Speak out: stop using tax dollars for propaganda

It's been all over the news-- excuse me, the blogosphere. The administration has used hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to produce and disseminate videos that look for all the world like evening news stories. The thing is, these 'press releases' are utter fabrications. They star PR firm employees as reporters, and they sing the praises of W's policies to the exclusion of any other opinions.

The GAO, or Government Accountability Office, has repeatedly cited these 'press releases' as unlawful propaganda unwittingly funded by American taxpayers. According to the WaPo, this is the White House line: "The Bush administration, rejecting an opinion from the [GAO], said last week that it is legal for federal agencies to feed TV stations prepackaged news stories that do not disclose the government's role in producing them."
(Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35010-2005Mar14.html)

The Bush administration claims that it can use our dollars to sell us on their proposals-- even if they sell it to us disguised as the evening news. But we can take action. And I'd encourage all of you to follow the link above and sign the petition. While you're at it, take a minute to write your own original comments-- e-mails that simply parrot the same line (aka Astroturf) don't get as much attention. Speak out, and spread the word.