tagged w/ NewsMax
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Newsmax declares that "the Tea Party Will Change Washington Forever"! In their spin on the people's revolution against corporatocracy, and their attempt to expropriate the fervor of citizen revolution, the "corpsed" right continues with their hypnotic trance mantras, in effort to convince their zombie army that when the government spends the people's money on the people, and when the government protects the environment, business and financial systems with rules and regulation, then it is a big and bad government, and that government must not be allowed to spend any of the people's money on the people. Newsmax lays out their talking points in their latest online solicitations for subscriptions. It's worth checking out their headlines, they provide a clue to GOP strategy.
http://w3.newsmax.com/a/dec10/?s=al&promo_code=C0C9-1Newsmax declares that "the Tea Party Will Change Washington Forever"! In... more
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By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd and Tana Ganeva, AlterNet
The corporate media's tendency to blare misinformation and outright fabrications has been particularly egregious in coverage of WikiLeaks. As Glenn Greenwald has argued, mainstream news outlets are parroting smears and falsehoods about the whistleblower site and its founder Julian Assange, helping to perpetuate a number of "zombie lies" -- misconceptions that refuse to die no matter how much they conflict with known reality, basic logic and well-publicized information.
Here are the bogus narratives that keep appearing in newspapers and on the airwaves.
1. Fearmongering that WikiLeaks revelations will result in deaths. So far there's no evidence that WikiLeaks' revelations have cost lives. In fact, right before the cables were released, Pentagon officials admitted there were no documented instances of people being killed because of information exposed by WikiLeaks' previous document releases (and unlike the diplomatic cables, the Afghanistan files were unredacted).
That's not to say that the exposure of secret government files can't somehow lead to someone, somewhere, someday, being hurt. But that's a pretty high bar to set, especially by a government engaged in multiple military operations -- many of them secret -- that lead to untold civilian casualties.
2. Spreading the lie that WikiLeaks posted all the cables. WikiLeaks has posted fewer than 2,000 of the 251,287 cables in its possession. The whistleblower released those documents in tandem with major news outlets including the Guardian, El Pais and Le Monde, and used most of the redactions employed by those papers to protect the identities of people whose lives could be endangered by exposure. The AP detailed this process in a December 3 article, but this did not stop officials and pundits from howling that WikiLeaks "indiscriminately" dumped all the cables online. Much of the media mindlessly repeated the claim.
Greenwald and others have battled to kill the myth that the whistleblower site threw up all the cables without taking any precautions to protect people, but it keeps coming up. Just this week NPR issued an apology for all the times contributors and guests have implied or outright voiced the falsehood that WikiLeaks blindly posted all the cables at once.
3. Falsely claiming that Assange has committed a crime regarding WikiLeaks. The State Department is working really hard to pin a crime on Julian Assange. The problem is that so far he doesn't appear to have broken any laws. Assange is not a U.S. citizen, he does not work for the U.S. government, and the documents WikiLeaks posted were procured by someone else. As Greenwald has repeatedly pointed out, it's not against the law to publish classified U.S. government information. If it were, hundreds of journalists would be in prison right now.
While the government tries to conjure up a legal justification for prosecuting Assange, the media is helping out by fanning the narrative that he's some criminal mastermind. Major outlets continue to host guests who accuse Assange of criminal behavior without quite specifying what his crime is. In a much derided CNN debate between Bush Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend and Glenn Greenwald hosted by Jessica Yellin, Greenwald had to repeatedly bat away the assertion that Assange has "profited" from "criminal" acts.
The effort to tar Assange as a criminal -- spearheaded by government officials and helped along by the media -- may have a chilling effect on future whistleblowers.
4. Denying that WikiLeaks is a journalistic enterprise. Public officials and pundits continue to claim that WikiLeaks is not a journalistic outlet, even though it procured the scoop of a decade. But much of what WikiLeaks does is identical to the activities of other news sources. WikiLeaks receives secrets from anonymous sources, which it then reveals to the public -- news is nothing if not a checks and balances system for the government, a fundamental right of a free press. Secondly, it curates those secrets before revealing them -- a journalist selecting relevant and appropriate material from a confidential document is not that different from WikiLeaks redacting certain parts of the cables.
Because WikiLeaks’ actions fall under the First Amendment, all journalists should be outraged if the American government attempts to prosecute. If WikiLeaks is prosecuted for conducting a journalistic enterprise, what rights will be stripped from journalists in the future? One of the most respected journalistic institutions in the world, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, is speaking out. Earlier this month, 20 faculty members drafted and signed a letter to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder saying that WikiLeaks' prosecution will set a “dangerous precedent for reporters in any publication or medium, potentially chilling investigative journalism and other First Amendment-protected activity ... Prosecution in the Wikileaks case would greatly damage American standing in free-press debates worldwide and would dishearten those journalists looking to this nation for inspiration.”
The Walkley Foundation, an institution of journalism in Assange’s home of Australia, put it more succinctly in its own letter of support for WikiLeaks: “To aggressively attempt to shut WikiLeaks down, to threaten to prosecute those who publish official leaks, and to pressure companies to cease doing commercial business with WikiLeaks, is a serious threat to democracy, which relies on a free and fearless press.”
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http://www.alternet.org/story/149369/By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd and Tana Ganeva, AlterNet
The corporate... more
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Newsmax published it but pulled it quickly but not until it was sent to every senior member of Americas military. I got it from a former military intelligence officer. It has done the circuit there. The call I received, from a retired senior intelligence officer and former Defense Attache to Israel went like this, “Gordie, What do you think of this thing? There is only one way to read it, they are calling for the assassination of the president.”
The title of the Newsmax column:
“OBAMA RISKS A DOMESTIC MILITARY INTERVENTION”
The piece itself isn’t reporting anything, its purpose is simple, it is advocating a military coup and the end of the United States of America as a free and democratic republic, using “weasel words” at times, and at times being as direct as a brick in the face. Newsmax makes a case, addressing the officer corps of the United States military, as to why our government has to be removed. Newsmax begins to make his case:
Military intervention is what Obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible. Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don’t shrug and say, “We can always worry about that later.”
TIMING, WHY NEWSMAX AND WHY NOW?
For the first time in years, senior members of Americas military led by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen and head of the army’s Central Command, General Petraeus, have stepped up to derail an Israeli plan to push phony intelligence on the US as they did with Iraq in order to support an invasion of Iran, an attack seen by top American military leaders as both unwarranted and a potential disaster. Israel’s answer was to go to congress and retired officers, bags of cash in hand, to garner support, newspaper ads and finally this act of desparation, an attempt to find conspirators inside the US military willing to commit treason.
Faced with the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and Secretary Gates proposed downsizing of the military, the clock is ticking on Israel’s plan to push America into war against Iran while adequate forces for an attack, although logistically prohibitive, politically destabilizing and politically suicidal for America.
Additionally, current regulatory legislation before congress, promoted by President Obama, is designed to break the back of Israel’s control of American banking and their stranglehold on the American economy. Of the largest threats to America’s economic survival, “dual citizens,” those with both Israeli and American passports head companies most threatened by new regulations meant to prevent future “pump and dump” attacks on the US economy. If Obama is left alive, the ability to run games like the sub-prime mortgage fraud will end, and with it, billions stolen from middle class Americans.
Israel has no extradition.
WHAT NEWSMAX ACTUALLY SAID
A piece, carefully avoiding treason in some areas and not so well in others, this was written to inflame and induce members of the American military to “act” against our government, something impossible, as we were advised by intelligence experts, unless begun with a presidential assassination. This is how they begin, making their case:
There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.
America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. So, view the following through military eyes:
Following this introduction, Newsmax makes its case, line by line, for why it is vital that military leaders attack their own country:
# Officers swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Unlike enlisted personnel, they do not swear to “obey the orders of the president of the United States.” (Note: An attempt to establish a basis for abandoning rule by civil government by voiding real Constitutional protections.)
# Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are nationalized. (Here, Newsmax panders to right wing elitists in the military, many of whom accept gratuities from Israel.)
# They can see that Americans are increasingly alarmed that this nation, under President Barack Obama, may not even be recognizable as American by the 2012 election, in which he will surely seek continuation in office. (Newsmax uses “birther/turfer” conspiracy theory as a rationale for treason.)
# They can see that the economy — ravaged by deficits, taxes, unemployment, and impending inflation — is financially reliant on foreign lender governments.(Newsmax is oblivious to the fact that the Bush administration they supported was responsible for every issue and that financial deregulation, tax cuts for the rich and disasterous wars are the root of the economic collapse, that and massive Bush era corruption and spending)
# They can see this president waging undeclared war on the intelligence community, without whose rigorous and independent functions the armed services are rendered blind in an ever-more hostile world overseas and at home.(The “intelligence community” Newsmax is talking about is the Mossad, where they get their marching orders. No such issue with the American intelligence community exists.)
# They can see the dismantling of defenses against missiles targeted at this nation by avowed enemies, even as America’s troop strength is allowed to sag.(Statement is utterly absurd, unsound and can be construed as nothing but “big lie” propaganda meant to frighten Americans into allowing military dictatorship under Israeli control.)
# They can see the horror of major warfare erupting simultaneously in two, and possibly three, far-flung theaters before America can react in time.(Another absurd “scare tactic” misstatement using “big lie” rationale.)
# They can see the nation’s safety and their own military establishments and honor placed in jeopardy as never before.(Newsmax is offering a thinly veiled promise of reward to those who betray America. Military dictatorship would put power and wealth in the hands of any involved in a treasonous coup, the use of the term “honor” tied to an act of treason is particularly humorous.)
IS THIS A CALL TO ARMS AGAINST AMERICA?Newsmax published it but pulled it quickly but not until it was sent to every senior... more
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A new report by retired longtime intelligence officer Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who served as chief of the CIA's Weapons of Mass Destruction Department, accuses the U.S. government of seriously misreading al-Qaida's operational objectives. "Al-Qaida's reasoning," according to Mowatt-Larssen's new report from Harvard's Kennedy School, "runs counter to analytic convention that equates the ease of acquisition of chemical, biological or radiological weapons with an increasing likelihood of terrorist use - i.e., a terrorist attack employing crude weapons is therefore more likely than an attack using a nuclear or large scale biological weapon."
"In fact, it is the opposite" of that conventional wisdom, according to the analysis, entitled "Al-Qaida Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat: Hype or Reality." Al-Qaida's motivations suggest "the greatest threat is posed by the most effective and simple means of mass destruction, whether these means consist of nuclear, biological, or other forms of asymmetric weapons."
That makes all the scarier the scolding that came this week from the congressionally authorized Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation. That panel gave the Obama administration an F grade for its performance in preparing the U.S. homeland for a terrorist attack that utilized biological warfare. - Newsmax
Dominant Social Theme: Batten down the hatches.
Free-Market Analysis: We follow up yesterday's somewhat controversial column "Lieutenant Colonel Says US Coup Feasible" with this item from Newsmax (and perhaps elsewhere as well) which is actually entitled, "Former WMD Chief: Al-Qaida Awaiting Nukes." We focus on analyzing this story because it is yet another variant in our opinion of the authoritarian meme that has continually retained popularity with the US military, America's 16 separate spy agencies and, for some reason, many in the alternative media.
Yesterday we discussed the potential for martial law in the West and especially in America, and pointed out the Internet's never-ending fascination with this potential state of affairs, especially in America. But we then suggested that a gradualist strong-man model followed by a Hitler or Mussolini was perhaps more likely than the naked declaration of martial law by an Obama presidency (or any other) for the foreseeable future (or near future anyway).
If you missed yesterday's coverage of this issue, click here to read now.
We pointed out that, especially in America, the size of the country, the lack of programs to control gun ownership (despite every effort) and the basic culture of the republic, which still abides, would spell no end of trouble for a political class that decided to solve its problems with a brutal military solution. This is NOT to say it could not happen - anything can happen - but an abrupt attempt at a military takeover, especially of America, would more likely result in an endless guerilla-style insurrection than a docile and pacified nation.
The "martial law" meme, we suggested, was (at least potentially and in-part) a power-elite promotion designed to frighten people, especially those with libertarian leanings, and make them feel hopeless and helpless. The promotion itself (if that is what it is), is being cleverly combined with the limnings of an increasingly authoritarian state that includes an ever-more militarized police force and "cooperation" between federal, state and local policing authorities - as if such totalitarian efficiencies are actually a net positive for civil society (they aren't).
Britain of course is far down this road, but the US is hurrying down it, too. We would suggest that the unseemly haste we observe on the way to "endless policing for endless security" is aided and abetted by a military and intelligence community that is happy to reinforce every social fear available. Not only that, but we havA new report by retired longtime intelligence officer Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who served... more
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Updating a previous story: Newsmax has pulled a column suggesting a military coup would solve the "Obama problem". The column, written by John Perry, and published by the right wing media organ Newsmax, was an inflammatory bit of rhetoric that may have crossed the boundary of free speech and entered the territory of treason.Updating a previous story: Newsmax has pulled a column suggesting a military coup... more
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Right wing extremists are beginning to suggest a military coup. Newsmax columnist John Perry is suggesting the unthinkable, a military coup here in the USA. Perry claims that a military coup "to resolve the 'Obama problem' " is not "unrealistic". With these words, one must seriously consider where free speech ends, and treason begins.
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Is a military coup staged by the extreme right wing a possibility?Right wing extremists are beginning to suggest a military coup. Newsmax columnist John... more
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Companies that have run ads on the Glen Beck show are pulling them. (It's about time)Companies that have run ads on the Glen Beck show are pulling them. (It's about... more
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GOP politics are being reduced to a terrifying absurdity. Obama tags, right wing terrorists and a great white hope fill the Republican imagination. Republicans are praising right wing terrorists. Republicans are joking about Obama Tags and political assassination while longing for a great white hope. The sky is turning grey and Republicans are losing their collective mind.
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Are the Republicans really going crazy, or is this just politics as usual?GOP politics are being reduced to a terrifying absurdity. Obama tags, right wing... more
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One Marine said, "I see the way propaganda and information war is waged on America's sons and daughters, and how patients are treated when they have a vaccine reactions," adding, "That should trouble all Americans." (emphasis added)
One soldier that Wagner interviewed said that the military flu vaccine issue "is the worse cover-up in the history of the military. When the issue, I believe, of the use of the vaccine comes out, I believe it will make the Walter Reed scandal pale in comparison."
CDC targeting pregnant women for an H1N1 vaccine contradicts its own advice.
In New ACIP Guidelines: Guidance for Vaccine Recommendations in Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women updated version (May 5, 2008), CDC refers to the live attenuated influenza vaccine LAIV), commonly called “live vaccine,” reporting:
1. “If a live-virus vaccine is inadvertently given to a pregnant woman, or if a woman becomes pregnant within 4 weeks after vaccination, she should be counseled about the potential effects on the fetus.”
2. “Live vaccines pose a theoretical risk to the fetus.”
3. A chart in this CDC report specifically designates "pregnant women" as persons who “should not be vaccinated with LAIV.”One Marine said, "I see the way propaganda and information war is waged on... more
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As the title notes more advertisers are pulling their ads from the Glenn Beck program. Earlier this week, it was reported that 36 advertisers were pulling their spots, but now, that number has increased to 46. Some of the more notable companies that dropped their support are
Applebee’s, Bank of America, Bell & Howell, DirecTV, General Mills,Kraft, Regions Financial Corporation, Vonage, Geico, LexisNexis', Lawyers.com, Progressive Insurance and SC Johnson.As the title notes more advertisers are pulling their ads from the Glenn Beck program.... more
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Conservative media figures are blasting Democrats for trying to draw political gain from the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. But on Thursday, it was one of their own -- former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- who went there.
The 2008 Republican presidential candidate suggested during his radio show, "The Huckabee Report," on Thursday that, under President Obama's health care plan, Kennedy would have been told to "go home to take pain pills and die" during his last year of life.
"[I]t was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don't have as long to live might want to consider just taking a pain pill instead of getting an expensive operation to cure them," said Huckabee. "Yet when Sen. Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 77, did he give up on life and go home to take pain pills and die? Of course not. He freely did what most of us would do. He choose an expensive operation and painful follow up treatments. He saw his work as vitally important and so he fought for every minute he could stay on this earth doing it. He would be a very fortunate man if his heroic last few months were what future generations remember him most for."Conservative media figures are blasting Democrats for trying to draw political gain... more
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It's no longer the end of the beginning but the beginning of the end for the haters out there. The thin veil of decency and decorum as come clean off because the lack the intellectual prowess to maintain the facade. Now that they can no longer hide it will be easy to call them out and expose them for what they truly are. The man declaring himself a proud terrorist is well within his rights to do so. The elected official enthusiastically agreeing with him is in serious violation and needs to be removed from office.It's no longer the end of the beginning but the beginning of the end for the... more
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Voight asks, "Is President Obama creating a civil war?"
Actor Jon Voight is on his way to Cincinnati, and Atlanta, in order to participate in Fox News host Sean Hannity's latest "Freedom Concerts." But first, he paused long enough to share some extra nuttiness with the Washington Times.
"There's a real question at stake now. Is President Obama creating a civil war in our own country?" Voight said in an interview with the paper.
He continued:
We are witnessing a slow, steady takeover of our true freedoms. We are becoming a socialist nation, and whoever can't see this is probably hoping it isn't true ...
Do not let the Obama administration fool you with all their cunning Alinsky methods. And if you don't know what that method is, I implore you to get the book "Rules for Radicals," by Saul Alinsky. Mr. Obama is very well trained in these methods.
The real truth is that the Obama administration is professional at bullying, as we have witnessed with ACORN at work during the presidential campaign. It seems to me they are sending down their bullies to create fist fights among average American citizens who don't want a government-run health care plan forced upon them. So I ask again: Is President Obama creating a civil war in our own country?Voight asks, "Is President Obama creating a civil war?"
Actor Jon Voight... more
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Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican of California has sent a letter to White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig, asking for more information into their effort to collect information about the opponents of Obama's health care reform by gathering what they were saying or writing.
It brings to mind the image of the "enemies list" that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican of California has sent a letter to White House Counsel... more
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Informed sources in Washington tell Newsmax that Israel indeed will launch a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities soon – possibly in just days as President George W. Bush prepares to leave office.
The reason: The time clock has begun to run out. Iran is close to acquiring a nuclear device under the control of its radical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in June that Iran would have a nuclear weapon in as little as six months.
That six-month period has passed.
Reports of Israel’s decision to imminently launch strikes, although unconfirmed, would seem to contradict the Bush stance outlined in a front-page New York Times story last week, which asserted that Bush rejected a plea from Israel last year to help it raid Iran’s main nuclear complex.
The Times said Israel was rebuffed after it requested from the U.S. specialized bunker-busting bombs that it needs to attack Iran’s nuclear complex at Natanz. The U.S. also reportedly nixed permission to the Israeli warplanes to fly over Iraqi territory to reach Iran.
Israel’s requests to the U.S. for military assistance came as the Jewish state was reportedly angry over a U.S. intelligence assessment in late 2007 that concluded Iran had effectively suspended its development of nuclear weapons.
But an investigative report circulated by IAEA chief ElBaradei late last year disclosed that Iran was continuing to carry out uranium enrichment and had already established 6,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium, of which 3,800 were then in operation.Informed sources in Washington tell Newsmax that Israel indeed will launch a strike... more
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