America Unplugged

Before The Last Elections...

2007-02-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

From a Sept. 20, 2006 group letter:

Dear Fellow "Traitors,"

Rigged elections on the horizon, Team Bush running us into the ground, and the Rapture coming soon. Either accept your place in Jesusland or take a gander at these books:

Greg Palast is America's best investigative political journalist, outside of the New Yorker's Seymour Hersch. He broke most of the biggest stories about the electoral fraud in Florida in 2000. He is also a very entertaining gonzo-ish read. This just out:

Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf? China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War
by Greg Palast

And I just finished this book, a truly enlightening, fascinating and disturbing read, written by a former Republican strategist:

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century
by Kevin Phillips

Spread the dissent.

Hurricane Katrina & The Republican Perfect Storm

2005-09-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

A friend from another country wrote me last week about Hurricane Katrina's aftermath and asked, "What the hell is going on there? It looks like Haiti." What happened is that we have been hit by a Bush Tsunami and a Republican Perfect Storm. The rubes who elected George W. Bubble-Boy and the current Congress are seeing on TV what happens when government becomes an arm of big business and lobbyists write our legislation.

To begin with, the poor are getting poorer, and the rich richer. In addition, our national infrastructure has been neglected, from bridges and dams and hospitals across the country to the extensive Louisiana levee system. Our president has spent hundreds of billions on a bogus war in Iraq, yet reduced funding for FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), which we rely on to deal with catastrophes caused by either nature or terrorists. "The agency's core budget, which includes disaster preparedness and mitigation, has been cut each year since it was absorbed by the Homeland Security Department in 2003," write Peter Gosselin and Alan Miller on page 1 of yesterday's Los Angeles Times. In recent years, FEMA has suffered "the elimination or reduction of key programs and an exodus of experienced staffers." To top it off, the agency is headed by a Bush political appointee, Michael Brown, who was a lawyer and overseer of horse-show judges before joining FEMA. All of these factors -- increased poverty, vulnerable levees, and impaired emergency response -- contributed to the post-Katrina misery and high death toll.

FEMA's near- total paralysis in the days following Hurricane Katrina's landfall is one of many dire consequences of Bush regime policies. Elsewhere, some two thousand Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died to date in a senseless war based on lies and misinformation (Bush still insists on calling it part of the "War on Terror"). We are running up a record-breaking national debt and trade deficit. More and more high-paying jobs are being outsourced to other countries. And far too many Americans lack affordable health care. Among other problems.

Our opportunistic president, George W. Bush, will try to pin the blame on others for the tragedy that has struck New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He will smirk and swagger, act folksy and concerned, and collect photo-ops of himself hugging victims. The latter will be replayed over and over on television, especially on Fox. He will attempt to co-opt national outrage and turn the whole sad situation to his advantage. In addition, we will probably see multi-billion-dollar, post-hurricane repair projects handed over without bidding to the administration's favored supporters, like Halliburton* and Bechtel (which have thrived in Iraq). Certainly Bush will admit no personal failure and express no guilt. Never back down. Never admit you were wrong. Never mind that the national-security president has made the nation less secure. "We have been abandoned by our own country," said Aaron Broussard, president of battered Jefferson Parish in Lousiana, in another Sept. 5th L.A. Times article. The Gulf Coast is not alone in that regard.

Sources:
"Why FEMA Was Missing In Action" (Los Angeles Times, page 1, Sept. 5, 2005).
"Official Death Toll Starts To Mount" (Los Angeles Times, page 1, Sept. 5, 2005).
"Rebuilding Iraq: the Contractors," http://www.opensecrets.org/news/rebuilding_iraq/index.asp
* Vice President Dick Cheney headed Halliburton for five years before becoming George W. Bush's running mate in 2000.

If Watergate Happened Now

2005-06-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

Of interest: Watergate is in the news, because of the recent revelation that the FBI's no. 2 man, Mark Felt, was the mysterious "Deep Throat" source for Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein during their investigations. The Watergate scandal forced Richard Nixon to resign from the presidency in 1974. In a June 13, 2005 Newsweek article, "If Watergate Happened Now," Jonathan Alter argues that in the current era, no one would have gone to jail and Nixon would have completed his second term. Alter concocts a highly believable scenario that is both hilarious and chilling. In his "what if" piece, he writes, "Those of who hoped it would end differently knew we were in trouble when former Nixon media adviser Roger Ailes banned the word 'Watergate' from Fox News's coverage and went with the logo 'Assault on the Presidency' instead. By that time, the American people figured both sides were just spinning, and a tie always goes to the incumbent.....and because both houses of Congress are controlled by the GOP, there were no 'Watergate' hearings to keep the probe going..."

The Majority Speaks?

2005-04-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

In my previous blog, I asked, “How can America be so ignorant?” Just how could we re-elect someone of the caliber of President Bush? Two great comments about my blog were posted by Ricardo and ajones. Then there was this thoughtful rejoinder from a fellow blogger: Remember 2 things, first of all you express ONLY your opinion, you can do that because of where you live. Second the majority of the country thinks you're wrong, so, maybe you are. :o)

Such sentiments illustrate part of the problem. Nothing is said about any of my points. There is no debate or useful information added. The first sentence is a patriotic platitude that has nothing to do with what I wrote. And that is part of what contributes to the mental obesity that has taken over the United States. Instead of doing research, discussing facts and engaging in intelligent dialogues, we have a lot of people chanting slogans, buzzwords and sound bites. We have windbags like Rush Limbaugh and harpies like Ann Coulter spreading misinformation to a populace that needs intelligent news and opinion, rather than jingoistic blather.

Regarding the blogger’s second statement, maybe he’s right. The majority of the country did think I was wrong, assuming that no electoral fraud took place in 2004 in Ohio. For another view, see Greg Palast’s investigative reporting (see link below). L.A.-born Palast broke the story of the 2000 electoral fraud in Florida, is a reporter for England’s Observer, and does special reports for the BBC. Palast has doubts about the legitimacy of the '04 results.

If the majority of American voters did indeed pick Bush in 2004, does that mean they would disagree with my negative assessment of our 43rd commander-in-chief? Would it mean that Bush is not a trigger-happy cowboy, an illiterate ignoramus, a Big Energy puppet, an obstinate fool, a master or victim of Orwellian "doublethink" (*), a born-again opportunist, a short-sighted buffoon who is piling up debt and destroying America’s social safety nets, and a reckless idiot who is making the world a more dangerous place?

Maybe they would disagree with me....some unconfirmed number of them, anyway. Are those who support Bush "right" in their opinions? Are they even aware of what he's really doing? Well, more on that later. In the meantime, I will take comfort in the fact that almost half of the country agrees with me, along with a couple hundred million people overseas.

Notes:
*War Is Peace by Timothy Snyder (The Prospect, November 2004)
Orwellian doublethink & the Bush administration. Thanks to Jeff for giving me a copy of the article.

Greg Palast on the 2004 Presidential Election
What did really happen in Ohio and New Mexico?

American Ignorance & The Rove Network

2005-02-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

How can Americans be so ignorant? The world is stunned, baffled, flummoxed. How could we support an invasion of Iraq that was so obviously based on lies, and how could we re-elect a reckless, uneducated fool like George W. Bush, who has been an ill wind for this country and for about six billion other people?

It doesn’t help that the majority of Americans probably can’t locate Louisiana in a geography quiz, let alone Lebanon or Luxembourg. We don’t know much about history or culture or economics. We don’t have a “world view,” as that would imply we sometimes look at the world. We don’t even really possess an “American view.” John Q. Public is not well-informed, even about issues in his own backyard.

Blame it on a lackluster educational system. And our “America First” attitude. Another problem is “garbage in, garbage out” as far as information goes. Yes, we do have access to relatively “fair and balanced” news sources (this of course excludes Fox News, a propaganda outlet that should be renamed the Karl Rove Network). Almost anyone here can watch The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, the BBC World News, and Charlie Rose on PBS for free, or listen to NPR at no cost on the radio.

Do most Americans avail themselves of news sources with rigorous journalistic standards? Nah.......most don’t even read newspapers. They get their current events driving in their cars and listening to right-wing radio blowhards like Rush Limbaugh. They absorb the day’s punchlines in the monologues of talk-show hosts like Jay Leno and David Letterman. Some rely on their local television stations, which may yield a minute or two of global coverage every evening.

Then there are the Big Four national networks: ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN (we won’t even mention Fox). Limbaugh & others have cleverly convinced half of America that network news is run by the “liberal elite” and can’t be trusted. That goes for news magazines like Time and Newsweek, as well. Of course, many in the Left see these same programs or publications as tools of corporate America. I think the main problem is that so many reporters, editors and producers have lost their investigative cojones and are afraid of offending the administration, risking FCC penalties, or losing that all-important “access” to the White House. Big Media was an administration mouthpiece during the buildup to the Iraq War. When we most needed dissenting opinion, our leading reporters were fully “embedded” with Team Bush.

Meanwhile, the whole world was watching, as protesters used to chant during the Vietnam War. In Europe, Latin America, Asia and elsewhere, they were seeing a different war. In America, we were viewing “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” which resembled a terribly impressive video game hosted by familar journalistic faces -- like a helmeted Ted Koppel riding around in a tank. The rest of the planet was witnessing the grim, harsh reality of what was really happening. They saw civilians slaughtered by our “precision” bombing, neighborhoods turned into rubble, or hospitals looted while American troops secured what was important: oil facilities.

One of the most startling aspects of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was its inclusion of Iraq war footage that was so unlike what the networks had been feeding us. It certainly wasn't the message that Rumsfeld intended. It was a glimpse of what the rest of the world was allowed to see in 2003, but was withheld from the cradle of liberty and bastion of free speech.

Months after the war started, when it became clear the American public had been duped and that we were now in “Operation Iraqi Quagmire,” the mainstream media began to criticize the administration and to pick apart the statements of Rumsfeld, among others. Yet, they have never gone as far as they should have in questioning the motives and actions of Team Bush. And coverage remains narrowly "American." To this day, CNN never speaks of how many civilians have been killed or injured during the war. The American military doesn’t count dead Iraqis. ABC and the others don’t keep a running count. It doesn’t seem to matter. One group that does keep track is Iraq Body Count, which estimates that a minimum of 15,900 Iraqi civilians have been killed by our military intervention to date.

In the days after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke, there was an upsurge in stories on American television (especially Fox) showing American soldiers being nice to Iraqi children and small animals. No kidding. This is public relations disguised as journalism. Is that a bad thing? Well, actually it is. We need reporters, not cheerleaders. We need the truth, not propaganda. We need to hear what's wrong and what's really going on. In this sense, bad news is good news. Good news in the sense that we are fully informed.

Right-wing commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter believe that criticism of our government or military is akin to “treason” (of course, to do so when Clinton was involved in Sarajevo or Kosovo was okay). Or at the very least it is "negativism" or "obstructionism." Perhaps they also equate ignorance with patriotism. Yet, a free press and a critical attitude towards the government are essential to a functioning democracy. And right now our democracy is severely dysfunctional.

When the “Fourth Estate” is asleep at the wheel, it is easy for politicians to “frame” the issues with presidential press releases and hundreds of millions of dollars poured into direct-mail campaigns and television ads. This is a recipe for disaster, and we are living this disaster right now. Americans are so ignorant that they don’t realize how much damage their country is wreaking in the world. Most don’t have a clue as to how deeply the USA is reviled by people in other lands. And they don’t seem to grasp that Team Bush is not acting in their best interests on the home front.

Where can Americans go to get a sense of what is really happening in Iraq and in their own country? In The New Yorker magazine, Seymour Hersh tells it like it is (and is regularly attacked by the administration for doing so). Greg Palast, who broke the 2000 Florida election scandal story, contributes to England's The Observer. PBS-TV’s Charlie Rose presents divergent opinions on his show, from Noam Chomsky to Ralph Reed. And some of America's most acute coverage of current events comes from Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.

There is also the BBC, of course. If you speak a second language, try satellite TV or online media for a broader perspective (I often watch the news on Brazil's TV Globo). And in France, Reseau Voltaire is a site devoted to exploring “parallel chronicles” of the same events in Iraq.

Can America wake up? Can it shake off the evil spell of the president's political strategist, Karl Rove? Can it see through the “plain talk” of George W. Bush? Can it learn to navigate the mendacity of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice? The whole world is watching. In disbelief.

Links:
The RS Blog: Tim Dickinson on Karl Rove
Jon Stewart Takes On Crossfire
Greg Palast
Politics & Dissent Books (Culture Planet)
Michael Moore DVDs & Books (Culture Planet)
Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them

After Iran, Maybe California?

2005-01-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

Seymour Hersh, who writes for "The New Yorker magazine" and broke the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, has scored another journalistic scoop regarding the Bush administration, and they are furious about it.

"The Bush administration has been carrying out secret reconnaissance missions to learn about nuclear, chemical and missile sites in Iran in preparation for possible airstrikes there, journalist Seymour Hersh has written," says a CNN report. "Hersh said U.S. officials were involved in "extensive planning" for a possible attack....The goal is to identify and isolate three dozen, and perhaps more, such targets that could be destroyed by precision strikes and short-term commando raids." The issue, dated January 24, 2005, hit the newsstands today.

The Bush administration, of course, has responded to Hersh's story by vigorously attacking his credibility without actually denying his main points. Rumors that Syria will be the next bombing target, followed by select "Blue States," have not been confirmed.

Links
The CNN story
The ABC News story
Seymour Hersh's Chain Of Command

America Unplugged Manifesto

2005-01-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

America Unplugged is a collection of my rants, chants & riffs about American culture and its place in the world. In my opinion, our country is unplugged from the world, and most Americans are unplugged from reality. Ignorance is rampant. To question is unpatriotic; the well-educated are "elitist," and liberals are akin to traitors, at least according to some. What's next: re-education camps led by Ronald McDonald and Rush Limbaugh? Okay, you get the drift of this blog. With commentary and satire, I'll be talking about culture and politics, what makes us American and what is unmaking us as a country.

Nixon's dog & Godard's non-bourgeois cinema

2005-01-15T19:43:00.000-08:00

I graduated from Duke University many moons ago, and received an email recently from the son of Dr. David Paletz, a professor there who teaches about politics and the media. Dr. Paletz, it seemed, was about to turn 70 and a request went out to some of his former students for remembrances to give him on his birthday. This is what I wrote, which I think is relevant to this blog:

"Whether I am watching La Dolce Vita or a campaign ad, I often think of the many lessons I learned in David Paletz’s classroom about politics and the media, most especially about how one’s emotions can be influenced in ways overt and covert: by a camera angle, the use of a tracking shot, the rhythm of an edit. The manipulations are obvious in a Michael Moore documentary or Nixon‘s 1952 "Checkers" speech, but more difficult to decipher in The Sorrow And The Pity. Dr. Paletz pulled back the curtain on media tricks and tutored us in the grammar of film. He helped us to make sense of everything from story choices for the evening news to the non-bourgeois cinema of Godard.

I am so glad now that I attended David’s class at Duke. At that time, he had a rather prickly reputation. My friends in the Freewater Film Society told me he was an inspiring professor and his class essential, but warned that Paletz could be contentious and intimidating. Maybe it was around this time that he discovered the therapeutic benefits of Singin’ In The Rain, as from day one he was a relaxed, helpful and understanding teacher. Or perhaps he took a special liking to our group of students; I don't remember anyone being terrorized. Only his syllabus was truly frightening. It was as heavy as a hardbound copy of The Brothers Karamazov, and he admitted he didn’t expect us to read everything in there. Just most everything. His class stayed with me and I consider it the most enlightening one I had at Duke. I just wish a hundred million other Americans could have the privilege of studying with Dr. Paletz; we would have a media-wise nation and no doubt a much better government."