A free Press is such a vital foundation of our Nation's democracy that it can not be compromised or this country will not survive. Fascist control of the press has never worked, except in the short term, and has led to disaster. I don't suppose anybody has pointed out to Cheney and Rumsfeld that fascism not only turned out to be bad for the Germans and the Italians, but neither Hitler nor Mussolini lived happily ever after. We are now experiencing a government by those bent on self destruction.
Just so you'll know, here is President Bush's take on the global warming and the environment:
"It won't matter, we'll all be dead."
Fascism is the form of government controlled by corporations. The news is just an extension of corporate marketing departments and this is a serious problem, not just for you and me, but believing their own marketing b s has been the ruin of many a corporation.
Anybody remember AT&T? Instead of cleaning up it's act and working on making its organization more efficient and driving innovation and new products, AT&T spent millions on marketing...to itself! It was a monopoly, eventually brought down by an outsider who saw the weakness within, MCI. MCI mounted an ad campaign about how evil AT&T was and how bad our phone service was as a result. There were also some huge campaign contributions and some lawsuits and when the smoke cleared, all those rah rah sessions in the company auditorium meant nothing. All that innovation worth nothing because it wasn't implemented in a timely fashion and others have now capitalized on the millions of miles of copper wire that is the backbone of the internet. Fiberoptics? AT&T created it, just like it did the transistor, then sat on its ass while the barbarians fashioned a cutting edge on these new tools and carved up what was once AT&T's paying customer base, who now pay roughly 5 times as much for basic telephone service.
Just so you'll know, MCI has now vaporized, too...a victim of believing its own marketing. Buying your own lawmakers will only go so far, because someone else will come along and buy some of their own. Self destructive tendencies are not just limited to Right Wing Conservative humans...Corporations make such short sighted decisions that their long term survival is highly questionable. It seems like the CEO's motto is something like George Bush's:
"It won't matter, we'll all be dead."
A Free Press is supposed to be the Referree in a Democracy, and let us know when our leaders are doing stupid stuff that might get us all killed, but guess what? The Free Press has gone corporate and is a near monopoly, just like AT&T. The news organs that don't support the Fascist party line are ruthlessly attacked and that is why we hear news anchors say things that just aren't true.
Just so you'll know, when a news person says something like , "Newsweek has retracted its false story on the Koran flushing incident" ...That is NOT true!
What Newsweek said is that it cannot verify independantly, what it was told. Newsweek has not said the incident did not happen, on the contrary. There have now been NINE separate confirmed incidents of desecration of the Koran by American troops.
And those deaths that Newsweek was supposed to have caused? Want to know who shot who? Your corporate news paper has probably not run a story pointing out that it was the local Afghanistan police force trained by Americans, that shot up a vigorous but peaceful demonstration, and killed 17 people...Not Newsweek.
Just so you know.
And here's some other things you should know:
...There have been confirmed reports from Guantanamo of beatings, shacklings, and lighted cigarettes being stuck in prisoners' ears. 36 prisoners have died during interrogations.
...The officers reponsible for overseeing abusive interrogations weren't punished, they were lauded for their work and transferred to other prisons. Hardened FBI agents wrote emails expressing their disgust at what they had seen.
...Innocent men have been tortured to death in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
...The White House counsel wrote memoranda justifying torture as an inherent right of the president.
Today, Senator Bill Frist will turn to a "Fair and Balanced" arbiter and ask for a ruling that will allow him to install corrupt judges into lifetime judical positions with a simple majority in the Senate. This is a dasturdly lowering of the bar...an attempt to eliminate one more protection you and I have to protect us from allowing ruthless people to gain power over America for the right wing fascists.
Frist is a tool, just so you'll know, of the Religious right, who have decided to let the Fascists have control over our government in return for letting James Dobson and his kind have control over you personal religion and your private life's choices. Corporations think this is a fine idea, of course. They will make lots of money before the future gets here, they think...Maybe...
So who is this Fair and balanced arbiter? Who is the man who will render this decision that will destroy the Senate's reputationas protector of America?
The President of the Senate and all around snarling nice guy, Dick Cheney!
Just so you'll know!
But there's danger here, Mr. Cheney...One of the haunting images from my childhood is the picture of what the Italian people themselves did to Benito Mussolini when they had their chance to thank him for turning their country into a fascist regime.
Today, the Italian Press is fiercely independant...Will America have to go through all that? Please! I hope not.
Peace,
Steve
Great post...I feel ya, and agree with every word.
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