My Zen Arcade

Is there any part of this government we’ve brought upon ourselves that ISN’T lying to the public?

The VA claimed there were 790 attempted suicides in 2007, when, in actuality there are 1000 suicide attempts a month???  Oh, yes, we must hide this.

From: Katz, Ira R.
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:27 AM
To: Chasen, Ev
Subject: FW: Not for the CBS News Interview Request

Shh!

Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see at our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?

From: Chasen, Ev
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 11:40 AM
To: Katz, Ira R.

I think this is something we should discuss among ourselves, before issuing a release. Is the fact that we’re stooping them good news, or is the sheer number bad news? […]

So, in case you missed it, yes, we know, we were lied to, and have continually been lied to, about the Iraq war.
Here’s a couple snippets from the NYT article.

Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

–
John C. Garrett is a retired Marine colonel and unpaid analyst for Fox News TV and radio. He is also a lobbyist at Patton Boggs who helps firms win Pentagon contracts, including in Iraq

At the same time, in e-mail messages to the Pentagon, Mr. Garrett displayed an eagerness to be supportive with his television and radio commentary. “Please let me know if you have any specific points you want covered or that you would prefer to downplay,” he wrote in January 2007, before President Bush went on TV to describe the surge strategy in Iraq.

–
A few expressed regret for participating in what they regarded as an effort to dupe the American public with propaganda dressed as independent military analysis.

“It was them saying, ‘We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you,’ ” Robert S. Bevelacqua, a retired Green Beret and former Fox News analyst, said.

–

Kenneth Allard, a former NBC military analyst who has taught information warfare at the National Defense University, said the campaign amounted to a sophisticated information operation. “This was a coherent, active policy,” he said.

As conditions in Iraq deteriorated, Mr. Allard recalled, he saw a yawning gap between what analysts were told in private briefings and what subsequent inquiries and books later revealed.

“Night and day,” Mr. Allard said, “I felt we’d been hosed.”

More than anything, this shows the absolute contempt the Bush Administration feels towards the people they serve.

But we knew that.

And how horrible the media is for helping them.

And we knew that too.

Well, some of us did.

Of course.  Because we always think about the children.

On the plus side, it looks like the states are about the tell GW to go to hell.  It stuns me that an elected official would put restrictions on how states dole out healthcare.  Oh, right, don’t want to screw those big insurance companies that donate so much money and have such powerful lobbyists.

GAO says Bush violated federal law (again)

The Bush administration violated federal law last year when it restricted states’ ability to provide health insurance to children of middle-income families, and its new policy is therefore unenforceable, lawyers from the Government Accountability Office said Friday.

Some days, after hearing about McCain not supporting the GI Bill expansion, after watching the MSM rip into Obama because of some poorly chosen (though ultimately accurate) words, after seeing Clinton use that same cheap attack, after watching some of the worst political reporting in history, I almost want to move into the mountains and set up an armed compound.

And on the topic of Clinton…please…drop out.  You will not become president this round.  I’m sorry, but its true.  There are only two ways this can go for you.

1. You don’t win the nomination.  And so you don’t become president.
2. You win the nomination by getting enough super-delegates to overcome Obama’s lead, basically over-riding the will of the people.  That splits the party.  McCain wins.  You don’t become president.

Personally, a big-ass disaster for the Democratic party might be just what we need.  My concern is the timing.  The fact of the matter is that McCain is a promise of 4 more years of a failed administration.  McCain is completely unqualified in knowledge, experience, and temperment for the office of president.  We have real people with real problems.  Its time we started acting like they matter, like the 57% increase in foreclosures matters, like the fact that there’s no end in sight to the bloodshed in Iraq, like the fact that the rich get richer and the poor are just shuffled off.

McCain doesn’t care.  Maybe he used to care, but he’s decided he gets more votes from the filthy rich who don’t have any problems.

Hm.  I think I always get a little pissed at the rich around tax time.  Not because they make more than i do.  But its the complaining.  Look, I make a decent living.  I’m not rich, but I’m doing pretty good, probably better than my parents ever did.  I consider myself to be part of the ‘group that always gets screwed’ when it comes to taxes.  Not enough wealth that anyone cares about me, not poor enough to be a cause.  And I’m OK with that.  I pay my taxes.  I do so, basically, without complaint (I don’t necessarily think we spend our money wisely…).  I can’t stand people making twice what I do who then bitch because maybe this year they can’t buy the third house so they can vacation on the east coast AND west coast.  That sickens me.

I like being part of this country.  I like having roads, and hospitals, and firemen.  I like having services and defense and all that.  I know that my taxes going to help the poor also helps me, and that someday I may need that same help.   I am an American, and I am a patriot.  And I believe we should stand together or not at all.

What about you?

Well, I suppose it really doesn’t look very good to get filthy rich (or, I guess, filthier richer) off of the suffering of your Lord.  Of course, it could also be that he’s unchristian in his greed and doesn’t want to share.  You make the call.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Mel Gibson, who’s being sued by a writer over payment for the “The Passion of the Christ” screenplay, wants to keep financial information about the blockbuster movie out of the public eye.

Benedict Fitzgerald claimed in his February lawsuit that Gibson misled him into accepting a small payment for writing the script by saying the movie would cost between $4 million and $7 million.

Fitzgerald, who shared screenwriting credits with Gibson, claimed he agreed to “a salary substantially less than what he would have taken had he known the true budget for the film,” which the lawsuit claimed was $25 million to $50 million. The lawsuit claims fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, and seeks unspecified damages.

In court filings Tuesday, attorneys for Gibson and his production company asked the court to seal the movie’s financial records and only allow Fitzgerald’s lawyers access to them. The information details the movie’s domestic and foreign box office receipts, production costs and distribution expenses.

The defense is also seeking to dismiss some of Fitzgerald’s claims, including fraud, which if proven would allow Fitzgerald to seek punitive damages.

This makes me happy. I remember, in Cambridge, noticing the interest rates on this crap and wondering how that could be a refund. Then NPR did a thing on people who were desperate and taking these loans (and thats what they are) because they simply couldn’t get by without the money.

Jerry Brown Takes On H&R Block - News Story - KNTV | San Francisco

Just as “rapid refund” time has come for millions of taxpayers, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Monday H&R Block is in fact duping its customers.

Brown said customers are not getting “rapid refunds,” but rather a high-priced loan, with interest rates of 80 percent or higher.