Commentary Update for February 17, 2003: February 15th, More War News, The American Paradox, Kunstler's Eyesore, Fat Man in a Middle Seat

This week's Commentary guests are Steve Bender and Mark Harris, Oshkosh Common Council candidates whose names will appear on the April 1st ballot. Mr. Harris is seeking his third term, while Mr. Bender ran unsuccessfully last year. We talk to both candidates about the loss of manufacturing jobs in Oshkosh. Ray Barrington's latest column is useful reading on that front.

In other news:

February 15th an Historic Day: Regardless of how one feels about the possibility of an Iraq war, future historians will have a difficult time ignoring last Saturday. Protesters worldwide in more than 600 cities said NO WAR in what was probably the largest coordinated protest ever. The nearly three quarters of a million people in London was described as Tony Blair's "worst fear." The Washington Post provided an estimate of crowds worldwide. Wisconsin's largest protests were held in Madison and Wausau, where the demonstrators were met my counter-protesters supporting the Bush Administration.

More War News: Six members of congress, some soldiers, and soldiers' families are taking the Bush Administration to court to try to prevent an invasion of Iraq. They claim Dubya' is acting like a monarch. I'll bet the judge throws that one out before you can say "war powers act isn't worth the paper it's printed on." Meanwhile, Ralph Nader wrote recently about the administration's oil industry ties.

The Pentagon has nicknamed the coming war "Operation Shock and Awe." If that's not Orwellian enough for you, be sure to read this piece from the USA Today on how the media plans to "cover" the war (or is it a conflict? Police action? Skirmish? Massacre? Ratings grabber?). Perhaps the media should nickname their own performance "Operation Shuck and Jive." Unitarian Minister Mike Schuler in the Madison Cap Times today writes that "Meaningful questions about the legitimacy or necessity of the war are rarely asked or entertained by the mainstream media."

The American Paradox: Frank McCandles forwarded me a highly provocative essay from the most recent Atlantic Monthly called "The American Paradox." Author Ted Halstead writes that "The country with the most patents, Nobel laureates, and millionaires is also the country with the highest levels of poverty, homicide, and infant mortality among modern democracies." He makes a case for "revising our social contract." One thing Halstead advocates is "to endow every American child with a $6,000 asset stake at birth." Somehow it's difficult to imagine the current Congress even talking about such an idea let alone allowing it to get a committee hearing.

James Kunstler's Eyesore of the Month: Here it is. Kunstler's take on the Iraq situation, by the way, will please neither war supporters nor peaceniks.

Fat Man in a Middle Seat: I wrote a brief review of journalist Jack Germond's memoirs for the UWO College of Letters and Science Recommended Reading site. You can find it here (scroll down).

All the best.