May 6, 2003
The title of Paul Krugman’s “Man on Horseback” article in the NY times refers to Gen. Georges Boulanger [who] cut a fine figure; he looked splendid in uniform, and magnificent on horseback. So his handlers made sure that he appeared in uniform, astride a horse, as often as possible.
Krugman goes on to make the obvious scary contemporary parallel:
....c'mon, guys, it wasn't about honoring the troops, it was about showing the president in a flight suit — was as scary as it was funny.
Mind you, it was funny. At first the White House claimed the dramatic tail-hook landing was necessary because the carrier was too far out to use a helicopter. In fact, the ship was so close to shore that, according to The Associated Press, administration officials "acknowledged positioning the massive ship to provide the best TV angle for Bush's speech, with the sea as his background instead of the San Diego coastline."
A U.S.-based British journalist told me that he and his colleagues had laughed through the whole scene. If Tony Blair had tried such a stunt, he said, the press would have demanded to know how many hospital beds could have been provided for the cost of the jet fuel.
But U.S. television coverage ranged from respectful to gushing. Nobody pointed out that Mr. Bush was breaking an important tradition. And nobody seemed bothered that Mr. Bush, who appears to have skipped more than a year of the National Guard service that kept him out of Vietnam, is now emphasizing his flying experience. (Spare me the hate mail. An exhaustive study by The Boston Globe found no evidence that Mr. Bush fulfilled any of his duties during that missing year. And since Mr. Bush has chosen to play up his National Guard career, this can't be shrugged off as old news.)
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When the movie “Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” came out, it seemed so stupidly far-fetched. Not anymore! And a website has been set up to launch a Dr. Strangelove movie festival to remind us how successful Bush has been in spinning America into a real life re-run of what was meant to be a reel-time spoof:
Pre-emptive strikes. Cowboy diplomacy. Men conspiring in the War Room, bent on world domination. Weapons of mass destruction. And most terrifying of all, an invasion begun for one overwhelming reason: precious fluids.
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Meanwhile, even though support is growing for the work of the national Bill of Rights Defense Committee, (last night the Common Council here in Albany discussed a resolution opposing provisions of the Patriot Act and will probably approve the resolution next week), the freedom to publicly express dissent continues to be suppressed. This lifted from John Leo's "Taking It Off the Streets."
Serious discussion about the rights of protesters is out of fashion right now, partly because the media prefer to focus on the low-level complaints of antiwar celebrities. But there are several troubling trends, among them what seems to be a policy of more and quicker arrests, the practice of banishing protesters to faraway sites, and a tactic that Jonathan Turley of George Washington University's law school calls trap-and-arrest.
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Peace is our profession on 07 May 2003
Operation Strangelove: On May 14th, host a screening (even if it's just for yourself!) of Dr Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)!
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Old Comments (2)
tim on 06 May 2003
I came to your journal from PeaceBlogs... have you heard about Faces for Peace? It's this online peace rally where people are posting their photos and antiwar statements etc. (18 countries so far)
http://www.facesforpeace.org
http://www.facesforpeace.org/mosaic.html
peace,
tim
Kate S. on 08 May 2003
I am very troubled by the fact that the American people are letting "OUR" government get away with this persecution of dissenters. Has it really been that long ago that we forgot about the Boston Tea Party? For crying out loud!
Hmmm....
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!