Michael Moore, Patriot

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Michael Moore banging his fists and dressing down CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Somebody’s got to do it. Not that I have anything against Blitzer specifically, but as an iconic member of the news media it took Blitzer and his counterparts years to finally ask the hapless, incompetent Bush Administration the hard questions that might have prevented the Iraq war in the first place.

As Moore pointed out to Blitzer in yesterday’s interview, they never asked “why”. Why were we going to Iraq? Why was there no plan to secure the country? Why was there no international support? And on and on.

At this point, the Bush Administration couldn’t find it’s way out of a cardboard box. And all but the most frightened, reticent, inflexible conservatives have concluded that Bush and his team are the most lame, corrupt and disastrous leaders of a lifetime.

But Moore and others knew this long ago, and their criticisms were either ignored or trivialized by Blitzer and his peers for the sake of political access while at the same time sacrificing truth and journalistic integrity.

Those who criticize Moore usually miss his point. Moore isn’t trying to be “fair and balanced” in his documentaries. He’s not a newsman - he’s a truth teller. Truth doesn’t always have or need two sides, despite the typical talk-show debate format we’ve all become accustomed to. There are issues that are so screamingly obvious and so tragically critical that it becomes imperative to place them squarely in front of the public and put them into sharp focus. Sure, he’s also an entertainer, but that’s what makes him such an effective communicator.

It’s almost comical to listen to the shrill, whiny voices of the status quo criticizing Moore. They almost always attack his appearance or label him with vague generalizations like “liberal nut job,” but seldom do they actually address his issues. Even CNN consultant Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who recently produced a critical piece on Moore, eventually had to admit that Moore got the overwhelming majority of his facts right in his recent movie “Sicko.”

For those who are too wealthy to use insurance, too poor to afford it, or too healthy to have yet needed it, “Sicko” exposes what the rest of us already know. That our health care system is a disastrous, disgraceful scam. It is hopelessly bloated and ineffective, except when it comes to making its top industry executives grotesquely rich. It delivers one of the worst care products among developed nations at the highest price. In other words, the system is horribly broken.

As a progressive visionary, Moore has put this truth into sharp focus. We don’t need to hear from executives from Big Pharma or the HMO industry to understand why the system is a mess, just as we don’t need to hear from the hijackers to know that 9-11 was an abominable slaughter.

If more Americans questioned the status quo, if more Americans held their politicians accountable, if more Americans denounced lobbyists and influence peddling, if more Americans were critical of the authorities and institutions that have such a direct impact on our lives, we would have a higher quality of life, greater liberties and a safer world.

Michael Moore has always known this, and has always put his money where his mouth is. I challenge his detractors to make their own films. They might be able to find a few people who like our health care system. They might be able to find a few citizens who think that Bush has done a good job. They might even be able to find a unicorn. But the fact that nothing has been done along these lines – that no compelling counterpoint exists to Michael Moore – tells us all we need to know. Michael Moore is telling us something extremely important. If that’s not patriotism, I don’t know what is.

- JT Compton

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Cheney's Family Jewels

While lying media whore Ann Coulter dragged Chris Matthews and Hardball into the gutter today on MSNBC, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was busy tackling serious issues.

Giving Coulter a platform to spew her hateful rancor – thinly and disingenuously disguised as “humor” – is as inappropriate as allowing Noah Wiley to speak about heart disease on a panel sponsored by the American Medical Association. Shame on Chris Matthews.

Meanwhile, Blitzer showcased one of the most fascinating and historically important developments in Washington since the Pentagon Papers: the publishing by the CIA of an internal expose entitled “Family Jewels.” Prompted in large part by Freedom Of Information Act requests, Jewels is a detailed accounting of cold-war era CIA excesses from the ‘50s through the ‘70s.

Though many details are still forthcoming, such excesses included employing the Mafia to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro, providing materials and assistance to domestic law enforcement, spying on domestic anti-war demonstrators and spying on domestic journalists who published sensitive government data.

Recall that the CIA is prohibited from operating domestically - the exclusive turf of the FBI.

Significant about this publication is the weight it gives those who have been screaming for decades that the CIA was involved in dirty and illegal deeds, and the shadow it casts over those increasingly ridiculous deniers who all along claimed that the CIA was a lily-white tower of patriotic virtue.

In other words, this tome is yet another example of how our nation does wrong while trying to maintain the illusion of doing right. This alone should underscore how crucial it is for dissent and criticism to play a central role in government and politics, because sadly, denying citizens their constitutional rights by placing them under illegal surveillance isn’t a thing of the past. The recent warrantless wiretapping scandals are proof. So is Dick Cheney.

As recently as this week Vice President Cheney claimed he was not subject to laws governing how the Executive Branch compiles and stores official communications…because he does not consider himself part of the Executive Branch! At least not today.

Setting aside the fact that Dick Cheney doesn’t want investigators and historians to read his emails and memos because they would reveal damning evidence of his blatant dishonesty, malicious temperament and disastrous incompetence, Cheney would rather insult the intelligence of the American public by claiming that he is above the law rather than complying with it.

While the CIA's Jewels are a chilling confirmation of the excesses of power and the ease with which the institutions of government can be co-opted into actions that are un-American, unpatriotic and against everything we say we stand for, Cheney’s malevolent authorizations of surveillance, rendition, unconditional detention and torture (the very same dirty laundry that the CIA is now admitting) are the most recent embodiments of power run amok.

The CIA did a great service to the nation by releasing this unflattering information. Hopefully it will motivate Congress to hold the Executive Branch accountable for its actions. Because until we hold our so-called leaders accountable for their misdeeds, nothing will change. Thanks to Cheney, the first step will be forcing the Bush Crew to comply with the law instead of holding themselves above it. Because few things are more disgraceful than leaders who hold themselves above the law. And as history confirms, few things are more dangerous.

- JT Compton

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Bullying Works

As historians look back on the Bush Mess, one of the great lessons will be that bullying works. Using lies, smears and misinformation, the Bush administration demonstrated that bullying is an extremely effective method of manipulating the political process and public opinion.

For example, when the Bush crew used the anguish and trauma of 9/11 to gain support for a nation-building scheme in Iraq, members of the media and Congress who questioned the policy were quickly accused of being unpatriotic, which shut many of them up. It was classic school-yard bullying.

When a seasoned diplomat exposed as fraudulent claims by the Bush administration that Iraq had been trying to buy Uranium from Niger, the Bush crew smeared his reputation and in the process exposed his wife as a CIA operative. Again, classic bullying.

When elections neared, the Bush crew pushed U. S. Attorneys across the nation to pursue voter-fraud cases against Democrats despite a lack of evidence, threatening the attorneys with termination for non-compliance. First rate bullying.

Further examples are legion. On virtually every issue, in virtually every instance, when faced with hard questions, the Bush administration went on the offensive using distorted accusations, character assassination, misinformation and personal innuendo rather than address the substance of the policy or decision being questioned.

If you attack the question or the critic, you’ll never have to give a straight answer!

Even today, their bullying tactics infect the national discourse. For example, when Congress recently voted to authorize funds for the continuing occupation of Iraq, the final compromise bill excluded a timeline for withdrawal. Pundits asked whether the bill would hurt Democrats, since, as CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry put it, the “left wing of the Democratic party” was against the war.

His comment, however, was a reflection of the lies and distortions the Bush crew and their minions have successfully bullied our media into accepting.

The “left wing of the Democratic party” is a smear phrase intended to trivialize and marginalize an issue or critic. Yet mainstream journalists use it ad nauseam because it creates a sense of conflict, and conflict generates ratings, even when the assertion is wildly inaccurate. In this instance, a large majority of Americans from both sides of the political spectrum want our troops withdrawn from Iraq immediately, not just “left wing” Democrats.

Here’s a note I wrote to CNN's Wolf Blitzer (Late Edition, 5-27-07) in response to Ed Henry’s remark:

Dear Mr. Blitzer,

Several times on today's show, your guests characterized the "left wing" of the Democratic party as being against the war in Iraq.

That characterization is stale, inflammatory and entirely false. The middle of the nation, both left and right, is against the war, and polls show that a large majority of our fellow citizens want our troops withdrawn beginning immediately. You, yourself, have mentioned polls which reflect this undisputed fact.

It would be accurate to say that a majority of Americans are against the war and want us out, spanning both Democrats and Republicans, left and right.

Until journalists stop using divisive, infotainment language like "left wing of the Democratic party" and use, instead, the FACTS, our nation will not get news, but rather a distorted editorial. Shame on your guests for skewing the national mood and keeping the dialog bound by distinctions that have become irrelevant to the issue. CNN should be better than that.

Bullying, by its nature, is divisive and polarizing. It creates dialog based on insinuation and stereotype, rather than on substance and logic.

Unless we reduce the infection bullying has produced, our political landscape will continue to be littered with distortions and divisions while the real issues remain on the sidelines, tragically unaddressed.

- JT Compton

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