Friday, September 10, 2004
“News organizations should not mix with political campaigns. Even opinionated commentators like myself must refrain from actively helping someone get elected. That would be an abuse of my power. News agencies should not ally with politicians in any way. That’s what happens in totalitarian countries.“ - Bill O'Reilly, September 8, 2004
No, he wasn’t talking about Fox; He actually was referring to CNN!
And just what are you doing to mark National Preparedness Month? Learn more from Tom Ridge at http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=3991
Health Care: Insurance Premiums up more than 11% ...amongst the many markers of a failed health care system. Also:.
The cumulative effect of rising health care costs is taking a toll on workers: There are at least 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than there were in 2001, according to the survey of 3,017 companies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=2&u=/ap/20040909/ap_on_re_us/health_care_costs
What’s Happening, Iran
UK sets Iran deadline to end nuclear bomb work. The Guardian reports on European efforts to deal with Iran’s development of a nuclear capacity.
The British government yesterday set a November ultimatum for Iran to suspend all activities linked to production of a nuclear bomb - a deadline that effectively marks the failure of more than a year of negotiations between Tehran and the European troika of Britain, France and Germany.
Refusal by Iran to comply would produce a new Middle East crisis in which the issue would almost certainly be referred to the United Nations security council, which could opt for punitive action.
Although the deadline is designed to pile pressure on Iran, the early signs from Tehran are that the theocratic regime is unwilling to comply unconditionally and that it is seeking major concessions from the west in return, including a trade agreement and transfer of civil nuclear technology. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1300271,00.html
What’s Happening, Russia: Pre-emptive Doctrine Endorsed
A top Russian general has warned Russia could launch preemptive strikes on terror bases anywhere in the world as a $15m bounty was placed on the heads of two top Chechen rebels involved in last week's deadly school siege. "We will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region" in the world, Russian Chief of Staff General Yury Baluyevsky said outside a meeting with US General James Jones, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe.
Baluyevsky noted that the doctrine of preventive military action against terror targets had been spelled out publicly before and said such steps were only an "extreme measure" that did not include use of nuclear force.
His remarks nonetheless reflected a hardening mood in Moscow a day after a television network aired video footage of scared children and parents sitting in the school gym in southern Beslan as masked militants rigged bombs over their heads. http://www.news.com.au/common/printpage/0,6093,10707990,00.html
Bush, Sharon, Putin: Allied Against Islamic Terrorism?
The always thoughtful Naomi Klein explains
Let me be absolutely clear: by Likudisation I do not mean that key members of the Bush administration are working for the interests of Israel at the expense of US interests. What I mean is that on September 11, George Bush went looking for a political philosophy to guide him in his role as "war president". He found that philosophy in the Likud doctrine, handed to him ready-made by the ardent Likudniks ensconced in the White House. In the three years since, the Bush White House has applied this logic with chilling consistency to its global war on terror - complete with the pathologising of the "Muslim mind". It was the guiding philosophy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and may well extend to Iran and Syria. It's not simply that Bush sees America's role as protecting Israel from a hostile Arab world. It's that he has cast the US in the same role in which Israel casts itself, facing the same threat. In this narrative, the US is fighting a never-ending battle for its survival against irrational forces that seek its total extermination.
And now the Likudisation narrative has spread to Russia. In that same meeting with journalists, Putin made it clear he sees the drive for Chechen independence as the spearhead of a strategy by Chechen Islamists, helped by foreign fundamentalists, to undermine Russia by stirring up its Muslim population. http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5012729-103677,00.html
What’s Happening, Indonesia:
The bombing there outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta is reported to be the work of Malaysian Azahari Husin, dubbed the “Demolition Man” by local papers, suspected of being Jemaah Islamiah’s top bomb maker. The Australian government issued a statement that it was sure that the bombing had nothing to do with its support of the Iraq.
Bill Moyers’ NOW on 9/11
The program has but 2 months left, then it goes to ½ hour and right-wing stuff moves in. So, treasure the remaining episodes.
This one- in Greater Boston Friday at 8, Sunday at 11AM and 6PM- addresses 9/11- the lack of serious planning and preparation for a terrorist attack and then the panicky, counter-productive reaction to the attack. The report will at least mention some of the damning (and rarely underscored) points of the 9/11 Commission- that Cheney ordered the shoot-down of planes without talking to Bush, that Rumsfeld was out of the loop, that planes were belatedly scrambled, but weren’t sure what they were doing (including one pilot who thought he was responding to a cruise missile attack from Russia.) Condi Rice will be shown to be the incompetent security chief that she’s been.
“We’re attacking them there so we won’t have to fight them here.”
That’s the Bush line of the last two weeks. As with so many others, it might be effective, but it’s wildly off the mark, as our attacks “there” motivate- and recruit- radical Islamists to attack us wherever. Similar sentiments come from one Ivan Eland.
The continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan has inflamed radical Islamic passions all over the world—bringing in money and recruits—and could lead Islamists to further attack the U.S. homeland. Al Qaeda has been more active since September 11 than it was beforehand. Al Qaeda could very well try to inflict as much pain on the United States as the Chechens recently did on the Russians. What happened in Russia should be a warning to the United States.
In sum, although savage attacks against civilians should never be condoned, the harsh reality is that Russia, Israel, and the United States must expect further attempts by Islamist terrorists to attack their soil until the underlying cause of the terrorism is removed. That underlying cause is “infidel” meddling in and occupation of Islamic lands. http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1360
Kerry:
Trails in polls ranging from 2 to 9 points, with some outliers. He can win, but only if he has a steady strong message- if he consistently and repetitively attacks the failures of the Bush-Cheney group, especially targeting Bush as a failure in the so-called ‘war on terror’, and how they have consistently mislead us, deceived us, lied to us. Paul Krugman, forever a blunt truth-teller, addresses the latter point.
It's the dishonesty, stupid. The real issue in the National Guard story isn't what George W. Bush did three decades ago. It's the recent pattern of lies: his assertions that he fulfilled his obligations when he obviously didn't, the White House's repeated claims that it had released all of the relevant documents when it hadn't.
It's the same pattern of dishonesty, this time involving personal matters that the public can easily understand, that some of us have long seen on policy issues, from global warming to the war in Iraq. On budget matters, which is where I came in, serious analysts now take administration dishonesty for granted. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/10/opinion/10krugman.html?hp
No-Showing the National Guard: The Usual Penalty
Writes one Tom Moore of Hurricane, West Virginia:
After seeing the latest info on Shrub's guard service I just have to comment. I was in the WV Air National Guard in the early 70's. At the same time Shrub was pulling his no show performance, we had a young enlisted man who didn't show up for drills for about eight months. He was arrested, handcuffed and escorted to base by Army MP's. Then they court marshalled him, activated him and transferred him to the Army for the rest of his enlistment. I guess it pays to have political connections. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/
Election Year and The Environment:
Kerry’s record is vastly superior to Bush, the issue is important and should be a winner. But, he says little. Why? Undoubtedly, Kerry dares not risk offending the very powerful fossil fuel interests. He is especially cognizant of the coal industry and possibilities of winning West Virginia, and thus talks up the oxymoron “clean coal”.
There’s also the failures of the press- which in part reflect the dumbing-down of the public- in ignoring the issue. Robert Kennedy, Jr, environmentalist, addresses the press’s failings.
"The press won't cover climate change; It's not fast-breaking. They will cover security issues. You have to frame an issue in terms of security…
During the Gore campaign, people were complaining that he wasn't talking about the environment. But I talked to the Gore campaign and they said, 'We're talking ourselves blue in the face about it. It has no traction in the press.' They want to cover the political battle -- the red states vs. the blue states. And if you look, that's what they're covering now.
"Kerry's basically reduced to fighting a battle of platitudes because that's the only thing the American press now understands. The entire White House press corps should all drink poison Kool-Aid. That's the only way that they could bring dignity and integrity back to journalism. They are not journalists; they are stenographers for White House press flacks." http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/09/10/kerry/index.html
Political Effectiveness: To Demonstrate, or Not to Demonstrate?
How to be politically effective? I have weighed in on this at various times. Based on the sense that these are extraordinary times, I’ve argued that we need to move out of our comfort zones, doing only what’s familiar, that comes easily. We know that middle aged folk are terribly familiar with demonstrations; they are winsomely social and terribly familiar. But, are they effective? Are they the best use of our time. I have long had my strong doubts. Here, Matt Taibbi of the NY Press registers his similar opinion.
There was a time when mass protests were enough to cause Johnson to give up the Oval Office and cause Richard Nixon to spend his nights staring out his window in panic. No more. We have a different media now, different and more sophisticated law-enforcement techniques and, most importantly, a different brand of protestor.
Protests can now be ignored because our media has learned how to dismiss them, because our police know how to contain them, and because our leaders now know that once a protest is peacefully held and concluded, the protestors simply go home and sit on their asses until the next protest or the next election. They are not going to go home and bomb draft offices, take over campuses, riot in the streets. Instead, although there are many earnest, involved political activists among them, the majority will simply go back to their lives, surf the net and wait for the ballot. Which to our leaders means that, in most cases, if you allow a protest to happen… Nothing happens. http://www.nypress.com/print.cfm?content_id=11002
Speaking of Efficiency and Effectiveness: Calling Talk Radio
Some of you know of my enthusiasm about calling conservative Talk Radio. It’s hard to over-praise the efficiency and power of the method, having hundreds of thousands of listeners hear progressive points effectively presented in a forum usually dominated by right-wing views.
Talk Radio is an effective grass roots tool that can be used by those willing to challenge the reigning dogma and to inspire people to do something. It is also very efficient because it reaches a very large audience.
More at http://www.fairnessintaxes.org/pages/talkradio.html
Let me know if you’re interested. It’s great fun, as well.
"During the 2000 campaign, when Bush said he was against nation building, I didn't realize he meant only our nation." – Al Franken
-R
No, he wasn’t talking about Fox; He actually was referring to CNN!
And just what are you doing to mark National Preparedness Month? Learn more from Tom Ridge at http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=3991
Health Care: Insurance Premiums up more than 11% ...amongst the many markers of a failed health care system. Also:.
The cumulative effect of rising health care costs is taking a toll on workers: There are at least 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than there were in 2001, according to the survey of 3,017 companies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=2&u=/ap/20040909/ap_on_re_us/health_care_costs
What’s Happening, Iran
UK sets Iran deadline to end nuclear bomb work. The Guardian reports on European efforts to deal with Iran’s development of a nuclear capacity.
The British government yesterday set a November ultimatum for Iran to suspend all activities linked to production of a nuclear bomb - a deadline that effectively marks the failure of more than a year of negotiations between Tehran and the European troika of Britain, France and Germany.
Refusal by Iran to comply would produce a new Middle East crisis in which the issue would almost certainly be referred to the United Nations security council, which could opt for punitive action.
Although the deadline is designed to pile pressure on Iran, the early signs from Tehran are that the theocratic regime is unwilling to comply unconditionally and that it is seeking major concessions from the west in return, including a trade agreement and transfer of civil nuclear technology. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1300271,00.html
What’s Happening, Russia: Pre-emptive Doctrine Endorsed
A top Russian general has warned Russia could launch preemptive strikes on terror bases anywhere in the world as a $15m bounty was placed on the heads of two top Chechen rebels involved in last week's deadly school siege. "We will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region" in the world, Russian Chief of Staff General Yury Baluyevsky said outside a meeting with US General James Jones, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe.
Baluyevsky noted that the doctrine of preventive military action against terror targets had been spelled out publicly before and said such steps were only an "extreme measure" that did not include use of nuclear force.
His remarks nonetheless reflected a hardening mood in Moscow a day after a television network aired video footage of scared children and parents sitting in the school gym in southern Beslan as masked militants rigged bombs over their heads. http://www.news.com.au/common/printpage/0,6093,10707990,00.html
Bush, Sharon, Putin: Allied Against Islamic Terrorism?
The always thoughtful Naomi Klein explains
Let me be absolutely clear: by Likudisation I do not mean that key members of the Bush administration are working for the interests of Israel at the expense of US interests. What I mean is that on September 11, George Bush went looking for a political philosophy to guide him in his role as "war president". He found that philosophy in the Likud doctrine, handed to him ready-made by the ardent Likudniks ensconced in the White House. In the three years since, the Bush White House has applied this logic with chilling consistency to its global war on terror - complete with the pathologising of the "Muslim mind". It was the guiding philosophy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and may well extend to Iran and Syria. It's not simply that Bush sees America's role as protecting Israel from a hostile Arab world. It's that he has cast the US in the same role in which Israel casts itself, facing the same threat. In this narrative, the US is fighting a never-ending battle for its survival against irrational forces that seek its total extermination.
And now the Likudisation narrative has spread to Russia. In that same meeting with journalists, Putin made it clear he sees the drive for Chechen independence as the spearhead of a strategy by Chechen Islamists, helped by foreign fundamentalists, to undermine Russia by stirring up its Muslim population. http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5012729-103677,00.html
What’s Happening, Indonesia:
The bombing there outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta is reported to be the work of Malaysian Azahari Husin, dubbed the “Demolition Man” by local papers, suspected of being Jemaah Islamiah’s top bomb maker. The Australian government issued a statement that it was sure that the bombing had nothing to do with its support of the Iraq.
Bill Moyers’ NOW on 9/11
The program has but 2 months left, then it goes to ½ hour and right-wing stuff moves in. So, treasure the remaining episodes.
This one- in Greater Boston Friday at 8, Sunday at 11AM and 6PM- addresses 9/11- the lack of serious planning and preparation for a terrorist attack and then the panicky, counter-productive reaction to the attack. The report will at least mention some of the damning (and rarely underscored) points of the 9/11 Commission- that Cheney ordered the shoot-down of planes without talking to Bush, that Rumsfeld was out of the loop, that planes were belatedly scrambled, but weren’t sure what they were doing (including one pilot who thought he was responding to a cruise missile attack from Russia.) Condi Rice will be shown to be the incompetent security chief that she’s been.
“We’re attacking them there so we won’t have to fight them here.”
That’s the Bush line of the last two weeks. As with so many others, it might be effective, but it’s wildly off the mark, as our attacks “there” motivate- and recruit- radical Islamists to attack us wherever. Similar sentiments come from one Ivan Eland.
The continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan has inflamed radical Islamic passions all over the world—bringing in money and recruits—and could lead Islamists to further attack the U.S. homeland. Al Qaeda has been more active since September 11 than it was beforehand. Al Qaeda could very well try to inflict as much pain on the United States as the Chechens recently did on the Russians. What happened in Russia should be a warning to the United States.
In sum, although savage attacks against civilians should never be condoned, the harsh reality is that Russia, Israel, and the United States must expect further attempts by Islamist terrorists to attack their soil until the underlying cause of the terrorism is removed. That underlying cause is “infidel” meddling in and occupation of Islamic lands. http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1360
Kerry:
Trails in polls ranging from 2 to 9 points, with some outliers. He can win, but only if he has a steady strong message- if he consistently and repetitively attacks the failures of the Bush-Cheney group, especially targeting Bush as a failure in the so-called ‘war on terror’, and how they have consistently mislead us, deceived us, lied to us. Paul Krugman, forever a blunt truth-teller, addresses the latter point.
It's the dishonesty, stupid. The real issue in the National Guard story isn't what George W. Bush did three decades ago. It's the recent pattern of lies: his assertions that he fulfilled his obligations when he obviously didn't, the White House's repeated claims that it had released all of the relevant documents when it hadn't.
It's the same pattern of dishonesty, this time involving personal matters that the public can easily understand, that some of us have long seen on policy issues, from global warming to the war in Iraq. On budget matters, which is where I came in, serious analysts now take administration dishonesty for granted. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/10/opinion/10krugman.html?hp
No-Showing the National Guard: The Usual Penalty
Writes one Tom Moore of Hurricane, West Virginia:
After seeing the latest info on Shrub's guard service I just have to comment. I was in the WV Air National Guard in the early 70's. At the same time Shrub was pulling his no show performance, we had a young enlisted man who didn't show up for drills for about eight months. He was arrested, handcuffed and escorted to base by Army MP's. Then they court marshalled him, activated him and transferred him to the Army for the rest of his enlistment. I guess it pays to have political connections. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/
Election Year and The Environment:
Kerry’s record is vastly superior to Bush, the issue is important and should be a winner. But, he says little. Why? Undoubtedly, Kerry dares not risk offending the very powerful fossil fuel interests. He is especially cognizant of the coal industry and possibilities of winning West Virginia, and thus talks up the oxymoron “clean coal”.
There’s also the failures of the press- which in part reflect the dumbing-down of the public- in ignoring the issue. Robert Kennedy, Jr, environmentalist, addresses the press’s failings.
"The press won't cover climate change; It's not fast-breaking. They will cover security issues. You have to frame an issue in terms of security…
During the Gore campaign, people were complaining that he wasn't talking about the environment. But I talked to the Gore campaign and they said, 'We're talking ourselves blue in the face about it. It has no traction in the press.' They want to cover the political battle -- the red states vs. the blue states. And if you look, that's what they're covering now.
"Kerry's basically reduced to fighting a battle of platitudes because that's the only thing the American press now understands. The entire White House press corps should all drink poison Kool-Aid. That's the only way that they could bring dignity and integrity back to journalism. They are not journalists; they are stenographers for White House press flacks." http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/09/10/kerry/index.html
Political Effectiveness: To Demonstrate, or Not to Demonstrate?
How to be politically effective? I have weighed in on this at various times. Based on the sense that these are extraordinary times, I’ve argued that we need to move out of our comfort zones, doing only what’s familiar, that comes easily. We know that middle aged folk are terribly familiar with demonstrations; they are winsomely social and terribly familiar. But, are they effective? Are they the best use of our time. I have long had my strong doubts. Here, Matt Taibbi of the NY Press registers his similar opinion.
There was a time when mass protests were enough to cause Johnson to give up the Oval Office and cause Richard Nixon to spend his nights staring out his window in panic. No more. We have a different media now, different and more sophisticated law-enforcement techniques and, most importantly, a different brand of protestor.
Protests can now be ignored because our media has learned how to dismiss them, because our police know how to contain them, and because our leaders now know that once a protest is peacefully held and concluded, the protestors simply go home and sit on their asses until the next protest or the next election. They are not going to go home and bomb draft offices, take over campuses, riot in the streets. Instead, although there are many earnest, involved political activists among them, the majority will simply go back to their lives, surf the net and wait for the ballot. Which to our leaders means that, in most cases, if you allow a protest to happen… Nothing happens. http://www.nypress.com/print.cfm?content_id=11002
Speaking of Efficiency and Effectiveness: Calling Talk Radio
Some of you know of my enthusiasm about calling conservative Talk Radio. It’s hard to over-praise the efficiency and power of the method, having hundreds of thousands of listeners hear progressive points effectively presented in a forum usually dominated by right-wing views.
Talk Radio is an effective grass roots tool that can be used by those willing to challenge the reigning dogma and to inspire people to do something. It is also very efficient because it reaches a very large audience.
More at http://www.fairnessintaxes.org/pages/talkradio.html
Let me know if you’re interested. It’s great fun, as well.
"During the 2000 campaign, when Bush said he was against nation building, I didn't realize he meant only our nation." – Al Franken
-R
