And now, a few words . . .

. . . from our Propaganda Department! Stay Tuned!

C. William Boyer

Nutshell Reader's Digest version of a New York Times (oh, c'mon, not the New York Times!) article about the Bush Administration's attempt to control, or at least manage, the news we hear:

The former head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (the folks who put out Sesame Street and Masterpiece Theatre and the Jim Lehrer NewsHour), former CPB head Kenneth Tomlinson paid a gentleman by the name of Fred Mann $14,170 to monitor Bill Moyer's program NOW (a program since canceled). Essentially, Mr. Mann would monitor the program and on the transcript mark passages 'L' for Liberal, 'C' for Conservative or simply "anti-administration."

Why is this small thing a problem? Because the former head of Public Broadcasting is a Bush-administration appointee who, it would appear, attempted to 'manage' Public Broadcasting's journalistic output, to manage it to be more amiable to Bush Administration objectives and is just one more way the neo-conservatives under Mr. Bush have taken over first the GOP [full-disclosure: I voted Republican in every single election and on every single ticket until 2004] and now the country.

By the way? Corporation for Public Broadcasting head Mr. Tomlinson attempted to cover up the payment of $14,000.

That makes me feel kind of icky. The government attempting to control the news? Why, it sounds a little like . . .

WELCOME, COMRADES, TO THE NEW SOVIET UNION.

Now, consider that at least 4 journalists were caught taking what effectively amount to bribes, people like Armstrong Williams ,who received $241,000 to tout No Child Left Behind, people paid to shill the administration's party line on news programs without full-disclosure in what amounts to propaganda . . .

prop·a·gan·da: The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.

Smart kids know that propaganda paid for with government funds is illegal by federal law: B-106139, JANUARY 18, 1952, 31 COMP. GEN. 311.

Now, what's the ironic upshot of this? The White House has refused to investigate the incident. In fact, the White House has BLOCKED the Congressional investigation launched after disclosure of Armstrong Williams' contract in January. Unfortunately, the White House refused to allow investigators to interview all officials who may have had knowledge of the Williams contract.

And let's not forget the Horatio Alger-like story of Jeff Gannon. For those who don't remember, he was the one-time White House correspondent/gay prostitute (I am not making this up) who was granted daily passes to presidential press-briefings. Actually, his name is James Dale Guckert, but he operated under an alias. [Don't White House reporters undergo background checks? Wouldn't an 'alias' be discovered?-ed Normally, yes, but somehow Gannon/Guckert's alias passed government security scrutiny; good thing he wasn't a terrorist.] Though never published by any mainstream medium, with his only exposure being on the website TalonNews.com, owned by Republican organization G.O.P.USA, Gannon was frequently called upon by Mr. Bush during briefings to ask pre-scripted questions.

Here's my personel favorite, from the January, 26 2005 presidential briefing. Gannon asks Mr. Bush:

"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid was talking about soup lines. And Senator Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath they say that social security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work – you've said you are going to reach out to these people – how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?" [Italics mine.]

[Wasn't Guckert's reference to Sen. Harry Reid "talking about soup lines" proven false? Didn't it originate from a characterization Rush Limbaugh made on his syndicated radio program?- ed Thanks a lot, smarty-pants, I was just gonna bring that up! Hey, who's writing this column, anyway? Butt out!]

Let's see: the party in power controls the Presidency. The party in power controls the Supreme Court. The party in power controls the Congress. The party in power controls the Justice Department. The party in power moves to manipulate and control the media reporting upon its abuses of power. When abuses of power are finally revealed, the party in power obstructs investigations into wrong-doing because it has de-facto complete control of the government . . .

Toto, I get the feeling were not in Kansas anymore.

WELCOME, COMRADES, TO THE NEW AND IMPROVED SOVIET UNION.

Post-Script add 1:

The new Corporation for Public Broadcasting president is none other than Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

Oh, boy, can't wait to see the Fair and Balanced programs she rolls out.

Post-Script add 2: From our Sublimely Humorous Files:

Consider that Jeff Gannon is a Republican and how Republicans feel about homosexuals. Now consider that prior to becoming a journalist working for Talon News, Guckert was involved with homosexual pornography and possibly prostitution. Guckert had registered several domain names of a sexual nature, including Hotmilitarystud.com and Militaryescorts4m.com. Guckert later said that he had registered the domain names for a client who ended up not using them. Many sexually explicit photos of Guckert existed online, with accompanying ads appearing to offer himself as a gay prostitute for clients seeking a military type. When these ads became public, Gannon commented that these activities were in his "past," however some noted that many of his online gay profiles were still active after he had resigned from Talon News.

Ironic Sub-point: During the 2004 election, Guckert/Gannon wrote that John Kerry "might someday be known as ‘the first gay president,’" and that Kerry had supported "the pro-gay agenda."

Ah, c'mon, Jeff. Don't be such a bitter 'swish'. [Is that a gay bash?-ed No, and shut the hell up!]