Who paid for "The Path to 9/11"?

[madmusic]

There was a ad just on by Progress for America that repeated The Path to 9/11 talking points almost verbatim. Maybe they are taking advantage of the movie's buzz, or maybe they financed the movie and had this planned all along. Bush's speech hints at the latter and strongly implies a planned campaign of "strong on terror" and an Iraqi connection despite how enlightened voters are now.

Progress for America
From SourceWatch

Progress for America (PFA) (a 501c4) and its affiliate Progress for America Voter Fund (PFA-VF) (a 527 committee) are national tax-exempt organizations. The PFA was, from the beginning, "closely associated" with the Bush administration, the Republican National Committee and "their consultants." <1>

PFA was established in 2001 to support George W. Bush's "agenda for America." The PFA Voter Fund, which was set up in 2004, raised $38 million in support of Bush's 2004 election bid.

Progress for America, a "friends of the party" organization "operated by Tony Feather, the former political director of Bush-Cheney 2000 and a close friend of White House political adviser Karl Rove, is described by some Republicans as a new group dedicated to corralling outlawed party soft money," Steve Weismann, Associate Director for Policy at The Campaign Finance Institute wrote January 28, 2003.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Progress_for_America

I'd bet 100 - 1 these people financed the really bad movie and didn't care if it was really bad or not.

[bullimiami]

1. did it cost 40 M dollars to produce?

and they ran it without commercials, did abc/disney give up all of that commercial time or was it purchased?

[Karenina]

2. Spot the LIE, follow the $$$$

eom

[MasonJar]

3. Our job is to take down Disney and ABC. That is what Rove does

for no reason. We have a reason; swift boat the liars.

[texastoast]

15. I'm ready. Who's in charge?

We had better get ready to respond as well.

In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal
Millions to Go to Digging Up Dirt on Democrats

By Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 10, 2006; Page A01

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

more . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/09/AR2006090901079.html?sub=AR

[JHB]

4. Florida State Employees Fund owns 7.3M shares of Disney...

And who controls it? Brother Jeb.

When following the money, check out this report from Mercury Rising:

http://phoenixwoman.blogspot.com/2006/09/news-of-day.html

I was just listening to Johnny Wendell here on KTLK interviewing Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter who reports that there have been rumors around town ever since Disney refused to distribute "Fahrenheit 9/11" that Disney has a corrupt relationship with Jeb Bush in Florida.

Posted on Hullaballoo, with original at American Progress by FollowtheMoney:

JEB BUSH CONTROLS 7.3 MILLION SHARES OF DISNEY STOCK: As governor of Florida, Jeb Bush serves as a trustee for the state employees' pension fund. That fund owns approximately 7.3 million shares of Disney stock. According to the Orlando Sentinel on 3/2/04, how the state votes those shares in board of director elections is "a closely watched decision with political as well as economic dimensions."...EISNER TELLS JEB BUSH HOW IMPORTANT THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS TO DISNEY: Disney's agreement with the state of Florida "gives the entertainment company near complete control over 40,000 acres" in the central part of the state. Disney's theme parks operate "free from government oversight – it is in effect the government – and can do almost whatever it wants with its land."


The American Progress article is linked below. Just scroll down to "MEDIA: House of Bush, House of Mickey":
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=837247&ct=48110

[madmusic]

5. Swift Boat?

SNIP

FLS-DCI is currently running phony "Astroturf" campaigns against net neutrality, using fronts like Responsible Electronic Communications Alliance and Hands Off the Internet.

And DCI isn't just using the tactics in politics! They're also using it for corporate clients. (If it works, do it again and again...) From this story, HM GETS PR HELP WITH ATTACKS:

"Houghton Mifflin, publisher of a best-selling children's book critical of the fast-food industry, has brought in Dan Klores Communications to help rebut what it sees as "Swift Boat-Style campaign" attacks on the tome. ... HM sees a "cloud of disinformation" working against the book and orchestrated by the PR firm DCI Group at the behest of the fast-food industry. It has brought in DKC to guide PR for its defense. SVP Ed Tagliaferri heads the work at DKC."

Incidentally, DCI's James Tobin was recently convicted as part of the 2002 New Hampshire phone-jamming operation. From Talking Points Memo:

"Tobin was the ranking Republican official involved in the New Hampshire phone-jamming operation. An employee of DCI Group at the time of sentencing, he had reported to Chris LaCivita, the NRSC's National Political Director, and to Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), the Senate Majority Leader."

Keith Appell is an employee of Swift Boat media consultants Creative Response Concepts, former Club for Growth spokesperson and former John Ashcroft campaign consultant. Also, according to the Washington Post:

"But Keith Appell, a well-known Republican media adviser in Washington, said same-sex marriage is issue number one now for social conservatives. He has close ties to people like Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and Concerned Women for America president Sandy Rios -- the sort of people who can pick up the phone and get Karl Rove at the White House."

Appell was involved with CRC in the Dan Rather Forgeries story. According to the PR Week story, TWO DC FIRMS RAMP UP EFFORTS OVER LATEST PRESIDENTIAL CONTROVERSIES4:

"After the CBS story aired, called typographical experts, got them on the record that these papers were fishy, and posted a story by 3pm Thursday," said CRC SVP Keith Appell. "We were immediately in contact with Matt Drudge, who loved the story." CRC worked with CNS and the Media Research Center, another media watchdog client, to push the story into the mainstream press."

So where is Appell now? In May, 2006, Appell joined the John Raese campaign against Senator Robert Byrd. And how long did it take for the swiftboating to begin? Not long: June, 2006, John Raese Approves Dishonest Attack Ad "accusing Senator Robert Byrd of voting against the troops."

Merrie Spaeth, another Republican-connected consultant, was the original Swift Boat media consultant. How Republican-connected is she? Her husband was George W Bush's Texas running mate in 1994. She had been a Reagan administration press officer, provided debate preparations to George HW Bush, was a volunteer consultant to Ken Starr, advised Wyly brothers Republicans for Clean Air attack on McCain in 2000 - which, incidentally, was funded by some of the same supporters who funded the Swift Boaters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/the-swiftboaters-are-back_b_25223.html

[Virginia Dare]

6. I also wonder...

how much Tom Kean got as co-executive producer. I'm sure he was given this title to lend credibility to the whole sham. I also wonder who's got what on him to force him into putting his name on those embarassing pack of lies. His reputation as a bipartisan truth finder is down the toilet, and to me, it just adds to all of the doubt surrounding the 9/11 Commission.

[madmusic]

9. Democrats on the Commission...

Were complaining at the time and shortly after that they couldn't reveal some facts labeled as secret. We only got part of the story. What was/is missing? Republicans, including Kean, did not want to revel too much.

[madmusic]

7. Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture

Early on, Cunningham had recruited a young Iranian-American screenwriter named Cyrus Nowrasteh to
write the script of his secretive "Untitled" film. Not only is Nowrasteh an outspoken conservative, he is also a fervent member of the emerging network of right-wing people burrowing into the film industry with ulterior sectarian political and religious agendas, like Cunningham.

Nowrasteh's conservatism was on display when he appeared as a featured speaker at the Liberty Film Festival (LFF), an annual event founded in 2004 to premier and promote conservative-themed films supposedly too "politically incorrect" to gain acceptance at mainstream film festivals. This June, while The Path to 9/11 was being filmed, LFF founders Govindini Murty and Jason Apuzzo -- both friends of Nowrasteh -- announced they were "partnering" with right-wing activist David Horowitz. Indeed, the 2006 LFF is listed as "A Program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center."

Since the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1992, Horowitz has labored to create a network of politically active conservatives in Hollywood. His Hollywood nest centers around his Wednesday Morning Club, a
weekly meet-and-greet session for Left Coast conservatives that has been graced with speeches by
the likes of Newt Gingrich, Victor Davis Hanson and Christopher Hitchens. The group's headquarters are at the offices of Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture, a "think tank" bankrolled for years with millions by right-wing sugardaddies like eccentric far right billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. (Scaife
financed the Arkansas Project, a $2.3 million dirty tricks operation that included paying sources for
negative stories about Bill Clinton that turned out to be false.)

With the LFF now under Horowitz's control, his political machine began drumming up support for Cunningham and Nowrasteh's "Untitled" project, which finally was revealed in late summer as "The Path to 9/11." Horowitz's PR blitz began with an August 16 interview with Nowrasteh on his FrontPageMag webzine. In the interview, Nowrasteh foreshadowed the film's assault on Clinton's record on fighting terror. "The 9/11 report details the Clinton's administration's response -- or lack of response -- to Al Qaeda and how this emboldened Bin Laden to keep attacking American interests," Nowrasteh told FrontPageMag's Jamie Glazov. "There simply was no response. Nothing."

http://www.bushwatch.com/bush.htm

[madmusic]

10. Right Wing Organizations

Center for the Study of Popular Culture
4401 Wilshire Drive, 4th Floor
Los Angeles, California 90010
www.cspc.org and www.frontpagemag.org

President/Founder: David Horowitz
Established in: 1988 by David Horowitz and Peter Collier
Finances: $2.9 million (2002 budget)
Employees: 5 (listed on website)
Membership: claims 40,000 supporters
Publications: Front Page Magazine
Affiliated with: Front Page Magazine, Individual Rights Foundation


About CSPC:
# CSPC serves as the home for founder David Horowitz’s various anti-Left, anti-Democrat Party enterprises, such as the controversial FrontPage Magazine and the legal group the Individual Rights Foundation.
# CSPC sells and distributes pamphlets and information on fighting the Left.
# CSPC also sells right-wing books and heavily promotes David Horowitz’s own books. Horowitz titles include: Hating Whitey and Other Progressive Causes, The Hate America Left and The Politics of Bad Faith: The Radical Assault on America’s Future.
# CSPC also hosts the “Wednesday Morning Club” which is a forum for right-wingers in the entertainment industry. Guest speakers for the club include: Governor George W. Bush (1999), then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, Robert Bork, Representatives Tom DeLay and Henry Hyde, Senators Trent Lott, Bill Frist and Joseph Lieberman, editor of the Weekly Standard Fred Barnes, columnist George Will, and many other pundits and politicians.
# After controversial right-wing columnist Ann Coulter got fired from National Review Online for the radical, anti-Muslim comments she made after the September 11th attacks, David Horowitz’s FrontPage Magazine picked up her regular column.

Right Wing Donors:
# CSPC gets regular, generous grants from top right-wing foundations.
# CSPC has received nearly $5 million dollars from the Bradley Foundation alone since 1989.
# CSPC has received donations from all of Richard Scaife’s foundations, the Olin Foundation, and the Carthage Foundation.

Quotes from CSPC publications:
“Paradoxically, at the same time, the destructive Left sees in American democracy and the Constitution that created it, a powerful weapon it can use to destroy the system. Consequently –- and again somewhat paradoxically -- the anti-American Left has directed a significant part of its political energy towards attacks on the American court system and on the Constitution itself.” –David Horowitz, "Out of Many, One" November 24, 2003

"Everybody knows -- but no one wants to say -- that the Democratic Party has become the party of special interest bigots and racial dividers. It runs the one-party state that controls public services in every major inner city, including the corrupt and failing school systems in which half the students -- mainly African American and Hispanic -- are denied a shot at the American dream. It is the party of race preferences which separate American citizens on the basis of skin color providing privileges to a handful of ethnic and racial groups in a nation of nearly a thousand. The Democratic Party has shown that it will go to the wall to preserve the racist laws which enforce these preferences, and to defend the racist school systems that destroy the lives of millions of children every year." –David Horowtiz, "Challenging the Racist Democrats in California," August 5, 2003


“Most of the groups that adamantly oppose the USA PATRIOT Act are oriented toward worrying more about terrorists’ civil liberties than their murderous intentions: The ACLU, People for the American Way, Human Rights Watch.” – from “Anti-Patriot Feminists,” Chris Weinkopf, Front Page Magazine, July 10, 2003


Updated July 2004

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16220

[madmusic]

11. David Horowitz Freedom Center

(formerly Center for the Study of Popular Culture)

Los Angeles, CA 90035

Note: In July, 2006, the Center for the Study of Popular Culture changed its name to the David Horowitz Freedom Center. All grants to the DHFC prior to July 2006 were made to the CSPC.

The mission of the CSPC, a 501(c)(3) charity, according to one of its recent direct mail appeals, is to "change the leftist, anti-American, elitist culture that is dominant in the entertainment industry the idiocies and the viciousness of the radical leftism in universities, the media, mainstream churches, and everywhere else this modern plague is found." The Committee on Media Integrity (COMINT), leader in the de-funding attacks on public television, is a project of the CSPC.

http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=63

[madmusic]

12. "as part of its expansion...

According to an announcement posted at the Horowitz Center's FrontPage Magazine on Friday, July 7, 2006, The David Horowitz Freedom Center hired Peter Collier, a longtime Horowitz colleague and the former publisher of Encounter Books, and Buzz Patterson, a former presidential aide and author of "Reckless Disregard," as vice president and chief operating officer.

In addition, "as part of its expansion ... host the Liberty Film Festival, Hollywood's only conservative annual awards event."

Founded in 1988 by Horowitz, the FrontPage post pointed to a number of the Center's ongoing programs:

* The Wednesday Morning Club, a lunch forum that provides a platform in the entertainment and media industry for conservative speakers and ideas;
* Restoration Weekend, an annual event which has featured national leaders of the conservative movement;
* The Individual Rights Foundation, an organization that litigates high-profile conservative and libertarian public interest cases;
* Students for Academic Freedom, a national coalition of student organizations with chapters on 160 campuses, whose goal is to end the political abuse of the university and restore its academic integrity.
* FrontPage Magazine, the Center's online journal, features "news of the war at home and abroad." FPM receives 1.5 million visitors and 620,000 unique visitors a month (with 65 million hits) and is linked to more than 2,000 other websites.
* DiscoverTheNetworks.com, launched in 2005, is the largest publicly accessible database, defining the chief groups and individuals of the Left and their organizational interlocks. DTN has had more than 8 million visitors in its first 18 months of operation.

EDIT: http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=136

[madmusic]

13. Popular Culture: The ENEMY

In the New Yorker's recent account of George Soros's multimillion dollar endeavor to oust President Bush, journalist Jane Mayer points out that

"the astonishing amount of cash that Soros has poured into the Presidential race is nonetheless dwarfed by Republican efforts to influence public policy through private donations."

Mayer then highlights a report put together by Rob Stein, which details how a handful of absurdly wealthy conservatives have contributed millions upon millions of dollars during the past three decades to conservative and right-wing institutions and foundations, in effect "financing a war of ideas to tilt mainstream thinking in America rightward" (New Yorker, October 18, 2004, p. 188). I hadn't heard of Stein's report, but apparently it's been making news. First, this summer in the New York Times Magazine, and then in September in Harper's. In the New York Times Magazine article, Matt Bai summarizes Stein's report as demonstrating how conservatives have established a "message machine" that spends $300 million every year pushing its right-wing agenda. Jane Mayer lists a few of the institutions that comprise the conservative "message machine," and one of these instantly caught my eye: the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, funded in part by Richard Mellon Scaife, one of the 200 or so "anchor donors" for the conservative movement.

http://www.samplereality.com/archives/popular_culture_the_enemy.html

[madmusic]

14. Philip Anschutz (must read from insider!)

THE DISNEYFICATION OF 9/11
by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

snip

Many have wondered just why Disney would make this project, with these particular filmmakers, and then broadcast a $40 million production commercial-free. While from one point of view it can be seen as a $40 million campaign contribution to George W. Bush and the Republican Party, there is far, far more to it than that. And as usual, with anything having anything to do with any decision made here in Okeefenokee West, it has everything to do with Lots Of Money.

Disney has been losing money on their theme parks. Their TV network is still flailing for long-lasting hits, with only “Lost” having done well in its second season while “Desperate Housewives” tanked. The one thing a movie studio really needs is a “tent pole series” as they’re called. Paramount had one with “Star Trek,” Twentieth Century Fox has had one with “Star Wars.” MGM/UA and now Sony have had one over the years with James Bond. Disney hasn’t had one. But their biggest recent hit could turn that around. “Narnia,” which is a very Christian tale, made over $200 million in domestic gross - which certifies it as a Major Hit - and is closing in on $1 billion worldwide. That, my friends, is what is known as Serious Money. There are more “Narnia” stories, which makes the possibility of a “tent pole series” something about which plans can be made.

The rights to all “Narnia” books are held by Denver multi-billionaire and conservative Christian evangelical Philip Anschutz, whose third-generation wealth is in land, oil, railroads and communications, moved into entertainment. In 1999, Fortune magazine compared him to the nineteenth-century tycoon J.P. Morgan, pointing out that both men “struck it rich in a fundamentally different way: they operated across an astounding array of industries, mastering and reshaping entire economic landscapes.” In its September 2, 2002 issue, Fortune named him the nation’s “greediest executive.”

http://www.thatsanotherfinemess.com/2006/09/07/the-disneyfication-of-911-2/

[EstimatedProphet]

8. Why am I not surprised?