Cable news

Sad to say, but thats what happens when you dumb the people down so much they will believe almost anything.

When you say scammers do you mean politicians?

 

Gee, I wonder what you could possibly mean by that...

 

Exactly what I said. What did you think I was trying to imply by saying that?

 

I am playing with you, dopey. We both know "almost anything" means "pot is bad for you."

 

Gotcha, must be the pot making me paranoid again.

 

The point being that any commentary by current or ex-military, especially Generals, is considered unimpeachable and no one is allowed to "legitimately" disagree with them unless you be considered an American-hatin' lunatic.

 

Well, if it has to do with what's going on in Iraq chances are they know more about what's going on than 99.9% of America and quite frankly, no one else is really qualified to dispute it other than other military personnel.

Of course if they are lying that's different.

 

Independent? Free thinker? Intelligent?

Sorry, that’s much too difficult for those who need simple labels to make their lives easier.

 

Cite, please.

 

I was thinking crotchity.

Butt I must stuff all dem pigeons in de proper hole.

 

There's a thread now with the link in it.

 

It wasn't disclosed that many of the commentators make a living lobbying for military contracts. There is a difference between simple bias and an outright conflict of interest with Pentagon shills delivering propaganda fluff disguised as independent analysis.

 

Here's my real point and what I think MR516 was getting at too. The DOD maintained a "military analysts" program made up of former generals.
They were provided with talking points and flown off on junkets to Gitmo, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. to be briefed and strategized. These same retired generals then came back and dispersed across the airways as "former" military without revealing that they were in fact, still "working" for the Pentagon. If they are claiming to be former military and and that they are independent analysts while not disclosing their current affiliations then that is misleading, unethical, and even illegal since the DOD is not allowed to propagandize within US borders.

All of this is not as much of a knock on the military as it is on the cable networks who frequently knew about the program but went along it for various reasons.

In many cases the generals were also being paid as consultants or sat on the boards of defense contractors who stood to gain financially from DOD contracts. I'm pretty sure that's a conflict of interest.

Regardless, the program was suspended months ago after it came to light:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/w...igg&adxnnlx=1216671331-DsUuWBx0+IEGvSU1uL4rMg

 

Not if you can read.

 

So who do you get to run these large DoD contractors if you don't use former military personnel? Sorry but the military background tends to make you the most qualified applicant in most cases.

Illegal to propagandize within US borders?? What exactly does that mean and where does it come from?

 

As far as paying commentators that's relatively benign. The Bush Administration has used much more deceitful tactics in the past: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-06-williams-whitehouse_x.htm

"Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.

The contract may be illegal "because Congress has prohibited propaganda," or any sort of lobbying for programs funded by the government, said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "And it's propaganda."

They've secretly paid commentators in the past with tax payer dollars to promote their agenda.

 

I never said I had a problem with DoD contractors hiring military personnel...not sure how you're getting that from what I posted. My post is about the conflict of interest involved in being a lobbyist/consultant/board member for a defense contractor, getting briefed on DoD talking points, then going out representing yourself as "independent" on cable news.

 

You may not believe what they say, but the problem is that many do. Which is where the problems come in when you have so called independent ex-military talking up stuff that they are paid and told what to talk about by the pentagon.