Chris Floyd: TROUBLED SLEEP
Posted Saturday, July 5, 2003 by vgdesign

"When you gonna wake up, and strengthen the things that remain?" - Bob Dylan

... A new kind of American state is being forged, where arbitrary authority replaces law, and obedience outweighs liberty.

Yes, things are far gone in the "Homeland" these days. No protest about secret arrests. No protest about the dictatorial powers that Bush has awarded himself, including the authority to order the assassination of anyone in the world he designates an "enemy." Bush even boasts about these extrajudicial killings, which have included at least one U.S. citizen; indeed, the Commander was showered with applause in Congress when he laughingly referred to them in his official State of the Union address. Again, this has all been reported openly -- yet has stirred barely a flicker of public opposition.

History has shown us this sad spectacle many times before: a people sleepwalking into tyranny and disaster. A people lulled into a stupor by alternating currents of fear and frivolity, afraid to cast off their comforting ignorance -- their willful ignorance -- of the crimes being committed in their name. >>More

US government plans TV news broadcasts to Iran
Posted Saturday, July 5, 2003 by vgdesign

By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press

Adding a new dimension to its support for pro-democracy activists in Iran, the Voice of America is planning a nightly half hour television news show tailored for viewers in that country.

"By reporting what's happening in Iran today, we can help further the struggle for freedom and self-determination in Iran," said Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees most U.S. government-sponsored broadcasts overseas.

The first broadcast of the Persian language "News and Views" show will be this coming Sunday from 9:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The show is scheduled to run through Sept. 30 at a cost of $500,000. >>More

Propoganda R  U.S.? Check out >>Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)

MEDIA-IRAQ: The Real Danger Lies Within
Posted Saturday, July 5, 2003 by vgdesign

By Gørill Husby and Guri Wiggen, Inter Press Service (IPS)

The level of self-censorship in the media has risen not just during the Iraq war but also since 9/11, says Robert Fisk from The Independent  newspaper published in Britain and John Pilger, Australian broadcaster and film-maker.

Pilger and Fisk both spoke to IPS on visits to Oslo. Pilger came to receive the 100,000 dollar Sophie Prize for 30 years of work to expose deception and war against humanity. Fisk came to give a lecture at Fritt Ord, a Norwegian media foundation.

”Propaganda is not found just in totalitarian states,” Pilger says. ”There at least they know they are being lied to. We tend to assume it is the truth. In the U.S., censorship is rampant.” >>More

The tyranny of George II
Posted Saturday, July 5, 2003 by vgdesign

By John O'Farrell, The Guardian

... Today is Independence Day in the United States, when Americans celebrate freedom from Britain. The final straw had been the enforcement of the Penal Acts, which had been passed so that 200 years later teenage boys would giggle in history lessons. If today's British government had found itself at war with the Americans it would have been very confused. "Er, right, but can we still be on the same side as you anyway?"

Re-reading the Declaration of Independence makes you realise what far-sighted men those first American politicians were: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Oh, and the right to put American bases in over a hundred independent countries, organise fascist coups to install pro-American puppet regimes, stifle free trade if it's not in US economic interests and force children everywhere to watch a schmaltzy purple dinosaur called Barney." >>More

Government Prying, the Good Kind
Posted Saturday, July 5, 2003 by vgdesign

By Michelle Delio, Wired News

"The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest," according to the architect of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson.

Given that sentiment, it's tempting to think Jefferson would have approved of a new Web-based repository intended to close what the site's developers describe as an ever-widening gap between citizens' ability to monitor the government and the government's ability to monitor its citizens.

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab unveiled the Government Information Awareness, or GIA, website Friday. Using applications developed at the Media Lab, GIA collects and collates information about government programs, plans and politicians from the general public and numerous online sources. Currently the database contains information on more than 3,000 public figures. >>More

A BUZZFLASH DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FOR 2003
Posted Friday, July 4, 2003 by symbolman

A BUZZFLASH DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FOR 2003

Excerpt:

"Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our elected brethren in Congress. We have warned them from time to time of the attempts by the President to extend unwarranted jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our forefathers emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our established form of self-governance. They, too, have for the most part been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our re-formation, and hold them, as we hold the current President and his Administration, Enemies of Freedom.

We, therefore, the People of the United States of America, over the Internet, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, by our own authority as the Governed, solemnly publish an declare, that the Government of these United States be returned to its rightful place under the jurisdiction of the Governed, that the Government return to its appropriate place as protector of the People and the Environment against the special interests of the Corporations with renewed fiscal responsibility for future generations, that the Government return our country to it's position as protector of liberty and freedom both domestically and abroad not through aggression, but through diplomacy, renewed alliances and leadership, that the Government return to the Constitutional principles that are the foundation of over two centuries of successful self-government of these United States of America. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.">> More

We agree with BUZZFLASH and back them - a MUST READ.

Celebrate July 4th by Declaring Independence from the Corporate Media!
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2003 by vgdesign

CODEPINK

Fed up with the mainstream media's lies, omissions and distortions? It's time to send them a message: we're not taking it anymore. During Independence Day week - June 30-July 6, 2003 - join with thousands of others across the country and put your daily newspaper subscription on hold, turn off your TV, and act to support independent media! >>TAKE ACTION

Foreign Press Association slams Israeli boycott of BBC
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2003 by vgdesign

JERUSALEM - The Foreign Press Association in Israel criticised Wednesday the government's decision to boycott the BBC after it accused the British broadcaster of making programmes that bordered on anti-Semitism.

"Taking steps against a news outlet for the content of its coverage is a slippery slope that can lead to the illegitimate attempts to exert pressure, by limiting access and staff, on organisations or journalists whose reporting is deemed unfavourable to the government's policy," the association said in a statement.

"This runs counter to the precepts of freedom of the press in a democratic country." >>More

>>BBC Program: "Israel's Secret Weapon"

'Mr President, how dare you?'
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2003 by vgdesign

By Mike Shannon, The Smirking Chimp

Even for a man who has made some of the stupidest, most ill-advised, poorly thought out and badly constructed off the cuff comments ever uttered by a high ranking government official, this was way over the line. For George Bush to declare that "we have sufficient forces" in place to handle any armed threat from Iraqi insurrectionists so "bring them on" is so lacking in common sense, so devoid of compassion for those effected by the statement, so willful a display of ignorance of how such a comment will be interpreted by both foe and friend alike that it can be considered nothing but indisputable evidence that he is by temperament and intellect grotesquely unsuited for the office of the President of the United States.

For a man who has never heard a shot fired in anger to stand in a public forum and deliberately goad others to take violent action against the men and women he is directly responsible for is an abomination. How dare he be so callous? How dare he be so hypocritical? How dare he be so stupid? >>More

How To Beat Tim Russert: Get inside his head and shake vigorously
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2003 by vgdesign

By Jack Shafer, Slate

Those who would be president must first run the gantlet that is Tim Russert's Meet the Press, the highest-rated Sunday morning political show. Already, candidates Lieberman, Kerry, Edwards, Sharpton, Gephardt, Graham, Clark, Moseley Braun, Kucinich, and Dean (twice) have appeared on the show, with Russert humbling practically all. The Washington Post's  Howard Kurtz writes this week that Dean's allegedly poor performance on the June 22 Meet the Press  has elicited a barrage of what Kurtz calls "negative commentary" from the media, which had previously cuddled up with the candidate.

Russert frustrates the candidates by knowing their positions on issues better than they do—where they've stumbled, where they've flip-flopped, and where they're most likely to embarrass themselves under the kliegs. Plotting his interviews out like chess matches, he deploys aggressive openings, subtle feints, artfully constructed traps, and lightning offenses to crack the politicians' phony veneer and reveal the genuine veneer beneath. But a study of Meet the Press  transcripts reveals that Russert relies too heavily on a formula. He can be beat. >>More

The New York Times’ Racist Lies about Africa
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2003 by vgdesign

By Milton Allimadi, The Black Commentator

More than 10 years ago, I brought to the attention of editors at The New York Times  my expose of cases of journalistic concoctions by reporters and editors during the newspaper’s African news coverage. I was virtually ignored. So you can imagine how I felt when Jayson Blair’s plagiarism and fakery came back to haunt Times  editors. Times  editors have known for years that reporters and editors committed ugly transgressions in the past. Blair’s only mistake was being caught.

When Times  reporters such as Lloyd Garrison and Joseph Lelyveld – who recently was brought back as interim executive editor to repair the fallout from the Blair case – filed news stories from Africa between the 1960s and the 1980s, the paper’s editors routinely fabricated scenes and manufactured quotes for their articles. In some instances, the editors wanted articles to conform to the racist stereotypical biases that American readers had come to expect in reports from Africa.

Times  editors’ assertions that Blair’s concoctions and fabrications reflected a “low point” in the newspaper’s 150-year history are disingenuous. Some of the low point came during the 1960s, as I discovered when I dug up documents from the newspaper’s archives in 1992. I was then a student at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia and was researching the paper’s coverage of Africa. >>More

Still Miller Time: 'NY Times' Circles the Wagons
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2003 by vgdesign

Opinion by William E. Jackson, Jr., Editor & Publisher

On July 2, Judith Miller's byline appeared in The New York Times for the first time since June 7. But, based on comments by a Times spokeswoman, it is obvious that the wagons are still circling at the Times, in this case to protect an embattled star reporter.

From postwar Iraq, Miller, the Times'  expert on chemical and biological weapons, wrote a series of exaggerated stories that led readers to believe that unconventional weapons programs were being uncovered or weapons of mass destruction were about to be found -- and that these discoveries supported the Bush administration's claims about Saddam Hussein's development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Traveling as an "embed" with one of the teams making up the 75th Exploitation Task Force, Miller crossed the line from that of reporter to that of member of a team she referred to as "my unit." A professional scandal evolved, with Miller's authority, and the credibility of the Times, severely undermined. >>More

Speaking of Cowards - "Bush's Betrayal"
Posted Wednesday, July 2, 2003 by symbolman

Bush's Betrayal

Chester Mierzejewski, an old war buddy of Bush, who said he was angered by the "false assertions" made by candidate Bush when describing the incident, gave a different account.

After 44 years of silence, Mierzejewski, who also was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, told the New York Post that Bush had abandoned his crew to death when there was another choice.

He said he was approximately 100 feet in front of Bush's plane as the turret gunner for Squadron Commander Douglas Melvin's plane, "so close he could see in the cockpit" of Bush's bomber. Mierzejewski's close wartime buddy was one of the two crew members in Bush's plane.

According to Mierzejewski, the squadron was in a tight-formation bombing raid against a Japanese radio installation on an island reported to be heavily fortified. He saw "a puff of smoke" come from Bush's plane which quickly disappeared and was certain only one man parachuted from the plane and that it was Bush, the pilot.

Mierzejewski said the Avenger torpedo bomber was engineered so that it could successfully crash land on water and that Bush doomed his own crew by bailing out and leaving the bomber out of control.

Other World War II veterans also expressed concern about Bush parachuting out of the aircraft. "He had a moral obligation to put that plane in the water in an emergency landing," Robert Flood, a former B-17 bombardier told the press. "He violated the primary rule for a captain of a multi-crew aircraft: The pilot never leaves the airplane with anybody in it.">> More

Another BUSH story of cowardice - looks like it runs in the family. At least the Senior Bush went into Battle and wasn't AWOL like Junior "God talks to me" Dubya. Still Jr goads the enemy into attacking our Troops in the Field. BUSH LIES AND SOLDIERS DIE. It doesn't matter which BUSH you are talking about does it?

'Bring Them On,' Bush Says to Iraq Attacks
Posted Wednesday, July 2, 2003 by symbolman

Radio Netherlands: Washington´s war on the ICC
Posted Wednesday, July 2, 2003 by vgdesign

The United States has ploughed millions of dollars into Colombia to help with the war on drugs and the fight against leftist guerrillas. But now Washington is cutting that military aid - because of a dispute about the new International Criminal Court (ICC) here in the Netherlands. Unlike some other nations, Colombia hasn't agreed to exempt US nationals from extradition to the court.

Lotte Leicht of Human Rights Watch says it's just another example of Washington bullying countries that rely on its aid:

"The tactics used by the US is not really primarily aimed at protecting American citizens from potential prosecutions by the international criminal court. It's part of an overall effort to undermine the court altogether." >>More

Distortions and Team Alpha
Posted Wednesday, July 2, 2003 by vgdesign

Letters To The Editor, Washington Post

Howard Kurtz's June 25 Style story, "Embedded Reporter's Role in Army Unit's Actions Questioned by Military," contained distortions about my team's hunt for weapons of mass destruction and its relationship to New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

Although Mr. Kurtz says he e-mailed me for comment for his story, I never received such an e-mail.

In the Army, everything rides on a soldier's reputation, and Mr. Kurtz's attempt to characterize me as someone who would allow anyone to usurp his authority and responsibility to either his men or his mission is slanderous, as are comments from a "senior officer" lacking the spine to be named. To claim something based on secondhand information from an unnamed source is dangerous to The Post's credibility.

The only person who ever asked me to comment was Barton Gellman, Ms. Miller's competitor at The Post. I am still more than willing to provide comment on any aspect of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction, including our relationship with embedded reporters.

RICHARD L. GONZALES
Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army
Leader, Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha
>>More

Poll: Majority in US believes Bush 'stretched truth' about Iraq
Posted Wednesday, July 2, 2003 by vgdesign

WASHINGTON (AFP) - For the first time since the beginning of the war in Iraq, a solid majority of Americans believe the Bush administration either "stretched the truth" about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction or told outright lies, according to a new opinion survey.

The poll by the University of Maryland found that 52 percent of respondents said they believed President George W. Bush and his aides were "stretching the truth, but not making false statements" about Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's chemical, biological and nuclear programs.

Another 10 percent said US officials were presenting Congress, the American public and the international community "evidence they knew was false," indicated the survey which was made public Tuesday.

Only 32 percent said they thought the government was being "fully truthful" about the Iraqi arsenal. >>More

Max Castro: Was Times Coverage Tainted?
Posted Tuesday, July 1, 2003 by vgdesign

What was the role of the American media in ''manufacturing consent'' among the American people for the war in Iraq and its aftermath?

Jingoistic journalism has helped bring about more than one war. The most notorious example is the Spanish-American war of 1898, in which the yellow journalism of the time played a key role by whipping up anti-Spanish sentiment among the populace.

Is there a parallel in Iraq? Did the media cross the line beyond reporting into assisting or cheerleading the war effort? Did even the ''nation's newspaper of record,'' The New York Times, help Washington's hawks make a case for the war by lending excessive credibility to the official story regarding weapons of mass destruction? And, if that bastion of alleged liberal media bias succumbed to the enormous power of government manipulation, what can be said for lesser media? >>More

U.S. Troops Trapped In Iraq
Posted Tuesday, July 1, 2003 by vgdesign

According to Confused Rummy & Chickenhawk George, the Iraq War is over, there are only small pockets of criminals; according to this Vietnam veteran, the war has not ended but changed, changed to a guerrilla war the U.S. will lose.
By Stewart Nusbaumer, Intervention Magazine

Nearly two months after President Bush declared an end to the war in Iraq, with great fanfare and total self-confidence, 61 U.S. soldiers have died and the Iraqi attacks are escalating on our troops. Clearly the fighting is not over, some say it’s only beginning. But what kind of fighting?

The New York Times wrote that U.S. troops in Iraq are facing “an organized campaign of guerrilla warfare.” Yet, when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was asked whether the recent assailants of U.S. troops were guerrillas, he replied, “I don't know that I would use that word.” The word Rumsfeld did use was “criminals.” The problem is not guerrilla war, according to Rummy, but criminal activity.

As for the public, it seems to be perplexed, which is risky for Republicans since being perplexed has been known to lead to serious thinking. Americans witnessed our troops being warmly embraced as liberators, the hugs, the kissed and all of that, after a quick victory spin in their SUVs, they returned to the “fair and balanced” to hear our troops were being angrily killed as occupiers. The typical American is beginning to think something isn’t kosher about this peace.

President Bush is wrong, the war is not over. Secretary of Defense is wrong, the attackers are not criminals. It is a guerrilla war. Guerrillas do not need a jungle to operate, only somewhere to hide, somewhere to pounce from and somewhere to retreat into. Urban environments can be ideal, the sprawing, maze-like Iraqi cities certainly are.

Guerrilla Warfare Recognition Course For Chickenhawks >>More