The Big Dog, the MSM, and Lies

I don't know if Bill Clinton's recent behavior and comments on behalf of his wife's quest for the White House are truly "unPresidential" or not, nor do I know whether or not he ought to "chill out." I do think that Obama is getting a lesson from the real pro's on what happens in a campaign. There is little doubt that Bill Clinton has infiltrated Obama's head, so to speak. However you want to feel about this there is one thing I believe the "Big Dog" is right about. The MSM is doing everything it can to keep the controversy between the Democrats alive. Bill Clinton said today that in meetings with the people they do not ask about the controversy but, rather, about serious issues facing them. It is the MSM that keeps feeding the fires of controversy (as Bill says, it's what they are interested in, not what the people are interested in). I firmly believe this is true. For example, after the recent Democratic debate where the candidates tried to play down issues of race and gender, CNN immediately scheduled a program on "Race and Politics." And there is no doubt in my mind that they consistently mistrue what the candidates actually said, as in the case of Obama on Reagan and Hillary on Martin Luther King. The MSM thrives on keeping this kind of trivia alive. In this particular case it is in their best interest to do so as splitting the Democrats works to their advantage. I'm convinced they also do it to keep our attention away from the disasters of Iraq, Afghanistan, and now the economy. This is the functional equivalent of "keeping them knocked up and barefoot." The MSM long ago gave up any pretense of being an objective check on Washington and became active players in the political process.

Have we not always known that we were fed a raft of lies about Iraq and the necessity for going to "war" with that innocent country? I guess it helps to now have an actual count of the lies, 935 to be exact. Of course that is not truly exact because it all depends upon what definitions were used and such like. But it is useful to know there are 935 documented lies that cannot now vanish or be explained easily away. Is it likely that knowing this will make any difference, that anything will be done about it, that anyone will actually be held accountable? Don't hold your breath. Accountability seems to be a concept that has disappeared from the Congressional consciousness, vocabulary, and political process. How else can you explain that Bush/Cheney were not impeached a long time ago (and are not likely to be impeached now in spite of attempts to do just that)? The Brafia have been lying since day one of their current administration, more than seven years of consistent, incessant, even pathological lying, and have been allowed to get away with it. So why change now?

One of the most persistent and interesting lies at the moment has to do with torture. Some Brafia just deny that waterboarding is torture. That is a lie. Some, hesitant to come right out and say it is torture, say they don't know if it is or not. That, too, is a lie. Some say that whether it is torture or not it is necessary to protect us from terrorists. Another lie. It is by now common knowledge that waterboarding has been known as torture since the inquisition and that some people have been punished for it. It is known to be illegal both in U.S. law and in international law. So why do people who know better keep lying about it? It is quite simple, really. If they admit it is illegal the Brafia Godfather (Bush or Cheney, take your pick) would be, ipso facto, guilty of a war crime (and we couldn't have that, could we, it would be unthinkable accountability). So we go on blissfully living the lie and burying our collective heads in the sand, just hoping it will all pass and Bush/Cheney can ride off happily into the sunset (of the American dream).

There is a story about when Don Rickles was just starting out as a comic and Frank Sinatra entered the Rickles scene for the first time. Rickles is reported to have said, "don't just stand there Frank, hit somebody." I'm sure this is what most other countries would like to say to us here in the U.S. "Don't just stand there, do something!" Oh well.

LKBIQ:
"No one is fit to be trusted with power...No one...Any man who has lived at all knows the follies and wickedness he's capable of. If he does not know it, he is not fit to govern others. And if he does know it, he knows that neither he nor any man ought to be allowed to decide a single human fate."
Charles Percy Snow