TruthFire

Rusty Nelson - 2009 Interview with Former Franklin Photographer

2009-02-01T13:08:00.008-07:00

While working as a photographer for Republican fundraisers, Rusty Nelson found himself in over his head in the Franklin Credit Union scandal.

Because his photographs documented pedophilia, murder and corruption at the highest levels of world government, for the past 20 years, Rusty has been relentless pursued, and had numerous attempts on his life.

He was incarcerated as a sex offender, without any tangible evidence, and subjected to CIA mind control techniques of sleep deprivation, massive drugging, and endless loop tapes.

FreeRangeHumans.net offers an exclusive DVD, in which Rusty offers more Franklin details and takes you through the farm house that was violently raided to steal the evidence which would have set him free. It also shows a photograph of a young, dapper Rusty during the height of the Franklin high life, in a leather tuxedo.

Rusty risked his life and/or reincarceration to give this interview.

Please support him by purchasing the full DVD:
http://www.freerangehumans.net/cart/default.html

God bless you Rusty. We wish you a chance at a real life! Here is a sampler from the DVD:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Rusty Nelson Interview - Franklin Photographer Jailed after Giving This Interview

2008-02-01T10:26:00.004-07:00

THIS ARTICLE IS BEING RE-POSTED, DUE TO CODE ALTERATIONS MADE TO MY PREVIOUS POST BY UNKNOWN PARTIES.

NEW 2009 INTERVIEW: I am posting these here, because Google is censoring the new interview from their search engine:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

UPDATE OCTOBER 2006:

Rusty was incarcerated on PHONY parole violation charges, TO SHUT HIM UP.

This is a highly-condensed version of the dramatic April 12, 2005, interview with Rusty Nelson, the photographer for Larry King who provided child sex slaves for the wealthy and prominent in the highest levels of industry and our government by Michael Corbin.

Rusty corroborates the statements of Noreen Gosch, mother of abducted Johnny Gosch, and has photos to prove it! Rusty testified in the trial against Larry King (from Omaha, not the talk show host) which awarded Paul Bonacci (one of the abducted children) $1,000,000, after unearthing the Franklin Cover-up.

This interview provides public record for the first time of many facts that may be distasteful, but demand to be known to the world. This may reveal the real story behind the death of Hunter S. Thompson.

Once you hear the details, you will realize how huge this story is.

2005 Interview by Michael Corbin (Corbin died in March 2008 under questionable circumstances)

Part 1: Larry King, Omaha Boys Town, Alisha Owen, Omaha Police Chief Wadman, 80 children trying to testify, Senator John DeCamp, human trafficking, embezzlement, Franklin Cover-up, day care center child abuse, snuff films, Hunter Thompson

download mp3

Part 2: Drugs, Washington DC parties, deaths of witnesses, Paul Bonacci, Offutt Air Force Base, President Reagan, MK-Ultra mind control, FBI connection to Gary Caradori's "accidental" plane crash, kids disappearing after touring White House after hours

download mp3

Part 3: Satanism, Gary Caradori's death; Warren Buffett, FBI raids, Jeff Gannon, Bohemian Grove, Saudi Arabia, Hitler tactics, Iran Contra, 9/11, Troy Boner

download mp3

2007 John DeCamp Interview:
ADDED DECEMBER 2007: WATCH A NEW INTERVIEW OF FORMER NEBRASKA SENATOR, JOHN DeCAMP on YouTube. PART 3 discusses Rusty Nelson:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

New World Order Conspiracy Playbook

2007-09-06T14:15:00.001-07:00

So you think that "conspiracy theory nuts" have been making all this stuff up!
WOW, are you in for a SHOCK!

The World Order—It isn't NEW at all—has been following the official playbook written by Mayer Rothschild in 1773. For OVER 230 YEARS, his twelve insiders have found riches and power beyond their dreams. How? It's quite simple. Starting on page 27 of his book Pawns in the Game, author William Guy Carr clearly states the 25 strategy points devised by Mayer Rothschild.
How do we know about this meeting and what their strategy is? A literal act-of-God. A lightening bolt struck and killed the courier on horseback who was taking the agenda to the meeting. His personal effects were examined, and people were stunned to find this plan. (paraphrased for clarity)

25 Strategies of the World Order
#1 Use violence and terrorism rather than academic discussions
#2 Preach "Liberalism" to usurp political power
#3 Bring about class wars by substituting the word Freedom for Faith. Then "the aid of 'Capital' will be "entirely in our hands.'"
#4 Any and all means are justified, on the grounds that a moral code leaves a politician vulnerable. "Those who wish to rule must have recourse to cunning and make-believe because frankness and honesty are vices in politics"
#5 "Scatter to the winds all existing forces of order and regulation, to reconstruct all existing institutions, and become sovereign Lord of all who left to us the RIGHTS to their powers by laying them down voluntarily in their 'liberalism.'"
#6 Remain invisible until the very moment when we have gained such strength that no cunning or force can undermine us.
#7 Use Mob Psychology to control the masses. Without absolute despotism one cannot rule efficiently
#8 Advocate the use of alcoholic liquors, drugs, moral corruption and all forms of vice, used systematically by "agenteurs" to corrupt the youth
#9 Seize property by any means and without hesitation, to secure submission and sovereignty.
#10 Foment wars, but direct the peace conferences so that neither of the combatants gain territory. They will be placed further in debt and therefore under our power.
#11 Choose candidates for public office who will be "servile and obedient to our commands, so they may be readily used as PAWNS IN OUR GAME
#13 Use the Press for propaganda to control all outlets of public information, while remaining in the shadows, clear of blame
#14 Make the masses believe they had been the prey of criminals. Then restore order to appear as the saviors.
#15 Create financial panics and use hunger to subjugate the masses.
#16 Infiltrate Freemasonry to take advantage of the Grand Orient Lodges to cloak the true nature of our work in philanthropy. Spread our atheistic-materialistic ideology amongst the Goyim. "When the hour strikes for our sovereign Lord of all the World to be crowned, these same hands will sweep away everything that might stand in his way."
#17 Use systematic deception, high-sounding phrases and popular slogans. "The opposite of what has been promised can always be done afterwards... That is of no consequence."
#18 a Reign of Terror is the most economical way to bring about speedy subjection.
#19 Masquerade as political, financial and economic advisers to carry out our mandates with Diplomacy and without fear of exposing "the secret power behind national and international affairs."
#20 ULTIMATE WORLD GOVERNMENT is the goal. It will be necessary to establish huge monopolies, so even the largest fortunes of the Goyim will depend on us to such an extent that they will go to the bottom together with the credit of their governments ON THE DAY AFTER THE GREAT POLITICAL SMASH."
#21 Economic War. Rob the Goyim of their landed properties and industries with a combination of high taxes and unfair competition.
#22 Make the Goyim destroy each other so there will only be the proletariat left in the world, with a few millionaires devoted to our cause, and sufficient police and soldiers to protect our interest.
#23 Call it THE NEW ORDER. Appoint a Dictator.
#24 Fool, bemuse and corrupt the younger members of society by teaching them theories and principles we know to be false.
#25 Twist national and international laws into a contradiction which first masks the law and afterwards hides it altogether. Substitute ARBITRATION for law.

DOES ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR? It should. This strategy has been faithfully followed for OVER 230 YEARS by the descendants of those original 13.

This meeting took place on the Judenstrasse in Germany, in a building under a Red Shield. What does "red shield" translate to in German?

ROTHSCHILD

Pawns in the Game by Wm. Guy Carr is out of print, but still available at Half.com.
Now, go apologize to all those conspiracy theorists who you called kooks. WAKE UP!!
Be sure to see Alex Jones' movies, Terror Storm and soon-to-be-released End Game. If you are not yet shaken into the horrific realization of this massive plan, and how close they are to FINALLY EXECUTING IT, then these movies will certainly abolish any doubt.

What can YOU do about it?

How about IT professionals finding ways to break the backbone of their Global Information Grid.
How about snipers shooting out their damned surveillance cameras everywhere!
How about everybody who is working for these goons find ways within your companies and organizations to sabotage their evil deeds!
Be creative. Think of something else you can do.

Together, we can STILL STOP THEM!

New World Order's Nod to Fascism at the Denver Art Museum

2006-10-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

Do you find anything disturbing about this Painting?

At the grand opening of the new Denver Art Museum October 7, 2006, "Adoration of the Magi" was found on a back wall of a temporary exhibit--the only gallery banning photography.

Yes, I understand that art has a long history of agitating controversy. This one just strikes me as a sly wink to those "in the know" congratulating themselves on achieving another milestone toward Global Domination.

Download higher res version (255kb)

The U.S. Government's Greatest Fear--Truth

2005-08-03T11:43:00.001-07:00

NOTE: Upon posting the Rusty Nelson interview, these audio files received over 12,000 attacks from my own modem (blacklisting my server), there was evidence of my telephone line being monitored, and my computers were compromised and taken out of service. Additional factors indicate that these were not "normal" spyware attacks. Several visits to this blog traced back to nearly every branch of U.S. military, with heavy traffic from air force bases. Would this information warrant that much attention and intervention if it were not true? If you have any doubts whatsoever, then view "Conspiracy of Silence":
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/141003conspiracyofsilence.html
a British documentary which confirms the reality of child trafficking in the United States. It was pulled from its 1994 scheduled timeslot on the Discovery Channel only 20 minutes before airtime. The original and all copies were destroyed by an undisclosed party. Rusty informs us that it was none other than the Bush family who paid $200,000 cash to keep it off the air. It is only because a working copy was anonymously mailed to a trusted Nebraska lawyer a year later that this is now available to those who seek it out.

Rusty Nelson Interview—It's Time to Purge this Revolting Corruption from the Complicit U.S. Government and Military

2005-04-19T20:14:00.012-07:00

UPDATE JANUARY 2009:
New Interview!! from Rusty Nelson
CLICK HERE

I apologize for the redundancy, but Google is filtering out the latest 2009 interview from its search engine. So I am adding it to the old posts.

LATEST 2009 Interview with former Franklin Photographer, RUSTY NELSON

While working as a photographer for Republican fundraisers, Rusty Nelson found himself in over his head in the Franklin Credit Union scandal.

Because his photographs documented pedophilia, murder and corruption at the highest levels of world government, for the past 20 years, Rusty has been relentless pursued, and had numerous attempts on his life.

He was incarcerated as a sex offender, without any tangible evidence, and subjected to CIA mind control techniques of sleep deprivation, massive drugging, and endless loop tapes.

FreeRangeHumans.net offers an exclusive DVD, in which Rusty offers more Franklin details and takes you through the farm house that was violently raided to steal the evidence which would have set him free. It also shows a photograph of a young, dapper Rusty during the height of the Franklin high life, in a leather tuxedo.

Rusty risked his life and/or reincarceration to give this interview.

Please support him by purchasing the full DVD:
http://www.freerangehumans.net/cart/default.html

God bless you Rusty. We wish you a chance at a real life! Here is a sampler from the DVD:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Dramatic 2005 RUSTY NELSON Interview by Michael Corbin

This is a highly-condensed version of the dramatic April 12, 2005, interview with Rusty Nelson, the photographer for Larry King who provided child sex slaves for the wealthy and prominent in the highest levels of industry and our government.

Rusty corroborates the statements of Noreen Gosch, mother of abducted Johnny Gosch, and has photos to prove it! Rusty testified in the trial against Larry King (from Omaha, not the talk show host) which awarded Paul Bonacci (one of the abducted children) $1,000,000, after unearthing the Franklin Cover-up.

This interview provides public record for the first time of many facts that may be distasteful, but demand to be known to the world. This may reveal the real story behind the death of Hunter S. Thompson. Listen to this 36-minute encapsulation.

Once you hear the details, you will realize how huge this story is.
Part 1: Larry King, Omaha Boys Town, Alisha Owen, Omaha Police Chief Wadman, 80 children trying to testify, Senator John DeCamp, human trafficking, embezzlement, Franklin Cover-up, day care center child abuse, snuff films, Hunter Thompson

download mp3

Part 3: Satanism, Gary Caradori's death; Warren Buffett, FBI raids, Jeff Gannon, Bohemian Grove, Saudi Arabia, Hitler tactics, Iran Contra, 9/11, Troy Boner

download mp3

ADDED DECEMBER 2007: WATCH A NEW INTERVIEW OF FORMER NEBRASKA SENATOR, JOHN DeCAMP on YouTube. PART 3 discusses Rusty Nelson:

PART 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtpZTVKuVAo&feature=related

PART 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlLKLeOwKl0&feature=related

PART 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtUWdRtSn-M&feature=related

PART 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELLZPo_UOuU&feature=related

PART 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f70eoCEKCHo&feature=related

NOTE: Upon posting this interview, these audio files received over 12,000 attacks from my own modem (blacklisting my server), there was evidence of my telephone line being monitored, and my computers were compromised and taken out of service. Additional factors indicate that these were not "normal" spyware attacks. Several visits to this blog traced back to nearly every branch of U.S. military, mostly Air Force. Would this information warrant that much attention and intervention if it were not true? If you have any doubts whatsoever, then watch "Conspiracy of Silence" in low res on YouTube or Google Video,
a British documentary which confirms the reality of child trafficking in the United States. Or get a DVD of the highest quality version available here: Conspiracy of Silence. It was pulled from its 1994 scheduled timeslot on the Discovery Channel only 20 minutes before airtime. The original and all copies were destroyed by an undisclosed party. Rusty informs us that it was none other than the Bush family who paid $200,000 cash to keep it off the air.

Connections Between Johnny Gosch, Jeff Gannon, Pedophilia, Murder, the FBI, Hunter S. Thompson, and the White House

2005-04-18T13:33:00.001-07:00

Wow. It doesn't get any bigger than this. It's sickening. It is nearly impossible to believe, but the more you hear, the more the pieces fall into place, and the harder it becomes to dismiss.

It doesn't even matter whether there is ultimately a connection between abducted Iowa newspaper boy Johnny Gosch, and White House faux journalist/male escort Jeff Gannon. There is still enough pedophilia, prostitution, money laundering and murder to warrant massive investigation and prosecution of police departments, banks, and prominent millionaires. It raises the question of whether Hunter S. Thompson actually committed suicide. If Johnny Gosch does end up being James Guckert/Jeff Gannon, then this will expose several key people in the White House, FBI, and covert military operations.

For those of you who do not have six hours to listen to the full interviews (available at:
http://www.johnnygosch.com), I have boiled down the two-hour Jeff Rense interview to just over 23 minutes.

Please share these with everyone who will listen. People are being fired for printing stories about it. My Yahoo emails have been monitored and intercepted after posting on this subject. But this story must get out.

Once you start listening, you won't be able to stop.

On a personal note: While touring with a rock band in the early 1970's, I came across a group of Satanists in, guess where—Iowa! (Sioux City to be precise). What seemed ridiculous to me then makes me stop and rethink now.
May God bless America and save us all from what our government has become
Excerpts from Jeff Rense's April 7, 2005 interview with Johnny Gosch's mother, Noreen Gosch:

Now that you have heard Noreen Gosch's heartbreaking and alarming nightmare, now you must hear this dramatic account by Rusty Nelson of corruption perpetrated and condoned by people at the highest levels of U.S. government, FBI, military, and industry, including child trafficking and pornography, even murder of innocent witnesses by clicking here. Please share this information with everyone you can. Our media has let us down. The internet is the only source left for the full truth. And if certain key officials in the U.S. government and military have their way, they will soon cut us off from every thread of truth and reason.

Is Jeff Gannon / James Guckert a Favorite "Escort" of George Bush?

2005-04-17T18:23:00.001-07:00

Do these two look like total strangers having a strictly professional exchange?

Faux journlist (recently for Talon News) James Guckert a/k/a Jeff Gannon gained access to the White House press corps (even rumored to have stayed overnight) after taking a $50 one-weekend course.

Could Jeff Gannon be Johnny Gosch, an Iowan newspaper boy who was abducted in 1982?

A Bit of Pope Humor

2005-04-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between these two figures?

One is a Purple People Eater. The other is a Papal People Leader.
:^ )

Dogs Committing Suicide!!?

2005-03-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

OK, this one's pretty silly (unless you're a bereaved pet owner) but I thought I needed to lighten things up a a bit.

Apparently, in just six short months, FIVE DOGS have COMMITTED SUICIDE by leaping off the same 40-foot bridge in Dumbarton, Scotland! (a short distance from Glasgow)

The place is pretty creepy to start with, having been used as a backdrop for the BBC series, "Tales from the Madhouse," perhaps prompted by the tragic scene in 1994 when a certain Kevin Moy used the same location to throw his two-week-old son to his death, believing him to be the Antichrist.

As their appalled owners watch, doggies see, hear or smell some powerful canine siren that plunges them to their doom!

Overtoun House was built in 1863 by James White, the father of Lord Overtoun…as an ornate religious symbol and has the words "Fear God and keep His commandments" carved into its walls. Local historians describe it as a place where angels and gargoyles are said to keep company. It is now being renovated as a Christian Centre for Hope & Healing – part of a £2.5m project by Pastor Bob Hill. But the outbreak of lemming-like behaviour has sent shudders down the spines of animal welfare inspectors, local residents and dog owners.
The bridge, over a tributary of the Clyde, lies within the grounds of Overtoun House, an A-listed baronial building currently run as a Christian centre. It was the scene of a family tragedy in 1994 when Kevin Moy threw his two-week-old son to his death believing him to be the Antichrist.
A spokeswoman for the SSPCA warned dog owners to get their pets on leads around the bridge. One owner, who lost her cocker spaniel when it recently leapt off the bridge, said: "I know that a number of other dogs have died after jumping from that spot. I read somewhere that Dumbarton is one of the most depressing places to live in Britain, but I thought that meant for humans, not dogs."

SOURCES:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/34553.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1508499,00.html

Times Man of the Year

2004-12-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Yang (YEI) Employee Henry Nee Responds to Clint Curtis Charges, and Curtis Fires Back!

2004-12-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Full article at: The BRAD BLOG

Remember Clinton Curtis' zinger at the end of his testimony charging YEI employee Hai Lin Nee (a/k/a/ Henry Nee) of placing wiretapping modules into software written for NASA?

Court documents show that Nee plead guilty, in October of 2004, to one of the charges related to attempted shipments of Hellfire Anti-Tank missile parts to China for which he was indicted last March after a four-year sting operation by the U.S. Immigration & Customs Encorcement (ICE) agency.

Nee was allowed to go free with only 3 years probation and a $100 fine.

At the time, Feeney was a corporate attorney (and partner of Fowler, Barice, Feeney & Quinn) and a registered lobbyist for YEI. While serving as counsel and lobbyist for YEI, Feeney was also a Florida state Legislator who would shortly thereafter become Speaker of the Florida House. In 1994, Feeney was Jeb Bush's running-mate in his original failed bid for Florida Governor.

As "outside general counsel" for YEI, Feeney's law partner Michael A. O'Quinn suggested that Curtis was "a disgruntled employee." Not only has evidence shown that Curtis was NOT "a disgruntled employee," but he was kept on another 6 weeks after he resigned and given a "farewall party" [sic].

And yesterday, YEI's "official [unsigned and unattributed] statement" was finally posted on their website.

[NOTE: Clinton Curtis' claims have been scrutinized by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Florida Senator Bill Nelson (member of committee that oversees NASA), watchdog organization CREW (Citizens for Ethics & Responsibility in Washington), live interviews on Air America Radio, Thom Harmann and Ed Schultz shows. To date, NO ONE HAS BEEN ABLE TO DISCREDIT HIM! ALL DOCUMENTATION SUPPORTS HIS CLAIM!]

Here is a claim from YEI's statement, and documents refuting that claim:

ONE OF YEI'S CLAIMS:
"6. YEI is not under investigation by the FBI, and no YEI owners, officers or employees have been arrested. In fact, the officers, including owners, of YEI possess Top Secret Clearances that require thorough investigation of an individual and his/her background."

REFUTING DOCUMENTATION:

Subject: Information
From: "Yowell, Tom"
Date: Mon, November 22, 2004 11:22 am
To: clintXXX@XXXXXXXXXXXX.XXX

Mr. Curtis,
I am a Special Agent assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Orlando, Florida.
The matter referred to in your email dated 11/17/2004 is under investigation by another Division of the FBI. If you could provide me with your telephone number and address, I will pass it to the office responsible for the investigation, so they may contact you directly.
Thank You,
SA Thomas Yowell

...And Curtis' 11/17/04 Email which Yowell refers to:

Subject: Domestic Security Issue
From: clintXXX@XXXXXXXXXXXX.XXX
Date: Wed, November 17, 2004 10:04 pm
To: info@fdle.state.fl.us
I am a past employee of Yang Enterprises in Oveido Florida. I believe that this company is spying for China. There were several odd occurances and in fact one of their illegal employees was recently arrested for attempting to send missile guidance chips to China. I have reported this before but the company still maintains a high security clearance as well as access to NASA and other governmental installations. They are also still on the limited list of the approved vendors for state government.

Other interesting emails along the way:

From: "Bill Dean"
To: Clinton Curtis
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 20:01:40 0400
Subject: Re:
We did a "quick" change for Fernando today—added a couple of date boxes to one screen—took 2 hours! I don't know how long I can put up with this snail's pace; really frustrating. Because Fernando
needed, I stood over Henry's shoulder and talked him through the changes. I wanted to grab the mouse and do it myself. Damn, he's slow!

From YEI executive secretary, Mike Cohen to Clint Curtis [misspellings intact]:

From: "M C" To: XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXX.XXX
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 15:47:46 0400
Message-ID: XXXX
Henri is ever still tryhing to become a non-illegal alien; you know, he dodn't probably have to pay tazes, and I do. I don't like that.

"Fernado keeps adding boxes to the alrerady very crowded PE screen, it is really killing us, may be you should come back and save us, ha ha ha."

And lastly from Hai Lin "Henry" Nee himself to Clint Curtis:

From: XXXXX@aol.com
To: XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXX.XXX
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 22:50:33 EDT
Subject: (no subject)
Clint: Long time no talk, how are you doing?
How is the weather treating you?
Any progress on your job search? Fernado keeps adding boxes to the alrerady very crowded PE screen, it is really killing us, may be you should come back and save us, ha ha ha.
Best regards,
Henry

Clinton Curtis—Play Testimony December 13, 2004

2004-12-14T13:19:00.002-07:00

Clinton Curtis testifying before the House Judiciary December 13, 2004, about rigging of voting machines.

Flash Player 7.0 Needed

Gary Webb—Reported CIA Corruption—Now Dead From Suicide?

2004-12-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

democracynow.org/article

Investigative Reporter Gary Webb Who Linked CIA to Crack Sales Found Dead of Apparent Suicide
Listen to Segment Download Show mp3
Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream

Gary Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who wrote a series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking in Los Angeles, is dead at age 49. We hear an 1998 interview with Gary Webb on Democracy Now! and we speak with his colleague, veteran investigative journalist Robert Parry.

Gary Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who wrote a series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking in Los Angeles, is dead at age 49.

Moving-company workers called authorities after discovering a note posted on his front door that read, "Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance."

Webb was found Friday morning at his home in Sacramento County, dead of an apparent suicide. Moving-company workers called authorities after discovering a note posted on his front door that read, "Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance." Webb died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Sacramento County coroner's office. He is survived by two sons and a daughter.

Gary Webb's 1996 series in the San Jose Mercury News titled "Dark Alliance" revealed that for the better part of a decade, a Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to Los Angeles street gangs and funneled millions in drug profits to the CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contras.

It provoked a fierce reaction from the media establishment, which denounced the series. Following the controversy, San Jose Mercury News executive editor demoted Webb within the paper. He resigned and pushed his investigation even further in his book "Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion."
Robert Parry, veteran investigative journalist and author of the new book "Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq." For years he worked as an investigative reporter for both the Associated Press and Newsweek magazine. His reporting led to the exposure of what is now known as the "Iran-Contra" scandal.

Gary Webb joins Mark Lombardi, J.H. Hatfield, and Danny Casalaro as the
fourth "suicide" by a researcher who had a detailed understanding of the
structure and function of the Bush crime family.

Read Robert Parry's article: "America's Debt to Journalist Gary Webb"

Related Articles:
7/1998 - The CIA-Contra Cocaine Connection
5/1998 - Gary Webb -- Dark Alliance Interview Part II
5/1998 - CIA Crack Connection Reporter Releases New Book
2/1998 - Analysis of C.I.A. Report On Its Involvement in Drug Trafficking
12/1997 - Gary Webb Resigns From the San Jose Mercury News

To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for online ordering or call 1 (800) 881-2359.

20 Amazing Facts about U.S. Voting

2004-12-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

18. Not some—but ALL—voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizerand donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohiodeliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S.He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&Sby the Senate Ethics Committee.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and seniorprogrammer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convictedof 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it. (See the movie here.)
http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. Allâ€”not someâ€”but ALL voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida—again always favoring Bush—have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
http://www.americanprogress.org/
http://tompaine.com/
http://uscountvotes.org/
http://www.truthout.org/
http://www.truthout.org/cblog.shtml
http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2004/0412pr.html

All truth passes through three stages:
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
—Arthur Schopenhauer

American Debut—Allan Caswell Song—Exclusive to TruthFire!

2004-12-09T11:58:00.001-07:00

This American debut is EXCLUSIVE to TruthFire. Please give credit.

Allan Caswell

Listen to this great song by Allan Caswell of Sydney, Australia:

HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT?
(Right-click/Save Target As)

The well-turned lyrics of Allan Caswell and co-author Al Craig were inspired by certain unnamed world leaders. My favorite line:

"What if what if Jesus loves them too and helps them to stand up to you?"

I met Allan years ago while a summer intern in Hollywood for the owners of Lennon/ McCartney's songs. He has won so many Australian music awards (try googling him) that I think they had to create a few more to keep it interesting.

His latest musical incarnation, ARC (Doug Ashdown, Ross Ryan and Allan Caswell), will soon be touring Oz, for those of you who are fortunate enough to be living down under.

Lyrics:

How Do You Sleep At Night?
Ashdown, Ryan and Caswell (ARC) ©2004 [Allan Caswell and Al Craig, co-lyricists]

Every generation throws up leaders of your kind.
One-eyed fools who rule by thinking most of us are blind.
Might is right, greed is good. That might work in Hollywood.
Couldn't you try something good next time?
You charge the cost of freedom using other people's lives.
Keep plowing on regardless, thinking God is on your side.
But what if Jesus loves them too and helps them to stand up to you?
Couldn't you try something new next time?
[CHORUS]
How do you sleep at night?
How do you sleep at night?
You got your doctors spinning it to prove that you were right.
How do you sleep at night?
There's no room for conscience on your global balance sheet.
The Third World does the sweat and toil while you provide the heat.
You cut the cost to make the deal. Imagine how those children feel.
Couldn't you put Nikes on their feet?
CHORUS
It may be true on Judgement Day the meek will get the Earth.
But after you get through with it, what'll it be worth?

Programmer Clinton Curtis answers "Why did you file vote rigging affidavit?"

2004-12-07T16:56:00.001-07:00

FOLLOW-UP TO PREVIOUS POST: Programmer's Affidavit—Rigged Election in Fla
12/7/2004In interview, by John Byrne RAW STORY Editor

It has been a long day for Clinton Curtis.

Curtis, who signed an affidavit which has been delivered to the House Judiciary Committee, has accused Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) of requesting the development of software which would allow vote totals to be tampered. Feeney, who now sits on Judiciary, was then the general counsel and lobbyist for Curtisâ€™-then employer, Yang Enterprises, as well as a rising star of the Florida state congress.

His allegations have raised a deluge of questions. Why now? What is his agenda? What made him decide to come forward?

The 46-year-old fielded some of these questions Monday in an exclusive interview with RAW STORY.

Curtis says he first leveled charges to the CIA, the FBI and other agencies, none of whom seemed to take an interest, and in a book, published in September. None of these venues, he said, drew much concern. So when he heard of a $200,000 award being offered by the nonprofit group Justice through Music for proof of voting fraud, he bit.

"I contacted Justice through Music," Curtis says. But "I told him that I didn't want the reward because I didn't want to taint the equation."

A spokesman for Justice through Music confirmed the reward is still available.

Since then, he has found an outlet among those in the blogosphere, where his affidavit was first released on The Brad Blog. Two newspapers have begun the process of vetting his claims. The Floridian's appearance in Washington, and the delivery of his affidavit to Congress, may signal a deeper investigation in progress.

While he stresses that the development of a prototype of vote-rigging software does not of itself indicate fraud took place, he is certain that the intent of Rep. Feeney, who he charges commissioned the code, was to taint the election.

Curtis has been tangled in long-running disputes with Feeney that date back to his years as a state legislator. Feeney was cleared on an ethics violation charge after the Feeney-friendly ethics committee (Feeney was speaker of the Florida House) found no wrongdoing.

"He definitely had the intent to do it," Curtis says. "And he bragged about trying to adjust the vote in the previous [2002] election, not with the machines but the minority lists and things like that."

"They're willing to win," he says. "They're willing to play the game and win."

Curtis doesn't mince words in his opinion of Feeney: on his website, he calls him a "total piece of crap." When representing Yang Enterprises, Curtis' former employer, Feeney was the only dually registered lobbyist and state congressman, and he once promised to put Florida in the Bush column in 2000 even if it meant defying the courts.

For his part, Feeney has strenuously denied the wrongdoing of Curtis' previous charges. On this claim, however, he has remained decidedly mum. Two calls placed by RAW STORY Monday were not returned.

When asked why it took him so long to come forward with his story, Curtis stresses that even after hearing that there was intent to potentially use the program for ill ends, he knew it would never work, because the source code would have to be vetted before it was approved for Florida's voting machines.

That was, until it became clear that those providing the source code for voting machines would not provide access to their code. Despite the fact that federal officials called for access to the code, nothing was done.
In a way, he says he blames Democrats for not requiring a paper trail for Florida voters.

"I can't believe the Democrats were stupid enough to allow [this]," he says. "I can't imagine anyone going to a bank and not getting a receipt. But yet we have our voting machines that way. It strikes me as really odd that machines like that could even exist."

If the program were used, he says, its probably too late to ever detect.

"If you inspect the code, you will see it," he states. "Once the vote is flipped, you will not. Once it flips those, the other number is permanently gone. There's not receipt, there's no trace, there's no track."

"You could be watching the guy do it, and unless you watched his every move, you would never know," he adds.

What does he hope to get out of his claims?

"If the Democrats ever want to win again, they need to change," he says. "You've got to get rid of the machines and replace [them] with verifiable source code that only counts votes." This way, he says, you can "get a standard, clean vote."

Knowing that another Florida investigator investigating his charges in Florida was found dead, in what was ruled a suicide but which he and others still have questions about doesn't deter him he says. Safety, he claims, is less important than the story he's trying to get out.

"Sometimes you just have to give that up," he says. "Some things are more important. The more the story gets out, and the more I say, the safer I am."

And adds, "Probably."

VIEW PREVIOUS POST

Programmer's Affidavit—Rigged Election in Fla

2004-12-07T02:27:00.000-07:00

RAW STORY exclusive interview with programmer —By John Byrne RAW STORY Editor

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=477

Rep. Hs. Speaker Tom Feeney

In a sworn affidavit (pdf file) Monday, a former programmer for a NASA contractor said that he developed a vote-rigging prototype at the request of a then-Florida state representative who is now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

RAW STORY acquired the affidavit from The Brad Blog, which has been in contact with the programmer in Washington.

While working for Yang Enterprises in Florida, the 46-year-old programmer says he was instructed by then-Republican state representative Tom Feeney to "develop a prototype of a voting program that could alter the vote tabulation in the election and be undetectable."

Feeney, a former failed running mate of Gov. Jeb Bush, now represents Florida's 24th district in the House of Representatives. At the time, he was serving both as general counsel and lobbyist for Yang Enterprises and the Florida state congressman.

Feeney's office in Orlando told RAW STORY they would check with the congressman and hoped to provide comment later today. A second call was placed this afternoon; the congressman's press secretary was said to be "unavailable."

A receptionist at Yang Enterprises said she would pass a message along to a vice president, who she said would return the call.

"They will give you a comment," she said.

The programmer, Clinton Curtis, said that he was told the program needed to be "touch-screen capable, the user should be able to trigger the program without any additional equipment, [and that] the programming was to remain hidden even if the source code was inspected."

Curtis asserts that he told Feeney it would be nearly impossible to write a code to change the voting results if anyone were able to view the source code.

"However," he added, "if the code were compiled before anyone was allowed to review it then any vote fraud would remain invisible to detection."

Nevertheless, he says that he was asked at the meeting by Yang to build the prototype anyway.

Curtis states he initially believed that Feeney's sought to stop Democrats from using such a program and "wanted to be able to detect and prevent that if it occurred."

It was not until after the prototype was delivered that he says he got wind of its possible, more nefarious usage.

According to his affidavit, Yang, his employer, later informed him that the software might be used to "control the vote in South Florida." He says that he would never have developed the software had he known its alleged ultimate purpose.

Curtis details his claims on the fraud program in the affidavit:

In the vote fraud prototype that I created things are not what they seem. Hidden on the screen are invisible buttons. A person with knowledge of the locations of those invisible buttons can then use them to alter the votes of everyone before them. By clicking the correct order of invisible buttons the candidate selected by the user is compared to other candidates within that same race. If the candidate they selected is leading the race nothing happens. If the other candidate is leading the race the vote totals are altered so that the selected candidate is now leading the race with 51% of the vote. The other candidates then share the remaining 49% in exact proportion to the totals they had previously. In the prototype supplied to Feeney the vote totals show on the screen. In an actual application the user would receive no visible clues to the fraud that had just occurred. Since the vote is applied by race, any single race or multiple races can be altered. The supervisors or any other voter would never notice this fraud since no visible sign would appear. Additionally, the procedure could be repeated as many times as was necessary to achieve the desired results. No amount of testing or simulations would expose the fraud as its activation and process is completely invisible to everyone except the person programming the vote fraud routine.

The same procedure could be automated to activate without any user intervention whenever the machine detects a certain pattern of voting. The algorithm could also be altered from hidden keys or triggers that would allow the fraudulent user to manipulate both the margins and percentages of any particular race. In most national elections it is not necessary to win every area.

Yang Enterprises is currently under investigation by the FBI. Curtis has filed a suit with the state alleging the the firm also overbilled the state on another contract, and his report of an illegal alien resulted in the arrest of a Chinese national in March who is accused of sending information on radar guidance chips for the U.S. Hellfire missile to China.

Curtis' affidavit has been turned over to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee for further investigation.

VIEW FOLLOW-UP POST: Why did Clinton Curtis file Affidavit?
VIEW FOLLOW-UP POST: Clinton Curtis Interview on Air America Radio

(Click "COMMENTS" below to view follow-ups or add your own.)

Scalia—Separation of Church and State Facilitated Hitler's Holocaust

2004-12-07T02:06:00.000-07:00

thanks to Jim Walker's photo compilation, Thom Hartmann for his article at CommonDreams.org, and to Arthur K. Livingstone

Unfurl the battle flags. Sing the national anthem. Unite the people behind the leader, no matter how evil and corrupt he may be. Sound familiar in both German and English? The Nazi Party was seen as credible and patriotic. The more it blamed foreign and domestic Communists as terrorists, painted all liberals and democratic people as enemies of Germany, and threatened to crush its enemies with force, the more deliriously "patriotic" the public became.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggests that separation of church and state facilitated the Holocaust.

Scalia has an extraordinary way of not letting facts confound his arguments, but this time he's gone completely over the top by suggesting that a separation of church and state facilitated the Holocaust.

"I suggest that our jurisprudence should comport with our actions," Scalia told an audience [Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004] attending an interfaith conference on religious freedom at Manhattan's Shearith Israel synagogue

[Do you think Justice Scalia could brush up on his German history?]

An "originalist," Scalia believes in following the Constitution as written by the Founding Fathers, rather than interpreting it to reflect the changing times.

"Our Constitution does not morph," he said Monday, deadpanning, "As I've often said, I am an originalist, I am a textualist, but I am not a nut."

How about Scalia actually reading our country's founding documents? Our Constitution never once mentions "God." As a matter of fact, our forefathers realized how important it was to keep religion out of government by making it the very first order of business in the Bill of Rights, Article I, Amendment I:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

READ:
United States Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Amendments
Declaration of Independence

Related web pages worthy of note:

The Inaccuracy of Comparing George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler

Cult of Scalia One of the funniest things about this website for Scalia worshipers is that many guest book signers don't get the joke.

Bush's Open Fly Policy; New Hitler-Lite Jacket

2004-12-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Shown in unretouched photograph from APEC Summit in Chile: US President George Bush,
Japan Prime Minister Koizumi, Russia President Putin and Dick Cheney (why did Cheney
place himself among the world leaders?)

Fastening your fly is "hard work."

Oh well, I guess it was just a wardrobe malfunction.

Poison or bad sushi? What ails Yushchenko?

2004-12-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Associated Press—Vienna, Austria

Is this the same man?
Victor Yushchenko July 4, 2004 and November 4, 2004

As Ukraine's popular pro-western opposition leader laid claim to victory Tuesday in hotly contested presidential elections, the mystery surrounding an appearance-altering illness that twice prompted him to check into a Vienna hospital persisted.

Yushchenko accused the Ukrainian authorities of poisoning him. His detractors suggested he'd eaten some bad sushi. Adding to the intrigue, the Austrian doctors who treated him have asked foreign experts to help determine if his symptoms may have been caused by toxins found in biological weapons.

Medical experts say they may never know for sure what befell Yushchenko. But the illness, whatever it was, has dramatically changed his appearance since he first sought treatment at Vienna's private Rudolfinerhaus clinic on Sept. 10.

Known for his ruggedly handsome, almost movie star looks, Yushchenko's complexion is now pockmarked and pasty. His face is haggard, swollen and partially paralysed. One eye often tears up.

Doctors at Rudolfinerhaus declined to comment Tuesday.

By the time Yushchenko checked out of the clinic last month after returning for follow-up treatment, physicians said they could neither prove nor rule out that he had been poisoned. Dr. Nikolai Korpan, who oversaw Yushchenko's treatment in Vienna, said the cause of his illness remained "totally open."

Doctors were unable to confirm suspicions of poisoning because Yushchenko first checked into the clinic four days after the symptoms appeare—too late for tests to show if poisoning had occurred, Korpan said.

At Rudolfinerhaus, Yushchenko underwent a week of intensive treatment for several illnesses, including acute pancreatitis, a viral skin disease and nerve paralysis on the left side of his face, Korpan said.

Clinic director Michael Zimpfer said doctors were unable to explain some of Yushchenko's symptoms, particularly his strong backaches. He said they could not rule out stress or a viral infection. Yushchenko's doctors in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, said they had determined that "chemicals not of a food origin'' had sparked the illness.
Zimpfer and the clinic's chief physician, Dr. Lothar Wicke—who requested police protection after receiving an anonymous threat while treating Yushchenko—later asked for outside help from "a specialist in military operations and biological weapons,'' the Austria Press Agency reported. Yushchenko's medical files have since been sealed and turned over to Austrian prosecutors, local media reported. Authorities have not said whether they planned to investigate further or merely turn over their findings to Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Volodymyr Syvkovych, the head of a 15-member Ukrainian parliamentary commission that investigated the mysterious illness, said a forensic medical examination found no traces of "any biological weapons" in Yushchenko's blood, nails, hair or urine.

Yushchenko, meanwhile, has ridiculed the notion circulated by his political opponents in Ukraine that he simply ate a bad plate of sushi washed down with too much cognac.

"It was certainly no spoiled food," he said last month.

Lawsuit Charges Bush Knew BEFORE 9/11

2004-12-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

William Rodriguez, Plaintiff and Philip Berg, his lawyer
Haven't you been secretly suspecting this? That Bush knew about 9/11 BEFORE it happened?
Finally, someone has brought a federal lawsuit claiming just that. (Full article: http://www.911forthetruth.com/pages/Press%20ReleaseRod.htm)

Now this native of Puerto Rico and remarkable American hero is taking his 9-11 activism to an even higher level. He has commenced, as Plaintiff, a federal court lawsuit against George W. Bush, Richard B. Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld and others, alleging that they and others were complicit in the 9-11 attacks and either planned the attacks, or had foreknowledge of the attacks and permitted them to succeed, in order to exploit a "New Pearl Harbor" to launch wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. (The phrase "New Pearl Harbor" comes from a declaration of principles by the neo-conservative "Project for the New American Century," in which it is proposed as an event needed to steel American public opinion to support the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and U.S. military domination of the Middle East.)"

The action, filed in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, is Rodriguez v. Bush, et al., Civil Action No. 04 cv 4952. View the entire lawsuit: http://www.911forthetruth.com/pages/RodriguezComplaint.htm

Living Under Fascism

2004-12-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

[contributed by Karla]
by Davidson Loehr, 7 November 2004
You may wonder why anyone would try to use the word "fascism" in a serious discussion of where America is today. It sounds like cheap name-calling, or melodramatic allusion to a slew of old war movies. But I am serious. I don't mean it as name-calling at all. I mean to persuade you that the style of governing into which America has slid is most accurately described as fascism, and that the necessary implications of this fact are rightly regarded as terrifying. That's what I am about here. And even if I don't persuade you, I hope to raise the level of your thinking about who and where we are now, to add some nuance and perhaps some useful insights.

The word comes from the Latin word "Fasces," denoting a bundle of sticks tied together. The individual sticks represented citizens, and the bundle represented the state. The message of this metaphor was that it was the bundle that was significant, not the individual sticks. If it sounds un-American, it's worth knowing that the Roman Fasces appear on the wall behind the Speaker's podium in the chamber of the US House of Representatives. Still, it's an unlikely word. When most people hear the word "fascism" they may think of the racism and anti-Semitism of Mussolini and Hitler. It is true that the use of force and the scapegoating of fringe groups are part of every fascism. But there was also an economic dimension of fascism, known in Europe during the 1920s and '30s as "corporatism," which was an essential ingredient of Mussolini's and Hitler's tyrannies. So-called corporatism was adopted in Italy and Germany during the 1930s and was held up as a model by quite a few intellectuals and policy makers in the United States and Europe.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago (in "The Corporation Will Eat Your Soul"), Fortune magazine ran a cover story on Mussolini in 1934, praising his fascism for its ability to break worker unions, disempower workers and transfer huge sums of money to those who controlled the money rather than those who earned it. Few Americans are aware of or can recall how so many Americans and Europeans viewed economic fascism as the wave of the future during the 1930s. Yet reviewing our past may help shed light on our present, and point the way to a better future. So I want to begin by looking back to the last time fascism posed a serious threat to America.

In Sinclair Lewis's 1935 novel "It Can't Happen Here," a conservative southern politician is helped to the presidency by a nationally syndicated radio talk show host. The politician—Buzz Windrip—runs his campaign on family values, the flag, and patriotism. Windrip and the talk show host portray advocates of traditional American democracy—those concerned with individual rights and freedoms—as anti-American. That was 69 years ago.

One of the most outspoken American fascists from the 1930s was economist Lawrence Dennis. In his 1936 book, The Coming American Fascism—a coming which he anticipated and cheered—Dennis declared that defenders of "18th-century Americanism" were sure to become "the laughing stock of their own countrymen." The big stumbling block to the development of economic fascism, Dennis bemoaned, was "liberal norms of law or constitutional guarantees of private rights." So it is important for us to recognize that, as an economic system, fascism was widely accepted in the 1920s and '30s, and nearly worshiped by some powerful American industrialists. And fascism has always, and explicitly, been opposed to liberalism of all kinds.

Mussolini, who helped create modern fascism, viewed liberal ideas as the enemy. "The Fascist conception of life," he wrote, "stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with the State. It is opposed to classical liberalism [which] denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual." (In 1932 Mussolini wrote, with the help of Giovanni Gentile, an entry for the Italian Encyclopedia on the definition of fascism. You can read the whole entry at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html

Mussolini thought it was unnatural for a government to protect individual rights: The essence of fascism, he believed, is that government should be the master, not the servant, of the people. Still, fascism is a word that is completely foreign to most of us. We need to know what it is, and how we can know it when we see it. In an essay coyly titled "Fascism Anyone?," Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, identifies social and political agendas common to fascist regimes. His comparisons of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet yielded this list of 14 "identifying characteristics of fascism." (The following article is from Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 23, Number 2. Read it at: http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm See how familiar they sound.

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism. Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights. Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause. The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
Supremacy of the Military. Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
Rampant Sexism. The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
Controlled Mass Media. Sometimes the media are directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media are indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
Obsession with National Security. Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
Religion and Government are Intertwined. Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
Corporate Power is Protected. The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
Labor Power is Suppressed. Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts. Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
Obsession with Crime and Punishment. Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
Rampant Cronyism and Corruption. Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
Fraudulent Elections. Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

This list will be familiar to students of political science.But it should be familiar to students of religion as well, for much of it mirrors the social and political agenda of religious fundamentalisms worldwide. It is both accurate and helpful for us to understand fundamentalism as religious fascism, and fascism as political fundamentalism. They both come from very primitive parts of us that have always been the default setting of our species: amity toward our in-group, enmity toward out-groups, hierarchical deference to alpha male figures, a powerful identification with our territory, and so forth. It is that brutal default setting that all civilizations have tried to raise us above, but it is always a fragile thing, civilization, and has to be achieved over and over and over again.

But, again, this is not America's first encounter with fascism. In early 1944, the New York Times asked Vice President Henry Wallace to, as Wallace noted, "write a piece answering the following questions: What is a fascist? How many fascists have we? How dangerous are they?" Vice President Wallace's answer to those questions was published in The New York Times on April 9, 1944, at the height of the war against the Axis powers of Germany and Japan. See how much you think his statements apply to our society today."The really dangerous American fascist," Wallace wrote, "is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power." In his strongest indictment of the tide of fascism he saw rising in America, Wallace added, "They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection." By these standards, a few of today's weapons for keeping the common people in eternal subjection include NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, union-busting, cutting worker benefits while increasing CEO pay, elimination of worker benefits, security and pensions, rapacious credit card interest, and outsourcing of jobsâ€”not to mention the largest prison system in the world.

The Perfect Storm

Our current descent into fascism came about through a kind of "Perfect Storm," a confluence of three unrelated but mutually supportive schools of thought.

The first stream of thought was the imperialistic dream of the Project for the New American Century. I don't believe anyone can understand the past four years without reading the Project for the New American Century, published in September 2000 and authored by many who have been prominent players in the Bush administrations, including Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Donald Kagan to name only a few. This report saw the fall of Communism as a call for America to become the military rulers of the world, to establish a new worldwide empire. They spelled out the military enhancements we would need, then noted, sadly, that these wonderful plans would take a long time, unless there could be a catastrophic and catalyzing event like a new Pearl Harbor that would let the leaders turn America into a military and militarist country. There was no clear interest in religion in this report, and no clear concern with local economic policies.
A second powerful stream must be credited to Pat Robertson and his Christian econstructionists, or Dominionists. Long dismissed by most of us as a screwball, the Dominionist style of Christianity which he has been preaching since the early 1980s is now the most powerful religious voice in the Bush administration. Katherine Yurica, who transcribed over 1300 pages of interviews from Pat Robertson's "700 Club" shows in the 1980s, has shown how Robertson and his chosen guests consistently, openly and passionately argued that America must become a theocracy under the control of Christian Dominionists. Robertson is on record saying democracy is a terrible form of government unless it is run by his kind of Christians. He also rails constantly against taxing the rich, against public education, social programs and welfare - and prefers Deuteronomy 28 over the teachings of Jesus. He is clear that women must remain homebound as obedient servants of men, and that abortions, like homosexuals, should not be allowed. Robertson has also been clear that other kinds of Christians, including Episcopalians and Presbyterians, are enemies of Christ. (The Yurica Report. Search under this name, or for "Despoiling America" by Katherine Yurica on the internet.)
The third major component of this Perfect Storm has been the desire of very wealthy Americans and corporate CEOs for a plutocracy that will favor profits by the very rich and disempowerment of the vast majority of American workers, the destruction of workers' unions, and the alliance of government to help achieve these greedy goals. It is a condition some have called socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor, and which others recognize as a reincarnation of Social Darwinism. This strain of thought has been present throughout American history. Seventy years ago, they tried to finance a military coup to replace Franlkin Delano Roosevelt and establish General Smedley Butler as a fascist dictator in 1934. Fortunately, the picked a general who really was a patriot; he refused, reported the scheme, and spoke and wrote about it. As Canadian law professor Joel Bakan wrote in the book and movie "The Corporation," they have now achieved their coup without firing a shot. Our plutocrats have had no particular interest in religion. Their global interests are with an imperialist empire, and their domestic goals are in undoing all the New Deal reforms of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that enabled the rise of America's middle class after WWII. Another ill wind in this Perfect Storm is more important than its crudity might suggest: it was President Clinton's sleazy sex with a young but eager intern in the White House. This incident, and Clinton's equally sleazy lying about it, focused the certainties of conservatives on the fact that "liberals" had neither moral compass nor moral concern, and therefore represented a dangerous threat to the moral fiber of America. While the effects of this may be hard to quantify, I think they were profound.These "storm" components have no necessary connection, and come from different groups of thinkers, many of whom wouldn't even like one another. But together, they form a nearly complete web of command and control, which has finally gained control of America and, they hope, of the world.What's coming When all fascisms exhibit the same social and political agendas (the 14 points listed by Britt), then it is not hard to predict where a new fascist uprising will lead. And it is not hard. The actions of fascists and the social and political effects of fascism and fundamentalism are clear and sobering. Here is some of what's coming, what will be happening in our country in the next few years:

a.. The theft of all social security funds, to be transferred to those who control money, and the increasing destitution of all those dependent on social
security and social welfare programs.

b.. Rising numbers of uninsured people in this country that already has the highest percentage of citizens without health insurance in the developed world.

c.. Increased loss of funding for public education combined with increased
support for vouchers, urging Americans to entrust their children's education to
Christian schools.

d.. More restrictions on civil liberties as America is turned into the police state necessary for fascism to work

e.. Withdrawal of virtually all funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System. At their best, these media sometimes encourage critical questioning, so they are correctly seen as enemies of the state's official stories.

f.. The reinstatement of a draft, from which the children of privileged parents will again be mostly exempt, leaving our poorest children to fight and die in wars of imperialism and greed that could never benefit them anyway. (That was my one-sentence Veterans' Day sermon for this year.)

g.. More imperialistic invasions: of Iran and others, and the construction of a huge permanent embassy in Iraq.

h.. More restrictions on speech, under the flag of national security.

i.. Control of the internet to remove or cripple it as an instrument of free communication that is exempt from government control. This will be presented as a necessary anti-terrorist measure.

j.. Efforts to remove the tax-exempt status of churches like this one, and to
characterize them as anti-American.

k.. Tighter control of the editorial bias of almost all media, and demonization of the few media they are unable to control - the New York Times, for instance.

l.. Continued outsourcing of jobs, including more white-collar jobs, to produce
greater profits for those who control the money and direct the society, while
simultaneously reducing America's workers to a more desperate and powerless
status.

m.. Moves in the banking industry to make it impossible for an increasing number of Americans to own their homes. As they did in the 1930s, those who control the money know that it is to their advantage and profit to keep others renting rather than owning.

n.. Criminalization of those who protest, as un-American, with arrests,
detentions and harassment increasing. We already have a higher percentage of our
citizens in prison than any other country in the world. That percentage will
increase.

o.. In the near future, it will be illegal or at least dangerous to say the things I have said here this morning. In the fascist story, these things are
un-American. In the real history of a democratic America, they were seen as
profoundly patriotic, as the kind of critical questions that kept the American
spirit alive—the kind of questions, incidentally, that our media were supposed
to be pressing. Can these schemes work? I don't think so. I think they are
murderous, rapacious and insane. But I don't know. Maybe they can. Similar
schemes have worked in countries like Chile, where a democracy in which over 90%
voted has been reduced to one in which only about 20% vote because they say, as
Americans are learning to say, that it no longer matters who you vote for.

Hope

In the meantime, is there any hope, or do we just band together like lemmings and dive off a cliff? Yes, there is always hope, though at times it is more hidden, as it is now. As some critics are now saying, and as I have been preaching and writing for almost twenty years, America's liberals need to grow beyond political liberalism, with its often self-absorbed focus on individual rights to the exclusion of individual responsibilities to the larger society. Liberals will have to construct a more complete vision with moral and religious grounding. That does not mean confessional Christianity. It means the legitimate heir to Christianity. Such a legitimate heir need not be a religion, though it must have clear moral power, and be able to attract the minds and hearts of a voting majority of Americans.

And the new liberal vision must be larger than that of the conservative religious vision that will be appointing judges, writing laws and bending the cultural norms toward hatred and exclusion for the foreseeable future. The conservatives deserve a lot of admiration. They have spent the last thirty years studying American politics, forming their vision and learning how to gain control in the political system. And it worked; they have won. Even if liberals can develop a bigger vision, they will have all that time-consuming work to do. It won't be fast. It isn't even clear that liberals will be willing to do it; they may instead prefer to go down with the ship they're used to.

One man who has been tireless in his investigations and critiques of America's slide into fascism is Michael C. Ruppert, whose postings usually read as though he is wound way too tight. But he offers four pieces of advice about what we can do now, and they seem reality-based enough to pass on to you. This is America; they're all about money:

a.. First, he says you should get out of debt.

b.. Second is to spend your money and time on things that give you energy and
provide you with useful information.

c.. Third is to stop spending a penny with major banks, news media and
corporations that feed you lies and leave you angry and exhausted.

d.. And fourth is to learn how money works and use it like a (political) weapon—as he predicts the rest of the world will be doing against us.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/110504_snap_out.shtml That's advice written this week. Another bit of advice comes from sixty years ago, from Roosevelt's Vice President, Henry Wallace. Wallace said, "Democracy, to crush fascism internally, must...develop the ability to keep people fully employed and at the same time balance the budget. It must put human beings first and dollars second. It must appeal to reason and decency and not to violence and deceit. We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels." Still another way to understand fascism is as a kind of colonization. A simple definition of "colonization" is that it takes people' s stories away, and assigns them supportive roles in stories that empower others at their expense. When you are taxed to support a government that uses you as a means to serve the ends of others, you are - ironically - in a state of taxation without representation. That's where this country started, and it's where we are now.

I don't know the next step. I'm not a political activist; I'm only a preacher. But whatever you do, whatever we do, I hope that we can remember some very basic things that I think of as eternally true. One is that the vast majority of people are good decent people who mean and do as well as they know how. Very few people are evil, though some are. But we all live in families where some of our blood relatives support things we hate. I believe they mean well, and the way to rebuild broken bridges is through greater understanding, compassion, and a reality-based story that is more inclusive and empowering for the vast majority of us. Those who want to live in a reality-based story rather than as serfs in an ideology designed to transfer power, possibility and hope to a small ruling elite have much long and hard work to do, individually and collectively. It will not be either easy or quick. But we will do it. We will go forward in hope and in courage. Let us seek that better path, and find the courage to take it - step, by step, by step.

Davidson Loehr
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
512-452-6168
http://www.austinuu.org/

God's Law—Letter to Bush

2004-11-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

Dear President Bush,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would propose and support a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. As you said, "In the eyes of God, marriage is between a man a woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination—end of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's laws and how to follow them:

Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that a man is allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness—Leviticus 15:19-24. The problem is, most women take offense when they're asked if they're unclean.
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord--Leviticus 1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states that he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Leviticus 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there degrees of abomination?
Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus 19:27. How should they die?
I know from Leviticus 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton-polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them Leviticus 24:10-16). Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, as we do with people who sleep with their in-laws (Leviticus 20:14)?
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

With endless respect,

Things You Need to Believe to be a Republican

2004-11-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veteran's benefits and combat pay.
If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's cocaine conviction is none of our business.
Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness, and you need our prayers for your recovery.
You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have the right to adopt.
What John Kerry did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
Using human embryonic stem cells for medical research is disrespectful of human life, but it is okay to keep them cryogenically frozen for no use.