Ear to the Ground

Propaganda? What Propaganda?

Dec 13, 2005
"There is no U.S. footprint" is the proud boast of one of the Pentagon's propaganda contractors, and it prompts the questions: Why not? What are they ashamed of? One thing is that most of us in this democracy did not know we were paying for this vast official propaganda operation until we read it in Jeff Gerth's excellent investigative piece in The New York Times. A truly free press is our most valuable export, and its reputation should not be undermined by the Bushies' addiction to government propaganda.
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Texas Roundup

Dec 6, 2005
No get-out-of-jail-free card for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay A Texas court upheld a felony indictment for DeLay on charges of money laundering in connection with a 2002 Texas election A separate indictment for criminal conspiracy was dismissed .

Friends Don’t Let Friends Use Torture

Dec 4, 2005
Condi Rice is so tired of Old Europe and its human rights complaints. Big deal, so the CIA is using Soviet era torture camps in Eastern Europe to stash "war on terror" prisoners. Don't those fusspots in the EU understand that our use of torture is fundamentally different because we are the good guys and that Eastern Europe has been liberated? That outmoded European slogan of "friends don't let friends use torture" is so over.

Jack, Not Iraq, Is the Biggest Threat to Bush

Dec 2, 2005
Prediction: It's the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, not Iraq, that will unravel the Bush empire. Abramoff will follow the lead of his partner, Michael Scanlon, in copping a plea bargain with prosecutors, whose likely targets include Tom DeLay, many other congressional Republicans and key players in the administration.