The K.F. Stone Weekly

There's Good News Tonight . . .

   Gabriel Heatter was one of America's most recognizable voices during the 1930s and 40s.  Heatter [1890-1972] was a preeminent radio commentator whose nightly sign-on -- "There's Good News Tonight!" became both his catchphrase and his caricature.  Working in a far, far less media-driven and cynical time, Heatter earned a reputation for being a morale-booster during some of this nation's darkest days. As popular and revered a figure as ever graced American media, Heatter regularly received fan-mail thanking him for . . . well, for just being Gabriel Heatter.  One letter-writer gushed: "Thank God for Gabriel Heatter, who makes it possible for us to sleep at night."

   Imagine, if you will, any media personality -- whether of the left, the right or the militant-far-middle -- beginning a broadcast with such a saccharine salutation as "There's Good News Tonight!"  He or she would likely be accused of being nothing better than a bathetic fool.  Amazing to what tenebrous depths we moderns have all sunk.

   Throwing fistfuls of caution to the winsome winds of yesteryear, I too declare "There's Good News Tonight!" [or, to be more accurate, 'this morning.'] 

   "Harrumph!" cry out cynical masses.

   "Balderdash!" shout the jaded hoard.

   "What's so good about the news tonight?" demand the hoi polloi?   "Are you so brain dead as to be unaware that while the NSA is listening in on our conversations, the have-mores are getting even more and the polar icecaps are fast becoming tepid puddles, that illegal aliens are storming our citadel, Christianity is under attack and the Kansas City Royals have lost 13 straight?"

   Oh yes, we're aware of all that, but nonetheless, there is good news out there.  To wit:

• As of the moment [Friday, May 26, approximately 11:00 a.m.], the Dodgers have won 7 straight and Nomar Garciaparra is hitting the cover off the ball as if it were 1999 all over again.
• Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, despite their absurd Nuremberg defense ["we didn't know what was going on"] were both found guilty of innumerable counts of fraud and destroying the lives of literally thousands of American investors.  If all goes right, they will be eligible for parole in the early 23rd century.
• House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have actually -- and finally -- found something upon which they can agree: that the Bush Justice Department crossed an inviolate line by raiding the offices of Representative William Jefferson.  This -- and a host of other niggling issues -- are beginning to put a strain on White House/Congressional relations. 
• Congressional Republicans, fearful for their political lives, are beginning to distance themselves from Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld et al.  Moreover, it would seem that they are finally beginning to understand that their boss is in a race with Tom Cruise for who can suffer the most precipitous decline in public popularity.

   Along these lines, there's plenty of good news brewing out here in the American political hinterland.  In preparing a new edition of my book The Congressional Minyan: The Jews of Capitol Hill, I conduct interviews with members of Congress and various candidates who, in my estimation stand a good chance of victory in November.  One thing that impresses and excites me is the quality -- the caliber -- of the Democrats running for office.  They are far from being the directionless, brain-dead ultra-left, latte-slurping sensualists that the boys and girls at FOX portray them to be.  Time and again, I find myself talking with men and women who are far more positive, energetic, dedicated, and visionary than the folks they are seeking to replace.  In the main, our conversations deal with "the politics of the possible."  These are people whose concerns are the concerns of "Mr. and Mrs. America and All the Ships at Sea:" security [both national and economic], universal health care, education, global warming, jobs, and an end to that "culture of corruption" which has reached epidemic proportions in Washington.  What I have not been hearing is all that ponderous prattling about "God, Guns & Gays," the Republicans' less-than-holy trinity.

   This is not to say that this new breed lacks a moral compass or anchor.  Quite the contrary.  These men and women are every bit as religious as those who wear their faith like some designer hair shirt.  Where they differ is in the understanding that faith -- like words -- are irrelevant without actions. 

   Florida State Senator Ron Klein, who is running a remarkably hopeful campaign to unseat 13-term incumbent Clay Shaw is a perfect example of the sort of candidate who makes us say that "There's Good News Tonight!"  A member of the Florida Senate since 1996 [he served in the lower house for four years prior to that], Klein is the sort of man for whom politics is not a profession, but rather an avocation -- a way in which to put his values to work on behalf of people.  To a man like Senator Klein, health care is a moral issue.  Global warming is a moral issue.  Peace in the Middle East is a moral issue.  In speaking with him, one hears next to nothing about what is economically viable or advantageous.  Rather, he talks about what is right, proper and utterly necessary.  The senator is that enviable mix of idealist and pragmatist, of wide-eyed optimist and veteran realist.  Nowhere in our conversation did he once -- not once -- mention anything about his opponent.  To Senator Klein, campaigns are not about tearing one's opponent apart limb by limb, but rather setting out a positive agenda of action that can and will affect the lives of the people he represents.  His are not the politics of fear and preachy, exclusive divisiveness.  Rather, his is the campaign of hope, dedication and inclusiveness.  Senator Klein will make an exemplary member of Congress.

   Senator Klein is but one of dozens upon dozens of challengers across this great land who could actually score upset victories come November.  For this to happen however, it will take a lot of money, a lot of people power, and a lot good will.  I for one believe that people from Vermont to California and from Florida to Washington State possess all three.  Goodness knows we've got the candidates. 

   May the Good News continue to be ours . . .

      

The Pianists: A Fable

 

(Note: The following was discovered on a papyrus scroll in a cave.  Due to its extreme age, estimated at not less than 1,800 years old, there were many gaps (or lacunae) which made the text difficult to render . . .)

     Once upon a time long ago, a group of weary wanderers received a Divine Commandment from on high.  It forever changed their lives.  The resonating basso voice of the Nameless Muse said: “Thou has been chosen for greatness.  Hear now this commandment that I command thee this day: Thou shalt become Piano Players and lovers of music.  Throughout all thy generations, thou shalt diligently teach thy children to study and to practice, to play and to love, the music of the Piano.  For Piano is thy life and the length of thy days.  It shall add glory, meaning and contentment to thy lives.  Piano shall fulfill thy souls.  I am thy Muse.”

     To facilitate their lives, Co [a gender-neutral pronoun used for The Divine] gave them a manuscript with explicit step-by-step instructions on how to build a proper piano.  To further guide them along their path, the Muse also provided the Piano Players (or “Pianists”) with The Holy Score, which contained Sonatas, Fantasies, and Concertos, Partitas, Trios and Quartets.  Needless to say, those hearing the Muse’s Divine Directive were moved beyond compare; slowly they began seeking the means to fulfill Co’s awesome decree.  This they did throughout their generations, as they continued wandering the wilderness, ever searching for their place in the sun.

          After many years of meandering, the nascent Pianists did find a permanent home in a land they called “Pastoral.”  Once settled, they began devoting their lives to Piano and its attendant joys.  Over many generations, they became renown for the skill and artistry, the dedication and single-mindedness with which they fulfilled their Prime Command.  They endlessly studied the Holy Score, adding variations and brilliantly original compositions of their own.  They were a happy people living happy, creative lives. But there were dark clouds on the horizon. . .

          Other peoples and cultures (whom they simply referred to as “Outsiders”) mocked them and scorned them.  They seemed so different.  In a sense, they were.  For owing to the extreme discipline required in order to become players of Piano and lovers of music, the Pianists generally lived by apart from all others.  They even developed their own language with which to speak amongst themselves; they called it “P’santayr.”  Not having been witness to the original Command on High, Outsiders could not understand the commitment and devotion with which the Pianists lived their lives.  They kept strange hours and seemed to do nothing but practice, practice, practice.  They played pieces from the Holy Score religiously three times each day.  One day in seven they rested, doing nothing but attending the Odeon – their place of musical devotion.  They dressed alike and all ate high protein diets.  They rarely participated in activities that the Outsiders considered “important” or “necessary.”  How, the Outsider’s wondered, could any people devote so much of their lives to something as frivolous and nonproductive as Piano playing and music?

          Because of their uniqueness, they were often persecuted.  In fact, many Outsider cultures tried to eliminate them.  Many believed that the Piano Players were an powerful, monolithic force bent upon taking over the entire world.  Strangely, others saw in the Piano Players an inherent weakness that made them susceptible to the will of the devil.  Against all reason, the Outsiders became convinced that the Piano Players believed themselves to be better than everyone else, although this certainly was not the case.  True, the Muse had long ago informed the Pianists that they were Co’s “Chosen People.” But that did not make them better – only chosen.  But Chosen for what?  Why to be Players of Piano and devotees of music -- not an easy task when you think about it.  No, they were not better, but they were different and unique.  Unfortunately, many people could not [and still cannot] understand that people who are "different" or "unique" need not be feared.

          After generations of living extraordinary lives in Pastorale, the Pianists were conquered by Outsiders and forced to leave their homeland. Before long, they were dispersed to the four corners of the earth.  As the generations came and went, the Piano Players contributed greatly to the countries and cultures in which they found themselves living.  They continued to be persecuted and scorned for their uniqueness.  To the Outsider way of thinking, they just didn’t fit in.  Nonetheless, they did continue to provide both themselves and the entire world with sonatas, concertos and symphonies of dazzling brilliance and profundity.  They created a body of musical literature that covered virtually every emotional aspect of life.  No matter where they found themselves in the wide world, they continued to study, to play, and to luxuriate in the heavenly music they had been commanded to create.  It gave their lives meaning and purpose, just as the Muse had predicted.  And, despite the fact that they were grossly misunderstood and even harmed, music continued to be the central focus of their lives – the driving force that kept them together as a people.

          After 2,000 or more years, the Pianists lived in almost every country in the world. Never vast in number, they were nonetheless believed by the Outsiders to be an enormous monolithic congregation.  In a sense, one can readily understand how the Outsiders might reach this unwarranted conclusion.  Because of their unique culture and common purpose, they felt themselves to be a single family. Theirs was a singular global connection.  Since all Piano Players adhered to roughly the same daily ritual of practice and study, they understood each other’s lifestyles, needs and expectations.  And since they all spoke “P’santayr,” they could communicate with one another whenever the need arose.

          For countless generations, Pianists would only marry amongst themselves.  This they felt to be their sacred obligation. Whenever or wherever a community of Pianists might suffer, their fellows could always be counted on to come to their aid. Additionally, when finally permitted to enter mainstream professions – law, medicine, banking and academics – the Pianists tended to become rather successful.  This was due in great pat to the tremendous discipline and love of learning that had been instilled in them throughout all their generations. Simply stated, they approached each and every challenge as if it were party of the Holy Score.  The Outsiders – perhaps through jealousy, envy, or sheer ignorance – had a tendency to look upon their success as positive proof that the Pianists were international conspirators – evil people bent upon taking over the entire world.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.

          With the arrival of modern times, many strange things began to occur amongst the Piano Players.  They found the pull of Outsider society to be increasingly strong and alluring.  The time they devoted to playing Piano and studying music became less and less.  While most considered themselves devoted Pianists in the cultural sense, many turned from age-old forms of study and practice.  They no longer trained their children for a lifetime of playing and love of music.  Why?  Many said that they were deeply concerned lest their children feel “odd” or “strange” around their Outsider neighbors.  No longer did they play Piano three times a day, as had their ancestors. Rarely did they attend the Odeon on the Seventh Day.  No longer did they steep their children in the musical culture of their grandfathers and grandmothers.

          Rather, now they began sending them to twice-weekly lessons for three or four years in order to learn to play but a single piece of Piano music – and largely by rote at that.  The parents rarely, if ever, took their children to the Odeon on the Seventh Day. In far too many homes, the children were unable to practice, for the parents did not even have a Piano.  The message these children often received was: “Piano must be important to you for the next several years.” 

          “Why?” their children would ask.

          “Because we say so,” the parents would answer.

          Often they would add: “But, if after you have completed your lessons, you do not want to continue, that will be your decision.”  The children questioned why something that should be important to them was rarely seen or heard within their own homes.  It was a very good question, a very good question indeed.

          It eventually became the custom that at the age of thirteen, each child would play his or her single piece of music at a glorious recital that would be attended by family and friends.  Plans for the recital (and the banquet that would follow) began years before the child knew how to locate Middle C, or had ever heard of Bach, Beethoven or Brahms.  The day of the recital was filled with tension and anxiety, lest the child not “perform” up to capacity.  It became increasingly obvious that many of those who attended these recitals did not have the slightest idea of how to act or what to expect.  They had become, in short, a musically illiterate folk.

          Many of those in attendance would recall their own recitals, and realize that it was really the last time they had ever played Piano, attended the Odeon, or devoted themselves to music. Some would remember their parents and grandparents, and how they devoted their lives to the pursuit of Piano and music. But these children – the ones who played the single recital piece – were different.  Despite the fact that they might play their single piece with ability and skill, they were incapable of reading the musical score or recognizing its worth.  Moreover, few, if any, had the true love of music, which the Muse had long ago commanded.  True to form, few would ever play Piano after their recital.  This new generation merely went through the motions without much feeling or understanding.  What they did understand, was that after the recital, they would receive gifts of money.  After the performance, the family would throw a magnificent banquet that would last until all hours of the night.  Quite often these festivities cost far more than the family could truly afford.

          The elders grew fearful.  “How silly it is to spent all that time and money just to teach our children a single piece of music,” they said. “And for what?  For the sake of a single recital and a great feast?  It is a tragedy.  Our children no long truly know how to play Piano, speak ‘P’santayr,” or have that great love and devotion to music which has always been our heritage.  Where will it all end?”

          But the elders came to realize that they were, at least in part, to blame.  They were the ones who took to speaking “P’santayr” only when they did not wish their children to understand.  Then too, they were the ones who let the very culture of Piano slowly slip through their fingers, preferring instead the ways of their non-Pianist neighbors.

          Fortunately, the elders, working in consonance with their children and grandchildren, came up with a solution that not only solved their growing problem, but actually caused a musical renaissance among the Pianists.  In short, they . . .

(At this point, the manuscript suddenly ended, leaving posterity to ponder just what the solution was).

         

           

A Different Planet

   Ever get the feeling that some people don't live on the same planet as the rest of us?  Consider movie stars who buy their newborn sons and daughters $30,000 slippers; preachers who preach fire and brimstone sermons that would be acceptable to 17th century Puritans; politicians who act as if the only Americans who matter are those with 6- and 7-figure incomes.  I for one find it terribly hard to believe that the Cruises, Dobsons and Bushes of this world actually live in this world. For by their statements, actions and demeanor, they seem to be telling us that they are better -- indeed, far above -- the rest of us mere mortals who put in our forty-plus hours of toil, eat our three daily squares and then nod off sometime during Leno, Letterman or M*A*S*H. How else to explain the willful blindness of the few toward the lives and realities of the many? 

  Take President George W. Bush and his diminishing legion of admirers as a prime example.  How in the world could anyone living in real time, on a real planet, fail to see that people are finally, finally beginning to see through his elitist, holier-than-thou act?  How indeed can he do it -- not see, that is?  Well, for starters, how about by surrounding himself with -- and being surrounded by -- only those who agree with his politics, programs and proposals. How about by only speaking before -- and dining with -- those who see him as the crown of creation, God's gift to the "haves and have-mores." In reality, W lives at the center of a circle of impregnability where the only source of light shines from within, not from without.

    Within the past 24 hours, it has been revealed in USA Today that the National Security Agency [NSA], which is part of this government made up of "we, the people," has spent the past five years creating the world's -- indeed history's -- largest database.  This database, USA Today disclosed, contains information on every telephone call made by every American probably going back to the time when Alexander Graham Bell first shouted "Mr. Watson!  Come quick, I need you!!" Moreover, this collection -- which has likely already logged in several billion calls and conversations, is being done with the acquiescence of A.T.& T., Verizon, and BellSouth, all of whom have apparently signed contracts and for all we know are being paid.    And all of this, we are told by those inhabitants of distant planets, is being done in the name of "National Security" as part of our ongoing War Against Terror."  Really!  If this is so, then that means that the best way to safeguard the freedoms that the terrorists so badly want to destroy, is by curtailing them in the name of security and freedom.  Even the great George Orwell would never have attempted to top this.  It brings to mind a statement generally attributed to old Ben Franklin: "The man who is willing to give up a part of his freedom for the sake of security will wind up discovering that he has lost both." 

   Informed of the civilian-telephone-data-gathering project, Senate and House Democrats have voiced understandable anger, pique and outrage.  Democrat Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member on the Senate Judiciary Committee angrily demanded to know if the Bush Administration really considers that the average American is in contact with Al Qaeda terrorists.  New York Representative Maurice Hinchey, who months ago wrote to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility [OPR] seeking a fullscale investigation of the NSA's so-called "warrentless" wiretaps, has now been informed that the OPR investigators have been denied access to any and all information on the data-gathering project because they lack the required security clearances!  In other words, those being investigated for suspected illegalities, are calling the shots and not permitting themselves to be investigated, all in the name of "National Security."  Can you say "Constitutional crisis?"

   Not to show off a better-than-average education, but this smarmy situation does bring a bit of classic wisdom to mind.  To wit: Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes? which very loosely translated means "Never assign a fox to watch out over a henhouse."

   Is it possible that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest really don't understand how dangerous, how dictatorial, illegal and downright Orwellian this whole NSA gambit is?  Do they believe, when they put their heads on their pillows at night that all this is ultimately going to make America a safer place?  If that is truly the case -- if they really and truly believe that what they are doing is in America's best interests, then we are in even worse trouble than we ever imagined.  Why?  Because it proves that our leaders must be visitors from a strange planet.  No one with an ounce of intelligence, integrity or historic perspective could blithely condone universal eavesdropping on more than 200 million Americans.  And by the way, as mentioned above, this program has been going on at the NSA for nearly five years.  And who do you think was in charge of it until very recently?  Why General Michael Hayden, the president's current nominee to  head the CIA, that's who! Egad, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes or sitting in his seat when his confirmation hearings begin.

      More than 35 years ago, I was working in a California governor's race in which our side was being outspent something like 5-to-1 by our opponent, a fellow named Ronald Reagan.  Our candidate, through the campaign manager, instructed us that he wanted to see his name and face plastered over every square inch of the Golden State.  None of us had the heart to tell him that we really didn't have the money, the time or the manpower to accomplish such a mission.  However, not wishing to let "the old man" down, we came up with an alternate strategy.  What did we do?  Well, we put our guy's poster on just about every lamppost and telephone pole between his house and the building that housed our campaign headquarters.  In that way, when he drove in in the morning and returned home at night, he was seeing literally thousands of posters.  To his mind, we had done what he commanded; as far as he was concerned there were posters of him all over the place!

   To a great extent, that is the type of world -- or planet -- in or on which George W. Bush lives.  He sees what he wants to see, hears what he wants to hear, and stands foursquarely in the center of his circle of invulnerability.  It is up to us -- the people of "we the people" --  to return our government and our nation to those who actually inhabit planet earth; to those whose vision is shaped by reality and historic perspective, rather than by the fictive tales told by captains of industry who seem to feel that freedom is bad for business. 

   America was created to be a nation of laws, governed by law-abiding executives, sharp-eyed legislators and dedicated jurists.  From what we read in Thursday's U.S.A. Today, America seems to have been taken over by inhabitants of a different planet.  It's time to return our nation -- and our collective destiny -- to the inhabitants of planet Earth. 

   That's one small step for man . . . and woman.

Who Cares About Tomorrow . . . Or The Day After?

   Back in 1970, Yale Law School professor Charles Reich published his classic The Greening of America.  It, along with B.F. Skinner's Walden Two and Theodore Roszak's The Making of the Counter Culture, quickly became a must-read bestseller for members of my college generation. The Greening, unlike almost any other book being read by "the usual suspects" in Cambridge, New Haven, Morningside Heights, Berkley, Yellow Springs . . . [you get the idea] was a popular work of political sociology written by an immensely insightful author who seemingly had his finger on the pulse of "movement America."  Employing words and ideas that neither assaulted vocabulary nor insulted intellect, Reich dissected Vietnam-era America and explained why things were the way they were.  Moreover, he offered up a paradigm that was at once practicable to the mind of a pragmatist, yet audacious to the heart of a radical.

   In The Greening, Reich wrote about what one might term "the toilet theory of American challenge."  Reich posited that often, when faced with daunting, overwhelming issues, Americans act like children who flush objects down the toilet, never contemplating that what they are doing will likely cause a dangerous [not to mention disgusting] overflow in the future.  As far as the child is concerned, the object [i.e. the social or political problem] is gone; any or all thought of what might happen tomorrow is outside the scope of concern.  And while I doubt that President George W. Bush ever read -- let alone ever heard of -- The Greening of America, his approach to a vast array of issues is that of our prepubescent toilet flusher: out of sight, out of mind.

• What to bankrupt the national economy for the sake of the awesomely wealthy?  Leave the debt for generations yet unborn.  Let it be their problem.
• Determined to invade Iraq?  Leave the consequences to future presidents.
• Need to keep OPEC and the multinationals in the big, big chips?  Let our children and grandchildren deal with energy independence.
• And one and on. . .

     The idea is, flush today, don't worry about tomorrow . . . or the day after.

    To my way of thinking, the most noxious, most obscene example of the Bush Administration's "toilet theory of earthly problems" is their position -- or absolute lack thereof -- on the issue of global warming.  While scientific study after scientific study conclusively proves that global warming is a devastating reality, the Bush Administration and its Congressional Amen Corner claim to be thoroughly unconvinced.  Rather, they understand all this claptrap about the utter -- and inevitable-unless-we-do-something-about-it-now -- destruction of Mother Earth as just more bugle oil emanating from the Cassandras of the anti-God Left.  The Bushies want more input, more studies, more time to receive counsel from their allies at Exxon, Mobil, Shell and Haliburton.  This administration is incredibly anti-science.  Indeed, they are reminiscent of the medieval cretins who believed that Epilepsy, far from being a human malady, was in reality a sign of Satanic possession.

   For those of us who live in the early 21st century and actually receive intellectual input from sources other than Karl Rove, we know beyond all doubt that polar icecaps are receding, that ocean levels and temperatures are rising, and that more and more creatures are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.  We don't need to put the proposition to a vote; we know its all too frighteningly true.

  And here, dear reader, is the ultimate issue for the 2008 Presidential election.  For not only does global warming affect both the rich and poor, the urbanite and the farmer, the conservative Republican and the progressive Democrat; it affects every man, woman and child, every dog, cat and aardvark on planet earth. Increasingly, states, counties and municipalities throughout the United States are beginning to pay attention to global warming.  More and more people are asking what they -- as individuals and as collectives -- can do to help stem its horrific tide.  More and more companies are looking into alternate sources of energy, and marveling at countries like Brazil, which has achieved absolute energy independence.  For you see, in launching a frontal assault on global warming, we also take aim at the entire issue of energy dependence, of OPEC, of $4.00, $5.00 and even $10.00 a gallon gasoline.

   I firmly believe that any presidential candidate who makes global warming a central issue of his or her presidential campaign, will find an enormous reservoir of public energy, good will and support.  More and more, the American public is voicing extraordinary anger at -- and disaffection from -- the Bush administration and their minions.  Increasingly, people are finally, finally, figuring out that those currently in power are far more concerned with today than with tomorrow . . . or the day after. Its all beginning to make Al Gore look like a prophet.

   If I were running for president [God forbid!], I would announce that "my first action, to be taken at 9:00 a.m. on the morning after the Inauguration, will be a convocation with the scientific community.  At this convocation will be experts in wind, solar, geo-thermal, wave and even anti-matter energy; engineers, inventors and environmentalists.  And this convocation will include not only experts from this country, but experts from around the globe, for this is a global problem that must seek a global solution.  Further, I pledge that we will achieve energy independence within a decade, creating hundreds of thousands -- perhaps even millions -- of new jobs in new industries.  It will be the responsibility and the challenge of everyone in this great land to be part of the solution.  Together, we will exercise the stewardship that the good Lord commanded in the Biblical story of creation."

   Let's face it: one of the things we Americans have been lacking for nearly two generations is a national challenge; a call to achieving greatness.  Now that we have conquered the challenge of outer space, it is high time that we turn our time, our attention, our talent and ingenuity toward the very earth we inhabit.  We can no longer afford to flush our most overwhelming problems down the drainpipes of the future. We owe it to ourselves, our progeny and the God who created us, to mend this world, to begin treating it not as a toy, but as the most precious of all natural gifts.

   Who cares about tomorrow . . . and the day after?  We do.  That's who.