posted 02-09-2003 01:37 AM            

BUSH BACKS UNCONSTITIONAL SPY DATABASE

Bush's database faces privacy, not technical, concerns
Privacy advocate calls administration move 'bait and switch'

By Grant Gross February 05, 2003
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/02/05/HNbushplan_1.html

WASHINGTON -- President George Bush's plan for a massive antiterrorism database center, announced in his state of the union address last week, could be up and running within months from a technology standpoint, if the Bush administration chooses to move that fast, but harder to overcome will be privacy concerns of a non-technical nature, experts said.

Allen Shay, president and chief operating officer of NCR Government Systems' Teradata Division, said the U.S. government could quickly put in place the first phase of a terrorist-tracking data-mining system by using commercial data-mining software already available.

"They'll take the first, let's say, 15 or 20 databases that are most critical and put an initial system capability in place, and that can be done in a matter of a few months, rather than years," Shay said. "What the government's trying to do now is something that the commercial world has been forced into years ago. It's not only do-able; it's been done by commercial companies for the last 10 plus years."

Other data-mining experts recommend a system built from the ground up, which would take a year or longer. No matter what the launch date and what technologies are used, the Bush plan is already attracting opposition from privacy groups, and could run into congressional roadblocks, even though the new proposal seems to be a less ambitious data-mining effort than one being researched at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Bush on Jan. 28 proposed a Terrorist Threat Integration Center that would "fuse and analyze" data from several federal departments, including the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Little information on the center is available, except for an eight-paragraph fact sheet at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-12.html. The CIA, which will run the center, has little to say about it so far. No information is available about a launch date or the technologies the center will use, said a CIA spokesman.

"Right now, everything is under discussion," the spokesman added.

The center's data-mining component, however, seems to be focused on pulling information together only from government databases. In that sense, Bush's proposal may be different from the Total Information Awareness (TIA) research project at the DoD, which privacy advocates and some lawmakers have attacked for its goal of hunting through private databases as well. The TIA program also has attracted criticism because of its leader, Admiral John Poindexter, a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal during President Ronald Reagan's administration in the late 1980s.

The Bush plan seems to be a new twist on the old bait-and-switch sales tactic, said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

"Are we seeing here a commitment by the administration to the kinds of data-mining fishing expeditions that we associate right now with Total Information Awareness, but packaging it somewhat differently?" Tien asked. "TIA is sort of an easy target, because its announced and declared purpose is so all-encompassing ... and then you hit people with something much more limited, and they say, 'Compared to TIA, that's not so bad.'"

The amount of data mined, or where it's mined from, isn't the main concern, Tien said. The bigger issue is what's done with the results of the data, how people are identified as suspects, and how those people singled out can dispute the results if the CIA falsely identifies them as suspected terrorists.

"How many people are going to be labeled in that 'maybe-maybe not' category, and what does that mean?" Tien asked. "Does that mean that every time they show an ID they're going to be treated a little differently?"

The EFF and other groups want congressional and public scrutiny of the Bush center. The goal of the center seems to be to help domestic intelligence gathering, or "domestic spying," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center . With the CIA potentially involved in domestic spying, some congressional oversight will be needed to protect U.S. residents' Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches, he said.

The Bush plan, depending on its scope, could also run into opposition from some members of Congress. Although many members of Congress are waiting to hear more about the antiterrorism center before commenting on it, an amendment to a spending bill, passed by the Senate, would limit TIA and other government data-mining efforts to intelligence gathering efforts outside of the U.S. That amendment was not passed in the U.S. House of Representatives version of the spending bill, and for it to move forward, House members would have to approve the amendment during conference committee negotiations over the differences between the two versions of the spending bill.

Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who sponsored the amendment, said he'd oppose the Bush center if it also focuses on U.S. citizens not suspected of being terrorists. Wyden proposed a database of known and suspected terrorists, what he calls a "Terrorist Identification and Classification system," several months ago, and he said he'd support the Bush center if that's what it does.

"A vigorous response to terrorism is necessary, but a system designed to spy on Americans in America is not," Wyden said Wednesday. "I will tell you, if someone tries to take the guts of the TIA program and simply transfer it to the new center, I will do everything I can to stop it."

While Rotenberg said the Bush center seems to be more limited in scope than TIA, Tien is more concerned about the Bush plan than he is about TIA. His fear is that it could launch fairly quickly, with little debate.

Data-mining experts say the center will not be easy to create. Tying together several government databases in a data warehouse and writing algorithms to search the data will be huge tasks.

Teradata's Shay recommends a commercial, centralized enterprise data warehouse approach over a distributed database approach, but Michael Piovoso, an engineering professor at Pennsylvania State University's Great Valley graduate school, suggested a system built from scratch could better serve the CIA's specific needs. That process would take a large team of people at least a year, Piovoso said.

"I'm sure it's do-able, but it's a huge undertaking," Piovoso said. "One of the problems is there's a lot of things you want to do with that data that people don't typically do."

Like Shay, Naren Ramakrishnan, a computer science professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, recommends a phased-in approach where the CIA would start small and take "simple steps."

Eventually -- Shay predicted in a year's time -- the government would build the data-mining center to the point where it's predictive, pushing out results to analysts. The system itself would raise red flags, telling analysts, "something fishy seems to be happening here," Ramakrishnan said.

Unlike many commercial data analysis tools, the government's antiterrorist system would need to react quickly to massive amounts of data, he noted. "You don't have time to react to data for 20 hours, you have to act on it."

The potential privacy problems don't bother Shay. The data is likely to be closely held by the CIA, he said, and the technology would simply tie together information that already exists on government databases, unlike the TIA program.

"I think (TIA) is a much more intrusive kind of issue and it's also a very far out there technology and one that I don't think is going to see the light of day any time soon," Shay said. "I think what the president is talking about here ... will be able to be effective very quickly. I think that's what the American public wants. They want something that can be stood up quickly and can be effective in addressing the problem."

But data-mining experts Ramakrishnan and Piovoso agreed that such a data-mining system could raise privacy concerns. "Certainly there is the potential for abuse," Piovoso said. "You're putting a lot of faith in government that it's not going to abuse that power.

"It's a sad situation, in my opinion," he added. "We're asked to give up some of our freedoms in order to gain more security, and one of the dangers of that is you may never get it back again."

posted 02-09-2003 01:53 AM            

Your big-government bootlicking is nothing new here.

posted 02-09-2003 02:03 AM            

Weary Wall Street Wary of Bush Policies
Sat Feb 8, 7:22 AM ET
Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Pierre Belec

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than a year after the recession supposedly ended, a lot of things are still going wrong, leaving weary stock investors unwilling to take a stand and wary of President Bush's domestic and foreign policies.

Wall Street's long slide is scaring off investors who have typically taken a solid long-term view about the market. Faced with false rallies since the wealth destruction began in early 2000, most people don't believe that the message they walked away with after the 1987 crash -- that the period was a great buying (news - external web site) opportunity -- will apply this time around.

Four weeks after Bush unveiled an economic stimulus package that would end the tax on stock dividends, the major market indexes are in negative territory, having given back the strong gains scored in early January.

The White House claimed that making dividends tax-free would lift the stock market by about 7 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average is off more than 4 percent so far this year. The proposal still must pass through the horse-trading approval process in Congress, but apparently markets do not expect it to get off the ground or do not believe it will work.

All three key market gauges racked up their fourth straight week of declines, with the Dow down 2.4 percent and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both down about 3 percent for the week, pushing them ever closer to multiyear lows hit in early October.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) fell 65.07 points, or 0.82 percent, to 7,864.23, while the broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - news) lost 8.46 points, or 1.01 percent, to 829.69. Both indexes closed at their lowest levels since Oct. 10. The technology-loaded Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC - news) fell 19.27 points, or 1.48 percent, to 1,282.46, its worst finish since Oct. 17.

CORPORATE STALL

Corporate earnings continue to disappoint. At best, the companies' results are just squeaking by analysts' expectations, which had already been tamped down.

Business spending has stalled because of uncertainty about the economy. Historically, corporate America has been slow to start investing after recessions. The companies' biggest fear at this stage of the down cycle is that they could see even weaker earnings if the economy slips back into recession.

It has always been tough for chief executive officers to identify business turnarounds. Right now, the CEOs have been dealt an especially tough hand: a spike in crude oil prices on the risk of war with Iraq.

(Story continues after advertisement)

ADVERTISEMENT

Businesses are sitting tight, delaying spending until the fog clears. Worth remembering is that since 1970, recessions have been fostered by run-ups in oil prices.

Fears of war and concerns over joblessness have helped push consumer confidence to the lowest level in nearly a decade.

RUN TO THE BOMB SHELTER OF GOLD

Gold, a safe haven in times of uncertainty, hovers near 6-1/2-year highs, underscoring the depth of the jitters about the economy, a falling dollar and the nasty geopolitical script. The next safe haven may be Spam canned meat.

"It is very apparent that investors are battle weary," says Don Hays, president of Hays Advisory Group. "They have been worn out by this very long period with no sustainable success. Each time the market throws a bone of hope, it delays the action and fails to follow through."

Investors have been rattled for the past year. Panic set in on July 23, 2002, when the market made new lows. Then people developed a serious case of dread when stocks slid again to new multiyear lows in early October.

The market is now revisiting the fourth-quarter bottom, and investors no longer believe that nothing else can go wrong. Many have thrown in the towel because they fear the market can only go in one direction.

"People are more weary and ready to go to sleep and forget it all," Hays says.

If history repeats, investors should brace for a longer period of wicked market declines in the run-up to war, the sort of bear crawl seen before the Gulf War (news - web sites) in 1991. However, after that war started, the market bounced back.

Back then, the economic numbers were similar to those of 2003 with the nation struggling to pull out of recession. George Bush, George W.'s dad, was president. "Now the president has the same last name and his advisers are the same," Hays says. The "enemy" is also the same, Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

But will the results be the same?

SELLING THE WAR

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) made a case at the United Nations (news - web sites) for a war against Iraq but the speech did little to inspire investors. The nervousness is not expected to dissipate until the first shot is fired, because investors can no longer accept more risk after three straight years of massive losses.

Bush's tough talk against Iraq and his vow to take action even without an international consensus have chilled relations with key allies.

The smart money's worst fear is that the dispute with France, Germany, Russia, China and Canada -- who have urged that U.N. weapons inspectors be given more time in Iraq -- may spill over into trade issues.

The constant beating of the war drums is not exactly the stuff that inspires people to invest in the future. It creates anxiety and doubts going forward.

Then there is the important question of who foots the bill if the United States goes in alone and is left to stitch Iraq back together in the post-conflict reconstruction phase.

During the 1991 Gulf War, Washington paid 20 percent of the $80 billion price tag and U.S. allies covered the rest.

A hugely expensive war or one that goes badly could stun the economy. Bush this week sent to Congress a $2.2 trillion budget for fiscal 2004. The blueprint projects a record deficit of $307 billion, eclipsing a 1992 record of $290 billion.

The projected deficit doesn't include the cost of a possible war, which could add, by conservative estimates, at least $61 billion to this year's projected shortfall. Some numbers on the cost of war range up to $200 billion.

Even a brain-dead hockey player can figure it out: the longer fears of an impending war in Iraq hang over Wall Street, the greater the damage to the economy and to the stock market.

posted 02-09-2003 02:43 AM            

Facts are moronic.

"Then there is the important question of who foots the bill if the United States goes in alone and is left to stitch Iraq back together in the post-conflict reconstruction phase.

During the 1991 Gulf War, Washington paid 20 percent of the $80 billion price tag and U.S. allies covered the rest.

A hugely expensive war or one that goes badly could stun the economy. Bush this week sent to Congress a $2.2 trillion budget for fiscal 2004. The blueprint projects a record deficit of $307 billion, eclipsing a 1992 record of $290 billion.

The projected deficit doesn't include the cost of a possible war, which could add, by conservative estimates, at least $61 billion to this year's projected shortfall. "

I guess you don't mind having this country LOOTED do you Billy?

posted 02-09-2003 03:02 AM            

The real question you should be asking is; What is the cost of not doing anything about Iraq? What will the costs be if a terrorist group like Al-Qaida is supplied a nuke by Sadam Hussein and Wallstreet goes up in a nuclear cloud next time? How much is a pound of prevention worth, Mech?

Finally, I don't think this war will be as expensive as they are predicting. For one thing, it could be over quickly. Secondly, assuming Sadam doesn't destroy his own oil wells, we should be able to offset some of the costs of war by the sell of Iraqi oil. I've seen that plan talked about. Thirdly, contrary to what the leftist propaganda wants you to believe, we do have many allies in this war, save perhaps, China, France and Germany…and Russia, of course. You’ve got to ask yourself, how much did these countries contribute to offsetting the costs of the last Gulf War? Your argument has just been rendered moot on this point!

Markets are simply going through a period of uncertainty now because a lot of investors (who knew nothing of recessions) were conditioned to think that markets go up forever. The were wrong. They got burned for being foolish. The markets will return to normalcy as the chaff is separated from the wheat. I guarantee you there are a whole host of eager investors out there with iron stomachs waiting for the bottom. And when they think it has hit, and the war situation is somewhat stabilized, you may see a round of buying like you’ve never seen before. People still need good investments. People still have money just waiting for the markets to bottom…then they will jump in and create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

posted 02-09-2003 03:09 AM            

"---The real question you should be asking is; What is the cost of not doing anything about Iraq? What will the costs be if a terrorist group like Al-Qaida is supplied a nuke by Sadam Hussein and Wallstreet goes up in a nuclear cloud next time?----"

I REPEAT....IRAQ IS NOT A THREAT.

AL Qaida was trined by the CIA and their super-asset USAma Bin laden.

Attacks in this country HAVE BEEN and WILL be BY the CIA and our own Government.

posted 02-09-2003 03:18 AM            

quote:

---

Yeah...A "free market" for the GLOBALISTS...NOT hard working Americans.

---

More economic ignorance demonstrated by Mech. Who are the investors in this country if not hard working Americans! Don't you realize that hard working Americans ARE the American economy!!!!!????? Hard working Americans ARE the investors and beneficiaries of the stock markets!!!! Damn...I'm dealing with a complete and total mental black hole here!

quote:

---

I REPEAT....IRAQ IS NOT A THREAT.
AL Qaida was trined by the CIA and their super-asset USAma Bin laden.
Attacks in this country HAVE BEEN and WILL be BY the CIA and our own Government.

---

You think that by repeating these same old lies, it make them more true than the last time you repeated them? Can anyone else see the amazing lack of depth in Mech’s statements here? Jeeesh. If this weren’t so pathetic it’d be comical.

posted 02-09-2003 04:07 PM            

1) Sinking of USS Maine by Spanish ......False

2) Reichstag Fire by Communists.....False

3) World War 2 no prior knowledge....False

4) Gulf of Tonkin torpedo attack......false

5) Kuwaiti incubator.........false

6) WTC 9/11 no prior knowledge.......false

7) Iraq dossier.......false

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/plag.html

"All War is deception"

posted 02-12-2003 06:52 AM            

"What is at stake is a big idea, a NEW WORLD ORDER..."
GHW BUSH SEPT 11th 1991

"There is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by... corporations. The power of all corporations ought to be limited in this respect. The growing wealth acquired by them never fails to be a source of abuses." It's one of the reasons why the word "corporation" doesn't exist in the constitution - they were to be chartered only by states, so local people could keep a close eye on them." James Madison, Father of the Constitution

"In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great corporation are to be secretly exerted to influence their judgment and control their decisions." Andrew Jackson

"I am more than ever convinced of the dangers to which the free and unbiased exercise of political opinion - the only sure foundation and safeguard of republican government - would be exposed by any further increase of the already overgrown influence of corporate authorities." Martin van Buren

"As a result of the war," Lincoln continued, "corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless." Abraham Lincoln

"As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters." Grover Cleveland

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." Theodore Roosevelt

President Eisenhower's farewell address to the nation, January 1961
"In the counsels of Government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the Military Industrial Complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together."

"I think 'one man, one vote,' just unrestricted democracy, would not be wise.
There needs to be some kind of protection for
the minority which the white people represent now,
and they need and have a right to demand a protection of their rights."
--Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," 3/18/92
He supports the internet: http://www.americanfreedomnews.com/afn_articles/robertson_internet.htm
Pat Robertson owns Internet company in Beijing

Moon claims on his Web Site http://www.unification.net
that he had great influence over Reagan. Moon claims he was the one who got Reagan to go for SDI (Star Wars). Moon claims that through the Washington Times,
a Moonie owned newspaper, that he is responsible for Bush winning the presidency in 1988.
Since than President Bush has appeared at Moonies events and endorsed the cause of the moonies. So has former president Ford. Moon has spend at least 2 Billion Dollars influencing American Politics, Christian Organizations, and the American Press.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/132/33.0.html http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif112.html
Frederick Clarkson (Eternal Hostility, Common Courage Press, 1997) reports that Moon has stated his goal is the "subjugation of the American government and population." {B}(Clarkson's source: John Judis, "Rev. Moon's Rising Political Influence: His Empire Is Spending Big Money To Try To Win Favor With Conservatives," U. S. News and World Report, March 27, 1989.)
according to former Unification church members, Moon's program to "instill discipline" included showing "Nazi films on organizing Hitler Youth."

BJM posted:
>What is it you think a president can do to create (non-government) jobs,<
Tax cuts for corporations targeted to reward job creation, results in jobs being created as corporations chase the tax cuts by adjusting policies. (1993 Budget Reconciliation Act)

"(According to Reaganomics), the
problem with the economy is
that the rich don't have enough money
and that the poor have too much money."
John Kenneth Galbraith

BJM posted:
>And how is it that you thing Bush CAUSED this job loss?<
Tax cuts that reward Corporations, merely for being in business, allowing executives to return to the good old days of Reaganomics:
Inflate stocks by investing employees' pension funds into company stocks (plunder retirement funds), close divisions and eliminate jobs, Force smaller staffs to do more work, with the ever present threat of unemployed "Eager to take your job for less money."
(Do your own google searches to find that virtually every massive layoff is met with a bump in stock prices./ unemployment is the vehicle used to lower wages and cut benefits/ Reagonomics)

The irony of modern conservatives and economic libertarians is that they want to take the economic system that defeated communism and replace it with the one that spawned it. -- JHB

BJM posted:
>how did Bush create trillions of dollars in debt <
Tax cuts for corporations retroactive to a dozen years back, took billions out of the US Treasury
by rebating taxes which had already been paid. (2001 Budget)
Continuing to cut taxes while massively increasing military spending prior to 9/11, allowing Religious and quasi religious groups to receive grants of more billions (Faith Based Initiatives)
NOTE that Congress is not spending any less because of the tax cuts.
Spending has shifted to Conservative causes, and the tax burden has shifted to the working class instead of the investor class.

Washington Post, January 9 , “ When the rich take from the poor, it’s called an economic plan. When the poor take from the rich, it’s called class warfare.” (Newtspeak)

posted 02-24-2003 11:59 AM            

Freedom is Slavery

Perpetual War

Bush is a Godly Man

Welcome to Bizarro World!!

posted 02-25-2003 01:48 PM               

This test consists of one (1) multiple-choice question (so you better get
it right!) based on the following list of countries that the U.S. has
bombed since the end of World War II, compiled by historian William Blum:

China 1945-46
Korea 1950-53
China 1950-53
Guatemala 1954
Indonesia 1958
Cuba 1959-60
Guatemala 1960
Congo 1964
Peru 1965
Laos 1964-73
Vietnam 1961-73
Cambodia 1969-70
Guatemala 1967-69
Grenada 1983
Libya 1986
El Salvador 1980s
Nicaragua 1980s
Panama 1989
Iraq 1991-99
Sudan 1998
Afghanistan 1998, 2001-2002
Yugoslavia 1999

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In how many of these instances did a democratic government, respectful of
human rights, occur as a direct result? Choose one of the following:
(a) 0
(b) zero
(c) none
(d) not a one
(e) a whole number between -1 and +1

This quiz compliments of Vietnam Veterans Against the War,
Ben Chitty USN 65-9 VN 66-7 68 NY/VVAW

peaceCENTER
P.O. Box 36, San Antonio, Texas 78291
(210) 224-HOPE or 224-4673 FAX (210) 222-1097

posted 02-25-2003 02:18 PM               

There was a movie made a few years ago that even though it had the same title and names of characters from the book it wasn't at all the same story. In fact, it was a terrible film.

Besides all the technical fiction that is a stable ingredient of science fiction, I especially enjoy the social, political, medical and theological fiction that also are primary ingredients in sci-fi.

Wondering why I'm talking about sci-fi on this thread? Well, in BE with all the action and battles it depicted it was very much an anti-war story and the solutions to war and economic duress that evolved within the story were really quite brilliant in concept. There were some passages in BE that I considered to be quite relevant to the subject of this thread and those excerpts follow. Hoople

BTW, Jonnie (Jonnie Good Boy Tyler) is the hero of the story.

quote:

---

BE excerpt from Part 30 chapter 1:

[economic upset] "This is nothing new," said Lord Voraz. "All this past year there has been unrest. That's why these emissaries here are planning wars of foriegn conquest - to take the peoples' minds off all this."

"There is economic chaos!" said the baron. "When Intergalactic Mining Company ceased to deliver metals, the scarcity caused their prices to soar. Factories are closed. People are out of work and rioting. To distract them, the governments are planning wars that are not popular."

excerpted from Part 30 Chapter 2:

"As you noted," he continued, "right now they have countries in riot. Their economies are in rags. But they are of such a nature that they will just sit there square in the middle of their prejudices, cling to their most arrogant opinions, and ignore everything else.

"Right this minute, I have better reason than you to know, they are absolutely counting on war to save their economies and their states. They think that war powers and war hysteria will distract the people and secure their own positions. It is their only formula."

BE excerpt from Part 30 chapter 3:

"I know that your economics are geared to war. I know that you consider the best way to get rid of excess population, which you feel you all have, is to engage in war.

"But in wars, one or another of the combatants is going to lose. Each one feels that it could not be he. But there is an even chance it will be."

BE excerpt from Part 29 Chapter 5:

"Honored lords,' said Dries [the Galactic banker], "the primary business of this conference - to clear the title of Earth - is complete. However, I know each one of you has full authority to acquire territories for your state. There are other means than war."

The lords shrugged. War was the surer method, said one. The mental health of the people depended upon war, said another. How was a state to demonstrate its power without war? said Browl. The Galactic Bank would have a hard time surviving with out making war loans, quipped Dom. Rulers only became famous when they prosecuted war, laughed another. They were all in a jovial mood.

Jonnie listened to all this with a kind of horror. The impersonal cruelty of large government was brought home to him.

BE excerpt from Part 29 Chapter 5:

"Honored lords,' said Dries [the Galactic banker], "the primary business of this conference - to clear the title of Earth - is complete. However, I know each one of you has full authority to acquire territories for your state. There are other means than war."

The lords shrugged. War was the surer method, said one. The mental health of the people depended upon war, said another. How was a state to demonstrate its power without war? said Browl. The Galactic Bank would have a hard time surviving with out making war loans, quipped Dom. Rulers only became famous when they prosecuted war, laughed another. They were all in a jovial mood.

Jonnie listened to all this with a kind of horror. The impersonal cruelty of large government was brought home to him.

BE excerpt from Part 29 chapter 3:

War! Any one of those lords in there, or their governments, merely had to say the word and their fleets pranced off to bash somebody's head in!

And when they bashed it in, they could just sail off tra-la, without a thought of what they'd done to people's homes and lives, and then maybe come back another day to bash some more!

Jonnie took a walk around the causeway.....little children lay in the rifle pits, shaded with bits of cloth. They followed him with their eyes.

Jonnie thought, why shouldn't these children have a chance? Why couldn't they have a future that was happy and safe?

War! What right did cold, impersonal nations have to murder and rampage, to smash and crush and gut their more helpless, fellow beings?

Call it "national policy," cal it "necessities of state," call it what you will, it still amounted to an action of the insane.

Jonnie looked at the children. And he made up his mind. What ever happened, there would be no more war. Not anywhere.

BE excerpt Part 15 Chapter 4

The Coordinator was getting overwhelmed. He was quite used to dealing with important tribal heads and notables, but here he was in the company of three of the most important names this planet had ever had, especially Jonnie sir. But Colonel Ivan was almost stomping his feet for him to translate.

"He says that's what ruined the whole human race. He says the valiant-red-army, trying to fight the capitalist-imperialist-warmongers (these are just names to him, Jonnie sir, he doesn't have a political axe to grind) had their attention on each other and didn't cooperate when an invader landed, and he says while tribal wars will and do happen, international wars among whole peoples are against the good welfare of the people. He says he is for the people of Earth and people didn't stick together but fought, and this must not happen again. He's very emphatic, Jonnie sir, and he says all the other Russian tribes are also."

---

posted 02-25-2003 02:23 PM            

Here's a Billy Joe, Capt Walker, or other Cro-Magnon take on this one, stricly meant as a parody:

Hoople,
you un-American, traitorous, communistic, homo, leftist, Marxist, French Frog loving, Kraut sucking, pinko, Kim chi gouging, atheistic, Hillary screwing, no good animal. Love it or Leave it. You should be wrapped in a Chinese-made American flag, and doused with good old American high octane. How dare you question the integrity of the Godly President, George Bush, a man who I thank my God for every 2 minutes, for bringing honesty and integrity back to the White House. Not since Nixon and Reagen have we have such a loving, caring, God-Fearing, and directed man in the Oval Office, who cares about the common person so much.

posted 02-25-2003 05:30 PM            

I'm calling Homeland Security on you and give them a T.I.P.