Tag Archives: media fail

10 years later: documenting the true history of the Bush Administration

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“The true history of my administration will be written 50 years from now, and you and I will not be around to see it.” — George W. Bush

On this day in 2003, a U.S. led coalition invaded Iraq. President Bush said the goal of Operation Iraqi Freedom was to “disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” The Iraqi invasion was strongly supported by Vice President Cheney. As Defense Secretary during the 1991 Gulf War, he opposed an invasion of Iraq, saying it wasn’t worth the casualties or “getting bogged down.” The U.S. combat role in Iraq ended last year after 4,486 Americans were killed, another 32,223 wounded. Direct spending on the Iraq war is estimated at $757 billion, a figure that does not include interest on money borrowed to finance the war — or taking care of veterans. A Brown University study in 2011 said it may also cost $1 trillion more (through 2050) to care for veterans of the 105-month war. On this day in 2011,  President Obama ordered air strikes on Libya.

MARCH 19: On this day in 2003, a U.S. led coalition invaded Iraq. President Bush said the goal of Operation Iraqi Freedom was to “disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” The Iraqi invasion was strongly supported by Vice President Cheney. As Defense Secretary during the 1991 Gulf War, he opposed an invasion of Iraq, saying it wasn’t worth the casualties or “getting bogged down.” …A Brown University study in 2011 said it may also cost $1 trillion more (through 2050) to care for veterans of the 105-month war.

OFFICIALS KNEW Iraq Had No Weapons of Mass Destruction

British and U.S. intelligence agencies “were informed by top sources months before the invasion that Iraq had no active WMD programme, and that the information was not passed to subsequent inquiries,” according to the Guardian.

MOTHER JONES: According to the first-ever comprehensive count of the true toll of the combined wars, the estimate the [Bush Administration] used to sell the invasion in 2003 was about 100 times too low. (i.e. $50-60 billion):

So what did that $6 trillion get us, exactly? Since we borrowed to pay for much of the war, we’re facing nearing $4 trillion in cumulative interest between now and 2053, according to the 30 researchers who worked on the Costs of War report for Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies.

To date, according to the report, medical and disability claims of U.S. war veterans of Iraq have reached $84 billion; ongoing care for wounded Iraq war vets and their families is expected to require nearly $500 billion more over the next several decades. Homeland Security got $245 billion in additional funding thanks to increased threats of terror—real, imagined, and staged—over the last ten years. On-the-ground operations alone ended up being 16 times more expensive than the Bush cabinet’s original estimate for the entire enterprise.

Apparently the Office of Management and Budget was really, really bad at math for a while there in 2003.


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PAUL KRUGMAN wonders why there seems to be so little coverage of the 10-year anniversary:

Well, it’s not hard to think of a reason: a lot of people behaved badly in the runup to that war, and many though not all people in the news media behaved especially badly.

It’s hard now to recall the atmosphere of the time, but there was both an overpowering force of conventional wisdom — all the Very Serious People were for war, don’t you know, and if you were against you were by definition flaky — and a strong current of fear. To come out against the war, let alone to suggest that the Bush administration was deliberately misleading the nation into war, looked all too likely to be a career-ending stance. And there were all too few profiles in courage.

The war, then, was a big test — a test of your ability to cut through a fog of propaganda, but also a test of your moral and to some extent personal courage. And a lot of people in the media failed.

42% OF AMERICANS REMAIN COMFORTABLY DELUSIONAL, IGNORANT

53% of Americans believe the United States “made a mistake sending troops to fight in Iraq” while 42% say it was not a mistake. — a new Gallup poll

FACT: 100% of that 42% also believe this woman should lead the country

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY:

Cheney: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked.  That’s been a major success.
Martha Raddatz: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.
Cheney: So?
Martha Raddatz: So?  You don’t care what the American people think?
Cheney: No.

TEN YEARS LATER: “I did what I did. It’s all on the public record, and I feel very good about it. If I had to do it over again, I’d do it in a minute.” — Cheney in a new  documentary which aired last Friday.

10 COMPANIES PROFITING THE MOST FROM WAR: The 10 biggest arms producers accounted for more than half of the 2010 sales. The composition of those sales reflects the state of modern warfare, as battles are now often fought with remote surveillance and air strikes instead of ground combat.

Click here for a closer look at each company.

“In this charmed circle of American capitalism, Lockheed Martin-, Boeing-, and Raytheon-manufactured munitions destroy Iraq; George Schultz’s Bechtel Corporation and Dick Cheney’s Halliburton rebuild Iraq; and Iraq oil pays for it all.” — Who Benefits from Global Violence and War: Uncovering a Destructive System

Unfortunately military contractors and the politicians they handle walked away from the Iraq-Oil Party with greatly increased wealth and power, and left generations of American taxpayers to foot the bill.

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NEVER FORGET:

“Maybe the American people can be brainwashed into forgetting why we supposedly went to war. Near as I can tell, our national memory span is down to about two weeks, and the media have been spectacularly unskeptical on this issue. But the rest of the world is not going to forget that WMDs were our primary reason for an unprovoked, pre-emptive war.” — the late Molly Ivins’ from April 29, 2003, barely a month after Shock ‘n Awe

Hey, remember when CNN used to report the news?

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‘CNN seems to be absolutely determined to call the debate a draw. Their own poll has Obama winning the debate by eight points, but no matter. They’ve got a narrative and they’re sticking with it…’

Paul Ryan’s empty soup kitchen ‘photo op’ — he didn’t even have permission to be there

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YOU DIDN’T WASH THAT!

Charity president unhappy about Paul Ryan soup kitchen ‘photo op’

“We’re a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations,” Antal said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “It’s strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors.”

He added: “The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.”

(via: ericmortensen)

Paul Ryan’s weekend photo-op at the empty soup kitchen

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Don’t ever say Paul Ryan doesn’t want to appear to care about the less fortunate. Just don’t ask him to deal with the rabble directly. From the Washington Post:

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Paul Ryan visited a soup kitchen here Saturday on his way to the airport, but by the time the GOP vice presidential nominee and his family had arrived shortly before noon, the grits, sausage and doughnuts had been served, the hall was empty of patrons and the volunteers appeared to have already cleaned up. [...] After greeting and thanking a handful of volunteers from St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Canfield, Ohio — who said they typically visit the St. Vincent DePaul Society every Saturday and serve food from 10 to 11:30 a.m. — Ryan, his wife and their young children headed to the kitchen, donned white aprons and offered to clean up some dishes. Ryan stood at the sink and took some large metal pans that did not appear to be dirty, soaped them up and rinsed them, remarking as the cameras clicked and the TV cameras rolled that he had spent a summer washing dishes when he was younger.

[...] A few minutes into the dishwashing, reporters were escorted out of the building and onto a press bus. As Ryan exited the building some minutes later, a small group of people, some of whom appeared to be homeless, seemed to engage Ryan, and the candidate stopped for several moments and spoke with them. The campaign escorted photographers from the bus for Ryan’s exchange, but reporters were not allowed to do so. Ryan’s motorcade took off for the airport a few moments later.

Just so we’re clear:  For our national media, faking it is as good as doing it. Arriving at an empty soup kitchen, rewashing already washed pots and pans, and speaking with “homeless looking” people without allowing the press to listen in. Good enough! And here is the photographic result, sent around the world and described by the AP as “Helping hand: Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his wife Janna wash pots at St. Vincent DePaul dinning hall in Youngstown, Ohio.”  

Helping hand: Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his wife Janna wash pots at St. Vincent DePaul dinning hall in Youngstown, Ohio
(Photo: Daily Mail)

The press may as well have covered Paul Ryan and family performing Macbeth in a park and called it as real as the soup-kitchen-pot-washing PR opportunity.

Male interviewers need to change how they think when they interview women: Hillary Clinton

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Hillary Clinton on what designers she wears:

  • Interviewer: Okay. Which designers do you prefer?
  • Hillary Clinton: What designers of clothes?
  • Interviewer: Yes.
  • Hillary Clinton: Would you ever ask a man that question?
  • Interviewer: Probably not. Probably not.

Male interviewers need to change how they think when they interview women: Anne Hathaway

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face-down-asgard-up:

However you feel about Anne, bravo to her for this take down.

Watch interviews with her and with ScarJo about their comic book films. Watch how they always get questions about their bodies and clothing and diets and blah blah blah fucking blah. Watch as the male cast members do not get the same treatment.

Because apparently all we care about when it comes to actresses are their bodies and not, ya know, their acting.

The Koch-Arends-Rove Swiftboating Ad on the President was aired nationally, for FREE, by ABC’s This Week

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Then the round-table discussed it, as if it were anything but a political hit piece in a campaign season. That’s your liberal media, plebs.

What Everyone Should Know About The Secretive Group Trying To Swift Boat Barack Obama

The group’s leader and sole employee, Joel Arends, told Mother Jones, “Yes, it’s the swift boating of the president.”

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3. Arends also tried to Swift Boat Obama in 2008. Arends, under the auspices of a similar group called “Vets for Freedom,” ran an ad accusing Obama of refusing to meet with wounded soldiers from Illinois. [NPR,7/5/08] …

4. Arends worked as a consultant for the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Properity. “Though he doesn’t list it on his public resume, around 2006 Arends went to work for Craig Dewey, the state director of Americans for Prosperity, an advocacy outfit that’s Astroturfed everything from the tea party and the Wisconsin union fight to public-school segregation.” The Koch Brothers and their allies have pledged to spend $100 million to defeat Obama. [Mother Jones, 5/4/12; HuffingtonPost, 2/3/12]

7. Arends helped promote a documentary advocating war with Iran. Arends appeared on a panel in South Dakoa promoting the documentary Iranium, which strongly suggests beginning a war with Iran, in March 2011. [Flier; ThinkProgress, 11/3/11]

8. Veterans for A Strong American is fully endorsed by Karl Rove. The man known as “Bush’s Brain” tweeted his support of their first web ad. [Twitter,5/3/12]

Continue reading…

Because, seriously: 


image: phroyd

Millionaire Mitt Romney’s tax plan for the one percent / himself: topics for a quiet room

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FIVE shocking things you may not know about Mitt’s tax plan:

source: thinkprogress

Shocking, of course, because the mainstream media doesn’t actually report on facts like this. It’s not like they’re the truth vigilantes. Both sides do it!!

Meanwhile at OccupyOakland: tear gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets

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occupywallstreet: Thousands gathered in front of Oakland’s City Hall this evening in response to last night’s violent police invasion and destruction of Occupy Oakland’s camp.

Tonight, police have again used tear gas, flash grenades and rubber bullets to forcefully disperse the lawful assembly by Oaklanders. Some injuries have been reported. We will have more information as it becomes available.

At this time, this appears to be the most violent police attack on protestors since the Occupy movement began.

itsthemusicpeople: And heeeeeere comes the tear gas #occupyoakland -@garonsen

screenshots from ABC 7 live helicopter coverage

America is looking a little more like Athens each day. Solidarity to all those in Oakland tonight.

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The Guardian: Police used teargas after scuffles broke out between officers and protesters demonstrating against dozens of arrests at an Occupy Wall Street camp in Oakland, California.

Photographs: Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images (top) Darryl Bush/AP (bottom)

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cognitivedissonance: From @schuyler: “A CS grenade, and two 12 ga shotgun shells purportedly used by the police to propel the beanbag bullets.#OccupyOakland”

Video of teargas being shot into the OccupyOakland crowd:

Who are the OccupyWallStreet protesters / the 99percent?

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While our media focuses on the drum circles and dread locks, here’s a survey of who actually comprises those Americans who are sympathetic to and/or active in the OWS protests:

Who are the Occupy Wall Street protesters / the 99 percent? (via: con-tem-plate)

Who are the protesters? The media calls them hippies or rich kids or slackers or yuppies. The protesters call themselves the 99%…the people who are in the bottom 99% income bracket in the United States. The top one percent of the country earns 35% of the wealth. The top 10% of the country earns over 70% of the wealth. The rest of us get the scraps. Presumably, the 99% would represent every demographic, including those in the upper incomes.

Hector R. Cordero-Guzman, Ph.D., School of Public Affairs, Baruch College Ph.D. Programs in Sociology and Urban Education City University of New York, examined data from the web traffic at occupywallstreet.org.

Traffic on the Occupy Wall Street site averaged about 400,000 visitors a day during the sample week (October 7th), which represents more than 10% of the population. 1619 people completed the survey.

  • Age: Not surprising, nearly 2/3 of the protesters are under 35. But one in three is over 35 and one in five is over 45.
  • Education: Only 7.9% of respondents lack at least some college. 27.4% have some college (but no degree), 35% have a college degree, 8.2% have some graduate school (but no degree), and close to 21.5% have a graduate school degree.
  • Employment Status: 70% of respondents had jobs. 50.4% worked full time. 20.4% worked part time. Only 13.1% are unemployed.
  • Income: 47.5% of the sample earns less than $24,999 dollars a year and another quarter (24%) earn between $25,000 and $49,999 per year. 71.5% of the sample earns less than $50,000 per year. 15.4% of the sample earned between $50,000 and $74,999. The remainder 13% of the sample earn over $75,000 with close to 2% earning over $150,000 per year.

Racial / ethnic background, politics: Read more…

With those facts in mind, consider this:


image

The coverage of OWS has been another media fail, essentially.

The Republican Myth of a Liberal Media: only 9% of Obama’s coverage by the media is positive

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As for Obama, as one would expect for a sitting president, he has gotten plenty of coverage. But that coverage has been relentlessly negative in tone. The study found that only 9 percent of the mentions of Obama were positive, compared with 34 percent negative and 57 percent neutral – far more negative than the coverage of any of the Republicans.

Even the week that U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden, the coverage of the president was more negative than positive. That may be what one would expect for a president stuck with a terrible economy and slumping poll ratings, but it flies against the belief held by many Republican activists that the media tilts heavily against their candidates.

— Media coverage of Obama largely negative, reports the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism

The Founding Fathers never intended that the filibuster and a 60-vote majority be used for ALL BUSINESS

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THE 21st CENTURY MEDIA HAS A FAVORITE BUT DECEPTIVE STORYLINE with regard to Republicans and Democrats, that ‘both sides do it’ and ‘everyone’s to blame.’ This unfortunate fiction only feeds an audience that’s already under informed, argues TNR and James Fallows:

As you can see above in the chart from Ezra Klein, which Fallows cites, use of the filibuster has become standard operating procedure in this Congress, so that it now takes 60 votes to conduct even routine business. It is not at all what the country’s founders intended when they set up the constitutions’ system of checks and balances — and it’s the single biggest reason Obama and the Democrats haven’t gotten more done in the last three years.

But you’d never know it from the media. As an example, Fallows highlights the headline from Thursday’s Washington Post, “Senate Has Become a Chamber of Failure,” and then this passage (words bolded by Fallows):

The Senate’s top two leaders [Reid and McConnell] have spent the past nine months trying to trick, trap, embarrass and out-maneuver each other. Each is hoping to force the other into a mistake that will burden him and his party with a greater share of the public blame.

On Tuesday, as usual, it was hard to tell whether anyone was winning.

To which Fallows responds:

No, it is not hard to tell. Since Scott Brown’s victory over Martha Coakley and the end of the Democrats’ 60-vote majority, Mitch McConnell has flat-out won, and (in my view) the prospects of doing even routine public business have lost, by making the requirement for 60 votes for anything seem normal rather than exceptional. And by eventually leading our major media to present this situation as an “everyone’s to blame” unfortunate and inexplicable snafu, rather than an intended exercise of political power by one side.

IN OTHER WORDS, OUR CORPORATE MEDIA HAS FAILED TO EDUCATE OR ENLIGHTEN ITS AUDIENCE. Once again. And the Republican Party will continue to use the filibuster as a political maneuver to ensure that nothing gets done for the American people until the 2012 election.

Related:

Jon Stewart compares coverage of #OccupyWallStreet and the Teaparty

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Jon sums up Fox News commentary about Occupy Wall Street protesters like this:

“This group is a laughable gang of disorganized, confused … Nazis. This is an ill-disciplined, highly-trained, weed-smoking, Fascist organization.”

And to Hannity’s comment to Ann Coulter about the Wall Street protesters: “And in the end, ultimately, they really want Statism over free market, so they really don’t like freedom,” Jon says:

“Oh… all right. So rage against duly elected government is patriotic, quintessentially American, whereas rage against multinational shareholder-accountable corporations is anti-American. Gotcha. Okay…”