9/27/04

 

"Democracy is on the march."
-George W. Bush

("Goose-Stepping across Iraq."
-D.L. Bruin)

 

 

 

 

The American Media:
Portrait of a Criminal Organization

RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS ACT
(RICO ACT)

Title 18, Sections 1961-1968, of the United Sates Code (Federal Law) was established by Congress in 1970, primarily as a tool to deal with the "Mafia" (Organized Crime). Over the course of the next several decades RICO was utilized less frequently for its original intent, and was liberally applied to individuals, businesses, Political Protest Groups, and "Terrorist" Organizations (The latter two have become synonymous) The RICO Statute is highly applicable to cases involving MAIL and WIRE FRAUD. When invoked Civily (as opposed to Criminally), a litigant who proves a RICO case is entitled to receive monies equalling THREE times actual damages.

Most recently, RICO has been used to stomp BIG TOBACCO.

The above leads me to this question:

How do the American People go about filing a claim against Media Owners/Controllers? who, by their very nature are the definition of RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS.

To whit:

It has been widely reported that the average American Family's income has fallen $1500.00 in the past year (not adjusted for inflation). This is a direct reflection of Mr. Bush's Domestic Policies. Multiply that $1500 by the tens of millions of families affected, and you have a measurement of ACTUAL DAMAGES.

...It is my opinion that the Media's Oligarchs should be held responsible for this! (Are yah listening Mr. Murdoch?)

One of the pillars of a Democratic society is a FREE PRESS, meaning one that supplies TRUTHFULL,USEFULL INFORMATION to the citizenry. An informed Electorate is essential to Democracy. Unfortunately America's "Free Press" no longer exists. It has been co-opted by nefarious and self-serving forces, and has been converted to a PROPAGANDA MACHINE for the GOP.

Because Americans can no longer rely on the veracity emanating from the "Talking Heads" on ANY of the Network/Cable "News" programs, they cannot make INFORMED DECISIONS that affect their own welfare. Instead of a "free" press we have government shills Parroting BushCo. talking points......

In other words, the American Electorate has been DEFRAUDED BY THE MEDIA, And there are REAL MONEY DAMAGES attached to this FRAUD!

Now let's take a look at the CORRUPTION side of this equation.

Who owns the American Media?

GENERAL ELECTRIC -owns NBC (13 Stations; 28% of US households). This includes NBC Network News, CNBC (Business Television) MSNBC -24 hour Cable and Internet News (co-owned with MicroSoft), COURT TV (co-owned with Time-Warner). Coincidentally (or not!) GE also owns Hughes Aircraft (Producers of Military Aircraft), and GE Plastics (produces turbines for Nuclear reactors and power plants)

GE donated $1.1 MILLION to Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign. Microsoft gave $2.4 MILLION. (To be fair, both corporations contributed to Democrats as well, but the dollar amounts were SUBSTANTIALLY less.)

Then we have WESTINGHOUSE/CBS INC. -The head guy on the Board of Directors is none other than Frank Carlucci (from The Carlyle group -Poppy Bush is on THAT Board along with members of the Saudi Royal family!). All rather incestuous, dontcha think?

Westinghouse owns CBS, which has 14 stations and more than 200 affiliates across the US. They control CBS NEWS, Country Music Television, The Nashville Network and Group W Satellite Communications. A subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric Company, provides services to the Nuclear Power Industry.

Next we have DISNEY/ABC with 10 stations in 24% of all US households. Their holdings include: ABC Network News, Disney Channel, Miramax and Touchstone Pictures (Miramax is the company that refused to distribute Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911)

Then there's TIME-WARNER TBS/AOL which donated $1.6 MILLION to Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign. TIME-WARNER controls CNN, HBO, Cinemax, Turner Network Television and TBS Superstation. TIME-WARNER is the LARGEST OWNER OF CABLE SYSTEMS IN THE US, WITH AN ESTIMATED 13 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS! They also own New Line Cinema, Castle Rock and a shitload of monthly magazines including Sports Illustrated and People.

The worst of the lot is NEWS CORPORATION LTD./FOX NETWORKS, owned by Rupert Murdoch. Their holdings include: Fox Television with 22 stations in 50% of US households, Twentieth Century Fox Studios, Fox Searchlight and 132 Newspapers including the New York Post and the London Times, as well as Harper/Collins Books. Also of note is the fact that Mr. Murdoch is on the board of directors of Phillip Morris (USA). Phillip Morris gave $2.9 MILLION to Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign. 80% of the Americans who regularly watch Fox News BELIEVE SADDAM HUSSEIN ATTACKED THE US ON 9/11! This is an astounding fact, and only serves to illustrate my point.

It should be obvious to anybody with a functioning frontal lobe that there is a MASSIVE CONFLICT OF INTEREST HERE. When the people who control the purse strings of the FREE PRESS have MAJOR INTERESTS in the Military-Industrial Complex as well, the American People are the ones to suffer.

So there you have it. The American Media is owned by a handful of elitist swine. Their minions are committing WIRE FRAUD on a daily basis by DELIBERATELY omitting PERTINENT "news" that is damaging to the Bush Administration. And the American People have suffered REAL MONEY DAMAGES in the process.

Anybody have a friend at the ACLU?