ProgressOhio

Feel free to pass this on to those stubborn folks who think voting does not matter.

Leading up to this historic election, I've heard folks give lot's of reasons for sitting it out. The reasons range from old standards like "both parties are bought and sold" to my personal favorite "there isn't a dimes worth of difference between 'em". But in these times of economic depression and war without end, these folksy excuses just don't work anymore.

Voter apathy has been with us since our Republic was formed. Candidates and political scientists, pollsters and pundits have spent untold amounts of money and time attempting to explain it - and with good reason. Out of over 200 million eligible voters in America, just over half make the trip to the polls. The last two presidential elections have been decided by just over 50 million voters. Put another way, our national leadership is chosen by far less than 20 percent of the total population.

This statistic should concern everyone who believes that our freedoms are worth fighting - and dying - for. The current occupant of the Oval Office is quick to use the spread of democracy as a justification for attacking other sovereign countries. Yet the same man has not a word to say about the sorry state of our own democracy.

Everyone one us knows someone whether it be a friend, neighbor or a member of our own family who has a lot riding on the outcome of this election. Now here are some reasons why you - if not for yourself - should make that trip to polls.

We all know someone who needs access to affordable healthcare. Do you have a friend is unemployed or underemployed and struggling to make ends meet? Is your child's school under-funded and his or her teacher underpaid? Do you know a single parent struggling to pay for daycare while working two jobs?

What about your neighbor with a son or daughter doing a second, third or even fourth tour of duty in Iraq? What about veterans who have been denied the benefits they deserve?

Are you or a coworker facing the loss of a job because of outsourcing? Is your father or mother - after a lifetime of work - seeing their pension squandered by reckless corporate interests?

I could go on but you get the point.

The choice of staying home out of a misguided sense of rebellion or just plain apathy simply won't wash. If you truly believe that the sacrifices of generations past have been worth it, you will go to the polls. If you think that protecting our hard won freedoms is more than just an empty slogan, you will go to the polls. If you think we need to change this country, you will vote in November.

You have no more excuses.

and will the media have the guts to ask?

After a week of jingoistic ranting by the Republican Party, the balloons have popped and the show lights are dim. Speaker after speaker roused the delegates in St. Paul against a backdrop of patriotic imagery burning brightly on a giant screen. One such image stuck in my mind as a metaphor for all that has gone wrong over the last 8 years.

Congressman Lindsay Graham (R-SC) made a staunch declaration that America was winning the war on Iraq. Taken by itself, Graham's assertion is not surprising given the GOP's history of weaving dung into Egyptian cotton - then selling it as silk. While Graham was declaring mission accomplished, a photograph showed headstones at Arlington National Cemetery - a truly tragic juxtaposition.

Other images from the GOP Convention are less tragic, but no less disturbing.

The most disturbing image of all was that of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin claiming her Party's nomination as vice president. In a speech devoid of substance and long on folksy and dubious claims of her reform expertise, Gov. Palin did prove she could read from a teleprompter. This is no small feat given how she was thrust upon the national stage as a last minute replacement. Reports have surfaced that John McCain had his heart set on Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) but chose Palin after a single meeting.

Will Palin's speech, riddled as it was with half truths and some outright lies, be the basis of honest media scrutiny and assessment? Or will legitimate questions be lost in the haze of cotton candy fluff spun by the GOP? Beyond Gov. Palin's camera presence and GOP stagecraft lays the minefield of questions about her ideology and her knowledge of the world.

For the foreseeable future, Gov. Palin is safe in the cocoon that is Camp McCain, safely sequestered in a cone of indoctrination. Gov. Palin will hear a constant drone of policy facts and figures, accompanied by a heaping helping of quaint phrasing and plenty of the same revisionist history that punctuated the convention. Not until her handlers have deemed her ready, will Gov. Palin be allowed to face the news media - alone.

In the aftermath of all the bellicose rhetoric and national chauvinism, the corporate news media has been left in state of disorder and confusion. Torn between their responsibilities as journalists and fawning over the newest Republican shooting star, few substantive questions are being asked - or answered.

Ironically, the same McCain-friendly media on which the Maverick Mythology was built has now been declared the enemy by Camp McCain. Uber lobbyist and Camp McCain commandant Rick Davis has declared that the campaign will tightly control media access to Palin.

So just what does Gov. Palin know - and not know - about history and the current state of world affairs? There is no end to the list of issues, claims and inconsistencies to cover when it comes to vetting this vice presidential nominee. Will the titans of American journalism have the chance - or the guts - to ask the right questions and insist on getting the answers?

By her own admission, Gov. Palin knows little about Iraq. During an interview in March 2007, Gov. Palin was asked about the troop surge in Iraq. Her answer was stunning given that the war on Iraq has been dragging on for almost 6 years. Treating this tragic chapter in U.S. history like the World Series, Palin admitted that she had "been focused on state government" and "haven't focused on the war in Iraq".

Suddenly, in St. Paul, she knows about Iraq. With all of the "me first, country second fervor they could muster, Palin and the GOP have shamelessly exploited her son's upcoming deployment to Iraq. While I respect her son's decision to serve, I find it abhorrent that Gov. Palin chose to use the occasion as a political stage prop. Worse yet, having a son in the Iraq Theater of operations does not demonstrate a knowledge of the lies that were told in order to wage the war.

Nor does that fact alone prove that she understands the tragic consequences the war has wrought on the brave Americans who lay dead and wounded. Surely Gov. Palin has an opinion on the millions of Iraqis who been displaced or left homeless, not to mention the many thousands killed, injured and maimed.

In a complete refutation of the GOP's platform plank on climate change, Palin has played fast and lose with the facts. Like the Prince of the Dark Ages, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Palin is oblivious to the crushing weight of scientific evidence and consensus. Like Inhofe, Palin denies human activity as a cause of global warming saying "a changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made."

Religious extremists have welcomed Palin into the fold for her position on creationism. Again denying science, Gov. Palin advocates the teaching of creationism as an alternative to evolution, couching her position in the fog of educational balance. On reproductive rights, Palin again panders to the Religious Right by asserting that women have the right to give birth, even if the father is the rapist who got them pregnant.

While Palin and the GOP have touted reform and fiscal responsibility as a central theme, her record as a self-described reformer and conservative is murky.

As a gubernatorial candidate, Palin actively supported the now-infamous Ketchikan "Bridge to Nowhere". As governor, Palin took credit for killing the project. In fact, the project died for lack of funding since Palin had redirected 80% of the allotted $398 million to other projects. Will the news media ask her why she opposed the bridge but kept the money anyway?

I hope that Gov. Palin will have to answer for why she reportedly left her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska nearly $20 million in debt. Surely the question of how she left 7,000 people with a per capita debt of $2,600 is relevant to her qualifications as a self-described fiscal conservative. Why did she feel it necessary to hire a lobbying firm in order to squeeze more earmarks out of Washington?

The list of questions is long and time is short. The future of legitimate journalism - and the country - hangs on the answers.

Copyright Michael O'Brien All Rights Reserved

Pick of Alaska Governor as VP Nominee May Not Wash   Read More »

Do you feel a draft? Apparently John McCain does.

While at one of his pseudo town hall meetings in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the presumptive Republican nominee let it slip that he would support a return to a military draft. McCain was responding to a question from the mother of a wounded soldier.

While referencing McCain's oft repeated pledge to follow Usama Bin Laden "to the gates of hell" the woman raised several issues. She reportedly reminded McCain of serious failures in caring for wounded veterans and the deplorable state of U.S. military readiness.

Stating "if we don't reenact the draft I don't think we'll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell", the concerned mother - and the applauding audience - waited for McCain's response. In a style typical of a man who speaks before he thinks, McCain responded "Let me say that I don't disagree with anything you said"

Did McCain know what he was saying when he said it? Long a critic of returning to a military draft, did McCain just not listen? Or did he just commit political suicide? Either way his response is truly stunning.

Any objective observer of John McCain knows that he has converted the vaunted "Straight Talk Express" of 2000 into the Double Talk Express of 2008. Flip flopping like a red herring out of water McCain has changed his mind on several key policy points, from opposing a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to opposing - then embracing - the failed Bush tax cuts. Could this be the fish that finally derails his campaign?

The War on Iraq was a direct result of the failed Neoconservative strategy of preemptive war. Throwing up one boogie man after another, America has been kept in an ungodly state of perpetual war for the last 8 years. Combined with the outsourced war on the cheap strategy of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the result has been a U.S. military stretched to the point of breaking.

Enter John McCain with a strategy of occupation with no end in sight and things look grim indeed. Perhaps the questioner was right. Just how does McCain intend to realize his twisted vision of war without end? Where will the he find the troops needed for four, eight or - as McCain so plainly stated - one hundred years of war?

The War on Iraq has brought untold misery, death and grief to military families. As the rest of the country worries about the recession, military families have borne the burden of this endless war. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been needlessly slaughtered and millions have been left homeless. Does McCain, after declaring victory in 2003, now feel a need to share the misery?

Only McCain knows. Look for his handlers to backtrack on this flippant response to a concerned mother. If we are to take him at his word - as he insists we should - does John McCain intend, as President, to bring back a military draft? The last thing Camp McCain wants is the suggestion that their candidate favors the forced conscription of young Americans.

But there lies the rub for Camp McCain.

How do they begin to explain away his strident agreement with the notion that a return to a military draft is the only way to get Bin Laden? Perhaps it was just a lack of judgment or worse, McCain really feels that a draft would be a good idea. Camp McCain and their candidate are now painted into a corner from which there may be no escape.

Copyright 2008 Michael O'Brien All Rights Reserved

Over the last week or so, John McCain has been stumping through southern Ohio, preaching a gospel of offshore oil drilling while attacking Barack Obama for being too famous. McCain had to know that he was preaching to the choir while he recited a litany of economic hardships faced by Ohio's working families.

Ohioans know all too well what years of Republican economic policies have wrought on our communities. Thousands of lost jobs and growing underemployment has decimated Ohio's middle class and thrown more families into poverty. Unemployment in Ohio is up and the gap between rich and poor has never been wider.

John McCain cried crocodile tears over the loss of jobs in places like Wilmington. McCain's righteous indignation over the loss of 10,000 Ohio jobs belies his lack of a comprehensive economic plan.

While McCain rails that Barack Obama will raise taxes on the middle class, a study by the independent Tax Policy Center clearly shows McCain's claims to be false. While refusing to acknowledge that the economic policies of the last 8 years have been an utter disaster for working families, McCain's prescription is more of the same. His plan for more tax subsidies for corporations, extending tax cuts for the wealthy and a continuation of unfair trade policies will keep us on the road to economic ruin.

The country - and our great state - deserves more than a third term of Bushonomics. We deserve a President who has a plan to start us on the road to economic justice and security.

Barack Obama has a comprehensive plan that will create jobs, restore fairness to tax policies, help small businesses expand and protect the rights of workers. Rebuilding our infrastructure, expanding access to health care and leading the way on energy policy will provide Ohio - and the country - with the economic security we need.

For decades, some corporations have attempted to sway the vote of their employees. In some subtle and not so subtle ways, some corporations threaten, cajole and induce employees to vote against their own economic interest.

During my years working for a major aerospace company, it was common for managers to drop off donation cards. The expectation was that employees would gladly pony up to the company's political action committee. Not donating could mean finding your name on the next list of lay-offs. No one ever came to me directly and said the words "donate or else" but the message was crystal clear.

Forcing employees to make a choice that may run counter to their ethics or economic benefit is a power that employers have used with relative impunity. Allegations of pressure by employers are hard - if not impossible- to prove. Workers feel powerless, especially in this time of economic uncertainty.

In the latest attempt at corporate coercion, Wal Mart is herding managers and supervisors into mandatory meetings. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the message at these meetings is clear - vote for Democrats in November and unionization is sure to follow.

The company claims that the meetings are not an attempt to sway the how managers vote. Some managers and supervisors are not buying that line. In the WSJ report, one Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri knew better, saying "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote".

Let's hope that other Wal Mart managers - and workers in similar situations - see these tactics for what they are - intimidation on a grand scale.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121755649066303381.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news

Copyright 2008 Michael O'Brien All rights Reserved

O Johnny We Hardly Missed You

After moaning and groaning for a week about not getting enough media ink, the McCain campaign really blew it. Or did they? Whining and crying to the very media that is supposed to be shunning their candidate, McCain people missed an opportunity. Not just any old opportunity mind you but a chance to appear in room full of journalists in two hours in prime time.

McCain decided to skip the Unity Conference in Chicago.

The Unity Conference is a confab of journalists of color. The Conference is not a popular attraction for Republicans and don't take my word for it. Just ask George Bush who stumbled badly during his last - and final - appearance before the group in 2004. Mark Trahant of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and member of the Native American Journalists Association asked Bush to address tribal sovereignty in the 21st century and suddenly the emperor's clothes were gone.

Before regaining his footing, Mr. Bush fumbled and stumbled through a definition of sovereignty that would embarrass a 12 year old declaring "Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. You're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities".

But I digress.

The punditry have been offering up excuses for why McCain passed on spending two hours with 5,000 reporters who represent the very voters he needs to pull in. The favorite excuse was the cliché scheduling conflict. But the McCain camp knew better than to send their man to Chicago.

Candidates are often prepped for major appearances, with the hope of anticipating the range of questions they face. Facing the usual suspects that make up the campaign press corps everyday injects an air of familiarity that shields the candidate

The Unity Conference is not the imbedded press corps. These are serious journalists who focus on serious issues, not the press de jour that passes for the nightly news.

The range of questions McCain would have faced would have simply been too much for him. There is only so ways to say that the surge was a success without the risk of putting your audience to sleep. In fact, McCain even confused himself over the issue of the surge. In a broadcast interview with none other than that beacon of journalism ethics Sean Hannity, McCain complained again that Barack Obama would not admit to his claim that the surge in Iraq worked. McCain emphatically proclaimed that Obama would not acknowledge "his wrong view that the success had not succeeded". That's right John - nothing succeeds like success.

His attack of redundancy aside, the issue of whether McCain could have held up for two hours of questioning is a matter of pure speculation. The undeniable fact is that John McCain could not have withstood two hours of detailed policy questions. No amount of advance preparation could have gotten McCain ready to face this fire. But wait it gets worse. In dissing the Unity Conference, McCain has rightly earned the title of elitist.

After a week of righteous indignation over a perceived media bias towards Barack Obama - and continuing to label Obama as aloof and arrogant - McCain has painted himself with his own brush. Blowing off the Unity Conference not only exposes McCain's unwillingness to answer the tough questions, it displays a level of arrogance that could only be described as elitist.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama was still shaking off the jet lag from what most folks would describe as a busy week. Still, he made time to attend the Unity Conference - tired but unafraid.

Face it Senator - you didn't have what it takes to grab a media spotlight. Any politician worth their salt would jump at the chance for free media exposure. And all you had to do was answer policy questions that require more than talking points and clichés. The days of complaining about lack of press coverage should be over for you Johnny.

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

McCain's Brain Touts Benefits of Another Terror Attack

In an interview with Fortune magazine, McCain Campaign Chair, Charlie Black evoked the unthinkable. Black - a cunning political animal - dropped the terror attack bomb, claiming that another terror attack on the U.S. would be "a big advantage" to the McCain campaign.

When asked about this outrageous claim, Black conveniently forgot having made it. The candidate was equally tight-lipped, claiming ignorance of what his campaign brain had said. McCain did make a lame attempt to distance himself from his campaign brain. After refusing to acknowledge what Black was up to, McCain dismissed reporters and moved on to another question.

And what was Charlie Black up to?

Black is old political pro and rarely acts without an agenda. Like a lawyer trying to make a point with an objectionable question, Black knew he only had to plant a seed of doubt. The mere mention of another terror attack may get some voters to react out of fear - a tactic straight out of the Carl Rove playbook.

The claim was not an accident and Black knew the comment would reach a wide audience - without having to spend a dime. Free media time is invaluable to any campaign - especially to the McCain campaign. McCain has dug himself into a fundraising hole when compared to the Obama juggernaut of 1.5 million contributors.

McCain's Brain has long record of lobbying on behalf of an assortment of despots and political thugs. His lobbying firm was chummy with the Monster of Manila, Ferdinand Marcos at time when Marcos was brutally oppressing his political opposition.

If McCain has the brass, he will through Black under the Double Talk express. Black will have plenty of company as road kill on the campaign highway, joining the likes of Hagee and Rod Parsley. If McCain chooses not give Black a shove, he will have gone a long way towards driving the Double Talk Express off the moral high road.

Copyright 2008 Michael O'Brien All Rights Reserved

"What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin?”

Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, Apocalypse Now

In his role as White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan was the chief shill and cheerleader for the Bush Administration. Considered a loyal soldier, McClellan was a Bush League team member since Bush was governor of Texas. Most every weekday, McClellan dutifully appeared in the White House press room with a list of official talking points. When the questions got too deep, McClellan would – like many of his peers - retreat to a shop worn litany of non-denial denials.

We all know the governments and corporations share a common goal – controlling the flow of information. Controlling how information is disseminated does have legitimate purposes, whether it’s a state secret or a proprietary piece of intellectual property. Using the public relations office as a microphone to the world outside the organization can ensure a carefully scripted and consistent message.

But what happens when the information provided to and by a presidential press secretary, turns out to be total crap? What happens when McClellan suddenly discovers the truth about why a horrible war was unleashed on the Iraqi people?  And what happens when the messenger – having aided in the assassination of the truth - turns on his masters?

Such is the predicament Scott McClellan finds himself in.

Bitter over having been played for a sucker by the likes of Dick Cheney, Carl Rove and Scooter Libby, McClellan has exacted a surreal form of revenge in his book What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.

Admitting, in part, to his own role in assassinating the truth McClellan heaped blame on his fellow assassins. From rolling out the Iraqi war like a new deodorant to the smearing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame and husband Joe Wilson, McClellan dumps the blame on Cheney, Rove and Libby. So do Cheney, Rove and the rest of the truth assassination squad go quietly into that good night, bowed and cowed? Not on your life.

In a perfected choreographed campaign designed to rip the skin off of the traitor, the White House has gone into full attack mode. Appearing on the usual array of cable news shows, the assassins set about to accuse the assassin.

No, McClellan is not really an assassin. But he is a coward.

His cowardice comes from ignoring his responsibility to speak truth to power. In choosing his loyalty to Bush over his responsibility as an American, McClellan traded away his integrity and his soul. This makes the long knives now aimed at him slide in with ease. Had he the guts to expose the truth, the country - and McClellan himself - would have been better served.

Now some will argue that the President of the United States deserves the loyalty of the staff. In general, chief executives deserve loyalty and respect of their staff - but there is a line, a limit. When asked to enable and abet in the commission of a crime, subordinates have the right and the obligation to not go along for the ride. Even soldiers have the right and responsibility to refuse an illegal order.

If Scott McClellan’s claims are to be believed, one must conclude that he had a chance to blow whistle – and he failed. In failing to speak out, McClellan threw in his lot with the very people his now condemns. Could McClellan have stopped the war on Iraq single-handedly or triggered an impeachment? Sadly, he could not. But had he the courage of his new-found convictions when it really counted, his credibility – not to mention his integrity - would have been greatly enhanced. He is now at the mercy of a vicious pack of character assassins he once called his friends.

He's Too Busy with Preachers and Deep Pockets

While an overwhelmingly bipartisan Senate voted to support the troops, John McCain was nowhere to be found.

And where was John McCain? He was to busy hustling well-heeled donors at not one but two fundraisers. Not only did McCain miss the vote, he had previously expressed opposition to the new G.I. Bill of Rights, in spite of Sen. Jim Webb's many attempts to negotiate a compromise. In several interviews Webb, a fellow Vietnam Nam combat veteran, claimed to have repeatedly approached McCain, trying to iron out their differences.

An overhaul of the existing G.I. Bill of Rights was long overdue, but McCain just could not bring himself to find a way to support the very people he claims to honor. To make matters worse, the Defense Department has continued to nickel and dime veterans, often denying the troops the very financial incentives that drove many young people into the arms of military recruiters.

Senators Obama, Webb and Clinton - along with a majority of Republicans - voted to ensure that our returning veterans receive the benefits and care they were promised. The bill provides for increased tuition assistance, giving veterans a real chance to afford a college education.

And where was John McCain? He was busy throwing his favorite fanatical preacher, Rev. Hagee under the "Straight Talk Express". It seems that John "4 More Wars" McCain had actively pursued Hagee's endorsement, appeared on stage with Hagee to accept it and took Hagee along as a campaign shill. The outrageous rants of Rev. Hagee, have finally seen the light of day, leaving McCain no choice but to open the door and push Hagee off while heading to the next money trough.

In a somewhat disingenuous and politically expedient mea culpa, McCain vainly tried to have it both ways. He disavowed Hagee's fanatical sermons, while claiming ignorance of Hagee's raging, contagious case of xenophobic hysteria. Hagee's wrong-headed and vitriolic rants condemning Catholicism and Islam are a matter of record. And let's not forget Hagee's claims about the Katrina disaster - that the citizens of New Orleans had it coming.

But wait, there's more.

Still lurking in McCain's closet is Rev. Parsley. Is his latest hit video, Parsley makes claims so unbelievably hateful, that McCain may need another bus. McCain will need a new script for his next trip to whipping post since - like Hagee - the self-righteous Parsley has forever used the Bible as a bludgeon against anyone he feels is not worthy of divine providence.

Never shy to rewrite American history is his own image, Parsley made the outrageous claim that "America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion (Islam) destroyed". A reading of the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli completely refutes Parsley's ridiculous and dangerous assertion. The treaty expressly stated in Article 11 that -

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Islamic) nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

Did Parsley not read that chapter in his high school history text? Perhaps he chose to ignore it, since his version of history is completely contrary to historical reality.

So while McCain wallowed in the glow of campaign cash, his colleagues in the Senate were busy supporting our brave women and men. Lacking the fortitude to even vote present, McCain has forever lost any claim to truly supporting the rights of the Armed Forces and veterans. His intractable opposition to providing veterans a chance to earn a college degree will haunt him as he travels he travels the bumpy road to November 2008 - in the newly-christened Double Talk Express.

Congress and the News Media Does Not Seem to Think So

Michael O'Brien

I thought there was a war on. For the past 5 years, the nightly news was awash in reports from embedded correspondents. Like turning off the lights, the war seems to have disappeared. Yes, there has been a decline in American combat casualties along with the daily bloodbath resulting from sectarian violence.

But this is still a shooting war where American troops and Iraqi civilians die on a daily basis. Many Iraqi's still lack fresh water, sanitation and electricity. Over 2 million displaced civilians are either homeless or have left the country. Thousands of American families still suffer from the agony of losing loved ones.

Add to that an occupation with no end in sight and things look pretty grim.

Wounded soldiers and veterans are still groping through a morass of bureaucratic red tape on the road to recovery. An alarming number of U.S. Army soldiers have chosen to leave their problems behind by taking their own lives - 121 in 2007 alone. That translates to a suicide rate of over 17 per 100,000 troops, a jump of 60 percent since late 2002 when the rate was 11 per 100,000.

According to a recent Associated Press report, there were over 2,100 suicide attempts during 2007. That there were 500 such attempts in 2001 should give everyone pause, including television news editors and members of Congress.

As the war on Iraq and the human cost fades from the nightly news, other issues have filled the void. To watch the corporate-controlled news media, reporting on the war has all but disappeared. The apparent shift in the headlines is troubling on several levels.

Like a mirror image of our national state of attention deficit disorder, the American news media is a fickle institution, often allowing itself to be drawn to and fro. Like a leaf in the wind, the focus the ongoing presidential primaries has been blown toward domestic economic problems. Not a small change since the war - and the resulting carnage - was at the top of the issues list for most voters just six months ago.

A national election cycle has an undeniable effect on news coverage and I understand that. Who will be the next President is no small story and the question has global implications. What I do not understand is how the far removed we are from the realities and consequences of the war on Iraq.

So where, oh where has the news coverage gone? From what I can tell, television news - and the Congress - has taken what my father used to call a busman's holiday. They have gone to the ballgame.

That's right, steroid abuse among some of the biggest stars of Major League Baseball has grabbed the spotlight. Not to be ignored, the National Football League suffered through its own cheating scandal. It seems that members of the New England Patriots coaching staff were caught having video taped the defense signals of an opposing team.

Oh, the humanity!

Veteran Congressional watchdog, Representative Henry Waxman sprang into action. Dropping ongoing investigations of a corrupt Administration, Waxman's House committee held hearings on whether pitching ace Roger Clements chemically enhanced his performance. The cable news wing of NBC, MSNBC, along with Fox News, dropped everything to provide wall-to-wall coverage of Clements, who appeared before the committee along side his alleged drug pusher. The evening news cycle was dominated by the testimony of Roger the Rocket.

I should point out that Congressional hearings were held to establish why more soldiers were turning to suicide. The Surgeons General of all the military branches were called in and questioned - on CSPAN. I give full marks to the Congress for investigating the problem, but where was the news media?

Were they still at the ballgame? Sadly, they had box seats.

On the heels of Waxman's ground-breaking trip to the land of better baseball through chemistry, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter was turning over the dirt on another win-at-any cost scandal. I watched as Specter vowed to get to the bottom of who destroyed the tapes. Thinking for sure that Spector was referring to the destruction of CIA video tapes of illegal torture inflicted on detainees, I was disappointed.

Specter had his britches in a twist over the NFL and its destruction of the cheating tapes. In a press conference carried by several networks, Specter was beside himself at the thought that the NFL would dare destroy the evidence and he vowed to investigate.

Americans are tired of the war and most of us want to end it. The Congress has tried to pin the blame for this fiasco on the Bush Administration. Congressional investigators have been thwarted at every turn by the most corrupt and secretive Administration in our history. Like trying to fill a leaky bucket, their efforts have failed.

Is the news media tired too? Are television news editors just looking for something different? I wish the answers to those questions were easy.

Any of us who have studied the news media may rightly conclude that, with the voice, comes responsibilities. Yes, we have a wide spectrum of news sources today and few of us have an excuse for not keeping up with current events. Some issues deserve coverage that goes beyond a mere 90 second news report. The war, and the tragic consequences it has wrought, is still the number one issue we must all confront.

The scope of these consequences is wider than life and death. The moral and economic future of the country depends on news coverage that reminds us - everyday single day - that the story is the war.

The litany of law enforcement abuses detailed by Brian Rothenberg clearly shows a consolidation of police power that has steadily expanded since September 11, 2001. Whether motivated by fear or ignorance, too many Americans, including many of our fellow Ohioans, have bought into the notion that "9/11 changed everything".

Under the guise of keeping us safe from the terrorist boogie man, law enforcement has opportunistically adopted a policy of militarization as evidenced by the brute squad mentality under which many local police departments now operate.

Federal, state and local lawmakers are all to blame for allowing and even encouraging a resurgence of the old police Red Squads that were so prevalent during the 1960's and 1970's. Counter-intelligence activities conducted by local law enforcement against peaceful, law abiding citizens engaged in protests against government policies is surging.

But lawmakers are not the only ones responsible for these abuses of police and prosecutorial power. As citizens, we have acquiesced many of our constitutional rights in exchange for a false sense of security leaving a dangerous vacuum which law enforcement clearly taken advantage of. The Federal government has sweetened the pot by making money available to local police departments to aid the so-called fight against terrorism - and legitimate dissent.

Online organizing, contacting elected officials and increased voter turnouts are key components in the fight against the coming police state. But there is no substitute for peaceful, nonviolent direct action which means taking to the streets and showing our brothers and sisters what real democracy looks like.

Like many folks here in the Midwest, I've been among those to complain about this summers' oppressive heat. But with plenty of running water and enough electricity to power the air conditioner, life is more than bearable. So even though stepping outside is more like a trip the sauna, this summer has brought us the usual amusements and diversions. From the Fourth of July fireworks and family outings to chemically-enhanced ball players, crappy summer movies and drunken celebrity joyrides it's been pretty much of an All-American summer.

Speaking of All-American summer pastimes, the Congress has left Washington on its annual August recess, ostensibly to press the fresh of local constituents and escape the interminable heat of Foggy Bottom. Following the lead of its American counterpart, the Iraqi Parliament decided it was time to escape of the summer heat of Baghdad. Under any normal scenario, these two events would not be cause for universal alarm. Only the summer of 2007 is not normal by any stretch of the imagination.

Leading up to the grand legislative exit, the situation in Iraq has gone from bad to disastrous. This despite the recent Administration pronouncements that the war on Iraq is being won and life for the Iraqi people is steadily improving.

While the average Iraqi citizen swelters in the desert heat, the country's electrical service grid is near collapse leaving many water purification plants and sewage treatment facilities without power. As a result, supplies of drinkable water have nearly dried up and much of Baghdad has been without fresh water for almost two weeks. Sectarian killings are said to be at an all-time high and there are reports of nearly 4 million Iraqis experiencing food shortages. According to OXFAM, 2 million Iraqis have fled the country and an estimated 1.5 million have been displaced from their homes setting the stage for monumental humanitarian crisis.

I wonder how members of Congress chose Baghdad as a summer vacation destination - without a contingent of heavily armed troops, full body armor, water and plenty of combat air cover.

In a recent Tacoma News Tribune report, the Army's Physical Evaluation Board - PEB - has allegedly been using undocumented criteria for rating a soldier's fitness for duty. Army lawyers representing wounded soldiers, say they are forced to navigate the Board's bureaucracy "even though the new guidelines have yet to be published."

The Office of Soldier's Legal Counsel claims that the PEB is utilizing what has become known as the "Wal Mart greeter test" to evaluate a brain-injured a soldiers level of disability.

According to The News Tribune, senior Army civilian attorney Benedict S. Cohen "reported, staff members alleged that the PEB "routinely" misapplies Army regulations and Department of Defense instructions "to evade reaching the 30 percent disability threshold that triggers a soldier's eligibility" for medical retirement and benefits"
Cohen "raised concerns about a possible "Wal-Mart greeter test" in determining whether soldiers are well enough to be denied benefits. It was claimed that PEBs employed a 'Wal-Mart greeter' test, whereby if an injured soldier could function as a Wal-Mart greeter he or she would receive a rating of 0 percent disability, as opposed to the outcome mandated" by Army and Defense Department regulations, Cohen wrote."

The Department of Defense seems to have the same disregard for honest, hard-working Wal Mart greeters as it does for wounded soldiers and remains tied to the "Rumsfeld Model" of war on-the-cheap.

If seasoned attorneys struggle with disability rating systems, imagine how difficult, no impossible, the process must be for a soldier suffering from a traumatic brain injury.

Sadly, measuring the true cost of the Iraq debacle is not limited to dollars and cents. The human cost of this tragic war is beyond measure with over 3,300 American troops and an estimated 650,000 Iraqi civilians killed. Estimates of American wounded range between 26,000 and 50,000, the higher number reflecting potential cases of post traumatic stress syndrome and traumatic brain injury that may have escaped diagnosis.

The alleged practice of low-balling the disability ratings of soldiers and veterans was raised at a recent joint House and Senate hearing on the disability ratings practices of the Defense Department and the VA. Senior Secretaries of both departments categorically rejected any claim that soldiers and veterans were being denied needed care and benefits. But the evidence piling up over the last several months - at Walter Reed, Fort Lewis and other yet-to-be-disclosed locations, would seems to belie their impassioned denials.

In the meantime, Bush and Cheney keep trying to lead us all down the yellow brick road of a delusional and hopeless foreign policy. Tragically, brave men and women find themselves unable to simply click their ruby slippers together and find their way home.