09-30-2010, 12:53 PM
So I?m surfing news stories as my students are taking a test and I come across an odd headline out of CNN:
Now, in both of these cases there were more than enough questions. In the ACORN expos?, the media, the Congress, and the country rushed to judgment. The video O?Keefe filmed seemed to show a pimp and prostitute enter ACORN offices in various locations in the country looking for advice on how to get federal moneys to operate a brothel using underage and illegal women. People were outraged by this. The Right wing media made O?Keefe a cultural iconoclastic hero ala Hunter Thompson and ACORN lost its funding. Oddly enough, after the rush to judgment, people began to question the story. Independent investigators were called to investigate ACORN?s policies and its handling of this issue and found that, despite some managerial questions, there hadn?t been any fraud committed by ACORN. It was also revealed that O?Keefe didn?t enter ACORN offices dressed in his pimp outfit; he and his colleague entered in fairly conservative attire. The pimp and ho outfits were worn outside, staged by O?Keefe?s cameraman. Finally, a good six months after the event, it was revealed that O?Keefe went to far more ACORN offices that he claimed and he was promptly shown the door when the concept of a brothel was brought up on his part. The only time an ACORN employee did attempt to answer his questions, the employee immediately called the police after O?Keefe and his female friend left the room. Though reputable media outlets have request O?Keefe?s raw footage, the man refuses to hand it over.
In the Landrieu case, the matter was far more cut and dry. He and a crew entered her office posing as telephone repairmen. The intent was to place a bug on her phones so they could tape calls from constituents to demonstrate that Landrieu was ignoring the wishes of the people of Louisiana. Wghen none of the crew could produce any ID from the phone company, the jig was up. A federal marshall was called and the entire crew was hauled off to jail. In Jnauary, O?Keefe and associates pled guilty, but did not receive any prison time.
Now I looked at these two cases and I saw a sad little boy who thinks that antics like this serve the public good. That?s probably giving him credit he doesn?t deserve, but what can I say? I try to see the good in people. However, when I saw today?s headline, I shook my head.
The idea O?Keefe and his cretins had was to uncover the insidious liberal bias of CNN through one fo thjeir investigative reporters, an Abby Boudreau. Boudreau was working on a story about the up-an-coming conservative journalists and wahat gets them going. O?Keefe wanted to turn the tables on her, in case her report was going to become an attack piece. The idea was to bring her on board a boat, alone, and record her while he displayed various sex toys and came on to her in a seduction ploy. In the planning documents, sample scripts were outlined, as well as a catalogue of props which would be displayed (<a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/09/specials/cnn.caper/index.html'>planning documents</a>)
The entire piece would be filmed by O?Keefe?s people, without informing Ms Boudreau. Some accounts indicated that Boudreau would be held on the boat, though CNN has not intimated that.
The scheme was uncovered as Boudreau was getting ready to board the craft. One of O?Keefe?s people had second thoughts and approached her, as accounted (<a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/james-okeefe-cnn-abbie-boudreau_n_743313.html'>here</a>) to let her know the plans. She also gave Boudreau the planning documents which outlined the scheme.
O?Keefe claims, after the fact, that he didn?t like the whole bit, that he was uncomfortable with it, and that it wasn?t his project, but that was after the story came out. The man is a weasel and about as honest as a thief about to walk away with your TV set. In his past escapades he has shown no reason for anyone to trust him so why start now?
So why put this out here for you all?
Simple. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how the ?hard-hitting, muckrakers? of the right-wing operate. They lie, they cheat, they mislead and hoodwink in order to confuse, misinform, and deceive you. O?Keefe was heralded as a hero after the ACORN case, acase that, if investigated properly, would have come off the tracks long before any damage was done to a good institution. He is seen as a rising film-maker and journalist of the right, in the conservative mold of Michael moore, but better, as he?s a conservative. That Moore, who has staged some of his documentaries, has never been accused or convicted of a felony is beside the point. O?Keefe is a hero to the hard-right wing of the Republicans and is a dangerous man.
If this is what we can expect from right-wing journalism, hold on to your hats. There?s no integrity here. There?s no honesty here. All we have is a stunt best pulled on a show like <em class='bbc'>Crankyankers</em>, <em class='bbc'>Jackass</em>, or Jamie Kennedy?s <em class='bbc'>Punk?d</em>. I?m sure some would try to characterize it that way, but its not the case. The trouble with that analysis is that no rational person takes these shows seriously; they?re entertainment. O?Keefe, however, has been and continues to be lionized by the right-wing media as a hard-hitting muckraker. He?s also taken seriously by other mainstream media. Why else cover him in a story by CNN? O?Keefe isn?t a journalist; he?s a pig and, dare I say it, a terrorist.
This is what people need to be concerned with. More and more often we see stories by individual purporting to be newshounds, purporting to tell us the ?truth? when all they do send us is a bundle of lies, misinformation, and propaganda. We need to think before we watch the news and we need to look at any story by O?Keefe as the nonsense and slander it truly is.
Quote:Fake pimp from ACORN videos tries to 'punk' CNN correspondentNow, this James O?Keefe is the guy who staged video where he posed as a pimp and another conservative ?journalist? posed as a prostitute to sting ACORN, an agency which exists to provide assistance to the poor. Later he and a crew were busted trying to bug a Louisiana office of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu. He is currently being sued in civil court for the first staging and pled guilty to unlawfully entering federal property (a felony) for the second.
Now, in both of these cases there were more than enough questions. In the ACORN expos?, the media, the Congress, and the country rushed to judgment. The video O?Keefe filmed seemed to show a pimp and prostitute enter ACORN offices in various locations in the country looking for advice on how to get federal moneys to operate a brothel using underage and illegal women. People were outraged by this. The Right wing media made O?Keefe a cultural iconoclastic hero ala Hunter Thompson and ACORN lost its funding. Oddly enough, after the rush to judgment, people began to question the story. Independent investigators were called to investigate ACORN?s policies and its handling of this issue and found that, despite some managerial questions, there hadn?t been any fraud committed by ACORN. It was also revealed that O?Keefe didn?t enter ACORN offices dressed in his pimp outfit; he and his colleague entered in fairly conservative attire. The pimp and ho outfits were worn outside, staged by O?Keefe?s cameraman. Finally, a good six months after the event, it was revealed that O?Keefe went to far more ACORN offices that he claimed and he was promptly shown the door when the concept of a brothel was brought up on his part. The only time an ACORN employee did attempt to answer his questions, the employee immediately called the police after O?Keefe and his female friend left the room. Though reputable media outlets have request O?Keefe?s raw footage, the man refuses to hand it over.
In the Landrieu case, the matter was far more cut and dry. He and a crew entered her office posing as telephone repairmen. The intent was to place a bug on her phones so they could tape calls from constituents to demonstrate that Landrieu was ignoring the wishes of the people of Louisiana. Wghen none of the crew could produce any ID from the phone company, the jig was up. A federal marshall was called and the entire crew was hauled off to jail. In Jnauary, O?Keefe and associates pled guilty, but did not receive any prison time.
Now I looked at these two cases and I saw a sad little boy who thinks that antics like this serve the public good. That?s probably giving him credit he doesn?t deserve, but what can I say? I try to see the good in people. However, when I saw today?s headline, I shook my head.
The idea O?Keefe and his cretins had was to uncover the insidious liberal bias of CNN through one fo thjeir investigative reporters, an Abby Boudreau. Boudreau was working on a story about the up-an-coming conservative journalists and wahat gets them going. O?Keefe wanted to turn the tables on her, in case her report was going to become an attack piece. The idea was to bring her on board a boat, alone, and record her while he displayed various sex toys and came on to her in a seduction ploy. In the planning documents, sample scripts were outlined, as well as a catalogue of props which would be displayed (<a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/09/specials/cnn.caper/index.html'>planning documents</a>)
The entire piece would be filmed by O?Keefe?s people, without informing Ms Boudreau. Some accounts indicated that Boudreau would be held on the boat, though CNN has not intimated that.
The scheme was uncovered as Boudreau was getting ready to board the craft. One of O?Keefe?s people had second thoughts and approached her, as accounted (<a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/james-okeefe-cnn-abbie-boudreau_n_743313.html'>here</a>) to let her know the plans. She also gave Boudreau the planning documents which outlined the scheme.
O?Keefe claims, after the fact, that he didn?t like the whole bit, that he was uncomfortable with it, and that it wasn?t his project, but that was after the story came out. The man is a weasel and about as honest as a thief about to walk away with your TV set. In his past escapades he has shown no reason for anyone to trust him so why start now?
So why put this out here for you all?
Simple. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how the ?hard-hitting, muckrakers? of the right-wing operate. They lie, they cheat, they mislead and hoodwink in order to confuse, misinform, and deceive you. O?Keefe was heralded as a hero after the ACORN case, acase that, if investigated properly, would have come off the tracks long before any damage was done to a good institution. He is seen as a rising film-maker and journalist of the right, in the conservative mold of Michael moore, but better, as he?s a conservative. That Moore, who has staged some of his documentaries, has never been accused or convicted of a felony is beside the point. O?Keefe is a hero to the hard-right wing of the Republicans and is a dangerous man.
If this is what we can expect from right-wing journalism, hold on to your hats. There?s no integrity here. There?s no honesty here. All we have is a stunt best pulled on a show like <em class='bbc'>Crankyankers</em>, <em class='bbc'>Jackass</em>, or Jamie Kennedy?s <em class='bbc'>Punk?d</em>. I?m sure some would try to characterize it that way, but its not the case. The trouble with that analysis is that no rational person takes these shows seriously; they?re entertainment. O?Keefe, however, has been and continues to be lionized by the right-wing media as a hard-hitting muckraker. He?s also taken seriously by other mainstream media. Why else cover him in a story by CNN? O?Keefe isn?t a journalist; he?s a pig and, dare I say it, a terrorist.
This is what people need to be concerned with. More and more often we see stories by individual purporting to be newshounds, purporting to tell us the ?truth? when all they do send us is a bundle of lies, misinformation, and propaganda. We need to think before we watch the news and we need to look at any story by O?Keefe as the nonsense and slander it truly is.
I am the milkman of human kindness
And I will bring an extra pint -- B. Bragg
Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters. -- Grover Cleveland
When the laws are used to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government -- Andrew Jackson
"Capitalism takes no prisoners and kills competition where it can." -- Vince Cable
And I will bring an extra pint -- B. Bragg
Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters. -- Grover Cleveland
When the laws are used to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government -- Andrew Jackson
"Capitalism takes no prisoners and kills competition where it can." -- Vince Cable