Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
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I wonder if Pauli boy would understand, STFU :funnyface
February 01, 2006
Catastrophe Looms
Paul Craig Roberts
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006
Two recent polls, a Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll and a New York Times-CBS News poll, indicate why Bush is getting away with impeachable offenses. Half of the U.S. population is incapable of acquiring, processing and understanding information.
Much of the problem is the media itself, which serve as a disinformation agency for the Bush administration. Fox "News" and right-wing talk radio are the worst, but with propagandistic outlets setting the standard for truth and patriotism, all of the media are affected to some degree.
Despite the media's failure, about half the population has managed to discern that the U.S. invasion of Iraq has not made them safer and that the Bush administration's assault on civil liberties is not a necessary component of the war on terror. The problem, thus, lies with the absence of due diligence on the part of the other half of the population.
Consider the New York Times-CBS poll. Sixty-four percent of the respondents have concerns about losing civil liberties as a result of anti-terrorism measures put in place by President Bush. Yet, 53 percent approve of spying without obtaining court warrants "in order to reduce the threat of terrorism."
Why does any American think that spying without a warrant has any more effect in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant? The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Bush is disobeying, requires the executive to obtain a warrant for spying on Americans from a secret panel of federal judges.
The purpose of the law is to prevent a president from spying for partisan political reasons. The law permits the president to spy first (for 72 hours) and then come to the court for permission. As the court meets in secret, spying without a warrant is no more effective in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant.
Instead of explaining this basic truth, the media have played along with the Bush administration and formulated the question as a trade-off between civil liberties and protection from terrorists. This formulation is false and nonsensical.
Why do the media enable the Bush administration to escape accountability for illegal behavior by putting false and misleading choices before the people?
The LA Times-Bloomberg poll has equally striking anomalies. Only 43 percent said they approved of Bush's performance as president. But a majority believes Bush's policies have made the United States more secure.
It is extraordinary that anyone would think Americans are safer as a result of Bush invading two Muslim countries and constantly threatening two more with military attack. The invasions and threats have caused a dramatic swing in Muslim sentiment away from the United States. Prior to Bush's invasion of Iraq, a large majority of Muslims had a favorable opinion of America. Now, only about 5 percent do.
A number of U.S. commanders in Iraq and many Middle East experts have told the American public that the 3-year-old war in Iraq is serving both to recruit and to train terrorists for al-Qaida, which has grown many times its former size. Moreover, the U.S. military has concluded that al-Qaida has succeeded in having its members elected to the new Iraqi government.
We have seen similar developments both in Egypt and in Pakistan. In the recent Egyptian elections, the radical Muslim Brotherhood, despite being suppressed by the Egyptian government, won a large number of seats.
In Pakistan, elements friendly or neutral toward al-Qaida control about half of the government. In Iraq, Bush's invasion has replaced secular Sunnis with Islamist Shia allied with Iran.
And now with the triumph of Hamas in the Palestinian election, we see the total failure of Bush's Middle East policy. Bush has succeeded in displacing secular moderates from Middle East governments and replacing them with Islamic extremists.
It boggles the mind that this disastrous result makes Americans feel safer!
What does it say for democracy that half of the American population is unable to draw a rational conclusion from unambiguous facts?
Americans share this disability with the Bush administration. According to news reports, the Bush administration is stunned by the election victory of the radical Islamist Hamas Party, which swept the U.S.-financed Fatah Party from office. Why is the Bush administration astonished?
The Bush administration is astonished because it stupidly believes that hundreds of millions of Muslims should be grateful that the United States has interfered in their internal affairs for 60 years, setting up colonies and puppet rulers to suppress their aspirations and to achieve, instead, purposes of the U.S. government.
Americans need desperately to understand that 95 percent of all Muslim terrorists in the world were created in the past three years by Bush's invasion of Iraq.
Americans need desperately to comprehend that if Bush attacks Iran and Syria, as he intends, terrorism will explode, and American civil liberties will disappear into a 30-year war that will bankrupt the United States.
The total lack of rationality and competence in the White House and the inability of half of the U.S. population to acquire and understand information are far larger threats to Americans than terrorism.
America has become a rogue nation, flying blind, guided only by ignorance and hubris. A terrible catastrophe awaits.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/2/1/93635.shtml :
February 01, 2006
Catastrophe Looms
Paul Craig Roberts
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006
Two recent polls, a Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll and a New York Times-CBS News poll, indicate why Bush is getting away with impeachable offenses. Half of the U.S. population is incapable of acquiring, processing and understanding information.
Much of the problem is the media itself, which serve as a disinformation agency for the Bush administration. Fox "News" and right-wing talk radio are the worst, but with propagandistic outlets setting the standard for truth and patriotism, all of the media are affected to some degree.
Despite the media's failure, about half the population has managed to discern that the U.S. invasion of Iraq has not made them safer and that the Bush administration's assault on civil liberties is not a necessary component of the war on terror. The problem, thus, lies with the absence of due diligence on the part of the other half of the population.
Consider the New York Times-CBS poll. Sixty-four percent of the respondents have concerns about losing civil liberties as a result of anti-terrorism measures put in place by President Bush. Yet, 53 percent approve of spying without obtaining court warrants "in order to reduce the threat of terrorism."
Why does any American think that spying without a warrant has any more effect in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant? The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Bush is disobeying, requires the executive to obtain a warrant for spying on Americans from a secret panel of federal judges.
The purpose of the law is to prevent a president from spying for partisan political reasons. The law permits the president to spy first (for 72 hours) and then come to the court for permission. As the court meets in secret, spying without a warrant is no more effective in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant.
Instead of explaining this basic truth, the media have played along with the Bush administration and formulated the question as a trade-off between civil liberties and protection from terrorists. This formulation is false and nonsensical.
Why do the media enable the Bush administration to escape accountability for illegal behavior by putting false and misleading choices before the people?
The LA Times-Bloomberg poll has equally striking anomalies. Only 43 percent said they approved of Bush's performance as president. But a majority believes Bush's policies have made the United States more secure.
It is extraordinary that anyone would think Americans are safer as a result of Bush invading two Muslim countries and constantly threatening two more with military attack. The invasions and threats have caused a dramatic swing in Muslim sentiment away from the United States. Prior to Bush's invasion of Iraq, a large majority of Muslims had a favorable opinion of America. Now, only about 5 percent do.
A number of U.S. commanders in Iraq and many Middle East experts have told the American public that the 3-year-old war in Iraq is serving both to recruit and to train terrorists for al-Qaida, which has grown many times its former size. Moreover, the U.S. military has concluded that al-Qaida has succeeded in having its members elected to the new Iraqi government.
We have seen similar developments both in Egypt and in Pakistan. In the recent Egyptian elections, the radical Muslim Brotherhood, despite being suppressed by the Egyptian government, won a large number of seats.
In Pakistan, elements friendly or neutral toward al-Qaida control about half of the government. In Iraq, Bush's invasion has replaced secular Sunnis with Islamist Shia allied with Iran.
And now with the triumph of Hamas in the Palestinian election, we see the total failure of Bush's Middle East policy. Bush has succeeded in displacing secular moderates from Middle East governments and replacing them with Islamic extremists.
It boggles the mind that this disastrous result makes Americans feel safer!
What does it say for democracy that half of the American population is unable to draw a rational conclusion from unambiguous facts?
Americans share this disability with the Bush administration. According to news reports, the Bush administration is stunned by the election victory of the radical Islamist Hamas Party, which swept the U.S.-financed Fatah Party from office. Why is the Bush administration astonished?
The Bush administration is astonished because it stupidly believes that hundreds of millions of Muslims should be grateful that the United States has interfered in their internal affairs for 60 years, setting up colonies and puppet rulers to suppress their aspirations and to achieve, instead, purposes of the U.S. government.
Americans need desperately to understand that 95 percent of all Muslim terrorists in the world were created in the past three years by Bush's invasion of Iraq.
Americans need desperately to comprehend that if Bush attacks Iran and Syria, as he intends, terrorism will explode, and American civil liberties will disappear into a 30-year war that will bankrupt the United States.
The total lack of rationality and competence in the White House and the inability of half of the U.S. population to acquire and understand information are far larger threats to Americans than terrorism.
America has become a rogue nation, flying blind, guided only by ignorance and hubris. A terrible catastrophe awaits.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/2/1/93635.shtml :
