• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Obamas covert criminal activity-scathing Congress report

Faster horses

Well-known member
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL

Scathing Congress report slams Obama's 'covert, criminal activity'
President charged with illegally using taxpayer money to manipulate public

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 16, 2010
12:01 am Eastern


By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2010 WorldNetDaily



Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a scathing staff report today charging that the White House has "used the machinery of the Obama campaign to tout the president's agenda through inappropriate and sometimes unlawful public relations and propaganda initiatives."

An advance pre-publication copy of the report, shared by Issa's Washington office with WND, accuses the White House of nothing short of criminal activity. It charges the Obama administration with violating federal laws to advance what the Government Accounting Office has characterized as an unlawful "covert campaign," using federal resources "to activate a sophisticated propaganda and lobbying campaign."

Pulling no punches, the Oversight Republican Report accuses the Obama White House of "violating federal law prohibiting the use of appropriated funds for publicity or propaganda purposes."

"The White house has failed to transition from campaign mode to leadership mode and is now inappropriately leveraging those campaign-trail relationships to unlawfully generate support for the president's agenda," the report concludes.

(Story continues below)




Read in its entirety, the Oversight Republican Report charges the Obama administration with the type of callous, unethical and possibly criminal manipulation of public opinion that is reminiscent of Watergate and the illegal campaign activities engineered by Donald Segretti on behalf of the Committee to Re-Elect the President during Richard Nixon's presidential election campaign of 1972.

In 1974, Donald Segretti pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of distributing illegal campaign materials, for which he served in federal prison four months of a six-month term.

The Obama administration's abuses alleged in the Oversight Republican Report can be summed up under the term "astro-turfing," a fraudulent public relations activity in which "the White House and the agency whose resources it is co-opting attempt to create the impression that grassroots support for a particular policy exists when in fact it has been fabricated using taxpayer dollars."

The report points to several instances of alleged, unlawful abuses:

The National Endowment for the Arts

On Aug. 6, 2009, on behalf of the White House Office of Public Engagement, NEA Director Yosi Sergent invited a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, marketers and other influencers of the arts to participate in a conference call designed to encourage involvement in President Obama's United We Serve program.

Nell Abernathy, director of outreach for United We Serve and Buffy Wicks, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, identified the goal of the NEA program was to recruit artists to create art to support the president's agenda "with the same enthusiasm and with the same energy that we all saw in each other during the campaign."

The Oversight Republican Report, however, contends the initiative was illegal.

"The use of taxpayer dollars and federal employees to create an alliance whereby the NEA becomes the de facto strategic communications arm of the White House is unlawful," the report alleges. "Using a government e-mail account and government personnel and resources to host a call using artists and arts group to support the president's agenda is a clear violation of federal law."

The report stresses that it was inappropriate for representatives of the White House and the NEA to formally ask artists and entertainers to use their talents to support the president's agenda "because many of these people rely on NEA grants to subsidize their livelihoods."

The Department of Justice

In October 2008, the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs added Tracy Russo, the chief blogger and deputy director for online communications for Sen. John Edwards' presidential campaign, to direct the Department's "new media efforts."

The Oversight Republican Report documents that Russo covertly attempted to shape public opinion by posting comments on the Internet anonymously, or through the use of a pseudonym, attacking authors or contents viewed as critical of the president, in an effort to shape debate online.

The report concludes, "The deployment of Justice Department resources to generate clandestine comments on message boards and blogs is a highly improper use of the Department's resources."

The report cites GAO rulings stating that covert propaganda violates Title 5 U.S.C. Section 3107 of federal law, which prohibits the use of publicity experts unless specifically appropriated for that purpose.

Office of Education

The Oversight Republican Report details that beginning on the morning of April 24, 2009, U.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Outreach Massie Ritsch launched an e-mail campaign in coordination with the White House to promote President Obama's plan to begin a federal takeover of student loans.

The report again charges criminal abuses: "The intent of the e-mail is clearly to create grassroots support for the president's education agenda by inappropriately leveraging Ritsch's position as a Department of Education employee. Because it was drafted or intended to influence members of Congress while they consider the president's federal student loan plan, it is unlawful."

Federal workforce

The Oversight Republican Report charges that in March 2010, White House Office for Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle sent "overtly partisan, unsolicited health-reform e-mails to career civil servants in executive branch offices, suggesting to recipients that they were being officially instructed by the White House to support the president's health-care reform proposals."

Again, the report charges the Obama White House with illegal activity: "Criminal statutes prohibit executive branch officials from using appropriated funds to influence the legislative process. Title 18 of the United States Code, section 1913, prohibits federal employees from engaging in the very activities DeParle urges."

Department of Health and Human Resources

The Oversight Republican Report charges that the Department of Health and Human Resources contracted with Jonathan Gruber, a health-care economist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to provide "technical assistance" to support President Obama's health care reform proposals.

For this, Gruber was paid $297,600, plus another $95,000 for a second HHS job.

The Obama administration then relied upon and distributed Gruber's commentary and views to publications including Time, The Washington Post, the New York Times and the New Republic without revealing that Gruber was a paid HHS consultant.

"Using HHS appropriations to contract a highly visible health-care expert to advocate on behalf of administration policies under the guise of providing 'technical assistance' is inappropriate," the Oversight Republican Report concludes, while further alleging that the administration's failure to disclose Gruber's status while touting his work violates GAO's policy prohibiting covert propaganda.

Other abuses

Among the additional abuses, the Oversight Republican Report cites a cable television ad featuring 84-year-old Andy Griffith promoting Medicare and the Obama administration's health-care reform bill.

The Department of Health and Human Services paid $700,000 to make the cable television ad buy, and the report alleges the commercial – run in July 2010 – gave the appearance that it was "designed to affect general elections by convincing seniors to support one of the Democrat's major legislative initiatives."

The report further charges the White House of posting "fictitious and misleading" information about jobs "saved and created" on the White House-maintained website Recovery.gov.

Also criticized are signs the Federal Highway Administration has encouraged the states to post, announcing that new federal highway projects were being funded by stimulus dollars.


David Axelrod

Axelrod and astro-turfing

The practice of using covert propaganda to push political opinion is familiar to at least one administration official, Obama Senior Advisor David Axelrod.

Prior to joining then-Sen. Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Axelrod was a partner in AKP&D Message & Media, a Chicago-based media and public relations firm that listed among its corporate clients Cablevision and AT&T.

According to a Business Week report published in 2008, AKP&D set up front organizations for corporations that wanted to run public issue ads without having the ads identified as having been paid for by the corporations.

Business Week cited as an example a television commercial Axelrod's firm created for Commonwealth Edison, the largest electric utility in Illinois. The ad warned a ComEd bankruptcy and blackouts could occur unless a rate hike was approved. The ad was sponsored by CORE, which described itself as "a coalition of individuals, businesses and organizations."

After a complaint was filed with state regulators, ComEd was forced to admit it had bankrolled the entire $15-million effort.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
So FH whats new?
Don't you remember the millions of $ bribe money Bush's USDA handed out to groups like AAA, NCBA, 4-H, etc, etc- paying them to tout and promote and propogandize their Mandatory ID program for cattle?....
All that was taxpayer money too.....(Congress wisely finally shut them off)...

Administrations have used taxpayer money for years to promote- or advertise government programs- be it the "War on Drugs"- or "No Child Left Behind" to the "US Postal Service"...

Its been going on for long past this administration- but now Corsi is just trying to make another Shmoo type conspiracy out of it.... :roll:
 

Larrry

Well-known member
Ot there you go again lowerting your standards because you have the perception somebody else did something wrong. Wasn't obama going to be the one that was going to change and have transparency.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Larrry said:
Ot there you go again lowerting your standards because you have the perception somebody else did something wrong. Wasn't obama going to be the one that was going to change and have transparency.

If its been past practice for 50+ years is it wrong-- or just a way of operating... I can remember seeing government paid for film clips toting electrification- and selling War Bonds from the 1940's...

Did you oppose Bush when he did it?
Or is it just wrong now because the Obama administration is doing it?
Can you say double standards- and Hypocrite? :wink:
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Larrry said:
Ot there you go again lowerting your standards because you have the perception somebody else did something wrong. Wasn't obama going to be the one that was going to change and have transparency.

If its been past practice for 50+ years is it wrong-- or just a way of operating... I can remember seeing government paid for film clips toting electrification- and selling War Bonds from the 1940's...

Did you oppose Bush when he did it?
Or is it just wrong now because the Obama administration is doing it?
Can you say double standards- and Hypocrite? :wink:

If it was illegal when Bush did it, why did the Dems. not oppose it? I guess they weren't doing their jobs, so they should be voting out.

why when the Repubs. show some respect for the rule of law, do you make excuses for not upholding the law, OT.

Was that not whatyou asked of the Repubs? That they would have more respect for the Rule of Law and the Constitution.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
hypocritexposer said:
Oldtimer said:
Larrry said:
Ot there you go again lowerting your standards because you have the perception somebody else did something wrong. Wasn't obama going to be the one that was going to change and have transparency.

If its been past practice for 50+ years is it wrong-- or just a way of operating... I can remember seeing government paid for film clips toting electrification- and selling War Bonds from the 1940's...

Did you oppose Bush when he did it?
Or is it just wrong now because the Obama administration is doing it?
Can you say double standards- and Hypocrite? :wink:

If it was illegal when Bush did it, why did the Dems. not oppose it? I guess they weren't doing their jobs, so they should be voting out.

why when the Repubs. show some respect for the rule of law, do you make excuses for not upholding the law, OT.

Was that not whatyou asked of the Repubs? That they would have more respect for the Rule of Law and the Constitution.

Thats exactly what I tried to say- Was it Illegal :???: Or is Corsi just trying to stir up the Shmoos of the world with another conspiracy theory... Government has used taxpayer dollars to support government programs from before I was born 60+ years ago- and I doubt if all the Teabaggers in the world screaming will change it.....The party in power uses it as their way to promote their agenda- and I don't see any different agenda coming out of these same folks that did it for years- but now stuck a "*********" label on themselves changing... :roll:
 

hopalong

Well-known member
Slipping and a sliding EH oldtimer changing horses mid stream like always.

You get caught and change stories faster than obama or shamoo, pathetic
you are purely pathetic plus being a hypocrite in worst way. At least shamoooooo stand fast in his beliefs!

I doubt shamooo is a ********* nor has fantasies about therm like you do
:wink: :wink:
Rape and pillage? tea bagging??what is next oldtimer?? OH yea bimbos<
you are one piece of work! and not a good one.


EH?
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
hypocritexposer said:
Oldtimer said:
If its been past practice for 50+ years is it wrong-- or just a way of operating... I can remember seeing government paid for film clips toting electrification- and selling War Bonds from the 1940's...

Did you oppose Bush when he did it?
Or is it just wrong now because the Obama administration is doing it?
Can you say double standards- and Hypocrite? :wink:

If it was illegal when Bush did it, why did the Dems. not oppose it? I guess they weren't doing their jobs, so they should be voting out.

why when the Repubs. show some respect for the rule of law, do you make excuses for not upholding the law, OT.

Was that not whatyou asked of the Repubs? That they would have more respect for the Rule of Law and the Constitution.

Thats exactly what I tried to say- Was it Illegal :???: Or is Corsi just trying to stir up the Shmoos of the world with another conspiracy theory... Government has used taxpayer dollars to support government programs from before I was born 60+ years ago- and I doubt if all the Teabaggers in the world screaming will change it.....The party in power uses it as their way to promote their agenda- and I don't see any different agenda coming out of these same folks that did it for years- but now stuck a "*********" label on themselves changing... :roll:


Corsi did not write the report, just a story about the report. this is different than the President using the USDA to further his agenda, it is the President using his campaign machine to further his agenda on your dime.

I've brought this up for about 2 years now. He uses ACORN, obama for America etc. and the SEIU to further his agenda.


In the report analyzing Obama's public relations and propaganda initiatives, Issa said, "Under one-party rule in 2009, the White House used the machinery of the Obama campaign to tout the President’s agenda through inappropriate and sometimes unlawful public relations and propaganda initiatives."

http://www.theusreport.com/the-us-report/2010/8/17/house-republicans-release-video-showing-depth-of-democrat-pr.html
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hypocrit- I see quite well who wrote the report
Pulling no punches, the Oversight Republican Report

and this is nowhere like an Oversight Congressional Report (altho Corsi would like you to buy that)- and in this day and age of partisanship over statesmanship, does not surprise me a bit....
 

Mike

Well-known member
I would say Issa has a little something to do with Congressional Oversight.

He is the ranking minority member on the Committee.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Hypocrit- I see quite well who wrote the report
Pulling no punches, the Oversight Republican Report

and this is nowhere like an Oversight Congressional Report (altho Corsi would like you to buy that)- and in this day and age of partisanship over statesmanship, does not surprise me a bit....


Is the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, US House of Reps. a partisan Committee.? NO, it is a Committee to watch the Administration. am I wrong?

A little about the Committee.

Edolphus “Ed” Towns of Brooklyn, New York is a 14-term veteran in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he serves as Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the main investigative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. As committee chair, Rep. Towns has jurisdiction to investigate any federal program and any matter with federal policy implications, such as: federal procurement, federal agency management, civil service and information policy.


http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1




Check the title of the report.

Sorry but scribed does not allow copy and paste. I will try and find it somewhere else.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35975971/Obama-Administration-Propaganda-Report


:roll:
 

Mike

Well-known member
BOY! That had to hurt the fatman. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Mike said:
BOY! That had to hurt the fatman. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


I should add that when Bush was President OT claimed that he (Bush) told them "to take the next eight years off", or something stupid like that.

so now he sees some oversight being done of his "chosen one" and he wants it to go back to the way it was under Bush.

How about standing up for the Rule of Law and the Constitution, instead of making excuses like "well it's always been done this way", or "bush did it, so obama can too"

what do you think OT, good time to start, or will it be okayfor the next Republican President to break the law, because "obama did it"
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Here are portions of the report.

and OT, you will be happy to know that in his "partisan" report, Issa also outlines how Reagan, Clinton, Bush and obama used propaganda to further their agendas.


A. Appropriations Act Prohibitions

Prohibitions on the expenditure of appropriated funds for “publicity and propaganda,” unless expressly authorized by Congress, have appeared in annual federal appropriations legislation for over 50 years.5 Language that now appears in annual appropriations is clear and unequivocal. For example:

“No part of any funds appropriated in this or any other Act shall be used by an agency of the executive branch, other than for normal and recognized executive-legislative relationships, for publicity or propaganda purposes, and for the preparation, distribution or use of any kit, pamphlet, booklet,publication, radio, television or film presentation designed to support or defeat legislation pending before the Congress, except in presentation to the Congress itself.”6

“No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress.”7


B. Federal Law Prohibitions

The principal statutory prohibition on lobbying activities is 18 U.S.C. 1913, a criminal statute applicable to all executive branch agencies. It prohibits the use of appropriated funds for activities that directly or indirectly are “intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, to favor or oppose ... any legislation or appropriation by Congress....” Title 18 prohibits federal employees from using appropriations to pay for any “personal services, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter ....”8 Federal agencies are further restricted from using appropriated funds for publicity activities by 5 U.S.C. 3107, which makes it illegal to use such funds “to pay a publicity expert unless specifically appropriated for that purpose.”9

Additionally, 5 U.S.C. 7321 – 7326 (the “Hatch Act”) limits certain political activities of federal employees both on and off duty.10 The term “political activity” means doing something in active support of or opposition to a political party, a candidate for partisan political office, or a partisan political group.11


C. Constitutional Prohibitions

Article I, Section 7, clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution requires that “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”


V. PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PROPAGANDA ACTIVITIES BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

Since January 20, 2009, the White House has orchestrated an unprecedented number of propaganda and lobbying activities to promote the President’s agenda. The Obama Administration’s tactics are innovative ways of accomplishing familiar propaganda objectives. Like the VNRs and sham press conferences favored by recent administrations, the Obama Administration’s propaganda is covert and expensive to taxpayers. The White House has relied on two basic types of propaganda to disseminate the President’s agenda:

Misusing the resources of federal agencies to publicize the President’s agenda; and,

Multiplying traffic to websites containing propaganda by capitalizing on the visibility of the President and pre-existing campaign relationships.
The following is a case-by-case review of the Obama Administration’s most egregious abuses of federal resources for public relations and propaganda purposes.



A. Misusing the resources of federal agencies to publicize the President’s agenda.

In several cases, federal employees have used agency resources to disseminate propaganda touting certain aspects of the President’s agenda. In many of these cases, there has been an apparent violation of appropriations riders expressly prohibiting the use of appropriated funds to pay for publicity activities. In every case, the White House and the agency whose resources it is co-opting attempt to create the impression that grassroots support for a particular policy exists when in fact it has been fabricated using taxpayer dollars.


1. National Endowment for the Arts
On August 6, 2009, on behalf of the White House Office of Public Engagement, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)32 Communications Director Yosi Sergant invited a group of “artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, tastemakers, leaders, or just plain cool people” to participate in a conference call.33 The specific purpose of the call was to allow the White House Office of Public Engagement to encourage the art community’s involvement in the President’s United We Serve program. United We Serve is designed to support four key components of the President’s recovery agenda through national service - health care, energy independence, education and community and economic renewal.34

The call took place on August 10, 2009. Participants were informed that the call was part of an effort to engage the art and entertainment community in a “brand new conversation … to really bring this community together to speak with the government.”35

In addition to Sergant, call participants heard from Nell Abernathy, Director of Outreach for United We Serve, and Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.36 In their official capacities as representatives of agencies of the United States government and of the White House itself, Abernathy and Wicks urged approximately 75 members of the art and entertainment community to promote the President’s agenda by creating art consistent with the goals of United We Serve.37


Analysis: The use of taxpayer dollars and federal employees to create an alliance whereby the NEA becomes the de facto strategic communications firm of the White House is unlawful. Using a government email account and government personnel and resources to host a call urging artists and arts groups to support the President’s agenda is a clear violation of federal law and the Hatch Act. Furthermore, it is inappropriate for representatives of the White House, NEA and CNCS to formally ask artists and entertainers to use their talents to support the President’s agenda because many of these people rely on NEA grants to subsidize their livelihoods.


2. Department of Justice

In October 2008, the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs (OPA) added Tracy Russo to direct the Department’s “new media efforts.” Russo, the Chief Blogger and Deputy Director of Online Communications for the John Edwards for President Campaign,58 was given the title “New Media Specialist.”59 Since October, Russo has served as the author of the Justice Department’s official blog.60

Analysis: The deployment of Justice Department resources to generate clandestine comments on message boards and blogs is a highly improper use of the Department’s resources. The GAO has frequently ruled that covert propaganda violates federal law and appropriations riders. Title 5 U.S.C. § 3107, prohibits the use of publicity experts unless specifically appropriated for that purpose. Additionally, the Justice Department is held to an even higher standard of conduct than other agencies as it is tasked with enforcing the nation's laws in an objective, nonpartisan, and nonpolitical manner. The allegations that Department employees have engaged in a practice of clandestine commenting raise serious doubts about this Justice Department's ability to accomplish that task.


3. Department of Education

On the morning of April 24, 2009, U.S. Department of Education (DoEd) Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Outreach Massie Ritsch distributed an e-mail to colleagues notifying them of President Obama’s intention to promote his Direct Loan student financial aid program during a meeting later that day. Ritsch explained the rationale for the President’s timing by noting that Congress was beginning to work to resolve differences between House and Senate versions of the Fiscal Year 2010 Concurrent Budget Resolution.

The stated purpose of the e-mail was to help recipients “communicate the merits of the President’s proposal with your members and other audiences….” To help recipients do so, Ritsch attached a two-page white paper to the body of the e-mail message. The document included promotional information highlighting DoEd’s reasons for supporting the President’s plan.

Analysis: The intent of the e-mail is clearly to create grassroots support for the President’s education agenda by inappropriately leveraging Ritsch’s position as a DoEd employee. Because it was drafted and disseminated using Department of Education resources, and because it was designed or intended to influence Members of Congress while they consider the President’s federal student loan program plan, it is unlawful.


4. Federal Workforce

In March 2010, media reports surfaced that revealed White House Office for Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle sent overtly partisan, unsolicited health reform e-mails to career civil servants in Executive Branch agencies. The DeParle e-mails were not transmitted by the ordinary official White House staff e-mail handle “who.eop.gov” but through the mass mailing handle “messages.whitehouse.gov.”

Analysis: Criminal statutes prohibit Executive Branch officials from using appropriated funds to influence the legislative process. Title 18 of the United States Code, section 1913 prohibits federal employees from engaging in the very activities DeParle urges. Specifically, it bars the use of appropriated funds for activities that directly or indirectly are “intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, to favor or oppose ... any legislation or appropriation by Congress....” Title 18 prohibits federal employees from using appropriations to pay for any “personal services, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter ....”71 Read strictly, a federal employee who unwittingly forwards DeParle’s email could run afoul of this Code section


there's lots more, if you care to read it.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35975971/Obama-Administration-Propaganda-Report


It is interesting to go down the list and to take note of how many of these items were discussed on Ranchers. funny thing is that when posted, the persons that posted them in many cases were accused of posting propaganda or conspiracy theories, by the likes of OT, Nonothing, Alice, R2 etc.

Why is it liberals like to accuse others of what they are most often to be guilty of themselves?


Oldtimer said:
Hypocrit- I see quite well who wrote the report
Pulling no punches, the Oversight Republican Report

and this is nowhere like an Oversight Congressional Report (altho Corsi would like you to buy that)- and in this day and age of partisanship over statesmanship, does not surprise me a bit....


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :roll:
 
Top