ANNOUNCEMENT:
WHO: Investigative Reporter, Mediachannel.org advisor Greg Palast & Danny Schechter, the News Dissector

WHAT: BOOK TALK - The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast

FILM PREVIEW: - COUNTING ON DEMOCRACY by Danny Schechter

WHEN: MONDAY, APRIL FIRST 7 P.M.

WHERE: WALKER STAGE THEATRE

56 WALKER STREET bet. B’WAY & CHURCHIf you live in the New York City area, come next Monday to hear investigative reporter and Mediachannel.org advisor Greg Palast discuss his new book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, and also see a preview of your News Dissector’s new film COUNTING ON DEMOCRACY, the story of what happened to l75,000 uncounted votes in the Presidential Election of 2000.

DIRECTIONS:

Take the N, R to Canal St, enter from Broadway side. Take the A, C to Canal St., enter from Church St. side.

GOOD FRIDAY

GAS ATTACKS

RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY

Before I begin dissecting on this holy day, let me invoke the words of the late and not missed Julius Caesar, as an Easter message to the military powers of our embattled world:

“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order towhip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotismis indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood,just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war havereached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and themind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizingthe rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infusedwith fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all oftheir rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know?For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.”– Julius Caesar

Good Friday. Or should we attach a question mark to that affirmation this holiday morning in a New York of empty streets and a great stillness. The news on this day of days, ironically, leads with stories from the Holy Land–another 17 dead in a suicide bombing in an Israeli supermarket. Ariel Sharon has sent his tanks back into Ramallah surrounding Arafat’s Headquarters, which is actually, as many of the media forgets, the offices of a duly elected leader. Ariel has now formally branded Yasser an “enemy” in an increasingly personalized duel. Say good-bye to President Bush’s half-hearted peace initiative–although, according to press accounts–the Israelis are characterizing the Saudi land for peace deal unveiled formally at the Beirut summit of the Arab nations as “interesting.” And Arafat says he will unconditionally accept the Tennet Cease Fire proposal. While rather late in the day, this may be a sign that there are many back room maneuvers underway, although the media remains focused on the military drama and the guerilla terror attacks.

Unreported this morning , once again, are the peace efforts on the ground, and whether Sharon’s calling on 20,000 reservists will lead to new protests within the military, many of whose members of vocally opposed his heavy-handed retaliatory practices. Have you seen much news in the US about peace activists from overseas who are in Ramallah at this moment? Here’s one account: “(Late Thursday), some 600 pro-Palestinian foreigners, including the French farmers’ union leader, José ‚ov鬠arrived in Ramallah to offer themselves as human shields for Palestinians.

“We are going to stay here in Ramallah in particular to provide the Palestinians with protection,” Mr. Bové ³aid.”That may be too ambitious a mission as the fighting erupts, and as an Israeli bulldozer crashes into Arafat’s compound.”

ISRAELI FEARS: HE WANTS US DEAD

Analysts believe that Palestinian activists were encouraged by the stands adapted by the Arab Summit even though Arafat was not there. Supporters of Israel in the US are echoing the Israeli government position that Arafat cannot be trusted, and will never make peace. Here’s one of our regular correspondents, Janet, writing from Washington with a widely shared view in these circles.

“G.W. Bush is off raising money for November elections while his 2-tier emissaries, Cheney and Zinni, continue to fail in making Arafat do what Arafat has never intended to do–make peace with Israel. He wants Israel. He wants the Israelis all dead and he wants to create a Palestinian state out of Israel. His bottom line will go to his grave with him no matter how many lives he takes with him. He has created suicide bombers to be his personal weapons of mass destruction by creating a hopeless situation for his people. He feeds them idealism, anti-Semitism and FUTILITY. He has never intended to build hope for his people. The destruction is the world’s destruction. The entire Arab world is as paralyzed as is the western world.

“They are faced with a decision similar to the beginnings of World War II.When is it politically appropriate to intervene in a genocide-motivated war? Hindsight will highlight the heroes one day, but today’s leaders are cowering under the circumstances and the weight of action. The ?woosies’ are in the lead.”

PALESTINIAN EXPRESSES REMORSE

I can understand why she feels this way, but it is also a function of the information that is out there or here and the way it is framed. Here is another view from a Palestinian. It may surprise you, in part because this perspective is conspicuously absent in many media accounts. It is called “A Frank Commentary: On Suicide Bombing and the Arab Summit by Issa Sarras, written yesterday.

It was carried by Infopal, The Independent Palestinian Information Network. Read it and ask yourself why you have never seen this source quoted much. That’s why I am quoting this at length:

“I wish first to express my great personal sorrow following thelatest suicide bombing in Netanya, which has killed and wounded alarge number of Israeli citizens. Even though it comes after along list of Israeli crimes that are difficult to count, andoften hidden from the eyes of the world, I categorically standagainst such actions, and publicly call for stopping suicidebombing immediately and for good. I also encourage Palestiniansto speak up publicly against them.

I will try to be as frank as possible here. We are in a crisisthat has reached an advanced stage. Things did not have to be theway they are, but sadly we have reached a very low point.

“It is really depressing to look at the media. Innocent peoplearound the world are forced to swallow plenty of nonsense andhype that says little, distorts facts and explains nothing. Andgovernments which are aware of many facts are abdicating theirmoral duties and abstaining from informing the public.

“Yet regardless of it all, mistaken are those who even imaginethat they can triumph against reality. Somebody can be smartenough to convince countless people that the donkey in Mr. X’sfarm is a horse. Yet the donkey remains a donkey, even ifmillions declare otherwise. The best men throughout history haveadvised us to seek the truth, and to cherish it. Now the truth ismost crucial for saving civilization on this earth.

“I want to go back to the grave issue of suicide bombings. I haveread plenty of explanations, some of them good and revealing,some of them useless and misleading, especially when all ourpeople are condemned as terrorists. Yet even the goodexplanations are incomplete. This is because important factorsthat characterize the current Palestinian reality are missing.

“Islamic and national forces have reached the conclusion thatsince we are abandoned by the world, and our repeated calls tothe international community to send international observers havebeen rebuffed, suicide bombings are the only weapon left whenfacing one of the strongest armies in the world, in order tocreate a balance of terror and stop Israeli atrocities. Themagnitude of suffering and Israeli crimes have placed manyPalestinians at the edge of despair. And the world’sinsensitivity to our blood is acutely felt, and it’s direimplications are yet to fully unravel.

“Yet this was/is not the only possible course of events.

“What we are witnessing is the resounding failure of our civilsociety to provide adequate support systems to the Palestinianyouth and the community at large, and to influence their thinkingand channel their activities and energies in more positivedirections….”

“Sadly, very few people dare to say this.”

IRAQ ATTACK: “SHAKY”

The mounting Washington-backed campaign for a strike against SaddamHussein’s Iraq suffered a set back yesterday when Arab leaders lined up to back Iraq in exchange for some concessions. Reuters is reporting that a US strike in these circumstances would be illegal: “?. legal experts say that, without a new United Nations SecurityCouncil resolution explicitly backing the use of force, the justification for strikes against Baghdad is at best shaky.”

There was little talk about legalities at the Pentagon — just reaffirmations of strength, according to the Washington Post ”

“WASHINGTON? America’s top military leaders said Thursday that despite the war on terrorism and other pressures on U.S. forces around the world, the Pentagon will be able to take on any additional mission that President Bush orders.

“‘You can be absolutely certain that to the extent that the United Statesof America decides to undertake an activity, that we will be capable ofdoing it,’ said Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.”

REMEMBER THE GASSING OF KURDS

One of the pretexts for an invasion is Iraq’s horrific human rights It is hard to hear any argument that does not make reference to Baghdad’s 1988 gassing and killing of Kurds, a well-documented and horrible act. At the same time, in a commentary for Z Net, Anthony Arnove notes: “While the massacre is now a convenient one that serves U.S. propaganda purposes, when it happened in 1988, the Reagan-Bush administration and much of the media found it not that convenient at all.

“The issue is extremely sensitive because the Reagan Administration has moved closer to Iraq in recent years,” the New York Times explained on September 8, 1988. The U.S. government backed Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war and had strong economic ties. “Iraq, which has the second-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia, is an important American trading partner. The United States buys an average of 447,000 barrels of Iraqi oil a day, amounting to about $2 billion a year. Last year, the United States exported $1 billion in agricultural products, including rice, wheat and meat to Iraq,” the Times noted just six weeks before Iraqí ©nvasion of Kuwait.

When news of what had happened at Halabja broke, the State Department issued a rote condemnation, but Washington continued its courtship with Iraq. As Jim Hoagland rightly predicted on March 26, 1988, “Washington’s friendship for Baghdad is likely to survive one night of poison gas and sickening television film. TV moves on, shock succeeds shock, the day’s horror becomes distant memory. The Kurds will stay on history’s margins, and policy will have continuity” (Washington Post).

NEW CARE POLL: AMERICANS DO SUPPORT AID

While Americans are often easily mobilized behind military operations, Lurma Rackley from CARE tells me that a recent public opinion survey conducted by that fine humanitarian group found that US public opinion backs expanded humanitarian aid to fight global poverty. Here are the results of a new survey by Peter Hart and Associates. Let’s see if it gets the same play as poll results that favor military action.

“Voters express strong support for President George W. Bush’s recent proposal to increase U.S. financial aid to developing countries around the world by $10 billion over the next three years. Eight in ten (79%, including 40% strongly support) registered voters support the President’s proposal to increase our foreign aid allocation to improve education, help businesses find new markets for their goods, develop new ways to grow more food, and fight the epidemic of AIDS, while only 19% oppose the idea.

“Support for the President’s proposal to increase foreign assistance is strongly correlated with whether one thinks that the United States has a national security interest in reducing poverty and suffering around the world. Thirty-two percent of voters who believe that the United States has a large national security interest in reducing poverty also strongly support the Bush proposal. Likewise, those who believe that the U.S. has only a small interest or no national security interest at all in reducing poverty are much less likely to support the Bush plan (20%). A majority of voters (52%) who link reducing poverty with a large U.S. national security interest strongly support the plan to increase foreign aid, 38% of those who say we have a moderate security interest in lowering world poverty strongly support the plan, and only 24% who believe that the United States has only a small interest or no national security interest at all in reducing poverty strongly support President Bush’s proposal?.”

AL IS BACK: WILL HE BE TREATED MORE FAIRLY?

On the home front, Al Gore is back in public view, with a strong environmentalist attack on Bush energy policies. Meanwhile Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting is out with a new report on how Gore’s earlier stands were distorted unfairly in the media. Peter Hart and Jim Naureckas write: “Throughout the presidential elections, mainstream media outlets were quick to charge Democratic candidate Al Gore with exaggerations: Whether he was talking about inventing the Internet, inspiring Love Story or discovering Love Canal, you just couldn’t trust what Gore was saying.

“If you looked into these incidents, you found that in each case the media’s exaggerations were worse than Gore’s: It’s largely true that he “took the initiative in creating the Internet” while in Congress, as he said (he never said he “invented” it); according to Love Story author Erich Segal, he did help inspire the book’s male hero; and the claim to have discovered Love Canal was a misquotation that was later retracted by the outlets that made it. (See Washington Monthly, 4/00.)

“Still, the theme that Gore was a liar was a constant in his media coverage. Each of the above factoids appears in the Nexis database hundreds of times; the story about Gore and the Internet shows up more than 3,000 times. A study by Columbia University’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (7/27/00) found that lying was the second most common theme in Gore stories, just behind “scandal-tainted.” (The top Bush theme found, by contrast, was that he was a “different kind of Republican.”) See Fair.org for more.

CONASON TO MEDIA: APOLOGIZE

As for media attacks against the Clinton Administration, Joe Conason, who was often pilloried by Clinton-bashers for refuting their claims. His latest is on Salon.com: “Anyone who paid the slightest attention to the moldy allegations subsumed under the heading of “Whitewater” has known for years what the independent counsel grudgingly conceded in the final report released last week ? that the prime targets of the investigation of that little old Arkansas land development, Bill and Hillary Clinton, had done nothing that could be prosecuted as a crime. There was nothing remarkable about that conclusion, nor about the independent counsel’s strenuous literary effort to justify a breathtaking expenditure of time, not to mention $73 million, in the pursuit of partisan goals.

“What may have surprised the naive reader was the concluding commentary in the nation’s leading newspapers, whose editorial pages, opinion columns and news accounts had encouraged noxious speculation about Whitewater and the Clintons from the very beginning of the ?scandal.’ Rather than acknowledge the hollowness of the accusations they did so much to publicize, America’s most prominent editorialists substituted “spin” for accountability?

KRUGMAN: THERE IS A RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY

Also on this theme, and even more provocative, is Paul Klugman’s op-ed in the New York Times, which indicts what he calls a “smoke machine” and a right-wing conspiracy, which many liberals are afraid to take on:

“In a way, it’s a shame that so much of David Brock’s Blinded by the Right: The conscience of an ex-conservative, is about the private lives of our self-appointed moral guardians. Those tales will sell books, but they may obscure the important message: that the “vast right-wing conspiracy” is not an overheated metaphor but a straightforward reality, and that it works a lot like a special-interest lobby.

“Modern political economy teaches us that small, well-organized groups often prevail over the broader public interest. The steel industry got the tariff it wanted, even though the losses to consumers will greatly exceed the gains of producers, because the typical steel consumer doesn’t understand what’s happening.

“Blinded by the Right” shows that the same logic applies to non-economic issues. The scandal machine that employed Mr. Brock was, in effect, a special-interest group financed by a handful of wealthy fanatics — men like the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, whose cult-like Unification Church owns The Washington Times, and Richard Mellon Scaife, who bankrolled the scandal-mongering American Spectator and many other right-wing enterprises. It was effective because the typical news consumer didn’t realize what was going on. ”

WHAT IS GOING ON?

Now that’s a theme, worthy of a whole internet channel, telling “the typical news consumer just what is going on. That’s what we are trying to do on Mediachannel.org. And, what I try to do in this space daily. Now sometimes I do it too fast and sloppily for the many readers who write in to wag fingers at me for my typos and other insults against the English language. I do have a volunteer editor, Jeanette Friedman who tries to keep up with my offenses and correct them before you see them but since I work very early in the AM, sometimes it takes a while for her to crank up to speed. She suggests I include this disclaimer or should I call it mea-culpa:

This is written by an extremely busy person and edited by an extremely busy person, both of them doing this as volunteers. They apologize in advance for any grammatical or spelling errors and appreciate the difficulty you may have in reading the material sometimes. You can send your corrections to friedmanj@aol.com, who is completely to blame for any grammatical and spelling errors.

Help us do this better. Your emails and items continue to make the column what it is. What is it? You tell me. Happy Easter to those that celebrate it. And you can always find me at dissector@mediachannel.org. In the mean time, I hope to spend the weekend with two new worthy books about which I will have more to say, “THE BEST DEMOCRACY MONEY CAN BUY” (Pluto) by London-based investigative reporter Greg Palast (See Announcement above), and “The Silent Takeover” (Free Press) about the death of democracy by a brilliant English academic Noreena Hertz. And so it goes.

And I am now?.. gone.