Earlier tonight however, on NBC News, something amazing occurred. In a piece by Mike Tiabbi titled, "Near-record rain, warmth in U.S.", the producers at NBC News showed their hand.
They would have done better to not cover the story at all.
It opens with Brian Jennings (or whatever the latest empty shell of a human being they have anchoring now is called). He proceeds to describe some of the severe weather we're having around the country:
BRIAN WILSON: Near record rains in the West and here in the East, it's springtime for a few days at least. And so our own Mike Taibbi saw his shot to take in a day outdoors and he took it...
TITLE: Meltdown
by Mike TiabbiFADE IN to normal winter weather footage:
TIABBI: January in New York is usually non-stop, button-up misery. But these days with temps in the 50s and climbing, you want to take off your hat - or at least change it - and lose the top coat, and the fleece liner, right down to your, OK, your golf shirt.
CUT to Tiabbi hitting golf balls in short sleeve shirt:
TIABBI: It was, in fact, a perfect day to hit a bucket of balls, and ask teaching pro Jim McNann about your backswing.
JIM MCCANN: There you go.
TIABBI: But the unseasonable weather isn't restricted to the northeast.
CUT to mudslide and some other disaster footage:
TIABBI: With twenty-five straight days of downpour Seatle and the Pacific Northwest are approaching rainfall records. Extreme heat and lack of rain have fed the wildfires tormenting parts of Oklahoma and Texas. Rare Ocean tornados (this is some disturbing footage) have been seen of the Florida coast.
CUT to nice zoo footage and some kid eating a popsicle:
TIABBI: And in usually frigid Chicago kids eating ice cream cones watch flamingos and giraffes take the sun.
CUT to zoo official:
MEGAN WILSON (Lincoln Park Zoo): Just like the people of Chicago, the animals appreciate a break in the weather as well.
(I need to interrupt here and point out her statement is not spontaneous. It is almost certainly contrived.)
TIABBI: While skaters circled in shirt sleeves and the local snow sculpting contest was called off, for now.
Around the world, more extreme weather: the snowiest winters in generations in parts of Japan and China. The cause of all this?
JEFF RAINERI (NBC meteorologist hack): I wouldn't say that this is, uh, a long term pattern that we're stuck in. It's just.., it's mother nature and it's just how it's working in the beginning of January.
(I need to point out here that Mr. Raineri has this kind of childish grin as he says this lie. Just like a child who knows he's about to be caught lying but continues anyway)
CUT to park bench folk singer:
PARKBENCH FOLK SINGER: Oh some day everyone..(unintelligible)
TIABBI: Back to the thoroughly enjoyable weather in New York...
CUT back to golf range:
TIABBI: Up on the range, Jim said I was locked in.
Jim McNann: "Get ready for the tour baby."
CUT to favorite golf course:
TIABBI: So I hustle over to my favorite course... only to find...
Closed!!!
I guess it's a good thing. I might not have come back to the office. Brian...
So NBC decides to cover the bizzarre weather occurring worldwide by sending Mike Tiabbi out to a golf course. And the zoo. And to explain it all, they bring out Jeff Raineri who, as far as I can tell, was just plucked up the ranks from a local affiliate out of New Jersey.
Perhaps NBC couldn't get one of their more senior, respectable meteorologists
to stand there and lie through his teeth.
So here's the jist of the story as NBC would have Americans see it: this sure is some strange weather we're having. But don't worry, it's just mother nature acting up so get out your golf clubs and enjoy the afternoon.
There is a special place in hell for Jeff Raineri.
The powers that be at NBC and other coprorate networks could have all kinds of reasons for deliberately misleading the public about what is happening to our planet. But there is not one that is remotely justifiable.
And while there may be some instances where withholding information or even misleading the public is a right course of action, there is zero evidence that such considerations are at play here.
No, it is far more likely that the most obvious reason why the corporate media continues to deceive the public on this issue is the correct one: it is in their own interest to do so. Both financially and politically. (NBC's parent corporation, General Electric, is one of the worlds biggest carbon-dioxide emmiters. SEE: New Report: Top Greenhouse Gas Emitters Not Diclosing, Acting of Financial Risks of Climate Change
With the amount of power that these corporations have to use our airwaves to influence public opinion and policy, and to the extent that they use that power to serve their own interest against the interest of the public, in matters of life and death, they cease being merely inept or corrupt, and move fully into the station of an enemy of the American people and, indeed, the human race.
And the degree with wich my words may appear too harsh or extreme is directly proportional to your own lack of understanding about just what is about to happen to you.
