GOP + rathergate.com = vast wingnut conspiracy

[George_S]

Note: Buckhead is the freeper "genius" who discovered the CBS memos were a fraud. That lead the to creation of rathergate.com by Mike Krempasky, an effort to slam CBS and get Dan Rather fired.

It looks like this was all planned out and has been for years. Read on and feel free to search for more links. Many DU'ers took this a long way. No reason to stop now.

The original string: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2400623&mesg_id=2400623

rathergate.comgate!

Heh, heh-heh.

American Target Advertising
9625 Surveyor Court, Suite 400
Manassas, VA 20110
US

Domain Name: RATHERGATE.COM

Administrative Contact
Mike Krempasky: [e-mail]
RatherGate
6814 Kincaid Ave
Falls Church, VA 22042
US
Phone [phone]
Fax
Technical Contact
Mike Krempasky: [e-mail]
RatherGate
6814 Kincaid Ave
Falls Church, VA 22042
US
Phone [phone]
Fax

Record updated date: 2004-09-13 17:54:42
Record created date: 2004-09-10
Record expires on date: 2005-09-10
Database last updated on: 2004-09-20 19:17:52 EST

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.RIGHTINTERNET.COM 63.219.151.3
NS2.RIGHTINTERNET.COM 69.10.137.166

Mike Krempasky: "I've been using Roger Stone's email system for one of my California statewide campaigns."

Guess ol' Roger-Dodger's email system sucks, but that ain't the point.

We have a connection.
______

MallRat

Explain- where's the connection?

The ISP? American Target Advertising?

American Target is Richard Viguerie's operation.

-MR
________

Hephaistos

VIGUERIE - JACKPOT!

Philalethes over at Atrios posted this tidbit from an old WaPo article:

Richard A. Viguerie, the conservative fund-raiser, said: "In order to accomplish what we want politically, there is going to have to be a change in the media." Viguerie said he is involved in an entirely separate venture with a group of "substantial" conservatives who have hired financial specialists to find prospective print and television media targets to buy or take over.

In the case of Fairness in Media, just days after the November election, one man, Thomas F. Ellis, the backroom architect of Helms' rise to political power, conceived of the attack on CBS as a way to capitalize on President Reagan's landslide victory and on Helms come-from-behind drive to win a third term in the Senate.


... more on an attempted takeover 20 years ago of CBS by Jesse Helms and friends at the link:

http://www.ferris.edu/isar/Institut/pioneer/Helms.htm
____

George_S

Excellent article that may explain the birth of "liberal bias" in the media.

For the big picture on how the public is losing the media, if any don't already know...

http://www.fair.org /

Be forewarned though that they will criticize either side. And that is good.

(Not to be confused with Fairness in Media.)


____________

starroute

Krempasky was in Florida for that recount riot!

http://www.nationalreview.com/daily/nrprint113000.html

National Review
11/30/00 5:10 p.m.

The coverage of the Republican protests in Florida has been reminiscent of the coverage nine years ago of pro-life demonstrations in Wichita, Kansas. The anchors kept talking about "a tense situation here tonight in Wichita," but anyone who looked around could see a scene about as tense as a church picnic — perhaps because most of the protestors were the sort of people who go to church picnics.

In USA Today a few days ago, Marilyn Adams offered a sterling example of the genre headlined "Voices, vitriol rise as dispute becomes 'war.'" A few of the adjectives deployed: "nasty," "disturbing," "ugly," "alarming." Tempers were thin, zeal was competitive, cliches were strewn about like chads after a Democratic handcount. She asks Abe Bonowitz, an "anti-death-penalty activist" and Gore supporter, if he feels "nervous about being outnumbered." (By the way, to say that Bonowitz is an activist is a bit of an understatement — unlike most of the Republicans there, he has a sizable arrest record).

Michael Krempasky, one of the Republicans who went to Florida to help the Bush campaign, says he was standing by Adams and Bonowitz during their interview.
_____

starroute D

128. Thomas F. Ellis? Lots of bad associations there

http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.e.htm#ellis

The Pioneer Fund served as a small part of "a multimillion dollar political empire of corporations, foundations, political action committees and ad hoc groups" active in 1980s (Washington Post, March 31, 1985, p. 1; A16) developed by Tom Ellis, Harry Weyher, Marion Parrott, Carter Wrenn and Jesse Helms. The Fund has served as a nexus between academic theory and practical political ideology. It's leadership, especially, Harry Weyher, Thomas F. Ellis and Marion A. Parrott are part of an interlocking set of directorates and associates linking the Pioneer Fund to Jesse Helms' high-tech political machine. Ellis, for example, simultaneously served as Chairman of the National Congressional Club and the Coalition for Freedom, co-founder of Fairness in Media, a board member of the Educational Support Foundation and Director of the Pioneer Fund.

Recipients of Pioneer grants have included most of the leading Anglo-American academic race-scientists of the last several decades have been funded by the Pioneer, including William Shockley, Hans J. Eysenck, Arthur Jensen, Roger Pearson, Richard Lynn, J. Philippe Rushton, R. Travis Osborne, Linda Gottfredson, Robert A. Gordon, Daniel R. Vining, Jr., Michael Levin, and Seymour Itzkoff - all cited in The Bell Curve.

<snip>

The Congressional Club began after the 1972 Senate campaign, when Ellis retained Richard Viguerie (CNP) to help pay off the Helms campaign debt. Ellis and Viguerie built the Congressional Club mailing list to more than 300,000 regular contributors -- a constituency for Helms and a major financial resource within the conservative movement... Besides Viguerie, Phillips {Howard Phillips}, and Dolan {John T. (Terry) Dolan} connections, Helms is actively represented in Weyrich's {Paul Weyrich} coordinating groups.


This Ellis stuff is all a generation back now, but the same names do coming around. For example, note the mention of Terry Dolan -- the childhood buddy and longtime associate of Roger Stone whose name is being tossed around in connection with the origin of the CBS memos.

(There's also a Thomas F. Ellis III currently associated with the Carlyle Group -- would he be a son of this one?)
_____


George S

Free Republic connection to rathergate.com

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1214580/posts

____

mowreader

Extreme importance

This indicates that the whole thing is a setup designed to destroy CBS as a trusted news source.

We have been able to tie the Swifties to Rove for a month at least--ever since the New York Times chart of SBVT connections was released. (Rove is on it.) It shouldn't be hard to tie these folks to Rove as well.

Here's how it is done:

1. We know that the freeper Buckhead has worked with Kenneth Starr.
2. The most direct line here is to tie Starr to Rove, which shouldn't be hard. http://swiftvets.eriposte.com/behindsbv.htm should help.
3. Once we tie Rove into Starr, from there we can prove that the White House is running all of the anti-Kerry 527 groups.
_____

starroute

Another link in the chain

FEC Complaint Filed Against CBS and Kerry
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/9/23/153054.shtml

The Center for Individual Freedom today filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging CBS and Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign with illegal coordination.

The two Democrat organizations "violated federal campaign finance laws when they colluded to attack President Bush based on claims and documents now believed to be fake," the center announced from Alexandria, Va.


The juicy part is that CFIF turns out to have been intimately associated with Ken Starr and Harry MacDougald (Buckhead) in a recent suit against campaign finance reform. This is from CFIF's own site:

http://www.cfif.org/htdocs/legislative_issues/federal_issues/hot_issues_in_congress/campaign_finance_reform/center_challenging.htm

On March 27, 2002, President George W. Bush – privately, without ceremony or even a publicly released photograph – signed into law the bill commonly referred to as "campaign finance reform"– the most extensive and insidious assault on political speech ever ventured in the U.S.

Lawsuits were filed immediately, most prominently by U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has for years spearheaded the vigorous and articulate opposition to this misguided legislation in Congress.

<snip>

A distinguished legal team of constitutional and federal election law attorneys, led by Kenneth W. Starr, has been assembled by Senator McConnell, who anticipates the addition of a wide variety of co-plaintiffs. The Center for Individual Freedom will be one of those, and will be represented by the Southeastern Legal Foundation.

The Southern Legal Foundation, of course, is the group of which Harry MacDougald is on the legal advisory board, and he was one of their attorneys for this suit. See http://www.jamesmadisoncenter.org/McConellvsFEC/docket.8.6.2002.pdf for the filing with Starr's and MacDougald's names.


These people just can't help themselves, can they?
______

George_S

Busted! MacDougald (Buckhead) had a lot more to gain than a political pat on the back. Good work.
_________

Caliphoto

Okay.. on www.rathergate.com..

I found an interesting comment from the website owner:

U"SA Today on bloggers
Filed under: General— Mike @ 6:02 pm
A nice article on blogging and the CBS scandal today in USA Today. Predictably, they put rathergate.com in far too prominent a place. It hardly “led” anything. Just a catchy domain name, is all. That said, the idea of a screenshot from this site in the print edition is wicked cool. "

Ah gee, shucks, Mike.. you HARDLY LED the thing, did you? Only registering that "catchy" name less than 48 hours after the first broadcast... wow.. like a psychic or something. I also gleaned that he was referred to as a "shadowy republican operative" by Olbermann.
_________

George_S

(In response to the date of rathergate.com creation:

But the site was setup after Drudge printed something about it:

http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getmailfiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/09/13&ID=Ar00102

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/640pgolk.asp

rathergate.com was created after Drudge got the story. Darn! But that still doesn't explain how they were so sure. Did they really think Buckhead, someone they knew, was an expert?
___

Caliphoto

I just checked the email quote George listed..

.. but I found it attributed to a Douglas Lorenz... he's a Republican in California who was all over the Davis recall. I'm not sure where the original poster found it.. or where he's gone since he posted. Do you sometimes think that there are people who pop up here on DU with info we'd like to have, that are sort of pointing us in the right direction??? The email system doesn't look to be that conclusive. I AM, however, interested in how this Krempasky guy KNEW to register that name on the 10th. WHO told him that this would blow up on Rather?? NO ONE but the people who perpetrated the scam would know... even if Rather had simply done the story and pissed off the GOP faithful, that would NOT be called "rathergate", it would be called "firerather" or something. No.. this smells very badly.. and the company listed on the WHO IS is connected with none other than Scaife, who has been involved with other things to take Kerry down.

I'm not letting them win...
_____

mkrempasky (owner of rathergate.com)

How did I know to register the domain?

I was driving home on Friday night and it struck me that I had read Powerline, polipundit, and perhaps a national review post with that term - and it seemed pretty catchy so I registered the domain. Frankly, I was stunned that no one else had already.

If you followed the Powerline post "61st Minute", I think it was called - it was VERY clear early on this was going to be a big story.
_________
starroute Response to Reply #135

139. There's an existing thread on the FEC filing -- but it's already sunk

I posted the CFIF/MacDougald connection there three hours ago, and mine was the last post on the thread. That's why I repeated the information over here and didn't bother linking. However, if there's interest in continuing the topic, probably better to kick that other thread up than to start a new one. It's in LBN at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x859942
_________

George_S

http://www.opednews.com/hartmann_092104_tongues.htm
_________
KoKo01

Dan....here's some info for your site. You may already have this but
Edited on Thu Sep-23-04 07:11 AM by KoKo01

I found this yesterday searching for something else. It's the affiliations of the 9/11 Commission in detail.. Oil, Oil, Oil, pipelines..

It's from Washingtonian Magazine...Scroll down on the link when you get there for 9/11 Commission.

-------------------------------------------
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE. Former Watergate prosecutor, now partner in Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, an international law firm with headquarters in Chicago and London. The firm’s clients include ExxonMobil, British Petroleum, Alliance Pipeline, Union Carbide, Kuwait Refinery, and Indonesia IPP.

FRED FIELDING. Former deputy White House counsel under Richard Nixon; name partner at Wiley Rein & Fielding. As special counsel to the Bush-Cheney transition team, he helped prepare Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld for confirmation hearings. Fielding’s partner Bert Rein was in charge of international aviation policy at the State Department. Besides Time Warner, Gannett, and United Parcel Service, Wiley Rein clients include Spirit Airlines, Philips Electronics, UNOCAL, the Kansas City Southern Railroad, Intelsat, and Motorola.

JAMIE GORELICK. Former deputy attorney general under Bill Clinton, former Fannie Mae executive, now partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr. In addition to the Washington Post, the National Association of Broadcasters, Time Warner, Bayer AG, Yahoo, and Fannie Mae, the firm’s clients include Boeing and Deutsche Bank. Gorelick also sits on the boards of United Technologies and Schlumberger, both with big stakes in Iraqi reconstruction.

SLADE GORTON. Former US senator, now partner in Seattle-based Preston Gates & Ellis, which has one of the most prominent lobbying operations in DC. (The Gates in Preston Gates is the father of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.) Besides Microsoft, Amway, Starbucks, and Verizon, the firm’s clients include the Air Transport Association, Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, the Port of Seattle, Burlington Northern Railroad, and Wells Fargo Bank.

LEE HAMILTON. A nonpracticing lawyer, this former member of Congress and chair of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees is president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a member of President Bush’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. Companies that fund the Woodrow Wilson Center include Aramco Services, Archer Daniels Midland, AT&T, BP North America, Boeing, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, Fannie Mae, Lockheed Martin, News Corporation, and Occidental Petroleum.

JAMES THOMPSON. Former Illinois governor, now chair of Chicago-based corporate law behemoth Winston & Strawn. The firm’s clients include American Airlines, General Electric, Caterpillar, and the New York City Industrial Development Authority. Thompson is a director of Hollinger International, the Canadian-based company that owns the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post.
The Nonlawyers

THOMAS KEAN. Former governor of New Jersey, now president of Drew University. An educator by profession, Kean is a descendant of one of America’s oldest families, the Stuyvesants, and a distant cousin of Theodore Roosevelt. Kean serves on the boards of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund.

BOB KERREY. Former US senator from Nebraska, where he earlier served as governor, now president of New School University in New York. Trained as a pharmacist, the Vietnam veteran made his fortune with chains of restaurants and health clubs.

JOHN LEHMAN. Former Navy secretary under President Reagan, now chair of J.F. Lehman & Company, an investment-banking firm. Lehman served on the National Security Council under Henry Kissinger. Lehman’s firm has purchased 11 companies in recent years that specialize in naval or aerospace defense. One, Racal Industries, sells military equipment to 80 nations around the world and specializes in field-communications equipment for use in desert environments. Lehman owns interests in and serves on the board of Ball Corporation, whose aerospace division builds cooling systems for NASA. He is “senior adviser” to BNP Paribas, one of the world’s biggest international conglomerates.

TIMOTHY ROEMER. President of the Center for National Policy, a liberal think tank; former Indiana congressman and son-in-law of former Louisiana senator Bennett Johnston. Roemer once worked for Johnston’s lobby shop, whose clients include General Motors, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing. Among CNP board members: former Agriculture secretary Dan Glickman, now with the DC law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, and Benjamin W. Heineman Jr., general counsel of General Electric.
http://www.washingtonian.com/capital_comment/jun04capcom.html
_________

George_S

Buckhead works for:

http://www.wcsr.com/FSL5CS/Custom/home.asp

I think. And they have a manual on what you can get away with, or reasons to sue, when it comes to political broadcasts:

Womble Carlyle Political Broadcast Manual (PDF)

Carlyle? Might be coincidence.

Roger Stone's Ikon Public Affairs is more like a consulting firm, a lot like what the Political Broadcast Manual talks about. It is all image and information war. It's no wonder they have been so effective since they have been building this network since the Nixon years.

However, does

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-wfsection+article+...

have close ties to Free Republic? Roger Stone's Ikon Public Affairs is well listed there.

To really understand all of this, someone would have to take a year solid and write a book. I'm only interested in this election for comparatively trivial reasons.
_________
dweller

I this floated through here earlier today

i had to search DU to find it, link to Viguerie, but no response on thread...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=884949

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2402048

who are these 'texans' that are suddenly posting here?
____
Caliphoto

The rathergate guy works for Viguerie..

..who is linked to Scaife. Shocking, I tell you.. shocking! Not. I think their specialty is getting their underlings to do dirty work for them...
________
starroute

100. You mean this bit?

"Perhaps the most important constituent body of the New Right network after the Heritage Foundation is the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC), also founded in 1975 by John Terry Dolan, a lawyer by profession, Charles Black and Roger Stone with the help of Richard Viguerie."

http://www.audarya-fellowship.com/showflat/cat/WorldNew

I posted that -- I was out Googling a lot yesterday on the New Right. My general conclusion was that Viguerie is closely linked to the Young Republic/dirty tricks/Karl Rove wing of the New Right. Scaife is much closer to the southern/racist/anti-Clinton wing -- both Harry MacDougald and many of the SwiftBoat figures have Scaife connections.
________
starroute

Krempasky and Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute
Edited on Thu Sep-23-04 11:09 AM by starroute


This conference was apparently in 2002. Morton Blackwell is the guy who was handing out the purple heart bandaids -- and his Leadership Institute has been one of the prime training-grounds of the New Right.

http://www.nrlc.org/news/2002/NRL06/stanf.html

Given the liberal, pro-abortion reputation of the student body, the faculty, and the surrounding area, Berkeley, California, would seem like a very unlikely location for a pro-life conference. On first thought, most people would be surprised if a critical mass of people could be found willing to devote time to promoting pro-life causes.

<snip>

On Saturday, April 20, over 60 Bay Area college and high school students were in attendance for the last day of the conference. After the welcome the students attended a series of workshops designed to give them the skills to more effectively promote the pro-life cause.

These included a workshop on fundraising led by the Leadership Institute's Michael Krempasky, a workshop on organizing a pro-life lecture by Michael New of Stanford Students for Life, a workshop by Monika Rodman from the Diocese of Oakland on pro-life responses to "pro-choice" arguments, and finally a workshop led by Jennie Youngblood of First Resort Pregnancy Consulting.


On edit -- see also, from 1999:
http://www.longwood.edu/news/bulletin/sept13_99.html

Leadership Institute September 22, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Rotunda Market. Information on Public Policy careers. All majors are welcome to visit the table. Contact person is Michael Krempasky.
_________
KansDem

Perhaps "RatherGate" (or Rather'sGate) was all set up and ready to go...

...right after the "60 minutes" report.

Wasn't the White House alerted to the story by CBS, but had no comment?

There appears to be a good deal of activity that occurred in the hours following that report (see post 33) for it to be simply a response to the broadcast. And as one DUer pointed out, all before anyone realized there was a "Rather'sGate"
_________
George_S

The LA Times...

... has a story on Buckhead being a freeper.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-091704buckhead_lat,1,494535.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The co-writer of "Unfit for Command" also is also freeper.

A blog has a detailed article on the rathergate.com/freeper connection.

I'm sure a lot of media is taking a very close look at FR right now.
_____
CornField

Info from a thread I started

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2402048

From the Chicago Tribune: "Nowhere on Krempasky's site, however, did he disclose that he is the political director for American Target Advertising, a Virginia firm run by Richard Viguerie, the conservative strategist widely credited with inventing political direct mail and helping Ronald Reagan and numerous other Republicans get elected."

Perhaps the most important constituent body of the New Right network after the Heritage Foundation is the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC), also founded in 1975 by John Terry Dolan, a
lawyer by profession, Charles Black and Roger Stone with the help of
Richard Viguerie.

Not sure if it will help here... just tossing it out.
________
Aries

Rove's M.O.

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/002815.html

...Rove's MO is all over the Killian memo controversy that threatens to take down Dan Rather.

During Bush's first run against Ann Richards, Rove knew that he needed to immunize Bush against the charge of being too aggressive and unfair when going after Ann Richards. So what he did was to create an ad where Bush declared, "My opponent attacked me personally." But get this, the ad was made and distributed to TV stations around Texas before any such accusation was made. Then the campaign used numerous taunts, including a whispering campaign that asserted Ann Richards was gay or too gay friendly to encourage her to pop off against Bush. As soon as she did, the previously prepared ad was shown all over Texas and Bush was seen as the innocent victim of an unfair attack by his opponent....
_________
Caliphoto

I just sent you a PM -- I believe Judicial Watch is heavily funded by....

Scaife. That is the link I was trying to find... it was posted here yesterday. Hmmm... Scaife does biz with ATA, who employs Kampresky who puts up a professional www.rathergate.com website within hours of the Rather setup. He then comes to DU to tell us that he only set up the website becuase it seemed like a good name... but then immediately sets it up to broadcast fax to have Rather fired.. And.. advertises it as such on FreeRepublic. which is where "BUCKHEAD" pushes the forgery story minutes after the papers are discussed by Rather. Buckheads wife pushes the story in the media...

Oh they're all connected... Kampresky was "vacationing" in Florida during the recount.. oh, the list goes on and on. We've got the connections made.. now.. how do we get a media type to do it more in depth and in the media??
________
starroute

149. Judicial Watch seems to be the missing link

One thing that's been perplexing me is that there seem to be two separate groups involved in the most recent rounds of campaign dirty tricks. One is heavily connected with Scaife and includes Ken Starr, the SwiftBoat Liars, and Southeastern Legal/Harry MacDougald. The other is associated with Viguerie and includes classic dirty tricksters like Morton Blackwell (he of the purple heart bandaids) and Roger Stone. (Krempasky formerly worked for Blackwell's Leadership Foundation.)

I've been looking for ties between Scaife and Viguerie, but although they're both frequently mentioned in tandem as founders of the New Right, they seem to be part of different networks of association.

However, this tie between ATA and Judicial Watch definitely puts a connection in place. Not only that, but Judicial Watch was at the heart of the anti-Clinton smear campaigns which seem to be the model for the current anti-Kerry smears.

Here are a few links I just came up with:

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/06/11/klayman.jackson

Tax records show Klayman's tax-exempt group, Judicial Watch, was just a shoestring operation in 1996, with total revenues of less than $68,000.

But now it comes out that Judicial Watch received $550,000 in 1997 from the Carthage Foundation, funded by Pittsburgh billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife.

Scaife is intensely conservative and intensely anti-Clinton. He gave $2.6 million to American Spectator magazine to dig up Clinton dirt, then cut off the money when it published a story he didn't like.


There's more details at http://www.americanpolitics.com/061198Klayman.html

And a page at http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=1122 which says, "Judicial Watch is essentially a tool of Richard Mellon Scaife, who provides almost all its funding" and gives the details to prove it.
________

Sorry for any I missed, though I did try to include everything that was still active and promising.

[George_S]

1. Any connection to the others?

http://www.bizreport.com/news/8017/

Scott Johnson, a lawyer in Mendota Heights, Minn., put up his first post at

7:51 a.m. on Sept. 9. By the time he got to his Minneapolis office, he had dozens of e-mail responses.

One of them was from Charles Johnson, a Web designer in Los Angeles, who promptly posted his own thoughts on the subject.

Scott Johnson, 53, writes for a Web site called Power Line. Charles Johnson, 51, posts on Little Green Footballs. They were among the bloggers who blew the cyber-whistle by charging that the documents used by "60 Minutes" in its report on President Bush's Air National Guard service appeared bogus.

Or did everyone quit?

[George_S]

3. They are connected to the Claremont Institute

"The demand is that homosexuality be endorsed and promoted with the full power of the law. This would require us to abandon the standard of nature, the one standard that can teach us the difference between freedom and slavery, between right and wrong. Once we abandon the standard of nature, what is to forbid us from resorting to any violation of nature that we may please? Why should we not return to slavery, if we find it convenient? Or the practices of incest or adultery or cannibalism?" - http://www.claremont.org/pubs/miah.htm

Gays are like alcoholics, kleptomaniacs (Trent Lott, again!)

"It is ....You should try to show them a way to deal with that problem, just like alcohol...or sex addiction...or kleptomaniacs." - Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott, Associated Press, June 15, 1998.

http://www.hatecrime.org/subpages/hatespeech/claremont.html

http://www.claremont.org/

Are we going around in circles now?

[George_S]

4. Bingo. The connection!

Richard Mellon Scaife

http://www.politicalamazon.com/scaifefoundations.html

[starroute]

28. Claremont Institute connections

"The mission of the Claremont Institute is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life...To recover the Founding principles in our political life means recovering a limited and accounted government that respects private property, promotes stable family life and maintains a strong defense" ... The Institute has six primary programs: The Center for the Study of Natural Law; The Golden State Center for Policy Studies; The Center for the American Constitution; The Center for Environmental Education Research; The International Affairs Center; and Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership; Fellows include members from Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, politicians, etc.

http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.a.htm#arnn


Howard Ahmanson is on the board of directors. He's a big-time Dominionist and a major figure in the religious right. He's donated to Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation. Is also heavily tied in with electronic voting, which makes the BBV people here extremely nervous.

I'll see what else I can find.

[starroute]

29. Claremont was part of the anti-Clinton axis

Why am I not surprised?


http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/feb1999/thom-f05.shtml

Too much good stuff here to quote it all, so have a look.

Over the past week a controversy has emerged concerning another Supreme Court judge and his ties to the far right. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is scheduled to appear as the keynote speaker at the February 9 Lincoln Day dinner of the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank that is actively campaigning for the removal of President Clinton.

<snip>

Other speakers listed by the Claremont Institute for its February 9 {1999} colloquium, to be held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, include Terry Eastland, publisher of the American Spectator, and Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard. The master of ceremonies for the event will be the television game show host Pat Sajak.

Eastland's American Spectator is funded by the billionaire publisher Richard Mellon Scaife. It has been a clearing house for salacious gossip and extravagant allegations against Clinton from the first days of the Clinton administration. In late 1993 the American Spectator published charges by Arkansas state troopers who claimed to have procured sex for Clinton while he was governor, referring in passing to a woman named "Paula." This article, whose author subsequently issued a public retraction, was seized on by Paula Jones as the pretext for her suit.

<snip>

A dossier on the Claremont Institute published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) outlines the institute's promotion of right-wing libertarian policies as well as positions central to the agenda of the Christian right. It also notes the political ties of the institute to other bodies that have played a major role in the impeachment drive. ... One of the institute's main financial backers is Scaife. Claremont accepted $75,000 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation in 1994 and $225,000 in 1997

[starroute]

33. Anti-Clinton and anti-Kerry editorials by Johnson and Hinderaker

Scott W. Johnson and John H. Hinderaker are long-time collaborators. Time Magazine's piece on the Rathergate bloggers has a photo of the two of them at their computers. (http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101040927/nblogger.html)

The Clarement Institute website reprints a number of editorials the two of them have written over the years. Here's an anti-Clinton piece of theirs from 1998 which rants at great length about the Playboy Philosophy:

http://www.claremont.org/writings/981217hinderaker_johnson.html


And here's one from this August attacking Kerry over the Christmas in Cambodia issue:

http://www.claremont.org/writings/040818hinderakerjohnson.html


All this is interesting, and certainly consistent with the rest of the pattern. But like so much else we've turned up, it points towards the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy and not towards the White House. We don't seem to be any closer to finding out where the VRWCers got their advance info on the memos.

[George_S]

19. Just to clarify

We are looking for a connection between either or both of these Jonhsons, the Claremont Institute, Buckhead, and the lawyers for Bush meeting that Buckhead attended.

Or any other connection. Sometimes a seemingly unrelated connection can lead to something.

It would also be good to know, EXCELLENT to know, who funded/sponsored that Lawyers for Bush meeting.

[George_S]

26. This gets better and better

The targets of the subpoenas, American Target Advertising, et al. ("ATA"), were related through the common ownership of Richard Viguerie.

http://www.freespeechcoalition.org/us_vs_ata.htm

So was rathergate.com setup through the offices/domains of Richard Viguerie?

[George_S]

27. the politics of resentment

"Perhaps more than any of the New Right figures, Richard Viguerie has made a career--and a fortune--on the politics of resentment."
- Sara Diamond, Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right.

http://www.politicalamazon.com/viguerie.html

[progressivebydesign]

32. Rathergate was supposedly set up by an employee of Viguerie..

.. I have to check the address to see if it's the same as ATA. Kampresky swears he did it only because it was a cool idea (ya, right), and insists that his activities have nothing to do with his employer. Roger Stone was the one that was recruited by Jim Baker's office to handle the thuggery at the recount, and Kampresky was there "vacationing" as a private citizen, supposedly, obviously given time off at ATA to do so... unless he hadn't worked there before that, and was given the job as a reward for his work in Florida.

[Dr Fate]

2. Heh- It keeps people discussing if Bush was AWOL.

Which most people know- he was.

[Wapsie B]

5. That's right.

They're not discussing the content of the memos at all.

[emulatorloo]

6. Thanks for the Summary - NOW SOMEBODY *PLEASE* GET IT TO CBS. . . .

Surely some DU'er has a contact or works in CBS News Division. . . .


(I have been following the threads. . .great work!)

[mmonk]

9. The problem I see

is if there is a mole there, can we get the info to someone who will use it? Any way to specifically get it to Dan Rather?

[G_j]

7. is it possible that someone can put

this into a brief chronological account, something that could be put in letter form for the 'lay' person.

[mmonk]

8. The question I've had in the back of my mind

through all of this is, is it legal for political groups to be able to subvert free speech and a free press through acts such as these?

[George_S]

37. Good question

But all is fair in politics and war. That's why they can get away with saying liberals will Ban the Bible, as if no liberals are Christian.

But the right has their God and Jesus trademarked.

[mmonk]

10. Work on this DU'ers

:kick:

[mmonk]

11. .

:bounce: :kick:

[George_S]

12. What convention?

Buckhead attended some type of meeting or convention about a month before the 60 Minutes story broke. Many knew the story was going to air even then.

I can't remember the name of the event he attended. Does anyone know?

Where the other "bloggers" who helped bring down CBS there with Buckhead?

This could be the missing link in the puzzle.

Any help welcome.

[mmonk]

13. Any help

with what type or some keyword to search with?

[George_S]

14. I don't remember! :)

It was in his capacity as a lawyer though, if that helps. It could have been an annual convention of one the organizations he belongs to, or it could have been more general, like the annual nationwide lawyers convention. It was about a month before the 60 Minutes segment aired though.

[mmonk]

15. thanks

[George_S]

17. Found it

On the site, Buckhead claims he is a lawyer from the Atlanta area who participated last month in a meeting of lawyers for Bush-Cheney, an organization he said will be called upon in the event there are election irregularities and everybody winds up in court again. He says he has worked for a Congressman. He says he considers himself prominent in G.O.P. legal circles in Georgia.

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/007878.html

Buckhead = Harry MacDougald, btw, just to make the keyword search easier.

[progressivebydesign]

20. Oh yeah.. he's Ken Starr's pal.. I forgot about that!

He was ass-deep in fighting campaign finance reform with Ken Starr.

[George_S]

39. Yes,

But we need to know what that meeting the month before the 60 Minutes segment was, and who was there.

[progressivebydesign]

16. Did we have Morton Blackwell's group in there?

The Leadership Council? Group? something? Remember he is part of this too. Kampresky attended his stuff... and Blackwell was Rove's mentor and the guy that handed out the Purple Heart Bandages.

I think we've connected everyone, included Buckhead... but it hasn't led us to the origination of the memos, or who handed them to him. I have some ideas.. I'll work on it today.

I'm not too concerned with getting this thread to the media at the moment, I am certain that these threads are being checked out already.. If our work sparks something in someone that brings this attack on Rather and CBS (and by asociation, OUR free press) to the forefront, then we have done our job.

[George_S]

18. Agreed, Caliphoto

But this thread serves a bigger purpose than that. The next time the wingnuts say a liberal who claims there is a vast wingnut conspiracy needs to put the tin hat back on, there will be substantial evidence to the contrary.

There really is an effort towards a Fascist state, and it has momentum and power.

The more we dig, the better, and we may luck out and turn this around for CBS and us too. Most Americans live in a trusting world and would be shocked by this. That would and should influence their vote.

[progressivebydesign]

21. We almost need a "family tree" drawn up..

something graphic that shows the connections... a spider web of sorts. A visual aid for the non-readers.

[mmonk]

22. Yes

A nice chart with organizations and names with links. kind of a "Addams Family Tree".

[progressivebydesign]

23. Addams family... perfect! n/t

[George_S]

24. Someone was working on one

starroute, was that you?

btw, where you been? You're good!

[starroute]

50. I was talking about it -- but it ain't gonna happen soon

I probably started out being too ambitious -- hoping to map out *all* these VRWC connections -- and I'm realizing that's impossible.

Maybe I can do a couple of smaller maps instead -- one for the Scaife-related anti-Clinton people who are also involved in the anti-Kerry stuff and another for the Rove-style dirty tricksters who came out of the 60's Young Republicans.

I'll see what I can come up with over the weekend.

[George_S]

55. It's the thought that counts

And there is probably a book on all these connections anyway. Like...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812930991/102-1350655-2496162?v=glance

We maybe helped make the connection to the rathergate slime to all those pasts slimes. We did good!

[George_S]

25. American Target Adverstising (what a name!)

George_S

No wonder ALLAHPUNDIT.COM wanted to remain anonymous.

ALLAHPUNDIT.COM and littlegreenfootballs.com are the same person/organization.
_________
starroute

Should we be looking more closely at American Target Advertising?

Here's one connection that could prove interesting.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/scotus/10/02/scotus.solicitinglaw.ap
October 2, 2000

The Supreme Court is letting states impose licensing and disclosure requirements on professional consultants who help nonprofit organizations raise money. The justices, acting without comment Monday, rejected a challenge to such a Utah law by American Target Advertising, a Virginia firm run by political direct-mail pioneer Richard Viguerie.

<snip>

ATA agreed in 1996 to provide "political and related consulting services" for Judicial Watch, an ideologically conservative nonprofit group that has filed numerous lawsuits against the Clinton administration. The contract specified that ATA itself would do no fund raising for Judicial Watch.

<snip>

When Judicial Watch applied for a fund-raising license in Utah in 1997, it was told by state authorities that it would not qualify for a license until ATA registered as well.

ATA then sued Utah's Division of Consumer Protection, but a federal trial judge upheld the state's charitable solicitations law. ATA appealed, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last January upheld most of the state law.

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. DId you know Harry W MacDougald is a member

of the Fulton County (GA) Board of Elections?

He's a stooge for BBV voting.

Might be some connection through other members of the Board?

[progressivebydesign]

31. There is also a Mary McCarty of Florida that is involved in elections..

Roger Stone was helping her out during the recount. Seems the GOP has tentacle all over the voting. That MacDougald or shall I say (BUCKHEAD) sure gets around!

[DoYouEverWonder]

34. McCarty and Stone seem to have gotten into a bit of trouble recently.

McCarty and Stone's group Take Back Our Judiciary were both found guilty and fined for accepting illegal contributions in her bid to remove Florida Supreme Court justices during the 2000 recount.



Taking on justices, official broke law

August 14, 2003


TALLAHASSEE - In the heat of the 2000 presidential election, Republican Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty led a political push to oust three Florida Supreme Court justices who ruled for Vice President Al Gore.

In a letter mailed to 350,000 people, McCarty urged her fellow Republicans to "beat these liberals and have them removed from the court, making way for more conservative jurists." The effort fizzled.

But on Wednesday, one ghost of the 2000 presidential election came home to roost.

The Florida Elections Commission, meeting in a tiny room tucked away in the state Department of Education building, fined McCarty $2,000 for accepting illegal contributions and failing to accurately report donations and expenditures.

The commission also fined her defunct political action committee, Take Back Our Judiciary, $11,000. The committee is still technically an active organization, though it only has $11.63 "in a drawer somewhere in Miami," said McCarty's Tallahassee attorney, Mark Herron. It's not clear who is responsible for paying the $11,000 fine.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/14/State/Taking_on_justices__o.shtml

Here's a link to the transcript from the trial:


http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:KVBKT823KJQJ:www.doah.state.fl.us/ros/2002/02-3613.pdf+%22Roger+Stone%22+%22Mary+McCarty%22&hl=en

[starroute]

35. Howard Ahmanson is on the Claremont Institute board of directors

I posted a mention of Ahmanson in the Clarement sub-thread above, but he also fits in here. He's both a big-time Reconstructionist (the scariest of the scary among the Christian right) and someone with a major connection to electronic voting. Just Google "ahmanson" and "urosevich" and you'll get an earfull. See, for example, http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

Diebold, electronic voting and the vast right-wing conspiracy

Increasingly, investigative writers seeking an explanation have looked to Diebold’s history for clues. The electronic voting industry is dominated by only a few corporations—Diebold, Election Systems & Software (ES&S) and Sequoia. Diebold and ES&S combined count for an estimated 80 percent of U.S. black box electronic votes.

In the early 1980s, brothers Bob and Todd Urosevich founded ES&S’s originator, Data Mark. The brothers Urosevich obtained financing from the far-right Ahmanson family in 1984, which purchased a 68 percent ownership stake, according to the Omaha World Herald. After brothers William and Robert Ahmanson infused Data Mark with new capital, the name was changed to American Information Systems (AIS). California newspapers have long documented the Ahmanson family’s ties to right-wing evangelical Christian and Republican circles.

<snip>

The Ahmanson family sold their shares in American Information Systems to the McCarthy Group and the World Herald Company, Inc. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel disclosed in public documents that he was the chairman of American Information Systems and claimed between a $1 to 5 million investment in the McCarthy Group. In 1997, American Information Systems purchased Business Records Corp. (BRC), formerly Texas-based election company Cronus Industries, to become ES&S. One of the BRC owners was Carolyn Hunt of the right-wing Hunt oil family, which supplied much of the original money for the Council on National Policy.

<snip>

Bob Urosevich was the programmer and CEO at AIS, before being replaced by Hagel. Bob now heads Diebold Election Systems and his brother Todd is a top executive at ES&S. Bob created Diebold’s original electronic voting machine software. Thus, the brothers Urosevich, originally funded by the far-right, figure in the counting of approximately 80 percent of electronic voting in the United States.

[progressivebydesign]

38. I read that and I think the GOP has created the ultimate network...

..for stealing every election in the future.

[progressivebydesign]

36. IMPORTANT LINKS!

I don't have time this evening to get into this.. but here are two INTERESTING things (one link, one name), and places to jump of from:


http://www.lawandfreedom.com/site/nonprofit/atavgiani.html
Okay.. this is a very detailed page/link. It is the court document from a law suit that American Target Media instituted in Utah, in regard to free speech and fundraising. Now.. the really important part of the link, and from which the research needs to originate is the "CO-AMICI" parties listed. There were numerous non-profits listed, the usual Virginia based fake public organizations (rightwing), ALSO there are FOR-PROFIT companies listed as being interested in the lawsuit, as co-amici (with I think is sort of a friend of the court I suppose). If someone has time to cut and paste some of those names into a search engine, you'd find lots of connections.

One connection I made, and warrants further research: CREATIVE RESPONSE CONCEPTS. Oddly enough, they are the PR agency for SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH! And.. are credited with blasting the rathergate issue all over the media. ALSO.. guess who their BIGGEST client is??? VIACOM!!!! Yeah.. CBS's parent company. Disinfopedia has a great list of their clients, and a current blurb about the rathergate issue.. with some further connections.

Lots of good stuff for you. I need to go now.. hope to see this thread in the morning. Oh.. on edit: for those that don't know who American Targe Advertising is, it's Richard Vaguerie's company, the one that the www.rathergate.com guy works for, AND one of the Palm Beach rioters...

[starroute]

40. Creative Response Concepts is in Alexandria, VA

I don't know if it's significant, but Alexandria pops up a lot. Ann Stone (Roger Stone's ex-wife from before he married the bimbo with the 44" bust) has her current organization there. And I think I've seen mention of at least one other Alexandria-based group in researching for these threads.

It could just be because Alexandria is a suburb of Washington, DC, but it might be worth keeping an eye on.

[George_S]

42. Mm

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Creative_Response_Concepts

Creative Response Concepts

Creative Response Concepts is a Arlington, Va.-based lobbying and public relations firm.

PR Week reported on September 20, 2004: "Creative Response Concepts (CRC), the VA-based agency promoting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, used right-wing blogs and news sites to turn a CBS report casting doubt on President George W. Bush's National Guard service into a potential black eye for both the network and the Democrats. A CRC client, the Cybercast News Service (CNS), was among the first to voice suspicion that documents suggesting Bush had received preferential treatment in the Guard were forgeries. ... 'After the CBS story aired, called typographical experts, got them on the record that these papers were fishy, and posted a story by 3pm Thursday,' said CRC SVP Keith Appell. 'We were immediately in contact with Matt Drudge, who loved the story.' CRC worked with CNS and the Media Research Center, another media watchdog client, to push the story into the mainstream press." <1>

[George_S]

44. From Cybercast News Service

CBS Accused of 'Political Attack' in Federal Election Complaint
By Robert B. Bluey
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
September 24, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - The Federal Election Commission received a complaint Thursday asking that CBS be punished for broadcasting a "political attack ad" against President Bush in violation of campaign finance laws.

The complaint, filed by the Center for Individual Freedom, accuses CBS and the Kerry campaign of colluding on a calculated attack on Bush. The network's "60 Minutes" program aired a now infamous segment Sept. 8 featuring discredited documents on Bush's National Guard service.

"The broadcast segment bore far more resemblance to a political attack advertisement coordinated with and supported by the opponent's campaign and political party than to a journalistically sound, well-researched 'news story,' " according to the group's complaint.

http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200409\POL20040924a.html

[George_S]

45. Whois Center for Individual Freedom?

Center for Individual Freedom

Center for Individual Freedom ("CFIF") is a nonprofit, 501(c)(4) corporation based in Alexandria, Virginia. It is a member of the Townhall.com consortium.

The CFIF is involved with "strict constructionist" activities regarding judicial and legislative issues. The organization maintains Freedom Line, a radio interview show and We The People, a grassroots organizing effort dedicated to conservative causes.

In August 2004, the Center for Individual Freedom gained national attention by launching a grassroots campaign against what it called a "tasteless anti-American marketing scheme" from a German subsidiary of the American based Subway restaurant chain. The CFIF claimed that the Germany subway stores featured advertising that included cartoon parodies of the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as using derogatory German slurs to describe Americans.

Contact information
Center for Individual Freedom
901 N. Washington Street, Suite 402
Alexandria, VA 22314

[George_S]

46. Whois townhall.com?

History
It started in 1991 as a BBS called 'Town Hall'. A 'Town Hall Tour' of May 1992 gives an impression of that BBS. Town Hall, was a joint venture of National Review Magazine and the Heritage Foundation. In March 1993 they had about 700 individual users and they were connected to 15 organizations. To access the BBS you needed a computer and a modem using a network phone number and an access code. Joining costed $20 and beyond that the user was charged from 26 cents to 66 cents a minute depending on the time of day. <1> Jeanne Allen was in 1993 the executive director of Town Hall. <2>

In March 1994 they announced that Town Hall would become a privat forum on Compuserve. <3>

On July 19, 1994 Rich Winkel wrote about Town Hall in a Usenet posting

"On Compuserve computer network [phone] An electronic bulletin board (BBS) and interactive dial-up computer service for the conservative movement carried on the Compuserve computer network. Sponsored by National Review and the Heritage Foundation. Includes electronic (ASCII) text version of materials from groups such as the The Free Congress Foundation's National Empowerment Television project, Focus on the Family, The Leadership Institute, International Freedom Foundation, Citizens for a Sound Economy, and the State Policy Network of state-based think tanks." <4>

Townhall.com
According to the whois-information the domain name (townhall.com) was claimed on March 2, 1995. The web site (www.townhall.com) went live on June 29, 1995. <5> <6> Tim Butler was at that moment president of Town Hall and the organization was still owned jointly by Heritage and National Review. Soon after that 'Townhall.com' was considered to be only a Heritage Foundation project. The WayBack machine has pages that go back to 1996. On the 'media-kit' page of 'townhall.com' they write

"Online since 1991, and on the Web since June 1995, townhall.com reaches an established, older, and highly influential community of between 200,000 and 250,000 individual users each month. The largest conservative site on the Web, www.townhall.com is the main internet address for over 35 member sites, including publications and radio shows, think tanks, and public policy, grassroots, and educational organizations."

Key Staff

* Jonathan Garthwaite, Editor
* Jennifer Biddison, Assistant Editor
* Ryan Zempel, News & Politics Editor
* Laura O'Dea, Marketing Manager
* Carolyn Davids, Community Coordinator

Regular Contributors

* Mike Adams
* Gary Aldrich
* Mark Alexander
* Doug Bandow
* Bruce Bartlett
* Tony Blankley
* Brent Bozell
* Peter Brookes
* Jay Bryant
* Pat Buchanan
* William F. Buckley, Jr.
* Neil Cavuto
* Mona Charen
* Linda Chavez
* Chuck Colson
* Ward Connerly
* Ann Coulter
* Helle Dale
* Larry Elder
* Edwin J. Feulner
* Suzanne Fields
* Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
* Maggie Gallagher
* Jonah Goldberg
* Paul Greenberg
* Rebecca Hagelin
* David Horowitz
* Dexter Ingram
* Paul Jacob
* Terence Jeffrey
* Jack Kemp
* Charles Krauthammer
* Larry Kudlow
* John Leo
* David Limbaugh
* Rich Lowry
* Ross Mackenzie
* Michelle Malkin
* John McCaslin
* Bill Murchison
* Joel Mowbray
* Oliver North
* Robert Novak
* Marvin Olasky
* Kathleen Parker
* Dennis Prager
* Alan Reynolds
* Paul Craig Roberts
* Debra Saunders
* Phyllis Schlafly
* Ben Shapiro
* Thomas Sowell
* Jacob Sullum
* Mark Tapscott
* Cal Thomas
* Matt Towery
* Rich Tucker
* Emmett Tyrrell
* Diana West
* George Will
* Armstrong Williams
* Walter Williams

Members

* A World Connected
* Accuracy in Academia
* Accuracy in Media
* Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty
* AgapePress
* Alliance Defense Fund
* American Conservative Union
* The American Enterprise
* American Land Rights Association
* American Legislative Exchange Council
* American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property
* Americans for Prosperity Foundation
* Americans for Tax Reform
* AnnCoulter.org
* Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University
* The Bradley Foundation
* BreakPoint Online
* Campus Report
* Capital Research Center
* Cato Institute
* The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
* The Center for Consumer Freedom
* Center for Equal Opportunity
* Center for Individual Freedom
* Center for Security Policy
* Center for the Future of Russia
* Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change
* Citizens Against Government Waste
* Citizens for a Sound Economy
* The Claremont Institute
* clashradio.com
* Collegiate Network
* Competitive Enterprise Institute
* Concerned Women for America
* The Conservative Caucus
* Conservative Petitions.com
* Conservative Political Action Conference
* Defenders of Property Rights
* Digital Freedom Network
* Employment Policies Institute
* EnviroTruth.org
* Evergreen Freedom Foundation
* Family Research Council
* The Federalist e-journal Digest
* The Federalist Society
* The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
* Free Republic Network
* Free-Market.Net
* Freedom Alliance
* Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation
* Frontiers of Freedom
* The Fund for American Studies
* Georgia Public Policy Foundation
* Green Watch
* Greening Earth Society
* Grove City College
* Heartland Institute
* The Heritage Foundation
* Hillsdale College
* The Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society
* Human Events Online
* The Human Life Review
* Independent Women's Forum
* Insight on the News
* Institute for Humane Studies
* Institute for Policy Innovation
* Intercollegiate Studies Institute
* ISI Books
* Landmark Legal Foundation
* Lawsuit Abuse Makes Us Sick
* Leadership Institute
* LifeNews.com
* The Lone Star Report
* Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
* Mackinac Center for Public Policy
* Maryland Public Policy Institute
* Massachusetts News
* Media Research Center
* Mountain States Legal Foundation
* National Center for Policy Analysis
* The National Center for Public Policy Research
* National Legal and Policy Center
* National Review Online
* National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc.
* National Taxpayers Union & NTU Foundation
* Ohio Taxpayers Association & OTA Foundation
* OpinionEditorials.com
* The Optimate
* Pacific Legal Foundation
* Pacific Research Institute
* The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty
* The Philadelphia Society
* The Project for California's Future
* The Reagan Ranch
* religionjournal.com
* RetireSafe.org
* Small Business Survival Committee
* State Policy Network
* Susan B. Anthony List
* Tax Foundation
* Taxpayers League of Minnesota
* Tech Central Station
* Texas Public Policy Foundation
* Townhall.com
* Traditional Values Coalition
* U.S. English, Inc.
* U.S. Term Limits
* The Washington Times National Weekly Edition
* The Weekly Standard
* The World & I
* World Congress of Families
* World Magazine
* The Yorktown Patriot
* Young America's Foundation

Contact Information
214 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002

[George_S]

51. Whois the Heritage Foundation?

Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a neo-conservative public policy research institute. Its stated mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of "free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." It is widely considered one of the world's most influential public policy research institutes.

[George_S]

52. Ken Starr and the Heritage Foundation

Hey, Kids… Can You Say “Republic”?
“One of the hallmark issues of the Rehnquist (Supreme) court is that, in the face of a lot of criticism, the court has just been adamant and steadfastly faithful to the vision that (founding father James) Madison and others lifted up; that this is a federal Republic. Ours is a government of (enumerated) powers.
I worry that the rising generation may not know this. It is simply not the case that every time there is a social problem, Congress is empowered to address it. Or at least to address all the ramifications of it. And sometimes this comes as a bit of a surprise, I think to the members of Congress and to the American People.”
-Former Whitewater independent counsel Ken Star in a recent speech at the Heritage Foundation.

[George_S]

61. Judicial Watch, again!

Navy dismissal of Kerry probe appealed
Ignored Lehman's insistence he didn't sign Silver Star citation
Posted: September 23, 2004
2:05 p.m. Eastern

By Art Moore
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Judicial Watch is appealing the U.S. Navy secretary's unwillingness to probe allegations of fraud thoroughly in the awarding of John Kerry's war medals, charging that the limited examination dismissed obvious evidence and that the senator's presidential campaign was tipped off.

Chris Farrell, Judicial Watch's director of investigations and research, told WorldNetDaily if the Navy does not respond within the required 10 days to a Freedom of Information Act request for documentation to back its decision, a lawsuit will follow.

"We are not at all shy about going to court over FOIA matters," said Farrell. "So if they don't comply with the law, we will sue them; it's that simple."

[starroute]

41. Names at CRC that might be worth tracking -- Mueller, Appell

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/10/forgery/index_np.html

Creative Response Concepts, the Arlington, Va., Republican public relations firm run by former Pat Buchanan communications director Greg Mueller, with help from former Pat Robertson communications director Mike Russell, sent out a media advisory Thursday to hawk a right-wing news dispatch: "60 Minutes' Documents on Bush Might Be Fake."


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=591

Creative Response Concepts (CRC), the VA-based agency promoting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, used right-wing blogs and news sites to turn a CBS report casting doubt on President George W. Bush's National Guard service into a potential black eye for both the network and the Democrats.

A CRC client, the Cybercast News Service (CNS), was among the first to voice suspicion that documents suggesting Bush had received preferential treatment in the Guard were forgeries. "After the CBS story aired, called typographical experts, got them on the record that these papers were fishy, and posted a story by 3pm Thursday," said CRC SVP Keith Appell. "We were immediately in contact with Drudge, who loved the story."

CRC worked with CNS and the Media Research Center, another media watchdog client, to push the story into the mainstream press. "We've been communicating with bloggers and news websites to make sure they know it isn't just Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge who are raising questions," added CRC president Greg Mueller.


http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_n9_v61/ai_19732069
The Progressive, Sept, 1997 by Ruth Conniff

Yes, the Cold War is over. I know because I attended Oliver North's victory celebration at the Capitol Hill Hyatt in Washington, D.C. The July 8, $150-a-plate dinner marked the American triumph over the Evil Empire in the worldwide battle for democracy and freedom.

<snip>

"There's a sense among conservatives that we really haven't celebrated this one cause that brought so many factions together, which was the Cold War and ultimate victory in it," says Keith Appell of Creative Response Concepts, the public-relations firm in Alexandria, Virginia, that helped put on the Oliver North event. "We think Ronald Reagan was the guy who set the tone for the end of the Cold War. Victory in Nicaragua was really the end of communism, and celebrating that needed to be done."

Not to mention the fundraising potential. "It never hurts to raise a few bucks," Appell acknowledges.

[starroute]

47. "As for Bush's past, 'the media are doing a good job of looking in this' "

Here's a fascinating story from the early stages of the 2000 primary campgain, when Greg Mueller was working for Steve Forbes.

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22greg+mueller%22+bush+-kerry&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=dKuk3.1055%24db.224227%40news1.epix.net&rnum=5

Bush thrives as scandal hunt goes on
GOP's front-runner easily responds to embarrassments from his past
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 07/18/99

WASHINGTON - For months, the opponents of Republican presidential front-runner George W. Bush have been whispering to reporters that the Texas governor is on the verge of being tripped by a scandal. Something would develop from Bush's acknowledged heavy drinking, or his avoidance of combat duty, or his refusal to say whether he had used illegal drugs.

Indeed, given Bush's overwhelming financial strength, as well as his decision last week to forgo federal funds for his primary campaign and thus avoid spending limits, some analysts think the only way to beat Bush is to unearth some kind of personal scandal.

<snip>

But Bush's Republican opponents, many of whom have openly attacked Clinton for his personal problems, have so far said little or nothing about Bush's life. While several GOP campaigns acknowledged they are investigating Bush, they insisted they are not probing his personal life.

"Are we doing research? Sure," said Greg Mueller, a top adviser to GOP candidate Steve Forbes. "But our emphasis is on his record and what he said on the campaign trail," Mueller said, drawing attention to what he called Bush's 75 tax hikes as governor. As for Bush's past, "the media are doing a good job of looking in this," Mueller said.

[starroute]

48. Greg Mueller part of the anti-Clinton movement -- represented Regnery

Regnery is, of course, the far-right publisher that put out the SwiftBoats book. They were also central to the anti-Clinton operations of the 90's, and Greg Mueller was a publicist representing them at that time.


http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22greg+mueller%22+bush+-kerry&start=20&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=31D567A5.3240%40ix.netcom.com&rnum=26

Press Dilemma: Fact or Fiction?
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 29 1996

White House officials angrily denounced news organizations yesterday for publicizing what they called a fabricated book about the Clintons and pressured network talk shows to cancel interviews with the author.

The book, "Unlimited Access: an FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House," by Gary W. Aldrich, has generated a swirl of sensational headlines, fueled by conservative publicists and a conservative publishing house, and is about to catapult Aldrich into the white-hot spotlight of television stardom.

<snip>

But Alfred Regnery, president of Regnery Publishing, the Capitol Hill firm that is printing 75,000 copies of the book, dismissed such criticism as an effort to "attack the messenger. . . . We relied heavily on the fact that Gary was a 30-year FBI veteran, someone who had made a career of collecting evidence and judging the reliability and credibility of that evidence. We cross-examined him on lots of things. Obviously, you can't check a lot of that stuff first-hand."

<snip>

The book has been promoted by two conservative publicists. One is Craig Shirley, who has done volunteer work for Robert J. Dole's presidential campaign, and has represented Paula Corbin Jones, the woman who filed a sexual harassment suit against Clinton. The other is Greg Mueller, who represents Regnery and was the spokesman for Patrick J. Buchanan's presidential campaign.

[starroute]

49. Southeastern Legal also tied to the Aldrich book

http://www.internetwks.com/aldrich/ga.html

Finally, I did run out of money and I though the government lawyers had won because the book wasn't published and I didn't know where to turn.

I was at the end of my rope.

That's when the Southeastern Legal Foundation stepped in and provided me with the legal team I needed to fight the government lawyers who were armed with a limitless budget of taxpayer dollars.

With the help of the Southeastern Legal Foundation team of attorneys, I was able to publish "Unlimited Access."

As I have said before, without Southeastern Legal Foundation, the book would have never been printed.


On edit: Just in case anyone is losing track -- Southeastern Legal is the group where Harry MacDougald (Buckhead) is on the legal advisory board.

[George_S]

54. The connections are endless!

We won't find a smoking gun here. No picture of Buckhead giving Dan Rather the memos or anything.

But we do know everyone involved in the attack on CBS is connected to the Herritage Foundation in one way or another.

Scott Johnson though Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Claremont_Institute_for_the_Study_of_Statesmanship_and_Political_Philosophy

And with Claremont's membership in townhall.com.

Buckhead though Ken Star and the FreeRepublic and that whole right wing... well, you know.

So, we have enough of a connection to know those geniuses who exposed the forgeries had good reason to want CBS to fall to its knees, and have been trying for years.

We also helped wipe that gloating smile off of Free Republic's face, which, btw, is also a member of townhall.com.

Rather than the rise of the blogger, we find the necessity of skepticism. So nothing's changed.

We have just begun to fight, and know thy enemy.

It would still be cool to learn what meeting Buckhead attended a month before the 60 Minutes air though. A Lexus search could probably find it in seconds.

[Pallas180]

53. Regnery = Richard Mellon Scaiffe - arch enemy of

Clintons and democrats - dirty trickster - enemy of Kerrys - dirt
slinger through founding of newspapers specifically for purpose of
printing libel and unfounded accusations against leading dems.

[progressivebydesign]

57. Is Scaife financially connected to Viacom? just wondering.. n/t

[progressivebydesign]

62. Yikes! Been reading up on Scaife...

I thought I knew a lot about him, but he's an enigma wrapped in a mystery... No doubt he's funding Kerry attacks, and probably involved somehow in the attacks on Rather.

[vinnievin777]

43. CBS Documents

Just because Fuhrman planted the bloody glove doesn't mean OJ didn't kill Nicole Simpson. CBS producers should be fired but it doesn't alter the fact that the fortunate Hawk pulled strings to get out of serving.
And what about the misleading reports for the whole month of August on Fox and other Networks with the swiftboat Ads? Dan Rather apologized --What about the other networks who smeared Kerry for a month on the swiftboat vet lies.

Vinnie

http://www.vinnievin.com
PS you may repost

[progressivebydesign]

56. This thought just woke me out of bed... it's late here.. Viacom did it.

Viacom set Dan Rather up. There. I said it. Wierd? I mean, they seem to be somehow connected in this... it's a hunch and it has probability.

I was lying there, going over all of the connections in my head.. everything we have unearthed in the past few days. One thing the struck me so odd, was Creative Response who is both the SwiftBoat Vets for Truth and Viacom's PR Agency.. and is also a co-amici on the big lawsuit on behalf of Viguere's ATA.

Dan Rather has become a liability for the corporate media. He is still popular with older folks, but has been the target before of various rightwing attacks. His speaking out after 9/11 about the media not asking enough questions out of fear of being unsupportive of the president, and various things from his past.. make me think that he is a target by more than just a bunch of freeper dicks in Fresno.

Viacom's chairman (?) came out today and announced (out of left field) that Bush was good for business and he's voting for the good of Viacom and basically endorsing Bush (even he personally is a maxed out Kerry donor). Why would Viacom have a creepy rightwing PR agency like one that whose clients are a majority of rightwing faux public groups, and the likes of SBVT???

There. I said it.

[Catherine Vincent]

58. And you said a mouth full.

I do remember when Rather said that bit about the media not asking enough questions. This needs looking into that's for sure. You should email Rather and let him know unless he's figured that out already.

[George_S]

59. Ouch

So they want to go right wing but can't with Rather in there?

And all the rest of the right got a lot out of it too.

[George_S]

60. Murdoch Says Fox Would Have Been 'Crucified' for CBS Mistake

By Joe Strupp

Published: September 22, 2004 10:03 AM EDT

NEW YORK Rupert Murdoch makes no bones about what he thinks of the CBS Rathergate fallout, hinting that his Fox News network would have gotten slammed worse. "If it had been us, we would have been crucified," he told E&P during Tuesday night's party at New York's Four Seasons restaurant celebrating the return of Parade magazine in Murdoch's New York Post. "All of the traditional media is against us."

Murdoch went on to differentiate his news empire, which includes the Fox News Channel and dozens of other media outlets, with most U.S. news organizations. "The traditional media in this country is in tune with the elite, not the people," he said while holding court at the gathering. "That is why we're not liked by the traditional media. That's not us."

The collective media muscle in the room, however, was thick enough to choke an FCC chairman, with both Murdoch and his son, Post publisher Lachlan Murdoch, hosting, along with Donald and S.I. Newhouse (the braintrust of Advance Publications, owners of Parade) and a laundry list of major newspaper and magazine properties. Although President Bush was staying at the nearby Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, some speculated that this location held more real power to influence America.

http://209.11.49.220/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000639628

The American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute, and the Heritage Foundation have crafted or influenced virtually the entire programs of both domestic and foreign policy for the George W. Bush Administration. They display the intricate personal networks, mutually beneficial and self-serving, that characterize Movement Conservatism.

Mr. Jeb Bush, the President's brother, served as a Trustee of the Heritage Foundation. Virginia Lamp Thomas is the Director of Executive Branch Relations there. Jeb Bush's father appointed Ms. Thomas' husband to the Supreme Court, which decided the 2000 election in favor of Jeb Bushs' brother. Privatizing Medicare and public education are two of the targets at Heritage.

Mr. Rupert Murdoch served on the Board of The Cato Institute. He owns Fox Television News and the Weekly Standard, virtual house organs of the Bush Administration. Mr. Murdoch's application to acquire Direct TV was finally approved by the Federal Communications Commission, chaired by Colin L. Powell's son Michael. The approval was delayed because Mr. Murdoch's communications empire exceeds the national media ownership cap of 35%. The Republican House raised the cap with a rider on the Omnibus spending bill to 39%--precisely the number Mr. Murdoch needs.


http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=GOP%2CInc. (a MUST read)

[Cat Atomic]

63. That's a laugh. Fox pulls stunts like that every week.

[progressivebydesign]

64. Not a conspiracy theory.... but here is what woke me up last night:

It seemed so wierd to me that CBS/Viacom has offered zero support of Rather! They seem to be acting as though he really acted alone in this... Rather is, in my eyes, the last great tv journalist... now we have news readers and bubbleheads. Cronkite is gone.. Rather seems to be the last guy that really got into the stories and asked questions. Koppel, Jennings, etc.. are the bridge to the newsreader types, but they can't get close to the real journalists that found themselves on tv decades ago. The corporate media/GOP does not want tv newsreaders asking questions... they need to read the press releases handed to them. Remember what happened to Koppel when he read the names of all the servicemen and women killed in Iraq? He was attacked by the right wing, many affiliates refused to carry the show.

Scaife types are obsessed with controlling the media in order to keep the country into the hands of the rightwing ideaology... the stunning endorsment of George Bush by the head of Viacom (CBS) (a man that is a maxed out Kerry donor), yesterday tells you how much pressure the corporate world is putting on this election.

The media is making this election close. Had we truly had a balanced, free media, Bush would be lucky to get 30% of the vote. We are under full assault by those that control the message right now.. and this entire Rather scandal, which is being marketed to oust Rather has ties that are too deep to simply be just a "look, Rather fucked up! let's send some emails to get him in trouble!".. it's too extensive, the tentacles run out too far for that.

[George_S]

65. Moved

starroute as an excellent summary of all the strings on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x900099

Thank you, starrount!