Why Are We Back In Iraq?

I was so busy last night (reading the collected re-works of Jeff Gannon) that I missed the Academy Awards ceremony for the first time in my life. Good thing other bloggers are keeping me up-to-date on who-won-what.

Check out Zen Comix for more great work by the Zen Comix man...all original and all pretty-damn-funny.

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Does Bob Allen of the Associate Baptist Press know that significant portions of an article that he wrote and published a year-and-a-half ago later appeared as a Talon News/GOPUSA exclusive credited to the poor-poor-persecuted propagandist and plagiarist - Jeff Gannon? Bob Allen's story "Christian Coalition divided over Alabama tax reform" (August 12, 2003: ABP Press) only got so much play, but Jeff Gannon's "Conservative, Christians Battle Alabama Governor on Tax Hike" (August 22, 2003: cache link) travelled all across the Internet, appearing here, here, here, and was even cited in this Reverend's sermon).

Allen: "The $1.2 billion tax package, aimed at erasing budget deficits and reforming an antiquated tax structure"

Gannon: "Riley's tax package, aimed at erasing budget deficits and reforming an antiquated tax structure"

Allen: "Religious leaders led opposition to the previous governor's plan to raise funds for education through a statewide lottery."

Gannon: "They had previously defeated another governor's attempt to fund education with a statewide lottery."

Allen: "The Christian Coalition of Alabama passed a resolution in May opposing the raising of taxes and blaming the state's budget woes on "years of poor stewardship and fiscal irresponsibility.""

Gannon: "The Alabama Christian Coalition passed a resolution in May opposing the raising of taxes and blaming the state's budget woes on "years of poor stewardship and fiscal irresponsibility.""

Allen: "Roberta Combs, national Christian Coalition president, made unannounced visits in cities across Alabama Aug. 6 to tout the Republican governor's tax plan, according to a story by EthicsDaily.com."

Gannon: "The national Christian Coalition broke with the state organization when its president, Roberta Combs made unannounced visits in four cities across Alabama on August 6 to speak in favor of Riley's plan."

Jeff Gannon "journalism" students, as you can see from that last example, the Jeff Gannon style of "journalism" means that when you steal from a source you don't have to even cite the source that the source that you stole from cited.

Which brings me back to the Reverend. The line the Reverend attibuted to Jeff Gannon appeared this way in the Associated Baptist Press article:

Allen: "According to our Christian ethics, we're supposed to love God, love each other and help take care of the poor," he told USA Today."

But in Talon News/GOPUSA it simply ran this way:

Gannon: "Riley, a Southern Baptist who took office in January said, "According to our Christian ethics, we're supposed to love God, love each other, and help take care of the poor.""

I guess that way no one could easily figure out that Jeff Gannon stole a couple more lines from that same USA Today story attributed to the Associated Press (link to a cache of "Alabama governor calls tax hike Christian duty"):

USATODAY/AP: "The state is facing a $675 million deficit, and without new revenue, Riley says, it will have to release prisoners, cut medicine for the mentally ill and end Medicaid payments for many nursing home residents."

Gannon: "The state is facing a $675 million deficit, and without new revenue, Riley has threatened to release prisoners, cut medicine for the mentally ill, and end Medicaid payments for many nursing home residents."

USATODAY/AP: "Two of the governor's cabinet members who resigned after Riley made the proposal."

Gannon: "Two of the governor's cabinet members resigned after the governor announced his proposal."

Shame on you, Mr. Gannon. And shame on any right-wing pundit who still thinks that Talon News is worthy of being defended as a legitimate news organization.

Talon News Plagiarism Archives
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Susan G. from Propagannon - the blogger who definitely deserves the most credit for this worldwide blog investigation (props also to America Blog, The Raw Story, stubborn-ass Media Matters, and good ole Eschaton and everyone - including, yeah, him, too - at Daily Kos for helping to keep this scandal alive even if the Media won't, along with every other blogger and blog reader out there that has played any part, some still undiscovered and unrecognized), wrote a most-excellent diary that concludes with this powerful declaration regarding our community: "We as a people now own this moment of our history."

Don't just read Susan G.'s diary. Print it up and circulate it among all of your non-blogger friends, co-workers, relatives and neighbors.

I'd also like to thank Mykeru for his great post on why Talon News shut down last week: "The actual fatal blow came when Why Are We Back in Iraq, who had been doing point work on the Gannon/Talon plagiarism angle, demonstrated that if Talon News contained any really original content, Guckert aside, it must have been random typographical errors."

Mykeru also has a parody Jeff Gannon page...that contains some nudity I must warn...and since my feelings on the other "angle" to this story are well-known...I'd just like to say that anything's game when it comes to parody or satire...and it's too fucking funny not to give a link to: Not Jeff Gannon.

Later tonight, I'll be putting all of my posts that deal primarily with the subject of the Talon News plagiarism on one page (as one of my readers suggested on one of my haloscan comment threads): Grand Old Plagiarism USA Archive.

Now, excuse me, while I go back to reading my stack of archived Talon News articles; a blogger's gotta do what a blogger's gotta do. Peace.

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Please give Dave his 15 minutes, too: Dump Bush Now.

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My "buddy" Markos chimed in on the "we get letters" thread at Atrios the other day in regards to me: ron not roy. Before ridiculously claiming that he didn't like to take credit for anything, Markos...again...showed that while he may own one of the best blogs on the Internet (thanks to the thousands of people who create thousands of diaries every week...many of which, unfortunately, disappear into the void if they go against the grain or are misunderstood), it's not because of anything he ever wrote or reported. You'd think he'd know how to google, at least.

Kos wrote "Last time I checked, the "congressional action" didn't have anything to do with plagarism."

But as John Byrne at The Raw Story reported (Democrats in House leading push for Gannon inquiry not surprised by Talon plagiarism) a couple of days ago:

"In an email Tuesday evening, Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) called Jeff Gannon a “stenographer for White House press releases,” and another reporter’s apparent plagiarism “cutting and pasting” reporting.

“These new revelations continue to call into question the journalistic credentials of Talon News, and ‘Jeff Gannon,’” Rep. Conyers wrote.

“We already know Gannon was a stenographer for White House press releases, and now we know Steve Roeder’s ‘reporting’ consisted of cutting and pasting from the Fox News website,” Conyers added. “Was Talon News really a not so slickly designed conveyer belt for White House propaganda?”"

If you don't believe me, Markos, and you don't believe John...why don't you go check out Congressman John Conyers' blog for yourself: My Favorite Congressman.

Congressman Conyers wrote (and I hope he doesn't mind if I reprint his post in full...but I have raved about him a lot at this blog because of his courage regarding what happened in Ohio):

Blogging Made Easy Talon News Style

By Talon News standards, the following will all be original reporting.

A ‘reporter’ from Talon News, the conservative outlet which employed disgraced correspondent Jeff Gannon, appears to have repeatedly plagiarized content from other mainstream media publications, including Reuters, the New York Times, and Fox News (thank you, Raw Story, for making this post so simple).

As a matter of professional ethics, I believe that journalists should distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context. Journalists should never plagiarize (it must be a coincidence that the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics agrees with me).

The plagiarism story is particularly ironic, given that Jeff Gannon is contemplating "suing liberal interest groups, bloggers, and others," for what he termed "political assassination." He is presumably pondering some sort of libel action, or perhaps he harbors some vague hope of proving invasion of privacy. This would, of course, require that what’s been said about him isn’t true (though he hasn’t denied it), and was maliciously published or broadcast by people who knew it wasn’t true or made no effort to confirm or refute it (Keith Olbermann can be very helpful with legal analysis).

Deception and confusion appear to be the running themes of Gannon-gate. During the February 10 White House briefing, Press Secretary Scott McClellan stated that Jeff Gannon, "...like anyone else, showed that he was representing a news organization that published regularly" in order to receive his day pass to press briefings. It has now been confirmed that Jeff Gannon was in the White House briefing room, actively participating in these briefings, as early as February 28, 2003 a full month before Talon News even existed (an interesting fact…it’s good thing Congresswoman Slaughter and the Stakeholder caught it).

In other news, Jeff Gannon was cited by the Washington Post as having the only access to an internal CIA memo that named Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert CIA agent. Gannon, in a question posed to Wilson in an October 2003 interview, referred to the memo (to which no other news outlet had access, according to the Post). Gannon subsequently has been subpoenaed by the federal grand jury looking into the Plame outing (reporting has gotten easier since I found Daily Kos).

Maybe we should give Gannon and his friends at Talon News some credit. Being a reporter can be easy. Finding good sources to steal from is hard.

-J.C.

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Google, cut-and-paste, switch a word or two, then put your name on top and claim authorship of it.

Example #1.

Jeff Gannon's "Liberal Journalists Lambaste Fox News at South Dakota Event" appeared on Talon News on September 29, 2003 (cache link). Perhaps a more accurate title would have been "Liberal Journalists Lambaste Fox News at South Dakota Event According to an Article I Read By Randy Dockendorf Who Actually Attended the Event Although I'm Neglecting to Mention That" (The Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan) by Jeff Gannon:

Dockendorf: "a two-day celebration of the $5 million renovation of the Al Neuharth Media Center on the USD campus."

Gannon: "the $5 million Al Neuharth Media Center on the USD campus. A two-day celebration"

Dockendorf: "Neuharth, a 1950 USD graduate, founded USA TODAY, the nation's largest daily newspaper. He also founded the Freedom Forum"

Gannon: "Neuharth, a 1950 USD graduate, founded USA TODAY, the nation's largest daily newspaper...He also established the Freedom Forum"

Gannon breaks to Google:

Arcspace.com : "The Freedom Forum was established in 1991 under the direction of Founder Allen H. Neuharth as successor to a foundation started in 1935 by newspaper publisher Frank E. Gannett."

Gannon: "Freedom Forum in 1991 as successor to a foundation started in 1935 by newspaper publisher Frank E. Gannett."

Gannon Googles some more:

Newsquest: "Gannett is the USA's largest newspaper group in terms of circulation. The company's 101 U.S. daily newspapers have a combined daily paid circulation of 7.7 million."

Gannon: "Gannett is the America's largest newspaper group in terms of circulation. The company's 100 daily newspapers in the U.S. have a combined daily paid circulation of 7.7 million"

Gannon goes back to Dockendorf:

Dockendorf: "Louis Boccardi, the former chief executive officer, and Tom Curley, the chief executive officer, of the Associated Press; Robert MacNeil, former host of "The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour"; John Siegenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center; and Judy Woodruff, anchor for the Cable News Network."

Gannon: "Robert MacNeil, former host of Public Broadcasting's "The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour", John Siegenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center, Louis Boccardi and Tom Curley of the Associated Press, and Judy Woodruff, CNN anchor."

Dockendorf: "MacNeil criticized the motto as misleading. "The Fox claim is a con on the public ... The network is blatantly unbalanced," he said, adding that the network has used patriotism to promote the right wing and Bush administration.

Gannon: "MacNeil criticized the most-watched cable news network's motto as misleading. "The Fox claim is a con on the public. ... The network is blatantly unbalanced," MacNeil said. MacNeil accused the network of using patriotism to promote the right wing and Bush administration.

Dockendorf: "Sen. George McGovern, who was in the audience, asked the panelists about the definition of "patriotism" and the increasing unpopularity of those who spoke out against the Iraq war."

Gannon: "George McGovern asked the panel about the definition of "patriotism" and the increasing unpopularity of those who spoke out against the Iraq war."

Dockendorf: "Woodruff said, noting the "deep attacks" felt by Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., when he criticized President Bush heading into the Iraq war."

Gannon: "Woodruff noted the "deep attacks" felt by Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) when he criticized President Bush prior to the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom."

(Message to Randy Dockendorf: Instead of suing Jeff Gannon, Talon News/GOPUSA and owner Bobby Eberle for stealing your work, perhaps they can call Scott McClellan and get him to issue you a White House Press Pass.)

Talon News Plagiarism Archives
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Did Leslie Wetzel use tracing paper when she published "Cleland Heads to Crawford Ranch With Letter to Bush" on Talon News (cache link) on August 26, 2004? It's virtually the same exact article as "Max Cleland Protests Against "Disgraceful" Attacks Against John Kerry's Vietnam Record" written by Jeremy Pelofsky of Reuters ("with additional reporting by Adam Entous") on August 25, 2004: Al Jazeerah cache link.

Leslie: "Dispatched by Kerry to defend his service, former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia and Jim Rassmann, the man who was pulled out of a river in Vietnam by Kerry, arrived at Bush's ranch Wednesday to deliver a public protest against what he called "disgraceful" attacks against fellow Vietnam veteran John Kerry's war service.

Pelofsky: "Former Sen. Max Cleland on Wednesday rolled up to President Bush's ranch in his wheelchair to deliver a public protest against what he called "disgraceful" attacks against fellow Vietnam veteran John Kerry's Vietnam war service."

Leslie: "The letter was also signed by nine senators who served in the military."

Pelofsky: "But Cleland refused to give the letter, signed by nine senators who served in the military."

Leslie: "The Bush campaign sent its own supporters, including a war veteran, to meet Cleland and supporters of Kerry at a security checkpoint just down the road from the entrance to Bush's ranch."

Pelofsky: "The Bush campaign dispatched its own supporters, including a war veteran, to meet Cleland and supporters of the Democratic nominee at a security checkpoint just down the road from the entrance to Bush's secluded ranch."

Leslie: "But Cleland refused to give the letter to Jerry Patterson, a former Marine who now serves as Texas Land Commissioner."

Pelofsky: "But Cleland refused to give the letter, signed by nine senators who served in the military, to Jerry Patterson, a former Marine who now serves as Texas State Land Commissioner."

Leslie: "Patterson had his own letter for Kerry, signed by him and other veterans, that criticized Kerry's anti-war comments after he returned from Vietnam."

Pelofsky: "Patterson had his own letter for Kerry, signed by him and other war veterans, that criticized Kerry's anti-war comments after he returned from Vietnam."

Leslie: "Cleland rolled his wheelchair back and forth across the road and around barricades trying to give the letter to a Secret Service agent, state trooper, or a Bush aide, all of whom evaded him."

Pelofsky: "Cleland rolled his wheelchair back and forth across the road and around barricades trying to give the letter to a Secret Service agent, state trooper or a Bush aide, all of whom evaded him."

Leslie: "White House spokesman Scott McClellan described Cleland's appearance at Crawford as a "political stunt.""

Pelofsky: "White House spokesman Scott McClellan described Cleland's appearance at Crawford as a "political stunt"."

Leslie: "Cleland lost his own 2002 bid in Georgia for reelection to the U.S. Senate after a bitter campaign in which Republicans questioned his patriotism. Cleland lost both his legs and one arm while serving in Vietnam."

Pelofsky: "Cleland lost his own 2002 bid in Georgia for re-election to the U.S. Senate after a bitter campaign in which Republicans questioned his patriotism. Cleland lost both his legs and one arm while serving in Vietnam."

Bobby Eberle's Talon News: All the news that's fit to reprint.

(Update: oops, I did it, too...now where did i hear that line before...ummm...in a post about me written by rising-capital-j-journalist, John Aravosis Talon News - All the news that's fit to reprint?. For the second time in a week: sorry, John...thought it was my funny-funny)

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(Note - Ryan Fenno is the man behind this story. He e-mailed me shortly after I blogged about Steve Roeder's many acts of plagiarism two weeks ago. We've been in constant e-mail contact ever since, and I've invited Ryan to guest blog because there's too much trouble in the world for one man to document (and Duncan spurned my offer). Ryan will be writing the next chapter to this part of the Propagannon Saga, but I'm gonna start it off (but...again...he's the man responsible for spotting yet another Talon News plagiarist...so you better give him credit, blogosphere, or I'm gonna poison pen ya).

Calling David Kravetz of the Associated Press. Have you ever heard of a Leslie Wetzel from Texas? On June 2, 2004 Leslie Wetzel was seen in the vicinity of GOPUSA with what appears to be your words. Are you or the Associated Press going to do something about that? We're all waiting to see.

"Abortion Ban Ruled Unconstitutional" by David Kravetz was published on June 1st, 2004: link. The next day, Leslie Wetzel turned David's hard work into "Judge Overturns Partial Birth Abortion Plan" (cache link) which doesn't sound like the same story but it pretty much is:

Kravetz: "a federal judge declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional Tuesday, saying it infringes on a woman's right to choose."

Wetzel: "Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled on Tuesday that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is unconstitutional and infringes on a woman's right to choose."

Kravetz: "She agreed with abortion rights activists that a woman's right to choose is paramount, and that it is therefore "irrelevant" whether a fetus suffers pain, as abortion foes contend."

Wetzel: "Judge Hamilton agreed with pro-abortion activists that a woman's right to choose is paramount, and that it is therefore "irrelevant" whether a fetus suffers pain."

Kravetz: "The challenge was brought by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the ruling applies to the nation's 900 or so Planned Parenthood clinics and their doctors, who perform about half the 1.3 million abortions done each year in the United States."

Wetzel: "The challenge was brought by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The ruling applies to all of the approximately 900 Planned Parenthood clinics and their doctors, who perform virtually half of the 1.3 million abortions performed each year in the United States."

Kravetz: "Federal judges in New York and Nebraska also heard challenges to the law earlier this year from other abortion-rights forces but have yet to rule."

Wetzel: "Federal Judges in New York and Nebraska have heard cases brought by other abortion-rights groups, but have not ruled."

Kravetz: "Planned Parenthood lawyer Beth Parker welcomed the ruling, saying it sends a "strong message" to the Bush administration "that the government should not be intruding on very sensitive and private medical decisions."

Wetzel: "Beth Parker, attorney for Planned Parenthood, welcomed the ruling, saying that it "sends a strong message" to President Bush and his administration that the government "should not be intruding on very sensitive and private medical decisions.""

Kravetz: "It banned a procedure that is known to doctors as intact dilation and extraction, but is called "partial-birth abortion" by abortion foes."

Wetzel: "The procedure, commonly referred to as partial-birth abortion and by medical organizations as "intact dilation and extraction,""

Kravetz: "Justice Department attorneys argued the procedure is inhumane, causes pain to the fetus and is never medically necessary. A government lawyer told the judge that it "blurs the line of abortion and infanticide.""

Wetzel: "Justice Department attorneys argued the procedure is inhumane, causes pain to the fetus, and is never medically necessary, "blurring the line of abortion and infanticide.""

Kravetz: "Abortion proponents argued, however, that a woman's health during an abortion is more important than how the fetus is terminated, and that the banned method is often safer than a conventional abortion, in which the fetus is dismembered in the womb and then removed in pieces."

Wetzel: "Abortion proponents argue that a woman's health during an abortion is more important than how the fetus is terminated, and that the banned method is often a safer solution than a conventional abortion, in which the fetus is dismembered in the womb and then removed in pieces."

Kravetz: "In her ruling, the judge said it was "grossly misleading and inaccurate" to suggest the banned procedure verges on infanticide."

Wetzel: "Judge Hamilton said in her ruling that it was "grossly misleading and inaccurate" to suggest the procedure verges on infanticide."

Kravetz: "Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, the chief sponsor of the House bill, said the banned abortion method "has no place in a civilized society," and predicted the Supreme Court would decide the outcome."

Wetzel: "Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), the chief sponsor of the House bill, said the banned abortion method "has no place in a civilized society," and predicted the Supreme Court would decide the outcome."

Kravetz: "They warned that the law could be used to ban almost all second-trimester abortions, which account for about 10 percent of all abortions in the United States."

Wetzel: "abortion rights advocates said the law could ban almost all second-trimester abortions, which account for about 10 percent of all abortions in the United States."

(Update: As I was about to hit post on this post based entirely on Ryan's work, I discovered something else myself. It's not just the Associated Press that got ripped off by Wetzel...she also plundered from Fox News.)

It says at this cache link that "Fox News' Anna Stolley, Ellen Uchimiya and The Associated Press contributed to this report" ("Judge Blocks Partial-Birth Abortion Ban") so it must be true:

Fox News: "Racicot said Tuesday's ruling is a "stark reminder" of the choice Americans must make in November when they go to the polls and vote for Bush or Kerry as the next president."

Wetzel: "Racicot added that Tuesday's ruling is a "stark reminder" of the choice Americans must make in November when they go to the polls and vote for Bush or Kerry as the next president."

Fox News: "The ruling applies to the nation's 900 or so Planned Parenthood clinics and their doctors, who perform roughly half of all abortions in the United States."

Wetzel: "The ruling applies to all of the approximately 900 Planned Parenthood clinics and their doctors, who perform virtually half of the 1.3 million abortions performed each year in the United States."

Fox News: "Beth Parker, attorney for Planned Parenthood, welcomed the ruling, saying that it "sends a strong message" to President Bush and his administration that the government "should not be intruding on very sensitive and private medical decisions."

Wetzel: "Planned Parenthood lawyer Beth Parker welcomed the ruling, saying it sends a "strong message" to Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush administration "that the government should not be intruding on very sensitive and private medical decisions.""

Fox News: "Bush-Cheney re-election campaign chairman Marc Racicot said the ruling is a prime example of "why America needs judges who will interpret the law and not legislate from the bench.""

Wetzel: "Bush-Cheney reelection campaign chairman Marc Racicot said the ruling is a prime example of "why American needs judges who will interpret the law and not legislate from the bench.""

(More on Leslie later...and not just more plagiarism...though there will be plenty more of that too)

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Two must read links...if you haven't read them yet. Maybe us bloggers aren't telling anything to the Mainstream Media that they didn't already know.

Civilities.net: Stuck at the Gates.

The Nashua Advocate: Former Daschle Campaign Spokesman Says Media Was Aware Jeff Gannon Had Told Lies About His Identity As Far Back as the Summer of 2003.

(Note - Sometimes even big-headed me forgets to give credit where credit's due. One of my favorite bloggers, Mixter left a comment on my blog a few weeks ago alerting me to the webdems blog which is covered in the Civilities story. She even blogged about it at another favorite blog of mine that's managed to thrive without having to stoop to sending f-word e-mails to prominent bloggers: Watching The Watchers.)

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(Note - Again I want to give credit to bolson who left a diary at Daily Kos which matched Jeff Gannon to comments at White House briefings by ingeniously searching whitehouse.gov for the word "Jeff" and comparing audio clips. But that isn't how I made this connection, I'll show you how I did it at the end of this post. While my way still isn't definitive proof, hopefully someone out there in the blogosphere can do a tivo search or something and find video proof (umm i still haven't seen that Olbermann video that Frank Rich wrote about so maybe it's already been established..if then...whoops)

It's kind of interesting that so many right-wingers (Butt Fumes, Inaccuracy In Media and Impossibly Expensive Republic to rename a few) tried to defend the presence of Jeff Fugazi Gannon of Talon Fugazi News owned by Bobby Fugazi Eberle of GOPFUGAZIUSA, by attacking a real journalist, Helen Thomas, for being just as partisan. Actually, Jeff Gannon has attacked Helen himself for attempting to get between America and the "truth."

Check out this transcript of a White House press briefing conducted by Scott McClellan who seems to prefer the fugazi over the real in his job as a liasson to the press (transcript):

MR. McCLELLAN: Two question a day. Go ahead, Jeff.

Q Thank you.

Q Calhoun. (Laughter.)

Q I have a question.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm coming to you, Helen.

Q Last Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report that shows that Ambassador Joe Wilson lied when he said his wife didn't put him up for the mission to Niger. The British inquiry into their own prewar intelligence yesterday concluded that the President's 16 words were "well-founded." Doesn't Joe Wilson owe the President and America an apology for his deception and his own intelligence failure?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, let me point out that I think those reports speak for themselves on that issue. And I think if you have questions about that, you can direct that to Mr. Wilson.

Q Well, we spent so many weeks here dissecting the 16 words that are now absolutely true. Don't you think --

Q How do you know that?

Q Excuse me, Helen. Don't you think that America deserves the opportunity to have this information brought forward, as well?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I noticed the media reports on this very issue over the weekend.

Q There were very few of them.

MR. McCLELLAN: And I certainly recognize that it was getting a lot of attention previously. But I think the reports speak for themselves on it.

Bolson from DK attributed a second question about Jeff on Taiwan, but I haven't confirmed that yet (using my secret...but I'll leave it to others to seek because I gotta move on to the next story...also...there's a good chance Jeff took these questions directly from a real journalist's newspaper article....that's the Talon News way...so someone check that too), and then finally Helen Thomas, who used to go first, got to ask the last question of the press briefing: "Does the President -- does the United States harbor or hold secret detainees who are not available to the International Red Cross?" But that question was ducked. No surprise.

I know that the question came from the lips of disgraced "newsman" Jeff Gannon because he mentioned it in this article on July 16, 2004: "RNC Blasts Kerry for Continuing to Support Disgraced Diplomat" (cache link).

I'm gonna let every interested blogger in on a secret. Do you want to know how many times a fake-ass news organization like Talon News/GOPUSA got to ask questions during White House Press Briefings, Congressional Briefings and rare-and-oh-so-short Presidential Press Conferences? Then google "told Talon News."

If you want to know how many Republicans are lying when they say they don't know who Bobby Eberle is...then add his name to that same search.

(Note - I'd like to thank Tim Thomas of the New York Knicks for his help in contributing to this post. And...on that note...don't want to brag...bullshit...I do...but, right now, I feel like I'm the Stephon Marbury of bloggers...in more ways than one...third in the league in assists, 20 ppg deserves All Star status and we can dish it out as hard as we can take it)

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If you think I'm the slightest bit upset with Atrios, think again. I think he's quite the man (and blogger) to print my e-mail. Don't compare him to Daniel Okrent. I gave him permission to do whatever he wanted with my tirade (which isn't dissimiliar to many of my posts...so what me worry?).

So what if some of you think I'm a loon. I am, a bit...also...an asshole. But I think this posting by Atrios will be a good thing for our community.

I can take anything. So feel free to scorn me in my comments.

This is the e-mail I sent Atrios yesterday:

Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 12:21:06-0800 (PST)
From: "Ron Brynaert"
Subject: serial plagiarists
To: atrios@comcast.net

Hey...

I know i've been a dick to you...and you also know i've still always hyped up your work...

finally...my work on the talon news plagiarism has been recognized by some major sites...the raw story and americablog.com

but what i really really want is a link on your blog...your blog is always one of my must-reads of the day...even when you wouldn't report on the election irregularities...

i guess there's probably a good chance you'd be linking to me on this story without me writing you...(i don't expect Markos to...thats for sure...and i wouldn't if i were him either...maybe) but even if you don't i'm still gonna be a fan of your work...and a daily reader...and a constant thorn in your side when i get pissed off (lol)

there isn't a website on the internet that i'd rather be linked to than yours....you definitely have been an influence to me

peace
ron brynaert
www.whyareweback.blogspot.com

I'd also like to highlight this comment Atrios left on his blog in response to some of his readers:

"normally all email correspondence is private, but since he said he was going to circulate..."

"More generally, I'm not instapundit. It isn't my job to link to everything. Quite frequently I see that other people have it covered, and don't bother. He probably has a valid gripe about media matters crediting raw story and not him, but I had nothing to do with the piece."

"I don't add people to the blogroll frequently because once I add them I feel like a dick for taking them off, which I feel inclined to do when people don't update for months. And, if my blogroll has 8 million links on it it's rather useless."

I responded with:

"i still think you should add the links atrios...put them on another page...you should link to everyone on our side..so that we can all become stronger on the internet"

thats what the right does...thats why their blogs dominate the top of the truthlaidbear website (not just because the bear is a republican tool)"

This is the Media Matters article that I refer to: Second Talon News reporter lifted passages from other sources without citation. A.S. wrote "Former Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff Gannon (aka James D. Guckert) used Bush administration and Republican National Committee documents and releases in his Talon "news reports" verbatim and without attribution, as Media Matters for America first noted. But Gannon is not the only Talon reporter to lift entire passages from other sources without citation. As the website The Raw Story reported on February 22, "Talon News correspondent Steve Roeder lifted passages, clauses and sentences from stories published by The New York Times, FOX News Channel and Reuters."

I wrote this yesterday:

hey....what about me

It took over two weeks to get the attention of the blogosphere...and I even posted this information about Steve Roeder's plagiarism here at this website right after...but it was ignored.

I believe I even sent an email.

Thanks for almost linking to me, A.S.

Then this today:

But I'm F**king pissed that this hasn't been rewritten to reflect that it was ME that discovered this on February 6th.

MEDIA MATTERS you have some nerve not changing this inaccurate post...

Do I have to waste time blogging about it on my blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If the bigger blogs listened to smaller blogs than this story would have come out two weeks ago. That's my fucking point.

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# posted by Ron Brynaert : 2/23/2005 03:30:00 PM

Since Bobby Eberle knew full well that Jeff Gannon/Guckert was nothing more than another GOPUSA copy-and-paster, and never had access to any "secret file" I believe that the actions of Talon News in exploiting this lie could be considered a conspiracy (again i ain't a lawyer...but hopefully Honest Partisan isn't the only lawyer that reads me) to impede and obstruct an ongoing federal investigation.

On March 9, 2004, Jim Hauser's article "Federal Grand Jury Could Subpoena Talon News Correspondent" (cache link) ran on the Talon News/GOPUSA Websites. Gannon interviewed by Talon News: "I will tell you that the information did not come from inside the administration," Gannon told Talon News. "For something that is supposed to be classified, it seems that this document is easily accessible."

Again. This is another lie. And even if Gannon did confess his plagiarism to the FBI (and I still don't think he did), these words should still be considered an attempt to block a federal investigation, all for the sake of hyping Bobby Eberle's fake-ass news organization.

I'm still working on this...so check this post for updates. Also...I'm going to be starting a second page to hold my talon news/gopusa archives because updating the last one so many times made it a little squirrelly...you might be better off just reading the archives for the month of February instead - link - because some of the posts on that page (especially the Mike Krempasky interview which is very informative) are nearly impossible to read without line breaks.

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(UPDATE - As a reader pointed out on my haloscan, a Daily Kos diary did indeed match Gannon's words precisely to the Wall Street Journal article beforehand. So a shout out to categorically imperative (and The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin and right-leaning blogger Tom Maguire who are linked at this diary: Guckert/Plame: No connection, after all?). His conclusion differs from mine. Categorically and Kagro X believe that Gannon did come clean to the FBI about his plagiarism but I still have my doubts.)

A reader named Margaret e-mailed me a very significant example of out-and-out plagiarism from a real live news organization that may have serious ramifications for ex-"journalist" Jeff Gannon.

No. You can't go to jail for committing the crime of plagiarism. But, in this case, you might be committing a major crime if you lie about it.

During Jeff's interview with Joe Wilson (the former U.S. diplomat whose wife was outed as a CIA operative by conservative writer Robert Novak, a possibly illegal action which is believed to have been prompted by the White House in order to get back at an editorial Mr. Wilson wrote for The New York Times), Mr. Gannon took one of his questions directly from a Wall Street Journal article written by David S. Cloud (WSJ cache and MND link , and in case the latter link disappears here's a cache snapshot taken by Light In The Darkness) and, yes, if it's that internal memo question:

Gannon: "An internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel details a meeting in early 2002 where your wife, a member of the agency for clandestine service working on Iraqi weapons issues, suggested that you could be sent to investigate the reports. Do you dispute that?"

Cloud: "An internal government memo addresses some of the mysteries at the center of the White House leak investigation and could help investigators in the search for who disclosed the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency operative, according to two people familiar with the memo. The memo, prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel, details a meeting in early 2002 where CIA officer Valerie Plame...a member of the agency's clandestine service working on Iraqi weapons issues, suggested at the meeting that her husband...could be sent to Niger to investigate the reports."

Many of us bloggers have wondered why Jeff Gannon danced around the issue of whether or not he had somehow seen an "internal government memo" in an argument about why he was subpoenaed at the Free Republic Website (Justin Raimando even mentioned the WSJ article in this article on Gannon but he didn't quite add it all together) and, after resigning from GOPUSA, in an interview with Editor and Publisher: "I am not going to speak to that. It goes to something of a nature I do not want to discuss."

Jeff's "nature" is that, aside from anything else, he is a plagiarist and he couldn't very well come out and cop to that and admit that he never saw shit.

So if Jeff Gannon really told the FBI agents who came to question him about his perceived involvement in the Plame affair that he couldn't reveal his sources, he committed the serious crime of lying to federal agents since he had no sources, not one. And I'm not a lawyer (nor do I play one on this blog) but I think Jeff might also be committing the crime of impeding a federal investigation.

Will there be futher repercussions? We'll see.

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And then it happens.

John Byrne of The Raw Story wrote an article today which "broke" the news about my posts on the plagiarism of Steve Roeder (Talon News reporter ’serial plagiarist’): "Progressive blogger Ron Brynaert first raised concern about the ‘reporter’s ‘reporting’ Feb. 6 on his blog, “Why Are We Back in Iraq?“, though his findings have received scant attention." Mr. Byrne also turned up another example of Roeder stealing "an identical paragraph" from a Fox News story on Bush's State of the Union speech."

Well, I can't complain about that anymore. Even AMERICAblog.com linked to my blog: "I'm republishing some of WhyAreWeBack's research below, with due credit - please visit their site for the rest of this story and credit THEM and Raw Story for finding this. And, this is only a PORTION of the evidence that blog found. There is literally TWICE this amount of stuff on his Web page, please do check it out."

Even better, one of the heroes of Objection Day, Rep. John Conyers referred to the story in an e-mail today (John again at The Raw Story "Conyers blasts ‘cut and paste’ reporting"): "In an email Tuesday evening, Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) called Jeff Gannon a “stenographer for White House press releases,” and another reporter’s apparent plagiarism “cutting and pasting” reporting. “These new revelations continue to call into question the journalistic credentials of Talon News, and ‘Jeff Gannon,’” Rep. Conyers wrote. “We already know Gannon was a stenographer for White House press releases, and now we know Steve Roeder’s ‘reporting’ consisted of cutting and pasting from the Fox News website,” Conyers added. “Was Talon News really a not so slickly designed conveyer belt for White House propaganda?”"

More conveyor belt cut-and-paste stories coming up from more Talon News/GOPUSA stenographers coming to a url near you real soon. Peace.

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So who fed the conservative guy his questions? I mean he works for an organization that isn't noted for it's originality. They steal their stories from real news organizations (Example 1, Example 2, Example 3) and from Bush Administration and GOP press releases. So who told Jeff Gannon what to say each time he was picked to ask a question at various White House Press Briefings?

Sorry to disappoint so many people on the left. But the answer is simple. Jeff Gannon stole his questions from the same places he stole his stories. From real news organizations and from Bush Administration and GOP press releases.

One sterling example:

On February 9th, 2005, a member at Daily Kos named Bolson posted a diary entitled, "Jeff Gannon's slanted questions" (link) which included this transcript from a White House Press Briefing which he cleverly found by doing a search at whitehouse.com for the word "jeff" (whitehouse.gov):

Jeff: "On Tuesday, the American Enterprise Institute held a media event where a video of Saddam's atrocities was shown. The tape showed fingers being cut off, tongues being cut out, and beheadings. None of the networks showed the tape. And few media outlets even mentioned it. Did anyone in this administration ask that these images not be showed to the American people?"

McClellan: "No, Jeff. But it is important to remind people of the atrocities that Saddam Hussein's regime committed. Saddam Hussein was a brutal oppressive dictator who carried out atrocities over a period of years against his own people and against his neighbors. And it's important that the public --"

Jeff: "Well, how do you explain a virtual media blackout on these horrendous acts, when every single day there are pictures about what American soldiers have done in Iraq when these things are far worse? How is there any explanation for that? Is there somebody in the administration that doesn't want the American people to see that?"

McClellan: "I think you're going to see the Iraqi people hold Saddam Hussein accountable for the atrocities that he committed. We will be turning him over to the Iraqi people to face a tribunal by the Iraqis for the atrocities that you mentioned. And I don't think the Iraqi people will ever let people forget those atrocities. It's important to remember that this was a regime that had mass graves, torture rooms, and rape rooms, and engaged in the kinds of atrocities that no one should stand for."

Jeff: "There is visual physical evidence out there. Why is not being put out there for Americans to see and make their own judgment against?"

McClellan: "Yes, I think I've expressed it from our standpoint. If you're talking about it from the media standpoint, I'll leave it to the media to address those issues?"

So. Where exactly did Jeff Gannon get the far-out (cuckooznest) idea that a Bush Administration official was to blame for the suppression of the Saddam atrocity video?

Would you believe...Richard Perle - the ex-chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee and one of the founders of the Project For A New American Century?

This link is to a transcript of the American Enterprise Institute press conference where the video was shown:

Mr. Perle: "When the question of highlighting what you're about to see has been tossed around, we've heard the view expressed, including by some faint hearts in the administration, that this will be misinterpreted as an effort to obscure what happened in the Abu Ghraib prison when some people departed from all of the rules and customs of the United States in the humiliation of prisoners with which we are all familiar."

I'll wager a guess that one of those "faint hearts" that Mr. Perle is alluding to belonged to a man who once commmanded the military forces in this country unlike anyone else from the neoconservative chickenhawk brigade.

Later, in the press conference Mr. Perle's "faint hearts" were raised by an uncited reporter from Al Jazeera:

Al Jazeera: "My question is for Mr. Perle. You have said that this will be translated by the faint of heart in the administration as a cover-up on Abu Ghraib prison. Who are those people in the administration that were against this, and what's your view on the memos that we have seen in the press in the past two days?

Duck, duck, duck, then goose the Media:

Perle: I don't know enough about the memos to comment on them, and I don't want to say who's faint-hearted within the administration, but it seems to me that what we have seen today should be seen generally. And unless I'm mistaken, none of our networks has seen fit to cover it."

The rest of the question was pretty much derived from this June 16, 2004 article by Deborah Orin, a consummate liar (but at least not a plagiarist) for The New York Post: "Reporting For The Enemy; Media Won't Show Saddam's Evil" (cache link). (Ms. Orin lies in this particular article when she claims that "only four or five reporters showed up for the screening" when the transcript clearly shows at least nine or ten attended):

Orin: "They told of savage scenes of decapitation, fingers chopped off one by one, tongues hacked out with a razor blade...But these awful images didn't show up on American TV news."

Give Orin credit for being more lurid with her imagery. She was also more direct with her feelings on what other news should actually be suppressed:

Orin: "But every TV network has endlessly shown photos of the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib. Why?"

Orin also provided an answer. An answer supplied by Mr. Perle's co-host from that same night, AEI scholar Michael Ledeen, "Because most [journalists] want Bush to lose[.]"

It's nice to see that Jeff Gannon had the decency to at least tone down his question.

Orin didn't ignore Perle's faint-hearted slurs: "It's not just journalists. The Pentagon has lots of Saddam atrocity footage - but is loathe to release it, possibly for fear it would be taken as a crude attempt to blunt criticism of Abu Ghraib."

The next day Jeff filed his story: White House Suggests Media Explain Cover Up of Saddam Atrocity Video By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, June 18, 2004 (I couldn't find a Talon News or GOPUSA link, but aside from this post at Free Republic and this at the GOPUSA sister site Men's News Daily, i also found this Cukooznest cache link):

"White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan denied that the White House had a role in keeping a gruesome video of atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime from the media. When asked by Talon News on Thursday to explain the virtual news blackout of the horrific images of Iraqis being beheaded, tongues being cut out, and fingers being chopped off, McClellan said that he'd "leave it to the media to address those issues.""

Perhaps to return the favor, Jeff Gannon did credit Orin in his piece: "Deborah Orin, Washington Bureau Chief for the New York Post, reported that the New York Times has written 177 stories on Abu Ghraib -- over 40 of them on the front page, but have yet to write a single story about the victims who participated in the AEI event."

But wait one second. Does this Gannon "exclusive" actually contain some real live proof that Talon News may have once actually partaked in some actual journalism?

"Veronique Rodman, a spokesman for AEI, told Talon News that the event was lightly attended, despite their usual process that directly contacts over 40 assignment desks of national news organizations. Rodman did not recall exactly which news agencies sent reporters at the time of the interview, but did mention that Al Jazeera sent a cameraman."

Come on, Jeff, you probably never called on a source anytime during your entire incarnation as a "newsman." That's why there isn't even a direct quote from Mrs. Peter W. Rodman (somewhat off-topic: Rodman "has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs since July 16, 2001" cache link). You knew about the Al Jazeera reporter because it was in the same transcipt that you used for your "research."

I'll give you some credit for the remainder of your article, Jeff. You didn't hide the fact, this time, that you took the words straight from a press release from a Republican Congressman.

Yeah, Jeff, a helluva journalist you were.

My Talon News/GOPUSA Archives

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Thank you, Google, for showing me so much love the past month. If you do a search on gopusa or bobby eberle or bruce eberle or so on...my blog shows up prominently.

IT'S TOO FUCKING BAD THAT THE BLOGGERS THAT HAVE BEEN GOOGLING AND COMING HERE WON'T SHOW ME THE DECENCY OF CITING MY WORK OR FUCKING LINKING TO ME!!!!!

Ironically, my main focus on this story has been the rampant plagiarism of the mainstream media news organizations by Bobby Eberle and his staff. Something that I have unequivocally proven on this blog (and Ryan Fenno and other DUers are also helping me with) but has been ignored by every single blog on the Internet except for The Common Ills, the best blogger that there is.

Double ironically, every blog that has incorporated ideas or theories or links or pictures or exact fucking sentences from me has been linked to on this blog during the course of this story or permalinked on the right.

I blog about the overattention given to a plagiarizing website from the right; meanwhile I get ripped off and ignored by the left. Go figure.

Could you unethical bastards at least spread the news about the fact that GOPUSA lifts from the press? That could help kick this story into overdrive. If I can't get credit for my work...then I at least want what I've dug up to get out.

what a waste of time this continues to be...i've been ripped off by left-leaning bloggers for the last fucking month...but i hate being ignored because...say...i dare to criticize the bigger bloggers.

But then...I ain't the only one being ripped off. Any blogger that doesn't mention Susan G. and her Propagannon team is nothing but a low down thief and a piece of fucking shit.

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This is a hoot: cache link. It's what each and every of the 250,000 - 750,000 subscribers of the many GOPUSA "services" have to agree to, or otherwise "YOU MAY NOT USE THE GOPUSA SITES." (sorry for the caps in this post but i'm trying to respect dr. bobby eberle's wishes since he doesn't like it if you "modify, publish, transmit, display, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works, or in any way exploit the content of the GOPUSA Sites or any portion of it" and though I never signed the agreement I'm willing to agree to the not "modify" part so i'll try to make up for it by cutting the caps from my portion of the "content").

so, in case you're still wondering, gopusa = talon news = millions of americans = whatever other website bobby controls:

"The GOPUSA Sites consist of information services and content provided by GOPUSA.com, Inc. ("GOPUSA"), affiliates of GOPUSA, and third parties."

bobby can do whatever he wants with any "content" you add to his websites or e-mail you send him:

"You hereby grant to GOPUSA and its affiliates worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display any message posted in the Community Areas and/or any e-mail sent by you to GOPUSA (in whole or in part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed."

you can't sue bobby for lying, whether by accident or on purpose:

"YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE COMMUNITY AREAS AND THE GOPUSA SITES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. NEITHER GOPUSA, ITS AFFILIATES NOR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS OR LICENSORS WARRANT THAT THE GOPUSA SITES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; NOR DO THEY MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE GOPUSA SITES OR AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY OR CONTENT OF ANY INFORMATION, SERVICE OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED THROUGH THE SITES OR THE COMMUNITY AREAS."

that means jeff gannon too:

"IN NO EVENT WILL GOPUSA OR ANY PERSON OR ENTITY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING OR DISTRIBUTING THE GOPUSA SITES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THE GOPUSA SITES OR OUT OF THE BREACH OF ANY WARRANTY. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION 5 SHALL APPLY TO ALL CONTENT ON THE GOPUSA SITES AND/OR THE COMMUNITY AREAS."

but just in case you do:

"GOPUSA'S LIABILITY TO USERS, IF ANY, SHALL IN NO EVENT EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY USER TO GOPUSA."

again bobby needs to make sure you know that you can't sue him for lying:

"UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL GOPUSA BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY YOUR RELIANCE ON INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH EITHER THE CONTENT ON THE GOPUSA SITES AND/OR ANY POSTINGS ON THE COMMUNITY AREAS."

even bobby knows his operation employs a bunch of rank amateurs:

"PLEASE SEEK THE ADVICE OF PROFESSIONALS, AS APPROPRIATE, REGARDING THE EVALUATION OF ANY SPECIFIC INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE OR OTHER CONTENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO FINANCIAL, HEALTH, OR LIFESTYLE INFORMATION, OPINION, ADVICE OR OTHER CONTENT."

bobby follows the laws of the state of texas not none of those there laws by any other national or international governing bodies:

"THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INTERNAL LAW OF THE STATE OF TEXAS, WITHOUT REGARD ITS CONFLICTS OF LAW PROVISIONS, AND WITHOUT REGARD TO THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS."

that means you gotta come to texas to file any potential lawsuits:

"YOU AGREE TO FILE AND PROSECUTE ANY CAUSE OF ACTION PERTAINING TO OR ARISING FROM THIS AGREEMENT IN ANY COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION IN HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS, OR THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS - HOUSTON DIVISION, AND CONSENT AND SUBMIT TO THE PERSONAL JURISDICTION OF AND VENUE IN SUCH COURT."

if bobby screwed up somewhere on this agreement and "unintentionally" made you agree to something that may be ruled unlawful, that don't mean the rest of agreement don't still stand:

"If any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement are held by any court of competent jurisdiction to contravene, or to be invalid under, the laws of any political body having jurisdiction over this subject matter, that contravention or invalidity shall not invalidate the entire Agreement."

and in that case, aw heck, just forget we ever mentioned it:

"Instead, this Agreement shall be construed as if it did not contain the particular provision or provisions held to be invalid, the rights and obligations of the parties shall be construed and enforced accordingly, and this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect."

someday soon, bobby:

"GOPUSA shall have the right to terminate this Agreement and/or cease operations at any time."

My Talon News/GOPUSA Archives

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(Note - I originally posted a version of this post on a thread at Democratic Underground started by kohodog (Link), but I decided I should post it here as well especially after reading the post by John Aravosis at Americablog who I've kind of been feuding with - to put it mildly. Anyway, John raises many of the same points that I did...and though I still think he's done a misservice to this story by posting all those photos and making it a big part of his investigation...he does deserve credit for getting the MSM to listen to us bloggers...too bad I can't get the bloggers to listen to me. But...anyway...I'm going to stop dissing John about this. Markos, on the other hand, is still on my shit list...especially because he keeps putting his own sloppy, lazy, and inaccurate posts on the left of his blog instead of the more informed posts of his fellow Kossacks)

Yesterday someone from The New York Times paid a visit to my blog for at least 45 minutes. If it was either Frank Rich (my favorite NY Timeser) or Ralph Blumenthal...judging from both articles in the Sunday Times...I'm not sure Ralph Blumenthal has ever even been on the Internet...much less visited a blog...based on his sloppy, lazy, and inaccurate reporting (Sorry...but you have to register to read these articles: hack Blumenthal and must-read Rich).

This post is about the hack. Mr. Rich hardly ever writes anything that I find fault with. Did I happen to mention that I think Frank Rich is awesome? Oops...did it again.

Blumenthal - "Mr. Eberle said that in the two years that Mr. Guckert worked for him, he had not kept track of his volunteer reporter."

ummm...read the freeper threads, Mr. Blumenthal...Bobby keeps tight tracks of all of his volunteer reporters cause he hypes them up everywhere on the web. There's no way in hell that money never exchanged hands between the two either...(maybe eberle didn't write checks to Mr. GUCKERT but instead gave him cash plundered from baghdad)...

Blumenthal - "Still, he said, the backlash surprised him. "I had no reason to think he was not adhering to professional news standards."

ummmm....professional news standards...bobby's a plagiarizer so is his whole rotten staff...mr. professional news standards Eberle "I don't know if I actually asked about his background and training."

Blumenthal: "Mr. Guckert resigned soon after a news conference when he asked Mr. Bush: "How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?" referring to Senate Democrats. Mr. Eberle said it was not his idea of a proper question. "I would have phrased it differently[.]"

do some research, bloomie.

here...I'll help ya: freeper thread about gannon's question on february 2, 2004 (link: JEFF GANNON (Talon News): Since there have been so many questions about what the President was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard? Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda, denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam? Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam? And did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting? What was he doing after he was honorably discharged?

Later...same thread: Who is this Jeff Gannon guy??? I say he's fired! Ha! Just kidding... Great job Jeff. Bobby Eberle

Blumenthal: "Mr. Eberle also said he had no inkling that Mr. Guckert had created pornographic Web sites or offered himself as a gay escort. Those revelations came in recent accounts in The Washington Post"

um no they didn't bloomie..did you even read those post articles...let alone the blogs that the info came from (not mine...I agree with Frank Rich: "If Mr. Guckert, the author of Talon News exclusives like "Kerry Could Become First Gay President," is yet another link in the boundless network of homophobic Republican closet cases, that's not without interest. But it shouldn't distract from the real question - that is, the real news - of how this fake newsman might be connected to a White House propaganda machine that grows curiouser by the day." I don't care about this aspect of the story...the bigger story is talon news/gopusa.com and its numerous links to the right).

Blumenthal: "Texas Republicans said he was not well known in the party."

ummm...they're lying...that's probably why they spoke off the record...Bobby's been involved and fronted tons of Republican Texan organizations...it was even listed on his bio at his websites..bloomie...he's well well known in the right wing blogosphere...and you've gotta be clueless to think that the party doesn't keep tabs on it's bloggers...just like our party does too

Blumenthal: "Mr. Eberle said he himself got temporary press credentials to attend a White House briefing. "I think I asked a question about a U.N. resolution on Iraq," Mr. Eberle said."

thanks, bloomie, you actually did dig something up new...of course..you useless waste of space...why didn't you take the time to find out what comment that was...im sure hundreds of bloggers are at work at that right now...(I'm about to search myself..won't take long for me...I have a good idea when that question was asked)

I'd like to add one thing...so far...i haven't found any articles in which jeff Gannon plagiarized from the mainstream press...but I've found numerous examples of plagiarism by Bobby Eberle and his other talon writer/volunteers....and here's the 500,000 member question: Why would bobby eberle take control of millions of americans if he wasn't making enough money to pay his "staff"?

My Talon News/GOPUSA Archives

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(Note to new readers and welcome - You might want to skip ahead first and read Part 1 of this interview compiled from a series of e-mails I exchanged with Mike Krempasky, the blogger behind the right-leaning Red State.org, the now defunct anti-Dean DeanforAmerica.biz, and, of course, Rathergate.com)

(Note to Mike Krempasky - You left this at the end of this e-mail: "P.S. I reserve the right to correct any typos if you decide to publish this." Sorry, hope you don't mind but I just decided to post the letters with slight edits instead, Mike. Shitty excuse, but I'm really pressed for time. There really weren't many typos in your e-mails, anyway...way less than there were in mine anyway...and hell i might have asked most of the questions but you did most of the schoolin' peace)

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 00:01:52-0500

Dear Ron,

No need for apologizing for being long-winded, let me see if I can get through these...

"it's too bad that you don't use the power you've achieved to speak out more strongly"

--Probably true - although I'll admit when it comes to full-bore writing, I'm woefully insecure when writing about certain things. Homosexuality, politics, and a Christian response informed by both would certainly be one of them.

"basically my friend got Bruce to send a note to his file to promote it" okay...what exactly does the "file" pertain to...some kind of list that went out to donors or to conservatives in general?...all i knew before i wrote you is that bruce sent a letter to rush limbaugh website (link to letter) promoting it (and yes...it was your friend and cohort in dean.biz ...so i guessing that's part of the file...is this the millions for america file then...with the list of all the conservative media entities etc.?

--Ok, for a quick primer on direct marketing (especially in politics). From the perspective of a marketer, the single most valuable asset is a list. The larger, the more recent (in terms of response), the more detailed (what someone likes, or doesn't), all these increase the value (read: effectiveness) of the list.

In the snail mail world, it's an easy proposition, and one with a 50 year history. Say you're starting an organization devoted to protecting the Ohio River - where do you start? You rent a list of people - say, donors from the Sierra Club, people who bought the Audobon calendar, etc. You'll lose money the first time you rent it - because you're introducing yourself to people who've never heard of you. But in the long run, those people who DO respond (let's say 2 percent) will give to you again and again and again, paying not only for the initial investment but to fund your organization.

Now - if you're talking about a movement in general you can build a really serious list - and if you're in the business of direct mail, then you can have real change. Let's say I have client X who likes gun control (or lack therof) issues, client Y cares about regulations, and client Z cares about tax policy. Over time, you develop data about that list and can target your messages or appeals. As you know, not only is the "unsubscribe" from a snail mail list unweildy - it's almost a nonfactor as people don't even think they can.

Now - fast forward to email. Same method applies - and it's one I'm familiar with. Say you start 5 websites, all organized around different issues or candidates, but loosely in the same movement. At each site, you offer people the chance to sign up for updates, subscriptions, etc. Over time, you end up with a really large "conservative" or "liberal" list with many subsets that you can use to either commercialize or just drive activism.

In the case of the Dean site...

Basically, my buddy who worked for Bruce asked if he could send an email to the big email file introducing the site and the petition, etc., and he graciously let us.

I don't think what direct marketers do is wrong at all - and I think you'll agree if you take a second to think about it from the perspective of a consumer.

1) I get an email about something I care about - and it gives me a chance to take some brief action to make a difference - writing a note to my Congressman, etc. Now, I didn't know about that awful bill in Congress before today - do I want more of this kind of information? Ok, I'll opt-in to this list.

2) Next week, I hear about a great young candidate running for office in my state, but not someplace where I can go stuff envelopes - so I click and give $25. This is really useful, I'm getting information I can use. Or, that I can ignore.

3) Now - let me say, you HAVE to do this above board - namely make it clear that someone is signing up for more information, and make it clear (and follow through!) how they can remove themselves.

Basically, this is the way marketing has worked in the commercial world as well as the political one for decades - and both our sides have made great use of it to push for our ideals.

I highly disagree with you about bloggers and politics - I think it's a great thing to have people actively involved and publicly adding to the fray of politics, but that's probably a longer discussion.

As far as GOPUSA - I'll defend them on principle, mostly because I believe in the value of ideological reporting. Everyone has their own views - and I'd rather they come right out and share it instead of insulting our intelligence by pretending they have none.

In the case of GOPUSA and Talon News - I'm not at all angered or threatened by the idea of people trying to start what is essentially the news version of a garage band - starting with no money or credibility and putting forth an effort to compete. They can sink or swim based on what people want.

As far as rewriting materials or information - while that might *seem* a little suspect, consider this - some people WANT their news slanted, and if some folks out in Nowhere, USA really want to know exactly what the WH said and don't really care what Helen Thomas said - is that any worse than the same person really only interested in the Democratic Radio address every week?

"Strictly speaking...I'm not 100 % convinced that the dean website you set up isn't a part of the eberle plan...because i can't see why else he would push it..."

--as I mentioned, it was a favor that he did - knowing we'd do good things with it (ie, smacking dear Howard for a few months)

"and you did have a place for people to register on the site....did you recieve any monies for being on that file...or did you send any lists of --people to mfa or the gop or anywhere else?"

--Yes, people could register, sign a petition, even contribute to the costs of the site. If Dean hadn't melted down it might have actually worked. In the end, it flopped along with Howard. No, we didn't give that list to anyone. Not to say that had it been successful we wouldn't have made it available to causes or groups we wanted to help, but when people signed up that was made clear. And in the end, it was a moot point.

"also...why was your dean website set up as a .biz instead of a .com or even a .org? I don't know too much about that...but doesn't .biz indicate business? what business was the website supposed to be?also...as far as i could tell so far the site only lasted two months...did it run longer...and when did you wipe it away from the internet and why? that site would probably come in handy right now wouldn't it...chuckle...i like dean but i'm skeptical about all politicans so we'll see)"

--We chose www.deanforamerica.biz because it was the only domain extension left that could parody the offical Dean site. The original goal was to build a file of dedicated anti-Dean folks (inside and out of the Democratic party) to use in case he won the nomination. Unfortunately for me, he took a crap in Iowa.

The site only lasted for two months because Dean flamed out in Iowa. I think I registered the site in December of 03 - as far as it being wiped, the domain expired about two months ago. Would it have been nice to keep? Maybe - but not that domain, it was too tied to the Dean campaign - but I've had a few invitations to start a new Howard Dean site more suited to his Chairmanship.

"mmm...you wrote bruce "sold" the millions for america website to bobby...that's different from what I've learned....where did you learn this...and for how much..."

--I had heard the term "sold" - I don't remember where, but it's also been described as a merger - but that's just a distinction of terms common in the business world. I'm not privvy to any details regarding the details of that sale, nor would I share them with you if I had it. Nothing personal, but if I knew that it would most likely be in confidence that I would have learned of it.

"and as far as bobby and bruce....are they cousins...what kind of distant relatives...and is don eberle (or eberly) who works for the admin related to either one of them or both? and how do you know their relationship...if you barely know them..."

--As far as I know, and what I've been told - they aren't even cousins. When the original sale/merger was announced, I asked the very same question at the time and was told so. I barely know Bruce, I trade emails with Bobby from time to time. We're loosely colleagues - in that we both work generally in online conservative politics/information tech. I've vaguely heard of a Don Eberle/Eberly but I can't place it nor comment on it.

"also...have you ever had any dealing with renew america?"

--Nope. When I was in college I worked to bring Alan Keyes to my campus to speak about politics and the pro-life issue, but that's about the last time I did anything remotely connected to Keyes.

"and - off topic - how about Ricky Vandal...I haven't checked your sites to see if you've linked to him...but I'm sure he's asked...because he's been everywhere else and pretty much everywhere else linked to either his i love jenna bush or john kerry new soldier blogs....or are you just that much ethical than the other guys that you looked into him and saw that he was a fruitcake."

--I can't say I'm really that familiar with him. I think I saw some lefties linking to him and going hysterical - I just thought his site stunk, wasn't very funny nor informative. (I'm a tremendous fan of mocking sarcasm, as long as it's smartly done) So no, I don't think I've ever linked to anything he's ever written - but in this world of pseudonyms...who knows? ;)

Best,
Mike

(YEP...there's a part 3 still to come...I'm working on a few other stories...so it will be a few days before I post more of it...I just thought it was important to get out more information about the Bruce Eberle and Bobby Eberle "are they related" side story...peace)

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(As per my rights due to the Fair Use Doctrine, I'm going to show more than I normally show from a thread at the Free Republic Website...since most of the Freepers that commented on this disturbing - to say the least (fucking low down, shameful and despicable to say the most) - bit of promotion come off looking pretty well (plus this is how Freepers feel about it: Fair Use Thread)...I hope the only one that will be pissed off is Dr. Bobby Eberle, plagiarist and hirer of plagiarists, a guy who did all he could to go for the gold after one of the worst days in America's history)

One month after September 11, 2001, Bobby Eberle posted an article at his "activist" Website entitled "GOPUSA requests viewer input on eagle photo for possible poster." So far, I haven't been able to turn up a working cache of the posted article but at a quarter after noon on that very same day a Freeper by the name of callisto posted something about it at the Free Republic Website (one month after 9/11) in the News/Current Events section then bumped it to the top (bttp) five times in the next five minutes (my comments appear in paranthesis):

GOPUSA requests viewer input on eagle photo for possible poster gopusa.com ^ 10.11.01 gopusa

Posted on 10/11/2001 12:14:00 PM PDT by callisto

GOPUSA has this beautiful pic up:

They are taking email responses to let them know what we think of it.

respond to eagle@gopusa.com

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events KEYWORDS:

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(Obviously callisto knew enough about the site to learn something about keeping a thread alive. Interestingly, callisto had just joined the Free Republic Website a few days earlier on October 5, 2001 (flag profile). But in the hundreds of posts that callisto has written over the last three-and-a-half years, Bobby's Websites were never mentioned again, at least I couldn't find any.)

(It didn't take long for a few Freepers to notice that Bobby's eagle had hair.)













I have to agree with you: we all beat up the RATS for doing a fundraiser in the name of "honoring" firefighters up in New Hampshire last week. It's a really nice poster, but seems a bit exploitative to me as well.

My Talon News/GOPUSA Archives

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Are you reading my blog? It sure seems like it.

While all the other bloggers focus on Jeff Gannon (James Guckert), I've been busy proving that the "journalists" who work for Talon News are nothing but plagiarists.

Including you.

A few days ago, I mentioned that since Gannon left the "news organization" nearly all of the "stories" at Talon News either carried no byline or were "written" by you: "You see, the Talon News style of journalism consists of plagiarizing from the work of real journalists and mixing it up with exact quotes from administration speeches and official government press releases. Bobby steals lines and quotes from the mainstream media, removing any "liberal" slant, and sends it out to his Websites and subscribers so that they can read only "good news."

Yesterday, I noticed that none of your Talon News "stories" carried bylines. Today, I noticed that there are no new Talon News "stories."

You might think that any publicity is good publicity but you're going to be in a shitload of trouble when word gets out to Reuters, the Associated Press, Fox News, The New York Times and the rest of the mainstream media that you've been stealing from them "liberally."

One more question, Dr. Bobby.

Did you earn your Ph.D. in mechanical engineering by cheating and copying off of your classmates? Just wondering.

My Talon News/GOPUSA Archives

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Later tonight, I'll be posting a story about yet another Talon News "journalist" who is nothing more than a damn, dirty plagiarist. The story will also connect some dots to some of the last few stories I wrote.

I've gotten some wonderful help from a fellow DUer on this story (I couldn't have done it without him...thanks Ryan!). That said....I NEED HELP...if you want to lend a hand to this investigation (which is completely different from the hundreds of other ones going on across the Net...if you've been following it here and there)...please send me an e-mail (ronbrynaert@yahoo.com) and I'll assign you something to work on (I especially need help...compiling examples of plagiarism by Talon News journalists) or if you have ideas of your own...let me know.

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to post part 2 of the interview with Mike Krempasky...but it should be up by late Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

My Talon News/GOPUSA Archives

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This is an interview compiled from a series of e-mails I exchanged with Mike Krempasky (the man behind such blogs as the right-leaning Red State.org, the now defunct anti-Dean DeanforAmerica.biz, and the notorious Rathergate.com...a few weeks ago Krempasky joined the staff of the now irrelevant Easongate.com...sigh...and all we have is Jeff Gannon, the Conservative Guy, to show for our side, while - say - Judith Miller gets to keep doing what she does better than anyone: shill and lie) , this past Sunday, February 13th, in regards to a post I wrote which tied him with GOPUSA.com.

Instead of reformatting or revising it, I've decided to post the gist of the e-mails as they were written, mostly minus the boring, repetitive or off-topic parts. I've also removed some parts of a short discussion about a link that I had to delete from my blog due to privacy reasons. The only thing I added were proper salutations so that it's easier to read.

Aside from assisting the left-leaning grassroots blog investigation of the Eberles, Talon News and GOPUSA, I hope this dialogue also shows that two bloggers with completely opposite political leanings can get together - once in a while - without trying to strangle one another or defame the other's mother. Once in a while, at least.

This post is not meant to endorse a future world where left and right bloggers behave like phoney-baloney pundits on make-believe talk shows who smile, play nice, issue carefully composed sound bites, and dance jigs for the viewing audience; the blogs would suck in that world. But, you know, us bloggers - and our readers that leave or don't leave comments - could gain an awful lot of...I don't know...something if we could somehow team-up against the...I don't know...mainstream media: our mutual...I don't know...something.

(Oh. I'd like to add that I'm not directly responsible for the title of this post; blame that on the Manchurian Moleman)

Dear Ron,

"Bobby and Bruce aren't related (at least not close enough to merit mention). When GOPUSA purchased MillionsOfAmericans.com, it was a happy coincidence that they shared the last name - that's why Bruce introduced Bobby with the phrase (this is from memory, so forgive me if it's not precise), "you might say he's part of the Texas clan of Eberles." Much as I might say there's a West Virginia clan of Krempaskys (I think there might actually, be - but I've no idea how far removed they are)."

Yes, GOPUSA ran (with no pay, btw) an op-ed I wrote (btw, I'd like to hear your thoughts about that piece, I didn't think it was all that ideological), and Bobby Eberle wrote an article about the Rathergate effort. I'm not terribly sure if that's nefarious. For what it's worth, I remembered the op-ed after the original Gannon post and mentioned it in the comments of that thread.

Oh - and on the DU flowchart, I'm afraid it's awfully flawed. I've tried to correct it several times, but to no avail.

1) I worked for Morton Blackwell until late summer, 2003 - NOT 2002.

2) I attended the Florida Recount, but was never in Miami-Dade (where the so-called "riot" happened) - I was in Broward County with a brief stop in West Palm Beach. The wierd connection between myself and Roger Stone is fiction - I've never met him - not once. Some over eager googler at DU screwed up and found this page (The Agitator) - and conflated the quote, "I'm currently using Roger Stone's email system" - which is clearly by someone else, with my name in Radley's blogroll. Very strange indeed.

I met Bobby Eberle for the first time this summer at the National Republican Convention in New York City.

I think I met Bruce Eberle two or three years ago, have probably seen him four or five times at various functions, etc. since then and I once had a buddy that worked at his company. I highly doubt Bruce would recognize me from Adam.

p.s. I would be curious to know what the link you had to take down was. No worries, just curious.

Dear Mike,

Thanks for writing me. Since you read enough of my blog (gotta love those site counters) to see that I don't demonize all Republicans (like many other lib bloggers do)...I gotta run right now...but I'll respond later to everything you brought up...but here's a few answers and questions:

I removed the link because...number one...i was stupid....and number two...i didn't realize your phone number and other personal data were listed...and I would never do that to anyone (even ricky vandal)...i'd post work phone numbers if the post depended it...such as the office phone number for a politician or a journalist...but no matter how much I detest someone (and from what I've read of your work...you seem to be not half bad...though we probably don't agree on much of anything).

I've been blogging about right-leaning bloggers who put up fraudulent websites...so that's what ive been looking into on your end. But earlier I found caches of your discontinued dean blog...and it really isn't the same kind of animal as the others...once a person got to the blog...it was kind of obvious that it wasn't pro-dean

As far as your relationship with Bruce Eberle....since I know what he does...or at least i have an idea of what he does...perhaps you can explain why he was promoting your anti-dean blog.

And another question...since you seem to be forthright... did your dean blog (or any other blog you 've written at) use "polling wizard" software?

Peace

Ron Brynaert

ps - I'm not like Daniel Okrent...I don't post letters without getting permission...although sometimes i might put something in my blog from an email without revealing who sent it. Are you giving me permission to write about this correspondence? You have my permission to do whatever you like with what I write you.

Dear Ron,

You should generally feel comfortable to publish what I write you, unless of course it's clear I was drunk during the typing.

Ah - I remember about Eberle and the Dean site. Funny story - the Dean site was really just a weekend project that I and a friend (who at the time worked for Eberle on the whole MillionsOfAmericans thingy.) As you can tell - it was really, really poorly planned thanks to Howard's screen and subsequent meltdown.

Basically my friend got Bruce to send a note to his file to promote it - that's about it. (BTW, Bruce got out of the email activist business when he sold it to Bobby Eberle - Bruce's primary business is direct mail, and he's very good at it)

I've never heard of "polling wizard" but if it's a center-right company producing technology, I can probably help you track it down. The Dean blog was powered by a combination of Movable Type and a software called "grasswave."

I appreciate the time - and thanks for the "not half bad" comment. Sharp elbows are fine, as long as they can raise a toast just as easily at the end of the day - a lesson lost on the Freepers and the Kossacks both.

Dear Mike,

(just to warn you...I'm a longwinded mofo...so i hope i don't take too too much of your time)

I wrote "not half bad"...but the comment you left on my blog about Alan Keyes was awesome...it really makes me feel (I'm trying to think of a word to use...but all i can think of is -) safer to hear from Republicans that are more free-thinking and able to not act entirely partisan....

it's too bad that you don't use the power you've achieved to speak out more strongly...though I've only spent a little time reading your articles (the picture of the blogosphere taking down cnn was funny...only that power only applies to the right side of the blogosphere...of course...if our side wasn't so petty and more organized and weren't sometimes just as hypocritical as your side (especially with the jeff gannon thing...what Markos wrote about daily kos was pretty fed up...especially when he ignored the story for two weeks until that "storyline" popped up...im gonna blog about that soon...

I thought the picture of jeff in his shorts was funny i admit...but many of the blogs went overboard with it...I don't think they meant to be harmful but it doesn't matter...then they had the nerve to criticize the media for focusing on that element...i think since he wrote articles like "john kerry would be the first gay president" his personal sex life is something that's relevant...but not something to harp on...and especially not when all you got is a few domain names and a picture.) not all the kossacks are assholes just the ones who get to write on the front page...soon they'll learn that there are better places to go.

One of the most embarrassing byproducts of this story is the congressman and the democrats.com petition asking for an investigation on gay prostitions in the white house....my god...that's a pathetic reach.

OKAY...enough with the niceties....chuckle...

"basically my friend got Bruce to send a note to his file to promote it" okay...what exactly does the "file" pertain to...some kind of list that went out to donors or to conservatives in general?...all i knew before i wrote you is that bruce sent a letter to rush limbaugh website promoting it (and yes...it was your friend and cohort in dean.biz ...so i guessing that's part of the file...is this the millions for america file then...with the list of all the conservative media entities etc.?

(to break in here...i believe in freedom of speech very strongly...but I don't like propaganda or shilling for the government or anything like that...hence part of my beef with markos, jerome armstrong and matt stoller...i don't think bloggers or journalists should be involved with political groups...but this gopusa-talonnews thing is pretty fucking diabolical....it's not a real news site...it plagiarizes from the media and copys and pastes government releases....just yesterday one uncredited article (which im gonna assume is bobby eberle) was just a rewrite of a laura bush speech.

Now...Bruce uses polling wizard software to collect information and data from people when they go to websites and fill out petitions or sign up for newsletters or etc so that he can put them on lists which he probably sells and uses for his fundraising purposes....I think this is wrong...too...and I'm sure a lot of free-thinking republicans will agree with that....im not really interested in "stopping it" just exposing it...since I haven't discovered any laws broken yet...unless there are laws about collecting names for fundraising purposes under false pretenses...but hey im a lefty who isn't so wild about George Soros throwing around so much money on our side either...

Unlike other blogger who are just talking about jeff gannon...i really don't see much there...i don't think there is an administration-gopusa link as much as there is a gopusa-gop link...sure it's weird how jeff gannon got his daily pass using a phoney name...sure it's obvious that talon news was set up because jeff from gopusa would be too blatant.

Strictly speaking...I'm not 100 % convinced that the dean website you set up isn't a part of the eberle plan...because i can't see why else he would push it...and you did have a place for people to register on the site....did you recieve any monies for being on that file...or did you send any lists of people to mfa or the gop or anywhere else?

also...why was your dean website set up as a .biz instead of a .com or even a .org? I don't know too much about that...but doesn't .biz indicate business? what business was the website supposed to be? also...as far as i could tell so far the site only lasted two months...did it run longer...and when did you wipe it away from the internet and why? (you might not have been prescient enough to guess that the moderate section of the democratic party would be able to derail dean's campaign...that scream was amplified just like the boos at the oscars when michael moore won for columbine...and it's gotta be the most ridiculous thing to ever take down a candidate as im sure you'd agree...if that happened to george bush you guys would go nuclear.....

but back to point..that site would probably come in handy right now wouldn't it...chuckle...i like dean but i'm skeptical about all politicans so well see)

Hmmmm...you wrote bruce "sold" the millions for america website to bobby...that's different from what I've learned....where did you learn this...and for how much...

and as far as bobby and bruce....are they cousins...what kind of distant relatives...and is don eberle (or eberly) who works for the admin related to either one of them or both? and how do you know their relationship...if you barely know them...

also...have you ever had any dealing with renew america?

and - off topic - how about Ricky Vandal...I haven't checked your sites to see if you've linked to him...but I'm sure he's asked...because he's been everywhere else and pretty much everywhere else linked to either his i love jenna bush or john kerry new soldier blogs....or are you just that much ethical than the other guys that you looked into him and saw that he was a fruitcake.

My Talon News/GOPUSA Archives

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