Joe Hack

It is reported that Fox News, the house-channel of the Republican party, was caught with its pants down sabotaging Wikipedia entries. The Wikipedia is a hugely successful and valuable wordwide  resource that relies on the honesty and integrity of its contributers, who can submit and amend entries to the internet encycopaedia . Fox News has allegedly been abusing this to change the Wikipedia entries of their critics and competition (like Al Franken) .  A scanning device introduced by Wikipedia was able to trace the changes back to a Fox News IP address.

Here is an example of a Wikipedia entry which originally (and accurately) read :

- The lawsuit focused a great deal of media attention upon Franken’s book and greatly enhanced its sales. Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the National Public Radio program “Fresh Air” on September 3, 2003, Franken said that Fox’s case against him was “literally laughed out of court” and that “wholly (holy) without merit” is a good characterization of Fox News itself.

but this is how it was altered by Fox :

- The lawsuit focused a great deal of media attention upon Franken’s book and greatly enhanced its sales. Reflecting later on the lawsuit during an interview on the liberal National Public Radio program “Fresh Air” on September 3, 2003, Franken said that Fox’s case against him was the best thing to happen to his book sales.

Walken is not the only one who’s entry suffered in this way. Also targeted by Fox were  Keith Olbermann, Chris Wallace,  Shepard Smith and Brit Hume.

Many companies use Wikipedia to build their own image, reputation and search rankings, but when it comes to damaging the Wikipedia entries of their competition and changing actual comments this clearly crosses the line. Misrepresenting the sense of what someone says is the direct opposite of what any news channel should be doing, but of course few outside of the US regard Fox news as a legitimate or even serious ‘news channel’. Their daily editorial ‘memos’, directing what the public should see, are alleged to closely mirror the official Republican ‘talking points’ on any given day. Generally speaking Fox news, although popular with some sections of the American public, is notorious around the world for its unbalanced and biased reporting.

Tags:activism Bush dirty tricks fox news Political News president Republicansactivism, Bush, dirty tricks, fox news, Political News, president, Republicans

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George Bushs brain (as he is generally known) Karl Rove appears unlikely to slip quietly into retirement. Bush ’strategists’ in the last two elections plumbed new depths in dirty tactics and we wait uneasily for the tidal wave of black propoganda in the run up to the next election but it seems that there is every possibility that in the coming weeks Rove will begin to direct attacks on Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton. You would think this was  a just another sign that Bush is running scared but  is it as straightforward as it seems ? With Rove few things ever are. Is  he is worried about Clinton? Or is there a calculation that the attacks on her will get Democrats to rally behind her because Bush is even more scared of the other contenders ?

“The Democrats are going to choose a nominee. I believe it’s going to be her,” President Bush’s departing political adviser said on Sunday. Rove, not an elected politician or accountable in any way to the public, nevertheless found it necessary to appear on THREE Sunday talk shows after announcing last week he was leaving the White House at the end of the month to spend more time with his family.  Asked why he was helping Clinton by saying she would headline the ticket, Rove said disingenuously: “Didn’t know that I was. Don’t think that I am.”. Yeah right Karl ! You’re just a babe in the woods at negative politicking. We all believe that.

Rove followed up with harsh remarks about Hilary Clintons negative public opnion ratings. Well lets think back a little, shall we ?  In 2004 Bush’s re-election team aimed its harshest comments at John Kerry, the eventual nominee, because it wanted Bush to take on Kerry rather than Edwards, then a senator from North Carolina. Thats not my opinion.  Thats what Bush’s former pollster and strategist Matthew Dowd reportedly said at a 2004 Harvard University conference, that Bush’s re-election team went after Kerry because they were more afraid of Edwards. Don’t you just love honest politics ?

Asked whether he was attacking Clinton because the GOP feared Obama, Rove replied: “I read that in the LA Times this morning. Those, those guys out in LA have got to get clued in. I mean, come on.” Asked for his opinions on Obama, Rove demurred. “I’ve said enough,” he said.  You have to laugh. Right again Karl. You wouldn’t ever want to manipulate public opinion or anything, would you ?

At a Democratic debate in Iowa on Sunday, Clinton responded to Rove’s criticism. “I don’t think Karl Rove is going to endorse me, but I find it interesting that he’s obsessed with me,” she said. She said no candidate will escape the “Republican attack machine,” and added: “I know how to beat them.”

Last week, Clinton’s campaign ran a television ad saying struggling families and U.S. troops are “invisible” to Bush. White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino called that “unconscionable.” Rove said that was laughable.  Hmmm .. but are the thousands of struggling American families and the neglected and ignored troops really laughing Karl ? I wonder.

Rove, in the news recently over the unamerican dirty tricks that saw Scooter Libby handed a jail sentance, also commented that he doesn’t think he owes an apology to Valerie Plame who was ‘outed’ as a CIA operative by newspaper columnist Robert Novak’s in 2003, shortly after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, began criticizing the administration’s rush to war in Iraq. Rove said he had indeed talked to Novak about Plame, but said he did not confirm that she worked for the CIA only that he, too, had heard that she did.

Predicting that Democratic-led investigations into  U.S. attorney firings and other matters would follow him after he quits the White House , a decision he insisted was not in response to probes on Capitol Hill, Rove said .. ..”They’ll keep after me,” . Well lets really hope so Karl. There are a LOT of questions still to be answered about the Valerie Plame scandal that saw the life of a loyal American CIA operative put at risk for political revenge and about the rumbling scandal of the US attorney firings that is not about to go away. The country needs some answers.

Rove appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

-Tags:Bush CIA operative Clinton karl rove Political News presidential candidacy republican Republicans whitehouseBush, CIA operative, Clinton, karl rove, Political News, presidential candidacy, republican, Republicans, whitehouse

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America can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Karl Rove, President Bush’s longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, marking a turning point for the Bush presidency. Mr. Rove’s departure removes one of the White House’s most hated and polarizing figures, and undoubtedly signals the end of the lame duck administration’s role in shaping major domestic policy decisions. Mr. Rove, generally known as ‘George Bushs brain’ recently revealed his plans for quitting to the The Wall Street Journal.

A Whitehouse spokesman said “Obviously it’s a big loss to us, “he’s a great colleague, a good friend, and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed, but we know he wouldn’t be going if he wasn’t sure this was the right time to be giving more to his family, his wife Darby and their son. He will continue to be one of the president’s greatest friends.”

Mr. Rove, 56 years old, has been embroiled in many White House controversies in Mr. Bush’s second term, and faced investigation — but somehow miraculously escaped indictement — in the scandalous White House leak case that brought down Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. He also has become a target of intense scrutiny in Congress over the firings of a number of U.S. attorneys in an alleged attempt to subvert the American justice system, a charge far more serious than that which saw Nixon booted out of office. Mr. Rove and his political operatives in the White House had some involvement with the decision, but the extent of their role remains murky, because the White House has shamefully asserted executive privilege in refusing to comply with congressional demands for documents and interviews, including with Mr. Rove. Mr. Rove’s departure is likely to lessen the intensity of that potential constitutional clash.

Mr Rove was allegedly the mastermind behind the unholy alliance between the Bush neo-con camp and the loony-toon religious right that swept the republicans to power initially but which has since degenerated into bitter bickering over failed expectations. Whenever there were dirty tricks to be played in the political arena, reputations to be ruined, decent men and women to be smeared, there are those who claimed to see the hand of Karl Rove at work. So his departure will be seen by many as a serious loss to Bush, but a huge victory for America and the American people.

-Tags:Bush cheney Iraq iraq war karl rove Political Rants president Republicans terrorism unpopular president US courts whitehouseBush, cheney, Iraq, iraq war, karl rove, Political Rants, president, Republicans, terrorism, unpopular president, US courts, whitehouse

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