Refusing to Step in Line
I was recently informed that now that the election is over, we should step in line and support the Bush Administration, as one nation. I was informed that there was certain lines that we should not cross, under respect for the office of the President of the United States. What lines are those? If you we all consent to the idea falling into line, as a single nation, not questioning the president, we will soon find ourselves in a totalitarian state. As it stands, we are dangerously close to becoming an Orwellian state.
Under the USAPATRIOT Act, and the new intelligence reform act, we have given up many civil liberties. The government can now spy on us without question, investigating our income tax returns, the books we check out at the library, and our monitor our Internet surfing habits.
We have now entered a new era, where the mass media seems to condone official state-sponsored propaganda, a facet of society we have not witnesses since Nazi Germany. On three separate occasions, the Bush Administration has been caught red-handed using taxpayer money to support propaganda, disguised as journalism. Just last week, it was that Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind act by the Bush Administration. How did the media respond? By covering Rather-Gate as their leading story, an event that occurred over four months ago. Rather-Gate was a single misjudgement in Dan Rather's prolific and otherwise respected 22 year journalistic career. In contrast, we find right wing pundits, such as O'Reilly, Hannity, Savage, Limbaugh, and Coulter, who are caught lying almost every day. The Williams scandal was not an isolated event -- Previously, the Bush Administration had been caught releasing "news events", presented by fake journalist Karen Ryan, promoting the Medicare Reform Bill and the No Child Left Behind Act.
The truth is that we have reached a new stage in the political climate of the United States - one with a corporate funded right-wing echo chamber. An era ushered in by corporate-backed media, like the Rupert Murdoch owned Fox News Network and New York Post, the Sun Myung Moon owned Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, and many, many right-wing talk radio shows.
Bush, arguably the worst president in the history of the United States, get a pass time after time in the mass media. Meanwhile, John Kerry, a War Hero, and a man responsible for saving millions of lives by helping bring a premature end to the Vietnam War, is branded as "a flip flopper", "unfit for command", "a traitor", "a man who tells the people what he wants to hear". In 2000, the media also engaged in character assassination, unfairly typecasting Gore as a pathological liar. Clinton, arguably among the best presidents in the history of the United States, had to spend half his presidential career fighting off allegations of sexual misconduct and real estate scandals, due to the mass medias fixation with ruining his career. Dan Rather is forced to retire over one story in which he was duped into using forged documents. The greater story, the fact that the required documents, outlining Bush's service with the Air National Guard Remain missing. Why were they removed? What is he hiding? Despite the fact that a $50,000 reward was offered, not a single person has come forward to vouch for the fact that Bush served in the Air National Guard. The evidence points to the fact that Bush as MIA. Yet, the story about Armstrong Williams remains generally undiscussed in the mass media. If this was the Clinton administration, the media would be all over this story, calling for an impeachment hearing. And yet, we continue to hear complaints of a "liberal media bias".
The fact remains that I have been against every major policy decision made by the Bush administration during their first term. I am vehemently against the major policy decisions that have been hinted at by the Bush administration during their second term: I cannot stand by idly, and allow the Bush Administration to privatize social security. I cannot allow the Bush Administration to proceed with plans to drill for oil in the ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve). I cannot allow the Bush Administration to go ahead with further tax reforms, which will further shift the burden of this country further onto the poor.
We have a republican house, a republican senate, and a second-term Bush Administration, unbridled by the concern of having to run for re-election. As an American resident, it is my duty to stand up for the rights of people of this country, which are being trampled all over by this administration. The Bush Administration has exhibited a overwhelming lack of respect for the people of this country, and for the men and women in uniform, serving this country in Iraq. For that reason, I do not respect the man who currently holds the office of president of the United States.
Under the USAPATRIOT Act, and the new intelligence reform act, we have given up many civil liberties. The government can now spy on us without question, investigating our income tax returns, the books we check out at the library, and our monitor our Internet surfing habits.
We have now entered a new era, where the mass media seems to condone official state-sponsored propaganda, a facet of society we have not witnesses since Nazi Germany. On three separate occasions, the Bush Administration has been caught red-handed using taxpayer money to support propaganda, disguised as journalism. Just last week, it was that Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind act by the Bush Administration. How did the media respond? By covering Rather-Gate as their leading story, an event that occurred over four months ago. Rather-Gate was a single misjudgement in Dan Rather's prolific and otherwise respected 22 year journalistic career. In contrast, we find right wing pundits, such as O'Reilly, Hannity, Savage, Limbaugh, and Coulter, who are caught lying almost every day. The Williams scandal was not an isolated event -- Previously, the Bush Administration had been caught releasing "news events", presented by fake journalist Karen Ryan, promoting the Medicare Reform Bill and the No Child Left Behind Act.
The truth is that we have reached a new stage in the political climate of the United States - one with a corporate funded right-wing echo chamber. An era ushered in by corporate-backed media, like the Rupert Murdoch owned Fox News Network and New York Post, the Sun Myung Moon owned Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, and many, many right-wing talk radio shows.
Bush, arguably the worst president in the history of the United States, get a pass time after time in the mass media. Meanwhile, John Kerry, a War Hero, and a man responsible for saving millions of lives by helping bring a premature end to the Vietnam War, is branded as "a flip flopper", "unfit for command", "a traitor", "a man who tells the people what he wants to hear". In 2000, the media also engaged in character assassination, unfairly typecasting Gore as a pathological liar. Clinton, arguably among the best presidents in the history of the United States, had to spend half his presidential career fighting off allegations of sexual misconduct and real estate scandals, due to the mass medias fixation with ruining his career. Dan Rather is forced to retire over one story in which he was duped into using forged documents. The greater story, the fact that the required documents, outlining Bush's service with the Air National Guard Remain missing. Why were they removed? What is he hiding? Despite the fact that a $50,000 reward was offered, not a single person has come forward to vouch for the fact that Bush served in the Air National Guard. The evidence points to the fact that Bush as MIA. Yet, the story about Armstrong Williams remains generally undiscussed in the mass media. If this was the Clinton administration, the media would be all over this story, calling for an impeachment hearing. And yet, we continue to hear complaints of a "liberal media bias".
The fact remains that I have been against every major policy decision made by the Bush administration during their first term. I am vehemently against the major policy decisions that have been hinted at by the Bush administration during their second term: I cannot stand by idly, and allow the Bush Administration to privatize social security. I cannot allow the Bush Administration to proceed with plans to drill for oil in the ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve). I cannot allow the Bush Administration to go ahead with further tax reforms, which will further shift the burden of this country further onto the poor.
We have a republican house, a republican senate, and a second-term Bush Administration, unbridled by the concern of having to run for re-election. As an American resident, it is my duty to stand up for the rights of people of this country, which are being trampled all over by this administration. The Bush Administration has exhibited a overwhelming lack of respect for the people of this country, and for the men and women in uniform, serving this country in Iraq. For that reason, I do not respect the man who currently holds the office of president of the United States.
posted by markh100 at
3:03 PM
