Commentary Update for July 29, 2003: Correction, Uday/Qusay/Che, Diogenes Dudes in Madison, EAA Scam, Wolfowitz and Body Counts, Remember Hiroshima, Takes one to know one?, Who Give a F, Simile of the Week, Progress on PCBs?, Some Clever 'Toons

This week's Commentary is a repeat of an October 7, 2002 interview Jim and I conducted with two people from Central America on the topic of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). FTAA is the latest in a series of global trade agreements that opponents say are trading labor, environmental, and human rights for corporate profit. FTAA opponents say that it would open up markets from Alaska to Argentina regardless of the impact on local economies and communities. This mega-trade agreement is scheduled to be put into place by 2005 with little or no public input.

In the first half-hour we are joined by Ana Maria Hernandez. She is the Executive Committee Chair for the Comite Fronterizo de Obreras or the Border Women Workers' Committee. Ms. Hernandez spent 14 years sewing clothes in maquiladora factories. She worked 11 years for the Obion Maquila, which is owned by the New York based Salant Corporation. At Obion she made clothes for the Gap, Oshkosh B'Gosh, Disney, and others. The factory closed 3 years ago, laying off 900 workers. Ms. Hernandez has lectured internationally about working conditions and the struggles for justice in the maquiladoras. She was born in and still resides in Piedras Negras, Cohuila Mexico.

In the second half-hour we are joined by Jesus Albeiro Martinez. Jesus is the General Secretary of the Public Employees Union of Columbia. He has been a union organizer for 17 years. He is in the United States as part of the AFL-CIO Solidarity program which grants asylum to union activists who have suffered threats to their personal safety as a result of union organizing. Jesus says that between receiving threats and watching his companeros suffer violent attacks, the situation became too dangerous for him to continue his labor union activities so he was forced to flee Columbia. He has been in the US since April of this year.

Neither Ana Maria nor Jesus speak English. Translating for us is Jason Wallach. Mr. Wallach is Grassroots Coordinator of the Mexico Solidarity Network. He has seven years of organizing experience working with the Highlander Center, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and various student organizations.

An FTAA Ministerial meeting will be held in Miami on November 20-21, 2003. The Citizens Trade Campaign is organizing opposition to the event. More information is available at Global Trade Watch. If you would like more information about Wisconsin activists' involvement in FTAA activities, contact Steve Watrous, Coordinator, WI Fair Trade Campaign at watrous@csd.uwm.edu. Wisconsin Fair Trade Campaign news can be found here.

In Other News:

Correction: In the last update I included soprano Rosa Ponselle as someone who should be honored with a commemorative stamp. Many thanks to several readers who read the Sons of Italy press release and discovered that there already is a Rosa Ponselle stamp. (I should probably read the material I forward!:).

Uday, Qusay, Che: The graphic images of Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay paraded over the net and television was probably the closest western media has gotten to covering the reality of war (i.e. blood and death) since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Party Line coming out of Washington was that it was necessary to show the bodies to help the Iraqis get over their fear that there's still a possibility for a Saddam dynasty. I suspect the parading of the corpses was designed more to send a message to actual and potential guerrilla fighters roaming the country about the consequences of messing with the occupier. A show of power, if you will. The scene reminded me most of the Bolivian military's showing of the corpse of Che Guevara in a effort to discourage militants. Che, the Argentine born militant who played a key role in the Cuban revolution, was sowing insurgency in Bolivia when he was captured and killed in October of 1967. Lyndon Johnson's adviser Walt Rostow sent the prez a memo saying in part, "It marks the passing of another of the aggressive, romantic revolutionaries...In the Latin American context, it will have a strong impact in discouraging would -be guerrillas. It shows the soundness of our ‘preventive medicine’ assistance to countries facing incipient insurgency--it was the Bolivian 2nd Ranger Battalion, trained by our Green Berets from June-September of this year, that cornered him and got him." (Rostow 10/11/67)

Diogenes' Dishonest Dudes in Madison Play Bumper Sticker Politics: An ancient Greek legend holds that the cynic Diogenes would walk around day and night with a lit lantern in search of one honest man. If Diogenes today came to the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison I'd tell him to conserve some kerosene and suspend the search, 'cause he sure won't find any honesty in that building. Governor Jim The New Democrat Doyle and the majority Republicans have just about completed what is among the most shameful, cowardly, and hypocritical budget sessions in the history of the state. After Diogenes' Dishonest Dudes spent the entire 2002 election season telling us about "new beginnings," "reform," and yada yada yada, they proceeded to engage in exactly the same behaviors that got the state in the budget mess in the first place: top down control of the budget by the governor and a small group of pencil neck geek legislators, special treatment for big campaign contributors, and continuing to raise money while the budget deliberations were ongoing.

Doyle, who when he tries to mock the Republicans looks and sounds a little like Don Rickles on sedatives, in his budget message announced a veto of the Republican "property tax freeze" because, "as governor, I cannot play bumper sticker politics." He's right that the GOP is playing bumper sticker politics, but what on earth does he think his original budget proposal was? If you don't mind a poker metaphor, the Republicans saw Doyle's "I balanced the budget without raising sales, income or corporate taxes" bumper sticker and raised him the property tax freeze bumper sticker. Now the minority Democrats in the Assembly and Senate, a shell-shocked group on life-support that failed to provide any compelling alternative to Doyle and the Republicans, may have to vote to override their own governor on the property tax freeze so as to save their own pathetic political asses. Citizens for Responsible Government, the outfit responsible for recalling and having removed from office a chunk of dead weight in Milwaukee County last year including the County Executive, is now organizing tax freeze rallies around the state. Doyle shouldn't take CRG lightly: this weekend I was in a grocery store performing a great act on behalf of the environment (i.e. I was buying unbleached coffee filters), and while there I talked to several elderly Commentary fans about the freeze. They supported it strongly. I was in a hurry to get home and make the coffee, so I don't know how they would have responded to arguments against the freeze, but I will say that Doyle is mistaken if he thinks this issue is dead.

By framing his original budget largely along parameters set by the Republicans, Doyle guaranteed that there would be no intelligent discussion about taxation, but only partisan posturing. Suppose Doyle were to endorse the property tax freeze. Then what? My prediction is that the next Republican bumper sticker would advocate for a complete abolition of the property tax, to be replaced primarily with the sales tax--a tax that is even more regressive. (note: My opinion is that while there is no such thing as a perfect tax system, a progressive income tax based on ability to pay is probably the most fair. The best way to determine which tax system is the most fair is by simply looking at which system the national and state chambers of commerce most despise.).

Democratic representative Mark Pocan has recently tried to insert some intelligence into the tax debate, but don't expect that to go anywhere. For one thing, the Republican majority won't give the proposal a hearing. For another, the New Democratic governor isn't all that interested in tax fairness either. It's all about the bumper sticker, babes. Somewhere Diogenes is saying, "your elected officials are willing trash the state for political gain and you call me the cynic?"

There is some humor in all of this, provided by the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities: "Rich Eggleston of the Alliance staff returned recently from Churchill, Manitoba, where he interviewed a momma polar bear about her views of a property tax freeze. The results were surprisingly similar to what the Wisconsin Realtors Association found in a poll. 'I'm in favor of any kind of a freeze,' the bear replied. 'But I think it would be fairer if the state froze its own tax revenue before it froze another level of government.'

Northwestern Makes Some Progress On EAA Scam: I'd like to send a kudos and a semi-kudos to Gannett's Oshkosh Northwestern this week. The kudos is for the paper receiving an Associated Press Managing Editors' Freedom of Information Citation, "for its role in establishing and enforcing the principle that electronic mail communications are covered under the state's open records law." (if they would pressure the Chamber of Commerce owned Oshkosh Common Council on this as much as they do the School Board I would give them a double kudos). The semi-kudos is for the the fact that the paper finally, finally, finally, after many years did a story questioning the bogus attendance figures provided each year by the Experimental Aircraft Association. The story does not go near far enough, as EAA is never pressured to explain why it cannot calculate the actual attendance with some degree of precision. Moreover, EAA flacks are still allowed to claim an actual attendance of 200 to 300 thousand, which may still be double the real number.

Many of you will recall that, with assistance from the great Lee Baxandall, I first raised the issue of EAA attendance inflation in December of 2001. Rick Rousos, an excellent reporter for the Lakeland (Florida) Ledger, saw my piece and wrote an expose of the EAA affiliated Sun and Fun attendance inflation.

I must emphasize that with the level of support that EAA receives from Oshkosh and Winnebago County as a whole, it is vital that we demand accountability. The Northwestern story is a small first baby step; now maybe the self-proclaimed reformers on the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors can step forward and ask for an audit of county support for EAA.

This morning (Tuesday, July 29) the Oshkosh Northwestern lambasted as "curmudgeons" those of us who are "obsessed" with this this issue. This is the same editorial brigade that crucified the school superintendent for buying freakin' fifteen dollar fruit baskets with taxpayer money to bring to friggin' committee meetings. They can get angry about fruit baskets, but not about sweetheart deals made with a corporation that cannot even provide an honest assessment of its impact on the community? This horrific July 29 editorial is a classic example of what I'll be calling the northeast Wisconsin "Iron Triangle" (big business, media, government) at work in the next Valley Scene Media Rants column (look for it on August 1st at these locations).

Wolfowitz and Body Counts: Anyone see Paul Wolfowitz on Fox News Sunday or the Tim Russert show this past Sunday? Rummy's assistant reminds me of the man who appears every time you ask to see a manager at a retail, fast food, or rent to own store. You know, the guy that apologizes for the cold freedom fries by giving you a coupon for two free plain cake munchkins at the Dunkin' Donuts across the street. And Wolfy spent the better part of both Sunday programs giving out junk food coupons. I think his role on the shows was to throw out the focus-group tested arguments as to why we had to go to Iraq: "I think the lesson of 9/11 is that if you're not prepared to act on the basis of murky intelligence, then you're going to have to act after the fact, and after the fact now means after horrendous things have happened to this country." (Fox News).

"If in 2001, or in 2000 or in 1999 we had gone to war in Afghanistan to deal with Osama bin Laden and we had tried to say 'It's because he's planning to kill 3,000 people in New York,' people would have said 'Well you don't have any proof of that'," Wolfowitz said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "The lesson of Sept. 11 is that you can't wait until proof after the fact."

Memo to John Kerry, Howard Dean, and other Dems: The above rates high in the focus groups.

Wolfowitz and his neo-con buddies actually declared war on Iraq in 1997. Read the Project for the New American Century's Statement of Principles. The always irreverent Mark Fiore has something to say about all this. Billionaire George Soros also paid for a "We Deserve The Truth" ad in this past Sunday's New York Time.

In all seriousness, we are suffering daily casualties in Iraq. One of the better sites to keep track of the casualties is the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. The site does not sensationalize the tragedies and relies only on reputable sources. The Project on Defense Alternatives' War Report also provides a good archive of materials on Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which are difficult to find in the mainstream American press. Iraqi civilian deaths are being monitored at Iraqbodycount.net.

To place the American deaths in context, a comparison to Vietnam might help. Military historians claim that at the high point of American involvement in Vietnam (1965-1972), Americans averaged about 530 combat troops killed per month, or around 17 per day. What is the "magic number" of troops that must be killed in Iraq before the general public turns against the war? Three per day? Five? Ten?

Remember Hiroshima: From the Winnebago Peace and Justice Center:

Winnebago Peace and Justice Center
457 N. Main Street
Oshkosh, WI 54901
920-203-6966

The Winnebago Peace and Justice Center would like to cordially invite the Oshkosh community to partake in the 1st Annual Hiroshima Day of Remembrance/Peace Lantern Ceremony that is taking place on the evening of August 6th at the Kiwanis Shelter, Menominee Park.

The event will begin in the evening of August 6th with an optional bring-your-own picnic for families and friends at 6 p.m., followed by a formal program featuring speakers from local Christian, Muslim, Jewish communities and community advocates, as well as a storytelling of Sadako and the Paper Cranes.

The Winnebago Peace and Justice Center invites anyone from the community to join us in Menominee Park for our first annual Lantern Float, which will follow our formal program with lantern making to begin at 8 p.m., and the floating of the lanterns at dusk.

For more information, please contact Bob Poeschl, carpepax@riseup.net

Takes One To Know One?: A Wall Street Journal writer, in a lengthy piece, tries to explain why an "obnoxious liar" like the gadflying filmmaker Michael Moore is so popular. Maybe one reason is because Moore is able to get people to question the wisdom of a government whose war on terror includes subduing Minnesota's evil Joe Adams.

Who Gives A F***: Ever curious about the origins of the F word? Print this out for some great bathroom reading.

Simile of the Week: From an Appleton Post-Crescent "It's Your Call" submitted by Donna Nemecek of Kimberly: "In regard to the Appleton farm market, selling fruits and vegetables on College Avenue makes about as much sense as selling framed art in a cow barn."

Progress on PCB Cleanup?: On Monday (July 28th), Jim The New Democrat Doyle was in Green Bay to announce the "Record of Decision" for the cleanup of PCBs in the Fox River. As is always the case, the Clean Water Action Council immediately cut through the crap and identified the problems with the deal. Be sure to visit the Fox River Watch.

Finally, some clever 'toons: Maybe Dubya' should listen to daddy more often? This cartoon suggests Bush #41was smarter than his critics give him credit for (be sure to read to the last frame). Meanwhile, those troublemaking French are now making fun of our brain stealing media.

All the best,

-Tony