TonyPalmeri.Com Update For July 25, 2005
Having done a bit of biking this summer, I've developed a new admiration for Lance Armstrong. Winning the Tour de France for the seventh time has to be one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of sports. Rumor is that Lance might run for governor of Texas someday. If he wins, expect Sheryl Crow to sing at the inaugural: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/2005/07/12/gallery.crow/content.3.html
1. Oshkosh Troop Withdrawal Referendum: The Winnebago Peace and Justice Center and the Lake Winnebago Green Party have launched an effort to get a referendum question on the April, 2006 ballot. The question is: "Should the United States begin an immediate withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, beginning with the National Guard and Reserves?"
The Gannett Northwestern had a truly horrendous editorial coming out against the referendum movement before it had even really started (the editorial was almost as bad as the one from a few years back in which they suggested that opponents of Tax Incremental Financing were on a par with Cuban communists, or the one from last year in which they framed the American Medical Association coming out for national health care as some kind of socialist plot, or the more recent one in which they argued that professors could show "leadership" by teaching more classes because hey, at least one prof has time to host tv and radio shows, manage a website and stay otherwise involved in the community.). The worst part of the editorial was that it argued (?) that we already had a referendum on the war in the November elections. That elicited this response: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/referendum2.htm
It would be nice to see someone in county government to take some leadership on this issue (don't hold your breath--that's the all talk, no action unit of government around here, especially among the self-proclaimed "reformers").
Anyone who would like to get involved in the referendum drive should contact:Bob Poeschl, Winnebago Peace and Justice Center, bob@bobpoeschl.com or Ron Hardy, Lake Winnebago Green Party, ronaldkanehardy@babblemur.com
2. The Revolutionary Church. In 1969, the Congregational Church of Watertown, WI purged itself of a radical minister named Alan Kromholz. The story has relevance for today, as I note in the August Media Rants column: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/mediarants40.htm
3. Schroeder on PBS: My colleague Andrew Schroeder from the Radio/TV/Film program at UW Oshkosh wrote the cover story for the July 2005 Valley Scene on "Is PBS the next Fox news channel?" Great piece. Check it out: http://www.valleyscene.com/cover.html
4. Unions Bolt AFL-CIO: Well, it finally happened. Four unions representing about one-third of the national AFL-CIO membership are bolting. The secessionist movement is rooted in frustration with the AFL-CIO's failure to grow the union movement and lack of success at electing pro-union candidates to office. I would say that running for office as a third party candidate gave me a new (and disturbing) look at union leadership. The uncritical support of ANY Democrat who chooses to run, the disrespect shown toward pro-labor independent and third party candidates (I've been a public university teacher for more than 20 years, yet the state's largest teachers' union would not even interview me when I ran for office as a Green last year; what a pathetic example to set for students), and the failure to hold the Democrats accountable are all blueprints for a quick demise. They keep getting sold out and yet they keep coming back for more abuse, under the specious theories of "lesser evil" and "third parties can't win."
I would argue that if the SEIU, UFCW and others breaking from the AFL-CIO continue to just keep supporting Democrats no matter what, they'd probably be better off just sticking with the AFL-CIO. If they announce that from now on, WE WILL SUPPORT CANDIDATES THAT MOST SUPPORT WORKING PEOPLE REGARDLESS OF WHAT PARTY LABEL THEY WEAR, then they will have accomplished something worthwhile. But I'd be shocked if they went in that direction. Here's a story about the breakup: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050724/D8BI21R80.html
5. Bill C. Davis For Congress. The race for Connecticut's 5th Congressional District in 2006 will be a good early test for the new labor movement. In that district, Republican incumbent Nancy Johnson will be running against a moderate Democrat and Green Party candidate Bill C. Davis. Mr. Davis is an award winning playwright, political activist, and about as pro worker as you can get. Here's his bio: http://www.billcdavis.com/biography.htm Let's see if the unions even talk to Davis.
6. Oshkosh Native in Afghanistan. The ABV Army Times is receiving dispatches from Colin Crowley, an Oshkosh native in Afghanistan working for a relief agency and making a film: http://www.geocities.com/abvarmy/LIA.html I've met Colin, who is a great guy and probably won't end up like Jihad Johnny Walker Lindh, the 21st century schizoid man/American Taliban: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/walker/profile.html
7. The Logic of Suicide Terrorism. Did you notice that after the London bombings the major media reverted back to the "they hate what we stand for" frame to explain the violence? "Expert" after expert was trotted out to make sure that viewers would not even conceive of the possibility that the bombers might have political motives. They are just crazed killers (the word "nihilist" keeps popping up). Yet not even the American Conservative magazine buys it. They recently interviewed professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago, who argues that the main reason for suicide bombing is the western occupation of Muslim land. He has lots of evidence to back up his claim too: http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html
8. "New You" v. New York. One of the suspects in the most recent attacks on London was said by all the major media to be wearing a "New York" sweatshirt. Some even used the evidence of the New York shirt to argue that the alleged attacker was motivated by something related to the 9/11 attacks. A critic decided to crop the photo and look at what he discovered: http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2005/07/new_you.html
9. "I saw both of the bombs and lived": As we approach the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima, stories like Kazuko Sadamaru's take on an added poignancy: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1535061,00.html Lynn Eden, who wrote the book Crisis in Watertown that is the basis of the August Media Rants column mention above, has also written an excellent book on nuclear weapons, Whole World on Fire: Organizations, Knowledge, and Nuclear Weapons Devastation (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
10. Doyle fell for the scam. Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez did an excellent segment the other day on corporate perk scams, including the singles sales factor formula for big business that Jim The New Democrat Doyle rammed through the Wisconsin legislature (with unanimous Republican support and many Democrats). I think Doyle was scammed: http://www.tonypalmeri.com/scam.htm
11. None Dare Call It Stolen. In the August issue of Harper's
(not online) Mark Crispin Miller has written an excellent summary
and analysis of the evidence of vote fraud in Ohio last November. (Did you know
that 26 state exit polls incorrectly predicted Kerry would win? Miller reports
that the odds against that happening, according to the National Election Data
Archive Project, were 16.5 million to one. Hmmm). He is most upset at the press's
failure to treat the topic with the seriousness it deserves, making electoral
reform much more difficult. His last paragraph sums up the case nicely: "In
this nation's epic struggle on behalf of freedom, reason, and democracy, the
press has unilaterally disarmed -- and therefore many good Americans, both liberal
and conservative, have lost faith in the promise of self-government. That vast
surrender is demoralizing, certainly, but if we face it, and endeavor to reverse
it, it will not prove fatal. This democracy can survive a plot to hijack an
election. What is cannot survive is our indifference to, or unawareness of,
the evidence that such a plot has succeeded."