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Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (750)	3/3/2005 9:48:36 AM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9838

O'Reilly used phony evidence to defend Bush's handling of torture allegations Fox News host Bill O'Reilly used a recently released State Department report on human rights around the world to argue that the Bush administration is adequately addressing allegations of torture by U.S. interrogators. In fact, the report did not examine alleged human rights violations by the United States. During his "Talking Points Memo" on the March 1 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly attacked the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for filing a lawsuit against Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld over allegations that he approved illegal interrogation tactics. O'Reilly opined that "violations of military law -- torture, executions, false imprisonment -- are unacceptable and should be vigorously prosecuted, and the Bush administration seems to be doing that." Referring to the State Department report on human rights, released on February 28, he added: "Just today, it [the administration] criticized the interim government in Iraq for some rights violations." The ACLU's lawsuit charges that Rumsfeld's "policies, patterns, practices, derelictions of duty and command failures caused Plaintiffs' [the detainees'] abuse." The complaint focuses exclusively on detainees held in U.S. military custody. By contrast, the State Department report did not examine the United States, including the actions of U.S. military personnel. In the on-the-record briefing accompanying the release of the report, Michael Kozak, acting assistant secretary for democracy, human rights, and labor, specifically addressed why the report did not examine U.S. human rights practices: KOZAK: This, by the way, is the report on the human rights situation in a country, what was going on as factually as we can relate it in each country that's a member of the United Nations, save on the United States. And the reason we don't do a report on ourselves is the same reason you wouldn't write investigative reports about your own finances or something; it wouldn't have any credibility. Someone else needs to do that. It's not that we're against being scrutinized, and indeed we are scrutinized by many other organizations -- Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International. The Chinese do a report on us each year, have told us that one is in the mail. But it's not -- it wouldn't make sense for us to do this. The section of the report about Iraq focuses exclusively on the policies and practices of the Iraqi interim government; it covers only "the human rights record of the Interim government from June 28 to December 31" of 2004. mediamatters.org

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (750)	3/3/2005 10:12:48 AM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9838

The nature of a "FoxNews Alert!" We watch FOX so you don't have to. March 02, 2005 Fox News Alert - President Bush 'Fixin to'... While watching a particularly uninspired hour long Studio B with Shepard Smith today (3 times during the hour they covered Michael Jackson), I was suddenly brought to full attention at 3:54 est because of a 'Fox News Alert'. Well, finally something to report, I surmised. Then I looked at my tv screen and lo and behold, to my surprise (not really), there was President Bush on the White House lawn. This still could be something, I told myself. Ha! It was a presidential photo op of President Bush with the World Champion Boston Red Sox. While this is certainly a 'feel good' story, it is no cause for an 'ALERT'. Then he started to speak. The usual accolades, ok. An 'odd' statement about 'it took a lot of guts and hair'. Then he spotted Senator John Kerry in the group. He said, "I like to see Senator Kerry, except when I'm 'fixin to' debate. You know what I mean." Comment: Yes, he said it - the 'fixin to' words. I first became familiar with the 'fixin to' expression years ago in Georgia. Does it take any amount of time to speak proper English, I mean, especially if you're the president? And Fox, what's with the 'Fox News Alert' and going to the president and finding out it's just a photo op? A simple, we're going to the president on the white house lawn where he is greeting the World Champion Boston Red Sox, would have sufficed. It's time to get that 'Fox News Alert' under control. newshounds.us