the Heritage Foundation - any connection to the paid pundits?

[unpossibles]

"Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."
http://www.heritage.org/about/

Basically, some conservatives felt they needed a fix for the growing threat of the spread of liberal ideas of the counterculture into the mainstream, and the "broad attack" on America's economic system (Lewis Powell, 1971), so this was set up as a way to spoon-feed lazy "journalists" their stories and information. By 2003 they had placed 907 news stories to major media outlets, up from 673 in 2002. Sure, that's only an average of less than 3 stories a day, but it is growing and it discourages journalists from actually researching their own stories - a situation which is ripe for further exploitation.

Powell urged conservatives to "address the campus origin of this hostility" and laid out a plan which has been followed, almost to the letter by the following powerful information groups: The Leadership Institute, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the Young Americans Foundation. The groups provided speakers and funding to promote a conservative viewpoint onto college students, simultaneously denouncing the liberal views that were rampant in colleges at the time.

I'd say that the illegal bribes/payola to these three reporters are just the tip of the iceberg which was designed to create a conservative slant to the media (including creating the illusion that media is all liberal, therefore that it needs to be "righted", so to speak, from this horrible bias), as well as to promote the general denigration of liberal ideas and the word itself.

The fact that this is being seen as a few "bad apples" worth barely a slap on the wrist is evidence of this, in my opinion. These people not only received money to promote partisan ideas, but did not disclose the fact, and are yet another incidence of the false news stories which promoted Bush's Health Care Plan. And we do nothing. I'm pretty sure at the very least that they did not pay taxes on this illegal income - that alone is a crime.

Also, the idea that these people are the sole wrongdoers (such as stated in Bush's recent speech), when no one seems interested in the fact that the money came from somewhere and originated in multiple departments shows indication of a wider problem, as well as two of them indicating that there are a lot more paid-off reporters.

So to cap it up, we have a group that creates a top-down way of controlling the stories we see in the press. 30+ years later, we have three reporters (one an Ethics columnist, the sheer humor of which I find to be worth our wasted tax dollars as long as he and the scum who paid him get busted) who are busted for what is essentially payola and likely tax evasion as well, all paid by the "moral" party du jour.

If this happened to Clinton, it would be all over the news and he'd have been impeached by now. Actually, this group has ties to Starr and other key players in the operations to bring down Clinton, so.... Even funnier: this is a 501(c)(3) group: "organizations exempt from federal income tax as organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are prohibited from participating or intervening, directly or indirectly, in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office ... These organizations cannot endorse any candidate, make donations to their campaigns, engage in fund raising, distribute statements, or become involved in any other activities that may be beneficial or detrimental to any candidate.". uh. yeah.

On the other hand, I expect to see the rats flee the sinking ship any day now - they will start stepping on each other to save their own skins.
The real question: why do American citizens of all ideologies and parties put up with this? How does this promote the idea of the American Dream? The lazy are getting illegally and handsomely rewarded to tell you what to think. I have a hard time seeing how this can fit into even the most conservative mode of thought unless you are the one getting paid or the one paying to promote your ideas. For the every-day thinking conservative, this should be as sickening as it is to us (for different reasons perhaps).

interesting related article:
http://www.hartwilliams.com/twwt02.htm

[KC21304]

1. The right wing nuts have a dozen of these.

American Enterprise Institute, Hoover Instute, Cato Instute, etc.

[KingoftheJungle]

6. yeah and they're all the same group of elite fascist nutcases

Different arms of the same body of core people, and that body embodies pure evil.

[havocmom]

2. Aren't they the ones who fixed Paula Jones' honke... er, nose?

If my memory is correct about that, then one could assume they are heavy into image and appearance AND buying people off.

[ooglymoogly]

3. they are heavy into proselytizing, propaganda and all sorts of nefarious

activities. every time the 'liberal press' wants to make an oh so unbiased point they trot out someone from the heritage foundation like they are some kind of fair minded think tank.... puke...sory couldn't help it

[cosmicdot]

4. see who is quoted at the link?

it works in a similar manner ...another configuration of the beast ... rightwing money goes into these tax exempt groups which are often found quoted in articles or seen as guests on MSM as 'experts' ... just another propaganda tool to influence public opinion ... they, also, serve right-wing politicians with their position papers and research ... much of the Heritage Foundation 'work' is used as policy guide in the White House briefing papers ... virtually, married at the hip ...

these think tanks are more like manufacturers of propaganda ... and, in that sense, should probably be treated as a business, and not as a tax-exempt make-pretend-non-partisan organization (that's just a bonus to the charade)

Heritage serves high-society ... it must be a feather in a fatcat's hat to be a trustee ... check out the Trustees (they're all white, too), i.e., Richard M. Scaife who is involved with MSM, another link for influencing public opinion, Vice Chairman Publisher and Owner, Tribune-Review Publishing Co., Inc., Greensburg, Pennsylvania ... he, also, chairs the Sarah Scaife Foundation, another vehicle for rightwing influence peddling via its contributions to other tax exempt organizations which help carry the water (or kool-aid) ...


we're seeing, for example, the Cato Institute's involvement with Social Security piratization ... the Scaife Foundation has helped fund the Cato Institute ...
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=51 ... and, now, we see things like this:

snip from "Pack of Lies"
" Leadership of the Social Security Administration has been captured by enemies of the program... It's bad enough you get political commercials in their voice mail system... they have a full-blown slide show http://maxspeak.org/mt/archives/GOP_SS.pdf of Bushist propaganda being distributed created by the Cato Institute's Social Security Privatization Project]."
http://maxspeak.org/mt/archives/001084.html
http://www.mediatransparency.org
that's beyond just influencing ... that's 'inside' the government


http://www.heritage.org/About/Departments/trustees.cfm

various snips:

"With the Bush administration in office, the Heritage Foundation has struck the mother lode. By parlaying extraordinary sums of right-wing money, a highly developed infrastructure and the Supreme Court's December decision, Heritage has risen to unprecedented political prominence."

"The Heritage Foundation has been working closely with the Administration. Church & State, the monthly magazine of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, reported that in early January, Rove told a group of right-wing leaders "that Bush had asked the Heritage Foundation...to review all the executive orders put in place by President Clinton during his eight years in office and recommend which ones should be overturned.' Donald Lambro of the Washington Times reported that Heritage had passed its recommendations on to the White House."

"During the transition period when issue-specific teams were being formed, Heritage staffers were involved in key decision-making positions. Toner says, 'officials at the foundation passed on 1,200 to 1,300 names and resumes to the Bush administration and say they are quite pleased with the results so far, at the cabinet level and at the next tier.'"

"Heritage policy wonks are contributing to the legislative process by testifying at congressional hearings on critical economic and social issues on a regular basis. During the last ten days in March alone, a gaggle of Heritage representatives testified at House and Senate hearings, including..."

"A Media Transparency profile documents that Heritage was one of the primary initiators of Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract with America. No friend to labor, Heritage has published a number of anti-union policy papers and reports including "Beware of the Union Label," "The Case for Plant Closures, 'and "Upsetting the Balance of U.S. Labor Law: The Striker Replacement Bill'."


http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Democracy/HeritageFound_Soars.html

hardly 'non-partisan'

the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Hoover Institution, the Aspen Institute (where Simon Rosenberg of the NDN.org and contender for DNC Chair, was a Fellow), the Council for National Policy (CNP) are other 'big' named ones ...

the CNP for example: Members include Pat Robertson, Oliver North, Bob Jones, Grover Norquist, Jerry Falwell, Tom Delay, Ed Meese, etc.

"Many Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Catholic, Mormon and other ecumenically-minded leaders are members of the Council for National Policy, the 500+ member organization which plans the strategy of the Religious Right in the United States." ... "Members include corporate executives, television evangelists, legislators, former military or high ranking government officers, leaders of 'think tanks' dedicated to molding society and those who many view as Christian leadership. Members in many cases are owners or leaders from industry such as lumber, oil, mining, commodities, real estate, the media, including owners of radio, television and print, with all aspects of life covered. Many are involved in education, determining to influence society's direction by direct input with children and youth." http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.htm
http://www.sourcewatch.org/wiki.phtml?title=Council_for_National_Policy#Board_of_Directors


"The Hoover Institution, within Stanford University, is a Republican public policy research center devoted to advanced study of politics, economics, and political economy--both domestic and foreign--as well as international affairs." ... and, where was Kindasleazy Rice provost? http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/bios/rice.html

Condoleezza Rice
Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow
"On leave in government service"

Richard M. Scaife is on Hoover's Executive Committee
http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/main/boardovr.html

Eight Hoover Institution fellows have been appointed to the U.S. Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, which advises national leaders on major matters of defense policy.
http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/pubaffairs/newsletter/02winter/defense.html

the rightwing political machine is vast

[blondeatlast]

14. The phrase "tax-exempt" cannot possibly be worn out when

discussing these groups, either.

[unpossibles]

5. ok. So how the hell do they keep getting away with this?

Despite the practice being declared illegal by Congress back when those fake news stories pushing Bush's health care plan ran (what - a year ago maybe?). And the same company which released those were/are in the middle of these three latest scandals.

Also, the softball questions put forth to Bullsh during his press conference about dealing with his critics who "have divorced themselves from reality"... remember them? By Jeff Gannon, who is also ...guess what.... affiliated with the Leadership Institute which is affiliated with the Heritage Foundation.

man... the more I think about the implications and how widespread these tentacles are stuck into the general populace, the more I hope we're not too late to stop it. I think I may need a tinfoil suit of armor now. It's all right out there in the open, and hardly anyone wants to look at it or admit it's there.

:scared:

[KissMeKate]

7. think tanks ARE paid pundits.

they are paid public relations firms for Mellonscaife's, Coors, DeVos, and the others Conjobs' personal conservative agenda.

[unpossibles]

8. true

but they pretend they are journalists.

[sendero]

9. They call themselves "think tanks"..

.... but they are really "stink tanks". The only thinking they do is about how to make stinky, absurd and wrong-headed ideas not stink so much. I guess "de-stink tank" would be closer.

Back in 2002 in preparation for the Iraq war, you started hearing commentaries from AEA, Heritage, National Review, and others on a regular basis. You NEVER heard an equivalent missive from the left. That is when I realized that NPR had been co-opted. I don't hear them so much any more, I guess it is a case of "mission accomplished".

[annabanana]

11. perfume factories, maybe..

to cover up the stench..
"Now With A Brand New Line of Lipstick for Pigs"!

[unpossibles]

10. some more interesting info

this has been going on for a while it seems.

More NeoCons pretending to be the "man on the street" in news interviews:
http://www.politicalstrategy.org/archives/000913.php

Here we have implications of involvement in the CBS Memogate:
http://www.politicalstrategy.org/archives/000415.php



Maybe I should start writing a book.... hmm. Maybe I should write a book that appears at first to be liberal-bashing so all the "right" people read it.... hehehehe...

[Cell Whitman]

12. Armstrong is tied the right's "True Savior" as is Heritage

Here's Armstrong's true savior.. see Armstrong Williams Just Can't Resist

The Heritage Foundation was one of the first to sell their souls and nation out...

U.S. News & World Report stated that by 1989, the church (Unification) has established a network of affiliated organizations and connections in almost every conservative organization in Washington, including the Heritage Foundation, the largest of the conservative think tanks and an important source of government personnel during the Reagan administration. ... As the Washington Times has become the voice of capital conservatives, the Heritage Foundation has become far more tolerant of church ties. ....

“Most people are afraid to address the issue because they don’t want to publicize the extent of the church’s involvement,” says Amy Moritz of the Conservative National Center for Public Policy Research. Because almost all conservative organizations in Washington have some ties to the church, conservatives also fear repercussions if they expose the church’s role.

find out more of what happened to our nation here:
http://cellwhitman.blogspot.com/

[blondeatlast]

13. "The Republican Noise Machine."

Read it. Brock says quite clearly that many of these "pundits" are paid from the RW think tanks.

No denying what he's implying...

It's right there in black and white, and Brock names some of the biggies, too.

[unpossibles]

15. the question though is how can the public not know this stuff?

and how can the blatantly illegal misuse of tax money not piss off the economic conservatives? Or hell, how can it not piss off everyone? These stories got buried faster than I can blink.