To Lou Dobbs,Trump Told Homeland Security To Take Its Orders From Lou Dobbs, Former Official Says (8/21/2020)
Lou Dobbs Quits CNN (11/17/2009)
Every week in my Sunday paper is a TV schedule which is color coded. Movies are orange, sports are blue, and news programs are colored green. Your program is not colored. Being on CNN I was mistaken in thinking that your program is news. It's not. Corporate America has given you a powerful platform, and, to be fair, I understand that you belong to them. You likely have strict boundaries from which you cannot stray. Healthcare doesn't come up a lot because it would cause problems for many advertisers. Missile defense is great for 'defense' contractors, so have Frank Gaffney on a lot. Elections are about who can raise the most money for broadcasters, so the story is usually about who is raising the most money. Most of your stories are about Republican wedge issues. Your angry rants appear proportional to the conservatism of your advertisers. i.e. Coors War IS profitable, so encourage hostility with Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, or even China. Make sure people stay afraid by telling them in detail about our many enemies. CNN was a cheerleader for the war in Iraq, and it is fair to say that it was an enabler of the catastrophe. Bush Republicans use these to attack the Constitution, roll back the Bill of Rights, and build empire. Is it likely that US media is guilty of war crimes ? Frequent guest Frank Gafney was one of the cheerleaders for the breathtakingly stupid 'star wars' program that is provoking a new arms race with Russia. Republicans are not just fear-mongering about the possibility of nuclear holocaust, with initiatives like star wars, they are actively working toward one. Having a parade of Pentagon coached generals is an indication of your challenged journalistic ethics. Your panels usually consist of at least two Republicans for every Democrat, and you usually weigh in on the Republican side. If you were really independent, you would have guests who advocate peace. But no, you and your corporate owners are war mongers. It figures, war is profitable. Apparently you learned well from the Nazis.
After years of repetitious ranting about illegal immigration, it is clear that you have convinced many people that it really is a major issue. Then again when someone from the Congressional Budget Office tells you that the economic impact is not great, you seem disappointed and counter him...and continue night after night. Since the US has become the world's leader in incarcerations, this fits in well with the 'War on Drugs' and the hateful 'law and order' wing on the Republican Party to populate overbuilt, privatized prisons. Illegal immigration is, of course a stealth Republican wedge issue, a continuation of the Republican war on the underclass.One that potentially can deeply divide people and even incite them to violence. We have seen cases of vigilantism, a wildlife threatening initiative to build a wall along the border (what hypocrisy for Republicans who think that Reagan was some kind of role model, when they are building a new iron curtain.), massive resources newly directed to border patrols, creation of an underclass with concentration camps. Immigration enforcement has been used as a technique for union busting. You do not play the downside of the story that includes ICE raids on poor families, detention facilities that are far from home, the abandoned children, and actions of politicians or religious leaders who care. You have stirred up a hornets nest. Why would you do that ? Your corporate keepers toil to keep Republicans in office, to enhance the plutocracy, and to make the country safe for fascism. "The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) flooded Mexico with cheap subsidized US agricultural products that displaced millions of Mexican farmers. Between 2000 and 2005, Mexico lost 900,000 rural jobs and 700,000 industrial jobs, resulting in deep unemployment throughout the country. Desperate poverty has forced millions of Mexican workers north in order to feed their families." (See here for more.) In addition to the high human cost of your immigration rants, there will be a severe curtailment of American's civil liberties. Why ? Because we are going to have a national id card, most likely with an rfid tracking device in every drivers license. Technology developing is likely to assure that everyone can be tracked all the time. You can even retry court cases where results do not suit you. The border guard who shot a man in the back was decided at trial, the Hazelton, Pa court decision retried on your program. You may be bringing a new American justice. Convicted by a jury of peers,...appeal (and pardon) on Lou Dobbs broadcast. Probably I am contributing to your ratings, because you are on many evenings at my home. Don't think that means that I like what you are doing. You were not elected, and honestly I think you are doing considerable damage to media, to democracy, and accelerating our trajectory to an imperial Presidency, to war, to fascism, and to the US transition to the condition of a third world banana republic. We will be a walled, feudal, fascist, militarized, dictatorial state. Yes there is class warfare and you are, not surprisingly, taking the winning plutocrats side. That's where the advertising dollars are. Not only do you insist on a wall across Mexico, you are contributing to a new birth of feudalism as income disparities lead to widespread walled communities and a new aristocracy. In the words of Lewis Lapham (Harper's Magazine Oct. 2005)
When Lou Dobbs rails against illegal immigrants every night on CNN, should we think that is "news" ? Real reform is unlikely. Thanks to media, who think they have no public responsibility, people don't have information that would make it possible. ...Lou is right at home on talk radio. LinksStop Dobbs (posted 9/1/2009) Lou Dobbs, the Birthers and the Cable News Crack-Up Dobbs is out of step with his network.(posted 7/30/2009) About CNN About Media |