The Furious Spinner

I haven't said a lot about the new Congress. Or the old Congress. At least not lately. I'm waiting. I'm hoping things will change once the new Congress is sworn in, but I am concerned. For one thing, they're talking about raising the troop levels in Iraq. Are they kidding? Apparently our elected officials know nothing about repeating history. Also, I keep hearing that impeachment is "off the table." I don't think anything should be off the table. I think this present administration has lied and cheated and tortured and killed—in our name. I want investigations. And I want these elected officials to work instead of flying off home every Thursday night to raise money to get re-elected. All the talking heads and politicians say that won't happen. They won't come to work any more often than they do now. (They generally work Tuesday through Thursday. Wouldn't it be great if you could do that and still get your work done? Well, they ain't gettin' the work done.)

This speech by Sean Pean, given when he accepted the 2006 Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award is well worth the read. Part of his talk was about self-censorship. (I believe artists—and I include writers in this—actually have an obligation to self-censorship, but not because we're afraid of the government or what people will think about us or what will get printed or sold or bought. We should self-censor if what we're doing can cause harm and the only reason we're doing it is to sell something or get ourselves known. But that's another conversation.) Anyway, Penn said, "We depend largely for information on these issues from media industries, driven by the bottom line to such an extent that the public interest becomes uninteresting. And should we speak truth, we stand against government efforts to intimidate or legislate in the service of censorship. Whether under the guise of a Patriot Act or any other benevolent-sounding rationale for the age-old game of shutting down dissent by discouraging independent thinking and preventing progressive social change. The most effective forms of de facto censorship are pre-emptive. Systemically, we are encouraged to keep our heads down, out of the line of fire—to avoid the danger, god forbid, that someone in the White House, on Capitol Hill, or a media blow-hard might take a shot at us. But, as a practical matter, most of the limits on creative expression and other forms of free speech come from self-censorship, where the mechanism of corporate clout offers carrots and brandishes sticks. We avoid a conflict before the conflict materializes. We reach for the carrots and stay out of range of sticks."

And about accountability, he said, "Criminals MUST be held accountable. Now, there's been a lot of talk lately on Capitol Hill about how impeachment should be 'off the table.' We're told that it's time to look ahead—not back...Can you imagine how far that argument would go for the defense at an arraignment on charges of grand larceny, or large-scale distribution of methamphetamines? How about the arranging of a contract killing on a pregnant mother? 'Indictment should be off the table.' Or 'Let's look forward, not backward.' Or 'We can't afford another failed defendant.'"

He's got a point. Will the Dems listen? 0 comments

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