A Rant and the Scent of a Lie

Quote of the Day:
"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound."
~ James Allen ~

Last night, I wrote my very first rant. It was a catharsis of sorts which detailed the numerous lies and manipulations of the Bush Dynasty and the Neocons. Here is a snippet of what was written:

In 1979, the US National Institutes of Health found that about 200,000 people consulted with a physician for a loss of the sense of smell. This disorder, known as anosmia, is usually temporary but, in some cases, can become a permanent condition. It appears that amosmia has become wide spread and reached epidemic proportions in the United States. My conclusion is based upon the incredible lack of interest in the latest, final report in a long line of stories that NO Weapons of Mass Destruction were found in Iraq and the "man" who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, who has killed and maimed thousands of innocents, essentially says that he doesn't care.

The smell emanating from this story, this "man," and his comment is strong enough to drop a rampaging elephant. It does not seem to phase some people and the 51% 'majority' which GW Bush says endowed him with a blank check to do as he pleases are thrashing about like a bunch of landed trout, or frothing at the mouth in ecstasy while repeating the words spoken by their "man" of the year as if it were a guaranteed ride to heaven.

Well, that's enough. Suffice it to say that others have spoken much more eloquently and intelligently than what was ranted out last night.

Instead of the rant, I thought to put up a test for amosmia. Can you detect the scent of a lie? What does the Truth smell like? If you experience odor fatigue while reading these statements just skip to the answers and websites at the bottom of the blog. You may find that when the Truth conflicts with your own personal belief system, it can smell every bit as rotten as a lie. It is, however, not the Truth that smells; it is the lies we tell ourselves. The Truth will remain the Truth no matter how unpalatable it is to a personal belief system.

Can you tell which statement is True and which statement is False? If you have been paying attention to objective reality the answers will be easy.

1) The blueprint for current US foreign policy was originally written by Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz in 1992 and finalized in 2000.

2) Major fighting in Iraq ceased on May 1, 2003.

3) "It really doesn't matter that WMDs were not found in Iraq. Obviously, Saddam was too smart to leave them lying around in a nation about to be taken over by U.S. troops."

4) GW Bush supports all veterans as defenders of the American Dream and understands the hardships they and their families endure in the name of freedom.



1) True http://www.bushpresident2004.com/pnac.htm
The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) is a Washington think-tank founded in 1997 to advance the power and influence of the United States throughout the world. The ideological birth of PNAC was a February 1992 draft document entitled "Defense Planning Guidance" authored by Paul Wolfowitz, then working for President George H.W. Bush's Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney as Under Secretary for Policy.

PNAC's vision is detailed in its September 2000 report entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." Among other suggestions, this report calls for the United States to:

• Withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, stop the reduction of nuclear missiles, develop new nuclear weapons, and deploy a national missile defense system.
• Increase defense spending to a minimum 3.8 percent of gross domestic product (up from the 3 percent spent at the time of the report).
• "Fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theatre wars" as a "core mission."
• Warns that "we cannot allow North Korea, Iran, Iraq or similar states to undermine American leadership," and American military preeminence rests on the ability to "[remove] a dangerous and hostile regime when necessary."
• Keep all peacekeeping and rebuilding missions within the power of American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations.
• Use key allies, such as the U.K., as the "most effective and efficient means of exercising American global leadership."
• Take military control of the Persian Gulf region through the establishment of permanent bases.
• Take control of cyberspace, otherwise "[America] will find it difficult to exert global political leadership."

In this 2000 report, PNAC predicted this more assertive defense policy would come about slowly, unless there were "some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor.


2) False http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/30/politics/main614998.shtml
It was May 1, 2003, a year ago Saturday, when the president spoke to the nation beneath a massive banner reading "Mission Accomplished." At that point, 138 U.S. troops had been killed in Iraq. This past month alone, 131 have died. In total, 734 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, 596 of them since the president proclaimed major fighting completed.

This article was written and published in April of 2004 and mentions only US soldier deaths. Antiwar.com reports a minimum of 15,365 Iraqis have been murdered since the beginning of the invasion. http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/index.php#iraqi

3) A bit of Truth wrapped up in a lie. http://www.dailyillini.com/news/2005/01/18/Opinions/Column.No.Wmd.So.What-834145.shtml?page=2
US troops *did* take over the country. This article was written by a sophomore at the University of Illinois. Try reading the whole two pages, then do your own reaserch and see if you can spot all the rest of the lies it contains.

4) False http://www.mfso.org/
"The sacred trust that I, my husband, and all Americans had with our government has been destroyed. My life has been turned upside down not out of absolute necessity but rather to further the aims of a very few elite politicians. My husband has been ripped from his home not to fight a threat to our survival but to enrich a few powerful individuals."

http://www.vetsforjustice.com/join_us.htm
"America's Military are victims of ongoing Fraudulent Enlistment Tactics by the United States Government in which those enlisting in military service, and/or sometimes being drafted to serve, are given specific promises, such as pensions, lifetime medical care, being taken care of if they fall in battle, and sometimes other items to "entice" them into Military Service, and/or, serving a certain number of years in an enlistment to "earn" certain retirement benefits."