Before the Iraq War began, I put my Congressional Delegation on notice as to how I felt at the time.  Now, sadly, three years later, I have had to quote my own predictive warning back at them.

Here is that key quote:

"The time has come to say that the People of these United States have always stood, and continue to stand, against Empire, and to recognize that unprovoked attacks on nuclearly inchoate Nations impels our Enemies not only to develop the technologies of Mass Destruction on a wider, faster and more secretive scale, but predisposes those Enemies to threaten our own cities and People with unspeakable ruin."

Continue below to read my original 1-March-2003 letter to California Senator Dianne Feinstein, but first that letter's sad, sad little sister of 12-April-2006:

Tonight's {McNeil-Lehrer} NewsHour finished with a poem in place of the parade of lonely portraits of the dead.  I found both the poem and its presentation moving, and I am taking the liberty of quoting it in full below.

However, I encourage everyone to go see, listen or read the original introduction and reading by the author, Wyatt Prunty, at the NewsHour website before reading my simple transcript below.

The transcript below is for the poetry purists who want to read it for themselves, without background or interpretation.

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle had an infuriating opinion piece by Dick Rogers, the paper's Reader Representative.

He is replying to the overwhelming objections of readers to a Page A1 story about a "folksy grandma" who happens to be a viscious anti-gay bigot (what I would call a "political extremist").

In it, he quotes a "Mendocino County woman" as having written to him:

A sentiment to which I couldn't agree more.  However, Mr. Rogers seems not to even understand what "Mendocino County woman" is saying, in his rush to defend the "conspiratorial press".

More of Roger's straw-men, as well as my e-mail to him, with links not included in the original e-mail, below:

kid oakland, and kos, my friends:

kid oakland, thanks for the diary.  I have almost always liked and agreed with what you've said here (since the olden days of dKos).  I think you've helped tremendously to bring this discussion down to earth.

 But you know what?  The Democratic Party committed suicide with Kerry's concession speech.  Most people who vote Democratic when the Democrats win a majority aren't active members of the Democratic Party.

 The Party's acquiescence, and unjustified allegiance to the S.O.P. before, during, and after Election 2004 was the most fundamental mistake, and one that will haunt it in the history books several hundred years from now:

My daughter, born September 10, 2001, is an eleventh generation American.  
Her ancestors participated in every American war, starting with the French & Indian War.
My wife, and therefore my daughter are both French citizens.
Tomorrow, I will be sending them home to France.

I either need to believe that my country, the country that my ancestors have built over 400 years, has turned to Fascism as the answer, or that the American voice has been silenced.
I need to know which.

The common wisdom (CW) is that 1/3 of American voters used paperless voting machines.  It is necessary to document whether these votes were altered or not.