THE MOTHERS ARE COMING!

"Sarah, if the people had ever known the truth about what we Bushes have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched."~~ Bush 41 to reporter Sarah McClendon, Dec. 1992

It's an amazing thing. Doctors' offices in New York and Washington will likely be standing-room-only in a couple of months. I can see it now -- the look on a nurse's face when she asks the vacuous, target-eyed media twits when they are "due," and each one chirps happily, "May 25th!" As she comes to the end of the line, the nurse notices a slender, auburn-haired woman fast asleep, her lips slightly open in a half-smile. She is snoring gently.

Hesitating to awaken her, the nurse spies a blonde whom she recognizes as CNN's "White House" correspondent, Dana Bash, "What about her?" the nurse asks Bash, pointing to the woman. "Is she due on May 25th too?"

Bash leans forward and stares at the sleeping woman so intently that she loses her balance and falls, sprawling on the floor. Then, with eyelids blinking rapidly in recognition, Bash scrambles to her feet, grabs the nurse's arm and whispers fearfully, "No -- no need to wake her up -- puh-leeze don't wake her up! That's Maureen Dowd from the New York Times. She wasn't invited to the barbeque..."

The "barbeque" on Thursday, Aug. 25, was the annual Lewinsky-style blowout George Bush gives for the humping, groveling media during his vacation each year -- an off-the-record affair wherein the Prince becomes "Pauper for a day" and exposes himself to the hoi polloi of the Fourth Estate.

Except Bush called it off last year, so it's really not an annual party. And the fried fish, potato salad and chocolate-chip cookies don't really qualify as a barbeque either. Some are saying it was a pool party, but nobody went swimming...

So, what is it? It's a super-duper double-secret reaffirmation by media stage-door Johnnys that Bush is the President, the Dear Leader, the commander-in-chief, the stud-muffin in control, and they're willing to crawl on their bellies across the fire-ant hills and weed-tangled Texas prairie to get access to him. Like the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin pointed out Friday in his "White House Briefing," the media are so eager to be near Bush they'll agree to anything, "pretty much no matter what the conditions."

Bush's conditions should have brought all self-respecting journalists to a screeching halt up against the ethical wall. But no. To prove their allegience to Bush, reporters and photographers piled into vans and sped past Camp Casey, a site on the road leading to the ranch named after Casey Sheehan, a 24-year-old soldier slain in Iraq in April 2004. Casey's mother, Cindy, came to the Crawford ranch on Aug. 6, intent on getting Bush to explain the "noble cause" for which he keeps insisting Americans must die. It was important to Bush, who strikes out in destructive vindictiveness any time he is challenged or questioned, for the media to give Sheehan the back of their hands -- or at least their middle fingers -- as they left her in a wave of blowing dirt.

Froomkin reports that several reporters were "squeamish" about even attending the event, and especially about having to drive by the Sheehan camp. "And later," Froomkin said, "a small handful watched askance as the rest fawned over Bush, following him around in packs every time he moved."

Froomkin's shamefaced apology for the one or two, or however many of his counterparts it takes to fill up a small hand, who were uneasy about signing on to conditions demanded by the world's most insensitive and callous egomaniacial murderer, leaves reality-based folks scratching their heads. What were these few doing there in the first place? In the name of all that is ethical and professional in journalism -- what in the hell were any of them doing there in the first place?

Maybe it's me, but if sitting around a swimming pool at a barbeque where no barbeque is served while the world, ignited by lies, explodes in flames -- if having access to the man who told the lies -- does not make a card-carrying journalist at least a bit curious about something other than sports, what the twins are up to, or his summer reading list -- is reality, then I cannot get a grip on it. I cannot get a grip on the reality of reporters flocking to also attend off-the-record August dinners with the treasonous Karl Rove. Is there anything in the world of reality more totally incomprehensible, raging mad -- desperately absurd?

Unfortunately, yes. Ron Suskind, the former Wall Street Journal senior national-affairs reporter, and author of "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill," penned a critical in-depth piece for the Oct. 17, 2004 New York Times Magazine, on the nuances of Bush's inability to recognize reality. Bush proudly admits he doesn't "do nuance," nor does he bother to read newspapers or watch TV, so the fate of the world rests on his uninformed, faith-based gut instinct. By his own admission, Bush just catapaults the propaganda around until some of it sticks, which then becomes reality.

A "senior adviser" to Bush explained to Suskind in the summer of 2002 that we no longer live in a reality-based community. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," the adviser said. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Now, I'm not saying this "senior adviser" is Dick Cheney, but I have studied the cadence of Cheney's remarks and his pet phrases -- as you will -- for years. Not that it matters, but I suspect history will sort out that whoever was spouting this insane ideology was -- as a minimum, if you will -- "channeling" the arrogant veep.

It's not that Bush doesn't want to face the reality of why Casey Sheehan and 1,900 others like him had to die. After sailing through five years and two stolen elections without having his feet held to the fire; after having lie after destructive lie creating domestic and foreign chaos cheered on by captive audiences, Bush isn't about to be called on the carpet by some mama just because her kid got killed in his war on terror, or regime change, or handing out God's gift of freedom, or spreading democracy, or liberation, or -- whatever. Sheehan may have him on the run, but he's the leader of what's left of the free world, and he doesn't owe anybody an explanation.

Reality? As they say down in Texas, Bush just doesn't give a rat's ass. And, from its collective shoddy performance, neither does the mainstream US media. Unfortunately, for the whole treasonous bunch, America's mothers are awake and they're on the move. Not just those whose sons and daughters were horribly slain for no good reason, but those who realize their children are still alive and are in peril, are being murdered at a clip of three a day, with no hope of survival and no way out. They realize that the game Bush is playing with their children is Iraqi Roulette. And, sooner or later...

Bush and his media enablers are hoping the end of August will put Cindy Sheehan and Camp Casey in their rear-view mirrors. According to Fox Channel news director Brit Hume, everything will be all right if Bush can come up with some good news. "What the president needs is some improved results," Hume informed the panel on Fox News Sunday last week, "...or at least some perceived improved results."

Fellow panelist Fred Barnes agreed. "Cindy Sheehan's a crackpot," Barnes snorted, and then giggled, slapping his hands together and then rapidly beating them on the table while bouncing up and down in his chair -- "A crackpot! She's not even a good mascot for the Democratic Party! She's nothing but a crackpot!"

Bush and the entire right-wing apparatus are flailing around in "frantic defense" mode. They can't get it through their heads that this isn't about politics. Mothers like Cindy Sheehan are not anti-war, they're just anti-illegal genocidal war. Their cause is pro-peace, and it's a noble cause.

The mothers are coming, spreading out across the nation in a "Bring Them Home Now" bus tour, and they are joined by military and Gold Star families, veterans of the Iraq war and veterans of previous wars. They are coming to save their children because no one -- not the president, not the administration, no member of Congress, nor any corporate media -- has the courage to stand up and do what's right. Now. Today. Before three more are killed...and three more...

I think I'll meander on over to Tom Delay's place. I hear there's gonna be a hell of a Reality Show and a great barbeque over there next week.

I may even invite Maureen Dowd...

IS ENOUGH EVER -- ENOUGH?

Close to 30 percent of the American electorate think that Iraq, and specifically Saddam Hussein, did 9/11. Some of these people have lost their sons or daughters and yet continue to say, with our profane, temper tantrum, untreated alcoholic president, "we must stay the course." These people are seeking revenge. We don't know what our president wants. We do know he's turning a secular country into another Iran. The latest from our profane, obscene, psychotic, temper tantrum, untreated alcoholic president is this: "We must keep killing Americans to honor those we've already killed." As usual, Bush isn't original. We got the same pep talk when we were in Vietnam, and we got it when we had lost just 100 soldiers. Well, we kept on "honoring" them until we'd killed 58,000 of them. Knowing all of this, it blows your mind that the 30-percenters in this country are still in favor of killing even more.

When is enough -- enough?

Don Phelps
West Coast Dem
29 Aug 05
_____________________


SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN...

The children are back in school. I see little children, babies really, trudging down the street, with heavy back-packs on their little bodies. Know why ? Because rotten, cheap, republicans are afraid they're going to get taxed a nickle if they buy lockers. The school officials are intimidated by the local nazi bitchers. Hey, ain't no big deal. Because when the babies grow up theyll be sent overseas to fight and die for Hallburton who's looting our treasury, urged on by the untreated alcoholic in the White House.

Don Phelps
West Coast Dem
29 Aug 05

GETTING ON WITH IT...

The president today respected a grieving mother's right to speak out -- her right to ask questions -- and changed his schedule in order to meet with her. And, the "acting president," Martin Sheen, came all the way from NBC'S West Wing to do it. The Reverend Al Sharpton also joined Cindy Sheehan, President Sheen and hundreds of peace activists in an interfaith service at Camp Casey. It was a wonderful day in the cause of peace.

The other unelected president, George Bush, although just a stone's throw away from Sheehan who has been camped out against his fence for a month in a futile effort to get him to answer just one question, said gosh, he would like to meet with her too, except his presiden-shul schedule was too tight and he wasn't going to change it.

If Bush were slipped a truth pill, he would step up and say...

"I grieve 'n mourn for her and for ... er -- whatever her son's name is, and I want the 'Merican people to know that ... er -- whoever he is -- died for a cause...a noble cause. Man, the way that woman's acting, you'd think her boy was the only one to make the big sacrifice! I haven't checked with Rummy lately, but there's gotta be at least a hunnerd more who've paid the ultimate price -- if you know what I mean -- and their mamas aren't caterwauling at my gate. Like my friend El Rushbo says, that Sheehan woman needs to just suck it up, because we all lose things...

"But I have to get on with my life so, um, so I can have a balanced life... Did I mention that I am the president of the United States?"

It's Casey, Mr. President. The name you refuse to say is Casey Sheehan. That's why they call the place you refuse to visit "Camp Casey." So, get on with your life, but it will never be balanced. Hell, you can't even achieve balance on a bicycle. And may your god keep you safe from the hunnerds and hunnerds of anguished mothers who will soon be headed your way...

GOT IT FIGURED OUT...

We have always had two main dichotomies operating in America since we began. One is the rich-poor, and the other is the smart-dumb dichotomy. We should erase the former and accentuate the latter.

We're in trouble right now because dumb people are in charge, and other dumb people are supporting them. If the smart people ever get back in charge, they should change the rules: All the smart people will get to have two votes, and dumb people will just retain their one vote, and corrupt people don't get to vote.

Don Phelps
West Coast Dem
28 August 2005
______________________

YEAH, BUT DON...

So, let me get this straight. We're in trouble right now because the rich dumb people are in charge and other rich dumb people are supporting them...

The way I see it is if the poor smart people get back in charge, they can change all the rules they want to, and vote as many times as they want to because the rich dumb people will still own all the voting machines, and the poor smart people's votes won't count.

But I guess it doesn't really matter, because if the corrupt people don't get to vote, nobody's gonna show up on election day anyway...

Check this out... Sheila

THE WEST COAST DEM...

He's been there. He's done that. He's Don, the West Coast Dem, and he can wrap up a 2,000 word article in a single paragraph. He voted for Harry Truman. He served seven years in the military and rode in the back seat of dive bombers in WWll. He says he's an economic socialist; he thinks capitalism stinks because it demands winners and losers. He's a patriot, a Democrat and he thinks Al Gore should run again. He's my kind of guy.

Don tells it like it is. He asks no quarter, and gives none. Until I can convince him to come here and kick ass on his own, I will feature his paragraph "gems" regularly on this site. Check him out, below...sheila

God's Own Chickenhawk

Ever been on a troop ship? It's not very nice. One such ship in the early 50's was crammed with American troops heading for Korea. One officer was the liquor officer, in charge of the booze. His name was Pat Robertson. The ship stopped for fuel in Japan. Pat's dad had some political clout and arranged for Pat to get off, making Pat a chickenhawk. Some of Pat's customers died in Korea, but Pat came home and become a professional Christian. It pays well. Pat went on to become a well-known hater of women, gays and lesbians. He also hates Saddam Hussein and Hugo Chevez, neither of whom have harmed America yet. Like his hero in the White House, Pat desperately needs psychiatric help.

Don
West Coast Dem
26 August 2005
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Lights, Camera -- Pray!

Have you ever seen Pat Robertson give the camara one of his phony prayers, while holding his eyes closed and twitching his mouth (He practices twitching his mouth with a mirror, to make it really good) If Pat was a real Christian, he would be down in Crawford in Cindy's ditch consoling a grieving Mother. Pat thinks his "hate ticket" is going to help him get into heaven. He'll have good reason to close his eyes and twitch his mouth when he discovers his heavenly partners are Barbara Olson, Lee Atwater and Adolph Hitler...

Don
West Coast Dem
26 August 2005

THOSE PESKY DOTS...

When you stop and think about it, this nation's zaniest, hard-right-wing Christian fundamentalist, the cloven-hooved Pat Robertson, may be doing nothing more than providing cover for Stinky W's burgeoning problems with a distraught mother of a slain soldier who just won't go away.

I mean, what's the media doing this morning -- talking about whether Stinky W. will talk to Cindy Sheehan, or are they jonesin' out on Pat Robertson's comments that we need to assassinate Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez?

On Monday, Robertson said to his panting, target-eyed "700 Club"...

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability." Robertson went on to say, "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

Also, bear this in mind -- we have tried (unsuccessfully) two, maybe three times to assassinate Hugo Chavez. We're beginning to piss him off. This last week Chavez threatened to cut off our oil and, since we get 10 percent of all our oil from Venezuela, that could create quite a sticky-wicket. But Robertson says taking Chavez out is "...a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

This comment of Robertson's gives the vacuous media an opportunity to discuss how close Chavez and Fidel Castro are; to "frame" the public opinion by saying over and over -- Chavez/Castro....Chavez/Castro...you are getting very sleepy...repeat after me...

And, wouldn't you know, by coincidence, CNN had a neat little special on the Hugo Chavez/Fidel Castro relationship all ready to go! They even dress alike! Hey, that oughta tell you something.

But then, that's just me. I could be wrong. When I run out there and grab a couple of dots and get too enthusiastic when I'm trying to connect them, I usually end up smashing them into my forehead...

SUDDENLY, THIS SUMMER...

By Sheila Samples

"The United States is not nearly so concerned that its acts be kept secret from its intended victims as it is that the American people not know of them." –U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark

Folks who watch the fair-and-balanced coverage of Fox News or perhaps CNN, the most "trusted name in news," might think Camp Casey is a neat new name for the Gaza Strip in Palestine or even a teenage hideout in Aruba. They would probably be surprised to learn the camp is at President George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, and is named after 24-year-old Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004.

Casey's mother, Cindy Sheehan, has been living in a tent on George Bush's doorstep since Aug. 6 -- three days after Bush assured a group of Texas lawmakers in Grapevine that the slaughter of 20 Ohio Marines from one battalion in a single week would not shake his will, because, by God, "we are at war." Bush crowed, "Our men and women who've lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and in this war on terror have died in a noble cause and a selfless cause."

That did it. Cindy Sheehan says she decided at that moment to go to the Crawford ranch and ask Bush one question -- just one. "What was the noble cause that my son died for?"

Now, it would not be unreasonable for the president of the United States to come out and answer one question from a grief-stricken mother whose child was sacrificed in what Bush so giddily proclaims a "noble" cause. But that's not how this president does things. No one calls the shots for Bush; he does not make mistakes, and he says the great thing about being president is that he doesn't owe anybody an explanation. About anything. Especially about his war, a noble cause which has settled gloriously around his shoulders like a Cicerian ruff.

Bush steadfastly refuses to hear the voice of "the people" or to even acknowledge they have a voice at all. The only call Bush hears comes directly from God -- not from the street rabble comprising the cannon fodder required for his legacy, nor from their keening mothers who are beginning to buzz around his head like pesky mosquitoes at a Texas all day singing and dinner on the grounds.

Parents shouldn't have to bury their children. Ever. It disrupts the "natural order" of things. Unfortunately, most of the world is in agreement that nobody is better at disrupting order than George W. Bush. Thanks to his callousness and cruelty, the "one-question" meeting with Sheehan that Bush could have resolved in less than an hour while racking up some badly needed positive PR evolved instead into a movement that is gaining both attention and velocity. It is assuming a life of its own, and is sweeping non-stop across the nation. Cindy Sheehan is emboldening Americans awakening to a nightmare of murder, genocide, torture, abuse, assassination, rendition -- lies piled upon grisly lies -- to break through the yellow ribbons encircling the patriotic detention camp their nation has become.

Suddenly, this summer. Free at last.

For complete article, go here.

WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT HYPOCRISY?

Fox News' Sean Hannity demanded in 1999 when troops were preparing to go into Kosovo --

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life..."

Cal Thomas, another super-duper-uber patriot pundit similarly raged at Bill Clinton's action in the Balkans:

"Americans are a generous people, and few would turn a blind eye to the death of innocent children and other civilians. But feelings alone are not sufficient reason to dispatch someone else’s sons and daughters to new killing fields. And for this president – part of a generation that thought it was too good to fight and die in a war it didn’t like – now thinking it OK to send someone else’s children possibly to their deaths., well, that’s a lot to overcome morally and politically."

For some reason, Hannity and Thomas feel no compunction to repeat these "patriotic" sentiments, even as we are losing the sons and daughters they were so concerned about earlier at a clip of nearly four a day.

Last night, the total was 1,868. We have lost five more this morning. I guess these two have successfully "overcome" their moral and political hang-ups, eh, Scoob?

Our Noble and Selfless Leader

People just gotta understand, see, my war is a noble cause. It's hard work over there. It's real hard work. Hard worky-work. An' it's hard work over here too. But guess what? I'm resolved. My will is strong 'cause I like to lead 'cause I'm a leader. Freedom is on the march! Folks just gotta git outta the way -- my way -- an' they gotta realize that I'm working hard an' there are serious consequences if they try to stop me, an' when I say serious consequences I mean serious consequences 'cause I'm a man who means what I say and who says what I mean no matter how hard the work is.

Hey -- did j'all know I flew over Iraq one time? Yeah, that was between the time we carpet-bombed the shopping mall and nuked that wedding party with DU...haw haw...talk about DU -- Do Unto others...get it? Whoop! Them buggers want WMD -- I'll give 'em WMD...Made them terriers sit up and take notice. Even from 30,000 feet, I could see we smoked 'em out and got 'em on the run. Anyway, after that happened, I told my pilot, "Hi-ho Paint -- let's git whar we ain't!" An' when we headed home to the good ol' USofA, I was resolved -- nosiree, we ain't turning back...

Er...any questions? ... Stretch?

Awful... W...On...Liner...

A... is for Attention Deficit Disorder, which lets me sleep like a baby after I have slaughtered thousands of innocent women and children for no good reason.

W... is for War -- glorious soul-damning pain and suffering for all who oppose me, which is the only way I can achieve a frightening and hideous, unending orgasm.

O... is for Only, as in I am Only here for the killin' ...

L... is for Lacerate, which Unkie Dick says means the same as slash, rip, stab, maim. I like the "L" word best...

On Saturday (Aug 13), Peter Fredson posted an intriguing piece on the Bellacaio site, wherein he admits he shares the same problem with George Bush that most thinking people have -- there is no doubt that Bush is a shallow, unlearned, idiotic bully; yet he maintains an eerie control over the entire government.

Fredson writes:

"We must give them credit for manufacturing pretexts to take an entire nation to war, to fool an entire Congress, and most of the media, although the public seems easy enough to fool any time. We must give Bush credit for coalescing his entire cabinet, and administrative people, into a protective claque that applauds any stupidity he pronounces.

"He was able to cause every man and women in his cabinet to back up any lie, any misinformation, any deception, and do it perpetually, in public, and do his war dance loudly, enthusiastically, energetically, in such grand high-stepping fashion that any Indian tribe must be jealous of their histrionics, rhetoric, war-drum-beating, shouting, and dancing ability, with modern Tomahawks, cruise missiles, helicopter horses, and obedient braves with rattling sabers to do the bidding of the big chief. Demagoguery reached great heights then. Even Julius Caesar would be jealous of the Bushite ability to stir people to shed blood for fat-head politicians.

"We must applaud the determination of Bushites to coalesce the powers, (Executive, Legislative and Judicial) into a single unit of sycophants that have not hesitated to deliver their country to the highest lobbyist consortiums for maximum profitability and dominion. Vetos are hardly necessary when compliance is absolute. We stand in amazement at the smooth transition of a fairly good democracy into a semi-fascist imperialistic plutocracy where prayer substitutes for care, profit for credibility, and deception becomes the cloak of invisibility behind which scoundrels lurk to profit from human misery.

"Bushites are masters of exploitation. They have brilliantly suckered masses of True Believers by the story that God appointed Bush as a sort of junior savior to deliver the world from EVIL. That story alone convinced millions of simple-minded Christians into backing a shallow swaggering exploiter."

Like Fredson, I can understand the agendae of those who cluster around the one man they believe will grant their wishes -- make their dreams come true. And, like Fredson, I can only scratch my head in bewilderment. What is it about Bush, who is an appallingly crude and ignorant former falling-down-drunk -- a cowardly deserter who chucked his uniform and abandoned his post during a time of war -- enchanting enough to hold educated and experienced citizens in thrall, en masse?

Fredson nailed it at the very beginning of his piece when he spoke of "...the complexities of the collective mind of George W. Bush." I truly believe that is exactly what we have -- a cacophony of divergent ideologies that soar into his ear, and merge into a single incomprehensible mass before spilling, unedited, out of his mouth.

The problem is unsolvable. Neither Bush nor those of us who listen to him have any idea of what he’s talking about. Unfortunately, we will never know what was on Bush's mind at any given point. Because Bush is merely a portal wherein competing views rush in and out, much like the realm described so aptly by Edgar Allen Poe in his "Haunted Palace" in The Fall of the House of Usher. . .

And travellers now within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
To a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
Through the pale door,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And laugh -- but smile no more.

It All Started at the Pig Farm

The Revolution is NOW...


"If you shut up the truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way."
~~ French author Emile Zola~~


The incomparable Raw Story website is publishing a letter it acquired on Tuesday, Aug 9, from 16 Democratic Representatives (whose number has now burgeoned to 38) urging George Bush to meet with Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was slain in Iraq in 2002. Sheehan has been camped on Bush's doorstep since Saturday when she and a small group of supporters were forced to walk in a ditch struggling through knee-deep weeds as they made their way to Prairie Chapel, the Bush "ranch," a former pig farm in Crawford, Texas.

According to The Iconoclast, Bush's hometown paper, Sheehan said she decided to go to Crawford because of comments Bush made which coincided with the deaths of 12 Marine reservists from Ohio who were killed in perhaps the deadliest roadside bombing of U.S. troops in Iraq. Sheehan was outraged at Bush's remarks to about 1,800 members of the American Legislative Exchange Council in Grapevine on Aug 3 that the men and women who’ve lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan died in a noble and selfless cause.

"We all know by now that that’s not true, and I want to ask George Bush, ‘Why did my son die? What was the noble cause that he died for?’” said Sheehan. “I don’t want [President Bush] to use my son’s name or my family name to justify any more killing or to exploit my son’s name, my son’s sacrifice, or my son’s honor to justify more killing. As a mother, why would I want one more mother to go through what I’m going through, Iraqi or American?

"And I want to tell him that the only way to honor my son’s sacrifice is to bring the troops home now.”

There are few things more relentless this side of Hell than an August Texas sun. Unless it would be the lost souls of Fallujah crying out for justice through the Napalm flames. Or perhaps it is a mother so engulfed in grief at the cruel and needless loss of her child that her primal screams reverberate throughout the world. Except at the pig farm. Or within the entire US Senate. Or on the deaf ears of all but 38 of the 435 representatives in the US House.

The initial 16 -- one representative for each word Bush used to lie us onto the New World Order killing fields -- are John Conyers, George Miller, Maxine Waters, Corrine Brown, Dennis Kucinich, Carolyn Maloney, Jim McDermott, Jim McGovern, Barbara Lee, Zoe Lofgren, Peter Oberstar, John Lewis, Bernie Sanders, Bob Filner, Micheal Honda, and Raul Grijalva. I have searched in vain for Nancy Pelosi, Cynthia McKinney, Charlie Rangel -- searched for just one Republican who would ask Bush to meet with the mother of a slain soldier...

Six soldiers and marines were killed today. Four yesterday. In just 10 days of August, 44 Americans and many, many more innocent Iraqis have been murdered. We don't "do" body counts of Iraqi citizens, so there's no way of knowing how many have died, but we do know that more than four soldiers and marines have been slaughtered in a single day -- every day in August. The pig farm president may not know where his children are tonight, but Casey Sheehan knows where his mother is -- sweltering in 100-plus-degree weather on a desolate prairie -- ignored by the commander-in-chief -- but still out there, bravely supporting the troops.

There are many mothers whose anguish matches Sheehan's, not only those who have lost children, but those whose children are returning broken and maimed; doomed to lives of desperation and pain. Mothers like Sandy Briggs, from Keokuk, Iowa, whose son, Sgt. Robert Briggs, a soldier in the 224th Engineer Battalion, was hit by shrapnel from an artillery round April 16 at Iraq's Camp Ramadi.

According to the Burlington, Iowa, newspaper, The Hawkeye, "Surgeons took one of his eyes. The other is partially blind. Head trauma paralyzed his left side. Metal litters his body...An operation removed part of his skull. Now he wears a helmet to get out of bed."

Bush says he "grieves 'n mourns" for the dead and maimed. His "thoughts 'n prayers" go out to them. He 'preciates them making the ultimate sacrifice for his noble cause. Many, however, are beginning to think Bush has a strange way of showing his compassion. He has not attended a single funeral of the now 1,848 Americans who have died in Iraq because of his lies and lack of planning, and he continues to stubbornly "ditch" Sheehan as she keeps a lonely vigil on the Texas plains.

Bush might wish later that he had come out to meet with Sheehan upon her arrival Saturday when there was but a handful of supporters accompanying her. If the media covered the meeting at all, he would have been portrayed as a caring president, and by Sunday it would all have been over. But that isn't how Bush operates. He does not negotiate; remember, his will is strong, his resolve will not be broken. Bush is not satisfied until everything he touches turns into a steaming, odious pile of bullshit. He made the cowardly choice to send out a couple of minions -- national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin -- to tell her that Bush really really cares, but nobody's coming home until "the mission is accomplished..."

So that's how the Revolution started.

Who knew? Who would have believed just a week ago that, after all our years of hard work, the crude and pitiless Bush would run out there, ram his middle finger in the face of a heartbroken mother, and jump-start the Revolution?

By the time Cindy Sheehan leaves her station at the pig farm, Bush will know that he was wrong. Because "Mother" is not just half a word, as Bush and his Texas buddies, his Skull and Bones cohorts, his PNAC perps were raised to believe. "Mother" is Nature -- "Mother" is Earth -- "Mother" is an invincible protective force that, if awakened and sufficiently outraged, will sweep the entire bunch from their seats of power. Ultimately, "Mother" will bring our troops home.

The mainstsream media will find, much to their chagrin, that the Revolution is NOW, and will continue apace without them. The Iconoclast is offering hourly updates on the Sheehan vigil. Friends of Peace and Justice of Waco are mobilizing support for Sheehan’s vigil, which could last until the end of August. More information can be obtained at the Crawford Peace House website or by calling (254) 486-0099. Air America Radio hosts, especially Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy, are all over this story, giving minute-by-minute updates, many of them coming from Sheehan herself, who calls the station regularly. Google "Cindy Sheehan," and you will discover the entire Internet is wide awake and on the march, and will join the Revolution -- at the pig farm.

Also check out --
Gold Star Families for Peace; www.gsfp.org
Military Families Speak Out; www.mfso.org
Veterans for Peace;www.veteransforpeace.org
CodePink; www.codepink4peace.org
Vietnam Veterans Against War; www.vvaw.org
Iraq Veterans Against the War; www.ivaw.net
Meet With Cindy;www.meetwithcindy.org/