brainrow

Tonight the ABC News program “Nightline” will show photographs of all the U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war, while Ted Koppel reads their names.

I won’t be able to see it. Here in Columbus, Ohio, the local ABC affiliate won’t be airing the program, on orders from station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group.

It appears that some desk jockey decided it would be “contrary to public interest” to recognize the men and women who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice in this war. They fear that viewers will be less enthusiastic about the war if they recieve information about the lives lost fighting it.

They may be right. In fact, it seems to me that any information about the cost of the war, in lives or money, is apt to sap our enthusiasm for this war. Any information that suggests that Iraqis feel anything but undying gratitude for liberating the country may have the same effect. Likewise, any story that suggests that relations with some of our long-time allies have been strained. We can’t have that.

In light of Sinclair’s insight, it seems obvious that the “public interest” requires an end to reporting anything that might be interpreted as “bad news” about the Iraq war. I’ll bet there are folks in the Pentagon and the White House who would be glad to let the news media know which stories they can carry, and which stories the public interest requires be stifled.

The Washington Post reports that secrecy rules in the USA Patriot Act prevented the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from revealing that they had filed a suit challenging that law. From the article:

“It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court,” Ann Beeson, the ACLU’s associate legal director, said in a statement. “President Bush can talk about extending the life of the Patriot Act, but the ACLU is still gagged from discussing details of our challenge to it.”

This reminds me of an old Wizard of Id cartoon: The king is showing a visiting dignitary around the kingdom. The dignitary asks a passing peasant, “How’s it going?”

“Oh, I can’t complain,” the peasant says.

“Why do you say that?” the dignitary asks.

“It is forbidden,” the peasant replies.

(By the way, I discovered this story by way of Dan Gillmor’s weblog.)

In his weblog, Aaron Swartz is running a disturbingly insightful satire on the way the political name-calling game operates.

As I write this, the current QuickVote poll at CNN’s website asks:

Do you want to see images of caskets arriving from Iraq?

There seems to be a lot of spin on that question. If I say “No,” will they interpret my answer as support for Pentagon censorship of news coverage of the cost of this war? If they do, they will be wrong.

Several years ago, I decided to scratch out a few words and make use of some of the web space that came with my internet service.

It was more than a little embarrassing to lay my massive ego out there for all to see, and more than a little discouraging that almost nobody came to see it. Inexplicably, I didn’t receive a single offer of fame and/or fortune as a professional writer.

So my little corner of the world wide web languished. The most recent update was made on April 14, 2000, which qualifies my pathetic pages as a true “cobweb” site. Are there any government grants available for preserving historical relics like that?

I recently retired after working thirty years at the Ohio State University. Suddenly, I’m reading the newspaper every day, watching movies, and listening to music. For the first time in fifteen years, I’m reading books for pleasure. I find that I want to grab total strangers and tell them all about some of the wonderful things I’m discovering. And I find that most total strangers aren’t terrifically enthusiastic about that method of discourse. So, the pathetic old website may get some updates again.

This weblog will be the new “news” page for my site. Short comments will exist only in the weblog. If I write anything longer, it will be added to the main website and noted in an entry in the blog.