CNN (A subsidiary of Time-Warner)

The deep pockets that facilitated media consolidation are the same ones that funded the vast right-wing conspiracy, so it is not surprising that US media has turned hard right.

The rapid and extreme concentration of US media, an aggressive lobbying effort to take it even further, and a sharp turn to the right in media makes it likely that a coup has occurred ...without a lot of people noticing. Since, after consolidation, few broadcasters remain, elections are not just at risk but visibly rigged.

When Ted Turner created CNN it delivered very different news. Alec Klein in his book, Stealing Time, describes how AOL cooked the books, consolidated with Time-Warner, removed Turner from ownership, and changed the news to hard right.

CNN is a prime example that no longer practices respectable journalism. Knowledge of policy, economics, politics or much of anything else are not requirements for anchors on CNN, but right-wing ideology is.

Frequent guests included John Bolton who was no friend of the UN, or Frank Gaffney who thinks Ballistic Missile Defense is a great idea.  The same people who provoked the US to war are still featured on CNN and the rest of major media. Media ownership is mostly by war profiteers.

We have already seen that media unapologetically led us to war on false pretexts, they appear to have us on a fast track to fascism.

CNN makes war easy. Getting the message from the military violates ethical journalism standards.

Although Lou Dobbs recently left CNN, he formerly railed against illegal immigrants every night on CNN, should we think that is "news" ? (A note to Lou.)

CNN Most Trusted Name in News? Not for Latinos (10/21/2009)

CNN should be ashamed for airing Lou Dobbs.

Lou Dobbs on Acorn

Time Hires War Criminal Bill Kristol - Cancel Your Subscription

Submitted by Bob Fertik on January 2, 2007 - 2:15pm. Outside the White House itself, no single person has championed the Iraq War with more determination than Dan Quayle's brain PNAC's co-founder Rupert Murdoch's mouth William Kristol.

That means the blood of over 3,000 American soldiers and 655,000 Iraqi civilians is pouring off his hands.

Of course, Kristol's record isn't just bloody, it's filled with innumerable lies, as Media Matters has documented.

See the video

Immigration

Lou Dobbs rails about immigration every night and it certainly deflects news from massive Bush administration failures. There is not much other than 'illegal immigration' playing on CNN.

Lou seems to have learned lessons from Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda minister. (Note to Lou Dobbs.)

"...the rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious."  -Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister

"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly...it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over."  -Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister

Illegal immigration is yet another Republican wedge issue, a disguised appeal to racism, and a shameless distraction from more pressing problems. It allows Republicans to distance themselves from the failures of the Bush administration and, at the same time, to attack Democrats. It is a continuation of the Republican war on the poor (R's are always ready to go to war, whether it be with drugs, terrorism, Islam, Iraq, China, Korea or illegal immigrants.) It is a not too subtle appeal to racism, and it is a very important source of business for the prison-industrial complex. (Boeing's share of the wall along the Mexican border is said to be around $2 billion.)        

Some years ago Republicans blamed single mothers for costing too much, but that issue disappeared when the mean-spirited, family unfriendly 'welfare reform' was passed. Now that we have a war which has been funded off the books, Republicans need someone to blame for our financial problems. Illegal immigrants can serve that purpose too.

The effect of the furor about illegal immigration is indeed to create an underclass, just as the Germans did in the 1930's. It created bands of vigilantes along the border. ICE agents are rounding up people without documents and shipping them off to detention camps for long periods without access to the Courts. CNN doesn't report on the human cost of this. See Naomi Wolf's "The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot."

Already, there has been considerable human rights abuse in US handling of immigrants.

Make no mistake, the illegal immigrant issue will lead to a mandatory national identity card and substantial further losses to Civil Liberties. Republicans don't much care about the Bill of Rights unless it threatens their right to carry arms.

The same people who cheered loudest when the wall was torn down in Berlin are the ones cheering for a fortress along the Mexican border. It appears racist that there is not a similar cry for a wall on the Canadian border.   

When Republicans talk about smaller government they intend to cut social programs and continue to expand the military. Actually the framers of the Constitution were wary of becoming involved in wars on foreign soil and it would be a good idea if we restricted American troops to either humanitarian assistance or to securing our own country. Republicans think it is grand that we are building an empire and have actively planned world dominance. They thumb their nose at international law.

Instead of building walls along our borders (reminiscent of the Berlin Wall), it would be better to do as Europeans have done. That is, to surrender the empire, and to show a little generosity. It is doubtful that can happen because the likely underlying cause of all this is the US is broke. It cannot pay for the world's largest military and also take care of its people with Social Security, Health Care, Long-term care and other 'entitlements'. Without a change of course, we are doomed to domestic misery, environmental collapse, financial meltdown, a military end, or some combination of them.

We should build an American Union with open borders, free movement for people (try going to Cuba if you think you are free), financial help for really poor areas of Mexico that are the source of much of the immigration, tolerance and even encouragement for other languages and free movement of people, currency and goods. We have a natural moat around the entire continent so that we should be able to handle security problems from outside. But only if we, ourselves, do not practice terrorism.

Face facts. There is no such think as perfect security and, when you think about it, the Bush administration has probably seriously aggravated our security problems. You never know where violence will strike or who will bring it. It could be from students in your local high schools, gangs from the street, religious zealots, or simply disturbed individuals. One thing is certain: you do not gain increased security by bombing other countries.

The no-fly list, airport security, vacation area pat-downs, are not effective. They are inconvenient for travelers, unfriendly toward tourists, ineffective, and frequently downright stupid. (Screeners in Massachusetts stopped Senator Kennedy.)   

The reality is that CNN's take on immigration is a divisive Republican wedge issue. CNN is a powerful voice for fascism.

More on CNN

Bibliography

Stealing Time, Alec Klein


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