B*sh caught again! PAID ANOTHER(3rd) Columnist to spread NEOCON PROPAGANDA

[Karenca]

Bush Administration Paid Another Columnist for Help
Writer Is Third To Acknowledge Getting Paid for Services

By Jim Drinkard and Mark Memmott, USA TODAY

Columnists Mike McManus (left), Maggie Gallagher (center) and Armstrong Williams have all acknowledged receiving money from federal agencies.

More on This Story:
· Bush Orders End to Payments
· RNC: Bypass 'Liberal Media Filter'
· PR Spending Doubled Under Bush

The Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged Thursday that it paid a syndicated columnist at least $4,000 for work on behalf of Bush administration efforts to promote marriage.

The disclosure came a day after President Bush called for an end to paying commentators to promote his policies. Wade Horn, assistant secretary for Children and Families at the department, responded Thursday by issuing new rules banning the practice

Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher both had publicly backed Bush policies while being paid by the government without disclosing it.

Since the consulting deals began in January 2003, McManus has touted Bush's marriage initiative in several of his columns. At least three of them quoted Horn, a former member of the Marriage Savers board of directors. Horn's office manages the grant and contract under which McManus' group is paid.

01/28/2005 07:15

© Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FULL STORY: http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050128072909990007&_ccc=3&cid=842

[RockStar]

1. The media has sold their soul to the devil..oppps bush

[mod mom]

12. same thing-* is anti-X

[sepia_steel]

2. YES!!!!!!

now where are the other 2 threads on this?

[sepia_steel]

3. Help! the story has been moved!

did anyone happen to copy it in its entirety?

Was the move intentional? probably.

[Karenca]

5. here's the entire story for you:

The Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged Thursday that it paid a syndicated columnist at least $4,000 for work on behalf of Bush administration efforts to promote marriage.

The disclosure came a day after President Bush called for an end to paying commentators to promote his policies. Wade Horn, assistant secretary for Children and Families at the department, responded Thursday by issuing new rules banning the practice.

Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher both had publicly backed Bush policies while being paid by the government without disclosing it.

On Thursday, a third example surfaced. Mike McManus, who writes a weekly column syndicated in 30 to 40 newspapers, said he was paid about $4,000 to train marriage mentors in 2003 and 2004. McManus was subcontracted by the Lewin Group, which had a contract to support community-based programs "to form and sustain healthy marriages."

McManus' non-profit group, Marriage Savers, also is being paid $49,000 by a group that received a Health and Human Services grant to teach similar principles to unwed couples who are having children.

Since the consulting deals began in January 2003, McManus has touted Bush's marriage initiative in several of his columns. At least three of them quoted Horn, a former member of the Marriage Savers board of directors. Horn's office manages the grant and contract under which McManus' group is paid.


McManus, who has been quoted as a marriage expert in publications that include USA TODAY, defended his dual role as a journalist and a government consultant. "I don't see that it's relevant," he said. "I was hired because we have an expertise in working with churches." He said his columns aren't influenced by the payments, and pointed to one in October in which he chided Bush on an environmental issue.

Even so, Horn issued a directive Thursday banning the use of columnists as outside contractors. "It is important to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, and to maintain an arms-length relationship with members of the media," he wrote.

Kelly McBride, a media ethics scholar at the Poynter Institute, said any journalist should at least disclose such payments to readers. "Any time anyone gives you money, you have a loyalty to them, and that's a conflict," she said.

[sepia_steel]

7. Thank you, Karenca! eom

[ebayfool]

4. Payola Pundits!

Now, where are the rest of them? (you just know there's tons more hiding in the dark crevices, just like the roaches they are!)

[emlev]

6. So the neocons bought their loyalty and now WON'T PAY THEM?

Way to piss everyone off!

[sickinohio]

8. Doesn't matter that they don't get paid now. The election

is over; Bu$hCo can't run again - so why should Bu$h care?? They now have their four more years - and no one is paying attention to that kind of thing anyway. Even if they were paying attention, no one will do anything about it. I hate this regime!!!

:mad:

[marions ghost]

9. What do you all think of the Stop Govt Propanganda Act ??

This bill is being introduced in the senate this coming week:

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp...

Senators to Introduce 'Stop Government Propaganda Act'
By Brian Orloff Published: January 27, 2005

NEW YORK In response to continued revelations of government-funded "journalism" -- ranging from the purported video news releases put out by the drug czar's office and the Department of Health and Human Services to the recently uncovered payments to columnists Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher,who flacked administration programs -- Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will introduce a bill, The Stop Government Propaganda Act, in the Senate next week.

--snip--
The Stop Government Propaganda Act states, "Funds appropriated to an Executive branch agency may not be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States unless authorized by law."

"It's time for Congress to shut down the Administration's propaganda mill," Lautenberg said in a statement. "It has no place in the United States Government." The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jon Corzine (D-N.J.).

--snip--
According to a release, publicity or propaganda is defined in the bill as: news releases or publications that do not clearly identify the government agency responsible for the content; audio/visual or Internet presentations that do not identify the responsible government agency; any attempt to manipulate journalists or news organizations; messages created to aid a political party or candidate; messages with a "self-aggrandizing" purpose or "puffery of the Administration, agency, executive branch programs or policies or pending legislation"; and, finally, messages that are "so misleading or inaccurate that they constitute propaganda."

[renaissanceguy]

10. Impeachment under the Constitution

Article II Section. 4.

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/472476

[mod mom]

11. * administration MUST PAYBACK taxpayers for misuse of funds nt