Banana Republicans

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/bond-no-you-guys-are-running-a-banana-republic.php

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McCain: "In Banana Republics they prosecute people for actions they didn't agree with under previous administrations."

Bond: "This whole thing about punishing people in past administrations reminds me more of a Banana Republic than the United States of America. We don't criminally prosecute people we disagree with when we change office. There are lots of questions that could have been asked of the Clinton administration failing to recognize the war on terror. They did not. The Bush administration went forward, and that's the way our country should. The President said he was going to be forward looking and now he has opened up the stab in the back."

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Some have suggested these folks are employing double-speak, that they really can hold contradictory ideas in their head like that. I disagree.

It's not double speak. It's projection. They know what they are doing and saying.

These right-wingers in the form of Banana Republicans took over the country and ran it into the ground. Now when there is an opportunity to hold those of them who broke the law accountable, their defenders try to twist the meaning in an attempt to poison the public debate (with the media's help).

The best way to respond is with the facts wherever and whenver possible. And not lose focus. Never let a distortion or lie go unchallenged.

The more I see stories like this ...

... the more I'm convinced that Pay TV (either through satelite or cable, or online) is just not worth watching ...

 

 

Comcast Station Goes All Out To Push Laptop Security Software

Clients: Trend Micro Software

Release Date: September 2006

Aired By: 1 station

Disclosed By: No stations

From the Department of Unintended Irony: A cable newscast devotes 86 seconds to a report about identity theft while stealing the identity of the segment's true authors.

On September 28, 2006, CN8—the Comcast Network—warned viewers that laptops were becoming a increasingly big target for criminals, not for the resale value but for the sensitive personal information often found on the hard drive. Fortunately, said CN8 consumer reporter Janet Zappala, "there are ways to keep your laptop away from the bad guys."

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Update: In April 2009, former CN8 reporter Janet Zappala contacted the Center for Media and Democracy to state that: "I am an award-winning journalist who has always taken the utmost pride in my work. ... [At CN8] at the time all of this transpired, we had a very limited staff with very limited resources and were trying to do the best with what little we had. ... We were not set up at the time with our own station website; therefore the only way we could help our viewers find more information on a given topic was to give the only website available. I never endorsed any products or companies."

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Maybe it's just me, but video news releases (VNRs) and audio news releases (ANRs) appear to be nothing more than propaganda created by public relations firms at the behest of corporations in order to sell products.

In other words, they are not news. And if this is any indicator, perhaps the American public is finally catching on.

People in the corporate media who continually say moronic things.

"WILL'S GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT"

No, he's not getting punished at all. That he's still published after what is a career of lying about just about anything, is testament to that.

Recall his last article about global warming. There's was a lot of outcry over the inaccuracies in it. But what consequence of that did Mr. Will receive?

He publishes this article.

There's a very good reason for it. Controversy, even if self-induced, generates copy.

The Washington Post knows this.

The larger question for me becomes ->

How does one motivated in implementing real and positive change - on issues like this and others - function in a dynamic where the debate is largely muddied by this kind of chatter?

Should I simply ignore what people like Mr. Will and the corporate media say? Should I encourage others to do the same? After all, these people and their Right-wing/Conservative movement isn't in power. After all, if they keep repeating the same lies about the same issues over and over again, what is the point of having places like Media Matters repeatedly correct, us on the Left continually upset of the distortions in the media being dropped on the public?

Or, must people like me continually come up to post our responses to such distortions as a way to clean up debate? My problem with this is that the Left still doesn't have an effective voice in debates over issues like Global Warming, Iraq, Afghanistan, Economic issues, Gun Control, etc. Our voices aren't very loud in the larger medium of the public debate - those voices are muted by the larger corporate media. And even when they are heard, they are often demonized (Krugman called shrill).

My thinking is we should be concentrating our attention towards those in power, and working to ensure that the right solutions to the problems we all face are implemented. Obama has been elected, and the Democratic Party has control over Congress, but what is the point of having power if one doesn't use it for good?