Without a single shot

I remember, a couple of years ago, when I came back from dinner with an economist fired of mine who'd scared the willies out of me talking about how easy it would be for the developing nations to launch an economic war on the US and how utterly defenseless we'd be. But my economist friend was an alarmist by nature and, after a few weeks, it was easy to dismiss his ravings about international currency exchange.

But now, this story: OPEC to Consider Non-Dollar Reserves (which, by the way, received little to no coverage by the mainstream media).

What if, let's just say, a couple of nations like, maybe, Iran and Venezuela for example, were feeling threatened by George Bush and the United States? What could they do? Launch a military attack on the US? Not likely. But they might be able to convince the OPEC oil ministers that "They get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper," in the form of US dollars.

And what would happen then if OPEC decides that henceforth it will only accept Euros in payment for oil. Probably nothing. In fact not a problem at all. Just as long as long as my employer also agrees to pay me in Euros instead of worthless pieces of paper.

But I'd still get paid in US Dollars, of course. And the US would be brought to its knees without a single shot fired.

Oh no! Not another story on global warming!

Last Saturday the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a Nobel Prize winning worldwide collaboration of the best earth scientists on the planet, released the culmination of their five-year study of causes, effects, and solutions for climate change.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of college football games on Saturday and the President had already decided to use his weekly radio address to attack various of his domestic enemies for moving too slowly to provide more funding for his war on Iraq and for having the audacity to try to restore some measure of progressivity to the U.S. tax system.

And so the IPCC report got buried on the back pages ... at least in America:

The fair and balanced folks at Fox news didn't cover the IPCC report at all, instead carrying an AP wire story letting its viewers know all they needed to know, that the liberal "
UN Panel Gives Dire Warming Forecast."

Meanwhile, here in what's left of America, that bastion of the liberal media, the New York Times, toned it down for domestic audiences, saying "U.N. Chief Seeks More Climate Change Leadership." (Curiously enough, the NY Times used the same colorful photo of the Greenland ice sheet breaking up as did the Herald Tribune.)

But this headline, "Alarming UN report on climate change is too rosy many say," in the International Herald Tribune (London), was fairly typical of the way in which the rest of the world heard the story.

The report itself is as clear a warning as can be:

1) global warming and the resulting climate change is a fact
2) the primary cause is carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels
3) conditions are getting worse even faster than we imagined
4) only if we start now is there a chance to save the planet

Justice can be black ... or white

Thank heavens they finally indicted Barry Bonds <black man> for lying to Federal prosecutors and a grand jury. It's about time! And, what is more, they released Bonds' trainer <white man> who had been jailed for refusing to testify against Bonds. Barry Bonds Indicted on Perjury, Obstruction Charges (San Jose Mercury News)

Perhaps now we can finally start indicting a few members of the Bush Crime Family <white men> for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Oh, wait! We already tried that, didn't we? And what happened? Yes, that's right, after he was tried and convicted of the same crimes of which Barry Bonds is now accused, Scooter Libby <white man> was pardoned by George W. Bush <white man>.

If convicted, do you suppose George W. Bush pardon the black man? Don't bet on it. Instead there will be a speech about role models and the importance of justice.

But all of this is probably missing point. Between the Bonds story and the pending trial of O.J. Simpson <another black man> there'll be little time for the mainstream media to focus on other news like the spiraling tragedy in Iraq, the meltdown of the credit markets, or the fact that the Bush administration appointed the brother of a Blackwater officer <white men> to investigate Blackwater's fraudulent dealings.

Ignorance is Strength

And now the Bush administration wants you to believe that although "anonymity" is a quaint and old fashioned idea, you can rest assured that your privacy will still be protected because the government and corporations will carefully guard all of your information.

"Too often, privacy has been equated with anonymity, but in our interconnected and wireless world, anonymity - or the appearance of anonymity - is quickly becoming a thing of the past," according to Donald Kerr, the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence.

If anonymity is no longer an option, then what? Well, according to Mr. Kerr we've got to "take into account national security concerns" first but, after that, we can all rest assured that we'll still have our privacy protected by government and corporations' strong commitment to keep citizens' personal information secure.

Oh. Good. So, not to worry that they are gathering all this information about me, I can count on them to never ever share it with anyone.

But then, I've got to wonder: If they'll never use this information for anything, then why collect it in the first place?

Oh. That's right. We've got to "take into account national security concerns."

Which gets us back to where we started, doesn't it? Someone somewhere is watching.

And it's probably coincidence that this week or next the Democratic controlled legislature is going to pass the Bush administration's bill granting Comcast, Verizon, and all the other telecommunications corporations complete immunity from legal liability for sending customers' private information to the government, thus putting an end to an unknown number of pending lawsuits accusing the companies of doing just that.

But I've nothing to worry about, right? I just need to keep these seditious questions from invading my mind.

Just keep chanting over and over again:

War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength