DSM: Being covered with reluctance. A Reason for Hope (Long)

[Stinky The Clown]

(To paraphrase an old 'prayer' we used when I was in the military ...... "Please God, don't let us fuck this up.")

May 1. The DSM (Minutes, not Memo) hits the British media. Left leaning activists get on board and scream to have it widely reported. Others advise caution, wanting verification and not wanting it to be a flash in the pan news story.

June 1. A month later and its all bubbling up. Still not fast enough for some, but too fast for others. But like a fine wine, it is aging well.

June 15. Today. Every major US news outlet has mentioned it. Mention of the additional documents is also being made. The right is addressing it, albeit obliquely. Senators and Congresspeople are talking about it. John Conyers is leading the charge. Sensenbrenner is obstructing as best he can, in full Nazi style.

News reports now are quite serious. The DSM is given virtually daily mention. But in almost every case, that mention is reluctant. Cautious. Poking it with a stick. Stirring it. But never really *covering* it. Repeating what others say. Reporting the story of the story, rather than the story itself (an old tactic used when one does not want to actually cover a story).

But I also think the story is finally getting serious legs ... all on its own. Stepping back from my fine wine analogy and using instead, ugliness, the story is festering. It is an angry red at its edges. Puss is beginning to fill in the center of it. A sore that won't heal. Pressure building. It is beginning to throb.

It has survived the celebrity pedophilia trial. It has weathered the storm of sadness coming from Aruba. The Schindler daughter's brain, reported just today, is but a blip.

The left needs to keep pressure on the so called media to report the story, to be sure. But this story seems like it has real legs. The convergence of the increasingly dismal reports of support for idiot son's adventure in Iraq with the DSM is striking and serendipitously beneficial to our cause.

The parallels with Watergate are also striking. A Deep Throat who happens to be British and apparently well placed in the British government has decided to leak serious documentation - actual documents. Documents already verified by news organizations not necessarily in line with our side. The story is starting slowly. A report of a low level burglary reported on a middle page of the 'local news' section of the Washington Post is strikingly similar to the report of a 'memo' reported in a foreign newspaper not widely known in the US. A peripheral story, at best. But one that keeps showing new and increasingly important layers.

And the prospects for it continuing to grow and for showing us even more layers are high. There has been little in the way of sensationalism. Just mention of it ..... and more mention .... and more .....

I find myself, today, allowing hope to work its way back into my head and my heart. I have actual hope that this story will someday soon be the fine wine that is aged to perfection for some of us. And that it will be a puss filled wound that bursts from its own internal pressure and spews its poison on those who caused the wound in the first place.

And can you just imagine how this will influence other stories out there, festering in their own way? War crimes. Torture. Vote fraud. The merger of the government with Exxon in the form of the report rewriter moving from one to the other in a lateral transfer. The abuse of our military for the awful purpose of empire. The abuse of power. The gutting of our Constitution. The renewal of the Patriot Act. The hundreds of other festering sores out there. All benefit because, when the DSM finally bursts and spews, the great orgy of piling on will be the ken of every news organization out there. Scoop after scoop after scoop. Late, to be sure, but delicious scoops nonetheless.

Yes. Today I'm feeling hopeful.

If only we don't overplay our hand. Please God, don't let us fuck this up.

[goclark]

1. Amen

[cthrumatrix]

2. the media hates having to say they "screwed up" again and again

resulting in many deaths

[ladjf]

7. The media's role is far more profound than a "screw up".

They are totally committed to the Fascist regime in power as the dedicated propaganda arm. To say that they "screwed" up would have meant that they innocently reported or failed to report salient information. They actually reported exactly what they were told to report. No more or no less. The media are viscous and greed stooges.

[central scrutinizer]

16. The media's silence has been deafening

Seems like there are about four possible scenarios:
1. The media is lazy and incompetent and ignore any story from London unless it concerns Lady Di.
2. The media felt it was old news that Bushco lied us into war so there was nothing new here to write about. (but then, why the fuck didn't they ask some hard questions before March, 2003?)
3. The media is so intimidated by Bushco that they couldn't find their spine with both hands and a map.
4. They are willing participants in Bushco's propaganda campaign.

[Lochloosa]

35. I love multiple choice questions.....5. All of the above

[tavalon]

40. Bingo!

We have a winner.

[ElectroPrincess]

53. They're NOT silent, they're distracting and fluffy

Today's lead photo the front page of The Washington Post newspaper has the skinny on yesterday's "Seersucker Thursday."

With all the goings on around the world and in D.C., you just can't get any more *crack* than that, aye?

This Crap - Seersucker Thursday!?!: (not the original - the Post's Internet version dare not post such tripe?) BTW the caption in today's lead Washington Post Photo reads as follows: "Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) claps as Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) displays his shoes after a photo session for "Seersucker Thursday," a capitol Hill rite of spring. Joining in are the organizer, Sen. Trent Lot (R-Miss.), center, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)." How's the forgoing for a visual? :puke:

A spin off of this:




Instead of this historic depiction:

[babylonsister]

3. H2S, have I ever told you

how much I love the way you express yourself with words? I share your hope and pray this doesn't go down the collective memory hole. Thanks!

[Stinky The Clown]

11. No, you haven't

But now you did! :)

Thanks!

[jojo54]

4. I'm getting giddy

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Where's the popcorn? :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Richard D]

5. Please . . .

. . . send this to many MSM outlets. So well written.

[trekbiker]

34. ditto...

[Triana]

43. H2S - send this to the MSM - and as an LTTE...

...and well, wherever. It is well-written and well-deserving of a read.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. The unplugging effect is exactly why Bushco & their allies

will have to kill this story at all cost. If knowledge that we pre-planned the war and rigged the supporting data becomes common, then the next question is, How long before the invasion were we making plans? The answer turns out to be at least as early as 1998, when PNAC was trying to get Clinton to go in. The obvious question after that will be, Did they plan anything besides intelligence "fixing" to justify the war? The answer is Yes. They were speculating about a "new Pearl Harbor" to mobilize public sentiment. When? As early as 2000 (PNAC document available online). This brings us to LIHOP or maybe MIHOP in a series of short, frog-boiling baby steps.

So, for their survival, the lid has to stay on. It will be interesting to see if the corporate media can resist their pressure. If the media DO keep coming on, I would take this as evidence that someone Up There (Rothschilds & Bilderbergers, not God) has decided to cut their losses & institute regime change at home.

So expect a DLC-type replacement to show up for 2008, a la Clinton. Maybe, in fact, exactly that--another Clinton.

Edit: Typos.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Interesting take ... and interesting theories, to be sure

I can see where 'Up There' could well be disposed to effect regime change. Put a kinder, gentler face on things and continue down the same path, albeit seemingly more gently.

All that said (and allow me to put on my novel writing hat for a moment), let's say they make the decision and back the DLC type. The drums begin beating and the march gets underway.

So they pull the trigger and pull the tuffet out from under Little Mr. Muffet. But then 'we the people' decide not to cooperate. Somewhere between tuffet pulling and 08, 'we the people' find our full song and defeat Little Mr. Muffet's designated replacement.

Theirs is a risky strategy.

Or not. Presumably idiot son's gang is only leasing the vote machines. The owners are the "Up There' crowd.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. I tend to concur with your afterthought.

They have a lot of ways, legal and not, to get the results they want. Just remember Howard's "I Have a Scream" speech. Even if it was actually Kerry's operatives who did it, we don't necessarily know to what "higher authority" those guys report, either. Take out Dean, don't make too much of an issue of the war, issue a milquetoast health care plan, permit Slime Boat attacks, etc., lose the election, don't protest the obvious theft, etc.

John Kerry, Designated Diver.

Scary stuff, huh?

(Nurse says it's time for my meds now.)

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Here, have a few on me .......

[trekbiker]

37. '08 is too far away... '06!!!!!! take back the congress!!!!!

if that happens MF'er idiot son and the rest of the criminals are DEAD MEAT

[ladjf]

10. I heard Bush's speech yesterday to the Republican Senate and House

committee members. Every word he uttered was intended as a cover up for his and his regime's criminal behavior. It was sickening. Did any of you see the silly and disgusting "nods of affirmation" by Frist" ? He may be one of the slimiest of the slime.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Frist ......

.... is a toad. With a knife in his back. A knife with Puffy Rove's fingerprints all over it. Frist's zenith was the day before any of us heard the name of the Schindler's daughter.

[tavalon]

41. I've believed Frist to be the most awful of awful senators

for a very long time. It's nice to see people catching up.

[Stinky The Clown]

46. Catching up?

I saw him to be the reptile he is the day he was mentioned as a possible replacement for Trent Lott.

I'm very pleased to see he has been 'politically demised' by Fat Puffy KKKKKarl.

[trekbiker]

36. how long before the invasion were we bombing?????

if we were bombing strategic targets secretly before the actual invasion thats some serious shit...

[trekbiker]

38. I think they knew a terrorist attack was coming..

and were counting on it to provide the necessary "Pearl Harbor". They just didnt know exactly where or when or that it would be as devastating as 9/11. Maybe they figured we'd lose one airliner and a few hundred people and that would be thier Pearl Harbor. When the magnitude of the actual attack became apparent you could see the "Holy Shit!!!" all over Dubya's face... I wonder what kind of panic and babbling was going on in air force 1 while he was flying all over the place after the attack...

[MuseRider]

8. Nicely said.

We can't overplay our hand, we have the truth.

I am not yet giddy but I most definitely have a little skip in my step that has been missing since 2000.

[Douglas Carpenter]

14. Shame the Media Into doing their job

:bounce:


Just a reminder of some very, very important links:

To sign Congressman Conyers’ letter

http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffice.com


To put and keep pressure on the Mainstream Media:

http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/takeaction.html#awaken


http://www.afterdowningstreet.org


C-SPAN Ask--them to cover the Hearing on Thursday, 16 June:

[email protected]


Peace
O8)

Here is my standard letter to the Media:


Dear Sir/Madam:

As you know, on May 1 of this year a document now commonly referred to as “|The Downing Street Memo” was released into the British Press. These minutes of a British cabinet meeting raise serious question about how the administration was handling intelligence related to Iraq and appears to suggest that the Bush Administration had already decided on war when publicly it was claiming that no such decision had been made. Now further documents have been released in the British media which cast even further doubts.

These documents and other documents suggest that the Bush administration was determined to “fix intelligence” around a predetermined policy. Some of these documents make it clear that the administration had no credible plan for dealing with the post-war occupation.

It is most disturbing that there has been a virtual media blackout regarding “The Downing Street Minutes” and other disturbing documents.

Even more disturbing is the absence in the America media of any credible in-depth follow-up discussion or coverage regarding strong, credible and independent evidence that the Bush Administration intentionally mislead the U.S. Congress, the media and the American people.

I do hope you will accept the responsibility to address this issue and provide serious investigative journalism into this matter.

Furthermore, on Thursday June 16, 2005, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other House members will hold a hearing to consider testimony concerning the Downing Street minutes and questions of possible fixing of prewar intelligence. I do hope you will be giving full coverage to these events.

Sincerely,

____________________________________


A Voice for Working People
--Not the Elite--
http://www.bernie.org

[Stinky The Clown]

17. I'm not sure shaming accomplishes anything with respect to the media

Harsh letters piss 'em off.

Cloying letters get posted in the lunch room for laffs.

Factual letters cause their eyes to glaze over.

Letters with (huge) checks ..... usually from 'groups' with paticular interests in how certain news stories are played ..... not ignored.

[Coexist]

22. right on the money there!

[Marnieworld]

18. I'll have a glass of puss wine please

Ooooh the bouquet is marvelous! ;-)

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Is that from Sonoma or Napa?

:)

[Marnieworld]

20. It's "Freedom" wine of course!

And it's so very delicious.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. Vintage 2006 will be even sweeter

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

23. The DSM is even in the comic strips today !!!

http://www.ucomics.com/nonsequitur/

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Nonsequitor ... perfect!

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

25. Thanks !

I couldn't figure out how to copy and paste it!

[stubtoe]

26. Being covered with reluctance

means we need to keep this ball in the air still. The next step is for us to keep the pressure on the media, to get to the analysis of what the memos/minutes actually MEAN.

For the media to report these memos/minutes (finally, finally) is a good first step (way to go, DUers!), but we can't afford to let this one drop down the memory hole now. We need to make the press get to the bottom of these lies and deceptions. It'll take some encouragement, but I think it's certainly in the realm of possibility.

Wow! what a day. I'm happy

[Stinky The Clown]

29. I see today's hearings as a milestone .... or turning point

Today's hearings led by John Conyers may well be the way this can finally get some widespread attention as a governmental matter rather than a Dem/Repub matter.

But they could just as easily become the last gasp of the issue. I can surely imagine an attitude among the RW 'opinion leaders' that holds that "Okay. You've had your hearings and they proved nothing, now stop biting idiot son's ankles."

Don't get me wrong. I think the hearings are a good thing and that the timing is right. But we need to keep the drum beat going ......

As I said in my OP ....... "Please God, don't let us fuck this up."

[stubtoe]

39. That's exactly what scares me,

Opinion leaders: "Okay. You've had your hearings and they proved nothing, now stop biting idiot son's ankles."

or, MSM: "Alright already, we REPORTED it. Now stop bugging us!"

We can only screw it up if we drop the ball. Oh goodie, more emails to send! Demand analysis.

[LiberalEsto]

30. Reluctant is right. WaPo gave it a half sentence today

and buried it in a media column in the Style section.

So how do we get them to cover the 5 pm rally at Lafayette Square, let alone the hearings?

Should someone tell them there's a murder or a terra alert there? That's the only thing I think would get a Post reporter to the scene.

[jmcon007]

27. MSM afraid to even put their toe in the water....ironic when you consider

that it's their job to wade out, get the facts and bring the story back to the people.
I suppose it's understandable to a point, after so-called Rathergate, etc. But, come on. How much more does the story have to be vetted before the media grows a pair of balls?

[tavalon]

42. They're waiting for their permission slip

from the White House. ...................................

[Straight Shooter]

28. Well said, Husb2Sparkly.

I'm sitting here trying to imagine how the soldiers in Iraq feel, how their families feel, and of course how the Iraqis feel to have their lives played with over the course of centuries. There must be a profound sense of betrayal washing over our troops right now, as they learn that everything has been a Pack of Lies.

The right can spin the DSM and accompanying documents for all it's worth. They end up sounding evasive and peevish.

Whatever gods there may be, if you ever cared about humanity, now is the time to help us, please.

[McCamy Taylor]

31. Knight Rider is covering it BEFORE the fact including the protests!

This is a godo sign. People are being alerted to watch it.

[melissinha]

32. right

I tend to believe this one:

3. The media is so intimidated by Bushco that they couldn't find their spine with both hands and a map.

I mean at every turn, if one piece of reporting was not completely corroborated.... BAM they hit that reporter/news organization hard. But when they have no cause in the case of the DSM, they just ignore it.. thats all they (BUSHCO) can do. So the Corporate Media assumes they shouldn't mess with the administration at all.

BUT... I think its a matter of intimidation, if the general public can threaten the Corporate Media to the point that BUSHCO is a lesser threat, they can go back to real reporting and leave the silly special interst stories....

[geckosfeet]

33. Please God,,,,, let the truth be known.

XSlent post husb.

I can hear the entire DU community holding its breath for this afternoons hearing.

[pauldp]

44. Still it all boils down to 2 issues.

Election Reform and Media reform.

Without them we are pissing in the wind.

[Stinky The Clown]

47. Reverse the order and I agree with you ......

Media reform will be beget election reform. Without the media reporting fairly, the election system will remain broken. As egregious as things are, with no bubbling up of that story - no wide spread public awareness - there's no outcry, or even curiosity, to see the story, let alone do something about it.

All the election reformers are so far just howling at their own private moon. I am NOT putting them down. I am only saying that with no widespread press coverage, it is a non-story.

Ergo ... the media is job one.

[pauldp]

55. Fair enough, but we must deal with the two simultaneously.

No matter what, the media will not be changed much by Nov. 06 and if the electoral system is not changed at least significantly in certain areas - Georgia and Florida and Ohio for example, we are royally screwed.

Grass roots efforts can make a difference in the electoral process, perhaps more so than in the media.

[ElectroPrincess]

45. Place your bets now folks?

How much would you like to wage that ole * will "hold off" his Press Conference until right before the DSM Hearing?

I, for one, think that's a safe (90% likely) bet?

What does anyone else thing about this TACTIC?

Nothing is below this criminal Executive Branch. :puke:

On Edit: Good thing I didn't bet ... ole' Scotty is on now. Damn! What do they up their sleeve for today?

[Stinky The Clown]

48. What press conference?

The man can't even speak like a human yet he's going to venture out there today?

Transparent motherfuckers ....... :grr:

[EVDebs]

49. Sad to say but foreigners have to help us on this, CIA is purged of

anyone patriotic enought to speak out about the BFEE and how it has screwed things up...

[Pystoff]

50. The media

The media is afraid to report much about this untill the public demands it be reported. The corporate media is scared shitless because they know they are partly to blame and if they fully give in before being forced to they run the risk of some fo this comming back to bite them in the ass...where they deserve it. Blogs have them running around like chicken with their heads cut off trying to figure out how to please the corporations that own them while not pissing off the public that listens or reads their shitty daily drivel. They know with the deep throat flashbacks the public somewhat rememebers when the media did their job and to be honest they can't remember how to...well not with the fine crop of journalists they have now :sarcasm: . Patience and diligence people this is what it going to take to make the corporate media "remeber" how to do their jobs. And if they decide they can't or won't boycott them and I mean publically and turn to blogging against them lest they forget the public invented them! During the meantime tho the bloggers stay on track and do the job and force them from the shadows (not very shadowy lately now is it eh?) untill this is forced into the light.

If the powers lurking in the background think they are going to sell us some corporate lackey DLC presidential canidate the only way around that is the same route that was used to kick that corporate beast in the nuts when the DNC chair position came up. Stand up and be heard don't let some slick money backed canidate woo us with shiny lights and whistles. But DON'T back some canidate that hasn't got a shot in hell of winning just because they are dead on with your personal ideology (sorry Greens and Kucinich supporters) but those canidates win local and state elections NOT national elections. If we have to swallow our personal feelings and vote for someone we don't particularly care for we might have to on the back end....lest we slip up and even come close to allowing a replay of 2000 (Greens sorry again).

Yes I know some of you are going to be angry with me for saying stand firm then backing down there at the end...but another Bushlike republican and we might all be be living The Grapes of Wrath times 10. Greens and Kucinuch (spelled right? not sure) I know I picked on you guys a bit and I am sorry again.

Ok that probably rambled on a bit but I had a long day and I don't punctuate so if you don't like it :silly:

[DemBones DemBones]

52. Do you really believe that "the powers that be" backed off

and let the people have their way to have Dean as DNC chair?

I think they wanted Dean in there, figuring he'd say things that the media and the opposition could jump on and spin as outrageous comments showing how evil/crazy Dems are. And it's playing out quite nicely for them.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton is frolicking with Poppy and Bar Bush (who have "adopted" him, for God's sake!) and planning for Hillary to be "elected" in 2008, letting us believe we have power again. It's all just the powers that be rearranging the puppet theater.

Clinton's comments on Letterman's show were very telling. He "didn't know" what Dave was talking about when he brought up the DSM but he could wax poetic about his great new relationship with the Bushes.

:puke:

[Pystoff]

56. No I don't

They didn't want Dean they were told to shut up and sit down by the real power of the Democratic party....the state organizers. The DLC holds no power over the "little people" as the DLC probably thinks of them. Those people trumped the DLC and gave them the finger and chose someone with a pair.
The Clintons ally themselves with the Bushies they will sign their own political death warrants with the public over that as things in the US tank even further. Infact some canidates might use the fawning they are doing over the Bushies come primary time. Imagine if you will the public seeing ads showing Hillary with Gingrich and Frist and Bill fawning over the Bushies but not knowing what the DSM are on Lettermans show eh?

[JFN1]

51. Lets keep the pressure on!

Hot off the 'Freedom Presses' - two new handbills urging the reader to call their Congressmen and demand a formal Congressional investigation into the Downing Street Minutes. Here are the links:

THE SMOKING GUN WAS NOT A MUSHROOM CLOUD

ACTION ALERT! CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN!

[rambler_american]

54. A festering sore?

A better analogy might be this. Frequently when a cancer patient has surgery to remove a tumor, smaller tumors throughout the body that had heretofore been starved because the main tumor had been taking all of the nourishment for iteslf now are able to grow and very quickly the patient is overwhelmed and succumbs. There are so many smaller malignancies just waiting for the chance to rear their ugly heads, that once the one that is now finally showing and is apparently getting some attention the others will soon come to the surface also.