Bush reccomended doubling NED's funding- SOTU

[CivilRightsNow]

This is what NED is, this is who runs NED right now. I know it's a shitload of information, but read some of it. A current democratic hopeful sits on its board. That concerns me a great deal. NED, in general concerns me.. and now that Bush is asking to double it's funding it concerns me even more.



Links about NED:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/fpbriefs/fpb-027.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul134.html - Republican Senator Ron Paul on NED

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/Reagan_CIA.html
http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/em461.cfm
http://www.saag.org/papers2/paper115.html
http://www.jpf.go.jp/j/region_j/cgp_j/intel/abe/original/report_04.html

http://www.publiceye.org/research/Group_Watch/Entries-71.htm
http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachineCompanies.htm

NED also helped steal the election in 2000 through its baby thinktank IFES:
"The passage of landmark electoral reform legislation in the United States in 2002 opens the door for IFES to apply its extensive international experience in efforts to improve elections at home. IFES has already taken steps in this direction. We joined the Center for Democracy to conduct assessment and observation missions in Miami-Dade County for the November 2002 general elections, and we delivered long-term recommendations for improving elections in the county. We conducted a similar mission to the City of St. Louis prior to the November 2002 election. We are eager to continue contributing our expertise to make the U.S. electoral system a model of which we can be proud." page 8 http://www.ifes.org//biennial_low_PRINT.pdf

"After being focused almost entirely overseas from the time of our founding, IFES is now rendering a real service in the United States. Following the passage of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, we are eager to help jurisdictions across America with the challenges of adopting new technologies, meeting federal standards, and educating voters and poll workers.
Another new focus for IFES is the Arab world, a region of tremendous human potential that will benefit greatly from releasing the power of its citizenry through more open political systems. IFES has a track record as a trusted advisor in this region." page 12


More: http://www.ifes.org/new_initiatives/US_elections.htm

Paul DeGregorio -
http://www.dailyillini.com/dec00/dec05/news/campus02.shtml
He helps recount the FL votes for Bush.

Guess who else Paul DeGregorio is? Vice President of IFES
Then, guess who gets nominated to to the Election Assistance Commission buy Baby Bush?
http://www.ifes.org/pressroom/Press%20Releases/06_12_03_DeGregorio_EAC.pdf



Here is some of a breakdown of Ned's members:

Wes Clark
"Former general, possible Democratic presidential candidate, and Segway rider Wesley Clark on why the military usually gets the money it needs while foreign aid, for example, usually loses out: "In the Defense Department, we've got the machinery. When we want something done we just make sure the B-2 Bomber is built in 49 states."

http://www.kabissa.org/lists/newsletter-submissions-l/0612.html

He joined Ned in 2001

Some more on Wesley and NED
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/10/88388.php

Clark praised Reagan for improving the military:

“We were really helped when President Ronald Reagan came in. I remember non-commissioned officers who were going to retire and they re-enlisted because they believed in President Reagan.” Clark continued: “That’s the kind of President Ronald Reagan was. He helped our country win the Cold War. He put it behind us in a way no one ever believed would be possible. He was truly a great American leader. And those of us in the Armed Forces loved him, respected him, and tremendously admired him for his great leadership.” (Ibid.)

Clark on President George H.W. Bush:

“President George Bush had the courage and the vision... and we will always be grateful to President George Bush for that tremendous leadership and statesmanship.” (Ibid.)

Wesley Clark also praised Bush and Blair on the Iraq war:
"As for the political leaders themselves, President Bush and Tony Blair should be proud of their resolve in the face of so much doubt. And especially Mr Blair, who skillfully managed tough internal politics, an incredibly powerful and sometimes almost irrationally resolute ally, and concerns within Europe. Their opponents, those who questioned the necessity or wisdom of the operation, are temporarily silent, but probably unconvinced. And more tough questions remain to be answered. "

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0917-14.htm

These are the people he is in bed with at NED:

Francis Fukuyama
This guy scares me. Ill only focus on a few links because there is so much info out there on how scary this guy is you should have no reason finding it on your own if you are interested.

Condi Rice buddy
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lm/stories/s640487.htm

Member of the President's council on Bioethics
http://www.bioethics.gov/about/fukuyama.html

This is PNAC stuff. It's straight up weird. Scroll down for the article so you dont have to sign up for the NYT
http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0204/msg00031.html


Vin Weber
http://www.mediatransparency.org/people/vin_weber.htm

He is linked to the CAE (Other board member, Micheal Novak is also linked to CAE)
http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipients/cae.htm

http://www.citypages.com/databank/23/1119/article10388.asp

He is even part of PNAC
http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

Vin also had links to ChoicePoint, the people who helped steal the election and are now contracted for Ashcroft's Total Information Awareness Project:
http://www.gregpalast.com/printerfriendly.cfm?artid=203

Thomas Donahue
President of Federated
http://www.federatedinvestors.com/company/history.asp
http://opengov.media.mit.edu/EX/0000/100/124/472/

Federated talks to the SEC alot:
Federated on the Sarbanes -Oxley Act
http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/s73302/skeen1.htm
On the Investment company act of 1940 amendment
http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/s72101/neuman1.htm

Federated Is linked to the Galliot Center (Oh, his dad owns Federated, by the way):
In its role as advisor to the JEC, the Center produces "Quarterly International Economics Reports" that are distributed to members of Congress and published by the JEC. Several of the reports have been supported by international news stories and opinion-editorials, authored by Meltzer and/or Lerrick, in London's Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal. Another measure of the Center's impact is the implementation of its research as policy. President George W. Bush has highlighted the Center's grant-based aid proposal as a cornerstone of the Administration's international development strategy.
http://wpweb2k.gsia.cmu.edu/gsia/media/10-23-02NS.asp

He was also involved with the AFL-CIO as treasurer and then President - http://www.aflcio.org/aboutaflcio/history/history/donahue.cfm

William H Frist - Senate Republican Majority Leader
http://opengov.media.mit.edu/DBD/CACHE/0000/000/300/045/

He also wrote this book
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=0742522458

He is the health industry's man in the govt.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A14010-2003Nov7¬Found=true
http://www.metropulse.com/dir_zine/dir_2003/1328/t_cover.html - His Daddy owns HCA. Hospital Corporation of America and is worth over 1 billion dollars. The amount of stocks that Bill owns is undisclosed by estimated at 2-12 million dollars worth.

Frist also froze the probe into prewar iraq data


Suzanne Garmet
--formerly of AEI fame
http://www.aei.org/scholars/view.,dateType.,year.,month.,recNo.0,filter.social/scholar_byname.asp

***Micheal Novak and Richard Perle are scholars at AEI.. so is Lynne Cheney.. and Gingrich (this will make sense in the next link)

Defending Gingrich
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/january97/scandal_1-8.html

She is also in bed with Vin Webber in The Council for Excellence in Govt.. Lee Hamilton makes an appearance there too. Look at the Coucil's Corporate partners
http://www.excelgov.org/displayContent.asp?NewsItemID=1315&Keyword=prnwChanging

Last but not least, she is married to Nixon's former special counsel after Watergate broke.
Leonard Garmet wrote:
http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/0465026141.asp
Some speculate he may just be Deepthroat.

Lee H. Hamilton
http://www.9-11commission.gov/about/bio_hamilton.htm
-- He is also on the 9/11 comission.. guess he is Kissinger's stand in

Also on the homeland security advisory council
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Homeland_Security_Advisory_Council

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1994_cr/h940721-terror-is.htm

The Role of the Congress in US Foreign Policy - http://www.csis.org/html/sp98hamilton.html

Last Words: October Sunrise

Ralph J. Gerson
Sits on the Henry Ford Board of Trustees
http://www.hfmgv.org/about/mission.asp

He LOVES Globalization (check out his article on page 30 of the following link)
http://www.wdi.bus.umich.edu/publications/gp_pdf/gp_issue2_fall2002.pdf

Bio - http://www.consespain-usa.org/intro/biografias/ing/14.html

Matthew McHugh
From 1975 to 1992, McHugh represented the 27th and 28th Congressional Districts of New York. While in Congress, McHugh served on a number of committees and sub-committees, including the Appropriations Committee and the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Committee, which he chaired in the early 1980s.

Then, he became counselor to the president of the World Bank... WTF?
A speech: http://inside.binghamton.edu/September-October/16sept99/mchugh.html
He is also a chair at Bread for the World -"Bread for the World is a nationwide Christian citizens movement seeking justice for the world's hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers. BFW Institute seeks justice for hungry people by engaging in research and education on policies related to hunger and development."
Another Bio- http://www.stennis.gov/Congressional%20Bios/matthewmchugh.htm


(***I know he announced he would not seek another term shortly after the House Bank over draft scandal in the early 90s. Anyone that could illuminate what the heck happened there and how much involvement he had, please email me)

Julie Finley

http://www.projecttransitionaldemocracy.org/html/bios/finley.htm

Julie Finley, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Project on Transitional Democracies, is also a Founder and Board member of the U. S. Committee on NATO. Mrs. Finley has been active in Republican politics for many years serving as District of Columbia Republican Party Chairman from 1992-2000. She is presently the Republican National Committeewoman from the District of Columbia and has served and continues to serve in a number of capacities on the Republican National Committee.

In addition to political responsibilities, Mrs. Finley serves as a Trustee of the National Endowment for Democracy and the American Academy in Berlin.(They just made a fellowship in GHWBush's name) She is currently Chairman of the Host Committee for the Prague NATO Summit in November, 2002. Mrs. Finley has been a trustee of many community organizations including the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board, the Washington Opera Board and several school boards.

Mrs. Finley has worked for NBC, ABC News and the Washington Post. She was educated at Vassar College and resides in Washington, D. C.

*** She is also on the COMMITTEE FOR THE LIBERATION OF IRAQ board

........

She has donated $259,250 to republican causes.
Finley is co-chair of finance for the Dole presidential campaign, chair of the D.C. Republican Committee, and founder of the Republican Primary PAC. Despite such conservative credentials, Finley is adamantly pro-choice, serving as an advisory board member for the Republican Coalition for Choice and a board member of WISH List, a PAC that has raised more than $600,000 for pro-choice Republican women candidates since its inception in 1992.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/96mojo_400/bios/15.html



------- If you look at her committe memberships, she travels with these two alot, they are the only ones that sit with her at PTD:
Bruce Jackson- her cohort at Project on Transitional Democracies - He was a PNACer and is Chair for the Committe for the Liberation of Iraq
He was pretty instramental in getting the Coalition of Willing up and running...He likes Nato alot and was formerly vice president in the weapons division of lockheed martin.

Randy Scheunemann - He was Trent Lott's National Security Aide and an advisor to Donald H. Rumsfeld on Iraq. --"Mr. Scheunemann was involved in Senate deliberations concerning the use of American military power in Somalia, the Korean peninsula, Iraq, Haiti and Bosnia. He also served as coordinator for Senate Republican policy on United Nations reform, Congressional-Executive war powers, NATO enlargement, global climate change, economic sanctions, ballistic missile defense and technology transfers to China. He has traveled to over 80 countries to examine U.S. policies and programs.

"From 1986-1993, Mr. Scheunemann served on the staffs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Republican Policy Committee. Mr. Scheunemann has authored articles for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and other national publications. He has served as guest lecturer on foreign policy and security issues for the Foreign Service Institute, the National Defense University, the Defense Trade Advisory Group, the Republican National Committee's Team 100, the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, American University and the U.S. Information Agency. Mr. Scheunemann serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Committee on NATO, as a consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and as Treasurer of The Project on Transitional Democracies."

Links on Finley:
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/newsletter/issue11/isue11_part6.htm
These people are the winning hearts and minds.. liberating iraq.. spin doctors.
Julie also sponsered a book signing for Wesley Clark in June 2001. http://www.gertzfile.com/gertzfile/ring060101.html
She also headed Team 100, a group of Republican 100k+ Dollar donors who gave generously to GWB - Molly Ivin's oped
(another article)




Carl Gershman
Former leader of Social Democrats, USA:

"SD/USA is an important and powerful group because of the jobs and connections of its membership. It numbers among its members a strange combination of intellectual neoconservatives and top union officials. The Reagan administration brought these groups together by allowing them both a considerable amount of influence and power. So, while the SD/USA name may not be familiar to many, its membership gave intellectual credence to the politics and policies of the Reagan administration and provided "cover" for Democrats who supported an agressive anticommunist foreign policy. "

"Carl Gershman is the president of the National Endowment for Democracy. (12) NED serves as a channel for U. S. government funding for "democracy building" projects in third world nations. (12) In keeping with its congressional mandate, the bulk of NED's funding (70 percent in its first two years) has been given to the Free Trade Union Institute (FTUI), an affiliate of the AFL-CIO's International Affairs Department. (4) Gershman was a research director for APRI and a resident scholar at Freedom House. (4) The Carl Gershman Papers, which take up nine linear feet at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, are considered a valuable source on the recent history of socialism in America. However, Gershman represents SD/USA, the rightwing branch of socialism that was formed as the result of a split in the party in 1972. The leftwing is represented by the Democratic Socialists of America, led by Michael Harrington until his death early in 1989."
http://www.publiceye.org/research/Group_Watch/Entries-118.htm

Excerpt on SD and NED from Workers of the World Undermined by Beth Sims
"Like other top leaders of the AFL-CIO, Tom Kahn is affiliated with various organizations that form an anticommunist phalanx with U.S. foreign policy influence. Kahn, who heads the federation's powerful international affairs department, is a principal of Social Democrats USA (SD/USA). A small, self-described social democratic organization, SD/USA's policies and activities dovetail smartly with U.S. interventionism abroad, and its leaders dominate the foreign policy apparatus of the AFL-CIO. Largely composed of ex-Trotskyites, the organization is a right-wing breakaway faction from the U.S. Socialist Party, which split over conceptions of the proper role for the United States to play in Vietnam. Through the strategic placement of members such as Carl Gershman and Tom Kahn, SD/USA has exercised a profound influence in the export of anticommunist ideology and U.S. influence under the guise of promoting democracy. But as one top union staffer explained, the organization is "not only anticommunist, but anti-left," a fact that strictly limits its alliances around the world.

In the 1970s, under the leadership of Carl Gershman, SD/USA became a supporter of Senator Henry (Scoop) Jackson and his contingent of hawkish "defenders of democracy." Working with Jackson, SD/USA's members gained political experience but little political power. With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, however, key figures in SD/USA achieved positions of power and influence both in the labor movement and in the government. Among the latter were Reagan era appointees such as United Nations Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Elliott Abrams, and Geneva arms talks negotiator Max Kampelman. "

Head of the Ned Challenged by Chinese Democrats - http://www.democracy.org.hk/EN/2001/aug/news_08.htm
AFL CIO and anti-Chavez activites (Time article included)- http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/mgj-discuss/2003-September/000339.html
Ellen Bork of PNAC and Gershman pushing the need for intervention in north korea -http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/dprk/2003/dprk-030503-3b195de6.htm


There is also some great information by Tinore here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=102533#108247

[peacetalksforall]

1. NED is a money laundering conduit to Congress.

The big circle - as it involves CANF and other Cuban American Assns.

Congress gives NED money, NED gives money to CANF and other CA Assns. CANF and other CA Assns give the money to all the Senators and Congresspeople who will take it - and there are a bunch of Dem Seanators and Congresspeople in there.

So, from your pocket to Congress, from their pen stroke to NED, from their pen stroke to CANF, from their pocket to Senator XXXX and CongresspersonXXX s' pockets (for you know what causes - privilege, sustained hostage taking, phoney radio and TV stations, votes).

Yep, your tax dollars circling, circling...then right into your favorite politicians pocket.

[Tinoire]

2. NED is already up to its neck in the failed coups against Chavez

There's no way the US is giving up. Venezuela supplies more oil to the US than the Middle East....

Oh lol. Chavez, watch your back. The US is not at all amused about your pretentious desire to share the oil profits with the little people of Venezuela. Our way of life depends on us getting that oil for almost nothing and giving you worthless dollars in Exchange.

November 2000, Saddaam switches to the Euro. THAT was the proliferation, the weapon of mass destruction the US needed to stop.

Iran later announces they're going to do the same and are immediately branded as part of the axis of evil.

Venezuela announces and we send the NED & 2 SOA trained officers to get that Chavez OUT (laughably, the entire thing is captured on film and the US is an international laughing stock- see the film in my signature line)


Interesting, ugly times coming! Bush is not the only problem. Thanks for posting this! On my way home now but will read when I get there.

Peace

Headlines from the last 3 days in LBN (More worrisome ones in the archives)

Venezuelan diplomats speaking with oil counterparts (OIL for GOLD not $$$)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=321817

US Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Claiming Venezuela Financed Al Qaeda
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=321362

Venezuelas confirm US involved in Coup d'etat
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=322980

[Cheswick2.0]

3. the first link give us this information from the Cato institute

And Clark sits on the board of this organization, the NED


Executive Summary

The National Endowment for Democracy is a foreign policy loose cannon. Promoting democracy is a nebulous objective that can be manipulated to justify any whim of the special-interest groups--the Republican and Democratic parties, organized labor, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce--that control most of NED's funds. As those groups execute their own foreign policies, they often work against American interests and meddle needlessly in the affairs of other countries, undermining the democratic movements NED was designed to assist. Moreover, the end of the Cold War has nullified any usefulness that such an organization might ever have had. There is no longer a rival superpower mounting an effective ideological challenge, and democracy is progressing remarkably well on its own.

NED, which also has a history of corruption and financial mismanagement, is superfluous at best and often destructive. Through the endowment, the American taxpayer has paid for special-interest groups to harass the duly elected governments of friendly countries, interfere in foreign elections, and foster the corruption of democratic movements.

Introduction

This is a demonstration that you can have the most egregious abuse in the world for taxpayers' dollars under program and bring it here and you would find support for that program. . . . If we cannot cut this, Lord, we cannot cut anything.

--Sen. Byron L. Dorgan

The buzzwords of the budget season have been "cut spending first." We could, perhaps, begin with the National Endowment for Democracy. Its past is rife with scandals, financial and otherwise. It has absolutely no "hometown" constituency; not one member of Congress would face angry voters demanding to know why "their" program had been cut. Very few voters would even have heard of it. Moreover, NED is emblematic of inside-the-beltway political logrolling, the type of enterprise that Washington-weary and government wary voters--including the coveted Perot constituency--would love to see abolished. Such a victimless cut would appear the perfect candidate for the budgetary ax. Yet many mem bers of Congress seem to think that the program should get yet another hefty funding boost, its fourth consecutive increase, which would allow NED's budget to more than double in four years.

[CivilRightsNow]

5. What annoys me..

Is that people dont even seem to care. Democrats cover for NED cause Clark is involved.. yet they will jump on any 7-11 Bush stops in for a slurpie. It pisses me off that nobody cares that these are the people that move the government.. these are the first organizations we must kick out on their asses. It doesnt matter what administration is in as long as these "Think Tanks" are at the helm as we outsource our government to people who have no real vested interest in it and have nobody to answer to but the corporations that supply their "supplemental" funding, like the Scaifes..

[lostnfound]

4. Oh my. More arms for contras? More coups? More leftist assassinations?

Uggh. The American public is like a blind man holding an assault weapon or a drunken sailor being given a machete -- we vote based on personality and don't monitor our government, while our government runs around the globe raping and pillaging for natural resources and control. Then they come home cleaned up and mostly presentable, having thrown away their blood-stained clothes, and dressed in their Sunday best.