Following up on the deafening silence of the networks in response to David Barstow's story, which rightfully earned a Pulitzer, we now see the Inspector General pulling its report that tried to exonerate the Pentagon's propaganda program. Issued a few days before Bush left office in response to Barstow's warning about DoD-led "message force multipliers" with military-industrial conflicts of interest directing the network's "educated opinion" on Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon's report "found that the DOD didn't violate prohibitions on using public funds for propaganda." Well, as no surprise to those who've read Barstow's meticulously documented work, the Pentagon's report was "flawed" and had to be pulled: Just how "flawed"?
the report's authors -- who don't have subpoena power -- were prevented from reaching solid conclusions about the program because former top Pentagon officials who engineered the program wouldn't talk.Also from the memo stating that the report has been withdrawn:
former senior DoD officials who devised and managed the outreach program refused our requests for an interview. Our judgmental sample of RMAs interviewed was too small (7 out of 70 RMAs) to allow that testimonial evidence to be used to support conclusions.No subpoena power, can't talk to the program's engineers and managers, ridiculously small sample size: To right wingers who attacked Barstow, that was and still is exculpatory enough; it was written on paper, you know. (Incidentally, any college sophomore might start to feel that the intellectual standards, methodology, and integrity of "journalism" and government bureaucracy wouldn't even be sound enough to pass an introductory undergraduate course in creative writing).
Here's David Barstow, who's still being effectively blackballed from the ethically-challenged networks, on Democracy Now.
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And in the music world...Here's a poor musician who was enslaved by his own robot band members after quitting his human rock band.
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