posted on January 24, 2002 10:38:48 AM new
The Incestuous Ties that Bind
---- Louis Boccardi, CEO of the AP (the world's biggest purveyor of news,
serving a total of 15,000 outlets world wide) is probably the most powerful
influence in shaping the news in the world today. An examination of Boccardi's
background and connections should leave little doubt in the reader's mind as to
why the news seems to have become the mouthpiece of the rich and powerful
-- worse yet, the rich and powerful with a right-wing agenda.
----For starters, Boccardi belongs to the Council of Foreign Relations, a clique
of conservative power players. The CFR reportedly has close ties to (among
other conservative outfits) the rightwing front group the Heritage Foundation
(they call themselves a "think tank" -- mostly, I suppose, because they are
trying to tell the public what to think). Active CFR members include Henry
Kissinger. Yep, that's right -- Mr. "Bloody Goldmine" himself. The Council's
on-line rag published a Kissinger piece not six months back in which the creep
complained that universally prosecuting the perpetrators of atrocities (with
Pinochet being his main case in point) is a form of "judicial tyranny."
----So it comes as no surprise that Boccardi has been reported as an honored
guest of the male Republican power players who secretively schmooze once a
year at a secluded campground called Bohemian Grove. Among the visitors
and speakers at Bohemian Grove in the past few years: Henry Kissinger,
James Baker III, George Bush Sr., Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald
Rumsfeld, CEOs of Lockheed Martin, Dow, and other big corporations, the
Hoover Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, Art Linkletter, etc., ad
nauseum.
----Another key controller of news (The Washington Times) and corporate-style
right-winger (he'll bless ya for a bill or two!) is Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who just
bought UPI, one of the other major news outlets. Here's Moon's political
philosophy, excerpted from his own book, The Master Speaks:
"My dream is to organize a Christian political party including the
Protestant denominations, Catholics and all the religious sects.
Then the communist power will be helpless before ours. We have
to purge the corrupted politicians and the sons of God must rule
the world. The separation between religion and politics is what
Satan likes most. ...Upon my command to the Europeans and
others throughout the world to come live in the U.S., wouldn't they
obey me? Then what would happen? We can embrace the
religious world in one arm and the political world in the other. With
this great ideology, if you are not confident to do this, you had
better die!"
----So, the main sources of news (collectively) for most of the world's news
media are AP and United Press International, which are directed (respectively)
by a right-winger who haunts GOP power player retreats and a religious nut
who believes that if you don't get with his program, you're better off dead! Er
...doesn't anyone see anything wrong with this picture? (I for one am having
trouble finding anything right).
----Oh, but it gets even worse! Boccardi was recently named to the Pulitzer
Prize board, which means he will now help select winners and thereby even
further shape America's perspective of what constitutes not just real news --
but the best news. Having the overseer of a stable of thousands of writers and
photographers pick prize winners is tantamount to appointing the CEO of Ford
to the panel that picks the best car models each year! No conflict of interest
there!
----Worse, the man who appointed Boccardi is his crony George Rupp,
president of Columbia U. Rupp is most surely one of the "Bohemian Grove"
boys. Not only is he the former Pres. of Rice University, playground of James
Baker III (site of Bush's secret policymaking machine, the Baker Institute), but
in the mid 1980s he was the director of Texas Commerce Bank of Houston,
alongside Robert Mosbacher, former President Bush's Commerce Secretary.
----The bank, which was controlled throughout the 1900s by the family of
James Baker III, President Bush, Sr.'s Secretary of State and a partner in
Baker & Botts, a law firm that largely serves Morgan-Rockefeller interests, was
hit in 1986 with record fines for money-laundering.
---- Rupp also sat on the board of the Panhandle Eastern Corporation in
Houston, a holding company for the state's natural gas industry. After Rupp
came to Columbia, the student paper had this to say about him: "President
Rupp has been lured by the flashy draw of life on Wall Street and thinks of
himself as more of a CEO than anything else. Despite his distinguished
academic career, it would appear that he values, above all else, the almighty
dollar." (Columbia Daily Spectator, December 4, 2000). Yet this man has a
degree in theology (Praise the Lord and Pass the Cash!). Worse, he is
President of Columbia U. -- supposedly a last outpost for the training of
competent journalists! God help America!
----However, to be fair, there are good writers at AP -- folks with great talent and
a conscience to go with it. When these writers and their editors present a
united front, truth does make it to the surface.
----A case in point is AP's Charles Hanley and Martha Mendosa's 1999 story
about the massacre of civilians by U.S. troops during the Korean war at No
Gun Ri. Although this story ultimately won a Pulitzer, Louis Boccardi and (at the
time) fellow AP exec William Aheard worked diligently to block its publication.
They failed.
----However, in May 2000, several months after the story ran, U.S. News and
World Report and Stars & Stripes (both owned by the corpoliticoes) ran stories
that sought to discredit the AP exposé.
----Although these crusaders found a few possible inaccuracies, they related to
details, not basic content. Even the Pentagon admitted the massacre had
indeed taken place and the story was in body accurate. But the mainstreamers
hammered away at the story anyway, until almost no one wanted to run it in full.
----Why did the media so viciously attack good writers trying to call attention to
vital issues? The answer is glaringly obvious. May, 2000 was precisely when
the Bush campaign got running full steam ahead -- a candidate for whom it
was extremely advantageous not to have American military activities called into
question.
----Throughout Bush's campaign, in fact, the media behaved as if it had been
hired personally by his mamma to do right by her boy. And they most certainly
did -- to the ultimate detriment of everyone else in this nation.
---- • Diatribble: Talk about transparent! AP, et al. have refused to run
footage or photos of any anti-Bush protests (there have been hundreds --
literally -- since January 2001). Now they are running all sorts of coverage of the
pro-life protests in Washington, while simultaneously running stories with
headlines like this one: "Bush urges protection for unborn." Earlier this week,
they ran one photo of anti-war protestors in front of the White House -- but
selected a tiny group. This is outrageous manipulation. The message: "Look
how few people are not supporting our glorious president -- but look at the
thousands taking to the street to support his position!" There were actually
thousands who took to the streets to support Roe vs. Wade, but did those folks
make the evening news? Not that I saw`! This is the most obvious attempt to
engineer public opinion through images yet -- which, to me, means this
administration and its propaganda machine are becoming harder and harder
pressed to keep the cracks in the phony image from cracking open too wide!
Cheryl Seal, 1/22/02
posted on January 24, 2002 10:40:35 AM new
Special emphasis to this little portion:
----Another key controller of news (The Washington Times) and corporate-style
right-winger (he'll bless ya for a bill or two!) is Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who just
bought UPI, one of the other major news outlets. Here's Moon's political
philosophy, excerpted from his own book, The Master Speaks:
"My dream is to organize a Christian political party including the
Protestant denominations, Catholics and all the religious sects.
Then the communist power will be helpless before ours. We have
to purge the corrupted politicians and the sons of God must rule
the world. The separation between religion and politics is what
Satan likes most. ...Upon my command to the Europeans and
others throughout the world to come live in the U.S., wouldn't they
obey me? Then what would happen? We can embrace the
religious world in one arm and the political world in the other. With
this great ideology, if you are not confident to do this, you had
better die!"
----So, the main sources of news (collectively) for most of the world's news
media are AP and United Press International, which are directed (respectively)
by a right-winger who haunts GOP power player retreats and a religious nut
who believes that if you don't get with his program, you're better off dead! Er
...doesn't anyone see anything wrong with this picture?
posted on January 24, 2002 02:19:42 PM new
How can a person with any shred of decency can call themselves a REPUBLICAN is beyond comprehension! That they (voters) try to lord it over the rest of us, thier party and leaders are so corrupt that no nationin history has come to that staggering display of wrongfulness. That any person calling themselves a Christian should now or ever be a Republican again is to date with the Devil.
