I’d have been happy to say nothing, and let Prof. Chomsky make the case, except for the three paragraph 100 words min. posting rule. Let me concentrate just on the initial 3 paragraph long comment:

And there’s been a wave of propaganda over the last couple of months, which is pretty impressive to watch, trying to deflect attention away from those who actually created the economic crisis, like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, their associates in the government who—Federal Reserve and others—let all this go on and helped it. There’s a—to switch attention away from them to the people really responsible for the crisis—teachers, police, firefighters, sanitation workers, their huge pensions, their incredible healthcare benefits, Cadillac healthcare benefits, and their unions, who are the real villains, the ones who are robbing the taxpayer by making sure that policemen may not starve when they retire. And this is pretty amazing, like right in the middle of the Madison affair, which is critical.

The CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, got a $12.5 million bonus, and his base pay was more than tripled. Well, that means he—the rules of corporate governments have been modified in the last 30 years by the U.S. government to allow the chief executive officer to pretty much set their own salaries. There’s various ways in which this has been done, but it’s government policy. And one of the effects of it is—people talk about inequality, but what’s a little less recognized is that although there is extreme inequality, it’s mostly because of the top tiny fraction of the population, so like a fraction of one percent of the population, their wealth has just shot through the stratosphere. You go down to the—you know, the next 10 percent are doing pretty well, but it’s not off the spectrum. And this is by design.

(DemocracyNow doesn’t offer short codes, so I’m sorry not to be able to embed the vid. Rather than linking to the source directly, let’s go  through Znet instead—let’s turn a negative into a positive:  ZCommunications | “Democracy Uprising” in the U.S.A.? by Noam Chomsky | ZNet Article)

So by not, laser like, and doggedly focusing on Wall Street being protected by the Dems. in Congress since Obama’s inauguration, on them reducing the tax burden on their campaign contributors, while taxing the working class, we engage fail. By following every scrap of news that ushers out of that cesspool of criminal activity on all fronts, directly or via it’s fascist propaganda organs, FDL has become a ‘hapless’ amplifier of propaganda, and an artfully manipulated tool of the Kleptocracy. And that, is not good for democracy.

This is not meant so much as a critique, nor to be regarded as my questioning of the community’s and the front pagers’ motives, but merely something I’ve been observing, and bitching about, and getting grief for.

I’ve had my disagreements with some of Chomsky’s positions and views, so feel free to mix it up—that’s the way we broaden our understanding.

• • •

Additionally, I’d like to suggest this very insightful article When Facts Don’t Matter by Paul Street which has four subsections and starts out thusly:

“You know the drill by now with your dodgy right-wing Republican neighbor, colleague, co-worker, sibling, uncle, or cousin who says nice things about Glenn Beck and “the Tea Party” and who can’t stop spouting off about that great left wing radical Barack Obama and how he’s “ruining the country with socialism.”  He believes and often boldly states all or some of the following things, most of which he has picked up from right wing media outlets like Fox News and talk radio:

* The (in fact militantly corporatist and military-imperialist Democratic Party) poses a radical Left threat to the capitalist system and the U.S. military.

* Barack Obama (not born in the United States) is a left Marxist and an ally of  radical Islam

* Barack Obama took over the auto, financial, and health care industries, putting them under the direction of socialistic big-government power.

* The Federal Reserve and numerous other top federal agencies pose imminent “socialist” threats to democracy.

* The corporate media work for and are run by extreme liberals and leftists who loathe the nation’s conservatives and democratic values.

* The progressive income tax is a communist plot.

* Obama’s policies favor the poor, blacks, immigrants and Muslims over the rich and the hard working middle class

* Obama is an advocate of reparations to compensate black Americans for centuries of slavery….

Cognitive Dissonance: Rationalization Trumps Rationality

Manufacturing Misinformation

Left Vacuum

How to Respond”

I’m particularly curious about the ‘Left Vacuum’ and ‘How to Respond’ sections in terms of my own failures, but in this case taking account of the fact that we are not really having a conversation; we’re blogging.

The fallout from the ongoing Wall Street crime scene will show up next in almost every State and Municipality, to one degree or another, as well as rising staples and oil prices —another blessing from God’s own little helpers, and our own little helpers in Congress.

My beef is a question: Is FDL going to continue dissecting the ‘crimes’ of every Governor (esp. the Republican, if not Tea-party ones), or is it going to shake off its MSM narrative chasing, and, instead, attend to the conveniently disappeared crux of the matter?

What we have is one enemy, and a people divided. Let’s make sure we’re not at each other’s throat, instead of the enemy’s, okey?

crossed @ Mosquito Cloud