Gyroscope

A newsletter for those unmoved by spin.
No. 42, June 14, 2004

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by John Nordin
Sources worth exploring

Today I am too lethargic to come up with a theme for this essay. Or rather, to come up with any theme, any thing not leading back to yet another riff on the total disaster of Bush's foreign policy. So instead, may I recommend a number of sources that would be well worth your while to check out.

Michael Berube's blog has in recent days reminded us of the damage Ronald Reagan did to mental patients in California when he was governor, quoted a fable about how false warrior's create enemies and lead people into trouble so the people will turn to them for salvation (like Bush is suggesting that the best person to handle the mess in Iraq is the man who made the mess in the first place), and provided these words as useful, sarcastic, corrective to the claim that Reagan was the greatest president ever.

From the day he kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, with a stirring defense of states' rights, I knew that it would soon be morning in America again-- especially for us white people. Reagan's sunny optimism and traditional values brought America together again in a time of national self-doubt, and his decision to open his campaign in the little town where James Chaney, Andy Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered only sixteen years before, championing "states' rights" in a way that every Thurmond-loving Dixiecrat would understand, let us know that the period of Negro domination of government was finally coming to an end. ..... He was not a man who would let a little thing like the rape and murder of American nuns get in the way of an important hemispherical political alliance, and his willingness to bypass petty Constitutional technicalities in order to trade arms to Islamist mullahs in exchange for American hostages and divert the profits to the equivalent of the Founding Fathers in Central America will always mark him as a man of conviction and strength. Just as important, he was a fair and balanced man who knew when discretion was the better part of valor-- which is why, unlike so many of his shrillest critics, he never descended to finger-wagging and grandstanding when it came to our dealings with important allies like Iraq and South Africa. In so many ways, he paved the way for the restoration of American power and the global moral clarity we enjoy now.

The Political Strategy website aims to "provide political strategies, ideas and tactics for local progressive campaigns." For those of us who just follow the news, it collects headlines of interest and digs up interesting and ironic bits like the following.

When [Schwarzenegger] appeared flustered by a question posed by several television and print journalists on why he thought he was qualified to be governor, his stammering was interrupted by wife Maria, who responded, “Arnold is a leader. He has always been a leader.” Arnold took his cue, repeating emphatically, “I am a leader. I have always been a leader.”

The American Prospect is both a sometimes shrill, old-line liberal magazine and an interesting website. Too attached to the Democratic party for me, but a worthwhile read nonetheless. News like the following needs more attention, as an example.

In a stunning move last week, the Bush administration announced it was awarding a new, multimillion-dollar contract to a private company currently being investigated for abuse at the now-infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The print Atlantic Magazine this month has a very intelligent look at the upcoming presidential debate between Bush and Kerry as well as a debunking of Al Sharpton, showing him to be the blowhard you always knew he was. The debate peace warns against underestimating Bush as he has won every single candidate debate he has participated in - but so has Kerry.

The current issue of the Washington Quarterly has three significant articles on terrorism in general and al Qaeda in particular. The analysis of suicide terrorists needs to be read by anyone shaping our foreign policy as it unmasks a lot of myths about who it is that decides to blow themselves up.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies continues its publishing of in-depth reviews of important issues including a special focus on Saudi Arabia. Several articles on Saudi Arabia are good places to get a better grip on trends in that country than most mass media.

The Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq has a web site. It used to post regular updates on electric production, it no longer does so. Why? Because electric generation in Iraq is still not up to prewar levels, indeed in a recent week it was only two thirds of their objective. The trend has been flat for weeks and most of the country still has less than 8 hours of reliable power a day. The number of registered telephone users is about 80% of prewar levels. The detainee list in online as well, so the 40,000 people in Iraq with Internet accounts can see it.

On CPA weekly report page you can find this sentence.

For security reasons, there are no security reports.

I very much hope this is because someone there has a sense of irony.
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