In a very real and terrifying sense, our Government is the CIA and the Pentagon, with Congress reduced to a debating society. Of course, you can't spot this trend to fascism by casually looking around. You can't look for such familiar signs as the swastika, because they won't be there. We won't build Dachaus and Auschwitzes; the clever manipulation of the mass media is creating a concentration camp of the mind that promises to be far more effective in keeping the populace in line. We're not going to wake up one morning and suddenly find ourselves in gray uniforms goose-stepping off to work. But this isn't the test. The test is: What happens to the individual who dissents? In Nazi Germany, he was physically destroyed; here, the process is more subtle, but the end results can be the same.

I've learned enough about the machinations of the CIA in the past year to know that this is no longer the dreamworld America I once believed in. The imperatives of the population explosion, which almost inevitably will lessen our belief in the sanctity of the individual human life, combined with the awesome power of the CIA and the defense establishment, seem destined to seal the fate of the America I knew as a child and bring us into a new Orwellian world where the citizen exists for the state and where raw power justifies any and every immoral act. I've always had a kind of knee-jerk trust in my Government's basic integrity, whatever political blunders it may make. But I've come to realize that in Washington, deceiving and manipulating the public are viewed by some as the natural prerogatives of office. Huey Long once said, "Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism." I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."

Ask me, the whole damn system is rotten from the ground up. There should be no, absolutely no, private money involved in politics. Salaries and perks for congress people should be cut to the bone. Staffs should be cut. Shit, my congressman from Erie (who has never had a real job in his life) has like 50 people on his payroll.

Politics should not be a career of last resort for a**holes who don't know how to do anything else. As my old dad used to say, never vote for anyone who wants the job too much. I think he was channeling Plato who said politics should be a burden not an opportunity.

Here's a quote from Garrison's former assistant, Charles Ward -- Most of the time you marshal your facts, then deduce your theories. But Garrison deduced a theory, then he marshaled the facts. And if the facts didn't fit he'd say they had been altered by the CIA.

Trivia note: Jim Garrison lost his post as D.A. of New Orleans to Harry Connick Sr. in 1973.

Now you're backing Mark Lane's contention that negative book reviews and feature articles about Garrison, etc., were the product of the CIA? Did I already mention the concept of sky-is-falling paranoia?

In addition to reading the letters from Mark Lane in the latest Nation, one should probably read the article that inspired the letters -- http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20060220&s=holland

Who you gonna believe?

Paranoid rantings like Lane's and Garrison's only appeal to other paranoids. If you want to sell others on conspiracies -- which may very well exist -- you need to connect the dots with hard facts and a sober minded analysis of them.

by the way, it is fact that the C.I.A. brought the Nazis over here lock , stock & barrel under Project Paperclip. ( check out a guy named Strughold, or Werner Von Braun, or do a search on Project Monarch & Josef Mengele (the Angel of Death.) also it is fact that Prescott Bush helped finance Hitler through Union Bank. and, the Warren Commission's own film (Zapruder) shows Kennedy's head going back and to the right. his brains flew all over the back of the limo. but Oswald was supposed to be up in a tower back behind him??! yeah, right........

Peace!

With the tribute CD out, what's your favorite Peter Case song?

Mine is "In The Wilderness". He's been playing it live the last couple years, it's a song about war that combines imagery from the civil war and modern war. Written from a soldier's point of view who is basically a kid -- as all our soldiers are.

Support our troops -- buy Peter Case records.

Love to all, Tom

ttc

peter case: horse and crow ... fave line: 'it's a wonder and a shame // all those careless days have gone' ... this, by the way, is a complete lie ... 'cause it's neither a wonder or a shame ... in fact, it's inevitable and probably for the best ... but why should the truth get in the way of a killer line ... and hiatt's harmony vocals are spot-on ...

blue guitar: poor old tom ... if springsteen hadn't written born in the usa, this would be hands down the best song of the 80s ... as it stands, it's a photo finish deal (maybe a slight edge to bruce for the line 'i'm a cool rockin' daddy in the usa') ... anyway, the word for him was nevertheless ... RIGHT!

six pack: beyond the blues ... one of the few songs on here that doesn't sound over-produced ... fave image: heart-attack towns ...

torn again: i'm with you, tom ... wilderness ... i was hoping that dave alvin had essayed this one for the case for case ... woulda made a helluva compliment to his own andersonville (from blue blvd.) ...

full service: crooked mile ... best song anyone wrote in the 90s ... no question ... fave line: 'the mile still runs crooked // the highway's up above // the only thing i've found that counts // in this world is love' ... the first half of that line, as townes might say, is so good that no one understands it ... not even peter (hah!) ... i've got my own ideas about it ... cf. hegel's phenomenology ...

flying saucer: walking home late ... fave line: 'things didn't work out west in hollywood // say, you never got lucky ... did you ever get good?' ... does any line better encapsulate the man's life ... but, hey, this is no popularity contest ... it's about getting GOOD ... not an easy trick ... and quite uncommon in the age of home recordings ...

beeline: gone ... 'cause i don't know what to do either ...

david ackles, marriage counselor

The band began to play, and we started runnin' / From across the way, you could hear the drummin' / Thunder struck a chord up in the sky / Lightning flashed, it hit me right in the eye.

Takes me back to being a kid and hearing a rock and roll band, that excitement I felt like it was gonna tear me apart.

In Erie one of the Catholic churches, Mt. Carmel, had these teen dances with the local bands. I remember hanging out in the parking lot, smokin' cigarettes, trying to act cool, and then when the band started we would all run like crazy maniacs to get inside. That feeling of dropping all pretenses and running toward the music has been a part of my life for so long. Peter is the only one who has put it into words.

Ackles, I agree with you, a Dave Alvin version of Wilderness would be so cool.

Over and out, Tom