COMMENTS: 16
The Truthiness Taliban
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On the one hand, we're obsessed with forensic TV shows dedicated to the search for an utterly objective, scientifically immutable truth. "CSI," "CSI: Miami," "CSI: NY," "NCIS," "Cold Case," "Numb3rs," "Bones."
When Bill Petersen or David Caruso break the facts down to the level of DNA and sub-microscopic particles, they always get their perp. Wiggle room dies a rapid death in their labs. And we love getting to the truth. But when we turn off the TV and turn our attention to far weightier matters, we seem willing -- indeed eager -- to forget about the facts and throw our arms around truthiness.
As Stephen Colbert, the godfather of truthiness puts it: "I'm not a fan of facts. You see, facts can change, but my opinion will never change, no matter what the facts are." Or, as the "Colbert Report's" mocking caption writer summed it up: "Heart good, head bad."
Of course, while Colbert uses the concept of truthiness to satirize our collective embrace of what we wish were true -- even when it's not, George Bush, Karl Rove and the spinmeisters of the GOP message machine use it as their primary mode of communication. Trust us. It's true because we say it is. What are you going to believe, your eyes or our soundbytes?
It's how they sold us the invasion of Iraq (Saddam-unleashed mushroom clouds could be the logo for the Truthiness Society). And it's how they are trying to sell us the consequences of that invasion as something other than an unmitigated disaster.
You'd think that only a satirist would try to spin the horrors of the last week in Iraq as a sign of progress. But it wasn't Colbert who surveyed the bloody sectarian violence pushing Iraq to the precipice of all-out civil war and declared that the bombing of the Golden Mosque would "likely" turn out to have been a good thing. It was Rove. And it wasn't the irreverent caption writer of Colbert's "The Word" who put up chyrons asking "'Upside' to Civil War?" and "All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could it Be a Good Thing?". It was Fox News.
And it was George Bush, the walking, talking, swaggering, shoot-from-the-gut embodiment of truthiness, who went in front of the American Legion -- as the death toll in Iraq was hitting 130 in the previous 48 hours -- and said, "I'm optimistic… Out of negotiations now taking place in Iraq, a free government will emerge that will represent the will of the Iraqi people, instead of a cruel dictator, and that will help us keep the peace."
Jesus may be the president's favorite philosopher, but when it comes to spinning the facts, Bush seems to be asking himself WWCS? (What Would Colbert Say?). The truthiness will set you free. Indeed, the Truthiness Taliban scored anther coup against facts, truth, and reality with the announcement that Halliburton would be getting almost the entire $250 million in disputed charges the Pentagon's top auditors had identified as potentially excessive or unjustified.
The auditors had looked at the facts and decided that Halliburton subsidiary KBR had charged, in some instances, "nearly triple what others were charging to do the same job" -- as a result of which the cost of the $2.41 billion no-bid contract had skyrocketed.
And it's a fact that over the last three years, in cases involving thousands of military contracts, the military usually followed the recommendations of the Pentagon auditors. According to the New York Times: "In 2003, the agency's figures show, the military withheld an average of 66.4 percent of what the auditors had recommended, while in 2004 the figure was 75.2 percent and in 2005 it was 56.4 percent." But with this audit, the Army decided to withhold just 3.8 percent of what the auditors recommended.
Those are the facts. But, for some reason, the Army decided that, given how hard it is to do things during a war and all, it would cut Halliburton some slack. "The contractor is not required to perform perfectly to be entitled to reimbursement," explained an Army spokeswoman.
How very early-James-Frey Oprah of them. The cut-the-crap late-James-Frey Oprah would have said, "That's a lie" and withheld all the money.
Responding to the Army's decision, Halliburton watchdog Rep. Henry Waxman said: "Halliburton gouged the taxpayer, government auditors caught the company red-handed, but the Pentagon ignored the auditors and paid Halliburton hundreds of millions of dollars and a huge bonus." It's truthiness as government policy.
Right now, Stephen Colbert is smiling. The rest of us should be outraged.
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: Tom Degan on Mar 8, 2006 2:38 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Every time I hear a debate on the wisdom of invadinq Iraq in the first place, the half wits of Hate Radio always have the same prepared comeback: "Do you actually believe that the world was better off with Saddam Hussein in power"? Well dang, it's hight time we just give in and get REALLY honest: YES!!!! Certainly the people of Iraq were better off. I mean, LOOK AT THE FUCKING MESS THE ADMINISTRATION HAS CREATED!!!! It's obvious that the invasion of Iraq was the stupidest foreign policy mistake in United States history. For the second time in a generation the USA is going to lose a war forced on us by a brain-dead Texan (Just what IS it about Texas anyway?)
And speaking of Texas, just when you think the residents of Tom Delay's district couldn't get any gut-wrenchingly dumber, they cheerfully lower the bar even further. Yesterday they gave him another primary victory. Unbelieveable!
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
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» DeLay spent $2 million in 6 weeks on the primary
Posted by: Conan the Younger
» RE: DeLay spent $2 million in 6 weeks on the primary
Posted by: Tom Degan
» RE: Federal Prison for Bush, Cheney, et. al.
Posted by: libladyco
» Tom, you rock
Posted by: mmeetoilenoir
Comments are closed-
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Mar 8, 2006 5:40 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The danger is that they know this - they will continue to do their utmost to corrupt the election process and rig electronic voting machines in order to maintain their grip on power. As George W. Bush said "The Constitution is just a piece of paper", and "It doesn't matter what the polls say, because I've got the capital." There should no longer be any doubt - these guys are criminals who belong in jail.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: Federal prison is the right idea
Posted by: Maryanne
» RE: Federal prison is the right idea
Posted by: Ed Lammers
» RE: Federal prison is the right idea
Posted by: jakrabit
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Northernlight on Mar 8, 2006 7:38 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Alarmist? Sure it is, it is alarming when you look at all the parts of what is happening and follow it to its conclusion.
The United States of America is at war and will be for decades.
The present administration will do anything, say anything to do what it wants to do.
Constant surveillance
The American people are living in a constant state of fear that permeates the American culture. It is a fear from without and a fear from within. Fears of the government that with the Patriot Act can make you disappear forever. Is your name on a no fly list? Is it on a apprehend list? You have no way of knowing until it happens.
Why is it that people are becoming guarded in who they speak freely to? Has not there become a fear to speak freely? Is that not a loss of freedom of speech?
What of the prisons being build to detain people from the rapid deployment of new programs. What new programs?
The list goes on and on. What did the Republicans do today?
There is not much time left before the total control of the President icy is complete. If after the next presidential election there is still Republican control over both Congress and the Senate, all the pieces will have been set in place for total control of the United States by the president.
The irony of it is that it will have been “voted” into place by all of the people who voted Republican.
Ramblings of someone who is paranoid and delusional? I don’t think so. These are observations of one who is watching the scene play out on the world stage and who is seeing the script being written on the fly as it’s author’s are working from the planning book of the neocon ideology.
Connect the dots your self.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: Connect the Dots
Posted by: kelly.nickell
» RE: Connect the Dots
Posted by: paulaH
Comments are closed-
Posted by: hound on Mar 8, 2006 9:30 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If we don’t figure out a way to improve our mainstream media, then our country is doomed to sink further into the grips of despotism and irrational thought. For all the good alternative presses and Internet sources are doing, it is still the mainstream media that wields the power to sway the masses and thus effect change in the government. They have failed miserably over the last six years.
But now the government is going after them as well.
For more on this read: “And Now They’re Coming for You” (in Op-Ed Columns)
http://www.mediabloodhound.com/
Maybe this will finally compel them to start doing their jobs.
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: rollo on Mar 8, 2006 3:00 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Meanwhile Iran is now being led by a dangerous militant lunatic and they're publicly yelling, HEY AMERICA, WE GOT NUKES AND WE'RE OUT TO GET YA! "HARM AND PAIN" COMING YOUR WAY!
And the Bushies go, "Oh, they're just big talkers."
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: rollo on Mar 8, 2006 3:16 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How do you like your savior now, "values voters"?
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: In fact, the only bright spot here
Posted by: Northernlight
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Tom Degan on Mar 8, 2006 2:38 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Every time I hear a debate on the wisdom of invadinq Iraq in the first place, the half wits of Hate Radio always have the same prepared comeback: "Do you actually believe that the world was better off with Saddam Hussein in power"? Well dang, it's hight time we just give in and get REALLY honest: YES!!!! Certainly the people of Iraq were better off. I mean, LOOK AT THE FUCKING MESS THE ADMINISTRATION HAS CREATED!!!! It's obvious that the invasion of Iraq was the stupidest foreign policy mistake in United States history. For the second time in a generation the USA is going to lose a war forced on us by a brain-dead Texan (Just what IS it about Texas anyway?)
And speaking of Texas, just when you think the residents of Tom Delay's district couldn't get any gut-wrenchingly dumber, they cheerfully lower the bar even further. Yesterday they gave him another primary victory. Unbelieveable!
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» DeLay spent $2 million in 6 weeks on the primary
Posted by: Conan the Younger
» RE: DeLay spent $2 million in 6 weeks on the primary
Posted by: Tom Degan
» RE: Federal Prison for Bush, Cheney, et. al.
Posted by: libladyco
» Tom, you rock
Posted by: mmeetoilenoir
Comments are closed-
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Mar 8, 2006 5:40 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The danger is that they know this - they will continue to do their utmost to corrupt the election process and rig electronic voting machines in order to maintain their grip on power. As George W. Bush said "The Constitution is just a piece of paper", and "It doesn't matter what the polls say, because I've got the capital." There should no longer be any doubt - these guys are criminals who belong in jail.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: Federal prison is the right idea
Posted by: Maryanne
» RE: Federal prison is the right idea
Posted by: Ed Lammers
» RE: Federal prison is the right idea
Posted by: jakrabit
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Northernlight on Mar 8, 2006 7:38 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Alarmist? Sure it is, it is alarming when you look at all the parts of what is happening and follow it to its conclusion.
The United States of America is at war and will be for decades.
The present administration will do anything, say anything to do what it wants to do.
Constant surveillance
The American people are living in a constant state of fear that permeates the American culture. It is a fear from without and a fear from within. Fears of the government that with the Patriot Act can make you disappear forever. Is your name on a no fly list? Is it on a apprehend list? You have no way of knowing until it happens.
Why is it that people are becoming guarded in who they speak freely to? Has not there become a fear to speak freely? Is that not a loss of freedom of speech?
What of the prisons being build to detain people from the rapid deployment of new programs. What new programs?
The list goes on and on. What did the Republicans do today?
There is not much time left before the total control of the President icy is complete. If after the next presidential election there is still Republican control over both Congress and the Senate, all the pieces will have been set in place for total control of the United States by the president.
The irony of it is that it will have been “voted” into place by all of the people who voted Republican.
Ramblings of someone who is paranoid and delusional? I don’t think so. These are observations of one who is watching the scene play out on the world stage and who is seeing the script being written on the fly as it’s author’s are working from the planning book of the neocon ideology.
Connect the dots your self.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: Connect the Dots
Posted by: kelly.nickell
» RE: Connect the Dots
Posted by: paulaH
Comments are closed-
Posted by: hound on Mar 8, 2006 9:30 AM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If we don’t figure out a way to improve our mainstream media, then our country is doomed to sink further into the grips of despotism and irrational thought. For all the good alternative presses and Internet sources are doing, it is still the mainstream media that wields the power to sway the masses and thus effect change in the government. They have failed miserably over the last six years.
But now the government is going after them as well.
For more on this read: “And Now They’re Coming for You” (in Op-Ed Columns)
http://www.mediabloodhound.com/
Maybe this will finally compel them to start doing their jobs.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
Comments are closed-
Posted by: rollo on Mar 8, 2006 3:00 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Meanwhile Iran is now being led by a dangerous militant lunatic and they're publicly yelling, HEY AMERICA, WE GOT NUKES AND WE'RE OUT TO GET YA! "HARM AND PAIN" COMING YOUR WAY!
And the Bushies go, "Oh, they're just big talkers."
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
Comments are closed-
Posted by: rollo on Mar 8, 2006 3:16 PM
Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How do you like your savior now, "values voters"?
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: In fact, the only bright spot here
Posted by: Northernlight
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