Elaine here with you until Labor Day when Rebecca returns from her vacation. Looking at the e-mails that Ava's forwarded, I created a bit of an unintentional stir yesterday. No, there wasn't going to be a special gina & krista round-robin today or an early one. I just got my days wrong and thought, last night, that tomorrow was Friday. I do have an essay thanking everyone who e-mailed their support as I filled in for Rebecca in the forthcoming gina & krista round-robin which will go out Friday.
I hope my confusion didn't create problems for anyone. (Gina wrote that it just built more suspense and excitement over their upcoming round-robin. I know she's being kind.)
I will be blogging Friday. Monday, I'll be at a party Rebecca's throwing. She's invited a number of people over and I'll be over first thing to catch up and to help out with the party which starts mid-afternoon. If that includes blogging, I'll be happy to do it. However, I know her intent right now is to blog on Monday.
E-mails have asked me to weigh in on the reason this site was created and I'll do that tomorrow due to the late hour tonight. A few weeks ago, Sherry pointed out that would be a nice entry to go out on. Since then others have e-mailed asking for that as well.
My pick yesterday of "Should This Marriage Be Saved?" being one of my favorite entries C.I.'s done at The Common Ills resulted in a few people thanking me and saying they had missed that entry because they were newer members of The Common Ills. I'm honestly amazed, but not surprised, at how much The Common Ills community continues to grow. Wally, however, did e-mail a list of his favorite entries at The Common Ills. If it weren't for the fact that he cited fifty-one entries (and that it's so late), I'd note everyone of them here. But there are many entries, I agree Wally, at The Common Ills that speak in a way that you won't find anywhere else. That's what's so great about C.I. and why people (including myself) kept telling C.I., "You need to blog!"
C.I. was speaking out for the last two years in a variety of forums and on campuses and, though there probably wasn't time to do a site, we were all saying, "You need to blog. We need a voice like this out there." What sort of voice is that? If you read The Common Ills, even if you're a causual reader and not a member, I think it becomes obvious fairly quick. C.I.'s not playing sit on the fence about the invasion/occupation. C.I.'s not playing "Let me kiss ass to the Democratic Party leaders" which way too many so-called left sites are doing.
A lot of people are doing that. They're trying to set themselves up in some manner. (Bob Somerby of The Daily Howler appears to think that certain reporters who censor themselves are attempting to set themselves up for institutional careers. I think that may be true of certain bloggers as well.) You know when someone's raising an issue that matters and when someone's trying to spin you and there are a number of spinners.
So as I wind down my duties here at Rebecca's site, I'd urge you to continue to question the voices that try to play gatekeepers and the ones who either don't know their facts or distort them for their own aims. The Bully Boy has made a mockery of Americans by using words that mean nothing. We don't need that from the left. We also don't need an echo chamber on the left. You fight lies with truth, not by matching it with spin.
Poor Are Greatest Victims (Democracy Now!)
As with most natural disasters, the poor are paying the heaviest price. With the financial world buzzing with talk of insurance payouts set to exceed $25 billion, many in the most devastated areas have no insurance and cannot afford to leave their homes behind. Many do not own cars and had no way to escape the hurricane.
This is always the case with disasters and it's always rare for the press to note it, the mainstream press. Democracy Now! isn't the mainstream press. It's the brave press and thankfully there are people like Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez who are interested in truth.
That difference was on display in Thursday morning's New York Times where they rushed to assure you that there was no need to worry about toxins and pollutions in New Orleans.
Toxic New Orleans: 'The Worst Case' (Democracy Now!)
The Washington Post points out that New Orleans is now flooded by water spiked with tons of toxic chemicals and contaminants ranging from heavy metals and hydrocarbons to industrial waste, human feces and the decayed remains of humans and animals. Experts say the contamination will continue to poison the Gulf of Mexico region for more than a decade. A senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency told the Post "This is the worst case... There is not enough money in the gross national product of the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in the area."
While Democracy Now! reported that, the New York Times, relied on officials to say there was no problem. They did the same thing about Ground Zero after 9/11. Then, in editorials, they wanted to act shocked that they were lied to. The Times likes to say that it presents things that are facts. That's never true when they have an official spokesperson. With an official spokesperson, they feel no need to use terms such as "claims" or "maintains." They present the claims as facts. So if the Times later finds out different and editorializes about how the government lied, let's hope readers of the paper hold it acountable for passing on those lies not as claims but as factual.
"Editorial: Let Cindy Sheehan be the spark that gets your own passion burning" (The Third Estate Sunday Review)
Ruth called it Saturday at The Common Ills in her latest Ruth's Morning Edition Report: The Summer of Activism. That's what we're seeing.
While Matt Taibii and others sneer, pockets of activism have been springing up all over the country. Cindy Sheehan's month long vigil at Camp Casey (I & II) in Crawford, Texas finally pushed the issue into the national discussion.
The invasion/occupation wasn't a topic that Americans were unclear on. Polls have consistently demonstrated that the people have turned against the war. But the corporate media found little use for discussions other than to note, usually in passing, the polls on attitudes towards the war.
Brave independent voices have spoken and kept the issue alive for some time. They include, but are not limited to, the passionately pro-peace The Nation (take that George Packer!), Amy Goodman, Dahr Jamail, Matthew Rothschild, and a host of others.
Did we mention Amy Goodman? Let's note her again. While surveys show an erosion of the public's faith in mainstream journalism, Democracy Now! has gone from the little engine that could to the news program that can. Available on radio, television and the web, Democracy Now! has grown and continues to grow. Whether on campus, at church, at a peace rally, in the grocery store, or where ever, it's becoming harder and harder to find ourselves in a conversation with someone where they don't bring up Democracy Now! at some point.
As Luke noted this summer at wotisitgood4, Goodman's become the equivalent of a rock star. If you're "in the know," you're following Democracy Now! in audio, video or transcript form. There's a reason for that. Besides being a daily information packed news hour, Democracy Now! didn't rely on generals and government spokespersons to discuss the invasion/occupation. Not before we went into Iraq and not during. While the mainstream media sucks the collective thumb of "we were all wrong," the fact of the matter is "we" were not all wrong. What happened was voices were shut out of the debate in the mainstream media.
While it's true that the occupation has blown up in the faces of the Bully Boy, it's also true that it's blown up in the faces of the mainstream media who, as a group, acted as cheerleaders for war. While they repeatedly wash their hands like Lady MacBeth, the public notes that they were all wrong. The fact that they are still commenting and, in many cases, arguing that the "war can still be won" with a little fine tuning, only deepens the distrust.
People like Amy Goodman have kept the truth alive in the darkest hours. Light bulbs have come along. Bright Eyes performance of "When A President Talks To God" was one example. Jane Fonda's statement about the war, and the loud applause that greeted it, on the David Letterman show in April was another. Pacifica's live coverage of the John Conyers, Jr. hearing on the Downing St. Memo and how we were lied into war was another. Bit by bit, these moments began to register and build. And as we saw the reaction, the nation started to realize that, as the polls had demonstrated, the whole country wasn't lined up behind the pundits and the press in blind support for a continued occupation.
With all of that building, Cindy Sheehan sets up camp in Crawford and becomes, as she'd hoped, a spark that finally turns private conversations into a national dialogue.
The dialogue's started. We've moved beyond the national lethargy. Let this Summer of Activism spill over into the other seasons. The dialogue's begun and we'll need to be able to count on all the people who are already on board but we need to realize that others have joined the cause. Still others would if they knew the issues at stake.
This is where you come in. You've got to continue to take the lead on itiating the dialogue and discussion in your own circles. Cindy Sheehan can be the spark, she can't be an entire movement.
As Elaine noted Friday, let Sheehan's actions motivate you take ownership of your own life. That's what a democracy should be about.
[This editorial was written by the following: The Third Estate Sunday Review's Ty, Jess, Dona, Jim and Ava, C.I. of The Common Ills, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Kat of Kat's Korner, Elaine subbing for Rebecca at Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude and Mike of Mikey Likes It!]
That says pretty much what needs to be said.
"Peace Quotes" (Peace Center)
Youth is the first victim of war; the first fruit of peace.It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him.
King Baudouin I, King of Belgium
