By Jeff Stein Washington Post Monday, September 27, 2010
The Justice Department said Monday that it found almost two dozen FBI agents, including supervisors, had cheated on an examto test their knowledge of new counterterrorism procedures. It suggested that the scandal might eventually spread far beyond the few offices it investigated.
“We believe the extent of the cheating related to this test was greater than the cases we detailed in this report,” Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine reported.
DOCUMENTARY DESCRIPTION
Episode 1: Happiness Machine
Episode 2: The Engineering of Consent
Episode 3: There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed
Episode 4: Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering
CENTURY OF THE SELF asks the deep questions about the roots and methods of consumerism and representative democracy and the implications of the two. The foundation of this documentary is the idea that public relations and politicians have used the theories of Sigmund Freud to engineer a society of consent.
This series is about how those in power have used Freud s theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy. Adam Curtis
For more information about this series, visit its Wikipedia page.
Keywords from imdb.com: Propaganda, Public Relations, Consumerism, Capitalism, Media, Advertising
The essay by Andrew Bacevich (Colonel USA ret.) portrays one of the very worst aspects of the imperial court of Versailles on the Potomac — collective amnesia that opens the door to the grotesque…
Bob Woodward and all the president’s men (2010 edition)
by Andrew J. Bacevich
Amazon Page
Phi Beta Iota: Both of the above appear at the same link. While worth a full read to appreciate the self-serving devotion of Bob Woodward and the ongoing duplicity of the Pentagon and hypocrisy of the White House, there is nothing here that Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal and many others–including Marine Corps General Smedley Butler, have not been saying for decades. Col Bacevich's book is a short continuation of the same theme, what Chuck Spinney has been calling since the 1980's “Versailles on the Potomac.” Missing from the Washington-based drama is the far deeper story being examined outside the beltway, to wit, “Is Washington in enemy hands?”
Media reports regarding the lawsuits prompted a third party named Howard Boardman Lowry to contact Relators‟ Counsel. Mr. Lowry's sworn testimony is attached in its entirety as Exhibit B. Mr. Lowry testified he purchased steroids, human growth hormones, and testosterone for Blackwater employees and his observation of rampant drug use among Blackwater employees. Initially, Blackwater paid for the steroids from company funds. Later, Blackwater management steered Blackwater personnel to Mr. Lowry. He also testified that Blackwater employees would often shoot at Iraqi pedestrians for no reason and would regularly shoot into adjacent buildings housing Iraqi civilians among other acts of unwarranted violence. In short, Mr. Lowry provides critical and corroborating evidence. See Exhibit B.
Phi Beta Iota: The entire piece in the Huffington Post is worth a careful reading.
Posted on September 16, 2010, Printed on September 21, 2010
As Election Day 2010 approaches – as the United States wallows in the swamps of war, recession and environmental degradation – the consequences of the nation’s three-decade-old decoupling from reality are becoming painfully obvious.
Yet, despite the danger, the nation can’t seem to move in a positive direction, as if the suctioning effect of endless spin, half-truths and lies holds the populace in place, a force that grows ever more powerful like quicksand sucking the country deeper into the muck – to waist deep, then neck deep.
Trapped in the mud, millions of Americans are complaining about their loss of economic status, their sense of powerlessness, their nation’s decline. But instead of examining how the country stumbled into this morass, many still choose not to face reality.
Instead of seeking paths to the firmer ground of a reality-based world, people from different parts of the political spectrum have decided to embrace unreality even more, either cynically as a way to delegitimize a political opponent or because they’ve simply become addicted to the crazy.
. . . . . . .
Whatever happens on Election Day, the longer-term challenge will be to rebuild an old-fashioned commitment to fact and reason within both American journalism and the broader political system.
Though lying is not foreign to U.S. politics and media, telling the truth has always been a fundamental American value, one that is vital to democracy.
The great task of restoring the Republic must include honest efforts to dig out recent history's ground truth, which can then be used to build a path out of the disinformation swamp and onto the dry land of rational political disco
A large majority of Americans, 58 percent, believe that the country needs a third major party to adequately represent the American people, according to a new Gallup poll. Only 35 percent think the Democratic and Republican Parties do an adequate job representing the electorate.
The desire for a third party is high because currently both parties are unpopular with the American people. A recent CBS News/New York Times poll found that both the Democratic and Republican Parties favorability numbers were negative. Perhaps more importantly, it found that overwhelming majorities disapproved of the job performance of Congressional Republicans and Democrats.
