Archive for the 'Perception Management' Category
CIA Briefers Regularly Mislead Hill Intelligence Panels, Ex-Spy Charges
May 27th, 2009This has only been standard operating procedure for about the last 62 years. Via: Congressional Quarterly Politics: A former deep-cover CIA operative says the spy agency’s congressional briefers routinely shade the truth or hide facts altogether from congressional overseers. “They mumble, they dissemble, and there’s a lot of ‘on the one hand . . .’” […]
“A Plan that Would Require Americans to Get Not One, Not Two, But Three Flu Shots” – “Trust the Scientists” – “Massive Public Education Campaign”
May 24th, 2009L.A. Police Union Wants San Diego Newspaper Writers Fired
May 23rd, 2009Via: Los Angeles Times: The union representing Los Angeles police officers is pressuring the owner of San Diego’s main newspaper to change the paper’s editorial stance on labor issues or to fire its editorial writers. The feud is rooted in the recent purchase of the San Diego Union-Tribune by Platinum Equity, a private Beverly Hills […]
Robot Warriors Will Get a Guide to Ethics
May 19th, 2009Oh sure. You better clip a clothes peg on your nose for this one. Via: MSNBC: Smart missiles, rolling robots, and flying drones currently controlled by humans, are being used on the battlefield more every day. But what happens when humans are taken out of the loop, and robots are left to make decisions, like […]
The Case of the Missing H-Bomb: The Pentagon Has Lost the Mother of All Weapons
May 18th, 2009Via: Alternet: Things go missing. It’s to be expected. Even at the Pentagon. Last October, the Pentagon’s inspector general reported that the military’s accountants had misplaced a destroyer, several tanks and armored personnel carriers, hundreds of machine guns, rounds of ammo, grenade launchers and some surface-to-air missiles. In all, nearly $8 billion in weapons were […]
Chart of the Day: S&P 500 Earnings Plunge
May 18th, 2009Via: Chart of the Day: While the stock market is up sharply since early March, the economy as well as corporate earnings continue to suffer. Today’s chart helps provide some perspective as to the magnitude of the current economic decline. Today’s chart illustrates that 12-month, as-reported S&P 500 earnings have declined over 90% over the […]
Detainee Who Gave False Iraq Data Dies In Prison in Libya
May 15th, 2009Via: Washington Post: A former CIA high-value detainee, who provided bogus information that was cited by the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq war, has died in a Libyan prison, an apparent suicide, according to a Libyan newspaper. A researcher for Human Rights Watch, who met Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi at the Abu Salim […]
Fewer Than a Third in U.S. Would Get Swine Flu Jab
May 14th, 2009Via: Reuters: Fewer than a third of U.S. adults would get a shot especially made to protect against the new H1N1 swine flu virus, according to a poll released on Thursday. Most are simply not that worried about the new flu, which has spread around the globe, killed more than 60 people and brought the […]
Obama Opposes Detainee Abuse Photo Release
May 14th, 2009Via: Reuters: In a reversal, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he would fight the release of dozens of photographs showing the abuse of terrorism suspects, over concern the images could ignite a backlash against U.S. troops. The decision was a blow to some liberals in Obama’s Democratic Party who see the photos as part […]
Roxana Saberi’s Plight and American Media Propaganda
May 11th, 2009Via: Slate: Saberi’s release is good news, as her conviction occurred as part of extremely dubious charges and unreliable judicial procedures in Iran. And, as Ambinder suggested, her release most likely is a positive by-product of the commendable (though far from perfect) change in tone towards Iran specifically and the Muslim world generally from the […]
