Dave Pollard's environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays.

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	March 31, 2003

HE'S REALLY A GOOD MAN AT HEART, OFFICER Interesting analogy by Alan Bisport in the American Politics Journal this weekend. Bisport compares America to "a family that has been repeatedly brutalized by a drunk."  They think, like the abused wife: "let them steal the presidency, they'll be good after that; let them plot a war for oil and then look for the provocation, then they'll stop; let them create their Shadow Government and hold secret meetings with corporate cronies to plot national policy, and then they will be content; let them ignore the Constitution and abuse the Bill of Rights, and that will hold them; let them tap our phones and eavesdrop on our e-mails and insult our friends and alienate the rest of the world, and then they will see the error of their ways; let them have their war, their shock and awe, their murder of civilians and babies, and they will stop, they will be good...." This is a troubling analogy, but it would explain a lot. The strong global outpouring of anti-Bush opinion, like the police berating the abusive husband, may have caused the American people, the abused wife, to close ranks to protect this threat to their beloved family. It is an irony and a tragedy that abused family members often become complicit in the violence they are suffering in the misguided belief that they are somehow to blame for the behaviour of the abuser. Follow through the analogy, and you'll come to the 'I' word, and a lot of suffering and perhaps some permanent damage. Just thinking about this makes me shudder. 11:13:03 PM  trackback []  comment []

ADDING INJURY TO INSULT Kriselda at Different Strings reports the outrageous behaviour of Richard Condon, a DJ in Louisiana with Citadel Communications, who incited listeners to break up a planned anti-war demonstration and "put bullets in the heads" of the demonstrators. Police were present to prevent the resulting confrontation from turning excessively violent, but the unrepentent Condon egged on the pro-war crowd and concluded with a call to "nuke Canada", presumably after the "cakewalk" in Iraq is over. Citadel has taken no calls and no action. This brings to three, along with pro-war demonstration organizers Clear Channel Communications and Dixie Chicks banners Cumulus Media, the number of radio conglomerates with Republican connections using their vast corporate muscle to oppress dissent and first amendment rights. Between them they own almost 2000 U.S. radio stations (Clear Channel 1500, Cumulus 260, Citadel 225). If you're not hearing any anti-war songs or news on the radio, now you know why. It will also probably come as no surprise that, while 86 newspapers (per Google News) reported on Nick De Genova's outrageous anti -war remarks, and hundreds reported Peter Arnett's firing for talking to Iraqi TV, only one reported the Condon call to murder protesters. Must be that damn liberal media bias... 11:09:27 PM  trackback []  comment []

DUBIOUS NEWS I've recently reported (here and here ) the most egregious examples of Western war propaganda that were picked up by the mainstream media and run as 'fact', only to be debunked as wild exaggerations or complete fabrications a few hours or days later. Looking at them again, I notice that quite a few of these received first mention or particular prominence in certain publications. To help bloggers more easily filter news from nonsense, I now present: The Dubious News: Publications Not To Be Trusted Publications of Sun Myung Moon:   UPI   Washington Times Publications & Media of Right Wingnut Rupert Murdoch :   New York Post   WNYW-TV   FoxNews   London Sun   Australian   Brisbane Courier-Mail   Adelaide Advertiser/Sunday Mail   Canberra Times   Sydney Daily Telegraph   Melbourne Herald/Sun Publications of Right Wingnut Conrad Black:   London Daily Telegraph/Spectator   Jerusalem Post (Richard Perle is a Director)   New York Sun ( "dissent=treason" )   Chicago Sun-Times Marginally Dubious - Watch List:   MSNBC/Slate (GE)   CNN (AOL)   Wall Street Journal/CNBC (Dow-Jones/GE) If there is sufficient interest, I will update and maintain this list until the end of the war. Suggestions for additions to the list are welcome. If you question the inclusion of any of these publications, take a look at their websites and note the obvious slant (in what they report and don't report as news, not in their editorial pages) and their predisposition to report unsubstantiated and unsubstantiable news. 10:44:30 AM  trackback []  comment []

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