Monday, May 23, 2005
Watch today's edition of Democracy Now!Today's edition of Democracy Now! is fantastic. And not only the headlines (Monsanto hiding a report about GM corn's ill effects...what surprise!), but the two features are excellent too. Amy Goodman interviews Janine di Giovanni,
a veteran war correspondent who has worked in Sierra Leone, Congo,
Rwanda, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Her stories are
harrowing. Then Davey D's speech
at the National Conference on Media Reform is featured. Davey D talks
about the "Clear Channeling of America" and how the blame for
inappropriate broadcasts should be placed on the corporate heads
running the stations and not on the artists who created the songs. 4:30:23 PM | Watch the whole broadcast here. 
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Truth obscured, againThe obscuring of the truth continues as four more soldiers die in Iraq: 8:54:56 AM | Three of the four U.S. soldiers killed died in "terrorist attacks" in
Mosul Sunday, the military said. The statement provided no further
details.
The fourth soldier was killed by a car bomb, which apparently isn't a "terrorist attack." It is sick that this administration uses soldiers' deaths for their own nefarious political schemes. "Terrorist attacks"? How do we define terrorism now? If soldiers killed in Iraq are victims of terrorism, what are acts of war? Does this mean that every Iraqi killed by us is a victim of "terrorism" too? If so, where does that leave us? I assume they are using this language to obscure the truth from Americans who are increasingly questioning the war. They have already transformed the Iraq war into one of the "War on Terror" fronts, I suppose based on the "evidence" Curveball gave them about the intimate relationship between Saddam and Osama. Of course, now there really are terrorists in Iraq; every day they attack Iraqi civilians and police officers, killing and maiming hundreds. But are acts of violence against soldiers (whether coalition or Iraqi) counted as "terrorism"? If they are, are we comfortable with the logical conclusion that we are terrorists too? All of this, it seems to me, is a deep disservice to the soldiers. But then again, that should come as no surprise. Soldiers are expendable to our leadership. They are expendable to some Americans too. Just this weekend I was told that because S volunteered for the mlitary he "gets what he deserves." We talk about our superiority, how we are morally better than everyone else, how we are more honorable because we are Americans. Tell me, where's the honor in dismissing soldiers as worthless, saying their lives are worth the "sacrifice" of a handful of lies?
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"Maybe lying's not a big deal anymore"The Washington Post has an excellent piece about Pat Tillman's death
in Afghanistan last year and his parents' reaction to the manipulation
of Tillman's story by the administration. Here's a quote from Tillman's
dad: 8:36:55 AM | "Maybe lying's not a big deal anymore," he said. "Pat's dead, and this
isn't going to bring him back. But these guys should have been held up
to scrutiny, right up the chain of command, and no one has."
His mother goes on to say:
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Last update: 8/24/05; 8:16:49 PM .
