the keyboard screen

The Keyboard screen

Coconuts

Babies ready to fall

Hang in my sky for weeks

Out past my laptop screen.

Roosters crow

constantly

perhaps confused by lights at night.

Voices of friends chattering on motorscooters

rise and fall as they sweep past

my fixed position.

I think of you.

snowstorms now and then

My folks had planned to fly to Reno to spend Christmas with my brother and his family, but Colorado weather intervened, and they were snowbound bigtime. A storm that comes once every ten or so years. I called on skype to make sure they were ok, and had a long talk this morning. They are well, and the govt system seemed to work well: three feet of snow across the state, no deaths; a day later the streets are plowed and they can make it to safeway - alas, no bananas.
I told them Chiang Mai was about 48 degrees (9 C) - and they laughed a that's-not-winter' laugh. Then I asked them what their thermostat was set to, and they said, about 70. Well, when it's 48 in Chiang Mai, it's 48 inside and out. In the bathroom, and the kitchen. Our house has an electric water heater for the shower, which at these temps, just takes the bite out of the cold. So go take a cool shower in 48 degree weather, and then tell me you ain't cold. They saw the difference.

Another such storm occurred on Christmas eve, when I was still a young buck living at home. My dad and I drove across denver in our 1969 Ford stationwagon - swimmingpool green - to pick up my stubbornly independent 88 year-old granny, who everyone called Granny. We got there, and got stranded. Blowing snow got under the hood and into the distributer cap; dad showed me what happened. The city declared an emergency and forbade traffic. We were rule followers. And now there are no more distributer caps. And my mom spent that Christmas morning alone. The next day I carried Granny like my new bride through hip deep snow to our trusty stationwagon, with a dry distributer cap, for the careful journey across town to home. The emergency had lifted, and the sky was blue as I lifted that small amazing woman who was born in New York in 1892 and went to Easter Sunday services in a horse and buggy through the unbroken snow in front of her condo. My Granny. I was a young buck, but I'm not a big guy, and even though she was as small fragile woman, it was hard for me to keep her above the deep snow. It's a memory that I am proud of. Dad drove us good, and got us home safe. My dad, the fighter pilot.

first post

And so, on the first Friday afternoon after the winter solstice, in the sixth year of the plague of bush, I became a blogger.

karma book

Karma for Today's Traveler

A small book that I worked on with an extraordinary Thai monk, Phra Bhasakorn Bavilai. His approach to explaining karma and the basic framework of Buddhism is new and fresh. He has created quite a stir here in Thailand with his new way of explaining the timeless teachings of Buddhism. Several years ago he wrote up his approach in a Thai book which was quite popular - though it did cause a bit of controversy, as new ideas will. But the content has been vetted at some of the highest levels of Thai Buddhism and academia, and his approach seems to help clear up a lot of concepts for people.

We worked on this English version for over two years, rewriting his ideas from scratch for a Western reader unfamiliar with the topic. Many Thai people who had read the Thai version eagerly awaited the English version, and donated money to print 62,000 books (thus far) to be distributed freely.

If you come to Thailand, don't be surprised if you find one in your hotel or guest house, like you might find a Gideon's Bible. If you come up to Chiang Mai you can pick up a copy at Wat Suan Dok, at their Monk Chat program. Soon (hopefully) an international version should be available. When it is, I'll post a link.

One of his basic concepts is to view the karmic situation as it relates to our inner mental world, and our outer worldly environment, separately. For example, donating money to a good cause would be looked at as:

• worldly - the amount of change, the size of the ripples you make, on your external world depends on how much you give, and how good the cause is.
• mentally - the amount of change, the size of the ripples you make, on your internal world depends on the quality and power of your intention in the giving.

If you're interested in such things, or are looking for an introduction to Buddhism, I recon, though I am of course rather biased, the book an interesting read.

9-11 skeptic indeed

This is an email I sent to Scientific American, a magazine I have subscribed to for many years, about the Skeptic column dealing with 9-11. I got no response.

To Sciam:

I had to laugh a bitter laugh at Mr Shermer’s last column. We have entered Alice in Wonderland when a column called “Skeptic” is not at all skeptical about physical facts. A column that agrees with official explanation absolutely – even though there was no scientific inquiry to produce such explanation.

Sorry friend. A real skeptic would be puzzled by facts that don’t align with common sense. Facts that should at least cause one to ponder.
Such as why:

• for the first time anywhere on the planet, three (not two – have you forgotten WTC 7?) steel framed buildings collapsed into their own footprints due to “fire” even though the fires had already been contained. Thick black smoke indicates an oxygen-poor fire, a relatively cool fire.
• the fire fighters (who should know) were not in anyway worried about the integrity of the building, after all, the steel was certified to withstand 2000 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours.
• people were seen standing in the hole created by the impact of the airplane – indicating that even at the point of impact the fire was not quite an “inferno.”
• the recent Madrid fire – a real inferno – resulted in a burnt out steel structure – no collapse.
• no explanation has been offered as to what caused the massive concrete core of the building to self-pulverize (and self pulverize it did – the huge concrete core above the point of impact turned to dust – instead of falling like monolith)
• there are first hand accounts of blasts being heard
• there was a hot spot under the rubble days after the collapse
• there were seismic recordings indicating blasts immediately preceding collapse
• there was no forensic study of the debris,
• the debris was shipped out of the country with whirlwind efficiency
• no one mentions the fact that the WTC buildings were sold several months before the attack.
• almost no airplane parts were found at the Pentagon
• the film from several security cameras in the Pentagon area covering the approach of the airplane were all confiscated with great efficiency and none have seen the light of day.
• a bunch of the “hijackers” are still alive
• none of the “hijackers” were on the flight manifests
• “fanatical Muslims” visited strip joints just before their martyrdom.
• a group of Israelis were arrested, and then quickly released, after being seen high-fiving and cheering as they watched the towers fall, standing on their van, in New Jersey. The van was from a dubious company, they had several different European passports, they had $4,700 stuffed into a sock.
• after many countries’ security services warned the US, our leaders lied and said they had no warning (These warnings spoke of planes used as weapons, targets would be symbols of American power, some mentioned New York, some mentioned early September – these were foreigners warning us. Surely our own security services must have come up with something too.).
• no planes were able to intercept the airliners even though the ones scrambled from Otis AFB could have (they were airborne early enough, and had they flown at top speed they would have changed history).
• none of our “representatives” cares, or is upset, or thinks it odd, that a military that costs $1.1 billion per day, could not send up a single plane to confront these lumbering airliners
• no heads have rolled as a result of the colossal security failure
• the secret service people allowed GWB to sit in a public location while America was under attack
• GWB sat doing nothing while America was under attack
• the hundreds of pages of the Patriot Act (so Orwellian a name, no?) was pre-written and ready to go, and pushed through congress before the mysterious heat beneath the trade centers had even cooled. (who wrote it, and for what purpose, and under whose authority?)
• the Pennsylvania crash (like the Pentagon crash) resembles no other crash site. The Pennsylvania crash was a barren hole in the ground, again, as in the Pentagon, missing the pieces of the plane.
• so little effort was expended to investigate what happened. (More funding was given to Clinton’s Whitewater probe than 9-11.)

Sorry dude, but you ain’t skeptical. You are a faith-based writer. Government (handlers) right / Facts ignored.

How about changing the name of your column to: “The Current Dogma Speaks,” “Status Quo Rules,” “From the Heavenly Gates of Government Science Come my Reasonable Answers.”

At least it would be honest.

Rise up!

Rise up! is an antiwar song I wrote in the run-up to the second Iraq war. The intro clip is from an antiwar protest in Washington a month or two before the invasion. I don't know who the guy speaking is, but he is great.

Rise up, rise up, rise up.
They say it's to protect you
while they try to dispossess you
of the right to decide between wrong or right
to openly discuss what politicians hide.
They want to keep their secret plans from the public eye
we got to keep our fires burning keep our spirits bright.
We got to rise up, rise up, rise up.

Rise up people against the war!

Money's got no children
and bombs ain't for building
and killing ain't no way to make a peaceful day
as all of God's children can easily explain.
We got to keep our fires burning keep our spirits bright
stand up and speak for what we know is right.
We got to rise up, rise up, rise up.

Rise up people against the war!

-I see days ahead
-kiss my children into bed
-all across the planet I
-see that everything is fine!

Rise up people against the war!

We've got the power and the will and
we'll do it for our children
put the warmongers and the corporate whores
in the history books with the dinosaurs.
I claim my power!
I claim my rights!
And no dirty tricks are gonna change my mind.
I'm gonna rise up, rise up, rise up.

Rise up people against the war!


The Positive Chi Units:
me on choppy guitar and vocals
Case Rienstra (Amsterdam) on pretty guitar and extra vocals
Simon Blechynden (Western Australia) on didgeridoo and extra vocals

9-11 notes

9-11

1990s PNAC (Project for a New American Century, for those of you new to world events) lays out a plan. Radical aggressive foreign policy, transformation of military, huge military spending, invasion of Iraq (regardless of Sadam’s presence), string of bases across central Asia, decades-long war on several fronts. Laments that this brilliant plan for American world dominance will proceed slowly unless there is a “Pearl Harbor event”.

2001 Bush comes to office and forms his team. A ‘war team’, as identified by many observers at the time. The team is dominated by PNAC members.

At a G8 meeting in Milan, Bush lodges on US Navy ships due to a security concern that planes may be used as missiles to attack his hotel.

Bush orders investigators to back-off on Osama.

Govt ignores warnings from field agents about strange foreign pilots.

Govt ignores CIA warnings about terrorism and Osama.

May 2001. The asbestos laden world trade centers are sold (for the first time) to Silverstein who has them heavily insured against terrorist attack. Google asbestos and Cheney.

Aug/Sept 2001 Govt ignores warnings from many countries’ intelligence agencies (Russia, Israel, France, Germany among them) that America is about to be hit. The agencies mention hijacks, planes, symbols of American power, New York, early Sept.

Early Sept 2001. Put options on United Airlines, American Airlines are wildly out of norm. Investors are betting these stocks will take a dive. CIA routinely monitors the stock market for exactly such behavior. CIA takes no action. (Put options are later traced to a German bank once headed by a former CIA director.)

9-11 Itself

None of the hijackers appear on any of the published manifests of the four flights. No pseudonyms are mentioned, no explanation given.

One of the leaders of the hijackers is reported to be a playboy, a partier, a cocaine user, and visited a strip bar the night before the big day. Strange behavior for a religious martyr. Other hijackers have are reported to have similar, un-Islamic behavior.

All of the hijacked planes fly around the sky diverting wildly from their intended targets. They don’t just fly directly to their targets. No explanation given.

Only two planes are scrambled, eventually (It seems). Yet reporting on this has been muddled, unclear, with reports and timelines varying. The timelines out in the early weeks after 9-11 indicate that the two planes from Otis airbase had plenty of time to reach NY before the 2^nd hit. Some reports say they flew at top speed and couldn’t get there in time. Other reports said that they were sent in the wrong direction. Most reports are vague and muddled and avoid addressing the timeline question at all. Why is this not clearly laid out?

The outrageous delay in reacting to the attack is blamed on confusion, miscommunication between agencies, not knowing what to do in such a novel situation, and much later, the fact that many training exercises involving hijacked planes (scheduled for that day?) confused the air traffic controllers; and those mock hijacking drills had repositioned fighters to other parts of the country. Yet, again the timeline has varied between reports of who knew what when, and who did what when. The 9-11 commission report is also internally inconsistent with its timeline. And hijacking have precise protocols which are clear and routinely practiced. These protocols it seems were not followed. No one has been punished. And it strikes me as odd, that training for terrorist attacks is the excuse given for the poor response.

Strange behavior of Rumsfeld. Reported to have been in his office completely unaware of the unfolding events until long into the drama. Seems to me a good reason to fire the Secretary of Defense.

Strange behavior from Bush. Conflicting accounts (again), but seems that he had news of the first impact on his way to the Florida school. Then when reading like with the kids Andrew Card whispers in his ear, reportedly telling him of the second impact and that ‘America is under attack.’ Bush sits there long, agonizing minutes, some reports have him there 20 more minutes! OK. One. Good reason to fire a President – sitting around while the country is under attack.

Two. If the country is under attack, why didn’t the secret service whisk him away?

Three. Later Bush talks about watching the first plane hit and thinking ‘what a bad pilot.’ Gasp.

3a. There was no early footage of the first plane (Unless Bush saw something in his car on the way to the school. If that’s the case it shows a govt right on top of things and then the delayed responses make no sense.).

3b. Maybe he is confusing the second impact with the first. But he didn’t see the second impact until after Andrew Card told him America was under attack. So his thought bubble makes no contextual sense.

3c. An airliner filled with your countrymen slams into one of the great symbols of your county, also filled with your countrymen, at obviously great loss of life, and he thinks ‘What a bad pilot’?! Another good reason to fire him, and never let him play with your children.

The building collapse is questionable on many fronts.

· Steel-frame buildings have never before collapsed from fire anywhere in the world. Even after huge, hot, long-lasting fires which completely gutted the structure.

· The fires were less hot and long-lasting than many, many other fires in steel-frame buildings, none of which collapsed.

· The firefighters’ tapes show that none of them were questioning the integrity of the building. Some of the tapes indicate a situation on its way to coming under control.

· In one photo a person can be seen standing in the hole made by the airplane – indicating that at the impact site, the fire had died down.

· The buildings were billowing dark smoke – indications of a cool fire.

· All three buildings pancake perfectly into their own footprints.

· All three buildings fall at nearly freefall speed. This is impossible if a sequential failure and pancaking of floors is to blame for their collapse, because the lower floors would be caused to fail due to the impact of the falling upper floors. This impact decreases the momentum of the falling floors, slowing the descent.

· The pancaking floor theory says the metal fixing the floors to the concrete columns and external steel ribs weakened due to heat. The floors thus slipped. So, what caused the external steel ribs and concrete columns (47 of them) in the center of the building to fail? The concrete columns should have remained. But they turned to dust somehow.

· The pancaking theory says that the floors had to fail more or less evenly around the external and internal circumferences where they were supported. With the asymmetrical fires this seems highly unlikely. Also, video shot during the fires shows no floor sagging, and no buckling of the steel ribbing. All the video evidence shows the buildings holding up perfectly, as designed, until the sudden collapses.

· Some have claimed that the impacts critically damaged the entire structures. However, engineering analysis of the wobbling antenna at the top of the building indicates that the structure supporting it was uncompromised. Basically, the way the antenna wobbled showed that the structure was firm.

· There were many first-hand reports of blasts in the basements of the buildings. Debris from below-ground blasts gutted the lobby of one of the towers. There were many reports of blasts from firefighters and witnesses. These were reported live on all the networks, then slowly this information seemed to drop away from the collective memory.

· The collapses look exactly like controlled demolitions.

· The metal columns were nearly all broken into 30 foot pieces.

· The concrete columns were gone. Pulverized.

· (Miraculously one of the hijacker’s passports survives the blaze. (Ahem) So, if he was traveling under his real name, why wasn’t he on the manifest?)

· The top of one of the towers initially topples to the side, but instead of falling like a decapitated monolith, this top section too is pulverized to dust.

· A BYU physics professor claims to have found thermate (a chemical used to slice through steel) in samples of trade center metal.

· Seismographic data show large events prior to the collapses.

· Seismographic data show large events prior to the collapses.

· Seismographic data show large events prior to the collapses.

· Molten pools of metal remained deep beneath the rubble of all three buildings for weeks after the event. What’s up with that? There was a whole bunch of gold in the basement. A whole bunch of gold. Where is it?

· Contrary to law, the evidence from the crime scene, the debris, was quickly and extremely efficiently removed (and shipped to china) without careful analysis. This was done over the protests of fire engineers who were only allowed a cursory, photo-op walk through of the debris. What was the hurry?

· WT7, a 42 storey steel-framed building, collapsed into its footprint, after a medium-sized fire on several floors of one side. It was not hit by any plane. Buildings between it and the towers remained standing. At the time of collapse, there was not even much smoke. Silverstein later recalled how he gave the order ‘to pull’ the building. So they evacuated all the people and firefighters, set up a safety perimeter, and then watched it spontaneously, collapse, right on time, into its own footprint. Miracles on top of miracles. WT7 housed the CIA emergency response headquarters. Molten steel was also found beneath the rubble days after the event.

Umm. How do you decide to let a building collapse? How do you know, that from this smallish fire, the third steel-framed building in history is about to spontaneously collapse into its own footprint? Notice, he didn’t say ‘We thought it was unsafe and might collapse so we evacuated everyone.’ No. He said that he decided ‘to pull it.’ And then it fell down.

A demolition takes weeks to set up. And for the first time in history, a steel-framed building fell on cue. Amazing.

The Pentagon

Several security cameras were in place to film the impact. Video from many cameras was confiscated. No clear video has been produced. Why not?

Many people reported seeing or hearing what they described as a missile, or a commuter-type jet.

The plane supposedly made an extremely rapid descent and corkscrew turn, leveled off just above the ground, crossed a road clipping some light posts, skimmed three or four feet above the Pentagon lawn (leaving it unscathed), and then slammed into the building. Nice bit of flying that.

The wake of air turbulence didn’t seem to have the effect it usually does on things like cars on the road.

The entire body of the airplane, wings, and massive tough engines, all vanished into a single hole in the stone building. The engines, massive heavy things, are too far out on the wings to fit in the hole. Where did they go?

One piece of twisted aluminum, about the size of a car door, was photographed sitting alone on the lawn and sited as evidence of the ‘wreckage’.

Claims are that the plane disintegrated and vaporized on impact. Yet they claim to have recovered DNA samples from all the passengers. DNA is more indestructible than jet engines?

*

Then suddenly, after such shocking ineptitude. The hijackers are all identified, tied to Osama, and the PNAC plan swings into high gear.

What about the Bush family connections to the Bin Ladins?

What about the $100,000 wired from Pakistani intelligence to Mohamed Atta?

What about various govt officials who were warned not to fly that day, or during that period?

What about the fact that we’ve never seen the names behind the put options?

What about comments from the govt that ‘no one anticipated using planes as missiles’? It’s clearly a lie. The French govt had recently foiled an attack on the Eiffel Tower using planes as missiles. GWB changed his sleeping arrangements in Milan because of planes as missiles. The govt had analyzed and even drilled to prepare for the event. Then why did they lie?

What about the fact that the Florida flight school where some of the hijackers trained has strong and dirty CIA connections?

And, oh by the way, who’s the governor of Florida?