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"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it."
- Noam Chomsky
More than eight years after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, New York Supreme Court Justice Edward H. Lehner was hearing arguments in a courtroom less than a mile from Ground Zero about a ballot initiative to launch a new investigation of the 9/11 attacks. When the lawyer for the plaintiffs sponsoring the initiative explained that the 9/11 Commission report left many unanswered questions, including “Why did Building 7 come down,” the Judge replied quizzically, “Building what?”
Like Judge Lehner, millions of people do not know or remember only vaguely that a third tower called World Trade Center Building 7 also collapsed on September 11, 2001. In any other situation, the complete, free fall collapse of a 47-story skyscraper would be played over and over on the news. It would be discussed for years to come and building design codes would be completely rewritten. So, why does no one know about Building 7? And why did Building 7 come down?
The answers to these questions have far-reaching implications for our society. The goal of the “BuildingWhat?” campaign is to raise awareness of Building 7 so that together we can begin to address these questions.
i ain't holding my breath but any step in the direction of truth is welcomed...
being in argentina for the past month was a blessed relief and coming back yesterday to the u.s., it was clear that nothing has changed, a conservative sweep of the mid-term elections notwithstanding... now, mind you, i didn't expect anything different, but sitting in the breakfast room of the hotel this morning with fox news blasting in my face from two different monitors, i confess to being just a tad bit glum... i never watch fox news unless i'm absolutely unable to avoid it but i am always stunned at its complete lack of depth, its self-granted freedom to distort the truth and its blatant pandering to all the worst human tendencies... kind of like a mirror for the rest of the country, i'm afraid...
the good news...?
i'm back on a plane out of the country later this afternoon... granted, there's no such thing as a utopia out there and most places i go, i see the same ugly patterns repeating themselves... what makes it a little more tolerable is that, when i'm in somebody ELSE's country, what's getting shoved in my face isn't constantly reminding me of the miserable state of my OWN country...
A conscious effort to "dumb down" the education of this nation qualifies as a crime against the soul of America. And dare I say this? If there was something as grievous as a mortal sin committed by a group against its own people, then the Republicans -- with Reagan at the helm -- and all the Democrats who stood by, or worse, backed this catastrophe -- committed that sin when they choreographed how they would dismantle the intellectual power and potential of our own children. (You should check your age -- you could be a product of this crime.)
[...]
There comes a time when we have to just stand up to these carnies (slang for carnival barkers) and tell them to stop polluting the soul of America with their constant and endless transmission of psychic free radicals in the form of lies, negative press, ridiculous criticism, overall lack of intelligent ideas and comments, and complete absence of creative thought. We should just blast them with emails and tell them to stop polluting the soul of our nation. Just stop it. We've had enough. I know I have. And I deeply believe the soul of our nation can't take much more of their strategy of deliberate division against the people of their own nation. That is a true crime -- and perhaps their greatest crime -- against the soul of this great nation.
as i sit in the food court of the airport on the first leg of the long trip back to afghanistan, a trip that will be punctuated by the next three nights in d.c., i'm surrounded by my dumbed-down fellow citizens, all sitting under the watchful eye of fox news, spewing worthless inanity in a constant reinforcement of our deteriorating collective mental capacity... what's supremely ironic is that, as i type this, fox is airing more of the completely bogus and manufactured controversy surrounding obama's address to the nation's schoolchildren...
It all started early on June 10th 2008, when anti-war activist, Mark Dice appeared on Fox News to explain why he and others are sending letters to US troops in Iraq. Later that day, radio talk show host Michael Reagan called for his listeners to track down and murder Mark Dice. After Dice downloaded the show's free podcast and posted the 3 minute and 21 second clip on YouTube, Reagan filed a copyright infringement claim to remove the clip in an attempt to prevent it from circulating.
On Friday June 13th Dice received a call from Reagan's producer demanding the clip be removed, claiming they hold the copyright, and Dice explained that it falls under fair use laws, and the clip is evidence of a crime. Reagan also removed the entire hour of his show from his podcast directory so others can't download that part of his show and hear his statements. Hour number two of the June 10th show is now missing from the directory, located here.
Reagan's statements were made after he heard that Dice and others were sending letters and DVDs to troops stationed in Iraq which support the idea that U.S. officials allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen on purpose and aided in their execution for political leverage. According to a 2006 Scripts Howard News Service poll, 36% of Americans believe this.
Reagan's statements were made June 10th and came to Dice's attention a few days later. Dice immediately filed a report with the FBI, the FCC, and is considering legal action against Reagan. He is demanding that Reagan be fired immediately. "Calling for the murder of someone because you disagree with their political stance is absolutely unacceptable, un-American, and illegal," says Dice.
Radio America, which syndicates Reagan's show, told Dice that no disciplinary action will be taken.
Reagan called Dice and apologized but Dice says, "The Pandora's box that Reagan has opened can never be closed. The ramifications of his threats and suggestions are enormous and frightening. In an age where a few clicks of a keyboard can result in anyone's home address being found, his comments open the door for stalking, vandalism, and worse."
"What kind of a country have we become when a radio host with millions of listeners can call for the murder of someone, and not lose their job?" Dice asks. "He didn't say that he hoped I am killed, or that he thought I should be killed, he specifically said I should be found and shot, and that he would pay for the bullets. This is a violation of California's penal code 422."
death threats are death threats, right...? RIGHT...?
The "carpet-bombing" of Obama continues and has even spread to Germany and France
check out how germany's spiegel seems to have signed up for the destroy-obama campaign...
Hillary Clinton has succeeded: Her rival Barack Obama has lost his shine, and now even he looks susceptible to campaign-season dirty tricks. Both candidates are attacking each other in the hope of a clear victory on Tuesday in Pennsylvania. But are they also handing ammunition to John McCain?
Obama's voice sounds erratic, impatient, almost angry. His microphone fails. "Hello? Hello?" And his voice lacks its usual melody; his orchestrated cascades of words sound dull. At one point he stanches the flow of applause -- "People, listen!"
Obama reads for 20 minutes from a piece of paper, sounding tired and laconic. He evokes, as usual, this "defining moment in history." And he fulminates against "war without end." He condemns "the broken politics of Washington … the politics that's all about tearing each other down when what we need is to lift this country up."
But then that's just what he does. The second half of his speech consists of attacks on his rival, Hillary Clinton. "She has taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any candidate in this campaign," he says. Clinton is running a "negative campaign," just like "the Republicans would do it." And now, when Obama mentions Hillary's name, the crowd boos.
Until now, Obama has stood aloof from political mudfights, renouncing ad hominem attacks and generally playing the grown-up.
But he started to bow deep into the muddy trenches after Clinton finally managed, in the last few weeks, to bring him down with biting personal attacks.
It's having a visible effect on his usually calm demeanor; his lighthearted moments come less often and his bearing is grimmer. He seems to be bearing a weight, perhaps the weight of someone not living up to his own claims.
Democratic White House contender Barack Obama could not hide his irritation Monday when asked by a reporter what he thought about former president Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas last week.
"Why can't I just eat my waffle?" the Illinois senator said as he ate breakfast in Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to MSNBC television pictures.
Pressed again for an answer, he replied: "Just let me eat my waffle."
and, of course, on the domestic scene, fox leads the charge... fortunately, robert greenwald and brave new films are all over fox like flies on shit...
FOX’s objective is clear: carpet bomb Barack Obama with negative stories, distortions, and smears before the Pennsylvania primary in an attempt to skew the outcome toward the Republicans’ preferred adversary, Hillary Clinton. But did FOX imagine that the “liberal” media would be such willing accomplices?
Check out our latest episode of the gameshow sensation that’s sweeping the nation — THE FOX IS WRONG: OBAMA! Play along as FOX guests and personalities distort and misrepresent the statements of Obama and those around him, only to have that pesky “liberal” media pick up the smears and keep on running! For the finale, watch in wonder and amazement as ABC’s George Stephanopoulos allows Sean Hannity to actually spoon-feed him a question on Hannity’s radio show, then parrots it almost word-for-word a day later during ABC’s infamous Democratic debate in Pennsylvania!
obama's only human, after all... weathering constant, ugly, mean-spirited, attacks 24/7 is something nobody should have to face, but, unfortunately, that's his reality for the time being... the best we can do is to send our encouragement, our good wishes, our warm and unconditional support (money works too!), to let him know that we are behind him and sending good thoughts to help him rise above the tawdriness that characterizes u.s. politics in the modern age, a tawdriness that we are putting our faith in him to dispel...
True or not, verified or not, why would I not doubt it for a single second
like i said, true or not, this exchange faithfully portrays what our elites think of us peasants...
New York, New York - In a conversation with Fox News celebrities, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, that was picked up by an open microphone, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corp., repeatedly referred to Fox News viewers as morons and white trash. The incident took place as the three men were sitting together at a benefit dinner for the Ann Coulter defense fund. Apparently, they had been drinking heavily which may account for their lack of restraint and obliviousness to the open microphone that was positioned directly in front of them.
At one point, while addressing O'Reilly and Hannity, Murdoch said, "Can you believe the shit we get away with? Good thing our viewers are dumb as doorknobs or else we would be in trouble." To which, Hannity laughed and then replied, "Yeah, I heard that people who watch Fox News have to wear bibs to catch their drool so their sofas won't be stained by the tobacco juice, and that's just the women." O'Reilly, also laughing, then joined in by saying, "Hey, how many Fox viewers does it take to change a light bulb? None, they all refuse to change the bulb because they prefer living in the dark."
However, the unkindest cut of all that is sure to enrage Fox viewers came at the end of the conversation when Murdoch raised his glass in a toast and said, "God bless trailer park trash and idiots everywhere. Without them Fox News would be nothing and I would not be a billionaire."
After news of the recorded conversation became public, Fox News released the following brief statement, "We encourage our viewers to reject anything they hear or see that does not come directly from Fox News. Fox News is the only source of information you need for Fair and Balanced™ coverage."
interestingly enough, the very few times i have watched fox news, i certainly FELT dumb as a doorknob...
tom tomorrow is no doubt inspired by the neocons' truly amazing ability to take even the basest of lies and spin it to the benefit of their born-loser masters, as so clearly illustrated in the following...
Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol claimed that the reason Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in mid-2003 was because of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "I believe we invaded a neighboring country in 2003 and removed their dictator and that sent shock waves through the region and at the time people were quite worried," said Kristol, later adding, "This is yet another feather in the cap for the invasion of Iraq." NPR's Juan Williams responded by calling Kristol the "iron glove," asking, "So you want us to start invading everybody everywhere? That'll stop all nuclear proliferation?" Kristol replied that if it works, it's "a pretty good thing."
the brilliant, long-term, highly strategic, and faultless tactical execution of the bush administration simply WILL NOT BE DENIED...
Putting 9/11 in perspective - now THERE'S a concept!
ah...! that all-too-rare glimpse of truth and common sense...
About Paul Campos A native of Colorado, Paul Campos practiced law in Chicago before returning to his home state in 1990 to join the law faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has written extensively on the role of law in American society.
When Stu Bykofsky, a columnist for The Philadelphia Daily News, wrote a column last week in which he openly hoped that America suffers "another 9/11," he merely had the poor judgment to say what many a right-wing politician and pundit is thinking.
Evidence for this is everywhere: in the fact that Bykofsky was invited to appear on the GOP's unofficial network, Fox News, to "explain" his comments; in the keen disappointment that ripples throughout the right-wing blogosphere every time the collapse of a bridge or a steam pipe explosion turns out not to have been the work of Scary Brown People Who Hate Our Freedoms; and in predictions such as that made by former Sen. Rick Santorum, that the GOP's electoral fortunes will improve as soon as there's another terrorist attack.
[...]
The narcissism at the heart of the Cult of 9/11 is captured by an episode of Larry David's mordant comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm. David meets with a rabbi whose brother-in-law was killed in uptown New York in a bicycle accident on the day of the terror attacks. When at the meeting's end David innocently exclaims "Let's roll," the rabbi is outraged: "You knew my brother-in-law died on Sept. 11! How dare you say something like that!"
A nonplussed David replies, "I didn't realize that if you died uptown it was still part of the tragedy."
The fact is that if you, like me, are one of the 99.9 percent of Americans who doesn't know anyone who was killed or injured in the 9/11 terror attacks, or in the subsequent rescue efforts, then 9/11 was at bottom a very disturbing thing that you saw (over and over again) on TV.
It didn't "change everything," and it didn't (and doesn't) justify the Iraq war, indiscriminate spying on Americans, extrajudicial renditions, torture, or any of the other immoral actions that continue to be done in its name.
It's high time to stop wallowing in our obsession with what is becoming the most overblown and shamelessly exploited event in American history.
Today, on Fox News Sunday, Kristol argued that the violence in Iraq does not constitute a civil war:
We’re not in a civil war. This is just not true. American troops are attacking al Qaeda. They’re attacking some elements of the Shi’a militias. They’re doing other things, helping with reconciliation. They are not in the middle of a civil war. It’s not true.
i really do wish think progress would cease giving exposure to this sad excuse for a human being... if you go back and count up the number of times think progress has posted on bill kristol, i think you would come up with a surprisingly large number... sure, i suppose an occasional post is warranted, but not to this degree... by focusing so intensely on somebody like this, even though it's in a negative context, they create the impression that he has more influence than he does, and, in fact, may actually GIVE him more influence than he deserves...
When it comes to money and power he’s carnivorous: all appetite and no taste. He’ll eat anything in his path. Politicians become little clay pigeons to be picked off with flattering headlines, generous air time, a book contract or the old-fashioned black jack that never misses: campaign cash. He hires lobbyists the way Imelda Marcos bought shoes, and stacks them in his cavernous closet, along with his conscience...
[...]
You will not be surprised to learn that Murdoch’s company paid little or no federal income tax over the past four years. His powerful portfolio positions him to claim a big stake in Yahoo and his takeover of The Wall Street Journal, now owned by the Bancroft family, which, like Adam and Eve, the parents of us all, are tempted to sell their birthright for a wormy apple.
Murdoch and THE JOURNAL’s editorial page are made for each other. They’ve both pursued the right's corporate and political agenda of the past quarter century. Both venerate what THE JOURNAL editorials call the “animal spirits” of business. But THE JOURNAL’s newsroom is another matter – there facts are sacred and independence revered. Rupert Murdoch has told the Bancrofts he’ll not meddle with the reporting. But he’s accustomed to using journalism as a personal spittoon.
[...]
His worst offense with FOX News is not even its baldly partisan agenda. Far worse is the travesty he’s made of its journalism. FOX News huffs and puffs, pontificates and proclaims, but does little serious original reporting. His tabloids sell babes and breasts, gossip and celebrities.
[...]
His pursuit of The Wall Street Journal is the latest in a cascading series of mergers, buy-outs, and other financial legerdemain that are making a shipwreck of journalism. Public minded newspapers are being dumped by their owners for wads of cash or crippled by cost cutting while their broadcasting cousins race to the bottom. Murdoch is just the predator of the hour. [...] Instead of checking the excesses of private and public power, these 21st century barons of the First Amendment revel in them; the public be damned.
the only truth moyers neglects to mention is that people like murdoch would sell their own grandmothers for a mess of pottage...
The phrase mess of pottage means something of little value. It is associated with the exchange by Esau of his birthright for a meal of lentil stew, as described in Genesis 25:29-34 in the Bible. (A pottage is a type of soup.)
[Weekly Standard editor William Kristol] said the exemptions for the president and vice president were “reasonable enough.” He called it “a pain in the neck” to have “some bureaucrat” from the National Archives “come and inspect your safe to see whether you’re locking it up properly each night.”
defending the bush/cheney/rove cabal has now officially descended into the realm of surreal absurdity... national security and the rule of law is really nothing but bureaucracy and a pain in the neck...? my god, we've sunk low...
Surrealism Pronunciation: s&-'rE-&-"li-z&m also -'rA- Function: noun Etymology: French surréalisme, from sur- + réalisme realism : the principles, ideals, or practice of producing fantastic or incongruous imagery or effects in art, literature, film, or theater by means of unnatural or irrational juxtapositions and combinations
Vice President Dick Cheney fired a new warning shot across the bow of the nation of Iran Friday, saying the United States would prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons.
Speaking aboard an aircraft carrier some four years after President Bush declared victory in "major" Iraq combat operations, Cheney declared, "we want to complete the mission, get it done right and return with honor."
[...]
Cheney spoke as five warplanes stood arrayed behind him. The carrier was some 20 miles off the coast of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, with Iran 150 miles to the East.
"Cheney's visit comes just two days before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to visit Abu Dhabi," according to AP.
Fox New’s Bret Baier told Dick Cheney, “You are portrayed by your opponents and some in the media as this sinister figure, as this cold-blooded warmonger who doesn’t care about the number of body bags going back.” Cheney said that he regrets the casualties, but added, “Obviously, the President bears the major part of the burden. He’s the man with the authority to commit the force.”
dick, m'boy, YOU are the cold-blooded son-of-a-bitch... george is just a cardboard cut-out... you ain't foolin' nobody...
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