Monday, April 26, 2004
Clancy, Conspiracy & the Hunt for Dead Nonprofits
Here are a few points, to make my position clear. The idea that Clancy can school soldiers on "conspiracy awareness" is absurd. To occupy Fallujah for instance, the US soldier can't survive without an acute awareness of the shifting alliances, rifts & backstabs from day to day. How strong is the tie between Al Qaeda & the Baathists today? What is the core of their dischord? How can that be exploited? How does Al Qaeda's plot to attack Shiites further the anti-American cause? How does Sadr's plans to draw the Occupation into Najaf promote radical Shiite solidarity? Conspiracy theory is a way of life & death in Iraq. I'm sure they could hip Clancy to their own conspiracy theories, whether it involves Rumsfeld, Chalabi or their own lieutenant.
Clancy is there to reinforce a pro-administration agenda. And you'd better believe if he deviates, he'll be replaced. Par for the course- he's either with them or against them. I don't believe that the Poetry Project was singled out for the Poetry Is News event. It just doesn't serve the administration to fund them, so they don't. It's a policy of "death by a thousand cuts", limiting the funding of organizations that work in ideological disagreement with administration policy. Next month, the Federal Election Commission will rule on whether a nonprofit can advocate or oppose political candidates, or even an issue associated with a particular candidate- a scare tactic, plain & simple.
The writing workshops are just a small part of a larger culture war. It is evangelical in scope, and literally allied with the war machine. Boeing will not be funding anything that cuts their production. It is sinister in its intention. But like so many conservative schemes, it may deliver results beyond their control.
- Frank Sherlock
Clancy is there to reinforce a pro-administration agenda. And you'd better believe if he deviates, he'll be replaced. Par for the course- he's either with them or against them. I don't believe that the Poetry Project was singled out for the Poetry Is News event. It just doesn't serve the administration to fund them, so they don't. It's a policy of "death by a thousand cuts", limiting the funding of organizations that work in ideological disagreement with administration policy. Next month, the Federal Election Commission will rule on whether a nonprofit can advocate or oppose political candidates, or even an issue associated with a particular candidate- a scare tactic, plain & simple.
The writing workshops are just a small part of a larger culture war. It is evangelical in scope, and literally allied with the war machine. Boeing will not be funding anything that cuts their production. It is sinister in its intention. But like so many conservative schemes, it may deliver results beyond their control.
- Frank Sherlock
