CANNONFIRE

While visiting Newsmax, I noted this advertisement: "Men -- do you hate rejection by women? Discover forbidden attraction secrets the LIBERAL MEDIA does not want you to know!"

Good lord. Are conservative males really that insecure -- and that dumb?

Years ago, men's magazines used to carry hilarious ads in the back: "Guaranteed -- 100% AUTHENTIC spurious PENIS ENLARGEMENT!" What kind of fellow was dumb enough to shell out for such a product? The same kind who reads Newsmax. Permalink

Few people understand that one of the most notorious individuals in British history may have contributed to the lineage of our current president. Aleister Crowley, a.k.a., "The Great Beast 666" -- the infamous practitioner of "sex magick" whose motto was "Do What Thou Wilt" -- came to know a great many remarkable people, including the maternal grandmother of George W. Bush. "Know," in this case, may be taken in the Biblical sense. Evidence points to the disturbing possibility that he was the true father of Barbara Bush, the former First Lady and mother to George W. Bush.

The story may seem difficult to believe at first, until one learns more about the social inter-relations that tied together these unlikely parties. Specifically, we must focus on a fascinating woman named Pauline Pierce, born Pauline Robinson -- whose third child was named Barbara.

Most sources divulge little about this woman. We learn more about her husband Marvin Pierce, the president of the McCall Corporation, which published McCall's magazine and Redbook. He married Pauline, a beautiful young socialite, in 1919. Their first child, Martha, was born the next year; the second, James, was born in 1921. At this time, Aleister Crowley inhabited what must have seemed a very different world, as he embarked upon the great communal experiment of the Abbey of Thelema in Italy.

Pauline, however, had a hidden side -- what we might call (without intending any judgment or insult) a wild side. We get a whiff of it from this Wikipedia entry:

W magazine once described her as "beautiful, fabulous, critical, and meddling" and "a former beauty from Ohio with extravagant tastes"...

Rumors that Pauline had an affair with Dwight D. Eisenhower have never been verified... Still, gossip tabloids from the '40s often associated her with prominent men in politics and film.

I have not yet been able to acquire independent confirmation of the Eisenhower liaison, although I personally see no reason to doubt that it existed. However, we may well have reason to believe that she began her "experimental" period before the 1940s.

A sixth-level initiate within the OTO (the Ordo Templi Orientis, the mystical society that Crowely came to head in the 1920s) first set me down this research path by revealing that Pauline Robinson had befriended an woman named Nellie O'Hara, an American adventuress who, at some point during her European travels, met the famed writer Frank Harris. Despite his advancing years, Harris still maintained a reputation for sexual excess that rivaled Crowley's. During this period (1919-1927), Nellie and Frank Harris lived as man and wife, although they could not actually wed because Harris' second wife was still alive and would not grant a divorce.

Harris and Crowley were good friends. Not only that: At this time, and not for the last time, Crowley was very much the proverbial "friend in need."

During the Abbey period, a Crowley follower had accidentally died during a magickal ceremony. The incident created a firestorm of unwanted publicity (the sensationalist British press labeled Crowley "The Wickedest Man in the World"), which prompted Mussolini's government to expel Crowley and his followers from Italian soil. By 1924, he lived in poverty in France, where Frank Harris kindly took him under his roof. This arrangement inevitably brought Crowley into contact with Nellie.

Crowley's diaries, to which I have been given access, clearly indicate that he depended on Harris for financial assistance:

January 3rd 1924 - "No luck about cash yet: but F.H. promises 500 fr to-morrow - so that I can bolt to Paris. One step onward to the Establishment of the Law of Thelema.

The money soon ran out, and AC (as his associates called him) soon had to ask his friend for further assistance. At this time, Harris was writing his multi-volume "erotic autobiography," My Life and Loves; he also purchased a newspaper, The Evening Telegram. But he lacked the resources and management skills to make the enterprise a success, and soon found himself in a financial position no better than Crowley's.

Despite his parlous economic circumstances, Crowley focused his attention on sex magick. Not many years previously, he and a follower named Jeanne Foster (a.k.a. Soror Hilarion) had conducted a sex-magickal rite designed to give birth to a child destined to carry on Crowley's work. I have not been able to determine whether he conducted similar experiments with Nellie, although given the polyamorous proclivities of all the parties involved, one should not discount the possibility.

Nellie's friend Pauline no doubt scandalized her social circle by traveling to France on her own and leaving two very young children in the care of nursemaids. However, her correspondence with her friend -- whose life in France with a famous literary figure must have seemed quite glamorous -- can only have inspired a sense of wanderlust. Her husband, increasingly bound to his duties with the McCall Corporation, did not share this spirit of adventure.

Thus it was that four individuals came together: Frank Harris, Nellie O'Hara, Pauline Pierce, and Aleister Crowley. Anyone who has studied Crowley's life will understand that what happened next was, in a sense, inevitable.

Crowley's diaries for this period record the initials "PVN," a cryptic reference to his favorite sexual position, which some of his partners found distasteful. (The letters derive from the Latin for "By way of the Infernal Entrance.") This is a common annotation in the records of Crowley's magical practices. We also find the strange initials "ECL." After researching the matter for some time, I have come to the conclusion that this is a reference to the practice known as "Eroto-Comotose Lucidity."

Before proceeding, I should emphasize that the year 1924 has a special significance in the Crowley chrnology. At this time, he is said to have undergone the "supreme ordeal" connected with his attainment of the Grade of Ipsissimus, the highest magickal achievement within his order. The exact nature of this ordeal remains mysterious. I believe that an important clue can be found in his description of the rite of Eroto-Comotose Lucidity:

The Candidate is made ready for the Ordeal by general athletic training, and by feasting. On the appointed day he is attended by one or more chosen and experienced attendants whose duty is (a) to exhaust him sexually by every known means (b) to rouse him sexually by every known means. Every device and artifice of the courtesan is to be employed, and every stimulant known to the physician. Nor should the attendants reck of danger, but hunt down ruthlessly their appointed prey.

Finally the Candidate will into a sleep of utter exhaustion, resembling coma, and it is now that delicacy and skill must be exquisite. Let him be roused from this sleep by stimulation of a definitely and exclusively sexual type. Yet if convenient, music wisely regulated will assist.

The attendants will watch with assiduity for signs of waking; and the moment these occur, all stimulation must cease instantly, and the Candidate be allowed to fall again into sleep; but no sooner has this happened than the former practice is resumed. This alteration is to continue indefinitely until the Candidate is in a state which is neither sleep nor waking, and in which his Spirit, set free by perfect exhaustion of the body, and yet prevented from entering the City of Sleep, communes with the Most High and the Most Holy Lord God of its being, maker of heaven and earth.

The Ordeal terminates by failure---the occurence of sleep invincible--- or by success, in which ultimate waking is followed by a final performance of the sexual act. The Initiate may then be allowed to sleep, or the practice may be renewed and persisted in until death ends all. The most favourable death is that occurring during the orgasm, and is called Mors Justi.

As it is written: Let me die the death of the Righteous, and let my last end be like his!

If he did undergo this "ordeal" in 1924, then we must presume that his key associates of that time -- including Nellie and Pauline -- functioned as his assistants.

Pauline returned to America in early October of 1924. On June 8, 1925, she gave birth to a girl named Barbara. Barbara Pierce married George H.W. Bush, who eventually became the 41st President of the United States.

But who was Barbara's father? The chronology indicates that it could have been Crowley, but it could just as easily have been Marvin Pierce. The truth regarding Crowlean sexual rituals is disclosed only to the highest initiates of the OTO, in a document misleadingly titled "Emblems and Modes of Use."

Is Aleister Crowley the father of Barbara Bush? Even she may not know for certain; indeed, I have no way of knowing whether she has ever been told that this possibility exists. However, more than one person has noted the resemblance -- and this resemblance is not just physical. Many will recall the former First Lady's haughty and thoughtless remarks in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster. Those "in the know" were reminded of Aleister Crowley's similar reaction to the loss of life which occurred during the ascent of Kangchanjunga, an expedition he commanded: "This is precisely the sort of thing with which I have no sympathy whatsoever."

I leave the matter for the reader to decide. Permalink

Check in later today for an interesting new piece of investigative research. Permalink

Much as I dislike Hustler (I've no problem with porn per se, but Hustler annoys even me), I've always rather liked Larry Flynt. Here's why.

Mr. Bush: You Must Leave Office Now!

Get out, Mr. Bush. It's time to leave. We won't ask why you're leaving, whether it's because of incompetence, corruption, treason, criminal negligence or whatever. We just want you to resign and take that war profiteer Dick Cheney with you. We are sick and tired of the Vice President's corrupt cronies at Haliburton getting no-bid contracts to clean up the messes you have made.

Don't try and lie your way out of what happened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Along with everything else, you were too slow to muzzle the press, to slow to set up your spin machine. Americans have at last seen the truth with their own eyes. They will not be deceived again.

You stole your office both in 2000 and 2004, and consequently have no legitimate claim to it. You lied us into a war that not only has killed 2,000 U.S. troops and 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children, but also tied up our national guard when it was desperately needed here. You have gutted our civil rights, defunded the Treasury and put the American people at poverty's doorstep.

Now, with the help of Hurrican Katrina, you have allowed New Orleans-a major city in your own country-to be destroyed. Don't deny it. FEMA's National Response Plan makes it clear that the federal government must be help accountable, not state and municipal governments. In any case, it was you, Mr. Bush, who defunded the levee project that would have protected the Crescent City and its citizens.

We are done with you. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

As long as you're telling the truth, Mr. Flynt -- when will we get the full version of the Gordon N./Vicki Morgan thing...? Permalink

"At the age of five years to enter a spinning-cotton or other factory, and from that time forth to sit there daily, first ten, then twelve, and ultimately fourteen hours, performing the same mechanical labour, is to purchase dearly the satisfaction of drawing breath. But this is the fate of millions, and that of millions more is analogous to it."

-- Arthur Schopenhauer

Do a little reading about working class living conditions in Europe in the 19th century, and you'll come away with the impression that capitalism works only when subjected to a reasonable degree of regulation. Without such limitations, the natural instinct of the owners is toward peonage and slavery.

As if to prove the point, Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher today suggested that severely-underpaid migrant workers should no longer do the grunt work of agriculture. Better, he thinks, to force the prison population to perform such tasks. Why pay even a sub-minimum wage when you can use slave labor?

Many "Christian" conservatives make no secret of the fact that they hunger for a return to the South's infamous "peculiar institution." Do a little research into Dominionist theology and you soon will see all necessary proof of their intentions.

Regulated capitalism produced the booming economy of the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson years. Unregulated capitalism leads to chains around ankles and human beings on the auction block.

Analogy: While nobody likes to see flashing red-and-blue lights in the rear view mirror, imagine what our cities would look like if no cops patrolled our streets and no laws governed our drivers. The only people who would dare to operate a car would be devil-may-care thugs like Vin Deisel's character in The Fast and the Furious. Regulation makes the roads safe for everyone to get to work and to the grocery store.

If the only rule is the will of the stronger, we shall return to the days of master and serf. Which, it seems, is precisely what some Republican leaders want. Why should Bush and Cheney care if this nation's economy falls to tatters? On the day after Ragnarok, they will be the only ones with any money in their wallets.

On the other hand, I could countenance Rohrbacher's suggested use of slave labor -- on one condition: The first prisoners sent out to pick fruit must be Ann Coulter (after her conviction for voter registration fraud) and Rush Limbaugh (after his conviction for drug abuse). Permalink

...because we all know what what happens every time the dreaded acronym WTC7 appears on any web site. Is it possible to discuss 7 World Trade Center without the "bomb-in-da-building" zealots seizing upon any excuse to proselytize the faith? My purpose here is to discuss another mystery.

A few years ago, the brief New York Times report that the CIA had offices within that structure intrigued me, so I tried to find out more. Those findings deserve some presence on the net, even if the matter does not, in the final analysis, carry tremendous weight. What follows below the asterisks is yet another chunk from my yet-unpublished piece on WTC7 (the final version of which will have complete footnotes):

* * *

The Spooks of 7 World Trade Center

Of all the government agencies which called 7 World Trade Center home, one name rivets the attention of parapolitical researchers: The Central Intelligence Agency.

Only those “in the know” can say which of the building’s offices housed the CIA. That famed three-letter acronym did not appear in the lobby directory, nor did it appear on any phone bill sent to that address. The Company did not advertise its presence in New York City because the CIA’s charter prohibits domestic operations. Of course, the Agency’s interpretation of that charter may differ from yours or mine.

According to James Risen, the New York Times journalist who broke this story, “The agency's New York station was behind the false front of another federal organization, which intelligence officials requested that The Times not identify.” I was not a party to this deal, and I have never understood why the American taxpayer should remain forever ignorant of data which foreign intelligence organizations must consider old news. Two sources – one of them a private detective based in New York City – have informed me that the CIA has often used the Defense Investigative Service (DIS) as a cover when operating within the United States. In 1999, the DIS changed its name to the Defense Security Service, or DSS.

Of course, the scuttlebutt one hears from private detectives sometimes proves off-kilter, but in this case the suggestion makes sense. The Defense Security Service (DSS) is the agency of the Department of Defense charged with “clearing” individuals entrusted with sensitive military information. Many civilians undergo these background investigations, which are a routine fact of life for anyone who wants to work in an industry related in any way to defense. To establish a job applicant’s trustworthiness, DSS agents pry into credit histories and criminal records, and will even interview friends and family members. The goal: Weeding out individuals who show signs of instability or susceptibility to foreign influence.

One does not need much imagination to understand why the CIA would view DSS/DIS as an excellent domestic cover. If (presuming you are an American) someone showed up on your front step, flashed CIA credentials, and started asking intrusive questions about a friend’s personal habits, you might well become anxious or indignant; the scene could even end with a shouted reference to George Orwell and a slammed door. But if that same visitor showed DSS credentials, you would probably go out of your way to cooperate – after all, you would not want to ruin your friend’s career prospects.

The DSS web site lists the service’s field offices. In the state of New York, offices are located in Westbury, Syracuse, Liverpool, Rome, and Griffiss Air Force Base; no mention of any past or present office in New York City proper. News accounts of the disaster do not record either DSS or DIS as a tenant of any building in the trade center complex. Yet in the fall of 2001, the Southwest Bell SMARTpages online directory listed a phone number for the “US Defense Investigative Svc” at 7 World Trade Center.

Perhaps someone forgot to tell CIA about the name change.

An official told reporter Rizen that CIA personnel vacated these offices “soon after the hijacked planes hit the twin towers.” This version of events places the evacuation order after 9:06, the time of the second strike, even though most other building tenants left immediately after the first strike at 8:48. The account, if accurate, conjures up a grimly amusing image: Were the intelligence professionals the last people in the building to figure out that they were under terrorist attack?

The New York Times report raises the question of classified material falling into the wrong hands:

The recovery of secret documents and other records from the New York station should follow well-rehearsed procedures laid out by the agency after the Iranian takeover of the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979. The revolutionaries took over the embassy so rapidly that the C.I.A. station was not able to effectively destroy all of its documents, and the Iranians were later able to piece together shredded agency reports. Since that disaster, the agency has emphasized rigorous training and drills among its employees on how to quickly and effectively destroy and dispose of important documents in emergencies.

As a result, a C.I.A. station today should be able to protect most of its secrets even in the middle of a catastrophic disaster like the Sept. 11 attacks, said one former agency official. "If it was well run, there shouldn't be too much paper around," the former official said.

The implication here is that CIA personnel destroyed scads of documents during that all-important 49 minute period between 9:06 and 9:55. One wonders why they would bother. Why not simply leave and lock the doors? After all, according to the official chronology, fire had not yet broken out within 7 WTC -- and even if smoke alarms were already ringing, no-one should have expected a building collapse. Nothing of the sort had ever happened before.

In all likelihood, un-shredded classified materials were left inside the building, and went down with the proverbial ship. A federal judge gave the CIA jurisdiction over the building 7 clean-up operations, no doubt to prevent sensitive documents from falling into the wrong hands – presuming that any such documents survived.

The fact that the CIA gained this jurisdiction bears upon a related matter: Remarkable caches of gold, drugs, and arms were stored beneath the WTC complex. Since much of this material rested beneath structures other than 7 World Trade Center, we shall deal with this issue in a separate chapter. (Some conspiratorialists will tell you that the existence of this underground trove somehow “proves” the intelligence community’s complicity in the attacks. This argument -- if it can even be called an argument – resists any attempt at logical analysis.)

* * *

Forgive an in medias res ending. One day, I really must finish that book. And now is the time for certain readers to do precisely what they were asked not to do; no doubt, they will take umbrage at my accusation of fanaticism while providing evidence of same. If you must, you must. Take it away, bomb-brigadiers...! Permalink

Cannon here: Thanks to Gary Buell, I stumbled across an interesting document pertinent to the RFK assassination, brought to you by the good folks over at the Smoking Gun. The information amounts to little more than a tale told at second- or third-hand -- but, as we shall soon see, we may be able to track down a first-hand witness.

This FBI memo from August of 1971 summarizes an interview with a lady named Lila Hurtado, who, in 1968, had worked for one William R. Huntington, an interior decorator "to the stars" who kept an office on Sunset Boulevard. (The text makes it clear that he was gay, a fact which may be relevant.) Huntington told her of a tape recording made by a friend of his, an attorney named Ronald Buck who owned or ran a club called The Factory.

A side note: A little googling reveals that a club by that name still operates in West Hollywood; apparently, it caters to a gay clientele. I don't know if that was the case in 1968, or even if we are dealing with the same place.

Back to our story. According to Hurtado, Buck had made a secret tape recording of several "wealthy individuals" hobnobbing with bigwigs from Washington. These worthies were "gloating" over the deaths of JFK and Martin Luther King, and discussed plans to deal similarly with Robert F. Kennedy, who was then running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Buck later played the tape for Huntington, who called Robert Kennedy. (How did he get the number? Probably via Peter Lawford, who was one of Huntington's clients.) RFK personally heard the tape while in California, and responded: "I can't do anything about that until I become President."

Hurtado learned from Huntington during this time, the names of three individuals who had attended the private party; however, she could only recall the name of a Mr. Hunt, who was a millionaire from Texas.

This would seem to be a reference to H.L. Hunt, a racist fanatic long rumored to be the money man behind the assassination. (Incidentally, Ken Russell's Billion Dollar Brain features a hilarious caricature of Hunt.) The idea of old man Hunt showing up at a private party held in a gay club is more than a little odd -- but, as noted above, I don't really know what sort of patronage The Factory attracted back in '68.

Huntington later claimed that he had received threats on his life. He died of a heart attack in 1971. Hurtado, his confidant and the teller of this tale, began to feel that she might herself be in some danger. Thus, she made contact with the FBI.

An interesting story -- but, alas, no more than that. The tape would be good evidence, if it still exists. Even a first-hand "earwitness" would benefit the credibility of this account. Might such a witness still exist?

Hurtado listed the names of several individuals who, she believed, might corroborate her story. One of these names struck me as familiar:

Lea Perwin (phonetic)
Ronald Buck's former Secretary
now employed with Diamond Jim's in Los Angeles

"Diamond Jim's" was the name of a chain of ritzy steak houses in Southern California; as it happens, my mother worked for this firm in the late 1970s. At first, I wondered whether this connection might be the reason why the name "Lea Perwin" struck a chord.

Then it hit me: "Lea Perwin" may refer to the woman who now styles herself Lea Purwin D'Agostino, known to the criminal class as "the Dragon Lady," a nickname she is said to relish. (I believe she married a man named D'Agostino.) Now a respected Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles, she became famous through her aggressive prosecution of director John Landis in the "Twilight Zone" case. I would not be surprised to learn that her legal career began with a stint as a secretary to a well-known lawyer.

I'll let you know how this tale develops... Permalink

Any true gentleman will rush to the aid of a lady in need. I would like to introduce you to two women who could use your help, even if all you can offer is a kind word.

1. Viva Nancy! Nancy Skinner -- early progressive talk show radio host and partial inspiration for the entire Air America experiment -- is running for Congress in Michigan's 9th District. Yes, she's raising funds -- and yes, I know that you, like me, may be tapped out to the point of eating meatless pasta. But do her a favor -- do yourself a favor -- and watch her video. Its a compilation of her appearances on television throughout the early years of the Bush administration, when she spoke out against war and tax cuts for the wealthy at a time when doing so won her no friends.

She was phenomenal in combat. Not only that: This video compilation reminds us of just how wrong -- and how utterly ARROGANT -- the right-wing pundits were at that time. I defy anyone to watch this presentation without wanting to grab the nearest tire iron to smack the smirks off the faces of those ignorant sunsabitches.

If you live in Michigan -- and even if you don't -- support Nancy Skinner.

2. If you live in California -- and even if you don't -- support Debra Bowen. She's the California state legistlator fighting to overturn the reign of electoral misrule instituted by the Arnie-appointed Secretary of State Bruce McPherson. This is a national issue: If McPherson succeeds in his evil scheme to Dieboldize California's voting booths, no Democrat will ever again win the presidency.

But that's not the only evil scheme up Brucie's sleeve. Bowen has uncovered a new plan: McPherson, taking his cue from Katherine Harris, has instituted a new voter registration database, designed to "weed out" the poor and the homeless. (And there will soon be plenty of them, once the housing bubble bursts.)

More than 14,000 new voter registration and re-registration applications just from Los Angeles County were recently invalidated under this new stringent set of regulations — and other counties are seeing similar results.

This is a 43% rejection rate! In fact, virtually all of these applications would have been accepted before Secretary McPherson rolled out his new statewide voter registration database. Typically rejection rates are 1-2%. This is outrageous.

By the way, Bowen will be on the Al Franken show between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. this Friday. The topic will be keeping the vote clean and non-computerized. Much as I admire Franken, he hasn't always been good on this issue, so let's hope she can turn him around -- or, better still, electrify the audience.

Perhaps I should end with a nod toward a third courageous woman. As I've noted on a couple of previous occasions, Lydia Cornell hopes that her piece on Ann Coulter will win the Koufax award for best blog post. Alas, voting has closed. Even so, Lydia deserves all the good will she can get, since she will soon become the target of an epic right-wing hate campaign, due to her new book on Coulter. My prediction: The hatemongers try to portray Lydia -- a sweet-natured mother of two, and one of the few genuine Christians -- as a scarlet Hollywood liberal, "out of touch with mainstream America" -- just as they will try to paint the venom-spouting, hard-drinking, bed-hopping "Mistress Ann" in hagiographical hues. That show could prove quite entertaining! Permalink

Why are mainstream Democratic politicians so afraid to stand up to an unpopular president? Because even when on the ropes, conservatives still decide which issues will predominate. They still frame the debate.

Right now, the administration remains mired in unending scandals. The economy is in a perilous state. Global warming could destroy civilization. Gas prices continue their escalator ride. Oil may indeed be peaking. Iraq devolves into civil war. Bush has responded to the crisis he created in that country by calling for replacement puppets. Our ill-educated and ill-treated troops on the ground have concluded that all Muslims are the enemy -- an attitude which, predictably, has fathered a number of atrocities. On the pretext of preventing Iran from getting the bomb, the administration prepares for yet another unwinnable war, which will end only when we use nuclear weapons to stop the use of nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the Saudis have quietly been trying to put together their own nuclear armamentarium. They may already have one.

That's what's going on, folks.

So what is the burning issue of the day in America? Immigration.

Yes, immigration is a genuinely important problem. Has been for decades. But why is it the number one topic this morning? Because the right would rather we didn't talk about all that other stuff. Permalink

Worried about nukes in the hands of Islamic despots? Don't look at Iran. The real problem may be Saudi Arabia. An Indian newspaper, citing the German magazine Cicero, claims that Pakistani nuclear scientists (using a pilgrimage to Mecca as a cover) have been helping the Saudis acquire nuclear know-how.

Those tempted to dismiss the report should read Joseph Trento's Prelude to Terror:

In 1975, the royal family was approached by Pakistan’s government for help in financing a pan-Islamic nuclear weapon. [Saudi Intelligence chief Kamal] Adham and his advisers had simultaneously reached the conclusion that the royal family could not survive if they let the Israeli nuclear-weapons program stand unchallenged.

So what, precisely, makes nuclear weaponry acceptable in Saudi Arabia and not in Iran? Permalink

The resignation of White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card conjures up all sorts of fascinating scenarios which will probably go unrealized. What if he decides to talk?

He probably won't, of course. But we can still speculate: What if he spilled the beans on just two issues -- Plamegate and the World Trade Center attacks?

WHIG. Because Card has always kept such a low profile, few understand that he played a key role in the war conspiracy.

The White House Iraq Group (WHIG) was formed in August 2002 by Andrew Card, President Bush's chief of staff, to publicize the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. WHIG operated out of the Vice President's office.

The group's members included Rove, Bush advisor Karen Hughes, Senior Advisor to the Vice President Mary Matalin, Deputy Director of Communications James Wilkinson, Assistant to the President and Legislative Liaison Nicholas Calio, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The purpose of this group was to create public support for a war which (as we now know from the Downing Street memos and other sources) was pre-determined. In other words, this group focused on pushing propaganda -- the Niger forgeries, the aluminum tubes hoax, Atta in Prague and so forth. They also felt threatened by Joe Wilson.

Oddly, although journalists and pundits have offered much speculation about which WHIG member did what, few of those speculations concern Card, the organizer of the group.

We know, though, that when the Justice Department launched a criminal probe into the outing of Plame, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gave Andrew Card a twelve-hour "heads up," which provided plenty of time to clear damning information from the White House computers.

...when Gonzales was notified about the investigation on the evening of Monday, Sept. 29, 2003, he waited 12 hours before telling the White House staff about the inquiry. Official notification to staff is meant to quickly alert anyone who may have pertinent records to make sure they are preserved and safeguarded.

Just what did Card do during that twelve hours -- and in subsequent days?

Recently, we learned about the 250 pages of "Now you see 'em, now you don't" emails which Rove recently "discovered" and supplied to Patrick Fitzgerald. These very same emails went missing during the original Justice Department inquiry, perhaps during those key twelve hours. (The deadline to turn over all materials was October 10.) Andrew Card could probably tell us some very interesting details about this strange matter.

One possible explanation for the disappearance and re-emergence of the emails concerns the idea of blackmail, or insurance. During the window of opportunity, someone might easily have made personal copies of those messages as a matter of self-protection. Later, someone else in the White House (call him Karl) arranged for the same emails to vanish. Once Karl learned that incriminating copies of these missives still existed, he would have been forced to "find" the emails again, in order to avoid accusations of participating in a cover-up.

(This scenario is very speculative, of course -- but there is historical precedent for this sort of thing. Nixon could not erase the Watergate tapes because the CIA had its own copies.)

And who might the original "someone" have been? Andrew Card would be my primary suspect, since he was the one who received advance warning from Gonzales. For a brief time, only he -- and those he chose to inform (if anyone) -- knew about the probe. The President himself did not learn about the investigation until the next morning, according to one published report.

The alternative theory, of course, reverses the roles: Perhaps Card was the one who tried to make the emails vanish, while Rove cleverly made them re-appear when the time was right. Although this is the more popular scenario, I tend to discount the idea, if only because I think Rove has more to hide.

Many believe that Card has had an adversarial relationship with Karl Rove. They disagreed over the Harriet Miers nomination: Card pushed for Miers, while Rove probably aided the conservative groups who called for her to withdraw. Some observers aver that Card quickly lost enthusiasm for the Iraq war itself.

As Needlenose points out:

Given this uneasy relationship with Rove, it's possible that the Plame leak was the proverbial last straw for Card, and when he learned that there would be a full Justice Dept. investigation, he decided to make it clear that he wouldn't be going down with Rove's ship.

Card could well be the senior White House official who told the Washington Post that at least six reporters received the Plame leak before Novak published the information. As you will recall, the earliest "Plamegate" reports fingered Rove as the likeliest source for Novak. Whoever circulated those stories had it out for "Bush's Brain."

All of which suggests that conspiracy-minded folks might want to check up on an overlooked AP story from November 27 of last year:

A small, twin-engine plane carrying White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card made an emergency landing in Nashville Saturday after smoke began pouring into the cockpit, officials said...

The plane left Texas, where Card has been meeting with President Bush...at his ranch in Crawford, White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said.

Pure coincidence, of course. Even so, Card did once say that "Karl is a formidable adversary."

The Day of the Goat. Another set of mysteries involving Card concerns the events of September 11, 2001.

I've always felt that Bush's undignified, incompetent reactions on that day indicate that he did not have foreknowledge of the attacks, or at least of their extent. At the end of the original version of The Manchurian Candidate, Senator Iselin is given a dramatic, moving "impromptu" speech to declaim on national television in the aftermath of an assassination; surely W could have made similar arrangements? At the very least, he would have made a mental note: "Attack planned for today. Try not to look like idiot in front of cameras."

Unforgivably, Bush entered the classroom and listened to the goat story (the Greek for goat provides the root of tragedy) even though he had already been informed of the first strike. We don't know when he was told or who told him. Was it Card or Rove?

On more than one occasion, Bush made a statement which many took as a claim that he had seen the impossible:

And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card -- actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot.

Of course, there was no footage of the first impact available at that time. Perhaps we should blame W's infamous difficulties with the English language. If you presume that he meant "I saw that an airplane had hit the tower," the statement makes more sense, even if his actions do not.

Bob Fertik summarizes one version of the tale:

According to ABC's John Cochran, Bush discussed the first crash with his Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, before he left his hotel. As Bush approached his car, a reporter asked, "Do you know what's going on in New York," and Bush said he did - and would say something later.

He had no business going to that school, of course. Everyone suspected terrorism from the moment the first jet hit; the President endangered those children by placing himself in their presence at such a time.

Bush stayed in that school some 25 minutes after being informed of the second strike. Even if he didn't have the presence of mind to leave, why didn't Andrew Card think of the obvious course of action?

The first reporter to interview the retired Card should ask that question. Permalink

Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (whose last name is an anagram for "acned rot") likes to earn the occasional bucket of ink by making outrageous statements in front of microphones. His most notable outburst: Calling for the nuclear annihilation of Mecca and Medina should Muslim extremists ever set off a weapon of mass destruction within our borders. Tommy, who considers himself a good Christian, thinks that Jesus would applaud a mass slaughter of the innocent.

Recently, Tom the Toon had it out with Hillary Clinton over her claim that the Republican anti-immigration bill "would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself." Tom's reply:

"Hillary Clinton doesn't know the first thing about the Bible. Her impression, her analysis, her interpretation of both the law and the Bible are certainly wrong."

So. What lesson do we draw from all this? According to Tancredo, Jesus loves the idea of killing millions of innocents to avenge a wrong done by a handful of fanatics. Meanwhile, we should consider Hillary an inferior interpreter of the texts written by a people who became history's most noted migrants.

Let me clarify my positions: Although Hillary may have overstated the parallel, she was not out of line to suggest that the Samaritan story, and perhaps the biography of Jesus himself, might offer interesting points of reference. (Jesus was an immigrant. Remember the escape to Egypt? His family probably stayed with the huge Jewish community in Alexandria.) That said, I think our borders must become less permeable, and I remain no great fan of Hillary Clinton.

But at least she isn't a theocratic thug. Whenever goons like Tancredo offer Bible lessons, I feel happy to remain caught 'twixt Gnosticism and Agnosticism. Permalink

The Week of the War; Year Four commences

The anniversary of our invasion of Iraq brought us more denial; big surprise, as that seems to be the theme. Hell, W can’t say the "w" word, much less the civil “w” word, or executions, or murders, and more murders, much less address the fact that, in addition to all the killing and maiming, it’s leaving those who come home, crazy.

Evidently, the only battle this pseudo-hayseed prez of ours can tolerate is with his straw men. And needless to say, none of these idiots will speak of all the corruption, except maybe the former head of USAID. And did I hear someone not say