Op-Ed
Taking the stage at a community center in the small Northern
California town of Bolinas, a group of four musicians quickly showed
themselves to be returning as a vibrant creative force centered very
much in the present.
Not that the music of Country Joe and the Fish ever really disappeared. Since the release of the band’s first two albums in 1967 -- “Electric Music for the Mind and Body” along with “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die” -- many of its songs have meandered through the memories and semi-consciousness of millions of Americans who came of age a third of a century ago.
Now reconstituted with four of the legendary group’s original five members, the new Country Joe Band has just begun to tour. When I saw them perform, midway through April, the music was as tightly effusive as ever, with poetic lyrics mostly brought to bear on two perennials: love and death.
Not that the music of Country Joe and the Fish ever really disappeared. Since the release of the band’s first two albums in 1967 -- “Electric Music for the Mind and Body” along with “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die” -- many of its songs have meandered through the memories and semi-consciousness of millions of Americans who came of age a third of a century ago.
Now reconstituted with four of the legendary group’s original five members, the new Country Joe Band has just begun to tour. When I saw them perform, midway through April, the music was as tightly effusive as ever, with poetic lyrics mostly brought to bear on two perennials: love and death.
AUSTIN -- There was the president at his press conference looking just like a turtle on a fence post. "They (weapons of mass destruction) could still be there. They could be hidden." Saddam Hussein is still an "ally" of the 9-11 terrorists. Hussein was still "a direct threat" to America. Oi.
The Nation points out a charming little Bush thesis: "Some of the debate really centers around the fact that people don't believe Iraq can be free; that if you're Muslim, or perhaps brown-skinned, you can't be self-governing or free." The infamous "some people" making this racist argument are cleverly hidden: I never heard of it before Bush trotted it out.
I got a lovely question last week: "Why do you and your ilk (it's hard to speak for my entire ilk) hate George W. Bush so much and love Osama bin Laden?" If that's what public discussion has come down to, we really are in trouble. In fact, we're in trouble anyway.
The Nation points out a charming little Bush thesis: "Some of the debate really centers around the fact that people don't believe Iraq can be free; that if you're Muslim, or perhaps brown-skinned, you can't be self-governing or free." The infamous "some people" making this racist argument are cleverly hidden: I never heard of it before Bush trotted it out.
I got a lovely question last week: "Why do you and your ilk (it's hard to speak for my entire ilk) hate George W. Bush so much and love Osama bin Laden?" If that's what public discussion has come down to, we really are in trouble. In fact, we're in trouble anyway.
AUSTIN -- Women of America. This Sunday, April 25. Washington, D.C. The March for Women's Lives. Be there.
This is it. It's all on the line now. Everyone who thinks she's too old, too tired and has done this too many times before, be there. Everyone who has never been to a women's march, who thought all the rights had been long since secured, who thinks feminism is old hat and has nothing to do with your life, be there. Bring your daughters, mothers, nieces, friends, husbands, sons and significant others. If you can't be there, get in touch with a local women's organization and help raise money for a "scholarship" to send someone else to represent you.
Minority women, be there. The NAACP, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Black Women's Health Imperative and many other minority groups are co-sponsoring the march. You know better than anyone how the lives of working mothers are being stressed and deformed by the lack of institutional response to the need for child care and health care.
This is it. It's all on the line now. Everyone who thinks she's too old, too tired and has done this too many times before, be there. Everyone who has never been to a women's march, who thought all the rights had been long since secured, who thinks feminism is old hat and has nothing to do with your life, be there. Bring your daughters, mothers, nieces, friends, husbands, sons and significant others. If you can't be there, get in touch with a local women's organization and help raise money for a "scholarship" to send someone else to represent you.
Minority women, be there. The NAACP, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Black Women's Health Imperative and many other minority groups are co-sponsoring the march. You know better than anyone how the lives of working mothers are being stressed and deformed by the lack of institutional response to the need for child care and health care.
AUSTIN, Texas -- My, what a full plate we have here as a result of President Bush's primetime press conference. Most importantly, the president believes in freedom. Also, we are trying to change the world (did we sign up for that? did the rest of the world? I thought we were trying to catch terrorists). And glorious news: We may yet find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Someone unearthed 50 pounds of mustard gas on a turkey farm. Oh, and another thing, some of the president's critics say "brown-skinned people" can't create democracies.
Who are those dreadful critics? They're in the famous category of "some." Just like the Republican National Committee ad that says, "Some are attacking the president for attacking the terrorists." Oh, those awful "some."
Who are those dreadful critics? They're in the famous category of "some." Just like the Republican National Committee ad that says, "Some are attacking the president for attacking the terrorists." Oh, those awful "some."
AUSTIN, Texas -- Say, that was some "historical memo" there, containing, as the president said, no "intelligence that said there was going to be an attack on America." Except for the title and contents, of course.
It's always hard to put yourself back in time and pretend you don't know what you know. Hard to say if such a memo just got lost in a continuous flow of information about potentially dangerous situations or if, given the other 40 warnings about Al Qaeda, it should have set your hair on fire, to coin a fresh phrase.
Meanwhile, in the larger world, it is hard to tell what is happening in Iraq -- is it going south, gone south or are we just slipping a few inches after the dumb decision to close a newspaper?
It's always hard to put yourself back in time and pretend you don't know what you know. Hard to say if such a memo just got lost in a continuous flow of information about potentially dangerous situations or if, given the other 40 warnings about Al Qaeda, it should have set your hair on fire, to coin a fresh phrase.
Meanwhile, in the larger world, it is hard to tell what is happening in Iraq -- is it going south, gone south or are we just slipping a few inches after the dumb decision to close a newspaper?
With warfare escalating in Iraq, syndicated columnist George Will has
just explained the logic of the occupation. “In the war against the
militias,” he wrote, “every door American troops crash through, every
civilian bystander shot -- there will be many -- will make matters worse,
for a while. Nevertheless, the first task of the occupation remains the
first task of government: to establish a monopoly on violence.”
A year ago, when a Saddam statue famously collapsed in Baghdad, top officials in Washington preened themselves as liberators. Now, some of the tyrant’s bitterest enemies are firing rocket-propelled grenades at American troops.
A year ago, when a Saddam statue famously collapsed in Baghdad, top officials in Washington preened themselves as liberators. Now, some of the tyrant’s bitterest enemies are firing rocket-propelled grenades at American troops.
AUSTIN, Texas -- You may be wondering why House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is raising money for a legal defense fund and telling his fellow Republicans in Washington to be prepared to name his replacement in the event he is indicted. DeLay and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick may have achieved the near-impossible by breaking Texas campaign finance laws. Since Texas essentially has no campaign finance laws, this is no mean feat.
In Texas, anyone can give any amount of money to any candidate -- the sky's the limit -- you just have to report it. You would think that pretty much solves any legal or ethical complaints, but there is just this one little tiny rule: no corporate or union cash to candidates.
In Texas, anyone can give any amount of money to any candidate -- the sky's the limit -- you just have to report it. You would think that pretty much solves any legal or ethical complaints, but there is just this one little tiny rule: no corporate or union cash to candidates.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Iraq. What. A. Mess.
As Cousin Eddie Faulk used to say during Vietnam, "If those folks don't like what we're doin' for 'em, why don't they just go back where they come from?"
Eric Alterman sums up the position of the "We told you so" crowd thusly:
-- The invasion of Iraq will cause, not prevent terrorism.
-- The Bush administration was not to be trusted when it warned of the WMD threat.
-- Going in without the United Nations is worse than not going in at all.
-- They were asleep at the switch pre-9/11 and have been trying to cover this up ever since.
-- And they manipulated 9-11 as a pretext for a long-planned invasion of Iraq.
As Cousin Eddie Faulk used to say during Vietnam, "If those folks don't like what we're doin' for 'em, why don't they just go back where they come from?"
Eric Alterman sums up the position of the "We told you so" crowd thusly:
-- The invasion of Iraq will cause, not prevent terrorism.
-- The Bush administration was not to be trusted when it warned of the WMD threat.
-- Going in without the United Nations is worse than not going in at all.
-- They were asleep at the switch pre-9/11 and have been trying to cover this up ever since.
-- And they manipulated 9-11 as a pretext for a long-planned invasion of Iraq.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Strange peaches. All of us out here in the boonies should be aware this is a truly weird political year. For one thing, nobody has ever seen this much money involved. What can $200 million do in a political race, answered, we presume, by at least $100 million by the Democrats? No one knows.
And now brace yourselves for the really bad news. All this money, intensity and advertising is not going to be spread out across 50 states. There are only 14 to 19 states considered "in play" in this election, not either solidly red or blue, Republican or Democrat. What that means is that all this money is going to hit relatively few citizens like a tidal wave.
Most of us, in most of the states, will barely be aware there is a presidential election going on -- we're out of this loop, team. Nobody will be talking to us. Because we're not "in play," this election is not about us. For reasons established by supposedly skilful polling, none of us even get to be part of this election. We're taken for granted.
And now brace yourselves for the really bad news. All this money, intensity and advertising is not going to be spread out across 50 states. There are only 14 to 19 states considered "in play" in this election, not either solidly red or blue, Republican or Democrat. What that means is that all this money is going to hit relatively few citizens like a tidal wave.
Most of us, in most of the states, will barely be aware there is a presidential election going on -- we're out of this loop, team. Nobody will be talking to us. Because we're not "in play," this election is not about us. For reasons established by supposedly skilful polling, none of us even get to be part of this election. We're taken for granted.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Strange peaches. All of us out here in the boonies should be aware this is a truly weird political year. For one thing, nobody has ever seen this much money involved. What can $200 million do in a political race, answered, we presume, by at least $100 million by the Democrats? No one knows.
And now brace yourselves for the really bad news. All this money, intensity and advertising is not going to be spread out across 50 states. There are only 14 to 19 states considered "in play" in this election, not either solidly red or blue, Republican or Democrat. What that means is that all this money is going to hit relatively few citizens like a tidal wave.
Most of us, in most of the states, will barely be aware there is a presidential election going on -- we're out of this loop, team. Nobody will be talking to us. Because we're not "in play," this election is not about us. For reasons established by supposedly skilful polling, none of us even get to be part of this election. We're taken for granted.
And now brace yourselves for the really bad news. All this money, intensity and advertising is not going to be spread out across 50 states. There are only 14 to 19 states considered "in play" in this election, not either solidly red or blue, Republican or Democrat. What that means is that all this money is going to hit relatively few citizens like a tidal wave.
Most of us, in most of the states, will barely be aware there is a presidential election going on -- we're out of this loop, team. Nobody will be talking to us. Because we're not "in play," this election is not about us. For reasons established by supposedly skilful polling, none of us even get to be part of this election. We're taken for granted.