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Think Progress
October 11, 2006
David Kuo, the former second-in-command of President Bush’s Office on Faith-Based Initiatives, has a new book detailing how the office was “used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities.”
...ThinkProgress has obtained an excerpt from the book, set shortly after Bush’s 2001 inauguration: ..."Willett asked just how — without a director, staff, office, or plan — the president could do that. Rove looked at him, took a deep breath, and said, “I don’t know. Just get me a f—ing faith-based thing. Got it?” Willett was shown the door."
Also see:
Faith-based watch
[ link ] Read the story >
Washington Post
October 11, 2006
James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt
Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, "perpetrated a fraud" on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued today.
...The groups are Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was co-founded by Norquist and Gale Norton before she became Secretary of the Interior; Citizens Against Government Waste; the National Center for Public Policy Research, which was a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation; and Toward Tradition, a religious group founded by Abramoff friend Rabbi Daniel Lapin.
Also see:
Grover Norquist 
Americans for Tax Reform
Citizens Against Government Waste
National Center for Public Policy Research
Toward Tradition
Daniel Lapin: The Right's favorite Rabbi
[ link ] Read the story >
MSNBC
October 10, 2006
Jonathan Larsen
‘Tempting Faith’ author David Kuo worked for Bush from 2001 to 2003
...[Kuo] says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist Karl Rove as “the nuts.”
“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’” Kuo writes.
Also see:
Faith-based watch
[ link ] Read the story >
James Wolcott
October 9, 2006
With The Enemy at Home, I prefer to do the irresponsible thing and declare war on Dinesh D'Souza and his stinking mackerel of a book starting now....
The theme of the book is quite simple, and vile.
"In this book I make a claim that will seem startling at the outset. The cultural left in this country is responsible for causing 9/11."
..."I realize that this is a strong charge," D'Souza writes, "one that no one has made before."
The reason it hasn't been made before is that it's a sleazy, shameless, ignorant, ahistorical, tendentious, meretricious lie, one that was waiting for the right brazen liar to come along to promote it, and here he is, and his name is Dinesh D'Souza...
Also see:
Dinesh D'Souza
Grants to Dinesh D'Souza
[ link ] Read the story >
NY Times
October 8, 2006
Noam Cohen
He had received prior approval to write book
On Tuesday, Joe Maguire, one of two editors in charge of markets coverage at Reuters, handed his bosses the galleys of his new book, “Brainless: The Lies and Lunacy of Ann Coulter.” On Wednesday, Mr. Maguire discovered he would have plenty of free time to promote his book, which comes out this week. Neither side in this dispute would say that he was fired.
Also see:
Ann Coulter
[ link ] Read the story >
NY Times
October 8, 2006
Diana B. Henriques
Where Faith Abides, Employees Have Few Rights
In her complaint, the novice, Mary Rosati, said she had visited her doctor with her immediate supervisor and the mother superior. After the doctor explained her treatment options for breast cancer, the complaint continued, the mother superior announced: “We will have to let her go. I don’t think we can take care of her..."
Also see:
Faith based watch
[ link ] Read the story >
Hullabaloo
October 6, 2006
Digby
Focus On The Hucksters
[To Dobson,] Spongebob holding hands with Big Bird on a video about tolerance is shocking homosexual brainwashing. Exchanging lewd e-mails with Republican congressman is good clean fun.
Also see:
James Dobson
Focus on the Family LA Times: Foley's "possible predatory behavior" Dobson: Foley scandal "sort of a joke."
[ link ] Read the story >
Dave Johnson
October 2, 2006
Huffington Post
A 527 comprised of well-connected people associated with conservative philanthhropy appears to exist entirely to boost the campaign of Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum
The 527 "Softer Voices" is run by people such as Heritage Foundation attorney Cleta Mitchell; Heather Richardson Higgins, President of the Randolph Foundation, on the board of the Independent Women's Forum (IWF) and the Hoover Institution, and a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation; Midge Dekter, Norman Podhoretz's wife and a member of the board of the Heritage Foundation, and a founding member of Project for The New American Century (PNAC), on the board of the Hoover Institution, and a founder of the IWF. And that's just a start...
[ link ] Read the story >
People for the American Way
October 5, 2006
Right Wing Watch
An Arizona paper announced yesterday that Clint Bolick, president and general counsel for the pro-voucher Alliance for School Choice has taken a position with a Scottsdale law firm. In recent years, Bolick has committed himself to fighting against public education, he first rose to prominence a crusader against affirmative action as a disciple of Clarence Thomas. He was co-founder of the right-wing legal group called the Institute for Justice and a prominent player in the conservative libertarian community.
This news may not indicate Bolick’s outright surrender in the Voucher Wars, but could it be the beginning of a strategic retreat and reorganization at the highest levels of the right-wing coalition against public education?
Also see:
Clint Bolick
Institute for Justice
Institute for Justice
[ link ] Read the story >
Talk to Action
September 29, 2006
Frank Cocozzelli
Tom Monaghan the pizza dough man has delivered us the The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) , its mission, its members, and most of all, its legal philosophy. And as we will see, the center's lawsuits reveal a decidedly theocratic disposition towards government.
...The TMLC galaxy is a "who's who" of the stars of the Religious (and Catholic) Right. Its Advisory Board includes Opus Dei member Bowie Kuhn as well as Alan Keyes. The Board of Legal Review includes Gerald V. Bradley while its faculty consists of such notable players of the Right such as Robert H. Bork and Richard Thompson TMLC web sits constantly flashes praises from the likes of James Kennedy, William Donohue and Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa). All in all, TMLC reflects the far-Right views of many of its Federalist Society members.
Also see:
Ave Maria Foundation
Federalist Society
James Kennedy
Alan Keyes
Robert Bork
Thomas More Law Center
[ link ] Read the story >
Pandagon
September 28, 2006
Pam Spaulding
Dick Armey turns on Dobson
There’s no way that you can consider former U.S. Dick Armey (R-TX) a friend of the homos (he voted yes on banning gay adoptions in DC, for example), but he’s clearly had enough of the fundies. Even though he plays more on the fiscal conservative side of the fence, the AmTaliban thought he was in their pocket.
Also see:
FreedomWorks
James Dobson
[ link ] Read the story >
Detroit Free Press
September 27, 2006
Kathleen Gray
She assails ties to center; his camp is disappointed
In one of her sharpest attacks of the campaign, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday that voters will reject her Republican opponent Dick DeVos when they find out more about his ties to conservative economic and social causes.
"I'm running against someone who has led and financed organizations that have called for drilling under Great Lakes, selling off state parks, eliminating vulnerable populations from Medicaid," Granholm told the Free Press editorial board, referring to DeVos' association with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative-leaning think tank in Midland.
DeVos is a former board member of the Mackinac Center and has donated $100,000 since 1999 to support the organization.
Also see:
Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
[ link ] Read the story >
The Nation/Talk to Action
September 26, 2006
Max Blumenthal
At the Unofficial Mid-Term Republican National Convention, so-called "value voters" heard jeremiads against liberals, "faggots," and Fallujans before receiving possibly illegal marching orders for November. I covered this event, "Washington Briefing: Value Voters Summit 2006," for the Nation.
Also see:
James Dobson
Focus on the Family
[ link ] Read the story >
Booman Tribune
September 27, 2006
BooMan
Catholics, it turns out
Richard Cranium brings attention to a disturbing Pew Research Poll. 46% of the public thinks torture is often or sometimes justified, 49% thinks it is rarely or never justified. But....
Let's look at the same numbers when broken down into secular, Catholic, and White Protestant.
Secular: 35% often/sometimes, 57% rarely/never;
White Protestant: 49% often/sometimes, 47% rarely/never;
Catholic: 56% often/sometimes, 42% rarely/never.
Also see:
MT's Faith-based watch
[ link ] Read the story >
ConWebWatch
September 25, 2006
Terry Krepel
AIM's Cliff Kincaid claims that the CIA is not operating secret prisons, even though they were secret and people were imprisoned.
When you hear Accuracy in Media claim that its attacks on stories about the CIA's secret prisons are not a question of semantics, it's a question of semantics.
Also see:
Accuracy in Media
[ link ] Read the story >
Media Transparency
September 25, 2006
Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan's tax-exempt funding vehicle
Media Transparency's grants database now includes four years of grants, 2001-2004, for the Ave Maria Foundation. Among the more notable recipients are Ave Maria University, where a church will have a 60-foot high bleeding Jesus in stained glass, and the Thomas More Law Center.
[ link ] Read the story >
Talk to Action
September 22, 2006
Bruce Wilson
I'm at the 2006 "Voter Values" conference sponsored by the Family Research Council, and this morning's first prominent speaker was Seran Hannity, followed by William Bennet. Recounting the incident that led to a massive US military assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah - and implying that the US response to the deaths of four American private mercenaries working for Blackwater USA , Bennet stated : "When four Americans are hung and the city cheers, you take out Fallujah. You level the city.. Bennett then cited the example of the destruction of Hiroshima. Bennett's exhortation to mass collective punishment - the slaughter of hundreds or thousands of innocent civilians perhaps, or at least the destruction of their homes and cities - received enthusiastic applause.
Also see:
William J. Bennett
[ link ] Read the story >
Think Progress
September 19, 2006
Judd Legum
In response to an inquiry from the Guardian, Exxon announced that the company “stopped funding the Competitive Enterprise Institute this year.” Also, Exxon promised the Royal Society in July that they would “not be providing any further funding” to groups that distort global warming science.
Also see:
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Competitive Enterprise Institute
[ link ] Read the story >
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
September 9, 2006
Alan J. Borsuk
Milwaukee was not a center for the events of Sept. 11, 2001, but it is strongly tied to a national debate over what to teach students about 9-11
Two prominent voices in that debate - one on the conservative end of the political spectrum, the other more liberal - have Milwaukee ties.
On the conservative side is Hillel Fradkin, who was vice president of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation from the late 1980s to the late '90s. He now directs the Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World, a program of the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.
On the liberal side is Bob Peterson, a central figure in Rethinking Schools, a Milwaukee-based education group with a substantial national audience. Peterson teaches fifth-graders at La Escuela Fratney, a Milwaukee Public Schools elementary school in the Riverwest area.
Also see:
Bradley Foundation
Grant to Hillel Fradkin
Hudson Institute
[ link ] Read the story >
The Independent (London)
September 16, 2006
Geoffrey Lean
President Bush is preparing an astonishing U-turn on global warming, senior Washington sources say.
After years of trying to sabotage agreements to tackle climate change he is drawing up plans to control emissions of carbon dioxide and rapidly boost the use of renewable energy sources.
...Iain Murray, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Mr Bush's chief climate change cheerleader, is deeply alarmed: "We are left with the unpleasant conclusion that the only motivation is political."
Also see:
Competitive Enterprise Institute
[ link ] Read the story >
Think Progress
September 15, 2006
Harvard professor and conservative author Harvey Mansfield recently published a book called “Manliness.”
...In a new interview with HumanEventsOnline, Mansfield was asked about fellow neoconservative William Kristol: QUESTION: You’ve taught both William Kristol and Andrew Sullivan. Would you say that Bill Kristol is a manly man? MANSFIELD: Yes, I would very much...
Also see:
Bill Kristol
Grants to "Mansfield"
[ link ] Read the story >
Orlando Sentinel
September 12, 2006
Think tank urges school reforms, no class-size limits
New educational reforms could be ahead for Florida schools now that a conservative think tank has called for better-qualified teachers, tougher reading and math standards and an end to the state's constitutional directive to reduce class sizes.
Gov. Jeb Bush looked on approvingly in Orlando as experts from Stanford University's Hoover Institution released results Tuesday of their nine-month review of the educational policies he championed for Florida's public-school system.
Also see:
Hoover Institution
[ link ] Read the story >
Huffington Post
September 8, 2006
Max Blumenthal
In fact, "The Path to 9/11" is produced and promoted by a well-honed propaganda operation consisting of a network of little-known right-wingers working from within Hollywood to counter its supposedly liberal bias. This is the network within the ABC network. Its godfather is far right activist David Horowitz, who has worked for more than a decade to establish a right-wing presence in Hollywood and to discredit mainstream film and TV production. On this project, he is working with a secretive evangelical religious right group founded by The Path to 9/11's director David Cunningham that proclaims its goal to "transform Hollywood" in line with its messianic vision.
Also see:
David Horowitz Freedom Center
David Horowitz Think Progress: Path to 9/11 Produced By Evangelical Activists Who Sought To ‘Transform Hollywood’ WaPo's Tom Shales: ABC's Twisted 'Path to 9/11'
[ link ] Read the story >
NY Times
September 7, 2006
Michael Barbaro and Stephanie Strom
As Wal-Mart Stores struggles to rebut criticism from unions and Democratic leaders, the company has discovered a reliable ally: prominent conservative research groups like the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Manhattan Institute.
Top policy analysts at these groups have written newspaper opinion pieces around the country supporting Wal-Mart, defended the company in interviews with reporters and testified on its behalf before government committees in Washington.
Also see:
American Enterprise Institute
Heritage Foundation
Manhattan Institute
Walton Family Foundation
Philanthropy the Wal-Mart way
[ link ] Read the story >
Talk To Action
September 6, 2006
The importance of Leo Strauss's influence on both current far-Right Republican politics as well as far-Right Conservative Christian tactics to infiltrate the Republican Party cannot be overstated. As a grinning Ralph Reed has stated many times publicly, it's not important what people think about you, only that you operate quietly in the background and achieve your goals by any means necessary. What American Christian voters should be asking themselves is, "Are our values truly being heard, or are today's Republican Right simply pretending they are hearing us in order get our votes, remain in power, and instead continue their pro-corporate and pro-militaristic agenda?"
Also see:
Grants to study Leo Strauss
[ link ] Read the story >
Who got the gravy? (blog)
September 7, 2006
Amway has a long history of exchanging campaign contributions for political influence and favorable legislation. As Betsy DeVos famously put it, "I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence... they are right. We do expect some things in return."
Unfortunately, Amway has used its influence to achieve goals that are not in the public interest, such as securing tax breaks for itself and pushing legislation to make the execution of the Amway "tools" scam easier.
Dick DeVos is using Amway money in his campaign to become the Governor of Michigan. Therefore, an examination of the way that Amway money has been used in politics in the past is very relevant to this race, because it gives us a good indication of how this Amway-purchased influence could impact the people of Michigan in the future.
Also see:
Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation
Amway's GOPyramid Scheme
[ link ] Read the story >
School Information System
September 3, 2006
Thomas J. Mertz
Many of you probably read John Stossel’s polemic in the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal (9/3/06). I’d reprint here, but I don’t want to give it a wider readership than it already has. Instead I want to say few words about a central fallacy in the thinking of Stossel (and many others who wish to destroy public education). Contrary to their rhetoric, PUBLIC EDUCATION IS NOT A MONOPOLY.
Also see:
Public School Privatization and Commercialization
John Stossel
[ link ] Read the story >
St Paul Pioneer Press
September 1, 2006
Doug Belden
Leader of now-shuttered Chiron accused of using money for gifts
The director of a Minneapolis charter school that closed last year was charged Friday with defrauding the state of nearly $300,000 and using school money to buy personal items such as Christmas presents for her daughter.
Also see:
Public School Privatization and Commercialization
[ link ] Read the story >
NY Times
August 26, 2006
Gretchen Morgenson
Investors who bought in that period realized a 40 percent gain in three days
...Merger talks [between Koch and GP ] continued through October and into November. Both sides conducted corporate analyses — known as due diligence — from Nov. 8-11. Koch Industries’ board voted to approve a bid on Nov. 10.
That day, volume in Georgia-Pacific shares jumped 37 percent...and the number of trades in the stock rose significantly as well...On Friday, Nov. 11, volume increased yet 66 percent more from the previous day’s high level. Georgia-Pacific shares rose 5.5 percent over the period. The company made no announcements either day...
On Sunday, Nov. 13, Koch Industries announced that it would pay $21 billion for Georgia-Pacific, or $48 a share, a 39 percent premium to the closing price the previous Friday. Anyone who bought Georgia-Pacific shares on either Nov. 10 or Nov. 11 stood to gain 40 percent in just a few days.
A spokeswoman for Koch Industries did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Also see:
Koch Foundations
[ link ] Read the story >
NY Times
August 22, 2006
Diana Jean Schemo
Fourth graders in traditional public schools did significantly better in reading and math than comparable children attending charter schools, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Federal Education Department.
The report, based on 2003 test scores, thrust the Education Department into the center of the heated national debate over school choice...
The study found that in 2003, fourth graders in traditional public schools scored an average of 4.2 points better in reading than comparable students in charter schools on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, often called the nation’s report card. Students in traditional schools scored an average of 4.7 points better in math than comparable students in charter schools.
Also see:
Public School Privatization and Commercialization
[ link ] Read the story >
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