rigorousintuition.ca

Wombaticus Rex » Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:17 pm wrote:I would definitely love to see this thread continue to breathe, too.

I'm interested in the broader question of What The Fuck, Really, Is The Point of Another Website, At This Point?

HAARP is an abundantly detailed reality but I still feel fucking absurd talking about it. Cheney wasn't really doing anything in secret, per se. Like the explosions, like remarkably coincidental drill on September 11th. It's a huge tell to any rival intelligence agency, but hiding their activities from other intelligence agencies has never been the point. I don't really think "hiding it from the American people" is the point either, I differ with Marchetti there. I think it's just the simple fact they can deny it, deny the obvious truth, and remain in power.

Perhaps our pounds & bucks are better spent on seeds and soil, or shit -- even beer.

constitution dot org

John Swinton on the independence of the press

Variations on the quote below have been misattributed as a response to a toast, by John Swinton, as "the former Chief of Staff at the New York Times", before the New York Press Club in 1953. However, research reveals that Swinton (1829-1901), after moving to New York, wrote an occasional article for the New York Times and was hired on a regular basis in 1860 as head of the editorial staff. Afterward holding this position throughout the Civil War, he left the paper in 1870 and became active in the labor struggles of the day. He later served eight years in the same position on the New York Sun and later published a weekly labor sheet, John Swinton's Paper.

The remarks were apparently made by Swinton, then the preeminent New York journalist, probably one night in 1880. Swinton was the guest of honour at a banquet given him by the leaders of his craft. Someone who knew neither the press nor Swinton offered a toast to the independent press. Swinton outraged his colleagues by replying:

There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it.

There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.

The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press?

We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.

(Source: Labor's Untold Story, by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais, published by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, NY, 1955/1979.)

Despite the misattribution, the quote raises the issue of whether there is not continuing truth in Swinton's remarks, and whether some candid journalist might not be able to fairly say similar things today. Anyone who has associated closely with journalists can hardly avoid finding a ring of truth in such words, and the best evidence lies in the actual product of journalists and how well, or how poorly, it both agrees with and covers what actually happens, especially involving such things as corruption and abuse of power.

JackRiddler wrote:
"Icke bomb" = slimmouse

The CIA is a master at distorting history - even creating its own version of history to suit its institutional and operational purposes. It can do this largely because of two great advantages it possesses. One is the excessively secret environment in which it operates, and the other is that it is essentially a private instrument of the presidency.

The real reason for the official secrecy, in most instances, is not to keep the opposition (the CIA's euphemistic term for the enemy) from knowing what is going on; the enemy usually does know. The basic reason for governmental secrecy is to keep you, the American public, from knowing - for you, too, are considered the opposition, or enemy - so that you cannot interfere. When the public does not know what the government or the CIA is doing, it cannot voice its approval or disapproval of their actions. In fact, they can even lie to your about what they are doing or have done, and you will not know it.

As for the second advantage, despite frequent suggestion that the CIA is a rogue elephant, the truth is that the agency functions at the direction of and in response to the office of the president. All of its major clandestine operations are carried out with the direct approval of or on direct orders from the White House. The CIA is a secret tool of the president - every president. And every president since Truman has lied to the American people in order to protect the agency. When lies have failed, it has been the duty of the CIA to take the blame for the president, thus protecting him. This is known in the business as "plausible denial"...

seemslikeadream » Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:30 am wrote:on edit

I'm out of here

Canadian_watcher » Fri Jun 07, 2013 3:38 pm wrote:I think AD has crackpot ideas.

I know that saying so does not qualify as a personal attack, since that very saying has been tested and moderator approved and I know for sure that there are no double standards at work on this board.

So, yeah.

AD, you have crackpot ideas.

Island of Shame

another day.....another Holocaust.....another Genocide..... another example of an Anti-Human Being crime...another crime against Humanity...another crime committed by Anti-Human Beings

seemslikeadream » Fri Jun 07, 2013 5:10 pm wrote:

Island of Shame

another day.....another Holocaust.....another Genocide..... another example of an Anti-Human Being crime...another crime against Humanity...another crime committed by Anti-Human Beings