News Media Bias
Further proof of the bias of the news media, and the need for a mandatary enforced Code of Ethics for Journalists. A Code of Ethics exists, but it is voluntary.
Every major occupation has a Code of Ethics, except journalists.
http://narj-clirus.blogspot.com/
---------------------------
MSNBC.com investigative reporter Bill Dedman
Bill Dedman
Investigative reporter
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19113455
The following 144 journalists made campaign contributions from 2004 through the first quarter of 2007, according to Federal Election Commission records studied by MSNBC.com.
MSNBC.com checked the Federal Election Commission records from January 2004 through the first quarter of 2007 and attempted to contact each journalist. If a person donated during that period, earlier donations are also listed here.
MSNBC.com limited its search to:
— Federal candidates, PACs and parties, not state or local campaigns.
— The period January 2004 through the first quarter of this year.
— Donors in news jobs, not corporate executives or publishers, who are allowed by nearly every news organization to donate.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19113485/
MSNBC.com identified 144 journalists who made political contributions from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign, according to the public records of the Federal Election Commission. Most of the newsroom checkbooks leaned to the left: 125 journalists gave to Democrats and liberal causes. Only 17 gave to Republicans. Two gave to both parties.
But with polls showing the public losing faith in the ability of journalists to give the news straight up, some major newspapers and TV networks are clamping down. They now prohibit all political activity — aside from voting — no matter whether the journalist covers baseball or proofreads the obituaries. The Times in 2003 banned all donations, with editors scouring the FEC records regularly to watch for in-house donors. In 2005, The Chicago Tribune made its policy absolute. CBS did the same last fall. And The Atlantic Monthly, where a senior editor gave $500 to the Democratic Party in 2004, says it is considering banning all donations. After MSNBC.com contacted Salon.com about donations by a reporter and a former executive editor, this week Salon banned donations for all its staff.
What changed? First came the conservative outcry labeling the mainstream media as carrying a liberal bias. The growth of talk radio and cable slugfests gave voice to that claim. The Iraq war fueled distrust of the press from both sides. Finally, it became easier for the blogging public to look up the donors.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Media Bias
Media Bias
A BBC spokeswoman said: "This report is about looking forward and how we are going to face the challenges of impartiality in the modern world."
This should be a report to schools of journalism all over the world that ask how the schools are going to teach impartiality instead of bias.
I believe the PBS Newshour format is the best available for now. The PBS Newshour format is to bring in two people (not journalists) of opposing views on a news subject and let the two answer questions posed by the news reporter. This is an honest format if the opposing views are not affiliated to PBS.
Other formats have tried having opposing views presented by paid news staff, but the views always seem to be in support of the position taken by the people that pay them.
-------------------------------------------
BBC report finds bias within corporation
By Gary Cleland
Last Updated: 1:09am BST 18/06/2007
The BBC has failed to promote proper debate on major political issues because of the inherent liberal culture of its staff, a report commissioned by the corporation has concluded.
The report claims that coverage of single-issue political causes, such as climate change and poverty, can be biased - and is particularly critical of Live 8 coverage, which it says amounted to endorsement.
It warns that celebrities must not be pandered to and allowed to hijack the BBC schedule.
advertisement
After a year-long investigation the report, published today, maintains that the corporation's coverage of day-to-day politics is fair and impartial.
But it says coverage of Live 8, the 2005 anti-poverty concerts organised by rock star campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono and writer Richard Curtis, failed to properly debate the issues raised.
Instead, at a time when the corporation was renegotiating its charter with the government, it allowed itself to effectively become a promotional tool for Live 8, which was strongly supported by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Geldof, Bono and Curtis were attempting to pressure world leaders at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, which was taking place at the same time, to help reduce poverty in developing countries under the banner 'Make Poverty History'.
Mr Blair said the campaign was a "mighty achievement". The huge Live 8 concerts across the world were its culmination and the BBC cleared its schedules to show them, with coverage on BBC One, Two and Three and Radio One and Two.
Around the same time it also screened a specially-written episode of Curtis's popular sitcom The Vicar of Dibley that featured a minute long Make Poverty History video and saw characters urged to support it. And it aired another Curtis drama, The Girl in the Café, in which Bill Nighy falls in love with an anti-poverty campaigner - even giving Gordon Brown an advance copy.
The BBC also ran a week long Africa special featuring a series of documentaries by Geldof and a day celebrating the National Health Service, prompting Sky News political editor Adam Boulton to tell a House of Lords select committee it was in danger of peddling government propaganda.
The report concludes BBC staff must be more willing to challenge their own beliefs.
It reads: "There is a tendency to 'group think' with too many staff inhabiting a shared space and comfort zone."
A staff impartiality seminar held last year is also documented in the report, at which executives admitted they would broadcast images of the Bible being thrown away but not the Koran, in case Muslims were offended.
During the seminar a senior BBC reporter criticised the corporation for being anti-American.
The report was jointly commissioned by BBC managers and the board of governors and will be published by the BBC Trust, which has since replaced the governors.
It has been approved by a committee headed by BBC trustee and former ITN editor-in-chief Richard Tait. Other members include BBC deputy director-general Mark Byford, head of BBC News Helen Boaden and creative director Alan Yentob.
Writing in The Observer yesterday, Mr Tait said that "the BBC cannot allow its output to be taken over by campaigning groups" and added: "At the BBC impartiality is and must remain non-negotiable because it is vital to safeguard the BBC's independence."
The report offers 12 new principles for the corporation to adopt to safeguard its impartiality.
These include: "Impartiality is no excuse for insipid programming. It allows room for fair-minded, evidence-based judgements by senior journalists and documentary-makers, and for controversial, passionate and polemical arguments by contributors and writers."
A BBC spokeswoman said: "This report is about looking forward and how we are going to face the challenges of impartiality in the modern world."
A BBC spokeswoman said: "This report is about looking forward and how we are going to face the challenges of impartiality in the modern world."
This should be a report to schools of journalism all over the world that ask how the schools are going to teach impartiality instead of bias.
I believe the PBS Newshour format is the best available for now. The PBS Newshour format is to bring in two people (not journalists) of opposing views on a news subject and let the two answer questions posed by the news reporter. This is an honest format if the opposing views are not affiliated to PBS.
Other formats have tried having opposing views presented by paid news staff, but the views always seem to be in support of the position taken by the people that pay them.
-------------------------------------------
BBC report finds bias within corporation
By Gary Cleland
Last Updated: 1:09am BST 18/06/2007
The BBC has failed to promote proper debate on major political issues because of the inherent liberal culture of its staff, a report commissioned by the corporation has concluded.
The report claims that coverage of single-issue political causes, such as climate change and poverty, can be biased - and is particularly critical of Live 8 coverage, which it says amounted to endorsement.
It warns that celebrities must not be pandered to and allowed to hijack the BBC schedule.
advertisement
After a year-long investigation the report, published today, maintains that the corporation's coverage of day-to-day politics is fair and impartial.
But it says coverage of Live 8, the 2005 anti-poverty concerts organised by rock star campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono and writer Richard Curtis, failed to properly debate the issues raised.
Instead, at a time when the corporation was renegotiating its charter with the government, it allowed itself to effectively become a promotional tool for Live 8, which was strongly supported by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Geldof, Bono and Curtis were attempting to pressure world leaders at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, which was taking place at the same time, to help reduce poverty in developing countries under the banner 'Make Poverty History'.
Mr Blair said the campaign was a "mighty achievement". The huge Live 8 concerts across the world were its culmination and the BBC cleared its schedules to show them, with coverage on BBC One, Two and Three and Radio One and Two.
Around the same time it also screened a specially-written episode of Curtis's popular sitcom The Vicar of Dibley that featured a minute long Make Poverty History video and saw characters urged to support it. And it aired another Curtis drama, The Girl in the Café, in which Bill Nighy falls in love with an anti-poverty campaigner - even giving Gordon Brown an advance copy.
The BBC also ran a week long Africa special featuring a series of documentaries by Geldof and a day celebrating the National Health Service, prompting Sky News political editor Adam Boulton to tell a House of Lords select committee it was in danger of peddling government propaganda.
The report concludes BBC staff must be more willing to challenge their own beliefs.
It reads: "There is a tendency to 'group think' with too many staff inhabiting a shared space and comfort zone."
A staff impartiality seminar held last year is also documented in the report, at which executives admitted they would broadcast images of the Bible being thrown away but not the Koran, in case Muslims were offended.
During the seminar a senior BBC reporter criticised the corporation for being anti-American.
The report was jointly commissioned by BBC managers and the board of governors and will be published by the BBC Trust, which has since replaced the governors.
It has been approved by a committee headed by BBC trustee and former ITN editor-in-chief Richard Tait. Other members include BBC deputy director-general Mark Byford, head of BBC News Helen Boaden and creative director Alan Yentob.
Writing in The Observer yesterday, Mr Tait said that "the BBC cannot allow its output to be taken over by campaigning groups" and added: "At the BBC impartiality is and must remain non-negotiable because it is vital to safeguard the BBC's independence."
The report offers 12 new principles for the corporation to adopt to safeguard its impartiality.
These include: "Impartiality is no excuse for insipid programming. It allows room for fair-minded, evidence-based judgements by senior journalists and documentary-makers, and for controversial, passionate and polemical arguments by contributors and writers."
A BBC spokeswoman said: "This report is about looking forward and how we are going to face the challenges of impartiality in the modern world."
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
WIKIPEDIA Support
WIKIPEDIA Support
Would seem WIKIPEDIA supports the Atheistic Liberal News Media accusation that I present.
I do not accept the concept that biased reporting is protected under the freedom of the press in the Constitution. It is free speech, but nothing more.
People should be allowed to sue the news media for liable, slander, etc.
http://narj-clirus.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias_in_the_United_States
Claims of a liberal bias
Liberal bias in the media is the result of liberal principles and ideas influencing the coverage or selection of news stories.
Critics of the media say this bias exists within a wide variety of media channels including network news shows of CBS, ABC, and NBC, cable channels CNN and MSNBC as well as major newspapers, news-wires, and radio outlets, especially CBS News, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, the Associated Press, and National Public Radio.[13]
ABC News political director Mark Halperin supports the concept of a liberal media bias, saying that as individuals most journalists, and news producers, hold liberal political views and that these views affect their reporting.[14] In a survey conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1997, 61% of reporters stated that they were members of or shared the beliefs of the Democratic Party. Only 15% say their beliefs were best represented by the Republican Party.[15]
A 2002 study by Jim A. Kuypers of Dartmouth College, Press Bias and Politics, investigated the issue of media bias. In this study of 116 mainstream US papers, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle, Kuypers found that the mainstream press in America tends to favor liberal viewpoints.[16] They found that reporters expressed moderate or conservative points of view were often labeled as holding a minority point of view.[16] Kuypers said he found liberal bias in reporting a variety of issues including race, welfare reform, environmental protection, and gun control.[16]
Would seem WIKIPEDIA supports the Atheistic Liberal News Media accusation that I present.
I do not accept the concept that biased reporting is protected under the freedom of the press in the Constitution. It is free speech, but nothing more.
People should be allowed to sue the news media for liable, slander, etc.
http://narj-clirus.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias_in_the_United_States
Claims of a liberal bias
Liberal bias in the media is the result of liberal principles and ideas influencing the coverage or selection of news stories.
Critics of the media say this bias exists within a wide variety of media channels including network news shows of CBS, ABC, and NBC, cable channels CNN and MSNBC as well as major newspapers, news-wires, and radio outlets, especially CBS News, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, the Associated Press, and National Public Radio.[13]
ABC News political director Mark Halperin supports the concept of a liberal media bias, saying that as individuals most journalists, and news producers, hold liberal political views and that these views affect their reporting.[14] In a survey conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1997, 61% of reporters stated that they were members of or shared the beliefs of the Democratic Party. Only 15% say their beliefs were best represented by the Republican Party.[15]
A 2002 study by Jim A. Kuypers of Dartmouth College, Press Bias and Politics, investigated the issue of media bias. In this study of 116 mainstream US papers, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle, Kuypers found that the mainstream press in America tends to favor liberal viewpoints.[16] They found that reporters expressed moderate or conservative points of view were often labeled as holding a minority point of view.[16] Kuypers said he found liberal bias in reporting a variety of issues including race, welfare reform, environmental protection, and gun control.[16]
Saturday, June 9, 2007
What ever happened to Cindy Sheehan?
What ever happened to Cindy Sheehan?
There was a time that Cindy Sheehan was a major news maker. That time was when she was criticizing Republicans. The minute she started criticizing democrats, she became a ugly stepchild. When Cindy Sheehan was no longer a useful idiot, the Atheistic Liberal News Media dumped her.
Just further proof of the Atheistic Liberal News Media involvement in the Cultural War in America.
There is a cultural war in America between Christians and Atheists. This war is being fought on the battlefield of politics. The battles are in the voting booth. The prize in the cultural war is the hearts, minds and souls of the children. The Atheistic liberal news media greatly influences both domestic and foreign policy by constantly reporting only bad news about Christians, conservatives and Republicans and only good news about atheists, liberals and democrats. The agenda of the Atheistic liberal news media is to promote extreme environmentalism, socialism, feminism, pornography, abortion, homosexuality and the Atheistic Lifestyle by having democrats in control of government.
There was a time that Cindy Sheehan was a major news maker. That time was when she was criticizing Republicans. The minute she started criticizing democrats, she became a ugly stepchild. When Cindy Sheehan was no longer a useful idiot, the Atheistic Liberal News Media dumped her.
Just further proof of the Atheistic Liberal News Media involvement in the Cultural War in America.
There is a cultural war in America between Christians and Atheists. This war is being fought on the battlefield of politics. The battles are in the voting booth. The prize in the cultural war is the hearts, minds and souls of the children. The Atheistic liberal news media greatly influences both domestic and foreign policy by constantly reporting only bad news about Christians, conservatives and Republicans and only good news about atheists, liberals and democrats. The agenda of the Atheistic liberal news media is to promote extreme environmentalism, socialism, feminism, pornography, abortion, homosexuality and the Atheistic Lifestyle by having democrats in control of government.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan
Well at least Cindy Sheehan finally recognized the truth that even a war can be used as a political tool.
There is a cultural war in America between Christians and Atheists. This war is being fought on the battlefield of politics. The battles are in the voting booth. The prize in the cultural war is the hearts, minds and souls of the children. The Atheistic liberal news media greatly influences both domestic and foreign policy by constantly reporting only bad news about Christians, conservatives and Republicans and only good news about atheists, liberals and democrats. The agenda of the Atheistic liberal news media is to promote extreme environmentalism, socialism, feminism, pornography, abortion, homosexuality and the Atheistic Lifestyle by having democrats in control of government.
Democrats supported the Iraq War until they saw it could be used a political tool to gain control of the government. That is why there should be news media censorship during a war. Censorship allowed America to win WW II. Since then, the deaths have been unacceptable because there was not a real commitment to win, and doing whatever it takes to win.
I would like see Cindy Sheehan devote her time to making sure America never enters into another war except that there be a full Declaration of War as defined by the Constitution.
The death of any soldier that occurs without the total commitment to win by those who sent them into battle is a worthless death. Better to surrender to the enemy when attacked, then to enter into battle without a total commitment to win.
"Good Riddance Attention Whore"
by CindySheehan
Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT
I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
CindySheehan's diary :: ::
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?
However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."
I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don't find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don't see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person's heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?
I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey's brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.
The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.
I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won't work with that group; he won't attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.
Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children's children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.
I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.
Camp Casey has served its purpose. It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.
This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.
Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.
It's up to you now.
Well at least Cindy Sheehan finally recognized the truth that even a war can be used as a political tool.
There is a cultural war in America between Christians and Atheists. This war is being fought on the battlefield of politics. The battles are in the voting booth. The prize in the cultural war is the hearts, minds and souls of the children. The Atheistic liberal news media greatly influences both domestic and foreign policy by constantly reporting only bad news about Christians, conservatives and Republicans and only good news about atheists, liberals and democrats. The agenda of the Atheistic liberal news media is to promote extreme environmentalism, socialism, feminism, pornography, abortion, homosexuality and the Atheistic Lifestyle by having democrats in control of government.
Democrats supported the Iraq War until they saw it could be used a political tool to gain control of the government. That is why there should be news media censorship during a war. Censorship allowed America to win WW II. Since then, the deaths have been unacceptable because there was not a real commitment to win, and doing whatever it takes to win.
I would like see Cindy Sheehan devote her time to making sure America never enters into another war except that there be a full Declaration of War as defined by the Constitution.
The death of any soldier that occurs without the total commitment to win by those who sent them into battle is a worthless death. Better to surrender to the enemy when attacked, then to enter into battle without a total commitment to win.
"Good Riddance Attention Whore"
by CindySheehan
Mon May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT
I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
CindySheehan's diary :: ::
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?
However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."
I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don't find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don't see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person's heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?
I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey's brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.
The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.
I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won't work with that group; he won't attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.
Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children's children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.
I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.
Camp Casey has served its purpose. It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.
This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.
Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.
It's up to you now.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Failure - WMD Blame Game
Failure - WMD Blame Game
George Tenet is not turning out to be what the news media wants. The news media wanted George Tenet to admit that he and the Bush Administration deceived the news media and the American public with deliberate lies about what was going on in Iraq. George Tenet simply states he did the best he could do and the Bush Administration did the best they could do based on the available information.
The news media wants to blame Tenet and Bush because they hate Christians, Conservatives and Republicans and want to use the Iraq War to get democrats back in control of the government. They also want to blame Tenet and Bush to cover up the failure of the news media. The failure of the news media was not in the Bush Administration, but rather in the Clinton Administration. The concept of WMDs began in the Clinton Administration and everyone accepted that fact as long as the WMDs were being used to maintain sanctions on Iraq. The news media never questioned the accuracy of the Clinton Administration statements because the news media has a bias that favors democrats. When the concept of WMDs was used as a bases to attack Iraq, it was not questioned but rather accepted by almost everyone. It was only after WMDs were not found did the blame game begin.
This whole thing is embarrassing to the news media because it disproves the concept of the news media being an effective investigative organization and proves the news media is biased.
The news media needs to get off Bush's back, and get behind Bush in winning the War on Terrorism. Apologizing to the American people would be appropriate, but I doubt that is going to occur.
George Tenet is not turning out to be what the news media wants. The news media wanted George Tenet to admit that he and the Bush Administration deceived the news media and the American public with deliberate lies about what was going on in Iraq. George Tenet simply states he did the best he could do and the Bush Administration did the best they could do based on the available information.
The news media wants to blame Tenet and Bush because they hate Christians, Conservatives and Republicans and want to use the Iraq War to get democrats back in control of the government. They also want to blame Tenet and Bush to cover up the failure of the news media. The failure of the news media was not in the Bush Administration, but rather in the Clinton Administration. The concept of WMDs began in the Clinton Administration and everyone accepted that fact as long as the WMDs were being used to maintain sanctions on Iraq. The news media never questioned the accuracy of the Clinton Administration statements because the news media has a bias that favors democrats. When the concept of WMDs was used as a bases to attack Iraq, it was not questioned but rather accepted by almost everyone. It was only after WMDs were not found did the blame game begin.
This whole thing is embarrassing to the news media because it disproves the concept of the news media being an effective investigative organization and proves the news media is biased.
The news media needs to get off Bush's back, and get behind Bush in winning the War on Terrorism. Apologizing to the American people would be appropriate, but I doubt that is going to occur.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Jim Lehrer and the PBS News Hour
Jim Lehrer and the PBS News Hour
Last night in an interview with George Tenent I heard Jim Lehrer make the statement that Iraq was a terrible war.
What is written here is a criticism of Jim Lehrer, but in comparison to other journalists, Jim Lehrer is excellent. The ABC, NBC and CBS journalists are a part of the Atheistic Liberal News Media that are a part of the Cultural War in America.
My first question is. Does Jim Lehrer as a reporter have a right to have or express such an opinion?. Shouldn't reporters be reporters of the facts?. I believe any facts reported by a biased reporter will be only facts that support the bias thus not the whole truth.
My second question is. A terrible war relative to what? The Iraq War is going better than the Vietnam War. The Iraq War is going much better than WW II (so far we have not had to do a Dresden fire storm bombing of any Iraqi city or use any nuclear weapons).
The implication of all of Jim Lehrer's questions is that America should never have got into the Iraq War.
My first question is. Have you ever heard of the old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"? Saddam and Al Quida may not have been kissing buddies, but they had a common goal and that was to destroy Israel and America. There may be a lot of differences between Arabs, but they unite when they have a common enemy. So yes, Iraq was an enemy.
My second question is. What is the center of the Middle East. Geographically, religiously and politically the center of the Middle East is Bagdad. Bagdad is where all three sects (Sunni, Shiites and Kurds) come together. You solve the problem in Iraq and you solve the problem in the Middle East. If you don't solve the Iraq problem, the next attack on America is assured.
A specific statement by Jim Lehrer was that by military action against Iraq, Al Quida had been strengthened. I do not see that. Al Quida still exists, but the terrorist attacks have been eliminated. Several terrorists attacks have been attempted, but the tight knit Al Quida network has been crippled. Also, Al Quida has become an embarrassment to the leaders of the Islamic religion. There have been several meetings where it is obvious that the extreme positions are being rejected. Further and further the Islamic extremists are being pushed into Iran, the final sanctuary. With Iran being isolated by the Islamic religion, and worldwide sanctions, it will be a slow but sure death. The only alternative to a slow death of Iran is massive military action.
Jim Lehrer brought up the subject of there not being any WMDs found in Iraq. This was a great failure of the American News Media. The concept of WMDs was created in the Clinton Administration and noone in the News Media questioned WMDs so long as they were being used to keep economic sanctions on Iraq. If the New Media would have investigated, they would have know and presented to the American people that WMDs were no longer in Iraq.
Anybody that says the problem was just Bin Laden is hiding their head in the sand. The problem has always been the Islamic Terrorists of the Middle East.
Overall, I believe the American school system has failed the news media because the news media obviously does not know what war is and how war is waged. Thus they are not qualified to report the Iraq War.
The obviously biased attitude by Jim Lehrer is proof that there should be censorship of the news media during any military conflict, because anything that does not bring the war to a swift conclusion causes increased deaths of American soldiers.
I wonder if the news media will ever have the courage to admit that President Bush was right on Iraq and the Middle East.
Last night in an interview with George Tenent I heard Jim Lehrer make the statement that Iraq was a terrible war.
What is written here is a criticism of Jim Lehrer, but in comparison to other journalists, Jim Lehrer is excellent. The ABC, NBC and CBS journalists are a part of the Atheistic Liberal News Media that are a part of the Cultural War in America.
My first question is. Does Jim Lehrer as a reporter have a right to have or express such an opinion?. Shouldn't reporters be reporters of the facts?. I believe any facts reported by a biased reporter will be only facts that support the bias thus not the whole truth.
My second question is. A terrible war relative to what? The Iraq War is going better than the Vietnam War. The Iraq War is going much better than WW II (so far we have not had to do a Dresden fire storm bombing of any Iraqi city or use any nuclear weapons).
The implication of all of Jim Lehrer's questions is that America should never have got into the Iraq War.
My first question is. Have you ever heard of the old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"? Saddam and Al Quida may not have been kissing buddies, but they had a common goal and that was to destroy Israel and America. There may be a lot of differences between Arabs, but they unite when they have a common enemy. So yes, Iraq was an enemy.
My second question is. What is the center of the Middle East. Geographically, religiously and politically the center of the Middle East is Bagdad. Bagdad is where all three sects (Sunni, Shiites and Kurds) come together. You solve the problem in Iraq and you solve the problem in the Middle East. If you don't solve the Iraq problem, the next attack on America is assured.
A specific statement by Jim Lehrer was that by military action against Iraq, Al Quida had been strengthened. I do not see that. Al Quida still exists, but the terrorist attacks have been eliminated. Several terrorists attacks have been attempted, but the tight knit Al Quida network has been crippled. Also, Al Quida has become an embarrassment to the leaders of the Islamic religion. There have been several meetings where it is obvious that the extreme positions are being rejected. Further and further the Islamic extremists are being pushed into Iran, the final sanctuary. With Iran being isolated by the Islamic religion, and worldwide sanctions, it will be a slow but sure death. The only alternative to a slow death of Iran is massive military action.
Jim Lehrer brought up the subject of there not being any WMDs found in Iraq. This was a great failure of the American News Media. The concept of WMDs was created in the Clinton Administration and noone in the News Media questioned WMDs so long as they were being used to keep economic sanctions on Iraq. If the New Media would have investigated, they would have know and presented to the American people that WMDs were no longer in Iraq.
Anybody that says the problem was just Bin Laden is hiding their head in the sand. The problem has always been the Islamic Terrorists of the Middle East.
Overall, I believe the American school system has failed the news media because the news media obviously does not know what war is and how war is waged. Thus they are not qualified to report the Iraq War.
The obviously biased attitude by Jim Lehrer is proof that there should be censorship of the news media during any military conflict, because anything that does not bring the war to a swift conclusion causes increased deaths of American soldiers.
I wonder if the news media will ever have the courage to admit that President Bush was right on Iraq and the Middle East.
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