Re: proposal

You dont think it can happen here? Do yourself a favor. Even if you dont want the job. Google COINTELPRO, or Operation Mockingbird, oh and especially Operation Northwoods. You might also look into Operation Ajax, Operation Gladio, Operation Mongoose, and the so-called Strategy of Tension. And these are just the ones that have leaked. There are others. Unless you think the Reichstag Fire and the Russian apartment bombings were unique to their respective times and places and could never happen elsewhere, least of all in America. But you dont strike me as that naïve.

You think 9/11 was an inside job, too?

It wasnt, though the way its been exploited, it might as well have been. But are you arguing that because not all cataclysms occur behind a false flag, that none of them do?

On Dec 15, 2010, at 9:15 AM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Did you ever write the article you were talking about a week back when I jokingly mentioned that you do a parody of something the Post was doing? Also, I'm doing a series of posts about the 1999 Russian false flag piece and mention you in passing for having edited my manuscript. Also contains a debate I had with that nutty fellow Justin Raimondo. http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/blog/2010/12/14/conspiracies-and-pseudo-skepticism-part-i

On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 12:41 AM, Barry Eisler <barryeisler@mac.com> wrote:

Right, good point -- there is the Helen Thomas route. But yeah, I can't think of one who's been bounced for being repeatedly wrong about war etc.

On Dec 13, 2010, at 9:28 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Technically, yes, pundits can lost their positions for violating actual media taboos like racism or anti-semitism (Rick Sanchez, for instance). But they are never unmade due to anything they might do in the course of their crucial and life-or-death work.

On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 12:25 AM, Barry Eisler <barryeisler@mac.com> wrote:

This is great. And BTW, it occurs to me, can you think of any pundit who has ever been un-made? I can't, but maybe I'm missing some. At best, they just fade away with age.

On Dec 13, 2010, at 3:33 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Barry-

Here is the bulk of the "summary" portion of the two-pager Ted wanted; the remainder will mention the other major subjects of the book and then conclude. Let me know what you think so far, if you would please.

In 2003, Thomas Friedman won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. In 2005, Friedman was invited to join the board of the Pulitzer committee. Our nation is killing itself from within.

Most every industry contains within itself a system of negative feedback by which to ensure that those who fail in their efforts are discouraged whereas those who succeed are encouraged. The most notable exception is the opinion media, which is itself among the most crucial and fundamental of all industries, being fundamental to the manner in which the public thinks - and thus votes, donates, and convinces its fellows, with the cumulative process thereafter being translated into action on the part of the greatest superpower to have ever existed. Thus it is that one of the most influential institutions in the world - the institution of the American punditocracy - is the least accountable. Once a pundit is made, he is rarely unmade.

Thomas Friedman is one of the most influential individuals to work in the most influential of industries, having written a popular New York Times column for well over a decade, having graced the various network news and cable networks for a similar period of time, and having written several bestsellers which are themselves read and respected by a large swath of the nations decision makers right on up to the current United States president. That Thomas Friedman has made a large number of terrible predictions while not elsewhere having made any particularly astute predictions, that his assertions sometimes directly and hilariously contradict assertions he mas made elsewhere, and that other columnists and even bloggers of far lesser influence have exhibited a far superior track record without having won any comparable acclaim is among the most obvious of indications that the United States is incapable of managing and distributing the information it requires to perform its role as a global superpower with reasonable regard for the consequences.

To the extent that we actually examine the output of the most influential and widely-read of what a hippie or Nixon might term to be the "establishment" pundits, we find the same extraordinary failures perpetrated by the majority of them. Charles Krauthammer has managed to get entirely and profoundly wrong every U.S. military conflict of the past twelve years as well as a smattering of other nation's engagements. Having opposed the surge before a year later supporting it and attacking those who opposed it, Krauthammer even missed out on the conservative consolation prize. Nonetheless he has grown only more influential over this period and is now commonly counted as being among the finest of commentators.

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302