FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

Know where the word “wake” comes from - the kind you hold when someone dies? During the middle ages, a third of Europe’s population died of the plague and they literally ran out of coffins. When they dug up the old ones for reuse they discovered, to their horror, that a significant number of them had scratch marks . . . on the inside. Apparently, medicine being fairly primitive, some people had been sent off to the next world before they were, you know, dead. The solution was to tie a string to the wrist of each new corpse, run it through a small hole in the coffin, up to the surface, and tie the other end to a bell hanging from a stick. People sat “awake” in the graveyard for 24 hours to see if the bell would ring. Crude, but effective.

Last night the new Bill Moyers Journal on PBS revealed how the Bush administration sold the war to America and buried democracy, and how the news media fell asleep with the bell ringing in the graveyard.

Here are four points I found the most interesting/alarming. First, questioning of the administration was severely inhibited by an understandable atmosphere of super-patriotism following the 9/11 attacks. On top of that, corporations that owned print and broadcast news outlets were financially vulnerable to both public and administrative reprisals.

Second, the administration was damn clever. They leaked a fake story to the New York Times; the Times printed it, for the reasons given above; then Dick Cheney went on Meet The Press and repeated the story, using the Times article as verification. Hey, it’s in the Times, it must be true.

Not everyone missed the story. Reporters from the Knight/Ridder news service saw through it from the beginning and wrote about it. But they had no outlet in Washington, D.C. or New York and simply were not taken seriously.

Finally, the one thing I found most disturbing was a 2002, presidential press conference. As reporters raised their hands to ask questions, the president checked his notes to determine who to call on next. I had assumed, as I think most people did, that this was some press corps seniority issue. Hardly. The whole thing was scripted: whom he called on, exactly what they asked, and exactly what he answered. The raised hands were meant to create the illusion of spontaneity. It was a sham in which members of the White House Press Corps apparently participated willingly.

What were the administration’s motives? Mr. Moyers did venture into those woods. To put the best possible face on it, I suppose the president and his crew may have truly felt that America was threatened, that the best course of action was an invasion of Iraq, and that a little fudging of the facts to insure patriotic support was justifiable. Or, they may have felt like, hey, we’re the smart guys, we know what’s best, and if we have to circumvent the democratic process by lying in order to get the job done, that’s justifiable. I suppose it’s also possible that they were simply out for personal or financial gain – it doesn’t seem likely, but it’s possible.

Not being psychic, I don’t know what their motive was, but whichever motive you choose, it’s hard to escape the arrogance and lying that surrounds it. Arrogance is not an impeachable offense, but lying to the Congress and the people is, and it is my opinion that the president and vice president should be impeached. Both honesty and the appearance of honesty are fundamental to the survival of a democracy. Without them, we are dead and buried - no bell to save us.

ADIOS ALBERTO

I hardly ever lie, and with good cause. I’m a lousy liar – always have been.

About midway through my second year of college – this is just after electric lighting became standard on most campuses – my roommate and I were accused by the Drama Department’s resident geek of smoking pot. It was totally true, of course, but it was also a felony offense and we were loath to admit it. So we constructed an elaborate lie, the essence of which was that we had purposely deceived this geek into “thinking” we were smoking pot, you know, just to torture him. The whole case came down to a he said/she said kind of deal, and hey, he was a geek, so we were gold.

But in the end I folded. Sitting across from the head of the department I just couldn’t lie – not because I was any better than my roommate but because I was convinced I would be caught. It looked to me like telling the truth and accepting the consequences was better than lying, getting caught, and accepting worse consequences.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales walked into the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning looking like a Tostado Grande. By the time the lunch break finally rolled around he had been reduced to a small plate of beans and rice. His major problem wasn’t so much being a liar, which it certainly appeared he was, it was being a bad lair. He had no credible explanation for glaring contradictions between his testimony and the testimony of his chief of staff. As Senator Schummer pointed out, either Gonzales was lying about no knowing what his chief of staff was up to, or he was totally inept. Either way he should be replaced.

Lying rarely pays off. But if you’re gonna do it you should at least do it well.

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BANG ! BANG !

In light of yesterday’s horrific killings at Virginia Tech. and the ease with which the killer acquired his weapons, there will doubtless be a new round of heated debates about gun control. With that in mind, I think it’s appropriate to take a look at the second amendment.

This is the amendment, of course, that guarantees the right to bear arms. Doesn’t it? Well, maybe so, maybe not. Have you ever read it? It’s real short – only 27 words. Here’s what it says:

“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

Anyone who can interpret that sentence to mean that the right to gun ownership somehow exists independently of the need for a militia has a unique command of the English language, not to mention, balls of steel. The amendment did not intend gun ownership for self-defense, for sport, or for killing thirty-two people on a college campus. It was clearly intended to satisfy the 18th Century need for an armed citizenry to guard against tyranny, either foreign or home grown. Since every state in the nation now has its own National Guard, that need no longer exists.

The rest is hubris.

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CRASS-O-METER

Last week’s unending Don Imus marathon might have actually been worthwhile, if it leads to a real discussion about our national sense of decency. Let’s face it, things ain’t been right since the 50’s.

Our gains in civil rights have been equaled only by our losses in civility. Advances in personal freedom have been negated by retreats from personal responsibility. Social graces - good manners - as foolish as they may sometimes appear, are part of the glue that holds society together. As late as the 70’s, Mary Richards called her boss “Mr. Grant,” not because she was a woman, but because he was the boss, and also because he was older. It was a small sign of respect, but it set the tone for the whole workplace.

People didn’t swear in public, not in “mixed” company anyway, and certainly not on the air. Now, every character on every sit-com, child or grown-up, is free to say, "I don't like this friggin' crap. This sucks!" Bill Maher, a very smart, politically savvy guy, makes an important contribution to the national conversation with his show. But I confess, I cringe whenever there is a woman on the panel and he refers to some cowardly politician as a “pussy.”

We have to decide, as a nation, what kind of world we want to live in. Today’s young people, though smart as ever and technologically eons ahead of their Baby Boomer grandparents, don’t know which fork to use, or how to hold it when the do use it. Their command of English is marginal at best. Every moment is, ". . . all like, totally awesome, like, you know, dude, like, totally."

Are these things important? Perhaps not, in the great sweep of history, but they make all the difference in day-to-day life, and history is made one day at a time.

Maybe all we need is a slight adjustment of our national crass-o-meter, so that the bullshit woofer is low but the civility tweeter is high. If enough people will simply say enough is enough, maybe we can get back to a place where discussion is possible, it just isn’t so fucking crude.

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NAPPY-HEADED HOS, AND HYPOCRITS

A veritable fire-storm has erupted around the tasteless comment made last week by radio talk show host Don Imus. For those of you who were vacationing on some other planet, Imus remarked during a championship, women’s basketball game on how tough the girls from Rutgers looked, referring to them as “nappy-headed hos.”

A flock of well known civil rights leaders, including Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, began circling overhead immediately, calling for his dismissal. Imus was suspended yesterday for two weeks by CBS radio and NBC television (his radio show is simulcast on MSNBC). Staples along with Proctor and Gamble have already pulled their ads; Bigelow Tea is thinking about it. The circling flock is not appeased.

Since I began writing, MSNBC has announced that it will end the simulcast permanently!

Today Show watchdog journalist (not) Matt Lauer spent two half-hour segments yesterday and two today debating the social impact of Imus’s comments, being sure to label them “racist and sexist” so as to be fair. Imus appeared yesterday, groveling at warp speed. The once large, now medium sized, Al Roker, Today’s weatherman, blew cold on Mr. Imus, using the show’s blog to demand that he be fired.

I'm afraid I agree, for a variety of reasons. I am convinced that Imus is neither a racist nor a sexist, but, despite his carefully crafted, good-ol’-boy appearance, he is an experienced broadcast veteran with thirty years on the air. He knew exactly where the line was and he crossed it anyway. If public people are not held responsible for their actions, private citizens will believe they’re not either.

The argument could be made – it has been made – that Imus’s comments were no worse than the stream of trash put forth publicly by rappers and hip-hop artists. In fact, when it comes to denigrating women, especially black women, they are, literally, the leaders of the band. Doesn’t matter! Imus is a pro, he knew better, and he must pay the price. The one good thing that may come out of this is a very public discussion of what kind of society we have and what kind we want. The airwaves are a public trust and a direct reflection of our values. Public discussion can only benefit us.

Finally, the whole event is darkened and confused by its entanglement with networks and sponsors. CBS radio and NBC television put the dogs on Imus not necessarily because they thought he was a racist, but because they wanted everyone to know they were not. It’s a tad hypocritical, but rating points can be worth billions of dollars; networks will support whoever can garner the most points and condemn the same person if they think those points are at risk.

Steve Capus, head of the NBC news division, came on the air to discuss Imus's firing. "All we have is our reputation," he explained. Right. If that were true, they'd have to fire their whole news division. They completely dropped the ball between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, dispensing White House press releases to the public, without investigation, as if they were news instead of propaganda.

Staples, Proctor and Gamble, and others may have pulled their ads, but not till they saw which way the wind was blowing. Looks to me like they care less about crossing the line than they do about the bottom line.

I tell ya, it’s hard out there for a pimp.

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UNCOVERED

Secret scandals are uncovers by investigators. Lost civilizations are uncovered by anthropologists. Hidden oil fields are uncovered by geophysicists. Sound sleepers are uncovered by restless leg syndrome sufferers. This piece isn’t about them.

For twenty years my daily drug intake included a cornucopia of highly toxic anticonvulsants. They weren’t very good at stopping convulsions, but as it turns out they were quite good at hiding the steady onset of arthritis and disc problems (spinal, not compact). Neurosurgery finally freed me from both seizures and the need for heavy medication, but it uncovered a world of pain. This piece isn’t about that either.

At first I thought it was just age (60 is not the new 20, I don’t care what they say) and I tried to cope, living on a daily handful of aspirin. Wrong! I finally went to my doctor and begged him to take out the magic pen. He wrote me a prescription for Celebrex, saying I should give it a try, and casually adding, “It’s uncovered, you know.” This is what the piece is about.

It went right over my head. By the time I was in my car I realized that what he had probably meant was “not covered.” But how could that be? I had excellent insurance through the Screen Actors Guild. They had paid out a ton of money for years of medication, and over $60,000 for my operation. They’re not gonna pay for a few pain pills? Please - he’s wrong.

Only when I went to fill the prescription did I find out how right he was. A month’s supply of Celebrex costs $200. That’s $2400 a year to alleviate one of the most common sources of pain in the largest portion of the population. Mobic, on the other hand, another arthritis pain reliever, cost only $10 (I haven’t tried it yet).

“What’s the difference,” I asked the pharmacist? “Well,” she told me, “a lot of research went into Celebrex.” So, did they find Mobic under a rock? It’s worth remembering that the real money in pharmaceuticals isn’t in curing patients, it’s in treating them. If you cure them, they have no reason to come back. I don’t mean to imply that the pharmaceutical industry is some sort of evil entity, only that it is an industry, and the purpose of industry is to benefit the owners by making money.

There is no doubt that the American public is being raped by the American business community, the pharmaceutical industry just being a prominent example. America’s special brand of free market enterprise not only allows manufacturers to screw consumers six ways from Sunday, it encourages it, as long as it’s within the law. And since big business pays the bulk of campaign costs for legislators, who in turn create the laws, you can bet that the majority of screwing will be legal.

Virtually every other industrialized western nation has instituted some form of universal health care. What has been uncovered in America is a reining in of moral standards, and unbridled greed.

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