How'm I Doin' Pt. Two

According to many, among them Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters, The One, after a month in office, is less popular than both W and Carter during theirs. Contrary to the ongoing and pathetic attempts of mainstream media to hoist him forward, the blush seems indeed to be off the rose. Keith Olberman, MSNBC's starry eyed fan of the election cycle, has begun to fret that "Obama acts disturbingly like Bush." I've got news for him: Web Tarpley warned us as long ago as Spring, 2008 that this guy, with Brzeznski at the helm, was going to make the neocons look like Mother Theresa singing 'Kum-by-a". And, as if that weren't enough, it is clear that others inside the loop feel equally uncomfortable. LameCherry writes,

"Did you notice Sec. of War Robert Gates not wanting any part of this Obama cage in being slow to rise and looking completely uncomfortable stuck between Obama groupies and being the photo op of "Obama really knows about war".

It doesn't matter how nice of suit the press dresses Birdie Obama in as he is still a chameleon and in shedding his skin he is showing he has the brain of a newt and the press has no confidence in him by their enabling."

Moreover, Marion Valentine, former Navy Intel, continues to post a plethora of solid information on the web of links behind this operative on Political Pyro.

"I guess my years in Navy Intel ruined me, instead of looking at events separately, I try to connect many seemingly unrelated events but have the same thing in common...."

Like our wise Logistics Monster, he reminds us to always look at the big picture, to connect seemingly unrelated issues and events and to seek the common thread. Never has it been more imperative for us to do so. The very fate of our nation, its economy and its Constitution hangs in the balance, and it has been painfully clear for a long time that main stream American media has failed us completely by refusing to report fact objectively. With few exceptions such as Glenn Beck of FOX, they suppress facts, promulgate propaganda and leave the American electorate completely in the dark like so many mushrooms.

And so, that is why Americans have forsaken the bizarre fluff of main stream media for the open range of the internet's bloggers and commentators; live streaming radio talk has burgeoned and websites like Logistics Monster, Political Pyro, Texas Darlin' and Insight Analytical continue to abound. Our radio shows, like Andrea Shea King, Mommae's Radio Rebels, Sentinel Radio, My Two Cents Presents Constitutional Radio and The Dame Truth are committed to bringing the truth to the forefront in the effort to educate ourselves and the American people about things many of us had comfortably put aside: our Constitution, Bill of Rights, corporate connections to political and government entities and all the rest of those slimy things sitting on the slippery slopes of a descent into economic and political chaos and the loss of our rights.

It has now come to light in an essay published today at Counterpunch.org that former Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts confirms that the U.S. government has been leasing gold to suppress its price and support the dollar. The admission is made in the last paragraph of the essay, which is appended.

If incompetence in Washington, the type of incompetence that produced the current economic crisis, destroys the dollar as reserve currency, the "unipower" will overnight become a third world country, unable to pay for its imports or to sustain its standard of living.

How long can the US government protect the dollar's value by leasing its gold to bullion dealers who sell it, thereby holding down the gold price? Given the incompetence in Washington and on Wall Street, our best hope is that the rest of the world is even less competent and even in deeper trouble. In this event, the US dollar might survive as the least valueless of the world's fiat currencies.

It is incumbent upon us to notice, to read, speak and share our observations and knowledge. It is important to note such things as the word "crisis" being iterated over and over in speeches, all the better to prepare us to willingly surrender to martial law in fear of our lives.

Note that as many as 28 states have or are now entertaining and passing resolutions to assert their States Rights and soverignty under the 10th Amendment as a result of Federal eyes on States' monies and 2nd Amendment issues. This has not happened since the mid 19th century and NO, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP.

We rally and support one another in the initiative to report the news as it is, not as They would have us see it. I don't know about you, but I just sat on my tinfoil hat--I realize I don't need it anymore, for we have seen the Enemy and it is *They!* Now, What are we going to do about it?!"

The Gibson Edit...and the Rest of the Story

The Constitution grants special protections to "the Press" because a free and open exchange of ideas is essential to our form of government. This also gives "the Press" the responsibility of being watchdog to the government.

When the press become politicized and biased toward a particular view, they stop objectively reporting, present only one side of the issue, and become merely an extension of and advocate for the side they favor rather than the independent reporter mandated by the Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp below:

• Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
• Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
• Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.
• Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
• Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant
• Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
• Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Clearly, the sin of ommission--be it in the form of editing out contextual material, as ABC's Charlie Gibson did, or simply neglecting to state a clarification or fact-- is no less than the sin of commission. Both dodge and taint the truth. Sadly, this is an example that, far from being the exception, has now become the rule in current day news reading. Instead of Edward R. Murrow, we have a Keith Olberman who merely plays Ed on TV, reading his prompter with passion but no information. Several weeks ago, when annienyc engaged him in what she expected would be an intelligent discourse on the Democratic candidates, she learned that, much to her surprise, he was clueless as to any facts about either candidate. Thus we have edited tape instead of insightful interview and commentary, or, barring that, Chris Matthews talks about his tingling leg.

This sad substitution for journalism must stop. Journalists need to replace prompter readers and pundits who have no idea what they are talking about. But most of all, we need to replace propaganda mongers with objective reporters once again. Our Democracy depends on it.

The Continued Cry for Truth: Main Stream Media-- Business As Usual

IN March of this year, during the primaries, I became so outraged at the depths to which Main Stream Media had plunged into bias and misogyny that, in addition to campaigning for Hillary Clinton, I began to work actively on media reform. Tired of the endless stream of "babble from Babel", of the outright lies, half truths, ommissions, innuendo, lewd, sexist remarks and sometimes even violent references to and about Hillary [and thus ALL women] perpetrated by news readers of BOTH genders--note, I do not characterize these offenders as journalists--many of us began to push back at these outrages, contacting network heads, producers, perpetrators and advertisers, and boycotting same. It got to the point where FOX, the network once most maligned for Republican bias, was the only place one could hope to obtain even a scintilla of balanced reportage.

IN the months since, we have seen incremental change in response to our outcry: a few random wrist slaps for some of the most blatant offenders, coupled with an apology here and there [if they do it and apologize, does that make it all right to continue to offend??], and, finally, this week, word that BOTH Olberman and Matthews have been demoted from anchor posts to mere commentary slots for fall election coverage. A step in the right direction, to be sure, but a more complete demotion would have been more to my liking, given the frequency and outrageousness of their offenses.

AND THEN came Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin: Regardless of whether one agrees with a candidate's ideology, one cannot have an informed electorate unless media is willing to report truthfully and objectively. Call me crazy--I have always supported the view that in order to HAVE a Democracy [even if it is only a representational democracy] an informed electorate, accorded human rights, is the imperative. However, objectivity be damned, Charlie sat, leaning slightly forward, above Governor Palin, glasses perched low on nose as he peered, frowning menacingly down through them at her. It was disconcertingly clear that this was more an inquisition than an interview, but still I thought that perhaps we would get some real information from Governor Palin.

NOW mind you, I am a lifelong Democrat, [or at least I was until the DNC and the Obama camp used caucus, voter and delegate fraud and intimidation to select the candidate who LOST the primary] and, as such, disagree with much of Governor Palin's ideology. However, when I read the ENTIRE transcript http://marklevinshow.com/gibson-interview/
of that Gibson interview, including the PARTS EDITED OUT, I was once again reminded that we, the American people who are trying to learn about our candidates, continue to be deprived of the truth in reporting that our Democracy requires to function. During the primaries, as now, the American public has been denied their right not only to free speech, but their right to be informed. Countless incidents of caucus fraud, voter fraud and delegate intimidation went unreported, and, indeed, even the assassination of Arkansas State Democratic Chair Bob Gwatney went virtually unnoticed. Most people to whom I mentioned it were shocked to learn that it had happened, so unreported was that heinous crime.

AND SO IT GOES. The trauma of the Denver convention is passed, though definitely not forgotten; the DNC has rejected its most popular candidate in favor of one selected by a few of its waning leaders, one who is LEAST likely to win in November; and the Republican candidate has chosen a women to run as his VP. Never mind whether you agree with their ideology; Obama changes positions [and perhaps vp choices, if one accords any credence to rumors??!] with abandon, so we really do not know WHAT he stands for...McCain the Maverick [castigated by the Republican Far Right] has at least stepped up to the plate for equality with his choice. And all that remains now is to continue to expose media bias and try as best we can to educate the public on the facts about both candidates in the hope that they will have a vote that counts.