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posted: sunday, June 13, 2008 11:59 pm, pst
Test

CBS: Corporate Press PropagandA Passed on as "News"

series 177

first posted: July 13, 2008

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1) The Articles linked below were Abstracted from the sources cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.

Laura Logan's "Report" on the "invisible war" between the US and Iran.

CBS Radio, Weekend Roundup: Tensions with Iran, CBS, 07/11/2008

alex, 7-13-08. edited 7-17.

CBS is presenting the administration's line on Iran as "news," once again. This is a gross disservice to the public, as this administration's past and present manipulations of fact, to put it gently, should demand the highest level of scrutiny from the press, Congress, and all the courts in the world that claim jurisdiction over war crimes and international law. This CBS report by Laura Logan mischaracterizes Iran as an enemy dedicated to obtaining nuclear weapons.

Logan's report presented as fact critical lies the administration needs to convince the public to justify an Iranian war. Logan is not just doing bad reporting, she is putting our country at risk, and is an insult to the idea of free press.

The first, and most outrageous misrepentation that Logan presented as fact was her stating as fact that Iran is the "aggressor" in the middle east. Logan stated that, "Clearly, moving forward with their nuclear program makes them (Iran) the aggressors."

This is an outrageous claim on its face. By identifying Iran as the "aggressor" CBS is simply ignoring our invasion and occupation of Iraq under false pretences, not to mention our direct intervention in the internal politics of almost every nation in the middle east for the last fifty years. Except Iran, since 1979.

To commit this war crime, the invasion part, bush had to lie to Congress, the American people, and the world. And CBS, along with the rest of the corporate media, were active participants in promoting, rather than challenging the lies that led us to war in Iraq.

Besides failing to notice our illegal invasion of Iraq, Logan and CBS ignored the Bush Administration's long history of violent threats against Iran, including Bush's justification of his right to "preemptively" nuke Iran.

The reporting that we are getting from CBS and the rest of our corporate media is dangerous. Besides misleading the public about the tatical situation with Iran, Logan and CBS are shielding the public from the real strategic facts on the ground that are driving the "crisis" across the whole middle east.

The fundamental fact that Logan, CBS, our corporate media, Bush, and Congress are hiding from analysis is the contention that the domination and control of the middle east's politics and resources by Western powers is not just being domestically contested across the region, it is in fact finished, and Bush's wars and threats are a misguided attempt to reassert American dominance.

Despite the silence of our media, the ability of authorotarian western backed dicators, be they called king, dictators or emirs to maintain the appearance of legitimacy or maintain control of their people is being severly tested.

As our regional influence is projected through this very same stable of authoritarian kings, dictators, emirs, and various other forms of puppets, our influence will evaporate once our tyrants are removed. Thus Bush is looking to prop up his tottering middle eastern regimes by suppressing the rise of Iran. The nuclear issue is merely an excuse Bush is using to actively threaten the rising new center of power in the middle east: Iran.

Independent of the lies and propaganda spouted by Bush and CBS, the Iranians have every right under international law and treaty to enrich uranium. Period, end of story.

The aggressor in this situation is clearly the US. We are attempting to unilaterally alter international treaty to deny Iran their clear right to enrich uranium. Logan's imprecise use of the term "nuclear program" also conveniently fails to differentiate between nuclear power and nuclear weapons programs, further clouding the issue in the minds of her listeners.

Why is CBS lying? Because our misguided failing wars in Iraq and Afgnanistan has destabilized our allies in the middle east while empowering Iran as the most powerful and influential nation in the middle east, with or without nuclear weapons.

Although Iran was rising as a regional power, our failed Iraqi war has supercharged their rise in regional power and influence. We responded by seizing onto Iran's legitimate and lawful development of nuclear power as a flimsy excuse to diplomatically and economically, if not militairly attack Iran. Our increased interest in Iran has one goal: deny Iran the strategic fruits of our defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In reality, despite Israel's threats and carping, there is no proof that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. The last National Security Estimate produced by US intelligence agencies backs this up, claiming that Iran abandoned efforts to acquire nukes or nuke weapons tech years ago.

Logan put the cherry on top of her pie of lies when she stated that, (Iran's People are) "united, on one issue, they believe that Iran has the right to nuclear weapons." Combined with her misrepresentation of international law, and her misuse of the phrase "nuclear program," Logan has constructed a threat and a crisis where none exists.

On top of these misrepresentations, Logan failed to note that the grand ayatollah officially banned nuclear weapons, that every political and religious authority in Iran has declared nukes "immoral," and that Iran's nuclear position calls for a completely nuclear weapons free middle east.

Defining nukes as immoral, and ridding the middle east of nuclear weapons does not fit our program, which allows those who obey our empire to illegally possess nukes with our full support, while those who do not obey are threatened with being nuked.

It appears that the Iranians are not only correct about the immorality of nuclear weapons, but their desire for a nuclear free middle east is the most responsible position among the countries vying to end US hegemony over the region. And it is a direct threat to the armaments.

 

To recap the CBS lies, Logan told the American People that Iran is moving forward with their nuclear program, that their people believe they have the right to develop the bomb, and these "facts" make Iran the "aggressor."

The opposite is in fact true: Iran has no weapons program, their people are not calling for one, and the real rogue nations that illegally developed and possess nuclear weapons are all American Allies.

The real rogue nations who have illegally acquired nukes, Israel, Pakistan, and India are all American allies who's illegal weapons programs have been politically protected by US power.

The dire situation described by Logan on CBS is almost exactly the opposite of what she reported: The aggressor in the middle east is not Iran, that role is clearly held by the US and Israel.

Our contribution is our criminal invasion of Iraq, our backing of the Egyptian dictatorship, our backing of the Jordanian dictatorship, and support for the tyrannical Saudi King and the chain of "emirs" along the ulf.

And I cannot omit our unrestrained support of Israel, who's fifty year crime spree against international and human rights law was recently highlighted by their criminal attack on Lebanon last year, and their recent declaration of Gaza as a "hostile entity," and their subsequent withholding of civilian food and medical supplies against international law.

There are only two dire threats against peace in the middle east: The US and Israel.

CBS did an excellent job of lying to the American People leading up the the Iraqi war, and now they are preparing the public with the propaganda lies required to launch another criminal war, this time against Iran.

After listening to their lies we are left with the mistaken impression that we have few options other than "defending" ourselves from this "aggression," apparently by turing the "invisible war" we are waging against Iran into a real, visible war.

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Thoughts and analysis: Iran and US policy

Bush program reveals illegitimacy of govt

Iran/Terror pretext for Bush to seize power?

clouds of war spreading across middle east 116_c3

Bush "Diplomacy"

America's Empire Tottering in Middle-East, 10-07

The bubbling regional war to pick up speed? 1-14-08

Middle-east decolonizing, Israel must stop rise of Iran, 1-14-08

 

Iran Rising:

Iran Rising as dominant Regional power: Oct '07

War with iran? first shots in war against fallon? 3-11-08

The Real Deal: The True Reasons our Corporate Empire is Waging War in the Middle-East, committee, 8-12-07

 

 

Background:

Bush Tempering Iran rhetoric anticipating exposure of his nuke threat lies, lat, 12-1-07

Report contradicts Bush on Iran nuclear program, reuters, Mon Dec 3, 2007

Bush accuses Iran of thought crime, global security, 12-4-07

rogue nuke nation Israel fires ballistic missile, aljazeera, 1-17-08

US: Israel's Bitch, aljazerra, 1-17-08

 

Chavez: us cut off, and Oil to 200 a barrel if us attacks iran, pravda, 11-15-07

Iran and Russia cooperating on mutual defense, ap, 12-24-07

 

Bush guns up middle east as iran conflict looms, ap, January 14, 2008

Israel ready to attack Iran, ap, January 14, 2008

Iran, afghanistan, and pakistan: snow in the deserts

 

Will US Sneak Attack Iran?

US readies first strike nukes, wp, 5-15-05

US planning for first strike, and tactical use of nukes, global research, 2-22-06

Pentagon preps for Iran, washington post, 4-16-06

Pentagon ready for spring attack on Iran, guardian, 2-10-07

CNN, 9-17-07; France: Prepare for war over Iran

BBC NEWS, 1-17-06; US special forces 'inside Iran'

Even the John Birch Society is freaked, jbs news feed, 10-18-07

 

Israel threatens Iran with sneak attack, ap, 9-29-04

Is Israel Planning a Nuclear Strike on Iran? der spiegel, 1-8-07

Pentagon ready for spring attack on Iran, guardian, 2-10-07

 

US generals ‘will quit’ if Bush orders Iran attack, Washington times on line, February 25, 2007

Would Pace Attack Iran if Bush Ordered It? commondreams.org, 2-22-07

Bush Administration War Plans Directed Against Iran, STWR, 9-17-07

Pace fired for disputing attack on Iran? stwr 9-19-07

 

iran links

what the ex-generals say

israeli sneak attack on Iran?

 

If so, it will go down in history as the middle eastern Pearl Harbor. History repeates itself, but now the Jews are the Japs, Iran is the US, and the middle east is the "sleeping giant."

And we are Nazi Germany.

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2) Status of the Econ Crisis: How we got here, where it is Going, and what you should expect to happen:

The Death of the Mother of all Financial Bubble at the Heart of Wall Street

draft document, 7-13-08

The Situation: The mortgage-credit-banking-currency-energy-inflation crisis we are now facing is not just a superficial, temporary bump in our path of our never ending growth in profits and values, as the corporate press and politicians would have you think.

We are on the brink of a significant loss of market value, a significant further decline in dollar value, and a significant rise in the cost of credit the world will charge the US.

According to Bernake, who has opened our govt's treasury to cover the massive losses by wall street investment bankers, and now, apparently to cover the massive losses in fannie may and freddie mack, giving hundreds of billions of our money to the people who already made hundreds of billions causing the problem, will solve the problem.

Let's examine the background of the problem closely, and see if he's right. For convienience's sake, we will begin our analysis when the dot com bubble bursted in feb of '01.

Alan Greenspan, the Fed chief at the time, responded by dropping interest rates precipitiously. This caused the capitol fleeing from the collasping dot com bubble to refinance itself into real estate, sparking the real estate boom that has just gone bust.

Dropping interest rates put downward pressure on the dollar, which put upward pressure on all dollar denominated commodities, especially food and energy. After transforming the dot com bust into a housing bubble, wisdom would have required greenspan to reign in the expanding housing bubble.

This would have balanced suppressing the housing bubble against supporting the dollar, which would have effectively stabilized food and energy markets, and reassured global investors as to the security of dollar demoniated investments.

Greenspan failed to act responsibily and drain the housing bubble with rate increases, so the housing bubble expanded to titanic porportions, magnified by the irresponsible financial leverging in the unregulated financial markets dominated by wall street bankers Bernake is now showering with our cash.

The bubble was not caused by of sub-prime mortgages, but was caused by the artifical demand created by cheap cash. The cheap cash was the product of a 35 year process of stripping our lower and middle classes of their share of our nation's wealth, and concentrating it at the very top of our society. The sub prime mortgages were the most outrageous example of the rich in our country offering to loan the stolen wealth of the middle class back to the middle class at loan shark rates.

This sitiuation did not happen overnight. Behind the financial chaos we are experiencing is a 35 year path of massive irresponsible demographic growth which was the fuel that powered the process of separating the middle and working classes from its share of our nation's wealth and political power.

Our irresponsible growth during the last 35 years has made 3 significant transformations that have altered the balance of political, economic, and social power in our country.

During the last 35 years the engine of political and economic parity in our country, our educational system, has been stripped bare and has become an engine of inequality. As the educational system was declining, so too were middle and lower class wages. Today, both parents work to qualify for the loans, on credit and equity, to fund the same lifestyle one wage earner produced on income 35 years ago.

Our country's massive concentration of wealth and power during the last 35 years was based on a process of internal destruction. Our incredible rise in corporate profits was based on sucking the life out of our social infrastructure, which is not just the basis of social equtiy, but is the foundation of our economic productivity. Our corporate aristocracy transformed our polity into a corporate fascist state by eating the basis of it's own vitality, and our democracy, a healthy middle class. Once the middle class lost their share of the national wealth and their education system, the democratic restraints of the middle class on corporate wealth and power slipped away.

As the middle class lost its economic clout, it lost political clout, and both parties, our free press, our public utilities, and about anything else they could steal was stolen. Our massive expansion during the last 30 years was a smokescreen covering the robbery of our economic, social and democratic resources by our corporate aristocracy, giving them the wherewithall to transform our nation into a corporate facist state running a global empire. Our citizens have devolved into consumers.

In a nutshell, it's not just us that's been robbed, it's the whole world. But now it's time to pay the piper.

Let's review the situation that we are in. Housing prices are in freefall. Prices have fallen far enough to invert prime mortgages, and we still have a couple of years of sub prime mortgage interest adjustments in front of us. The rising rates of inflation and interest assure all of these readjustments will default.

What this means is that all of the holders of mortgage securities, from the national engines of home mortgages, freddie and fannie, to the wall street private capitol banks (bear stearns and most of investment banks) who were financing the massive flow of mortgage loans into the public real estate market, then formed the resulting contracts into huge mortgage securites, and vended them to a wide range of hedge funds, commercial banks, and just about every type of private and public investor around the world have no idea what they are worth.

More accurately, they cannot predict how fast and far the value of mortgage securities will fall. Not being able to see the bottom is just the tip of the iceberd.

As many of these mortgage securities are being used as collateral in complex investments, or are being listed as standing liabilities by commercial banks and other public investment devices, the lenders and financers of these devices are rightfully demanding that the borrowers put up a dollar for every dollar of value their collateral loses.

The banks and other financial institutions holding these dubious securities are facing massive demands to increase their reserves to cover the deepening loss of value that their mortgage securites are experiencing.

Now that we know how we got here, how do we get out?

The root of the problem is not in the center of the markets, where bernake and our bribed politicians are pouring billions of our dollars to cover the losses of private speculators, and relieve their biggest bribers from the consequences of their irresponsible greed and the damage they have done to our society.

The only federal intervention that will stabilize freddie and fannie, reinforce the banks, and calm investors around the world is to directly reinforce the value of the mortgage securities. The only way to do this is to establish a solid price and level of housing sales. Bailing out freddie, fannie, and the private banks before reinforcing housing prices is only throwing good money after bad.

There is only one way to stabilize the mortgage securities: stabilize housing. Once a price and level of sales is established in housing, the value of all of the mortgage securities around the world will be known, and that will subsequently determine the amount and cost of credit that will be avaiable to the housing market.

Pouring billions into the morally corrupt and economically bankrupt private banks, who, by the way, have made many billions over the last seven years of irresponsible bubble lending, will not do a thing to prop up housing prices and sales.

As much as I believe that this bubble must pop, the way to immediately establish a solid price and volumne in housing would be to transfer the whole cost of all income taxes on everybody who makes less than 100 grand a year onto the corporations and everyone who makes over a million a year. Housing would establish a solid level of sales and values the day after signing that baby into law. The value of mortgage securities, and recipricolly, the amount of capitol available to credit markets would be known, and the credit markets would begin to operate again.

But the character and basis of market activity would be completely different. Rather than being driven by ever increasing flows of cheap money competing for real estate, housing prices would be driven by the purchasing power of the middle class.

To establish a healthy and stable housing market into the long term future, the economic underpinnings of the middle class will have to be reestablished. The logical place to start would be by restoring our stolen educational, medical, and retirement systems. Stable social infrastructures, besides contributing to economic vitality, creates a stable well paid consumer base capable of maintaing spending even when the greedy and corrupt disrupt our financial markets, as they have done today. A stable social infrastructure also acts as a governor on social and political instability, as well as providing economic stability.

But that's not on the adgenda yet. The wealth and power of our corrupted corporate elite and their bribed politicians, the very people who damaged our social institutions, stripped the wealth of our economy of our money, and betrayed our democracy, the very people who brought us to this point, are incapable of identifying or admitting that it was their system of greed and corruption that brought on these social, political and economic disasters that have destroyed our country.

If they did, the whole basis of their wealth and power would be destroyed. That's not going to happen. Yet. These people have already proved that they are enemies to our democratic rights, identifying themselves as traitors who have put themselves before our democratic rights and the general welfare of our country.

What's going to happen to the credit and financial markets

to be continued...later in the AM

well, it worked out to be much later. I made this brief addition on wed 7-16-08, 12:23 am pst. I will fill it out later...

If you have been reading my analysis (see link list below) none of the events happening in the markets or economy are a surprise. Right now, it's really late, I'm tired, too busy, and kind of pissed off, so here it is without a kiss.

...

In august of '07 I predicted the dow would hit a bottom of 6800 to 7200 in June of this year. The fed and willfull disbelief (by the markets) have delayed the recokening, but not by much. We are on the way to the 7000 level, or a bit lower, right now.

The dollar will bottom out at 1.75 a euro, and work a range of 1.70 to 1.80 for years to come.

The base price for crude will go to 90 a barrel, but only when the global economy hits bottom. Crude will remain very high, and very volitile, as global capitol flows from gold to oil to currencies and commodities seeking to retain value during these initial stages of our rational reevaluation of our assets.(our downturn) Crude will go down to and remain at around 110 as the crisis deepens, and will finally drop to the low 90s when global economic activity grinds to a halt. If China can hang in there.

If our downturn causes China's bloated markets to implode, which is appearing more and more likely in my estimation, they will dump their dollars and stop buying oil. In that case the dollar could plunge to 1.90+ a euro, and crude could hit 60 again.

Inflation is going to spike to between 8 and 9% towards the end of this year, and home loans will be obtainable, for people with high incomes and great credit, at between 11 and 13%.

Economic activity is going to go negative for 7 or 8 months, then sit like a vegtable on life support in an ICU unit for at least 2 years. The timer for the negative growth will begin when the market hits the 7000 level. The negative economic growth period will then "offically" begin.

Other kickers, besides China implosion, are the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the middle east in general. Bush could very well attack Iran. An Iranian attack could not just be used as a cover for bush's war failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, but could also distract the public from this impending economic meltdown. It also could lead to us losing a war through bankruptcy: we could very well run out of money with armies in the field.

The economic meltdown America is about to experience is going to make us really feel like we are at war, with consumption dropping to WWII levels. So, don't be surprised if Bush tries to distract us with a "terror" attack and an Iranian war to cover both his domestic and foreign failures.

Later, I will explain why the economy will bow down to these levels.

 

3)

INVESTOR ALERT

7-17-08

MARKET VOLATILITY: The Shark Tank is getting violent. Goldfish should refrain from entering the water.

 

The heavy downward market moves last week were based on the financial status of American credit institutions. The heavy upward market moves this week are based on massive movements of the world's biggest market players as they move their capitol between gold, oil, metals, currencies, and equities in mad rushes to preserve and increase value.

I strongly reccomend that small investors sail directly to port, and take cover in the most secure positions possible. The credit, commodities, and equities markets are going to undergo extreme volitility as huge sums of big player money attempts to protect itself as global economic activity contracts.

The next big move down could happen at any time, when all this big investor money now pouring into equites turns around and moves back into oil and gold. I am sure it will happen, but betting on the moves of big investors in these volitile markets is nothing short of crazy.

If you are unfortunate enough to be stuck in this market, My present hope and best advice is that your wealth is effectively hedged, and all of your eggs are not in one basket. Well picked stocks should be balanced by well picked bonds. US cash holdings should be balanced with Euro holdings, and this cash hedged with metal. If you aren't there now, be very careful with your next few decisions.

This run up may be your last chance to balance your portfolio, if you believe that we are headed down. If you think we will be at this market level, or higher by the end of the year, I think you are crazy.

My long term advice, covering the next 12 to 18 months, would be to become as liquid as possible, and be ready to buy when this slow motion trainwreck finally comes to rest.

But don't expect these bargains to bear fruit for years. If you time this impending deep bottom correctly, you may be able to preserve your wealth, while making your kids rich.

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Background:

Economic Chaos/Crisis

how we got here, how we crawl out of here

What a long, strange trip it's been...

The "Beginning," june 23, '07: Krauts taking a Beating in Morgage Securities Market: Where will it end?

august '07: Markets ready to Kill Economy

august 17, '07: Feds Bailing Out Greedy Speculators

september 5, '07: How much Mortgage Liability do the Banks Have?

november 24, '07: Housing-credit crisis exposing the rotten core of American Markets and Economy

january 14, '08: The impending meltdown

march 14, '08: Death of the new economy, get ready for the big selloff

march 29, '08: economic or ethical crisis?

april 29, '08: Market Perception and Reality are nearing parity

 

april 6, '08: how we got here, how we crawl out of here

 

more background: all economic links

 

A Few Thoughts on the Markets

july 2, 2008

advice to the Fed: The Fed better shore up the dollar right now. Massive inflation has almost fully emerged into the retail economy. Expect immediate retail price increases between 14% to 20% across the board for all consumer products, including food. Prices will continue to rise as increasing energy prices work themselves through raw material, manufacturing, and transportation costs. The main source of this rise in inflation is energy price inflation, which is being driven by the spiraling price of oil.

Of Oil pricing's three main components; supply and demand, speculation, and the value of the dollar, the Fed can move directly to support the dollar and quash the decling value of the dollar as a significant component contributing to the growing crisis of energy inflation. A tightening would have a secondary effect lowering energy prices by slowing economic activity. Congress could then effectively work on the second component of energy inflation, speculation, by devising regulations to limit energy futures speculation. But that is naive, the Dems would have curbed market excesses during Clinton's era, if both parties were not ruled by Big Oil and Wall Street, then and now.

In any case, energy inflation is feeding the beast of food inflation, and once energy inflation spreads across all catagories of consumption, which it is rapidly doing, it will drive consumption into the ground. The only place the fiscal policy powers of the Fed can directly address energy inflation is by significantly strengthening the dollar.

A major market downturn is underway, and the high demand, speculation, and the weak dollar which have supercharged the oil/energy markets have now merged with the american mortgage security/credit crisis to offer the markets a clearer vision of the unsustainable market conditions and valuations that sit atop our looted economy.

What does this mean to the average working dude?

Labor has little leverage to demand wage compensation, so I expect the contribution of wage inflation to the crisis will be minimal. The middle and lower classes will suffer significantly. Hell, they were sacrificed to get here, so they should expect no more than more of the same.


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Index for this Page

War and Money

1] CBS preps us for war with iran

1a] analysis: iran and the US Corporate Empire

1b] links: attack iran?

 

2] The Road to Economic Perdition

2a] analysis: the road from boom to bust

3] MARKET VOLATILITY: The Shark Tank is getting violent. Goldfish should refrain from entering the water

Market: A note to the Fed, July 2, '08