*CORPORATE VULTURES*

*IS TERROR WAR A DISTRACTION?*

*BUSH SPEECH DECRIED*

Isn’t it delicious to watch all the hand-wringing and speechifying about corporate ethics these days? It seems like the very concept has become an oxymoron as the headlines continue to chronicle all the shenanigans, theft, double-dealing, conflicts of interest, deceptive practices, self-enrichment and enough scams to keep researchers at groups like Transparency International busy for a lifetime. (Phew!)

This morning, that bastion of free-market boosterism, The New York Post, is out with a cover story called “VULTURE” detailing how a rival to the Cantor Fitzergerald firm–which lost 658 people in the attack on the World Trade Center–plotted to raid their employees when the firm was reeling and still counting its dead. ,p>”Oh, I would love to put one up their bottom,” says an e-mail introduced in court–evidence in a case in London — that was sent by Icap CEO Michael Specer,

“This is the time I have been waiting for just a few years.” The case involves ICAP pinching CF employees.

“Paper can be dangerous” a friend once warned us, and so it has proven true again, as the men in power tell each other things that are so much more crass, candid and contemptible than what they reveal to the rest of us.

WORKERS PAY THE PRICE

The shiny face of big C Capitalism is looking a bit worn this morning, what with the New York Times reporting that WorldCom, the giant telecommunications company that rose like a phoenix from the swamps of Mississippi, somehow hid expenses of a mere $3.8 billion.

Who is paying for all of this? So far, it’s the workers, says CNN.com. “WorldCom also said it will cut 17,000 jobs by Friday, part of a plan to save $2 billion as the company struggles to survive.” It very well may not!

This is the largest case of “false corporate bookkeeping DISCOVERED SO FAR (emphasis mine)” according to the paper of record. Below it, on page one, another item in the same vein, “Enron Criminal Investigation Is Said to Expand to Bankers.”

And below that, just to add a local angle, “Plumbing Inspectors are Latest Charged in New York Graft.” Flip further into the paper and we read that Adelphia Communications, a cable company, is filing for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch is planning a new ad campaign to boost its reputation, and, in Congress, there has been “little progress” made to close loopholes that allow big companies to acquire tax advantages addresses in Bermuda and other off shore locations. Fully 1000 companies have been suspected of cooking their books.

IS THE TERROR WAR OBSCURING REALITY?

And where, might we ask, has the mighty media been in scrutinizing these practices? With the fecund proliferation of business news programs and other outlets reporting on the wonders of the free market, where were these stories BEFORE government agencies crept into the act?

“Well,” you say, “we are at war and the war must come first.” Are we? Robert Scheer of the LA Times wonders if the war on terrorism might not in itself be a distraction.

“Has the war on terrorism become the modern equivalent of the Roman Circus, drawing the people’s attention away from the failures of those who rule them? Corporate America is a shambles because deregulation, the mantra of our president and his party, has proved to be a license to steal. Yet to question our leaders’ stewardship of the economy has been made to se unpatriotic.

“Although combating terrorism is of compelling importance–and should have been before Sept. 11–one is likely to be branded a nut for daring to suggest that the administration might be using current security threats as a smoke screen to obscure our floundering economy.

“Yet, after the miserable performance of the stock market these past five weeks, the forced resignations and indictments of corporate titans (not to mention the conviction of a top accounting firm), the humbling of the dollar and a rise in the trade gap, isn’t it time to ask whether the war on terrorism isn’t being milked as a convenient distraction? The question seems particularly relevant when our man in the White House has had close personal and financial ties to the company–Enron — whose demise is the most glaring symbol of the broad moral disarray of the nation’s corporate culture.”

THAT BUSH SPEECH

On to the Middle East. Secretary of State Powell was on CNN’s new Connie Chung show last night, praising President Bush’s Middle East Speech. He warned Arafat, he tells us now, to get his house in order. And now a leak to the Times from a “high administration official” says that Bush changed the tone of his speech when the US learned that Arafat had authorized a payment of $20,000 to a group claiming responsibility for a terror group inside Israel. How can this be checked? Who is the source? Where is the evidence?

How do others besides the administration evaluate this info?

EUROPE CHAGRINNED

The President may have an easier job selling his speech to his backers than to the rest of the world, as he is expected to do at the G-8 Meeting in Canada this week. It is unlikely that this will be the final word from the master of the fractured word.

Reuters reported: “President Bush’s outline for a path to peace in the Middle East was a smash hit with conservatives and supporters of Israel, but did not stop persistent questions about the policy from some Democrats and potential 2004 challengers.”

Now what about our allies in Europe? Their concerns were simply not reported on the TV news programs I scoured last night. The Guardian reports:

“Britain, in a rare breach with Washington, aligned itself yesterday with the rest of Europe in expressing dismay over George Bush’s Middle East peace plan. It is the first serious rift on foreign policy between Tony Blair and Mr Bush since the Palestinian uprising began 21 months ago. Ahead of a difficult meeting with Mr Bush today at the G8 in Canada, Mr Blair and the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, openly rejected US demands that the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, stand down. Mr Blair insisted: “It is up to the Palestinians to choose their own leaders.” The British government put pressure on the US administration at the weekend to shelve its plans to call for Mr Arafat’s removal. The concerns in London and other European capitals over Mr Bush’s speech were reported to be shared by the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres. Shimon Schiffer, a respected Israeli journalist, who was with Mr Peres when he watched the speech on television, reported the foreign minister as saying: “He [Bush] is making a fatal mistake by making the establishment of a Palestinian state contingent upon a change in the Palestinian leadership.” The foreign minister added that “a bloodbath” could be expected……

ARE THE TERRORISTS WINNING?

In a sense, you can see that the terrorist violence is winning because it is undermining, as it has for years, an off and on peace process now in pieces. Here’s the Guardian’s Julian Border in Washington:

“In the seemingly endless litany of Middle East violence, it was two suicide bombings in two days last week that fractured Yasser Arafat’s tenuous relations with the Bush administration once and for all. The president’s Rose Garden address on Monday not only marked a clear break with the past in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it also reflected a decisive shift in the constellation of forces within the administration itself, which have blown US policy back and forth for the past 18 months. Last Tuesday the president was on the point of making a landmark speech on Middle East policy intended to provide momentum for a planned regional conference in September. It was going to be tough on the Palestinians, calling on them to transform their society along democratic, non-violent lines, and there were the usual rebukes for Mr Arafat in particular.”

“The usual rebukes” is an unusual way of putting it, or is it? Many journalists have the sense that surrealism has replaced realism and that we live in a world of media-reflected fantasy.

Here’s a third Guardian view. I cite them this morning only because here we have perspectives from London, allegedly home of close allies. They seem simply flabbergasted. Jonathan Freedland writes: “That was a fantastic speech. Quite literally, fantastic. George Bush’s address on the Middle East, delivered outside the White House on Monday evening, consisted, from beginning to end, of fantasy. It bore so little relation to reality that diplomats around the world spent yesterday shaking their heads in disbelief, before sinking into gloom and despair. Our own Foreign Office tried gamely to spot the odd nugget of sense in the Bush text - but, they admitted, it was an uphill struggle. Israelis committed to a political resolution of the conflict were heartbroken.”

A TV VETERAN’S VIEW

I sat last night with a distinguished TV veteran, and a former colleague of mine who reported on Palestinian-Israeli conflicts for ABC News 20/20 in l982. He told me about a 45-minute conversation he had back then with Ariel Sharon who he said refused to answer questions and just lectured at him about — what else — terrorism. “Look at TV,” he quipped. “Who’s winning. The Israelis don’t feel safe sending their kids out for pizza. The Israeli policy isn’t working and the terrorists are calling the shots. Everyone is reacting to them!”

Speaking of Sharon, the man once known by his enemies as the Butcher of Beirut for his role in sanctioning massacres of Palestinians will NOT have to stand trial.

CNN reports: “Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not have to face trial in Belgium foralleged war crimes committed in the Mideast, a court has ruled.”

SHOOT-OUT

There was a shoot-out his morning in the tribal areas of Pakistan, resulting in US and Pakistani casualties, in a reported face off with Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, Australian TV reports that there are calls to investigate mass graves in Afghanistan. “Human rights groups are urging that mass gravesites in northern Afghanistan be immediately secured and investigated for evidence of possible war crimes involving United States military personnel.

An Irish documentary maker has secretly filmed mass graves near the northern city of Mazar-e-sharif and interviewed witnesses who claim that container loads of prisoners were dumped in the desert. It’s alleged that most suffocated in the sealed containers, but those left alive were shot on the spot. Key aspects of his claims are backed up by a detailed report from the group Physicians for Human Rights.

AIDS IN AFRICA: MORE COVERAGE NEEDED

With Aids in Africa now threatening 28 MILLION lives, it is time for more media reporting.

“(PLUSNEWS) - More than 28 million Africans are now living with HIV/AIDS and in some countries over 30 percent of the adult population is infected, a UN AIDS statement warned on Tuesday. “The devastating impact of HIV/AIDS is rolling back decades of development progress in Africa,” said Peter Piot, UN AIDS executive director.”There will be a blot of more coverage in early July because of the International Aids conference in Barcelona. Africans, it must be noted, are fighting the epidemic, as this item in from Nairobi reports:

“Hundreds of Kenyan slum and street children on Thursday thronged the National Stadium in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, to take part in the finals of a month-long soccer tournament, as part of a concerted initiative launched this year to combat drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS, among these high-risk youth. The campaign, Exodus from the Street, intends to bring the plight of street children into the focus of the public and policy-makers, and to raise awareness among the youth on reproductive health.

MEDIA NEWS: EARTH TIMES TO FOLD

On the media front this morning, some sad news from Medichannel affiliate Earth Times: “Editor Pranay Gupte, who had just invited me to write for his newspaper/magazine about international affairs. The reasons are familiar.

“In this economic climate, it’s proving impossible to raise funds……I don’t believe in regrets nor in post-mortems. Earth Times enjoyed its moment in the sun, and it was exhilarating while it lasted. Undercapitalization is always bad for business; zero capitalization is worse. Since my basement press is beyond repair, I can’t even print rupee notes any longer to sustain Earth Times!”

Mark Crospin Miller reports this item from ROME via (AP)

“Premier Silvio Berlusconi has sued the authors of a best-selling book about the origins of his fortune for $9.7 million, news reports said Tuesday. Authors Marco Travaglio and Elio Veltri and their publisher were named in a lawsuit they received notice of Tuesday - more than a year after “The Smell of Money'’ was first published, the ANSA news agency said.

“The book, which alleges Berlusconi’s empire was founded on mob money, had languished on bookshelves until Travaglio appeared on a TV talk show in the middle of last year’s national election campaign.

“The book became an instant best-seller….”

HELEN THOMAS v YELLOW TIMES

While on hiatus, MediaChannel.org editor Aliza Dichter alerts me to this exchange of interest about the role of the press in these troubled times.

“George Lewandowski, Content Director at YellowTimes.org, just wrote a stunning piece which criticizes Helen Thomas, a columnist for an article in the Boston Globe which stated that ever since Watergate, the press has been skeptical toward the White House. However, George finds this statement completely ridiculous. He believes that the press these days are merely a mouth piece for the White House. Now Helen Thomas, the dean of White House reporters, has responded, as has Mr. Lewandowski:

THOMAS: “You have a point; I do think we became more skeptical, but in the name of patriotism, correspondents became cowed-I’ll take heed of what you say, and by the way I do not consider myself all wise and your jibes on age, hardly become you; life is a process of learning; so look to yourself and to those who really give you a pain-helen thomas”

GEORGE:- I too “will take heed of what you say. You have a great many fans, and some have contacted me on your behalf. I meant no insult, concerning your age. My point was that you are one of the wise elders of our tribe. Your expressed opinions about the qualities of the news we receive from your juniors has a profound effect upon public opinion. Your millions of readers do indeed consider you “all wise,” even if you make no such claim for yourself.

“That perception of wisdom is a benefit, or a burden, of your unusual lifetime of experience. People listen to you. We kids (I am a mere child of 57) know that you have seen the whole parade, not just the noisy band of patriots now goose stepping toward us….. I was trying to convince you to look more carefully, for the good of readers like myself. Apparently I gave personal offense instead.

Therefore, I apologize for my words concerning your age, and for being “one of those who really give you a pain.” You too “have a point.” I will strive for a less personal approach in the future.”

Go George, Go. Civility is important in what I hope can be an ongoing exchange between mainstream and alternative journalist. I say this as an admirer of Helen Thomas and Yellow Times.

KATHERINE HARRIS TAKES ON GREG PALAST

Another media related exchange is far less lovey. Democrats.com reports: “Here is a battle that belongs on HBO - investigative journalist Greg Palast versus Election 2000 thief-in-chief Katherine Harris. Palast described Harris’ crimes in detail in the March issue of Harper’s Magazine. Harris replied with a nasty ad hominen letter, totally in keeping with her Cruella DeVille character. Of course, Palast rips her letter to shreds. In a REAL Democracy, Harris would be held accountable for stealing an election - and then lying about it. But under Bush, we no longer live in a Democracy . See: www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=167&row=0

Speaking of Greg, this UK based investigative reporter and Media channel advisor turns 50 tomorrow. So a tip of the dissector’s keyboard to a colleague who also appears in our new Globalvision film on the 2000 elections in Florida called COUNTING ON DEMOCRACY. Votersmarch.com will preview it in New York tonight with other screenings planned nationwide before an expected TV broadcast. If you are in the Big Apple and want to come, email me and I will send you the info. I will have more details about the film’s distribution soon…Also Happy Birthday to Former Mediachannel.org Editor and Pacifica Radio stalwart Larry Bensky. As he writes: “I’m 65 and still alive. My generation moves on.

“THEY SAY IT’S MY BIRTHDAY”

And I with it. Tomorrow is my B Day too, and I have some personal thoughts to share for the occasion. Thinking today also of Leonard Peltier on this 27th anniversary of theshoot-out at the Pine Ridge Reservation that has left him falsely incarcerated. Stay strong. Tune in then — and share your comments with me by writing: Dissector@mediachannel.org