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July 17, 2008 at 11:48:31

Headlined on 7/17/08:
Corporate Media Blackouts Continue as Iran War Looms and Impeachment Moves Ahead

by Dave Lindorff     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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By Dave Lindorff

The sorry performance of the US corporate media, which blacked out stories questioning the official line on the so-called “Iraq Threat” until the nation was deeply mired in to pointless, bloody war in that country, and which has almost completely ignored a three-year, nation-wide movement calling for the impeachment of the president and vice president, has continued.

Search far and wide, and you will find no reporting on the fact that Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has filed a total 36 proposed articles of impeachment against President Bush, is finally going to get to formally present his case to the House Judiciary Committee, beginning on July 25. Although this is not an impeachment hearing, it is putting impeachment “on the table,” from which it has been banned for two years by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Although the House last week voted 251-166 to send Kucinich’s articles to the Judiciary Committee for hearings, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the nation’s television news organizations ignored this breakthrough (which included 24 Republicans voting for the measure). Only USA Today, at least in its online edition, even mentioned it, with a headline saying “Pelosi cracks door open on impeachment resolution”--and that was just a five-sentence story.

Another critically important story that is being blacked out by the corporate media is the Bush/Cheney administration’s march towards war with Iran. On Sunday, the London Times ran a well-researched and reported piece headlined President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran, saying that Bush has given the “amber light” to Israel to get its air force ready for an aerial assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The article, which quoted an unnamed “senior Pentagon official,” reported that while an actual attack would require a further “green light” from the president, the “amber light” meant planning could proceed.

The article also stated that the president was acting, “Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread skepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran.”

Surely such news of an increased possibility of the US being dragged into yet a third war in the Middle East should at least warrant a mention in the mainstream media. The Times of London is, after all, hardly a fringe publication. Though owned by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. it has a sterling reputation. If it reported on a gossipy story about another sex scandal involving the British royal family, you can bet the American media would be quoteing it ad nauseum.

Yet while the rest of the world is holding its collective breath wondering if such a cataclysmic attack might be about to happen with US sanction and assistance (Israel would be flying American-made planes in any attack, and would have to be given clearance to fly over US-controlled airspace in Iraq, even if it was denied access to US airbases along the way), Americans are being left blissfully unaware of this latest crime in the making by their war-mongering president.

This is news of major import, and it is nothing short of a shame and a scandal that it is not being reported in the American media, which more and more is resembling state propaganda.

Those who want better of their news purveyors should contact local editors and demand that they stop blacking out stories like these. Better yet, get together with friends and picket your local news outlets!
___________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His latest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and now available in paperback edition). His work is available at ThisCantBeHappening.net

 

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

Dave Lindorff, a columnist for Counterpunch, is author of several recent books ("This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy" and "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"). His latest book, coauthored with Barbara Olshanshky, is "The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office (St. Martin's Press, May 2006). His writing is available at http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

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6 comments

I consider myself a philosopher in the traditional sense, trying to be interested in all the things of the mind, the body and the feeling (I'm doing a Ph.D. in academic philosophy). I make my living as an IT consultant and technical writer. I'm a ballroom dancer and run a dance using computer music. I speak several languages. I raised my three daughters as a single father. These last few years I have become very interested in health and in economics.
Robert HoogenboomI consider myself a philosopher in the traditional sense, trying to be interested in all the things of the mind, the body and the feeling (I'm doing a Ph.D. in academic philosophy). I make my living as an IT consultant and technical writer. I'm a ballroom dancer and run a dance using computer music. I speak several languages. I raised my three daughters as a single father. These last few years I have become very interested in health and in economics.

The unbelievable absurdity of the fate of all humanity

depending on the unpredictable mental processes of a few sick, deranged madmen! And that includes the people behind Bush and Cheney!

Now is the time for civil disobedience. Now is the time for every one of us acquainted with or related to a member of the armed services to urge them, whether they be privates or four-star generals, to simply refuse to obey any order to attack Iran. Everyone who reads this should contact all the military they know and point out in the strongest possible terms that, given the potential consequences of such an attack,  the very continued existence of humanity may depend of them not obeying such an insane and illegal order! If this should happen, if an attack on Iran is avoided because the military refuses to carry it out, wouldn't the result be that Congress can do nothing else but impeach Bush and Cheney?

I live in Sydney, Australia. Don't worry, the consequences of the oil flow becoming a trickle, the depleted uranium being unleashed, and possibly the whole world becoming involved in another world war will be felt here too! 

Sydney, Australia 

by Robert Hoogenboom (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 165 comments) on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 12:20:02 AM
 


I'm a native of New York City who's called the Green Mountain state of Vermont home since the summer of 1994. A former freelance journalist, I'm a fiercely independent freethinker who's highly skeptical of authority figures -- especially when they're on the wrong side of the issues I care about. But I'm not afraid to also call into question those with whom I would usually be "on the same page" if and when they, too, are on the wrong side of the issues I care about.
Skeeter SandersI'm a native of New York City who's called the Green Mountain state of Vermont home since the summer of 1994. A former freelance journalist, I'm a fiercely independent freethinker who's highly skeptical of authority figures -- especially when they're on the wrong side of the issues I care about. But I'm not afraid to also call into question those with whom I would usually be "on the same page" if and when they, too, are on the wrong side of the issues I care about.

Everyone But "Progressives" Know Impeachment Is a Pipe Dream

It never ceases to amaze me how "progressives" continue to carp about the lack of mainstream media coverage of the drive to impeach President Bush.

There ia a VERY GOOD REASON why the mainstream media is ignoring the impeachment drive: They know that it's a pipe dream that will never become a reality. 

And the reason impeachment is a pipe dream to everyone other than so-called "progressives" can be summed up in two words:

Dick Cheney.

Nobody -- not "progressives," not Democrats, not moderates not Republicans -- and not even conservatives -- wants the vice president to serve out the ramainder of Bush's term as president, which, under the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, is precisely what Americans would end up with if Bush is impeached and removed from office. 

Even conservatives fear Cheney as too extreme to be president. Only a naive fool would fail to recognize the Cheney's first official acts as president would be to launch a war against Iran, declare a state of national emergency and impose martial law -- just as Feerdinand Marcos did in the Phillippines in 1972.

Dick Cheney is the most dangerous man in Washington. "Progressives" seem to have forgotten that the Iraq war was HIS idea, not Bush's. The unconstitutional warrantless spying program was hatched up and pushed hard by Cheney, not Bush. 

Everyone, it seems, has forgotten that Cheney began his career in Wahington as part of "Tricky Dick" Nixon's administration. When Nixon was driven out of office by the Watergate scandal, Cheney made a solemn vow that has guided his career ever since: to restore the "imperial presidency" that Watergate undermined.

Cheney privately considered Preisdents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton "wimps." He revered Ronald Reagan, but soon recognized that Reagan was hamstrung by the Democratic-controlled Congress, especially during his second term, weakened by the Iran-Contra scandal.

When George W. Bush appointed Cheney to head up his vice-presidential search committee in 2000, it was a sham: Cheney was determined to put his restore-the-imperial-presidency plan into practice by naming himself Bush's veep.

The rest, as they say, is history, as Cheney amassed far greater power than any vice president before him -- power far beyond what the Constitution calls for.

Make no mistake: Dick Cheney has been and is the real power in the Bush administration. Only Bush stands in Cheney's way of obtaining absolute power. Remove Bush, and you remove that obstacle.  

by Skeeter Sanders (32 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments) on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 10:24:33 AM
 


I consider myself a philosopher in the traditional sense, trying to be interested in all the things of the mind, the body and the feeling (I'm doing a Ph.D. in academic philosophy). I make my living as an IT consultant and technical writer. I'm a ballroom dancer and run a dance using computer music. I speak several languages. I raised my three daughters as a single father. These last few years I have become very interested in health and in economics.
Robert HoogenboomI consider myself a philosopher in the traditional sense, trying to be interested in all the things of the mind, the body and the feeling (I'm doing a Ph.D. in academic philosophy). I make my living as an IT consultant and technical writer. I'm a ballroom dancer and run a dance using computer music. I speak several languages. I raised my three daughters as a single father. These last few years I have become very interested in health and in economics.

Interesting. Couple of points.

I personally don't have the slightest illusion about the effectiveness of political action that we initiate. All these things, and everything else, happens by itself somehow. As the wise man says, no one is "doing" anything, everything is equally unconscious, and equally "mechanical", particularly when it involves these sorts of people. Bush and Cheney should of course both be impeached and locked up for life. And it won't happen. Or perhaps it may, who knows. The devil plays with everything.

I doubt that the reason why the newspapers don't discuss impeachment and Nancy Pelosi has resisted it is that they are the collective good guys, who are saving America and the world by avoiding an even greater evil than Bush - Cheney.

Who is behind Cheney? Who pushed for the Iraq war the hardest? The Israeli-right power configuration, which includes many of the neocons, no? And they now want war with Iran. Are there any others who are behind the scene, and who are using Bush and Cheney?

Perhaps Bush should watch out. Cheney is indeed a powerful man and he may not want to stop at just being vice president. He can have Bush assassinated, thus get complete control and suspend the next elections. The papers will have screaming headlines implicating Iran.

Sydney, Australia

by Robert Hoogenboom (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 165 comments) on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 6:44:05 PM
 


* * * * *

Tim Riley is a father, husband, technical writer, and internet news hound avidly interested in progressive politics, environmentalism, social justice, and playing with his two children.

Tim Riley* * * * *

Tim Riley is a father, husband, technical writer, and internet news hound avidly interested in progressive politics, environmentalism, social justice, and playing with his two children.

Skeeter fails to hear the Media silence on Cheney Impeachmen

People eating from the mass media slop trough filled with the voyeuristic disaster blaster, tabloid trash, and local police blotter can't be held accountable for not hearing about the movement to impeach Cheney AND Bush, because it really isn't allowed past most of the media filters.

But Skeeter, you should know better.  Any proponent of impeachment knows that both Bush and Cheney must be removed from office and that impeachable offenses have been verfiably committed by both.

Of course, patriotic progressives like Dennis Kucinich (and many others as well) have already thought about and planned for the removal of VP Richard Cheney. 

Patriots don't take on a seemingly unpopular cause seeking to oust the powerful criminal elite because it is easy or popular among some imagined constituency.  Politicians may be forgiven for considering the practicality or probability of success before taking action, as there are arguably many other causes that require attention and positive change,...

BUT as members of our government are sworn to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic, the hostile, corrupt, and rotten heart must be excised before the healing of our nation can begin.

Good people and patriots must work together to remove the unindicted criminals from the highest office in the land.  We should have the highest moral standards and yet we are fed the lowest common denominator crowned as king by the corporatist media.  We seek to do the right thing, that may not be popular nor practical yet, but it is the right thing to do.  The sheeple may be excused for being deceived and mesmerized by the deceptive filters of the mainstream media.   

As a reader of Opednews, Skeeter should know better.

by Tim Riley (7 articles, 4 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 126 comments) on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 11:20:02 AM
 


a concerned citizen and supporter of a new Coalition 3rd Party; as well as the Open Source Energy Movement!
Steve Windisch (jibbguy)a concerned citizen and supporter of a new Coalition 3rd Party; as well as the Open Source Energy Movement!

Great article

And the points need to be blasted every day. The mainstream media is pulling their worst suppression caper yet by so boldly refusing to talk about such an important subject as Impeachment (considering their other crimes, that was hard to top;)

But MSM would not have dared this dangerous path (which could eventually land some of them in jail, or at least end their careers forever), if :

A) We had not let them get away with all their previous suppressions in the past 7 years; and

B) The Congressional leadership was not so blatantly suppressing it themselves.  

... The point being that MSM knows it can get away with suppressing this because Congress and the mainstream corporate-owned Demorat party won't say a peep either.

These people in the Leadership should ALL be out of office... And impeached themselves.... Maybe even on trial for Treason.  Because they have deliberately broken their Oath to the Constitution; and betrayed the American People by not taking action when there is clear and overwhelming evidence of crime.

They tell themselves (or just tell us...) they are just trying to win the election so they can "do good" in the future: AT WHAT PRICE?? That is the most specious and disgusting example of self-serving and self-decepting logic we have ever seen in a very bad history of such. And it is proof positive these people MUST GO. They do not have the capabilities, nor do they deserve the honor of leading sailors to a cat house.... Yet alone the U.S. Congress.  

So the media will do what suppressions it can safely get away with. And letting them get away with turning our news dissemination into a fascist propaganda tool is perhaps the worst crime of all: Because without a controlled media, these legitimate birth-challenged persons in the bush regime COULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH ANY OF IT.

We have been betrayed; by our own. And if anyone here thinks putting Obama (or McCain) in the White House will change any of the factors that caused this betrayal: You are attempting to extrude liquid waste onto a vertical surface of rope. This is not only illogical, having an extremely low probability of success, it eventually becomes an uncomfortable and untenable situation in the end as well.  

by Steve Windisch (jibbguy) (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 163 comments) on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 2:26:56 PM
 

 

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