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TechnoratiA New York Times report shines a light on how the military-industrial complex tries to shape broadcast news.
The faces dominating the front page of The New York Times last Sunday were male, strong-jawed and familiar. Indeed, that was the point.
They were the faces of nine retired military officers (there were more inside the paper) who appear regularly on network and cable television news to give viewers informed, independent assessments of the war in Iraq.
At least that was the idea.
What viewers have been getting, the Times revealed, is something quite different. The paper reported convincingly that some retired officers appearing as "military analysts" have been pushing Pentagon propaganda in return for continued access to top officials and financial benefit for themselves.
According to the Times report, "Analysts have been wooed in hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over contracting and budget matters. They have been taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence. They have been briefed by officials from the White House, State Department and Justice Department.
"In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated," the report said. "Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access. A few expressed regret for participating in what they regarded as an effort to dupe the American public."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, an enthusiastic golfer in his presidential years, left behind more than spike marks on the White House floor. He stood at a convergence in American history. He knew it. And he gave voice to a solemn warning, delivered in 1961, three days before he left office.
Eisenhower, a renowned World War II general, declared, "Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.
"In the councils of government," he warned, "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes," he declared. "We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
The Times' report on the military analysts is a tale of propaganda, hidden loyalties and financial interests. It reveals a vulnerability that reaches all the way to the survival of the United States as a country governed by the informed opinion of its people.
The newspaper's investigation shows that in case after case, the military analysts take their cues and their information from specially prepared Pentagon briefings and trips.
A number wear more than one hat. In addition to offering their "analysis" on television, they work for pay for defense-related industries. Employers range from military equipment manufacturers and contractors to lobbyists and consulting firms on the hunt for defense-related business.
The report is important for the glimpse it provides into how powerful forces help keep us enmeshed in Iraq.
The 17 military analysts pictured include such oft-seen faces as retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey on NBC News, retired Brig. Gen. James Marks on CNN and retired Lt. Gen. Tom McNerney on Fox. Even so, television news audiences haven't heard much about the report. Up it popped on Sunday morning, and by Sunday night, it was smothered like a Philadelphia cheese steak in rehashed political news.
"This article would have come sooner, but it took us two years to wrestle 8,000 pages of documents out of the Defense Department that described its interactions with network military analysts," reporter David Barstow explained on the Times' Web site. "We pushed as hard as we could, but the Defense Department refused to produce many categories of documents in response to our requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act."
Ultimately the Times went to court. Yet even then, Barstow said, "the Pentagon failed to meet several court-ordered deadlines." Finally, the judge had enough. He threatened the Defense Department with sanctions if it continued to defy court deadlines. The stalling stopped.
The television networks and cable fiefdoms involved probably would prefer this story follow another military tradition and just fade away. Like it or not, however, the report on the Pentagon puppets leaves an indelible mark.
Eisenhower, president and general, would see it and heed it. So should we.
Nancy Grape comments on state and national issues for the Maine Sunday Telegram.
Copyright © 2008 Blethen Maine Newspapers
48 Comments so far
Show AllI'm surprised this comes as a surprise. Listening to and reading statements by these 'analysts', I've taken such a propaganda-system for granted.
Given the characteristics of their utterings, how could anyone think otherwise?
*
Maybe in the same vein we'll soon have the revelation that the intention of unfettered max-growth in capitalism (the legal purpose of any standard corporate charter) leads to greed, this greed leads to need for excessive and useless production, useless production leads to need for some of it to be destroyed, need for material destruction (of weaponry, among many other things) leads to war, and war leads to human self-destruction, defeating general growth (in quality of human life), but enhancing material growth in riches for a very few exploiters.
What a shocking revelation that'll be. To some.
3 things I like about this country...
1. We have all kinds of people, which makes it interesting and always something to learn.
2. We are blessed with beautiful and varied land.
3. Some of us we hava big mouths.
banjoman please read :A People's History of the United States
The man that wrote it Howard Zinn is like you and I a veteran.
He flew many missions over Europe in WWII.
If you allow yourself to be educated on reality you may find it easier to understand many more of the statements made on this site.
3 things I like about this country
The Declaration of Independence
The Bill of Rights
The US Constitution
They are not perfect but they do at least insure the freedoms we all enjoy in this country that is until recently the work of the people freeing themselves from government repression is NEVER finished.
Interesting the way people want to slag Eisenhower.
Is it not possible that a President could be doing what he feels he needs to do, or even what he's forced to do, but then in a farewell speech warns the people about the misgivings about that course?
I'm one who believes the President is not all-powerful. There are bigger forces than the President afoot in the land. And sometimes events, like the beginnings of the cold war and the very real competition in Europe post-wwii as to what nations would fall behind the iron curtain, can drive a President to actions they might not otherwise take.
So, to me I find it entirely credible that Eisenhower might get to the end of his term in office and be left thinking "we'd better watch this, this can get out of control".
Of course, if you ain't a pure saint who's been 100% perfect all their life, you'll catch more fire from the left than we usually aim at the fascists. Gawd forbid we could just accept the warning Ike tried to leave us.
Of course, she doesn't go far enough.
Consider that these news media outlets that employ the generals are themselves deeply connected into the military-industrial complex.
NBC is mentioned, and its the most obvious one, since its a direct subsidiary of a major defense contractor. But, I'm sure if you track the money of all of the major Us corporate media you'd find very deep connections. Stockholders in the corps like Time-Warner or Newscorp, common investments amongst officer and members of the boards of directors, and don't forget the big flows of money that come in as the defense contractor corps advertise in all the us corporate media.
So, she's on the right track. But there's this constant tone amongst all these articles that this is just a mistake that can be corrected. My point is that its no mistake at all, and since these corporate media outlets don't view it as a mistake, maybe a pr problem, but not a fundamental mistake, then correcting it will not be as easy.
Well, for us its easy. Just turn them off. They are lying to you. Turn them off.
"...propaganda, hidden loyalties, and financial interests" indeed. I was looking forward to hearing more on this on "The Countdown with Keith Olbermann", the following week, but was really surprised.- Not a word was ever again brought up on this important issue.
Keep in mind that Eisenhower pandered to the military industrial complex as soon as he took office in 1953.
From 1951-53 the CIA kept pestering President Truman to let them overthrow the new Democratically elected government of Iran beacuse it was nationalizing Iranian oil. Although Truman repeatedly told the CIA where they could shove that idea, as soon as Eisenhower took office he authorized the CIA to overthrow the Iranian government. This was the first time the CIA overthrew a government. This and subsequent covert pre-emptive actions during the Eisenhower administration helped the miltary industrial media complex develop its muscle.
Excellent posts: Ardee, Chessgame, Thaddeus Stevens
Just another example (e.g. permitting use of "private contractors" where the voluntary military just will not or can not do) of how the professional military has ceded its oath obligations for personal or professional gain.
CANUCK CHUCK: Gracias for the data and clear explanation of doublethink! I've been analyzing astrological charts since I was 17, and struggled to convey to persons why and how the internal duality they coped with came from mixed loyalties, or selling out on principles, in previous incarnations. You've added a whole new level of interpretation without realizing it!
That's why for the most part I have quit listening to the news on the main stream media. It's usually been Oked by the Republican Party for broadcasting. When most retired military people speak I assume that they are only spouting what George Bush wants to hear. Or maybe I should say their handlers have told them to say at the network. The only ones I pay any attention to are those who are dissenters. The rogues who have had to leave office and retire or were forced out because they didn't agree with our illustrious commander in chief. Those are the only ones that I place any large amount of credibility on. This lack of information in this country is growing critical. Because most of the population is left uninformed about decisions that effect their daily lives. They spout what they have heard some 'news military analyst' say and believe every word of it. It's sad what these people have done to this country.
Thanks, RichM. Why Eisenhower's deathbed conversion is taken seriously by anyone is entirely beyond me. Or are we that desperate for heroes?
"A New York Times report shines a light on how the military-industrial complex tries to shape broadcast news." Tries to or does? Excellent topic, good points. Thanks.
Hey, does it feel to you like this water is getting hot? Just wondering . . .
Good point, Galen, about the end of over-the-air TV broadcasts. And the corporations are already chipping away at public access requirements:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/METRO/8011503...
So eventually all televised information will be channeled through the filter of a handful of large corporations. Wonder what kind of viewpoints will get priority? And once they get rid of net neutrality, we will truly be living in a dystopian sci-fi world where all information, and hence our "reality," will be tightly controlled. The First Amendement won't be abolished, just rendered irrelevant. Have all the free speech you want. Unless you've got big bucks, you're the only one who's going to hear it.
I never understand why I am so amazed at the general ignorance of the electorate. Time and again they have demonstrated their belief of whatever B.S. and dis-information is metted out to them. Whether from "Militay Analyists" or just lunatics such as Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. I guess I simply have more faith in my felllow citizenry than is required.
After my Tour of Duty ('70-'71) I knew, beyound a shadow of a doubt, what Ike was referring to . . . .
The Matrix, the Matrix….THE MATRIX. Isn't it quite simply true we are all stuck inside this devilish Matrix?
--The Matrix (at least the first in the series) has many spiritual overtones. It parallels with what some mystics about being in a state of 'spiritual sleep,' primarily that we are unaware, and even unaware that we are unaware.
Once we begin to awaken and see the truth regarding what we call 'normal,' we realize that it is not really 'normal' at all, that we are really, inwardly, caught in a kind of hell (ego-hell). On the other side of that, we sense something else: the possibility of freedom, which the movie calls Zion.
Primarily desire and fear hold the matrix of the 'false-self' together; the biggest fear is, "what will happen if I lose me??" We clutch to our false identity, like a mother clutching to her baby, but what we clutch to is not soft and cuddly; it is more like a hard block of nails.
I'm not sure many understand the part of the movie when Morpheus offers Neo a choice between the blue pill and red. He was telling Neo that once you open the door to the truth, you can never [completely] close it again. I found a very interesting quote in the bible by Peter that says something similar:
"For if, flying from the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ [the 'path' or 'way' to ego-transcendence/enlightenment], they be again entangled in them and overcome: their latter state is become unto them worse than the former."
Remember Cipher? Even if he was re-integrated into the matrix, could he ever really again be wholly part of it?
Yes, JavaRunner, I think most of humanity is, as you say, caught in a kind of devilish Matrix.
This one actually plugs Eisenhower:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PynWTLeUJRA&NR=1
For Galen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcS0NzoSJcU
Former corporo-military men appearing on corporo-military TV endorsing corporo-military ideas? Never!
These days you can usually drop the subject any one of the "expose" type articles subjects neatly into one of the 14 points of fascism.....perhaps even more than one.
So it goes..
In the name of competitiveness all the little news outlets are eaten and digested into 3, maybe 4 big news outlets.. so now we have only the "views" of the heads of these BIG MSM "news" outlets.. as many laid-off or fired journalists, who dared to go against the "decree from the top" will attest.
Same goes for gas pricing.. All the investigations, (generally by shills of these same companies),about price fixing, find the same result, "there is no collusion to keep prices high"... yet anyone with any sense at all can see right through that big lie.
If you owned a business that sells widgets, with a few other companies selling the same widgets, and then one of these "competitors" raises the price on his widgets, where else but in the oil business, does competition mean ALL the other players simultaneously raise prices to match?
only in a "fixed" market, all the players raise their prices to the same level in lockstep. Oh sure they have the odd "pricewar" at the pumps, just to keep the illusion in place.
the consolidation of ownership of the "media" is leading down the same competitive path.. same crap on every channel.. they tell you you have 500 channels of TV..
If you take all the programs available, without repeating the same show on 497 other channels, there is only maybe enough programs to fill 3 channels..
the rest of the channels are filled with the same shows, played at different times, or repeats of earlier showings (re-runs)..
turn off the TV and radio, it has become the "circuses and bread" to the masses, just like the Romans used, to take the peoples minds off the really important issues.
cancel magazine and newspaper subscriptions, telling them WHY you are canseling.. if they starve for money, the only thing that matters to them, they will die or change the programming to what the people want.
but unfortunately, the majority WANTS the crap they are peddling, I mean who really cares what "FILL IN NAME OF CELEB" is doing, they don't live in the real world.. watching it is just escapist voyeurism, designed to keep you numb and dumb... it is a sad state of affairs when we use other peoples misfortunes as entertainment.
Jim
Canada
jim_murray@jdz.ca
I give the journalsit who do this type of reporting some credit for having integrity, and courage. I wouldn't brand one journalist as being responsible for the entire corporate military establishment controlled media. This article through real investigative journalism is telling the people what we want and need to know. Sure, we knew what was happening when we saw those generals on the tube. Now, with great efort the story is being told in a way or forum to bring the knowledge to the entire public. So, the next time a kool-aid drinker sees one of them tellig fairy tales they just might experience a moment of realization and see it for what it really is. We all should deeply consider the idea that what we are witnessing is barely the surface of the wrongs being committed against the people by our own government and it's corporate watch dogs.
"Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry..." boy are we in trouble.
Namaste- As of February of 2009, all TV broadcasts MUST be over cable in the US in HD format.
No more using the 'rabbit ears' to pull in free TV channels. There won't be any. The 'Public' airwaves are now the SOLE property of the commercial broadcasters and cable conglomerates.
To everyone else- A probably mangled quote from Orwell's 1984:
"Europa has always been at war with Oceana."
Remember PEOPLE, this is ALL OCCURRING on the _ P U B L I C ' s _ A I R W A V E S _The M$M only _ r e n t s _ them through the FED,
as long as they provide a SERVICE to the PUBLIC
With the absence of the fairness doctrine there was no counter balancing viewpoints. Military propaganda for power and profit. The voices for peace were excluded. America is a war machine.
Yeah RichM, your satirical remark that it only took 6 years for the N.Y. Times to figure out what many already knew, I would add they still haven't figured it out! I put Americans in three catagories: (1) Those that are informed and know what is happening and care.(2)Those that are informed and know what is happening and have vested interests, so do not care(3)The vast number of Americans that are apathetic or dumbed down and do not know what is happening!
Generals who become political whores. These guys are a disgrace to veterans. Worst of all is the death that their message carries. These guys are products of a sick system embodied in a rapidly declining empire.
Hoa binh
This is so easy to solve. All one has to do is introduce each of these "spokesmodels" with the label: "Pentagon appologist", "Adminstration spokesperson", "long-time lobbyist for the Military Industrial Congressional Complex", or some such other moniker. Also, a disclaimer should be superimposed at the bottom of the screen saying, "this person is being paid by others for his views on this matter".
The Matrix, the Matrix....THE MATRIX. Isn't it quite simply true we are all stuck inside this devilish Matrix?
I remember when Kennedy was murdered and before anybody could even think about what happened the media came right out and said "Oswald did it. He acted alone. And with no political purpose. CASE CLOSED!" They had that all figured out with no investigation before Americans even said the blessing over their Thanksgiving meal. And we fell for it.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident leading to the assault on Vietnam. Same thing. And we fell for it.
9/11. Same.
Weapons of Mass Destruction...
Sadam and 9/11...
On and on and on. We keep falling for it because we're stuck inside The Matrix and respond to their every first move. "Their" meaning the people who own and operate The Matrix.
So what do we do? Unplug. Unplug now and don't go back. Unplug and assemble into our own reality. We have more money, when you put it all together, than they have at the top of the pyramid. But unless we all cancel our cable and satellite TV subscriptions and magazine and newspaper subscriptions and start talking with each other instead of lending our minds to them they will continue to befuddle us. We need to get off the grid. People are doing this in many parts of the nation. Check out http://www.jackmclamb.com for example. The price of freedom is high, but it's worth it. Toss the latte, sell the Bimmer, and learn to work the land.
And check out www.sillyConValley.net for more on The Matrix.
The salient words in this piece are:"This article would have come sooner, but it took us two years...blah, blah". Who but the comfortably brain-dead was not aware 5 years ago that those cheesy bums were spouting lies and propaganda? The NYT article changes nothing, informs nothing, does nothing. I have nothing against the paper pulp industry; but make toilet paper, not newsprint.
"The television networks and cable fiefdoms involved probably would prefer this story follow another military tradition and just fade away. Like it or not, however, the report on the Pentagon puppets leaves an indelible mark..."
- Baloney. It's already faded away. Gone. Already jettisoned down the memory hole.
"Eisenhower, president and general, would see it and heed it..."
- Also baloney. Eisenhower gets far too much credit for his one famous speech. During Ike's 8 years in office, the military-industrial complex grew steadily & rapidly. Except for the famous few words in his farewell address, there's no evidence that he ever made any serious attempt to limit this malign process.
"This article would have come sooner, but it took us two years to wrestle 8,000 pages of documents out of the Defense Department that described its interactions with network military analysts," reporter David Barstow explained on the Times' Web site....
- Also worthy of contempt is any implication that simply because the NYT published this story last week, that they themselves are any less guilty of being MIC whores than the TV networks. The NYT is in many ways Propaganda Central for the US government. Their occasional little wrist-smacks to the Bush Admin, & feeble pretenses of functioning as some sort of independent "watchdog" over government are in many ways more deeply insulting to the public's intelligence than the more blatant assaults on our senses by the likes of FOX.
It took the NYT 6 years to figure out that the TV networks were whoring for the Pentagon? Gee, how impressive...
The "news" reporters operate in the same basic way. They try to remain uncontroversial in order to maintain "access" to the people in power. Jim Miklashewski at the Pentagon for NBC basically just reads the Pentagon press releases and only reports on negative Pentagon stories if he is reporting on an internal Pentagon report about the subject.
The Bush Administration gets positive coverage from military analysts and reporters for many reasons, but one reason is because they play the "access" game in a very ruthless and effective way.
Pentagon propaganda is only one small part of the overall problem related to the limited number of monopoly controlled media outlets. We need to be more active in creating and participating in online media outlets that are far more democratic and informative.
To some 'people', war is just business and the analysts they hire are taking care of the infomercials they need to sell the public their product, which is war. This won't change as long as politicians, thanks to the voters, leave this situation as it is.
Banjoman pens:
"Can you people name 3 (three) things you like about this nation of ours?
Perhaps it's not so much you cannot, but that you don't want to…..sooooosad
lets put on our thinkin' caps now. You folks love to show how bright and quick you are! See if you can really think. For yourselves, that is!!!
There is nothing wrong with a little patriotism, unless you are more worried about what the people in your circles will think of "you", instead of what you really think of yourselves.
I would have thought you all were above "peer pressure".
Think long and hard….isn't it a bit, well, you fill in the rest….three things….come on…that's not so hard."
Ardee responds:
What is really sad is your contention that patriotism means silence or complicity. I can name a multiplicity of things I love about this nation, starting with the Bill or Rights and the Constitution. But the real issue here is not love of country is it, Banjoman? The real issue here is how does one express ones love of country and wishes for its future and its citizenry.
Are you aware, I wonder, about the present employment of those retired Generals in question? Do you know how many of them were securing their paychecks by pimping for the continuation of a war that was bringing great profit to their employers? So were they expressing love of country or love of money? Were they speaking to the greater interests of their nation or of their employers? Were they using their reputations in order to continue a great lie?
Speaking of great lies, Banjoman, perhaps the greatest and most harmful lie of all is the one you perpetuate; that patriotism requires blind obedience. Actually that sort of allegiance is the most harmful to a democracy. You should really reconsider you rather silly observation.
This article points out the aspects of news mongering by so called experts talking the Pentagon's main points and covering up the weakness of those points: the war in Iraq is a lost cause, we should have never been there and it's perpetrated to keep the armament builders funded. After all if we built war equipment but never used any of it, the defense contracts would eventually wither away.
Actually all of American society, and much of Western Civilization is based on the Big Lies officialdom tells the folks on the street.
Propaganda:
"Mass transit will never work."
Fact: The auto companies deep sixed the idea of mass transit over 70 years ago by purchasing all the light rail, urban rail and bus lines and then slowly bankrupted them. Related to this piece of official propaganda about mass transit is urban sprawl perpetrated by developers, city councils and contractors who love to drain ponds, chop down orchards and fill in streams to build shopping malls and houses of tickey tackey.
Propaganda:
"Affordable medical care in the US is out of reach for everyone."
Fact: Congress has been notified many times by the Institute of Medicine that remedies to our health care mess are at hand: the number one cause of high cost is the sloppy methods in place at hospitals, clinics doctor's offices and other points of delivery. The number two cause of high costs in medicine are under-utilization because folks don't know what's available to them and then wait for a catastrophe.
Propaganda:
"Public issue X, y and z can only be dealt with in the way we are currently dealing with them"
Fact: The big money folks (millions of dollars per year per person) in charge have vested in interests in the smoking utility plants, the dribbling, leaky oil ports, the wasted lives, the polluted water, the destroyed forests, the paved over streams and the broken dreams.
I love drunken vets who so long for the glory days that they delude themselves into thinking this country has nothing but noble intensions (remember what the road to hell is paved with?). They make me chuckle.
I love how people blindly follow what their govt tells them no matter what they may hear or find out later to be the truth. It makes me feel proud that I did not swallow the Kool-Aid.
I love the hypocrisy that the leaders (and followers) of the US hold. With any hope it may get to critical mass soon. It makes me think of revolution.
canuckchuck,
I'd like to buy you a beer.
A thought occurred to me that we are all responsible for our ignorance or lack thereof. Both the 'left' and 'right' can be self-righteous. As a rule, though (but with some notable exceptions) those on the right seem to be much more hardened and obtuse.
Additionally, on both sides, we seem to emphasize what we call the 'pros' of our position and explain away or completely deny the 'cons.' Take 'illegal' immigration as an example. The powers that be pull on our heartstrings in the hope that they (the Chamber of Commerce is one of their champions) can continue to exploit these workers (for their gain, of course), unabated. They are sly and lump us all together as racist or xenophobic if we don't support their position, or threaten us with dire consequences if we interfere with their profitable status quo.
Another thing many believe that a bad/harmful/evil means can justify a good end. Never, never, never is that true. Why? Basically, because the ends can never be entirely separated from the means. And collateral damage, as the warmongers and generals love to call it, equates to heartbreak, misery, and vows for vengeance that last for a generation--or longer. To bomb another country to bring about political change is simply wrong. Many understand that on a deep level.
Some assert that we should stop 'complaining' and get out and do something to affect positive change. First, though, we must open a dialog to assemble with others who are of a like mind. Sometimes it's difficult to determine whether or not a 'cause' is noble. Only a factual mind, guided by the heart can determine that. On the other hand, one can learn a lot from trial and error where self-honesty is still operating.
But merely picking up some popular banner or other and marching with others off a cliff like lemmings is simply stupid. MSM, has many articulate, foxy cheerleaders that sway millions. They frame the debates and choose for the mindless multitudes what their bosses deem important, and exclude the rest, so those issues are often entirely off the radar.
Do you notice that their motive is to constantly keep us riled up about SOMETHING? One day it's sexual predators, tomorrow high gas prices. In between they blast your mind with idiotic commercials designed to get you to buy crap (mostly from China now) you don't need.
Now, I almost chuckle at banjoman. He loves to get a rise out of us (don't ya, banjo? :) ) I understand you well, my friend. My father and banjoman are cut from the same mold. Both love fox news (Rush Limbaugh too?). I bet they both belong to same 'mindless achiever' class, where is self-reflection is regarded as an impediment.
My father has been a hardcore republican for as long as I can remember. During the Vietnam war he spouted the venom against communism that was in vogue at the time, and thought it was just fine and dandy that America was fighting against this 'evil' in southeast Asia.
He was in conflict about it, though, because clearly he was NOT in favor of his boys participating in the conflict. I was not old enough to be eligible, but my eldest brother was. So my father made sure he went to college to avoid the draft. My middle brother was not college material, and my father was deathly afraid he would be drafted. Luckily, the war and draft came to an end just in time.
I wonder, too, how many are for the Iraq war, but not for sending their boys over there to fight and possibly die?
Now, it's interesting too that, like banjoman, my father has a little 'imp' that enjoys taunting those he deems liberal or left. Banjoman's game is to provoke you, then cry foul (to show how bad you are and show how tolerant he is in comparison, right banjo?) when you react (makes me smile a bit, kinda like a do with my father now. I no longer take the bait).
Remember for, banjo, like his hero, GWB, you are either with us or against us; it's the either/or mentality. Much of the religious right does the same thing when the come at you the the question: "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?" They use your answer to gauge whether you are one of 'them' or not.
Civilians (that's what they are once they retire) are being "given access to classified intelligence." Additionally, "they work for pay for defense-related industries."
And what is the result? Imperiled security for America, and the needless deaths of US servicepersons and foreign innocents. Is this not treason? Is this not criminal? Is this not profiteering? Is this not amoral?
Is this not sufficient reason to turn off your TV and write to your congressperson and drive less and buy locally and vote your conscience and...and...and...educate yourself.
Preaching to the choir I am. But there's good reason to do so: evangelism needn't be merely a tool for the hoodwinked.
And the writer of this text is blissfully naive:
The NYT is part of the coverup of the genocide that has haunted Central Africa since around 1990, Eastern Congo today being the worst, with up to 45,000 killed every month (acc. to AP in January).
The NYT could not care less - this is our 'free media'.
Throwing dirt at others, however correct the charges, should not work to exonerate even worse criminals like the NYT.
Oh, please! Is "Ike" the best we can drum up for progressive leadership?
Three things.....that's all. yep, that's what i figured...
Come on there maple leaf
Labatts hasn't killed ALL your brain cells yet has it?
deliverance banjoboy
"I will to the day I die try to help and not hinder the JUST AND NOBLE CAUSES of this great nation"
you will probably die of old age before you find a "just and noble cause" your nation is involved or interested in....unless you consider the further self- enrichment of the wealthy class, or the murder and torture of anyone who gets in their way, as a "Just and Noble" cause.
You make the Nazi SS look like free thinkers.
Can you people name 3 (three) things you like about this nation of ours?
Perhaps it's not so much you cannot, but that you don't want to.....sooooosad
lets put on our thinkin' caps now. You folks love to show how bright and quick you are! See if you can really think. For yourselves, that is!!!
There is nothing wrong with a little patriotism, unless you are more worried about what the people in your circles will think of "you", instead of what you really think of yourselves.
I would have thought you all were above "peer pressure".
Think long and hard....isn't it a bit, well, you fill in the rest....three things....come on...that's not so hard.
your friend banjoman
doublethink is The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them . . . . To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth. "
" His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully-constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them; to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy; to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved using doublethink
djwolf - I used to think on the lines of a 60/40 society a while ago, but now it could be more like this - 60% are sheeple who will go along with the establishment, 10% are thinkers who question everything and look beneath the surface for an answer, 30% are virtually brain dead and are not interested in anything outside of their existence.
As a proud American and a veteran, I will to the day I die try to help and not hinder the just and noble causes of this great nation.
If you folks put one tenth as much energy into solutions as you do complaining, you'd make a difference as well.
If you hate it here so much, well?
Unlike other countries, we do not have lines of people applying for exit visas. I don't even think you need one.
Try France...they'll glading take you Yankee bashers anyday. Unlike Omaha beach in 1944, there may be some Frenchmen around to give you a welcome...how quickly they forgot..as we liberated them from tyranny, we try to do the same today in the heart of Persia. Our cause IS noble.
What a bunch of crepe hangers. Try not to be such weenies and "help" for a change.
your friend banjoman
We, in the West, have always had a 60/40 society. Sixty percent of the population rely on emotional appeal for their decision making and will follow anyone strong enough to lead. Forty percent are thinkers and always look beneath the surface before drawing conclusions.
The 60% are the Sheeple. No one really cared what they thought since they caould be pacified by empty promises, bold sounding rhetoric and a marching band. What has changed is that the 40% who knew that no 'military mouthpiece' was ever going to say "the Pentagon is mad to believe we can invade and occupy another soveriegn nation without substantial ongoing costs in resources and lives." The academics, the experts, the political journalists, the judiciary, all knew the truth but their funding, salaries, grants and favours were all tied to the multi-national corporations who no longer work in competition but in collusion against the people.