Finally, the prospects are brightening that George W. Bush and his neoconservative allies might face some accountability for their endless deceptions, their high-handed governance of the United States and their repeated trampling of international law, according to Robert Parry at ConsortiumNews.Com.

As unlikely as it might have seemed just a few months ago, he reports, the mid-term congressional elections in 2006 are shaping up as not only a pivotal political moment but a referendum on what Bush has done over the previous five years.

It’s a chance for Americans to say No to “preemptive wars” fought for trumped-up reasons; No to torture and other violations of civilized behavior; No to record federal budget deficits; No to rampant cronyism that has become business as usual - from Halliburton's contracts in Iraq, to Jack Abramoff's lobbying of Congress, to the mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina and other federal emergencies.

Poll after poll reveals a political awakening across the United States, a shaking off of the drug-like sleep of propaganda. Belatedly, large numbers of Americans are demanding the truth. They want to know how their great country was led so far off course.

In our view, a big part of that answer lies with what happened inside the major U.S. news media, which today can be viewed as split between a powerful conservative message machine and an intimidated mainstream media that fears angering Bush, a mix of bullies and the bullied.

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