Bush Used Tax Payer's Money to Promote Propaganda

U.S. Pays Commentator to Tout School Law

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration paid a prominent commentator to promote the No Child Left Behind schools law to fellow blacks and to give the education secretary media time, records show.

A company run by Armstrong Williams, the syndicated commentator, was paid $240,000 by the Education Department. The goal was to deliver positive messages about Bush's education overhaul, using Williams' broad reach with minorities.

The deal, which drew a fast rebuke from Democrats on Capitol Hill, is the latest to put the department on the defensive for the way it has promoted Bush's signature domestic policy.

read complete story here


Using tax paying dollars for political gain, how did they get away with this and so much more? By eradicating checks & balances of power. Are you happy with your democracy?

[edit on 7-1-2005 by TheBigD]

[edit on 7-1-2005 by TheBigD]

[edit on 7-1-2005 by TheBigD]

ed. to fix long link

[edit on 15-4-2005 by DontTreadOnMe]

Good part of article:
"There is no defense for using taxpayer dollars to pay journalists for 'fake news' and favorable coverage of a federal program," said Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, a liberal group that has tracked the department's spending.
Another part:
Miller and other Democrats also wrote Bush to call for an end to "covert propaganda."
And Another Good Part:
The GAO has twice ruled that the Bush administration's use of prepackaged videos � to promote federal drug policy and a new Medicare law � is "covert propaganda" because the videos do not make clear to the public that the government produced the promotional news.

Originally posted by TheBigD
Using tax paying dollars for political gain, how did they get away with this and so much more? By eradicating checks & balances of power. Are you happy with your democracy?

Are you kidding? I mean, this is a joke or something right? Its an abuse of power for the government to promote its own programs?

Originally posted by Nygdan

Originally posted by TheBigD
Using tax paying dollars for political gain, how did they get away with this and so much more? By eradicating checks & balances of power. Are you happy with your democracy?

Are you kidding? I mean, this is a joke or something right? Its an abuse of power for the government to promote its own programs?

Yes, it is. How about reading the article? Have you tried reading, or have you been left behind?

Big D Ti govorish po russkiy??

Now then, the last thing tihs world needs is more american propoganda. It already has people hinking that they Liberated Iraq, Saved the world in both world wars, and that any one person can accomplish anything within weeks.... a huge PFFT from me.

Originally posted by TheBigD

Originally posted by Nygdan

Originally posted by TheBigD
Using tax paying dollars for political gain, how did they get away with this and so much more? By eradicating checks & balances of power. Are you happy with your democracy?

Are you kidding? I mean, this is a joke or something right? Its an abuse of power for the government to promote its own programs?

Yes, it is.

No, its not, its an expectation that the government will promote its own programs

How about reading the article?

How about presenting the portion of the article that you feel is a crime? Why should I have to read some article if you can't even tell me what the problem is?

This is why I don't feel that I should've needed to read the article. You allege that some horrible misuse of funds has occured, and quoted some meaningless intro paragraphs that don't at all explain what has happened.

here is the portion that would have been accurate to quote

contract required Williams' company, the Graham Williams Group, to produce radio and TV ads that feature one-minute "reads" by Education Secretary Rod Paige. The deal also allowed Paige and other department officials to appear as studio guests with Williams.

There is certainly nothing illegal here, and this man is simply not a reporter working for an independant news agency. He's an opinionist, and apparently one who's opinion can be purchased.

There is no defense for using taxpayer dollars to pay journalists for 'fake news' and favorable coverage of a federal program,"

They have not paid journalists to make fake news. They have paid opinionists to create and air ads for this government program, and also studied and ranked newspapers according to how well they respond to the issue. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. If the rankings were used to decide which newspapers get investigated by the IRS then one would have a legit abuse.

This doesn't appear to be a crime, the government makes public service announcements all of the time pushing their agenda such as anti-drunk driving commercials, anti-drug commercials, etc.

It may be somewhat unethical on the part of Armstrong Williams in that he accepted this money to push an agenda and didn't reveal that he was a paid spokesman when speaking or in his articles.

This president is the "first" to do a lot of things. He's above the law and the constitution of the United States.
We must learn to deal with all this.

couldn't your rather feeble attempt at discrediting the president be considered propaganda?

of course they're going to promote their own agendas. That's what governments do.

besides, if we had a democrat in office right now, your tax dollars would be feeding the drug habit of some sycophant welfare mother... instead, they are being used to promote an educational program.

which would you prefer?

I'd prefer my tax dollars were spent only on programs with transparent accounting. The welfare system may be broken, but at least we can see inside to fix it. You can't say the same for black ops budget, which sucks up a good deal more of you tax dollars than sycophant support.

If the president had spent federal money on advertising for a new bill he was introducing, it would be criminal. He spent federal money to distribute information about new federal guidelines, there's nothing illegal about that.

If people could step away from their 'Democrat' and 'Republican' cut outs for a moment, lower their weapons, you might be able to look around and see there is no difference between one lying politician and another, nor one duped citizen and another. Kerry and Bush share business interests, they share blood, they share membership in several exclusive fraternities, what makes anyone think Kerry would have been any better or worse than the yahoo we got now? If everyone could just crawl out from underneath their ideology proof, partisan bomb shelters, we could have a single meaningful discussion about the fate of the human animal, and on a level closer to home, the fate of the American country (both its land and its people).

It's worth mentioning, that the propaganda in question was espousing the virtues of a system that has failed to produce results or even capitulation in the schools. The system of education, like much of the American infrastructure, is showing its age and our neglect.

[edit on 8-1-2005 by WyrdeOne]

I believe that all you people should speak with an ethics professor and 50% will say it is wrong and 50% will say it is acceptable, most likely.

Who needs a draft when big brother can scoop them right out of school. So I guess if you don't play by the Administrations rules then no money?

No Child Unrecruited

Sharon Shea-Keneally, principal of Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, Vermont, was shocked when she received a letter in May from military recruiters demanding a list of all her students, including names, addresses, and phone numbers. The school invites recruiters to participate in career days and job fairs, but like most school districts, it keeps student information strictly confidential. "We don't give out a list of names of our kids to anybody," says Shea-Keneally, "not to colleges, churches, employers -- nobody."
external image
High School army 'cadets' in Maretta Georgia


But when Shea-Keneally insisted on an explanation, she was in for an even bigger surprise: The recruiters cited the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's sweeping new education law passed earlier this year. There, buried deep within the law's 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for every student – or face a cutoff of all federal aid.
Link

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Great work BigD.

For those who are confused about how our democracy functions, using tax money for "covert propaganda" is illegal. The findings regarding Bush's illegal use of tax dollars in several instances were made by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Bush broke the law on 2 counts:

1. He used tax money illegally for "covert propaganda"; and

2. He misused Federal money in violation of the Antideficiency Act.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The Government Accountability Office reported on Thursday that mock videos produced by the Bush administration "constitute covert propaganda" and violate Federal law. The Bush administration violated the same law last May with Medicare "news" segments targetting the elderly. The Accountability Office also found that federal agencies under the Bush administration distributed editorials and newspaper articles written by government officials without identifying them, which also constitutes "covert propaganda" and violates Federal law. The accountability office said the administration's misuse of federal money "also constitutes a violation of the Antideficiency Act," which prohibits spending in excess of appropriations.

Please, take time to educate yourself about the issues - the future of our democracy depends on it.



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Someone ought to remind Bush that the existence of a federal Department of Education is unconstitutional.

Our education system really bites.

Originally posted by Amethyst
Someone ought to remind Bush that the existence of a federal Department of Education is unconstitutional.

Our education system really bites.

Nobody has to remind him of anything. Did you forget that Bush is the reincarnation of Christ and Republicans are the sanctuary on which the sanctity of Christianity rest? God is the White House and Bush does nothing wrong! How dare you question our faithful leader! May you burn in haites!
Oh, I'm sorry. I've just remembered watching those candy-a** televangelist before the election, and thought I would paraphrase the things they preach. I hate religion, but I find it strangely entertaining to watch those idiots on TV.

Wow. This arguement died when people found out it was illegal.

Obviously, they didn't learn their lesson. Have you all seen the new "Support Social Security Reform" ads?

Like that, give us meat for the grinder or we spend our money on propaganda instead of your school. Bush Babies, this is called wrong, morally, ethically, and in most cases legally.

www.worldnetdaily.com...
non-profit but somebody sure put this site up in a hurry- the mushroom cloud looks really cool at the end of the commercial too-"I don't think anybody thinks that the unelected mullahs who run that regime are a good thing for the Iranian people and for the region." -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, February 3, 2005. (isn't Rice unelected too?????)

I know a teacher who teaches handicapped students. She has to give them the AIMS test if they can read 4 words. She can even read the test to them, but they have to fill in the circles. Even her brightest student only got 4 correct answers out of 20. Never mind the frustration or how bad it may make them feel: the teacher is responsible for making these students achieve. And Department of Education has determined that 58 is the minimum IQ needed to read. (reality is a much higher number) Your expert First Lady who is experienced in teaching for ONE whole year, and a librarian for ONE whole year got to sell this NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND - so that every cookie cutter student who achieves computer geek status doesn't have to go to prison- the rest can just dig ditches.

[edit on 15-4-2005 by accountability]

Originally posted by dgtempe
This president is the "first" to do a lot of things. He's above the law and the constitution of the United States.

I'm finding out that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Bush is not the first president to trifle with the constitution.
Even if you only "buy" half of what this author says in his book, politically incorrect guide to American history, it WILL open your eyes to what has been going on in this country, esp. since the stock market crash in 1929.