Useful Fools

Here is the promised review of

To Set The Record Straight

How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the
New Media Defeated John Kerry

by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler

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Expect one surprise after another in this brilliant and important book. In 2004, John Kerry’s run for the presidency suddenly energized thousands of Vietnam vets. This man, who said his fellow veterans had “raped, cut off ears, cut off heads,…randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan…” wanted to be President! (page 13)

This is the true story of how those vets fought against the vast battalions of the elite media…and against all odds, won. Swett, an insider from the start, and Ziegler nail journalists to the wall time after time. I have never read so many shocking instances of outright bias – or fraud – or stupidity – by the mainstream media.

Early on, the Swift Boat veterans held a historic press conference, where one after another of Kerry’s brothers-in-arms condemned him. You probably didn’t hear about it - it was all but ignored by the media.

“They [Swiftees] assumed that the media would validate their credentials and report their charges to the public. John O’Neill later admitted ‘We were naïve.’ …

“CBS was the only network that did anything, and they did a complete hatchet job…”

“By October, O’Neill no longer had any illusions about what to expect from the old media gatekeepers. The leading liberal networks and newspapers would try to discredit any information harmful to Kerry. Other Swift Vets and POW’s were astonished at the hypocrisy of news organizations they had once admired. While loudly praising the vital role of a free press, the old media imposed a nearly Soviet level of political censorship on the content of news reports.”

When you read the book, you too will be astonished. And you will be amazed at what you never heard, such as the evidence strongly suggesting that John Kerry acted as an agent of the enemy, and that he covered up a less-than-honorable discharge from the Navy.

A CBS report opined “But if you think this is just a concerned group of veterans, think again.” (page 99)

So who were the Swift Boat veterans? This book counters the myths about the vets, who are usually pictured in movies as druggie losers or enraged psychopaths. In particular, it clears up slanders against the Swiftees and their organization, proving they were part of a spontaneous grass roots uprising. The veterans were from all walks of life, Democrat, Republican or just plain ornery.

Expect howls of outrage… expect ad hominem attacks— that the authors are liars and the Swiftees… Bush operatives. Swett and Ziegler give the facts to prove this wrong.

Every practicing journalist in America needs to read this book and then ask and answer some hard questions.

Everyone else in America needs to read it to realize how many times the mainstream media seeks to mislead instead of inform.

You can buy the book directly from the authors here.

The sad state of elite academia is indicated by the statement of Columbia’s acting Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs regarding Iranian terrorist leader Ahmadinejad’s visit.

Dean John Coatsworth seems unaware of 20th century history.

From The New York Sun:

[He] told [us] that if the Nazi leader had agreed to speak and answer questions at Columbia University in 1939, the event could have helped changed Hitler’s views of America and this country’s understanding of the intentions of the Hitler’s regime.

Obviously Dean Coatsworth doesn’t know his history:

• Hitler was an intelligent sociopath who could almost hypnotically mesmerize his audiences. A stunningly effective speaker, he crafted his speeches to his targets, just as Ahmadinejah targeted the left with his assertions that the US is seeking a pretext to attack Iran.
• Americans would have “learned” how good Nazi Germany was from a speech by the charming monster.
• Hitler would have “learned” how soft and easily mislead were Americans.
• The Nazi’s had significant support within the US - the German-American Bund and others.
• By 1940, the isolationist 800,000 America First Committee had Charles Lindbergh on its executive board and its views were prevalent among Americans. These and other isolationists wanted nothing to do with a “European War,” and would have seized upon Hitler’s statements (some no doubt aimed at them) to buttress their position.
• Reports of Nazi oppression of Jews were often greeted with skepticism, with anti-Semitism, perceived Jewish influence in media, and the sheer excess of the Nazi brutality leading many to disbelieve the accounts.

It would appear that, just as Columbia’s School of Journalism will issue a Masters Degree to students who have not taken one hard (math-based) science course, the Dean of International and Public Affairs is ignorant of history.

Would you want your kid to go there?

Sean Penn like a feminine Hygiene product? That’s just part of the story. Read on…

Today we have “celebrities” who believe their special status gives them great knowledge about all sorts of controversial matters - about which they feel a “duty” to influence us. Mosquito hoards of Hollywood celebrities and news “stars” hum and buzz all around us.

The celebrity as expert is especially dangerous when these preening royals are in the news media. The latest example is Dan Rather, who refuses to stay buried, haunting the blather-sphere in search of re-incarnation.

We need to understand that the fame of these narcissistic “personalities” is often a result of mere marketing branding. The popularity of an anchor or star comes from the development of that person’s name as a brand. An actor becomes a “celebrity” as a result of being a valuable “property” - a name that leads to movie ticket sales. A newsman becomes a “celebrity” by having millions of viewers.

In these areas, becoming a brand is a combination of mostly luck, a little skill, and often a willingness for back-stabbing. CNN’s almost hiring of a high-school dropout as an anchor should make it obvious that expertise is not high on the list of criteria.

That Dan Rather’s unraveling was caused not by trained journalists, but diligent bloggers, further exposes the fallacy of the famous journalist as a reliable, omniscient source. “And that’s the way it is

Do we really believe there are only a few people in this country of 300,000,000 with the ability to be a Dan Rather? I’m sure Dan Rather thinks he is special, but I see Dan Rather as no different from Crest toothpaste: he is a brand, and as such, doesn’t have any special insight into the world or greater logical abilities or intelligence than the rest of us. I am not interested in being lectured on how I should think by a Crest toothpaste tube.

Likewise, I really resent it when a Feminine Hygiene Brand like Sean Penn does it.

One of the most famous of these “experts,” who personally decided that the Vietnam War was lost after the great US victory in the Tet Offensive, and used his post as “thie most trusted man in America” to assure our loss, provides in his branded phrase, the best end of this article:

“And that’s the way it is. “

[This article is a follow-up to an earlier post here.]

Islamofascists are engaged in a form of “viral” warfare against us. Their propaganda, internet sites, madrassas, their clerics in western mosques, theological scholarly writings and their planting of Islamist Imams in our prison system and military serve a dual purpose.

One is obvious - recruiting new members of organized terrorist cells.

The other is more subtle, and in some ways, more sinister: the viral creation of “loose cannon” terrorists - unaffiliated Islamist terrorists, a phenomenon called Sudden Jihad Syndrome by Daniel Pipes. These isolated Jihadis cause frequent terrorist attacks in the US and elsewhere, which are almost always mis-characterized by the media - probably out of their multi-culturalist instinct to not “create hysteria” against Muslims.

As a result of this media dishonesty, Americans are sadly under-informed about the threat of these increasingly dangerous viral terrorists.

A few of the “Unaffiliated Terrorist” events in the US include:

• March 1, 1999 - Abu Maizar was sentenced to life in New York City for a thwarted attempt to kill Jews by bombing a subway train in a Jewish area.
• July 4, 2002 - Barely-legal Egyptian immigrant Hadayet shot 6, wounding 2 at LAX El Al counter.
• October 2002 - The Beltway Snipers killed at least 10 people in a cross-country terror spree. One of the men, Muhammad, was a former member of the Islamic hate group, Nation of Islam. The other, Malvo, produced Islamist writings and drawings. Many other ties to Islamism have been found. While these psychopaths might have engaged in a murder spree in any case, certainly both were adherents to Islamist ideologiesm which provided convenient excuses for their actions. Mohammad was given a death sentence for engaging in terrorism.
• September 2005 - Four members of Assembly of Authentic Islam were indicted for a large scale terrorist plot against Jews in LA. These American Islamists were recruited in Folsom prison.
• March 3, 2006 - Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar and an Iranian immigrant struck 9 people with an SUV. He said he acted to ” avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world.”
• July 28, 2006 - Naveed Afzal Haq attacked the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. He told a 9-11 operator “These are Jews. I’m tired of getting pushed around, and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East.”
• December 9, 2006 - Muslim convert Derrick Shareef, was arrested for attempting to buy hand grenades to use during the Christmas season at a Chicago-area shopping mall.

The Boston Globe just happened to finish its story about some discrepancies in George Bush’s National Guard Record the same day that 60 minutes just happened to get a guy (Democrat fixer) to say that he helped Bush get into the National Guard.

We have such an amazing group out there watching for stories. Did they find this in 1994, when Bush ran? No? Why the heck not?

How about 2000? We know they were messing around with the records then. Did they find today’s allegations? No? Why not?

Apparently it takes them three tries to find something. This is the gang who couldn’t write straight.

And, of course, the timing doesn’t pass the laugh test. The Boston Globe is lying through their pointy little teeth about their timing.

This “September Surprise” has been waiting for, well, September. It obviously was long planned.

Ironically, in a truly logical world, none of this would matter. We have had 3 1/2 years to evaluate Bush. Are we going to learn more about him from a few missed drills in the early 70s? Not hardly.

On the other hand, Kerry has virtually no record and ran on his Vietnam service. Those who discovered that he had fabricated documents and shirked his duty - those who had served with him- had every reason to bring it up.

Likewise, his pro-communist activities after he left Vietnam bear scrutiny because they slandered millions of veterans, including myself. Furthermore, they open a door into his character.

But it isn’t a logical world. It’s a gotcha world. The Texas National Guard Gotcha was easily prediictable and the media was ready to do its part: attack the Republican.

If there is anyone on the planet who believes the main stream media even attempts to be unbiased…. phone home.

The Reason for this Article

This article is a result of a long and often acrimonious discussion in the comments section of Dr. Jay Rosen’s journalism blog, and a challenge by him to recommend how media bias should be handled. Dr. Rosen is Chairman of the Department of Journalism at NYU and runs the PressThink blog on journalism related subjects.

Example of anti-Bush Bias

This article provides an example of the serious and almost uniform anti-Bush bias in the American main stream media (hereafter abbreviated as MSM). It was placed on this forum rather than Jay’s to avoid contaminating the discussion of how to deal with media bias by creating another collection of acrimonious exchanges tangential to Jay’s preferred topic. The primary elements of the MSM in this context include CBS,NBC,ABC,AP,CNN,NPR, New York Times, Washington Post, and LA Times. PBS may or may not fit the categorization. Fox News, the Washington Times, and the New York Post usually show a conservative bias.

This article exists so that readers can judge for themselves, in one case, whether media bias was significant, and also so that those who do not believe that the MSM is biased can try the following thought experiment: read the entire story, but imagine that the person being criticized is George Bush, and that those criticizing him were members of his Texas Air National Guard Unit (including his chain of command up to a senior general) and those defending him spokespeople for the Bush campaign..

Other examples exist, but this one involves a uniquely historical event.
Read the rest of this entry »

The following was posted in a comment thread on NYU Journalism Department Head Jay Rosen’s journalism blog. The subject of this subthread was the importance of the Abu Ghraib story.

Mark A. York

Perhaps if the story was kept in context, which is the real need for serious interrogation techniques against those who are killing our people, I might believe you. But 28 days of continuous front page stories in the New York Times, with a total of 60 front page stories? Hardly. And if the story was so important, why did it take the release of those photos to make it so � they were taken in November, 2003 and the investigation announced in January, 2004.. Our “investigative” press didn’t bother to follow up. Why did this story eclipse the decapitation of Nick Berg?

The main problem in Abu Ghraib was the behavior of a few members of a single unit, and perhaps a few in military intelligence in failing to supervise properly. Since you mentioned legacies, keep in mind that many specialties required to occupy a country were moved to the National Guard under Clinton, specifically to make it more painful to US citizens when the US occupies a country. Do you suppose the requirement to call up the Guard might have resulted in a less disciplined unit? Should we examine why the National Guard rather than the regular army was providing the guards for the wing of the prison reserved for terrorist suspects?
Read the rest of this entry »

I originally posted this as a comment on Professor Jay Rosen’s PRESSthink blog in response to this article.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Society of Professional Journalist maintains a Code of Ethics (previously Fisked).

There is a glaring omission from that document. I wonder how many Americans realize that the it has nothing requiring journalists to even consider damage to their country in making editorial decisions (what to investigate, what to report, when and how to report it).

I suggest that my readers look at the document. It is very “Politically Correct” and contains some important values (some of which are often ignored). If you can find a clause about damage to country, please email or post a comment. I couldn’t find one.

Thanks.

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I am angry tonight. I hope other Americans are also.

Some of us have long understood the depths of the barbarian evil confronting us. Too many others refuse to understand, even after today’s beheading of an innocent American civilian.

At a meeting today with a nice, intelligent businessman of South Asian descent, the subject of the war came up. In his part of the world, he said, all the butchery of war is shown. He was sure that we would never have completed our Iraq invasion if our media showed the all the gore.

Although he lives at least part time in the United States, he believes our media hid those pictures to promote for the war. He doesn’t realize that the majority of our news media personnel were and are against the Battle of Iraq. He doesn’t understand that they hide the gore because they think we cannot handle it.

Our media has decided to act in loco parenti. They don’t want to show mere citizens the full bloody truth. Of course, this hasn’t stopped them from bombarding us with degrading and prurient images from Abu Ghraib. It hasn’t stopped them from bombarding us over and over again with pictures of Americans, not representative of America or our military, badly abusing suspected killers.

This gentleman had a point, although his inference was far from the mark.

Stop the censorship!

Let Americans see the whole picture.

Show the video of the jumpers of 9-11 - all the way to the ground, as often as we had to see the prison photos.

Show the full video of today’s beheading.

Show American civilians risking their lives to rebuild the Iraqi power system.

Show the videos of Iraqi professionals murdered by Ba’athist terrorists in order to derail the rebuilding.

Show the videos of Iraqi tanks destroyed by bombs filled with concrete instead of explosive, to avoid killing the innocent people in the houses near the tanks.

Show the full videos of the Fallujians desecrating the remains of the American civilians they had just killed; show the joy they express in stabbing and cutting and then hanging the remains from a bridge.

Show how little damage was done in order to pacify Fallujiah and show the civilians allowed to flee to safety before that opation.

Show the full video of our wounded soldiers as they fall, suffer or die while fighting those who would rule Iraq by violence.

Show our soldiers risking their lives in combat to avoid unnecessarily killing innocent Iraqis. Show what our firepower could do if we chose to save our soldier’s lives instead of the innocent Iraqis.

Show Saddam’s videos. Make the entire world watch them. Show them as often as the prison videos are shown.

Show the pictures of the Israeli children after they have been murdered by Palestinians.

Show the video of Palestinians dancing with the bloody body parts of Israeli soldiers they have killed. Make sure our multi-culturalists see how those Palestinians respect the Jewish cultural need to bury all parts of their dead.

War is hell. Post 9-11, so is the alternative.

Show us all of the truth!

Let’s see how our citizens balance the events and necessities of this war against the death cult of radical Islam.

I trust our citizens to come to the right conclusions.

Our Censors do not.

Stop the Censorship!

[Also published at The Command Post Op-Ed Page]