Best Selling Right-Wing Author Richard Poe Investigates Markos C.A. Moulitisas Zúñiga (MAMZ), Using "Truth About Kos" as His Roadmap.

New York Times Best Selling Author Cites "Truth About Kos" Blog
as roadmap for investigating MAMZ.

Poe.com ^ | January 29, 2008 | Richard Lawrence Poe

Posted on 01/29/2008 2:45:00 PM PST by Richard Poe

by Richard Lawrence Poe Tuesday, January 29, 2008	Permanent Link Past Columns

DEMOCRAT BLOGGER Markos Moulitsas Zuñíga never fails to bewilder. He proclaims his humble origins, yet his family is rich. He heckles Hillary Clinton, yet helps her where it counts. He boasts of completing a six-month screening for CIA employment -- but says he turned down the job for no very good reason.

His fans call him "Kos". His DailyKos blog draws more than half a million visits per day, reportedly generating sufficient advertising revenue to support the Kos family in style.

Kos' followers -- called "Kossacks" -- include over 125,000 registered users and hundreds of "diarists" or bloggers, five of them paid "fellows".

Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are all DailyKos diarists.

Hillary Clinton spoke at the 2007 YearlyKos Convention, where she told the Kossacks, "We are... putting together a network in the blogosphere... we're beginning to match... the advantage of the other side."

The Washington Post touts Kos as the Democrat answer to Rush Limbaugh.

How did the 36-year-old Kos attain such lofty status?

Moulitsas presents himself as a self-made man. He told the Salvadoran newspaper La Prensa Gráfica:

"Before the Internet, someone like me could never have reached this level of success. I have no money. I don't come from a famous or powerful family."

Baloney, says Francis L. Holland, a disaffected Kossack who runs the Truth-About-Kos Web site.

Kos was born in Chicago on September 11, 1971 to a Greek father, Markos Moulitsas, Sr., and a Salvadoran mother, María Teresa Zúñiga de Funes.

Holland notes that an uncle of Kos served as El Salvador's Education Minister. His mother's family owns the Club Joya del Pacifico, a Salvadoran resort. Another Kos relative, Carlos Alberto Delgado Zúñiga, owns the Baja Salt Group, a global supplier of industrial and table salt.

Kos' parents took him to El Salvador in 1976. They stayed for four years.

Political violence was on the rise. President Carlos Humberto Romero began cracking down on communist insurgents in 1977. This upset U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who sought to appease the guerrillas, not fight them.

Carter backed a gang of leftwing colonels and politicians calling themselves the Revolutionary Government Junta (Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno). They ousted President Romero on October 15, 1979, promising land reform and nationalization of major industries.

Carter's "revolution" only emboldened the communists. In 1980, the country exploded in civil war. Kos' family fled the country that year when communist guerrillas threatened to kill them.

Kos joined the U.S. Army after high school. From 1989-92, he served as a 13P missile crew specialist in Bamberg, Germany. Kos says that the racial diversity of the Army awakened his inner Latino, transforming him from a Reagan Republican to a hard-left Democrat.

Bolstered by racial pride, Kos earned two bachelors' degrees from Northern Illinois University and a law degree from Boston University. He moved to San Francisco in 1998, seeking his fortune in the dot-com boom.

Then, one day, Kos decided to join the CIA. "In 2001, I was underemployed... between jobs", Kos said in a June 2, 2006 interview. "And so I applied to the CIA." Kos was amazed to find that his CIA interviewers shared his leftwing views. He recalls:

"Every single one of them was liberal... people who want to make the world a better place... people who are internationalist... That was an eye-opening experience for me."

After six months, the CIA offered him an assignment with its Clandestine Service. But Kos said no. "The Howard Dean campaign took off and I had to make a decision," he explains. Kos chose politicking over spying. Or so he says.

Curiously, Kos joined the Dean campaign in June 2003, more than a year after his CIA interlude supposedly ended. His story is fishy. But, then, so is everything else about Mr. Moulitsas.

Kos founded DailyKos on May 26, 2002. He positioned himself as a renegade, "crashing the gate" of the Democratic Party.

Yet he acts more like a gatekeeper than a gatecrasher. Following Hillary's victory in the New Hampshire primary, for instance, Kos squashed speculation that she might have cheated. "Anyone who persists in this crap is engaging in unsupported conspiracy theories and violating site policy, a bannable offense", Kos announced.

Some leftist bloggers have denounced Kos as a government plant. "Once CIA, always CIA", says Francis Holland.

Any statement Kos makes should arouse healthy skepticism. Still, his account of a "liberal", "internationalist" CIA rings true, given the brazen defiance President Bush has endured from that agency.

	Richard Lawrence Poe is a contributing editor to Newsmax, an award-winning journalist and a New York Times bestselling author. His latest book is The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Sixties Radicals Siezed Control of the Democratic Party, co-written with David Horowitz.

MAMZ Family Continues Building on Endangered Salvadoran Estuary

While Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga tells the American people that he is a "radical" "leftist" and "progressive", his "family business" in El Salvador continues cutting down trees and building massive residential projects on the bounds of an estuary that is internationally recognized to be endangered by other projects the of same greedy real estate development and tourism family.

One would think that as the owners of the Jaltepeque Hotel Suites and the Club Joya del Pacifico, they would be wealthy enough that they could stop destroying endangered beach front and leeching effluents (sewage and other runoff) into this endangered estuary. But, when you are talking about Salvadoran oligarch capitalist developers who act with the support of the US Government and the Salvadoran Government, and especially when their other family business activities are supported by development dollars from US Government's the Overseas Private Investment Council, greed just knows no bounds.

Now, the goal - as anyone can see at this site if they register for free and log in - is to build skyscrapers along the Jaltepeque Estuary. Will any poor people live in those skyscrapers when a months rent exceeds a year of poor people's income?

It must gall Salvadoran peasants that the same family that gobbles up ocean front land in El Salvador has a kid in the United States pretending to be a leader of the progressive Left! They must conclude that Americans are more gullible than toddlers, dumb as rocks, and I guess some of us still are.

Wanna Know More About MAMZ's Family's Exclusive Country Club in El Salvador?

The following is from Periodico Dia a Dia, which was 404, but still available in Google cache. It's an interview with Carlos Alberto Delgado Zúñiga, who is the "manager" of the Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga "family business" resort hotel and country club on the Jaltapeque peninsula outside of the capital of El Salvador, San Salvador.

I figure this is reliable information since it comes directly from the mouth of the family member who operates the family's country club and hotel, explaining the relationship between the family business, their official role in the leadership of El Salvador's tourism industry, and the Government of El Salvador. Other documents at this site explain the financial and political support provided by the globalization-oriented US Government for the internationalization of El Salvador's tourists industry and support provided directly to the "family business" of Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga.

CLUB JOYA DEL PACÍFICO: UNA VENTANA AL PARAÍSO.

Por. Mario Alberto Pérez

Entrevista con Lic. Carlos Alberto Delgado, Presidente Cámara Salvadoreña de Turismo y del Club Joya del Pacifico.

¿Cuál es la función de la Cámara? La Cámara de Turismo es la gremial legalmente representante del sector ante las autoridades de El Salvador.

¿Cuántos miembros la conforman? Aproximadamente 150 socios, entre ellos las especialidades: hoteleras individuales, tours operadores independientes, asociaciones de hoteles y diferentes sectores.

¿Trabajan por el desarrollo del sector? Esta Cámara de Turismo es la parte del sector privado, es la contra parte del gobierno, en este caso de CORSATUR que depende del Ministerio de Turismo, afiliada a FEDECATUR que es la Federación de Cámaras de Turismo a nivel centroamericano y que forma parte del Consejo regional de Turismo.

¿Cómo inciden en las políticas de turismo? En nuestro país se le ha dado la importancia al turismo, hay voluntad política, el presidente Saca ha sido muy claro en decir que el turismo es uno de los ejes principales del desarrollo para el futuro, tanto social como económico y estamos coordinando con el Ministro Rubén Rochi para impulsar esta industria.

¿Esta industria se está desarrollando? Esta empezando, el desarrollo del turismo siempre ha estado dormido, no ha sido una prioridad, no ha tenido el apoyo de gobiernos anteriores hacia un sector tan importante como es el turismo, pero estamos viendo que todo esta cambiando, vamos para adelante y esperamos un mayor impulso con la nueva Ley que será aprobada.

¿La Cámara trabaja con el Ministerio? Con el ex Ministro Luis Cardenal iniciamos un trabajo y ahora con el actual Ministro Rubén Rochi, hemos formado una especie de consejo empresarial que se reúne con él por lo menos un a vez al mes para discutir cada aspecto del turismo nacional.

¿Qué tipo de turismo promueven más? Hay que ser relista en El Salvador tenemos el turismo de convenciones, vienen personas de negocios, realmente lo que es turismo jamás hemos tenido a nivel regional, nos falta mucha infraestructura.

¿Qué se necesita para infraestructura? Primeramente una ley, eso le da mayor seguridad a cualquier inversionista, las reglas del juego tienen que ser claras para que el turismo en el país crezca, prácticamente tiene que haber facilidades, hablamos de iniciativas fiscales, se tienen que conformar polos turísticos, el turismo no es solo tener un hotel de 205 habitaciones en una playa, sino que se tiene que vestir, tienen que haber restaurantes, discotecas, toda una infraestructura para vestir el polo turístico.

¿El Salvador necesita promoción? Estamos muy bajos en proyección internacional, para eso se necesitan fondos, el turismo ha sido relegado siempre, nunca se le ha dado la importancia merecida, ahora que se esta trabajando con el ejecutivo, se pretende que con la ley tomemos fondos para la promoción del turismo.

¿Joyas del Pacifico es un nuevo proyecto? Somos un empresa familiar en la Costa del Sol, es un proyecto integral a mediano plazo, tiene un área de 37 manzanas, se inició con la idea de darle a un grupo de personas un lugar de esparcimiento, es un club privado de membresías, se han vendido 12 lotes, 8 de ellos a salvadoreños radicados en el extranjero y todavía tenemos 8 en pre venta.

¿Qué costos tienen? Si usted solo quiere ser socio del club o miembro, hay un costo de por vida que consiste en un bono de seis mil dólares más IVA y después el costo es de 40 dólares mensuales mas IVA, con esto el precio disminuye, una estadía que cuesta 125 dólares al socio le cuesta 45 dólares por ser socio, los precios disminuyen.

¿Hay Membresías mensuales? Hay membresías anuales y trimestrales, las anuales prácticamente no las compra el salvadoreño, si no que las compra el extranjero que viene al país.

¿Qué costo tienen y a qué tienen derecho? Pagan mil quinientos dólares al año, tienen derecho a venir al club los 365 días del año, a quedarse a dormir, hacer una fiesta, usar el salón para hacer una reunión etc.

¿Qué tipo de membresías tienen? Hay tres membresías: la individual, que es para una pareja, vale 750 dólares al año, una pareja puede llegar los 365 días del año; tenemos otra que es la familiar, que comprende padre, madre e hijos menores de 25 años hasta 4, el costo es de mil 500 dólares y la “De por vida”, que es un bono de 6 mil dólares y para toda la vida, tanto del miembro como de la esposa.

¿Venden acciones? Tenemos la acción de propiedad, la empresa tiene mil acciones, en este momento solo quedan 26 a la venta, desde que empezamos en el 2003 hemos incrementado un 300 por ciento en acciones, o sea que cualquier persona que invirtió en aquel momento tiene un 300 por ciento más de su inversión.

¿Cuánto cuestan? Cuesta 6 mil dólares cada una, tenemos restricciones, una de ellas es que tiene que ser avalada por 3 socios accionistas, teniendo en cuenta que el 70 por ciento de las acciones es familiar.

¿Cómo puede invertir un salvadoreño en EE.UU.? Es muy fácil, principalmente visitando la página Web www.joyadelpacifico.com y después escribiéndome para hacer ver su interés en acciones o en propiedades al correo gerencia@joyadelpacifico.com.

¿Cuentan con piscina? En estos momentos en el club solo tenemos una de 503 metros cuadrados, está a 3 metros sobre el nivel del mar y frente a la playa.

How The Truth About Kos is Used to Impeach Opinions Offered by Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ)

The purpose of "The Truth About Kos Blog" is to provide bloggers, the public and government leaders with truthful and complete information about Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ AKA "Kos") who, among other things, has acknowledged that he spent up to two years training with the US Central Intelligence Agency between 2001 and 2003, while starting DailyKos.

It is quite a joy, then, to see that the blog is serving its public information purpose, with even members, staff, or interns of the United States Senate using The Truth About Kos as a reference in their research.

In the above instance, for example, in a debate at a Ron Paul blog, a reader at the US Senate referred to "The Indictment of Markos C.A. Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA by Justice and History (Updated with Additional Information and Counts)" at the Truth About Kos blog for a complete list of the known information showing that MAMZ's opinions, information and organization and associates cannot be trusted because, among other things, MAMZ received training and income from the US Central Intelligence Agency simultaneous with starting the DailyKos ostensibly "anti-war" and "progressive" blog.

The information at the Truth About Kos Blog about MAMZ, his activities, his associates and his Salvadoran family background, was used to powerfully impeach the opinions offered by Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga.

Before the advent of the Internet, it would have been virtually impossible to both research the information available here and disseminate it nationally and internationally, with links to the primary sources that prove the veracity of the information at the Truth About Kos. For example, without access to the Internet to research the many essays of MAMZ, we might never have discovered that he opposed ALL gay service in the military.

Without the Internet and The Truth About Kos, we might not have discovered that the manager of MAMZ's family business in El Salvador is connected to a business group that has been associated with Salvadoran death squads. We might not have discovered that the manager of the MAMZ family business received a million dollar project from the US Government's Overseas Private Investment Council (OPIC). And so we might never have been led by these facts to strongly suspect that MAMZ and member(s) of his family are CIA agents and/or assets.

(I happen to agree with MAMZ that Republican US Representative from Texas Ron Paul is an extremely color-aroused antagonist whose views are antithetical to the interests of Black people. However, I also know that one part of surreptitious misinformation campaigns is to provide true information in some respects while misleading and diverting the public at other critical ways. Although I don't pretend to know the nature of MAMZ's CIA-related responsibilities, if any, the facts of his self-acknowledged CIA involvement and other background stand for themselves.)

Rep. Henry Hyde Dies, but His Precint Worker, Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúniga (MAMZ), Lives On

One of Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga's (MAMZ) first Republican Congressional candidates and patrons has died. Former Rep. Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican who steered the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton and championed government restrictions on the funding of abortions, died Thursday. He was 83. Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga, who says he is now a Democrat, wrote in 2006,

I was also a Republican. As a 17-year-old precinct captain in 1988, not even old enough to vote, I helped deliver one of the district's best precinct performances for Henry Hyde. I had a framed picture of me with George H. W. Bush. MAMZ, "The Soldier in Me," at the American Prospect

The Washington Post says today,

Hyde retired from Congress at the end of the last session. Earlier this month, President Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The White House praised Hyde, a leading foe of abortion ( . . . )

He made a name for himself in 1976, just two years after his first election from the district that includes O'Hare Airport, by attaching an amendment to a spending bill banning the use of federal funds to carry out abortions.

What came to be known as the "Hyde Amendment" has since become a fixture in the annual debate over federal spending, and has served as an important marker for abortion foes seeking to discourage women from terminating pregnancies. ( . . . ) As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, in 1998 he led House efforts to impeach Clinton for allegedly lying about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and then in 1999 was the chief House manager in the unsuccessful bid to win a Senate conviction. WashingtonPost

Although Rep. Henry Hyde has died, at least one of his precinct workers, Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ), lives on.

Kos's Missing Time Gap - Daily Kos CIA Truth

Thank God Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ) is at Newsweek!

MAMZ is not dangerous to the Left when he's a recognized MSM , because that leaves leftists to develop a strategy of our own that ignores MAMZ's system-sucking. Now, we can disbelieve MAMZ's crap just as readily as we do Republican and capitalist sewage, because we know it is inherently inimical to leftist goals.

MAMZ was only dangerous to us the Left when we allowed him to be accepted as one of us, and then took his crap seriously when we were deciding what WE would do. For example, we let MAMZ, a guy who was trained by the CIA, convince you not to participate in protest marches, then we're giving CIA-trained MAMZ far too much influence over leftists activities.

But now, when he pooh-poohs or ignores protest marches and real revolutionary organizing from his new perch at Newsweek it's really not particularly novel or uniquely harmful. He's become a live alligator in an MSM swamp instead of a live alligator hidden under our beds.

I'd rather that MAMZ just join a Police Swat Team and ride on horseback at protest rallies than have him participating as an infiltrator at the Left's organizational meetings. At least now we know what side he's on because he's finally wearing the jersey of the team he's actually playing for.

Now that MAMZ is in his element, at Newsweek, he's no more dangerous than a worm in a bottle of formaldehyde.

CIA Contacts Discredit Marcos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ)

Cross-posted at "The Truth About Kos Blog."

The key to discrediting Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ) is to make the media and the public more aware of his Central Intelligence Agency contacts. Although these contacts are discrediting MAMZ on the political Left, MAMZ no longer needs the Left, because his business model has been implemented. MAMZ's business model was always to use the Left and our issues to get hits and then use these hits to sell ads. That is working. It also seems likely that, like William F. Buckley did, he has an ongoing remunerative relationship with the CIA after his CIA training. Buckley said,

"For 50 years," he recently told me, "I never talked about what I did in the CIA because I had pledged not to. Salon.Com

It's not really that important politically that MAMZ is making money. A lot of people are making money. But it is VERY important if he continues to be seen as part of the Left and continues influencing our politics, perhaps on behalf of those who once trained him to do so.

Also, highlighting the hypocrisy of MAMZ ad-taking behavior -- the hypocrisy of his "progressive" venal, mercenary capitalism is another good way to discredit him among the few who still take him seriously. What we really need to target is his relationship with the mainstream media, so that he can never again go on television or to the Washington Post and say he represents progressives like us.

That's why MAMZ has to be discredited to the point where no one will take him seriously as a member of the Democratic Party. Once we make him a Republican again, then he is just another CIA-loving virulently homophobic capitalist oligarchy First Amendment hating "states' rights" reactionary asshole.

The Indictment of Markos C.A. Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA by Justice and History (Updated with Additional Information and Counts)

If we all continue to write about his CIA contacts, then it will be impossible for the mainstream media to write about MAMZ during the 2008 election cycle without mentioning the fact that he was at the CIA for as much as two years. Then Democrat who isn't part of the Townhouse Group will feel obliged to listen to a word he says. This is already beginning to happen, reporters people who interview him ask about his time at the CIA and find his answers laughable and ridiculous. Radar Online Magazine Questions MAMZ's CIA Connections and Resulting Conflicts of Interest MAMZ's CIA History Becomes Mainstream News

When it becomes clear that people on the Left no longer trust, believe in or follow MAMZ, then his access in Washington and in state capitals will end, because politicians are already sick and tired of his antics.

So, just keep writing about MAMZ's CIA contacts in as many places as possible, and this will eventually catalyze the end of MAMZ as a Democratic political force.

MAMZ is trying to build a lucrative media empire and he may be successful at that, perhaps with the help of his contacts and contracts (?) with the CIA. But, that only matters politically if we continue to let him be perceived as influential on the Left.

Again, if we all keep talking about his CIA contacts, it will become impossible for the press to write those fawning articles in which he pretends to be a "progressive" leftist leader. That'll turn off his spigot.

Also, please feel free to make liberal use of the Truth About Kos Blog, which is a repository of facts and opinion about MAMZ. Much of the information and damning facts already known about MAMZ can be easily searched there by using the blogger search bar and key word searches. In fact, over sixty blogs have cited the Truth About Kos when reporting negative facts about MAMZ, and this is helping to make it impossible for the MSM to ignore these facts. (Please don't accept anything you find there as "true" just because I said it. Instead, read the sources cited for yourselves and cite these sources in your writings about MAMZ.) The more voices there are saying that MAMZ is NOT "progressive," the less anyone will take him seriously anywhere.

Finally, there are still some gaping holes in our knowledge about MAMZ: What is the name of the MAMZ uncle who was an education minister in El Salvador, and what [reactionary and brutal(?)] government did he participate in? What is MAMZ's familial relationship to Carlos Alberto Delgado Zuniga and why has MAMZ never, ever publicly acknowledged the name of even one member of his biological family?

Radar Online Magazine Questions MAMZ's CIA Connections and Resulting Conflicts of Interest

Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ's) CIA connections, and his resulting conflicts of interest, are beginning to become more widely known. And few people are willing to look on MAMZ's year at the CIA as favorably as the MAMZ minions do. Look at this interview from Radar Online, for example:

I found this surprising: You almost joined the CIA as a covert operative a few years ago, after starting Daily Kos. Did you apply for a job or were you recruited?

I applied. I also applied at the State Department, but only the CIA showed interest. I was underemployed, and I didn't have very good job opportunities at the time. It was something that seemed to be up my alley. I'm interested in politics, I'm interested in foreign relations, I'm interested in analyzing stuff and writing about it. The interviewing process took a year, between security checks and all sorts of psych evaluations and drug tests.

Do you think the Agency's interest in you had anything to do with the fact that you were becoming influential in liberal politics?

I wasn't then. This was late 2002 and nobody knew I existed. I started blogging in early 2002, and it was around that summer, probably, that I applied. I don't think they knew about Daily Kos until I disclosed it. Part of my extracurricular activities and whatnot. Radar Online

Also interesting from the interview in terms of MAMZ lack of bona fides as a "progressive":

Do you still hold opinions these days that the young Republican Kos would endorse?
I'm a free-trader. I believe in minimal regulation for small businesses. I like to make a lot of money.

How are you doing on that front?
I could always do better. I'm definitely a capitalist. Radar Online

How many progressives would describe themselves that way? It seems to me that this is precisely the character type that we would have called a "square" "running dog lackey" of the capitalist system back in the 1960's. This is a description of the members of the American Chamber of Commerce, not thier union-member working-class opponents.

So, when did materialist who believe in business' freedom to pollute rivers ("minimal regulation") and who try to join the CIA suddenly become progressive? In fact, if you admit MAMZ into the progressive club, you have to concede that the entire American political spectrum consists of various variants of amoral and greedy selfish capitalist Republicans. And the name "progressive" is just new window-dressing for an old Republican habit.

Hat Tip to Stu Piddy for this!

Kos & Chevron, Will You Join Us? ***UPDATE 3*** (+)

By: Revisionist at the Political Fleshfeast Blog

Everyone has seen it and marveled at the disconnect between progressive ideas and taking money from a evil petrocorp. Its been rationalized and poo-poo'ed. I saw the ad myself just a couple of days ago. In the past week it has taken on a new significance as the situation in Burma has gone from bad to worse. It is especially significant today since this is International Blogger's Day for Burma.

Several kosnics have brought it up the past week. And the usual suspects just say something sarcastic about how this has "been discussed before" so shut your fucking pie hole and don't let the door hit you on your way out.

here we go again. . . (31+ / 0-) Recommended by: taylormattt, Elise, citizenx, trashablanca, MBNYC, GoldnI, , TomP, by andgarden on Sun Sep 30, 2007 at 11:14:51 AM PDT

Revisionist :: Kos & Chevron, Will You Join Us? ***UPDATE 3***

The Kos junta can not be moved by the pleas of of the people in the people-powered movement. But the greater blogosphere is a buzz with Anti-Chevron fervor

Amy Goodman poked a stick in their eye

The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks marching through the streets of Rangoon [also known as Yangon], protesting the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and praying quietly as they passed. She hadn’t been seen for years. The democratically elected leader of Burma, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since 2003. She is considered the Nelson Mandela of Burma, the Southeast Asian nation renamed Myanmar by the regime. After almost two weeks of protest, the monks have disappeared. The monasteries have been emptied. One report says thousands of monks are imprisoned in the north of the country. No one believes that this is the end of the protests, dubbed “The Saffron Revolution.” Nor do they believe the official body count of 10 dead. The trickle of video, photos and oral accounts of the violence that leaked out on Burma’s cellular phone and Internet lines has been largely stifled by government censorship. Still, gruesome images of murdered monks and other activists and accounts of executions make it out to the global public. At the time of this writing, several unconfirmed accounts of prisoners being burned alive have been posted to Burma-solidarity Web sites. The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura Bush said, “The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military regime.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, “The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place.” Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron. Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma’s natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma’s Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military. The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal. Chevron’s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. According to Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International: “Sanctions haven’t worked because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online, Burma’s regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It’s really Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers.” The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for companies grandfathered in. Unocal’s exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron. Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices. Human-rights groups around the world have called for a global day of action on Saturday, Oct. 6, in solidarity with the people of Burma. Like the brave activists and citizen journalists sending news and photos out of the country, the organizers of the Oct. 6 protest are using the Internet to pull together what will probably be the largest demonstration ever in support of Burma. Among the demands are calls for companies to stop doing business with Burma’s brutal regime.

EarthRights continues to pound Chevron

The protests began on August 19th, when the military’s decision to sharply increase the price of natural gas and other fuels sent shockwaves through the economy. The military has recently responded with violence, killing at least several protestors (including monks) and arresting hundreds more. But the oil and gas corporations themselves, who are partnered with the military government in gas export projects, have shown no sign of trying to prevent further bloodshed. Instead, Daewoo International and the Thai gas company PTTEP initially announced plans to export more of Burma’s natural gas, and on September 25 PTTEP issued a statement assuring the public that their investment was not jeopardized by the unrest. A third company, India’s ONGC Videsh, along with India’s Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, traveled to Burma amidst the protests to sign three new deals to extract and export natural gas. And Chevron Corporation, the largest remaining U.S. company in Burma, has simply remained silent. “The corporations who can influence the military junta know who they are. They must pressure the regime to maintain peace, and respect the rights to speech and association of the people of Burma. Instead, however, they are pursuing their business interests while people’s lives are at stake,” added Chana Maung, Director of ERI Southeast Asia. “The regime has resorted to violence against the peaceful protestors, and the companies now also have blood on their hands, but it is not too late for them to act.” According to ERI Burma Program Coordinator Naing Htoo, “Whether they like it or not, the companies are not socially or politically neutral in the current unrest in Burma. They say that their presence in Burma helps, not hurts, our people. It’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is.” For example, Chevron, through its takeover of Unocal, is a partner with the junta in the notorious Yadana natural gas pipeline project. Unocal's construction of that project involved mass forced labor and other human rights abuses, committed by the army on Unocal's behalf. Moreover, Chevron Corporation is one of the largest foreign investors in Burma. Their Yadana project funnels tens of millions of dollars to the regime, money the military desperately needs to retain its stranglehold on power. Despite Chevron's material support for the regime, and direct complicity in extensive human rights abuses, Chevron claims that it can play a positive role in contributing to the protection of human rights. Empty rhetoric is not a substitute for action, however, and now is the time for action. Given Unocal/Chevron's shameful behavior thus far, Chevron owes the people of Burma a moral obligation to immediately use its influence with the regime to help prevent the mass slaughter of peaceful protestors.

Other bloggers are joining in. Here is what was on the Huffington Post - The most widely read lefty blog had to say on the ads and the Burma situation.

Chevron's green wash of an ad campaign could shape its global policy. My colleague, Judy Dugan, at OilWatchdog.org makes a great argument in calling on Chevron CEO David O'Reilly to "immediately sever Chevron's ties to Myanmar's brutal government and personally speak out against its violent suppression of peaceful protest." Judy really socks it to O'Reilly on the hypocrisy front. Her letter: "Dear Mr. O'Reilly, "Chevron's lavish new image-advertising campaign makes your 65,000 employees look like the Peace Corps, sowing harmony and good feeling across the world. Yet as you well know, the smiling families, poets and sports coaches shown in your 2.5-minute debut television ad, "Human Energy," don't make corporate policy. "Chevron's continued lucrative investment in the natural gas fields of Myanmar fuels a despotic regime that has focused its "human energy" on violently suppressing its citizens -- including the murder of Buddhist monks and the apparent point-blank killing of a Japanese news photographer. "You could have divested the Myanmar fields when Chevron bought their operator, Unocal, in 2005. Chevron said last year that it was considering such action, but failed to take it. "You and your corporation have been silent as Myanmar troops fired on democracy proponents, beat them and incarcerated them. You have been silent about the continued imprisonment and intimidation of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose overwhelming 1990 election to lead the nation was overturned by force. "Your ad campaign, which a Chevron official said would cost 'in the high tens of millions' of dollars, portrays a company that deeply cares about the world and its future. Given your investment in Myanmar alone, that is a gauzy, gorgeous lie. "We urge you to immediately sever Chevron's ties to Myanmar's brutal government and personally speak out against its violent suppression of peaceful protest." Now let's see if Chevron finds any truth in its advertising.

Human Energy. Is that like people-powered? Even Kos sister Firedoglake nipped at Chevron

Brave bloggers and their friends outside Burma are trying to keep information flowing to the outside world. Firepup Bob in HI sent me a set of great links he found in the WSJ - including Mizzima News, Irawaddy News which reminds us of the international oil companies including Chevron still doing business in Burma, and Democratic Voice of Burma.

Many Blogs will be staging more protests in the upcoming days. Docudharma is onboard too. Kisses Budda CORRECTION: Buhdy and DocuDharma just support posting images and not doing much else. They fully support Kos running the ad

CALL TO ACTION!

We will be holding the CHEVRON PROTEST through FAX and PHONE calls on TUESDAY October 9th from 1:00pm-3:00pm Pacific Time (9:00pm-11pm GMT).

Chevron pays millions of dollars in oil and gas royalties to the current military junta. We will demand that they put these royalties in escrow for the legitimate, elected government of Burma headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. These monies are being pocketed by the military leaders - it is not their money.

Below is the contact info for each Chevron office throughout the world.

Will Kos just stop running the Chevron ad once and for all. Or at least run this as well?

But we all know when it comes to MAMZ, its all about the money.

SHAME, SHAME on you MAMZ.

*** UPDATE ****

Kos blinks. Sort of. Bending to the Pressure HERE and by a brave martyr at DocuDharma they sent out Meteor Blades since he is their Trojan caring liberal to post on Burma. Day is nearly over but still its something. NO OFFICIAL WORD THE AD HAS BEEN DROPPED. Or for that matter that they even have the ad. I found Meteor's post ironically funny. Once again special thanks to Big Tent Dharmacrat for building a fire under the poseurs. Had Budhy joined in the boycott maybe they would have trotted out MB sooner.

*** UPDATE 2****

This is NOT a photoshop. This is the page I got not one minute ago. Is this supposed to be Kos sticking it to the man? A bad joke? Or just sloppy webmastering. I will leave it to the blogosphere to decide. So very Crass. Will you join us now Buhdy?

*** UPDATE 3****

As of 11:15 AM this morning the ad is STILL running. They just dont care. Or like other petty dicators MAMZ will just keep running it to prove how macho he is. Fuck you dirty hippies.

PRAISE THE MARTYR carlos oaxaca!!

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MAMZ's CIA History Becomes Mainstream News

The Truth About Kos is becoming more well-known and now I can only say, "He who hath ears, let him hear." Here's the biographical statement presented with an interview that MAMZ did with Charlie Rose on August 13, 2007: "Markos Moulitsas Zúniga 34, is the founder and main author of Daily Kos, a weblog focusing on liberal, and Democratic Party politics. After a six month interviewing process at the CIA, Moulitsas founded Daily Kos in May 2002, and the site quickly rose to prominence . . . " Did DailyKos quickly rise to prominence because of support and training from the CIA? That's for the public to decide, but the implication in there.

In any case, The Truth About Kos has been successful in making this detail part of his established resume. Although it might actually make him more credible to some people, at least the Democratic Left can disabuse itself of the notion that he is a "progressive" CIA asset.

In the same interview, MAMZ effectively admits that he's from a Salvadoran oligarchy family when he tells the interviewer,

You know we were lucky, because I was, I was born in the United States and my mother was born when my grandmother was on vacation. She was born early, I believe, so she was an American citizen. So, we were able to come back without any problems. A lot of people don't have that ability. Charlie Rose

That certainly does seem to contradict what he told La Prensa Gráfica: "No tengo dinero. No vengo de familia famosa o poderosa. Era inmigrante en Estados Unidos (...)" Translated: I don't have money. I don't come from a famous or powerful family."

Salvadoran family's that aren't rich certainly don't "vacation" in the United States. They don't have the money to do so. There's simply a lot about which MAMZ is not honest, a lot about which he simply does not tell the truth and too many instances when his own accounts of his biography radically contradict themselves. So, what is he so desperately trying to hide?

Why MAMZ Minions Will Make a Determined Effort to Drive Me Away from Huffington Post

I'm already planning to write an article to publish at political Fleshfeast ASKING the MAMZ minions to come and campaign against me at Huffington Post.

Because everytime they drive me out of one forum, I come back in another forum much larger and more dangerous than the person they drove away. They drove ONE man out of DailyKos, and the next time they see me I'm one of eighty AfroSpear bloggers, if three dozen US states and seven countries on four continents. And this group is growing literally every day.

Then, they drove me out of MyLeftWing and the next thing you know 60,000 AfroSpear partisans are marching on Jena, Louisiana!

If they drive me out of Huffington Post, (which I believe they will in short order) then that's all the opposition I will need from them to see Hillary Clinton elected president AND publish my book about Extreme Color-Aroused Antagonism. So, come one and come all! (If that sounds megalomanaical, I would have thought the same thing about the March on Jena.)

As much as they hate me at DailyKos, I have become a household word there, as famous in exile as I was in residence, even though I haven't posted there in almost a year. Some there call me the "energizer bunny" and it's true that not a day goes by when I don't at least try to reveal some new bizarre aspect of MAMZ's determined effort to take over the Democratic Party and turn it into a Kafakaesque anti-First Amendment version of the Klu Klux Klan and the Third Reich. Perhaps we should call him neo-MAMZ, for the allusion to neo-conservative.



Anyhow, I'm sure that if the MAMZ minions drive me out of Huffington Post, then the barn fire they make in the process will be seen nationally. That's just the kind of exposure I need to publish my book on Extreme Color-Aroused Disorder (ECA).

Moreover, sooner or later people are going to begin to wonder why the MAMZ minions so determinedly try to drive me out of every forum where I might publish my thoughts and my research. Maybe they think I'm onto something.

Maybe I saw through MAMZ when he published his 2006 essay condemning Hillary Clinton in the pages of the Washington Post. Maybe it's MAMZ who is the neo-conservative, far more conservative than Hillary Clinton ever was. Because Hillary Clinton has never condemned anti-war demonstrations and she doesn't support "states rights," and she doesn't oppose gays in the military. But, MAMZ has and he does and he does.

In the run-up to the 2008 presidential elections, MAMZ is first going to support John Edwards (the white man) and then he's going to reluctantly support Hillary Clinton nominally, while all the while bad-mouthing her at DailyKos, even during the general election campaign, reinforcing Republican talking points, inventing some of his own, and trying to subtly convince well-meaning Americans that Republican Mormon Mitt Romney would be a better president than Democratic woman Hillary Clinton.

MAMZ will never come out and say it directly (he needs to maintain his cover) but he aims to be the Ralph Nader of the 2008 election cycle, subtly but effectively throwing the Clinton election to the Republicans, after which Karl Rove will be back as Secretary of State or Director of Homeland States of Seige.

I've got my eye on Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga. That's why his minions are going to make a determined effort to stop me from publishing my essays at Huffington Post. But the crosses they burn to drive me out will only draw greater attention to the information I have amassed and published:

The Indictment of Markos C.A. Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA
by Justice and History

David Brooks Defrocks Moulitsas in New York Times

Rarely do I agree with anything that David Brooks says, but here I do, and so I'm going to quote him and encourage you to read his entire article.  Today, David Brooks is changelling Francis L. Holland, and may even have made reference to the Truth About Kos  (Brooks uses Markos' last last name "Zuniga" even though Markos detests it because it connects him to his Salvadoran oligarchy family and their receipt of monies from the US Government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC):

( . . . ) The fact is, many Democratic politicians privately detest the netroots' self-righteousness and bullying. They also know their party has a historic opportunity to pick up disaffected Republicans and moderates, so long as they don't blow it by drifting into cuckoo land. They also know that a Democratic president is going to face challenges from Iran and elsewhere that are going to require hard-line, hawkish responses.

Finally, these Democrats understand their victory formula is not brain surgery. You have to be moderate on social issues, activist but not statist on domestic issues and hawkish on foreign policy. This time they're not going to self-destructively deviate from that.

Both liberals and Republicans have an interest in exaggerating the netroots' influence, but in reality that influence is surprisingly marginal, even among candidates for whom you'd think it would be strong.

Several weeks ago, I asked John Edwards what the YearlyKos event was like. He couldn't remember which event I was talking about, and looked over to an aide for help.  ( . . . ) New York Times

Although I rarely agree with David Brooks, I am also very, very sick of the fawning press that states' rights advocate Markos C.A. Moulitsas has received.  After all, were it not for the Fourteenth Amendment that limits "states' rights," gays could be prosecuted for engaging in consensual heterosexual sex in their own homes.  "States' rights" is the rallying cry of the Klu Klux Klan, not progressive Democrats.

Truth About Kos

Strange Bedfellows, Yes. But, Chuck Colson?

Breaking Point.Org.

As I remember it, Chuck Colson, mentioned in the graphic above, was a bagman for impeached ex-President Richard Nixon in the Watergate Scandal, who eventually became a Christian and started Christian Ministries.  And as I understand it, these Christian Ministries are part of a vast right-wing conspiracy to use religion as a wedge-issue against the Democratic Party.

So, what is a writer at Chuck Colson's Christian Ministries doing citing the Francis L. Holland blog?

In my efforts to discredit the CIA-trained Markos C.A Moulitsas Zúñiga, he of the Salvadoran oligarchy, it didn't take me long to realize that most of America couldn't care less about my primary beef with him - that his site is 96% white and likes it that way.  After all, much of America is segregated.

Of course, I know that Markos Moulitsas wants to carve out an outsized role for himself in the Democratic Party, after which the Party would probably exclude Blacks just as DailyKos itself does, so what could I do to prevent that from happening?

As I was pondering this question, I saw a poll by Dr. Steve B. at DailyKos which, when crunched, indicated that 69% of DailyKos participants don't believe in God.  Of course this is not news on the left, but atheism is the single most despised quality among potential elected officials for the electorate as a whole.  This means that whichever candidate has the outspoken support of Markos Moulitsas can expect to be the target of negative ads that accuse the candidate of atheism and of supporting anti-religious views and advocacy. (I hope John Edwards is listening to me right now, because he's mentioned in the above article as well.) It also means that any newly elected Democrat who nominates or appoints Kos for dog-catcher is going to have to defend this nomination in Congress as if they had nominated Lucifer himself (which is just about true). 

Now, personally this is not my issue, this matter of atheism and agnosticism vs. right-wing religious zealots.  I just want equality for Black people.  But, when you're fighting white supremacist states' rights pseudo-leftist CIA trained Republican infiltrators for the soul of the Democratic Party, and when your minority group (Blacks) is only 13% of the electorate, then you've got to take help wherever you can find it.

So, I laughed out loud this afternoon when I discovered through my site meter that someone at Christian Ministries had cited my blog for the fact that 69% of DailyKos participants are either atheists or agnostics.  Maybe if this becomes widely enough known, it will prevent Markos C.A.Moulitsas Zúñiga from taking over the Democratic Party and making it as hostile to Blacks as is DailyKos itself.  It's going to take a bi-partisan coalition of CIA-haters to drag that orange rat out from under the Democratic porch.

You see, to me there really is no difference between DailyKos and the Republican Party.  They both oppose anti-war demonstrations, and there are more Blacks as a percentage of delegates to the Republican National Convention and Republican voters (6.7%) than there are Blacks at DailyKos (2.5%).  At least the Republicans have a few Blacks among their leadership, even if they're the worst Black people in America.  DailyKos can't seem to stomach any Blacks at all, and that worries me.

There's something else I want the whitosphere pseudo-progressive big [white] boys of blogging to know (MAMZ):  An angry Black man who knows how to read, write and blog can be a devastating enemy, particularly AFTER he has been banned from your F-ING apartheid blogs.

Daily Kos Hid Business Partner's SEC Lawsuit

Daily Kos Hid Business Partner's SEC Lawsuit, the Workbench blog.

This story has been updated:

• Blogger Jerome Armstrong Settles Stock-Touting Suit with SEC

In April 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against Jerome Armstrong, the business partner of Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, for touting a Linux company called BluePoint when it first went public:

On March 6, 2000 and after, Jerome Armstrong ("Armstrong") promoted BluePoint on the Raging Bull internet site, which carried hundreds of posts about BluePoint. ...

Armstrong posted over eighty times on the BluePoint message board located on the Raging Bull website in the first three weeks. He praised BluePoint's investment value and encouraged traders who were having trouble getting their orders filled to keep trying. Armstrong never stated in his posts on the Internet that he was being compensated for making the postings. However, Goelo and Markow compensated Armstrong by transferring stock in three separate companies to Armstrong at below market prices during the relevant time period. ...

Armstrong made at least $20,000 from selling the shares of the three securities he received from Markow and Goelo.

The New York Post reported that Armstrong settled the case in December 2003 without admitting guilt and paid no fine. The paper claims to have found numerous online posts from 1999 to 2003 where he supported stocks that are "virtually or entirely worthless" today.

After the story broke, Moultisas encouraged some prominent liberal bloggers to ignore the story on a private mailing list post that was reprinted by New Republic blogger Jason Zengerle:

... Jerome's case, if it could be aired out, is a non-story (he was a poor grad student at the time so he settled because he had no money). Jerome can't talk about it now since the case is not fully closed. But once it is, he'll go on the offensive. That should be a couple of months off. ...

My request to you guys is that you ignore this for now. It would make my life easier if we can confine the story. Then, once Jerome can speak and defend himself, then I'll go on the offensive (which is when I would file any lawsuits) and anyone can pile on. If any of us blog on this right now, we fuel the story. Let's starve it of oxygen. And without the "he said, she said" element to the story, you know political journalists are paralyzed into inaction.

Zengerle suggests in a followup that the members of the Liberal Blog Advertising Network have a financial motivation not to publicize this scandal, since the network's run by Armstrong and Moulitsas with MyDD founder Chris Bowers. Zengerle links to my own experience being ousted from the network last November, which appears to have resulted in a dramatic decline in ad sales on the Drudge Retort.

I hope this looks worse than it is, but on its face, Armstrong behaved reprehensibly and Moultisas won't own up to it. Investors lost millions on dubious Internet stocks like BluePoint during the dot-com boom, and Armstrong allowed himself to become one of the famous blogging wunderkinds of the Howard Dean campaign while he was under active SEC investigation.

Did either of them consider how it would have looked, while Dean was the early favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination, if this SEC case came to light in the press? I think the people who associate themselves with a candidate have a responsibility not to engage in any conduct that might hurt the campaign, and a victory-minded activist like Moultisas had to know the risk they was taking. Were Dean or campaign manager Joe Trippi told about this investigation in 2003?

Instead of getting in front of this story by acknowledging a mistake, Moulitsas showed total ignorance of how the blogosphere works by pretending it would go away. Forced to respond, he then used the bully pulpit of Daily Kos to attack the New Republic without saying a word about Armstrong's SEC problems or their decision not to disclose the suit to the Kos readership for three years:

It is now beyond clear that the dying New Republic is mortally wounded and cornered, desperate for relevance. It has lost half its circulation since the blogs arrived on the scene and they no longer (thank heavens!) have a monopoly on progressive punditry. We have hit their bottom line, we are hitting their patron saint hard (Joe Lieberman) and this is how they respond. By going after the entire movement.

My personal view is colored by the fact that I wouldn't trust Bowers to tell the time. But I think the 85 bloggers in the Liberal Blog Advertising Network and popular Kos diarists need to take a hard look at these guys and how closely they want to be associated with them.

Politics has a tendency to attract people who put their own interests above party or principle when the money starts rolling in, as Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff have ably demonstrated. I'd hate to see well-respected liberal bloggers like Joshua Marshall and Atrios burn too much capital in defense of More-Kash Moulitsas.

Ensuring orthodoxy among the "netroots": the Townhouse email list in action...

Ensuring orthodoxy among the "netroots": the Townhouse email list in action... (+)
by: StupidAsshole
Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 19:28:19 PM PDT
I saw this post by D. Throat on Mariscat's blog, and received his/her permission to repost it here. It gives a great snapshot of Democratic Party messaging being distributed down into the "netroots," so that it's repeated on multiple mainstream "liberal" blogs. One can only assume that an email encouraging the Big White Boys of Blogging to tamp down any dissent among the little people about Bush's new attorney general nominee was sent out over the famous Townhouse email list.

Gee… ya think an email on the "Condo Mailing List" went out:

DocuDrahma:

Some thoughts on the new AG nominee, Michael Mukasey
by: A. Chandler Moisen
Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 23:14:07 PM PDT

(Topical enough for the afternoon? Hello, Fall. Sorry I'm late with this, crew… (FP'ed at 12:50 pm, PDT, September 17, 2007) - promoted by exmearden)

First, I'll confess a minor bias in favor of federal judges. I've clerked for federal judges, and I've had personal interactions with quite a few of them. By no means are they all perfect, but compared to the politicians from the other two branches of government, I think they deserve a much higher degree of regard.

That said, I think liberals could do much, much worse than Michael Mukasey as AG. He's not an idiot like Gonzo, and he's not a partisan hack like Ted Olson or Lawrence Silberman.

Daily Slop:

Why we shouldn't b**ch if the Democrats confirm Mukasey
by taylormattd
Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 04:16:17 PM PDT
StupidAsshole :: Ensuring orthodoxy among the "netroots": the Townhouse email list in action...
Boring Left:

Don't Expect A Big Fight Over Mukasey's Confirmation
by: Chris Bowers
Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 12:04:43 PM EDT

…

So, basically, Mukasey is a right-winger, but everyone they nominate will be a right-winger, and at least Mukcasey stuck it to the Bush administration by upholding legal standard in the Padilla case. This will result in mixed messaging coming from both the left and the right, and as such no negative conventional wisdom will be formed around Mukcasey.

Unless there is some sort of smoking gun or major skeleton found in Mukcasey's closet, it looks like his nomination will be a done deal. These battles are frequently won and lost in the first twenty-four hours, and right now it looks like he is winning handily.

"Glenn"

There is no question that Judge Mukasey, a Reagan appointee who served as the Chief Judge for the Southern District of New York before retiring recently, is close to the far right on the judicial spectrum. He undoubtedly holds many legal and political views which most Democrats would find objectionable, perhaps even intolerable. But that will be true of any nominee Bush selects, and it is true of the current Acting Attorney General, Paul Clement, who will remain in place if no nominee is confirmed.

I want to highlight one extremely relevant consideration concerning Judge Mukasey - the impressive role he played in presiding over the Jose Padilla case in its earliest stages. After Padilla was first detained in April 2002 and declared an "enemy combatant," he was held incommunicado, denied all access to the outside the world, including counsel, and the Bush administration refused to charge him with any crimes.

"Ezra"

Mukasey In The Hall Of Mirrors

By Neil the Ethical Werewolf

The early word is that Bush will nominate Michael Mukasey for Attorney General. You can read Jeralyn Merritt's post on his history of rulings, Steve Benen's post on how he's regarded by groups on the left and right, or look at his Wikipedia page. Unfortunately, much of the information out there now is of the strange hall-of-mirrors form where you want to like him because right-wing bloggers are disappointed with him because Chuck Schumer and Nan Aron like him.

Putting everything together, he looks like a staunch conservative, but one who will be independent enough to not let Bush get away with Gonzales-era politicization of the judicial system.

"Jeralyn"

Michael Mukasey May Be Named AG Monday
By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 09:23:00 AM EST
Tags: Mukasey (all tags)

Bump and Update: President Bush may announce Mukasey as Attorney General on Monday. Glenn Greenwald has a lot more analysis, particularly on his role in the Padilla case.

"The Carpetbagger"

Oddly enough, Mukasey's principal problem, should he be the nominee, is that he may draw fire from the right, not the left.

For one thing, conservatives wanted Olson, not just because of his record as a conservative ideologue, but also because the right relished a high-profile fight with Senate Democrats over the Attorney General vacancy. Conservatives don't care about "confirmable"; they care about partisan warfare.

But more importantly, the right doesn't perceive Mukasey as "one of them."

"Conservatives might have some serious concerns with Mukasey," said one Republican close to the White House. "He's not well known in the community."

Even worse, the progressive legal community doesn't seem to hate him too much. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been encouraging White House counsel Fred Fielding for a Mukasey nomination, and the Alliance for Justice, a liberal legal group, suggested in 2005 that Mukasey would be a conservative-but-fair Supreme Court nominee.

These are not exactly the kind of accolades conservatives want to hear.

Yglesias:

This is already dull conventional wisdom, but it seems to me that the rumored new guy at the Justice Department, Michael Mukasey, stands a good chance of rescuing the DOJ from its Gonzalez-era status as a cesspool of depravity and incompetence and bringing us back to the glory days of John Ashcroft when one primarily worried about the Attorney-General's ludicrously wrongheaded ideology.

Okay… I think you get the picture… there will be no dissent.

Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ) to Endorse Edwards for President

MAMZ is going to endorse Edwards, so maybe this is the Obama campaign trying to cut MAMZ off at the pass?

From the Washington Post today:

And some in the party's [all-white, CIA-sponsored] Net roots -- the bloggers and online activists who have grown in influence and were also early critics of the war -- argue that former senator John Edwards of North Carolina has been more outspoken [than Obama] in his opposition in the past two years.

"It's great [Obama] had good judgment," said Markos Moulitsas Z?niga, who runs the popular liberal blog Daily Kos, but he added: "There's no clarity of message." Moulitsas said that Obama should have firmly come out against any bill that offers funding for the war without a timetable for withdrawal, as Edwards has. ( . . . )Elizabeth Edwards, whose husband has strong support among bloggers and in the antiwar movement despite having voted for the war when he was in the Senate, has questioned that notion. She told the Progressive magazine this summer that Obama is behaving in a "holier than thou" way on the war, arguing that his 2002 speech was "likely to be extraordinarily popular in his home district." WaPost

I wonder how much Edwards is paying MAMZ this cycle?

Technorati Profile

Youtube Series Dramatizes CIA Truth About Kos

Politics is about inspiring people. This year, my Truth about Kos Blog has inspired someone I don't know, some named "Truthout1020," to make three videos, posted at YouTube, that graphically explore the shocking truths that my research has uncovered about Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ).

All of the videos touch upon MAMZ's shocking involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency. But the latest video specifically dramatizes MAMZ's virulently anti-gay essay that he published in the Northern Star campus newspaper at Northern Illinois University (NIU) on January 25, 1993. Shortly after I uncovered and publicized this essay, the entire archive of the campus newspaper went off-line, including the virulently homophobic essay.

Now, the archives are back on line and they include many articles from 1993. But still missing is the virulently homophobic essay MAMZ published in January of 1993, as well as the series of articles on "racism," in which he disavowed being an immigrant or a minority. Thankfully, many of us made screenshots of those articles when they were still available.

But a troubling question has arisen and it remainst unanswered: Did a major university take its archives offline to prevent embarrassment to Markos Moulitsas? If the NIU archives come back online but they are stripped of the articles that embarrass Moulitsas, then we will have to conclude that the protection for MAMZ in the blogosphere extends even to the point of stripping MAMZ's own statements from the historical record when they embarrass him.

That being said, I am honored that my research, blog and series of investigative articles on MAMZ have inspired Truthout1020 to make a series of graphic video presentations, posted at Youtube, dramatizing The Truth About Kos. I hope we will see many more videos from Truthout1020. S/he certainly has a lot of true material to work with at the Truth About Kos Blog.

The 31-Count Indictment of Markos C.A. Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA by Justice and History

Blogging for Dollars: On DailyKos and MyDD

Hang Daily Kos,
but not for taking money from Howard Dean.

By Chris Suellentrop, Re-Posted from Slate Magazine
Posted Friday, Jan. 14, 2005, at 9:52 PM ET

Journalists think blogging makes everyone one of them, but not everyone wants to be a journalist. That's the lesson from a long-running discussion among prominent political bloggers that spilled into the pages of the Friday Wall Street Journal. The Journal's lede: "Howard Dean's presidential campaign hired two Internet political 'bloggers' as consultants so that they would say positive things about the former governor's campaign in their online journals, according to a former high-profile Dean aide." The "high-profile aide" is Zephyr Teachout, the former head of Internet outreach for Dean. Teachout earlier this week blogged on the subject of "Financially Interested Blogging." She wrote, in part, "In this past election, at least a few prominent bloggers were paid as consultants by candidates and groups they regularly blogged about."

Teachout named two prominent bloggers in particular: Jerome Armstrong of myDD.com and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos. "On Dean's campaign, we paid Markos and Jerome Armstrong as consultants, largely in order to ensure that they said positive things about Dean. We paid them over twice as much as we paid two staffers of similar backgrounds, and they had several other clients," Teachout wrote. "While they ended up also providing useful advice, the initial reason for our outreach was explicitly to buy their airtime. To be very clear, they never committed to supporting Dean for the payment—but it was very clearly, internally, our goal." In the past, Teachout has also fingered Matthew Gross for writing about Erskine Bowles while Gross was on the candidate's payroll.

Armstrong and Moulitsas have complained vociferously on their blogs about Teachout's post and about the Journal's story, and they have a point: Armstrong quit blogging for the half-year that Armstrong Zuniga, the two men's political consulting firm, was on the Dean payroll, and Moulitsas posted a somewhat grumpy disclosure on his site's front page during the same period. If the two men were journalists, those disclosures would be woefully insufficient. But Armstrong and Moulitsas aren't journalists. Nor does having a blog make someone a journalist.

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The word "blogger" connotes enthusiastic amateurism, but nowadays bloggers can be PR flacks, salesmen, and yes, party hacks. The New York Times Magazine's cover story on the liberal blogosphere discussed Moulitsas' awkward place in "the established machinery of the Democratic Party" and noted that the Dean campaign "in fact employed Moulitsas for several months." In April 2004, the Weekly Standard called him "a Democratic political consultant on the make." In December 2003, USA Today noted that "some candidates have hired him as their Web consultant." Despite all this, the Times Mag somehow convinced itself that Moulitsas was one of the "amateurs" on Dean's "thrill ride." NBA ballers get to play in the Olympics now, but calling Moulitsas an amateur shows how far the standards have fallen since the days of Jim Thorpe.

Still, my verdict is to let Armstrong free with a slap on the wrist. Joe Trippi's hiring of Armstrong because of MyDD.com was one of the most-reported anecdotes of the primary season. What's new is Teachout's revelation that the Dean campaign hired Armstrong because they wanted him to give them good blog, not because they wanted his sage political advice. But Armstrong didn't know that, so it's tough to be too hard on him for it.

Moulitsas is a different case. He's never pretended to be a journalist—this past October, he told National Journal, "I am part of the media. But a journalist? No. If I had put a label on it, I would say I am an activist."—but in the year since he stopped cashing Dean's checks, he's gained a reputation as "the liberal Instapundit" and the most popular left-wing blogger. And while it's true that his role as a Dean consultant was disclosed and reported in the press on multiple occasions, it came as a surprise this week to a whole lot of people, including a lot of prominent bloggers. Perhaps more important, the people who were aware of Moulitsas' consulting work aren't 100 percent comfortable with it. "Markos is infamous for these kinds of issues. That may be too strong a word. But it's come up with Markos before," Nicco Mele, the Dean campaign's Webmaster and director of Internet operations, told me. "I can find you threads on Markos's own site about it."

Moulitsas' crime isn't taking money from Howard Dean. He, too, can get away with a suspended sentence for insufficiently disclosing his role in the Dean campaign once he was off the payroll. The hanging offense is that Moulitsas took money from other, undisclosed, political clients. And while he may have disclosed—in 2003—that he wouldn't disclose them, that's not good enough. DailyKos raised money for a dozen congressional candidates this past election. Which, if any, of them paid Moulitsas for the honor of directing his grassroots minions to part with their wallets? If you gave one of Moulitsas' preferred candidates money, wouldn't you like to know if Moulitsas' endorsement was purchased?

Political campaigns and consultants are becoming increasingly skillful at manipulating the mainstream press by planting stories in the blogosphere. Despite this, the mainstream press remains credulous about blogging. During South Dakota's U.S. Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune, the Thune campaign put two local political bloggers on its payroll. One got $27,000, the other $8,000. Their anti-Daschle reports trickled up into South Dakota newspapers.

The lesson for a campaign is obvious: Got a story you can't convince a mainstream reporter to run? Leak it anonymously to a blog on your payroll. Then get a local reporter to write a story on the controversial, gossipy, local political blog. Soon everyone in town will be talking about the story you leaked to the blog. Voila! Eventually a mainstream news organization will run a story on the rumor that "everyone is talking about." Or they'll do a "what people are buzzing about on the Internet" piece. And no one will know that the blog post was a paid placement until after the election.

If Moulitsas takes money from political candidates in 2006 and 2008 without telling you who's paying him, stop giving his recommended candidates your dollars. Here's what Moulitsas wrote about payola pundit Armstrong Williams' assertion that "There are others" on the government dole: "Until names are named, we can assume every conservative pundit is on the White House's payola rolls." That's questionable logic, but let's take Moulitsas up on his challenge: Until names are named, we can assume every Daily Kos candidate this past election wrote him a check for his consulting work.