 |
|||||
        |
|||||
  |
|
||||
|
|||||
MEDIA TRANSPARENCY
Newsletter
Sign-up for our newsletter
Register
Only registered visitors are allowed to email content or post comments
Support Media Transparency
Your help is essential to this website
AROUND THE WEB | pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Salon.com
April 2, 2008
Glenn Greenwald
John Yoo's war crimes
Yet again, the ACLU has performed the function which Congress and the media are intended to perform but do not. As the result of a FOIA lawsuit the ACLU filed and then prosecuted for several years, numerous documents relating to the Bush administration's torture regime that have long been baselessly kept secret were released yesterday, including an 81-page memorandum (.pdf) issued in 2003 by then-Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo (currently a Berkeley Law Professor) which asserted that the President's war powers entitle him to ignore multiple laws which criminalized the use of torture...
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
Talk to Action
March 31, 2008
Bruce Wilson
Far Right Political Funder Scaife Enthusiastic About Clinton
As the New York Times and other major papers are reporting today, an op-ed written by Richard Mellon-Scaife in the Sunday edition of Scaife's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is raising eyebrows because the considerable enthusiasm Scaife evinced for Democratic Party presidential nomination contender Hillary Clinton.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
Talk to Action
March 24, 2008
Frederick Clarkson
IRD Blows Smoke in Response to Expose Film
The oxymoronically named Institute on Religion and Democracy for a generation has sought to disrupt and divide the major denominations of mainline Protestantism, as well as the wider ecumenical communions, the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. Even more remarkably perhaps, while presenting itself an agency dedicated to reform and "renewal" of the churches, IRD's leadership and staff have been substantially populated by men and women who are not even members of any of the churches they say they seek to "renew."
Also see:
Institute on Religion and Democracy
[ link ] Read the story >
ConWebWatch
March 6, 2008
Terry Krepel
The dishonesty card
The Media Research Center and FrontPageMag bash a report on the Bush administration's false statements about war with Iraq by ignoring the evidence and attacking the messenger.
Also see:
David Horowitz Freedom Center (publisher of FrontPageMag)
[ link ] Read the story >
Raw Story
March 3, 2008
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Fox & Friends promotes global warming deniers' conference
Fox News believes the "other side" of the global warming debate hasn't received enough attention and is determined to repair the omission.
...The Business and Media Institute is a project of the Media Research Center (MRC), headed by well-known movement conservative L. Brent Bozell. MRC has received substantial funding from ExxonMobil, as has the Heartland Institute, sponsor of the conference.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
feministing.com
March 2, 2008
The Washington Post: Bitches ain't shit
Who knew that all it takes to get published in The Washington Post is penning a piece on how stupid women are?
Charlotte Allen - a professional woman-hating hack from the Independent Women's Forum who has also oh-so-bravely attacked transgender rights, said that the answer to women's potential financial woes is marriage, and suggested that Hurricane Katrina might have been "the best thing" to happen to New Orleans which is full of "whiners...chisel[ing] us taxpayers" out of money - has outdone herself in an article that is all about what dumb fucks women are.
Also see:
Ezra Klein: WHY ARE OP-EDS SO DUMB?
No more Mr nice blog: THAT "WOMEN ARE STUPID" OP-ED: BROUGHT TO YOU IN PART BY WINGNUT WELFARE
[ link ] Read the story >
Washington Independent
February 26, 2008
Spencer Ackerman
Scaife-funded 'Bipartisan' Think Tank Attacks Democrats
Democratic Board Members Quit After 15 TV Ads Run in Blue Districts
A neo-conservative but ostensibly bipartisan counterterrorism think tank has lost all its Democratic board members by running an attack ad in Democratic congressional districts through an affiliated enterprise.
The think tank, called the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, is a 501(c )3—meaning it was incorporated as a non-profit and non-partisan organization, barred from political activity. Last week, it established Defense of Democracies, a 501(c )4 "non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization," that ran an advertisement urging the House of Representatives to pass the Senate’s version of a bill providing retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that collaborated with the Bush administration’s constellation of warrantless surveillance programs. The arrangement is probably legal, experts say, but the parent think tank receives several grants from the State Department—at least one is worth $487,000—for democracy-promotion programs, making its political activities questionable.
Also see:
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
[ link ] Read the story >
Radar magazine
February 21, 2008
Charles Kaiser
Was it Vin Weber who unloaded on John McCain?
The New York Times And The John McCain Sex Scandal Story
...Sources told Radar that one of these associates was John Vincent (Vin) Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota who was an advisor to McCain's presidential campaign in 2000. In 2007, Weber became Policy Chairman for the Romney for President Exploratory Committee.
Weber did not immediately respond to a message left with the receptionist at Clark & Weinstock in Washington this morning, where Weber is a partner. The message said Radar would report that Weber was one of the sources of the story in the New York Times. The receptionist said Weber was in a meeting and could not come to the telephone.
UPDATE: At 12:51 PM, , after this story was posted, Weber called Radar with this statement: "Absolutely, positively completely not true in any form."
Also see:
National Endowment for Democracy (Weber is head)
[ link ] Read the story >
San Francisco Chronicle
February 21, 2008
Lance Williams,Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Staff Writers
Grover Norquist's Republican lobbyist had no work permit
A former California Republican Party official who resigned last year in a controversy over his immigration status had no valid visa or work permit during his high-profile career as a Washington lobbyist for conservative icon Grover Norquist, newly filed court records show.
Also see:
Americans for Tax Reform Foundation
[ link ] Read the story >
ThinkProgress.org
February 20, 2008
Richard Perle Claims We’ve ‘Already Won’ The Iraq War But It’s Also ‘Far From Over’
American Enterprise Institute "Resident Fellow" claims Iraq war was "imposed on us"
Exploring the question “Iraq: What if we win?” in the latest issue of The American Interest, neoconservative Iraq war architect Richard Perle offers a series of false, incoherent, contradictory and misleading statements in an effort to not only, again, distance himself from the disastrous Iraq war policy he helped create but also to tout the war’s successes.
In his article, which is headlined “We Won Years Ago,” Perle claims that the Iraq war — which he argues was “imposed on us” — is “far from over.” But later, he claims that “we have already won in Iraq” because “Saddam will not be sharing WMD with anyone.” Missing from this line of thinking, of course, is that Saddam never had any WMD to share...
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
ConWebWatch
February 15, 2008
Terry Krepel
Liberally Insulting
The Media Research Center has trouble finding anything offensive about an NBC reporter claiming that Chelsea Clinton was being "pimped out" by her mother's presidential campaign. But then, it's totally down with Ann Coulter's litany of insults.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
New York Times
February 13, 2008
Jennifer Medina
A Reversal on School Vouchers, Then a Tempest
Sol Stern is at it again.
From his perch at the Manhattan Institute, the right-leaning research group, Mr. Stern, 72, has reveled as the city’s cantankerous provocateur against liberal education policies, criticizing reading curriculums that de-emphasize phonics as well as public schools that focus on social justice.
Like many of his intellectual allies, he had ardently supported school vouchers as a way to give poor and minority children better educational choices and to create competition that would help improve public schools.
Although colleagues long thought they had him pegged, he made an abrupt about-face on vouchers in the most recent issue of City Journal, the institute’s magazine, saying there was little evidence they had done much to improve public education across the country.
Also see:
Public school privatization and commercialization
[ link ] Read the story >
A DC Observer
February 11, 2008
alexwdc
ACRI Ballot Initiative: Despite Ward Connerly’s Claims of Societal Colorblindess, Significant Disparities Remain
While Ward Connerly asserts that the world is colorblind, reality emphatically contradicts his assertion...the Los Angeles Times in reporting on the ballot initiative drives in five states, identified that there is a significant disparity in household income, benefiting Whites.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
Hit/Run Reason
February 8, 2008
David Weigel
Ann Coulter at CPAC: Revealing "nasty truths about the young Right"
...It's an old story now, but the biggest applause lines [for an Ann Coulter speech at CPAC] --not just awkward giggles, but applause--were about torture. Coulter eulogized Rudy Giuliani's campaign, saying that at least he wanted to "torture the terrorists!" Huge applause. McCain was a pansy because he wasn't willing to "drip water down a terrorist's nose."
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
Black Commentator
January 30, 2008
David A. Love
Color of Law
Ward Connerly's Super Tuesday for Segregation
Ward Connerly, that high profile opponent for affirmative action and Black water carrier for the new Jim Crow, has returned. He wants to eliminate affirmative action everywhere, and make a buck at the same time. And with the help of corporate philanthropy and hate groups, he wants to take us back to the future we know too well.
Connerly is plotting and planning for what he calls a Super Tuesday for Equal Rights. The purpose of his campaign is to promote ballot initiatives throughout the country that would eliminate tax dollars to affirmative action programs based on race and gender.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
City Pages
January 8, 2008
Kevin Hoffman
The mendacity of Katherine Kersten
In today's column, the Strib's token right-wing columnist attempts to rehabilitate the tarnished image of ousted U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose.
...Offering a contrarian opinion is one thing, but this is outright disinformation, and everyone at the Strib--including Kersten--knows it. Perhaps the headline writer was offering the reader a subtle warning when he labeled the column: "A rumor riot buries the truth about Rachel Paulose."
Also see:
Eric Black: Kersten assails pundits but ignores key fact: Paulose was a lousy manager
[ link ] Read the story >
The Nation
December 18, 2007
Max Blumenthal
A Hoax Exposed at Princeton
...Movement icons from Robby George of Princeton to Harvey Mansfield of Harvard, from David Horowitz to Brit Hume, raised howls of persecution when they learned that two masked men allegedly attacked a conservative Princeton University student. They insisted that the right-wing acolyte was beaten up "for his conservative views," as Horowitz put it. And they accused Princeton of failing to protect conservatives and upholding a hypocritical liberal double standard. Unfortunately the trumpeted cause collapsed when the victim turned out to be a hoaxer.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
Black Agenda Report
December 19, 2007
Lee Cocorinos
The Racist Roots of the Anti-Immigration Movement
Charles L. Heatherly, one of the architects of the Heritage Foundation's model for furnishing right wing politicians with actionable policy ideas as editor of several of its Mandate for Leadership handbooks, provided a "priceless contribution" to In Mortal Danger, Tom Tancredo writes. A former staffer for Tancredo, Heatherly now works as a senior aide to the congressman...
Victor Davis Hanson's Mexifornia was written at the suggestion of Peter Collier, the founding publisher of Encounter Books, which has been backed by the Koch, Bradley and Olin Foundations. It is an expanded version of an article published by Hanson in City Journal, the Manhattan Institute's flagship publication. Myron Magnet, the journal's editor, helped edit the article and book.
Also see:
Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc.
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc.
[ link ] Read the story >
Talk to Action
December 14, 2007
Steven D. Martin
The IRD's Tactics Are Even Repugnant To Themselves
...through their practice of placing sample resolutions before annual conferences, the IRD has had more than a chance to speak. As the Holston Annual Conference came within seven votes of approving the IRD's resolution to withdraw from the National Council of Churches (yes, I was there, and I saw the whole thing unfold), the IRD has a very powerful voice. It must be named and exposed. The future of the church is at stake.
If the IRD finds the practice of "marginalizing" other voices repugnant, perhaps it should take a long look at it's own methods of doing just that.
Also see:
Institute on Religion and Democracy
[ link ] Read the story >
Washington Post
December 11, 2007
Matthew Lee
Glassman to Be Named to Outreach Post
DOW 36,000 author to replace Karen Hughes
President Bush intends to name former Washington Post columnist [and current American Enterprise Institute 'Fellow'] James K. Glassman to lead the State Department's struggling efforts to improve the United States' image abroad, replacing longtime Bush confidante Karen Hughes.
Also see:
Washington Monthly: How James Glassman reinvented journalism--as lobbying
[ link ] Read the story >
Des Moines Register
December 3, 2007
William Petroski
Court: State can't pay for religious prison treatment
Appeals judge affirms order shutting Prison Fellowship Ministries in Iowa
...The treatment program, known as the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, has operated since October 1999 at the Newton prison under the sponsorship of Prison Fellowship Ministries. A total of 104 inmates currently participate in the program, spending 24 hours a day, seven days a week in work, counseling and prayer.
The program is now operating under a state agreement with Virginia-based Prison Fellowship in which expenses are covered by donations. However, the contract states that if the appeals court upheld a ruling by the district court, Iowa prison officials could shut down the program immediately.
Also see:
Earlier: Charles Colson's Christian-based prison project on trial in Iowa
Mercury Rising: And Another Scam Bites The Dust
[ link ] Read the story >
ConWebWatch
November 20, 2007
Terry Krepel
Not-So-Special Reports
The Media Research Center's "special reports" purporting to demonstrate liberal media bias have holes big enough to drive misleading claims through.
With a name like the Media Research Center, you'd think the place would be doing a lot of, you know, research.
What passes for "research" at the MRC, however, is all too often slanted analyses designed to support its mission of demonstrating that the media has a liberal bias. It appears that MRC researchers begin with the conclusion and then find evidence to support it.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
Columbia Journalism Review
November 21, 2007
Michael Massing
The War Expert
Wrong, wrong, wrong again. But the media still want [Brookings'] Ken Pollack
"I was ... disappointed to see the [NY Times] allow Pollack back onto its op-ed page at all, given how often he’d been wrong in the past. Saddam had no nuclear weapons program. His regime had been contained. The inspectors were doing an effective job of investigating potential weapons sites. Mohamed ElBaradei’s assurances proved well founded. (As late as June 2003, Pollack, in another op-ed for the Times, assured us, as the headline put it, SADDAM’S BOMBS? WE’LL FIND THEM.)"
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
Consortiumnews.com
November 16, 2007
Robert Parry
Bush's Clever Cognitive Dissonance
So, George W. Bush sees himself as the great defender of the U.S. Constitution.
George W. Bush has proven to be the master of cognitive dissonance, unblushingly asserting principles at odds with his actions. The President showed off his skills before the right-wing Federalist Society, presenting himself as the grand defender of the Constitution.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
Huffington Post
November 19, 2007
Cristóbal Joshua Alex
The Rise of the Federalist Society and the Erosion of Justice
About a quarter of Bush's early judicial appointments were recommended by the Washington headquarters of the Society. In 2005, 15 of the 41 federal appeals court judges who were confirmed by the Senate identified themselves as members of the Society. Half of the Justice Department lawyers hired for the Civil Rights division were members of the Society. Other notable Federalist Society appointments include John Ashcroft, Gale Norton, Ted Olson, Michael Chertoff, and Justices Scalia, Roberts and Thomas.
In fact, the court stacking has been so successful that last Friday the Society threw a great big party celebrating their 25 years of triumph. Speakers included President Bush along with Society members Justice Roberts and Justice Thomas. As usual, the Society members complained bitterly about "activist" judges over their fois gras.
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
ThinkProgress.org
November 15, 2007
Bush Awards Hoover Institution Historian Who Downplayed Abu Ghraib, Said We Need To Bomb ‘Paper Tiger’ Iran
In an East Room ceremony this morning, President Bush awarded “the recipients of this year’s National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals.” Among the scholars and artists recognized by the President was military historian and author Victor Davis Hanson, who received the National Humanities Medal.
...Hanson, who is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a regular contributor to National Review Online...[recently] wrote that the “real problem” at Abu Ghraib wasn’t the “American mistreatment” — which he said was the work of a “single rogue jailer” — but the “serial release” of Iraqis, whom he calls “Islamic murderers.”
Also see:
[ link ] Read the story >
ThinkProgress.org
November 13, 2007
Bush To Give Keynote Address Honoring Federalist Society’s 25th Anniversary
In 1982, conservative legal scholars such as Antonin Scalia and Robert Bork held the Federalist Society’s first National Student Symposium, launching an organization meant to advance the “rule of law.” This week, the organization will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a three-day convention, featuring speakers such as Clarence Thomas and John Yoo, along with Scalia, Olson, and Bork.
The Federalist Society has experienced a golden era under President Bush, who will, not surprisingly, be giving the keynote address at the organization’s black tie gala on Thursday.
Also see:
Previously: The Conservative Cabal That's Transforming American Law
[ link ] Read the story >
Talk to Action
November 6, 2007
Frederick Clarkson
IRD Advisor to Be Nominated as U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican
I recently referenced Andrew Weaver's report of last year in Media Transparency, which detailed the role of neoconservative Catholics close to the Bush administration in the leadership of the Institute on Religion and Democracy...
...One of the Catholics Weaver cited in his article was Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon. The Associated Press reports that President Bush plans to nominate her to be U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican.
Also see:
Institute on Religion and Democracy
[ link ] Read the story >
NY Times
November 8, 2007
Sam Dillon
Ohio's school report card gave more than half of the state's 328 charter schools a D or an F
Ohio Goes After Charter Schools That Are Failing
Ohio became a test tube for the nation’s charter school movement during a decade of Republican rule here, when a wide-open authorization system and plenty of government seed money led to the schools’ explosive proliferation.
But their record has been spotty. This year, the state’s school report card gave more than half of Ohio’s 328 charter schools a D or an F.
Also see:
Public School Privatization and Commercialization
Ezra Klein: When Charter Schools Attack
[ link ] Read the story >
Salt Lake Tribune
November 7, 2007
Glen Warchol
Vouchers go down in crushing defeat
Vouchers' money man says Utahns 'don't care enough about their kids'
Voters decisively rejected the will of the Utah Legislature and governor Tuesday, defeating what would have been the nation's most comprehensive education voucher program in a referendum blowout.
"Tonight, with the eyes of the nation upon us, Utah has rejected this flawed voucher law," said state School Board Chairman Kim Burningham. "We believe this sends a clear message. It sends a message that Utahns believe in, and support, public schools."
More than 60 percent of voters were rejecting vouchers, with about 95 percent of the precincts reporting, according to unofficial results. The referendum failed in every county, including the conservative bastion of Utah County.
Also see:
Public School privatization and commercialization
[ link ] Read the story >
pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26