DICK DONE IT

THE BOYS OF BAGHDAD

BRUCE AND BUDDY

Will we have to wait thirty years to find out what the President knew and when he stopped knowing it? This question was prompted by the disclosure over the weekend that Jeb McGruder, a member of the appropriately named CREEP, Committee to Reelect the President, President Nixon that is, has just summoned up the courage to reveal that, yes, the Watergater in chief had personally ordered the break-in at Democratic Headquarters thirty years ago. It has taken us three decades to get confirmation of who was behind that dirty deed. McGruder spills these beans in a documentary to air on PBS on Wednesday.

He now says he heard a phone conversation that he forgot he heard for all these years. He says he recalls “Nixon’s voice on a telephone as the president instructed then-Attorney General John N. Mitchell to go ahead with the break-in. ‘John . . . you need to do that,.”

There even seem to be salacious link between what happened way back then and what is going on in front of our eyes this very morning in faraway Iraq. Just a tidbit — but a tantalizing one. It was strongly rumored and leaked at the time of the illegal entry into Democratic Party HQ that that klutzy break-in team was looking for a connection between the Democrats and a call girl ring. That fed a suspicion in the paraoid mind of King Richard. He thought its disclosure was going to embarrass and derail the campaign against him. Part of the bugging was initiated literally to find some Dems with their pants down,

JOKE ON FOX: “THE RISE AND FALL” OF THE SADDAM SONS

This morning we had CNN and Fox sniggling about some Viagra and condoms allegedly found (planted?) in the personal effects of the late Hussein boys. Castigating them as perverts — which they may or may not have been — is an old CIA dirty trick. Anyone remember the pornography supposedly found in the desk of Salvadore Allende, the Chilean President who took his own life when the coup makers assaulted the Presidential Palace in Santiago back in l973? Assassinating demonized enemies physically is apparently never enough; their characters have to be assassinated as well. Interesting isn’t it, that the very villa they were hiding out in — physical evidence of the attack — is being quickly demolished by US forces?

Mark Mackinnon of the Boston Globe reports on the tension between US soldiers and Iraqi citizens: “Since then, the roles have reversed. The average Iraqi is no longer in awe of the American military machine. They walk right up to soldiers, sometimes to chat, more often to complain. Occasionally to shoot or lob a grenade. There have been 44 recorded American deaths in Iraq since U.S. President George W. Bush declared the war here over on May 1, including five since the Hussein brothers were killed. The Americans are now the nervous ones. They are gambling that their victories over the Husseins will help quell the attacks. But they are unclear on the actual origins of the hostilities, or if there is any central command at all. Most important, they haven’t yet figured out how to simultaneously make friends and occupy people.”

THE KILLINGS CAN STILL BACKFIRE

“BBC is reporting that “Washington’s decision to release photographs of the bodies it says are Saddam Hussein’s sons provoked mixed reaction in the world’s media. Several commentators in the Middle East accuse the US of hypocrisy, recalling the outrage that greeted the appearance of US prisoners of war on Iraqi TV. Al-Jazeera correspondent in Iraq said that there is an exaggerated media fuss over this issue and it sounds like an attempt to establish it as a crossroads between two eras. The correspondent also added the reality is that if occupation continues, resistance will continue. In Europe two dailies warn that the pictures could become symbols of Iraqi resistance. “Did it not occur to the military photographers that… the picture of the bearded Qusay, vaguely reminiscent of the dead Che Guevara, might risk becoming a similar kind of icon for Arab youth?” said a commentator of Swiss daily Le Temps.”

Just how many US soldiers have been killed in “post war” Iraq? Writing on YellowTimes.org , columnist Matthew Riemer reveals: “Media outlets have been spinning the information on U.S. casualties in a most curious way. Instead of regularly updating viewers and listeners concerning the number of killed and injured U.S. servicemen and women since the beginning of the war in Iraq, an insidious and disingenuous distinction is being emphasized more than ever: that of the “combat deaths” and the “non-combat deaths.” Phrases like “hostile fire,” “friendly fire,” and “in-action deaths” are now commonplace in Washington’s and the media’s handbook of propaganda and euphemisms.

“News agencies are constantly making the above distinction, reporting the number of U.S. soldiers killed by “hostile fire” as well as those killed in other ways but only keeping a running tabulation of those who have lost their lives in combat. Updates are almost unheard of regarding the number of casualties resulting from non-fatal injuries. As of July 21st, 233 U.S. soldiers have died and over 1000 have been injured since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. Yet the media focuses only on those killed by “hostile fire” as if those killed in other ways or those simply injured are less important.”

HUNTING FOR SADDAM

“The hunt for Saddam is the big cable news story today just as the failed hunt for Osama was the big story yesterday. Task Force 20 is on the case for the USA. But will they, like Canadian Mounties, get their man? So far three Iraqi civilians were killed in Baghdad during the pursuit. Five more US soldiers are dead, So far no, Saddam. Yesterday, the Observer ran an excerpt from a new book by Jason Burke on Al Qaeda which says we still don’t understand who they are and what they are not.

“Little that had previously been published helped. It was clear to me that profound misconceptions were widespread. Foremost among them was the idea that bin Laden led a cohesive and structured terrorist organisation called “al-Qaeda”. Every piece of evidence I came across in my own work contradicted this notion of al-Qaeda as an “Evil Empire” with an omnipotent mastermind at its head. Such an idea was undoubtedly comforting - destroy the man and his henchmen and the problem goes away - but it was clearly deeply flawed. As a result the debate over the prosecution of the ongoing “war on terror” had been skewed.

“Instead of there being a reasoned and honest look at the root causes of resurgent Islamic radicalism the discussion of strategies in the war against terror had been almost entirely dominated by the language of high-tech weaponry, militarism and eradication.”

MUTINY IN MANILA

In the Phillipines meanwhile, a mutiny of soldiers was ended over the weekend. It looks like an advisor to a former president may have been involved. Of larger international interest is the charge by the soliders, supposedly to be investigated, that military units there staged attacks which were blamed on communist and Islamic guerillas so that the military — many of whose members claim to be underpaid — could get financial help from the Pentagon as part of the war on terror. Let’s see how much follow up there is on this story.

BBC-BLAIR FEUD RAGES ON

Former Minister in the Blair Cabinet Clare Short is blaming an “abuse of power” by the government for the death of scientist David Kelly, the source of a BBC reporter who crcitized a government dossier. The debate in Britain between the government and the BBC continues to simmer and grow nastier. Ian Bell writes in the Sunday Herald of Glasgow: “It seems the government is determined to cover up its lies at any cost … even if that means destroying the BBC in the process,” writes Ian Bell”It was Jorge Luis Borges who said that watching the Falklands War was like watching two bald men fighting over a comb. Had he lived, and had he cared, the poet might have added that watching journalists and politicians trade blows over the truth is a bit like watching two bankrupts argue over the cost of living. Bystanders can be forgiven for nodding off.

“There is, for all that, something out of the ordinary about the trench warfare that has broken out between Downing Street and the BBC. On the face of it we have a parochial argument over who said what to whom in the run-up to war with Iraq, an argument that looks desperately petty set beside the fighting and its aftermath. Did the government test honesty to the limit in its efforts to persuade the public? Did Andrew Gilligan, a Today reporter, expose official deceit – or did he bend a few facts in his eagerness for a story? None of this should matter much. Yet matter it does.p”It matters most because of a charge that no-one will put explicitly into words: that the government simply lied, not once but time and again, over the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. It matters too because the journalism contradicting the official version – or at least the journalism that angered the government most – emanated from the BBC, the world’s most respected broadcaster. And it matters because, realistically, there can only be one winner: someone will pay a heavy price when this argument is settled.”

FLAGS ARE FOR SALUTING, NOT SIGNING

The Drudge report reports ” George W. Bush has hit controversy as a picture has surfaced showing the president signing a well-wisher’s hand-held American flag–a direct violation of the Federal Flag Code .

“According to the law, “[t]he flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.”

“The President was meeting and greeting supporters on July 23, 2003 at Beaver Aerospace and Defense in Livonia, Michigan where the alleged

MONBIOT BOOK EXCERPT ON LINE

Tony Sutton of Coldtype.net writes to say tell us he has posted an excerpt from a new widely discussed book by the cclaimed columnist for The London Guardian George Monbiot. “The world,” Monbiot says, “is run not by its people but by a handful of unelected or underelected executives who make the decisions on which everyone else depends: concerning war, peace, debt, development and the balance of trade. Without democracy at the global level, the rest of us are left with no means of influencing these men but to shout abuse and hurl ourselves at the lines of police defending their gatherings and decisions.

MUSICAL MEMORIES

“There were some musical memories this weekend for me that reminded me how important music has been in energizing my life. The first memory was triggered by a death that I read about Sunday on page 30 of the New York Times. The headline: “Buddy Deane, 78, TV Host and Inspiration of Hairspray. ” I looked at the picture and read the AP obit out of Arkansas that told the story of of the death of DJ Buddy Deane. Buddy Deane’s TV show back in Baltimore, that was said to have inspired John Waters to write Hairspray as a movie that turned into a Tony award winning Broadway show. As is often the case when you have personal knowledge of story in the papers, or were present at an event that was later covered, it was not exactly right. I will show you what I mean by sharing a letter I wrote to the Times which I somehow doubt will ever become news fit to print.

“HAIRSPRAY: THE REAL STORY

“Your AP originated obituary (July 27) for former Baltimore TV DJ Buddy Deane correctly identifies him as the inspiration for “Hairspray” but glosses over the 1963 civil rights protest that challenged his American Bandstand type show and the TV station that aired it. I know, because as a young civil rights organizer, I helped organize what we then called a “dance-in” to challenge on-air segregation. It is false to say the TV station WJZ favored integation; in fact, they denounced us and called in Spiro T. Agnew, then Baltimore County executive, later a disgraced Vice President, to read our Northern Student Movement activists the riot act for “setting back race relations by ten years.” Hairspray Director John Waters confirmed to me at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival that it was our integrating Buddy’s live show, not just protesting it, that was his wake up call. I tell the story in my book “The More You Watch, The Less You Know.” Forty years later, I am still fighting racial insensitivity and other abuses in the TV business while others make money singing about it.

Danny Schechter

Editor Mediachannel.org

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

In a piece about the protest and its cultural resonance, Polar Levine who edits the Mediachannel.org affiliated popcultmedia.com, quotes what I wrote bout the incident in my book The More You Watch The Less You Know.”

In light of my current work, this blast from my past is important to me since it was my first real stab at media activism.

“We came up with a plan to desegregate the show through what nodoubt was the first and probably last civil rights “dance-in.” Usingour BAYOU (Baltimore Area Youth Opportunities Unlimited) group as acover, the kids secured tickets to one of the black-only sessionspresided over by Fat Daddy, a black radio DJ who co-hosted these”Negro shows.” With my encouragement, they invited a group of whitecollege tutors from our Northern Student Movement (NSM) “each oneteach one” tutorial project to come along. The black students wentinto the studio first while the whites waited in the parking lotuntil the last minute. With two minutes to air time, we rushed intothe studio for the live show. The ticket taker was confused but letus in. The TV crew was equally perplexed. TV then was still black andwhite but those two colors weren’t meant to be mixing in Bal’more,not then, not ever.

“It was probably the first interracial dance party on TV. OnBuddy’s shows, the guest organization was invited to say a few wordsabout who they were and what they did. One of the black teenagers andI were pushed forward. We made political speeches, speaking outagainst segregation on the show, looking right into the stupid grinplastered on Buddy Dean’s face. He was beside himself. Seething. FatDaddy chuckled.”

BRRUUUUCE IN JERSEY

Last night I saw the future of rock and roll and his name was STILL Bruce Springsteen. Maybe I distort a bit since the line itself, one of the most famous in Rock and Roll journalism, was written by Jon Landau, then a critic for the late Real Paper in Cambridge, who went on to become Bruce’s manager in part because his choice of words and insight into the Boss’s promise and potential, Last night was the last of his sold out shows at Giant Stadium and, as usual, the E Street Band was pretty flawless. Bruce played with and played to the crowd, as showman and shaman. The New York Times reports that ticket prices dropped precitiously because the stadium was not filled to the gills–a sign, they imply, of his falling stature.

As usual, it felt like the first Church of Rock and Roll drawing an SRO crowd of many of his faithful lifetime acolytes who go from show to show. I was told 60% of the sold out crowd went to more than one show. These shows quickly turn into community sing alongs showing how meaningful his songs are, and how well they speak to the lives, fears and dreams if those who attend them. You could feel that before the show began a Karaoke pre-show promotion by a local radio station in which Bruce fans cheered each other while singing their own versions of the songs that matter to them. One of the young men sang Dancing in The Dark to his 80 year old grandmother Gladys who was attending her fifth show on her birthday. That rated a big cheer.

“TRANSCENDENT”

The crowd could not be accused of being overly diverse. (The woman to my right of the Asian persuasion couldn’t get over all the white hands in the air.) The foursome to my right had come all the way from Wisconsin (on a low, low budget thanks to Priceline.com), The woman to my right knew all the songs, the albums they were on, and spoke of Bruce as “transcendent because of his bravery” as an up-front artist who engages with society and takes stands. Her friend would take a “thesis” to explain her rationale for taking what her friend called their “pilgrimage” last night to New Jersey’s Giants stadium.

She was particularly moved, as was I, when Bruce after doing his regular pitch for support for the Food Bank spoke out against the lies in Washington calling the questions to the Administration about the reasons for the war “Not Democratic questions or Republican questions but American questions.” He spoke up in defense of the public’s right to know, ending with a plea for “the safety of our troops and peace for the people in Iraq.” He then lit into his rousing “Land of Hope and Dreams.”

While he hasn’t written a song about the war yet, unlike Merle Haggard, Bruuuuce has spoken out in support of the Dixie Chicks right to speak and for civil liberties for all. The crowd in Jersey gave him a standing O leaving me to hope that other artists will follow his, yes, brave example. I left as the heavens began to sprinkle. Some higher force held the real rain until I was safely through the Lincoln Tunnel.

LITTLE STEVEN: INTEGRITY ON THE RADIO

Before taking my seat, I hung out with Little Steven Van Zandt and several hundred of his closest friends. (The Bruce fan I quote above had nothing but warm things to say about Steven because “he shows integrity in every thing he does.”) She is a fan of his Underground Garage radio show which is on the air nationwide and even on the Voice of America. (There’s an irony there because one of his earlier songs was called The Voice of America — and, trust, me it was a voice that was blisteringly critical of all US foreign policies.)

America could do a lot worse than having Steven V an Zandt as its voice — and it already has. At the meet and greet before the show Steven was busy cultivating sponsors and shmoozing with his extended family. . His producer Richard Near told me they have had to fight for airtime for his musically diverse series because of the narrow mindedness of most radio owners. You have to admire him — he remains his own person even and the only man in America who is a member in good standing of New Jersey’s two first families — The Sopranos and the Springsteens.

THE “D STREET” BAND

During his show Bruce made reference to bringing the E Street band back together. Like Elwood Blues, I feel the same way in the sense that the crew who made our original South Africa Now series twelve years is expected to come to a Times Square screening of an updated version called ‘South Africa Now and Then.” I joke about it as the D-Street band but of course the series worked because so many great people worked on it, not because of any magic elixer I brought to it. The idea is to remember the past and move into the future. Former Mayor David Dinkins, Thami Ngwevela, New York’s South Africa Consulate General, and Tsidi Leloka, the former lead of the Lion King, Harlem arts promoter Voza Rivers will be on the panel. I will be moderating after the screening about, what else, South Africa now and then. I will have a report tomorrow.

Welcome to the midpoint of the summer. I hope it is going well for you. Please keep your comments coming. Write dissector@mediachannel.org]