News Roundup for 1/5/09

Probably the only person who actually reads Ann Coulter

-Headline of the day-
"Group finds more than a dozen lies in Coulter's latest book."

Wow, there's a shocker, huh? According to Media Matters, Coulter's latest book, "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America," is pretty much total bullshit. Among the most ridiculous is that FOX News has "never been caught promoting a fraud." The truth is that they have at least three shows dedicating to doing just that; Fox and Friends, whatever Sean Hannity's calling his trainwreck these days, and Bill O'Reilly.

She also paints the propaganda group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as paragons of virtue and claims they got almost no media coverage in 2004. The only way you could believe that is to have been born after '04. And, if you're reading already, you're way too smart to read this crap anyway.

Ask yourself this; how solid can your belief-system be if the only arguments you can come up with to support it are lies? Of course, she'll do what she always does -- get some right wing crank foundation to buy a billion copies and make it a bestseller. Seriously, have you ever seen anyone reading one of these things? Isn't it weird how no one reads this crap, but they're always runaway bestsellers? (Raw Story)


-We could've used more 'successes' like this-
Bush-worshipping neocons Fred Barnes and Bill Kristol met with George W. Bush last Friday. Asked what he thought his greatest domestic policy accomplishment was, Bush said it would have to be his push to privatize Social Security. You know, the push that failed. Miserably.

Of course, it's hard to come up with any domestic achievements, let alone ones worth bragging about. There were the top-heavy tax cuts, which didn't turn out to be all that great an idea, and the massively effed up Medicare Drug Benefit. I think that's about it.

Wow, that's not much. Maybe Bush thought he was the President of Iraq or something. (Think Progress)


-Maybe he can hire Blackwater-
Being an ex-president is actually a pretty sweet deal. According to the report, Bush walks away from the White house with "a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers' expense."

There's a problem though, Bush will be the first former exec to fall under a law from the '90s limiting Secret Service protection to ten years. This seems like exactly the wrong president to stop protecting. You'd have to hunt long and hard to find a man more hated in the world. I don't like the guy, but come on...

Still, it's not like he's broke. He was a bazillionaire going into this thing and he'll be a bazillionaire coming out of it. He can afford his own security. And, as a pension, he'll get somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 a year -- which is a pretty ritzy neighborhood for a retired guy.

Could be worse. He could -- and should -- be in prison, where security isn't much of a problem. Given the options, you don't hear George complaining. (McClatchy)