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Responsibility, Accountability and "The Slippery Slope"

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Obama at Soliers Grave
Obama at Soliers Grave
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You can blame it on political correctness, a lack of conviction on basic values, or a desire to "play it safe and keep your mouth shut".  It all amounts to the same thing" people are not willing to be at the center of controversy. There are just too many consequences.

The world has changed greatly in a very short amount of time. The political landscape has become dangerous. It appears that the people who speak up are usually the ones that end up on the receiving end of a scandal and/or legal charges. If trends continue, speaking out could become dangerous. We already have a government that can assassinate any American citizen at will. If you had told this to someone ten years ago, that the President could sign your death warrant without having to justify it or even tell anyone about it (except the assassin), they would have told you that you're crazy. Imagine that.

One of the main culprits is the media. It has become common knowledge that we no longer have unbiased reporting on any of the mainstream media outlets. In fact, news bureaus in this so-called "age of information" are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps. We now get our news on mainstream media mostly from the AP and Reuters.   Networks have reduced their overseas bureaus drastically. All one needs to do is watch one networks coverage of the news and compare it to another networks' news. It isn't difficult to ascertain that they are getting their information from the same place.

Think of it this way, with all the different nations on Earth, why is it that in a twenty-two minute news loop, all the networks report on the same things? Can't they find enough news or have events on the planet just slowed to a trickle? It never ceases to amaze me that when I bring something up that I have read about or saw on a video on the alternative media, people tell me that they didn't know anything about it. On more than one occasion I've had to "prove" that I wasn't making things up!

This lack of information is intentional. The less people know, the fewer questions they have. To underscore this, just ask someone that only watches the major networks and ask them if climate change is real. Then ask them why Andrew Wiener resigned from Congress.

Here is something that is very interesting. I write for different alternative websites in different countries, I have my own blog and I have a radio show that can be picked up on any computer, anywhere there is access to the internet.   This modern world is truly amazing. Just a decade ago, this would have been incredible! Now, anyone that has an opinion and a modicum of proficiency in getting an idea across can do the same thing that I do. You would expect that in having all of these outlets to express myself, I could influence people that in the past I could never have reached, right?

Well in as sense that's true, but not completely. Even though I have these resources, very few people who don't have the same views (or similar views) will ever hear from me. They won't go to my blog because they have never heard of it. They won't read my articles on alternative or progressive websites for the same reason. They won't listen to my radio show because it's listed under Progressive Politics. The truth is that even though I have these outlets, I am still effectively marginalized. If I really wanted "to reach out and touch someone" on mainstream media, I would need a sponsor or some big bucks of my own. Besides, even if I did find the resources to wrangle a spot on the MSM, most people would rather watch housewives duke it out in New Jersey.

Still, I try. Maybe if I was a cute little blonde girl with some awesome cleavage I could pull it off (works for FOX). Maybe if I was as rude and as callous as Bill O'Reilly that would work, but I'm getting off the subject here. I was talking about responsibility. Responsibility and accountability are traits that are fading fast. Just a few years back, most people didn't have a clue about what "spin" is. Now it's become a household word. Just about everyone expects a politician to put his or her spin on things. It doesn't really matter to many people whether it's the truth or not. Maybe its because being clever is highly regarded today. Look at shows like "Survivor" where cheating and lying are winning strategies. Try being honest and many will believe you are just stupid.

It's the same as "framing". No, I don't mean being framed as in taking the fall on a criminal charge. I'm talking about how something or someone is portrayed. Part of spinning something is how you frame it. It's all been laid out by Edward Bernays, the man credited with developing public relations and also called "the father of spin".

When talking about responsibility and accountability, there is one major event that happened in America that changed just about everyone's view on these subjects. In her book, "Where Did the Towers Go?"   Dr. Judy Wood wrote this;

"We cannot determine who did it until we determine what was even done and how it was done. Yet before noon on 9/11/01, many of us were told who had done it. That is, we were given a conspiracy theory, not the result of a scientific investigation. So, what's wrong with that? Nothing, except that it qualifies as a falsehood, being unverifiable by evidence as to what exactly happened, or how, let alone by whom. Doing such a thing, going after who did it before establishing what happened and how   it happened, is a way of ensuring that the truth will be hidden for a very long time, if not forever. It is called a cover-up. I will not be a part of a cover-up." (2010 Dr. Judy Wood, B.S., M.S, PhD)

These were my own sentiments exactly. Since that day I have waited for the entire story to come out. At this point in time, I don't ever expect that the real story will ever be disclosed. With all the fanfare and coverage bin Laden received when he was supposedly gunned-down in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the simple truth is that he was never charged with the attacks on 9/11! The fact that he was deliberately killed while unarmed, in front of his wife, matters very little to the U.S. Government or the majority of Americans.

The situation in Libya also raises questions of responsibility and accountability. I use this example only because it is the latest in a series of events. You can also add the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and many other instances where accountability and responsibility issues are questionable. This President has taken our nation into yet another war with no authorization whatsoever from Congress in direct violation of the Constitution. Col. Gadhafi too has been targeted for assassination. Our Supreme Court has ruled that assassinations are a political issue and not a legal issue. Unless Congress can abrogate this violation of the much-touted "rule of law" that politicians are so fond of bringing up when it suits them, means we truly live under a lawless government. This is a government that scoffs at the ideas of responsibility and accountability.

The total disconnect that the U.S. regime demonstrates in regard to Libya and Syria versus Bahrain where the government arrests and tortures those that demonstrate for democracy, with the help of Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally. This deference given to the royal family of Bahrain is not lost on the people of the Middle East. Sadly though, most of the people in the U.S. have no clue as to the hypocrisy of the Obama administration. We call for "democratic reform" in Libya and Syria while turning a blind eye to the abuses to the Al Kalifa royal thugs.

How can the rest of the world take America seriously? We decry the supposedly brutal dictatorship in Iran while we prop up the rogue state of Israel. The IDF showers white phosphorus on the women and children of Gaza. We watch Israeli's evicting Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and reward them with three billion dollars of military aid each year. Where is the accountability in that? Who is responsible for this charade? As long as our politicians keep receiving campaign contributions from AIPAC, it doesn't matter. 

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Tim Gatto is Ret. US Army and has been writing against the Duopoly for the last decade. He has two books on Amazon, Kimchee Days or Stoned Colds Warriors and Complicity to Contempt.

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