In recent years, we have seen the media collusion to push government propaganda to the public.
One of the more egregious examples was the use of certain, Pentagon approved sources, who would be presented as “independent experts” on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, to talk about government policies regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, detainee detention, etc.
After watching the History Channel the other night, I couldn’t believe the pure level of propaganda promotion.
They did a show on Area 51…
Area 51 is the governments worst kept secret. It came into prominence after the Roswell incident and the emergence of UFO hysteria. The History Channel program went into the role of Area 51 today, and, I simply sat laughing.
Before there were private contractors, there was the military. All secret programs were run by the military at military installations. The two most notable were Groom Lake (Area 51) and the Skunkworks in San Diego.
My father retired from the Navy in 1976 and went to work for McDonnell-Douglas (which later was bought by Boeing). Over the 20 years he worked with the Navy and the next 20 years he worked in the private contracting sector he was part of a few secret aircraft programs. He went to the Skunkworks. During my active-duty service as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Specialist, I had the opportunity to go to Groom Lake to do operations and Sandia National Laboratories. Between the two of us, we have quite a bit of knowledge about these super-secret areas.
By the time the military decommissioned the SR-71, my father had already known that the military had its replacement; the FA-117/A. In fact, he about it before I did, and, I had a Top Secret clearance. Not long after the FA-117/A came the B-1 and B-2 bombers. But, by this time, military aircraft development had moved from military to contractors.
You see, by the time my dad was working with the Skunkworks, McDonnell-Douglas had already gotten the contract to build the military an aircraft. And, by the time I went to Groom Lake, it was no longer developing new research. As my father told me, those programs were long since moved elsewhere. That, however, didn’t stop the History Channel from breathlessly wondering just what super-secret research was still going on at Area 51.
The first thing to know about Groom Lake is that Area 51 isn’t the only “Area” there. Area’s number up into the 80’s or higher. So, what is done there? Testing to make sure that contractor-developed aircraft meet the standards set for them by the military. As I was told when I was there, “if you see something and you don’t know what it is, you didn’t see it.”
If you want to know how military contracting happens today watch the DVD “Why We Fight.” It details out the process, and, after my dad watched it he said, “if I hadn’t seen it firsthand, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Companies like Boeing have factories all over the United States. Each factory specifically makes certain parts for ONE aircraft. For Congress to cancel ONE project means cutting jobs in their state. That is how, and why, boondoggle projects continually get Congress funding. No person in Congress wants to go back home and explain why their vote cost their state much needed jobs.
Boeing is opening a new factory in Charleston, SC. It will only generate 3,000 jobs for the state. Many of these positions won’t even be filled by people from SC. Boeing will fill many of these jobs from people already with Boeing, who will be forced to move to SC to keep a job, or others who have the knowledge and experience necessary who will, again, be forced to move to SC.
But, this factory, and Boeing, have already been promised hundreds of millions of dollars from SC state funds while SC is cutting the budget in other areas, like, education. And, like every other state, once Boeing gets a contract, like they just received, in order for SC members of Congress to vote to cut a program means that ONE factory closes.
Does America, already so far ahead of the rest of the world militarily, need another new stealth bomber? No. Do we need new bombs? No. Do we need new cluster bombs? No. But, we continue to manufacture them. And, we continue to sell the older technology to other countries. During Israel’s attack on Lebanon, America sent Israel the ordnance so they didn’t run out.
Yet, our media continually pushes the propaganda for our government.