A reader writes: "And would you consider me a conspiracy theorist if I pointed out the mess in L.A."—he's referring to the police riot in L.A.'s MacArhur Park on May 1—"happened the same time as the military is doing the Ardent Sentry Northern-Edge exercise?"—a so-called "preparedness exercise" involving hypothetical scenarios with biological and nuclear weapons, which I posted some information about in Rosebud #96 and #95, below.

There's no justification for the police attacking people as they did in L.A. last Tuesday, so unsurprisingly one veers into hypothetical mode; or else lives in a naive or illogical state of thinking either, a) everybody's reason for doing everything is always their stated reason, or b) nobody has any reason for doing anything they're doing, even an irrational one. Which is what I think many people think, scarily.

But let's be logical. Certainly, the police attack sent a clear message about how the government feels about immigration rights.

Then there's protest in general: Look what happens if you protest, kids! (Watch the video now available on YouTube.)

Then, there is a way in which the protesters almost look as if they function like ducks in a shooting gallery, since they're doing absolutely nothing illegal; just running away from cops shooting at them. So (hypothetically) could they be serving as live targets in some sort of target practice for a scenario that the madmen in power envision down the road? Say, a mass panic after we've been told a biological or nuclear weapon has exploded?

One of the most moving things about 9/11 was how, after the attack, there was no mass panic. As Bush declared martial law and troops stood ready, sealing off the exits of New York, everybody just sadly walked home.