…at just this moment it had been announced that Oceania
was not after all at war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with Eastasia.
Eurasia was an ally… There was, of course, no admission that
any change had taken place. Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness
and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy.
(George Orwell, 1984)
[Editor's Note: To the casual listener, Amy Goodman sounds
good on her program Democracy Now! which I hear locally on Pacifica radio (KPFK) out of Los Angeles. She comes across as someone who's anxious to expose
all of the horrors of the Bush administration, especially when it comes
to the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.
By Scott Loughrey
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/amygoodmangatekeeper27aug05.shtml
August 27, 2005, Originally posted in Fall of 2003
Amy
Goodman should be regarded as a Left Gatekeeper (LG). Left Gatekeepers,
like the journalists in George Orwell’s 1984, function to promote
the official propaganda of the state. They amplify what is not credible
while excluding other voices from challenging the government’s lies
of the day.
Amy Goodman used
to be a hero of mine (http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/media_jun02.html).
She was particularly heroic in the 1991 massacre by Indonesian military
forces in a Santa Cruz, East Timor graveyard. Her deeds there (along with
journalist Alan Nairn’s) are the kinds of events that people would
get medals for by the President in a sane world.
However, since 9/11/01 Amy Goodman (and her internet/radio
program Democracy Now!) has achieved enormous popularity while continuing
to fail to challenge the Bush regime where doing so is most needed. In particular,
whenever the topic of terrorism on US soil is brought up on her
program she can be counted upon to repeat government propaganda.
By broadcasting the government’s official story of 9-11
Democracy Now! continues to reiterate faulty science. For example, a key
component of the Bush regime’s propaganda includes the implication
that the number 650 is equal to the number 2000.
If more Democracy-activists were aware that the Bush regime
was making this assertion it could galvanize the resistance to it. Still,
Amy Goodman and DN! continue to tolerate the lie that the two numbers are
equal. To the disgust of a growing number of people DN! refuses to include
a guest on her show which disputes this (and similar) scientific point(s)
advanced by the government.
Amy’$ Contract
Before we delve into the specifics of Amy Goodman’s service to the
Bush regime, it should be mentioned that her contract with Pacifica is appalling.
I have it from names that would like to remain quiet that the financial
relationship between Democracy Now! and Pacifica is costing Pacifica more than million
dollars in potential revenue a year. If the arrangement that Amy and Democracy
Now! has with Pacifica continues, it could bankrupt Pacifica. Progressives
should show support for Pacifica by calling for Amy to restructure her contract.
The Importance of 9-11
Let’s move to the events of September 11, 2001 which have had an enormous
impact on the human race. So far the Bush regime has used 911 to launch
two wars of aggression against a pair of largely defenseless countries which
play a vital role in the distribution of the world’s oil.
Domestically, the Bush regime has used the events of 9/11/01
to install a concentration camp in Cuba. Under the guise of protecting Americans
from terrorists, it employed the USA PATRIOT Act to shred the Bill of Rights.
It has used 9-11 to disappear thousands of people (i.e., either deporting
them or is detaining them indefinitely without charge.)
The Bush regime is also using 9-11 in an attempt to introduce new legal
standards which erase centuries of judicial precedents. September 11 is
also being featured in the campaign commercials for the Bush regime. Finally,
the Republican Convention will be held in New York close to the three-year
anniversary of 9/11 to maximize the propaganda benefit of the tragedy. Clearly,
9-11 remains a pivotal instrument for the Bush regime to achieve its goals.
While the Bush regime freely employs 9-11 for all of its attacks
on human rights much of the “left” media continues to broadcast
the fictional story of what really happened that day. Left Gatekeepers like
Democracy Now! continue to validate the official story of 9-11 and prevent
any voice from speaking about some of the innumerable anomalies with it.
Democracy Now’s 9-11 “debate”
Last September (9/23/03), Democracy Now! made one of its very rare
forays into discussing the events of 9-11. Amy Goodman had on two guests,
Peter Lance and Richard Miniter. Amy billed
the meeting as a “debate”. Both men are authors and were prominently
hawking their recent books. Crucially, neither man contradicted the other
much.
During the telecast, Lance and Miniter both agreed with
the official story of 9/11/01. To recap: Flights 11 and 175 crash into
the World Trade Center. Burning fuel from these planes melts the steel in
the North and South Towers. This causes both towers to collapse in relatively
tidy footprints.
Later that same day, World Trade Center 7 collapses in its footprint, possibly
from fire. (No one with the government has explained WTC 7’s collapse
with certainty; i.e., FEMA’s report isn’t conclusive. Meanwhile,
the subject of why WTC 7 collapsed has never been discussed on Democracy Now!)
With Amy’s approval, Lance and Miniter eagerly promote
the central idea that Al Qaeda was responsible for the complete destruction
of buildings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01.
They accept (without explanation) that Osama bin Laden, the world’s
most famous dialysis patient, was the mastermind of the day’s tragic
events. The subject of how 650 and 2,000 are completely different numbers
never arises in the broadcast.
Democracy Now!’s wretched 9/23/03 broadcast
with Lance and Miniter outraged activists around the world. (Someone the
author corresponds with now labels DN! as “Disinformation Now!”)
While watching the Lance and Miniter show unravel, I marveled at the
skill with which Goodman and Democracy Now! were communicating
ideas which originated with the Bush regime. No White House spokesperson
could have sold the official story better than Goodman, Lance and Miniter
did that day. In addition, since this “debate” was aired, the
subject matter is apparently closed for all time on Democracy Now!
Left Gatekeeper
650 = 2000
Amy Goodman needs to allow an articulate guest to appear on her program
capable of mentioning that it is impossible for burning jet fuel to have
caused the destruction of the North and South towers of the World Trade
Center.
Jet fuel is refined kerosene, which burns at about 650 degrees Fahrenheit
in the open air. Meanwhile, steel cannot be forged adequately until it is
heated up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit for a significant amount of time.
Another problem with the idea that burning kerosene melted
the steel in the Twin Towers is the fact that that all of the extant documentation
from 9-11 reveals black, oxygen-starved fires coming from the North Tower
before it collapsed. There is no photograph or video which indicates that
the fires were nearing the temperature to melt aluminum, much less the temperature
to melt steel.
The more one inspects the documentation the more obvious the
conclusion becomes that the planes which supposedly struck the World Trade
Center on 9/11/01 could not have melted the steel in the Twin Towers under
the circumstances we all seemingly witnessed.
Even if we could believe that the laws of physics were altered
on 9/11/01, and burning jet fuel melted steel that day, the jet fuel from
the alleged planes would have caused the towers to twist and bend and fall
over, not completely implode in their footprints.
The tendency for tall building structures when they collapse
is to bend over and crash into surrounding areas. That’s why demolition
experts are almost always hired to topple tall buildings in major cities.
There is a growing number of people around the world who believe
that the Twin Towers fell from a pair of controlled demolitions.
Despite the best efforts of the Left Gatekeepers to suppress the movement,
conferences are being held to discuss 9-11; books and papers are being published,
videos are being produced, new websites appear daily and emails are circulating
like wildfire.
(An author I highly recommend is Eric Hufschmid.
His book, “Painful Questions” argues convincingly that the Twin
Towers fell from controlled demolitions. In addition, his excellent video,
“Painful Deceptions” introduces more scientific anomalies with
the official story of 9/11/01. At this writing there are no plans for Amy
Goodman to have Hufschmid debut on her program.)
The 911 Truth Movement is battling the Bush regime where it
is most vulnerable. Instead of merely reporting on the growing infrastructure
of the Bush regime’s planned police state, the activists investigating
9-11 are attempting to remove the justification for each piece of it.
They are attempting to isolate some basic ideas that can be delivered to
large masses of people. Unfortunately, misguided Left Gatekeepers like Amy
Goodman continue to block their efforts at pursuing the path that has the
greatest chance of success.
Summary Democracy Now!’s contribution to the global struggle
to remove the neoconservatives from power in the US is undermined each day
that passes that Amy Goodman fails to invite on her show an articulate critic
of the official story of 9/11/01. In addition, what little that has been
said on DN! about 9-11 should be regarded as disinformation which is completely
at the service of the Bush regime.
What many of her critics want from Amy Goodman is for Democracy Now! to speak truth to power on the most important issue of our time. We all
know from her past that when she speaks truth to power she can move mountains.
Many of us also believe that we’re running out of time waiting for
her to get moving.
September 11th isn’t an issue like any other. It is
the catalyst for the Bush regime’s dramatic expansion of US imperialism
and very open foundations for a police state. Activists who are interested
in removing the harm done by the Bush regime since 9/11/01 should focus
on conveying the scientific anomalies with the official story of that day.
To do otherwise is to fight a losing battle.
Scott Loughrey
Forward courtesy of Kanya Vashon McGhee <drkanya9@hotmail.com>
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