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How much of Earth's atmosphere must we contaminate? How much of our lands and waters must we pollute? How much of our resources must we plunder, deplete? How many species must we ravage, despoil, extinguish? How many people must we degrade, deprive, destroy with toxic wastes and wars, before we learn to respect one another, to live in harmony on this planet, our Home? "All living beings are brothers and sisters, nourished from the same source of life.." -- Thich Nhat Hanh

: Name: Annamarie; Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada

I was born in Eastern Europe during the height of the Stalinist regime's reign of terror. Thus, I know what it is like to live under a repressive, dictatorial regime. The fear and terror -- as dissident friends and family members were tortured, imprisoned and some were executed -- is indelibly etched in my memory. That is the reason I have always been an ardent advocate of freedom, social justice, civil liberties, human rights and a voice of peace. The way I see it, war is morally wrong, regardless of who wages it, for whatever reason. No piece of land or commodity is worth the sacrifice of one human life. We are all members of the same race - the "human race" - and must learn to coexist peacefully. Our planet cannot sustain us much longer if we do not stop our wars, nukes, polluting, deforestation, and the wasteful, gluttonous consumption and depletion of our natural resources.

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Friday, May 05, 2006

For Washington Correspondents, WH Reporting is Just Business, Not the Truth

BuzzFlash's unabashedly scathing opinions need no introduction to those who are regular readers of this 'pull no punches' site. These daily comments are blunt in their honesty. Today's commentary is about the WH correspondents' and media's willing promotion of "Brand Bush", followed by a few top headlines, reprinted here with the kind permission of BuzzFlash.

In a BuzzFlash Editorial during the Alito hearings, we noted http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/06/01/edi06005.html:

"The Democrats are looking to appeal to the brain; the Republicans to the manipulation of emotions that race through the heart -- and are subject to the strategic use of television 'stories' and photo ops.

The parties are targeting two different body organs.

And in a world dominated by trivial news that appeals to the emotions -- and sensational celebrity gaffes, romantic entanglements and crimes -- the appeal to the brain has but the shortest of shelf lives.

It's barely but a blip on the radar screen of the evening news."

The editorial was entitled, "Governing by 'Soap Opera': The GOP Fine Art of Demagoguery vs. the Dazed and Confused Democratic Leadership Appeal to Reason."

We promised a second part, which we are posting today, because for the Republicans the medium is the message.

We live in a culture of brands. We buy products that are supposed to make us feel better, brighter, sexier, happier, not because they do; but because advertising tells us they will.

Coca-Cola was, perhaps, the most well known harbinger of the "brand" culture that has become America. It was a carbonated beverage that was supposed to refresh us, make us more popular, make us more hip.

Now, television news has merged with advertising and entertainment to become one big grinder for selling "brands" and the fantasy associations attributed to them.

Bush, given this context, has been a "brand" created by Karl Rove and sold by big media to the American public. No matter what Bush does, how he fails, the media picks him up in the morning and re-bestows his "brand" virtues of alleged honesty, compassion and leadership.

It's like squeezing dog food into a box of Wheaties every morning, but the media does it. Because the news media is now just part of one big branding machine.

The Republicans get this. The Democrats don't.

What Rove and FOX GOP News did was create the characteristics of the "Bush Brand" and write the mythology of the brand background. The rest of the media and the GOP echo chamber then became billboards and television and radio advertisements for "Brand Bush." Their job wasn't to report the news; their job was to sell the brand.

That explains why the Washington "correspondents" yukked it up when Bush did a sophomoric skit, but gave Stephen Colbert's lacerating lesson in truth the cold shoulder. Correspondents, as we have noted, were there with their producers who were there with the big media owners.

The big media owners don't want to upset Bush. The producers don't want to upset the owners. And the so-called "correspondents" don't want to upset the producers.

And what the big media owners want from "Brand Bush" is regulations and legislation that increase their corporate profits. News is now about keeping the owners of news companies highly profitable, not about the truth.

In the 2004 election, the head of Viacom (owner of CBS) said that he personally might be for Kerry but he would vote for Bush because Bush was good for Viacom's bottom line. News divisions on television now are just part of larger entertainment and business conglomerates that are depdendent on Republican administrations to do them big corporate favors, in a variety of ways.

This is just a fact. It's not speculation.

And so it is the easiest thing in the world for an ABC news program to move from plugging a Disney movie to promoting "Brand Bush." It's all sales, including not reporting news that might tarnish the "brand" of advertisers or the "brand" of the corporate parent.

Yes, the Democrats keeping plugging away trying to peddle public policy.

The Republicans are out selling "Brand Bush" through every television set in the nation -- and an army of radio stations -- along with most of the print media.

The Republicans have made most elections a referendum on character or "brands," even if it's horse meat you get when you open the box.

And the mainstream news media knows how to peddle horse meat.

They just call it "Brand Bush."

Washington Transcriptionists (Correspondents) Prove at Annual Dinner that Big Media Isn't About News Anymore; It's About Business. And Business Requires You Laugh at the King's Sophomoric Skits and Shun the Truth. Hello to the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrites of the Week.

"Bullshit Artist: The 9/11 Leadership Myth" (Paperback), by Ron Schalow. Subtitled "America was under attack for 102 minutes and for 102 minutes the president did nothing: How George W. Bush turned his pathetic performance on 9/11 into political gold," this book certainly caught our attention.

Angry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre. The AP-Ipsos poll also suggests that Democratic voters are far more motivated than Republicans.

Global warming fastest for 20,000 years - and it is mankind's fault

The Full List of the BuzzFlash.com GOP Hypocrites of the Week. It's a Long One, And We Can Only Pick One a Week.

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Friday, May 05, 2006

For Washington Correspondents, WH Reporting is Just Business, Not the Truth

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