The Hightower Report

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THE ARMY GETS PERSONAL

Hey, youngsters – Uncle Sam not only wants you, he's got your number!

Not yet sure what you want to do in life? Why not get paid and see an exotic part of the world while you're getting it all together? Yes, you could summer in sunny Iraq ... and be a part of our exciting occupation forces there, where there's never a dull moment!

If you are 16 to 25 years old, chances are you'll soon be receiving such a sales pitch from the Army. How will recruiters find you? Easy – thanks to a new database secretly built by the Pentagon, they know where you live. They also know your phone number, your social security number, your e-mail address, your height and weight, your grades in school, your ethnicity ... and so much more.

The Pentagon's "Joint Advertising Market Research Studies Division" (Did you know they had one of those?) brags that this superdandy database is "arguably the largest repository of 16-to-25-year-old youth data in the country, containing roughly 30 million records." It includes the names and personal info of 3.1 million graduating high school seniors and 4.7 million college students, possibly including you or someone you know. All this is to be used to target, reach, and recruit young folks to fill the troop quotas for George W.'s war in Iraq.

There are, however, two little glitches with the Pentagon's sweeping new database. First, it was illegally compiled. Officials began building it three years ago without giving public notice or allowing public comment, a flagrant violation of the Federal Privacy Act. Second, (and more alarming to mothers and fathers) the private data allows military recruiters to intrude surreptitiously into people's homes and put a sales job on their children. As one appalled mom says: "It's a direct shot to someone's child without consent from a parent."

To help shut down this illegal, intrusive database, call the Electronic Privacy Information Center: 202/483-1140.

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MANUFACTURED DOUBT

While the Bushites and their corporate sponsors solemnly assert that governmental actions should be based on "the best science available," what they really mean is the best science they can twist to support their position.

They have become especially expert at deploying a PR tactic that professor David Michaels has recently dubbed, "manufactured doubt." By creating even a small uncertainty about a particular scientific reality, industry can defeat public policies that would protect We the People from corporate profiteering.

The ruthless tobacco giants, for example, did this for decades, finding a for-hire scientist here or there willing to say that the data showing that tobacco is addictive and causes cancer was still "inconclusive." Even though the best science available overwhelmingly condemned tobacco's destructiveness, the industry and its political apologists stalled public action for years – while tobacco corporations continued to hook kids, reap billions in profits, and kill millions of people.

Of course, the trick in this ploy is that science, by its very nature, is never absolute – it will always have some element of inconclusiveness, no matter how miniscule. Thus, even if 99.9% of the science says one thing, the corporate tricksters can distort the 0.1% and pervert public policy. We see this happening now as the Bushites and their oil industry backers are furiously manufacturing doubt over the devastating reality of global warming.

Indeed, defensive corporate flacks are even trying to manufacture doubt about professor Michaels' exposé on their use of manufactured doubt! For example, one industry frontman said that Michaels "takes the position that government is always right and the private sector is always wrong" – when in fact Michaels has said no such thing. Such a total fabrication is a way to undermine the credibility of Michaels' true point.

Lies dress up – in many costumes. Be especially wary of those from industry wearing the mask of "science."