New York Times Columnist Judith Miller - Pulitzer for Fiction

How unfortunate that New York Times columnist Judith Miller is in prison - for the wrong reasons. See the excellent article by Rosa Brooks that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Martyrdom for Judith Miller misses the point
Rosa Brooks

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

In the midst of the media's love-fest for Judith Miller, First Amendment Martyr, it's easy to forget that Miller's questionable journalistic ethics left her in the doghouse only a year ago.

It was Miller, more than any other reporter, who helped the White House sell its weapons-of-mass-destruction-in-Iraq hokum to the American public. Relying on the repeatedly discredited Ahmad Chalabi and her carefully cultivated administration contacts, Miller wrote story after story on the supposedly imminent threat posed by Saddam Hussein.....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=
/chronicle/archive/2005/07/12/EDG8NDMB451.DTL

"We like Ike"

Excerpt from Farewell Address to the Nation
President Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower
January 17, 1961

Source: americanrhetoric.com/speeches/dwightdeisenhowerfarewell.html

"Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual --is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present -- and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system – ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

During the long lane of the history yet to be written, America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent, I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war, as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years, I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight."

Health Care Crisis

The lack of a national healthcare program has stranded 45 million Americans without adequate health care. Huge health care costs for employees and retirees are pushing local governments to the brink and putting US companies at a significant competitive disadvantage against foreign competitors. When places like Buffalo go bust, we'll be stuck with the bill through higher taxes or drastic cuts in police protection and other essential services.

In addition, we need an economy that hits on all cylinders, and to do so requires that we ratchet up the pace of innovation and "creative destruction." A national health care program would encourage new business formation, because would-be entrepreneurs would no longer be dependent on their current employers for health care coverage. And new businesses would be more likely to hire additional employees, because health care financing would no longer be tied to employee head-count.

Let's get US businesses out of the health care financing business and into what they do best.

Killer Journalists and Think Tanks

1. Columnist Robert Novak - the undercover White House media asset who outed CIA officer Valerie Plame. Ms. Plame's offense was that her diplomat husband, Joe Wilson, helped expose the fraudulent foundation of the Iraq war. 1,500 dead (and counting) American soldiers salute you.

2. Judith Miller - the New York Times columnist (currently in hiding) whose reporting on Iraq's supposed weapons programs should have won her a Pulitzer (for fiction). 1,500 dead (and counting) American soldiers salute you.

3. American Enterprise Institute - 1,500 dead (and counting) American soldiers gratefully acknowledge your sponsorship of David Frum, Richard Perle and your entire cast of C-SPAN psychopaths.

Social Security "Crisis"

The Social Security system is not in crisis. This is the program that knee-jerk conservatives have loved to hate since its inception in the 1930's, and can't admit that the program is a major pillar of middle-class prosperity and social stability - two features that distinguish this great country from third-world countries. As we saw with the buildup to the war in Iraq, politicians don't have to fool all the people all the time to push through a disastrous policy - they just have to engage in enough fear-mongering to induce an avalanche of panic and whip a compliant Congress into line.

As with all insurance programs, Social Security helps allocate economic resources efficiently and encourage risk-taking: If Joe's ailing parents lose a significant amount of their private retirement savings because of poor investment returns, bad investment decisions or bad investment advice, and Joe has to support them, Joe is in no position to risk whatever money he has left over to start or make further investments in a business.

The imbalances in the system can be fixed with relatively minor policy changes, such as raising the capping level for income eligible to the Social Security tax or rescinding a portion of the Bush tax cuts, which are roughly triple the size of the anticipated shortfalls in the Social Security program.

Although the long-term investment performance of the stock and bond markets have been much higher than the returns to an individual's social security account, the stock and bond markets expose individuals to higher risk. The Bush "plan" is a scheme that subjects millions of retirees simultaneously to the vagaries of the stock and bond markets at the same time that it eliminates the insurance protection afforded by the program. The lower return is in part the price of insurance protection.

It is true that the accumulated value of a private account can be used to purchase an annuity from an insurance company to avoid the risk that a retiree outlives her savings, but much of the cost of an annuity is eaten up by expenses that a private insurance company must charge to cover its costs of doing business.

Higher returns come at higher risk, and a sinking stock or bond market will impoverish millions of retirees at the same time. Welcome to the United States of El Salvador.

Doctrine of Preemption

Our military forces are now badly overextended across the planet. At the same time the Bush administration is hinting at an attack on Iran or Syria. If the neoconservatives and Likudniks succeed in selling the President on the merits of striking Iran, might North Korea decide that it will be hit next, and that the time is opportune to preemptively attack a US ally or target?

The doctrine of preemption has helped elevate North Korea to underdog status in world opinion, when it should continue be regarded as an international pariah. The Bush administration has so badly weakened our moral leadership and constrained our military options that many nations would find it amusing for the US to take a hit from North Korea and suffer further damage to our reputation and military assets.

Why is moral leadership important? It is an attribute that causes others to support and sacrifice for us and for shared principles voluntarily. Without moral leadership, we have only the authority that flows from the barrel of a gun. Our venture into Iraq is teaching us that the maintenance of such authority requires the expenditure of enormous sums in blood and treasure.

International Criminal Court

The US needs to reestablish the moral leadership it assumed after WW II, when it prosecuted Nazi war crimes. The most vulnerable ares of the world, particularly Africa, need a highly visible and vigorous champion against the perpetrators of genocide and other atrocities. Our engagement with the International Criminal Court can be progressive, but the time for engagement is now.

China Policy

China is rapidly modernizing its military, both nuclear and conventional. China has repeatedly warned that it would attack Taiwan if it declared independence. China is the largest buyer of weaponry on world markets.

The EU should maintain its ban on the sale of weapon systems to China, and the US and EU should develop contingency plans for a comprehensive regime of economic "smart" sanctions against China, as well as any nation that sells weaponry to China. The benefits of economic ties with the west should be more closely tied to improved Chinese environmental and labor practices, as well as the dismantling of totalitarian institutions and practices.

The US should renounce military support for Taiwan. A Chinese attack on Taiwan is unlikely, especially given the mainland's desperate need for economic investment from Taiwan and the rest of the world.

North Korea

China has much to gain from watching the US squirm over North Korea's nuclear antics. The Korean "Cold War" keeps US troops tied up, and allows China more leeway to threaten Taiwan. China is also deeply suspicious of US moitives in the region. Don't bet on China keeping its longtime ally on a short leash.

The US should set a timetable for the gradual withdrawal of its troops from South Korea, in order to defuse a dangerous situation in the North that could escalate into a nuclear exchange. We do have leverage with South Korea, and they should gradually be nudged into forging significant and progressivley more substantial economic ties with the North.