Archive for December 28, 2009
Fox Hides Fact of Bush Administration’s Role in Christmas Terror Attempt
As I posted earlier, two of the “masterminds” behind the Christmas Day “terror attempt” in Detroit were released from Guantanamo Bay by the Bush administration in 2007. I repeat: They were released by the Bush administration in 2007.
Not exactly the stuff of “breaking news” on right wing sites. Here’s how Fox is spinning it:
Nothing about the Bushies.
Can you imagine if the two guys had been released by the Obama administration? The headline would have consumed Fox’s entire home page.
Oh, and here’s the article you go to if you click on the picture. I took a screen shot because chances are Fox will dress it up as the Bush administration’s involvement becomes undeniable:
A mention of the Bush administration yes, but nothing specifically about the two guys behind the Christmas Day plot.
This is no big surprise to those of us who know that Fox “News” is a propaganda arm of the GOP (or does the GOP work for Fox?). I just thought it’d be a good idea to document it in case somebody, sometime, cares to look into whether Fox’s use of the slogan “fair and balanced” might just be a bit of a stretch. As in, oh, false advertising?
Two Al Qaeda Leaders Behind Flight 253 Plot Were Released from Gitmo in 2007
From ABC News:
Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.
This will add fuel to many fires but that’s another post. First, I want to make a quick point: Bear in mind that these two men were released from Gitmo during the Bush administration. I’m willing to bet that when the righties talk about this they’ll leave that fact out of the discussion so their followers will believe Obama released them.
“Best of the Year” Stuff
I’m seeing a lot of articles and videos, of course, about “the best of 2009,” or “the worst of 2009″ or, “2009 in review.” Honestly, imho, 2009 was such a crappy year, I don’t really want to take a look back.
Break Time – Advertising
Big of them: Best Buy puts out an ad offering a TweetDeck social app for free with the purchase of a CD, but the thing is, the app is free to begin with.
This Should be Interesting
The Tea Partiers are going to demand that Republicans call for a repeal of the health care bill (assuming it passes) as a litmus test for who they’ll support in the 2010 election:
It’s now becoming clear that this could be a major issue for Republicans in 2010: the Tea Party movement, as well as high-profile conservatives, are going to demand that candidates call for a full repeal of the Dem healthcare reform bill, presuming it passes.
Multiple figures on the right are beginning to make this demand explicit.
In an interview with me just now, Max Pappas, the Vice President for Public Policy of Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks, said that if the bill passes, politicians should call for a full repeal.
There are so many exciting things to look forward to next year.
Reminder
In my opinion, the big news of the weekend and of today is not the foiled terror attack in Detroit, but the fact that people in Iran are trying to bring down their dictatorial government.
I have tremendous respect for the demonstrators there. They have amazing strength and conviction if they’re willing to take to the streets and literally risk death to fight for what they believe in. I’m following it all at The Daily Dish, fyi, — the best place I’ve found for news from Iran — in case you’re interested too.
Good-bye 2009!
Here’s a good article by Robert Reich about, The Year Wall Street Bounced Back and Main Street Got Shafted:
The real locus of the problem was never the financial economy to begin with, and the bailout of Wall Street was a sideshow. The real problem was on Main Street, in the real economy. Before the crash, much of America had fallen deeply into unsustainable debt because it had no other way to maintain its standard of living. That’s because for so many years almost all the gains of economic growth had been going to a relatively small number of people at the top.
[...]
In truth, most Americans did not spend too much in recent years, relative to the increasing size of the overall American economy. They spent too much only in relation to their declining portion of its gains. Had their portion kept up — had the people at the top of corporate America, Wall Street banks and hedge funds not taken a disproportionate share — most Americans would not have felt the necessity to borrow so much.
Max Baucus, Drunk?
UPDATED below.
Several conservative blogs have posted this video of Max Baucus debating health care reform, claiming that Baucus is drunk. What do you think? As for me, he does sound drunk at times, but at times he doesn’t. I can’t say I’m familiar enough with his speaking style to know what is “normal” for him (or not).
UPDATE: Here’s more on “The ‘Drunk’ Smear.“
