Irises

Mockingbird

      TERROR AT THE AIRPORT
The airport is still as a tomb,
no one is varriving or departing.

Everyone had been alerted
by millions of frantic calls.

We failed to meet
as we had agreed.

Planes sat idyl in their berths
looking like movement arrested.

My absence joined the emptiness
of the vacant doorways.

A deadly silence
hurried to take my place
on board the grounded plane.

In the echoing quiet
no one I didn't know
called out a name
and rushed into an embrace.

No excited recognitions
electrfied a small group
that wasn't waiting at the gate.

Airports all across the country
passed their examinations,
in inimical existential existence.

No one's lugage was lost
so no claims were being filed,
and no valuables were stolen.

The whole system,
while pausing,
remained intact.

Planes didn't idyl
to the ends of runways
before hurtling off into space.

The skies where strangely empty,
buisness meetings
still took place as planned.

Beyond the reach
of our anger and impatience
lovers still rendevous.

In the lost certainty
of our collective camplacence:

these little words wail
like a siren in the night,

it can't happen here!
It can't happen here!

   TODAY
Today, a will of rusting iron darkens the ground
with its cold and empty shadow
as it sweeps across the sky,
uprooting firs, tearing at shrubs
and etching deep furrows of worry
on the face of the sea.
Life, that vast mass of teeming matter
turns ashen gray and dies.

Each shape is shaken
and filled with anxiety
to its elemental core;
its one immense wail
of mourning people;
hours are sheared
leaving barren landscapes
littered with smoldering ruins;
a strange silence settles like dust,
there are no birds filling the sky,
and all the naked plants shiver
without their leaves.

And you, wracked with worry
and buffeted by discharged storms,
I take you in my arms
and fold you into my heart;
where, I see you
pregnant with unborn blossoms,
feel the omniscent soul
mourning the oppressed Earth,
my fragile existence;
and, how you love
the delicate flower that is today.

   IN THE RESORT
Being disabled and no longer able to hike in nature,
I went into an Atrium and began to read
Will & Ariel Durant's The Story of Civilization.

In the Atrium behind two doorways
blocked by dangling chain linked curtains
was an odd assortment of exotic birds.

One bored bird disdainfully looked down,
and, then deliberately began to vandalize the great cage.
Other birds, perched among the foliage, sat dreaming.

I fell asleep and dreamed
that I was reflecting over the significance of a passage;
when, one of the dreamers, a rare swallow,

gently gave me a glance of infinte longing,
and, helpfully flew up against the clear glass dome
before sorrowfully returning to its perch.

FREEDOM FOR ME
Freedom for me
started in 1967
(when I began to get out)
after the end of the McCarthy era
and when Sgt. Peppers taught the band to play.

After that there was a time
of great growth and personal development,
when everyone was having fun,
experimenting with the potentials of life
and that spread everywhere.

Then insidiously
a dialectical, reactionary movement set in:
everything became oppressed,
a dull gray mediocrity,
like a fog, filled the land.

Life was at its best
back in 1967
(when I began to get out)
after the end of the McCarthy era
and before the politics of terror
came home to roost.

   FALL COLORS
Fall colors cover the trees,
like an allegorical comment;
the tired leaves become brittle,
their rustic shades are a kind of grief.

Are they prepairing for rebirth,
while we wither and grow old?
No, they die, too; and lie decomposing,
in great nutrious mounds.

And, yet each year the trees
burst into bright flames of color,
as they silently fill the sky,
the yards and the streets.

   THE RENAISANCE MAN
You have brought beauty and joy into our lives,
and are an asset to the communtiy;

and, even though we've never met,
still I consider you a cherished friend,
and wish you long years of health and happiness
and the freedom to enjoy them.

It is said, a silver mirror is cold and hard
and reflects only external surfaces;
but, the mirror that shows
reflections of the heart is priceless:
for the soul's mirror
is only the reflection of a friend.

Maistro, get well soon!!!

   A DITTIE FOR MARGY
Winter rye springs
from beneath her feet;
she wonders at a chickadee's name,
starts an acrobatic squirrel scrambling
who makes a prodigious leap
from filbert to fir,
stalks racoons and wise owls.

Hummingbirds build, she says, leaf hammocks
that sway deftly above tasty, pollen-laiden-flowers;
glinting metallic green, hummingbirds
dart about the yard; gathering
gaily colored blossoms, which she
arranges in antigue vases; pilloried colors
regal blue and fiery red;
and, various herbs hang drying.

Her quickest glance yeilds whole continents:
each finger furrow
errupts leafy vegtables and berries
on formidably thorned canes;
from green budded boughs, she harvests
their heavy burden of fruit
all Spring, Summer and Fall; and,
beneath her touch, rich in colors,
a flower covered glen.

Flocks forage in her garden, their varried song
forming a cacophony with the city's hum.
Dressing the park to suit her humor,
who can look at her and not be proud
of this Rebbecca's daughter,
when all the World warms with her smile?

   RAIN IS ALREADY HERE
Rain is already here
sibilantly colliding with the silent air.
Weastern Meadowlarks flash gold
across exhausted waters
on the Willamette sloughs,
they fly like swallows
darting after insects;
outside garden gates, the great-creature-city,
restlessly stirring, devours the day.

Again, Autumn, and, the sky is torn asunder,
without remorse, without a word
to reconcile us -
suddenly, to today.

Muse of my soul, lover of gothic cathedrals,
when the year's nirsery unleashes wind and rain,
through the dark and destitute night when it sleets,
will you afford fuel to warm your home and hyacinth hands?

While moonbeams play with dust mites in the bedroom
will you ressurect your marbel busts' shattered dreams?
With your coarse clothes, your parched throat
and empty wallet, will you mine gold from creneum skies?

To earn your daily bread, you'll be compelled
to grovel, while braying amen to blasphemy;
and, hypocritically echo pontifically spouted nonsense,
of which you don't believe a word.

Or, subject of their hate driven malice,
starving you're forced to warp your abilities
a parade them for the benefit of power,
to please the sick appetites of the degenerate herd.

   WHILE CHILDHOOD LASTS
Children ! while childhood lasts,
enjoy Summer vacation. Wonder over frogs
along the stream, and watch swallows
fly like gulls, their shadows startling sleeping fish.
Don't think of what your pimp-parents
ask you to do - so effervescent your spirit,
so small your forms, so afraid
of the perverted danger, when they place you in harms way.

May mild sunbeams shine down on you,
and gentle breezes play with you
in the kindly shade of tall trees;
whether at Gettysburg, where honest Abe Lincoln's gaze
swept the still fields before he began to speak;
or, at Valley Forge, where George Wasghington
braved cold Winter's cruel blasts.
Let the snows silently settle
on to the slumbering men and women
who lived and died championing
two of Democracy's greatest blessings,
"with Liberty and Justice for all."!

   WE, TOO
We're made for each other,
I come form somwhere out West,
while your from New York; I don't play the radio
but listen to Stravinsly instead.

I don't read top ten fiction, or, supermarket literature,
with lewd and liscentuous covers;
I read physics and poetry while sitting in the woods,
where trees and streams, flowers and clouds quietly listen.

When we fell in love - initially it was euphoric,
but it mellowed into something nice, and comfortable, and forever;
not like some stupid superficial caricatures of life on T.V.,
running to meet, frantically embracing in a public place.

I wont die in a hospital,
with Doctors and Nurses standing around poking, and proding, and shocking
my poor old body; but, at home, in the privacy of my own bed,
surrounded by loved ones;

and, I'm not going to any anticeptic, plastic wrapped Heaven;
where, the elite, radical right have exclusive reservations;
but, the Heaven, where long hairs, and anyone else who wants to,
will walk up and say, "Hey man, get up. You want a smoke?"

   THERE IS NO INIQUITY IN THE LORD
Oh God of infinite goodness, we're all your willful children;
but, you soon divorce yourself from those who
are beguiled by pleasures and distracted with desires.

We forget how everything rests
on your loving Grace,
how your benevolent blessings soon cease,
and their souls become battered and bruised when they stray.

Reign them in Lord, before arrogant Power
blinds their stupid andsuperficial minds!
Remind them of your Covenant
from which your blessings flow and your divine wrath!

Yet provide redemption, as any merciful father would,
for those who sincerely repent and provide restitution for past wrongs;
we'ld disappear without a trace,
like a fine dusting of snow on the desert.

Please stay your hand from destroying
the decietful and fraudulent,
Dear God, you crucify them to the core of their hearts
when you scowl: no one can stand any more.

Some fools claim, you've always been indiferent
to some of your childrens' fates; but, you'ld see time end
before disdaining a single sinful soul
who was broken and destitue!

Great are their sins in the eyes of the Lord,
yet your kindness and mercy will not let evil win.
Oh God of infinite goodness,
please pity them in their shame, misery and disgrace.

   THERE WAS
Futility
the exploding epistles
in the darkness of morning
of the misguided flights
for love leaps out of windows
ignited in martydom
its thousand red flickering tongues
are flames kissing the transparent sky,
when vigilance vainly castes its shadow
along the wall and across the ground;
and, the expectant air
trembles with black forboding
fervently prays while the terrorist noose
dangles in the wind:

cold marble hands folded in prayer.
Wait, while the letters
return home form the towering inferno
marked return to sender.

   RUMOR MILL:
   AIRPORT TERROR
Rumor Mill would like to suggest that to better understand the terrorist attacks one must first understand three correlative subjects. First, who has had a long standing adversarial relation with the WTO? Second, who would benefit from the destruction of the WTO and have the means and collective psychological profile to engage in a terrorist attack like this? Third, Middle East terrorism in the post cold war era. Knowledge in these three areas is prerequisit for any understanding of the terrorist attacks that transpired earlier this month in the United States. But, first and most important, Rumor Mill would like to extend its support and prayers to those who were involved in the tragadies. May god bless us all and grant us peace, freedom and justice. However, before justice can occur a state of understanding must first be obtained. Rumor Mill does not pretend to possess a corner on truth. What is intended here, within the limited scope of this essay, isn't even a detailed analysis. What is hoped for is to highlight the course of events in a linear context, and then place the available facts in a meaningful frame of reference, in order to obtain a working hypothesis. To obtain a definitive determination is beyond the limited resources of the Rumor Mill, and, as previously stated, scope of its inquiry.
   The Rumor Mill intends to answer the previously formulated questions, to the best of its abilities, in an effort to obtain a series of inter-related subordinate hypothesis. First, who has had a long standing adversarial relationship with the WTO? An organization, utilizing sophisticated computer technologies, integrated the efforts of other groups, which implies extensive financial backing, a vast resource base, and great quantities of time, from widely disperate areas including labor groups, environmentalists, anti-biotechnology activists, and industrial watch-dogs, who were actually fronts attacking competitive businesses of the factional interests of the radical right. These efforts resulted in street demonstations, which were confrentational and quite often violent. And, they succeeded in disrupting the WTO's annual meetings. How can anyone be against world trade, which improves the standard of living and prosperity of the entire world? The group who opposed the world trade organization meetings and disrupted them had extensive grass roots networks that were global in scale, and they had the resources to support and co-ordinate these various diverse dissident activities. There were groups that were thought to be fronts for the factional interests of the radical right i.e. labor groups who only organized and demonstrated against business competitors of the radical right; or, the already mentioned industrial watch-dogs; or, bogus environmental groups who not only led actions designed to discredit environmentalism but concentrated efforts at buisness competitors of the factional intrests of the radical right. These efforts became so troublesome that the world trade organization had to suspend its annual meetings.
   Another relatively recent area of conflict with the world trade organization was when it effectively curtailed the spreading of the (so called) Sourth-East Asia recession. The radical right's factional interest deliberately sabotaged the Indonesian and Thailand economies first destabalizing their currencies and then subverting the value of certain key targeted corporate stocks. This one-two combination knocked out the respective economies. The blame was placed on Hong Kong whose currency devaluation was said to have caused the event, which is amazing when one considers that when the US or Japan devaluated their currencies nothing happened, but when Hong Kong did (see preceding essays) whole countries economies fell. Anyway, the World Trade Organization took effective measures to shore up the currencies and economies in South America and prevented a rolling recession. Good new, right? Wrong, the radical right wanted to damage America's economy, it was an election year, and if it could trigger a temporary recession it could have cashed in at the ballot box. In addition the price of South American resources would have then been significantly reduced. The WTO 's buttressing up the local economies cost the Radical Right huge sums of money, when they acquired their interests in the newly privitized energy grid of South East South America, and when they purchased Venzuelan oil interests and Columbia's national gas fields.
   Factions have been recognized as being injurious to every one but the factions themselves since before Periclean Athens. The World Trade Organization supported souund economic development, broad based economies and regional stability to promote prosperity for every one. The radical right strives for the constriction of wealth, economic exploitation and the regional instability in order to promote a greater influence in the affected areas. This sets the stage for conflict. Examples of regional instability recently caused by the radical right are the religious clashes in Indonesia, Columbia's pretended civil conflict, the Balkan War, the US-Iraq war, Guatemala, the civil war in South Mexico, seperatist movemments in the South of Russia, India-Pakistan border conflicts and mid-East terrorism. If you are interested in more information on any of these conflicts please see the relevant essays in previous issues. Rumorr Mill apologiezes for such an extensive list; but, the range of examples cited is deliberately wide to demonstrate the global scale and predisposition of the radical right to engage in violence; and, produce numerous examples in order to firmly establish the precedence of the radical right engaging in the politics of terror. A presedence which finally flew home to roost. Apparent to anyone from all of this is that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
   It becomes blatantly obvious who benefited from the destruction of the World Trade Organization. The factional interests of the radical right. They would stand to hopefully (from their perspective) see the staff of theWorld Trade Organization replaced with personnel more friendly to the interests of the radical right. They could then, again siphon off foreign aid from countries like the Soviet Union, who functioned as a conduit into the coffers of the radical right through various fronts, and from which they bought up business interests in West Europe and resources in the Third World. The financial benefits obtained would literally be $100's of billions of dollars. All money for the factional interests of the radical right. Rumor Mill feels that a strong motive has been established for the commission of these terrorist acts, by individuals affiliated with the radical right.
   To rudimentarilly understand the terrorist attacks, a cursory study of mid-east terrorism in the post-cold war era, with an abreviated look into antecedent factors is necessary to establish a meaningful context. First, since WWII the US has pursued, in the Middle East, a strong man policy, where we pegged our influence and support in the region around the leader of the strongest country. Initially, that was the Shah in Iran, with his fall the policy was transfered to Hussein in Iraq until the bogus Iraq-US war. Next, it was Syria's turrn, but with each transfer the policy became progressively less effective. Second, the Soviet Union was always viewed by conservative Muslim leaders with aversion as the Godless evil empire. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the entire Muslim World was outraged. Capitalizing on this event the Reagon/Bush lead CIA, who had no qualms about murdering to infiltrate and control dissident groups, actively recruited, trained, equipped and organized combat groups to fight in Afghanistan. These groups were trained in camps in Pakistan. The future terrrorists were recruited throughout the Muslim World, from Morrocco to Indonesia and all points in between. A third event transpired during this time frame which helped shape the direction this dissident activity took, it was the bombing of US Marines in Lebanon. The radical right then resolved to control the political environment of every country not just in the Middle East, but through out the entire World. The Muslims recruited, to fight in Afghanistan, were then used to infiltrate and control dissident movements at home in countries throoughout the Muslim World. The Fourth event that shaped the radical right policy was the collapse off the Soviet Union. No longer were they a threat to our interests, but it became difficult to exert influence on countries in this oil rich region. The spectre of a terrorists threat prrovided that element of uncertainty which promoted the influence of the radical right whose interests, at that time, were aligned with US interests in that part of the World. The publically stated ambitious goal to infiltrate all dissident movements and to control the political environment in every country in the World was largely realized, for there was no competing political force to act in opposition.
   During this time frame, terrorist operations were carefully continued. For example, the PLO had two terrorist groups both infiltrated by the Reagon/Bush CIA. The CIA took control of Hammas, one of the two terrorist groups, and used it as a front to gain further access and influence over terrorist groups throughout the region; until, it became so well known that it was no longer useful. Then, Hammas was broken into regional and national groups, all still under the domination of our own radical right, who by then were operating semi-independently with private funding sources derived in part from their monopoly of the international druig trade, private investments, fraudulent siphoned off foreign aid, and feloniously manipulated investment markets - see previous essays. The individuals, who were recruited and trained, started their own terrorist groups in their respective home countries; and, all of the groups were in turn deceitfully recruited and trained and equiped by our own radical right. Who carefully monitered all of this work. An example of this operation is the Khurds, who functioned as dissidents serving 2 purposes. First, to keep Sadaam Husein in power, we backed him as the strong Muslim power in the region after the Shahs fall in Iran - by controling Iraq's dissident movements we were able to keep Husein in power; this was done because we didn't want to see another large piece of mid-east oil fall out of direct control, and second to keep Husein in line. The Kurds also were used to put pressure on Turkey to follow radical right policies. The leadership of Algerian terrorists was another example, for the notorious terrorist known as "the throat slasher", was a radical right trained operative whose operations and connections were all carefully monitered. In the South of Russia, the muslim seperists movements utilized personel who were originally recruited to fight in Afghanistan by the radical right, and who in turn infiltrated and influenced the terrorists movements in this region of the World.
Taliban's connection started with the Reagon/Bush CIA and developed from there. A military war lord was used to maintain leverage over the Taliban, in the same way as the Khurds were used to influence Sadaam Hussein. He had control over a small region of Afghan near the Soviet border. He was conveniently assassinated just before the terrorist attacks in the U.S.. Then the country was bombed for the first time since the Taliban took control. The Taliban claim they were attacked, but others speculate it provided two functions. First, their enemies could have been bombed;and, second, it helped shore up support just like the terrorist attacks here were designed to do. It is suggested the assassination was a pre payment for their involvment; and, the bomb attacks were a ruse. Rumor Mill thinks we should not get to attached to a name. It is a easy thing to dump the "Tliban", and maintain connection with the scoundrels behind the fools. Pakistan demonstrations don't occur with out official sanction. It has been documented that previous demonstrations have resulted in their leaders being forced to sit naked on large blocks of ice. This, besides hurting terribly, eventually kills the tissue around the rectum, which becomes infected, and a serious medical condition ensues. Other countries to be afflicted with infiltrated terrorist attacks have been Egypt, Pakistan, and Indonesia and India. In the instance of Indonesia, a rich natural gas field was the primary incentive that caused a religious civil war to errupt and a regime to fall, in the after effects of the SE Asia (see previous essay) recession.
Consider a resource poor country like Pakistan. One where the radical right has control of the military leadership. The operating budgett of the CIA under Reagon/Bush would have given it at least $10 million a year (take their annual operating budget and divide by the number of countries on the Earth) not counting the massive amount of money sent to the coountry to combat the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Multiply that by 12 years and suddenly you see that the Radical Right has flooded the country with $120 million. Add that figure to its neighbor Afghanistan (remember we're being conservative in our estimates, because we're not factoring private funding revenues and we're not figuring on military aid which flooded the region) and suddenly you realize that at least $240 million were poured into that corner of the World in little over a decade. Further, drug trade money had to go through their monopoly, and, gun traders are closely monitered. How could an established terrorist group exist such as ibn Laden's, with its resource base and not be infiltrated and domminated by the radical right. Recall the radical right's publicly stated objective to dominate all such groups. How could an operation so large, so well planned, requiring large amounts of resources in people and money be conducted in a corner of the world where at least $240 million were spent to infiltrate and dominate just such greoups!?!?!? Especially when they had taken credit for previous terrorist attacks. Its not as if they would not have been watched. An earlier attempted attack on the WTO was traced back to Pakistan. The police apprehended the terrorist in an amazing display of efficiency by an American law enforcement agency. Amazing, unless it was tipped off by informants; and, the hapless terrorist was set up, in an operation designed to intimidate the WTO. It was suggested that this, along with another terrorist threat designed to attack L.A. (another city with a large WTO building) were affiliated with ibn Laden. Isn't it strange ibn Laden with his over $40 million invested dollars has never before said anything against the WTO.. It is said ibn Laden is responsible, ibn Laden and who else?!?!
The implications of this line of inquiry are profoundly serious. Rumor Mill doesn't accuse any one, it's merely trying to establish a working hypothesis. Further, it is only trying to place information in a meaningful context, to promote a further understanding of these tragic events. What is implied is that the radical right should have had knowledge prior to these events. Further, it seems reasonable to think that involvement at the highest levels was extremely probable. If, it is true, then their response has been ruthlessly brutal and cynical beyond anything experienced in the US before. Once again Rumor Mill does not pretend to have a corner on truth. It merely is looking at the facts at its disposal and trying to develop them into a meaningful body of information. This is only a tentative working hypothesis.
The danger associate with this kind of speculation is that it will trigger other terrorist attacks, in an attempt by the Radical Right to confuse the public and cover up their involvement. It has been suggested that was the function of the comparively ineffectual Pentagon attack. It was supposed to distract the American public from the true target, which was the World Trade Organization; and, it was supposed to make the public think it was America that was being attacked, while the true objective was to displace the World Trade Organization. Now 'several' important positions will be filled with individuals who the radical right hopes will be friendly to their factional interests. Areas suggested for possible attack have been exhaustively covered by the propaganda machine and is beyond the scope of this inquiry; however, germ warfare and biotech sabatoge are likely candidates. They will recieve the kind of coverage necessary for the propaganda model, and, they will be involved in an already infiltrated area of dissident activity that could be used beneficially by the radical right to generate public support for aid to biotechnology. Biotechnology is an area heavily invested in by the factional interests of the radical right and it has recently been experiencing (i.e. butterflys dying around a biologically engineered crop that was then sold to the public to eat) difficulties with the public (Europe's refusal to use these products) and could use the sympathy such an attack would generate with the public. This supposedly has already been done in the form of terrorist attacks on private property utilized in biotech research projects. Interestingly, there is already established a tentative connection between some of the street demonstrators against the World Trade Organization at their annual meetings and the radical individuals involved in the dissident biotech and environmentalist movements.
   Remember before the terrorist attack?
The approval rating for Bush Jr. was extremely low. The economy under Republican control was again in shambles, we were in a depression, stock values had already plummetted; we were experiencing inflationary pressure, energy rates were skyrocketting upwards by between 33%-50%, massive layoffs had occurred all across the country: and, none of the measures instituted by the right wing Republicans were working, in fact they kept making the economy worse. People justifiably had lost confidence in the incompetance of the Republican Party and its puppet president. The same one people still say was put in office by fraud.
The terrorist attack helped save the Republican party from politcal meldown. It distracted the public from the coountry's bread and butter issues. It distracted the ruling elite who had also lost confidence in the factional interests of the radical right and made them feel threatened. Once again the opression of the radical right was presented as the only thing between us and chaos. The terrorist attack could not have been more beneficial for the political prospects of the factional interests of the radical right if it had been carefully planned and executed, by unwitting foreign minions of the radical right. Now, we are told to stand united. Behind who, and why and for whose benefit?

   RUMOR MILL
   EDUCATION, MICROSOFT, & PROPAGANDA
   In Rumor Mill's opinion three events are being pawned off on the american public behind a terrorist smoke screen. The first, is the voucher paid for by public funds for private schools. The second is the microsoft hearing. The third is the obvious distortion of the depression which claims that an event that occurs like the terrorist atttack months after a previously established depression can somehow miraculously cause it! These three events are each important enough to warrant further objective evaluation.
The voucher system is a Republican disaster for public education and the vast majority of children in America today. The role of an adequate education for all children, especially our poor children, has been recognized for over 100 years as one tool that society has at its disposal to combat poverty. It trains all our youngsters to be more productive workers. This promotes prosperity simultaneously at two levels. It realizes the potential for a more skilled workforce, and it promotes their ability to not only produce more goods and services, but enables their being able to consume more as well; because the more skilled workers are better paid, and thus they are able to save more, and consume more. The net effect is that education is a sound investment. Why the right wing Republicans want to, during their depressionn, and further impair our economy warrants a close look
   The Republicans support the voucher system for three primary reasons. First, is old fashioned greed. It increases short term profits by making U.S.labor factoral imputs competitive with the Third World labor markets, but that means those workers will have a Third World standards of living. Second. is old fashhioned avarice. The right wing Republicans have constriction of wealth as a primary objective. It wants to control as much of the economy as it possibly can. The economic model needed for this type of constriction is different from traditional broad based economic models. They only have 20% of the work force employed at good paying good jobs, the rest of the population the other 80% compete with the Third World labor markets. The model just described parrallels the education model where only 20% of children get to go to private vooucher schools, while the other 80% have to attend inferior schools. Third. is control of the population. Educated people want better jjobs for themselves and for their children. They become dissatisfied and more diifficult to control. In the Third World, the education model most prevalent is on where most children recieve a mediocre education up through high school that trains people making them employable for poor jobs without futures but doesn't condition them to "think" and aspire for better jobs and the better lives they make possible. Couple that with a concern for survival, where people spend all their time and energy trying to make ends meet and the effect is a society where both ends the upper and lower classes become more conservative. So the right wing Republicans in the typical tradition of tyranny are opposed to intellectuals unless warped technocrats to meet their specialized needs. They really oppose excellence in education because of short term greed and because it facilitates social control. The loses experienced in the U.S. domestic market are supposed to be compensated elsewhere in "their" global village in other words in SE Asia, S. America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Other practical reasons compel one to oppose the voucher system besides its negative economical impact. Obviously, parents will try to send their children to better schools, ffor who would deliberately pull their child from public schools to put them into inferior schools. This means that not only will a minority of children get a better educations, but the majorrity of kids in public schools will receive inferior education. The vouchers for private school will come from public education funds. Either, public schools will have to make do with less, or taxes will have to be increased; or, greater public debt incurred. Also, for every student in public schools recieve money. Those funds would no longer be available. The schools, usually of minority students, who are not able to compete academically with the more advantageous districts under the Bush plan, will recieve even less money to solve difficult social economical problems not of their making. What is being made is an expanding negative spiral of poverty, and all the costs to society that entails. Finally, while parents will strive to obtain better education for their children in private schools, what accountability and control do we maintain in over these public funds? Are teachers certivied? Is the curricumum adequate? What guarantees do we have for this very important investment? What control over our public money do we maintain over these public funds? Are teachers certified? Is the curriculum adequate? What guaranteesdo we have for this very important investment? What cntrol over our public money do we maintain?

   MICROSOFT is battling for its life in court. On Saturday, when no one pays attention and with the public preoccupied with terrorism the courts continued attacking Microsoft demanding a reconcilliation between their governmentand Microsoft in spite of Microsoft winning its appeal. Evidently Bush Jr.'s word wasn't worth much when during the campaign he took a lot of Mirosoft's money snf promised the case would be dropped. No less than the right of private property is at stake. Why should Microsoft be attacked for making a better product? Isn't that what free enterprize is supposed to promote, better products TO IMPROVE PEOPLE'S LIVES? And, why should Microsofthave to give to their competitors their property for free? Who will linvest in technologywith this kind of incertainty? Did anyone else notice how venture capital dried up in this area of the economy after the trial started and before the energy shocks and Republican incompetance pushed the economy into a depression? The stupidity of that this represents is mind boggling. Microsoft with their inovaative products is more responsible thanany other factor for creating the increased productivity that kept inflation in check for the last ten years. Not only did they create the whole area of the economy named the "NewEconomy", but their coontinued developments of new innovative products have helped prevent a complete collapse of this sector of the economy. To deliberately injure or destroy the best means available, which a healthy Microsoft represents, of ressurrecting the high tech. sector of our economy in a timely fashion, as the depression deepens and broadens, is criminally incompetent avirice! If you don't know how to manage an economy, .then at least stop doing everything to subvert it! Rumor Mill's reminded of a cartoon charachter Dudlee Do Right, "Just stand there Dudlee, just don;t do anything"

   The function of a propaganda machhine is to distort the truth and fabricate lies. Consider what we are expected to believe. The economy is in a state of severe depression and has been for many months. Stocks have retrenched their valuation to the extent that one major market lost 60% of the value of its previous price structure. Everywhere we've been confronted with bad news. Bush bungled restarting the economy with a unfair, ill advised, poorly designed tax cut. It failed miserably. The only thing it accomplished was to curtail government revenues (for Social Security and Medicaire among other essential programs) which hampered the rest of our fiscal tools. It impaired our ability to pay off the rest of the World's largest debt, which in turn kept interest rates higher than they otherwise could have been. Also, a curtailment in revenue meant that in addition to impairing the effectifveness of government's monetary tools, there was insufficient funds to effectively intervene the economy with government's fiscal tools, too. Everyone was laying workers off including Intel, Q-West, IBM, and Nordstrums just to name a few. This on top of inflation, while experiencing a major depression. What can be said the Republicans have a gift for incompetance. The last two times the Republicans have gotten theeeir hands on the Presidency they have plunged the county precipitously into depressions. Energy prices were up by anywhere from 33% to 50%. And the ripple effect has yet to be fully felt: ALL OF THHHIS TRANSPIRED BEFORE ANY TERRORIST ATTACK! And yet we are supposed to believe that a terrorist attack caused the increase oil pirces and natural gas prices and incompetence of this administration. Even though they had been going on for months, at the previously mentioned scale? In other words, what happened after event (the terrorist attack) caused what had happened before (the depression)?!?! This is impossible!