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The Myth of the Mainstream MediaMonday, Jan. 26, 2009 3:53 AMI've said for a while that there is no such thing as the dreaded 'mainstream media.' It's a fiction of conservative talking heads like Rush Limbaugh. But, finally, an expert has explained exactly how it works. You put people into groups and then you victimize them. And give the victims power over the majority. Because they then have grievances that are nonexistent, and the majority gets cowed into fear, because they don't want to be complained at, they don't want to be blamed, so 'OK, OK, you want (balanced coverage), fine, we'll go get it. And who is this sage who knows all about browbeating people with nonexistant grievances? It's none other than Rush Limbaugh, explaining how racism works in his world view. So you can pretty much figure that he's wrong about racism, and, in fact, has described the very tactics he and his fellow ideologues use to push the idea that there's a 'mainstream media' that has a liberal bias. Despite his executive order calling for a comprehensive review of Gitmo and proceedings involving the prisoners there, the task is turning out to be more difficult than imagined. Because the previous administration kept neither comprehensive nor complete records on these dangerous, dangerous people that we can neither allow the benefit of American law, nor release, because they'll run right back to join al Qaeda. Senator Kit Bond (R - Missouri) has a great idea for closing Gitmo: move all the prisoners to Alcatraz (which happens to be Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district). Make up your mind, Kit. Either these people are so dangerous that we dare not grant them trials, benefit of law, or freedom ... or they're the punchline in a political joke. Republicans are getting all serious and weighing in on Obama's proposed stimulus plan, saying it does too little, too much, not enough, and how They Will Not Be Ignored. I'm wondering why, exactly, anyone would imagine someone like John McCain has any credibility on economic issues. If you're being ignored, guys, it's because your stewardship of the economy has been a complete failure, with a billion-dollar boondoggle benefiting corporate executives to cap it off. New surprises in the case of Johannes Mehserle, the BART Police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man during an altercation on New Year's Eve. Additional video shows another officer, whom the San Francisco Chronicle identifies as Tony Pirone, punching Oscar Grant in the head earlier in the incident. It is Pirone who is seen kneeling atop Grant when Mehserle fires the lethal shot. BART officials seem to be surprised by this video, but if you'd done a thorough investigation into Mehserle's actions, how is it that you missed another officer cleaning someone's clock?
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