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Following the example set by the Ohio Restoration Project, the PPN is organizing Christian conservatives to save Santorum's career
 After two-term Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum's book, "It Takes A Family: Conservatism and the Common Good" -- a sort-of rebuttal to Senator Hillary Clinton's "It Takes a Village" -- was published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, moaning and groaning was heard from the usual anti-Santorum crowd. But the anti-Santorum folks weren't completely alone; a resoundingly negative review also appeared at the website of Christianity Today, where reviewer John Wilson wrote: "Every Christian on the front lines of the culture wars should read this book -- as an example of how not to go about it."
While the book contains "well-reasoned policy recommendations and telling anecdotes...from the start, [it] has a divided heart," Wilson maintained. "Santorum's contemptuous references to 'liberals,' 'village elders,' and 'the Bigs' (this from a candidate who boasts Wal-Mart as a major donor) are pitched to the right-wing choir. One moment sneering in full talk-radio mode, the next moment sanctimoniously quoting Tocqueville, Santorum wants to have his cake and eat it, too."
Sanctimonious is as good a term as any to describe the embattled incumbent. These days, Sen. Rick Santorum, the 47-year old devout Roman Catholic who was once named one of "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" by Time magazine, is in the fight of his political career.
Read the full report >
Another fracture in the conservative evangelical movement
Ken Connor, the former head of the Family Research Council, is angry about the 'double standard' on ethical issues that may threaten the credibility of Christian conservative leaders.
The tumultuous reception accorded Tom DeLay at the late-March "War on Christians and the Values Voters in 2006" conference appears to have triggered at least two distinct reactions. For DeLay, the love in the room assured him that there would be life after Congress, so he decided the time was right to announce his resignation from the House. For Ken Connor, the former head of the Family Research Council and the founder and president of the Center for a Just Society, the reaction appeared to be a tipping point; a visible indicator that his Christian evangelical brethren had lost their bearings when it came to identifying and criticizing unethical behavior.
Despite the possibility of losing movement friends, Ken Connor recently voiced his outrage about Christian conservatives' failure to condemn the ethical abuses of Tom DeLay in a 600+-word essay that appeared on the front page of his organization's website, and was sent out to subscribers of his Ideas in Action e-mail newsletter.
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Will Lapin's involvement in the Abramoff scandal hurt, or solidify, his position with Christian evangelicals?
 Rabbi Daniel Lapin's Toward Tradition website is filled with all sorts of announcements and information about the organization's various projects. The ultra-orthodox Mercer Island, Washington-based Rabbi recently announced that he had signed on to host a weekly radio program called "The Rabbi Daniel Lapin Show," broadcast on KSFO, San Francisco.
Before signing on with the San Francisco-based right wing talk station, Lapin had been dropped from his regular radio gig at KTTH, Seattle. According to Michael Hood, of blatherWatch--"listening to talk radio so you don't have to..."--Lapin has been "no spellbinding broadcaster." He has "failed in syndication, and never really had much luck staying long anywhere on the dial, although he's tried at KVI, KKOL and KTTH."
In fact, blatherWatch noted, Lapin's "local show was brokered" which means that his organization, "Toward Tradition (TT) paid to get him on the air."
The Toward Tradition website also proudly reported that on Monday, March 13, 2006 Lapin appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, where he and Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg were introduced by Pastor John Hagee. The two-hour program was "devoted to the Jewish significance of the holiday of Purim and the historic links and prophecies found in the Book of Esther," according to a program description provided by TBN.
A much bigger story -- and one with national implications -- has failed to make it onto the front page of the website; details about Rabbi Lapin's longtime friendship and working relationship with former uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who on March 29, 2006 was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for fraud in the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line.
Read the full report >
While Mohamad ElBaradei, the atomic energy chief of the United Nations, urges restraint, Michael Ledeen, an American Enterprise Institute neocon, advocates "regime change" in Iran, and charges the Bush Administration with being asleep at the wheel
Regardless of what Michael Ledeen thinks of conflict in the Middle East, Iran has been in George W. Bush's sights for quite some time. Recently Bush Administration officials and some members of the European Union have been warning that conflict with Iran over its nuclear program may be inevitable, particularly if Iran doesn't cease its effort to perfect uranium enrichment.
In a newly released National Security Strategy (NSS) the Bush Administration placed Iran squarely in its crosshairs. Along with affirming Bush's preventive (not "preemptive") strike doctrine -- as outlined in the 2002 NSS -- the current document clearly has Iran in mind when it states that the U.S. is "committed to keeping the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the world's most dangerous people."
On March 30, 2005 the Financial Times (London) reported that at a speech at New York's Freedom House, Bush "stepped into an intense debate among democracy activists in the US and Iran over how US dollars should be used to carry out the administration's policy of promoting freedom in the Islamic republic."
Freedom House is one of the organizations that is receiving money from the Bush Administration "for clandestine activities inside Iran," according to the Financial Times. A Freedom House research report concluded that "Far more often than is generally understood, the change agent is broad-based, non-violent civic resistance -- which employs tactics such as boycotts, mass protests, blockades, strikes and civil disobedience to de-legitimate authoritarian rulers and erode their sources of support, including the loyalty of their armed defenders."
Read the full report >
The religious right still doesn't believe the scientific evidence that proved Schiavo was in a 'persistent vegetative state' since 1990. Their shameful, embarrassing and expensive crusade continues to this day
Last year at this time, stories about Terri Schiavo -- the woman who had been in a "persistent vegetative state" since 1990 -- dominated the political landscape. In a recent story in The New Yorker magazine about the Bush Administration's protracted war on science, Michael Specter wrote that In 1998, when Michael Schiavo "asked that [Terri's] feeding tube be removed...a legal war with her parents [was ignited] that eventually turned into a national conflict."
After several years of legal wrangling, it finally came down to a passion-packed month where regular press conferences were held by her parents, Mary and Bob Schindler and their surrogates, mostly right wing politicians and leaders of Christian conservative organizations, demonstrations and vigils organized by a cadre of longtime Christian right activists, fundraising pitches were sent by a host of Christian conservative organizations, and a well-orchestrated campaign was aimed at vilifying Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband.
With the encouragement of Terri's parents, religious right activists unleashed a 24/7, no-holds-barred campaign aimed at winning the battle over public opinion. What was a private family matter turned into a media feeding frenzy and a public spectacle.
Read the full report >
Later this month, Rich Scarborough's Vision America will host 'The War Against Christians and the Values Voter 2006' Conference in Washington D.C.
 If this past holiday season's "War on Christmas" -- which occupied a disproportionate amount of air time on the 24/7 cable television networks, especially over at the Fox News Channel -- didn't really gain traction, and the "War on Valentines Day" -- a battle initiated by Christian conservative parents that claimed their children were discouraged from bringing Valentines Day cards with religious messages to their classrooms -- was a profound dud, what should we make of the latest evocation of "war on" phraseology by Christian conservatives?
According to the good folks at Vision America (VA), there's a "war on Christians" being waged in this country. You want proof? Consider the following nuggets provided by VA:
- Christmas symbols and greetings purged
- Judge bans "In God We Trust" from Pledge of Allegiance
- Chaplain told he can't pray in Jesus' name
- Removal of 10 Commandments monuments
- Move to stifle religious expression at Air Force Academy
- Christians arrested for praying at a "gay pride" rally in Philadelphia
- Homosexual "marriage" by judicial decree in Mass.
- Blasphemous "Da Vinci Code" movie hits theaters in May
- Churches torched in Alabama
- Court says parental rights end at schoolhouse door
While whining about Christians being under attack has been a standard operating tool of the religious right, Vision America has taken it to a new level, organizing the first full-fledged conference devoted to presenting evidence that there's a "war on Christians" in the United States.
The conference, called "The War on Christians and the Values Voter in 2006," will be held on March 27 and 28, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Read the full report >
CUFI aims to set up working groups in all 50 states, lobby Congress and become a Christian AIPAC
 Although charismatic televangelist Pastor John Hagee thinks that the Rev. Pat Robertson's suggestion that Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was payback from God for withdrawing from Gaza was "insensitive and unnecessary," he nevertheless appears to share Robertson's concern that Israel may be giving up too much land to the Palestinians.
To prevent the Bush Administration from ramrodding the Israelis into turning over even more land, Hagee, the pastor of San Antonio's Cornerstone Church, and the head of a multi-million dollar evangelical enterprise, recently brought together 400 Christian evangelical leaders -- representing as many as 30 million Christians -- for an invitation-only "Summit on Israel." The result was the launching of a new pro-Israeli lobbying group called Christians United for Israel .
Although not as well known on the national political scene as some of his evangelical counterparts, Hagee has built an impressive evangelical empire and developed strong political ties to the Republican Party. Since his 1978 "conversion" to Zionism, he has emphasized establishing and maintaining good relations with Israeli leaders and certain sectors of the American Jewish community. Over the years he has met with Israeli heads of state and he's carving out a special relationship with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is once again seeking that office in the upcoming election in Israel. Hagee is also a longtime supporter of Rep. Tom DeLay, the embattled and indicted Texas congressman who recently handily won the Republican Party primary in his district.
"Think of CUFI as a Christian version of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)," the powerful pro-Israel lobby, Hagee told The Jerusalem Post in an interview a few days before the early February summit.
Read the full report >
Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson calls for civil debate after being attacked by evangelical brethren
Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson was recently roughed up for supporting legislation that some on the right have charged is too "gay-friendly." When more than 80 highly respected evangelical leaders signed onto the Evangelical Climate Initiative -- a campaign recognizing that global warming is a serious threat to the planet -- they were blasted for cavorting with the enemy. And even the Rev. Pat Robertson -- once considered untouchable by his Christian right colleagues -- has gotten cuffed around by former close associates over a string of controversial commentaries he's made over the past several months.
Is the Christian conservative movement heading for a crack up? Or, are right-wing watchers making much ado about much too little?
Dr. Dobson, the founder of the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based Focus on the Family, a multi-million dollar mega-media ministry, received heat from Christian conservatives who accused him of being soft on gays because he had expressed support for a bill in the Colorado state legislature making it easier for non-traditional partners to share certain benefits.
Read the full report >
Former Bradley Foundation czar's investments in privatization and faith-based initiatives helped build the modern conservative movement
 If there was a Hall of Fame for right wing philanthropists and their facilitators -- and who knows, the Heritage Foundation just might establish such an institution some day -- one of its first inductees would undoubtedly be Michael Joyce.
In 1986, Joyce was named in an Atlantic Monthly article as "one of the three people most responsible for the triumph of the conservative political movement." Waldemar Nielson, in his book on the foundation movement, Golden Donors, said Joyce was "pretty close to being the central figure [in conservative philanthropy]." He was once called "the godfather of modern philanthropy" by noted neo-conservative Irving Kristol.
Shortly after the first inauguration of President George W. Bush, Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal, wrote in that newspaper, "Michael Joyce is the closest thing to the original source for what Mr. Bush is trying to accomplish."
When Joyce retired from the Bradley Foundation, Bradley Board Chairman Allen M. Taylor pointed out that he had made "extraordinary contributions to the Foundation and to the world of philanthropy." Joyce "built a start-up into a nationally respected institution and leaves a durable record of remarkable accomplishment. His work will be remembered with pride, not only in Milwaukee and Wisconsin but throughout the nation. We all owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude and wish him well in his future endeavors. He still has much to give." Joyce, who died last Friday at age 63 from liver illness, earned his well-deserved reputation as a major shaker of the right wing money-tree during his 16-year reign (1985-2001) as head of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. He was a pioneering force behind the privatization of welfare -- funding initiatives that led to the Wisconsin Works program in Wisconsin -- and private school vouchers -- which is experiencing a rebirth through the Bush Administration's recently proposed budget.
Read the full report >
Despite the lack of media attention and grumbling from Bush supporters, the president's faith-based initiative continues apace
With the Bush Administration on the defensive over the Iraq War, official reports detailing its horrendously slow response to Hurricane Katrina, the controversy over its use of the NSA to spy on Americans, the Abramoff Affair, and a vice-president who may be up to his knickers in Plamegate, it was somewhat surprising that the White House allowed January 29 -- the fifth anniversary of President Bush's faith-based initiative (FBI) -- to slip by the boards.
Consider this theoretical made-for-TV moment: Hundreds of poor people of all races and religions gather with an embattled president on the lawn at the White House. One-by-one, folks step forward and testify to the power and the glory of President Bush's "armies of compassion" -- the forces unleashed by his faith-based initiative. Some speak of how religious organizations receiving government grants helped lift them out of poverty; some testify fiercely about their recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. Some say their families were provided special housing and educational opportunities. Several former prison inmates praise the program's emphasis on rehabilitation, and how job training they received resulted in decent paying jobs.
While an up-close-and-personal White House gathering might not have lifted the president's paltry approval numbers, it certainly couldn't have hurt; and it would have publicized the fact that the centerpiece of President Bush's "compassionate conservative" domestic agenda was bearing fruit. Such a moment might even have been the launching pad for congressional legislation institutionalizing the faith-based initiative.
Instead, on the fifth anniversary of the Bush Administration's faith based initiative, the White House lawn was quiet, raising fundamental questions about the program.
Read the full report >
One environmentalist called it a "historic tipping point." Some progressives are calling it an "evangelical mutiny" and a crack in the Christian Right's "junta." The Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto wondered whether "this religious sect...has gone kooky with Hollywood." The New York Times' John Tierney mocked it and characterized it as wrongheaded. And some Religious Right leaders think that the scientific evidence still isn't conclusive and any remedial action would be premature.
Although the newly formed coalition concerned about the ramifications of climate change may not be rooted in traditional environmentalism, members of the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI) nonetheless consider themselves good stewards of the earth. As good stewards they have come to understand that global warming is a clear and present danger.
On February 8, 2006, at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, members of ECI -- made up of megachurch pastors, Christian college presidents and theologians -- announced an initiative that would educate their constituents about the seriousness of global warming, as well as call on the U.S. government "to pass legislation establishing limits on carbon dioxide emissions--widely believed to be the primary cause of human-induced global warming," Christianity Today recently reported.
Organized by the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), the newly formed coalition's statement, Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action, signed onto by 86 evangelical Christian leaders, emphatically affirms that "human-induced climate change is real."
Read the full report >
Smart, savvy and steadfast, the anti-feminist conservative icon has used the politics of accusation and paranoia to transform the political landscape of the U.S.
She's not celebrated during women's history month and she's never been elected to public office, but for the past 50 years, Phyllis Schlafly has been a major force within the conservative movement and the Republican Party, and she has left her mark on the political landscape. However you may view her -- as an "Aunt Tom," as the late Betty Friedan once heatedly labeled her, an oddball out of step with her times, and/or a conservative icon who helped pave the way for the Reagan Revolution, the Christian Coalition and George W. Bush -- Schlafly's emergence as a major conservative political figure was due to a confluence of political circumstances, and her intelligence, uncompromising tenacity, a grin that often paralyzed opponents, and a willingness to lead.
Although she played a huge role getting Barry Goldwater, the conservative Republican Senator from Arizona, the party's nomination for the presidency in 1964, Schlafly exploded onto the national political scene during the 1970s when she waged an uphill, yet ultimately successful, battle against the Equal Rights Amendment.
"Few living Americans have done as much to shape the nation's direction as Phyllis Schlafly, who is arguably the most important woman in American political history," Ralph Z. Hallow recently opined in the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times.
Read the full report >
Evangelism marches forward with a goatee and Hawaiian shirt
 You may have seen him interviewed on CNN's Larry King Show; some well-intentioned person may have given you "The Purpose Driven Life," or "The Purpose Driven Church," books that have sold well over 25 million copies; you may have noted that Time magazine named him one of "15 World Leaders Who Mattered Most in 2004," and in 2005 one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World."
If you wonder whether he is "all that," consider this: In 1980 he founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., with one family and now, he is presiding over a congregation averaging between 22,000 and 25,000 weekly attendees; he's built a 120-acre campus; and he has more than 300 community ministries to groups such as prisoners, CEOs, addicts, single parents, and people with HIV/AIDS.
According to his website, "He also leads the Purpose Driven Network of churches, a global coalition of congregations in 162 countries. More than 400,000 ministers and priests have been trained worldwide, and almost 157,000 church leaders subscribe to Ministry Toolbox, his weekly newsletter."
He has spoken at the United Nations, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the African Union, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, TIME's Global Health Summit, and numerous congresses around the world.
Read the full report >
Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft cashes in as Homeland Security lobbyist
 Of the many cronies, chums and political appointees that have come and gone through the Bush Administration's revolving door, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was one of those who practically disappeared from the news after he resigned from his position in November 2004. Unlike former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who was fired by Bush, or Richard Clarke, the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism -- both of whom spilt the beans about the administration's shortcomings in best-selling books -- Ashcroft moved quietly on.
The former Attorney General has started up a lobbying firm, and in a few months has managed to rake in a fair amount of money representing an assortment of corporate clients, several of whom stand to reap great profits from the president's so-called war on terrorism.
In early January, the former AG reappeared in the news in matters related to his new lobbying company. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Less than three months after registering as a lobbyist ... Ashcroft has banked at least $269,000 from just four clients and appears to be developing a practice centered on firms that want to capitalize on a government demand for homeland security technology that boomed under sometimes controversial policies he promoted while in office."
Ashcroft's firm, The Ashcroft Group LLC, received over $200,000 from the San Francisco, Ca.-based Oracle Corp., which the Chicago Tribune reported, "won justice department approval of a multibillion acquisition less than a month after hiring Ashcroft in October."
Oracle, one of the world's largest software companies, "makes large databases, including some used by intelligence services, and plans to use Ashcroft as a consultant for business opportunities on homeland security issues, a company spokesman said."
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Televangelist's claim that Ariel Sharon's stroke was an act of God may have cost him the friendship of some Israelis, but it hasn't prevented his charity, Operation Blessing, from garnering faith-based grants from the U.S. government
While the Reverend Pat Robertson was flayed recently over his suggestion that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was an act of retribution by God for the transfer of land in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians, the Reverend's charitable organization, Operation Blessing, was raking in wads of faith-based money from the Bush Administration.
On his "700 Club" show Robertson recently pointed out that the Old Testament "makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who, quote, 'divide my land.' ... I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU (European Union), the United Nations or United States of America. God said, 'This land belongs to me, you better leave it alone.'"
Robertson's feelings on Sharon's illness -- shared by another ayatollah of acrimony, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- prompted Israeli officials not only to criticize their longtime comrade, but perhaps more significantly to Robertson's economic portfolio, they cancelled his $50-million contract to build a new Christian heritage center in the Galilee. The project, which itself hasn't been canceled, is geared toward attracting U.S. Christian tourists to Israel.
Robertson's "700 Club" is broadcast daily in most U.S. TV markets via the ABC Family and Trinity Broadcasting networks. While Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) claimed that the program is viewed daily by one million people, Nielsen Media Research maintained that an average of 828,000 viewers during the last quarter of 2005, according to a recent report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"More than 380,000 CBN 'partners' who donate a minimum of $20 per month ... are the bedrock of CBN, which attracted more than $132 million in donations in 2004," the Times-Dispatch reported.
Read the full report >
As the Bush Administration ratchets up domestic spying the FBI is collecting 'research' reports on 'direct action' environmental groups produced by right wing think tanks
Recently National Public Radio's show Living on Earth broadcast a segment called "Big Brother," that explored the FBI's program that spies on environmental activists. "Living on Earth" regularly focuses on a broad array of environmental issues, and guest host Jeff Young, sitting in for the regular host Steve Curwood, setup the segment by noting that the passage of the U.S. Patriot Act "expand[ed] the government's power to monitor U.S. citizens in its fight against terrorism."
According to a posting at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website, documents they obtained via the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the FBI and local law enforcement agencies have been monitoring, infiltrating and targeting political, environmental, anti-war and progressive religious groups.
"Amongst the nearly 2,000 pages on Greenpeace, were documents from the Capital Research Center and the Washington Legal Foundation," Deepa Isac, a staff attorney with Greenpeace, told Media Transparency in a phone interview from her Washington, D.C. office.
Among the FBI documents were two issues of CRC's Organization Trends, one of the Center's monthly publications. The reports, which focused on the "radical tactics of ... 'direct action' groups," were the February 2004 issue entitled "Direct Action" or "The Tactics of Radical Activism: Part I -- How Environmental Groups Use Violent Tactics to Advance Their Agenda," and the March issue which was titled "Greenpeace, Earth First!, PETA -- Radical Fringe Tactics Move Toward Center Stage."
Also included was a document from the Washington Legal Foundation, titled "Direct action protest groups not above the law," written by Glenn G. Lammi, the Chief Counsel of the Legal Studies Division for the Foundation. The WLF is a non-profit, tax-exempt public foundation, which according to its website, was founded in 1977 to "fight activist lawyers, regulators, and intrusive government agencies at the federal and state levels, in the courts and regulatory agencies across the country"
Read the full report >
Here's one of the net outcomes of the radical-right agitprop machine:
There's bankruptcy and there's bankruptcy. We learn that in 2005, more than two million Americans filed for bankruptcy -- one in every 53 American households -- many having fallen prey to excessive medical costs, and/or maxed out on their credit cards. It's the highest number of bankruptcies on record. It coincided with Congressional passage of legislation misleadingly labeled The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Law. Some protection. Simon Legree would love it. The law toughens the ground rules for declaring bankruptcy, as well as hoisting the bar to get out of it. Now, many Americans may never escape the clutches of indebtedness. We may yet re-establish the Dickensian poorhouse, where debtors can spend cold days breaking rocks while their mates and offspring shiver inside.
It's part of a much larger trend in which the gulf between the privileged management class and the rest of us grows wider and wider, in which a new corporate aristocracy will preside over ever more impoverished proles, a destructive socioeconomic process in which the middle class merges into the underclass. You can define the middle class by what it earns -- somewhere, say, between $45,000 and $95,000 a year. More importantly, you can define it by what it stands for. The middle class has been the architect and maintainer of a healthy democracy -- well educated, informed, aware. It works hard, the living symbol of upward mobility, a place you can always reach if you try. Out of the great middle class came the potent activist concern for equal opportunity, the defense of the poor and needy, and enlightened justice.
But the middle class in America is eroding as the national wealth is shifted upward.
Read the full report >
After hiring Scooter Libby, "Senior Fellow" Michael Fumento admits taking Monsanto money and not disclosing it, and is fired by Scripps Howard News Service
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the indicted former Chief of Staff of Vice President Dick Cheney, has found a new home at the Hudson Institute (grants, profile). Meanwhile, Hudson's Michael Fumento, a longtime Institute Senior Fellow, recently became the latest right wing 'scholar' exposed for writing columns without disclosing they were underwritten by corporations.
The good news for Michael Fumento -- a now former columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service (SHNS) and a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute -- stemming from BusinessWeek Online's recent revelation that he had been relieved of his duties by SHNS for not disclosing he had taken payments in 1999 from agribusiness giant Monsanto, is that it is unlikely he will lose his Hudson Institute post.
In fact, if the Indiana-based Hudson Institute's hiring of Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- the former Chief of Staff and Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs who was indicted in October 2005 over the Valerie Plame Affair -- is indicative of its sense of integrity, Fumento may be in for a promotion and a raise.
In a statement released Friday, January 14, 2006, SHNS Editor and General Manager Peter Copeland said that Fumento "did not tell SHNS editors, and therefore we did not tell our readers, that in 1999 Hudson received a $60,000 grant from Monsanto" Copeland added: "Our policy is that he should have disclosed that information. We apologize to our readers."
Read the full report >
David Horowitz attacks liberal academics with so-called Academic Bill of Rights; also looking to rid college campuses of what he calls the anti-war academics who "hate America"
In early December, aiming to start out 2006 with a bang, David Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC - grants, profile) sent out a fundraising appeal asking for contributions to enable it to place full-page advertisements in campus newspapers across the country warning students that they are surrounded by anti-American leftist academics who hate America.
A month later, at a hearing on academic freedom at Temple University sponsored by the state legislature of Pennsylvania, Horowitz could only find one student willing to testify and even then, the testimony was anecdotal, as he had not filed an official grievance with the proper university authorities.
At a previous hearing, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Rep. Dan B. Frankel, a Democrat who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pittsburgh, [pointed out] that [since] the issue of potential political discrimination at state universities had received a considerable amount of publicity since the committee's previous hearing three months ago...he might have expected students to come forward with complaints, but none have done so. 'It seems to me we may be overblowing this problem,' he said. 'I don't have streams of people coming to me.'"
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Peter Kirsanow, a Black conservative lawyer who represents management in disputes with labor, was handed a recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board
 On Wednesday, January 4, while the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal continued to unwind, sending shockwaves through the nation's capital, the Bush Administration announced a handful of recess appointments. Included on the list of appointees -- who do not have to face confirmation by the Senate -- was a host of Bush cronies who don't appear ready for primetime.
One name on Bush's list was that of Peter N. Kirsanow. The conservative African American lawyer from Cleveland, who since 2001 has been serving on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, was appointed to fill one of two vacant seats on the five-member National Labor Relations Board. He will maintain the NLRB position for the remainder of a five-year term that expires on August 27, 2008.
Kirsanow is a partner with Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP. The firm's website points out that Kirsanow's practice has focused on "representing management in employment-related litigation, as well as in contract negotiations, NLRB proceedings, EEO matters, and arbitration."
But Kirsanow is more than just a lawyer who has represented the interests of management: He has a long history of involvement with conservative organizations and causes, and has often made controversial pronouncements on racial matters and labor issues.
Read the full report >
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