7:59 pm CST
My friend Ethan Persoff sent me two fascinating links. One concerns the Bizarre Case of the Ivy League Nude Posture Photos (High Weirdness of the Best Kind). The other link will take to you a vintage heroin comic Ethan has posted on his site. (Bitpass account required to read the entire saga.) Ethan, by the way, is a contributor to the upcoming The Bush Junta—speaking of which, there are many great excerpts by other contributors which I will be posting soon, now that work on the book has slowed down and I have the time!

7:52 pm CST
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has declared the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) dead. But don't start celebrating yet. Ridge also said that CAPPS II might be replaced with a Registered Traveler program in which people will "volunteer " to provide personal information.

Obviously, in order to induce people to volunteer, Homeland Security will have to make the program more attractive. My suggestion would be that they offer gift certificates, fast-food coupons, free video rentals, and a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Disneyworld to all who volunteer for the program. These exciting premiums, along with the privilege of being able to board a plane without standing in line and submitting to a cavity search, will surely motivate everyone to become a Registered Traveler.

Speaking of Orwellian programs that never really go away, remember the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS)? This was the federal program which would have enlisted millions of Americans to spy on their fellow citizens. After an outcry from the ACLU and other rights advocates, the program was killed--as a federal program, that is. Since then, various states have instituted TIPS-like programs. In this story, for instance, Florida is planning to recruit cable repairmen, exterminators, and apartment managers to report signs of "terrorism" inside their clients' homes. So, if you live in Florida, you might want to put away that copy of 9/11: The Road to Tyranny before the cable guy arrives …

9:08 pm CST
MY DAUGHTER WRITES: You wanna help me find this man and hang him?

My daughter, a new mom, is referring to the following article about a restaurant owner who sponsored a wet t-shirt contest but says breast-feeding offends. I agree with her one hundred percent. Somebody get a rope: Nursing mom asked to leave

9:01 pm CST
MY SISTER WRITES: When I heard the recent news that the Bush Administration is considering delaying the November elections because of terrorist threats, I got this horrible sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  So this is how Bush plans on stealing more presidential time?  Perhaps too many people are onto the electronic voting machine scam?  All, every bit, of what you have been warning people about for the past few months, even years, is happening.  This country is becoming a nightmare and I'm sickened by it all.

You haven't posted on your site since the 8th.  Please write me back or post soon on your site what your opinion is on this.

Sorry I haven’t posted anything lately. After finishing my work on The Bush Junta, I found myself unmotivated to do anything but catch up on reading and watch old movies on television. But now I’m fully recovered from all the work, so am motivated again.

The “warnings” that we might not have an election (might not even have an illegal one!) due to terrorist attacks are indeed ominous. Also, as any informed individual knows, Al Qaeda is a creation of the goons currently in power in Washington. And, even if one were inclined to believe that this is not so, one would have to ask oneself what possible benefit Al Qaeda would derive from disrupting an election that is likely to (assuming it is not fraudulent) unseat Al Qaeda’s “enemy,” George W. Bush. Only the Bush administration would benefit from another terrorist attack, just as the same administration was the only one to gain from September 11. Therefore, we know who would be behind any terrorist attack in the future, as well as who is behind these continued threats—excuse me, “warnings”—to stage another attack and cancel the election.

It is impossible to predict the future, and I certainly do not claim to be clairvoyant. Therefore, one can only wonder: Will THE SUMMER OF TERROR live up to its name? Or, will the summer and fall pass without incident, and will all these threats—excuse me, “warnings”—coming from the Bush administration prove to be merely desperate words from an illegal regime which may not be in a position to actually pull off another terror attack and get away with it.

Whatever the answer, we should do everything we can to inform as many people as possible who was really behind the September 11 attacks, so it will make it more difficult for them to do it again. Knowledge is power.

Expect much more activity on this website in the days to come. Now that the book is mostly finished, I’ll be posting headlines, commentaries, dreams, also will finish my Brazos River story, and will post many more excerpts from The Bush Junta, as well as some brand new Comix. So stay tuned …

6:17 pm CST
Still threatening us:
Ridge "warns" terror attacks will disrupt election

Still winning hearts and minds:
US troops kill Iraqi preparing wedding feast

Still dropping like flies:
Another top Bioweapons Expert Killed

7:10 pm CST
DREAM: I'm living with several people in a big, rambling house. In my room, I'm organizing a huge pile of books that has fallen onto the floor. As soon as I think I've got them all organized, I find some more books that I missed. The work never seems to end (like organizing the bibliography for The Bush Junta).

At one point, I go to the window and see some workmen outside setting up equipment to fix the house. It will require a lot of heavy lifting, I realize, and there is a possibility I might have to help. So I stay out of sight and continue stacking books.

My sister and daughter enter the room and start talking about the poor quality of public education and the necessity of home schooling your children. I make a few comments, agreeing with them, then I leave, carrying a big stack of encyclopedias to a Winnebago that's parked outside.

To my surprise, while I'm inside the Winnebago, it drives away. I had not noticed there was anyone else in the Winnebago, but I sure notice now. In addition to the driver, there are a few workmen on board. I realize that this has to do with attaching the Winnebago to a giant crane of some kind. But, before that can be done, the Winnebago has to be driven down the road and turned around to be put into the proper position. I'm irritated, but tell myself it won't take long to get back home.

But it ends up taking a long time because the driver is unable to find a suitable place to turn around.  Finally, he turns into an impossibly steep driveway—so steep that for a moment it feels as if the Winnebago is going to fall backwards. This does not happen, however; somehow, the driver manages to back the Winnebago out of the driveway without mishap. I'm relieved—but not for long. The driver keeps getting us into similar, and worse, situations.

If this keeps up I could get killed, I think. "Let me off!" I holler. No reply from the driver. "Let me off!" I holler again. Still no reply.

Then the Winnebago starts driving sideways up the sheer face of a cliff. I am sure we are going to fall off, but miraculously the Winnebago drives back onto level ground.

By now, the other passengers are getting nervous too, and everyone—not just me—is hollering to be let off, but the driver ignores us. "What's wrong with him?" someone asks. Someone else replies, "I don't know. This morning he was singing happily, but for the past few hours he hasn't been acting right."

Realizing the driver is crazy and that sooner or later he is going to get us killed, I get up and open the door. I wait for the Winnebago to slow down to make a curve, then jump off, followed by the others. I wake up, exhausted and thinking how the endless work on this Bush Junta book is like being on a Winnebago I can’t get off of. I need a vacation …

7:30 pm CST
Mike Loew, Graphics Editor and a writer of The Onion wrote me the other day to describe an exciting new book written by himself and Onion writer Joe Garden: "CITIZEN YOU!" As Mike describes it, the book (on sale now), “purports to be a citizenship guide released by the Bush administration, telling Americans valuable patriotic advice such as how to close their small businesses, how to tell if their neighbors are in al-Qaeda, and what will happen to them if they touch themselves ‘down there.’”

Mike also wrote a special "Read Then Burn" section for the book entitled "Dangerous 9/11 Questions You Should Never Ask."

Suffice to say, this sounds like my kind of book, and I can’t wait till Mike sends me my copy.

Also, Mike and his collaborator have set up a CITIZEN YOU website. Very funny, devastating political satire! Check it out!

7:23 pm CST
A few headlines:

Michael Moore vs. CBS News Whore Hannah Storm

'Fahrenheit' Banned in Iowa Theaters for Inciting Terrorism

More Than 100 Children Imprisoned, Some Abused, at Abu Ghraib

7:20 pm CST
Work on The Bush Junta never seems to end. I finished my September 11 piece for the book, but there still remain a thousand editorial details to attend to—not least of which has been compiling the bibliography for the book. (To my knowledge, this is the first comic book to have a bibliography.) Anyway, that is why I have not updated this site for the past few days. That will change soon. I am finally beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Speaking of the book, two more artists have signed on to the book: Ted Rall and Peter Kuper.

4:26 pm CST
You don’t suppose, do you, that the entire election crisis was engineered for the following purpose? …
US lawmakers request UN observers for November 2 presidential election

4:22 pm CST
A READER WRITES: I'm a history major and asked my cold war professor if he knew about Operation Northwoods.  He played dumb.  The purpose of my question was to have him tell the rest of the class about this plan.

Many people I talk to say that the plan for Operation Northwoods never existed.  I'm trying to figure out the truth, because with the information of Northwoods anyone should be able to figure out that this government is not who they pretend to be.

The kindest thing that can be said about a Cold War history professor who claims ignorance of Operation Northwoods is that he should pick up a newspaper now and then. This is not something that sprang from the "delusional" mind of a "conspiracy theorist” (or the overactive imagination of an underground cartoonist, for that matter); it has been widely reported by the mainstream media. All one has to do to verify the reality of Northwoods is read the news articles and the Northwoods documents themselves (they're on line; you can find the links at the bottom of my comic strip HERE), as well as James Bamford's exhaustively-researched book Body of Secrets.  After that, if they still refuse to believe that Northwoods is real, then they are kidding themselves, and if they wish to argue that the documents are forgeries, then the burden of proof is on them.

8:25 am CST
DREAM: I'm living in an old movie theatre that has been converted into a house. Animals get into the building at night, making the place dangerous. A coyote gets into the trash; I chase it through an open door into the alley. A leopard perches on the balcony, eyes glowing, head turning slowly as I pass below. Then, in front of the movie screen, I see a wild boar. Fully aware of the danger, I ride the boar, yee-hawing like a cowboy …

Later, in another dream, waking after a terrible accident in a hospital bed. Strange, distorted faces looming above. I reach out and grab a face; it stretches in my hands like Silly Putty. The faces retreat, return, retreat, return, becoming more strange and frightening. Aware that I am dreaming, I try to wake up, but cannot.

Then I sink into a bottomless pit. Far away I see the morning sun; it gets smaller as I fall deeper into the pit. I know I must focus my attention on the sun instead of the pit to save myself, and must do so quickly or be forever lost.

It works. I fly out of the pit with incredible speed, my fear turning to exhilaration as I shoot through the solar system … encounter with a blonde, touching her under the table … sound of a steam whistle beyond the water, remembering a summer morning years ago when I was a kid going to Six Flags …