Even as the citizen's investigations into the events of Sept. 11 continue at a pace -as yet, having proven little more than that the broad spectrum of the governing leadership is lying its fool head off- surrounding events are converging to make something perfectly clear, (for all those with the eyes to see).

In the middle of these shenanigans stands George W. B. and co.

On the one hand, we have the revelations in May that George W. and his cabinet received explicit warnings back in August of 2001 that terrorists were soon planning to hijack Airliners on American soil.

No specific, significant security precautions were implemented at airports; and, as we now know by the ample mainstream documentation that many of us have been furiously trying to collect over the last eight months, (before they're conveniently consigned to the dustbins of "yesterday's news") Bush, the Secret Service, the Air Force, and The Pentagon all acted on Sept. 11th. like they had a different agenda in mind than protecting the American people.

Of course, imperial precedent necessitated that such an atmosphere would also proceed with the unprecedented unveiling of such well-planned attacks on civil liberties as the so-called "Patriot Act," (amidst more funds for the secret service, riot cops, and so on).

In the ensuing weeks it comes out that Papa Bush, (grandson of Hitler-financier Prescott Bush) and many of his former cabinet members are enjoying ongoing, intimate business ties with the Bin Laden family, through, (amongst other instruments) the powerful weapons contractor, The Carlyle Group. (Nice to see that the Bush's are serious about maintaining family tradition).

Then Enron bites the dust, (the largest bankruptcy in history) and in the midst of discovering that top executives fleeced the company coffers, (and countries around the world) of hundred-million dollar "going-away" packages, (while hanging a hundred-thousand employees, small-time stock-holders and creditors out to dry) we find out just how important a role Enron played in the election of Gorge W. and in the façade of credibility provided to his fellow Faustian cabinet members.

But wait!! We speak too soon; for it turns out that Enron is not the largest bankruptcy in history. Worldcon, (I mean) Worldcom is: stepping up to accept the honour, (on a podium with room for many more) a short time later.

Seems Worldcom's taste for new methods of accounting got the better of them. There's that ubiquitous Arthur Anderson again! So Gorge W. comes out of the corporate closet, sounding-off like some pretzel-ravaged Teddy Roosevelt, demanding accountability, ethics, the rule-of-law for big conglomerates. (Course, he doesn't mention the ravenous Rathyeon, which simultaneously provides the Pentagon with some of its juiciest military hardware while looking after its books -the context in which, Rumpsfelt himself admits that a TRILLION dollars has GONE MISSING).

THEN… the facts begin to re-surface about how Gorge. W made his first few million by selling Harken Energy stock just before the company tanked.

When does insider trading become so common that it's no long "inside" anymore? Does anybody care? -certainly not the mainstream press.

Now that the Administration and associated vultures, (in "hawks" clothing) are preparing for war with Iraq, CNN is lining up its cameras alongside the appropriate parade of parrots, collectively designed to present the appearance of debate.

Now, it would be wrong, in a sense, to say that "all roads lead to Bush"; for the vast majority of Democratic Congressionites, Party, etc. have got their feet just as deep in the shit-pit of kickbacks, corruption, (the maintenance of the prevailing order 'at all costs') -as any of 'em.

Yet in another sense, it's accurate to say that "all roads lead to Bush"; for this is precisely what they, the forces backing them, and all those aligned to the interests of the American Empire are driving towards: increasing centralization of control.

The Bu$hwackers are simply more overt, obvious, and -in the American sense- unprecedented, in their determination to reduce every aspect of life, law, and culture to their instruments of pure power.

The concentration of wealth and authority nowadays is so thick and slick that those in the gulpstream of the planetary spoils simply don't care any more -whether it's obvious that they're riding their way to the top… on a gravy-train of lying, larceny, and kissing corporate ass. Senators, Con-greasy-shun-all artists, Republicrats, corporate hacks, lobbyists, lawyers, military contractors banking on the unspoken pledge of oillegiance amongst media moguls and mainstream mouthpieces masquerading as journalists -all these and more recognize a sharper line being drawn.

On the one side, (they believe) squats the squabbling hundreds of millions who have no hope… but to squander away the hours of endless labour on the illusion that "economic security" will ever be within their grasp; on the other, those whose abandonment of any allegiance to "we, the people" is so total, as to be tempered by nothing more than the feeble claim that, 'so long as we are on the inside, we can still do some good.'

Looking out on the economy as a whole, we see a colossal corporate con-game where appearances rule. Once again, that proverbial bit player of productivity, the stock-market, is the hourly subject of television screen, newspaper, and pundantary paychecks, just as before the Great Depression.

What is this but a pyramid-scheme on Prozac? A crap-shoot for the rich? A dumping ground for dirty laundry? -where "real" money, (what a concept) is drawn to the appearance of value, thus making the appearance more real, thus driving its (apparent) value higher again?

All around us: the de-regulation of money-markets, restrictions on credit for small-business, cutbacks in public service, inexhaustible expansions of debt-servicing to all those industries so central to our national security… weapons, security systems, pharmaceuticals in search of a cure for whatever new nightmare the out-of-control machine spits out at us.

Turn on the TV and what do we see? A vast collage of fluff and fear interspersed with flesh in tight-clothing, cunningly-crafted out of the unconscious commandment which crawls along the corridors of every set, script, spit-polish and spicy scandal: 'offend ye not thine advertisers.'

To the thinking mind, such a blitzkrieg of banality would be intolerable, but for the judicious seasoning of "serious" drama, documentary, news -serving up the long, leisurely walk along a short pier of infotainment; or the occasional, successful spark of real ingenuity, humour, self-reflection slowly drawn across the void of each new season made more vapid than the last: the intellectual 'loss-leader,' the pre-emptive strike.

(New dimensions found, in the dumbing-down, the numbing sound, coming 'round to a recognition of the next time-slot. "Wake up, good citizen, time to exercise your sacred freedom of choice").

Children are the real targets. In this, the era where sadness for the suppressed heart meets materialism gone mad, the unholy alliance known as parental irresponsibility shows us the schiester digging deep to get inside the consumer pocketbook: the cult of youth, endless adolescent regurgitations, copious coinage collecting alongside the tributaries of talent, leaves behind a wasteland of kids who think it's 'cool' to avoid contact with any authority beyond the big screen.

And it's gonna get worse. It's all gonna get worse.

Why?

Precisely because the goons and glad-handers -the so-called "beautiful" people at the top- are doing everything they can to keep from recognizing how unreal their power is.

They're surrounding themselves with their own kind, in an ever-tighter circle, so they don't have to see how much pain is being caused because they will not pause to consider the illusion which entraps them in a web of false freedom.

They see no reason to change, and every reason to secure more of the protection for themselves in light of those standing outside the gate.

Would you choose any different? -if you were in their place?

Eventually, yes; you would; but it would be a lot harder choice to make, wouldn't it?

About the only thing we can count on such people for is that they will not cease choosing to be more ignorant, more mean-spirited, brutal, ruthless, vengeful, that is, until we begin refusing to cooperate; until we commit to questioning the illusion, the comfort, the security, etc. for ourselves, they will see no reason to change.

We must count on ourselves for that.

Who "we" are, and what we are "counting" on ultimately comes down to our willingness to face the illusions which those at the top are not willing to face; from there, we tap into a great social movement which is ever-coalescing on the tip of your consciousness.

Many will not follow until you have made the leap, my friend. Until you have the faith to turn off your TV, close the computer, put down the book, sit in the stillness of your quiet wisdom, and feel satisfied, it may be that you do not see the faith and wisdom already made manifest in the millions around you.

Nor can we simply sit and let it come to us; it must be in the act of becoming more than who we think we are, that we more-fully embrace who we have been all along.

Death, hunger, homelessness, vulnerability, loneliness: how close are we to the core of our human heart? Who stands allied with us at the first turn in the road, if only they be given a chance to speak?

We in the "western world," you bright lights reading this, are most fortunate; for we still have the opportunity to face the potential loss, before all of it is taken from us. We may be spared the worst, in the act of helping others. There are so many, who are already dealing with such loss on a daily basis. Yet we also still face the possibility of carving for ourselves a destiny similar to those at the top -those who will resist the necessary healing until the very last, and so bring it on themselves all at once, and be unable to endure the physical/emotional transformation.

In the middle ground, lies the room to procrastinate, to put off what others cannot -and also the confusion, the absence of guidance, feedback, companionship.

It seems to me that we can by-pass much of the pain that stands before us -help transform it- if we do two things:

Naturally, as none of us are perfect, and sainthood not being what it used to be, this is an unfolding process. We need not expect to have all the answers right away; nor can such a simple guideline spare us from the pain, the difficulty ahead.

In terms of Gorge W. and co., perhaps it means that the first thing we need to do for ourselves is to clarify that, no matter what "they" do, they can never, ever, ever, win.

They cannot.

Now, it is possible that they/we may largely destroy human civilization on planet earth, that's true; that's one of the possibilities that we need to face. If we can face it, then we can change it. If we don't face it, then we will be acting from a place of fear and weakness, forfeiting our chances even before we've started.

In order to face that possibility, we need to be willing to give up everything.

Now, some people might think that the idea of "giving up everything" means simply not caring, (i.e. giving up on everything); when, in fact, we are not let off the hook so easily; for, in the act of letting go, (not just the idea of it) -in the conscious process of detaching our sense of self-worth from the things, people, places around us- the tendency is for us to find our desire, feeling, care inflated, rejuvenated, (sometimes to the point of causing our life great difficulty).

"Letting go" sometimes means being filled with righteous anger at the lurid behaviour of Gorge W. and co. Sometimes it means being so moved by the cry of a lost kitty cat that you lose your appetite for anything else for awhile.

In the act of letting go, we find therein a greater urgency rising, calling us to care, contribute more without, which takes shape in action, forms into beliefs, behaviour, relationships, things, then withers, dies, becomes distorted, necessitating that we once again let it go and let new inspiration in.

This is a never-ending cycle. Everything dies, except our capacity to rejuvenate, (unless, of course, we choose to resist that, cling to our life… well, for dear life, and only discover the truth… after we die :).

The closer we are to death, (consciously) the closer we are to the powers of rejuvenation, (eternal life).

The situation we find ourselves in on the earth right now, is that Gorge W. Bush and co. are calling us to deal with the deep stuff, the big issues, to touch the tough edge of tenderness and laugh, cry, or nod and move on as the situation dictates.

We cannot stop struggling for the basics of decent food, shelter, for all; yet we must do so by coming from a place that never forgets that, within us, there is space that no pain can ever touch, a bounty of goodness, love, forgiveness, joy, passion, fortitude, commitment, that is yearning to come out.

It is time.

In order to bring this power out into the world, to feel it run more fluently through our limbs, all must be at the forefront of our hearts; and we also must be willing to hold out our hands amidst an empty hall, send out an invitation that only a few perhaps, in the beginning, will respond to.

Do not be afraid, my friends, to build the greatest ship of all, slowly; for if you're coming from the centre of your soul wherein true "certainty," (of elusive truth) resides, then there can never be any question of failure.

And once the wind of REAL change begins to sweep in through our lives, the great transformation can begin to happen very quickly.

Is this all