good news and bad news

the nice thing about having good news and bad news is that it's a lot better than having all bad news.

it's not often I find good news waiting for me when I check the headlines, but things are goin' alright tonight. first, zapatero won reelection in spain, which I was really pessimistic about - the conservatives and the catholics were throwing around the family values and fear mongering pretty heavily - it's very gratifying to see the spaniards not being swayed by it. then, with just a brief interruption, that I'll get to in a minute , I read this little gem - Girl in Clinton ad supports Obama here's an excerpt:

Sun Mar 9, 6:30 PM ET

BONNEY LAKE, Wash. - Casey Knowles didn't much like a recent campaign commercial for Hillary Clinton — even though she's in it as a sleeping 8-year-old.

After all, she about to turn 18 now and is a big supporter of Barack Obama.

"What I don't like about the ad is its fear-mongering," Knowles told ABC's "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" on Sunday. "I think it's a cheap hit to take. I really prefer Obama's message of looking forward to a bright future."

Way to go Casey Knowles! You win the first ever anti-fear monger award! Click here to read the rest.

the little interruption I mentioned was the article I read in between the other two, and while it was not good news, it was hardly surprising as I tend to keep track of these things. anyway the story I'm referring to is this one - Studies: Iraq costs US $12B per month - I did the math on that figure as soon as I read it and realized that that's $40 a month for every single american, man, woman, child - each of us. if you're married and have three kids, this war of ours in iraq just cost your family $200 last month, and it'll cost you another $200 next month, how do you like those family values? - think about that when april 15th rolls around and you're paying your taxes. how do you feel about where your tax dollars are going now? bytheway, in one of my earlier posts I mentioned that although estimates on how many iraqis we've killed in the past five years vary, it's a pretty fair estimate that we spend about a million dollars per iraqi head and there have been a lot of heads - think about that on april 15th too.

and let me mention one more time - the iraq war was not begun because of a terrorist threat and there are many dangers more serious facing us than terrorism. our continued attempts to stop violence with violence are only going to escalate the problem and cost our economy dearly.

maybe I should move to vermont

so, I just glanced at the post from last week on my way to write this new posting and noticed that the first sentence has come to be ambiguous since tuesday's election - so to clarify, for those who haven't followed earlier posts or don't notice the date, the reference to hillary clinton having "won twice lately" is in regard to her being presented (by me) the "fear monger of the day" award - not her having more recently been awarded, by those susceptible to her fear mongery, the primaries in texas and ohio. so there you go.

but speaking of that, it is exactly those elections and the manner of their being won that I want briefly comment on. my primary concern (enjoy the pun if you wish, groan if you must) about the way things turned out in texas and ohio... and I won't forget rhode island - is that after weeks of a narrowing clinton lead in the polls - reflecting the general trend towards obama as voters gained familiarity with him - there was a last minute reversal, which can really only be explained by clinton's resorting to extremely negative and inflammatory (and unfounded) campaign methods - and (now we get to it) at the heart of those methods is fear mongery. grrrrr!

I was thinking these sort of thoughts yesterday morning as I walked to stroh's deli on abbot kinney here in lovely, almost springtime venice to get my morning coffee and newspaper... the result of my thoughts was my arrival at a conclusion that brought about in me a peculiarly grumpy mood for such an otherwise lovely morning. It was this: clinton's success in texas and ohio is going to prove to her and anybody else who's watching that negative, inflammatory, campaigning, preying on the fears of the constituency in an effort to win votes - the realization that, to many voters even the hint of danger, an innuendo suggesting incompetence in a rival - is enough to sway them to vote for the person feeding their fears - and that, it seems is most often the person who in actuality has their best interests least at heart. my moodiness was only aggravated when I got my la times and was greeted with a, just above the fold and just beneath the candidate's photos, headline stating, "Going negative proved positive in comeback" - so they saw it too, but far from condemning it, it is simply reported and recognized as sound strategy... the politics of fear clearly continues and has a strong following that accepts it without question. the article was continued on page A13 where it was headed by the words "Negatavism wins for Clinton" - well, if it wasn't clear before... but still, negatavism is simply seen by the media and because of it, by the general public, as a tactic, a method, a tool to be used when necessary. grrrr...

it's all very discouraging - not simply because politicians aren't above such deceitful manipulation, but also and maybe most so, because people are so damn susceptable to it - that is why I believe it is absolutely crucial that we DON'T BELIEVE THE FEAR MONGERS! however days like yesterday force me to acknowledge the uphill struggle in this fight against fear mongery - it will continue to be used as long as we allow it to work.

on a more optimistic side, many voters in ohio and texas were not swayed, I'm not alone in expressing concern, rosa brooks had a pretty good opinion piece in the paper today, I heard a fair amount of chatter about the effects of clinton's strategy on npr yesterday... and so clearly there are like-minded people out there and maybe they're not even in the minority... nevertheless it doesn't take many to sway a close election and I think clinton's strategists are counting on just that... sway the fearful few and that will be enough to leverage there way into position - and that's the best they can hope for - it's too late to win on pledged delegates, but if they can build momentum and then make an argument to the convention... well, like I said, that's there only hope so it must be what they're working towards... oh but I forgot - you can't run a campaign on hope... so why are they still doing it? hmmm. I'll have to think a bit about that.

and finally I just briefly want to acknowledge my appreciation to the state of vermont for not only giving obama a clear win but also for this.

hillary - who you gonna call?

ok, here we go - she's won twice lately, but I'm just now getting around to the poster... I guess I'll have to do that blond lady from the view sometime soon too, although it's sad to mthink she has enough impact to warrant fear monger status... but I suppose the ugly truth is that she does - probably has more influence than any of the others. anyway, here's hillary and we'll see about the other later.


ok, here we go - she's won twice lately, but I'm just now getting around to the poster... I guess I'll have to do that blond lady from the view sometime soon too, although it's sad to mthink she has enough impact to warrant fear monger status... but I suppose the ugly truth is that she does - probably has more influence than any of the others. anyway, here's hillary and we'll see about the other later.

hillary wins again!

once again hillary clinton wins the fear monger of the day award - and I've really got to find the time to make a poster, but not right now - in a bit of a rush. you've probably all already seen it and heard the controversy, but here it is anyway. admittedly, she's not as much of a fear monger as a lot of 'em, but she's a democrat fear monger and that pisses me off even more - she really ought to know better and so should her advisors... but obviously they're just not getting it.

click the arrow to play this video

stagflation - variations on a theme

in some ways of course, it really is about the economy... anyway, here are a few poster designs.

there is no terrorist threat!

vindication! a friend of mine mentioned an unrelated bit of trivia that led me to michael moore's website - while there, I was shocked to see my own words staring me in the face! for more than a year, I've repeatedly used the phrase, "there is no terrorist threat" to convey the point that we've been manipulated by our government officials and by the news media to believe that there is danger where in fact there is not - this has allowed us to be manipulated by fear and has had a devastating impact on the quality of life of most americans. the threat from terrorists to an average american is so minuscule compared to virtually all other dangers that it hardly bears attention or concern at all, and yet many of us have been convinced that this is a major issue and concern and justifies gigantic expenditures for defense and homeland security. the truth of course is that if terrorists wanted to attack us again, they could find any number of ways to do so no matter how diligent the efforts of homeland security are. the only conclusion that can be made is that there is in fact no (or at least only an extremely small) terrorist threat here in the u.s.

so anyway I was very gratified to read the heading "there is no terrorist threat" leading to this article from michael moore's website. clearly I'm not entirely alone and there are others who seem to see through the smokescreen.

by the way, I've been busy lately and haven't made any "fear monger" portraits, but recent winners that I'll try to get to soon are hillary clinton, who keeps talking about how we need somebody with experience in office as president because we are in such danger from the terrorists - grrr, democratic fear mongering! and that blond lady from the view - which I happened to watch recently, what's scary is that that program is where countless american women turn for their political information... i just don't have a solution for that one... I guess we need an alternate morning talk show with women who remember political events beyond the past few days media manipulations and propaganda - even barbara walters seems to go out of her way to confound and confuse the simplest of issues - grrr again.

john boehner is a fear monger

I don't remember ever reading or hearing anything about john boehner that didn't make him seem like a pompous idiot. he wins the fear monger of the day award - happy valentine's day, and don't believe the fear mongers. see below for an excerpt of the story.

Bush criticizes Congress on terror bill

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

In a day of political brinkmanship, President Bush pressured the House on Thursday to finish a bill giving the government more leeway to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists. House Democrats didn't budge and angry Republicans staged a walkout down the Capitol steps.

From the White House, Bush argued that the House has plenty of time to pass a bill before modifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expire at midnight Saturday. The president plans to leave on a five-nation trip to Africa on Friday afternoon, but said he'd delay his departure and stay in Washington "if it will help them complete their work on this critical bill."

On Capitol Hill, House Republicans stormed out of the House chamber to boycott a vote to hold two presidential confidants in contempt for failing to cooperate with an inquiry into whether federal prosecutors were ousted for political reasons.

"We have space on the calendar today for a politically charged fishing expedition, but no space for a bill that would protect the American people from terrorists who want to kill us," said Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, the minority leader.

"Let's just get up and leave," he told his colleagues, before walking out with scores of Republicans in tow.

read more.