Classic example of why are media is a gov doormat...

BillCosby · 11-22-2007, 10:44 AM

IMO this is a classic example of junk journalism... This is not even reporting.. Gov sources, reading the company line as it was told from a lobby or conference room, or over the phone by the vary ppl they are suppose to be reporting (watching) on........

Couldn't we just as easily just read the gov reports ourselves

Suicide Car Bomber Strikes Ramadi

By ROBERT H. REID
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 22, 2007; 2:51 AM

BAGHDAD -- A suicide car bomber blasted a police checkpoint outside the courthouse in Ramadi on Wednesday, killing up to six people and wounding as many as 22 in the first such attack in months in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold.

Iraqi security forces also found 40 decomposed bodies on Wednesday, including women and children, north of Ramadi near Lake Tharthar in an area controlled until recently by al-Qaida in Iraq.

A police car damaged in a suicide car bomb attack is seen in front of a courthouse in Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007. A suicide car bomb exploded Wednesday at an Iraqi police checkpoint guarding the courthouse in Ramadi, wounding six people in the largest attack on Anbar province's capital in months, police said.
A police car damaged in a suicide car bomb attack is seen in front of a courthouse in Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007. A suicide car bomb exploded Wednesday at an Iraqi police checkpoint guarding the courthouse in Ramadi, wounding six people in the largest attack on Anbar province's capital in months, police said.

The victims had been shot and did not have ID cards with them, and it could not be determined when they were killed, an Iraqi army officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

Also Wednesday, the U.S. military reported that an American soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were killed in a bombing in east Baghdad _ another sign of the lingering dangers in Iraq despite the recent downturn in violence.

The suicide bomber struck midmorning on Wednesday, killing three policemen and three civilians and wounding 13, according to Col. Jubair Rashid Naief, a provincial police official. The U.S. military said four people died, including the bomber, and 22 were wounded.

Suicide bombings, ambushes and killings used to be a daily feature of life in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, until Sunni tribesmen turned against al-Qaida in Iraq and helped American forces drive the extremists from the city.

Residents said Wednesday's attack was the biggest in the city since Sept. 13, when the leader of the Sunni revolt, Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, and two of his bodyguards were killed by a roadside bomb planted near his home.

Officials say suicide bombings are often carried out by foreigners. The New York Times carried a report on its Web site late Wednesday that quoted senior American military officials

as saying that Saudi Arabia and Libya were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks.
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The report said that data came largely from documents and computers discovered in September, when a U.S. raid near the Syrian border targeted insurgents believed to be responsible for smuggling the vast majority of foreign fighters into Iraq.

A key discovery was a listing of hometowns and other details for more than 700 fighters brought into Iraq since August 2006, the newspaper said, according to the U.S. officials who weren't further identified. Saudis accounted for the largest number of fighters listed with 305 followed by Libyans with 137. United States officials have previously offered only rough estimates of nationalities of such fighters.

An American soldier and Iraqi interpreter died during a blast Tuesday as their patrol was returning to base, the U.S. command said. Three Americans also were wounded, the military said.

At least 3,874 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

A U.S. statement said the blast was from an "explosively formed penetrator," a lethal type of roadside bomb that the American military believes is supplied to Shiite militias by Iran _ a charge the Iranians deny.

The Iranians promised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last August that they would curb the flow of weapons to the extremists, Iraqi officials say. U.S. commanders have pointed to a decline in Iranian-origin weapons flowing into the country but say it's too soon to tell whether the drop is significant.

"I think that we're all thankful for the commitment Iran has made to reduce the flow of its weapons and explosives and training into Iraq," said Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the U.S. commander in charge of training and equipping Iraqi forces.

Dubik told reporters Wednesday that the Iranian move had "made some contribution to a reduction of violence," adding that "we hope over time that the same commitment that has been made stays in effect."

Nationwide, the U.S. military maintains attacks have fallen 55 percent since last summer because stepped-up American military operations have driven Sunni and Shiite extremists from most of their longtime strongholds around the city.

Nevertheless, U.S. commanders have been careful to avoid declaring victory over al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremist organizations.

"It's certainly much better than earlier this year," Dubik said. "But this is an enemy that is cunning, ruthless and desirous to figure out another way to re-engender violence and steal away security gains from the Iraqi people."

Other scattered attacks were reported

Wednesday around the country. The deadliest occurred when gunmen attacked a police patrol in downtown Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said. Four gunmen were killed, police said.

A suicide driver attacked the home of a pro-government Sunni Arab sheik about 90 miles north of Mosul, killing one civilian and wounding three, police said.

Guards opened fire as the vehicle approached, triggering the explosives away from the house and preventing greater loss of life, police said.

A police officer was also killed in a drive-by shooting in central Kut, 100 miles southeast of the Iraqi capital, police said.

In Diwaniyah, a mostly Shiite city 80 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi police arrested 40 people in a crackdown on what police said were militias and criminal gangs. The roundup appeared part of an ongoing power struggle within the Shiite community.

The mass grave unearthed near Ramadi was the latest in a series of such finds as Iraqis from both Islamic sects step up patrols of areas after ousting extremists.

Iraqi security troops, meanwhile, unearthed six decomposed bodies in southern Baghdad. The bodies were buried in the backyards of residents who had fled violence in their Sadiyah neighborhood, said army Col. Jabbar Hussein.

AP Television News video showed soldiers in white surgical masks wrapping the mud-coated bodies in blankets and black plastic bags and loading them into the back of a pickup truck. It was unclear when the victims died.

In London, the British Ministry of Defense said two British soldiers were killed when their Puma helicopter crashed southeast of Baghdad. The cause of the nighttime crash was not immediately known, the British statement said.

The U.S. military reported the crash Tuesday, adding that initial reports indicated it was not due to hostile fire.

cheapseats · 11-23-2007, 01:51 PM

I dunno about all that.

Which came first, the chicken or the ego?

Let us look, first, at who owns Big Media...THEN figure out who's telling who what to do.

Let us look, first, at Rupert Murdoch.

I drove a big loop yesterday in order to pop in on more than one Thanksgiving gathering, carefully timing it...no small feat in L.A. traffic...to miss the actual sit-down part of each party. I am surprised that I have not previously considered this excellent plan.

I don't "get" the Thanksgiving meal...it is, in fact, just about my least favorite assembly of dishes. No one expected that I would be at table, no one was surprised by my taking just a little of this or that. Genius, I tell you. Unlike, in my opinion, whoever came up with that most sadistic of concoctions, marshmellows on yams.

EVERYWHERE were the political discussions rich and satisfying. EVERYWHERE did they have a "let's throw these bums out" flavor.

At one house, a former NBC staffer posed this question: "Isn't there, among the many by-laws of the FCC, a requirement that our media moguls be U.S. citizens?" Rupert Murdoch, he said, is an Australian citizen.

Married to a Chinese national, as we know.

His cooperation with official censorship policies, in order to gain a toehold in Chinese telecommunications, suggests that the CHINESE government may tell Rupert Murdoch what to do. But I don't think the American government much orders him around.

I am thinking that Government is the doormat of Big Business...and that the People are the dross that gets scraped off the bottom of heavy boots.

cheapseats · 11-23-2007, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillCosby

IMO this is a classic example of junk journalism... This is not even reporting.. Gov sources, reading the company line as it was told from a lobby or conference room, or over the phone by the vary ppl they are suppose to be reporting (watching) on........

Couldn't we just as easily just read the gov reports ourselves

Suicide Car Bomber Strikes Ramadi

By ROBERT H. REID
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 22, 2007; 2:51 AM

BAGHDAD -- A suicide car bomber blasted a police checkpoint outside the courthouse in Ramadi on Wednesday, killing up to six people and wounding as many as 22 in the first such attack in months in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold.

Iraqi security forces also found 40 decomposed bodies on Wednesday, including women and children, north of Ramadi near Lake Tharthar in an area controlled until recently by al-Qaida in Iraq.

A police car damaged in a suicide car bomb attack is seen in front of a courthouse in Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007. A suicide car bomb exploded Wednesday at an Iraqi police checkpoint guarding the courthouse in Ramadi, wounding six people in the largest attack on Anbar province's capital in months, police said.
A police car damaged in a suicide car bomb attack is seen in front of a courthouse in Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007. A suicide car bomb exploded Wednesday at an Iraqi police checkpoint guarding the courthouse in Ramadi, wounding six people in the largest attack on Anbar province's capital in months, police said.

The victims had been shot and did not have ID cards with them, and it could not be determined when they were killed, an Iraqi army officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

Also Wednesday, the U.S. military reported that an American soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were killed in a bombing in east Baghdad _ another sign of the lingering dangers in Iraq despite the recent downturn in violence.

The suicide bomber struck midmorning on Wednesday, killing three policemen and three civilians and wounding 13, according to Col. Jubair Rashid Naief, a provincial police official. The U.S. military said four people died, including the bomber, and 22 were wounded.

Suicide bombings, ambushes and killings used to be a daily feature of life in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, until Sunni tribesmen turned against al-Qaida in Iraq and helped American forces drive the extremists from the city.

Residents said Wednesday's attack was the biggest in the city since Sept. 13, when the leader of the Sunni revolt, Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, and two of his bodyguards were killed by a roadside bomb planted near his home.

Officials say suicide bombings are often carried out by foreigners. The New York Times carried a report on its Web site late Wednesday that quoted senior American military officials

as saying that Saudi Arabia and Libya were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks.
ad_icon
The report said that data came largely from documents and computers discovered in September, when a U.S. raid near the Syrian border targeted insurgents believed to be responsible for smuggling the vast majority of foreign fighters into Iraq.

A key discovery was a listing of hometowns and other details for more than 700 fighters brought into Iraq since August 2006, the newspaper said, according to the U.S. officials who weren't further identified. Saudis accounted for the largest number of fighters listed with 305 followed by Libyans with 137. United States officials have previously offered only rough estimates of nationalities of such fighters.

An American soldier and Iraqi interpreter died during a blast Tuesday as their patrol was returning to base, the U.S. command said. Three Americans also were wounded, the military said.

At least 3,874 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

A U.S. statement said the blast was from an "explosively formed penetrator," a lethal type of roadside bomb that the American military believes is supplied to Shiite militias by Iran _ a charge the Iranians deny.

The Iranians promised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last August that they would curb the flow of weapons to the extremists, Iraqi officials say. U.S. commanders have pointed to a decline in Iranian-origin weapons flowing into the country but say it's too soon to tell whether the drop is significant.

"I think that we're all thankful for the commitment Iran has made to reduce the flow of its weapons and explosives and training into Iraq," said Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the U.S. commander in charge of training and equipping Iraqi forces.

Dubik told reporters Wednesday that the Iranian move had "made some contribution to a reduction of violence," adding that "we hope over time that the same commitment that has been made stays in effect."

Nationwide, the U.S. military maintains attacks have fallen 55 percent since last summer because stepped-up American military operations have driven Sunni and Shiite extremists from most of their longtime strongholds around the city.

Nevertheless, U.S. commanders have been careful to avoid declaring victory over al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremist organizations.

"It's certainly much better than earlier this year," Dubik said. "But this is an enemy that is cunning, ruthless and desirous to figure out another way to re-engender violence and steal away security gains from the Iraqi people."

Other scattered attacks were reported

Wednesday around the country. The deadliest occurred when gunmen attacked a police patrol in downtown Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said. Four gunmen were killed, police said.

A suicide driver attacked the home of a pro-government Sunni Arab sheik about 90 miles north of Mosul, killing one civilian and wounding three, police said.

Guards opened fire as the vehicle approached, triggering the explosives away from the house and preventing greater loss of life, police said.

A police officer was also killed in a drive-by shooting in central Kut, 100 miles southeast of the Iraqi capital, police said.

In Diwaniyah, a mostly Shiite city 80 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi police arrested 40 people in a crackdown on what police said were militias and criminal gangs. The roundup appeared part of an ongoing power struggle within the Shiite community.

The mass grave unearthed near Ramadi was the latest in a series of such finds as Iraqis from both Islamic sects step up patrols of areas after ousting extremists.

Iraqi security troops, meanwhile, unearthed six decomposed bodies in southern Baghdad. The bodies were buried in the backyards of residents who had fled violence in their Sadiyah neighborhood, said army Col. Jabbar Hussein.

AP Television News video showed soldiers in white surgical masks wrapping the mud-coated bodies in blankets and black plastic bags and loading them into the back of a pickup truck. It was unclear when the victims died.

In London, the British Ministry of Defense said two British soldiers were killed when their Puma helicopter crashed southeast of Baghdad. The cause of the nighttime crash was not immediately known, the British statement said.

The U.S. military reported the crash Tuesday, adding that initial reports indicated it was not due to hostile fire.

I jumped the gun on my response, I'm so determined to bang the LOOK TO THE MONEY drum.

You are absolutely right. Media IS telling us exactly what officials are telling THEM. It is strange and circular and toxic, but we are both right. Big Money DOES dictate the policy of Corrupt Government, and Corrupt Government DOES dictate the news to journalists.

This past September, a woman...a mother of three...died in an airport holding cell in Phoenix, Arizona. America, we're talking.

She was drunk, and became belligerent when airline personnel refused to let her board the plane. Could have happened to anyone, quite frequently does.

SHE DIED IN THE AIRPORT HOLDING CELL. Accidentally, of course.

Why even bother to look through the notes for the details...nobody does anything, nobody cares...but I remember scrawling in big block letters WHAT ELSE WOULD THEY SAY?!?!

When the autopsy report came out recently, the article actually used the word Official report...maybe they always said that, and I'm just now noticing HOW DOWN-THE-RABBIT-HOLE BIZARRE OUR GOVERNMENT IS.

The woman was handcuffed AND SHACKLED TO A BENCH, mind you, and the Official-read-that-Government-Issue Word is that she accidentally strangled herself. Drunk, handcuffed, and shackled to a bench...and she accidentally strangled herself? Is such a thing even possible?

At the conclusion of the article, it said that police said that all procedures had been followed correctly.

That is where I scrawled WHAT ELSE WOULD THEY SAY.

Beneath the article? AP, all rights reserved, blah, blah, INCLUDING how no part of this crack journalism can be used, copied, distributed, eaten...just a SERIOUS bit of claiming copyright turf.

Except the next article that I read, and the next, contain the same Police-Policing-Themselves-Find-That-They-Are-Great blurb, with a credit to AP for "contributing" to the story...which legitimizes local, identical renditions of our homogenous "news."

The lady, Carol Ann Someone, was drinking in the Phoenix airport, waiting for a connecting flight that would take her to an alcohol rehabilitation facility in Tuscon...how fucked is that?

bigbrowndog · 11-24-2007, 12:35 AM

Did you see a picture of the length of chain
that was between the shackles on the cuffs
and the bench? Yes, it was possible, imo.

I believe I also read that she had a suicidal history,
that was info from her family, I believe.

julia · 11-24-2007, 01:11 AM

Not too surprising since 5 entities own some 90% of media.

Abc-Nbc-Cbs-Fox, etc
Disney-GE-Viacom-"newscorp", etc.

jdanton · 11-24-2007, 05:42 AM

The "news" media has been corrupt for a long time. Embelishment and speculation has long been a part of "reporting."

Many years ago, when my kids were very young, the butchers in the major markets went on strike.

During that strike a market in Caldwell NJ had a fire.

A "reporter" is standing in front of that market reporting how the fire may have been set by an angry striking butcher.

The Fire Chief, who happned to be standing near her jumped all over her ass for that speculation. He was pissed and told her he would tell her how the fire started once it was known.

There was no indication, at that time, of any foul play.

That moment stands out in my memory of a classic example of the "news" doing more than reporting. It was speculating.

BillCosby · 11-25-2007, 05:42 PM

In the British press as well as other European media there is an expressed lean or bias & no attempts are made to hide intent or slant.........

In cases like this were the media is a mere mouth piece of the administration (whoever they be) that is not even an issue......... They are merely stating the company line verbatim.......... Is that reporting/journalism as understood by anyone??

cheapseats · 11-26-2007, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillCosby

In the British press as well as other European media there is an expressed lean or bias & no attempts are made to hide intent or slant.........

In cases like this were the media is a mere mouth piece of the administration (whoever they be) that is not even an issue......... They are merely stating the company line verbatim.......... Is that reporting/journalism as understood by anyone??

No, it is not. Be a source with a bias or be a reader, those are the options...hardcore investigative journalism having lost favor in our fast-food, easy-answer culture.

Since our Sources With Bias are mercifully ALSO losing favor...Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity pop instantly to mind...how about this?

How about Mainstream Media fires all its Announcers. Just like that, WHACK...just like Reagan. Big Media will save a sum of dollars that bodes well for, say, reducing the price "premium" channels...you know, those with perhaps aggravatingly repetitive programming, but no commercials. A King's Ransom for no commercials, am I right?

Then...and this is great, because you don't have to pay them...have college interns read the Official Reports. Communications and Journalism majors from colleges and universities countrywide can accrue practical experience that will serve themselves AND the public for years to come.

These up-and-comers will either become better journalists, or better liars.

It's a win-win.

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