In the fall of 2002, week after week in debates televised on MSNBC, I argued vigorously against invading Iraq. I used every possible argument that might sway mainstream viewers - no real threat, cost, instability. But as the war neared, my debates were terminated.
There was no room for me after MSNBC launched "Countdown: Iraq" - a daily one-hour show that seemed more keen on glamorizing a potential war than scrutinizing or debating it. "Countdown: Iraq" featured retired colonels and generals, sometimes resembling boys with war toys as they used props, maps and glitzy graphics to spin invasion scenarios. They reminded me of pumped-up ex-football players doing pre-game analysis and diagramming plays. It was excruciating to be sidelined at MSNBC, watching so many non-debates in which myth and misinformation were served up unchallenged.
After beginning his research on the AIDS pandemic in 1992, Dr. Boyd Graves discovered in February 1999 the greatest evidence, to date, of records and reports of the experiments that led to the development of what the world now knows as the AIDS virus. That document is the “1971 Flow Chart of the Special Virus Program of the United States.” Dr. Graves submitted this flowchart as evidence to the Sixth Circuit Federal Court in a case which named the President of the United States as a defendant to answer a petition acknowledging the authenticity of the Flow Chart. On January 12, 2001, the case was dismissed as “frivolous,” and then referred to the District’s Appellate Court, which ruled in favor of the lower court. Eventually, it went to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear it without giving comment as to why. Dr. Graves spoke with Final Call contributor Sultan Muhammad to explain the significance and consequences of his research.
It's a regular staple of the millionaire right-wing echo chamber to use the explicit or implicit language of violence. In fact, the entire "frame" of everyone from Sean Hannity to Bill O'Reilly to Rush Limbaugh is to convince their listeners that people who don't agree with these "pundits of patriotism" are the enemy and dangerous to America.
