www.dissidentvoice.org/2008
" ... The participants to the Halifax International Symposium on Media and Disinformation in 2004 ... unanimously declared disinformation to be a crime against humanity and a crime against peace. ... "
Story continues
Monday, July 14, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
E-Mail Smear Campaign Claims Obama is a Muslim "Manchurian Candidate"
From: Editorial: Politics as usual: Beware of smears
www.salisburypost.com
July 10, 2008
... In e-mail message containing a column, purportedly written by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, which offers the "stunning revelation" that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has benefitted from an influx of Internet donations from Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. In keeping with the closet Muslim/"Manchurian candidate" paranoid fantasy, some of the contributions were even traced to China, the column says, basing its allegations on tips from one of the campaign's "Internet geeks."
The column looks authentic, even down to the Dowd photo that appears on the Times Web site. There is one problem, however. Dowd never wrote such a column, and the scenario it describes is a complete fabrication. It's just as bogus as earlier Internet-generated smears about Obama having his hand on the Quran, instead of a Bible, while being sworn in as a senator or McCain going stark, raving bonkers during his imprisonment in Vietnam.
Such smears are nothing new, of course. They're as old as politics itself and, in fact, many historians still rate the 1828 campaign between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams one of the nastiest on record, with — among other colorful assaults — Adams accused of being a pimp and Jackson of marrying his second wife before being legally divorced from his first. Imagine if they'd had new media back in the time of Old Hickory.
That's what is different these days, and why it would be naive to discount the damage such hoaxes can do. In the 19th century, when many Americans were barely literate, smear campaigns had to depend on word-of-mouth transmission or publication in penny broadsheets of the day. The mud oozed a lot more slowly. With the explosion of television, radio and, now, the wonders of broadband Internet, lies travel at the speed of light. And too many of us get most of our "news" from campaign ad soundbites and partisan political screeds.
Just as we're warned to guard against identity theft, Americans would be well served to arm themselves against the campaign scams that are certain to proliferate in the weeks and months ahead. We know how easy it is for criminals to steal passwords and account numbers. We should be just as vigilant against unscrupulous operatives feverishly working to hijack this election.
http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/071108-edit-internet-smears
www.salisburypost.com
July 10, 2008
... In e-mail message containing a column, purportedly written by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, which offers the "stunning revelation" that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has benefitted from an influx of Internet donations from Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. In keeping with the closet Muslim/"Manchurian candidate" paranoid fantasy, some of the contributions were even traced to China, the column says, basing its allegations on tips from one of the campaign's "Internet geeks."
The column looks authentic, even down to the Dowd photo that appears on the Times Web site. There is one problem, however. Dowd never wrote such a column, and the scenario it describes is a complete fabrication. It's just as bogus as earlier Internet-generated smears about Obama having his hand on the Quran, instead of a Bible, while being sworn in as a senator or McCain going stark, raving bonkers during his imprisonment in Vietnam.
Such smears are nothing new, of course. They're as old as politics itself and, in fact, many historians still rate the 1828 campaign between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams one of the nastiest on record, with — among other colorful assaults — Adams accused of being a pimp and Jackson of marrying his second wife before being legally divorced from his first. Imagine if they'd had new media back in the time of Old Hickory.
That's what is different these days, and why it would be naive to discount the damage such hoaxes can do. In the 19th century, when many Americans were barely literate, smear campaigns had to depend on word-of-mouth transmission or publication in penny broadsheets of the day. The mud oozed a lot more slowly. With the explosion of television, radio and, now, the wonders of broadband Internet, lies travel at the speed of light. And too many of us get most of our "news" from campaign ad soundbites and partisan political screeds.
Just as we're warned to guard against identity theft, Americans would be well served to arm themselves against the campaign scams that are certain to proliferate in the weeks and months ahead. We know how easy it is for criminals to steal passwords and account numbers. We should be just as vigilant against unscrupulous operatives feverishly working to hijack this election.
http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/071108-edit-internet-smears
Friday, July 11, 2008
Hearst's Joe McCarthy Connection
http://bfeldman68.blogspot.com/2008/07/hearsts-joe-mccarthy-connection.html
(The following article first appeared in the 9/9/92 issue of the now-defunct Lower East Side alternative weekly newspaper, Downtown.)
The Hearst media conglomerate played a key role in the rise of U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy to national prominence in the late 1940s and early 1950s—during a witch-hunting, “red scare” era of U.S. history, when U.S. citizens in all walks of life were indiscriminately red-baited, blacklisted, or denied their civil liberties, under the pretext of “fighting communism” and “protecting domestic security.” According to The Hearsts: Family and Empire:
“In July of 1948, Bill [Hearst Jr.] and Bootsie [his wife] were delighted to have McCarthy as a guest at their wedding. There they introduced him to [then-Hearst Corporation President] Dick Berlin, who shared the Senator’s…political leanings and fondness for booze. Soon Dick and Joe were friends. Berlin often entertained McCarthy at his Fifth Avenue apartment…and occasionally invited the Senator to spend an interlude at his hunting lodge in Murray Bay, Canada, 90 miles down river from Quebec.”
The same book also noted that by the time William Randolph Hearst Jr. became chairman of the Hearst media conglomerate’s editorial board—following his father’s death in 1951—the Hearst organization:
“…had already developed a close working relationship with McCarthy, who remained in the news…largely because the Hearst press kept him there. The Hearst staff had an unfailing pipeline to the Senator—through Don Surine, and later through Roy Cohn; McCarthy would telegraph items about forthcoming targets to the handful of journalists who had done the most to help him…And the grateful Hearstlings…knew how to use the scoops;…they turned McCarthy’s notorious half-truths into their own reckless, raging, ill-informed stories about red infiltration and the betrayal of America.
“Bill [Hearst Jr.] for his part, approved of the McCarthy connection…He defended the commitment as a sound journalistic alliance.”
In addition to revealing in 1980 that “the vast majority of news executives on Hearst papers were rabid anti-Communists and McCarthy admirers,” The Hearsts: Family And Empire also revealed that Hearst’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper “organized its own `red squad’ to keep files on local subversives” and “When the House Un-American Activities Committee [HUAC] visited Seattle in June of 1954, the paper turned its records over to Chairman Harlold Velde, who praised the paper for its diligence.”
(Downtown 9/9/92)
(The following article first appeared in the 9/9/92 issue of the now-defunct Lower East Side alternative weekly newspaper, Downtown.)
The Hearst media conglomerate played a key role in the rise of U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy to national prominence in the late 1940s and early 1950s—during a witch-hunting, “red scare” era of U.S. history, when U.S. citizens in all walks of life were indiscriminately red-baited, blacklisted, or denied their civil liberties, under the pretext of “fighting communism” and “protecting domestic security.” According to The Hearsts: Family and Empire:
“In July of 1948, Bill [Hearst Jr.] and Bootsie [his wife] were delighted to have McCarthy as a guest at their wedding. There they introduced him to [then-Hearst Corporation President] Dick Berlin, who shared the Senator’s…political leanings and fondness for booze. Soon Dick and Joe were friends. Berlin often entertained McCarthy at his Fifth Avenue apartment…and occasionally invited the Senator to spend an interlude at his hunting lodge in Murray Bay, Canada, 90 miles down river from Quebec.”
The same book also noted that by the time William Randolph Hearst Jr. became chairman of the Hearst media conglomerate’s editorial board—following his father’s death in 1951—the Hearst organization:
“…had already developed a close working relationship with McCarthy, who remained in the news…largely because the Hearst press kept him there. The Hearst staff had an unfailing pipeline to the Senator—through Don Surine, and later through Roy Cohn; McCarthy would telegraph items about forthcoming targets to the handful of journalists who had done the most to help him…And the grateful Hearstlings…knew how to use the scoops;…they turned McCarthy’s notorious half-truths into their own reckless, raging, ill-informed stories about red infiltration and the betrayal of America.
“Bill [Hearst Jr.] for his part, approved of the McCarthy connection…He defended the commitment as a sound journalistic alliance.”
In addition to revealing in 1980 that “the vast majority of news executives on Hearst papers were rabid anti-Communists and McCarthy admirers,” The Hearsts: Family And Empire also revealed that Hearst’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper “organized its own `red squad’ to keep files on local subversives” and “When the House Un-American Activities Committee [HUAC] visited Seattle in June of 1954, the paper turned its records over to Chairman Harlold Velde, who praised the paper for its diligence.”
(Downtown 9/9/92)
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Glenn Beck: John Birch Society makes ‘more and more sense.’
By Matt on Jul 26th, 2007
On his CNN Headline News show last night, Glenn Beck hosted Sam Antonio, a national spokesperson for the John Birch Society, to discuss various “conspiracy theories” about immigration and border security, including the idea that “the Mexican government” has “a hold on our enforcement of laws here in America.” Beck told Antonio that he used to think the Society members were “a bunch of nuts,” but that they are now “starting to make more and more sense” to him. ... As Salon’s Alex Koppelman notes, the group’s founder, Robert Welch, once accused Dwight Eisenhower of being “a dedicated conscious agent of the communist conspiracy.” The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed the John Birch Society as a group that “advocates or adheres to extreme anti-government doctrines.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/26/beck-john-birch-society-makes-more-and-more-sense/
On his CNN Headline News show last night, Glenn Beck hosted Sam Antonio, a national spokesperson for the John Birch Society, to discuss various “conspiracy theories” about immigration and border security, including the idea that “the Mexican government” has “a hold on our enforcement of laws here in America.” Beck told Antonio that he used to think the Society members were “a bunch of nuts,” but that they are now “starting to make more and more sense” to him. ... As Salon’s Alex Koppelman notes, the group’s founder, Robert Welch, once accused Dwight Eisenhower of being “a dedicated conscious agent of the communist conspiracy.” The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed the John Birch Society as a group that “advocates or adheres to extreme anti-government doctrines.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/26/beck-john-birch-society-makes-more-and-more-sense/
Doctored Photos Row: In Viewership, Fox Goes Down with a Fight
" ... Fox ran modified pictures of both men. Mr. Steinberg's teeth had been yellowed, his nose and chin made more bulbous, and his ears jugged. Mr. Reddicliffe was given black bags under his eyes, and his hairline was pulled back. ... "
Images taken from Fox News screen shots next to actual images of New York Times staffers. (mediamatters.org)
SINCLAIR STEWART
Globe and Mail Update
www.theglobeandmail.com
July 9, 2008
NEW YORK — Forget about that quadrennial blood feud known as the U.S. presidential election. In New York, at least, the most intriguing tussle between left and right in recent days doesn't centre on Barack Obama or John McCain, but on a pair of media organizations – The New York Times and Fox News – that wield considerable political clout in their own right.
Detractors of Fox, America's No. 1 cable news network, have always complained that it twists the truth, refracting people and events through a conservative prism until they acquire the distortions of a fun house mirror.
These criticisms, of course, are metaphors – or at least they were until a week ago, when a Fox program aired unflatteringly altered photographs of two New York Times staffers whose work had raised the broadcaster's hackles.
The doctored pictures, which weren't identified as such to viewers, have stirred a froth about journalistic ethics in media circles here, pitting liberal-minded broadsheet against populist network in a conflict that bears all the scars and sniping of a political race.
The seeds of the dispute were sown last week, when Times reporter Jacques Steinberg wrote a story on cable news ratings. The piece acknowledged that while Fox remained the most popular news destination for prime-time viewers in the coveted 25-54 demographic, its once dominant lead had eroded, with rivals CNN and MSNBC adding viewers at a faster clip.
A few days later, on the morning show Fox and Friends, co-anchor Steve Doocy described the article as a “hit piece” and averred that Mr. Steinberg had been doing a “bunch of attack stories” on the network.
Further, he added, Mr. Steinberg's boss, Steven Reddicliffe, was a former employee of the Fox media empire and reportedly had “an axe to grind” with the company.
At the same time, Fox ran modified pictures of both men. Mr. Steinberg's teeth had been yellowed, his nose and chin made more bulbous, and his ears jugged. Mr. Reddicliffe was given black bags under his eyes, and his hairline was pulled back.
A Times columnist struck back Monday. Veteran media scribe David Carr portrayed the Fox media relations team as a group of vindictive bullies, and raised the spectre of anti-Semitism in the network's visual treatment of Mr. Steinberg. The column elicited feverish activity on blogs over the past two days, with one, Gawker, publishing a scathing piece about a Fox public-relations executive.
“In a technique familiar to students of vintage German propaganda,” Mr. Carr wrote of Mr. Steinberg's image, “his ears were pulled out, his teeth splayed apart, his forehead lowered and his nose was widened and enlarged in a way that made him look more like Fagin than the guy I work with.”
A spokeswoman for Fox declined to discuss the matter, pointing only to the network's characterization of these insinuations to The Times as “vile and untrue.”
Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University in New York and an unabashed critic of Fox, said he wasn't surprised by the network's treatment of the Times staffers.
“To speak of Fox News ethics is like speaking of the ice on the Hudson River today,” he said. “There's very little they won't do to prove a point and, obviously, what they're trying to do is stick it directly to The New York Times, and Steinberg and company.”
Some media observers view the bitter contretemps between the two news outlets as an outgrowth of the media industry's transformation, not just in terms of the proliferation of online media, such as blogs, which have changed the way journalism is practised and blurred ethical lines, but in terms of the industry's dire economics, which have fuelled more intense competition for readers, viewers and, ultimately, advertising dollars.
Even so, digitally altering photos like this is not the sort of thing media experts would expect to see on Canadian networks – and if they did, there would probably be a lot more regulatory fuss.
“I think we would be more likely to see a complaint filed to the Canadian Radio-television [and Telecommunications] Commission or have the issue brought before a press council,” said Marc Raboy, the Beaverbrook chair in ethics, media and communication at McGill University in Montreal.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080708.fox09/BNStory/International/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail
Images taken from Fox News screen shots next to actual images of New York Times staffers. (mediamatters.org)SINCLAIR STEWART
Globe and Mail Update
www.theglobeandmail.com
July 9, 2008
NEW YORK — Forget about that quadrennial blood feud known as the U.S. presidential election. In New York, at least, the most intriguing tussle between left and right in recent days doesn't centre on Barack Obama or John McCain, but on a pair of media organizations – The New York Times and Fox News – that wield considerable political clout in their own right.
Detractors of Fox, America's No. 1 cable news network, have always complained that it twists the truth, refracting people and events through a conservative prism until they acquire the distortions of a fun house mirror.
These criticisms, of course, are metaphors – or at least they were until a week ago, when a Fox program aired unflatteringly altered photographs of two New York Times staffers whose work had raised the broadcaster's hackles.
The doctored pictures, which weren't identified as such to viewers, have stirred a froth about journalistic ethics in media circles here, pitting liberal-minded broadsheet against populist network in a conflict that bears all the scars and sniping of a political race.
The seeds of the dispute were sown last week, when Times reporter Jacques Steinberg wrote a story on cable news ratings. The piece acknowledged that while Fox remained the most popular news destination for prime-time viewers in the coveted 25-54 demographic, its once dominant lead had eroded, with rivals CNN and MSNBC adding viewers at a faster clip.
A few days later, on the morning show Fox and Friends, co-anchor Steve Doocy described the article as a “hit piece” and averred that Mr. Steinberg had been doing a “bunch of attack stories” on the network.
Further, he added, Mr. Steinberg's boss, Steven Reddicliffe, was a former employee of the Fox media empire and reportedly had “an axe to grind” with the company.
At the same time, Fox ran modified pictures of both men. Mr. Steinberg's teeth had been yellowed, his nose and chin made more bulbous, and his ears jugged. Mr. Reddicliffe was given black bags under his eyes, and his hairline was pulled back.
A Times columnist struck back Monday. Veteran media scribe David Carr portrayed the Fox media relations team as a group of vindictive bullies, and raised the spectre of anti-Semitism in the network's visual treatment of Mr. Steinberg. The column elicited feverish activity on blogs over the past two days, with one, Gawker, publishing a scathing piece about a Fox public-relations executive.
“In a technique familiar to students of vintage German propaganda,” Mr. Carr wrote of Mr. Steinberg's image, “his ears were pulled out, his teeth splayed apart, his forehead lowered and his nose was widened and enlarged in a way that made him look more like Fagin than the guy I work with.”
A spokeswoman for Fox declined to discuss the matter, pointing only to the network's characterization of these insinuations to The Times as “vile and untrue.”
Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University in New York and an unabashed critic of Fox, said he wasn't surprised by the network's treatment of the Times staffers.
“To speak of Fox News ethics is like speaking of the ice on the Hudson River today,” he said. “There's very little they won't do to prove a point and, obviously, what they're trying to do is stick it directly to The New York Times, and Steinberg and company.”
Some media observers view the bitter contretemps between the two news outlets as an outgrowth of the media industry's transformation, not just in terms of the proliferation of online media, such as blogs, which have changed the way journalism is practised and blurred ethical lines, but in terms of the industry's dire economics, which have fuelled more intense competition for readers, viewers and, ultimately, advertising dollars.
Even so, digitally altering photos like this is not the sort of thing media experts would expect to see on Canadian networks – and if they did, there would probably be a lot more regulatory fuss.
“I think we would be more likely to see a complaint filed to the Canadian Radio-television [and Telecommunications] Commission or have the issue brought before a press council,” said Marc Raboy, the Beaverbrook chair in ethics, media and communication at McGill University in Montreal.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080708.fox09/BNStory/International/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Wexler Scorned by Media for Standing Fast on Presidential Impeachment
Jun-16-2008
Political Perspective by Tim King Salem-News.com
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june162008/exler_are.php
Media Grinder continues to paint efforts to bring about Presidential Impeachment with undue prejudice. But hey, this is the land of Jeb Bush and rigged elections, so what is the surprise in the Sun-Sentinel's attack on Rep. Robert Wexler?
Sun-Sentinel's editorial titled "Impeachment not worth another minute of anybody's time"
(SALEM, Ore.) - In a supposedly law-abiding country like the United States, what right does the media have to say that the President should not be held accountable for his actions? That is exactly what is happening this week in Florida as the staff of the Sun-Sentinel Newspaper in Miami roast Representative Robert Wexler, a Democrat from Delray Beach, for siding with Representative Dennis Kucinich's attempt to make George W. Bush face the music for his long string of possibly illegal acts that began after September 11th, 2001.
Kucinich read the 35 articles of impeachment against Bush last week from the House floor. There are so many seemingly credible allegations that it seems ridiculous to not pursue the impeachment process. Yet even before it was out of the gate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it clear that in her view, the impeachment of George W. Bush was "off the table".
Wexler said, "This war has cost us the lives of 4,090 US soldiers, injuries to over 30,000, and more than a trillion taxpayer dollars when it is all said and done." To him and many others, it seems ridiculous to not pursue the Impeachment while utilizing a system in place successfully for so many years in this country.
Yet the Sun-Sentinel whines that because these miserable acts committed by a President over the last seven years are now at end stages, he should be allowed to skate entirely.
They wrote in the editorial, "Actually, it's nobody's sworn duty to take up any time to go after a badly battered president with only a few months left in office."
Badly battered? These pathetic writers need to take a trip overseas to one of our war theaters and see the real description of "badly battered" and not try to excuse this wretch of a man who was not even elected by the American people, but by the Supreme Court, for sending countless numbers of good Americans to their death for a war that never needed to be fought in the first place.
Representative Robert Wexler of Florida. Photo: facebook.com
Wexler responded by saying, "In fact, it is this very war -- entered into following an unprecedented campaign of lies and manipulated intelligence by the Bush Administration -- that necessitates impeachment hearings. It is a dark day when the Sun-Sentinel has the gall to tell the parents of the soldiers who have died in Iraq that pursuing consequences for those that prosecuted this war of choice based on outright deception is not a 'REAL' issue that Congress should address."
This media group probably has their hands so deep inside Bush's pockets and vice verse, that they have no choice but to try to degrade the acts of real Americans like Kucinich and Wexler. They should be ashamed but then what is new about that.
We are raised to believe that there are consequences for our actions, yet the Sun-Sentinel believes the person who led this country into its darkest time in recent history and may be guilty of high crimes that other national leaders are tried for, needs a break. Isn't that sweet.
I would be willing to bet that Bush will ultimately be regarded as a criminal President who abused his power and directly lied to the people of the United States. Maybe he'll slip by the next few months, that is possible, then move to Dubai, closer to the people he really works for. With most Democrats refusing to do their jobs, the odds are good that he won't be impeached now. The Democrats didn't take care of Al Gore when he was named President and then un-named President, nor did they back John Kerry when the Florida election was rigged and thrown. They almost all voted to go to war in Iraq and are indeed as guilty as Bush. Maybe that is it: just the simple fact that an indictment against Bush for war crimes is an indictment against themselves.
Good thing Bush has his thugs in place in the media at operations like the Sun-Sentinel, to make a mockery of real efforts like the Impeachment process Kucinich and a few other gutsy politicians like Wexler are trying, against the odds, to push through. Their editorial is the ultimate expression of everything that is wrong today with the status quo - the sheeplike Americans who have that mushroom like approach to life... feed 'em BS and keep them in the dark and they will grow up just the way you like.
Wexler says that sadly, the war is only the beginning of the list of problems involving George W. Bush.
"We now know that this Administration illegally ordered the torture of prisoners, obstructed justice by lying about the outing of a covert CIA agent and authorizing warrantless spying on American citizens. No one can deny that if proven these allegations amount to High Crimes. Our failure to act sets an awful precedent and enables future Presidents to break the law and violate our Constitution without sanctions from Congress."
He says that according to the Sentinel, impeachment is the wrong "remedy" for this litany of crimes. "What then is the proper remedy?" he asked. "A harsh lecture? A strongly worded editorial? Or how about doing absolutely nothing in the face of these outrageous abuses of power?"
The job of the news media is to cast a critical eye on elected politicians who are supposed to be held to the highest standards of the law, and are expected to lead by example - for the benefit of the public that elected them. There is no possible excuse for what this Miami, Florida newspaper suggests. Robert Wexler and Dennis Kucinich may be offbeat with others in the House of Representatives, but millions of Americans agree with them and it is the interests, affiliations and past mistakes of the majority of Democrats that continue to haunt the integrity of the very soul of our political system.
This is the original letter to the editor by Wexler:
Sun-Sentinel Editorial
Impeachment not worth another minute of anybody's time South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
June 12, 2008
ISSUE: Some in Congress want an impeachment.
"The nation does have a few pressing issues pending that could use some attention from our federal lawmakers.
Let's see. There are a couple of wars going on, unemployment is on the rise as the value of a house continues to fall, millions of Americans have no health insurance, and did we mention that gas prices are expected to hit $5 a gallon? You get the idea. And still, some in Congress feel the nation is just itching for another presidential impeachment.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who has made a career out of eye-rolling issues like these, said this week he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach President Bush. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, who is smarter than this, supported the Articles of Impeachment, which won't go anywhere and thankfully have been buried in a committee not likely to hold hearings before Bush leaves office.
Last year, Kucinich led the misguided charge to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, and Wexler supported that. In the case of Bush, Wexler called it a "sworn duty" of Congress to act.
Actually, it's nobody's sworn duty to take up any time to go after a badly battered president with only a few months left in office. This is a president so unpopular, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain won't make many public appearances with him. This is a president who is such a non-entity, peace activists didn't even bother to protest his appearance in Berlin this week.
Nor should Congress bother with the ridiculous idea of impeachment, which Kucinich contends is warranted because Bush deceived the nation into war.
There's plenty of evidence to fuel Kucinich's ire, but not his choice of remedy. If Congress needs more things than impeachment to keep lawmakers busy, it has myriad options.
BOTTOM LINE: Get on with REAL issues."
The comedy here is the paper's failure to even try to connect the reason for all of the "real issues" existing in the first place. Blue blood apparently carries an awful lot of weight in the southern states.
This video from CBS News shows activists in England who turned out in droves to protest George W. Bush's visit. Germany is an extremely conservative country in most respects. It seems wrong to make an example of how the nation that supported Adolph Hitler a few decades ago, fails to protest George Bush:
Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Today, in addition to his role as a war correspondent in Afghanistan where he spent the winter of 2006/07, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators. Tim's coverage from Iraq that was set to begin in April has been delayed and may not take place until August, 2008. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
Political Perspective by Tim King Salem-News.com
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june162008/exler_are.php
Media Grinder continues to paint efforts to bring about Presidential Impeachment with undue prejudice. But hey, this is the land of Jeb Bush and rigged elections, so what is the surprise in the Sun-Sentinel's attack on Rep. Robert Wexler?
Sun-Sentinel's editorial titled "Impeachment not worth another minute of anybody's time"
(SALEM, Ore.) - In a supposedly law-abiding country like the United States, what right does the media have to say that the President should not be held accountable for his actions? That is exactly what is happening this week in Florida as the staff of the Sun-Sentinel Newspaper in Miami roast Representative Robert Wexler, a Democrat from Delray Beach, for siding with Representative Dennis Kucinich's attempt to make George W. Bush face the music for his long string of possibly illegal acts that began after September 11th, 2001.
Kucinich read the 35 articles of impeachment against Bush last week from the House floor. There are so many seemingly credible allegations that it seems ridiculous to not pursue the impeachment process. Yet even before it was out of the gate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it clear that in her view, the impeachment of George W. Bush was "off the table".
Wexler said, "This war has cost us the lives of 4,090 US soldiers, injuries to over 30,000, and more than a trillion taxpayer dollars when it is all said and done." To him and many others, it seems ridiculous to not pursue the Impeachment while utilizing a system in place successfully for so many years in this country.
Yet the Sun-Sentinel whines that because these miserable acts committed by a President over the last seven years are now at end stages, he should be allowed to skate entirely.
They wrote in the editorial, "Actually, it's nobody's sworn duty to take up any time to go after a badly battered president with only a few months left in office."
Badly battered? These pathetic writers need to take a trip overseas to one of our war theaters and see the real description of "badly battered" and not try to excuse this wretch of a man who was not even elected by the American people, but by the Supreme Court, for sending countless numbers of good Americans to their death for a war that never needed to be fought in the first place.
Representative Robert Wexler of Florida. Photo: facebook.com
Wexler responded by saying, "In fact, it is this very war -- entered into following an unprecedented campaign of lies and manipulated intelligence by the Bush Administration -- that necessitates impeachment hearings. It is a dark day when the Sun-Sentinel has the gall to tell the parents of the soldiers who have died in Iraq that pursuing consequences for those that prosecuted this war of choice based on outright deception is not a 'REAL' issue that Congress should address."
This media group probably has their hands so deep inside Bush's pockets and vice verse, that they have no choice but to try to degrade the acts of real Americans like Kucinich and Wexler. They should be ashamed but then what is new about that.
We are raised to believe that there are consequences for our actions, yet the Sun-Sentinel believes the person who led this country into its darkest time in recent history and may be guilty of high crimes that other national leaders are tried for, needs a break. Isn't that sweet.
I would be willing to bet that Bush will ultimately be regarded as a criminal President who abused his power and directly lied to the people of the United States. Maybe he'll slip by the next few months, that is possible, then move to Dubai, closer to the people he really works for. With most Democrats refusing to do their jobs, the odds are good that he won't be impeached now. The Democrats didn't take care of Al Gore when he was named President and then un-named President, nor did they back John Kerry when the Florida election was rigged and thrown. They almost all voted to go to war in Iraq and are indeed as guilty as Bush. Maybe that is it: just the simple fact that an indictment against Bush for war crimes is an indictment against themselves.
Good thing Bush has his thugs in place in the media at operations like the Sun-Sentinel, to make a mockery of real efforts like the Impeachment process Kucinich and a few other gutsy politicians like Wexler are trying, against the odds, to push through. Their editorial is the ultimate expression of everything that is wrong today with the status quo - the sheeplike Americans who have that mushroom like approach to life... feed 'em BS and keep them in the dark and they will grow up just the way you like.
Wexler says that sadly, the war is only the beginning of the list of problems involving George W. Bush.
"We now know that this Administration illegally ordered the torture of prisoners, obstructed justice by lying about the outing of a covert CIA agent and authorizing warrantless spying on American citizens. No one can deny that if proven these allegations amount to High Crimes. Our failure to act sets an awful precedent and enables future Presidents to break the law and violate our Constitution without sanctions from Congress."
He says that according to the Sentinel, impeachment is the wrong "remedy" for this litany of crimes. "What then is the proper remedy?" he asked. "A harsh lecture? A strongly worded editorial? Or how about doing absolutely nothing in the face of these outrageous abuses of power?"
The job of the news media is to cast a critical eye on elected politicians who are supposed to be held to the highest standards of the law, and are expected to lead by example - for the benefit of the public that elected them. There is no possible excuse for what this Miami, Florida newspaper suggests. Robert Wexler and Dennis Kucinich may be offbeat with others in the House of Representatives, but millions of Americans agree with them and it is the interests, affiliations and past mistakes of the majority of Democrats that continue to haunt the integrity of the very soul of our political system.
This is the original letter to the editor by Wexler:
Sun-Sentinel Editorial
Impeachment not worth another minute of anybody's time South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
June 12, 2008
ISSUE: Some in Congress want an impeachment.
"The nation does have a few pressing issues pending that could use some attention from our federal lawmakers.
Let's see. There are a couple of wars going on, unemployment is on the rise as the value of a house continues to fall, millions of Americans have no health insurance, and did we mention that gas prices are expected to hit $5 a gallon? You get the idea. And still, some in Congress feel the nation is just itching for another presidential impeachment.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who has made a career out of eye-rolling issues like these, said this week he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach President Bush. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, who is smarter than this, supported the Articles of Impeachment, which won't go anywhere and thankfully have been buried in a committee not likely to hold hearings before Bush leaves office.
Last year, Kucinich led the misguided charge to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, and Wexler supported that. In the case of Bush, Wexler called it a "sworn duty" of Congress to act.
Actually, it's nobody's sworn duty to take up any time to go after a badly battered president with only a few months left in office. This is a president so unpopular, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain won't make many public appearances with him. This is a president who is such a non-entity, peace activists didn't even bother to protest his appearance in Berlin this week.
Nor should Congress bother with the ridiculous idea of impeachment, which Kucinich contends is warranted because Bush deceived the nation into war.
There's plenty of evidence to fuel Kucinich's ire, but not his choice of remedy. If Congress needs more things than impeachment to keep lawmakers busy, it has myriad options.
BOTTOM LINE: Get on with REAL issues."
The comedy here is the paper's failure to even try to connect the reason for all of the "real issues" existing in the first place. Blue blood apparently carries an awful lot of weight in the southern states.
This video from CBS News shows activists in England who turned out in droves to protest George W. Bush's visit. Germany is an extremely conservative country in most respects. It seems wrong to make an example of how the nation that supported Adolph Hitler a few decades ago, fails to protest George Bush:
Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Today, in addition to his role as a war correspondent in Afghanistan where he spent the winter of 2006/07, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators. Tim's coverage from Iraq that was set to begin in April has been delayed and may not take place until August, 2008. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Just How Sick of Lies Are We?
OpinionKathleen Reardon
Jun 30, 2008
It would be funny if it weren't so damn frustrating to watch corporate owned media cabal commentators who call themselves journalists compete to be the voices of up-from-nothing real Americans -- moreso than those whose lives they so cavalierly harm each day with vile attacks and irresponsible reporting.
Aren't you tired of these guys who own multi-million dollar homes telling us about the pain of the real guy - what the real woman out there is thinking - while refusing to interview anyone but each other?
Are you fed up yet with a Supreme Court that claims to base its decisions on precedent when they're playing us like fiddles, sometimes voting as the Republican block they largely are, then turning on a dime and throwing us a fish so we won't march on Congress to overturn, as almost happened with the Ledbetter case, the power of the supreme? And as they take away rights, they throw us one so we won't get so angry we vote en mass against Republicans just to keep more of the same from ruining this country.
When do we finally decide against being entertained by inside the beltway pundits who call themselves "crack senior analysts" based on nothing but labels? When do we turn off the television and cease to purchase a biased newspaper?
When do we refuse to participate in vicious, eat-your-own-kind attacks that have become all too prevalent in blogs just to put down the honest disagreements? When do we go back to keeping Washington honest?
And what of reason? Where has it gone? Why have we become so hungry for vacuous consensus? How tired of that monstrous, habitual saboteur of democracy are you?
When do we take back the country from corporate owned media who would sell their grandmothers for another day at any front desk telling us how to think so long as it squares with the mindset of those who hired them? And Democrats are worried about corporate lobbyists? Sure, they should be. But what about the propaganda that comes through our television sets or passes for print news?
But these attack dogs are so powerful, or so they have us believe with their tight-knit, love fest inner circle crossing network lines, no presidential candidate or political party has dared to take them on and reveal them for what they truly are. And yet, that's for whom "real Americans" would vote. That would be someone more like them - a person who wants to know the truth, as best we can know it, a person who is courageous rather than one tip-toeing through the political tulips for fear of stepping on parasitic weeds.
Just how sick and tired of all of this are we? Not nearly enough.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080630/cm_huffpost/109930
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