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| Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It | 
 enlarge | Authors: Dick Morris, Eileen Mcgann
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  179 reviews
Sales Rank: 49
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0061547751
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.973
EAN: 9780061547751
ASIN: 0061547751
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Stated First Edition, published by HarperCollins, 2008 is in excellent condition.
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| Customer Reviews:
 War profiteering and other rip-offs. June 26, 2008
65 out of 117 found this review helpful
While there is plenty of material in this book that serves the corporatists and the agenda of Lockheed Martin, I'm glad Morris did include a segment on Halliburton's war profiteering. Documentaries like Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers do a good job of going into the details of how executives cash in when we're at war. The fleecing of this country via war-making is something that Eisenhower warned us about. Historic footage of Ike's military industrial complex speech is featured in the film Why We Fight.
I don't agree that liberals want to kill conservative talk radio, although I think most Americans want to kill corporate spin that has co-opted the term "conservative." Some of these PR agents for the business elite have even co-opted the term "Christian." Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America
Morris, like any big media celebrity and D.C. insider, should be viewed with a great deal of skepticism. Moreover, I think there are much more powerful criticisms of politicians from figures like Ralph Nader An Unreasonable Man, who was recently interviewed in the Washington Times. Nader gets to the root of our problems, and brings up issues that so many are afraid to touch.
On the larger issue of how the American people are being deceived and ripped off, I'd recommend Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) and The Corporation.
 more right wing consumerism politics bull June 26, 2008
62 out of 184 found this review helpful
For all those of you who are considering buying this book, go to Wikipedia (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Morris) and read the entry first. Read the whole thing. For whatever the faults of Obama and the Clintons, they still are head and shoulders above the Bush administration (I include John McCain now as a Bush clone in thrall to the "no-consequences-to-our-actions" neo-cons). Read the Wiki entry, all of it stuff that's on record, and see how many times Morris got things wrong. He is a gunslinger up for hire to the highest bidder. One of the worst of the bottom-feeders who exalt consumerism as a new religion and who are so cynical they'll do anything, tell any lie (all for the right amount of money) to mold public opinion with naive swing voters, those people who cannot believe that "God-fearing" politicians like Bush, McCain and cronies could possibly be that bad.
Buy This Book and You'll Be FLEECED! June 29, 2008
62 out of 139 found this review helpful
"Fleeced" is a disappointing exercise in half-truths and manipulations of the truth. For example:
"The U.S. has released 425 terrorists from Guantanamo, at least 50 of whom have returned to the bagttlefield to fight our troops." No comment on the 88% imprisonment error rate, nor the possible causing the 50 deciding to fight as a result of torture at Guantanamo.
"Barack Obama claims he's fiscally responsible. But he's called for $1 trillion in tax increases over the next ten years - and dressed them up as tax cuts. . . . In reality, no American would experience any actual tax cut (under Obama - even though he proposes eliminating the AMD for most, and ending income taxes for the 7 million seniors making less than $50,000/year and providing 150 million others with tax cuts of up to $1,000) The AMD would affect 23 million . . . generate $500 billion in extra tax revenues over the next 5 years."
Americans would be "paying over 60% income in taxes if the Democrats return to power." Here "Fleeced" omits the term "marginal tax rates" and implies the top tax rate takes effect at $97,000 - actually, at $349,701 for a joint return.
"Whenever our brave agents disrupt a terror plot, the media dismisses the culprits as a gang of idiots - lulling us into a false sense of security." The plot to blow up the JFK Airport fuel lines was then cited as such an example. Experts, however, assert that sabotaging part of the fuel system would be highly unlikely to lead to a chain explosion, that jet fuel does not produce an explosive force unless it is under pressure or vaporized, and that pipelines and tanks have safety valves to contain any mishap. Finally, the plotters had no connection to al-Qaeda in the Middle East, had been egged on by an informant, and had been under observation for 16+ months.
Another plot involved cutting the cables on the Brooklyn Bridge. However, experts do not believe that would have accomplished the desired objective - two cables snapped in 1981, without impacting the bridge.
Buyers Beware - buy this book and YOU'LL be FLEECED!
Some facts, not "I heard that...." July 5, 2008
61 out of 125 found this review helpful
There has been a lot of loose talk, from both liberals and conservatives, about what has happened to former Guantanamo detainees, so it is important to be as accurate as possible. Each side is twisting the facts to its own advantage, trying to put its own spin on fairly scanty evidence.
The latest Pentagon "fact sheet" on "former GMTMO detainee terrorist trends," dated June 13, is available here. It states that 37 former Guantanamo detainees are "confirmed or suspected" of having returned to "terrorist activities" since their release. It puts the so-called recidivism rate at "between 5 and 7 percent."
The Pentagon fact sheet names 13 former GITMO prisoners whose participation in various types of terrorist activity has been "confirmed," in most cases because they have been killed or captured on something resembling a battlefield. There is no evidence that any of the 13 killed Americans. The names range from the leader of an al-Qaeda cell in Turkey to Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti citizen who killed 7 people in a suicide bomb attack on Mosul in April. The list includes three Chechens, transferred to Russia and subsequently re-arrested for terrorist activities.
In addition to the "confirmed" terrorists, the Pentagon also cites a figure of 24 former detainees "suspected" of terrorist activity on the basis of "unverified or single-source, but plausible, reporting." None of the names on this list have been published. Without access to the names and other details, it is impossible to tell how many people on the "suspected" list have engaged in terrorist activity since their release from Guantanamo, or how many have tried to attack anything resembling an "American" target.
McCain is wrong to claim that 30 former Guantanamo detainees "have tried to attack America again." While it is true that some of the former detainees named by the Pentagon were involved in attacks against coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is a stretch to claim that Chechen separatists accused of terrorism by the Russian government were trying "to attack America." As for the former detainees merely "suspected" of terrorist activities, we have no information on what they were doing.
It is also wildly inaccurate to claim, as some have done, that at least 30 former Guantanamo detainees have been "killed or captured" on the battlefield, fighting against U.S. forces. Earlier this week, for example, Fox News commentator Dick Morris said that 50 former GITMO detainees had been "killed or captured by our forces" after being released. The Pentagon report lists one former detainee killed while fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan and one killed by Afghan forces. Another former detainee blew himself up to avoid capture by Pakistani security forces.
It is worth noting that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was a lot less specific than either McCain or Morris when asked back in May how many former detainees had "returned to the battlefield." His reply: "We don't have a lot of specific cases. We're talking about 1, 2, 3 dozen that we have data on, some information."
The other side, meanwhile, has also been loose with the facts. A report co-authored by Mark Denbeaux, a Seton Hall University School of Law professor who represents two of the Guantanamo detainees, claimed that only one former detainee "took up arms against the United States." The Pentagon report lists half a dozen former detainees fighting U.S. or coalition forces in Iraq or Afghanistan.
According to Denbeaux, the Pentagon has included former detainees who spoke out against their treatment at Guantanamo on the suspected terrorist list. A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Jeffrey Gordon, dismissed the Denbeaux report as "misleading," and said that anti-U.S. propaganda activities were not sufficient to warrant inclusion on the list.
This is a complicated and emotional issue, which makes it all the more necessary to be very precise in the definition of terms. It would have been accurate for McCain to have said that the Pentagon has confirmed that 13 former detainees have engaged in some kind of terrorist activity since their release, and suspects another 24 men of being involved in such activity. Instead he said flatly that 30 people who have been released from Guantanamo have "tried to attack America again." There is a significant difference between those two statements. (washpost.com)
Scambled Brains, Good Tid-Bits Served in a Trash Can August 9, 2008
57 out of 124 found this review helpful
Dick Morris is without question one of the most gifted observers of the US scene. He is also one of the laziest.
I no longer pay for his books, having learned that he is the intellectual equivalent of a chef that serves his food in a trash can, but a friend had it, I borrowed it, and with the sense of discomfort that comes from eating out of a trash can, here are a few thoughts.
1) This is another formula book in which 1,000 news items are lined up, darts are thrown, and rhetorical diarrhea comes out. Individually, the items are both well-known to those that read a lot, and very fine for those that do not.
2) This is also a book that puts stuff out in an unbalanced manner, ranting and railing on one thing without noting that we are equally guilty of "the other thing" that is not mentioned. See my chapter notes below.
3) This is an online-source book, the equivalent of a comic book, drawing exclusively from online sources and using so many "ibids" in the notes (not that people who buy such a book would need or both with the notes) as to be irritating.
Here are the chapters with one line comments. I end with an outline of the book I would enjoy helping Dick Morris write--he is capable of it, he just needs structure, disciple, and a bit more seriousness in his life.
1 President Obama: What Would He Do? Extreme left scary story
* Misses the point: NEITHER of the two clowns have a strategy, a policy matrix (Agriculture, Energy, and Water need to be planned together) or a balanced budget to back up their lies.
2 How the Liberal Media Downplays Terrorism. Absolutely correct--Madeline Albright started the deal.
* Ignores the 25 high crimes by Dick Cheney and the 935 documented lies told to the public to falsely connect terrorism to elective war on Iraq
3 Liberal's Secret Plan to Muzzle Talk Radio. Yawn
* Misses corruption of mainstream media, lobbying to close down Internet Radio, and breach between conservatives with a philosophical grounding and brains, and talk radio idiots that give all of us a bad name
4 The Do-Nothing Congress. Tars the Democrats.
* Ignores the reality that both parties are evil, corrupt, and lazy.
5 Foreign Companies, American Pensions, and Iranian Bomb. All true.
* Ignores fact that US sells 5 times more proliferation than Russia, 3 times more than UK, we provided Iraq with bio-chem, and "our" government loves 42 of the 44 dictators.
6 The New Lobbyists (for Foreign Interests). Duh.
* Ignores the vastly more corrosive effect of our own lobbyists.
7 The Du-baing of America. Money talks, but the authors exaggerate in their continuing anti-Clinton angst. Dick Cheney, not Bill Clinton, is the main man here.
8 The Plastic Fleece: Credit Card Company Abuse. Duh. 29.9%
* This is only possible because Congress got bought off and eliminated caps. The Bible calls it usury. Advanta, Citi-Bank, Chase, are all under investigation while smart people pay off the principal and tell them to go fish for the usurious interest.
9 Teachers. Duh. You get what you pay for, but this is much much worse--the extreme right is going for charter and church schools to create little me's, the left is accepting substandard schools, and the smartest kids know that schools are so out of date as to be worthless.
10 Released from Guantanamo, They Kill Again. Please. Try looking at our own prison population, and then be serious about the role of morality in domestic and international standing and efficacy.
11 How Hedge Fund Billionaires Live Off Tax Breaks
*which they paid for because we let them
12 How the Teachers' Union Rips off its Members
* All Unions are a disgrace and rip off their members.
13 Re-Building Luxury Second Homes in Flood Area at Our Expense. Right on.
* Now try to understand and explain why we continue t o legitimize paving over nature
14 The Subprime Loan Crisis: Why the Greedy are Going Free
* Please. We all know the Feds settle white collar crime at a penny on the dollar. This is news?
15 How Halliburton Rips Off the Pentagon
* Please. 9-11 missile allegedly destroyed the computers with the forensic evidence of the 2.3 trillion Rumsfeld could not account for; Dick Cheney ordered to sole source for Halliburton and sent Paul Bremer in to stop a "premature" withdrawal of US forces until Halliburton was done looting
16 Blocking Toys that Poison Children from China. Duh.
* What about fair trade versus free trade, end of Big Box Swindle stores like Wal-Mart, etcetera?
17 How Company Bill Clinton Works for Fleeces the Vulnerable Elderly. More angst, need therapy.
* Reality is that the federal government is ripping everybody off, to the point that Buffet, Bogle, and Soros are actually worried that Wall Street corruption has gone too far
18 From Movie Lights to Lighting Up: How Films Induce Teens to Smoke. So tired its dead.
* What about success of abstinence and safe sex, the actual REDUCTION of teen smoking, the new-found teen appreciation for body building?
Dick Morris is gifted, and he sells his gifts in ways that bring in money from the light weight minds. Here's the book he could write before November:
INDEPENDENCE NOW
Part I: Strategy for Restoring the Republic
Part II: How Wall Street and Government Profit from Each of the Ten High-Level Threats to Humanity
Part III: How We the People Can Restore Public Interest Across the Twelve Policy Domains
Part IV: How We the People Can Build and Play the EarthGame and Operate Spaceship Earth Without Government and Corporate Corruption
Learn more at Earth Intelligence Network. Dick, you know where to find me. Try being a grown-up.
Better books on the details:
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
The Closing of the American Mind
High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
Good News Books:
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace
Run, Dick, Run! See Dick Go.
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