The New York Times: America's Pravda?
The New York Times touches briefly on the issue of permanent and non-permanent military bases in Iraq. They quote the foreign press which indicates that the Unites States is building fifty permanent military bases in Iraq. These leads to several questions:
1) Are we building permanent military bases or are we not? This is basic question that a newspaper with the resources of the New York Times should be able to answer in dollar terms.
2) Does America have "freedom of the press," or are citizens expected to subscribe to military journals and foreign newspapers in order to learn the basics of our foreign policy?
3) How much is being spent on "permanent" military bases in Iraq? Every member of Congress should know this, as per the constitution, Congress, not the president, has the power of the purse. Citizens must know this as well in order to determine whether they wish to re-elect members of Congress.
The Times has published all but one of my comments to their blogs. (They did not approve comment that included a joking reference about Times writer, Ben Stein's, movie on "intelligent design".) But, evidently, the Times is also sensitive to my comment suggesting that if the Times can not tell us whether or not we are building permanent military bases, then we must live in a totalitarian society. This leads to a final question:
4) Since we do not know how our country is spending our money, how is that different from a totalitarian society?
Update: FWIW, the Times published my post, and a bunch of others, after a longer than usual delay. Some posts say we live in a post-911 world where everything has changed. Other posts blame the U.S. military for not being clear. I seem to be unique in blaming the press.
Context: One less touted reason for the war in Iraq was that Saudi Arabia desired America's military to leave, as was done in 2003. Does America need to have a permanent presence in the Middle East? Perhaps, the media does not talk about it because what has always been is not news.
1) Are we building permanent military bases or are we not? This is basic question that a newspaper with the resources of the New York Times should be able to answer in dollar terms.
2) Does America have "freedom of the press," or are citizens expected to subscribe to military journals and foreign newspapers in order to learn the basics of our foreign policy?
3) How much is being spent on "permanent" military bases in Iraq? Every member of Congress should know this, as per the constitution, Congress, not the president, has the power of the purse. Citizens must know this as well in order to determine whether they wish to re-elect members of Congress.
The Times has published all but one of my comments to their blogs. (They did not approve comment that included a joking reference about Times writer, Ben Stein's, movie on "intelligent design".) But, evidently, the Times is also sensitive to my comment suggesting that if the Times can not tell us whether or not we are building permanent military bases, then we must live in a totalitarian society. This leads to a final question:
4) Since we do not know how our country is spending our money, how is that different from a totalitarian society?
Update: FWIW, the Times published my post, and a bunch of others, after a longer than usual delay. Some posts say we live in a post-911 world where everything has changed. Other posts blame the U.S. military for not being clear. I seem to be unique in blaming the press.
Context: One less touted reason for the war in Iraq was that Saudi Arabia desired America's military to leave, as was done in 2003. Does America need to have a permanent presence in the Middle East? Perhaps, the media does not talk about it because what has always been is not news.
Labels: Don't Vote 2008
posted by David Rasmussen at 1:53 PM
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