Good stuff...Except that you could mention that the money Bush is funneling to Al Queda connected Sunni's is "borrowed" from our National Debt. We're borrowing money to pay people to blow up our Troops?

Welcome!

Excellent, Excellent article. Thank you for reminding everybody that the Emperor has no clothes.

_____________

Come See Us at

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Excellent, Excellent article. Thank you for reminding everybody that the Emperor has no clothes."

I agree!! I subscribe to the New Yorker and if more would they might get the "big" picture!

Don should be back in the big paper!

Cognitive dissonance implies cognition, which seems rather generous at this point. The mountain of evidence that has piled up against the Bush administration is overwhelming. It may be too much for a dead-ender waking up from the stupor to handle.

I'm not sure engaging the people who protect Bush from mainstream exposure is the right strategy. The ones who are not writing headlines like "Bush funds Sunni terrorists" know what they are doing. They know Bush is a crook, but he is their crook, and their advertisers' crook. The censors need to be undercut, not overpowered with facts.

Democrats control the House of Representatives, and the House holds impeachment power. If the Democrats do not impeach Cheney, they will condemn America to a bleak future. You can write all the columns you want reiterating the myriad reasons to despise this criminal administration; the only cure is to get Cheney's hand on a Bible and put him under oath. With any luck, the Bible will ignite and immolate the dark lord, and he can laugh at us one last time from the flames.

If you really want to see some cognitive dissonance, imagine Cheney and Rumsfeld trying to decide whether lying under oath or telling the truth is worse. They will lie. Actually, they'll probably take one of Bill Casey's stroke pills before they have to testify. No need to speculate, though, the House could vote for impeachment this afternoon were the Democrats to decide the Bush coddling has gone on long enough. Unfortunately, they are coddlers themselves. Truth is a political constituency without representation.

Face it, Bush and Cheney built a faith-based policy on the unstable sands of Neo-conservative dogma, and they did it with no fallback plan rooted in a firmer reality.

Fallback plans and a firm reality are no fun. Just winging it gets the blood pumping!

I know trying to see a method to this madness is like reconstructing Norman Bates' business plan, but I can't help seeing a pattern.

I think the underlying premise of everything the Bush administration has done and will do is this: instability = opportunity. Part of it is post-hoc justification for poor planning and execution, but the concept appeared in these nutjobs' words and writings as far back as the 70s. The infamous millennium "Clean Break" strategy called for shaking up the status quo and working to "contain, destabilize, and roll-back" all potential threats, real and perceived. Even neocon lite Condi continues to yammer about "birth pangs" and "arcs of opportunity" created out of crisis.

While I don't believe they anticipated the level of "destabilization" OppoFreedom would create, they really don't see it as a failure. If the first attempt at sculpture doesn't succeed, one simply has to keep everything molten and fluid so you can try again; and whatever you do, don't let things cool down and solidify to the "enemy's" advantage. You can see this strategy at work in almost everything they do, and not just in Iraq: arming and training Fatah in hopes of a Palestinian civil war, egging on the Israelis to smash into Lebanon...

This is of course completely insane. Not only is it evil to crush 600K Iraqis and God knows how many other thousands in the Levant on the way to "roll back," they're setting the stage for full-on conflagration.

Remember that Congressman John Duncan voted against the war. That was a courageous vote, and a vote that many politicians in both parties now wish they had cast.

Did you see the report about $12 Billion in cash being transported to Iraq? That much in cash - at one time - required the Federal Reserve for weeks to collect and required fork lifts and special pallets, for the C-130s. It weighed tons. As wild as the mechanics of transporting the twelve billion was, the report further marveled that there was little accounting for how it was spent. There was absolutely no record of how two billion was spent. Two Billion apparently disappeared.

One very important question has to be: where is the money coming from that is used for this funding? Is it coming from Defense Department funds, thus allocated by Congress? Is it, as I have heard, coming from discretionary White House funds, over which it will be very hard to establish oversight?

Did Congress in some omnibus bill (such as the resolutions enacted to complete the 2007 budget process) provide these funds without any indication as to where they may be spent?

The budgetary process is so byzantine that it may be very difficult to determine who has oversight of this money, and who may have any responsibility to call Bush's hand. Of course, Bush is playing with other people's money in any case, and his attitude says that no one can call his hand.

Don, I bet it feels great to be able to write what you want, without worry of being reprimanded.

Adrift in the Sea of Humility

Now I won't have to worry about what is happening without Friday morning and your column. Actually,I wanted to say something. There's so much to do. What's WUOT say? Changing the future today.
So I know you must wonder what happens after the Sy Hersh article. Try this link when you have 22 minutes to view a film with no flashing lights or elegant phrases. Just plain talk from the likes of the Friends. No kidding, they spent a week in Iran.
(link...)
And then there is human interest on the Katrina front. NYTimes carried a story of two women who received new houses in the 9th ward. ACORN sent it to me. ACORN--those folks aren't waiting for tomorrow.
Gwendolyn Guice and Josephine Butler, next-door neighbors before Hurricane Katrina, will be again in the Lower Ninth Ward’’s first new houses.
By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: February 23, 2007
Oh, yes, I was going to mention Jimmy Duncan's speech about the surge. It's nice to have a Congressman who didn't vote for "the mess."

Great article, Don, and welcome to KnoxViews. We're not particularly hip or cool, but we do tend to pay attention to the important stuff.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

Hey "Donna" I see you are still making excuses for getting fired. Still spewing the same old crap. Oh and they have the alien at area 51 ready for you to see.

So nice to have you back!! Once again you have provided us with well researched information of the things our leaders are preparing to do and accountable for in our country. We are citizens and we have a responsibility to be aware of what our leaders are involved in and take action if necessary. We continue to need a check and balance system to control the power of these individuals. Thank You.

Contribute or go away.

Divergent opinions are welcome here as long as they have some fact and thought behind them. Since you've only been a member for a few minutes maybe you don't that.

Puerile crap such as your post doesn't go over well. You should stick to Boortz, rage radio, and Faux News if that's what you want.

Steve, you're being mean.
The poor guy incorporated his IQ into his screen name in hopes you'd go easy, but NOOO -- you're picking on his very first postie.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry seeing Don William's essay. I wanted to laugh because it's so good to see him back in form after last week's public (and cowardly) haranguing by McElroy at Knox News. I wanted to cry at what Don wrote and the insanity that continues to exist in this administration with the execution of this so called war on terrorism.

Don, it is so good to know that I'll continue getting your weekly commentary. You are a joy to read and an inspiration to many of us political junkies. Cheers! --Erik

Puerile crap such as your post doesn't go over well. You should stick to Boortz, rage radio, and Faux News if that's what you want."

Boortz and Puerile Crap kinda go together. Steve, you have outed a troll this time. He works for the big paper and he is just upset a voice was not stamped out.

Faux news is every where and I so agree with you on rage, there is no need for it. Just be civil and this Troll will be outed and then leave the "island" very quickly. They hate the bright light of truth.

As for 51, it is a real place and this administration has been hiding them, never read Don's thoughts but I would love to see them!

Troll=Stupid

I believe Hersh has speculated that the funding for these groups is coming from big pots of black money that might have come from those big ol' bombers full o' cash that Hersh has talked about and that Pat Buchanan has discussed in American Conservative magazine. That's about $12 billion or so, shrink-wrapped pallets of US dollars, and nobody knows where it went. Hersh seems to be saying that this is where it probably went: into off-the-books Iran/contra-style black ops like funding these groups. Once again Hersh is connecting the dots. I don't know of his ever having been proved wrong.

Once again Hersh is connecting the dots. I don't know of his ever having been proved wrong."

WOW! Why won't the media jump on this!! Shrink Wrapped Money, billions of it, now that is a next level story!!! Don, can you write about this?

Thanks Don for sending me the link to find you again! I am looking forward to reading what you have to say. No more bird cage liner for this girl!

Cheryl

LV, people I trust are convinced you're a troll. I've not followed it all that thoroughly, but if you don't deserve the label, I think you should hang in there and lose the Troll=Stupid tag.

I also understand if you do have a view that is not in direct line with certain posters they say you are a right wing republican.

Not so. Where did you read that? Please quote it.

Anyway, if you can find the link in that site

Does this take you close enough? I think you can take it from there. Don't ask for my card # so you can test it.

Got you jumping through hoops, there Factchecker? ;)

Don, you made a great move in leaving the KNS. I speak sincerely when I write that you are a breath of fresh air. We need the truth to be told and IMO you are doing just that. I appreciate the clarity and depth of your message, uninhibited by your former paper. Keep 'er going and don't let up.
We, in the tri cities area who seek real journalism are starving for your type of opinion which I believe is backed up by courage and candor.
I will notify my friends of like mind and direct them to your site. Thanks.

First to Don Williams: Thanks for agreeing to let us syndicate your column for a few weeks. Yours is an important and powerful voice on par with any nationally syndicated columnist, whether writing about National Affairs or local issues or, I would imagine, dryer lint. I'm sure you could make even that a thought-provoking, controversial topic, and isn't that the job of a writer?

Second to commenters: Thanks for the warm KnoxViews welcome you have given Don. When his limited engagement is over, maybe we can persuade Don to continue blogging here from time to time, even it it's just to link and excerpt his columns and writings at other venues.

Third, I hate to bring this up, because I was going to stay out of the KNS/McElroy v. Williams thing out of respect to both of them (and because I'm just glad Don is here and I'm sure they will eventually work out their differences and remain friends). But Don's closing remarks in this column leave the door open for this:

I've never read any of Leslie Snow's columns before, but I must say I am underwhelmed with her debut as Don's replacement. I know it's her first column and I'm willing to give her the benefit of a few more before making up my mind, but I have a couple of problems with it.

McElroy says he replaced Don's column with Snow's because he wanted more local coverage from his only "liberal" local columnist.

Her column today is neither local, nor "liberal".

She says herself that she doesn't know why McElroy would consider her liberal, as she views herself as a middle-of-the-road moderate. Of course, here in East Tennessee I guess that's the same as far left-wing liberal, making someone like Williams a barking moonbat and probably a Communist.

But Snow has a soothing way about her writing, so let the healing begin I guess.

(Her column appears heavily padded, though, to make the 700 words or whatever she's contracted for. Unlike Williams who won't shut up and turns in three times as much as agreed to. Fortunately there are no column inch constraints on the intertubes.)

Anyway, it looks to me like the KNS traded in a Begala/Carville for an Alan Colmes.

One very important question has to be: where is the money coming from that is used for this funding? Is it coming from Defense Department funds, thus allocated by Congress? Is it, as I have heard, coming from discretionary White House funds, over which it will be very hard to establish oversight?

I just hope it didn't come from the money that has been taken from my paycheck for as long as I have worked, which is a looooooooong time, for Social Security.

But, my fear is that is where the billions of dollars (pallets) of money dropped from planes came from.

Thanks for agreeing to let us syndicate your column for a few weeks"

It is a heck of a win to get don on.

Can you tell us how many will see it here?

Thanks,
A
Don
Fan!

Don't just say Troll, give us some numbers ok?

Thanks again,
A
Don
Fan

Can you tell us how many will see it here?

What difference does that make, A Don Fan? And why are you using LadyVols's computer????? She's a big friend around here and is doing a heckofa job as a commenter and might not like the tone of your question!!!!

I suppose "some would say" Don's words have been proven wrong now that he's been pushed out of one syndicated slot and has a smaller audience here.

Which way do you think on that?

Which way do you think on that?"

Word out of the big paper was the guy had one verse to his song and when they asked him to expand he walked on them. Personally I wouldn't believe a dang thing any head dude told me about a fired employee, but that is what they are starting to spread under their breath.

Heck, what he posted here had that new gal's column beat all to heck and back. I agree with the rest of the mob, she better crank it up and remember she was hired as a LIBERAL voice or she will find herself posting on a right wing nut blog next month.

...about a fired employee, but that is what they are starting to spread under their breath.

He wasn't an employee. Who are "they" and where do you get your bad info?

My info comes from those working inside the belly of the beast and you are right he was not a PAID employee but he did rep the paper and they had the power to keep him or not. As for bad info, hide and watch (as my grandfather use to say) there are plans underway that will expand the big paper further and in the process cut local employees.

If you have better info let us hear it?

Tonight's Real Time With Bill Maher on HBO featured an interview with Seymour Hersh followed by a discussion with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), author John Ridley (NPR), and former Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.). This is a great addition to Don Williams' column.

"Maybe we can get to 2009 without every Muslim in the world coming after us, maybe not." - Seymour Hersh

Try to catch a rerun.

_____________

Come See Us at

The Hill Online

Unless you own this site --up yours. This looks a "Donna" brown noser blog. Kiss Donna's rear or get lost hu? Boooorrrriiinng.

jhow66?

What did this woman say or guy?

Trolls are turning out to be the most fun things here! At least the generate the widest and "most pointed" comments. There should be at Troll only blog site, anyone know of one?

Troll=Republican=fun=stoopid

When the NS hired me 21 years ago, it was not as a "local columnist," nor was I told I had to write mostly about local issues at any other time until 2004, when I came out strongly against the re-selection of George W. Bush, whom the Sentinel endorsed--a black mark on the paper's record.
I believe I brought something new to the table each week--stylistically or substantively. Comparing my so-called "Bush-bashing" to a hypothetical Greg Johnson obsession with abortion, as Jack McElroy did recently, not only does Johnson a disservice by stereotying his views, but it's an ill-conceived analogy as well. I was no "Johnny one-note" anymore than, say, Thomas Sowell or Cal Thomas or Rush Limbaugh are Johnny one-notes.
I wrote about torture, global warming, wire-tapping, Oak Ridge's role in Bombplex 2030, TVA's sellout to the military industry, long-distance running, war-profiteering, the proposed industrial park, the history of Iraq, county government, Dick Cheney's many conflicts of interest, the road lobby, Bush's support for terrorists, America's declining reputation, Tennessee greenways, PNAC, Zbig Brezinski's recent testimony that the war in Iraq was "calamitous," the decline of species, the loss of songbirds, the rights of minorities and those with alternative lifestyles, Cherokee lore, over-development of our land, the beauty of the Smokies, the coming war on Iran, the local literary scene, electoral malfeasance, the legacy of Iran-Contra, American support for Saddam under Reagan, my mother, my spiritual perspective, evolution, and much else.
To those who can't bear to hear criticism of our president, I'm sure cognitive dissonance sets in when I state the evidence of all the horrible things he, Cheney and the neocons have led us to do the past five years.
Some readers blend these streams into one and say "Don's spouting venom" rather than examine the facts I present. The extent to which some are put off by my honesty, in my opinion, is a measure of their denial of the true state of the union and the world. Getting people to honestly look at the facts has not been easy. Far easier to circle the wagons around their fragile world view and take potshots at the messenger. Considering the readership I brought to the paper my choice of subject matter should not be an issue in any case. Would people come back week after week to read the same thing? I think not.
No, I'm no more obsessed with, say, global warming than Sowell is. The difference is that my opinion is based on the overwhelming majority of the actual hands-on scientists.
Honestly, it's hard to understand why people still publish the likes of Sowell, Krauthammer and Thomas. It's hard to imagine three people who got more things wrong--about WMDs, global warming, the liberation of Iraq--the list is endless--while muzzling me, when practically everything I ever said turned out to be true, starting long before 2002, when I said the coming war would bring tragedy to the Middle East, lead to war crimes on all sides, spread beyond Iraq and be based on lies. I was right on every point. Sowell, Krauthammer and Thomas were wrong on every point. The only reason a lot of Knoxvillians know about any number of issues I could name is because I told them things the national columnists don't often reveal, such as the debacle at Tora Bora, and other things mentioned in the above column. I know to some that sounds like Don's "spewing venom" because they're forced to confront a truth that challenges their fiercely held world view. If you take each column and look into it, however, you'll find I wasn't spewing venom. I was speaking truth. Only to those who can't recognize the truth do my words sound like venom. To others, they offer the sweet balm of shared truth and affirmation of sanity. That's what hurt most about ending my NS column. Editors caved to the LCD who mounted a campaign to stifle me. They won. The Sentinel lost.
In a way I won. I've several new opportunities, and my column here was picked up by Buzzflash. It likely will draw more readers than anything I've written since the great compromise of 2004, when I promised I'd write more local stuff. My next column begins in Knoxville Voice, due on the streets Thursday and I've been asked to start a blog and to write news for Truthout.com, so I'm going to be OK.
As for Leslie Snow, I'm sure she'll bring credit to the newspaper and I harbor no ill feelings against her for stepping into this slot. I know how seductive the prospect of recognition can be. With me as an example, she's unlikely to stray far from the reservation, thought I would hope otherwise. If I had one piece of advice, I'd tell her, Ms. Snow, you have an obligation to write the truest thing you know, even when what you know does not square with what columnists and broadcasters are saying, and even if it isn't strictly local in nature. National issues have never had greater local impact. I trust you won't be compromised or betrayed and that you'll recognize it when you're being asked to go against your conscience. That's the choice I faced. I'd also urge you to guard your reputation and to challenge every lie and character smear your foes try to plant on the Letters page and at Knoxnews.com. They add up and can be burdensome on you, your family and friends. Remember, though, when you're held up to scorn by the narrowminded, the meanspirited and the unimaginative, it's best to think of that as a mark of distinction. You've made the honor roll. I'll be watching for your name.

The Putschists have a nice little controlled media going here, don't they?
As for previous comments on this Don Williams article, I'm with "Sven." He has figured out how these people in the Bush junta work. I believe a combination of naivete and ignorance of deep political history keep most people from ever "getting it," as Sven does.
I have long supported Don Williams as a champion of
truth-telling in a mendacious world, not so much as a "liberal." Don is truly calling it as he sees it -- and unlike the man falsely called the US president and his cult-like following, Don actually bases his beliefs on study. Don's name-hurling opponents are like the French generals in WWI who encouraged their troops to BELIEVE the Huns' machine guns simply could not hurt them, and they would march into glorious victory on the front line... instead of getting chopped into hamburger, which was, of course, their actual fate.
To keep it in perspective, as a friend of mine says, "Liberals annoy me; Conservatives make me sick with loathing." Yet, above and beyond the natural tendencies of people to fall into camps of progressive or reactionary thought, each with their virtues and flaws, stands an hierarchy in this world that exploits and substantially controls each. On pp. 74-75 of "Tragedy and Hope, A History of the World in Our Time" (1966), Prof. J. Carroll Quigley explained how the Progressive movement and the origin of a controlled, "Left" media in America, was given form at the last turn of the century by the money of the Robber Baron
class, led by J.P. Morgan. This was a way to mediate and harness social tensions as the peasants prepared to revolt after losing control of their farmland to the big bankers, and as some of the super-rich upper crust were softening into re-adopting an older sense of noblesse oblige toward the working people.
Today, during a process of several decades of resurgent monopoly orientation which grew among the elite following the publication of the Trilateral Commission's recommendations, under the direction of the Rockefeller camp (and the ignorant will not realize that is where the Bushes stem from), we continue to have an elite-controlled "Left" (or "Left out," as I call them in their
media-marginalized form today) vs. an elite-controlled "Right," (or, in the extreme form they manifest today, "Reich"). Manipulated by loads of big money
and all the propaganda it can buy, today's grass roots "conservatives," (critical thought never having been their strong suit), have become followers of the likes of Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, et al., and George W. Bush. These people, in flocking to the loud-mouthed, hectoring "culture warrior" fiends employed against us all in droves by the right-wing, military-industrial, big
business money men that took over mass media after Nixon's resignation, are simply reacting to their gut instinct that "something's wrong." They don't know what, nor do they, as a rule, care to try to explore the limits of their
paradigm to find out what that something wrong actually is. So, they're easily taken in by "outraged" multi-millionairs con men on the corporate dole for services rendered, moved to attack their neighbors in order to preoccupy us all with trivia while the world is
drastically reshaped from the top of the financial-political heirarchy down. Economically, these teeth-grinding, liberal-hating, cult-like faux-patriot followers generally receive the fate of the French troops in WWI.
Sadly, liberals, despite being more involved with
real-world concerns and efforts as a rule, are corralled, steered, misdirected and branded by well-rewarded Establishment tools with no more effort required. It's been that way for a long time.
Some of the biggest truths about how the nations of the world were controlled were actually unearthed by traditional conservatives of earlier times when being conservative didn't require one to be an idiot. Look up the story, for instance, of Antony Sutton, a technology expert who discovered that the USSR was virtually made in the USA. Yes, this nation's arch-enemy in the Cold War was built up by the West's wealthy elite ("Fleshing Out Skull and Bones," (pp. 81-105). It is really no secret that the Bolshevik Revolution was funded by a wealthy Western elite. It's just not talked about in the way that reaches masses of people. If a tree falls in the forest but the big media doesn't report it the way they did OJ Simpson, or
their contrived "Dean Scream" "event" in '04, some will insist all the trees must still stand. But, even in books like Silk & Silk's "The American Establishment" it is possible to read how the Russian Commies came to visit the
Rockefellers for more money as the first "Five Year Plan" was nearing expiration and they were without resources. (They did get more funding, by the way.) It is also possible to read in books like "Trading with the Enemy," by
Charles Higham, how the Bank of International Settlements was used by the wealthy Western elite to set up Communism's arch-foe, the National Socialist movement in Germany. Fickle bunch, aren't they, those captains of industry and
finance? I could say a lot more, but until and unless there are syndicated columnists and commentators exposing the truth of history to the masses, everyone will proceed in their half-bright and bewildered ways, manipulated and
conditioned by the heirs of Edward Bernays' and Walter Lippman's propaganda techniques, unable to distinguish even obvious physical facts from a planted mythical narrative set forth to control and exploit them. A blatant example of
what I mean would be the widespread inability of Americans to distinguish the explosive nature of the WTC towers' disintegration, which they saw broadcast with their own eyes, from the very different effects mere gravity could
possibly have had on the buildings. The massive disconnect we have here between reality and mythical narrative, the lack of critical thought and historical awareness alike, is extremely disturing to realize. So is the fact that many liberals as well as conservatives are widely afflicted with
baseless faiths which lead them marching into the hail of enemy fire spewing from the elite's imperial globalist movement in our era.
Don is contending with these sad realities as best he can, and as much as he dares, I think. And that is more than most nationally-syndicated "liberal" columnists do.

"Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain." Johann Christian Friedrich von Schiller, The Maid of Orleans

Indeed, sir. Indeed. Apologies.

Still standing behind recommended reads. ;-)

"Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain." Johann Christian Friedrich von Schiller, The Maid of Orleans

Who'd want to get close enough to 'sctach' you?

Dissenting opinions aren't booted, unless they are anonymous, chickenshit trolls. We've even put up with 'ladyvols' for a couple of months now (actually, it hasn't been nearly that long, just seems like it).

Back off on the four syllable words when you talking to 66... Duh!

knoxvillecurmudgeon

We need your voice. Thanks to the website for making it possible. Bush will go down in history as the man who destroyed life as we know it.

(from the knoxvillecurmudgeon)

I don't seem to know how to operate this site. I didn't mean to call YOU the knoxvillecurmudgeon- - just entered that as MY signature. Came out wrong, somehow.

I don't seem to know how to operate this site. I didn't mean to call YOU the knoxvillecurmudgeon- - just entered that as MY signature. Came out wrong, somehow.

Some of my best friends are curmudgeons. Welcome aboard.

_____________

Come See Us at

The Hill Online

So what you got the meaning. Oh and up yours. If you don't like it don't read it. Got it?

How can anyone give money to support terrorism.....at least do it without anyone knowing....user a different currency or something

[Smells like spam. The link to the user's page was deleted while the text of the post has been preserved. --moderator]