Op-Ed
Mark Crispin Miller is a very serious guy. We met recently over coffee at a quaint little cafe near New York University, where he teaches communications and media. Mark's been sounding the alarm on election fraud for years, convinced that both Al Gore and John Kerry were robbed of the presidency in 2000 and 2004. And he's afraid, very afraid, that the problem these days is worse, not better. Listening to him talk, watching his gestures, hearing his doomsday scenarios, it's easy to get caught up in it. And it makes you angry to think he's right. We vowed to riot in the streets should Democrats lose again in November. What I love about Mark is that you get the feeling he'd actually do it.
Get ready for a special tour of a renowned outlook, conjured from the
writings of syndicated New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. As the
leading media advocate of “free trade” and “globalization,” he is expertly
proficient at explaining the world to the world. If we could synthesize
Friedman’s brain waves, the essential messages would go something like
this:
Silicon chips are the holy wafers of opportunity. From Bangalore to Bob’s Big Boy Burgers, those who understand the Internet will leave behind those who do not.
I want to tell you about Rajiv/Mohammed/George, now doing awesome business in Madras/Amman/Durham. Only a few years ago, this visionary man started from scratch with just a vision -- a vision that he, like me, has been wise enough to comprehend.
So, Rajiv/Mohammed/George built a business on the digital backbone of the new global economy. Now, the employees fill orders on a varying shift schedule, and time zones are always covered. Don’t ask what they’re selling -- that hardly matters. They’re working in a high-tech industry, and the profits are auspicious. This is the Future. And it is good. Fabulous, actually.
Silicon chips are the holy wafers of opportunity. From Bangalore to Bob’s Big Boy Burgers, those who understand the Internet will leave behind those who do not.
I want to tell you about Rajiv/Mohammed/George, now doing awesome business in Madras/Amman/Durham. Only a few years ago, this visionary man started from scratch with just a vision -- a vision that he, like me, has been wise enough to comprehend.
So, Rajiv/Mohammed/George built a business on the digital backbone of the new global economy. Now, the employees fill orders on a varying shift schedule, and time zones are always covered. Don’t ask what they’re selling -- that hardly matters. They’re working in a high-tech industry, and the profits are auspicious. This is the Future. And it is good. Fabulous, actually.
The judgment of history is closing in on us. A new study in a respected British medical journal has put the "excess death" toll in post-invasion Iraq at a soul-numbing 650,000, which, of course, can't be true.
No way. Can't be.
Those who have wedded themselves to this war, beginning with President Bush, prefer the figure 30,000 - a nice, safe number, apparently, which won't gum up the media. What's 30,000 dead? It's a few corpses past "whatever." It's Kankakee, Ill., Paducah, Ky., Hoboken, N.J. It is, in short - among the dwindling ranks of the gung-ho - a small price to pay for a war as important as this one.
So let's pause and absorb the number Bush and his apologizers are willing to concede: 30,000. Let it stand naked in the spotlight for a moment, out of the shadow of those six-figure estimates that make it seem trivial, and listen to the silent heartbeats:
"Ahmad Walid al-Bath, 33, a Jordanian taxi driver, became the first casualty of the war on March 20 (2003). He had stopped to make a phone call at a public telephone office when a missile hit it, killing him. He (left) a wife and a 10-month-old child. . . .
No way. Can't be.
Those who have wedded themselves to this war, beginning with President Bush, prefer the figure 30,000 - a nice, safe number, apparently, which won't gum up the media. What's 30,000 dead? It's a few corpses past "whatever." It's Kankakee, Ill., Paducah, Ky., Hoboken, N.J. It is, in short - among the dwindling ranks of the gung-ho - a small price to pay for a war as important as this one.
So let's pause and absorb the number Bush and his apologizers are willing to concede: 30,000. Let it stand naked in the spotlight for a moment, out of the shadow of those six-figure estimates that make it seem trivial, and listen to the silent heartbeats:
"Ahmad Walid al-Bath, 33, a Jordanian taxi driver, became the first casualty of the war on March 20 (2003). He had stopped to make a phone call at a public telephone office when a missile hit it, killing him. He (left) a wife and a 10-month-old child. . . .
I've never been the kind of donor who gives matching grants. In fact I've
never been a major donor at all, just someone who gives $25 here and $50
there to a bunch of causes I believe in, because that's what I can afford..
So I loved the Democratic National Committee email that invited me and other
ordinary citizens to make modest online pledges, to be redeemed when new
donors contributed. For a moment, I got to play Ford Foundation. And a woman
in Knife River, Minnesota matched the $50 that I pledged on the DNC site.
"I'm newly retired and uncertain about what I can actually afford to give,"
she emailed, "But the matching offer prompted me to respond despite that
uncertainty. I agree with you that this regime must be stopped."
Stunning coincidence. The verdict in the long-running trial of Saddam Hussein in Iraq is now due two days before our congressional elections in November. Astounding. How ineffable.
Sometimes you know the Republicans have just lost the rag completely. This week, Dick Cheney said to Rush Limbaugh regarding the Iraqi government, "If you look at the general, overall situation, they're doing remarkably well." The vice president also acknowledged there's some concern because the war wasn't over "instantaneously." We have now been in Iraq just one month shy of the entire time it took us to fight World War II. Seventy Americans dead so far in October. Electricity in Iraq this year hit its lowest levels since the war started.
What infuriates me about this is the lying. WHY can't they level with us? Just on the general, overall situation.
Sometimes you know the Republicans have just lost the rag completely. This week, Dick Cheney said to Rush Limbaugh regarding the Iraqi government, "If you look at the general, overall situation, they're doing remarkably well." The vice president also acknowledged there's some concern because the war wasn't over "instantaneously." We have now been in Iraq just one month shy of the entire time it took us to fight World War II. Seventy Americans dead so far in October. Electricity in Iraq this year hit its lowest levels since the war started.
What infuriates me about this is the lying. WHY can't they level with us? Just on the general, overall situation.
Peace activists were arrested on the 26th on the west grounds of the United States Capitol. The event was organized by the Declaration of Peace, and the plan was to march around the Capitol and then proceed to protest in Senators' offices (plans are to go to House Members' offices tomorrow). A group of hundreds was stopped by Capitol Police when trying to cross Constitution Avenue from the Upper Senate Park. When the police finally relented and allowed the group to cross, only a few dozen made it across. The group was divided and some reportedly proceeded east to the Senate office buildings. The few dozen who made it initially to the west grounds of the Capitol attempted to walk up a number of paths toward the Capitol steps, and were blocked each time by a wall of police. A group of activists carrying a coffin and led by Max Obuszewski attempted to walk through a police line and were arrested and taken away in vans.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/sites/afterdowningstreet.org/images/d…;
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/sites/afterdowningstreet.org/images/d…;
AUSTIN, Texas -- One reason despair is not an option is because things can always get worse, and then what'll we do? I was actually trying to figure that out when I came across a remarkable article written for the The Nation magazine (known for its liberalism for 141 years) by Richard J. Whalen -- a conservative in good standing, a former Nixon staffer. Whalen has undertaken the singularly valuable task of talking to dissenting generals about the war in Iraq.
I suppose one could argue, and I am sure someone will, that these are mostly retired generals. Some, like Lt. Gen. William Odom, are calling Iraq "the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States." And they are retired precisely because of their opposition to Iraq.
"The only question is whether a war serves the national interest," one retired three-star told Whalen. "Iraq does not."
I suppose one could argue, and I am sure someone will, that these are mostly retired generals. Some, like Lt. Gen. William Odom, are calling Iraq "the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States." And they are retired precisely because of their opposition to Iraq.
"The only question is whether a war serves the national interest," one retired three-star told Whalen. "Iraq does not."
It's easy to delight in the Hastert/Foley meltdown, and how it's hit a
national nerve. Building on all the administration's abuses, failures, and
lies, the cover up of this out-of-control congressman may just give America
the inadvertent gift of a chance to finally change course.
As I read the daily stories, though, I fear that too many of us will devour them with relish, then do little more than gloat. I worry that we'll be so busy following each breaking revelation about the self-destruction of a regime so drunk on it's own power it's finally overreached, that we'll end up doing nothing but cheering. At a moment when those long disengaged or disagreeing might finally be receptive, that would be a profound loss. Because the degree of the electoral shift in this key election will likely be decided by the volunteer energy that turns out borderline participants to vote.
As I read the daily stories, though, I fear that too many of us will devour them with relish, then do little more than gloat. I worry that we'll be so busy following each breaking revelation about the self-destruction of a regime so drunk on it's own power it's finally overreached, that we'll end up doing nothing but cheering. At a moment when those long disengaged or disagreeing might finally be receptive, that would be a profound loss. Because the degree of the electoral shift in this key election will likely be decided by the volunteer energy that turns out borderline participants to vote.
Tony Judt, the NYU professor and liberal writer for the New York Review of Books, has just discovered some of the consequences of publicly criticizing Israeli government policies, as he has been doing. Here's a message he released on Oct. 4: "I was due to speak this evening, in Manhattan, to a group called Network 20/20 comprising young business leaders, NGOs, academics, etc, from the U.S. and many countries. Topic: the Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. The meetings are always held at the Polish Consulate in Manhattan.
No one knows exactly how many Iraqi civilians have died from the
war’s violence since the invasion of their country. The new study from
public health researchers at Johns Hopkins University estimates that
the number of those deaths is around 601,000, while saying the actual
total could be somewhere between 426,369 and 793,663. Such wartime
figures can’t be precise, but the meaning is clear: The invasion of
Iraq has led to ongoing carnage on a massive scale.
While we stare at numbers that do nothing to convey the suffering and anguish of the war in Iraq, we might want to ask: How could we correlate the horrific realities with the evasive discussions that proliferated in U.S. news media during the lead-up to the invasion?
In mid-November 2002 -- four months before the invasion began -- a report surfaced from health professionals with the Medact organization and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. “The avowed U.S. aim of regime change means any new conflict will be much more intense and destructive than the [1991] Gulf War,” they warned, “and will involve more deadly weapons developed in the interim.”
While we stare at numbers that do nothing to convey the suffering and anguish of the war in Iraq, we might want to ask: How could we correlate the horrific realities with the evasive discussions that proliferated in U.S. news media during the lead-up to the invasion?
In mid-November 2002 -- four months before the invasion began -- a report surfaced from health professionals with the Medact organization and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. “The avowed U.S. aim of regime change means any new conflict will be much more intense and destructive than the [1991] Gulf War,” they warned, “and will involve more deadly weapons developed in the interim.”