Truth, Propaganda and Media Manipulation

Global Research, April 5, 2011

Never before has it been so important to have independent, honest voices and sources of information. We are – as a society – inundated and overwhelmed with a flood of information from a wide array of sources, but these sources of information, by and large, serve the powerful interests and individuals that own them. The main sources of information, for both public and official consumption, include the mainstream media, alternative media, academia and think tanks.

 

The mainstream media is the most obvious in its inherent bias and manipulation. The mainstream media is owned directly by large multinational corporations, and through their boards of directors are connected with a plethora of other major global corporations and elite interests. An example of these connections can be seen through the board of Time Warner.

 

Time Warner owns Time Magazine, HBO, Warner Bros., and CNN, among many others. The board of directors includes individuals past or presently affiliated with: the Council on Foreign Relations, the IMF, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Warburg Pincus, Phillip Morris, and AMR Corporation, among many others.

 

Two of the most “esteemed” sources of news in the U.S. are the New York Times (referred to as “the paper of record”) and the Washington Post. The New York Times has on its board people who are past or presently affiliated with: Schering-Plough International (pharmaceuticals), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chevron Corporation, Wesco Financial Corporation, Kohlberg & Company, The Charles Schwab Corporation, eBay Inc., Xerox, IBM, Ford Motor Company, Eli Lilly & Company, among others. Hardly a bastion of impartiality.

And the same could be said for the Washington Post, which has on its board: Lee Bollinger, the President of Columbia University and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Warren Buffett, billionaire financial investor, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; and individuals associated with (past or presently): the Coca-Cola Company, New York University, Conservation International, the Council on Foreign Relations, Xerox, Catalyst, Johnson & Johnson, Target Corporation, RAND Corporation, General Motors, and the Business Council, among others.

 

It is also important to address how the mainstream media is intertwined, often covertly and secretly, with the government. Carl Bernstein, one of the two Washington Post reporters who covered the Watergate scandal, revealed that there were over 400 American journalists who had “secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency.” Interestingly, “the use of journalists has been among the most productive means of intelligence-gathering employed by the CIA.” Among organizations which cooperated with the CIA were the "American Broadcasting Company, the National Broadcasting Company, the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Newsweek magazine, the Mutual Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald and the old Saturday Evening Post and New York Herald-Tribune." 

By far the most valuable of these associations, according to CIA officials, have been with the New York Times, CBS and Time Inc. The CIA even ran a training program “to teach its agents to be journalists,” who were “then placed in major news organizations with help from management.” 
 

These types of relationships have continued in the decades since, although perhaps more covertly and quietly than before. For example, it was revealed in 2000 that during the NATO bombing of Kosovo, “several officers from the US Army's 4th Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) Group at Ft. Bragg worked in the news division at CNN's Atlanta headquarters.” This same Army Psyop outfit had “planted stories in the U.S. media supporting the Reagan Administration's Central America policies,” which was described by the Miami Herald as a “vast psychological warfare operation of the kind the military conducts to influence a population in enemy territory.” These Army PSYOP officers also worked at National Public Radio (NPR) at the same time. The US military has, in fact, had a strong relationship with CNN.

 

In 2008, it was reported that the Pentagon ran a major propaganda campaign by using retired Generals and former Pentagon officials to present a good picture of the administration’s war-time policies. The program started in the lead-up to the Iraq War in 2003 and continued into 2009. These officials, presented as “military analysts”, regurgitate government talking points and often sit on the boards of military contractors, thus having a vested interest in the subjects they are brought on to “analyze.”

 

The major philanthropic foundations in the United States have often used their enormous wealth to co-opt voices of dissent and movements of resistance into channels that are safe for the powers that be. As McGeorge Bundy, former President of the Ford Foundation once said, “Everything the Foundation does is to make the world safe for Capitalism.” 
 

Examples of this include philanthropies like the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation providing immense financial and organizational support to Non-Governmental Organizations. Furthermore, the alternative media are often funded by these same foundations, which has the effect of influencing the direction of coverage as well as the stifling of critical analysis.

This now brings us to the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Global Research.

As an institution which acts as a research centre as well as a source of alternative news through the website www.globalresearch.ca, the CRG has become a much needed voice of independence seeking to break through all the propaganda and misinformation.

To maintain our independence, Global Research does not accept assistance from public and private foundations. Nor do we seek support from universities and/or government. 

While the objective is to expand and help spread important and much-needed information to more people than ever before, Global Research needs to rely upon its readers to support the organization. 
 

Thank you, dear readers, for your tireless support. 

Supporting Global Research is supporting the cause of truth and the fight against media disinformation. 

 

Thank you.

The Global Research Team 




http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23868

Ron Paul: U.S. may try to occupy Pakistan

By Kase Wickman
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 -- 12:10 pm

GOP 2012 hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) thinks U.S. troops will soon be on the ground for an occupation of Pakistan — and he said so on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Wednesday morning.

Paul called America's relationship with Pakistan "an impossible situation," where the U.S. hailed both its friendship with and suspicion of the country.

"I think we are going to be in Pakistan, I think that's going to be our next occupation, and I fear it," Paul said. "It's ridiculous. I think our foreign policy is such we don't need to be doing this."

Paul said he had no inside information on Congress authorizing or ordering troops to invade Pakistan. He simply said based on U.S. history, he wouldn't be surprised to see further U.S. involvement there.

"Right now, Pakistan is a big problem," he said. "We have created a civil war there, and the fact that we go over there and we violate their security and the people rebel against the government because they see their government as being a puppet of the American government, so it's total chaos and I'm afraid, and I hope I'm absolutely wrong, but I'm afraid we'll be in Pakistan trying to occupy that country, and it will probably be very unsuccessful."

In the weeks since President Barack Obama announced that Navy SEALs had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Paul has said that he would not have given the go-ahead for the mission.

"I think the real tragedy of this is that we didn't get him 10 years ago when we could have and should have," he said.
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Earlier this month, Paul supported an ultimately failed resolution to bring the troops home from Afghanistan beginning in July.

Data from a new Gallup poll released Tuesday night shows that while Paul enjoys high name recognition — 76 percent among Republicans, trailing only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. However, despite his name recognition and popularity with the tea party, the poll shows Paul is not viewed favorably by Republican voters.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/18/ron-paul-u-s-may-try-to-occupy-pakistan/

U.S. Policy is Rooted in Lies, Injustice, and War

Tue, 05/17/2011 - 21:12

by Cynthia McKinney

The former Georgia Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate is “saddened that our first African-American President presents a false perception of the Black political consensus in the U.S.” She told the peace conference: “We cannot bring our country to peace and respect for human dignity without the solid foundation of the truth.”

U.S. Policy is Rooted in Lies, Injustice, and War

The following remarks were delivered to the International Conference on Global Alliance Against Terrorism for a Just Peace in Tehran, Iran, on May 15.

“The country is coming apart at he seams even as it terrorizes the world and applies the death penalty to whole countries.”

How wonderful to be at a Conference where the word "love" is used; we are here because we love humankind. We are here from all corners of the earth; we are against terrorism; we want peace.

However, we must clarify peace. What kind of peace do we want?

President John F. Kennedy answered his question by saying: ". . . not a Pax Americana" imposed on the world by weapons of war. He went on to say that the kind of peace we want is the kind of peace that makes life worth living--peace for all men and women for all time.

No Justice, No Peace. No Truth, No Justice!

But, today, U.S. policy is rooted in lies, injustice, and war. And at home, the people of the U.S. suffer. Racism is acute, despite and maybe because of President Obama; hatred is rampant with hatred of Muslims, incarceration of Palestinians, targeting of immigrants, the lynchings of Blacks, disappearances of Latinos, and the pauperization of the people. People inside the U.S. are under attack in the realm of policy:

* poor education opportunities--some communities experience 50% high school dropout rates;

* poor health care--Americans pay the most and get less; according to the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, the US is 50th in the world in life expectancy and if that is not bad enough, it picks on countries like Iraq (ranked 145th in the world), Pakistan (166th), Gaza (111th), Libya (58th), and Cuba (57th). In infant mortality, the US is worse than the European Union and Israel.

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also said that the U.S. was the greatest purveyor of violence on the planet and sadly, that is still true.”

The U.S. used to be a wealthy country with much to give to the world, but now the country is being plundered and the economic policies now promote the oligarchization of our country.

The country is coming apart at he seams even as it terrorizes the world and applies the death penalty to whole countries. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that we are a country of guided missiles and misguided men. Today, that is still true. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also said that the U.S. was the greatest purveyor of violence on the planet and sadly, that is still true, too.

But, there is some good news, too. And that is, despite the tightly controlled U.S. media, despite the deceptive political structure that is not now--if it ever was--democratic, the core American people who are the true peace people, are beginning to see the truth. We cannot bring our country to peace and respect for human dignity without the solid foundation of the truth. Those in the service of hatred, war, Zionism are being seen for what they are.

So now, our challenge is what to do with this awakening. The answer, I believe, is whose revolution gets funded. I personally know the importance of this. During the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., Black people were able to erase bad laws and write better ones. They didn't have a lot of money, but they had enough. And what they lacked in finance, they made up for in unity and strategy. Therefore, it is at this moment, when things appear so bleak that we must redouble our efforts and not give up. We must believe that we can remake the world in a more peaceful reality.

Finally, I am saddened as an American at what my country is doing to the world. I am saddened that our first African-American President presents a false perception of the Black political consensus in the U.S. when he participate in war crimes and global death and destruction.

These wars constitute a crime against humanity, crimes against the peace, and crimes against our planet. I believe the people are ready, but now we have to organize ourselves in Revolutionary Love, as Malcolm X said, "by any means necessary."

Thank you all for caring about justice, peace, and human dignity.

Cynthia McKinney can be contacted at hq2600@gmail.com

http://blackagendareport.com/content/us-policy-rooted-lies-injustice-and-war

Muslim Immigrant Seeks Stay of Execution for His Attacker, a Convicted Anti-Muslim Murderer

DALLAS, TX – Rais Bhuiyan saw Mark Stroman and his gun in the reflection of the window.

Then came the question a robber wouldn’t ask, Bhuiyan thought. “Where are you from?”

“Excuse me?”

Within seconds, Bhuiyan, a store clerk, fell to the floor of the convenience store on Buckner Boulevard, bleeding profusely from a head wound from the gun blast. It blinded his right eye but miraculously didn’t damage his brain.

Stroman, a white supremacist, would later confess he was out for revenge against those of Middle Eastern descent in Mesquite and Dallas days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Already, Stroman had killed one Pakistani immigrant; two weeks later, he’d kill an Indian immigrant.

Now, Bhuiyan wants to forgive.

He’ll be asking for a stay of the July 20 evening scheduled execution of Stroman, and a stop to the “cycle of violence,” as he calls it.

“Sometimes, we human beings make mistakes out of anger,” said Bhuiyan, 37, in an interview Monday with The Dallas Morning News. Stroman, a former stonecutter, was convicted of the Oct. 4 killing of Vasudev Patel, an Indian of the Hindu faith who owned a gas station and convenience store in Mesquite.

Stroman also confessed to the Sept. 15 Dallas killing of Waqar Hasan, an immigrant from Pakistan and a Muslim, in what is believed to be the first hate crime in the U.S. after the attacks. He was charged in the shooting of Bhuiyan, a Bangledesh immigrant, on Sept. 21.

Bhuiyan said his Islamic faith led him to realize “hate doesn’t bring any good solution to people. At some point we have to break the cycle of violence. It brings more disaster.”

Bhuiyan shows little sign of the shooting. A slim man with thinning hair and large, wide-set brown eyes, he can only see from his left one. He carries about 38 pellet fragments on the right side of his face, he said.

Bhuiyan said the event changed him and he now celebrates Sept. 21 as his new birthday because it was then he got his life back. Bhuiyan has a full-time job in information technology but wants to return to college. Last fall, he contacted Dr. Rick Halperin, the director of the human rights education program at Southern Methodist University.

It was a coincidence that Halperin already knew many details of Bhuiyan’s story. Stroman had been corresponding with the professor, an anti-death-penalty activist, for two years.

Bhuiyan explained how the event had shaped his life, how he grew introspective about his faith and how he found answers to why he lived and others died.

The events, Halperin said, “raise questions about compassion and healing and the nature of justice.”

As for Bhuiyan, Halperin said, “I am amazed at the calm with which some can forgive the unforgivable.”

Hadi Jawad of the Dallas Peace Center said Bhuiyan’s actions serve as a lesson for others at a critical time for the nation and the world.

“With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 coming up, we need a narrative of compassion and healing. The world has gone through so much darkness,” Jawad said.

Halperin said that a stay of execution in favor of a lifetime sentence for Stroman will be difficult, but they are committed to trying. Stroman is scheduled to die by injection at about 6 p.m. in Huntsville, said a public information officer for the Texas Department of Corrections.

Within six months of Sept. 11, there were 1,717 incidents of harassment, violence or discriminatory acts against Muslims, or those perceived to be Muslims, according to the D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Bhuiyan said he still has fears he’ll be attacked again, particularly when he sees men with tattoos. Stroman had many. “I try to ignore them (fears), but I am a human being,” he said.

Bhuiyan is one of eight children, but he has no siblings or relatives in the United States. He and his former fiancée in Bangladesh went separate ways as he coped with his physical and psychological wounds. His parents wanted him to return home, but he “wanted to give it a fight.” And last November, he deepened his roots here by becoming a U.S. citizen.

He has prepared a petition drive for the stay of execution and is about to launch a website.

“You may not like me because of my skin color or because of my accent . . . but don’t hate me. We can educate people.”

Original post: Muslim Immigrant Seeks Stay of Execution for His Attacker, a Convicted Anti-Muslim Murderer

As U.S. Military Exits Iraq, Contractors To Enter

May 17, 2011

A U.S. Army helicopter brigade is set to pull out of Baghdad in December, as part of an agreement with the Iraqi government to remove U.S. forces. So the armed helicopters flying over the Iraqi capital next year will have pilots and machine gunners from DynCorp International, a company based in Virginia.

On the ground, it's the same story. American soldiers and Marines will leave. Those replacing them, right down to carrying assault weapons, will come from places with names like Aegis Defence Services and Global Strategies Group — eight companies in all.

All U.S. combat forces are scheduled to leave Iraq by year's end, but there will still be a need for security. That means American troops will be replaced by a private army whose job will be to protect diplomats.

Already, the State Department is approving contracts, but there are questions about whether it makes sense to turn over this security job to private companies.

Security For The State Department

Overseeing the armed personnel is Patrick Kennedy, a top State Department official.

"I think the number of State Department security contractors would be somewhere in the area of between 4,500 and 5,000," Kennedy says.

That's roughly the size of an Army brigade, and double the number of private security contractors there now.

The State Department has an in-house security force, but it has just 2,000 people to cover the entire world. They handle everything from protecting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to guarding embassies and consulates.

Kennedy says for a tough job like Iraq, he needs help.

"In a situation like this, where you have a surge requirement that exceeds the capability of the State Department, it is normal practice to contract out for personnel to assist during those surge periods," he says.
More on this story
More Contractors Dying In Iraq And Afghanistan Than Soldiers Sept. 23, 2010
Appeals Court Revives Blackwater Shooting Case April 22, 2011
Timeline: Blackwater and Security Regulations Dec. 14, 2007

A Shaky Record

But the State Department has a shaky record overseeing armed guards. A recent congressional study found that many contractor abuses in Iraq were caused by those working for the State Department, not for the Pentagon.

The most notorious was the shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007. Guards with the private security contractor Blackwater opened fire while protecting a State Department convoy. A U.S. investigation later found there was no threat to that convoy.

Among those contractors who will be working in Iraq next year is International Development Services, a company with links to Blackwater, now renamed Xe Services.

State Department officials say they've made changes since that deadly incident in Baghdad. There are now more State Department supervisors; contractors must take an interpreter on all convoys; and companies can be penalized for poor performance.

But Grant Green, a member of the Commission on Wartime Contracting created by Congress, says that's not enough. He told a House panel recently that the State Department still isn't ready to assume responsibility for Iraq next year.

"They do not have enough oversight today to oversee and manage those contractors in the way they should be," Green says.

Kennedy of the State Department disputes that contention. He says there are plenty of supervisors who shadow these private contractors.

"We have trained State Department security professionals in every convoy in every movement in Iraq," Kennedy says.

'Beef Up' State Department Forces?

But that raises a broader question: Should the State Department be turning over these inherently military jobs to private contractors?

You might as well beef up the Bureau of Diplomatic Security ... rather than assuming the private contractors will do a good job because you've written a good contract.

- Pratap Chatterjee, of the Center for American Progress

Pratap Chatterjee of the Center for American Progress doesn't think so. Chatterjee, who writes about contractors, says these are government roles that demand accountability to the public. He has another idea about what should be done.

"You might as well beef up the Bureau of Diplomatic Security," he says.

That means greatly expanding the State Department security force of 2,000 that now covers the entire world.

"And make sure you have the capability for future operations in countries like Libya or wherever it is, rather than assuming the private contractors will do a good job because you've written a good contract. That's just not good enough," Chatterjee says.

It may be impractical to hire thousands more State Department security personnel. Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says today's wars are different — they're lengthy and ambitious. So it doesn't make sense to build a large force to protect diplomats.

"I don't expect that the United States is going be engaged in a stabilization operation of the size of either Iraq or Afghanistan in the near future," Bowen says.

That may be true. But for the time being, private security contractors — thousands more — will soon be on the job in Iraq.

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/17/136357821/as-u-s-military-exits-iraq-contractors-to-enter

One Teacher's Brief Exchange with Gov. Walker

Posted by Joel Raney at 10:48 PM Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Dan Ingersoll is a friend and colleague who teaches high school art. He recently met Gov. Walker on the morning of Wisconsin’s fishing opener. I asked Dan if I could share his story on my blog. Here’s what he wrote:

Around 6:45 a.m. Saturday, May 7, a small group of four made its way from Eau Claire to the Rod and Gun Club boat landing on Lake Wissota. It was the Wisconsin Fishing Opener, the “Governor’s Opener” as well.

As we turned into the road leading to the landing we were greeted with a large vinyl sign, “Welcome to the Governor’s Opener.” The Sign was flanked by two Chippewa County Sheriff cars with uniformed officers standing next to them. Not sure why, never have had trouble with the law, but I avoided eye contact and continued to drive into the entrance to the parking lot.

At the entrance we were greeted by two bearded guys dressed in full camo who glared and asked, “May we help you?” Their words said “may we help you,” but it felt like, “who the hell are you and what are you doing here?” I told them, “We just came up for the fishing opener,” to which one gruffly replied, “Are you fishing?” I said “no, just came down to hear the Governor speak.” After a disgusted scowl, he said, “Well it’s going to cost you $4.00 to park, and you’re going to have to park over there on the grass.” Not sure why we had to park on the grass as the lot had plenty of room, but hey, we were happy they let us in after their initial greeting. We got out of the car, headed to the lake, passed the sign in the parking lot that said the club was privately owned but open for public use with the payment of a $4.00 daily user fee. I guess the boys in camo demanding $4.00 were legit after all!

As it turns out we were a bit mistaken about the whole event. We were under the impression that a good size group of folks were planning to be at the landing to silently protest, to let the Governor know we had not gone away, and were not aware that a ticket and an invitation was required to be on the site.

The only protest taking place was with boats on the water. We did pay our daily user fee, so even though there seemed to be no other like minded folk in sight, we decided to hang out and see what transpired. There were five boats on the lake floating around the landing, so we walked to the shore to check out their signs and give them the thumbs up. We recognized Jeff Smith, former Democratic State Assembly person, and some teachers from Chippewa Falls. We exchanged greetings, and they offered us a boat ride, but could not get back to the landing dock, and we thought better of grounding their boat on the rocks.

Minutes later a car pulled up about 20 feet from where we were standing and Governor Walker and some of his folks got out. Walker was dressed in a “Harley” jacket, pants, and boots. The morning sun had him all aglow as it reflected off the product in his hair, boots, and black leather. My son, who was in our group, noticed him first and pointed him out. Without thought, I found myself saying to my group, “Hey, I’m going to talk to him,” and headed in his direction. My group joined me.

I approached with outstretched hand and politely introduced myself, saying, “Governor Walker, I am Dan Ingersoll. I am a public school teacher, and I just want to let you know that the policies and laws that you’re attempting to enact have effectively devalued my profession and demoralized myself and many of my dedicated, hardworking colleagues. I have been a teacher for more than twenty five years and it feels like you have arbitrarily determined to change the rules at the end of the game.”

Now, I know I could have said something more intelligent. However, the whole thing was unplanned and a bit surreal. It was the best I could muster on the spot.

Is Harley-Davidson in competition with public
workers? Or, do they serve different purposes?
Walker appeared a bit taken aback by our presence as he thought he was on guarded property, and while his eyes appeared empty, he did respond: “Well, there is a lot of that” (I guess “that” is in reference to everything I had said) “going on in the private sector too. And those same laws and policies that you refer to, well, they are responsible for job growth, just like the 200 new jobs we created at the Harley Davidson.”

I guess I should not have been surprised that he didn’t thank me for my years of dedicated service to the children of Wisconsin. Before I could ask him if they were the same kind of jobs he created at Kurth Manufacturing, my twenty-five-year-old son had heard all he could stand. He slapped me on the shoulder and said, with just a bit of sarcasm, “Hey Dad, that’s just great! Now you can quit your teaching job and get one of them good ones at Harley.”

The encounter then came to a quick end as Walker smirked, looked down, turned, and walked away. At this point one young member of our group, whose passion was tweaked by the Governor’s dismissive, smirky, behavior, expressed a thought that began with “F” and ended with the name of Bono’s band.

Some would argue that by using such expressive language that we lost the good fight. The reality is that we were of no consequence to the man, and he was not interested in anything we had to say, be it reasoned, seasoned, or colorful. We were just a bit of an annoyance to be scoffed at. As he walked away, we turned and headed toward the cameras setting up by the landing dock to listen to the news conference.

Before reaching our destination, a nice enough woman approached us and asked us to leave. She said we were not welcome and were trespassing on private property. We shared with her that we had paid our $4.00 daily use fee and continued on to the press conference site. Moments later 10 county officers converged on our little group and the tension in the air thickened. They stopped about 15 feet away from us and one of them approached me saying, “Sir, we have been asked to escort you off this private property; however, I am not going to do that if you will agree not to disrupt the news conference and refrain from using any vulgarities or shouting out.” I said I thought we could do that, and he let us stay. He stood next to us the whole time and after about five minutes realized a member of our group was holding a small sign that read, “not a fan.” He quietly told him to put it down or he would have to leave. The sign was lowered just a bit, which seemed to do the trick.

During the conference, a news man asked a hard-hitting question about what kind of fish the Governor was going after. Walker responded with, I don’t know, but we must have over 20 poles in the boat, so we ought to catch something. At this point I leaned over and said to the sheriff, “Hey, is it legal to have 20 poles in your boat?” With an instant change in demeanor, the sheriff broke into a wide grin and said, “Good question for the DNR guys.”

As Walker and his armada of DNR boats left the landing in search of the “big one,” we walked back to the car and headed to the Altoona Family Restaurant for some breakfast. As we reflected on the experience over Greek omelets and hash browns, a few questions came up:

First and foremost, would a real Wisconsinite go fishing in a leather Harley outfit? It appears from photos that he changed into jeans and a camo jacket before hitting the water.

Since tax payers (yes, teachers do pay taxes) are footing the bill for this fishing outing, why was the kickoff held on private property and insulated from everyone except the media, invited guests, and four unwelcome taxpayers who inadvertently crashed the party.

Since he seems to be all about the destruction of the middle class, government professions, and relishes tapping into the “politics of envy” as a rationale for his actions, why did he not show us all how to live within our means and dig some worms, grab a pole, and head down to the Yahara River bank or the shores of Lake Monona to fish with the common folk who can’t afford $30,000 fishing rigs?

As I shared my story with some colleagues at my school, what I have come to realize is that the significant part of the story is that I may be one of a very few teachers who has actually spoken to Walker. With all that has transpired, he has managed to insulate himself from anyone who disagrees with him.

In the past couple of months, he jetted up to Eau Claire and other cities around the state to hold news conferences and in each case he has locked himself in an airplane hanger or in an industry-friendly, controlled environment with the press and a few invited guests. It is these actions that he has taken to insulate himself from the public that he supposedly represents that has effectively communicated to half of the people of this state that they are insignificant and that their thoughts, feelings, ideas, values, and careers are of no value to him or his handlers. This is evident in his refusal to engage in any conversation, let alone negotiation, with anyone who strays from the corporate-driven agenda and administrators to whom he answers. It is for this reason that I believe the man is not fit to govern the people of Wisconsin.

I looked the man square in the eyes and in that moment he looked away, unable to have an honest exchange with a real person. I hoped for better from the “leader” of this state.

view comments

http://starttherealconversation.blogspot.com/

The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic

Posted on May 16, 2011
By Chris Hedges

The moral philosopher Cornel West, if Barack Obama’s ascent to power was a morality play, would be the voice of conscience. Rahm Emanuel, a cynical product of the Chicago political machine, would be Satan. Emanuel in the first scene of the play would dangle power, privilege, fame and money before Obama. West would warn Obama that the quality of a life is defined by its moral commitment, that his legacy will be determined by his willingness to defy the cruel assault by the corporate state and the financial elite against the poor and working men and women, and that justice must never be sacrificed on the altar of power.

Perhaps there was never much of a struggle in Obama’s heart. Perhaps West only provided a moral veneer. Perhaps the dark heart of Emanuel was always the dark heart of Obama. Only Obama knows. But we know how the play ends. West is banished like honest Kent in “King Lear.” Emanuel and immoral mediocrities from Lawrence Summers to Timothy Geithner to Robert Gates—think of Goneril and Regan in the Shakespearean tragedy—take power. We lose. And Obama becomes an obedient servant of the corporate elite in exchange for the hollow trappings of authority.

No one grasps this tragic descent better than West, who did 65 campaign events for Obama, believed in the potential for change and was encouraged by the populist rhetoric of the Obama campaign. He now nurses, like many others who placed their faith in Obama, the anguish of the deceived, manipulated and betrayed. He bitterly describes Obama as “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats. And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it.”

“When you look at a society you look at it through the lens of the least of these, the weak and the vulnerable; you are committed to loving them first, not exclusively, but first, and therefore giving them priority,” says West, the Class of 1943 University Professor of African American Studies and Religion at Princeton University. “And even at this moment, when the empire is in deep decline, the culture is in deep decay, the political system is broken, where nearly everyone is up for sale, you say all I have is the subversive memory of those who came before, personal integrity, trying to live a decent life, and a willingness to live and die for the love of folk who are catching hell. This means civil disobedience, going to jail, supporting progressive forums of social unrest if they in fact awaken the conscience, whatever conscience is left, of the nation. And that’s where I find myself now.

“I have to take some responsibility,” he admits of his support for Obama as we sit in his book-lined office. “I could have been reading into it more than was there.

“I was thinking maybe he has at least some progressive populist instincts that could become more manifest after the cautious policies of being a senator and working with [Sen. Joe] Lieberman as his mentor,” he says. “But it became very clear when I looked at the neoliberal economic team. The first announcement of Summers and Geithner I went ballistic. I said, ‘Oh, my God, I have really been misled at a very deep level.’ And the same is true for Dennis Ross and the other neo-imperial elites. I said, ‘I have been thoroughly misled, all this populist language is just a facade. I was under the impression that he might bring in the voices of brother Joseph Stiglitz and brother Paul Krugman. I figured, OK, given the structure of constraints of the capitalist democratic procedure that’s probably the best he could do. But at least he would have some voices concerned about working people, dealing with issues of jobs and downsizing and banks, some semblance of democratic accountability for Wall Street oligarchs and corporate plutocrats who are just running amuck. I was completely wrong.”

West says the betrayal occurred on two levels.

“There is the personal level,” he says. “I used to call my dear brother [Obama] every two weeks. I said a prayer on the phone for him, especially before a debate. And I never got a call back. And when I ran into him in the state Capitol in South Carolina when I was down there campaigning for him he was very kind. The first thing he told me was, ‘Brother West, I feel so bad. I haven’t called you back. You been calling me so much. You been giving me so much love, so much support and what have you.’ And I said, ‘I know you’re busy.’ But then a month and half later I would run into other people on the campaign and he’s calling them all the time. I said, wow, this is kind of strange. He doesn’t have time, even two seconds, to say thank you or I’m glad you’re pulling for me and praying for me, but he’s calling these other people. I said, this is very interesting. And then as it turns out with the inauguration I couldn’t get a ticket with my mother and my brother. I said this is very strange. We drive into the hotel and the guy who picks up my bags from the hotel has a ticket to the inauguration. My mom says, ‘That’s something that this dear brother can get a ticket and you can’t get one, honey, all the work you did for him from Iowa.’ Beginning in Iowa to Ohio. We had to watch the thing in the hotel.

“What it said to me on a personal level,” he goes on, “was that brother Barack Obama had no sense of gratitude, no sense of loyalty, no sense of even courtesy, [no] sense of decency, just to say thank you. Is this the kind of manipulative, Machiavellian orientation we ought to get used to? That was on a personal level.”

But there was also the betrayal on the political and ideological level.

“It became very clear to me as the announcements were being made,” he says, “that this was going to be a newcomer, in many ways like Bill Clinton, who wanted to reassure the Establishment by bringing in persons they felt comfortable with and that we were really going to get someone who was using intermittent progressive populist language in order to justify a centrist, neoliberalist policy that we see in the opportunism of Bill Clinton. It was very much going to be a kind of black face of the DLC [Democratic Leadership Council].”

Obama and West’s last personal contact took place a year ago at a gathering of the Urban League when, he says, Obama “cussed me out.” Obama, after his address, which promoted his administration’s championing of charter schools, approached West, who was seated in the front row.

“He makes a bee line to me right after the talk, in front of everybody,” West says. “He just lets me have it. He says, ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself, saying I’m not a progressive. Is that the best you can do? Who do you think you are?’ I smiled. I shook his hand. And a sister hollered in the back, ‘You can’t talk to professor West. That’s Dr. Cornel West. Who do you think you are?’ You can go to jail talking to the president like that. You got to watch yourself. I wanted to slap him on the side of his head.

“It was so disrespectful,” he went on, “that’s what I didn’t like. I’d already been called, along with all [other] leftists, a “F’ing retard” by Rahm Emanuel because we had critiques of the president.” 

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president, has, West said, phoned him to complain about his critiques of Obama. Jarrett was especially perturbed, West says, when he said in an interview last year that he saw a lot of Malcolm X and Ella Baker in Michelle Obama. Jarrett told him his comments were not complimentary to the first lady.

“I said in the world that I live in, in that which authorizes my reality, Ella Baker is a towering figure,” he says, munching Fritos and sipping apple juice at his desk. “If I say there is a lot of Ella Baker in Michelle Obama, that’s a compliment. She can take it any way she wants. I can tell her I’m sorry it offended you, but I’m going to speak the truth. She is a Harvard Law graduate, a Princeton graduate, and she deals with child obesity and military families. Why doesn’t she visit a prison? Why not spend some time in the hood? That is where she is, but she can’t do it.

“I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men,” West says. “It’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white. He is just as human as I am, but that is his cultural formation. When he meets an independent black brother, it is frightening. And that’s true for a white brother. When you get a white brother who meets a free, independent black man, they got to be mature to really embrace fully what the brother is saying to them. It’s a tension, given the history. It can be overcome. Obama, coming out of Kansas influence, white, loving grandparents, coming out of Hawaii and Indonesia, when he meets these independent black folk who have a history of slavery, Jim Crow, Jane Crow and so on, he is very apprehensive. He has a certain rootlessness, a deracination. It is understandable.

“He feels most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy and very effective in getting what they want,” he says. “He’s got two homes. He has got his family and whatever challenges go on there, and this other home. Larry Summers blows his mind because he’s so smart. He’s got Establishment connections. He’s embracing me. It is this smartness, this truncated brilliance, that titillates and stimulates brother Barack and makes him feel at home. That is very sad for me.

“This was maybe America’s last chance to fight back against the greed of the Wall Street oligarchs and corporate plutocrats, to generate some serious discussion about public interest and common good that sustains any democratic experiment,” West laments. “We are squeezing out all of the democratic juices we have. The escalation of the class war against the poor and the working class is intense. More and more working people are beaten down. They are world-weary. They are into self-medication. They are turning on each other. They are scapegoating the most vulnerable rather than confronting the most powerful. It is a profoundly human response to panic and catastrophe. I thought Barack Obama could have provided some way out. But he lacks backbone.

“Can you imagine if Barack Obama had taken office and deliberately educated and taught the American people about the nature of the financial catastrophe and what greed was really taking place?” West asks. “If he had told us what kind of mechanisms of accountability needed to be in place, if he had focused on homeowners rather than investment banks for bailouts and engaged in massive job creation he could have nipped in the bud the right-wing populism of the tea party folk. The tea party folk are right when they say the government is corrupt. It is corrupt. Big business and banks have taken over government and corrupted it in deep ways.

“We have got to attempt to tell the truth, and that truth is painful,” he says. “It is a truth that is against the thick lies of the mainstream. In telling that truth we become so maladjusted to the prevailing injustice that the Democratic Party, more and more, is not just milquetoast and spineless, as it was before, but thoroughly complicitous with some of the worst things in the American empire. I don’t think in good conscience I could tell anybody to vote for Obama. If it turns out in the end that we have a crypto-fascist movement and the only thing standing between us and fascism is Barack Obama, then we have to put our foot on the brake. But we’ve got to think seriously of third-party candidates, third formations, third parties.

“Our last hope is to generate a democratic awakening among our fellow citizens. This means raising our voices, very loud and strong, bearing witness, individually and collectively. Tavis [Smiley] and I have talked about ways of civil disobedience, beginning with ways for both of us to get arrested, to galvanize attention to the plight of those in prisons, in the hoods, in poor white communities. We must never give up. We must never allow hope to be eliminated or suffocated.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516/