May 09, 2003: One of the more popular "news" sites on the World Wide Web is AlterNet.Org. According to its own website, "AlterNet.org is a project of the Independent Media Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting independent and alternative journalism."
IMI is dependent on donations for its continued existence and lists the Carnegie Corporation and the Ford Foundation among others as its major supporters.
AlterNet's headlines for May 5, 2003 started with a story about "ecocide" and how Republicans are welcoming the phenomenon. It seems the Left views the GOP as anxious for the "Rapture" to begin, seeing the destruction of the earth's environment as a good thing. According to the story which had also appeared on the Salon.com website, "The federal government -- with Republicans in control of the White House, Congress and the judiciary -- has launched the largest rollback of environmental laws and regulations ever." The article points out that most people believe that greed and avarice are motivating the Republicans and that the environment's downfall is just a by-product. However, from the point of view of this scoop, the GOP is far more clever (or stupider, depending upon your point of view) than that -- they want the environment to crumble because they "are sure they will be saved from the horrific destruction brought by ecosystem collapse. They'll be raptured: rescued from Earth."
Another article addresses the plight of an illegal immigrant being held in jail and facing deportation and why that is a bad thing -- at least in this one particular case. However, this one individual's plight does not seem to be the point of the story. Rather, it's America's rounding up of illegal immigrants after 9-11 that seems to bother the article's author.
Then there is the story about a new home-repair book. It is especially helpful now that the economy is falling apart and everyone will soon be poor because of the Republican Administration.
What's especially interesting to the article's author is that the book was written by Stephanie Glakas-Tenet, the wife of George Tenet, the director of the CIA. It seems the article's author wants us all to be aware that there must be something more to the book than a simple "do-it-yourself" tome. It appears that we are surreptitiously being warned that knowing how to fix a toilet by ourselves will be more than just handy knowledge to have for future plumbing debacles -- it will be necessary in the coming depression.
The there is the in-depth article entitled "Dazed and Confused," by Mickey Huff. Apparently the author wants the American population to understand that we are simply confused when we do not fall for liberal dogma. We all -- Republicans, conservatives, the right in general -- really are closet Lefties; we just don't know that we are.
According to Mr. Huff, a scientific poll was conducted by "Retro Poll." As his commentary goes on to explain, "Using a unique methodology that investigates peoples' background knowledge on subjects before asking their opinions, Retro Poll compares each person's answers to different but related questions. This allows an assessment of the extent to which background knowledge, or its absence, contributes to particular political views in the sample."
The problem is of course that the questions posed are not questions; they are statements of Leftist Dogma, just plain garbage, or propaganda intended to "enlighten" Americans to the horror of American imperialism and the aggrieved point of view of terrorists.
For instance here is one question, "In the 1980s which nation provided the money and military training to the terrorist Osama Bin Laden and his Islamic fundamentalist followers to build them into a fighting force against the Russian Army in Afghanistan?" The "pollster" at the end of that question wants the reader to study the question further by reading anti-American writings on the subject and suggests a source.
Then there is this one: "Is there evidence Saddam Hussein worked with the 9/11 Terrorists?"
Following the question is the blurb, "For analysis showing the lack of contact between Iraq and Al Qaeda, (See: FPIF: Seven Reasons to Oppose a U.S. Invasion of Iraq)."
Then, after explaining that Florida governor Jeb Bush conspired and acted to steal the 2000 presidential election for his brother, the pollster asks a number of questions about America's conduct after 9-11, all of which the pollster claims is in violation of the Constitution. The pollster explains that librarians who give information about activities at their library violate first amendment rights. It doesn't explain how it violates the constitution, it just says it does.
The pollster continues in that fashion ad nauseum -- "asking" question after question, all the while explaining how Republicans deny Americans and non-Americans their constitutional rights.
The author of the article then uses the poll to explain that nearly 8 out of 10 Americans disagree with the Patriot Act and "oppose the intrusions of this law into their civil rights." Yet, amazingly, most Americans think the Patriot Act has "'no impact' upon their rights." The reason for this discrepancy eludes the author and he simply chalks it up to stupidity of the American population. After all, since it was explained to the respondents that the Patriot Act and America's war on terrorism violated the rights of everyone in America, Americans who didn't get the point must be stupid.
Of course, neither the pollster nor author Mickey Huff seem to understand that the law in question only targets terrorists and foreign nationals suspected of terrorism, and not the general population in America. Consequently, they seem incapable of figuring out that Americans, who say they are not impacted adversely by the measures taken by our government in the fight against terrorism, say so because they really weren't adversely affected....