Seymour Hersh’s latest piece for The New Yorker, Preparing The Battlefield: The Bush Administration Steps Up Its Secret Moves Against Iran, is a must read…

“Admiral Fallon acknowledged, when I spoke to him in June, that he had heard that there were people in the White House who were upset by his public statements. “Too many people believe you have to be either for or against the Iranians,” he told me. “Let’s get serious. Eighty million people live there, and everyone’s an individual. The idea that they’re only one way or another is nonsense.”

You can also visit The New Yorker and listen to an audio presentation of Hersh commenting on US-Iran developments.

Fuck God
That’s what God would say
Prayers like post-its
A room full of crow cloaked Grendel’s
Rubbing their scaly hands
Polished diamonds
Silver and gold
Little boys and little girls

Fuck God
That’s what God would say
Pummeling Whiskey
Pulling on a Camel
With his gay friends

I ain’t you and you ain’t me
That ain’t in the Bible
But it should be
That’s what God would say

Bodies and blood
On sheets and on battlefields
On your mind and on your hands
Maniacs the lot of you
Called in sick that seventh day
That’s what God would say

On the day that I was born, Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel officially entered 4,100 pages of what would later be known as The Pentagon Papers, initially copied and leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, into the official records of The Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds. This move, under Section 6 of the 1st Article of the Constitution, meant that Gravel could broach the content of the papers on the Senate floor without fearing prosecution and, by way of the introduction of the information, have it officially entered into the Congressional Record. By doing so, the press was then allowed to publicly read it without fear of prosecution for treason. It was a bold move, one that led to serious repercussions with regards to US domestic perceptions about the Vietnam War.

I mention Gravel, and Ellsberg, to demonstrate a very simple point. That it is not impossible to combat tyranny, even in a society in which its existence is supposed to be impossible.

Today, throughout the world, countless others are celebrating birthdays. And while I wish those that will be surround by friends and family in safety and comfort the very best; I want to say a few words regarding those that won’t be.

I want to point out that while we are enjoying this warm summers day, and preparing for tonight’s show, that there are those who were born on this day that are trapped in the midst of conflict and turmoil, that are suffering the affects of economic disparity to the point that simply acquiring food is the foremost task of the day. There are those that have been unjustly imprisoned and denied their rights, those that suffer in places in which their fundamental rights as human beings are denied them, and those that have, because of the arrogance of others, lost all that is dear to them.

Today is my 37th birthday. But it is, for me, not a day of celebration as long as there are those that share this day with me that will spend it as if just another day to simply survive. No matter who they are, or where they are, I wish them the very best of days ahead. And in doing so hope to represent at least one voice that has not forgotten that today we all came into this world together.

I spend most of my time dealing with darkness. I do so because to present it to others, to confront its realities, means that we are all forced to look for the light that is found within it, to search its seemingly impossible recesses for hope. That is why I spend the time that I do dedicated to the content of this website on a daily basis, because though the world is, and I’ll not mince words, a rather horrible place, it is also one of extreme beauty, filled with things worth fighting for, and, most of all, a place of promise.

In our lives there are those that represent that promise. Be it our families, our friends, the natural world and all of its wonders – there are reasons to look into that great maw of darkness every day and see them as if stars in a night sky, a reason to hope, a reason to dream. There is nothing more powerful in the world than this simplest of connections. Placing our trust in governments, in violence, in anything that betrays the base common reality that we are, all of us, connected by these simplest of things represents a futility in that it is with us that their power rests, that the great darkness spun on a daily basis by those consumed with ulterior motives is something easily defeated if only we would use as our collective sword, our collective cannon, that which bears our teeth through smiles and our universal and inescapable commonalities.

Five years ago today one of my closest and best friends was born. I was not present at his birth, nor would I meet him for some weeks after. But from the moment that I laid eyes on him I knew that my life had become all the better because he was in it. He lacks the ability to converse with me, but understands me completely. He is there when I am at my lowest and filled with an exuberance and boundless energy that makes me realize that even though my problems are not something that can simply be forgotten or quickly overcome, that there are lights in this world that, if we do not stop to take the time to see them, render us pick pocketed.

Today Casey is five years old. And while to some he might simply be a dog, to me he is much more. He is a being that I would go to the ends of the earth to protect and to see happy. In his life he has known abuse (as a puppy) and abandonment, but through it all, even though it has noticeably affected him at times, has remained the same little man that I once threw a ball for when he couldn’t jump up onto a bed and that, to this day, knows no greater joy than repeating that action tirelessly. To love in life is one thing, but to know unconditional love is another matter altogether. And there exists no separation, as far as I am concerned, between humans and animals in that regard.

A very long time ago a wise women said to me - “there is nothing more important than this”. At the time I was probably no more than ten years of age and didn’t really understand her because the statement seemed obtuse.

As a man of thirty-seven years I now know what my grandmother meant, and she was right.

There is nothing more important that this.

To discount idealism as nothing more than wishful thinking is to condone the destruction of ideas. To condone the destruction of ideas is to promote the power of fear. To promote the power of fear is nothing more than the work of the fearful.

Remember that always.

That, right there, is the most powerful man in the world. A man that the people of the United States elected twice, and one that will go down in the annals of American history as one of the worse Presidents in the nation’s history.

The image is of George Bush arriving in Raleigh, North Carolina. As you can see, two locals showed up to witness it. The video footage, from which this screenshot was taken, shows the President waving to them and then waving again in an exaggerated fashion, as neither of the two responds to his acknowledgement of them.

There are two possibilities. Either both of them are completely blind and simply standing there speculating as to what the loud whirling sound in the distance is, or they represent why Barack Obama is currently 15 points ahead of John McCain in the polls after only a month.

Let’s hope it’s the latter.

I want to apologize to all those fans that waited by the bus last night for autographs. Normally I would have done my usual after show signing, but last night was the first time that I got to see my father since I’ve been home and he’s been out of the hospital, so I spent the majority of the evening after the show with my family. On top of that; last night took a great deal out of me, I was utterly exhausted.

For future reference, when a member of the crew informs you that I won’t be signing, please take them at their word. I do not want to have people hanging about for hours only to be upset with me after the fact, even though it’s been made clear that I won’t be available.

Again, my apologies.

Being that I grew up here, and have played almost every live music venue of note that this town has had since I started performing live in the early 90’s, tonight will represent a milestone. I have never performed at The Orpheum, and tonight’s show will mark a personal achievement, one of having performed at every major venue in this city.

GM Place, The Pacific Coliseum, The Centre For The Performing Arts, The Commodore, The Vogue, The Queen Elizabeth Theatre. I have played them all, some more times that I can remember. The most memorable, without exception, was playing with The Who for two nights at GM Place in 1996. That is an experience that, in my career, will never be surpassed.

Tonight, for me, represents the final experience of performing at one of Vancouver’s most notable venues. I have, of course, seen the VSO perform at The Orpheum in the past, and know full well what it’s like to experience it from the standpoint of an audience member. I am excited to see what it looks like from the other side.

If you’re coming tonight, enjoy yourself. And as is always the case, here at home the most, thanks for your support.

If you read one thing this weekend, or month for that matter, read this piece by former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter. In it, Ritter confronts the shady practices of David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, an organization that Albright himself started. Two of the more revealing passages from Ritter’s piece read…

I can’t say for certain when Albright became “Doctor” Albright. A self-described “physicist,” he allows the term to linger, as he does the title “former U.N. inspector,” in order to create the impression that he possesses a certain gravitas. David Albright holds a Master of Science degree in physics from Indiana University and a Master of Science in mathematics from Wright State University. I imagine that this résumé permits him to assign himself the title physicist, but not in the Robert Oppenheimer/Edward Teller sense of the word. Whatever physics work David Albright may or may not have done in his life, one thing is certain: He has never worked as a nuclear physicist on any program dedicated to the design and/or manufacture of nuclear weapons. He has never designed nuclear weapons and never conducted mathematical calculations in support of testing nuclear weapons, nor has he ever worked in a facility or with an organization dedicated to either.

At best, Albright is an observer of things nuclear. But to associate his sub-par physics pedigree with genuine nuclear weapons-related work is, like his self-promotion as a “former U.N. weapons inspector,” disingenuous in the extreme. His lack of any advanced educational training as a nuclear physicist, combined with his dearth of practical experience with things nuclear, is further exacerbated by his astounding assumption of the title Doctor. In 2007 Albright received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Wright State University. This honorary award is a recognition which should never be belittled, but it in no way elevates David Albright to the status of one who has undergone the formal educational training and has actually earned a doctorate, especially in the demanding field of nuclear physics. While I cannot find any evidence of Albright promoting his honorary title in a manner which indicates direct fraud on his part (i.e., falsely claiming to be a Ph.D. in physics), there are far too many instances where he is referred to by those who interview him as being both “Dr. Albright” and a “physicist” that the uninformed reader might be misled into believing that the two were somehow connected.”

Secondly, and this is of paramount importance…

“David Albright has a history of being used by those who seek to gain media attention for their respective claims. In addition to the Hamza and Obeidi fiascos, Albright and his organization, ISIS, have served as the conduit for other agencies gaining publicity about the alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program, the alleged Syrian nuclear reactor, and most recently the alleged Swiss computer containing sensitive nuclear design information. On each occasion, Albright is fed sensitive information from a third party, and then packages it in a manner which is consumable by the media. The media, engrossed with Albright’s misleading résumé (”former U.N. weapons inspector,” “Doctor,” “physicist” and “nuclear expert”). give Albright a full hearing, during which time the particulars the third-party source wanted made public are broadcast or printed for all the world to see. More often than not, it turns out that the core of the story pushed by Albright was, in fact, wrong.

While Iran did indeed possess uranium enrichment capability at Natanz and a heavy water plant (under construction) at Arak (as reported by Albright thanks to information provided by the Iranian opposition group MEK, most probably with the help of Israeli intelligence), Albright’s wild speculation about weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium proved to be wrong. There was indeed a building in Syria which was bombed by Israel. But Albright’s expert opinion, derived from his interpretation of photographs, consists of nothing more than simplistic observation (”The tall building in the image may house a reactor under construction and the pump station along the river may have been intended to supply cooling water to the reactor”) combined with unfocused questions which assumed much, but were in fact based on little (”How far along was the reactor construction project when it was bombed? What was the extent of nuclear assistance from North Korea? Which reactor components did Syria obtain from North Korea or elsewhere, and where are they now?”). And, most recently, we have Albright commenting about the contents of a computer he hasn’t even laid eyes on, though he feels confident enough to raise the specter of global nuclear catastrophe (”How will authorities learn if Iran, North Korea, or even terrorists bought these designs?” Albright asks when referring to the contents of the Swiss computer).

Nowhere in his résumé does Albright cite any formal training as a photographic interpreter; in any case, one would have to have an intimate knowledge of nuclear facilities in order to know what one was looking at when examining an aerial image. A genuine nuclear weapons expert would have been able to discern the technical faults in the logic of the stories being peddled by Albright. And a genuine former U.N. weapons inspector, well versed in preparing airtight investigations based upon verified intelligence information, would have balked at the shabby nature of the evidence provided. Again, because Albright is neither, he and ISIS play the role of patsy, the middleman peddling misinformation to a media too lazy to conduct their own due diligence before running with a story.”

North Korea has been removed from the auspicious “Axis Of Evil”. After handing over documentation regarding its nuclear practices to Chinese officials, the Bush Administration announced that it will be lifting key trade sanctions against Pyongyang. Of course, the North Korean regime still possesses a nuclear arms capability, and while their willingness to surrender information to the Chinese is seen by the US as a beginning, it is by no means an assurance that the North Koreans are going to abandon their possession of nuclear weapons full stop.

Mind you, they have said that are willing to ‘blow up’ the large cooling tower at their Yongbyon facility on live television. The irony, of course, is that the reactor at Yongbyon has already all but been disabled. In reality, the North Korean regime is getting somewhat of a pass, and that is something that should not be overlooked as it pertains to US led pressures with regards to the imposition of sanctions against the Iranians and their work through back channels to quietly support overt Israeli threats of preemptive military action.

Bush did say that the North Koreans will be monitored and that, in the future, as in - when he is out of office, renewed restrictions will be placed on them if they refuse to fully comply with the process of disarmament. But that’s the future. As it stands now, the United States is set to remove North Korea from the State Department’s list of nations that sponsor terrorism in 45 days, which will significantly ease trade sanctions that fall under the auspices of the Trading With The Enemy Act.

Who knows, perhaps Donald Rumsfeld is back on a board of advisors at some huge multinational that’s looking to do business with them. After all, he was a non-executive director for ABB, based out of Zurich, when it secured a $200 million dollar contract with the North Korean regime to provide the design and components for light water nuclear reactors prior to his becoming Secretary of Defense.

I received this email today regarding my entry to do with Lloydminster…

“I guess someone who reads your blog called into the GOAT (radio station here in Lloydminster) and told them what your blog said about the fights outside the Kooler and that there were a lot of people driving home drunk so that caused quite a few people to call in and comment which was quite interesting…….some said you should have called the cops on the drunks drivers and someone even said you could have drove them all home on your big bus (I know how absurd is that eh) So I guess the guy that called the goat also forwarded your comments to our newspaper but I haven’t noticed it in there yet so could be interesting to see what idiots have to say about that. I sure hope the cops read it and maybe start hanging around the Kooler on weekends and see just how many impaired they can give out……there is too much of it going on and I am so against it (that and parking in handicapped stalls when not handicapped but we won’t go there hahaha)”

As far as calling the police, what about the slew of people that saw it taking place, or that see it take place on a weekly basis? But they’re absolutely right, perhaps I should have taken the initiative. Then again, I was also told that two squad cars had circled the parking lot after I mentioned it, so.

The real issue here is not with me. It’s the fact that this sort of thing occurs and that people find it completely acceptable. Where is the onus on their personal responsibility not to drink and drive? It’s quite simple - individuals are responsible for their own actions and if they’re idiots, they’re idiots.

Lastly, I am not going to provide transportation home on my tour bus, which is home to 11 people and all their belongings, for drunks when the city itself isn’t prepared to offer that service. For those that suggested that course of action, look to yourselves and your own community before suggesting I solve your bloody problems for you.