April 12, 2007
by Mike Palecek

This column is the fifth of a series that Mike will be writing while driving cross-country for his new book tour.  Click here for all of Mike Palecek's books.

What if you went underground and nobody came looking for you?

Start thinking of yourself as a big deal and by law of nature you will get a rock handed to you on Christmas morning.

Tuesday I went to Spirit Lake, Iowa for a reading. I was feeling pretty good because I have sold some books thus far on my book tour: one here, two there, sometimes three in one place. Awesome, to my way of thinking.

Stopped into Hill Avenue Books and began visiting with owner Jill Krebs. She pointed to a stack of books by an author who lives within stone-throwing distance.

"I've sold a thousand copies."

A thousand. A thousand?

Geezuz God, a thousand copies of one book?

That's ... well ... well ... that's a lot.

How's that one copy of my book, "Terror Nation", coming along? I ask.

Fine, fine. Still right there, over there.

I go make a visit to my book, check it out, leaf through it.

Yep. Looks good.

I set it back, kind of on edge, to make it stand out from the ones next to it. Marketing.

There was a nice crowd at Hill Avenue that morning. It was snowing pretty good outside and five solid souls came out to hear me, some curious to come see the author mentioned in a letter to the editor that morning in the Spirit Lake Dickenson County News saying that Krebs should not have allowed me to speak at her store because of my anti-war, anti-Bush views and books.

They passed the protesting note around the circle and then asked what I thought. I thought it was okay, that the man sent this. It's not right to try to limit discussion, which was what he was trying to do, and what happens routinely on a national scale in the United States. Yes, that is wrong, but for the guy to feel strongly enough to say what he thought, that part is fine with me. Lots of people might disagree with you, but only the rare ones step out of line to look you in the eye. You have to respect those folks. Though, this man did not show up at my reading.

And, I do have strong views, I guess. I don't know. I think the things I am saying should be on everyone's mind these days.

In my talks I say that I think Bush & Co. carried out the 9-11 attacks. I also say that they killed Wellstone. I talk about conspiracy in the United States in the same vein as apple pie, Chevrolet, and steroids and home runs. I can't believe we let them get away with killing the woman at Ruby Ridge or the children at Waco, and I think there is reason to believe the FBI was involved with the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. I have no idea why. Maybe they would know.

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Did we land on the moon a few times back in the 1960s and never go back? I dunno. Could we really get through the radiation belts? Why were there no stars in the photos. Where did that breeze come from to make that American flag ripple perfectly? And did you ever see the press conference with Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong after they were supposed to have landed on the moon? They are morose, certainly not excited. They look dejected. You can imagine by watching the video that they could be depressed at having to be part of such a thing. They hardly talk at all, and they just came back from the effing moon? I would be like, dude, you gotta see this place!

Well, it just makes you wonder.

And you read in the last Rolling Stone magazine that E. Howard Hunt says it was LBJ and Hoover who had JFK killed? And the Canadian filmmaker who found footage of CIA agents in the Ambassador Hotel that night, agents who hated the Kennedy's and who would have no reason to be there in support of Bobby Kennedy.

It goes on and on. Somebody said, maybe it was Stalin - the bigger the lie, the easier it is to get people to believe it. It's just too huge to comprehend.

Maybe. Who knows? Could be. Sometimes I wonder.

Is that as close as we're ever going to get? And if so, when will it ever stop? Probably not. And that would be the goal of disinformation, to confuse, to convince the public that the real truth will be impossible to find.

That can't be true. The real truth is there. If we want it.

Warren Commision, Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor, Iran-Contra, torture, WMD, 9/11 Commission - lies, lies, lies. Any reason here to believe these people? I am open to suggestion.

I'm saying that, though it's hard to imagine, anything is possible in the United States, not only in the little guy makes it big sense, but in the they murder in other countries to bring about their desired ends, why not here sense.

Surely not because they are the good guys. Can we imagine any scenario where Dick Cheney or Karl Rove, George Bush or Donald Rumsfeld would say no to an action because of it being immoral?

Absolutely not.

The only guideline our appointed leaders employ is whether a certain action will help them to maintain power. A search for truth, for right, for goodness, never enters the discussion, the equation.

But, even so, along the road, I am finding out that many liberals, progressives, doubt that Bush & Co. had anything to do with 9-11.

And I will also often get the question, what political candidate do you support?

Well, I would support anyone who would get us out of Iraq immediately, initiate a real investigation into 9-11, and prosecute Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al for unspeakable crimes against humanity.

Onward. See you in Rochester, Des Moines, Iowa City.

- Mike

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Mike Palecek [send him email] is an activist for peace and social justice. He served time in federal prison for civil disobedience and has run for US Congress. He has authored a number of books [click here to view] on behalf of the cause.