Op-Ed

Two weeks ago an article in the Cville Weekly by Josh Levy ( http://tinyurl.com/3ckznf ) told us that the "surge" was going to win the "war" in Iraq.  "Victory has not yet arrived," he cautioned, "and it may be years before we can mark its arrival with confidence, but we can reasonably hope to see it."  

Somehow, I can't.  First I would need someone to tell me what it would look like.  There is no "war" in Iraq in the sense of a battle between two armies.  There is an occupation of one nation's people by another nation's military.  Dick Cheney told us the whole thing was only going to take a few months.  Five years later we're supposed to continue this massive crime for additional years because then Levy may be able to confidently discern "victory"?

In "Chicken Doves" Matt Taibbi correctly denounces the phony, monied, Democratic-front antiwar movement without acknowledging the real one. United for Peace and Justice, and other organizations serious about peace, struggle against a corrupt Congress, a pseudo peace movement with lots more money than we have, and reporters like Taibbi who pretend that a major movement that is actually working for peace with projects like this one upcoming in March: http://resistinmarch.org does not exist.

Taibbi correctly condemns the Democrats' past year of not really trying to end the occupation of Iraq. But he fails to acknowledge that they still have almost another whole year left in which they could quite easily act if they wanted to. Millions of us will continue pushing them to cut off the funding, with no help from Taibbi and other journalists who buy into the pretense that it is already 2009.

Taibbi does not spell it out, but here is why the Democrats' claim of powerlessness is false:

As we stumble toward another presidential election, it’s never been more clear that our political process is being warped by a corporate stranglehold on the free flow of information. Amidst a virtual blackout of coverage of a horrific war, a global ecological crisis and an advancing economic collapse, what passes for the mass media is itself in collapse. What’s left of our democracy teeters on the brink.

The culprit, in the parlance of the day, has been the “Mainstream Media,” or MSM.

But that’s wrong name for it. Today’s mass media is Corporate, not Mainstream, and the distinction is critical.

Calling the Corporate Media (CM) “mainstream” implies that it speaks for mid-road opinion, and it absolutely does not.

There is, in fact, a discernable, tangible mainstream of opinion in this country. As brilliant analysts such as Jeff Cohen, Norman Solomon and the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) organization have shown, the “MSM” is very far to the right of it.

Of course, Americans must be 18 to serve in the military, but much of the military's recruiting work is directed at those who have not yet turned 18.

According to Dave Meserve in Arcata, Calif., localities can avoid the consequences of the No Child Left Behind law (which turns students' names and contact information over to recruiters) not only by helping students and parents to opt out of recruitment lists or by challenging the ability of recruiters to be on school campuses, but also by prohibiting any recruiting activities that involve kids under 18.

Meserve has drafted an ordinance and submitted it to the city clerk and the city attorney in Arcata. They will have 15 days to review it and provide a title and ballot summary for the November 2008 ballot. Then Meserve can begin gathering signatures to get it on the ballot.

Why not do the same thing in your town or major city? Here's the draft ordinance:

ARCATA YOUTH PROTECTION ACT

AN ORDINANCE TO PROHIBIT THE MILITARY RECRUITMENT OF ANY PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN

To protect the welfare of our youth, the People of Arcata Ordain as Follows:

I don't care right now who you plan to vote for next November. My primary concern is that, after Tuesday, you strive to - as completely as possible - ignore the election until around Halloween, because we have so many much more important things to work on as citizens of this country, not the least of them being the creation of a credible system of hand-counted paper ballots and other election reforms. But my secondary concern is for the Democratic primaries. It's important that you take part and cast your vote for Barack Obama. Come November, you can vote for McCain or Paul, Nader or McKinney, or your pet llama, or for the Democratic nominee. But it should be a high priority for all of us to ensure that the Democratic nominee is not Hillary Clinton.

New Delhi, India (January 28, 2008) - Mahatma Gandhi, 60 years later, his legacy is alive.  His dreams for democracy, de-colonization, human rights, his quest to end barbaric enmity based upon class, tribe, race and gender, has momentum…for the most part all of Africa, Asia, South, Central and Latin America, and the Caribbean has been de-colonized in the last 60 years – most of the world’s people.

Nuclear war and greed remain our threats, non-violence and Satayagraha – soul force – remains our therapy, and the only window from which the peace we seek is possible.  Dr. King said, “just call me a drum major for justice.” 

Dr. King and Gandhi were drum majors and dreamers who marched to a different beat, and heard a different sound.

Commentators are talking, and rightly so, about how young voters are flocking to Barack Obama. Their overwhelming support gave Obama his Iowa margin, kept him just a few points behind in New Hampshire and Nevada, and contributed to his massive South Carolina victory. Young voters haven't always turned out historically, but they're responding to Obama's message, and together with his equally massive support from African Americans and strong appeal to independents, their passionate enthusiasm could help him expand the Democratic base enough not only to win in November, but to win decisively.

Obama also offers the chance to make this new generation part of an enduring Democratic coalition--because once young voters support a particular party a few times in a row, they're likely to gravitate toward that party for the rest of their lives.

I gave John Edwards more money than I've given to any candidate in my life, and I'm glad I did. He raised critical issues about America's economic divides, and got them on the Democratic agenda. He was the first major candidate to stake out strong comprehensive platforms on global warming and health care. He hammered away on the Iraq war, even using scarce campaign resources to run ads during recent key Senate votes. He'd have made a powerful nominee—and president.

I've been going through my mourning for a while for his campaign not getting more traction, so his withdrawal announcement didn't shock me. But sad as I am about his departure, I feel good about being able to switch my support to Barack Obama, and will do all I can to help him win.

“Many in this chamber understand that America must not fail in Iraq, because you understand that the consequences of failure would be grievous and far-reaching . . .”

There it is again, that choking lie, so smoothly administered — with just enough fear to help America gag down all that righteousness.

President Bush told it again in his final State of the Union address the other night, of course. What choice did he have? The truth, coming from him at this point, would be . . . too weird, too offensive, impossible to comprehend.

But the truth is that we’ve already failed in Iraq, and throughout the Middle East and Central Asia — failed with consequences beyond reckoning. God knows someone will have to take a swig of political courage and acknowledge it one of these days, simply to stop the lie — the lies, a governmental cluster bomb of them — from doing further harm.

Hillary Is blaming the Iraqis. I flip on the debate and that's the first thing I have to hear. Sheesh.

Then she says they'll stop Bush's abuses by... passing more legislation. Sheesh.

Now she's explaining that she voted to let Bush go to war because she trusted him not to. Sheesh.

Now CNN is pushing Obama to admit that Petraeus is making progress in Iraq, and Obama is buying it. But then he says that's setting the bar way too low. (APPLAUSE- Hey, there's an audience!)

Now he's saying he was smart enough to oppose it from the start (up until he voted to throw some half a trillion dollars into it). He says Clinton would have a very hard time debating the Republicans because she voted for the thing. (APPLAUSE!)

Wolf BSer asked Clinton yet again to admit that her vote was a "mistake." She's now rambling on about nothing and avoiding the question. The audience has gone back to sleep. Now she's saying she would have kept our focus on killing Afghanis.

My god, will she ever shut up? It's been about 20 minutes.

Now Wolf BSer is calling her naive. (APPLAUSE, and BOOS.)