4 charged in phone scheme at La. senator's office

[dbcooper41]

http://www.wral.com/news/national_world ... y/9242854/

PBS contacted by fake Muslim group that duped NPR :: WRAL.com

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — PBS says it was contacted by the same fake Muslim group that arranged a meeting with an NPR executive and secretly videotaped him calling the tea party racist.

PBS spokeswoman Anne Bentley said Wednesday that they had an initial
conversation with the Muslim Education Action Center but had concerns about the group. She says a PBS executive was contacted, but when PBS couldn't confirm the organization's credentials, they halted discussions.

The Muslim Education Action Center is tied to conservative activist James O'Keefe. He posted a video online Tuesday of NPR executive Ron Schiller meeting with the fake Muslim group. The tape led to the resignation of NPR's chief executive, Vivian Schiller.

i kinda feel like the fact that o'keefe is still sucking air strongly suggests he has powerful friends in slimy places.

[crikkett]

i kinda feel like the fact that o'keefe is still sucking air strongly suggests he has powerful friends in slimy places.

May I use that most excellent comment?

[justdrew]

http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/9242854/

PBS contacted by fake Muslim group that duped NPR :: WRAL.com

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — PBS says it was contacted by the same fake Muslim group that arranged a meeting with an NPR executive and secretly videotaped him calling the tea party racist.

PBS spokeswoman Anne Bentley said Wednesday that they had an initial
conversation with the Muslim Education Action Center but had concerns about the group. She says a PBS executive was contacted, but when PBS couldn't confirm the organization's credentials, they halted discussions.

The Muslim Education Action Center is tied to conservative activist James O'Keefe. He posted a video online Tuesday of NPR executive Ron Schiller meeting with the fake Muslim group. The tape led to the resignation of NPR's chief executive, Vivian Schiller.

i kinda feel like the fact that o'keefe is still sucking air strongly suggests he has powerful friends in slimy places.

what?! of course he does, but he doesn't need protection anyway. No one's going to go after him. No one gives enough of a shit to actually do anything about him, anyway, that would be illegal and immoral.

This little piece of human garbage is going to live to be 100 and rich.

[Nordic]

He'll have a loooooooong career at Fox News.

[JackRiddler]

.

The ACORN videos are revealed as a hoax, by now the corporate media know it too even if they still report the "pimp" lie. His crew was caught wiretapping a senator's office and it turned out they had a rat's nest of on-campus CIA and neocon foundation connections. He's got an established history as a white supremacist activist. He got exposed planning some kind of rape scare, or was it a real rape, of a CNN reporter, no less. He ruined that Jersey teacher's life for nothing. Now this, which is really a joke. The "damage" is entirely self-inflicted by NPR for not giving O'Keefe's video the same due they would to some asshole harrassing them on the phone for being commie muslim lovers, because that's the equivalent as far as revealing anything newsworthy or "controversial."

Instead they fall each over each other to apologize to the Tea Party lest any of them feel insulted. You can't even call the NPR execs spineless, that's a slur on the relative structural integrity of jellyfish. Obviously they should have attacked O'Keefe and stood their ground on the right of their fundraiser to say whatever the fuck he pleases at a private dinner. Why do they give the demented nazi pervert O'Keefe the power to ruin them? And what the fuck will this little dick have to do before there is an end to his reign of juvenile terror?

I think what we all believe is that if we don't have Muslim voices in our schools, on the air - I mean it's the same thing we faced as a nation when we didn't have female voices.

The current Republican party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian. I wouldn't even call it Christian; it's this wierd evangelical kind of move.

The current Republican party is not really the Republican party, it's been hijacked by this group; that is, not just Islamaphobic but really xenophobic. I mean, basically, they are, they believe in sort of white, middle American, gun toting -- I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people.

Now, I'll talk personally - as opposed to wearing my NPR hat. It feels to me that there is a real anti-intellectual move on the part of a significant part of the Republican party. In my personal opinion, liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives.

Well, to me, this [Egypt] is representative of the thing that I, uh, I guess I am most disturbed by and disappointed by in this country; which is that the educated, so-called 'elite' in this country is too small a percentage of the population, so that you have this very large, uneducated part of the population, that, that carries these ideas.

It's, it's much more about this type of anti-intellectualism than it is about a political. A university, also by definition, is considered in this country to be liberal, ah, even though it's not at all liberal. It's liberal because it's intellectual -- pursuit of knowledge and that is traditionally something that Democrats have funded and Republicans have not funded.

So, particularly Republicans play off of the belief among the general population that most of our funding comes from the Government. Very little of our funding comes from the Government; but, they act as though all of it comes from the Government.

It's about 10% of the total station economy. The total station economy is about $800 million a year; and about $90 million comes from the Federal Government.

Well, frankly, it is very clear that we would be better off in the long run without Federal funding. And the challenge right now is that if we lost it altogether, we would have a lot of stations go dark.

Speaking to why he felt that way: I think for independence, number one. Number two is that our job would be a lot easier if people weren't confused -- because we get Federal funding, a lot of Americans, a lot of philanthropists actually think we get most of our money from the Federal government; even though NPR, as you know gets 1% and the station economy, as a whole, gets 10%.

NPR would definitely survive and most of the stations would survive.

Speaking of Zionist influence at NPR: I don't actually find it at NPR; the zionist or pro-Israel even among funders. No. I mean it's there in those who own newspapers, obviously; but no one owns NPR. So I, actually, I don't find it ... Right, because I think they are really looking for a fair point of view and many Jewish organizations are not. And frankly, many organizations, I'm sure there are Muslim organizations that are not looking for a fair point of view. They're looking for a very particular point of view and that's fine. We're not one of them. I'm gathering that you're not, actually.

And even around the Juan Williams issue, we had a very long discussion and they all agreed in the end -- well of course you had to fire [Juan Williams]; but why they won't say that? [shaking his head] In all of the uproar, for example around Juan Williams, what NPR did, I'm very proud of and what NPR stood for is non-racist, non-bigoted, straightforward telling of the news.

Our feeling is that if a person expresses his or her opinion, which anyone is entitled to in a free society, they are compromised as a journalist. They can no longer fairly report. And the question that we asked internally was - Can Juan Williams, when he makes a statement like he made, can he report to the Muslim population and be believed? And the answer is no. He lost all credibility and that breaks your basic ethics as a journalist.

This is a witch-hunt. You may not even think the truth (a small part of it, in this case) about the "Tea Party." And NPR apologizes, and since this Schiller is gone, the CEO who had nothing to do with this talk must fall on her sword? Fuck NPR, obviously. What a joke.

.

[justdrew]

yeah, it's absolutely crazy. they totally legitimize him. it's crazy.

ya know what would probably work... get him on video purchasing stolen property. but hey, you know no DA would press charges. so why bother?

[Nordic]

Really, you guys are surprised that NPR would legitimize this guy?

Have you been listening to NPR the past, oh, ten years or so?

They're doing their job, which is to legitimize ALL of that right-wing shit. That's what they do every damn day.

[justdrew]

Really, you guys are surprised that NPR would legitimize this guy?

Have you been listening to NPR the past, oh, ten years or so?

They're doing their job, which is to legitimize ALL of that right-wing shit. That's what they do every damn day.

yeah. I gave up on npr in 2005. even if they were just trying to "please everybody" they've just moved to a mythical unpopulated 'center' - and they rarely seem to respond to any push from the other side. Anyway we know the place has been run by such luminaries as past voice-of-america ceo's etc. totally compromised at the top level, going way back.

[JackRiddler]

Really, you guys are surprised that NPR would legitimize this guy?

Hardly. But we're not talking about an assault on the election-stealing poor black people at ACORN, the unionized communist teachers with their America-hating gay agenda, or the Muslim-loving foreigner Dixiecrats like Landrieu. Sure, NPR reports O'Keefe actions as though they were he-said-she-said news. But now we're talking about NPR itself.

I am surprised that when he went after NPR, at a time when his movement is trying to kill it dead just as they killed ACORN, all he had to do to get the NPR executives to jump off the top floor, set a fire in the boiler room, and cry hysterically as they confess their kitten-killing and well-poisoning to the commissars at the Maoist auto-da-fe was... to glance at them. They skipped the part where he catches them doing anything, or makes something up. It was enough that he published a video of something, even though it was clearly nothing.

.

[dbcooper41]

any chance this is evidence of "conspiracy to commit fraud"? though as has been pointed out he's obviously being protected from prosecution by something.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/09/ ... index.html

[justdrew]

well, look, I think the whole thing was a setup. That CEO jackass probably wanted to leave anyway, and setup the appointment. Has the person on the video even been heard from? We know these fucking rightwing assmonkeys have moles in every fucking walk of life, they riddle NPR with moles no doubt. If say, I wanted to meat with this executive of NPR guy do you really think I and my group would be able to get some meeting just by asking? IT was a setup and someone needs to piece it together and figure out who's finger prints were on it. How did this appointment get made would be a place to start.

[Nordic]

yup, agreed 100 percent.

like everything else, this is all for show. also furthers their agenda of course but one of the biggest lies out there is that npr is "liberal media". this just helps perpetuate that myth.

[eyeno]

i kinda feel like the fact that o'keefe is still sucking air strongly suggests he has powerful friends in slimy places.

James O’Keefe Is A Council for National Policy And Leadership Institute Trained Whore Of The Priest Class Elite


Roguegovernment.com
By Lee Rogers
March 9th, 2011

James O’Keefe the character who has generated a great deal of media attention for secretly recording compromising audio and video of people affiliated with so-called left leaning organizations has had close historical ties to the Council for National Policy linked Leadership Institute.

O’Keefe got his start in media during his time at Rutgers where he founded the Rutgers Centurion a right-wing oriented newspaper from a grant provided to him by the Leadership Institute. The Leadership Institute was founded by Morton Blackwell a long time member of the Council for National Policy which is a secretive right-wing networking organization whose membership consists of many in the mainstream religious and political elite.

The purpose of the Leadership Institute is to identify and train young conservatives so they can be placed in positions throughout politics, government and media. People like Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence are alumni of the Leadership Institute indicating the organization’s influence amongst the right wing of the phony mainstream political system.

After O’Keefe graduated from Rutgers, he would go work for the Leadership Institute where he traveled to colleges training students on how to start up conservative newspapers.

O’Keefe would soon begin secretly capturing audio and video of people associated with various left wing organizations catching employees of groups like Planned Parenthood and ACORN making embarrassing statements. His work has largely been used to continue promoting the divide and conquer mindset of the false left versus right political paradigm and getting people fighting over Republican versus Democrat ideologies. He has even been praised by right-wing propagandists like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and others.

It was due to these activities that Blackwell claims they parted ways with O’Keefe because they were afraid that the Leadership Institute would lose their tax exempt status as a result. Of course, it is highly doubtful that O’Keefe is making a living doing what he claims is independent muckraking and shooting hidden video footage.

It is almost 100% certain that he is working with somebody close to the establishment considering his association with Blackwell and others in the Republican mainstream. O’Keefe’s videos would not be covered as extensively as they have on major media outlets over the past several years if he were doing this reporting out of the kindness of his heart. O’Keefe is an obvious operative of some kind otherwise his videos would have never gotten this amount of attention by the corporate media whores that present false realities to the masses.

O’Keefe has also been at the center of the recent National Public Radio or NPR scandal where he shot hidden video footage of NPR executive Ron Schiller making controversial comments about Christians, Jews, Republicans and Tea Party members. Since NPR is a publically funded media organization, this has made it quite easy for the corporate media to stage a false left versus right debate with this story. What’s really odd about this whole situation is that Schiller was getting ready to leave NPR in order to take a position at the Aspen Institute a globalist think tank funded by the Ford Foundation and the Rockefellers.

Among the board of trustees at the Aspen Institute is Dave H. Koch who is a huge supporter of Tea Party related causes. This raises questions about the entire NPR scandal being staged for the purposes of public consumption. The timing of this footage coming out just as Schiller was getting ready to leave NPR for a group that has affiliations with Tea Party funder David H. Koch is another indication that this event was completely staged. O’Keefe claims he has additional video footage which he has yet to release, which means we can count on this circus surrounding NPR, Schiller and O’Keefe to go on for quite some time.

Last year, news outlets reported a failed attempt by O’Keefe to lure CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau onto a boat that is said to have been filled with sex devices. On the boat, O’Keefe planned to make sexually suggestive comments towards her while everything was being filmed secretly. It was an obvious attempt by O’Keefe to try to shoot what could have been potentially embarassing video footage of her. This type of encounter indicates clearly that O’Keefe is some sort of deranged pervert.

O’Keefe has also been involved in other high profile scandals including his arrest on felony charges for interfering with the telephone system of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu. O’Keefe was sentenced to three years probation, community service and forced to pay a fine.

It is also funny to see how the media outlets O’Keefe has founded both have veiled references to Rome. The Rutgers newspaper he founded as mentioned previously is the Rutgers Centurion and a Centurion was a Roman military rank. His web site is called TheProjectVeritas.Org which is interesting considering that Veritas is Latin for “Truth” and Latin was of course the language spoken in Ancient Rome.

Although Latin is considered to be a dead language of sorts, it is still spoken by many members of the clergy. His use of this terminology could very well be a sick joke as he openly declares his alliegance to the priest class elite.

Long story short, O’Keefe is another operative of the priest class elite considering his extensive ties to the Council for National Policy linked Leadership Institute. This whole situation with NPR looks as if it is a staged operation as there are many questions about the players involved. Unfortunately, it looks as if this O’Keefe clown will be responsible for putting out more material that will continue to facilitate the false Republican versus Democrat mindset that has been very effective at controlling the minds of many individuals.

http://www.roguegovernment.com/James_O% ... 3/Y/M.html

[Nordic]

that's a face that just begs to be spat upon. and worse.

[JackRiddler]

.

A couple of weeks ago... Of all places, Glenn Beck's website has a piece analyzing O'Keefe's NPR video and discovering that he's once again editing deceptively to create the meanings he set out to get in the first place.

He's been caught at this every time, but all he has to do is pick a target, make up a bogus video showing the target saying something that would outrage the Tea Party types (whether or not it should outrage anyone is irrelevant), the corporate media obediently splash it everywhere as though it's a scoop and an outrage, and the target usually, inexplicably folds.

Kudos to Shirley Sherrod as the only one who didn't apologize for things she hadn't said -- even ACORN was timid and got screwed even more for it. Sherrod stood her ground righteously and came out stronger for it.

http://wonkette.com/440468/glenn-becks-website-reveals-npr-lunch-video-was-edited-to-ruin-npr#more-440468

LIBERAL MEDIA
Glenn Beck’s Website Reveals NPR Lunch Video Was Edited To Ruin NPR

by Ken Layne

12:55 pm March 11, 2011

211 Comments 27363 Views



Whenever that James O’Keefe guy puts out another heavily edited video against some liberal bogeyman, both the White House and the Washington/New York media quickly fire everyone involved — because the only rational way to deal with claims made by partisan pranksters is to simply punish anyone targeted. That’s why Shirley Sherrod was immediately fired by the White House while the Lame Stream Media nodded approvingly and only Wonkette bothered to look at the allegedly damning video closely enough to see that Breitbart’s crew had carefully edited it to make Sherrod sound like a raving racist. Likewise, the firing of NPR executive Ron Schiller and his CEO boss was cheered by the liberal media and got solemn nods from Democrats in Washington. Only Glenn Beck’s reporters at his website, The Blaze, bothered to watch the unedited footage and note that the various bombshells in the video were taken out of context (the opinions of others made to look like the opinions of Schiller, for example) and that Schiller’s pro-Republican statements were (obviously) all cut out of the video released by O’Keefe.

Here’s the unedited section with Ron Schiller discussing the opinions of a senior Republican lawmaker and a major GOP donor. While Schiller seems to agree with the characterization of the Tea Party people at the end of this anecdote, it’s obvious he is quoting Republicans uneasy with the teabaggers here:



There’s a lot more of this on The Blaze: eight sections of raw video with written commentary by a video producer from the website. She finds numerous instances of editing to make Schiller sound like he’s replying to completely different statements (a bemused reaction to something about restaurant reservations is made to look like a response to implementing sharia law worldwide), and she also finds sections where the audio has clearly been switched from another part of the video, as well as the complete removal of many instances of Schiller and his colleague praising either Republicans or the Fox News audience.

And that’s where we stand in 2011 America, folks: If you want some basic journalism of the “actually looking at the material” variety, stay away from the Lame Stream Media and stick to a vile political joke site (that’s us) or the right-wing news blog of teevee’s nuttiest news clown.
[The Blaze]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/does-raw-video-of-npr-expose-reveal-questionable-editing-tactics/

Does Raw Video of NPR Expose Reveal Questionable Editing & Tactics?

Posted on March 10, 2011 at 2:54pm by Scott Baker
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On Wednesday, The Blaze posted a lengthy report looking at the ethics of undercover journalism. The comments on the post show a lively debate and wide-ranging views on what is considered ethical and acceptable in pursuit of a scoop.

Plenty of readers felt the new NPR exposé justified any ethical misgivings involved in producing it. Others felt that those seeking truths should hold to higher standards.

When undercover video like the NPR story first surfaces, we often look to see if there is raw video of the material used to produce the report as a basis for evaluating the accuracy of the representations made.

And we decided to do that in this case.

The Blaze’s Pam Key, who produces most of our original videos, is experienced in reviewing hours and hours of raw audio/video to find key sections that can then be used in proper context. Her review of the NPR exposé identifies a number of areas to examine.

Do these areas reveal problematic editing choices? Are assertions made in the video misleading? Are the tactics used by the video producers unethical?

Clearly the NPR executives, particularly Ron Schiller, show poor and, at times, despicable judgment. Do any of the revelations from the raw video ameliorate that? Do their wrongdoing justify any wrongdoing by the video producers?

These are sometimes difficult matters to consider, especially for those who are pleased with the outcomes produced by the release of video reports like this; however, the ethical implications can be significant. And as we say around The Blaze watercooler…the truth has no agenda. Perspective and context are essential elements in bringing truth to the forefront. To exclude or alter them can obscure truths rather than reveal them.


We’ll allow you to watch sections of the edited video that has been widely distributed…and then to compare those sections with the raw video that has been laudably released by the video producers.

1. Muslim Brotherhood connections

Much of the consternation over this video centers on the question of why would NPR executives meet with a group connected to Muslim Brotherhood. Did they know? And if Muslim Brotherhood is mentioned, how are the ties characterized? Is the edited video misleading on these points?

In this first section, the narration describes the players and says the NPR executives were preparing to meet with the members of “Muslim Education Action Center.” The narrator then describes the MEAC as a “Muslim Brotherhood front group.” It does not explain how the NPR executives would have a basis to believe they were meeting with a Muslim Brotherhood front group.

The raw video helps us evaluate how the NPR execs might perceive the men. The men describe themselves as board members but indicate that they are at lower levels in the organization…one of them explaining that he is relatively new to the board…the other saying he works in mostly an “observation basis.” You will see that in this clip.

Further, we compare the edited video with the raw video on the important section of how the actors describe the role/connection of the Muslim Brotherhood to their efforts. The edited video includes a reference to some of the original founders of MEAC being members of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. Is this the only reference and basis for the NPR execs to consider MEAC to have a Muslim Brotherhood connection? The raw video also includes a longer section of description that seems to downplay connections of the MEAC group to the Muslim Brotherhood as popularly perceived.



2. Does Ron Schiller react to “Sharia” mission statement with amusement?

The narrator notes that the MEAC website includes this phrase: “We must combat intolerance to spread acceptance of Sharia across the world.”

Sharia is defined as “the sacred law of Islam.” But the interpretation of that definition has many variations across many Islamic traditions. That alone would not be a firm clue for the NPR executives of the group’s beliefs.

Of greater concern, though, is how the video is edited at this juncture.



So after saying that the MEAC website advocates the “acceptance of Sharia,” the video cuts to the NPR exec saying, “Really? That’s what they said?” The cadence is jovial and upbeat and the narration moves on. The implication is that the NPR exec is aware and perhaps amused or approving of the MEAC mission statement. But when you look at the raw video you realize he was actually recounting an unrelated and innocuous issue about confusion over names in the restaurant reservation.

3. How does Schiller describe Republicans?

Schiller’s negative comments about Republicans and conservatives have gotten a great deal of attention.

He clearly says some offensive things, while being very direct that he is giving his own opinion and not that of NPR. Still — a wildly stupid move!

But you may be surprised to learn, that in the raw video, Schiller also speaks positively about the GOP. He expresses pride in his own Republican heritage and his belief in fiscal conservatism.



4. The “seriously racist” Tea Party

NPR exec Ron Schiller does describe Tea Party members as “xenophobic…seriously racist people.”

This is one of the reasons why he no longer has a job!

But the clip in the edited video implies Schiller is giving simply his own analysis of the Tea Party. He does do that in part, but the raw video reveals that he is largely recounting the views expressed to him by two top Republicans, one a former ambassador, who admitted to him that they voted for Obama.

At the end, he signals his agreement. The larger context does not excuse his comments, or his judgment in sharing the account, but would a full context edit have been more fair? See what you think:



5. Are liberals more educated than conservatives?

You may also have seen a section of the video where Schiller describes liberals as more educated than conservatives. But the raw video shows a section where Schiller is hesitant to criticize the education of conservatives and the other executive, Betsy Liley, is outspoken in her defense of the intellects of Fox News viewers.



Would it have been fair to include the broader range of the executives statements? The impression of the original video, that the execs were only hostile toward Republicans and conservatives, is incorrect.

6. Does NPR need federal funding?

Let’s look now at one of the other sections most featured in news reports about the original video — the comments about federal funding for NPR.

Schiller says that NPR, “in the long run,” would be better off without federal funding and that most of the stations would survive a loss of such funding. The implication is that Schiller does not believe federal funding for NPR is important. In the raw video, however, Schiller explains the risk to local stations in more detail and why NPR is doing “everything we can to advocate for federal funding.”



7. Audio issue number one

In the release of the raw video, there are two sections where the audio becomes an issue.

In this first clip the video (complete with “timecode” stamp) continues to play while the audio goes into some kind of glitchy loop.

This could be an actual glitch, though not one I’ve seen like this in 25 years of working with video editing.

It could also be a “glitch” edited into a loop to cover a section of the recording on purpose.

In any case here it is:



8. Audio issue number two

The video producers “redacted” a 1:24 section of the audio. They explain that this is for the “safety of a reporter illegally in foreign country.”

The implication from the editing is that Betsy Liley is describing the activities of the reporter in question:



The Blaze contacted NPR to see if Liley recalls the nature of her comments here, but thus far they have been unable to accommodate our inquiry.

Conclusion:

Anyone looking at the edited version of the Project Veritas video would be concerned about the conduct and views expressed by the NPR representatives. But should we also be concerned about the deceptive nature of some of the video’s representations? Some will say no — the end justifies any means, even if unethical. Others may be bothered by these tactics and view similar projects with a greater degree of skepticism.

In our posting yesterday on the ethics of undercover journalism, we found a range of views. One interesting view is held by Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard. Barnes believes it is always wrong for a journalist to lie: “It‘s dishonest for anyone in journalism to pretend to be someone they’re not.”

But Barnes also believes this applies only to journalists. “This rule doesn’t apply to folks outside the profession,” he told The Blaze. Barnes views the O’Keefe production as a “political hit job and a quite clever and successful one at that.”

Barnes may not realize that O’Keefe describes his work as “investigative journalism,” and thus by Barnes definition — unethical.

And that is only on the issue of going undercover. But even if you are of the opinion, as I am, that undercover reporting is acceptable and ethical in very defined situations, it is another thing to approve of editing tactics that seem designed to intentionally lie or mislead about the material being presented.

For a further discussion of this post, see my analysis on Thursday’s edition of The B-Cast:

[SEE LINK FOR THE VIDEO EXCERPTS]