Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Rain, Rain, Go Away, You Too Donald Rumsfeld

Sydney's nearly underwater today and looks like Auckland's next on Nature's hit list. Rain and hail storms ripped through OZ yesterday and shut down airports, trains and sunbathers. The poor weather-lady looked like she was delivering a eulogy as she pointed out the driving fronts coming in from every direction on the map. We're surrounded. I blame myself. Looks like I brought a taste of puddle-town with me. Good thing I've spent so many hours on the bike in the last few days wandering aimlessly, it appears the next couple days will be a bit easy.
In other news, my favorite government hack Donny Rumsfeld just taped a "KICK ME" sign onto the collective baks of the world media. He's bringing back the much-protested "Office of Strategic Planning," otherwise known as the "Office of PSYCH!" This department was half-created then shut down three years ago and is a pentagon unit tasked with spreading fake information to domestic and international news agencies in order to "throw off the enemy." Recently they tested it out on CNN, who on October 14 reported that the US had begun operations in Fallujah (a full three weeks before they actually began).
Quote of the day from Lawrence de Rita (man or woman?) a senior Pentagon spokesman regarding the program, "In the battle of perception management where the enemy is clearly using the media to help management perceptions of the general public, our job is not perception management but to counter the enemy's perception management."
That takes a bit of the fun out of calling the government on thier lies doesn't it? It's like the ultimate legal fine print at the bottom of a commercial, "Some of what we're saying is mostly true, but maybe some of it partially isn't, or is it?"
I say media sources should now go on strike from the Pentagon. As long as they're pulling a bag over everyone's head and whispering useless crap into reporter's ears we might as well just not listen to anything they say. Let's bring back real journalism. Wierd concept for sure, but who knows, maybe finding facts for yourself instead of relying on the talking head might be rewarding, or at least a little higher on the journalistic integrity scale. Even better, that may give media sources somthing to do aside from trumpeting Martha Stewart's prison cell remodeling tips.
Anyway, now that's out of the way so it's time for a quick rainy ride and some killer fish and chips. Also much work to do yet on judging Mt. Eden's row of coffee shops. So much to do, so little time. DT

1 comment:

piglet said...

Don't pay attention to the man behind the screen!