Sunday, December 18, 2005
An Incredible Day in America, Indeed—But, Will We Seize the Day, Or Let It Pass?
Category: Shoutrage
Subjects: US Crimes (Torture/Surveillance)/Complicit Corporate Media/Impeachment/Presidential Prerogative/Fascism
Sources: Huffington Post, New York Times
by Sean M. Madden
iNoodle.com
December 17, 2005
In a fine Huffington Post article published yesterday, Martin Garbus, a leading American trial lawyer, unequivocally states that Bush has committed an impeachable crime in authorizing domestic surveillance without a court-issued warrant, and has, in conjunction with Congress, legitimized torture for the first time in US history.
Yet, again, the corporate media has failed to inform the citizenry of the implications of these illegal acts. Indeed, the corporate media has failed to present these acts for what they are, forget the reporting of implications. Obfuscation seems the preferred practice.
Mr. Garbus says that "most of the media missed it and got it wrong." Perhaps.
But, given the complicity of the corporate media in the war crimes committed to date by the US (and UK), and their willingness to disseminate government propaganda, to keep dissenting opinion on the fringes, and to steadfastly remain uncritical of the war crimes committed thus far, why should we assume that the corporate media's failing in this instance is an honest mistake?
The New York Times is apparently doing their best again today—by way of their top story, entitled Behind Power, One Principle as Bush Pushes Prerogatives—to provide (pseudo-) intellectual cover to turn what is an impeachable crime into a debatable topic, this time concerning presidential prerogative. This, two days after the New York Times admitted that they sat for a year on this story of unlawful surveillance, after the Bush administration requested that they not report on this illegal practice.
At what point will the New York Times' reading public dismiss the newspaper as a propagandist rag which is deep in the pockets of a war-criminal administration and an anti-democratic, and thereby anti-American, corporate-political elite, whether Republican or Democratic?
At what point does creeping presidential prerogative become incipient dictatorial fascism?
Will a majority of Americans know when such a point has been reached; and, if so, will they then have the will and the power to halt fascism's progress and regain freedoms lost? Or, will they continue to deny that fascism could possibly be visited upon their complacent, apolitical and corporatized version of democracy? Or, finally, will a majority of Americans wallow in their particular breed of fascism as they have long since wallowed in their particular breed of imperialism, undaunted by world opinion or international law?
Regardless, willful ignorance will not suffice should an excuse be sought in retrospect.
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This article was originally published by Sean M. Madden on iNoodle.com, and has since been published on Information Clearing House. This article replaces an earlier version posted on Postform on 17 Dec 05.
Subjects: US Crimes (Torture/Surveillance)/Complicit Corporate Media/Impeachment/Presidential Prerogative/Fascism
Sources: Huffington Post, New York Times
by Sean M. Madden
iNoodle.com
December 17, 2005
In a fine Huffington Post article published yesterday, Martin Garbus, a leading American trial lawyer, unequivocally states that Bush has committed an impeachable crime in authorizing domestic surveillance without a court-issued warrant, and has, in conjunction with Congress, legitimized torture for the first time in US history.
Yet, again, the corporate media has failed to inform the citizenry of the implications of these illegal acts. Indeed, the corporate media has failed to present these acts for what they are, forget the reporting of implications. Obfuscation seems the preferred practice.
Mr. Garbus says that "most of the media missed it and got it wrong." Perhaps.
But, given the complicity of the corporate media in the war crimes committed to date by the US (and UK), and their willingness to disseminate government propaganda, to keep dissenting opinion on the fringes, and to steadfastly remain uncritical of the war crimes committed thus far, why should we assume that the corporate media's failing in this instance is an honest mistake?
The New York Times is apparently doing their best again today—by way of their top story, entitled Behind Power, One Principle as Bush Pushes Prerogatives—to provide (pseudo-) intellectual cover to turn what is an impeachable crime into a debatable topic, this time concerning presidential prerogative. This, two days after the New York Times admitted that they sat for a year on this story of unlawful surveillance, after the Bush administration requested that they not report on this illegal practice.
At what point will the New York Times' reading public dismiss the newspaper as a propagandist rag which is deep in the pockets of a war-criminal administration and an anti-democratic, and thereby anti-American, corporate-political elite, whether Republican or Democratic?
At what point does creeping presidential prerogative become incipient dictatorial fascism?
Will a majority of Americans know when such a point has been reached; and, if so, will they then have the will and the power to halt fascism's progress and regain freedoms lost? Or, will they continue to deny that fascism could possibly be visited upon their complacent, apolitical and corporatized version of democracy? Or, finally, will a majority of Americans wallow in their particular breed of fascism as they have long since wallowed in their particular breed of imperialism, undaunted by world opinion or international law?
Regardless, willful ignorance will not suffice should an excuse be sought in retrospect.
---
This article was originally published by Sean M. Madden on iNoodle.com, and has since been published on Information Clearing House. This article replaces an earlier version posted on Postform on 17 Dec 05.
