Why there was no looting in Houston...

 

Think you can dance?

The people from the "Think you can dance" show need to see these kids:

Texas A&M Hurricane Prep

This is a most excellent image sent to me by my my future father-in-law. Ironically enough, guess where he went to school! :) 

Check Out My Subaru

This is a music video of a song written and performed by Dirty Sanchez called "Check Out My Subaru." To view this you need speakers or headphones, Macromedia Flash, no one easily offended by bad language near you, and about 3 minutes of time. Got all that?

A Multi Media Share!

Beautiful Florida, better than pain soaked Houston. At least Houston was spared.

Hurricane Rita is almost here.

If you live in Houston, like me, and you haven't left yet they're likely going to get you to leave without your choice pretty soon, but how? The traffic's going to be nuts. See the attached website for one of the coolest maps with the most data I've ever seen online. (You need JavaScript and a recent browser)

Blu-ray and HD DVD - the difference

I ran across this most excellent article on the difference between Sony's Blu-ray technology and the HD DVD technology that breaks it down into detail like no other. Check it out here.

President asks, "Can I go pee?"

Looks like the President had to go, but asking permission at the UN meeting on a note was perhaps a bad idea:

It's a situation anyone could find themselves in - having to answer the call of nature in the middle of an important meeting.

But when you are the US president, at a gathering of more than 150 world leaders, it is even more tricky...he is said to have turned to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for advice.

"I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible?" a Reuters news agency photographer caught him writing in a note to Ms Rice.

The photograph, and Mr Bush's apparent request for permission to pee, has been the subject of discussion on a number of satirical websites.

Samsung says "Away with Hard Drives"

Why use a hard drive, the last piece of user-accessed moving equipment in your computer.

News agency ban on reporting dead from Katrina, lifted.

At 10:24 ET this morning, CNN threatened to sue the U.S. government, and thank god. At least I know we still have that shred of free speech left.

A picture of Bush during the Hurricane, it's a steekin fake!

Katrina Floats Entire Neighborhoods

Google Search for the word Failure

A Google search for simply the word failure brings up an approximate 221,000,000 results and something one should note about Google is that they index the words in a page to determine the results, along with the links to that page from other pages around the Internet.

That being said, a search for the word Failure results in the first result being the Biography of President George W. Bush, even though not once in the text of the Biography is failure admitted.

IWO JIMA Update

Here's a post from RSC, the flight-deck commander of the USS IWO JIMA, the Navy ship currently in the Gulf of Mexico helping the hurricane victims. Normally these posts and more can be found at http://www.iwo-jima.navy.mil/, however the site seems to be down, in the meantime to follow the news on the ship see: http://www.news.navy.mil/local/lhd7/.

Since I took over IWO JIMA over a year ago, I felt as though I had control of the destiny of the ship. I thought I lost it today, the first time ever, and that we were merely reacting to events rather than controlling them.

Within the first 24 hours after arriving pierside in New Orleans, IWO JIMA has become many things. We are one of the few full service airports in the area and have been operating aircraft on and off our deck for almost 15 hours each day. We are also one of the only air conditioned facilities within a ten mile radius and though we have had problems making water from the polluted Mississippi, we are also the only hot shower within miles. All day long we have been accommodating local policemen, firemen, state troopers, national guard, 82^nd Airborne division personnel with hot showers and hot food. I met an ambulance team from Minnesota who just drove straight to New Orleans when they heard of the tragedy and have been supporting hospitals free of charge for the last week. They hadn't had a hot meal in over a week and were grateful to have the opportunity to have lunch onboard. The Deputy Commander of the RI National Guard reported to me that he had guardsmen who were whipped, but after a hot shower and an IWO JIMA breakfast were ready to hit the patrols again. Rarely have I seen so many smiling, happy faces than on these people. After two weeks in the trenches sleeping on concrete floors, no shower, and eating MREs, good ship IWO JIMA has been a Godsend. I had an opportunity to talk to the Director of Homeland Security for a few minutes in my cabin I asked him if there was anything more I could do for him, he asked if he could get a shower. I was glad to turnover my cabin to him. The local FEMA coordinator and his logistics and security teams were on my quarterdeck this afternoon asking permission to set up their command center on the pier next to the ship. While they had sophisticated command and control equipment, they had no place to berth their 250 FEMA members We were glad to give them a home. Contrary to the press, all the FEMA people I met had been on station since last Sunday (before the Hurricane hit), never left the area, and have been in the field ever since. The command duty officer was told that one state trooper had driven 80 miles to get to the ship. He said that the word was out: Come to IWO JIMA. We expect that the flood gates will open on us.

Early this morning we received our first medical emergency: an elderly woman with stroke-like symptoms. Throughout the day we received about a dozen medical emergencies, the most serious was an elderly man who was stabbed in the chest and was bleeding to death. The doctors performed surgery on him and saved his life. I toured the hospital ward; all our charges were elderly and disadvantaged individuals. As with Hotel IWO JIMA, we expect to see many more casualties tomorrow.

Our curse appears to be our flight deck and our extraordinary command and control capabilities. Our challenge today was the tidal wave of Flag and General Officers that flooded onboard, 17 total, virtually all without notice. I couldn't believe there were so many involved in this effort and they all wanted to come here. They poured onto the flight deck in one helicopter after another in order to meet with General Honore, the Joint Task Force Commander. The majority showed up around the same time and all wanted to leave at the same time, making it a nightmare for our flight deck team to control and coordinate flights on and off the ship for all these admirals and generals while supporting the humanitarian effort. I spent most of the day running around the ship getting these people off and on helicopters and in and out of the meetings and command spaces. It was like herding cats. But the ship performed superbly and "flexed" to meet the challenge. Regretfully, we expect nearly 20 admirals and generals onboard tomorrow for more meetings. To add to the challenges, virtually all of these commands are sending liaison staffs to help coordinate issues, and already a number of admirals and generals have "permanently" embarked. The Inn is full.

I talked to one of the FEMA team members who had also worked the disaster relief for 9/11. I asked him how much more difficult was the Katrina relief effort compared to 9/11. He said it was without measure: thousand of times worse than 9/11. He couldn't articulate the magnitude of the destruction.

Despite all the challenges, I think we regained control by the end of the day. We are forearmed for tomorrow's onslaught. At our evening Dept Head meeting, I asked all my principals to tell me what the stupidest thing they heard or saw today. The list was enormous. But the most absurd item was when my Tactical Action Officer, who runs our 24 hour command center (CIC) got a phone call from the Director of the New Orleans Zoo. Apparently, there was a large fire near the zoo. It was so intense that the fire department had to abandon the cause, but military helos were heavily engaged in scooping up giant buckets of water and dumping in on the blaze in an effort to put it out. The director complained to us that the noise from the helos was disturbing the animals, especially the elephants, which he was most concerned about, and asked us to stop. The TAO thanked him for his interest in national defense.

It is inspiring to meet and talk to such a huge number of individuals who are doing the Lord's work to recover this city. They have had little sleep, little food, no showers, working 16-18 hours a day, and in some cases no pay, and they are thanking ME for a hot meal! Only in America. We have turned the corner. It will take an awful long time, but we have turned the corner.

Katrina Destroys Buildings

Katrina Destroys Buildings

From James, Commander of a C-130 in the rescue effort

Here is yet another contribution from a visitor of the site and someone who assisted in the relief efforts. James, is a C-130 Aircraft Commander, and here's his view of the relief efforts.

Excellent Work as Seen from the Eyes of a C-130 Aircraft Commander

I just returned from New Orleans on a hurricane relief mission in the C-130. Let me just start by saying I was awed. Not in what I saw in destruction and devastation because I had/have already seen enough of that on TV. What really hit me hard was the absolute determination and willingness of all those involved in the relief effort. I just want to quickly tell you what I was a part of and what I witnessed as it just really filled me with pride and reminded me again why we are such an amazing and successful country.

It started when I showed up for the flight in Nashville. Instead of the flight planning I would normally do (the other pilot did it), I was tasked to call all 60 or so of the pilots from the 105th Airlift Squadron (my squadron) and find out their availability to fly hurricane relief missions. Now, don't forget these are all Air National Guard men and women and most all have full time jobs outside of flying for the Guard.

Almost without exception, every pilot offered whatever assistance was needed. No surprise. I then jumped in the airplane and flew directly to New Orleans Int'l, which was and is only open to relief efforts. We had on board with us an aero medical evacuation team. They are a group of highly trained nurses and med techs that are qualified in evacuating wounded and sick soldiers from the battlefield and keeping them alive enroute to a medical facility.

One of the many missions of the C-130 is basically a flying hospital. We can literally set up and intensive care unit in the back if needed. So, with our team of aero meds and flight crew on board, we set course for New Orleans with the rough idea that we would transport injured and sick people to Ellington Field, TX (Houston, TX). From there we would fly to Alexandria, LA, Charlotte, and then back to Nashville. Our mission ended up evacuating one of the VA hospitals' patients as well as several civilians.

The weather was not great once we neared New Orleans. We made it in and were met by an airport SUV that led us to what is normally an airline passenger gate. The difference was the gates housed medical teams (mainly military that had just arrived) and scores of sick refugees (for lack of better term). We squeezed ourselves into a parking spot perpendicular to a C-141 and next to two C-17's. There were other Air Force planes on the ground as well. By the time we finally left, five other C-130's and another C-17 had joined us.

What happened next just really made my heart well with pride. From every direction and in about 15 to 45 second intervals, helicopter after helicopter continued to land right next to us. It was a mix of Army Blackhawks, Coast Guard helicopters as well as Marine and Army. They were joined by what must have been 15 "Flight for Life" helicopters from hospitals all around the Southeast. I saw Miami, Arkansas, and many other names painted on the sides. This was not normal operations. These pilots were practically landing and taxing on top of each other. They came in fully loaded with sick personnel. Many right from the rooftops. One New Orleans Airport fireman took on the duty of aircraft marshaller and marshaled in choppers left and right. The helos would unload and then take right back off. It was not uncommon for a helicopter to be on the ground less than two to three minutes and then blast back off. We were basically parked in the triage area. These helicopters were immediately met by ground personnel who helped the people off the helos and if they couldn't walk, they put them on a stretcher or just flat carried them.

What makes it so extraordinary is when I realize that these ground personnel were just the airport workers, airline employees, cart drivers, fireman, and then the staff of all the emergency teams. It was amazing. They were not necessarily trained for the jobs they were/are undertaking. They just stepped up to the plate and did it. The tower and ground controllers were coordinating airplanes and helicopters like they had never imagined in their most terrible nightmares and were doing a very good job of it.

There were literally so many helicopters coming in and out of the triage area that I do not understand how the tower guy could see through them all to control the planes once they landed. The little baggage trailers and tugs that you normally see zipping around the airport were being used to move survivors out to the airplanes. They can best be described as mini ambulances.

The terminals at the airport were triage and staging areas. The airport vehicles that are usually operated by airport managers and security were leading airplanes and helicopters to newly created parking spaces. Then the huge thunderstorm hit to make matters even worse. Thunder, lightening, and driving rain pounded the airport and surrounding area for over 1.5 hours. The helicopter pilots and crews never stopped.

Everyone was so determined and working with such purpose. I literally watched this one helicopter bring people in a then leave again for another load four times in the 1.5 hour long torrential rain storm. This pace was not uncommon. Another thing that exemplified the unselfishness of the rescuers was this one old and worn out red and white helicopter. It looked like something that does heavy lifting for construction up on mountains. Basically, it did not look like one that was designed to carry people and conduct search and rescue.

From all I can tell, it was just a privately owned helicopter that the two pilots decided they were going to make work for this. I still remember the pilot in the left seat. He just had on jeans, tennis shoes and some kind of old shirt. He was a little overweight, but you could just see the determination and purpose on his face as he brought that big helo in run after run after run. Don't misinterpret what I am describing. The military guys were doing this too, but I did not expect this from some private company or individual.

It just was incredible. Absolutely incredible. There is no way the helos should have been flying in this weather. If this was just some regular mission or training flight, you can bet your kids Super Play Station that they would not have been flying. It would have been easier and probably safer to floss a shark's teeth them to have gotten these guys to stop flying.

The same thing went for everyone working to organize and evacuate the sick, hurt, and elderly inside the airport. The process was a little slower than ideal, but it is a massive undertaking not ever encountered by the agencies initially put in charge. Long story short, the Air Force medical teams got in there and got the ball rolling. As we left, a medical evacuation command post was coming on line, which will significantly speed up the process of bringing people into the airport and them putting them on planes to fly out.

Another one of our Nashville C-130's was on the ground with us. They received their patients first. Once they could not physically fit anymore on their plane, they left and we took they next group. Our aero med team and flight crew just started helping the people who could barely walk onto the plane and assisted in the loading of stretchers. Back to selflessness, we were also joined by two doctors who had been assisting in all the relief efforts at Tulane Hospital. They decided to go on the flight with us.

One was an MD in his 7th year of surgery residency and the other was an MD who worked full time at Tulane hospital. They had been working nonstop since the hurricane. Another resident MD told me how after the hurricane hit he had to go home and get some sleep. He awoke to rising water at his place, so he got in his kayak and paddled down the street, past looting, which he said was very unnerving, and into Tulane hospital where he has been working ever since. The great American spirit is indeed alive and well.

We ended up taking 20 patients on litters (military for stretcher) and 31 people (not healthy at all) that could sit up for a total of 51 to Ellington Field, TX. We arrived there and were met by what can only be described as an eye-watering reception. We called the field 20 minutes out and let them know we would be landing shortly and passed on our patient information.

Well, let me tell you something. As we taxied in I looked towards our parking spot and I must have counted 30 ambulances and a line of hospital workers/volunteers with wheelchairs at the ready lined up 50 deep. There was another equally long line of paramedics with gurneys. These people had it together. We shut down engines and then watched as Ellington's smooth operation kicked into gear. The sickest of the sick were rushed to hospitals. Everyone else was given food, cold drinks, seen by a social worker, doctor, and other specialists. Then, one of the head NASA people there gave me his car to go to Jack in the Box to get food for the crew. Incredible!

By this time we were running out of our 16 hour crew day and we still had two more stops. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to it all as we had to head right back to Nashville, but another crew picked up the mission. I will be doing missions similar to this one tomorrow (Fri) and Saturday.

Our Guard Base (TN Air National Guard) is flying six of our eight or nine airplanes out tomorrow in direct support of rescue operations. We plan on doing this for the foreseeable future.

Overall, I cannot do justice to all the good I saw today just by writing. I wanted to try though. Basically, the operation set up down there at the New Orleans Airport is one eerily similar to that of Baghdad Int'l airport when I was there for over eight months. Just a hive of activity with people pushing their bodies and aircraft to the max. No one complains, they just get the job done and worry about the rest later.

Every citizen of this country should be so proud of what their fellow citizens are doing for each other. The pressure they are working under knowing these sick and stranded people do not have time on their side is unexplainable. Our country is one of great strength and determination. It is evident in all the rescue and relief efforts that are taking place down there. If the hard work and pure grit of all the rescue and medical personnel I witnessed today are of any indication of the eventual outcome of this indescribable tragedy, then we are on the absolute fast track to victory.

I just want to add one more thing. I did not write this all out to highlight myself. In fact it is quite the contrary. I want all of you to know the efforts that are being made from the individual level to the highest level of government. Nothing is being held back. I just happen to fly an airplane from one field to another and am very happy to do it.

Please say some extra prayers for all of those suffering due to hurricane Katrina and for all of those working to save lives and rebuild a city.

James

A.A.A.D.D.

Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder...

Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.

As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered.

I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.


At the end of the day:
the car isn't washed
the bills aren't paid
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC.

New Orleans Levees and Water Levels 

Google Shows Katrina Satellite Photos

Google Maps, a rather cool web-based mapping system designed to compete with Yahoo! Maps, MapQuest, and MSN Maps has pretty much been one step ahead since its inception and everyone is trying desperately to follow suit, but now Google's maps are even integrating current events like Hurricane Katrina directly showing the storm's effect in its newly updated high-resolution satellite photos.

Now keep in mind, these photos had to be taken whenever the satellite was available so there is some cloud cover, and thus the reason you are able to switch views between 'Katrina' and 'Satellite' -- but the action of switching views is rather amazing. Just take a look at the water coverage.

If you're interested in the other cool things Google has done with their maps take a look at these links:

• Map of the Moon - Google used the same interface they use for our normal street maps, and applied high-resolution photography of the moon to it. This shows the versatility of the interface itself. Just for fun Google put an Easter egg in there, see if you can find it... Okay, I'll spoil it... Zoom all the way in to see what the moon is really made of... cheese ;)
  
• Google Earth - This is an actual application that runs on your computer and overlays the high-resolution satellite photography you see on Google Maps with a full 3D model of the earth, support for GPS devices, dynamic data layers, and more. It's totally awesome, assuming you have a decent 3D video card. And its small, all the data is streamed over the internet from Google as you need it, not stored on your machine.
  

A Can't-Do Government

I just had to pass this article on, it's a unique perspective that I think everyone should examine and we as a society should decide together how to handle these sort of issues in the future.

That's Just Not Right... But Too Funny!

Well they are immigrants...and I didn't do this, a friend just sent it to me, so here it is for your laughter, however right or wrong that laughter may be... (Just remember to keep telling yourself, this is wrong, lol) View Video Now

And also, just for a bit more fun, a funny audio clip, "My Son is a Hetrosexual" from a morning radio show.

While I'm at it, this is dedicated to my friend Josh, A.K.A. FPS Doug on Stonemaul.

Video and Audio hosting provided by PutFile.com

Hurricane Katrina's Devistation

Hurricane Katrina

My heart goes out to the people who are having to live on the street with no food, drink, or anything. I truly hope the government is doing everything in their power to get support in there, and I wish there was something I could do. If you want to know more about Katrina, and the current and past developments of this devastating storm, see this article.

Gas Prices

So what will happen:

Will Gas Prices Go Up?
or is the forecast getting better than it was?

Cheapest Gas in Your Neighborhood

I'd seen this before, actually quite sometime ago before gas was just a nuisance because you had to do it once a week or whatever, but now that gas costs thirty-five pesos per gallon on average, it is a really useful link so bookmark it:

Find the Cheapest Gas in Your Neighborhood

If you're in Houston, TX like me, find the cheapest gas here!

Our War is Not Against Terror...It's Against Fundamentalism

We are not fighting a war against terror. Terror is a method of warfare. Fighting against terror is kind of like fighting against rifles. It misses the point. The question is who is behind the terrorism and why? How can we possibly win a war when we don't even know who the enemy is?

This is part of the reason we wound up in Iraq. Iraq did not attack us, and in fact, according to the 9/11 Commission, Osama bin Laden worked with anti-Saddam forces inside Iraq at one time because Hussein's government was the type of secular government they wanted to overthrow. But we are so confused as to who we are fighting and why we are fighting them that we attacked the wrong country under the umbrella of the meaningless "war on terror."

Perhaps this is what you get when you have a president who doesn't "do nuance." But putting aside who is at fault for this misguided war and whether they purposely chose to mislead us with ambiguous titles like the "war on terror," let's get to the heart of the issue ... what are we really fighting against?

I have a simple answer ... fundamentalism. Muslim fundamentalists believe it is their moral duty to fight a jihad against the West. They are guided by their strict, literal reading of the Koran (helped along by hateful imams who select the worst parts of the Koran).

But we are not just aligned against Muslim fundamentalists. The problem is broader than that. It is Jewish fundamentalists like the Gaza settlers and Christian fundamentalists like Tom DeLay who want to drive us further into this conflict. They also rely on their absurd interpretations of their religious texts.

The Jewish settlers who are being removed from the Gaza Strip this week believe God promised them that piece of land over two thousand years ago. Because of this belief they are not concerned by the 1.3 million Palestinians who happen to live there. People who are willing to walk all over the rights and property of other people because of their own religious beliefs are dangerous, not just to the people they oppress ... but to all of us.

They drive us deeper and deeper into wars with no end. How can the Palestinians stop fighting if they are occupied by people who think they have no rights because God is not on their side? Of course, this will lead to conflicts that spiral out of control.

The problem is we are too polite and we are not willing to call people what they are ... crazy. If you think Santa Claus, Barney the Purple Dinosaur or Yahweh promised you some land over two thousand years ago because you were specially selected by him as his chosen people ... you are nuts!

On the other end of the coin, we have the Pakistani government teaching kids in seventh grade that the world was a lovely place until Jews started charging interest rates. Their social studies textbooks teach them absolute nonsense about how Christians are inferior to Muslims and Jews are tight-fisted money lenders who have no sympathy for humanity. Not all cultures are equal. A culture that teaches this garbage is wrong!

A culture that advocates, or even tolerates, female circumcision is wrong. A culture that has religious leaders imposing their decisions on people based on a specific reading of their religious texts is wrong. A culture that teaches their people that they are favored over everyone else by God is wrong.

I'll go further. A culture that does not promote democracy where citizens are empowered to make their own decisions is wrong. A culture that is opposed to science and evolution is wrong.

Now, that sounds like I'm saying American culture is better than most of the other cultures in the world. That is mostly right. The neocons think the United States can dominate the world if we impose our democracy on other countries through invasion. I think we can prosper together in a world where we fight to impose our culture on others. Not through bloody invasions but through the power of our ideas.

There isn't a country in the world that can withstand invasion by Levi's, Nike, McDonald's, American movies and Paris Hilton porn. The neocons think we can bomb Iran into a democracy (I honestly have never heard of a dumber and more counterproductive idea). I think we flood young Iranians with cell phones, laptops and television dishes, then sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Our culture is better than theirs. Time is on our side. It's only a matter of time before they crumble and open up their markets, their political processes and their minds.

By the way, I say this as an ethnic Muslim-American. The idea that Muslims might not enjoy freedom, open society and sexy girls wearing skimpy clothing is preposterous. We are all human. We all have the same drives. Sometimes though, our antiquated cultures hold us back from our nature and reason. This is part of what we have to fight against.

But there is one problem with American culture. Our own fundamentalists. There are Christian fundamentalists in this country who believe that Israel should have all of the occupied territories because it says it in their Book. They believe that Israel should rebuild the Temple on the Mount, thereby destroying holy Muslim sites and assuredly starting a gigantic war. Finally, they think that when this happens, Armageddon will ensue, most of the people on this Earth will die and Santa Claus, I mean Jesus Christ, will come back to save them (and only them). There's another word for these people ... crazy.

You'd have to be nuts to believe that. But they are quite serious, and they are quite powerful. Christian fundamentalists have the ear of the President. They heavily influence his decisions. And on a number of occasions, they have steered him purposely and proudly toward policies that are detrimental to the peace process. Who's against a peace process? Crazy people.

Christian fundamentalists are in incredibly powerful positions within the US government. Our former Attorney General, John Ashcroft, is a fundamentalist. He anointed himself in holy oils before he took the oath of office. You know who does that? Crazy people.

The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Tom DeLay is a fundamentalist. He believes God has granted the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Jews, his Chosen People. He is indifferent to the plight of millions of Palestinians living in those territories because his interpretation of his Book tells him to be.

As long as we don't address the fifth column in this country we will not be able to effectively fight the war against fundamentalists. There are people in America rooting for the idea of the Apocalypse ... and they vote based on this idea. We have to stop them. We have to engage in the culture war.

Right now, it's completely one-sided. The fundamentalists in this country attack with impunity and the secular Americans sit back for fear of offending the crazies. It's time to hit them back (proverbially, violence is usually the refuge of weak-minded fundamentalists, not thinking, rational people).

It is not acceptable to be against teaching valid science to our children because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to hate gay people because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to deny other citizens their privacy because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to be one-sided in dealing with the Middle East and drive us all into war because you think your Book tells you to. It is not acceptable to root for Armageddon and try to take steps towards getting there because you think your Book tells you to.

Our President thinks God talks to him. You know who thinks that? Crazy people. The Jewish fundamentalists Yigal Amir said he shot Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin because God told him to. Why does God only tell people to shoot other people or start wars? Why can't He just tell them to go to the dentist or get their mom flowers? Why does it always have to involve death?

Thinking you talk to God doesn't qualify you to lead the nation ... it qualifies you for a mental institution. The time for accommodation has come to an end.

The inmates have taken over the asylum. We have to take it back.

Otherwise, how can we convince Muslims around the world to take on their own fundamentalists? How can we ask Israel to stop accommodating their fundamentalists if we are not willing to challenge our own? How can we win the war against fundamentalism if some of our leaders are on the other side?