Media Distortion Continues

Responding to taunts from US VP Dick Cheney that he "probably" had more info than the 9-11 Commission, representatives today released a one sentence statement saying:

"After examining available transcripts of the Vice President's public remarks, the 9-11 Commission believes it has access to the same information the Vice President has seen regarding contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq prior to the 9-11 attacks."

No response from Cheney, who still wants US voters to believe Saddam had WMDs and a dangerous relationship with Al Quaeda. But a spokesman said Cheney never took issue with the 9/11 Commission, only the way it was reported. Yeah, right.

Why does the Bush administration feel it necessary to lie to the American people? How can such disengenous, slippery and manipulative politics possibly continue beyond November 2nd? The effort of pinning down all these lies is seriously exhausting to any of us who attempt it - what will happen if we get 4 more years of this shit?

Here's a pattern you can look for in coming events:

1. Bad news comes out.
2. Bush/Cheney/Blair/Howard/etc immediately deny it. Headlines that should have said "Bad News Happens" instead read "Government Denies Bad News."
3. Bad news proven true.
4. Government continues stalling and qualifying remarks until it is eventually forced to admit that the bad news was true, but by that time it is no longer headline news so nobody notices.

This illustrates the growing problem of media influence on politics. Politics shapes the media and vice versa. It's a growing problem that needs to be addressed with some serious policies and commitments in the coming US/UK/Australian election campaigns.

Adding to the problem is the fact that right-wing political parties inevitably seem to have more influence over the media barons and their news channels. So it is with people who happily compromise morals for money.

This cartoon from Tom Tomorrow says it all.