Vice President of Torture

I think it was great (Friday, Nov. 18th) when Adm. Stanfield Turner, former CIA Director, called Cheney "...The Vice-President of Torture.... " So who may I ask is the President of Torture?

SRaphael

Bob Woodward and Company

It appears that Bob Woodward, the reporter who was partly instrumental in bringing down Nixon and company by using his "Deep Throat" source and keeping that mouthpiece a secret for thirty years has got himself deeply involved in the Bush Whitehouse "Plame affair" recently apologizing to his newspaper The Washington Post that he did not reveal information in a timely way that he knew about a source who told of CIA agent Plame/Wilson's existence and in effect "outed" her as a covert agent before Scooter Libby, Cheny's right arm guy, is accused of doing it by the new independent prosecutor, Fitzgerald, who is investigating Bush's people on this score including Rove and Cheney.

Bob Woodward looks a lot like Judith Miller in this instance. Miller is seen as a sell out to the Bush administration. It appears Woodward is trying to protect Libby and perhaps, others close to the Whitehouse and close to Bush. I am not sure if that is one and the same or not. One wonders who is running the Whitehouse Bush or these "other" people who seem to come right out of a cloak and dagger novel. Cheney standing up for torture, Rove concocting ways of keeping Bush, the empty head, appearing "right' to the public, Rumsfeld bowing to and doing PR for the NeoCons, a brutal mob of imperialists, or is he one? Why in the world does it appear that Woodward wants to associate with these characters is beyond my comprehension.
I know he is writing a book about Bush and has been given easy access to information. perhaps, in exchange for his cooperation, a deal made with the "Devil" I would think. Only time will tell or is it as easy as understanding Woodward has been corrupted and just got too close to his sources just like Judy Miller. Let's hope it is something else but right now I doubt it is anything too deep.

Two Newspapers That Let Us Down

So what mainstream paper do I read now? The New York Times has the Judy Miller reputation to live down and now the LA Times has fired its most liberal journalist Robert Scheer after 30 years with the paper. The fact that the New York Times supported a Judy Miller and others who never questioned the information they were giving out to the public on the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein supposedly possessed has really turned me off to the New York Times. And to make matters worse now the LA Times which I read on a daily basis as I live in LA County has summarily dismissed one of the few columnists I enjoyed reading. Robert Scheer never was fooled by Bush/Cheney's scare tactics leading up to the Iraq War. He was right about the War all along and now he is seen by the paper as politically too left of center. The paper has decided to cater to the center and pump out pablum and information sharing that does not excite people too much, keeping its target somewhere in the empty headed middle. Scheer who is out because The Editor (who said he hated every word Scheer wrote) and The Tribune from Chicago which owns the paper could care less about the quality of the paper. They also fired Michael Ramirez, an ultra right wing political cartoonist for the LA Times, and opted for not having an in-house cartoonist at all. It seems as though many papers are opting to not have political cartoonist working for them on a regular basis. Although I hated the Ramirez content, the reasons for getting rid of him were wrong and short sighted, namely it was cheaper to run the paper without him.

I still get to hear Robert Scheer on KCRW Radio's Left, Right and Center's weekly show. He also is writing for The Huffington Post and some other media outlets. I was surprised that the only mention of Scheer's firing on the last Left, Right, & Center Show was from Scheer himself at the end of the show. To add salt to the wound The Times is adding very right wing Jonah Goldberg to replace Scheer as a regular columnist. So in this decision the pablum is tipping to the right as far as I can tell but it is still pablum. It would have been good to have a regular discussion about it. I am glad that Patt Morrison will continue to be featured regularly in the LA times and a few other writers that have liberal reputations but they will not have regular columns like Scheer did. This drift to the right of the media is nothing new but it was a shock to lose Scheer and I really hated having to go through that pitiful show that Judith Miller put on trying to place herself in the category of a selfless heroine put on by the cruel injustice of the Law because she wouldn't name Libby or Rove or whoever her source was. As far as I am concerned Miller and her buddies were all in the "Big Lie" together and it looks like they will all go down together too. Too bad the powers that be still control the media when push comes to shove. The TV media is even worse than the newspapers when it comes to right wing propaganda. And it is not just Fox news I am thinking about. I can understand why many people are turned off to the news altogether. The progressive people and interests of California did outsmart reactionary California Governor Schwarzennegger by using a very effective media ad campaign, one ray of hope in a dark cloud of growing pessisism when it comes to the news business. I wonder if it will make a difference?

Old Lesbians Organizing For Change

I recently attended a meeting of OLOC, Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, an organization that encourages old Lesbians to fight ageism especially as it affects women and Lesbians. The group also encourages women to accept the word "old" as a neutral designation and to avoid words that are used as euphemism for old age i.e. senior or mature adult. The organization was founded in 1989 and many of its ideas stem from the inspirational presence and writings of Barbara MacDonald who is now deceased. MacDonald with her partner Cynthia Rich wrote the book " Look Me in the Eye: Old Women, Aging, and Ageism". Baba Copper (also deceased) who wrote the essay "Over the Hill" was another writer who inspired OLOC women to combat ageism. OLOC promotes consciousness raising and facilitates educational projects that focus on aging issues for old women and Lesbians. The organization supports a project that conducts oral herstories on old Lesbians in their 60's 70's and 80's and 90's.

The first conference in the world that gathered old Lesbians in one place was held on the campus where I teach( CSUDH) in S.. California in 1987. Working on the conference event was a highlight of my career and life. The event was called the First West Coast Celebration and Conference By and For Old Lesbians. Barbara MacDonald was the keynote speaker and her speech inspired women to empower themselves and to in a sense liberate themselves from the oppression of ageism. Shevy Healy was another Lesbian, a speaker and writer, who influenced the direction of OLOC in its early years. The organization continues on under new leadership. I was very impressed with the members of the steering committee who run the organization. They are a wonderful group of vibrant and intelligent old women not afraid to make waves. The SC is working on its next major conference. If you are interested in learning more about OLOC, go to the website listed here: http://www.oloc.org/