I was just over at ThinkProgress, and I ran across this quote from the “Dick” himself (Cheney) regarding the deadline approaching for us to remove troops from Iraq:
“I hope Iraqis can deal with it. At some point they have to stand on their own. But I would not want to see the U.S. waste all the tremendous sacrifice that has gotten us to this point.“
Sorry, but the “waste” of 4,316 American lives (as of this writing) prior to this moment rests fully on him and Bush. They wanted to get us into a war and, by God, by hook or crook, they did it. Never mind the lives permanently lost because of their desire to overthrow Hussein. These chicken hawks should be held accountable for every one of those lives.
I’ve written about this a couple of times in the past. We need to get out and stay out of both Iraq and Afghanistan. No ifs, ands, or buts. Period.
How dare Cheney use this excuse for staying put? We’ve acted like bullying conquerors, invading a nation with no good reason. I repeat…no GOOD reason. This pre-emptive bulls**t doctrine that Bush fomented years ago is totally outrageous on its face. I realize this has been gone over and over, again and again, but what right do we have to decide some country will attack us in the future; therefore, we must attack them first? To play the tape to its conclusion, that means we can attack ANY country, because, who knows, fifty or a hundred years from now it could be our enemy. Might as well attack them now, just to be safe!
We are now a permanent war state, ladies and gentlemen. Obama has picked up the ball and is running with it in Afghanistan. And if you think that we will be completely out of Iraq any time within the next century, I’ve got a bridge to sell you in Florida.
“Tremendous sacrifice,” my ass. Better to cut our losses (and not "waste" any more lives) and become the country we should be. One that leads the world in freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, we have to clean our house big time before we can get to that level of respect from the rest of the world. And we should start by punishing those responsible for murdering over 4,000 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis. Bush and Cheney shall be first.
I want us working on our own problems (and we have many, to be sure), and when another nation asks us for help, we will lend an altruistic hand in friendship. Every country has the right to its own sovereignty. We should NOT impose our will nor force ourselves upon it. Hegemony should not be our mantra.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Celebrity Ratings Bonanzas
I just knew this was coming:
From Howard Kurtz, Media Correspondent (CNN & Washington Post) -
"Michael Jackson TV ratings in U.S.: ...Cable ratings thru the roof. CNN up 973% at one point, MSNBC 330%, Fox 243%"
We are definitely a celebrity driven society. Of course, the government loves this...they can now do unnoticed major profitable business with the multinational corporations (conglomerates) at the expense of the common person. They’ve been able to do this for decades (think O.J. Simpson in the 90’s), and look where it’s gotten us.
The masses stay focused on this "tragedy" and other perpetual celebrity "major events," ad nauseum. Ergo, this leads to their not paying attention to what's really going on that's affecting their lives. It gives "The Powers That Be" opportunities to create policy and pass laws that will slip past a deliberately uninformed public.
The ratings bonanza further feeds the Main Stream Media sharks to keep paying close attention to celebrities, waiting for the next ratings boom (read: profits) and continually keeps the focus away from the really important issues in our lives.
Another method of making us look the other way is to make celebrities out of missing women. Of course, the women must be white, middle class and very attractive (usually blond). A child will also do. Once one turns up missing we then get weeks and weeks of hammering all the same “what if” or “who could have” scenarios as the hunt goes on. And the ratings escalate with the drama.
One last point: The Main Stream Media outlets are completely owned by the multinationals. As an example, GE (major war equipment supplier) owns NBC and MSNBC. They (GE, et. al.) are extremely interested in sleight-of-hand manipulation in order to garner more profits.
During the hysterical drumbeat to war with Iran, Phil Donahue, an anti-war activist, had a show on MSNBC that was one of the highest rated shows on that network. MSNBC (remember, owned by war-profiteering GE) demanded he match his anti-war guests with pro-war advocates. By the way, the pro-war were to be two to one (they felt Phil counted as an anti-war advocate). MSNBC canceled his show just before we attacked that sovereign nation because they were afraid to look like the anti-war network. At least, that was the spin.
I do recommend a documentary entitled: “War Made Easy: How the Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” The film talks about how we, the people, are manipulated into a war fever. Great film.
If you're old enough, remember the days when network news (Huntley/Brinkley, Cronkite) delivered news, nothing but the news and there was no concern whether there were profits to be made in the network news business? I did hear on a show that the death of Elvis was the second lead story of a major news network (I forget which one) after an actual "news" event. My...how things have changed.
Now? The "news" is basically "infotainment." 'Tis a pity...
From Howard Kurtz, Media Correspondent (CNN & Washington Post) -
"Michael Jackson TV ratings in U.S.: ...Cable ratings thru the roof. CNN up 973% at one point, MSNBC 330%, Fox 243%"
We are definitely a celebrity driven society. Of course, the government loves this...they can now do unnoticed major profitable business with the multinational corporations (conglomerates) at the expense of the common person. They’ve been able to do this for decades (think O.J. Simpson in the 90’s), and look where it’s gotten us.
The masses stay focused on this "tragedy" and other perpetual celebrity "major events," ad nauseum. Ergo, this leads to their not paying attention to what's really going on that's affecting their lives. It gives "The Powers That Be" opportunities to create policy and pass laws that will slip past a deliberately uninformed public.
The ratings bonanza further feeds the Main Stream Media sharks to keep paying close attention to celebrities, waiting for the next ratings boom (read: profits) and continually keeps the focus away from the really important issues in our lives.
Another method of making us look the other way is to make celebrities out of missing women. Of course, the women must be white, middle class and very attractive (usually blond). A child will also do. Once one turns up missing we then get weeks and weeks of hammering all the same “what if” or “who could have” scenarios as the hunt goes on. And the ratings escalate with the drama.
One last point: The Main Stream Media outlets are completely owned by the multinationals. As an example, GE (major war equipment supplier) owns NBC and MSNBC. They (GE, et. al.) are extremely interested in sleight-of-hand manipulation in order to garner more profits.
During the hysterical drumbeat to war with Iran, Phil Donahue, an anti-war activist, had a show on MSNBC that was one of the highest rated shows on that network. MSNBC (remember, owned by war-profiteering GE) demanded he match his anti-war guests with pro-war advocates. By the way, the pro-war were to be two to one (they felt Phil counted as an anti-war advocate). MSNBC canceled his show just before we attacked that sovereign nation because they were afraid to look like the anti-war network. At least, that was the spin.
I do recommend a documentary entitled: “War Made Easy: How the Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” The film talks about how we, the people, are manipulated into a war fever. Great film.
If you're old enough, remember the days when network news (Huntley/Brinkley, Cronkite) delivered news, nothing but the news and there was no concern whether there were profits to be made in the network news business? I did hear on a show that the death of Elvis was the second lead story of a major news network (I forget which one) after an actual "news" event. My...how things have changed.
Now? The "news" is basically "infotainment." 'Tis a pity...
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