Please check all the LTTEs in your local papers!

[tanyev]

A LTTE in today's Dallas Morning News in support of John Roberts was clearly assembled from the Focus on the Family "letter writing wizard". I have just written them to notify them. I wonder if I'll even get a response.

Here is a link to the wizard:

http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0037257.cfm

Basically, you just take a paragraph from Column A, another paragraph from Column B, etc., until you have a perfect recitation of Republican talking points.

I received this email from Focus on the Family a few days ago and have been checking the LTTEs ever since. It takes very little time, and the feeling of triumph in exposing a coordinated propaganda effort is priceless.

The RNC also has a similar letter writing campaign. Here is a link to their page. Click on the option for "Write Letters to the Editor".

http://www.gop.com/GetActive/

[spooky3]

1. This needs to be publicized.

[babylonsister]

2. We need a wizard to counter their wizard. Nom! nt

[blondeatlast]

19. I disagree completely. I like to think that we have the intelligence

and drive to do it ourselves.

This is a very bad idea. We have enough issues with the MSM already.

[Hav]

3. .

Do you plan to inform the newspapers so that these idiots get exposed? Could be much fun.

[tanyev]

5. I informed the Dallas Morning News.

Whether or not it will accomplish anything, or even be acknowledged, remains to be seen. If any DUer finds something, they need to contact their own newspapers, but maybe we should report back here, too, so we can see how widely this is occurring.

I told DMN that I was very disappointed in them because I thought that they as "professional news guys" would be able to sniff these things out. Maybe other newspapers are better at detecting a letter writing campaign.

[asjr]

RIght-wingers live off of astroturf.

[Tigress DEM]

4. Wait a minute.

DU has an activist corp and we might write letters based on points too.

Course, with a higher committment to being our own people, I'm sure most of us just use them as guidelines... but if a paper printed one of ours and this came back to bite us...

Over a thousand letters went out from here on the Rove deal to EVERYWHERE. DUers can't even agree on toast, much less letters to the editor, so i doubt it will be anything in the same league, but it could be PORTRAYED that way.


I'm just saying. Be Careful in the gist of the comments to not knock the whole mass effort deal.

[tanyev]

6. The letter is WORD for WORD

from the Focus on the Family letter writing wizard. And I would encourage any DUers who write LTTEs to use their own words, and not copy anyone else's.

[blondeatlast]

18. Huge difference between talking points and composing a letter by cut

and paste.

Read the letter, then go to the link in the OP's post.

It's WORD-FOR-EFFING-WORD. Not an original word, myuch less idea, in the entire thing.

[kbm8795]

55. There is a big difference between constructing your own letter

and copying and pasting the damned thang directly from a web site.

A site can provide the points it is raising, but when they are taken word-for-word and identical letters are sent out, that's more than a no-no - that's an ad campaign. There's a difference. I dont' care which party or organization does it - people need to be TOLD that they are to construct their own letters to the media.

[satya]

7. Great catch, tanyev! nt

[noamnety]

8. Busted:

Please congratulate these fine citizens on mastering the art of plagiarizing cutting and pasting:


JUDITH JONES of Little Rock:
http://nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg§ion=Editorial&storyid=123210

Bob Flagler of Pleasanton:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/letterstotheeditor/ci_2898560

Audrey Queckboerner of Leo:
http://kpcnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=11&SubSectionID=57&ArticleID=93578

At least this guy paraphrased some sentences:
Bruce Lenardson of Plainwell:
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050725/OPINION03/507250305/1014/OPINION

TOM JENNEY of Mansfield:
http://www.stargazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050729/OPINION02/507290326/1004/OPINION

TOM & BETH ROBINSON of Fitzgerald:
http://www.albanyherald.com/peoplesforum.html#judg

Tracy Wakefield of Plano:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/073105dnediltrs.22815ac0.html

Duane Block of Lake Shore:
http://starwars.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/072805/opinion_20050727028.shtml

If you can't form your own sentences, find another hobby. Letters to the Editor aren't your thing.

[tanyev]

9. Oooooo, excellent work!

Like I said, I already wrote Dallas Morning News. Have you contacted any of the others?

:yourock:

[noamnety]

10. Of course, but don't let that stop you

I had a lot of fun writing those. I even picked my own words - it turns out it's not so hard afterall! I especially enjoyed responding to the one where it took TWO people to cut and paste. *Cue the light bulb jokes*

But if anyone reading the thread sees one from their local area, please take a minute and write, because I don't know if a small regional paper will print a response from another state.

[noamnety]

38. Quote from Audrey Queckboerner, Plagiarist

I was googling some of these folks, and this was too funny not to share, under the circumstances:

"Her self-taught computer skills have been an asset to the company."

(She taught herself how to copy and paste, I'm guessing)

[SharonAnn]

11. In Knoxville we got the News Sentinel to set a policy on LTTE

If someone submitted a form based letter, said that it was their own, and it was found to be "astro-turf" they would never be published in the paper again.

This was after we complained about all the astro-turf letters that were appearing in the paper last year. I used to Google some that sounded like "PR speak" and would find they'd been published all over the country.

When I first complained they said there was nothing they could do. I told them that if GWB and his cronies wanted to run advertising, they should buy ads in the paper, not get free space in the LTTE section. When I next complained they said it wasn't a big concern because no one was complaining.

Well, I fixed that! Alerted the Dem Storm Troopers and they got lots of complaints via phone, email, fax, and letters. So they set a policy.

Complain to your newspaper.

[tanyev]

12. The DMN has such a policy, which is why I contacted them.

We do not publish form letters, poetry, letters written to other publications or letters directed to individuals.

What I'm wondering now is, will they acknowledge this? Will there be a printed apology, or even a reply to my email? I wait with bated breath.

[noamnety]

14. I got an email back from one editor

Thanking me for the heads up and letting me know they wouldn't be publishing anything from Duane Block in the future.

[SpiralHawk]

13. Republicans and propaganda - a unified state, depend upon it

All propaganda all the time.

[Coexist]

15. before USA Today published my LTTE - they made me verify that it was

my own thoughts and words. Wonder if any of those papers above require that verification?!

[Catchawave]

16. I read awhile ago.....

major newspapers had "astroturf-zapper spyware" (something like that)to weed out the "click and send" spam letters.

It's unfortunate, I still see alot of liberal and other progressive advocacy groups using paragraph menus to help us express our opinions.

I would definitely alert editors of newspapers that use astroturfed letters. It's pretty easy to prove :)

[blondeatlast]

17. LTTE, hell. I think I saw an EDIORIAL composed that way.

Let me check yesterday's paper, and I'll get back on it.

[blondeatlast]

20. Hubby tossed the Sunday Republic already. AZers, if you have yesterday's

Republic, could you take a look?

something about the opion piece struck me as suspicious from the get-go; now I think I know what it was.

[blondeatlast]

21. Kicking,

:kick:

[noamnety]

22. Darlene Johnson of Bay Shore - another plagiarist

I found her name and letter reprinted by a blogger who noticed it sounded odd. http://cynicor.blogspot.com/

DeJuan Null gets an honorable mention for changing a few words, such as "well-qualified" --> "highly qualified."

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/editorial/letters/12228508.htm

[Cynicor]

26. Newsday's astroturf

Hi - signed on just to comment quickly. I spent quite a bit of time crafting a persuasive letter about Bush and his attempts to cover up the child rape at Abu Ghraib. It got published in Newsday, and right underneath was Darlene's astroturf!

I wrote to them immediately:

I was thrilled to see that you chose my letter for publication in today's edition. This was a vitally important topic to me, and I hope that I can sway the minds of a few of your half million daily readers (of which I've been one for over a decade). However, I wanted to bring to your attention another letter on today's page. Darlene Johnson's letter about Judge Roberts seems to have been astroturfed from Focus on the Family: http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0037257.cfm. I know that this is against your policy, and I thought you should be aware of it. Thanks again for giving me a voice.

They replied to me fairly quickly:

Thank you very much. I have been trying to delete all the letters that sounded like they were "astroturfed." I really appreciate your e-mail thanks again
P.S. We do try to catch them.

The thing that tipped me off was the phrase about Roberts having the "most impressive resume" in "a generation." I don't know that any of us actually know what his resume was, so the phrasing just smelled to me. I googled it and nailed it right away.

We also discussed my letter plus the astroturf one over at Kos. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/28/64330/8873

[noamnety]

27. Your letters are both great

(as is your ability to detect bs when you see it.)

Welcome to DU. :)

[Cynicor]

47. Previous letters

Thanks - I only write when something REALLY annoys me these days. I've had four published in Newsday since 9/11:

- Follow proper flag etiquette and don't drape your flag over your car hood.

- Since Bush is demanding that Saddam not subvert UN resolutions, let's see him follow their resolutions against executing minors and the mentally handicapped.

- Why did the local blonde woman who was killed by her husband get several front pages and columns, while the Hispanic woman killed under identical circumstances just got 2 inches buried in the paper a week earlier?

- Bush is covering up rape and torture in Iraq.

The important thing is that you can't get letters published unless you write them. Everyone should try it.

[tanyev]

28. Hi, Cynicor!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[tanyev]

23. Kick.

:kick:

[noamnety]

24. Let's hear it for Linda Kurtz of Las Vegas

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jul-24-Sun-2005/opinion/2582692.html

Is our education system really so awful that people no longer know how to write a simple letter? Maybe it's the curse of standardized testing that people like Linda have lost their capability for original or critical thought.

[noamnety]

25. This "guy" was "careful" not to "quote"

Mike Howells of Apple Valley seems to be "suffering" from "excess" "quotage".

Howell: As a federal appeals court judge for the past two years, he has written 40 opinions — and only two of them have ever drawn any “balking” in dissent from his colleagues.

FOF: As a federal appeals court judge for the past two years, he has written 40 opinions — and only two of them have drawn any dissent from his colleagues.

Howell: Still, Judge Roberts isn’t likely to “sweep” through the confirmation process. He already is being “beaned” by those on the political left as out of touch with mainstream America, a “baseless” charge designed to direct attention away from the real issue: Liberals want a judge who will legislate from “the bench” rather than strictly interpret the Constitution.

FOF: Still, Judge Roberts isn't likely to sail through the confirmation process. He already is being bashed by those on the political left as out of touch with mainstream America, a baseless charge designed to direct attention away from the real issue: Liberals want a judge who will legislate from the bench rather than strictly interpret the Constitution.

:eyes:

http://www.thisweek-online.com/letters.html

------------------------------------------------
We're not done yet, though!

Brent Accursio of Seattle: Take your place in the plagiarist hall of shame!

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=sunlets24&date=20050724

[kbm8795]

56. I"m wondering if the newspaper associations

or some organization ought to not start gathering names of media plagiarizers and just publish them online. . .THEN write a letter to the editor of every newspaper telling the public where they can find these charletons. . .lol.

[noamnety]

29. authors who copied and pasted from the GOP website.

Chris Torchiana of San Ramon
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/letterstotheeditor/ci_2894296

Susan Day Carlson of Silverdale
http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/op_letters/article/0,2403,BSUN_19096_3947582,00.html

Jeanne Anastas of Dunbarton
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/07222005/letters/53982.htm

[tanyev]

30. You go, lwfern!

How are you doing this? Do you have Lexis-Nexis?

[noamnety]

31. No fancy techniques

just googling phrases from the Propaganda Generator at Focus on the Family.

I just got off the phone with one of the editors - they called to say my LTTE about plagiarism would be in tomorrow's paper. I'm looking forward to seeing what I wrote - I was composing off the top of my head for these, and I don't remember exactly what I sent to which paper. I'm curious to see what my 3am snark factor was. :)

[noamnety]

32. Let's continue, shall we?

Brenda J. Smith of Whitehall plagiarized her last paragraph from the GOP site. But wait! There were two paragraphs above it that she actually wrote herself! That's cool, I figured I'd give her half credit.

http://www.whitelakebeacon.com/news.php?story_id=7699

But then I got to thinking, if she's the sort of person that puts her name on someone else's work, she's not the sort of person that would write two full paragraphs on her own. It's too taxing - and we know how those folks hate taxes. So I googled her first sentence. Sure enough, it turns out I overestimated her (temporarily). She copied and pasted that from a petition:
https://www.mngop.com/judicial_nominees/

[Synnical]

34. Here's another - copied verbatim

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/cctimes/12263718.htm

Tom DeMott
Pleasanton

[noamnety]

35. Did you notify the paper? (nt)

[Synnical]

39. Not yet

I'm at the office. Dropping sentences in google when I have a few seconds to spare.

[Synnical]

37. And another

http://www.chicagosuntimes.com/output/letters/cst-edt-vox27a%20.html

Ron Brandt,
Antioch

[noamnety]

50. I wrote in about both of these today (nt)

[grumpy old fart]

33. Sent the links on to my newspaper with a caution.........

Forewarned is Forearmed....

[noamnety]

36. Susan Blair, Long Beach

http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204%257E23185%257E2978630,00.html

lazy slackers

[Synnical]

40. Teresa Andrews, Camarillo

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/vcs/letters/archives/2005/07/roberts_earns_f.html#more

[noamnety]

43. Thanks!

I'll go through this evening and send them some notes, unless you want to - since I've already got one complaint getting published, I'm more than happy to share my 15 minutes.

On a side note, I'm exchanging emails with another editor who wrote to clarify a minor point - I feel far too smug after sending this:

"In looking at it again, perhaps I was too hasty in implying it was plagiarized - I see the capitalization of the word "Federal" is completely different."

:)

[tanyev]

44. Bwhahahaha!

You are having way too much fun doing this. I salute your tenacity.

:patriot:

[Synnical]

45. Go right ahead

And send the notes. I've hooked onto something else this evening that I'm researching. Sorry I duplicated some of your earlier finds - I thought I'd checked your postings, but missed a few. As I stated, I was at work and just checking when I had a little time to spare.

Good job, by the way. :toast:

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale

[Synnical]

41. Mike Howells, Apple Valley

http://www.thisweek-online.com/letters.html

[Synnical]

42. DeJuan Null - even has an e-mail address

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/editorial/letters/12228508.htm

Roberts should prevail against liberal attacks

Judge John Roberts brings with him one of the most impressive resumes any nominee to the high court has had in recent history.

Roberts has been a law clerk to current Chief Justice Rehnquist, a counsel to President Reagan and a private attorney with a reputation as one of the most astute legal minds in the country. As a federal appeals court judge for the past two years, he has written 40 opinions with only two of them drawing any dissent from his colleagues.

Despite his stellar record, Roberts can expect to face opposition from Senate liberals like Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer and anti-Bush groups like MoveOn.org. They've already begun the assault on Judge Roberts, desperate to exclude from the bench anyone who believes a judge's job is to interpret law, not make it.

Judge Roberts is too highly qualified to have his nomination derailed by politically motivated attacks. He deserves a confirmation vote in the full Senate as outlined in our Constitution.
DeJUAN NULL
[e-mail]

[Cynicor]

46. DeJuan hosts teenage youth church groups too

Maybe he can teach them how to plagiarize for the Lord.

http://www.canopyroads.org/HomeTeamLocator.aspx

[Gregorian]

48. Republicanism is a cult. This proves it.

This cuts directly to the heart. This is precisely what has gotten this country where it is today. People following orders lockstep, rather than people thinking. People who are part of a cult, not people who are part of the country.
You are a hard working American, and you deserve high praise for the effort you've put into this.

[tanyev]

52. I just tossed the ball onto the playing field.

lwfern grabbed that ball and ran with it. Touchdown! :bounce:

[noamnety]

49. Published LTTE about the plagiarism

Copy and paste

To the editor:

Linda Kurtz's July 24 letter to the editor supporting the nomination of Judge John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court was copied and pasted from the Web site of Focus on the Family.

If she were a student in my classroom, she would have failed for misrepresenting someone else's words as her own.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Aug-03-Wed-2005/opinion/2748304.html


:)


(some funky capitalization of "Web site" - I plead lack of sleep on that one.)

[Synnical]

51. Good Job

Congrats. Hope you embarrassed her in front of her family and friends.

:applause:

[noamnety]

53. "In letters to the editor, too many copycats?"

"Newspapers complain that zealous special-interest groups are putting words into the mouths of letter writers.

Anyone with an ardent desire to show support for US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts will find a useful tool in the Focus on the Family website. There, a "letter writing wizard" encourages visitors to choose from a selection of paragraphs to copy and paste into a letter to send to newspapers for publication. The website even includes a listing of papers throughout the country, so that a user can compose a 200-word letter, sign his or her name, and e-mail it to media outlets in a matter of minutes.

(snip)

And at least in California, such actions are considered a crime. The state's penal code section of "False Personation and Cheats" reads: "Every person who signs any letter addressed to a newspaper with the name of a person other than himself ... is guilty of a misdemeanor."


continued: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0804/p02s02-ussc.html

[kbm8795]

54. Many newspapers are aware of this growing kind of rightwing scam. . .

and have tried instituting better ways to verify information as the opinion of the person signing the letters.

Some still slip through. . .and often the person sending the email letter will contend that...well, copying and pasting it says what they "think" more than they can do themselves. If I was an editorial page editor, I'd respond with "Well, obviously then you DON'T think that, since you can't write it down for yourself."

The RNC is especially guilty of this propaganda flood - they've been doing this on several issues as a means of generating pretend support. I find it insulting - for one thing, it assumes the Party has to do the thinking and framing of the issues for their own supporters; and it puts the paper at risk for charges of endorsing a political party's viewpoint by merely publishing the official Party releases.

These should be treated as damned ads - every time the newspaper publishes one of these letters and finds out they were generated by the damned RNC or Focus on the Family, the newspaper should send out a BILL to the organizations for the space.

[tanyev]

57. Next time they send me one, I will post it immediately.

Then we can send them to the newspapers as a pre-emptive strike. I was really surprised that so many copycats were found, although I guess I shouldn't have been. Anytime I ever write a LTTE, I take pleasure in crafting my own letter. Why bother if you're just copying what is essentially a press release?