The Lies of Karl Rove
By Melvin A. Goodman for TruthOut:
Joseph Goebbels, the leading propagandist of the Third Reich, believed in the power of the lie; the greater the lie, the greater the power. Goebbels would have loved Karl Rove’s Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight, a pastiche of lies, fabrications and distortions designed to rehabilitate the record of the Bush-Cheney years. There are too many lies to treat in this one column, but his greatest lie is that the Bush administration would not have invaded Iraq if it had known there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) there. Its corollary is that the administration did not lie about the presence of such weapons in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
In fact, the Bush administration mounted an intense six-month campaign to make sure that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) produced “evidence” of WMD, and then made sure that such players as National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell parroted the administration’s big lie to the American public and to the international community…
How Andrew Breitbart Hacks the Media
Whether you agree with this guy’s politics or not, it is worth knowing who Andrew Breitbart is. In the recent issue of WIRED, Noah Shachtman profiles someone who really does direct the major media discourse in the United States. I am sure lots of people heard about this story (and saw this video), but how many paid attention to this one?
Andrew Breitbart has been waiting 45 minutes for a filet mignon. He drums his fingers on the table in this plush Italian restaurant off Times Square, a place where the media types he regularly trashes used to flaunt their expense accounts — back when they still had them. Breitbart looks around for a waiter and launches into a stem-winder about collusion between Hollywood and the press — the “subtle and not-so-subtle use of propaganda to make a center-right nation move to the left.
“It’s not just the nightly news,” he says. “You’re also getting television shows that reflect the same worldview, where Republicans are always the bad guys. Al Qaeda’s never the bad guy. The Republican is always the bad guy.”
From anyone else, this would be just talk — or talking points. (No terrorist bad guys on TV? Really?) But Breitbart is one of the people who rams those points into the popular consciousness. Until last September, the beefy 41-year-old with graying blond hair was a largely covert power in the right-wing media, the hidden hand behind the popular Drudge Report who also, weirdly, cofounded the liberal Huffington Post. But then he struck out on his own…
United Nations Wants To Take Guns Away From Americans
I’m not sure who made this video but it’s quite an effective piece of anti-UN, pro-guns propaganda (no editorial slant intended – let us know in the comments if you agree or disagree with the filmmaker):
Georgia TV Station Creates Panic With Spoof Documentary Claiming Russian Invasion
From Variety:
A pro-government Georgian television station sparked widespread panic in the Caucasian country when it ran a spoof documentary claiming the Russians had invaded again. The half-hour show — which aired Saturday night — brought chaos to the country after it claimed Russian troops were already in the capital Tbilisi and aired “unconfirmed reports” that pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili had been assassinated.
Mobile telephone networks crashed, cinemas emptied as parents called their children home and people spilled out on to the street of towns and cities across the country to seek safety. But the report on Imedi-TV — once Georgia’s leading independent station until Saakashvili took it off air following the death of its owner, opposition figure Badri Patarkatsishvili in 2008 — was nothing but a hoax, apparently aired by a…
Republicans Playing on People’s Fears (Officially)?
Ben Smith writes on the Politico:
The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama and a promise to “save the country from trending toward socialism.”
The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how “ego-driven” wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and “tchochkes.”
The presentation was delivered by RNC Finance Director Rob Bickhart to top donors and fundraisers at a party retreat in Boca Grande, Florida on February 18, a source at the gathering said.
In neat PowerPoint pages, it lifts the curtain on the often-cynical terms of political marketing, displaying an air of disdain for the party’s donors that is usually confined to the barroom conversations of political operatives.
The presentation explains the Republican fundraising in simple terms.
U.S. Plans $1.4bn Media ‘Aid’ For Pakistan
From Emirates Business 24/7:
The Obama administration sent lawmakers this week a plan for $1.45 billion (Dh5.32bn) in aid for Pakistan this year, funding media campaigns to counter extremist views as well as water, energy and other projects.
The 2010 spending plan, obtained by Reuters, was sent to lawmakers as part of the US administration’s obligation to consult Congress over the civilian aid package.
“It represents a rebalancing of the military and civilian assistance,” Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew told Reuters of the package, part of a $7.5bn, five-year aid plan passed by Congress for Pakistan last year. There is strong anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and the hope is this new assistance will help ease that tension.
About $50 million is set aside for a “comprehensive communications strategy” to counter extremist views and…
Glenn Beck Creates His Own Shepard Fairey-Inspired Obama ‘Hope’ Poster, Featuring…
Hmm … I tend to think this particular Founding Father would NOT be happy with Glenn Beck using his image … but he’s been dead for a long time. I bring that up for legal reasons, because helps to define what we call the “public domain.”
So actually, even though Shepard Fairey’s Obama art is legally problematic, I do wonder if Beck can do this under “fair use.”
Legal scholars, your opinion is welcome. (And those who have something to say about Glenn Beck…)
P.S. Glenn Beck “paints”?!?
Brains, Brawn and Spectacle – Superbowl Boycott
Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe:
Though we definitely can act it, most Americans aren’t stupid, even football proves that. It takes a decent amount of brainpower to remember statistics, history, game strategy and betting strategy. Unfortunately, it’s so much misappropriated focus. We’ll spend countless hours, dollars and energy on this one game, then we’ll spend the same on March Madness, the World Series, the Stanley Cup and varried playoffs. In between, we’ll throw an equal amount of time and talent into Hallmark holidays and celebrity awards shows.
How Movies Activate Your Neural G-Spot
From Wired:
Here’s a typical “date night” with me and Hollywood: I don’t know what I want to see. Neither does Hollywood. But it bangs on my eyeballs and eardrums like Stanley Kowalski anyway. Sometimes I come away from the multiplex reasonably satisfied; other times I’m bummed beyond measure. It’s like some endless, brutal visit to the optometrist: This explosion or that explosion? This superintelligent shark or that zombie anaconda? It’s all so clumsy, so imprecise. Which is why I’m thrilled to learn that Hollywood has found a way to improve its hit rate. Not with better filmmaking — God forbid, we don’t want artistry gumming up our popcorn flicks — but with science. Get ready for the optimized moviegoing experience, where every instant is calculated to tickle your neural G-spot…
ACORN ‘gotcha’ man arrested in attempt to bug Senator’s phones
via nola.com:
Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O’Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group’s credibility.
Landrieu said: “This is a very unusual situation and somewhat unsettling for me and my staff. The individuals responsible have been charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purposes of committing a felony. I am as interested as everyone else about their motives and purpose, which I hope will become clear as the investigation moves forward.”
Landrieu’s Republican counterpart, Sen. David Vitter, called for a racketeering investigation against New Orleans-founded ACORN last year in the wake of O’Keefe’s videos.
Banned Mormon Cartoon?
I can see why this might be disowned by the Powers That Be. Pretty entertaining stuff.
Your Life, TM
From Diatribe Media:
We wake up every day to a branded alarm clock, eat our branded food, shower with our trademarked soap and wipe our asses with logoed toilet paper. Then it’s time to shuffle off to work in our brand stamped cars, stickered bikes or logoed train cars. After 8 hours of devoting our headspace and bodies to a branded corporation, we head home to relax with copyrighted entertainment material or maybe even create our own entertainment, which the social networking sites we promote it on reserve the unlimited right to use.
In a college class on non-profit marketing I took many years ago, one of the professors pointed out that we now live “in an experience driven economy.” That’s obvious to any 30something who spends more money at a rock show…
Fox News’ Shameless Christian Crusade
From Alternet:
At Fox News, religion is easy: Christianity is right and good and must be defended from its relentless persecutors, and other faiths are dangerous, inadequate, or a joke.
Religion is … tough.
The collected spiritual teachings of the world’s various deities, messiahs, prophets, monks, yogis, gurus, and shamans are so deeply ingrained in human culture and consciousness that they essentially tell the history of mankind. Their cosmological and philosophical differences have proved to be stubbornly intractable and provided the impetus for many of humanity’s more brutal conflicts. The greatest minds of the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds have devoted entire lifetimes delving into the deepest questions that face mankind.
But for Fox News, religion is easy: Christianity is right and good and must be defended from its relentless persecutors, and other faiths…
How the Military Hides Dissent in the Ranks
From Alternet:
The military’s murky system keeps no accurate count of conscientious objectors, and likely hides the true extent of disgruntled service-members.
Ever since Major Nidal Hasan killed 13 soldiers at Fort Hood last month, the hunt has been on for a motive, preferably one the Army could have detected and thwarted and still be held harmless.
It’s a long list, ranging from compassion fatigue to religious militancy, ineptitude to insanity, but it is clear that Hasan was desperate to avoid becoming one of the swarm of soldiers about to be sent to Afghanistan. This includes the possibility that he explored applying for conscientious objector, or CO, status, but Army officials counter that they have no record of any such attempt.
Of course they don’t.
No reliable count exists of how many soldiers consider themselves…
Fox Spent Weeks Promoting Apparent Tea Party Scam
From Alternet:
TPM Media’s Zachary Roth reported earlier in the week that the political action committee that organized the Tea Party Express — Our Country Deserves Better PAC — funneled almost two-thirds of its spending from July to November back to the political consulting firm from which it was spawned, Russo, Marsh, and Associates. More than $850,000 of the money the supposedly grassroots PAC collected went to the firm of GOP political operatives who ran it.
For those who may have forgotten, the Tea Party Express was the faux-grassroots operation that Fox News hopped aboard in late August, after the network’s promotion of the health care town hall meeting disruptions but before they started flogging the 9-12 protest. (It’s so hard to keep Fox’s political activism straight!) It was a nationwide bus tour organized by…
Taking Ginkgo Biloba Is A ‘Waste of Time’
Kate Devlin writes in the Telegraph:
Elderly people who took Ginkgo biloba every day for six years had as many difficulties with recall as those who took a fake supplement, the largest study of its kind has shown. At least 100,000 people in Britain are thought to regularly take the supplement, which has been widely credited with improving memory and concentration.
Made from the leaves of the Ginkgo tree, the Chinese herbal remedy has been used as a traditional medicine for centuries. It is thought to contain chemicals which help the flow of blood around the body, which advocates believe will help protect the brain against decline.
But the researchers who carried out the latest study warned that the supplement appeared to have no effect on warding off age-related memory problems.
Chase Bank Rigs Online Fundraising Contest?
More shenanigans from our beloved mega-banks, concerning this Facebook contest :
via the NY Times
JPMorgan Chase & Company is coming under fire for the way it conducted an online contest to award millions of dollars to 100 charities.
At least three nonprofit groups — Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the Marijuana Policy Project and an anti-abortion group, Justice for All— say they believe that Chase disqualified them over concerns about associating its name with their missions.
The groups say that until Chase made changes to the contest, they appeared to be among the top 100 vote-getters.
“They never gave us any indication that there was any problem with our organization qualifying,” said Micah Daigle, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “Now they’re completely stonewalling me.”
Three days before the contest ended, Chase stopped giving participants access to voting information, and it has not made public the vote tallies of the winners.
“This is a problem of accountability,” said David Lee, executive director of Justice for All. “Simply publish the votes and let us see that the 100 organizations named as winners won.”
Televangelist Oral Roberts, Dead
Or floating forever on a giant pile of money in the Kingdom of Heaven. You decide.
from the NY Times:
Oral Roberts, the charismatic Pentecostal evangelist whose televised ministry attracted millions of followers worldwide and made him one of the most recognizable and controversial religious leaders of the 20th century, died Tuesday in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 91.
The cause was complications of pneumonia, said Melany Ethridge, a spokeswoman for Mr. Roberts.
At the height of his influence, Mr. Roberts sat at the head of a religious, educational and communications enterprise based in Tulsa, Okla., that managed a university, conducted healing “crusades” on five continents, preached the gospel on prime-time national television and published dozens of books and magazines.
By 1985, the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and the university that bore his name employed more than 2,300 people and earned $110 million in revenue. The expanse of Mr. Roberts’s ministry, coupled with his fiery preaching, tycoonlike vision and jet-set lifestyle, also attracted persistent questions throughout his career about his theology and his unorthodox fund-raising techniques, although no credible evidence of malfeasance was ever produced. Some of the harshest criticism was generated by former members of his staff.
Adolf Hitler Skull Fragment is Genuine Evidence of Suicide, Insists Russia
From the Telegraph:
The chief archivist at the Federal Security Service in Moscow repeated Russia’s assurances that the skull, and a jaw bone, were the “only documentary evidence” of the Nazi leader’s death despite the claims, in a United States documentary.
The four-inch skull fragment has a hole where a bullet reportedly passed through Hitler’s left temple when he shot himself.
Kept in Russia’s state archive, it was put on public display in 2000 and is the only evidence to back the accepted story that Hitler committed suicide.
Jawbones, said to be confirmed as Hitler’s through dental records, are kept at the federal security service archive but have not been put on show, nor has any DNA confirmation of their veracity been offered.
Russia maintains that these two artefacts prove Soviet troops found Hitler’s body…
