I have been thinking about all the things that have changed under Bush and Co. And to me the starkest area has got to be the media. I also think it may just be the most important area in which we progressives need to turn it around.

I mean, as long as all the MSM is corporate controlled, and arm and arm with the republicans, they are always going to play a huge role in shaping the mindset of mainstream America. Let's face it the average American is not as open minded as most of the posters here, and I suspect still get most (or all) of there information from the MSM. For example, I have a cousin (who I would actually consider fairly open minded) who believes CNN is the best choice for news. Now I have to say in my opinion, CNN is worse than Fox, because at least with Fox you know they are the cheerleaders for the repubs., but with CNN they claim to be fair and unbiased. What a load of crap!

The media shapes the debate for everything else that happens in this country. Bush knows this and uses it to continually attempt to make the Dems. look like they are a bunch of 'defeat-o-crats', who want the terrorists to win! I strongly feel this is why they lack so much backbone to challenge him on any major issue, nevermind impeachment hearings!!!

Just think if the MSM wasn't so republican leaning, how different this country and what has happened, would be.

For one thing, we most certainly wouldn't have a second Bush term,... remember the Dan Rather scenario...

It's all part ofthe neo-con take over.

People like DeLay and Santorum helped rig the political side, the republican congress set laws to let corporate interests control news content, and the administration politicized every single government office from the Justice Dept to the EPA.

At first they hid behind 9/11 and the code orange fear curtain. But smoke and mirrors can only work for just so long. Eventually they started to rely in simple "fuck y'all", and they've gotten away with it!


Most of the Main Stream Media are either directly controled by people with vested interests, (Rupert Murdock) or by the all mighty stock holder. (the bottom line) This is because the FCC, another federal agency that has been politicized, no longer requires TV news agencies who are allowed to use the publics air waves, to use them in the publics interests. They are instead allowed to use them any damned way they choose too!
(deregulation) (let the market regulate it's self)(Laissez-faire)

Ironically, I consider state "controlled" (note inverted commas) to be more "fair and balanced" than our "private media." At this point, BBC and CBC are excellent sources of relatively unbiased coverage.

Amazing! We actually agree on something. DW TV (German) is also a good news source. It can be found on PBS.

Retired Monk
"Ideology is a disease"

Ja, ich lese Der Spiegel wochlich, und auch Frankfurter Allgemeine und Berliner Morgenpost jede zwei Tage oder so.

So I'm not really impressed by your soi-disant internationalism either.

god bless you. do you need a tissue?



Did you mean quotes? I'm confused...

I don't think the BBC is unbiased. They break stories in response to their government standards, but that doesn't mean they're unbiased. they just give voice to the oppoosition. this is not objective press. it's reactionary press. An objective press would absorb political pariahs, also.

I'm not talking about paul, by the way.

Please note the adverb "relatively." It's there for a reason.

ok, noted.

Ya don't have to be impressed. It's not a requirement.

Don't have cable so I don't get to watch CNN, Fox or MSNBC. I get the majority of my news online. I watch BBC World News on PBS, I also watch Newshour, NOW, Frontline, Frontline World, Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.

If you're old enough to remember Ma Bell (Mountain Bell), that's what should be done with the media here. In a lot of cases the media is a monopoly and it should be broken up just as Ma Bell was back in the 70s.

The media monopolies are a very new phenom. So new in fact that I'm not sure the merging process is finished.
And yes, they should be split up. Competition makes for a better, more honest product.

I'm forced to disagree. The ownership rules in broadcasting, and simple independence in newspapers, prevent monopolies in the news business. Those rules are currently under threat, but there is no monopoly of the AT&T variety.

Virtual monopoly. When one person sits at the head of the bord of a company that virtually controls the markets in every major city, that's a virtual monopoly. No, not literally, and yet one person can have has his foot on the throat of truth all over the country.

At this time there are approximately 6 corporations that control the vast majority of the media in this country.

NEWS CORPORATION
CEO: Rupert Murdoch
Number of Employees: 44,000
• TELEVISION
o PRODUCTION
 Twentieth Century Fox Television
 My Network TV
 Fox Television Studios
 Star Group Limited (STAR)
 Fox Broadcasting Company
 Fox Television
 New York, WNYW, WWOR
 Los Angeles, KTTV KCOP
 Chicago, WFLD, WPWR
 Philadelphia, WTXF
 Boston WFXT
 Plus 20 other station
o PROGRAMMING
 Fox (77% of households reached)
 Fox College Sports
 Fox Reality
 Fx Networks
 Fox International Channels
 Fox Sports Net
 Fox Movie
 Fox News Channel
 Special Report With Brit Hume
 Fox Report With Sheppard Smith
 On The Record With Greta Van Susteren
 Fox News Sunday
 Fox News Radio Network
 The O'Reilly Factor
 Hannity & Colmes
 National Geographic Channel (67% ownership)
 Fuel TV
 Speed
 Fox Sports International
 Fox Sports World Middle East
 Fox Pan American Sports (37.8%)
 Fox Soccer
• PERIDOCALS
o NEWSPAPERS (Publishes more than 175 newspapers worldwide
 New York Post (US)
 News International (UK)
 News of the World
 The Sun
 Sunday Times
 The Times
 TSL Educational (UK)
 Times Educational Supplement
 Times Literary Supplement
 Times Higher Education Supplement
 Nursery World
 Daily Telegraph (Australia)
 Sunday Tasmanian
 Fiji Times
 Papua New Guinea Post-Courier
o MAGAZINES
 News America Marketing Group (US)
 Smart Source
 Weekly Standard (US)
 News Magazine (Australia)
 INSIDE out
 donna hay
 Herald and Weekly Times (Australia)
 News Custom Publishing
 Gemstar - TV Guide (41%)
• INTERNET
o Intermix
o MyLeague.com
o CasesLadder.com
o FlowGo.com
o Grab.com
o MySpace.com
o IGN.com
o News.com.au
o Foxnews.com
o NYPost.com
o MSN.FoxSports.com
o WeeklyStandard.com
o Scout.com
o Broadsys.com
o NewsOptimus.co.uk
o NewsOutdoor.com
• BOOKS
o Harper Collins Limited (UK)
o Harper Collins Publishers (US)
o Zondervan (evangelical Christian imprint)
o ReganBooks
• FILM
o Twentieth Century Fox
o Twentieth Century Fox Animation
o Fox Searchligh Pictures
o Fox 2000
o Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
o New Regency (20%)
• SATELLITE
o SKY Italia
o SKY News
o FOXTEL (25%)
o BSkyB [36.8%]
o DirecTV Group [33.9%]
o Innova [30%]
o SKYLatin America [49.7%]
• MISCELLANEOUS
o Festival Mushroom Records
o NDS ("open end-to-end digital technology)
o National Rugby League - Australia & New Zealand [50]%

GENERAL ELECTRIC
CEO: Jeff Immelt
Number of Employees: 316,000
• TELEVISION
o PRODUCTION
 NBC Universal
 NBC Television
 New York, WNBC
 Los Angelel, KNBC
 Chicago, WMAQ
 San Jose / San Franciso, KNTV
 Dallas / Fort Worth, KXAS
 Plus 9 other stations
 Telemundo
 Los Angeles, KVEA / KWHY
 New York, WNJU
 Maimi, WSCV
 Chicago, WSNS
 Dallas / Fort Worth, KXTX
 NBC Universal Television Distribution
 NBC Universal Television Studio
 Law & Order franchise
 Late Night With Conan O'Brian
 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno
o PROGRAMMING
 NBC (99% of households reached)
 NBC Network News
 The Today Show
 NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams
 Dateline NBC
 Meet The Press
 Early Today
 CNBC
 Squawk Box
 Mad Money
 Tim Russert
 CNBC World
 CNBC Arabia
 CNBC-India TV-18
 CNBC Asia [Part]
 MSNBC [with Microsoft] (79% of households reached)
 MSNBC Live
 Hardball With Chris Matthews
 Rita Cosby: Live and Direct
 Scarborough Country
 Sci Fi [Part]
 Telemundo
 Bravo
 USA Network
 Weather Plus
 A & E [Part]
 The History Channel [Part]
 The Sundance Channel [Part]
o PERIODICALS
 Sci Fi Magazine [80%]
o PARKS & RESORTS
 Universal Parks and Resorts
 Universal Studios Hollywood [40%]
 Universal Studios Orlando [40%]
 Universal Studios Japan [40%]
o INTERNET
 MSNBC.com
 SciFi.com [80%]
 msn.com
 NBC.com
 Telemundo.com
o FILM
 Universal Pictures
 Universal Studios Home Entertainment
 Focus Features
 Rogue Pictures
o MISCELLANEOUS
 GE Commercial Finance
 GE Insurance Solutions
 Transportation Financial Services Group
 GE Consumer Finance
 GE Heatlthcare
 GE Industrial
 Plastics
 Electrical Equipment
 Silicones
 Lighting
 Household Appliances
 Equipment Services
 Securities Systems
 GE Sensing
 GE Infrastructure
 Aircraft Engines
 Aircraft Engines Maintenance
 Commercial Aviation Financing
 GE Energy
 Energy Financial Services
 Commercial Aviation Financing
 GE Energy
 Energy Financial Services
 Oil & Gas Turbomachinery
 GE Water & Process Technologies
 GE Transportation
 Locomotives

DISNEY
CEO: Robert Iger
Number Of Employees: 133,000
• TELEVISION
o PRODUCTION
 ABC Television
 New York, WABC
 Los Angeles, KABC
 Chicago, WLS
 Philadelphia, WPVI
 San Francisco, WKGO
 Plus 5 other stations
 Buena Vista Television
 Touchstone Television
 Walt Disney Television
o PROGRAMMING
 ABC (97% of households reached)
 ABC Entertainment
 ABC Daytime
 ABC Sports
 ABC Kids
 ABC News
 Good Morning America
 Nightline
 World News Tonight
 World News Now
 20/20
 Primetime
 This Week With George Stephanopoulos
 ESPN [80%]
 ESPN Deportes
 ESPN 2
 ESPN Classic
 ESPNEWS
 The Disney Channel
 International Disney Channels
 JETIX Europe [74.4%]
 JETIX Latin America
 A&E [37.5%]
 E! Entertainment Networks [39.6%]
 Style [39.6%]
 Lifetime Television [50%]
• PERIDODOCALS
o Family Fun
o ESPN The Magazine
o Disney Adventures
o Buena Vista Magazines
o Wondertime
• INTERNET
o Disney.com
o ESPN.com
o ABC.com
o ABCNews.com
o ABCSports.com
o EXPN.com
o ESPNdeportes.com
o Soccernet
o movies.com
• BOOKS
o Hyperion (distribution by Time Warner)
o Miramax
o ESPN Books
o ABC Daytime Press
o Hyperion East
o Hyperion Audio Books
o Disney Publishing Worldwide
o Hyperion Books for Children
o Disney Press
o Disney Editions
o Volo
o Jump at the Sun
o Disney Libri [Italy]
o Disney Hachette JV [France]
• FILM
o Walt Disney Pictures
o Touchstone Pictures
o Hollywood Pictures
o Miramax Films
o Walt Disney Feature Animation
o DisneyToon Studios
o Buena Vista International
o Buena Vista Theatrical Productions
o Buena Vista Productions
o Pixar
• RADIO
o ABC Radio (73 stations)
o ABC News Radio
o ESPN Radio
o Radio Disney
• PARKS & RESORTS
o Disneyland
 Disneyland Resort
 Disney's California Adventure
 Disneyland Paris [51%]
 Hong Kong Disneyland
 Euro Disney [40%]
o Walt Disney World
 Walt Disney World Resort
 Magic Kingdom
 EPCOT
 Walt Disney Studio Park
o Tokyo Disney
o Tokyo Disney-Sea
o Disney-MGM Studios
o Disney's Animal Kingdom
o Disney Cruise Line
o Disney Vacation Club Resorts
o ESPN Zone restaurants
• MISCELLANEOUS
o Disney Mobile
o Mobile ESPN
o Buena Vista Games
 The Chronicals of Narnia
 Chicken Little
 Nightmare Before Christmas
o Buena Vista Music Group
 Walt Disney Records
 Hollywood Records

TIME WARNER
CEO: Richard D. Parsons
Number Of Employees: 87,850
• TELEVISION
o PRODUCTION - Warner Brothers Television Production
 Warner Bros. Animation
 Warner Bros. Interactvie Entertainment
 Monolith Productions
 Warner Bros. Consumer Products
 Warner Bros. International Cinemas
 Time Warner Cable
 On Demand Services
 Video on Demand
 Digital Video Recorders
 High Definition Television - High Speed Data Services
 Digital Phone
 Local News Channels
o PROGRAMMING - Turner Broadcasting System
 CNN (82% of households reached)
 American Morning
 CNN Live Today
 Your World Today
 Live From
 The Situation Room
 Lou Dobbs Tonight
 Paula Zahn Now
 Larry King Live
 Anderson Cooper 360
 Turner Networks
 TBS
 TNT
 Turner Classic Movies
 Cartoon Network
 Turner South
 Boomerang
 Home Box Office (HBO)
 Cinemax
 Court TV
 WB
 CW Network [50% with CBS]
• PERIODICALS - Magazines - Time Inc. (publishes more than 145 magazines worldwide
o Time
o People
o Sports Illustrated
o Fortune
o Entertainment Weekly
o InStyle
o Essence Communications Partners - Essence
o Synapse Group [92%]
o IPC Media [UK]
o Southern Progress Corporation
 Southern Living
 Sunset
 Cooking Light
 Health
o Parenting Group
 Parenting
 Babytalk
o E.C. Publications
o MAD
o DC Comics (publishes more than 50 comics worldwide)
o Time4Media (publishes 17 magazines worldwide)
o Popular Science
o Golf
o Grupo Editorial Expansion (publishes 15 magazines in Mexico)
• INTERNET AOL ("Strategic Alliance" with Google)
o AOL High Speed
o AIM
o ICQ
o Moviefone
o Mapquest
o AOL Call Alert
o AOLbyphone
o AOL Voicemail
o AOL Europe
o AOL Latin America (AOLA)
o AOL Transit Data Network (ATDN)
o CompuServe
o AOL Wireless
o Advertising.com
o CNN Interactive
o CNN.com
o allpolitics.com
o NASCAR.com
o PGA.com
o CartoonNetwork.com
o TheWB.com
o DCComics.com
o 52thecomic.com
o Time.com
• FILM - Warner Brothers Entertainment
o Warner Brothers Pictures
o Castle Rock
o Warner Independent Pictures
o Warner Home Video
o New Line Cinema Corporation
 New Line Cinema
 Picturehouse Films
• MISCELLANEOUS
o Time Warner Telecom [44%]
o Atlanta Braves

CBS Corporation
CEO: Leslie Moonves
Number of Employees: 32, 160
• TELEVISION
o PRODUCTION - CBS Television
 New York, WCBS
 Los Angeles, KCAL, KCBS
 Chicago, WBBM
 Philadelphia, KYW, WPSG
 Plus 16 other stations.
o PROGRAMMING - CBS (99% of households reached)
 CBS Entertainment
 CBS News
 CBS Sports
 CBS Network
 CBS Evening News
 The Early Show
 60 Minutes
 48 Hours
 Face The Nation
 UPN
 CW Network [50% with Time Warner]
 CBS Paramount TV
 Spelling Television
 King World
 Showtime Networks
 Showtime
 The Movie Channel
 Flix
 Suncance Channel [37%]
 SNI/SI Networks [90%]
 CSTV Networks
• BOOKS - Simon & Schuster
o Simon & Schuster Pocket Books
o Scribner
o Free Press
o Simon Spotlight
o Aladdin Paperbacks
o Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
• RADIO - CBS Radio Network
o 179 radio stations: 40 US Markets
• INTERNET - CBS Digital Media Group
o CBS.com
o CBSNews.com
o UPN.com
o SportsLine.com
o NFL.com
o NCAAsports.com
o PGATOUR.com
o Sho.com
o Innertube
o CSTV.com
• PARKS & RESORTS
Paramount Parts
• MISCELLANEOUS
o CBS Outdoor
o CBS Consumer Products

VIACOM
CEO: Thomas Freston
Number Of Employees: 9,500
• TELEVISION
o PRODUCTION
 BET Event Production
 MTV Productions
o PROGRAMMING - MTV Networks
 MTV
 MTV2
 VH1
 BET
 BET Gospel
 BETJ
 Nickelodeon
 Noggin
 NickGas
 TurboNick
 Nicktoons Network
 Nick at Night
 Country Music Television
 Spike TV
 Comedy Central
 The Daily Show with Jon Steward
 The Colbert Report
 TV Land
 MTV Desi
 MTV Chi
 MTV Tr3s
 MTV Jams
 VH1 Classic
 VHUno
 VH1 Soul
 Game One
 The Box
 Logo
 MTV Base [Africa]
 Viva [Germany 97.8%]
 The Music Factory [UK]
 MTV Mandarin
 Nick Jr. Australia
 Nickelodeon Brasil
• MAGAZINES
o Nickelodeon Magazine
• RADIO
o MTV Radio
o BET Radio
o Imagine Radio Limited
• FILM
o Paramount Pictures
o DreamWorks SKG
o iFilm Corp
o MTV Films
• INTERNET
o GameTrailors.com
o Neopets
o Nickelodean Online
o MTVi Group
 SconicNet.com
 VH1.com
 MTV.com
o GoCityKids.com
o Broadband Video
 Comedy Central's MotherLoad
 MTV Overdrive
 VH1 Vspot
 BET On Blast
o Cmt.com
o Ifilm.com
• MISCELLANEOUS - Famous Music
o The Extreme Music Library
o Director's Cuts Production Music
o Xfire
o MTV Mobile

And thirty years ago, there were three networks. Period. So six is actually pretty good. And you're ignoring the fact that local affiliates aren't controlled by the network.

Compare today's ownership to what it was when Bill Clinton was in office. The 6, was more like 35.

Oh you mean like Sinclair Broadcasting that REFUSED to air the episode of Nightline when Ted Koppel read the names of those killed in Iraq? You mean the American media that WILL NOT report the news? Want an example, go to CNN and read, then go to CNN International and read. The media that REFUSES to do it's job? The media here is acting more and more like TASS, which was the state run news under the U.S.S.R.

Want another monopoly example? ClearChannel.

It's a sad state of affairs when I trust what's reported by Pravda more than what is reported in the American media.

FCC townhall meeting in Seattle- Watch this if you have some time.

I don't know if anyone saw this episode of Bill Moyers, but it does sum up very well the problems with the media and how it has become so politicized!

3 TV networks 30 years ago
And hundreds of independant Radio networks, and many hundreds, maybe thousands of independant newspapers.

The discussion wasn't just about the TV news. The MSM isn't just the TV news.

Clearly, 6 ain't shit!

Got a source for that?


Sounds like your real problem is with media that doesn't do what you want it to than with concentration of ownership.


Missed the Dixie Chicks, did ya?


This is precisely the sort of over-the-top rubbish that makes me crazy. Taken literally, you just said that the Russian press, under the fair, even-handed, and enlightened rule of Vladimir Putin, is more trustworthy than the American press.

I understand you don't like Bush. I don't like him either. But that doesn't make Saddam Hussein a nice man, and it doesn't make Putin a Russian Thomas Jefferson.

I concur, to many anti-Bush people are doing the same thing Bush does. If they share a common enemy, they must be a good guy, Bush did it with Musharref in Pakistan, and that came dangerously close to very literally blowing up in his face. This mentality is evident in the some of the lefts infatuation with shady characters like Hugo Chavez.

We must be careful to not become that which we dispise.

now, i mght be delirious, as I have the flu and 102 fever, but;


the dixie chicks move against the MSM seems to support the argument raher than supporting the oposition...

I think the media in general doesn't have a political bias, they have a money bias.

The audience that the Dixie Chicks appeal to is largely conservative, so when they said they were ashamed of Bush, they alienated most of the people that buy their albums and thus they became a pariah. I don't think it had anything to do with any political bias from the media.

Sorry, NOT a Dixie Chicks fan.

Why don't you ask Bruce Springsteen about the shit he's caught over his latest song The Last to Die? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFSFD2wXJ2E

Back when there were 3 Networks, we had the likes of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. We had honest journalism, not the crap that today passes as journalism.

As for Pravda...

http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/39...55_euology.html

Eulogy for America - 11/08/2004 16:49

The epitaph reads:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Born July 4, 1776 - Died November 2, 2004

Ladies and gentlemen, we gather here today to mourn the passing of the United States of America, a nation that once stood as a beacon light of hope for the world.

America was betrayed and murdered on November 2, 2004. Also killed during this time of madness were the following virtues: truth, justice, integrity, freedom, compassion, brotherhood, tolerance, faith, hope, charity, peace, and respect for other cultures and nations. These virtues are survived by their antitheses--deceit, injustice, hypocrisy, fascism, selfishness, hatred, fear, hopelessness, greed, perpetual warfare and arrogant hegemony.

Also murdered were seven platitudes, which parents once used to convince their children that America was a rational and honorable nation:

1. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY died during the coup of 2000, when Americans nonchalantly stood by while an election was stolen. This death provided the Bush dictatorship with the incentive to test the accuracy of Alexander Hamilton-s belief that, ?Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything.¦ That accuracy was authenticated when both the American media and the American public unquestioningly embraced the lies that led the nation into the war against Iraq.

2. VERACITY IS THE HEART OF MORALITY (by Thomas Huxley) has been replaced by these words from Robert Burns: ?Morality, thou deadly bane, thy tens o- thousands thou has slain.¦

Ironically this platitude was zealously enforced when Bill Clinton was President, after he was caught lying about his affair with a White House intern. During the debate leading up to his impeachment trial, right-wing pundits incessantly chanted, ?It-s not about the sexual activity. It-s about the immorality of lying.¦

Yet commensurate concerns over the immorality of lying about the existence of ?weapons of mass destruction¦ in Iraq have been conspicuously absent. And while Clinton-s lies wrought neither death nor destruction, the lies of George W. Bush have, to date, resulted in the deaths of over one thousand Americans, and the slaughter of over one hundred thousand Iraqis, many of them innocent men, women and children. Yet, under the bizarre morality that recently caused the death of America, Clinton-s dishonesty is viewed with more disdain than Bush-s. Ironically, if this ?new morality¦ does not prevent a lying mass murderer from holding political office, then convicted killer Charles Manson has the credentials to become president.

It was allegedly this ?new morality,¦ that swayed the recent election. But what does it truly entail? Besides the egregious belief that lying about a sexual relationship is more immoral than lying about the motives for war, this ?new morality¦ also claims to defend the rights of the unborn, yet is blissfully unconcerned about those already here. Millions of children throughout the nation suffer needless pain because their parents lack health insurance and cannot afford to take them to the doctor. Millions of the elderly suffer similar pain because they cannot afford the prescription medication they rely upon to survive. Yet while universal health care is derided as a ?socialist¦ concept by politicians bought and paid for by the insurance and health care industries, all Iraqi citizens are being provided with universal health coverage.

This ?new morality¦ vociferously rebels if taxes are raised even a single dollar to supply impoverished school systems with computers or up-to-date textbooks, or to feed and clothe the homeless and destitute. Yet the expenditure of billions of dollars on a war based on nothing but lies does not even create a whimper.

Under this ?new morality¦ a block of granite is more important than a human life. The indiscriminate bombing of civilians and the torture and ?disappearances¦ that occurred (and are still occurring) in United States controlled detention camps throughout the world did not inspire outrage, but the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from government property does, even though this monument can be openly displayed on private property.

While so-called ?Christians¦ exploit this ?new morality¦ to pontificate about ?family values,¦ and to condemn the ?intolerance¦ shown by other faiths, they furtively seek, in the wake of America-s death, to establish a dogmatic Social Darwinistic theocracy themselves, building their so-called ?faith¦ on the pillars of hatred, egomania, greed, lust for mortal power, and the selfish desire to force their beliefs upon others, many of the very evils that Jesus, the founder of Christianity, condemned.

3. CRIME DOESN-T PAY holds true only when the crime opposes or offends the power structure. It does not apply when stealing elections or waging illegal wars.

In fact, as the Bush precedent has demonstrated, all an incumbent president has to do to maintain office is dupe the people and the Congress into supporting an illegal war, mismanage this war until election time, then tell the people they should not change the ?commander-in-chief¦ during wartime.

4. ALWAYS LEAD BY EXAMPLE has been replaced by, ?Always be willing to shed anyone-s blood, except your own.¦ When the opportunity arose for Bush, and his partner-in-crime Dick Cheney, to personally participate in combat during the Vietnamese war, Bush instead used his family influence to perform some still nebulous National Guard Service, while Cheney obtained five deferments to avoid being drafted. Yet today they stand on the decks of aircraft carriers and behind podiums in some of the most fortified buildings in the world, telling Iraqi insurgents to ?bring it on.¦

5. PATRIOTISM IS THE LAST REFUGE OF A SCOUNDREL (by Samuel Johnson) has been replaced by the verity that patriotism is the FIRST refuge of a scoundrel. The build-up to the Iraqi war illustrated how easily the Bush regime, through the repetition of words like ?freedom and democracy,¦ could distract people from the reality that the greatest loss of freedom Americans suffered in recent years was not because of some overseas enemy, but through the passage by lawmakers of the deceptively named ?Patriot Act.¦ Now that America is dead, the ?new morality¦ is determined to destroy what little remains of the Bill of Rights.

The irony is that patriotism is only expected of the poor and middle-classes, who make up the bulk of America-s military personnel. Multi-national corporations, who outsourced jobs and threw employees out of work, and who retained ornate office buildings in the late United States while profiting from virtual slave labor in other nations, were never asked to be ?patriotic,¦ nor were they chastised for disloyalty when their practices harmed the national economy. Instead they were rewarded with tax breaks and the financial windfalls that Bush-s warmongering spawned.

6. WORK HARD AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED must now read, ?It is not what you know, but who you know that matters.¦ Although Bush and his supporters have stridently condemned as ?preferential treatment¦ affirmative action policies designed to help minorities who have been historically victimized by discrimination, no one condemns the fact that Bush has profited from preferential treatment his entire life, as have countless other politicians, pundits and celebrities. Affirmative action is not being attacked because it provides ?preferential treatment.¦ It is being attacked because it intrudes upon the nepotism, cronyism and sense of entitlement exploited by those born into wealth and power.

7. ALL LIFE IS SACRED was a common platitude in the late United States. But the massacre of November 2, 2004 has replaced this myth with a paraphrase from George Orwell-s classic book ANIMAL FARM: ?All lives are sacred, but some are more sacred than others.¦

In truth the lives of the expendable and exploited were never as valued as the lives of the expenders and exploiters. And while the Iraqi war is a constant reminder of the absurdity of this platitude, the ordeals of Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Maurice Carter have graphically underscored its hypocrisy.

Dr. Kevorkian is currently imprisoned in the State of Michigan for helping the terminally ill end their lives, allegedly because his actions violated ?the sanctity of life.¦ Yet, just over three months ago, an African-American man named Maurice Carter was also in a Michigan prison, serving a sentence for a crime that many believe he did not commit. At some point during his twenty-eight years of incarceration, Carter contracted a liver disease that became progressively worse because of the inadequate medical treatment he received in prison. When Carter supporters filed a petition to gain him a new trial, the judge hearing the case condescendingly joked about the severity of Carter-s illness.

Although Maurice Carter was ultimately released after being granted a medical commutation by Michigan-s governor, it was too late. He enjoyed only three months of freedom before he died. Yet few have condemned the hypocrisy of a government that makes it a crime to end the suffering of the terminally ill, yet causes terminal illnesses itself through inadequate medical care.

So rest in peace America. As St. Paul said, ?You fought the good fight.¦ But the majority of your people did not keep the faith. Your dream of ?checking and balancing¦ the corrupting influence of power to prevent the rise of evil was a noble endeavor. But history has shown that evil can never be checked, that tolerance often sows the seeds of intolerance, and that the majority of people will always be susceptible to the machinations of madmen.

You have been ravaged by hatred disguised as ?morality.¦ You have endured those who argued that the enslavement of Africans was ?moral,¦ who agreed that counting these slaves as three/fifths of a human being for census purposes was ?moral,¦ that stealing the lands of Native-Americans, either through bloodshed or fraudulent treaties, was ?moral,¦ that destroying Native-American traditions and cultures was ?moral,¦ and that placing women into insane asylums for demanding the right to vote was ?moral.¦ Now the hatred of the ?new morality¦ is directed towards gays and lesbians, towards those who work for peace, and towards those who don-t simply blather about freedom, but exercise it through dissent.

I know there will be some, perhaps many, basking in the afterglow of their pyrrhic victory, who will dismiss this eulogy as ?sour grapes,¦ or the sentiments of a sore loser. But let it be said America that we who truly loved you did not strip away one freedom; we did not endorse one modicum of religious bigotry or intolerance; we did not place your fate into the hands of liars, thieves and war criminals; we did not brazenly abuse the resources of the American military to ?play cowboy¦ or to appease our father; we do not have the blood of one American soldier or one Iraqi civilian on our hands. Because of this we did not gain the world, but we also did not lose our souls.

To those in other nations who read this eulogy, who are still mystified by how swiftly a once great nation was transformed into a neo-fascist nightmare, and how easily a man as hateful, hypocritical, venal, bloodthirsty, warmongering, sadistic and deceitful as George W. Bush was converted into a paradigm for ?moral values,¦ all I can say is that millions in the late United States are pondering these same questions. Perhaps the answer resides in three disturbing, yet immutable, laws of human nature.

The first law is that human beings are obsessed with bringing about their own destruction. Ever since the first caveman picked up the first stone and bashed in the skull of his first enemy, humankind has been devising more sophisticated ways to kill. Even though the atavistic instincts of the cave dwellers are currently masked by the veneer of neon lights and skyscrapers, the grim reality is that human knowledge has always outpaced human wisdom, and it is rare indeed when new technological advancements or discoveries are not explored for their potential use as weapons. As long as this obsession continues, it is inevitable that warmongers will always prevail over peacemakers in the realm of political power.

The second law is that evil is the primary motivating force in human affairs. Although George W. Bush and his minions personify all that is loathsome about human nature, they are merely the reflections of a self-loathing people repulsed by the responsibilities of living in a free country. Edmund Burke once said, ?All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.¦ But the madness that murdered America on November 2, 2004 proves that evil will always triumph, regardless of what good people do.

The third law is that humans are exceedingly receptive to appeals to their basest instincts, which often compels them to act in ways harmful to their personal interests. Karl Marx believed that economic self-interest inspired people-s actions and reactions in capitalist societies. But this is only partially correct. Although economic self-interests consistently influence the rich and powerful, they frequently fail to influence the poor and middle classes, particularly when other interests are given priority.

In the antebellum American South, for example, many white residents earned their incomes working as skilled laborers--such as blacksmiths, silversmiths, cobblers and carpenters. But the wealthy owners of large plantations normally possessed slaves who were equally proficient in these skills. Consequently there was no incentive to pay for work that slaves were required to perform for free. Yet, when the Civil War erupted, many of these same white laborers lost their lives fighting to uphold the very institution that was impoverishing them.

This practice lingered into the civil rights era of the 1960s, as evidenced by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.-s conversation with his white jailers in Birmingham, Alabama. When they informed King of their opposition to his efforts to desegregate the city, King inquired as to how much these jailers were being paid. He then remarked, ?You are just as poorly paid as the average [African-American] man. You should be out marching with us!¦

In those few perceptive words King encapsulated how the rich, white establishment had manipulated poorer whites into accepting the concept of ?white supremacy,¦ when in reality they were being just as exploited as their African-American counterparts.

This practice continues today under George W. Bush, the modern-day Nero who fiddled while America burned, and who now enriches his cronies with tax cuts, oil profits and lucrative ?rebuilding¦ contracts, while deceiving his supporters in the poor and middle classes into believing their friends and relatives are dying in Iraq for ?freedom and democracy.¦

It would be easy for those of us who loved America to be apathetic in the wake of its death. Why should we care how many have died and will die in Iraq when a majority of people are so willing to sacrifice their loved ones? Why should we clamor for truth, when this majority is satisfied with illusion? Why should we be disturbed about Halliburton profits, when this majority is gullible enough to believe Bush-s lies about the war? Why should we protest the bloodlust, butchery and bellicose braggadocio of a cabal of bullying cowards when such behaviors do not offend the ?new morality?¦ Why speak out at all when history has proven that activism and compassion usually destine one for scorn, blacklisting, false imprisonment, suicide or assassination?

But please resist this apathy. There were many who believed the new millennium signaled the end of the world. But with the corrupt ascendancy of George W. Bush, maybe what the new millennium heralds is the beginning of the end. Perhaps all we can hope for is that the day after the apocalypse enough of the earth will be salvageable, so the species that replaces humankind can understand the price of folly and realize that even in humanity's darkest days there were prophets and visionaries who recognized the face of evil and warned the world against it, but whose words fell upon deadened souls and hardened hearts.

Since this is a eulogy, permit me to end on a religious note. I believe that one of the most unjustly maligned figures in history is Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Judas, after all, acknowledged that he had betrayed innocent blood, and returned the silver before killing himself in remorse for his deed. Yet the betrayers and murderers of America have not only kept the money, they have laughed at the suffering they've caused.

Christ advised his followers to ignore the specks in the eyes of others until they have removed the timbers from their own. But, in today-s ?new morality,¦ far too many of those professing to be ?Christians¦ deceitfully fabricate specks in their neighbors' eyes, so the world will remain oblivious to the timbers in their own.

So in our grief let us not forget that, just as America was finite, the perpetrators of evil who infest the halls of power are finite as well. If there is atonement in eternity, then those who do evil, and those who enable them, will ultimately have to pay for their crimes. But dark days are ahead my friends, and perhaps the best we can hope for as this maelstrom of evil engulfs us is that we do not succumb to its allure, lest we become, like those who murdered America on November 2, 2004, people without souls.

David R. Hoffman, Legal Editor PRAVDA.RU


Pravda.Ru

Hello again Captain.
Just one small point with regard to the highlighted text. You don't yet know the members of this forum, and so are unqualified to make such a sweeping judgement. I think that our conservative members may disagree with you.

Yeah, that stubborn open-mindedness of ours that we just can't shake.

Dude, seriously, the signature should go...
claiming it's the male response to feminism shows your deluded thinking and immaturity...

And I'm the guy that typically tries to point out when feminists on this board are being disgustingly prejudicial (and there seems to be a lot less of that these days).

get a grip kid. We'd value your opinion more if you didn't try to be shocking, and tried to be rationally convincing instead.

How much of this "modern era" do you have first hand knowledge of?


What about those members of this board who are in fact conservative? They might be offended by your assumptions.

I can see you're here to be educated. What a wonderful and refreshing attitude to see in todays young people.
Pull up a stump there Cap'n, and you better take notes, as there will be a test!






(free hint)
These closed minded and ignorant people you have chosen to talk down to and make assumptions about, will eat your lunch for you! Odd thing is, that rather than admit to it and learn from it, you will instead claim that you weren't really all that hungry anyway!

Let the show begin.

Young dude,

What you have clearly shown in your short time here is just how young you really are,
and I don't just mean your age. That's not talking down, that's a simple, verifiable observation.

C'mon Digley Wigley, show some substance! Show me that you're more than just another kid.

That's what some of us have been trying to say, and got an argument from you for it.

Because first, it's offensive. Last, it's still offensive.
Which means nothing in between matters.
It's offensive.


BTW,
judging by the content of this discussion, I believe you know full well that it is and why it is offensive,
and that's exactly why you decided to use it.

Bullshit.

Sky, you and I and every other user of this board can all see that this boy is an idiot, with no intention of engaging in any form of honest debate or discussion.
The only question now is how to deal with this one? - I'm open to suggestions.

Are you also a woman?
You laugh at them with equal enthusiasm.

The world is full of idiots.
We don't need another one on the forum.

I vote for bannination.

On what grounds he will ask? (and has)
For being deliberately and knowingly stupid.

In other words, a Troll.

Oh, you're really not very good at this are young dingley!

Free hint: Emotional bate is supposed to make me angry, no make me laugh!

Bannination you say? Before anyone's really had a chance to have any fun with him?
Do you really think that's fair on the others?

You are indeed among the most wise Karen.
It would be selfish to not share the young one with those who have real teeth!

I have only one reservation.
He hasn't shown himself to be a worthy adversary. Why would they bother?
They didn't join the forum to baby sit!

Agreed! He's not even entertaining beyond a most superficial level.
Bannination it is. Thank you for your most intelligent observations.