News of the Month

January 12, 2002

The Houston Chronicle reported back on December 12, right after our last show, about an artist hauled in by the FBI for having produced and displayed an “anti-American” work of art in Houston. Here are some excerpts from the article:

“A docent at the Art Car Museum, a 21-year old University of Houston art student, said that agents questioned her about her personal life and whether her parents knew she worked at the museum. She called the agents ‘intimidating,’ and said, ‘I felt terror. They were scaring me.’ She called this technique ‘the new McCarthyism.’

“A museum patron’s anonymous tip – anonymous tip – led FBI and Secret Service agents to investigate artwork said to threaten President Bush in an exhibit titled Secret Wars,” (an FBI spokesman) said. At (John) Ashcroft’s urging, law enforcement investigates all tips about apparent anti-American activities after the terrorist attacks September 11. The FBI spokesman added, “In line with his directive that we would leave no stone unturned, all these calls are being taken seriously and followed up.”

The work that attracted all the attention was a piece entitled “Empty Trellis (revisited)” by Houston artist Tim Glover. It is a charcoal drawing of President Bush’s bust at a speaker’s podium. A steel trellis in the shape of a half globe encloses the drawing. Gold-colored metal leaves litter the floor below it.

Anti-American. Think about that. Anti-American. It was bad enough when it was just the House Un-American Activities Committee. Now they carry guns – the FBI un-American activities unit. Where do you think the anti-Americanism is in that story? In a piece of art depicting King Georgie’s complicity in the destruction of the world’s ecosystem? (In the truth, in other words?) Or does the anti-Americanism lie in encouraging people to anonymously turn each other in for thoughtcrime? In harassing and terrorizing artists for their attempts to express truth, even if it’s critical of our Glorious Leader? Or maybe the anti-Americanism is in the piece of Nazi-ism masquerading as the “USA PATRIOT Act”.

So what lies in store for those accused of “terrorism”? God; that’s such a great word – it can mean anything those in charge want it to mean. Neil Lewis, writing for the New York Times and quoted in the Austin American-Statesman, says that “The military tribunals that will be used to try Al Qaeda members and others accused of terrorism will require a unanimous verdict to impose a death penalty, although a two-thirds vote of the panel of military officers will be enough to find someone guilty, according to rules drafted by senior Bush Administration officials.” So much for the 5^th Amendment – “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; ….” So much for the 6^th Amendment – “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, ….” One other detail – hearsay evidence is explicitly allowed in these secret pseudo-trials. So much for the time-tested rules of evidence.

Oh, and did you read the San Antonio Express-News stories about Al-Badr Al-Hazmi, a Saudi Arabian physician studying in San Antonio? After the Trade Center attacks, he was handcuffed and dragged from his home, still in pajamas, while his wife and children watched. After 12 days of FBI interrogation, he was finally released. The FBI basically said, “Oops! Never mind. He’s innocent.” So much for legal procedure and habeas corpus. He was Arabic; that’s all our gallant protectors needed to haul him from his home and hold him illegally for 12 days.

Well, Dr. Al-Hazmi had returned to Saudi Arabia with his family for a Ramadan visit. When he reached JFK Airport in New York on the way back to San Antonio – after having left his family there to ensure their safety – he was refused re-entry to the US. Even though he was scheduled to take an exam the next day towards his Radiology certification at the UT Health Science Center, they forced him to buy another transatlantic ticket and fly back to Saudi Arabia. After intervention by some high-level US officials, the State Department gave him a new visa; and he’s back in San Antonio, where the school will allow him a special date to take the test, and then he can get the hell out of this racist, paranoid country.

And of course, King George II’s war of terrorism on the Afghan people proceeds apace. We of the “benevolent” United States have now killed more innocent Afghan civilians than the November 11 attacks killed in this country. Who, then, are the terrorists? And why have we chosen to attack the people of Afghanistan, Bin Laden’s tools, rather than going after the source of Bin Laden’s money and power in Saudi Arabia? Simple – because Bin Laden gets his money from the exact same place, and in the exact same way, that King Georgie gets his. The super-secret, super-rich Carlyle Group, a private investment venture owned by the Bushes, the Bin Ladens, and other global robber barons, funnels millions of dollars a year into both families’ pockets. Big Oil owns a significant amount of stock in George W. Bush, Inc., and he can’t afford to alienate his biggest investors. So he attacks the symptom, and not the disease. He looks like a big hero to the admiring masses, he keeps his money flowing into his overflowing pockets, and he keeps his investors happy. Everybody wins! Well … everybody except the people – but what do they matter?

People exist for only one reason – to keep the money flowing into the coffers of the world’s super-rich. Think I’m being too cynical? Look at Argentina. Oh – haven’t heard anything about Argentina lately? Haven’t heard that the IMF and the World Bank have brought that once-great nation to the brink of bankruptcy and starvation? Or that it’s had five presidents in the last 3 weeks? Or that a devaluation of the Peso by 30% has sparked a round of inflation, which in turn is causing what is euphemistically called “unrest”? So how did all this happen – and how did it happen with nary a peep from most of the “free and independent press” of the United States?

To quote a Boston Globe article of January 7, “The economic collapse of Argentina is the latest failure of the one-size-fits-all model that the United States tries to impose on developing countries. Critics of this model are often attacked as protectionists, tools of special interest groups, anarchists, and worse. But in fact they include some of the world's most eminent economists. The economic model that the United States exports, with the International Monetary Fund in the role of enforcer, works like this: Developing nations are supposed to open their economies wide to foreign investment – to allow their banks, public utilities, and anything else to be sold to the highest foreign bidder. They are to balance their budgets, restrict the role of government, discipline wages, and limit social outlays.

“Argentina followed the IMF model more faithfully than almost any other nation. Its economy was opened wide; its peso was pegged to the dollar. For a few years this sparked an investment boom as foreigners bought most of the country's patrimony – its banks, phone companies, gas, water, electricity, railroads, airlines, airports, postal service, even its subways. As long as this money came in, there were enough dollars to keep plenty of pesos in circulation. But the dollar-peso peg led to an overvalued currency, which killed Argentine exports. And once there was little more to sell off, the dollars ceased coming in, which pulled money out of local circulation. As Argentina tanked, the IMF's austerity program pushed the economy further into collapse.”

This war of terrorism being pushed by King Georgie couldn’t have come at a better time – it makes him look like the hero of the hour, rather than the incompetent boob we were beginning to see before it happened; it masks who knows how many unjust and exploitative acts by the super-rich – like King Georgie and his family – against the ordinary people of the world; and it forces this country to spend millions of much-needed dollars on armaments. Hmph; armaments: the perfect government expenditure – pay a million for a missile, shoot it once, and Boom! we have to pay another million to buy another missile for the next shot. And they said the disposable diaper was the marketing coup of the century.

And, speaking of King George and the murder of innocent civilians, we need to remain aware that King George I’s “Gulf War” – over oil – is still killing innocent civilians in Iraq, to this day. Innocent men, women, and children are dying every day because the blockade we have placed against that nation prevents life-saving supplies from being sent to the people. To be fair, the Saddam-mite has to bear a large part of the blame, too; as Mother Jones magazine reported, “Saddam earns $2 billion in cash selling oil, one US analyst notes, ‘and he doesn’t spend it on repairing the sewage system or on schools and hospitals. He uses it building palaces and developing weapons.’” But has anyone ever really found out why King George I allowed Saddam to keep his country and his throne after that war? The courtesy due to one Royal from another, maybe? Or maybe the respect due to one oil baron from another. I wonder….

One final story – from the Houston Chronicle about the drug “war” in Texas: “Nearly half of all purported cocaine Dallas police seized last year was finely crushed Sheetrock, while one-fourth of the methamphetamine turned out to be composed of gypsum, the main ingredient in Sheetrock, court records show. Dallas police admitted last week that they paid a confidential informant $200,000 for information leading to dozens of drug busts only to find out later that some of the confiscated substances were fake. At the time, police Chief Terrell Bolton said he didn't know what the drugs were made of.

“Two cases involving counterfeit drugs were cocaine seizures that Dallas police and prosecutors touted as record-setting busts. Court records show that the same Dallas narcotics officers, relying on drug deals set up or carried out by confidential informants, made the arrests. One of the busts, which netted 150 pounds of a substance that later turned out not to be cocaine, was made with help from a paid confidential informant in July. Dallas police said it was one of the largest drug busts in Dallas County law enforcement history. The Hispanic day laborer charged with the crime was jailed in lieu of $1 million bail. Months later, after his charges were called into question, he was released from jail on a personal recognizance bond that required only his signature.” A really dangerous fellow, in other words.

The forces of oppression are all around us, friends – all it takes to see them is opening your eyes. Look behind the cover-ups masquerading as news in the corporate-controlled media; read the sources of information that those in charge don’t want you to read; pay attention to what goes on, here in our cities and overseas in the nations of the world. I’m not going to convince you; all I can do is point out a few – a very few – of the things that are right out there in plain sight for anyone who has her eyes open and her mind engaged. Look for yourself.