Posted on 01/04/2002 10:01:12 PM PST by Vigilant1
FREE REPUBLIC ADMITS IT IS PRO-WAR AND CENSORS ALL POSTS NOT IN ACCORD WITH US GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA
NOW MAKING THE ROUNDS ON THE NET. Cited under "fair use" for educational purposes.
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Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2002 02:50:39 -0800
From: "Jim Robinson"
Organization: Free Republic
To: "Larry McDonald"
Subject: Re: What Are You Scared Of?
Those who are coming in here to post a bunch of propaganda to smear Bush or otherwise harm the war effort are going to be deleted.
I guess you missed my posts where I said that I am 100% behind our President and the war. I don't care if it's Ron Paul, Larry McDonald, or the head of the John Birch Society himself. I do not want it on FR. And I do not want a bunch of 40 year old conspiracy crap. Not interested.
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There you have it. Free Republic is not an objective reporter of the facts but a blatent supporter of the Bush administrations' war for oil, and by Jim Robinson's own admission.
In another post, Jim states...
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Jim Robinson (Free Republic)
by JIM ROBINSON in This thread
Lots of grumbling lately about deleted posts. Well, my friends, the simple truth is the game has changed. We are now at war.
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Of course, Jim Robinson has it wrong. We're not at war. Only Congress can state otherwise and there has been no formal declaration of war by anyone. Bush hasn't gone to Congress to ask for such a declaration because that would restore Congress to its role in the balance of powers doctrine on which the nation was founded. Bush has no intention of allowing Congress to second-guess him, and indeed Bush has flat out declared that he will not bother informing Congress of intelligence operations from this point forward as is required by law.
Yes, we have been attacked, but it's not really known by whom. Even the FBI admits the IDs on which they based their accusations were faked using the stolen identities of middle eastern Arabs, some of whom have since turned up alive. From this it should be obvious that we cannot really know who was on those planes, only who we are supposed to blame.
But Jim Robinson isn't interested in these facts. He's spiked threads pointing out that the FBI admitted the IDs used by the hijackers were phony. Jim Robinson has spiked threads about how some of the accused hijackers have turned up alive. Jim Robinson has spiked many of the threads dealing with the Israeli spy scandal and the fact that the US has classified evidence linking some of the arrested Israeli spies with the events of 9/11. Jim Robinson has spiked threads suggestng that Bush has exceeed his constitutional authority. Jim Robinson will tolerate no doubts about the righteousness of Bush's war for oil.
But more than that, Jim Robinson displays an arrogant assumption that the presence of a war justifies anything. He argues that we should get behind the government because (he claims) there is a war. But translate that to Germany of 1939. Was it the right thing for the German people to unquestioningly back Hitler because there was a war on? Or would the German people (and the world) have been better served taking a pause and a closer look at just what the government was doing? And if Germany should have examined their government's claims a lot closer, then how can we not do the same now?
Free Republic has shown its true colors. Jim is "not interested" in facts, only in selling Bush's wars. Free Republic isn't about news any more, only about propaganda.
It's breathtaking....check it out....Governor Missing
My understanding was that if we are attacked on our own soil that no declaration of war is needed. I have heard this said many times by military spokesmen and congressmen.
As an old time FReeper, I regard Michael Rivero to be one of the most interesting posters to ever post to Free Republic. I always looked for his threads and valued them greatly as they always challenged me to think a bit harder and deeper about unfolding events, and to question the official truth. Consequently, I regard his banishment and the nuking of his collective contributions to Free Republic to be a tragic loss, not only to this forum, but to our nation -- a nation which needs more than ever to be challenged to question the official "truth" and THINK.
All of you who have joined the mob on this thread in mindlessly attacking Michael Rivero disgust me.
This thread is but another reminder of just how far a once great forum on the cutting-edge of the fight for freedom has fallen. Michael Rivero was a valuable asset in that fight. You of the mindless mob are nothing but liabilities.
You've noticed that too,have you? Clinton's "Wet Pantie Brigade" has nothing on some of these Bubba Bush sheeple.
If the above qualifies as a "conspiracy theory," those who refuse to believe it qualify as stupid. It's all documented in court testimony, and it doesn't exactly take a kook to read plain English.
FREE REPUBLIC ADMITS IT IS PRO-WAR AND CENSORS ALL POSTS NOT IN ACCORD WITH US GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA
1. 'Free Republic' can't admit anything, it can't talk. It's not even a living creature, much less a human being.
2. Free Republic cannot 'censor' anything, but its management can.
3. FR management does not censor ALL posts of ANY particular point of view, much less antiwar posts. Ana Covington's work is posted here as are some others.
4. What is 'government propaganda?' Presumably, in order for JimRob to know what the government wants posted, and so use the information to make sure he is 'in accord' with the government, the government must have sent him a list of propaganda points. I have seen no such list, nor is there any evidence his accusers have seen such a list. If they have obtained an official government 'talking point' list, let's see it. Let us see which agency issued it and which official approved the list. Let us also see proof that the list was issued to FR and proof that the list is being followed, and proof that ALL posts which disagree are being deleted. But there is no such list issued by government, so to be intellectually honest, no one knows what the government 'propaganda' is. The closest one can come is to limit all posts strictly to repeating Rumsfield's, Ridge's, or Bush's responses to the press, and anyone who has been on line here knows that that isn't the only thing that appears here, because news articles from throughout the world of credibility or no, including Al-Jazeera, Debka, Reuters, AP, Hindustan times, Wash Post, Xinhua, Wash Times, etc, are linked here or posted in part or in full. these sources may not be called 'US government propaganda,' since they are not US government sources, and in some cases as with Xinghua the sources are owned by another government (and an often hostile one at that).
5. As a matter of fact, the very fact that I'm replying to this very thread pretty much means that the accusers are incorrect... the thread is still here and it is not in accord with 'government propaganda.'
6. So what this really comes down to is that a poster wants to claim that the deletion of HIS posts is somehow a bad thing, when in truth a 'bad thing' would be if someone cannot build their own website and manage material as they see fit. It would be a 'bad thing' if there was a rule that a web site owner could not delete whatever he pleased, but had to keep providing bandwidth to others for free, just in order to avoid criticism for 'censorsing' his own site. But it would also be 'censorship' of the web site owner if he was not permitted to freely pick and choose material in crafting a web site to support his own personal views or to suit his own purposes.
And this was all just from the headline.
Note that the author cannot claim that he himself is 'censored.' He cannot claim such because he himself can post his material on thousands of web sites of his choice, and even send it to printed newspapers or other media outlets for publication, or, if all else fails, establish his own media outlet to publish whatever he pleases. He has posted his own views here too, in the past, and these views were hardly pro-government. How do I know? Do a search on Rivero and freerepublic and you will see loads of material he has posted here in the past, very little if any in support of government or government policy.
The poster is probably (in my opinion) trying to imply that not only are his threads deleted, but that he has a 'right' to post whatever he wishes, any time he wishes, anywhere he wishes, and that no one else has a right to restrict him in any way, not even on their own property. Thet is akin to the King of England claiming he is censored because Thomas Paine wouldn't give him equal time.
If Rivero doesn't get his way 100% of the time he wants to claim 'censorship.' Well sure, he was being 'censored' but only on this web site at the moment, or rather, he's been banned for whatever reasons the owner of the site has in mind. Is that bad? No, not really. Censorship is only bad if a person is prevented from putting out their own political opinions by government, in such a way that the victim may not be able to voice his views in the conventional way, even using his own resources. This would require government action, and as we know, the US government has no power to shut up Rivero.
In order to properly 'censor' a post, one must be able to censor it wherever it appears, not merely on one web site. We must be able to follow the individual posting such material anywhere on the World Wide Web, and get his threads deleted. We must be able to insure that no newspaper anywhere in the world The accuser may go and publish whatever he pleases, and prevent him from purchasing or using copy machines,r fax machines, and printing presses. No one has the authority to do this, not Jim Rob, and not the US or state governments.
I came to this site because I am a supporter of President Bush and the Republican party. I did not come here to listen to liberals. Their stupidity is so apparent when they show up on a conservative site, preach their liberal crap and then can't understand why they get kicked off. I would not and have no desire to go to a liberal site and preach conservatism. What morons. No wonder 8 years of Clinton was such a disaster.
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