Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 1, 2011

12

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, October 1, 2011

STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

Mountain 
Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

CITY EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

PRODUCTION 

Richard Garcia

PHOTOGRAPHY

Lina Johnson

Ivonne Durant

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

Jeff Brown

Pat Birdsall

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Ron Carter

Rev. James Snyder

Bobby Eldridge

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Wellborn

Dr. John Talevich

Meaghan Allen

Sean Kayden


WEAPON CONTROL

Last Friday on Real Time with Bill Maher a 
kind of amazing thing happened. This is one of 
the few shows actually produced for the benefit 
of Liberals; oh excuse me, Progressives like me. 
Usually the show’s guests and the host spend a 
lot of time bemoaning the fact that the general 
public is so ignorant that they often vote against 
their own economic self-interest. What ignorance 
- how can the public be so stupid? This time though, all at 
once Bill Maher seemed to realize that he himself voted against his 
own economic interest. “Hey, I’m a millionaire. How come I’m voting 
against my own interest?”, he said. Probably this was all planned 
and non-spontaneous and his realization was never discussed, but 
the question remains, “How come Bill?

My view is that a real discussion would have isolated the power 
of the only truly influential factor influencing people’s economic 
and political behavior, THE POWER OF IDEAS. In this my 200th 
article, I maintain, as usual, that awareness is the only weapon available 
to fight against the raging, continuing, destructive influences 
which are destroying civilization.

Perhaps this business about the destruction of civilization seems 
exaggerated and overblown to you. Well, it doesn’t seem that way to 
me and a number of pretty distinguished and responsible thinkers 
are expressing similar fears. Really, I think it is legitimate to say 
that there is a fifty-fifty chance that modern civil society will not be 
around after this century. What do I think is killing us? Is it global 
warming, water shortages, air pollution, over-population, probable 
nuclear war, plagues, disease, natural disasters like volcanoes and 
hurricanes and tsunamis, mind destroying drugs, budget deficits 
and economic chaos? Look, the list could go on and on..

I think this is where the discussion should have gone on the Bill 
Maher show. How and why we, all of us, are influenced by ideas and 
how we can separate the good ideas from the bad ideas. The idea 
for this article came to me right after I read in the column next to 
mine in last week’s paper an article by Hail Hamilton. (September 
24, 2011 page 12 of the Mountain Views News entitled Conspiracy 
Theory and the Crime of Conspiracy). In that article Mr. Hamilton 
described a plot in 1933 by a group of tycoons, including Prescott 
Bush, the father and grandfather of our recent Presidents, which 
involved the creation of an army of ex-veterans led by a military 
hero which would demand the resignation of the President or would 
effectuate his public assassination if he refused to comply with their 
wishes. Moreover, and most frightening, these business leaders 
believed the American Public would accept a new government because 
these tycoons controlled the press and the world of ideas.

I have spent a good part of today checking out this story at the 
Pasadena Public Library and on the Internet. Look it up on Conspiracy-
gov.com. and read about how influential power pawnbrokers, 
led by Prescott Bush, sought to overthrow the U.S. government 
and implement a fascist dictatorship in the U,S. based around the 
ideology of Mussolini and Hitler. Interestingly enough another 
name involved was Heinz, the present-day company of which is 
associated with Mrs. John Kerry whose husband opposed George 
Bush in the Presidential election of 2004.

According to the information that I’ve gleaned, the military hero, 
Smedley Butler, the twice-awarded Medal of Honor recipient the 
tycoons tried to manipulate into leading their assault, realized the 
true horror of the evil intentions of the conspiracy and blew the 
whistle on the ringleaders. The threat was averted and everything 
was covered up and the world continued on. 

Who knows? It’s almost eighty years later and maybe the evil-
ones have already triumphed at our expense. Our government 
bailed out General Motors (which was also mentioned as part of the 
conspiracy) and we gave billions and billions to bail out the banks. 
(Yes, J.P. Morgan connected to present day Morgan-Chase was part 
of the conspiracy) while the middle-class has been left to struggle 
on its own .Right now, though, we’re still kicking and have begun to 
scream. Perhaps this is a new beginning and our fight may well spill 
into the streets. Sure the media is even more controlled now than it 
has ever been and perhaps the initial coverage, like the coverage of 
the Wall Street demonstrations will be minimal. Maybe the profusion 
of legal mind-numbing drugs prescribed for the middle class 
and powerful damaging mind-destroying drugs frequently shot, 
sniffed, smoked, and swallowed by the poor have render us incapable 
of carrying on the struggle.. Our only weapon is our minds 
and there is a question as to whether this weapon can be salvaged 
and made battle-ready. I do think the times they are a-changing, 
and as they do, let’s try and take care of our own minds and notice 
how we live our own lives and just see what happens.


9/11--ASK QUESTIONS, DEMAND ANSWERS!

An enigma of troubling 
questions continue to surround 
the attacks on 9/11, 
including the negligence of 
military officials in reacting 
to the hijackings, collapse 
of WTC1, 2, and 7 at 
near “free-fall” speed, supposed “airliner” crash 
into the Pentagon, proven links between the hijackers, 
Pakistani intelligence (ISI) and the CIA, 
the role of oil and natural gas in the Eurasian 
conflict, and the impact of post-911 legislation on 
American civil liberties. 

At first, those who questioned the official explanation 
of the 9/11 attacks were lambasted as 
kooks and conspiracy nuts, but as time passed and 
more and more unanswered questions emerged, 
people the world over - including academics, scientists 
and experts in many fields - began to feel 
extremely uneasy about 9/11 and the subsequent 
political and military agenda which it was used to 
justify. Things just didn’t add up from what the 
government & network media were “spinning.”

U.S. Air Force, lieutenant colonel, a fighter pilot, 
former instructor at the USAF Fighter Weapons 
School and NATO’s Tactical Leadership Program, 
Guy S. Razer said:

“I am 100% convinced that the attacks of September 
11, 2001 were planned, organized, and 
committed by treasonous perpetrators that have 
infiltrated the highest levels of our government 
....

“Those of us in the military took an oath to 
‘support and defend the Constitution of the United 
States against all enemies, foreign and domestic’. 
Just because we have retired does not make 
that oath invalid, so it is not just our responsibility, 
it is our duty to expose the real perpetrators 
of 9/11 and bring them to justice, no matter how 
hard it is, how long it takes, or how much we have 
to suffer to do it.

“We owe it to those who have gone before us 
who executed that same oath, and who are doing 
the same thing in Iraq and Afghanistan right 
now. Those of us who joined the military and 
faithfully executed orders that were given us had 
to trust our leaders. The violation and abuse of 
that trust is not only heinous, but ultimately the 
most accurate definition of treason!”

The use of the events of 911 was a catalyst to 
execute the Neocon’s Project For A New American 
Century (PNAC), plans whose National Security 
Strategy were developed in 1997 by the 
same Neocons who later played central roles in 
the Bush Administration. These plans included 
attacking possible future competitors first, assuming 
regional hegemony by force of arms in 
the Middle East, controlling energy resources 
around the globe, maintaining a permanent war 
strategy, ignoring treaties and world opinions 
that the US don’t like, and establishing military 
bases in foreign countries.

One of PNAC’s authors, Dov Zakheim, a former 
comptroller for the Defense Department, 
called for a “catastrophic and catalyzing event - 
like a new Pearl Harbor” being necessary to foster 
the frame of mind needed for the American public 
to support a war in the Middle East that would 
politically and culturally reshape the region. He, 
as a member of PNAC, did this one year before 
the attacks on 911 occurred.

The theme of “unending wars” with Afghanistan 
and Iraq as the first casualties of those wars 
was part of the Neocon’s PNAC plan back in 1997, 
long before 911 happened. The goal has always 
been to control the huge oil reserves of Iraq and 
the trillions of dollars worth of Central Asian 
natural gas to be piped through Afghanistan. 
Moreover, these wars were to be “pre-emptive 
wars.” In other words, whenever the U.S. thinks 
a country may be amassing too much power and/
or could provide some sort of competition to our 
“benevolent hegemony” in the region, it would be 
attacked, without provocation. 

Of course, if the American public needs convincing 
of the righteousness of such a war, a provocation 
could be fabricated, as many believe was 
the case with 9/11.

So where do we go from here? We must keep 
pressing our elected officials for the truth about 
9/11; we must insist on a new investigation led by 
a independent special prosecutor with subpoena 
powers. Most importantly, we must continue to 
ask questions and demand answers. Only then 
will justice finally be served.

OUT TO PASTOR A Weekly Religion Column

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IT’S REALLY QUITE A CHATTY WORLD AFTER ALL

Rev. James L. Snyder

 I must be the only 
one in this world of ours 
that truly appreciates 
quietness. Maybe it’s old-
age stomping its tired 
old boots, but I think 
the world has gotten just 
a little bit noisier. As I 
got older, I thought my hearing would begin to 
diminish. I assure you, I am hearing more today 
than I have ever wanted to hear in all my life.

I remember my grandfather and his hearing 
aid. When there was a family gathering and he 
was sitting quietly smiling, I came to understand 
he had turned his hearing aid off. How I envy 
him now. If only I could turn my hearing aid off.

I have tried ignoring my wife, but I can assure 
you that was not a very good plan. To ignore your 
wife is to place your health in dire jeopardy. Who 
wants Alex Trebek breathing down your neck? 
“I’ll take American history for $100, Alex.”

Not long ago I had to take a trip flying the 
friendly skies. I do not mind flying, but it is not 
my favorite mode of travel. I would rather stay at 
home and dream of traveling. On a recent trip, I 
happened to sit next to an elderly man.

We exchanged pleasantries and I settled down 
with a book hoping to get in a few pages before 
the trip ended. I had selected a very special book 
for this trip. My elderly friend settled down with 
the full intention of rehearsing to me his entire 
autobiography. For an old gentleman, he had a 
fantastic memory. I think, but do not quote me 
here, he recited to me every blessed day of his life. 
If my recollection is correct, and I know I was 
brain fuzzy during the whole process, he related 
one incident at least four different times. Either 
he is the father of “Groundhog Day,” or many 
things in his life happened repeatedly.

Last week I went to get my haircut at a local 
hair salon. I usually go to a particular one 
near my house and I stopped in for my regular 
haircut. A few people were ahead of me, so I sat 
down, picked up a magazine and was going to 
have a pleasant time waiting my turn.

Not paying too much attention to the clientele, 
there was sitting next to me today very nice little 
girl. I made one mistake. I looked at her and said, 
“And how are you today, little girl?”

That was the last sentence I got in for the next 
hour. She talked so much I thought her tongue 
would fall out. Then she talked some more and I 
thought my ears would fall off. How can anybody 
so young have so much to say? I am 10 times her 
age and I do not have one 10th as much to say to 
her, as she had to say to me. Who in the world is 
teaching these children to talk?

Then, in the middle of her chat diarrhea, she 
looked at me and said, “What do you think about 
that, mister?” Not expecting it and not really 
knowing what she was talking about, I hesitated 
for a moment.

My second mistake.

Before I could take a good breath, she began her 
chat diarrhea as though she was just beginning. 
She was probably about six years of age with not 
a very large vocabulary but she knew how to 
use every word in her vocabulary a multitude of 
times. Some of her sentences were five minutes 
long, and at the end, I had no idea what she was 
saying. The end of her sentence had no apparent 
relationship to the beginning of her sentence. 
And the middle, well, who could follow that.

Oh, how I pity her English teacher.

 I date back to the time before cell phones. I 
know not many people are living today who 
dates back that far. We have become a generation 
of cell phones. Before the cell phone era, that was 
the day, I could sneak off somewhere and nobody 
could find me.

Oh, how I envy those glorious days of 
yesteryear.

Now I pack one of those blasted cell phones 
wherever I go. No matter where I am, somebody 
can get a hold of me. When I say somebody, I am 
actually referring to my wife. As it stands now, I 
am within dialing distance of her Majesty.

Thinking about this I have come up with, 
maybe not a solution, but at least a little reprieve 
for those of us who are tired of the noise. I propose 
a national noise-free-day celebrated every year. 
For 24 hours, nobody would be permitted to say 
anything. 

I know this would hit the politicians rather 
hard. Everybody knows if a politician does 
not speak for a 24-hour period the fickle 
electorate would forget about him or her. And, 
for a politician not to say anything for a 24-
hour period it would cause him or her to die of 
suffocation.

Actually, in either case the American public 
wins.

This brings me to my favorite Bible verse. “Be 
still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted 
among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” 
(Psalms 46:10 KJV).

It is in the stillness that we begin to know God. 
What would happen if for a brief moment each 
day we became still before the presence of God?

CURBING BAD BEHAVIOR 


PULL YOUR PANTS UP!

Over the last six months, I have travelled 
to several states within the United States 
of America. During my journeys, I 
continue to be baffled and piqued by the 
fashion trend that is sweeping the nation. 
Young men and women of all ethnicities, 
Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, 
Asian, wearing their trousers in a vulgar 
manner. These individuals chosed to wear 
their trousers showcasing their underwear. Some of them wore 
their trousers below the buttocks revealing parts of the anatomy 
which should always be covered up in public.

When and where did this fashion trend became so prevalent 
in our communities? I was told it started in the prison system 
with prisoners who because of safety reasons were not allowed to 
wear belts, so their trousers fitted them on the hips. Why then do 
young men and women wearing belts in their trousers still wear 
them below the buttocks? Have you noticed how these individuals 
walk? It is comical watching them walk while using one hand to 
hold their trousers up or strutting their legs to a wider stance to 
keep the pants from falling to the ground. Their strut reminds 
me of the way ducks move. And, no offense to duck lovers, but we 
all know how smart ducks are.

I don’t have the answer to this issue, but the behavior is so 
disturbing that even a song, “Pants On The Ground,” which 
admonished young men and women to “pull their pants up,” 
recorded by a contestant on the widely watched TV show 
“American Idol” created a world-wide rave. Our collective voices 
must continue to impress upon our youth that most of the times 
in life you do not get a second chance to make a first impression. 
And, while it may seem hip to them to wear their pants beneath 
the buttocks, the majority of our society view this fashion trend 
as adding no value to one’s appearance and it projects a negative 
self-image.

So young men and women, pull your trousers up, please!

Ron Carter


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