Freeze Frame

Wakie, wakie N.S.A.! I have another blog entry for your review. There is a chill in the air this morning and just knowing that President Bush authorized the N.S.A. to spy on Americans adds to that chill. We have returned to the days of Cointelpro when the F.B.I. secretly infiltrated antiwar groups, political parties, black power organizations and even women's rights and environmental groups. They used direct infiltration by agents posing as members, but also used wiretaps and break-ins to collect information on individuals and organizations. Some individuals were put on blacklists so they could not obtain employment, even though these individuals had broken no laws and committed no crimes. All they did was support their country through progressive causes and exercise their constitutional right to dissent when the leadership in Washington took the country in the wrong direction. Same thing is true today, but new technology allows the N.S.A. to use electronic keyword searches to

We found out too late that the war in Iraq was based on a pack of lies -- that it was not about WMD, al Qaeda, or 9/11 -- so you claimed that the war was about "building democracy" in Iraq. O.K., let's look back at our own history so citizens realize what we are in for if we allow this horrific war to continue. The first step in democracy-building is ethnic cleansing, a process that is well under way by the Shiite majority in Iraq. In our own nation, you will remember, we tried hard to exterminate the American Indians. When that failed, we tried to eliminate their main food supply, the buffalo. That weakened them enough that we could round them up and put them on reservations. Of course, you can't build democracy without someone to do the manual labor, so you will need at least 200 years of abject slavery in order to ensure that the majority gets to live the good life while the ethnic minorities remain poor. You can keep the slavery going in different forms, such

One of these days, the levees around New Orleans will finally be raised and strengthened to handle a Category 5 hurricane, but land developers are already salivating over the "new" New Orleans. They imagine a New Orleans of pricey hotels, condos, and shopping districts. The single-family homes will be bulldozed and replaced with high-rent apartments so landlords can further gouge the pocketbooks and dignity of the working class poor employed in the tourist and service industries -- waiters, cashiers, nurses aides, receptionists, cooks, delivery drivers, and so on. Instead of becoming a model city that pays a living wage to its citizens, that cares about the health and welfare of its citizens from the cradle to the grave, the "new" New Orleans will likely become a showcase for the very worst of modern capitalism. Greed. The Garden district and Bourbon Street will still be the main tourist draw because of the name recognition, but the real character of the city li

The news reporting out of New Orleans has been better than we have been accustomed to. Some reporters have been getting in boats, going into neighborhoods, and have even helped save lives. Their cameras have shown us the bloated bodies bobbing in the toxic water, the joy on people's faces as they are rescued from their homes, and the sadness as a beloved pet is left behind. Even Geraldo Rivera broke down into tears at the convention center over the treatment of people stranded there without food or water and the lack of a response to assist them. This is the kind of reporting that shows us the stark, glaring truth and allows us to speak truth to power. During the build-up to the Iraq war, this kind of reporting was AWOL. Reporters accepted the Bush administration's war justifications without dissent. No tough questions. No demands for proof. No pictures of war-torn bodies or flag-draped coffins. No complaints about censorship requirements for imbedded reporters. The g

George W. Bush, who slashed funds being used for New Orleans levee construction to help pay for the Iraq war, can do little to help the long-term humanitarian disaster created by Hurricane Katrina. Imagine a city of 1.5 million people thrown into sudden unemployment and homelessness. Bush released federal disaster funds to help relief agencies with search and rescue, health, and security, but a much needed National Guard is stretched thin with 40 percent of the troops and most of their equipment in Iraq. Bush ordered seven Navy ships from Norfolk, Virginia, to Louisiana, a voyage that at best speed can take nearly a week. In the short-term, time is critical. The human body needs water in three days or the vital organs begin to shut down. Today is the fourth day and the news networks keep interviewing federal officials who state the list of relief supplies that are "on the way." Yet from the pictures I have seen of crowds gathered in dry areas and people waiting to be re

When 700 Club president Pat Robertson advocated the assassination of democratically-elected Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Robertson became an advocate of terrorism. There is no difference between an Islamic extremist advocating violence against U.S. citizens and a Christian extremist advocating violence against foreign nationals. Both fit the definition of a terrorist. The reaction to Robertson's statement was quite interesting. Most working people just thought he was nuts, but the U.S. government said he was speaking as a "private citizen." Other Christian extremists jokingly downplayed his comments and focused on his age and his propensity to speak before he thinks. Still others called his comments "anti-Christian," yet chose to divert attention to Chavez, citing as fact that he committed "election fraud." (Egads! One wonders if they have ever heard of Florida or Ohio.) Hugo Chavez was democratically elected several times and the opposition

Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq, is holding vigil outside the Bush compound near Crawford, Texas. She wants to ask him why her son had to die for a lie. And other mothers who lost children in Iraq are joining her. There were no WMD. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. It was an elaborate hoax foisted upon the world by Bush and Blair. While Sheehan and the anti-war movement in Crawford, Texas, await scant media coverage, the corporate media focus on sports, entertainment, celebrity news, and, of course, on crime stories. Our sons and daughters are dying in Iraq, yet we go on with our lives as if there were no war. Consumers are shopping and buying. The smell of cotton candy and popcorn permeate the air at county fairs. NASCAR is in full swing. The NFL preseason is beginning. Wolf Blitzer is talking his usual blather and Bill O'Reilly wouldn't know the truth if it crawled up his ass. Christians trot off to church every Sunday, mistakenly believing that Bush i

Staunch defenders of Israel have created an interesting defense strategy so that critics of the Israeli government cannot speak against it without being accused of "anti-semitism." "Anti-semitism," by definition, means prejudice against Jews. This definition is very straightforward and clear. It does not say anything about the Israeli government, which, like the United States government, is a civil order. When I criticize the brutal actions of the Israeli government, my many Jewish friends know that I mean no harm or criticism or prejudice toward them. They know I support the Israeli peace and justice movement and that my many criticisms of Israel are directed toward the Sharon government and its regional policies. I am practicing civil criticism. Same as I do here in the USA. The term "anti-semitism" is often used incorrectly as an umbrella term to cover civil criticisms of Israel. How convenient! When former CIA analyst Ray McGovern gave his test

The Downing Street memo has received scant coverage in the U.S. media since its May 1 release, yet the criminal implications for a sitting president make Watergate seem like a school-boy prank by comparison. The Downing Street memo is the official minutes of an August 2002 meeting between British PM Tony Blair, members of British intelligence MI-6 and various members of the Bush administration. The memo reveals that the Bush administration fixed the facts to shape its Iraq policy before going to war and in so doing deceived Congress and the American people. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died, nearly 1700 GIs have died, and thousands of brave, dutiful troops have been wounded or permanently maimed as a result of this horrific lie foisted upon the public by the Bush administration. More than a month has passed since the memo has been released and few media outlets have mentioned it, let alone investigated it. Could it be that they are protecting the president? Now, of course, w

A new campaign called a BUY-cott (the opposite of a boycott} is now under way to encourage motorists to buy their gas at Citgo stations. Why Citgo, you ask?   Media critic and author Jeff Cohen explains: Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes to Venezuela -- not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. Venezuela is the only top oil-producing country in the world with a president -- Hugo Chavez -- who was elected on a platform of using his country's oil revenue to benefit the poor by providing health care, literacy, education and subsidized food to the majority of Venezuelans. Instead of using government to help the rich and the corporate, as Bush does, Chavez is using the resources and oil revenue of his government to help the poor in Venezuela. A country with so much oil wealth shouldn't have 60 percent of its people living in poverty, earning less than $2 per day. With a mas

George W. Bush, you are under citizen's arrest! You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in an international court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, the International Court of Justice will appoint an attorney for you. Do you understand these rights? George W. Bush, you are being charged with violating the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and with violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N. Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and international law. George W. Bush, you are being charged with committing the following heinous crimes against humanity: 1) Waging an unnecessary "first strike" war of aggression on and occupation of Iraq -- an independent and sovereign nation already ravaged by a 1990 invasion and 10 years of harsh economic sanctions -- resulting in the death an

We've all seen the pundits on local and national news programs, captivating us with their million-dollar smiles and their award-winning personalities. They are mostly white and mostly male and can be found on any television network, including the cable news channels. One thing they all have in common is that their news stories and commentaries could well have been written by the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency, a public relations firm, or a Hollywood entertainment writer. They are the media whores. Just as MSNBC seems slightly more palatable than the "fair and balanced" Fox News, some of the media whores seem more professional and believable than others, but all are bad for journalism. They do not ask the tough, probing questions that try to get at some semblance of truth and hold a politician's feet to the fire, no matter which party they represent; rather, their questions are shallow and mushy, completely lacking in political knowledge and context. Many

Mass media reporting on the all-important Social Security debate is turning out to be mere stenography. The media, as usual, are reporting what Bush says about Social Security as though that were the truth. The media are not doing enough independent research to either substantiate or disprove Bush's claims. When Bush says that Social Security will be flat broke by 2042, this lie is presented as fact in news stories. As we all learned during the build-up to the Iraq war, if a lie is repeated often enough in the media, it becomes accepted as the truth. Social Security is a well-run federal program. Millions of retirees, survivors and people with disabilities rely on Social Security. The Bush plan will result in benefit cuts for recipients who rely on it, yet brokerage firms will reap big, new profits from management fees and commissions. Besides, we already have individual retirement accounts in which people can invest: They are called IRAs.

The United States of America has been successfully overthrown and the vast majority of citizens do not even realize it. This ignorance is a testament to the enormous influential mix of television news punditry and public relations. The formula is simple: Just repeat your message over and over in the mass media, denounce your critics as deranged and unpatriotic...and the meek will follow. The new United States of America has nothing to do with the principles of freedom and democracy that the nation was founded upon. Rather, the new United States is all about unbridled imperialism, privatization and militarization. Public monies are being shifted from the public sector -- which funds education, food programs, jobs programs, health programs and Social Security -- to the private sector, which includes big business, military contractors and the stock market. In other words, the people's money is being withdrawn from social programs and deposited into the bank accounts of the ri

William Clay Ford, Jr. Board of Directors Ford Motor Co. P.O. Box 685 Dearborn MI 48126-0685 Dear Mr. Ford: After reading disturbing reports that the Ford Motor Co. was planning to destroy the all-electric Rangers it produced for fleet and lease customers, I am pleased to hear that the company reversed its position. Although I drive a gasoline Ranger, I have heard nothing but good things from owners of the electric Rangers and I would certainly be interested in an all-electric Ranger myself. With world oil reserves dwindling rapidly -- and some estimates predicting a supply of just 20 to 40 years at the present rate of consumption -- it makes sense from a business perspective to begin phasing-in both all-electric and fuel cell vehicles now. Unfortunately, the corporate mindset of today is to secure the world's remaining oil reserves, especially ANWR and the Caspian Sea area, for the U.S. market, even if this means the deaths of many thousands of people in Iraq, Iran

As the rich and righteous celebrated the coronation of King George II yesterday, thousands more lined the parade route and turned their backs on Bush as he and Laura drove by in their limousine. Large, yellow ImpeachBush.org banners were visible to television cameras all along the route and C-SPAN covered a portion of International Answer's antiwar rally live until 3 p.m. Earlier, several members of the antiwar group Code Pink were arrested for merely unfurling banners during the "no dissent allowed" swearing-in ceremony. Most were released shortly after being arrested while others, including Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin, were held in custody longer. As Bush was being solemnly sworn in, 49 percent of registered voters around the the nation were also solemnly swearing to themselves, but if there is any good news in all of this, it is that we are now past the halfway point of the Bush reign. During the next four years, of course, Bush plans to shift even more p