THE RIGHTWING CONTROLLED MAINSTREAM MEDIA

I mean, why otherwise would the mainstream media give so much attention to extreme rightwing fringe lies and fantasies.

The excuse is that the news thrives on "controversy." They kept referring to Obama's speech to school children as "controversial" and his attempt to reform our healthcare system as "controversial." No. The war in Iraq was controversial. More people demonstrated against it around the world than ever before demonstrated against anything in history.

But they were hardly covered by the media until the tide of public opinion turned and could no longer be denied. Yet a very tiny minority with paranoid fears about Obama infecting their children's minds and turning them into mind controlled robots has to not only be covered but become the main story of the week, while a huge majority of parents polled had no objection to Obama addressing school children as Reagan and Bush Sr. and other former presidents have.

I hated Reagan's agenda: the breaking of unions so working families could no longer afford college for their children or even a home without both parents working and maybe even each working two jobs etc. He created the whole "homeless" problem. What used to be a few "hoboes" and such before Reagan, under Reagan became entire families living in their cars etc. And so much more (the use of torture in the whole Central American debacle, as has recently come out in the released CIA papers).

But there was no outcry from the left against Reagan speaking to schoolchildren, even though he pushed his rightwing agenda and fantasy version of reality. There was no outcry about Bush Sr. boring them to death. But a man who overcame great odds, unlike the Bushes or even Reagan for that matter, to accomplish incredible educational achievements and even become president, an example to all our kids of how perseverance and commitment and hard work can help you rise above the obstacles life throws in your way, no, that's too much for children to hear.

The story should have been to investigate the sources of these objections (false rumors and lies etc. from the usual rightwing suspects). But nope.

Not even to mention the stories being ignored by the media while this nonsense goes on. Here's three that I haven't seen mentioned and which are more important than anything else the media is wasting time on lately:

1. Water. There's a great documentary I caught on the Sundance channel the other night (called FLOW) about how several major corporations are basically taking control of the world's fresh water and selling it back to us while degrading and destroying the environment. It's heartbreaking. And it's been in the works for a while, as many of us know and have already written about. Internationals like Vivendi and Suez, American corporations like Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle's. All of them finding the sources of fresh water, whether in Michigan, India, Africa, etc. They end up digging wells so deep they deplete the local sources of fresh water and then they pollute what's left with the waste from their water treatment and bottling facilities etc. impoverishing what were once thriving rural communities. And they've gotten together and formed some kind of world water counsel to set the rules, in which all the main players have major stakes in these corporations! They'd bottle air if they could and make us pay to breathe.

2. Just one year ago the world economy had broken down so thoroughly, most economists were predicting the worst economic downturn since The Great Depression with the subsequent consequences. Now, most economists agree that the steps taken by especially the Obama administration with the stimulus package and the saving of several financial institutions (the Bush attempt is a little more iffy since the results cannot be calculated because much of the money they handed out is unaccounted for at this point). What was an unemployment rate above 25% in the Depression, has been kept below 10% so far, and even if it goes to the expected 10%, it will still be a miraculous turn around given the circumstances just twelve months ago. Had McCain been elected and allowed to do what he was suggesting at the time, there is no doubt things would be so much worse everyone would recognize what we have now as a blessing in comparison. Let alone if the last administration was still around. They're the jokers that created the mess in the first place.

3. Oh and speaking of the above, has anyone seen the media cover the story that the U. S. treasury has "turned a profit of some $4 billion from eight large banks that have settled their debts—an annualized return of about 15%—and payments from other companies could add billions more" (according to Time). 15% in this economic climate! You might find this stuff in print or on the web, but on the mainstream TV news shows, nothing. Barely a squeak, but they go on and on about the current "controversy" made up entirely by rightwing propagandists who strategize this stuff into existence solely for the purpose of destroying Obama's presidency and returning the Congress to Republicans so they can do what they did the last time they were in charge: lead us into unnecessary wars and death and destruction (including of our reputation) and the almost total annihilation of the economy (not just here but worldwide!), not to mention torture, invasion of privacy, and complete corporate takeover of the government (and yes I know that even with Democrats in power, though not with an unbeatable majority, corporate power still rules much of DC, but already a lot of the excesses from the previous eight years have been reversed by Presidential orders and new legislation).