Thursday, June 22, 2006

 

Access to Evil

I ought to go back to reading fiction. I'm getting too pissed off from the non fiction I've been reading, excellent as it may be.

Take Greg Palast's latest book, Armed Madhouse. Palast is doing the kind of work all reporters should be doing in exposing the multiple and specific outrages of the war in Iraq. Stephen Colbert is right--most reporters have turned into stenographers for the administration, worrying about losing their "access" to these creeps and then docilely writing down whatever bullshit they happen to dish up. They think they're being "objective" by including a comment from an administration critic.

It's pathetic. But the truth hurts, too. I remember that Americans became numbed by so much information during the Viet Nam war, back when reporters were reporting. The "advantage" was that when the draft was in place, the sense of sacrifice was more widely distributed; more people stood to lose loved ones. Discontent with the war started with the students who were threatened with the draft and traveled up the ladder to their parents who didn't want to lose their kids. It was easier to build an anti-war movement from that broader base.

With an all-volunteer military (if you can call it that when the innocents who signed up for the National Guard find themselves trapped into extended tours of duty) the identification with loss runs along narrower lines. And since we've made no other shared sacrifices, gas prices aside, we can't see the kind of protest that wider discontent would trigger.

I'll turn to some fiction once I've finished Palast's book, but I do encourage you to buy a copy. Frankly, we should be supporting the kind of work that Greg Palast is doing. If you don't have the heart to read all the bad news yourself, donate a copy to your local library. Give it as a gift to one of your hard truth-fiend friends. I can tell you that you ain't gonna get information like this anywhere else.

I'll focus on a couple of dreadful tidbits in upcoming blogs. As Bette Davis said in one of her long-ago flicks, Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night.

Comments:
stopped by to say thanks for your nice comment on my plunk your magic twanger, frogee post...
nice to meet another froggee fan...I loved andy devine, no matter if he was andy in andy's gang or jingles..
i will check out that book..it sounds very interesting ..i read every book i can find that bashes forest gump(george bush)...i am sure i will be stopping by for more visits...thanks again.jackie
 
Hey..I noticed you had put a link up to him a few days ago and I checked it out. good stuff, I linked to his site also.

as for the draft..you are absolutely correct that the base is very narrow this time around since there is no draft. I wouldn't want to wish a draft on any family with young men or women of draft age..my son is 25. And I believe the Shrub's administration realizes that a draft would galvanize sentiment against them quicker. But the problem is that in actuality, we don't have a large enough military, and thats why so many tours are being done and Haditha occured in my humble opinion.

Is jackie your given name or a nom de plume?-just curious :p
 
Slightly off topic, but I read that Barbara Bush, Jr. is fixing to move to NYC, much to the chagrin of her parents. Seems Lil' Babs loves to party as much as her fat-faced twin.
Please, please, please, someone introduce her to Paris Hilton- and hurry!
 
Huh? Somewhere in that sentence is a germ of an idea, I guess.
 
A germ? Get the antibiotics then..we don't need any germs.
 
Hi lulu,

Ooo somebody needs a cookie! What an angry person. After working with the homeless mentally ill for years-in DC no less! Where they come from all over the world!- I know delusional. You're not it and neither am I.


My nephew recently returned from Iraq. He spoke to the Iraqi people on a daily basis. He reported that there will indeed be a civil war no matter how long we stay. If we as a nation care about them so much, why are we making Iraq a terrorist mecca?
 
Ah, the truth... with a capital T, no less. Iraqis did not ask us to intervene, mushbrain. I can imagine where you are getting your "information."

Argh. No point in discussing. And you are damn right about one thing: I am definitely anti Bush. He has never worked for anything in his life.
 
p.s. ftgf, I'd be willing to bet a box of girl scout cookies that you haven't read Palast, Phillips, Dean, and others who have done their homework. You sound like an empty headed cheerleader.
 
Oh, dear. I do get carried away sometimes.

Does anybody know of a Sunday school class that needs coverage?
 
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