Homework for November

2008 ELECTION HOMEWORK

Do you read? Blogs are suspect—some great, some terrible, most inane. Newspapers and television focus on entertainment rather than information. The truth only comes out when government officials retire or quit the government and write a book. If they told the truth while working for the government, they would end up in prison. If reporters told the truth they would be fired. Check with Dan Rather.
Once Bush is out of office, and his appointees are out in the cold, the books will be coming at us like hornets from a nest. Best guess—nine out of ten not kind to an ex-president. In the meantime, there are plenty of hornets already in the real world ready to sting you. If you want to know the truth about the Bush administration, instead of constant propaganda from the White House or certain radio talk shows, here are only a few starting points from the last seven years.

Clarke, Richard A., “Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror.” Clarke is one of the best; impeccable credentials.
Conason, Joe, “Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth.” make no mistake, believing the Right-Wing hype is dangerous to your health, your family, and your country.
Corn, David, “The Lies of Geeorge W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception.” a major queston, why have reporters been reluctant to report Bush lies?
Dean, John W., “Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush.” Dean, a Republican, worked for Nixon. Most knowledgeable.
Dionne, Jr., E.J., “Stand Up Fight Back.” a superb critique of our politics in 2004; probably true today. Check it out.
Goodman, Amy and David, “The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Loved Them.” an important forum for people around the world engaged in social justice.
Hedges, Chris, “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.” the bigotry, fanaticism, and deeply unChristian ideology that pose danger to our fragile republic (Oprah magazine).
Lewis, Charles, “The Buying of the President: 2004.” From the Center for Public Integrity. Bankrolling and expectations.
Phillips, Kevin, “American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politcs of Deceit in the House of Bush.” demolishing the self-interestedness of politicians.
Wilson, Valerie Plame, “Fair Game: My Life As a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.” another expose of how the White House will do anything to protect itself.
Woodward, Bob, “Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate.” Woodward had the protective self-interest desire to keep the door open to the White House chambers, so he took it easy on the president. Still!

Books with lots of truths but slightly more political:
Begala Paul, “It’s Still the Ecoonomy, Stupid: George W. Bush, the GOP’s CEO. How our president trashed our economy.
Franken, Al, “Lies: And the Liars Who Tell Them.” A fair and balanced look at the Right.
Franken, Al, “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations.” There are millions in this country who listen to no one but Limbaugh.
Franken, Al, “The Truth.” With more truth than you might think.
Moore, Michael, “Dude, Where’s My Country.” Truth and humor.
Moore, Michael, “Stupid White Men.” And other sorry excuses for the State of the Nation.

Books about America: (with two key sources)
Cole, David, “Enemy Aliens:Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism.” Cole is one of the country’s great legal voices for civil liberties.
Howard, Phillip K., “The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America.” Howard is trying to drive us all sane. Tough job.
Jenkins, Henry, “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.” insights into an unforeseen future. 2006.
(key) Johnston, David Cay, “Free Lunch.” how the weathiest Americans enrich themselves with your money, and take away your money.
(key) Wolf, Naomi, “The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.” one very tough book; a citizen’s call to action Will it fall on deaf ears?

Books about women in the Middle East—the real picture:
Ali, Ayaan Hirsi, “Infidel.” Life threatened because of her criticisms of Islam.
Bin Ladin, Carmen, “Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia.” Carmen married a brother, with deep regrets.
Mahmoody, Betty, “Not Without My Daughter.” A journey back to sanity; also the excellent movie with Sally Fields.

Films……..
“An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning,” by Al Gore. An award winning film which focuses on our lives becoming part of the solution for Global Warming.
March 21, 2008
Bill Moyers interviews former talk show host Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro on the true cost of war and their documentary, BODY OF WAR, depicting the moving story of one veteran dealing with the aftermath of war. With extensive excerpts from the film, the filmmakers talk about Iraq war veteran Tomas Young who was shot and paralyzed less than a week into his tour of duty. Three years in the making, BODY OF WAR tells the poignant tale of the young man’s journey from joining the service after 9/11 to fight in Afghanistan, to living with devastating wounds after being deployed to Iraq instead.
“Crimes Against Humanity: The Bush Record.” a documentary of the five indictments brought by the iInternational Commission of Inquiry into the crimes against humanity of the Bush administration.
“Orwell Rolls In His Grave.” explores the one thing the media doesn’t like to talk about—itself.
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism.” Pushing a Right- Wing agenda.
“Uncovered: The War On Iraq” uncovers the truth about the Iraq War.
“Why We Fight,” a film portraying how we have become a nation of war; a seemingly unstoppable industrial military complex about which outgoing President Eisenhower warned us in 1961. Can you help stop it?

from a concerned art teacher. No math or science needed. j.

Heads In the Sand

I Can’t See. My Head Is In The Sand

No war bonds. No children taking money to school for war stamps. No necessary coupons for meat, or coffee, or sugar, or gasoline. No shortages of anything. No draft for compulsory service in the Army. But, we have been at our president’s war for over five years.
Four thousand service women and men dead and perhaps 100,000 wounded or disabled in some way, and most of us continue to act as if nothing has happened; nothing is going on to interrupt our middle class adventure to buy the latest digital toys or 50 inch TV.
We’re not interested in the war. War doesn’t effect us. Little or no interest in the trillion dollars being spent on a war that never should have happened. Little interest in a crumbling infrastructure. Little or no interest in how corporations and lobbyists are now in charge of the country. Little interest in how our veterans are being treated. Little interest in the crumpling of the dollar or the increasingly thunderous recession or the unbelievable increasing debt we are leaving our children and grandchildren.
We are interested in inane talk shows, golf tournaments, the Super Bowl, and the Big Dance. We demand unimportant news because important news would be bothersome and demand thinking. President Bush would get upset if we started to think.
You like toys. We should be able to buy toys for our kids, right? Okay, why does the United States remain one of the few developed countries to allow children to play with toys that contain toxic chemicals? The toys in question contain substances called phthalates (pronounced "thal-ates"). While the European Union has banned these substances in products meant for children, there is powerful resistance from the chemical and toy industries to doing the same here. Big surprise! Last year, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban phthalates in toys. The toy and chemical industries sued the city to block implementation, claiming there's not enough evidence to warrant any action. A similar ban is set to take effect throughout the state of California in 2009.
Investigative Journalist Mark Schapiro, author of "Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power," tells PBS, NOW, "By refusing to close the loopholes in EPA laws that regulate chemicals in toys (and other products), the U.S. government is jeopardizing our health, alienating us from the global market, and erasing our role as a world leader in environmental protection."
Here’s a kicker. The FDA administrator spun like a top when questioned about toxic chemicals in toys. Buh, buh, buh! She represented the Bush administration very well. But here’s another kicker. China makes most of the toys for both the European Union and the U.S. China toy manufacturers have created two systems for making toys. One system creates toys for the European countries, WITHOUT toxic materials of any kind, and the other creates toys for the U.S. with toxic chemicals.
Nicholas D. Kristof, columnist, put his finger on another topic and another kicker: “The bill we are accumulating for the Iraq War amounts to almost $5,000. every SECOND”!!!!!! This is the first major war in American history where the cost is being paid for by borrowing. Professor Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winning economist, calculated that the eventual total cost of the war will be about $3 trillion. For a family of five, that amounts to owing a bill of almost $50,000. Do you feel you are getting your money’s worth?

Here’s more kickers…….
The income of the highest-paid military contractor CEO (Robert stevens, Lockheed Martin): $24, 399,747.00.
Average income of CEOs at top 30 military contractors: $9,095,756.00
Average income of an Army private in combat: $25,942.00

The war to date, not counting indirect costs, equals $522.5 billion.
The cost of the war to date just for Cleveland: $479.2 million. Which equals or would have bought for the people in Cleveland: ALL of the following:
$43.6 million: 48,784 homes with renewable electricity.
$43.6 million: 24,772 children with health care.
$43.6 million: 14,601 people with healthcare.
$43.6 million: 6,726 Head Start places for children.
$43.6 million: 5,390 scholarships for university students.
$43.6 million: 1,045 public safety officers.
$43.6 million: 899 port container inspectors.
$43.6 million: 740 elementary school teachers (public schools).
$43.6 million: 667 music and art teachers (public schools).
$43.6 million: 406 affordable housing units.
$44.6 million: 4 new public elementary schools.
Median household income in Cleveland, 2006: $26,500.00

WAR? WAR?......WHAT WAR?

WAR? WAR?.........WHAT WAR?

Dr. John M. Hicks

During World War II, I was a kid living in a St. Louis working class neighborhood. Our playtime was not really effected by the war that much, but we felt it because of our contact with the adult world. There were four of us in my family; my brother was ten years younger so he was out of the games and play circle but definitely in the family circle.

I remember walking with my Mom to the little grocery story near our house. She had a few ration stamps for food. The enclosed meat counter had empty trays but there was a tray of brains. We had them for supper on occasion but they were not too popular. Meat was scarce but some bacon could be seen on occasion. Vegetables were not abundant either. Gardens were in the backyards all over town during the summer. People had to can food in those days. In season, apples usually were available but oranges were worth their weight in gold and we were lucky to find one pineapple for the winter holidays. Coffee and sugar ‘were’ gold if you could find them. That day, the grocer put an extra potato in a sack and smiled.

Shoes were rationed also. Kids walking around with bacon rind in the bottom of their shoes was not unusual. Soles wore out and holes appeared from nowhere. Fortunately, bacon rind was about as tough as nails. Driving a car was the ultimate luxury during this war. Dad found that you couldn’t drive without gasoline. Tires were practically extent. By the end of the war, everyone not connected to the war effort was driving around on cords and smooth rubber—if they had a gasoline ration stamp and could find a filling station that still had gasoline.

For all the scarity of products, few people complained. War bond rallies were the norm. Everyone was encouraged to buy war bonds, and they did. Children took coins to school to buy war stamps. The folks at home were more than ready to give up some of their wants, needs and dreams just to help the war effort. And they did.

Oh, yes! In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in another war. It has lasted more than four years. Almost four thousand service men and women have been killed and over twenty thousand wounded. A rehabilitation center has been created in Texas so that all those with arms and legs blown off can be brought back into somekind of normal life for themselves and their families. Normal life? There has been no change in the normal life of most of us today as was the case in W.W. II. War? What war?

I went to a local grocery store today. The produce section is full. It’s always full. Shelves are stocked constantly and if you can’t find what you want in fresh produce, try the frozen food section. We have a choice of cheese from thirty countries. The purchase of wine continues to increase and much of it comes from other countries. Meats and fish are in abundance—every day. We have so many cereals on the market that young children, and their moms, can’t keep up with all the new options.

During the “old” war, wives sometimes had a hard time finding food to prepare and put on the table. Now they don’t have to prepare anything. Frozen foods and ready-to-eat foods are stocked in the stores to the ceiling. We have deli’s which have a hundred choices of “good stuff.” In 1944, nothing was ‘thrown away.’ Left overs, were for the dog or cat. Now, throw aways are a way of life. Repair shops are long gone. War? What war?

Speaking of good stuff, more and more people are going out to eat. In W.W. II, dining out was for a celebration of one kind or another. Now that we have an overabundance of food in the grocery stores, we dine out often. The milk goes sour at home while we indulge at the local restaurante.

During W.W. II, few homes were being built. Materials went to war, you know. These past four years, home building has been a marvelous experience for construction workers. Not just little two-bedroom homes built after W.W. II, but big jobs with thousands of square feet. We don’t need all those building materials in this war. Ironically, all these new and very large homes for sale have gigantic kitchens. One wonders why. War? What war?

Fitness centers are increasing their membership. One of the big outfits in Iowa has increased membership and is building a new facility. People are going to these centers at all hours of the day—in their SUVs. Not too many service men or women who have been wounded in battle are joining. They are rehabilitating instead.

Speaking of cars. After four years of war, we have all the gasoline we want and there are plenty of new tires. Auto sales include almost 25% for SUVs. Small cars can be seen but they tend to be old and rusty. The situation seems to fit into the theme of the movie, “Who Killed The Electric Cars?” Advice? Don’t see the movie if you’re middle class. It’ll make you angry.

We should be concerned, now that we have been in a major war for so long, about where all that money is coming from for people to buy these 30 thousand dollar automobiles. Why aren’t we putting that money into savings bonds to help pay for the war. The savings bonds from W.W. II really came in handy later when products came back on the market and houses finally were being built again. Isn’t that silly?

Today, we get more war news than we can handle from television and a host of other media sources. For us, however, opinions are not life or death. We just go on with our normal existence, using lots of energy, eating more than we need and having a fun time while soldiers die or are wounded.

You may not have noticed but the newspapers reported, January 30th, that world travel was up 4.5% in 2006. We’re supposed to be in a “War on Terror” but cruise ships continue to be built, each bigger than the last. American’s love their cruises. They love to go to Mecca, too. Mecca? That’s the glitter capital of the world—located in Nevada, of course. Phoenix, Biloxi, and Ft. Myers continue to increase their share of “snow birds.” There was no such thing as a snow bird during the 1940s. War? What war?

I realize that comparing 1944 to 2007 is on a ‘who cares’ level. What’s the point? The point is that we are NOT at war. President Bush and his close friends are playing ego games called, “Let’s Go To War!” and “We Get The Oil!” He is sharing his war games with all our soldiers and marines. He thinks the armed forces are his. He has taken over the state national guards as well. He loves to send national guard soldiers over to Iraq time and time again. He is having so much fun while the rest of us don’t seem to care. Unless you are a family of a soldier killed fighting the war for President Bush.

In W.W. II we had a draft. There is a very good reason why we don’t have a draft today. A draft would wake us up from our deep sleep. We might have to give up our saturated grocery stores and our SUVs. Fitness Centers would go out of business and running shoes would have to last longer. The last thing President Bush wants is to wake up the American public. And, of course, the American public doesn’t want to wake up. Are you kidding?

The leaders in World War II had a plan. The leaders in this conflict knew Iraq would be a cinch but the planning stopped well before that “Mission Accomplished” banner was raised. There were fraud and waste in the big war but they were miniscule compared to this one. Many billions of dollars have been wasted by Congress and the White House during the past five years but the public doesn’t seem to mind. Those billions could have been spent on health care, education and the environment but the public is having too much fun to pay attention. Do you suppose the public will ever wake up? Probably not. Even with Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” still going on, life is just too wonderful. War? What war?

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