No Questions Asked

I am happy to announce that No Questions Asked: News Coverage Since 9/11 is now available!

Put your tax dollars to good use — please call your local library ask them order the book. It won’t cost you a penny and it will make the book available to the entire community.

No Questions Asked is a facts-based look at issues and events from the 9/11 attacks to Hurricane Katrina. It compares and contrasts how the US media and the international media covered issues and events and highlights the questions that were never asked.

Here’s the information your librarian will need:
Book: No Questions Asked: News Coverage Since 9/11
Author: Lisa Finnegan
Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group (Praeger)
ISBN: 0-275-99335-3

Thank you very much for your support and I hope you enjoy the book. Please let me know what you think (writer@noquestionsasked.org).

Here’s what others have said about the book:

Endorsement From Danny Schechter, News Dissector,Editor, Mediachannel.org: We all tend to trust the news sources we know until we are exposed to others that often have different takes and better reporting. That’s why “comparative” shopping is as important in following news as in buying toasters. We should all be in debt to Lisa Finnegan who skillfully shows how and why our media is falling down on the job. Her book No Questions Asked poses questions we need to answer.

Endorsement From Harold Takooshian, PhD, President, Society for General Psychology, American Psychological Association: What is the optimal role of U.S. news media in a democratic society under external attack? Veteran journalist Lisa Finnegan combines her sharp eye and crisp pen to offer her insights on dramatic accommodations by journalists following the evil of 9-11-01. Her analysis of media malaise is meticulously documented with primary sources, and unusually well-grounded in behavioral research on concepts relevant to journalist’s current behavior conformity, obedience, and group dynamics. A powerful book for anyone seeking to better understand the dynamics behind journalism in this stressful time.

Endorsement From Dr. John M. Hamilton, Dean, Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University: Finnegan’s thought-provoking book of cases questions if the press lives up to its mission to provide the U.S. public with factual, objective, and unbiased reporting. She calls for reporting that would better educate the public of the true state of affairs–both domestically and internationally–without being skewed and manipulated by politicians to further their agenda. The issues she raises are ones Americans need to think about urgently.

Endorsement From Robert Dreyfuss, Author, Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam: For every reporter who challenged the lies, half-truths, and exaggerations that fueled the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq and its so–called war on terrorism, a dozen others drank the Kool-Aid. Lisa Finnegan has assembled, in chapter after sobering chapter, the sorry record of how big chunks of the U.S. media establishment abandoned skepticism and acted as virtual wartime propagandists for the White House and the Pentagon after 9/11. No Questions Asked makes the case that if Americans are in the dark about how we got into this mess, it was our newspapers and our television networks who turned out the lights.

This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time — Henry Kissinger will be an advisor to the Pope!

Kissinger to Serve As Papal Adviser?

Pope Benedict XVI has invited Henry Kissinger, former adviser to Richard Nixon, to be a political consultant and he accepted.

VATICAN CITY — Over the course of his long and controversial career, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has had many titles. Now he reportedly has one more — adviser to the Pope.

According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Benedict XVI has invited the 83-year-old former adviser to Richard Nixon to be a political consultant, and Kissinger has accepted.

Quoting an “authoritative” diplomatic source at the Holy See, the paper reported Nov. 4 that the Nobel laureate was asked at a recent private audience with the Holy Father to form part of a papal “advisory board” on foreign and political affairs.

Yesterday George W. Bush said this about Iraq:

“I’m not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete. We can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our grandchildren.”

I can’t help wondering what battlefield he is talking about and what the mission is exactly?

• Was our mission to destroy WMDs in Iraq? 

Because we now know that there were no WMDs in the country.

• Was our mission to get rid of Saddam Hussein?

If so our mission has been accomplished. Saddam is gone.

• Was our mission to create a democracy that is a model for the other Middle Eastern countries?

If so, then this mission has already allegedly been accomplished. The administration claims Iraq has a democratically elected government. We may not like the results of their “election,” but that’s what democracy is all about.

How can anyone be against peace? This world is getting crazier and crazier. Let’s all put peace wreaths up this holiday season.

Peace on earth? Not in our subdivision!
Homeowners’ association threatens $25 a day fine for peace sign wreath

DENVER, Colorado (AP) — A homeowners’ association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs.

He said some residents believed the wreath was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

“Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq. If you let one go up you have to let them all go up,” he said in a telephone interview Sunday.

Lisa Jensen said she wasn’t thinking of the war when she hung the wreath. She said, “Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing.”

Jensen, a past association president, calculates the fines will cost her about $1,000, and doubts they will be able to make her pay. But she said she’s not going to take it down until after Christmas.

“Now that it has come to this I feel I can’t get bullied,” she said. “What if they don’t like my Santa Claus?”

The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by the sign and the board “will not allow signs, flags etc. that can be considered divisive.”

The subdivision’s rules say no signs, billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the architectural control committee.

Kearns ordered the committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn’t say anything.

Kearns fired all five committee members.

When George W. Bush leaves the White House in 2009, news coverage will certainly focus on the “war on terror” and whatever the status of Iraq is at the time. But his long-term legacy will be more devastating to the country than his decision to launch an illegal and immoral war.

Bush will leave the country on the verge of bankruptcy with little hope for recovery. The more than $800 billion account deficit will play a role in the economic downfall, but what is more significant is the fact that corruption breeds poverty. This one of the most corrupt governments we have had in recent history and it has influenced everything from our education system to our Supreme Court to our media.

Bush is not responsible for all of the country’s problems; the entire national government has proven itself to be horrifically corrupt. Our Congress is a disgrace, with members of both parties showing they are more concerned with money, power and protecting their own than guiding the country in a responsible manner. Democrats are just as bad as Republicans when it comes to power grabs and corrupt business practices.

The sad part is that Americans have allowed major shifts to go unchallenged. We have allowed pedophiles in Congress to slink away without punishment. We have allowed government officials to steal millions and millions of taxpayer dollars in Iraq without an investigation. We have watched in silence as innocent people have been arrested and imprisoned without the right to defend themselves. We have looked the other way when civilians have been detained in airports and taken off planes for no other reason than their appearance and a lingering paranoia. We didn’t even whimper when we heard that the government was listening to our phone calls and reading our emails.

The American public has taken the easy way out without consideration to the long-term consequences of the actions being taken in our name. We have learned nothing from Enron or the September 11 attacks and have chosen to shield ourselves from difficult truths rather than examine the facts and adjusting our lifestyles. The truth is our government is stealing from us and is lying to us and if we do not stop it now we will be unable to reverse the path to poverty.

New difficult truths are already destroying our economy. Visa requirements to work or visit the United States are so confusing and change so often that companies are being forced to work around them. Training sessions that were traditionally held in the US are shifting to Europe and more jobs are going overseas.

 As one lawyer and law professor put it, “if big companies can’t get the research talent, for example, that they need in the United States, well, they can just build their research and development facility in India or China and not have to worry about the U.S. immigration quotas.”

Those who study US economic shifts know this is already happening. A survey of 734 members of eight leading international trade associations found US Visa requirements cost  “$30.7 billion in financial impact between July 2002 and March 2004 due to delays/denials in the processing of business visas. This was comprised of revenue losses of $25.53 billion and indirect costs of $5.15 billion.” Of the companies surveyed, “73% had trouble in the processing of business travel visas, such as unexpected delays and seemingly arbitrary denials.”

The National Academy of Sciences recently said that top scientists and engineers were being denied entrance to the country, which they claim is stunting American advances in the sciences. This is also true about foreign students who cannot secure visas to study in the U.S.

America cannot afford to shut out the international market. We need to adjust to the changing global market and to exchange information and knowledge with scientists from around the world. If we don’t, there is little hope for the country.

The American automobile industry is an excellent example of what will happen if we refuse to yield to the global demand. Rather than creating vehicles that are safer and more energy efficient, as international companies have done, American manufacturers are producing gas-guzzlers.

Most American cars can’t be sold in places like Japan and China because they don’t meet their safety or pollution control standards. Not one American automobile made it onto the U.S. insurance industry’s list of safest vehicles this year. Why? Because American made cars and sport utilities do not have systems to keep them stable in an emergency. Unlike foreign car manufacturers American automobile makers don’t want to spend the extra money to make the cars safer and more energy efficient.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety claims that studies show electronic stability control can prevent up to 10,000 fatal crashes per year. The automobile industry is steadfast in its refusal to upgrade its cars and hopes the government will provide economic assistance.

The government spin machine is so efficient that most Americans believe that restricting visas is good for the country because more jobs will be available to Americans. The fact is not enough Americans are qualified for the jobs that were going to foreigners. Now those jobs are being sent overseas.

With the shoddy educational system it is unlikely the younger generation will be able to pull us out of an economic crisis. Many of us count ourselves lucky if our children can read, write and do basic math. In international competitions the US ranks below the Czech Republic, South Korea and Poland. There is no way American children will be able to compete on a global level unless the system improves. If they can’t compete, then how will the US regain its competitive edge? How will we win the jobs back and bolster the economy?

Bill Gates put it this way: “When I compare our high schools to what I see when I’m traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow.”

Adding to this burden will be the large number of injured war veterans with physical and emotional wounds that leave them unable to work.

Government officials do not pretend to have solutions — they don’t even acknowledge there are problems. Since the public is not forcing officials to address the issues, they are ignoring them. Consider how the government decided to tackle the problem of poverty and hunger in the country – they simply eliminated the word hunger from key reports. The 35 million Americans who do not have enough to eat are no longer “hungry.” They just have “very low food security.”

Americans are also “safer” and winning the war on terror. We must put liquids in a baggie before boarding a plane because it will “protect us from terrorist plots.” We must implement a draft so we don’t go to war. We must be afraid of people who practice different religions because they may want to harm us.

The American public must become more politically aware and active. Our democratic duty does not stop on November 7. We, the people, made this country great and we the people must make it great again. Through active, passionate participation we ended slavery, gave women the right to vote, ended segregation and forced our government to withdraw troops from Vietnam. Without public action all politicians, no matter what their party affiliation, act in their own self-interest. And we the people have to live with it and pay for it with the money we earned by working long, hard hours.

It is time for the American public to question officials about their decisions and their actions before irreparable damage is done. We must take the country back before it is too late. Demonstrate peacefully. Write to your newspapers. Call your Congressman. Attend school board meetings. Demand that your child have access to a good education. In short, pay attention to what is happening in the country and the world. Make the US the great democratic nation it once was.

Here’s an interesting story from Asia Times (an excellent resource for those unfamiliar with the paper).

The Deconstruction of Iraq: Bechtel’s billions down the drain
By Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily

BAGHDAD - The decision of the giant engineering company Bechtel to withdraw from Iraq has left many Iraqis feeling betrayed. In the company’s departure, they see the end of remaining hopes for the reconstruction of Iraq.

“It is much worse than in the time of Saddam Hussein,” Communist Party member Nayif Jassim said. “Most Iraqis wish Saddam would be back in power now that they lived out the hardships of the occupation. The Americans did nothing but loot our oil and kill our people.”

Bechtel, whose board members have close ties to the administration of US President George W Bush, announced last week that it was done with trying to operate in the war-torn country. The company has received US$2.3 billion of Iraqi reconstruction funds and US taxpayer money, but is leaving without completing most of the tasks it set out to do.

On every level of infrastructure measurable, the situation in Iraq is worse now than under the rule of Saddam…The average household in Iraq now gets two hours of electricity a day. There is 70% unemployment, 68% of Iraqis have no access to safe drinking water, and only 19% have sewage access. Not even oil production has matched pre-invasion levels.

…The group Medact recently said that easily treatable conditions such as diarrhea and respiratory illness are causing 70% of all child deaths, and that “of the 180 health clinics the US hoped to build by the end of 2005, only four have been completed - and none opened”.

A proposed $200 million project to build 142 primary-care centers ran out of cash after building just 20 clinics, a performance the World Health Organization described as “shocking.”

The Democrats have regained control of the House of Representatives and may win the Senate. Will their promise of a broad “new agenda” include the pursuit of answers about what happened on 9/11? Will we learn whether we are safer from terrorists or if real security threats have been ignored? Will they investigate what the hell has happened — and what is happening — in Iraq? Will they stop the proliferation of lies and power grabs from Washington?

All the information we need is there. What has been missing is an unbiased examination of the facts and questions by our elected leadership.

In the past few years, the only time members of the administration have told the truth is when it accidentally slipped out of their mouths, like when Bush told Matt Lauer that he did not believe we could win the war on terror and when (see video below) Rumsfeld said that the terrorists shot down flight 93 over Pennsylvania. Some of you may also remember the plane that went down over Long Island in 1996. Many believe that plane, TWA flight 800, was also shot down. 

The Democrats new agenda should include seeking the truth and the pursuit of justice. As they have repeatedly said since their victory: “Americans have voted for change.” It’s time for them to stop talking and start acting. I would like to feel more confident in the electronic voting machines before the next  presidential election.

Every country has the government it deserves” — Joseph Marie de Maistre

We claim to be the strongest nation on earth. We can put men on the moon, we create advanced technological equipment that other countries can only dream about. And yet we cannot manage to hold an election without computer errors, bad ballots and other irregularities. 

How can we call ourselves the guradians of democracy when our election procedures are as bad as countries like Pakistan and India? How can we spread democracy when we can’t even manage it at home? 

What other western country would accept such a scandal? And how do we know that the electronic voting machines that crash and need updating in the middle of election day are not going to alter results without leaving any track of the changes? 

Where are the checks and balances in our election procedures?Technical glitches reported in early voting

… Glitches delayed voters in dozens of Indiana and Ohio precincts. In Delaware County, Indiana, officials planned to seek a court order to extend voting after an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts.Florida officials, working to avoid a repeat of the vote-counting debacle of 2000, fielded extra voting machines, paper ballots and poll workers.

In the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park, Florida, voters were forced to use paper ballots after an electronic machine broke.

Problems Crop Up Early As Poll Workers Tangle With New Voting Machines, Databases, ID Rules

Programming errors and inexperience with electronic voting machines frustrated poll workers in hundreds of precincts early Tuesday, delaying voters in Indiana and Ohio and leaving some in Florida with little choice but use paper ballots instead.

FBI looking into possible Va. voter intimidation
Officials probing reports of phone calls allegedly intended to confuse voters

Voting machine problem roundup from alternet.

We were warned over and over again that Diebold was not to be trusted and yet we did nothing to protect this election.

An article in The Rolling Stone headlined “Will the Next Election be Hacked” qouted a Diebold consultant saying the company secretly tampered with voting machines during a Georgia election:

Diebold employees altered software in some 5,000 machines in DeKalb and Fulton counties - the state’s largest Democratic strongholds. To avoid detection, Hood and others on his team entered warehouses early in the morning. “We went in at 7:30 a.m. and were out by 11,” Hood says. “There was a universal key to unlock the machines, and it’s easy to get access. The machines in the warehouses were unlocked. We had control of everything. The state gave us the keys to the castle, so to speak, and they stayed out of our way.” Hood personally patched fifty-six machines and witnessed the patch being applied to more than 1,200 others.

The patch comes on a memory card that is inserted into a machine. Eventually, all the memory cards end up on a server that tabulates the votes - where the patch can be programmed to alter the outcome of an election. “There could be a hidden program on a memory card that adjusts everything to the preferred election results,” Hood says. “Your program says, ‘I want my candidate to stay ahead by three or four percent or whatever.’ Those programs can include a built-in delete that erases itself after it’s done.”

It is impossible to know whether the machines were rigged to alter the election in Georgia: Diebold’s machines provided no paper trail, making a recount impossible. But the tally in Georgia that November surprised even the most seasoned political observers. Six days before the vote, polls showed Sen. Max Cleland, a decorated war veteran and Democratic incumbent, leading his Republican opponent Saxby Chambliss - darling of the Christian Coalition - by five percentage points. In the governor’s race, Democrat Roy Barnes was running a decisive eleven points ahead of Republican Sonny Perdue. But on Election Day, Chambliss won with fifty-three percent of the vote, and Perdue won with fifty-one percent.

Did E-Vote Company Patch Election?

(Another Diebold employee claims they tampered with machines)

Diebold Election Systems has had a tumultuous year, and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any better.

Last January the electronic voting machine maker faced public embarrassment when voting activists revealed the company’s insecure FTP server was making its software source code available for everyone to see.

Then researchers and auditors who examined code for the company’s touch-screen voting system released two separate reports stating that the software was full of serious security flaws.

Now a former worker in Diebold’s Georgia warehouse says the company installed patches on its machines before the state’s 2002 gubernatorial election that were never certified by independent testing authorities or cleared with Georgia election officials.

If the charges are true, Diebold could be in violation of federal and state election-certification rules. The charges also raise questions about the integrity of the Georgia election results and any other election that uses patched Diebold systems that have not been re-certified.

According to Rob Behler, an engineer hired as a contractor to work in Diebold’s Georgia warehouse last year, the Diebold systems had major functioning problems.

Voting Machine Fails Inspection

University researchers delivered a serious blow to the current crop of electronic voting systems in an analysis of one such system’s source code in which they concluded that a voter could cast unlimited ballots without detection.

Using an earlier version of the source code that powers machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems, the security experts–three from Johns Hopkins University and a colleague from Rice University–performed an audit and found numerous security holes.

Voting Machines Had Defective Part
Key Component Was Replaced in Touch-Screen Units After Repeated ‘Freezes’ Washington Post October 26, 2006

The maker of Maryland’s electronic voting system replaced a flawed electronic component in several thousand touch-screen voting machines in 2005, state election officials acknowledged this week.

To eliminate unpredictable “screen freezes” that have occurred since the machines were first used in Maryland in 2002, Diebold Election Systems installed new system boards in about 4,700 voting machines from four Maryland counties: Allegany, Dorchester, Montgomery and Prince George’s.

How did this happen? We stood by and did nothing when several elections were stolen from us. We watched our president take us to war based on lies and did not demand proof or any reasonable explanation (a war on terrorism — a concept — is not rational). We have allowed torture to become legal. We passivly gave away our right to a fair and speedy trial and our privacy.

I don’t know if every country has the government it deserves, but I am beginning to believe we do.

An unprecedented moment: Today the U.S. military’s propaganda tool turned on its handlers. The Army Times, Navy Times and the Marine Corps Times published an editorial today headlined “Time for Rumsfeld to go”. The editorial makes the case that Rumsfeld has totally botched the war effort and does not have the support of military leadership or soldiers in the field.

… It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation’s current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads.

These officers have been loyal public promoters of a war policy many privately feared would fail. They have kept their counsel private, adhering to more than two centuries of American tradition of subordination of the military to civilian authority.

And although that tradition, and the officers’ deep sense of honor, prevent them from saying this publicly, more and more of them believe it.

Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.

This is not about the midterm elections. Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth:

Donald Rumsfeld must go.

If the military believes Rumsfeld must go, then it is clear that the war in Iraq is totally out of control. As the editorial states:

… despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition.

For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don’t show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

The reoccurring theme of money makes this war even more disgusting than most. The only ones who aren’t profiting from this war are the the Iraqis, the Afghanis and the American public as a whole. Terrorist organizations are thriving. Members of the Bush administration and “Iraqi dissidents” who pushed for the war have lined their pockets with cash and the neocons who planned the war are denying responsibility for it and are planning the next invasion.

Kudos to the Army Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times’ editors for speaking the truth.