Tag: Propaganda

Yes – I was a Hillary supporter for the Presidential election.  Yes – I think she is smart and competent.  She would have made a better president domestically – foreign policy – questionable; perhaps the same as Obama and his advisors. She’s tied herself to this administration.  Still, because I like and admire her – I give her slack.  She is working in the world muck – we are sitting outside in the clearer air.  But, as I said she’s tied herself to Obama Brand policies.

No matter that (and please don’t make this a flame diary about Hillary) – she gets what’s going on as to the foreign tv presence in our midst.  Thank God say I – though I suppose most politicians and American pundits haven’t recognized yet that we are falling behind in newsgathering and televising points of view, and we are eating oil soaked dust.

I watch RT News every day for at least l/2 hour and often more – I go to Max Keiser’s televised spots at least twice a week on my computer.  More importantly, more and more people (not even mildly left) are watching.  I recently had a conversation at the train stop with a nice, nonpolitical woman who is avidly watching RT.  (I didn’t know this stuff, says she.)  I have given up on non-cable news channels.  I won’t go to NPR since they hired several military officers in the ramp up of the Iraqi invasion – no.  Not too much on the other side as I recall – the rational side.  Frontline does good work – and of course, I miss Mr. Moyers.  MSNBC is a distracting noise – giving us the false impression that one of media MOTU is listening to us.  Really, that was only an executive corporate decision “Let’s give them this so they’ll be quiet.”  (This is how cynical I’ve become.)

But Hillary understands more and more Americans and other Westeners are watching the foreign news channels.  RT is where a viewer could learn, for instance, that homeless people in New York have a lottery at shelters to see who gets in for the cold nights.  And right now an enlightening program is up on the Chicago Grain Exchange and world hunger. They have well put-together slices of Russian life as well – travelling all over Russia, focusing on the best of Russia’s culture and cottage industries – no doubt fostering travel.  I want to go to St. Petersburg next year (though because of Tolstoy, not RT.)   During the ramp up to the Iraqi War, BBC and the Canadian Public radio stations were a balm making that horror more bearable, and for that there is gratitude.  But BBC is not as sharp as it once was – sounds tired and trying to please the MOTU (only with a British accent which is always a plus).

So when Hillary says in a congressional hearing that we are falling behind and specifically mentions RT News, she is right.  She has watched it and said it was “instructive.”  In other words, she gets it.  It is instructive.  Now does the government want the populace here to get it – nope.  What she wants is a superduper American channel like these foreign outlets to get the American point of view out.  As long as we continue to send the marines and ships out to oil rich countries – well, let’s say it’s gonna be a hard sell.    

Question:  How do we hide invasions, torture, whistleblower hunting season, drones, the death of the middle class and the rise of a corporate and slave society?  Answer – we can’t hide all of it of course. And why would they put it out there for all to see? (See Julian Assange and Bradley Manning) Thank God there are still good, honest journalists here.  But those journalists won’t be on the news outlet she is proposing.  Nay – but it gives me a bit of pleasure.  At least Hillary gets it.

And here’s a thought:  Michael Moore, Matt Tabbai, Chris Hayes, Glenn Greenwald won’t be getting spots on that news outlet.  Ya think.

Why can’t we!

Reading this sounds pretty damn familiar, 21st century amerika, but not quite as blatant yet, or is it.

Actually they use two very descriptive leads to the story, and they should know, first:

Right-Wing Extremism

Is the lead then we get to the meat.

So I made the mistake of going into a Walmart today. First off, I ask God for special dispensation when I go through the doors. Let’s face it, the company is built on slave labor. Shopping there is morally abhorrent. The conditions of its Chinese laborers alone is a sufficient abuse of human rights to have the whole fucking Walton family and their heirs imprisoned for life. Then there’s the abuse of American Walmart employees who are paid so little that they can’t afford the cheap crap they sell. They don’t get health care. They’re taught how to sign up for Medicare. Food stamps. Fuel assistance.

Anyway, it was on the way home, it was late and the only food store open. As I’m parking my car I’m noticing all the security cameras – light poles, on the building, going through the door, in the store in each aisle. I had enough cameras on me to produce a 3D documentary of one man’s quick stop to get some late dinner fixings.

Being the techie I am I wander to the back of the store to check geek and LCD prices. There at the back of the store is a wall of screens with the same loop running over and over…

The Department of Homeland Security this week stepped up its “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign, but you won’t be seeing more ads in New York City subway cars. No, the public service announcements will be featured in a far different location: Walmart.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano recorded a video clip that will be looped over and over again at a total of 588 Wal-Mart stores nationwide.

“Homeland security begins with hometown security,” Napolitano says in the clip. “That’s why I’m pleased Walmart is helping to make our communities more safe and secure. If you see something suspicious in the parking lot or in the store, say something immediately.”

I stood there in shock and awe. As in “Awe, fuck!”

Watching/Listening to this Stewart needs to go and watch and read All of what’s been coming out of the Inquiries into the Iraq War, as well as during and in the now, especially the Brit Inquiry. He’s spinning the hawks lines in this interview without caring about the Facts that have just proven what millions were saying as that administration were doing. While no criminal charges will come directly out of these inquiries the testimonies are now the record and can and will be used by others for possible criminal charges, We Hope!  

Cass Sunstein has failed to notice that denizens of the tubes frequently quote others whom they despise in order to mock them.  It’s called balance.  Here, for example, is Cass Sunstein himself:

“Momma Cass ‘Dream a Little Dream for Me'” Sunstein thinks web sites like Docudharma should volunteer or be coerced into providing links and ideas to alternative opinions to the ones being expressed by single-minded dharmavillains.  

“The best would be for this to be done voluntarily,” said Sunstein, “But the word voluntary is a little complicated and people sometimes don’t do what’s best for our society,” he added.

“The idea would be to have a legal mandate as the last resort….an ultimate weapon designed to encourage people to do better,” Sunstein concluded.