I think future generations of americans will wonder why our generation with this overwhelming evidence sheepishly just (moved on)and allowed our country to be looted and bankrupted

How much can you trust the media? How much should you trust them? Many news broadcasts contain what is termed as “Fake News”, these are Public Relations videos (or Video News Releases) created either by corporations or governments featuring a specific subject. The idea of these videos is to promote a certain product or a specific idea (political or otherwise).

News networks are sponsored to show these videos as news. More VNR’s located here.
http://www.thethoughts.co.uk/thoughts/do-you-trust-the-media/

If America ever is going to stop making aggressive war, Americans will first have to get into contact with reality. That's because U.S. administrations for the past century have periodically frightened the public out of their collective wits. And a frightened nation is a malleable nation, one whose people are susceptible to being led into any struggle.

There's usually been some evil outside force lurking to take away what we have. There was the "Red Scare" during the Wilson administration and Joe McCarthy's terror during the Truman and Eisenhower years. President George W. Bush gave fear a new twist with his "War on Terror" in which innocent nations were illegally invaded and tens of thousands imprisoned and hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed. In his speech of September 20, 2001, Bush claimed terrorists attacked America because they "hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."

Those who believe this whopper will never deal with the reality that we might just be hated throughout the Middle East because the CIA at Eisenhower's behest overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953. Or that we might be hated for taking Israel's side in its ongoing efforts to displace the Palestinians. Or for taking Iraq's side in its war of aggression against Iran and supplying it with poison gas. Or for subsequently waging an illegal war of aggression against Iraq. The idea that Muslim extremists attacked America out of envy lacks any connection to reality, especially when much of the Arab world has long made known its vehement opposition to U.S. support of Israel.

The Bush regime fanned the fears of Islamic terrorism in the American mind by making it appear the 2001 anthrax attacks that shut down Congress were staged by Muslims. One anthrax envelope read "Death to America! Death to Israel!" Bush press agents leaked stories that the attack emanated from the Middle East when, in fact, it originated at a U.S. biowarfare complex in Maryland under management of George W. Bush, commander-in-chief. This lie helped rush through the Patriot Act and opened the door to a $50 billion spending spree to develop new bioweapons, although experts say the U.S. is under no threat of such attack. Meanwhile, we have real influenza epidemics that kill thousands every year that must be prevented and scientists who tell us they no longer are getting the money to fight. What do you call a country that ignores realities and arms itself against fantasies? Try lunatic asylum.

Down through the years our politicians have shamelessly advanced themselves by playing on the public's fears. George W. Bush is only the most recent culprit. Presidential campaigner Jack Kennedy, for example, in 1960 falsely warned Americans of a "missile gap," i.e., that we lagged behind the Soviets in our ability to deliver nuclear weapons. These fears were encouraged by the military-industrial complex to pump up spending on atomic bombs and their delivery systems. Late in his life, the eloquent General Douglas MacArthur came to this realization: "Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear---kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor with the cry of a grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded."

In the past eight years, the Big Lies have flown thick and fast. Americans today suffer from a "master race" delusion akin to what Germans believed in the 1930s. The Neocon's "New American Century" philosophy posits the U.S. is ordained (Bush believed by god) to provide leadership and spread democracy around the globe. In this vision, America is the self-appointed policeman for the planet. Delegates to Republican National Conventions only have had to hear the phrase "United Nations" to jeer. This poisoning of the public mind could make it difficult for President Obama to use the UN effectively just as it made it easy for Bush to sell his "preventive war" doctrine.

Americans have been conditioned to think the U.S. is always in the right and its enemies are always in the wrong. A prime example: the POW/MIA flags that flutter over public buildings everywhere. Americans believe the Vietnamese held hundreds of U.S. prisoners after the war ended. If so, why couldn't the Pentagon with its spy satellites that can spot a wooden nickel from 60,000 feet ever find and rescue them? By claiming they refused to live up to its obligations, the Vietnamese are made to look like the bad guys even though we waged a war of aggression in their country and bombed their cities, not the other way around.

I'm not saying there were no POWs being held illegally, only that the issue has been framed to inflame the public out of all proportion to reality. Today, it's the U.S. that imprisons "ghost" POW/MIAs. Only the victims are Arabs and Muslims. General Paul Kern, who headed an Army inquiry, told the Senate in 2004 the CIA may be keeping up to 100 "ghost detainees" at Baghdad's infamous Abu Ghraib. And it has been disclosed that the U.S. under Bush/Cheney operated a string of secret prisons where the Red Cross is denied entry. Isn't that illegally holding POW/MIAs? To accuse others of crimes you are committing raises the suspicion that your own charges may not be true. It also suggests you might be deluded.

Again, there's our rationale for every defeat. They'll tell you at any veteran's post we lost in Viet Nam only because "our boys fought with one hand tied behind their backs" and not because their foes were worthy---when we dumped more tons of bombs on Viet Nam than we did on all of Europe in WWII. Such myths are dangerous.

Recall Hitler told Germans they didn't lose WWI because they were outfought but because they were "sold out by Jews and the Communists" that made peace behind their backs. So they should fight a new war. Millions of people the world over saw through Bush's lies about Iraq being in league with 9/11 terrorists and possessing WMD. The war was condemned by the Vatican and termed "illegal" by the UN Secretary-General. But Congress bought the lie that Saddam Hussein, with his $5 billion military budget, threatened America with its $300 billion military budget, and voted to attack. Why could the rest of the world see reality when Americans could not?

Americans have repeatedly subscribed to policies of aggressive war based on lies and delusions engineered by their own chief executives. An Obama presidency will not restore peace unless such falsehoods are first exposed and expunged from the American psyche. Time to open the asylum's doors and windows and let in the fresh air and sunshine.
_______


About author
Sherwood Ross is an American reporter who has worked for major American newspapers and magazines as well as international wire services. To comment on this article or arrange for speaking engagements: sherwoodr1@yahoo.com
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/19940

Do you trust what the media tells you?


"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."
- C.S. Lewis


At the link you will find a great Video as a public service from me to you....

http://wimp.com/thelies/

The White House, having initially blocked National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice from testifying before the 9/11 Commission, finally reversed itself in April 2004.

In a dramatic moment, under the stares of the on-looking 9/11 families, Rice made a startling revelation.
See her live admit in front of congress....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjSoKy7jNUQ&feature=related

So says the same government that lied about useing WP in the first place. Oh did I mention it was the same government that banned journalists from the conflict?

After weeks of denying that it used white phosphorus in the heavily populated Gaza Strip, Israel finally admitted yesterday that the weapon was deployed in its offensive.

The army’s use of white phosphorus – which makes a distinctive shellburst of dozens of smoke trails – was reported first by The Times on January 5, when it was strenuously denied by the army. Now, in the face of mounting evidence and international outcry, Israel has been forced to backtrack on that initial denial. “Yes, phosphorus was used but not in any illegal manner,” Yigal Palmor, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told The Times. “Some practices could be illegal but we are going into that. The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is holding an investigation concerning one specific incident.”

The incident in question is thought to be the firing of phosphorus shells at a UN school in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17. The weapon is legal if used as a smokescreen in battle but it is banned from deployment in civilian areas. Pictures of the attack show Palestinian medics fleeing as blobs of burning phosphorus rain down on the compound.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5575070.ece

Out standing post Fanta.

The shepard was a crooked evil man, but the sheeple just want their grass.

DENVER (Map, News) - Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard's former church disclosed Friday that the gay sex scandal that caused his downfall extends to a young male church volunteer who reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard - a revelation that comes as Haggard tries to repair his public image.

Brady Boyd, who succeeded Haggard as senior pastor of the 10,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, told The Associated Press that the man came forward to church officials in late 2006 shortly after a Denver male prostitute claimed to have had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with Haggard.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1812293~Disgraced_pastor_faces_more_gay_sex_accusations.html

no big suprise there

He's gone. George Bush has left the White House; it's safe to come out of hiding. But, before progressives take a deep breath and begin attacking Barack Obama for not pursuing our pet issues vigorously enough, let's stop and applaud those of us who, for the last four plus years, have fought the good fight against Bush's fascism: the heroes of the resistance.

Political Heroes: In the dark days after Bush defeated Kerry, it was Nancy Pelosi who rallied Democrats. First she organized opposition to Bush's attempt to privatize Social Security. Then, like the Eveready bunny, she trudged around the country raising money and generating enthusiasm for Democratic House candidates. While Bush's popularity plummeted after Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, it was the Congressional Democrats return to power in 2006 that finished him politically.

Another political hero was Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who convinced Dems to compete in every state. At the time, this defied the conventional political wisdom, but it tilled the soil for the Obama presidential campaign, which provided the boots on the ground required to win in traditional Republican strongholds like Indiana and North Carolina. And kudos for Chuck Schumer who guided the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the past two elections; as a result, the DSCC fielded outstanding progressive winning candidates like Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar, and Mark Udall.

The BB "Croix de Resistance" goes to Representative Barbara Lee, who led the way on every important issue - beginning with her solo opposition to give Bush carte blanche power to invade Afghanistan - and who was the first major black politician to endorse Barack Obama.

Movement Heroes: In the darkest days of the Bush Administration, MoveOn.Org was always there inspiring progressives to fight back against the latest conservative outrage. They built a virtual community of activists who otherwise might have felt alone and, in the process, built a powerful populist lobby. Kudos to Joan, Wes, Eli, and all the other members of the MoveOn staff, who were an inspiration to million of Americans.

Media Heroes: Although Countdown with Keith Olbermann started in 2003, it didn't hit it's stride until August of 2006 when Olbermann aired the first of his special comments and progressives found a voice rivaling the arch-conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly. MSNBC, Olbermann's cable home, added other liberal voices; the latest being Rachel Maddow who shows signs of becoming the first progressive media star.

As the print media died, the blogosphere grew. First came The Daily Kos and then a host of liberal web sites, most notably The Huffington Post. Conservatives may claim the domain of talk radio, but progressives own the Internet and this gave a voice to millions and fueled Obama's campaign.

There are now so many liberal columnists that it's foolhardy to focus on one, but only Paul Krugman has won the Nobel Prize - and now the BB "Croix de Resistance." Krugman consistently cut through Bush Administration obfuscation and dissected our financial system, in particular, and American society, in general. His lucidity would be valuable in any era, but was particularly important in the darkest days of the Bush reign.

Activist Heroes: While most Americans hunkered down, many progressive issue groups stolidly kept doing their thing, fighting Bush policies at the local level. While it's impossible to name every group that kept fighting the good fight, here are a representative few:

The ACLU and other progressive legal groups defended human rights, in general, and the Bill of Rights, in particular. After 9/11, many Americans ignored wiretapping and the plight of those who were imprisoned at Guantanamo and black holes around the world, but civil rights attorneys kept after the Bush Administration to grant all prisoners due process. As a result, public opinion changed and America now seems prepared to rejoin the civilized world.

The Bush era was guided by the maxim, "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy," and by the contention that global climate change was unproven. The tide turned when Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth became a media phenomenon.

For eight hard years, environmentalists slugged it out with Bush-inspired profiteers. Groups like the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council - to name only two - stopped construction of new coal-fired and nuclear plants. In the process they shifted public opinion; Americans embraced conservation and alternative energy.

Everyday Heroes: Finally, the election of Barack Obama would not have been possible without the involvement of millions of people - many of whom are reading this column. You contributed your time and money and chose hope over fear. This is your moment. Revel in it.
_______



About author
Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer, activist, and Quaker. Before starting a second career as a journalist, he was a technologist and one of the founding executives at Cisco Systems. Bob can be reached at boburnett@comcast.net.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/19926

Are conservative talk-show hosts eager to go on the attack, after years of defending Bush?” asks the Louisville Courier-Journal’s Larry Muhammad. The answer is clearly yes.

Barack Obama has not yet taken office, and Rush Limbaugh is already rooting for his failure. On his radio show last Friday, Limbaugh said, “I disagree fervently with the people on our [Republican] side of the aisle who have caved and who say, ‘Well, I hope he succeeds.’”

Limbaugh told his listeners that he was asked by “a major American print publication” to offer a 400-word statement explaining his “hope for the Obama presidency.” He responded:

So I’m thinking of replying to the guy, “Okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.” (interruption) What are you laughing at? See, here’s the point. Everybody thinks it’s outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, “Oh, you can’t do that.” Why not? Why is it any different, what’s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don’t care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.” Somebody’s gotta say it.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/20/limbaugh-obama-fail/

Rush Limbaugh hopes Obama fails as president. So said the spokesman for "angry white males" with “talent on loan from God.”

Obama is a liberal according to Limbaugh and “[l]iberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here.”

So Rush wants Obama to fail and fall flat on his face. Why would he care what happens to his fellow countrymen? “We are all here for ourselves." Tell it like it is, patriotic Rush: “Citizen service is a repudiation of the principles upon which our country was based.”

Does that mean Rush opposes securing the housing market and financial crisis?

“If you're working to make the playing field fair and level, you're working for the wrong reasons,” says Rush. That’s as anti-American as citizen service.

Tell Obama what he can do with the homeless, Rush.

"One of the things I want to do before I die is conduct the homeless Olympics . . . the 10-meter shopping cart relay, the dumpster dig, and the hop, skip, and trip."

See, according to Rush,

“The culture war is between the winners and those who think they're losers who want to become winners. The losers think the only way they can become winners is by banding together all the losers and then empowering a leader of the losers to make things right for them.”

Apparently that is who Rush thinks Obama is, a leader of liberal losers. Rush also doesn’t apparently like listening to Obama. After all, according to Rush,

"Why should Blacks be heard? They're 12% of the population. Who the hell cares."

Maybe Rush thinks that Obama should “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

As to Blacks organizing and helping elect a president, well,

"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

After all, according to the spokesman for angry whites, “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?”

Perhaps that is why Rush said

“I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”

Or why Rush would openly say "You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed."

Regarding females who support Obama, Rush says women “vote with their vaginas.”

That’s because the "reason why girls don't do well on multiple choice tests goes all the way back to the Bible, all the way back to Genesis, Adam and Eve. God said, 'All right, Eve, multiple choice or multiple orgasms, what's it going to be?' We all know what was chosen."

But, hell, this whole woman’s movement thing, according to Rush “was created to allow ugly women access to the mainstream of society.”

As to Latinos, “If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people -- I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do – let the stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."

Ah, yes, the Gospel of Rush: blacks shouldn’t be heard, women vote with their vaginas, Mexicans are stupid, we are all here for ourselves, and James Earl Ray should be given a medal of honor for murdering Martin Luther King, Jr.

At least there’s one thing Rush has said with which I can agree: “The more I think about this, the more like a slut I feel.” A slut for angry white men with talent on loan from the Devil, I might add.

_______

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/19904

We have a mixed economy in america. A pure capitalistic society would be over thrown by the folks on the bottem. Think social security, welfare, medicaid and medicair. etc etc.

I thought we were untill the kangaroo court hung Saddam. I realy think they didnt wish him around to run his mouth.

No I didnt the author of the original post said that I left the link and credit to the auther on post 1 sorry you mis understood. But if he is tried and found guilty I would like to think he would get the same justice saddam got. speaking of that why did they hang him anyhow? I think it was to shut him up. Life in prison would have been a far worse punishment.

aint she the best?

If Bush wasnt guilty why would he try to seal his records? If you have nothing to hide you do not fear the truth.

I call for a trial and evidence to be presented. Plenty of it enough to convict for sure. He propagated us into a war and used 911 and the victims of it for a reasone to attack Iraq. Shame on him and any american who cannot see how badly the event of 911 was used willfully to manipulate public opinion.