Anthony Wade's Blog Corner

[Boomer Chick]

Anthony,

This is your column! Please contribute all of your articles with links, here!

Thanks so much for your enlightened views!

Love,

Boomer Chick

[Boomer Chick]

An Open Letter to Senator Kerry, As He Lets Us Down Again

By Anthony Wade

January 5, 2005

I received an email today from Senator Kerry. Before you can get into the body he states:

"Tomorrow, members of Congress will meet to certify the results of the 2004 presidential election. I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors."

Thanks for clarifying that John. This decision reeks of politics. The rationale is insulting to the American people, especially those who voted for you. In the email, Kerry states the reason for not protesting is:

"Our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election."

No offense Senator, but that is lame, period. You may as well have said, "Because I cannot win I do not care about the rampant voter fraud that I agree took place".

Kerry wraps up the email with some promises about crafting serious legislation to overhaul the voting system in this country, but they are empty words, from a shell of a man I voted for.

The bottom line is that the GOP controls all three branches of government, and the companies that count 80% of our votes. There is no legislation Kerry can introduce that can possibly pass without the consent of the party in control, who will never pass any serious reforms. Why would they? They run it all now!

We have one chance to place the gross violations of election laws in front of the American people. We have one chance to force the corporate media to cover the damn story they have avoided for two months now. That one chance is tomorrow when we need one Senator to stand up, just one.

This moment matters so much to Senator Kerry that he will not even attend the session. The disenfranchisement of thousands of citizens in Ohio, which Kerry admits in the email happened, doesn't even warrant his attendance, let alone his protest.

Thanks for reminding us where you stand sir. This was not about whether you could win. Even if there was film of the GOP burning all democratic votes, they would never overturn the election results. Tomorrow is an opportunity to finally table, in front of the country, all of the shenanigans that went on in Ohio. The Secretary of State of Ohio has actually sent out a fundraising letter BRAGGING about delivering Ohio to Bush. This election smelled worse than the one in 2000 but because you can't win, you won't even attend.

There are thousands upon thousands of people who believed in you Senator Kerry. They spent their hours, their sweat, and their money supporting you. I personally defended you for six straight months, to relentless personal attacks from the GOP machine, lying about you and distorting your record. I did not do this for you Senator; I did it for this country. This election was not about you sir, it was about this country. Maybe you have been in the Senate so long, you have forgotten, but you are supposed to serve the people.

Instead you walk away and with you, you take the faith we had placed in you.


Anthony Wade is co-administrator of www.ibtp.org, a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

Anthony Wade’s Archive: www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm

[Boomer Chick]

The Ghost of Machiavelli, The WMD Hunt Ends

By Anthony Wade

January 14, 2005

Did you see it happen yesterday? Did you catch the news? It was probably buried as the fourth item, or maybe on page 17 of your local paper. The search is over. After two years and thousands of dead bodies, the search is over. What did we find? Nothing. Yesterday, the White House confirmed that the search for weapons of mass destruction was officially over, without finding as much as a used slingshot.

You remember weapons of mass destruction, don’t you? It was what we were sold this loser war with. It was rammed down the throat of America, with the image of 911 still burned in our minds. It was the fear card, and it was played quite masterfully. You see, George Bush intended to invade Iraq from the moment he walked in the White House. White House insider Paul O’Neill confirmed this. 911 only provided a convenient backdrop.

But Bush had a problem. Saddam had technically not done anything to deserve invading. He was finally cooperating with inspectors and he certainly had no involvement with 911. The only link to terrorism he had was with Israel, not the US. Bush had to make his case before Congress, to our elected officials, to us. He had to provide a good enough reason to justify the war plans he had from day one. The Bushies tossed around some ideas and came up with one they felt they could sell the best to the American people, fear. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, because we should never forget WHY our kids are dying. It is not freedom, it is not democracy, it is to protect us from a threat that never existed. They are dying because of weapons of mass destruction, that simply did not exist.

The following are Bush quotes, for why we needed to go to war with Iraq:

“The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons…And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.” [Source: White House Web site]

"We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical and biological weapons across broad areas. We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs for missions targeting the United States." [Source: White House Web site]

“The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program…Iraq could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year.” [Source: White House Web site]

"Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." [Source: White House Web site]
"If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today — and we do — does it make any sense for the world to wait?" [Source: White House Web site]

"There was a risk – a real risk – that Saddam Hussein would pass weapons, or materials, or information to terrorist networks." [Source: White House Web site]

“We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories.” [Source: White House Web site]

"Here's what -- we've discovered a weapons system, biological labs, that Iraq denied she had, and labs that were prohibited under the U.N. resolutions." [Source: White House Web site]

“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” [Source: White House Web site]

“Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.” [Source: White House Web site]

"From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors." [Source: White House Web site]

From our Vice-President:

“[Saddam] is actively pursuing nuclear weapons at this time.” [Source: CNN Web site]

“We believe Saddam has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.” [Source: Meet the Press transcript]

"[T]he reporting that we had prior to the war this time around was all consistent with that -- basically said that he had a chemical, biological and nuclear program, and estimated that if he could acquire fissile material, he could have a nuclear weapon within a year or two." [Source: Waxman Database]

[Boomer Chick]

“Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.” [White House Web site]

What do all of these statements have in common? They were lies. These are just examples, there are hundreds more. There is also Colin Powell’s lie-infested presentation to the United Nations, which will unfortunately tarnish what was a respectable career. Do you remember back then? Do you remember Condi Rice scaring us with visions of mushroom clouds? Do you remember then, when Bush came to us and explained that we were going to war, to ensure our safety. That safety was never in question, it turns out.
Years later we look back on this as an afterthought. I have listened to the folks on the right who make the argument that Saddam was a bad guy, so who cares if there are no WMD? I assume the mother who has to bury her child for a lie cares that there are no WMD. Here is the point that keeps escaping the war mongers. Without the WMD argument, there is no war. It would never have been approved. That is precisely why the President must make his case before Congress.

After the war had begun, and after it was becoming obvious that we were duped, Paul Wolfowitz finally admitted that the entire WMD rationale, was more a bureaucratic decision, then an accurate one. The exact quote was, “For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, [as justification for invading Iraq] because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.” This all seems to fade into the collective memories of the American people. It just doesn’t seem right. Even though the White House made it official yesterday, we had confirmation in the summer when the final report came in. But it was an election season, and those seeking to protect Bush, hushed the issue.

Where is the outrage? Why is everyone so accepting of the fact that we are at war, illegitimately? The first great political philosopher of the Renaissance was Nicolo Machiavelli, and he proffered the notion that the ends justify the means. This essentially means that if the end result is palatable, then who cares how you got there. We cannot live in a Machiavellian society. We cannot extend that much power to any president. It is vital to the underpinnings of our society that we maintain checks and balances. If the president no longer has to concern himself with why we wage war, then we have left democracy and have headed toward fascism. We cannot turn over our collective conscience to any one man.

The precedent set here is that a future president can cook intelligence to serve any purpose he wants. He can then present it to congress to sell a war. When the original reason is debunked, he can simply find any redeemable result of the war and simply change the reasons for the war in the first place. Was Saddam a bad guy? Absolutely. Was that a good enough reason to blow up the entire country, kill scores of people, and begin a decade long occupation? Absolutely not. How can I say that? Because if it was, then the president should have presented that to the American people and see if it would have been enough. There should never be a bureaucratic reason to go to war. There should never be the need to have to have a cover story that everyone can “agree on”.

The ghost of Machiavelli is alive and well and residing in the White House. The ends do not justify the means. We did not need the White House to announce that the hunt was over because according to their own words, the hunt never really mattered. The reason why we are at war, never mattered. The reason why tens of thousands of people are dead, never mattered. The reason why every day we see more of our children die in the sands of a desert we had no business being in, never mattered. The sobering reality however, is that the American people seem to agree with the fact that it never mattered.

The blasé attitude this country has toward this president waging war without justification has led to Bush being brazen enough to not even be remotely contrite about the entire affair. This Friday, an interview Bush gave Barbara Walters will air. In it, Bush is asked about if this war was worth it, given that now we know there was no WMD. In light of the deaths of 1,300 service people, tens of thousands of deaths of civilians, and staring at a decade long occupation; this is what Bush has the nerve to say:

"The removal of Saddam Hussein has made America safer because a dictator, a tyrant, a thug, with whom we had been at war in the past, who was destabilizing a vital part of the world, who was paying the families of suicide bombers, is no longer in power," Bush said. "And he no longer has the capacity to reconstitute a weapons program. … Yes, it's worth it."

Buoyed by the fact that the lies used to start the war were accepted, Bush obviously has no qualms about continuing the prevarications. The facts are that America is NOT safer now than before the war, because this war has created more hatred and terrorism toward the US. The facts are that Saddam was not a destabilizing force in this region because the UN sanctions had crippled his country and its infrastructure. The fact is that the money paid to families of suicide bombers was Israel’s problem, not ours. The fact is that he was no where near being able to reconstitute any weapons programs. I am sorry, but the fact is that this war was not worth it.

Bush did not come to Congress, to us, and say that war was necessary because Saddam was destabilizing the region. Bush did not come before us and say that war was necessary because Saddam was a tyrant, or a thug, or that he paid families of suicide bombers. He did not ask for war powers because we had been at war with him in the past. No, he came to us and asked for war because of weapons of mass destruction, period. That was why we allowed him the awesome power to wage war. It is the only reason that justifies the war. It is the only thing that can make the effort “worth it”. But we let this walk on by. We allow the most powerful man in the world, with the most powerful military in the world, to create any reason to wage war, after the fact. In doing so, we transfer all power to him and leave democracy in ruins. We embolden him and legitimize an illegitimate war. We send a message to the world that war is a casual matter now.

The announcement came yesterday with little fanfare, ho-hum, no big deal. THE REASON WHY WE WENT TO WAR AND HAVE KILLED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAS TURNED OUT TO BE FALSE. Just another day at the office, let me check my stock portfolio, who won the Jets game…

Somewhere, the ghost of Machiavelli is smiling.

Anthony Wade is co-administrator of www.ibtp.org, a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

Anthony Wade’s Archive: www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm

Email Anthony: [e-mail]

[Boomer Chick]

January 6, 2005

Votergate 2004 has reached the mainstream. In the early afternoon today a Congresswoman from Ohio stood up to protest the seating of the Electors from Ohio, and this time, a Senator stood up with her. This time, democracy actually worked. A politically dangerous move, meant nothing to Barbara Boxer, who stood up and said, “As we are shedding the blood of our military to this end, we must realize that we lose so much credibility when our own electoral system needs so much improvement.” Amen Senator Boxer, God bless America.

Let’s make sure we all understand what has led up to this moment in history. There is no doubt in any objective mind that there were gross “irregularities” in the 2004 vote, not just in Ohio, but around the country. Overwhelmingly, these glitches, computer errors, and irregularities favored George W. Bush. In Ohio specifically, the Secretary of State, who is responsible for ensuring fair elections, was also the State Chair of the Bush reelection campaign, a clear conflict of interest. Ohio has been the site of widespread voter fraud, voter suppression, and voter disenfranchisement. There is no doubt about this. It has been recorded for the past two months and there have been congressional hearings attesting to such facts. Secretary of State Blackwell has thwarted any fair attempt to recount and investigate. He has stalled the certification process, in essence trying to run out the clock. He has illegally stopped the recount at one point. He has sent in Triad employees to utilize cheat sheets to fraudulently fix the recount. He has hidden himself behind other GOP operatives to refuse to answer questions about the election he oversaw. His actions portray a guilty man. Displaying his arrogance however, he recently has sent out a fundraising letter BRAGGING about delivering Ohio to Bush. The fundraising by the way? Blackwell is running for Governor of Ohio. The GOP will be sure to throw their might behind him as payola for his services in ensuring Ohio went Bush. After all, they made sure Katherine Harris won a Congressional seat after she delivered Florida to Bush in 2000.

Despite the Congressional hearings, sworn affidavits, and overwhelming evidence of underhanded practices before, during, and after the election this story has received no coverage from the corporate controlled media, that prefers the deregulation presidency of Bush. For two months the Internet has been abuzz with the story, screaming in the wind apparently, while the country at large was clueless to what really happened in Ohio. Today represented our last chance to have this debate in public, and demand coverage for it. It was never about overturning the election results; it was about tabling the most important subject in our country, in public. Thankfully, Barbara Boxer stood up for all of us today and allowed that discussion, for a couple of hours.

Word about Boxer got out last night and apparently the GOP got together to get their talking points straight today. Forever insulting the intelligence of America, the GOP believes that if you simply say something enough, regardless of the truth, people will eventually believe it as being true. You remember that Al Gore invented the Internet, right? Today however you had two sides presenting their case. The democrats simply wanted everyone to work toward fixing a broken electoral process and the GOP was puffed up with faux indignation at the mere prospect that they had to spend two hours discussing a democracy they thought they had stolen already.

These apparently were the talking points of the GOP, because nearly every republican that bothered to speak today said some variation of this:

1) Bush won. He won by a lot. He got more votes than anyone in history.

2) I can’t believe we have to debate whether Bush won.

3) John Kerry knows that Bush won.

4) We need to get on with the work of the people.

5) The democrats are sore losers.

6) There is no evidence of any fraud in Ohio.

7) Our soldiers are fighting; we shouldn’t be talking about this.

8) Look at how many papers said that Bush won.

9) Ohio has democrats too; the conspiracy would be too difficult to pull off.

10) The votes have been counted, and now they have been recounted.

Every republican Congressperson said some variation of the above talking points. Unfortunately for them, they have no merit. Let’s debunk them point by point:

1) The democrats who protested never said Bush did not win. They never said they sought to overturn the results (I assume because they know it would not work with the GOP in control of everything). The fact that Bush got more votes than anyone in history does not mean anything other than we had the highest voter turnout in history, further buttressing the argument that Blackwell seriously under managed minority districts and shorted them of voting machines. Bush actually only won by 118,000 votes. We are talking about disenfranchisement beyond those numbers. Either way though, the results were never being questioned, just the conduct in Ohio and how we can improve our elections. The GOP wanted desperately to muddy the issue today and pretend the debate was about overturning results. Their hope was to make the democrats look bad, while avoiding having to talk about any serious reform.

[Boomer Chick]

2) The GOP kept trying to make this be about the democrats trying to contest the results. It was a transparent political ploy though, as Boxer and Tubbs both said they knew the results would stand. In the end, the GOP just sounded whiny.

3) Yes, John Kerry does know that Bush won. So does Tubbs. So does Boxer. This was about massive fraud and suppression and how to correct those problems. The GOP, who benefits directly from the fraud and suppression, refused to address the problems and hid like children behind these fake points that had no merit and were not in dispute.

4) In four years the GOP controlled Congress has passed an unfunded education platform, tax breaks for the rich that have crippled our economy, and transferred war powers to the president based on lies. No offense, we can wait two hours before you go back to work.

5) Hmmm, no the democrats want to make sure that every vote is counted and that the mistakes that were made in 2000 and 2004 do not occur again in 2008. You can call me a sore loser if you like because I think that Kerry won. The democrats today however, they never said that.

6) There is no evidence of fraud??? Now, I understand why the GOP would be confused since they refused to actually attend any of the Conyers hearings but if they had, then they would have had a chance to hear the evidence. If there is no evidence of fraud, why is Blackwell trying to legally ensure he never has to testify about an election he personally oversaw?

7) Never afraid to use the troops for their own selfish benefit, this argument is insulting and baseless. If we are really trying to bring democracy to the ends of the earth, maybe we should fix it here first.

8) Many republicans brought with them editorials from newspapers that said that Bush won and the allegations in Ohio had no merit. I cannot think of a more childish argument then saying that because a paper says there was no fraud, there must not be. Considering the papers did not cover the hearings, or the allegations, I would proffer they have no base from which to draw their conclusions.

9) Yes, Ohio has democrats, but none that are in control of anything. They were not responsible for voting machine allocation that saw black neighborhoods get shorted. They were not involved in the vote tabulation either. In many cases they were not permitted to even be at meetings held by the republican operatives. This argument is the ultimate red herring.

10) Ahh, everyone remember this one? That’s right, it was used by the GOP in 2000, the problem is that it was a lie then, and it is a lie now. In 2000 the Supreme Court actually stopped the recount. If it was allowed to continue we would be certifying the reelection of President Gore today. In 2004, the votes have not been recounted. 3% of the votes in certain counties were recounted but the recount was done illegally, in several instances. Using cheat sheets to ensure proper counts is not legal. No, the votes were not recounted.

Now, the two hours were filled with poignant testimony from many representatives that just want to make sure that our votes are counted. They were opposed though by self-righteous sanctimonious republicans who want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that Ohio did not happen, just like Florida before her did not. It was quite sad for example to listen to Senator Mike Dewine, from Ohio. He opened his comments by saying he cannot believe that we are discussing whether Bush won Ohio (see point # 2 above), thus dispelling the notion that he has any clue about why he was even there. He finished his comments by quoting newspapers that said that Bush won (see number 8 above). Just remember Ohioans when he is up for reelection, that he had no concern about whether your vote actually got counted. Mike Dewine stood up today and showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that he does not care about his own constituents, period.

It is a sad statement in latter-day America when the opportunity to simply talk about gross election fraud, for a period of only two hours, is considered a great victory for democracy. That is what this was though. The bottom line is that moving forward; the GOP controls all three branches of government and 80% of the companies that count your votes. After 2000 what did the GOP Congress do to reform the electoral process? Nothing. They passed the useless HAVA, which paves the way states to use their own standards and purchase voting machines made by GOP-backed companies. Besides that the GOP actually SUED to make sure that there would be no paper trail for these machines. Good job.

Senator Boxer correctly pointed out today,

“A year ago, Senators Graham, Clinton and I introduced legislation that would have required that electronic voting systems provide a paper record to verify a vote. That paper trail would be stored in a secure ballot box and invaluable in case of a recount. There is no reason why the Senate should not have taken up and passed that bill. At the very least, a hearing should have been held. But it never happened.”

Did you get that America? A year ago, legislation was proposed that would simply allow a locked record of every vote cast, to protect our democracy. To lend transparency to the process. To ensure that today, would never be necessary. But because the GOP controls the Senate, they NEVER EVEN HAD A HEARING ON THE MERITS OF SUCH A PROPOSAL. Now, I wonder why that is? Maybe because they knew already that they had control of the main swing states and 80% of the machines that do the counting were made by two brothers who run two companies that were outspoken about their desire to see Bush reelected.

What do you think is going to happen over the next four years? Do you honestly think that the GOP will enact any significant reform of an electoral process which they completely control? If they were so put off today to have to discuss the rampant disenfranchisement of thousands of voters in Ohio, for two measly hours, the only answer about their sincerity to reform has to be no. The Help America Vote Act has about as much credibility as the Healthy Forests Initiatives or the Clear Skies Act. The forests are not healthy, the skies are not clear, and America was NOT helped to vote, period.

Senator Boxer correctly recognized some salient facts. One, she recognized from the voluminous report completed by John Conyers, that thousands of people lost their right to vote, or lost their actual vote itself in Ohio. Secondly, she recognized that if the issue was not tabled today, it never would have been because the GOP controls all branches of government. Lastly, she realized that if voters could wait ten hours in the rain to vote, then by God, Congress can meet for two hours and discuss why. The GOP of course would have none of it. They discussed nothing and addressed no problems. It does not matter now though because the problems are now official. They are in the record. The people got to see today where their elected officials stand on the subject of voter fraud and suppression. They saw the GOP line up to whine about having to even discuss the possibility of voter fraud. They heard them lie with impunity and try to twist today’s events into something they were not. They heard them sound petty and small, against a backdrop of the very fabric of our republic.

On the other side they got to hear that all votes should be counted. They got to hear that all voting machines should have a paper trail. They got to see democracy in action. They got to see some real American patriots today stand up for the right to vote, period. Thank you Senator Boxer. Today you gave us all back a small part of our collective American soul, which was stripped away from us four years ago. You gave us hope that in a political town, sometimes politics can take a back seat to the concerns of the people. History will remember you well Senator Boxer. We all will remember you well.

Anthony Wade is co-administrator of www.ibtp.org, a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

Anthony Wade’s Archive:

www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm

Email Anthony: [e-mail]

[Boomer Chick]

The Bush Whores, How Much Propaganda is Enough for America?

By Anthony Wade

January 29, 2005

Have you noticed it unraveling America? Have you noticed the Bush propaganda machine start to decompensate in front of your eyes. Most importantly, have you even considered what it all means?

It started with a fellow named Armstrong Williams. Mr. Williams was a relatively popular conservative commentator on both radio and TV. When Bush carved the school vouchers out of his new “No Child Left Behind” back in 2001, Armstrong Williams was none to pleased and said that “Mr. Bush scooped out the soul of his own education proposal." Pretty harsh language but soon, Mr. Williams changed his tune. In fact, he eventually became one of the champion’s of the NCLB legislation. What changed his mind you ask? One would be logical to conclude that it would be the $240,000 payoff he received from the administration to tout the law, that changed his mind. Once he received this payola, Mr. Armstrong commented in his weekly article a numerous occasions the value of the very bill he demeaned just a few years earlier. Of course, he also never revealed to his readers that he had been paid off, permanently ruining his ethical reputation.

If this was an isolated incident, it would be frightening enough, but this week it has been revealed that Armstrong Williams is only the tip of the propaganda iceberg. He only represents one opinion Bush is trying to buy from you. Next up this week was a woman named Maggie Gallagher. Ms. Gallagher is a syndicated columnist who may have violated the law in promoting the Bush marriage initiatives to Congress, without revealing she had been paid by Bush to promote those initiatives. Did you get that America? In 2002 and 2003, Ms. Gallagher received over $40,000 from the Bush administration to pimp their vision of marriage as the panacea for all social welfare problems. On September 4, 2003 and again on March 3, 2004, Maggie Gallagher appeared before Congress as a witness for the Majority (GOP) during the Federal Marriage Amendment. At those hearings it appears that Ms. Gallagher did not bother to inform Congress of the fact that her opinion had been bought. It is unclear at this point if this was technically a federal violation of law or a violation of Congress.

Let’s walk through this again. Ms. Gallagher was paid $40,000 by the Bush administration to tout its marriage initiatives. From that point on she began to promote the initiatives in her columns extensively. These columns graced the pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among others. She was also paid to complete a report entitled, “Can Government Strengthen Marriage?” Considering she was paid tens of thousands of dollars, I am going to guess her answer was “yes”. Then, because she had now written so much about the subject, she was called as an expert witness before Congress when they were deciding whether to fund the 300 million dollar “marriage promotion initiatives”. The problem is that she did not tell Congress that she had already received over $40,000 in payola to push the same initiatives she was now pretending to be an “expert” on.

When she was busted this week her comment was, “I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it”. I don’t know about you, but I forget people who hand me $40,000 every day, don’t you? This excuse is so preposterous that while Ms. Gallagher may play an expert on marriage before Congress, she is obviously divorced from reality. .

So, we have yet another example of George Bush taking your tax money, buying a media opinion, to then try and convince you (and Congress in this case) about a plan he knows won’t float on it’s own. Are you outraged yet? Are you disgusted yet? If not, let’s discuss Michael McManus.

Michael McManus is another conservative syndicated columnist who was revealed this week as another Bush whore. Mr. McManus writes a column, Ethics & Religion, which appears in 50 newspapers, and he has been trumpeting the Bush marriage initiatives as well. It turns out the reason why, is he was paid $10,000 for doing so, by the Bush administration. Now, despite the fact that Mr. McManus needs to get a hold of Ms. Gallagher’s agent, this is yet another egregious violation of the public trust. He is a microcosm of a growing and apparently pervasive problem within the Bush administration.

This problem is that Bush has plans that he correctly recognizes will not be greeted popularly by the people. So, he takes our tax money and buys people, who are supposed to be experts, to convince you to pass his initiatives. It is so underhanded and Orwellian, it borders on fascism. President Bush is buying your opinion to pass legislation he knows you do not want. You will hear officials denouncing this tactic and swear that they are moving on from it but that is only because they have been caught with their pants down. What you also must realize is that these three only represent the tip of the propaganda iceberg. To see how far it goes, we also need to look at the press.

It has also come to light this past week that there are actual “plants” within the White House press pool. For the first four years of Bush’s reign, he shunned press conferences because of his propensity to become petulant. But even when it was Scott McClellan (White House Press Secretary), the press pool always seemed relatively tame. Now though, there are clearly people planted there to serve up softball questions, probably submitted by the White House, so McClellan or Bush can just knock them out of the park. The questioner is never interrupted, a favorite McClellan tactic when dealing with a subject matter he does not wish to spend a lot of time on or the patented Bush “can I finish?” answer is never implemented.

These plants have been discovered to be from Talon News and at a recent press conference, this is what they thought was an appropriate question:

“Thank you. Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. [Senate Minority Leader] Harry Reid [D-NV] was talking about soup lines. And [Senator] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] 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've said you are going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?

Say what??? This is such a loaded non-question I am amazed that McClellan did not fall over laughing, except I am sure he probably wrote the question for the Talon rep to ask. The questioner was Jeff Gannon, who has also served up this meatball for McClellan,

“Scott, when you talk about the unemployment -- or the jobs being created, is that based on the payroll survey, or the household survey? Because there's -- because of the tax cuts, there's been a tremendous increase in the number of entrepreneurs that have started their own businesses, and those numbers aren't reflected in the payroll survey.”

[Boomer Chick]

Digging a little deeper into Talon News, Media Matters has discovered that Talon News' editor in chief, Bobby Eberle, is a Republican activist who served as a delegate to the 1996, 1998, and 2000 Texas Republican Conventions and to the 2000 national Republican Convention. In 1999, Eberle "was recognized with a unanimously approved resolution of commendation by the Republican Party of Texas for service and dedication to the Republican cause." Eberle is also the president and CEO of GOPUSA.com, a "conservative news, information, and design company dedicated to promoting conservative ideals" that carries articles and commentary by Gannon and Talon News. GOPUSA is also affiliated with MillionsofAmericans.com, a conservative advocacy organization run by Bruce Eberle, a relative of Bobby Eberle and a conservative fundraising consultant. Gannon's articles for Talon News frequently appear on GOPUSA.com. Bruce Eberle and his company have made extensive financial contributions to Republican Party candidates and committees.

Gannon is not only a shill, he is a careless one. He has also been busted this week by Media Matters as having lifted, verbatim, GOP talking points into his own journalistic pieces. The link here, mediamatters.org/items/200501280001 will outline the obvious plagiarism perpetrated by Gannon. Gannon’s own resume posted on the Talon News site lists that “he is also a graduate of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism.” Well, as haughty as that sounds the truth is not quite as glamorous. It turns out that this is actually a two-day seminar in conservative journalism which cost Mr. Gannon all of $50. That is his degree, that is his expertise. It can all be found here, www.leadershipinstitute.org/02TRAINING/001BJS/001BJS.cfm.

Mr. Gannon’s bio can be found here,

www.talonnews.com/bios/jeffgannon.shtml

How exactly do you “graduate” from a two day seminar? What exactly makes Mr. Gannon a journalist? Why is he selected for questions by the White House Press Secretary, over far more qualified, real journalists, who may have actually studied journalism? Why when he is called on, does Mr. Gannon, so obviously compromised, continue to serve up the most ridiculous softball questions, setting up the administration to state their talking points?

Have you connected the dots in this article? Your government is in the business of buying propaganda. It is in the business of buying your opinion. It has now been caught shelling out $240,000 to a conservative commentator to sell you the No Child Left Behind bill. Bush has been busted paying a syndicated columnist over $40,000 to pretend to Congress that it is her expert opinion that the Bush marriage initiatives will work at a price tag of $300 million of your dollars. Not convinced that was enough, Bush paid another $10,000 to yet another conservative syndicated columnist to pimp the same marriage initiatives to you.

In each case, the whores who have been bought insult your intelligence by suggesting they were unaware they were doing anything ethically wrong, one even suggesting she forgot she was paid $40,000. In each case, the pimps from the Bush administration all want to make it go away as quickly as possible, saying they do not approve of it, and will ensure it does not happen again, sure. Move along, nothing to see here citizens.

Meanwhile, the government allows a plant within the White House Press Pool. A go-to “reporter” that McClellan or Bush can call on if the heat gets too much, knowing that a nice easy softball will be tossed up that will result in perfect quotes for the evening news. It is a propaganda machine. Then those answers make it onto talk radio, as the Limbaugh’s and Hannity’s of the world will then pretend that it is “news” when all it is, are talking points. Soon, it filters down to Fox News, and other cable outlets. Soon, Chris Matthews will be chatting about it with Ben Ginsberg, a GOP lawyer. Then at ten o’clock Joe Scarborough will hash it out with the conservative voice of insanity, Anne Coulter. By morning, the seeming innocuous statements by Maggie Gallagher, or Armstrong Williams, or the questions asked by a reporter with fake credentials have become accepted fact through the vast propaganda machine the Bushies run. We wake up in the morning and go about our lives not knowing that the opinions we read, the news we trust, the sources that we base our daily opinions on, have all been bought.

This is all too real America. The next item up for sale is your opinion about social security. There have already been experts out there lying to you about a system that is in “grave danger”. I wonder how much they are paid for that opinion. There will be softball questions posed by Jeff Gannon as he plays catch with Scott McClellan about how Bush just wants to allow a greater return on investment. Limbaugh and Hannity have already weighed in and surprise surprise, they agree with the talking points. It is starting to be bantered around “mainstream” media now, with folks like Matthews and Scarborough, warming up in the bullpen to pitch the administration’s propaganda to you. This link will take you to an expose by Media Matters which addresses some of these concerns,

mediamatters.org/items/200501270012.
This is not Orwell and we are way past 1984. This is your America. George Bush thinks nothing of using YOUR money, to buy YOUR opinion, to promote HIS agenda. If his ideas were that good, he would not need to cheat to convince you otherwise. The fact is that the social security scam will suck 2 trillion dollars out of the current system and Bush has no way of paying for it, especially in light of multiple wars and permanent tax breaks. He cannot tell you that though because the truth would render his proposal defunct. So instead, he gets his propaganda machine in motion to persuade you go along with him. The next item up for sale is your democracy, are you selling?

[Boomer Chick]

The Power of the New Media, Jeff Gannon Dispatched Into Irrelevancy

By ANTHONY WADE

February 10, 2005

Never before has the new media flexed its muscles collectively, so well, as in the recent case of a liar named Jeff Gannon. Well, Jeff Gannon wasn’t actually his real name. That was a lie too.

It is becoming all too obvious that the myth of a liberal mainstream media is quite dead. This fantasy is held onto so dearly by right-wingers because it is part of their talking points. The reality is far easier to spot though. Talk radio is dominated completely by the right wing machine, with such shrill voices as Limbaugh and Hannity leading the pack. Then you look at cable news see that if a man named Colmes is the only voice of reason, then we are not in Kansas any more Dorothy. It is a matter of story selection, panel composition, and host personalities.

Fox News is nothing more than an extension of the White House and any fair evaluation of them must conclude that. A FAIR study done last year found an overwhelming majority of the prime time guests on the Brit Hume show, were right wing, while the tiny minority of alleged democrats, were actually middle of the road moderates. If it was only Fox we had to worry about, we would still be ok. The real damage Fox News perpetrates on the collective journalistic soul of this country is to make other news, appear mainstream. Next to Fox, the other big networks appear lefty, when in reality they also are lilting far to the right.

The next big cable giant is MSNBC with its flagship show, “Softball, with Chris Matthews”. Chris pretends to ask the tough questions, but a mere glance at his panels will tell the truth of the leanings of his show. In the run-up to the election, Ben Ginsberg was a regular panelist offering analysis. Ben Ginsberg is a republican election lawyer. On the democratic side, Mathews may have Ron Reagan Jr., who is more moderate than democratic or Andrea Mitchell, who is married to Alan Greenspan. This is the mold of the shows that displays its inherent bias. The people on the left are not strong lefty personalities, but rather are moderates who approach topics, fairly. The people on the right however, have an agenda, and that is to push the GOP talking points at all costs. Last night Matthews had on Susan Molinari, who could not stop gushing about the bold social security plan of the president. Her counterpart tried to play fairly, and have a rational discussion. The result was Molinari often shouting over her opponent to get the GOP message through, while Matthews stands by grinning. This is what media and reporting has come to in latter day America. As if this was not bad enough, MSNBC will not even portray equal amounts, of the disproportionate pundits. Following the State of the Union, MSNBC had 11 republican guests to only 2 democratic guests. One of those two democratic guests was the aforementioned Reagan, the moderate. On the GOP side were such strong personalities as Orrin Hatch, Rick Santorum and Pat Buchanan. This is how they stack the shows.
Following the Fox model, MSNBC went out and got themselves a loud voice for their prime time PM slot. Joe Scarborough headlines for MSNBC at ten o’clock. What did Mr. Scarborough do prior to pretending to be a journalist? He was a member of Congress, for the GOP. Offering no apology, Mr. Scarborough was also spotted in the election run-up at a Pro-Bush rally, as a fan, not a journalist. Hmm, I guess objectivity is not on the MSNBC agenda. Joe routinely has on such vitriolic guests as Anne Coulter, to fairly discuss the state of affairs in this country. Please.

Besides hosts and panels, story selection is paramount. The owners of these mainstream media sources are all owned by pro-Bush (because of his pro-deregulatory stance) folks who certainly decide what is covered, and when. In the election run-up we saw months of stories about the swift boat veterans, well after they had been exposed as liars. The coverage of the debates was horrific, expecting Bush to simply put a coherent sentence together to declare victory for him while holding John Kerry to a far higher standard.

Story selection and framing become crucial now, as we will see panels and guests to discuss the folly of Bush’s social security scam. People will sit at home and watch and think they are getting news, and analysis. In reality they are being sold, a product. That product is a bad deal for social security. Bush will send the positive spin out through his talk radio propaganda machine and then turn it over to Fox News. Soon, it will filter down to the MSNBC of the world and eventually it will be difficult to differentiate between what is real, and what is message. Unless, you turn to the new media.

The new media is online. It is not pre-bought, packaged, and sold. Tonight on Fox we see an “exclusive” interview by Sean Hannity of Karl Rove. What ensues is twenty minutes of the most ridiculous softball questions and pandering, whose sole purpose is only to allow Bush unscripted minutes to pimp his positions, under the guise of journalism. The amazing thing is that Hannity shares his show with an alleged lefty, Alan Colmes, but Colmes was not granted to share in this “exclusive”. This is not journalism, it is propaganda. It is not an “exclusive”; it is a pre-planned pimp session, where Rove got to sell the social security scam while Hannity stands by playing the interested journalist. Hannity offers no corrections, when Rove exaggerates or lies but instead, plays blame the democrats. This represents the basest form of journalism as it is really state-sponsored propaganda.

[Boomer Chick]

The new media is not for sale. The new media stood up recently when a fellow calling himself Jeff Gannon started popping up at White House press conferences. Gannon was often called on by Scott McClellan, or even Bush, especially when the press conference was not going well. Gannon would serve up the most biased, partisan, ridiculous questions imaginable. Bloggers and new media took notice and started digging. Turns out that Jeff Gannon was not a journalist, he was just playing one for the administration. He was representing a news agency that was also fake. Talon News, it turns out was just a front for an organization called GOPUSA. So, we have a fake journalist, working for a fake news agency, allowed into every White House press briefing for the apparent sole purpose of giving Bush or his representative a breather during press conferences. Gannon’s resume on the Talon News site, stated that he was a “graduate” of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism. This turned out to actually be a two day seminar. I had done an article about this, found here:

opednews.com/wade_012905_bush_whores.htm

and the very next day the Talon site had removed the resume. It would not end there though. The tireless work of media matters and bloggers everywhere, revealed more and more into this story. It turned out that Jeff Gannon was not even Jeff Gannon. His real name appears to be Jim Guckert and he is allegedly also involved in gay-military escorts styled websites. Not withstanding his personal peccadilloes, what is far more offensive is his goodbye message left today on jeffgannon.com:

“Because of the attention being paid to me I find it is no longer possible to effectively be a reporter for Talon News. In consideration of the welfare of me and my family I have decided to return to private life.”

Spare us the sob story Jeff, or whatever name you want to go by. You never were a reporter, THAT is the point Jeff. You lied your way through life pretending to be a graduate of something related to journalism when it was really a two day seminar. You affiliated yourself with a partisan organization that then created a fake news organization. You lied every day of your life and now you expect anyone to feel bad for you? Please. You are not leaving because of the welfare of your family; you are leaving because you got busted.

Jeff Gannon was a liar and a plant by the Bush administration in the White House press pool. His sole function was to set up silly questions to allow the administration to pontificate about topics they wished to discuss, under the guise of journalism. He is only a microcosm of how this administration thinks it can manipulate, or even create the news. Today it was revealed that there will be a “Pentagon” channel available on the Dish Network. That is right America; your government will produce the entire network devoted to the military. They will package war and death for you and bring it right into your living room. Welcome to George W. Bush’s America.

Jeff Gannon is not the core of the problem, hell, he wasn’t even Jeff Gannon. What he represents, is the embodiment of state-sponsored journalism, more affectionately known as propaganda. He represents what is totally wrong with the system today. You want proof, look who is defending Jeff Gannon today. Sean Hannity was quoted as saying that Gannon was, “a terrific Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent.” The same Sean Hannity who then went on to pretend to be a journalist by allowing Karl Rove to read off his talking points in an “interview”. Howard Kurtz on CNN actually painted Jeff Gannon as a victim of the mean bloggers who investigated his personal life.

Are you kidding me? Memo to Howard and Sean. The man’s name was not really Jeff Gannon, he was lying. He was not a journalist, he was lying. He worked for a fake news organization, he was lying. Are you following me? A man with a fake name, fake credentials, and working for a fake news organization was granted free and unfettered access to the White House press pool, for the apparent sole purpose of bailing out the President or his representative. The story here is how the government planted a fake reporter in their pool to further their propaganda efforts against the people of this country. Let’s see if Sean or Howard covers that story or if they are just whores for this administration.

The new media has spoken. Jeff Gannon is just a blip on the radar that went out today. He is representative of something far more sinister in this country. He is representative of a government that thinks it can frame, create, or distort the truth. You will see it over the next few months. Bush will be on the road, pimping his social security scam. Word is out already that he has refused to take any questions at his pre-arranged publicity stops. He will not let anyone with a dissenting opinion attend any such event. He then will talk at you for an hour about how important it is for you to let him take two trillion dollars out of the social security funds, and then will not even let any reporter ask a question. Maybe he found out that Jeff Gannon would not be there anymore for him to rely on.

There is power in the new media and that power, is the truth.

www.opednews.com