Prepare to be Sickened

This story is pretty graphic and brutal -- and was reported (and ignored by the conservative US media) in January.

Maybe this will finally be the story that unravels this whole Iraq scam, but I have to wonder why the US media played such an active role in keeping the happy-talk going until things like Air America Radio and the Iraqi resistance finally made it impossible.

This isn't a Republican/Conservative thing: they do the same damn thing when a Democrat is in office. Keep whoring themselves out for the party line until somebody else -- usually progressives -- find a large enough mountain of evidence that the problem can no longer be ignored or else the press will lose credibility. Funny, I thought investigating and questioning of the government, holding them accountable etc was the function of the press. Turns out that they are often little more than press-release rewriters these days.

Sure, there's a handful of really investigative reporters left -- people who will challenge or even destroy their own comfortable views when the truth demands it -- but as we get more and more "millionaire reporters," we're getting less and less of that breed of activist journalist. Today, bloggers do more to bring neglected stories to light (and often do much of the legwork themselves) than most "reporters" who should not properly be called "stenographers."

Look at Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo, Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly or Billmon at the Whiskey Bar for examples of tomorrow's Pulitzer Prize winners.