LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. Winner 2013 Webby Awards for Best Political Website
May 25, 2013

 Choose a size
Text Size

Trending:     chris hedges     economy     elizabeth warren     politics     robert scheer
Most Read

Three Questions Left Unanswered by Obama’s Counterterrorism Speech

How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour

Marching in Chicago: Resisting Rahm Emanuel’s Neoliberal Savagery

Colbert Slams PBS for Appeasing Koch Brothers

Corporate Tax Cheats by the Numbers

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
 * NEW! * A Cooler Century? Wait and See
New York City’s Summers May Heat Up

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
A Call to Action
Act of Congress

Digs

Truthdig Bazaar
The Tyranny of Dead Ideas

The Tyranny of Dead Ideas

By Matt Miller
$16.50

The Road

The Road

By Cormac McCarthy

more items

 
Reports

Amy Goodman on ‘Standing Up to the Madness’

Email this item Email    Print this item Print    Share this item... Share

Posted on Mar 31, 2009
roamagency.com

The “Democracy Now!” host talks about her book, the state of activism and why “the media are the most powerful corporations on Earth—more powerful than any bomb, more powerful than any missile.”

Subscribe to Truthdig Podcasts

Subscribe directly:
iTunes

If you don't have iTunes,
copy this address:


Visit the Podcast Archives

Advertisement


New and Improved Comments

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.

By christian96, April 6, 2009 at 11:09 am Link to this comment

Well, I’m going to try this for the 3rd time:  What
is a “left gatekeeper?”  Are there “Right gatekeepers?”  Are there just “gatekeepers?”  What
“gate” are they keeping?  Did they ask to keep it
or just steal it?”  Dwight, do me a favor please!
After I first ask the question previously, you posted
several lengthy comments before someone could answer
my questions?  Then, I ask the questions a second
time and you immediately followed my questions with
several lengthy comments before someone could answer
my questions.  PLEASE TAKE A BREAK!  Drive out to the
mall and check out the scenery!  THANKS!

Report this

By christian96, April 6, 2009 at 3:31 am Link to this comment

I am going to try this again——What is a “left gate
keeper?”  Are there “right gate keepers?”  Are there
only “gate keepers?”  If so, what “gate” are they
keeping?  Did they ask to keep it or did they just
steal it?

Report this

By christian96, April 5, 2009 at 6:45 pm Link to this comment

What is a “left-gatekeeper?”  Are there “right-gate
keepers?”  Are there just “gatekeepers?”  If so,
what GATE are they keeping?  Did they get permission
to KEEP it or did they just steal it?

Report this

By Folktruther, April 5, 2009 at 4:16 pm Link to this comment

Good comment, Blogodg, on 9/11 and the left gatekeepers that attack the 9/11 truthers.  There is a new article on global exchange by a group of scientists who found evidence of an explosive substance on the grounds of the towers.  A big step forward in dispelling the authorized fog around 9/11.

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, April 3, 2009 at 10:44 am Link to this comment

Surprising it took so long for the “tin foil hat” dismissal to come forth - usually it’s heard early on - in some way not unlike the POTUS, who within weeks of Sept. 11, 2001 announced: “...outrageous conspiracy theories…” will not be tolerated. To be clear, the “official” conspiracy theory is perhaps the most outrageous of all, staring, for pure incredulity, the super-pilot hijackers, (i.e. patsies, whose flight schooling was essential to their “legends”).

Jetliner Aerobatics by Flight School Dropout Who Never Flew a Jet

None of the hijackers were good pilots. None had ever flown jets, let alone large commercial jetliners. Hani Hanjour, the person accused of flying Flight 77 into the Pentagon, was failing his courses at the Arizona flight school. According to an employee, “He didn’t care about the fact that he couldn’t get through the course.”  Rick Garza, a flight instructor at Sorbi’s Flying Club, had this to say about the two alleged hijackers originally thought to have piloted Flight 77, Khalid al-Mihdar and Nawaq al-Hamzi: “It was like Dumb and Dumber, I mean, they were clueless. It was clear they were never going to make it as pilots.”

In the second week of August 2001, Hanjour had attempted to rent a small plane from an airport in Bowie, MD. Flight instructors Sheri Baxter and Ben Conner declined his request, after taking Hanjour on three test runs, noting he had trouble controlling and landing the Cessna 172. Though Hanjour had attended a flight school in Scottsdale, AZ, for four months in 1996 and 1997, he never completed the coursework for a single-engine aircraft license.

It is doubtful that the best trained fighter pilots could have executed the maneuver that supposedly crashed a 757 into the Pentagon. It required making a tight 320-degree turn while descending seven thousand feet, then leveling out so as to fly low enough over the highway just west of the Pentagon to knock down lamp posts. After crossing the highway the pilot had to take the plane to within inches of the ground so as to crash into the Pentagon at the first-floor level and at such a shallow angle that an engine penetrated three rings of the building, while managing to avoid touching the lawn. And he had to do all of this while flying over 400 mph. Quite a feat for a flight school flunky who had never sat in the cockpit of a jet!

http://911research.wtc7.net/disinfo/deceptions/badpilots.html

Anything on Democracy Now about this? Didn’t think so. As for that tin foil hat, best keep it for yourself, Leefeller.

Report this
Leefeller's avatar

By Leefeller, April 3, 2009 at 6:28 am Link to this comment

Indoctrination of peoples minds, can be a full time job, the mass media does it one way, religion another and the tin foil hat crowd by shouting, and stamping their feet with repetitious nonsense, anytime they can get a soap box. 

Even if the media, religion and the Tin Foil Hat crowd offered an ounce of reality, creditability forced fed osmosis style offers nothing to consider or discuss with reason. For them acceptance or to aqueous from others is the only option.  Empty vassals use freedom of choice only to fill a void, the need to belong to one cause or another.  Tin foil hat crowd is no different then the other two, just their way of recruitment. 

Select your madness, there is plenty to choose from.

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, April 3, 2009 at 12:30 am Link to this comment

Arch Left Gatekeeper - http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060925/cockburn - Alexander Cockburn wrote in Beat the devil, The 9/11 Conspiracy Nuts -  September 25, 2006 edition of The Nation.

You trip over one fundamental idiocy of the 9/11 conspiracy nuts in the first paragraph of the book by one of their high priests, David Ray Griffin, The New Pearl Harbor. “In many respects,” Griffin writes, “the strongest evidence provided by critics of the official account involves the events of 9/11 itself…. In light of standard procedures for dealing with hijacked airplanes…not one of these planes should have reached its target, let alone all three of them.”

The operative word here is “should.” One central characteristic of the nuts is that they have a devout, albeit preposterous, belief in American efficiency, and hence many of them start with the racist premise that “Arabs in caves” weren’t capable of the mission. They believe that military systems work the way Pentagon press flacks and aerospace salesmen say they should work. They believe that at 8:14 am, when AA Flight 11 switched off its radio and transponder, an FAA flight controller should have called the National Military Command center and NORAD. They believe, citing reverently (this from high priest Griffin) “the US Air Force’s own website,” that an F-15 could have intercepted AA Flight 11 “by 8:24, and certainly no later than 8:30.”

===========

Left Gatekeepr Cockburn, while referring to Dr. Griffin as a “high priest” (not once, but once in both opening paragrapes of this article), in effect, proposes that on 9/11/01 typical human incompetence dealt a hand wherein a dialysis cripple in a cave in Afghanistan outfoxed the world’s most sophisticated military defense force - no incompetence on the side of the terrorists.

Moreover, OBL’s genius for asymetric warfare allowed him to achieve this with a laptop and a rag tag gang with box cutters, who by the way, could not fly jet liners like fighter pilots, regardless where they’re from, and to even cite this is “racist” - Cockburn cannot resist playing the PC card. 

And, he ignores completely the fact that the op. was being tracked in advance by intelligence networks around the world, including the FBI, as confirmed in numerous reports, Plus, their were roughly two dozen US military drills in progress when it happened.

Cockburn knows better. He knows the elements of a classic false flag black op., conduited through military drills, employing patsies with legends, moles to keep them in play, professional executioners who slip away in the shadows while the patsies take the fall and a detailed, pre-scripted, media psy-op (e.g. the BBC report of the Solomon Brothers Building (WTC7) collapsing 30 min. before it actually did).

What he’s protecting is most likely his lecture tours and book deals. Alexander Cockburn is a classic chicken shit Left Gatekeeper.

Report this

By Paracelsus, April 2, 2009 at 10:18 pm Link to this comment

Here is a good news investigation. Amy are you listening?


http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/11191/The_Future_of_America_Part_5/

Mike Wallace brought us to the edge of WWIII. For this he won an Emmy. Ahmindinijad was misrepresented. In other words, Mike Wallace lied. A DN intern could have pointed this out. Instead we get a pornography of poverty, and war from DN that does little to prosecute the evil in the system. The founding putrescent principles of the world system are never exposed. With Amy we only see the minions, and the latest birdcage liner to be scrapped. We never see the hands on the transoms of the puppets. Such is the case with liberal establishment journalism.

I will not trade recipes on quiche. Remember Outraged, adults are talking.

Report this

By christian96, April 2, 2009 at 10:16 pm Link to this comment

Outraged—-Thanks for the chili receipe.  I love chili.  I am relatively new to computers and don’t
know how to print only one page but there aren’t many
posts so I’ll just print them all to get the receipe.

Blogdog—-What is a “Left Gatekeeper?”

FOR WHOEVER CARES:  The way I see things developing
we need to be concerned about the following:

(1)  An electromagnetic bomb which will knock out anything associated with electricity.

(2)  A plague which will probably come about because our transportation advances.

(3) Asteroids.  The Bible mentions more than once
about “stars falling from Heaven” producing great
tribulation.  Chicken little was right.

(4) Continued erratic weather patterns.  I just bought a condo near the Atlantic Ocean.  Should have known better.  Here come the HURRICANES and I’m not talking about the football team.

(5) Earthquakes.  Look out HOLLYWOOD.  You wouldn’t
listen.  You keep right on corrupting minds throughout the world, especially those of children.

(6) Nuclear war.  There hasn’t been a weapon developed yet that hasn’t been used.  Could be accidental or intentional.  It doesn’t matter.  It
will bring about great tribulation such as never been seen on earth.

(7)  Last but not least, THE MARK OF THE BEAST. The
foundation is being laid presently in the meetings
in Europe.  A one world government with a one world
economy.  All currency will be done away with.  You
will receive some sort of MARK to buy or sell.  Don’t
take it. You will be cast into a lake of fire, perhaps the nuclear war mentioned previously.

Well, after those happy comments, please excuse me.  I am going to bed.  Tomorrow, I will try the chili receipe kindly offered by Outraged.

Report this

By Sodium, April 2, 2009 at 10:01 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

William Shakespeare onc said:

“NO LEGACY IS SO RICH AS HONESTY”.

The honesty of Amy Goodman is a pure distillate from a crudely corrupt and bankrupt main stream media. That is so because it is so obvious to me that she is honest with herself and with her readers.That is good enough for me,even if she overlooks important issues once in a while. Honesty is the key to unlock the unlockable doors,with a touch of human dignity.

HER HONESTY IS HER RICHNESS,AS WELL AS HER POWER TO UNLOCK THE UNLOCKABLES.

Report this
Outraged's avatar

By Outraged, April 2, 2009 at 9:33 pm Link to this comment

Alright.  I think everyone needs to chill a bit, regroup and renourish.

I found this recipe the other day.  I cooked it up.  It was good. (a little less italian seasoning, I say, but otherwise, really good.)  Easy to make too, that’s always a plus…. you know what I mean.

From allrecipes.com, check it out:

Lentil Quiche (submitted by wonder79)

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup dried lentils
2 cups water
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Place the onion and olive oil into a 9 inch deep-dish pie plate. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until onion is tender.

2. Place the lentils and water into a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Drain most of the water off, then place the broccoli florets on top of the lentils. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes. This will dry the lentils, and cook the broccoli.

3. Transfer the lentils, broccoli and tomatoes to the pie plate with the onions, and stir to evenly distribute each item. Stir in cheese at this time if using. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Pour over the ingredients in the pie plate.

4. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the center is firm when the quiche is jiggled. Cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lentil-Quiche/Detail.aspx

Works for breakfast, lunch or supper.  In the words of Rachel Ray (my 10 yr. old son’s “person of signifigance”), “How cool is that?”

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, April 2, 2009 at 5:08 pm Link to this comment

RE: “Terrorism’ is a dumb-fuck way of diverting attention from real threats.

Agreed, but it works! A carpet of bombs is an unimaginable form of terrorism. And, if you’ve got a media psy-op ready to roll, literally any old off-the-shelf, false-flag, black-op provocation can serve to trigger enough indignant justification to confidently launch a reign of terror on an unsuspecting population - the grotesque distortion of geopolitics by black-op/psy-op false flag provocations should certainly be covered by DN.

The pathetically impotent Kasam rockets are a good example of exactly how it works - here’s a pretty extensive report of the sort of black-ops that led up to the launch on Gaza.

http://us.altermedia.info/yet-another-israeli-false-flag-terror-attack-yemen-bombing

Yet another Israeli false flag terror attack - Yemen bombing

Dubai, Oct 8 (IANS) A terrorist cell busted in Yemen last month after a suicide attack on the US embassy there had links with an Israeli intelligence agency, the state-run Saba news agency reported.The report, quoting an unnamed source, said investigations and data retrieved from a computer seized from the cell, showed there was correspondence between the Islamic Jihad group’s deputy leader Bassam Abdullah Fadhel Al-Haidari and an Israeli intelligence agency. Saba quoted the source as saying that the correspondence between the two sides included a request from the Israeli side to implement terrorist attacks inside Yemen.

Wed, 2008-10-08

Remember the attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen last month that took the lives of eighteen people? A group calling themselves “Islamic Jihad” claimed responsibility for the blast. It has a nice, scary ring to it hasn’t it? “Islamic Jihad” also happens to be the name of a group that operates out of Gaza.

“Islamic Jihad” pointedly mentioned its affiliation with al Qaeda after claiming responsibility for the September 17 U.S. embassy bombing:

“We, the Organisation of Islamic Jihad, belonging to the Al-Qaeda network, repeat our demand of (Yemeni President) Ali Abdullah Saleh to free our detained brothers within 48 hours,” said a statement signed by self-proclaimed leader Abu Ghaith al-Yamani.

Former agent for French military intelligence Pierre-Henry Bunel has this to say about ‘al Qaeda’:

“The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the ‘devil’ only in order to drive the ‘TV watcher’ to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism…”

Well now the Yemeni authorities have arrested a group of these al Qaeda-backed militants with, surprise surprise, links to Israeli intelligence.

From BBC News:

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the security forces have arrested a group of alleged Islamist militants linked to Israeli intelligence.

Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group’s links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen.

The arrests were connected with an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last month which killed at least 18 people, official sources were quoted saying.

Israel’s foreign ministry has rejected the accusation as “totally ridiculous”.

“A terrorist cell was arrested and will be referred to the judicial authorities for its links with the Israeli intelligence services,” Mr Saleh told a gathering at al-Mukalla University in Hadramawt province.

“Details of the trial will be announced later. You will hear about what goes on in the proceedings,” he added.

The 17 September attack was the second to target the US embassy since April. Militants detonated car bombs before firing rockets at the heavily fortified building.

Report this

By George, April 2, 2009 at 2:20 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Actually, the missiles and bombs ARE the threat. These mass-produced devices reflect not only a bully mentality, they are the base of a massive export industry and, creepily, a reflection of the mentality of the countries involved.“Terrorism’ is a dumb-fuck way of diverting attention from real threats.

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, April 2, 2009 at 11:34 am Link to this comment

RE:  Leefeller, April 2 at 1:39 pm # ...If you see the light…

Looking for a Messiah? Worship at will. These critiques are informed by sources beyond foundation-sanctioned Left Gatekeepers.

Dismissing the 9/11 Coup and the Global War Of Terror as “pet peeves” dismisses equally the enormity of their tragedy. Shame on anyone who trivializes these issues.

As I quipped below, the modest proposal, fitting for out time is not that the we (the losers) eat our children, but rather that we eat our selves - as the sanctioned insanity is, in every way, nothing less than suicidal. Moreover, it is a mass insanity, subtly enabled by Left Gatekeepers like Amy Goodman.

Report this

By Paracelsus, April 2, 2009 at 11:17 am Link to this comment

@ Leefeller

“If you see the light, great, find people who give a damn.  Enough is not being said about everything important in the minds morons.”

You do enjoy trivializing, yet you do not see the walls of the sandbox you were born into.

As to the Trans Texas Corridor 100’s of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land had been in jeopardy of condemnation for this toll road boondoggle. Scores of rural communities were in danger of being cutoff from the transportation grid, thereby creating ghost towns. County and local governments were being bribed by developers and toll roaders to make way for the TTC. There was massive corruption. This was an issue that involved farmers and rural communities. All this carnage was going on while Amy slept. http://www.corridorwatch.org/ttc/index.htm

The rights of agrarian communities was something that liberal/progressive causes at one time championed. Where were they? Where was the Nation? Where was Mathew Rothschild of progressive magazine. They were sucking at the teat of foundations funded by finance oligarchs. I remember one elitist saying that farming was too important to be left to farmers. Is it any wonder the heartland has such a sour opinion of the bicoastal left? Go ahead Leefeller; trivialize this. Show the world your disdain, and contempt!

Report this
Leefeller's avatar

By Leefeller, April 2, 2009 at 10:39 am Link to this comment

If one criticizes Amy Goodman for what she is not reporting or discussing means we have to hear more on conspiracys and other crap, now we have deep throat of not the news. If their are these hot scoops to be told, why, isn’t someone jumping on them? 

Most everyone here knows the media is contrived and controlled. So here we are re inventing the wheel with special interests and blaming Amy for not jumping on these so called hot stories? Evangelize your self, attempting to get someone to do it for you seems demented Especially when complaining about it.

If you see the light, great, find people who give a damn.  Enough is not being said about everything important in the minds morons.

Report this

By Paracelsus, April 2, 2009 at 10:03 am Link to this comment

I think the controlled left needs to be so discredited that a genuine left can form and grow in its place. As long as fake heroes are followed then the masses of people will fall victim to many poisonous theologies. Indeed it might not even be a paradigm of left v. right but one where people will be forced to think how they want to live for the very first time. Please watch the following video:

http://tinyurl.com/dybn3e

I do not think there is any liberal/progressive magazine that would want to touch this story. Until it is looked at we run the risk through ignorance of falling into such a system, especially in a time of economic collapse.

Report this

By untilOfficiallyDenied, April 2, 2009 at 8:01 am Link to this comment

She also knows the tolerable limits of what she does… knows that among the various factions within the New World Oligarchy there are some who can and will do anything… literally anything.

I think that says it all, doesn’t it. Amy does cover topics one won’t hear on “regular” media. At the same time she “seems” to know what not to touch. Also her international coverage seems little “Americanized” sometimes, in my opinion.

I used to listen to her, now occasionally and do keep in mind when do, what is being “not said, not challenged and goes unchallenged”. One can find same level of information and facts in todays world, the only thing is its not available as easily as turn on a switch or button. Not only that, one might have to use their own judgment and scrutiny.

I believe in quote “Never believe anything until it’s officially denied” as far the major media goes.

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, April 2, 2009 at 4:50 am Link to this comment

RE: Santa Clause had a steamy affair with the Tooth Fairy in the back of his sleigh while delivering top secret memos to the CIA, were was Amy on that one?

A: Getting turned down after pitching it to the Jerry Springer show, right where Leefeller came from!

Report this
Leefeller's avatar

By Leefeller, April 2, 2009 at 4:34 am Link to this comment

“It isn’t what she says. It’s what she doesn’t say”

So, Amy Goodman is the Ashiest of commentary?

If you really try to comprehend the quote above it’s very profound ridiculousness means what?  Amy Goodman is a non (sayer), on top of what she isn’t saying?  This, means if Amy Goodman does not say what some believe she should be saying then she is not saying what they want her to say, so “it’s what she doesn’t say”. 

Amy, has never mentioned or said anything about the UFO’s coming from the back side of the moon,  the real reason why we have Republicans.  How about the little known fact that Santa Clause had a steamy affair with the Tooth Fairy in the back of his sleigh while delivering top secret memos to the CIA, were was Amy on that one? 

Yes, “It’s what she doesn’t say”

How about this, Amy talks about many things, but not my personal selection of most importent,ist stuff, stuff she should really be taking about, not the stuff she is talking about. Yeah, Amy should have a direct line to my stuff, that’s it!

Report this

By Paracelsus, April 2, 2009 at 3:39 am Link to this comment

Where was was she during the fight against the Trans Texas Corridor? Did she have anything to say about the North American Union? Did she interview anybody from Kansas about the customs station that was about to be built there? Why hasn’t she said anything about Cintra, the Spanish toll road company? Was there any news about Austin, Texas being turned into toll road hell? All this happen all through the Bush administration. Where was Amy?

Report this

By Paracelsus, April 2, 2009 at 3:14 am Link to this comment

I wonder why Amy Goodman hasn’t reported on James Jones, the NSA, saying that he gets his daily orders from Kissinger. Why doesn’t she comment on how many administrations seem to have free trade advocates with CFR pedigrees? She’ll complain about free trade but she won’t report on the think tank network that supports it. She really doesn’t have street cred.

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, April 2, 2009 at 12:57 am Link to this comment

Sorry Outraged the only thing ironic is your getting it completely wrong. It isn’t what she says. It’s what she doesn’t say, or more specifically doesn’t do. e.g. interviewing deeply researched experts on the Global War Of Terror.

Ok, forget Webster Tarpley. He’s the best, but would probably get her fired. So why not Nafeez Ahmed? And, not for a debate. Again Ritter doesn’t come on to debate! Hirsch doesn’t come on to debate! Bring him on for an interview, for his analysis (for example) on the current push to expand the Global War Of Terror into Pakistan - http://nafeez.blogspot.com/2006/09/pakistan-and-terror-nexus.html

Again, she knows the bleeding score! And if she doesn’t start taking it to the heart of the matter, her street cred as a serious champion of social justice will not be redeemed.

Report this
Outraged's avatar

By Outraged, April 1, 2009 at 11:53 pm Link to this comment

Great podcast.

Gee… don’t ya love it Amy when all the unregistered commenters slither out from underneath their rocks.

It means you must’ve said something worth noting.  And here they all are…... honoring you, ironic isn’t it?

Report this

By eileen fleming, April 1, 2009 at 2:16 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Hi Amy

Remember April 2007 when we had lunch and I filled you in that your 2004 interview with Mordechai Vanunu was major testimony against him in his FREEDOM OF SPEECH Trial in Israel?

His Supreme Court Appeal fighting 3 months more in jail for talking to you in 2004 is TBA.

The 5th year of restrictions that DENY Vanunu the RIGHT to speak to non-Israelis expires April 21, 2009.


2005, 2006, 2008 video with Vanunu and reports from day one of FREEDOM of SPEECH trial in the ‘democracy’ of Israel remain freely streaming @ VANUNU ARCHIVES: http://www.wearewideawake.org


Because:

“I strongly believe that media can be a force for peace. It is the responsibility of journalists to give voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken and beaten down by the powerful. It is the best reason I know to carry our pens, cameras and microphones out into the world. The media should be a sanctuary for dissent. It is our job to go to where the silence is.” -Amy Goodman

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, April 1, 2009 at 11:33 am Link to this comment

RE: Amy Goodman for a few years now and she is the real deal.

Amy got her Left-liberal, reportage ticket punched for life in the East Timor riot where she was nearly killed and Allen Narin was seriously wounded. She knows Kissinger/Ford Admin. operatives approved and aided in that genocide. She knows how the black-ops work. She knows how the psy-ops work. She also knows the tolerable limits of what she does… knows that if she does not play at least a marginal role in maintaining the 9/11 psy-op cover up, she knows some of that gov-issued, weapons-grad anthrax is still out there, just like all of Congress knows… knows that among the various factions within the New World Oligarchy there are some who can and will do anything… literally anything. If you go up against those guys, you can’t be the kind of liberal who leaves the room when a fight breaks out… you can’t even be the guy who brings a knife to a gun fight.

Better suggestion: just accept the fall of the empire - give it up for real - stop faking it - show up en mass (thousands upon thousands, nation wide) at every FBI office, everyone confessing to thoughts of violent revolution against the puppets of the New World Oligarchy and demanding to be arrested before you loose control and actually do it - prison for all - http://www.thefall01.info/

Report this

By cvd, April 1, 2009 at 11:05 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

why amy jeremy michael moore and other good souls are irrelvant:
preaching to the converted the choir and the founders of the church
personal aggrandizement and personal promotion which is indistinguishable from their personal-and by extensio-our enlightenment
identifying with politics is identity politics which is inherently reactionary; but for goodman identity is political - an even more reactionary sentiment -
actually she’s terrible
she sounds like she never prepares her show - and she probably doesn’t
in the end (and any discussion about means and ends is foolhardy when dealing with violence)the result is what people judge you on -
poltics is about what you do;not what you think feel or discuss -
goodman doesn’t say anything at anytime that is not about her and her work - the combination of this self promoting- war tourist-attitude toward the world
with the truly serious situation of humanity today -yes, amy,in the grips of the media - is not served by good souls except when they are an exception to themselves - think about it folks

Report this

By D.H. Fabian, April 1, 2009 at 8:46 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Well, yes, media “guides” the public discussion. It lets us know what is important, what’s not, and what we should think about it.  Progressive news media is only marginally better.

Consider the difference between the mass media of the late-‘60s and early ‘70s and what we have today. The media once covered such things as large public protests, until conservatives decided that what caused such protests was a craving for publicity, not legitimate grievances that were otherwise ignored.  News reporters often covered both sides of the story, not just news from the corporate perspective.  There are areas of tremendous differences in covering the news before and after Reagan. Consider US poverty.  In the past, media would actually research the issue, reports the stats, and include the perspective of the poor. Progressive media recognized how and why economic disparities are maintained, how policies that impact one segment of the population actually impacts all of us, and had a concept of social justice when it comes to the poor.  Today, media reports on poverty only in terms of it being a “nuisance” to regular people(i.e., panhandling, Hoovervilles, the cost of taking state custody of the children of the poor for “failure to adequately provide”, etc.), ignoring the social/human costs of these policies. Progressive media has largely ignored everyone below the comparatively-more-fortunate working poor. Thus, real US poverty has slipped below public awareness, much less concern. It’s of no concern because for the past few decades, media has consistently indicated that people are poor only because they choose to be poor, because they are lazy and morally corrupt, etc.  Today, the general public accepts this without even thinking about it, so there are no calls to bail out the impoverished. We no longer see the connection between poverty and the mass outsourcing (at taxpayer expense) of our industrial jobs , or an unaffordable health care system. We don’t see any of this because the media no longer reports it, at the least indicating that it’s not an issue worth thinking about.

Report this

By Grubstaker, April 1, 2009 at 6:43 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I have followed Amy Goodman for a few years now and she is the real deal.  She might not have covered Bilderberg but she was reporting on the front lines in East Timor in 1992 and nearly lost her life for it.  It is fine to be critical but it is not helpful to just criticize without offering an alternative or recommendations for good journalism.  I have yet to find consistently high level journalism the likes of DN to date.  Goodman was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for because she earned it.  If you have better recommendations I would appreciate knowing about them so we all learn and can make more informed decisions which hopefully benefits society.  Glenn Greenwald at salon.com is someone else I read regularly.

Report this

By Paracelsus, April 1, 2009 at 2:27 am Link to this comment

@ Russian Paul

Amy claims DN is an independent and alternative news source that is a lone voice in corporate media. It is that claim that pushes my attack. I have heard precious little on the Federal Reserve as a corrupt organization from DN. It is not something that is prominent in the DN search engine. Again I have never heard of DN sending a crew of investigative reporters to catch the overheard tidbits from the Chantilly, VA Bilderberg meeting. Even European media does a better job of Bilderberg coverage than Goodman ever has. I wouldn’t tear down Amy’s efforts if she did not act as if she was the lone voice in the wilderness. She makes a heady boast.

Report this

By christian96, April 1, 2009 at 12:57 am Link to this comment

I just listened to Amy’s discussion on Truthdig.
She has many good ideas.  The challenge is how to
actualize the ideas.  How do you get people involved
with movies, ball games, their clothes and looks,
to become involved in understanding the madness let
along standing up to it?  You have to somehow relate
the madness to their everyday lives.  Since all people are required to attend public school, perhaps
that should be the vehicle for educating people and
getting them to stand up.  That would take a grass
roots level of people who understand the madness to
put pressure on their local school boards to include
a course(s) on understanding the madness and means
for standing up to it.

Report this

By christian96, April 1, 2009 at 12:14 am Link to this comment

Leefeller——You are ignorant, drunk, stoned, or
all the above.  Any intelligent person would hang
up on you.

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, March 31, 2009 at 11:08 pm Link to this comment

RE: you will not hear any discussion like that elsewhere.

Not true - serious 9/11 analyses are all over KPFA’s “Guns and Butter” and many other webcasts.

http://kpfa.org/archive/id/23265 - this one is classic Tarpley - Mike Malone was fired off the limited hangout Air America affiliates network for interviewing Tarpley for 2 hours in 2005. That was the warning shot to all Left Progressives to stay away from any serious analysis of the 9/11 coup. 

When DN dared to touch it, they brought in two Popular Mechanics’ editors to take on Bermas and Avery. When David Ray Griffin was on, they brought in “professional anti-conspiracist” Chip Berlet, who defends the Bush regime’s 9/11 “conspiracy theory.”

Does DN do that when interviewing Scott Ritter, Jeremy Scahill or virtually anyone else? No, it’s the only way they can approach the 9/11 media 3rd rail. DN’s paltry coverage of the 9/11 coup is basically chicken shit!

Report this
Russian Paul's avatar

By Russian Paul, March 31, 2009 at 9:19 pm Link to this comment

And she HAS had guests on who have questioned the neccessity of the fed, and she has had at least one show-long debate on 9/11 with the creators of Loose Change. Maybe that isn’t good enough, but you will not hear any discussion like that elsewhere.

Report this
Russian Paul's avatar

By Russian Paul, March 31, 2009 at 8:54 pm Link to this comment

In every single show, Amy reports on stories you will NEVER hear from the mainstream. Paracelsus - you think global warming is fake and you’re entitled to that opinion, but why disregard all DN has to offer, especially when it comes to reporting on the Imperialist actions of the US? DN has been instrumental in spreading such information. I don’t think Amy has ever done a show on reptilian humanoids either, but I don’t hold that against her.

Report this
Leefeller's avatar

By Leefeller, March 31, 2009 at 8:48 pm Link to this comment

When I can I listen to Amy Goodman and find her work enlightening. 

She should be donating more time to individual pet peeves. Of course my pet peeves should be first, we need some in depth reporting on why Starbucks drinks are not constant in flavor or as hot as they should be? Why hasn’t she dropped by my house to see my new paint job, or to discuss theories on paint drying? I tried calling her office, but they hung up on me, though it may have been my own fault, I was eating a raw carrot at the time.

Report this
blogdog's avatar

By blogdog, March 31, 2009 at 8:24 pm Link to this comment

RE: Try and give story suggestions to DN and you will find that they are open to suggestions and ideas.

Here’s one: On Sept.11, 2001, a BBC reporter is on video record reporting the collapse of The Solomon Bros. Building (WTC7) 20 minutes before it actually collapsed; moreover, with the building standing in the background as the report was delivered. Wouldn’t this be worth investigating, and reporting, even for, say 10 min?

Why not? Obviously, either Amy, like Noam, like Moore, like many others are protecting their lecture tours and book sales by NOT touching the 9-11 media 3rd rail, or they’re rich assets.

How significant is Amy Goodman, or Robert Scheer or Arianna? Remember: “The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.” - William Colby - Director of the CIA (1973-76)

Report this

By she'sonlygotonemouth, March 31, 2009 at 5:32 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I’m astonished by the negative comments above.  Amy Goodman may not be perfect, but she’s just about the only game in town, and she does a great job.  So she didn’t choose to do all of your personal pet stories? Is that a reason to paint what she has done as miserable?  Sounds like a mighty case of sour grapes.

The only problem with Amy Goodman is there aren’t fifty of her.  Life isn’t long enough to do every story that every viewer or auditor wants to have covered.  Fake?  Come on.  I think some folks need to get some perspective.

It always astonishes me how quickly the marginalized folks turn on each other.  Way to stay marginalized, guys.

Report this

By Paracelsus, March 31, 2009 at 5:07 pm Link to this comment

@photoshock

‘foundational crap’

Please try to quote me correctly. To wit, “Amy’s journalism is in many cases the same foundation crap we get from NPR.”

It is well known that the foundations have funded public affairs for a long time, and with that funding comes an agenda. One of the big issues of foundations is CO2, a harmless gas that has little to do with global warming/climate change.

I am revolted by Amy grandstanding as if she is the source for independent news, when she does little of it. Has she ever tried to cover a Bilderberg conference? No!
Stop it, Amy. You quit being relevant after 9-11-2001. I have given the DN crew many story ideas. In fact DN has shut itself down to the public. They now have a computerized phone menu like a big corporation would. It would be a miracle to actually talk to a producer or reporter at DN. Of course this was implemented after listeners flooded the station with leads on the 9-11 disaster.

Report this
photoshock's avatar

By photoshock, March 31, 2009 at 3:58 pm Link to this comment

Paracelsus, why the vitriolic invective?  Amy Goodman does some wonderful work, if you cannot agree with everything there must be something that you can agree with?
I have watched DN for almost 2 years now and found that the ‘foundational crap’ that you so vehemently disagree with, is only the tip of the iceberg that DN
reports on.  Many stories that would never have made it on the air, in the commercial broadcast networks, did so on DN.
What is wrong with your analysis, is this, you look for things that may not be known, seek things out where they might not be found. Try and give story suggestions to DN and you will find that they are open to suggestions and ideas.
With the little amount of independent media out there, to say that Democracy Now is a sham and not worthy of your time is your opinion, but do not assume that everyone holds to the same opinion about a vaunted and esteemed news media outlet.

Report this

By William Nerin, March 31, 2009 at 3:46 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I listen to DemocracyNow Mon. through Friday at 6 AM as a way to set my mind straight before I enter into corporate media from my own newspaper to the Lehrer News Hour on PBS.

I hear news on DN that I seldom hear on any other newscast and it is in depth.  Amy Goodman has won the Izzy award this year for her work - a shining example of what independent news should be like.

Report this

By Derek Postlewaite, March 31, 2009 at 3:26 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Paracelsus,
I don’t know how you can compare Amy Goodman to NPR. I’m a daily NRP listener, but I never hear NPR tactfully criticize the Obama Administration like Amy Goodman has on DemocracyNow!.
I think Amy Goodman does a great job of informing people about the under cut and largely ignored issues, in much the same manner as a lot of the journalists that contribute to this site.  Her piece on the judge(s) who had been sending our youth to jail without the proper protection/guidance of an attorney, a month or so ago, well, I’m pretty sure the case wasn’t mentioned on NPR, or any other channel/program.  I appreciated the fact that she pointed out that Obama’s stimulus plan encompassed 800 million for the construction of new jails, but zero for improvements to the American education system.  Amy, keep informing.

Report this

By Paracelsus, March 31, 2009 at 2:51 pm Link to this comment

Why hasn’t Amy Goodman done any shows on the dirty dealings of the Federal Reserve?

Please no more blarney on global warming. There is a Dutch scientist, Dr. Morner, who says that the sea levels over fifty years have stayed about the same.

Please refer to http://xr.com/l01 .

Amy’s journalism is in many cases the same foundation crap we get from NPR.

She lives right in NY. Why haven’t we heard about the unjust lock up of the “We Are Change” group on DN? Luke Rudowski and his associates were prevented from asking Mayor Bloomberg about the lack of healthcare for first responders. They were arrested by NY’s finest goons. She lives right near lower Manhattan. There are 9-11 protests every 11th of the month. She is not there. Non-profit news reporting can be just as bad as corporate if it is funded by self interested foundations and governments.

Amy is fake, fake, fake. Providing a forum??? In a pig’s eye.

Report this

By grumpynyker, March 31, 2009 at 8:51 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Save your money.  There are REAL journalists out there, not just headline readers like Goodman.  One of most annoying traits is to distract off guests just when he/she is making a point.  Example, the gentleman for single payer health insurance.

Report this

By NYCartist, March 31, 2009 at 8:22 am Link to this comment

Any possibility of a transcript?

Report this
Newsletter

sign up to get updates


 
 
 
 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.