Conservative Blog Reporting on Media Bias and the Liberal Agenda

The drill sergeant’s famous shout in the movies is “I own you recruit!” or even something a little more earthy stating very clearly that the recruit has lost every element of control of his life to the military. It was this image that immediately came to mind when Peacock read the opening paragraphs of Susanne M. Schafer’s AP article on January 27, 2011 titled “First lady: Army health initiative may be a model”.

Given the context of Obamacare and other clearly socialist initiatives designed to exercise greater control over our lives I don’t think I am overreacting to the following paragraph from the article quoting the First Lady.

“A lack of fitness is ‘not just a health issue but a national security issue,’ she said, and the military’s health initiatives could be a model for youngsters elsewhere.”

That comment from a First Lady gives me the creeps.

Obamacare scares me in many ways. At the outset it creates a situation in which all personal health care is eventually and inevitably forced to migrate to a government plan and federal control. In the long run, as  the private systems are, by design, driven out of business there ends up being no choice. Obamacare will be the only health care option left. Anyone who examines the numbers sees that this is the only outcome. So, we end up with Obamacare and Social Security to take care of us from cradle to grave. The nanny state promoters like the First Lady will then see it as a national security issue to make sure we all eat and exercise properly. We will be told that if we don’t stay fit we will not be healthy enough to keep the nationally run system financially viable and therefore assure that the nation is secure.

At some point down the road I am concerned that some federal executive going to scream at our descendants through the television, “You will stay fit and eat properly because I own you, it is a national security issue, and we have to keep the health care system solvent”.

Considering what has been happening since FDR dramatically accelerated socialism I don’t think this scenario is a stretch.

The “Rolling Stones” article about General McChrystal makes it clear that the general has little to no respect for his Commander-in-Chief or for most of his staff. I guess that is to be expected. You have to show respect before you can receive respect and it is clear that the man in charge of our entire United States military has no respect for military people. If he did he wouldn’t be enforcing rules of engagement that end up getting more of our military killed than is necessary. Perhaps our Commander-in-Chief doesn’t understand what President Lincoln understood when he was looking for a general who would brutally execute the Civil War in the short term in order to bring it to a quicker, more merciful end.

Perhaps he doesn’t understand a lot of things.

He doesn’t understand that raising taxes stifles business.

He doesn’t understand that nationalized health care and the health care regulations he is forcing down our throats stifle, and even end, businesses because they can’t afford the extra cost.

He doesn’t understand that environmental regulations that force oil companies to drill in more dangerous waters can result in greater hazard to the environment.

He doesn’t understand that taking from the rich to give to the poor makes the rich give up and makes the poor lazy.

He doesn’t understand that BP doesn’t give a damn about his criticism or his puny financial penalties. They are a British company that can declare bankruptcy in its U.S. branch, expand its operations in other parts of the world and probably improve its financial position in the process.

He doesn’t understand that shutting down all oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico makes our Jihadist enemies stronger while it puts Americans out of work.

He doesn’t understand that our porous borders make America vulnerable to terrorist attack and weaken our economy as American business pays more tax to support the illegal alien burden.

He doesn’t understand that all of these things combine to weaken America economically, militarily, and in the eyes of all in the world who have in the past seen America as the dominant power in economics, capitalism, democracy and personal success.

If he doesn’t get it then he is by far the most inept President and Commander-in-Chief that this country has ever had.

Then again, maybe he does get it. Maybe his actions are designed to level the playing field and make our country just one of the world pack.

If he doesn’t get it then he is incredibly dangerous. If he does get it he is beyond incredibly dangerous.

The British politician, Edmund Burke is quoted in Thomas Carlyle’s book “Heros and Hero Worship in History” as follows. “Burke said that there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there sat a fourth Estate more important far than they all.”

Edmund Burke would be aghast at the power and influence of the fourth estate today. Political columns are written within hours after an event has taken place and then transmitted across continents and even around the world. Within just a few more hours they are printed, distributed, read and accepted either as gospel or biased opinion. Television and radio report information to hundreds of millions, perhaps a couple of billion, as it takes place. Commentators add their own spin within minutes and add improbable elements to that spin as the story is analyzed and dissected among themselves and with “experts” until it becomes as worn as a months old newspaper passed among greedy readers.

It is indeed true today that the fourth estate is far more important than our government. The media has more power than ever before to get people elected or removed permanently from public service. Interestingly enough, media today is generally owned by massive conglomerates with elements that might be dependent upon elected officials for income from government contracts. Our government officials and the media consequently operate in total complicity to assure the health of their mutual interests. In this incestuous relationship the fourth estate has become more important, more powerful, totally complicit with and integrated with the government. It influences legislation much more than it did in Burke’s day. That influence is clearly for reasons much less pure today than they were in the 1700’s.

PeacockWatch is especially concerned about the objectives and intentions of MSNBC. In a recent article PeacockWatch took MSNBC’s Chris Matthews to task when he said of Obama’s speech at West Point “he went to maybe the enemy camp tonight”. On November 30th, 2009 we have Keith Olbermann saying in an MSNBC article on Afghanistan that “the Pentagon is a bunch of perpetually 12-year old boys”. Matthews later offered an apology for his statement. However, that apology was thrown into disbelief by the context of his overall comments. His apology falls into the category of total fantasy given his associate Keith Olbermann’s insult to our military defenders.

The dislike these two men have for the military becomes easy to understand when one remembers that it is the military men and women who have fought so hard against socialism and Marxism in the last few major wars. And socialism and Marxism are what MSNBC is supporting so strongly today when they champion the present administration and its group of czars. If our military is strong, and continues to be the most respected of all government agencies, then socialism and Marxism will have a more difficult time in the rest of the world and not have the full support in the U.S. that Obama and his spokespeople at MSNBC desire.

Just as part of the agenda of MSNBC is to denigrate our highly respected and heroic military it is also focused on supporting the public option health plan (See PeacockWatch article “NBC’s Support for ‘Public Option’ at an All Time High”) which is the cornerstone of the move toward socialism in the U.S. and “The Big Lie of Global Warming” which is a supporting strategy.

It has been reported, though only very minimally on MSNBC, that the health care program means a takeover by the government of another 1/6th of the U.S. economy which would be the dream of any avowed socialist. It was also recently reported by the NY Times and CBS (with great publicity from MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann) that support for the health care public option according to a December 4th through 8th poll is now at 59% with only 29% opposed. On the contrary, a Bloomberg poll during the same period, and not mentioned at all by MSNBC, shows that 62% of Americans are mostly pessimistic about the benefit of a health care bill that Congress would pass. A Quinnipiac University poll as reported by the Washington Times shows 52% of voters oppose and 38% support the current Congressional health care reform bill. There are many other polls with varying results but MSNBC consistently reports only on those that support the current administration for which they are the primary media outlet and from which their parent organization receives great financial favor.

Edmund Burke was right about the importance of the “fourth Estate”. One wonders how corrupt the media was in the mid-1700’s and if elements of it were as strongly influenced by a particular party as MSNBC so clearly is today. Whatever the answer, it is clear that MSNBC and its commentators Olbermann and Matthews have it as key objectives to denigrate our military through subtle and not so subtle opinion commentary and to report only that information supporting the take over of health care by the federal government. Those two key MSNBC objectives support one overarching Obama administration goal of transforming the United States of America into a socialist empire as quickly as possible.

If Chris Matthews were a young cub reporter one might say he was indiscreet in his comments. But he is not. He has decades of experience. According to his MSNBC News biography:

“Matthews spent 15 years in politics and government: he worked in the White House for four years under President Jimmy Carter as a Presidential speechwriter and on the Government Reorganization Project, in the U.S. Senate for five years on the staffs of Senator Frank Moss (Utah) and Senator Edmund Muskie (Maine), and was the top aide for Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. for six years.”

Matthews was a print journalist for 15 years and has been with CNBC and MSNBC since 1997.

One could say he has a lot of experience and it is clear that he is very solid in his liberal beliefs. So, when he says about Obama’s visit to West Point that “he went to maybe the enemy camp tonight” Matthews is saying what he means.

It is interesting that Matthews observes about the West Point cadets and their officers that he “didn’t see a lot of warmth in that crowd”. To some extent that could have been because “that crowd”, ready to dedicate their lives to democracy and freedom, had already been in their seats for four to five hours for security reasons while waiting for the commander-in-chief that they have already sworn allegiance to upon entering the academy. Moreover, Matthews opines that the “crowd” seems to be regarding Obama with “if not resentment, skepticism”. Mr. Matthews and Peacock must have been watching two different presentations because Peacock saw none of that. However, a healthy skepticism from these soldiers might have been appropriate. After all this Commander-in-Chief might be ordering any and all of them off to war upon their graduation. It would certainly be appropriate for them, as leaders in training, to be taking the measure of the man. As students in one of the best universities in the world they would certainly have done their homework and known much about their top leader.

These soldier leaders in training would understand the irony of listening to this man in this commemorative Eisenhower Hall while knowing that he is making all the political and economic moves required to transition our country from a free democracy to a socialist state. They would also be fully aware that they are the current link in a chain of military men going back over 200 years who fought, got maimed or died to preserve our democracy that our founding fathers gave their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for. Peacock saw a lot of tired faces of hard working students in the crowd. Peacock saw a lot of people paying close attention and seeming to evaluate what they were hearing. Peacock didn’t see the skepticism that Matthews saw. However, a very healthy skepticism would have been in order.

These military men and women had to be evaluating the words they were hearing that night and comparing them to words they had heard their President say at other times.

Jan. 26, 2009: “All too often the United States starts by dictating … and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved. So let’s listen. And I think if we do that, then there’s a possibility at least of achieving some breakthroughs. … My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect.” – President Obama, in an interview with Al Arabiya

That is tremendously conciliatory language to use when talking with Al Arabiya journalists while soldiers are dying in the middle east.

April 2, 2009: “I would like to think that with my election and the early decisions that we’ve made, that you’re starting to see some restoration of America’s standing in the world.” – President Obama, at G20 summit in London

The graves of American soldiers all across the world are silent testimony to the greatness of America’s standing in the world. Perhaps these future leaders of men were wondering what kind of leader would make such a crass and self-serving statement while outside of our country. Perhaps some of them were wondering what this President might be saying at some future date while they were fighting in some distant country to save the democracy that Obama was “fundamentally” changing into socialism. Perhaps some of them were comparing this President’s actions with those of Winston Churchill who said “When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country”.

April 2, 2009: “It is true, as my Italian friend has said, that the (economic) crisis began in the U.S. I take responsibility, even if I wasn’t even president at the time.” – President Obama, at the G20 in London, as reported by Germany’s Der Spiegel.

Yet another apology, and a totally inaccurate statement, at an inappropriate location and the loss of another opportunity to speak to America’s strengths preserved by generations of soldiers and earmarked by many square miles of overseas American military cemeteries.

April 6: “I know there have been difficulties these last few years. I know that the trust that binds us has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced. Let me say this as clearly as I can: the United States is not at war with Islam.” – President Obama, in Ankara, Turkey

Certainly some might be saying “Tell it to the Ayatollah’s!”

It would be difficult to criticize the young men and women at West Point for possibly reflecting on this President’s comments while he was making a war speech that didn’t even support the minimum recommendation of his battlefield commander. Perhaps some of them were wondering if they would be among the last officers leading men on a dangerous battlefield fighting a rear guard action 18 months from then as they were making the withdrawal from Afganistan that the commander-in-chief was pre-announcing to the enemy.

By way of contrast, it apparently was easy for Chris Matthews to make these criticisms and name these future defenders of a free America the “enemy camp”. It was apparently easy for Chris Matthews to name this oldest military academy in our country and the site of a major Revolutionary War stand by George Washington a “strange venue” for a major war speech about troop deployment. Perhaps Matthews thought that Paddy’s Irish Pub would be more appropriate.

You see, it wasn’t just Matthew’s comment about West Point being the enemy camp that was so crassly inappropriate. It was his criticism of the cadets and their officers. It was his perception of “resentment, criticism” that was neither voiced nor visible to others. Perhaps Matthews was seeing what he wanted to see because he didn’t sense a collective tingle running up the legs of all these uniformed people at the sight of the man Matthews has expressed such gushing adoration for. It was Matthews’ sense of this entirely appropriate hall named for one of our greatest defenders of democracy against socialism, Marxism and fascism as a “strange venue”.

Many in this “crowd” that Matthew’s was so critical of will make a career of defending our country and declaring themselves ready to defend their President with their lives even if their President was overseas inappropriately apologizing for our great country and our courageous military. Quite a few will find themselves in the real “enemy camp” fighting, and perhaps dying, for Chris Matthews right to be crass.

Chris Matthews apologized later in his telecast for calling Eisenhower Hall the “enemy camp”. In the context of the rest of his words on this subject his apology can’t be accepted. It is clear that this journalist with decades of experience on the national level meant exactly what he said. His apology smacks of the man who got caught in an illegal or embarrassing act begging forgiveness not because he is sorry but because he got caught.

Mr. Matthews, you are simply a scoundrel whose words precisely describe your feeling toward our military and our future military leaders. You will receive no forgiveness here.