Schools are letting out, or have already let out for the summer across the nation and I was recalling the practice of teachers who would send their classes on their merry way into the lazy, crazy days of summer with a "Suggested," or "Required Reading List" for students to use as a study guide so they could get ahead on their important readings and would therefore become better prepared for their next year of school. As a child, I viewed this practice as a reminder that even though you may think you are on summer break, you are not free of schoolwork. At first, I was intimidated by these lists and actually found (with the help of dear old Mom and Dad) a few of the suggested pieces to read. I then carefully stored them under my bed, out of sight (and out of mind) until the next school year started. One year I found an excellent use for the reading list. I went wild strawberry picking on my way home from the last day of school in hopes that my mother would make biscuits for strawberry shortcake, which she did. To protect my Roy Rogers lunch pail from berry stains, I lined it with the reading list. Wouldn't want to get berry stains on Roy or Trigger. When the school year did begin and we met up with our classmates we found that only the smart kids actually did the reading. Did you just notice that flash of light, too?
I am proposing a reading list for adults. This list is especially important for voters and for people who take a serious view of our government and the actions our military has been ordered to take since 9-11. The list is long and is not in a particular order. I prepared this list because I have been challenged to explain my heightened concern for American politics and to defend my positions on The Iraq War, terrorism, President Bush, and on many other issues related to these important current events. I realized that my opinion was not formed in an instant, but rather over a lengthy period of time where I started questioning everything and started reading everything I could find on pertinent topics. I realized also, that mainstream news media outlets are not a good source for objective information. For anyone who is willing to question the status quo, or who has not formed an opinion on our sorry saga, read the suggested articles and form your own opinion from that experience. This might be the best antidote for the rabid Republicans who vote the party line because they always have in the past or because their spouse or their daddy told them to. It is your vote. You decide.
I highly recommend the first ten titles as absolute must reads:
- The New Pentagon Papers by Karen Kwiatkowski
- Iraq On The Record prepared for Rep. Henry A. Waxman
- Bush Family Value$ by Steven Pizzo (Florida Voters: Do not miss the Jeb section)
- Prosecuting The Cabal by Justin Raimondo
- All The President's Lies by Drake Bennett
- Questions To Be Answered From The 9-11 Steering Committee
- Soldier For The Truth by Marc Cooper
- The Ex-President's Club by Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger
- War, The God That Failed by Lew Rockwell, Jr.
- Washington Lied – Ray McGovern Interview by Marc Pritzke
- Bush Campaign Accents The Negative by Dana Milbank
- Contract Sport by Jane Mayer
- Playing The Blame Game by Molly Ivins
- Powell Admits False WMD Claims by The Nation
- US To Stop Secret Payments To Chalabi Group by Daily Times
- Worse Than Vietnam by Julian Manyon
- Kellogg, Brown & Root (Halliburton) by Laura Peterson
- Halliburton Makes A Killing On Iraq War by Pratap Chatterjee
- White House Lied About Saddam Threat by Julian Borger
- American Enterprise Institute by Mediatransparency.Org
- The Tragedy Of Colin Powell by Fred Kaplan
- War, War, War! By Charley Reese
- Thieves Like Us by Chris Floyd
- Guerrillas Of The Week by Guerilla News
- Exposing Karl Rove by Wayne Madsen
- The Dubious Suicide Of George Tenet by William Rivers Pitt
- Richard N. Perle by Disinfopedia.Org.
- The Torture Working Group by Paul Sperry
- Whopper: George W. Bush by Timothy Noah
- Gen. Zinni's Job Application by Fred Kaplan
- How Screwed Are The Kurds? By Timothy Noah
- Powell: Prewar Intel On Iraq Was Inaccurate MSNBC Staff
- The Buck Stops…Where? By Fred Kaplan
- Failing To Recognize Failure by Fred Kaplan
- Miller Genuine Wrath by Eric Umansky
- What Bush Should Have Said by Fred Kaplan
- Magical History Tour by William Saletan
- Douglas Feith by Chris Suellentrop
- Ahmad Chalabi's House Of Games by Fred Kaplan
- Mini Culpa by Jack Shafer
- When The Going Gets Tough, The Messenger Gets Shot by Damir Sagolj
- Zinni Faults Pentagon Planners For Misleading The President Chris Matthews Interview
- The Spies Who Pushed For War by Julian Borger
- All In The Neocon Family by Jim Lobe
- The Lies For War Unravel by William Rivers Pitt
- Rumsfeld Says Iraq Hostility Has Been a Surprise by MSNBC
- Bush's Top Ten Lies…About His Military Service by Nancy Skinner
- The Bush Administration Is Militarily Weak by Commondreams.Org.
- Neocons Lied Us Into War by Justin Raimondo
- It's Not So Funny Anymore by David Vest
- The Bush Administration Has Been Covering Up Terrorism In The USA by Betterworld
- Terrorism, Dare we Define It? By Milo Clark
- Bush Overstated Iraq Links To Al-Qaeda, Former Intelligence Officials Say USA Today
- Iraqnophobia by Tom Engelhardt
- CBS: Censoring Broadcast System by Anthony Robinson
- Disney May Block Anti-Bush Film by CNNmoney…com
- The Crimes At Abu Ghraib Are Not The Worst by Robert Higgs
- Halliburton's Axis Of Influence by Frida Berrigan
- Weapon Of Mass Deception by Frida Berrigan
For the speed readers who just fly through text like a rocket, I suggest you go to your favorite search engine and enter the following key words to start new searches: Bush Lied; Rumsfeld Lied, Powell Lied, Rice Lied…well, you can see the common thread here. Enjoy your reading project and have a happy, safe summer! The quiz for this assignment will be in November, so do your best.
June 16, 2004