This is How it Starts

Maybe my timing is just lucky. I don’t know. I woke up way before dawn this morning (an all-too-common occurrence) to see this headline waiting for me at Google News, from The American Thinker: (Please don’t click on it. It only encourages them.)

FAA personnel dragged away to help with Cash For Clunkers

The only other story that carried the same message was from The Washington Times which, as I understand it, is where the story originated.

Immediately prior to this, I was catching up on NATCA’s BBS. As a retired member, I still have access. Now, I’ll admit I don’t keep up with the internal affairs of NATCA as closely as I did when I was still working but...I didn’t see a word about any controllers being shanghaied to work on another project. Trust me, if they had been, they would have said something. LOUD and clear.

This is how it starts. Some news organization with a bizarre -but-rich founder prints it and the echo chamber starts beating the drum. The next thing you know, even the regular news media is at least talking about it. Even if it is just to debunk the story.

I’ve been reading a lot about these organizations since I retired so the players in the story come as no surprise to me. These are quotes from their respective Wikipedia entries:

The Washington Times

The Washington Times was founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon in 1982..[1] Bo Hi Pak, called Moon's "right-hand man", was the founding president and the founding chairman of the board.[2] In 1996 Moon discussed his reasons for founding the Times in an address to a Unification Church leadership conference, saying "That is why Father has been combining and organizing scholars from all over the world, and also newspaper organizations, in order to make propaganda." [3] In 2002 Moon, who has said that he is the Messiah and the Second Coming of Christ and is fulfilling Jesus' unfinished mission,[4][5] said: "The Washington Times is responsible to let the American people know about God." and "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world." [6]

The American Thinker

The American Thinker is a daily conservative website dealing with American politics, foreign policy, national security, economics, diplomacy, culture, and military strategy.


Writing in The Nation about what he describes as "a smear campaign" against Barack Obama, Ari Berman says "At the fulcrum of this effort is a little-known blogger from Northbrook, Illinois, named Ed Lasky, whose articles on AmericanThinker.com have done more than anything to give the smear campaign an air of respectability."

I assume there is at least some shred of truth in the original article (maybe not) but I’d bet my retirement check that no controller that is supposed to work your airplane this morning will be issuing checks at the “cash-for-clunkers” program. Speaking of which, it’s interesting watching the same right-wing news mongrels twist themselves into knots over that program. “It’s a disaster” -- until you talk to the local car dealers (you know, the same ones that fund the Chamber of Commerce) and find that they really like “big government” interfering in their lives. They’re selling cars -- and they saw what Big Business did to their fellow dealers.

But back to the stories. Notice that no one actually says “controllers”. They just want you to think it.

”Employees of the FAA's air-traffic-control unit were asked to help... “

”the Obama administration has tapped FAA air traffic control personnel to temporarily help...“

These guys didn’t get to where they are by being stupid. Just misleading.

Don Brown
August 24, 2009