Main Stream Media: Obama Gains 11 points

Yahoo News
May 4, 2011

Even better than the 9-point bounce polled yesterday, a New York Times/CBS poll says President Obama’s job approval rating has risen 11 points from last month to 57 percent, an increase attributed to gains from Republicans and independents in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death. Will the positive vibes last?

Maybe not. In 2003, after the capture of Saddam Hussein, President Bush’s ratings increased 8-points but evaporated within a month. The Washington Post/Pew poll from yesterday projected a “limited ratings boost” and the Times notes that the “goodwill toward Mr. Obama did not extend to his economic policies. More than half said they disapproved of his handling of the economy.” CBS notes that only 34 percent approve of his handling of the economy, “the lowest level of his presidency.”

For a historical look at how long national security successes can aid a president’s popularity, our colleague Josh Green points us to this helpful chart from Public Opinion Strategies:

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DNA proof of identity not conclusive in Bin Laden’s case

DNA analysis will say for sure is that the dead person is one of the many sons of Osama bin Laden’s father, but not that it was Osama Bin Laden.

By Luis R. Miranda
The Real Agenda
May 3, 2011

Stephen Quake, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor of applied physics and bioengineering at Stanford University, says that given the fact the government was not likely to have Osama Bin Laden’s DNA previous to his supposed capture, forensic officials can only count on one single element to try to prove his identity: a sibling’s DNA. Although this would definitely help to match Bin Laden’s DNA with that of his father’s or his siblings, it is not enough proof when it comes absolutely believing it was Bin Laden who they caught in Islamabad.

Votes of no confidence have been heard all over the world after Barack Obama claimed Bin Laden had been found and shot on the head at his direction. The government of the United States then proceeded to say the body had been disposed of within 24 hours of the incident, as it is established in Islamic practices. However, Egyptian scholars have denied this and have also said that much to the contrary, sea burials contradict Islamic laws. “It is a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca.” This statement concurs with previous accounts of Bin Laden being dead already for at least 9 years according to Islamic law, and buried as described by the scholars.

“It is not an exact science, however. DNA was used to establish that Thomas Jefferson was related to the descendants of his former slave, Sally Hemings. In that case the Y chromosome, which is passed down with very little change from father to son over the generations, was used. But all that the DNA indicated in the end was that descendants of Jefferson’s paternal uncle have the same Y chromosome as a male-line descendant of Eston Hemings, the youngest son of Sally Hemings. The research could never finger Jefferson individually with complete accuracy.”  — National Journal

The lack of hard evidence has ignited calls by readers and several alternative news media for the United States government to show credible proof that it was Osama Bin Laden who was shot and killed in a house compound in Islamabad last weekend. The only alleged proof came in the form of a fake photo that had been ‘doctored’ with image editing software. It was an old photo of Bin Laden to which the ‘doctor’ had added blood, scars and from which it had taken off Osama’s  turban.

This publication has demanded conclusive proof that it was Bin Laden the man killed in Islamabad over the weekend before, while the main stream media have all but prostrated itself to praise Barack Obama and the U.S. government for the supposed operation that ended in the killing of one of the most elusive men in history. What the government has not failed to do, is to instigate fear on the public by ramping up security at airports, train stations and important landmarks around the United States, claiming an attack may be imminent. As in the case of Bin Laden’s death, it has shown no proof of it.

Retractions

It has not taken too long before the government came out to correct inaccurate information put out by its own officials. The White House its account of how the operation was conducted in the first place. Although senior U.S. officials that the said Osama had weapons and used them during the fire fight inside his compound, that version has been ‘corrected’ in the last few hours. Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan said bin Laden participated in the fight along with other residents of Abbottabad, Pakistan, and that this fight went on for about 40 minutes. “He [bin Laden] was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in. And whether or not he got off any rounds, I quite frankly don’t know,” said Brenan.

A Pentagon briefing early on yesterday, a senior defense official said bin Laden used a woman as a shield and fired shots while holding it in front of him. “He was firing behind her,” the official said. During a background, off-camera briefing for television reporters, another senior White House official said Osama Bin Laden did not possessed a weapon when he was shot by the U.S. team that enter his compound. In another briefing for television cameras another White House official said, “I’m not aware of him having a weapon.” “The bottom line is the team that entered that room was met with resistance and took appropriate action,” said a third American official.

Given all this he said, she said, The White House resisted the temptation to make any more statements regarding Bin Laden’s supposed resistance or any other details about the operation. Previously, an official had said Bin Laden had been shot twice. One of the shots, according to him, was delivered to his head, and another one to his chest.

“A different guy’s wife was killed,” said an official to reporters on Monday night. He added that Osama’s wife had been “injured but not killed.”

U.S. Government: Historically a Pathological Liar

Can you believe anything that comes out of any U.S. government official? Only the gullible public could.

By Luis R. Miranda
The Real Agenda
May 2, 2011

This article would be an op-ed if it wasn’t because there is so much proof that the United States government has lied its way into building the Empire that is now collapsing. I do not need to justify why there are so many people who do not trust anything the government says, because history is the most faithful witness that governments lie when they have to, use fear when their lies don’t work, and murder when fear is no longer effective.

Sunday, president Barack Obama interrupted regular television programming to announce the death of Osama Bin Laden, the ghost that had eluded intelligence and military assets for a decade. Obama didn’t only take credit for Bin Laden’s death, but he also arrogantly spoke as if we had to take his word for it. The announcement came at a suspiciously convenient time, exactly when Obama needed it the most.

So the question is, do we take the announcement at face value? Only the gullible public would and could. Only the minority that still believes government is good, honest and straightforward with the people have the guts to believe any official version of the facts. Only the men and women who are afraid of learning the facts about history and who rely on the main stream corporate media would.

The rest of us know better. The rest of us, the majority, know that when government controls the information that sees the light, there is zero chance to expect the truth. When the government is the judge, jury and executioner, as it happens often, there is no room for trust.

American government lies abound and have stained history for decades. From the Gulf of Tonkin to the Bay of Pigs. From the Weapons of Mass Destruction excuse, to Al-CIA-eda. From Bin Laden to the War on Terror.

A country and a government that allows its president to be murdered (John F. Kennedy) in plain daylight for the sake of empire building does not have credibility.

A government that false-flag attacks its own troops (Gulf de Tonkin) to take the country into war does not have credibility.

A government that creates boogie-men (Bin Laden) to terrorize its own people and the world does not have any credibility.

A government that murders a million people (Iraq 1991 y Iraq 2003) in one single country does not have credibility.

A government that experiments with foreign (Guatemala) and its own people (Tuskegee), does not have credibility.

A government that invades countries for humanitarian reasons while bombing its people with depleted uranium, does not have credibility.

A government that says it killed the supposed head of a terrorist organization that is of its creation while showing no proof of it, does not have credibility.

A government that invites terrorists to dine in the Pentagon while accuses them of being terrorists, does not have credibility.

A government that operates in secrecy while spying on everyone cannot be trusted.

Nothing short of seeing Osama Bin Laden’s body and conducting an independent forensic analysis would probe enough for anyone in their right mind to believe the United States announcement that it captured and killed Bin Laden. Unfortunately, the United States government conveniently disposed of his body so that no one can ever find out if it was him or not  -just as it did with the rubble of the World Trade Center Towers- but has only shown a doctored picture with Photoshop. A government that has lied throughout its whole history wants us to believe what it has to say regarding the capture and murder of the greatest boogie-man of the 21st century? I don’t think so!

“The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.”

– John F. Kennedy