Glenn Greenwald: the retired military analysts story continues to be censored by the networks

Glenn Greenwald has posted another excellent report on corruption of the corporate media. Here's the background. In 2008, the NYT's David Barstow broke the story of how retired generals posing as media analysts, "had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended." Barstow's story received extremely limited play by the corporate electronic media. Even though Barstow has now won a Pulitzer Prize, his story about the analysts is still being censored. By whom? By the television networks that made unethical use of the generals' highly biased analyses.

By whom were these "ties to companies" undisclosed and for whom did these deeply conflicted retired generals pose as "analysts"? ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and Fox -- the very companies that have simply suppressed the story from their viewers. They kept completely silent about Barstow's story even though it sparked Congressional inquiries, vehement objections from the then-leading Democratic presidential candidates, and allegations that the Pentagon program violated legal prohibitions on domestic propaganda programs.

As Greenwald reports, these networks are now adding insult to injury. They are not even reporting on the basis for Barstow's Pulitzer.

The outright refusal of any of these "news organizations" even to mention what Barstow uncovered about the Pentagon's propaganda program and the way it infected their coverage is one of the most illuminating events revealing how they operate. So transparently corrupt and journalistically disgraceful is their blackout of this story that even Howard Kurtz and Politico -- that's Howard Kurtz and Politico -- lambasted them for this concealment.

Greenwald provides lots of details in his article, and numerous relevant links.

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: the retired military analysts story continues to be censored by the networks

Keep NASA independent of the U.S. Military

One of the “trial balloons” of the incoming Obama administration is a proposed consolidation of NASA with US military programs for space. The ostensible reason is “national security,” but insecurity about our military’s capabilities to keep up with Chinese efforts to explore and exploit space are at the core of…

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Toward ever-greater debt and dependency

Bill Moyers sat down with history and international relations expert and former US Army Colonel Andrew J. Bacevich, who has authored a book entitled:  "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism." Bacevich has identified three major problems facing our democracy: the crises of economy, government and militarism.  These…

Continue ReadingToward ever-greater debt and dependency

Let’s elect one of the Guantanamo prisoners as the next President of the United States

Why would we elect one of the prisoners at Guantanamo as the next President of the United States? Well, the logic is becoming quite clear to anyone who has followed the corporate news media for the past few days. Prisoners at Guantanamo have that special ingredient that John McCain has that makes him an especially good candidate to be president. He was a prisoner and he was tortured! According to many pundits, this confined torture makes McCain a better candidate than Barack Obama.

What provoked this discussion? Recent statements of Wesley Clark that John McCain’s military service doesn’t make him better qualified to be President:

He hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron . . . I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.

Please note, however, Clark’s additional words indicating that Clark nonetheless honored McCain’s military service:

I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has traveled all over the world.” Clark continued: “But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in Air — in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn’t …

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Continue ReadingLet’s elect one of the Guantanamo prisoners as the next President of the United States

Since John McCain has made this campaign about character, let’s talk about character.

Jeffrey Klein has made a compelling case that there is something McCain is not telling us about his military service or, rather, that he is not being forthright about some of the claims he is making.   Since McCain has made this campaign about character, let's talk about character.  Let's start…

Continue ReadingSince John McCain has made this campaign about character, let’s talk about character.