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Farewell to a Warrior for Freedom
[DCP crew member Deborah Brault send in her thoughts on Bill Moyer's last show on PBS.]
I watched Bill Moyers NOW last PBS show after 30 years of great journalism. Fittingly, his last show was about the Media, how it had evolved, and the role of Media in Politics. It was a brilliant program (though deeply disturbing) and I encourage everyone who missed it to try to catch the reruns this week. The show was aptly named: What Happened to Fairness?
Here's a synopsis of the show: Bill Moyers looks inside the right-wing media machine that New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks called a "dazzlingly efficient ideology delivery system." The program examines how a vast echo chamber that is admittedly partisan and powerfully successful delivers information — and misinformation — with more regard for propaganda than fact. Founding father to the conservative movement, Richard Viguerie tells Moyers, “That’s what journalism is, Bill. It’s all just opinion. Just opinion.”
The conversation Moyers had with Congresswoman Slaughter (D-NY) is of particular interest to DCPers. Congresswoman Slaughter has been fighting for fairness on the airwaves for the 20 years she has been a member of Congress. Her latest legislation on the topic is HR 4710, "The MEDIA Act," which would reinstate the fairness doctrine and ensure that broadcasters present discussions of conflicting views on issues of public importance.
Below is part of the transcript of the conversation between Bill Moyers and Congresswoman Slaughter:
Transcript BILL MOYERS: You were elected in Congress in 1986.
LOUISE SLAUGHTER: Exactly.
BILL MOYERS: That was the year the fairness doctrine went down and you've been fighting ever since to resurrect it. Why?
LOUISE SLAUGHTER: I have. And, you know, I was so committed to it and I kept doing bills. Because the airwaves belong to the people. I think we've good and sufficient examples now of what has happened to us with media consolidation — the fact that the information coming to us is controlled, the fact that at least half the people in the United States have no voice because they're not allowed in on talk radio. http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/slaughter.html
I think DCP "members" should do whatever we can to support Congresswoman Slaughter and her Media Act. Let's make sure our Congressional representatives know that we want them to support this legislation.
****************************
For more information about the fairness doctrine and media consolidation go to NOW with Bill Moyers .
To find out more about the FCC .
Consumer Federation of America .
Columbia Journalism Review :"Who Owns What"
--Deborah Brault
Suggestion
Put out blue x-mas outdoor lights and leave them up at least intil the election. Let your blue lights shine!
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter not only represents my parents' Congressional District (Western NY), but she has been a warrior for the arts for years. She is consistently head of the Congressional Arts Caucus and a devoted and articulate defender of the creative sphere.
She is a truth teller from way back and one of my personal heroes. So glad to find her here, fighting the battles for democracy and access!
WOW!! What an inspiring thread--and what a wonderful lady--truly one of those we should honor and contrast that with:
Breaking: Bush Personally Authorized Torture!
Mon Dec 20th, 2004 at 15:02:01 PST
Not Rumsfeld, not Gonzalez -- Bush:
NEW YORK -- A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as "torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up.
The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized.
Why did Time's cover call Bush an "American Revolutionary?" (not a joke - it actually
had that subheading)
Swift Boat Liars Continue To Seek Spotlight & Press Coverage
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002124128_swifties19.html
No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will.
Thomas Jefferson, September 9, 1792
Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816
If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, everyone pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Duane, 1811
Latina,
Thanks for the info on the new docs obtained by ACLU. This links to the documents filled with more disturbing details of prisoner torture and abuse:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=17216&c=206
Here’s a link to the ACLU press release:
http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/fbi.html
(this also has links to the docs and to the ACLU lawsuit)
A few years back, Moyers teamed with a rabbi, and others, to create his PBS “Genesis” discussion series, using bible stories as guides for living, likening them to modern soap operas and studies on relationships. Brave, interesting, relevant, and inclusive. Heresy now, and he’ll be missed.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1112-10.htm
Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them.
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms, July 6, 1775
Excerpt from a WaPo story on the torture documents obtained by the ACLU indicates White House is denying that Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the abuse:
“The documents also make it clear that some personnel at Guantanamo Bay believed they were relying on authority from senior officials in Washington to conduct aggressive interrogations. One FBI agent wrote a memo referring to a presidential order that approved interrogation methods "beyond the bounds of standard FBI practice," although White House and FBI officials said yesterday that such an order does not exist.
“Instead, FBI and Pentagon officials said, the order in question was signed by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in December 2002 and then revised four months later after complaints from military lawyers that he had authorized methods that violated international and domestic law.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14936-2004Dec20.html
Posted by: DiAnne | December 21, 2004 01:27 AM
If the Swift Boat people are going to beat a dead horse to death with lies and innuendo about Kerry's military service because he spoke out against the war in Viet Nam after he honorably served there (which led him to believe war is bad)....
Does it then logically follow that they will deem anyone who speaks out against Bush's Iraq war as "unpatriotic" and unfit for public service or unfit to be elected to public office??????
Have the Swift Boat vets made their military service records public???
NonnyO
The best thing for Kerry would be to sue these guys for slander.
He has the right , hasn't he? And that would bring in him in the light and in the media, enhancing lies as red value.
Goofy people!
The Enemies Among Us
by Mike Whitney
The new Intelligence reform bill is a more stunning attack on the Bill of Rights than the Patriot Act. Most people have no idea how dramatically their "inalienable" rights have been savaged, or to what extent the Congress has sold them out. It's no exaggeration to say that the foundation of personal liberty, guaranteed in the law, is cracking at the base. It'll be a miracle if we can put it back together in time to pass it on to our children.
http://207.44.245.159/article7518.htm
Thom Hartmann | The Myth of National Victimhood - All Wrapped and Delivered for Christmas
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1220-20.htm
[How fascism creeps up on a nation a little bit at a time, and how it is happening here in the United States right now. A "must read." We see it happening, so we are "alarmists."]
Goofy people!
Posted by: Andrée-France | December 21, 2004 06:40 AM
I know, Andree.... And I couldn't agree more....
Fact is, our media will not at present talk about anything other than what is tacitly "approved" of by the right-wingers.... We don't have a free press any more, which is why we must get our news on the Internet or depend on friends such as yourself for an "outside" perspective.... and objectivity.... Information in Canadian presses to the north of us are also good for perspective, and currently there are US military people in Canada seeking political asylum.... I'll post links...
Deserters Are Heroes :
Today let us take the sad, sordid case of one George W. Bush. Our president. Love him or hate him, it was he and he alone who decided that our mighty armies should travel to Iraq and kill tens of thousands of people, most of whom were guilty of nothing more than being there.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/12/13/hsorensen.DTL&type=printable
http://snipurl.com/bi1j
A JUST DESERTER
Matt Mernagh, NOW
Now appealing for asylum in Toronto, war resister and former soldier Jeremy Hinzman puts alleged U.S. war crimes on trial.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/20801/
[Some of the questions and answers from the hearing are given in this article; the names might be familiar from the 60 Minutes piece on the military personnel who are seeking asylum in Canada - Hinzman is from North Dakota. Very interesting....]
More Rights & Liberties: http://www.alternet.org/rights/
Center for Constitutional Rights: Canadian Man Who is Suing Bush Administration for “Rendering” Him to Syria for Jail
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1220-07.htm
[Delegating authority... by delegating torture out to other countries.]
Bin Laden targets oil to bleed US:
Osama bin Laden claims to have bled the Soviet Union into bankruptcy as an Islamic guerrilla fighter in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Could he do the same to another hated superpower — the US?
http://207.44.245.159/article7517.htm
Iraq Pipeline Watch :
A statement circulated in Bayji said that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had blown up a pipeline, following orders from ''supreme commander Osama bin Laden''.
http://www.iags.org/iraqpipelinewatch.htm
[Map at bottom of the web page, after chronology. Interesting....]
Eric Margolis: West has bloodied hands:
Who was the first high government official to authorize use of mustard gas against rebellious Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq? If your answer was Saddam Hussein's cousin, the notorious "Chemical Ali" -- aka Ali Hassan al-Majid -- you're wrong.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2004/12/19/790077.html
http://snipurl.com/bi1o
Gordon Prather: Threatening Iran – despite the evidence:
Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has just reported to the IAEA Board of Governors that after a year-long exhaustive and intrusive inspection he has – to date – found no evidence that Iran has – or ever has had – a nuke program.
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/966343.htm
Bush says may step up Syria pressure:
President George W. Bush has said that the United States could step up diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria over interference in the election process in Iraq.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=641599§ion=news&src=rss/uk/worldNews
http://snipurl.com/bi1u
THE WAR ON FOG
Rory O'Connor, MediaChannel.org
Why was a company with no media experience handed a no-bid contract to run the new Iraqi news networks?
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20799/
More MediaCulture: http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/
Pennsylvania's School of Creationism
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1220-08.htm
[How to set our educational system back at least a thousand years....]
Our disappearing dollar:
Foreigners put up 90 percent of the $2 billion required every day to make sure Uncle Sam's checks don't bounce.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/opinion/columnists/guests/s_284616.html
http://snipurl.com/bi26
[And, if our illustrious and increasingly idiotic Congress follows shrubbie's lead and "reforms" Social Security, which foreign bankers would foot the bill for the trillions needed for the "transition" while the investment bankers who invest the diverted funds rake in a hefty profit??? Better yet, who would pay the money back and how??? We're already in hock up to our ears, thanks to BushCo, and it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better if our legislators don't wake up and smell the coffee PDQ!!!]
A TRUE SAFETY NET
Joan Entmacher, Nancy Duff Campbell, TomPaine.com Social Security is the foundation of women's economic
security in retirement -- without it, half of older women would be poor.
http://www.alternet.org/story/20791/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14748-2004Dec20.html?referrer=email
The President's Grand Elusion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15143-2004Dec20.html?referrer=email
A Deficit of Detail
Nonny O
An overdue thanks for all your research, a blessing on an overworked day.
As you said above, I really think someone needs to get in print the vanity trip the swifties are on. I heard that Hoffman was miffed at some of the obervations Kerry made in his 20s and was included in Brinkley's book, all true, of his cruel and callous orders, which he may now regret, but didn't like public. We know O'Neill's vendetta, but he, too, rewrote his own time and service.
Posted by: NonnyO | December 21, 2004 08:37 AM
Nonny--
The Congressional Budget Office reported a while back that by 2008 the interest alone on the national debt will exceed the entire defense budget of the U.S. (and that's without additional borrowing for SS privatization). This information is particularly effective in reaching people who believe this President is strong on national security and homeland defense.
And let me thank you, too, for sharing so much useful information.
Deb:
Great article. Bill Moyers was amazing and is very brave too!
Mary was telling me--since she has so much more courage and endurance than I do--that she saw Fox smearing Moyers as just and "untrustworthy LIBERAL" and they had guests who did the same. Then because they are SUCH A MODERATE STATION AND SO FAIR AND UNBIASED they HAD NOBODY REPRESENTING MOYERS!!!
NOBODY AT ALL!!!
This is the right wing media and the republican partie's plan of attack--SMEAR, SMEAR, SMEAR!
The stench from their actions is overwelming.
Morning, Sparrow.
Sleep well?
Deb and all here:
Our job in the dcp is to find common ground with neighbors who are republican. The way I see it, they are not going to care if we talk about a republican media--hey if they're republican--they'll like it and consider it a bonus.
We need to reach the people who voted for kerry-despite the media and who basically just were anti-bush. We also need to reach the young--18-25 year olds, and the people who only watch the news an hour a day but have no time for internet.
Maybe we could make t'shirts for the dcp--
something that tells people the media lies--I"m just not creative enough to think of a great eye catching slogan...but I'd buy the t'shirt from the dcp and would proudly wear it. (Wish we had it by xmas though.)
But--since xmas is here--maybe we all can go to the malls and make our own "BE THE MEDIA" t'shirts and get the ball rolling. Won't look as nice as what the dcp would do, but a plain white t'shirt and a magic marker makes a great chalkboard for psreading the truth--not the spin!!!
Morning Bob:
Well, I wish I had the same problem as sleeping beauty. It might be great to wake up and discover I was only dreaming about Bush and the 4 years are over!
Nonny, Bob, Margie G, and Andree:
I'm not awake enough to know this answer--but has anybody written the book about each of the swift boat liars-and given the truth of their biography (not the spin) and given the motives behind their smears?
And I don't know if kerry can sue them, since he is a public figure, but it does seem to me that the lies are well documented.
Pennsylvania's School of Creationism
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1220-08.htm
[How to set our educational system back at least a thousand years....]
Posted by: NonnyO | December 21, 2004 07:23 AM
Nonny,
I posted a comment the other day that there should be a remake of Inherit the Wind. I think it would have a larger audience than The Passion of the Christ.
Sparrow --
I'm not sure, but it's my impression that bios on the swifties wouldn't be much help.
Their military service credentials are legit (and I think they're being careful to vet anyone they use to speak publicly for them).
Now they're changing their name to "Swiftboat Veterans and POW's for Truth" to exploit the credibility of, and respect for, former POW's. It looks like we'll have to debunk their claims all over again.
One thing that is useful is the "Going Upriver" documentary, which presents an accurate portrayal of Sen. Kerry's service and his antiwar activities.
Oncall --
That's a good idea for a remake. There's another I'd add: "The Grapes of Wrath." Where's Tom Joad when we need him?
Sparrow,
I don't know about such a book, but here is some of their latest crazy rant, and down of the thread a statement the John Kerry should make an answer by the end of the year.
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4047
About the T shirts, which appear a very good idea to me, here is mummy's advice rather good at crafts.
Instead of using a marker that will wash away and make you look lousy, go to a local printing shop to get your T nicely printed.
That way you will look great and can re-use it any time.
If the sales man chokes about the moto. good for him!
Polls suggests support for Iraq war is slipping
For first time, majority call it a mistake
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6739443/
-snip-
While the results are bad for Bush as people look at past decisions -- whether the Iraq war should have been waged in the first place -- the president has more support for his policies over the choices he faces going forward.
(Yeah, cuz his judgement has been so solid in the past. Ok, is it just me, or do bad decisions that cost thousands of people their lives not count anymore???)
Somebody help me.
I am having a running e-mail conversation with a concerned, intelligent, and open minded relative. He has a hard time accepting my contention that the media dropped the ball on the Ohio election issues, and that the main stream media actually is a right wing tool. I sent him yesterday's editorial from the New York Times, and the URL to Bill Moyers last show. He believes that if there were more to the election story there would be wider press coverage.
I think he is emblematic of the challenges we face.
Sending him 10-15 links wont do it. Just a few well selected samples is all I need.
Thanks
Randi Rhodes has some good links to the Ohio fraud on her web-site
http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/
Posted by: Andrée-France | December 21, 2004 09:50 AM
Andree,
Curious, I checked the Onion story you linked -- and found it to be a satire! A pretty funny one, too, though I confess it took me a while to realize it's not a real news story. The part about Kerry responding by the end of next year is a shot at the campaign's original delay in responding to the swifties -- sort of self-deprecating humor.
Bob Evans,
Thank you for giving me light! See what happens when people are not used to slander, while those who commit it are sued?
We can't tell the difference, but I'm gonna laugh at myself...
Margie, Bob.... et al... Thank you...
I've been afraid I was spamming the blog with posts, wondering if I should apologize for posting so many links... I'm on at least five or six e-newsletter lists, plus have MSN and Yahoo news pages programmed, plus emails from Democratic organizations.... I've been trying to cull out only the ones I know would be of interest to bloggers... current news, media misinformation, disinformation, lies, vile people (I'll let your imagination run wild), media suppression, etc., but I'm attempting to make sure the links are related to media and voting reform somehow..... There are others of interest, but I haven't posted those. I appreciate the nod, because on the K/E blog I got tons and tons and tons of info off of other people's links and always appreciated the additions to my knowledge base....
sparrow, Andree... I don't know if there is any info about the Swift Boat vets or their bios. Seems to me before the election Koppel did some kind of report on them, and the guy he was interviewing was absolutely rabid... I've not heard anything about books or TV or anything regarding facts about them. Based on what's known, likely some slander or libel suits could be brought, but who knows if Kerry wants to give them any more publicity or not...??? Current right-wing media wouldn't be as unkind to the SBVs as they were to Kerry before the election, I'm sure....
oncall... Not sure if I can help or not, but in my last gleanings of overnight reading, I have a hodgepodge of links, at least one pertains to Ohio.... There have been past threads with links to info about the OH voting fraud, too, if that would be of any help???
:-) How about "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" as a movie to watch??? Don't know I'd like to see a remake, but as I recall, the original movie was pretty good.....
Andree,
Don't be embarassed. The piece was cleverly done, and the outrageous claims in the "story" seemed pretty consistent with what we've seen from the swifties. Consider it "stealth satire" . . .
KICKING A DEAD MAN
Marc Cooper, LA Weekly
First the L.A. Times helped kill off reporter Gary Webb's career. Then, eight years later, after Webb committed
suicide, it publishes a scandalous and shameful obituary.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20784/
[If you're old enough, you remember the Iran-Contra scandal - Bush 41 was VP in those days.... This is about a journalist who took his profession seriously. Once upon a time in America we had journalists who blew the lid off of government scandals.... Nowadays American media is only a propaganda mouthpiece for the BushCo administration.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12513-2004Dec19.html?referrer=email
Saudi Subcontractors
"The facts surrounding Ahmed Abu Ali's detention and possible torture in Saudi Arabia remain shrouded in diplomatic and law enforcement secrecy."
"... deciding that he needs to know more about the circumstances of Mr. Abu Ali's detention before concluding that the detention of an American by Saudi authorities is beyond the purview of U.S. courts."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/politics/19military.html
"The Pentagon is drawing up a plan that would give the military a more prominent role in intelligence-collection operations that have traditionally been the province of the Central Intelligence Agency, including missions aimed at terrorist groups and those involved in weapons proliferation, Defense Department officials say."
"The details of the plan remain secret and are evolving, but indications of its scope and significance have begun to emerge in recent weeks. One part of the overall proposal is being drafted by a team led by Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, a deputy under secretary of defense."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14759-2004Dec20.html?referrer=email
Two Opponents of Abortion Are Tapped for Senate Judiciary Panel
Democrats Question Effect on Supreme Court Nominations
New F.B.I. Files Describe Torture of Iraq Inmates
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122204Z.shtml
U.S. Fails in Bid to Kill Off Kyoto Process
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122104W.shtml
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14810-2004Dec20.html?referrer=email
EPA May Lift Ban on Dow's Termite Killer
Company Says New Data on Home Builders' Use Contradict Findings of Harm
Voting Machine Vendors Campaign
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1220-07.htm
Ohio Recount Stirs Trouble
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122104V.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/business/21lobby.html?th
Wall St. Lobby Quietly Tackles Social Security
"These groups have lately begun trying to raise money from business interests and to marshal support on Capitol Hill, while also seeking to deflect criticism that Wall Street is behind the move simply to reap rich rewards for administering the accounts."
[The lobbyists on Wall Street smell blood money.... and a way to bilk taxpayers....]
Bob,
I'm not. I enjoy derision and laughing at myself.
Now a beautiful symbol of democracy to share with you.
http://www.robinwood.com/Democracy/Graphics/EGraphicsPages/OrangeRibbons.html
Posted by: oncall | December 21, 2004 09:24 AM
I'd just be blissfully happy if someone, anyone, would get their historical FACTS straight in addition to the "interpretations" and misinterpretations of Bible verses.... It's all very well to follow the philosophy of how to lead a moral and ethical life, and I know there is some history contained therein..., but... to take ALL of that out of context as history??? I think not....
I refuse to go see Passion...
Tuesday rants and obeservations....
*Okay, I am in total disgust. Those Swift Liars have no shame. They had more than 20 years to discredit and harass JK and only now do they choose to take it on as a full-time gig. If they choose to spend their remaining years spewing venom, then let them waste them. While they are doing that JK will continue on serving our country and helping to save it from itself. I'm not sure how much farther they can take this given that it's been vetted by the press and their whole campaign is thought to be a nasty smear tactic. An effective smear, but a smear all the same. I honestly think they are quite full of themselves now and have become over confident. Which, by the way, are always the precursors to downfall and failure. Their only hope is the short memory and continued stupidity of the mainstream press, which unfortunately we can never underestimate.
*The ABC News/Washington Post Poll...After this election can you blame me if I totally hate polls? I don't believe them at all. I have no clue what the average American thinks about anything anymore and if a poll is even an accurate gauge of whatever they think. To me it looks as though Shrub still has loads of support. Even though my county went blue, every day I still see several cars with the circular W'04 stickers on them, blech! In Orlando on I-4 there's a billboard with Shrub's picture with the words "Our leader." And Orlando (Orange County) went blue too. Barf. I guess Florida really is Shrub country. Blech. Barf! Anyway, if it's taken this long for a majority of Americans to realize Iraq was a HUGE mistake and Rummy needs the boot, then God help us, we're doomed. And if the people polled, when presented with the obvious better choice in a leader, still chose The Chimp, then who are they to complain now? They've only gotten what they asked for. Unfortunately the thinking half of the country will have to pay for their poor decision making skills. These folks drag down the curve in a major way. UGH!!! I'm definitely willing to move to the solid blue state that has the balls to file articles of succession.
One more thing....
* Have you heard about Katie Couric being considered for the job as CBS news anchor? Are they serious? I remember watching Katie cover Princess Di's funeral and being embarrassed for her. She couldn't handle that, how the heck are we to believe she could handle real world news. Say what you will about Brian Williams but at the very least he has worked his way up the ranks (i.e. WH correspondent and foreign bureau time). And he has traveled the world covering real news. Sorry, but Katie's trip to Greece for the Olympics doesn't cut it. I also heard Matt Lauer was being courted too but he has even less hard news cred than Katie. Wow. If they are really being considered then that speaks volumes about the lack of tv news anchor talent out there. Sad.
http://www.robinwood.com/Democracy/Graphics/EGraphicsPages/OrangeRibbons.html
Posted by: Andrée-France | December 21, 2004 10:33 AM
Andree,
Thanks for that link. I like the graphic of the orange ribbon superimposed over the Declaration of Independence and the word, "Democracy" over all. I hope this idea catches on.
Great blog topic.
I just read on the web the following where Bush calls the Iraqi bombings "effective propaganda tools".
I'm sure this drives Bill Moyers crazy as it does me: bombings aren't facts, they're "propaganda", but when Bush says things like "They hate us for our freedom", or "We're bringing freedom to Iraq", well, that's not propaganda, that's just the way it is!!
ARGH!
USA TODAY
December 21, 2004
WASHINGTON -- President Bush delivered a sober assessment of the war in Iraq Monday, acknowledging that recent terrorist bombings were proving to be "effective propaganda tools."
http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/national/20041220234737.shtml
Posted by: sparrow | December 21, 2004 09:09 AM
Faux smeared Moyers????????? Grrrrrrrrrrrr......
Add another reason not to watch Faux (Actually, I've got two channels that get Faux, but I never watch them because they always seem to have sports on, and I just don't watch sports)...
I have the highest regard possible for Moyers..... I practically hero-worship him for his ability to ask questions from several different angles - even if his guests have been people he agrees with philosophically or not.... If more journalists were like Moyers, we'd be getting about 20 different angles and opinions about the issues in today's media.... I'm so glad the thread featured Moyers... I checked out the links (added my name to the petition), and practically wept because Moyers isn't going to be on any more, just as I shed tears at the end of Friday night's broadcast....
Thank you, Deborah, for writing the tribute to Moyers above, and to Dick for posting it....
Beth,
In his terms, I guess you could say the 9/11 attack was also an "effective propaganda tool."
Posted by: Andrée-France | December 21, 2004 10:33 AM
Thanks, Andree!!! :-)
I bookmarked the site, downloaded several of the images, and I'm going to put them on my genealogy web sites... :-)
I honestly think they are quite full of themselves now and have become over confident. Which, by the way, are always the precursors to downfall and failure.
Posted by: florida dem | December 21, 2004 10:42 AM
~~~~~~~~~
I don't remember the exact book, chapter, and verse any more, but I do remember memorizing Bible verses in confirmation (when I was about 14-15 yrs old)... Might be Proverbs, but if memory serves the exact quote might be:
"Pride goeth before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction."
Nonny- that sounds very familiar.
Where's Tom Joad when we need him?
Posted by: Bob Evans | December 21, 2004 09:44 AM
Speaking of Tom Joad, anyone know where MaJoad is from the Kerry blog? She always had great things to say!
On the thread topic, I live in the Pioneer Valley in Western Mass. Yesterday, I got a letter from a new start-up radio station called Valley Free Radio 103.3. They are trying to raise money to start up their new station, which will be a local answer to Clear Channel, etc.
"Valley Free Radio will be created by and for it's members and listeners, our studios will be built by volunteer carpenters, our perspectives will be primarily locally based and our news will not be edited by media spin professionals or censored by veiled interested anxious to keep everything dumbed down"
I really think this is where we need to be focusing our energies, and maybe our money too! You can check it out at www.valleyfreeradio.org and maybe even make a donation if you see fit. Others with info on similar stations should post as well, so we can donate there too!
Posted by: DiAnne | December 21, 2004 01:14 AM
A revolution in the negative sense: he's trying to do away with democracy.
Post Modern Coup d'Etat in Ukraine
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15969-2004Dec21.html
or US meddling with Ukraine election.
Wolf playing sheep?
Keith Olbermann is a jewel. Here are some funnies from his most recent blog...
Time to review the various running stories to try to separate the wheat from the chaff.:
3. The American media has a liberal bias:
I think we can pretty much put this one to bed.
The mainstream media has so tiptoed around the voting irregularities stories that it’s deflated any reasonable belief that there are swarms of reporters bypassing facts to substitute their own agendas. Instead of a circus, the Conyers “voting forums” have received tepid coverage.
Had there been a reversal of the poles in this political equation, of course, the impenetrable Sean Hannity would be in his 49th consecutive day of broadcasting without sleep, and by now would’ve already announced that Democrats from Outer Space had stolen the election.
6. Fascists are Leftists:
I have to throw this in somewhere. As noted previously, I am periodically harangued by a handful of official right-wing nuts.
They are remarkably entertaining - like listening to Ann Coulter, only without the audio accompaniment of her shrill whistle of hate - but one of them got me genuinely angry the other day, and made me doubt the value of our educational system.
This one fellow’s email contained a reference to Fascism being a leftist doctrine. I actually had to write him back to make sure he was serious. “Hitler was a left-winger. Case closed, dumbass.”
For anybody else just joining us here in the real world, here’s the story so far: the Fascists started in Italy, with Benito Mussolini. They— and the Germans that followed them - were an ultra-conservative political party that opposed (and later jailed and killed) leftists. The German ones even went to war against a Communist state, suggesting that the use of the term “Socialism” in their official party name was almost ironic in intention. American Fascists have sought to outlaw Jews, Catholics, minorities, and Republicans. Also, the sun rises in the east, and two and two still makes - even if somebody from a Blue State tells you this— four.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
I loved the Sean Hannity mention. Sadly, it's true. Didn't someone say Hannity looked liked he was about to cry when he thought Shrub had lost?
Posted by: sparrow | December 21, 2004 09:09 AM
It is probably the best way to discredit FOX, if no dems/independents/liberals/etc. go on their network, it will be hard for them to look fair and balanced.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=274629
Ten Things President Bush Doesn't Want You To Know About Scalia and Thomas
[Yikes! Remind me: Why are those two supreme court justices??? What were the legislators thinking when they approved those two clowns???]
Attack on U.S. Base in Iraq Kills 22
Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:23 AM ET
By Maher al-Thanoon
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - A mortar and rocket attack on a U.S. military dining hall killed 22 people and wounded more than 50 in Iraq's northern city of Mosul on Tuesday in one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. forces since the war began.
The attack came as British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a surprise visit to Baghdad, where he vowed the war against insurgents would be won and elections would go ahead on Jan. 30. As he left Baghdad, mortars fell on the Green Zone compound, as they do almost daily. There was no word on any casualties.
The Mosul strike came at noon when many soldiers at Forward Operating Base Marez, a huge camp built around the northern city's airfield, would have been eating lunch. The tented dining hall can seat hundreds of soldiers at a time, Reuters correspondents who have stayed at the base said.
A defense official in Washington said it was not clear how many of the Mosul casualties were Americans. Iraqi National Guards and civilian contractors working in construction and security also operate from Camp Marez, in the south of Mosul.
--------------------SNIP----------------------
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7151242
Slipping support for the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq?
No, huh?
20/20 hindsight is such an epiphany for the blind mice...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/opinion/21tue1.html?ex=1261371600&en=c5cc3cbdacc8fd82&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt
Global Intelligence Domination
Excerpts:
"Of all the bad ideas we heard during what passed for a Congressional debate over intelligence reform, none were as awful as a new plan being drawn up by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's staff to actually expand the Pentagon's authority over intelligence.
Apparently Mr. Rumsfeld is not satisfied with controlling 80 percent of the intelligence budget, an absurd situation that would have been remedied in the intelligence bill if Congress had not caved in to the Pentagon's lobbying. In this latest power grab, the Defense Department wants to elbow its way into more traditional intelligence gathering, which has been and should be done by the Central Intelligence Agency."
"The person in charge of the new project is Lt. Gen. William Boykin, a deputy under secretary of defense who, while running the failed manhunt for Osama bin Laden, made himself into a national disgrace by parading to church pulpits in his uniform to preach that Islamic terrorists could be defeated only "if we come at them in the name of Jesus." He once said Muslims worship "an idol.""
[Every time I think the current administration can't get any more Dali-esque, it does... Boykin running a spy ring out of the military under Rummy?????? Puh-leeze!!! Is it election day 2008 yet???]
Too bad.
While your troops are under attack our 2 journalists were set free today after 4 months waiting.
They are in Aman for the time being, should be in Paris tomorrow, and they are going to .... speak and relate about what they have seen and been through.
My Letter to the Editor was published in a large suburban Chicago newspaper. Yeah!
www.dailyherald.com See fence post section from December 20 (inside editorial section)
It is hard to find the letter. So here it is:
Bush's harmful plan for tax reform
I hope that all the people who voted for George W. Bush realize that with the new tax plan proposed by the president, company deductions for health care may be gone. That would mean a rise in health-care costs for all of us. Does anybody believe that employers won't pass this cost onto their employees?
His proposal also could mean elimination of federal tax deductions for state and local income and property taxes. This means higher taxes on wages and salaries for all working Americans. It also means it will cost more to own a home.
This is a backdoor tax increase. Why is this being done? The answer is easy. According to George Bush, taxes on the richest 1 percent of the country need to be lowered. Are these the principles and "values" that working families for Bush voted for? The answer is "yes" if you are in the richest 1 percent of the country.
Personally, his tax plan benefits me and my family. But I see it causing only grief and hardship for many others. For years to come, my children and their children will be paying off these changes.
Looks like someone else may have already snagged the blue ribbon idea for whoever posted the magnetic blue ribbon link and done it quite some time ago.
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Display the Blue Ribbon to support the essential human right of free speech, a fundamental building block of free society, affirmed by the U.S. Bill of Rights in 1791 and by the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
http://www.eff.org/br/
as referred to in their newsletter dated
EFFector, Vol. 14, No. 11; June 2, 2001
and referenced on March 31, 1996 in their forum:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Academic_edu/CAF/batch/?f=1996_03_31.txt
(do a search for 'blue')
I think orange ribbons (link posted by Andrée) will have more significance because of the Ukrainians' successful protest of the fraudulent voting process.
http://www.robinwood.com/Democracy/Graphics/EGraphicsPages
Good letter, oncall!
For all the DCP-ers ere, LTEs are a great way to take your voice to the mainstream media. Once we have our ToolKit and forum set up here, we will make it easy for you, but for now, here's a great link to get you started:
http://www.fair.org/activism/communicate.html
Sorry, offtopic here, must rant!!!
Just reading about the attack today in Mosul... this is just the beginning of the payback to America for the election results. Maybe sooner or later people will start understanding why it is so dangerous to have the president wrap himself so ficticiously in religion and have legions of blind faith followers support his every move... and when you start playing "Our God is better than your God"... SOMEONE pays. (ah, but never the chickenhawks)
Merry Christmas, and thanks Red States.
-snip-
A statement claiming responsibility for the attack today in Mosul posted on an Islamic Web Site that was attributed to Ansar al-Sunnah labeled it a "martyrdom operation."
‘A big killing’
“God helped the mujahadeen … fighting the enemies of God, the occupiers, with a big killing in the ranks of the Americans,” it said.
I feel very guilty for paying taxes here which may go to kill people.
If you want full horror, read all you can on Gonzales. These people coldly discussed various torture techniques such as the one where the person fears they are drowning, mock burials, and those which do not use a mark. This does not go with the "bad apples" at lower levels position. Gonzales was the one wanting to be able to classify US citizens as "enemy combatants" so as not to have to follow the Geneva Convention.
I don't have links here but sign up for Center for American Progress - it covers this in depth today.
Tony Blair is in Iraq & he states the same positions that Bush does but in articulate language and they still don't make any sense. It's all platitude. It rings hollow.
Bush was on NPR as I drove in to work - they played his actual voice (I had to make myself listen) - he was scolding the Iraqi troops who deserted the battlefield. Yet the reporter went on to reveal that Bush had already been briefed extensively by General Abazaid (in charge of middle east operations) about how the Iraqi foot soldiers don't have leadership but just generals. They have very minimal preparation for controlling an "insurgency" & in many cases fighting their own countrymen.
The Compassionate Conservative has a Cold Heart & rightfully joins the ranks of Persons of the year such as Hitler, Mussolini and Khomeini.
DiAnne knows...
Always has.
Does it then logically follow that they will deem anyone who speaks out against Bush's Iraq war as "unpatriotic" and unfit for public service or unfit to be elected to public office??????
Have the Swift Boat vets made their military service records public???
Posted by: NonnyO | December 21, 2004 04:23 AM
Why the hell is this not being demanded by everyone, if it is pressed by the people it would have to be published by the media. these snakes have to be taken on at some time by the people, or no person from the military will be able to run for President.It will only be the the cowards who did not see fit to serve their country, holding the highest position in the land.COWARDS FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!
The best thing for Kerry would be to sue these guys for slander.
He has the right , hasn't he? And that would bring in him in the light and in the media, enhancing lies as red value.
Goofy people!
Posted by: Andrée-France | December 21, 2004 06:40 AM
THANK YOU ANDREE
Kangaroo Brisbane Australia
Thanks Marc - I know just enough to know I don't know much! I think sometimes I'd rather be in the dark.
I don't watch tv & I don't even like MSNBC online because it ha actual photos of Richard Armitage, Lynne Cheney & Condoleeza Rice all on the same page. I usually just
Google & imagine.
However, someone sent me a link to Olbermann's blog & I learn that Conyers had Forums not Congressional Investigation, which would require Republican cooperation & furthermore, 19% of Americans believe there were irregularities.
How frustrating & we still don't have a Governor in WA. The Republicans are tying it up in court, to run out the clock.
What a day/week. Iraq is imploding. I'm happy for the French journalists released, at least, Andree!
Great comments and links, everyone, and I so sympathize with the emotions here, the rantings. We are just beginning, I fear, to see the horrible fruits of what was sown on November 2nd. The scariest thing I've read above is the increased power of the military--especailly Rumsfeld--in the intelligence field.
I am fearful, but this web site is one light that gives hope.
Here's my letter to the editor - maybe it will get published (it's a little long).
"I can only imagine how betrayed our U.S. soldiers must have felt when they heard Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tell them they were “the army that we have, not the army that we want”. My question to Rumsfeld is if we didn’t have the army we wanted, why did we go to war in the first place and sacrifice all those lives and limbs? This was a war of choice. How can you blame the soldiers?
I can only imagine how betrayed the soldiers, and the families and friends of wounded or killed soldiers must have felt, when it became clear that the government has not done all it can to provide the armor needed to protect them. Secretary Rumsfeld told soldiers two weeks ago that the armor was being made as fast as it could be made. In truth, the company that makes most of the armor for military vehicles said last week that they had never been asked to increase their production. (Of course, they have been asked NOW, since the story came out.) Most of the casualties in this war could have been avoided if vehicles had been properly equipped. Imagine how the soldier who is missing a couple of legs feels about that.
I can only imagine the sorrow and betrayal the families of over 1300 dead soldiers must have felt when they received a condolence letter from Rumsfeld that was signed by computer, rather than signed by his hand. Really, how long does it take to sign, say, 10 letters a day? Maybe signing by hand made the deaths too real for him - just the way attending funerals would make the deaths too real for his boss. They are very real for the families and friends of the dead.
And yet, George Bush continues to support Mr. Rumsfeld, saying just yesterday “I believe he’s doing a really fine job”. Loyalty has its place, but this is not it, and there are people dying every day because Bush can’t bring himself to fire this guy. They have both betrayed the trust of the military, and of the American people – the very people who put their trust in their hands. I can think of at least 49,500,000 Americans who are not surprised."
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