An interesting blog from Barbra Streisand about liberal media

[MellowOne]

For those of you who haven't read it before, it's date December 10, 2004 but it's very good.


The idea of a liberal media bias is simply a myth. If only it were true, we might have a more humane, open-minded, and ultimately effective public debate on the issues facing the country. We may actually embrace the principles of liberalism, instead of using it as a tool to divide the nation. Everything good that has happened in this country is founded on the ideology of liberalism. Liberals in the past were liberators who fought for a woman's right to vote, and fought to end segregation in the United States and then to end apartheid in South Africa. Thanks to liberals, today we have public education, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, environmental protection laws, a minimum wage law...among many other wonderful programs. Such a label should be worn with a badge of honor and defended by Democrats, not allowed to be used as slander by the Right Wing.

Frankly, the idea that the media is sympathetic to conservative causes rather than liberal ones is obvious, for reasons of ownership, economics, and outside pressure. With the major networks being controlled by a small group of large corporations, the news reporting has become most often sympathetic to conservatives, for fear of losing advertising dollars and being reprimanded by the current administration.

Dan Rather was castigated by the media for airing the Bush National Guard story before completely verifying one document. As we have known for years, the details of Bush's service record offered in the story were true, as Killian's secretary even verified, although the document presented in the piece is in question. Men who served in Bush's unit for the year he claimed he was in the National Guard, have stated on record that they do not remember seeing him there. The LA times also reported the story and even printed that when asked to report to Vietnam, Bush checked the box stating "do not volunteer for overseas." Now, an award-winning respected journalist has decided to retire early with a black mark on his career. In sharp contrast, no such walking papers or even a slap on the wrist was given to those in the Bush Administration, who perpetuated false information to the public as a way to rally support for the Iraq war. Dan Rather's error didn't hold a candle to the seriousness of the lies and lives lost by entering into an unnecessary war. One's actions are a little sloppy - the other's actions are high crimes and misdemeanors. Among the litany of false claims by the Bush Administration were a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, the purchase of aluminum tubes for nuclear weapons by Iraq, the possibility of a "smoking gun" to become "a mushroom cloud," and Iraq's purchase of yellow cake from Niger. If the President, who has formed a habit of blaming others for the mistakes committed by his administration, thought that the intelligence, defense and security information he received was bad, then Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, CIA Director, George Tenet, and National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice should have been fired immediately. Yet few in the media took aim at anyone in the Administration for their egregious errors and deceit. If Dan Rather was so excoriated for talking about a document that may not be real, the press should have pressured this administration to step down for their countless lies and irreparable mistakes - starting with the President. The Bush Administration's lies were far more serious and detrimental to the American public, in that it falsely represented the reasons to wage war and send American soldiers into battle. Thousands of young soldiers and a hundred thousand innocent Iraqis have died in vain, thousands have been wounded and more continue to die everyday as this war wages on. The hypocrisy would be laughable, if it wasn't so tragic.

The press failed once again with regard to fellow Journalist Robert Novak, who stooped to a low in journalistic integrity by naming an undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame in his nationally syndicated column, thereby destroying her career and putting her life and her network of associates in danger. Novak was neither fired from CNN, where he is a commentator on Crossfire, or from his newspaper column. Nor was he even publicly reprimanded. The "liberally-biased" media failed to hold Robert Novak accountable for his highly partisan and destructive actions. Remember back during the 2000 election when RNC employees posed as "irate local citizens" and stormed polling places in Florida in order to squelch the recount process. Where was the press coverage investigating the deception and informing Americans of the truth. Where was the press coverage of Florida's highly controversial felon list, which was produced by a private contractor and riddled with inaccuracies, denying tens of thousands of eligible voters the right to vote? When minority voters are being intimidated and disenfranchised by the thousands leading up to and during a close election race, the public relies on the press to bring the story to the forefront thereby prompting immediate action by our leaders.

more.....

scroll down to the liberal media blog:
http://www.barbrastreisand.com/statements.html#costofwar

[pnutchuck]

1. Wow!

I'd never read this before, but it's amazing and absolutely succinct.

Thanks for the post!:toast:

[KoKo]

2. I thought you were kidding but she really does have a blog...

Interesting..

[MellowOne]

3. Someone should tell her about DU

She has strong opinions, I would like to hear more.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. I wonder who writes it for her

if it is she, I'm impressed

OK...I read some of it, and she appears to have written the parts she didn't paste, and it's pretty good!

I like the section about the architects of the Iraq War.....nothing new, but it's interesting to see her take on it. She seems pretty well-informed.

Now, if she'd only open up her gigantic pocketbook and help establish an AUTHENTIC liberal media antidote to the fascist sputa drowning the political discourse....

time for dreamstate..........

[MellowOne]

5. I watched her interview on the Actors Studio

And she stated she did write them. She does send out the blogs in emails to her fans who register at her web site.

She is probably like the rest of us who have strong opinions want to change the system but don't know what is the best course to take. The public doesn't want to except the scandals as true because MSM isn't covering or validating them.

[dback]

6. I watched that too--she graduated 4th in her class

The woman is sharp, sharp, sharp. Pity she doesn't do "Real Time with Bill Maher."