Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Ghosts (Still) in the Machine

In the HBO adaptation of Stephen King's "Red Rose", a group of paranormals hired to find the remnants of life in a house beset by vengeful ghosts fight among themselves to (for some) their own doom. In one scene a character 'blessed' by the ability to see ghoulish pranks confuses seeing a team-mate dying of heart failure with an unreal vision. The unbelieving friend covers his ears, squints his eyes and rants "Not there, not there, not there!" as, begging for help inches away, his team-mate dies.

I feel like that team-mate dying at the feet of radical Republicans. So convinced are they of our 'evil' intention that nothing we say, no amount of evidence we provide, not even the evidence in full view (policy related to Katrina failures before and ongoing) can shake them from their conviction that we just aren't 'thinking positively'. Like terrified mamma's boys who refuse to see or accept their position's real negative outcomes, they deny our evidence with eyes and ears blocked tightly crying "NOT THERE, NOT THERE, NOT THERE..."

So it's up to the rest of us in what has become the 'Red Rose' of America to do the heavy lifting (again) and rid our machine of ghosts. Remember what we've accomplished so far: clean air and water (regulated corporate abuse of the commons), given the powerless the safety to speak (victims of domestic violence and pedophilia), given women the right to control their biological destiny (and saved unwanted children futures of neglect and indifference), marched (and even died) with the black grandchildren victimized by American apartheid in the South (to give them a seat at the table), brought down an illegal war in the 70's (Vietnam) and so on; decades of legislation that raised those who had less up while still creating an economy that produced billionaires. When this administration took over America was richer for everyone and now look at it: record debt, an illegal war producing dead Americans almost daily, rising rates of poverty and the abortion rates that attend it, increased terrorism world-wide and now crony appointments and Republican party indictments. We can't rid our country of the forces that divide us, being free to be unlike one another IS an American value. We can rid our country of partisan forces who use our differences to divide us against each other; we must.

As liberals we WORKED to give current Americans a healthy, fair and safe country--the one they say they love so much they'd go into an illegal war to defend--yet some, unhappy with other people's morals and having to pay taxes have been convinced that liberals--not the issues--are the problem. They have been covinced that they should be willing to do anything to destroy the liberal ideology that created modern America! I say to hell with those negativists! Partisan hater's can have my rights to privacy, freedom of religion, freedom from unlawful search and seizure, in fact my American liberalism, when they pry it out of my cold dead hands!

The first battle is always for hearts and minds. How can we get the lies out of people's minds if we can't get them out of the media? Get partisan WH propaganda out of the regular news cycle: Free Press : Stop News Fraud
Earlier this year, several "journalists" were exposed as propagandists on the White House payroll. We then learned that broadcasters routinely air government-funded video news releases without disclosing their source; the White House has set aside a quarter billion taxpayer dollars to hire public relations firms and infiltrate our news system with fake news.
--snip--
A Sept. 30 report by the Government Accountability Office found the White House violated federal law by buying favorable news coverage in advance of the 2004 elections. This is the fourth time the GAO has uncovered the White House's illegal use of taxpayer money to produce "covert propaganda."

These violations may just form the tip of the iceberg. The administration has more than doubled its public relations budget, tapping a quarter billion in taxpayer dollars since Bush came into office. And while the report is damning, the GAO doesn't have enforcement powers to reveal the full extent of the abuse.
--snip--
GAO and the Justice Department, the administration's controlling legal authority, have not seen eye to eye on covert propaganda in the past, specifically on the issue of unidentified packaged video news releases. GAO says VNRs are illegal; Justice says the releases are not, so long as they are fact-based. Worseover, Alberto Gonzalez's Justice Department appears unwilling to take the next step: a criminal investigation into the administration�s use of millions of taxpayer dollars to push fake news upon Americans.

The official silence speaks volumes. Without popular dissent, an emboldened White House will continue to throw up obstacles to full disclosure. It is now up to the public to do what our elected officials are unwilling or unable to: pressure our government to enforce the law and stop propaganda crimes.
The WH's use of your tax dollars to pay for partisan propoganda is illegal and here is what is being done to bring this WH criminal activity to justice. Join this fight, now.


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