Bad days for online “progressive” news sources as well, apparently…

I got censored last night for “bad language” for the following comment on Huffington Post (I had just signed up for an account and this was my first comment).

Could it be they were not too happy with the questioning of their frequent source(s), Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders?

my comment: re: this article - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/24/mixed-legacy- likely-as-ch_n_121011.html

“Mixed legacy likely as China’s Olympics conclude”??

The “mixed legacy” is all with the Media, their sources, and nowhere else.

Almost ALL American media has jumped on the “China-bashing” bandwagon, and has been sounding off about “human rights abuses in China”, picking up information sourced by - and here is the point, WHO?

Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders (who have been outed for years as nothing less than a U.S. State Department funded propaganda arm - see here http://www.counterpunch.org/barahona05172005.html and here I wrote a recap of their anti-Olympic’s campaign: http://pasadenanewprogressive.blogspot.com/2008/04/rep orters-without-borders-anti-olympics.html).

For more information on Human Rights Watch, Read Paul Treanor’s excellent article here:
Who is behind Human Rights Watch?
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/HRW.html

Robin Kelley, professor of history and American studies and ethnicity at USC, also noted that currently Human Rights Watch does not address any issues in the United States (unlike their past good work with prison abuse here).

I’m not saying this group is all bad, but their “work” in condemning the Olympics is nothing less than Highly suspicious, and needs to be looked into!

Great posts and Great subject. Its about time this urgent issue is addressed!

That said, all I can say is that I believe it is time to start fighting. We cannot “let” our papers take the decent they have taken if not for the simple reason that so much injustice (and propaganda) in a Society becomes possible without a decent Press.

Let them have it! Rake corrupt Editor’s “over the coals”. Rake corrupt Newspapers “over the coals”.

Take this comment by Ed Harges: “And once we have learned that the New York Times and Washington Post habitually lie to us, why would we continue to treat them as must-read “newspapers of record”, either online or on paper?”

This is really important information needs to get out to the wide world! Right off the bat, I would look into WHO is calling the New York Times the “newspaper of record” (I know, a lot of people) and hit them up with facts to show that this is not true anymore.

Have the New York Times or the Washington Post seen any Serious opposition??

I think not.

I still believe that this problem can be turned around by mobilization.

Getting the word out? Me? I do it all the time, all over the world in fact. It takes more than just a “village” to educate a child or in this case, more than just a blog to educate a profession. PBS did a documentary about local television news reporting a while back.  There seemed to be a consensus among station managers and old timey reporters that nation-wide the local news offered : 6O% of nightly news was crime and fires, followed by spot reporting on traffic accidents and fires (minus the blood curdling screams and view of mangled bodies before the body bag was zipped up, gossip and happy talk, weather and sports.  Why they were asked,was this happening to their vocation??  Because, they said it was cheap,easy and attracted the audiences that made it profitable to do so. Corporate station stockholders and owners love that business model. The managers went on to comment that their private polls of local viewers showed that adults wanted more variety, like city hall activity , infrastructure problems, education issues, neighborhood development and the arts besides the local promos of soon to be released Megabuck Movies or visiting Rap group. This polling group also said that it was very doubtful that what constituted the current news offerings was going to change as long as it sold the necessary advertising to stay on the air. So Hedges or Truthdig could find out names of these decision makers and let it be known,...what did King Arthur lament.., what us Simple Folk say,think.

Chris Hedges value, contribution? He got this whole debate started. I’d like to see him follow up by sending along the comments expressed on this site to say the likes of ....Rupert, the Cox Family, Tom Brokaw,...George Will, Matt Laur, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and the descendants of William Buckley

No, Jersey Girl, Hedges support for Nader does not prove he “gets it.” It proves he is prepared to engage in an exercise in futility, just as you are.  There are many, many progressives who “get it,” but who, unlike you and Chris Hedges, do not lack the ability to count.  These progressives will vote for Obama because they know that the option is not Nader.  It is McCain.

correction....Hedges is VOTING for Nader.

Virginia:  Good points.  Chris Hedges isn’t brain dead like some on this thread.  He has a working brain and he uses it.  Btw, he stated during a Brian Lamb interview that he’s voted for Nader.  That proves he “gets it”.

A truly informative debate on this topic took place between Chris Hedges and Linda Jue.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/29/newspapers_suffe r_spate_of_layoffs_decline

I don’t agree with Colin or Cyrena - Chris Hedges does not have a “depressing” view of the world, he doesn’t “hate the world”. What he hates, is Injustice - and this is a good thing to hate!

It is counter-productive to ask that someone re-phrase language when the content is this important, this vital.

This is where the internet has stymied the Left. It has produced lots of “reaction” but very little “action”.

This has allowed for these massive “wrongs” to occur with very little intervention.

The loss of substantial components of our media?? (like Truth).... Hedges is dead-on to attack this! and when he does, it is not right to call him “depressing”.

I think its way past time to stop the alarming direction our media has taken, and yes, it IS depressing (so lets get cracking to DO something about it).

Well, this is true:

“I think the underlying concern expressed here at this blog site is that we sense or know something is going on, but way deep down, fear that we’re not being told what it is.”

and this:

“Worse still, Mainstream Media has become the paid hack for Government PR Flacks.”

And I am really glad this blog site is worried about this, because it is horrible and nothing less (the loss of our Media?).

But thank you for bringing up Thomas Paine - because he is a very important historical figure to emulate right now. And this is where I believe there IS hope - we need to fight, apply effort and change the state our Media is in today. We need to take back our Media.

We just need to be like Thomas.

And the (eloquent, wise) Johns Adam’s selfish behavior says exactly what it means to live in Thomas Paine’s shoes:

“John Adams, first Paine’s friend, then enemy when he backed Jefferson” (can you imagine how hard that must have been to have John Adams as an Enemy?).

Tough, but possible.

777. The Rights of Man etc.The 1st Amendment has been under seige since Day I and before. Thomas Paine’s throw away fish wrapper, The Rights of Man upset a lot of folks in its day, first the British, and then Founding Fathers when he no longer supported their decisions. John Adams, first Paine’s friend, then enemy when he backed Jefferson summed up Paine:

“ I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine. There can be no severer satyr on the age. For such a mongrel between pig and puppy, begotten by a wild boar on a bitch wolf, never before in any age of the world was suffered by the poltroonery of mankind, to run through such a career of mischief. Call it then the Age of Paine.” Thirteen years later, Adams would comment in a letter to Jefferson that Common Sense was “a poor, ignorant, malicious, short-sighted crapulous mass.”

There are no Tom Paine wannabees out there now or on the horizon.  I’m assuming to be so doesn’t pay enough.

Alternative Weeklies come and go almost with the change of seasons. I think the underlying concern expressed here at this blog site is that we sense or know something is going on ,but way deep down, fear that we’re not being told what it is.  Worse still, Mainstream Media has become the paid hack for Government PR Flacks.  Instead of Tom Paine, or even WoodStein , we have weekly/daily commentary by the Usual Suspects. Has anybody asked what are the alternative sources of income for Krauthammer, George Will, and the NYC Cadre of Journalists in Residence who show up regularly of Sunday Morning talk shows as token Liberals.  If we knew we would also know about “conflict of interest,” “journalistic integrity,” “managed news” and who else that we trust are on somebody’s double secret confidential correspondent payroll list.  Then again, if we did find out, that would be Really Scary Stuff!

The HUGE media loss I have noticed most painfully here in Southern California, is the loss of the Alternative Weeklies. The Southland has “lost” all of its alternative weeklies to corporate media (to varying degrees) and what has happened is that (concerning certain issues) the Truth has not one Print Media outlet in the ENTIRE Southland to find its way to!

This is Incredibly dangerous for a community, and I have witnessed this first-hand.

Our local alternative weekly, the Pasadena Weekly, openly sources (quotes, pays and honors) a right-wing extremist’s narcisstic blog, on which he savagely attacks our public school district.

This is the man who is the Pasadena Weekly’s source for articles on our Public (never Private) Schools:
http://www.peytonwolcott.com/MinutemenReneAmy.html

Of course the loss of the mainstream media is horrible too. In this instance, we NEED the Mainstream media to expose the Alternative media (whacky, right?).

Another important point is that, since when has print media not been popular? Everyone I know and see, has a paper in their hands at some point, every single day. Readership numbers are still enormous.

Perhaps it is true that our papers are losing money, but one thing they are not losing, is INFLUENCE.

and that is why they can be so dangerous.

- Virginia Hoge

The cost of doing business. That’s what newspapers have always been: a business. The Atlanta Journal Constitution, a merger of the city’s two dallies some years ago, recently raised the price of its weekday editions from $.50 to $.75. Their reason:increased cost of doing “business.” The AJC is owned by the Cox-Family Conglomerate, an old-line Atlanta family that’s gone global and a rival to Rupert,AOL-Time Warner and the BBC.  Having no knowledge of macro or micro economics or the cost of doing any kind of business these days, I am perplexed. I don’t understand why a local monopoly of print and electronic media cannot by itself, dictate what the cost of doing business should be. Who is the competition? Is it because print media is a loss leader among all the other subsidiaries of the conglomerate that shareholders are pushing to “get it out of our portfolio?” Does that mean that the AJC will eventually be “culled” from the herd, butchered for its best parts, the rest thrown into the compactor and thrown out with the trash? What would be left to Atlantans? How will we find out what’s going on in our community that we need to know?  TV? Radio? They’re owned by global conglomerates whose collective formula for news presentation is targeting lowest common denominator of viewer audience: If it bleeds it leads, followed by the Happy Weatherman, then the medical breakthrough of the day and if none are available fill in with “family grief, up close and personal, the biggest fire going especially if its residential, multiuse properties that show large numbers of now homeless families standing in the street, confused and numb from their losses and not knowing where they were going to house their children and pets. This is followed by sports news, a summary of the weather by the Happy,Well-endowed Weatherwoman, and perhaps an announcement of a potential catastrophe that is in the making, but we are going to have to tune in tomorrow at “News at 5 Pm” to discover what’s it going to be. (It’s now News at 11 Pm.) This formula is reminiscent of the TV serials, old and new,that close everyday with “tune in tomorrow to find out the fate of....Superman, Lois Lane, the survivors of Flight 816 from Sydney to Los Angeles,Brittney Spears, New Orleans, the disappearance of California, etc.

Now THAT’s scary!

Newspapers, Newsmagazines, Commercial TV news, Commercial radio news are all tied to an unseen master - profits, shareholders/owners, and the propaganda needs of multinational/transnational corporations.  Mostly we are unable to see how these “media” are connected to business and industry.  It maybe that a given network is owned by a holding company or conglomerate that also has oil production, arms making, transportation, and auto interests as part of it’s makeup.  That the profit needs of these “sister” enterprises would not creep into the editorial position of this network/chain/etc is an idea that is both blind and stupid.  Infact it is indeed likely that news stories pushing adjendas helpful to the larger corporate profits would be promoted and highlighted.  Without ever having to resort to outright lieing and fabrication these media could persuade the public to demand certain public policy movements that are benificial to profits and detremental to the health, wealth, and happiness of the masses.  IE - they could be(and probably are) propaganda instruments, of those forces that want to limit freedom, liberty, nad happiness.

Thanks, Cyrena. 

I think I know what you mean by “a variation of human nature.” However, I don’t agree that tyranny from outside ourselves makes us have a dark, depressing view of life.  We create the darkness through our own inner reactions to outwardly difficult situations, such as our society and its perceived injustices.

You say “this is a bad time for us.” But when has it ever not been a bad time for anyone on earth at one time or another?  To say “this is a bad time for us” and then blame that on outward circumstances is a false way of looking at the world, I believe.  That’s my main disagreement with Chris Hedges.  He writes as though there’d be peace on earth if only the corporations and the U.S. government would stop terrorizing everyone.  What he fails to document in his writings is that there can be peace and love in our hearts despite all the evil inflicted on us from the outside world.

Then again, he doesn’t write about how he feels; he writes what he thinks, and the kind of outlook I’m interested in is one in which feelings play a major role.  This is the realm of religion, true religion, not Christianity or any other religion, but the religion of love.

And we know that love is the meaning of life and the only thing that will save us from destruction.

By colin2626262, July 23 at 3:45 pm

Thank you Colin, for this very insightful essay. It is very much appreciated.

The condition that you’ve described with Hedges (his dark view of the world) is shared by many. I understand it as a variation of human nature, specifically in a society that is (whether we realize it or not) subjected to the terror of tyranny, and the Banality of Evil. We have our individual DNA’s of the psyche, and a collective psyche DNA as well. The chemistry of the mix produces varying results.

So, this is a very bad time for us, even though many of us aren’t sure exactly how or where to pinpoint the cause. Individual and group REACTIONS are equally varied.

So, yes...we need to understand, and it requires the continued serious thinking that you’ve shared with us. Hopefully Chris will read it as well.

jenne, try The Nation magazine.

I never miss a column by Chris Hedges.  He writes with authority, and his message is important, whatever he’s adressing.  Still, I usually have something I disagree with in his writings, or maybe just some questions or comments I’d like him to answer.  For example, when I got done reading this column about newspapers and corporate control, I thought, “It’s what’s in the news that’s the problem, not the way the news is delivered.”

Hedges has a very dark view of the world; I won’t say pessimistic.  He usually writes about how U.S. society has gone to hell or is going to hell and has brought or is bringing the rest of the world along with it.  The point of getting the news is to know what’s going on in the world.  Maybe there’s also a desire among some of the population to try to change the world for the better.

In a previous column, Hedges wrote about literature.  He said that was what kept him sane when he was covering the brutal wars in Latin America.  He also said he doesn’t own a television, as if that’s a great virtue.  Hedges went to seminary and is an ordained minister.  He doesn’t preach from a pulpit.  He preaches from his columns and books.  What is he preaching?  He says he’s a Christian, but he doesn’t really preach love.  He preaches a kind of hatred, actually, which is why I disagree with him, although only as a brother would disagree with his brother.

Hedges hates the world, or the way the world is, it seems.  He doesn’t come right out and say it, but you can understand that’s how he feels, based on his writings.  It’s true that Christ said to hate the world, but that meant hate the evil.  As Christians, but more importantly, as human beings, we can hate the evil, but we can’t hate people, even if they’re evil.  We can’t hate George W. Bush, for example.  In fact, we should love him, as a brother--maybe as a brother who has become our enemy, but nevertheless as a brother. 

Also, we can hate the world of coporations, but we can’t hate those who run the corporations, the people.  We can’t hate anyone period.  I think Hedges needs to address this in the future.

I think this may interest some of you. It comes from msnbc and mentions laura’s ‘new’ house in Houston.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25815469/

By cyrena, July 22 at 11:37 pm #

I am interested, so if you would please.

Cyrena:  I wish I could make that stuff up. Then Today would have to hire me as “creative consultant.”

As for Miley Cyrus, check out the cover of Vanity Fair. She’s a 15 year old nymphet icon of 12 year olds promoted by the Disney Family Channel who was talked into posing semi nude by that mag’s editors and Annie Leibowitz when her guardians left the room.  I guess it was an act of desparation to sell the mag’s rag for that month’s edition. As Edward G. Robinson told Humphrey Bogart before Bogart shot him full of holes in the film, Key Largo: “More, that’s what I want, more. There’s never enough!” Or something like that.

By Sabagio, July 22 at 11:47 pm

Thanks for the entertainment…I think. The list for the “News and Features” on today’s episode of TODAY, had me wavering between a moment of despair, and a fit of laughter. I chose the laughter.

This is relevant BECAUSE..I’ve NEVER been able to watch (easily or voluntarily) things like the TODAY show, or even The View, and so of course that has always included Oprah as well. (obviously there are others). That’s not to say that I’ve NEVER seen any of these programs, because of course since jillions of other folks DO watch this stuff, and so I’ve been stuck in the same room on occasion. It’s been over a decade though.

That’s why I was able to chuckle (sorta) as I read through here…

• ~Christian the lion becomes YouTube hit

WHO, exactly is Christian the lion, and why would ANYBODY care?

• ~`Simple summer fish: Wild striped bass
.Concert Series

How about this? It sounds like a recipe, (which isn’t all that ‘simple’ if it’s *wild* and *striped*) but then I notice the Concert Series there with it. So, is that separate, or is the wild striped bass part of the concert series?

• ~Miley Cyrus ... not just for kids anymore

Probably a stupid question but..WHO is Miley Cyrus?

• ~Stay sane this summer with Momtourage

Sabagio, are you making this stuff up? Momtourage??? How could anything with a name like that keep anybody sane? Hell, you’d have to already be INsane to even know what it means! What’s a Momtourage. Is that a person’s name, or some sort of activity for Mom’s?

• Kate Moss’ domestic dispute ~ Madeleine McCann case officially closed ~ Gail Saltz on food and your mood.

Well, I don’t know Kate Moss, and probably wouldn’t care about her domestic dispute if I did. I don’t know Madeleine McCann either, but I’ll presume that this poor woman either disappeared or was found a victim of some fatal incident, and that she’s obviously white, or there wouldn’t be anything in the media about it.

As for Gail ‘Saltz’ on food and my mood…I can only suggest that people who don’t have enough money to buy food these days are probably NOT in a particularly good mood. Starving people generally are NOT, (for the obvious scientific reasons) which is why this program wouldn’t go over well at all, in several thousand locations, scattered across the globe. And that’s ANOTHER primary reason why I don’t watch things like this, and especially Oprah.

• The fine print: 10 secrets your bank keeps ~ Watching companies rise in 54 hours.

Humm, I can think of a lot more than 10, and they aren’t secrets. It’s called rip-off, theft, extortion, corruption, exploitation, etc, etc. Watching companies rise in 54 hours could be a crack house or whatever the building on the corner of John and Doe is this week: beauty shop, karate parlor, sushi joint, tractor repair, chiropractor, feed supply, pawnshop, or bank-in-a-trailer. They fall even faster than they rise.

• ~Reflecting on ruin and rebirth of New Orleans

There is nothing to ‘reflect’ on any REBIRTH of New Orleans! The place was ruined, (intentionally allowed to be) and its spirit is gone, and it ain’t coming back. Rebirth my ass. This continued perpetration of some phony myth that doesn’t exist certainly can’t provide any cover for the misery of the people still there or otherwise displaced with nowhere to call home.

And now we’re back to this..

• Quiz: Think you know Miley? ~ Images: Miley Cyrus look-alike

Who the hell is MILEY?

Nevermind, I don’t wanna know. Don’t wanna know if I have enough to retire either. I already know I don’t..not that it matters, since I am involuntarily ‘retired’ anyway.

I can’t go on.

Still Sabigio, thanks for the laughs while they lasted. And..you’re right. Time to bury the horse. It’s been dead for ages, and the smell of dead horses is not pleasant.

“And the Web is built for browsing rather than for reading. When there is a long piece on the Internet, most of us have to print it out to get through it. “

I couldn’t disagree more.  I have some vision problems with contrast, and I find it much easier to read from my computer screen than a paper book.  Also, I prefer to click a mouse than to try and orient big sheets of paper.

Save a tree Chris.  Get comfortable reading from your computer screen. 

And I think you are wrong about “most” people printing out long articles to read them.  That sounds crazy to me.

I just sent an email to the NBC news center suggestion site. I made a suggestion about what to do to improve their product.This is their answer.

=======================================
Thank you for contacting TODAY.

We receive hundreds of email messages a day, and while we read them
all, we might not be able to reply to each one directly.  We do want
you to know that we appreciate the mail you have sent and the
comments you are making about our show.  We created this automated
response to answer many of the frequently-asked-questions as quickly
as possible.  We will try to answer all other questions directly when
we can.  ___________________________________________________________ __________

Here are some items for which you may want information:


WEB SITE:  A lot of information about our show can now be accessed
through our Web site. Point your browser to:
<http://www.today.msnbc.com>.
You’ll find recent story information, guest listings, bios, multimedia
features and much more.

ADDRESS: You can send any requests or comments to our correspondents at:
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112

STORY IDEAS: Please send story ideas to the address above or email them to
today at nbcuni dot com <mailto:today@nbcuni.com>.

If your story idea is accepted we will notify you. We do not have a
general fax number.


TRANSCRIPTS:  Contact Burrelle’s Transcript Service by calling: (800)
777-TEXT. Burrelle’s is not affiliated with NBC NEWS,
but their Web address is:  <http://www.burrelles.com>

VIDEOTAPES: TODAY videotapes are available for purchase through NBC
News archives (212) 664-6213.
Mail written requests to NBC News Archives, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Rm 327W,
New York, NY 10112. There is a minimum charge of $150.00 for up to five
minutes of tape. Please include the date, subject and any other information
that might help with your request. Once your letter is received, you will be
sent an agreement form. Once the form is signed and returned to NBC with
payment, your request will be filled.


WILLARD SCOTT BIRTHDAY AND ANNIVERSARY ANNOUNCEMENTS: If someone you
love is celebrating his or her l00th birthday or a 75th anniversary
and over, Willard will try his best to announce it on TODAY.

Please send us the following information in writing 3-4 weeks in
advance. 

We need their full name and address, their birthday, age, and
something personal about them.  Please be sure to include your
daytime telephone number so that we can confirm the date it will air.
Willard receives hundreds of requests and it is only possible for him
to announce twelve each week, but he sends congratulatory notes to
all those he isn’t able to announce.

Last, but not least, please include a photograph. It can be color or
black and white of any size, but unfortunately it will NOT be returned
to you, so make a copy.

Send all of the above to: Willard Scott, TODAY RM 390S, NBC News,
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112

VISITING THE SHOW: Anyone and everyone is invited to come out to the
studio each morning at Rockefeller Plaza and 49th Street. Remember
our show is live from 7 to 10am each weekday morning.

Thanks,

The staff of TODAY
For more information, visit our Web site at: <http://www.today.msnbc.com>
uct.

There IS such a thing as “beating a dead horse to death.” On viewing the Today Show news lineup for Wednesday, this Morn, the Truth is out. The Horse is Dead. Let’s bury it and move on.

TODAY SHOW JULY 23,2008
News and features

Migrant worker becomes brain surgeon
Shirley MacLaine reflects on her life
Christian the lion becomes YouTube hit
Simple summer fish: Wild striped bass
.Concert Series
Miley Cyrus ... not just for kids anymoreToday on
Stay sane this summer with Momtourage
Kate Moss’ domestic dispute
Madeleine McCann case officially closed
Gail Saltz on food and your mood
Discuss this morning’s show! Stories from Weekend TODAY
How to treat the 5 most common headaches
The fine print: 10 secrets your bank keeps
Watching companies rise in 54 hours
Slideshow: Weekend TODAY goes West
Reflecting on ruin and rebirth of New Orleans

Quiz: Think you know Miley?
Images: Miley Cyrus look-alikes


6 trips that’ll thrill your family, even your teen
Teen time: 7 tips for making their summer fun
What’s your perfect summer afternoon?
Miss Universe on modeling, plastic surgery
Got enough to retire? Find out!
Unplug! Wireless power is coming soon
Are you a Miley look-alike? Show us
Foodie alert! NC farm plants rare truffles
Vote: Which was Will Ferrell’s best character?
Tell TODAY about your ‘Big Idea’
Earth to Fido: The best eco-care for your pet
Try leafy greens and other ‘mood food’
Robert Downey Jr. postpones ‘candid’ memoir
Savor Sicilian skewered chicken
Rocket racing gets boost from fashion
The best free and cheap tech
Mario Batali’s sea scallops alla caprese
allDAY gets a virtual personal assistant
Images: Grocery store couture
New spy thriller: ‘Moscow Rules’

Re:By samosamo, July 22 at 8:40 pm #

Samo..

Thanks ever so much for this link to the al-Marri case. It’s another one of those very ‘timely’ events, since this case came up (along with dozens of others) in an event that I’ve just returned from..part of a lecture series that included the documentary film, “Taxi to the Dark Side” which is an absolute ‘must see’ for all US citizens. Alex Gibney (the creator of the film) was interviewed just a short while back here on truthdig, so it would be worth checking that out, if you haven’t already.

The film itself is so excellently done, because it puts the whole series of the crimes and the way that the laws have been manipulated to provide legal cover for the criminals, (focusing primarily on the torture, and rendition, but incorporates the spying and all of the rest.) in context with everything else. I can say with 100% confidence and recommendation, that this film (more than any other that I’ve seen in the past 5 years) puts it all together in a way that allows for the lay person to comprehend.

That’s saying a lot, because what has been done to systematically destroy the rule of law over the past 7 years is so complicated, (and so much has been done in secret) that it’s a full time effort for even those scholars and other experts who have invested extraordinary amounts of time in studying it.

This decision on al-Marri is the latest, and I’d not had time to read the entire thing. But, I was able to download the decision from the info clearing house link that you provided.

Now the Hamdan case is finally in motion as well, and that’s something that our eyes are glued to, since this is actually the first (after 7 years) of the so called High Value Targets captured in Afghanistan/Pakistan just after 9/11, in one of these questionable tribunals for Gitmo detainees. Hamdan is the driver for bin Laden, (just for anyone who hasn’t been following that) and of course the US is claiming that he was an active participant within the al-Qaeda organization, as well as the attacks of 9/11, despite his claim that he was hired for $200.00 a month, to drive OBL around.

The case that you’ve linked to, (a US citizen tagged as an unlawful enemy combatant) is not so different from the case of Jose Padilla, who was also a US citizen. He’s since been tortured out of his mind, just as KSM and others have been.

Well, I could go on, but I won’t. I only wish I’d had more notice to share the information on today’s event, for anyone near enough to attend. I couldn’t begin to reproduce the entire lecture from our expert here, (Dr. Lisa Hajjar) but I’ve asked her to send me the excellent powerpoint presentation that accompanied her talk, and it provides enough of a guide that I could at least answer questions from that.

So, if you’re interested, I’ll find a way to make it available on my own site, and can then post a link to that here. And, for anyone who can manage the cost of the documentary film, (I know times are really hard) it’s definitely worth the price.

Just as an aside, the film includes the work of two superb professional investigative journalists. Yes…they are indeed SUPERB, in every sense of the meaning of investigative journalists. Carlotta Gull and Tim Golden. Both are in the documentary, and I’m sure their work can also be accessed on line. I should add, (no doubt to the dismay of many of the ‘lumpers’ here…lump everyone in a category by association) that they were both NYT reporters at the time of their work.

We have seen the terrorist, and he is us.

We did not defeat fascism and nazism, we became fascists and nazis.

The greatest lie we gave the world is the claim we are a democracy.

There is no oil shortage.

The FBI and the CIA and the NSA may well have known the 911 attacks were being planned.

We have no free press.  The press is chained to profits.

Anderson Cooper, Mike Wallace, Leslie Stahl, and the rest are NOT journalists nor are they reporters.  They are paid hacks, who only parrot the propaganda of thier puppet masters.

George Bush is not 6 feet tall.

Bush senior is a criminal.

Dick Cheney is a dick.

Bill Moyers is one of a few real journalists and reporter left in the traditional medias.

I can’t find a better place to bring this to more people’s attention so here it is, I would hope it shows up here as Truthdig but who knows:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20336.htm

This is a link to an article on ICHs site. It is really bothersome considering the legislation that has been passed lately, almost as if there is a race to get these laws passed and judicial pronouncements done before the end of the year. Something is up and it doesn’t sound good at all. Not 1 single supposed terrorist is worth this kind of attack on our Bill of Rights.

Yeah ocjim (orange county?) We can do no wrong.  We’re number one!  We’re the greatest country on the Earth.  My president can beat your dictator.  Fair & balanced.  Blah, blah, blah… Sooner or later people actually start to believe that propaganda stuff. 

How did W put it? “See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

How did his Granddad’s Nazi brethren put it?  “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” - Joseph Goebbels, Hiter’s Nazi Propaganda Minister.

And the a#1 big lie that most people believe fervently is - The dollar is actually worth something. 

There are some profound beliefs about America that are about to change on a mass scale.  Good Luck out there, because it won’t be too long before nobody is gonna give a gnat’s ass about the survival of newspapers…

My guess is that Americans can’t conceive of any scenario that involves our decline. We are the mavericks, the “Rockys” of history. Sometimes we are down but never out. This might even warrant the fantasy of a McSame on our political front.

We actually believe the propaganda we are fed by agenda-bound politicians, pontificating CEOs, and the well-paid lobbyists/courtiers/pimps representing these vested interests.

The Fourth Estate—for all practical purposes—is gone. Perhaps the term no longer has a meaning in today’s corporate America. It is a term which has always referred to the press, both in its explicit capacity of advocacy for the people and in its implicit ability to frame political issues.

Clearly its advocacy is for corporations, and its frame or intent is one of plutocratic rule, disburser of agenda-based information, and supplier of entertainment.

We don’t want to believe we are in decline. We think that some new technology will rescue us, that affluence will continue, that we will continue to be the best without sacrifice, without working for it.

George W. Bush has been the epitome of entitlement of not being accountable, of succeeding without any talents, or with little knowledge.

That has been his real appeal. We dream of his affluence, his lack of concern for others, his entitlement, his lack of accountability, his frat-boy personna.

He is the perfect example of a no-account having it all.

So there are no calls from both the left and the right to limit access on the internet to content?

There are calls each day from a variety of people and organizations to hold ISPs and Web hosting providers accountable for traffic running through their networks, and for content on websites they host.  This is a form of access limitation - when we threaten service providers with legal sanctions for actions thier customers undertake independant from the service provider - we are asking private organizations to censor content on behalf of the state through what is essentially an non-judicial process.

I go so far to suggest that ISPs and Web Hosters should have to accept all those who wish to use thier service (subject of course to network management concerns).  They should only be able to close down websites, and deny access to users who have been found guilty in court of engaging in illegal activity online.  We should not be asking service providers to be police.

The service providers should infact be forbidden from looking at the content of the traffic or websites.  The courts should be deciding what is legal and what is illegal content, not private individuals or corporations who are threatened with legal sanctions if one of thier users might be doing something illegal.

Well said Webbedouin!
(And to think we’ve never invaded a country with a McDonalds. Let’s hope we keep “Big Mac Attacks” about burgers and not battalions.)

There is no such thing as a “liberal media.” Never has been.  There is the commercial media made up, with rare exceptions, of stenographers who “think” when they parrot official sources that what they are doing is journalism.  And there is the alternative, non-commercial media, such as can be found at Democracy Now! which are not afraid to speak truth to power.

As Bill Moyers astutely noted, the quickest way to be denounced by the American right as possessing a “liberal bias” is to reveal the truth about what those in power are actually doing to the rest of us.

Cyrena and Felicity, Here, Here!

Liberal control of the media?  There’s a joke. 

What Raygun did was end the fairness, allow corporate control of the media to grow and develope and take a meaningful role in your developement. He removed the idea that the airwaves should be used in the public interest, relaxed station renewal mandates based upon acting in the public interest, privatized the use airwaves, increased advertising time, as well as, advertising volume.  (Of course, Raygun just slept through these changes and a Bush family member was involved)

In any event, he killed fairness, brought on the rise of right wing broadcasting and the demise of a media that was supposed to act in the public interest.  I suppose that operating in the public interest over airwaves supposedly owned by the public constitutes liberal control of the media.  Hell, PBS is pretty damned right winged these days.

What Raygun actually did was usher in the day where large corporations could use the airwaves toward their own interests.  And you can see the results quite clearly today.  All right winged, all the time with no checks & balances.  Omissions, lies & distortions rule broadcasting.

So you have companies that profiteer on war telling you how important it is to attack Iraq, attack Iran, attack Afghanistan, attack Pakistan.  All to bring democracy to these poor countries.  Unfortunately, when Bush says democracy and freedom, he is really saying that American corporations should be able to enjoy the democracy of a “free” market in countries that otherwise would reject corporate interference.  GE is making way more money of Iraq than they ever could off of NBC.

The US has never gone to war against a country that had a McDonalds…

But the thing that really cracks me up is when some dim wit right winger calls The New York Times a “librel” newspaper.  It is obvious that 1> they’ve never read the Times and 2> are only parroting something they have been told by some right winged media pundit who would not even have been able to make that assertion without equal time counterbalance before Raygun.

By cyrena, July 22 at 10:55 am #

Anything to do with the media and fuck face reagan needs to include the killing of the fairness doctrine. A few months ago, and I know I have commented this here, I wrote to one of my senators(a goddamn conservative) about breaking up the monopolies and restoring the fairness doctrine. His answer was to totally ignore the media monopoly question and for the fairness doctrine he ‘respectfully disagreed as it would interfere with the revenue of a company.
OK! Now tell me how the other side of issues will ever be discussed in public when the goddamn nazi conservatives controling the gateway of information are not going to let the fairness doctrine come back? They stole this from us and I can’t think of too many more issues that are as important and definitely none more important.
The people like Scott Ritter, Ambassador Joe Wilson, even Scott McCellen are some of the ‘shinning points of light’ that that criminal old man bush tried to splash in everbodies face for some ideological reason but I guess he never thought that would actually come back in his face to expose shit that he is up to his eyeballs in, I HOPE HE DIES SOON!
So these people that are coming out talking about the realities of what the ‘elites’ in this country are conspiring to do really need a venue to be seen and heard from and that was taken away by ‘brain dead reagan’, much to the delight of the msm, during his term and HE is the one responsible for the conservative thought being the only thing we see, unless one looks for it on PBS or the internet which may be going away in a couple of years. Read an article on InfoClearHouse where the Canadians are about to become the test group for the ISPs to institute their ability to control and charge everyone for access to the internet. It’s coming and everybody really needs to be ready to combat this or start combating this NOW because of the treasonous answer I got from my senator, ‘this is about revenue’, but it is also about getting rid of all the obnoxious people that continually hound these crooks about their criminal deeds.
Here is the link:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20330.htm

Re:hyphenated-american

• “Technical revolution as well as Reagan’s ending of the government censorship of TV and radio led to an explosion of new media - from talk radio to internet to cable news. Obviously, liberals started losing their monopoly control, the time of 3 major TV stations and a few liberal newspapers came to an end.”
•
Quite a paradox here. Ending of the government censorship????

The time of 3 major TV stations and a few liberal newspapers coming to an end? Oh my. I’d say that regan’s ending of government censorship was actually the handing of the 4th estate over to the Corps. And, in an oligarchy or fascist state, the corps ARE the government. THAT”S government censorship hypen! These few major monopolies control what you read/see/hear, and more importantly, WHAT YOU DON’T.

As for the 3 major TV stations coming to an end..that’s a not so funny ‘ha ha’ as well. There is only ONE major TV station available in my area, UNLESS one pays for cable…$72.00 a month. That is for BASIC ‘cable’ which allows access to those former ‘3 major TV stations, and all the rest of the shit the Corps program for brainwashing and advertising purposes”. Without that $72.00 a month, I could access ONLY ABC, which I don’t watch either.

So, ya wanna tell us who is actually ‘controlling’/censoring the public broadcasting airwaves that the PUBLIC is supposed to control?

Well, Archeon already explained this extremely well, because the Internet is the best salvation from this, which is why there are so many underhanded attacks against it, currently underway…

• “Contrary to what the former keepers of knowledge in government, corporation, and education institution would have us believe, this information free for all is forcing the masses to be proactive in deciding what is fact and what is fiction.  That the masses might actually “think” on what they read/hear/see is what really scares those now controlling access to liberty and individual prosperity…”

The government and the corporations are one and the same. The educational institutions certainly fall under the same umbrella as well, though that is one place that can often be manipulated from within the structure of itself, to INVERT that corporate/gov control.

The Internet is the only other way to defeat the fascist system of state controlled propaganda and at the same time force the masses to think for themselves.

Dr. Knowitall, ‘decline’ does seem to describe the present