Advertisement

The Crash

The new war on terror isn't going to be of much use in combating the present plunge in America's economic well-being. Well before the Twin Towers fell to earth the country was entering a fierce decline, and it is assuredly going to get worse. The fall in growth and investment from early 2000 to early 2001 was the fastest since 1945, from 5 percent GDP growth to zero. So fast indeed that people are only now catching on to the extent of the bad numbers and battening down the hatches as bankruptcies begin to rise.

How did we get from the Merrie Then to the Dismal Now? The bubble in stock prices in those last five years sparked an investment boom as corporations found mountains of cash available, either from the sale of overvalued stocks or by borrowing money from the banks against the high asset value of these same stocks. And as the Lewinsky years frolicked by gaily, there was a simultaneous consumption boom as the richest fifth of the citizenry, the elite Delta Force of our national consumers, saved a lot less and spent a lot more.

The shadows were there for those who cared to look for them. In

Get a grip

AUSTIN -- So far, so good. Way to go, military.

It has turned out, in previous campaigns of oxymoronic "surgical bombing," that initial reports exaggerated both the effectiveness and the accuracy of our efforts. But as of the bombing of Yugoslavia (with the exception of the unfortunate "ooops" over the Chinese Embassy), we seem to be getting better at the ghastly art.

The pathetic shortage of what the military calls "first class targets" in Afghanistan was underlined in the first wave of bombing designed to take out the Taliban's air weapons -- according to one British expert, they have or had 12 planes. Our announced plan of clearing the skies so we can bomb them with butter seems to me exceptionally shrewd, although we have the unfortunate precedent of a humanitarian mission turned sour from Somalia.

So the military is out there doing its thing, in its obscure language Pentagonese, while some of us nail-biters at home have gotten into a bitter argument. The pundit class seems to have fallen into Manichean error -- that's the one where everything gets oversimplified into good/bad,

TV News: A Militarized Zone

When the bombing of Afghanistan resumed Monday night [Oct. 8], retired generals showed no fatigue at their posts under hot lights at network studios. On CNN, former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark teamed up with Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd to explain military strategies; they were sharing their insights as employees of AOL Time Warner.

Far away, missiles are flying and bombs are exploding -- but in televisionland, a sense of equilibrium prevails. The tones are calm; the correspondents are self-composed. News bulletins crawl across the bottom of the screen, along with invitations to learn more. "Take a 3-D look at U.S. military aircraft at CNN.com."

At Pentagon briefings, carried live, the secretary of defense bears a chilling resemblance to a predecessor named McNamara. But the language of Donald Rumsfeld is thoroughly modern, foreshadowing a war without end: "In this battle against terrorism, there is no silver bullet." But there will be many bullets, missiles and bombs. We hear the customary assurances that air strikes will be surgical, and Rumsfeld echoes the metaphor: "Terrorism is a cancer on the human condition."

Blame Game

AUSTIN -- Operating on the theory that what we owe our country in time of crisis is, among other things, our best thinking, let's continue to think about what America can usefully do now.

We have a bad national habit of playing the blame game when something goes wrong. This first thing we ask is, "Whose fault is this?" We've already got congressional committees trying to figure out who was asleep at the wheel, who should have known, what should have been done, etc. Many of our more thoughtful citizens are exhuming years of American policy in the Arab world, much of which, in retrospect, seems to have been unwise.

Brian Urquhart, the great British diplomat, once suggested the Israelis and the Palestinians (and practically everyone in the Middle East) should just blame the British for everything. In the first place, there's some historic merit to the argument, and in the second place, there's nothing like a common enemy to unite warring parties. Tony Blair for bad guy.

Unfortunately, the United States seems to have replaced Britain

Spin Revolves Around the Word 'Terrorist'

During the first two days of this month, CNN's website displayed an odd little announcement. "There have been false reports that CNN has not used the word 'terrorist' to refer to those who attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon," the notice said. "In fact, CNN has consistently and repeatedly referred to the attackers and hijackers as terrorists, and it will continue to do so."

The CNN disclaimer was accurate -- and, by conventional media standards, reassuring. But it bypassed a basic question that festers beneath America's overwhelming media coverage of recent weeks: Exactly what qualifies as "terrorism"?

For this country's mainstream journalists, that's a non-question about a no-brainer. More than ever, the proper function of the "terrorist" label seems obvious. "A group of people commandeered airliners and used them as guided missiles against thousands of people," says NBC News executive Bill Wheatley. "If that doesn't fit the definition of terrorism, what does?"

True enough. At the same time, it's notable that American news

Celebrating Gandhi's birthday and his message

On Oct. 2, members of Hindu Students Council celebrated Mahatma Gandhi's birthday throughout America. When most people think of Gandhi, the first word that comes to mind is "nonviolence". True, Gandhi did inspire a nonviolent movement that eventually led to the peaceful overthrow of British colonial rule in India. But today, Gandhi's approach is considered by many to be overly idealistic.

Gandhi's doctrine of "ahimsa", or nonviolence, is often misinterpreted as a refusal to confront evil. When we understand its true meaning, "ahimsa" refers specifically to nonviolence in thought. Thus "ahimsa" refers to a state of being, and not necessarily to the actions that arise from that state of being.

It is this spiritual approach that allowed Gandhi to lead an effective resistive force against what was the most powerful empire of that era. Nonviolence-in-thought also allowed Gandhi to choose a course of action based on a vision of the future, and not on the emotions or rhetoric of the past. Gandhi believed that evil must be resisted, but with ill will towards none.

And Now for a Note of Good Cheer

I've been surprised here in Petrolia, Calif., to hear some people say they're afraid. Afraid of what, I ask. Remember, even in the days when the imminent possibility of nuclear holocaust was dinned into schoolkids, ducking and covering, California's north coast was held in high esteem as a possible sanctuary. It's a reason why many nutsos, like the Reverend Jim Jones, headed up to Mendocino or Humboldt counties in the years when Mutual Assured Destruction seemed just around the corner.

In this case, after the terrible Sept. 11 attacks, people amid the daily mill round our post office and local store were concerned about further terrorist attacks, dire onslaughts on the Bill of Rights, war, or a blend of all three.

We may yet see just such a dread combo, but to be honest about it, I've been somewhat heartened, far beyond what I would have dared hope in the immediate aftermath of the onslaughts. Take the pleas for tolerance and the visit of President W. Bush to mosques. Better than FDR, who didn't take long to herd the Japanese-Americans into internment camps.

Get 'cher Prozac here

AUSTIN, Texas -- Back from a month in Europe, I meant to begin by suggesting it's time to start thinking outside the box. Then I got back to Texas. The sign outside our neighborhood strip joint says, "Hot Babes, Cold Beer, Nuke 'Em, GW." Actually, let's start by thinking.

Bush's "bomb them with butter" campaign in Afghanistan is a good start. One step we might usefully ponder is announcing that Osama bin Laden, when smoked out and rounded up, will be turned over to the World Court in The Hague to be tried for crimes against humanity.

First, bin Laden and his terrorist network are guilty of crimes against humanity; second, this would emphasize that it's the whole world against the terrorists; third, we're more likely to get bin Laden that way. The few extreme Arab states might hesitate to turn him over to the Great Satan, but turning him over to the World Court would be much easier for them. The government of Pakistan, in particular, which is between a rock and hard place, would find this helpful -- and Pakistan is in a position to be very useful to us.

POET works to protect us

POET works to protect us
Former OSU quarterback Bill Long and animal-rights activist Rob Russell planted themselves at OSU’s Vet School in the middle of September and swore off food until the university pulls the plug on a “scientifically unjustified and cruel experiment that will cause the suffering and death of defenseless animals,” says Russell.

This is the fifth in a series of protests scheduled by the animal-rights organization POET against Michael Podell’s FIV/methamphetamine research that, if allowed to continue, will infect, drug, and destroy 120 cats at OSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“Sure I’d rather be sitting down to a pre-game meal on this home game weekend” says 1969 OSU graduate Bill Long who played on both the football and baseball teams. “But knowing that my alma mater is behind this unnecessary killing is killing not only my appetite, but my long-standing school spirit and devotion.”

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS