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We started off the year of 2005 with the "Fantasy Versus Reality" series, which took a look at the phenomenon known as "morality politics" as it plays out in the realm of teen sex, teen drugs, and teens in "boot camp"-style "correctional" facilities. That series ran in JANUARY and FEBRUARY.
A revised version of this series ran later in the year as a feature article in Z Magazine, with the title "Sex, Drugs, and Teens: Fantasy Versus Reality in Morality Politics."
(Some people didn't like the series. In response to the first installment about sex, which I subtitled "The Absolutists Versus the Rest of Us", one angry reader wrote to tell me that "you're a rather foul kind of absolutist yourself," and added suspiciously that "I'm not quite sure what your agenda really is..." So, in issue #288 I wrote "Individual Versus Social: About My Agenda." No sense keeping these things a secret.)
Immediately following that, in FEBRUARY, I ran a piece called "Social Security: The Fundamental Issue." In the Nygaard Notes typical "plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face" style, I explained the difference between a program of SOCIAL INSURANCE--which is what Social Security is, and was intended to be--and a program of INDIVIDUAL INVESTMENT--which is what Mr. Bush and his allies would LIKE it to be. And I did it all in 1,200 words!
Also in FEBRUARY, I ran the piece called "Reversing Our Thinking - Learning Empathy," in which I said that empathy "is the ability--and willingness--to put oneself in another's place and ACTIVELY imagine what a situation must be like for that other person. The better you are at empathy, the more compassionate and loving you can be." Then I explained a little bit about how to develop this ability.
In the month of MARCH I talked about the plans of the"President" for the elimination or severe reductions to 154 federal programs, plans that went largely unreported in the nation's press. I also talked, in MARCH, about Haiti, giving a little background on the current outrageous state of affairs in that country, and the outrageous reporting about it in the U.S. press.
Later in the month of MARCH I did a pair of pieces called "Reporting Lies I" and "Reporting Lies II," both of which were about the responsibility of the media when newsmakers say things that are (shall we say?) less than factual. Here are my two favorite comments (I'm quoting myself!?) from the pieces. I just have to quote my favorite line from these pieces: "When a public figure utters an amazing falsehood to a reporter from a major newspaper, it's not the reporter's job to read his mind, or to make up excuses for him. It's the reporter's job to report what people say and how it fits with the facts. Journalism, after all, is journalism, and public relations is supposed to be something else entirely."
When APRIL rolled around, I reported on the release of what has been called "the biggest review of the planet's life support systems ever," the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment. This report, put out by the United Nations Environmental Programme, warned of a looming collapse of the global environment over the next 50 years, the averting of which will require "radical changes in the way nature is treated at every level of decision-making." I pointed out how this genuine crisis went almost unremarked in the U.S., while a false and manufactured "crisis" in Social Security dominated the media.
In the month of MAY I returned to the subject of Social Security, running no fewer than FIVE separate articles on the "crisis" supposedly facing the program. I debunked some of the hysterical myths that have been hyped (unsuccessfully, we now know) by the "President" and other foes of the program. The retirement of the baby boomers, the unfunded liabilities, bankruptcy, the trust fund--I talked about all of those things in MAY, then I took a break to talk about...
Venezuela. And Colombia. I talked about U.S. efforts to subvert democracy in Venezuela, and the phony "war on drugs" in Colombia. I expect I'll have a lot more to say about both of these countries in 2006. Bolivia, too.
In JUNE I returned again to Social Security, giving some facts about the alleged "successes" of individualized Social Security programs in Chile, England, and Galveston, Texas, all of which are supposed to be "models" for the U.S. The facts say otherwise, and it's all there in Issue #298.
Late JUNE brought the Nygaard Notes Pledge Drive of 2005, which included a piece on "The Role of the Public Intellectual." I also talked about the "Damsel in Distress" syndrome that we read about in our daily papers. I mentioned Tamika Huston of Spartanburg, S.C. Never heard of her? That's the point!
In JULY I wrote about a "lunge for the jugular vein of the welfare state" that has been quietly going forward at the highest levels. That lunge is the effort to do away with the income tax. (The "jugular vein" metaphor was not mine, by the way; I was quoting the Wall Street Journal.) I had thought this was going to be the first of many articles about the income tax, since the right-wing plan for years has been to go after the income tax after their first two priorities were gotten rid of, those being "welfare" and Social Security. Well, welfare has been decimated, but Bush's attack on Social Security has failed. So I don't think Part Three of the attack on the "welfare state" is going to go too far. (I could be wrong. We'll see what the "President" says next month in his State of the Union address. If the income tax is emphasized, I'll tell you more about it. Deal?)
The first thing I did in AUGUST was to spell out the ominous Return of The Nukes that was hidden in plain sight in the federal Energy Bill that the "President" signed early that month. I also gave some resources for action on energy and the racism that goes with our current energy policy environment.
Later in AUGUST I talked about the so-called "settlements" that Israel continues to construct in the Occupied Territories, and how rare it is for U.S. media reports to mention that they are illegal under international law. Speaking of the law, I also talked about how the Italian courts were thinking about ordering the arrest of some CIA agents for kidnaping a man in Italy. I thought it should have been shocking that the U.S. government has no intention of abiding by the law in this case, but nobody seemed too shocked. (Arrest warrants were, in fact, issued for 22 CIA agents, just last week, an important story barely reported in this country.)
I followed that issue with a special anti-war issue, offering resources and information on various anti-war and anti-recruitment efforts, and some practical "Tips for Staying Informed" on what is happening in Iraq. Also in August, I touched on MN senator Norm Coleman's "crusade" against the U.N., the oil companies' ten-year fraud perpetrated against "high octane" fuel buyers, and I explained why so-called "free trade" is not "free."
SEPTEMBER saw me writing, like everyone else, about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Specifically, I explained "Operation Offset," which is the horrendous "conservative response" to Katrina. Lots of details; read it and weep. (Then DO something!) I also reported on the theft of $1 billion from the Iraq Defense Ministry (out of a total budget of $1.3 billion). Remarkable. Almost unnoticed in the U.S.
In OCTOBER there was LOTS more about Katrina. And more unreported news, specifically: some surprising facts from the 2006 "World Development Report" from the World Bank; a major report on the costs of the Iraq occupation; and a report showing that the number of genocides and violent conflicts, worldwide, has dropped rapidly in the wake of the Cold War.
NOVEMBER and DECEMBER have been consumed by this big series on Propaganda, which is still in progress, but from which we are taking a break to do this Year in Review. |
