archives

Today the NYTimes published convincing details of the Defense Department's program to shape public opinion on the Iraq war, before and after the invasion of Iraq, by using retired military officers who are authoritative "military analysts" for FOX and other media organizations.

Other administrations had made sporadic, small-scale attempts to build relationships with the occasional military analyst. But these were trifling compared with what [Torie Clarke, Assistant Secretary of Defense for public affairs] had in mind....a strategic decision was made in 2002 to make the analysts the main focus of the public relations push to construct a case for war. Journalists were secondary....

The Pentagon's regular press office would be kept separate from the military analysts. The analysts would instead be catered to by a small group of political appointees....The decision recalled other administration tactics that subverted traditional journalism. Federal agencies, for example, have paid columnists to write favorably about the administration. They have distributed to local TV stations hundreds of fake news segments with fawning accounts of administration accomplishments....

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Does the American Dream include a McMansion for every family? Some will settle for a cottage. In Gulfport, Mississippi, the state has designed and produced "Mississippi Cottages," which are skinny, sturdy and small houses in happy pastel colors. They cost an average of $32,000 to build, and actually are both healthy and popular with those who live in them - unlike the horrible FEMA trailers. With foreclosures accelerating, one would think there could be a market for affordable housing. OTOH

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has installed more than 2000 of them throughout southern Mississippi and plans to put in 3,500.

But local governments in Mississippi have resisted the cottages. They fear people who get the cottages will simply live in them and not rebuild their houses, said Mack Womack...of MEMA.

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