Media Madness (a Liberty Belle editorial)

[Liberty Belle]

Liberty Belle Log
“News you won’t hear in the mainstream media”

Media Madness

February 10, 2008

While the corporate-owned U.S. media has been busy obsessing over the death of a stripper who married a billionaire, independent news sources here and in Europe have been reporting on some of the most important stories of our era. Here are just a few of the important breaking news stories you might have missed in the past few days, if you relied on TV networks, right-wing radio or conservative-slanted newspapers to get your news:

• Libby Trial implicates the President & Vice President in conspiring to leak the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, evidence now strongly
indicates. If true, our nation’s highest officials have committed treason.

• 2 major British newspapers report that Bush is preparing to wage all-out war on Iran, including nuclear strikes – even while he denies such intentions to the American public.

• Billions of people could starve or suffer dehydration from global warming, a new report warns. Now, over 700 scientists reveal that the Bush administration has doctored their reports to hide evidence of climate change, imperiling us all.

• A new Bush signing statement amounts to an unprecedented power grab – ordering placement of Soviet-style monitors in all federal agencies.

• New police-state procedures have been imposed to prevent many Americans from traveling abroad

• The Bush administration ordered resignations of seven U.S. attorneys, including Carol Lam, the San Diego prosecutor who obtained bribery convictions against ex-Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham. The attorneys are being replaced with Bush loyalists in an apparent effort to quash other ongoing investigations.

• Senate Republicans blocked passage of the minimum wage increase proposed by Democrats, forcing low-paid workers to remain trapped in poverty.

• While spending $8 billion a month on the Iraq War, the President proposes in his 2007 budget to slash millions from cancer research—and wants to start taxing workers’ healthcare benefits. Proposed Medicare cuts would also force many seniors to lose access to prescription drugs.
…and last but not least:

• Ohio election workers have been convicted of rigging the 2004 presidential election

Surprised at these news stories? No doubt. That’s why media reform must become a top priority. Six corporations control the vast majority of what we see and hear on TV and radio, as well as in newspapers across America. Corporate media owners are driven by ratings (hence the obsessive focus on entertainment, not hard news), the bottom line (so investigative budgets have been slashed), and political allegiances (i.e., kowtowing to the administration in power and/or the GOP party line). This is not a healthy scenario for a democracy.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey of New York is introducing legislation to restore the Fairness Doctrine and break up the media monopolies. These are important goals, and we should all support them. Some liberals bemoan allowing conservative voices on Air America. But the overwhelming majority of stations now airing only right-wing rants would all have to allow equal time for liberal views, adding much-needed balance and perspective. During election seasons, candidates would be provided equal time on public TV and radio airways, helping to level the playing field. Breaking up media monopolies would help restore independent voices in newspapers as well as on the airways.

These reforms would bring truth to countless Americans, who have been intentionally left in the dark by media moguls more concerned with corporate profits than with bothering to educate the public about such apparently non-newsworthy events as treason by our leaders, impending nuclear war, a sharp shift toward totalitarianism by this administration, and the cover-up of global warming—a trend which if not stopped, threatens the survival of billions worldwide.

Lest you harbor any doubts about the authoritarian tactics now being wielded by this administration, just ask award-winning BBC journalist Greg Palast about the film footage that our government doesn’t want you to see. Homeland Security arrested Palast and charged him under new anti-terrorism laws for daring to reveal dark truths about our government’s treatment of hurricane survivors in New Orleans- one year after Katrina. (Fortunately, he was released following a massive public outcry.)

The late, great Molly Ivins left us with these parting words of wisdom: “We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders.”
Truer words were never spoken.

Yesterday I visited my neighbor, a conservative Republican woman. I’ve been sharing my growing concerns with her for some time.

“I got a call from the Republican National Committee asking for money,” she told me, a look of righteous indignation spreading across her face. “I told them I’m disturbed by the firing of Carol Lam—and won’t be giving them another penny.”

Spread truth. Be the media. Waking up America, one person at a time, is our best hope for the future.

-- Liberty Belle

[democrank]

1. I honestly can not understand this.

As sad as Ms. Smith`s untimely death was, it certainly was no more tragic than the February loss of more than 38 soldiers in Iraq.

[AX10]

2. ANS is not realavant to the important issues of the day.

Internet!