Prayer for Our Land

REVIEWS

Stuart-Sinclair Weeks has written an extraordinary document for our times and for our country. It is long, but profound and wonderful and has the distinct quality of a document that could change a paradigm.

~ Bill Perry, businessman & former speechwriter for President and Mrs. Carter
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~ Kathie Ragsdale, Editor, Gate House Media, November 2013
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~ Jack Fobes, former Deputy Director General, UNESCO in his 86th year, North Carolina.
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~ David Benians, Canary Islands, Spain
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It’s a thing of beauty and a joy to work on.

~ Paul Croteau, production person at the Keene Sentinel,
which first published the prayer in NH.
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Very, very powerful stuff, beautifully put.

~ Herman Gyr, Consultant, California
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Outstanding!

~ Barbara Woodward, South Africa business leader
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After I read the prayer my heart was beating so hard that I had to lie down
for a half an hour. It touched me in my core.

~ Joan Swift, Businesswoman, MA
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A blessed prayer that we all need to take to heart.

~ Doris “Granny D” Haddock,Author of “Walking Across America
in My 90th Year” (for campaign finance reform), NH.
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The prayer moved me beyond words.

~ Teresa Morris, Tuscarora Elder & Educator, North Carolina
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It was with great appreciation that I could read some truth from an American.
I have just finished your article in the New View and found it very fine.
I pray with you it will have some effect.

~ Anne Stockton, Artist, Sussex, England
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Tremendous! It’s all there. It says it all; it covers the whole picture.

~ Mark Perkins, Computer Consultant, MA
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This is a REMARKABLE wake up call that I hope is read across our land.

David Balkin, Journalist, Maine
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In my resentment of Bush, I have become a firm Democrat, but I really appreciate your views of unity. That is where I want to focus my energy. Thank you for inspiring me to do something. I feel that even if my views are not articulated as perfectly as I would like, it is better than choosing silence, as the majority of Americans do. I feel grateful to include your masterpiece to support my concerns for America to my representatives.

~ Terra Sonora, Counselor, NY
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Excellent, excellent, excellent. The letter inspired my son to get involved in politics.

~ Mila Rizzo, Dir. Humane Animal Society, NH
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Nick Raeside’s article speaks of the sense of wonder and reverence towards the natural world …. Such an evoked sense prepares and #tempers!$an inner mood. This is at the heart of !A Prayer for Our Land to President Bush and the American People.” Its author, Stuart-Sinclair Weeks, gestated and worked with it from July 4th, 2003 to Epiphany 2004. It is a very long piece for New View to carry, but the reader is asked to not be put off by that. Rather, you are invited to experience the thoughts and questions of an American, whose family has been involved in politics for four generations, raising a plea to remember that upon which America was once founded, for a renewed future.

~ Thomas Raine, Publisher, New View Magazine
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I was very, very impressed. You couldn’t have done a better job.
I’ve alerted others to the web site.

~ Roswita Trayes, businesswoman, MA
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It felt like the sun rising in the morning and brought me great joy.

~ Elsbeth Sunstein-Duwan, Music Teacher
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Your prayer positions you as a conscience in a political wilderness. I suspect its receptivity will depend upon openness of mind and astuteness in understanding G.W.B.!s motives. You continue to be prolific and activate and sensitize the conscience and minds of others.

~ Michael Marlow, Artist, MA
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This is an extraordinary document. It renders evidence that American patriotism does not have to be a contradiction to a democratic and globally oriented peace-loving thinking. I’m particularly happy (being a German citizen of a post-war era troubled and bewildered with national and patriotic ideas in this country and elsewhere) to see this different kind of approach to culture, politics and a global world view. I do hope it will be widely read and appreciated as what it is: a wake-up call in difficult times, deeply founded in the noble tradition of American thinking.

~ Harald Kiczka, Author, Germany
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THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’ve run into various snippets of these things here and there over the years, but this is a great pulling together of lots of them.

~ David-Michael Monasch, Educator & Artist, Colorado
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Your writing rekindled within me a feeling of beauty and wonder of the values and ideals that this country were formed on. When I said that I was going to do my part by starting with me, I meant that I felt that it is the duty of every human to stand for what is right and true. To make a difference when and where they can. If we cannot accomplish that within ourselves, how can we expect that of another? I found your writing to be beautiful. I believe it was written to stir the soul of the reader and you accomplished that in me. Thank you for letting me experience my humanity by sharing yours. You engaged my imagination for what could be, and for that I am grateful.

~ Wayne Carrick, Chiropracter, NC
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A friend gave me a copy of your article, “A prayer for Our Land”. I read it today and feel electrified. So many strange things have been happening, with no explanation. Your article makes things clear.
I!m deeply grateful.

~ Nancy Dean, NY
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A very impressive piece. . . . This is worth wide distribution.

~ David Van Strien, Retired Minister, NH
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This first thing that struck me about your “prayer” was the reference to the Prince of Peace admonishing us to love one another as He has loved us. As I read further, I noticed the calm tone, while stating the egregious constitutional and humanitarian transgressions, which have been turned into policies of this administration. The reference to historical examples and quotes from current and former statesmen, attested to the erudition and universal values of the writer. So it was the level of thoughtful intelligence, the tone of quiet passion, and the breadth of information that held my interest. Thanks for your work.

~ Margaret Sullivan, Minnesota
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I thought your letter was anointed.

~ Arthur Yaghjian, Physicist, MA
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Exquisite.

~ Mindy Kash, Educator, Virginia
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My friend sent your prayer/letter to me and I want to express how much I appreciate your writing this. You are extremely articulate and present the facts and your questions and concerns beautifully. You echo my own questions and feelings, as well, I’m sure, of many others. I am grateful that you wrote this and will pass it on to all those I know who are concerned, as we are, and to those who, perhaps, are not as informed.

~ Peace and many blessings, Marilyn Winfield, Psychologist, California
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Thanks for your lively conscience and ability to write and articulate.

~ Bill Riccobono, fellow citizen, Pennsylvania
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I hope your prayer is taken to heart, and penetrates the ‘soul’ of America; indeed, that of the world.
Thank you for sharing your work, your passion.

~ Sindiso Mnisi, Attorney, South Africa
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This is another “shot” that I hope will heard around the world, the true voice of America.

~ Wolfgang Schuster, MD, Germany

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* With an Afterword by old Ben Franklin . . . .

A PRAYER FOR OUR LAND
TO PRESIDENT BUSH & THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
July 4, 2003 – January 6th, Epiphany 2004

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“That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. And
that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

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How much time this week will you spend watching TV, reading a book, magazine, scratching your head over another crossword puzzle, financial scheme, leaning over a video game, or going to a movie? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 hours and more?

Can you imagine devoting 10, 15, 20 minutes to a prayer for our land, America that calls upon us, We the People, to help fulfill Lincoln’s vision of “a new birth of freedom” – a prayer that is dedicated to our children, grandchildren, and to the generations to come: All Our Relations?

We speak of our “American Dream.” Are we aware of what We the People are saying? Can it be that if we are dreaming, we are, in fact, asleep? What will it take for us to awaken — rude such an awakening becomes, indeed, a rude one?

Pray tell, friends. Pray tell.

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Dear President Bush; Dear Fellow Citizens

I write to you as a New Hampshire citizen, graduate of Dartmouth College, alumnus of Up with People, member of Rotary, as the inaugurator of Democracy in Practice, and as a fellow parent and author of a love story sent to you, The Lord of Cat Bow, about one of the oldest Republican families in our nation, who, over the last 9 generations, have served in state or national office.

These pages have taken a good seven months to compose. Much moves in my heart . . . . Where, Mr. President, fellow citizens, to begin?

I dedicate this offering to those who were killed on September 11th – unsung heroes many – and to their courageous, truly courageous families, friends, and to those fellow citizens since then of all political persuasions, who, often quietly, unrecognized, have labored to keep alive the holy flame of the heart through these darkening times. I include among them a young friend named Tim.

For yes, Martin Luther King, your words resound: “. . . . with this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountains of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discord of our Nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together; to play together; to struggle together; to go to jail together; to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”

The dream lives on. Let us awaken!

~ ~ ~

What Can One Say?

Friends, how to raise questions about issues that most people don’t want to talk about, never mind think about, none-the-less imagine?

How to speak up in a manner that can unite, and not divide, us, the US as a nation, a truly United States? How to do so in a way that – addressing, no less, the spirit within each one of us – can break the spell of apathy and fear, anger and pain that holds sway over our land . . . . and, thereby, en-courage us, the People, to awaken, awaken as Americans from and to our dream:

And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea?

A prayer for our land. Imagine.

Imagine, Mr. President, if we had devoted the 200 billion dollars (one half, one quarter, even one tenth) that we spent, first destroying and now rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq, to exploring peaceful resolutions to the crisis.

Imagine if we had heeded the dire warning in the Farewell Address of former President and Supreme Allied Commander, Eisenhower about “the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power” by the military industrial complex, which profits, mightily, from its weapon sales, including to those who turn out to be our very enemies.

Are you aware that the Department of Defense has never passed an independent audit and that the U.S. Inspector General has stated that the Pentagon cannot properly account for $1.2 trillion dollars in transactions with its suppliers — $1.2 trillion of OUR tax payers’ dollars. (Press Conference: Congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky, 9/19/02)

Consider if we had taken seriously the warning in 1990 of six of the seven prior Secretaries of Defense, who earnestly advised us NOT to go into the Gulf in the first place.

Imagine if you, Mr. President, had taken seriously your father’s own memoir, A World Transformed, explaining why he didn’t go after Saddam Hussein in 1991:

“Trying to eliminate Saddam . . . . would have incurred incalculable human and political costs . . . . We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq . . . . There was no viable ‘exit strategy’, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations’ mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish.”

Imagine if we had heeded the further words of Eisenhower – a warrior who knew more about conflict than most of us can even imagine – Eisenhower’s clear words about our learning to to stand up for our right NOT to fight back. “This is not a way of life at all . . . . It is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.” (1953 address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.)

Will it take not only the ongoing loss of lives in Iraq, but also the cut-back of essential services (education, housing, health care, fire and police) the draining off of our social security trust fund, and a trillion dollar debt imposed on our children, for us to realize that it is time to break the vicious cycle?

Did you hear the Iraqi ambulance driver who cried out in desperation, “Please, anyone who can, influence your government to stop!” An eye for an eye . . . . makes the whole world blind?

We’ve not only put people on the Moon, Mr. President, fellow citizens, but we are now reaching to Mars. Recognizing these facts, we doubt – if those who profit from war could find a way to profit from peace, lift their visions from the bottomline to the top-line: In God We Trust – do we doubt, truly, that we can bring greater peace to our earth?

Where there is a will, is there not a way? Yes, “America is great,” the expression goes, “because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

Mr. President, can you imagine what our world would be like if we were to take to heart the very essence of the message of your avowed Savior, the Prince of Peace:

Blessed are the peace makers: for they shall be called the children of God. . . Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven . . . .

What can one say?

I marvel, ever and again, at how many fellow citizens, who claim Jesus as their savior, find themselves compelled to do everything they can to ignore, avoid, dismiss, and, ultimately, deny Jesus’ CENTRAL message to humanity:

“A new commandment I give you that you LOVE one another,
even as I have loved you.”

Imagine, loving even our enemies. Can we, will we . . . ?

Friend/friends, while these pages, this prayer raises serious and disturbing questions, those questions lead to a happy ending for those who seek it — along with to the revelation, at the Prayer’s conclusion, of a secret of sorts about the promise of our “New World,” our ever “New World.”

~ ~ ~

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A More Personal Word

President Bush, I am concerned. As such, I address this letter first to you, our chief executive. In so doing, I speak for a large and growing number of fellow citizens: not just Democrats, Independents, third party and non-voters.

I speak no less for a growing number of Republicans, from your former Treasury Secretary O’Neill, through Republican leaders, Senators Lugar, Specter, Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, as well as Congressman Sensenbrenner, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to the former Chairman of the NH Republican party, David Gosselin, who called for an alternative candidate to give you a run for your (considerable) money in NH’s “First-in-the-Nation” primary.

My concern is summed up in the biblical words that have resounded down through the ages: “A house divided can not stand.” Indeed, such an abode can only fall . . . . fall . . . . fall!

My concern is not only that our elected representatives, but more importantly We The People, have lost sight of the promise of our “New World.” Not to divide ourselves as of old into parties, factions, special interests, but to create an ever “more perfect union.”

Before elaborating my concerns, let me begin, Mr. President, on a positive note. I admire your resolve, your courage to assume the office of Chief Executive at this critical time in history. For the pressure you face must be considerable, to say the least. That I wish to express, clearly and sincerely.

I’m also struck by the fact that a significant – if unintended – effect of your presidency is that your actions have succeeded in rousing, indeed awakening, millions of fellow Americans and citizens from around the world who, as expressed, are not pleased. In short, your policies – be they related to war, the environment, health care, education, or our “unalienable” civil rights – have succeeded, most successfully, in focusing the issue — “that government of, by, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Your policies have set the stage as we step on into the new millennium . . . .

How the drama will play itself out, we shall see. Will The People, We, remain awake, or will we succumb to our dream and it to a nightmare? The words of the old prophet resound: Without a vision [human/humane] the people perish. Are we not all in this together?

Thereto, Mr. President, a related and more personal word. There is an expression that you may be aware of: “never criticize a person until you have prayed for him first.” That has been my endeavor over these last seven months in the process of drafting this letter. I confess, it has not always been easy.

And yet, the expression reveals a deeper truth: if we hold the other in our prayers, criticism itself is not necessary. I trust that you understand the spirit in which I write. “Speak the truth in love,” the Apostle Paul counseled. It is a high calling, one that I will do my best to fulfill.

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My Concerns

President Bush, where my concerns begin is not with your courage but – to be honest – with your convictions.

From what I can make out, the policies of your government have less and less to do with either the principles of the Republican Party, or with the true ideals of our nation, and more and more to do with the “Almighty Buck”, the moneyed elite. If I may say?

Can this be?

How, for instance, are we to understand the fact that one of your major donors and closest advisors was Ken Lay, the former chairman of Enron, who was responsible for thousands of Americans losing their pensions and life savings at what has been described as the altar of corporate greed? You’re aware, I trust, of the expression: a person is known by the company he keeps.

What are we to make of your support for Bill Simon’s campaign for governor of California? Despite knowing full well that Simon’s investment company was hit with a $78 million civil judgment for defrauding countless investors, at the private luncheon for Simon, you enthusiastically proclaimed: “I’m so proud to be here and embrace his candidacy!” (Bush’s Brain, p. 340) Are you aware of what you were saying: You’re so proud to embrace corruption?

As your campaign “war chest” – fueled by contributions from big business – fills up to the $200 million mark, can it be, Mr. President, that your preoccupation with getting elected has overshadowed your commitment to those principles upon which our nation was founded, first and foremost: liberty and justice for ALL.

If so, have you, in fact, violated your oath of office, that oath which had as its intent to bound you and your fellow elected officials to the Constitution? Need I add that, by the Constitution, I am referring to its opening 3 words:

WE THE PEOPLE . . . .

“Details,” “details” one might say? Details and more.

The opening words speak, as noted, of your allegiance to the People, We. Not to we the republican People. Not we the democratic People. Not even the independence People, and even less to the “party bosses” behind such ranks. Even less to the “monied interests” behind those “party bosses.”

No, those elected officials whose allegiances are partisan, bossed, as noted, driven by the “Almighty Buck” . . . . those elected officials have, in truth, violated their oath of office from the very start. This being the case, what should one expect once such “politicians” have gotten into office, gotten up a head of steam?

Republican Senator John Danforth of Missouri answered this question in a most forthright, moving, and sobering manner:

“I have never seen more senators express discontent with their jobs . . . . I think the major cause is that, deep down in our hearts, we have been accomplices in doing something terrible and unforgivable to our wonderful country. Deep down in our hearts, we know the we have given our children a legacy of bankruptcy. We have defrauded our country to get ourselves elected.”

Are these words clear, Mr. President? Clearly meant to go in one ear and out the other . . . ?

Can you understand how, in the eyes of many Americans, your latest round of tax breaks for the wealthy adds insult to injury? We’re told that there’s no money for the most basic needs, from housing to health care. Are you aware that if you were to repeal your tax break for the upper 1% of the population, $750 billion would be saved over the next 6 years? $750 billion. Do you know what such funds would be for our communities?

From what I can tell, President Bush, the real – and growing – division is not one of party or ideology, but it is between those with wealth, those who are intent upon making a “killing,” and those whose struggle grows with every passing day to simply make a living, to survive.

In this respect, who would have guessed that the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are, one hears, brothers in the same secret society? Two sides of the same coin? Can it be?

What’s going on?

Yes, a large and growing number of fellow citizens recognize the increased influence of money, though many are uncomfortable speaking up about it.

President Bush, you’ve set your sights on a second term in office, primed by your political advisor, Karl Rove’s statement: “If you are the establishment’s choice on the Republican side, you are the inevitable nominee. No ifs, ands, or buts.” (Bush’s Brain, p.240) My thoughts go to author, Sidney Blumenthal’s assessment of such governing decrees: “engineering of consent with a vengeance”? Can that be?

As expressed, I’m concerned, Mr. President. Specifically, turning to foreign affairs, I fear that your crusading spirit and that of your administration is too right, righteous . . . and thus extreme . . . . and thus imbalanced. “Bring ‘em on!”, your administration says. “My God was bigger than their God!”

Is that really what you and your supporters want: more conflict, deaths – American no less – a holy/unholy 3rd World War with the Islamic world, Armageddon?

Recall the words of former Republican Senator, Barry Goldwater, the icon of conservatism:

Our problem is with these neo-conservatives [God bless them], the radical right, the religious extremists whose interpretation is very narrow, and who want to destroy everybody who doesn’t agree with them.

As I say, President Bush, I have concerns.

* They continue with September 11th and the fact that over two years later you continue not only to prevent an open, public investigation of 9/11, but that you have refused to release information even to the families of the victims.

The new Chair of the 9/11 Commission and former Republican Governor of New Jersey, Tom Kean, has expressed his related concern about being prohibited from even taking notes on key documents. Can you understand that such an ongoing cover-up, in many peoples’ eyes, raises the question: what is the President trying to hide?

* I’m concerned, President Bush, that you’ve dismissed such issues by stating: “If you’re not with us — you, our public servants — you’re against us.” A comment that your press Secretary Ari Fleischer made clear applied to American citizens no less.

* I’m concerned by the recent feature story in the conservative U.S. News & World Report (12/22/03). “The Bush administration”, it states, “has quietly but efficiently dropped a shroud of secrecy across many critical operations of the federal government.”

* I’m concerned by a recent statement by General Tommy Franks, who said that, “if there is another major terrorist attack, our Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government”. . . . in which the nation “loses what it cherishes most, and that is the freedom and liberty we’ve seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy.” Can you imagine the implication of Frank’s words? They are precisely what our Founding Fathers most feared. “Those who are willing to give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security”, Ben Franklin stated.

* I’m concerned by words of your former Texas Rangers partner. On July 14, 1989, Roland Betts told the Midland Reporter Telegraph that you frankly acknowledged to him: “I’m basically a media creation. I’ve never really done anything.”

Even less. That is, much was made of the fact that, at the conclusion of your last term as Governor of Texas, you cut taxes in the state, in order to advance your Presidential fortunes. Less publicized is the claim that, as a result of the tax cut, when you moved on to Washington you left the Texas government bankrupt to the tune of billions in borrowed dollars.

Appearances/Reality?

What’s going on? More recently, Karl Rove explained: “It’s all visuals. You campaign as if America was watching TV with the sound turned down. It’s all visuals” My thoughts go to your brilliantly staged welcome home to the troops at the supposed end of the Iraq War. (Bush’s Brain, pg. 273)

The nation was spellbound by the picture of the President, proudly poised atop the aircraft carrier Lincoln in flight uniform, proclaiming victory to the world?

And yet, how do you think the viewers, particularly war veterans, would have responded if it turned out that their Commander-in-Chief: a) had used his “political pull” to avoid the draft, thereby taking a fellow Texan’s long-awaited place in the National Guard; b) was subsequently, and routinely, AWOL during his time in the Guard; and c) ended up deserting his country during war?

Mr. President, are these reports true? “Visuals”. . . . appearances, deceptions? “I’m basically a media creation”, you say.

Spruced up in your flight uniform, do you recall the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes?

To repeat, what’s going on?

How are we to understand that after you avoided the draft, you are sending our children off to Afghanistan, Iraq, and, if you had your way, to multiple conflicts – to die in vain, vain . . . ?

Journalists Slater and Moore, who’ve followed your political career from the beginning, address this question in simple, straightforward words: “Neither Rove nor the Bush administration give the electorate credit for being sophisticated enough to call them to account.”

Can that be?

The examples they give in their book Bush’s Brain of your pulling the wool over our eyes are many, legion. If true, they leave me wondering: Is that really the way you want to operate? It’s hard to believe that you have so little respect for your fellow Americans?

To be clear, Mr. President, none of these statements give me any pleasure, of that I assure you. I speak up because we are dealing with matters of life and death. How many hundreds of our “boys” and “girls” have died in Iraq since you dramatically proclaimed victory aboard the Lincoln, assured us that the war was over? What does one say to the broken-hearted spouses, children, siblings, parents of those who have since fallen?

President Theodore Roosevelt’s words return to heart and mind. In response to those today who protest by saying, “He’s our President; we have to support him”, Roosevelt counseled: “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official . . . . It is unpatriotic not to oppose him [the President] to the exact extent that by inefficiently or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country.” So it is. America’s saving grace has been that we are a land of laws. Presidents come and go. As long as the rule of law abides, we will do the same as a free nation.

~ ~ ~

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9/11: The Real Story

Finally, President Bush, my greatest concern is with respect to a lawsuit filed against you on behalf of families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11th.

The lawsuit alleges that you, Mr. President, allowed the attacks to happen for political gain and to rouse support for your “War on Terrorism.” Is these words are clear, what can one say?

“Conspiracy talk”, some protest. Others suggest: “Business as usual”: 9/11, Tonkin Gulf, Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Lusatania, the Maine. How many Americans know, how many Americans care about the facts that have come to light with respect to the real events behind our entrance into Vietnam, the Second and First World Wars, the Spanish-American War? Do we insist on dreaming on . . . . on nightmares?

My thoughts go to the words of your National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. In April last year, she described September 11 as an “enormous opportunity” and said America “must move to take advantage of these new opportunities.”

BRING US ON?

And they go to the Aug. 5, 2001 White House briefing, as reported by CNN (3/02) and the Washington Post (5/17/02), where Richard Clarke, your top counter-terrorism official, informed a dozen federal agencies that “Something really spectacular is going to happen here, and it’s going to happen soon.”

The lawsuit against you was not filed by a wild-eyed Democrat or “communist.” Rather, it was filed by another concerned citizen and staunch member of your own party, Republican attorney Stanley Hilton, former aide to Bob Dole, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

Hilton’s lawsuit is only one of a number that allege the same. Pennsylvania’s former Deputy Attorney General, Philip J. Berg, is representing a courageous woman, Ellen Mariani in NH, who lost her husband in the attacks. In the widow’s words: “While our nation was under attack you did not appear to blink an eye or shed a tear.””

The larger agenda, Berg notes, is presented in the plans – which are part of the public record – of the neo-conservative think-tank, The Project for the New American Century. Its architects (leading members of your administration) discuss how the military expansion that they seek would be difficult unless a new Pearl Harbor occurred, which would galvanize the support of an angry and fearful citizenry. Is this true? If so, is this not outrageous? Do you consider us mere puppets?

Despite the fact that Hilton and others have backed up their claim with sources from FBI, CIA and other government agencies (which have stated that the official story of 911 is not true) Hilton and others have been the focus of sharp and ongoing attacks aimed at discrediting them in the public’s eye.

The points relating to 9/11 follow. They begin with the recent CBS interview with Commission Chair Kean, who went on to say “I do not believe it [the Sept. 11 attacks] had to happen.” They continue with your, the FBI’s, and CIA’s initial insistence (later changed) that you had absolutely no foreknowledge of the attacks.

They include reports of prior reactions by the stock market, firms in the World Trade Towers that were brought to their “knees,” and FEMA that could only have occurred if each, in fact, had prior knowledge of the attacks. The reports go on to note that you and Vice President Cheney instructed Senator Tom Daschle not to request a Congressional investigation of Sept. 11. (www. unansweredquestions.org)

And, the reports conclude with your own strikingly contradictory reports about your response to the hijackings. If we are to believe your words, President Bush, it appears that neither your Chief of Staff, nor your National Security Advisor are telling it as it is.

Can that be . . . ?

Can you understand that such statements, one after another, present a disturbing picture?

While my wish to believe in our President and government is as strong as that of any fellow citizen, blind faith for me is not the answer, nor is fear itself our birthright as a people. Rather, as our former Governor Walter Peterson noted last summer, while addressing the subject on New Hampshire Public Radio: “My country right or wrong; right keep right, wrong set right.”

In the course of drafting this letter, my thoughts went to an exchange with my grandfather, noted in the book The Lord of Cat Bow. While in the U.S. Senate, Sinclair Weeks played a key role in the investigation of Pearl Harbor. The son of a former Secretary of War in two cabinets, Grampy was a World War I veteran, who — blood, sweat and tears — fought his way across the trenches of France and later became America’s principle business spokesperson as Secretary of Commerce under Eisenhower. Sinclair Weeks was not only as loyal a patriot as there has been, but he was disturbed, to say the least, with what he uncovered in the Pearl Harbor investigation.

“In politics nothing happens by accident,” President Franklin Roosevelt himself noted, while at the very helm during Pearl Harbor, “if it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

Can that be / So it was?

President Bush, New Hampshire’s “First-in-the-Nation Primary” approaches, followed by the national election. Recognizing that the purpose of our primaries and election is to promote discussion of issues, I trust that – given the times in which we live – you would want us to do more than merely roll out the red carpet for you here in NH. I trust that there are truer ways that NH voters can help set the tone for the national election.

In this spirit, I ask that you — our servant, public servant — address the following Sept. 11th points, prior to our January 27th primary election, ideally if/when you are in the state; otherwise in a clear, heartfelt, public statement.

I make this request because the points are, I believe, vital to our future as a nation. I ask that you address, as well, two further passages from the book, Bush’s Brain, beginning with the words of your devoted friend, Texas Representative, Paul Sadler:

“I have been concerned many times since 9/11 because of this. Because I know how he [President Bush] makes decisions. I know how he does it. And I’ve watched as they have drawn the circle up there closer and closer and tighter. And I know who’s in the middle of it, and it bothers me a lot.” (P. 236)

The authors of the book go on to describe an enlightening exchange between you and Karl Rove. You and Rove were seated around the table in the State Dining Room a few months after your disputed election. Dinner was over, and you had taken out the cigars. “Let me show you something”, you were quoted as saying, as you pushed a button.

Four attendants in white jackets hurried to respond, “Yes sir, Mr. President. Is there anything we can get you?” You paused, “Uh, sure. A glass of water would be good.” The attendants hurried off to your pleasure, as you turned to Rove with a smile: “Now that’s power.” (P. 111)

I wonder. I wonder, Mr. President. When I read that passage, my thoughts went to a similar scene. As the attendant entered, Gandhi arose from his gathering with India’s leadership. Excusing himself, Gandhi stepped toward the attendant and, politely relieving him of the tray, proceeded, himself, to serve his colleagues their tea.

Power? I wonder, do you, do We the People understand what power truly is? Do we/you understand the spirit in which our greatest public servants, Lincoln and Washington, signed their letters: “Your Humble Servant”? Do we understand the sacrifices that they made to establish our country as a free nation?

Finally, President Bush, I trust you will correct me if any of the points that follow are inaccurate. For my intent is not to misrepresent you. Rather, my intent is summed up in words of your Savior: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

So be it.

——

~ ~ ~

—-

9/11: The Facts?

It is fitting to introduce the following points with words called forth by “The Father of our Nation”, George Washington. During one of the darkest hours of our War for Independence, Washington ordered that Tom Paine’s Common Sense be read aloud to the troops at Valley Forge. I encourage you, Mr. President, and I encourage you fellow citizens, to move Paine’s words in your hearts, as we consider both the points that follow and the reactions that they call forth from each of us today. What do we stand for?

“Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, yet I am inclined to believe that all those who espouse the doctrine of reconciliation [i.e. with the ruling powers] may be included within the following descriptions: Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men who cannot see; prejudiced men who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, who think better of the European world [i.e. the establishment] than it deserves. And this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this continent, than all the three others.”

The sources for the points that follow are many. Unless otherwise noted, I’ve confined them to the lawsuits and the book Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster by the investigative journalist, David Icke, who has drawn together many of the threads in a veritable labor of love.

Information on the lawsuits is available at: http://nancho.net/911/mariani.html and David Kiefer’s 6/11/02 story S.F. Attorney: Bush Allowed 9/11 in the San Francisco Examiner. Taken as a whole, the question that arises is whether there is truth to the old expression: “where there is smoke, there is fire.”

^ As noted, reports state that not only did you and the Vice President ^ As noted, reports state that not only did you and the Vice President instruct Senator Daschle not to request a Congressional investigation of Sept. 11, but 29 pages on your family connections with the Saudi Government were, I understand, personally censored from the eventual report at your request. Is this true? Pray tell. (Berg lawsuit)

^ Former 9/11 Commissioner Max Cleland called the Sept. 11th White House deal with the Commission to provide limited access to the Presidential Daily Briefings “a national scandal.” (Berg lawsuit)

^ You and your administration, along with the FBI and CIA, possessing the most sophisticated intelligence network in the world, widely reported that you had absolutely no idea that these attacks were coming, “No warnings” was the answer your former Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer insisted during the White House Press Conference on the day, 9/11/01. As outlined in the following, this assertion was later to change.

^ Indeed, the Washington Post (5/18/02) noted that your August 6, ’01 briefing (a month before the attacks) was entitled: “Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S.”

^ According to Congress’s Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry’s Report, ^ According to Congress’s Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry’s Report, you actually received over 20 increasingly urgent warnings in the six months prior to the attack. Israeli, French, German, and Russian (if not American) intelligence all knew the attacks were coming and stated that they warned the U.S. government ahead of time. (MSNBC Interview, 9/15/01) Russian President Putin ordered his intelligence to warn the U.S. government “in the strongest possible terms” of imminent assaults. (NY Times, 10/28/03)

^ The same appeared to be the case here at home with San Francisco’s mayor, Willie Brown, who stated that he was warned by “my security people at the airport” to be particularly cautious about traveling by air on Sept. 11th. (London Times, 9/27/01) Are we to understand that the mayor of one of our cities was warned but you, the President of the United States, were not? Do you really expect us to believe that?

^ A few weeks before the attacks, it is reported that your Attorney General, Ashcroft, and other top officials stopped flying regularly on American Airlines. (Hilton Lawsuit and Icke p 329)

^ In all four hijacked planes together, only a few more than a third of the seats (231 out of 684) were sold. When American Airlines was asked to explain this remarkably low number on its flights, it responded: “This information is proprietary and not available.” (Lawsuits and Icke p 280)

^ Thus, four planes left from three airports. In well under two hours, each was hijacked. Planes that lose contact with control towers are, I understand, routinely intercepted by fighter jets within 10 minutes. This did not occur. It was reported that the jetliner that crashed into the Pentagon flew unchecked for more than an hour and forty minutes. If so, how could that be?

^ In Washington, Air Force pilots demanded to fly but were ordered to ^ In Washington, Air Force pilots demanded to fly but were ordered to stand down. The reason given: the jetliner had the top-secret code, indicating that it was the President’s plane. If so, who gave this code to the hijackers? Wasn’t it, indeed, “top secret?”

^ As a result of the foregoing, each plane was left to its tragic fate. The widow of one of the passengers stated that she might understand if one plane had slipped through the “radar screen.” Two stray planes were pushing her trust? Three and four . . .? She was outraged. Indeed, who wouldn’t be. (Hilton lawsuit and Icke, p 329)

^ Security expert, John Pike, stated: “If you’re telling me that the CIA and NSA were completely clueless about 9/11 . . . that would be a scandal.” (USA Today, 6/4/02)

^ A shocked air traffic controller elaborated on Pike’s statement: “What the hell went on here? Was anyone doing anything about it!” Why, once again, Mr. President, do you continue to prevent any public investigation of 9/11? (Icke, p 257)

^ Despite the fact that September 11 was one of the greatest security blunders in our history, my understanding is that you’ve held no one under your command accountable. Not a single person has been fired. Is that correct? If so, why – particularly since we’re continually warned of the possibility of more terrorist attacks? (Lawsuits)

^ It’s estimated that at that time of the work day and week 40,000 people would have been busy in the towers at the moment of the crashes. Yet, the death count (including many devoted police and fire fighters, who rushed into the building) was reported as being a little under 3,000? Where were the rest? (Icke, p 179)

^ The day before the attacks, Sept. 10th, it was also reported that the investment company Goldman Sachs “circulated a memo warning of a possible terrorist attack.” Can that be? How would the company have known? (Icke p 326)

^ On Sept. 10, it was also reported that six times the usual number of “put options” (options to sell, unload stocks) were purchased on American Airlines. This was not the case with the other major airlines. (Icke p 327)

^ When these highly questionable trades were reported, made visible, more than 2.5 million in “put option” profits were abandoned, left unclaimed. (Icke p 328)

^ On Sept. 11, Tom Kennedy, an official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told Dan Rather on CBS News, “We arrived late Monday night [the 10th] and went right into action Tuesday morning [the 11th].” How did FEMA know about the attacks ahead of time? A slip of the tongue . . . ?

^ Your brother Jeb, Governor of Florida, is reported to have gone to the offices of the Hoffman Aviation School and ordered that the flight records and files, relating to the “terrorists”, be put on a C130 government cargo plane and flown out of the country. Is this the case? If so, why? (Berg’s lawsuit)

^ In the days following Sept. 11th, 24 members of bin Laden’s family residing here in America, that is the family of the prime suspect, were helped by your own authorities to slip out of the country. The London Times, Sept. 27, 2001 wrote: “The departure of so many Saudis worried U.S. investigators, who feared that some might have information about the hijackings.”

^ Glancing back for a moment, on Oct. 28th 1993, The New York Times published tapes by an FBI agent, stating that his own FBI supervisor was the main reason for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Was this a foretaste of things to come?

^ The lawsuits claim that, shortly after entering office, your administration told FBI agents to “back off” the investigation of the terrorist network, Al-Qaeda. John O’Neill, the FBI’s Deputy Director resigned in disgust, claiming that your family’s Saudi connections were making it impossible for him to conduct his investigations. (Lawsuits and Icke, p 316))

^ Your family has long-standing business relations with both the bin Laden family, as well as with bin Mahfouz, whom your State Department has named one of Osama’s funders. (Boston Herald, 12/11/01)

^ Numerous FBI agents, including twenty-one year FBI veteran, Coleen Rowley, Minneapolis Chief Division Counsel, sent a memo in May 2002 to FBI Director, Robert Mueller, condemning the way the bureau headquarters had blocked terrorist investigations before 9/11, and confirming her “worst suspicions”. (Lawsuits and http://www.cnsnews.com)

^ Outraged at being blocked by their own department, FBI agents contacted Chicago lawyer, David Schippers, who led the impeachment efforts against Clinton, informing Schippers that a massive terrorist attack was being planned for lower Manhattan. For six weeks Schippers endeavored to warn Attorney General John Ashcroft, but his communications, he said, were ignored. (Lawsuits and CNN, 10/3/01)

^ FBI Special Agent Robert Wright, Jr. echoed his colleagues’ concerns, “I truly believe I would be derelict in my duty as an American if I did not do my best to bring the FBI’s dereliction of duty to the attention of others.” (9/11 – The Road to Tyranny)

^ On the morning of Sept. 11th, NPR Morning Edition, Congressional Correspondent, David Welna, said: “I spoke with Congressman Ike Skelton, who said that just recently the Director of the CIA warned that there could [afterall] be an attack, an imminent attack, on the U.S. of this nature.”

^ Eight months after Sept. 11, the White House admitted that Bush was told about the likelihood of the attacks. Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said the administration notified the “appropriate agencies” in the summer of 2001. (Icke p 318) The Massport organization that runs Boston’s Logan Airport (from which the first two airlines took off) told the Boston Globe that it knew nothing about this notification. (htt://truthout.com)

^ However, your Press Secretary and National Security Advisor proclaimed that they had no idea the terrorists would use planes as missiles. Indeed, you yourself insisted, “Never in anybody’s thought process about how to protect America did we ever think that the evil-doers would fly not one, but four commercial aircraft into precious U.S. targets. . . never.”

^ As it turned out, this also was not the case, Paul Pillar, the CIA’s former Deputy Director of the Counter-Terrorist Center stated, “The idea of commandeering an aircraft and crashing it into the ground and causing high casualties, sure we’ve thought of it.” (L.A. Times 10/14/01) Indeed, my understanding is that in 1993 a $150,000 study was commissioned by the Pentagon to investigate just this possibility.

^ Associated Press went on to report on 4/18/02 that “In September 1999, the National Intelligence Council prepared a report to brief the President and intelligence staff on emerging threats. It stated, “Suicide bomber(s) belonging to alQaeda’s Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and Semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House.”

^ The Military District of Washington News Service (11/3/00) reported that on October 24-26, 2000 (prior to the attack on the World Trade Center) Pentagon officials carried out a “detailed” emergency drill simulating the crash of an airliner into the Pentagon. On 10/01 US Medicine Magazine confirmed the same.

^ Given the prior points, is it fair to say, Mr. President, that just about everybody seemed to know about the possibility of just such an attack but you? Even after you had been briefed?

^ Of note is the fact that your fellow Republican members of the Senate and Joint Intelligence Committees, Senators Shelby and Specter, don’t buy the explanations. In Shelby’s words: “They don’t have an excuse because the information was in their lap, and they didn’t do anything to prevent it.” In Specter’s words, you had a “veritable blueprint.”

Finally, President Bush, I turn to your own reactions to the Sept. 11 attacks. On the White House web site it stated that at the Dec. 4 Orlando, Florida town meeting you said: “I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower – the TV was obviously on.” The facts, I understand, are:

1) There was no live coverage of the first plane hitting the tower.

2) The recorded footage of the first crash did not air until after you went into the classroom.

^ This account of yours directly contradicted not only your own prior version that you knew about the attacks when you left your hotel suite earlier in the morning. But, it also contradicted the official version, which stated that you were told about the attack in a call from your National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice. (Cox Newspapers 9/12/01 and lawsuits)

^ Be that as it was, with the nation glued to the TV, you apparently walked on into the classroom to read to second graders a story about a pet goat. Andrew Card, your Chief of Staff, came in later and whispered into your ear that the second plane has hit the World Trade Center and that “America is under attack.” It’s reported that you paused a moment as the second tower went up in flames – death and destruction on a massive scale – and then continued reading for a good twenty minutes. Why? Were you not upset, moved, or even surprised? Pray tell. (AP,9/12/01)

^ Your explanation of your actions kept changing, as you told the Orlando town meeting: “But I knew I needed to act. I knew that if the nation’s under attack, the role of the Commander-in-Chief is to respond forcefully to prevent other attacks from happening. And so, I’ve talked to the Secretary of Defense [Rumsfeld]; one of the first acts I did was to put our military on alert.” After you finished reading the story of the pet goat?

^ Rumsfeld stated that he never received the call, telling Larry King (12/5/01) he didn’t know what happened until at least a half an hour later, just before the third plane struck his Pentagon. More damage, loss of lives, and heightened fear among the citizens.

^ What is going on? Where to get clear answers? Lieutenant Colonel Steve Butler told the Monterey County Herald, 5/26/02: “Of course Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism.” Following this statement, Butler was relieved of his duties.

~ ~ ~

—-
9/11: What’s Happening!

Mr. President, friends, the foregoing offers a picture – the tip, it appears, of the iceberg. I refer those interested to any of the sources noted, along with a growing list of books, including numerous bestsellers on the subject.

The only notes I would add, President Bush, if the prior points prove to be true, are: a) how, I repeat, would you suggest that we explain these developments to our children and grandchildren, particularly those whom you have called up to battle the “terrorists” and those who are sending off their moms and dads; and b) would it be reasonable to expect any time another such “crisis,” so as to once again rally the citizenry behind our President, pull the wool over their eyes?

“What’s happening!”, many readers will understandably ask. “How can this be!”

The questions are fair ones. I will do my best to answer them, beginning with a statement by George Kennan. As Director of Policy Planning for the US State Department, Kennan did just that – he directed our U.S. policy and, in so doing, presents us with what he sees as the political “realities,” which have become even more glaring since his statement in 1948. In my opinion, Kennan is not speaking for the American people, who wish to do the good, but for the government, the “powers that be.”

“We have 50 percent of the world’s wealth, but only 6.3 percent of its population . . . . In this situation we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships, which will allow us to maintain this position of disparity. We should cease to talk about the raising of the living standards, human rights, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better.”

Kennan is right and wrong, I do believe. By maintaining a position of disparity, inequity we are, understandably, incurring the “envy” and “resentment” of much of the world and, particularly, the third-world nations that we end up exploiting.

Where Kennan is wrong, I suggest, is in his belief that this inequity, this disparity need exist. If we can build a computer chip and industry — Silicon Valley itself — out of silica, desert sand, imagine the possibilities before us, once we step beyond the constraints of a thinking that is impoverished by notion of “scarcity” and further burdened with the haunting fear of want that scarcity breeds: “Will I be able to survive if others get their fair share?”

Is there an alternative in our “global community”? Imagine if our thinking was inspired by abundance, life! What were Franklin Roosevelt’s words: “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself”? This recognition is a major one. For, what better way to keep “the masses” in line than by brain-washing us with such an impoverished view of the world: “scarcity.”

The majority of the citizens, the middle class, have been given enough of a taste of the “pie” that they’ve bought into the system, along with its mountainous debt. Yet, few end up with a sufficient bite to chew off so as to feel secure and, thus, free to turn to more vital matters that extend beyond our mere existence – matters such as who We the People are and how we can fulfill the promise of our New World.

With Kennan’s statement and my elaboration as a backdrop, attorneys Hilton, Berg, and others pick up the thread. Specifically, they note that, after having lost the popular vote by more than a half a million ballots, you, President Bush, came into office with the backing of less than 28% of the registered voters.

You faced a deeply split nation, and an electorate that was highly suspicious of your Florida election victory, carried out under the watchful eye of your brother, the Governor of the State, and your campaign co-chairwoman, Katherine Harris, who also happened to be Florida’s Secretary of State in charge of elections. As September 2001 approached, your approval ratings as President were rapidly sinking.

Your political fortunes did not look promising. What can one do in such a situation? The most elementary political science textbooks, going back to Machiavelli and beyond, state that the sure way to unite an uncertain nation behind its leader is a crisis followed by war.

So it was with your father. Before Gulf War I, his ratings were at their lowest. After the war, he was a hero, at the expense of thousands of lives – Iraqi and American alike – including innocent men, women, and children.

And so it was after 9/11. Like father, like son? Flags waving, the nation rallied behind you, as you mounted the Twin Towers ruins and strode on into Afghanistan, Iraq . . . . before landing on the US Lincoln, AWOL.

The lawsuits state that the 9/11 attacks provided the justification you needed to strike back, first against Afghanistan, whose Taliban government refused to allow your corporate friends to build their oil pipeline through their land, and then against Iraq (whose oil reserves are now in your hands), despite the fact that the CIA testified before Congress that it was unable to offer evidence that Hussein was connected to bin Laden or that he was developing weapons of mass destruction. More “details,” details,” in one ear and out the other. None of the details mattered . A rising tide of fear was created through the subsequent barrage of warnings and alerts.

Hilton and Berg further state that this fear also allowed you to push through Congress – unread, un-debated – your alleged Patriot Act, which even in the eyes of fellow Republicans, such as Rep. Sensenbrenner, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, not only compromises many of our most basic freedoms, but contains provisions that are so anti-American that they had been soundly rejected by Congress each prior time attempts had been made to push them through.

~ ~ ~

—
What Do We Stand For?

To summarize, the picture presented by the lawsuits is that Sept. 11 allowed you to:

1) Intimidate your opposition;

2) Step forward as a war hero (your own military record aside) in the eyes of the nation;

3) Establish, in the words of U.S. News & World Report, a government of secrecy that is intent on undermine our civil liberties.

If the foregoing is clear, it leaves me with a number of heartfelt questions.

At your inauguration, President Bush, you took your oath of office during which you “solemnly swore” to defend and uphold our Constitution. Are you aware of that? Are you aware that you gave us your word?

I wonder. What, Mr. President, do you stand for as a “Public Servant?” I ask because, if the foregoing points are indeed true, it does not appear to be: Our Constitution, the Law of our Land, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, An ever more perfect Union?

What do you believe in? The “Almighty Buck” aside, what principles do you hold sacred and are willing to sacrifice for?

Pray tell.
I respectfully ask the same of your supporters. Does this administration express, truly express, the Republican principles, the principles of conservatism, the ideals of our “New World: Liberty and Justice for ALL?”

And the same I ask of those, like myself, who speak up with respect to our President and fellow citizen. What spirit informs our words? What do we, no less, stand for – anything more than anger and resentment, than laboring under a curse? We have met the enemy, and they is (also) us?

I ask because I do believe that what goes around comes around; we reap what we sow, make the bed we end up sleeping in, fitfully. I believe that the day will come when we all – mortals mere – will meet our “Maker.” However we choose to understand Him, Her, or It — that “Power greater than, and yet no less a part of — our very Self.

I ask because the main lesson that I learned from my grandfather, The Lord of Cat Bow, America’s principle business spokesperson in his day, is that a person cannot know his/her own value, perhaps even greatness, unless we have a higher standard up against which we can measure our selves. Otherwise, we’re fated to suffer from America’s greatest occupational hazard: The Failure of Success.

Mr. Bush, if you’re unwilling to answer the preceding questions, I ask of you, our “public servant”, to do the honorable thing, befitting your position as President of the United States of America, and that is to restore your oath of office by stepping aside, down.

If you are unwilling to step aside, step down, I, for one, will cast my vote in NH’s primary for your fellow citizen, Republican candidate, John Rigazio, civic leader, business leader, Korean War veteran, and citizen of the year in his city of Rochester, NH.

At seventy-two, John has no ambition to be President. Rather, he’s running because he cares, deeply, about our land, and, the grandfather he is, he’s calling upon fellow citizens to do the same – to take to heart Lincoln’s call for a “. . . new birth of freedom . . . . that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall NOT perish from the earth.”

Given the concerns noted, my hope is that John’s campaign will inspire other citizens, including “Favorite Sons” in states across the nation, to do the same: to stand up in their primaries and national election, not so much against, but ultimately for you, your best self. May one and all step forward and carry the torch beyond NH’s borders, thereby kindling millions of points of light throughout our land.

~ ~ ~

—
The God’s Truth?

Mr. Bush, one point remains to be addressed: the “TOP LINE.” You’ve justified your actions by proclaiming that God is on your side; God wanted you to go to war against the terrorists and Hussein (http://www.amenusa.org/iraq89.htm)

What can one say?

I pI pray that you are hearing clearly. For, as I reflect on the foregoing points, my thoughts return to President Lincoln. His concern, he noted, was not whether the Lord was on his side, but whether he was on the Lord’s side.

I commend to you the following passage from his Second Inaugural Address. Lincoln is speaking about our war between the states. In our time the issue is not slavery but liberty, itself.

Neither party expected for the war the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease without, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.

Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully.

The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense come, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him?

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away; yet if it be God’s will that it continue until the wealth piled by bondsmen by two hundred and fifty years’ unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

Mr. President, you call yourself a born-again Christian, “a man with Jesus in his heart.” In your 2003 State of the Union address, you fervently proclaimed that America must go forth to “confound the designs of evil men.” Is it not time that we start here at home and that we set aside such judgmental terms?

For, in truth, are we not all part of a great drama that is playing itself out across our land – a drama that speaks to the promise of our ever “New World?” As all great dramas, ours is the struggle of light and darkness, not so much as opposing forces, but rather as estranged parts of an even greater whole, not simply on the outer stages of life but in the crucible of our own hearts.

The drama is the drama of We the People, as the fourth – and critical – check and balance in our participatory democracy. It is the drama not only of our frequently proclaimed rights, but of that which gives our rights their ultimate right and meaning: our responsibilities in this experiment of our “Democratic-Republic” How can We the People foster a form of government that can, in truth, become the “beacon of light” for the larger world? How can We the People fulfill the promise of our land?

Mr. Bush, do you recall the heart of Christ’s message? At the Last Supper, He offered his “New Commandment”, which speaks, as noted, to the very essence of the Christian teaching: “. . . By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

So it is. By our fruits, our very love itself, we shall be known. Indeed, until we have come to love ourselves, can we love others? Words . . . ?

How easy it is to dismiss this central commandment, along with the accompanying passage of your Prince of Peace: “Whatever you do unto the least of your brethren [Afghans, Iraqi, the victims of 9/11 alike] you do unto me.”

Imagine.

We all saw the images of fellow citizens consumed in flames, jumping from the Twin Towers, fire fighters buried in the wreckage. Heaps of flesh and bones? Can you imagine what it is like to lose not 3,000 citizens – numbers in a newspaper – but to lose just one person, your very own son/daughter, your beloved child, for a cause in which both you and he/she once believed?

So it was. On Sept. 27, 2003, The Guardian told the story of one of the first soldiers killed in Iraq. Do you know what his name is, “the least of your brethren?” It is Jesus, Jesus Suarez.

Yes, life, our faith itself, is real – more real than many dare imagine. As old Ben Franklin noted at that critical moment during our Constitutional Convention: “God governs in the affairs of man.” So be it.

~ ~ ~

May The Peace Be With Us

Friends, this prayer began in the early morning of July 4th, Independence Day, at Concord, MA’s old North Bridge, seeking to kindle the reverberations of Concord’s famed “shot heard ‘round the world.” It drew to its conclusion back in NH on January 6th, Epiphany, “the day of the return of the light from above.” And this further revision draws to its conclusion over 2 decades later.

A happy ending. . . ? In the days leading up to the 1990 Gulf War, I was listening to the debates on the car radio while driving home. As the car pulled into the driveway, Congressman Solarez, co-sponsor of the bill that, President Bush, supported your father’s act of war, was speaking.

The Congressman justified his bill by stating: “The main lesson we have to learn today is the presence of evil in the world.”

As Solarez’s words sounded, a voice rose up in me out of the depths: “NO! NO, THAT’S NOT NEW, NEWS. THAT’S THE OLD STORY –VIETNAM, KOREA, A SECOND WORLD WAR, A FIRST, “THE WAR TO END ALL WARS”. . . ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME. NO, TODAY, THE MAIN LESSON WE HAVE TO LEARN IS THE PRESENCE OF GOOD IN THE WORLD.” The “Good News” as our born-again brothers and sisters proclaim.

So it is. One of the greatest gifts that We the People have given to the rest of the world are the 12 Step programs. They have started millions on the path to recovery. Their main lesson, friend, is that healing cannot occur, for those who seek it, until we make a “searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves” – until we face the facts. This applies not only to us as individuals. It applies to us as a nation, as we strive to awaken from, and to, our dream.

My thoughts go to your father/his speechwriter’s words, spoken on September 29th, 1990 at the laying of the final stone ceremony at our National Cathedral in Washington, DC: “Our civilization can not survive materially unless it be redeemed spiritually.”

—

IMAGINE.

“One nation, under God” – a loving God – “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

May the Peace be with us, old friend, We with the Peace.

—
Stuart-Sinclair Weeks

P.S. The secret . . . ? What few people know is that on this continent that today is wracked by violence – beginning with school shootings in our younger grades and continuing on up through the vicious cycle of gangs, to domestic violence, work-related violence, and the often heartless treatment of our elders – there existed a time when peace prevailed, as it has during few periods of civilization. This peace was established by a Peace Maker, the father of the Iroquois Confederation.

It had not always been that way. Prior to the appearance of the Peace Maker, the violence on this continent was so widespread that the women, it is said, walked around day and night with tears in their eyes – tears for their lost sons, husbands, brother, fathers, and grandfathers, who, caught up in the spell, could not stop killing one another. A dark age it was.

Integral to the establishment of the Iroquois Confederation was a healing process of great significance. Of the original five nations, four, the Mohawks, Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, had come to see the way of the Peace Maker. Only the Onondaga held out, lorded over by its chief, the evil wizard Adadarhoh.

The Peace Maker knew that Adadarhoh had an integral role to play in confederation, a role that had to begin with his adoption of the “New Mind.” And the Peace Maker knew as well that this could only happen when the community of chiefs from the other nations gathered, joining with the Peace Maker and Hiawatha in the healing process.

Thus it came to be: a redemption, a spiritual redemption. Together, the chiefs broke the spell, and the wizard, in turn, was able to break through to the “New Mind”, to the light. Accordingly, Adadarhoh became the Keeper of the Fire.

So the legend goes, a legend and more, as related at the Albany Congress by the subsequent chiefs of the Iroquois Confederation. The proceedings of the Congress were published by the young printer, Benjamin Franklin, who was in attendance.

What can we learn from this account? Can you imagine women today – mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, grandmothers, old and young, black, white, yellow, brown and red, together, all in one – gathering anew in a great circle of prayer around our White House to call forth the new story, the “New Mind?”

What, friends, do I mean? In many encyclopedias and other reference books, it is stated that the “literary”, “oratorical”, “poetic”, can one say the inspired name for the United States up through the 19th century was “Columbia” – as in the name of our nation’s capital, “The District of Columbia”, as in the name of our first national anthem, “Hail Columbia” that Lincoln had played at all important affairs of state; as in the name of the “Columbian/Tammany Society” of which our founding fathers, including Franklin, were members; as in the name of the space shuttle that exploded, Mr. President, above your home State on the eve of your taking us to war in the great Gulf.

Like “Columbus”, the word “Columbia” comes from the Irish and Italian words “Colum”, meaning “Dove.” Can it be, friend/friends, that, as we awaken from, and to, our dream . . . . we will discover that our true calling is to become the “People of the Dove/the People of Peace?”

And crown thy good with sister- and brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.

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~ ~ ~

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AFTERWORD BY BEN FRANKLIN

“On My Great and Extensive Project”

(Words from the “Continuation” of Ben’s Autobiography
that bear careful reading and re-reading.)

—

“That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are carried on and affected by parties.

“That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or what they take to be such.

“That the different views of these different parties occasion all confusion.

“That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his particular private interest in view.

“That as soon as a party has gain’d its general point, each member becomes intent upon his particular interest; which, thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, and occasions more confusion.

“That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of their country, whatever they may pretend; and, tho’ their actings bring real good to their country, yet men primarily considered that their own and their country’s interest was united, and did not act from a principle of benevolence.

“That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of mankind.

“There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a United Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men [all of us at our best] of all nations into a regular body, to be govern’d by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to, than common people [all of us at our less than best] are to common laws.

“I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is well qualified, can not fail of pleasing God, and of meeting with success.

Comments, both yeas and nays, are welcome at stuartbweeks@gmail.com

The prayer is available on the web site: www.concord-ium.us

Only in its entirety can the prayer be reproduced or published.