From www.SoonerThought.com

Audio of this Interview

Alex: Hey Greg, welcome to the podcast! How are you?

Greg Palast: Getting by in this strange regime!

Alex: Well, you always are! You know, our readers will recall we interviewed you for our blog a couple of years ago, we talked about “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy”, since then you’ve produced a phenomenal DVD, “Bush Family Fortunes”, which I just rewatched again the other day. It’s so hard hitting. There you are in your trademark fedora, stalking the halls of power and scaring the hell out of people in Florida, doing all sorts of things. Now I understand you’ve got a new book?

Greg: That’s right “Armed Madhouse,” “Who’s Afraid of Osama Wolf?” “No Child’s Behind Left,” “The Theft of the 2008 Election” because I’m reporting it in advance this time and other dispatches from the front lines of the class war.

Alex: You’ve been kind of laying a little low since the DVD came out I think, I mean not that you’ve disappeared, but….

Greg: No, I still do report, I do investigative… The thing is you gave to remember I do investigative reporting for BBC television and as you know investigative reporting is against the law under PATRIOT Act 3, so I do have to lay low, you know I don’t want to be broadcasting in an orange suit from Guantanamo! So my reports do appear worldwide at the top of the evening news everywhere but the United States where I’m kind of blacked out. I report on the theft of the election of 2000 of course, and my story of the theft of the election of 2004 which definitely was censored from the US media, and my reports on the secret war for oil in Iraq. I just got back from Caracas, Venezuela; you won’t see that on American TV. So, yes, I have disappeared from American TV, but that was done by electronic erasure. However, I have returned to my home country with this book because until PATRIOT Act four, this they still allow you to read!

Alex: And folks, if you haven’t read “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” or any of Greg’s dispatches from the front lines, you have a way of writing that is very entertaining, and you almost have to have a caveat with people that just because it’s entertaining it doesn’t mean that it’s not chocfull of facts and important things, right?

Greg: Well the funny thing is that there are huge sections of heavy duty economics. Believe it or not, I got my degree in economics under that strange little dwarf Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago, so there’s going to be a lot of economics in “Armed Madhouse”. It will be the first economics tome that you read that if you don’t have several belly laughs then you don’t understand how absolutely deeply grim the world is right now. And, that’s what I do, because the BBC allow me to do the heaviest news reports on the war on terror, on the war in Iraq, and I have to add humor, because otherwise I’d be in tears the entire time I’m reporting. It’s really grim stuff, but it’s so grim that it is humorous. I mean when you look at the… It’s called “Armed Madhouse” because when we have these armed and dangerous clowns running this planet out of the White house. Whenever I see our president I think of a guy with balloon shoes and a red nose and several surface to air missiles!

Alex: Oh, that is scary!

Greg: And that’s the image which stayed with me throughout the book, which travels from everything from?”. Really, the election was shoplifted in 2004. It took me years to get out the story of the purge of black voters in Florida in 2000, which gave the race to Bush over Gore. We had to put Michael Moore in a chicken suit to get out the word that the election was stolen in 2000. I’m trying to get out the word that it was stolen in 2004 and their plans for 2008. So it’s serious stuff but they?”re so strange, it’s like what we have controlling this nation is like the Keystone Cops with the 82nd Airborne, and that’s the problem we have. And they also have the war on terror machinery of course there listening in and even they can’t stop laughing.

Alex: It’s a scary vision; it’s like Krusty the Clown with nukes, that’s kind of what you just said.

Greg: Exactly! Can I borrow that?

Alex: Please, I’d be honored! Let me ask you this though. I used to be in politics, and I’ve been a journalist, and now I work in television, and when I bring up things like the stolen election in 2000 or 2004, even today with the lowest poll ratings since Nixon of the administration, I still get people who look like I’m part of the black helicopter brigade. What do you do in the face of that?

Greg: Well, yes, in fact today, or this week, we’re releasing Larry David’s reading of my chapter “Kerry Won”, and it begins with “There are kooks and crazies and conspiracy nuts out there who think that Bush lost the 2004 election. Now here’s 50 pages of the stone cold evidence and statistics. Larry David, by the way is reading this on the audio version so you can get this off my website this week at www.gregpalast.com and join the crazy brigade.

Greg: But, let me explain something. 3.6 million votes, ballots, were cast in the 2004 election and never counted. Now this is not black helicopter stuff, though maybe that’s where the ballots ended up! This is from the US Election Information Agency, which tracked these things. Now, how do you lose track of 3.6 million votes? And the answer is, it’s called spoilage. Ballots are thrown away, not counted, because there’s an error, a stray mark, a hanging chad, you remember in 2000? There are still lots of those. Mispunched, a computer glitch from static electricity from a cat or whatever!

Greg: But, big deal, if the 3.6 million votes that were lost because of technical problems and messed up ballots were kind of random, who cares? But I went into the dumpster, looked at the votes with the top statisticians in the country, and when I’m not being a bad stand up comic, I was a professor of statistics.

Greg: We looked at this stuff. We’re looking at over half the votes, over 54 per cent of this votes cast by voters of color. And in the swing states, let me tell you, New Mexico, as I show in the book, which Bush supposedly won by 5,000 votes, like nothing, right? 5,000 votes he won the state, yet over 30,000 votes were simply lost. 89 per cent of those votes, nine out of ten of those votes were cast by Hispanic voters, Native American voters, and African American voters in New Mexico. 89 per cent. And who did they vote for? Hmm, ticktock ticktock…

Greg: Time’s up, Alex, who did they vote for, the black voters? Well, let me tell you something, I went to some of these precincts of Native American voters for example in Taos Pueblo, where apparently according to the machinery, noone voted for president. There are Indian reservations where one in ten voters voted for president, and I said “why can’t natives make up their minds?” And I almost cut, I was going to say scalp but some people may be offended by that joke! I will offend everyone by the time you read the end of the book! So I said “What’s wrong with you Injuns?” And they said “Listen white boy! We know who we want for president. You white folk, you don’t give us blankets with smallpox any more, you give us bad ballot machinery.”? They give them junk old ballot machinery that just doesn’t work, and it doesn’t register the vote. And then they say “Golly! We’re sorry there’s no votes registered. You don’t get a second chance on an election. That’s It.”?

Greg: And I’m telling you, the number of native votes lost was over one in ten nation wide. I mean when you’re losing 10 per cent of those votes and it’s like ninetysomething per cent of those votes are Democratic, you have to ask yourself “Is this a pattern”? And that makes me a conspiracy nut? No. I’m a conspiracy expert. And I show you in the book things like the Republican Party secret, what they call “caging list” of black voters that they targeted to remove on the excuse that their addresses were suspect, and includes long lists” you’ll love this” of black soldiers in Iraq because their address is challenged in their home state.

Alex: That is disgusting.

Greg: And, by the way it is not against the law for soldiers shivering underneath his Humvee in Faluja to vote for President of the United States. But they know who these voters, these African American voters, especially the ones in flack jackets are going to vote for, they know for certain who they are going to vote for, they’re not going to let them vote. And that’s how the election was fixed.

Greg: Unfortunately that’s only one of four chapters, or five chapters. There’s “Class War”, which has everything including… That’s where we get the title “No Child’s Behind Left”, which is the attack on our teachers and our kids by the Bush regime. We’ve got the story of globalization in there. We begin with the secret war for oil in Iraq. And the bogus war on terror; the fear salesmen are cashing in on making you scared.

Alex: Which, your friend Michael Moore really did a nice job on in his documentary.

Greg: That’s right in 911. In fact, actually for those who aren’t familiar with me, if you’ve seen Fahrenheit 911, this is the investigative reporting on which it is based.

Alex: That’s right.

Greg: Moore didn’t just make this stuff up out of the air. These are the investigative reports which I put together; this is Greg Palast, for the BBC television, Harpers magazine which allows me into the US and the Guardian papers of Britain.

Alex: And we’re going to put a synopsis of all the chapters on the website. Can I, while we’ve got just a few minutes left here before you’ve got to go…

Greg: Sure I won’t charge you much for that either!

Alex: Hey, cool! Let me ask you. When I last spoke to you, I seem to recall you saying that you got hassled at airport security, you and your kids. Is that continuing?

Greg: We put in a BBC complaint… It’s such raw nonsense, in particular the problem was that the company running the airport security, you know they make you take off your shoes because of the shoe bomber, so I’m always glad that there was a shoe bomber and not a guy who carries Semtex in his jockey shorts. It would be just Hellacious at the airport security! (Laughter).

Greg: So these bogus guys have cashed in making billions running airport security so I’ve done a little expos? I’ve pulled down their corporate pants and so they thought it was really cute to put me on their dangerous watch list. And I do think I’m dangerous, but not in terms of your security of getting on an airplane. I like to think of myself of a little bit of a… If not a danger, at least a hemorrhoidal itch on the powers that be.

Alex: Well, the weapon you carry is your razorlike wit of course! So they kind of left you alone, because Nixon had his enemies list, and I don’t care what anyone says, Rove’s got a list for Bush and you’ve got to be right up at the top.

Greg: Well, I mean, I hope so!

Alex: Or you’re not doing something right!

Greg: That’s the one thing, I do really want to just lose my lunch when I see fake hairdos running the US media who go and have lunch with dictators like Jiang Zemin of China, and they love to go to these official state dinners and be inside. They call it access, it’s not access, it’s control.

Alex: Yeah.

Greg: And I don’t want access; I don’t go to press conferences and let them try… I literally ambush someone, which I’ve done. If you go to gregpalast.com you can watch these BBC programs like, say chasing people down the halls; that’s one thing I do. ABC TV would never ask a tough question of a politician, but if a politician says, “I’m not going to answer” they say “OK”, but I’ll chase them down the hall, I’ll stand in front of their desk, I’ll throw the papers in their face until I get my answers, and that’s very very important. You do make enemies this way, and I want to make enemies. I don’t want anyone from either party to like Greg Palast; I want them to know that I’m going to get the truth out, just like you are, Alex.

Alex: I firmly believe you should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and that’s a bit of a cliche, but, you know, as a journalist, I agree with you. If you’re too cozy with the very people you’re supposed to be the watchdogs over, obviously things become corrupted and these hairdos as you call them who are on the news I just have absolutely zero faith in them. It’s guys like you who refuse to conform to that whole nonsense, that are keeping things going.

Greg: Well I also try to do something else which is prohibited on US television and in US newspapers” give you information you’re not supposed to see. For example, I have the chapter?”Trillion Dollar Babies”, which is about oil, and war, and it centers on Iraq. Again we go back to the kooks and crazies who think that George Bush had a secret plan to seize the oil of Iraq, and in fact that’s wrong, he had two plans. And I have both of them, literally. I was able to get the secret plan, one is 101 pages long, the other is 323 pages long. They are in conflict, and that’s one of the reasons why we are in Iraq, is because there is a war between these two factions within the administration and I kind of go in to that story.

Greg: So, what’s happening is, they have secret plans to seize the oilfields of Iraq, and most importantly what they’ve done is make sure that they have seized the fields not for the benefit of the American public. I mean, let’s face it, if they grabbed the oil and Alex, you could fill your Hummer for a buck a gallon it would probably be worth going in, com on, most Americans “Blood for oil, that’s a bargain”. But that’s not what happened. We are there actually to, as my friend Randi Rhodes says, stick the oil in a safe deposit box to make sure we don’t get it, and that keeps up the price of oil. That’s the plan, to support OPEC, to support Saudi Arabia, to support the Houston oil barons, and they are doing very well. It is in fact,?”mission accomplished”.

Alex: It’s so sad. I know we are almost out of time; can I just rapid fire a couple of quick questions at you?

Greg: You’ve got it.

Alex: OK.

Greg: Babe Ruth, 1929?

Alex: [laughs]

Greg: Okay, go ahead, ask your questions.

Alex: You know the media’s continued preoccupation with things that don’t matter and we touched on that. Now, Patrick Kennedy, the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish. I got an email from a reader, or an alleged reader, who was upset that Meredith Vieira is antiwar and is now going to go and be on the Today Show. None of this matters, it’s bullshit, but the media and the people seem to have been asleep at the switch since 2000. Do you see…?

Greg: Well it’s junk news, like junk food, and if you did nothing but eat McBurgers and sloppy fries forever, you would be fat, lazy and ultimately protein for the barbarians. Same thing with the news. If you keep having junk food news it will gum up your brain, and then you’re in trouble, your brain will die young, and this is the problem we’re running into. So what I’m trying here, even with a bit of humor, but with a lot of information, is trying to clean out the news goo. Think of it as, you know you have dental floss,?”Armed Madhouse,” the book I think of as mental floss!

Alex: Very good! OK. Rummy got roughed up in Atlanta last week, what do you think of that?

Greg: Who got roughed up?

Alex: Rummy, Rumsfeld.

Greg: Oh, yeah, you know actually that’s in the book too, But you know what? You know why he was getting roughed up? They decided to let him get roughed up. Nothing happens by accident. Now I’m talking like a conspiracy nut so I’m using my conspirators whisper voice! As you’ll find out in?”Armed Madhouse”, chapter two, okay, the Houston oil boys decided that Rummy is a bit of a problem. So now they’re just hanging him out the window to twist slowly in the wind, because Rummy did not go along with big oil’s plans for Iraq’s oil field, he had a different plan, a cuter plan about selling off the fields to a few of Ahmad Chalabi’s cronies, and big oil didn’t like that. And big oil, never bet against big oil.

Alex: Never.

Greg: And so Rummy made the mistake of going up against it’s not public anger; there’s always been public anger. Is there anyone in America, please raise your hand who didn’t think that Rumsfeld was a schmuck from day one? Come on! So now they hang him out to dry because he messed with powers he shouldn’t have, so that’s the back story you don’t get.

Alex: Wow, that’s great. I have so much more, just one more before we go although I wish we could get into Hugo Chavez, because I was kind of interested in Hugo Chavez until he introduced the 25 year term referendum idea. Have you been following that? He wants a 25 year term?

Greg: Well, I want to check it out, because you know the amount I believe the US media is about, you know…

Alex: Right, does that include Reuters to you?

Greg: Well I actually know the Reuters reporter in Venezuela, who’s actually on the payroll of one of the guys that planned a coup against Hugo Chavez, so unfortunately these agencies will use stringers, they don’t even know where the heck they come from. So don’t believe the hype. Don’t believe the junk you read. I just got back from Caracas and met with President Chavez, you know what, unlike our president, he was elected. And I talked to his principle opponent running against him for president, who even says, “I don’t expect to win, the guy is massively popular. I’m just making my points and preparing for the future.” But noone believes that he couldn’t get elected, he doesn’t need to do… I’m sorry, some of my friends like Castro, but Castro’s manipulated the entire election system in Cuba a la Jeb Bush, the same republic across the channel there. Chavez doesn’t need that. He’s unbelievably?” he?”s the most popular man in Latin America and doesn’t need to fix nothing, he has overwhelming support, so be careful of the hype.

Alex: OK, that’s good to know, and you’ve met Chavez, I will take your word. It was just disturbing to read that, because I thought, why would a man this powerful need to introduce a referendum, but you’ve answered that. One last thing. Midterm elections, predictions?

Greg: Midterm elections predictions. They’ll steal four million votes, but they’ll still lose. So that’s why… Don’t be discouraged, some woman said, “Oh, god, you told me my votes aren’t counted.” Just vote twice, man, do what you have to do!

Alex: Jeez, you made me spit out my coffee, Greg!

Greg: As long as it doesn’t come out your nose, it’s really disgusting! At least we’re on radio!

Alex: Well, I have a face for radio so it’s a good thing!

Greg: OK! So anyway, do hear Larry David, you can get it on the site www.gregpalast.com; buy a book for mommy for Mother’s Day. And very important protect yourself from the inmates!

Alex: Very good, in the armed madhouse!

Greg: You picked up the line perfectly!

Alex: Well, if nothing else! Greg Palast, thanks for being with us. We’re going to link to the book from the website. I’m going to the Bahamas tomorrow, but as soon as I get back we’ll transcribe this interview, but we’re going to upload this podcast tonight.

Greg: Just checking on your bank account there or what?

Alex: My offshore account! We know how we liberals are so rich with offshore accounts!

Greg: That’s right!

Alex: Greg, you’re a gentleman. Thank you very much.

Greg: You’re very welcome.

Alex: Take care.