The Smoking Gun in the White House

Here's a great posting we're reposting here. Its originally from the politics forum of JazzHouston.com We have no association with the author other than admiring her logic:

The Smoking Gun in the White House

February 15, 2005

By: Melissa Carr
Independent Media TV

Material about:
Bush Administration Lies and Deceit

Material about:
Top Stories Ignored By U.S. Media

I rarely like to dwell in liberal vs. conservative arguments, as I don’t think simplifying our nation as two distinct groups serves a valid purpose. But the latest media scandal to rock those who pride themselves as conservatives is too tantalizing to simply ignore. First, we had Armstrong Williams quietly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in government money to push the No Child Left Behind initiative on his televised broadcasts. Next came Maggie Gallagher’s admission that she was paid to promote Bush’s marriage initiative, though she insisted that contract didn’t influence her op/ed column. Sure it didn’t, Maggie. This time around the exposed conservative sycophant in question is Jeff Gannon. Or should I say James Guckert? For all intense purposes, I’ll refer to him as Gannon.

Gannon resigned this week from his position in the elite White House press corps. An Associated Press article suggested that his resignation was fueled by a recent “pointed” conservative question for President Bush. It also hinted at his link to several gay pornography websites. The real news story is not what the Associated Press said, but rather what they left out.

First and foremost, online bloggers are to thank for exposing this entire scandal. The White House failed to realize Gannon was using a phony name as it gave him top access, and corporate media journalists seemed to turn the other cheek while this shady character was sitting in their midst. Yet a few observant bloggers on the website DailyKos persevered in their online Mystery Machine and ultimately exposed Gannon as a fraud.

A number of troubling questions emerge with this latest exposé. The most troubling involves the criteria for obtaining a White House press pass. Journalists are eligible for ‘hard passes’ or ‘daily passes’, and the decision is ultimately based on whether the news outlet they serve is deemed a valid one. In Gannon’s case, he worked for a website called Talonnews.com. A Texas Republican allegedly operates the site, and there is no evidence it is valid news source. Most of its articles are copy/pasted from other sites, and even then it doesn’t bother attributing credit where credit is due.

Gannon insists that he applied for daily press passes with his driver’s license and he never had to reveal his real name. Hmmm…. I was not aware that it was legal to obtain a driver’s license under a bogus name. Hopefully Gannon can clear this up at a future date. I would hope the Office of Homeland Security would want clarification on this matter, too!! I also hope Gannon will also address concerns by another White House correspondent, Dana Milbank, who insisted on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC program that Gannon’s press pass appeared to be the permanent ‘hard pass’ variety complete with photo identification. That suggests the White House knew he was a fraud but allowed him to participate anyway.

Another most fascinating question that has arisen from the Gannon scandal involves the question of who is or isn’t a journalist. Gannon’s website no longer portrays his ‘bragging right’ as being a graduate of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, but others have archived his ‘meticulous academic record’. What’s wrong with Gannon’s story? Listen closely.

The Leadership Institute is a conservative tax-exempt organization operated by Morton Blackwell since 1979. The ‘journalism’ school Gannon graduated from is a two-day, $50 conservative workshop that promises its students the following:

·Learn how to find good internships and make the most of them ·Gain networking skills to help you land your job and increase your effectiveness ·Develop a top-notch resume and learn how to make yourself stand out in an interview ·Learn a proven, step-by-step job hunting strategy and much more

Interestingly, the Leadership Institute asks its potential customers if they know what Larry King, Barbara Walters, Peter Jennings, and Bill Clinton all have in common. Besides the fact that all 4 have been on television, there is no common similarity. Walters has an English degree and is known to make people cry during interviews. Jennings has been in broadcast since he was 9 years old and is an anchorman. Clinton has NO journalistic experience. And Larry King has years of broadcast experience but is still no more credible than Oprah or Dr. Phil when it comes to hard news. Does the Leadership Institute think that appearing on television is a worthy commonality to peddle its broadcast journalism program???

The media placement and recruitment coordinator for the institute is Denise Chaykun. Chaykun is a recent graduate of Bucknell University, and her majors were history and psychology. How does a recent history and psychology graduate now qualify as a media expert who can recruit and place people in the field of journalism?

Does a two-day workshop really make someone a viable contender for a journalism job these days? There is hard news and there is soft news. There are feature stories, op/ed articles, sports spreads, and hard news. That anyone, especially through an admitted program that does little to hide its biased slant, could think that he/she could learn the ropes of journalism in two days seems to show how some conservatives prefer sharing their opinions instead of disseminating factual information per the media.

The same organization claims it can teach people how to write like Congressional champions in a single day. It promises to “take you to the top and teach you the writing skills every Chief-of-Staff demands.” As an English instructor, I’m not sure whether I should be alarmed by this organization’s claim or by the possibility that Congressional writing is so substandard it can be learned in a day.

I must admit, I’m a bit curious about the Leadership Institute’s Internet activism workshop that claims it can teach its students the ropes of “guerilla Internet activism.” I’ll overlook the typo of the word “guerrilla” because I’m more interested in knowing the definition of guerrilla Internet activism. The term “guerrilla” conjures up notions of warfare, yet I’m not quite sure why a tax-exempt, non-profit organization would be doing that.

The last question to be raised is the bombshell that Gannon was questioned for his role in the Valerie Plame/CIA media leak investigation. How did a $50 ‘journalist’ manage to get his hands on such sensitive information? And when he testified during a federal grand jury, which of his names did he use?

It is only after these questions are thoroughly answered that I might be able to fathom how certain conservative circles are touting their moral values as righteous compared to the ones I know.

CNP in California (published in 1996)

Published in Freedom Writer April 1996

CNP in California
Over sixty Californians are members of the Council for National Policy (CNP) and nowhere in the country have CNP members been more politically active and spent more money than in California. Since 1988, many of these members have assumed a very active lea dership and generous financial role in a variety of ideological causes moving the California Republican Party into the ranks of the Radical Religious Right.

One of the most influential CNP members no longer lives in California, but his long shadow reaches from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierras. James Dobson, formerly of Pomona, now presides over his Focus on the Family (FOF) empire from Colorado Springs.

According to a November 26, 1995 article in The Los Angeles Times, California state Senator Rob Hurtt Jr. came under the influence of Dobson in the early 80s. Hurtt, in turn, helped bring together a group of men who have built a formidable political machine by spending over $8,000,000 from their own pockets to change the face of California politics. All are members of the CNP. This group of men now consists of:

• Howard Ahmanson Jr., the heir to the Home Savings fortune, chair of the California Independent Business PAC, successor to the Allied Business PAC, 20+-year trustee of R. J. Rushdoony's Chalcedon, board member of the Claremont Institute, and deep-pocket political campaign contributor. In a 1985 Orange County Register interview, Ahmanson stated he wanted to dedicate his fortune to see that we had Biblical law integrated into our everyday lives.
  
• Roland Hinz, owner of Daisy/HiTorque Publications, publishers of Dirt Bike and Motocross magazines. His wife, Lila, has served on the board of directors of Paul Weyrich's National Empowerment TV.
  
• Edward G. Atsinger III, owner of 29 commercial Christian radio stations, graduate of Bob Jones University, and board member of the National Religious Broadcasters Association.
  
• Richard A. Riddle, owner of I. W. Walker, a box manufacturing company and a partner in Richray Industries, an import-export company which does a lot of business with South Korea, and a graduate of Bob Jones University.
  

The group has gone through several name changes. It started out as the Capitol Commonwealth Group which became the Allied Business PAC which in turn has been reborn as the California Independent Business PAC. It has helped to elect over one-fourth of the 120 members of the California legislature.

Because of California political campaign laws, Sen. Hurtt has been forced to drop out of the California Independent Business PAC. However, that did not keep him from spending almost $2,000,000 on political campaigns in 1994.

In 1987, Hurtt, Ahmanson, and CNP member Preston Hawkins, a developer, founded the
Capitol Resource Institute (CRI) in Sacramento as a public-policy organization affiliated with Focus on the Family (FOF). Since CRI's founding, Hurt and Ahmanson have provi ded over 75% of the annual budget.

With a small staff, CRI conducts a multitude of activities such as lobbying the legislature on behalf of Hurtt and FOF, publishing at least two monthly newsletters, conducting daily and weekly radio programs (mostly on Atsinger's radio stations), providin g voters' guides, and presenting Community Impact Committee seminars.
Ahmanson's megabucks also provide support for such organizations as the Western Center for Law and Religious Freedom, the Reason Foundation, the Claremont Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the California Prolife Council, and Chalcedon, Inc.
In 1994, the men supported a failed school-voucher initiative by providing over $450,000. According to a Common Cause report, in 1994 they were responsible for almost 10% of all the money donated to the California Republican Party.

Another CNP member is assemblywoman Barbara Alby, an ally of former state senator H. L. (Bill) Richardson, a long-time Christian Reconstructionist activist. Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian of San Diego County is a new member. Former assemblyman Patrick Nolan is still listed in the 1995 CNP phone directory as a member, although he is presently a resident of a federal correctional facility. Nolan pleaded no contest to political corruption charges. Christian Reconstructionist guru R.J. Rushdoony has been listed as a member for many years, although he claims he hasn't been to a meeting in years and doesn't know who pays his annual membership fees. Some other Californians who are members:

• Pat Boone, actor/singer/info-mercializer
  
• William Dannemeyer, former U.S. Representative
  
• Robert K. Dornan, U. S. Representative and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination
  
• William Saracino, Citizens for Responsible Representation, slate mailer expert
  
• Louis K. Uhler, U.S. Taxpayers Association, author of California legislative term limits
  
• Barbara Keating-Edh, Citizen Alert, failed candidate for the Assembly
  
• James Dignan, former chair of the Republican State Party
  
• Dr. Henry M. Morris, retiring president of the Institute for Creation Research
  
• Margret Lesher, former owner of the Lesher publishing empire which she reportedly sold for $350,000,000
  
• W. Robert Stover, chairman of Western Temporary Services (among their temporary services, they supply most of the Santas for department stores and malls in California)
  
• Larry Arnn, president of the Claremont Institute (promoters of the anti-affirmative action initiative)
  
• Robert W. Poole, president of the Reason Foundation
  
• Joseph Farah, former editor of the now-defunct Sacramento Union
  
• Ms. Terry Siemens, a former Miss California
  
• William Rusher, fellow of the Claremont Institute
  
• David Balsiger, movie and TV producer
  
• John Stoos, former executive director of California Gun Owners Association, political consultant
  

To define most CNP members as radical is charitable. As one looks at the activities in which CNP members are engaged, it would appear their goal is the total destruction of society as we know it. They are leading the charge to deny minorities equality, destroy public education, and the institution of government. California is their testing ground.
Published in Freedom Writer April 1996

Sith Lords of the Ultra-Right

Great posting by kossak, Steven D

Sith Lords of the Ultra-Right
by Steven D
Steven D's Diary

Tue Feb 22nd, 2005 at 12:55:24 PST

"We are no longer working to preserve the status quo. We are radicals, working to overturn the present power structure in this country."
Paul Weyrich

Got your attention? Good, because this is important.

Update: In the interest of moving the conversation off the title, and so people can send this as a link without worrying about being labeled anti-semetic, I've changed the title. I appreciate all those who defended my original title, but I'd like the focus kept on the information presented and what we can do to counter the influence of this group.

Ever wonder how the right always seems so coordinated in the strategy. How all the multitude of organizations they've created all seem to use the same playbook? How they all manage to focus on the same talking points each day, day after day, year after year. Well it's no accident. But how do they do it?

The answer my friends lies in a little known organization with the innocuous sounding name The Council for National Policy. Don't go looking for an official website because you won't find one. In fact this "think tank" goes out of its way to avoid publicity:

[ click here to read the full article ]

Council for National Policy (CNP)...

Excellent post found at DU:

the Council for National Policy (CNP) . . .
OneBlueSky

I ran across this Christian site out of Canada the other day . . . apparently they monitor the religious right, and pay particular attention to something called the Council for National Policy, which I wasn't familiar with . . . might be a good resource for those following theocratic developments . . .

The Council for National Policy: What Is It?

http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.htm

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.

The CNP, according to their 1996 Telephone Directory, was founded in 1981. While those involved are from the United States, their organizations and influence cover the globe, both religiously and politically. 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.

While this information includes members of the CNP, this is not to say that liberal political figures are excluded from the assessment of having "a heart of desperately wicked and deceitful above all things." No one is precluded. However, the CNP members are overtly "Christian" which is used as a cover to deceive the gullible. They have the "form of godliness" and are somewhat "ministers of righteousness", but deny the true power thereof by a carefully contrived doctrine which assiduously avoids the Scriptures which would expose their works that they are evil. Through their propaganda, they provoke visceral reactions from Christians to fight, become angry, to get involved in the political arena, to join and support their organizations through many monetary contributions which makes "merchandise of the saints."

they have a three-part listing of CNP members . . .

http://www.seekgod.ca/cnporganizations.htm
http://www.seekgod.ca/cnporgan.htm
http://www.seekgod.ca/cnporg.htm

and a name index and bibliography . . .

http://www.seekgod.ca/cnpbase.html
http://www.seekgod.ca/cnpbiblio.htm

The Rise of Rove's Republic

Here's a snippet from an excellent new blog entry by kossak Stirling Newberry. For the full entry please click on the title below.

The Rise of Rove's Republic
by Stirling Newberry
Stirling Newberry's diary
Tue Feb 22nd, 2005 at 08:12:40 PST

Most people in the outside world do not explicitly believe we are passing through a period of constitutional crisis. That an impeachment was run over a blow job didn't clue them in. That a president was installed by judicial fiat did not clue them in. That a war was launched which is, and was, essentially a giant looting expedition on the Treasury has not clued them in.

So what is going on? What is the thread that unifies Iraq and Social Security, the election crisis of 2000?

The process of American Constitutional change, and according to that process, the greatest dangers lie ahead, not behind us.

I. Mandate. Meaning. Money.

A constitutional order has three parts: mandate - what the government should do - and meaning - how the public views the role of its duties, rights and options in relationship to the government. These are tied together by mechanism - how the government functions. In American history, and to no small extent world history, the most important mechanism is money. Not in the sense of who gets money - but in the sense of how money works. Each of these three parts of government are often written about, but how they interact is usually handled poorly - because generally an author knows one well, details it quite clearly, and then tries to apply the thesis of one to the others. The situation is more complex - each interacts with the others, and the process of bringing all of them into harmony is not immediate, it does not lend it self to nice clear lines of demarcation.

But a new constitutional order must get all three in sync - people must expect of a government what it can accomplish through handling mechanisms, and through motivating meaning.

Money is the key lens of an American constitutional order, because it is the one part of that order that must work every single day. Money is the constitution that you carry with you, the government backs its functioning.

[ click here for the rest of the article "The Rise of Rove's Republic"

Did US Manipulate Iraqi Vote?

The following was written by Peter Drekmeier:
From: "Election Fraud 2004"
Subject: Did US Manipulate Iraqi Vote?
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:47:55 -0800
Hi Folks,
According to Scott Ritter, U.S. authorities manipulated the results of the Iraqi election to reduce the percentage of the vote received by the United Iraqi Alliance from 56% to 48%. Sound familiar?
-Peter

NEWS: Scott Ritter says US attack on Iran planned for June
Written by Mark Jensen

Saturday, 19 February 2005

On Friday evening in Olympia, former UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott Ritter appeared with journalist Dahr Jamail. -- Ritter made two shocking claims: George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005, and the U.S. manipulated the results of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq....

SCOTT RITTER SAYS U.S. PLANS JUNE ATTACK ON IRAN, ‘COOKED’ JAN. 30 IRAQI ELECTION RESULTS
By Mark Jensen

United for Peace of Pierce County (WA) February 19, 2005

Scott Ritter, appearing with journalist Dahr Jamail yesterday in Washington State, dropped two shocking bombshells in a talk delivered to a packed house in Olympia’s Capitol Theater. The ex-Marine turned UNSCOM weapons inspector said that George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005, and claimed the U.S. manipulated the results of the recent Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.

Olympians like to call the Capitol Theater "historic," but it's doubtful whether the eighty-year-old edifice has ever been the scene of more portentous revelations.

The principal theme of Scott Ritter's talk was Americans’ duty to protect the U.S. Constitution by taking action to bring an end to the illegal war in Iraq. But in passing, the former UNSCOM weapons inspector stunned his listeners with two pronouncements. Ritter said plans for a June attack on Iran have been submitted to President George W. Bush, and that the president has approved them. He also asserted that knowledgeable sources say U.S. officials "cooked" the results of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.

On Iran, Ritter said that President George W. Bush has received and signed off on orders for an aerial attack on Iran planned for June 2005. Its purported goal is the destruction of Iran’s alleged program to develop nuclear weapons, but Ritter said neoconservatives in the administration also expected that the attack would set in motion a chain of events leading to regime change in the oil-rich nation of 70 million -- a possibility Ritter regards with the greatest skepticism.

The former Marine also said that the Jan. 30 elections, which George W. Bush has called "a turning point in the history of Iraq, a milestone in the advance of freedom," were not so free after all. Ritter said that U.S. authorities in Iraq had manipulated the results in order to reduce the percentage of the vote received by the United Iraqi Alliance from 56% to 48%.

Asked by UFPPC's Ted Nation about this shocker, Ritter said an official involved in the manipulation was the source, and that this would soon be reported by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist in a major metropolitan magazine -- an obvious allusion to New Yorker reporter Seymour M. Hersh.

On Jan. 17, the New Yorker posted an article by Hersh entitled The Coming Wars (New Yorker, January 24-31, 2005). In it, the well-known investigative journalist claimed that for the Bush administration, "The next strategic target [is] Iran." Hersh also reported that "The Administration has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions
inside Iran at least since last summer." According to Hersh, "Defense Department civilians, under the leadership of Douglas Feith, have been working with Israeli planners and consultants to develop and refine potential nuclear, chemical-weapons, and missile targets inside Iran. . . . Strategists at the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, in Tampa, Florida, have been asked to revise the military’s war plan, providing for a maximum ground and air invasion of Iran. . . . The hawks in the Administration believe that it will soon become clear that the Europeans’ negotiated approach [to Iran] cannot succeed, and that at that time the Administration will act."

Scott Ritter said that although the peace movement failed to stop the war in Iraq, it had a chance to stop the expansion of the war to other nations like Iran and Syria. He held up the specter of a day when the Iraq war might be remembered as a relatively minor event that preceded an even greater conflagration.

Scott Ritter's talk was the culmination of a long evening devoted to discussion of Iraq and U.S. foreign policy. Before Ritter spoke, Dahr Jamail narrated a slide show on Iraq focusing on Fallujah. He showed more than a hundred vivid photographs taken in Iraq, mostly by himself. Many of them showed the horrific slaughter of civilians.

Dahr Jamail argued that U.S. mainstream media sources are complicit in the war and help sustain support for it by deliberately downplaying the truth about the devastation and death it is causing.

Jamail was, until recently, one of the few unembedded journalists in Iraq and one of the only independent ones. His reports have gained a substantial following and are available online at dahrjamailiraq.com.

Friday evening's event in Olympia was sponsored by South Puget Sound Community College's Student Activities Board, Veterans for Peace, 100 Thousand and Counting, Olympia Movement for Justice & Peace, and United for Peace of Pierce County.

--

NOTE: Dahr Jamail will make three more appearances in the Puget Sound area this weekend: (1) SATURDAY, FEB. 19, 7:00 p.m., at the Kirkland Congregational Church, 106 5th Avenue, Kirkland WA. Admission $5 -- Sponsored by Evergreen Peace & Justice; (2) SUNDAY, FEB. 20, 1:00 p.m. at the Vashon Land Trust. Vashon Islanders for Peace will be hosting Dahr Jamail and Bert Sacks on the subject of Exit Strategies from Iraq; (3) SUNDAY, FEB. 20, 7:30 p.m. at UW Kane Hall, Room 120. Hosted by the Interfaith Network Of Concern for the people of Iraq (INOC), the University of Washington -- Department of Communication, the Iraqi Community Center of Seattle (ICCS), and the United Nations Association, Seattle.

NOTE TO MEDIA: This piece has generated considerable public and media interest, receiving 23,633 hits as of 11:00 p.m., Feb. 21, and causing the UFPPC web site to crash several times on Monday. -- Dennis Miller of Veterans for Peace suggests reporters seeking to reach Scott Ritter contact Dan Leahy of Evergreen College at leahyd@evergreen.edu

ADDENDUM: Scott Ritter spoke on KIRO 710 radio this evening, Feb. 21; I am told by Bob Rudolph of UFPPC and Veterans of Peace that he repeated the substance of what he said in Olympia on Feb. 18.

--Mark Jensen is a member of United for Peace of Pierce County.

---------------------------------------
Peter Drekmeier
Election Fraud 2004
info at ElectionFraud2004 dot org
Check out our slide show at ElectionFraud2004.org