"The Fine Art of Propaganda"

An essay, "The Fine Art of Propaganda" was required reading when I was in high school. Although we didn't know it at the time, it was probably the most important reading ever assigned to us.

Written by Alfred McLang Lee and Elizabeth Bryant Lee in 1938, the essay analyzed and categorized the techniques of propaganda, which it defined as 'opinion expressed for the purpose of influencing actions of individuals or groups...'

While propaganda had been used throughout history, it had never been used so systematically as it was in Nazi Germany. The whole National Socialistic philosophy was based on the opinions of Adolf Hitler, as expressed in his book, Mein Kampf.

Hitler placed so much importance in propaganda that his cabinet included a Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, who was arguably the most important minister in Hitler's government.

What surprises me most is that, despite the thorough analysis which the Lees made of the various techniques of propaganda, many people still fall for the tricks of the propagandist.

I won't attempt to use this space to refresh your memory about the techniques of propaganda. Instead, I will recommend a website
where you can brush up.

O, Canada!

I'm writing this from a place called Northern New York.

Northern New York is not an official subdivision of the Empire State, of course. It's just a concept, basically the region which is north of Central New York, and west of the Adirondack Mountains.

There is no spot in Northern New York that, as the goose flies, is more than about 50 miles from Canada.

Many of us in NNY had Canadian ancestors. Six of my eight great-grandparents came from Canada.

I'm writing because of a proposal to require US citizens visiting Canada to provide a valid passport in order to return to this country.

This is supposed to be an anti-terror provision to prevent the bad guys from getting into our country via the US_Canadian border. Personally, I think it was proposed because Bush is pissed that Canada refused to join his coalition against Iraq.

The border with Canada is the longest unguarded border in the world. It's been nearly 200 years since a shot has been fired in anger between these two countries. Canada is one of our primary trading partners, even though is has a population which is smaller than several US states. Up until now, it has been possible to venture in and out of Canada with no more Identification than a birth certificate or driver's license, and most of the time, this was not even required of most returning visitors, just an oral affirmation that one was a US citizen.

I guess with enemies of the US trying to invade us, one car at a time, it's important that the government guys on the border know who it is that they're letting in. I just think it's stupid to require us to carry a passport.

A New York State driver's license, or the equivalent non-driver ID requires that the applicant meet stringent identification requirements already. The license has a photograph of the individual, and high-tech anti-tampering devices included in its design. Anyone who wants to drive into Canada needs one anyway.

The point is that most of our visits to Canada are spontaneous ones, or casual ones.

In the past 40 years, members of my family have visited Canada for many reasons. We have gone there for weddings, for funerals, to shop, to gamble, to watch major league baseball and hockey games, and so our kids could participate in youth baseball and scouting events. We have seen concerts there, researched our genealogy, seen stage productions of "Miss Saigon" and "The Phantom of the Opera". We have visited the National Museums in Ottawa, and have even flown out of Toronto airport. We have taken out-of-town friends on 1000 Island cruises, to see the spectacle of Old Fort Henry, or on fishing trips across the border. Friends have gone on hunting trips in Northern Quebec.

Sometimes we just drive down to Cape Vincent in order to ride the ferries to Kingston, have dinner, and drive back.

The requirement of a $100 passport for each traveler in the car will certainly put an end to all of that. The economic impact on our friendly neighbor to the North will be a tremendous one. And those things always have repercussions. Without all those US dollars coming in, Canadians will have less to spend HERE.

Congratulations to Congressman McHugh for staying on top of this requirement and fighting to eliminate it. I hope that all the border congressmen are doing the same. I hope that ALL of congress will consider all of this and take the steps needed to eliminate this stupid rule.

As McHugh pointed out, what needs to be done is to further strengthen the reliability and security of all state driver's licenses.

The purpose of terrorism is to disrupt the everyday life of people. A disruption like the one proposed would be a victory for terror. Don't let that happen.

Paranoia

I just watched the press conference.

This President is more paranoid than Nixon.

It's pretty obvious that he trusts neither the media nor the congress.

It's a hard sell for him, because only another paranoiac could understand his fears.

John Roberts asks again, "What mistakes have you made?" He accuses the reporter of trying to trap him into saying Iraq was a mistake.

He slipped again and referred to OBL as Saddam. He still doesn't seem to know which is which.

He said the Iraqi want us there, but has no imperical evidence to back this up. At the same time he rejects the polls that show that Iraqi want us out. Does he have ESP, that he knows what the Iraqi want? What will he do if the Iraqi congress asks the US to get out???? That will be interesting.

He spoke about secret prisons and torture. Not ours, theirs. Ours, of course are necessary. If they even exist, Which he won't confirm or deny.

He came to a year-end news conference without giving a thought to his agenda for next year. All he wants is peace, democracy, a job for everyone, tax cuts for the rich to continue, domestic spying to continue unabated, and the end of Social Security. After all, he was elected to protect us.

God save the United States of America.

Inside and out

I wonder if every career bureaucrat dreams of holding elected office?

I'm speaking of those appointed county administrators, city managers, and their assistants.

After all, both Congressman McHugh and State Senator Wright started out in the field of government administration before becoming elected officials. For those of you who don't know, Wright succeeded McHugh in the NY Senate. McHugh's first job was as Watertown's Assistant City Manager, while Wright was County Administrator in both Oswego and Jefferson Counties before being elected to the Senate.

Assemblyman Darrel Aubertine was a farmer when he was elected to his current postion. As an outsider to the system, he arrived in Albany at a disadvantage compared to system insiders. Under the tutelage of more experienced leaders, and through his own initiative, he has become an effective leader. It seems sometimes as though insiders would like to make it seem impossible for outsiders to understand or negotiate that maze called government. Maybe they would prefer to have elected government composed entirely of career professional politicians who have never worked in the real world.

Hey, our party has a number of career politicians too. I've never been entirely in favor of term limits, but I can see how stagnant leadership can get after 20 or 30 years at the public trough.

I can't speak for the founding fathers, or what their choice would have been in this matter, since there were no career politicians around at the founding of our republic. I can only state that I believe that we will have a more democratic government when we elect more doctors and teachers and lawyers and engineers to public office, and fewer bureaucrats.

War of Words

Pres. Bush has finally identified the enemy It wasn't an insurgency after all. The folks who are making all the trouble in Iraq are "rejectionists, Saddamists, and terrorists."

"Rejectionist" isn't even in my dictionary, yet this is the group that Bush insists is the largest group. They are rejectionists because they won't participate in the plan. Mostly Sunni Muslims, they boycott the Western-style elections. The troops can't come home until everyone participates in the system, i.e. votes.

Good friggin' luck. Only 60% of eligible Americans voted in 2004's presidential election.... and that was the highest turnout since 1968. Those who didn't vote are apparently America's rejectionists.