Friends, Lots of comments and forwards have been coming in regarding the crisis. I'm also monitoring Tom Atlee's list... Tom is sending out lots of good stuff each day, and you may want to ask him to put you on his list. (See cc: above). Later on today I'll select a few items to post. As usual, I try to keep the volume as low as possible, so there is some hope many of you will actually be able to read what is posted. --- Many people have compared the Trade Center attacks to the attack on Pearl Harbor. I think the comparison is a very apt one. The national shock and outrage is comparable; the rapid decision to go to war is comparable; the total commitment to support the President in whatever he decides to do is comparable; and the immense historical importance of what is to follow may turn out also to be comparable. What disturbs me about the comparison is one other item. We now can be fairly certain that FDR not only knew about the impending attack on Peal Harbor, and could have easily prevented it, but he in fact did everything he could to make the attack inevitable by freezing Japanese assets and cutting off their oil supplies. In retrospect, we can understand his motivation for such a scenario... would we want to be living in a world where Nazi Germany ruled Eastern Europe and Russia? And where Imperial Japan ruled China and Southeast Asia?? Nonetheless, no one at the time would have believed that FDR intended Pearl Harbor to be attacked, and allowed all those sailors to die in the battleship Arizona. Do we have a similar scenario today? Were the terrorists being tracked all the while? Were our air defenses intentionally thwarted? The scenario is frightening and unbelievable, but it does need to be discussed. The sad fact is that such a scenario would fit the modus operandi of US imperialism. confused and fearful, rkm --- Before all this happened, I sent out an appeal for leads and contacts due to my own personal financial crisis. I want to acknowledge that many of you sent encouraging responses. The personal crisis continues, but I do appreciate the encouragement I've received. best to all, rkm