Good for Business, Bad for the People

It's funny. I'd seen all this stuff before--I mean it isn't as if there was anything really new here for anyone who's been paying attention for the past few years. And yet, I cried. Maybe it's the deprogramming of having at least some of what we've seen replayed with any decent focus for One Brief Shining Moment, beyond the self-imposed straitjacket of a docile and dangerously inept US press. Maybe it's just the oxygen given to all those impulses so many of us have kept in check, all those shoots of anger, sadness and embarrassment blossoming into full blown consciousness.

My own thought process in response to Michael Moore's new film reminded me of one of those dessicated sponges you put in water-a few hours later and voila: your tiny piece of foam has bloated into a full blown fish, or frog, or palm tree ten times its original size. Or maybe like opening an archive, unzipping a million saved files at once. My brain fairly exploded with repressed anger going back to the Florida recount disaster: things I had known in much more detail before Moore scratched the surface again and brought it all flooding back..

Real beauts in the hypocrisy department

AUSTIN, Texas -- When it comes to religion, I've always believed it's more important to walk the walk than to talk the talk. I come from a tradition (Episcopal) that considers it rather in bad taste to wear your religion on your sleeve, presumably from Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 5 and 6:

        "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

        "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

        Of course, I also had some Baptist input and so am fond of making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Texans even like to sing hymns around campfires while drinking beer -- I'm not sure if that counts.

Protect consumers

In early July, the U.S. Senate will consider legislation that would make it much more difficult to hold corporations accountable when they deceive consumers, trample our civil or workplace rights, or pollute the environment. This bill - the falsely-named "Class Action Fairness Act" (S. 2062) - is backed by tobacco companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and big banks.

Senator Bingaman (NM) plans to offer a pro-consumer amendment that will improve the bill. Unless the Senate adopts the Bingaman amendment, this bill will unfairly make it harder for consumers to have their day in court.

Please take a moment to ask your senators to support the pro-consumer Bingaman amendment and make the class action bill fairer. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.

Take Action: pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=6&id4=OHFreep

Background

Venezuela: the gang's all here!

You can set your watch by it. The minute some halfway decent government in Latin America begins to reverse the usual order of things and try to give the have-nots a break from the grind of poverty and wretchedness, all the usual suspects up here in El Norte rouse themselves from the slumber of indifference and start barking furiously about democratic norms. It happened in 1973, in Chile; we saw a repeat performance in Nicaragua in the 1980s; and here's the same show on summer rerun in Venezuela, pending the vote on recall of President Hugo Chavez on August 15.

Chavez is the best thing that has happened to Venezuela's poor in a very, very long time. His government has actually delivered on some of its promises to the poor. A million new pupils are in the schools, with millions more getting school meals. Public spending on education has tripled and doubled on health care. Venezuelan poor people are living longer, and more of their babies are surviving past the first weeks and months. The government is promoting one of the most ambitious land reform programs seen in Latin America in decades.

Ronald Reagan`s 'crack and cheese'

Bob,

thanks for the great column about the Gipper.  For some reason I found myself cracking up when I read your column- great title!   Very refreshing to read something about WR Reagan with a little depth to it.  Way back when in high school I remember being scared to death that this guy might accidentally start a full-scale nuclear war (he was too easily confused by movie imagery).  But the really sad thing is that he was actually a much less threatening and dangerous person than our current president.  Ronald Reagan may have been mean-spirited at times, but he was generally not Machiavellian .  Unfortunately, Bush/Cheney/Rove seem to have memorized "The Prince" as their guide to success in politics.



Governments lie. So what?

AUSTIN, Texas -- As I.F. Stone used to say, "All governments lie," so that's no shockeroo. What's peculiar is the reaction in the media.  

        -- You may recall that when even the administration finally admitted Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction (with that adorable video of President Bush on his hands and knees searching under sofas in the Oval Office for the missing WMD -- oh, it was so amusing. Eight hundred American dead.), we were treated to the following rationales:

        1) Didn't make any difference because Saddam Hussein was a really, really bad guy anyway.

        He was, of course, and it was always the only decent rationale for getting rid of him. It was the argument made by Tony Blair but specifically rejected by the Bush administration. Paul Wolfowitz explained in Vanity Fair that human rights violations were not a sufficient consideration for invasion.

        2) It was all Saddam's fault that we thought he had WMD. The wily coot fooled us by repeatedly denying that he had any, a fiendishly clever ploy.

Requiem For A Right Wing Man

1.
Back in the day before the gray
I was Mr. Right
And it was my right of way

Met a guy in church kinda like John Birch
In that subtle way
That didn't have to say

Well it was all about the money in those days
We had our kids to raise
And we kept them cool in the back yard pool

Yeah it was so about the dough you know
Sometimes I had to tune out
Just to count

2.
Then came a time of drinks
Out on the links
With party brass

Said laws for the tax cuts we would get
(And bill it to the debt)
Had come to pass

So we told God bless the nation
And we toasted
To our fortune and our station

Yeah we told God bless the nation
And with righteous indignation
Hit the gas

3.
Then came that morning when
The paper read
Of thousands dead

Miles of city blocks
reduced to rocks
And so I checked my stocks

And there it was you know
In my portfolio
To my alarm

See Super Size Me soon ... and hold the fries

SUPER SIZE ME, now playing at the Drexel East, is one of the very few films that can be called a "Must-See" for all Americans.  Whether you eat at McDonald's or not.  

It's rare a piece of reportage that can cut to the very heart---or stomach---of the American way of life.  But Morgan Spurlock's solid, brilliant and cunning documentary is one for the ages.

Spurlock builds his case carefully.  In great physical condition to start, he visits three physicians and a physical therapist to document his weight, cholesterol, heart functions and more.  He starts out at six-feet-two, 185 pounds, with vital statistics that could easily get him sent to Iraq (which McDonald's would probably like to see at this point).  .

Then he embarks on a solid month of eating at McDonald's.  Starting with what must be the most graphic barf in US film history (you might do well to turn your head during this scene), we follow the downward spiral of Spurlock's body to the brink of fast food death.  

The film is alternatively hilarious and infuriating, academic and personal.  

Reaction to cannabis/hemp reporting

I appreciated Your series about cannabis / hemp, especially, "Hemp - It's Growing!" (June 1, 2004).  It is one reason I support Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic Presidential nominee.  Kucinich put in writing on His website, if elected President He will decriminalize cannabis and regulate it similar to alcohol.  It stands to reason, if citizens may have and grow cannabis with THC that farmers would be allowed to grow hemp with out THC.

My main concerns on the cannabis / hemp issue are Biblical, where We presently have a powerful nation, caging humans for using what God said was good on literally the very 1st page of the  Bible.  Cannabis / hemp, a plant, known as kaneh bosm, before the King James version, is good and should not be exterminated.

Protect Gay Marriage

The U.S. Senate will vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment on July 15.

The "pro-family" (read: homophobic) American Family Association (AFA) is planning a national anti-gay marriage Senate call-in day on July 12. It's important that those of us who care about freedom and equality also make calls on that day in support of gay marriage.

The AFA has convienently tabulated a list of addresses and phone numbers of Senators who support or oppose the amendment www.protectmarriagerally.com/default.asp#sj30.

Note that at this point, freedom and equality prevail, with 75% of Senators opposing the amendement. Let's keep it that way!

Make a call on July 12, and send a letter before then! Equality and liberty depend on it!

For more information about marriage equality and to sign a petiion supporting the right of homosexuals to marry, visit www.hrc.org/millionformarriage/index.shtml

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