I am Not a Terrorist

Are you party to the crime?

2006-03-08T07:03:00.000-06:00

A crime has been committed against the citizens of America and it has been perpetrated by those we've trusted to represent us.

H.R. 3199 (USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005) continues to violate the very ideals that America was founded on. Those in Congress who voted in favor of this dictatorial piece of legislation have become traitors to the American people and those of us who choose to remain silent or uninformed on this issue are just as guilty.

This is an election year and many of those voting for this treacherous act are up for re-election. If you can't find the courage to speak out against the destruction of America at least make the effort to vote against those who have made it illegal to speak and read freely.

You may feel secure, but are your freedoms?

Only three that care about America?

2006-02-16T18:53:00.000-06:00

Once again praise is given to those who stand up for every American, once again that number is embarrassing low. Certain members of Congress seem intent on twisting wording in the USA PATRIOT Act to a point where there is more confusion about it than there was before. An amendment that claimed to clarify certain things actually made things more convoluted and actually adds more restrictions. Three Brave Senators stood up against this in an attempt to lengthen the debate on the kluge USA PATRIOT Act. These Senators seem to know that adding more bubblegum to the problem doesn’t resolve the problem.

Take a moment to thank these Brave Senators:

Byrd (D-WV)
Feingold (D-WI)
Jeffords (I-VT)

Is Senator Feingold the only one that Loves America?

2006-02-03T07:37:00.000-06:00

Once again the Brave Senator from Wisconsin has stood up for American Freedoms and was the Lone Vote against the Dictatorial USA PATRIOT Act.

95 of the other senators voted to extend the removal of our freedoms and liberties until 10 March 2006. This should scare every American, Why aren't our Senators doing their job? Why is Senator Feingold the only Senator with a backbone on this issue?

Americans need to speak up or be forever silenced by this administration.

To be afraid to stand your ground

2006-01-31T19:30:00.000-06:00

Did Alito scare you? He should...

Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)
Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
Joseph Lieberman (D-CT)
Joseph Biden (D-DE)
Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)

Barack Obama (D-IL)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Mark Dayton (D-MN)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Harry Reid (D-NV)
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
James Jeffords (I-VT)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
John Rockefeller (D-WV)

If your Senator isn't highlighted then they bailed on you when you needed them. But I guess it's not as bad as the cowards that aren't listed.

Call your Senators and let them know you're watching them and if they aren't highlighted they might as well have voted in favor of what they acted like they were voting against.

We aren't dogs and we refuse to accept the bones tossed our way in a feeble attempt to keep us quite.

If You Love America... Alito Nomination

2006-01-24T14:27:00.000-06:00

If you love America you’ll let your Senators know. Tell them to stop their traitorous actions, illegal dealings, and favoritism of those who condone those actions.

After watching the judicial committee's review of the Samuel Alito nomination I found it clear that a number of Senators choose not to take their position seriously and instead of ensuring a nomination for the highest court in the land is qualified they decided to make excuses for his past transgressions. They've shown they care nothing for America or the protection of its citizens.

I oppose Judge Alito because his honesty is drawn into question. Instead of answering certain questions he seemed to prefer sidetracking them instead. Though his supporters all seemed to say the same thing about him, "he's a nice guy", none seemed to be able to look at him from a non-relational perspective.

I don't want a "nice guy" on the Supreme Court; I want an honest, qualified judge that understands that racism, sexism, and cronyism are all wrong. I think Judge Alito showed that he could not be impartial to certain issues and this was glaringly clear when asked about the current administration (and its violations), Roe v Wade, and why he refused to recuse himself from cases that he had an interest in.

If the Judicial Committee was doing its job Judge Alito would not even be the topic of this note. It’s a dark day in America when those we trust with high positions decide they don’t need to perform their job because they’re such slaves to a party. Every Senator on that committee that refused to ask hard questions of Judge Alito or criticized those that did has turned their back on America and its citizens. A Supreme Court nomination should not be about partisan politics but most of those who voted in favor of Judge Alito made it into a partisan issue.

Send your comments to the senate floor by using this form:
http://www.johnkerry.com/action/alito/

Here is the list of Pro-American Senators:

Biden	Durbin	Feingold
Feinstein	Kennedy	Kohl
Leahy	Schumer

Now will we impeach gwb?

2006-01-04T15:01:00.000-06:00

The following reasons are things we all should have heard about by now:

The Bush administration lied to the people and Congress about the justifications for going to war in Iraq.
It has now been revealed that Bush, like Nixon three decades ago, has carried out an illegal wiretapping program against the people of this country.
Bush has chosen "cronyism" over competence and in doing so has negligently caused the deaths of over ten thousand Americans domestically and abroad. From 9/11, to Hurricane Katrina, to the war in Iraq there is clear evidence that he and his administration have ignored people that were competent and presented ways to avoid losing American lives. This "cronyism" shows a gross case of criminal negligence.

These are serious offenses which constitute High Crimes and Misdemeanors. I urge you to support impeachment immediately, in order to save the Constitution. Please contact your legislatures and ask them to support any investigation into these matters.

Those who voted against PATRIOT Act reauthorization are for freedom

2005-12-16T17:29:00.000-06:00

Please take a moment to thank these Senators. For Senators not on the list, urge them to get their head out their ass.

Senators who voted against cloture and for freedom:

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Clinton (D-NY)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Craig (R-ID)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Frist (R-TN) ???
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT) ???
Lincoln (D-AR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Sununu (R-NH)
Wyden (D-OR)

Don’t know their number? Call 1-800-SOB-USOB (1-800-762-8762)

???? = Are they running for re-election or something… Thank them anyway…

Just Back from Gitmo in time for Christmas...

2005-12-16T16:41:00.000-06:00

And I hear that there has been a war declared on Christmas. Well I for one plan on giving everyone on my list a special DVD that can be purchased here:
Wal-Mart documentary

Just imagine having that in your stocking.

For the rest of America I plan to spread the gift of freedom & knowledge by sending a check to:
The Foundation Foundation
6040 E Rose Circle Drive
Phoenix, AZ. 85018

Check out their site - http://www.mybillofrights.org

Heroes, Protecting the American Dream?

2005-03-10T14:47:00.000-06:00

Akaka (D-HI)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)

Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Mikulski (D-MD)

Murray (D-WA)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Wyden (D-OR)

Though one cowardly voted for Cloture on this legislation they came to their senses and voted against this irresponsible piece of legislation, but some of those once listed as Heroes have joined the cowards that are easily bought by those who wish to destroy America.
I've made it easy for us to watch the America Lovers. The ones in Green are the ones that appear to love America. The ones in Blue are the ones we need to keep an eye on but seem more in tune with America than others. In short we need to watch our Senators and demand they vote to represent America and the State we live in. View their voting records at senate.gov so that you can hold them accountable.

31 Heroes?
Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Clinton (D-NY) Corzine (D-NJ) Dayton (D-MN)* Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND)	Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI)	Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Obama (D-IL) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Wyden (D-OR)

Calling them what they are, Heroes. If you don't see your cowardly Senators on this list call and chastise them for abandoning America.

The above Senators Honorably stood up for Americans, our brave troops, and the constituents they represent with a vote against an irresponsible piece of legislation that will ensure the poor get poorer and the rich will follow. If your Senators are not listed then perhaps they support Terrorists.

* Once again Senator Boxer has shown her dedication to the American people and in spite of many in America who wish to show their ignorance to the issues it is good to know we have devoted soldiers like her in America’s struggle to remain a beacon of Liberty & Freedom. Support Barbara Boxer for President in 2008.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid...

2005-02-22T17:16:00.000-06:00

Bush: Talk of US attack on Iran are "ridiculous" --Feb. 22, 2005
"US President [sic] George W. Bush on Tuesday forcefully dismissed the idea that Washington is planning to attack Iran to keep the government in Tehran from developing nuclear arms. 'This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous,' Bush told reporters after he met for 90 minutes at a summit meeting with the 25 European Union leaders. 'Having said that, all options are on the table.'" http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1109042628893

Bush, Schroeder Say No Concrete Plans to Attack Iraq --May 23, 2002
"President [sic] Bush says there are 'no war plans on my desk' for dealing with the threat posed by Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, but that 'we've got to use all means at our disposal to deal with Saddam Hussein.' Speaking at a press availability with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the garden of the Chancellery in Berlin May 23, Bush said, 'I appreciate the German Chancellor's understanding of the threats of weapons of mass destruction. And they're real.' 'I promise consultations with our close friend and ally. We will exert a unified diplomatic pressure. We will share intelligence,' the President added."
http://www.usembassy.it/file2002_05/alia/a2052302.htm

Find more articles that King George would rather you not see go to: http://www.legitgov.org.

The few & the proud, a list of America lovers.

2005-02-03T19:33:00.000-06:00

Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
*Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Clinton (D-NY)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)

Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)

Levin (D-MI)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wyden (D-OR)

The above Senators Honorably stood up for Americans, our brave troops, and the constituents they represent with a vote against an irresponsible person that has now been confirmed as Attorney General. If your Senators are not listed then perhaps they support Terrorists.

A list of NON Terrorists

2005-01-26T11:33:00.000-06:00

California
Boxer (D) No.

Hawaii
Akaka (D) No.

Illinois
Durbin (D) No.

Indiana
Bayh (D) No.

Iowa
Harkin (D) No.

Massachusetts
Kennedy (D) No; Kerry (D) No.

Michigan
Levin (D) No.

Minnesota
Dayton (D) No.

New Jersey
Lautenberg (D) No.

Rhode Island
Reed (D) No.

Vermont
Jeffords (I) No.

West Virginia
Byrd (D) No.

The above Senators Honorably stood up for Americans, our brave troops, and the constituents they represent with a vote against an irresponsible person that has now been confirmed as Secretary of State. If your Senators are not on the list then they must not care about you or America and may be Terrorists.

Who's Next?

2004-12-12T21:00:00.000-06:00

Afghanistan - Iraq - ?

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Chapter One - The Wag The Dog Story

2004-12-01T04:00:00.000-06:00

Chapter One

Wag The Dog, like any good satire, succeeds because it reveals a hidden truth by detailing hypocrisy in life. The project began with the novel American Hero, a satirical thriller that proposes President George Bush faked the Gulf War to bolster his mediocre presidency.

Author Larry Beinhart supports his fable with sources ranging from studies like Triumph Without Victory to articles from The Nation. Beinhart's conclusion: the presentation of the Gulf War to the public were highly suspicious, the pageantry too great and so full of showmanship that it cast doubt on the event's actual occurrence.

Occasionally, a satire is so close to the truth that the events satirized are soon produced in real life. However, the release of Wag The Dog was uncannily timing. Just as the movie was released, a media storm was ignited when President Clinton was accused of having an affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The picture of Lewinsky hugging the President at a rally was so strikingly similar to the photograph of Wag The Dog's President hugging a "Firefly Girl" that audiences were left wondering if the moviemakers knew something they didn't.

In fact, updating the movie from the Gulf War to the Clinton White House shows simply that the filmmakers had their fingers on the pulse of America.

Chapter Two - Hollywood & the Media: Beginnings

2004-12-01T03:30:00.000-06:00

Chapter Two

The main premise of Wag The Dog (creating a war in the press) is not as unusual as one might think. Nor is its second premise, that Washington would hire Hollywood to do it. Publisher William Randolph Hearst created the Spanish-American War partly for public consumption.

"You supply the photographs, I'll supply the war," he told his reporters when he headlined the rumor of the Spanish sabotage of an American ship in the Havana harbor. That rumor launched a war that netted the U.S. the Philippines and made America a world power; it also helped elect Teddy Roosevelt president.

The line between news and propaganda has always been a thin one. During World War I, the U.S. government hired director D.W. Griffith to "document" the war. The only filmmaker allowed on the front lines, Griffith staged and filmed several battle sequences that he brought back as newsreels to help the war effort.

During the Bolshevik Revolution, Russian filmmakers including Eisenstein and Vertov worked with Editor Esther Schub to create attacks on imperialist culture by re-editing Western newsreels with footage shot of the Czars at leisure. The filmmakers inverted the meaning of the original footage to create their own political broadsides.

In World War II, Frank Capra headed a team of prominent Hollywood directors employed by the government to produce newsreels. Using Russian techniques, Capra reedited German and Japanese propaganda footage to create pro-Allies newsreels for his "Why We Fight" series.

But filmmaking about the war produced a new awareness of fact versus fiction. One of the most brilliant films to come out of the war was director John Huston's documentary The Battle Of San Pietro, which Huston Internationally begins with the title card "Shot at the Front Lines." Aware that audiences were becoming suspicious of staged footage, Huston took the stance that actual footage would have affected morale no less than manufactured propaganda.

It was Hitler and Goebbels who realized the important role propaganda would play in wartime. They understood early that by combining staged events with a charged narration; audiences could be swayed beyond reason through their emotions. By manufacturing documentaries of enormous Pro-Nazi rallies, by the now legendary German director Leni Reifenstahl, they turned German people into a mass of common visionaries who would, as Goebbels put it, "obey a law they did not even know but which they could recite in their dreams."

Chapter Three - Capra's America

2004-12-01T03:00:00.000-06:00

Chapter Three

During the Great Depression, Hollywood battled America's harsh realities with a combination of mindless entertainment and revealing satires. Frank Capra, working with screenwriter Robert Riskin, created some of the most compelling comedies about the battle between corporate greed, corrupt politicians and the common man for the soul of America. Their incision of a satirical scalpel into the workings of our country was more telling than any news report. Together, they created some of the most lasting images of an ideal America: capable of justice, able to right all wrongs.

In Meet John Doe, a gullible Gary Cooper is turned into a media puppet and used to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from an unsuspecting public. Realizing what's happening, Cooper is brought to the point of suicide just before Barbara Stanwyck talks him down. In Mr. Smith Goes To Washington Jimmy Stewart becomes a senator who discovers political corruption and fights it with the help of an army of newspaper delivery boys.

Cynical handlers and corrupt politicians seem all too familiar today, but in the politically charged '30's; it might have seemed more of a revelation. In Capra's movie-world, it was also possible that there would be salvation, that there was hope for change.

Hollywood has been reporting with vehemence on its journalistic brethren since the dawn of movies. Perhaps the most famous is Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday, a remake of The Front Page; it is a relentless send-up of the insensitive fourth estate, shamelessly selling papers about human suffering.

Chapter Four - Citizen Kane

2004-12-01T02:30:00.000-06:00

Chapter Four

Orson Welles knew the value of the Russian editing techniques and their impact on newsreels. In Citizen Kane, the story of a Hearst-like character is framed by the story of a news service trying to get the "truth" of Kane's life. The opening scene is an editorial meeting, with journalists looking for the right angles or leads to make their newsreel sing.

The movie follows them into the field. What the newsmen discover is Kane's misuse of power and compromised ideals through his national web of newspapers and radio stations. They reveal a dark soulless wizard who could not comprehend what he was doing. Isolated by a mountain of pointless wealth, Kane dies a lonely, confused man.

It's the great American story. Interestingly, although the reporters discover the truth, they decide that it is not enough of a hook to hold the audience. They kill the story.

Chapter Five - The 50's: Film Noir

2004-12-01T02:00:00.000-06:00

Chapter Five

Welles' dark vision in Citizen Kane was a harbinger of things to come in American movies, but World War II interrupted the evolution. The explosion of atomic bombs reverberate America forever. Victory had a dark price-an undercurrent of cynicism and uncertainty that bordered on despair.

Hollywood's response was film noir, a genre populated by hapless detectives and down-on-their-luck ex-cons trapped in an immoral world. These B-films dove more deeply into the soul of America than any A-picture, uncovering more disconcerting images of an alienated society than many cared to see.

The prosperous 1950's were ushered in by the McCarthy hearings. These witch-hunts provided the country with an enormous dose of paranoia that was broadcast as the first television news spectacle. These hearings were ignored by Hollywood A-pictures, but not by the noir tradition, which stayed at the front lines of this paranoia and political intrigue.

Some filmmakers would return to skewering the press and the media, especially television, to warn the American public that what was happening in their papers and on the evening news could have dire consequences.

Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole features Kirk Douglas as an out-of-luck reporter struggling to get back into the major leagues of journalism. When a local mine disaster traps a miner, Douglas keeps him there to milk the situation for headlines. The miner dies, but not before the tabloid culture is exposed as uncaring manipulators. On the cusp between an era governed by newspapers and controlled by television, TV crews were only on the film's periphery.

Elia Kazan's A Face In The Crowd, scripted by Budd Schulberg, takes us into the world of radio and television. A charming rural gospel singer, played by Andy Griffith, is discovered by a group of ruthless broadcasters who give him a pulpit on national TV. As his popularity grows, so do his power and lust for control. The film planted a seed of doubt in viewers' minds about the power of television, making it impossible to look at preachers and politicians in the same way again.

Chapter Six - The 60's: The Whole World is Watching

2004-12-01T01:30:00.000-06:00

Chapter Six

By the early 1960's, television's ability to bring awareness to current events had eclipsed movies' ability to deliver news. Primaries, conventions and even space travel were happening on TV, not in the movies.

Documentary film crews began gaining access to the behind-the-scene aspects of politicking. Cinema-verite crews led by Robert Drew, Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker brought us reports from the political front, showing the battles being fought by Kennedy, Humphrey and Goldwater. But once politicians recognized the enormous power of the media to shape an election, this access was quickly terminated, not to be revived until the Clinton era.

Movies responded by creating fictional realities that portrayed the disastrous possibilities of the age. John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate captures the fever of anti-Communism that still lingered from the 50's. The film features brainwashed GIs trained to kill at the sight of a playing card. The movie shifts into an almost documentary mode. Made before the assassination of President Kennedy, the film was too prophetic ending with an assassination at a political convention.

The assassination of Kennedy combined with the escalation of the Vietnam War destroyed what was left of a promise of a happier future, turning the decade into one of violence and paranoia that left the country divided. It got worse. The revolution may not have been televised, but the assassinations of Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were competing with mass murders for slots on prime-time news.

Vietnam was the first "living-room war," as Michael Arlen pointed out in The New Yorker. The evening news had turned the very real, horrifying drama of war into an episodic movie, a cliffhanger every night. This had an immediate, profound effect on society.

Lyndon Johnson's dilemma over whether to run again for president was complicated by both the public perception of the war being created by television and by the perception of him created by angry protesters, who were also broadcast on the news. It was a pageant, with the tragic downfall of a leader at its center.

"The whole world was watching" the violent Democratic convention in Chicago via television. To keep up with the news, moviemakers were inspired to bring the real world into their stories.

Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool combined actual reporting of the convention with a scripted story. It was story, a satire and a documentary. It was also a seething indictment of the media's indifference to social upheaval and political strife.

Chapter Seven - The 70's: The Return of Film Noir

2004-12-01T01:00:00.000-06:00

Chapter Seven

In the 70's, the paranoia that had defined 60's politics deepened into an atmosphere in films where satire was buried and film noir returned framed within political thrillers like The Parallax View and Winter Kills.

Films made in the more traditional noir genre like Chinatown, Night Moves, Klute, and Three Days Of The Condor were suffused with political awareness bordering on hopelessness. And All The President's Men was history as noir!

Two films took the media to task: Capricorn One, about the disastrous fabrication of the first manned landing on Mars, and Network. Network was Sidney Lumet's wake-up call that media itself was spinning out of control. The prophetic film centers on an anchorman gone mad, who is kept on the air to bolster ratings. Network defined an era and is a clear predecessor to Wag The Dog.

When the film's refrain, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," is shouted from the rooftops, it is the last time for years that movies make such an overt statement.

Watergate created a political void in America. Hal Ashby's Being There recognized that void in a brilliant send-up of the media's and public's ability to distinguish a bona fide president from a simple gardener. We had lost our ability to challenge preconceptions once those preconceptions became "news."

Chapter Eight - The 80's: An Actor in the Whitehouse

2004-12-01T00:30:00.000-06:00

Chapter Eight

Ronald Reagan ushered in an era in which the evils so many films warned us about not only came true, but were embraced. The 80's were A Face In The Crowd starring Chauncey Gardiner. Perhaps this was made possible by a new generation of reporters and politicians who were no longer looking at each other like strangers, but as classmates agreeing not to tell on each other.

Reagan's "common man" act, consisting of sound bites and a lack of real information, created self-promoting imagery that was too often mistaken for news.

By the time the Iran-Contra scandal broke, the public and Congress were too weak and too numb to pull the trigger the way they had with Vietnam and Watergate. By attributing the most revealing information to alarmist left-wingers, the press watered down Iran-Contra to a war between kooks and crooks, concluding that there wasn't much you could do about either of them.

Chapter Nine - The 90's: Truth, Justice, and Special Effects

2004-12-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

Chapter Nine

With modern computer and video technologies, it is now possible to electronically composite reporters on virtual sets, even virtual locations. The war may be raging around them, but the reporter is actually safe in a studio.

The traditional static graphics behind the newsreaders can be replaced with movie-like opening credit sequences. Smart bombs can carry nose cameras. No casualties are displayed. No enemy is seen. The war has a beginning, a middle and an end, and the good guys always win. It is easy to doubt the messages from the media because news seems so "produced".

As technology has improved, the gathering and analysis of news has become less detailed and meaningful. Reports in our era are truncated to headlines offset by sound bites, and no story on television is much longer than 74 seconds. The near absence of analysis prevents questioning those headlines or challenging the sound bites. The quantity of the same headlines on countless channels is overwhelming, and the quality is numbing.

By the time the 1992 presidential campaign was underway, independent filmmakers were responding to the widespread acceptance of media truths by documenting the ways in which stories were being disseminated by the candidates themselves.

In documentaries like The War Room and Feed, filmmakers pulled the curtain back and revealed a ragged wizard made out of spin doctors, satellite feeds and savvy politicians, all contributing to a circus of information over which no one had any real control. Out of this, a new and refreshing cynicism was born.

In Wag The Dog, Brean is relying on a disinterested public. He knows that if he can just entertain them, he can distract them from the actual events. He knows they will never explore the realities because they rely on a press hell-bent on ratings and compromised by its entertainment values.

Perhaps one of the reasons Wag The Dog might have more validity than the live television coverage of the Gulf War or the Monica Lewinsky story is that we, the audience, know we are watching a story. We know that this is not meant to be real, but that it is about reality. The filmmakers have taken time to slow down the speeding information that flies at us from our televisions and shape it into something more meaningful.

The (Thin) Line Between Truth & Fiction Index

2004-12-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

Index

Chapter One - The Wag The Dog Story
Chapter Two - Hollywood & the Media: Beginnings
Chapter Three - Capra's America
Chapter Four - Citizen Kane
Chapter Five - The 50's: Film Noir
Chapter Six - The 60's: The Whole World is Watching
Chapter Seven - The 70's: The Return of Film Noir
Chapter Eight - The 80's: An Actor in the Whitehouse
Chapter Nine - The 90's: Truth, Justice, and Special Effects

May the Farce be with you.

2004-11-19T04:00:00.000-06:00

Gwb became the supreme ruler of the most powerful tyrannical regime the world had ever witnessed, yet his roots are extremely humble, traced back to the peaceful state of Connecticut.
Before his rise to power, Gwb was an unassuming and unmotivated Governor of Texas. Gwb saw the Republic crumbling about him, torn apart by partisan bickering and corruption. All too common were unscrupulous Senators taking advantage of the system, growing fat and wealthy on a bureaucracy too slow to catch them.
Gwb's moment of opportunity came as a result of a terrorist attack. The al-Qeada, in protest of American measures that have blocked and invaded countries in the Middle East, attacked America. New York City's Mayor, Rudi Giuliani, called for Gwb's aid. Together, the two pleaded to the Senate for intervention, only to see their request stalemated by filibustering. Frustrated by the government's inability to do anything, Mayor Giuliani acted upon Gwb's suggestion, and called for a Vote of No Confidence in the Republic's leadership.
Many defenders of freedom were voted out of office, and Gwb loyalists were soon selected to succeed them. The crisis on 9/11 prompted a strong sympathy vote, and Gwb’s supporters filled the House and Senate. Again Gwb promised to reunite the disaffected, and bring order and justice to the government.
Despite his promises, the Republic continued to be mired in strife and chaos. A term after his selection, Gwb's Presidency was faced with the challenge of a popular Separatist movement led by the charismatic leader, Ralph Nader, who secretly was working to propagate Gwb’s agenda. Gwb also wished to resolve the conflict started by his father. Many in the world feared that the conflict would escalate to full-scale warfare, but Gwb was adamant that the crisis could be resolved by negotiation.

The Separatists didn't agree. Upon the discovery of a secret plans to attack Iraq, it became apparent that Gwb was on the verge of brining the Republic to war against and unarmed nation. But Gwb required the authority to activate the Republic's army. To that end, Senators loyal to Gwb motioned that the President be given emergency powers to deal with the Terrorist threat.
With spoken regrets, Gwb accepted the new mantle of power. He promised to return his absolute authority to the Senate after the emergency subsided. What no one realized was that the world would undergo further upheaval, and that a state of crisis would ensure Gwb's authority for decades.
The indications of his future regime were subtle at first. Gwb's first term as President ended during the rise of the Terrorists, but that crisis allowed him to extend his stay in office. Once the Gulf Wars erupted, the Senate's inability to efficiently wage war on scattered fronts forced him to enact executive decree after executive decree. He added amendments to the constitution funneling more power to him, effectively circumventing the bureaucracy of the Senate.
The public and the Senate willingly gave up their rights and freedoms in the name of security. Under Gwb's guidance, the war would be won, and the Republic would be safe. The monstrous specter of Osama Bin Laden leading an assault ensured that few questioned Gwb's growing authority.
The CIA was among the wary. As an instrument of the Senate and the people, the CIA resisted Gwb's direct control. This tension grew as the war escalated. Some in the Senate also quietly whispered their misgiving. Gwb knew of a delegation of concerned Senators, and he would deal with them in time.
Gwb instituted a military build-up unprecedented in world history. He created the New World Order, an Empire that he ruled by tyranny. The CIA, his biggest threat, were extinguished by one of his greatest dark side pupils: Porter Goss, who had become Director of the CIA.
During America’s next Civil War, Gwb rules with an iron fist. He disbands the US Senate, and passes control down to the regional governors and the military. During the Middle East campaign, Gwb expressed to Cheney (aka Vader) his concerns over John Edwards, a young looking Senator powerful in the Force. Vader suggested that the two convert the youthful looking Senator to the dark side of the Force, an idea the Emperor seconded.
The Emperor was a scheming ruler, planning events far in the future, using the Force to foresee the results. Gwb allowed Rebel spies to learn of the fraud of the second election, and foresaw their strike team and fleet assault, lead by Bev Harris. Gwb crafted an elaborate trap that was to be the end of the Rebellion. He also concentrated on converting John Edwards to the dark side of the Force, even at the expense of sacrificing Vader. Edwards refused the Emperor's newfound dark side power, and so Gwb used his deadly Force lightning to attack the young looking Senator. Edwards almost died in the assault, but Vader returned to the light side of the Force, and hurled the Emperor into the Diebold tabulation core, killing him.
Gwb was a gnarled, man. A chimp-looking human, he had pale skin, and searing, sickly yellow eyes. He wore a dark suit, and had perverted laugh.

Thanks goes to:
Aaron McGruder
Alex Jones
George Lucas

America, This One's For You!

2004-11-16T20:11:00.000-06:00

For all you whiners about the elections, complainers about voting discrepancies, and non-believers in gwb; This one's for you.

Shame I'm included in that generalization, but America needs a wake-up call. Who in their right mind would have voted for the person in this picture?

I hear all kinds of people complaining about the "Elitist Liberals" calling them stupid for supporting gwb. In the words of Forrest Gump; "Stupid is as stupid does."

What better way to prove your intelligence than to do exactly what other's had proven is stupid to do (vote for gwb).
Were you afraid of the boogeyman? Didn't that video of Osama make you feel safe and secure? Do you honestly feel ignorance is bliss? It appears that 51% of America would rather wallow in ignorance, hide from the moon or believe that even when your horse is going down for the final time "you don't switch horses in mid-stream."

Gwb Really loves you and, trust me, he will show it. Just like that abused child is loved by his abusers you to will feel the love.

It's hard to imagine America having more idiots than intellects but this last election may just prove that.

Terrorists for gwb...

2004-11-03T17:02:00.000-06:00

It was bound to happen...

And for all you folks that are unhappy with the Election Results gwb has a "Victory Salute" for you.