... saw the writing on the wall. He perceived correctly that there could be no victory in Vietnam.

Did he ever stop to wonder if victory or defeat might be irrelevant to the people who profit from the firing of the weapons and the deployment of the troops, and even from their deaths (oh yes, lots of paperwork, lots of logistics, lots of expensive supplies needed, when it comes to shipping the parts home to mom and dad), and from the re-supply and rebuild that comes after the fighting is over?

Victory or defeat in Vietnam only mattered to those whose political careers might be damaged by an open admission of failure. That is why, for example, everyone with a vested political interest talks about withdrawal "with honour" ... that honour doesn't have to be real, but it must at least be superfically plausible. Until the President and his crew think they can get out with their reputations intact, the killing and the profiteering will continue. It is the same today as it was 41 years ago. Same bullshit reasons for starting, same bullshit reasons for not getting out, even after the first load of bullshit has been thoroughly exposed.

(And of it destroys the constitutional basis of government in the USA, that is just a bonus.)

It doesn't matter who dies, it doesn't matter what it costs the country, it doesn't matter what the long term geopolitical damage will be - and all of these will be hellishly expensive - no, what matters is that the powerful are not to be embarrassed. That's what the napalm was all about.

That's why Vietnam lasted 7 years after a so-so ho-hum thoroughly compromised establishment journalist openly recognised that it would never be won.

How long will we let Iraqi people die for the profit margins and political careers of the same people?

How long will we let Afghani people die for the same reasons?

How long will Pakistani people suffer and die for the same reasons?

How long?

Your information is out of date.

The company now knows as CBS is the company formerly known as Westinghouse.

The story is complicated.

Briefly: Westinghouse bought CBS, changed its named to CBS, and sold most of its non-broadcast businesses. They even sold the rights to the name, "Westinghouse", so there's still a Westinghouse Electric Company (owned by Toshiba, for now.)

But CBS is no longer a subsidiary of Westinghouse or of Toshiba.

It's actually much more complicated than that - - I've probably oversimplified.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Former_CBS_Corporation_subsidiaries

hilzoy is a she? And where is she going? Or is she simply not "blogging" anymore?

Given hilzoy's statement (and the fact her observations were consistent with everyone who listened to and commented that day except perhaps bernbarts), I'd like to ask RMP if he still wants to stick by his statements at Hag's place that Chuck Todd is:

a) not unintelligent, and

b) simply poorly trained, and

c) otherwise honorable guy who has a chance of improving his "craft".

As opposed to my take which is that he's a lazy not too bright preening parrot of propoganda enamored with his own "position" inside the beltway "community" who unless hell froze over couldn't reason his way out of a wet paper sack and someone so full of himself and/or deluded that he actually believes he's doing "his job as a journalist" and that his insights have some value--particularly the ones from 30,000 feet up.

**No disrespect intended parrots as apparently they're actually pretty smart as far as birds go unlike Chuck Todd.

I'd never heard of Lewis Lapham before. The quote about there ought not being more than two at the funeral of a newspaperman who has done his job properly is worthy of Boswell's Johnson.This about Russet was a treat as well:
"For a second-tier talk-show host, his audience a fraction of the size of Rush Limbaugh’s or Howard Stern’s, whose stock in trade was the deftly pulled punch? Why a requiem mass for a pet canary?"

I liked the way he rightly included Hunter S. along with Menchen and Stone in his list of proper writer/journalists. Along with any flights of wit or wildness the reader must always instinctively feel that the writer has a passionate hatred of bullshit. It gives the writing a frisson and keeps the readers attention like an audience waiting for the gag they half expect from comedian they just know is going step over the line any moment now.

Truth is exiting, lies are boring. One of the reasons the press is going down the tubes is they are boring the reader with too much "securitized junk" or word glaze as I call it.

totally brilliant and so pertinent. This post should be made an "email storm."

I'd never heard of Lewis Lapham before. The quote about there ought not being more than two at the funeral of a newspaperman who has done his job properly is worthy of Boswell's Johnson.This about Russet was a treat as well:

"For a second-tier talk-show host, his audience a fraction of the size of Rush Limbaugh’s or Howard Stern’s, whose stock in trade was the deftly pulled punch? Why a requiem mass for a pet canary?"

I liked the way he rightly included Hunter S. along with Menchen and Stone in his list of proper writer/journalists. Along with any flights of wit or wildness the reader must always instinctively feel that the writer has a passionate hatred of bullshit. It gives the writing a frisson and keeps the readers attention like an audience waiting for the gag they half expect from comedian they just know is going step over the line any moment now.

Truth is exiting, lies are boring. One of the reasons the press is going down the tubes is they are boring the reader with too much "securitized junk" or word glaze as I call it.

American journalism has been on a downward spiral for at least 25 years, during which the giant corporations who own magazines and newscasts demand loyalty to a political program of consumerism and deregulation to maximize profits for the rich. Unfortunately commentators like Tim Russert and his replacement allow those they interview to engage in bold-face lies, without even the hint of a follow-up question. Chuck Todd argues against investigations.

With the C Street House and its Family touting Christian world domination through the work of the para-church group, Youth With a Mission D.C., no media, except for MSNBC and Huffington Post, have attempted to reveal their frightening efforts to infiltrate the government, especially our military. Their plan is outlined in the so-called Reclaim Seven Mountains of Culture--the segments of the society they aim to dominate. Their successes are frightening. It means the loss of our freedoms. The Cheney Bush administration did much to further their efforts. Sarah Palin is connected to these groups.

No journalistic examinations of this group, except for the brave few like Bruce Wilson, Jeff Sharlet, Rachel Maddow or Manual Roig Franzia. Most inquiries have been quite recent. We need investigative journalism, if our democracy is to survive.