Untitled Document
Brian Kilmeade, Fox Ministry of Disinformation and Fear Mongering talking
head, should make his way back to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where
he once sat in as anchor. He has no place on a news program—then again,
considering the sort of “news” reported at Fox, he may be a perfect
choice.
“On the June 29 broadcast of Fox News Radio’s Brian & The Judge,
co-host Brian Kilmeade, who also co-hosts Fox News’ Fox & Friends,
suggested that the U.S. government should ‘put up the Office of Censorship,’
in the wake of reports in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The
Wall Street Journal detailing a Treasury Department program designed to monitor
international financial transactions for terrorist activity,” reports
Media Matters.
Kilmeade, however, was not alone.
“Similarly, during the June 29 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host
E.D. Hill wondered if it would be appropriate for the U.S. government to create
an ‘Office of Censorship.’ During an interview with Rep. J.D. Hayworth
(R-AZ) about The New York Times report, Hill asserted that such an office, previously
established during World War II by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration,
could screen news reports to determine whether they ‘hurt the country’
or are of ‘news value.’ The New York Times has been singled out
for criticism by numerous conservative media figures, including many on the
Fox News Channel.”
On December 19, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt, after provoking the Japanese through
embargo into attacking Pearl Harbor as a cynical way to get America embroiled
in Europe’s war (most Americans were opposed to U.S. involvement in the
conflict), signed Executive Order 8985, establishing the Office of Censorship.
“From December 19, 1941, until August 15, 1945, the Office of Censorship
had the power to censor international communications at its ‘absolute
discretion.’ With a staff of more than 10,000 censors, the office routinely
examined mail, cables, newspapers, magazines, films, and radio broadcasts. Its
operations constituted the most extensive government censorship of the media
in U. S. history and one of the most vivid examples of the use of executive
emergency powers,” explains Lexis
Nexus. It is interesting to note the corporate media of the time was all
for this egregious violation of the Constitution. Byron Price, government stenographer
and office manager for the Associated Press, was appointed Director of Censorship.
He did such a good job censoring the news he was recognized with a Pulitzer
Prize and was later appointed to the Assistant Secretary General of the United
Nations. Trashing the Constitution has its rewards.
“If it’s anything like the rest of these highly politicized bureaucracies,
we’re looking at some drooling lapdogs wanting to move this in the direction
of emulating Chinese dissent laws,” comments the Hammer
of Truth blog about Fox’s draconian suggestion. “I can see guarding
information that is critical to the role of troops in the field, but I don’t
buy the notion that because some media outlets are shining light on some questionably
secret programs, we have to vet news through the military to comply with arbitrary
patriotic standards.”
“We were stunned Thursday when Fox News commentators suggested a U.S.
‘Office of Censorship’ that would screen news reports and stop publication
of news it didn’t find newsworthy or that it felt would hurt the country,”
opines the Arizona Daily
Star. “In addition to being an affront to the First Amendment and
our nation’s freedom, ignoring or disrespecting views that might conflict
with yours does not foster democracy.”
Beyond the usual blogosphere activity and a smattering of stories appearing
in out of the way venues in the alternative and corporate media, this story
grew very small legs and is seemingly going nowhere, mostly because the corporate
media already censors (or omits) the news, albeit not to the fanatical degree
demanded by the neocons at Fox. Wayne
Simmons, a former CIA operative appearing on Hannity & Colmes, believes
journos guilty of committing “treasonous crimes that are benefiting the
enemy” should be marched “in front of a firing squad or put …
in prison for the rest of their lives.” In other words, if you whistle
blow on-high crimes and document programs designed to trash the Bill of Rights
and reduce the Constitution to a doormat, you should be summarily executed.
Smells like fascism to me.
“We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United
States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper
to publish it, does great harm,” bemoaned the unitary decider last month.
In other words, the neocons prefer to torch the Constitution under a tight cover
of darkness, one that would be ensured by a Ministry of Censorship, complete
with a firing squad, if former CIA employees and Fox pundits have their way.
“Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, said that the measures had
proved their worth by helping to catch the mastermind of the Bali bombing as
well as possibly ‘tracking down some of those who have been responsible
in planning the subway bombings and the bus bombings in London,’”
the Times
Online reports. Of course, the Indonesian intel op Jemaah Islamiyah was
framed for the Bali bombing and the London bombing was “masterminded”
by Haroon Rashid Aswat, a well-documented
MI6 asset (this fact was reported on Fox News, but then we can’t expect
Mr. Snow Job to reference news reports broadcast by his former employer).
Finally, it should not be surprising Brian Kilmeade would advocate
trashing the Bill of Rights and thus attempt to prevent through a Ministry of
Censorship the American people from understanding the depth and severity of
the fascist mindset of the neocons. After all, he was an anchor for the Ultimate
Fighting Championship, an organization based upon a version of Brazilian vale
tudo fighting. In Portuguese, vale tudo translates as “anything goes,”
a perfect phrase for the neocons and their sycophants over at the Ministry of
Lies and Disinformation, Fox News division.
____________________________
Read from Looking Glass News
Fox
Gets "Fair And Balanced" Access to Guantanamo
Is
Karl Rove Producing Fox News?
Fox
News all the time at the White House
Fox
News Hannity & Colmes BOTH afraid to discuss Bohemian Grove
Fox
News: All Terror, All the Time
Disgusting
Iran-Contra Criminal Grills Jim Fetzer