so busy pursuing the pleasure princple that i had no time to blog sunday!
1st i'll note this from danny schechter's news dissector:
OK. OK, bizarre things happen. Sometimes it seems as if everything is bizarre. Just yesterday, we heard about a hand grenade supposedly tossed President Bush's way at that well-staged We Love Democracy rally in Georgia. Apparently, the Secret Service had no clue about it. The story went from big deal to not-in-the-news.
Sometimes paranoia is not just the province of the paranoid. They know that fear is a political driver and that threats -- big ones like the commie threat, bigger ones like the al-Qaeda threat -- motivate the public to render unto Caesar while accepting and paying for everything that MUST BE DONE because, well, "you never know." I may be just paranoid to believe this:
"New Evidence: Terror Alerts Were Used As Electoral Weapons
by Chris Bowers
"Remember the chart that showed the relationship between Bush's approval rating and terror alters? The chart clearly suggested that terror alerts were used more frequently during times of unpopularity for Bush. Now, new evidence, from Tom Ridge himself, suggests that there was indeed massive outside pressure on the department on homeland to security to often raise the terror alert despite flimsy evidence:
"The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.
"Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or 'high' risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled."
www.informationclearinghouse.info
then i'll slide on over to the third estate sunday review and suggest that you check out the latest roundtable where we discussed a number of topics including the movie monster-in-law, john bolton, the occupation and a topic we would blog on if we had more time:
Ava: One of the e-mails we had this week was from Chuck in Dayton. He wondered if we could all name one issue other than the occupation that think bears focusing on?
Ty: The prison systems in this country. The corruption in them, the lack of accountability. The public's ability to turn their back on the issue.
Rebecca: Good one. Is this supposed to be something we haven't blogged on?
Ava: Yes.
Rebecca: Well then I won't say polio. I think the war on truth, in all it's various battles, is pretty frightening. I've touched on this with regards to the media, but I'm thinking in terms of the people you'd meet just going out to buy a carton of milk or to see a movie. I don't know what to call it . . .
C.I.: Suspension of disbelief.
Rebecca: Okay, that's a good term. But I would wonder where it's coming from? Gore Vidal talks about our decaying educational system and has for years. So is that the reason for the attitude? Does the attitude lead to the decay of the education system? Is it circular? I don't have the answers but I think it goes beyond the idea that we can bring the truth to others and everyone will open their eyes. I think we can do that with a great many people and that we're seeing the nation wake up, but I'm fascinated, in a bad way, by the desire of so many to suspend disbelief and ignore reality.
Jim: Alternative ways of addressing problems. I'd be hitting on CodePink's book every day if I had the time. Writing things here, maybe passing on posts for C.I. to put up at The Common Ills. It's as though we've lost our sense and memory of history and we now believe that any problem has only the one solution of war, war, war. It goes to reclaiming human decency. I'm really concerned about that.
Dona: I think I'd do something similar. But about the way we treat others in this country. From the handicapped to the immigrants to the ones we define as "the other" for skin tone, religion or nonreligion, sexuality and all the rest. We've been on a blood lust for four years, if you ask me, and we can't even reach out to a neighbor. Which is why I fear the faith based charity crap. We don't want to deal with our neighbors and I think a lot of people would be happy to pass it on to churches just to be done with the discussion.
and lastly, i'll steer everyone over to isaiah's latest comic at the common ills. i will be blogging this evening.
