During a recent hearing which aired on my new favorite channel, C-Span, an interesting exchange took place between Senator Robert Byrd and Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. For me, it was a very symbolic moment, symbolizing the people standing up to abusive power. In response to Rumsfeld’s arrogant and condescending answers regarding Iraq, Senator Robert Byrd asked out loud, “how do you respond to a sneer?” 

 

During the same hearing, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Rumsfeld, “I’m here to tell you, sir in the most patriotic state that I can imagine, people are beginning to question. And I don’t think it’s a blip on the radar screen.”

 

I am pleased to see that for the moment, the American public is slowly waking up out its political stupor and asking, finally, what is going on in Iraq. This is how we respond to the sneer of our government officials. We pay attention. We ask questions. We demand answers. We stop electing people who send our friends and family to war based on lies. 

 

After listening to Rumsfeld and watching the current administration at work for the past 4 ½ years, I’m reminded of one of the most horrifying villains on television: the Borg as seen on the ‘90’s hit series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Devoid of individuality and linked to one another with one mind, the Borg’s sole purpose is to assimilate others into their collective consciousness and to destroy any who oppose it. Its mantra is “Resistance is futile. You will comply.”

 

(I can’t resist…I present: a new look at the Bush Administration and Conservative Talk Radio hosts)

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/mediaview?id=2103302

 

Borg-like, the current administration, works relentlessly to undermine any who get in its way. It lies. It attacks. It ignores. It side steps. Sometimes it even, well, obstructs.

One key way the administration works to achieve its ruthless goals is to keep the public unaware and uninformed.

These Are Our Leaders? --President George W. Bush lied about the reason to invade Iraq. He lied to Congress. He lied to the American people. Worst of all, he lied and continues to lie to military personnel who risk their lives daily in Iraq and elsewhere. Everyone by now has heard about the Downing Street Memo which describes how Bush and team fixed facts to support their policy to invade Iraq.  Bob Woodward in his book, Plan of Attack also mentions how Bush’s goal was regime change and not WMD (2004 paperback edition, page 119). Bush’s recent pep talk to the awaking American public strived to blur the lines between the 9/11 attacks and rationale for invading Iraq. He mentioned the attacks of 9/11 numerous times as if it had anything to do with our reason for invading Iraq.

 

Vice President Dick Cheney recently told the American public that the Iraqi insurgency was “in its last throes.” That same week, as described in the Los Angeles Times (and as seen on C-Span) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and senior U.S. military leaders made clear they believe that US forces face a long road in Iraq.” Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top American Commander in the Persian Gulf, said the insurgency is about the same as it was six months ago….” (Los Angeles Times, June 24^th) Rumsfeld shared that we may be in Iraq up to 12 years.

 

White House advisor Karl Rove recently said “Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war. Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.” Guess he forgot that Congressional Democrats were 100% behind the president regarding Afghanistan.

You’re Banished--Check out the overview at the link below. House Democrats, led by Rep. John Conyers, recently held a hearing regarding the Downing Street memos. In clear obstructionist fashion, House Republicans refused to let the hearing take place in the Capitol Building; at the last minute, they changed their mind but forced the hearing to take place in the basement. Key members of Congress and the witnesses testifying are all squashed together in a tiny room.  

http://www.c-spanstore.org/shop/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=187209-1&zenid=885ed6bc978eab09bd810e6264b61b59

Put A Lid On It--House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Republican Congressman Sensenbrenner, illegally shut down Patriot Act hearings on Friday, June 10th. The hearings were designed to allow witnesses testify to the abuses caused by the Patriot Act.

 Not liking what heard, Sensenbrenner staff shut off witness' microphones and the Chairman abruptly ended the session without the customary and required-by-law request to do so. Here is an overview by one of the Congresswomen in attendance.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/fl20_schultz/judgavelledoff.html

The News Has Been Cancelled--Also available on C-Span is a riveting hearing about media bias and how the American public is in fact not receiving real news. This hearing was held in response mainly to the sheer silence of the American media when news of Downing Street first leaked. If you think that the press feeds us daily diets of Runaway brides, celebrity scandals and chili-laden fingers because this is what they think we want to hear, think again. There appears to be a focused effort by the mainstream press to limit what we see. http://www.c-spanstore.org/shop/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=186879-1

Columbia University’s School of Journalism website shows how a few major 

corporations (Disney, Viacom, Times Warner, Murdoch’s News,

 Bertlesmann of Germany, and General Electric’s NBC )control the media, and therefore the message, in the U.S. today.  http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/

In 1983 50 corporations controlled most of the US media; today, there are less than a dozen.

 See http://www.corporations.org/media/ 

 Goodbye Elmo and Charlie Rose--The GOP recently planned to drastically reduce the budget of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which funds NPR, and PBS shows like Sesame Street, scores of educational programs and legitimate news. The GOP has been concerned that programming has not been conservative enough and so, under the guise of reducing the deficit, they planned to snuff out up to 46% percent of the budget this year and completely eliminate it within two years. Public outcry was felt so hard in Washington, that they scaled back the cuts to only 25%. Regardless, numerous small town community stations will still lose their funding and will now need to shut down completely. Meanwhile, the CPB, created to be a non-political entity, has now selected an ex-GOP Chairperson as its president.

According to broadcast journalist, and multiple award winner Bill Moyers, “An unconscious people, an indoctrinated people, a people fed only on partisan information and opinion that confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda, is less inclined to put up a fight, to ask questions and be skeptical. That kind of orthodoxy can kill a democracy — or worse.” Moyers has long been under attack by the Republican leadership of the CPB as he continually speaks truth to power. READ THIS SPEECH. http://www.freepress.net/news/8120

Don’t Say A Word--On his first day in office, Bush reinstated the “Global Gag” rule. “Called the "gag" rule because it stifles free speech and public debate on abortion-related issues, the policy forces a cruel choice on foreign non-government organizations: accept U.S. assistance to provide essential health services – but with restrictions that may jeopardize the health of many patients – or reject the policy and lose vital U.S. funds, contraceptive supplies and technical assistance.  Family planning advocate research shows the gag rule is eroding family planning and reproductive health services in developing countries. Almost 20 million unsafe abortions occur annually, almost all in developing countries, according to estimates of the World Health Organization.” See www.globalgagrule.org.

Stifling Scientists--In February of this year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science posted an article stating that “The voice of science is being stifled in the Bush administration, with fewer scientists heard in policy discussions and money for research and advanced training being cut, according to panelists at a national science meeting. Some scientists…feel pressured to change study conclusions that don’t support policy positions.”  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=20300

Stifling All of Us--White House policy, as described in the Capitol Hill publication, The Hill, is to ban “American citizens from taxpayer-funded public forums on the basis of their political beliefs” (April 7, 2005 page 16); hence the President’s carefully planned, artfully choreographed public appearances in which all who attend cheer and all who dissent are removed. Senate Republicans recently came close to eliminating the filibuster, yet another attempt to squash dissent from the opposition. New York Times reporter, Judith Miller was jailed today for refusing to reveal confidential sources of a story she never even published.

 

Quote from George Washington’s Farewell Address:  “Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions for the general profusion of knowledge.  In the proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion be enlightened.”

Let's stand up to the Borg. It's time.

Thanks for paying attention.