Dear Mr. President

I'm surprised the FBI hasn't picked me up yet. Imagine....an ordinary citizen like me daring to exercise some of the rights reserved to me under the Constitution.

Anyway....this was posted via good old snail mail back on May 17. I'm not really expecting a reply, but it shall be posted here with all due speed should I receive one.



President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500


May 17, 2006

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing today to petition for redress of grievances, under the rights granted to me in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. As a citizen and voter, I am calling on you to account for your actions that are clearly in violation of several portions of the Constitution.

Chief among these is my concern over the egregious violation of my fourth amendment rights that were revealed by USA Today in the past week. I am a Verizon customer, and I am deeply concerned that my phone records have been turned over to the Federal Government without a warrant.

I am married to a person of Cuban extraction; she has family in the country of Venezuela. By the simple virtue of the US and Venezuela not being on friendly terms, and the fact that my wife would speak in Spanish to her relatives, would that be enough to trigger suspicion?

The FISA court exists for a reason, Mr. President, and that reason is to protect the rights of innocent Americans…rights you have destroyed by your data-mining under the Patriot Act.

Which moves me to my next point. The Founding Fathers clearly foresaw that concentrating powers in a single branch of government is dangerous. The Boston Globe recently exposed more than 750 ‘signing statements’ that you attached to various laws that you signed. I’m wondering how you can legally justify this, seeing that Article 1, Section 1 of the constitution vested the legislative powers in the Congress. If you disagreed with these laws, why didn’t you send them back for further revisions, as is your right as the executive? Simply stating that you will ignore the laws you don’t agree with is dangerously close to absolute rule and despotism…and has no place legally under the Constitution that you swore to uphold.

Even more so than specific points of the Constitution, your policies as president have violated the spirit and ideals that the constitution was founded upon. Indeed, our union is less perfect, justice has been trampled, and domestic tranquility has vanished under a barrage of vile hatemongers. I’m wondering how can we provide for the common defense with our army overseas and our national guard stretched to its limits, or promote the general welfare with such huge deficits brought on by war and tax cuts for the special interests and wealthy? The frosting on the cake is the illegal Patriot Act, which goes so far as to reduce the blessings of liberty, not secure them.

These are not empty words…Thomas Jefferson himself wrote in the Declaration of Independence “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. “

I therefore accuse you of violating not just the constitution, but the very ideals that this nation was founded on. You do not have my consent to do these things, so you have no just power in my eyes. It is therefore my right and duty as a citizen of these united states to alter or abolish your system of government, and I shall be doing everything available that is within my legal powers as a Citizen of these United States to ensure that people who support the things I believe in are legally elected to the House and Senate, and may begin impeachment proceedings as specified by Article II, Section 4 to remove you and your cabinet and restore hope and prosperity to the United States, and indeed, the world.



With all due respect,




David M.
25 Summer Street
Waltham, MA

Pentagonian Folly

Good Evening. Before you read any further, scroll down and check out my entry for April 14.

Did you do it? Good. I've got more of the same.

By now, you've undoubtedly seen the new footage of the Pentagon Strike. No surprise here, I think it's a crock of shit.

As someone pointed out on the BBC this morning...we had 4 still frames from the same video all along. Now it looks like they've just pasted them together to make them 'move'.

What is this, amateur hour? Any pimply-faced teenage kid could have made that 'video' in a half hours' time with any commonly available movie software.


But here's my real issue with the video....it still doesn't show any aircraft actually striking the building.

I've been to many, many, airshows...I've seen airliners down on the deck doing maneuvers at speed...and guess what? They don't look like a big, white blur! As a matter of fact, because of an optical illusion, the big jets look even slower than they are flying when they're down low....

But don't take my word for it. Check out this video. It's of a Boeing 757 doing things you wouldn't expect a 757 to do...it looks clear and distinct to me. And pay close attention to the high-speed pass in the middle of the video....this is what it would have looked like from the ground on the morning of September 11. OK, I'll buy the fact that it's a reasonably well-shot video and the cameraman probably had some idea of what the plane was going to do....but shouldn't the Pentagon video look reasonably similar?

And how about this video? That's from a well-known hijacking and plane crash that happened in 1996...and just happened to be caught on tape. Still looks like a plane to me.

But these two should be the kicker. First, a US Navy F-14 Tomcat punching through the sound barrier...going at least twice as fast as the 757 that allegedly hit the Pentagon...and some rare footage of a F-4 Phantom being rocket-launched into the side of a nuclear reactor vessel as part of an endurance test.

Despite significantly higher speeds...neither of those aircraft looked like a white blur.

But do you know what does? How about a Tomahawk cruise missile?

100-year flood...

Good Morning from wet and wild New England....

We're looking at day # 14 without sun today. Hard to believe...the last day the weather was any good was May 1. Most days this month have featured a rain event of some sort...much of it heavy. In the past 3 days alone, we've received over 1 foot of rain in spots...which would convert to over 100 inches of snow if this was January.

The water has overtopped the Spicket Falls dam in Methuen, and there's some concern it may collapse. Downtown Peabody and Melrose are underwater...and up to 60% of my hometown of Saugus. Route 1, which is the major route into Boston from north of the city is closed for a stretch of more than 15 miles due to numerous streams and rivers that used to run underneath it now running overtop it.

The rain has started to kill people now, too. In New Hampshire, we heard of an elderly gentleman that insisted on going to his house to see the damage....and when he did, he fell dead of a heart attack. Again in Methuen, a gas station wound up under 3 feet of water....and when the water got into the pumps, all 800 gallons of gas came up from the tanks as the water sought its own level...for a time, officials were worried about "flashover" and a fireball.

Governor Romney has remained in the MEMA bunker, and has in fact declared a state of emergency. Anyone needing information on the floods has been asked to call 1-800-293-4031. Unfortunately, the MEMA website is not responding at this hour, so I am unable to provide a link.

But I suppose we should cheer up just a little....Wednesday is expected to be sunny and in the 70s. One day won't change much, as we're expecting more rain Thursday and Friday...but just the sight of that round yellow thing in the sky will lift some spirits.

For now, Northeast Liberals remains dry, with power, and in operation. Stay safe!

Four Men

Pete LaCortiglia

Quinn Agersea

Duane Hotchkiss

Al Martin

Unless you were born and raised in the town of Saugus, MA...you know not these men. Yet each of them was dear to me in his own way....and now belong to the ages.

Last night (May 7) was the annual Boy Scout Troop 61 Alumni dinner and scholarship fundraiser. It's a great opportunity to renew old acquaintances, share old war stories, get up to date on the current troop goings on...and to mourn old friends long gone.

Our scoutmaster read the roll last night, and in the year since we last gathered, these men have gone to meet their maker. This strikes me a bit hard this year, for these are my 'contemporaries'...adults that were active leaders in the troop when I was a boy. I'd like to share a bit about each of them.

I'll start with Pete LaCortiglia...the one I know the least. I was in scouts in the early 80s with his son Matt. Pete does have a special place of honor, as he became troop treasurer after my father resigned the position to become Unit Commissioner, a role I would take on myself many years later. Pete was always in the back room and didn't interact with the boys much....but he always made sure the books were honest and the troop had the money to do things.



Quinn Agersea was quite a character. He's actually from before my time, I just missed being in scouts with his son Peter. Quinn owned the now-defunct Cliftondale Woodworks that was right around the corner from my ancestral home. He was a great friend to the troop, donating supplies and shop time for us to build many items we needed. He also allowed us to build our canoe shed on his property, and we stored gear there for the better part of two decades. Quinn's greatest legacy is the cedar-strip canoe we build about 10 years ago, named "The Friendship", that we presented to our friends in Milton, Nova Scotia, as a memorial for their deceased scoutmaster Jordan Womboldt. "The Friendship" was no ordinary cedar-strip canoe...for it was trimmed in mahogany and teak, and bore the love and attention of everyone in the troop who laid a hand on it.



Duane Hotchkiss ...better known as "Uncle Dewey" to our scouting family, brought two sons to the troop...one who would go on to become an Eagle Scout, the other who would meet a tragic end. An enduring legacy for Troop 61 is our annual 'campership' that is presented every summer in the name of Brian Hotchkiss to a scout who 'may not be the biggest, or strongest, or most popular, but embodies true "scout spirit" nonetheless. We present this every year at our traditional last meeting campfire, and it's the highlight of our scouting year.

Duane eventually moved away from town to be near his eldest son in Florida....and cancer claimed him just a few weeks ago. Duane was a Vietnam veteran and was buried with full military honors in the Florida Veterans' Cemetery. Incredibly, such is the reach of Troop 61 that our retired Committee Chairman emeritus, Kreon Cyros, was with the family at Duane's side during his last hours, and the family graciously allowed him to say a few words at the funeral. This brought me a small measure of comfort, and I hope the family was comforted as well, knowing that Duane was in the hearts and minds of our extended scouting family.



Which now brings me to Al Martin. I can scarcely believe he is no more.
Al has a special place in my heart...for it was his eldest son Jay that introduced me to scouting as an 8 year old boy. We lived down the hill from the Martins...us at 1 Robinson street and they at 10. We were friends all through our youth and well into high school. Indeed, for a time, Jay was my best friend, so naturally when he joined Cub Scouts, I had to too. Jay's mother Diane, my mother, and Mrs. Cross who also lived in our neighborhood all became "Den Mothers" and oversaw our many years in scouting. Jay's younger brothers Shawn and Mark eventually joined, as did my brother Michael.

Eventually Al became Cubmaster...and that is how I referred to him throughout the rest of his life, as "my cubmaster". Al eventually cajoled my father into joining as well, and the two began a long tenure overseeing Pack 61. Eventually we all graduated, and Al became Scoutmaster of the Troop for a while. All those trips we went on, everything we did....Al was always there. In fact, Troop 61 bears to this day "The Curse of Al Martin". For a number of years, every trip that Al went on inevitably ended in bad weather, injury, or some other catastrophe. We all survived...but it became a running joke. I also quite distinctly remember one morning at camp my father having an insulin reaction...and Al tenderly caring for him and making sure we got some sugar into him so he could recover.

The last time I saw Al was probably 15 years ago now...the cub pack was in a tough spot and Al was willing to come out of retirement to right the ship and get things headed in the right direction....but he didn't have to. Such was his legend that only the suggestion that Al might take over got the current leaders to change course and put things to right. Al retired and moved to Florida, where he spent the last decade of his life enjoying the beach by his beloved Merritt Island.


So it is with a heavy heart that I update Northeast Liberals tonight, in a decidedly non-political vein. Wherever scouts go when they die...you can be sure that our departed Troop 61 alumni have a roaring fire going, a pot of coffee on, and are trading old war stories and having a grand old time.

Good bye dear friends....and thanks for being there for me.

Yours in Scouting,

David M.
Troop 61, Saugus, MA
Pack 250, Waltham, MA
First Milton Troop, Milton, Nova Scotia (Honorary)

LIbertarian Saturday

Good Morning!

Air America Place seems to be down for maintenence...so here I am at Northeast Liberals!

We'll take a look today at the price of gasoline....there's a couple of very long articles about the subject over at Lew Rockwell....

Starting first with perhaps the most radical idea of all....Oil is private property and the government really has no right to tax it or regulate its sale. Could you imagine if we went back to the simplest principle of selling...I name a price, and you are free to purchase the object at that price or not, as you see fit, or you can come back and make me a counter-offer, and we negotiate until a mutually agreeable price is reached? How different the price of gas would be!

...Lost in all of this is the simple fact that oil, once it has been extracted from the ground, is private property. Someone risked the capital, time, and labor necessary to extract the oil from the earth, and that someone now holds title to the fruits of his labor. Once a person or company owns a particular good, he is entitled to offer it up at any price he so desires. This does not imply that anyone is forced to buy it from him at this or any price, but it does imply that no one has the right to change the asking price except the owner of the product. If anyone is able to force a change in the price contrary to the wishes of the seller, then the product is no longer private property. It cannot be private property and at the same time be subject to the whims of someone who does not own it.

Let’s say, for example, that you own a house that you bought 20 years ago for $50,000. Your real estate agent could perform all kinds of calculations based on the rate of inflation, changes in the housing market in your neighborhood, interest rates, and so on, and tell you that he thinks you ought to ask for $100,000 if you wish to sell it today. If he is not a co-owner of the house with you, his opinion is just that – an opinion. You are perfectly free to offer your house for sale at an asking price of $100,000, $200,000, or even a mere $3.29. Potential buyers are then free to decide whether or not they wish to pay the price you are asking and, if not, to bargain with you until you arrive at a mutually agreeable price. No one, seeing that you have slapped a price tag of $200,000 on a house that is, from as objective a standpoint as possible, worth $100,000, has the right to force you to sell it for the price that "everyone knows" is the "correct" price. It’s your private property, and you are free to offer it for sale at whatever price you wish, or even to take it off the market in hopes of selling it for your desired price at a later time.

So it goes with oil. Once it’s out of the ground, it’s private property. The owner can offer it for sale at whatever price he chooses, and the buyer can then decide whether to buy it at the asking price, bargain for a lower price, or bide his time in hopes of a lower price in the future....

Another idea that was mentioned is the concept of a gas-tax holiday. We see these come and go for retail sales, usually in the middle of the summer or at other times when the market is flat....heaven forbid that we should have a tax holiday in December when people actually buy things. Of coures, the problem with a gas tax holiday is that it would have to end sometime...and I think a lot of people would be surprised by the amount of taxes we currently pay on gasoline

...It's true that taxes are not passed on to the consumer directly. According to the American Petroleum Institute, gas taxes average 41 cents per gallon of gas (they doubled in the 80s and increased 54% since 1990). Here is a complete map.

That doesn't mean that gas prices are thereby increased by that exact amount (see Brandly on this).

Prices float freely, and, as much as gas stations might like to pass on the costs of taxation to the consumers, they have to price by supply and demand like everyone else. These taxes, like all taxes, ultimately fall on producers of goods, with consumers paying only down the line.

In the same way, a reduction in the tax will not directly cause prices to fall. But by reducing the costs of doing business at the retail level, stations can acquire more gasoline, boosting supply and thereby causing prices to fall. But this result presumes that traders will bid down prices in expectation that the tax holiday will last more than a week or month.

Thus do we see that the distinction between reducing the consumer price and increasing supply is really phony. They are two sides of the same coin. Reducing the tax at the pump will ultimately increase the amount of gas produced and made available on the market. Again, all taxes, even consumption taxes, are ultimately production taxes.

But let's say that the price of gas actually fell in one day by 18 cents (federal level) or a total of 41 cents (if states went along). Can you imagine? Consumers would flip out. It would be a real consciousness-raising moment. "You mean to tell me that every time I fill up my tank of gas, I'm forking over more than $8 to government? Hey, guys, what kind of racket do you have going on here?"

Then there would come a time for the holiday to end. What then? That might really inspire a revolt. Instead of being angry at gas stations, consumers would turn their vengeance on the party that truly deserves the blame. The real gougers would show their face, and they are likely to be pummeled with rotten fruit...

But all is not lost...let's see why aren't you a Libertarian? Checking in on the position paper concerning taxes, there's a couple of things there that might provide some relief.

The Libertarian Party is working every day to cut your taxes. By contrast, professional politicians from the other parties just want more of your money, and are busy increasing the size of government.

In the last few decades, the federal government has exploded in size. No area of your life or business is free from the meddling of politicians -- especially your wallet.

It doesn't have to be that way. With less government and lower taxes, you could keep more of what you earn. It would be easier to start new businesses, build new homes, and fuel stronger economic growth....

...Instead of tending to the basics, government has grown into a bloated conglomerate of political services that gets larger every year -- with no end in sight.

For example, politicians spend millions of dollars to urge people not to smoke -- while spending more millions to subsidize tobacco farmers. They send billions overseas for foreign aid -- while the federal deficit swells. They spend millions to subsidize public art -- while working families struggle to pay their taxes.

Politicians also run trains, bail out savings and loans, construct houses, sell insurance, print books, and build basketball courts -- you name it! But the fact is, every service supplied by the government can be provided better and cheaper by private business.

And don't forget to read the full platform concerning taxation....

So, it's a lovely Saturday here in the Northeast wing. We'll be out and about this afternoon, and you should go outside and enjoy it, too!

Reflections on 'The Rise and Fall'

Last night, I finally finished William L. Shirer's massive tome, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".

I started reading it around Halloween last year. Since the beginning of the Bush 'administration', I've grown increasingly alarmed at the tactics and message that were being sent by the powers-that-be, and being the WWII buff, I recognized many of the things that were going on as having historical precedent.

When I first read 'Rise and Fall' almost two decades ago, I was much younger, and more interested in the war aspect...and came away somewhat disappointed that all the years of WWII were compressed into the last 200 pages of the more than 1200-page volume.

Coming back to it now, I was much more interested in Hitler's rise to power, and how he was able to manipulate the system and dupe the people of Germany....and I wasn't disappointed. There's vast stretches of the book where the names Bush, Cheney, and Rove could be substituted for Hitler, Goering, and Goebbels, and you'd be hard pressed to tell if you were reading history or headlines.

Reading through the 200 last pages, where all of WWII was compressed, also left me with a feeling of unease. Beginning around 1943, after Stalingrad, and as the tide began to turn, Hitler increasingly surrounded himself with syncophants and yes-men, and anyone that even remotely dissented or tried to tell him the truth was removed, retired, or liquidated. In the end, the Fuehrerbunker was a wild world of lies, fantasy, and dreams, completely divorced from the world of reality.

Given the situation of the world today, and the current 'house-cleaning' that's been going on in Washington the past couple of weeks....the Bush 'administration' is starting to take on some of the feeling of desperation and fantasy that punctuated the last days of the Third Reich....the policies and practices of this 'president' have been a dismal failure, and while we don't have enemies at the gate like there were in Berlin, the fact that Bush is surrounding himself with syncophants and yes-men, and is crushing dissent and forcing people that might disagree with him into retirement....that ought to tell you something.

I think it's more telling that our 'president' takes great pride in not reading newspapers, or indeed very many books. There's sure to be a press release in the weeks ahead concerning the 'president's' Summer Reading List...which is sure to be laughable. Other than "The Pet Goat", I'm increasingly convinced that the only other book Bush has read is "The Rise and Fall"....or at least the 'Rise' section.

We would all do well to remember the author's words...from the very last page of the book, on the ocassion of it's 30 anniversary.

Perhaps it will help too if the erring governments and the wondering people of this world will remember the dark night of Nazi terror and genocide that almost engulfed our world and that is the subject of this book. Remembrance of the past helps us to understand the present.

William L. Shirer, May 1990