Being a candidate

Two different parties have approached me to see if I would run for office next year, for Congress. They want me to make a 3rd try against Tom DeLay.

He'll be glad to know that my prior effort cost me a $150,000/year job and my 18 year advisory position with a major university in Texas.  The district was changed in 2001 and his people removed a large number of Black voters, which I think is a shame.

Ft. Bend County, the heart of the district has become very International, with Asians, Hispanics and all kinds of people from everywhere--not DeLay's crowd, but certainly is mine. He's been pushing the State Leg to change it yet again, supposedly to give the GOP more Congressional seats but really to change his district yet again to get rid of more people he doesn't like and make up for the internationalization of Ft. Bend where I got 25% without funding just by having my name on the ballot.

Honestly, if I got a great job, maybe teaching international studies or doing global negotiating again, I'd probably blow it off and forget running. I ran to make a point, that the U.S. leadership needed global expertise. I had been warning about a possible terrorist attack on the U.S. for years, but no one listened. Then came 9 11, but the signs had been there since the '93 bombing of the WTC.

We'll see. There is the possbility of yet a 3rd party that has a huge base and also stands a good chance of capturing the White House if it picks the right candidate, which is where I'd prefer to be --making global policy. It wouldn't be hard to do better than what's happened the last 3 years. I believe in building bridges not burning them. We are ignoring much bigger threats than Saddam -- who was a nobody, a paper tiger.

We'll see....America would be better off if we totally rolled over Congress every few years and eliminate the special interests. These characters get into "power" and forget about the people.

Crazy Week

Wow, crazy week. California recall election is something out of Comedy Central, Iraq is becoming a Black Hole sucking in billions, poverty is UP, sanity (mine) is DOWN.

Today would have been a good day to go to the Ft Bend County fair, but the Mercedes died - needs a fuel filter (I think) and a starter. It's only got a quarter million miles on it (yep, 250,000). Darn thing saved my life (when a deer bashed into it on an icy road a month after I got it) but may have to finally trade it.

2004 Prez race getting more interesting. Gen. Clark is IN. I was reading a foreign policy article he had written on terrorism, etc. Amazingly, I had been writing a lot of similar stuff during the past year. We've got to build bridges to our global allies instead of burn them.

Got to call it a day. Need a brain transplant. Wife is complaining. The world is spinning. Think I need a nice vacation to somewhere far away, Mars would be perfect.

Cadets Outside - Playboy Shoot Inside

Above: A young cadet tries her hand at the controls of a USAF Auxiliary aircraft. Are we having fun yet?

Today we had "O" Flights, USAF Auxiliary shorthand for "Orientation" Flights, where young cadets get to fly an airplane, many for the first time.

Halfway through the day an airport manager told me that Playboy and Hooters were doing a photo shoot in one of the hangars at the same time. From the outside, you would never know it.

Fortunately, the cadets didn't know it. The weather slowed things down, so they got to go to the military museum at West Houston airport and to see the WWII aircraft of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) which also has a hangar on the airport. Quite a combo of activity on one day.

Thanks to News24 we got some of the cadets some TV time.  It was a nice break from the world and the news. 

Then it started raining and I remembered my wipers on the Mercedes had stopped working, so I scrambled home. I discovered that the wind blows most of it off - as long as its not HEAVY rain. Many thanks to all the volunteer pilots who flew in to do this. None get paid and spend their own money for hotel, food, etc.

For more info on the Civil Air Patrol see the national website at: http://flashpages.prodigy.net/houston/TX447/

Bush Admits No Evidence Saddam was part of 9 11

Above: Looted Iraqi Ministry of Intelligence - apparently no one bothered to look at the documents, except this kid. Why?

Finally, after getting us into quicksand up to our necks in Iraq, Bush finally got honest and said there wasn't any evidence of Saddam being involved with 9 11.  Finally.

The trick worked. By substituting "Saddam" for "Osama" the American public assumed they were one and the same. It's the only thing that has propped up support for this mess we've fallen into--70% of Americans polled thought Saddam was involved in 9 11.  I wonder how Americans feel now? If you don't feel tricked then I'd like to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn. 

Now it's "Saddam was involved with Al Qaeda." They omit the fact that the Al Qaeda camps they refer to were in the far north part of Iraq controlled by the KURDS -- over which Saddam has no control --not since the 91 Gulf War and we set up a northern 'no fly' zone). It has been the Kurds giving Al Qaeda an Iraq base--yep, the same folks Saddam gassed in the 80's, the same folks the administration was shedding tears over before the war are the same ones giving Al Qaeda an Iraq base. We could some more honesty here, Mr. President.

Now terrorists are pouring into Iraq like water into a breached ship. Bush said "bring em on" and they are -- to the detriment of our military. Our military men and women are paying the price for thinking they were in Iraq to avenge 9 11 when it wasn't true. They too had been tricked by a bait-and-switch. We couldn't get Osama, the 9 11 killer, so we switched the fight to toothless Saddam -- in time to win the 2002 elections.

Then it turns out no one planned what to do when we won! It's led to a series of fiascos. We piss off the world we were too arrogant to listen to -- and now we can't understand why they won't rush in and pay for our mess.   I met a Defense official promoting the war, before the war, who didn't even know the U.S. backed Saddam in the 80's when he was fighting Iran!  Between father and son, the Bush's have now had 8 years. The Clintons have had 8 years. That's enough. We don't need family monarchies. For America's sake, it's time to pick a new team in 2004...one with global expertise and some common sense.

 

Space Terrorism

Released article on "Space Terrorism" two days ago (it's on the web site). Out of 4,300 on the mail list I had 2 requests to be removed, and several more signed up. Amazing, especially considering the list includes Republicans, Democrats, Independents and newspapers worldwide. Pretty tough to write anything that can accommodate such a cross section. Normally, less than .5% (one half of 1%) drop, also amazing considering the topics.

Wild day today, like a delayed Full Moon. While I scrambled on some documents at the home office for a client with a crisis the dogs were preoccupied barking at a squirrel in the backyard - reminded me of Republicans and Democrats, except that the squirrel was totally unconcerned about the yelping. He even ran down the fence from one tree to another just to prove his point. Maybe it proves we need more Independents in Congress to get around all the yelping.

Henri now weighs 100 lbs and needs a Dr. Phil for overweight dogs. He burned a few calories today.

Yesterday, found an article in NY Times on a poll they took in Iraq--getting Iraqi's opinions. It confirmed what I wrote some time ago--that our breaking down people's doors was increasing rage among Iraqis - just like we would do if someone was doing it to us. Funny how we never can see it from the other guys shoes. Wish our guys would follow the British lead - they have done a smooth job in their part of Iraq. Result: No one seemed pissed at the British. Hey Rumsfeld, put the Brits in charge.  I'd send Henri but he's busy eating...

Take Me to the Casbah

Great news via email! My wife's oldest son, Jon, has arrived safety in Morocco.

He joined the Peace Corps when no other job turned up. The kid is what we need for our future Presidents - he has more international experience than our present President Bush when he took office (who had been in only 3 countries, which probably explains why our foreign policy is such a mess -- unlike that of Poppa Bush, a true global guy). 

Jon's 25 and has had girl friends from Eastern Europe to Colombia. You American girls have got some competition there.

Morocco is home to Casablanca which had an Al Qaeda bombing a few months ago evne though its a Muslim country (remember Osama? Al Qaeda has done bombings from Bali to Saudi while we fixated on Iraq. Saddam never left Iraq, so he was less traveled than Bush the younger--which expains why they both made cultural gaffes. Saddam's was that the Americans would never attack; Bush's was that the Iraqis would run out offering flowers and wouldn't mind if we took over their oil). Actually, most Iraqis were glad to be rid of Saddam--until we started shooting civilians and seemed not to care about it. But I digress. Back to Jon.

For any young people reading this, consider the Peace Corps. It's a chance to show the world the best of our young people- Jon will be helping Morocco artisans find markets for their products. This is how we will win favor in the world. US AID is another option. Jon and those like him are Global Americans. It's the best "power" we've got.

I think part of being an American should require 2 years of public service right out of high school or college - 1 year working in a diffferent part of the the U.S. from where a person is raised, and 1 year somewhere overseas. This is how minds are opened to the world we are in - and global good is done. I'm really proud of what Jon is doing. We need more like him.

Photo above: A marketplace in Marrakech, Morocco. I'll be happy to give Jon's email address to anyone who wants to write and encourage him.

Oh yes, a "Casbah" is a village fortress or town.

Iraqi Civilians killed - It Will Cause backlash and Loss of Iraq

Yes, I support our troops. I have a young nephew over there, risking his life. But a lot of initial goodwill is being lost by incidents such as the one described below. The more Iraqi civilians that are killed, the greater the backlash against Americans and our troops. It will make Iraqis want to kill more Americans in anger, including my Daniel, who is just driving a truck.  Read this story from the UK:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,1037149,00.html

Our troops are in a difficult situation, but if they slide into a mindset like Vietnam when troops shot up a village of women and children at Mai Lai, it turns Iraqi supporters into bitter enemies consumed with anger and resentment against America.

Killing Iraqi police and civilians guarantees that the Iraq experiment will fail. If we had foreign troops here and they did this to Americans we'd be outraged and would want them out of our country.

Unfortunately, our troops do not get peacekeeping training. They are trained only how to fight opposing military forces instead of how to deal with civilians as is now necessary. If we don't treat ordinary Iraqi's like people with some respect, our days are numbered and it will blow up in our face --Bush's and Rumsfeld's face, our soldiers faces, possibly even Daniel's. This is the worst planned war by our so called experts. 

People don't want to hear this, but as a terrorism analyst I have to tell them the truth. It's important that now we are in this mess that it work - but the shootings of civilians and other blunders will cause it to fail. It will spike terrrorism backlash against the U.S. --there and here at home. And that will be another tragedy to come out of this war.

How the war in Iraq has helped Al Qaeda recruiting:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,484590,00.html?cnn=yes

Call from TV Station - Size of the cat in the fight

Just in from shooting another news clip for News24 - Israel wants to eject Arafat. As I watched the monitor I saw the Pope on one channel and President Bush landing at Houston on another. I was standing at the tape ready to go but it got held up by the Prez. So I joked with the techs, saying "Call and tell him to hurry up!  And ask him if he can send the helicopter so I can avoid the traffic mess!" 

Yea, dream on. Shot the clip. Said "Israeli intelligence didn't want Arafat out since that left radical Hamas in charge" - and that "Arafat could no more control the Hamas because they are Arab any more then Pres. Bush can control the Democrats because they are Americans." Same deal. 

Then went out and got major stuck in Houston's TRAFFIC --an hour and half of driving to do a 3 minute taping!  Oh yes, photo is Minou ("Me New") the official computer assistant. She faces down the 100 lb Henri, proof its not the size of the cat in the fight but the size of the fight in the cat....

2nd Anniversary of 9 11

It's been such a sad day, I'm glad its nearly over. Full Moon and 9-11. It's been TOO quiet, like the calm before the storm.  I hope Daniel, my young nephew in Iraq stays OK. His tour has been extended along with everyone else. No Weapons of Mass Destruction. We just spent $150 billion to find nothing, and now we're stuck in Iraq while North Korea and Iran have got nuke missiles and serious stuff.  Meanwhile, we have got a half trillion deficit while Congress gives itself a raise as people struggle to find work. Congress should have to give back $100,000 to their $150,000/year salary so they can experience how ordinary Americans live -

The Future of America

It's the 2nd anniversary of 9 11, and I'm creating my first blog, after 20+ years of keeping a journal--two years to the day after going on TV as a terrorism expert for Fox in Houston. It's a new era. I will talk about the world and America's role in it. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Proverbs 29:18. I hope to share a vision of a better America that extends a hand to its global neighbors instead of a finger.