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nashville_brook Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-06-05 11:34 AM
Original message
Kills vermin scribes dead: Stop Propaganda Act
Edited on Sun Feb-06-05 11:44 AM by nashville_brook
(i'm cross-posting this in the Election forum b/c of the propaganda element involved in the election and also b/c this requires ACTION and ya'll rule when it comes to calling and emailing and we MUST support this legislation!)

(on edit -- spelling)

In response to continued revelations of government-funded "journalism" -- ranging from the faked news stories put out by the drug czar's office to the recently uncovered payments to columnists Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher (who are just the tip of iceberg according to Williams) -- Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will introduce a bill, The Stop Government Propaganda Act, in the Senate next week.

The revelation that the New York Times killed a story that would have swung the election, (Bush cheating with a listening device during the debates), The Stop Government Propaganda Act seems a day late and dollar short as we are stuck with Bush for another four years with help of a this same propaganda network that has been schlepping the shit for conservatives since the Nixon administration. Under Bush, these cockroaches have come squealing out of the woodwork and in to the light of day. Their new, higher profile is evidence of that we are offcially over-run with the vermin scribes.

Meet Jeff Gannon. The bald guy. He is the one who greased Bush's ego with "divorced from reality Democrats question" at his most recent White House press conference.
<img src=""/>

"Jeff Gannon" isn't his real name, and he is the ONLY "reporter" in the White House press corps EVER allowed to use an alias. My aunt used to say that the only people who change their names are wives and criminals, and guess what -- even married women have to use their maiden names in the Press Corps. Gannon (sic) gets a pass and that alone should raise eyebrows. He also works for something called Talon News which is no more than a GOP propaganda mill with connections to well-known dirty trickster, Bobby Eberle who also runs GOPUSA.com, a "conservative news, information, and design company dedicated to promoting conservative ideals." Again, this has never been "allowed" in the press corps. It used to be that you had to actually work for a news organization to be in the press corps. This is one of those rules that everyone can understand. I can't just go up to the White House Press Corps receptionist and get a pass for JC Forum. Wish I could. They stretched the definition of "legitimate news organization" when they let the Moonies in and if I worked for the Washington Times I'd be pissed Talon/Gannon (not his real name) was muscling in on my beat. Moonie News Correspondent "Stretch" Sammon the college sports fan looking guy sitting next to Gannon, should be getting red under the collar that he has to share turf with this gorilla (and possible criminal).

But here's the thing: Talon "News" and "Jeff Gannon" (not his real name) were PUT IN THE PRESS CORPS. They didn't just show up. An invisible hand put them there.

Which brings me to my next point. We have eyes. Look at these two in the picture again. Gannon (not his real name) has affected an amazing G. Gordon Liddy imitation. You have to watch the guys who shave their heads, anyway -- that's just a given. But this particular bald head has School of the Americas written all over it. If Gannon (not his real name) hasn't been trained in the military, he has at least been personally obsessed. One of those guys who haunts the gun section of the magazine rack in airports and creeps out little children.

He is a thug.

Now, read the question again for the first time. What do you pick up? What's the temperature?

Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock-solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work -- you said you're going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?

You expect him to follow-up with "Would you like me to take care of them, sir?" And he looks like he is there to do just that. The sad truth is, he has been put there to serve up softballs when McClennon and Bush get tired of obfuscating the truth to real reporters. In a blatant nod to this fact, Bush called on Gannon (not his real name) at the press conference RIGHT AFTER he was asked about Armstrong Williams and if the White House intended on continuing with the Propaganda Campaign. Yikes! It's like you expect Bush to just moon us at any point. Like he's going to be in Tulsa promoting the privatization of Social Security and he's just going to be like, "Fuck it. You know what, we don't give a flip what you people think. You think you can stop us?" Now watch this drive.

Digging deeper -- as in going to the GOPUSA.com website and reading some of the commentary, you find that these thugs in the press corps are being cheered on by the like of Jennifer King (pictured below) who is calling for Ted Kennedy to be brought up on sedition charges for questioning the war in Iraq. In her own words, "On the eve of Sunday's historic elections in Iraq, Senator Ted Kennedy took to the podium in order to stage a stunning display of defeatism, pessimism and vicious anti-Americanism... The malignantly magniloquent Massachusettsan further insisted that Iraq be "given back to the Iraqis" and that American troops should leave forthwith.

Senator Kennedy is a bloviating blowhard whose most outrageous libels are nevertheless overlooked by most of the media. Kennedy has called the war in Iraq, "A war made up for political gain", "George Bush's Vietnam" and - of course - the favored "quagmire." blah blah blah

Jennifer (if that's her real name) has obviously read Ann "The Thesaurus" Coulter. "Bloviating" is essentially a Coulter trademark. And "malignantly magniloquent Massachusettsan," -- holy shit! Someone needs to check and see if she didn't bust a blood vessel tapping that out on her Vaio.

<img src=""/>

Here's the really funny thing -- at the bottom of her commentary piece, there's this disclaimer from GOPUSA: "Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA."

There whole stated reason for being for GOPUSA is to disseminate their brand of conservative Republicanism and they can't even endorse the words they publish as their LEAD editorial. Wow. For people who blow a mighty wind about Responsibility and Ownership -- you'd think they'd be able to own their own mission statement (although I can personally understand if Jennifer might want to disown her press photo).

The elephant in the room is that if you open your eyes, the administration has plum become cartoonish in their misbehavior.

So, unless we want everything you read to be written by the likes of Jennifer and Jeff (not his real name), it's time to make those calls and send those emails. And use those eyes.

<img src=""/>
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nashville_brook Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-06-05 12:49 PM
Response to Original message
1. an aside -- this was too good to leave out!
i would have needed 50,000 words to cover all the angles on this. there is soooo much more to the story and probably my favorite part is that Gannon is a "graduate" of a $50 journalism diploma mill -- The Leadership Institute:
http://www.leadershipinstitute.org

on the site they sell a video that explains the Roots of the Ultra Left. here's an outline of the script. god, it's funny and frightening at the same time:


The Roots of the Ultra Left is an in-depth look at 35 things the ultra left really thinks. From Socialism to Communism, from economic and religious oppression to the elimination individual freedoms -- they say it’s all for the common good, but the ultra left’s sordid history tells a different tale. It's the documentary the left doesn't want you to see. It’s the documenatry you can’t afford to miss.

Roots of the Ultra Left Script Browse the Script By Topic
• Introduction

Section One: What Socialists Really Think About Economics
• Profit Comes From Evil Greed
• Socialists must get all your property
• Tax all income at 100%
• Support big government. No new tax cuts.
• Only government creates wealth
• Bureaucrats spend your money better than you do
• To elect more socialists, destroy the economy
• Government jobs good; private employers bad
• "Something for nothing" fools almost everyone
• Why work when you can loot those who do?
• Socialism has never been tried

Section Two: What Socialists Really Think About Your Family And Our American Culture
• Traditional morality is always bad
• Do what feels good now. Make taxpayers pay the bill
• Break all family ties
• Make God illegal
• Masculine is bad; feminine is also bad
• Kill it. Why give your baby to a moral couple?

Section Three: What Socialists Really Think About Liberty
• Solve all problems. Give the Left all power.
• Stamp out liberty. It's unfair.
• Everything not compulsory must be prohibited
• Re-write history or stop teaching it
• Keep campuses conservative-free zones
• In the media, any conservatives are too many
• No free speech for conservatives
• Only groups have rights
• Give up your guns. We want you defenseless.
• Pay the union boss or we'll crack your skull
• Save the environment. Kill off all the people.
• Destroy all non-government education
• Teachers unions -- more important than teaching kids
• When judges give us what we want, forget the laws and the Constitution

Section Four: What Socialists Really Think About The Future Of America In The World.
• America causes all world problems
• Eliminate patriotism
• Bring on world government
• Next time, Marxist-Leninists will get it right



http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/04RESOURCES/RootsLef...
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greenmutha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-06-05 04:26 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. OMFG! You have GOT to send this to Olbermann.
Edited on Sun Feb-06-05 04:29 PM by greenmutha
He will have a HEYDAY with this video! KOlbermann@msnbc.com

Unbelieveable - and yet - SCARY! :scared:

Talk about propaganda!

(Edited for use of wrong word.)
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hootinholler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-06-05 05:40 PM
Response to Original message
3. Found on page 2, naughty kick.
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Helga Scow Stern Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-06-05 08:35 PM
Response to Original message
4. Wow. Who wouldda thought?
I had wondered where you had been. Good work.
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trudyco Donating Member (975 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-06-05 08:43 PM
Response to Original message
5. Wow
So can we go to this $50 journalism school, cough up our own fake press establishment and then get in?

I mean, isn't the real media ever going to do ANYTHING? The reporters should just drown out this guy. Say NOOOOOO whenever he tries to speak.

trudyco
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meganmonkey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-06-05 09:12 PM
Response to Original message
6. Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!
Edited on Sun Feb-06-05 09:14 PM by meganmonkey
:shrug:

That's all I can say right now. I can't believe this shit. No, that's not true. I can't believe that I can even have an emotional reaction anymore to this kind of stuff, but I can. It just boggles the mind. It's overwhelminf. A f*cking thug, you're right.
I wish I had something eloquent and positive to say. Until then,


KEEP HOPE ALIVE
edit: spelling and clarity. well, some clarity ;)
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OR Ruminator Donating Member (30 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Feb-06-05 09:43 PM
Response to Original message
7. About his real name?
Is "Jeff Gannon" a legal name change? In which case, aren't there usually public records regarding the original name?

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marions ghost Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Feb-07-05 09:16 AM
Response to Original message
8. If you are following this, nashville_brook
can you post any breaking news about the Stop Govt Propanganda Act, it is relevant to all the issues really.

Thanks for posting
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nashville_brook Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Feb-07-05 12:36 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. i sure will. stay tuned!
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mikelewis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Feb-07-05 12:51 PM
Response to Original message
10. Here's an article on Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ep/20050203/en_bpiep/whitehousecorrespondentscriticizeallegedsoftballthrowerandjeffgannonfiresback

I don't believe anything until I get confirmation. This looks like confirmation to me.

These guys seem to be able to get away with anything. How can the Republican Senators stand for this crap? Are they willing to sell out America so cheaply? I hope the Democrats aren't going to let this sit either.
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mikelewis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Feb-07-05 12:56 PM
Response to Original message
11. "Jeff Gannon" and Karl Rove -- one degree of separation

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/extra/archives/001437.html
"Jeff Gannon" and Karl Rove -- one degree of separation
Who is the conservative pseudo-journalist who calls himself "Jeff Gannon" and has a hard-to-get White House press pass, so he can toss softball questions at President Bush and rewrite press releases for a right-wing outlet called Talon News?

We wish we knew. We're on the trail, though. Here's a few more interesting things about Gannon, whose unlikely West Wing access is shedding new light on the unseemly White House propaganda machine.

One thing is that there's an excellent chance he's a native Pennsylvanian (wouldn't you just know it?). His "bio" on the Talon News site states "Jeff is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University System and holds a Bachelor of Science in Education." The vast majority of students who attend Penn State, either at State College or its many satellite campuses, tend to be in-state residents.

More interesting is that he and Karl Rove seem to share a mentor -- a largely under-the-radar wingnut named Morton Blackwell. It seems that "Jeff" also is a graduate of the the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism -- a conservative propagandist training school that was founded and is run by Blackwell and that operates on an $8 million annual budget which comes from God knows where.

Remember the lame stunt during the Republican National Convention in NYC where many delegates taunted war hero Kerry by wearing purple band-aids that said: “It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it”? It was Blackwell, a GOP delegate from Virginia, who handed the band-aids out to the conventioneers.

Less well known is that Blackwell -- who was the youngest Barry Goldwater delegate in 1964 -- is also a former national executive director of the College Republicans, who had trained the teen-age Karl Rove to be a “field organizer.” According to a May 2003 New Yorker article, it was Blackwell who urged Rove to shun the growing reliance on pollsters and media consultants and go back to the grassroots. We all know how that turned out.

We'd never heard until tonight of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, which apparently trains hundreds of "Jeff Gannons" every year. They were hiding in plain sight.

There's one other thing that raises our curiosity about who or what is behind "Gannon." It seems that when he wasn't bashing Kerry, he paid a ton of attention to the Thune vs. Daschle Senate race in South Dakota. One blog that seemed to think "Gannon" was an authoritative journalist and linked to at least one of his reports was called "Daschle v. Thune."

If that name sounds familiar, it should. It later was reported that the author of the blog, Jon Lauck, was a former Thune campaign staffer and was paid $27,000 by Thune's 2004 campaign while he was producing the Web site.

So let us get this straight: The top Democrat in the Senate loses a race where the GOP sets up a phony blog that passes along news reports from a pseudo media organization, written by a reporter given White House credentials under a fake name.

Our head is spinning.

Will the propaganda fiasco become George W. Bush's Watergate? Stay tuned.
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nashville_brook Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Feb-07-05 10:50 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. guerilla PR -- not a bad idea
but that discussion is for another day.

of all the ways this administration could be outed -- this is the most satisfying to me.
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Helga Scow Stern Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Feb-07-05 10:48 PM
Response to Original message
12. Help! We may have some nasty vermin in California,
and I think I might have found one!

Or wait, they're all over the place, in the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle.

But this is a special one, because it got the EAC to investigate Shelley. Why can't Will Pitt or someone just call up the EAC and ask them to investigate Blackwell? :shrug:

Take a look:

On Friday, August 20th, shortly after revelations and allegations published in the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury kicked off the "Shelleygate" scandal, California Politics Today contacted the Election Assistance Commission to find out what, if anything, it was doing to monitor the spending of California's HAVA money. Brian Whitener, spokesperson for EAC, told CPT that EAC was expecting a report from California regarding the spending of its HAVA money in March, 2005.

Asked about the reports in the San Jose Mercury that almost half-a-million dollars in federal HAVA funds were being misappropriated by the state's chief elections officer, Mr. Whitener indicated that EAC couldn't comment on news reports.

Asked if EAC had a mechanism in place for the on-going auditing of the hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds it was allocating under the HAVA to California and other states, Mr. Whitener indicated that it did not.

Mr. Whitener suggested that inquiries regarding the misappropriation of HAVA funds in this case be directed to "California," which he indicated meant the Secretary of State of California, the very person whose use of these funds was at issue.

At Mr. Whitener's suggestion, CTP prepared and e-mailed to him a list of questions regarding the allegations made about California Secretary of State in the San Jose Mercury article.

At 12:48 pm, PDT, on Friday, August 20th, this e-mail was sent to Mr. Whitener at the EAC:

Hi Brian,

Here's a link to today's article in the San Jose Mercury alleging that California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has misappropriated almost half a million dollars in HAVA money:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/9449482.htm

As a reporter for California Politics Today, at http://www.etopiamedia.net/empnn/pages/cpt-emnn/cpt-emnn0.html, I'd like to do a short recorded audio interview with someone at EAC to discuss:

1. Is there an ongoing audit function at EAC to monitor/supervise the disbursement in the states of the HAVA funds EAC is responsible for providing to the states?
2. Has EAC taken note of the recent allegations against Secretary of State Shelley?
3. Does EAC have any comment about these allegations?
4. Is EAC conducting or planning to conduct any investigations of these allegations?
5. What criminal charges or civil remedies could be pursued by EAC if it finds wrongdoing on the part of Secretary of State Shelley?
6. Can misappropriation of HAVA funds by state election officers result in action by EAC to limit further payment of HAVA funds to the offending states?
7. Have there been, to your knowledge, any other instances of alleged or proven misappropriation by states of HAVA funds and, if so, what has been the disposition of these cases?

If possible, I'd like to get something on the record about these questions before the close of business today.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide about these questions.

Regards,

Marc Strassman
Reporter
California Politics Today
Etopia Media Political News Networks
Etopia Media News Networks

http://www.etopiamedia.net/empnn/pages/cpt-emnn/cpt-emnn115-5551212.html
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NationalEnquirer Donating Member (571 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-08-05 12:06 PM
Response to Original message
14. Wow! The things I learn here.
Great work, great post.
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nashville_brook Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-08-05 12:59 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. thanks!
our means of getting stories out has improved greatly in the last year. if you don't already have Sirius, get it. You can also listen to streams on the internet.

my fave is thom hartmann!
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NationalEnquirer Donating Member (571 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-09-05 03:19 PM
Response to Reply #16
19. You can't be sirius...
Aren't those Satellite radio things expensive still? I'll get one when the price drops a bit more.
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dzika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-08-05 12:58 PM
Response to Original message
15. Thank you for posting this.
People need to know about that stealth propaganda tactics are being ramped up.

This *IS VERY RELEVANT* to election reform efforts and it's going to get worse before it gets better. The year-round campaign is rising to a new level and much more propaganda is in the works.

Do not wait to fight these lies! Act now!
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nashville_brook Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-08-05 01:00 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. i am sooooooo tired of being lied to
and my guess is that this will be the straw that broke the camel's back for the rest of the world.

you just can't LIE to us ALL THE TIME. we'll come fer ya!
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nashville_brook Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-08-05 09:41 PM
Response to Original message
18. UPDATE! this is priceless, ya'll -- Jeff Gannon gay porn connection!
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/holy-crap_08.html

"Holy crap
by John in DC - 2/8/2005 07:03:41 PM

Let me say again, holy crap.

The blogosphere has dug up some really really really creepy stuff about that pseudo-reporter with the pseudonym who the White House lets ask all the softball questions about their briefings. His pseudonym is Jeff Gannon, and well, the folks at DailyKos, and Eschaton, have been doing a little digging around on him.

It's a long and sordid tale, but let me give it to you in a nutshell. Mr. Gannon's home page is JeffGannon.com. Well, JeffGannon.com is owned by a person and company that owns the following Web addresses as well:

Hotmilitarystud.com
Militaryescorts.com
Militaryescortsm4m.com"

<snip>
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1democracy Donating Member (142 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-09-05 06:54 PM
Response to Reply #18
20. NPR ran story today, complete with interview
Edited on Wed Feb-09-05 06:56 PM by 1democracy
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4492778

The audio of the interview with Gannon will be available at 7:30 pm EST 2-9-05
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