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4/1/2003

BLASPHEMY
Don't be surprised if this is the last Degenerate Press effort you
read for a while. I've always had the occasional paranoid fantasy
that some day the men in black would pull up outside the HQ and haul
us off for something we said in our little publication here, but
lately those fantasies haven't seemed so paranoid (like since the
current administration bought their way into power.)
So this morning I'm sitting at my desk at a government office (ironic
that the only job in town I can find is actually working FOR The Man)
when I get a phone call. Our office phone system comes with caller
ID, but I'm not surprised to see it's a government office calling me
since I work in a government office.
But when the voice on the other end of the phone says "This is agent
so-and-so of the FBI" all my not-so-paranoid fantasies came home to
roost.
According to this agent, someone has been using Degenerate Press
broadcasts to send encoded messages in the ezines. They won't tell me
WHICH degenerate, of course, but I'm not supposed to broadcast
anything for a while as they are supposed to be apprehending said
degenerate any minute now and they don't want us to "tip them off."
But fuck that. The day I start taking orders from the FBI about my
creative outlet and online community of free speakers and thinkers is
the day it stops BEING a community of free anything.
So if you see a group of strange men in suits around your office or
home you might want to duck and cover 'cause I don't think anyone has
been sending encoded anything through this publication and I think
I'm not the one being paranoid!
Meanwhile, I fully expect the FBI to get my ISP to shut down my
service, if not throw me in the pokey for aiding and abetting or some
other such bullshit.
So if you don't hear from us for a while, you'll know why. You can
thank yer attorney general's jackbooted thugs and the terror that has
become a daily way of life in the US, thanks as much to lunatics
worldwide as our own "elected" officials!
However, I have cleaned out the classifieds, pulled down the Ear
Plugs guest book, and I'm not posting any of the many good articles
submitted by subscribers this week. Instead you get your editor's
rant alone, one I actually wrote before the phone call from the FBI,
but seems even more appropriate now:

OK, I've got to burst a bubble or two out there.
The administration did not make "mistakes" in their assessment of
Iraq. They did not believe it was going to be "a cakewalk." They did
not believe we would be "welcomed as liberators". They are not now
"changing tactics."
They KNEW resistance would be strong.
They KNEW there would be loyal natives.
But they told us these LIES so the American people would buy into the
war effort so the administration and their pals could go on the
looting and pillaging rampage they obviously wanted.
John Stewart commented perfectly on this topic last week when he said
something like "When I heard Halliburton got the contract to clean up
the oil fields I felt like someone just shit on my chest."
I'm tired of reading news reports, from what I even consider
reputable sources, examining the changes of language from the
administration and pointing fingers and calling them "mistakes."
No, they didn't "miscalculate." They calculated perfectly - sell the
American people on an easy war of "liberation" and let the tanks roll
in.
Again, all that said, I'm still for regime change in Iraq. I'm
against profits for Bush Inc., but I wouldn't stop the troops now
even if I could. Stopping now would put us right back where we were
12 years ago - giving Saddam a political victory, despite military
defeat.
So good luck, men and women on the front lines of both sides - keep
your heads down and your eyes open.
And here's a message that's not encoded for any government official
that's paying attention out there: Fuck You, Bush Inc.
Where's Woodward and Bernstein journalism when you need it?

On the "lighter" side, you gotta love the Catholics for keepin' it ol' school!
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=573&e=3&cid=573&u=/nm/20030401/od_nm/pope_homosexuals_dc
 


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