Mainstream Political Reporters Mostly Mum About Fisa Amendments Act Extension

September 13th, 2012 | Posted by jclifford in Legislation | Liberty | Media - (3 Comments)

If Big Brother stomps on your constitutional rights, but all the political reporters pretend not to hear it, does it make a sound?

Today, Politico, the Washington D.C. insider political newspaper, has no front page story about the fact that the House of Representatives voted yesterday to renew for 5 more years the FISA Amendments Act, a law that allows the federal government to grab Americans’ private, personal information from their cell phones, emails, financial transactions and use of the Internet. However, Politico does have a front page story devoted solely to the fact that Congressman Paul Ryan likes to watch television shows about people who catch catfish by jamming their hands down the throats of the giant fish.

new york times values fashion over fundamentals of democracyThe Hill, another Washington D.C. political publication that is supposed to take a serious look at legislative news from the U.S. Congress, does not have any front page story today on the passage of the FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012. However, the editors of The Hill did see fit to publish a full-length front-page article about how Jonathan Goldsmith, an actor who is best known for appearing in advertisements for Dos Equis beer, is hosting a fundraising party in Vermont for Barack Obama.

The New York Times doesn’t link to any story about the 5-year renewal of the FISA Amendments Act from its front page, but it does have a prominent front-page link about a trend in elite fashion design to use less black.

The Washington Post has no front page story on the passage of the FISA Amendments Act extension, but it does have a front page story examining the question of whether it’s worth going to a party if no one there takes your photograph.

It seems that the Fourth Estate has been sold to commercial developers and turned into an amusement park.

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Draft Walker Fever Ran Cold: Independent Expenditure Committee Reports No Expenditures

May 25th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Americans Elect | Election 2012 | Media | Mysteries | Politics - (15 Comments)

On the very first day the Committee to Get Walker Running announced its existence to the public, the DC beltway publication Politico declared: “Walker Fever: It’s Spreading.” The basis for author Alexander Burns’ diagnosis of a “fever” for David Walker as an Americans Elect presidential candidate was the emergence of the Committee with Yoni Gruskin as a primary organizer. Burns didn’t reveal, or didn’t know, that Gruskin and the other organizers of the Committee to Get Walker Running are leaders of groups funded by Peter G. Peterson, the billionaire who has for years been the source of money sustaining David Walker.

Amid the multiple nationwide media mentions of the David Walker draft campaign supporting Walker’s platform of social security and health care cuts, was there ever any real grassroots “Walker Fever” spreading anywhere? One indication is the number of people who voted to support Walker’s presidential candidacy: out of 313 million Americans, only 692 people.

Another indication of actual “Walker Fever” would be a large number financial contributions from all sorts of Americans. The public won’t gain any direct information about the contributors to the draft Walker committee until July, the next disclosure deadline mandated by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Watch this space for disclosures.

But independent expenditure data already indicate that the Walker “fever” may have been no more than a beltway media illusion. In its official registration as an “Independent Expenditure-Only Committee” on April 24 2012, the Committee to Get Walker Running informed the FEC that:

This committee intends to make unlimited independent expenditures and consistent with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit decision in SpeechNow v. FEC, it therefore intends to raise funds in unlimited amounts.

But if the Committee spent any funds, they must have been in very limited amounts indeed. According to the FEC, once the Committee’s expenditures topped $10,000, reports of any expenditures must be made to the FEC by midnight on the day after the expenditure has been made.

I invite you to search through Independent Expenditure reports between the dates of April 1 2012 and May 25 2012 (that’s today). You’ll find no indication whatsoever of any expenditure made by the Committee to Get Walker Running, or by any other independent expenditure committee with “Walker” in its name for that matter.

The only symptom of “fever” apparent here is hallucination.

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4 Days Left to Americans Elect 2nd Ballot Deadline, No Candidate halfway to Qualifying, and still getting Coverage

May 4th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Activism | Alternative Parties | Americans Elect | Election 2012 | Media | Politics - (7 Comments)

Americans Elect Rules 2.2.2 and 3.2.2 stipulate that any draft or declared presidential candidate wishing to qualify for any of its three rounds of presidential primary voting must obtain sufficient clicks of support on its website 7 days before a round of voting occurs. The sufficient amount varies according to who you are. If you’re a political insider, you need to obtain 1,000 clicks of support in each of 10 states. If you’re a political outsider, you need to obtain 5,000 clicks of support in each of 10 states.

The first round of voting was on May 8, which meant that to appear on the first round ballot, candidates had to get enough clicks of support by May 1. No candidate got enough support, so the first round of presidential primary voting was cancelled.

The second round of voting is on May 15, although Americans Elect is forgetting all about last week’s dustup and is now calling its second round its first. In order to appear on the second round ballot, candidates must get enough support clicks before May 8. There are less than four days left for that to happen, and not one draft or declared candidate has won even half the number of clicks of support needed to get on the ballot.

The top declared candidate, Buddy Roemer, has been hitting national TV since last November to promote his Americans Elect candidacy. To qualify, Roemer’s supposed to nab 10,000 supporters across his top 10 states. As of this morning, Roemer only has 2,243 votes in his top 10 states. Ron Paul, the top draft candidate, is doing a little better with 4,595 votes. But even that level of support doesn’t take Paul across the halfway mark.

While Americans Elect has been getting national coverage over and over again for centrist presidential efforts that can’t attract more than 5,000 qualifying votes, the New York Times won’t cover an actual grassroots protest that puts 10,000 people in the street.

The most people can do is to mock that skewed coverage. When Politico inexplicably talks up the deeply unpopular draft presidential candidacy of David Walker again and again and again and again and again, and when David Walker tries to use that that coverage to advance his boss’ Social Security privatization plan, AE Transparency hits the right note:

David Walker smackdown

400 supporters may make you a presidential celebrity in the DC Beltway if you’ve got the right name. 10,000 people marching in the street may get ignored in the papers if they’ve got the wrong name. The only way to fight this trend is to keep pointing it out.

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Violating Charter and Bylaws, No Labels and Americans Elect Promote Presidential Bid of Pete Peterson-Funded David Walker

February 21st, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Americans Elect | Election 2012 | Politics | unity08 - (19 Comments)

Update, 2:22 pm 2/21/2012: Until this afternoon, this article had featured the word “apparent” regarding the Americans Elect press release promoting Draft Presidential Candidate David Walker. I had suspicions that the press release might be fake, considering how brazenly it violates Americans Elect’s own policy against speaking or acting to promote a presidential candidacy. But the subsequent publication of the press release on Americans Elect’s website shows that it’s real.

What Americans Elect and No Labels Say: No, We’re Not Promoting Any Presidential Candidate…
The organizing documents published by the 501c4 corporation No Labels declare prominently that No Labels is not in the business of supporting a third-party or independent candidate for president in 2012.

Is No Labels trying to start a third party or support an independent for president? No. That's what No Labels says. What No Labels does is rather different.

The organizing documents published by the 501c4 corporation Americans Elect declare prominently that while Americans Elect is setting up a structure for a third-party presidential candidate, it is not in the business of promoting or opposing any particular presidential candidate:

Pursuant to the unanimous March 2010 opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Unity08 v. FEC, the organization, its directors, officers, and its paid staff do not and will not support, or oppose, any particular candidate or particular draft effort for a candidate for the presidential or vice presidential nominations of Americans Elect. That impartiality will continue until the Delegates have made their choice in June 2012.

See also Americans Elect bylaws 4.1.2 and 6.1.

What No Labels and Americans Elect say and what they do seem to be at variance.

What No Labels has been doing: Promoting Presidential Candidate David Walker
Friday February 17 2012, one Dave Walker gives his Twitter followers a news tip:

On Feb. 17 2012, Dave Walker lets people know about the upcoming Thomas Friedman article promoting his presidential candidacy

Saturday February 18 2012, No Labels promotes the policy writings of one David Walker by e-mail:

Saturday, 2/18/2011: No Labels asks people to read what David Walker has written

Sunday February 19 2012, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman (who has published inside-access promotions of Americans Elect before) promotes the idea of a presidential run by one David Walker:

I know what I’d pay good money to see: an intelligent independent candidate just taking part in the presidential debates, because it would make both Obama and his Republican opponent better. One independent I’d like to see play that role is David Walker.

Walker was the country’s chief auditor, serving from 1998 to 2008 as the U.S. comptroller general. He is currently the chief executive of the Comeback America Initiative (www.tcaii.org), a nonpartisan group dedicated to getting America’s fiscal house in order. Walker — who came in second to Hillary Clinton in a reader poll that Politico conducted last October for favorite Third Party candidate…

… reader poll? Reader poll? Where have I heard about that Politico reader poll before?

October 6 2011:

No Labels freeps a Draft Dave Walker for President poll on October 6 2011

October 8 2011:

No Labels runs a Draft Dave Walker for President campaign to stuff a Politico presidential preference online poll on October 8 2011

October 10 2011:

Dave Walker, promoting a Draft Walker vote in conjunction with the No Labels freeping effort, October 10 2011

October 11 2011:

Draft Dave Walker Presidential Campaign, started by No Labels in October 2011. This promotions piece dates to October 11 2011.

Dave Walker self-promotes his No Labels presidential campaign in October 2011, to be used as a selling point by Thomas Friedman for Americans Elect February 2012

October 14 2011:

David Walker is Honored and Humbled by the No Labels American People October 14 2011

Enough flashback. Spring back to Sunday February 19 2012, the same day Thomas Friedman published his New York Times trial balloon promoting David Walker for president, when No Labels sends out this similarly gushing e-mail endorsement of Dave Walker for president:

No Labels e-mail of February 19, endorsing the same-day Dave Walker campaign for President

Monday February 20 2012, the same Dave Walker who shared an advance tip of Friedman’s article announces his humbled reaction:

Dave Walker is Honored and Humbled by the Article promoting him he Knew About in Advance

Americans Elect, Promoting David Walker’s Presidential Candidacy
Rick Hasen of the Election Law Blog has this scoop on the promotion of David Walker by Americans Elect, February 20 2011:

Americans Elect has an official policy of neutrality (rule 6.1) when it comes to which candidate should get the Americans Elect nomination. Yet one day after Tom Friedman wrote a fawning New York Times column promoting David Walker as a potential presidential candidate (without mentioning Walker’s membership on the AE board), I received this press release:

===

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BOARD MEMBER DAVID WALKER EMBOLDENS VOTERS TO FACE THE CRITICAL CHALLENGES OF OUR NATION
WASHINGTON, D.C., FEBRUARY 20, 2012 – Dave Walker knows the facts, the truth and the tough choice we face in connection with our nation’s poor finances and other key challenges. As the nation’s former chief auditor and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office for almost 10 years, Walker has front-line experience in connection with the many challenges and partisan gridlock in Washington that literally threaten our nation’s and our families’ futures. Walker’s three presidential appointments from Reagan, Bush and Clinton, combined with his many years of private and non-profit leadership experience, and his engagement with Americans in all 50 states, led him to Americans Elect, where he now serves as a member of the Advisory Board.

Walker currently serves as Founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative, which engages the public and policymakers on fiscal issues and nonpartisan solutions that can achieve bipartisan support. Walker understands that Americans Elect’s online nominating process for president combined with its independence from the two major political parties has the ability to shock the current political system in a positive manner.

Walker is an author of three books, a national co-founder of No Labels, a member the Accounting Profession’s Hall of Fame, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Trilateral Commission. His experience in these areas make him an important resource for Americans Elect moving forward.

“This nation has faced great challenges in the past, and it’s always risen to successfully address those challenges. It’s time to do so again.” said Walker. “Americans Elect is providing the American people with more choice and competition in connection with the nation’s two highest offices. It offers an opportunity to break the partisan gridlock and to bring to life the first three words of the U.S. Constitution – ‘We the people.’”

“Now more than ever, this country needs truth, leadership and sensible, nonpartisan solutions to the key challenges that we face. The Americans Elect process will give every registered voter – no matter their party or point on the political spectrum – a say in how best to change course and right our ship of state so that our future will be better than our past.”

###
Let’s Make History!

Americans Elect

This press release, available now on the Americans Elect website in confirmation, stands in contradiction of Americans Elect’s declaration that it would remain neutral in the nomination process. It demonstrates a direct violation of Americans Elect’s own presidential nomination rules.

It would be hard to overstate the importance of this act by Americans Elect. It’s just demonstrated that its promises and pledges are not worthy of trust.

Dave Walker, Pete Peterson, Americans Elect and No Labels
As for that “Comeback America Initiative” Thomas Friedman mentions, come back with me to its founding in December of 2010, coincidentally right when No Labels was founded. It turns out that through the end of 2013, “The Comeback Initiative” is funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and run by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s President and Chief Executive Officer. That’s David Walker:

New York, N.Y. — The Peter G. Peterson Foundation (PGPF) announced today that President and Chief Executive Officer, David M. Walker, will be leaving the Foundation to launch a new initiative focused on promoting and achieving specific fiscal solutions. The new organization will be entitled the Comeback America Initiative (CAI). Walker will serve as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CAI, which has received a three-year grant from PGPF and will engage the public and promote fiscal solutions, including those outlined in Walker’s book, Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility.

“Dave Walker has been a Paul Revere on the unsustainable fiscal outlook for our country. He has done a first rate job of getting our Foundation off to a fast start and raising awareness of the critical need for fiscal responsibility. We look forward to continuing to partner with Dave as he begins this important new initiative,” said Peter G. Peterson, Chairman of the Foundation.

Peter G. Peterson is known better as Pete Peterson. Who’s Pete Peterson? A billionaire who has been pushing for years for social security cuts and privatization. Also, a funder of Unity08, which underwent a name change to Americans Elect (Americans Elect won’t tell anyone who’s funding it now).

As for the connection between No Labels and David Walker, search for “David Walker” at No Labels and you’ll find a dozen articles singing his praises. Search for “Dave Walker” there and you’ll find 18 more. David Walker is listed as a “Founding Leader” of No Labels.

Is Pete Peterson a funder of No Labels? No Labels won’t tell anyone — it has refused to disclose the names of its funders. But notably, No Labels has been noting the priorities of Pete Peterson with gushing admiration since its inception last year at the same time as the inception of “The Comeback Initiative.”

Click here to review a list of known connections between No Labels and Americans Elect. They stretch back in time to at least the Fall of 2010.

David Walker and the actual American People
Inside the Americans Elect – No Labels – Pete Peterson nexus, David Walker is very popular. But is he popular with the actual American people living outside that nexus?

In order gain access to the Americans Elect ballot, Walker will have to gain somewhere between 10,000 and 50,000 votes of support by May. For about three weeks now, David Walker has been a draft candidate for the Americans Elect presidential nomination. With the actual American people, prior to the launch of a funded draft Walker effort, he’s not on pace to make the ballot. His current number of supporters after three weeks: 88.

Waiting for grassroots support for a Draft David Walker movement won’t get David Walker on the ballot. What would work? A well-funded effort by paid gatherers sent to stand outside supermarkets has worked for Americans Elect before. It could work again.

Given This, Questions Americans Elect Really Ought to Answer
1. Did Americans Elect issue a press release promoting the candidacy of David Walker?

Answer: Yes. The press release is available at Americans Elect’s website. This promotion of David Walker, issued after the press introduction of his presidential draft candidacy, is a violation of Americans Elect bylaws and pledges.

2. Has Americans Elect received funding from Pete Peterson or any person or entity associated with Pete Peterson?

3. Have Americans Elect and No Labels or their leaders or staffers been in communication with one another regarding David Walker?

I’ve directly asked Americans Elect these questions. See if Americans Elect’s leaders provide answers. They haven’t been forthcoming before. I hope they change course now.

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Liberal Media? In DC Free Papers, the Bias is Conservative

July 9th, 2011 | Posted by Jim Cook in Media - (4 Comments)

While people talk airily about the “liberal media,” the reality on the ground is different.

DC Free Newspapers: Politico, The Hill, The Washington Examiner and Human Events. Two inside-ball publications, two conservative rags. No liberal news outlet.

Take Washington DC, an interesting news market for the presence of free papers, most of them distributed outside major Metro stations, most of them available when Congress is in session. Policymakers are these papers’ major target. Two of these, The Hill and Politico, report on the process of policymaking from an insider’s point of view, taking an at least ostensibly neutral position on the merits of policies. The other two free papers, the Washington Examiner and Human Events, are written from an unabashed conservative, pro-corporate point of view. This week’s edition of Human Events describes itself as presenting “conservative news” with “the Right’s most influential voices.” Its Editor in Chief is also Vice Chairman of the American Conservative Union and Treasurer of the Conservative Victory Fund. The Washington Examiner is owned by billionaire and heavy Republican contributor Philip Anschutz, and the Examiner building out of which it is run also plays host to a number of conservative advocacy organizations, including the Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World, the Hudson Institute, Concerned Women for America and the The Trinity Forum.

Where are the liberal free DC papers? There aren’t any. That’s not where the money is.

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What a Coincidynk: DailyKos Article About Paid Disinformation includes Paid Disinformation

December 30th, 2010 | Posted by Jim Cook in Economy | Ethics | Media | Politics - (2 Comments)

I’ve been reading an interesting and convincing post this evening over at DailyKos by Sarea. Take the XXX out of http://www.dailyXXXkos.com/storyonly/2010/12/29/932237/-Im-paid-to-post-DIS-information-online to find the link to her article, which unfortunately I can’t link to for reasons you’ll discover below. Sarea tells an utterly believable tale of meeting some hapless kid who bragged about getting paid to write articles online on behalf of conservative political causes. She concludes:

So I guess this is my overall point. Although we all know it to be true, we need to be reminded from time to time that you don’t really know who you are talking to online. Advertising is everywhere, but with the Internet it has become more murky and insidious.

That’s true: such advertising is, unfortunately, just about everywhere. Coincidentally, the Kos Media Limited Liability Corporation placed the following snippet of html at the end of Sarea’s commendable article:

An Advertisement with links to My Education Choice: Call it Astroturfing, call it SEO management, it's definitely manipulative

DailyKos is using an article complaining about paid link placement … to place a paragraph of text with embedded hyperlinks to a website called “My Education Choice” (type it in a search engine — I won’t link to it here) that pushes visitors to sign petitions in favor of government giveaways to cheap, low-quality and exploitative private-sector diploma mills masquerading as colleges. The DailyKos corporation is not alone in taking money to place links promoting the shady “My Education Choice” enterprise. Capitol News Company LLC, through its publication Politico, also takes money from “My Education choice” to write links to the pro-scam website into its posts. Take the XXX out of http://www.politXXXico.com/huddle/1010/huddle643.html to see what I mean:

Politico is paid to include links in its articles to an Astroturf organization called My Education Choice

As a result of links from DailyKos and Politico, the shady operation to drum up support for the deregulation of diploma mills gets a veneer of respectability and enjoys a shot of link juice to boot, making it more likely that the “My Education Choice” website will appear in top search engine results. In their choice to get paid to embed these links in the text of articles, the DailyKos and Politico Limited Liability Corporations are complicit in a program of astroturf — the corporate creation of fake social movements.

Some corporations with big budgets are willing to shell out significant payments in this sort of enterprise. Back in August, we were contacted by someone who calls herself “Lana Arnold” and promised to pay us $100 if we would link to a “Medical Billing and Coding” website (which, of course, we didn’t and won’t link to) that directs visitors to — you guessed it — a number of for-profit diploma mills that deliver a low-quality, bad-reputation education at a significant cost. In September, we got another offer… from someone offering us money to link to “My Education Choice.” It should be understood that of course we didn’t accept the money, but unfortunately, thanks to the poor conduct of others, I guess I do have to tell you that explicitly. We aren’t paid money by anyone to insert links here at Irregular Times.

The nefarious websites I mentioned above promote scams that take advantage of people who are desperate to improve their lot in life. Paid links to them are examples of “astroturf,” the use of corporate money to create the appearance of broad popular support for shady practices and policies. I just don’t see how it’s ethically defensible for a so-called “liberal” website like DailyKos or a so-called “news” website like Politico to take money to place links to scam websites exploiting poor people. The only explanation for it is that the DailyKos and Politico corporations value a buck more than they value the integrity of their messages.

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William Lacy Clay: Now at 300 Baud!

June 5th, 2009 | Posted by Jim Cook in Media | Politics | Tech - (1 Comments)

Melanie Mason of Politico writes a critique of congressional websites entitled Members’ websites stuck in ’70s.

I didn’t believe it before I connected to William Lacy Clay’s office. This is what I found:

Connecting to 1970s style TRS-80 BASIC Website for William Lacy Clay

I wonder if he has a copy of Zork up there. CATALOGD1? CATALOGD2?

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Iraq War Hits Bush Hard, Too: No Golf

May 13th, 2008 | Posted by Jim Cook in George W. Bush | Republicans | War and Peace - (0 Comments)

On May 13, 2008, with 85,000 documented dead among civilian Iraqis and 4,077 documented American soldiers killed, George W. Bush declared that the war in Iraq hadn’t been easy on him either. See, Mr. Bush has committed to not playing any golf until the war is over, and that’s been real hard.

(Sources: Iraq Body Count; Politico, May 13 2008; Department of Defense)

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