In 1976, a teething-on-Watergate me predicted Gerald Ford would pardon Nixon, immediately nixing all investigations into the Nixon-Bush Gang's criminal activities. You patted me on the head and replied, "The People will stop at nothing to get the truth."

In 1980 I said that Reagan-Bush would bring the the rest of the Nixon Gang (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, et al) back into power. You just laughed and rolled your eyes.

In 1986 I told you that Reagan's scrapping of the Fairness Doctrine was a set-up for unfettered right-wing political broadcasting. You said Americans were too smart for that.

In 1988, I told you that Bush #41 would squelch the independent Iran-Contra investigation and win the election. You said, "Iran what?"

In 1991, I told you that Bush #41 would pardon all Iran-Contra felons at the end of his term- leaving him and Colin Powell off the hook. You said Americans would never stand for such an abuse of Presidential power.

In 1993 I predicted that a GOP Congressional back-bencher named Newt was aiming to change American politics, and the government, forever. You told me Gingrich was a big blowhard whose star would soon fade.

In 1995 I told you that Whitewater was a right-wing diversion, and would prove bogus in the end. You replied, "Wanna hang out at Starbucks?" (1)

In 1996, I told you that the Telecommunications Act would accelerate right-wing takeover of mainstream media- leading to large-scale propaganda against 'the Left'. You asked, "Who pays attention to that junk, anyway?" (2)

In 1998, I told you that the Nixon-Reagan-Bush Gang was pushing for pre-emptive war action against Iraq and other Middle East oil countries, and that corrupt Texas governor Son-of-a-Bush was being groomed for Election 2000; you gave me a blank look and muttered "That damn Clinton lied to me."

In 1999, I predicted:
* the right-wing packaging of low expectations, and Son-of-a-Bush as the bumbling but honest anti-Clinton- presented by a compliant press (3);
* a new Palestinian uprising before the election;
* a contested Presidential election, probably corrupted, leading to Son-of-a-Bush's installation in the White House.
You just chuckled and quipped, "George W is a real American phenomenon."

In January, 2000, I predicted:
* an immediate recession (4);
* the return to power of the Nixon-Reagan-Bush Gang;
* an Executive Order blocking the mandated 12th year release of the Reagan-Bush Presidential records;
* we'd be at war within a year.
You rolled your eyes and laughed, "You and your conspiracy theories!"

When I told you, BEFORE 9/11, that Son-of-a-Bush would launch a relentless assault against dissension and free expression;
when I told you, BEFORE Election 2002, that the Nixon-Reagan-Bush had already gamed the electoral process, and would continue to steal elections by little bits until busted;
when I told you that Bush Administration officials, even the President's family, were profiting financially from the Iraq invasion;
when I told you the Patriot Act was really being used to target anti-war and environmental groups, hadn't yet snagged a single convicted terrorist, and would eventually be voted Permanent;
and when I told you that elder German-American citizens, who'd witnessed firsthand the cultural ascension of the Third Reich, were declaring dejavu! in this America, you said, "Now you're being silly!"

I should stop telling you anything at all.

___________________________

NOTES:

(1) Two independent official probes (one initiated by the Senior Bush), an FBI investigation, and each of the THREE special counsels charged with getting to the truth about Whitewater reached the same conclusion- there was no substantial evidence that the Clintons ever profited from, knowingly aided and abetted, or tried to cover up any Whitewater funny business; one investigator actually wrote, "There's no 'there' there", after which he was replaced by Kenneth Starr.
(2) After the Act's passage, Sinclair Broadcasting- which formed as Reagan scrapped the Fairness Doctrine- grew from 11 to 62 TV media outlets, to reach a quarter of all Americans; Clear Channel, chaired and managed by Bush friends, former business partners, and major campaign funders, expanded from 24 to 1600 venues; and Australian Rupert Murdoch rapidly increased his FOX media monopolization without previous constraints against foreign ownership of public airwaves.
(3) Later we learn of pre-election meetings between Rove and five of the six media giants, in which he promised an industry-friendly FCC in exchange for press support; meanwhile, Editor and Publisher magazine reveals that although American journalists were more likely to support Gore, nearly 3/4 of editors and owners were supporters, even financial patrons, of George W.
(4) VP Cheney and George W began referring to the "looming recession" within a week of the Inauguration.

On Sunday I took a planned drive of a few hundred miles length. I thought it might be fun to compare cuurent events coverage on NPR (National Public Radio, National Pentagon Report, Negro-Proof Radio, what have you) with that of Boston's Progressive Talk (BPT- 1430 & 1200AM ). My experiment was admittedly unscientific (and biased), but simple enough in execution- at random intervals throughout the day, I would switch on first one radio station, then the other, and listen to each for five minutes.

Here's what I heard:

BEFORE NOON
NPR- Two hours of live-broadcast Christian worship, somber and dark, with church organ and heavy male intoning.
BPT- Two hour discussion about bio-diesel, and other petroleum alternatives, with US Senators, farmers, entreprenuers and industry experts.

EARLY AFTERNOON
NPR- This month's severe upsurge in Iraq violence is not an indication that the situation there is out of control; in fact, if you spread the number of recent attacks and American deaths out over the year, you'll see no increase in violence at all... Democrats have no unified message... And Cole Porter really rocks.
BPT- An in-depth look at the recently-passed bankruptcy bill, and how sticks it hardest to the seriously ill and veterans... Why won't America let Italy examine the car in which an Italian intelligence officer was killed, and a journalist writing about Fallujah severely wounded, by US troops?

LATE AFTERNOON
NPR- A controversial new play about the 1978 Jonestown 'cult suicides' (1)... An upbeat new White House report concluding the US Homeland terrorist threat is really, really low- proof that the Patriot Act is working!
BPT- An interview with a 12-year old environmental activist who is having a big impact on his hometown... A Bobby Kennedy Jr deconstruction of George W's 'intelligence reforms', showing how they cripple the CIA and leave Bush's own Pentagon intelligence unit without oversight... Condoleezza Rice's elimination of the National Counterterrorism Center's annual Patterns of Global Terrorism report, after the 2004 stats belied the Bush Administrations claims of progress in the War On Terror (2).

EARLY EVENING
NPR- Tony Blair and W may have been planning the Iraq invasion even while stating publicly they were exhausting diplomatic efforts... Then some Car Talk- homespun car wisdom and lots of fake laughter.
BPT- The London Times publication of the Downing Street memo, stating that not only was the Iraq invasion planned long in advance, but American intelligence was "being fixed around the policy"... Portions of newly-obtained/previously classified documents concerning VP Cheney's secret Energy task Force meetings contain detailed map of Iraqi oilfields, as well as basic outlines of distribution of fields to various oil companies.

NIGHT
NPR- Former Ambassador to the Vatican and current Veterans Administration chief Jim Nickelsen presents a glowing, hyperbolic tribute to Bush's VA, detailing the incredible work it does providing healthcare and support to our fighting sons and daughters; Nickelsen waxes eloquent about W's sincerity in honoring our veterans, America's gift of dignity to humans worldwide, and throws in a feww personal observations about the "spectacular" new pope, Benedict Ratzinger the 0.
BPT- Laura Flanders interviws Veterans Administration and GAO officials, who lament the Bush Administration's constant barrage of funding cuts to veteran assistance programs- as well as the continuing under-funding of the VA itself (3).

So... over there at reasonable, balanced and liberal NPR, Christianity rules, the war in Iraq is going swimmingly, Swing Era jazz is the peoples' music, and boy howdy, ain't the Republicans nice to veterans?

My conclusion: If you think of NPR as your primary news source, PLEASEDEARGODINTHENAMEOFALLTHATISHOLY- don't vote. Ever. Keep your cotton-filled head right there up your Liberal Ostrich ass.
__________________________

NOTES:

(1) The NPR report makes no mention of Reverend Jim Jones' extensive Republican political connections, or the fact that most of his 900 dead followers were minorities from the slums, and appear to have been shot, not poisoned.

(2) The National Counterterrorism Center's report to the State Department numbered 625 "significant" terrorist attacks in 2004- up dramatically form 2003's all-time high of 175. The statistics did not include anti-American attacks in Iraq, allegedly our "central front in the war on terror."
Knight Ridder reports that "The intelligence officials requested anonymity because the information is classified and because, they said, they feared White House retribution."

(3) This from the OperationTruth website: "The VA's UnderSecretary testified last year that the VA health care system needs a 13-14% increase annually to maintain the services they now provide. The Administration...provided for an increase of about 1% over the last year, and fell $2.9 billion short of the amount recommended by veterans groups...
"For veterans...the (monthly medical/medication) co-pay would double, and these vets would have to pay a $250 annual access fee...
"...new rules exclude hundreds of thousands of vets whose incomes are now considered too high to qualify for benefits. The income threshold depends on where a vet lives, but ranges between about $26,000 and $40,000 per year.
"The VA is planning a number of hospital closures as part of a larger "restructuring" plan. Originally, the VA intended to close at least 7 hospitals, but outrage from veterans' groups forced a re-thinking..."

I don't buy that "Poor old Colin Powell, he sure got screwed" shtick. As far as I can determine, Powell is not an otherwise-honorable man duped by the Bush Gang into pitching Iraqi-brand WMD snake oil. Seems he's been playing 'step'n'fetchit' for bigshots since back in the day, and will undoubtedly be treated kinder by history than he deserves.

After a short-lived but glorious combat career, Colin Powell was assigned to behind-the-lines military intelligence in Vietnam. There he kept rumors of wartime atrocities away from the Generals and out of the press. He was often brutal in his attempts to discredit and silence veteran whistleblowers (and nearly succeeded in squelching the My Lai massacre scandal).

Even more brutal was his 'Powell Doctine', which, at its core, advocates wielding overwhelming military force against civilians. This concept he developed and refined during combat.

In the '80s, Powell ran interference for the Senior Bush during the Iran-Contra probes, while overseeing illegal arms shipments to hostile terrorist countries like Iran. He escaped indictments for perjury, and worse offenses, thanks to Bush's Presidential pardons.

As an AOL board member and shareholder, Colin Powell benefitted handily from the AOL/Time Warner merger. While his FCC-ensconced son Michael was helping to grease the skids for the deal, Powell's AOL was discretely funding Internet muckraker Matt Drudge's smears against pro-regulation Democrats.

Then, during the buildup to the Iraqi invasion, Colin Powell blinked and shifted his eyes at the rate of twice per second (I counted) as he lied to the UN about the nature and severity of the Iraqi threat- reversing his previous public statements that US sanctions had ruined Iraq's ability to develop destructive weapons.

God knows what the Bush Gang promised Colin Powell going into Election 2000. A shot at the Presidency in '08, maybe, or a cushy Ambassadorship? He had been a close-mouthed and loyal defender of the Bush Gang since long before the neo-con ascension, and had lent a veneer of legitimacy to the Iraq invasion. But the Bushes do so love to knife their players in the back, and once he'd served his purpose, Powell found himself in the political dustbin with not much to say about it.

Even if I extend Powell what I consider the ultimate magnanimity- a concession that, relatively speaking, he was a more honorable man than many of the Beltway snakes he consorted with- he still gets not one drop of sympathy from me. At the end of the day, the most honest liar in town is still a liar.

I have a funny feeling a lot of my posts are going to run in this vein...

As Chairman of the Fed, Alan Greenspan is supposed to epitomize non-partisan stewardship of the economy- resolute in the face of shifting political winds, impervious to White House meddling. He is charged with crafting sound monetary policy, not with facilitating ideologically driven economic theories or greasing the skids for super-capitalists.

During the Clinton era, Greenspan rarely ventured onto White House turf. Maintaining the proper decorum, he met with the Administration a mere three times per year. Since W took office in early 2001, however, Greenspan has consulted with White House officials an average of 44 times annually. During the ramping up to the first Bush tax cut, Greenspan was a weekly White House guest.

In fact, Greenspan met with VP Dick Cheney at least 17 times; Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at least 11 times; National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice 12 times, and Chief of Staff Andrew Card six times. This exponential increase in communication with the White House represents a sea change in protocol.


Some days I think, "If you knock those silly spectacles off Alan Greenspan's knobby little face, he looks just like Mr. Magoo's evil twin- shyster shill, half-blind with greed (or blackmail) and cheerleading for the new Gilded Agers."