The boy who cried Wolf (Blitzer)

A few days ago Mr. Blitzer announced on the ‘most trusted name’ newscast that al-Qaida was now possibly as strong, or stronger, than pre 9/11 strength. The words caught my attention and I paused, waiting for further information. I got a commercial break instead. When Mr. Blitzer returned to the screen he continued with his previous story – periodically repeating the announcement about the terrorist group's new found strength.

Another ‘stay afraid America’ scare tactic? I wondered, as Mr. Blitzer hyped the story yet again. Hmm... this was a potentially shocking bit of news, if true. If not true then...

How could we know this particular terrorist group's strength? How would that be verified? I didn’t know. What I did know, however, was this: If the statement was, in fact, true then this administration’s War on Terror has been an absolute and utter failure. After five years of weakening the Constitution, waging war, killing and maiming so many, destroying Iraq, weakening our Forces, trillions of dollars in debt, massive Corporate earnings, a hemorrhaging economy, and countless lies by our government – we had not made an inch of progress in combating al-Qaida? Not a single inch of progress in five years? Whoa! And again, Whoa!

What about it Mr. Bush? Hello?

It turns out that there was no big, in-depth story. Just the statements and the announcement that two (possibly three) suicide bombers had allegedly been dispatched from Pakistan to Spain ‘fresh from al-Qaida training camps’. They had, according to Court records, everything needed to accomplish their mission - except lethal explosive charges.

A link to the actual story is provided here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/01/24/newton.uk.al.qaeda.reloads.cnn?iref=videosearch

Lesson learned? Wolf Blitzer could sell ice to Eskimos. He really could. The man has talent in hyping things. (Remember how excited he was to announce the results of his earth shaking poll about what potential Presidential candidate people would most like to have dinner with? (Jack Anderson must be spinning in his grave.)

But what about this ‘re-armed’ al-Qaida? Georgie? Yo, Georgie?

What happened to real, honest news? It died a long time ago. What we get now from mainstream media is nothing more than hype and propoganda - no more than a platform to distribute commercial advertisement and derisive, manipulative, misinformation.

Who would have ever thought that the Comedy Channel would be the place Americans would have to turn for objectivity and truth?

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Stewart_slams_media_for_provoking_campaign_0125.html

Funny? Not so much. As a reminder of what the Press should be, and what its responsibilities are, I offer the following:

http://geekmetv.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-12-14T08%3A01%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7