realthog | with friends like these

We all know in the US how very gung-ho the television network news organizations have been about supporting our boys (and girls) in Iraq -- indeed, it would be exceptionally hard not to have noticed it even if, like me, you rarely watch network tv news. Yes, CBS, NBC and ABC surely do stand shoulder-to-shoulder behind our fighting personnel, over 4000 of whom have now died in this conflict.

(4000 is a fairly trivial figure when set alongside the number of Iraqis who've died as a consequence of Il Buce's little self-aggrandizing whim, but it's still one hell of a lot of living, breathing human beings who, mostly young, aren't living and breathing any longer.)

According to Associated Press, cited in Monday's New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/business/media/26carr.html?_r=2&sq=david%20carr&st=nyt&oref=slogin&scp=2&pagewanted=all), the networks are between all three of them, currently devoting a grand total of four minutes per week to coverage of the war in Iraq.

That's such a gobsmackingly disgusting fact that I have to repeat it.

The news organizations of CBS, NBC and ABC are between them devoting an average of four minutes per week to events in Iraq.

Because I have more sense than ever to watch the swill these "news" services dish up, I can't say definitively how many minutes per week the three devote between them to cute pet animal stories, but I'm willing to bet it's more than four.

Is it any wonder that mentally scarred and physically maimed veterans aren't receiving proper medical attention, or are being thrown out onto the streets to resolve their problems as best they may while living in a cardboard box? Is it surprising that US soldiers are dying unnecessarily because our Government is skimping on such "luxuries" as personal and vehicular armour? Should we be startled that mercenary armies like Blackwater's are pouring onto the streets of Baghdad some who by any normal standards of judgment would be described as mass murderers, yet who are permitted to continue their carnage without so much as a slap on the wrist?

These things, and many, many more that are to our national shame, continue in large part because they barely obtrude into the awareness of large sections of the US public. And the reason this is so is that overpaid CBS, NBC and ABC executives and broadcasters, living in the lap of luxury, think that all such topics merit a mere four minutes of news coverage per week.

Sometimes I wish I could believe in Hell so that I might mentally construct an additional circle therein.

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My nephew is in Iraq. He had to buy the uniform the US military buries our soldiers in. Our government doesn't even comp them their requisite burial garb.

I've started reading The Dragons of Manhattan. I love it! I was on line at screaming dreams the other day, ordering the actual book, when my computer froze up in mid transaction. I'm not sure if the purchase went through...need to check back with them. I love the cover art. Really want the book.

I'm sorry to hear about your nephew being in Iraq -- that must be a constant source of worry to you. And I'm appalled by that additional piece of stinginess I'd not known about.

Descending from the tragic to the mundane, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the book! My own first advance copy arrived yesterday, and I've been gloating over it ever since.

I've dropped a quick note to SD and with luck, thanks to the time difference, will have a reply by the time I switch on my puter tomorrow morning.

Heard from SD this morning, as hoped. He'd apparently just been e-mailing you when he got my note.

Four minutes? What, seriously?? That's so depressing.

Did you see the recent piece about how several of the war-related news commentators recently who were supposedly independent were actually being fed biased info by the White House (I believe I've got the summation of facts correct there). It's disgusting.

"Did you see the recent piece about how several of the war-related news commentators recently who were supposedly independent were actually being fed biased info by the White House (I believe I've got the summation of facts correct there)."

Do you mean the retired Army/Navy/USAF officers who were being hired as supposedly unbiased expert consultants by the networks/cable channels but in fact were being paid and briefed by the Pentagon to pimp the Party Line?

When this was exposed in the NY Times a week or two ago, none of the network news bulletins covered the story at all.

That's the story I was talking about! Yep. *sighs*

Yeah - even though it depresses me, I tend to read the blog of my favorite musician a lot, because he follows the political news fairly well (particularly war and human rights related stuff; he's a big Amnesty International advocate). That's how I heard about the Pentagon news stuff originally. (http://www.matthewgood.org, although currently he's on tour so there might be some actual music-related stuff interspersed with the news. :)

Just been listening to a little Matthew Good, of whom I'd not previously heard. He's quite good, isn't he? (My, he swears a lot, doesn't he, cluck cluck purse purse.)

You reminded me to go have a listen to one of my favourite musicians, David Ackles. If you don't know his stuff, you can listen to some for free at http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12011943. He was never properly marketed and died tragically young; it's been a joy for me watching succeeding generations of music listeners discover him.

He's extremely talented and awesome (hence him being my favorite musician *g*). He's actually very well-known in his native Canada (he's been on the cover of their equivalent of Rolling Stone several times as well as having won several awards) but he's not well known here. Sort of like the whole Terry-Pratchett-in-the-US thing, heh (although he gets more recognition now than he used to). But yes, he does have a bit of a mouth on him (*sigh*). I am a fan of both his solo work (Avalanche - Hospital Music) and the work he did with the band before that (Last of the Ghetto Astronauts - Audio of Being). I'd be glad to send you a few more tracks if you wanted to listen to some of the older stuff or anything. :)

I'll definitely give David Ackles a listen - I love finding new music!

Another track I've been listening to recently is a guy who co-wrote one of Matt's songs from Hospital Music and is now coming out with a solo album (he's done stuff with another band, too). There are 2 free tracks here:

HERE!

I love Agoraphobe, and Target Practice, which is on the MySpace page.

It's war fatigue. Remember how the stories of British soldiers killed in Northern Ireland started on the front pages of the papers, and then, down the years, percolated gradually inside and started to occupy fewer and fewer column inches? And yes, it does suck. I think the Beeb and Sky manage better than four minutes a week, by some distance.

I think it's more than just a matter of war fatigue, over here. There've been some astonishing admissions coming out of US tv "news" personnel over the past few days, thanks to Scottie Dog's book.

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