HRC Canned Employee Makes NY Times

David Kirkpatrick writes the story that appears in the NY Times.

The rights campaign’s spokesman, David Smith, said the employee, whose name he declined to disclose, was a junior staff member hired last month to help mobilize the organization’s members in Michigan. “The minute we learned about it we took decisive action,” Mr. Smith said.

Human Rights Campaign is an advocacy group for homosexuals. I have a feeling they will have more to say about one of their paid employees participating in the forced outing of a homosexual.

Stopsexpredators blogger works for HRC

So much to read. So useless quoting it. Read it all.

http://stopoctobersurprises.blogspot.com/

The Fabulous Misadventures of CREW and John Aravosis

Here's a screenshot of the "Blogroll" over at The Citizens Blogging for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington. Their sources are 'unimpeachable'.



Below I recreate the URL links according to their HTML code. Click them for super happy fun ball lolling.

Blogroll

Al Franken
AMERICAblog
Atrios
Buzzflash
DailyKos
FireDog Lake
Glenn Greenwald
Huffington Post
MyDD
Raw Story
Talk Left
Talking Points Memo
Tapped
Think Progress
TPM Muckraker
Washington Monthly

Here's a screenshot of the page info for the same links.



This is evidence of a conspiracy between CREW and John Aravosis to mislead Buzzflash, Daily Kos, and Al Franken readers into going to Americablog.com. I will not rest until the readers of Buzzflash, Daily Kos, and Al Franken are properly linked to their respective sites without interference from CREW or John Aravosis.

This isn't very good, this isn't very good at all, it doesn't look a thing like...

Charles Johnson provides the last laugh.

Update: AJ Strata Provides Another Clue

I promise this is the last post of the evening.

AJ Strata posted something interesting in regards to the public story that John Aravosis continues to tell on television and at the Americablog. What's interesting? John Aravosis posted screen captures of the same emails that were posted to the amazingly timed stopsexpredators blog. Click for full size versions.

John's Image



SSP's Image



UPDATE: This an image I put together from CREW's PDF.



There are really two timelines. One covers the entire Foley issue. The other covers the passing, doctoring, faxing, and emailing of these initial emails.

A Collection of Quotes

Don't mind me. My mind is still rolling even if my contacts are screaming for a bath. Here's a collection of quotes from John Aravosis, one of the many that received the Foley emails prior to the ABC broadcast on 09/28.

Note: I have removed most, if not all, of John's sillyness. Go to his site for the laughs. You gotta see the ads to get the laughs.

I had received the emails in July, as I already explained on this blog last Thursday, but I didn't think it was appropriate to publish allegations of pedophilia/child sex predation, even against a member of the other political party, until I had all the facts. Shortly after I received the emails, I found out that CREW had also received copies of the emails and had immediately passed them to the FBI.
Source: Americablog - 10/04/2006

More.

The Co-Chair of the US House Missing and Exploited Children Caucus cannot be someone even under the appearance of possibly being a potential child sex offender (soliciting a minor is a crime). No one is saying Foley is a child sex offender, but his email exchange has raised understandable concerns in some minds. It's time to get to the bottom of this, for the sake of our children. It's time to waterboard GOP Rep. Mark Foley.
Source: Americablog - 09/29/2006

I expect to fill this post with a bunch of updates, so just consider this another work in progress.

Another Spoke Tightens in the Foley Wheel

Ken Silverstein writes over at Harper's that he was provided the initial 'overly friendly' emails by a source that put him "in touch with a Democratic operative". That creates another unknown source passing this information along. Add it to the list.

Silverstein goes on the offer his own opinion of the affair. He runs a couple of plays from the Democrats' playbook, but he's not moving the chains. Instead he's just operating in four down territory. He does connect for a first down though towards the end.

Among those who received information about the story but declined to pursue it were liberal outlets such as Talkingpointsmemo.com, Americablog.com, and The New Republic (The Hill, Roll Call, and Time magazine also had the Foley story, though I'm not certain when it came to their attention.)

The interesting thing is that Silverstein says there are others, but he names Americagblog.com. The founder(I believe), and editor, John Aravosis, operates Americablog.com. John is Mike Rogers' former partner in outing homosexuals that work for Congressman that do not share 100% Aravosis/Rogers records on homosexual rights.

Silverstein received the emails in May. Harper's took a pass on the story and that is what prompted him to distribute the emails to other outlets. It's very interesting that papers that specifically cover activity on Capitol Hill(The Hill, Roll Call) didn't pursue this story. Clearly they would have good relationships on both sides of the aisle, with members of Congress, in addition to their staff members, yet they still didn't pursue it. Why not?

Still making contacts to answer these questions. More to come.

TPM Muckraker Running Ads for Tim Mahoney

Reading TPM Muckraker again this morning because Josh Marshall says so, I come across a new ad I had not previously seen on TPM Muckraker. Tim Mahoney is now featured in the TPM Muckraker blogads.

I'm reading the Muckraker to see what which parts of the Foley story they are choosing to grant attention, and there's Tim Mahoney staring back at me asking for money. He's dreamy, but I don't think he could dream about collecting cash from Muckraker readers as they're getting the dirt on Foley.

Foley's out of the race. He's resigned. But his name is stuck on the Florida Congressional District 16 ballot. The Republican is Joe Negron, but you have to check the box next to Mark Foley in order to vote for Negron. Does Mahoney even need blog ads?

Regardless, Mahoney is cashing in and I'm asking TPM Muckraker editors when they added Mahoney to their blog ads listing. I've got an early response, but it was awfully dodgy. I thought I was clear with my inital question so I rephrased to try and gain a more concise response.

Here's some imagery for your viewing pleasure. To quote my favorite left of center blogger, "more on this later".

Drunken Soldiers Telling Tall Tales

Justin Rood corrected the record earlier today, so I'll see what kind of muck they're digging up over at TPM Muckraker.

Paul Kiel posts an AP story from a woman that claims she overheard US servicemen bragging about beating detainees at Gitmo. Paul doesn't link to the AP story, he quotes from it. Argh. I guess there are no links in Muckraking.

The TPM folks are just reporting this, but where's the commentary? Soldiers, at a bar, telling stories to tipsy women? Get me an attorney. It's affidavits and cocktails, and dreams?

I'll tell you something. The next time I am at a bar and the bar jock starts telling his story I am going to ask if there's a lawyer in the pub and demand we take the whole tale down in an affidavit. Honestly, everything utterred in a bar is true. Could we get a cautionary note from TPM that they still serve alcohol in bars?

Bad guys finish first, unless you're hitting on the uncomfortable sober gal.

CREW Does Video

CREW nearly lost a fumble earlier today. Justin Rood reported over at TPM Muckraker about the ongoing spat between the Citizens for Responsibility for Ethics in Washington and the FBI's unnamed spokespeople that continue to rebuke Melanie Sloan's claims. Naomi Seligman, press spokesperson for CREW, told Rood that CREW sent the emails to the FBI one week after they had received them.

I emailed Rood about that new week of time. Turns out it wasn't a new week. Seligman just fumbled, but recovered her own fumble. Fair enough. Moving along.

The CREW blog, one in which I still cannot determine the names of its editor(s), has provided vidoe of Melanie Sloan's interview on CNN from today. There's lots of great footage of Sloan walking in a plaza. There's also footage of her walking in a plaza. Then there's footage of her walking in a plaza. If there going to keep showing her walking in a plaza, is it so hard to get a shot of her walking away from the camera?

It's Friday and it's happy hour. The taps are flowing. Don't mind me. But seriously, Sloan again confirms that she thinks the 'overly friendly' emails were in her view enough for the FBI to launch an investigation. That's why she sent them to an unnamed special agent in Washington. Apparently the FBI disagreed that the emails between Foley and a Louisiana page were criminal.

Ok, what's the big deal here? Well, CNN figured that maybe the FBI was wrong. Maybe there was something there. So they talked to other law enforecement agencies. They asked the NYPD, which told CNN, they would find cause to launch an investigation in the emails if they were submitted by a parent of the minor.

Wait, so the parents of a minor would garner more traction with law enforcement than an alleged non-partisan special interest dedicated to ethics? So what else is knew? The actual parents of the Louisiana page just wanted the emails to stop, which did stop, and they wanted the issue dropped to protect the privacy of their son, which the did occur, that is until ABC News broke the story wide open on the evening of September 28th.

I really want to believe in the mission of CREW. The more special interests watching over Washington, the better off we Americans are. But CREW has to be more diligent. If Ethics is their battlefield why didn't they refer the emails to the House Ethics Committee? Did they really think that the emails were MORE criminal than a potential ethics violation? Is the organization going to police the area it knows, or rely on the investigations of others in a field they don't know?

I'll tell you what I know. I'm watching the video again.

Curious Timing

I'm following up on some links review for stories quoting CREW(Citizens for Ethics and Repsonsibility in Washington) and I came across a link via Google to a mobile version of the Center for American Progress's "Progress Report". The date is 09/28/2006. In that mobile report the editors blurb that CREW "launches a blog".

These are the headlines for the posts at the CREW blog for 09/28/2006.

8:41AM - 485: Number of documented White House/Abramoff team interactions
9:25AM - The Rove-Abramoff connection: much closer than previously revealed
11:11AM - CREW asks House Ethics Committee to investigate Rep. Mark Foley

At 6:39PM that same day, the editors post that the server is responding slowly due to an "extremely heavy load". After that, the editors go all Foley all the time.

Is it strange that that the CREW blog timeline begins 09/06/2006? Not really.
Is it strange that the the Progess Report doesn't even notice the blog of an organization they have linked to repeatedly over the past year until 09/28/2006? Not really.
Is it strange that on the morning the Foley story breaks, prior to airing, the Progress Report highlights the CREW blog with the misleading headline indicating it just launched?

I can't conclude much beyond the presence of curious timing. And that's the way it appears, for now.

Feminist Majority Celebrates Abortion

The Feminist Majority Foundation, through it's propaganda rag, Ms. Magazine, is publishing an issue this month that celebrates abortion and includes a petition signatures from over 5,000 women that are admitting they've had abortions.

The foundation is doing this as a swan song to its founding roots. They're trying to connect the woman of today with the woman of 1973.

I find this celebration rather strange. Does the foundation actually want abortions? Not even the poltical candidates they support want abortions. On the contrary, politicians want less abortion, even Senators Clinton and Boxer.

The cover story is easily rebutted by the self sacrifice of the great American people. 5,000 women are putting their names to an "I had an abortion" petition. Do you think I could make some calls to adoption clinics around the US and find couples willing and wanting to adopt 5,000 children?

I'm glad Ms. Magazine is running this issue. I hope as many media outlets as possible cover this story. The more people are exposed to the bottom feeders at Feminist Majority the better chance another baby has to be born. I pray for Feminist Majority.

Who Did Mark Foley Instant Message?

Wild Bill's "Passionate America" blog reports that he will reveal the name at 4PM CST.

How CREW Received Foley Emails

C-Span needs to put their "Washington Journal" program on their podcast page. Transcripts would be a lot easier to derive from audio. I could process them during my commute. Fortunately, the program is available online later in the day after it airs in the morning.

Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Reponsibility and Ethics in Washington, was the first guest on the show. She indicated that CREW received the Foley emails -- the "overly friendly" ones -- from a Capitol Hill source. The Capitol Hill source received them from a staffer in Congress.

I'll provide a transcript later.

YouTube User Banned

I picked up this story via Hotair. A YouTube user was suspended for the content of their videos. The user was uploading videos made by US soldiers. The staff at YouTube didn't like their content.

This wouldn't be all that interesting without another key detail. YouTube restricts content. They have many users that violate the terms of service. But does YouTube selectively enforce its policies?

Check out Crusader's blog to determine for yourself if YouTube permits Al Qaida recruitment videos, but bans users that upload videos from US Soldiers?

UPDATE: More people chiming in with their stories of YouTube removing their content with little explanation. Michelle Malkin's Mohammed cartoon collage has been pulled. Michelle also posts a comment from another YouTube user, Intelsum, with a similar story.

STILL MORE: You Tube has plucked another video they didn't like. This time it's one of Rusty's from My Pet Jawa.