Nice, polite, calm...
KANANASKIS, Alberta -- Make that a big Canadian, "Oh dear." These nice Canadians, whom George W. Bush once managed to triumphantly identify as "our most important neighbors to the north" are famous for their reticence. Canada, Land of the Understatement. I once proposed their national motto should be: "Now, Let's Not Get Excited." Not that I would ever generalize. I attribute their commendable phlegm to being too cold to waste much energy and regular ingestion of oatmeal.
Nice, polite, calm, reserved, chock full of common sense and living next to us -- what a fate. For them, it's like having the Simpsons for next-door neighbors. A few years ago, during the height of our national meltdown over Monica Lewinsky, a host on the Canadian Broadcasting Co.'s evening news program began an interview by gingerly asking me, "So, having another of your little psychodramas down there, eh?"
Nice, polite, calm, reserved, chock full of common sense and living next to us -- what a fate. For them, it's like having the Simpsons for next-door neighbors. A few years ago, during the height of our national meltdown over Monica Lewinsky, a host on the Canadian Broadcasting Co.'s evening news program began an interview by gingerly asking me, "So, having another of your little psychodramas down there, eh?"
A Time of Butterflies and Bombers
We saw butterflies turning into bombers. And we weren't dreaming. At
the time when the Woodstock festival became an instant media legend in
mid-August 1969, melodic yearning for peace was up against the cold steel
of American war machinery.
The music and other creative energies that drew 400,000 people to an upstate New York farm that weekend rejected the Vietnam War and the assumptions fueling it. Thirty-five years later, the Jimi Hendrix rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner could still serve as an apt soundtrack for U.S. foreign policy, with bombs bursting in air over urban neighborhoods across much of Iraq.
A Woodstock reunion, scheduled for Aug. 20-22 in the town of Bethel, N.Y., comes while the gap between the nation's commander in chief and huge numbers of its citizens is enormous.
The music and other creative energies that drew 400,000 people to an upstate New York farm that weekend rejected the Vietnam War and the assumptions fueling it. Thirty-five years later, the Jimi Hendrix rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner could still serve as an apt soundtrack for U.S. foreign policy, with bombs bursting in air over urban neighborhoods across much of Iraq.
A Woodstock reunion, scheduled for Aug. 20-22 in the town of Bethel, N.Y., comes while the gap between the nation's commander in chief and huge numbers of its citizens is enormous.
The Conventional News Wisdom of Network Television
The same broadcast networks that eagerly devote endless prime-time
hours to vacuous sitcoms and unreal "reality shows" couldn't spare a total
of more than a few hours last week for live coverage of the Democratic
National Convention.
It's true that complaining about scant news coverage from NBC, ABC and CBS is a bit like griping about small portions of meals from restaurants that serve lousy food. But still: the conventions are worth watching, if only to keep up with the rhetorical needles that party strategists are trying to thread these days.
Gathering for the convention in Boston, several network anchors participated in a high-profile panel at Harvard University. One of the more interesting moments came when the panelists responded to a question about the scant amount of air time the commercial broadcast networks were devoting to the convention.
It's true that complaining about scant news coverage from NBC, ABC and CBS is a bit like griping about small portions of meals from restaurants that serve lousy food. But still: the conventions are worth watching, if only to keep up with the rhetorical needles that party strategists are trying to thread these days.
Gathering for the convention in Boston, several network anchors participated in a high-profile panel at Harvard University. One of the more interesting moments came when the panelists responded to a question about the scant amount of air time the commercial broadcast networks were devoting to the convention.
New Terror Warning Again Targets Swing State
As the Libertarian Party of Ohio's Executive Director Robert Butler initially predicted on June 14th, another terror warning has been issued for a swing state crucial to the Bush-Cheney re-eletion . This time it's New Mexico.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge just announced that the State of New Mexico may become a terrorist target, but the information was unsubstantiated and uncollaborated.
It's unfortunate that the current administration continues to issue vague warnings. This only serves to increase the level of anxiety in states crucial to the election of George W. Bush.
In June, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a bomb plot for a Columbus, Ohio shopping mall. The FBI later contradicted Ashcroft by stating no target had been identified.
We again hope that the media reports these warnings for the scare tactics they are.
For the full June 14th comments from Robert Butler, please see below:
Columbus Terror Target No Surprise
Hope is not on the way, but hopefully Bush is on the way out
No, hope does not gallop in like Paul Revere. And it certainly doesn't
arrive breathless from a corporate party convention.
Movements for peace and social justice can bring realistic hope -- not with rhetoric but with the tough daily tedious uplifting work of political organizing.
Yes, we'd be better off with John Kerry in the White House instead of the Rove-Cheney-Bush regime. And the only way that's going to happen is if enough people in swing states vote for Kerry on November 2.
But I'm already getting tired of the bulk email messages claiming that Kerry is the embodiment of progressive dreams. Please. We can simultaneously walk, chew gum and be clear about the reality that Kerry embraces a centrist matrix of militarism and corporatism -- and, at the same time, in a world of contradictions, it's extremely important that George W. Bush lose the election on November 2... Let's not make stuff up. And let's not imitate the Democratic Party's hype machine. Just because you think people should hold their nose and vote for Kerry, don't act like there isn't a stench.
Movements for peace and social justice can bring realistic hope -- not with rhetoric but with the tough daily tedious uplifting work of political organizing.
Yes, we'd be better off with John Kerry in the White House instead of the Rove-Cheney-Bush regime. And the only way that's going to happen is if enough people in swing states vote for Kerry on November 2.
But I'm already getting tired of the bulk email messages claiming that Kerry is the embodiment of progressive dreams. Please. We can simultaneously walk, chew gum and be clear about the reality that Kerry embraces a centrist matrix of militarism and corporatism -- and, at the same time, in a world of contradictions, it's extremely important that George W. Bush lose the election on November 2... Let's not make stuff up. And let's not imitate the Democratic Party's hype machine. Just because you think people should hold their nose and vote for Kerry, don't act like there isn't a stench.
Daring To Hope
This week the Democratic Party successfully launched a great ship of hope
from Boston harbor. And while the winds of change that would guide it grow
mightier, it is by no means certain that it will reach its destination
come this November.
As the election draws nearer, the many millions of us aboard this great ship should expect to be told and told again by the powers that be to be frightened of our voyage. They will dare us to imagine what terrors lie in wait within the seas of change. They will manufacture a dense fog of fear, and then claim only they can protect us from the unspeakable dangers that only they can see within it.
As the election draws nearer, the many millions of us aboard this great ship should expect to be told and told again by the powers that be to be frightened of our voyage. They will dare us to imagine what terrors lie in wait within the seas of change. They will manufacture a dense fog of fear, and then claim only they can protect us from the unspeakable dangers that only they can see within it.
I'll Follow Kucinich to Kerry, Sorry Ralph
If Kerry is a "flip-flopper" because he won't end the war (or the "Patriot
Act" or NAFTA or private health insurance) even as he speaks against these
horrors, what do we have to call Kucinich, who insists on ending these
things even as he endorses Kerry? And what can we expect Dennis to say on
Wednesday when he delivers a Kerry-approved speech to the Democratic
National Convention? Will he speak against the war, as he told "Democracy
Now"'s Amy Goodman he would?
I expect in fact that Dennis will not need to tie himself in knots or reverse any positions. Understanding this helps me to accomplish something I find extremely difficult – sympathizing with John Kerry.
I expect in fact that Dennis will not need to tie himself in knots or reverse any positions. Understanding this helps me to accomplish something I find extremely difficult – sympathizing with John Kerry.
"Look at Nelson Mandela"
AUSTIN, Texas -- We cannot let pass without salute Martha Stewart’s remarks after being sentenced to five months in prison. In the long history of amazing things said by people in peculiar circumstances, you must admit, this ranks right up there. “There are many, many good people who have gone to prison,” she observed. “Look at Nelson Mandela.”
We live in a great nation.
Unfortunately, we are all likely to be driven batty if this presidential campaign gets any worse, which it is likely to do. Last week, I was on book tour doing one chat show after another and so got to experience first-hand the Republican orchestration of their talking points. And an impressive display it is. Truly, they speak with one voice, repeating the same thing over and over, never off-message -- just remarkable.
We live in a great nation.
Unfortunately, we are all likely to be driven batty if this presidential campaign gets any worse, which it is likely to do. Last week, I was on book tour doing one chat show after another and so got to experience first-hand the Republican orchestration of their talking points. And an impressive display it is. Truly, they speak with one voice, repeating the same thing over and over, never off-message -- just remarkable.
The Convention Speech A Child Longs To Hear
"On this night I would like to depart from the usual speech demanded on
such occasions when, every four years, we celebrate the process of
democracy. On this night, ladies and gentlemen, I would instead like to
speak about America's children.
While our nation has dutifully kept its gaze fixed on approaching catastrophes, we have become blind to the catastrophes already upon us. In this the most economically developed nation in the world, at least nine million children are uninsured and receive little or no preventive medical or dental care. This is to say nothing of the millions more undocumented children in our midst.
Millions of our children live in substandard housing. Millions are suffering mental and physical malnutrition from chronic hunger and chronic neglect and abuse. Our infant mortality rate ranks an abysmal 28th internationally. An astounding one-third of American three year-olds have not received their complete immunizations. Over the past few years of difficult economic times, all of these numbers have been growing.
While our nation has dutifully kept its gaze fixed on approaching catastrophes, we have become blind to the catastrophes already upon us. In this the most economically developed nation in the world, at least nine million children are uninsured and receive little or no preventive medical or dental care. This is to say nothing of the millions more undocumented children in our midst.
Millions of our children live in substandard housing. Millions are suffering mental and physical malnutrition from chronic hunger and chronic neglect and abuse. Our infant mortality rate ranks an abysmal 28th internationally. An astounding one-third of American three year-olds have not received their complete immunizations. Over the past few years of difficult economic times, all of these numbers have been growing.
Not in this lifetime for Clinton
AUSTIN, Texas -- I like Bill Clinton's book. I feel as though I should immediately apologize for saying that. I mean, it's gotten a bunch of bad reviews -- all sorts of superior people have peed all over it and pointed out he shouldn't have said this, or he should have said that.
Let me get my claim to intellectual superiority in here right away: I was prepared to dislike the book. I was prepared to find it self-serving, inadequate, insufficiently groveling and all that other good doo. Actually, I think it's well written, interesting and informative. I'd recommend it to almost anyone who's interested in politics, including young people with any inclination toward public service.
I started reading it just to make sure Bill Clinton is who I always thought he was. Yep, same guy. Superb politician with a zipper problem. Interesting case. But even I learned quite a bit along the way.
Let me get my claim to intellectual superiority in here right away: I was prepared to dislike the book. I was prepared to find it self-serving, inadequate, insufficiently groveling and all that other good doo. Actually, I think it's well written, interesting and informative. I'd recommend it to almost anyone who's interested in politics, including young people with any inclination toward public service.
I started reading it just to make sure Bill Clinton is who I always thought he was. Yep, same guy. Superb politician with a zipper problem. Interesting case. But even I learned quite a bit along the way.