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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 08/28/2005 : 15:45:57
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I was recently forwarded an article entitled Bush's Obscene Tirades Rattle White House from someone in my local Humanist group. The article was originally published by Capital Hill Blue: http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7267.shtml
As delicious as this article was and as much as I hate President Bush, I was skeptical of the article largely because of how extreme the claims it made against President Bush were, without having sufficient evidence to back them up.
NewsBusters (an online critic of liberal-leaning media) had these criticisms, most of which I agree with: http://newsbusters.org/node/721
But I think the sarcastic tone and reactionary and extreme nature of the NewsBusters article detracts from it. Specifically, they say:
(the article) graced the pages of Capital Hill Blue on August 25, 2005 and then graced the pages of the Islamic propaganda web-paper the “Party for Islamic Renewal” on August 27, 2005. This completely unsubstantiated exposé is now the article of choice for Islamics and will no doubt be taken as gospel.
This statement makes a sweeping assumption about "Islamics" (notice they didn't write "extremist Islamics", just "Islamics"). Regardless, should we refrain from publishing truth just because it can be used by enemies? (I'm not saying the original article is truthful, just that extremists using it is not a reason for it to be censored.)
NewBusters also says: Why don't these “sources” ever go to Barbara Walters or Brit Hume? Why do they all stampede to Capital Hill Blue?
While it is a valid criticism that none of the sources from the Capital Blue article can be substantiated, there have been many things written by (usually retired) journalists speaking out about how the mainstream media is heavily discouraged from publicizing certain types of info. One example from my father's experience (my dad's a journalist) is that when he was in Cuba years ago, a foreign service officer was willing to be frank with the media about how the embargo was hurting more than helping and other stuff that made the US government look bad. My dad published his article based on what the officer said, but AP never picked it up. The reason why that foreign service officer was being so frank was because he knew the mainstream national media wasn't there, and they'd never pick it up based on the report of some small-town reporter (which my dad was at the time.) So Washington aids very well could be going to Barbara Waltners or Brit Hume - that doens't mean that Walters or Hume will pick up the story.
Anyway, my basic analysis is that both the authors of the Capital Hill Blue and NewsBusters articles are being somewhat dishonest due to their partisan biases.
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Edited by - marfknox on 08/28/2005 22:26:18
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ktesibios
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 18:50:19 [Permalink]
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Stories like that always make me echo Willie in Bill Mauldin's Back Home- "pass th' grain of salt, please".
Claims of inside information crank my spider sense up, doubly so if the claims would be politically pleasing.
And yet...
Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe stroke in August 1919. From that point on,
quote:
From that time on the President was incapable of carrying out his duties. Wilson's inner circle, consisting of the First Lady, his personal physician, private secretary, and Secretary of State, kept the President's condition a secret. No one was allowed to see him. The Cabinet and press were told that Wilson had suffered a nervous breakdown. Vice President Thomas Marshall was never informed. The American people never knew that their President was an invalid.
source: http://www.healthmedialab.com/html/president/wilson.html
Imagine that. The President spent the last year and a half of his term at Death's Deli Counter waiting for his number to be called and even the Vice President never knew a thing about it.
The media were also very compliant about concealing the extent of FDR's disability:
quote:
Few Americans were ever aware of FDR's disability. This was due in large part to the cooperation of members of the press, who almost always photographed him from the waist up. FDR insisted on this policy when he re-entered politics after his bout with polio, and it was continued during his presidency.
source: http://www.healthmedialab.com/html/president/roosevelt.html
And Little Boots has had a reputation as a teppichfresser going back to his Texas governor days...
So what's to think? Damon Runyon odds? (six to five and take your choice)  |
"The Republican agenda is to turn the United States into a third-world shithole." -P.Z.Myers |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2005 : 19:00:47 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by ktesibios
And Little Boots has had a reputation as a teppichfresser going back to his Texas governor days...
Huh? I'm guessing "Little Boots" is Bush but I have no idea what that name is supposed to reference. And my online translator gives teppichfresser as a "carpet glutton," whatever that means. What would be the equivalent English idiom?
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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ktesibios
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 09/03/2005 : 11:54:34 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by H. Humbert
quote:
Originally posted by ktesibios
And Little Boots has had a reputation as a teppichfresser going back to his Texas governor days...
Huh? I'm guessing "Little Boots" is Bush but I have no idea what that name is supposed to reference. And my online translator gives teppichfresser as a "carpet glutton," whatever that means. What would be the equivalent English idiom?
"Little Boots" is the English translation of Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus' nickname, Caligula.
Teppichfresser, or "carpet chewer" is a term for someone who frequently throws screaming temper tantrums. It was applied to a certain dead Central European dictator, so I found it a handy way to commit a stealth violation of Godwin's Law.  |
"The Republican agenda is to turn the United States into a third-world shithole." -P.Z.Myers |
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