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Ian David (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Mon Jan-09-06 01:15 PM Response to Original message |
155. RAPID RESPONSE: Monday 1/9/06, Jack Abramoff Special |
From: Rapid Response Network [email protected]
Date: Jan 9, 2006 11:06 AM Subject: {US} RAPID RESPONSE: Monday 1/9/06, Jack Abramoff Special This Abramoff alert is long but it does follow a relatively 'most to least important' path. The Abramoff issue has many tentacles -- it is amazingly complex and staggering in scope... Thus, it becomes easy for our media (big and small) to take the quick route out offering us news consumers false equivalencies ("everybody did it") and lots of glossing over ("abramoff-related donations"). It is up to us to keep them honest and call a spade a spade. ---------------------------- ISSUE: False Equivalency ---------------------------- Here's a piece from Daily Kos on the dangers of how the press is treating the Abramoff story unless we shine the light of truth on this matter: Abramoff: what's next and how you can help bring down the GOP by dengre, DailyKos.com Wed Jan 04, 2006 http://tinyurl.com/akc72 Main points from "dengre": - The GOP will lie. They will cherry pick slices of data to support simple-minded myths like "Everybody Does It" and "Abramoff gave money to Democrats." - The press will have a very hard time with this story, because the corruption is so one-sided. Their "Balance Bias" will lead them to stupid examples of balance, like treating Harry Reid's legal support from Native American as equivalent to DeLay's $1 Million from the Russians, $500,000 from the Chinese owners of sweatshops and God (and Jack) knows what other bribes. - The Public will get confused. SEE ALSO: The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi Washington Post Thursday, December 29, 2005 http://tinyurl.com/bytus (Main points from this comprehensive WaPo article are at the end of this alert.) ** THOUGHTS ** Remember a year ago how Congressional conservatives wanted to remove ethical guidelines which bar convicted Congressmen from serving in the leadership? Remember how a few weeks later they reversed course with their tails between their legs? Why is it that the media can't remember that far back? Luckily, since the Congressional conservatives did keep some semblance of ethics in place no new laws or policy guidelines are needed to prevent this Conservative Abramoff Scandal from happening again on either side of the aisle. What needs to happen is simply observance of existing regulations and prompt enforcement when violations occur... Under the conservative-controlled Congress that has been lacking. Abramoff's tentacles reach in many directions and through several means (see below) he allegedly bought influence from the likes of Republicans Bob Ney, Tom DeLay, etc. That influence came in the form of political pressure, vote changes, and policy influence... See this "Late Edition" (CNN, 1/8/06) video <http://tinyurl.com/bsyoj> or read this transcript <http://tinyurl.com/a77m5> to learn how the media's false equivalency in this matter can be easily and swiftly shot down. Be firm in stating that the records clearly show this is a purely Republican scandal. Yes, Democratic politicians received legitimate donation from some of Abramoff's clients and yes, a very few Democratic staffers left their positions in the government to work for Abramoff. Those are in fact legitimate activities which Americans and politicians of all stripes legally participate in every day -- no big deal and but a small portion of the many Abramoff tentacles. But, the Federal Election Commission <http://tinyurl.com/duzeo> and IRS records <http://tinyurl.com/9czmm> show that the political donations and sham charity gifts connected to Abramoff himself went solely to conservative politicians, committees, and activities. While the political donations are probably somewhat legitimate activity (whereas fraudulent charitable activities would clearly violate the law) the cumulative effect does show precisely where Abramoff's sympathies lie: he is a conservative through and through. Moving into the more shadey areas... not a single Democrat has been found to have received fantasy golf junkets, trips to tropical islands, expensive dinners and sports tickets, jobs or favors for family and friends, etc.... More important, not a single Democrat has been found to have gone to such great lengths in exchange for Abramoff largesse as to force vote changes, tweak Abramoff 'adversaries' in speeches on the House floor, etc after receiving Abramoff largesse. This is point-blank evidence of the Conservative Culture of Corruption, pure and simple. !!! In fact, obviously enough, the progressives aren't in power. The right-wing is -- and the conservatives are the politicians who received the vast majority of Abramoff's largesse (Abramoff's direct donations went solely to conservative pols, PACs, and activists with the large bulk of "Abramoff-related" loot going to the right as well, notably the apparently fraudulent and influence-peddling loot). ** ACTION ** - Write your local paper and your favorite major daily - Call-in to radio programs - Email or call TV shows - Watch for false equivalency and correct it - Speak up in 'water cooler conversations' around your office Let the bright light of truth shine through. Park the responsibility for this firmly at the doorstep of those who have the power to fix it: The conservatives in control of Congress. It is they who must end this apparent Conservative Culture of Corruption and cut Abramoff's tentacles out of the right-wing's halls of power (not just Congress but also the White House and right-wing committees, think tanks and activities). Some of this has begun (with Abramoff cronies pleading guilty and the Cato Institute and Copley News Service removing Abramoff's payola-columnist Doug Bandow <http://tinyurl.com/b9pnf>). Much more needs to be done. Again, who's in charge nowadays? Conservatives control all three branches of government and Abramoff, a conservative activist, was one of their own. This is a mess of their making and unless things change next November they must be the ones to mop it up. ** ADDITIONAL RESEARCH ** For those of you with more time to delve into this matter: What was that about Abramoff giving money to Democrats? by John in DC AmericaBlog Wednesday, January 04, 2006 http://tinyurl.com/duzeo Abramoff: The House That Jack Built Think Progress (details and links to Politicians and right-wing Activists which have received money directly from Abramoff, his firm or his clients) http://www.thinkprogress.org/abramoff The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail Nonprofit Group Linked to Lawmaker Was Funded Mostly by Clients of Lobbyist By R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Saturday, December 31, 2005 http://tinyurl.com/9czmm Corruption and the College Republican Rolling Stone Magazine Jan 05, 2006 http://tinyurl.com/7jjlh Hardball's Chris Matthews, FOX's Tony Snow and Britt Hume helped raise money for shady Abramoff charity by John in DC AmericaBlog Wednesday, January 04, 2006 http://tinyurl.com/add2t Corruption Inquiry Threatens to Ensnare Lawmakers By Philip Shenon The New York Times Sunday 20 November 2005 via truthout.org Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer (interview with Gov. Howard Dean) CNN 1/8/06 http://tinyurl.com/bsyoj ** POINTS FROM THE WA PO ARTICLE ** Main points to remember from the 12/29/05 WaPo article: - ...how Abramoff saw himself -- > the power behind the scenes who directed millions of dollars in Indian gambling proceeds to favored lawmakers, > the puppet master who pulled the strings of officials in key places, > the businessman who was building an international casino empire - He collected unprecedented sums -- tens of millions of dollars -- from casino-rich Indian tribes. - Lawmakers and their aides packed his restaurants and skyboxes and jetted off with him on golf trips to Scotland and the Pacific island of Saipan. - Abramoff offered jobs and other favors to well-placed congressional staffers and executive branch officials. - He pushed his own associates for government positions, from which they, too, could help him. - A quarter of a century ago, Abramoff and anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist were fellow Young Turks of the Reagan revolution. ...They moved to Washington, maneuvered to take over the College Republicans -- at the time a sleepy establishment organization -- and transformed it into a right-wing activist group. They were joined by Ralph Reed, an ambitious Georgian whose later Christian conversion would fuel his rise to national political prominence. {Recall that Karl Rove had his rise through the College Republicans also.} - In August 1999, he {Abramoff} signed up for the National Republican Senatorial Committee's "Tartan Invitational," in which a half-dozen Republican senators and their aides spent a few days with about 50 lobbyists golfing at the exclusive St. Andrews Links in Scotland. The following year, Abramoff figured out how to use his clients to fund his own trips to St. Andrews with lawmakers. The first guests were DeLay and his aides. - Abramoff quietly paid op-ed columnists thousands of dollars to write favorably about his clients, including one writer for Copley News Service who disclosed this month that he had been paid for as many as two dozen columns - Bill padding was openly discussed, according to Abramoff's Greenberg Traurig e-mails that have been released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. For example, in April 2000, Abramoff had lobbyist Shawn Vasell working on a monthly invoice to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, telling him to "be sure we hit the $150k minimum. If you need to add time for me, let me know." An exasperated Vasell e-mailed back: "You only had 2 hours. We are not even close to this number . . . ." Abramoff's solution: "Add 60 hours for me," and "pump up" the hours for three or four other lobbyists. - The nonprofit Capital Athletic Foundation, for example, allowed him to schmooze with Washington's movers and shakers at charity affairs. The foundation was ostensibly created to help inner-city children through organized sports. There is no evidence money went to city kids, but the foundation did fund some of Abramoff's pet projects: a sniper school for Israelis in the West Bank, a golf trip to Scotland for Ohio congressman Ney and others, and a Jewish religious academy in Columbia that Abramoff founded and where he sent his children to be educated. - Another Abramoff financial vehicle was the nonprofit American International Center, a Rehoboth Beach, Del., "think tank" set up by Scanlon, who staffed it with beach friends from his summer job as a lifeguard. The center became a means for Abramoff and Scanlon to take money from foreign clients that they did not want to officially represent. Some of the funds came from the government of Malaysia. Banks and oil companies there were making deals in Sudan, where U.S. companies were barred on human rights grounds. Sudan was among several oil-rich nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East that Abramoff eyed as venues for lucrative energy deals. Abramoff told associates he wanted to become a go-to person for U.S. companies seeking to do business with oil-patch nations. ---------------------------- FYI: All the News that's fit to Email ---------------------------- ** Stewart takes his shot at Oscar hosting http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1073582.php ** Duo's entrant-aiding hearing gets moved back to Tuesday By Stephanie Innes Arizona Daily Star Published: 01.07.2006 http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/110288.php (See also...) Charged with Possession of a Conscience by Vivian Pettyjohn E Pluribus Media 04 January 2006 http://www.epluribusmedia.org/columns/20060104pettyjohn.html ** A Donor Who Had Big Allies By Richard A. Serrano and Stephen Braun The Los Angeles Times Sunday 08 January 2006 http://tinyurl.com/7gtkb "DeLay and two others helped put the brakes on a federal probe of a businessman. Evidence was published in the Congressional Record." ++ What was that about an apparent conservative culture of corruption? Why isn't THIS STORY receiving more media time? ** The NSA Spy Engine: Echelon By Jason Leopold t r u t h o u t | Investigative Report Monday 09 January 2006 http://tinyurl.com/8awzf ++ Based on what I've read of the NSA's loose guidelines for whether communications were monitored or not, I've probably been spied on (I routinely make international calls for work and, umm, I write emails like this one). Makes me feely ooky. And, given that I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, I shouldn't even have to worry about feeling ooky like that, dammit. I'm going to have to go back to using tin can 'telephones', smoke signals, and the pony express just to avoid Big Brother. ____________________________________________ Support your RR team! Tell your friends about us and let 'em know where to sign up: http://www.rapidresponsenetwork.org Become a volunteer http://www.rapidresponsenetwork.org/volunteer.shtml or donate http://www.rapidresponsenetwork.org/donate.shtml ____________________________________________ Rapid Response Network (RR) is a group of volunteers dedicated to advancing the principles of balance and truthfulness in the media. RR is currently filing for 501c4 status as a non-profit organization. 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