Dark Shadows

[wkmac]

As a teen in the late 60's and early 70's, this horror based soap-opera was an afternoon staple amongst the younger set but the name itself may now conjure a more sinister plot within our own gov't making Al Qaeda pale in comparison. Depending on who is really involved and how it washes out could vastly effect the legacy of the federal gov't for the last nearly 20 years and force another look back even further into the cold war era. I hope it does just that personally!

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2008/01/28/none-dare-call-it-treason/

https://web.archive.org/web/20080109070006/http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff01072008.html

 

[wkmac]

This story has continued in almost silence among the US media but has huge implications for us as a country. International Press has at least picked up the ball.

Here is more links and links within the story are worth the read.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2008/01/28/none-dare-call-it-treason/

https://web.archive.org/web/20110113020104/http://www.counterpunch.org/frank01272008.html

 

[cheryl]

It's amazing that this hasn't been a bigger story. Oh wait, with all those Britany Spears stories to cover I guess there wasn't enough time for this...

 

[diesel96]

So much for the "Liberal Bias Media" theory.

Hey that reminds me ...MSNBC has suspended one of their own (David Shuster) after "pimping out" comments of Hillary's daughter. But I really bet those of you who believe in the liberal media theory wish it was Keith Oberman who was suspended...LOL

Back to thread:
It makes you wonder if this Administration (or fankly, any administration) has the ability to censor or de-sensitize domestic news coverage with some sort of leverage that doesn't reach out or penalize Int'l news organizations or have we become a nation more interested in papparazi news and Entertainment Tonight ?

 

[wkmac]

D,

I kinda have my own theories regarding this (you knew I would LOL!) and this regards your 2nd part as I could care less about MSNBC/Shuster/Oberman. If you however take NBC who's parent company if GE which is a major military contractor as well as supplier of equipment most often needed after wars and conflicts in the rebuilding process.

Now do I say this clearly has an impact on NBC's reporting or that a major company like GE owning a major news media outlet could sway news reporting? I have no concrete answer but my gut tells me that from time to time there are conflicts. If Murdoch owning Fox has conflicts because of his views, then I'd say the same can be said for NBC, CNN with Turner in previous years and that goes for any media outlet.

It's odd that last evening I watched a movie with Bruce Willis called Striking Distance (it was OK) but a certain high ranking police official was trying to cover up a problem and when a news reporter asked questions about an old case relating to some current situations, this high ranking police official told the reporter if they printed anything on the subject, he'd have the guy pulled off the beat.

Ask the wrong question in a White House briefing and what happens? You don't get to ask another question and if you are a reporter for a major news outlet relying on face time, you get replaced because face time means relevance and relevance means ratings and rating drive ad money and ad money drive profits and profits drives stock price and, see where that all goes?

I know a lot of people here don't like Bill Moyer but in the past looking back at his own major news media career he speaks of in effect the very same thing happening with gov't. Other news figures have eluded to this from time to time and to be honest I think it does happen. The internet is the leading driver of news and if you watch the major media, they let the internet drive the story in larger public scale and then and only then can they even consider asking questions and they usually are soft balls.

Cheryl's first comment of

It's amazing that this hasn't been a bigger story.

has a lot of merit and it is amazing. But let me ask you and her this. I posted the first hints of this story back on 1/8 and a minor follow up on 2/5. What took you guys so long? Now I don't ask to tot my own horn but rather using you as a mirror of society as a whole. Did you guys just now look at this after I added another link to bump the story back up top or were you digesting it all this time?

Again, nothing to do with toting horns, pointing fingers but just rather, why put down Britany Spears so to speak now and take a look? What caused you to finally look at this and give it thought? If we asnwer that about ourselves, we might begin to understand why this story is an almost non story here is the US even though it has huge implications even if only half true!

 

[diesel96]

Because we have become a society of videos, pictures, and illustrations that captures visual drama, emotions, real time live events. However the down side with this scenario besides monetary purposes is the decline of society making a consertive effort gathering facts, info and research behind the scenes and beyond the video, front page or 1st paragraph. I find myself guilty lots of time with not reading thru the whole story relying on exerpts and footnotes. Unfortunatly , we rely on someone of importance or some castrophic event to raise a red flag and draw attention to a subject. Also, one may hold back speaking out or exposing the details, opinions and implications of a story on the expectation of being accused as a whistleblower, unpatriotic, or guilty by association.
Unity is the only cure. Shred on!

PS....The GE analysis does raise an eyebrow..good point

 

[cheryl]

Diesel's right, I think lots of people in the US have developed short attention spans. Sometimes we only pay attention to the news stories with the most shiny objects and drama or maybe the best production values.

When I'm reading a long political article sometimes it takes a while for the gravity of the situation it to sink in. I'm also sometimes guilty of reading the first and last sentence of some of the paragraphs and not giving an important topic as much attention as it deserves. I do that because there are 5 other articles I want to read before I cook dinner and the database still needs to be backed up and laundry needs to be folded and Tony asks me if I ever read that article that he sent me yesterday (and I didn't) and just then my daughter asks me to fix something on her website...
<<<uh oh - it's brain overload again>>>

As far as the bigger picture of society I also think that internet information overload plays a part, along with the overall dumbing down of much of the US broadcast media to present whatever content will bring in the most revenue for the least production cost.

The major networks have pretty much eliminated foreign correspondents, you rarely see indepth coverage of anything on network news, they cover Britney, Paris and Lindsey because American's are becoming so apathetic and brain numbed by the fusion of entertainment with news that Britney brings in higher ratings to a news show than the real news stories do. Of course if we would quit paying attention to the crap they're offering and started demanding something of higher quality the worst of the media would have to raise their standards, but then most of us don't really care that much because we've got dinner to cook and a car to wash and (like me) more than a little streak of laziness and a dash of apathy.

wkmac, I really appreciate the info, ideas and links you post here. Even though I don't comment often I think that I've read/watched most of the links you've posted, even though on some of the articles I only read the first and last sentence of some of the paragraphs.

 

[diesel96]

cherylRe: Dark Shadows
Diesels right... Sometimes we only pay attention to the news stories with the most shiny objects
<--------------I love shiny objects

The major networks have pretty much eliminated foreign correspondents, you rarely see indepth coverage of anything on network news.

Your right Cheryl , I haven't seen Christine Amanpour on CNN lately, she had a great piece a few months ago on Christian, muslim. and jewish radicals soldiers.

wkmac, I really appreciate the info, ideas and links you post here. Even though I don't comment often I think that I've read/watched most of the links you've posted, even though on some of the articles I only read the first and last sentence of some of the paragraphs.

....me too...lol

 

[wkmac]

cherylRe: Dark Shadows
Diesels right... Sometimes we only pay attention to the news stories with the most shiny objects
<--------------I love shiny objects

The major networks have pretty much eliminated foreign correspondents, you rarely see indepth coverage of anything on network news.

Your right Cheryl , I haven't seen Christine Amanpour on CNN lately, she had a great piece a few months ago on Christian, muslim. and jewish radicals soldiers.

wkmac, I really appreciate the info, ideas and links you post here. Even though I don't comment often I think that I've read/watched most of the links you've posted, even though on some of the articles I only read the first and last sentence of some of the paragraphs.

....me too...lol

You guys just aren't near as intelligent as me but maybe in a few thousand years your genetic ancestors will catch up. By then I'll be a God so to me you slaves!



Seriously, the point you an Cheryl made about the media are dead on and your observations about foreign correspondants is dead on as well. We use to be a very open minded society in some sense but in the last 20 years, we've seemed to close down a bit in our own circling the wagons. Even Big Arrow's own dreaded PC movement plays into this IMO. From my POV, gov't has in a sense taken a position of old where it has elevated itself to God status and therefore God being infallible, so therefore is gov't. The only way to maintain the illusion is to make sure you can only see as far as the walls of the box they have placed us in.

It's almost funny that for years we saw the Great Wall of China, although an engineering marvel, it's was considered a bad thing in that it blocked out and closed in culture. The Iron Curtain also a bad thing but have we in our own zeal built a wall none the less and now are demanding a physical wall in the model of the Berlin and Great Wall to be built around our society to protect it?

Are we treading down a path of disaster and it's not a statement in the form of a question but rather it is an honest question of concern. A question asked because I don't have that answer.

Even worst, the very people entrusted with our safety are the same ones either potentially involved in trading destructive technology or protecting those who have. It's as if they are playing both side of the same contest while we struggle on the field of battle and no matter which side wins, they will come out on top!

JMO.

And was Valeria Plame outted over Iraq or was she outted to protect technology transfers? I'm beginning to consider the potential that the latter may now be the real truth and that really scares me!

 

[cheryl]

Okay , now I've got someone else to blame for my intellectual laziness. I'm the product of the California public education system. Out here they don't even test to see if the public school teachers know how to read:

Retired Teacher Reveals He Was Illiterate Until Age 48

"John Corcoran graduated from college and taught high school for 17 years without being able to read, write or spell."

 

[wkmac]

Okay , now I've got someone else to blame for my intellectual laziness. I'm the product of the California public education system. Out here they don't even test to see if the public school teachers know how to read:

Retired Teacher Reveals He Was Illiterate Until Age 48

"John Corcoran graduated from college and taught high school for 17 years without being able to read, write or spell."

That is an unbelievable story but you have to admire (even though it was wrong) the man's creativity and inventivness to in effect, beat the system.

Getting back to the issue of Dark Shadow's, I read an interesting op-ed http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12358 that caught my attention especially in paragraph 12 of the piece. It concerns Ahmed Chalabi who was the inside voice that WMD existed only to be later vastly discreditied. Then we learn that Chalabi has direct links to the Iranians and the US gov't raided his Baghdad compound as a result.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/20/iraq.main/ Later and I man not much later, the whole thing just disappears from view. http://rpayne.blogspot.com/2004/08/investigations-update.html

Now come to find out our Neo-Con boywonder is back in bidness!

Here's a man who told us that Saddam had WMD which proved to be not true and then we learn he's working with an Iranian agent and on the outskirts of all of this are persons and events linked to weapons and nuke technology being passed to places it should not wit hallegations of it being persons within our own gov't and now just 2 months ago, this same person in back in US employ in a central role in Iraq.

Am I the only one here whose ears are up when I see something like this going on?

BTW: Justin wrote an excellent piece IMO using McCain as the launch point if you care or I should say dare read it!

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12343

 

[wkmac]

Valerie Plame speaks out about Sibel Edmond's allegations that Plame's CIA front B Jennings was outed to the Turk's by State Dept. offical.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5685

 

[wkmac]

As we continue this saga of "Blowback" foreign policy, now we come to learn this.

As crazy as this may seem, the question begs to be asked of whether our foreign policy almost necessitated this act by India's concerns. I mean, India and Pakistan are not nice with one another, we've been more and more in bed with the Pakistani leardership and then as past info comes to light, seems that certain placed officials within our own gov't may have in fact either openly gave the Pakistani gov't weapons data and technology or at least supplied them with info in order to steer them clear of law enforcment efforts.

What the true story is will likely take time and more details to figure out but IMO the same gov't policy of foreign meddling that has brought us many problems is again at work in another arena.

 

[wkmac]

Sibel Edmonds & Luke Ryland interviewed on internet radio about the A.Q. Khan nuclear network and the CIA.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/horton.php?articleid=13002

One part of the interview Edmonds sez the following:

Edmonds: Sure. I think I can summarize it by telling you that I have been considered to be the most gagged person in United States history, and that is by the invocation of the state secrets privilege twice in my case, classification of my case, the entire case, including even the languages I speak, and also the fact that for the first time, the Justice Department illegally issued a gag order, a retroactive classification, on Congress. And that basically tells you that there is this body of knowledge, information, that the government; the Justice Department and the White House, is going out of it way to cover up, to hush, to shut down. And that, I believe, summarizes the case very well.
So, just the fact that, "okay, what is this information?" "Why are they going out of their way to gag this information?" And then I'm going to talk just a little bit on what Luke just very nicely summarized, and you were talking about "Well, you know, how benign maybe was this information and the technology?" You have to focus on one aspect, and that is that right now we are talking about a black market, the nuclear black market, and you're looking at international players within this nuclear black market activity, and this involves to a certain degree the Russians, Israelis, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, North Korea, so you're looking at many many players, and when you have these players, and you're looking at the nuclear black market, the focus should not be "Well, Pakistanis, we know that they have their nuclear weapons program, etc., so what's the big deal?"
The big deal is our hypocrisy ridden foreign policy, and the fact that on one hand, we're talking about the danger of these weapons of mass destruction in the hands of whoever at the time we declare to be in the "Axis of Evil," and using this as a technique, and as a tactic, to invoke fear here in our country, and globally, saying that, you know, "we're talking about the weapons of mass destruction, and that we are in danger, and there are bad guys out there who want to get us." On the other hand, when it comes to these really, really serious issues and cases, a lot of them involving weapons of mass destruction, we cherry-pick the intelligence, and we cherry-pick on what we are going to take action.

I bolded and underlined a specific part that IMO fits in well with the points that Glenn Greenwald in his op-ed made on Newt that I posted in another thread.

And let me pose a question to consider. Recently Bush announced plans to help/give/sell/assist the Saudis with nuclear technology. Peaceful power generation of course. But here's the real thought. Is it smart to give this kind of technology to the home country of not only some of the world's leading terrorist but the same country who supplied the large majority of 9/11 killers? What might we be creating for our children and grandchildren down the road in 20 or 30 years? If not sooner!

Just a thought to consider.