COASTAL FOG AND MAGIC

Spoke to a packed room at the Florence library last night - a beautiful coastal town in Oregon. Stuart Henderson worked hard, including sticking over 200 flyers on cars around town, to turn folks out. People said half the audience was not the regulars. Great energy in the room and it was a fun evening for me.

It's foggy along the coast as I look out the window now. Going for breakfast with my hosts to a place on the beach this morning so I can get a look at the ocean.

Today I head to Eugene for a radio interview on the college NPR radio station and then another talk in the evening.

Enjoying my Oregon visit. Have added another talk to my schedule as Bellingham, WA has now filled my only free day, Aug 8.

One thing I notice about Oregon, different from most places I visit, is that they seem to have more access to radio. Already done about 5 radio interviews and have just gotten started. Oregon also appears to be one state with very little military industrial complex presence....maybe there is a connection there. Hope they can keep it this way.

OREGON TRAILS

Hotter than hell here in Oregon. Took me 13 hours to get here, flying via Atlanta. Not the most direct route. Got to bed after 2:00 am Friday morning and had to wake up early for a radio interview with Thom Hartman who has a show on a local Portland station. Did three radio interviews yesterday promoting the trip. Spoke last night at the Unitarian church in Portland.

Today I head south to Corvallis for a lunch talk and then out to the coast for a talk this evening in Florence. My books arrived in Brunswick on Friday and some will be overnighted to me so I can have them for the rest of the trip. People were disappointed last night after the talk wanting to buy a copy but I had none to offer - just an order form.

The thing going through my mind this morning is the dispair and hope message. People feel very down right now as they look at the world and the question is what is my role in helping to bring hope to them? Having to talk about the plans for space control and domination, the enormous cost, the resulting global instability of a new arms race are not hopeful themes.

I end my talks by talking about a transformative vision being needed. I paint a visual picture of what economic conversion would look like and appeal to folks to help us create the momentum and political demand to make it a reality. I suggest we have to move from addiction to militarism and war to a collective transformation as a people.

I try to tell the truth and give some hope through a positive vision for the future. I keep in mind those who came before us and who have struggled to make life better. I try to honor their memories. I also pray before each talk that I will be able to remember our relatives: the things that swim, the things that fly, and the things that crawl. I try to remember my connection to all that is sacred.

I leave on Thursday for a two-week speaking tour out to Oregon, Washington and Victoria BC. Will stop in about 10 locations along the trip for talks. Should be quite exciting. Hope the weather, yes we have global warming, will cool off by then. Will try to get some small tidbits about the trip onto the blog while I travel. My book arrives from the printer on Friday....at last! Best wishes to all. Stop the Bush madness.

PROTEST AT AEGIS "CHRISTENING"

Christ's blessings were given to a new Aegis destroyer yesterday in nearby Bath, Maine. (Do you think the Prince of Peace would really have given his blessing to a war ship that basically took food and clothing from the poor to build it?) Several thousand navy personnel and shipyard workers lined up at 8:30 am to attend the event. Outside the gates stood 20 of us, half were members of Veterans for Peace, as we held signs calling for the conversion of the shipyard to peaceful production.

We stood outside the gates for 2 1/2 hours as the people filed past us. A few took our pictures, a few gave us the finger or thumbs down. An occasional person driving by gave us a honk on the horn or flashed a peace sign. But the outright hostility that I have seen at other "christenings" was not evident yesterday.

The entire Maine congressional delegation was inside - Republican and Democrat alike. In today's paper Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) was quoted as saying that we need to build more of the destroyers because China's navy is now "rapidly overtaking our own." Total garbage. China is being dragged out by the supporters of the military industrial complex as the justification for a massive expansion of the Navy, Star Wars and the like.

The Aegis, launched yesterday in Bath, is being outfitted with Theatre Missile Defense (TMD) systems that would be used to hit "rogue state" missiles right after they were launched in their boost phase. In order to do this you'd have to park the ships just off the coast of the "offending" nation. Since China is now put in the rogue state category by many, including Sen. Snowe, the U.S. plans are to deploy the ships in Japan, South Korea, Australia, and even likely in Taiwan, just 90 miles off the coast of mainland China. If you check your map you will see that this will essentially be a naval encirclement of China's coast. Imagine how China, who today has 20 nuclear missiles capable of hitting the west coast of the U.S., will respond. (By the way the U.S. today has over 7,500 nuclear weapons in our arsenal of hypocrisy.) China has said that U.S. deployments of Aegis off their coast will force them to build more nuclear weapons. Off to a new arms race. Who benefits from that here in the good ole US of A?

I don't shop at Wal-Mart but I do like to walk through the big box stores now and then to see where their products are produced. These days it is hard to find many products that are not made in China. We've become one of China's best customers in the world. Is it likely that China wants to nuke one of its best customers? I think not.

What the U.S. really fears is that China is becoming a major economic power. The U.S. wants to manage China to ensure U.S. global economic dominance. By militarily surrounding China the U.S. thinks it will be able to dictate policy to China. The war in Iraq is about oil. China's oil. The U.S. does not rely on Iraq's oil but China and other countries in the Asian-Pacific do. If the U.S. has permanent bases in Iraq, and controls that oil, then the U.S. holds the key to the Chinese economic engine.

We the American taxpayers will be bled to pay for this new military expansion to surround and "manage" China. We will have our education, health care, social security, and other social programs defunded so the global corporate machine can play games with China. But first they must be demonized and Americans must be made to fear China. That job is now well underway.

The House of Representatives voted yesterday, 291-137, to reject a call for a planned and timely withdrawl from Iraq. The House instead said the U.S. must stay to make Iraq free. Free for who? For the people of Iraq or free and easy for the big corporations to slice and dice the country up.....spoils go to the winner.

MASSIVE SPACE COST OVERRUNS AT PENTAGON

by Martin Sieff
UPI Senior News Analyst
Washington (UPI) Jul 19, 2005

In testimony before the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Committee on Armed Services delivered last week, Robert E. Levin, director of Acquisitions and Sourcing Management at the GAO, delivered a devastating critique of the Bush administration and the Pentagon's space acquisitions' record.

"The results are discouraging," he said. "Systems cost more and take much longer to acquire than promised when initially approved.

"Overall, we have found that DOD (the Department of Defense) has been unable to match resources (technology, time, money) to requirements before beginning individual programs, setting the stage for technical and other problems, which lead to cost and schedule increases," Levin said.

Many of the problems, Levin said, came from sloppiness on the part of DOD leaders or senior officials in defining what they specifically wanted their new space-based high-tech systems to do, or in being too visionary -- approving programs when the technology did not yet exist, or had not yet been developed sufficiently to ! assure the necessary reliable performance.

"Technologies are not mature enough (in some cases) to be included in product development," Levin said. "Cost estimates are unreliable -- largely because requirements have not been fully defined and because programs start with many unknowns about technologies."

Levin painted a picture of thousands of hardworking and dedicated individuals stymied by the complexities and cross-purposes of the bureaucratic structures in which they had to function.

"Factors that make it more difficult for DOD to achieve a match between resources and requirements for space acquisitions," he said "... include: a diverse array of organizations with competing interests; a desire to satisfy all requirements in a single step, regardless of the design or technology challenge; and a tendency for acquisition programs to take on technology development that should occur within the S & T (science and technolo! gy) environment."

Also, he said, "DOD starts more programs than it can afford in the long run, forcing programs to underestimate costs and over promise capability."

"As a result," he said, "there is pressure to suppress bad news about programs, which could endanger funding and support, as well as to skip testing because of its high cost."

Levin acknowledged that the Department of Defense "has recently revised its space acquisition policy, in part to attain more knowledge about technologies before beginning an acquisition program."

"However," he continued, "we remain concerned that this policy still allows programs to begin before demonstrating technologies in an operational or simulated environment."

The results of these shortcomings have cost billions of dollars and seriously reduced the space capabilities that the Department of Defense has been able to deliver, Levin said.

"For decades, space acquisition programs have been encountering large cost and increases and schedule delays," he said," As a result, DOD has been unable to deliver capabilities as promised.

"This year alone," Levin said, "... costs have continued to climb on the Space-Based Infrared System High (SBIRS-High) program ... pushing DOD's investment in this critical missile warning system to over $9.9 billion from the initial $3.9 billion made nine years ago."

Also, he said, "the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System has been restructured and is facing cost increases and schedule delays."

Even the simplest and most straightforward part of the military space program -- launching satellites into space on reliable, cost-effective rockets -- is becoming more difficult and vastly more expensive, Levin warned.

"Unit cost increases for launch vehicles have now increased! by 81 percent since 2002 due to erroneous assumptions about the commercial launch market upon which the program's business case was based," he said.

In the case of many programs, Levin said, there would be no improvement in sight and cost over-runs would continue for many years.

"DOD originally planned to complete expenditures for SBIRS-High in fiscal year 2005, for example, but currently plans to spend about $3.4 billion in fiscal years 2007 through 2013," he said.

Levin and his GAO analysts were not alone in their indictment.

Pedro "Pete" Rustan, director of Advanced Systems and Technology at the National Reconnaissance Office, told a congressional subcommittee, "I think space acquisitions procedures are the biggest challenge facing our space systems today. "We must do things differently."

"Unless decisive actions are taken," Rustan said, "I think we will continue to spend lar! ge amounts of money without returning a commensurate capability to our stakeholders."

Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala, the subcommittee chairman who called the hearing, made clear he took the criticisms seriously. "Acquisition and management practices, as well as industry standards and quality control must be vastly improved," he said in his opening statement.

FULL REPORT ON RECENT ORGANIZING TRIPS

This report covers the period of July 11-18 when I traveled to northwest Michigan for a six-city tour, and then participated in two events in Maine.

My trip to Michigan was initiated by an old friend, Carol Still, whom I knew long ago in Florida. She was a member of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice and some years ago moved to Michigan to be near family. Carol had recently shown our video, Arsenal of Hypocrisy, on her local cable TV station and received quite a number of phone calls from new people expressing interest in the video. As a result a task force was created to begin working on the space issue and they then sent representatives from their new group to the recent Global Network annual conference in New York City. The group, called the Interfaith Peace & Justice Network of NW Michigan, also decided to host me on a speaking tour.

I had never been to northwest Michigan before and was to see much of the region as talks were scheduled for me in Traverse City, Suttons Bay, Petoskey, Alden, Charlevoix, and Manistee County. This part of Michigan is along beautiful Lake Michigan and is also the cherry capital of the world. The organizing committee took turns driving me from place to place throughout the rural countryside that is heavy populated with tourists during the summer. Tom Shea, in Traverse City, was the hub who kept things coordinated throughout the week. Unseasonably hot weather was on everyone's mind and needless to say I ate a lot of cherries during the trip. During each of my talks I read bits from my new book, Come Together Right Now, that is currently at the printer and should be finished within a week.

A young journalist from a small newspaper in Manistee County came to my first talk that was held in Traverse City. He taped the presentation, and then wrote a strong front-page story for his local paper promoting my talk that would take place in his community at the end of my tour. As I was packing up my things from my literature table after my talk he asked if he could take the handful of Keep Space for Week posters that I had left. He said he'd like to put them up around the county. It is not often that a journalist volunteers to do that. He had a special light in his eye and you could see that this young man was alive and was going to amount to something.

After speaking in Petoskey, I was driven to the small town of Alden to speak at a local library. I was told this is the community where filmmaker Michael Moore lives, and that he is often active with the local progressive community. Folks reported that Moore is now working on his next film, to be called Sick-O. Apparently it will be about the fact that health care is not available to legions of citizens in our country. One of my hosts took two of our Global Network videos and promised to give them to Moore.

That evening I stayed at the home of Barbara and Bruce MacArthur in Charlevoix, overlooking Lake Michigan. The next morning Bruce took me to his Rotary Club meeting, where he had arranged for me to speak. Thirty people were there to hear me, including the chief of police and the county prosecutor. I began by asking how many of them relied on cell phones, computers, cable TV and GPS receivers. I talked about the growing problem with space junk and Bush's plans to deploy weapons in space. Of course this plan would dramatically increase the likelihood that civilian satellites would be destroyed by the debris created when the Pentagon knocked-out other countries' "space assets" in order for the U.S. to "control and dominate" space. I got a good reception.

During my last stop, I stayed at the home of Robert and Diane Burnett in Frankfort. They live on a small piece of land not far from Lake Michigan where they raise animals and have a large garden. I enjoyed my time with Robert, who loves baseball as much as I do. He took me swimming in cold Lake Michigan early on my last morning there. They have a 16-year-old dog named Bobo who they described as the "town bum." Bobo loves to wander through town and various shops have a spot set aside for Bobo to rest. One local man always waits for Bobo to visit and then he takes the dog to the local hamburger joint and buys him a burger. While I was there Diane had to drive into town to pick up Bobo after they discovered he had once again slipped off for another one of his jaunts to town.

Folks in northwest Michigan are now discussing active participation during the GN's October 1-8 Keep Space for Week. It was a great visit and I am grateful to all of my hosts.

I returned to Maine just in time for a July 17 Town Hall Meeting on Iraq that our Congressman Tom Allen (D-ME) had agreed to hold after months of pressure from the peace movement. Phone calls, letters, following him to speaking events, and an occupation of his office in Portland finally convinced him to hold the public event. Well over 500 citizens turned out to give testimony against the war in Iraq and called on the congressman to vote against further funding for the occupation. He recently introduced a bill that says the U.S. should not permanently stay in Iraq but he has not yet been willing to vote for legislation calling for an exit strategy and a timeline for withdrawal to be set. Much to our dismay, but of no surprise to us, the local newspaper failed to cover the event.

On July 18 I drove three hours north to Deer Isle where I joined about 25 people from the group called Island Peace & Justice for their weekly anti-war vigil. Later that evening I spoke at The Good Life Center, the former home of Helen and Scott Nearing, who became famous for their back-to-the-land efforts. The center today hosts speakers throughout the summer and holds programs on homesteading and sustainable living. Among the many books published by the Nearings are titles such as Living the Good Life and The Conscience of a Radical. The Nearings built their home of stone, made much of their own furniture, grew their own food, and served as teachers and inspiration for millions. It was an honor to sleep in their bedroom and feel the power and simplicity of their lives. The caretakers suggested I read an anti-war pamphlet written in 1946 by Scott. I was struck by how little things have changed since that time. The military industrial complex still promotes war between "good and evil" and still suggests that the U.S. is the nation of great virtue. During my talk at the center I emphasized the current campaign underway in Maine to bring the economic conversion theme into the consciousness of the people. If we ever hope to end war we must get a handle on how people make a living. Why can't we make rail cars, solar, and windmills at the military production facilities in Maine and throughout the U.S.?

My next speaking trip takes me to Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia from July 28 - August 10.

IRAQ TOWN HALL MEETING

Under intense pressure from the peace movement in Maine, Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) held a town hall meeting today at Portland High School on the Iraq issue. Several months ago the peace movement in the state began a coordinated campaign to get our congressional delegation to agree to hold a town meeting. We've been calling, writing, and holding occupations of their offices reading the names of U.S. and Iraqi civilian war dead. Today well over 500 people turned out for the event.

At first Rep. Allen would not hold such an event. Rep. Allen maintains that we can't leave Iraq because if we do there might be a civil war and innocent Iraqi people will suffer. It appears that is happening now. His position is the basic Democratic party position, and at one point in the event he suggested we all go and read the statement of Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) who forcefully articulates this position that we must stay in Iraq and stabilize it until the Iraqi government asks us to leave. One Veterans for Peace member reminded the congressman that the Iraqi government, like the one the U.S. installed in Vietnam during that war, is a puppet government and is not likely to ask us to leave.

Two parents of GI's now in Iraq both spoke out strongly against the war calling for the troops to be brought home ASAP. None of the people who spoke up during the event expressed the slightest support for the war.

At least half a dozen of the people who spoke up called for the conversion of the military industrial complex. This, I think, indicates that our campaign to bring that issue alive here in Maine is making progress. People are seeing the common sense of using our tax dollars to build mass transit rail systems, solar power, and wind power at the weapons production facilities in the state that now produce weapons for endless war.

When I spoke I asked the audience what the nation's number one industrial export was. WEAPONS they yelled out. And when weapons are your number one industrial export, what is your global marketing strategy, I asked? WAR they yelled back.

This was a great day for the peace movement in Maine. We showed that we can mobilize people, we got very little help from the mainstream media who basically refused to give any advance coverage to the event. We also showed the growing power of ordinary people who are moving to oppose the war. Rep. Allen continues to say that we can't leave Iraq but he is moving in our direction as he clearly is feeling the pressure to change his position. We will keep working, and building, in order to grow this anti-war movement.

Next month we will again occupy the office of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) where we will read the names of dead GI's and Iraqi civilians. Each time we read them it takes us longer - the last time it took six hours. But each time we read the names our numbers grow.

The terrorist bombings in London were indeed a tragic event. Violence for violence breeds an endless cycle of destruction. But is it not terrorism when the U.S. and Britain launch a "shock and awe" attack on Iraq that leads to the death of over 100,000 civilians? The deaths in London are widely reported and mourned in the U.S. Just days before the London attack though, the U.S. killed 17 innocent civilians in a bombing attack of a village in Afghanistan. Are those tragic deaths reported and mourned with as much fervor in the U.S.? Are those lives any less important? Do the loved ones of innocents in Iraq or Afghanistan not consider their deaths an act of terrorism by the U.S. and Britain? Former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, David Kay, commented yesterday that, "We've now put a group of terrorists on steroids [in Iraq] and given them training. The easiest place for them to move, and there are signs they are moving already, is Europe." So has the war in Iraq made us more secure? Has the Bush and Blair plan to take the fight to the terrorists worked or have they only succeeded in making a colossal mess of the entire world?

At long last my book, Come Together Right Now - Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire, is at the printer. Can order it directly from the Global Network for $16 (covers s/h). Send check to PO Box 652, Brunswick, ME 04011. Should be printed in the next couple of weeks. The endorsements on the left side are hard for you to read. They are from Journalism professor Karl Grossman, Daniel Ellsberg who released the infamous Pentagon Papers, Sr. Ardeth Platte the Dominican nun in prison for her act of disarmament, and Dr. Helen Caldicott. Wish me luck with the book.

Hillary Clinton has been hanging out with Republicans a lot lately, like Newt Gingrich. Just this past weekend she was at the last evangelical rally held by Billy Graham. In fact the Rev. Graham said that her husband should become a preacher while Hillary "runs the country." A couple questions. Why would the Rev. Billy Graham, long associated with right-wing Republicans, have the Clinton duo sitting in the front row of his last big event? Why did Bill recently hang out for a weekend with George H.W. Bush and the word is they are big friends these days. Just today on CNN I heard a Republican party leader say that the Democrats should listen to the "hawk" Hillary on the Iraq war issue. Has the power structure made a decision to make Hillary the next president? Are they now redefining Hillary to the conservative base by having her hang out with Gingrich, Frist, Bill Graham, etc.? Could a fix be on the way? Keep posted.

Wouldn't it be better to have windmills, solar power, and public mass transit rather than an endless war for oil in the Middle East and Central Asia? Why can't the public begin to demand the conversion of the military industrial complex? After all, it is our money.

IRAQ WAR ACTION IN BANGOR

Yesterday Mary Beth and I joined over 80 others in Bangor at the federal building were we held a five-hour vigil reading the names of the more than 1,700 GI's killed in Iraq and an equal number of innocent Iraqi civilians.

While we read the names on the federal building plaza, we also had six people at a time inside the office of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) reading the names. Throughout the day we rotated people into the office to take a turn reading names and marking an X on a banner that read "Iraq War Dead." We had one banner inside the building and one outside on the plaza.

It appeared that a good number of media outlets covered the event. WERU radio covered the beginning and end of the vigil by having several of us speak live on the radio explaining why we were protesting.

Throughout the day we handed out our statement to people passing by the federal building and we also were able to gather over 250 signatures on a petition calling for an end to the war.

People from many different peace groups came during the day. Some stayed the whole day and others came for a couple hours. Two young kids came by and joined us and did a great job of gathering petition signatures.

We next plan to organize another of these readings in the Portland area in coming months. We've already shown that our efforts have forced Rep. Tom Allen to agree to hold a public town hall meeting on the war. Now we intend to keep the pressure on our two Republican senators until they both agree to do the same. We must turn these politicians away from their support for the war. To accomplish that task will take many more days of hard work like yesterday. But it was not all hard work in Bangor. What we also did was build community by gathering good sprited people to stand together. No one left this event untouched by the event.

Condi is on the road explaining to the world how much the U.S. loves democracy and how our troops are fighting so people can be free from tyranny. How can she keep a straight face?

CUTS IN BIDDEFORD - SINGING THE BLUES

Last night I drove south to Biddeford, Maine to be on a local cable TV show called "Out in left field." I was on the show a couple months ago and had such a good time with the hour-long interview, they asked me to come back. Three folks do the interview and I've never had so much fun talking politics.

When I got back from Biddeford last time I told the story on my blog about the cable facility being inside an old school. They also have a free clinic inside the building and, like last time I was there, it was full of people last night.

I was told by my hosts that Biddeford is having one hell of a time with its town budget. They are having social problems dumped on them as the feds dump onto the states and then the states dump onto the local governments. The local government then gets to be the bearer of bad news. In the case of Biddeford, the bad news is that the local education budget must be cut.

On the cable show we talked about the costs of endless war. We talked about space technology coordinating modern warfare. We talked about America's empire and how the hopes and dreams of the people are fading as the Pentagon eats up our hard-earned tax dollars.

After the show was over I told my hosts about Cornell West's latest book, Democracy Matters, and how he has a chapter in it on the "blues." West says that white folks had better quickly learn how to sing the blues. Blacks have been singing them for hundreds of years in the U.S. as they have learned how to survive in this mean-spirited capitalist system where the dog eats the dog. White folks, not just Indians, are now being put onto the reservation. White folks will now face the humiliation of mass unemployment, no health care, bad education, losing hope. This will mean more social dysfunction for our children.

There is an alternative. But that would require a political fight. It would require people to quickly organize to oppose the expansion of the military industrial complex and endless war. It would require a political demand that we not spend $100 billion or more a year in Iraq and instead use that money for education, health care, public transportation and the like. So it is really up to you. Do you want to have to sing the blues?

Recently two separate sources have claimed that the U.S. military is dramatically underestimating the number of GI's killed in Iraq. The claim is the current estimates of 1,700 dead do not count those who died after being evacuated to Germany or other destinations. The sources state that internal Pentagon documents reveal over 9,000 have died. Wouldn't it be nice if the media would lock onto this story as hard as they did the Michael Jackson trial? By keeping the public honoring of U.S. war dead to a bare minimum, Bush has so far been successful in keeping the inquires suppressed.

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) was joined by 10 members of Congress last Thursday as he delivered a letter with 560,000 signatures to the White House. The letter called on the Bush administration to provide answers about the Downing Street memo that clearly indicates Bush lied in order to drag the nation into war. We need more of this congressional direct action. The people are starving for leadership and John Conyers is showing it.

VISION OFFENSIVE NEEDED

I drove to Norway, Maine last night to speak to a group of people about the conversion of the military industrial complex. I had to leave the office early in order to get there in time to meet my hosts for dinner. Along the way I listened to National Public Radio's report on the Democrat's hearing about the Downing Street memo. Before I left I had heard the testimony of Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey who was killed in Iraq on 4/4/04. Last winter I had Cindy, who lives in California, on my local cable TV show and had organized a dinner talk for her at a local restaurant. She spoke powerfully yesterday about the betrayal she, and other parents of GI's killed in Iraq, felt by our current war-hungry government.

During the Q & A time after my talk we spent a lot of time dealing with the profound feeling of powerlessness felt by many in the public at this moment. Even though polls show that 60% of the American people want the troops to come home, there is still strong support for the war among key leaders of the Democratic party. If the opposition party still supports the war, how can we expect Bush to feel the heat? Even Howard Dean has stopped talking about Iraq since becoming the chair of the Democratic party.

It is clear to me that we need to urge local activists to run people in primaries all over the U.S. during the next election cycle. They need to run as Democrats and Greens and speak out strongly against the war, military spending, and the need to offer an alternative economic vision for the nation. They need to talk about conversion of the military industrial complex, the need for rapid development of sustainable technologies (wind, solar, public transporation, etc) and they need to call for a reinvigoration of funding for our human infrastructure including education, health care, child care, environmental clean-up and the like. We need to go on a vision offensive. We can't wait for the Democrats to wake up from their corporate funded decade drinking binge. They (with a few noble exceptions) are an unreliable political partner.

Bush tells the American people that he did not plan, long before 9-11, to go to war with Iraq. The Downing Street memo from London reveals that Bush faked the intelligence that led to war. The media has been slow to report this blockbuster story. The Republican-controlled Congress refuses to investigate. How is this not an impeachable offense? Bigger than a Monica Lewinsky?

Space industry depiction of the "Rods from God" space weapon the Bush administration is now developing. Bush is expected to release a new national space policy this month giving the green light for further development and possible deployment of offensive space weapons.