BUSH INVESTIGATES BUSH

A SCANDAL A DAY KEEPS…

BOOKS ON FIRE

On this anniversary of the betrayed ChineseRevolution, let usinvoke a thought from the Great Helmsman, who, in a most Mao-like wayonce said: “no investigation, no right to speak”. You don’t need alittle Red Book to know that there is a whole lot of loose talk goingaround the new scandal in Washington, while the inappropriately namedJustice Department, headed by the President’s born-again bully, Mr.Ashcroft, is supposed to investigate its handling of the leak that may,if allowed to go unplugged, sink the ship of State.

We all know that it’sthe cover up, not the crime, that always getsthem in the end. But this “investigation” has all the trappings of aprize fight that is about to be thrown. No wonder the President”welcomes it.” He says, uncharacteristically, that he, GWB, “wants toknow the truth.” That’s rich. The President also bobbled his wordsagain, always saying he wants people “inside the information” to saywhat they know. He confused the word information with Administration.Some Democrats want to get inside the information too, and are callingfor a special counsel. “Journalist” Bob Novak, who outed the CIA wifeof former US Ambassador Joe Wilson for dissenting from the officialmantra on Iraq, says, as one would expect: “There is no crime here.”

On Nightline last night, former Ambassador Joe Wilson not only saidthat there was a crime here but he identified Karl Rove, thePresident’s political advisor, or in popular parlance, his “brain,” asthe person who called his wife “fair game” in calls to journalists duringwhich he encouraged them to get in on the blood sport. He cited calls byreporters who told him they been called by Rove. He said he would sharetheir names with the FBI, if asked. (Those reporters are unlikely toreveal their sources.) Wilson was outspoken on the program. This iswhy the Republican Party now considers him “fair game” and accuseshim of partisanship. Ted Koppel revealed Wilson is briefing theDemocrat Caucus in Congress today. He explained he is going because he wasinvited. “I am willing to speak to the Republicans too,” heinsisted.

CONSERVATIVE BLASTS WILSON

On the right, the National Reviewhas pulled out its peashooter in the form of an online attack on Wilson byClifford May. May is describedas “a former New York Times foreign correspondent, is president of theFoundation for the Defense”. And what does Cliff contend?

“I believe Iwas the first to publicly question the credibility of Mr. Wilson, a retireddiplomat sent to Niger to look into reports thatSaddam Hussein had attempted to purchase yellowcake uranium for hisnuclear weapons program. (http://www.nationalreview.com/may/may071103.asp) “On July 6, Mr. Wilson wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in which hesaid: ‘I have little choice but to conclude that some of theintelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted toexaggerate the Iraqi threat.’

“On July 11, I wrote a piece for NROarguing that Mr. Wilson had no basis for that conclusion - and that hispolitical leanings and associations (not disclosed by the Times and othersjournalists interviewing him) cast serious doubt on his objectivity.”

WEGOT SCANDALS

I wonder if the “investigators” will have the same problemgaining access to the White House that the 911 commission has had, or, forthat matter, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)is experiencing inits overdue probe of Enron. The Houston Chronicle reports, “Federalregulators are trying to force former Enron Corp. chairman Ken Lay to handover documents they believe will shed light on the Houston energy company’scollapse.

“Lay has refused to turn over the records, asserting his FifthAmendment right against self-incrimination. The SEC, trying to determinewhetherLay had knowledge of, or was involved in, fraudulent activities atEnron has subpoenaed documents from Lay’s tenure at the one-timeenergy tradinggiant.”)

AND THEN, THERE’S THIS ONE TOO

Or what about this other scandal,relayed by NYU’s Global Beat: “Paul de la Garza reports in the St.Petersburg Times on the Pentagon’s secret orders to various groups inSpecial Operations at MacDill Air Force Base to artificially inflate theirbudgets by $20 million. The idea, apparently, may have been to create aslush fund that Rumsfeld’s office could use without having to worry aboutCongressional oversight. The Pentagon had originally wanted to conceal $40million, but military commanders had refused to go along with that amount.”

Arianna Huffington is out of there. She’s quit the CaliforniaGovernor’s race on CNN’s Larry King Show, saying, “I am doing this sothat I can devote all my time and energy in the remaining week todefeating the recall and to defeating the Arnold Schwarzenegger-PeteWilson forces that are trying to use the recall to hijack our state.”

OHTONY, OH MAGGIE

In politics across the seas, I watched Tony Blairspeaking (via CPAN) to the Labour Party Conference, hitting atough-on-crime note. Meanwhile, the former prime minister, Mrs. Thatcher,has to the surprise of many, criticized him for what many others consider abigger crime, his pro-war stand. TomDispatch.com relays this beauty of aquote:

“Margaret Thatcher has savagely undermined Tony Blair’s case for waragainst Iraq. In her first reported comment on the conflict, the former Toryleader, who took Britain to victory in the 1982 Falkland Islands conflict,has told friends that the war against Iraq was a ‘mistake.’ BaronessThatcher has warned that British troops could be tied up in a missionwithout end for years. ‘Britain should never have been involved and it willbe very difficult to get our troops out in anything like the nearfuture,’ she told Tory peers at a private meeting last week. She alsobelieves a judicial inquiry should be set up into the Iraq conflictrather than the ‘tightly defined’ Hutton inquiry.” (The piece in fullfrom the tabloid British Sunday Mirror, Chris McLaughlin, Maggie’sMauling for Blair”

CAN’T TELL A BOOK BY ITS COVER

Itwas the Laura Bush and Ludmilla Putin show (photo op) in Russia yesterday,as the Bush Administration’s better half was in Moscowstaging photo ops about children’s books. Coincidentally, at the sametime, in Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library, leadingwriters assembled 70 years after the Nazi book burnings to markthe opening of an exhibit called Writers Block by artist Sheryl Oring. Itconsists of 600 typewriters from the l920’s and 30’s, to provokedebate about the current state of freedom of expression and threatsposed by the USA Patriot Act and acts of repression by othergovernments. I got there too late to hear a number of writers read fromtheir works but did hear the comedian Reno call on the crowd to defendour rights. The event was organized by the writers’ organization PEN,the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American BooksellersFoundation for Freedom of Expression. I didn’t know until I read theirfine brochure that the book burnings in Germany were not the acts ofknow-nothing crowds but, rather, were carried out by university students whorecited “fire oaths” denouncing ideas considered “un-German.” Books byAmericans like Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser and Helen Keller wentup in smoke, while bands played in the Opera Square (now Bebelplatz) inBerlin. One hundred thousand New Yorkers marched against the book burningsin that year. Neither Laura Bush or Ludmilla Putin said anything about theseissues. Surprise. Surprise.

Poet Eliot Katz has more to say about thewriters present. “A few of the highlights included Grace Paley, readingpowerful pieces written byeyewitnesses to the 1933 book burnings, Frances Fitzgerald reading fromHelen Keller and from Bertolt Brecht’s protest writings in response to theirbooks having been targeted by the Nazis, Francine Prose reciting from aletter by Jacobo Timmerman describing the disappearances of journalistsin Argentina during the 1970s and 80s and the important role that booksserve in challenging authoritarian governments, Adelle Lutz reading from apiece by Burma’s pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and MargoJefferson reading from a Supreme Court decision by Louis Brandeis dealingwith censorship issues in the U.S.” Among the important information revealedat the event is the fact that, in the first six months of 2003,International PEN recorded 775 attacks on writers around the world.Mediachannel’s NYC-based readers may want to visit Bryant Park and see theWriter’s Block exhibit while it’s still up, which is until Oct. 12.

It canbe seen on the web at (www.writers-block.org.)

AL GORE TV

Some monthsago we told you that Al Gore was interested in getting into media. It nowappears that Vivendi Universal may sell him and his investors Barry Diller’sNews World International digital channel for $70 mill. He wants to turn itinto a news channel for younger viewers.Unfortunately, this will also mean the closing down of the one outletthat offers news by broadcasters around the world.

LL SAYS I OWN IT, IT’SMINE

SA’s Mail and Guardian reports: “Duelling rappers debate file-sharingRapper LL Cool J joined entertainment executives on Tuesday in defending themusic industry’s lawsuits against hundreds of Internet users who illegallydistribute music online.” My question is, if acontractor builds a building, should people be allowed to move into thebuilding for free?

LETTERS FROM IRAN, ITALY AND POINTS WEST

Elaine Shinbrot writes: “I too remember with fury the poisonous Evans andNovak columns on the civil rights movement in the early 60s (front pagebelow the fold in the NY Times. Right?). Especially thoseimplying that the entire movement was inspired by and took orders fromthe ‘Red menace.’ Forty years later, the media still makes me crazy.So thanks for your blog. Today’s (September 30) was particularly fine!Greetings to you from a veteran of Bay Area Friends of SNCC.”

DavidCameron Staples adds what he calls a “nit-pick chiding for saying yesterdaythat Novak is no longer a journalist but apredictable PR partisan and always has been.’ You just said in onebreath that he has never been a journalist, and that he was once, butis no longer. Might I suggest you replace ‘no longer’ with ‘not’?”

ON TVIN IRAN

Alexander Murphy, a geographer from Oregon was just in Iran for anacademic congress. While there, he was on an Iranian TV show and writesabout an unusual media event: “The show normally runsfor 30 minutes, but because they had a special visitor from the land of theGreat Satan, they let it run for almost 70 minutes. (The show is broadcastlive.) My goal was neither to be an America basher or an American glorifier,but to discuss, in as frank and honest terms as I could, aspects of theemerging geopolitical picture in the Middle East.

“I was aware going inthat I needed to be somewhat sensitive in framing things, and of course atelevision studio is a bit of an intense environment in and of itself. But Ifelt relativelyrelaxed going into the show, and I think it went quite well. The showapparently reaches several million viewers, so it gave me a nice forumtodemonstrate that (1) there are Americans who are quite different fromeitherRumsfeld or Eminem (one of the things I talked about was the need tobreakdown stereotypes on both sides); (2) there are Americans whounderstand something of Iran; and (3) there are American who do not buy intothesimplifications on either side that dominate news coverage (whenIranians dohear from Americans, it tends to be either extremely hawkishstatements thatare broadcast in a (largely unsuccessful) attempt to whip upanti-Americanfervor or statements from America bashers who have nothing but disdainfor theUS. I think the program was quite a success, and apparently theproducers did as well because they decided to re-broadcast it three nightslater.”

ON THE EMBEDS p>Jody Lentz writes: “Hey Danny . just startedgetting the Dissector, so I am generally more righteously indignant each daythan I was a fewweeks ago.You’ve touched on the overwhelmingly positive, sycophantic coverage ofthe embeds, which thankfully has given way to some more objectivecommentary.

“But putting myself in those embeds’ shoes, I can see whytheircoverage was fawning. Traversing the desert for a few days, then livingunder their M-1s, I too would be more than a little cowed by theprospect of being anything but accommodating. I think the death of theReuters staffer is an example of the embeds’ unspoken fear that drovethe biased coverage… keep fighting the good fight, Danny!”

Tim Koffeysays thanks from Seattle: “…for putting the crap thatmedia perpetuates daily into perspective, and making it available viaemail.”

OOPS

Mark Nixon, “Un montréalais living in Denmark writes:

Subject: Eric Margolis

“I’m glad you often cite this Americanex-pat doing such a good job for a Canadian newspaper. But, Danny, thatpaper is the Toronto SUN, not the Star as you so often write.”

UNDER THE TUSCAN BLACK OUTS

Michael writes from Italy: “well, i, andi’m sure many others, wonder if Al Quaida managed to hack into the utilitycomputers, and i’m sure the gvt wouldn’t tell us ifthat were true. the sad outcome of all of this, and maybe this is a bitfoil-hattyto believe is conspiratorial, but then again maybe not, is thatthe debatehas jumped immediately on the radio here today to how italy needsnuclear, and how it’s much safer now than when chernobyl happened andhow if one blew up in e. europe we’d be downwind here anyway, so it’spointless trying to protect ourselves from fallout by not building themhere, and solar only fills such a tiny part of the national need blabla bla … swear … won’t they ever learn? WHY NOT UP THE SOLARPANELPRODUCTION?”

Pete Simon reports on Rush Limbaugh’s latesttarget:

“While things have been heating up over the CIA - White Houseflap, anotherunrelated disturbing development has taken a back seat. It doesn’tinvolvenational security, but it does involve the well being of the nation’ssoul,racial politics, and as Rush Limbaugh would say, the ‘culture war’.Too badthe Rove crew has been so busy with their fun and games inside our WhiteHouse, or a lot more folks would be calling for Rush’s head, aftercommentshe made Sunday morning on the ESPN NFL pre-game show.

This is from thePhiladelphia Inquirer on Tuesday.

“Limbaugh’s idea of commentary Sundayinvolved an absurd attack onEagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and on ‘the media’ that have overrated himbecause ‘the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.There’s interest in black quarterbacks and coaches doing well.’ McNabb,Limbaugh said, isn’t ‘as good as everyone says he has been.’

“I’m curiousto see and hear the fallout from all of the above. AndI’mwondering what those on the left will do with the McNabb story, eventhough football may not concern them. I see a great opportunity here,don’t you?Thanks for listening!”

BLESSED IN BAGHDAD

I feel blessed to be gettingso much great feedback and offers ofhelp. Yesterday, I heard from the fine writer named Riverbend who blogsfrom Baghdad (”Baghdad Burning”). Oddly, her home town was burningyesterday after a riot by angry job seekers. Anyway, as you will read in Citizens Media Watch, she has some very positive things to say about my newand soon-to-be-published book on media coverage of the war. (PDFavailable on MC) It gave me a real boost to have someone in Iraq findthe work valuable.

We also publish a piece by a new Mediachannel booster,Dame Anita Roddick, the founder of the Body Shop, who warns Her Majesty’ssubjects that their broadcasting system is at risk from plans of USmedia giants to invade Britain. And speaking of media giants, I had acloser look at the funding credits of PBS’s Charlie Rose Show. Seems asif many of them are funders, including the Mel Karmazin Foundation, thetax avoidance mechanism run by the president of Viacom. I never thoughtof the Howard Stern backer as a philanthropist or public TV booster.That gave me the blues more than the music series on the blues nowrunning on public TV. Keep your comments coming. Writedissector@mediachannel.org