The following is from an Open Letter to Thomas Kean, Chairman Of The 9/11 Commission from FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and make public on Scoop and Truthout.
Snipped from the first paragraph:
Unfortunately, I find your report seriously flawed in its failure to address serious intelligence issues that I am aware of, which have been confirmed, and which as a witness to the commission, I made you aware of. Thus, I must assume that other serious issues that I am not aware of were in the same manner omitted from your report. These omissions cast doubt on the validity of your report and therefore on its conclusions and recommendations. Considering what is at stake, our national security, we are entitled to demand answers to unanswered questions, and to ask for clarification of issues that were ignored and/or omitted from the report. I, Sibel Edmonds, a concerned American Citizen, a former FBI translator, a whistleblower, a witness for a United States Congressional investigation, a witness and a plaintiff for the Department of Justice Inspector General investigation, and a witness for your own 9/11 Commission investigation, request your answers to, and your public acknowledgement of, the following questions and issues:
And finally, the loud whistle of a last paragraph:
In order to cure a problem, one must have an accurate diagnosis. In order to correctly diagnose a problem, one must consider and take into account all visible symptoms. Your Commission’s investigations, hearings, and report have chosen not to consider many visible symptoms. I am emphasizing ‘visible’, because these symptoms have been long recognized by experts from the intelligence community and have been written about in the press. I am emphasizing ‘visible’ because the few specific symptoms I provided you with in this letter have been confirmed and publicly acknowledged. During its many hearings your commission chose not to ask the questions necessary to unveil the true symptoms of our failed intelligence system. Your Commission intentionally bypassed these severe symptoms, and chose not to include them in its five hundred and sixty seven-page report. Now, without a complete list of our failures pre 9/11, without a comprehensive examination of true symptoms that exist in our intelligence system, without assigning any accountability what so ever, and therefore, without a sound and reliable diagnosis, your commission is attempting to divert attention from the real problems, and to prescribe a cure through hasty and costly measures. It is like attempting to put a gold-lined expensive porcelain cap over a deeply decayed tooth with a rotten root, without first treating the root, and without first cleaning/shaving the infected tooth.
OK, everybody. Wet your whistles and blow before we become a truly toothless nation.

The article by Karen Trimbath of Women E-News for which I was interviewed a while ago is now out there, complete with a photo of me. It’s a good photo. Of course. It’s two years old and now my hair is a little longer and my face is a little fuller. I gave her a couple of photos to choose from and she chose that one. Fine by me.
I think the things that Blog Sisters Jeneane and Shelley say in the article are a lot more astute than what I say. But that’s OK. We provide a good cross-section of approaches to how intelligent women approach blogging. (Yes, of course I consider myself intelligentj!)
Those involved in e-commerce and marketing write a lot about “branding.” I consciously “branded” myself online as the Crone. And I guess it’s paying off. After all, while my blogging is a self-satisfying activity, like most other bloggers, I also hope I have readers.

How does one ask a man to be the last one to die for a mistake.
That, or something very much like that, was part of the young John Kerry’s remarks when he testified before the Senate Committee after he returned from the Vietnam War.
It seems to me that, before he went to Vietnam, he was a military innocent — believed that serving the miltary goals of his country was the right thing to do. While there, he became aware of (as he also testified) the raping, the torturing, the senseless killing of innocent Vietnamese villagers by American soldiers. So, he changed his mind about the wisdom of serving that particular goal of his country. And he hung in there as long a he could, did his best, and opted out.
And then he opted into the peace movement. He changed his mind based on his own war experiences.
As someone on tonight’s CNN Born to Run program on Kerry said, anyone who has fought in a war and killed people and doesn’t come back advocating peace — well, there’s something wrong with them.
Kerry’s also accused of changing his mind about supporting the war and on other issues as well. Only simpletons see the Iraq issue as a simple one. And it has only gotten more and more complex since those early Senate votes to support the troops in Iraq.
And only simpleton and untruthful politicians hide from voters how much horse trading they do to get any bill passed that has anything in it that they support. Having worked for a Republican Senate Majority Leader in my home state, let me tell you — it’s a wonder anything good ever gets voted into legislation. Kerry admits that he had to play that political game to get any of his priorities even considered. Only a simpleton would believe that anyone can survive in politics and not spend an awful lot of time struggling to stay afloat the constantly churning political waters. And only a devious politician will deny that it happens. Kerry doesn’t deny it. He understands complexity and, unlike Bush, is not afraid of it.
While Bush gets an idea and holds onto it come hell or high water, Kerry stops, thinks, and is not afraid to change his mind based on experience and evidence. It takes courage to change your mind and leave yourself open to the simplistic criticism of your opponents.
While Bush conspires, Kerry inspires.

At 8 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday, August 1, CNN Presents presents a program on the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.