SwiftVets.com

[ASPB]

When so many American's get their news from Pravda and Izvestia like effete elite media sources, no wonder the country is politically divided. Divided between free thinkers and demo-sheep.

I'm beginning to think we may need press sedition laws.

[ASPB]

A valuable retrospective on our left leaning media can be found at:

http://www.mediaresearch.org/SpecialReports/2004/sum/sum0604.asp

Highly recommended for anyone who lived through the media barrage of the '80's when one man through moral conviction fought and won two wars; a cold one against collectivism and a hot one against our collectivist press.

History does repeat itself. Just read the NY Slimes and the Washrag tomorrow to see the parallels.
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On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[NoDonkey]

Speaking of media credibility, was anyone watching CBS during President Reagan's funeral service in California?

CBS flashed a graphic several times "Naval Station Lamore ".

If CBS can't even get the name of a military base right (the name is Lemoore), a fact that any 3rd grader could look up on the Internet in about 10 seconds, how can they be trusted on anything?
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"Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face." - Thomas Sowell

[ASPB]

9/11: Reagan’s fault? CBS was first out of the blocks Monday night with a story on “blemishes” in Ronald Reagan’s record as President, but instead of an even-handed review of Iran/Contra, Dan Rather and Bill Plante painted it in the most ominous light, implying that it somehow led to “the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.” Rather asked: “Is or is not America still paying a price for what’s called the Iran/Contra debacle?” Plante answered in the affirmative: “An arms control agreement with the Soviet Union refurbished President Reagan’s image, but U.S. efforts to deal with the tough issues in the Middle East went on hold, helping to set the stage for the first Iraq war and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.”

Plante justified his conclusion by claiming Iran/Contra meant that “relations with Iran deteriorated further” and “Iraq, which the Reagan administration had backed in its war against Iran, went on to use chemical weapons in 1988 with little protest from the U.S.”

So the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S. AND Saddam Hussein using chemical weapons are both Reagan’s fault?

Before an ad break on the June 7 CBS Evening News, Rather plugged the upcoming “Reality Check” on Reagan’s legacy: “Straight ahead now on the CBS Evening News, President Reagan and the missiles-for-Iran deal. Is or is not America still paying a price for what’s called the Iran/Contra debacle?”

Rather set up the subsequent story: “Ronald Reagan was and is one of the most popular Presidents in U.S. history, and with good reason: He accomplished a lot. That does not mean his record is without questions and, in fact, blemishes. Tonight, CBS’s Bill Plante, who covered the Reagan White House, begins a week-long series assessing the Reagan legacy.”

Plante began: “The most serious crisis of Ronald Reagan’s two terms, and the lowest point in his popularity, came after the revelation that his administration had secretly sold arms to Iran and turned over the profits to rebels fighting the Marxist government of Nicaragua.”
Plante, in Reagan era press conference: “Did you make a mistake in sending arms to Tehran, sir?”
Ronald Reagan: “No, and I’m not taking any more questions-”
Plante: “Reagan’s national security staff approached Iran in an effort to free American hostages being held in Lebanon, despite a vow that the administration would never negotiate with terrorists. At first, President Reagan denied that it had happened.”
Reagan, in November 13, 1986 speech from Oval Office: “We did not, repeat, did not trade weapons, or anything else, for hostages.”
Plante: “But two investigations showed that Mr. Reagan had, in fact, signed off on the weapons shipments, and in early 1987 he reversed his denial.”
Edmund Morris, Reagan biographer, clip #1: “It is, without question, a crisis brought through his own fault.”
Morris, clip #2: “And the public perceived him, therefore, as somebody who couldn’t see his own actions in a negative light.”
Plante: “The fallout was severe, softened only by the President’s willingness to accept personal responsibility.”
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor: “President Reagan understood that this had happened in his administration. He was straightforward in having it investigated by the Tower Commission, they made changes. And that’s the way that we have to deal with any difficulties.”
Plante: “The President’s full disclosure at home, however, didn’t salvage U.S. policy in the Middle East. Relations with Iran deteriorated further. Iraq, which the Reagan administration had backed in its war against Iran, went on to use chemical weapons in 1988 with little protest from the U.S.”
Jon Alterman, Mideast analyst: “When it came time to really having partnerships and policies that move forward in the Middle East, there wasn’t a lot positive happening on the ground.”
Plante concluded: “An arms control agreement with the Soviet Union refurbished President Reagan’s image, but U.S. efforts to deal with the tough issues in the Middle East went on hold, helping to set the stage for the first Iraq war and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Bill Plante, CBS News.”
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On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[hist/student]

retracted

[ASPB]

The Secret Boom

"Here's a little secret," CNN's senior political analyst William Schneider said on "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics" Monday: "The nation's economy is actually doing very well." Schneider and Woodruff proceeded to have this exchange:

Schneider: Here's another reason why the good economic news may not be having much impact. It's not being reported. A study by Media Tenor, an independent media analysis institute, reveals that news coverage of President Bush's economic policy has practically vanished from the major broadcast networks since the beginning of the year. It's all been Iraq. The improving economy is a secret.

Woodruff: But we're talking about it here?

Schneider: Yes, we are.

Woodruff: OK. Bill Schneider, thank you very much.

If only anyone watched "Inside Politics," it might not be a secret anymore.

“Top Ten Real Reasons John Kerry is Running
for President”
From the June 15 Late Show with David Letterman, the “Top Ten Real Reasons John Kerry is Running for President.” Late Show home page: www.cbs.com

10. To bring renewed tedium and uncertainty to the Democratic party

9. Vows to be the greatest horse-faced President since Polk

8. Couldn't live with himself if he didn't hold a higher office than Schwarzenegger

7. Needs an excuse to get out of a wedding in February

6. Get elected, eat a ton of waffles, become the fattest President

5. Long days on the campaign trail beats sitting around being nagged by the wife to put away the socks

4. An unusually persuasive horoscope told him he should

3. Did you know if the President kills some guy in a bar fight the FBI will make it cool?

2. A leader who supports both sides of every issue is a friend to all Americans

1. Show the world not all Democrats are ass-grabbing womanizers

#2 suggests that the image of Kerry as a waffler has gained footing in public perception.
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On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[sdpatriot]

Hello Gentleman and ladies,
i have been lurking and reading for a while now. thanks for all the
information gathered here, and especially the personal accounts and
information pertinant to the VietNam war.

speaking of the “Iran/Contra Debacle”,
i read an interesting article a while ago by Michael Waller at Insightmag.com ~ Kerry's Disloyal Nicaraguan Journey

maybe you all have read it? it is not surprising, as a matter of fact
it is strangely like a certain Paris meeting. being a traitor is something
Kerry has made a habit of.

http://www.insightmag.com/news/681125.html

it's long, but worth the read.

sdpatriot
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"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

[ASPB]

Input from the Mainsewer Media

[ASPB]

Kerry Campaign Uses Network Reporting to Bolster Its Cause
The Kerry campaign on Wednesday night distributed a press release which, the MRC’s CNSNews.com noticed, “simply quotes from the 'big three’ networks -- as a means of bolstering Kerry's campaign.” The release quoted from network coverage which charged that the 9-11 Commission had contradicted the Bush administration on the relationship between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

For more on role of the media in Kerry's campaign go to:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20040618.asp#1

And Another Thing:

Is This Legal?On Wednesday the Philadelphia Daily News became, by its own reckoning, the first newspaper in the nation to endorse John Kerry for president in November. The paper went beyond the usual endorsement and vowed to take an active role in winning the election for Kerry:

Kerry, who fought in the swamps of Vietnam, can lead us out of the quagmire of the Bush administration--but for that to happen, he will need your help.

Past presidential election strategies focused on the "undecided" or "swing" voters. This election, we're pushing a different strategy: We're focusing on the people poll-takers call "unlikely" voters.

The paper goes on to exhort readers to register to vote and to "get others" to do so. It provides Kerry's Web site address and urges readers to make a donation. "You can help Kerry win Pennsylvania," the paper says. "Act now. The commonwealth--indeed the nation--cannot afford another four years of George Bush."

We believe in free speech, so we have no problem with this. But if a company other than a media conglomerate (the News is owned by Knight Ridder Newspapers) undertook such an effort on behalf of a political candidate, surely the Federal Election Commission would be all over it. Perhaps the FEC should take up the question of Knight Ridder's electioneering for Kerry. It'd make an interesting test case.
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On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[ASPB]

One of the interesting and enlightening things about the Mainsewer Media is their continuing absolute silence on good news.

Here's a link on Coalition casualties which is worth clecking. Do you remember them screamin about casualties in April?

Look at what's been happening subsequently and compare it to their silence!

http://icasualties.org/oif/
_________________
On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[sillyrabbit]

Tell me which of these two events has more overall input into the big picture of a budding democracy:

a. A school is built and school supplies are distributed.
b. A car bomb kills 42 people in a Baghdad suburb.

Let's imagine you're an Iraqi. Your life is totally groundless and you have no idea who's going to be in power tomorrow. A foreign military is patroling your streets, and your sensibilities are torn between irrational nationalism and an open-minded willingness to try American democracy, which you have been told is the best system for you. You look out the window and see a new school in the east and a scene of devastating carnage and destruction in the west. Which of these two events has a greater psychological impact on you and your feelings about the future?

The media reports the bad news for two reasons
a. it sells, because WE buy it.
b. in Iraq, the bad news is more important to the strategic outcome than the good news.

And ASPB, compare Iraqi civil police casualties this month to last month. My guess is that its much higher. The military has assumed a much tighter defensive posture both to limit its visibility (in a population in which 90% of people see our troops as occupiers) and to control casualties, a strategy that has accompanied an increased reliance on Iraqis vis a vi the transfer of power. The fact that U.S. troops are in a more 'hunkered down' posture doesn't mean there's any less violence than last month, in fact, it means they're killing less insurgents. I mean, whatever happened to Fallujah? During April we were involved in active ops there, and now we don't even maintain a presence, despite an open acknowlegement that the "Fallujah Brigade" has done nothing to persecute terrorists.

[ASPB]

I don't need to imagine what Iraqis think. I correspond with 3 or 4 of them almost daily. You can do the same if you care anything about the truth.

Try the thread Iraqi Blogs for links.
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On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

[NoDonkey]

[sillyrabbit]

I do care about the truth. Do you dispute that 9/10ths of Iraqis have a negative impression of America and that over half wish we never came? Is it unamerican to suggest that, ASPB?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040616/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_poll
"The poll, requested by the Coalition Provisional Authority last month but not released to the American public, found more than half of Iraqis surveyed believed both that they'd be safer without U.S. forces and that all Americans behave like the military prison guards pictured in the Abu Ghraib abuse photos. "

If the election was today, this minute, I think I'd probably vote for Bush. WHen I was in college I interned for the conservative Hudson Institute, so I'm not being an irrational GOP-hater here my man, but I don't see the optimistic situation you do, unless you think that Iraqi civil defense police are going to have an instantaneous impact. If they don't, our military has to pick up the slack, and every time they do that they make more enemies in a civilian population that is increasinly unwilling to tolerate their presence. I don't blame the hand-tied military, I blame the ideological stupidity of the politicians that put them in that situation.

And hey, lets be honest about the "mass graves". They received ENORMOUS publicity in 1992 when they were being filled. Nobody was surprised to find them, we expected they'd be there. In 1988 when the Kurdish graves were being filled, the media reported extensively but the Reagan administration was more focused on the Iranian threat. I disagree with your assertion that the press is Saddam Hussein's greatest apologist. During the 80s and pre Gulf War early 90s, I was under the impression that Republicans (that I voted for) were Saddam's greatest apologists, who were too busy selling him Wheat and buying oil to condemn his genocide.

And as to the "foreign elements" in Iraq... Maybe I'm wrong. Could be. But I believe (as does the U.S. government) that most of the violence is coming from FREs (Former Regime Elements), who are heavily entrenched in a civilian population that has no reason to "grow sick of them." Do you think Isreal would be as well off right now as they are if the bombings were being commited BY ISRAELIS? There's no wall to build in Iraq! The bombers are Iraqis. Why is it so hard for people to believe that the Iraqi people can be terrorists too? Are they that different from Saudis? Or Lebanese? The same religious fundamentalism that is used to recruit suicide bombers in Palestine can, will, and is being deployed in Iraq.

[ASPB]

Try reading what Mohammed has to say:

Saturday, June 19, 2004

Sick and stupid dreams.
Another coward aggression in a series of terrorist attacks that targeted the officials in the new government as well as IP, the new army and the ICDC. It has become more than obvious that the purpose of these terrorist attacks is to prevent the emergence of the new, free and democratic Iraqi government. This government represents the most threatening danger to the successors of Saddam’s mentality, and also to Bin ladin’s followers and the dictatorships that surround Iraq. As the date of handing the authority and afterwards the elections gets closer, these criminals get more and more insane to the degree that it no longer can be concealed. This is shown through targeting not only the infrastructure that serves the Iraqi citizen, but also the citizen himself. This citizen has become ready and supportive of the peaceful handover of the authority in a civilized manner, and I can see through smoke and blood that we are winning this battle, we who believe in freedom and democracy and the simple citizen who hopes to be able to choose a leadership that represent him and care about his needs.

Our enemies are losing this battle because-and this has become evident- they have lost the support of the Iraqi people long ago, the people who were so happy and showed no regret when they took of their military uniform and threw away their rifles. Saddam had always tried to militarize the society and make violence the only way to practice authority and made every effort to popularize this as the only method to solve any problem anywhere.

Yes, they have lost the people and now they hide in small islands that our land will expel just as it had expelled Saddam and the Ba’ath.

Some people accuse us of watching negatively without trying to aid in eradicating this retarded group of terrorists and fascists; NO, that’s not true and Thursday’s attack prove this. Those who were killed today were the loyal and true sons of Iraq. They have decided to carry arms and fight within a legal institution that represent the Iraqi people; the Iraqi army. They did this whilst knowing the dangers that standing in these lines carry, as these lines of volunteers were targeted several times and hundreds of Iraqi youths were killed. To me, these are soldiers who have died honorably in a battlefield.

I assure you that these lines will never stop no matter how many times they target them, and I won’t accept what some people may say in that it’s the need that push these Iraqis to stand in these lines, as the terrorists and who finance them are ready to pay several times the salary these brave men are having and for even more simple services and less risky ones. You just have to consider the percentage of the IP and ICDC and Iraqi soldiers that have died since the 9th of April and compare it to that of the people who help the terrorists and you’ll know that their jobs is much more risky, as those who collaborate with the terrorists usually get arrested and not killed, that’s if they were caught.

I must add that the major danger that will face the new Iraqi state in the near future will be dealing with those who have embraced violence and rejected reason and dialogue as a method to achieve their goals (Sadr and his likes). That battle will not be easy and I’m sorry to say that I believe the new government will find itself forced to defend its existence and the interests of Iraqis by using arms, but at the same time it should not make this a general way of how to handle problems so that it can have and maintain the support of the vast majority of the Iraqi people. Here I want to say that I’m optimistic, as the terrible things those militias and all those who support violence have done when they had the chance to control some of the Iraqi cities made the Iraqis hate and resent them, and maybe the great reception that the citizens gave to the IP when they returned to the streets confirm my believe.

I think that the international community should be clear on with whom they’re standing and should support strongly the new Iraqi government, as it has become clearer than ever who is wrong and who is right and there should be absolutely no doubt about who is the evil and who is the good.

Those criminals seem to forget that the weapon in the oncoming battle will be the hearts and minds of the Iraqis and not RPJs or grenades, and I’m sure that these people will not find a place among the Iraqis because it is clear that most of them (Iraqis) support the change and thus support the new government.

These terrorists and fascists and the governments that support them are not only sick but they are also very stupid, as they think they’re accomplishing their goal by inflicting such sever losses and damages among Americans and Iraqis, when it merely have made their defeat closer. Had they fought like men, it would’ve been possible that some naive people would support them in the name of “liberation” and all this nonsense, but now and as they have been targeting mainly Iraq as a government, citizens and the whole country, they’ve lost any chance of achieving their sick dreams; Stopping democracy in Iraq.

-By Mohammed.
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On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB