Foxaganda!

Left jab: Like letting a crank-addled carnie Okie-rig the Tilt-A-Whirl, invading Iran just isn’t a good idea. But that won’t stop every cotton-pickin’ member of Congress from supporting President George W. Bush’s attempt to secure his place in history by escalating the conflict in the Middle East and potentially igniting World War III.

But wait a minute, the reader asks. What about the will of the people, as displayed during last November’s elections, in which Democrats took back both houses of Congress? Well, as Bites has been pointing out in recent weeks, when it comes to foreign policy and our two major political parties, there’s not a “Dime’s Worth of a Difference,” to borrow the title from a collection of essays on that subject edited by leftist political pundits Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair.

St. Clair and Cockburn also edit the political newsletter and Web site CounterPunch, where last weekend Cockburn noted that when it comes to invading Iran, all of the major 2008 Democratic presidential hopefuls currently march in lock step with the Bush administration. “Barack Obama and John Edwards call for swift withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq,” he writes. “When it comes to Iran they roar in unison with Hillary Clinton that no option can be left off the table. In other words, if it comes to it, nuke ’em.”

Fooled again: “Fool me once, shame on you,” begins the old adage once infamously mangled by our illiterate leader. “Fool me twice, shame on me.” Bites cites the aphorism correctly here because the reader will find it useful in the coming weeks.

Here’s the skinny. Remember that WMD scam pulled by the New York Times and Judith Miller during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq? You know, the stories claiming Iraq was brimming with WMDs? The stories that turned out to be totally false? The Times wouldn’t try to pull that on us again, would it?

Well, yeah, the old gray lady would. Check Monday’s story from the Times, “Iranians arming Iraqi militias?” dutifully reprinted by the Sacramento Bee on the front page above the fold. According to the article, the Iranians have supplied explosives to Iraq Shia militants that so far have accounted for the deaths of 171 American soldiers.

Never mind that Iraq Sunni militants have killed thousands of U.S. troops with explosives stolen from improperly guarded ammo depots after the successful American invasion. And don’t bother looking for any named sources in the Times’ latest government-manufactured “scoop.” Like in Miller’s WMD articles, they’re all anonymous.

Slang king: Welcome to the strange and frightening world of “foxaganda,” defined by the Urban Dictionary as any “Bush Administration propaganda masquerading as ‘news,’ which can appear on Fox News or any other corporate media, along with so-called public channels like NPR and PBS.” Thanks to SN&R’s own Jackson Griffith for the coinage.

Where does it all end? In one version, first foretold in Revelations some 2000 or so years ago, in a smoldering ash heap also known as Armageddon. Once, it would have seemed impossible that a relapsed alcoholic born again blue nose could have led the greatest nation in history down this path. But that was six years ago, before Bush and the neocons hijacked the presidency.

If anyone can stop them from destroying Iraq, Iran and the rest of the planet, it’s you. It’s long past time to take it into the street. Your next chance comes Saturday, March 17, 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the corner of 16th Street and Broadway in Sacramento. There, on the fourth anniversary of the Iraqi invasion, you’ll find hundreds of likeminded people fighting the power. Give ’em hell, and tell ’em Bites sent ya.