Mortifying

[guido911]

It is called multi-tasking. It is probably above your pay grade.

I guess it's above Obama's pay grade as well. It seems he may cut his Latin American tour (I mean, hide out) short.

http://www.fox43.com/news/nationworld/la-pn-obama-libya-20110323,0,4722090.story

[Teatownclown]

US soldier admits killing unarmed Afghans for sport
Jeremy Morlock, 23, tells US military court he was part of a 'kill team' that faked combat situations to murder Afghan civilians

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/23/us-soldier-admits-killing-afghans?CMP=twt_gu


This guy should have his privates cut off and spend the rest his life in jail. Meanwhile, Obomba has Manning in a torture chamber.

SHAMEFUL!

[we vs us]

So the big question is how does this happen?  Over a period of reportedly months?  And I mean, how did the leadership -- not at the Pentagon, not Petraeus, but the commander of the platoon, brigade, etc -- not know that this kind of thing was going on?  And of course, if they did, why didn't anyone stop it? 

[Cats Cats Cats]

Abu was a bigger story because of the Presidential order to violate the Geneva conventions (not necessarily Abu specifically, but torture was an approved method of getting information).  If these people were acting under orders of a high ranking official it will be a smile storm.  I am surprised it hasn't gotten more play on the main sites though.

[we vs us]

Abu was a bigger story because of the Presidential order to violate the Geneva conventions (not necessarily Abu specifically, but torture was an approved method of getting information).  If these people were acting under orders of a high ranking official it will be a smile storm.  I am surprised it hasn't gotten more play on the main sites though.

I have a theory.  And the theory goes that it isn't so much that the American public is exhausted with Afghanistan as that the major media is exhausted with Afghanistan.  So, while in an ordinary situation something like this would be major all-hands-on-deck kind of news (Abu Ghraib was), at this point the news nets are just much less interested than they would have been.  Also, Libya!  Also, nuclear leak in Japan!  Also, budget battle in DC!  Also . . . . Charlie Sheen! 

Also, since Abu Ghraib, it's no longer new.  This is a discussion we've been having for almost 7 years, and judging by our wholesale national shrug afterwards, brutality on the battlefield just doesn't have the oomph it used to.  Now it's tawdry and awful and we're all focused on how few jobs the country is producing. 

Short version:  I think both the news media and the American public in general only have so much bandwidth.  When Libya or Japan or the budget drops out of the pipeline, this might get more play. 

[Conan71]

Or you could take stock in the vast liberal media conspiracy theory that the MSM hated President Bush ever since he stole the 2000 election from Algore and they will do anything they can to protect President Obama.

[we vs us]

Or you could take stock in the vast liberal media conspiracy theory that the MSM hated President Bush ever since he stole the 2000 election from Algore and they will do anything they can to protect President Obama.

Yeah, but that one doesn't fly, really.  The media LOVED the Iraq War for a year or two, until it, too became tawdry and exhausting and the same old sectarian violence.  And actually, more than the war itself, the media LOVED the run-up to war.  And the media LOVED Bush after 9-11, and into the war in Afghanistan.  If I had to pinpoint it, I'd say that Bush started really truly losing the national media (such as it is) just before Katrina.  And when Katrina hit, and Anderson Cooper felt like he could yell right at the Whitehouse from the Superdome, well that was it.  

[Gaspar]

Yeah, but that one doesn't fly, really.  The media LOVED the Iraq War for a year or two, until it, too became tawdry and exhausting and the same old sectarian violence.  And actually, more than the war itself, the media LOVED the run-up to war.  And the media LOVED Bush after 9-11, and into the war in Afghanistan.  If I had to pinpoint it, I'd say that Bush started really truly losing the national media (such as it is) just before Katrina.  And when Katrina hit, and Anderson Cooper felt like he could yell right at the Whitehouse from the Superdome, well that was it.  

Pass whatever you're smokin today!

[we vs us]

Pass whatever you're smokin today!

You, uh, don't watch much TV, do you?

[Conan71]

You, uh, don't watch much TV, do you?

It started before Katrina during the '04 election cycle when Kerry was fer before he was agin'.  The media was a willing accomplice on that.

[Gaspar]

You, uh, don't watch much TV, do you?

I guess I missed the media/Bush orgy. 

[Cats Cats Cats]

I guess I missed the media/Bush orgy. 

Its probably because you were stuck in the middle of it with Hannity and Limbaugh.