skin the fox

SkinTheFox.com

In 1996, Fox News began broadcasting extreme right propaganda labeled "fair and balanced" reporting.

Fox "News" today is little more than an advertising arm of the current White House administration. With a clear intent : disseminate false information to support a government administration that came to power under questionable circumstances; maintain a government administration that remains in power through more questionable circumstances; and disseminate false and misleading information to the American People to support that current [and questionable] government administration.

We, the American People, will no longer tolerate or support advertising or political propaganda in the guise of "news." We will no longer tolerate or accept the brainwashing of America. We will no longer tolerate or support any sponsor who financially supports or contributes to Fox News' continued and mis-labeled "journalistic" practices.

PURPOSE ::: LETTER ::: FOX NEWS SPONSORS ::: BOYCOTT O' THE WEEK :::

NEWS ::: CONTRIBUTORS ::: LINK UP ::: THE STUFF ::: <-- those are links monkey boy

ANDY SCHUB

Andrew Schub is our Newsletter Contributing Editor. He will be posting weekly stories on things Bush and Fox News you may not know about but should, may know about but do not know enough about, or may know about but dagnabbit you just need to know more.

HYPOCRITICAL CARE
by Andrew Schub

Terri Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state since suffering a cardiac arrest and a subsequent severe loss of oxygen to her brain in February 1990. Although her heart continued to pump blood unassisted, and her lungs continued breathing on their own, she was unable to swallow, and was put on a feeding tube.

In February 2000, a Florida judge ruled there was clear and convincing evidence Terri would choose not to receive life-prolonging medical care in her condition and ordered the feeding tube removed. Terri's parents disagreed with that verdict, and have been waging a legal battle against Terri's husband to keep Terri alive ever since.

The laws that govern these sad situations differ from state to state, so why is the (Republican controlled) Federal Government getting involved now, nearly 15 years after the fact? To hear them tell it, it is because they care about all human life. Bush himself has said, "This is a complex case with serious issues, but in extraordinary circumstances like this, it is wisest to always err on the side of life."

That is what Bush says. However --

While Bush was governor of Texas, he presided over more executions during his five-year tenure in Austin than any other governor in the nation since capital punishment was reinstated. And never once let "extraordinary circumstances" stand in the way of executing a prisoner on death row.

TIME: TEXAS EXECUTION TESTS LIMITS

In fact, looking at Bush's record as governor, it is hard to imagine a circumstance he would define as "extraordinary." In a Chicago Tribune investigation of all 131 death row executions during Governor Bush's tenure:

In one-third of those cases, the lawyers who represented the death penalty defendant at trial or on appeal had been or were later disbarred or otherwise sanctioned.

In 40 cases the lawyers presented no evidence at all or only one witness at the sentencing phase of the trial.

In 29 cases, the prosecution used testimony from psychiatrists who testified without examining the defendant -- a practice condemned professionally as unethical.

COMMON DREAMS NEWS: BUSH EXECUTIONS

Bush does not seem too concerned about "erring on the side of life" when it comes to foreign policy and the "war on terror" either. Even ignoring the large number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed, and the number of American soldiers who have died, the number of Iraqi prisoners who have died in US custody is chilling:

At least 108 people have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them violently, according to government data provided to The Associated Press. And roughly a quarter of those deaths have been investigated as possible abuse by U.S. personnel.

ABC NEWS: 108 DIED IN U.S. CUSTODY

To put that figure in perspective, the number of American POWs that died in North Vietnamese captivity during the Vietnam War is 114. That is 114 POWs dying from all causes over the entire course of the Vietnam War. US troops have almost topped that number in under two years.

VIETNAM WAR STATISTICS

But maybe it is unfair to compare non-medical situations to medical situations. Certainly there are different circumstances involved in the case of a retarded man awaiting execution on death row, or an Iraqi citizen in U.S. custody, than there are in the case of a woman who has been in a vegetative state for the past 15 years. However --

When Bush was governor of Texas, he signed into law a bill called The Texas Futile Care Law.

The Texas Futile Care Law gives hospitals the right to remove a patient¹s life support if that patient cannot pay for treatment and there is no hope of revival -- regardless of the patient's family's wishes.

The Texas Futile Care Law was used just this month to remove life support from a six-month-old baby named Sun Huston.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE : BABY DIES AFTER HOSPITAL REMOVES BREATHING TUBE

Sun Huston had a fatal congenital disease, but would have been kept alive -- if his mother had been able to pay for his medical treatment, or if she had been able to find another institution willing to take him.

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW: SPIN BUSTER

Bush's claim of "erring on the side of life" does not show up often. So why now, and why Terri Schiavo?

The answer is clear in a memo circulated to Republicans on the floor of the Senate (rumored to have been written by someone in Rick Santorum's office):

S. 529., The Incapacitated Person's Legal Protection Act:

•Teri [sic] Schiavo is subject to an order that her feeding tubes will be disconnected on March 18, 2005 at 1p.m.

•The Senate needs to act this week, before the Budget Act is pending business, or Terri's family will not have a remedy in federal court.

•This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue.

•This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a cosponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats.

•The bill is very limited and defines custody as "those parties authorized or directed by a court order to withdraw or withhold food, fluids, or medical treatment."

•There is an exemption for a proceeding "which no party disputes, and the court finds, that the incapacitated person while having capacity, had executed a written advance directive valid under applicable law that clearly authorized the withholding or [sic] withdrawl [sic] of food and fluids or medical treatment in the applicable circumstances."

•Incapacitated persons are defined as those "presently incapable of making relevant decisions concerning the provision, withholding or withdrawl [sic] of food fluids or medical treatment under applicable state law."

•This legislation ensures that individuals like Terri Schiavo are guaranteed the same legal protections as convicted murderers like Ted Bundy.

ABC NEWS : GOP TAKING POINTS ON TERRI SCHIAVO

The Administration does not care about the life or death of Terri Schiavo, just as it does not care about the lives of American soldiers, the lives of citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan, or the life of a poor black infant in Texas.

The Administration cares about pleasing a "pro-life" political base and taking advantage of a "great political issue" the Bush regime considers "tough for Democrats."

The Administration is also extremely happy to have something new to distract the country with while the two-year anniversary of the "war" in Iraq passes, while Republicans change the bankruptcy laws,and while Tom DeLay tries to dodge scandal after mounting scandal.

Andrew Schub

* updated 03.28.05

Past News : read past news issues by Andy and guest contributors.