Commentary Update for March 10, 2003: Shared Revenue Again, A Not So Random Act of Kind-ness, Speaking of Anti-War, Corporate Icons Brace for War Backlash, What about those sanctions?, The Real American Idol?, All Purpose Violence Rationalizer, Now Here's Some Good News, This is no Choke.

This week's Commentary continues our coverage of the race for the Oshkosh Area School District Board of Education. Challenger Dan Becker joins us in the first half-hour, while we are joined by two-term incumbent Dennis Kavanaugh in part two.

In Other News:

Shared Revenue Again: Jim The New Democrat Doyle is proposing significant cuts to the state's shared revenue program. Not surprisingly, the Republicans want to cut even more. The Wisconsin Alliance of Cities presented some data on how the cuts would affect cities across the state. If I could get Jim The New Democrat Doyle to read one article, it would probably be "Where are the Democrats?" by Bill Moyers. The popular PBS public affairs host and former press secretary for LBJ says:

"But where are the Democrats? As the Republicans were coming back from the wilderness - lean, mean and hungry - Democrats were busy assimilating their opponents' belief system. In no small part because they coveted the same corporate money, Democrats practically walked away from the politics of struggle, leaving millions of working people with no one to fight for them. We see the consequences all around us in what a friend of mine calls 'a suffocating consensus.' Even as poverty spreads, inequality grows, and our quality of life diminishes, Democrats have become the doves of class warfare."

A Not-So-Random Act of Kind-ness?: At least one Wisconsin Democrat raised a little hell last week. Congressman Ron Kind of LaCrosse, who voted to authorize the use of force resolution against Iraq in October, last week asked Speaker Dennis Hastert to have the House reconsider that resolution and debate a new resolution that would have to be voted on before the Prez could go to war. Mr. Kind claims in October was voting for disarmament and not regime change--though how he imagined there could be one without the other is beyond me. My guess is that Kind is responding to the anti-war movement, which has been much larger than the networks and cable stations have let on.

Speaking of anti-war: The UW Oshkosh Faculty Senate passed an anti-war resolution last week. I sponsored the resolution, placing language in it that Republican majority leader in the House Tom The Lay refers to as "multilateralist mumbo-jumbo." Here's the Oshkosh Northwestern coverage, along with the paper's report on the March 5th campus rally. Other faculty senates that have dealt with the war include New York's Nazareth College and the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Students across the country have passed resolutions--a list can be found here. Meanwhile as of today 136(!) cities have passed resolutions against the war, including Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Milwaukee to name a few. Fifteen Canadian cities, including Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Quebec, has also passed resolutions.

Corporate Icons Brace for War Backlash: Some argue that if we go to war, Americans in the middle east will be at great risk. That's already happening. As reported by Reuters:

Increased hostility toward America has already led to a few attacks on businesses linked to the United States in the Middle East, boycotts of American products, and security alerts at U.S. corporate offices in the region.

Saudi Arabian youth have firebombed two McDonald's in the kingdom since November. The home-made bombs caused only material damage but intensified fears among Westerners, who have been the targets of several other attacks.

At least five American-style fast-food restaurants in Lebanon, including two Pizza Hut branches and a KFC chicken outlet, have been rocked by bomb attacks since May.

In Cairo, Egypt, a recent telephoned bomb threat to Citibank, part of Citigroup, led to the evacuation of a large building off a central square where the offices of several foreign companies are located, including Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Consumers in several Middle Eastern countries are shunning American goods, and Iran has banned media advertising for all U.S.-made goods.

What About Those Sanctions?: Whether Saddam stays or goes, it is time for our media to take a more honest look at the actual impact of sanctions on the Iraqi people and the actual manner in which the sanctions are administered. This lengthy report by Fairfield University political philosopher Joy Gordon from the November issue of Harper's provides factual information about the UN sanctions regime that we rarely hear about in the American press. While it is true that Saddam's thugs have exploited the sanctions for their own benefit, Gordon's study shows that the situation is far more complex than that.

The Real American Idol?: This 'toon tells the story better than words, I reckon.

All Purpose Violence Rationalizer: Bill Safire in the New York Times last week wrote a pro-war essay framed in a Woodrow Wilson-esque "this is a war to make the world safe for democracy" manner. He does have one section in there that's an example of what I call an "All Purpose Violence Rationalizer" (APVR). An APVR is something that can said to justify any violence by anyone against another at any time. So Safire says, "Nor should we indulge in placing second thoughts first: How much will it cost? How many will be killed? How long will it take? Will it kill the snake of terror or only poke it? Will everybody thank us afterward? Where's the guarantee of total success? Too cautious to oppose, these questioners delay action by demanding to know what they know is unknowable." Basically, the APVR mentality is along the lines of "kill first, ask questions later." A few days later Jimmy Carter in the same pages of the New York Times took a different view, applying "just war" principles to the Iraq situation. I do find it somewhat incredible that Carter believes that American foreign policy has historically been predicated on "basic religious principles." Has any Nation State in the history of the world ever acted in accordance with such principles?

Now Here's Some Good News: I was worried that with corporate scandals and all, that somehow the right people would not get contracts to clean up Iraq after the war. Not to worry. Last week it was reported that Halliburton (of Dick Cheney fame)
"has won the contract to oversee any firefighting operations at Iraqi oilfields after any U.S.-led invasion." I don't think even Tom Clancy could make up this kind of stuff.

This is no Choke: Finally, I'll bet you've spend much of your life wondering how the Heimlich maneuver got created. Well, the BBC yesterday did a feature on Dr. Henry Heimlich, the man who also invented the chest drain valve (which you can see demonstrated in the movie "Three Kings" with George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg).

All the best,

Tony