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MEDIA TRANSPARENCYNewsletterSign-up for our newsletter RegisterOnly registered visitors are allowed to email content or post comments Support Media TransparencyYour help is essential to this website |
AROUND THE WEB | pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21Associated Press Florida Strikes Down Nation's First Statewide Voucher ProgramThe Florida Supreme Court struck down the voucher system that allowed some children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, saying Thursday that it violates the state constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public schools. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Mother Jones Counter-CoulterMeet Daniel Borchers, a conservative who says Ann Coulter's antics are beyond the paleIn America’s pop poli-culture, she’s the Mother of All Partisans, thriving on whatever turn of phrase might most piss off the Democrats and/or “liberals” (and sell as many books as possible). For their part, her targets—although they don’t make as much money at it as she does—are all too happy to sink to her depths of crass depravity in response. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
MSNBC What really smells about Abramoff scandal...Why were supposedly honest ideological conservatives like [Lou] Sheldon and [Ralph] Reed and anti-tax activist Grover Norquist involved with Jack Abramoff in the first place? Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
NY Times Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda...Michael Rubin, a Middle East scholar at the American Enterprise Institute...said he had reviewed materials produced by the company [Lincoln Group] during two trips to Iraq within the past two years. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
The Carpetbagger Report Bill Bennett to CNN...Bennett made national headlines a few months ago when he declared on his radio program that if "you wanted to reduce crime … if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." There was considerable debate about whether his comments were taken out of context, but the controversy surrounding the remarks led to widespread denunciations, including from the Bush White House. Also see: TV Newser: Bill Bennett Becoming CNN Political Analyst In '06 [ link ] Read the story >
NY Times On Opinion Page, a Lobby's Hand Is Often UnseenSusan Finston of the Institute for Policy Innovation...is just the sort of opinion maker coveted by the drug industry. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
MediaMatters.org Coulter: "[T]he government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo"Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
MediaMatters.org Former fellows at conservative think tanks issued flawed UCLA-led study on media's "liberal bias"News outlets including CNN cited a study of several major media outlets by a UCLA political scientist and a University of Missouri-Columbia economist purporting to "show a strong liberal bias." But the study employed a measure of "bias" so problematic that its findings are next to useless, and the authors -- both former fellows at conservative think tanks cited in the study to illustrate liberal bias -- seem unaware of the substantial scholarly work that exists on the topic. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Business Week Op-Eds for SaleA columnist from a libertarian think tank (Cato) admits accepting payments to promote an indicted lobbyist's clients. Will more examples follow?A senior fellow at the Cato Institute resigned from the libertarian think tank on Dec. 15 after admitting that he had accepted payments from indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff for writing op-ed articles favorable to the positions of some of Abramoff's clients. Doug Bandow, who writes a syndicated column for Copley News Service, told BusinessWeek Online that he had accepted money from Abramoff for writing between 12 and 24 articles over a period of years, beginning in the mid '90s. Also see: Search Peter Ferrara at NPR.org Laura Rozen: Abramoff's Columnist Prostitutes E & P: Copley Axes Bandow's Column in Payola Scandal [ link ] Read the story >
MediaMatters.org Cliff KincaidMediaMatters.org profile:Cliff Kincaid is a right-wing writer and activist who has been a longtime critic of the United Nations and other multinational organizations. He is also a writer and editor at Accuracy in Media (AIM), a right-wing media "watchdog" organization. He has received significant support for his work from foundations controlled by right-wing financier Richard Mellon Scaife, who has funded AIM as as well as Kincaid's own organization, America's Survival. America's Survival is dedicated to "educat[ing] the American people and to expos[ing] the influence of global institutions, including an International Criminal Court, on their lives." The organization appears to be run from Kincaid's personal residence. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
MediaMatters.org Horowitz falsely claimed that Senate report "exonerated" Bush on African uranium claimDavid Horowitz falsely asserted that the Senate Intelligence Committee has "exonerated" President Bush for saying, in his 2003 State of the Union address, that "[t]he British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
San Francisco Chronicle Christian group pulls Wells Fargo accountsFocus on the Family objects to donation to gay rights group...Focus on the Family has closed all its Wells Fargo accounts because the San Francisco bank contributed to a gay rights group that promised to use the funds to "fight... the anti-gay industry." Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
MediaMatters.org Why is C-SPAN hosting Brent Bozell?The December 3 edition of the program After Words on C-SPAN2's Book TV featured an interview with former CBS producer Mary Mapes conducted by L. Brent Bozell III, founder and president of the conservative Media Research Center (MRC), an organization that purports to "prove -- through sound scientific research -- that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values." Yet at no point did C-SPAN identify Bozell or his organization as conservative, nor was it noted that Bozell and the MRC have long criticized Mapes for her role in the controversial CBS 60 Minutes II story on President Bush's alleged failure to meet his Vietnam-era Texas Air National Guard (TANG) requirements. In the C-SPAN interview, Bozell confronted Mapes with unsourced "criticisms" of the TANG story, leaving viewers unaware that the "criticisms" Bozell offered were actually drawn from MRC research and his own nationally syndicated columns. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Radar Online Missionary PositionHow Bush’s rock-star-endorsed African AIDS program became an evangelical boondoggle...But what Ed Bradley didn’t tell you is that the U2 frontman’s coup is looking more and more like a pact with the devil. So far, we’ve spent $4.8 billion, less than a third of the total monies promised. And more insidiously, according to people in the field, every year a greater proportion of the funds earmarked for prevention are going to evangelically popular but ineffective abstinence-only programs, rather than, say, condom distribution. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Larry Johnson Brent Bozell, Chicken?...Apparently, Mr. Bozell is a coward. He told MSNBC he would not appear if I was on the show, even if they scheduled me before or after him. He couldn't handle a man-to-man debate. Typical conservative coward. I think the term is "Girly Man". Tough talker when he is alone but unable to handle an informed debate. What is really sad is the MSNBC is caving into Bozell, rather than insisting that its audience hear both sides of an issue. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
New York Review of Books The End of News?...In 1985, Lichter and his wife Linda, with the financial support of such conservative foundations as Scaife and Olin, formed the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a research institute that, while presenting itself as nonpartisan, sought to document instances of liberal bias on the networks and in newspapers. Its reports helped complement the Reagan administration's efforts to portray the press as out of step with "mainstream America." The impact of these efforts was apparent in journalists' often uncritical coverage of such issues as supply-side economics and the abusive activities of the Salvadoran military, the Nicaraguan contras, and other forces allied with the US in Central America... Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Boston Globe The knives are falling all around him, but Grover Norquist... insists they won't fall on himA lobbyist aims at McCain...A Norquist friend and former colleague, Jack Abramoff, is under criminal investigation for his lobbying activities, some of which involved the same Native American tribe on Norquist's client roster. The noose on Abramoff appeared to have tightened Monday when his former business partner, Michael Scanlon, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to bribe public officials and to defraud Indian tribes... Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
The Nation Cheney's White Flag"No Q and A." That's what Chris DeMuth, president of the American Enterprise Institute, said to me on the elevator at his think tank on Monday morning. I knew what he meant. Dick Cheney was coming to AEI, the prowar, neocon headquarters, to give yet another speech on the Iraq war...But Cheney, as is his custom, refused at AEI to take questions from reporters on this or any other subject... Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
The Washington Note Frank Gaffney: Okay to bomb Al-JazeeraGaffney: Whether the best way to do it [neutralize Al-Jazeera] is with bombs or through other means is something we could discuss, but I think it's fair game, under these circumstances, given the way it conducts itself. Also see: 9/03: Gaffney recommends “taking out” al Jazeera “one way or another.” [ link ] Read the story >
Nathan Newman Union Busting at NYC Charter SchoolsOne reason unions are more successful in pubic sector organizing is that governments generally refrain from the union busting tactics of the private sectors. Teachers and other public employees have the chance to vote on whether to unionize without the illegal threats and management intimidation that is the staple of private sector organizing campaigns. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Freedom From Religion Foundation FFRF Challenges "Faith-based" Prison Ministry: Sues State of New Mexico"God always comes first, family second, and all else is secondary."A state-funded fundamentalist Christian prison ministry program ("God pod") in a women's prison in New Mexico is being challenged in federal court by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a state/church watchdog. Also see: Santa Fe Reporter: Beyond the God Pod [ link ] Read the story >
MediaMatters.org Kristol erroneously cited polls; falsely claimed that, since Jan., "no new information" Bush misled U.S. into IraqIn his November 21 article in The Weekly Standard, editor William Kristol claimed that because of an "unanswered assault by Bush's enemies" since the president's second inauguration in January, there has been an increase of 20 percentage points in those who believe that President Bush "deliberately misled people to make the case for war with Iraq." But this argument rested on two false assertions. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Alternet Creating a Right-Wing Nation, State by StateA couple of staffers for People for the American Way went undercover to a conference of the ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. Here's what they discovered. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Antiwar.com Don't Blame the ItaliansThey didn't forge the Niger uranium documentsCornered by their critics, overwhelmed by massive antiwar sentiment, and pursued by the relentless Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the War Party is in full retreat, hiding behind the ramparts of an elaborate edifice of lies. The administration's defenders are shooting blindly, averring – per Norman Podhoretz – that, since "everybody" believed what the administration was claiming about Iraq's alleged WMD prior to the invasion, we're all living in the same alternate universe. In the Bizarro World of the neocons, if we all believe a lie, that makes it true. Or, rather, that makes the whole idea of truth irrelevant, and we should all "move on," as the Clintonites used to say. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
New York Times Paper Maker Georgia-Pacific to Be Sold to KochGeorgia-Pacific, the paper giant that makes Dixie cups and Brawny paper towels, agreed to be sold yesterday for $13.2 billion to Koch Industries, a family-controlled conglomerate that will become the nation's largest privately held company. Also see: Read the September, 2000 97-count Indictment of Koch Industries for "Environmental Crimes" [ link ] Read the story >
Pulse TC Vin Weber — A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing...The Star Tribune and MPR play Minnesota-nice and give Weber a pass. He’s billed as the former Congressman, an influential Republican with a long political history. MPR also notes his affiliation with the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. Neither mentions what he does for a living. Weber is managing partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Clark and Weinstock, “a consulting firm providing strategic advice to businesses interested in the policy-making process of the legislative and executive government branches,” as it’s described on the Humphrey Institute website. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
TomPaine.com Chalabi And AEI: The SequelThe convicted embezzler, the suave fabricator of intelligence, and the secularist-turned-Shiite fundamentalist-turned-Iranian agent, the elusive subject of a slow-moving FBI spy investigation, and the self-described “hero in error” approached the podium at the American Enterprise Institute yesterday after a glowing introduction from Chris DeMuth, AEI’s president. After grumbling that the cherubic man he was about to introduce has been “defamed, undermined and attacked by agencies of the U.S. government,” DeMuth concluded: “Please give a warm welcome to this very great and very brave Iraqi patriot, liberal and liberator, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi.” Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Broadcasting & Cable CEI accuses FOX News of liberial bias!The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)...has written to Fox News Channel President Roger Ailes complaining about its planned news special this Sunday night, "The Heat Is On: The Case of Global Warming." Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
MediaMatters.org Two years into leak investigation, Gen. Vallely suddenly claims, in contradictory statements, that Wilson revealed Plame's identity to himNearly two years after the start of special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's investigation into the alleged leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, ret. Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely has recently claimed publicly that Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, disclosed her CIA employment in 2002 -- long before syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak outed Plame in his July 14, 2003, column. But Vallely, a Fox News military analyst and chairman of the Military Committee at the Center for Security Policy, has made contradictory statements regarding when and how many times Wilson supposedly mentioned Plame's employment. Vallely initially claimed that Wilson revealed his wife's CIA employment over the course of at least three conversations beginning in spring 2002, but Vallely changed this story days later, saying that Wilson told him about Plame's work only once in the summer or fall of that year. Also see: [ link ] Read the story >
Mpls Star Tribune Torture lawyers to meet at Federalist Society event at "Christian" University of St ThomasShould we shun or debate torture memo lawyers?In a move seen as a brazen provocation by local human rights activists, [John] Yoo has been invited by the [University of St Thomas] law school's Federalist Society to speak here [in St Paul] Nov. 16. The faculty mentor for the society is [Robert] Delahunty. He and Yoo have been making a vigorous effort to rebut the claims they gave legal cover to the use of torture. Also see: Earlier: My conversation with Ann Coulter (at St Thomas) City Pages: Will "Justifying Torture" Be On The Final Exam? St. Thomas's New Law School Hire [ link ] Read the story >
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