Saturday, November 17, 2007

Rudy Giuliani's revision of history.

The presidential campaign in the United States of America is almost a year old, and their is almost a year to go, but already the candidates have clearly marked their territories. Rudy Giuliani has marked out his territory and it is basically the same territory that Bush has marked out for himself since September 11th 2001.

He marked it out clearly, in no uncertain terms, at a Lincoln Day dinner back in April by saying and I quote...

“If any Republican is elected president — and I think obviously I would be best at this — we will remain on offense and will anticipate what (the terrorists) will do and try to stop them before they do it... But the question is how long will it take and how many casualties will we have. If we are on defense, we will have more losses and it will go on longer.”

It was a speech which had the result of angering decent human beings, and managing to make Republicanism look colder than Winter in Stalin's Soviet Union. He proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was not in touch with the reality that faces us all.

But now, after a speech last night to The Federalist Society, a group of ultra conservative legal eagles, that America had a divine right to be the world's policeman by proclaiming...

"It was this nation that saved the world from the two great tyrannies of the 20th Century--Nazism and communism. It's this country that is going to save civilzation from Islamic terrorism.''

Rudy Giuliani has now gone from being proved wrong beyond reasonable doubt, to being wrong, beyond a shadow of a doubt!

First of all, America had very little part in combatting the Nazis in World War 2. The British government of Neville Chamberlain declared war on the Nazis on September 3rd 1939, after the Nazi invasion of Poland two days earlier. Prime Minister Chamberlain spoke on BBC Radio just after 11am...

"I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street.

This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that, unless we hear from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany."

Later that same day, US President Franklin D Roosevelt made the following statement, which clearly and unambigously set out the American position.

"...You must master at the outset a simple but unalterable fact... When peace has been broken anywhere the peace of all countries everywhere is in danger. It is easy for you and for me to shrug our shoulders and say that conflicts taking place thousands of miles from the continent of the US and indeed thousands of miles from the whole American hemisphere do not seriously affect the Americas and that all the United States had to do is ignore them and go about its own business.

Passionately though we may desire detachment we are forced to realise that every word that come through the air, every ship that sails the sea, every battle that is fought, does affect the American future.

Let no man or woman thoughtlessly or falsely talk of America sending its armies to European fields. At this moment there is being prepared a proclamation of American neutrality...

This nation will remain a neutral nation. But I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well."

America CHOSE not to enter the war. They CHOSE to avoid all combat for over 2 years. Then, war was thrust upon them, not by the Nazis, but by the Japanese.

December 7th 1941 was the date, when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched what they considered a "preventative strike" against the United States Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The intent behind the strike was a simple one, prevent the United States coming into the war and protect Imperial Japan's advance in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or Indonesia, as it is now known.

The result, on the other hand was just the opposite. Instead of keeping America out, it drew them in. The attack, occuring BEFORE a formal declaration of war, shocked not only the American people, but most of the world. It forced the American government's hand. No longer could they stay neutral, but defensive. No longer could they stay isolated in a war that was truly threatening to pull every nation in the world into it. They had to come into the war, and they had to side against the Japanese, and by association, against the Nazis.

The Americans defeated the Japanese, and did aid The British, The Russians, most of the British Empire and most of Europe in defeating the Nazis, but do not overstate America's role, Mr Giuliani. You were late, ad you aided, but you were not the decisive factor in the war. Russia's involvment could equally be called decisive, because it meant the Nazis were caught in an allied pincer movement. America, the UK and the various European resistance movements on one side, and the great Russian bear on the other. Once that happened, the result was always inevitable.

And as for Communism, the "other great tyranny America defeated", nothing could be further from the truth.

Put bluntly and simply, Communism in Europe defeated itself. It imploded on itself.

It was a revolt basically by the people who lived under communism that defeated it in Eastern Europe, topped off by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

But Communism is not defeated. It exists to this day on your doorstep, America, in Cuba, which has caused you no end of political grief. And of course it continues in North Korea. So no, Communism has not been defeated, and certainly, America hasn't defeated it, or Cuba would have been a Democracy ages ago.

I, the TruthSeeker, have had to make these points clear here, because I know that few others will. CBS News didn't in reporting the comments in Friday's Campaign Notebook. Fox News certainly will not, because they support Mr Giuliani.

I hope Keith Olbermann will, on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. There's too much spin in the media these days. It's time someone started telling the truth. So far, that person is me.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Press TV highlights Crimes Of Bush site. Hmmm...

It's no surprise that Press TV would highlight this, as Iran and the USA are not exactly the best of friends. But on preliminary investigation, something doesn't quite ring entirely true here.

The site is in two languages. English and Persian. And, there is a long list of "crimes" on the Crimes Of Bush site, which will all require some serious fact checking.

The TruthSeeker is interested, and beginning the serious investigation. When I have more, I will report back.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

TruthSeeker: The Madeline McCann Story

This is a story that's tailor made for me, as the TruthSeeker. Because of the fact that the Portuguese legal system doesn't release anywhere near as much information as the British legal system does, it has meant a very frustrating time for the 24/7 news networks and for the newspapers trying to increase their circulation, as well as for those of us who have been trying to follow the story.

There has been a lot of rumour and counter-rumour going on. Rumours which have been widely reported in some areas of the press, because there has been little else to report. So, as a public service, I am going to report ONLY the facts that we can be certain of.

It was on the 3rd May 2007, when Madeline McCann disappeared from the apartment that her family were staying in for their holiday in Praia Da Luz. 12 days later, British ex-pat Robert Murat is officially labelled an "arguido" by police. Arguido is a term in the Portuguese legal system which means the person has been officially called a 'suspect' in the case.

On 10 July, Robert Murat was re-questioned by police. In Early August, police spend 2 days in a search of Robert Murat's home. On the 6th September, Madeline's mother, Kate McCann is questioned for over 11 hours. The following day, she is questioned again, and also declared an "arguido". On the same day, Kate's husband, Gerry McCann is also questioned. He too is decalred an "arguido."

Two days later, on the 9th September, the McCann family return home to Rothley in Leicestershire. Two days after that. the Prosecutor's office in Portimao confirm that they have recieved the police files from the case, and are deciding whether the case should go before an instructional judge. They have 10 days to make this decision.

As this case develops, I will update this entry with new, factual, information. I will not report any of the rumours or unconfrimed reports here. So make sure you come back during the case to see what the facts are.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

'Gobby' Gibson vs Bath-tub boy: Gobby spins out!

Olbermann Watch is a 'conservative' blog which focuses it's attention on deriding Keith Olbermann of MSNBC. OW recently posted on YouTube a video piece which they cobbled together mixing audio from John Gibson's Fox News Talk radio show, and added some still pictures.

The clip is pure anti-Olbermann propoganda, so bare that in mind, as I post it here.



But I have checked the official MSNBC transcripts for the 'offending' edition of Countdown, which aired on Monday 10th September 2007. This is the question that Keith Olbermann was asking, in full...

"One egregious thing that happened that did not involve the Petraeus per se, that I wanted to ask you about. Instead of weighing the merits of the Petraeus testimony, the presidential candidates put out statements criticizing moveon.org for its General Petraeus or general “betray us” ad today. The ranking Republicans in their opening statements at the joint hearing this afternoon did the same thing. Congressman Hunter saying attacking the messenger was outrageous, not to defend that phraseology.

But has anybody noticed that the administration and Republicans in Congress and specifically Mr. Hunter of California have spent the length of this war doing nothing but attacking the messenger when they did not like the messenger‘s message about Iraq?"

It's funny. John Gibson, or 'Gobby' as I like to call him, because he is 100% mouth with no brains, no trousers and it seems, no sense at all, was claiming that Olbermann was say he, Keith Olbermann, wasn't defending a phrase that had appeared as a chyron some weeks earlier, yet it clearly reads like a quote. The question was pointing out the hypocrisy of others who have attacked the messenger in the past, yet are telling others not to attack the messenger now. Of course, it all depends on the message.

But basically, Gobby clipped the piece, to make it seem that KO was being a liar and a hypocrite, when in fact, the question read rather differently when read in full.

This is one of the tricks that the unscrupulous parts of the media do. Take small clips out of context in order to demonstrate a point that they want to put forward. Gobby's anti-Olbermann agenda is well known and rather obvious. It also seems not to be based on fact but on some personal grieveance.

As with many such pieces, the TruthSeeker finds that the only truths here are the tiny pieces of 'evidence' which is then used to come up with a ridiculous conclusion, based less on facts and more on personal opinion. Gobby's show seems more to be about how brash and abrasive he can be, and how much of an ego he can have. This was purely propoganda, against a competing anchor at a competitior's network, a network the host used to work for.

Meet The TruthSeeker

Welcome to my newest blog, and I hope you will keep visiting.

You will know me from the Viewpoint blog I write, and from the contirbutions I make to the EMC MediaBlog, but this, for me, is new.

This blog is much more specific in nature than Viewpoint, which is a very eclectic blog which reflects my eclectic views and interests. TruthSeeker however is very much what it says. It is about finding the truth, the cold hard facts, from amongst the spin, lies, rumour, propoganda and misinformation that gets spread by the media sometimes, not always deliberately.

Many times I have seen or heard a rumour reported as such early on, yet within hours it gets reported as fact without any additional information having come through to support it.

This isn't just a blog to me. TruthSeeker is not something that I choose to do, it is who I am. Deep down within me is a being who completely despises the spin that certain parts of the media put on the news, and in many ways, I am determined to show just how bad the media can be.

In a world of ideologies, I am the realist.
In a world of extremes, I am the centre.
In a world of propogandists, I am the TruthSeeker.

Bill O'Reilly tends to refer to his show as a "No Spin Zone". This blog IS a real no-spin zone. My scissors are sharpened, ready to cut through anything that isn't cold, hard, undeniable fact. The X-Files used to say that "The Truth Is Out There." Well, it is out there, and I will work to make sure the truth is here, too.

Now you have been introduced to the TruthSeeker. I look forward to you joining me in my continuing quest for the cold hard facts, and the undeniable truth that is out there, amongst the lies, the spin, the opinions, the propoganda, the rumour, the misinformation. It's never easy, but it will be worthwhile.

Stay sharp!