This is for the "blm is nuts" crowd - Does Robert Parry read blm, Octafish

[blm]

H2O Man, robertpaulsen, et al, here at DU?

It's time for the Anti-Corruption, Open the Books wing of the Democratic Party to unite and shout it out. THIS article lays it all out exactly - DEAL WITH THE CORRUPTION or say goodbye to American democracy.

HEY DEMOCRATS - THE TRUTH MATTERS!!!!!

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/051006.html

>>>>>>>>>
So for Clinton, learning the truth about controversial deals between the Reagan-Bush crowd and the autocratic governments of Iraq and Iran just wasn’t on the White House radar screen. Clinton also wanted to grant President George H.W. Bush a gracious exit.

“I wanted the country to be more united, not more divided,” Clinton explained in his 2004 memoir, My Life. “President Bush had given decades of service to our country, and I thought we should allow him to retire in peace, leaving the (Iran-Contra) matter between him and his conscience.”

Unexpected Results

Clinton’s generosity to George H.W. Bush and the Republicans, of course, didn’t turn out as he had hoped. Instead of bipartisanship and reciprocity, he was confronted with eight years of unrelenting GOP hostility, attacks on both his programs and his personal reputation.

Later, as tensions grew in the Middle East, the American people and even U.S. policymakers were flying partially blind, denied anything close to the full truth about the history of clandestine relationships between the Reagan-Bush team and hostile nations in the Middle East.

Clinton’s failure to expose that real history also led indirectly to the restoration of Bush Family control of the White House in 2001. Despite George W. Bush’s inexperience as a national leader, he drew support from many Americans who remembered his father’s presidency fondly.

If the full story of George H.W. Bush’s role in secret deals with Iraq and Iran had ever been made public, the Bush Family’s reputation would have been damaged to such a degree that George W. Bush’s candidacy would not have been conceivable.

Not only did Clinton inadvertently clear the way for the Bush restoration, but the Right’s political ascendancy wiped away much of the Clinton legacy, including a balanced federal budget and progress on income inequality. A poorly informed American public also was easily misled on what to do about U.S. relations with Iraq and Iran.

In retrospect, Clinton’s tolerance of Reagan-Bush cover-ups was a lose-lose-lose – the public was denied information it needed to understand dangerous complexities in the Middle East, George W. Bush built his presidential ambitions on the nation’s fuzzy memories of his dad, and Republicans got to enact a conservative agenda.

Clinton’s approach also reflected a lack of appreciation for the importance of truth in a democratic Republic. If the American people are expected to do their part in making sure democracy works, they need to be given at least a chance of being an informed electorate.
>>>>>>>>

[Gabi Hayes]

1. what're you, nuts?

NO!


Rise of the 'Patriotic Journalist'
by Robert Parry

The apex for the “skeptical journalists” came in the mid-1970s when the press followed up exposure of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal and disclosure of the Vietnam War’s Pentagon Papers with revelations of CIA abuses, such as illegal spying on Americans and helping Chile’s army oust an elected government. There were reasons for this new press aggressiveness. After some 57,000 U.S. soldiers had died in Vietnam during a long war fought for murky reasons, many reporters no longer gave the government the benefit of the doubt. The press corps’ new rallying cry was the public’s right to know, even when the wrongdoing occurred in the secretive world of national security.

But this journalistic skepticism represented an affront to government officials who had long enjoyed a relatively free hand in the conduct of foreign policy. The Wise Men and the Old Boys – the stewards of the post-World War II era – now faced a harder time lining up public consensus behind any action.

This national security elite, including then-CIA Director George H.W. Bush, viewed the post-Vietnam journalism as a threat to America’s ability to strike at its perceived enemies around the world.




.............

Will journalists return to the standard of an earlier time when disclosing important facts to the electorate was the goal, rather than Cohen’s notion of putting the comfortable relationships between Washington journalists and government officials first?

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1020-22.htm

covers the Pike Report, various Reagan depredations, including Iran/Contra, Webb/CIA crack, Iraq War, Plame(including the role of uber neocreeps like Richard Cohen), and other egregious abrogations of the press' obligation to the American people.

most of this is covered in two of his excellent books, Lost History and
Secrecy and Privilege.

highly recommended for a fairly concise overview of the inexcusable behavior of the M$M since Watergate

[blm]

2. Not nuts, but, we're all bozos on this bus.... ;)

Parry is outstanding, isn't he?

[Gabi Hayes]

4. Not Insane, or Anything You Want To!

follow the rubber line to your seat

prepare yourself for an interval of simulated exhilaration



squeeze the weeze; many people like to!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers!

[Gabi Hayes]

30. More Sugar!

for More Science High School

[Gabi Hayes]

3. Secrecy and Privilege, btw, is a great book, the TRUTH about the

Bush 'dynasty'



http://www.secrecyandprivilege.com/

support real journalism...which hardly exists anymore

buy that book, as well as Lost History, which covers a lot of Reagan/Iran/Contra/Office of Public Diplomacy ground

[blm]

33. Gabi - you could be Parry's agent. LOL.

.

[jsamuel]

5. "appreciation for the importance of truth in a democratic Republic"

That should be read over and over again.

[blm]

6. Instead we have a newsmedia intent on pushing the fascist agenda.

.

[Me.]

7. Was It Inadvertent?

*shadow government*

[blm]

9. I hope so = but, even still, look at the consequences we are suffering

along with the rest of the world.

[Me.]

20. I'd Like To Think It Was Too

But with his 3rd way business, Nafta etc, his cosy moments with the *ushes and now Hillary leaning right, it gives me pause.

*shadow government*

[KoKo]

8. You definitely are Nuts...can't even understand your post....n/t

[blm]

10. Then read it again - and read the article - It could have been written by

me IF I had any writing talent... and lordy, we all know i don't.

[Old and In the Way]

11. fellow nutter, here, blm.

Us old folks know this is a 43 year festering sore that has metastisized into a deadly cancer on this counter. We either remove the root cause or our democracy will die. There's no denying it any more.

[blm]

12. Absolutely - Clinton treated openness like a luxury instead of a necessity

and the entire world has been damaged seriously from that decision.

[shance]

26. Absolutely. Any surgeon will agree.

n/t

[blm]

27. Hmm...that could make a great frame for a campaign to get the books opened

.

[robertpaulsen]

14. That does it! I'm confiscating your phone records!

Oh wait...did that already :blush:

Seriously, I wish I could give this multiple recommendations!

[blm]

15. Parry is always a must read - but this is a MUST MUST READ.

Opening the books is the only way to correct all the damage that has gone on for so long and is now increasing tenfold by the day.

[karynnj]

16. BLM, I don't think you're nuts

What is sad is that as you read about any of that stuff, you soon get to a place where your own world view is seen as crazy by many very well read people. That is another cost of Clinton's allowing all this to be papered over.

It also leads to me thinking that if all the pain of the W years leads to it being an easy year for the Democrats, many very meaning people may elect Clinton, who would likely leave a lot of this sealed because openning it will reflect badly on Clinton for not openning it.

[blm]

19. I know - the real reason I don't want a Clinton loyalist is that they will

NOT be a likely leader who WILL open the books, and this country will just continue down its path of self-destruction.

[TankLV]

17. Good read - thanks!

[tomp]

18. clinton=ford, denying the people the right to learn the lesson.

i've said many times that what we are suffering from today can be traced directly to ford's pardon of nixon. in addition the failure to condemn outright, as a society, the vietnam war, allowed the possibility of recurrence. so now we have bush/iraq. what's not to get?

that's why i'm such a hardliner on principle vs politics. the people have a right to know what they need to know in order to make reasonable decisions, i.e., everything. AND the people as well as the politicians must be accountable for their views.

[blm]

25. This may be our time, - It seems that the Anti-Corruption, Open Government

wing of the Democratic Party is gaining strength. Politicians are actually using the words corruption and Open Government in their mailings and on their signage.

[leesa]

21. Exactly! And if we let our government's role in 9-11 slide as well, all

these criminals will be back again even more vicious than before. They are playing for keeps. We need to hold them accountable on ALL the crimes, not just the ones we feel will cause the least discomfort.

[blm]

29. Opening the books would've PREVENTED a 9-11 from even happening.

.

[DemonFighterLives]

22. Everything should be dug up

Even though I liked Clinton, I have some reservations.
A few years ago on another website, I dug into some of the rightwing conspiracy stuff. "They" were up in arms over the OKC bombing and WACO.
It was found out that Poppy brought over thousands of Iraqi's after his war. Everyone let McVeigh go down for the crime.
Things are a little mixed up now, but the Mena Arkansas drug dealing also came up. Bill knows more than he is telling and when he slept on the floor so poppy could have the bed, says a lot. Now he has befriended poppy in public and is trying to work Hillary in. Hillary could be ok if she wasn't trying so hard to be right.

When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Clinton should have unearthed everything from the Kennedy murder on. He should have raised CAFE standards too, but let that slip.
We really need someone uncorrupted to lead this party if anyone like that is out there.
:freak:

[blm]

23. My take is that Gary Webb lost hope that would happen when Bush stole the

office AGAIN in 2004. He was another investigative journalist who knew Kerry would open the books when he took office, Of course, that made it all the more urgent for the BFEE to pull out all the stops to keep power.

They bought up control of most broadcast media in the 80s and 90s to make sure they control what the American people hear and believe. THAT is the key to their power. They can lie, cheat, steal and murder, and as long as they control the broadcast media they will get away with it.

[DemonFighterLives]

24. It all boils down to money

They have enough to grease the palms of anyone in the way. If someone stands up too firm, they die- very simple.
Hillary at one time went after the Vast Right Wing, but now cozies up with them.
The DLC can take there "don't look back" strategy and shove it. It all needs to be boiled down to see what is wrong and make corrections. That is America at it's best- surviving adversity and becoming stronger. We of course will need new laws to keep something like dubco from spawning again, when and if they are ushered out.

[nolabels]

28. It was probably learned helplessness dating back to childhood

We can't change the past but we sure can learn from it.

[DemonFighterLives]

31. Do you mean for Bill or Me?

:rofl:
He could sure find a better father figure than Poppy.

Kicking this thread!
:dem:

[nolabels]

38. No, just to the one's it may apply to

People often give little credence to the effects a broken marriage has on child and how it gets carried into adulthood. The learned patterns of dysfunctionlism also often has a genetic predisposition that is easily broken by some but carries on with others down the tree. In a lot of ways we are just so much alike our furry and even non-furry counterparts in the animal world.

Striving to be better than the dogs is our only hope :donut:

[ProSense]

32. Here are two excellent Parry articles from 2005

Why We Need Investigative Reporting
By Robert Parry
July 29, 2005
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/072905.html


U.S. Journalism's Shameful Anniversary
By Robert Parry
December 9, 2005
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/120905.html

[blm]

34. And more examples why Parry is the best REAL journalist on the internet.

Thanks for putting those up, Pro.

[Blue_Tires]

35. ttt n/t

[burythehatchet]

36. this is precisely the reason that

my first priority would be that ALL documents, except those directly related to national security, should be made public. The country needs a full accounting of the criminal activities of the past 50 years; its the only way to come to grips with our sins.

[blm]

39. National security became vulnerable BECAUSE those documents were hidden

under the "national security" secrecy label by Poppy Bush. That was what Kerry was fighting in court all those years, to get those documents made public. Bush and his cronies put up a total stonewall and Kerry had few willing to back him up the way he needed.

Clinton really let him and the country down on this - not to mention the rest of the world.

[Octafish]

37. Democracy requires a bodyguard of Truth.

Parry's right about a lot of things. The Truth, especially.

That's why free speech is guaranteed in the Constitution; so is the free Press, the only business named in the Constitution.

The Founders understood that the Truth is especially important in a democracy; Truth is especially important to our republic.

The importance of Truth also is precisely why the Bushes and their supporters attack the A.C.L.U. and so very much hate people who know and do all they can to keep the Truth hidden from the rest.

PS: Thanks for thinking of me, L.

PSYCHO NAZI