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Example of  propaganda in Austin Texas paper

Here's an example some of the hogwash/propaganda in a Texas paper, the
Austin American Statesman. On page A-3 the fourth paragraph of an
article entitled:  "Venezuelan leader reviles Bush as the devil" (dated
9-21-06)

"..the leftist Chavez is a close ally of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
and other nations whose leaders are at odds with the United States."

 The article is not an editorial -it's a report on Chavez's speech at
the UN.

Deception/inaccuracies:

1) The view that Castro is a "dictator" is an opinion. It would be
honest/factual to say the  Cuban "president" or "leader".

2) Those leaders are NOT at odds with the United States. The ignorant,
deceptive misleaders in Washington are NOT the United States. The so
called news report would be honest/factual to say that those leaders
"are at odds with the Bush regime".

One of the methods that the Bush regime and billionaire controlled US
news media frequently use is to repeat a lie over and over again. The
more people who read or hear the lies, the more will believe them.

It's true that the people of the USA are the most decieved people on
earth. We've all to a greater or lesser extent been filled with
hogwash. I wish it weren't true, but it is.
That too shall pass!


==================================

Thomas Keske wrote:

Efficiency in Propaganda

It is difficult to beat the professionalism of propaganda
in the U.S. and in the GOP, in particular.

In the art of propaganda, it would be crude if you relied
simply on the telling of outright falsehoods.   The subtle
professional relies as much on creating *impressions*,
by indirect means, by focus, juxtapositions, associations,
suggestions, inference.

GOP propaganda is admirable for the efficiency of its
content.   For example, consider a small newspaper article
which reported that there was a small error detected in the
vote-counting in Ohio.   When it was corrected, Bush won
by a slightly larger margin.   Not by much of a difference,
just slightly, according to the article.

This is very efficient, because in just a couple sentences,
it is very likely that there are no less than four false
 impressions that are made:

   * that when we have errors, it is by accident,
      not by malfeasance

   * that when we have errors, we catch them quickly.
      Not that when we have errors, we never in our lifetimes
      will be the wiser.

   * that when we have errors, they are small, not large-scale

   * that when we have errors, they are *against* the political
      party that has the worst history for hardball, dirty tricks,
      not *in favor* of the party that has the worst history for
      hardball, dirty tricks

Another example of propaganda-by-power-of-suggestion is
the hypocritical double-standard in reporting of suspected
election fraud in the Ukraine, where a pro-Western candidate
lost, versus reporting of possible fraud/abuse in two successive
U.S. elections.

In the Ukraine, the primary focus of the news reporting was
on the making of the accusations by the losers, not on the denial
and rebuff of the accusations by the winners- just the reverse
of the reporting on the alleged GOP fraud in the U.S.

When reporting on the Ukraine, the photos that accompanied
the news articles showed pictures of the losing, pro-West
candidate, of the crowds supporting him, of Lech Walessa
shaking hands with him in Poland.   No such pictures
of the winning candidate, or his supporters. Without even
needing to misreport any actual facts, this technique creates
an impression that the pro-West candidate has more support,
is more important, and more legitimate.

In both cases, the media presentation made clear to reader
what conclusion should be drawn about the validity
(or lack thereof) of the elections, immediately after
the election was complete, and  well before any serious,
in-depth investigation had been conducted.

The American public should wake up to the fact they
are being manipulated by propaganda, serving the ends
of power-politics, practically every day.

Our CIA is notorious for having engaged  in rigging of
elections in smaller, Third-World countries.   This is an
admitted historical fact, not a "conspiracy theory".

It ought to produce a shiver, when a head of the
CIA was formerly the GOP campaign manager, as
was the case under Ronald Reagan, and William Casey.
 Similarly, it is dangerous to democracy when the new head of the
CIA is a former Republican Congressman, who is busily
stuffing the organization with fellow partisans.

Instead of the dismissing and insulting concerns
about the legitimacy of the last election, the media
should acknowledge that there are specific, concrete
measures to better ensure the honesty of future elections-
paper receipts mandated for all voters who want them,
open source computer programs, independent virus-scanning
software that can detect modifications of the programs,
etc.

The blatantly partisan CEOs of some of the key
suppliers of vote-counting computers should resign.
Their credibility is already compromised, for such things
as holding $1000-a-plate fundraisers for the GOP.
We need either entirely new suppliers, or at least bipartisan
teams to monitor every step of the manufacturing,
distribution, installation, and operation.

The GOP supporters can laugh about these concerns,
and not really care if there is fraud, but they should take
a note from the Ukraine.   When the people of a country
cannot be satisfied of the honesty of elections, it can eventually
lead the country into violent civil strife.

Resistance to obvious, simple suggestions for improving
security should be regarded by the public as signs of
probable malfeasance and dishonesty.

===========

in a second post, he added:

Another good thing in the art of propaganda- always,
always have a scapegoat.

If you stage a coup, and assassinate a President,
tthen have a Lee Harvey Oswald to take the blame, and
then have another 2-bit mobster assassinate the
scapegoat so he can't bleat too much information.

If you rig some vote-counting computers, then
misplace the blame by quoting some rigged polls
that  show "moral values" as the reason for the vote
turn-out.  It is a two-fer for advancing your agenda.

Remember that, too- it is even easier to rig polls
than to rig elections.

###

end of TK's comments
========================

The points made are true and very well stated. The US propaganda
system is truly spectacular. The billionaires who control it, the
major politicians and the nation are doing a great job of deceiving
the unsuspecting masses. It's incredibly to see and a great pity that
so many good, gullible and hard working Americans have been tricked
into believing that they are the luckiest people alive, here in the
"greatest nation" in the world. Of course that's exacty what most
would like to believe anyway.

Luckily with the internet, it is getting harder for the truth to be
hid from those who really want it.  TK's paper should help some in
these newsgroups to grasp the facts - or to at least consider them. A
google search on the keyphrase "bohemian grove" will be helpful to
some.

As many people know, the first step in solving any problem is
recognizing and defining the problem. For many of us, we have met the
enemy and it is us.

=======================
The American (and to a lesser extent the British) people's view of the
world is largely shaped by the most spectacular propaganda system of
all time.   Those who want to be aware of what's happening must stop
trusting the corporate American news media.
RH

Here are some good sources for news
(that are typically NOT  hogwash outlets like the major US networks)

http://AlterNet.org
http://Anti-War.com
http://caracasnews.com
http://www.CommonDreams.org
http://www.DemocracyNow.org
http://www.futurenet.org
http://www.gregpalast.com
http://www.independent.co.uk
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info

===========================================

In case you missed it...

Something is Terribly Wrong With the USA- 7 Minute Video

============

There is something terribly wrong with this country
7 Minute Video
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14615.htm

consists of some scenes from the movie V For Vendetta

good food for thought

pass it around!

=================================================

 The original terrorists in Iraq were the military and civilian
officials of the Bush administration -- starting with their "shock and
awe" bombing campaign that destroyed Iraqi infrastructure in order to
"undermine civilian morale." The American form of terrorism continued
with the wholesale destruction of most of Falluja and parts of other
Sunni cities, designed to pacify the "hot beds" of insurgency, while
teaching the residents of those areas that, if they "harbor the
insurgents," they will surely "suffer the consequences."

At the individual level, this program of terror was continued through
the invasions of, and demolishing of, homes (or, in some cases, parts
of neighborhoods) where insurgents were believed to be hidden among a
larger civilian population, thus spreading the "lesson" about
"harboring terrorists" to everyone in the Sunni sections of the
country. Generating a violent death rate of at least 18,000 per year,
the American drumbeat of terror has contributed more than its share to
the recently escalating civilian death toll, which reached a record
3,149 in the official count during July. It is unfortunately accurate
to characterize the American occupation of Sunni Iraq as a reign of
terror.
============
from:
http://www.TomDispatch.com/
7 Facts You Might Not Know about the Iraq War
by Michael Schwartz

===============================

Feel free to copy and spread this around... the American people can't
be expected to act intelligently until they know the truth about the
war criminals in the white house and pentagon.

================================

WAR PICTURES

Pictures of Destruction and Civilian Victims of the Anglo-American
Aggression in Iraq

These photos are only of a very tiny fraction of the thousands of Iraqi
Civilian Victims who have been terrorised, humiliated, injured, maimed
and killed through British and American bombing of civilian areas in
various cities of Iraq. Due to insecurity, independent reporters could
not and still can not reach many areas to photograph and report the
atrocities. Several independent reporters and journalists were
deliberately bombed to prevent them reporting the atrocities. We kindly
request Independent News Reporters to send us photos of the
Anglo-American atrocities in Iraq for inclusion on these pages.

Please note that some of these pictures are not suitable for small
children and those who have weak hearts.

Robert Fisk:
http://snipurl.com/h6tm

Mind Prod:
http://snipurl.com/h6tp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...With American influence at low ebb, the world is in danger of
sliding
into a vicious circle of escalating violence. We can escape it only if
we Americans repudiate the war on terror as a false metaphor. If we
persevere on the wrong course, the situation will continue to
deteriorate. It is not our will that is being tested, but our
understanding of reality. It is painful to admit that our current
predicaments are brought about by our own misconceptions. However, not
admitting it is bound to prove even more painful in the long run. The
strength of an open society lies in its ability to recognize and
correct its mistakes. This is the test that confronts us.

Excerpted from the  Wall Street Journal Tuesday, August 15, 2006
"A Self-Defeating War"
By George Soros

===================

The time for impeachment is now.
The time for warmongers and liars has past!
A good way to fight the real terrorists:
http://www.ImpeachBush.org

The Bush regime is a regime of imposters -  who cheated to get into the
White House.

----------------------------------------------------------

Some good sources for news
(warning - those who are accustomed to fox/cnn/and other establishment
approved hogwash outlets, probably won't like them)

http://www.commondreams.org/
http://democracynow.org/
http://alternet.org/
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info
http://www.independent.co.uk/
http://caracasnews.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk

 =================================================

In case you missed it:

EMPIRE OF SHAME, by Jean Ziegler
Book review by Luc Guillory

Well-known activist and writer Professor Jean Ziegler is the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Food and is also a senior Professor at the
University of Geneva and the University of Sorbonne, Paris. He teaches
sociology and has written many books, including books about hunger. In
his book L'Empire de la Honte (Empire of Shame), he explains the
mechanisms which enable multinational corporations to behave like new
feudal rulers, and how they use debt as a weapon of mass destruction to
force national governments and their populations to give up their
sovereignty and freedom for the sake of vested interests.

"Eu tenho cola, porque no tenho vida - I have glue [to sniff]
because I have no life," a little girl in Recife, Brazil, told Jean
Ziegler while he was investigating the impact of debt and hunger in
that country. The reality of hungry or ill children with no hope,
future, education or family life can be directly attributed to the
country's foreign debt and its relations with rich countries and
multinational businesses, Ziegler says.

Between 1964 and 1985 Brazil's debt increased by 50 per cent due to
military expenditure incurred under the pretext of protecting
"national security". Foreign investors were offered incentives like
tax cuts and other financial benefits but since Brazil could not make
such provisions it was forced to become financially dependent on the
IMF, the Eximbank (an agency of the US government providing aid in
financing and facilitating imports and exports), and other private
Western banks.

Debt trap

In 1979, the USA raised its interest rates, and Brazil fell into the
debt crisis trap of having to take new loans in order to be able to pay
off interest on previous loans. Years later, President Fernando Cardoso
chose to raise interest rates in Brazil to attract desperately needed
foreign capital. The immediate impact on small businesses was
catastrophic; unable to get access to credit, they had to cut back on
their activities and dismiss employees. Worse still, the rise in
interest rates fuelled speculation. Both foreign and Brazilian
investors took personal loans at high interest rates in order to buy
Brazilian government bonds.

As the Brazilian crisis deepened, Western banks and Wall Street became
concerned about their investments and assets in Brazilian agriculture,
industry and services. To end the downward spiral the IMF stepped in
with the biggest bail-out ever - credit worth US$30 billion in 2002.
(Ironically, just a short while before that, the IMF had refused
Argentina a similar rescue package.)

A combination of "heavy Wall Street pressure" plus the IMF rescue
deal increased the pressure on the Brazilian government for further
privatizations in mines, telecommunications and the petrol and
electricity industries. Unemployment rocketted and billions of
dollars' worth of national assets were sold off to multinational
corporations.

The 'conditionality' of the loans granted by the IMF was that the
Brazilian government undertook to maintain economic growth at 3.75 per
cent per year. This guaranteed creditors that Brazil would be able to
pay back its debt and interest. As a direct consequence, social
spending budgets were inevitably slashed and the welfare of the poorest
sections of the population was sacrificed to debt servicing.

Shockingly, the Brazilian case is not unique but can be found again and
again in various countries and guises throughout the world, says
Professor Ziegler. He provides ample illustration throughout his book,
with a wide variety of concrete and detailed cases, from Mongolia to
Ethiopia and other heavily indebted nations. Each case, though
different in its pattern, ends in a similar outcome: increased poverty
and millions of homeless, deprived people.

New feudal powers

What is behind this phenomenon of whole countries going bankrupt and
being forced to sacrifice the well-being of their own populations to
foreign financial institutions?

According to Ziegler, the multinational corporations are the new feudal
powers. Their purpose is to maximize profits - whatever the human and
national cost in lost jobs, crippled welfare systems and virtually
non-existent public spending. They aim to eliminate national controls
and "social obstacles", thereby gaining control of the wealth of
individual countries.

To achieve their aims they deliberately cause a scarcity of services,
of capital and assets, so as to gain control of the global economic
system. By way of illustration: in 1964 the global debt of the 122
developing nations was $54 billion; today it is $2,000 billion. At the
same time, the net profitability of the 500 most powerful
transcontinental corporations is 15 per cent per year. According to
Standard & Poors, the financial reserves maintained by the 374 biggest
corporations amount to some $555 billion. Despite this they continue to
cause job and wage cuts and limit social spending.

Weapon of mass destruction

In 2003, the international 'aid' received by 122 developing
countries totalled $54 billion; debt repayment from those developing
countries back to the donor countries was a massive $436 billion. Debt,
Ziegler says, is the new weapon of mass destruction that the modern
feudal powers use to enslave whole countries.

The well-known British NGO Jubilee 2000 has calculated that every five
seconds a child dies because of debt. Indebted governments of the South
borrow loans with interest rates five to seven times higher than those
on the financial markets. Just the annual servicing of this debt
prevents them from making any investment in public schools, hospitals
and social security, while police and military budgets are maintained,
to protect the foreign investments, says Ziegler. Between 1992 and
1997, Cameroon allocated 4 per cent of its budget to social services,
but 36 per cent to debt repayment. In Kenya it was 12 per cent and 40
per cent and in Zambia 6 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

Although most of these countries keep up with their repayments, their
external debt keeps on growing. There are several reasons for the
continuous increase in their debt:

· most countries produce raw materials but import industrial
equipment, the cost of which has risen enormously in the last 20 years;
· rampant corruption has led elites, with the connivance of Western
banks, to indulge in organized corrupt practices;
· astronomical profits, although made by businesses in developing
countries, are controlled by shareholders from rich industrialized
countries and sent back to the West. These profits are usually not
transferred in the local currency but in US dollars or other major
international currencies;
· most multinational companies in Developing World countries hold
patents and receive royalties which are also transferred to the West.

This, Ziegler explains, is how developing countries lose their ability
to provide for themselves. Their sources of income are stolen by
Western creditors. In the 1970s, Latin America's total foreign debt
was $60 billion. In 1980, it was $240 billion, and in 2001 it reached
$750 billion. Each individual in Latin America owes, on average, $2,250
to their Western creditors.

Ziegler shows that the gap seems to be widening. Forty years ago, he
says, some 400 million people were permanently underfed. Today, their
number has more than doubled - to a staggering 842 million people.
Meanwhile, the Return on Equity (ROE) of the 500 most powerful
transnational companies has remained at a steady 15 per cent level in
the US since 2001. Global capitalism, Ziegler explains, has reached a
stage where it now experiences a constant economic growth without
job-creation and almost no increase in the purchasing power of
consumers.

What Ziegler points up is that this issue is not simply about profit
and loss, interest rates and investment. It is about endemic violence,
hunger and death in countries that are pillaged and broken in this way.
In 2002, it is estimated that 4,000 children were killed on the streets
of Brazilian cities. The lack of education, of adequate housing and
food, the denial of access to healthcare, to paid jobs and security, as
well as the loss of personal autonomy, forces huge numbers of people
into purposeless lives.

War to serve global feudal rulers

But Ziegler goes a step further. Politics, he says, is exploited to
serve the financial interests of giant conglomerates. The war waged by
the US-led coalition in Iraq had a very important strategic purpose:
not only does Iraq have the world's second largest oil reserves but,
thanks to its particular geology, the oil reserves are only a few
metres from the surface. To produce a barrel of crude oil in Texas
costs $10; in Iraq the same barrel costs less than $1 to produce.

Quoting The New York Times, Ziegler says that in the first quarter of
2004 the net profits of the seven foremost American oil companies grew
by 43 per cent. Similarly, other big corporations in military
electronics and weapons have experienced skyrocketting profits due to
the permanent 'war on terror' waged by the American administration.

Can the indebted countries rebel against the domination of the IMF,
asks Ziegler? No, he answers, because each time they appeal to the IMF,
they have to write a 'letter of intent' in which they literally
give up their sovereignty for the sake of the creditors. There is a
conscious underlying strategy of the 'cosmocrats' to maintain those
at the bottom in utter poverty, so as to make colossal profits. The
continuation of this system of usury relies on the permanent
enslavement of whole nations.

The French revolution of 1789 was a step on the journey towards
political democracy, and a partial source of inspiration for the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. In the 20th century, the
United Nations tried to secure universal peace; substantial progress
has been made in many areas of human endeavour. But we are now facing
the most brutal attack on the people's sovereignty by the new feudal
lords. Quoting Gracchus Baboeuf, one of the leading figures of the
French Revolution and head of the revolutionary group 'Conspiracy of
the Equals', Ziegler concludes that we have to "look for the common
good", and recognize that the right to happiness, dignity, food and
freedom are basic and essential to mankind. This will require the
complete transformation of society.

Jean Ziegler, L'Empire de la Honte. Editions Fayard, Paris, France.

Copied from the March 2006 issue of Share International magazine
http://www.shareintl.org/magazine/SI_current.htm#review

-------------------------------------
Quotes from Jean Ziegler:

"In a world overflowing with riches, it is an outrageous scandal that
more than 826 million people suffer hunger and malnutrition and that
every year over 36 million die of starvation and related causes. We
must take urgent action now."
Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur

In 2003, the international 'aid' received by 122 developing
countries totalled $54 billion; debt repayment from those developing
countries back to the donor countries was a massive $436 billion.

Forty years ago some 400 million people were permanently underfed.
Today, their number has more than doubled - to a staggering 842
million people.

-------------

In Case you missed this...

CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN
How the U.S. Uses Globalization to
Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions

(A NY Times Best Seller!)

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/31/1546207

Watch/Listen to an hourlong interview with John Perkins, a former
respected member of the international banking community. In his book
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man he describes how as a highly paid
professional, he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe
out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could
possibly repay and then taking over their economies. John Perkins
describes himself as a former economic hit man - a highly paid
professional who cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of
dollars.

20 years ago Perkins began writing a book with the working title,
"Conscience of an Economic Hit Men."

Perkins writes, "The book was to be dedicated to the presidents of two
countries, men who had been his clients whom I respected and thought of
as kindred spirits - Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador, and Omar
Torrijos, president of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes.
Their deaths were not accidental. They were assassinated because they
opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads
whose goal is global empire. We Economic Hit Men failed to bring
Roldós and Torrijos around, and the other type of hit men, the
CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behind us, stepped in.

John Perkins goes on to write: "I was persuaded to stop writing that
book. I started it four more times during the next twenty years. On
each occasion, my decision to begin again was influenced by current
world events: the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1980, the first Gulf War,
Somalia, and the rise of Osama bin Laden. However, threats or bribes
always convinced me to stop."

But now Perkins has finally published his story. The book is titled
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

Watch and/or listen to the interview
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/31/1546207
read excerpt:
http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/interviews/188

===================

The truth will set us free!

(from allegience to corrupt politicians who kiss the asses of the
obscenely rich while pissing on the peasants at home and abroad, and
all the horrificly miserable wars and poverty that they create).

=============

http://veteransforpeace.org/

==============

"...mankind [will advance] into a civilization and a state of
consciousness in which  right human relations and worldwide
cooperation for the good of all will be the  universal keynote."
Djwhal Khul