Reality - what a concept!
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- Created: Thursday, 07 October 2004 23:00
- Written by JoSeppi
Several comedians have used that line. Too bad it's not so funny when the reality disconnect is in the White House.
The Bush administration is exhibiting a level of disconnect from reality normally not seen outside the confines of an, umm . . . "mental health facility".
Wow, these folks just don't know when to throw in the towel. Their administration has turned the White House into the "Blight House".
What seems to me to be the most serious aspect of this is not that they insist on calling a turd a rose, or saying that failure is success, but that they actually seem to believe what they say.
This is not simply "Politics" or "spin", it may be indicative of a more serious mental condition.
I invite folks to to a web search (google will do) and search for "megalomania" and "bush".
To save you some work, I include a work by Schuyler Ebbets
that has some very interesting observations, for anyone interested.
Pattern Of Megalomania
By Schuyler Ebbets
11 June, 2003
The Republicans were the first to use the term "coup d'etat" to describe the events surrounding the 2000 election. As each day passed without a clearly defined presidential leader fear and apprehension increased. Many believed that the absence of tanks in the streets proved that American democracy was still in tact. A flawed reasoning based on the assumption that a "coup d'etat" is always defined as the violent overthrow of a legitimate government, accompanied by arrests, executions, and torture. In reality a violent government takeover is more characteristic of a "putsch," and coups are usually covert in nature.
The events surrounding the November 7th, 2000 election were ominously similar to the CIA rigging of legitimate elections in Nicaragua, Venezuela, El Salvador, and democracies around the world. In a government manual entitled "Coup d' Etat" by Edward Luttwak, a Washington think-tank insider with close ties to US intelligence, he says; “The power will come from the state itself. A coup consists of the infiltration of a small but critical segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder."
The hand full of men who seized power in the United States used the Supreme Court, “a small but critical segment of the state apparatus,” to facilitate their immediate takeover. The day after the September 11th, 2001 hijackings the Neocons established a shadow government absent of both legislative and judicial branches. On October 26th, 2001 President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act into law, abrogating Constitutional rights and the Bill of Rights, and facilitating the declaration of Martial Law. On November 5th, 2002 Bush signed The Homeland Security act, consolidating the duties of 22 federal agencies into one cabinet level Department of Homeland Security and strengthening Public Law 101-647. Signed by his father in November 1990, Law 101-647 allows Bush to declare a national emergency for almost any reason, an earthquake, a terrorist attack, or even an economic crisis. In the event of a Bush declared emergency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency – FEMA, is empowered to implement the horrific Executive Orders 10995 through 11005. As acting president of the United States during the declaration of a national emergency and Martial Law Bush can also issue Executive Orders, granting him far reaching powers to unilaterally create law without congressional oversight and approval.
We euphemistically refer to this little gang, which now threatens the world with their violent vision of the future, as the 'Neocons', the 'radical right,’ and some have called them 'fascists’. Although Cheney appears before the American people as the Vice president, he is truly the leader of the Neocons. Should this gang decide to declare martial law and implement the dictatorial shadow government, Cheney will be first in command and Bush will be his subordinate, according to a plan which is not based on the principles of presidential succession as defined by the US Constitution. The regime’s mastermind behind invasions and military takeovers is the controversial Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld serves as his media front man and helper. Some of the lesser gang members include Douglas Feith, number three at the Pentagon, I. Lewis Libby, a Wolfowitz clone assigned to the State Department, and Cheney's chief of staff, John R Bolton, a right-wing radical also assigned to the State Department to monitor Colin Powell.
This is not the first time that a great democracy has been infiltrated and forced to serve the interests of a few. There exists a chilling pattern of events surrounding the Bush regime’s rise to power and the emergence of Napoleon and Hitler. Among the most glaring of similarities between the infamous three is the manner by which they achieved their status as heads of state, none having been democratically elected by a clear majority of voters, but instead coming to power through the compromise of electoral processes, or by coup d'etat.
President Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon's nephew) abolished the Legislative Assembly and appointed Napoleon Bonaparte as first consul of France on November 9th, 1799. Not long after Napoleon took office an assassination attempt was carried out against him on Christmas Eve of 1800. Napoleon used the atmosphere of fear and confusion surrounding the failed attack to suppress the Directorial Constitution and set up rule by a consul of three in which he was the head. With the establishment of his new triumvirate, Napoleon used his self-ordained dictatorial powers to appoint hand picked Judges and administrators and reorganized the judicial and financial branches of government. He instituted radical new internal reforms placing all aspects of the administration directly under national control, establishing an efficient centralized government that was effective at mobilizing the country’s military and economic forces against enemies. In May 1804, the coup d'etat was complete when Napoleon had himself crowned Napoleon I, Emperor of France.
Persuaded by ex-Chancellor and political opportunist Franz van Papen and the extremists within the Nazi party, President von Hindenberg reluctantly appointed Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30th, 1933. Soon after Hitler took office a terrorist attack was carried out against the Reichstag, Germany’s capitol building in Berlin. Hitler used the atmosphere of fear and confusion surrounding the attack to push through the 'Enabling Act', a law that legitimized the policies of his regime, authorizing far-reaching restrictions of civil liberties and constitutional rights. Hitler stated; “An evil exists that threatens every man, woman, and child of this great nation. We must take steps to insure our domestic security and protect our homeland." With support from the nationalists and by using propaganda, terror, and intimidation, Hitler was able to secure his hold on power in the last "democratic" elections held in Germany on March 5th, 1933. The patriotic ideals of “Legal Revolution” and "National Awakening" had helped neutralize any potential opposition and disguised the 'Nazis' behind a facade of traditional values. With his victory in the election Hitler passed more enabling laws, effectively eliminating parliamentary procedures, transferring legislative powers to himself and his Cabinet. On August 2nd, 1934, with the death of von Hidenburg the coup d'etat was complete, army leaders and van Papen agreed to the merging of the Chancellorship with the Presidency. Hitler became Reich Fuhrer and supreme commander of the Reich’s armed forces with a new expanded authority to wage war.
Prosecuted by ex-Bush Sr. advisor and political opportunist Carl Rove and the extremists within the Republican Party, Bush was appointed President on December 12th, 2000 by five Republican Supreme Court judges. Soon after Bush assumed office a terrorist attack was carried out against the World Trade Centre in New York. Bush used the atmosphere of fear and confusion resulting from the attack to pass the “Patriot Act”, a law that legitimized the policies of his regime and authorized the abridgement of civil liberties and constitutional rights. Bush stated, “I propose sweeping changes that will strengthen our homeland against the ongoing threat of terrorist attacks.” With the support of 'conservatives’ and by using media propaganda, the terror war, and political intimidation, Bush was able to secure his hold on power in the last "democratic" midterm elections held in America on November 5th, 2002. The seductive notions of "Patriotism” and “nationalism" had helped neutralize any potential opposition and disguise the Neocons behind a facade of traditional values. With his victorie in the election, Bush introduced the Department of Homeland Security establishing a new centralized military command, effectively eliminating congressional approval, transferring legislative powers to himself and his Cabinet. On September 2002, with the passage of the Homeland Security act, the coup d'etat was complete, Bush was newly established as Head of State and Supreme Commander of America’s Armed Forces with an expanded agenda for war.
Although Napoleon Bonaparte had no personal involvement in the actual terrorist act, which set into motion his quest for world domination, he escalated tensions intentionally and used the event to militarize France. Royalist plotters had attempted to position a horse and wagon carrying a large gunpowder and shrapnel filled barrel along the Rue Saint-Nicaise, so that it would explode as Bonaparte's carriage neared. The timing of the fuse was off and the bomb detonating too late resulting in 52 unintended victims. Bonaparte selected the innocent French émigré son of Louis Henri Joseph de Condé, unjustly accusing him of participating in the conspiracy of Georges Cadoudal to assassinate him. Napoleon ordered that young duke de Condé be kidnapped from his residence in Ettenheim, Baden, court-martialed and shot at Vincennes all in a matter of hours avoiding the intercession of a civil court trial. The callousness of this act had the predictable and desired effect of enraging Europe's monarchies and turning them against Napoleon. Using the pretext that France was under danger of attack by surrounding countries, Bonaparte amassed a huge army - the first 200,000-man Grand Army, and thus began his march across Europe preemptively striking his perceived enemies.
Hitler’s method of consolidation and militarization of power was similar to Napoleon’s, however Hitler was complicit in the actual terrorist act, which set into motion the desired chain of events. On February 27th, 1933, while having a beer in a pub in Berlin, Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist and petty criminal bragged that he wanted to set the Reichstag on fire. A Nazi SA, informer overheard van der Lubbe’s drunken ravings and immediately reported them to Hitler. This was precisely the opportunity that Hitler had been searching for. Later that evening one of his SA detachments entered the Reichstag, possibly through a large central heating tunnel, and planted gasoline incendiaries burning down the building. Hitler immediately seized the opportunity to stage a media event the next day among the smoldering ashes. He proclaimed that Van der Lubbe, a Communist, had destroyed the Reichstag and the fire had been part of a conspiracy. Using a manufactured fear of communism as an excuse, Hitler abandoned the Versailles Treaty and began to build up the German army. In November 1937, Hitler outlined his plans of world conquest at a secret meeting of his military leaders.
Bush was briefed on the danger of a terrorist attack involving the hijacking of US airliners over a month before September 11th, 2001 and it seems he took no action to forestall the horrific event. The White House certainly received numerous warnings from many foreign intelligence agencies concerning a possible attack. As early as June 2001 the National Security Agency's Echelon electronic spy network notified Washington that Middle Eastern terrorists were planning on hijacking commercial aircraft to be used as weapons against important American buildings. A July 10th, 2001 memo to FBI headquarters from a Phoenix FBI agent warned of Arabs attending U.S. flight schools and urged an investigation but his recommendation was ignored. The CIA warned the Bush administration on August 6th, 2001 that Al Qaeda planned to hijack US planes and yet they took no action. The Bush administration disregarded information from Russian, Jordanian, Israeli, Moroccan, and Egyptian, intelligence agencies all in August, all warning of an impending terrorist attack. Then inexplicably, the White House allowed government counter terrorism agencies to "stand down" from the highest level of alert also on August 6th, 2001 despite repeated warnings from CIA director George Tenet.
Word of the tragedy first came to President Bush in the hallway of a school in Sarasota, Florida at 8:46 a.m., only one minute after American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, Massachusetts, crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Bush was then escorted to an empty room where he spoke briefly by phone with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. After his conversation Bush proceeded to visit with the children. At 9:04 a.m., while Bush listened to second-graders reading, staff chief Andrew H. Card Jr. whispered in his ear that a second plane had struck the south tower of the World Trade Center. With a third plane off course and headed for Washington D.C., Bush continued to visit with the second-graders, smiling, he commented, “These are great readers, very impressive, thank you for showing me your reading skills. I bet they practiced”. Strangely, Bush waited until 10 a.m., when he was aboard Air Force One, to call Cheney and place the American military on high alert status, however by 9:43 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 had already crashed into the Pentagon.
After constant patriotic media propaganda Bush’s popularity rose in the 'polls’ and his threats of war and revenge against America’s enemies real and manufactured seemed to gain acceptance. The White House seized upon the fear and confusion surrounding the September 11th, 2001 tragedy to radically redirect America’s foreign policy, releasing their National Security Strategy document on Sept. 20th, 2002, and instituting the largest government reorganization since the Department of Defense was created by the Truman Administration. Centered on a new Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Strategy consists of the fundamental reorganization of the FBI, with new directives for the CIA, Justice Department, and Pentagon. It encompasses every level of government and includes an Increase of active duty military personnel from 1.4 million to 1.6 million. Coming a year after the attacks of Sept. 11th, 2001, the National Security Strategy is the coalescence of the principles underlying the Neocons approach to foreign policy based on world domination achieved through preemptive war.
A secret strategy for US global domination released in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC), verifies that Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and I. Lewis Libby had been planning a premeditated attack on Iraq long before seizing power in January 2001. The plan entitled 'Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century’ was originally conceived in 1992 during the waning days of the first Bush Administration by then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Pentagon analysts Paul Wolfowitz, and I. Lewis Libby. It was later refined with the help of PNAC’s founding members, among whom were Jeb Bush (brother of George Jr. and governor of Florida); and Condoleezza Rice.
In October 2001 the Neocons began their war march across the Middle East, attacking impoverished Afghanistan with the indiscriminate high-altitude bombing of heavily populated areas. In an attempt to exterminate the Taliban over 3400 innocent men women and children were killed. Less than a year and a half after America’s declared victory, warlords terrorize the population and religious fundamentalism is on the rise. If nothing else the war in Afghanistan, which more resembled a brutal attack, served to christen in blood the new National Security Strategy principles. On the morning of March 20th, 2003 the Neocons attacked Iraq, launching cruise missiles and dropping bombs, putting into practice the “right of self defense by acting preemptively.”
What will be the end result of the neocon’s “never ending war” on terror and what will be their undoing? How might their desperate and dangerous gamble at world domination end? We have but to examine the examples of Napoleon and Hitler to find possible answers to these questions. Napoleon began his march across Europe in 1805 preemptively attacking and defeating the armies of Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Spain. On June 23rd, 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia a second time with a force of 650,000 men, intent on punishing tsar Alexander I. Napoleon was Confident of an easy victory before summers end, but instead found himself and his army trapped in Russia in their summer uniforms and short of rations as the first winter snowflakes began to fall. Only he and 10, 000 of his 650,000 compatriots lived to see their beloved France again. Napoleon had suffered his greatest losses in Russia and it would prove ultimately to be his undoing. Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia seized upon the opportunity to finish Napoleon and end his megalomaniacal dreams. Their coalition force crushed his army in the 'Battle of Nations’ in 1813 near Leipzig, and drove him back to Paris. Before Napoleon could again gather an army, Tsar Alexander, and King Frederick William III of Prussia marched into Paris on March 31st, 1814 and forced Napoleon to abdicate, exiling him to the scenic little island of Elba off the coast of Italy. Napoleon easily escaped the island and formed another army, which was quickly destroyed in the battle of Waterloo on June 18th, 1815 by the coalition forces under the command of Wellington. Napoleon was then exiled to the remote St. Helena Island, a cold rainy rock in the South Atlantic where he died in 1821 powerless and forgotten. His endless war to rule the world had lasted nearly ten years, cost millions of lives and in the end, left France an economically devastated shadow of it’s former greatness.
In 1935 Hitler abandoned the Versailles Treaty and conscripted five times the permitted number of men into the German army. In March 1936 he occupied the demilitarized Rhineland without opposition. In 1939 He annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia and invaded Poland. In 1940 he occupied Denmark, Norway, and France, and on June 22nd, 1941 he invaded Russia with 7.2 million men. Confident of victory before summers end, Hitler chose not to provide his soldiers with winter uniforms and equipment. By August the Reich had advanced to within three miles of Moscow only to be halted by 43° below zero cold and a massive Russian counter attack of 6.2 million men. The summer blitz had turned into a muddy bloody freezing rout costing the Reich 1.4 million soldiers. By 1943 Russia had recaptured the majority of her lost territory. On June 22, 1944, the third anniversary of the German invasion, Russian command sent 2.5 million fresh troops armed with new tanks, artillery and airpower against German positions in Byelorussia annihilating 28 German divisions and capturing 350,000 soldiers. In the months that followed German High Command would admit to 3,500,000 men killed or missing in Russia. By February 1945 the Russian line had advanced to within fifty miles of the Furerbunker in Berlin. Hitler decided if he did not survive Germany too should be destroyed. On March 19th, 1945 he ordered the demolition of what remained of German industry, communications, and rail systems. On April 30th, 1945 Hitler committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth. His attempt to defeat Russia and dominate the world had lasted nearly 8 years and killed 56 million human beings. Allied bombing had flattened every major city in Germany leaving the country physically and economically devastated for many years.
The buck always stops in Russia for every 'would be’ world dictator. President Bush and his regime must conquer the Slavic people as Emperor Napoleon and Reich Furor Hitler attempted to do. Without control of Russia the New World Order is only the New Half a World Order. Russia, which has been labeled by the American media as a 'collapsed country’, possesses the largest concentration of wealth and natural resources on the planet: 13% of the world's oil reserves, 32% of the world's natural gas, the largest coal reserves at 30%, and the world's largest iron ore output at 101,400Mt per year. Russia is the world's leader in aluminum production and the leader in tin, titanium, tantalum, niobium, and Rare Earths mining. Russia possesses one third of the worlds gold reserves, 10.2% of the world's platinum, and 50% of the world's diamond reserves. Russia builds and exports all forms of machines, from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; ships, trains, automobiles, communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, construction equipment; electric power generating equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, and foodstuffs. At 17,075,400 sq km Russia is twice the landmass of all fifty United States and is the largest country on earth. Russia has 20% of the world's supply of unfrozen unpolluted fresh water In lake Baikal alone, and The Siberian region contains the largest forested area on earth, an estimated 750 million hectares. Russia maintains 1,520,000 total active duty military personnel with 78.2% army, 13.2% navy and 8.6% air force. In 2002 Russia let it be known that they are capable of fielding an army of 38,906,796 men, age 15-49. In addition to their ability to fight a massive tactical war Russia also has 6,000 strategic nuclear warheads, most of which are deployed on MIRVed land-based missiles aimed at the U.S. and China. Since the Neocons took office the Russians have been under no illusions about their expansionist intentions. Moscow has moved tactical nuclear weapons into Kaliningrad in a continuing campaign to derail NATO’s assimilation of the Baltic States. On April 29th, 2003 British Prime Minister, Tony Blair personally delivered a warning to President Putin at his dacha outside Moscow. He spoke of a New World Order with two different poles of power acting as rivals to one another. “The world faced the choice of a partnership with the US or a continued "diplomatic stand off", Blair said. Putin has responded to the coercive rhetoric with plans of launching the largest military exercises Russia has carried out since the cold war. Russian strategic bombers and submarine missile-carriers will simulate nuclear attacks against several military targets in the United States and Great Britain. They will also work on locating and liquidating US aircraft carriers. Russia is making a point; they will not come willingly under the control of America and the New World Order. As President Putin told Blair on April the 29th, “We are not with you and we don't believe you.”
This article is © copyright 2003 by Schuyler Ebbets (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached.