How the biased liberal press is once again using propaganda to shape public opinion

Sadly, the seemingly pervasive attitude in the liberal press against Israel accuses any supporters of Israel or unbiased reporters as either Zionist or right-wing.  I am neither.  Likewise, any broadcasts that portray a balanced report of the issue are, in their minds, due to Jewish-controlled media.  The reality is that the Jews in entertainment do not have the power to completely control journalism and, therefore, information; the corporations that own the media broadcasting (like GE) do, and they will do what is good for business, not what they think is right for either side.  Also, I am seeing a swelling support from this mindset to identify and persecute Jewish owned or controlled companies in an effort to find a target for their hostility.  This is the very same kind of persecution that gave rise and gave focus to the Nazi movement, which I find frightening.  Likewise, holocaust deniers are propagandizing to increasingly uneducated youth who respond to their lies.

 

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  –  George Santayana

 

As for victims, the Palestinians are willing victims of their own design.  They continue to elect and support Islamic extremists like Hamas.  If they didn’t bomb Israel daily, Israel would not be retaliating in defense.  Likewise, the women and children killed in Israeli attacks are pawns in a game for Hamas, who deliberately uses them as human shields to create a picture for the world of dead Palestinian children “slaughtered” by Israeli bombs, causing the desired outcry of support for the poor Palestinians and anger and hostility toward Israel.  And the worst part is that the liberal press throughout the world is too blinded by their own gullibility to see how they are being used to create this sympathy and support for terrorists who would, ironically enough, be happy to kill them if given a chance.  Remember the numerous beheadings of journalists by Islamic extremists?

 

1. The chief suspect in the September 11, 2001, attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, confessed to beheading US journalist Daniel Pearl “with my blessed right hand,” the Pentagon said Thursday.  (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/mar/17/yehey/world/20070317wor1.html)

2. Sun Nov 11, 2007 3:04am EST– KHARTOUM, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Ten Darfuris convicted of beheading a Sudanese journalist have been sentenced to death by hanging, state media said on Sunday, contradicting an earlier account by their lawyer that they would be shot.
   “The criminal court in Khartoum North presided over by Judge Osama Osman issued a judgment of death by hanging for all 10 accused in the case of the murder of journalist Mohamed Taha,” the state-owned Sudanese Media Centre said.

   The beheading of al-Wifaq editor Taha last year shocked Sudan’s media. Taha, himself an Islamist, had angered other Islamists by reprinting articles questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammed.

   Authorities also said he had provoked Darfuris with unflattering articles about Darfuri women. All the accused were from the Darfuri Fur tribe. (Reporting by Opheera McDoom; editing by Philippa Fletcher;  http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL11152692)

3. Monday, April 9, 2007, at 3:00 PM ET — The beheading of Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi Sunday afternoon may well be remembered as the first casualty in a new wave of violence against journalists in Afghanistan. Naqshbandi was the translator working with Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo when they were kidnapped by Taliban forces last month; Mastrogiacomo was later freed in exchange for the release of five Taliban prisoners. The Taliban then demanded further prisoner releases in exchange for his translator. The Afghan government refused to negotiate, so the Taliban chopped off his head.

   Within the last two weeks, at least 13 more Afghans and two French aid workers have been kidnapped, and the Taliban warn of more to come. Many in Washington and Kabul blame the abduction spree on the prisoner-exchange deal arranged by the Afghan and Italian governments. “These kind of deals are Pandora’s boxes,” Afghan parliamentarian Daoud Sultanzoy told me. “Once we open them, anything can happen.”  (http://www.slate.com/id/2163793/fr/rss/)  
   
   2007-04-09 04:59 (KST)   – Taliban militants in Afghanistan announced on Sunday that they had killed the Afghan interpreter who was kidnapped with an Italian journalist while traveling in the country’s southern Helmand province on March 6.

   According to a purported Taliban spokesman, who telephoned to media offices and correspondents in Kabul Sunday afternoon, they beheaded the Afghan translator, Ajmal Naqshbandi, around 3 p.m. (local time).  (http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=354908&rel_no=1)

4. Aljazeera Broadcasts Report with Video of Italian Journalist Hostage: August 24, 2004 … claiming to offer a link to the beheading video of Nicholas Berg. .(http://www.camerairaq.com/beheading/index.html)

 

It’s no wonder journalists are afraid to publish the truth about Islamic terrorism. 

 

Nor does anyone seem to care that Hamas uses hospitals and schools to store weapons and as safe houses, even launching rockets into Israel from these positions.  And they do not find it reprehensible that madrassas program children from kindergarten on to hate the Western world and embrace jihad by, for example, becoming suicide bombers.  This, more than anything, indicates Palestinian priorities are not their children, but their ideology.

 

Neither is the liberal press fretting over all the bombs Hamas lobs at Israel daily, which has been going on for years now.  What about the Israeli children who live in fear?  No one seems to care about them.

 

I suggest to the liberal press lamenting the bloodshed and, believe it or not, “ethnic cleansing” allegedly waged by Israel and suffered by the “innocent” Palestinians the following:

 

YOU plant YOUR ass in Israel in one of the Israeli border towns.  Perhaps you might feel differently when a Hamas rocket (supplied most likely by Iranian funding) lands in YOUR living room or YOUR child’s school.  Or an Islamic suicide bomber gets on a bus and blows your wife up on her way to work or your child on his or her way to school.  Or maybe a few weeks spent running to and from a bomb shelter while trying to carry on work, school and life might change your perspective….

 

Likewise, Israel’s so-called “control” of the Palestinian territory apparently does not extend to any human being outside the Palestinian territory, because Palestinian guards will shoot you without question if you so much as set foot on Palestinian soil.  If, perchance, you are invited in, you can guarantee you will see what THEY want you to see when THEY want you to see it.  And should you report it in a way unpleasing to them:  WATCH OUT!  It might be you losing your head….

 

Yes, unfortunately, the liberal press (and this is coming from a moderate Democrat) has been hoodwinked by the clever Islamic extremists once again.  Hamas controls access to virtually all territory and all information coming out of the territories it controls.  It shows journalists what it wants them to see.  Islamic groups all over Europe and in America are capitalizing on Western “guilt” and outrage at their “plight.”  This victimization is largely a myth created by Islamic extremists in order to put political pressure on pro-Israel governments and organizations.

 

The reality is, and I think it was Bill Clinton who said it (please someone, if you know give the exact quote):

 

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will never be resolved so long as Palestinians choose their ideology over their children’s future.

 

I do not hate Muslims.  I hate what Muslim extremists do with the passive acquiescence of moderate Muslims.  But I do acknowledge the reality that Islam, as it is currently PRACTICED, is, by and large, intolerant of other religions and dedicated toward the obliteration of Western culture, other religions and, finally, world domination under the Caliphate.  And women do not now nor will they get the freedom and protection under Shariah law, which has invaded Western government in England, Denmark, Sweden and other Western countries in an effort to broker a peace between Muslims in their countries.

 

If Israel were to leave the Holy Land tomorrow, internecine war would ensue between Hamas and Fatah or whatever group might rise up in the wake of total anarchy.  Hezbollah could conceivably invade and assume title.  And there goes the neighborhood….

They are not victims as much of Israel expansionism as of Arab intransigence.

That again, is cultural, not even so much a political position.  And when you are living by enshrined religious zealotry, Lord help your opponent.  Suicide is inculcated within that doctrine.  –   Marilyn A.F. 

 

One thing we learned about terrorists in the sixties is that when one terrorist cause was taken off the table, most of the core group migrated to other causes.  What does this say?  Terrorists are in it for the violence, destruction and power.  They achieve power through fear.  They will use whatever cause célèbre to recruit supporters, but, at their core they are addicted to the violence and destruction because it creates fear, which gives them power.  So, achieving power through fear is their pay-off.

 

Hamas, Hezbollah and all the other Iran-supported terrorism is designed to accomplish several goals: 

 

1. to keep the Middle East in turmoil, which raises the price of oil and empowers their countries and the terrorists they fund;
2. to keep their people united against a common enemy (just like Hitler—remember Neimöller’s poem?); and
3. to keep their own region united with each other instead of fighting each other (which, given the tribal structure of most of these countries, would likely happen internally and regionally). 

 

Israel is an excuse – the Western lifestyle is an excuse—for their terrorist activities, their recruiting, their funding solicitations, etc.  If Israel were to cease to exist tomorrow, another cause would take its place very quickly.  It would have to.  Otherwise, these countries and this region would quickly descend into tribal wars against each other.  This region has been marked by chaos for centuries.  We in the Western world did not create it, and we cannot fix it.  Selling the idea that we can somehow fix it to Westerners is a means of manipulating us into a delusional compliant state where we will do anything to appease these guys in order to achieve peace.

 

We tried that once already with Hitler.  Neville Chamberlain is the poster boy for appeasement.  And where did that get us?

 

Wake up to the reality.  If moderate Muslims are the majority and they do not support this violence and terrorism, why don’t they rise up and defeat it?  Or at least vote these guys out?  They didn’t.  They voted them in.

 

One of the reasons I opposed the war in Iraq was because I believe that no government can exist against its people’s will.  If the majority of the Iraqis were truly committed to getting rid of Saddam, they would have done it without us.

 

The same is true for Palestine.  If they did not see Hamas as representing their best interests, Hamas would be out, terrorism would be over, and Israel and Palestine could coexist peacefully.

 

Such is not the case.

 

The Palestinian people have had a number of opportunities to resolve the conflict.  Israel has given back land won during several wars and settled by Israelis, uprooting the settlers at Israel’s expense.  They left greenhouses in tact which could have provided food and income to the Palestinians, but the Palestinians CHOSE to destroy them instead, and now they whine about starvation and poor living conditions.  But it is never enough.  Islamic extremists elected by the Palestinian people, which (though Hamas is more so and Fatah less so) run Gaza and the West Bank, for all practical purposes, will not be content to have their own country ADJACENT to Israel.  They will only be happy if Israel ceases to exist.  This has been clearly stated by Hamas from the outset.

 

Given that reality, there is nothing of substance that Israel can do to permanently resolve the conflict short of conquest.

 

To the whining liberal press I say, “Give me a break!”  Save the outrage for unwilling victims, like the persecuted people enduring real ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

Reflecting on 2008

Well, I learned a lot this year….

They say a cynic is a disillusioned idealist.  To be honest, I suppose I have qualified on that score for some time now.

For starters, I learned that liberal Democrats are just as prejudiced, biased, dishonest, disreputable and corrupt as the extreme Right Republicans.  I always thought my party was better — more honest, more caring and supportive of the “common” man, more concerned about this planet and its inhabitants, etc.  And that the Republicans were the “bad guys.”  This year, I found out that lust for power trumped ethics and decency hands down — no matter which party you were talking about.

I also found out that the integrity of the Constitution could no longer be taken for granted – that it was not a document on which we common Americans could depend to protect us unless we had money,  power and influence — at least, not so long as our governmental branches all agreed to ignore it when it was convenient [for them] to do so.  I learned that my rights were not as ‘guaranteed” by the Bill of Rights as I thought they were.  I learned that my vote did not always count and my voice was not always heard, particularly if the media did not agree with me.

I learned that journalism as I knew it and studied it in graduate school was DOA.  Truth was passé.  No more who, what, when, where, why.  The new questions were “how will it sell” or “how does it test” (AdSpeak) and “how will it benefit the corporation.”  No more journalistic ethics.  No more publication standards.  No more professional respect and professional distance.  Now our journalists can call female candidates they disagree with c*nts, bitches and hos.  Now they listen to the “tingle down their legs,” not the facts and the truth of the argument.  No more courageous editors and publishers who backed their reporters when the “consequences” of an article spoke truth to power arose.  Not anymore.  At least, not if it was not good for business as interpreted by the corporate executives that controlled the conglomerates that now controlled broadcast and print journalism.  Ratings are now more important than truth.  And it is now apparently sufficient to cry “mea culpa” after the fact when blatantly distributing or broadcasting propaganda for your candidate, masking it as “news.”  It’s OK to be “in the tank” for a candidate so long as you admit to it after the votes are cast and your mea culpa can no longer influence the outcome of the election against your interests.

I also learned that rules do not apply to all of us.  Apparently election fraud is now OK.  Citizens who have the audacity to demand proof that a candidate meet the constitutional requirements for an elected office somehow cannot actually demand proof from anyone that demonstrates this, and no state or federal office (including the Secretaries of State who control the ballots of each state in elections), no court, no party and no candidate is responsible or can be held accountable for providing said proof.  Apparently, publishing a fraudulently “doctored” birth certificate or draft card should be accepted as proof without question.

I learned that political corruption has become so rampant and accepted that political parties and election officials no longer even try to hide election manipulation anymore.  And that caucuses are the easiest election vehicles to manipulate simply by creating rules that eliminate any voting group that is not .likely to support your candidate.

I learned that a DNC Chairman is no longer required to maintain a professional distance from all party candidates during the primary.  That he can cut a deal with a candidate before even the first primary is held to move the party office to his preferred candidate’s home base without anyone so much as batting an eyelash or questioning at least the appearance of impropriety.

I learned that elected officials and party appointees can start a drumbeat during the primary season for the opposition to their candidate WITHIN THEIR OWN PARTY to drop out of an election without the media finding it outrageous and contrary to the old-fashioned “American” way of democracy and open government.

And I found out that the corruption I suspected of the Bush administration — the lies, the deceit, the outright criminality — was all pretty much exactly as I had suspected. 

That was one time I was hoping to be proven wrong.  But I wasn’t.

And here we are now.  The first day of 2009.  What will the future hold?

Well, it is clear to me that no matter who is in power, the American people are in for some hardcore suffering at the hands of the cowards we have sitting in Congress and in the White House.  The economy, the war, virtually every aspect of government has been corrupted by undue corporate influence that is the result of MONEY from PACS, businesses and other special interests that have the resources to cause Congress to act in their best interest instead of ours.  And with Obama’s successful fund-raising without using public funding, we can now consider public funding — our last, best hope of removing money from politics — dead in the water for decades to come.  Now accepting public fundings will be considered an act of political suicide.  As it proved to be for McCain.

So, how do we fix the mess we’re in? 

I hoestly don’t know, but I know sitting back and being silent in our misery is guaranteed failure, so I will continue to speak out, because rewarding bad behavior is a sure-fire guarantee that it will continue.

And I am becoming increasingly more convinced that Ralph Nader is right in saying that we need more political parties to bust up the two-party monopoly that has a vice-like grip on our power structure.  “More voices and more choices” is not sounding nearly as radical and insane as the Dems, bitter from Gore’s defeat, wanted us to believe.

And I have also found that we cannot trust our regulatory agencies to curb the unethical and criminal behavior in any of our industries — not even the so-called “grown-ups” in the banking industry.  That we can now depend on imports from China to be uninspected, drugs to be approved based on political ideology and influence, scientific reports to be fraudulently tampered with to protect political ideology, and all the environmental protections to be rolled back because they were “bad for business.” 

And I learned that the bailout has proven to be welfare for financial giants, not one dime has apparently made its way to purchase risky mortgages or free up the credit market as promised.  But CEOS can rest soundly knowing their unearned, outrageous salaries and  bonuses will be paid in full — even as the corporation they were charged with leading failes and the taxpayer is left holding the bag for that as well.  And if they defraud clients in the tens of billions of dollars, they can rest assured that they will be sleeping in their $7M NYC apartment, not in jail like the rest of us would be if we committed fraud in the tens of dollars.

I look forward to your thoughts….  And, once again, I pray that my suspicions will be proven wrong.  Unfortunately, I have an annoying habit of being right about these things. 

Great Depression II, here we come!