- An analysis of Amy Goodman's recent service for the Empire.
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- "... at just this moment it had been announced that
Oceania was not after all at war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with
Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally. There was, of course, no admission that
any change had taken place. Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness
and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy. "
--George Orwell, 1984
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- Amy Goodman should be regarded as a Left Gatekeeper (LG).
Left Gatekeepers, like the journalists in George Orwell's 1984, function
to promote the official propaganda of the state. They amplify what is not
credible while excluding other voices from challenging the government's
lies of the day.
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- Amy Goodman used to be a hero of mine. . She was particularly
heroic in the 1991 massacre by Indonesian military forces in a Santa Cruz,
East Timor graveyard. Her deeds there (along with journalist Alan Nairn's)
are the kinds of events that people would get medals for by the President
in a sane world.
-
- However, since 9/11/01 Amy Goodman (and her internet/radio
program Democracy Now!) has achieved enormous popularity while continuing
to fail to challenge the Bush regime where doing so is most needed. In
particular, whenever the topic of terrorism on US soil is brought up on
her program she can be counted upon to repeat government propaganda.
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- By broadcasting the government's official story of 9-11
Democracy Now! continues to reiterate faulty science. For example, a key
component of the Bush regime's propaganda includes the implication that
the number 650 is equal to the number 2000. If more Democracy-activists
were aware that the Bush regime was making this assertion it could galvanize
the resistance to it. Still, Amy Goodman and DN! continue to tolerate the
lie that the two numbers are equal. To the disgust of a growing number
of people DN! refuses to include a guest on her show which disputes this
(and similar) scientific point(s) advanced by the government.
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- Amy'$ Contract
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- Before we delve into the specifics of Amy Goodman's service
to the Bush regime it should be mentioned that her contract with Pacifica
is appalling. I have it from names that would like to remain quiet that
the financial relationship between DN! and Pacifica is costing Pacifica
more than million dollars in potential revenue a year. If the arrangement
that Amy and Democracy Now! has with Pacifica continues it could bankrupt
Pacifica. Progressives should show support for Pacifica by calling for
Amy to restructure her contract.
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- The Importance of 9-11
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- Let's move to the events of September 11, 2001 which
have had an enormous impact on the human race. So far, the Bush regime
has used 911 to launch two wars of aggression against a pair of largely
defenseless countries which play a vital role in the distribution of the
world's oil.
-
- Domestically, the Bush regime has used the events of
9-11-01 to install a concentration camp in Cuba. Under the guise of protecting
Americans from terrorists it employed the USA PATRIOT Act to shred the
Bill of Rights. It has used 9-11 to disappear thousands of people (i.e.,
it is either deported them or is detaining them indefinitely without charge.)
The Bush regime is also using 9-11 in an attempt to introduce new legal
standards which erase centuries of judicial precedents. September 11 is
also being featured in the campaign commercials for the Bush regime. Finally,
the Republican Convention will be held in New York close to the three-year
anniversary of 9/11 to maximize the propaganda benefit of the tragedy.
Clearly, 9-11 remains a pivotal instrument for the Bush regime to achieve
its goals.
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- While the Bush regime freely employs 9-11 for all of
its attacks on human rights much of the 'left' media continues to broadcast
the fictional story of what really happened that day. Left Gatekeepers
like Democracy Now! continue to validate the official story of 9-11 and
prevent any voice from speaking about some of the innumerable anomalies
with it.
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- Democracy Now's 9-11 "Debate"
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- Last September (9/23/03) Democracy Now! made one of its
very rare forays into discussing the events of 9-11. Amy Goodman had on
two guests, Peter Lance and Richard Miniter. Amy billed the meeting as
a "debate". Both men are authors and were prominently hawking
their recent books. Crucially, neither man contradicted the other much.
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- During the telecast Lance and Miniter both agree with
the official story of 9/11/01.
-
- To recap: Flights 11 and 175 crash into the World Trade
Center. Burning fuel from these planes melts the steel in the North and
South Towers. This causes both towers to collapse in relatively tidy footprints.
Later that same day, World Trade Center 7 collapses in its footprint, possibly
from fire. (No one with the government has explained WTC 7's collapse with
certainty; i.e., FEMA's report isn't conclusive. Meanwhile, the subject
of why WTC 7 collapsed has never been discussed on DN!)
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- With Amy's approval, Lance and Miniter eagerly promote
the central idea that Al Qaeda was responsible for the complete destruction
of buildings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01.
They accept (without explanation) that Osama bin Laden, the world's most
famous dialysis patient, was the mastermind of the day's tragic events.
The subject of how 650 and 2,000 are completely different numbers never
arises in the broadcast.
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- Democracy Now!'s wretched 9/23/03 broadcast with Lance
and Miniter outraged activists around the world. (Someone the author corresponds
with now labels DN! as 'Disinformation Now!') While watching the Lance
and Miniter show unravel I marveled at the skill with which Goodman and
Democracy Now! were communicating ideas which originated with the Bush
regime. No White House spokesperson could have sold the official story
better than Goodman, Lance and Miniter did that day. In addition, since
this 'debate' was aired the subject matter is apparently closed for all
time on Democracy Now!
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- Amy Goodman 650 = 2000
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- Amy Goodman needs to allow an articulate guest to appear
on her program capable of mentioning that it is impossible for burning
jet fuel to have caused the destruction of the North and South towers of
the World Trade Center. Jet fuel is refined kerosene, which burns at about
650 degrees Fahrenheit in the open air. Meanwhile, steel cannot be forged
adequately until it is heated up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit for a significant
amount of time.
-
- Another problem with the idea that burning kerosene melted
the steel in the Twin Towers is the fact that that all of the extant documentation
from 9-11 reveals black, oxygen-starved fires coming from the North Tower
before it collapsed. There is no photograph or video which indicates that
the fires were nearing the temperature to melt aluminum, much less the
temperature to melt steel.
-
- The more one inspects the documentation the more obvious
the conclusion becomes that the planes which supposedly struck the World
Trade Center on 9/11/01 could not have melted the steel in the Twin Towers
under the circumstances we all seemingly witnessed.
-
- Even if we could believe that the laws of physics were
altered on 9/11/01, and burning jet fuel melted steel that day, the jet
fuel from the alleged planes would have caused the towers to twist and
bend and fall over, not completely implode in their footprints.
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- The tendency for tall building structures when they collapse
is to bend over and crash into surrounding areas. That's why demolition
experts are almost always hired to topple tall buildings in major cities.
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- There is a growing number of people around the world
who believe that the Twin Towers fell from a pair of controlled demolitions.
Despite the best efforts of the Left Gatekeepers to suppress the movement,
conferences are being held to discuss 9-11; books and papers are being
published, videos are being produced, new websites appear daily and emails
are circulating like wildfire.
-
- (An author I highly recommend is Eric Hufschmid. His
book, 'Painful Questions' argues convincingly that the Twin Towers fell
from controlled demolitions. In addition, his excellent video, 'Painful
Deceptions' introduces more scientific anomalies with the official story
of 9/11/01. At this writing there are no plans for Amy Goodman to have
Hufschmid debut on her program.)
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- The 911 Truth Movement is battling the Bush regime where
it is most vulnerable. Instead of merely reporting on the growing infrastructure
of the Bush regime's planned police state, the activists investigating
9-11 are attempting to remove the justification for each piece of it. They
are attempting to isolate some basic ideas that can be delivered to large
masses of people. Unfortunately, misguided Left Gatekeepers like Amy Goodman
continue to block their efforts at pursuing the path that has the greatest
chance of success.
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- Summary
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- Democracy Now!'s contribution to the global struggle
to remove the neoconservatives from power in the US is undermined each
day that passes that Amy Goodman fails to invite on her show an articulate
critic of the official story of 9/11/01. In addition, what little that
has been said on DN! about 9-11 should be regarded as disinformation which
is completely at the service of the Bush regime.
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- What many of her critics want from Amy Goodman is for
DN! to speak truth to power on the most important issue of our time. We
all know from her past that when she speaks truth to power she can move
mountains. Many of us also believe that we're running out of time waiting
for her to get moving.
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- September 11th isn't an issue like any other. It is the
catalyst for the Bush regime's dramatic expansion of US imperialism and
very open foundations for a police state. Activists who are interested
in removing the harm done by the Bush regime since 9/11/01 should focus
on conveying the scientific anomalies with the official story of that day.
To do otherwise is to fight a losing battle.
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- Scott Loughrey Copyright by the author. All rights reserved.
http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/6523/index.php
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