It is sobering to think that Dan Ellsberg, and other serious thinkers, look to Consortium News for professional journalism and analysis, says Ray McGovern.
From the desk of Ray McGovern:
Dan Ellsberg met me at the entrance to the Berkeley theater a half-hour before the Berkeley premier of The Most Dangerous Man in America in 2009. As we compared notes on a couple of the main issues of the day, he made a point of asking me, twice, to pass along to Bob Parry, the late founder and editor of this site, his thanks for Consortium News. When Dan turned to go up on stage to introduce the documentary, he dropped a manila folder crammed full of papers. Bending down to pick them up, he whispered, “Ray, these are recent Consortium News articles. I print out the ones I want to go back and read again; these are from the last couple of weeks.”
McGovern and Ellsberg protesting outside the White House in 2010.
I was reminded of this last week when I spent several hours with Dan on the West Coast. He was as sharp and inquiring as ever; this time, though, there was a lightness in his step missing in previous years. No longer hanging around his neck is the albatross of an unfinished life’s work – Dan’s crie de coeur. The albatross flew off last December when Bloomsbury published The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Consortium published an excerpt earlier this year.
With unparalleled experience and insight, Dan warns of the danger of “near-term extinction” resulting from our own “inventions and proclivities.” It is sobering to think that Dan, and other serious thinkers, look to Consortium News for professional journalism and analysis on how acute that danger is today. I see in this a solemn charge for us to keep on keeping’ on.
So please make a donation today to help Consortium News make its Fall Fund Drive goal.
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He was an Army officer and a CIA presidential briefer, and is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
How rare it is to see individuals of this caliber in journalism and politics.
Few things give me hope these days but these two stalwarts certainly do.
We are blessed to have them as role models.
Good story. You capture the essence of community. Why is there not more written on community organizing, and breaking out of the alienating bubbles that clutter our landscape?
I have upmost respect for Ray McGovern & Dan Ellsberg (both TRUE heroes) !!!
All my best.
I am inspired by both Daniel Elsberg and Ray McGovern. I had the distinct honor of sharing a jail cell with Daniel for protests against war in Crawford Texas and being arrested by D.C. police along with Ray McGovern in the Cindy Shehan’s inspired protest in Congress. Both of these actions were protesting the illegal and immoral war against Iraq. Consortium News is my first go to media site to obtain truth.
Thank you, Ray, Joe, et al. Can’t imagine a day without CN and was only too happy to send in a contribution. Carry on!
Mr. McGovern, I read consortium news every day. In fact, I recommend it to many of my friends whether they are progressives, democrats, or republicans because it is most likely the only news source available that is true to its beliefs, and that provides an objective analysis. Thank you and your fellow journalists who recognize the planet does not belong to one generation. That humankind’s continued existence depends upon truth, values, and a shared belief that in order to survive we need to work together as friends, not foes as much a possible. I learn something every time I read the articles on this site and I share those ideas as often as possible. Thank you.
They call me a hero for OIF2. McGovern and Ellsberg are the hero’s for their leadership and sacrifice. I salute you both.
Two heroes, I highly recommend Dan’s “Secrets”; which is his story of publishing the Pentagon papers. The part describing his patrol in Vietnam for the State Dept.-yes that’s combat patrol not a vip tour, he was a Marine officer before academia-is intriguing. These two represent the integrity missing from so many government officials.
Suggest you go to Global Alert News (Dane Wigington) so that you will not be part of the planet deterioration without the knowledge of what is happening now. It is bad and instoppable. good luck
Ray,
You and Dan are speaking for many more than yourselves. We thank you for your voices and work to have others understand.
I saw the “Donation” ad on the upper right corner …and had not even started to read Ray and Dan’s article. I immediately got out my CC and made a donation. I’ve been following CN for several years,and find it to be a go-to for straight info. I’m 75 yo and have been disappointed when several years back I started to complete what I call the “big picture” . God Bless Robert Parry for his efforts to start CI, and Ray and Dan for doing the right thing. We need more persons to expose what they know. God save the Republic !
Thank you!
I know the story of how Ellsberg broke down by the presentation of activists willing to give so much of himself and that because of that Ellsberg did a 180. What lessons can we glean from this transformation, and how can we heed them?
Here’s to the Heroic efforts of Robert Parry, Daniel Ellsberg, Charles Bowden, Gary Webb, Reality Winner, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Mark Felt, Frank Serpico, Karen Silkwood, Bradley Manning and Samuel Shaw among many others.
I already sent you a check again.
Consortium News is one of the last refuges out there for journalists critical of the NATO/US State Department world outlook. Today, we live in an upside-down world where Seymour Hersh, Robert Parry, John Pilger and others are seen as producers of “fake news” or Russian government propaganda, while the guard dogs of discourse whose lies have blown up in their faces time and again are heralded as true journalists. Although not perfect, CN should be read by anyone who wants an honest take along with George Galloway, Media Lens, and the World Socialist Website.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/george-galloway/
http://medialens.org/
http://wsws.org
George Galloway impressed me with his talk at this conference with Eva Bartlett:
https://pueblossinfronteras.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/imperialism-on-trial-by-george-galloway-and-eva-bartlett/
While American writer Henry Miller (1891-1980) passed from the Earthly realm years before the great Robert Parry founded Consortium News, a quote from Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer” (1934) could easily describe the essential nature of the enterprise, – and why the good people of Consortium News are well worthy of support:
“If now and then we encounter pages that explode, pages that wound and sear, that wring groans and tears and curses, know that they come from a man with his back up, a man whose only defenses left are his words and his words are always stronger than the lying, crushing weight of the world, stronger than all the racks and wheels which the cowardly invent to crush out the miracle of personality.”
Great to see the quote by Miller. His “novels” were filled with so much gusto and truth.
As Orwell’s nightmare closes all around us, we still have this site (an a few others) that were absent in his novel. Let’s keep this channel open as long as we can. A dollar given here supports our real freedom.
Ray, in honor of your request, and in memory of the great Bob Parry, making a donation today… God bless Consortium News!
Very few sites are still stinker-free (who’s hiring at the Intercept?) so I can give more to the ones that are. Keep up the good work!
My generation forever thanks Daniel Ellsberg for putting his freedom and career on the line when he published the Pentagon Papers to try and cut short that needless bloody war in Vietnam. If he tried to publish something similar today about any one of the numerous wars this country insists on fighting against all reason, he would probably have to go to an “independent alternative” internet venue such as CN. The “establishment” dispensers of news and information are all in the hip pocket of the American Deep State today, even the major foreign venues, especially all the English language organs. Name any one of them and they are in on what’s now a fixed game.
Realist, I know you won’t mind if I tag on here to express my Thanks as well for Daniel Ellsberg, Ray McGovern and of course Robert Parry and our beloved Consortiumnews. It’s easy to feel isolated in these times and CN remains a beacon of truth in an otherwise bizarre world. Thank goodness (and the work of a few brave souls) for our refuge here at Consortiumnews!
Many thanks too to the CN staff, Parry Family, and Joe Lauria for their work…
Me too Bob. Realist spoke for myself as well. Joe