The more things change, the more they stay the same:

"The [US] media's feat in transforming the Salvadoran "security forces," aptly described as "a deranged killing machine," into "protectors of an incipient democracy" is, I believe, a propaganda achievement that totalitarian states might conceivably approach, but never surpass."

Edward S. Herman, Professor of Finance, Wharton School,

University of Pennsylvania, in Covert Action Bulletin, Number 21 (Spring 1984) page 7, regarding the Salvadoran elections of 1984.

This made my day, Jennifer. Humor doesn't get much better than this.

Let Alaska secede from the United States; indeed, encourage them. Sign no mutual defense pacts, and treat them with the same contempt that they show toward the lower 48.

Then let Russia take them over; a natural consequence of proximity and even history. Diplomacy and mutual interests will prevent Russia from becoming a threat to the rest of North America, and Russia's acquisition of Alaskan oil would be insignificant in comparison with ridding America of a primitive population with nothing of substance to contribute.

It goes without saying, of course, that the Russians would utterly destroy Alaska's natural beauty, but there would be little difference from the devastation that the Alaskans themselves would produce.

I'm quite serious about this.

The girl sounds bipolar to me. If you were out of the picture and she had her uncle all to herself, she would soon be abusing him as well --- much to his surprise.

Seems like a hard stomp on the camera, or better yet, two stomps on the hand or a knee to the solar plexus, would be the proper response. Don't be shy.

I have the same intellectual/emotional reaction to Graner's situation as I have to the death penalty: I will always vote against capital punishment, but I lose not a moment's sleep when I read about a particularly vicious killer being executed.

Graner is one of those knee-jerk patriots whom I often encountered duirng my years in the trenches fighting Reagan's war against the peasants of Nicaragua. Had Graner met me or any of my friends protesting outside federal buildings, he would have accused us of being Soviet stooges and urged us to "move to Russia" if we "didn't like it here."

The fact is that Graner reveled in every second of his abuse of the Iraqi prisoners. Why did not Mark Benjamin even mention Joe Darby, whose conscience led him to expose the abuse? There is no indication in Graner's letters to his parents, which included the photos, that he expressed the slightest moral qualm about what he was allegedly "told" to do. Nor is there any indication that his parents were concerned that their son might be acting illegally and immorally, even if supposedly "under orders."

So Graner and his family are somehow surprised that the higher-ups get off scott-free and the lower ranks take the heat? Duh!! Generations of American peace activists have fought against this corrupt system, and and it is a certainty that Graner and his good old dad, "Red," held those activists in absolute contempt.

The proper solution to Graner's problem is not to release him, but to put Rumsfeld, Bush, and the spooks in the cell with him. (Condolezza Rice goes to the women's floor.) That won't happen, but neither will I lose any sleep over the injustice of it all.

Read de Chardin's Phenomenon of Man.

It seems clear to me that the Internet, the World Wide Web, and Google, are an evolving brain covering the surface of the earth.

One question is whether one or more governments will appropriate a controlling function over Internet content and accessibility, similar to the various control functions of the human brain.

Another question is whether, if this "brain" is allowed to evolve (which will require millions/billions more programming hours and high-capacity computer chips), anything resembling an identifiable "consciousness" will emerge. If so, the ultimate mystery may be solved: the emergence of consciousness in the midst of matter.

The following letter, from the World Trade Center bombers, appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News, March 28, 1993:

"The American people must know, that their civilians who got killed are not better than those who are getting killed by the American weapons and support. ... The American people are responsible for the actions of their government and they must question all of the crimes that their government is committing against other people, or they--Americans--will be the targets of our operations that could diminish them."

In 1986, 4 veterans fasted on the Capital steps in opposition to President Reagan's brutal war against the peasants of Nicaragua. Their slogan: "We are not worth more; they are not worth less."

Have we waked up to the fact that we Americans are not history's ultimate achievement? It's too early to tell. The neocons are still out there.

The Democratic Party should be seen as the political equivalent of a battered spouse or battered domestic partner. The Dems have been ground down so long by the wildly successful Republican hate-mongering machine that they lost the ability to act boldly. Their hearts are in the right place, but it will take a while -- and much understanding and support from the liberal/progressive punditry, let me add -- for them to regain the courage needed to fully engage the real power -- corporate America.

.. to the early 90s in Los Angeles, when we would get a call at 1-3 a.m. from Clinic Defense to head for a Planned Parenthood or abortion clinic that was to be Operation Rescue's target for the day. The Clinic Defense organizers infiltrated OR and passed along the information. We would get to the clinic before OR and physically prevent them from closing the doors. We covered L.A., Orange County, even Riverside. We finally shut OR down in So. Cal.; I think they went to Kansas then. My admiration for the Clinic Defense organizers is boundless.