Here's an unusually blatant example of how the news gets bent before you see it... The Chairman of CNN ordering the staff not to show images of civilian devastation in Afghanistan without providing particular editorial context: http://www.fair.org/activism/cnn-casualties.html
Weak US military? Not likely... One of Bush's campaign points was that he'd rebuild the dangerously weakened US armed forces. Last year this great article "The myth of the hollow military" argued that the USA is the most dominant military force in the history of the world, enjoying unchallenged supremacy across the globe--a capability that goes far beyond national defense: http://www.thenewrepublic.com/091100/easterbrook091100_print.html
One statistic from that article pertains to the number of supercarrier task forces in the world's navies...
As always, pass along what works for you, and unsubscribe whenever you want.
Peace to you,
Andy
Subject: [Andy's update] Extra: life as sick comedy
Brain dead... Here's a funny piece of journalism: the title says "Bush Explains Why Terror Threat Alert Was Issued". The article says "for a good reason". Bush's quote says "for a reason". No, the article never actually gives the reason (though it says this refutes criticism that the warning was too vague): http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011031/ts/attack_bush_threat_dc_2.html
Tweedledum and Tweedledee... For a while there, both CBS and NBC were owned by major defense contractors. Maybe the situation's improved since Westinghouse sold CBS to Viacom. But maybe not, since that puts CBS in the family with Fox, ABC, CNN, MTV, AOL, Time, Universal, Warner, Disney, Paramount, and many others owned by the top few media companies in the world. See the chart: http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/chart.shtml
Remember that formula:
Andy