The Republicans begin to eat their young, self-immolate, and rat out their brethren

According to Time Magazine, convicted Congressman Duke Cunningham wore a wire when talking to friends and associates. . . He agreed to wear a wire after agreeing to cooperate with a corruption probe. Click on the link for details...
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Johnny Cash: lyrics for "What Is Truth?"

When this song came out, in 1970, it was an inspiration and a shot in the arm. After Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee" in 1969, that AWFUL "An Open Letter To My Son" (click here to hear that tune in a previous post) and tunes like Barry Sadler's "The Green Berets," it was a relief to hear a song like this, from the "older generation." During those dark Nixon war years, with J. Edgar Hoover running wild, where hardhats and Hells Angels beat up hippies and other peace marchers, it was good to hear one of the country stalwarts defend "the kids." Johnny was on our side.


What is truth?
by Johnny Cash, 1970

The old man turned off the radio
Said: "Where did all the old songs go?
Kids sure play funny music these days!
And they play it in the strangest ways
Everything seems so loud and wild
It was peaceful back when I was a child."
Well, man, could it be the girls and boys
Are tryin' to be heard above your noise
And the lonely voice of youth cries:
"What is truth?"

A little boy of three sittin' on the floor
Looked up and said, " Daddy, what is war?"
"Son that's when people fight and die."
The little boy of three says,"Daddy, why?"
A young man of seventeen in Sunday school
Is being taught the golden rule
By the time another years gone around
It may be his turn to lay his own life down!
Can you blame the voice of youth for asking:
"What is truth?"

A young man sittin' on the witness stand
The man with a book says, "Raise your hand!
Repeat after me, I solemnly swear"
The judge looked down at his long hair
And although the young man solemnly swore
Nobody seemed to hear anymore
And it really didn't matter if the truth was there
It was the cut of his clothes and the length of his hair!
And the lonely voice of youth cries:
"What is truth?"

A young girl dancin' to the latest beat
Has found new ways to move her feet
A young man standin' in the city square
Is tryin' to tell somebody that he cares
"Yeah, the ones that your callin' wild
Are gonna be the leaders in a little while
This old world is breakin' to a new born day
And I solemnly swear that it will be their way!
You'd help that voice of youth find:
'What is truth'!"

And the lonely voice of youth cries:
(Spoken)"What is truth?"
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An Open Letter To My Teenage Son

No wonder we were crazy in the 60s. This "song" was a big hit on AM radio. A lot of parents thought it was a smart piece of writing (as opposed to, say, smarmy, reactionary claptrap). It was just flat depressing. But then that's the way it was. I remember a lot of heated arguments with angry adults, and teachers and Sunday school teachers over the war and protesting and burning draft cards. I even witnessed an actual father-son fight over the war. I tracked the song down to http://www.fugly.com. You can listen to it on your PC, or download it... Click here to listen.


An Open Letter To My Teenage Son
by Victor Lundberg

Dear son:

You ask my reaction to long hair or beards on young people
Some great men have worn long hair and beards
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
If to you long hair or a beard is a symbol of independence
If you believe in your heart that the principles of this country
Our heritage, is worthy of this display of pride
That all men shall remain free
That free men at all times will not inflict their personal limitations
Of achievement on others,
That demands your own rights as well as the rights of others
And be willing to fight for this right, you have my blessings

You ask that I not judge you merely as a teenager
To judge you on your own personal habits, abilities and goals
This is a fair request and I promise that I will not judge any person
Only as a teenager if you will constantly remind yourself that some of my
generation judge people by their race, their belief or the color
of their skin and that this is no more right than saying all
teenagers are drunken dope addicts or glue sniffers
If you will judge every human being on his own individual potential
I will do the same.

You ask me if God is dead
This is a question each individual must answer within himself
But a warm summer day with all its brightness
All its sound, all its exhilarating breathiness just happened
God is love. Remember that God is a guide and not a storm trooper
Realize that many of the past and present generation
Because of a well intended but unjustifiable misconception
Have attempted to legislate morality
This created part of the basis
For your generation's need to rebel against our society
With this knowledge perhaps your children will never ask
Is God dead?
I sometimes think much of mankind is attempting to work Him to death

You ask my opinion of draft card burners. I would answer this way
All past wars have been dirty, unfair, immoral, bloody and second-guessed
However, history has shown most of them necessary
If you doubt that our free enterprise system
In the United States is worth protecting, if you doubt the principles
Upon which this country was founded, that we remain free to choose our religion
Our individual endeavors, our method of government
If you doubt that each free individual in this great country
should reap rewards commensurate only with his own efforts
Than it is doubtful you belong here

If you doubt that people who govern us
Should be selected by their desire
To allow us to strive for any goal we feel capable of obtaining
Than its doubtful you should participate in their selection
If you are not grateful to a country
That gave your father the opportunity to work
For his family to give you the things you have and you do not feel pride
Enough to fight for your right to continue in this
Manner than I assume the blame for your failure
To recognize the true value of our birthright

And I will remind you that your mother will love
you no matter what you do, because she is a woman
And I love you too son
But I also love our country and the principles for which we stand
And if you decide to burn your draft card
then burn your birth certificate at the same time
From that moment on, I have no son
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Disaster: Explosion Rocks The White House and Capital Hill

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An explosion named Jack Abramoff rocked The White House and Capital Hill yesterday, causing extensive damage with more to come. Much much much more.
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The Abramoff virus spreads, multiplies, and mutates - is this the big one?

"The octopus of mayhem," Chris Matthews called the Abramoff scandal-crimewave-disaster tonight. Everyone complains that nothing sticks to this Administration. And with every new outrage it kind of seems like they're right. Here we go again. This one seems to be heating up with a little more intensity and butt-puckering fear among, possibly, scores of largely Republican congressmen. Huh huh huh. Delay, Hastert, and The President have even returned some money. Not all, but some.
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President Bush unloads Abramoff contributions

Like many other politicians today, The President's re-election campaign is unloading the (now) dirty money they received from Jack Abramoff.

President Bush's re-election campaign is giving up $6,000 in campaign contributions connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who faced more guilty pleas as part of a broad-ranging political corruption investigation. Even that dirtbag Tom DeLay hucked his Abramoff money over the fence to a charity.

I do note, however, that the Bush campaign is keeping more than $94,000 that Abramoff "raised." Only the $6,000 came directly from Jack; the rest of the money came from his organization. And they talked about Bill Clinton parsing words. . .

Click on the title of this post to read the entire sordid story...
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Tom Tomorrow nails it on the head

click cartoon to enlarge for legibility...


This is Tom Tomorrow's take on corruption. He could have written it today, or fifty years ago... could anyone nail the Abramoff and DeLay fiascos any better than this (in only two panels out of the eight)with a couple of drawings and a few words?
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The West Virginia Mine Disaster

I watched MSNBC last night, flipping off and on to other news channels. The last I'd heard about the miners in West Virginia was that there was little hope. Probes sent into the mine showed it was highly toxic with carbon monoxide. The rescuers had found one body, which gave a little more hope, perhaps, that the others had escaped. The Governor was at a church with the families of the miners. And incredibly, word came to the church that 12 of the remaining miners were rescued. A cheer went up. They sang a hymn of thanks. The church bells rang.



A couple hours later word came again. The last call was wrong. It wasn't one dead and 12 alive, it was 12 dead and one alive. And then the recriminations began over how someone could do that to the families (when it was clearly a terrible mistake).

The Governor was grilled by the press in an endless press conference, although he didn't seem to have anything to do with the false news reports. Apparently someone misunderstood communications between the rescuers and their command center, and, of course, the cell phone network was activated and the familes were told that unconfirmed story. I had flipped off the television, thinking "well, that's pretty cool. This doesn't happen very often." And when I turned it on later, the new news was that the miners has perished.

You always feel for the families, in these all too public tragedies, but this was especially painful. . .those moments of hope have to make the other moments even worse. It also reminds me of the enormous changes cell phones have had on our society, and world. You can't really analyze this; it just sucks. I never did like the Bee Gees or U2 songs about mine disasters either. . .


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Sweet hitchhiker

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Alien Lore 58 - KGB's secret UFO files finally made public

This information comes mainly from Pravda and MUFON.

Files from the famous "Blue Folder" have been declassified for some time now. The Soviet cosmonaut Pavel Popovich got the folder from the KGB in 1991. Today Comrade Popovich is the honorary president of the Academy of Informational and Applied Ufology.

The blue folder contains descriptions of UFO flights and reports on attempts taken by the military to engage and/or catch the aliens.

In 1968, 13 leading aircraft designers and engineers of a brand-new aircraft forwarded a letter to Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin. The letter requesed a organization dedicated to the study of UFOs. A reply to the letter was signed by an apparatchik, Shchukin.

"A number of competent organizations of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Chief Directorate of Meteorological Service, Defense Ministry and a few other agencies considered the issue of nature of the so-called flying objects. The organizations involved in the study of the atmosphere and space have been instructed to register and do research on any cases of UFOs for identification purposes. The USSR Academy of Sciences is charged with general monitoring of the phenomena, and therefore a special organization for the study of UFOs is not required."

Unlike the U.S., the Soviets appear to have acknowledged they were actively studying the UFO/Alien phenomenon.

Pavel Popovich was given the folder, a 124-page compilation of reports about encounters with UFOs filed by authorities, military units COs and eyewitnesses.

Mr. Popovich saw a UFO once while flying in a passenger plane from Washington to Moscow. According to him, the object looked like a shining triangle that popped up out of nowhere, for awhile it flew near the plane at about 600 miles per hour before vanishing.

Despite a cover letter denying any special program by the KGB for monitoring the UFOs, the contents of the folder indicated the opposite. The Soviet secret police launched investigations in several cases, and specifically one near Burkhala of the Magadan region in 1989. "The eyewitnesses claim to have watched a red shining sphere circulating above the village for half an hour." The northern lights are reported to have shone brightly all night long following the incident. The UFOs vanished after the explosion

KGB agents also studied what happened at the airport of the city of Mineralnye Vody on December 15, 1987. According to the airport dispatchers, at 23:15 flight No 65798 reported an "object resembling an aircraft with its headlights on." The radars showed no aircraft whatsoever. Three minutes later the UFO was gone.

The crew of another plane also observed the UFO flying in the area. The clock read approximately five minutes later. According to crewmembers, the UFO left a fiery trail in the air. The crews of the both planes reported that the UFO had disappeared after a flash resembling an explosion. A villager reported a burning plane flying over his village at 23.30. The eyewitness found no wreckage.

At times, the military tried to study UFOs independently. In August 1987, servicemen of an antiaircraft unit based on the Tiksi Peninsula tried to "get to know better" an unidentified flying object that appeared on a radar screen. Colonel Lobanov, duty officer of the military unit No 45038, said: "An unidentified target detected by the radar station of the commandant"s office of the antiaircraft unit at 05:45 Moscow time." The target moved speeds from 0 to 250 miles per hour. At 06.55 a helicopter took off for a closer examination of the object. Suddenly, the object became invisible. Another aircraft, the AN-12 flying in the vicinity at the time reported an emerald cloud with traces of purple and dark spots visible in the middle.

In 1987, five officers were dispatched to the northern part of Karelia in the Leningrad Military Region to accompany an object of unknown origin that had been located near the city of Vyborg. The object was said to be 50 feet long, 14 fee wide and 8 feet high. The military was never able to open the "extraterrestrial can." The object disappeared from the hangar late September. I don't know if its occupants awoke, someone stole the UFO, or it it just went up in smoke like a Mission Impossible recording...

On July 28, 1989, the arrival of an UFO spread panic among the personnel of a military unit stationed in the vicinity of Kapustin Yar, in the Astrakhan region. Corporal Valery Voloshin was on duty in the communications center at the time. He filed the first report on the case.



One of the documents from the "Blue Folder" describes a UFO encounter in 1984 in Turkestan Military District. Two fighters were scrambled, but all the attempts to shoot the UFO down failed. When the object was fired at, it descended down to one hundred meters above the ground to an altitude that made further firing by the fighters impossible. It is necessary to mention that despite the firing, the speed of the UFO did not change. During the flight the object passed above several military unit locations, and this made it possible to take photographs.

When the UFO approached the town of Krasnovodsk, a helicopter was scrambled to take another shot at downing the UFO. The saucer quickly climbed and hovered at an altitude that was inaccessible for the helicopter. After the pilots shot off all their ammunition the helicopter descended for landing; the UFO sharply changed its course and headed toward the open sea.

In 1985 a radar station under Captain L. Valuev in the Krasnovodsk region registered an unknown object at an altitude of 20,000 meters. Its dimension was about 1000 meters! The object did not move, but after some time a small disc having a diameter of approximately five meters flew out of the large object. This smaller disc-shaped UFO landed at the Krasnovodsk spit.

Patrol-boats of the Kaspian flotilla rushed to the landing place of the UFO, but when they approached it at a distance about 100 meters, the UFO took off and flew away for about a kilometre. Patrol-boats approached the UFO again, and it again flew away from them. The situation was repeated five times! Finally the object went up with tremendous speed. Its mark on the radar screen coincided with the mark of the mother craft, and then the large UFO flew into space.


The last document in the "Blue Folder" reports "On the 21st of March, 1990, officers in Alexandrovsky Town Department of Internal Affairs accepted a number of telephone calls from town and district residents about the appearance of unidentified flying objects in airspace.

"After obtaining more exact information it was established that rather large number of residents in the towns of Alexandrov, Strunino, Karabanov, villages Arsaki, Zhulino and in several other settlements became eyewitnesses of a UFO-and in several cases of two UFOs-on the 21st of March between 20:00 and 23:30. The flight of UFOs was accompanied by flashes of white light that followed one another after two or three seconds and resembled arc welding.

"But all eyewitnesses found difficulty in describing the appearance of the UFOs. In Karabanov one of the UFOs allegedly hovered above the Eternal Fire Memorial for the perished warriors, and a ray of light emitted from the object illuminated earth surface.

"A fighter piloted was scrambled towards the UFOs. He flew near one of the 'flying saucers' and saw against a background of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky town illumination 'a black body with two white flashing lights.'

"Shortly after the lieutenant colonel's report was published by the Soviet main military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (The Red Star), it was confirmed in the report that the author had revealed by sight a target having two bright white flashing lights.
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Photograph: John Newton Brummet 2nd

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You can probably tell I've had a scanner around the last couple weeks. This seems to be a studio picture of John Newton Brummet, Jr. (1922-1964). I'm John Newton Brummet, Jr., or the 3rd. This photo was taken in his hometown, Cheyenne, Wyoming.
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The shipwrecked White House: image of destruction

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