I can see it in my dreams.
Arm in arm down Burgundy.
A bottle and my friends and me.
Tom Waits

As much as I hate to think it, much less say it, I am coming to believe that the only thing left of New Orleans is the memory. To describe it as just another city would be like describing the Sistine as just another chapel. New Orleans was, in fact, a work of art, painted from a palette of geography, architecture, history, music, and the extraordinary people that brought it all to life.

It’s the people that are the only irreplaceable parts of this picture. Because, even if it were possible to reconstruct the historic, centuries old buildings that defined the physical character of the Big Easy, who would populate this reproduction? Thousands of the city’s residents are dead and a quarter of a million of them have been disbursed throughout the country, perhaps never to return, even if there were something to return to.

So what would we have if we rebuilt New Orleans? Would it come from the imagination of speculators and developers seeking to turn a hefty profit? Would it be like the Disneyland models of Paris and New York that Las Vegas tries to pass off as authentic? The soul of New Orleans did not come from the hearts of yuppies that we might expect to snap up condos in the New French Quarter. The richness of New Orleans came, more often than not, from its poorest sons and daughters. What would be the incentive for developers to invest in housing that would lure these folks back? And what of the writers, artists and musicians that made the city such a fountain of creativity? The city can be rebuilt, but can it ever truly be restored? Not without the people that made it what it was, it can’t.

Those people, the ones who survived, are now being subjected to the cruel torture of a government that is either inept or uncaring or both. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were declared federal disaster areas before Katrina even came to shore. So no one can claim that they were unaware of the impact this storm would have. Yet six days later, they are still without food, water, medicine and shelter. It’s a painful thing to see, and a shameful thing to know that our government is responsible for it.

This evening, as I struggled to find a way to express my sadness and anger, I got some help from an unexpected source. Hip-hop superstar Kanye West made an appearance on NBC’s “Concert for Hurricane Relief”. In a fit of inspiration and honesty, he departed from the script to say:

“I hate the way they portray us in the media. When you see a black family, it says they’re looting, and you see a white family it says they’re looking for food. And you know it’s been five days because most of the people are black and even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch — I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation.

So now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is, what is the biggest amount I can give and just to imagine if I was down there and those are, are my people down there.

So that anybody out there that wants to do anything, we can help with the set up. With the way America’s set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well off, as slow as possible. I mean this is — Red Cross is doing everything they can.

We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war now fighting another way. And they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us.
…
George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

This blast of spontaneous truth-telling is not often seen in the Corporate Media. It was refreshing and inspiring and necessary. Unfortunately, inspiration of this quality is viewed by the media as an accident that cannot be repeated. So NBC edited it out of the west coast broadcast. There were no obscenities or wardrobe malfunctions, only a heartfelt cry of anguish. But the defenders of decency at NBC (a division of the world’s largest defense contractor, General Electric), saw fit to protect us from this harsh reality, because, after all, we can’t handle the truth. The truth is that our leaders are leading us into the Valley of the Shadow of Death – literally for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and figuratively for the miracle that was New Orleans.

If the pessimism pouring from me is to be avoided, it can only be done by the people who made that city great in the first place. They must take the initiative to restore the city’s heart. They must demand that reconstruction be done on thier terms with a view of the city’s glorious past and a hopeful future. The leaders must take direction from the people. Developers must be constrained from blatant exploitation for profit. Regulations must be invoked to insure that the whole community is restored not just real estate and commerce. If the soul, and the eccentricity, and the hospitality, and the artistry of the city are not built in to whatever rises from the rubble, than it will not really be New Orleans. And this will not really be America.

The American Legion has found the enemy, and it is antiwar protesters. At its national convention in Honolulu, Thomas Cadmus, the group’s national commander, spoke on behalf of a resolution that was passed unanimously. The resolution called for using whatever means necessary to “ensure the united backing of the American people to support our troops and the global war on terrorism.”

How do they propose to ensure such a thing? By shutting down the voices of dissent, of course. He did provide an approved means of redressing grievances, if you are unpatriotically disposed to doing so, by saying that, “…we hope that Americans will present their views in correspondence to their elected officials rather than by public media events.” In other words, you can write a private letter to your congressman, but you must not speak your views aloud or join with others who share your views (which in the case of the war in Iraq is the majority of Americans). His opposition to media events parrots the frightening and un-American position of the president that any opinion other than his own is treason. Cadmus comes right out and says it:

Public protests against the war here at home while our young men and women are in harm’s way on the other side of the globe only provide aid and comfort to our enemies.”

The American Legion has not always felt this way about our young men and women in harm’s way. When the Clinton Administration had soldiers in Bosnia, the they passed Resolution No. 44, which states, in part:

Whereas, the President has committed the Armed Forces of the United States…to engage in hostilities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia without clearly defining America’s vital national interests; and

Whereas, neither the President nor the Congress have defined America’s objectives in what has become an open-ended conflict characterized by an ill-defined progressive escalation; and

Whereas, it is obvious that an ill-planned and massive commitment of U.S. resources could only lead to troops being killed, wounded or captured without advancing any clear purpose, mission or objective…

…now, therefore, be it

Resolved, by the National Executive Committee…That The American Legion…voices its grave concerns about the commitment of U.S. Armed Forces to Operation Allied force, unless the following conditions are fulfilled.

That there be a clear statement by the President of why it is in our vital national interests to be engaged in Operation Allied Force;

Guidelines be established for the mission, including a clear exit strategy;

That there be support of the mission by the U.S. Congress and the American people; and

That it be made clear U.S. Forces will be commanded only by U.S. officers whom we acknowledge are superior military leaders; and, be it further

Resolved, that, if the aforementioned conditions are not met, The American Legion calls upon the President and the Congress to withdraw American forces immediately from Operation Allied Force

Sound familiar? That’s because if you convert references of Yugoslavia to Iraq, it is almost exactly the position of the opponents of the war in Iraq. The American Legion has obviously steeped itself in a brew of hypocrisy. But what is most troubling is that they want to tell everyone else to shut up. I propose that the time has come to start referring to them as The Legion, because there is nothing American about them.

Back in June of this year, the President made an appearance before the White House Stenographers Association Radio and Television News Directors Association. Among the subjects he addressed was his obligation to visit with the families of fallen soldiers. Here’s what he had to say:

“The hardest thing I have to do is sit down as the President with loved ones who’ve either lost a soul or have a wounded person, severely wounded. I try to do a lot of it. It’s my obligation as the President. It’s an amazing experience. First of all, I’m a crier, and I weep a lot. On the other hand, when it’s all over, I feel incredibly strengthened by the strength of the parents or the wife or the kids.”

With Cindy Sheehan, and the other Gold Star Families, camped outside his vacation villa, the Crier in Chief is demonstrating just how hard it is for him to fulfill his obligations. While it may be an amazing experience, it’s one he’s demonstrating extraordinary self-discipline resisting. This may just be another example of his well-known steadfastness in the face of massive miscalculation.

Actually, this is really just an example of the most crass form of hypocricy. This President can shamelessly shed psuedo-patriotic crocodile tears before chummy audiences, but in real life, he’d rather meet with a sports hero (i.e. Lance Armstrong) than a grieving mother.

Perhaps if he met more often with the families he has turned into mourners, he could use the strength he says it gives him (ala Lestat) to renounce the members of his party who have been hurling the most despicable insults at Ms. Sheehan. They have said she is hateful, a liar, and is exploiting the memory of her dead son. Bush’s silence can only be interpreted as agreement or, at best, acceptance as a useful political tack.

The stenographers in the White House Press Corpse^©, many of whom personally witnessed the speech above, have yet to even ask the President if he approves of the repugnant remarks of Rush Limbaugh, David Horowitz, Michelle Malkin, et al. The press, it appears, is also in need of a pint of strength.

It’s Hard Work
The President Says So
Also…
Harry Shearer Says So

Robert Novak, CNN commentator and Douchebag of Liberty, became enraged on Thursday’s episode of Inside Politics. After James Carville lightheartedly suggested that Novak was, “…trying to show these right-wingers that he’s got backbone,” Novak belched out that he thought that was “bullshit,” and then stomped off the set.

From my vantage point, it cannot be reasonably deduced that anything Carville said could have provoked Novak’s response. These guys mix it up much more aggressively than that on a regular basis. The explanation for Novak’s tantrum may lie in the comment made by host, Ed Henry, at the close of the show. Henry said that Novak was told that he would be asked about the CIA leak/Plame affair. Novak may have seized on this exchange in order to have an excuse to duck out before the Plame segment.

So how is the media handling this? If you visit CNN.com, which recently launched its video search feature to great fanfare, you can search for “Novak,” and get a link to the clip. But if you click on the link, all you will get is this:


As usual, the only constructive presentation of this event in the media was on the fake news program, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Thank God for fake news.

When the anti-Darwin faction of the Flat Earth Society sought to legitimize their biblical belief that God, not evolution, produced the earth and its myriad life forms, they originally branded their sermonology as Creation Science. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough because now they’ve escalated the scientification of Genesis by dressing it up as Intelligent Design (ID). This is a peculiar positioning that is more suggestive of the development of the iPod than the origin of the species.

Common sense notwithstanding, the media is taking up this PR-incubated nomenclature and giving it parity with the time-tested science of evolution. But leave it to Bill O’Reilly to rocket this nonsense into the stratosphere.

In his Talking Points Memo for August 3, 2005, titled “God vs. Science,” he courageously takes God’s side. Presumably because he believes that God can hold his breath underwater longer than Science can.

He goes on to correctly point out that Genesis should not be taught in science class, but curiously, uses that as his argument for including ID because “evolution is not a universal belief.”

Mr. O’Reilly needs to be advised that evolution is not a belief at all. It is a scientific theory. ID is a belief that has no basis in science, hence its rejection by the respected institutions he himself cites. But in his comments he contradicts himself by endorsing the view that evolution is accepted science, then insisting it be compared with faith-based propaganda.

I wish I could ask him why there is a responsibility, in a discussion of biology, to tell students that some people have moral objections to a procedure. Many people have moral objections to vaccinations, organ transplants, or psychoactive drugs. Should medical students have to stop at the end of every chapter and be told that, “this procedure is opposed by Lutherans and Hindus?”

Such disclaimers would be mandatory in O’Reilly’s world where facts have no standing and science is fascism.

Yesterday, the President gave what the White House called, “a major speech,” and all of the national broadcast networks chose to carry it. Despite the fact that the speech was given at Ft. Bragg, before a military audience, with a manufactured backdrop, and only other Republican partisans present, the media concluded that this was not actually a rally to promote the President’s agenda.

What was the message that qualified this speech as a major event?

Let’s take a look at what he said:

“My greatest responsibility as President is to protect the American people. And that’s your calling, as well. I thank you for your service, your courage and your sacrifice.”
That’s certainly not new. Everyone’s praising the courage and sacrifice of our military. It would be nice if the president exercised his responsibility to protect the American people from global warming, Social Security and pension default, absence of healthcare, and offshoring of jobs.

“The terrorists who attacked us — and the terrorists we face — murder in the name of a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises all dissent.”
This is just the president condemning the evil of our enemies and falsely linking 9/11 to Iraq. He does that all the time. He also hates freedom (flag burning amendment), rejects tolerance (10 commandments monument), and despises all dissent (expelling dissidents from tax-payer funded public appearances).

“The terrorists believe that free societies are essentially corrupt and decadent…”
He just borrowed this from Focus on the Family and other extremist Christian fundamentalists who describe the U.S. in these terms. Again, nothing newsworthy.

“Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate. Hear the words of Osama Bin Laden: “This Third World War is raging” in Iraq. “The whole world is watching this war.” He says it will end in “victory and glory, or misery and humiliation.”
It might be considered news that the President is adopting Osama Bin Laden’s view of geo-political conflict, but Bin Laden is not being particularly original here either. He’s merely saying that the war that Bush started is going to be won or lost, and that will be either good or bad, depending on where you stand.

Here’s the part that the President himself considers newsworthy:
“To further prepare Iraqi forces to fight the enemy on their own, we are taking three new steps:”

First, we are partnering coalition units with Iraqi units…Second, we are embedding coalition “transition teams” inside Iraqi units…Third, we’re working with the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense to improve their capabilities to coordinate anti-terrorist operations.
If these are indeed new steps, we are in bigger trouble than I thought. These ought to have been steps taken the day after he declared “Mission Accomplished” from the deck of the aircraft carrier. In fact, the administration has been telling us for months that they have been working hard to get Iraqis ready to take on their own security. What’s newsworthy here is the incompetence and neglect of this president and his team who now announce these as new measures.

“…they are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to take.”
There is also no limit to the hypocracy of an administration that is reponsible for the deaths of up to 100,000 innocent Iraqis, many times more that the insurgency can, or ever will, be able to claim.

“In this time of testing, our troops can know: The American people are behind you.”
Except the liberals who, according to Karl Rove, want to put, “…America’s men and women in uniform in greater danger.”

The substance of this speech offered nothing even remotely newsworthy. The President told us that our military is good and that our enemies are bad. He told us that we can beat up any kid on the block because we’re #1. He repeated the lies connecting Iraq with 9/11. What he didn’t do is provide any coherent explanation for why we are there to a populace that now believes going there was a mistake. He didn’t provide any details on what our goals are or how we recognize success. He left us exactly where we were before the speech: In an open-ended, directionless, adventure in imperialism.

It could not be more obvious that the whole of this speech had a single purpose: To prop up the President as the public’s support for his illegal war plummets and takes down his approval ratings as well. But, sadly, it does need to be more obvious to the national media who scurried to preempt regular programming so that this PR puff piece could be broadcast live. The media has again reinforced its reputation as stenographers to power. They’ve shown neither journalistic discretion nor integrity as they seek only to promote the elites of the leadership and corporatist classes. In their role as flacks for the president, they have proven, once more, that the media is dead.