Brad "If you have any doubt about the sophisticated propoganda machine being run by the GOP ... nope don't have any.

However I will point out that it is the neocons who have corrupted the GOP and there are some in the GOP that are fighting the neocons just as we are.

I have long been opposed to the label "Conspiracy Theory"--it is used to smother debate and interest in a subject and stifle investigation.

This story shows there is indeed "Conspiracy", it is not just a "Theory" it is a practice that does exist, and should not be dismissed 'out of hand'. The possiblity of a conspiracy should be considered early and ruled out by findings of fact.

Nothing arises out of a vacuum.

Seeing as how for a couple of weeks now, they have been running their big mouths about this being "another" democrat planted forgery, you would think that being slapped down this hard by the truth would keep them quiet, at least for a few days, but no, they're already spinning it as a mistake by an aide, therfore it can't be said that a Senator was the origin of it. Nothing to see here folks, go on home.

But all of these (multitude) of "incidents" add up, to a whopping, large, classaction lawsuit brought against the GOP by the citizens of the United States of America for fraud, abuse of power and government, failure of duty, corrupted voting machines, the demise of democracy, to the detriment of the America people. Dredd, what are the damages? The American people ARE innovative; MUST BE INNOVATIVE, on this issue.

Good documentaries about right wing and corporate media bias/control:

-Fear and Favor in the Newsroom,
-OUTFOXED (Rupert Murdoch's assault on independent journalisn)

Organizations that expose lies in the media (right wing or otherwise):

-FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting)
-Media Matters
(Both organizations are non-profit and take tax- deductible donations)

I don't know who controls the strings with the lies and distortions, but there are are organizations that call them on their lies. That's enough for me to know that the news is distorted. How they report the news is subject for debate, but they definitely need to be held responsible for the lies. OUTFOXED gives a great insight on how these things work.

Media matters has a great archive on all the lies. The one GeneK loved to discredit. I was on to him and Manana from the beginning.

Only slightly OT:

DeLay's lobbying machinery is growing fat by extorting millions from native American tribes, and now THIS little cuteness: the GOP raises funds by anouncing to doctors that they have been named "Physician of the Year," then charging over $1000 for the phony certicate, presented in D.C. to all who cough up the cash.

More government funded propaganda on the education front. Two groups created in 2001 to fund private school vouchers from the 'minority community' Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), Hispanic Council for Reform and Education Options (CREO). Both groups are now getting big grants from NCLB to promote 'education' in minority communities. Also get funding from Walton family foundation, bradley foundation and the freidman foundation. I don't know about conspiricies, but a modus operandi seems to be developing. Create a fake organization and then funnel money to them to spread propaganda.

It's bad enough that anyone would spend so much money to spread deliberate lies ... but for me the two things that make it much worse are: [1] the whole point of the lies is to get us to act against our own best interests, and [2] it's our money! Why can't we use the money in the education budget to build and maintain schools and hire good teachers? I guess that would be too ... educational! After all, the more educated we are, the less likely we are to believe the lies.

Please support VR on media reform!

There's nothing I hate more than the fucking religious right. But I just want to say, we killed a lady with a smiling face. I can't get my head around that. No way should we be killing people who smile.

That Schiavo smells like a rat.

You mean a brain stem with a smiling face.

Timothy McVeigh may have smiled.

SOMEBODY’S LYING!!!

Initially, Sen. Martinez stated that his office was not involved with the Shiavo memo until he was advised by Sen. Harkin that he had personally given Harkin a copy. After an internal investigation of his office, Sen. Martinez says that he did not know that he was giving Sen. Harkin a copy of the memo at the time, but the memo did originate in his office by the unilateral action of a staff member. Sen. Harkin was in favor of the pending bill and had asked Sen. Martinez for more information. According to a statement by Sen. Harkin, Sen. Martinez identified the piece of paper that he handed to him was indeed “talking points” for the pending legislation. Somebody’s lying - you be the judge.

Re: Comment #4

Might this be what you are looking for?

http://www.yuricareport....gal/RICO_Prosecution.htm

liberallyyours #9

You do realize that most of her brain wasn't working, right? You do realize that there was substantial evidence to support that she would "randomly" ingage in making noises and some movements, and respond randomly to stimulous, right?

The picture they show of her "smiling" is a manipulation to try and make it look like she "responded" to someone telling a joke or something. Yet all the doctors (except the religious fanatic ones, ones paid for by the Schindlers, and ones that never examend her and were out of their speciality) said she had no apparent control and was not "responding" to stimulous but was engaging in random actions.

The underlying issue, regardless of "religion" is, does a family membe have a right to carry out their loved ones last wishes.. It was proven in court (time and again) that Terri did -not- want to live with the help of machines. I think one could easily argue that if your brain becomes so damaged that you can no longer eat, and nutrients need to be "pumped" into you, you are only living because of the machine. According to her wishes (as backed by court descisions), she wanted the plug pulled. "We" didn't "kill a smiling face", "we" let her have her wish of peace and not being made to linger in a world she was no longer a part of.

The religious right is trying to make this into a case of "disabled persons rights".. Terri wasn't "disabled", she was brain-dead. Her brain was not able to control her eating/drinking, talking, moving, anything other than basic autonomic functions. If all your ability to think is removed, your ability for your body to survive on it's own too.. would -you- want to linger in that prision? Not me (and I'm planning to make a living will to prove it, but have already reaffirmed to my family NOT to keep me on machines).

We didn't "kill" anyone, we gave peace to someone who wished to be released.

Re #14:

Whose business is (MY) right to life? And, whose business is (MY) right to death at ANY time (and for ANY reason)?

George #15

That's the point I was making as well. Her wishes were to be let to die, we granted her her wish, we didn't kill her..

The point is ...

It's no one's business and that's why congress should not have been involved.

Tsk...Tsk. There are some in the country that actually believe in the sincerity of republocrat talking points. Such piety and heartfelt feelings from the likes of Delay and Frist as they go about cutting funds from Medicare while talking about the culture of life and other compassionate conservative values.

And now Mr. Darling is out of a job because his boss was stupid enough to give the talking points over to the loyal opposition....hmmm...I understand Talon News is looking for a new Washington Bureau Chief.

Anyone with even a small sense of compassion and empathy would be troubled by the vision of her smiling face, I was, but that is what made her particular case so difficult to deal with. What convinced me was her cat scan, which showed a huge hole in the middle of her brain, filled with nothing but spinal fluid. Her brain was gone. I understand how liberallyours, and others would be disturbed with the whole thing, and at first my position was that if the parents were willing to take care of her, then Michael should just let them have her, but that line of thinking completely disregarded Terri's wishes, and in the end, I came to feel some anger towards her family, that they were keeping her alive because they couldn't deal with their own pain, and although I understand the depths of their distress and sadness, this was selfish on their part. Seven years and twenty + court decisions in Michael's (Terri's) favor, show that sufficient effort was made to determine her true wishes.

What the republicans and the pResident did was the most disgusting display of using a helpless womans body and the frayed emotions of her heartbroken family members for political gain that I think I have ever witnessed. Anyone who has seen the video of Bush mocking convicted murderer Carla Faye Tucker's desperate pleas for clemency and compassion to stay her execution, will understand that Bush has no heart. He is an emotionally empty monster, and therefore could not have had any compassion for Terri Schiavo and her family, rather, he just used them for his own gain.

I have kept my dog out of this fight, avoiding this issue . It has not been easy .Due to very recent personal tragdy, I still won't.

However, last nite I caught the article at Raw Story. The apology drew me in. But as I read, I began to laugh, so loud , I woke my grandaughter, who scolded me. All I could think of was dumb and dumber. Handing out evidence like you would invitations or thank you cards! How dumb are they? Can't be new at being crooks and liars. Are they students? What kind of criminal does something so stupid? They can't even keep their lies straight anymore.
I'm going to write this thing called a Senator a letter soon. I want him to know I think he is a cruel, stupid liar. I hope this ruins his career,
and that he can keep his apology for someone who cares! Stupid bastard.

http://www.alternet.org/story/21668/
Terri's Final Irony

This has an interesting take on the Sciavo story from a completely different standpoint. Worth a read.

#21 Excellent article, TX, see others there as well.

Still can't get my head around it. We can all make ourselves feel better by looking at cat scans and what not, but there was no living will. Schiavo smells like a rat. And the woman had a smile on her facew and then was killed by torture. Dehydration is not nice. The leats they could do is give her a lethal injection. They evendo that for vicious criminals. The whole thing sux.

Fuck Bush, fuck haliburton, fuck Feeney (very hard, that guy sux) fuck the moral majority. Fuck war.

But damn, don't go killing people with smiles on their faces unless you've got more than a rat telling you it's what she wanted. And if you're gonna killher, send her off with an overdose of morphine, don't take her fucking water supply away tillher eyes fucking dry out . That is our of order.

So, Brian Darling takes the fall for Mel Martinez, like that memo came out of Martinez's office and into the Senate, without his knowledge. If anybody buys that, I heard The Washington Monument's for sale - buy it now!

Well, at least they can't claim Harry Reid wrote the memo anymore (or can they - maybe Harry paid Darling to write it). This bunch will lie about anything. They don't even care if it RINGS true, or not. "My Fascists, right or wrong".

Tom DeLay cares about one thing - Tom DeLay (and saving his own sorry political career). Any smokescreen in a storm....

'Smiling Face'--
Does one have to be reminded that george w bush has a 'Smiling Face' ?
Even as he lies, trips over himself laughing while looking for WMD here and there, talking about soldiers and their sevice to our country-while ignoring their funerals always a :
'Smiling Face'.

True there is a world of difference that lady and bush, actually a world of difference between bush and anything else organic, but the point is that we have to look deeper and be less acceptive of superficial displays.

"End of Life" issues are difficult and often tragic, often rips family apart. We do need thoughtful supportive decisions--We do not need the intrusion of headline greedy politicians.

Nor do we need the endless sputterings of the Mess Media.

Great article by Riverbend on the Media in Iraq:
Good Morning, Baghdad

In an impoverished but proud household, a "stew" of mysterious and problematic origins (undoubtedly verboten ingredients and mysteriously-contrived "seasonings") is offered to family members as nourishment. Malnutrition ensues and results in massive cognitive impairments.

What kind of insidious "malnutrition" can "Liberallyyours" be suffering from to believe that Terri Schiavo "suffered?" Yes, the pentothol route is much more humane, but a body lacking a brain does not "hurt" when shutting own due to lack of hydration.

I posted a link to a story I found on Drudge Report about a prominent neocon who just came out of the closet and married (link here) a fellow gay.

Problem is that this gay, like Gannon, had been working against gay rights.

Go figure.

In an effort to clear up this disinformation from those who must have obtained a degree in health care from the Cryp Keeper, I'll say this:

It is SOP to give drugs of comfort to the dying. Not only in hospice facilities, but also in hospitals and nursing homes. Permission, dr. order. Done.

There are studies that have been done on dehydration, as related to dying. Many assumptions are incorrect. Don't confuse the standards with that of the healthy, functioning patient.

The professionals working in these facilities are expert and highly skilled in palliative care They assist people in dignified, humane, natural deaths,prn.