There are a couple of great sites out there for politics.....

Campaigndesk.org Spinsanity.com

Campaigndesk.org is put out by the Columbia School of Journalism and Spinsanity.com is a site that cuts through the spin on both sides.

I have just finished a book titled "Weapons of Mass Deception" and would suggest it to others. As the title suggests, this is a book against the Iraq war, but is more than that. It discusses everything from the process of changing the American mind for war to the purchasing of an SUV and how a lot of this is all related.

One of the greatest shames, in my opinion, is the hiring of Madison Avenue PR firms and individuals to persuade the American mind to the views of the government. For example, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Torrie Clark used to work for a huge PR firm. She was hired and came up with the system of "embedded news reporters" during the Iraq war. Now, on its face, this could have been a wonderful thing for information dissemination, however, at the hands of the Dept of Defense it turned out to very little more than a tactic for propaganda dissemination. The authors of this book show this by pointing out that reporters were told where to go, what to report on, what they couldn't report on, who they could interview, who they couldn't interview and when they could do such things. The reporters also were mainly only allowed to interview soliders in front of supervisors (for anyone who has not been in the military, very few soldiers will ever speak freely in front of bosses - but as we saw, some brave soldiers did speak out, sadly, look back to what happened next; they were sought out and disciplined in various ways).

Now, don't get me wrong and think I am suggesting that reporters should be able to disseminate EVERY thing they see immediately. Certainly a reporter should not report on things such as troop movements or other information that would put our soldiers in harm, however, a reporter should be able to report on the things such as Iraqi citizen casulties and injuries.

But what is shameful, is how the PR firm mission is that of changing the American mind, rather than informing the American mind. Sure, some will say this is naive to be concerned about, or choose to ignore such a process, but when you do, sit back and think of all your favorite songs and the images that they now first invoke in your mind - Does Bob Seger's "Like A Rock" bring up an image of a shiney new Chevy? Does the Beatles' "Revolution" bring up images of tennis shoes? Do many songs from the 68 era invoke images of war or hippy themed images from nostalgic styled movies and tv shows?

We truly have become a captive audience that gladly eats up any spoon fed shit our government continues to feed us.....and the saddest thing is that our government realizes this while most of us do not and takes particular glee that we even smile while heartily chowing down......

Eric