-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">Big News - eGroups is becoming Yahoo! Groups Click here for more details: </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/10801/0/_/1406/_/977674599/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com Fri, 22 Dec 2000 Thomas, Kenneth F. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Bush Era Beckons by Kenn Thomas Editor, Steamshovel Press Now that George Bush Jr. has been installed as president "elect", Steamshovel readers can safely say they saw it coming. I wrote a column about conspiracy connections of the vice-presidential candidates for Fortean Times that predicted the Florida trouble spot; and my comments to the BBC last June that Bush would "win" impressed it such that they will have some additional prominence in the Beeb's upcoming series on conspiracy theories (more info about that when it becomes available). The new issue of Steamshovel, although dedicated to "Conspiracy As Usual in Florida", actually refrains from discussion about the election, focussing instead back on Diana and the Octopus--which obviously does connect with the incoming administration. The new issue also includes a farewell look at Clinton's place in conspiracy history, and a boatload of other topics of interest to those who knew how election 2000 was going to turn out long ago. Check out the order form on the front page for a contents list, and subscribe today. My comments about Bush merely followed the logic of parapolitical manipulation--successful extra-electoral power politicking by Dubya's father that leaves a trail back from Iran-contra, to the Reagan assassination attempt, the October Surprise, on back to the Kennedy assassination, back further even to the Nazis. (The real prophet about the election was Sean David Morton, who made uncannily specific remarks detailing the election squabble and the Bush ascendancy to Art Bell several years ago.) In this context, even Bill Clinton's presidency resulted from a Bush, Sr. so tuckered from four years in the public limelight he gave the presidency away by special arrangement, to a player squirrelly enough to ignore the drug-running in Mena, Arkansas. How could anyone expect that deal to last forever? In response to the befuddling support by the militia groups of George Bush, Jr., who clearly represents the same NWO forces the militias have always opposed, especially under George Bush Sr., I offer the following from Repairman Jack in the book "Conspiracies" by F. Paul Wilson (www.repairmanjack.com). Repairman Jack is a violent anti-hero who appears in the kind of trash-fiction novels often found at airport bookstores. The author is a crony of horror writer Stephen King. The latest installment of the Repairman Jack series takes place at a conference of conspiracy theorists--The Society for the Exposure of Secret Organizations and Unacknowledged Phenomena. In it, Repairman Jack opines: "I can't help wondering why these New World Order types should bother with an armed takeover. I mean, considering how nowadays people are slugging away at two and three jobs to make ends meet, how Mr. and Mrs. Average American are working until mid-May every year just to pay their federal income tax, and then on top of that they pay state and city income taxes, and then after those they've got to fork over sales taxes, property taxes, excise taxes, and surcharges, not to mention all the hidden expenses passed on in day-to-day prices jacked up by license fees and endless streams of regulations from OSHA and all the other two-bit government regulatory agencies. By the time Mr. and Mrs. Citizen are through they've surrendered seventy-five percent of their earnings to the bureaucracy. Seems to me like the NWO boys have already got you right where they want you." Add the military budget, and substract the dishonest talk of tax cuts and smaller government coming from the new administration, and the result is the new Bush era that the militia right would surrendered to if it indeed holds Bush out as hero. Ralph Nader called it the permanent corporate government. (The scoop on Nader found in the Gemstone file features prominently in the new issue of Steamshovel.) So what difference did the election make? As one well-known conspiracy writer recently put it more succinctly, "Who cares which reptile is in charge?" At Steamshovel, the 2000 election results are an occasion to revisit a great deal of recent parapolitical history in its next issue, currently planned as an all-Bush issue. Perhaps Steamshovel readers can move closer to some closure about various Bush family scandals, or at least obtain a more detailed review as it watches the puppet show in progress. Embarassment, shame, outrage and all of the other emotions attendant to the latest assault on the supposedly cherished American values of democracy stopped nothing this election season; only a reasoned understanding and a healthy dose of satire and nose-thumbing remain to make the next four years (or whatever truncated term develops) bearable. Kenn Thomas Steamshovel Press PS - The Winter 2000 issue of The X Files Official Magazine contains an article incorporating interviews with me and writers Alex Constantine and John Quinn. Not a lot of substance there. In fact, I come off as quite whiny, primarily due to the fact that X Files producers now plan a new program, The Lone Gunmen, about some supposed conspiracy zinesters that they want to hype. I tried to give a more accurate depiction of what it takes to do zines like Steamshovel, Flatland (which has a new issue out, btw; check www.flatlandbooks.com) and Excluded Middle (which has a new anthology about to be published by Adventures Unlimited). Instead of that, readers are treated with such untruths as "Kenn Thomas, editor of conspiracy- theory magazine Steamshovel Press envies the Lone Gunmen" and "Thomas can only wish he had it so good." So don't buy the X-Files magazine, which only wants to commodify parapolitical dissent and turn it into kiddie enetertainment. Buy Steamshovel, Flatland and Excluded Middle instead. If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit: http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) Visit the Klub Konformist at Yahoo!: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/klubkonformist
