COMMENTS FROM BS (BARBARA STRIESAND!)

This section contains statements and speeches by Ms. Streisand.

The "So-Called" Liberal Media ...Barbra Streisand
Posted on December 10, 2004
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.
TRANSLATION: EVERYTHING GOOD COMES FROM LIBERALS, AND THEIR THOUGHT PROCESS! BELIEVING THAT IS NOT A BIAS!

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.
TRANSLATION: CONSERVATIVES ARE BAD PEOPLE! THE ONES THAT OWN FOX NEWS AND OTHER MEDIA ARE CONTROLLING EVERYONE ELSE, EXCEPT THE LIBERALS! THIS IS EVIDENCE OF CONSERVATIVE BIAS!

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. DAN RATHER'S LIE WAS NOT AS BAD AS BUSH AND THE REST OF THE WORLD SAYING SADDAM HAD WMD!

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. BOB NOVAK SHOULD BE IN JAIL, NOT JUDY!

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. DEMOCRATS WERE THE THUGGISH ONES THIS YEAR, AND I SUPPORTED THEM!!

With the presence of Fox News, The O 'Reilly Factor, Rush Limbaugh, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, no one can dispute the existence of a strong conservative media. However, where these news outlets feel free to proudly proclaim their "conservative bias" by sharing their unwanted opinions, prestigious TV network anchors like Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, Bill Moyers and Jim Lehrer carefully tow-the-line to present the news in a balanced manner. They are real journalists who objectively present the news in order to allow the audience to make up their own minds. But sadly, today some of these wannabe TV reporters make inappropriate and derogatory statements perhaps in an effort to make a name for themselves. I TRIED TO AVOID THE SPOTLIGHT, BUT I WAS EXPOSED AGAIN!!

Despite all the claims of pushing a biased liberal agenda by the press, the Republicans have managed to win five out of the last seven Presidential elections, and this year continue to strengthen their control of the congress. Their success undoubtedly is due in part to the fact that reporters on major networks have become so fearful of either losing their job or being deemed biased, they have relinquished their journalistic responsibility to hold our leaders accountable. I SUCK HARDER THAN ALL THE REST OF THE DEMOCRATS, WHO CLEAN THE CHROME OFF MY BUMBER!!!



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DISTASTE FOR FANCE! (er, FRANCE)

UNDERSTANDING THE FRENCH is to know DISTASTE!
The bigger the picture one takes of the French, the worse they look. This policy they recently adopted, trying to make a "balance" against US power, looks to end badly, as most of their foreign schemes have. Having sided with Saddam in the recent conflict, they now have to be looked at as potentially collaborating with Iran, Syria, or even North Korea and China. One wonders how far will France go to "counter" what it perceives as US influence worldwide.
The EU is another bad idea that the French think will ressurect their glory days, this time lording over the new Eastern European democracies. The problem here is that the new Europe has low tax rates, and bursting economies. France, Germany, among others are welfare states with economies approaching the state of the old Eastern European nations under communism. One senses that the "new" Europeans might not enjoy exchanging one yoke for another, once the chafing starts again. (as in soon)
France has been a "has-been" on the world stage for the better part of the last century. Now, they constitute a new threat: Millions of "unassimilated" Muslims from various nations living in housing projects outside of the cities all over France. When the French economy collapses, will there be an Islamist, or Communist uprising, even as democracy takes root in Iraq, and Eastern Europe? If either of these groups take over France, they will have access to nuclear arms. This could be the outcome of their Socialized economy, if they aren't allowed to suck the life out of the booming EastEU countries.
France and Germany are like the canaries in the coal mine of unbridled Socialism, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The amount of EU regulation of enterprise probably exceeds the centralized bureaucracy of the USSR in its heyday. France's Socialist economy won't even qualify for membership in it's own little EU club. One hopes they don't take all of Europe down with them again, with their crazy schemes.
This is all just speculation. But one can agree on a few things, no?

F#*K FRANCE!
BOYCOTT FRANCE!
TELL EVERY FRENCH PERSON YOU MEET HOW STUPID THEIR PRESIDENT IS, AND THAT THE U.S. WILL GET ALONG WITH FRANCE SO MUCH BETTER ONCE THEY REPLACE THAT JERK JAQUES CHIRAC!


Chris Leavitt 07/01/04

BOB ALLEN ON 9/11

I woke up this morning in my 17th floor apartment in Brooklyn Heights and
watched the sun come up over lower Manhattan, something I have done every
morning for the six years I have been living here.

The skyline across the East River looked miraculously untouched, and I might
have believed that the horror I had witnessed from my window yesterday was
only a plot for one of my novels, except the two towers, which had been the
centerpiece of my view, were gone, replaced by a pillar of smoke still
billowing from a spot where I had stood only a week ago.

But the rising sun still glinted off the other skyscrapers, and the smell of
smoke was dissipating from my apartment. I turned on the TV to hear my
mayor
say we New Yorkers had too much spirit to have it extinguished by an act of
terror. And he's right. Live goes on.

Out my window, people are opening their businesses, including an Arab-run
news stand across the street. The man, who listens to music I find strange
and speaks in a language I cannot understand, works hard many hours every
day. I have seen fear in his eyes late at night when he wonders if the next
customer will add a few pennies to his daily earnings or come to steal from
him. He may look and speak different, but he's just like all of us in this
vast melting pot of American with the sames dreams and fears.

We cannot hate people for the color of their skin or their place of origin;
that's not the American way. We hate people for their actions, and we will
make those who caused this horrendous act pay for their crime. But if we
follow the advice of those who have let hate cloud their judgment at this
time of terror, then we will be as bad as those who perpetrated this crime.

The terror is real. Just now I hear the roar of jet engines outside my
window, and a shudder runs up my spine. I realize that's how the people of
London must have felt during the blitz, but this time I know it's an
American
fighter jet flying precautionary cover over my City. But the thought that
such an action has become necessary makes me shudder, too. My country has
changed. Life will never be the same again. But if we let these terrorists
steal freedom and decency from us, they will have won. These gutless
wonders
can defeat us only if we let them. These terrorists have no arsenal to use
against us. They were able to attack America only by using our own peaceful
tools --our passenger airliners -- as weapons against us. If they cause us
to hate senselessly, they will use our own emotions against us, too.

--Bob Allen
Wednesday, September 19, 2001 12:19:49 AM