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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
It seems to me all NBC does on Dateline is just crime stories. They have not done any in depth news in years. Then they repeat the same story over and over again on MSNBC. Thank God they stopped doing those Catch a Predator stories. I hope they got sued for lots of them. I mean if you ever wanted to see an entrapment case just watch one of them. These certainly does not mean I am against catching sexual predators.
Think careers in the military become that of an advocate be it for war or weapons systems whether before the Congress or a camera. That is what they are paid to do initially by public money. After retirement it is one of per diem advocacy and retainer with honor - integrity to the payee. I wouldn't think full disclosure or transparency would cross any of their minds. It is not part of the military profession either before or after receipt of life's annuity at retirement as a general officer.
They waged war on the Democrats for years, promoting the GOP, especially John McCain. In the 1990's they promoted the Republican line about wonderful Reagan, despite 30 corruption convictions of his minions for offenses while in office, and corrupt Clinton, despite no such convictions. They then moved on to trashing Al Gore and beatifying McCain. When the country turned against Bush, Williams, Matthews, and NBC slowly began pandering for the Democrats, at least Obama, as actively as they had for the GOP. But make no mistake, their embrace of the generals shows they are only concerned with money and power, and they will turn on the Democrats and Obama if their bosses demand it. They are revolting.
. . . is something I can wrap my mind around. But whoring for whoring's sake is another. These folks seem to generally enjoy war. I mean, who better than a military man to talk about matters that are military? Not that America's military has been in a real 'war' since Vietnam, or really faced a threat since the USSR imploded, but America sure has poured the bucks into it. One hand washes the other, so to speak. The military projects and protects America's power (the wealthy), and the media (owned by the wealthy) makes it look like an honorable thing. Bitch, whine and rail all you want against spending a thin dime for universal medicare, or fixing the social welfare system, or putting some dough into the broken down education system or lowering price of gas. Much gnashing of teeth and rending of hair. But pour the money, unflichingly, down the humungous maw of, much irony here, The Department Of Defense. A bloated military, larger than all other nations combined, it continues to soak up the wealth (except from the untaxed wealthy) and the blood (ditto) of the nation as it serves its real masters - corporate America and, surprise surprise, itself. A virtual perpetual motion machine. I mean, what would all these guys with the ribbons on their chests do if there wasn't a military?? Most of America's wars have been, what General Smedley Butler would call racketeerism, or gangsterism. Perhaps more politely in this day and age where anyone who puts on a uniform is a hero,'securitizing'.
Ol' Smedley (no slouch, he -- the most decorated marine ever) summed it all up: "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
And so, yes, you get your McCaffreys and his buddies perpetuating these filthy wars, and using the fear to keep the money pouring into the coffers of the Military - Media - Industrial - Financial complex.
I like the way you think!
PS: @ getreal-- In a perfect meritocracy, Mr. Williams would be Glenn Greenwald's office boy, making coffee and toasting bagels.
I can't speak for Glenn, of course, but I wouldn't let Williams lay a finger on my bagel. I might let him change the toner cartridge on the copier, and hopefully inhale a lungful or two of toner powder in the process.
Don't believe the hype...
As shocking as this is, we've been putting up for years with the whitewashing of the network news, suppressing glaring evidence in several major government scandals as if they never existed. For example, I haven't seen any of the major networks confirm, refute, analyze or even mention the Articles of Impeachment filed against the President by Congress.
The Downing Street Memos alleged that Bush suggested to the UK's Prime Minister we fly planes with fake UN markings into Iraqi airspace to provoke an incident. Two significant members of his cabinet have written books alleging the war was a sell-job and Col. Powell's Chief of Staff blew the whistle on Cheney, Rumsfeld and the entire Iraq Team for concocting the entire war as "a hoax".
On and on it goes, from Seymour Hersh's never-denied reports on the Abu Ghraib scandal being a deliberate operation run by Rumsfeld's undersecretary to the damning evidence of minority vote caging lists coming from the computers of Karl Rove who is currently blowing off subpoenas for the DOJ firings and tampering in the Don Siegelman conviction. Then too, we have hard drives trashed and wiped out in violation of the Presidential Records Act, an FBI whistleblower alleging her bosses allowed drug running, money laundering and even the transfer of nuclear secrets to Turkish operatives in the AQ Khan network.
The $70 million lawsuit against CBS brought by Dan Rather alleges that White House interference caused his dismissal, but more importantly, ordered the network to withdraw and suppress the Texas Air Guard story in which a young George Bush received special treatment in ducking deployment in Vietnam. If you remember, the story was true, but Rather's controversial "forged" document became a famous distraction.
The tell-all books of George Tenet and Scott McClellan broke this haze of suppression in the print world, with McClellan divulging that Rove routinely furnished talking points to friends in media, most notably talk radio personalities. This represents a violation of the 1948 ban on covert propaganda when government sources for broadcast info is not disclosed.
With the Obama administration apparently uninterested in investigating or prosecuting crimes, it appears the compliant media will also escape accountability unless a serious, vocal grassroots effort comes forward from the people to insist on better.
In my blog series on Limbaugh/Hannity, I question the ethics and integrity of the deceitful duo and call again for them to confirm or deny whether they used undisclosed White House talking points (it sure seems like their broadcasts ran strikingly parallel to neocon policy every day for years down to exacting detail). The latest installment describes a whistleblower who claims radio hosts he worked for in Milwaukee did air information secretly obtained from government memos.
With a corrupt media looking to preserve it's own interests, I suggest people organize and get active in demanding truth in broadcasting. No, not the Fairness Doctrine, rather a high-tech, collective watchdog effort using web tools such as Twitter. If you have a passion for outing propaganda, consider joining a "more inclusive" Twitter-based discussion of Hannity/Limbaugh's broadcasts live as they air. Read more at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Radio-Treason-Right-Wing-by-Gustav-Wynn-081130-768.html
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
Salon headlines in your mailbox
