Gesundheit, or should that be Thank You for Flushing

This guy has my beard and glasses. His name is Peter Kropotkin.

The Mountain Line is my usual transportation to and from work. Once every week or two, I drive in order to shop or run errands, after work. There's a copy of the Missoulian, on the bus, each day. The other day, there was a letter from someone totally pissed that liberal propoganda was being promoted in our schools. This individual cited the showing of two videos, as examples. One was an episode of Bill Moyers PBS program, and the other was an animated short about manufacturing and pollution, among other related topics.

Bill Moyers is one of my heros, but I haven't seen his new program and will not comment. The short, entitled The Story of Stuff, is at the first link under things I like in the column to the right. While the letter writer thinks it should be banned from the schools, I think it should be shown to every student in the country. It's a clever and informative piece, not a negative shriek about capitalism. Check it out, here.

It is time for an end of the year clearing of the decks, and taking a good dump, in order to get on to something new. Here's a batch of random facts, quotes, and such like to clear the air (and empty my note folder).

"Only he who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible. " --Umeyuno

Merchandise seen at Wal-Mart: A five pound bag of "Assorted River Rocks...Product of China," with a price of $2.99. I really want to know if someone living here would pay for river rocks from China.

"Apathy develops when disappointment becomes normal." I didn't write down who said that, but it feels true.

The average farm worker, in the U.S., makes $7,500 a year and dies at age 47, usually of pesticide poisoning.

400,000 people a year die from smoking cigarettes, in the U.S.

George II's recent snub of Helen Thomas reminded me of the little scandal, when one of the White House Press Corp, supposedly named Jeff Gannon, lobbed a particularly slanted, softball question at the president. Turned out he was the only employee of the news department of a Texas station owned by a right wing millionaire. In addition, Gannon was really named James Guckert, and had his own sideline, advertising gay escort services online. His signature photo showed him wearing only his dogtags and camo boxers.

Last century, it would have taken seven servants to equal what our modern conveniences do for us.

Confession: I'm a bit of a sports fan, having been sports editor of my high-school newspaper. I've followed some sports since then. I must say, there are too damn many bowl games. Six and six teams should not play bowl games. A winning record should be required. This year, the Pac-10 went five for five in bowl games, and both Oregon schools won upsets. My ducks came back to beat Oklahoma State. They were ranked fairly close, but unranked Oregon State nipping 20th ranked Pitt 3-0 was a surprise to some. Earlier, Arizona jumped on Brigham Young and blew up their season. Cal beat Miami; who cares? It was no surprise to see the USC Trojans clobber Penn State.

Approximately 600,000 Christians are among the 2.5 million refugees who have fled Iraq. That surge thing really worked, didn't it!?

The newest treat at the Arkansas State Fair was chocolate-covered bacon on a stick. Where do they come up with that stuff?

lyric on the radio: "...the road goes on forever, and the party never ends."

Confession: I am addicted to caffeine, not just caffeine, but real coffee. I saw a statistic saying 1.6 million hot beverage cups are trashed every hour in this country. That made me feel guilty. Steve, at Butterfly, suggested I buy one of their insulated cups, saying I could get it filled for 75 cents for as long as I have it, because they consider it advertising. That solved that itch, and the cup is still with me on a daily basis.

Plastic beverage bottles are clogging the land even faster than those cups. Two million bottles are used in the U.S. every five minutes. Think about it. I don't buy beverages in bottles or cans and have no guilt on this one, but the waste bothers me.

426,000 cell phones are "retired" every day in this country.

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Give a man religion and watch him starve to death praying for fish." --Scott Stockdale

The oracle repeats: Set your house in order, tend to business, be clear, and wait on the will of heaven.

The solstice is past, the darkness has reached its zenith, and the turning point meant the light will return. We may not notice, at first, but the days are getting longer. Next up: spring! There will be flowering leading to fruit, blossoming leading to beauty, and warmth leading to nudity. Well, I can always hope.

The wind up of the old is hereby handled. Onward and Upward. Where's some music? Oh, I know...

Coming up soon: Tom Catmull plays Artini at MAM, and Bob Wire @the Union Club.

Flashback: Memphis--January, 2007

The reason I am bringing up the National Conference on Media Reform, which I attended last year in Memphis, is the annual event will take place in Minneapolis, this year, the first weekend in June. That's only four weeks away, beginning on Friday, June 6. Since last year's conference was such an eye-opener for me, I want to recommend the event to anyone interested in media.

Six corporations now control the vast majority of news outlets, in this country, and the truth now takes a back seat to corporate profits. Once upon a time, long ago, news was a public service offered to inform the citizens of this republic. Now, it serves the interests of the rich and powerful. It was embarrassing the way the fourth estate promulgated the falsehoods of 'W' and his neo-con cronies, during the run up to the Iraq invasion. Few asked the important questions, and those few became my heroes. I met some of them last year.



Amy Goodman hosts Democracy Now! Her integrity won't let her kowtow to those in power, and her honesty is refreshing in today's culture. She will return to this year's conference. Bill Moyers said, "She goes where there is silence, and she breaks the sound barrier."

Amy told me a story, which made me weep and made plain she has more balls than I will ever have. After our president at the time gave Indonesia approval to invade East Timor, Amy went in to cover the story. The Indonesian army murdered numbers of civilians. During one incident Amy and her camera man placed themselves between a group of civilians, attending a funeral for a previous victim, and soldiers preparing to kill more. Acting as if they were broadcasting live, they hoped to prevent another slaughter, but the ploy didn't work. Some soldiers bypassed them and shot another 200 innocents, while others beat Amy and her partner into the ground with their rifle butts. Years later, when independence was regained, she returned to East Timor for the celebration. She recounted how, by the light of the fireworks in the night sky, she saw tears glistening on the cheeks of people around her.

Democracy Now! can be seen in Missoula on Mcat, cable channel 7, M-F.

Amy, and her brother David, have written three books. The latest is Standing Up to the Madness.
Susan Stephens, on the left, asked to have her picture taken with Helen Thomas, a hero to both of us. Susan is news director of Illinois Public Radio, and Helen is the doyenne of the White House Press Corp.

When 'W' swaggered into the white house, and corporate media began to lick his cowboy boots, Helen Thomas was one of the few who continued to ask tough questions. The white house tried to kick her out of the press conferences, but seniority and respect won that battle. Since then, the conference room has been remodeled, Fox News and CNN representatives seated front and center, and Helen's seat moved back a row.

I consider the media reform movement the most important of all causes, because all other movements are dependent on getting their messages out and can do little when big media ignores them. Greens are fighting a losing battle to keep our national parks from being sold to the highest bidder, because the corporations making profits from our public lands buy more advertising from the media. Pharmaceutical companies have increased their profits by buying huge amounts of advertising touting the benefits of products, which have not been properly tested, which actually cause more problems than they solve and which can cause death. Now they are claiming immunity from any liability and our courts may give it to them, while the media downplays the problems. Common cleaners, found in most homes, include ingredients which cause health risks, but, again, advertising dollars trump truth. The list goes on and on. Do I need to even mention all the Bushit about the war in Iraq?

Yes, I must mention one more story from the war. Jane Fonda was at last year's media conference, and she explained why she had to speak out. For years, she had not taken any public stand on any issue, for fear of provoking the opposition, due to her unpopular anti-war rhetoric and actions during the Vietnam mess. She could no longer stay silent she said and proceeded to tell the story of Abeer al-Janabi.

Abeer was 14 years old, when a group of American soldiers took turns raping her, before killing her, her parents and her sister. The soldiers attempted to hide their actions by burning the house and bodies. Then they went back to their barracks for more booze and BBQ.

That story didn't get as much coverage as Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction."
"We need a media that strengthens democracy, not a media that strengthens the government. We need a media that enriches the public discourse, not one that enriches corporations." --Jane Fonda.