VOICES: Panic Attacks

I used to think the warnings were just a little too paranoid. The President would never go so far as to wage a vague "War on Terror" just to push his own secret agenda through the system. And even if he did, the media wouldn't fall for such a scam. They'd catch on to the really important news we were missing and they'd fill us in.

But maybe the paranoid people aren't so over the top. Maybe we should be paying closer attention to the domestic issues that are being quietly addressed behind our backs while the government veils our eyes and distracts the media with a repeating loop about Iraq's weapon inventory.

It was only a few weeks ago that I learned of National Sanctity of Human Life Day. What? You still haven't heard of it? Let me fill you in. Two days before the 29th anniversary of the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision that gives American women the right to safe, legal abortion, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation so mired in political double speak that George Orwell could have included in 1984. Bush quoted Thomas Jefferson's concern that the government prioritize the care for human life and happiness. He referred to the "elderly and unprotected, the weak and the infirm," before focusing in on his bulls-eye, the unborn child.

Not to carry on about this particular proclamation, because it's only one example, but immediately after stating that "unborn children should be welcomed in life and protected in law," Bush referred to September 11. On this day, he pointed, "we saw clearly that evil exists in this world, and that it does not value life." He devoted an entire one of five paragraphs of his pro-life argument to the horrible tragedy.

Why did I not hear about this bizarre proclamation when it was issued on January 20, 2002? Why did I not hear of it until Ms. Magazine cited it as "the low-point" of the year? Barely four months after 9-11, we were being fed news stories about the economic recession, the interim Afghan government, the unfruitful search for Osama Bin Laden, and increased appropriations for homeland security.

Speaking of Homeland Security, it took a $10,000 reward by website TomPaine.com for National Public Radio to report on "the Eli Lilly Bandit." The Homeland Security Bill got pushed through Congress that most weren't able to question its questionable inclusions until after it was passed. Two paragraphs of the bill protect pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Company from lawsuits filed by parents who claim the company's vaccines caused their children's autism. What I find most interesting, however, is who reporter Alex Chadwick found the number one suspect to be - Senator Doctor Bill Frist, of course. You know, the one who assumed Senator Lott's position as Senate majority leader on December 23 (only four days after Chadwick's story aired on NPR).

Most recently it took the yanking of a pregnant Midge (Barbie's older, married friend) doll of the shelves of Wal-Mart for me to wonder if the Bush administration's insistence on abstinence might actually be effecting the country's perspective.

Early last month, Assistant Secretary of State Arthur E. Dewey announced at a United Nations population conference in Bangkok that the United States of America would "seek to block the passage of any international family planning policy that permits abortion or promotes contraception for adolescents (salon.com)." I just learned about Dewey's words this evening while researching this column. Delegates from the U.S. disapproved of phrases including "reproductive rights" and "consistent condom use," claiming them to be euphemisms for "abortion" and "underage sex." They also disapproved of the phrase "reproductive health."

You may agree with the Bush administration's mainstreaming the agenda of the religious right. If so, you probably haven't been this pleased with the American government since the '50s. I happen to be terrified. And every news story I find sticking out from underneath the camouflage of momentary hype frightens me even more. Can we afford to wait for the mainstream media to tell us what the squinting little monkey is up to? I'd rather be paranoid.

-- alicia grega-pikul, 2 January 2003