Op-Ed

Here’s the real-life plot: A famous documentary filmmaker puts out a letter to a retired four-star general urging him to run for president. The essay quickly zooms through cyberspace and causes a big stir.

     For Michael Moore, the reaction is gratifying. Three days later, he thanks readers “for the astounding response to the Wesley Clark letter” and “for your kind comments to me.” But some of the reactions are more apoplectic than kind.

     Quite a few progressive activists are stunned, even infuriated, perhaps most of all by four words in Moore’s open letter to Gen. Clark: “And you oppose war.”

     The next sentence tries to back up the assertion: “You have said that war should always be the ‘last resort’ and that it is military men such as yourself who are the most for peace because it is YOU and your soldiers who have to do the dying.”

SEATTLE -- Life rolls on in George W. Bush's America, forcing us to invent a new word -- greeed, with three E's in the middle -- to cover cases like that of Richard A. Grasso, who recently resigned as chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange.

            Grasso has been doing such a swell job of policing any corporate irregularities -- surely you've noticed -- that his board members felt he should be rewarded with a pay package worth $139.5 million. But, hey, he was willing to kick back $8 mill. What a guy.

            Now, those sophisticated folks at The Wall Street Journal keep pointing out that Grasso did nothing wrong -- he merely accepted a pay package that was foisted upon him by a board of directors who happened to be handpicked by Grasso, who were close friends of his and who kept their decisions secret. How could there be anything wrong with that? What a splendid example of open, transparent corporate governance and independent directors.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Among the more amusing cluckings from the right lately is their appalled discovery that quite a few Americans actually think George W. Bush is a terrible president.

Robert Novak is quoted as saying in all his 44 years of covering politics, he has never seen anything like the detestation of Bush. Charles Krauthammer managed to write an entire essay on the topic of "Bush haters" in Time magazine, as though he had never before come across such a phenomenon.

Oh, I stretch memory way back, so far back, all the way back to -- our last president. Almost lost in the mists of time though it is, I not only remember eight years of relentless attacks from Clinton-haters, I also notice they haven't let up yet. Clinton-haters accused the man of murder, rape, drug-running, sexual harassment, financial chicanery and official misconduct, and his wife of even worse.

Freep Hero - Richard Land

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, pointed out the obvious concerning the Ten Commandments monument controversy in Alabama. When people seek to impose their religious morality on others using the coercive power of the state and public resources and facilities, they are “practicing religious apartheid in public places while ignoring that we are a nation of many faiths.” Amen!

Freep Hero - Alaska

The state of Alaska understands that the government should not be breaking into people’s houses if they’re only holding 4 ounces or less of marijuana. Smoking dope during the long Alaskan winters makes more sense than becoming part of Prozac Nation.

The Free Press Salutes

Local activist awards recipients

Congratulations to the following local people and local organizations:

Presidential candidates have become fond of asking whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago. Looking back at a sensational Time magazine story that appeared in late September 1999, we might want to ask a similar question: “Are media values better than they were four years ago?”

     The enthralling title of Time’s 20-page cover story -- “GetRich.com” -- heralded scenarios for wondrously swift elevation into the ranks of the wealthy. The spread had its share of wry digs and sardonic asides, but reverence for the magnitude of quick money in dotcomland seemed to dwarf any misgivings.

     Although the magazine explained that “it’s not all about the money,” the punch line arrived a few dozen words later: “But mostly, it’s the money.” And back in 1999, there was plenty of it moving into new digital enterprises. “In the second quarter of this year, venture-capital funding in the U.S. increased 77 percent, to a record $7.6 billion. More than half went to Internet start-ups.”

AUSTIN, Texas -- The administration is now in The Full Ostrich on Iraq: Dick Cheney put on a fabulous performance last Sunday on "Meet the Press," in which he insisted everything in Iraq is trickety-boo, right as rain and cheery bye. I haven't heard anyone lie with such gravitas since Henry Kissinger was in office.

            But for the complete black-is-white, up-is-down, peace-is-war mode, you have to check out this administration on the environment. I am fascinated by its rank chutzpah. The latest brass-balls moxie episode was President Bush's Monday visit to the Detroit Edison power plant in Monroe, Mich., which he actually touted as a "living example" of why his dandy Clear Skies (gag me) initiative is so good for us all. "You're good stewards of the quality of the air," Bush told the plant's pleased workers.

Without a hint of intended irony, the “NewsHour” on PBS concluded its Sept. 9 program with a warm interview of Henry Kissinger and then a segment about a renowned propagandist for the Nazi war machine. Kissinger talked about his latest book. Then a professor of German history talked about Leni Riefenstahl, the path-breaking documentary filmmaker who just died at age 101.

     The conversation was cozy with Kissinger, the man who served as the preeminent architect of U.S. policy during the last half-dozen years of the Vietnam War. Tossed his way by host Jim Lehrer, the questions ranged from softball to beach ball. And when the obsequious session ended, Lehrer went beyond politeness: “Dr. Kissinger, good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Good luck on your book.”

AUSTIN, Texas -- Well, fellow Texans, they can stick a fork in us, 'cause we're done. Not only has Governor Goodhair called yet another special session (cost now at over $5 million) to implement Tom DeLay's dirty redistricting deal, but we're about to vote an end to public access to the courts, as well.

            Unless a miracle occurs -- like a whole lot of Texans giving up time on a football Saturday to go vote on a bunch of boring propositions -- Sept. 13 will see the end of the open courts provision of the Texas Constitution. Cleverly disguised a cap on medical malpractice awards, Proposition 12 is a direct assault on an independent judiciary.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Sigh. You write an article advocating what you think would be useful, constructive suggestions about Iraq, and you get an avalanche of right-wing reaction about "failuremongers" and "nattering nabobs of negativism."

Bill Safire is back at the same old stand after all these years, denouncing "merchants of dismay" trying to justify their "decade of appeasement."

Great, anybody who opposed this war in the first place was accused of lack of patriotism, and now anybody who points out that it's not going well is guilty of defeatism. If you raise your hand and ask where the weapons of mass destruction we were told were the reason for this war are, you're instructed to just Get Over It.

Well, I ain't gonna take it anymore. I am not shutting up for Bill O'Reilly or anyone else. I opposed our unprovoked, unnecessary invasion of Iraq on the grounds that it would be a short, easy war followed by the peace from hell. I predicted every terrorist in the Middle East would be drawn to Iraq like a magnet. I was right, and I'm not going to apologize for it.

The Bush administration never hesitated to exploit the general public’s anxieties that arose after the traumatic events of September 11, 2001.

Testifying on Capitol Hill exactly 53 weeks later, Donald Rumsfeld did not miss a beat when a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee questioned the need for the United States to attack Iraq.

Senator Mark Dayton: “What is it compelling us now to make a precipitous decision and take precipitous actions?”

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld: “What’s different? What’s different is 3,000 people were killed.”

As a practical matter, it was almost beside the point that allegations linking Baghdad with the September 11 attacks lacked credible evidence. The key factor was political manipulation, not real documentation.