Some Good Intelligence?

The following article was first published in the Times Daily, a newspaper in Florence, Alabama on July 22, 2005. The Times Daily is owned by the New York Times.

It's the season for revealing classified information, so I have decided to tell readers of an "incident" in 1997. You did not hear about it on the news, but it certainly happened. I know, because it happened to me.

I was in the Army, deploying to Kuwait on a chartered Boeing 747. On our final approach to the airport, the pilot suddenly made a hard, banking turn over the Persian Gulf. We landed more than an hour behind schedule.

Because I worked with the counter-intelligence team in Task Force 2-12, I was given the details after landing: Kuwaiti security forces spotted a local man aiming a Stinger missile at our plane. They shot and killed him.

In the course of further investigation, we found the man had no ties to Iraq -- he was a Saudi-born member of al-Qaida. His weapon was made in, and supplied by, America; it was a Cold War artifact of the CIA and the Afghan mujahideen. America refused to clean up that mess after the Cold War, and paid the price on 9-11.

Oops, I "blamed America." Sorry!

This "incident" happened two years after Osama bin Laden issued his fatwa declaring war on the United States. But most Americans didn't know about that -- or care -- because there were more interesting subjects for our 24-hour news cycle. We cared more about Monica's blue dress than Osama's Stinger missile, didn't we?

Oh, wait -- sorry. That's "blaming America again." My bad.

My experience was almost routine. For years, American soldiers took fire without Geraldo Rivera and Oliver North reporting it. Quite simply, the "war on terror" did not exist.

That's because a decade before this "incident," the Pentagon had invoked the Posse Comitatus Act, declaring terrorism "a matter solely for law enforcement." Passed in 1878, to protect Americans from military government, the law was an excuse to do nothing about terrorism.

I know this will be hard for some readers to accept, for it is contrary to popular imagination ("informed" by Hollywood fantasies like "Navy Seals"). Nevertheless, it is true: Before 9-11, our military's only response to terrorism was an occasional salvo of missiles.

Seen from Osama's point of view (I am not begging the reader's sympathy, only your imagination), our cruise missiles carried this message: "You are beneath us. We don't care enough about you to really get off our duffs and come after you."

This was not merely a "Clinton-thing," either. As late as June 2001, just months before our nation's day of tragedy, President Bush withdrew Marines from Jordan and canceled a joint exercise because of al-Qaida "chatter." This was called "force protection" in the Pentagon, but was labeled "cowardice" in Afghanistan.

Darn it, there I go with the "Bush-bashing." Sorry.

And if the Pentagon saw little gain in fighting bin Laden, there was even less incentive for a commander-in-chief. Let's be realistic: Before 9-11, if any president had sent 20,000 troops into the hills of Afghanistan, Americans would have called for his head. Popular opinion held Afghanistan even less important than Bosnia or Kosovo.

By the same token, no general wanted his troops in harm's way just to kill some cave-dwelling religious nut. Even today -- almost four years after 9-11 -- America still hasn't really sent everything we have after bin Laden. We've gone back to finish the war we wanted in Iraq, rather than finish the war we have with al-Qaida.

We should have gone after those wicked men in Afghanistan with everything we had, while our blood was hot and our cause just. We did not do that, and I fear we will pay a terrible price.Aww, there I go again, "Bush-bashing" and "blaming America." I just can't help myself.Saddam was no threat. In 1997, our single brigade was enough to keep Saddam contained for the entire year; Osama was shooting at us. Now, Saddam's in jail, surrounded by 140,000 troops, while Osama is still shooting at us. Clearly, we are not "better off," as the president claims.Before 9-11, Osama had already killed more Americans than Saddam, but we did not pursue him. Now, we lose almost as many Americans every day of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" as we have lost in pursuit of bin Laden since 9-11. Clearly, we are not "safer," as the president claims.But of course, these are facts; and they are not easy to swallow. Therefore, I am only "Bush-bashing" and "America-blaming." Obviously, I "do not support our troops," and I must be "with the terrorists."

Or, am I merely using good intelligence and common sense? I report; now, you decide.



- Matt Osborne

When What If Becomes How Could You

Let’s be honest here, I agree with President Bush it would be wrong to stop a war we started, it would be wrong to embolden the terrorists in Iraq who were formally elsewhere and targeting other nations, it would silly to bring our troops home and use them in other more meaningful ways, hell it would weaken defense contracts, we might have to put billions of dollars into education or into healthcare, or education. My god, what are these damn liberals thinking? Where would we be if we did the right thing? This insanity of peaceful thinking has got to stop. The next thing these dang liberals will want is an honest investigation into election misconduct or to hoist Tom Delay from his fortress of security guards grasp and return him to Texas to stand trial. It’s madness.
But on the other hand let’s say we did try this for a while. What if we did pull our troops out of Iraq right now you can be sure that if you dug up Nixon he’d get elected in 2008, any republican would. If you made the Saudi’s happy and gave them free reign in Iraq which is what they want anyway, if you were to arm their terrorists, the Saudi terrorists they could attack and attack and attack. What if we had the money to send every American child to school with a full belly and make sure they have food when they get home, just think of it. We’ll even sign in blood that the Bush family can have the oil if they will just move over and let us all survive. Both sides of the coin are flying against each other and if you catch a glimpse in the tear in my eye you’ll see that it’s a two-sided coin and it didn’t come from my pocket.


- Chris Mansel

Embedded Reporter

Can you imagine the life expectancy of an embedded reporter in Kontum or Khe Shan in Vietnam? Don’t you think these war weary troops in 1969 far too grizzled beyond their years would have put up with a FOX OR CNN reporter in their tan jacket with the pockets in front? Staring brazenly and in the epitome of mock weariness of the struggle of the troops and what that reporter had been through that day?
The embedded reporters in Iraq were trained by the American military and for the most part, maybe 94 percent have been flag wavers for the bush administration. The same pundits who are raking every one who doesn’t play ball or tout the bush regime are the same kind who used to come to Da Nang and look out at the rice paddies in the distance and go to some cocktail parties and go back home and tell the tales of war.
Journalistic integrity is still alive and kicking especially when the embedded reporters look at themselves in the mirror, well, hopefully.


- Chris Mansel

Current Conditions and the Neon of Pounded Railroad Steel

I would like to just remind the American citizen that we have complete and clear footage of this administration lying openly about many subjects. They have lied about the war, they have lied about 9/11, and they have lied about Medicare. So you can be sure that all of the reports coming from this white house about the war in Iraq can be called into question.
The question has been asked, are there nukes being brought across the border from Iran? The administration answer has been of course, sure there are. Asked about a year from now they may answer, sure, we thought they were but we had no proof and I don’t believe anyone in this administration used those words.
When the mainstream bloggers make an attack on a high profile figure it gets reported now on a major news source which is very interesting since about a year and a half ago conservative pundits stated that bloggers were just radicals sitting in their homes typing out manifesto’s, anarchist’s, etc. I’ve said before and I will say it again a writer who is not nailed down by a corporate ceiling of conservatism can reach as far as they want into a story and can confirm what everyone in the legitimate news sources already expected or knew. How difficult is it to capture footage of a politician lying at a rally when most make the footage available to get media attention? The best way to attack a conservative is to simply let them hang themselves with their own temper and anger. Avoid their talking points and stick to the subject at hand. Honesty comes into play with bloggers obviously as well. But to that point is candor. If a blogger does not have the resources that a so called legitimate reporter does, i.e. the budget to make the phone calls, the byline to get the person to accept the calls then the blogger does the best they can. There are bloggers that seek donations to keep them going and that is fine for them if they can prove to those giving that they can indeed work hard enough to earn what is given to them, but eventually the celebrity factor comes into play as it often does with the so called legitimate reporter and then the story is second seat to the messenger.


- Chris Mansel

How A Documentary Became A Disaster Film

Take a look around you and you’ll a familiar theme. You’ll see the same storyline you have seen in many of the films you saw in your youth. The man in black and his gang of evil doers are carrying out their brand of evil and our hero the man in white is strapped to the railroad track as the train gets closer and closer. It all seems familiar correct? Now days the scene has changed and the film has changed its rating. There is still the gang of evildoers and his gang in black but even now the man in white isn’t as innocent or good as he may seem. Truly he may deserve to be tied to the railroad track. The gang dressed in black is so corrupt that the onlookers, the character actors, the Ward Bonds, the Harry Dean Stanton’s of the world have become color blind. Even the hero’s of today may not be worth saving. What is a hero today? Someone who doesn’t dirty himself or herself with the fight and only takes the high road or someone who gets in the middle of the fight and wears the scars, they are worn inside and out from the experience and speak from experience just what the gang in black is capable of. Now they face the real task, they have to convince the character actors, the day actors, and the people in the crowd shot that the plot is true. The light is on, the camera is rolling, and there is no need to say action, some of us have the scars already.


- Chris Mansel

Peter Jennings

As the country now mourns the death of Peter Jennings, dead now, the ABC network having just announced his death about 30 minutes ago, many of the news personalities have said of Peter Jennings that he always tried to cover the hard stories. The hard stories in this country are a sanitized version of what is going on in the world and that is a fact that is unshakable. Born in Canada and just became an American citizen in 2003 he was certainly a good broadcaster but never for a moment should the journalist become more than what they are reporting, the story is what matters. From the days of Edward R. Murrow to Walter Cronkite to the modern days of color television and the fast cuts of a digital edge the story is where you should base your dial, whatever channel will give you the news that is the most honest, the least uncorrupted. So presumed to be buried in the United States Peter Jennings becomes just another story to wrap up yet another business day of broadcasting.

- Chris Mansel

Zen and the Ballistics of Right-Wing Psychopaths

The right wing media to control sources is now exploring the use of a date rape drug. Who told what and when did they know it? It used to be easier to just get them drunk in the old days and take the photos, send a hooker in a summer dress to seduce the mark and secret service agents to coordinate the whole thing but now with the evil doings of the medical empires of the AMA.
Robert Novak used to participate in such cases but he figures now that he has been to enough of the “establishment’s” drown the poor kid parties he just assumes that the old order of doing things will persist. In a memoir planned for next fall Novak plans to expose that the entire Patty Hearst affair was a plan to expedite much needed funds for the George Wallace secret campaign against Richard Nixon, which led to the president’s dismissal through impeachment. Another item in the book will be the exposing of the use of the word Cuban in the Kennedy and Nixon White House. Whenever the word was used the real meaning was invariably liberal.
The one thing reportedly holding back the book by Mr. Novak for these last twelve years is the inability of the publisher to verify and fact check the issues raised.


- Chris Mansel

Do What Thou Wilt Without The Guilt

In Sept. of 1972 Hunter S. Thompson wrote, “How low do you have to sink to become President?” In August of 2005 you have to ask how low do you have to sink to prove that you are the President? If you compiled a list of everything and I mean everything a President could do that was impeachable and not be called on the carpet for, you might find that same list in Karl Rove’s pocket scribbled in pen and dated from 1987.
The last few years have proved one fact and that fact is you can no longer look to the past to analyze the Bush agenda. It serves no purpose to look to the McKinley administration, or any other. The new ground being broken by this regime is already charred before the sun hits the remains. It’s almost as if the tractors were dispersed upon the graves of the unknown soldiers to build a pool for the Bush twins to paddle around in and hold keggers.
Somewhere in the bowels of the White House, directly beneath the tree house of Karl Rove, about a hundred feet straight down is a room that is fully secure from any listening source, even the Echelon listening posts spread out around the world. In these room minions of Karl Rove control data, video and print. Like a modern day Hearst Karl Rove decides which stories make it in front of American eyes and those that do not. Sound improbable? Then what is your answer?

- Chris Mansel

Because I'm Good At It

The following is a thoughtful and insightful piece from the Mansel Report’s chief analyst Bob Kincaid.

Democrats, Liberals, Progressives and other decent people can continue to operate on the other side’s paradigm, and they can go on getting their asses handed to them. It’s just that easy. They can go on with their America Coming Togethers and their “grass-roots efforts” and they can lose the ‘06 election and the ‘08 election and every election they care about from now on. And they can scratch their pointy little heads and wonder what the hell happened, while almost the entire American radio spectrum is controlled part-and-parcel by the right wing.

Then there’s the alternative: the principled left can stop playing nicey and trying not to offend the other side, holding “grass-roots” tea parties with hand-crocheted doilies while the other side pours out syrup to keep from slipping on the blood and fights with brass knucks and saps. Somewhere along the way, we have to take Sean Connery’s advice from “The Untouchables:” if they bring a rock, you bring a knife; if they bring a knife, you bring a gun.

I listen to a LOT of so-called liberal talkradio. You know what I’ve found? It’s not talk. It’s lecture, even when it’s fun. Once again, the left has fallen back into its snotty old ways. From Al Franken to Ed Schultz, our side has this dumbass idea that what America needs is a GOOD TALKING TO.

That’s what we do to our kids when they go astray. We give them a good talking to. So far, on the familial scale, it’s worked. We know it’s worked because while they tell us they wish we’d just give them the spanking and have done with it, they’ve generally taken the tenets of the lectures to heart. But it doesn’t work for our side with the entire nation. For one, we’re not beaters. For seconds, they’ve already had the lecture. For twenty years. America has grown up. They deserve discussion. You don’t address an issue the same way with an 18 year old as you do with an 8 year old. The Repiglicans are convinced we’re all eight years old.

America already knows that some people here, for reasons known but to GodOrWhatever, are liberal. America already knows that liberals think everybody ought to get to go to the doctor if they’re sick. America already knows that liberals think women ought to control their own bodies. America already knows that liberals think American people are more American than american corporations. That’s all easy. Americans have been told that a million times by very self-assured, well-heeled, well-educated, well-fed liberals.

What America HASN’T heard is that other, ordinary, meet-you-at-the-beauty-parlor Americans think that way, too. And that is the failure of “liberal” talk radio. We make a terrible mistake as liberals if we seek to replicate the success of the Repiglicans by screaming at the ignorant.and hoping they’ll swallow the hook.

We need to give America the chance to TALK! Screw a dittohead! We don’t WANT dittoheads. We don’t want to silently validate the thoughts of the moron in the pulpit. We want CONVERSATION. We NEED to work out the details. We NEED to foster a thousand little radio talk shows in a thousand little markets.

The idea is smart. Smart? It’s freakin’ brilliant! You can do with half the money being used to support “national” shows ten times more from voter to voter. The average listener doesn’t give a rat’s rear end what happened yesterday in Poughkipsie. The average listener enjoys some level of discussion, but she wants to PARTICIPATE. And she wants to make the linkage between what happens in Washington and what’s happening in her living room. And she wants to FIX what’s wrong with what Washington is doing to her family. And she doesn’t get to do that when some guy who’s pretty sure he’s really awfully damned smart spends his time on-air preaching at her instead of listening to her, or hustling her off 10 seconds after she’s given her name.

If we’re at all smart, we Liberals, we Progressives, we DEMOCRATS, dammit, will figure out that we’re about CONVERSATION. And we’ll have that conversation. We’ll invite it. We’ll foster young talent in small radio markets. There’s a reason Major League Baseball developed the farm system.

We dare not wait for some liberal performer with some downtime to decide he wants to do radio, if the price is right. What we must do is listen carefully for the passion of people who have the necessary hunger to talk to other people. Them we foster. Out of a thousand, three may go national. They will do so because they like to talk to people; not because a think tank has spoon-fed them their talking points. If their conversations are informed by their progressive thinking, others will be drawn to them, in one degree or another.

Here’s a comparison:

Right Wing Host “My friends, I come to you today FILLED with outrage . . . FILLED, I tell you! It has come to my attention that a little girl in Pocatalico was PREVENTED FROM PRAYING when her teacher sent her to beat the erasers! PREVENTED FROM PRAYING! Can you imagine? What do you think?” (Repeat for three hours)

Liberal Local “Jim, I know you called about the deficit, but did you also notice that Congress just gave a pass to the Saudis with the Energy Bill?”

Listeners aren’t MORONS. They’re generally capable of CONVERSATION. And it’s FUN! And it generates return listeners and return callers. And it changes the political landscape.

And it just happens to be the key to winning.

Karl Rove

The same joke is told to a republican and to a democrat. The man telling the joke doesn’t offer any political affiliation of any kind.
He says, here’s the joke, “A guy walks into a daycare center squeezing his scrotum and asks for a handout. The teacher answers that she has no money and that this isn’t the kind of a place that gives a handout. The man still squeezing his scrotum looks around the room and picks a small boy from the other boys and girls…”
At this point the republican falls to his knees laughing while the democrat looks on in horror. The man telling the joke waits for the republican to collect himself. Eventually the Republican stands up and through choking back laughter says, “1980 campaign, Karl Rove district of Columbia, on a Wednesday!”

- Chris Mansel

Nigerian Oil and Chevron

As I have reported earlier Nigeria has recently signed a deal with Russia to export its oil and a deal is in the works with China, two countries that are soon to conduct military maneuvers together. Today news comes from Nigeria that South Korea and the U.S.’s company Chevron may clash over a deal in Nigerian Oil. The U.S. media has no mention of this story or its impact on Chevron’s stock. It doesn’t seem to difficult to keep a story out of the press when the editors of most of the news outlets in this country are conservative.


- Chris Mansel

Novak, "That's Bullshit!"

Robert Novak blurts out, 'That's bullshit!' and storms off the CNN set. When it comes to moral decencey and political correctness don't depend on a republican. As you can tell on the screen this is the new strategy for the Republican Party, if you are asked something you do not wish to answer simply use profanity and storm off. One can almost hear President Bush saying, "You won't have this Bush to kick around anymore."

Bohemia Grove Texas Style (for the folks at Crooksandliars.com)

(The above photo drew many calls that an aircraft was flying towards a building in Washington)


On the same day his second father King Fahd was laid to rest in Saudi Arabia President Bush put on the same clothes he always wears to clear away brush, sweat, and hint at what he will do later in the day and get his hands into the dirt as to try and channel the goateed overweight sheik who meant so much to him that he had to hold his hand when he walked. If you will notice in the footage during the campaign he did not hold his mother or his father’s hand as he walked but then again there were not pretty flowers growing in a desert to gaze at.
In a story credited to Washington Post staff writers, I suppose all the big name writers were either overwrought at the King’s death, hung over from celebrating the King’s death or too tired from following ol’ puppy blood sucker Bob Novak to his office where he has a life size cardboard cut out of Ann Coulter with her mysterious Adam’s apple circled in red ink or back to his home where he enters into the basement and reappears hours later dressed for an appearance as to which he will be reminded of during the drive. The Washington Post story stated that this is the longest absence from the White House by a sitting president in 36 years. Now we won’t discuss Washington Post journalistic integrity but we all know who is minding the store even when ol’ Georgie is in the building. However, if you are still curious about all the clearing of brush on his Crawford, Texas ranch it is being done to secretly create a new Bohemian Grove on Texas soil. This news comes from an ex-lover of Karl Rove, the young man asked not to be identified, though at one time it is rumored he enjoyed a White House press pass.


- Chris Mansel

Never Go Against The Family

President Bush: Now you help us get into Iran, help us get permission to fire our nukes into Iran and Condi here will be real nice to you, won't you Condi? (pant, pant)

Condi Rice: "Thinking to herself"(Who do I have to fuck to get out of this administration?, Maybe Helen Thomas had a point...)

Roe V. Everyone Else

A short time ago I made a few predictions and one of them was the overturning of Roe V. Wade. It would seem that the nurturing of John Roberts has been just one of the well organized acts leading up to such an occurrence. Tonight on Law and Order Fred Dalton Thompson held up a plague of the constitution and said to the camera, “Tell me where in this document they said anything about privacy…they didn’t.” Sam Waterston then says to Fred Dalton Thompson, “Not until you get appointed to the Supreme Court and can rewrite the law.” Thompson replied, “God willing.” This is the man who is going to aid John Roberts through the processes of the hearings, etc. Tell me there is no agenda.

- Chris Mansel

The Lump In Your Throat Is Not A Tear

When President Bush stood at his pulpit/podium and declared mission accomplished, I wonder how many minutes afterward did another U.S. soldier die? He said, “We do not know the day of victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide.” The tide was not rushing over the bodies of two American actors kissing on that beach, that tide was lashing at the bodies of men, women, and children. The bodies, the dust, the skies filled with the screams and satellite phones linked to Washington and Virginia.
Like any victim it is difficult to admit that you have been molested, it is difficult to face your attacker, so I suggest not traveling to Washington or taking the tour of the White House to ensure against a scene of a traumatic nature. In similar cases where a victim will report a crime the victim does not have the opportunity to confront their attacker. You often hear the words before Sept. 11 or post Sept. 11; this country didn’t need to be attacked to know that the Saudi Royal Family had made us the victims. Just as a lobbyist will go from office to bedroom to office to bar stool the Saudi Royal Family will simply make a phone call and all the lines on the paper will fall into place, and on Sept. 11 the paper burst into flames.

- Chris Mansel

A Monstrosity of Conformity

It seems to be the practice these days in this country to bury the living below the dead. If a Republican commits a crime he is rewarded with either a promotion or a rousing support behind him and in some cases, if not all, a Democrat is blamed for the crime or incident. How a Republican can claim that the media is attacking the conservatives in America when the news media in this country is owned and operated by conservatives is beyond comprehension. Like William Blake said, “Perverted into fable…” Each day brings a new story to light which by the time it hits the airwaves of radio or television it has been sanitized by the editors of the news outlets and scrutinized by the official policies of a dishonest government for posterity. The National Archives contain more lies than the walls of the oval office.

- Chris Mansel

“The world’s more full of weeping than we can understand.”

- Yeats, The Stolen Child

Shoot To Kill, Protecting The Capitol By Aiming For The Gullet

As soon as the news that the police in London had shot a suspect eight times in the head, a man who was only guilty of having an expired visa, every off duty policeman in the district of Washington was recalled to work and instructed to report to target practice. The Fox Network began initiating drills to disperse teams of correspondents to cover the upcoming fatal shootings. Bill O’Reilly stammered and kicked an assistant in the mouth and rubbed his groin on the chin of a female co-worker and screamed for a raise until he was guaranteed the right to interview the cop who would produce the kill shot. Meanwhile at Fox studios Joe Scarborough was still in negotiations to join the network of fair and balanced news.


- Chris Mansel

"From its consecrated cerements
I will not drag this sacred dust again,
Only to give me pain..."

- Longfellow



The Author angered by what he sees happening in the world and struggling to deal with a change in medication, two in one day, decides to take a break until the urge hits him once again to write. To look for the words is to cheat myself and to cheat you the reader, when the words are ready I'll be back.

The Mansel Report: Dispatch From West Virginia

As you the Mansel Report reader are keenly aware of what is going on in the world of politics and especially right-wing rhetoric, Bernard Goldberg appeared on the Jon Stewart show recently and espoused his brand of conservative darkness, i.e., all liberals are what is wrong with the country. Keeping all this in mind I asked the Mansel Report’s resident chief analyst for his reaction to the appearance by Goldberg. So fresh from his fortified bunker in West Virginia, ladies and gentlemen…Bob Kincaid.

Beginning of transmission:

Chris,

Try this one on for size:


Before you read any further into this essay, I’d like for you to do two things.
First, go here http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/07/13.html#a3919 and watch Jon Stewart’s interview with Bernie Goldberg, compiler of a recent tome (I use the word ‘tome’ mainly because it starts with the same letter as ‘turd’) that declares once and for all what’s wrong with America and who’s responsible for what’s wrong with America. Interestingly enough, 97 out of 100 of America’s worst human beings just happen to be . . . wait for it . . . LIBERALS!!!!!!!!

How Bernie Goldberg ever worked up the stones to go mano a mano with Jon Stewart, I’ll never know. Maybe he’s taken to reading his own press: how he’s “hard-nosed” and “hard-hitting” and “curmudgeonly,” and all the myriad other things PR flacks are paid to say about no-account whores from the ex-journalism tour who write books that are bought by people who are mostly ex-readers.

But I digress. I really DO want you to see that interview. But, having watched the interview, I should like very much for you to read this story http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/07/071405childMurd.htm


Done yet? Gooooooooood.

So, let’s review:

Bernie Goldberg says Al Franken is a greater threat to America than George Bush. OK, bad example since, given a free and open forum for debate, Al could whip Dim Son like a borrowed mule (sorry, PETA). How about a greater threat to America than Osama bin Forgotten? Yes. Really. Bernie Goldberg thinks that; thinks Al Franken is worse for America than a 6-foot-6 Arab with a portable dialysis machine whom the CIA can’t find, who figured out a way to fly jumbo jets into our biggest buildings and killed 3,000 people. Thinks that. Believes that with all of whatever replaced the spot where his beating, human heart used to be.

But of course, the acolytes of Phlush Phlegmball are still as certain as they are of their own eternal salvation that the LIBERALS are the wackos. And at the VERY SAME TIME that Jeb Bush had the best minds of his administration trying to figure out how to shove a garden hose back into Terri Schiavo, one of his fellow Floridians was pummeling his three year old son for being queer. Really. At roughly the same time a year ago that Jeb Bush was working up a good-ol-fashioned GiveAPoliticalDamn about Terri Schiavo, somewhere in that God-forsaken semi-tropical hellhole that is Repiglican-controlled Florida, a 21 year old man beat his 3 year old son TO DEATH because he was afraid the little feller might turn out to be a FAGGOT. Beat the little guy until he was vomitting and both sides of his brain were coalescing into the jello-o state. Because he was afraid he had a QUEER three year-old, and damned sure didn’t want a QUEER four-year-old.

Oh, hell. I don’t want to play in this game anymore!

But play we must, because the Eternally Saved Right, led by the Holiest of the Holy, the Southern Baptist Convention (which, you’ll remember, came into being because they didn’t want to be worshippin’ dear, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, whiter-than-a-bar-of-Ivory-Soap Jesus in the same building as a bunch of, well, you-know, “those” people) has declared that PANSIES are more dangerous to us than Osama bin Laden.

Let it seep in. Let it rattle around your skull. Repiglicans are more concerned about a couple of gay guys wanting to hold a wedding reception and buy real estate and have health care benefits than they are about GUYS WHO BEAT THEIR 3-YEAR-OLDS TO DEATH TO KEEP THEM FROM BEING ALL QUEER, n’ stuff!

You know who I need on this story? I need the Reverend Fred Phelps. I NEED to see the face of the Southern Baptist Convention on this case. I NEED to see the Good, Godly, Upstanding, Southern-baptist-ordained Reverend Fred march on Florida to declare that that little 3 year old feller is dead because God killed him for being a “driver down the ol’ dirt road.” I need to hear Reverend Fred explain to us all that God can spot a faggot from miles and years away, and had that little guy killed to keep him from spreading his faggotry later.

Y’know what’s sad? I give Fred Phelps about three more days before he does exactly what I’ve described, marching outside the courthouse where the trial’s going on in support of the infanticidal daddy. After that, the Reverend Fred and his minnions will picket an abortion clinic.
Which brings us back to Bernie Goldberg. He lives on the moral high ground, y’know.
Which is worse, Bernie? Babs Streisand and Al Franken, or Fred Phelps and some screwed up queer-hater in Florida? Which is worse, Bernie? Talking about the murderer you worship as President, or evil men in evil times who kill children for being FAGS before they know anything more than “I love my Daddy?”

I guess Bernie picked his list because if he’d done a list of conservatives and/or Repiglicans killing America it would’ve been thicker than the Oxford Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. Instead of the magnifying glass they give you with the OED, though, Bernie’s book of Conservative, Repiglican Killers would’ve come with a scanning electron microscope, and that would’ve put the price point beyond most of his semi-literate readers.

End of transmission.


– Bob Kincaid




The Bob Kincaid Show is no longer on the air but is archived at www.whiterosesociety.org
Bob's website is www.headonradio.com

Rwanda and State Sponsored Genocide

http://allafrica.com/stories/200507130457.html


If you have read the Mansel Report from the beginning you'll know that I have a deep concern for what happens on the continent of Africa. There is no other place in the world today that suffers more. In particular Rwanda is dear to my heart. To know that we as a nation could have prevented close to a million deaths and that we did nothing makes me cringe with shame every time I think about it. I own a copy of the documentary Ghosts Of Rwanda, and if you have never seen it I wish you would. PBS and their show, Frontline, produced it. I believe Frontline is the purest news source you can have access to on television.
Today's link concerns Rwanda and the genocide. The story mentions the fact that the genocide was discussed in cabinet meetings while it was being carried out making the entire government in my mind complicit in the killings. The old saying goes how could it happen here but the response is chilling. The response is why doesn't it happen more often. I juts don't know what to think of this world sometimes.
We are supposed to just accept the fact that the money pledged for Africa will be delivered in 2010. Meanwhile two million people die each year in Africa right now, 6,300 everyday from AIDS. It is five years till 2010, so we can just accept that those 10 million that will die before the money is hopefully delivered were worth it? 10 million? I find it hard to live with that number.


- Chris Mansel

Agenda Offenda

http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200507120800.html

The title of this article is Oil Find Near Kenya Border Excites Business Interest.
A quote from the article,
“The US, which pledged $1.7 billion, said its contribution would be unlocked by the government's ending hostilities in the western Sudan region, that have claimed about 100,000 lives.”
As we all know the U.S. is very good at pledging money. Somewhere in Washington on the books somewhere is a pledge to the 13 colonies. You can almost sense a vote coming up in this session of Congress on the right to invade any country that has ever had a terrorist travel across their borders that also contains exploitable natural resources. We’ll call it the Lugar bill after Richard Lugar from Indiana.

- Chris Mansel

Nigeria: Oil

Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507111423.html

Oil. It’s all about oil and the rape of another country and its natural resources, the next country to be entered oh so slowly by a corrupt administration like the Bush regime is Nigeria. Nigeria is rich with oil and as you can read in the above link the President of Nigeria is trying to interest Russia in investing in their Nigeria’s oil. Now you and I both know that the United States and England cannot stand by and let another country like Russia take honestly what they can take either by force or by corrupt means. I would call this a prediction but I can almost tell you in the affirmative that it will happen. It’s oil after all. You won’t see this mentioned in the U.S. press until our interest in the oil in Nigeria is judged a worthy subject by the networks.
Another important point is that Nigeria is on the coast with easy access for the American and British ships. This means that the U.S. and England could skip right by the thousands of deaths in the Ivory Coast, disregard the atrocities in Chad and the Sudan and take what is most important to them, oil. This could be such a beautiful world if only those who hate is so much could conceive of anyone else’s life outside of their own.

- Chris Mansel

The Non-Elected Liars and the Liars That Love Them

“What happens to a dream deferred?”

- Langston Hughes

Ken Mehlman’s appearance on Wolf Blitzer’s show today was filled with Mehlman spewing, “I don’t recall, I don’t recall.” Also, “I am not going to comment on an ongoing investigation.” You can see the fear in his eyes and you can easily see that he was furious at Blitzer. The fact remains the blood is in the water, hell, I don’t see much water.
The ferocious Conservative spin to clear the name of their Goebbels is entertaining but as I have said before when it comes to affecting the votes for those supporting the president, when it comes to endangering the years and sometimes decades of lobbyists throwing money at their door, when it comes to actually having to work for a living and not travel on the tax money their own families have paid in for generations it will become clear that to rock the boat means you are the first to be eaten when the sharks begin to circle and the wind has gone out of the sail.
Helen Thomas said to Scott McClellan that Karl Rove has placed integrity into question. McClellan and his nervousness in having to answering the questions about this controversy show in his repeating of himself.
The quote of the day is by Ken Mehlman, “I don’t think you’d see the Republicans pre-judging the situation.” How soon they forget. The Whitewater and Monica lewinsky fervor sent Republicans frothing at the mouth in front of any camera they could find. You can be sure that when FOX News finally decides that all the air has gone out of Karl Rove and his terror machine and they too begin to attack Karl Rove, it will already be too late.


- Chris Mansel

Karl Rove

Spin this Fox. That is when it happens, and it just might.

Under the Constitution reading upside down...

What can you say, honestly?

Air Force One (The Sadistic Wagon With The Squeaky Wheel)

(for Jack Random)

Air Force One left London and as soon as it was in the air the flight crew disrobed and the alcohol started to run in-between the aisles. President Bush went into his secret office near the fuselage and put in a DVD that contains a montage of Condi Rice strolling in front of the camera. The creases in her pants suit moving in slow motion. The President thrusts his groin into the television screen, aides gather together intelligence on the bombings and begin to make secure phone calls to Saudi Arabia to schedule another. When the President gets all worked up to the point of climax he opens a door located inside his closet to enter a small pool of oil so he can commit coitus with himself. President Clinton kept vagina cigars in this secret room and former President Reagan kept stag films of Hedy Lamar and Clara Bow. Jelly Beans tied on gold string reeking of excrement.
In the President’s office Karl Rove and Karen Hughes watch footage of the attacks in London and sculpt data for Scott McClellan and the White House press core, for speeches in the upcoming elections and to use in the files that Rove keeps in his secured bunker of misinformation. Rove laughs greedily and spits in his hand and grabs Karen Hughes by the neck and bends her toward him. Karen Hughes performs a sadomasochistic act on Rove’s person. The President walks in and opens a beer.

President Bush: Now Karl, when I go sign this book at the embassy what do I write…a message of some sorts or what? Sorry you didn’t die Tony, something like that?

Karl Rove relieves himself into a bucket on the floor and Karen Hughes hits a button and a Secret Service agent arrives instantly to dispose of the waste. Karen Hughes arranges herself and the talk continues.

Karl Rove: You just sign your name and express your sympathies.

President Bush looks at Karen Hughes and at Karl Rove with a confused expression.

Karl Rove: Sympathies, how sorry you are…(laughs) ok just write whatever you want to.

Karen Hughes: Mr. President can we please turn off this tape of Condi?

The President looks across the room at Condi and then returns his gaze to the television screen.

- Chris Mansel

The Owl and The Crow

The brief but hidden storm of obscenities were waged into the fists of restrained house democrats as Karl Rove decried to the world that he did nothing wrong. Statues of the founding fathers leapt as one across the Potomac and sought shelter in the restful arms of the Motel 6. Washington and Jefferson spent the night sniffing the glue made from Paul Revere’s horse kept for them in a bunker hidden in the hills if West Virginia. Ben Franklin spit out chalk and vomited the entire night screeching out the eternal damnation of the Internet.
Networks reached their satellite trucks on the road to Florida to cover the impending coverage of death and high water to encircle the grave and or house of Supreme Court head Rehnquist who many in the media had privately dubbed Renfield after the story of Dracula, Renfield who would do the bidding of his master by acquiring flies and spiders and other small animals to provide the blood to save his soul. Rehnquist keep a constant vigil by walking back and forth to his chauffeur driven car and back in attempt to weaken the live feed of the major networks.
The several heads of state that took part kicking and screaming in the G8 summit declared to pledge millions in aid to Africa but did not leave their account numbers or financial info. They raced as one to the airport and took great comfort to be down with the photo-op and to instruct the pilot to fly over the smoking rubble and rush of ambulances of London. Taking their direction from Bill Frist they sought to get a little bit of the carnage in the background.
Talk radio hosts reveled in the G8 summit and boasted how they had described in their own words how it would occur and took credit silently of how they knew privately that the money would never see the light of day unless it came in the guise of terror relief.

- Chris Mansel

Predictions: The Bush/Clinton Alliance

I have seen the line in the darkness and it is hellish. I have a prediction and it is so goddamn twisted it just might come true. Okay, former President Clinton was appointed by current President George W. Bush to serve with his father former President Bush to aid in raising money for victims of the Tsunami. They have gotten to be friends despite their “differences” and Barbara Bush has even referred to former President Bill Clinton as her son. The Bush family is friendly with the Clinton family and Senator Hillary Clinton will most certainly run for President. This is where it gets weird.
Senator Hillary Clinton will run on the friendship of the Bush family, the photo-ops, etc., and will garner the attention of Bush Republicans. She will win the presidency with her “further than center” views but now the kicker, a preemptive strike. I can’t believe I am saying this; Hillary will get her second term by pardoning either Karl Rove or current President George W. Bush for his role in using 9/11 for a reason to invade Iraq illegally and the approval of torture beyond the restrictions of the Geneva Convention. When does torture get to beat something even the Republican Party will not allow? When it interferes with the votes being tallied in the home districts of the candidates in the house and the senate.
This is so twisted like I said that it just could come true. Slicker than Willie, darker than Nixon, and crueler than Idi Amin the Bush/Clinton alliance could dispel any and all rumors that true evil rests only in the hearts of men.


- Chris Mansel

G8 Talks Successful.

It's Easy To Be Cryptic When You Are Miles Away

"All of this does not change the world tomorrow, it is a beginning, not an end. None of this today will match the same ghastly impact of the cruelty of terror."

- Tony Blair

Look Into The Camera Eye

What you see is not always what you should if you take a moment and look at the photograph slowly. In the above photograph you see onlookers, you see participants, you see the curious, and you see the bothered.

Onlookers:

Onlookers are one of the crucial factors in any disaster or crisis situation when they want or demand to take part. A traffic incident will attract those that want to see something terrible, they want to see something they can talk about, they want to share something with someone else and be the only one who saw it. An onlooker can get you killed.

Participants:

Participants are those who were involved in the situation but feel they no more about handling the situation because they were there instead of those who were trained to deal with the situation. Sometimes you can see it in their eyes or in their face as they try to hide a proud smile or a glint in their eye by knowing they were apart of something not many others were not.

Curious:

The difference in onlookers and the curious is that the curious will become involved, they will get in the way of the victims, the professionals who are there to handle the situation, save lives, etc. When told to move back or to clear the area will resist sometimes violently the restriction of their ability to take part or to experience the situation. Onlookers drive by generally, and the curious get out of the car and walk over.

Bothered:

No matter what police, firemen, medical workers will say after an incident about their courage in handling the situation or being a part of it they will not tell you that in the moment they were sometimes truly bothered by having to take part. Because they have experienced the same kind of situation before or other crisis they feel that they and only they know the proper way to conduct them and will resist any logical advice in how to do so. This is not always true but on the whole it is common.

This photograph like many others of the incident in London remind us that however bad this carnage is, it takes place every single day in Iraq.


- Chris Mansel

A Collaboration of Ideas

The question is not why the attacks to place in London, but you could almost say they were expected. The world press is in England this week to cover the G8 summit so any action taken by terrorists would get extraordinary coverage internationally. The announcement of London acquiring the right to hold the Olympics yesterday is of no importance when placing blame or explaining a reason for the attacks. An attack such as this could not have been conceived that quickly, the real reason for the attack is to remind the participants of the G8 summit that their real reason for meeting should be to pull out of Arab states, such is the thinking of radical terrorists. Previous bombing s through the years by the IRA has prepared London for such an occurrence.
President Bush’s comments about how we care about Human Rights is laughable and that reason alone, and England’s complicity in the tortures of prisoners, could very well be the center of the reasoning by the terrorists. By re-wording, or just plain abandoning of the Geneva Conference and its rules on how to treat prisoners the U.S. and England has unquestionably decided to forego any safe haven of their own citizens and sacrifice them for their own gain. Any blame for an attack in England or the United States by terrorists should be placed at least in part by the actions of the government. You can’t expect to take the law, international law into your own hands and not expect the retribution to come your way. The only question is whether or not American or British flags will be photographed as they cover the dead of ordinary citizens.


- Chris Mansel

Beware of Whores Who Say They Do Not Want Money

(The title is a line by William S. Burroughs)


The good spirited celebrities who can play an instrument gathered all over the world recently to play their biggest hits and to support a cause that asks individuals who scream about politics and don’t vote to write a leader they didn’t elect for or against to support an idea of losing money, an idea of turning against the very debts that afford these leaders to mistreat the citizens that do not vote. The ego slush fund of Live 8 drew advertisers on video feeds, corporations vied for the right to webcast the events, the corporations that regularly commit environmental crimes against the poorer countries. Those who do know history but fail to take a role in the future are doomed to repeat the present and to hand it down to their children. So organize another benefit for another charity and guarantee the celebrities face time like any other pundit and they will come.

- Chris Mansel

Feeling Dirty Under The Tap

Gauging the level of evil by the torment it does to others is one way of determining politics. Politics is the anvil swinging from the narrow thread, the milestone carved from the labor of others, the words of a child used in a marketing campaign to sell an item the child cannot afford. Dress road kill in a designer dress and it is still road kill. Add amendments to it and you can call it policy. Cart it out in front of television cameras and it can become a cause. Hold a telethon and it can be a tax write-off. Politics is one more way to avoid the truth by leveling the playing field under the boiling point.


- Chris Mansel

Uganda

No, they are not coming back from the local 4th of July fireworks show.

G8

The caption says,

"Blessed are the meek for they are good for business"

Predictions From The Mansel Report

An assassinator’s bullet has changed history throughout time. The actions of a leader have led to more downfalls than any other event. Allow a person to have their way and in most cases they will defile themselves in the eyes of their peers and enemies alike. The regime, not administration, of George W. Bush will crumble in the next two years and will further the campaign for Hillary Clinton. Not the best pick in the eyes of many but a starting point if nothing else. The war in Iraq will continue for another eleven or so years and the invasion of Syria and Iran will bring Israeli troops into the mix and more terrorist bombing will occur on the shores of the United States.

Inside of the next decade will see the death of Bill Clinton by heart failure, the dismissal of the Patriot Act, and the overturning of Roe V Wade, the decline of Republicans in the house and senate will be replaced by more Mexican-American citizens, and the onslaught of pedophiles using the Internet and charitable organizations for their own criminal gain.

- Chris Mansel

Rove and Son

Yea son, see that guy I ruined his life...and him, and him and...ha ha ha screwed that guy! You'll never never know what it is like my boy, whew! Fourth of July, what a more american thing to do than to use your unelected power.

Cornel West

Suicide Bombers

Perhaps the reason Americans cannot accept the idea of a suicide bomber is that the western way is to send the bomber unknowingly, whereas the suicide bombers around the world are fully conscious of what they are doing.

- Chris Mansel

Bill of Rights

...and lefts

liberators

What will this generation of Iraqi children think about their "liberators"

.....

Stay The Course?

Mr. President if this was your daughter would it still be worth it? Would you still stay the course?

O'Reilly

Here is the Christmas item that will have shoppers terorizing every store in the country the day after Thanksgiving. You know you can't stand Bill O'Reilly now prove it by wearing this shirt from the site below.

shop at http://www.sweetjesusihatebilloreilly.com/products.html

NOVAK

"Soon I will not need the help of the empire, I can rule the Death Star without the several battalions of storm troopers promised me by Lord Vader (Karl Rove) and I can carry out my evil scheme of eliminating every Democrat in the universe."

- Robert Novak

The Stepford Voters

Coming To An Iraqi Army Base near you...

Bush and the Taste of Chinese Oil

You can understand if Bush is upset what with China wanting to take a chunk out of the U.S. oil market.

President Bush: Hey Karl, ya think we can make a deal with them chins over there, I mean hell, they can't take our oil we stole it fair and square. Shit we can't go to war with China can we?

Karl Rove: Just shut up George, would you?

I listen to Bob Kincaid. He's the only guy out there willing to call me what I am, a gosh darn idiot unworthy of anything outside of manual labor. Man I tell ya, that Bob hit it right on the head when he said Repiglican.


www.headonradio.com

The Leviathan Dips His Wing

The shit scream has rung through the gates of the White House and the people of the United States have felt its echo, soon, the campaign will begin. Both sides of the aisle, the two old parties will vie in the storm of insults, half-truths, outright lies, and sound bites to hand in hand dissuade any talk of a third party. The poor will get lied to, the middle class will get lied to and the wealthy, the one percent that is mentioned every campaign will sit idly by knowing the outcome before the first vote is counted. There will be no voter reform, there will be onlookers at campaign headquarters, and the shrill squeal of debate will fill the air like Willy Loman being broken on the rack. The media will descend on New Hampshire and the states in the south will wonder if this is the year the candidates will actually care what they have to say.


- Chris Mansel

Jailing The Torch, Feeding The Flame

Distinguishing between whom you associate with based on social status is at the core of the conservative view, relation does not base on income but the democratic view does. Together they work together to misalign the nation from democracy to fascism. The idea of the citizen being on equal status with all others has been lost to access and affordability.
The poor of this nation operate on a completely different level, a level kept balanced by the swallowing of pride and the lack of genuine shame.

I am the nothingness
the sun is my grave
and my absence is
beingness

- Georges Bataille

While surfacing their anger only remotely the poor maintain a civil balance and continue as they have always done, to seek more compelling arguments than servitude or belief. The lime in the river does not hide the dead or mask the smell. The poor after all were employed to place the victims there by chemical waste. It is never the worker that decides where or how to pollute but the management who profit from the actions of others.
The media that serves both parties can be found reading over the shoulders of the poor and compiling that data into polls to be used for circulation.

“This is not your house, you’re a man of the wilds.”

- Carlos German Belli

The balance of power often mentioned is the result of the scales being held up by a woman, lady justice, whose blindfold shields her from the weight. With a calculation such as this being considered is it no wonder that the distribution of wealth is often leaning toward those that do the counting?

- Chris Mansel

Fraud Task Sepulcher

When policy decisions are left to whom ever you manage to employ on your staff, the nation cringes at the delight politicians swerve about the senate floor reading the prepared remarks of another. When opinion outweighs the actual wording, when time constraint prevents the actual reading of the bill up for vote, the nation is lost in a muddy birth of paper and ink. When the presidency is advised by an unselected official there is no accountability in that relationship.

- Chris Mansel


“Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.”

Henry Thoreau, Walden

The Failing Departing Crowd

There are three kinds of conservatives. One is the close party member not unlike the Gestapo, the second is the Hitler Youth, those that were born into the ideology and never looked back. The third is the propagandist. The men who you saw on the sidewalks and were have age to join the army and did not, the shopkeepers and the printers. They were the ones who stayed behind to guard the fatherland and help load the bodies of Jews into the trucks and train cars. However, it is of no use comparing George Bush to Hitler. Hitler did not have to defend himself as Bush does. Hitler did not have to worry about another party in the congress or the senate disrupting his orders. As bad as the administration of George W. Bush is it is still not as bad as it could be.
Yesterday I mentioned that thanks to John Conyers I have new belief in the Democratic Party, well let me explain that remark. I have faith in what the Party used to be and could be again, not what it is today. The Democratic Party of today resembles more of a new conservative party, a slightly watered down version of a compassionate conservative. The right-wing media has spoon fed the liberal voter for years with its terms like liberal, or neo-con, or even staunch conservative. What the Democrats have not understood is that by allowing the right wing to tell us how to speak they have controlled what we say. They have railed against issues and made us defend them. When we should be more worried about the hungry of the world they trot out social security then later abandon it after the harm is done. We get ourselves into wars with the express purpose of building up defense contractors, lining the pockets of the wealthily. The right wing has no concern for the poor Vietnamese, the poor Iraqi, or the desolate citizens of Panama.
Don’t believe what a conservative tells you; don’t immediately jump into their argument because this is just what they want you to do. Allow their rhetoric to simply undermine itself. Egg them on if you will but choose the ground on which you care the most not the ones they want to argue about. If you play their game you will lose not only your soul but also the case it came in.
- Chris Mansel

Long Live The Ghost

A ghost prowls the streets of heaven clanging a scythe on the gates, his hat is slightly to one side and his voice ravaged by years of alcohol and drugs. He screams loud, “Get out here, goddamn it! Wake up you swine, George Bush raped your mothers with his grandfather’s cock!”

The ghost tears through heaven sending gravel down to the earth causing enormous dust clouds in the desert outside of Las Vegas. He screams at the top of his lungs into a loudspeaker, “God, I know you’re here somewhere, you can’t let this shit drag on anymore! Bolton was sent by the devil, he hides the scars of a pedophile under that mustache! Send your agents to cripple the bastard, sever every nerve in his hind legs! Bloody up his hair and photograph him in his underwear! Send it to the new Nazi Pope!”

By now everyone in heaven is awake and startled at the reality crushing through they’re silence. The wind rages through the hole where the bullet escaped the ghosts body and sends a shrill cry onto the earth. And then just as soon as it began the noise stopped and there was an eerie silence. The only sound heard was the clinking of ice in a glass, the igniting of a propane torch and the smell of marijuana in the air.


- Chris Mansel

The State of the Blog (Celebrity Status)

Just because planes are no longer slamming into buildings doesn’t mean that the terror is over. The real terror begins when it becomes public that the administration was complicit in the attacks. The terror begins when we face the truth that our government has prolonged the war on terror ruthlessly taking thousands of lives in the name of greed.
The underground news organizations of the past, the short wave broadcasts, the letters smuggled out of countries and into the hands of brave magazine publishers are over. Today there are broadcasts of the guilt sprayed across a sea of ones and zeros like targets painted on an electron. The blogger is the new resistance movement but even that has been fortified by greed. The successful blogs have garnered attention and thus have begun to believe more in themselves than in the message. It is not more important to be featured on this radio show or that television news broadcast, face time as they call it in the industry the bloggers are supposed to be fighting against, the message, the truth is what matters and to be seduced by the make-up chair, the readership or the hits on a website is to get away from the central idea, the originator of the movement which has collapsed into a internet form of the Nielsen ratings system.


- Chris Mansel

Shakespeare's Demons on Pennsylvania Avenue

It’s a defining time, a prostrate regurgitation of fear, hatred, and greed not seen since the days of Rome. Shakespeare must have known he would die violently after facing the crowds at each performance but he didn’t. Neither will George Bush. Like a dolphin running through the propellers of a large sea going vessel it will only be slightly scared and swim away to feast on all those smaller then itself. If forensics can teach the world of politics anything it would be that depravity when worn close to the soul could reduce the number of dead with the slightest miscalculation, the biggest lie and the narrowest exchange of data.
A large anvil shaped heart-pouring blood situated in the middle of the stars on the American flag shows the weight of despair in our nation, however, when flown upside down as it should be in a time of crisis it ponders the feeling of listlessness and the gravity of our situation. Forced servitude by reserve troops and its affect on local economies is dwindling what is left of the job market. Unemployed workers everywhere looked forward to troops being deployed in Iraq for the hope of being hired as replacements for companies but as the Wal-Marts of the world will do, they operate without replacing those that are missing and make it harder on those who are left behind.
Shakespeare must have foreseen the oncoming disaster of the America’s when he wrote his play King Lear. No longer a world power but a desperate thug looking for yet another score, our form of democracy has fallen under the spell of a regime so harsh as to kill and eat their own when the need of the greater whole is compromised. The whole being the select few who have their pick of the animals, the shearing of the flock.


- Chris Mansel


O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life’s as cheap as beast’s . . .

You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
…
If it be you that stir these daughters’ hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger,
And let not women’s weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man’s cheeks! No, you unnatural hags,
…
No, I’ll not weep.
I have full cause of weeping, but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
Or ere I’ll weep. O fool, I shall go mad!


- William Shakespeare, King Lear

The State of the Blog (Celebrity Status)

Just because planes are no longer slamming into buildings doesn’t mean that the terror is over. The real terror begins when it becomes public that the administration was complicit in the attacks. The terror begins when we face the truth that our government has prolonged the war on terror ruthlessly taking thousands of lives in the name of greed.
The underground news organizations of the past, the short wave broadcasts, the letters smuggled out of countries and into the hands of brave magazine publishers are over. Today there are broadcasts of the guilt sprayed across a sea of ones and zeros like targets painted on an electron. The blogger is the new resistance movement but even that has been fortified by greed. The successful blogs have garnered attention and thus have begun to believe more in themselves than in the message. It is not more important to be featured on this radio show or that television news broadcast, face time as they call it in the industry the bloggers are supposed to be fighting against, the message, the truth is what matters and to be seduced by the make-up chair, the readership or the hits on a website is to get away from the central idea, the originator of the movement which has collapsed into a internet form of the Nielsen ratings system.


- Chris Mansel

State Sponsored Terrorism (Buy America)

I watched a video entitled, Scenes of Israeli Massacre in Qana 1996 at this website this evening, http://informationclearinghouse.info/israel_terror_video_index_01_19_03.htm
In the video an official attempting to clear the dead away picks up the body of a baby whose head has been blown off. You see the neck and the blood have virtually exploded from gunfire or a bomb. It is chilling and as the site says you will not see this kind of reality on American news shows.
So everyone who says that they would not react the way the Palestinians have should ask themselves how would they react if the American military opened fire in your neighborhood and leveled the houses to make way for other people to build their houses on your land or to provide a road to service another segment of society. Pick up your own child with their head blown apart and tell me you wouldn’t be driven to near madness.
Salute the American flag that provides weapons, vote for the democratic or republican parties that have funded this terrorism for years, and revel in the thought that this terror is taking place across an ocean, in another country your tax dollars pay to terrorize and ethnically cleanse. Do that and we’ll get together every four years and wave signs at a convention, we’ll wear buttons and make speeches and talk about how much better it will be if our candidate wins.

- Chris Mansel

All Purpose Liberal Travel: Serving Up The Conservative Since 2005

Travel agency business created to sell one-way vacation tickets to Aruba for the GOP. The price for their travel will be pro-rated according to their voting record.
Pundits can just pay a flat fee, however they’re on air comments will be taken into consideration as well as their cumulative total of appearances on Fox network. For investor information please contact the Mansel Report for future updates.

- Chris Mansel

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

(One professional torturer to another.)

Torturer One: Investigation…shit, what are they going to investigate that they don’t already know about? All I ever hear about is Gitmo and Iraq, they don’t ever mention us, and just how can they if they don’t know we exist.

Torturer Two: I don’t know, maybe they can torture Powell and get the info out of him. (Laughs)

Torturer One: In the next room screams echo out. A Marine walks by and salutes forgetting himself and gets a piercing glare from the two men.


- Chris Mansel

Karl Rove and the Pretty hate Machine

The Mansel Report has written some fictional pieces in the past and some of them have seemed to the author that they could or might happen. Sometimes they are just a bit scary. The other day the Mansel Report wrote a piece about Karl Rove entitled, Karl Rove: Bishop to Rook, Queen to Pawn. In this piece I described the incredibly organized effort led by Karl Rove to discredit the Clinton family and to smear the name of Hillary Clinton so that she could not seek the presidency. In this piece I describe Karl Rove conceiving a headline to send to Matt Drudge also I mention an unnamed source. I read the Drudge Report today and see a headline about a book that suggests that Bill Clinton raped his wife Hillary and that assault eventually gave birth to their daughter Chelsea.
Ed Klein, the author of this book is slanderous, libel and criminal for the price of defamation all a part of the hate machine of Karl Rove, the genius behind the suffering, the architect of the new Fascist state.
The worst part about this story is a line by Matt Drudge that proves he is a disciple of the hate machine that is the Republican Party, “The rape claim is just the beginning of Klein’s alleged revelations, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.” Just when you thought that nothing, nothing could surprise you about these deviants they have outdone themselves. That the Mansel Report could foresee such a thing occurring just shows you the power of an idea and how a party that would defile its own person to ruin another can use it for corrupt means.

- Chris Mansel

The Concoction Resembles The Cure/Disease (for Jake Berry)

Despair. Troubling thoughts and startling moments, nightmares and the far worse waking thoughts that seem to go on forever, that’s what I feel when I look at this country under the control of the Republican Party. Who thought to call them parties I don’t know but one thing I do know is this, it only feels like a party when you’re on the inside. Everyone else is either a server or watching from the wings.
I was overcome with an intense depression tonight as I thought of what to write. It had been coming on for most of the day as it usually does but tonight was different. I am so proud that you are reading this my good friends and that we together share a belief that things could be better given time and reason.
You see the headlines and you watch the reports on television and you know that neither one is speaking to you. You know that this is someone else’s idea of what matters. Filtered through the table in a boardroom, through an editor, through a typist, a printer and a camera crew somehow a story gets out. But by the time it gets to the reader or the viewer, even on live television, the message is distorted. Marshall McLuhan was right and all else is wrong. “The medium is the message”, he wrote and took you and I by the mind and showed us the path lit by the horrors of a future digital age. As George Bataille wrote,

Higher
than the dark top of the sky
higher
in a mad opening
a trail of light
is the halo of death


- Chris Mansel

The Decline and Withering of the Conservative American Government

What more arcane can be besides a press conference in the house of the people? Regular citizens aren’t allowed to enter, a corporation or company send in their representatives to ask the questions that they want an answer to.

New York Times Reporter: Mr. President, is it true that your daughters have become sexual hoodlums and have been known to engage in sexual contact with the secret service aides, submitting them to sodomy and alcoholic reproach?

President Bush: How do you get in here? I am not going to talk about my family. I won’t answer this…uh, I won’t dicktify..I mean dignify it.

New York Times Reporter: That’s all good and fine Mr. President, but what of Karl Rove’s engaging in unspeakable acts of greed and homosexuality with you and members of your cabinet?

President Bush panics and shrugs his sheriff like shoulders and looks around. Scott McClellan steps up to the microphone:

Scott McClellan: Karl Rove does not hold an official position in the White House…

Arizona News Reporter: McClellan it’s a new age, better get used to it. A new reality, you conservatives have tried to abandon the constitution and it has happened. You won’t wake up from this nightmare.

Scott McClellan: If these kinds of comments continue I will clear the room!

McClellan waves a hand at an aide and a call is placed to the secret service. Several men in suits come into the room adjusting their earpieces and checking their weapons. Together they grab McClellan and walk him to the middle of the room. McClellan is forced under the needle of a truth serum and begins exposing the administration for its lies. CNN carries the events live.
The President storms off into the oval office only to be met by a chorus of insults from his speakerphone. The voice is that of his father.

Former President Bush: What in the hell are you doing down there in Washington Georgie? I just received a subpoena from the war crimes tribunal and Bandar just called me sounding like that guy in Scarface, he even said, “You don’t fuck me, George. You should never try to fuck me George.” You’re written off you coke head! Do you hear me?
The President cuts off the line and orders his helicopter to abandon his post.

- Chris Mansel

The Devil and Mr. Jones

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Gnawing The Brick Down To The Powder

The organizing class of the state of Maryland will now come to order the voice said through the loud speaker. A rustling of wing tip shoes and a sliding of folding chairs ring out through the large hall as Tucker Carlson takes the stage.

Tucker Carlson: Now you know that the democratic syphilis-like disease of inhumanity has stained the good name of America here and abroad…what we want to do here is to educate you on the finer points of political sabotage and to rid this earth of the Clinton. Now as much as we would like to just walk up behind them and do a good old’ double tap in the back of the head we can’t. We’re not Robert Novak, at least I’m not, and G. Gordon Liddy is in radio now and keeping his hands clean.

The crowd comes to order and laughs wickedly at Carlson’s remarks. NAMBLA brochures that were placed on each seat are browsed and the smoking lamp is lit. Outside in the foyer are booths set up from every major lobby in the country. Congressional leaders reek of liquor and several members of the Supreme Court are hidden behind bullet proof glass analyzing the pickings personally before anyone else, a kind of preview of sorts.

Tom Selleck takes the stage.

Tom Selleck: I just wanted to say that I appreciate the treatment I have gotten from those gathered and to say that I support the ruination of the Clinton as much as any of you. I was just talking to Sean Hannity the other day that as you know was attacked on The View by that knuckle-dragging lesbian Rosie O’Donnell, an immigrant name if I ever heard one, as I was when she still had a show, and Hannity said to me that we must use the open-mindedness of the liberal voter to our advantage. We must show them in some demonic way that a vote for the right is license to do as you want in this administration. (applause) A vote for the right is the pleasure in knowing you won’t be indicted by judges that we appoint. (applause) You will be rewarded in the private sector for what you do in the public sector. (applause) So I say to you today that I support the ruination of the Clinton. Thanks so much.


To be continued


- Chris Mansel

Domestic Pathetic

President Bush: Karl, Jeb signed a state of alert down there with that Arlene storm. Everybody is going on about story about helping Africa, and no one has mentioned unemployment in a while now.

Karl Rove: You can be assured that Syria will keep attention off domestic issues for a while now.

President Bush: Yea, Karl and I get to meet with that porn chick. Dang, I wish Condi would make one. You think she’d be interested in one of them manage a trios?

Karl Rove: If she wants to be named Frist’s running mate she will.


- Chris Mansel

Karl Rove: Bishop To Rook, Queen To Pawn

In a downtown office building in the state of Virginia a man sits in front of a computer screen and accesses the records of every citizen who voted in the 2004 election. He categorizes by race, income, and party affiliation.

In a office located inside the White House Karl Rove plays around with a headline that he will send to Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report. His phone rings and he takes the call.

Karl Rove: Yea…

Unnamed Source: We have organized half of the party, everyone has their marching orders.

Karl Rove: Good, tell Bay Buchanan next time she appears on CNN not to look like some sort of holocaust victim with an upside down bird’s nest on her head.

Unnamed Source: Yes sir, consider it done. We are also having success diverting Tsunami funds to the smear campaign against the Clintons. The special account is being accesses readily by those in the field.

Karl Rove: You just make damn sure that they pace themselves and get the stories where they belong. The worst thing that can happen is the same kind of goddamn fervor that almost sank us in 2000.

Unnamed Source: I have the names sorted by census and party. Do you still want me to send my findings to the off shore address?

Karl Rove: Of course, but send a reminder to Katherine Harris. She has to mention family, funding, and faith. The three F’s will get her elected otherwise she is banished for good.

Unnamed Source: Yes sir.



- Chris Mansel

Behind The Scenes

Sean Hannity behind the scenes would feature pit bull wrestling and a wall of newspaper cutouts of democratic congressional leaders with targets painted on their faces.

Rush Limbaugh behind the scenes would feature an ivory jar overflowing with pills prescribed by four separate doctors.

Dick Cheney behind the scenes would feature dark skinned Arab citizens choking on the acrid smoke of his limousine as he revved the engine in hopes of crossing the highway unscathed.

Pat Robertson behind the scenes would feature rape kits mailed out in gross to clergymen and lawmakers to educate the parishioners on how to hide evidence of rape.

Karl Rove behind the scenes would feature a life size bust of Jesus Christ being crucified beneath an upside down John the Baptist on the same hunk of wood.


- Chris Mansel

Karl Rove: Bishop to Rook, Queen to Pawn

In a downtown office building in the state of Virginia a man sits in front of a computer screen and accesses the records of every citizen who voted in the 2004 election. He categorizes by race, income, and party affiliation.

In a office located inside the White House Karl Rove plays around with a headline that he will send to Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report. His phone rings and he takes the call.

Karl Rove: Yea…

Unnamed Source: We have organized half of the party, everyone has their marching orders.

Karl Rove: Good, tell Bay Buchanan next time she appears on CNN not to look like some sort of holocaust victim with an upside down bird’s nest on her head.

Unnamed Source: Yes sir, consider it done. We are also having success diverting Tsunami funds to the smear campaign against the Clintons. The special account is being accesses readily by those in the field.

Karl Rove: You just make damn sure that they pace themselves and get the stories where they belong. The worst thing that can happen is the same kind of goddamn fervor that almost sank us in 2000.

Unnamed Source: I have the names sorted by census and party. Do you still want me to send my findings to the off shore address?

Karl Rove: Of course, but send a reminder to Katherine Harris. She has to mention family, funding, and faith. The three F’s will get her elected otherwise she is banished for good.

Unnamed Source: Yes sir.



- Chris Mansel

Paralysis

Democracy without capitalism is communism. At the heart of communism is a wonderful idea. The idea of everyone being equal, the simple pure act of sharing is a beautiful thought. I don’t see why the ideal couldn’t come about if the masses stood as one instead of groups. The two parties that have operated, from their inception, from the guidance of others, have destroyed whatever democracy was first intended; its starry sky has passed like harvest moon. When the individual became more important than the masses democracy laid its head upon a stone and with its own hand swung the ax.

- Chris Mansel

The Prisoners Discredit Their Own Suffering

“When money speaks, the truth is silent.” – A Russian proverb


I just don’t see any hope for this country if it continues down the path it is on. The corporations who control the press who control the networks who approve or disapprove each word that is uttered leads the citizens of the u.s. awry with hardly a wave of its hand. It is all consuming the dread and mockery of anything good. The ferocity of the public to feed off the blood that is poured into the water is disgusting. They didn’t know to recognize the blood until the Democratic Party had to shed its blood in the same way the Republicans do. The Democratic Party is missing in non-action.
Still no one, neither party reflects the suffering in this country. There is no legislation anywhere that looks out for communities like Libby, Montana. There is no meaningful work being down to combat the savage wrecking of our environment. Both parties will claim they do this or that but it all ends up the same election promise. The candidates will tell you they will fight for this or that but it is all due to the money they receive from lobbyists and the ever-ruining art of compromise. To make some of these compromises politicians should have to come face to face with the citizens they are affecting. Politics in Washington mirrors the scripted town hall meetings, the scripted debates.
Just for a second forget about poverty. Forget about education it’s easy, politicians do. Consider a new uncontrollable strain of HIV hitting the shores of Mexico or California. You can make a movie about smallpox and say what if. You can portray a nuclear blast, or asteroids hitting the planet. Those are what if situations. A new strain of HIV is a when situation, a where situation. It is very likely to happen.
You hear the term living wage being mentioned often. There is no living wage for the poorer people of this country. When you are young you are told to get a good education and that will suffice as you grow into adulthood. You will get a good job with an education and raise a family. How many times have you met a college graduate working for hardly a living wage? Often I imagine. In this new century we are often reminded of the past when we look around us. Our elderly will be glad to tell you that they have seen a situation like this before. The great depression tried its best to starve or kill off an entire generation. Poverty was the killer then and poverty still kills today, but you don’t hear it mentioned do you? Politicians who look for our best interest could very well be the caring arms around our throat.

- Chris Mansel

Bucket of Blood

Where are the signs of death are they on the white house lawn? Is it in the manicured shrubs, the steel gate surrounding the property? It can’t be in the guardhouse you have to pass through to get in, that wouldn’t look good. No, the sign of death is flown into the United States in the form of coffins that are covered in American flags that you cannot photograph, imagine the symbol of America, democracy cannot be photographed.
For every grain of sand, microscopic sand in the wounds of each American soldier there is a heartbroken and wrecked family somewhere else. Maybe they get a photograph of what their son or daughter, or husband or mom’s day was like in Iraq. Maybe they got emails or photos. What they do get due to the greed of a certain individual in Washington is tremendous loss. Loss that ends a family name or insures that a child will never be able to look at a funeral again and not be reminded of his time sitting in that folding chair in front of a coffin, a tremendous loss for a child. A burning opportunity for a man who already has enough money to last a lifetime, can you imagine that obscenity? Where are the signs of death? They are littered across every ballot box, every counting machine. Do you have blood on your hands?

- Chris Mansel

An American Scoundrel

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WFP Dwindling Funds Affect returnees

WFP Dwindling Funds Affect Returnees

The New Times (Kigali)
NEWS

May 31, 2005 Posted to the web June 1, 2005

By Joan WanguiKigali


The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are increasingly concerned about the deteriorating conditions of tens of thousands of refugees and returnees in Rwanda, as WFP runs out of funds to provide them with food aid.
In a press release, the WFP says it urgently requires US$5.5 million to provide 9,000 tonnes of food assistance to some 60,000 people until the end of this year.
Food stock to feed 54,000 refugees, mainly from the DRC, Burundi, and thousands of returnees is quickly running out and, by June, according to the release, the WFP will have exhausted all its cereals.
'The impact of this is terrible," Maarit Hirvonen, the WFP Country Director in Rwanda said, adding that, "The refugees depend entirely on our food for their survival."
Hirvonen said WFP is doing all it can to channel all available resources into the life-saving operation.
"We are even taking loans from partner agencies but the sources for any extra food are getting scarce. Without WFP food aid, life in the camps would be totally unsustainable," he is quoted in the release as saying.
According to the release, lack of resources in March caused the WFP to reduce the amount of food provided to refugees by 30%.
'This had serious nutritional consequences. The condition could be worse as the number of refugees from the DRC have increased from 35,000 to 53, 000,' the release states in part.
It also indicates that increased malnutrition has been reported in crowded camps in the hilltop, where refugees also face harsh cold weather and limited facilities.
'To the school- going children, the condition is unbearable as there are fewer and fewer going to school as they are too weak to sit in classes,' the release indicates.
Meanwhile, the UNHCR representative in Rwanda, Panos Moumtzis, also says that domestic violence, crime and prostitution within the camps is on the rise, with implications of HIV/Aids infection for the community.
Reports show that during the last three years, about 25,000 Rwandans have returned each year. A monthly average of between 1,000 and 2,000 returned early this year.
But there is hope as donors led by the US with US$3.5 million, have given financial support for WFP Rwanda operations. Among other donors are Japan (US$1.7 m), Canada ($254,000) and Germany (US$989,000).



Copyright © 2005 The New Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

Stir It Up

Just a day after Memorial Day and the celebrating is over. A new story breaks about the suspected deep throat and the news wires and television erupt over his identity. Pundits get face time on television and the required stand-up message from the family is read. But in South Africa on Memorial Day over 6,000 people died of AIDS. In Iraq a child was too terrified to tell his parents about the soldier he saw poking a weapon into a car. In the streets of America a man sits in a truck on the Arizona border and waits for a man to cross the fence and illegally detain him at gunpoint until the authorities arrive. A woman dies trying to give birth by herself. Where is the holiday from suffering? If they could pick a day would it be observed? If a day off from work is all the public wants from Memorial day, Martin Luther King day, or New Year’s day then give them a day off. Give them every day they want off with pay and let an immigrant who doesn’t take a work day for granted do their work. This immigrant who came to America to escape starvation, or to escape torture, who is now in hiding in the same country that detained him in his home country. The land of the free and the home of the brave are but a melting pot stirred with someone else’s hand.
- Chris Mansel