Someone wrote me recently and said, "How can you grow things like carrots in only 6 inches of soil? I thought the carrot roots go down 3 feet deep?" And, I thought, this is the mentality of single row gardening. This is something that the garden experts have been teaching us year after year - that plant roots go very deep and spread out and you need a lot of room for them. This is, in a sense, a total myth if it is reasonably analyzed. What they are judging is how plants grow in your backyard or on a farm where the soil is usually terrible. We used to work so hard for so many years to improve the soil and when you think about it, all we're really doing is improving the top few inches of our garden. Ever the best rototiller only goes 4 or 5 inches deep and that with a great deal of effort. Since gravity tells the roots to go down, what do they do? They keep going further and further searching for moisture and nutrients. Now reverse that whole situation and put your plants in perfect soil to start with - soil that has all the nutrients they need and constant moisture. If you were a plant, why would you go any further? The other purpose of roots is to anchor the plant, especially a big bushy or tall plant like a tomato plant. It has to send out a strong support system to hold that plant up.

But, in Square Foot Gardening, we hold that kind of a plant up on a trellis system. We grow all our vine crops on vertical frames and they are almost just hanging there on the frame. They don't need a strong spread-out root support system. So, the end result, although the experts still pooh-pooh the idea, is just about every plant that I've ever grown does very nicely in just 6 inches of our perfect Mel's Mix.

But, back to the carrots. When someone in the audience asks, "How can you grow a 10-inch carrot in 6 inches of soil," my first response, although I don't always say it is, "When is the last time you grew a 10-inch carrot?" If I do ask it, they sheepishly say, "Well, never, but I might want to." But, in general, most of the carrot seeds on the market are for varieties that grow 6-8 inches and that's about it. Everyone thinks they want to grow the tall, slender ones, but they very seldom do and they don't work very well in most backyard garden soils anyway. The carrots end up being misshapen and twisted and rather unappetizing looking. But, wonder of wonders, I'm going to show you how you can grow 10-inch carrots in 6-inches of soil.

One person wrote and said, "Do you just make your 4'x4' box 12-inches deep instead of 6-inches deep?" And, of course, that would waste an awful lot of soil mix - you would double the cost for your wood sides and you would double the cost for your Mel's Mix and all to accomplish space for perhaps only one out of your 16 sq. ft. So instead of that idea, we are going to build something that is specially made just for that 1 square foot of extra-long carrots. We are going to build what looks like a little high-rise apartment on the roof, just for that one square foot that we want to plant extra-long carrots in. Now we used to call this a penthouse until that awful magazine ruined the name, so now we stick with high-rise apartment or just high rise.

Use your imagination now and think about one square foot planted with extra-long carrots. Other square feet would be planted with other varieties that will grow in 6 inches. In fact, today, there are a lot of very short or round carrots on the market and they are kind of fun to grow, too.

So, to house those extra-long carrots we are going to build a little apartment on top of our roof where they will fit and grow nicely. To build that, we just build a bottomless box - in other words four sides. We are going to make it out of 1x4 lumber or maybe 1x6 lumber. It will just sit on top of one of the squares and, in order to fit inside your grid (and I sure hope you have a grid because a square foot garden isn't complete without a grid), then the outside dimensions of your new little box would be a little smaller than 12"x12" - so it fits inside the grid in one of the squares. You could use thinner plywood but some people don't like the looks of plywood. As soon as you may set that on top of your garden, inside your grid and fill it with Mel's Mix, you are ready to start planting. Because the inside dimensions are going to be a little less than normal, your 16 plant spacing will be a little closer together, but remember, nothing has to be exact in square foot gardening. You merely take that square foot, divide it in half each way by drawing a line in the soil with your finger (Have you seen the Introductory Video yet? It shows it all in humorous detail.) and then you merely poke two holes at a time with two fingers spacing them evenly apart. Plant your seeds and you are all finished. I like the 1"x4" lumber size better than the 1"x6". You also have to consider because of its exposure to the air on all four sides, so you may have to water a little extra, especially once the carrots get to be half grown stage.

Now, some may ask why go to this extra work when you could just build a whole 4x4 box bigger? But again we get back to the economy and the necessity of only one of the plants requiring this extra depth. Back in the old days, when we used to dig down and improve the existing soil (this was, of course, before the latest improvements to Square Foot Gardening), we suggested that you clean out one square foot and dig down into your existing ground an extra 4-6 inches and then back fill that with Mel's Mix and you would have an extra deep square, but that meant you would always be growing the same thing in that one square, so this new method goes along nicely with the latest improvement to Square Foot Gardening, because after your extra-long carrots have been harvested, you can easily move the box to another square, in order to grow something extra long somewhere else. That way you get crop rotation and this movable high-rise apartment satisfies all the requirements of your garden.

Now this unique method works well for other crops. For example, if you grow scallions or leeks or even celery, everyone wants the white part of the vegetable and by using the high-rise apartment idea, you can grow extra-long white portions of those vegetables. In fact, you can double, if not triple, the desirable portions. Of course the green part of those same crops are just as, if not more, nutritious, but everyone wants the white portion. This high-rise method also works well for potatoes, because, remember potatoes grow off of the main plant stem between the bottom root and the top of the soil surface. So, if that potato has an extra 4-6 inches in the ground, it is going to grow that many more potatoes. Remember the old-fashioned way of growing potatoes - once they are planted in a furrow, you then have to come along and hoe up the soil from the 3 foot paths along the side to provide that extra cover. Let's eliminate all that work, throw away your hoe. Now it is much easier just to back fill that square with Mel's Mix or better yet, pure compost to get the extra harvest.

This new idea is just one of the advance treatments of the basic square foot gardening system. There are many more and you will find there are many adaptable special things that you can do with Square Foot Gardening that you CAN'T DO WITH ANY OTHER SYSTEM because our system is so modular, you can replant any square foot with a new crop any time during the season and it all fits together so easily. NO OTHER SYSTEM CAN DO THAT. You will most often double your harvest without any more space or work.

Some people ask if we can paint the wood and certainly the outside exposed to the air could be painted any color you want, either to match your garden or to provide some decorative logo. You can even have the kids draw things with either paint or magic markers on the side of the high-rise apartment. I could even see windows with people peeking out and it would be a lot of fun to get the kids involved here.

First Georgia, now Poland. The Bush Administration announced Thursday that American soldiers will begin manning missile sites in Poland -- part of an agreement that surpasses even the NATO treaty in binding Washington to an armed response to any attack on Polish soil.

Spokesminions for President George Butt-Thumper said the installation of the missile base is designed to protect Poland from an intercontinental missile attack from Iran. (The perfidious Persians' long-standing plans to conquer Poland are well-known, of course.) The minions say that the missiles and troops are not at all intended as a threat to Russia, which is being slowly encircled by NATO bases and American missiles -- despite solemn promises from Washington to refrain from, er, encircling Russia with NATO bases and American missiles.

But while Butt-Thumper was playing coy about the latest interjection of American cannon fodder into the now-roiling region, the Poles were admirably frank: they wanted a signed, ironclad deal that would force Americans to fight for them -- unlike the hapless Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili, who depended on a nod and a wink from militarist factions along the Potomac (apparently John McCain and his neocon crowd) when launching his own sneak attack on South Ossetia. [Justin Raimondo has more on this.]

As we all know, Misha was left up Saakashvili Creek without a paddle when the U.S. cavalry failed to ride to his rescue as expected. (Can there be any other explanation as to why he would launch his tiny military on a reckless adventure that was certain to provoke a massive Russian response? Obviously he thought Uncle Butt-Thumper would back him up.)

But there was none of that boneheaded shilly-shally for the Poles. They took advantage of the Bush Regime's panicky anxiety to look big and tough in front of the Russians and quickly sealed the missile base deal, wringing concessions that Washington had been resisting for 18 months.

The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, put plainly what his country wanted out of the agreement: "Poland and the Poles do not want to be in alliances in which assistance comes at some point later - it is no good when assistance comes to dead people. Poland wants to be in alliances where assistance comes in the very first hours of - knock on wood - any possible conflict."

Poland has an understandable fear of Russia, which has invaded and occupied its territory several times -- most recently, of course, in collaboration with the Bush Family's old business partners, Nazi Germany. Then again, Poland invaded and occupied Russia a few times too, back when it was a major power. Major powers tend to do that kind of thing. Which is why, as I noted in a recent comment exchange, one should be eternally suspicious of any person or group who takes control of massive, inhuman structures like states, because of our common human propensity to abuse power -- and to justify those abuses by claiming they are done in the name of some higher ideal. This applies no matter what system a particular state is based upon: capitalism, communism, theocracy -- or the grotesque chimera that now holds sway in both the United States and Russia: lawless, militarist authoritarian corporate-cronyism.

An American military move into Poland is the height of folly -- then again, we have been living on those dizzy heights for a number of years now, so there's nothing new in that.

But speaking of business partners, so much of the current unpleasantness would never have arisen if the dastard Putin had not begun hoarding Russia's natural resources for his cronies instead of giving it away to Butt-Thumper's buds. One recalls those halcyon days of yore when BP and Shell were striking fat oil and gas deals with Russian partners. Back then, Putin was Butt-Thumper's "soulmate," invited down for barbecues in Crawford. Back then, Putin was praised in the American media as the strong, steady hand that Russia needed, "a man we can do business with." Back then, Putin's astonishingly savage rampage through Chechnya and his installation of a regime of brutal thugs to preside over its remains were lauded as part of the war against Islamofascist terror.

But that was then and this is now. In the past few years, as the Kremlin has tightened its grip on Russia's oil and gas reserves and its indispensable pipelines to Europe, as it has grown rich from the spike in oil prices sparked by Bush's wars and threats of war, as its has rolled back Big Oil's presence in Russia -- often in harsh and humiliating ways -- Putin has steadily emerged in Western eyes as a tyrant, a bully, an ogre who threatens the stability of the entire world. (How long will it be before he is dubbed "the New Hitler"?)

The actual nature of Putin's regime has never mattered to our freedom-loving elites. The only "foreign policy" question they have is this: "Will they play ball? Will they fork over?" If Putin had only let the Western elite have a nice juicy slice of the Russian pie -- and maybe joined in one or two of Butt-Thumper's wars -- why, he could have romped and scampered around the region all he liked. But he didn't, and so now we have a "new Cold War," with Washington pouring oil on the fires in the Caucus and stirring the embers of fear and suspicion on the Russian-Polish frontier.

What next? Landing an expeditionary force in Vladivostok?

UPDATE: As'ad AbuKhalil weighs in with these observations (in separate posts:

My favorite thing about the whole coverage of the Georgia situation in the U.S. is the way the White House and media are feigning outrage over Russian actions. They just are aghast that a country can send its troops (across the border) under pretext of national security and defense. I mean, the U.S. would never ever send troops, say 10, 000 miles away from its border, under those pretexts. Never.

Although I don't want to, I vividly remember the day that Casey was killed in Iraq on April 04, 2004.

I woke up at about 9am because it was a Sunday: Palm Sunday. I went out to brunch with my then best friend, Lynda, and we drank two mimosas each. After brunch, I went home and cleaned house and got my clothes ready for the next week of work.

Casey was in a war zone and I was having problems eating, sleeping or concentrating. Dear Reader, if you are a parent, you know what I am talking about. Even when my children went off to camp, or over night at a friend's, I worried. I was worried that day as I completed my chores.

About four hours before the grim reapers came over to inform us that Casey had been "killed in combat," I saw a humvee burning on CNN and it was announced that eight soldiers had been killed in Baghdad that day. Although we didn't even know where Casey was stationed yet, (he had just been in Iraq for 5 days before he was killed) I knew one of the dead soldiers was my first-born child. When the three Army officers came to confirm my worst fears, I fell on the ground screaming and screaming and screaming. After four years, three months and six days, I am still surprised that I was able to get back up. That day I found strength in myself that I never imagined that I could ever possess, but little did I know that my "metal" would be tested repeatedly, each day and in many other ways since that tragic day for the Sheehan family.

Now four years, three months and six days later, I live in San Francisco in a one bedroom flat in a cool Victorian home in the Mission District and I am running for Congress against House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. I have traveled the world struggling for peace and human rights; I have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and have been honored with dozens of other peace awards. I have met thousands of interesting and amazing people; I have a new grandson, Jonah; but I still miss Casey tremendously and cry everyday for his wasted life.

However, exactly one year ago today, (my 50th birthday) I left Crawford, Texas for the final time (San Francisco in the summer is a lot nicer than Crawford in the summer---and in more ways than one), and set out with a couple of dozen other peace activists on our Journey for Humanity from Crawford to Washington, DC, demanding that Pelosi put impeachment back on that now infamous "table" and do her duty by allowing John Conyers to do his.

Ms. Pelosi's office said at the time that impeachment would be a "distraction," and, anyhow, the Democratically controlled Congress was busy trying to "end the war." Sure!

Since Nancy Pelosi has been Speaker, Congress has given George over 1/2 trillion more dollars to wage the war that she says she is trying to stop: recently appropriating 162 billion for an entire year's worth of carnage! Since Nancy has been Speaker, tens of thousands of Iraqis have died and about 1200 of our young people have been unnecessarily murdered or tortured (with Pelosi's approval) and their families sent into tailspins of grief. Millions of people have lost their jobs and/or homes and oil is just under 150.00 a barrel. That's why it hurts me so much when Nancy says that she "likes" the president and when she opposes him (which has literally been never, since she's been Speaker), that it's not "personal." How can one personally like someone who has been responsible for so much heartache in this world? I wish the horrible state of affairs we find ourselves in were not "personal" to me but things are deeply "personal" to me. Bush's crimes and Nancy's support of him have cost a lot of innocent lives and caused a lot of pointless pain.

When I first left the Democratic Party in May, 2007, over disgust at the continued war funding and continued destruction of our rule of law, I was roundly and thoroughly criticized by the centrists and even more so when I announced my candidacy for Pelosi's seat. In the intervening year, I have been unfortunately vindicated by Congress's fresh attacks on our civil liberties and constant caving into BushCo and War, Inc. Just like being right about the wrongness of the war gave me no joy, being right about the wrongness of the "left" (read right of center) also gives me no consolation. Working to rectify the malignant (cyst)em is what gives me resolve and hope.

Today, Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh) introduced an Article of Impeachment against George Bush and Nancy says that the House Judiciary committee "may" investigate the Article. WOW! That is some "strong" defense of the Constitution on a day when George Bush also gleefully signed the bill that Congress wrote destroying the 4th Amendment. Is such a "courageous" remark because my campaign is gaining so much momentum? Or could it be because Congress has the abysmal approval rating of 9%? Congress' approval rating is dropping like a bomb over Baghdad; zoomed past George's historically low marks on the way down and in a few months' time could go into negative integers if Congress keeps going in the same demented direction its "leaders" seem intent on traveling.

It has been a challenging year ramping up the campaign, and getting our office up and running (totally renovating a store front that was formerly a successful sex shop) but we are seeing the fruits of our labor. We have raised over $215,000.00 in about 8 months time and our volunteer force is growing as dissatisfaction here with Pelosi and the (cyst)em also grows. In gathering the democracy-suppressing amount of signatures required from an independent to get on the ballot in California, we have been able to campaign and spread the news that corporately controlled Pelosi is part of the problem and that voting for me will be part of the solution.

I want to thank everyone who has contributed money, time, encouragement, talents, and even criticism that helped us grow.

I want to thank my surviving children, Carly, Andy and Janey, for the moral support that I need to be able to do this, but I want to especially thank my sister, Dede Miller, and my campaign manager, Tiffany Burns, who have constantly been by my side since August, 2005 when we first camped in a ditch in Crawford, Tx, and millions of people stood with us around the world.

I am convinced that we will be on the ballot when the final count is made on August 28th, then there will be no stopping us! America really wants a change, and we have the opportunity for real and positive change here in California's 8th district.

This race is not about Cindy and Nancy: it is about "We the People" standing up against the (cyst)em that is beholden to the Military Industrial Complex. This time, "We the People" must be victorious!

Thanks for standing with me, again.

Get moving!
(c) 2008 Cindy Sheehan

Good Morning America, your King of Simple News is on the air.

I got a little windy today, but I do think the jest of this article is important.

U.S. NEWS: The main stream financial news is at least consistent; consistently wrong. As the King of Simple News Network was reporting that housing would, under no uncertain circumstances, tank in glorious fashion, such illustrious national figures as Alan "Cash" Greenspan was telling us just the opposite. How would you like to make the kind of money that ol' "Cash" makes for being wrong? Well, he's back, but he's getting better at his predictions. Not more accurate, but is now reminiscent of the weathermen who adopted the percentage system where one can never be totally wrong. "There is a 50% chance of rain today and the wind might blow...or maybe not."

In Mr. Greenspan's case, he is now saying that housing will bottom in the first half of 2009 and if not, it will be some other time...probably. I think ol' Cash is practicing to run for office. "If the economy doesn't get better, it will probably stay the same or it could possibly get worse...maybe."

What I'm pointing out here in my smart-alecky way is that Greenspan, Bernanke, Bush, Obama, McCain, and the biggest share of the 535 members of Congress and millions of other government officials are totally helpless to change universal law; which is exactly what they are promising to do. If the Pinocchio syndrome were true, these people couldn't get their nose in a semi-trailer.

"If you elect me for president, congress, governor, mayor, or dog catcher, I'll bring the price of oil down!" Oh sure they will, along with bringing back millions of buffalo to the Great Plains.

Why do they say that they will bring the price of oil down when they have no control whatsoever over world oil? Because we WANT the price of oil down so that we don't have to face reality, which is scarier than facing Hillary Clinton in broad daylight in a bathing suit or for you ladies, John McCain in his Speedo's.

Politicians run on change. After all, if we liked the one that we have, why change?

Alert reader, "Gila" recently said that "we have lost our will." His saying that motivated my last two remaining healthy brain cells to confer on that subject. Why would we have given up our will? "Maybe we haven't," was the conversation that my two brain cells were having.

Why would we have wanted things to change? Until recently gas was cheap, the stock market was making rocketing gains, homes were paying off like a busted slot machine, credit was available to everyone who could pass the fog-on-the-mirror test, new SUVs complete with TV sets were as common as bicycles, unemployment was low, we could afford $5 Starbucks and designer bottled water and American Idol was on every night. Is this a taste of heaven or what?

Can you imagine Barrack Obama just a few years ago saying, "We need change." Change to what? Higher gas prices, unemployment, motor scooters, lower stock prices, tighter credit, regular coffee and American Idol being cancelled? He couldn't have gotten that dog catcher job that I talked about. It's all smoke and mirrors based around prevailing circumstances and the very real fact that most Americans couldn't pass economics 101 yet could name in order, the last five winners of Survival.

Of course, Mr. Obama as well as Mr. McCain can put on their best Monday morning quarterback outfit and point out the failures of the past in order that they can become the failures of the future. Which they will due to neither of them having a clue as to why our economic failures have occurred; except that "George done it."

Both make the insane promise of growth in a world that has maxed out on that premise. They do so as traditionally the one that promises the most growth is gonna win.

Exponential growth in a finite world with finite resources is mathematically impossible. You can write that on the wall.

As we witness the continual failure of our leadership to recognize the above stated universal principal, and as the social pain associated with practicing that ignorance grows, perhaps our "will" to demand realistic change to a sustainable model will return and the spirit of America will be revived.

I now understand how special prosecutor Jim Garrison felt so many years ago when he tried to expose the guilty culprits who assassinated John F. Kennedy. Well, I'm here to say that Mr. Garrison is one-up on us. At least during the Warren commission proceedings (inadequate hearings he later condemned), he got a little more satisfaction when he was afforded the right to question his suspects 'under oath.' Even though justice was never served in any real sense -- Garrison's brother later got murdered too, along with Martin Luther King and others -- one fact remains. Garrison's ability to get some of evildoers 'on-record' gave the whole affair a small degree of credibility for historical purposes, and preserved the fundamental rule of law for interrogation -- two things the Bush administration arrogantly rejects in this frightful day of presidential oligarchy.

Yes, our Commander in Chief, the unpopular dullard many in the world would love to stone, is trying to contain this nation's worst treasonous crime and cover-up as he illegally claims 'executive privilege,' by not allowing congressional testimony to be given by those summoned within his own ranks. A slap in the face to all red-blooded Americans who watch with amazement as they try to avoid any incriminating missteps whatsoever. But, let's get real -- even if they did testify, I'm sure it would only consist of nothing more than a simple mish-mash of despotic double-speak laced with insulting euphemism pouring out of both sides of their pathetic faces.

This ugly display of 'damage control' seems to be a haughty life preserver for them to cling to. And one thing is for sure, they certainly do have tight lips on a shameful capsized ship. All are fools in shark-infested waters -- fools who truly believe nothing will ever be realized in their lifetimes to prove their ineffable ways. And while I'm on the subject of unspeakable 'lip service with a triangular tongue twist,' we can never forget how the gauntlet fell awfully hard and fast when House Republicans went after Bill Clinton for simply getting a blowjob in the oval orifice. Unlike today's sorry schism. All we get today is a different kind of sardonic head job, a 'bittersweet nothingness.' And we stand here, impatiently holding our hat. At least for now...

A sad reminder of what It was like for the victims...

A reality check is sometimes necessary in order to recreate a crime scene in true human form. In order to fully grasp the severity of that horrible September day, we must place ourselves in the victims' shoes. How can we even begin to imagine what it must have been like for the victims on that horrible day? Thousands of unsuspecting people innocently showing up for a normal work day only to be relentlessly pulverized -- floor by floor -- like sacrificial beef shoved into a descending meat grinder at free-fall speed. Hot steel shards tore them from limb to limb as the buildings were purposely rigged to demolish on top of them.

And let us not forget the brave and gallant efforts of exhausted fireman, police and paramedics, etc...running up seemingly endless stairways into disaster, armed with fire hoses, medical kits and other rescue equipment tucked under their tired and aching arms trying to save innocent lives as the devil's pre-planted cutter charges unsparingly greeted them with demonic eruption snatching their lives in the blink of a thermite flash. Then afterwards, the mayor left them entombed to rot beneath the massive pile of rubble that was soon hauled off to the landfill as trash.

For those of you who do not know what thermite is -- according to hundreds of experts not under the corrupt wing of the White House, it's the type of explosive used to demolish the World Trade Center. That's right, regardless of how they expeditiously tried to get rid of all the evidence, dust particles remained preserving crucial evidence containing trace elements of the stuff to unequivocally prove that planes did not cause the collapse.

I apologize for continuing this graphic description, but I feel compelled to extend my comments about those who suffered at the hands of our deceivers. Picture yourself 10,000 feet in the air strapped in a front row seat soaring at 300 plus miles per hour in a two-winged coffin of death. My God, can we even begin to imagine the unnerving confusion and horror that seared the minds of those who were aboard those hijacked planes digging their nails into the armrests as they watched their planes veer off course? It's inconceivable to fathom the extreme terror they must have felt when they entertained what was happening -- what would happen next. All trapped in limbo, without hope, paralyzed for what must of seemed like a hellish eternity as their end drew closer. Eventually, realizing for sure the executioners' true intent as the killers heartlessly banked -- then nose-dived -- their planes into the most horrendous nightmare our nation has ever seen.

Adding insult to injury, all New York residents were put at risk when they were falsely told by the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) the air was safe to breath (sic). So many illnesses are encountered even today as New York City residents suffer progressive health problems from ingesting the massive amounts of atomized carcinogens floating in the air on that fateful day, and in the aftermath of what had happened. Sadly, it's beyond our ability to track the real numbers accurately. And for those of us who live far away from this epicenter of misery, we are affected too...an entire nation forever doomed to suffer post traumatic stress disorder as we relive this horrific crime, time and again.

On many countless nights over the years I am living proof of psychological effects as I am unable to sleep when I imagine how those poor lost souls drew their last earthly breath as they vainly begged for mercy at the hands of those without any remorse. It's always the same for me, I usually drift away in the early morning hours with a slight glimmer of hope that the killers may have pumped some sort of sleeping gas into the planes rendering them unconscious before they really knew what hit them. The other scenario is too horrible to imagine in these turbulent days of restless woe.

A CIA sponsored boogeyman named 'Osama Bin Laden'

In retrospect, not everyone has been needlessly killing innocent civilians and crudely sacrificing brave military souls for a bogus invasion that never should been happened while chasing our tail in Afghan caves with the so called 'War on Terror' (sic). A useless war of choice willfully created by a US Supreme Court-appointed madman hunting down Osama Bin Laden, his new modern day 'Patsy.' Like those before him, such as Lee Harvey Oswald and others, bin Laden is a 'fall guy' who takes the heat -- gets the blame. And with the many profitable perks promised to those doing business with the merchants of death, is it any wonder this fiasco is still playing out? Nation building, privatized troop support, poppy fields for the drug trade industry and oil pipelines for petroleum barons, etc., are but a few of the enterprises that elevated many simpletons with dollar daisies sprouting in their pocketbooks. All unremorseful of how we got there or when we will shall leave.

Amongst the madness, many professional scholars for truth with the best minds assembled have been working overtime to unlock this 21st Century mystery in real terms. Although, I do love to entertain one amazing hypothetical point: if US smart bombs could tell tales, might we learn a thing or two from talking shrapnel? Yeah, I'd place a heavy handed bet (with favorable odds) that OBL may have a few ounces of metal-shards rattling around in his decomposing corpse after we probably blew him up years ago. Oops, bite my tongue, you don't suppose we've been chasing a 'ghost' all these years? Have we? Well, you gotta love to hate those sneaky CIA-sponsored hate objects. Dead or alive, a good believable 'spook' sure gets the ol' prep-rally factor motivated for moving those daddy war bucks into the war chest for a profitable conflict.

In romancing the stone further, I wonder how many OBL lookalikes are really out there reading scripts and doing videos as this live reality show unfolds? Yeah, and some of the tricky Islamo-terrorist actors even wear expensive jewelry no less (a taboo for real Muslims). Whew, now that's what I call real 'Hollywar' entertainment! And nothing keeps the machete swinging faster than us getting bamboozled watching bogus 'Nick Berg' execution video where, if you watch very closely, his head rolls like a low budget B-flick. Oh, I'm sure he lost it, God rest his soul, but certainly not by those they tried to portray in that sick dramatization played time and again on the internet. I would only add, after considering all the handsomely paid Blackwater mercenaries running around, and the many CIA-Ops and Mossad agents dug in and around Iraq with wonderful Arabian suntans (most of whom are on the payroll) is it really that hard to figure out? Indeed most have a vested interest in trying to keep the American hate in full bloom to secure longer contracts for this or that, or for serving other interior motives. Yes, I'm sure most could easily pass for someone of Arab descent with a little makeup, the right clothes, and a cool headdress. Think about it...

The Anthrax letters

After all that has transpired, we would have to be uniquely inept to not remotely suspect that the anthrax letters played a vital role in fanning D.C. unrest. Just at a time when certain select House members were offering a little resistance to passing the egregious 'Patriot Act,' these powdered jewels ended up in a few unsuspecting mailboxes. Even though Democratic Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy did not get a whiff of the deadly stuff, as intended, the scare alone sent a powerful message to everybody involved -- they had better fall in line behind those who willfully stripped us of our Constitutional Rights. And, did you notice how more letters magically appeared, right on cue, effectively shutting down the US Supreme Court just before the Patriot Act may have been scrutinized? Funny how shit like this happens. And let us not forget that the chemical itself was later determined to be a traceable strain of weapons-grade material manufactured in a lab at Fort Detrick, Md., north of Washington.

In addition, just recently (2008), it's equally amazing how one guy, Steven J. Hatfill, a former scientist who worked at the lab and a 'person of interest' to then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft's pithy investigation, who was suing the government for being harassed for years and was dubiously dubbed by the media to be the lone 'mad scientist' -- suddenly was let off the hook. Although his job, his reputation and his life were destroyed, Hatfill walked away with more than $5 million and a 'sorry 'bout that' wave of the hand.

And, just as suddenly, we were told the real culprit, scientist Bruce Ivins, also working at Fort Detrick, committed suicide upon learning the goons were closing in on him. How sweet. Logic snaps to mind -- dead men tell no tales when jackboots are eliminating loose ends just before this administration folds its tent. Gee, I wonder, if poor Bruce could drop us a message-in-the-bottle from purgatory, would he offer us some additional insight on who his next bunk buddies will be?

The media's role in all of this

Is it any wonder we remain pessimistic with everything that has happened? We distrust our news media for damn good reasons. But in order to stay focused, we must continue to know their propaganda is an elaborate con game. In truth, these public liars are business partners with those who continue to murder with impunity, all heavily invested in defense corporations on Wall Street. Make no mistake, most talking heads and silly pundits are mere puppet clowns jumping hoops and climbing ladders for a paycheck signed in blood as they deliver 'Oscar' performances for their mind-bending circus acts. Bottom line -- the best thing to do is bring others into the realm of informative alternative news sources (on the internet). A sober reality worth inviting, so we can avoid the pernicious rhetoric that has come to be mainstream news. It truly is a breath of fresh air to throw away the rumblings of tinsel-town performers.

And we can do something else too, let's quickly boycott all of the culprits' sponsors. It's the least we can do as wise, educated consumers who have been severely screwed over. I, for one, refuse to support those who would readily sell their own mothers on a street corner for a dime if they thought it would pull them out of the gutter to ease their shameful existence. I invite you to join me. Indeed, we must not pay for their half truths, no truths and seditious silence for the many unreported smoking guns they have ignored that makes Nixon's Watergate pale by comparison. If we remain resolute, we can defy their behavior-modification tyranny that tries to keep us docile, stupid and compliant.

I say get rebellious with our middle finger extended high as we pass along the secrets they try to conceal. To do anything less is mere cowardice or denial with ramifications that extend far beyond our own borders leaving our neighbors vulnerable with a massive nuclear arsenal pointed their way. Having said that, I can not stress enough, a single day should not go by without all of us doing everything we can to inform others of what the heck is going on. Get involved, or get ready to reap a methodical whirlwind that promises to deliver more progressive death and destruction.

The real lesson of World War II

You be the judge. For me, it's hands down. I now understand how my parents' generation felt totally betrayed by the anomalies surrounding the Pearl Harbor massacre. It would seem that history has conveniently forgotten to mention the insurmountable amount of suspicion many folks had in how the Japanese magically made it through all of our defenses, including the watchful eyes of many strategically placed Island-spotters armed with radio transmitters throughout Midway, our radar technology, etc. We were told the Japanese slipped through unnoticed and -- voila -- quickly obliterated our destroyers and submarine fleet at port. My, my...how history loves to glorify this official fairytale they quantified for decades. Sound familiar? God forbid, if we should ever question or tarnish the official explanation of WWII or say, September 11, 2001? Nope, no apologizes are offered in my humble journey into the abyss for truth. Indeed, everything is subject to public scrutiny and as true patriotic Americans, it's our duty to do so in our daily routine.

My father, Anthony Guarisco, a Navy seaman who served valiantly in the South Pacific during World War II and Korea, never wavered throughout his entire life in his belief that Pearl Harbor was purposely allowed to happen by the power brokers of his day. Just as many others, he said they did this so the US could squarely plant both feet into that war and send a harsh nuclear message to its communist enemy in the Soviet Union. He also told me something else very interesting. He said he first suspected something was dreadfully wrong when his commanders suspiciously ordered the 'entire aircraft carrier fleet' to leave port just before the attack occurred. He said the admirals of his day knew full well -- as long as they had their precious aircraft carrier division still intact -- they could win the war they so callously desired.

For over 50 years, my father's eyes welled-up every time he spoke about this. He was truly heart broken and became physically nauseated each time he was reminded of how the military brass of his day shrewdly allowed all those brave men and women to die an unsuspecting death -- like ducks sitting in a carnival shooting gallery.

We can all agree, as my father did, that WWII needed to be fought in order to stop Hitler. But he also admitted the only reason the Japanese attacked us in the first place was because our submarine fleet, as well as British fleets, were bombing Japan's oil tankers in Burma. Remember that Japan depended solely on its imported oil for virtually all of its energy needs. Also note, our submarine fleet was the first target to be destroyed during the initial attack. And for those who may question my father's credibility, I invite you to review a tribute I recently published honoring my parent's many accomplishments in life. Especially, read their impressive bio.

Remembering the bombing of Japan

Even as I write this essay way ahead of schedule (in August) to mark the coming anniversary of September 11, 2001, I want to point out that August 6 and August 9 are two dreadful days to mark on our calendar as well. Sixty-three years ago in 1945, Harry S. Truman insanely dropped two nuclear bombs, named Little Boy and Fat Man, on 'civilian' targets, destroying Japan and thus ending WWII. A sober irony to reminisce as my fingers rattle across this keyboard with goose-bumps protruding across my skin.

For sure, let us never forget what we did. It took less than 2.1 seconds for our past heartless warmongers to wipe-out more than 140,000 human beings in the blink of an eye. Truman's gift was one that kept on giving. Another 80,000 dead by the end of the year and, If you consider the many illnesses related to radiation exposure over six decades, the casualties could easily be in the millions. My God, how can we look into a mirror knowing what we did? How can we gleefully watch this insane administration attempt to justify more bombing campaigns in the Middle East? I would add, the nuclear option is not off the table for Iran, Pakistan, Syria and others. As a final note, I wonder how many lives would be spared if all those oil wells in distant desert sands only pumped 'sea water'? Hmmm...

The Vietnam War

Does the word 'false-flag' operation mean anything to you? I suggest you quickly do some research on the many suspicious anomalies surrounding the 'Gulf of Tonkin' incident that gave us the Vietnam War. In 2005, an official declassified National Security Agency (NSA) report revealed that the attack on the USS Maddox was not North Vietnamese boats. But yet, President Lyndon B. Johnson used that incident as the catalyst to launch the war. Thus, a huge jungle eulogy was given to the American public producing a Vietnam Memorial Wall containing more than 58,000 names etched on its haunting surface. I ask you this, how many times -- how many more times -- are we going to be fooled?

The first Gulf War

Or we could examine how the bullshit artists convinced us how those poor, defenseless Iraqi incubator babies were heartlessly thrown to a cold, filthy concrete floor to die. A big damn lie that helped George senior sell the first Gulf war to the American public. That's right, it never happened. It was all a big elaborate hoax. A Kuwaiti public relations (PR) firm manufactured the whole affair, hiring an actress who later was determined to be a diplomat's daughter, to dramatize the lie as real.

News outlets continuously ran with it on TV to get everyone all hyped-up for war. And to seal the deal, a clever mon-senior pushed his crown jewel by covertly tricking CIA-sponsored insurgent forces to invade Kuwait in what they thought was a green light with the blessings of the Almighty. Unfortunately, they learned, too late, that they had been betrayed. They were brutally squashed by our forces who played the role of heroes coming to the rescue. Indeed, I guess it's safe to say, 'Junior' is a chip off the old 'Senior' block. Do we see a pattern here?

Will the Cycle of War Ever be Stopped?

This is the multi-zillion dollar question that should be considered a bargain when compared to the value of life itself. I ask again, will this madness ever end? Truly, will we ever stop believing pathological liars who will say anything to germinate a conflict? In the real world, war has always been a profitable 'spectator sport' for those who embellish themselves in power and greed. Old crusty men will always send our young, innocent, and brave men and women off to fight and die in useless wars that, realistically, do not need to be fought. And by God, I mean it, this repeated cycle of madness must end once and for all. Otherwise, we will continue to be placed in harm's way -- mere pawns scurrying about as feeble toys to be manipulated by old crusty geopolitical chess masters like Dick Cheney and others who have been destroying and displacing lives for decades.

I apologize for such a disheartening, lengthy read, but felt it was critical to point-out the obvious known examples that have catapulted us into our present day dilemma. Sadly, I have barely scratched the surface of many infernal obfuscations that have chilled our bones from the very beginning of our country's birth. From the day that pilgrims first landed on Plymouth Rock and used smallpox as bio-warfare to weed-out Redskins, to the Native American death march that is the 'Trail of Tears,' to the slave owners who forced blacks to pick cotton in plantation fields, our nation's history is ghastly; it is replete with terrible memories.

However, if you want to understand a little more about the horrible attacks of September 11, 2001, a good place to start is David Ray Griffin's 'The New Pearl Harbor,' or perhaps his 'Debunking 9/11 Debunking,' or his latest, '9/11 Contradictions: An Open Letter to Congress and the Press -- all of which lay out perfectly how our 21st Century wizards work their magic with cunning ability.

As I once wrote in a past article (worth a second round), isn't it funny how life's little ironies always seem to make the full circle? Truly, what goes around -- comes around...

Freedom is like a hovering analogy-cloud that lingers above the mist that haunts those who fraudulently repress large populations of people in the name of national security. At first, the peasants embrace repression in order to remain safe, then they tolerate it to feel protected and, eventually they hate it. They become resentful of the protectors who enslave them and, in due time, will almost always revolt in disobedience. Freedom is a glorious boomerang -- it's a wondrous hive full of spiritual honey called 'human nature' that beckons the soul to be free -- a natural elixir that will forever replenish itself regardless of fake promises of 'security.' Even more so for those who have experienced it and then lost it -- it will not be denied!

Most of the fawning corporate media (FCM) coverage of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's resignation Monday was even more bereft of context than usual.

It was as if Musharraf looked out the window and said, "It's a beautiful day. I think I'll resign and go fishing."

Thus the lead in Tuesday's editorial in the New York Times, once known as the newspaper of record: "In the end, President Pervez Musharraf went, if not quietly, with remarkably little strife."

Certain words seem to be automatically deleted from the computers of those writing for the Times. Atop the forbidden wordlist sits "impeachment." And other FCM - the Washington Post, for example - generally follow that lead, still.

Very few newspapers carried the Associated Press item that put the real story up front; i.e., that Musharraf resigned "just days ahead of almost certain impeachment." In other words, he pulled a Nixon.

How short our memories! Three articles of impeachment were approved by the House Judiciary Committee on July 27, 1974; Nixon resigned less than two weeks later. But what were those charges, and how do they relate to George W. Bush today?

Without lawful cause or excuse [Richard M. Nixon] "failed to produce papers and things as directed by duly authorized subpoenas by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House...and willfully disobeyed such subpoenas...thereby assuming to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested in the Constitution in the House of Representatives."

"Endeavoring to cause prospective defendants...to expect favored treatment and consideration in return for their silence or false testimony."

"Endeavoring to misuse the Central Intelligence Agency."

Fortunately, John Conyers, who now chairs the House Judiciary Committee, was among those approving those three articles of impeachment.

Unfortunately, he seems to have long- as well as short-term memory loss.

He has let the Bush administration diddle him on subpoenas. And even though special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald made it quite clear that, because of "Scooter" Libby's perjury, a "cloud remained over the vice presidency," Conyers let out not a peep when Bush allowed Libby to avoid prison by commuting his sentence.

What about misusing the CIA? Here too Conyers' behavior has been nothing short of bizarre.

Again, hardly a peep out of him, though he has been made fully aware of how the Bush administration "twisted" (to use Ambassador Joe Wilson's word) intelligence to justify an "unnecessary" (to use former presidential spokesman Scott McClellan's word) war on Iraq.

On Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" on Aug. 14, Conyers said he was "the third day into the most critical investigation of the entire Bush administration." He was referring to author Ron Suskind's revelations about how the White House misused the CIA.

At the same time, Conyers complained that he is "maybe the most frustrated person attempting to exercise the oversight responsibilities that I have on Judiciary" - a clear reference to how he has let himself be diddled by the White House.

Hey, John. If Pakistan can move forward to impeach a sitting president and force his resignation, why can't you? You were part of it in 1974. Is being chairman of Judiciary too much for you?

Without any apparent tongue in cheek, Tuesday's New York Times editorial points a sanctimonious finger at Musharraf's abuse of power, noting that "the presidency must also be stripped of the special dictatorial powers that Mr. Musharraf seized for himself, including the power to suspend civil liberties."

The Times notes "President Bush underwrote Mr. Musharraf's dictatorship," but says nothing of the example Bush himself set - including rigging elections, as Musharraf did.

It is the height of irony that the relatively young democracy of Pakistan has been able to exercise the power of impeachment inherited from the framers of the U.S. Constitution, while the constipated committee captained by Conyers cannot.

Under Pakistan's constitution, the country has a bicameral legislature with 100 senators and over 300 representatives in the National Assembly. The president is head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. Sound familiar?

The difference is that the Pakistani legislature has checked Musharraf's unconstitutional accretion of power by exercising its constitutional power to impeach. In contrast, Conyers has chickened out.

Dear Bundesrecht Jurist Krieger,

Congratulations, you have just been awarded the "Vidkun Quisling Award!" Your name will now live throughout history with such past award winners as Marcus Junius Brutus, Judas Iscariot, Benedict Arnold, George Stephanopoulos, Ralph Nader, Vidkun Quisling and last year's winner Volksjudge Anthony (Fat Tony) Kennedy.

Without your lock-step calling for the repeal of the Constitution, your support of our two coup d'etats, your ruling stripping rights of protest and confining protestors to "freedom cages," Iraq and these many other profitable oil wars to come would have been impossible! With the help of our mutual friends, the other "Republican Whores" you have made it possible for all of us to goose-step off to a brave new bank account!

Along with this award you will be given the Iron Cross 1st class with ruby clusters presented by our glorious Fuhrer, Herr Bush at a gala celebration at "der Wolf's Lair," formally "Rancho de Bimbo," on 08-30-2008. We salute you Frau Krieger, Sieg Heil!

Signed,
Vice Fuhrer Cheney

But almost immediately after the FBI leaked this theory as to when and how Ivins traveled to New Jersey undetected, it was pointed out in several online venues, including here, that this timeline made no sense whatsoever -- that, indeed, the FBI's own theories were self-contradictory. In the documents that the FBI disclosed two weeks ago, it itself defined the "window of opportunity" for mailing the September 18 postmarked letters as beginning on September 17 at 5:00 p.m. (after which letters dropped in that mailbox would have received a postmark of September 18, but before which they would be postmarked September 17). Thus, based on the FBI's own facts, it would be physically impossible for Ivins -- as the FBI claimed to the Post -- to have driven to New Jersey after taking administrative leave in the morning in order to mail the anthrax letters, since he returned that day to Maryland for a 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. meeting, and thus could not have dropped the letters in the mailbox after 5:00 p.m.

So what did the FBI do in response to that rather devastating hole in its theory being pointed out? It just leaked a completely different story to the Post about when and how Ivins mailed the September 18 letters from New Jersey. Here's the FBI's new version, from the Post on Thursday:

Meanwhile, government sources offered more detail about Ivins's movements on a critical day in the case: when letters were dropped into the postal box on Princeton's Nassau Street, across the street from the university campus.

Investigators now believe that Ivins waited until evening to make the drive to Princeton on Sept. 17, 2001. He showed up at work that day and stayed briefly, then took several hours of administrative leave from the lab, according to partial work logs. Based on information from receipts and interviews, authorities say Ivins filled up his car's gas tank, attended a meeting outside of the office in the late afternoon, and returned to the lab for a few minutes that evening before moving off the radar screen and presumably driving overnight to Princeton. The letters were postmarked Sept. 18.

That the FBI is still, to this day, radically changing its story on such a vital issue -- namely, how and when Bruce Ivins traveled to New Jersey, twice, without detection and mailed the anthrax letters -- is a testament to how precarious the FBI's case is. They stood up in public two weeks ago, refused to show anyone the evidence they possess, but nonetheless proclaimed that they know that Ivins was the anthrax attacker, and that he acted alone, beyond any reasonable doubt. Yet their own theory as to how and when he sent the letters was squarely negated by their own claims, and so they had to re-leak their theory to the Post once that glaring deficiency, which they apparently overlooked, was pointed out online.

This isn't some side issue or small, obscure detail. Being able to link an accused to the scene of the crime is the centerpiece of any case. That's why the FBI leaked its "administrative leave" theory to the Post and other media, which then spent all day highlighting the "incriminating fact." Yet the FBI's own theory made no sense and was immediately debunked, and so, in response, they just changed their theory to some completely different set of speculations the way political pundits have new "breaking news" every five minutes about who the likely Vice Presidential picks are. Does that behavior allow anyone to have confidence in what the FBI is saying?

* * * * *

And let's just spend a brief moment marveling at how mindless and uncritical the establishment media is in how they report on these matters. It was The Post's Carrie Johnson and Joby Warrick who first reported the FBI's leak on August 8 that Ivins had likely traveled to New Jersey after taking administrative leave in the morning, and they reported it without an iota of critical thought, and certainly didn't point out that the FBI's own timeline was impossible on its own terms. More amazingly, it was one of those same Post reporters -- Carrie Johnson -- who on Thursday printed the FBI's brand new and mutually exclusive theory -- that Ivins traveled to New Jersey at night, after work -- without even bothering to mention the most important fact: that it was a brand new theory that contradicted the one she mindlessly passed on from the FBI the week before.

To the contrary, in touting the FBI's brand new theory, Johnson wrote that "government sources offered more detail about Ivins's movements on a critical day in the case" -- as though the FBI's abandonment of its prior claim in favor of a new one comprised "more detail." The FBI didn't offer "more detail;" it offered completely "new detail" because the last "detail" they leaked to Johnson was almost instantaneously disproven -- a fact Johnson doesn't even bother to mention. Instead, she just allows the FBI's story to change radically and then serves as a vessel for that new story as though it's further incriminating proof, rather than a reflection of the fact that the FBI still has no idea whether it was Ivins who went to New Jersey to mail those letters.

That's because The Post's role here has been and continues to be what the establishment media's role generally is -- to serve government sources and amplify their claims, not to investigate their veracity. That's how it was Saddam Hussein who was the original anthrax culprit, followed by Steven Hatfill, and now Bruce Ivins. It's how Jessica Lynch heroically fought off Iraqi goons in a firefight, how Pat Tillman stood down Al Qaeda monsters until they murdered him, how Iraq possessed mountains of WMDs, and now, how Russia has assaulted the consensus values of the Western World by invading a sovereign country and occupying parts of it for a whole week, etc. etc. All of those narratives came from the Government directly into the pages of The Washington Post, which then uncritically conveyed them, often (as in the case of the Jessica Lynch lies and WMD claims) playing a leading role in doing so.

That's what the Post is doing again with regard to the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins. It was the same Post reporters who, on August 4, breathlessly touted one of the most inane FBI leaks of all -- that Ivins was clearly some sort of mad scientist because he possessed what the Post depicted as an exotic germ machine which Ivins had no good reason to possess, a lyophilizer (!), even though possession of a lyophilizer by an anthrax researcher such as Ivins is akin to possession of a pencil by an accountant (The Post headline: "Anthrax Dryer a Key To Probe -- Suspect Borrowed Device From Lab").

Similarly, here is an Associated Press article from last week, by AP's Matt Apuzzo, purporting to report on what it admits are many "meticulously researched" questions that have been raised (including by me) about the FBI's case, yet repeatedly demonizes such skepticism with these phrases, laced throughout the article:

As always, in Establishment Media World, nothing is more insane or radical than refusing to believe every word the Government says. Even after Iraqi mushroom clouds and the whole litany of Government falsehoods, the establishment hallmark of Seriousness and Sanity is accepting the Government's word. When it says Iraq was behind the attacks, then it was. When they said Hatfill was the culprit, he was. Now that they say that Ivins is, he is, and only "conspiracy theorists" -- comparable to those who disbelieve we landed on the moon -- would question that or demand to see the actual evidence. The FBI is relying, understandably so, on their mindless allies in the media to depict its case against Ivins as so airtight that no real investigation is necessary.

* * * * *

What is most remarkable is that even with a gullible, extremely accommodating press, and even though the FBI's case is still a secret -- they have only released their own conclusions about selectively highlighted evidence, but continue to conceal the evidence itself -- questions and doubts about the FBI's case have rapidly escalated since it held its accusatory press conference on August 7. This weekend, The New York Times reported that "growing doubts from scientists about the strength of the government's case against the late Bruce E. Ivins, the military researcher named as the anthrax killer, are forcing the Justice Department to begin disclosing more fully the scientific evidence it used to implicate him." Thus:

In the face of the questions, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have decided to make their first detailed public presentation next week on the forensic science used to trace the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks to a flask kept in a refrigerator in Dr. Ivins's laboratory at Fort Detrick, in Maryland. Many scientists are awaiting those details because so far, they say, the F.B.I. has failed to make a conclusive case.

The circumstantial claims are proving no more convincing. As but one example, Rep. Rush Holt, despite calling for hearings after the FBI's August 7 press conference, nonetheless said in a statement after being briefed that day that the FBI's circumstantial evidence was "compelling." But now, after receiving another briefing this last week that he requested to address several unresolved questions, Rep. Holt pronounced the FBI's case less convincing that he originally thought: Representative Rush Holt, the New Jersey Democrat who has followed the anthrax case closely and requested this week's briefing from the F.B.I., said in an interview that he was not ready to draw any firm conclusions about the investigation. But he said: "The case is built from a number of pieces of circumstantial evidence, and for a case this important, it's troubling to have so many loose ends. The briefing pointed out even more loose ends than I thought there were before."

The NYT article identifies several individuals who believe that "some of the government's public statements appeared incomplete or misleading," while even the Post reported on Thursday that "federal investigators probing the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks recovered samples of human hair from a mailbox in Princeton, N.J., but the strands did not match the lead suspect in the case." That's what is so striking -- the FBI's case is full of huge holes even in its most favorable, unexamined, one-sided rendition, even before the FBI has been forced to disclose the evidence underlying the case, including the evidence that undercuts their claims but which they continue to conceal.

In addition to Holt, GOP Sen. Charles Grassley, long a vocal critic of the FBI's anthrax investigation, clearly believes that more questions than answers have been triggered by the FBI's accusations against Ivins. Last week, Grassley, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee with oversight jurisdiction over the FBI, wrote a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and FBI Director Robert Mueller expressing serious skepticism about the FBI's case and demanding answers to many of the key questions. This sort of pressure is vital to ensure that the FBI's claims receive the critical scrutiny that they so urgently merit.

* * * * *

What's so striking here is that, when it comes to garden-variety, relatively banal crimes that have some tawdry aspect, the establishment media will investigate them endlessly. The same Washington Post that has spent weeks mindlessly reciting Government claims about the anthrax attacks just completed a 12-part series on the Chandra Levy case, in which -- as the Post itself proudly announced -- its reporters "were assigned to produce an in-depth reconstruction of the case that would reexamine all avenues of the investigation":

Yet here is the first fatal biological terror attack on the U.S. in history -- one which, by our Government's own reckoning, came from a U.S. Government facility itself. Those attacks had an incalculable impact on our political climate. The list of possible suspects, with overwhelming motives to perpetrate the attack and ample opportunity to have done so, is long and high-powered. Both the public and private bio-research industry in the U.S., which was already quite substantial before 9/11 and exploded afterwards, is shrouded in almost total secrecy and operates with virtually no oversight, despite experimenting with the world's most dangerous pathogens and bioweapons, including anthrax. And much (though not all) of the establishment media is playing its now standard role of uncritically ingesting and trumpeting Government claims (even when -- especially when -- made in secret) and investigating nothing.

As always, it's vital to emphasize that Bruce Ivins may have perpetrated those attacks and done so alone. But the more one learns about the FBI's case, the less convincing that case becomes. This week's revelation of new scientific evidence will be an important event in further assessing that case, but in all events, it is inconceivable that the FBI would be permitted to continue to conceal the evidence it possesses and to avoid having to answer very probing questions from a genuinely independent and subpoena-endowed body.