Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 66
July 17, 2014
Johnny Winter, R.I.P.
The white blues guitarist has died, quite unexpectedly, on tour in Switzerland at the age of 70. No cause yet given. I admit I was never a big fan but after much '70s hype he settled into a steady career with solid base of fans. His cover of Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" was always a highlight.
Countdown to Hiroshima: My Annual Series
Every year at this time, I trace the final days leading up to the first (and so far only) use of the atomic bomb against cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945. In this way the fateful, and in my view, very tragic, decisions made by President Truman and his advisers, and the actions of scientists in Los Alamos, and others, can be judged more clearly in "real time." As many know, this is a subject that I have studied and written about in hundreds of articles and two books (including the recent Atomic Cover-Up) since the early 1980s--along the way I've spent a month in the two atomic cities and weeks at the Truman Library--with a special emphasis on the aftermath of the bombings, and the government and media suppression in the decades after.
For background, here are two of my postings already this month: the first, on Leo Szilard's petition to the President signed by dozens of fellow atomic scientists urging that the U.S. not use the new weapon against Japanese cities or at least stage a demonstration first; the second, on the first test of The Bomb at Trinity on July 16, 1945.
For today see: On this date in 1945, President Truman made a key, and much-debated, entry in his diary. He had traveled to Potsdam for the vital meeting with Stalin and Churchill that would help shape the postwar world. And return for nearly daily items through mid-August. And here's my it still matters.
*
Sixty-nine years after the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bomb is still very much with us, and controversy continues to swirl over the decision to obliterate the two Japanese cities — and also how this helped make inevitable the coming of nuclear power plants, like at Fukushima, introducing new radiation dangers to the world.
Hiroshima, in any case, remains a vital lesson for us all, not only for the first use of a nuclear weapon there, but because of the “first use” nuclear policy the U.S. maintains today.
Even the fact that the U.S. still has a first-strike policy (meaning we will use nukes first in a crisis if need be) will surprise many, especially with the end of the Cold War now a distant memory for some It’s a subject practically off-limits in the media and in American policy circles. Despite some positive signs from President Obama, I fear that moving very far in the direction of no-first-use is still a long way off in America.
Perhaps the strongest reason is this: most Americans, our media and our leaders (including every president), have endorsed our “first-use” of the bomb against Japan. This remains true today, despite new evidence and analysis that has emerged for so many years. I’ve been probing this for over thirty years — in articles, a film, in two books — with little shift in the polls or change in heart among our policymakers and elected officials.
There has also been little change abroad — where the use of the bomb in 1945 has been roundly condemned from the beginning. Indeed, U.S. support, even pride, in our use of the weapon has given us little moral standing in arguing that other countries should not develop nuclear weapons and consider using them, possibly as a first, not a last, resort (that’s our policy, remember).
So it all goes back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
While I respect the views of a range of historians on this matter, and the opinions of the men who fought in the Pacific, I happen to believe the bombs should not have been used against Japan — directly over massive cities — at that time. The war would likely have ended very shortly without it (or a bloody American invasion planned for months later), largely because of the Soviets finally declaring war on Japan — an event long-dreaded by Japanese leaders.
Yes, there was a day when conservatives like John Foster Dulles, columnist David Lawrence, Admiral William Leahy and General Dwight D. Eisenhower — “We shouldn’t have hit them with that awful thing,” Ike declared — clearly condemned the use of the bombs. They knew that the argument of “saving tens of thousands of American lives” only counted if an invasion actually was necessary. We had demanded “unconditional surrender,” dropped the bombs — then accepted the main Japanese demand, keeping their emperor as figurehead.
But the key point for today is this: how the “Hiroshima narrative” has been handed down to generations of Americans — and overwhelmingly endorsed by officials and the media, even if many historians disagree — matters greatly. (And see my recent book on the extremely significant suppression of footage shot in Hiroshima by U.S. military film crews.)
Over and over, top policymakers and commentators say, “We must never use nuclear weapons,” yet they endorse the two times the weapons have been used against cities in a first strike. To make any exceptions, even in the past — and in certainly a horrid situation — means exceptions can be made in the future. Indeed, we have already made two exceptions, with more than 200,000 civilians killed.
The line against using nuclear weapons has been drawn… in the sand.
To cite just one example: Before our attack on Iraqi forces in Kuwait in 1990, then-Pentagon chief Dick Cheney said on TV that we would consider using nuclear weapons against Iraq but would hold off “at this point” — then specifically cited President Truman’s use of the bomb as morally correct. Some polls at the time showed strong support from the American public for using nukes if our military so advised. And who can forget Hillary Clinton’s claim, during her run for president, that we might have to “obliterate” Iran.
And, as I’ve noted, the fact that the United States first developed, and then used — twice — the WMD to end all WMDs has severely compromised our arguments against others building the weapon ever since. Hiroshima was our original sin, and we are still paying for it, even if most Americans do not recognize this. It is also a moral stain that we have, all these years later, still not confronted, as it remains what Robert Jay Lifton in our book Hiroshima in America called our deepest "raw nerve."
That is why I always urge everyone to study the history surrounding the decision to use the bomb and how the full story was covered up for decades. There is certainly, in the minds of the media and the American public, no taboo on using nuclear weapons, and it all started, but did not end, with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
For background, here are two of my postings already this month: the first, on Leo Szilard's petition to the President signed by dozens of fellow atomic scientists urging that the U.S. not use the new weapon against Japanese cities or at least stage a demonstration first; the second, on the first test of The Bomb at Trinity on July 16, 1945.
For today see: On this date in 1945, President Truman made a key, and much-debated, entry in his diary. He had traveled to Potsdam for the vital meeting with Stalin and Churchill that would help shape the postwar world. And return for nearly daily items through mid-August. And here's my it still matters.
*
Sixty-nine years after the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bomb is still very much with us, and controversy continues to swirl over the decision to obliterate the two Japanese cities — and also how this helped make inevitable the coming of nuclear power plants, like at Fukushima, introducing new radiation dangers to the world.
Hiroshima, in any case, remains a vital lesson for us all, not only for the first use of a nuclear weapon there, but because of the “first use” nuclear policy the U.S. maintains today.
Even the fact that the U.S. still has a first-strike policy (meaning we will use nukes first in a crisis if need be) will surprise many, especially with the end of the Cold War now a distant memory for some It’s a subject practically off-limits in the media and in American policy circles. Despite some positive signs from President Obama, I fear that moving very far in the direction of no-first-use is still a long way off in America. Perhaps the strongest reason is this: most Americans, our media and our leaders (including every president), have endorsed our “first-use” of the bomb against Japan. This remains true today, despite new evidence and analysis that has emerged for so many years. I’ve been probing this for over thirty years — in articles, a film, in two books — with little shift in the polls or change in heart among our policymakers and elected officials.
There has also been little change abroad — where the use of the bomb in 1945 has been roundly condemned from the beginning. Indeed, U.S. support, even pride, in our use of the weapon has given us little moral standing in arguing that other countries should not develop nuclear weapons and consider using them, possibly as a first, not a last, resort (that’s our policy, remember).
So it all goes back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
While I respect the views of a range of historians on this matter, and the opinions of the men who fought in the Pacific, I happen to believe the bombs should not have been used against Japan — directly over massive cities — at that time. The war would likely have ended very shortly without it (or a bloody American invasion planned for months later), largely because of the Soviets finally declaring war on Japan — an event long-dreaded by Japanese leaders.
Yes, there was a day when conservatives like John Foster Dulles, columnist David Lawrence, Admiral William Leahy and General Dwight D. Eisenhower — “We shouldn’t have hit them with that awful thing,” Ike declared — clearly condemned the use of the bombs. They knew that the argument of “saving tens of thousands of American lives” only counted if an invasion actually was necessary. We had demanded “unconditional surrender,” dropped the bombs — then accepted the main Japanese demand, keeping their emperor as figurehead.
But the key point for today is this: how the “Hiroshima narrative” has been handed down to generations of Americans — and overwhelmingly endorsed by officials and the media, even if many historians disagree — matters greatly. (And see my recent book on the extremely significant suppression of footage shot in Hiroshima by U.S. military film crews.)
Over and over, top policymakers and commentators say, “We must never use nuclear weapons,” yet they endorse the two times the weapons have been used against cities in a first strike. To make any exceptions, even in the past — and in certainly a horrid situation — means exceptions can be made in the future. Indeed, we have already made two exceptions, with more than 200,000 civilians killed.
The line against using nuclear weapons has been drawn… in the sand.
To cite just one example: Before our attack on Iraqi forces in Kuwait in 1990, then-Pentagon chief Dick Cheney said on TV that we would consider using nuclear weapons against Iraq but would hold off “at this point” — then specifically cited President Truman’s use of the bomb as morally correct. Some polls at the time showed strong support from the American public for using nukes if our military so advised. And who can forget Hillary Clinton’s claim, during her run for president, that we might have to “obliterate” Iran.
And, as I’ve noted, the fact that the United States first developed, and then used — twice — the WMD to end all WMDs has severely compromised our arguments against others building the weapon ever since. Hiroshima was our original sin, and we are still paying for it, even if most Americans do not recognize this. It is also a moral stain that we have, all these years later, still not confronted, as it remains what Robert Jay Lifton in our book Hiroshima in America called our deepest "raw nerve."
That is why I always urge everyone to study the history surrounding the decision to use the bomb and how the full story was covered up for decades. There is certainly, in the minds of the media and the American public, no taboo on using nuclear weapons, and it all started, but did not end, with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
July 16, 2014
Covering Her Own Shooting
TV reporter in "almost heaven" West Virginia gets shot at while taping segment.
WVVA TV Bluefield Beckley WV News, Weather and Sports
WVVA TV Bluefield Beckley WV News, Weather and Sports
On the Beach
Update: President Obama, responding to attempts at a ceasefire and the deaths of four kids today, said late this afternoon: "Israel has a right to defend itself from rocket attacks that terrorize the Israeli people. There is no country on Earth that can be expected to live under a daily barrage of rockets." He did not add that "there are not people on Earth that can be expected to live under daily apartheid-like conditions."
Obama said he was "heartbroken by the violence, especially the death and injury of so many innocent civilians in Gaza —- men, women and children who were caught in the crossfire." Of course, he knows very well that most of the dead are not killed in a "crossfire"--they are targeted and killed directly by Israeli air strikes on homes or offices or kids alone on a beach.
Earlier: Video of immediate aftermath of Israeli air strike that killed four Gaza kids playing on beach today and injured others. See one kid carried to ambulance and then more. My full report on numerous other accounts and images here.
Obama said he was "heartbroken by the violence, especially the death and injury of so many innocent civilians in Gaza —- men, women and children who were caught in the crossfire." Of course, he knows very well that most of the dead are not killed in a "crossfire"--they are targeted and killed directly by Israeli air strikes on homes or offices or kids alone on a beach.
Earlier: Video of immediate aftermath of Israeli air strike that killed four Gaza kids playing on beach today and injured others. See one kid carried to ambulance and then more. My full report on numerous other accounts and images here.
Deaths of 4 Kids in Gaza, Witnessed by Journos, Draws Outrage
Updates #2: Graphic video of immediate aftermath of attack....NBC orresppondent Ayman Mohyeldin tweets: "4 Palestinian kids killed in a single Israeli airstrike. Minutes before they were killed by our hotel, I was kicking a ball with them." Alexander Marquart of ABC News: "Just saw badly mangled body of young boy pulled from a smouldering shipping container hit by
Updates: Image above purports--not confirmed--to show killing of the four kids or possibly the second strike that hit survivors of the first (three children and one adult). ... New report from Wash Post correspondent who witnessed, plus gripping Reuters photo. Attack was near journo hotel.... NYT report, as usual, plays up rocket attacks on Israel--and all those fruitless "warnings" from Israel. Also, funeral of the one Israeli who had died. Very brief mention of the four dead kids....
Follow tweets from the scene by @PeterSBeaumont, correspondent for British papers, including: "Today was a personal low point - giving first aid with colleagues to two children wounded by shrapnel on Gaza beach on terrace of our hotel...1st shell hit the harbour wall. It's been hit before so I assume its on a prerecorded grid. Gunner appears to have adjusted to hit survivors." Now The Guardian posts his full account....
The alleged names of the dead may live in infamy: Ahed Bakr, 10, Zakaria Bakr, 10, Mohd Bakr, 11, and Ismail Bakr, 9....See photos of journalists treating injured kids, some of whom died....
Earlier: Just posted on NBC News site
Four children were killed Wednesday by an Israeli airstrike on a port in Gaza that was witnessed by an NBC News team in the area. The children died from their injuries after beign taken to hospital. They were carried from the scene of the attack, on the beachfront, and through the lobby of a hotel being used by Western journalists. The attack, at around 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), appeared to be the result of an Israeli naval shell.
Speaking to MSNBC afterwards, Mohyeldin said the consequences of the attack showed that warnings from the Israeli military to evacuate targeted areas were proving ineffective. "The vast majority of the people here do not take the warnings seriously because it's not clear where they are supposed to evacuate to," he said. "The entire Gaza Strip has been struck [by Israeli airstrikes]." He added that Hamas calls the warnings psychological propaganda and urges civilians not to pay attention. The strike comes the day after the first Israeli was killed by a Gaza rocket since the recently renewed tensions. More than 200 people in Gaza have been killed by Israel, with as many as 80 percent of them civilians according to the United Nations. - Alexander Smith
NBC Witnesses Deaths of 4 Kids in Gaza
Just posted on NBC News site:
UPDATE Follow tweets from the scene by @PeterSBeaumont, correspondent for British papers, including: "Today was a personal low point - giving first aid with colleagues to two children wounded by shrapnel on Gaza beach on terrace of our hotel...1st shell hit the harbour wall. It's been hit before so I assume its on a prerecorded grid. Gunner appears to have adjusted to hit survivors."
Four children were killed Wednesday by an Israeli airstrike on a port in Gaza that was witnessed by an NBC News team in the area. The children died from their injuries after beign taken to hospital. They were carried from the scene of the attack, on the beachfront, and through the lobby of a hotel being used by Western journalists. The attack, at around 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), appeared to be the result of an Israeli naval shell.
Speaking to MSNBC afterwards, Mohyeldin said the consequences of the attack showed that warnings from the Israeli military to evacuate targeted areas were proving ineffective. "The vast majority of the people here do not take the warnings seriously because it's not clear where they are supposed to evacuate to," he said. "The entire Gaza Strip has been struck [by Israeli airstrikes]." He added that Hamas calls the warnings psychological propaganda and urges civilians not to pay attention. The strike comes the day after the first Israeli was killed by a Gaza rocket since the recently renewed tensions. More than 200 people in Gaza have been killed by Israel, with as many as 80 percent of them civilians according to the United Nations. - Alexander Smith
Vinyl Mania
As one can imagine, I have still have many hundreds of "records" or "album" (you know, those frisbee-sized somewhat stiff black things) from my days as #2 editor at Crawdaddy for most of the 1970s. Thousands of others have exited over the years one way or another. Some I'll always want to keep. Others I wouldn't mind selling as they've been replaced by, ugh, CDs or downloads etc. Hence:Vinyl is hot and here is rare chance to order the records you want from a long list of over 60 classics from top artists of 1960s and 1970s, including the Beatles, Stones and Dylan. Some of these lps are rare and/or in "promo" editions. The records themselves are all in at least very good shape, most excellent, some of them rarely if ever played. The covers vary a good deal: all are intact, with vivid image and color on the covers, but many with corner or edge damage--thanks to a long-gone cat--or fraying (some have small holes punched by the record company to indicate they are promo or to hinder re-sale).
Here are just a few of them. There are plenty of others, including a Springsteen bootleg etc. Or maybe you'd like a hundred shipped in bulk. If you have any interest in these or others unlisted, drop me a line at: epic1934@aol.com
Rolling Stones: "Beggar's Banquet," "Let it Bleed," "Aftermath," "Metamorphosis" (rare), "12x5."
The Beatles: "Rock 'n Roll Music" (double), "Live at the Star Club" (early Hamburg, double)
Bob Marley: "African Herbsman" (Trojan, early, rare)
John Lennon: "Walls and Bridges," "Plastic Ono Band"
George Harrison: "Thirty-three and 1/3"
McCartney and Wings: "Venus and Mars"
Roxy Music: "Manifesto" (promo)
Robert Palmer: "Sneaking Sally Through the Alley"
Van Morrison: "Veedon Fleece" (rare non-slick cover)
The Allman Brothers: "The Road Goes on Forever" (hits, double, promo)
The Kinks: "Face to Face," "The Live Kinks" (rare, mono, Reprise)
The Grateful Dead: "Terrapin Station" (Promo), "From the Mars Hotel" (Promo), "Blues for Allah"
Jerry Garcia Band: "Cats Under the Stars"
Dylan: "Hard Rain" (promo), "Slow Train Coming"
Television: "Marquee Moon"
The Clash (first album)
Fleetwood Mac: "Bare Trees"
Buckingham-Nicks (before Fleetwood Mac, rare)
The Eagles: "One of These Nights"
Tom Waits: "Blue Valentine," "Rain Dogs."
Al Green: "Let's Stay Together" (promo, rare)
Bee Gees: "Spirits Having Flown" (promo)
Miles Davis: "Water Babies"
John Cale: "Fear," "Slow Dazzle"
The Beach Boys: "Sunflower," "The Beach Boys Love You," "Friends/Smiley Smile" (double, 1970s)
Santana:"Caravanserai"
Eric Clapton: "There's One in Every Crowd"
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers (1976)
The Modern Lovers
Richard Thompson: "Henry, the Human Fly" (rare)
Peter Tosh: "Legalize It" (promo)
Van Dyke Parks: "Song Cycle" (rare)
Roy Orbison: 4 obscure late-'60s albums, two sealed
Linda Ronstadt: "Hasten Down the Wind"
Joan Armatrading: "To the Limit"
Bonnie Raitt: "Home Plate"
Steve Miller Band: "Book of Dreams"
Southside Johnny and the Jukes: "Hearts of Stone"
Dr. John: "Desitively Bonaroo"
Electric Light Orchestra: "Eldorado"
Joe Cocker: "I Can Stand the Rain" (promo)
John Entwistle: "Smash Your Head Against the Wall"
Labelle: "Nightbirds"
Jack Bruce: "Out of the Storm"
Dave Edmonds: "Tracks on Wax" (promo)
Little Feat: "The Lost Record Album"
Hall and Oates: "Abandoned Luncheonette," "Beauty on the Back Street" (Promo), ""No Goodbyes"
Nils Lofgren : "Back It Up Live" (authorized bootleg, rare)
"Best of the Doobies"
The Cars first album
Traffic: "When Eagles Fly"
"Mink DeVille"
Third World: "Journey to Addis" (promo)
July 15, 2014
Still Wanderin'
Dion posted this tremendous video of him at lunch with some old buds singing "The Wanderer." Words fail. Below, when he first cut it. No auto-tuning needed.
Velvet Hammer
It's no longer news that former, wonderfully bashing, original Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker has, oddly, become "Mo" and "Mo" of a right-winger. Her Tea Party backing went public a couple of years back. But here's her Facebook post today for an update:
WANT TO HELP FIGHT THIS POROUS BORDER LUNACY? HERE'S YOUR CHANCE -- donate whatever you can - $1, 2,3, WHATEVER.The first comment under this at her page:
EVERY PENNY COUNTS AND WILL HELP TEXAS IN THIS FIGHT WHICH AFFECTS ALL OF US, NOT ONLY TEXANS!!
***** ALL DONATIONS GO TOWARD BORDER SECURITY ONLY!!!****
Checks or money orders can be made out to The State of TEXAS at the bottom of check / money order write " law enforcement/border security"
the address is as follows:
Comptroller of Public Accounts/ Susan Combs
LBJ Office Building
111 E. 17TH St.
Austin, Texas 78774
SPREAD THE WORD and RE-POST EVERY DAY!!
Keith Igoe: Wow, I am embarrassed that you ever played with me and that I once held you in esteem. Hasta la vista, ignoramus! I'm appalled that a former fellow musician that I enjoyed playing with has gone so psycho-conservative.
LEGO There: Unveils Female Scientists
As promised, after much criticism, LEGO has developed figures and faces for female scientiest. Full analysis here, including the "nerd" factor. Prototypes at left.
