All the news that's fit to squelch

Even if “What’s the Diehl?” readers don’t share my appreciation for Iran and are tired of seeing me write about this, you ought to be concerned that important information is being kept from you.

Did you know that three days ago, anti-war activists across the United States and Canada protested the possibility of war with Iran? Rallies were held in 60 cities across the country, including Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

In the capital, protesters gathered in front of the White House and chanted, “NO sanctions, No war” and “Iran is a sovereign state.” In the Big Apple, 500 people came together in Times Square and marched to the United Nations and the Israeli consulate with a banner reading, “No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations.”

I found references at Antiwar.org, Iranian.com, Occupythe99percent.com and The Sovereign Independent, whatever that is. I saw nothing at websites for ABC News, MSNBC, CBS News or the New York Times, nothing on television or radio, and nothing in Facebook.

I did see stories about Gisele Bundchen cursing on the way to the New York Patriots’ locker room to see husband/Pats’ quarterback Tom Brady after Super Bowl XLVI, and singer M.I.A. flipping the bird at the camera for 1.5 seconds during the game’s halftime show, which was apparently so egregious and offensive that both NBC and the NFL issued official apologies to the nation for “failing to obscure the inappropriate gesture.”

I read that Karl Rove was offended by what he interpreted as the political nature of Clint Eastwood’s kickass “It’s Halftime in America” Chrysler commercial, and saw a nice profile of Ron Paul – who at this point is about as likely to secure the GOP presidential nomination as a chicken is of becoming CEO of KFC – in the New York Times. But I saw nothing in the mainstream, “liberal” media about news that’s certainly current and relevant – something that could actually influence the way people view our latest rush to unnecessary war.

I guess that’s why we didn’t hear anything, huh?

One of my favorite blogs, Eclectablog.com, did report that President Obama has frozen Iran’s financial assets. In a message to Congress dated February 5, Obama stated:

I have determined that additional sanctions are warranted, particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal transactions of sanctioned parties, the deficiencies in Iran's anti-money laundering regime and the weaknesses in its implementation, and the continuing and unacceptable risk posed to the international financial system by Iran's activities.

Did you know that President Clinton issued an Executive Order on March 15, 1995, asserting that “the actions and policies of the Government of Iran threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” declaring a national emergency, and prohibiting certain transactions “with respect to the development of Iranian petroleum resources” as well?

Did you know that a few weeks later – on May 6, 1995 – he imposed “comprehensive trade and financial sanctions on Iran,” and then issued another order on August 19, 1997, consolidating and clarifying the previous orders?

How about the fact that President Obama issued an order on September 28, 2010, imposing sanctions on Iranian government officials and people acting on behalf of the Iranian government who were deemed “responsible for or complicit in” certain serious human rights abuses? Did you know about the one issued on May 23, 2011, authorizing Treasury Secretary Timothy “I Love Wall Street” Geithner to implement sanctions imposed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? And there was one issued last November 20, too, dealing with additional sanctions because Iran's developing petroleum resources and producing petrochemicals.

What’s my point? Why am I referencing all these boring executive orders?

Because I was unaware of the extent to which my government was tightening the noose on Iran and laying the groundwork for war. And I like to think I pay attention to this stuff. I knew we had imposed sanctions but I was unaware of all this presidential activity – which will surely be used to justify military action.

Iran denies that it’s developing its nuclear program for non-peaceful reasons and insists that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has every right to obtain and develop nuclear technology. I think so too. And I think we ought to be hearing more about politicians taking us to war and people taking to the streets in protest, and less about celebrities who serve largely just to distract us from news that we’re not even getting.

M.I.A. photo courtesy Rolling Stone.

Sources: Eclectablog.com, The Sovereign Independent.