TRUTHTALK

EXCUSES...EXCUSES
America has become a country of irresponsibility and excuses. Americans arrested on crimes use excuses, ranging from sugar highs, to anxiety, to being bipolar, to avoid responsibility in crimes committed.

In 1978, Dan White, a former San Francisco city supervisor , entered San Francisco City Hall and killed Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk. Psychiatrist Martin Blinder testified in court that White had been depressed, which led to eating junk food: Twinkies and Coca-Cola. This junk food deepened White's depression, which prompted his murder spree.

Last year, runaway, Georgia bride Jennifer Wilbanks claimed that high anxiety with her upcoming wedding caused her to fabricate an elaborate tale of cross country kidnapping, resulting in thousands of taxpayers dollars wasted on a wild goose chase.

Houston's Andrea Yates, in 2004, gruesomely murdered her 5 children, including , a 6 month old baby. Yates claims depression resulting from a hormonal change after child birth caused her to savagely murder her 5 children, including chasing after the oldest boy, 7 years old, knocking him down, and then drowning him.

Now, Tampa teacher, Debra Lafave, who molested a 14 year-old boy repeatedly, and once with a 15 year old onlooker, claimed bipolar disorder caused her to become a sex offender. Most psychologists dispute her allegations, and there is no evidence to support her inventive claim.

It's sad America has become a haven for criminals and their bizarre excuses. It is even sadder that Judges and juries buy their excuses.

If anyone is ever arrested, just make up an excuse, and the odds are that you will have a reduced sentence or get off scott free.

BY Christian Gatsby

WHAT WE'VE LOST IN IRAQ
America has lost its image as a country of high morals and ethics. Bush and his cohorts, Rumsfeld included, attacked a sovereign nation on trumped up allegations-- weapons-of-mass destruction, ties to al Qaeda, involvement in 9/11.

Iraq, as proven by numerous CIA , congressional , and UN investigations, had no ties to al Qaeda, no connection to 9/11, and no weapons of mass destruction.

Now, three years later, nearly 2,500 American troops are dead, over 17000 are wounded, and 50,000 Iraqi women and children, including small babies have been killed by both American troops and violence. There has never been an apology or any remorse by the Bush administration, including Rumsfeld, for the thousands of dead Iraqis. The war, to date, has cost the American taxpayer nearly $250 billion, running $177 million per day.

Before the American invasion, no al Qaeda existed in Iraq. Now, there are thousands of terrorists.

Before the war, electricity and gas were plentiful in Iraq. Now three years later, electricity output has dipped to its lowest point in three years, and gasoline in this oil rich country is a cherished commodity.

The majority of Iraqis want all American troops out ASAP. Most Iraqis, including Iraqi's new government, blame recent violence as result of American occupying forces.

Plus, Afghanistan is suffering because of all the resources and attention placed on Iraq. Poppy production is reaching and all time high in Afghanistan and half the country is control ed by warring warlords. Bin Laden still runs free.

Rumsfeld, Bush, and the generals will continue to lie, utilizing weapons-of mass-deception, to paint a rosy picture in Iraq; but no one can dispute the true facts that paint a realistic picture of dispair and death in Iraq.

By CHRISTIAN GATSBY
MY ANSWER TO RUMSFELD'S EDITORIAL IN THE WAHSINGTON POST:

What We've Gained In 3 Years in Iraq
By Donald H. Rumsfeld
Sunday, March 19, 2006; B07

Some have described the situation in Iraq as a tightening noose, noting that "time is not on our side"and that "morale is down." Others have described a "very dangerous" turn of events and are "extremely concerned."

Who are they that have expressed these concerns? In fact, these are the exact words of terrorists discussing Iraq -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his associates -- who are describing their own situation and must be watching with fear the progress that Iraq has made over the past three years.
The terrorists seem to recognize that they are losing in Iraq. I believe that history will show that to be the case.

Fortunately, history is not made up of daily headlines, blogs on Web sites or the latest sensational attack. History is a bigger picture, and it takes some time and perspective to measure accurately.

Consider that in three years Iraq has gone from enduring a brutal dictatorship to electing a provisional government to ratifying a new constitution written by Iraqis to electing a permanent government last December. In each of these elections, the number of voters participating has increased significantly -- from 8.5 million in the January 2005 election to nearly 12 million in the December election -- in defiance of terrorists' threats and attacks.

One of the most important developments over the past year has been the increasing participation of Iraq's Sunni community in the political process. In the volatile Anbar province, where Sunnis are an overwhelming majority, voter turnout grew from 2 percent in January to 86 percent in December. Sunni sheiks and religious leaders who previously had been sympathetic to the insurgency are today meeting with coalition representatives, encouraging Iraqis to join the security forces and waging what violent extremists such as Abu al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaeda followers recognize as a "large-scale war" against them.

The terrorists are determined to stoke sectarian tension and are attempting to spark a civil war. But despite the many acts of violence and provocation, the vast majority of Iraqis have shown that they want their country to remain whole and free of ethnic conflict. We saw this last month after the attack on the Shiite shrine in Samarra, when leaders of Iraq's various political parties and religious groups condemned the violence and called for calm.

BUSH'S LEGACY: FAILURE AFTER FAILURE
George Bush has been a dismal failure as president. The Founding Fathers created the electoral college to ensure that an intelligent, articulate, honest person would always be at the helm of the United States. But our Founding Fathers failed us. For George Bush, arrested three times, a drug and alcohol addict for 24 years, a college flunky, and a compulsive liar, sits in The Executive Mansion.

Bush's failures include: ignoring 9/11 warnings and his own policy briefing " Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.;" invading Iraq on the erroneous charge of weapons-of-mass-destruction; failure to plan for post war chaos and insurgency in Iraq; failure to prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina, resulting in deaths of over 1000 Americans; failure to respond early and effectively to the U.S. energy crisis, failure to deal with trade and budget deficits; failure to keep the budget balanced and squandering former President Clinton's huge surpluses; trying to allow an Arab country, a financier for al Qaeda, U.A.E., to control America's most vital seaports.

Bush has had aides charged with felonies. Scooter Libby was indicted for disclosing the idenity of an undercover CIA operative on V.P Cheney's orders to silence a critical report on Iraq's false attempts to gain uranium from Africa. Also, Claude Allen, Bush's domestic policy adviser, 2005-2006 and deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, 2001-2005, was charged with felonies for fraudulent returns on 25 occasions, amounting to over $5,000. ( They said his scam was to buy items, take them to his car, then return to the store with his receipt. He would select the same items, then take them to the store return desk and show the receipt from the first purchase to get a refund.) Bush aware since January, 2006 of Allen's criminal felonies, still supported him and on February 9th, upon hearing of Allen's intention to resign, called him a "trusted adviser." Bush added later, "Claude is a good and compassionate man, and he has my deep respect and my gratitude." Bush a former criminal and jail bird himself, must share a common bond with Allen, an indicted felon.

America deserves so much better than the incompetent, dishonest, reckless, George Bush, who has driven American down an endless road filled with potholes, uncertainty, and utter damnation.
God help America!

by Christian Gatsby

AMERICA HAD NO INNOCENCE!
Some writers state that America lost its "innocence" after it started invading and attacking other countries after World War I.

I strongly disagree and say that America never had an innocence. The United States was founded on bloodshed (i.e. the American Revolution) and continues to shed blood for numerous reasons, including to secure resources, to open up economic markets, and to expand its territory and global domination. The greatest tragedy and injustice of American territory and economic expansion, Manifest Destination, is the war waged against the Native Americans.

There were between 10 and 15 million native inhabitants in America prior to "white" man's arrival. By 1894, there were less than 500,000 Native Americans alive.

American presidents from George Washington to Benjamin Harrison practiced ethnic cleansing against the original inhabitants in America. These presidents considered native Americans savages and a lower class of humans than even slaves. Presidents made it official policy to uproot, exterminate, and place in reservations--concentration camps (where Indians were raped, molested, and murdered by American troops, including George Custer himself, and settlers) , as many native Americans as possible. Our beloved Thomas Jefferson stated in 1780 as then Governor of Virginia, that the Ohio Shawnees (Native Americans) should be exterminated or forced off their land. Indians, he said, should be "...extirpated for the earth." Then as President in 1803, Jefferson ordered Native Americans to be removed , establishing "...the federal policy of removal-involuntary or voluntary." Jefferson proclaimed in 1807 to his Secretary of War, "And if ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or is driven beyond the Mississippi." Jefferson added, "...in war they (Indians) will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them (Indians)." President Andrew Jackson, in seven of his eight annual messages to Congress, discussed the policy of Indian removal. Jackson formulated the Indian Removal Act in 1830 to brutally force Indian relocation. Indian relocations continued to be embraced by every American president up until WWI.

The United States broke over 300 treaties with the Native Americans, even though the Constitution of the United States provides that treaties are the supreme law of the land.

Indian wars continued until 1891, when the Native American population was reduced to less than 500,000. Over 95 per cent of original native inhabitants had been exterminated, making this one of the largest genocides in all of history. President Teddy Roosevelt exclaimed that the Indian wars and Indian removals "..was as ultimately beneficial as it was inevitable." Native Americans were not granted citizenship until June 2ND, 1924. Up until 1948, some states barred Native Americans from voting.

The main problem with the US is that she tries to impose her ideals and culture on others because she fails to understand other people's beliefs and practice. Americans embrace violence as the first and only means of reliable conflict resolution. This same premise is endorsed by George W. Bush who attacked Iraq without provocation over erroneous intel-- i.e. weapons of mass destruction-- and then failed to take in account Muslem traditions and cultures during U.S. occupation and rebuilding.

By Christian Gatsby
a page from my upcoming book, MISLED...THE RIGHT WAY

AMERICA IS IN A MORAL AND LEADERSHIP CRISIS
George Bush is a compulsive liar.

We now learn definitively that Bush was warned four days before Katrina hit that the levees would break and yet he sat idle at his vacation home in Crawford, TX. In a lengthy video-conference with FEMA, Bush and homeland Secretary Chertoff were cautioned that the storm could destroy levees, jeopardise lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers. Bush didn’t ask a single question during the conference, but he reassured soon-to-be-weather-beatened state officials: "We are fully prepared."

In a September 1, 2005 interview, Bush said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," a statement Chertoff agreed with days later. It's sad that both Bush and a former federal judge, Chertoff, lied to the American public and to Congress about being informed of the impending effects of Katrina. The White House claims Bush was "fully engaged" before and during Katrina's landfall. Well, if this is Bush at his best, America needs to worry. Because of Bush's inept, ineffective, and lazy leadership during the Katrina crisis, over 1000 people perished due to the lack of water and food.

Bush is not uncommon to lying. Bush lied about Iraq's weapons-of-mass destruction and its ties to al Qaeda. Even as late as the 2004 Presidential debates, Bush, contrary to Congressional reviews, CIA and FBI investigations, was still trying to blame 9/11 on Iraq. Now, with nearly 3000 American soldiers and over 30,000 Iraqi women and children dead, Iraq slips into Civil War.

Bush lied about his domestic wiretapping program and his torturing of prisoners and denying them access to the Red Cross. Bush lied about his contacts with indicted felon lobbyist Abramoff.

America is in a moral and leadership crisis. Sadly we cannot recall Bush, but he should be held to stricter accountability and carefully questioned on all his policies and actions; otherwise, Bush will continue to deceive and distort the truth to Americans and the world.

by CHRISTIAN GATSBY