Reality's bitch: Doomsday's NewsHound

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A Failure of Citizenship: We the Sheeple 5th FEBRUARY 2006

The Bush State of the Union address offered the mediocrity we have come to expect from this illegitimate regime. It was nothing less than fascism incarnate and palpably evil. A heaping helping of dung soup served on a silver platter. It was cloaked in language to create the illusion of truth. Its message was received by the fat cats on Wall Street and congressional millionaires with applause. The remaining population — those of us left out in the cold and exploited — listened with disdain and incredulity to the sickening miasma. The wealthy have been handsomely rewarded for their loyalty since the little dictator’s first inaugural. Behind the lies and garish displays of nationalism, beyond the euphemisms, lie austere truths that must be brought to the public conscience. One wonders: What planet is this man from? Where is this America described by George Bush?

Bush's Criminal Desperation For Larger Penis & Greater Potence 5th FEBRUARY 2006

This week's revelations that George W. Bush and Tony Blair considered staging a war provocation by painting a US spy plane in UN colors and flying it over Iraq, in the hope that Saddam would order it shot down, illustrates a desperate depth of criminality only rivaled by previous notorious historical examples. Documents overshadow even the Downing Street memo in terms of direct and unequivocal confirmation that the war was deliberate and planned and that any pretext to garner international support for it would be considered and utilized. The US government considered staging an act of provocation that would fool the world into supporting an unpopular war.

Halliburton Gets Contract to Build Unconstitutional Detention Centers 5th FEBRUARY 2006

The Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract worth $385 million to Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary criticized for overcharging the Pentagon for its work in Iraq. KBR would build detention centers for Homeland Security for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require detention space, executives said. Additional information about the company's statement that the contract was also meant to support the rapid development of new programs will not be provided.

Brutalized & Arrested for Posting "Bush Step Down" Poster 5th FEBRUARY 2006

I have osteoradionecrosis in my jaw, resulting from radiation treatments for cancer. My jawbone is slowly deteriorating, is very fragile, and doesnt heal well. I am 53 years old, not exactly a spring chicken. A hand comes down again to push my chin against the concrete. By this time there are four cops on the scene. My hands are tightly cuffed behind my back. They lift me up and shove me onto a parkbench and shackle my legs. I am still calling out, telling people what this is about. One of the cops says to me, "Shut up or I will kill you!", "I am sick of this anti-Bush shit!" "You are definitely going to the psyche ward."

Con[gress] Artists Refuse to Defend a Goddamn Piece of Paper 5th FEBRUARY 2006

News that the Justice Department refuses to furnish the Senate judiciary committee with internal documents on the legality of Bush's warrantless eavesdropping is the first sign that congressional efforts to investigate are likely to dead-end. Officials and intelligence officers refuse to provide the committee with information, and they probably cannot be compelled to do so. There's only one way the committee could succeed in obtaining a clear picture of what the NSA was up to: subpoenaing the CEOs of major American telecommunications companies. But that's a step the senators are probably not bold enough to take.

Experts Claim Official 9/11 Story is a Hoax 4th FEBRUARY 2006

A group of distinguished experts and scholars have concluded that senior government officials have covered up crucial facts about what really happened on 9/11. Experts suggest events may have been orchestrated by elements within the administration to manipulate Americans into supporting policies at home and abroad they would never have condoned absent "another Pearl Harbor." They found the government's own investigiation to be severely flawed. The 9/11 Commission, designated to investigate the attack, was directed by the Bush transition team in the NSA sector and the co-author of a book with Condoleezza Rice. A Bush supporter and director of national security affairs, could hardly be expected to conduct an objective and impartial investigation. Physics research has established that only controlled demolitions are consistent with the near-gravity speed of fall and virtually symmetrical collapse of all three of the WTC buildings. While turning concrete into very fine dust, they fell straight-down into their own footprints.

Shocked By America's Blindness [Then You Haven't Been Paying Attention] 4th FEBRUARY 2006

If the United States government, with all its capacity to collect and interpret information, did not see Hamas doing very well in the Palestinian election in the wake of these other Islamist victories, then it is either willfully blind or totally incompetent—and neither possibility is a very comforting thought. The choice facing the United State is now very stark and simple: Will its tradition of tilting toward the Israeli position triumph over its professed policy of promoting freedom and democracy in the Arab world? Put in more blunt terms: Does the United States favor Israeli over Arab rights and interests? Or does the United States see peace in the Middle East as a consequence of a fair approach that gives Israeli and Palestinian rights the same weight and priority?

US Media A Global Laughingstock & National Treasure 4th FEBRUARY 2006

Arabic-language media have an unprecedented chance to take over as the world's premier news source because trust in US counterparts plummeted following their "shameful coverage" of the war in Iraq. US media are dying because of cutbacks and disinterest in covering the world outside America. "If people in the US had a true picture of war - dead babies, women with their legs blown off, dead and dying soldiers - they would say 'no'." "After 25 years as a foreign correspondent I know what the US wants from the rest of the world: to forget about it. There's this idea that the US media is controlling the agenda. In fact the US media is dying. Resources, money and staff are being cut back. Twenty years ago Newsweek had 25 staff in Paris, today it has one."

Bush Family Remains Loyal to Fellow Thugs, Thieves & Murderers 3rd FEBRUARY 2006

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered the shredding of documents and public records, a clear violation of Florida law. The department has oversight and approval of state gaming licensees, slot machines, dog and horse tracks, and jai-alai games. The governor also brought in personnel from Texas to replace key members of his staff in Tallahassee. Texans are overseeing the destruction of state documents. The FBI confirmed that public records are being destroyed on orders of Jeb Bush. The source said the governor may have taken that action in response to the continuing criminal probe of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the federal investigation of the 2001 gangland murder in Miami of Gus Boulis, owner of the Sun Cruz casino boat.

Bush Family Hands Billions to Fellow Drug Dealers, Thieves & Murderers 3rd FEBRUARY 2006

The new Medicare drug benefit will give drug companies $2 billion in extra profits this year because they're no longer required to pay rebates on drugs bought by the government for the elderly poor. The boost in profits comes from a shift in the drug coverage of 6.4 million poor and elderly people from Medicaid to the new Medicare drug benefit. Unlike Medicaid, which requires drug companies to charge their lowest or "best price," Medicare relies on competition among private drug plans to keep prices low. By eliminating discount drugs for the government, the industry can now pocket the savings. A study estimated that the makers of anti-psychotic medications stand to benefit most, taking in roughly $1.1 billion in new profits on products used by the 6.4 million who are Medicare's most poor and frail patients.

America's Finest Have a Code: Protect Your Ass & Serve Yourself 3rd FEBRUARY 2006

Deputies are accused of drinking on duty, lying in court and trading police protection and drugs for sexual favors from women. The marshal charged that at least one deputy knowingly used a broken breath-analysis unit for months, leading to convictions for driving while intoxicated, and that other deputies lied in official reports. One deputy promptly resigned, citing "personality conflicts" with the new marshal after being told everyone in the department would have to pass a polygraph and drug test. Members of the Marshal's Office are "well known to have provided false statements and incorrect information in official matters." He based the allegation on the "opinion of various members of the legal community," according to court records and police files. Some members of the Marshal's Office targeted locals for harassment because of their political or personal agendas.

America's "Best and Brightest" Swap Prison Cells for Military Service 2nd FEBRUARY 2006

Facing an enlistment crisis, the Army is granting "waivers" to an increasingly high percentage of recruits with criminal records - and trying to hide it. "We're transforming our military. The things I look for are the following: morale, retention, and recruitment. And retention is high, recruitment is meeting goals, and people are feeling strong about the mission." [George W. Bush in a Jan. 26 press conference]. The troubling statistics from the Army and anecdotal information derived from the files of the Air National Guard raise a warning flag about the extent to which the military is lowering its standards to fight the war in Iraq.

Accounting Flaws at VA: Veterans' Actual Value Greatly Exaggerated 2nd FEBRUARY 2006

Eager to reduce spending, the Bush administration falsely claimed savings of more than $1.3 billion in the Department of Veterans Affairs to justify cuts to health care services. Report by the GA O is the latest to document funding woes at the VA, which currently offers health care to 7 million out of 24 million eligible veterans. The agency used misleading accounting methods to prove its claimed savings. Although Congress has increased VA's budget in recent years, the agency found itself with a gaping budget hole last year and had to ask Congress for emergency funding. Veterans groups and some lawmakers say the agency's increases have been inadequate, but others say the agency has to set priorities on who gets care.

The Hell, Ugliness, and Brutality of American Media 2nd FEBRUARY 2006

Arabic-language media have an unprecedented chance to take over as the world's premier news source because trust in their US counterparts plummeted following their "shameful coverage" of the war in Iraq. The US media reached an "all-time low" in failing to reflect public opinion and Americans' desire for trusted information, instead acting as a "cheerleader" for war. Newsweek's Paris bureau chief, Christopher Dickey, said the US media were dying because of cutbacks and weren't interested in covering the world outside America. "If people in the US had a true picture of war - dead babies, women with their legs blown off, dead and dying soldiers - they would say 'no'."

Waging Democracy Against the Middle East: America Marches Romeward 2nd FEBRUARY 2006

One major sign the lemmings missed that demonstrates Bush and his cohorts couldn’t care less about real democracy is their negative reaction to the elections in Palestine. The Palestinian people voted for, and thus gave their approval to, Hamas. Bonehead Bush never saw this coming! The political hacks never tire of crowing about the will of the people, blah, blah, blah. Well, the people in Palestine showed their will and it is to be led by Hamas. If the US politicians, and politicians around the world for that matter, really believed in democracy, they would engage in talks with Hamas. They would keep their pledge of financial support to Palestine. They would not turn their backs on the will of the Palestinian people.

Speak Out Too Loudly Against the Drug War and You Might Be Targeted 1st FEBRUARY 2006

The drug war is misdirected, foolish, stupid, unworkable, disastrous, tragic and sad. But beyond all that it is evil. The drug war is grounded in an evil premise: that people do not own their bodies, that they have no right to control what they do with their lives and their property, that it is appropriate to lock them in cages if they produce, distribute or consume chemicals in defiance of the state. This is a monstrosity. As long as America has the drug war it is not a free country. Politicians who support it and expand it, knowing the evils it entails, have no business lecturing us on morality.

Democracy, Hypocrisy, and U.S. Foreign Policy 1st FEBRUARY 2006

After singing the praises of democracy, not to mention bombing, killing, and maiming people in the name of spreading it, the overwhelming win in Palestinian elections by Hamas, which U.S. officials labeled a terrorist organization, is reminding U.S. officials that democracy sometimes produces results that are not very satisfactory from their own perspective. It is truly fascinating that U.S. officials are simply oblivious to how much they are disliked around the world. They seem to have this quaint notion that they are loved everywhere or that the problem is simply a PR one, which they think they can cure if they can just “get their message out.” They don’t realize that the more they get their message out, they more they are disliked by people everywhere.

Theft Is Theft, Murder Is Murder, Torture Is Torture, and America Is Doomed. 1st FEBRUARY 2006

Many are the examples of the CIA and other state-run intelligence agencies using mercenaries, private parties and other cats-paws to do their bidding upon the chessboard of international affairs. We see here the peculiar mindset of statist thinking. The aggressive action that is undertaken by a state, (border guards, naval patrols, customs inspectors, immigration police, tax collectors, etc.) is considered useful, necessary, and proper by people who accept statism as normal and proper. And yet if private parties undertake the exact same behavior, statists then believe it illegal. Or at least suspect. Why is that, anyhow? Armed men using or threatening to use force to accomplish their will are somehow moral and legitimate when sanctioned by a state? Why is that? Who sanctions the state then?

State of the Union: Prospects Are Grim 1st FEBRUARY 2006

There are those among us who would welcome a complete collapse of the rotted edifice of the state. Indeed, that is by far the lesser danger at this point: Even among those who are not anarchists, anarchy must at some point become preferable to the boot this administration and Congress have placed on every American neck. And yes, it just may come to that. The Republicans have nothing left to offer America. The Republican Party is done, or America is. In order for Democrats to become the obvious alternative, they're going to have to become an alternative. I write this in advance of the president's speech, knowing as well as you do that neither he nor his Democratic respondent will offer you anything of substance or integrity. All they have to offer are the last bitter spoonfuls of the poison that has nearly killed a once great nation. It's time to clench your teeth, refuse to swallow, and take your country back -- or kiss it goodbye.

We the People: All Sovereignty Rests in Us 31st JANUARY 2006

This is an unpatriotic government. This is a government that deals openly in illegalities. We’ve had idiotpresidents before. He's not unique. But he's certainly the most active idiot we have ever had. It’s a time when people say, "Well, it makes no difference what we do, you know, if we march and we make speeches, and this and that." It makes a difference if millions of Americans say, "We are fed up! We don't like you. We don't like what you're doing to the country and what you have done to the country. We don't like to live in a lawless land, where the rule of law has just been bypassed and hacks are appointed to the federal bench, who will carry on and carry on and carry on all of the illegalities which are so desperately needed by our military-industrial corporate masters." Let the powers that be know that there's something called "We the people of the United States," and all sovereignty rests in us, not in the board rooms of the Republicans.

Dementedly Evil: Just Doing His Job 31st JANUARY 2006

The typical approach put[s] pressure on patients to turn on their doctors, but it can work the other way, too. Paey was offered a deal by investigators: ''They said if you're willing to testify against your doctor it would go a long way to having these charges go away.'' Paey refused, and then found himself facing hostile testimony from the doctor, who said he had not authorized the contested prescriptions. After the doctor's credibility was challenged in court -- he was contradicted both by his own words and by pharmacists who said he'd approved the prescriptions -- the prosecutor came up with a mind-boggling new argument against Paey. Andringa told the jurors that even if they believed the doctor had prescribed the drugs, Paey should still be convicted because the doctor should never have written the prescriptions.

With Friends Like Us... 31st JANUARY 2006

A vehicle carrying members of a Canadian diplomatic mission in Iraq was fired on by U.S. forces inside Baghdad's Green Zone. The vehicle was reportedly carrying the Canadian chargé d'affaires in Iraq. A spokesman for the U.S. military said the incident was caused by the intermingling of two convoys. The Canadian convoy is believed to have tried to pass the U.S. convoy. Military sources told CTV that the U.S. forces, fearing a suicide bomb attack, first tried to use hand signals to warn the approaching vehicles and then tried to run the vehicles off the road. When those measures failed, the soldiers resorted to "escalatory fire." Typically, warning shots are used before a vehicle is fired upon. The vehicle carrying the Canadians was hit with three rounds.

We're Not [Trust]Worthy 31st JANUARY 2006

80% of Iraqis think the United States plans to maintain permanent bases in the country even if the newly elected Iraqi government asks American forces to leave. Researchers found a link between support for attacks and the belief among Iraqis that the United States intends to keep a permanent military presence in the country. Iraqis are demanding a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, and most
believe the U.S. has no plans to leave even if the new government asks them to. "This appears to be leading some to even support attacks on U.S.-led troops."

Army's Rising Promotion Rate Called Ominous 30th JANUARY 2006

Experts say quality of the officer corps is threatened as the service fights to retain leaders during wartime. Struggling to retain enough officers, the Army has begun to dramatically increase the number of soldiers it promotes, raising fears within the service that wartime strains are diluting the quality of the officer corps. Last year, the Army promoted 97% of all eligible captains to major. The higher rates of promotion are part of efforts to fill new slots created by an Army reorganization and to compensate for officers who are resigning, many after multiple rotations to Iraq. Recent trends in promotions have stirred concerns that the Army is being forced to lower its standards to provide leaders for combat units that will be deployed overseas. An officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to publicly discuss the issue. "Basically, if you haven't been court-martialed, you're going to be promoted to major."

Rank Ignorance Reigns: the Influential Moron-American Community 30th JANUARY 2006

Alas, we cannot expect much from a population in thrall to disinformation. There is no Iranian "defiance." When media report "defiance," they purvey disinformation. The "Iran crisis" is entirely the product of the Bush administration's determination to deprive Iran of its rights. It is one more demonstration of Bush's belief that his policies are not constrained by fact, law, and international treaties. Despite clear and unambiguous facts, the Fox poll reports that 60% of Republicans, 41% of independents, and 36% of Democrats support using air strikes and ground troops against Iran in order to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. This poll indicates an appalling ignorance among the American public. Bush will take advantage of this ignorance to initiate another war.

Documents Show FEMA Passed Up Available Search & Rescue Equipment 30th JANUARY 2006

Hundreds of available trucks, boats, planes and federal officers were unused immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit because FEMA failed to give them missions. FEMA called off operations three days after the storm because of security issues. Other resources that were offered, but unused, included flat-bottom boats. "Clearly these assets and skills were precisely relevant." White House counselor Dan Bartlett maintained Sunday that the Bush administration would not give up specific internal documents or information from top presidential advisers. "We're making sure that they have all the information necessary while we also protect the separation of government."

Wealth Share Rises for Top-Income Americans 30th JANUARY 2006

Government data indicate that concentration of corporate wealth among highest-income Americans grew significantly in 2003, as a trend that began in 1991 accelerated in the first year that resident Bush and Congress cut taxes on capital. In 2003 the top 1 percent owned 57.5 percent of corporate wealth, up from 53.4 percent the year before. The top group's share of corporate wealth has grown by half since 1991, when it was 38.7 percent. In 2003, incomes in the top 1 percent ranged from $237,000 to several billion dollars. The White House said it did not believe the 2003 tax cuts had much influence on wealth shares. It also said that since wealth is transitory for many people, a more important issue is how incomes and wealth are influenced by the quality of education.

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