A Brief Look at the Right-Wing Media

I could spend today talking about the massive pro-Syria rally in Lebanon or Bush's failing efforts to sell his privitization scam, but that's too easy. Instead, let's look at some of the people who feed the conservative movement:

William F. Buckley Jr. - Reacted to being called a ‘crypto-Nazi’ by becoming violent and homophobic. Actually is a crypto-Nazi, if his hatred of gays, Jews, and his love of despotism are any clue.

Jonah Goldberg – Barely fifth rate; he’s not even interesting. Has absolutely nothing to say yet continues to milk his connection to the whole sordid Lewinsky affair. Wrote articles from a Jewish perspective for years before admitting he had never considered himself Jewish in any way. Pathetic.

George Will – Pretentious idiot. Thinks he can prove he’s smarter than you by cramming quotations into his lousy articles. Once wrote a piece pining for the days when people with HIV would wither and die in only a few years; bemoaned the fact that these newer, more effective AIDS drugs would “lead to a lack of understanding about the danger” of HIV. More out of touch than Louis XVI.

Ann Coulter –Too many things to mention; Coulter is essentially Hitler with boobs and a blond wig. Before you accuse me of playing the Hitler card indecently, I might remind you that Coulter has called non-white people ‘savages’ and talked at length about ‘the benefits of fascism’. So maybe I’m not so off-base.

Laura Ingrahm – The poor man’s Ann Coulter, by which I mean they’re both whores (no disrespect to whores, of course). Claimed that being ‘elite’ had nothing to do with wealth or power, making a pro-choice homeless man more elite than President Bush. Also said that art is useless unless it enforces the status quo.

Michael Savage – Actually mentally ill. Claims to hate gays, but writes homoerotic prose and lives in San Francisco. Calls people ‘sheeple’, Ruth Bader Ginsburg ‘Ruth Badgirl Ginsburg’, Madeline Albright ‘Secretary of Hate Halfbright’ and third-world countries ‘turd world countries’. Hilarious.

Jeff Gannon – A sad shell of a man. Used a fake name and phony credentials to pretend to be a journalist so he could ask Bush ridiculously slanted questions. Now, he operates a blog (under his fake name) and essentially reprints White House press releases. Maybe he should go back to being a prostitute; I hear he’s got 8 inches.

Rush Limbaugh – A sad puffball of a man. Spreads right-wing lies on the radio hours and hours every day, and what does he get for it? Drug addiction, three divorces, a recurring weight problem, and his arch nemesis is gaining on him in the ratings. To top it off, Mr. Snerdley doesn’t even exist.

Sean Hannity – Indistinct party hack. Writes crappy books, has a crappy radio show, and does whatever the GOP tells him. Treats squirrel-man Alan Colmes like his pet poodle, which I suppose is right.

Thomas Friedman – Graduated Brandeis, alas. I count him as right-wing. Why? He blithely shrugs off the monetary and human cost of our involvement in the Middle East; then says we invaded Iraq ‘because we can’ without choking on his own shame. Reacts to tough questions by running off the stage.

David Horowitz – I didn’t like him when he was a Stalinist and I don’t think he’s changed. Spreads ridiculous lies about my professors and my school. Thinks that drawing a line in Javascript between people proves that they’re part of a conspiracy.

Bill O’Reilly – His idea of ‘debate’ is to scream at you for ten minutes and then cut your mic off when you try to respond. Claims to have won Peabody awards, been a college football star and served in combat when he did none of those things. Contradicts his own mother about his childhood and expects no one to notice. Told the son of a man who died on 9/11 to “get out of here before I tear you to fucking pieces.” Wrote the world’s worst sex scene. Also, ‘falafel’.

Oh Saddam, where are you hidin'?

Saddam's spider hole capture was staged by the US military?

An alleged ex-Marine who claims to have participated in the capturing of Saddam Hussein says the public version of his capture was fabricated, United Press International is reporting.

Former Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh was quoted in a Saudi newspaper as saying the ousted Iraqi president was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army, according to UPI.

"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," the UPI report quoted Abou Rabeh as saying.

The Pentagon denies it, of course. This could be a complete hoax, or it could be something big. Stay tuned for further details.

Their Heart’s Blood Dyed to Every Fold

An Italian journalist named Giuliana Sgrena was taken hostage by Iraqi insurgents, but her ransom was paid by the Italian government, and she was on her way out of the country when her convoy was attacked by US forces.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-03-05-iraq_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

Giuliana Sgrena, who writes for the communist newspaper Il Manifesto, described how she was wounded and Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was killed as she was celebrating her freedom on the way to the airport. The shooting Friday has fueled anti-American sentiment in a country where people are deeply opposed to U.S. policy in Iraq.

"I remember only fire," she said in her article. "At that point a rain of fire and bullets came at us, forever silencing the happy voices from a few minutes earlier."

Sgrena said the driver began shouting that they were Italian, then "Nicola Calipari dove on top of me to protect me and immediately, and I mean immediately, I felt his last breath as he died on me."

Suddenly, she said, she remembered her captors' warning her "to be careful because the Americans don't want you to return."

The U.S. military said the Americans used hand and arm signals, flashing white lights and fired warning shots to get the car to stop. But in an interview Saturday with Italian La 7 TV, Sgrena said "there was no bright light, no signal." She said the car was traveling at "regular speed."

Italian military officials said two other agents were wounded, but U.S. officials said it was only one. The agent who was killed, Calipari, had led negotiations for the journalist's release.

So, did Snegra’s car go too fast and ignore warnings from American troops?

I don’t know. But it seems fairly unbelievable to me that US troops would be unaware who was in that car and why they were speeding. Snegra claims that she may have been targeted because the US disagrees with Italy’s policy of negotiating with terrorists. Yet is also seems amazing that the military would resort to something so crude and obvious. Maybe they assumed no one would believe a Communist.

Either way, it’s going to be a big headache for the pro-war government of Silvio Berlusconi. The slain Italian officer had a huge funeral in Rome yesterday, and anti-American sentiment is quite high.

Marx in Soho, Zinn at Brandeis

Just saw ‘Marx in Soho’ by Howard Zinn. It's a one-man show, and the idea is that Marx has been given an hour and a half to return to earth to defend himself, which he does via an extended lecture/performance. Among his denunciations of capitalism, his fury over the corruption of his ideas, and complaints about the boils on his ass, there are plenty of stories about his personal life mixed in. Prominent among these are anecdotes about his youngest daughter, Eleanor. He fondly recalls how she broke the law against working on Sunday by holding a concert for 2,000 people where musicians played Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven. The police could do nothing, and Marx notes:

“This just goes to show you; if you’re going to break the law, do it with 2,000 people. And Mozart.”

The show ends thusly:

“I still have hope for the future. We all just need to get off our asses and DO something. Here’s an idea: once in a while, pretend as if you have boils. Refuse to sit down or stand still.

Ah, my time is up. But never fear – think of this as the Second Coming. But instead of Jesus, they sent Marx.”

The author himself was sitting right behind me. Before the show started, I asked him when capitalism would heave its last. This is what he said:

“I don’t know. I really don’t. But it’ll happen. Capitalism is a sick system; you don’t need me to tell you that. Just look at the differences between rich and poor in this city or any city. Everyone – the media, the politicians, the education system – they all say capitalism has triumphed. Triumphed over whom? And for those who say that human nature is against Marxism, I disagree. Certainly human nature has tremendous capacity for terrible things. But there is greater capacity for kindness, compassion, affection and love. Just look at our supposed love of war. People have to be coerced, bribed, threatened, and incited to have any part in it. Socialism, Marxism, whatever you wan to call it – it believes in humanity. Capitalism does not. And if history teaches us anything, it’s that anything can happen.”

Something to think about, at least.

Just to Clear THAT Up

We [see] that Chomsky justified Faurisson's Holocaust-denial, we [find] Chomsky publishing his own books with neo-Nazi publishers, we [see] him writing for a neo-Nazi journal, we [see] that the neo-Nazis promote Chomsky's books and tapes together with the works of Joseph Goebbels.

- Werner Cohn, "Partners in Hate: Noam Chomsky and the Holocaust Deniers"

What? Noam Chomsky, the Zionist Jew, allied with Holocaust deniers and Neo-Nazis, or even a Holocaust denier himself? Say it ain’t so, Noam!

Well, it ain’t so. What Cohn is referring to is the notorious Faurisson Incident, in which literature professor Robert Faurisson wrote a book claiming the Holocaust didn’t happen. Not surprisingly, there was a substantial uproar. Faurisson was suspended from his post and sued for defamation.

This is where Chomsky comes in. He wrote an article entitled 'Some Elementary Comments on the Rights of Freedom of Expression', in which he says that we shouldn’t legally prosecute people for publishing historical fallacies, no matter how grave. So far as Chomsky is concerned, this is entirely a free-speech issue. Of course, this put him in the unfortunate position of being positively linked to a Holocaust denier. Things became even hairier when Faurisson used that same essay as the preface to his next book (WITHOUT Chomsky's permission). Guilt by association, and so, Cohn’s book.

Werner Cohn then went on to accuse Chomsky of both writing an article with ‘historical revisionist’ (read: another Holocaust denier) Paul Guillame and using revisionist publishing house Ville Taupe for the French edition of his works. In this letter, Chomsky crankily notes that he has never written anything with Paul Guillame, and that he takes no notice of who publishes his works in translation.

Chomsky ends the letter in characteristic style:

That Cohn is a pathological liar is demonstrated by the very examples that he selects. Knowing nothing about him, and caring less, I am in no position to comment further on what may lie behind this odd and pathetic behavior.

Sincerely yours,
Noam Chomsky