Is it just me?

2006-01-21T12:20:00.000-05:00

Does anybody else find it strange that the CIA is employing military weapons to attack non-combat villagers in Pakistan? I mean, what is the CIA doing with this kind of weaponry? Their job is to gather intelligence, not foment acts of war against a country that has so far been our ally in the "war against terrorism."

How did this happen? My wife, the lovely and talented Sugar, says it's obvious to her. TV made it happen. We've been watching spies wage the equivalent of war for years (a current favorite of ours is "Alias") and now life is just imitating art. We've been conditioned to accept it without question.

I fear this is one more giant step outside the bounds our Constitution is supposed set on government. Bush's war on terrorism has conveniently given the government a cover-all excuse to spy on U.S. Citizens, arrest and hold people without hearings or trials and numerous other violations of our fundamental protections against tyranny. And of course, it's not just Bush, not just the Republicans. The Democrats are just as guilty. Clinton was in power when the Echelon program was established to pry open our e-mails and monitor our thoughts. I firmly agree with Will Rogers, who said some 75 years ago, "There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats." Two sides of the same coin, that's all - designed to keep us focused on right vs. left and forget about the real issues.

Where do we go from here? Down a dark road that hopefully will be a short one if Jesus returns as quickly as I suspect. Boy, he's gonna be ticked off this time...

Mr. Pipes (not a plumber)

Signing On

2006-01-07T17:46:00.000-05:00

Check... check... Testing, one, two, three...

Hello?

Levels look good... Okay, powering up the transmitter...

Last century, I thrilled at the rush of power as I opened the mic and spoke to potentially hundreds of thousands of listeners on broadcast radio - most notably a 100 thousand watt FM in Atlanta. A hundred thousand is the maximum FM power rating allowed by the FCC. I was in Atlanta, a top ten market, at a station that was #1 for much of the time I worked there. Talk about power!

Today, I sit in my basement studio, click a few keys and talk to potentially hundreds of millions all over the world. And today, the world can talk back. So let me hear from you, whether you agree or disagree.

In the immortal words of the Dead, "What a long, strange trip it's been." Not just for me, but for all of us. As a former hippy/bleeding heart liberal peacenik/new-ager and as a current political conservative/Christian radical, I've always strived to know the truth - no matter how it disrupted my belief system. I've tried many pathways, but now, in my late fifties, I find myself back where I started - grounded in The Bible, voting like my dad. Well, let me expand on that. He thought Nixon was tops. I hated Nixon and Reagan, who was then California's gov. I made the statement that if Reagan was ever elected pres, I'd leave the country. I voted for him, twice. Then I moved farther toward the truth that my dad was able to go and have voted Libertarian since Reagan. The Libertarian stances are not 100% right, but they're closer than anything else I've found.

Winston Churchill said that if you aren't a liberal as a young man, you don't have a heart. But that if you aren't a conservative in your later years, you don't have a brain. Been there done that. With a vengeance.

More later. Much more, I'm afraid.

100 Thousand Watts

Is it just me?

Signing On