The Politico's DNA ... The Other Iraq ... And He's a Bible-Thumper Now ... Around The Garlic Patch

Another installment (in what has been my bad, of being too infrequent) of Around The Garlic Patch

Must Read - Glenn Greenwald's Scoop On The Politico's DNA

Let's get this off the chest, first and foremost.

Can we not have anymore more presidential candidate debates held and hosted at presidential libraries? In in particular, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Between the debate itself (somewhere between 20-30 tributes to the old, doddering drooler), and the pre-and-post MSNBC television coverage, it became a veritable Reagan Love-In.

I didn't watch every minute of the coverage, but I suspect no one brought up the irony of having the debate in the hanger that housed the old Air Force One that Reagan (and other Presidents) traveled on.

The airplane of the union-busting President.

It was Reagan who broke up PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization), two-days after they began a strike for better working conditions. Not only did he fire them, but he also banned them from federal employment.

Since Reagan is, quite erroneously, credited with bringing down the Soviet Union (more like it happened on his watch, the cumulative effect of previous administrations maintenance of the Cold War), perhaps PATCO was his test run (Can't you just hear him, practicing "Tear down that control tower" over and over?).

There. Feel better.

The main purpose of this post is to bring your attention to, and encourage you to read through it, the exceptional reporting/writing of Salon's Glenn Greenwald on the DNA of the spanking new media outlet, the on-line political magazine, The Politico.

They pulled in some big name journalists from The Washington Post, Time Magazine and other places and it was going to be a new day. There's also ties to Matt Sludge but that, more-or-less, is unofficial and not in their masthead.

Well, Greenwald lays it all out.

The Republican Candidates Debate Thursday evening was sponsored by MSNBC and (quick, take a guess), The Politico. How did a fledgling start-up media company score such a hit?

Greenwald, quoting Mike Allen of The Politico;

"She [Nancy Reagan] was escorted out of the hall by Frederick J. Ryan Jr., chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation, and president and CEO of The Politico."

Not only is The Politico's DNA and money coming from a long-time Reaganite, but also from a long-time friend and supporter of Chilean Dictator and murderer, Augusto Pinochet. Friendship, plus business ties.

Links

Who funds and runs the Politico?

The Politico: Exhibit A for our broken political press

GOP Presidential Candidates Transcript

Of Dead Policies, Boxes in Boxes, Meme's, Links and Lazy Saturday Afternoons ... Around The Garlic Patch

Around The Garlic Patch ... A Few Good Links To Check Out

If he were alive and in business today, would Pinochet be a subscriber to The Politico?














This Wasn't In The Brochure

Perhaps you've seen the slick television commercial, promoting the campaign of "The Other Iraq".

Kurdistan. You know, those good Iraqis. The one's not fighting, or killing, U.S. soldiers.

In fact, as AntiWar.Com notes, the Kurdish Regional Government hired Russo Marsh & Rogers (RM&R) – a Sacramento, Calif.-based public relations firm with close ties to the Republican Party - to produce the campaign "... that will thank the American people for supporting the war in Iraq, and encourage Americans to visit and invest in the Kurdish region."

Well, there was a most disturbing (sickening, actually) article found on Memorandum today.

A teenage girl, in Kurdistan, from the minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi, apparently fell in love with a Sunni Muslim boy.

And what did that bring about in "The Other Iraq"? The Good, Civilized, Enlightened Iraqis?

"The moment a teenage girl was stoned to death for loving the wrong boy"

If the Kurdish Regional Government truly wants to establish itself as "The Other Iraq", then they will move heaven and earth to bring this young girl's killers to justice.

Contact the Minister of Justice, Farouq Jamil Sadig to encourage their "investment" in this matter.

Links

Kurdistan hopes promotional push will increase foreign interest

Iraq Kurdistan to Tourists: Don't Confuse Us with the Rest of Iraq


If traveling to "The Other Iraq" beware of the water and bring your own rocks






Must Be The Cure

This past Thursday was, if you missed the parade (and let your imagination run with that - Macy-like giant floats of the Bible, characters from the Old and New Testament, ending with a Easter reenactment, where the cut loose the Jesus float, to have it ascend into the heavens), or were wrought with anxiety over the pending 45-day jail sentence issued to Paris Hilton, the National Day of Prayer.

Yep, complete with Presidential Proclamation and a little ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

Dana Milbank, of The Washington Post, had a piece on it yesterday.

What stood out was who has handling the press of the people putting on the "Bible Reading Marathon".

None other than that softball-throwing cheesecake, James Guckert, better known as Jeff Gannon, formerly of Talon News.

Also involved, running the National Day of Prayer Task Force, was Shirley Dobson, wife of fire-and-brimstone Focus on Family founder, James Dobson (you know, one of the guys that helped "cure" Ted Haggard).

I wonder, if Dobson and the gang, developed that cure with Gannon, before applying it to Haggard?

Links

What is Talon News, and why does it have press credentials?

Online Reporter Quits After Liberals' Expose

Jeff Gannon Admits Past 'Mistakes,' Berates Critics

It's not your father's Sunday School anymore