Leonard Pitts fires away on Gannon/Guckert; DUers MUST READ

[EVDebs]

LEONARD PITTS JR.: Do we need to define 'reporter'?
http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/pitts18e_20050218.htm

With ongoing CIA media manipulation, during wartime especially with projects like Operation Mockingbird, and military PsyOps occassionaly setting up shop in the newsroom (as with CNN and PsyOps www.counterpunch.org/cnnpsyops.html ), but the Bush administration abuses the war effort by hijacking war propaganda in order to push it OWN agenda...Pitt's column makes us ask the question:

""When the history of this era is written, people will wonder why we didn't challenge its excesses, why we didn't know the things we should have. If you're still around, remember the uproar you do not hear right this moment and tell them the truth.""

DUers arise and challenge this administration to come clean. Domestic abuse of the propaganda 'disinformation' mechanisms for political gain is something we need to call them on. Who else is on the payola rolls and why ?

[newscott]

1. Great article.

[Stryguy]

2. His dogs were looking at him funny

Because they know they are smarter than him.

[Stryguy]

3. Doh wrong thread! hahahaha Sorry.. DELETE ME

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and

tenement halls.... and not by people who are on the take. How far we have fallen, how easily manipulated are those driven mad with power.

Thank the heavens above that a few can stand up and take what truthtelling will garner them... in this case, it wasn't a bad deal....

[EVDebs]

5. "They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind" ...Proverbs

The blowback is always worse than if they hadn't done it in the first place. Why ?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. Because men believe that what is in their hearts, what drives their

actions is hidden. It is not. Men in power believe they can pull the proverbial wool over everyone else's eyes. They cannot.

Men feel that military power settles conflicts. It does not, it only determines who is left.

Do unto others... and they will do back unto you 10 fold, double cross a people, and watch the favor returned thrice over.

Instigate, manipulate, destroy governments, make war on the poor, and you shall see how things work for the greater good.... or bad.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471265179/qid=1108837099/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8980801-0708753?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0471265179.01._PIdp-schmooS,TopRight,7,-26_PE37_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Customers who bought this book also bought

* An Enduring Love : My Life with the Shah - A Memoir by Farah Pahlavi
* Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude by ROBERT BAER
* Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution by Nikki R. Keddie
* Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll
* A History of Modern Iran Since 1921: The Pahlavis and After by Ali Ansari
* The Sorrows of Empire : Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic by Chalmers Johnson

[signmike]

8. If I may coin a phrase; Paybacks are a Bitch.

:evilgrin:

[otohara]

6. Dumbfounded MSM Asks: Who is this guy?

Oh gee, let's ask the other members of the White House Press Corp., who sat in the same room with Jimmy/Jeff for over 2 1/2 years, listened to his partisan speeches (not questions) and never asked that burning question now on everyone's mind? Who is this guy?

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. Outrage at last! Don't miss the last sentence. We should thank Pitts

There was one more sentence after the ones you excerpted, standing alone, radiating the outrage we have been longing for. Here's the end of the article again:

When the history of this era is written, people will wonder why we didn't challenge its excesses, why we didn't know the things we should have. If you're still around, remember the uproar you do not hear right this moment and tell them the truth.

Ignorance was easier.

Thanks for the headsup for this article. Later today I plan to email him my thanks for saying what needs to be said. Here's his contact info from the linked article:

LEONARD PITTS JR. appears most Wednesdays and Fridays in the Free Press. Reach him at the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132; toll free at 888-251-4407 or at [e-mail]

[EVDebs]

10. DUers to paraphrase the Washington Redskins fight song

...Braves on the warpath, Hail to Vict-tor-y !

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Yes, and we need to get the public to join us. And blast Kurtz too!

Look at what that unspeakable slime Howie Kurtz is saying about "Gannon" now. It is truly unbelievable -- but predictable. Clearly this guy is one of the "journalists" beholden to (or blackmailed by?) the blivet** administration:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3141498

He sympathetically quotes "Gannon":
"People criticize me for being a Christian and having some of these questionable things in my past," he said. "I believe in a God of forgiveness."

Kurtz is no journalist by any definition.

By the way, I nominated this for Greatest page - it will cheer some people and it says what needs to be said so well.

[merh]

12. Maybe the corporate media whores can't stand being shown up

up by the bloggers?


Mainstream press picks up pace on Gannon; New Yorker gets into the game


Heat from press rises on White House over Gannon

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

A broad array of mainstream publications and television networks are aggressively pursuing various angles of the burgeoning scandal surrounding discredited White House reporter Jeff Gannon, RAW STORY has learned.

Washington sources tell RAW STORY that calls are flying around the District as much of the mainstream press seeks to catch up with online reporting–including some from such prestigious magazines as The New Yorker.

The wire services have also begun digging, sources say, which could place the Gannon scandal in hundreds of smaller newspapers across America.

Some suggest that the mainstream media–which initially left blogs and online outlets like this site to flesh out the story–are now seeking to reestablish their grasp and perhaps break new elements of it themselves.

(snip)

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=103

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. Wonderful! And may the fur fly and the truth be exposed at last

And may Howie Kurtz's and Wolfie Blitzer's craven distortions in the "Gannon" story -- as on so many others -- ultimately bring them the contempt and loss of prestige for which they are so very overdue.

By no honest definition of "journalist" to they qualify. They might have the training and the coveted big-name job, but they do not have anything else, least of all truth or even the will to confirm what they state as fact. They are on the blivet**'s roll of shills, whether voluntarily, by pay -- including access, or by blackmail. They sold their integrity long ago, and I would love to see their colleagues finally call them on it.

Leonard Pitts expresses EXACTLY the reaction to the "Gannon" mess that a REAL journalist should be feeling. Let's hope some of them grow some nads at last.

[liberal43110]

18. I actually think that's part of it

For the Gannon story, I actually that the MSM are a little reluctant to admit that they missed the ball on this one.

Granted, the MSM has shown itself to be bewilderingly silent on so much over the past 5 years that I can barely comprehend it.

[BamaBecky]

14. ice storm in Key West! - ...it was in the Mobile Press Register ...n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

15. Leonard Pitts is almost always spot-on. nt

[liberal43110]

19. Nice bumpersticker

[leyton]

20. I read him without fail.

In all the years which I've been reading him, I've only disagreed with him once, and I can't even remember why. He is simply the best.

[fooj]

16. The truth is our most powerful weapon!

As long as we continue to INFORM AMERICANS WITH THE TRUTH...ultimately the repubs will lose the battle! Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green Party- it makes little difference BECAUSE NOBODY APPRECIATES BEING USED AND LIED TO!

[proud patriot]

17. That last paragraph is great

I had to write that one down .

[Misunderestimator]

21. Great article!

Thanks for posting it.

[bush_is_wacko]

22. Is there ANY relationship between Leonard Pitts and Joseph R Pitts?

Just curious.

[robbedvoter]

23. Creating reality - his subtitle. Always a good reminder:

''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And
while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll
act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and
that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you,
all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''
Bush aide to Ron Suskind