ODNI Funded the Author of the "Penis Monologues" to Try to Interest Women in Spying
As Lindsay reported the other day, the TeaBugger who used to work for a college-based intelligence program, Stan Dai, spoofed the Vagina Monologue in college.
In college, Stan Dai co-wrote a satirical work entitled The Penis Monologues, apparently a takeoff on the Vagina Monologues. Here’s a taste:
My Angry Penis
MY PENIS IS ANGRY!!!!!!! You want to know what happened to my penis? Joan happened to my penis! There I was, sleeping peacefully when Joan stormed in and dragged me out for “an educational program.” I thought was going to see Mr. Rogers! But nooooooo! It turned out to be the “Whine-gina Monologues!”
From angry penises to irregular warfare.
Meanwhile, Mark Hosenball has been investigating precisely what the college-based program was. Yesterday, Hosenball reported that the program for which Dai worked was completely funded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Between August 2007 and October 2008, Stanley Dai served as assistant director of a program called the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence at Trinity Washington University, a small Catholic college in Washington D.C., according to a school official. The official, university vice president Ann Pauley, said that the program was completely funded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
[snip]
Pauley said that she did not know what qualifications Dai had when he was hired to be the program’s assistant director, and she said that he left Trinity when the DNI grant that financed it ended. She said the program was entirely funded by money from the intelligence czar’s office.
And today, Hosenball adds more details about what the program was designed to do: to interest women and minorities into going into the intelligence field.
Ann Pauley, vice president of Trinity Washington University, acknowledged to NEWSWEEK that a key objective of the “Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence” at her school was to expose female and minority students to the kind of work spy agencies do and potentially interest them in becoming intelligence officers. Dai was associate director of the program between August 2007 and October 2008. “This program was set up to get minorities and women interested in intelligence careers,” said another person familiar with the program’s operations and goals, who asked for anonymity when discussing the subject because of controversy around the Louisiana case.
As Hosenball points out, it’s ironic that a movement conservative like Dai was involved in what was basically a program to encourage diversity. But I’m a little more shocked that ODNI, under Mike McConnell, was funding Mr. Angry Penis to help recruit women into the field of intelligence.
[Comment previously posted at a prior thread]
Dai was working for a neocon welfare program whose theoretical purpose was to recruit spies. Why theoretical?
-The grant was a one year, renewable payment from the ODNI. (What business does ODNI have in grantmaking?)
-The program’s last year at 2,000 student (conservative Catholic) Trinity was 2008 (why no 2009? because Obama took over)
-The program was headed in 2007-2008 by Dr. James S. Robbins who is a neocon figure (writes for Wash Times, National Review, Rumsfeld Pentagon). Presumably Robbins hired Dai as his “associate director.”
-Any connection between Dai and intelligence or national security is smoke and mirrors.
Dai’s co-conspirator Flanagan was on a similar track.
Flanagan’s resume indicates he is enrolled at the Missouri State University’s Department of Defense and Strategic Studies. This curious institution is in Fairfax, VA (not in Missouri). It is headed by William Van Cleave, another neocon figure (a member of Wolfowitz’ Team B!). It graduates 15 people a year. And it is next door to NIPP (National Institute of Public Policy).
Flanagan, too, is on his way to window-dressing expertdom in national security and intel.
Has anyone sought Robbins (for Dai) or Van Cleave (for Flanagan’s) comments on their prodigies?
What I find fascinating is that we are several days into intense scrutiny of this event, and yet nothing has come out to explain how these four came to know one another (besides being RW crazies) and to work together on such a hare-brained scheme.
[Okay, I realize it’s not nice to laugh at people’s names, but come on, Marcy. You intentionally put the Penis Monologues reference next to the name Hosenball, didn’t you? That one put tears in my eye.]
No, I didn’t actually. I have enormous respect for Hosenball. I wouldn’t have done that.
My bad.
So, Dickhead McConnell hired an angry penis to do his recruiting. Wonder how well that worked out.
This is hardly surprising, given the quality of Bush- and post-Bush-era “intelligence”. Clearly, when these darkside spooks want to know something, they ask their ‘nads. And think that they get answers.
O’Keefe has provided an explanation over at Breitbart’s site. Here’s the link I found (since I don’t want to go to Breitbart’s site) on the story from TPM.
O’Keefe speaks:
Gosh, if someone told me their lines were “jammed” in response to a question about why people can’t get through, my first thought would be that the “jamming” was from high traffic, not that there was anything “broken”. Anyone else find this explanation flimsy?
I think she just did not want to pick up the phone and have to record how many of her voters wanted healthcare. I doubt the Tea Baggers were jamming her lines.
There’s two bits to take into consideration:
— somebody from her office or affiliated with someone in her office would have indicated otherwise by now if the lines had not been busy;
— Tony Perkins of FRC said his constituents had been calling and couldn’t get through; we haven’t heard anyone dispute this yet.
So we have a specific religious group which is asking their people to call Landrieu, Landrieu’s office says phones are busy, and nothing to the contrary.
But…could this still have been a set-up? Yup. Perkins’ callers only gave cover, might not have been enough to completely tie up the lines; if the volume was much heavier than usual, it would be very difficult to tell if “excess” calls were really just loops.
Yes, they create the conflict, then come in and pretend to resolve the conflict.
Rather like people who start fires then put them out,to great fanfare, to appear as heroes.
Ofcourse, there are many other examples.
It was said on KO Last night that the Washington attorney for O’Keefe has ties to James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.
Well, Tony Perkins who was protesting the jammed lines in Baton Rouge in December is head of Focus on the Family now.
Repube David Vitter and Perkins are joined at the lip,AND in the hip pocket . Vitter earmarked $100,000 of Federal money to Perkins’ group to fund creationist teaching in Louisiana schools.
Last month Perkins and Vitter were hosting church based anti- health reform rallies.
And it is quite coincidental that this week , the murderer of George Tiller the abortion doctor is presently underway.
Perkins is Family Research Council, not Focus on the Family.
Thanks for the correction.
But the rest of the info still stands.
These groups all have the same goal,and very often the same funding.
This elevates the sphere of who is paying O’Keefe’s legal defense.
AND I forgot to mention that Perkins is an associate of Ralph Reed. He is prominently mentioned in a Nation article entitled,”Abramoff’s Evangelicals”.
He was found guilty. David Dayen has an article up right now about the verdict.
Their whole story about taping staff responses is utter horseshit.
What in the world were they expecting to be so scandalous? Stressed out staffers bitching to each other? Please. It’s absurd.
Considering their emost recent employer and travels, we can bet they were sent by one of America’s neoccn cabals to get some dirt on Landrieu. Can’t find any, make it up to take her down. Probably looking to replace her with a member of “The Family’ or some other fanatical proponent of police states and mass murderer.
One thing is certain. We’ll never get the truth.
This will drop off the radar, and they’ll end up paying a fine and getting six months probation.
I wonder what kind of women they were looking for who would be acceptable to Mr Angry Penis? I’m thinking the guy really needs to get laid.
Wish I could say I was shocked. Really.
Link I provided back on the huge Breitbart thread also has links to a video of Dai and other stuff that y’all might find interesting (haven’t read Hosenball yet, so don’t know if he has the video link, too).
The Intel community has been involved in Colleges forever. During the Vietnam war, Stanford was picketed by students claiming the CIA was funding secret work on campus. Stanford denied the charge. I later worked for the Project manager who was, I think, previously a professor at Stanford. He said that Stanford was aware of, condoned and was well paid for the contract with the CIA. You’d hope the DNI could find better reps than Dai though.
“movement conservative like Dai”
The way the word conservative is used is fascinating.
What is conservative about these young thugs that have been in training to commit crimes?
“Stan Dai, involved in womens’ issues and witness to history, 2004.”
The only witness(es), naturally.
Stan Dai, involved in womens’ issues and witness to history, 2004.
From the GW Hatchet 5/15/06 about her group “Colonials For Life”
“Suanna Edmiston -international affairs, political science
Suanne Edmiston has always termed herself a pro-life advocate in the national abortion debate, and her ideals will continue to resonate on campus even after she graduates from GW this weekend.
When Edmiston, 22, was a sophomore, she founded Colonials for Life, an anti-abortion student organization that prides itself on secularism and advocacy. She started the group in fall 2003 with only a handful of students who shared her convictions. By the following spring, membership had jumped to 150.
“When I was a freshman here I never came across a pro-life organization. I didn’t realize that GW didn’t have one until my sophomore year, when I started Colonials for Life,” she said.
Edmiston said her convictions stem from her parents, whom she said raised her with an anti-abortion background. “I’ve always been pro-life since I’ve been young, and I’ve always been passionate about it,” she said.
In creating Colonials for Life on campus, Edmiston said she wanted to make sure that it wasn’t religious and was secular instead, so that it could have the most diverse membership possible to share ideas, unlike previous anti-abortion groups at GW.“Anything pro-life before wasn’t secular,” she said. “In Colonials for Life we have so many different people from different backgrounds and religions.”
As a founder, she said her main responsibility is coordinating and facilitating a forum for students to share their views.Edmiston, double majoring in international affairs and political science in the Elliott School, will be attending law school at Regent College in Virginia Beach, Va. this fall. She said she wants to get involved in law that deals with child advocacy and human rights.
“I want to make sure that it’s something people will think about,” she said about continuing her pro-life activities. “I want people to question assumptions … I want to get the word out there.”
Where did funding come from during the time period when the ACORN pimp videos were made?
Maybe Stan Dai is like Hedwig and only has an angry inch.
What was he going to recruit women with, his charm? Wingnut welfare indeed.
Rayne @ 15 So the GOP ties up the lines and this creates the opportunity for Mr Angry he’s not getting None and his pals to walk in and look at the phones. I wonder what kind of equipment they had on them was it enough to tap Mary’s phone or did they maybe have more equipment maybe to look at her email too?
You just can’t make this stuff up. Could I come up with a similar bunch of goofball characters and create and write a story like this?
I have often had “mail-box” full calls and “busy” calls to Senators and Reps. I just keep trying, assuming that others are trying to call also. I can’t remember thinking, hmmm I guess I should go to the office and see if the staff either isn’t answering the phone or I should dress up in bizarre costumes and try to commit some insane felonious prank.
Even before this story I thought that everything the Bush/Obama intel/justice crew were up to made the Ludlum “Road to” Gandolfo/Omaha books read like documentaries.
What kind of Women would fall for his Charm?
Let me throw out some names to look into on this…
A six degrees of separation if you will.
Perkins has ties to the Louisiana Family Forum
Names addressing LA politics tied to this organization are Dan Richey and Gene Mills.
Some interesting info here and here.
Dobson starts a new radio show this week (btw he was born in LA). Rove eyes getting another Senate seat in LA.
Perkins, Breibart
I’ll work on the connections.
Please see my comment at #42,re” Kerry and the purple arm bands..
Now, who was that group involved in the Swiftboating ads,again?
Yep. You got that correct!
Bob J. Perry.
I also liked the fact that the symposium that Dai put together and ODNI paid for featured Iran-Contra graduate McFarlane.
This is how we get the “tremendously dedicated professionals” who sit around talking up raping detainees mothers and indulging themselves in anal assaults on their detainees before putting dog collars on them and having them bark. And then disappear a few children to boot, while discussing how to make your German guy with the wrong name problem go away.
The latest spin from Faux News:
And even more spin with the entire statement from his employer Breitbart’s website (surprise, surprise!):
Statement from James O’Keefe
Pretty low-level campus recruitment. Were more traditional methods of no avail or did they not yield enough non-traditional candidates. I’m surprised only that this activity wasn’t – or this case didn’t involve – what may be similar programs at other “diverse” schools, like Regent U.
The Leadership Institute is where O’Keefe trained. According to an article at media transparencey, they are training young recruits in “Political Technology”,and this institute is endorsed by Dick Armey as a prime source of future staffers for those on the Hill.
There is also a School of Broadcast Journalism there.The infamous Jeff Gannon himself attended it.
Here’s an interesting excerpt,and klynn, this may be of particular interest to you:
More interesting is that he(Gannon) and Karl Rove seem to share a mentor — a largely under-the-radar wingnut named Morton Blackwell. It seems that “Jeff” also is a graduate of the the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism — a conservative propagandist training school that was founded and is run by Blackwell and that operates on an $8 million annual budget which comes from God knows where.
Remember the lame stunt during the Republican National Convention in NYC where many delegates taunted war hero Kerry by wearing purple band-aids that said: “It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it”? It was Blackwell, a GOP delegate from Virginia, who handed the band-aids out to the conventioneers.
Less well known is that Blackwell — who was the youngest Barry Goldwater delegate in 1964 — is also a former national executive director of the College Republicans, who had trained the teen-age Karl Rove to be a “field organizer.” According to a May 2003 New Yorker article, it was Blackwell who urged Rove to shun the growing reliance on pollsters and media consultants and go back to the grassroots. We all know how that turned out.
We’d never heard until tonight of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, which apparently trains hundreds of “Jeff Gannons” every year. They were hiding in plain sight
Gitcheegumee January 29th, 2010 at 9:19 am 194Campaign Extra!: “Jeff Gannon” and Karl Rove — one degree of …It seems that “Jeff” also is a graduate of the the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism — a conservative propagandist training school that …
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/extra/archives/001437.html – Cached – Similar
Thanks for that, part of the coordinated, rightwing billionaire and “think” tank-funded campaign to take America from everyone not a member in their club. Will the Democrats wise up or have they joined up?
“Less well known is that Blackwell — who was the youngest Barry Goldwater delegate in 1964 — is also a former national executive director of the College Republicans, who had trained the teen-age Karl Rove to be a “field organizer.” According to a May 2003 New Yorker article, it was Blackwell who urged Rove to shun the growing reliance on pollsters and media consultants and go back to the grassroots. We all know how that turned out.
We’d never heard until tonight of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, which apparently trains hundreds of “Jeff Gannons” every year. They were hiding in plain sight”
Morton Blackwell was a Staff Member in Ronald Reagan’s White House between 1981 and 1983. In essence he is the “founder” of the political tactic of detaching low and moderate income Democrats (The addiction of the ‘have not’s’) from the party because of the salience of economic arguments to them (jobs programs, Social Security, etc.,) by featuring front and center THE HIGH MORAL GROUND positions — or in other terms, the Wedge Issues. Building and marketing the Wedge Issues is Blackwell’s special contribution to Republican Political Practice — How to do it is what he teaches in his school.
During Reagan’s first term, Blackwell was the author of the tactics to hold votes in Congress on the wedge issues, even if the Democratic Congress would not deliver victories. Prayer in the Schools, Abortion Issues, Gun Laws, bussing, tuition tax credits for K-12 Religious Schools — these are Blackwell’s forte.
I have to assume these days his stik is that Democrats are not listening to the Voters — i.e. not answering the telephone. Of course that message is only one part of a longer string of constructed messages — but this thing is his play-book. The Republicans have been paying for it for years, and when in office using the public purse to support their efforts.
WHOA! Sara, thank you for that background.
One thing that caught my eye when reading Breitbart’s Wiki was about his affiliation with the Washington Times.
That’s owned by Moon,right?
Do you have any background on how Moon became so predominat in politics and media?
Thanks in advance.
“One thing that caught my eye when reading Breitbart’s Wiki was about his affiliation with the Washington Times.
That’s owned by Moon,right?
Do you have any background on how Moon became so predominat in politics and media?
Thanks in advance.”
Moon is probably a construct of the Korean CIA. He first emerged in Washington DC in the late stage of the Impeachment of Richard Nixon — he was one of Dick’s last defenders. At the time there was no Washington Times, Moon Founded it a few years after Nixon flew off to California — at the time the Washington Area had two papers, the Post and the Washington Star. The Star folded as an Afternoon paper about 76, and a year or so later Moon came up with the Times as the “alternative” Conservative Paper.
Moon’s arrival on the scene corresponded with the investigation of the Korean CIA’s cash pay-off’s to members of Congress — the little white envelopes filled with hundred dollar bills, that were traced back to Pak som Chee (don’t hold me to the spelling) that was investigated by the House Committee on International Affairs between 1976 and 78 by Lee Hamilton (chair) and Don Fraser (subcommittee chair), resulting in some indictments and a few congressional resignations. They never got to the bottom of it all, but it was clear the Korean CIA passed much-O Money through Moon to pay for his DC political efforts that included setting up the Times, as well as paying off members of Congress in cash. There is much more involved in this — much more.
The following is pure speculation.
Moon is very close with George HW Bush today.
In the late 80’s, it was Moon’s paper, the Washington Times, that published a story on a call-boy ring at the White House. It was well sourced.
A UK television station (Yorkshire TV) also did a documentary on the subject, which is available on youtube, but never aired.
I’ve always thought that particular story was a shot across someone’s bow.
Scanned image of that article is available through a link here.
My thinking on Moon, and the Korean CIA is that it is the Second Coming of a very powerful anti-Communist Lobby that dominated much of US Pacific Policy in the Post World War II period and through the 1950’s. It was always called “The China Lobby” and was identified with Senator William Knowland of California, who also owned the very conservative Oakland California Paper. The gang was famous for inventing the “Who Lost China?” question which was used to flog anyone who had any favorable thoughts about recognizing Red China, or had any critical thoughts about the godly qualities of Chang Kai Shiek and his Republic of China Gang. The China Lobby was a very important piece of Senator Joe McCarthy’s gang.
Comprehending the China Lobby’s power is essential to understanding why Kennedy and Johnson invested in Vietnam — in particular, why they feared to follow any of the policy advice they received indicating that Vietnam was a Civil War — very much about being independent of both Chinese control and being strongly opposed to remaining a French Colony.
But once the US withdrew from Vietnam, and then Nixon put in train the process of recognizing the PRC — People’s Republic of China — and Ford and Carter followed up on Nixon’s openings, the China Lobby needed new vehicles in DC, thus the strange emergence of the Korean CIA with much-o money to spread around. Thus the arrival of Moon and his Moonies on the scene.
I think one of the reasons conservatives continue to encourage the Rev. is his relationship with NK; he’s still got the ability to go and meet with leadership there.
Ed Brayton has blogged quite a bit about Moon, including an interview with John Gorenfeld who’s written extensively about Moon, including his book, Bad Moon Rising.
Sara, Thank you for that info.
Your answer validates what I had read in an article entitled “Christian Mafia”…(Insider Magazine).
His affiliation with the Evangelicals stunned me.
Gee, I am so grateful that you share the wealth of your knowledge so generously.
A month or so ago I posted an excerpt about an acquifer region in South America that had both the Bushes and Moon as landowners.
I cannot locate that particular story, but I did come across a piece form DKos that has some germane info.
I highly recommend reading it in its entirety.
Here’s a snippet:
“Bush allegedly bought land in Paraguay in 2006, a roughly 98,840 acre parcel in the Paso de Patria area called “Chaco”, close to the intersections of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. Apparently, it’s a gorgeous spot. The land is close to the Bolivian wetlands, is situated near natural gas reserves, and sits atop one of the largest aquifers in the world, the Guarani indigenous water region. Part of the property has been designated an ecological reserve. And wow, they think of everything, it’s close to the US Mariscal Estigarribia Military Base.
Apparently, Bush Sr. owns roughly 173,000 acres in the same area, although there are no confirmed reports. But, here is the strange part: none other than the Reverend Sun Myung Moon was the first to buy a huge chunk in 2000, in that very area. They are in Argentina already, but it seems they are branching out. And it seems like the Bushes followed him.
Bush, Sr. is a big fan of Rev. Moon, and is quoted as calling Moon “the man with the vision,” in Argentina in 1996 while helping him hawk his news publication “Times of the World.” As you know, Moon also owns the Washington Times. Some sources say Moon has given the Bush family approximately $10 million dollars over the years. I won’t go into the implications of Bush II’s Faith Based Initiatives and how much money Moon has undoubtedly made from American tax dollars either directly or though tax credits. But, it seems as if the entire Bush clan has a friendship, professional or otherwise, with Reverend Moon.”
Excerpt,link to follow
Hey – Tangential to this all: But Powerful people here – including Pat Mulroy who Harry Reid has done many a public lands giveaway favor for – are very much into movement of large amounts of water – increasingly movement all over the US.
See
http://aquadoc.typepad.com/waterwired/2010/01/how-dry-i-am-nevada-supreme-court-rules-against-snwa.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FFdoQ+%28WaterWired%29
I’ve come to the conclusion that mega-renewables – and all the speculation/backdoor bailouts related to megarenewables and the big bankers who all seem to have wind farms or solar plants in their investment stables right now – are paving the way in some areas for major water movement and control of water.
Aquifer plundering is likely to be facilitated by whatever energy bill emerges in the next months. Corridors will be deemed essential for “renewables” transmission. Tax dollars will be poured into facilitating this.
First, you get the Corridors, like Mulroy did in Nevada through a Harry Reid Wilderness Bill. These were water Corridors.
Now water corridors wouldn’t work in the open in an Energy Bill in 2010 – too much resistance. But as you get more and more corridors, then, no need to stop at a silly national boundary line with moving power … or water.
Soon one Corridor meets another – bops across the Mexico border at some point, and you’re off to Paraguay, wherever …
Also note that Dr. James S. Robbins (the guy who apparently hired Dai to be the Assistant Director of the Trinity University intel earmark thing) is an on again/off again editorial columnist for the Wash Times.
[Robbins was the Director of the intel earmark thing].
Well, Moon is a rich man from his many cult-run businesses. He until very recently could afford to operate the Washington Times and his other media properties at a loss, which gave him a foothold in the conservative establishment. They would support him and his causes (declaring him the messiah on federal property!) and he would continue to spread the “good word” of conservatism and neocon ideals.
If you don’t mind, Maus, I’m appending a PS here for Gitcheegummee.
“Rev” Moon gave control of the Washington Times to one of his sons not very long ago. That didn’t seem to be a shrewd mood since things didn’t seem to go too well afterward. If you’ll go to the wiki article, particularly to “Layoffs and Restructuring” section, there is more detail about the paper’s demise. Specifically, on November, 2009, the Washington Times supposedly was no longer receiving funds from the Unification Church. 40% of staff were laid off. Later, Sunday editions were halted as was sports coverage. In January 2010, they were supposed to be moving the paper from DC to Maryland or Virginia.
The Washington Times, as I understand it, was created as a joint venture by Moon and the apartheid-era South African government to provide spin on the formers anti-Communist credentials and whitewash the latter regimes activities. It was also a way to bolster and ingratiate themselves with Conservative Republicans and Democrats.
I’m shocked that you would suggest such a thing. Seriously, do you have a source? I just googled for about a minute and couldn’t find it, then thought it might save time to just ask if you had a link. There is a strong “anti-communist” bent to the whole Moon org, of course, and always has been. Obviously, he couldn’t amass a fortune in that climate, so he came here to do it.
Incidentally ,was dismantling Social Security a goal,too?
EW/all
ot
Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein address Obama’s SOTU and bring up how he did not mention “foreclosures”
Amazing tribute to Howard Zinn (clips of him over the years at Democracy Now) his words, his insights from being a bombadier in WWII, his wisdom, his actions. Rip your heart out. May we follow in his giant justice and peace seeking footsteps.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/28/noam_chomsky_and_naomi_klein_respond
“NAOMI KLEIN: Well, I mean, we knew the spending freeze was going to come, but to me, it’s really striking. I think what this moment represents is the decision, which we all feared would come, to pass the bill on from saving Wall Street, from saving the elites of this country from their own mess, a bill worth trillions of dollars, to regular people in need in this country. I mean, that’s what a spending freeze really means.
And we have to look at it in the context of the debt crisis that is occurring at the state level. There’s deficit—huge deficits being run up. California is the most dramatic example, but you’re already seeing how students are facing things like 30 percent tuition increases. Women’s shelters are being closed. So, you know, when the President says freeze spending, that’s saying to the states, “We’re not going to help you. We’re not going to bail you out.”
So this is really—this, to me, all comes back to the top-down bailout that should never have taken place in the first place, the decision that was made to throw the taxpayer dollars at the banks, at the elites, no strings attached, not to help the people losing their jobs, losing their homes. And now the bill is being passed on, because the debt crisis, the private-sector debt crisis, which started this, the banks racking up these huge debts, was never solved. It was just moved. It was just moved to the public coffers.
And now Obama is—this is a Hoover move. This is a Herbert Hoover move. And I think we have to say very clearly, he is not FDR. And, you know, in the spirit of Howard Zinn, who passed yesterday, I keep thinking, you know, what would he say about the State of the Union? And I think he would tell us to refuse to pay this bill, that we need a debtors’ revolt.”
An important watch
Howard Zinn (1922-2010): A Tribute to the Legendary Historian with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/28/howard_zinn_1922_2010_a_tribute
O’Keefe’s statement is here. I’d like to point out that the basic problem with it is that it doesn’t explain the involvement of Dai.
Oh, and it doesn’t explain why his co-conspirators were dressed up like they were trying out for the Village People. And why they asked to get into the wiring closet. But I still think the involvement of Dai is the most problematic for O’Keefe’s protestations of innocence.
Makes Breitbart’s hissy temper tantrum yesterday even more suspect — the entire time Shuster was interviewing him, Breitbart did little more than change the subject. I suspect that’s why he actually took the interview, to simply change the subject.
I’m confident that O’Keefe’s DC-based lawyer vetted O’Keefe’s statement before allowing it out, and therefore the lack of explanation for attempting to gain access to the wiring/phone closet is likely his attorney’s doing.
I would guess the attorney told O’Keefe not to attempt to explain anything that had no legal explanation such as attempting to gain access to the wiring/phone closet.
Minimize, misdirect or remain mum were likely the attorney’s orders.
I doubt that the lawyer vetted that statement. Every lawyer I’ve ever talked to tells his client to STFU. O’Keefe’s statement was press-bait to ensure the wingnuts stay on his side.
I would never sanction such a statement, and would fire a client for pulling that crap on his own.
Also flies in the face of what was supposedly admitted to the feds and what his own lawyer admitted yesterday.
Doncha love a client who is so certain he’s smarter than everyone else that he just can’t hold back on releasing public statements to tit-tat?
Both the lawyer and the client are idiots if you ask me. Prosecutor has to be loving all this crap they are spewing though.
It’s eleventy dimensional chess – laying a foundation later for ineffective assistance of counsel ;) Or not.
I put an OT down on the last thread about Winkler weighing in on your arguments about Alito being in bad form, but basically right.
can a lawyer sue his client for malpractice ???
Nor does it or can it explain their efforts to get into the wiring/phone closet.
If all these clowns were doing was video-documenting that Senator Landrieu’s phones weren’t being answered, there was no reason to attempt access to the wiring/phone closet.
Simple questions still without answers.
As to these clowns attempt to gain access to the wiring/phone closet, that was done at their own initiative per this FBI Press Release:
Further for the record, the FBI Press Release also identifies the prosecuting attorney as one Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg.
Exactly…why try to access any of these other facilities. And why have Dai with the wiretapping equipment. THAT assumes the phones ARE taking calls that can be recorded.
BTW I can see O’Keefe using the video of his cronies picking up the phones in Landreau’s office and using their cell-phones in an attempt to call them as propaganda to suggest that she had “blocked” her calls. Here’s a possibility. What if his two buddies were going up to the TelComm closet to actually break the circuitry to her offices. He then airs the footage, makes the charges that she has set up some system to block incoming calls. Meanwhile Landreau needs to deal with the fact that no calls are coming in…so she calls AT&T.
O’Keefe is outside and up in the GAO floor taking video of all of this and then uses this to suggest that “Prior to this Landreau claimed that the inability of constituents to get through was simply due to a glut of calls. After our investigation and proof that Landreau had set up some system to block her calls, she immediately tried to remove the system.”
Please see my #54…I am with you on this.
And it doesn’t explain why, having had problems with her BAton Rouge phone, they decided to play this prank in NOLA.
Or why Stan Dai was hiding out in a car, rather than Flanagan’s office half a block away.
Or why the tampered with teh actual phone in the office.
Well, we don’t know if they had already possibly had some film and/or “experience” at her Baton Rouge office,already,now do we?
Ofcourse, this is merely speculation on my part, but with their documented history of slicing,dicing, and editing tapes to create a false narrative,it would “ante up ” to have BOTH her offices smeared.
Not to mention footage of Perkins protesting out front in December.
As I said, merely speculation on my part.
1) Because the Pelican Institute office was within FM receiving distance away. Also see 4) below.
2) Getaway…
3) The Feds need to make a general sweep of all the areas these guys went…and look at the scans of the items they carried in to see if there are electronic devices that haven’t been accounted for. From my reading they were arrested only after they tried to enter the TelComm closet and may have had some time to discard incriminating evidence.
4) Furthermore it sounds as if there may have been a “confederate” inside…who gave them clearance to enter, gave them a place to change, perhaps brought in the utility belts and gear on them.
One for the phone technology geeks:
Now that O’Keefe confirms he is going to base his story on the previous claims of constituents not being able to get through on Landrieu’s lines, I presume that it will be a trivial task to look at call volume to Landrieu’s lines over the time periods in question and to determine if there were indeed an abnormal number calls that did not get through? This information would go a long way toward determining whether the initial protest of not getting through was legit or cover for the later operation.
One for the legal eagles:
I must have missed it, where is the DOJ press release announcing the change of venue? Given the family connection to an active USA in Louisiana, shouldn’t this case be moved, ASAP?
Relative is in a different district; not sufficient grounds that I can currently see.
Can you access call records from the phone closet? Depends on the phone system. Still, just walking into an equipment room, it’s extremely unlikely that you could find a working console that would instantly produce reports of line usage, esp. unprotected by password. More likely a bunch of blinking lights and spaghetti cables. There are varying degrees of security on this stuff but a serious contender for mischief would already be tapped into whatever AT&T or it’s equivalent had streaming to the NSA or wherever. These boys appear to be at the crude vandalism level, imo.
A traffic study on the trunks of the PBX there would easily show how many calls were coming in, how many were blocked, etc…That PBX is probably heavily trunked and can handle enormous volume, usually insuring a grade of service of 1 call blocked per 100. Of course during peak times, the Grade of Service will fall below that 1 out of 100 standard, but you do not engineer a system for unusual peak activity, just normal peal activity, if that makes any sense. There will be a service level for the service provider to ensure the system is tuned to deliver 1 block per 100 calls performance, and over the course of the last year, with the health care bill, you can bet they have added trunks to the system to maintain the correct service level.
Since when is it a crime or an “affront” to any interest group for phone lines to be unavailable because of too many legitimate callers?
All the effort that went into slamming a single hometown senatorial office might have been better spent making a few office visits and writing e-mails letters, and calling more persistently. Haven’t these guys ever been put on hold by a utility or credit card company?
That this “grass roots” organization didn’t bother with such things suggests that embarrassment was their aim, not legitimate petitioning of their grievances. These guys have been watching too much No Spin [sic] Zone.
The ONDI grant program that funded Trinity’s project (and Dai’s hire) apparently also had a scholarship component, where selected college students were sent overseas to study a language.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gmzGQpHDAooz7tgTrTRUACL2-dBQ
Dr. Lenora Peters Gant runs the program at ODNI, which still appears to be in existence.
Peters-Gant claims credit for starting the Trinity program:
This crap sounds a lot like the kind of stuff that conservative think tanks do — like Phillps Foundation.
The comical part of this is that the Bush/Cheney administration sabotages and backstabs one of its deepest cover FEMALE operatives, but then sets up apparatus to recruit women.
Uh-huh.
[edit: and yeah, check the Plame leak timeline, purely coincidence that the Trinity Program begins within weeks of Brewster-Jennings’ outing by Novak and a few months after Plame was outed.]
Marta Hari meets Phyllis Schafly meets Dick Cheney in a wig and skirt as a Heather.
What girl wouldn’t be enthralled?
And exactly WHAT embarrassment were they attempting to perpetrate,on film?
How to bypass Homeland Security?
How to tamper with a phone sysytem ?
Was this actually meant to be a visual ” how to” for other miscreants?
Has anyone forgotten the fears of incitements by certain groups during the Presidential campaign?
WE will NEVER know their true intent,because it appears they were foiled. We have no way of knowing for certain what their REAL intentions were.
On your one degree from the previous thread:
Tied to Morton Blackwell and the Leadership Institute:
Karl Rove
Dan Richy
Gene Mills (LA Family Forum, Politics LA 2009, Politics LA 2010)
Tony Perkins
Andrew Breibart
Jeff Gannon
Joseph Basel
James O’Keefe
LA Family Forum
Council For National Policy
The Leadership Institute
James Dobson
You know, the only thing missing from this mess is a Native American tribe and gambling to make this a recycled op, a blast from the past.
Be sure to poke around at ePluribus Media for more ties, because I know we went backwards and forwards through the Leadership Institute and everything Gannon/Guckert.
Well, I don’t know if you meant that as snark, but it would be well,imho, to point out that Louisiana is the state that became Abramoff’s Waterloo, because of Indian Casino gambling.
The flap over Siegelman was to keep gambling OUT of Alabama.
The states of Louisiana,Mississippi are all continguous.
Mississippi has been and still is a gambling Mecca,and the Governor-Haley Barbour- was Jack Abramoff’s lobby buddy in DC for many years.
It was entered into the record during the BIA hearings that a Mississippi tribal casino was laundering money for Abramoff.
QUite intersting that some of the same Evangelicals who during this time frame working to denounce gambling were actually being funded by gambling.
See “Abramoff’s Evangelicals”.
Yep and to Rayne @ 58
Look at Ralph Reed’s work in the neighbor state…
re: Tribal compacts
What about tribes, do they pay federal or state taxes? Tribes are governments, just like state governments and local governments. Government entities don’t tax other government entities, so tribes do not pay federal, state or local taxes.
However, in lieu of taxes, states have figured out a nifty way of collecting monies from tribal gaming revenue, it’s called compacting. These compacts between states and tribes require tribes to pay a “revenue sharing fee” to states, usually a certain percentage of the tribe’s slot machine revenue with a sliding scale.
Tribal members who receive per capita payments from their tribe are required to pay federal taxes on those payments.
I was being snarky. I don’t know of anything going on related to Native Americans or casinos in LA, but after seeing all these names pop-up in this thread it was like seeing 2003-2004 pass before my eyes.
I guess with the simple questions still not being answered, why were they doing this? Is it really as simple as health care? Is it really as simple as Mitch Landrieu? Something still doesn’t ring right here, unless there’s a highly competent Republican candidate for NOLA’s mayor which would benefit from the fruit of these efforts.
But that still means something’s out of whack here; was Perkins’ complaint about phones being tied up in Baton Rouge a ruse to make access to NOLA offices more likely?
Good specifics. I was going to suggest that the tribes would be found separated from the actual operations by a wall that is permeable only by money.
Oh, and there’s nontribal gambling in that region too, e.g. Tunica.
Well, since we already have phone repair guys, cops, and presumably secretly-leatherboy Repubs, that’d just about fill out the ol’ Village People dance card, wouldn’t it?
It takes a village…..idiot(s)
Young Republican Thugs in Training and hopefully headed to prison for a spell. But being sent to mom and dad’s in the interim is quite a distance from what would happen to a poor white Appalachian or a inner city black kid if they committed these crimes
I didn’t know my pissed off meter still worked, but man am I mad right now.
Well, looking at my teevee today, it seems like Obama has re-created the British Q & A format that Tony Blair was so adept at, with the Republican House caucus. Obama seems to have done rather well.
Bob in AZ
He did great, imagine Bushie trying his luck, answering his critics, mano a mano…
Despite all the Obama bashing, I’ll be with him cuz consider the alternatives.
My mantra, though, “Year 2 results not gridlock”
Remember when O’Keefe said veritas upon being arrested?
Well, check this out:
Veritas RexJan 15, 2010 … Political commentary from a conservative viewpoint. Focus on Indiana and National Politics.
http://www.veritasrex.com/ – Cached – Similar
http://www.veritasrex.com/veritas_rex/2009/12/merry-christmas.html – CachedShow more results from http://www.veritasrex.com
Veritas Rex – Pro-Life BlogsVeritas Rex – . This is the aggregator for Prolifeblogs.com. Pro-life blogs aims to raise awareness and support for the pre-born and the sanctity of human …
http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/aggregator.php?sid=1017 – Cached
NOTE: On the Veritas Rex(Truth is King) website,check out the list of “sources “they cite..Family Research, Council,Focus on the Family, The Drudge Report..
Google Breitbart’s Wiki and see the Drudge connection.
Add them to the Morton Blackwell list.
Re: Breibart and Drudge
In 1995 he saw the Drudge Report and was so impressed that he emailed Matt Drudge. “I thought what he was doing was by far the coolest thing on the Internet. And I still do .Before the launching of Big Government, Breitbart’s highest profile venue was the Drudge Report.
Breitbart once described himself as “Matt Drudge’s bitch. According to the The Standard, a Hong Kong-based news site, when Breitbart is at the controls of the Drudge Report, he regularly links to Breitbart.com in order, the site suggests, “to cash in on Drudge’s legions.”
Wikipedia
So (techies) is it not surprising that Breitbart’s site, Drudgereport.com, Biggovernment.com, Worldnetdaily.com and other suspicious domains share a nameserver, as according to Robtex?
WOWZA! Does that mean they share the same $$$$ donors,too?
I remember him saying “The truth shall set me free,” and ‘veritas’ means ‘the truth’.
Please Feds, get the emails/phone logs of these young men ASAP.
Well, if these guys have access to all the electronic whiz bang gizmos,they perhaps had the ability to delete their own phone records?
I am way over my head here,on that one(G)
A special thank you for the links and comments in response to some of the info I posted.
O/T
Steve Buyer To Retire Amid Allegations Of ImproprietyJan 29, 2010 … Nine-term Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), dogged by accusations that he ran a phony charity that took campaign donors on golf outings instead of …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/steve-buyer-to-retire-ami_n_442031.html – 2 hours ago
Steve Buyer At The Center Of Foundation Funding ControversyOct 12, 2009 … Monticello, has been quietly collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for the primary purpose of helping students pay for …
NOTE: Check out comment #64
Coincidentally,the Veritas Foundation is out of Indiana,too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/steve-buyer-at-the-center_n_317466.html – Cached
Show more results from http://www.huffingtonpost.com
I posted upthread that the Veritas Rex antiabortion group is out of Indiana.
Today, Steve Buyer of Indiana announces his resignation.
Does anyone know his track record on pro-life ?
All I could find was that he initiated legislsation to charge people a surtax on their insurance policy for having unprotected sex.
He is retiring due to “an ethics probe focusing on a nonprofit foundation designed to fund academic scholarships.” via google to Faux news.
I wonder if the acedemic scholarships and ODNI grants to teabuggers are related via funding and Wolfowitz/team B/neocons.
Seems that his funding has beenprimarily from Big Pharma lobbyists and big tobacco.His son got a job with Big Pharma and that allegedly raised some eyebrows.
Buyer likened smoking cigarettes to not much different than smoking dried up lettuce.
Looks like his “lettuce $$$” just dried up. *G*
Well,I know that Jindal was one of the candidiates that was being looked at as Presidential material..another,Haley Barbour.
Both Gulf Coast states, both have tribal casinos with lots of cash.
Now, if Mitch Landrieu wins the Mayor’s race in a week or so, that frees up his Lt. Governor spot so Jindal can appoint a successor-if Legislature approves it.
My sense is that would be a good thing for the Repubes.I don’t think their shenanigans were related to him.
But NOLA doesn’t have the heavily Democratic population it once had,actually demogaphics statewide are changing…and some redistricting may be done after the census.
My gut feeling is they think Mary will wannt to run for Governor in the future, and they want to get some ducks in a Rove early in the game.
Did you know that the Leadership Institute has TV studios?
http://www.listudios.us/
OT, as much as walking away from a YAF harangue might be. A NPR ToTN January 21 fielded a call about identifying the constituency building underway.
**(quote. redactions are mine) Mr. [expert]: *I think [___] is right there. One of the things to also be looking at is how the rhetoric seeps into the mainstream. One of the things that we*ve seen in the last 12 months is a lot of the rhetoric that we used to see associated with, for example, the [_____] movement has been popping up in the Tea Party movement and has been flooding mainstream talk radio and people like [___ ___], you know, who have been sort of these conservative stalwarts are using some of the same rhetoric about illegal immigration and conspiracies about the government, and some of the signs that we*ve seen at some of these Tea Party rallies are the same things that you might see at a [X____] rally.
In fact, there is a group called the Council of Conservative Citizens that is a [____ ____] group that has been organizing a lot of these seemingly mainstream events.
So watching how that becomes more mainstream and sort of this call to again, to do something, that this is our last chance, that America is been taken away by them, whoever they may be, you know, usually the non-[____] male, ____ people, and to watch that rhetoric bleed into the mainstream, and I think we*ve seen an awful lot of that in the last few years.
**
____
The quote appears about mid transcript.
Daily Kos: Resurrecting the Bush (Huge) Land-Acquisition-in …Apr 28, 2007 … The news circulating the continent about plans to buy 98840 acres of …… Yes, Moon has 600000 acres spanning the border of Brazil and Paraguay, …… Bush Shields Dad on Chile Terrorism — The Baltimore Chronicle ….. The aquifer is of utmost importance because fresh water is going to become a …
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/28/2544/07385 – Cached – Similar
“Daily Kos: Resurrecting the Bush (Huge) Land-Acquisition-in …Apr 28, 2007 … The news circulating the continent about plans to buy 98840 acres of …… Yes, Moon has 600000 acres spanning the border of Brazil and Paraguay, …… Bush Shields Dad on Chile Terrorism — The Baltimore Chronicle ….. The aquifer is of utmost importance because fresh water is going to become a …”
Just as important as water, the region is also the locus of the world’s greatest supply of Lithium likely to be used in high tech storage batteries used to store electricty for operating electric cars, and many other applications.
The Bush pattern of investment always has to do with tying up raw materials.
Tangientially, regarding Dick Armey’s astroturfing outfits, back in the earlier days of mortgage crisis blogging some trollish behavior at sites like CR’s Calculated Risk and Ritholtz’s Big Picture displayed a rhetorical convergence with posts at a blog that turned out to be a FreedomWorks project. They tended to use handles like Angry Saver and Angry Renter (Armey’s site was called Angry Renter), and to veer off reliably into areas like the irresponsibility of borrowers, the primacy of Fannie/Freddy/CRA mandates as causes of the mounting problems, and opposition to any “bailouts,” by which they meant cramdown or other inducements to mortgage holders to do mods as well as direct assistance to any bank or borrower.
More recently that crowd seems to have been overwhelmed somewhat by events, exposure, and a great deal of well-informed remonstrance, and a lot of the effort maybe was moved over to the teabag scam, but as I suspect we’ve seen lately at this blog, they are likely still around.
If I wanted to screen calls out that were irritating I’d either simply take my phone off the hook. Note that O’Keefe’s cronies appeared to take the phones off the cradles and then “appeared to” use their cell phones to call them. Now that’s ridiculous. So I’d suggest that they placed the phones back onto their cradles. Then they CLAIMED (on video) not to be able to get through).
So. What other technique would I use to stop harassing calls. Hmmm! Seems that there is a little system that the phone company offers called “Caller ID”. It would be very simple to only field calls from a list of known numbers until the harassment stopped. Or one could just send out an email to constituents to email the office with the desire to speak if constituent services were necessary.
And all Senator’s offices have a public line and a number of private lines in any case.
So what I think O’Keefe was trying to do was another of his inverted editing jobs in this video. He was going to take the later footage of the AT&T repair truck follow them up the elevator and get footage of them “fixing” the Senators phone lines. He was gonna try and get quotes from them asking “Is Senator Landrieu’s office lines working again?” “Did it appear that somebody fixed the system so she couldn’t receive calls?”. “It’s fixed now on January 30th.”
With the bogus footage of his crew not being able to get their cell phone calls (did they really even try?) and the repair they could imply that Landrieu was trying to cover up her “system” of not taking opponents calls.
Was it actually ever established that ATT was the phone company for that Federal building?
On the use of youth groups to infiltrate and gather info,here’s an riveting piece…..(hope it links):
How Reagan-Bush used Moonies & religious right for disinformation …6 posts – 5 authors – Last post: Jan 18
How Reagan-Bush used Moonies & religious right for disinformation … Bureau informant, Frank Varelli, stated that “The Moonies were a …
http://www.democraticunderground.com › Discuss – Cached
Didja know that O’Keefe protested that Lucky Charms were served at University? That and many other riveting tidbits here.
I hope he enjoys his time in jail, they probably don’t have Lucky Charms there
Hey, he’ll consider himself lucky if they dont want his “charms”.
Then again….maybe not. *G*
I have a friend who was in Argentina when W was running in 2000 and I remember at the time he told me about W’s connection to efforts relating to Argentina’s water system back when Bush 41 was president–circa 1988. I can’t remember the details or find any of the links from back then, but I just found a couple of links to longer stories that mention it…one is an interview with Greg Pallast. Back in 2000, I hadn’t heard of Enron of course, but the story is much more interesting now….it appears he was trying to get the Argentina govt involved with Enron…involving not just water but gas. Also makes the Paraguay land on the aquafer purchase more interesting.
http://www.infowars.com/palast.htm
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg37875.html
Does ANYBODY have an exact date for theDecember demonstration by Tony Perkins in front of Mary Landrieu’s office in Baton Rouge-where he was complaing about the phones?
Check THIS OUT,also from December:
On Wednesday December 16, Reps. Michele Bachmann and Randy Forbes and Sens. Jim DeMint and Sam Brownback will be joining forces with the likes of Lou Engle, Tony Perkins, Jim Garlow, and Harry Jackson for a “prayercast” organized by the Family Research Council during which they will seek God’s intervention to prevent the passage of healthcare reform:
To learn more facts about this attempted government takeover of health care, tune your browsers this Wednesday night to FRCAction.org.
On December 16, FRC Action and The Call to Conscience will host a live video webcast entitled “An FRC Action PrayerCast: Government Takeover of Healthcare”. Beginning at 8:30 p.m. (EST), this PrayerCast will feature a powerful line-up of speakers, including:
•Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council Action
•Lou Engle, Founder and President, The Call to Conscience
•Hon. Sam Brownback, United States Senator, Kansas
•Hon. Randy Forbes, United States Congressman, Virginia
•Hon. Jim DeMint, United States Senator, South Carolina
•Hon. Michele Bachmann, United States Congresswoman, Minnesota
•Bishop Harry Jackson, President, High Impact Leadership Coalition
•Pastor Jim Garlow, Skyline Church, San Diego, Calif.
During the webcast, you will hear the latest on the threats to the God-given right to human life through government funding of abortions, our health from rationing, our family finances from higher taxes, and our general freedom posed by the government plan to take over healthcare
(Right Wing Watch)
NOTE to klynn- Another Minnesota connection to add to the group.
Bachmann is from Minnesota.
AND just one week earlier,on December 9, Ms. Bachmann was saying THIS about Morton Blackwell’s Leadership Institute:
Representative Michele Bachmann expresses appreciation for the Leadership Institute
In an interview conducted in her Capitol Hill office on December 9, 2009, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann talked candidly about the Leadership Institute and the good the organization has done in its effort to recruit and train conservatives.
“It [the Institute] reaches down to young people…[who]…have everything against them. The Leadership Institute tries to train kids to see that there is another view, another side of the story—called reality. [LI] also tries to equip (?)them…to understand the times and know what to do—how to take action. They do both of those very well.”
Leadership Institute website
Did you get to the Washington Times article through the link I provided? Hope so.
Um, I don’t think so. Could you repost? Thanx as always!
See @ 87 above.
The National Tea Party Convention, sponsored by Tea Party Nation, will be held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, February 4-6, 2010. The purpose of the convention is to bring together Tea Party organizers and activists from across the country for networking, establishing goals, and supporting sister organizations. Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee, will be the key speaker.
U.S. Representatives Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn as well as former Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore also will be speaking. Other speakers include nationally syndicated talk radio host Phil Valentine, , Leland Baker, author of Tea Party Revival, and representatives from Judicial Watch, The Leadership Institute, Federation for American Immigration Reform, American Majority, National Taxpayers Union, and Smart Girl Politics.
NOTE: Marsha Blackburn and Michele Bachmann withdrew from the Tea Party convention immediately following the publicized reporting of teabuggers incident in NOLA this week.
@#113
You are correct. He said veritas upon leaving the jail .
4 charged in phone scheme at La. senator’s office – Yahoo! NewsJan 26, 2010 … O’Keefe said “veritas,” Latin for truth, as he left a suburban jail Tuesday … The affidavit says Basel asked for access to a phone at the …
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100126/ap_on_re…/us_senator_s_office_arrests
So cutting to the chase: Where do we think this story is going, ultimately? Will it turn into something not seen initially, or does it stop with four snotnose wannabees? I am aware that (per TPM), “O’Keefe is being represented by Michael Madigan, a high-profile Washington, D.C., attorney who is a partner at Orrick.”
So what’s in it for this guy? More importantly, who set him up to take the case? These DC types don’t come cheap, and if he says he’s doing it “pro bono,” I’m saying bullshit. If money ain’t changing hands, then we can be pretty sure some favors are…
I am having a hard time believing the American Family Association does not have a hand in all of these machinations. They are pretty lock-step with Dobson, et. al.
Just ran up on a map of the Dick Armey/FreedomWorks/FreedomWorks Foundation triangle, from those networking demons at Muckety. You’ll need some kind of flash plug-in to view it.
coincidentally, David Price at Countepunch has also been reporting on this subject recently.
In Reply to @131:
May I suggest the following confirmation material: LINK
http://www.historicalvoices.org/pbuilder/pbfiles/Project39/Scheme361/african_activist_archive-a0b5s4-a_12419.pdf
Also LINK to the first page of an academic article (behind paywall)
http://www.jstor.org/pss/4186533
Also see Morton Blackwell here LINK:
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:23I4iFekOkMJ:www.seekgod.ca/cnp.be.htm+moon“+south+africa+””washington+times”+apartheid&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
At the previous link see Richard Bott.
Search terms google ( Moon ‘south africa’ ‘washington times’ apartheid )
Many thanks, qweryous. And Good Morning!
Here is another link re the above topic.
And not to forget SourceWatch: LINK
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heritage_Foundation
Near the end of the History section.. more on Moon involvements.
Also Dick Armey’s predictions of how the world would change made in 1994.
“Liberation is at hand…. A paradigm-shattering revolution has just taken place. In the signal events of the 1980s – from the collapse of communism to the Reagan economic boom to the rise of the computer – the idea of economic freedom has been overwhelmingly vindicated. The intellectual foundation of statism has turned to dust. This revolution has been so sudden and sweeping that few in Washington have yet grasped its full meaning…. But when the true significance of the 1980s freedom revolution sinks in, politics, culture – indeed, the entire human outlook – will change…. Once this shift takes place – by 1996, I predict – we will be able to advance a true Hayekian agenda, including…. radical spending cuts, the end of the public school monopoly, a free market health-care system, and the elimination of the family-destroying welfare dole. Unlike 1944, history is now on the side of freedom.”
Far out! Many thanks.
I echo the sentiments of fatster- thank you so much for these extraordinary links.
How coincidental that South Africa should be of interest this A.M.
I saw earlier today that some of Gandhhi’s ashes were being released off the shores of South Africa today.
Apparently, Gandhi had spent many years in South Africa as an attorney, attempting to help the poor . Many of whom were originally of Indian descent and had been brought there as workers .
He returned to India ,and was felled by an assassin’s bullet -a Hindu hard liner*, according to the report I read.(*Yahoo ,AP article)
Here is another link concerning foreign funding,foreign influence and Moon influence at Heritage, and other similar RW groups. LINK:
http://watch.pair.com/heritage.html
frontline: plague war: what happened in south africa?Released cholera strains into water sources of certain South African villages and provided anthrax and cholera to the government troops of Rhodesia (now …
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plague/sa/ – Cached – Similar
Rev. Moon-allied group hosts Bush brother in Paraguay
Neil Bush is the guest of a group founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Neil Bush, younger brother of President Bush, called on Paraguay’s president as the guest of a business federation founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
A presidential press office source, who spoke on condition of not being named, confirmed the younger Bush met President Nicanor Duarte on Thursday along with a delegation from the Universal Peace Federation, a group associated with Moon.
SNIP…
Betancourt said Bush later attended a leadership seminar sponsored by the federation.
The federation’s Web site says it is trying to promote peace in the Middle East, South Asia and other regions, as well as proposing a 50 mile (85-kilometer), $200 billion tunnel linking Siberia and Alaska.
A leading Paraguayan newspaper, ABC Color, reported Friday that Bush spoke at the leadership seminar about instilling a “culture of service” and better uniting individuals and organizations behind objectives that serve peace and the common good.
It said the seminar, held at an Asuncion hotel, was entitled “Toward a New Paradigm of Leadership and Government in Times of World Crisis.”
CONTINUED…
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/02/29/paraguay.n…
WHOA!!You folks GOTTA read THIS:
Bayou Perspective: Louisiana Watergate: David Vitter’s Links to …Jeb Bruneau of Pelican Institute of Public Policy supported Vitter at a Town Hall meeting … David Vitter sits on the Board of the Leadership Institute. …bayouperspective.blogspot.com/…/louisiana-watergate-david-vitters-links.html – Cached
Link us up,Fatster! Thanx
Yes, dear.
LINK.
January 27, 2010
Will Vitter Condemn Louisiana Watergate Suspects?
McHale asks Vitter if he has had any communication with suspects
(Baton Rouge) More than twenty four hours since initial reports that four men with extensive ties to Louisiana’s conservative movement were arrested on suspicion of attempting to wiretap Senator Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office, Senator David Vitter has yet to publicly condemn their actions.
“It doesn’t take a Harvard education to know that trying to tamper with a Senator’s phone is wrong,” said Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Michael McHale. “Most Louisianans are shocked and outraged that these four men would break the law to push a political agenda and David Vitter should be too.”In his only public comments on the matter, Vitter praised the U.S. Attorney handling the case, but stopped short of denouncing the four men’s actions or expressing concern for Senator Landrieu or her staff.
The online news site TPM reported today that two of the suspects received grants from the conservative Leadership Institute and at least one suspect, James O’Keefe, was employed by the organization. David Vitter sits on the Board of the Leadership Institute.————
Bayou Perspective: Louisiana Watergate: David Vitter’s Links to …Jeb Bruneau of Pelican Institute of Public Policy supported Vitter at a Town Hall meeting … David Vitter sits on the Board of the Leadership Institute. …bayouperspective.blogspot.com/…/louisiana-watergate-david-vitters-links.html – Cached
I find myself thinking about Vitter and the firm Orrick that Michael Madigan is a partner in.
Orrick (Preston Burton) represented Palfrey in the DC madame case and managed to work with the government to search for the $$$$ after she, you know, committed suicide in such a timely manner./s
Burton was suddenly able to wrap up his case without having to call Vitter to the stand.
I guess I just find this cozy company to have Vitter’s state involved in this mess-up and Orrick’s lawyer representing the guilty.
klynn, I know that the DC madam got all the press, but there were New Orleans madams,too.
I don’t know if you are aware of this. And one of them that came forward and was publicly interviewed was named Wendy-if I’m not mistaken,the same name as Vitter’s wife.
Well, this elevates the whole scenario,imho.
As I posted in earlier commentary, Vitter and Perkins have a history-Vitter earmaking some hundred thousand dollars to Perkins’ group -right after the DC madam scandal- allegedly for creationist related teaching in Louisiana schools.((There was such a ruckus,the earmark was removed.)
You have Vitter joining with Perkins- in December ’09-same month of Perkins protesting Landrieu’s Baton Rouge office- for anti-health reform rallies set up in churches by Perkins.?
Perkins had been the political campaign manager of Landrieu’s Senatorial opponent many years ago-and he(Perkins) bought Daivd Duke’s KKK mailing list FOR that election.
Then we have the teabuggers ….perhaps bedbuggers is a more apprpriate term…just WHO are they all in bed with?
And on a moments notice they got Madigan as a mouthpiece? PLEASE! WHO is representing Basel?? And why isn’t Flanagan’s dad,a federalinterim judge-whom Vitter appeared to be running interference for, using a local “gun”?
PLEASE go to the link I provided-there is SO much more there of value.
Senator’s Number on ‘Madam’ Phone List – washingtonpost.com Jul 9, 2007 … David Vitter (R-La.) apologized last night after his telephone number … on a lengthy affair with a prostitute in New Orleans’s French Quarter. … Vitter was the first senator to endorse former New York mayor Rudolph …
http://www.washingtonpost.com › Politics › In Congress – Similar
Oh, the irony! Well, perhaps the Congress, especially Congresswomen on the Intelligence Committees, should look into ODNI recruiting methods for “diverse agents”? Like that would happen…
Well now, couldn’t those female “intelligence” agents be employed against an opposing poltical party in the same country?
Oct 27, 2009 Vitter Stays Mum on Rape Vote
Three weeks after David Vitter’s controversial vote against a bipartisan anti-rape provision, Louisiana’s junior Senator has yet to offer any explanation for his vote. more…
Oct 5, 2009 LA Dems File Complaint Over Vitter’s ‘C Street Relay’
Today, the Louisiana Democratic Party announced it will file a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission alleging that Senator David Vitter, former Mississippi Congressman Chip Pickering and Republican Governors Association head Haley Barbour engaged in an illegal conduit scheme to hide a… more…
Oct 1, 2009 LA Republicans Silent on Charges Vitter Broke the Law
In the two days since a government watchdog group filed a bar complaint against David Vitter, the junior Senator from Louisiana has yet to publicly address the allegations and no Louisiana Republicans have come to his defense. more…
Sep 29, 2009 Vitter Faces New Charges for Breaking the Law
David Vitter faces new charges that he broke the law by soliciting prostitutes after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a bar complaint today accusing Louisiana’s junior Senator of violating the state’s rules of professional conduct for lawyers. more…
Sep 23, 2009 Louisiana Democrats launch Petition to Defund David Vitter
Today, the Louisiana Democratic Party launched an online petition calling for legislation to prohibit public funds from going to U.S. Senator David Vitter. The petition has been posted on the Party’s blog, Doing a Vitter. more…
Sep 15, 2009 Vitter Skips ACORN Vote
As pressure mounts for congressional investigations into charges that ACORN provided financial assistance to prostitutes, David Vitter skipped a key Senate vote yesterday to deny federal funds to the controversial group. more…
Sep 14, 2009 Despite Rhetoric, David Vitter is No Friend of Medicare
Despite recent comments in support of Medicare, David Vitter has repeatedly voted to cut billions of dollars from the popular health care program for seniors. more…
@#152
Louisiana Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party’s link to the Democratic voice of Louisiana and the nation.
http://www.lademo.org/ – Cached – Similar
In the U.S. House, Vitter established himself as one of the body’s most conservative members. Among his biggest accomplishments was the passing of an amendment to an education bill requiring secondary schools that receive federal money to allow military recruiters on campus. Vitter twice won House re-election with at least 80 percent of the vote.National Journal Almanac of American Politics 2008(4)National Journal Almanac of American Politics 2008
A devout Catholic, Vitter has established himself as a strong ally of the anti-abortion rights movement, sponsoring legislation to restrict the doctors who could prescribe RU-486, which can end an unwanted pregnancy.Sen. Vitter’s Web site (9)Sen. Vitter’s Web site The legislation never made it out of committee. Vitter also authored legislation that would prohibit federal money from going to private abortion providers and supported legislation to prohibit the transport of minors across state lines in order to get an abortion.Luke, Michael, “Vitter and Landrieu vote no on bailout,” Oct.2, 2008.(10)Luke, Michael, “Vitter and Landrieu vote no on bailout,” Oct.2, 2008.
In 2003, Vitter proposed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.. He also supports abstinence-only education, opposes gambling and is a strong ally of the National Rifle Association.
Immigration
The chairman of the Senate Border Security Caucus, Vitter has made immigration one of his legislative priorities. He first received national attention on the issue when he led a group of senators in blocking President George W. Bush’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. Vitter called the bill amnesty for illegal immigrants.“Louisiana senior senator turns up heat on Bush,” Associated Press, Sept. 11, 2005.(15)“Louisiana senior senator turns up heat on Bush,” Associated Press, Sept. 11, 2005.
In March 2008, Vitter co-sponsored a tough immigration package. The package consisted of 11 bills that would have, among other things, required jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, required banks to check if someone applying for a credit card is illegal and report it, docked 10 percent of federal highway funding from any state that issued driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and limited language assistance at federal agencies and voting booths.Sen. Vitter’s Web site(16)
whorunsgov.com
NOTE: PLEASE pay VERY close attention to that LAST sentence.
I fail to see anything all this junk has to do with the topic at hand; it is like a serial dumping ground for tangential at best to completely unrelated stuff. Why do this?
Come on, first it was serial polluting with junk about anybody named O’Keefe, even if they had noi ostensible connection to the case, now you are off on a David Vitter jag, and even went into an extended discussion at one point about his multiple madams. I just do not see how the repetitive extraneous material adds anything.
Incidentally, the “madam” issue, IS important, because he it represents a pattern and practice.
Last time I checked ,it was illegal to hire prostitues,and grounds for disbarment if found guilty of breaking the law….repeatedly.
David Vitter (R-La.) – WhoRunsGov.com, a Wash Post CoJun 26, 2009 … Vitter finished second in the primary, winning 22 percent of the vote. Seventy-year-old former Gov. David Treen (R) won 25 percent of the …
http://www.whorunsgov.com › Profiles – Cached – Similar
BMAZ, that is not fair.
If you had read some of the comments on an earlier thread, you will see the Vitter connection.
Vitter is on the Board of Morton Blackwell’s Leadership Institute,and the perps in the buggin received scholarships from the Leadership Institute.
As has been the topic of an earlier EW thread, Vitter himself is blocking the appointment of a Federal judge because the new judge would preside over the buggers-one of whom is the son of the current interim Judge named Flanagan.
I respectfully disagree. It is very germane to see the bigger picture atwork here.
Respectfully, that is about as relevant as the various six degrees it is connected to Kevin Bacon by; because that is all you are doing And it leaves readers that may not be participating in the little exercise, and have not seen the rambling in previous threads, to assume there is some salient direct connection; and there is not. There is a difference between posing a quick question for exploration and serial dumping of extraneous facts and material in long comments which suggest there is something specifically germane, when that is not the case.
Well, we are all entitled to our opinions.
And even if one were not following all the variuos commentaries on various thread, EW’s statement that Vitter is running interference on the nomination of Finley ,speaks for itself as to his significance.
That statement speaks for itself and does not make everything in Vitter’s history relevant; and with that, I am done arguing this impertinent nonsense with you, I have better uses of my time.
It does not make David Vitter’s documented history irrelevant, however, does it?
@#157
That sentence should have read, one of whom is an interim Judge’s son,named Flanagan.
Flanagan is an acting US Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, not a judge.
Thank you, Dakine.
But the fact remains, Vitter is highly visible in this political scenario, and the attendant circumstances give one justifiable pause to reconsider his position regarding the appointment of Finley.
And just to reiterate from the first ew teabugger thread,re: the significance of Vitter:
“Oh, and speaking of corrupt Republicans, you might be interested in knowing that Obama’s nominee to be US Attorney for LA’s Western District, Stephanie Finley, the woman who will replace Flanagan, Sr., is being blocked by LA’s other Senator, David “Diapers” Vitter.
Why? Because he wants to make sure LA’s US Attorney for the Eastern District–the one who will be prosecuting Messrs. O’Keefe and Flanagan, now–stays in office for a while longer.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~EW