Links
Archives
Thomas Vorce reporting from Grass Valley, CA
Friday, April 30, 2004
Yesterday I was sitting in the car waiting while my wife shopped. I had nothing to do so I began to look for stations on the radio (here in the Gila the pickins are slim.) I came across a rock station in S.E Arizona that was doing oldies with slick upbeat corporate commercials (Sounds like Clear Channel to me.)
The DJ announced that the results of a recent survey from Iraq were in and 70% of those surveyed said anything would be better than Sadam Hussien. And 41% of all Iraqis said they are better off and more optimistic about the future of Iraq since the American occupation.
The day before yesterday I listened to a recent Pulitzer Prize winning journalist being interviewed for his coverage of Iraq. He was embedded with American troops and mentioned that it was too dangerous to go out alone. So how did the aforementioned survey get such “objective” results?
That afternoon I listened to Amy Goodman and heard that the survey results were just the opposite! 71% of Iraqis interviewed said that they would be happier if the US would leave Iraq. Well, what the Hell, maybe there are more defense contractors in Arizona.
We here in New Mexico are more liberal and in Santa Fe the information flows freely. While in Los Alamos and Soccoro, petit bourgeois scientists work 5 days a week on bunker busters and depleted uranium. And on weekends their wives go to garage sales of the economically oppressed who are not employed by defense contractors. Those scientists have IQ’s that are in the hundreds, while their values seem a bit oblique. Did it ever occur to them that there was something else they could do that might be more beneficial for humanity?
And I know they are good people because they go to Congregational church on Sunday and, of course, they buy my stuff at garage sales.
But we can rest assured. I understand they are going to reissue the draft. And they intend to conscript both men and women; no exceptions. How democratic is that? Of course, many young people are probably thinking, “There goes my career in the fashion industry!”
The DJ announced that the results of a recent survey from Iraq were in and 70% of those surveyed said anything would be better than Sadam Hussien. And 41% of all Iraqis said they are better off and more optimistic about the future of Iraq since the American occupation.
The day before yesterday I listened to a recent Pulitzer Prize winning journalist being interviewed for his coverage of Iraq. He was embedded with American troops and mentioned that it was too dangerous to go out alone. So how did the aforementioned survey get such “objective” results?
That afternoon I listened to Amy Goodman and heard that the survey results were just the opposite! 71% of Iraqis interviewed said that they would be happier if the US would leave Iraq. Well, what the Hell, maybe there are more defense contractors in Arizona.
We here in New Mexico are more liberal and in Santa Fe the information flows freely. While in Los Alamos and Soccoro, petit bourgeois scientists work 5 days a week on bunker busters and depleted uranium. And on weekends their wives go to garage sales of the economically oppressed who are not employed by defense contractors. Those scientists have IQ’s that are in the hundreds, while their values seem a bit oblique. Did it ever occur to them that there was something else they could do that might be more beneficial for humanity?
And I know they are good people because they go to Congregational church on Sunday and, of course, they buy my stuff at garage sales.
But we can rest assured. I understand they are going to reissue the draft. And they intend to conscript both men and women; no exceptions. How democratic is that? Of course, many young people are probably thinking, “There goes my career in the fashion industry!”
Saturday, April 17, 2004
All through the 70’s and 80’s I made it a point to be around Vets that came back from the war in Viet Nam. I was determined to do what I could and I drank with them, talked with them and opened my home to them whenever I could. It was often difficult and frustrating.
I had learned of soldiers who returned from WW II that had many of the same problems. They were often given morphine to reduce their tremors and many went on to use heroin when it was first seen as a cure for the morphine addiction they had acquired during the war.
The closest most of us have gotten to the battle scene is Copolla’s “Apocalypse Now.” I had hoped that we would have learned from that war but I was wrong. Someone is always trying to up the anty.
But that was then and this is now and I suffer to think what kind of basket cases this war is going to create. The conditions in Fulugia are unthinkable and the abandonment of values is complete. Once again, women and children and snipering at ambulances are part of the butchery of an occupying force (that is there to provide democracy.)
In the last twenty years public relations agencies have become very successful at euphemisms: using our language (that we so desperately need) to communicate special interests. Leaving communication so thoroughly compromised that the vernacular is the only thing that seems to account for anything.
Having eviscerated the liberal arts in America, capitalism has gone on to kill by the numbers. How many of us will forget the daily “body counts” on TV during the war in Viet Nam? Now it doesn’t even matter unless it’s one of ours and PR would prefer that we only do that for the record.
For the first time in my life I actually believe that we are wrong. And no amount a beating our chests will avail us of the inevitable. It is no longer an economic opportunity to join the army and become a killer because there are no jobs left in America. Where is the leadership that can rise to this occasion?
A major artery is about to break open and it will not be a condition to swoon over.
I had learned of soldiers who returned from WW II that had many of the same problems. They were often given morphine to reduce their tremors and many went on to use heroin when it was first seen as a cure for the morphine addiction they had acquired during the war.
The closest most of us have gotten to the battle scene is Copolla’s “Apocalypse Now.” I had hoped that we would have learned from that war but I was wrong. Someone is always trying to up the anty.
But that was then and this is now and I suffer to think what kind of basket cases this war is going to create. The conditions in Fulugia are unthinkable and the abandonment of values is complete. Once again, women and children and snipering at ambulances are part of the butchery of an occupying force (that is there to provide democracy.)
In the last twenty years public relations agencies have become very successful at euphemisms: using our language (that we so desperately need) to communicate special interests. Leaving communication so thoroughly compromised that the vernacular is the only thing that seems to account for anything.
Having eviscerated the liberal arts in America, capitalism has gone on to kill by the numbers. How many of us will forget the daily “body counts” on TV during the war in Viet Nam? Now it doesn’t even matter unless it’s one of ours and PR would prefer that we only do that for the record.
For the first time in my life I actually believe that we are wrong. And no amount a beating our chests will avail us of the inevitable. It is no longer an economic opportunity to join the army and become a killer because there are no jobs left in America. Where is the leadership that can rise to this occasion?
A major artery is about to break open and it will not be a condition to swoon over.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
True liberalism costs a fortune and maybe that’s the reason why the poor are so overweight. Here’s my drift. To be a liberal you have to have the time to think. And thinking is definitely not allowed unless you live in a community where exchange with something else besides television is a real possibility. When you watch TV you get the message that you should be eating or working out. If you took the time to think you would have to live in a privileged environment to do it.
That would probably be a university town or a place like Santa Fe, New Mexico (it used to be Aspen.) Either way it’s going to be an expenditure of bucks to take part in that forum. We all know how much it costs to go to college and study something else besides business. Have you ever tried to get a job when you have a liberal education? There are lots of rich people in Santa Fe who can afford to go to liberal events that are sponsored by the Lannon Foundation. But I have been there and I have done that. And I saw very few of them get a zealotry behind their revelations that would mean a thing in communities that were media strongholds for the new right. I fear it creates a tendency to preach to the saved and in the end becomes an ivory tower.
People who are rich that get together in plush hotels don’t talk about Picasso, Mozart or any ‘new wave.” They talk about money, and how to get more of it. There’s no mystery here. It’s the only game in town and the only value that means anything in the hear and now.
Having just returned from a short vacation in Tucson, Arizona, I have to admit that there is an active jazz scene worthy of the hippest attention. But behind all that are Republicans at work to get a tax write off for death. These people are going to make it through the eye of the needle or die trying, and the rest of the world can take hind tit. Tubac, which was once an artist’s community, has become a bank-financed home of bad taste boutiques before the locals could even begin to call the air their own. As you head back to Tucson, you see a huge sign (where there are no others) saying “One Nation, Under God.” And if you look real close at the small print it says that the message is brought to you by Clear Channel. Clearly a tax right off.
Let’s hope it’s a God that doesn’t enjoy diversity in media. But, what the hell, he would probably be a liberal god and we can’t have that. The tax write off for death wouldn’t work and Arizona Republicans wouldn’t be able to corner the market on paradise and do a Dunn and Bradstreet rating on desert sunsets.
That would probably be a university town or a place like Santa Fe, New Mexico (it used to be Aspen.) Either way it’s going to be an expenditure of bucks to take part in that forum. We all know how much it costs to go to college and study something else besides business. Have you ever tried to get a job when you have a liberal education? There are lots of rich people in Santa Fe who can afford to go to liberal events that are sponsored by the Lannon Foundation. But I have been there and I have done that. And I saw very few of them get a zealotry behind their revelations that would mean a thing in communities that were media strongholds for the new right. I fear it creates a tendency to preach to the saved and in the end becomes an ivory tower.
People who are rich that get together in plush hotels don’t talk about Picasso, Mozart or any ‘new wave.” They talk about money, and how to get more of it. There’s no mystery here. It’s the only game in town and the only value that means anything in the hear and now.
Having just returned from a short vacation in Tucson, Arizona, I have to admit that there is an active jazz scene worthy of the hippest attention. But behind all that are Republicans at work to get a tax write off for death. These people are going to make it through the eye of the needle or die trying, and the rest of the world can take hind tit. Tubac, which was once an artist’s community, has become a bank-financed home of bad taste boutiques before the locals could even begin to call the air their own. As you head back to Tucson, you see a huge sign (where there are no others) saying “One Nation, Under God.” And if you look real close at the small print it says that the message is brought to you by Clear Channel. Clearly a tax right off.
Let’s hope it’s a God that doesn’t enjoy diversity in media. But, what the hell, he would probably be a liberal god and we can’t have that. The tax write off for death wouldn’t work and Arizona Republicans wouldn’t be able to corner the market on paradise and do a Dunn and Bradstreet rating on desert sunsets.
