More intelligence
AUSTIN, Texas -- The congressional report by the committees on
intelligence about 9-11 partially made public last week reminds me of the
recent investigation into the crash of the Columbia shuttle -- months of
effort to reconfirm the obvious.
In the case of the Columbia, we knew from the beginning a piece of insulation had come loose and struck the underside of one wing. So, after much study, it was determined the crash was caused by the piece of insulation that came loose and struck the underside of the wing.
Likewise in the case of 9-11, all the stuff that has been blindingly obvious for months is now blamed for the fiasco.
In the case of the Columbia, we knew from the beginning a piece of insulation had come loose and struck the underside of one wing. So, after much study, it was determined the crash was caused by the piece of insulation that came loose and struck the underside of the wing.
Likewise in the case of 9-11, all the stuff that has been blindingly obvious for months is now blamed for the fiasco.
The Other Great State
ANCHORAGE -- Many and varied are the wonders, the splendors and
the peculiarities of the Other Great State. The funniest thing said by
Alaskans is, "Gonna be another scorcher" (means "could get into the 70s").
In Alaska, God is called Ted Stevens. The senior senator and chairman of the Appropriations Committee is worth an estimated $3 billion a year to the state. One of the oddest things about Alaska is the complete disconnect between its politics and its reality. Alaska is an implacably conservative state, albeit with a lovely libertarian lilt. Consequently, the right-wing radio talk show hosts bash government unmercifully, and Alaskans wander around under the impression that they are all rugged individualists who can take care of themselves and don't need no goldern govamint. That the state is painfully dependent on government is clear only to those who think.
In Alaska, God is called Ted Stevens. The senior senator and chairman of the Appropriations Committee is worth an estimated $3 billion a year to the state. One of the oddest things about Alaska is the complete disconnect between its politics and its reality. Alaska is an implacably conservative state, albeit with a lovely libertarian lilt. Consequently, the right-wing radio talk show hosts bash government unmercifully, and Alaskans wander around under the impression that they are all rugged individualists who can take care of themselves and don't need no goldern govamint. That the state is painfully dependent on government is clear only to those who think.
Legal nonsense
AUSTIN -- Probably because I'm supposed to have a sense of humor, I once wound up on a distinguished panel on the subject of legal ethics, which some people consider a joke to begin with. Dan Rather and I were there as agents provocateurs.
We got to attack legal ethics, but the lawyers couldn't attack media ethics, such as they are, because that wasn't the subject (heh, heh, heh). Naturally, though, a couple of the lawyers kept trying to turn the spotlight on multiple media sins -- a typical lawyer trick.
Several of the lawyers on the panel regularly handle "high-profile" cases -- among others were Bob Bennett, Bill Clinton's lawyer, Richard Beckler, who was John Poindexter's lawyer during the Iran-Contra scandal, and Racehorse Haynes of Houston, who defended former Texas House Speaker Goober Mutscher.
We got to attack legal ethics, but the lawyers couldn't attack media ethics, such as they are, because that wasn't the subject (heh, heh, heh). Naturally, though, a couple of the lawyers kept trying to turn the spotlight on multiple media sins -- a typical lawyer trick.
Several of the lawyers on the panel regularly handle "high-profile" cases -- among others were Bob Bennett, Bill Clinton's lawyer, Richard Beckler, who was John Poindexter's lawyer during the Iran-Contra scandal, and Racehorse Haynes of Houston, who defended former Texas House Speaker Goober Mutscher.
War Boosters Unlikely to Voice Regret
The superstar columnist George Will has an impressive vocabulary.
Too bad it doesn’t include the words “I’m sorry.”
Ten months ago, Will led the media charge when a member of Congress dared to say that President Bush would try to deceive the public about Iraq. By now, of course, strong evidence has piled up that Bush tried and succeeded.
But back in late September, when a media frenzy erupted about Rep. Jim McDermott’s live appearance from Baghdad on ABC’s “This Week” program, what riled the punditocracy as much as anything else was McDermott’s last statement during the interview: “I think the president would mislead the American people.”
First to wave a media dagger at the miscreant was Will, a regular on the ABC television show. Within minutes, on the air, he denounced “the most disgraceful performance abroad by an American official in my lifetime.” But the syndicated columnist was just getting started.
Ten months ago, Will led the media charge when a member of Congress dared to say that President Bush would try to deceive the public about Iraq. By now, of course, strong evidence has piled up that Bush tried and succeeded.
But back in late September, when a media frenzy erupted about Rep. Jim McDermott’s live appearance from Baghdad on ABC’s “This Week” program, what riled the punditocracy as much as anything else was McDermott’s last statement during the interview: “I think the president would mislead the American people.”
First to wave a media dagger at the miscreant was Will, a regular on the ABC television show. Within minutes, on the air, he denounced “the most disgraceful performance abroad by an American official in my lifetime.” But the syndicated columnist was just getting started.
A stinging rebuke to the disgraceful level of journalism
AUSTIN, Texas -- I opposed the war in Iraq because I thought it
would lead to the peace from hell, but I'd rather not see my prediction come
true and I don't think we have much time left to avert it. That the
occupation is not going well is apparent to everyone but Donald Rumsfeld. If
this thing turns into Vietnam simply because that man is too vain and
arrogant to admit that Gen. Eric Shinseki was right when he said we would
need "several hundred thousand soldiers" over there, I hope Rumsfeld rots in
a hell worse than the one he's making.
Now is not the time to stand back timidly hoping it will work out well in the end. The population of Baghdad is broiling through the 115-degree summer without electricity or water for much of the time. Given the background poverty and generally hideous conditions, the place is a major riot waiting to happen.
Now is not the time to stand back timidly hoping it will work out well in the end. The population of Baghdad is broiling through the 115-degree summer without electricity or water for much of the time. Given the background poverty and generally hideous conditions, the place is a major riot waiting to happen.
A Call To Lock Arms
These are days when it seems sanity has left us. Civic neurosis is maintained by keeping us living in a
constant state of color-coded mental emergency. The besieged mind then retreats into thinking only of those
most basic human needs: safety and security. Leaders who promise to provide and protect these needs are
then revered.
However, it is during times like these that enormous change is possible. Humans are only willing to change if they are uncomfortable, and, for one reason or another, most Americans are not at all comfortable with what they see happening in their country.
We're discovering that more security does not make us more secure. We're realizing that respect garnered out of fear is not admiration. And we're remembering that in all human history, war has never really brought the promised peace.
We're watching the income gap widen into a chasm. We're trading the export of good jobs for the import of cheap trinkets. We're accumulating debt faster than our children can ever hope to pay it off. And we're glimpsing what only recently seemed a bright future now being thrown into the shade.
However, it is during times like these that enormous change is possible. Humans are only willing to change if they are uncomfortable, and, for one reason or another, most Americans are not at all comfortable with what they see happening in their country.
We're discovering that more security does not make us more secure. We're realizing that respect garnered out of fear is not admiration. And we're remembering that in all human history, war has never really brought the promised peace.
We're watching the income gap widen into a chasm. We're trading the export of good jobs for the import of cheap trinkets. We're accumulating debt faster than our children can ever hope to pay it off. And we're glimpsing what only recently seemed a bright future now being thrown into the shade.
Recent Supreme Court action
AUSTIN -- Congratulations to the Supreme Court on its 6-3 decision in the Texas sodomy law case and to all those, including the gay rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union, who have fought so long and hard to rid the legal system of this manifest injustice. The Sunday chat shows featured a number of curious contentions over this legal decision: It was interesting to see rank bigotry against gays trying to disguise itself as a legal argument.
Justice Antonin Scalia was foremost in this camp, throwing a public tantrum devoid of legal reasoning over the decision. Talk about lack of judicial temperament. Some advanced the argument that the law should have been left in place because it is rarely enforced. In fact, it was enforced, that's why there was a case in front of the Supreme Court, and under what principle is rarity an excuse for injustice? Because we relatively rarely execute people who are innocent, does that make it right? Slavery rarely occurs in this country, but it is still illegal.
Justice Antonin Scalia was foremost in this camp, throwing a public tantrum devoid of legal reasoning over the decision. Talk about lack of judicial temperament. Some advanced the argument that the law should have been left in place because it is rarely enforced. In fact, it was enforced, that's why there was a case in front of the Supreme Court, and under what principle is rarity an excuse for injustice? Because we relatively rarely execute people who are innocent, does that make it right? Slavery rarely occurs in this country, but it is still illegal.
Visual images and how we see the world
Media critics often say that visual images trump words. The claim
makes some sense: Pictures have major impacts on how we see the world.
And we’re apt to pay less attention to photo captions or the voice-overs
that accompany news footage on TV screens.
But when images meet the eye, our reactions depend on our sense of context. The same news outlets that select certain photos and video snippets also influence how we look at what we see. The pictures can have political clout because of prevalent assumptions and attitudes largely shaped by media.
Many people reacted strongly to President Bush’s “top gun” imitation when he jetted onto an aircraft carrier near San Diego a couple of months ago. Bush fans and pliable journalists swooned. More skeptical observers noticed the shameless manipulation. But everyone was looking at identical images. The determining factor was not the choreography of the photo-op but the outlooks of those who watched.
But when images meet the eye, our reactions depend on our sense of context. The same news outlets that select certain photos and video snippets also influence how we look at what we see. The pictures can have political clout because of prevalent assumptions and attitudes largely shaped by media.
Many people reacted strongly to President Bush’s “top gun” imitation when he jetted onto an aircraft carrier near San Diego a couple of months ago. Bush fans and pliable journalists swooned. More skeptical observers noticed the shameless manipulation. But everyone was looking at identical images. The determining factor was not the choreography of the photo-op but the outlooks of those who watched.
Tilting Democrats in the Presidential race
The corporate Democrats who greased Bill Clinton's path to the
White House are now a bit worried. Their influence on the party's
presidential nomination process has slipped. But the Democratic
Leadership Council can count on plenty of assistance from mainstream
news media.
For several years leading up to 1992, the DLC curried favor with high-profile political journalists as they repeated the mantra that the Democratic Party needed to be centrist. Co-founded by Clinton in the mid-1980s, the DLC emphasized catering to "middle class" Americans -- while the organization filled its coffers with funding from such non-middle-class bastions as the top echelons of corporate outfits like Arco, Prudential-Bache, Dow Chemical, Georgia Pacific and Martin Marietta.
For several years leading up to 1992, the DLC curried favor with high-profile political journalists as they repeated the mantra that the Democratic Party needed to be centrist. Co-founded by Clinton in the mid-1980s, the DLC emphasized catering to "middle class" Americans -- while the organization filled its coffers with funding from such non-middle-class bastions as the top echelons of corporate outfits like Arco, Prudential-Bache, Dow Chemical, Georgia Pacific and Martin Marietta.
Global warming? Just edit it out!
AUSTIN, Texas -- You've got to hand it to those clever little
problem-solvers at the White House. What a bunch of brainiacs. They have
resolved the entire problem of global warming: They cut it out of the
report!
This is genius. Everybody else is maundering on about the oceans rising and the polar icecaps melting and monster storms and hideous droughts, and these guys just ... edit it out.
"The editing eliminated references to many studies concluding that warming is at least partly caused by rising concentrations of smokestack and tailpipe emissions, and could threaten health and ecosystems," reports The New York Times. Presto -- poof!
This is genius. Everybody else is maundering on about the oceans rising and the polar icecaps melting and monster storms and hideous droughts, and these guys just ... edit it out.
"The editing eliminated references to many studies concluding that warming is at least partly caused by rising concentrations of smokestack and tailpipe emissions, and could threaten health and ecosystems," reports The New York Times. Presto -- poof!