Propaganda // Current TV

Obama takes campaign to the virtual streets of 'Burnout Paradise'

It looks like US Presidential nominee Barack Obama is seeking out the oft-overlooked... more

Scott_Bromley
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4 years ago
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31 comments

Who really are these "Undecided Voters"?

This is a comedic report, but i believe it has a grain of truth in it. I however... more

jrchel
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4 years ago
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26 comments

Why McCain's Time With The Counsil Of World Freedom Matters

Since Sunday, Democrats have been buzzing about the re-revelation that during the... more

aliasone
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4 years ago
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1 comment

A Bad Ad Election

Never have campaign ads added so little. Conor surveys the strikingly similar... more

infoMania
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4 years ago
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0 comments

McCain's Voting Record: He Does Not Support Our Troops and Veterans

Since everyone is at least a bit familiar with John McCain’s record when it... more

aliasone
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4 years ago
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3 comments

A Little More (Than) Ground Noise & Static

In November, one or the other of the corporate candidates will win, and then, as... more

leoniDb
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4 years ago
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3 comments

“Obsession” Anti-Islam Film Angers Americans

Last week, many newspaper subscribers across the United States were surprised to... more

BuddyP
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4 years ago
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15 comments

John McCain: Privileged 'War Hero', Liar, Colloborator, Traitor

The impression that McCain and the media has attempted to portray of McCain's 5... more

aliasone
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4 years ago
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1 comment

Uncovering the Israeli-Republican-Evangelical Networks behind the “Obsession” DVD

A friend just send me a link to this, and it is excellent and frightening. A stark... more

rvmedia
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4 years ago
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2 comments

McCain wrote the forward to "Debunking 9/11 Myths"

"This conspiracy-mongering is no small phenomenon. Any Internet search will turn... more

celestialceiling
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4 years ago
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6 comments

Americans and reality

Robert Parry: The Reagan presidency further detached Americans from world reality.... more

Vierotchka
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4 years ago
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19 comments

Anti-Zionist rabbis: "God bless Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!"

"Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map!" "Ahmadinejad wants to... more

maasanova
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4 years ago
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10 comments

Did Palin Make a Difference for McCain?

Did Palin come through for McCain? In other words, was her folksy speaking style and... more

unitedliberty
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4 years ago
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4 comments

Smoke and CO2 - How to Spin Global Warming

ANP: On the Organized Effort to Cast Doubt on Climate Change. Recently, it was... more

Vierotchka
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4 years ago
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6 comments

Could Creepy Kids Singing Video Bring Down Obama?

See how many seconds it takes you to throw up lunch! Produced by something called Sing... more

maasanova
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4 years ago
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2 comments

U.S. to Fund Pro-American Publicity in Iraqi Media

The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to "engage and inspire" the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.

The new contracts -- awarded last week to four companies -- will expand and consolidate what the U.S. military calls "information/psychological operations" in Iraq far into the future, even as violence appears to be abating and U.S. troops have begun drawing down.

The military's role in the war of ideas has been fundamentally transformed in recent years, the result of both the Pentagon's outsized resources and a counterinsurgency doctrine in which information control is considered key to success. Uniformed communications specialists and contractors are now an integral part of U.S. military operations from Eastern Europe to Afghanistan and beyond.
Iraq, where hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on such contracts, has been the proving ground for the transformation. "The tools they're using, the means, the robustness of this activity has just skyrocketed since 2003. In the past, a lot of this stuff was just some guy's dreams," said a senior U.S. military official, one of several who discussed the sensitive defense program on the condition of anonymity.

The Pentagon still sometimes feels it is playing catch-up in a propaganda market dominated by al-Qaeda, whose media operations include sophisticated Web sites and professionally produced videos and audios featuring Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants. "We're being out-communicated by a guy in a cave," Secretary Robert M. Gates often remarks.

But Defense Department officials think their own products have become increasingly imaginative and competitive. Military and contractor-produced media campaigns, spotlighting killings by insurgents, "helped in developing attitudes" that led Iraqis to reject al-Qaeda in Iraq over the past two years, an official said. Now that the insurgency is in disarray, he said, the same tools "could potentially be helpful" in diminishing the influence of neighboring Iran.

U.S.-produced public service broadcasts and billboards have touted improvements in government services, promoted political reconciliation, praised the Iraqi military and encouraged Iraqi citizens to report criminal activity. When national euphoria broke out last year after an Iraqi singer won a talent contest in Lebanon, the U.S. military considered producing an Iraqi version of "American Idol" to help build nonsectarian nationalism. The idea was shelved as too expensive, an official said, but "we're trying to think out of the box on" reconciliation.

One official described how part of the program works: "There's a video piece produced by a contractor . . . showing a family being attacked by a group of bad guys, and their daughter being taken off. The message is: You've got to stand up against the enemy." The professionally produced vignette, he said, "is offered for airing on various [television] stations in Iraq. . . . They don't know that the originator of the content is the U.S. government. If they did, they would never run anything."

"If you asked most Iraqis," he said, "they would say, 'It came from the government, our own government.' "

The Pentagon's solicitation for bids on the contracts noted that media items produced "may or may not be non-attributable to coalition forces." "If they thought we were doing it, it would not be as effective," another official said of the Iraqis. "In the Middle East, they are so afraid they're going to be Westernized . . . that you have to be careful when you're trying to provide information to the population."

**article cont.....

The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million... more

starr111
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4 years ago
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13 comments

Obama 2008 Yes, We Can Can

Obama's Vision with the Pointer Sisters' Funk!

BluePride
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4 years ago
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7 comments

Muslim Children gassed at Dayton mosque after "Obsession" DVD hits Ohio

On Friday, September 26, the end of a week in which thousands of copies of Obsession:... more

leoniDb
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4 years ago
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34 comments

Mayor 'just curious' if Obama is antichrist

Fort Mill, S.C. Mayor Danny Funderburk says he was “just curious” when he... more

Apocalipstick
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4 years ago
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0 comments

Oregonian distributes anti-Islamic DVD in Sunday edition, protected under "paid advertising"

A New York nonprofit called the Clarion Fund is distributing an hourlong DVD,... more

renbyrd
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4 years ago
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4 comments

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