Remember the anthrax attacks?

Right after 9-11? They killed a couple of people and probably scared us more than 9-11 did. The current suspect killed himself this week. The media breathlessly claimed that the anthrax used was traceable to Saddam Hussein. Much more quietly, that was proven false and the anthrax was shown to have come from a U. S. facility. The FBI originally accused another guy of it and ended up having to pay him $6 million. We didn't hear much after that. Glenn Greenwald goes into depth on this. There are still a lot of questions.

The greatest story never told

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The Pentagon has been forced to release documents regarding its coordination with military media analysts. The blogosphere is digging through the pile to see just how extensive the manipulation of public  perception is. Outside of the New York Times, who broke the story there has been a continued blackout from TV and print media. The traditional media has had a steady decline as readers and viewers discover that the internet is a much more reliable source of information. If you aren't paranoid enough, Meteor Blades at Kos and the formidable Glenn Greenwald have more.

KGO TV News calls Democrats liars

LeeJ and almost choked on our lasagna while we were watching the local news on KGO San Francisco channel 7. The subject was the ads that the DNC has been running about John McCain. Political reporter Mark Matthews called the ads "misleading." The first ad he referred to, the "100 years" ad, he played part of the ad and said it took McCain's words out of context. He then played more of the clip used where McCain compared Iraq to South Korea and Germany, along with the line about staying "as long as no troops are hurt or killed." Everybody here is familiar with the speciousness of those remarks but Matthews said nothing further.

The second ad referred to was the one where McCain listed the reasons why we're better off than we were since Bush took office. Matthews said this was an "old" clip taken from 2006. No mention of the fact that McCain was as wrong then as he is now. He then accused the Democrats of fudging the numbers, specifically the increase in the price of gas, which went down after 9-11 because nobody was driving. He also said that Bush increased jobs over his term without mentioning that the increase has not kept up with the increase in population.

LeeJ is still purple over this and sent a nasty email to them. The media bias against the Democrats is not limited to Fox and CNN. Even the local media will call the Democrats liars on the flimsiest of premises while ignoring the campaign of misinformation the Republicans have unloaded on us.

Bought and Sold

The New York Times reported on Sunday that many of the retired military commanders that the TV networks have used regularly as analysts are themselves paid by and manipulated by the Pentagon. The Pentagon has created a sophisticated strategy for controlling the flow of information about the war. The Times refers to the analysts as a "Trojan horse." These former generals and admirals, called on as experts by the news shows, were given an agenda to push by the Pentagon and the military contractors. These analysts were not only by the carrot of cash and the stick of losing access to the cash, but they are also ideologically in lockstep. And all their buddies were there. And the Pentagon stroked their egos. Read it. It's impossible not to be paranoid.

That's not even the worst part. Think of the uproar if a Democrat was in the White House right now. As it is, the networks have refused to comment and there's not a peep heard outside the blogosphere. We're effectively under a news blackout about the subject. They know they'll just pretend it never happened and the only ones who know are the DFHs that nobody listens to anyway. Think we're still in the Land Of Liberty?

Yer Librul Media at Work

In case you're wondering what Obama will be up against in the fall, this will give you some idea. With sprinkles, no less. Oh, yeah, and if you thought the Republicans will be able to keep their racism in check, don't bet on it.