Pentagon Chooses Not to Support Wounded Troops (posted on 2-28-07)
"Thousands of wounded troops are rushed from the war zone for health care and then stranded in administrative limbo. They are at the mercy of a medical evaluation system that’s agonizingly slow, grossly understaffed, and saddled with a growing backlog of cases. The wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are stuck in holding companies awaiting hearings and decisions on whether they will continue their military service or be discharged, and if so, at what level of benefits — if any."

"In 2001, 10 percent of soldiers going through the medical retirement process received permanent disability benefits. In 2005, with two wars raging, that percentage dropped to 3 percent, according to the Government Accountability Office. Reservists dropped from 16 percent to 5 percent."

"Soldiers go to the VA to try for more benefits, but the department had a staggering 400,000-case backup on new claims in fiscal 2006, according to VA."
Army Times article by Kelly Kennedy (2-20-07)

Celebrity Words Consultant Doesn't Want to Be Linked to President Bush Anymore
(posted on 2-25-07) 
Frank Luntz's specialty is testing language to find the words that help trigger the emotions that best support his clients. 

The communications guru who defined a tax that affects less than one half of one percent of American estates as the "death tax," modified "global warming" to become "climate change," and morphed "oil-drilling" into "exploring for energy" now feels betrayed by President Bush.

He says, "I've lost some of my hopes and dreams in politics. I've been disappointed. I'm disappointed in how so many of the people I once believed in have failed."  
news.independent.co.uk article by Guy Adams and Ben Chu (2-24-07)
pbs.org transcript of interview on Frontline (2-15-03)

Cheney Spins British Troop Cuts to Be Good News for US (posted on 2-22-07) 
While President Bush told the American people that the US will increase its troop levels by 22,500, Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that Great Britain will cut its troops by over 20% by the end of summer, from 7100 to 5500.

Vice-President Dick Cheney, instead of acknowledging the obvious, told ABC News that the British troop cuts were actually good news for the US. He expressed to ABC's Jonathan Karl that "I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well."
ABC News article by Jonathan Karl (2-21-07)

Crown Jewel of Military Hospitals Is Unable to Care for Its Patients Properly (posted on 2-19-07)
A Washington Post investigation has found that almost 700 soldiers and Marines who have been released from surgical care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the crown jewel of military hospitals, are being housed in unclean, cockroach-infested rooms for an average of ten months each.

They suffer from severe injuries, including brain damage, amputations, and organ deterioration, and are forced to deal with a bureaucracy that is underfunded and understaffed. The wounded are forced to care for other wounded, while those with psychological disorders care for those who are a suicide risk.
Washington Post article by Dana Priest and Anne Hull (2-18-07)

Audit Shows Corporate Waste and Fraud in Iraq, With Little Defense Department Oversight  (posted on 2-16-07) 
"The three top auditors overseeing contract work in Iraq told a House committee that $10 billion in spending was wasteful or poorly tracked."  

"David M. Walker, comptroller general of the GAO, Congress' auditing arm, said his agency has been pointing out problems for years, only to be largely ignored or given lip service with little result.  'There is no accountability,' Mr. Walker said. 'Organizations charged with overseeing contracts are not held accountable. Contractors are not held accountable. The individuals responsible are not held accountable.'
Washington Times article by the Associated Press (2-16-07)

Female Professors Earn an Average of 19% Less Than Male Professors (posted on 2-14-07) 
"According to the latest American Association of University Professors (AAUP) report on gender equity (by Martha West and John Curtis), not only do women as a class earn less than men in the academy, they are less likely to be hired for full-time positions, less likely to be granted tenure and less likely to be promoted to full professor. They are, however, more likely to hold the non-tenure track, lousy pay, high workload jobs that have come to dominate the academy in recent years."

"All of these disparities contribute to the stunning 19% salary gap between male and female faculty, which West and Curtis note "has remained virtually unchanged" since the late '70s despite that fact that women are getting PhDs in record numbers." 
TheNation.com article by Richard Kim (2-12-07)

House Minority Leader Boehner Gives GOP Talking Points on "Meet the Press" (posted on 2-12-07)
In response to moderator Tim Russert's first question on the program, John Boehner responded with the same platitudes that we hear from many of the country's Republican leaders over and over again:
--- "Victory in Iraq is the only option."
--- "Iraq is a small part in a global war being waged by radical Islamic terrorists."
--- "If we don't have victory in Iraq, the consequences of failure are immense: a destabilized Iraq, a safe haven for terrorists, possible access to their oil revenue, destabilizing the greater Middle East. (And) what happens to Israel?
--- "Who doesn't believe that if we withdraw and leave that chaos in the Middle East that the terrorists won't follow us here to the United States?"
--- "Victory, victory is the only option."
"Meet the Press" Transcript (2-11-07)

Country Radio Still Not Playing Dixie Chicks' Music (posted on 2-12-07)
Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines told an audience in London on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq that "We're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." Her comment sparked a backlash that led to many country stations not playing their music and that cut significantly into album sales and concert attendance. The Chicks won five Grammy's on Sunday; but according to Jim Jacobs, owner of WTDR-FM, a country radio station in Talladega, Alabama, "Most country stations aren't playing the Chicks, and they aren't going to start now."
Yahoo News article from Kristin M. Hall of the Associated Press (2-12-07)

Lawmakers Circumvent New Tougher Lobbyist Perk Rules (posted on 2-11-07)
The new Congress passed rules in January that prohibit lobbyists from paying for lawmakers' meals, trips, stadium seats, and private jet trips. However, in this new session, we've already had a lawmaker's birthday party ($1000 per lobbyist), hunting and fishing trips (typically a $5000 donation for a lobbyist to join), golf tournaments ($2500), and Broadway shows ($2500). Now, however, lobbyists pay a lawmaker's political fund-raising committee and the committee pays the lawmaker.
NY Times article by David Kirkpatrick (2-11-07)

Libby Trial Offers Look into White House Damage Control Method--- Leaking (posted on 2-10-07) 
When the CIA sent Joe Wilson to Niger in November of 2002 to confirm whether Saddam Hussein had sought uranium there, he came back and told them "No." However, Mr. Bush, in his State of the Union address of January of 2003, said that Saddam had indeed sought uranium from Niger to build a nuclear bomb.

In June of 2003, after the US invasion and the mission accomplished, Mr. Wilson wrote in the New York Timesthat the president had to have known that there was no credible evidence that Saddam had searched for uranium in Niger but said it anyway. This sent the president and vice-president into damage control, where they declassified intelligence to be leaked to reporters by Scooter Libby in order to undermine Mr. Wilson's story. At the same time, Mr. Libby was told to suggest that Mr. Wilson was sent because his wife, Valerie Plame, who worked for the CIA, had arranged a "junket" for him. Mr. Libby followed through as instructed.

Ms. Plame had been in charge of a team since before 9/11 that was gathering intelligence from Saddam Hussein's scientists about the status of Iraq's nuclear program.
seattlepi.com article by Pete Yost of the Associated Press (2-9-07)
latimes.com article by Greg Miller (2-7-07)
nationaljournal.com article by Murray Waas (4-6-06)
cnn.com (7-19-05)

President Asks for Military Funding in Separate Pieces (posted on 2-9-07) 
President Bush asked that Congress provide the Defense Department with $481.4 billion for the Fiscal Year ending September 30, 2008 earlier this week. However, this request does not nearly meet the amount that he believes the military needs. Separately, he has requested: (1) $141.7 billion to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, (2) $17.3 billion for nuclear weapons labs, and (3) $5.2 billion for the FBI. Finally, he is requesting an additional $93.4 billion to fight the wars through September 30, 2007. The total military funding "needed" that has not been funded yet is $739 billion.
slate.com article by Fred Kaplan (2-6-07)

Actress Jennifer Hudson Says She Was Emotionally Abused on "American Idol" (posted on 2-8-07)
"Dreamgirls" star and Golden Globe winning actress Jennifer Hudson made it to one of the final stages on American Idol in 2002.  In regards to her experience, she recently said, "On American Idol, you go through this mental thing: You've got to get yourself back together. You've been abused, misled and brainwashed to believe whatever they want you to think. . . . You become a character--- I became the girl in the turkey wrapping."
tvsquad.com article by Anna Johns (2-1-07)
hollywood.com article by Wenn (2-1-07)
popcrunch.com (2-1-07)

CEO Rupert Murdoch Says Fox News Tried to Shape Iraq Agenda Before the War Began (posted on 2-7-07)
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Murdoch was asked if Fox tried to shape the agenda on the war in Iraq by PBS talk show host Charlie Rose during a panel discussion. Murdoch replied, "No I don't think so. We tried. We basically supported the Bush policy in the Middle East but we have been very critical of his execution."
Adweek.com by George Szalai of The Hollywood Reporter (1-26-07)

Reverend Ted Haggard Declared "Completely Heterosexual" (2-6-07) 
One of four of the ministers who involved in three weeks of in-depth counseling for Ted Haggard announced that he is now "completely heterosexual."
New York Times article from the Associated Press (2-6-07)

Top White House Aide Describes Media Manipulation (posted on 2-3-07)
At the Scooter Libby trial, Cathie Martin, formerly Dick Cheney's communications director, took the witness stand and stated that the White House determines which journalists to provide information to based on a rating system it has developed. She also conveyed how the White House uses journalists' competitiveness for its own benefit and how White House officials provide information but sometimes ask to be identified in a misleading way.
Turkish Daily News (1-29-07)

In order to develop and maintain good relationships with government officials, journalists write the kinds of stories that their sources want to read. 

ExxonMobil-supported Think Tank Pays $10,000 to Scientists That Poke Holes in UN Global Warming Report (posted on 2-2-07) 
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has sent letters to scientists around the world offering money for their work. The AEI is a think tank which has received more than $1.6 million from ExxonMobil and has had at least 20 of its staff members work as consultants to the Bush Administration. Kenneth Green, a visiting scholar at AEI, confirmed that the organization approached scientists to write articles.
Guardian International article by Ian Sample (2-2-07)

ExxonMobil Breaks Profit Record Again (posted on 2-2-07)
ExxonMobil earned $39.5 billion in 2006, breaking its record of $36.1 billion in 2005. That works out to over $4.5 million per hour, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. No other company has ever earned more.
chron.com article by Kristen Hays (2-2-07)