The following are my notes from this morning’s radio show, Eat The Airwaves, which you can find on KEXP 90.3 FM in Seattle, every Saturday morning. It’s also available online at KEXP.org as the last half hour of Mind Over Matters.
1) A general analysis of the elections – you can find my notes written up as an article entitled “The Real Reasons the Republicans Won,” on the Eat The State! website at www.EatTheState.org
2) Dino Rossi vs. Patty Murray for U.S. Senate
Rossi was the second biggest recipient in the U.S. of money from 501(c)(4) organizations which aren’t required to disclose their donors. He received a total of $5.4 million from them, and the largest chunk came from Karl Rove’s group Crossroads GPS ($3.6 million total). Rossi’s total haul from outside the state: $11 million; yet, he still couldn’t defeat Democratic incumbent Patty Murray, who received $8 million in funds from outside the state, and less than a million from 501(c)(4) groups. This is probably Rossi’s last hurrah. I can’t imagine the national Republican Party would be willing to waste any more money on him.
3) Voters defeated any initiative to increase taxes, but also stopped privatization initiatives in their tracks
It’s no surprise that voters didn’t want to tax themselves during a recession, and even voted down Initiative 1098 to impose an income tax on the wealthy. But the shocker was watching the two liquor privatization initiatives 1100 and 1105 and the initiative to privatize the state’s workers’ compensation program go down in flames. How can we explain this?
More conservative voters come to the polls during midterm elections and, while they tend to support conservative goals like privatizing government services, this time they clearly bought into the negative advertising that privatizing liquor sales would make hard alcohol more available to underage drinkers. They also mistrusted evil insurance companies to handle the state’s workers’ comp system—proving that conservatives can also have a healthy dose of common sense.
4) Regional Transit Task Force
The 28-member Regional Transit Task Force issued its report on the state of the Metro Transit bus system. The taskforce was formed 8 months ago by the King County Council to find ways to retain bus services with dwindling tax revenue.
Their biggest recommendation: ditch the 40/40/20 rule for new bus service. That rule was formed as a compromise to get rural council members to support taxes for transit service. It specifies that any new bus services be allocated 40% to East King County, 40% to South King County, and 20% to the City of Seattle. Unfortunately, most of the ridership—hence, most of the demand for new or increased service—is in Seattle.
Also, they recommended getting rid of the 60/20/20 rule for service cutbacks. Because cuts are spread evenly throughout the system and most of the routes are in Seattle, the cutbacks tend to be as follows: 60% in Seattle and 20% each in East and South King County.
Instead, the taskforce recommends that the county council and Metro draft a new, transparent policy for service changes based on population densities, job concentration, geographic coverage, and integration with other transit agencies. Hmm. It took them 8 months to figure that out?
5) Good news for Metro
Metro Transit received two grants from the Federal Transit Administration. The first is $4.7 million to test a prototype electric-battery powered bus. Currently, Metro has an aging fleet of electric trolley buses that run on overhead wires, and are due for replacement. The electric-battery powered buses would not need overhead wires, which are expensive to maintain; they would plug into charging stations. They’re popular in other countries around the world, especially in Europe, but are brand new in the U.S., and Metro was lucky enough to get a grant to test them here.
The second grant is for $6 million to buy hybrid diesel-electric buses to replace old diesel-only buses. This is another step forward in eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from the heavy vehicle transportation system, which is the fastest growing source of emissions in the U.S. Hurray for Metro!
6) Stop patenting my genes!
This past week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a friend of the court brief that said genes should not be eligible for patents unless they are significantly altered. This is a major change in U.S. government policy: the Patent and Trade Office has issued thousands of patents on genes, including about 20% of human genes.
The brief was filed in a case brought by the ACLU, The Public Patent Foundation, and various medical researchers and groups against Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation, who hold two patents on genes implicated in breast cancer: BRCA1 and BRCA2. In March, Judge Robert W. Sweet of U.S. District Court in Manhattan ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, saying that merely isolating a gene doesn’t change its nature and make it eligible to be patented. Myriad and the University of Utah are appealing.
7) QE2 has arrived
This week, the Federal Reserve announced a second round of quantitative easing, nicknamed “QE2” in the European press. Quantitative easing refers to a process whereby the Fed prints more money and uses it to by longer term government bonds in an attempt to lower long-term government interest rates. Long-term government interest rates determine mortgage rates and the rates for many corporate bonds.
The idea is that lower long-term rates will make it easier for more people to refinance their mortgages (of course, that won’t help anyone going through foreclosure). It’s also supposed to raise stock prices (investors will get out of bonds and buy stocks, which have a better rate of return, thereby increasing stock prices). This is supposed to increase the value of people’s portfolios and make them more willing to spend money, which will stimulate the economy (consumer spending makes up about 2/3 of all economic activity).
However, the Fed hasn’t taken into account a few important lessons from the recent recession:
First, not enough Americans hold stock to make this an effective spur for consumption. With record levels of income disparity and a shrinking middle class, the whole stock ownership thing has bypassed most Americans.
Second, stock prices have fallen dramatically and have a long ways to go to make up for the losses of the last two years. It’s going to take a while for even folks with substantial portfolios to feel like spending again.
And finally, Most Americans who do own stocks own them in a retirement fund, which makes up only a small portion of their “wealth”…with the biggest portion being the value of their home. Until house prices recover, consumer confidence will continue to sag.
8) QE2 is pissing off the whole world.
Printing more U.S. dollars means a greater supply of them, which weakens the value of the dollar relative to other currencies in the world. Other nations’ goods become more expensive for U.S. consumers to buy.
Americans are the world’s main consumers—except for China’s enormous population, and their consumption is limited by their limited buying power. (China keeps the value of its currency low so that the whole world can continue to afford its products, but that also limits what Chinese people can buy.)
By printing more U.S. dollars, the Federal Reserve is creating inflation on an international scale, which is pissing off some of our major allies. They look at us and say, “Why can’t you be more fiscally responsible? Why can’t your government cut military spending, manage healthcare costs, and do more stimulus spending to create jobs? That’s what you need. Instead, you’re printing more money? What’s wrong with you?”
I have to agree.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tunnel Budget: A Moving Target
This week a coalition of social justice groups announced a new initiative to limit the City of Seattle’s liability for cost overruns on the downtown traffic tunnel being built to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Now, here’s the thing I’ve never understood: what exactly is the real budget for the tunnel?
The local media, including The Seattle Times, the P-I, and local TV news programs, call the tunnel a “$1.96 billion project.” But the Washington State Department of Transportation says the total budget is $4.2 billion.
Okay, so local media must be referring to the City of Seattle’s portion of the project, right? Wrong. Because the state’s portion of the costs is capped at $2.8 billion. When you add $2.8 billion to $1.96 billion you get closer to $5 billion than $4.2 billion.
To make matters worse, my memory recalls that WashDOT’s original estimate was in the neighborhood of $7 to $11 billion. Then they started tinkering with the design and cost estimates in an attempt to make the tunnel seem affordable in comparison with the other options, particularly the surface street option, which was the most affordable option of all.
Instead, we have this boondoggle of a tunnel that seems to have no fixed budget. Maybe that’s because it’s the largest traffic tunnel in history—another fact that gets left out of local media reports.
This week, Gov. Gregoire announced that two companies have submitted bids for the tunnel construction. These bids are top secret, apparently, since she gave no details, other than to say that they both came in under budget. Whatever in the hell that means.
Seattle residents have to remember, however, that while the state’s costs are limited to $2.8 billion, Seattle’s costs are unlimited. Hence the initiative being drafted by the Sierra Club, Real Change News, and other social justice groups. They’re hoping to get their initiative drafted and signature gatherers deployed in time to get it onto the August ballot. Tunnel construction is due to start in late 2011.
Stay tuned.
Now, here’s the thing I’ve never understood: what exactly is the real budget for the tunnel?
The local media, including The Seattle Times, the P-I, and local TV news programs, call the tunnel a “$1.96 billion project.” But the Washington State Department of Transportation says the total budget is $4.2 billion.
Okay, so local media must be referring to the City of Seattle’s portion of the project, right? Wrong. Because the state’s portion of the costs is capped at $2.8 billion. When you add $2.8 billion to $1.96 billion you get closer to $5 billion than $4.2 billion.
To make matters worse, my memory recalls that WashDOT’s original estimate was in the neighborhood of $7 to $11 billion. Then they started tinkering with the design and cost estimates in an attempt to make the tunnel seem affordable in comparison with the other options, particularly the surface street option, which was the most affordable option of all.
Instead, we have this boondoggle of a tunnel that seems to have no fixed budget. Maybe that’s because it’s the largest traffic tunnel in history—another fact that gets left out of local media reports.
This week, Gov. Gregoire announced that two companies have submitted bids for the tunnel construction. These bids are top secret, apparently, since she gave no details, other than to say that they both came in under budget. Whatever in the hell that means.
Seattle residents have to remember, however, that while the state’s costs are limited to $2.8 billion, Seattle’s costs are unlimited. Hence the initiative being drafted by the Sierra Club, Real Change News, and other social justice groups. They’re hoping to get their initiative drafted and signature gatherers deployed in time to get it onto the August ballot. Tunnel construction is due to start in late 2011.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Civilian Review Board? Anyone?
This week the ACLU sent a letter to Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle Police Chief John Diaz protesting the shooting of Native American wood carver John T. Williams by a Seattle police officer. The letter called for a review of training procedures at the Seattle Police Department. It hinted that failures in leadership might be responsible for a recent increase in violence against homeless folks and people of color by SPD officers, and that the department might try to cultivate some “cross-cultural” skills.
Even this mild letter provoked indignation from SPD Chief Diaz and the local pro-business press (The Seattle Times). Mayor McGinn took a wait-and-see attitude: let’s all wait for the results of the inquest and the Firearms Review Board’s ruling. Well, past inquests have, without fail, ruled in favor of the police department. The Firearms Review Board is run by Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer, so we can’t hold out any hopes for that.
Where are the calls for a civilian review board? Community activists still want one, but in this one-newspaper town, there’s no media forum for debating the issue. So the idea of a civilian review has disapeared from view. Except here, of course.
Even this mild letter provoked indignation from SPD Chief Diaz and the local pro-business press (The Seattle Times). Mayor McGinn took a wait-and-see attitude: let’s all wait for the results of the inquest and the Firearms Review Board’s ruling. Well, past inquests have, without fail, ruled in favor of the police department. The Firearms Review Board is run by Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer, so we can’t hold out any hopes for that.
Where are the calls for a civilian review board? Community activists still want one, but in this one-newspaper town, there’s no media forum for debating the issue. So the idea of a civilian review has disapeared from view. Except here, of course.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
G-20 Inside and Out
The Canadian government spent $1 billion on security for the G-20 summit in Toronto, but still wasn’t able to keep a few black-bloc protestors from smashing store windows and burning two police cars. Or perhaps I should say “and” instead of “but,” because it was clear that the police were not concerned about property damage. If anything, the sacrifice of two police cars was a small price to pay in order to justify the hundreds of millions spent on new equipment and overtime for 20,000 police, soldiers, and intelligence officers.
Wait a minute—what do they mean by “intelligence officers”? Go to YouTube and search for “g-20 protests” and you’ll find a video of plainclothes police that shows exactly where Canadian tax dollars went: to pay dozens of cops in t-shirts and jeans wielding sticks and beating protestors. One was even dressed as a black-bloc protestor, leading to the question: did the police infiltrate protest groups in order to cause violence and justify the crackdown on peaceful protestors? The answer appears to be “yes.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the barriers, the heads of state for the 20 most developed nations were fussing about what to do to appease their restive populations and save the global economy. Their economists cast the problem as a simple either/or choice: either governments continue to go deeper into debt by spending money on economic stimulus plans to save the global economy, or governments can cut spending on social programs to pay down their debts and avoid bankruptcy (but this might further hurt the economy). The Obama administration’s official policy is that the US government can do both at the same time, without giving any convincing details about how they will accomplish this impossible feat.
No one mentions the third way—the only sane option in the face of the worst economic downtown since the 1930’s—that governments do what nearly every household in the world has been forced to do over the last two years: cut spending on nonessential items and use the savings to pay down debts and buy necessities.
In other words, to save the global economy and government balance sheets, governments must do the following: stop financing wars and military appropriations and do away with corporate give-aways. In the case of the US government, which finances both sides of the war in Afghanistan, ending two wars in the Middle East would save enormous amounts of money. Ending the inefficient and ineffective efforts to prop up the housing market (hundreds of millions of dollars poured into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, plus billions of dollars in no-interest loans to big banks, plus tax credits for homebuyers and mortgage holders) would free up plenty of money to pay down the deficit.
And there would be lots of money left over to finance necessities that create jobs in the US economy: healthcare, education, infrastructure (telecom systems, transit systems, water and sewer systems, etc.) and social services.
History shows that this third way is the only one that works; it’s what saved us in the 1930’s and 1940’s. But it’s “politically impossible” to discuss, much less implement, because it is, in fact, Socialism.
And we need to try it again.
Wait a minute—what do they mean by “intelligence officers”? Go to YouTube and search for “g-20 protests” and you’ll find a video of plainclothes police that shows exactly where Canadian tax dollars went: to pay dozens of cops in t-shirts and jeans wielding sticks and beating protestors. One was even dressed as a black-bloc protestor, leading to the question: did the police infiltrate protest groups in order to cause violence and justify the crackdown on peaceful protestors? The answer appears to be “yes.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the barriers, the heads of state for the 20 most developed nations were fussing about what to do to appease their restive populations and save the global economy. Their economists cast the problem as a simple either/or choice: either governments continue to go deeper into debt by spending money on economic stimulus plans to save the global economy, or governments can cut spending on social programs to pay down their debts and avoid bankruptcy (but this might further hurt the economy). The Obama administration’s official policy is that the US government can do both at the same time, without giving any convincing details about how they will accomplish this impossible feat.
No one mentions the third way—the only sane option in the face of the worst economic downtown since the 1930’s—that governments do what nearly every household in the world has been forced to do over the last two years: cut spending on nonessential items and use the savings to pay down debts and buy necessities.
In other words, to save the global economy and government balance sheets, governments must do the following: stop financing wars and military appropriations and do away with corporate give-aways. In the case of the US government, which finances both sides of the war in Afghanistan, ending two wars in the Middle East would save enormous amounts of money. Ending the inefficient and ineffective efforts to prop up the housing market (hundreds of millions of dollars poured into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, plus billions of dollars in no-interest loans to big banks, plus tax credits for homebuyers and mortgage holders) would free up plenty of money to pay down the deficit.
And there would be lots of money left over to finance necessities that create jobs in the US economy: healthcare, education, infrastructure (telecom systems, transit systems, water and sewer systems, etc.) and social services.
History shows that this third way is the only one that works; it’s what saved us in the 1930’s and 1940’s. But it’s “politically impossible” to discuss, much less implement, because it is, in fact, Socialism.
And we need to try it again.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Two More Great Documentary Films
On the last weekend of the Seattle International Film Festival, I saw two documentaries that I recommend people seek out:
Last Train Home was about the largest annual human migration in the world: when 130 million Chinese workers leave their factory jobs to return home to the countryside to visit their families for Chinese New Year. The filmmaker follows one family over the course of four years to gauge the impact of China’s position as the main manufacturer to the world. This film was much better than I expected it to be, and definitely worth seeking out, especially if you’d like to know who makes your blue jeans, t-shirts, iPods, and other inexpensive, imported goods.
Plug & Pray – a film about computer technology, robots, and artificial intelligence might seem like something only an egghead would care about. But this film centers on interviews with Joseph Weizenbaum, a retired computer science professor at MIT, who is critical of the impact of computers and handheld devices on our culture and lifestyle. His realist viewpoint is juxtaposed with interviews of computer scientists and engineers who are trying to bring about a future where people will become human/machine hybrids. Their stated goal is to find a way to cure disease, but eventually their real goal is revealed: eternal life—but only for a select few. If you think genetically modified food is bad, this film will scare the heck out of you.
This year, like every year, SIFF had a lot of really good films. But Seattle is a film mecca year-round, with several independent screens. For example, SIFF will be showing The Best of SIFF this weekend: three days of films that were voted the best of the film festival by audiences and the SIFF jury. (The SIFF Cinema is located in the basement of McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center.)
Also this weekend, Northwest Film Forum will be showing The Oath, a documentary I reviewed on May 31st (see my blog post for that day). It will run from June 18th through the 24th. Check it out.
Last Train Home was about the largest annual human migration in the world: when 130 million Chinese workers leave their factory jobs to return home to the countryside to visit their families for Chinese New Year. The filmmaker follows one family over the course of four years to gauge the impact of China’s position as the main manufacturer to the world. This film was much better than I expected it to be, and definitely worth seeking out, especially if you’d like to know who makes your blue jeans, t-shirts, iPods, and other inexpensive, imported goods.
Plug & Pray – a film about computer technology, robots, and artificial intelligence might seem like something only an egghead would care about. But this film centers on interviews with Joseph Weizenbaum, a retired computer science professor at MIT, who is critical of the impact of computers and handheld devices on our culture and lifestyle. His realist viewpoint is juxtaposed with interviews of computer scientists and engineers who are trying to bring about a future where people will become human/machine hybrids. Their stated goal is to find a way to cure disease, but eventually their real goal is revealed: eternal life—but only for a select few. If you think genetically modified food is bad, this film will scare the heck out of you.
This year, like every year, SIFF had a lot of really good films. But Seattle is a film mecca year-round, with several independent screens. For example, SIFF will be showing The Best of SIFF this weekend: three days of films that were voted the best of the film festival by audiences and the SIFF jury. (The SIFF Cinema is located in the basement of McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center.)
Also this weekend, Northwest Film Forum will be showing The Oath, a documentary I reviewed on May 31st (see my blog post for that day). It will run from June 18th through the 24th. Check it out.
Monday, June 7, 2010
More SIFF Films
Here’s a few of the better feature films I’ve seen at the Seattle International Film Festival this year:
Crab Trap – a fine little film set in an Afro-Colombian community on the coast. Having just won an electrical hook-up from the Colombian government, the residents find themselves fighting a white developer who wants to turn their beach into a tourist resort. Meanwhile, another outsider, who wants to hire a boat to sneak him out of the country, finds himself caught like a crab in a trap because all the local fishermen have taken their boats far out from shore in search of an ever-dwindling supply of fish. A beautiful film with its own leisurely pace.
Southern District – Set in a wealthy household in the Bolivian capital, this film was remarkable for the director’s use of long, single-scene shots that pan away from the characters to show the house and all its rich possessions. The house eventually becomes the main character of the film. Few films have done a better job of showing how wealth can so effectively create tensions with a family while isolating it from the rest of the world, and even the lower-class servants who also inhabit the house.
Winter’s Bone – A 17-year-old girl is the head of her Ozark mountain family, since her mother’s mental breakdown and her father’s arrest for cooking methamphetamines. Her father puts the house up for his bond to get out of jail and promptly disappears under mysterious circumstances. Not convinced that he disappeared on his own, the daughter goes in search of him. Her search reveals hidden, disturbing secrets about her rural community. This film deserves a wide release, but don’t hold your breath. Look for it on DVD.
Cell 211 – winner of Spain’s Goya Awards, this film is intense and violent, but also contains a critical look at the brutality of prison life. The main character is a prison guard starting his first day of work who gets caught in a prison riot and is forced to pretend he’s an inmate to survive. Eventually, he comes to sympathize with the prisoners.
And these three documentaries were outstanding:
American Faust: From Condi to Neo-Condi – This film was a fascinating look at who Condoleeza Rice really is and what motivates her. Many folks have been perplexed by how an intelligent, African-American woman could become involved with the Bush neo-cons. This film shows you how.
The Two Horses of Genghis Khan – I found this film particularly moving, maybe because I’ve been reading about the Chinese government’s efforts to suppress its 50 minority populations. Two Horses follows the travels of a Mongolian singer/songwriter who goes in search of the lyrics of a traditional Mongolian song her grandmother used to sing to her. With beautiful cinematography and lots of Mongolian music, it reveals that the Cultural Revolution is far from over.
The Tillman Story – Far better than I expected it to be, this film tells the story of Pat Tillman, the major league football player who gave up a multi-million-dollar career to enlist in the army after 9-11. Expecting to fight in Afghanistan, he was shocked and disillusioned to find himself deployed to Iraq. It tells the story of how the Pentagon and Bush administration used his death for propaganda purposes, and how his family eventually found out the truth.
The film festival continues through Sunday, June 13th, and I hope to see at least six more films. I hope they’re as good as the ones I’ve seen so far.
Crab Trap – a fine little film set in an Afro-Colombian community on the coast. Having just won an electrical hook-up from the Colombian government, the residents find themselves fighting a white developer who wants to turn their beach into a tourist resort. Meanwhile, another outsider, who wants to hire a boat to sneak him out of the country, finds himself caught like a crab in a trap because all the local fishermen have taken their boats far out from shore in search of an ever-dwindling supply of fish. A beautiful film with its own leisurely pace.
Southern District – Set in a wealthy household in the Bolivian capital, this film was remarkable for the director’s use of long, single-scene shots that pan away from the characters to show the house and all its rich possessions. The house eventually becomes the main character of the film. Few films have done a better job of showing how wealth can so effectively create tensions with a family while isolating it from the rest of the world, and even the lower-class servants who also inhabit the house.
Winter’s Bone – A 17-year-old girl is the head of her Ozark mountain family, since her mother’s mental breakdown and her father’s arrest for cooking methamphetamines. Her father puts the house up for his bond to get out of jail and promptly disappears under mysterious circumstances. Not convinced that he disappeared on his own, the daughter goes in search of him. Her search reveals hidden, disturbing secrets about her rural community. This film deserves a wide release, but don’t hold your breath. Look for it on DVD.
Cell 211 – winner of Spain’s Goya Awards, this film is intense and violent, but also contains a critical look at the brutality of prison life. The main character is a prison guard starting his first day of work who gets caught in a prison riot and is forced to pretend he’s an inmate to survive. Eventually, he comes to sympathize with the prisoners.
And these three documentaries were outstanding:
American Faust: From Condi to Neo-Condi – This film was a fascinating look at who Condoleeza Rice really is and what motivates her. Many folks have been perplexed by how an intelligent, African-American woman could become involved with the Bush neo-cons. This film shows you how.
The Two Horses of Genghis Khan – I found this film particularly moving, maybe because I’ve been reading about the Chinese government’s efforts to suppress its 50 minority populations. Two Horses follows the travels of a Mongolian singer/songwriter who goes in search of the lyrics of a traditional Mongolian song her grandmother used to sing to her. With beautiful cinematography and lots of Mongolian music, it reveals that the Cultural Revolution is far from over.
The Tillman Story – Far better than I expected it to be, this film tells the story of Pat Tillman, the major league football player who gave up a multi-million-dollar career to enlist in the army after 9-11. Expecting to fight in Afghanistan, he was shocked and disillusioned to find himself deployed to Iraq. It tells the story of how the Pentagon and Bush administration used his death for propaganda purposes, and how his family eventually found out the truth.
The film festival continues through Sunday, June 13th, and I hope to see at least six more films. I hope they’re as good as the ones I’ve seen so far.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Gaza: The Media Blockade
On Monday, Israeli troops boarded a boat in international waters that was carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. During that raid, at least nine people were killed, all of them activists who are working to end the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Aside from the horror I felt at hearing this news, I was dumbstruck at the ineptitude of the news reports of the raid. The US media not only fell down on the job, it fell into a black hole.
The worst offender was the New York Times, which adhered entirely to the Israeli government line. They reported, as uncontested fact, that activists on board the boat fired pistols at the Israeli soldiers, who rappelled onto the ship from helicopters hovering above. They reported that nine people died, but not that the dead were activists, members of the flotilla, not Israeli soldiers. Instead, after mentioning the number of dead, The New York Times never mentions them again at all; it lingers instead on the wounds suffered by Israeli soldiers and makes much of the fact that two soldiers were treated for bullet wounds. Apparently, The New York Times reporter never thought to ask if the wounds were from friendly fire.
Oh, and by the way, pipes and knives were found on the boat. I can think of many uses for spare lengths of pipe on a ship. And knives—for heaven’s sake. What else are you going to use to cut rope, or—for that matter—cut your vegetables to make soup?
The Associated Press wire service articles were little better. They relied on quotes from soldiers and the Israeli government and when they did quote an activist, it wasn’t a person who’d been on the boat during the raid. The articles never mentioned the names of the organizations that sponsored the flotilla, and only one article mentioned that a group formed by Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and former President Jimmy Carter (the group remained unnamed, of course) condemned the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip as “one of the greatest humanitarian rights violations”—but that quote was in the second to last paragraph of a 20-paragraph article. [“Israel boat raid sparks condemnations, protests,” by Selcan Hacaoglu and Lee Keath, AP, 5/31/09.]
Both the New York Times and AP articles barely mention the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and when they do, they quote Israeli government assurances that residents of Gaza are well provided for. No other viewpoint is sought, no effort is made to find out what is really happening inside the Gaza Strip, as if fact-based reporting might reveal inconvenient truths about one of America’s biggest allies in the Middle East.
As I told a friend today, the US press corps’ silence over the effects of the Gaza blockade remind me of a similar resounding silence over the brutal effects of sanctions the US government imposed on Iraq throughout the 1990’s. Like the continuing blockade of Gaza, the Iraq sanctions came after an outside force--the US--destroyed most of Iraq’s vital civilian infrastructure in the first Gulf War. Israel, having bombed the heck out of Gaza, is now starving the Gazans of the equipment needed to rebuild and provide clean water, food, electricity, sanitation, medical care, safe housing, and other necessities to its residents. And this is provoking a major outcry from nearly every other nation of the world except the US.
And the US people remain insulated from that truth.
Aside from the horror I felt at hearing this news, I was dumbstruck at the ineptitude of the news reports of the raid. The US media not only fell down on the job, it fell into a black hole.
The worst offender was the New York Times, which adhered entirely to the Israeli government line. They reported, as uncontested fact, that activists on board the boat fired pistols at the Israeli soldiers, who rappelled onto the ship from helicopters hovering above. They reported that nine people died, but not that the dead were activists, members of the flotilla, not Israeli soldiers. Instead, after mentioning the number of dead, The New York Times never mentions them again at all; it lingers instead on the wounds suffered by Israeli soldiers and makes much of the fact that two soldiers were treated for bullet wounds. Apparently, The New York Times reporter never thought to ask if the wounds were from friendly fire.
Oh, and by the way, pipes and knives were found on the boat. I can think of many uses for spare lengths of pipe on a ship. And knives—for heaven’s sake. What else are you going to use to cut rope, or—for that matter—cut your vegetables to make soup?
The Associated Press wire service articles were little better. They relied on quotes from soldiers and the Israeli government and when they did quote an activist, it wasn’t a person who’d been on the boat during the raid. The articles never mentioned the names of the organizations that sponsored the flotilla, and only one article mentioned that a group formed by Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and former President Jimmy Carter (the group remained unnamed, of course) condemned the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip as “one of the greatest humanitarian rights violations”—but that quote was in the second to last paragraph of a 20-paragraph article. [“Israel boat raid sparks condemnations, protests,” by Selcan Hacaoglu and Lee Keath, AP, 5/31/09.]
Both the New York Times and AP articles barely mention the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and when they do, they quote Israeli government assurances that residents of Gaza are well provided for. No other viewpoint is sought, no effort is made to find out what is really happening inside the Gaza Strip, as if fact-based reporting might reveal inconvenient truths about one of America’s biggest allies in the Middle East.
As I told a friend today, the US press corps’ silence over the effects of the Gaza blockade remind me of a similar resounding silence over the brutal effects of sanctions the US government imposed on Iraq throughout the 1990’s. Like the continuing blockade of Gaza, the Iraq sanctions came after an outside force--the US--destroyed most of Iraq’s vital civilian infrastructure in the first Gulf War. Israel, having bombed the heck out of Gaza, is now starving the Gazans of the equipment needed to rebuild and provide clean water, food, electricity, sanitation, medical care, safe housing, and other necessities to its residents. And this is provoking a major outcry from nearly every other nation of the world except the US.
And the US people remain insulated from that truth.
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