Bill Moyers Journal: Candidates and Bailout

I recently had the opportunity to have a conversation with proud Republican about a variety of current affairs. I knew this person was a Republican, and I had vowed to NOT to give in to my desire to probe the mind and reasoning behind "proud Republicanism" in the face of the destruction of the American Economy.

I mean, how on earth do you justify supporting Bush/Cheey in the wake of a failed presidency and the death of the neo-conservative world view embodied by that presidency. How do you justify support for a war based on lies? How do you justify your support torture? How do you, a middle-class person, justify your support of the financial and emotional destruction of the American middle class? How do you support the destruction of the the value of the American dollar? The real estate market? Wall Street? Retirement? Jobs? The economy? Access to affordable health care? In the end, how do you justify your support of more of the same in John McCain and Sarah Palin?

What ideological brainwashing must occur in order for an otherwise reasonable person to be so blind to the human condition and have so few moral values?

Needless to say, try as I might, I asked the questions of someone I considered to be otherwise intelligent and reasonable. It was a very unsatisfactory experience. Basically, it's all "the do-nothing congresses fault". The ultimate bullshit justification.

What I think is this: People know at some deep gut level that they support something bad and wrong. But self-preservation means they can't think of themselves as bad, so they continue to fervently and blindly hold their position. They're actually defending themselves against action which their soul knows is wrong and harmful.

I am really getting to the point of this post, but I wanted to provide you with the backstory.

Bill Moyer's Journal provides what I consider to be an unbiased analysis of both the Biden-Palin Debate as well as the Bailout. A perspective that perhaps I am biased as well, and the polar opposite of proud Republicans. Unfortunately, the video and transcript has not yet been posted. I'll update this post with that information when it's posted.

--Shella

Bill Moyers & Scholars: Impeachment

TOUGH TALK ON IMPEACHMENT: BILL MOYERS JOURNAL explores the talk of impeachment with Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, who wrote the first article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, and THE NATION's John Nichols, author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT.

A public opinion poll from the American Research Group recently reported that more than four in ten Americans — 45% — favor impeachment hearings for President Bush and more than half — 54% — favored impeachment for Vice President Cheney.

Unhappiness about the war in Iraq isn't the only cause of the unsettled feelings of the electorate. Recent events like President Bush's pardoning of Scooter Libby, the refusal of Vice President Cheney's office to surrender emails under subpoena to Congress and the President's prohibition of testimony of former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers in front of the House Judiciary Committee have caused unease over claims of "executive privilege." In addition, many of the White House anti-terror initiatives and procedures — from the status of "enemy combatants" in Guantanamo to warrantless wiretapping — have come under legal scrutiny in Congress and the courts.

Bill Moyers gets perspective on the role of impeachment in American political life from Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, who wrote the first article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, and THE NATION's John Nichols, author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT.

"The founding fathers expected an executive who tried to overreach and expected the executive would be hampered and curtailed by the legislative branch... They [Congress] have basically renounced — walked away from their responsibility to oversee and check." — Bruce Fein

"On January 20th, 2009, if George Bush and Dick Cheney are not appropriately held to account this Administration will hand off a toolbox with more powers than any President has ever had, more powers than the founders could have imagined. And that box may be handed to Hillary Clinton or it may be handed to Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or someone else. But whoever gets it, one of the things we know about power is that people don't give away the tools." — John Nichols

Michael Moore and Bill Moyers: Please Make A Documentary Targeting Mainstream Media

It would be my dream to one day see a film collaboration between Michael Moore and Bill Moyers documenting how mainstream media utterly failed to provide impartial and credible reporting during the Bush Administration and the harm it has caused to Americans and around the world.

I maintain my belief that had America had a functioning and free media Bu$hCo and the neocons would NEVER have taken over. It's media's profit motive and media consolidation at work in betraying us all.

Michael: You could change the world and protect its citizens forever more if one of your documentaries resulted in transforming mainstream media in the United States.

I Feel Proud

After watching the PBS special, Bill Moyers Journal, "Buying The War" for a second time tonight -- I must admit that I feel proud.

Proud that from the beginning, all along (and against all odds) I had the critical thinking skills and independence of thought to see through the propaganda and collusion between the Bush Administration and the US mainstream media.

I challenge you. I challenge you to actually watch the reports linked to below.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

If you care one whit about America or our troops - watch it; if you believe you live in reality - watch it; if you think I am a partisan hack - watch it; if you have the ability to view something with an open mind and heart that may reframe your experience of history - watch it; Readers, I cannot urge you strongly enough to please watch all 5 chapters linked to above.

While the story is primarily about the failings of a so-called "liberal" or "independent" media, it documents the Presidents and his top advisors treasonous acts against America and its citizens.

And by the way..... prepare yourself.

Prepare yourself because now that there is no longer a strangle hold on the media, you will likely see future expose's on the impact, spin, propaganda and criminality perpetrated by this President, his administration, and the GOP in most all other areas of life as we know it. From the true impact of the tax cuts; the true harm of its health policies; the incompetence and cronyism seen in national security, Katrina, Iraq, global warming, energy policies, disastrous fiscal policies, deficit management, politics above the people, globalization, merging of church and state, literally in every area of life.

IMPEACH.

Bill Moyers: Journalistic Integrity Personified (my new hero, it's love)

Finally. After 5 long years. Journalist Bill Moyers, whose credentials are above reproach, has NAILED the story of the century. How mainstream media betrayed America, Americans and truth in journalism.

FUCKING FINALLY.

Watch Bill Moyers: CLICK HERE
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"Buying the War"

Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. Despite profound questions and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. How did they get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 continue to go largely unreported?

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...He [Bush] was hailed by media stars as a "breathtaking" example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neo-cons now;" NPR's Bob Edwards said, "The war in Iraq is essentially over;" and Fortune magazine's Jeff Birnbaum said, "It is amazing how thorough the victory in Iraq really was in the broadest context."


How did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported? "What the conservative media did was easy to fathom; they had been cheerleaders for the White House from the beginning and were simply continuing to rally the public behind the President — no questions asked. How mainstream journalists suspended skepticism and scrutiny remains an issue of significance that the media has not satisfactorily explored," says Moyers. "How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda?"

On Wednesday, April 25 at 9 p.m. on PBS, a new PBS series BILL MOYERS JOURNAL premieres at a special time with "Buying the War," a 90-minute documentary that explores the role of the press in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. Two days later on April 27, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL airs in its regular timeslot on Fridays at 9 p.m. with interviews and news analysis on a wide range of subjects, including politics, arts and culture, the media, the economy, and issues facing democracy. "Buying the War" includes interviews with Dan Rather, formerly of CBS; Tim Russert of MEET THE PRESS; Bob Simon of 60 MINUTES; Walter Isaacson, former president of CNN; and John Walcott, Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder newspapers, which was acquired by The McClatchy Company in 2006.

In "Buying the War" Bill Moyers and producer Kathleen Hughes document the reporting of Walcott, Landay and Strobel, the Knight Ridder team that burrowed deep into the intelligence agencies to try and determine whether there was any evidence for the Bush Administration's case for war. "Many of the things that were said about Iraq didn't make sense," says Walcott. "And that really prompts you to ask, 'Wait a minute. Is this true? Does everyone agree that this is true? Does anyone think this is not true?'"

In the run-up to war, skepticism was a rarity among journalists inside the Beltway. Journalist Bob Simon of 60 Minutes, who was based in the Middle East, questioned the reporting he was seeing and reading. "I mean we knew things or suspected things that perhaps the Washington press corps could not suspect. For example, the absurdity of putting up a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda," he tells Moyers. "Saddam…was a total control freak. To introduce a wild card like Al Qaeda in any sense was just something he would not do. So I just didn't believe it for an instant."

The program analyzes the stream of unchecked information from administration sources and Iraqi defectors to the mainstream print and broadcast press, which was then seized upon and amplified by an army of pundits. While almost all the claims would eventually prove to be false, the drumbeat of misinformation about WMDs went virtually unchallenged by the media.

THE NEW YORK TIMES reported on Iraq's "worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb," but according to Landay, claims by the administration about the possibility of nuclear weapons were highly questionable. Yet, his story citing the "lack of hard evidence of Iraqi weapons" got little play.

In fact, throughout the media landscape, stories challenging the official view were often pushed aside while the administration's claims were given prominence. "From August 2002 until the war was launched in March of 2003 there were about 140 front page pieces in THE WASHINGTON POST making the administration's case for war," says Howard Kurtz, the POST's media critic. "But there was only a handful of stories that ran on the front page that made the opposite case. Or, if not making the opposite case, raised questions."

"Buying the War" examines the press coverage in the lead-up to the war as evidence of a paradigm shift in the role of journalists in democracy and asks, four years after the invasion, what's changed? "More and more the media become, I think, common carriers of administration statements and critics of the administration," says THE WASHINGTON POST's Walter Pincus. "We've sort of given up being independent on our own."