John Cook, over on Gawker, has a bombshell, of sorts, having unearthed documents from the Nixon Library that has Roger Ailes laying out the blueprint for Faux News, decades ahead of time.
Republican media strategist Roger Ailes launched Fox News Channel in 1996, ostensibly as a "fair and balanced" counterpoint to what he regarded as the liberal establishment media. But according to a remarkable document buried deep within the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, the intellectual forerunner for Fox News was a nakedly partisan 1970 plot by Ailes and other Nixon aides to circumvent the "prejudices of network news" and deliver "pro-administration" stories to heartland television viewers.
No doubt, with the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds of Nixonland, the corpulent liar didn't need the pikers, he just had to bid his time, and launch his own lie factory, were he was The King, and could listen to his lies bounce around, echoing all over the Right Wing Freak Show.
Go read Cook's post, it's overflowing with juicy tidbits
The Kent State shootings – also known as the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre – [2][3][4] occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.[5]
Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.[6][7]
The Ohio National Guardsmen who fired on students and antiwar protesters at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 were given an order to prepare to shoot, according to a new analysis of a 40-year-old audio tape of the event.
"Guard!" says a male voice on the recording, which two forensic audio experts enhanced and evaluated at the request of The Plain Dealer. Several seconds pass. Then, "All right, prepare to fire!"
"Get down!" someone shouts urgently, presumably in the crowd. Finally, "Guard! . . . " followed two seconds later by a long, booming volley of gunshots. The entire spoken sequence lasts 17 seconds.
Why is this a big deal?
The previously undetected command could begin to explain the central mystery of the Kent State tragedy - why 28 Guardsmen pivoted in unison atop Blanket Hill, raised their rifles and pistols and fired 67 times, killing four students and wounding nine others in an act that galvanized sentiment against the Vietnam War.
The order indicates that the gunshots were not spontaneous, or in response to sniper fire, as some have suggested over the years.
I was not-yet 15-years-old when this went down, the tipping point, after the blizzard of nightly news footage of the carnage in Viet Nam, and the handful of older guys from the neighborhood that came home in body bags.
Now, our government was shooting at us.
For, merely, expressing our 1st Amendment rights.
Digby, on her blog Hullabaloo, has a great post up, in which she quotes from the book 'Nixonland', showing, chillingly, the parallels between the red-faced, crew-cut conservatives, the ones who bought, at retail price, the tainted American Dream, the ones who in the aftermath of the Kent State shootings chanted "The score is four / And next time more”, and today's political climate;
The country eventually disengaged from Vietnam. But that was only one skirmish in our ongoing tribal struggle --- it still rages today. History can now record what really happened that day at Kent State. But I think we can assume from the Nixonland excerpt that whether or not the Guardsmen shot under orders was never really the issue anyway.
The funny thing is that the same Real Americans who believed the protesters deserved it would join the tea parties today and complain mightily about government overreach. In fact, many of them probably have.
In Pittsburgh, Doris Krause has been waiting 40 years to find out who killed her daughter Allison, and why. Now 84 and widowed, she said Friday the presence of the prepare-to-fire order doesn't surprise her.
"It had to be," she said. "There's no other way they could have turned in unison without a command. There's no other way they could fire at the same time."
She is frustrated, though, that the recording can't identify the person who gave the order. "I wish there was better proof," Krause said. "We have to find a man with enough courage to admit what happened.
"I'm an old lady," she said, "and before I leave this earth, I'd like to find out who said what is on that tape."
"Courage to admit what happened ..."
Hopefully, it won't take another 40-years to find that out.
Established in 1969, the Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest honor for a civilian, recognizing Americans “who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation.” Past recipients include boxer Muhammad Ali, baseball great Henry “Hank” Aaron, civil rights icon Dorothy Height, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Today, President Bush honored 24 recipients of this year’s award, including actor Gary Sinise and Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp. Also included in that mix was Chuck Colson, “the first member of the Nixon administration to serve prison time for Watergate-related offenses.” Colson was President Nixon’s counsel from 1969-1973 and pleaded guilty in 1974 to obstruction of justice. Colson received a one to three year sentence, but served just seven months.
Snip ...
On October 3, 2002, Colson was also one of the co-signers of a letter from prominent evangelical leaders supporting an invasion of Iraq. More recently he has spoken out in favor of California’s Prop. 8, accusing the LGBT community of “anti-religious bigotry.”
I mean, if The Commander Guy is going to go around duking the old Nixon cronies, it may very bode well for the convicted felon I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and, perhaps, some of the other Bush Grindhouse cronies.
For more than three decades, Chuck Colson has dedicated his life to sharing the message of God’s boundless love and mercy with prisoners, former prisoners, and their families. Through his strong faith and leadership, he has helped courageous men and women from around the world make successful transitions back into society. The United States honors Chuck Colson for his good heart and his compassionate efforts to renew a spirit of purpose in the lives of countless individuals.
Colson was known as President Nixon's hatchet man. Slate magazine writer David Plotz described Colson as "Richard Nixon's hard man, the 'evil genius' of an evil administration."[4] Colson has written that he was "valuable to the President ... because I was willing ... to be ruthless in getting things done".[5] This is perhaps complimentary when read in comparison to the descriptions of Colson which pepper the work of Rolling Stone National Affairs' Political Correspondent, Hunter S. Thompson during the period. Colson authored the 1971 memo listing Nixon's major political opponents, later known as Nixon's Enemies List. A quip that "Colson would walk over his own grandmother if necessary" mutated into claims in news stories that Colson had boasted that he would run over his own grandmother to re-elect Nixon.[5] Plotz reports that Colson sought to hire Teamsters thugs to beat up anti-war demonstrators.[4] John Dean maintains that Colson proposed firebombing the Brookings Institution and stealing politically damaging documents while firefighters put the fire out.[6][7]
And to see the full report, from the CBS Evening News of January 18th, 1972, you can check out Karl Rove, GOP College Director of the Republican National Committee, third pillar of the Nixon Campaign tripod (the other two being the White House and the Campaign for Re-Election of the President).
Hunt, a former CIA agent, headed up President Richard Nixon's infamous "White House Plumbers", the group of Cuban exiles who Hunt recruited to break into the the Watergate Hotel back in June 1972, where the offices of the Democratic National Headquarters were located. Their subsequent arrest, with information, such as telephone number and address books, led investigators back to Nixon's Committee To Reelect The President (ironically referred to as CREEP) and kicked off what soon became known as the Watergate Scandal.
As the Watergate Scandal was unfolding, Hunt's wife, Dorothy, was killed in a plane crash in Chicago, with over $10,000 in her purse. While rumors circulated that the crash was related to the Watergate Scandal, investigators ruled it an accident.
Hunt served nearly three-years in prison for his participation in Watergate and remained bitter that Nixon didn't help him and resigned, and President Ronald Reagan refused to pardon him.
Hunt then became a prolific author of, what else, spy novels, publishing over 80 books before becoming overcome with health problems.
In accordances with his wishes, Hunt will be buried in a brown paper bag, and in an unmarked grave.
J. Thomas Duffy created and lauched 'The Garlic in 2005.
Mr. Duffy is an accomplished writer, with experience as a newspaper reporter, radio writer, comedy and stand-up writer, the author of three children's books (unpublished, so far) and, and, through a good number of his writing experience, actually received payment for it.
Mr. Duffy is also a Contributing Editor on the blog, 'The Reaction' and a Contributing Writer to the blog 'The Moderate Voice.
In his spare time, Mr. Duffy likes to promulgate that is actually the dog salivating that caused Pavlov to ring the bell.
