Crying wolf

Now that George W. Bush has gone on television with the drastic consequences should we not bail out imploding investment houses to the tune of $700 billion dollars, one question I have is … why should we or our elected representatives believe a word this man is saying?

The last time Mr. Bush used fear in order to push his agenda, while the country was in the midst of shock and mourning, we heard of ticking time bombs, smoking guns in the form of mushroom clouds, and the complicity of Iraq in the horrendous crime perpetrated on 9/11. Mr. Bush lied us into a disastrous war. Then, as the proof of our treatment of prisoners held by the military, the CIA, and the rendition program filtered out, Mr. Bush insisted that we do not torture, that we were witnessing the behavior of a few “bad apples”. Meanwhile, they were discussing torture techniques in the White House and ditching any lawyer who suggested that the techniques under consideration were criminal.

Now, with the country reeling over plummeting housing values and steep increases in everything from gasoline to groceries, Mr Bush appears on national television with his dire predictions, and his Treasury Secretary asks for a blank check to administer the bailout program. Naomi Klein has much to say about using shock to push through economic policies that benefit the few, but at least this time Congress is fighting back, and insisting on some oversight and some consequences for executive mismanagement. Still, it appears that only the most conservative Republicans in Congress are willing to seriously question the legitimacy of asking taxpayers to purchase bad debt in order to forestall the disaster described by a dishonest President Bush.

Perhaps an impartial economist, one not tied to a disgraced administration or a failing Wall Street investment firm could clue the public in on what is really happening with our so-called free-market economy.

Convention notes

The Democratic National convention has certainly had some stirring moments – Hillary Clinton exhorting her delegates to support Barack Obama; Melissa Ethridge serenading the crowd with a rendition of God Bless America that links those lyrics with peace an justice rather than nationalistic fervor; the nomination of Barack Obama by acclamation. In addition to urging party unity in her speech, Mrs Clinton also celebrated the eighty-eighth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment and reminded the delegates of the importance of taking a stand, even at the risk of imprisonment, as many did in their fight to secure the right to vote for women.

Meanwhile outside of the convention hall, Denver had put a large portion of it’s 50 million dollars in federal convention grant money to use securing the city from antiwar protesters who don’t necessarily agree with the Democratic Party’s talking point, repeated by speaker after speaker inside the Pepsi Center, about withdrawing “responsibly” from Iraq; nor do they necessarily believe that we should continue bombing Afghanistan, where just the other day more than ninety individuals, mostly women and children were were reportedly killed in US airstrikes. The Democrats now assembled in Denver were elected in 2006 to end the Iraq War and to bring the soldiers home, not to leave a military presence there to protect an oversized imperial embassy, or to train Iraqi troops, or to keep bases in the region, and yet throughout their speeches, this is what we are hearing – responsible withdrawal, force protection, training of Iraqi troops.

There has been no mention in convention speeches of the massive police, secret service, and national guard security apparatus justified because within the vast numbers of peaceful protesters there may be some anarchists intent on disrupting the proceedings. Still, Denver officials do admit that they are preparing for a worse case scenario, and, as the New York Times reports:

Intelligence analysts, however, have not reported a heightened threat from Islamic extremists or domestic threats from antigovernment groups or environmental militants like the kind that operate in many Western states, according to federal officials. “We just aren’t seeing a credible threat,” said James H. Davis, the F.B.I. agent in charge of the Denver office.

Perhaps it is too much to ask, during this necessary exercise in party unification, that mention be made of the principled men and women risking arrest and imprisonment to demand the immediate end to an illegal war. Meanwhile, the same law enforcement organizations ready to quell protest are also available to protect private parties from the news media as was the case when press attempted to enter a party that ATT hosted for the very same Democrats who had voted to immunize that corporation from prosecution for its part in the warrantless wiretapping of Americans. No surprise here, though; ATT is one of the major sponsors of the Democratic National Convention.

And the answer is …

… the issues are not nearly as important as the “gotcha” moments -the Wright/Ayers/flag pin/sniper fire and who knows what else these campaigns are digging up on each other’s candidates and tossing out to talk-show hosts and the 24-hour news cycle.

There was a time when news organizations, yes, even broadcast news organizations, respected the intelligence of the public. But today we have “The Debate”, as ABC termed its attempt to inform the public prior to the Pennsylvania primary. If anything good comes out of last night’s display of inanity, it will be that the American public will begin to demand more of the corporate media. The debate moderators saw fit to spend half of the alloted air time on the “bitter” controversy, Obama’s pastor, Clinton’s Bosnia memory flap, the Weather Underground and of course, flag pins. Those viewers who stuck around may have heard of the candidates’ plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, or their differences on capital gains and other tax issues. Their voting records were not scrutinized nor were their associations with lobbyists or their work on corporate boards – this information was ignored so that more time could be spent on why Senator Obama did not follow the lead of police officers and firefighters and show his patriotism by wearing a flag pin (made in China perhaps) on his lapel.

Today’s news coverage of the debate perpetuates the stupidity as dirt dug up by campaign operatives and trumpeted by talk-show hosts gains some type of legitimacy on a nationally-televised debate and then becomes acceptable material for front page coverage. In addition to insulting the electorate’s intelligence this focus on non-issues feeds the echo chamber that passes for news these days and continues the weakening of the press watchdog function