John McCain The Neo Con

A lot has happened since I started this piece which was be Part Two of a series focusing on the advisors of the candidates in both political Parties.   Since there are only two, yes two, Republican candidates left, and only one has any real relevancy in the race at this point, I decided to focus on John McCain who is the current media sweetheart and self proclaimed war hero.

One of the biggest misconceptions about McCain, thanks in part to a media that goes out of its way not to challenge the paradigm of the moment, is that he is the most “liberal” of all the Republican candidates   Even some Liberals have swallowed the Kool Aid on this one.  But looking at McCain’s proposed policies and the inside personalities that he surrounds himself with, it becomes painfully obvious that he is every bit the Neo Con that Bush is and maybe even more. In fact he has aligned himself with the likes of Paul Wolfowitz and other players in the Project for the New Century who support the remaking of the world in the image of the United States.
As reporter Robert Dreyfuss noted on”Democracy Now”, McCain wishes to form “The League Of Democracies” which would by-pass the United Nations when it comes to going to war with various countries and build a stronger front in NATO against Russia in Central Asia. This group would re-establish US unilateralism against his version of the “Axis of Evil” with what he calls, “Rogue State Roll-Back.”  This means targeting Governments which McCain sees as being hostile to the United States. The McCain plan would allow the US to overthrow these Governments and install those leaders that are sympathetic to the Neo Con agenda. The most often cited countries are Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria.  He is now looking to become increasingly more antagonistic towards those countries that challenge US dominance in the world, most notably, Russia and China.

In fact McCain has already called for the removal of Russia from the G8 along with inviting several former Soviet nations, like the Ukraine and Georgia into the governing body. Such a move would send a firestorm throughout Moscow. McCain said that he would forward the Bush plan of building a satellite missile systems in Poland and other Eastern European countries but he would not concern himself with Moscow. Such an act would strain the US relationship with Russia to the point that we find could ourselves in a no-win situation in some of the world’s problems including those throughout the Middle East and, equally important we could find ourselves in another arms race with Moscow.

Those who think that voting for John McCain is a vote against the neoconservative agenda,  should take a look at his advisers. The following is a detailed look at some of the men who shaped the ideas and plans that McCain the Neo Con is now pushing under the guise of “keeping out country save.”

On top of the list is Terry Nelson, a Bush-Cheney insider. According to the group Media Matters, Nelson has been linked to some perverse scandals surrounding the Republican Party in general and Tom Delay in particular.  Perhaps most infamous was campaign ad aimed at Rep. Harold Ford Jr, an African American candidate for Congress in Tennessee.  The ad closed with a white woman telling Ford to call her, an obvious attempt to incite rage from white conservative communities of Tennessee. Questions also surround Nelson’s involvement in a phone jamming operation in 2002 used to disrupt Democratic campaigns in New Hampshire.

Then there is William Kristol, ultra-conservative writer for the “Weekly Standard” and one of the architects of the neo-con think tank, falls in line with the rest of the cohorts in the far right wing media and political spin doctors, believe in American hegemony on a global scale. Shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union Kristol stood at forefront of the Republican radical fringe calling for the reshaping of the global politic to serve US interests, even at the expense of the international community.

Like Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and others, Kristol saw Iraq as a starting point for what has become the march for the US’s expanded empire.  He has long been promoting the idea in article after article in the Standard. In 1998 he signed onto a letter With Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld which urged the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. In the letter, the group floated the erroneous claim of Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction and his intent to use them against US interests.   They claimed that the Iraqi government could cause the largest crisis in Middle East since the end of the cold war, “We are writing to you because we are convinced that current American policy toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may soon face a threat in the Middle East more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold War…”  For the full contents of the letter go to http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm.
After Bill Clinton snubbed the request, the group sent a letter to Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, saying that the US should build and maintain a strong presence in the area. The letter can be viewed through the link. http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqletter1998.htm.  To their dismay Bill Clinton absolutely rejected the proposal to overthrow the man that George H.W. Bush put into power in 1963. The authors of PNAC had to wait a few more years before they got their man George W Bush.

Every time we hope that Henry Kissinger once and for all finally disappears into the great ether of horrid war criminals, he always seems to come back. Kissinger, certainly the least deserving of recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, is quietly doing what he does best inside the McCain camp. For those who know Kissinger’s history, there are far too many examples of war crimes connected to Richard Nixon’s right hand man to fit into one blog.   They range from his support for the invasions East Timor and Cambodia to the attempted cover up of the Mai Lai Massacre to the bloody ascent of Augusto Pinochet in Chile in the early 1970s.  Given this history one must really be worried about the possible war with Iran under a John McCain presidency.   Kissinger has never seen a war crime that he doesn’t support as long as it moves forward an agenda. Up until the late 1980s, he rationalized the US support for General Suharto with the excuse that it was necessary to “fight Communism”. Today he will most certainly use the generic tag of “the war on terrorism” when discussing any future violations of human rights.

While the great PR firm which calls itself the media has been transfixed on comments made by Barack Obama’s former pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright, there seems to be limited interest  in speeches made by controversial reverend and John McCain supporter John Hagee.  The Texas preacher is well known among the Catholic community. He is best known for calling the Roman Catholic church as the “great whore,” apostate church,” the “anti-Christ” and “a false cult system” that inspired Adolph Hitler to initiate the Holocaust.

Recently McCain was asked about the support he received from Hagee, during ABC’s news show, “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” Host Stephanopoulos asked McCain if it was a mistake to solicit and accept the endorsement of such a figure. At first, McCain said it was a mistake but seconds later contradicted himself by saying, that he is happy to have it. According to a report by Glen Greenwald of salon.com, Tim Russert had a chance to press the issue of the support but instead, seemed content with the kid gloves approach when dealing with the issue. This came after a show where Russert continued to weigh on Obama to denounce the support he received from the Reverend Louis Farrakhan, which Obama did.

John McCain has often praised Hagee as an honest man and was proud to receive his support. But lets keep in mind Hagee’s Catholic comments are actually one of the more benign statements he has made over the years. Here are some of Hagee’s Greatest Hits. On Terry Gross’s show on NPR, John Hagee stated that “All Muslims are killers and we can thus never negotiate with any of them.”

During the same interview, he claimed that  “God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin.” Then there is this little number, “The End Times Rapture is imminent and the U.S. Government must do what it can to hasten it, which at minimum requires a war with Iran and undying, absolute support for a unified Israel, including all Occupied Territories.”

So while Barack Obama has been forced to explain comments and connections to Wright, McCain can openly hug Hagee with no real in-depth questions from any of the major networks. But this has been the pattern of the media’s handling of John McCain; not only with Hagee but with all of his advisors.  Let one of the Democratic candidates slip up, however, and you’re guaranteed that gaffe is all you will hear for months afterwards.

But John McCain, as stated above, has become the media’s new darling, to the point where they are willing to sell McCain “the moderate” while McCain the Neo-Con furthers the Project For The New American Century’s radical agenda.

Until next time.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/02/28/hagee/index.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200612130001

http://www.counterpunch.org/leopold02192003.html

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http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/John_McCain_China.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/21/politics/main3958889.shtml

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a7GaNy_qwACo&refer=us

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/26/a_century_in_iraq_replacing_un

http://www.antiwar.com/bandow/?articleid=12559

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&domains=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.counterpunch.org&q=John+McCain%27s+Advisors&btnG=Search&sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.counterpunch.org

http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=Max+Boot&btnG=Google+Search

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/05/inner_circle_john_mccain.html

http://www.zpub.com/un/wanted-hkiss.html

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0611-03.htm

Race And The Obama Campaign

Perhaps it was a bit naïve for Barak Obama to believe that he could slide through the dirty game of American politics without the issue of race becoming a focus point on his campaign. Looking back several months now, it appeared that he had avoided discussing race on any real platform outside of touting the progress of the United States during the California Democratic debates. Instead he spoke of Uniting the United States after eight of divisive politics and pulling US forces out of Iraq, along with creating “Green Jobs” with the production of a renewable energy infrastructure, all issues that many White Americans consider safe. He even rode a wave of inspiration with those three words, “Yes We Can,” a campaign message that first started with current Obama Adviser David Axelrod during his own political run. His approach put him ahead of Hillary Clinton in most, if not all the polls, in the months of January and February and he was all but on his way to ending the race during the Ohio and Texas primaries. But this is American politics and to think for a second that the best in the game wouldn’t play the race card is more than a bit of a mistake

 

 

During his rise in the polls, several Karl Rove like tactics were already being too used to put questions into minds of the voters. The first rumor that started circulating around the web was that Obama was a Black Muslim, despite the fact that he had been going to the same church for the past years. The rumor stated that he gave up his mother’s religion and joined the nation of Islam. The aim was to stir the hornet’s nest of current US suspicion of Muslims in a fashion not so dissimilar to that of the American hatred towards the Japanese during War II or the Communists the cold war. Anyone who has followed politics for any amount of time could see that the situation was heading towards a, “oh no here we go again” scenario. Conservative talk show hosts, Bill O Reily of Fox and Glenn Beck even did their best not to disprove the message when the issue was brought up on their shows.

But the issue didn’t really hurt the support he was receiving even among white republicans to what was meant to be a Rovenian type of trick which fell flat on its face. The issue of race came up again during the South Carolina primaries when former president Bill Clinton dismissed Barak Obama’s victory in the state. Clinton remarked that Jessie Jackson also did well in South Carolina in the 1983 elections, but then went on to become a non-factor. Clinton has since back peddled from the remark stating that he took too much heat over it. However the aim of the message was clearly to entrap Obama in the race net. The remark actually back fired on the Clinton’s as Hillary’s numbers began to drop. Mr. Obama continued deliver the message of Unity which put him in front of both of his presidential rivals.

The latest attempt to lay the topic of race at the feet of Barak Obama was by former liberal icon Geraldine Ferraro. Ferraro, like Bill Clinton tried to dismiss the Obama rage by connecting his race to the sudden surge of his popularity. While the move only led to Ferraro’s resignation and more bitterness by the Obama people towards Hillary Clinton, It was the spiritual leader and close friend to the Obamas that forced the Illinois senator to go where he once tried to avoid, on the path of race. About a week after Ferraro’s statement, Pastor Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ gave a sermon where stated that the United States was built on bigotry and then went onto say three words that could amount to a bomb to the Obama campaign, “America God Dam.” From that point on it as been little more than damage control for the Barak camp. Any ties that Obama has with the preacher have become fatal. So it came as no surprise that it was time the for the presidential candidate gave a speech dealing with the issue of race. The surprise came when Obama refused to disown his friend Wright.

In the speech, Barak Obama recognized the racial divide between Whites and Blacks and he acknowledged the frustration and anger by both parties. Barak Obama warned the country that the anger over the issue is real. He then called for understanding and unity among all the races. It was in fact the important speech that he needed give if he has any chance to put the issue of race to sleep for the foreseeable future. The bad news however, while Obama might have tried to avoid the topic altogether, White America seems to want no part of it and now we may be seeing the unfortunate backlash with the decline in his numbers. Since the remarks by Wright and the speech itself, Hillary Clinton has regained the lead and some white supporters of his have turned to the Clinton camp.

The real question here has yet to be asked by the mainstream media, why is White America so turned off by the issue? The answer could very well be two fold. First, the US seems to be country of sweeping problems under the rug. Something like race is on top of that list. By not facing the racial divide, it allows some within white communities to believe that there is no longer inequality among non-whites in this country, despite numerous reports by the human rights commission to prove other wise. According to a report from United for a Fair Economy, on the present pace, it would take African Americans 594 years to close the economic gap. But lets make no mistake, the, to acknowledge the racial economic, health and education gap would mean that someone would have to take responsibility for what is commonly referred to as “sins of the father.” And in a society where tradition is more important than progression. Questioning ones ancestors is unacceptable.

The second reason for the rejection of the race issue could stem from the fact that many Whites find themselves slipping economically. At a time where  jobs that have long been held by the white community are no longer safe and are being sent overseas due to the disastrous economic policies like NAFTA and CAFTA, many of the Anglo population are more worried about the dying communities around around them which you can see in the South and the Mid-West.

Until next time.

 

http://www.groundhog.tv/apps/editor/staticplayer.jsp?clip=1206391763415.wmv

 

http://www.groundhog.tv/apps/editor/staticplayer.jsp?clip=1206391649115.wmv

 

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The Talk Of Change Is The Latest Scam

Now that the final hours of the greatest American tragedy, known as the Bush administration, is just around the corner, the call for change is permeating the political winds from both the Democratic and Republican parties and voters have signed on to those calls lock, stock and barrel. The desire for change among the US citizens is evident in impressive showings at this year primaries in both Iowa and New Hampshire and south Carolina along with the influx of new voters. Also apparent is that the hunger for change is leading many to vote blindly for those candidates that speak of a major shake up in Washington.

 

But do any of the candidates really have the intention to bring real change to the White House? According to several reports and a list of each presidential hopeful’s advisors, the answer is an unequivocal no. Here is a list of each of Democratic presidential candidates and their advisors and how they could shape US politics over next four years.

At the head of the “change” chain is Barak Obama. As we have all heard so far from his camp is that he is the only one of the presidential candidates that can deliver change. So far this message is working very well for him but his cabinet choices tell a very different story. Two of Obama’s top advisors are pro-war Hawks .

Zbigniew Brzezinski

War hawk under former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronal Reagan, Brzezinski was notoriously instrumental in the creation of the Mujhadean of Afghanistan, something he brags about in his book “The Grand Chess Board.” During the late 1970s he worked with the CIA to help build up Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the most powerful religious fanatics of Afghanistan at the time. Working through Heckmatyar, Brzezinski was able to overthrow the secular government of the PDPA, Peoples Democratic Part of Afghanistan and, in the process, lure the Soviet Union into invading the country to quell the unrest. What Lawrence Moesha called Operation “Bait The Bear” lead to the creation of Osama Bin Laden. When asked by the French media if the fact that Afghan and Pakistani fundamentalists had taken over the country was worth the resultant bloodshed Brzezinski replied it was “worth a few stirred up Muslims”.

Anthony Lake

Under Bill Clinton, Lake advised the then president to invade Haiti and bring back Aristide under what amounts to political chains. Under Lake’s plan, enacted President Clinton, the rate of malnutrition sky rocketed as did mass destabilization of Haiti. In his earlier days, he worked under Henry Kissinger only to resign in 1970 under the protest of Nixon’s expiation of the Vietnam war. Despite that, Lake is still no where near being a dove as staff of the USIA Paul Malamud, points out, “Lake joined the Foreign Service, and was posted to Vietnam, where became a special assistant to then-ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge.
Singled out early for his talent, Lake rose quickly to become an aide to
Secretary of State Kissinger in 1969, accompanying the secretary on his
first secret meeting with North Vietnamese negotiators in Paris.”

David Axelrod (media advisor to Obama)

If it seems somewhat odd that Barak Obama is not playing the race card, you have his main media advisor to thank for that. David Axelrod of the Chicago tribune, who brought in the tag line “yes we can”, has been often praised by the John McCain camp as one of the best in the media business. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick also used Axelrod in his media campaign to deliver the same uplifting message, as Christopher Hayes of the Nation magazine points out. Both men used roughly the same message when discussing the plight of the country’s problem (black population?) that it was not a deficit of the dollar but “the deficit of leadership.” Most importantly, it is Axelrod the largely keeps Barak Obama’s message away from the issue of race. In fact, one can assume that Obama’s “African Americans have made it 90% of the way” comment most likely came from Axelrod. Far from being considered a hawk, Axelrod has some political connections with Paul Simmon, and former Mayor Harold Washington. He has also praised Martin Luther King’s movement. But in keeping race “off the table” shows that the issues concerning African Americans have little problem of getting addressed.

And then there us Dennis Ross, another former Clinton advisor. He has come out with statements that suggest that the US would take the position that Israel’s needs should come before that of the Palestine’s. Interestingly enough, he has gone after Jimmy Carter on several occasions has been known to attack Jimmy Carter.

HILLARY

Hillary Clinton’s cabinet is not much better. In fact, she is looking to bring in some the most hawkish Bill Clinton’s inner circle. On top of her advisor list is Richard Holbrooke. In 1975 Holborroke spoke with the Indonesian government which was led by general Suharto   about the US’s backing of the plan to invade East Timor. The invasion equaled to nothing less than a genocidal attack on a helpless nation. In all, 200,000 people were killed, 1/3 of the pre-invasion population. He was later placed into the role of advisor to Asian affairs under Jimmy Carter administration. After the invasion, Halborroke led a fraudulent campaign that on the surface would have put a ban on weapons sent to Indonesia. As it turned out, there was no actual ban in place and the fraud was exposed Cornell University professor Benedict Anderson. To read more on him, you can check out the Z magazine link bellow.

Then there is Madeleine Albright, a former close advisor to Bill Clinton and former ambassador to the UN and than later, US Secretary of State. Ms. Albright has a long history in what she calls humanitarian missions in foreign affairs but is in fact, acts humanitarian crisis. She has Oked several horrific acts of violence such as the Somalia where Albright, as well as Wesley Clark supported the use of sulfur shells which rained down on several towns in this poverty torn nation with, to quote a great film “with extreme prejudice.” She was also a main player in the bombing massacre of Kosovo where the Clinton administration supported the KLA, the countries answer to the drug running mob.

Sandy Berger was one of the main architects of some of Clintons most conversion policies which including plans to Yugoslavia and opening trade with China which have lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. But Berger will be most remembered for his theft of terrorist records from the US archives shortly before the 9/11 commission was formed. This scandal created such a fire storm, it lead to his firing from the John Kerry campaign in his presidential of 2004. Clinton’s decision to bring him on board has even raised a few eyebrows of some of her staff.

Despite his message of populism, the funding of John Edwards is well with in the inner circle of murder inc. Expect for a few exceptions, John Edwards is heavily funded my the military industrial complex and as you can see on his own campaign website, he is gearing up to take the advice about our current wars from the same brass that has stood among the rank and file in two wars that could only be described as weapons against US Democracy. For the list, you can check out the link below. Others on his advisory boards are David “Mud Cat” Saunders and Washington insider, former advisor to Howard Dean and fat cat, Joe Trippi.

Next up will be the list of Republican candidates and their band of corporate criminals .

Until Next time.

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/headlines/20070523-military-advisory-group/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Berger

http://www.examiner.com/a-977346~He_s_back__Sandy_Berger_now_advising_Hillary_Clinton.html

http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/sunil.htm

http://www.rense.com/general31/cyc.htm

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/lake1.htm

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070219/hayes

http://jpundit.typepad.com/jci/2006/12/carters_maps_wo.html

Questions I Would Like To Have Seen Asked During The New Hamphsire Debates

While Scott Spradling did a better than expected job in asking the candidates some of the tougher questions about issues that ranged from military intervention in Pakistan to the Iraq war. But his series of questions, as to be expected, fell far short of reaching the full spectrum of problems that is being faced both here at home and the world at large. So, here are just some of the questions I wish were asked.

 

1.                  With so much controversy surrounding Abu Ghraib prison, both as a well known center of torture, based on the pictures taken from the center, and as a danger to American civil liberties, which of you support closing the prison down?

2.                  We have seen George Bush add more signing statements to each bill he as passed than every president before him combined, do any of you believe that these statements have any real legal value or is this away to circumvent the law?

3.                  Do you believe that Government should have right to spy on Americans and others without a warrant?

4.                  Should telecommunications companies be immune from legal actions when they allow spying on their customers?

5.                    With all of the outrages committed by the Bush administration, for example questionable reasons for going into Iraq, faulty handling of the New Orleans disaster and even illegal wiretapping, do you believe that he or any other sitting president should be impeached or face some other legal actions?

6.                  With all problems surrounding Blackwater and other paramilitary groups being used by the US government both on the domestic security front and in Iraq, should these companies be dismantled? Remember there are many reports of unjustified shootings in Iraq and there is no legal dynamic to govern them.

7.                  What is your stance on the attack on affordable housing in New Orleans?

8.                  According to several reports, the grand majority of jobs that have already been outsourced to other countries are being replaced with jobs that offer much smaller salaries which are often non-livable in terms of wage, how do you propose fixing this problem. In a related question, how do you recommend creating livable wage careers?

 

Those are just a few questions that were sorely lacking in a debate that attracted the US population as a whole. Further, it would shine some light on where each Democrat stands on some of the most pressing issues that are affecting us today. But,

With the media being what it is, it is not surprising that they were not asked.

Until next time.  

Illegal Hotels Threaten Affordable Housing In New York

Article By Vivan Riffelmacher A Founding Member of the West Side Neighborhood

Imagine that every weekend your home is invaded by strangers.   The room next to yours is occupied by crowds of backpackers; kids in their late teens and 20’s on their own in New York city, partying loudly all night.  Imagine they have no keys so when they (or their friends) need entrance at midnight, two, three in the morning, they hammer on the door until you wake up and crawl out of bed to let them.  Imagine your landlord shrugs when you complain, “You don’t like it? Leave!”   The police can do nothing; your landlord’s actions are a civil issue, not a crime.   Complaints made to the Mayor’s office elicit no response. 

 

 “How can this happen?” you ask.  Yet for years in residential buildings all over the city, Illegal Hotels and Youth Hostels have been a way for landlords to make quick cash while they drive out their rent-stabilized tenants.  Tenants are cut adrift, often winding up homeless, and hundreds of affordable housing units are lost at a time when the need for such housing is at a crisis. 

 

In June 2005 the New York City Law Department filed a lawsuit against the owners and managers of Dexter House, a residential SRO on West 86th street, for running the building commercially as a youth hostel advertised on the Internet.  It was the first time the City of New York had brought such a case, and a vital chance to set legal precedent on the issue. 

 

Two years later with our case still pending in court, it is clear Illegal Hotels have spread beyond SRO’s to apartment buildings and an entire industry of “short term housing” now threatens the future of residential neighborhoods in Manhattan.  A task force of elected officials has received complaints from over 100 residential buildings where Illegal Hotels are taking residential space away from real tenants.

Where are tourist rentals legal?  Check the Certificate of Occupancy on file for your building at NYC Department of Buildings.  Look it up on the Dept of Buildings website or visit their offices at 280 Broadway.   Tourists rentals are illegal in Type “A” Residential buildings.  Buildings such as The Chelsea Hotel are “A/B” or “mixed use” and both commercial and residential rentals are allowed.  Many buildings listed as “Hotels” under the City Finance Codes are still residential buildings.  An “H-6″ Hotel, for example is strictly residential.  Zoning is also an important factor.  On side streets not zoned for commercial or mixed use, the hotel is a zoning violation.

Keeping the issue in the public eye, West Side Neighborhood Alliance, working with Housing Conservation Coordinators and West Side SRO Law Project, has organized town hall meetings and protest rallies.  A letter writing campaign is now underway to support Intro 534 a bill introduced by Council Member Gale Brewer.

To learn more, come to meetings for Illegal Hotels and help strategize how to save our homes.  This fall we hope to get a hearing in the City Council on Intro 534 and we’ll need WSNA members to testify.  Whether or not Illegal Hotels are a problem in your building we’ll need everyone’s help to protect the integrity of residential neighborhoods in New York.   Tourist dollars and corporate housing may be a good source of revenue for the

Deconstructing the Myth of a Liberal Media

 

        There still seems to be a certain perception about the media by many of the conservative public and is perpetuated by those within the current administration. That view is that when ever the media actually does its job, the conclusion that the reporter may come to is nothing more than liberal bias. But when asked about what liberal media are they referring to, the answer that is issued is often convoluted and rambling. After all when one looks at the last of the five top media outlets, you see some of the largest financial supports of the George W Bush election campaigns of 2000 and 04. On top of that list is Clear Channel but not far behind was Viacom and the Murdoch Company that owns all Fox channels, several radio stations, the New York Post and the Wall street journal. For the record that is three of the sister’s five that pushed for the ultra conservative agenda of the Bush administration. Then there is Disney which despite its image, turns a blind eye when it comes to the fact that the average age of the workers who make their merchandise is 11 years old and of those, the average age of retirement, a polite way of saying being forced out of their position is 21. But more to the point, some of their latest movies over the past 20 years make no scruples about portraying different racial groups under a negative light. In Aladdin  for example paints the picture of the Arab as thieves, cunning, croaked and so on. Finally, G.E. whose history speaks for itself, both as a major polluters and as a major support for Republican campaigns and has been known to kick off a few progressive reporters such as Phil Donahue.

            For one to hold the idea that the media is too “liberal” really should follow the pattern of media stories from any time period over the last forty + years. Let’s take the New York Times for example, the supposedly liberal New York news paper, one in which the Bush administration has chastised on several occasions. From late 2002 to 2003, some of the largest advocates for going to war with Iraq wrote for the publication. In fact prior to the now infamous mobile chemical factory speech given by Colon Powell, the writings of such journalists as Judith Miller read as if they had came straight from Pentagon papers. In several pieces she to refer to the WMDs that Saddam Hussein supposedly had stored somewhere in Iraq along with his desire to by nuclear materials from Africa. All of this, mind you, without a shred of evidence. As we now know, Miller had become accustomed to holding private talks with some of those within the Bush administration, including Dick Cheney and Karl Rove as was evident in the Valerie Plame case. This could very well explain why there was no critical questioning towards the claim of WMDs despite the testimony of Joseph Wilson which claimed that there was no credible evidence to support such a notion. Even before the Wilson report, Scott Ritter had stated, while on tour warning the American people of a possible war with Iran around the time the first bomb had dropped. The link below follows a speech that he gave in shortly after the war began.

            The New York Times was far from being  the only media outlet that have gotten reports on the Iraq wrong due to a lack of skepticism. According to a report by Fair.org, several media sources jumped on a military claim that on March 20, two days into the war, that the Iraqi army launched the Soviet made Scud missile which has a range that exceeds the range of any legal weapon that the country was allowed to posses according to 1991 agreements. Some in the media questioned the validity of the report but others, like Matt Lauer swore that the report was true while offering no analysis. “We understand they have fired three missiles. One of those was a Scud missile. It was destroyed by a Patriot missile battery as it headed toward Kuwait.”  As the authors point out other news show hosts also jumped on the store. Tim Russert made the same claim, “Because of last night’s activity, clearly the Iraqis are now trying to respond with at least one Scud fired at the troops mapped on the border of Kuwait and Iraq.”  But the most telling of those reports came from the supposedly liberal NPR’s Bob Edwards, “”Iraq this morning launched Scud missiles at Kuwait in retaliation for the American strike on Baghdad a few hours earlier.” But the Pentagon never made any solid claims that they knew for shore what kind of rocket was launched by the Iraqi Government. On March 22^nd report by the associated press reported that “Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon news conference that the Iraqis have not fired any Scuds and that U.S. forces searching airfields in the far western desert of Iraq have uncovered no missiles or launchers.” But even after the report was released, some journalists were still trying to make the case that Iraq had in deed launched a scud missile.

            When looking at the policing of local citizens in a manner that surrounds the Iraq war only one paper gave full coverage to the issue. In fact, the Olympian of Olympia Washington is one of those rare jewels in the media that could be in danger if major media outlets have their way and are able to expand their ownership over smaller presses, did a video piece on the Pudget sound police and their policies towards political activists. On the video, one could clearly see a peace gathering in front of the gates of Fort Lewis which were guarded by authorities garbed in riot gear. At one point one of the officers ordered the crowd to disperse but when they did not, tear gas and rapid fired rubber bullets were shot into the crowd. You can see this on the sites link below. There were also a few moments on the tape where the police were shooting mace or pepper spray into the eyes of some of the protestors at point blank range. These actions by those in charge are very reminiscent of the actions taken by the police in the streets in Seattle during the WTO meetings in 1999 after attempts by undercover officers who had infiltrated some peace groups attempted to start a riot failed miserably or in the streets of New York in 2004 after most of the major media outlets had left and the leashes were taken off so to speak.

            In an article done by Dana Hull of Common Dreams in January of 2003, entitled “Police Violence Shocks Activists, Others at Port of Oakland Protest” the story follows one of the worst shootings on political activists conducted by the police in recent years. In the shooting, the police used, used an array of dangerous and so called “non-fatal” arsenals. These included wooden dowels, “sting balls,” concussion grenades and tear gas. Several protestors and some longshoremen who were the area were all seriously injured. Activists had been protesting in the area for weeks without any trouble, according to the report, so the attack caught those at the gathering off guard.  Many of those who were injured received their injuries while attempting to leave to leave, including one lawyer. Two other factors made the event even more shocking. First, the city of Oakland is considered one of the most progressive within the Unites States and the anti-war gathering even drew in some public officials. Second, the Mayor of the city, Jerry Brown later defended the actions by the police. But through all this, Fox news, NBC, ABC and Clear Channel did not find the story news worthy among the orgy of false reports of WMDs.

            Finally there is the issue of who the media personalities choice to paint as an authoritarian on any given subject. In early November of this year, a Sarasota teacher who works at the Bay Heaven School For Basics plus was reprimanded after she worked with her class on a project that would have listed all the names of people who oppose the Iraq war. The reporter, Bob Hite sighted Rush Limbaugh and his listening audience as a symbolic stage of morality. In what was describes as an “international outrage” over the situation, Mr. Hite sited some harsh comments towards the teacher. One of Rush Limbaugh’s callers was a soldier who had called in from Afghanistan and gave a rather lopsided explanation on the subject. The trooper in question stated that the holiday was meant to teach people why troops go to war and fight for their country. What his statement failed to take into consideration is the long list of those who went to war to only oppose war as a whole while over seas; this includes those whose names range from I.F. Stone to Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Also this point of view disregards the fact that by 1968 more than a third of the anti-war movement was made up by Vietnam vets and today we have several veterans groups like Iraq Veterans against the War are starting to crop up. Finally the idea fails to recognize the tens of thousands of soldiers who are considered heroes while they are on the battle field but, are left by the VA to fend for themselves once they get home, many suffering mental illnesses to physically injuries. Perhaps Mr. Hite should have reported that.

Until next time.    

 

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0407-07.htm

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1627

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0328-09.htm

http://www.groundhog.tv/apps/editor/staticplayer.jsp?clip=1195854140737.wmv

http://videos.theolympian.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=1562999

Organic Hotels—A Review by Nora Gruenberg

When Alors, Et Toi? invited me to review Matthew Abuelo’s new collection of poetry, I was curious to see what the thirty-something writer and activist, once 86ed from a Long Island coffee shop for criticizing the war in Iraq, had to say about his impressions of the world today.

Van Gogh, Degas, William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson, are among some of the artists and literary heroes he refers to in his writing. Inspired to believe that “all artists are vessels whose purpose is to create art and fade away,” he hopes to rediscover what the “old artists already knew,” which is to look outside the writer’s world, and be “governed by that which is greater than ourselves.”

Abuelo’s cadence-rich free verse handles themes such as war, urban decay and the suburban abyss. He writes of apathy, crippling boredom, and unrealized potential against the backdrop of national greed, corruption and world-wide disorder. Contrasting the shallow materialism of suburbia to the corrupt pleasure-seeking denizens of his modern-day Babylon, he seems locked in a symbiotic relationship with society that fuels a sense of disillusionment and isolation.

In his first poem, Untitled, he describes the “core of western culture” as “death fermenting” which encourages the greed that has led to the conflict in the Middle East. Shifting to his impressions of the superficial existence of bored Long Islanders reacting to the decaying corruption-machine that is “Babylon,” he ties the two themes together by lamenting “the cancelled voice of art,” which he seems to attribute to a population doomed by distraction, self-medication, meaningless sex, pollution and “depression without an outlet.”

With frequent references to the hard edge of urban life, I found myself feeling like a witness to dark dreamscapes. While the emotion of his work is accessible, but the imagery is in turns esoteric, abstractly violent and macabre. His sometimes ambiguous sensory descriptions yet vivid emotional reactions seem to encode his impressions of an ugly world–perhaps in order to be able to better digest them himself.

The title poem, Organic Hotels, has a distinct sense of being in his stream of consciousness. Nebulous descriptions of isolation, tenuous sexual connections and hazy anger finish with a sense desperate urgency. Such characteristic emotional variation and enigmatic sensory grit lead seem to be deeply personal but abstract reactions to specific events and concepts.

I found Abuelo’s verse to be intense and emotionally impressionistic. Despite the grim interior of his world, I felt compelled to look into unfamiliar political, symbolic, cultural or religious references to get a better idea of Abuelo’s worldview. I felt drawn to the wretched underbelly he described and frequently felt compelled to draw my own conclusions about the meaning behind his poetry.

Ultimately, art is subjective. We should be free to draw our own conclusions, left alone to think about what we’ve experienced long after we’ve finished looking at it. Organic Hotels offers the reader just that opportunity—to garner an impression of Abuelo’s perspective on the world while being free to come to our own conclusions and make our own meaning out of his poetry.

Nora Gruenberg is a thirty year old wife and mother of one. She lives in Chicago’s southwest suburbs and writes as often as possible. She has been published by 34^th Parallel and is currently seeking publication to he first Novel “Dalia”

US Democratic Poll

Many election polls ignore the 18 to 25 year old population since historically they tend not to vote in the same volume of older categories. So for those younger voters which one of the three are you most likely to vote for in the 2008 presidential elections? For the 18-25 year old population, you can take the poll below. Below are both the top running Democratic candidates and one mobile candidate. Depending on the results, next piece will focus on the top four Republican candidates.

For those of you who vote, please let me know if you have been polled already this year so I can keep a record of who to include in my next piece. Please email me your answer or post it in your comments.
Barak Obama

Hillary Clinton

John Edwards

Dennis Kucinich

The Martin Anderson Case And The Issue Of Race In America

The Martin Anderson Case And The Issue Of Race In America

 

           

 

            Some seven hundred protestors gathered at the steps of Tallahassee to show their outrage over the decision that let 7 guards and one nurse walk in the beating death of 14 year old Martin Lee Anderson at a former state run boot camp. While autopsy reports didn’t show a connection with his death with the beating, one must still wonder how the accused could walk away after being caught on tape, beating a minor. Even if they are not guilty for the murder itself, a conclusion which is still in question, the 7 are still guilty of the abuse which at the very least one would believe would translate to jail time or some kind punishment. But let us not forget the assault of Anderson was not exclusive to the beating but also included an ammonia tablet which was broken in his nose which prevented him from breathing which was noted in court. Further outrage in this case came with the suggestion, offered by the defense, that the very beating may have kept Anderson alive. The reasoning in their argument was that Anderson suffered from sickle-cell anemia, a rare but serious blood disorder which is characterized by red cells which are shaped like half moons. The victim’s, cells don’t move easily through the arteries. But as serious as it is, most of those that suffer from the condition tend to live a full life.

 

 

             The defense went on to claim that his death was unavoidable which does not reason with Anderson’s condition. But ultimately the question must be asked, how much race plays a part in not only this case but also those stories that pass in and out of the news wire that is often forgotten before the next laxative commercial. Let’s take the case of the Jena 6, a story that was making news around the same time as the conclusion of the Anderson case. According to several reports, a group of African Americans asked permission to sit under a tree that was thought of as being designated for the white students. After their request was granted the group eventually went to the tree to find nooses hanging from the branches. The situation leads to a fight between black and white students. During the brawl, one of the white students was knocked out cold and suffered some minor injuries. After the fight, six of the African American students were arrested but the white students got a slam on the wrist, only being suspended for a few days while avoiding any jail time unlike Michael Bell, the symbol of the case. But it was what happened after the arrests that sent an unquestionable message to the black students. During an assembly, La. District Attorney Reed Walters entered the auditorium where the students were gathered and then stated to the black youth, “I can end your life with the stroke of a pen.” This frightening statement echoes a certain Jim Crowe climate that reverberates in many of if not most of the conservative South which was evident in how the hurricane Katrina crises was reported . The pictures of whites usually had captions that read “desperate victim stealing food for survival.” In comparison, how often did we have an African American leaving the same store with food only to have their caption read, “Looter pillages store.”

 

 

Compare the Jena6 story with that of the case concerning the Duke Lacrosse players accused of raping a striper. As reports started coming out that the accused party may be innocent of any crime, the abuse of power by the South Carolina prosecutor Mike Nifong, started to come to light and evidently lead to his disbarment and arrest.  Apparently the commercial media didn’t find the remarks made by Reed Walter’s as news worthy as the omitted evidence in the Duke case. Nore did they find any value in pointing out the severity of teenagers being tried as adults.

 

            But the issue of race and media is not exclusive to black and white. Take for example, the Oklahoma City bombing in April 19 of 1995. Just hours after the explosions were reported; the news wires become flooded with claims off evidence that linked Muslim groups to the attack. In fact, the media accepted the idea that only an extremist group could have pulled off the bombing. They were correct of course, but it was a white extremist group that generally didn’t trust the government. The arrest McVeigh left the nation in shock in part because Americans had to face the fact that it was one of their own who was guilty of the attacks. But even after those attacks, the FBI was not exactly breaking down the doors of most separatist groups or other violent racist and Christian groups. Even after a rather a high rate of bombings of prenatal clinics and assassinations of doctors by the so called “army of God” Yet when we look back on the year, the World Trade Center bombing tends to be the bombing that is brought up the most. Further disturbing is that this group does or did have names of several doctors on a website of those doctors that perform abortions. 

 

            Then there is the hate mongering spittle that started on the radio and then moved to television. The names are rather long, from Rush Limbaugh to Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan. Listening to their messages is rather chilling since it is not so unlike what one would expect to hear from the Taliban or a 19th century Southern US lynch mob.  And yet this group continues to get air time. Yet one could still go further with examples than where I have with this piece but it would take an entire 700 page book to cover any substantial ground on how bad this problem really is.

 

Until Next time.  

 

  

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Sca/SCA_WhatIs.html

 

http://www.groundhog.tv/apps/editor/staticplayer.jsp?clip=1193346659602.wmv

 

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Beating The Drum For A War With Iran

Scott Ritter warned Us about this over a year ago, as did Greg Palast, the Bush administration has placed Iran as the next country to invade. Now Seymour Hersh has also been sounding the bell to what could be the great tactical disaster in the history of any civilization. Such a move against Iran could very well be the complete destabilization of the Middle East and possibly beyond. Unlike Iraq, which was isolated, Iran is a very different animal. They have connections with some of the world’s most powerful nations, one in which has its finger on the pulse of the US economy. And like Iraq, Iran has a leader which the Bush spin machine can paint as another “Hitler.”  A man that the US media has helped paint has a cruel dictator who rules his country with an iron fist and has a major hunger to posses nuclear weapons. Why even the president of Columbia University made such accusations without paying too much attention to details. So here is a closer look at the Iran situation and the potential outcome of to total disaster.

A quick note on the statement made by the  president of Columbia , Mr. Lee Bollinger in which he called  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dictator. The position of of president in Iran carries very little weight. In fact, Ahmadinejad is not able to even select his own cabinet. Most of the country’s policies are made by the counties Supreme leader, the Iatola Komani. The job of president really carries slightly more weight than does the royal family in England, a fact that is rarely covered in the US media. So the position of dictator is quite out of the reach for the US’s new enemy of the State. Because the US media choses to omit this information shows a lack of any real analysis on their part. As a result, many Americana’s really believe that Ahmadinejad is really, “the next Hitler.” What’s more frightening is that, it seems that the usual media suspects are playing very much of role when it comes to beating the drum for war. In fact, many of the same excuses for going to war are being repeated, nuclear weapons, helping Al-queda and so forth. It could be considered humorous, that they are recycling the old excuses which got us in the Iraq, may show a certain contempt for the American intelligence. But even so, most Americans still oppose any war with Iran. But it is important to remember,   like any other war of the modern day, the United States has found it necessary to create a Bogey man whose minions are waiting around every corner to harm an America. The list names are rather long and include, Ho Chi Minn, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, Mao, Manual Noriega, Fidel Castro, Mo-mar Qaddafi and on and on.

The early justification for a war with Iran, like that of Iraq, has been, WMDs. To be more specific with Iran, nuclear war heads was the  fear factor. According to one CIA report, Iran at best would still be 10 to 15 years away from being able to create any meaningful nuclear weapon if their nuclear process was working as hoped, which really is not case. Damnable is the fact that none of the major networks have reported this. Equally disconcerting is the accepted notion that Iran is helping the insurgence. The truth of the matter is that, the last thing Tehran would want would be a destabilized neighbor. The fear of having unrest spill over into their border has been Iran’s position from the start of the rebuilding process. Remember, most reports have Tehran offering support for US troops in stabilizing the country and have even offered help, something that has been denied. To make matters worse, today, Turkey is pushing for a full scale attack on rebel Kurds in Northern Iraq. It is undoubtedly caused alarm not only with Iran but with Syria as well. It is important to note at this time, there are more Saudi fighters in Iraq than any with a connection with Iran. Does this mean we will face Saudi Arabia, not likely since our sweet hearts allow the US to keep oil prices relativly low.

And finally, unlike Iraq of 2003, Iran is not an isolated country. Some of their most powerful allies from an oil stand point has China and surround countries. Russia is one of their major suppliers in military deals. China, which has been the main funder, has been one of the major voices against taking any kind of action against Iran as been as has Russia and Syria. What is so important to remember here is the potential outcome with a war on Iraq’s northern neighbor. For starters, Syria would be forced into the war based on a 2005/06 block agreement. The question here is if this “unholy alliance” would force Israel into the war effort. If so, than arm countries would be forced to take sides and in the end what we would have in the region would be a massive destabilization of the Middle East that to the dismay of Jewish Americans would spill over into Israel as well. Speaking of Israel they still remain the only country in the region that is known to have a nuclear arsenal, 200 war heads which have been acknowledged. But in a disaster situation, having the stock pile would do them no good if they are forced to fight on their borders. Perhaps the president of Columbia should remember this before he makes another comment like the one he made about a month ago.

http://www.groundhog.tv/apps/editor/staticplayer.jsp?clip=1191359285829.wmv

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