News Media and “the Madness of Militarism”
Media activism has achieved a lot. But I don’t believe there’s
anything to be satisfied with -- considering the present-day realities of
corporate media and the warfare state.
War has become a constant of U.S. foreign policy, and media flackery for the war-makers in Washington is routine -- boosting militarism that tilts the country in more authoritarian directions. The dominant news outlets provide an ongoing debate over how to fine-tune the machinery of war. What we need is a debate over how to dismantle the war machine.
When there are appreciable splits within or between the two major political parties, the mainstream news coverage is apt to include some divergent outlooks. But when elites in Washington close ranks for war, the major media are more inclined to shut down real discourse.
War has become a constant of U.S. foreign policy, and media flackery for the war-makers in Washington is routine -- boosting militarism that tilts the country in more authoritarian directions. The dominant news outlets provide an ongoing debate over how to fine-tune the machinery of war. What we need is a debate over how to dismantle the war machine.
When there are appreciable splits within or between the two major political parties, the mainstream news coverage is apt to include some divergent outlooks. But when elites in Washington close ranks for war, the major media are more inclined to shut down real discourse.
Attack on election board whistleblower and leaked Blackwell threats re-fire Ohio's election theft scandal
The potential firing of Ohio whistleblower Sherole Eaton, Deputy Director of the Hocking County Board of Elections, has re-fired bitter controversy over the stolen 2004 presidential election.
And newly released documents confirming a pre-election threat by Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell against election board officials has added to the mix, as has the dismissal of Blackwell's highly publicized sanction attempt against attorneys who challenged the election outcome.
And newly released documents confirming a pre-election threat by Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell against election board officials has added to the mix, as has the dismissal of Blackwell's highly publicized sanction attempt against attorneys who challenged the election outcome.
Oral Histories of the 1970 Kent State Shootings
A collection of 69 oral histories related to the May 4, 1970 shootings at
Kent State University has been added to OhioLINK's Digital Media Center
(DMC). The oral histories include many eyewitness accounts of the event and
its aftermath, contributed by people who were students, faculty members, and
City of Kent residents at the time, as well as an account by an Ohio
National Guardsman. This is the sixth collection to be added to the Historic
& Archival Digital Media database
(http://worlddmc.ohiolink.edu/
History/Login), which is freely available to anyone worldwide via the Internet.
The Kent State May 4 Oral Histories are available as audio files. Apple's free QuickTime player is required to listen to the files. A written transcript is also available for most of the oral histories. Click on the "full record" link to view the transcript.
History/Login), which is freely available to anyone worldwide via the Internet.
The Kent State May 4 Oral Histories are available as audio files. Apple's free QuickTime player is required to listen to the files. A written transcript is also available for most of the oral histories. Click on the "full record" link to view the transcript.
Bolton Blunders and other GOP idiocy
I am sorry. I can't help but comment on this one. I sat by idly and watched the Bolton controversy unfold and have been uncharacteristically silent while I watched the GOP shove this Presidential prerogative down everyone's choking throats. But I just got back from a tour of UN Related agencies in Geneva and Paris with the UNA and now find I cannot be silent with regard to Bush's choice for UN Ambassador.
First, has George Allen ever been to any international destination other than perhaps Cancun or the British Virgin Islands? Because the tea sipping pinky comment was replayed on BBC World News and he looked like his only exposure to anything international was watching reruns of Faulty Towers- like diplomats in Geneva ever sit in parlors and sip tea. They might be skiing an hour away in Val D'isere or on Mount Blanc and sipping sherry in the apres ski lodge, or maybe sipping Chardonay on the Lake, but Bolton wouldn't be invited.
First, has George Allen ever been to any international destination other than perhaps Cancun or the British Virgin Islands? Because the tea sipping pinky comment was replayed on BBC World News and he looked like his only exposure to anything international was watching reruns of Faulty Towers- like diplomats in Geneva ever sit in parlors and sip tea. They might be skiing an hour away in Val D'isere or on Mount Blanc and sipping sherry in the apres ski lodge, or maybe sipping Chardonay on the Lake, but Bolton wouldn't be invited.
Blurb: End the filibuster -- in 2015
If the Republicans really believe our top federal judges deserve an
up-and-down vote, and that the filibuster is an unfair relic, there's an
easy solution: Propose a rules change that will end it-in 2015.
I'd still support keeping the filibuster as way to protect minority rights. But its history has been pretty mixed. If the shift were voted in now but deferred for ten years, it would be hard for anyone to argue that it was being changed for narrow political advantage. The Republican push might even look like principle, instead of yet another raw power play along the lines of Tom DeLay's mid-census midnight Congressional redistricting. If they can sunset the phasing in of tax cuts to make them easier to pass, why not sunrise this fundamental shift in how the Senate has done business for 200 years?
Would the Republicans accept this deal if offered full Democratic support? Would they offer an alternative to grabbing everything they can the moment they hold the reins of power? I doubt it. But it would be a great way to highlight their real priorities.
I'd still support keeping the filibuster as way to protect minority rights. But its history has been pretty mixed. If the shift were voted in now but deferred for ten years, it would be hard for anyone to argue that it was being changed for narrow political advantage. The Republican push might even look like principle, instead of yet another raw power play along the lines of Tom DeLay's mid-census midnight Congressional redistricting. If they can sunset the phasing in of tax cuts to make them easier to pass, why not sunrise this fundamental shift in how the Senate has done business for 200 years?
Would the Republicans accept this deal if offered full Democratic support? Would they offer an alternative to grabbing everything they can the moment they hold the reins of power? I doubt it. But it would be a great way to highlight their real priorities.
This is a revoltin
AUSTIN, Texas -- As Riley used to say on an ancient television sitcom, "This is a revoltin' development." There seems to be a bit of a campaign on the right to blame Newsweek for the anti-American riots in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Islamic countries.
Uh, people, I hate to tell you this, but the story about Americans abusing the Koran in order to enrage prisoners has been out there for quite some time. The first mention I found of it is March 17, 2004, when the Independent of London interviewed the first British citizen released from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoner said he had been physically beaten but did not consider that as bad as the psychological torture, which he described extensively. Jamal al-Harith, a computer programmer from Manchester, said 70 percent of the inmates had gone on a hunger strike after a guard kicked a copy of the Koran. The strike was ended by force-feeding.
Uh, people, I hate to tell you this, but the story about Americans abusing the Koran in order to enrage prisoners has been out there for quite some time. The first mention I found of it is March 17, 2004, when the Independent of London interviewed the first British citizen released from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoner said he had been physically beaten but did not consider that as bad as the psychological torture, which he described extensively. Jamal al-Harith, a computer programmer from Manchester, said 70 percent of the inmates had gone on a hunger strike after a guard kicked a copy of the Koran. The strike was ended by force-feeding.
The Koran and Guantanamo
AUSTIN, Texas -- As Riley used to say on an ancient television sitcom, "This is a revoltin' development." There seems to be a bit of a campaign on the right to blame Newsweek for the anti-American riots in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Islamic countries.
Uh, people, I hate to tell you this, but the story about Americans abusing the Koran in order to enrage prisoners has been out there for quite some time. The first mention I found of it is March 17, 2004, when the Independent of London interviewed the first British citizen released from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoner said he had been physically beaten but did not consider that as bad as the psychological torture, which he described extensively. Jamal al-Harith, a computer programmer from Manchester, said 70 percent of the inmates had gone on a hunger strike after a guard kicked a copy of the Koran. The strike was ended by force-feeding.
Uh, people, I hate to tell you this, but the story about Americans abusing the Koran in order to enrage prisoners has been out there for quite some time. The first mention I found of it is March 17, 2004, when the Independent of London interviewed the first British citizen released from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoner said he had been physically beaten but did not consider that as bad as the psychological torture, which he described extensively. Jamal al-Harith, a computer programmer from Manchester, said 70 percent of the inmates had gone on a hunger strike after a guard kicked a copy of the Koran. The strike was ended by force-feeding.
The Beginning Of The End Of The Age Of Reason
History is slowly being rewritten. Hard to believe yet harder to deny is the increasing frequency and fervor with which those on the religious right are asserting that the United States was founded on Christian principles. Every day, on editorial pages and radio talk shows across the country, more and more unapologetic Christian crusaders are stating as fact fantastic claims of our founding fathers’ providential mission to create a nation based on the Ten Commandments and a Biblical worldview.
You may be tempted to chuckle, but you must not. You must take this seriously, very seriously, for unknown to many of you America has become engaged in nothing less than an epic battle, one whose outcome will shape world history for the next century and beyond. It is not a battle against radical Islamic terrorism, though that is a separate fight we must also win, but a battle that pits reason against faith, the Enlightenment against the Dark Ages, the light against the cave.
You may be tempted to chuckle, but you must not. You must take this seriously, very seriously, for unknown to many of you America has become engaged in nothing less than an epic battle, one whose outcome will shape world history for the next century and beyond. It is not a battle against radical Islamic terrorism, though that is a separate fight we must also win, but a battle that pits reason against faith, the Enlightenment against the Dark Ages, the light against the cave.
Nuking Democracy
At the height of the nuclear arms race, those who marched against it used to
say that in the ashes of a nuclear war, no one could tell a capitalist from
a communist. "Not necessarily," others would joke, "Richard Perle could
tell." For Perle, even total annihilation would have its victors and losers,
and he knew which side he wanted to be on.
Perle has continued to preach the virtues of usable nuclear weapons while helping orchestrate our invasion of Iraq. Now he's a key allied strategist of an administration willing to obliterate democracy itself if they don't get their way on judicial nominees and everything else.
I'm thinking of the ease with which Trent Lott, Bill Frist, and other Republicans have talked of a "nuclear option" to intimidate the Democrats into capitulating on every right wing judge that Bush sends to Congress. Although Republicans have backed off from using the phrase since it began polling negative, it may reveal more than they intended about their Party. They doesn't just seek to enact particular programs, but have done their best to turn politics into total war, seeking to annihilate the opposition completely.
Perle has continued to preach the virtues of usable nuclear weapons while helping orchestrate our invasion of Iraq. Now he's a key allied strategist of an administration willing to obliterate democracy itself if they don't get their way on judicial nominees and everything else.
I'm thinking of the ease with which Trent Lott, Bill Frist, and other Republicans have talked of a "nuclear option" to intimidate the Democrats into capitulating on every right wing judge that Bush sends to Congress. Although Republicans have backed off from using the phrase since it began polling negative, it may reveal more than they intended about their Party. They doesn't just seek to enact particular programs, but have done their best to turn politics into total war, seeking to annihilate the opposition completely.