Post #191,766
1/26/05 4:13:45 PM
1/26/05 4:17:23 PM
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More pundits on the payroll
[link|http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_01/005523.php|http://www.washingto...005_01/005523.php]
First it was Armstrong Williams. Now, we have a second example of a conservative pundit on the Bush administration payroll. In a scoop in today's Washington Post, Howard Kurtz reports that syndicated columnist and pro-wedlock guru Maggie Gallagher had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to promote the president's $300 million marriage promotion initiative. She also received $20,000 from the Justice Department to write a report titled "Can Government Strengthen Marriage?" for a conservative advocacy group, the National Fatherhood Initiative, the founder of which, Josh Marshall notes, is Wade Horn, the HHS assistant secretary who arranged the first contract. Gallagher never disclosed any of this to her readers.
What's striking about this emerging payola scandal is the aggressive cluelessness of the participants towards basic standards of journalistic decency. Remember how Armstrong Williams claimed never to have considered that it might be wrong to take a quarter million dollars of government money to promote the administration's education policies as an "independent" opinion journalist and not, at the very least, disclose the fact? Gallagher betrayed the same indifference when confronted by Kurtz. "Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it?...I don't know. You tell me."
This is an attitude you're seeing a lot of today in Washington. The ascendant class of conservative pundit-operatives looks upon old strictures of behavior with a kind of incomprehension, even contempt. In this moral universe, Pentagon advisor Richard Perle can think it's perfectly ok to pen a Wall Street Journal op-ed praising an Air Force plan to lease refueling planes from Boeing at hideously jacked-up rates while at the same time being a principal in a venture capital fund into which Boeing invested $20 million. In this environment, James Glassman can feel just fine about editing a conservative web magazine that is published by a notorious GOP lobbying firm whose clients' causes receive favorable editorial coverage on the site.
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Cash rich - ethically bankrupt. Presstitution running wild.
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #191,771
1/26/05 4:27:24 PM
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Just an extension of "Don't ask/don't tell"
"Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it?...I don't know. You tell me."
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail ... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"
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Post #191,772
1/26/05 4:27:32 PM
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what I wonder is how she got wind that money was available
payola indeed. It sounds like its belly up to the trough time. 20k to write a report for an NGO? Why is the government using outside contractors when they have a press office? Jut like when the dems are in power, its belly up to the bar for inner city rehabilitation.
regards,
daemon
Anyone who has passed through the regular gradations of a classical education, and is not made a fool by it, may consider himself as having had a very narrow escape: Samuel Butler
clearwater highschool marching band [link|http://www.chstornadoband.org/|http://www.chstornadoband.org/]
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Post #191,778
1/26/05 4:44:49 PM
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This is what "moral values" means.
Ethics don't matter one hoot. Deception, Bullying, Lying and Greed is the "Conservative Way" - only homosexual marriage and abortion are sins. If the Christians don't start loudly disowning this administration that shouts it's "Christian Values" to wild cheering, then it's the "Christian Way" too - by default and general agreement.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #191,784
1/26/05 5:12:53 PM
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More Crap.
This is the American Way, since not 'enough' Americans have not objected loudly enough. And YOU are an American.
If Americans started to CLAIM they were really from Mars, would that make them Martians? Would this be the 'Martian Way'?
Really, Andrew. Qualify your statements. Call them NeoChristians, Christocrytes, NeoCon-Christians, whatever - don't tar the whole group with the same brush; it's WRONG, and not just morally. For example, you tar my fundamentalist Christian ex when you do - and she's as outraged over the Neocon takeover as anyone here - and for many of the same reasons. She is VERY vocal on the subject, as well. This goes for her study group and fellow worshippers too.
If you want to jump on the bandwagon to bash an entire group for the actions of an amoral and criminal few, though, fine. Take the easy way. Take the 'American Way'.
[link|http://forfree.sytes.net|
] Imric's Tips for Living
- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
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Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.
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Post #192,066
1/28/05 2:31:37 AM
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Huh?
He's not saying that it is the Christian way because Christians haven't complained. He says that it will be the Christian way if Christians don't start complaining and let this administration's actions stand along with the statement that they reflect Christian Values.
I see that as a fairly reasonable statement (for some definition of Christian) and also agree with the parallel comment about America and American way.
And if the American way is not what we Americans want, well we have nobody to blame but ourselves.
Cheers,
Ben
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #192,081
1/28/05 7:14:00 AM
1/28/05 9:41:45 AM
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For some definition of Christian
I could wish the "set of all who call themselves Christian" actually acted like followers of Christ myself.
I've gotten sensitive to those who assume or imply that Christians are typified by the neocons or other nutjobs. I have no problem with qualifying "christians" somehow to refer to the bad element.
I've heard 'Christians' blamed too many times for the mess in DC. Christians also voted against war, against economic suicide, and for responsibility. They DO protest loudly against the neocons. Was there an appeal to ignorant and intolerant Christians? Yes. Was it instrumental in getting the gang in charge in DC and around the country? Undoubtedly.
Note that I qualified my set.
'The ignorant and intolerant' elements intersect many other sets - one might argue that without that element among non-Christians who voted for Bush, he would not have won. Does that mean I can say that the Neocon Way is the 'Way' of 'Non-Christians'?
No. That falsley demonizes an entire set for the actions of a subset.
THAT'S what I've gotten sensiitive too. That's what started to REALLY annoy me.
[link|http://forfree.sytes.net|
] Imric's Tips for Living
- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
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Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.
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Edited by imric
Jan. 28, 2005, 09:41:45 AM EST
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Post #192,087
1/28/05 9:16:44 AM
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Who get's the airtime?
When the whackjobs are almost the exclusive representative seen in the SCLM, It's not hard to understand why some would assume that since little to no objections to their stance are forthcoming, they must in fact BE representative.
-----------------------------------------
"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican."
-- H. L. Mencken
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Post #192,092
1/28/05 9:40:02 AM
1/28/05 9:41:04 AM
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*shrug*
Oh well.
I guess perception matters more than reality.
Whoever shouts loudest must be shouting the truth.
Logic loses to propaganda.
And quantity beats quality.
THIS is the 'Amerika' that is being built on the gravesite of the Great Experiment.
[link|http://forfree.sytes.net|
] Imric's Tips for Living
- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
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Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.
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Edited by imric
Jan. 28, 2005, 09:41:04 AM EST
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Post #192,378
1/31/05 4:19:31 PM
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By Jove I think he's got it!
Clearly, all you just said is true.
There's really no other explanation for this fix.
And it seems to have worked in the election.
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #192,383
1/31/05 5:09:32 PM
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If those that supposedly opposed
building Amerika on those 'principles' now embrace them - then the neocons really DO have a mandate.
[link|http://forfree.sytes.net|
] Imric's Tips for Living
- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
|
Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.
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Post #192,395
1/31/05 6:49:21 PM
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Not saying its right - just saying it worked.
I'm not sure what we do about that.
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #192,100
1/28/05 11:36:02 AM
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The broad brush is deliberate.
I want those you call the true "followers of Christ" to feel damned uncomfortable being lumped in with those who are hijacking Christianity for their own political purposes.
Right now, all I'm seeing out there in the "real world" is nodding agreement with the "values thing" espoused by a political movement who's only real values are prefixed by a "$".
Complacency is colaboration.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #192,112
1/28/05 2:34:29 PM
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Well you suceeded here.
Pissed ME off - though you could hardly call me complacent about the hijacking of the name 'Christianity' for the political and economic gain. And it's funny, but the Christians friends I know are both disgusted about it and vocal, too.
Now - there are large numbers of (clinical?) morons here in the Great Red Spot (err, state) of Georgia, so I assume there are large numbers of moronic Christians, as well. If those are the ones you are talking to, go find them and talk. I don't think you will find many here.
[link|http://forfree.sytes.net|
] Imric's Tips for Living
- Paranoia Is a Survival Trait
- Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised...
- Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
|
Nothing is as simple as it seems in the beginning,
As hopeless as it seems in the middle,
Or as finished as it seems in the end.
|
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Post #192,143
1/28/05 5:50:08 PM
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What you guys gotta do
is organise a march. With a lot of people. On Washington. With a good moniker, indicating that the march is in fact christian in origin. With a lot of invitations sent to various churches.
Why? So you can force coverage of your views... because right now, they aren't being covered by your media. An outsider looking in can only conclude that the soul of US Christianity is basically authoritarian in nature (if not in fact totalitarian) because the only people getting published are the ones you and your friends don't like.
... and as a side note, the power to publish is one of those mechanisms that legislates heredity in class.
--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca] [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Post #192,088
1/28/05 9:19:32 AM
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Another one outed today
MIchael McManus One day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire has emerged. Salon has confirmed that Michael McManus, a marriage advocate whose syndicated column, "Ethics & Religion," appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed. From [link|http://salon.com/news/feature/2005/01/27/mcmanus/index.html|Salon] I would venture to guess we'll be seeing quite a few more. -----------------------------------------
"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican."
-- H. L. Mencken
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Post #192,277
1/30/05 1:19:48 PM
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...than you can shake a stick at!
Happened under Clinton, too. And just what is Daily Kos all about?
Not excusing anything, just giving some sorely lacking perspective.
This whole thing is the price Dubya pays for being chummy with the senator from Chappaquiddick on that stupid education bill.
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Well, pardon us for winning the election.
Memo to Democrats and to the Left: hatred is not a substitute for vision.
"All the news you wish would go away"
[link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html|http://www.angelfire...arlowe/index.html]
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Post #192,314
1/30/05 10:33:16 PM
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Got any links?
Happened under Clinton, too.
If you have any proof that the Clinton administration was paying slush money to columnists to print propoganda, let's see it. lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #192,392
1/31/05 6:31:41 PM
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Okay, be that way.
[link|http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/1/27/114029.shtml|Here ya go]
Excerpt:
CBS News in particular seemed to have no qualms about some fairly blatant conflicts of interest, having Rita Braver and Linda Douglas cover the White House even though they both had financial relationships with the Clinton administration.
Braver's husband, Robert Barnett, who was the Clintons' Whitewater lawyer when Braver was assigned to the White House beat in late 1992, reportedly recused himself from his role as first-family attorney.
But in July 1993, Barnett was still up to his eyeballs in the Whitewater scandal, traveling to the White House after Vince Foster's death to collect papers investigators later said had been removed surreptitiously from Foster's office.
Barnett continued working for the Clintons in another capacity, as book agent, successfully negotiating $20 million worth of book deals for Bill and Hillary \ufffd beginning with Mrs. Clinton's 1998 screed, "Dear Socks, Dear Buddy" and continuing through Mr. Clinton's "My Life" last year.
Unless Barnett kept his Clinton paychecks isolated from the household budget, Ms. Braver likely benefited from the White House jackpot more than Williams and Gallagher put together \ufffd times 10!
If Ms. Braver ever mentioned her financial relationship to the White House during her news broadcasts, we missed it.
I say:
Is this sort of thing a big deal? I dunno. You decide. But no double standards. If it's a big deal when it happened under one admnistration, it's a big deal when it happened under the other. And if it's not, it's not.
By the way, Kos is very, very snarky these days. I imagine his boss Mr. Soros has been chewing him out on a regular basis ever since November. "Just what the hell do you think I pay you for? I want results, dammit!"
----------------------------------------------------------------
Well, pardon us for winning the election.
Memo to Democrats and to the Left: hatred is not a substitute for vision.
"All the news you wish would go away"
[link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html|http://www.angelfire...arlowe/index.html]
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Post #192,765
2/2/05 10:33:49 PM
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That innuendo is too weak to even be called "lame"
None of the people mentioned in your linked article were actually paid by the Clinton administration to push propoganda for any administration program, like the three reporters were caught doing under "I've Got A Mandate" Dubya. Spouses doing business with the administration don't count.
Nice try, though. Keep up the "Everything's Clinton's Fault" neocon whining.
lincoln
"Windows XP has so many holes in its security that any reasonable user will conclude it was designed by the same German officer who created the prison compound in "Hogan's Heroes." - Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times
[link|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net|contact me]
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Post #192,819
2/3/05 9:18:41 AM
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Vast difference of degree
Is this sort of thing a big deal? I dunno. You decide. But no double standards. If it's a big deal when it happened under one admnistration, it's a big deal when it happened under the other. And if it's not, it's not. There is a vast difference of degrees here. Having a spouse or other close relative that works for the people your supposed to be reporting on is cheesy, and should be avoided. Directly taking money from them voids any claim you had to being an independent journalist, instead you are a markting person. That the right wing hacks involved in this situation don't seem to understand the difference between being a advertising expert and being a journalist is part of the problem. Jay
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