Craig Struthers: The all-empowering media

I would like first to thank you for this forum in which the exchange of ideas and opinions can take place. The reason that I write is the article titled "Russian, Hostile Friend" by Vasily Bubnov. I think this article shows an interesting insight into the American psychological conditioning.

I am an American by birth and live in America presently. The societal norms here have, in my life become very off kilter and lean ncreasingly towards absurdity. I should like to point out the hypocritical contradictions that are made by the esteemed congressman Thomas Lantos and refute the claims made by the letters from other Americans.

First of all let's dissect the claims in the Lantos-Cox act and point out the obvious hypocrisies.

1) the selective prosecution of political opponents and the suppression of free media by the Russian Federation, and the continued commission of widespread atrocities in the conduct of the brutal war in Chechnya, do not reflect the minimum standards of civilized nations that characterize every other member state in the Group of 8 ; The selective prosecution of political opponents; In America if a political opponent comes forward the current administration crucifies
them in the media.

I site Joseph C. Wilson IV's wife Valerie Plame army first example. An undercover CIA agent who's name was leaked when her husband refused to support Bush's claim on Iraq purchasing Yellow Cake Uranium Niger.

I would like to move on to the U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill Who was publicly slandered by the Bush Media service (Fox news, CNN, Rush Limbaugh etc...) after publication of his book "The Price of Loyalty" exposed George Bush's administration for the pirates they are. The last case I will mention is the vicious attack against Richard A. Clarke USA's counter terrorism adviser until recently. Clake is a man no one would want to be around for too long. But he is intelligent and was in a position to know what was going on in the white house. His book points out the Bush blunders and obsessions. This has brought down upon him the wrath of Rove. His good name has now been smeared over Faux news.

Dick Cheney even went as far as to appear on Rush Limbuaghs joke of a show to try to slander Mr. Clarke. A friendly word of advice to Mr. Cheney "When trying to slander a good mans name do it on a show that isn't run by a drug addicted loudmouth with the intellect of a test fly.
     
The suppression of free media; All I've got to say about that is Howard Stern.
2) The continued participation of the Russian Federation in the Group of 8 nations, including the Russian Government's opportunity to host the G -8 summit in 2006 as planned, should be conditioned on the Russian Government voluntarily accepting and adhering to the norms and standards of free, democratic societies as generally practiced by every other member nation, including—

(A) the rule of law, including protection from selective prosecution and
protection from arbitrary state-directed violence;
(B) a court system free of political influence and manipulation;
(C) a free and independent media;
(D) a political system open to participation by all citizens and which
protects freedom of expression and association; and
(E) the protection of universally recognized human rights".

    OK, let's take a look at this wonderful piece of abject literature?!?!?!? "As generally practiced by every other member nation." Let's compare what "every other member nation" is doing.

First off who in the G8 is just a puppet for the global domination schema of the Current Washington D.C. insurgents (Bush, Cheney and Co.) The U.K., Japan and Italy are the countries in the G8 that are also in the "coalition of the willing"  (which means that the majority of the G8 is still sane and there is hope for the world.)

Japan and Italy are both backing Bushy because of the promised pay off at the end of the day. Pay day is not looking topromising boys, America is so in debt that the IMF is concerned that the global economy will suffer from our excesses. As for being a partner in the new world order, does anyone really believe Cheney will give power to any of the "coalition of the willing" nations after all is said and done.

Before this brave new world order can happen America needs to face facts that we aren't getting the job done. We are the strongest military force on the planet but we can't even beat a small city in Iraq! This whole unilateral think ain't working. So Japan and Italy you might want to think of putting all your eggs in another basket.

The U.K. What is up with Tony Blair? The man is very intelligent, why does he lead his country into a ruinous state of affairs in Iraq? The British Isles and British citizens are in no way safer now that Tony sided with Bushy. (I might remind the citizens of the U.K. that you are a lot closer than Bush to the troubles in the Middle East). The war on terror is turning out to be as successful as the war on drugs is here in the States. Not even a little bit successful, the whole thing was ill conceived. Now would be a good time to say "this ain't gonna work." and find a plan that will work. You must admit a problem before you can fix a problem.

I was venting, sorry. Back to the subject at hand;
  A) "Protection from selective prosecution." hmm. I would imagine that if Mr. Lantos had a darker shade of skin and wasn't rich he might find that in America selective prosecution is the order of the day. I think back to the treatment of the native American Indians, the Chinese, the Irish, the black people and more recently anyone of Arabic decent. I am sure that all the readers are familiar with Guantanamo Bay and the lovely treatment afforded the guest there. Hmmm! It's OK we've already vilanized these people?!?!?!

  B)"A court system free of political influence and manipulation." Let's see! The 2000 election comes to mind right away, (but I want to save that for number letter D) Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is the man that is supposed to be investigating Cheney and the rest of the administration for impropriety. Just how does he do this? He goes duck hunting with Dick Cheney. Hmmm! I guess he's working undercover?!?!?!

  C)"Free and independent media." The main stream media in the States is the best media tax cuts can buy. Michelle Powell (the Secretary of States Colin Powell's kid) is the Oberfuhrer of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission.) This is the same man that told clear channel media that they where beholding to their licensing agency and that the needed to drop Howard Stern from their programming or face healthy fines and possible revocation of their broadcast license.

Howard Stern had always supported Bushy until he saw what that arrogant little tyrant was doing to this country. He then spoke out against George the jr. and that's when the trouble began for him and Clear Channel (Who by the way are huge supporters of little Georgy and run 70% of all American radio broadcasts.) Hmmm! Coincidence I suppose?!?!

   D)"Political system open participation by all citizens." Unless you were one of the one hundred thousand people of color living in Florida during the 2000 presidential elections. They where labeled as "felons"and therefore could not vote (It was later rectified and the governor of Florida said "gee, sorry.") Remember that Jeb Bushy (Georgies younger brother) was the governor of Florida at the time, and the impartial judge that was brought in to decide the outcome of the election was Kathleen Harris. The same Kathleen Harris who was in charge of fund raising for the republican party in Florida and the Secretary of State in Florida (a position that Jeb the burning Bush appointed her to.) Hmmm! Another coincidence I suppose?!?!?!

  E)"Protection of universal recognized human right." Fallujah. I think that pretty much sums that issue up.

  Now comes the Q and A part of this correspondence; first hear from Tom. Take it away Tom

Q.) "I feel sorry for you. Your country is dying of hunger, you have the third world army and your economy even has no its own currency recognized in the world. Not surprisingly, you have your ass stuck to your chair and yell at the USA. This is all you can do".

A.) Well Tom, you do bring up some interesting points there. I am sure the 60% of children going to bed hungry tonight in the USA will be glad to know that Russia (with it's huge agricultural base) is dying of hunger, they won't feel so alone. Yes these are the same children who will be left with the staggering deficit and who's parents had there jobs outsourced.

Just as well they were outsourced though, because if they where still working I'm sure Kenny boy Lay (Enron; Tom) would find a way to steal their retirement too and not be brought up on charges (it's good to know Cheney and Bushy.)

The army you so gleefully spew about is in fact a very strong and formidable army, I would not expect you to be aware of this (then again Tom I don't expect you to be aware of the current year either. 2004; Tom) The currency is referred to as the ruble (by the way just what does "even has no it's own currency recognized" mean?) Currently the American dollar is used for a lot of transactions, but that will be changing to the Euro very soon (stability issues with the dollar.) By the way Tom did you know that for the American economy to remain soluble at least 1.5 billion dollars American must change hands daily on the international markets? So Russia using the American dollar really helps our economy more than it show a weakness in theirs, pretty cool huh? The chair being stuck to the ass part, say doesn't the States have a problem with obesity just now?????

Q.)"You should not be so biased to the country which saved you from Nazi domination in the World War II and which has been constantly providing you with aid. Communism in Russia died due to the USA, and this cost us much". Leader Of XMI

A.) Well, I gotta tell Mr. Xmi (it's alright if I call you that isn't it?) You bring up a very interesting point. Let's just address the Nazi thing first. We'll get in our way back machine and visit the day June 22nd 1941.

This day was the start of a little offensive called "Operation Barbarossa." This is when the Germans took 3 million of their troops and3300 tanks and decided to open up a second front against the Russians. This is considered by many historians to be the beginning of the end of the third reich. See Napoleon tried it once also and lost his ass too. So in retrospect (that means to look back on things, XMI) I would say that if it weren't for the Russians you my friend would be wearing lederhosen and speaking German. As for all that financial aid did you know that America offered it to Russia so as to stabilize the government (and kick start a free market system.) See what this did was to prevent 1/6 of the worlds land mass from becoming a state of anarchy.

Even so the administration of this money by the US government was so hap hazard that no one was accountable for where it went, brilliant plan (the Russian organized crime bosses thank us to this day.)  Russia is not dead and no one made America spend all that hard earned tax dollars on the cold war. If you would like to piss and moan to someone I would call the Eisenhower estate and complain.
Q.)"I have not read Pravda for years. So much hate and misinformation??
Reminds me of Germany 1939 !!"

Bert Randall
April 15, 2004

A.)Wow; Bert what can a guy say? Where exactly did you live in Germany in 1939? You must have lived there right? I would hate for the readers to think that you are making statements that you know nothing about! Must have been something to see the autobahn being built, huh? Did you by chance get to attend those Olympic games where Jesse Owens embarrassed  Hitler (if  I recall correctly it was 1936, 4 gold medals right?) So did you fight for the Nazi's or did you migrate before the invasion of Poland?

Q.)"Satan is for real, but it is not in the USA. We preach peace, but if we are threatened, our leaders will start a war."
Dave Billings
April 6, 2003

A.)Dave; public education right? I am thinking that those Iraqis would agree with the whole preaching peace thing. I hope that you remember that 18 of the 20 highjacker on Sept. 11 were Saudi Arabians. Osama and Saddam hate each other and would never conspire to piss in a hole let alone attack America. No weapons of mass destruction have been found, just like Hans Blix said before Bushy chased him out of Iraqi (Iraqi's WMD's were given to Saddam in the 80's by Rumsfield.)

If you are one of those people that say "We are there to free the Iraqi people and give them the right to exercise their civil liberties, to live free goddammit.." you might want to look up the word liberal in your dictionary first. I'll do it for you, wouldn't want you to strain a muscle. Liberal adj. Having, expressing, or following views or policies that favor the freedom of  individuals to act or express themselves in a manner of their own choosing. Basically giving the people of Iraqi the right to exercise their civil liberties is being a liberal (FYI). Well there you have it Dave.

I would like to thank the participants in tonight's Q and A session, I hope that it was as enlightening for you as it was for......well.......other readers?????

The thing that you all must remember is that here in America the majority of the people get their entire knowledge base from television. This gives the 24 hr. networks complete power over what the populace thinks. This is the reason why my fellow Americans whom wrote in are so uninformed. I am not trying to apologize for them or the miserable state of affairs that Bush and Co Inc. have put the world in I am just trying to alert people. To be awake and aware of ones  surroundings is empowering.

This brings up another point about the American psychosis, herd mentality is absolutely the controlling factor in the States. If a person is not a good little sheep here the community as a whole will ostracize them (hey, Tom that means to banish them.) Most people here have become fat and lazy, for the most part pretty weak. Knowing this you might now understand why the majority is so afraid to upset the status quo. To have your "friends” turn their backs on you because you think differently than they do is the fear that allows the herd to remain the driving force in peoples' lives.

Fear is the modern day opiate of the masses, the government here knows this and uses it very effectively through their media outlets. The sheep are fearful of the wolf but I think the herder boy has cried wolf one to often and we see here the people become lazy again.

I have a funny story about fear. About 1/2 a year after 9/11 the government issued a high level "terror alert" and told people to go by duct tape and plastic sheeting. The idea was that if chemical agents were to be used the people could line the inside of their houses with plastic and duct tape it so no tainted air could reach their families. Great idea except if you make a room air tight to keep the tainted air out you also keep the limited supply of air in.

So you asphyxiate to death as opposed to dying from chemical agents, clever. The hardware stores ran out of duct tape and plastic sheeting, fear the mind killer. I myself bought that bubble wrap plastic, when I run out of air I'm popping bubbles for more (joking, I didn't buy into it at all).

I appreciate you taking time to read this letter and do hope that you publish it. I don't want everyone in Russia to think that all Americans are as slow as Tom, XMI, Brett and Dave. I do enjoy reading Pravda and hope you keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

 Craig Struthers
 Colorado Spring, CO USA