Bill Moyers returns to PBS to dissect the corporate media: “Buying the War”

On Wednesday evening, Bill Moyers' Journal presented "Buying the War," a terrific special describing the failure of the U.S. media during the run-up to the Iraq invasion.   If you missed it, you can watch the entire show here.   Here's the official description of the special: Four years ago on May 1, President Bush…

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Attention Sickness

Marty Kaplan describes the symptoms and gives a name to "the very real nausea that culture (to use a kind word for it) can cause":  Attention Sickness.  First the BIG THING was ANNA NICOLE. Then it was WAR FUNDING. Then it was SANJAYA, and vote-for-the-worst sadism. Then it was CANCER, and…

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Howard Zinn on patriotism

Howard Zinn recently spoke on patriotism on DemocracyNow: Patriotism to me means doing what you think you're country should be doing. Patriotism means supporting your government when you think it's doing right, opposing your government when you think it's doing wrong. Patriotism to me means really what the Declaration of…

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Selective empathy

We’ve had a horrible tragedy back here in the United States.   Thirty-three students are dead at Virginia Tech, with many others wounded. Our papers are going to spill a lot of ink on this story, as they should.  But on the other side of the world, multitudes of innocent civilians…

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Protect our soldiers from President Bush

A reader recently submitted this suggestion to Andrew Sullivan's site, The Daily Dish: As far as anti-war arguments go, why hasn't anyone simply stated that they're trying to protect the soldiers from President Bush, rather than the insurgents? Just saying we should end the war provides far too many opportunities…

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