Political MoJo

In It Together?

—By

| Thu Sep. 1, 2005 10:30 AM PDT

Yesterday, when Jonah Goldberg over at the Corner wrote this—

Several readers complain that it's in fact true that the hurricane will disproportionately affect poor people. I don't really dispute that in the sense most mean it. Yes, the poor will have special hardships. Obviously so. But what I objected to, and still object to, is the reflexive playing of the class card. Is it really true that some middle class retirees who heeded the advice of the government to leave town, only to watch their homes be looted after a lifetime of hardwork for a better life are suffering less than a poor person who lost his rented apartment?

—there wasn't much to say except, "Eh, it's the National Review." But now Jack Shafer of Slate points out that anyone watching TV coverage of Hurricane Katrina is likely to labor under the same confusion:

I don't recall any reporter exploring the class issue directly by getting a paycheck-to-paycheck victim to explain that he couldn't risk leaving because if he lost his furniture and appliances, his pots and pans, his bedding and clothes, to Katrina or looters, he'd have no way to replace them. No insurance, no stable, large extended family that could lend him cash to get back on his feet, no middle-class job to return to after the storm.

Right—it may seem odd that these things need spelling out, but as Goldberg's quote above shows, they really do. Add onto the list of Shafer's concerns the fact that, as public health and disease become increasingly important issues in New Orleans and Mississippi, the poor are the least likely to have access to care. The inevitable shortage of medicine and vital drugs—something as simple as insulin, for instance—in the post-hurricane period will likewise hit the poor the hardest, and people will die if nothing is done. Meanwhile, as the reconstruction process continues, health facilities and other social services in poorer neighborhoods are likely to be the last to be rebuilt. And so on and so on.

It's so especially critical that the media reports these things because otherwise, no one else will think of them. But Shafer's right: "When disaster strikes, Americans—especially journalists—like to pretend that no matter who gets hit, no matter what race, color, creed, or socioeconomic level they hail from, we're all in it together." That's just not true. And perpetuating that myth only leads to further confusion, like the big media "mystery" that not everyone in the city could just shell out $3,000 and leave New Orleans for a few months.

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Too Little, Too Late

Thu Sep. 1, 2005 8:31 AM PDT

Forgive me for playing the blame game but I am angry. I was angry before Katrina pounded New Orleans as the media calmly reported the "touching" personal stories of families who paid up to $3,000 to flee the city. I was angry at the images of those too impoverished to be able to afford to leave the city – New Orleans' poor, black community – as they filed into the Superdome to await their fate. I was angry yesterday when I heard that New Orleans was only just now being evacuated – a move that should have happened last week before the storm ever hit.

And I was angry last night to see the hypocrisy of President Bush flying over the area to express his shock and horror, knowing that in the last few years he and Congress have repeatedly cut federal funding for hurricane and flood protection to the city.

People may think it is inappropriate to play the blame game now when hundreds of bodies are being found dead. But it is not inappropriate. It is not inappropriate to point fingers knowing that this disaster was preventable. It is not inappropriate to point fingers knowing that the busses evacuating people from the city now could have been sent in before the hurricane hit, saving hundreds – maybe thousands – of lives. It is not inappropriate knowing that when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked for $27 million this year to help pay for increased hurricane protection improvements, that Bush responded by offering only $3.9 million.

Now whatever sympathy New Orleans residents receive, its too little too late. The damage has been done. And Congress and President Bush and people all over the country will try to alleviate their guilt by offering a meager handout saying, "We're so sorry you couldn't afford to leave. We're so sorry you didn't have a car. We're so sorry you could hire someone to drive you to higher ground."

And what will these handouts do? What will happen to the people in the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the hardest hit areas of the city? These people were already among the poorest in the nation, with over 36% classified as below the poverty level. Over half the population in this ward wasn't even in the workforce because they had given up looking for work. Now they will have lost everything they had. How will federal disaster dollars and charitable donations help them?

EDIT: I should note that what really matters in all of this is now becoming clear: the mayor has order 1,500 police to stop rescuing people and start going after looters. Because, after all, that would be the real tragedy in all of this if some Wal-Mart lost their property.

Director of FDA's Office of Women's Health resigns

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| Wed Aug. 31, 2005 7:30 PM PDT

Dr. Susan Wood, director of the FDA's Office of Women's Health, resigned today in protest of the agency's refusal to permit over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception. Last week, the FDA indefinitely postponed its decision over the matter, saying it wasn't sure about the safety of over-the-counter use by adolescents. In 2003, however, the FDA's own scientists declared the contraceptive drug, Plan B, safe for teenage girls. What short memories these bureaucrats have.

Since the Bush administration took office, it has repeatedly ignored its own scientists about global warming and pollution, and it was to be expected that FDA scientists would be ignored in the service of fake "pro-life" rhetoric. All over the nation, pharmacists refuse to fill prescriptions for morning-after pills, citing "the taking of a life" as the reason, when--if they really did graduate from pharmacy school--they know good and well that that is an out-and-out lie, and has nothing to do with the actual pharmaceutical process.

Or perhaps they, too, have really bad memories.

Controlling women's and girls' reproductive choices--controlling their bodies--has always been the first line of attack in the war against women. Determining who can have an abortion and why, who can use what kind of contraception, and what type of sexual assault is socially acceptable, is the most primitive aspect of rendering women powerless, and it is always done in the name of religion.

Women and girls who believe that their right to make decisions about their own body is guaranteed haven't been paying attention. It is a right they have already lost.

Katrina Donations

—By

| Wed Aug. 31, 2005 7:02 PM PDT

On the off-chance you haven't seen this elsewhere, Glenn Reynolds has a master list of charities and relief agencies that are helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina, if you would like to donate.

As a side note, I've been told that, when giving to an organization like the American Red Cross, it's often better to make the donation out to their "National Disaster Relief Fund" rather than the "Hurricane 2005 Relief," simply because ARC is required to spend the latter fund entirely on hurricanes, and if they get an overflow of donations for Katrina—as seems possible—they can't use the surplus for other, lesser-noticed disasters. Usually these organizations know best where to spend their funds, so I prefer to give them the flexibility, although obviously any sort of donation helps a great deal.

New at Mother Jones

—By

| Wed Aug. 31, 2005 12:25 PM PDT

Patriotic Pork
By Nick Turse
These days, the Army loves to eat out.

The Uninsured: 45.8 Million and Counting ...
By Karen Davenport, Center for American Progress
Yet again the number of Americans living without health insurance has increased.

Katrina's Real Name
By Ross Gelbspan
It's Global Warming.

The Middle Class's Lost Future
By Christian E. Weller, Center for American Progress
Americans need to save more -- and the government needs to make that easier.

The Other Abu Ghraib

Wed Aug. 31, 2005 9:35 AM PDT

It is Iraqi, it is smaller than a breadbox and it shares the same name as the infamous prison. Any clues? Another hint: its edible. Give up? It's a strain of wheat called 'Abu Ghraib,' indigenous to Iraq and once housed in Iraq's national gene bank. Indeed, once upon a time Iraqi farmers cultivated a multitude of wheat varieties, saving their own seeds from year to year specially selected and cross-pollinated to grow in the Iraqi region – a farming history stretching back over 10,000 years.

Yet through a variety of factors, much of this heritage has been lost – although the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas in Syria has been able to preserve a sampling of Iraqi developed varieties.

One might think that as the U.S. lead coalition works to rebuild Iraq, preserving this agricultural heritage would be of first importance – not only reconstituting Iraq's devastated farming industry, but also restoring the indigenous genetic varieties.

Instead, as a recent report notes, $107 million are being spent to turn Iraq into a U.S.-style high-yield corporate agriculture business. And instead of preserving the indigenous genetic heritage, new strains of genetically modified seeds will be introduced from the United States – strains developed and patented by U.S. corporations for profit. And of course, once the newly reconstituted Iraqi farms start to grow these patented GM strains, they will also need to purchase the corresponding pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals, also sold by U.S. corporations. Get the picture?

And thanks to Paul Bremer's orders that he put into place before leaving Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be able to save seeds from year to year to replant – after all, U.S. corporate interests must be protected, and so we must insure that Iraqi farmers will be required to buy new seeds every planting season.

I encourage you to read this entire article.

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I get a report from Camp Casey

—By

| Wed Aug. 31, 2005 8:05 AM PDT

I was not able to go to Crawford, but my friend Diana spent the weekend at Camp Casey, and was generous enough to take down my questions and to file a thorough report of what she saw and heard. Diana calls the experience an "encampment on the frontier of consciousness," and says she arrived in Crawford to the sight of restless natives:

…cruisin' the main drag in pick-up trucks and SUV's, spewing invectives with glee out the windows as if they were off to a big football game. Their banners screamed Bush is #1 and Jane Fonda and Cindy Sheehan: American Traitors. They painted Cindy's name on their horses' flanks and plodded them around proudly. Their ranks were mostly male, mostly with cans of beer in hand, smirking their superiority and disdain with every glance and gesture. The Haters were out in force, claiming their moral high ground with Bible verses on scrawled placards.

Amazingly, Diana reports, the detractors seemed invisible to those who arrived at the Crawford Peace House to support Cindy Sheehan and what she stands for. My friend was fortunate enough to ride to the camp with Sarah Oliver, a founder of the Crawford Peace House, who told her that Crawford residents generally "detest" the house, that law enforcement officials had been very helpful, and that—as far as she knew—no threats had been made against Sheehan.

Diana says she then entered a quiet, peaceful gathering of about 2,000 people whose sense of purpose allowed them to survive the sweltering Texas heat.

The presence of Joan Baez added a warm electricity that charged us all with the realization that our ideals of freedom and love are Timeless. Joan had an earthy, radiant beauty that glowed with compassion, sadness and stoicism. It was an act of generosity for her to be there, singing the songs that brought us older ones back to our roots and us younger ones onto the fresh ground of songs sung for peace and freedom. The moments that Joan shared onstage with Cindy Sheehan brought an extra glow to her face, lit up her eyes with what looked like a clarified happiness. At one point during her talk, Cindy said that what had happened in recent months in her life, the movement springing up in the wake of her son's death, was the most important thing that had ever happened to her. Joan responded with a sparkle, "Would you marry me, Cindy?"

Another highlight, according to Diana, was a surprise appearance by activist, author, and artist Russell Means, who acknowledged the leadership power of the women at Camp Casey, and who reminded everyone that a matriarchal society—because it is not fear-based—brings about a balance in which everyone's contribution is appreciated.

Camp gatherers enjoyed an array of delicious fresh food in what was described as a well-organized, smoothly-running operation that exceeded even the customary high level of Texas hospitality. Service was a guiding principle of the group, as expressed in its mission statement: "We will carry out our actions in a manner that reflects the world we want to create, and we will act in the service of what we love."

"Local television news media in Texas misses all of this," says Diana, "in favor of airing the pro-war views that match those of the owners of the airwaves. According to her, you had to have been at Camp Casey to have experienced what she calls a "centrifugal force being focused like a growing biosphere of higher consciousness out here in the middle of a pasture in Crawford."

My final glimpse of the Camp left me with a sense that it is important to act as if the whole world is watching, even if no one is looking: On the dirt road running the length of the Camp, a line of people formed, holding a massive banner that was about 3.5 feet in depth and a distance of at least one city block long. The banner read Support Our Troops: Bring Them Home. The gigantic banner was being held by at least 30 people, displayed to an endless empty field and a road kept almost entirely clear of passing cars by state troopers. No news helicoptors exist in the area, nor any air traffic whatsoever. It was a message being transmitted by good hearts, in belief that it will take hold somehow, even if nobody sees it.

Diana Souza is contributing her vibration to the morphic resonance of
Love from her home in a major city in Texas, where she teaches
communication arts, designs books and plays rock n' roll. You're
invited to visit her website at: www.art-temple.com

"Hurricane party" takes on new meaning

—By

| Tue Aug. 30, 2005 9:26 PM PDT

Though we are experiencing one of the worst hurricanes in the nation's history, this waterfront scene looks peaceful, elegant, and intact. That is because the Hotel del Coronado is in San Diego, far away from Katrina's devastating winds. It is also where George W. Bush spent last night, while thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama fled in snail-like traffic, searched for loved ones, swam through the streets, or hung out of attic windows, yelling for help.

While levees burst, a major New Orleans bridge came apart, buildings were swallowed by floodwaters, and looters took over the city, the National Guard was nowhere to be seen. To patch one of the levees, 3,000 sandbags were to have been dropped by Blackhawk helicopters, but they never arrived.

Though reading The Pet Goat while the country was under attack may have made Bush look inept, partying at an oceanside resort while Americans are losing their homes, their sources of income, and their lives is, at the very least, an example of shockingly poor taste, not to mention an abandonment of leadership. New Orleans is in a state of absolute chaos, despite the presence of a competent mayor and a competent governor. Hurricane Katrina has created a national disaster. Bush has done everything in his power to prevent the restoration of Louisiana's coast, and he has severely cut funding for hurricane protection. It is no surprise that he doesn't want to look Governor Blanco in the eye. But whooping it up at a resort while Gulf Coast states endure a living hell is a new low.

BAMNed If You Do...

Tue Aug. 30, 2005 5:07 PM PDT

For the record, By Any Means Necessary, the group whose appearance on FBI watch lists motivated Diane's post post, isn't the most-cuddly bunch out there. BAMN is a front organization for the Trotskyite Revolutionary Workers League. And calling themselves a peace organization is a recent framing device; previously, they've made their hay on "defending" affirmative action.

Hard to believe that something deserving to be called a Communist front-group exists in the U.S. these days, but it's true. In a past life, BAMN activists worked to infiltrate a pre-September 11, 2001 leftish-student conference that I helped organize, once it became clear that they weren't going to make much headway at the Rainbow/PUSH conference held across town. They didn't get far with us either, beyond briefly seizing the mic at a plenary session. But it gave a bit of a scare for the few of us in the know.

Nathan Newman wrote a good piece on the group a couple of years ago. There's more info elsewhere. Of course, those who really believe in civil liberties must hold fast even when the most repugnant groups exercise them. BAMN is really no terrorist organization—and certainly isn't one in the usually-understood context. But they probably aren't the most strategic group to pick as a civil liberties poster child.

FBI labels peace workers as potential terrorists

—By

| Tue Aug. 30, 2005 1:23 PM PDT

The ACLU has released an FBI document that identifies a Michigan-based peace group as a potential terrorist organization.

A few months ago, the FBI declared that so-called eco-terrorists and certain animal rights anarchists are more dangerous to America than right-wing militia groups and militant anti-choice groups. The animal rights and environmental groups in question--though they do engage in vandalism and break the law--have never been responsible for the death or maiming of anyone. However, their goals--if achieved--would have detrimental effects on large and powerful American corporations who depend on environmental destruction and animal torture in order to make money.

This return to Nixonian and Reaganite government spying and name-calling is no surprise. Enemies of the State are those who promote peace over war (that is to say, a sound foreign policy over Halliburton profits) and who promote anti-corporate policies.

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