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O SHIP OF STATE
Our voyage gets rockier and rockier as we pitch and yaw in all directions. The truth is out there but nobody tells us much back here in the hinterlands. We only learn about it when it is exposed by chance. Those Downing Street Memos exploded on every media except ours for weeks before the hue and cry from grass-root blogs caused hasty, unbelievable explanations from a media that mostly read from the same page. "We didn't print or talk about those Memos because they were old news. Everyone in D.C. has known for ages that the Iraqi war was planned in advance of 9/11 and that intelligence was jiggered to provide a plausible and scary excuse for preemptive war." So, why weren't we out in the boonies let in on this? Wouldn't it have constituted a huge news story that would cause opposing networks to vie for the scoop? Not for most reporters that are scared of losing access to the White House. "Pliant American press behaving like Pravda in coverage of U.S. president," observes the Toronto Star. Recently newsman, Lawrence O'Donnell announced that Karl Rove was the primary source of the Valerie Plame betrayal. Plame was a covert CIA operative who was exposed in print by newsman, Bob Novak. He used her name and I.D.'ed her as a CIA agent in an article he was writing to cast aspersion on her husband, Joseph Wilson. The outing of Wilson's wife was retaliation against Wilson because he exposed a Bush lie concerning yellow cake in Niger. Leaking information about a clandestine operative of the CIA is a felony, but the Bushies were very slow to investigate, discover or punish the leaker. O'Donnell claims that Rove was the leaker, and that his criminal act was known around D.C. by everyone. Again, most of the country only knew that Novak wrote the article exposing Plame and was not punished for it. And just this first week in July, Judith Miller of The Times has been sentenced to jail and Matt Cooper of Time magazine was given permission by his source to testify. Cooper and Novak both published the information about Plame that they received from their source. Judith Miller did not, yet she was jailed because she refused to give up her source. Scary business this. We depend on the press to keep us informed and to root out the evils that exist in the halls of the powerful. But it seems more and more that the powerful can stymie even the most persevering individuals in the media. Now the terrorist mobs that Bush stirred up by his preemptive Iraqi war for oil have struck our British friends. Bush and his buddies, with the aid of his captive media, have been quick to turn it into a vehicle to carry 9/11 fears in nearly every sentence. That is to get us all softened up for more patriot acts restricting our freedom with more destruction of the Constitution unless we resist this slippery slope into fascism. Just know that hope is essential to Americans. Already campaigns are gearing up to replace Republican Representatives to Congress with Democrats in '06 when every one of them faces reelection. We are speaking out, we are fighting back. But above all we must echo the great poet, Longfellow and make our faith in our country triumphant over our fears. We'll remain strong in our belief in our country and sail on to take our ship of state back; restore it's morals, it's environment and it's place in the world as a peaceful, caring nation. Fear not each sudden
sound and shock, excerpt from O Ship Of State by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 2005-028 Copyright 2005 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: gapperserve@peoplepc.com. G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M |