The Distant Ocean

The White House web site is sic of Bush

News flash: George Bush is not a particularly bright person.  Here's the latest example, from the transcript of his July 4th speech:

Our first Independence Day celebration took place in a midst of a war -- a bloody and difficult struggle that would not end for six more years before America finally secured her freedom. More than two decades [sic] later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way ...

To be fair, though, it really has been been more than two decades since the Revolutionary War (this is "press honesty"--the kind you get when the media reports that thousands of demonstrators were present at a protest of over 100,000).

Apparently the White House web site has been correcting Bush like this for years, so I went on a little scavenger hunt to see what I could find.  There was this:

It's important that we train Iraqi troops.  There are nearly 100,000 troops trained.  The Afghan [sic] national army is a part of the army.  By the way -- it's the Afghan [sic] national army that went into Najaf and did the work there.

(He can't tell Afghanistan from Iraq?  Shocking!)  And this:

We talked about, interestingly enough, the Darfur [sic] round. The President [Thabo Mbeki] is concerned about whether or not the World Trade Organization round will go forward.

(Ok, maybe we should give him a break on that one; it's understandable and even arguably astute to conflate the WTO with mass murder.)  And then there are the Freudian slips, like this:

You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war President. [sic]

Or this:

It is hard to plot and plan against America when you're on the run.  It is hard to plot and plan America [sic] when you're hiding.

(Hiding from your falling poll numbers, the members of your own party who're deserting you in droves, the stench of your own failure and moral decay, or something else?  He didn't say.)  Or this:

We will create a fund with the support of international agencies, so that we can finance the cooperation with the most needy and interest [sic] countries.

(Yes, I understand how the idea of an international fund could make him think about "interest"--fixed or variable.)  Or this:

Now, let me step back on Iran, itself. We have a comprehensive strategy to deal with Iraq [sic]. There's a variety of issues that we have with Iraq [sic].

(Nahh, too easy.)

Some of them seem to be cases where he accidentally let the cat out of the bag and it's hard to see that the sic is even merited, like this:

In these cases, it has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held secretly [sic], questioned by experts, and -- when appropriate -- prosecuted for terrorist acts.

(Secret prisons?  What secret prisons?  I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.)  Or this:

I can sign a comprehensive plan that will assure the American people that as we look forward into the 21st century that we'll be more energy dependent [sic] and good stewards of the environment.

Or this:

We need an energy bill that encourages consumption [sic] ...

Or this:

The United States and the U.S. [sic] stand together in support of the Iraqi people and the new Iraqi government, which will soon come into action.

(Yep, that's an accurate summary of everyone who still thinks we should be in Iraq.)

Finally, some of them are quite obviously self-parody, because nobody could possibly be such a dolt that they'd produce them by accident:

And as I mentioned, there was a lot of non-partisan cooperation -- kind of a rare thing in Washington.  But it made sense when it come [sic] to public schools. ...

Laura and I's [sic] spirits are uplifted any time we go to a school that's working, because we understand the importance of public education in the future of our country.

I think that says it all.

The devil you know

It's hard to reach the bottom of the cesspool of corruption, cronyism, lawlessness, and shameless self-interest that is the Bush administration; every time you think you're there you take a look down and find that it just keeps going.  Case in point: although commuting Libby's sentence was bad enough at the surface level of setting free the only person who's been convicted of crimes related (even if obliquely) to the lies that were used to sell the Iraq war, that's only the merest fraction of the evil of it.  Here's Amy Goodman summarizing Marcy Wheeler's observations about the case:

Blogger Marcy Wheeler, who followed the Libby trial closely, told me: “In some ways, commutation is worse [for the cause of justice] than a pardon. With a commutation, Scooter Libby retains his Fifth Amendment rights.” If Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., for example, were to call a hearing, Libby could still plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, remaining silent. Had he been pardoned and been completely cleared of any wrongdoing, then he would have a harder time refusing to answer questions. Libby’s continued silence protects Bush and Cheney.

The commutation also allows the Bush administration to remain silent. As Bush said, “I have said throughout this process that it would not be appropriate to comment or intervene in this case until Mr. Libby’s appeals have been exhausted.”

So the commutation ensures that Libby will not cooperate with Fitzgerald, and will not cooperate with Congress.

As Wheeler herself points out, it also shut down the possibility that Libby might have decided to tell what he knew rather than spend time in jail.  And in an irony so pointed that it could put both your eyes out, she observes that this is all coming from the same administration that's currently pushing hard to reinstate mandatory minimum sentencing:

The Bush administration is trying to roll back a Supreme Court decision by pushing legislation that would require prison time for nearly all criminals. [...]

In a speech June 1 to announce the bill, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urged Congress to reimpose mandatory minimum prison sentences against federal convicts -- and not let judges consider such penalties "merely a suggestion."

No, we can't have judges doing that--just presidents.

The one thing I can say for the Bush administration is this: at least in their case the hypocrisy is utterly brazen, shameless, and out there on display for the entire world to see.  The Democrats are just as hypocritical and driven by self-interest, but they have the intelligence and political acumen to disguise their true intentions--or at least well enough to satisfy most well-meaning liberals, who are, sadly, far too easily impressed.

Chomsky said it better

A friend asked me yesterday what I was going to do for the 4th of July; I replied, "try to forget that it's a holiday glorifying a country that's killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in the last four years."  I asked him about his plans, and he said "I'm going to my brother's barbecue."

But actually I'm going to go with some friends to watch the San Francisco Mime Troupe shoot at the broad side of a barn and, I have no doubt, hit it.  Meanwhile, here's Noam Chomsky on the significance of Americanization Day:

Today happens to be July 4 as always, marked by lofty rhetoric about the significance of this traditional American celebration of independence and democracy (and maybe a day at the beach). Reality is not so uplifting. Independence Day was designed by the first state propaganda agency, Woodrow Wilson's Committee on Public Information (CPI), created during World War I to whip a pacifist country into anti- German frenzy and, incidentally, to beat down the threat of labor which frightened respectable people after such events as the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) victory in the Lawrence, Mass., strike of 1912. The CPI's successes greatly impressed the business world; one of its members, Edward Bernays, became the leading figure in the vastly expanding public relations industry. Also much impressed was Adolf Hitler, who attributed Germany's failure in World War I to the ideological victories of the British and U.S. propaganda agencies, which overwhelmed Germany's efforts. Next time, Germany would be in the competition, he vowed. The influence of the great generalissimo on the propaganda front, as Wilson was described by political scientist Harold Lasswell, was not slight. Independence Day was one contribution.

This particular propaganda exercise began with business-government initiatives to Americanize immigrants, to inculcate loyalty and obedience and expel from their minds alien notions about the rights of working people. Such programs would turn immigrants into the natural foe of the IWW and other destructive forces that undermine the country's ideals and institutions, the CPI founding document read. At a major conference of civic organizations (organized labor excluded), government and private organizations of all kinds and creeds had pledged themselves to cooperate in carrying out Americanization as a national endeavor, the organizers reported, while issuing plans for a successful Americanization program for the coming Fourth of July. The CPI took up the cudgels, now using the wartime fanaticism it had helped engender as another weapon against pacifists, agitators and other anti-American groups, notably the hated Wobblies. The Generalissimo joined in with a May 1918 endorsement. The title of the indoctrination ceremonies was to be Americanization Day ; on reflection, Independence Day seemed preferable.

What, exactly, did Chomsky say better?  Everything.

(As long as we're talking about "independence", though: thank you, Noam, for dedicating so much of your life to helping me and millions of others gain a measure of independence from the influences of received wisdom and state propaganda.)

Hummer, you're my hero!

The 2 hour and 23 minute-long commercial for General Motors vehicles that's more widely known by its shorthand name "Transformers" is now opening in theaters around the US.  According to the Associated Press, although there are a few vestigial humans in the film...:

...the true leads are the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Solstice, GMC TopKick and Hummer H2.

"You're going to see these cars as the heroes. You're not going to see the other actors," said Dino Bernacchi, GM's associate director of branded entertainment. "These cars are the stars, literally, in the movie."

Wow, this really does sound like a great opportunity to get a close look at the latest GM products.  And it only costs $10?  What a bargain!  Here's some of the "branded entertainment" that moviegoers can look forward to in exchange for their sawbuck:

The word "Camaro" is mentioned a handful of times by various characters, and close-ups of the Chevy, Pontiac, GMC and Hummer logos get ample screen time.

"Product placement has never been so blatant, and the potential for a global platform to build brand awareness could not have come at a better time for GM," said David Koehler, a clinical marketing professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"The younger demographic most likely to flock to the theaters is exactly what GM needs," he said.

But wait...wasn't the film's director miffed at this interference with his artistic process?  Didn't he hesitate to compromise his principles?  Surely you're joking; after all, this is Michael Bay, so when it comes to product placement he didn't have any principles  to begin with:

For the film's producers and director Michael Bay, it was a natural to bring in GM on the project.

Bay has helmed a number of GM commercials and worked with the company on past films, including "Bad Boys II" in which a Hummer plays a central role in a car chase.

As if paying to be advertised to wasn't enough, though, here's what the audience has to look forward to in terms of the content around the GM ads:

[Bay] selected the Solstice to be the stylish and wisecracking Jazz, which was a Porsche in the 1980s. Rounding out the Autobot lineup are the tough-as-nails Ironhide (the TopKick medium-duty truck) and the medical officer Ratchet, which converts from the Hummer H2.

Thank goodness there won't be any tired stereotypes in this film; just fresh, interesting characters all around.  And when you think of Hummers the first thing that pops into your head is healing, of course, so having the Hummer as the medical officer is a natural fit.

Now please excuse me while I go pound my head against concrete for a few minutes.

To anyone considering seeing this film: why not just spend a couple of hours on the GM website and save yourself the ticket price?