Freedom of the Press - Freedom without Protection


"A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favour. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as citizens." - Nelson Mandela
I realized as I read this quote from Nelson Mandela, that we do not have a "A critical, independent and investigative press" any longer.  The cynical will tell me we never did, but that's not true. We did have a strong News system during in years past. Now, however, nearly every news source available to us is fully corrupted by outside interest and inside bias.

Every reporter will naturally have some bias.  This is the first thing taught to serious history students. No matter how hard you try, some bias will exist in your findings, because of the experiences and knowledge obtained by our individual backgrounds. We see more clearly those things which we have previously agreed are important before. We hear more clearly those words we have  previously heard and understood before -- but this is not the level of bias I am pointing out. I'm speaking of the level of bias that creates a News system whose reports are over 40% wrong, lies, or deceptions. I'm talking about a bias which will ignore important events because they are inconvenient for their constituents. I am talking about a bias of willful and orchestrated ignorance.

The Pledge

Chuck Feeney joined the ranks of billionaires who have given it (mostly) all away.  The act is called The Pledge and began with Warren Buffett. In 2009, after donating billions of dollars to charity, Buffett was ranked as the second richest man in the United States with a net worth of US$37 billion with only Bill Gates ranked higher than Buffett. His net worth had risen to $58.5 billion as of September 2013. At the Pledge he has put himself down for giving away 99% of his money in the years to come. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda have done the same. 


Today I learned former billionaire Chuck Feeney has given away over 99% of his 6.3 Billion dollars to help under privileged kids go to college. He is now worth $2 million dollars.

Always, everyday, live loud like love
Glenn Hefley 2014-12-28 2:50







By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout
This piece first appeared at Truthout.


For in the world in which we live it is no longer merely a question of the decay of collective memory and declining consciousness of the past, but of the aggressive [assault on] whatever memory remains, the deliberate distortion of the historical record, the invention of mythological pasts in the service of the powers of darkness.
- Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi


All reification is forgetting.
- Herbert Marcuse


The current mainstream debate regarding the crisis in Iraq and Syria offers a near perfect example of both the death of historical memory and the collapse of critical thinking in the United States. It also signifies the emergence of a profoundly anti-democratic culture of manufactured ignorance and social indifference. Surely, historical memory is under assault when the dominant media give airtime to the incessant war mongering of politicians such as Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham and retro pundits such as Bill Kristol, Douglas Feith, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz - not one of whom has any credibility given how they have worked to legitimate the unremitting web of lies and deceit that provided cover for the disastrous US invasion of Iraq under the Bush/Cheney administration.

History repeats itself in the recent resurgence of calls for US military interventions in Syria and Iraq. Such repetitions of history undoubtedly shift from tragedy to farce as former Vice President Dick Cheney once again becomes a leading pundit calling for military solutions to the current crises in the Middle East, in spite of his established reputation for hypocrisy, lies, corporate cronyism, defending torture and abysmal policymaking under the Bush administration. The resurrection of Dick Cheney, the Darth Vader of the 21st century, as a legitimate source on the current crisis in Syria and Iraq is a truly monumental display of historical amnesia and moral dissipation. As Thom Hartman observes, Cheney bears a large responsibility for the Iraq War, which “was the single biggest foreign policy disaster in recent - or maybe even all - of American history. It cost the country around $4 trillion, killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, left 4,500 Americans dead, and turned what was once one of the more developed countries in the Arab World into a slaughterhouse. What room is there for historical memory in an age “when the twin presiding deities are irony and violence”?

Read The Rest on Truth Out 






Word of the Day | Dec 13 2014

cer·ti·tude
ˈsərdəˌt(y)o͞od/
noun
  1. absolute certainty or conviction that something is the case.
    "the question may never be answered with certitude"
    synonyms:certaintyconfidencesureness, positiveness,convictionassurance
    "the question may never be answered with certitude"
    • something that someone firmly believes is true.
      plural noun: certitudes
      "his certitude that “we're number one.”"

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