Media Matters for America - Altercation by Eric Alterman

Media Matters for America - Altercation by Eric Alterman http://mediamatters.org This link is for use by RSS-enabled software to retrieve the latest items from Media Matters for America. en-US Copyright 2008, Media Matters for America Whatever happened I apologize. So dry your tears, baby, and walk outside. It's the Fourth of July http://mediamatters.org/items/200807030006 Today we have the pleasure of hosting Siva Vaidhyanathan at Altercation. We also have a new Think Again column, "The Quest to Save Red Lion," <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanprogress.org%2Fissues%2F2008%2F07%2Fred_lion.html">here</a>. Also, we'd like to direct your attention to <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comw.org%2Fpda%2Ftaskforceresponsiblewithdrawal.html">this new report</a>, "Quickly, Carefully, and Generously: The Necessary Steps for a Responsible Withdrawal from Iraq." It was just done by the Task Force for a Responsible Withdrawal from Iraq, and outlines 25 initiatives the United States can take to reduce the potential of violence and instability upon withdrawal. It's a useful antidote to claims that we're damned if we stay in Iraq, but damned if we withdraw. Check it out. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Siva V: Hi. It's <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fsivacracy.net%2F">Siva Vaidhyanathan</a> here. I am subbing for Eric today, and following the great LTC Bateman. That's a pretty tough role, like Jason Giambi coming up after the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FAlex_Rodriguez">second-greatest baseball player</a> in history (who was the greatest? <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBabe_Ruth">Do you have to ask?</a>) But I will try to do my best for y'all. I have not done a full Altercation since last summer. I miss it. So it's good to be back among friends. I stand amused by the banter of the past few days between those who cheer for Ohio and dismiss Michigan, and vice versa. Please. Both Michigan and Ohio are fine places filled with excellent people (but Pierce -- <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200807020004#6">Nugent</a>? Come on, man). On this most patriotic of weekends, let's not turn on our fellow citizens for their choice of states. Well, except for Oklahoma. There is really nothing worth celebrating in Oklahoma since the Gap Band broke up. Whenever I say the pledge of allegiance, I say, "One nation, indivisible (except for Oklahoma), with liberty and justice for all (except for Oklahoma)." Hook 'em Horns, y'all! About year ago my family and I moved from New York City (home of the greatest sports franchise in the world) to lovely Charlottesville, Virginia. It's been a pretty radical change of lifestyle. But it's been almost all good. I miss the bustling streets, the dozens of languages, the energy and the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FYankee_Stadium">greatest baseball stadium</a> in the country (see, Eric never should have left me the keys to this place). But here in Virginia, we can actually afford to raise our daughter. The cost of NYC was killing us. This place is pretty amazing in its own way. Our jobs are much better, of course. NYU, where I used to work, is a harsh and nasty place that does not respect its students or faculty. The University of Virginia, in contrast, could not hold the interests of its students any higher. And that creates a mood of respect that permeates everything we do. So it's been a really great year and promises to be a great life. Yesterday afternoon my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter came home from day care and she proudly showed me the flag she had colored that day. "It's for America's birthday!" she said proudly. I was actually deeply moved, not only because it was so darn cute. But I immediately began wondering if she would ever really be able to grasp what this country means to her and her family. I am the child of one immigrant and another Navy brat who had seen her father go off to fight in three wars. So patriotism could not have been a stronger part of my moral orientation. Growing up in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate, I worked to find a reason to believe. And I did. My family needed this place. We chose to live here. We took risks. We made sacrifices. We paid the cost of separation and solitude. But we ended up about as fortunate as a family can be. My daughter, in contrast, is far removed from the sacrifices and risks that her grandfather and other relatives made to get here and build lives. She might hear me wax on about them. But she will never see anything but an old, fat, happy, over-educated, comfortable family living safely in big American houses. So some day I hope to tell her these stories that solidify my patriotism every day. I remember the day my father became a citizen. I must have been six years old. My mother baked a cake decorated like the Stars and Stripes. I stared at it for hours before the party. I am not sure I had seen many American flags before that. I am sure some neighbors flew them from their houses. But I don't remember thinking much about them. That day, however, was special for all of us. So the symbol etched itself in my consciousness. It's always stood for the choice my father made, one that made my life possible. My father had to take a test to naturalize. And he shared the test-prep books with me. They had all sorts of information about basic U.S. history and the Constitution. So my father's naturalization was the beginning of my indoctrination -- or, as I would rather see it, my education. That same year, I got in a fight with the kid across the street because we were the only house on the street with a McGovern sign in our front yard. In Jack Kemp's congressional district, that was a rare sight. But, in that great American tradition, I stood my ground. In the great tradition of McGovernite liberals, I lost the fight badly. But I did not back down. And, of course, I got to say I told him so soon enough. The next few years saw our vice president resign and then our president resign in disgrace. Then my country lost a war for the first time since 1814. Patriotism for me was not about glory or victory. It was about hard, harsh lessons and striving to make our nation better and more just. Through most of my life, right up until the stolen election of 2000, that remained the case. Back at the end of the last century, all of my father's eight siblings had come over from Southern India to various parts of the United States. And most of them had stood for citizenship so they could sponsor their children for immigration as well. My grandfather had also immigrated in the late 1970s after my grandmother died. He came to live with us. By 1990 all nine of his children and all 21 of his grandchildren lived in the United States. None lived in India. One July, my uncle invited me to come up from Austin to Dallas for his naturalization ceremony. One of my friends had clerked in the federal court in which my uncle was to be sworn in. So my friend snuck me into the jury box during the ceremony, while most of the other family members of the 200 or so new citizens had to watch from a remote television in another courtroom. As soon as I took my seat, one of the INS employees approached me with a boom box. "Are you the one who is going to sing the anthem?," she asked me. To my deep regret for the rest of my life, I told her no. Fortunately for everyone, the real singer arrived soon and stood next to me in the jury box. During the oath, each new citizen must relinquish allegiance to any and all other states. For most of the new citizens, this was just another promise to be mouthed along the way. But to my uncle, this was not so easy. My uncle had been a helicopter pilot and officer in the Indian Air Force for more than 20 years. He had seen friends killed in service to his country. He had put his own life on the line in two wars on behalf of the world's largest democracy. He has a scar on his forehead from a helicopter crash during the 1971 liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan. As the judge reached this point in the oath, I looked deeply at my uncle's face. He winced. He hesitated. I thought I could see a tear in his eye. Then he said it. He renounced another oath he had taken years ago. In India, as in the United States, military personnel are among the few citizens who have to swear allegiance as adults, with full knowledge of the gravity of such an oath. I could see him shudder. His love for his children and the promise of this country superceded his deepest public commitment. I could understand why he did it. I appreciated it deeply. But I also think I understood how hard it was for him to do it. A couple of Julys before my uncle's naturalization, his father had died. The summer of 1993 was supposed to be a time of great fun. After all, the Beach Boys' box set, Good Vibrations, came out that year. I was going to spend an alarming amount of time with headphones on, immersing myself in Brian Wilson's genius. But instead, I ended up driving an Econoline van full of uncles, aunts, and cousins from Texas to Maryland to attend to my grandfather's funeral. Hindus don't embalm bodies. Corpses are supposed to be anointed, prayed over, then cremated very quickly. Of course, state and county health laws don't always afford such ancient niceties. But somehow one of my uncles had convinced county officials to look the other way as family drove in from around the country. So one hot July afternoon I stood draped in a white cotton dhoti with my uncles and cousins in the gravel parking lot behind a funeral home on the banks of the Potomac River. As we did our prayers, my father, the eldest son, gently sprinkled flowers over his father's body. Then he pushed the body, which rested in a cardboard box, along a the sort of conveyor belt that one would use to slide cases of beer from the back room of a Canadian liquor store, into a gas oven. This was not exactly as our Brahmin forefathers had designed the ceremony. But we had learned long ago to make severe concessions to modernity in exchange for the privileges of America. As soon as my father began pushing my grandfather's body toward the oven, we heard the distinct blare of "The Star-Spangled Banner." I looked up, confused and -- I admit -- a bit amused. The song came from the loudspeakers above a Little League Baseball diamond across the street from the funeral home. So my grandfather, born under British tyranny, a young political leader in the years of Gandhi and Nehru, the father of nine new Americans, was cremated to the sound of the national anthem of the United States of America. After the cremation, it was our duty to spread my grandfather's ashes in rivers. The most important destination is the Ganges in Northern India, of course. So one of my uncles flew over a month later to perform that rite. He also places some in the Cauvery River in South India, where my grandfather was born and grew up. As I drove my uncles and aunts and cousins back to Texas, we made a series of stops at rivers along the way: starting with the Potomac and ending at the Colorado River that runs through Austin. When, in Baton Rouge, I stepped out of the van and climbed a levee to sprinkle ashes into the Mississippi, I could not help thinking how much my grandfather had enjoyed reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with me when I was a child. I thought about how my grandfather would wake up at 5 a.m. on any morning on which there was a rocket launch that would send Americans into space. Born into a world without electricity or internal combustion engines, he never got over the wonder of powerful American machines. I remembered how he used to come to the curb to see me get on the school bus, and all the kids on the bus would laugh and tease me because he wore his dhoti. And I thought about how, in 1984, he argued with my then-6-year-old sister over the election. As an old man, he thought we should re-elect the old man then running the country. My sister, as precocious as I was at that age, was a Mondale-Ferraro supporter, of course. I don't think you can get any more American than that, my friends. We have long, funny names. We conduct strange religious rituals in a dead language that even we don't always understand. We dress funny. We put dots on our heads. But we hope, dream, cry, laugh, work, buy, invest, study, play, and vote as if it all might disappear tomorrow. That's because, like all who are Americans by choice, we can never forget how special this place is. We can never take it for granted. We can never forget those who gave their lives to make this place possible. We can never forgive those who try to destroy it. We can never let go of the basic, clear, strong beliefs that were so succinctly expressed in those study guides that my father used to study for his citizenship test. Even through these dark days, when my country seems to have lost its bearings, lost its mind, lost its soul, lost its values, and lost its sense of decency, I still believe. And I always will. As long as there are new Americans, whether by choice or by birth, there can be a new America. So I hope I can do my duty to convince my daughter not to be too cynical about her country. After all, it did not have to turn out this way. Anything is possible. She could even be its president someday. Or she could grow up to play baseball for a living. Or she could just be a decent, responsible, honest citizen who treats her country with respect and her neighbors with kindness. I would be happy with that. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and takes the time to reflect on all we have been through together. Peace. <a name=" " title=" "></a>From the American News Project: Capitol Hill lost yet another congressman -- Al Wynn -- to K Street recently. He's just one more elected official who has rolled down the hill to join a lobbying firm. Through the story of this latest defector, the American News Project examines the burgeoning trend, known in DC as the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsproject.org%2Fnode%2F83">revolving door</a>. Also: teen pregnancy is on the rise in America for the first time since 1991. One in three teenage girls in the U.S. becomes pregnant. ANP went to one health center in the Northeast of Washington, DC to explore <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsproject.org%2Fvideos%2F84">kids having babies</a>. And here's a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cafepress.com%2Fnewsproject.255435633">cute dog</a>. <a name=" " title=" "></a>From Eric Boehlert: The New York Times recently tried to rewrite its Swift Boat past, suggesting the media did their due diligence during the dog days of August 2004 and quickly highlighted the holes in the Swift Boat allegations. With the Swifties hovering over the 2008 campaign, let's not forget what really happened in 2004. Read more <a href="http://mediamatters.org/columns/200807020007">here</a>. <a name=" " title=" "></a>From TomDispatch: So here we are heading toward another July 4th, that glorious day when American independence was declared and the Liberty Bell rang out to the world -- the first of which didn't happen on July 4th, the second of which was made up "out of whole cloth" in the 19th century in a book for children (but you knew that!). Think of today's post as a bit of counter-programming to our yearly summer celebration of history, a way to ponder what exactly, in the eighth year of the reign of our latest King George, any of us have to celebrate. Consider instead, with the help of <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomdispatch.com%2Fpost%2F174951">Rick Shenkman</a>, award-winning investigative journalist and founder of the always provocative website History News Network, the state of our national brain -- and ask the question: If we're a democracy and, in November, many of us will be heading in remarkable numbers for the polling booths, just how ignorant are we? On the basis of what knowledge will we be voting? Shenkman's new book, Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth about the American Voter, has caused a small sensation. (You can watch his encounter with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show at the TomDispatch site.) Today's post is an adaptation of the second chapter of his book, "Gross Ignorance," and believe me, you'll find it startling to read. After all, as Shenkman writes, "On the basis of their comprehensive approach, [two political scientists] Delli Carpini and Keeter concluded that only 5% of Americans could correctly answer three-fourths of the questions asked about economics, only 11% of the questions about domestic issues, 14% of the questions about foreign affairs, and 10% of the questions about geography." And these weren't complicated questions, mind you. Even on the largest matters, the figures can be startling: More than 30% of Americans didn't know what the Holocaust was. Almost 20% couldn't identify Martin Luther King, Jr. And history's our "best" subject! When it comes to politics and political matters ... well, duck ... or plunge into the subject with Shenkman and be edified. As he concludes: "How much ignorance can a country stand? There have to be terrible consequences when it reaches a certain level. But what level? And with what consequences, exactly? The answers to these questions are unknowable. But can we doubt that if we persist on the path we are on that we shall, one day, perhaps not too far into the distant future, find out the answers?" <a name=" " title=" "></a>Correspondence Corner: Name: Bob Thena Hometown: Easton, PA LTC Bob, As you say, "flags do matter" and when it comes to the Soviet flag, to some of us it really, really matters. To anyone who had family there, like my wife, it is a symbol of evil that still affects them today. She was born in a DP camp in Germany at the end of WWII and visited the rest of her family in Ukraine for the first time in '81. It was just awful for her to see her family living in the conditions the Soviets forced on them. One of the things she said when she came home was that she wished every half-baked commie in the US could do the same week she just did. Maybe this group of old hippies (as I am also) could have used a bit of that education as well. Another flag moment was at a protest against Spiro Agnew in my hometown of Westfield, NJ, in the early 70's. He was coming for a Republican fundraiser and we all turned out to protest it including my best friend's father, a WWII vet, and blue collar Democrat. We were having a grand old time yelling obscenities (we weren't very sophisticated protesters) at the black tie crowd when a bunch of yahoos (yes they truly exist) from out of town show up and start waving a Vietcong flag and doing their best to make sure they got the TV news coverage. Right in front of the cameras my dear old friend and father figure steps up to the guy with the flag, snatches it out of his hand, throws it on the ground, unzips his pants and proceeds to piss on it in front of the TV news crew and these idiots. When he is done, he calmly says to the yahoos, "OK, it's all yours now." (Needless to say, this piece of American heroism didn't make it onto the 11 PM news.) The yahoos started to make rather menacing moves towards him and they are instantly surrounded by about 20 of us hippies ready for a fight. They backed down and split. Frankly, I still feel pride when I think about it. We may have hated the war and those who pushed it, but no one in our town was going to put up with that flag representing us, and our protest. So yes, flags do matter. LTC Bob Replies: Bob, I like your flavor of passionate hippie. Although because of my position, and perhaps because of defects in my character, I could not do the same ... your friend's father is now my own new personal hero. I'll stick with my Socratic method for now, though, as this peaceful method seems most appropriate given who/what I am. (You cannot imagine how really freaking nervous people get when a 6-foot-tall, 220-pound, shaved-skull combat infantryman displays any strong emotions. So I find that falling back upon my academic foundations is wisest.) <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Hugh from Houston Hometown: Bloomington, IN I am not sure symbols are as important as the LTC thinks they are. If they are, then I suggest it is salient to consider what the symbols actually on the flags do in fact represent. 1) What do each of the stars of the flag of the United States of America represent? States, right? States taken at what expense from whom? 2) What does the hammer and sickle historically symbolize? Hammer: organized labor. Sickle: organized farmers. Of course, at some level symbols work. The LTC's revulsion is a perfect example of symbols working, in this instance to instigate misplaced anger. There have been, and are, a great deal of nationalisms in this world, with their attendant flags and symbolisms, which will inspire reverence or revulsion depending on context. My anger is directed toward much greater crimes than the LTC's hippie friends' faux pas. LTC Bob Replies: Friend Hugh, I believe we will have to agree to disagree. In no small part this is because I witnessed the effects of the Hammer and Sickle. At 13, while visiting Berlin with my father, I took a trip alone into East Berlin. Little idealist that I was, that sealed the deal for me. I would commit, when I could, to directly opposing that vision for humanity which I witnessed in East Germany. I do not dispute, and I thought I made it clear, that our system has flaws. We are not without guilt. We are not pure. No honest historian, and certainly no veteran of the 7th Cavalry, could contend that. But what I saw in East Berlin in 1980 was obscene. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Bill Hometown: New York, NY LTC Bob, In Basic Combat Training (Ft. Gordon, 1969) we had a Drill Sgt. who told us he'd left the Army after his first tour in Vietnam but couldn't stand civilian life and re-enlisted. His explanation: As a civilian, there are all these people "running around out there -- and no one's in charge!" Don't know if someone who makes it all the way to the rank of Col. would share that sentiment, but it might explain to a degree how retirement after 20-30 years or more, some of them while being "in charge," might be a bit wrenching, as well as emotional. LTC Bob Replies: I feel no shame in admitting that I feel pure fear myself when contemplating the chaos of retirement. It is a part of why I find my wife so amazing. She is a tad younger than me. But at the time we started dating she had been: A trail guide/hut master on the Appalachian Trail, worked at a Progressive magazine in Seattle, worked at Co-Op America in DC, taught school at a commune in Colorado, taught school in DC, and was at that time a legislative aide to a US Congressman. She was 24. Me, I've had lots of "jobs" in the Army, but the salient point is that they were all IN the Army. The courage all of you have in this regard astounds me. All the more so because you think it is "normal." Seriously. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Scott Ferguson Hometown: Birmingham I appreciate Secretary Gates' desire to make the Pentagon realize that they are involved in two wars but the military cannot long operate in a vacuum. We have had repeated tax cuts since 9/11 and little willingness from the civilian leadership to treat the American people as mature enough to accept the kind of material sacrifice and personal inconvenience necessary in a time of "real" war (being spied on is not inconvenient if you stay out of Gitmo). I sometimes wonder what conditions would be like in Afghanistan or Iraq if we were actually on a war-time, or even a Cold War-time, footing. OTOH, are Americans suited for the kind of colonial-lite commitment the situation seems to call for? LTC Bob Replies: Scott, you ask good and deep questions. I suggest that you should write an article to explore these issues. I know that doing so helps me organize my own thoughts on various issues. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: J. R. Taylor Hometown: Washington, D.C. Not to disregard <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200807020004#11">Jim Celer's</a> drollery about being shot down in an airplane as a qualification for the presidency, but that wasn't what General Clark was getting at. Instead, he was pointing out that in 23 years as a naval officer, McCain was somehow never given command of a combat-ready unit of any size; the squadron he commanded briefly after Vietnam was a training unit. Putting it mildly, that's an unusual career path for someone who served so long, and mostly as a pilot. Presidents don't have to withstand torture; they have to command. How did the Navy view McCain's temperament and judgment as a leader? Not very highly, perhaps. A look at his performance evaluations might clear things up; don't be shocked if Clark suggests one soon. And don't be surprised if McCain then shows his "character" by pushing back against that suggestion as stubbornly as he resisted his captors in Vietnam -- and the disclosure of his wealthy wife's tax returns. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: John B Hometown: Des Moines, IA All too often the MSM plead that some important event or another didn't make the newscast because it just wasn't dramatic enough to get the public's attention. That's well and good until something puts the lie to that claim, as happened recently. Somehow no one but <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fmoyers%2Fjournal%2F06272008%2Fprofile2.html">Bill Moyers</a> seems to have picked up on events at the Senate Energy Committee that were in no way lacking drama. Al Gore was being lectured by Republican Senator James Inhofe that if Gore couldn't answer any question with extreme brevity he would be cut off and instructed to answer in writing. Clearly the goal was to deny a stage to one of the most convincing speakers on the subject of Global Warming. After all, written answers submitted long after the meeting have virtually no hope of making the news. Committee Chair Senator Barbara Boxer attempted repeatedly to remind Inhofe that his instructions were not within the rules of the committee but he would not be interrupted while verbally beating a man of integrity. Finally Boxer had enough. Holding the handle of her gavel between the tips of her fingers, she held it in the air and informed Senator Inhofe, "You don't do this anymore. I do this now." I had never given Senator Boxer much thought before. Now she's on my list of heroes for shepherding the Climate Security Act to the floor of the Senate, even though it died in filibuster. So it's clear that people like James Inhofe need to be <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.salon.com%2Fnews%2Ffeature%2F2008%2F06%2F30%2Fclimate_act%2F">stopped</a> but it goes farther. Conservatives clearly believe they still deserve to run the show and continue to behave as if they do. They try to call the shots on committees they don't chair. They represent passage of every bill over a filibuster, something they ABHORRED in the last Congress, as normal now. They're shocked when the new majority passes legislation desired by a majority of Americans. They claim American citizens have no right to debate a war being waged with their tax dollars and military units. Certainly no one has the right to disagree with such a war, only to lead cheers for it. Conservatives know they can't beat Liberals in a fair fight. So be prepared for them to <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fpoliticalticker.blogs.cnn.com%2F2008%2F07%2F02%2Frnc-prepares-for-ad-blitz%2F">not fight fair</a>. LTC Bob Replies: Although beyond my purview (being politics) I would note that in my profession the idea of a "fair fight" is a synonym for "stupid." This, of course, is why I avoid most fights, and those I engage in usually start with a beer bottle to the head, from behind, when my opponent is not looking, usually without witnesses, in an alley. I lose few fights. In fact, none. Apply as you see fit. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Joe Weddington Hometown: Tulsa, OK LTC Bateman, I've always enjoyed your postings and your thought provoking insight into military matters and history. Not being a professional in either field, I don't know if your reference to the "only" two states to go to war against each other is tongue-in-cheek; or was the conflict, between Kansas and Missouri, that was pounded into my head by Mrs. Wilson in elementary school just considered to be just part of the greater Civil War by historians. Thanks for the military blog <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200807020004#4">references</a>. Have a great 4th. LTC Bob Replies: Joe, a few days ago I cited a column in the UK's Guardian. What I did not mention was that it was written by my best friend, and former office-mate (from West Point faculty days), LTC (now retired) Bob Mackey. Bob's book, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FUncivil-War-Irregular-1861-1865-Commanders%2Fdp%2F0806137363%2Fref%3Dpd_bbs_sr_1%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1215090499%26sr%3D8-1">The Uncivil War</a>, is one you probably should read. Indeed, I highly commend it to all. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Ken Carlson Hometown: Delmar, NY As for JoAnn Schwartz's post, claiming that Canada has "[b]etter beer and better hockey" -- I must object. I don't have an opinion on the hockey part of her assertion, but I disagree on the beer part of it. A great site for beer geeks and casual beer drinkers alike is <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.beeradvocate.com%2F" target="_blank">www.beeradvocate.com</a>. Among other things, members post numerical reviews of beers they've tasted. Those reviews have been tallied and the site lists the top 100 beers <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fbeeradvocate.com%2Ftop_beers">here</a>. Seven of the top ten beers are American, with the remaining 3 coming from Belgium. In fact, the first appearance of a Canadian beer is at #14 -- Peche Mortel, an Imperial Stout from Quebec -- and an admittedly quick scan of the Top 100 yields only one other Canadian beer (another from Quebec, this one a Belgian-style Tripel from Unibroue, La Fin du Monde, coming in at #71). Sure, the list is heavy on "big" beers (stouts, imperial-style india pale ales and Belgian-style ales); the reviewers clearly prefer them to "smaller" styles like lagers. But my point is this: if you're thinking American beer is all about Bud, Miller & Coors (and the light versions thereof) while Canada is all about Molson & Labatts, think again. The biggest growth in the beer industry in recent years is in the so-called "craft" beers. While they don't compete in scale with Bud, Miller and Coors, many outperform in taste and variety of offerings (if you think "beer" means only Bud or even Labatt-styled lager, there's a whole world of beer out there to explore, ranging from lagers and pilsners to a wide variety of ales, including porters, stouts and barleywines, with flavor profiles ranging from over-the-top hop bitterness to mild and sweet malty brews and everything in between). There are plenty of excellent and interesting beers being brewed here in the good ole U.S. of A., including at Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids, in your home state of Michigan. Don't sell American beer short, especially compared to Canada; we're doing just fine here. . . . LTC Bob Replies: Scotland, people, SCOTLAND. They make, like, Scotch there. Hell, maybe we could make a trade. Michigan FOR Scotland. Running mate, would THAT not be a fair trade? <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: J DAlessandro Hometown: Crestwood, NY I think it is only prudent to put the Bateman/Pierce candidates on notice, that if we have many more weeks like this one, with cave-ins by Obama to the Right on FISA and the Supreme Court, you gentlemen are in very serious jeopardy of winning. LTC Bob Replies: Gentlepeople, the Bateman/Pierce 2008 ticket is in grave danger. In light of my running-mate's recent commentary disparaging the Great State of Ohio (aka "flyover country" to Eric), I am sadly compelled to remind him that it has been a scant 208 years since Burr-Hamilton, and I would assure my VP-to-be that unlike the former Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton (whose heroic nighttime charge at the head of his light infantry troops to secure the British Redoubt #10 at Yorktown sealed the deal), I am adept with small arms. Hamilton carried a sword into battle, but dueled with a pistol. I carried a pistol ... and a rifle ... and 210 rounds ... and two knives ... and whateverthehellelse I thought might be needed. Thus, while I have fenced, and would doubtless lose to my VP with Epee or Foil (the Veep is a fencer, folks), I am not dull enough to propose edged weapons. Moreover, I have a long history of not fighting "fair." (See above.) Sniper rifles at 400 meters. That, or M-1s (the tank, not the rifle) at 2 kilometers. Salvation of the ticket will require intercession. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: John Loehr Hometown: New Martinsville, West Virginia Hey, Pierce, about this Michigan thing, I pretty much agree with you, but take it easy on the Ohio music scene, because, as we all know, in the late sixties, Youngstown was the Music Capital of the World, what with Joe Walsh and Wally Bryson and the Raspberries, not to mention the much lamented Choir. You're right about Woody Hayes, but don't forget, Bo learned to coach at Miami. And of course, Yost was from West Virginia. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Rich Gallagher Hometown: Fishkill, NY Dear Eric and/or LTC Bob: One good reason for <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200807020004#14">not honoring</a> Josh Gibson for hitting a home run out of Yankee Stadium is that there is no credible evidence that he actually did it. There is no dispute that Gibson did in fact hit two prodigious home runs at the Stadium, but did he really hit one out? No historian would accept it as fact, based upon the lack of any contemporaneous evidence. Gibson himself never made such a claim. More <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fsports.espn.go.com%2Fmlb%2Fcolumns%2Fstory%3Fcolumnist%3Dneyer_rob%26id%3D3403111">here</a>. http://mediamatters.org/items/200807030006 Thu, 3 Jul 2008 16:18:47 EST Pssst...wanna hear a secret? http://mediamatters.org/items/200807020004 By LTC Bob Bateman I have a surprise planned for my wife this Fourth of July weekend. It is a pretty simple plan, but it should go over well. A little back story is needed here. Normally, you see, we go to my hometown in northeast Ohio for Memorial Day. This year, we were in Sri Lanka at that time (she was temporarily posted there with the State Department) so my wife agreed that we could go to Ohio for the Fourth instead. The surprise is that we will not be driving to northeast Ohio, but will instead be heading in the opposite direction to do what I know she would prefer -- we'll be camping out on the beach with a bunch of mostly reformed second- and third-generation hippies in a mass temporary de facto commune on the Maryland coast just south of Ocean City. Part of the surprise for her stems from the fact that last year I got quite annoyed at this same event. A few more things should be made clear here. The first is a simple re-iteration of my own belief system, a system which can be fairly well summed up in four words: "Don't Preach To Me." Preaching can be religious or secular. It can be about nature or political issues or religions or international relations. The topic does not matter, the method does. Don't Preach To Me is pretty much all that I ask in my normal go-along-and-get-along day. This philosophy usually means that I gravitate towards events where nobody preaches. I have never seen anyone preach, for example, at a Grateful Dead concert, or at any of the 40+ Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screenings I have attended. I love a good debate, of course, but that is different. The point here is that in general I would not have the slightest problem with the whole hippie commune vibe. I am the Zaphod Beeblebrox of the uniformed set most of the time. That being said, I do take a few things seriously. Perhaps this stems from too much education, I do not know. But I do understand the power of symbols. I grasp their ability to change environments not just in the present, but also having seen their effects as a historian. To a degree, I also understand how strong symbols can affect behavior because I have deliberately used some to motivate men myself. Symbols have meanings, and there are few symbols more evocative or powerful than flags and their attendant mythology. History is what follows when memories fade, but even through the pale lens of history the hateful meaning behind the symbol of the National Socialist's flag remains virulent. No sane, peace-loving humanist of any stripe would even vaguely consider flying the Nazi swastika today, anywhere in the world. The Nazis murdered 10,000,000 people, at least, and unleashed a war which killed tens of millions more. On a similar scale, I find the Confederate flag to be both an affront (my very name comes from events that took place at the Battle of Fredericksburg as my ancestor fought against the Confederacy) and an abomination. Indeed, I have long harbored a desire to hold a monthly flag-burning ... of the Confederate battle flag, in my front yard. "Heritage" be damned. If one wants to take pride in the martial efforts of your great-great-grandfather, then research his service and get a copy of his local, regimental, flag. This is your heritage. The Confederate flag is racism, death, oppression and treason. As you can see, flags do matter. So what set me off last Fourth of July weekend? It was, of course, a flag. More specifically, it was the flag of the Soviet Union. This is a flag which flew over one of the two most murderous totalitarian régimes in all of history. It is a flag which flew over the deliberate murder-by-starvation of millions of their own citizens in the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holodomor.org%2F">Holodomor</a>, not to mention bullet-to-the-head mass executions in places like Katyn, Vinnytsia, Lviv, and untold others. It was a flag which over the course of the political life of that nation represented death to probably twice as many of its own citizens as did Hitler's murderous régime. It was a flag that represented evil and murder, the knowledge of which motivated me to join the military in the first place. Not because I loved our flag, but because I detested what the Soviet system had done in all places where it gained control. That was the flag, the only national flag, hung up at the gathering on the beach last Fourth of July. Now, my personal favorite holiday is Halloween. I love the pure chaos of that evening above all other holidays. But following closely behind are the solemnity of Memorial Day and the jubilation of the Fourth. And jubilation it should be, friends. Jubilation and awe. Jubilation for the success of the experiment we began in self-rule 232 years ago. Awe for the beauty and power of the words, the courage of the signers, and the audacity of all those who converted a declaration into a reality between 1775 and 1783. Last year, after I noticed that the only national flag up on our national birthday was that of the Soviet Union, I went all Socratic. I asked dozens of those attending how they felt about the Soviet flag, and what it meant. The response, nearly universally, was complete and utter apathy. These were highly educated people in the real world. There were physicians and lawyers, former Peace Corps volunteers and NGO/Human-Rights activists ... all groups that I rather thought would have been opposed to murderous totalitarianism, but no, there was not a murmur. At best some turned my query on its head and said, "Hey, if you want an American flag bring one. Nobody will stop you." But aside from the fact that I do not own an American flag to begin with, I did not really have a desire to fly one and was not trying to push the American flag. It was not the lack of an American flag that got to me, it was the presence of the Soviet flag. I mean seriously, nobody would fly the Nazi flag, right? Almost everybody there had at least a master's degree and quite a few had Ph.D.s, so nobody could really plead ignorance. Nobody could claim, "Oh, we didn't know." All of them lived in major metropolitan areas on the East or West coasts, and I would estimate that 95 percent of them would proudly self-identify with Eric's definition of a liberal. (I'm guessing that a few of them read this site as well.) But frankly folks it was embarrassing. This year I think I'll try a slightly different tack. You might try it as well. It costs almost nothing but a few moments of your time. Tonight I will print off about 100 copies of the document that kicked it all off, the Declaration of Independence. On Friday, the 4th of July, I will distribute these copies and ask everyone to read it, either aloud with me or quietly to themselves. I will make no speech, nor any lecture. I will just ask them to read the words written by America's first and most radical liberal. And then I will propose a toast to Jefferson, to that hedonistic hippie Franklin, to the Continental Congress, and to our magnificent, tragic, heroic, flawed, 232-year-old experiment in self-rule. You can write to LTC Bob at <a href="mailto:R_Bateman_LTC@hotmail.com">R_Bateman_LTC@hotmail.com</a>. <a name=" " title=" "></a>On Secretary Gates: From the Naval Institute's magazine <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usni.org%2Fmagazines%2Fproceedings%2Fstory.asp%3FSTORY_ID%3D1524">Proceedings</a>. (I always like it when a major general quotes Shakespeare.) <a name=" " title=" "></a>Hitchens gets waterboarded: Eric calls Hitch his "former friend," and I can understand how friendships can bend and break. But I'm still friends with the both of them and I hope that Altercation readers will take a look at his unequivocal examination. Writes Hitch, "You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it 'simulates' the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning -- or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure." See it all <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fpolitics%2Ffeatures%2F2008%2F08%2Fhitchens200808">here</a>. <a name=" " title=" "></a>A few good blogs: Kaboom, the blog of a lieutenant now stationed in Iraq, has been shut down and removed. So in the interest of expanding Altercators' awareness of the military, here are a few more good blogs. <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Farmyofdude.blogspot.com%2F">This soldier</a> returned last year and is now out of the Army, but he does a good job explaining what life in the infantry is like for a junior enlisted man. <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fdalybriefing.blogspot.com%2F">This blog</a>, on the other hand, demonstrates some of our diversity. Unfortunately it is not updated all that often, but scanning through his archives will broaden your thoughts. Finally, for those interested in the internal discussions and debates taking place inside the military about current events let me clue you in to <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fabumuqawama.blogspot.com%2F">Abu Muqawama</a> (Father of Resistance, or "Struggle" in Arabic). AM is a group blog written by several experts on, or highly qualified practitioners of, counterinsurgency. ("COIN" in the shorthand.) They use ridiculous pen-names, but their writing is solid and their comments section is first-rate. Read this site and you'll usually be a day or three ahead of The Washington Post and The New York Times on military issues. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Altercation must note the passing of Marie Castello, better known as Madam Marie in Bruce Springsteen's "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)." She told fortunes on the Asbury Park Boardwalk since the 1930s, and was immortalized by the line "Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do." She was in her 90s. A brief obituary ran in The New York Times, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2008%2F07%2F02%2Farts%2Fmusic%2F02marie.html%3F_r%3D1%26pagewanted%3Dall%26oref%3Dslogin">here</a>. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Correspondence Corner: Name: Charles Pierce Hometown: Newton, MA I am terribly sorry, but I can no longer let the top of the ticket speak for me on an issue of such transcendent <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806300005#5">national importance</a>. Like most sentient primates, I refuse to defenestrate the state that gave us the Temps, the Tops, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the MC5, Bob Seger, Iggy Pop, and Ted Nugent for a flat-earth piece of bland real estate full of megachurches and idiot football coaches. I decline to trade Ann Arbor for Columbus, a college town that looks like Albert Speer got bored and gave up on it halfway through the project. I'm not trading John Lee Hooker for Rod Parsley, or the greatest <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mden.com%2Fshopping%2Fstore%2Fvendor8%2Ffullscale%2F2F39009_F.jpg">football helmets</a> and the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVcoyjO3FeCY">Best Fight Song Ever</a> in exchange for the sainted memory of this <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwEVJyf0ft3I">freaking dolt</a>. You're not going to hand me the misplaced Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame -- which should be in Memphis, dammit -- and tell me to give up the UP and both relevant Great Lakes. You think I'm going to give <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DKgY94BGD_vg">this away</a>? Party leaders better step in here. I'm serious. Pierce Presumptive Vice-Presidential Nominee <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Scott Ferguson Hometown: Birmingham LTC Bob, Thank you as always for your observations and perspective. One thing that struck me reviewing the events of the Philippine occupation was the juxtaposition of the counter-insurgents' needs and the outbreak of the two World Wars. While many lament our lack of capability (temperament?) for conducting asymmetrical operations and claim that we must cancel all conventional weapons systems in order to meet the presumed future needs, I can not but be struck by the myopia involved. History's wisdom demands that we acknowledge that there will be wars. There will be conflicts requiring tanks and air superiority. How many of Bullard's peers thought that resources were being wasted on Naval appropriations? With Russia making noise, China asserting her interests and India raising, we can not say what conflicts will arise. Unfortunately, I think we can be sure that the US will be looking the other way and prepared for the wrong war. LTC Bob responds: Scott, I think that it can nearly be considered a truism that no matter what the next war looks like, you can be assured that some will contend that we were not prepared for it. This, in fact, has always been the case. To some degree one is never prepared for "the next war." Nor can you be. We try to mitigate and plan for the most likely wars, but just one peek at history demonstrates that we fail most of the time. The only successful war is the one which is not fought. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Randy Jewett Hometown: Gainesville, FL That's an excellent <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806300005#3">motto</a> you have there at West Point, LTC Bateman. Too bad presidents don't follow it or consult with historians. If ever there was a principle that should be followed, it is that quote by General Leonard Wood. Instead, ever since the Mexican War US foreign policy has been driven by corporate greed and territorial aggrandizement. To not admit this and wonder how we get in these difficult situations century after century is beyond belief. The oil companies are the one and only reason this country is in Iraq. Look at the deal they just worked out. Cheney has had his day. To kill and maim so many of America's brave soldiers for this reason and pretend it's for some other is the greatest crime there is. Insert George Santayana's quote here. LTC Bob responds: Randy, I am afraid it is not just presidents or even politicians alone who tend not to read or study history. As my story today explains, it seems a common trait among all Americans. I'm also not much of a fan of the "oil conspiracy" thesis. It just does not jibe with some other facts, though I understand the sentiment. On the other hand, I am looking forward to the day when we're all driving electric cars, preferably ones which got their energy from solar or wind or thermal or hydroelectric ... anything but carbon-based fuels. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Brian Geving Hometown: Minneapolis, MN LTC Bateman, Nice to see you occupying Eric's chair. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from you. Regarding your comments about Col. King's <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200807010004#2">retirement</a>, it is an interesting question to ponder. There is no doubt some sadness about saying goodbye to old friends and leaving a life you've known for decades for one that is not as certain and secure as the military. Even as you face the fact that today may be your last, there is a comfortable order and stability in the military that is hard to replicate in the civilian world. I also feel that even though you are putting your life on the line, it is rarely because of some grand vision of service to country. Especially in war, you are risking life and limb for your buddies next to you instead of mom & apple pie, and while it is hard to say goodbye to old friends it is especially hard saying goodbye to friends who risked their lives in battle to save yours. For commissioned and non-commissioned officers, there is also the satisfaction in leading other soldiers. You took care of them, watched out for them and fought with them. They are like family, and a family that is hard to say goodbye to. Even with the risks, it is hard to give that up for the rest of your life. Nothing else compares. LTC Bob responds: Brian, I think you neatly summed up most of my own thoughts on the topic. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Chuck Hometown: Kansas City I understand why someone like Col. Bob is not at liberty to publicly opinionate on the ongoing situation in Iraq. Maybe I'm asking for too much then, but I'd like to know how things could improve in Iraq, from someone with firsthand knowledge, having been there. I do understand why there is a moral obligation to the Iraqi people. But since we hear about how most Iraqis would like us to leave, and the slow progress in training their military, not to mention the divides between different sects and tribes, etc., it just seems as if nothing our military could do will improve things there. Basically, how do we take a military that has been trained to defeat other military forces to stabilize a country and bring so many different factions together? Or do we look at the Kurdish model, basically creating some kind of federation based on ethnic or sectarian and geographic considerations, responsible for their own part of Iraq? LTC Bob responds: Chuck, that's a full plate you set before me. I might give it a crack at length a little later. Any reasoned response would necessarily be too long for the letters section. Sorry, that's not meant to be a dodge, but your question is a whopper, eh? <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Jim Celer Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska So if it's patently offensive to suggest that being shot down in an airplane doesn't qualify one to be President, then it follows that anyone who has been shot down in an airplane can and should be president. There must be hundreds of such veterans, so why is McCain our only choice? <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Jim Reuss Hometown: Cheyenne, WY I'm glad to see some of the policies of the Bateman/Pierce platform are being elucidated prior to the election (in the once smoke-filled backrooms of Boston's fine establishments in lieu of wasteful party conventions, even). One can now begin to get a grip on the priorities of the gentlemen and factor them into the electoral decision. While I favor junkets to Scottish distilleries as a platform point, I am somewhat leery about excluding Michigan from the party's consideration. I'm sure a fair amount of Scotch is consumed in the great, frozen North along with other malt beverages. Perhaps the good LtC could concentrate on the commonalities that bind us together as a nation rather than play to the divisive politics of the past ... LTC Bob responds: Politics does not have much to do with the feud twixt Ohio and the State-that-is-to-the-North-of-Ohio. It is mostly sports. But I would note that ours are the only two states which fought a "war" against each other. Amazingly, it was the winner, not the loser, who ended up <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FToledo_War">with Toledo</a>. Go figure. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Mike Sinclair Hometown: Kalamazoo, MI LTC Bob: Go Bucks! As a transplanted Buckeye, I suffered through the 90's with Coop but am certainly enjoying the 21st Century with "the sweater vest." And I see Richie Rich Rodriguez traveling down the same trail as John Cooper; not a Michigan man and no real connection to the team ... give him 3 years and UoM will be bringing in Jim Harbaugh. Yuck! <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Joe Adams Hometown: Hillsdale, NJ This year's all-star game is supposedly in honor of Yankee Stadium, due for an unnecessary demolition. Why not honor the great Josh Gibson for doing something that neither Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio or Mantle could do -- hit a home run ball out of the ball park -- the only one to do it in the Stadium's 85-year history. Ken Burns' omitting that fact from his baseball series was almost as egregious as excluding Benny Carter from his jazz series. http://mediamatters.org/items/200807020004 Wed, 2 Jul 2008 14:52:53 EST All my rowdy friends http://mediamatters.org/items/200807010004 LTC Bateman is back again today -- but if you need an Alterman fix, you can see him <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Ftherealnews.com%2Ft%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D31%26Itemid%3D74%26jumival%3D1768%26updaterx%3D2008-06-30%2B08%253A36%253A48">here</a>, debating Real News Network's Pepe Escobar about Barack Obama's pragmatism versus his progressivism. <a name=" " title=" "></a>LTC Bob Bateman: "Hey, Bates, so when're you gettin' out and getting' a real job?" For the first decade after I donned this uniform, this was a common question from my old high school buddies in Bainbridge, Ohio. In truth, I suspect that this says something about American values as they have developed over the past 40 years. None of my buddies, staunch Republicans (when we were kids) even realized the ingrained insult. This is understandable. It is an integral element of all of American thought. Consider. How often have you seen the following semi-phrases embedded in an account of a soldier's life: "...get out of the military and restart their life..." "...retire and start a professional career as..." There are dozens of permutations, of course. Eventually my civilian friends realized that I was not "getting out." Until that point, my response had been a simple non-answer. "Well, as long as it's interesting..." That, sadly, was a lie. Necessary, for cultural harmony, but a lie nonetheless. There are permutations. "Attention to orders," the speaker gravely intones. At these words, the uniformed members of the audience stiffened into the position we call "Attention." About half of those in civilian clothes, conditioned to a near-Pavlovian level by their own decades of service, did the same. There is no simple way to describe what follows. Friday last I watched Colonel Chris King retire. I watched a man I know well choke up with tears. I watched him struggle with his words. His efforts are not unique. I have seen several friends wrestle with the same. Consider this: Why do grown men cry when they are honorably relived of the burden of putting their very lives on the line? Mull. You can write to LTC Bob at <a href="mailto:R_Bateman_LTC@hotmail.com" target="_blank">R_Bateman_LTC@hotmail.com</a> <a name=" " title=" "></a>On the Validity of the Destruction of the State which is North of Ohio: <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DJx5TVBf6cWM">Here</a>. <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZv0_EpF5SyY%26feature%3Drelated">ESPN and pornography</a>. British Punk gets it <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D_ChtR3yMuD8%26feature%3Drelated">about right</a>. Anybody who can combine "wankers" and "Michigan" works for me. <a name=" " title=" "></a>I, no shit, am a much better actor than these two dudes. They don't get it. <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DOAvmLDkAgAM%26feature%3Drelated">One</a> and <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D3jXFnQUU7yg%26feature%3Drelated">two</a>. Ummm, did I just admit that I act? <a name=" " title=" "></a>Correspondence Corner: Name: Ken G Hometown: Cherry Hill, NJ As always, it is a pleasure to hear from LTC Bateman, and get his perspective as a military man on what is happening in Iraq. I have personally used the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806300005#3">comparison</a> between Iraq and the Philippine campaign many times myself. However, I think an important point is being glossed over here. During the Philippine insurrection, one of Aguinaldo's officers (and later President of the Philippines), Manual Quezon, was quoted as saying in a fit of frustration and sarcasm: "Damn the Americans. Why don't they tyrannize us more?" I think that statement, from a rebel leader, speaks volumes about American efforts to pacify the Philippines and why it worked so well. I think it also speaks volumes about Iraq and why our efforts there have not been nearly so successful. While the average Filipino quickly found that they liked the Americans and appreciated their humanity, I don't think the same can be said for the Iraqis. I may be wrong, but I don't think any of the various groups who are (or have been) in rebellion against the U.S. in Iraq has ever said anything remotely like that about American actions in Iraq, nor have they had any reason to. That, in my mind, is the difference between Iraq today and the Philippines 100 years ago and that is why I get nauseous each time I hear of another American and/or Iraqi death. LTC Bob responds: Actually, we were horrific. Between 200,000 and 1,000,000 Filipinos died because of us. We succeeded, yes, but at what cost? From my seat I am not sure about this. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Chuck Hometown: Kansas City Col. Bob wants to compare Iraq to the Philippine insurgency after the Spanish-American war at the beginning of the 20th century. Sounds believable, at first. Four thousand US troops killed, guerilla warfare, in a far off land. But was overthrowing Saddam's government the same as ending Spanish colonial rule? Did the Philippines harbor WMD? Had the US recently sustained a terrorist attack organized by those in or near the Philippines? Did the Philippines have vast reserves of oil? Not to mention the demographics there, mostly Catholic, some Muslim. But the majority Catholics had some status, even under Spanish rule. The Shia in Iraq, not so much. I feel for Col. Bob on this point, his affection for those Iraqis he knows and worked with, which I assume parallels the "Compounding the sentiment was the feeling that we should not leave things half done, stemming in no small part from a sense of obligation towards the people of the Philippines..." And it is awful that many huge mistakes were made, mostly by the civilian leadership of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush, Rice, et al. My questions to Col. Bob, and all the others that want to continue this war/occupation/surge, call it whatever you will -- how will we know when things are finally done? And more importantly, how do we get there? At what cost, in terms of lives, time, and dollars? And on a more personal level, Col. Bob, why do you and others like you feel obligated to try to fix this situation, a situation you were thrown into based on lies and god-awful planning? I know it's hard to turn your back when you have so much invested in something, but sometimes I think this is more about Vietnam than Iraq or the Philippines, or any other conflict, as in, if we had just stayed and been more dedicated in Vietnam, it would have turned out so much better. I look forward to hearing your opinion, especially on the issues of how to best resolve this from now into the near future. LTC Bob responds: "The End" is a false premise. Morality should (though does not always) determine your answer. This is, sadly, not often the basis of our decision making. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Charles Steigerwald Hometown: Apple Valley, MN The decision to keep the Philippines after the Spanish American War not only led to the Filipino Insurrections but also played a part in the US involvement in WWII. The Japanese wanted the oil in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and in order to get the oil, they had to conquer the Philippines. In order the conquer the Philippines, it was necessary to attack Pearl Harbor and destroy the US fleet. Since WW I, oil and war have gone together. LTC Bob replies: I disagree. We can do this via email, though. Write me. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Joe Weddington Hometown: Tulsa, OK Not only did <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806300005#12">Lt. G's</a> superiors make him quit posting but they also had him delete the prior postings. His wife to be (know as City Girl) has registered the Kaboom blog in her name and has posted an update on the site. As an old air farce bomb painter from the Vietnam Era, who guarded the southern border at Juarez and spent time in Southwest Asia, I don't have the wartime experience but I think LT G is a damn fine soldier and an excellent writer. It is a shame that this wonderful blog was pulled, I had recommended it to my twenty four year old son who is graduating from college and thinking of taking up the challenge of being a warrior. If he goes, I want men like LT G by his side. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Jesse Zander Corum Hometown: Portland, OR To <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806300005#10">Lefty From Burque</a>, who was unconvinced but open-minded on Radiohead: The best argument for Radiohead (and any truly great music) is the music itself. I recommend you listen without distraction (no magazine, no driving) and turn your stereo LOUD. This is more about getting the richness and depth of their sound. Put on "Kid A" track one, "Everything in its Right Place." Sit back, think about what you're hearing. If you're musically inclined, try to figure out how they break up the 10/4 time signature. Also, I recommend seeking out some bootlegs. Your wife will dig it, and you'll likely prefer the live versions of many songs, particularly those from "Hail to the Thief." Take "There There" where the tumbling overdubbed percussion becomes a conversation between the three different band members playing drums. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: JoAnn Schwartz Hometown: Detroit, MI <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806300005#5">Bateman & Pierce</a> will be interested to know that many of us in the State of Michigan have been agitating for years to leave the US of A and join the Canadians. Better beer and better hockey -- how can we resist, eh? http://mediamatters.org/items/200807010004 Tue, 1 Jul 2008 14:39:38 EST Once more into the breach http://mediamatters.org/items/200806300005 <a name=" " title=" "></a>Hey folks, George Zornick here. Eric's reporting in Israel this week (and next), and so LTC Bob Bateman has taken command of today's Altercation. He and others will be back often during the next couple weeks. First, though, Sal Nunziato -- friend of, and contributor to, Altercation -- has a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fid%2F143754%2Fpage%2F1">piece</a> in the current Newsweek that's worth a read, and not just because of the previously mentioned associations. Sal speaks deeply to a trend occurring in cities and towns across America, and it might be enough to get you to close down iTunes, or at least never visit the CD section at Best Buy again. <a name=" " title=" "></a>LTC Bob Bateman: Fairly regularly I receive some despairing and occasionally some mildly hyperbolic letters from Altercation readers, usually in reference to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Folks are upset, and sometimes use me either as a sounding board or just somebody who might help them in understanding things. In response it is my custom to counsel moderation and to suggest to my correspondents a look in our collective rear-view mirror. Sometimes that helps. Besides, I am naturally inclined in that direction. Like Eric, I am a historian. The concept of "inevitability" is accordingly alien to my way of thinking. I may accept the apparent fact that things like "business cycles" exist, but a sense of hard-and-fast predestination is not a part of that acknowledgement. Indeed, I am loath to be very explicit in anything I extract from history. The search for broad "lessons learned" may be an inclination of the profession of arms, but for my own part I lean towards the motto of the Department of History at West Point. This motto suggests that it is not hard-and-fast "Lessons Learned" which we should try to pull from our study of the past, but rather some measure of wisdom. Sapientia Per Historium -- Wisdom Through History -- is the motto of the department. This serves me well and mitigates against some of my own frustrations. It also provides a reminder for me to return to the past when confronted with a thorny issue in the present. When viewed that way, it is easier to see that the problems we face today, sadly, are not really all that unique -- it is only our presentist inclinations that incline us to believe that these are unprecedented times and situations. Looking back just one hundred years, however, disabuses us. Many of the same issues we are wrestling with today were on the table then. Consider this: At the beginning of the 20th century, the United States was already several years into a counter-insurgency war in a distant land which came hard on the heels of a rapid and overwhelming victory by our conventional forces. America as a whole was wrestling with its collective conscience, trying to decide if these overseas efforts were legitimate and even if so, were they worth the cost in blood and treasure we had expended there. No less a figure than Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) came down hard on the topic. See if any of this sounds familiar: <blockquote> There is the case of the Philippines. I have tried hard, and yet I cannot for the life of me comprehend how we got into that mess. Perhaps we could not have avoided it -- perhaps it was inevitable that we should come to be fighting the natives of those islands -- but I cannot understand it, and have never been able to get at the bottom of the origin of our antagonism to the natives. I thought we should act as their protector -- not try to get them under our heel. We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own, and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial. It was not to be a government according to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas. That would have been a worthy mission for the United States. But now -- why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I'm sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation.</blockquote> Meanwhile, the Army was tied down and troops were dying, more than 4,000 over the first several years, even as the institutional Army struggled with the fact that it was not prepared or organized to fight a sustained unconventional conflict against forces organized as guerrillas. Much of this was brought back to my attention through historian Brian Linn's new book, Echoes of Battle. Linn provides some telling points, particularly when he quotes primary sources. Linn points out that there were several officers who had problems with the conduct of the war. Writing in the Journal of the Military Institute in 1907, the future general officer Robert Bullard said, "Our whole recent experience, then, our present duties and future prospects all point to the idea that by the study of war alone we shall be but little prepared for by far the greater burdens which are to fall upon us, which are the making of peace." At nearly the same time, a prominent general named Leonard Wood wrote, "I don't think we have any moral right to go into a country, discipline a lot of savage people, a process which is generally accompanied by a great loss of life, and then put indifferent people in charge of them and permit conditions to rise which render the repetition of the process necessary. It is wrong." (Remember, he was writing in the first decade of the 20th century.) These few snippets from history actually represent a broader sentiment then-current in the Army. We fought a long, sometimes brutal, counter-insurgency in the Philippines beginning almost immediately after our lightning-like victory in the Spanish-American War. But unlike the popular support which existed for the Span-Am War, the fighting in the Philippines was unpopular from the start, until it began to fade from public consciousness and the pages of the newspapers. (Sound familiar?) Many of those men in uniform 100 years ago, officers like Bullard and Wood, felt simultaneously frustrated that they fought in an unpopular war far from home, but also compelled to do the right thing once they were in it. Compounding the sentiment was the feeling that we should not leave things half done, stemming in no small part from a sense of obligation toward the people of the Philippine archipelago. I pass on these observations because they do seem to reflect the personal feelings of many of my peers. Nobody is happy about the fighting that we must do, and many are frustrated about a whole host of things, not the least of which has been our own failings. If you have any doubt about that, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fusacac.army.mil%2FCAC2%2FCSI%2FOP2.asp">check this out</a>. You can write to LTC Bob at <a href="mailto:R_Bateman_LTC@hotmail.com" target="_blank">R_Bateman_LTC@hotmail.com</a> <a name=" " title=" "></a>Restoring your faith: On a much lighter note, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wherethehellismatt.com%2F%3Ffbid%3DB_8xV4">watch this</a> and see if you do not come out the far end smiling. This one fellow, Matt, has done more to bring people around the globe together in a recognition of our shared humanity and magnificent differences than it would appear that the U.N. does in an average month. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Campaign update: Early last week the Bateman/Pierce 2008 ticket met in Boston. In a spirited but enlightening exchange, we have established at least three planks for our campaign: <blockquote> 1. We support increased relations with Scotland and the lowering of the trade barriers which have driven the cost of Laphroaig, Macallan, Lagavulin, etc., through the roof. In the event that it turns out that there are, in fact, no such barriers extant, we propose the creation of some. Whatever it takes for us to go to Scotland to "investigate" these circumstances in greater detail. 2. We support a military with sufficient training time and resources so that it does not do <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fafrica.reuters.com%2Fworld%2Fnews%2FusnL2925697.html">this</a>. 3. We call for an immediate end to the Whole State of Michigan. They may secede, or we may present them to Canada as a peace offering for our three previous attempts to take over their country. But either way, Michigan is outta here, and cannot be part of the Big Ten anymore. (Uh, OK, that last one was me, not Pierce. But I'm from Ohio, what do you want? I realize this may cost us votes in Michigan, but it will ensure a landslide in Ohio.)</blockquote> <a name=" " title=" "></a>First female 4-star general: The most rational write-up comes in <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fcommentisfree%2F2008%2Fjun%2F26%2Fmilitary.gender">the Guardian</a>. And by the same author, I recommend <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fburnishedsteel.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F04%2Fgreat-bushwacker-war-or-it-is-ok-to.html">this</a>. <a name=" " title=" "></a>From Tom Dispatch: The President's "surge" -- those extra 30,000 ground troops sent into Iraq in the first half of 2007 -- has, it is claimed, proven the negativity of all his doubters and critics unwarranted. Indeed, it is now agreed, security conditions have improved significantly and in ways "that few thought likely a year ago." You already know that part of the story, especially -- and it's the Vietnam era's infamous "body count" in reverse -- that falling levels of "violence" indicate the arrival of some measure of success (finally) for the President and his followers in Iraq. In "The Good News in Iraq," <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomdispatch.com%2Fpost%2F174950">Tom Engelhardt</a> writes: "As a result, cratered Iraq -- a land with at least 50% unemployment, still lacking decent electricity, potable water, hospitals with drugs (or even doctors, so many having fled), or courts with judges (40 of them having been assassinated and many more injured since 2003) or lawyers, many of whom joined the more than two million Iraqis who have gone into exile -- is, today, modestly quieter. But don't be fooled. So many years later, Iraqis are still dying in prodigious numbers, and significant numbers of those dying are doing so at the hands of Americans." Engelhardt then explores the other "body count" -- that of dead (or in the U.S. Army's word, "neutralized") enemies, including startling numbers of Iraqi civilians -- and next proceeds to other kinds of counts, all of which add up to a new version of the President's 2007 surge in Iraq. Strikingly, he focuses not just on the surge on the ground, or even the poorly covered air surge of the last year and a half, but the political surge (which has had American "advisers" and "mentors" pouring into Iraq), the prison building and inmate surge, the surge in base building, and the surge in demands by the Bush administration for an American future in Iraq. All of this adds up to a new picture of Iraq in the last 18 months as a U.S. "surge-athon," an across-the-board ramping up of American power in that country. Engelhardt concludes: "Given the situation of Iraq more than five years after the invasion, to speak of this urge to surge and its results as 'success' or as 'good news' is essentially obscene. Think of Iraq instead as a cocked gun. It's loaded, it's held to your head, and things are improving only to the extent that, recently, it hasn't gone off. ... So let me offer this bit of advice. When you read the news, skip the 'good' part. The figures demonstrating 'improvement' may (or may not) be perfectly real, but they also represent an effort to dominate (as well as to divide and conquer) in an essentially colonial fashion; worse yet, it's an effort barely held together by baling wire and reliant on the destruction of ever more Iraqi neighborhoods. "If you want a prediction, here it is and it couldn't be simpler: This cannot end well. Not for Washington. Not for the U.S. military. Not for Americans. And, above all, not for Iraqis. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Correspondence Corner: Name: Stephen Carver Hometown: Los Angeles Dr. Alterman, I have NEVER seen a better example of Contempt of Congress in words, attitude and body language, than the performance put on by David Addington in front of the Judiciary Committee. I wish they would arrest him for that obvious show of contempt, throw his ass in jail and then say to his boss: Congress has passed a Joint Resolution declaring Mr. Addington an Enemy Combatant and we won't release him until you speak with us about torture, Mr. Cheney. Then, Mr. Cheney and his lapdog (oops, boss) can take that to the Supreme Court and we'll have a great big ol' Constitutional separation of powers donnybrook. For the six years it will take to go through the court system, Mr. Addington can spend the extra time he'll suddenly find on his hands writing about his legal opinions on torture that he didn't care to share with the the greatest deliberative legal body on the face of the planet. Have you no shame, Mr. Addington? I am beginning to ask myself if anyone, other than a few soldiers who were obviously ordered to torture, will EVER be held accountable for the atrocities committed by this Administration in the name of the American people and with our tax dollars. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Rich Gallagher Hometown: Fishkill, NY Dear Eric, I find it interesting that no one in the MSM seems to have noted the hypocrisy of the Republicans who have criticized Obama for refusing public financing. The Republicans allegedly favor smaller government and reduced government spending, so isn't Obama actually doing the fiscally prudent thing by declining to accept $85 million from the Treasury? Also conspicuously absent from the coverage of public financing is the fact that the vast majority of taxpayers <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington%2F2007-04-17-preztax_N.htm%3Fcsp%3D34">refuse to contribute</a> to the Presidential Election Fund. Last year only 7.3% of taxpayers elected to have $3 of their 2006 taxes contributed to the fund, which suggests that most voters do not think much of the current system of public financing. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Lefty in Burque Hometown: Albuquerque Congratulations on actually typing out the letters that spell A-N-D-R-E-W S-U-L-L-I-V-A-N and even mentioning him in an almost positive way (vis-à-vis his mea culpa). With Obama folding on FISA and cheering the SCOTUS decision to overturn D.C.'s over 30-year old handgun ban, I need two things: 1. A better understanding of his judicial philosophy (what types of Supremes will he appoint), and 2. Somebody to help me "get" Radiohead. My wife loves them and I appreciate some of it but I remain unconvinced (but open to the powers of persuasion). <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Pat O'Neill Hometown: Folsom PA "<a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806270002#10">There are</a>, in fact, several passages in the New Testament where homosexuals are condemned as well and an acquaintance of mine corrected me on the matter. " Yes, but none of them are from the mouth of Jesus and most of them are in documents that respected experts will tell you have been fiddled with, mis-translated, and misinterpreted for most of the past 2,000 years. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Don Hometown: Riverdale, NY In case you all missed it, Lt G's stream of consciousness truth-telling has been shut down by his superior officers. As he states in his 27 June <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fkaboomwarjournal.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F06%2Ftactical-pause.html">posting</a>:<blockquote> Due to a rash posting on my part, and decisions made above my pay-grade, I have been ordered to stop posting on Kaboom, effective immediately. Though I committed no OPSEC violations, due to a series of extenuating circumstances -- the least of which was me being on leave -- my "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage" post on May 28 did not go through the normal vetting channels. It's totally on me, as it was too much unfiltered truth. I'm a soldier first, and orders are orders. So it is.</blockquote> BZ Lt. G! You did great work. Hope to read you again in the future. Godspeed to you and the Gravediggers. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Hornito Hometown: Sacramento, CA This week's "<a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806270002">Slacker Friday</a>" is the best read on the net right now. Charles Pierce was/is simply on fire. The man is brilliant, and Eric is to be complimented for having him. Great work! http://mediamatters.org/items/200806300005 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:09:08 EST Slacker Friday http://mediamatters.org/items/200806270002 We have a new Think Again column <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanprogress.org%2Fissues%2F2008%2F06%2Fdrilling_deep.html">here</a> called "Drilling Deep to Mislead on Oil Prices." My new Nation column is called "Obama vs. the Smart Guys (and Dumb Wars)," <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenation.com%2Fdoc%2F20080714%2Falterman">here</a>. <a name=" " title=" "></a>From the American News Project: ANP was on the scene yesterday when John Yoo and David Addington, two leading architects of the Bush administration's policies on torture, testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Even seemingly simple questions yielded the most <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsproject.org%2Fnode%2F82">evasive answers</a>. Yesterday was also the U.N.'s official day to show support for victims of torture. ANP teamed up with <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonindependent.com%2F">Washington Independent</a> reporter Spencer Ackerman to see an exact replica of a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsproject.org%2Fnode%2F80">Gitmo detention cell</a>. The Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 to get rid of Washington D.C.'s 32-year-ban on handguns. Gun rights advocates are celebrating it as a victory while others worry more legal guns in D.C. may make their way to the black market. ANP takes a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsproject.org%2Fvideos%2F81">DC Snapshot</a>. And, lastly, with a stagnant economy and rising fuel prices the cost of food is soaring. Congress is reacting, but will their efforts be enough? The American News Project spends a week with Brian Duss, who agrees to take the Food Stamp Challenge and live off a dollar per meal for 7 days in "<a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsproject.org%2Fnode%2F79">The Price of Hunger</a>." (Also, due to popular demand, ANP has just added an <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsproject.org%2Ffund%2F78">education category</a> to its fund-a-beat section! <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsproject.org%2Ffund_a_story">Learn more</a> about community-funded journalism at the American News Project.) <a name=" " title=" "></a>Slacker Friday: Name: Charles Pierce Hometown: Newton, MA Hey Doc: "I hope you get the connection, 'cause I can't take the rejection/I won't deceive you, I just don't believe you." Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: Plantation Blues (Sonny Clay's Plantation Orchestra ) -- Once again, I have neglected to follow up on a proposal from my friends from Alpha Centauri to send down a battalion of remarkably lifelike Steny Hoyer androids who will parade around the House chamber, dispensing checks drawn on the AT&T house account, and telling everyone how much I love New Orleans. Part The First: I know Jesse Ventura's a big old slab of goofball tartare, but you won't hear any Democrat talking <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D99unD0ivfrE">like this</a> on national TV. Part The Second: Does Slate pay <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slate.com%2Fid%2F2194221%2F">this knob</a> in warm, moist towels? Here's a tip, Mick. Most men you write about are smarter than you, better looking than you, and they, you know, git more. Deal with it, OK? Part The Third: I think a clever, well-crafted <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Frudepundit.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F06%2Ffisa-failure-and-sodomy-of-patriots.html">lede sentence</a> is essential to good journalism. Part The Fourth: When your magazine is dedicated to propping up the oligarchy while pretending at all times to be staffed by a bowling team from West Memphis, you're liable to fall <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fweeklystandard.com%2FContent%2FPublic%2FArticles%2F000%2F000%2F015%2F245uswoq.asp">for anything</a>. Part The Last: Cue the wingnut Hallelujah Chorus over <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Ffirstread.msnbc.msn.com%2Farchive%2F2008%2F06%2F25%2F1166049.aspx">this result</a>. We will now hear how all John McCain has to do is knuckle brown peop ... er ... reassert conservative principles, and he's home free, and that the wingiest of wingnuts are simply not going to put up with half-measures any more. For himself, brother Chaffetz sounds like a real <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldextra.com%2Fcontent%2Fview%2F270196%2F17%2F">go-getter</a>. I particularly like this passage: "The speech caters to Republican delegates, who tend to be more hard-line than the typical voter. In it, Chaffetz paints himself as the cure to Washington insiders, including Republicans who have failed to live up to their party's ideals. He lambasts immigration policy (calling for the elimination of birthright citizenship if the parents are illegal), federal meddling in schools (calling for the elimination of the Department of Education) and global warming (calling it 'a farce')." By all means, the Republicans should adopt exactly these positions on the national level, especially global-warming denial. Comeback, baby! In 1990, while I was in the employ of a now-defunct all-sports <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FThe_National_%2528newspaper%2529">daily newspaper</a>, I went to Atlanta to work on a piece about Evander Holyfield, who was preparing to fight James (Buster) Douglas for the heavyweight champeenship of the woild (!). Anyway, one night, my hotel was hosting a fundraiser for a guy named David Worley, a lawyer who was running against Newt Gingrich. What the hell, I thought, maybe the hors d'oeuvres are good. I went down to the ballroom and, in the course of extensive freeloading, I talked to a number of people from the Worley campaign who were absolutely convinced that their guy could take Gingrich down. They were extremely frosted at the Democratic National Committee, which barely bothered to return their phone calls. By the end of the evening, they even had me convinced. Turns out they <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fgst%2Ffullpage.html%3Fres%3D9C0CE0DD143DF93BA35752C1A966958260%26sec%3D%26spon%3D%26pagewanted%3Dall">were right</a>. I made a little coin taking Worley and five points against some of the hepcat political pros of my casual acquaintance. This all came back to mind as our elite campaign press corps -- embarrassingly enabled by the utopian goo-goo reform community -- ginned up a controversy this week about Barack Obama's bailing out of the pulverized ruins of the public campaign-finance system. (Me? It looks from here like he's abandoning public financing in favor of being financed by the public.) It has become plain that some people simply think that all big money in politics is necessarily evil -- which requires them to argue that 1,000 donors each giving $200 has the same corrosive effect on the system as a pesticide lobbyist's bundling up $200,000 on behalf of his industry. The argument on television is now devolving hopelessly into, yes, a "character" debate. Hardly anyone has accounted for the paradigm shift that netroot campaign financing represents. (And anyone who thinks Obama considers himself beholden in any way to the liberal netroots should take a look at how shamefully he turtled on the FISA capitulation this week.) If the fundraising capabilities that have benefited Obama this year had existed in 1990 to help David Worley, he wouldn't have needed the indolent DNC to rid the political culture of a megalomaniacal vandal with a taste for comely aides. Lost highway there. p.s. -- KO, you know I love you, but don't tangle with Glenn Greenwald on <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fdailykos.com%2Fstoryonly%2F2008%2F6%2F26%2F222646%2F124%2F440%2F542648">this stuff</a>. You're going to <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.salon.com%2Fopinion%2Fgreenwald%2F2008%2F06%2F27%2Folbermann%2Findex.html">go down</a> like Duane Bobick if you try. And, as far as your defense of the barely defensible goes, this passage right here -- "I don't know much about Mr. Greenwald and I didn't read his full piece, but I do know that the snippet he's taken out of the transcript of my conversation with Jon Alter last night makes it sound like I was saying defying the left was a good thing" -- is what the astronomers would call an "extinction-level event." It's not like Greenwald's writing The Origin Of The Species every day, for pity's sake. Do better, please. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Steve Hicken Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida I'm confused. <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806250008#2">Richard Cohen</a> admits that Sen. McCain has changed his mind about everything under the Sun, but he has strong character because he didn't cave in to the North Vietnamese. He caved in to George Bush, the religious Right, the neo-cons, and the supply-siders, but not to the North Vietnamese. Does that mean that unless President McCain is kidnapped by the North Vietnamese and tortured, he'll change his mind about every issue that comes to him? <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Michael Roberts Hometown: Boston I love how McCain's character, for bravery 30+ years ago trumps all for Cohen. But McCain is his own party's second choice. Their first choice was George W. Bush, who used family ties to get out of the draft and into the National Guard, opted out of being sent abroad during wartime, and by all accounts was AWOL for at least a year of his service. And he's a recovering alcoholic spoiled legacy brat. That trumped McCain for Republicans. All of McCain's Amazing Character is struggling for all he's worth to get George W. Bush's sloppy seconds. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: W. B. Lewis Hometown: Cincinnati Eric, It seems Cohen thinks he's bringing out the trump card like a guy with a heart surgery scar tearing open his shirt and saying "You think that's a big scar? Beat this." Last I looked, being tortured was not a prerequisite for the presidency but apparently Cohen doesn't think he'll know Obama's core principles until he's tortured. Guess he expects Obama to start adjusting his schedule between now and the election to fit it in or risk not getting Cohen's vote. Keep up the good work. Always thought provoking. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: John Loehr Hometown: Free Union This is incredible: Nadler asked Addington whether it would be legal in some circumstances to torture a detainee's child. "I don't agree or disagree with it, Mr. Chairman. I don't plan to address it," Addington said. "I'm not here to render legal advice to your committee. You do have attorneys of your own to give you legal advice." These people are so sick they won't just come out and say "No, of course we shouldn't torture the children of prisoners." Instead, Addington advises them to lawyer up if they want to try, just like his boss did. And this is a day after there was a picture of a two year old with both his legs broken on the front page of the New York Times. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Rachael Ludwick Hometown: To be fair to Amazon, those <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806250008#3">search results</a> are almost certainly a matter of what books people click on and buy (that is, the most popular ones). Amazon isn't anti-Semitic, but rather people visiting the site are. You can argue that Amazon should fiddle with the system to lower those results, but where do they stop? What forms of prejudice (and the accompanying prejudicial books that will thus be published) should they watch out for and prevent high rankings for? How do they judge that a particular book is actually bigoted? How do they do this in a way that is cost-effective (given how many bigotries seem equally as bad)? <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Doug DePriest Hometown: Aiken, SC <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806250008#6">Mark</a>, Let me introduce you to the apostle Paul and a little missive called Romans. In particular, 1:26-27. It may not use the term "abomination," but the point is made pretty clearly. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Mark A Hometown: West Windsor, NJ Eric, Many apologies, but my statement about Leviticus being the only place where the bible mentions homosexual sex is condemned is not correct. There are, in fact, several passages in the New Testament where homosexuals are condemned as well and an acquaintance of mine corrected me on the matter. <a name=" " title=" "></a>Name: Brian Pienkoski Hometown: Rochester NY I think it's time to start disabusing some of your readers of the notion that showing emotion is cause for revocation of one's <a href="http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200806250008#9">man-card</a>. In my opinion, there's a number of actions that should cause forfeiture of this card. The big two are lack of accountability and the use of violence to achieve personal gain. Shedding tears of joy? If anything, that's cause for upgrade to "Gold" card status. http://mediamatters.org/items/200806270002 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:28:25 EST All my lovin', I will give to ... John McCain http://mediamatters.org/items/200806250008 Yesterday's post went up very late, so we're going to leave it today so it gets a fair viewing. But we have a new Think Again column <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/drilling_deep.html">here</a> called "Drilling Deep to Mislead on Oil Prices." We also have a new Nation column, "Obama vs. the Smart Guys (and Dumb Wars)," <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080714/alterman">here</a>. This Week on Moyers: Injury rates reported at America's poultry plants have dropped dramatically in recent years, and so have workplace safety inspections. Are regulators rewarding companies for inaccurate reporting of injuries? Bill Moyers Journal and Exposé: America's Investigative Reports go inside America's poultry industry, which employs almost a quarter-million workers nationwide, to show the reality of working conditions and to investigate how official statistics showing a drop in workplace injuries may have been the result of deceptive reporting. Also on the program, Bill Moyers interviews Sen. Barbara Boxer about global warming. <a name=" " title=" "></a>In case you missed it, we wrote a lengthy piece for this week's issue of The Nation, called "<a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenation.com%2Fdoc%2F20080707%2Falterman">Loving John McCain: A Smitten Press Corps Soft-Pedals His Hardline Politics</a>," in which we attempt to illustrate that the mainstream political media has ignored the addiction to political expediency and extreme positions of Sen. John McCain, and that they do so in part because the man with whom they "are infatuated is largely an invention of their collective imagination, one they often admit they love not because of what he says and does but because they -- as with George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin -- can discern what lies in his heart." My old friend Richard Cohen is mentioned in the piece, for his characterization of McCain as "the hero [who] still does things his own way." James Wolcott also contributed a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fpolitics%2Ffeatures%2F2008%2F07%2Fwolcott200807%3Fprintable%3Dtrue%26currentPage%3Dall">piece</a> to this month's Vanity Fair about the hero-worshipping "man-crushes" that Washington pundits, including Cohen, hold for McCain. Cohen acknowledged the pieces in his <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2008%2F06%2F23%2FAR2008062301829.html%3Fhpid%3Dopinionsbox1">column</a> yesterday, writing: "In some recent magazine articles, I and certain of my colleagues have been accused of being soft on McCain, forgiving him his flips, his flops and his mostly conservative ideology." He pleads not guilty, but continues:<blockquote> [F]or the record, let's recapitulate: McCain has either reversed himself or significantly amended his positions on immigration, tax cuts for the wealthy, campaign spending (as it applies to use of his wife's corporate airplane) and, most recently, offshore drilling. In the more distant past, he has denounced then embraced certain ministers of medieval views and changed his mind about the Confederate flag, which flies by state sanction in South Carolina only, I suspect, to provide Republican candidates with a chance to choose tradition over common decency. There, I've said it all.</blockquote> Well actually, Richard, I think we said it a little better: "The pro-immigration candidate opposes immigration. The candidate who opposes tax cuts for the rich supports them. The pro-campaign finance reform candidate has a campaign that is run almost exclusively by lobbyists, and exploits loopholes in the law to skirt spending limits -- even the laws the candidate wrote. The candidate who opposes 'agents of intolerance' in the Republican Party embraces them. The candidate with the foreign policy experience frequently confuses Sunnis and Shiites and misreads Iranian influence in the region, but is proposing permanent war. The candidate who claims to be a fiscal conservative wants to bust the budget. The candidate who claims to take global warming seriously does not want to take any serious action to address it." In any case, we sort of agree. "But here," according to Richard, "is the difference between McCain and Obama -- and Obama had better pay attention":<blockquote> McCain is a known commodity. It's not just that he's been around a long time and staked out positions antithetical to those of his Republican base. It's also -- and more important -- that we know his bottom line. As his North Vietnamese captors found out, there is only so far he will go, and then his pride or his sense of honor takes over. This -- not just his candor and nonstop verbosity on the Straight Talk Express -- is what commends him to so many journalists. Obama might have a similar bottom line, core principles for which, in some sense, he is willing to die. If so, we don't know what they are. Nothing so far in his life approaches McCain's decision to refuse repatriation as a POW so as to deny his jailors a propaganda coup. In fact, there is scant evidence the Illinois senator takes positions that challenge his base or otherwise threaten him politically. That's why his reversal on campaign financing and his transparently false justification of it matter more than similar acts by McCain.</blockquote> This is an admirably honest admission by Cohen, one of the country's most highly influential political columnists. Yes, McCain has reversed course on most major matters, Cohen acknowledges, but McCain refused to do so under torture in Vietnam all those years ago, so it's OK. Appreciate this: Cohen does not attempt to refute those "magazine articles," but affirms their central premise. He explicitly says that policy reversals by Obama "matter more" than policy reversals by McCain, because Obama has not won the character primary, as defined by Cohen. He goes on to say that a "presidential race is only incidentally about issues. It's really about likability and character," noting that for Obama, "the character question hangs -- not because of any evidence to the contrary and not in any moral sense, either, but because he is still young and lacks the job references McCain picked up in a North Vietnamese prison." Being right about stuff like, um, the war, is not important to Richard. He's <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slate.com%2Fid%2F2186766%2F">written this too</a>:<blockquote> I was miserably wrong in my judgment and somewhat emotional, and whenever my resolve weakened, as it did over time, I steadied myself by downing belts of inane criticism from the likes of Michael Moore or "realists" like Brent Scowcroft, who had presided over the slaughter of the Shiites. I favored the war not for oil or empire (what silliness!) or Israel but for all the reasons that made me regret Bosnia, Rwanda, and every other time when innocents were being killed and nothing was done to stop it. I owe it to Tony Judt for giving me the French ex-Stalinist Pierre Courtade, who, wrongheaded though he might have been, neatly sums it all up for me: "You and your kind were wrong to be right; we were right to be wrong."</blockquote> So there you are. Right, wrong, issues, shmissues; it's character that counts, buster. Obama's is in question, but "not because of any evidence," -- though Cohen has noted in the past, he is the same color as Louis Farrakhan -- and "not in any moral sense," but because McCain was tortured in Vietnam. Got that? Or rather, as Gavin at Sadly, No! <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sadlyno.com%2Farchives%2F9750.html">summarizes</a>: "Apropos flip-flopping, the key difference between Obama and McCain is that McCain can get away with it. For instance, watch this." One more thing: Cohen is a "liberal." <a name=" " title=" "></a>Why does Amazon hate the Jews? This morning, I plugged in the word "Jews" to Amazon's search engine for books. Entry # 1 was The Jews and Their Lies by Martin Luther (Paperback -- December 31, 2004) Entry #3 was The Synagogue of Satan by Andrew Carrington Hitchcock and Texe Marrs (Paperback -- March 1, 2007) Just saying... <a name=" " title=" "></a>From TomDispatch: OK, you know about the Pentagon's Stealth bombers, and you probably know about its "black budget" as well (which swallows billions without accountability), but there's "another stealth side to the Pentagon -- the corporate side where a range of giant companies you've never heard of are gobbling up our tax dollars at phenomenal rates. <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomdispatch.com%2Fpost%2F174948">Nick Turse</a>, author of the single best book on how our lives are being militarized, our civilian economy Pentagonized, and the Pentagon privatized" -- The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives -- "now turns to the stealth corporate side of the Pentagon." He introduces TomDispatch readers to five "billion-dollar babies" and offers a glimpse into the larger black hole of military spending into which our tax dollars pour. While the giant weapons makers -- Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman -- are well known, who in our world has ever heard of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc (owned by billionaire investor Ronald Perelman), which took in $3,360,739,032 from the Pentagon in 2007 or the blandly named DRS Technologies, Inc, which raked in $1,791,321,140 that same year? So take a moment to meet five mystery defense companies in a series of striking snapshot portraits culled largely from their own corporate documents, including Harris Corporation, Navistar Defense, and Evergreen International Airlines, not one of them a household name in this country. As Turse concludes:<blockquote> Tens of thousands of defense contractors -- from well-known "civilian" corporations (like Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Dell) to tiny companies -- have fattened up on the Pentagon and its wars. Most of the time, large or small, they fly under the radar and are seldom identified as defense contractors at all. So it's hardly surprising that firms like Harris and Evergreen, without name recognition outside their own worlds, can take in billions in taxpayer dollars without notice or comment in our increasingly militarized civilian economy. When the history of the Iraq War is finally written, chances are that these five billion-dollar babies, and most of the other defense contractors involved in making the U.S. occupation possible, will be left out. Until we begin coming to grips with the role of such corporations in creating the material basis for an imperial foreign policy, we'll never be able to grasp fully how the Pentagon works and why we so regularly make war in, and carry out occupations of, distant lands.</blockquote> <a name=" " title=" "></a>Correspondence Corner: Name: Dan Smith Hometown: New York Hey Eric, I used to be a student at Northwestern and saw you speak a few years ago and thought of you in this situation: A friend of mine worked for the&#x