissions? Of course they won't cooperate without a warrant if the Protect America Act doesn't pass (it will, and hilarity will ensue...), but since when doesn't the GOP and the Bush White House use circular reasoning? They don't even understand the laws of physics, so they might violate those too, but on-accident.

Since most American presidential administrations are hopelessly corrupt, what's to stop any or all of them from using the new surveillance apparatus and the databases their building to engage in international insider trading? Imagine the potential for rampant industrial-tech espionage, globally, by the State Department--the executive branch. Who would stop them? The marketplace, naturally, but why not save the time and money by killing this wrong-headed legislation here-and-now, letting the Protect America Act die with this criminally corrupt and inept administration?

All of this leads to the same place: America will decline as a global power, nothing can prevent it. This bill will only accelerate the process, just as the wars in the Middle East are doing right now. The real fear is of the American people. We're considered the "threat to our national security." The "our" isn't the public, it's the people who have traditionally held power in this country. With Empire sinking, the domestic population will be harder to pacify and control, hence the "need" for "increased security." They know the groundswell is coming, and have seen it on the horizon for over eighty-years. Change is inevitable. Making it constructive is not, that requires will and effort. Time to move.

McCainland--Unsurprisingly, nobody has any answers to these questions so far. Perhaps the fog of war is obstructing a rational and clear view. What I can say is that--like Irving's Rip Van Winkle--John McCain is always going to be five years behind-the-times since he was held by the North Vietnamese for that long. Because of this and other facts, we can understand why he still thinks the war in Iraq and an invasion of Iran are good ideas. Did I write "five years"? Let's try forty. For McCain, it's still as recent as 2003 in America (or is it pre-1966?), and his ties and views appear dated. But as wrong-headed--and likely corrupt--as Senator John McCain is, he deserves a fair chance during an election like anyone else. Who are these detractors coming out of the shadows?

Like "The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," "Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain" is a 527, non-political PAC. The link below is to this PAC, started by one Jerry ("Gerard") Kiley. Who is Kiley? He is a member of the American Legion, works for a high-powered American corporation in some capacity, and he makes a lot of noise for someone who is so private. By-all-accounts, he's a veteran's provocateur who never served anywhere near John McCain during the Vietnam War, and in mid-January, representatives for his VVAJM were handing-out crude fliers before the South Carolina primaries in the state:

Vietnam Veterans Against McCain is led by Gerard W. Kiley, who led a similar effort against Senator John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign in 2004. Reached Wednesday at his home in Garnerville, N.Y., in Rockland County, Mr. Kiley said that he was effectively the only member of his group and that “we really don’t have any money to speak of.” Mr. Kiley said he thought Mr. McCain gave up too much information to the North Vietnamese and was wrongly claimed as a war hero.

"It is unfair and unjust to threaten these companies with financial ruin only because they are believed to have done the right thing and helped their country." --President George W. Bush today in his Saturday attempt at an address. (Whitehouse.gov)

Washington D.C.--I know, life is so unfair, but that's how it goes on the frontier (unless daddy sends help through the Pony Express). With continued impotent threats, bickering, and foot-dragging, the president and the GOP have dragged-out the whining over their Protect America Act not getting a renewal. The reasons for no renewal are simple: while there was little opposition in the Senate against retroactive immunity for law-breaking telecommunications companies, the House had already passed similar legislation without the immunity. The Sheriff won't let us steal horses anymore, and it just ain't fair.

The president appears surprised at the fact that he isn't getting his way for once. And somehow some Americans are surprised when rockets and mortars hit the interior of the American Green Zone in Baghdad, or when a $1.2 billion dollar "Stealth"B-2 fighter-bomber crashes at our air fields on Guam. American soldiers on both sides of the Civil War were surprised to find that they were eating spoiled provisions, and that they had virtually no clothing. But when you're ignorant, everything is new, everything is a surprise, daily...and usually a horrible, catastrophic one. When you refuse to learn who you are, or where you've been, one can expect the worst.