The Orwellian nature of our complicit media never ceases to amaze me.

[Yollam]

It was during the build-up to the Iraq war when I realized that America was no longer America anymore. It became clear to me then that the media was now aware that it could simply repeat the same absurdities over and over, and that the consumption-numbed and entertainment-addled American public would simply lap it up unquestioningly.

I marveled as Bush and Ari Fleischer repeatedly claimed that "all avenues of diplomacy had been exhausted" as pertained Iraq. The obvious intention was to create the impression that Bushco had tried to negotiate with an obstinate Iraq, but to no avail. The truth was that NO attempts at diplomacy were made with Iraq, EVER. Demands were laid down, Iraq complied, and Bush attacked anyway. The ONLY diplomacy that ever took place was with Bush trying to convince European countries to go along on his illegal invasion. The press knew this, but did they ever once call Bush or his spokesmen on their blatantly deceptive language? NO.

Over and over Bush and his surrogates made ridiculous and unsubstantiated claims about Iraq, and they were never questioned, despite the fact that the CIA and weapons inspectors all said from the beginning that the case for stockpiles of WMD in Iraq was dubious at best. The media again just put out the Bush spin like obedient stenographers.


Then, when it became clear that there were no WMD in Iraq after all, the administration tried to blame the CIA for bad intel, despite the fact that it was the DIA, personally browbeaten by Cheney, that had cherrypicked the intel, while the CIA had all along QUESTIONED the case for WMD. Again, the corporate media found nothing untoward in this bizarro bait-and-switch.


Now, our congress is talking about making Bush's illegal spying on American citizens legal, and the obedient media not only report on it as though nothing untoward has happened, they carefully phrase their articles to never mention the fact the Bush BROKE THE LAW by SPYING ON AMERICANS without FISA approval, and the fact that Bush may well be spying on political opponents, rather than terror suspects is also ignored altogether too.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060308/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/eavesdropping

Republicans Propose Bill on Spy Program
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Several moderate Senate Republicans are collecting support for a bill that would give President Bush's domestic surveillance program the force of law, more than four years after he secretly initiated the program.

The prospects for the draft legislation circulated Tuesday are far from certain. But Sen. Mike DeWine (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, and three other moderate Republicans who have helped shaped the debate on intelligence issues — Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — are introducing legislation that has the general approval of the Senate's Republican and intelligence leadership.

Democrats on the Intelligence Committee expressed outrage after a meeting Tuesday that senators voted — along party lines — to reject an investigation of the surveillance proposed by West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the committee's top Democrat.

"The committee — to put it bluntly — basically is in the control of the White House," a visibly angry Rockefeller said.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said he asked the committee to reject confrontation and accommodate an agreement with the White House to create a subcommittee of seven senators with broad oversight of the National Security Agency's terrorist monitoring.

"We should fight the enemy. We should not fight each other," Roberts said.

Later in the article Specter is quoted as saying:

"While I believe the president has the constitutional authority to conduct this program, I support the efforts by my colleagues to establish a statutory framework to conduct the program," he said in a statement.

How the hell does Specter figure that POS Bush has such authority when it is EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN by FISA statutes to do what he's done?

And again, the corporate whore media simply report this as just another case of Washington bickering, and not one of the last stoned being laid on the mausoleum where rests our representative democracy.



I don't know where I am, but it is not America.

I'm really, really glad to be leaving this country while I still can.

[cushla_machree]

1. this is NOT the america i know

the fact the Bush BROKE THE LAW by SPYING ON AMERICANS without FISA approval, and the fact that Bush may well be spying on political opponents, rather than terror suspects is also ignored altogether too.

Whenever i bring that up, right wingers claim either

1. HE was only spying on phone convos of foreign terrorists

or when that fails

2. But he is a war time president.


What the fuck is wrong with people. How can they not see that this program has illegal written all over it? And even if it doesn't, why are they SO AFRAID of congressional oversight?

Probably because this is only the tip of the iceberg. And we will never know because instead of serving the constitution, this congress is serving and protecting the executive office, NOT the people. This is a sad day for america.

I am also amazed at the lengths right wingers will go to brown nose bush. he can never do any wrong. Outrageous. Even when it is blaringly obvious someting is not right, they give him a free pass. I don't want to leave this country, but more and more there is nothing left her for me to want to defend. I suppose we should never give up, but sometimes it just gets so hard.

[Drum]

2. Are you leaving?

Would you speak to that for a line or two? It's such a jump to contemplate, whether to relocate temporarily, or to check out of the USA...I know that many consider it, with the accumulation of the last 5+ years and this government's awful missteps. I would love to hear some thoughts of anyone who has, or is, stepped out. Just curious.

Absolutely straight-up on your original post...Orwellian is, sadly, the perfect term for all of it.

Good luck to you.

[Yollam]

3. We're a binational/bicultural couple, so it's not just a political escape.

We're moving back to Japan for numerous reasons - some financial, some family, but I've lived there for many years and can adjust easily. Japan is no utopia and has its own problems, but I like it better there than in the country they are trying to pass off as America.

So no, it's not a political escape, but being out of the mindfuck of Bushmerica is a bonus.

[Drum]

5. Thanks for answering.

Understood...there are many circumstances, and it was dull of me to assume that yours are simply "political."

[Lethe]

4. we should talk about forming a DU community outside the USA

for practical reasons. There is no way we can defeat these people, do you think they are just going to leave in 06 or 08? They will all go to prison if they are exposed. They have the ways and means to disrupt any internal resistance, as we have seen with the Patriot act and the spying program.

we really need to start talking about and setting up a safe refuge for DU'ers outside the USA, where we can form a community and help each other in the transition.

[Nikki Stone 1]

7. And what location on earth is free from US surveilance?

?

[fishnfla]

6. 2 more examples of media complicity and failure

The Judith Miller affair-she was fed "scoops" of Chalabi lies which were rushed to print, the NYTimes is then held up on Sunday morning quack shows as proof of WMD's. Mushroom clouds my ass


The Pat Tillman Death, or murder really. He was killed on April 22nd. Everyone in his unit knew how that day, the whole military command structure within a week.His family didn't find out for a month. The truth will never be known, yet there are a slew of witnesses. Throw the Jessica Lynch story on this flag waving cover-up press bandwagon

The media is a corporate propaganda machine