News Hounds

Springtime for Hitler

Reported by Donna - Wed 11:04 PM

Just thought we'd get your attention by borrowing Mel Brooks broadway show tune from The Producers. Happy springtime to all of our readers and commenters at News Hounds. We here at News Hounds have quarterly donation drives - our last drive took place during the winter holidays. Now it's spring and donation time is here once again. We've decided to extend our donation drive for a few days since so many people are home this week on spring break.

We're growing and we, like your local pbs stations, have a need for periodic donation drives. We only do them 4 times a year (of course, donations are welcome anytime) but we like to focus on these four seasonal donations to keep us growing (everyone can certainly appreciate computer hardware/software going out of date in addition to various expenditures). Payments are done easily from the donation button on our front page - and if you don't like using a debit/credit card, we are also set up for checks through the same system. We've also added some exciting bonus plans for this donation season.

Happy Easter!

Reported by Chrish - Sun 01:31 AM

News Hounds wish our friends, families, and colleagues a lovely and happy Easter!

Breaking: Another Friday afternoon bombshell - Cheney authorized leak of then-highly classified info

Reported by Chrish - Sat 03:17 AM

Murray Waas of the National Journal reports Friday, April 14, 2006 that

Vice President Dick Cheney directed his then-chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on July 12, 2003 to leak to the media portions of a then-highly classified CIA report that Cheney hoped would undermine the credibility of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, according to Libby's grand jury testimony in the CIA leak case and sources who have read the classified report.

Read the rest here.

We'll be watching for the depth of coverage that this story deserves over the weekend (snort). If true to form, by Monday it will be "old news" and the FOX researchers will have found another family tragedy to exploit or Democratic faux pas to harp on.

Is Sean Hannity toning down his shtick?

Reported by Chrish - Sat 02:37 AM

As noted last Monday, Sean Hannity seemed uncharacteristically subdued (like he was coming down with a cold) but the producers made up for it by having over-the-top Michelle Dallacroce channeling him. Tuesday night he seemed to be under the influence of cold medication, relaxed and low-key yet somehow still obnoxious.

Update on News Hound Nancy

Reported by Chrish - Sat 01:54 AM

Our regular readers know News Hound Nancy has been absent for some months now. She will continue to be on an extended leave of absence as we hope she can join us again someday.

Two Lusty Teacher Stories Appear Just In Time For FOX

Reported by Deborah - Fri 11:28 PM

It seemed like FOX was running out of diversions recently and might have been tempted to report real news. No beautiful white girls have been missing or murdered lately. In fact last night Greta was forced to do a segment about a grisly murder of a young girl in Bermuda that happened 10 years ago. Today Fox News luck changed and two lusty teacher stories appeared. One of the teachers was very young, blonde and liked to pose seductively for photos and the other wanted to murder her husband. Talk about a FOX jackpot!

Fox Blames the Deficit on Tax Cheats

Reported by Melanie - Fri 06:27 PM

Today (April 14, 2006) on Your World w/Cavuto, Neil Cavuto hosted a roundtable discussion about people who withhold a portion of their income taxes to protest U.S. government war spending. The four participants were, as Cavuto called them, "the Cost of Freedom all-stars," meaning they were cast members from Fox's Saturday morning "block" of four "business news" shows which Fox collectively refers to as the "Cost of Freedom."

Happy Little Birds in Happy Little Iraq

Reported by Janie - Fri 01:59 PM

Last night (4/13) as I was watching "Special Report with Brit Hume", I was a bit startled by how Hume attempted to portray Iraq as tranquil and serene, even claiming that most provinces are secure and calm (so calm that 65,000 people have had to flee their homes). Yet, what startled me even more was what was happening in the background of the desperately upbeat Iraq story.

Fox & Friends Discuss " Alien Invasion"

Reported by Deborah - Fri 12:31 PM

The F&F; trio, Steve Doocy, ED Hill and Brian Kilmeade, discussed the upcoming May 1st boycott over a biased banner reading " Alien Invasion". Usually F&F; pretends the chatitorials are informal conversations between friends but that ploy was impossible today with the biased banner shouting their message.4/14/06

Miss Moral Clarity Ann Coulter Can't Make Up Her Mind

Reported by Judy - Fri 12:14 PM

Conservatives like Ann Coulter like to pretend that all issues have simple answers, which they alone know, and from which they never waver. But Miss Moral Clarity, Ann Coulter, could not make up her mind about rounding up illegal immigrants during her appearance on Fox News' "OReilly Factor" on Thursday (April 13, 2006). Watch the video of Waffle Coulter.

Special Report's Two Minutes of Hate for Thursday April 13th

Reported by Janie - Fri 09:47 AM

Yesterday on Special Report with Brit Hume's "Two Minutes of Hate" (also known as the "Grapevine"), one of the quick sound bites focused on Karl Rove's opinion of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Big Story Proof of successful messaging

Reported by Chrish - Fri 02:23 AM

On the "Your Word" segment of The Big Story today 4/13/06 a writer to the program was Exhibit A for what happens when you get all your news from FOX, day after day. The fact that they actually read and showed the email only served to reinforce the faulty impression the woman had already gotten from FOX - a self-perpetuating cycle of ignorance.

Another Night Of Punishment For Alabama Teacher On Hannity & Colmes

Reported by Deborah - Thu 11:15 PM

Last night on H&C;, a teacher from Alabama, Steve White got the FOX treatment for showing his 8th grade a questionable video. Chrish posted about the segment and it seems that both Hannity & Colmes were calling for him to be fired. White was running for a House seat in AL. and last night his Republican challenger was the guest on H&C; denying political motivation. Despite the fact that Democrats asked White to withdraw from the race on 4/12 and he is on leave from his job and under investigation, the lynching continued tonight. 4/13/06

Fox News: Censoring the Internet

Reported by Judy - Thu 08:06 PM

Fox NewsThursday (April 13, 2006) let a Christian activist promote the idea that a corporation should censor and gag those who use its facilities because she doesn't like the ideas being discussed.

Super Sleaze Me (and Super Piss Me Off!)

Reported by Melanie - Thu 08:00 PM

Every once in a while - maybe every six months - I see something on Fox that absolutely infuriates me. Fox does something that is so immoral, so unethical, or so deceitful that it sends me into a rage. I start to shake. I tell my husband what happened while I pound the counter and yell. I begin to type, whipping out an almost incoherent post until I realize that I need to stop, get a glass of wine, sit out on the deck for a few minutes (like, sixty), and try to calm down.

Today was one of those days.

War Dead & Injured

Reported by Melanie - Thu 06:55 PM

Please ignore the "posted on" date. This post is updated approximately every seven days.

Total US military deaths in Iraq (April 16, 2006)
(from all causes):
2,376

Total US military deaths and injuries in Afghanistan (April 16, 2006)
(from all causes):
995

Total US military injured in Iraq (April 16, 2006):
Minimum 17,469

Total UK military injured in Iraq (April 16, 2006):
790

Total estimated Iraqi deaths (April 16, 2006)
(from all causes):
Minimum 30,000
Maximum 107,500+

Total estimated Afghani deaths (April 16, 2006):
This information isn't available anywhere.

Total "coalition" deaths (April 16, 2006):
Great Britain: 104 (To cut troop levels by 10% in May, 2006)
Bulgaria: 13
Denmark: 2
El Salvador: 2
Estonia: 2
Hungary: 1 (Troops have withdrawn.)
*Italy: 26
Kazakhstan: 1
Latvia: 1
Netherlands: 2
Poland: 17
Spain: 11 (Troops have withdrawn.)
Slovakia: 3
Thailand: 2 (Troops have withdrawn.)
Ukraine: 18*

The "Coalition of the Willing" is rapidly shrinking. Here is the state of the "coalition" as of March 15, 2005, from London's TimesOnLine, a News Corp. publication:

HOW THE NUMBERS ADD UP:

STAYING: US 150,000 (military personnel); Britain 8,850; South Korea 3,600; Italy 3,000; Australia 900 (up to 1,350 by April); Romania 800, up to 900; Japan 600; Denmark 500; El Salvador 380; Georgia 300, up to 800; Mongolia 180; Azerbaijan 150; Latvia 120; Lithuania 100; Slovakia 100; Czech Republic 90; Albania 70; Estonia 50; Tonga 40; Kazakhstan 30; Macedonia 30; Moldova 25

LEAVING: Netherlands 1,500; Ukraine (begins pullout 12-2-05); Poland 1,700 (reducing by half). Bulgaria and Ukraine will begin withdrawing their combined 1,250 troops in December, 2005.

GONE: Spain 1,300; Thailand 460; Hungary 300; Honduras 370; Dominican Republic 300; Nicaragua 115; Portugal 127; New Zealand 60; Philippines 50; Norway 10.

* January 19, 2006: Italy Sets Deadline for Troop Withdrawal.
----------------------------------
Sources:
Antiwar.com
Iraq Body Count
Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
News Hounds
Scotsman

Who's the Biggest Butt Head on Fox News?

Reported by Judy - Thu 05:30 PM

That’s a headline that has been begging for a story to go with it. Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” finally provided one on Thursday (April 13, 2006). And we've got the video to go with it.

College Aid Gap Bigger Than Ever

Reported by Donna - Thu 04:33 PM

On Studio B with Shepard Smith today he reported that the gap between college aid and the cost of going to college was at it's biggest ever. Seems cuts have been made to financial aid programs while college costs continue to rise, at a rate of over 6% last year, consistently higher than inflation.

Comment: Kim Clark from U.S. News & World Report was the guest who spoke with Smith about a child entering college today would pay on average $90,000 for a college education. For children born now estimated costs are $161,000 for attending an in-state school, $241,000 for out of state college costs and private colleges? $331,000. All this and this administration is cutting back on financial aid and Ms. Clark said the result of this is low and middle class children are not entering college and that's not good. I'll say.

Iran Nuke Showdown - Continues

Reported by Donna - Thu 04:14 PM

For the third day in a row, Studio B covered the Iran Nuke Showdown with this saying splashed across the screen and ominous music plaing in the background.

Not much new to report today, though. It seems the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says that there is no proof that Iran is enriching uranium. Although Smith reported that he also said what was going on in Iran was 'unclear.'

Funny Segment on War on The Easter Bunny Has Shepard Smith Holding His Tongue

Reported by Donna - Thu 04:11 PM

At the end of Studio B with Shepard Smith he sometimes has the huorous segment, 'And Then There's This......' Todays' segement was about a German man suing the Easter Bunny in court for getting him hooked on chocolate. After saying there was no comment from the Easter Bunny Smith said, "Not to be confused with said war on Easter which appears each evening on ........(pause, you could see him checking himself)..........an...evening program on this channel."

Hmmmmm.....wonder which show Smith could possibly be thinking about - he certainly hesitated, was he afraid of getting in trouble with a more powerful personality on Fox News?