Conspiracy Theory?

I've not read the New York Times lately--I'm pretty disappointed with them for following the same line as most other news outlets by not reporting certain things and privileging articles on, say, gourmet grilled cheese over the Winter Soldier Hearings. But I woke up early this morning and a headline caught my attention. "Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand."



The place I live is positively full of conspiracy theorists. Everything is some government plot to thwart progressive ideas or spy on us, etc. You know the drill. Well, I'm beginning to see why you would be a conspiracy theorist. After 30 or so years of revelations like this one (read article or my pitiful summary below) it would indeed seem that the government is out to thwart the people.



The gist of the article is that the Bush administration has hired individuals--retired military officers, reps for contractors, lobbysists, and similarly sketchy people--to be briefed on the goings-on in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay so they can speak on major news networks as "military experts." The catch is that these experts are told what to emphasize--successes or what might appear to be successes-- and what to downplay or deny. For instance, they were given tours of Guantanamo and reported that there were no human rights abuses going on there after Amnesty International made such a noise about habeas corpus and torture. In short, these guys are puppets for the Bush administration.



I had my hunches before this that the media was largely under government control, but I really try not to be taken in by expansive conspiracy theories. Now that we know the Bush administration's game (as if there was much doubt to begin with), I'm just wondering what will be next in terms of the gradual breaking down of basic human rights and America's so-called freedom. I suppose the questions we should be asking here are why Bush and Cheney haven't been impeached, why congress is dragging its feet on every issue, and why don't more people care about this? These seem to be the unanswerable questions of the day, and so my asking them doesn't really help the matter, but as a very concerned citizen I'm wondering what I can do. What we can do.

All the News For Tonight

Heath Ledger died. Did you hear about Heath Ledger? So, Heath Ledger... Breaking news: Heath Ledger is dead. Top Story: Heath Ledger. Let's all cry about Heath Ledger.

Not to be calloused or disrespectful of a fellow human being's life, but come on people, Heath Ledger was not God, and do you have any idea how many people die every day in Africa due to sectarian violence? Oh, wait, thanks to our news media you probably don't.