Fox outs themselves as propagandists

(photos via Huffington Post)

In their disgusting, childish and ridiculous retouching of photos of NY Times reporter and editor Steven Redicliffe and Jacques Steinberg, Fox News has descended to new lows - to the level of the National Enquirer, in fact. They've demonstrated their alignment with racist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic propagandists of the past.

There is a well-documented tradition of portraying your enemies as monsters, or as buffoons, while portraying yourself heroically. It is a sure sign of propaganda. It is the proof, as if we needed it, that Fox News is so biased that their "news" is not news, but simply right-wing, paranoid public relations for a hate-filled philosophy.

It is, of course, a logical extension of the lies and innuendo Fox "News" spreads as a replacement for fact.



(Lights! Makeup! Cameras! Lies!)

We have a new torture czar

The US Senate stayed up late to confirm Michael Mukasey as Attorney General of the United States. The vote would never have happened if Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer hadn't confirmed him in committee. They betrayed their party, their constituents and the constitution.

Amidst cries of anti-semitism, some commentators are suggesting that Feinstein and Schumer were unduly influenced in their vote by the powerful Israel lobby AIPAC. James Fallows of the Atlantic, commenting on these accusations and the backlash which followed, defends the legitimacy of questioning the influence of any political lobby which represents a foreign nation.

DAILYKOS made the accusation and retreated from it.

People are rightfully careful about making accusations that may stem from, or appear to stem from anti-Israeli predjudice, but if there is a suspicion that such nationalistic influence on US lawmakers exist, it seems legitimate to raise the question.