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Thursday, November 10, 2011

This page is based on a Conant article circulated on a journalism list. The page has been extensively modified.

Richard N. Perle

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Richard Perle

Long-time Washington cold warrior Richard Norman Perle is a man of many hats: Pentagon policy adviser (resigned February 2004), former Likud policy adviser, media manager, international investor, op-ed writer, talk show guest, think tank expert, and ardent supporter of the war in Iraq.

Known in Washington circles as "The Prince of Darkness," Perle is associated with the American Enterprise Institute and the Project for the New American Century, both of which have been prominent behind-the-scenes architects of the Bush administration's foreign policy, in particular its push for war with Iraq.

He is closely allied with former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Dundes Wolfowitz, another Iraq hawk. Perle is also a vocal supporter of Israel and a critic of Saudi Arabia. Perle is on the Advisory Board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and is a former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a Defense Department advisory group composed primarily of former government officials, retired military officers, and academics.

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Background

Perle was born 16 September 1941 in New York City, attended the University of Southern California, earning a B.A. in English in 1964. As an undergraduate he studied in Copenhagen at Denmark's International Study Program. He also studied at the London School of Economics and obtained a M.A. in political science from Princeton University in 1967. He is married to Leslie Joan Barr. He owns a vacation home in Les Baux (Provence, France) and is there neighbor to Brian Lapping and previously to Jeane Kirkpatrick.

A biographical note stated that Perle had served as Resident Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research since 1987 "where he had directed its commission on Future Defenses". [1]

Perle was a member of the Defense Policy Board between 1987 and 2004 and was Chairman of it between 2001-2003. He was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy in the Reagan Administrations between 1981 and 1987. Before that he had served on the US Senate Staff (1960-1980).

He did his Honours Examinations at the London School of Economics between 1962 and 63, gained a Bachelor of Arts in International Politics at the University of Southern California in 1964 and completed a M.A Politics at Princeton University in 1967. [2]

He has been a director of a number of companies including Conrad Black's Hollinger [3] and Tapestry Pharmaceuticals. [4]

Perle's Role in Hollinger

Perle had close business ties with Conrad Black, former chairman of Hollinger International Inc., which at one time owned more than 400 daily and weekly newspapers in Canada, the United States, Britain, Israel and Australia. Hollinger papers included London's Daily Telegraph, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Jerusalem Post. Black, a Canadian, joined fellow media kingpin Rupert Murdoch in defending British Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to stick with Bush's war aims, despite overwhelming domestic opposition.

Perle was a Director of Hollinger from June 1994. A biogrpahical note on the company's website at the time stated that Perle was Co-Chairman of Hollinger Digital Inc., the media management and investment arm of Hollinger [5][11]. It also mentioned that Perle was "a Director of Jerusalem Post", another subsidiary of the company, and that he had served as a director of GeoBiotics. [6]

Perle and Black are now (2004) estranged and have accused each other of wrongdoing in the looting of Hollinger assets. The Breeden Report, which cataloged the accusations against Black by the now-independent Hollinger directors, singled out Perle, among all of the corporate directors, for criticism: "As a faithless fiduciary, Perle should be required to disgorge all compensation received from the company". [12]. In October 2004, Hollinger amended its lawsuit against Black to include Perle as a defendant, asking for $22.9 million, including the $5.4 million of his compensation. [7].

Despite his familiarity with the media, Perle found a piece by veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh a little hard to take. Hersh's New Yorker report, "A Hawk's Business," targets Perle's hush-hush meeting with Saudi industrialist Saleh al-Zuhair, a meeting arranged with the help of Iran/contra figure Adnan Khashoggi. Hersh explored the possibility of a conflict of interest for Perle, one of whose businesses is Trireme Partners LP, a venture capital firm that invests in technology, goods, and services related to homeland security and defense. Trireme also created International Advisors Inc., a lobbying firm whose main client is Turkey. Henry Kissinger is a Trireme adviser, and Perle is a managing partner. [13] Kissinger, who was forced to resign as head of the independent commission to investigate the 9/11 attacks, has been using his influence to try to keep the Saudis calm during the buildup to war. The subject of the al-Zuhair meeting is in dispute, but Perle is fighting off the impression that he was trying to use his Pentagon influence to profit from a war that he is doing all he can to implement. Hersh criticized Perle's relationship with Trireme as an ethical conflict of interest, to which Perle responded by calling Hersh "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist." [8]

Bush has recently taken to accepting Perle's view that the United Nations is pretty much irrelevant when it comes to Iraq. [9]

Perle is also associated with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which backs Bush's Iraq war push. Others with the foundation are columnist Charles Krauthammer,the Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, and Georgia senator Zell Miller. Perle, who produced the 1992 PBS documentary, "The Gulf Crisis, the Road to War," has long experience in the ways of Washington.

The wide-ranging Perle even finds himself involved in Total Information Awareness technology. He was listed as a speaker at a March 13 Washington press briefing on 'data mining,' the use of computer technology to sift out patterns from electronic communications. A fellow Pentagon official, Admiral John M. Poindexter of Iran-Contra notoriety, spurred a political firestorm with his TIA plans. Congress forbade such technology to be used against Americans. The briefing, which also billed Sen. Ron Wyden, was promoted as informational only. However, concerned scientists have charged that data mining pays off in miniscule results in contrast to widespread privacy violation.[14]

Mr. Perle has received some heat due to a possible conflict of interest with serving on the Defense Policy Board and being hired as an advisor for Global Crossing, "Even as he advises the Pentagon on war matters, Richard N. Perle, chairman of the influential Defense Policy Board, has been retained by the telecommunications company Global Crossing to help overcome Defense Department resistance to its proposed sale to a foreign firm, Mr. Perle and lawyers involved in the case said today." Mr. Perle's fee is $750,000, but he will receive an additional $600,000 if the sale is approved. [15] Concerned over conflict of interest, senior Democrats sought an inquiry into the matter by the Pentagon inspector general. [16]

Perle maintained that he had not violated any ethics rules, but decided to resign his position as chairman of the Defense Policy Board on March 26, 2003, [17]. In an effort to save face, he wrote in his resignation letter that he would refuse any compensation with his deal with Global Crossing and "any fee for past service would be donated to the families of American forces killed or injured in Iraq." There was also a report that "The communications company, Global Crossing, also announced that Mr. Perle had decided to sever his ties with it."[18] [19]

The Global Crossing affair started a more critical look into Perle's business affairs. On March 29, 2003, The New York Times reported that Perle was involved with Loral Space and Communications in 2001 as an advisor while it faced accusations that it transfered rocket technology to China. [20] It is worth noting that the Global Crossing affair was also due to Global Crossing trying to overcome Defense Department opposition to be sold to a venture with ties to China.

In February 2004, Perle resigned entirely from the Defense Policy Board. [21] The full text of Perle's resignation letter may be found at the website for the public relations firm Benador Associates. [22]

It was reported May 25, 2004, by CNN that Tom Clancy, the brand name author with many admirers in the military criticized the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, citing it as proof that "good men make mistakes."

That same writer said he almost "came to blows" with a leading war supporter, former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle.

The hawkish master of such million-selling thrillers as "Patriot Games" and "The Hunt for Red October" now finds himself adding to the criticism of the Iraq war, and not only through his own comments.

His latest book, Battle Ready (2004 book) is a collaboration with another war critic, retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni. "Battle Ready" looks at Zinni's long military career, dating back to the Vietnam War, and includes harsh remarks by Zinni about the current conflict.

In a press conference held on March 25, to promote the book, both Clancy and Zinni singled out the Department of Defense for criticism. Clancy recalled a prewar encounter in Washington during which he "almost came to blows" with Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser at the time and a longtime advocate of the invasion.

"He was saying how (Secretary of State) Colin L. Powell was being a wuss because he was overly concerned with the lives of the troops," Clancy said. "And I said, 'Look ..., he's supposed to think that way!' And Perle didn't agree with me on that. People like that worry me."

One unusual (but in-character for him) habit of Perle's is his demands for payment for press inteviews [23].

Critical description

"The baby-faced Richard Perle, who chairs the Defense Policy Board, waited out the Vietnam War at the University of Chicago. He then joined pro-Vietnam War Senator henry Scoop Jackson's staff and made his reputation as one of the youngest of the defense intellectuals. Like Jackson, Perle made pro-Israeli poliy an axiom of his discourse. Perle has become well-known for his aggressive mouth on TV talk shows, contradicting the flaccidity of his physical demeanor." page 131, Saul Landau. 2003. The Preemptive Empire: A Guide to Bush's Kingdom. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0745321402.

Organizational affiliations

Quotes

"Richard Perle, foreign policy adviser: 'The first time I met Bush 43 … two things became clear. One, he didn't know very much. The other was that he had the confidence to ask questions that revealed he didn't know very much.'"[11]

Books

Books By Perele

  • Richard Perle, Hard Line, Random House, June 16, 1993. ISBN-10: 051710590X ISBN-13: 978-0517105900 (This is a novel).
  • Robert Kagan, William Kristol (editors) Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy, March 1, 2000. Paperback ISBN: 1893554163 Hardcover ISBN: 1893554139 (This includes essays by Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams, William Bennett, James Caesar, Donald Kagan, Ross H. Munro, Peter W. Rodman, Paul Wolfowitz).
  • David Frum and Richard Perle, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror, Ballantine Books, October 2004. ISBN-10: 0345477170 ISBN-13: 978-0345477170

Books About Perle & His Views

  • Alan Weisman, Prince of Darkness: Richard Perle: The Kingdom, The Power, and the End of Empire in America, November 2007. ISBN-10: 140275230X ISBN-13: 978-1402752308
  • Grant Smith, Neocon Middle East Policy : The 'Clean Break' Plan Damage Assessment, Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, May 2005. ISBN 0976443732

Resources and articles

Profiles

External articles

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

References

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ [2]
  3. ↑ [3]
  4. ↑ [4]
  5. ↑ [5]
  6. ↑ [6]
  7. ↑ [7]
  8. ↑ [8]
  9. ↑ [9]
  10. ↑ Laura Rozen, Among Libya's lobbyists, Politico, 21 February 2011.
  11. ↑ [10]
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Psychotronic mind games

A paper of crucial importance is Remote Behavioral Influence Technology by John J. McMurtrey, a microbiologist, who gives an excellent review of non-classified literature on the subject of electronic mind control. The current link is http://www.deepblacklies.co.uk/remote_behavioral_techology.htm. See McMurtrey's paper for important links.

Nearly all links on my essay have gone the way of all entropy since this piece first appeared in 2002. This version of August 2013 has not kept pace with the breath-taking revolution in electronic-mind interfaces over the past decade, but updates links as well as possible and makes a few minor editorial changes. 

Another important link: Human auditory system response to modulated electromagnetic energy by Allan H. Frey, General Electric Advanced Electronics Center, Cornell University   http://www.raven1.net/frey.htm 

If a link fails, try pasting it into the browser bar. 

By PAUL CONANT

People with reputations to safeguard dodge the subject of psychotronic weapons as if it were as far beyond the pale of responsible journalistic and scientific discourse as is the subject of UFOs. Ergo, psychotronic weaponry is a delusion.***

Never mind that there was a bill in Congress that would ban space-based psychotronic weapons ( http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.2977.IH: ).  Why would Dennis Kucinich* think of inserting such a provision under the 'exotic' arms category? Perhaps it has something to do with the time the Soviets were beaming an electromagnetic signal at a bandwidth reputedly known to have psychoactive influence on the human nervous system.
DUTCH REPORT PSYCHOTRONIC EFFECTS

Kucinich wasn't so kooky after all. An October 2003 report supported by the Dutch Economics Ministry found that radio waves covering a mobile phone district affect cognitive functions, boosting memory and response times among people close enough to the transmitter. The study, done by TNO, found that the radio waves broadcast to current second-generation European phones and those waves to be used for third-generation phones --which have rapid data-transfer capabilities-- both affected cognitive functions. The study also found that third-generation signals had a significant impact, including tingling sensations, nausea and headaches. See  http://www.emrpolicy.org/news/headlines/dutch_study.pdf  

A good rundown on the cell phone health issue is found at http://www.rare-leadership.org/the_risks_of_cellphones.html

DARPA'S MIND-BOGGLING PLAN

A monkey just thinks, a system of electrodes detects the thought, and, voila!, a robot-arm moves, Darpa-funded researchers at Duke and MIT announced in October 2003.

Actually, Anthony J. Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, unveiled the breakthrough in a little-noticed speech last year. Darpa was rushing pell-mell to develop a thought-controlled robot warrior, he said. 'Imagine a warrior with the intellect of a human and the immortality of a machine controlled by our thoughts,' Tether said. 'The genie is out of the bottle on this possibility' of thought-guided weapons, he said.

'The nation that first gains this possibility will dominate.'

The thought-control device works by detecting a specific pattern of electrical activity in the brain and translating that into a signal to the robot's motor system.

In other words, the scientists have discovered that patterns of electrical activity can be identified as thoughts or intentions.

Tether did not announce, but we may take for granted, that Darpa will also focus on means of stimulating electrical patterns in the brain that replicate thoughts. The idea would be for the target to mistake the imputed thoughts for his own.

In fact, as this essay shows, it is highly probable that the CIA, the Pentagon and defense contractors have been long hard at work on covert behavior manipulation via electronic means.

However, what is likely to be developed here is the fine-tuning of mental manipulation capabilities. Instead of being able to simply impute some emotional reaction, such as fear or anger, by electronic means, the possibility arises of false thought-intentions such as 'I want to leave the room' being directly imputed.

No doubt military researchers, prompted by the revolution in MRI imaging, will catalogue electrical patterns from many persons in order to identify patterns common to many. Possibly, someone sitting at a Darpa computer could type in the thoughts he wants a target to have and the computer could use a set of signals to broadcast to the target's brain.

A partial antidote to such machinations is that now non-defense scientists will be mobilized in a scientific-technical gold rush to come up with means of encoding and decoding human thought. Hence, the technical community is likely to come up with publicly available countermeasures to psychotronic weapons.
EXCELLENT REVIEW OF LITERATURE 

Remote Behavioral Influence Technology (December 2003), a paper by John J. McMurtrey, a microbiologist, gives an excellent review of non-classified literature on the subject of electronic mind control. The current link is http://www.deepblacklies.co.uk/remote_behavioral_techology.htm (also  http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/970707/archive_007360.htm ).

Included in the paper is a fascinating discussion on the use of advanced EEG analysis for reading of verbal thoughts.

In the immediate aftermath of publication of McMurtrey's paper, the Air Force limited internet access to a paper on non-lethal weaponry and a Pentagon contractor's page on long-range acoustic devices vanished. Since then, a great many links have vanished, and many of the more credible articles are not easily recovered.
SOVIET MIND-WARP RESEARCH

The Soviet Union's vast germ war program reportedly included the study of bio-weapons for inducing mood alteration, according to the book "Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War" (Simon and Schuster 2001) by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad, all New York Times reporters.

The "Bonfire" program, conducted at the Biopreparat germ war center, focused on bio-weapons that manipulate peptides, the short chain of amino acids that send signals to the nervous system, the writers said.
Can you imagine the use of such a biological agent in tandem with, say, a device for making a person "hear voices" (described elsewhere on this site)?
This is reminiscent of the time in the 1970s when the Soviets bathed the U.S. embassy in powerful microwave radiation.

The U.S. Army's dislike of non-lethal weapons was noted by analyst Lt. Col. Timothy Thomas in Parameters, the Army War College quarterly, but he suggested that other armies would be interested in the clever use of cell phone technology as an intelligence weapon or in, for example, devices that can detect heartbeats through walls. The current form of the article says nothing about on the plausibility of psychotronic weapons that are either neurologically incapacitating or that introduce subliminal commands into a target's neuro-system. However, the use of neurological weapons such as tear-gas combined with high-tech potential is suggestive of such weaponry.

The unredacted version was published in 1999. http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/Articles/99summer/thomas.htm. The link to Thomas's original analysis has been taken down.

The best article on such weaponry appeared in the July 7, 1997 edition of U.S. News and World Report. Reporter Douglas Pasternak read a sheaf of research studies and interviewed scores of people for his article Wonder Weapons  http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_psychotronicweapons09.htm

Pasternak spoke to Eldon Byrd, who ran the Marine Corps Nonlethal Electromagnetic Weapons project from 1980 to 1983. His project was shut down and, he suspects, 'went black' after he discovered that he could trigger the release of behavior-altering chemicals in animal brains through bombardment with very low frequency electromagnetic radiation.

Large amounts of opioids were released in chick brains; he used low-power magnetic fields to release histamines in rat brains.

Secret research may well have shown how to release sleep-inducing chemicals in human brains in amounts liable to produce a trance-like state. Targets would then be vulnerable to psychological manipulation by hypnotic suggestion, perhaps in the form of a soft voice 'thrown' by an acoustic device, which makes a hearer perceive a sound as coming from point B when the device is at point A (in other words, an acutely engineered echo).

The December 2002 issue of Popular Science reports on inventor Woody Norris' hand-held speaker that projects sounds 'inside' a target's head. A highly focused high frequency inaudible sound wave cone cocoons an audible sound wave. The cocooned wave apparently splits into sub-waves so evenly balanced that the brain locates the source as 'inside the head' -- analagous to a good set of earphones, and, as with good earphones, people nearby hear nothing.

If a target is unaware of the existence of such devices and the volume is kept low, she or he might mistake spoken words for his or her own thoughts. That doesn't mean the target will turn into a zombie, but the potential for mischief is high, even without use of electronically induced opioids.

I suggest that U.S. covert forces have had devices similar to Norris' for no less than 15 years (as of 2002) but have kept quiet their existence.

'Mind-bending' technology was seemingly available by the mid-1980s, when the FBI was so severely compromised by the Soviets that it was effectively a cat'spaw for the KGB. So then, who would stop foreign agents from turning such weaponry on Americans they sought to discredit or otherwise harm?

The Webster report, issued in April 2002, portrays an internal security system only a mole could love. That slipshod security has been left that way for decades, despite repeated warnings.

Sounds like Los Alamos or the pre-Ames CIA. Yet, the report notes that the FBI paid no heed to security debacles at other federal intelligence units. Collectively, many red moles are thought to have slipped the net, the report says.

Treason is a far more common problem than is generally supposed, with the report citing Pentagon records of some 80 cases over the last decade of treasonous activity among employees of the federal government or of government contractors.

A useful web site devoted to preventing human rights abuses via psychotronic and other mind control techniques is run by Cheryl Welsh, who is well-regarded for her work. Her site, MindJustice, http://mindjustice.org/ ,contains much useful information.

In the past, her site contained a serious journalistic discussion of an apparent Soviet experiment broadcasting a psychotronic signal that might affect millions of people, perhaps tending to make them depressed or irritable.

The CIA's interest in manipulating human neurology first came to the attention of the American people via public exposes of the MKUltra program. Here is a relevant link: http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/04/0413mk-ultra-authorized/  Another:  http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/dark-matters-twisted-but-true/documents/project-mkultra.htm.

Dr. Jose Delgado was a neuroscientist once noted for his work on using electronic impulses to the brain in order to induce specific behaviors. A relevant backgrounder: http://www.wireheading.com/delgado/brainchips.pdf. There has been much work done since that time in this area.

Now suppose intelligence agents wished to affect human behavior without the subject realizing what was going on? Remote-controlled electrical impulses might be the answer.

It seems highly improbable that some outfit like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) or the CIA's technical division wasn't working on such devices, taking full advantage of the latest advances in nano-technology.

Let's not forget the sometimes powerful "strobe effect." In his book 'Sync' (Hyperion/Theia 2003), mathematician Steven Strogatz tells of hundreds of Japanese children who were sickened, some to the point of vomiting and even seizures, while watching a "Pokemon" episode on Dec. 16, 1997. Viewers were subjected to a bright white explosion followed by brilliant red, white and blue lights that flashed like a strobe, 12 times a second, for five seconds. One 14-year-old sitting less than three feet from his big-screen TV keeled over and was unconscious for more than half an hour.

Strogatz says the strobe pulses evidently triggered attacks of photosensitive epilepsy, a rare disorder that has become more common as television and video games have proliferated. The exact cause of the disorder is unknown but it is thought to result from brain waves being entrained (synchronized) by flickering light, causing brain neurons to misfire in lockstep.

Strogatz notes that that hypothesis is consistent with the observation that the most dangerous frequencies are between 15 and 20 cycles per second, just a bit faster than the brain's alpha rhythm.

Clearly, such a weapon would be unreliable as it would only affect some targets. However, one can be sure that various secret weapons agencies have looked into the strobe effect and have checked to see whether it can be fine-tuned to reach more people or to induce other than spasmodic reactions.

In May 2002, New Scientist published a report on 'robo-rats' controlled by three electrodes.' The university studywas sponsored by Darpa. The implication might be that Darpa is only now getting to rather primitive brain control technology. But, the agency may have desired to control the research while concealing from the researchers classified developments that might supersede their work.

As of May 9, 2002, New Scientist reported that the National Academy of Scientists had snatched from public view public records on nonlethal weapons projects it was studying. Among projects concealed retroactively were several that pointed to psychotronic capabilities, including a proposal to use an intense electromagnetic field to daze targets and make them lose control of voluntary body functions. The web address of the Pentagon's Joint Nonlethal Weapons Task Force has been disabled.

In the real world, no intelligence honcho is going to turn down the power of being able to disable an adversary silently and easily. Imagine having the ability to make a driver have a spasm while negotiating a dangerous turn. Of course, a sophisticated adversary has a surveillance signal detector, though it might not be enough of a countermeasure.

On the other hand, many persons, such as activists and journalists, have no such protections.

OF COURSE, there is no easy way to prove that such devices have been used against Americans. But, for years, we were told that the fears of red penetration of the CIA and the FBI were overblown. And then Ames and Hanssen were smoked out.

As the Hanssen matter demonstrates, the FBI was under heavy communist influence during its investigation of the TWA Flight 800 disaster. Among skeptics of the official line that the plane blew up accidentally Admiral Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Background: http://www.lohud.com/article/20130619/NEWS01/130619021/TWA-Flight-800-Admiral-urged-new-hearings-into-explosion-1998

The human tendency to assume that one is in control of one's actions greatly helps users of psychotronic and other behavior-influencing weaponry and techniques. A person who has been prompted to take a particular action, when asked why he did it, may give a list of credible reasons -- that he himself believes -- for his action, even though he was actually prodded by some unconscious stimulus. Hence, a victim will have a strong tendency to deny being manipulated. Such a lack of comprehension of one's true motives is a well-known psychological phenomenon, of course.

When a person says, 'I have decided to do X', what does that mean? The decision to enact X, in many if not all cases, HAS ALREADY BEEN MADE by the brain before that decision reaches consciousness. When a person says, 'I have decided...,' he is not so much deciding as listening to the brain's verbalization of its unconscious decision. In addition, he may give reasons for this decision which are not threatening to his sense of self but which are not the underlying cause. (On the other hand, it may be possible that the reasons he tells himself are fairly accurate verbalizations of the underlying causes.)

A very serious potential terrorist threat to America is the use of subliminal imagery on computer screens. As Thomas points out (in the unredacted version that is no longer available), research into such a weapon has stirred interest in Russia.

Suppose a fleeting image is inserted into computer work station programs, such that it appears 'every 25th screen' or some such number. If this image is designed to induce a fear response, the user may experience an increased sense of anxiety, depression or anger. If such a program pervaded the internet, millions might be victimized. And such attacks can be made to pervade the net through hacker programs similar to net viruses.
This form of subliminal influence works through a process known as backward masking (not the playing of recordings backward, which is something else again).
A quotation from 'Synaptic Self' (Viking 2002, page 208) by Joseph LeDoux, a New York University neuroscience professor: 

'It's possible to present stimuli to the brain subliminally (unconsciously). This can be done in a number of different ways, but one commonly used is backwards masking. In this procedure, an emotionally arousing visual stimulus is flashed on a screen very briefly (for a few milliseconds) and is then followed immediately by some neutral stimulus that stays on the screen for several seconds. The second stimulus blanks out the first, preventing it from entering conscious awareness (by preventing it from entering working memory), but it does not prevent the first from eliciting an emotional reaction (the stimulus still changes the beating of the heart or makes the palms sweat). Since the stimulus never reaches awareness (because it is blocked from working memory), the responses must be based on the unconscious processing of the meaning of the stimulus rather than on the conscious experience of it. By short-circuiting the stages necessary for the stimulus to reach consciousness, the masking procedure reveals processes that go on outside of consciousness in the human brain.'
Antiviral antidotes to such a widescale attack might work locally for short periods but could have the unpleasant effect of actually strengthening the overall mass attack.

Consider the process of behavioral extinction. The more a single image is presented subliminally (or consciously), the less of a response from the brain -- provided that no rewards or punishments accompany presentation of the stimulus. However, it is also likely that in many cases, overuse of such a technique will result in extinction. That is, the brain will tend to give up responding to any subliminal image presented on a screen.

However, antiviral antidotes will tend to decrease general resistance in the computer-using population to such subliminal attacks. That is, if a subliminal attack, including one that changes images, targets a particular user without interruption for a sufficient time, the brain is likely to build up immunity. But if the user is hit by a series of shorter attacks that occur at irregular intervals, the brain may get little chance to build up immunity. Hence wide use of countermeasures would actually tend to increase the effectiveness of the attacks.

On the other hand, the attack programs can be instructed to shut off the subliminal imagery and turn it back on again at specified intervals. In that case, the best policy might be to vaccinate the computer-using public with a steady stream of subliminal imagery, though the risks for particular users might be unacceptable.

Obviously, subliminal influence need not come as a mass attack by Saddam Hussein's henchmen. A lone computer terminal user might be targeted for such an attack by a powerful force, such as an intelligence operation.

Also, though computer and TV screens are convenient avenues for subliminal influence, other possibilities exist.

And it is difficult to assess the level of manipulation possible via this type of subliminal influence, though it is a safe assumption that the CIA's technical division has studied this subject to the nth degree.
***Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists has pointed out that the term 'psychotronic weaponry' first surfaced in a military paper concerning combat via paranormal powers, something toward which the scientific community is largely unsympathetic. However, the term has evolved to imply the concept of covertly altered behavior. Sometimes the term 'nonlethal weapons' is used, but that term, which includes such things as stun guns, tends to confuse the issue.
*An embarrassing error crept into an earlier version of this page, where the congressman's name was incorrectly given as Deconcini. See Psyops against the press for more on 'inadvertent' errors. I don't claim that I never err, only that there are forces only too happy to sandbag a pesky journalist.
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Florida presidential math still puzzles Times


'Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty'


ConantNews and Znewz1 are site names used in the past by Paul Conant. This article was posted elsewhere in November 2001.

  • ConantNews upholds freedom of:
  • speech and press
  • academic and theological inquiry

Nov. 13, 2001--Fuzzy math. That's how I grade the New York Times report, published Nov. 11, of a recount of 175,000 Florida presidential ballots.

From a mathematical standpoint, the Times did not fully justify its conclusion that the Supreme Court had not cast the deciding ballot in the presidential race.

The most obvious problems:

*The error rate for the recount, conducted on behalf of a group of media organizations, was not reported in my edition, though the Times devoted two full interior pages to the story.

*The estimated error rate for the statewide count was not given explicitly, though it was referred to implicitly.

I have no doubt that the error rate for the media recount was low, because, from what I can gather, essentially three counts were done, using different talliers, and the result was an average of the three counts. Though such a technique is likely to greatly reduce the error rate, it also implies that some error is inevitable in such a count.

Nevertheless, we cannot tell whether the difference between the official count and the recount falls inside the error rate. If so, then the recount would be a statistical draw. In other words, we still wouldn't know who actually won. It is hard for the nonmathematical to accept that there may be limits to the accuracy of human knowledge.

But let us, for the sake of argument, grant that that vote difference was above the error rate so that confidence is high that Bush prevailed for those disputed votes.

Though the Times asserts that, depending on tallying techniques, statewide figures showed Gore might have won, the paper did not clearly state what its experts calculated the statewide official count error rate to be. Previous reporting showed that the official statewide difference between Bush and Gore was within that error rate -- an average of the error rates of different balloting methods -- which was put at about 1 percent. It seems quite unlikely that the figures from the media recount favoring Bush would have changed the statewide difference sufficiently to overcome the statewide margin of error.

That is, if the media recount proves that the Florida outcome is no longer a statistical dead heat in which it is impossible to know who won, the Times did not make a clear-cut case for that theory. Hence, in the broad sense, it appears that the Supreme Court did cast the deciding ballot, though I suppose that, in a vacuous sense, one can defend the Times' claim.



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Since Grandpa Died


A play in one act

  • Copyright 2002 by Elizabeth O'Donnell and Paul Conant

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Continuation of 'Since Grandpa Died'

Talk to Liz at Miraclelizz@aol.com.

Conant's comments: O'Donnell's contribution to this play was to come up with the storyline and to interact with me while the script was in progress. My part was the finished product.

During the first draft, I used the name 'Liz' for the main character as a space-holder. We then got so used to that name that we left it.

We ask no royalties if this play is presented by a not-for-profit group. Profit-seeking groups may obtain further information by emailing Conant at prconant@yahoo.com.

Characters:

Liz: a woman in her twenties who goes through flashbacks to important incidents in her life.

Voice: a male voice who takes on various roles in Liz's memory and imagination.

Most of the play occurs in Liz's bedroom, though two scenes occur on a barren stage.

The play opens with a sparse set: a bed, a chair and a dresser. A few props change by scene. One prop is a vodka bottle, the same bottle being used throughout the play.

Each scene features a large poster that signals a period of Liz's life. Back-projection might be a convenient way to handle this.

SCENE 1

L: [staring intently at phone] Why won't he call? I know he's gonna call. I prayed he would. He's got to hear me thinking of him. Oh, Joe. . . why did this happen? You know you love me.

[Turns to vodka bottle, picks it up and cradles it, almost like a baby.]

L: Lizzy, come on, you know you should just pour it out. Tina [addressing bottle as if it is Tina], why did you decide to be nice to me and bring this over? I know you just wanted to be friends. How could you know I quit drinking?

[Puts bottle back down, fumbles for cigaret from pack on dresser, attempts to light it but breaks it, and then gives up in disgust.]

Joe's going to call. I KNOW he will.

[Closes eyes as if intently willing him to call.]

If he doesn't call, I'll drink this vodka. THAT'S what I'll do!

[Irritably]

That's why this bottle came to me. In case Joe doesn't call.

[long pause]

Oh Liz, you dope. You know God told you to quit drinking -- but it's too hard! I only have ten days clean and sober. Oh Christ, it's too hard!

[Then, as if a thought came]One day at a time. That's what they say. Don't drink just today. Cindy told me to call if I felt like drinking. Maybe I should.

[Peeks again at bottle; hesitates, and instead takes a well-worn paper from the bureau, reading aloud haltingly]

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.'

[After a moment of calm, she flies into a rage]

That's a nice prayer! Too bad it's bullshit! The only man I ever loved, my soul mate -- gone!

[Mood softens]

But it's not really his fault. It's more my fault. Oh why did I have to play it so dumb and go out with that other guy? I didn't even care about Travis at all. Joe was so mad when he found out! But it wasn't fair. He had broken up with me -- again! What was I supposed to do? I have feelings, too. Hey, I'm human. Who does he think he is to play those head games?

Still, I could have waited. Why didn't I wait a little longer? Maybe he wouldn't have minded if I'd dated different guys and not get serious with anybody. But I wasn't really serious about Travis! Shit! This is so fucked up.

I know what it really is. I can be a bitch. I had an attitude: I'll fix his wagon! Now I wish I hadn't gotten so mad, though. I fixed my own wagon, too. I can't live without him. If he's not in my life, all I want to do is drink.

Yeah. . . But he drinks too much, too. He could really tie one on. He beat the crap out of me once when I was really bad . . . But I goaded him into it. I know I did. I wouldn't shut up. That was the liquor talking. I'm sure of it now.

I wish he would call. Then maybe he'd go to some meetings with me. Those meetings are weird. A lot of talk about Higher Power. They mean God. I believe in God. Don't drink and go to meetings, that's what Cindy said. Maybe I should call her.

If only he would call. Please call, Joe. Please. I'm your soul mate. We"re meant for each other. You're the only one for me. If he calls, THEN everything will be OK. I'll turn on the sweet li'l me act. I'll get him back. I know how to make myself look good. He'll take me back!

I would go over there. But, what if he's with somebody new?

[Fondles bottle, then expresses disgust]

People are always leaving me! Can't I get anything to work right? Nothing has been right in my life. . .

[As lights dim, Voice joins Liz in completing sentence]

L and V: . . .since Grandpa died.

***endscene***

SCENE 2

[Liz takes a teddy bear from under the bed and places it on the bed, lying on its back with its head on the pillow. Poster is now something that would appeal to a young child. Liz sits on floor beside the bed.]

L: Grandpa, you're my favorite person in the whole world. We're going to get married when I grow up, huh?

V: Sure, Liz. We'll have a fine wedding. But [chuckles] what if Prince Charming takes you away from me? What then?

[Liz adamantly shakes her head, little-girl style.]

L: Nope. I'm marrying you.

V: Well, sure, Apple of My Eye. But let's not forget I told you I may have to go away for a while. . .

L: No!

V: And I don't want you forgetting all I told you about the saints and God and all his angels.

L: Grandpa, tell me about St. Michael. You know, the angel who likes God. I like God.

V: A great angel he was, and is. A terrible battle broke out in heaven. 'Who is like God?' shouts Michael. Then he and the other good angels drive out all those snakes: the devil and all his angels.

[Long pause.]

L: Why was the devil bad?

V: Now that's a funny question. But the answer is: He didn't want to do what God said. And so there was no end of trouble from then on.

L: And now he's . . .[points downward] down there.

V: Yes, but he's still sneaking around. That's why we should pray to Michael, and the other saints, and say the rosary to our Blessed Mother.

L: [Singing] 'Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so; little ones to him belong; we are weak but he is strong.' All the children sit on his lap!

V: The GOOD children.

L: [Impishly] And the bad little girl jumps off, and runs away, and turns into a . . .a . . . witch! [Sudden mood change.] How old was I when my mommy went away to be with the saints?

V: You were only two, my little pumpkin. You were very young. But you loved your mother, that's a fact.

L: I wish I had my real mommy, instead of JULIE!

V: Julia's a nice girl. She wants to do the right thing.

L: I HATE her. Daddy says he's not going to marry her. Good!

V: The blessed mother will be -- is -- your mother, Lizzie.

L: She WILL? But what if I turn into a WITCH!? [Sudden mood change] What does God look like, Grandpa?

V: Oh, you can't see . . . [rethinks his words]. He looks like Jesus, only his hair is white.

L: Is Mommy in heaven with Jesus.

V: Why of course, my little darling.

L: Why doesn't Daddy go to church with us? Maybe he could talk to God, and then he would stop being so mean.

V: We mustn't be talking about your father that way. He's a hard worker, but he just doesn't understand little girls.

L: Plus he drinks a lot of whiskey . . . a lot.

V: Yes. I'm afraid so. In that area, he was mistaught.

L: I hate him! He's so mean! And I hate his girlfriend! She's mean, too!

L: God made them, Liz. Some day you'll understand.

***endscene***

SCENE 3

[The poster should reflect a 13-year-old's tastes, as should her apparel.]

L: Grandpa, I wish you weren't gone. Daddy doesn't love me. He only loves whiskey. I feel so bad all the time. I ought to run away from home again. But there's nowhere to go. That was HORRIBLE in the city. Some people were nice. I guess it's OK that the police picked me up.

Daddy doesn't mean to hurt me. [Rubs arm.] He's too drunk. Anyway, they told him to watch out, 'cause I might get taken away. Julie told him to don't hit when he's drunk. She says we should get along.

Where are you, Grandpa? You're with God, I know.

[Shrieks.]

No! No! Please, Grandpa, don't be gone! You can't be gone! Why did you die, Grandpa! No!

[Sobs, then looks out at the audience and says:]

I hate you, God!

***endscene***

SCENE 4

[Lighting is spooky. Eerie music is heard, but not too loud. The poster emblazons some cult-like rock group. The bureau has on it the vodka bottle, a book, a phone and a few small items. During the scene change, Liz dons a dark robe.

Upon taking a swig from the bottle, she picks up the book and opens it near the beginning, holding it open as she reads.}

L: Which chapter do I want? Runic secrets? Shadows and shades? Mother goddess love spells?

[Laughs at herself.]

Why do I believe in this stuff? It's stupid, I know, BUT . . . If the other girls find out, I'm through. Lindie Crawford got all mixed up in this stuff, and now everybody calls her 'Halloween' . . . Still, that's better than being called a whore.

[Looks in mirror, then down at floor.]

Kenny shouldn't have done that to me. I was drunk.

[Liz takes another swig, then lights a bowl of cannabis. After a while, she speaks.]

If my dad and that slut girlfriend of his knew what I was into, they'd wig out. I oughta find a spell to hex her. She's the real witch!

[Liz sits on the bed, chilling out for a while as the music comes up. Suddenly, loud clangs are heard and the music cuts off. A dark-hued spotlight is played off center stage. Liz, a separate light on her, leaps up in fright.]

Voice: Death, blood and gore. That's what I have in store, for Grandpa's little whore.

Liz cries out: Grandpa! Grandpa! Help me!

V: [Mocking] Grandpa! Grandpa! Help me!. . .Help me get another hit, help Kenny cover me in shit!

L: [Anguished] Grandpa!

V: Help me get some real good shit. Help Kenny play with my little clit!

L: Grandpa!. . .Jesus, somebody. . .please!

[The instant Liz utters 'Jesus, somebody' the off-center spotlight switches off. As Liz recovers her composure, stage lighting becomes less spooky.]

L: [Lighting a cigaret.] I must be going crazy.

[Takes another pull from her bottle, then goes to phone and touch-dials.]

Hey Heather, what's up? Yeah. The play was a lot of fun. You should have tried out for it. [Pause.] Do you really think I was good? [Laughs.]

'O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name.

'Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.'

Man, that play was hard. I didn't understand half the stuff I was saying, even though Mr. Jackson explained it all. But that was OK. It was fun.

You know, I was thinking of being an actress. I'm gonna try out for 'Our Town.' I think I'd make a good actress. When I get old enough, I'm definitely going to Hollywood. Why not . . . ? [Dreamily:] That would be SO cool. Maybe I won't be a star. But I MIGHT.

[Light-heartedly sings:]

'They're gonna put me in the movies.

They're gonna make a big star out of me.

They're gonna put me in the movies.

And all I gotta do is,

act naturally!'

[Ringo Starr made this Buck Owens song a hit.]

So anyway, are you going to the party Saturday? Dave's parents will be out of town for the weekend. It should be a blast. I'm gonna bring some good stuff.

I just hope that creep Jed isn't gonna be there. He's such a pain. Spoils everything. He thinks he's Tom Cruise [or latest matinee idol] or something. But when he gets trashed, forget it. He can't hold his liquor. Everybody makes fun of him, and he eats it up, the creep.

He sent me this dumb poem. If he wasn't such a creep, it'd be kinda sweet.

[Fishes in drawer and pulls out an envelope, from which she withdraws a piece of paper.]

Ready?

'My Angel' -- that's the title.

Once upon a time, there was this angel friend of mine.

She was there day or night, rain or shine.

The angel never said a thing.

Just smiled brightly there.

Sometimes she would flit around

putting music into the air.'

He said he wrote it for me 'cause I'm a star now.

Anyway, at least Dave's cool. But can you imagine him or any of the other boys writing a poem? [Laughs.] Yeah, right. Unless it's for a rock song, that is. But like I say, Dave's cool. And so is J.R. He's turning into a doll. I can't believe how good he looks. I wouldn't mind getting into his pants. . .

YOU got it on with him? REALLY? Tell me everything. What was he like? [Fairly long pause.] Oh you're so lucky. I can't BELIEVE this. Well, I guess you guys -- huh? -- just friends? Yeah. I get that. That's the way it is with me and Kenny. I don't know if it'll turn into anything. It's OK for now . . . I guess.

Well, you hang in there. You never know. Just don't get like Sally. You know what she says to me? She says, I feel like I'm a big slut.

You want to come over? [Drops voice.] Got any pot? Cool, we can put on some Slayer [or whatever gothic group is in vogue] and shit.

If you can get some vodka from your dad's liquor cabinet . . . listen! Don't worry about that. Listen to me. Pour the vodka from a bottle in the back into a soda bottle or something. Then fill up the empty vodka bottle with water. He'll never notice. Then we'll replace it later. I'm sure at the party one of the older guys can help us get some more. Good idea, right?

Way to go, Heather!

***endscene***

SCENE 5

[Wardrobe change is suitable for a young woman in the 19 to 21 age bracket. The poster has a Hollywood motif, featuring a female film star (of any decade). Be nice if the poster includes the word 'Hollywood.'

A waste basket is at center stage.

Scene opens with Liz kneeling in front of the waste basket, vomiting. No vodka bottle is in sight.

She slowly gets up and sits in chair, holding her head and using other gestures to indicate illness.]

L: What's WRONG with me? I can't do anything right. Not since Grandpa died. My life's a wreck -- at twenty! That big jerk of a boss of mine. Where did he get off firing me? I could sue the pants off of him. He had no right. I was trying to save up enough money so I could get my own place with Heather. Shit. And that clod, Ken. We've been going out forever, and he goes and joins the Marines! Like, what am I, dirt? He didn't even tell me until he was at Camp Lejeune.

Well, that's it. We're breaking up! Who needs him? Anyway, all he ever wants to do is get high and screw. He can't even hold a conversation like a normal person.

[Pause.]

I saw Jed yesterday. What a dreamboat he turned into. He kinda liked me once. But I was going with Kenny. And now he's got a girlfriend. . . I wonder what she's like. Yeah. But he got too religious for me. I can't handle that Goody Two-Shoes trip. I hear that if you give him half a chance, he'll shove the Bible under your nose. Still. . . you know, he's got a good job. . . Maybe I should make a play for him . . . No. What would he want with a loser like me? Anyway, his girlfriend is probably one of those la-de-da types. Too cool for school, don't you know. How old is she, anyway? Shit, I can't even think of her name.

Oh, what the fuck am I thinking about? Damn, what am I gonna do? I'm trapped here with my dad and Julie, who still has the idea in her head she's my stepmom. THAT'S a joke. Oh well. At least she's not so bad anymore. At least SOMETIMES I can talk to her.

I can't BELIEVE I got fired. So what if I came in a little late sometimes? I always did my job. I was a good worker.

[Liz withdraws the vodka bottle from a handbag that has been carelessly tossed onto the bed. She pours herself a stiff one into a tumbler that is on the bureau.]

I wonder if there's any OJ in the fridge. I've got to learn to drink like a lady. Oh well . . . bottoms up! [Drains glass.]

[Sweeping bag onto floor, she throws herself onto the bed and chills out for a while. At length, the phone rings, and she answers it.]

L: Hi Tara. What's up? . . . What!!! My God! How awful! My God! My God! She's my best friend! Oh God, you can't do this to me! Not again! Tara, tell me, how could this happen?! . . . She did?! How many stories up was she when she fell? . . . God! . . . I bet she was out with that get-high crowd of hers again. Everybody drinks a little. Everybody smokes a bone or two. But she always pushed it. I told her, listen Heather, you better watch out . . . but she just wouldn't listen. Not to me. Not to anybody.

What was she on? Oh, I already know. Mad Dog and Bad Boy . . . God, I told her to slow down . . . This is so AWFUL.

OK, I know you have other people to call. I'll let you go. No. I'll be OK. Really. Bye.

[Hangs up.]

Heather, Heather. You're my best friend! You can't go.

[Weeps.]

I know God is looking out for you. I hope he is. He must be. Heather, do you remember how we used to talk? You were gonna be a singer. . .a rock singer. Me an actress. You could SING, too.

[Liz sings first verse of 'Amazing Grace.']

You used to sing that sometimes, Heather. Remember? You sang it so good.

[Pause.]

Heather, you can't go . . . Now I have nobody . . .

[Pause]

I better call Joe. He must be feeling terrible.

[Dials]

Oh hi Joe. This is Liz. It's terrible about your sister. I just wanted to say how sorry I am. We were best friends for so long. I can't believe it.

Yeah, don't worry. I'll be sure to come.

Listen, why don't we get together over a beer and talk? How about 0'Toole's? OK, sure you can come pick me up. Nine o'clock? Sounds good. See you then.

I'll say a prayer.

***endscene***

SCENE 6

L: I should have known better than to hang out with Tammy Sue.

[Lights cigaret, takes a puff or two, then agitatedly stubs it out. Trembling, she attempts to pour vodka into a glass but unable to do so, she simply swigs from the bottle.]

That girl is TROUBLE. Now she's on probation. And my name is in the local rag. I used to see myself getting my name in the paper. Rave reviews for the great Liz. And now it's come to this: 'Dumb broad barely stays out of jail.'

Well, at least the judge let me off. Tammy Sue had gotten into trouble before. She gets probation. All I got was a fine. It could have been a whole lot worse. Maybe the judge felt sorry for us. Or, it could be because my dad's in good with City Hall.

But what stinks is that now I have to listen to a whole bunch of shit from Julie. Watch your P's and Q's, she says. You better watch out who you run with, she says. I don't know where that slut gets off talking . . . Who does she think she is? Miss La De Da? Miss Holier Than Thou? I notice Dad never stuck a wedding band on her hand. Slut.

You'd think she never snuck anything out of a store. Anyway, so what if I did boost a thing or two? The money's gotta come from somewhere. SURVIVAL. You gotta survive.

But that dumb Tammy Sue. She sashays her dumb butt out of Smart-mart with her coat bulging like Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey. We didn't even make it to the car before the cops were all over us. NOW I find out that the cops hang out on the mall roof, waiting to grab dumb clucks like us. So then the officer says, 'Well, if you paid for all this stuff, why are all the alarm doohickeys cut out?' God, that was so embarrassing.

[Takes a swig; thinks for a while.]

Now I've gone from Most Popular Girl -- well, I was once, during my high school acting days -- to Goofus, partner in crime with Dumbo. How could that happen?

[Another swig.]

Julie's watching her purse AND Dad's wallet like a hawk. Plus, she's got the liquor cabinet fixed up like Fort Knox. What was I supposed to do? Really, the truth is, they OWE me -- after all they put me through.

Then, when Heather dies, they have the nerve to send ME to a shrink. What about THEM? I never saw two such fucked up people. Anyway, that trip to the shrink was a laugh. I talked to her -- once. She asks me all these personal questions. Like, none of your goddamn business, bitch! I'll take care of my own self, thank you.

Still, I know Dad was just worried about me. He says, maybe Heather's death threw me off. I remember, at her funeral, Grandpa's wake came rushing back into my head. That was so awful, looking at him in the coffin, deader than a doornail, as they say. He was my best friend. How could God -- I mean, if there is a God -- do that to me? And then Heather. Ditto. [Pause.] They couldn't have an open casket for her. Too mushed up.

[Another swig.]

It's so funny, how Heather could be my best friend and I never paid any attention to her brother. And now Joe's my soul partner -- when we're not fighting.

[Pause.]

Sometimes I think he's looking for his sister in me.

That could be a big part of our problem. Why we always fight. I'm not Heather. I'm me.

Well, that's no prize. Poor guy. He doesn't need me. He should find somebody, you know, who's better for him.

Face it, Liz. You're just no good. You'll bring him nothing but tears.

Oh GOD! I'm so mixed up. I don't know what's right or wrong anymore!

That judge told me that if I ever came into his court again, the next time he wouldn't fool around. It'd be the Women's House of Detention for me. Christ, I'll kill myself before I ever let that happen.

[Pause.]

A lot of times I wake up and say, 'God, why am I still alive, stuck in this miserable hell hole of a life again?

[Another swig.]

One of these days, I may just do away with myself.

[Phone rings and Liz answers.]

Tammy Sue? Hi. . . You're right about that, we were really lucky. Hey, I don't feel like talking on the phone. Let's meet over at Riley's. You're broke? Me too. Don't worry, there's always plenty of guys over there who will buy a girl a drink or two. [Laughs.]

Yeah, I know, I know. I'd rather pay for at least SOME of my own drinks, too. But, you know, we've gotta stay away from boosting. Hey, something will turn up. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Right? Right!

***endscene***

SCENE 7

[Hollywood poster signals that Liz is still in the same period of her life as she was in the previous scene.]

I can't believe that bitch Julie says I drink too much. Shape up or ship out, she says. My way or the highway. So I drink a little too much sometimes. What about THEM!? If I ever get as bad as my dad, then I'll quit. Besides, I smoke pot. That way I don't get fucked up on one thing. It balances out. That's the smart way to think.

What I should do is, I should move to Hollywood and start over. That would get me away from all this crap. And I'm good enough. People still make it out there.

[A pause, then, with resolve:]

OK, Hollywood! Here I come!

[Pause.]

Oh . . . who am I kidding? I don't know anybody and, even if I did . . .

[Takes long pull from bottle.]

Whatever happened to me? I was gonna be this big star. What a joke. My last audition -- when was that? -- I was so fucked up, they wouldn't let me finish. But what else could I do? I HAD to take something to calm my nerves. It's not that it was stage fright. It's just that I've been too nervous about everything.

[Rhetorically:]

Does that make me an alcoholic?

[Liz recites, haltingly and poorly, yet trying to sound high-toned:]

'Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

Deny thy father and, uh, refuse thy name.

Or, if thou won't be sworn by my love,

And ... uh ... I'll no longer be a... something.'

Oh, what's the use? I'm no good. I WAS good. But now I can't even hold a dumb data entry job. Stupid job, anyway. I was going crazy with a bunch of who-cares numbers. That's not ME. I should have been a star. Or, at least an actress.

But nothing ever comes of anything for me -- not since Grandpa died. Now all I do is drink and get high. I mean, I'm no alcoholic, but who wouldn't drink if they were in my shoes? And I've been seeing too many guys. Joe's hopping mad about that. But how did I know he'd want to get back together? And now he dumped me again! Oh I can't stand it! My life sucks!

How could somebody like me expect to get married? Kenny and me were gonna get married -- I think he's stationed in Okinawa -- three kids, a dog and a white picket fence. A big wedding. Everybody would be so envious. Yeah, but Kenny turned out to be no Prince Charming.

But then again, I'm not exactly Cinderella.

Can you imagine Cinderella having to get an abortion? God, I hope Joe never finds out. Now I've got 'baby killer' on my record, too.

[Weeps.]

I know what to do about this bummer life! Shape up or ship out? Well, I'm shipping out!

[Leaves stage and returns with prescription drug container. She dumps out a bunch of pills, puts a handful in her mouth and chases it with a long pull of vodka.

[Lights dim; in darkened theater, a siren wails.]

SCENE 8

[Lighting changes help signal mood change; poster is the one used in scene 2.]

Voice: Grandpa, tell me about St. Michael; you know, the angel who likes God. I like God.

[As Voice speaks, Liz arises from bed and takes up a string of rosary beads, which she fingers while reciting the 'Hail Mary' two or three times, breaking off in mid-verse.

[A white spotlight is cast onto the stage, slightly off-center. A lesser light falls on Liz.]

V: You're still the apple of my eye, Liz.

L: Grandpa? . . . Is that you?

V: Just good old me.

L: Grandpa?

V: Tell me, Lizzie, do you still like God?

L: You KNOW I like God. [Pause.] Well, sometimes I said I didn't. But I didn't really mean it. [Pause.] I know . . . you must be St. Michael, the archangel.

V: Who is like God Liz?

[Long pause.]

V: If you . . .

L: Well . . .

V: like God,

L: . . . Jesus

V: you're like God, Liz.

L: [Forlorn.] But Grandpa . . . uh, I mean, St. Michael? . . . I've been very bad. I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel terrible. I'm so sorry.

V: You'll always be the apple of my eye, Liz.

****endscene**** [Stage is barren, the furniture having been pushed out of lighted area. Poster is gone. Liz is now dressed as Juliet.

[Lighting is mottled.]

[Liz and Voice speak over dreamy background music for this scene.]

Voice: You're such a beautiful little dreamer, Lizzie, my darling dream girl.

Liz: [With confidence]: 'O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?' . . . Is that OK? A little more fluid? OK, how's this? 'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?'

Better? Thanks. Good. You know, I'm beginning to hate that line. Everybody thinks they know how it should sound. But I bet Shakespeare wasn't making some big deal out of it. There's a lot more important stuff in the script, that's for sure.

You know, I've just about had it with this rehearsal. Can we take a break? OK, Sonny?

[Liz paces a bit.]

So Dolly, anyway -- cigaret? Look in my bag.

[No bag is onstage. Liz listens to Dolly before responding.]

L; Yeah. It sure beats some of the dogs we've been in. And imgaine, we're actually getting PAID. We're moving up in the world, Doll. At least this is real off-Broadway -- not off-the-wall Broadway.

[Listens.]

Yeah, true. Some of those jobs were fun. We got to work with a lot of good people. I guess we were lucky that way. It's amazing how often we ended up on the same stage. Well, anyway, correct me if I'm wrong, but this must be the fifth time since drama school.

Remember when we did [Pick a song the actress can handle]together? Hey that was good.

[Liz begins to sing that number, also doing some easy but pleasing dance routine, and laughing with pleasure at the conclusion.]

So anyway, Doll, you gotta admit this show is a big break for the both of us. Here's our big chance.

Did I ever tell you I played Juliet in high school? [Laughs.] It was kinda weird. 'Cause my so-called stepmom's name is Julie and all through the play I kept thinking wouldn't it be nice if Julie would drop dead, too? But anyway, it was back in high school that I decided that the stage was for me.

You too? Yeah, I guess that's a pretty common thing to happen. Yeah, lots of people have dreams, but we're going to make it! Next stop, Hollywood! Right, Dolly!?

[Listens.]

Yeah, that's true. Film and legitimate theater are two different worlds, I know. But acting's acting. That's what I always say. I mean, maybe they don't care about Shakespeare in Hollywood -- I mean, unless you get very, very lucky. Still, it's important to get known. And that's what we're doing!

And, like I say, this is such a good experience for me. Yeah, so professional. Yeah, Sonny is really, really straight. But that's cool with me. It doesn't bother me that he won't let anybody crack a beer in the studio and that you better not show up with liquor on your breath. That's -- actually -- good for me. There was a time when I might have resented that, but now I'm so glad to be a part of a professional production.

[Breaking glass is heard offstage and lights dim rapidly.]

Voice: [Loudly:] This is not your future, Liz.

L: Not my future? What does he mean, not my future?[Sobs.] But why? WHY can't it be my future? That's ME. That's where I BELONG. On stage. It's such FUN.

V: You won't let yourself have this future.L: What do you mean? . . . Oh, I think I know . . . I'm no good. God is really mad at me.

V: You must find another way if you want your dreams to come true.

L: What other way?

V: Let me be you and you will be me.

[Pause.]

L: I mean, it's hard for me to pray anymore.

I mean, I believe in God and Jesus. But I've been so fucked up -- I mean, uh, bad -- that I'm just a total mess.

V: We won't hold it against you, Liz. You'll see.

***endscene***

SCENE 11

[We're back in Scene 1 version of Liz's room. She's smoking.]

Liz: Boy, that rehab was a trip! I don't ever want to have to go through that again! They tried to tell me I'm an alcoholic. So I got a little fucked up. Shit happens. I'll tell you what I O.D.'d on: Too much happy horseshit from those counselors.

Well, I bought myself a present to celebrate getting the effin hell out of that place. [Pulls vodka bottle from her bag.] I think I'll do it up right. I'll actually use a glass! [Laughs.] Then Tammy Sue 'n' me 'n' her new boyfriend are going out. He's got money. PARTY TIME!

[Searches around a bit.]

I thought I had a glass here somewhere . . . Oh well . . . [begins to tilt bottle to lips but halts.]

Liz and Voice (simultaneously): Liz, if you don't put down that drink, nothing good is going to happen. You're going to die.

[Slowly puts down bottle.]

Maybe I'd better call Cindy. She says she used to be like me. But now she goes to these meetings. I guess it can't hurt to go, even if I'm not really an alcoholic.

***endscene***

[Set remains same. Scene opens with phone ringing.]

L: It's Joe! Thank God! I thought he'd never call.

[Approaches phone tentatively, then snatches phone vigorously.]

Hello! . . . Oh, hi Alice. Well, actually, I'm glad you called. How are you doing?

You want to get clean and sober? Well, I have 38 days -- including 10 since I left rehab. If I can do it, I'm sure you can, too. And neither of us wants to end up like Heather. Tell you what, why don't we go to a meeting together tonight? Yeah, a bunch of people staying sober or trying to get that way.

They're not so bad. Can you throw away your pot and pour out your liquor and beer? It's better to show up sober, if you can.

[Liz takes note of her bottle.]

Hold on a sec, Allie. I'll be right back.

[Liz takes bottle offstage; a toilet is heard flushing and she returns without the bottle.]

Allie? Listen. There's a bunch of women you can talk to. You don't have to worry if the state took your license. I'll take you around for a while. It'll be OK.

[Pause.]

Oh, you're so welcome. Hey, I'm glad you called. Really! Yeah. See ya.

[Hangs up and, as lights dim, Liz sings to herself. Pick a number suited to the actress.]

***endplay***

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