Thursday, March 27, 2008

Iraq & The Media- The Sixth Year





The five year anniversary of the war in Iraq went by last week. Media highlights included speaking to military figures, politicians and others as they recounted incidents of battle and occupation. What was sorely lacking from most coverage however was the blatant complicity of the media itself. With the exception of investigative journalists like PBS Bill Moyers Buying the War, the media has done little in accounting its own role in the lead up to war--which unfortunately is not as uncommmon as we'd like to think. So it wasn't surprising that when confronted with a bit of truth about Iraq, that does not follow the laid out narrative that both the US government and the media has agreed upon, some news pundits aren't certain how to react. Such was the case on a recent episode of Charlie Rose, where two Iraqi nationals (now living in the US, a journalist and a professor) voiced their opposition to the US invasion and occupation of their country, and recounted the great suffering that had taken place because of it, much to the surprise of their seemingly combative (and disbelieving) host.

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Friday, March 21, 2008

Five Years of War- Winter Soldiers Speak



This week marks the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War. Entering its sixth year, the American adventure in Iraq has gone on longer than World War II. It has claimed close to 4,000 US soldiers lives, and wounded some 20,000 more. Iraqi deaths due to war and the indirect results of war, number anywhere from 150,000 to as high as 1 million, with sectarian violence and a shattered infrastructure left in its wake. Some 2 million Iraqis have fled the country, and remain refugees. Another 2.7 million have been scattered throughout Iraq itself, refugees in their own homeland, often living in squalor. In treasure, the war has thus far cost a staggering 500 billion--some $340 million each week--and may grow as large as 3 trillion when all is taken into account. And the most recent attempts to pacify the country, the so-called "surge," has done little more than obscured the dark realties, hoping to stem the bleeding with a bandaid of extra troops.

All of this, and no end in sight.

Last week, some 200 American veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan came togther in Silver Spring, Maryland, to speak out against the war of which they were once a part. Dubbed "Winter Soldier," in remembrance of a similar event that took place during the Vietnam War, the event experienced a near total media blackout except for alternative news outlets. Small excerpts of Winter Soldier 2008 have been reposted here. Click above and in the larger article to listen.

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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Black Thoughts on Jeremiah Wright & the Audacity of Whiteness




One Email Forum Reacts to the Furor Over Pastor Jeremiah Wright

"...there is a tradition in the black church for pastors to use colorful analogy and hyperbole when giving sermons. But that only works when folks are being logical, and we all know logic flys out the window when we think about white people and their perception of us. This can kill him, [Obama] if not against Hillary, in the general election. This is race-baiting, and it's going to work."--KK, member of a black email group reacting to the breaking news of the Pastor Jeremiah Wright video.

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Saturday, March 15, 2008

THINK NEGATIVE- Debunking 'The Secret'




So today I get into an argument with someone about the best-selling book, whose success was in great part due to Oprah Winfrey, The Secret. For those not familiar with the work--and the movie--The Secret purports to sell its readers on the power of positive thinking. Seeming to splice together certain aspects of Asian mysticism and bad physics, The Secret bases itself on the "Law of Attraction." Without going into the convulted theories, the basic premise goes like this: think positively and you will attract good things to yourself; think negatively, and you end up attracting bad things.

At first glance, sounds innocent enough--even practical. Think positive. Who can argue with that? Well, at second glance, there's alot to argue with such a notion...

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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Christian Zionists?- Scarier Than You Think!



And you were scared about Jeremiah Wright? Here's something to really keep you up at night- Pastor John Hagee and CUFI (Christians United for Israel). Unlike Wright, who was preaching a social gospel of defending the poor and defenseless, Hagee and CUFI call for pre-emptive strikes on Iran and global war on Islam that will draw in Israel and bring on Armageddon. And here's the kicker, they have the ear of the powerful, with not only Presidential candidate John McCain but numerous other GOP members (war hawks, neoconservatives, Israel hawks) running to kow-tow to them at every turn. Forget Jeremiah Wright, CUFI and Hagee are the REAL DEAL type of scary, and the ones you ought to be worried about.


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