But First a Fast & Furious Update:
Attorney General Eric Holder claimed during congressional testimony today that internal Justice Department emails that use the phrase “Fast and Furious” do not refer to the controversial gun-walking operation Fast and Furious.
Under questioning from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who read excerpts of the emails at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Justice Department oversight, Holder claimed that the phrase “Fast and Furious” did not refer to Fast and Furious but instead referred to another gun-walking operation known as “Wide Receiver.”
However, the emails refer to both programs — “Fast and Furious” and the “Tucson case,” from where Wide Receiver was launched — and reveal Justice Department officials discussing how to handle media scrutiny when both operations become public.
The evasion and prevarication continues.
GEORGE SOROS — The LEFT’s $$$ Big Brother
Summary: The media often talk about left-wing billionaire George Soros – especially his investments and his charity work. But those same news stories seldom give a complete picture of the man behind many of the liberal or “progressive” organizations in the United States and around the world.
Soros has amassed monumental wealth ($20 billion according to Forbes), but he has used much of that money to underwrite political operations, liberal higher education and an international organization that makes him one of the most powerful and influential men in the world. It has also made him among the most hated, not that the U.S. news media report on that. In fact, the American media seldom tell anything about Soros’s problems abroad or his hard-left agenda here at home. Some of the low points all-but ignored by the media include his $3 million fine for insider trading in France and how he operates his “own foreign policy” that often goes against U.S. interests.
The Media Research Center’s Business and Media Institute has undertaken more than a year of investigation into George Soros, his business dealings, his political involvement and his extensive connections to the media. That investigation shows that much of the more than $8.5 billion Soros has given to charity has in turned been used to advocate for hardcore left-wing policies around the globe. Those findings include:
Soros, the moneybags of the left, has spent $36 million in the last several years funding politicians and the left’s political machine. He also gave $550 million to liberal causes in 2000-2009.
There’s no product the Soros family likes better than Obama. The Democratic president has received more money from Soros and his kin than any other political candidate in the last 11 years – $16,000 and counting. They gave an additional $250,000 to the inauguration fund, with five members of the family each giving the maximum contribution of $50,000.
To recap:
- He and his family gave more than $36 million to politicians and political groups through the past two decades.
- Most of that $36 million came in Soros’s epic battle to defeat President George W. Bush in 2004. Soros alone spent more than $32 million of that total to fund the anti-Bush campaign with liberal grassroots groups MoveOn.org, Joint Victory Campaign 2004, and America Coming Together among the top recipients.
- This is only a hint at Soros’s real political funding. He’s given more than $550 million to fund the liberal infrastructure in the United States – pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-gay marriage, pro-drug legalization, pro-union and pro-government-funded media as well as anti-faith, anti-death penalty and as anti-conservative as they come.
To put that in perspective, he vastly outspent the libertarian Koch Brothers in individual political donations 8 to 1. Promoting left-wing ideology to include everything from electing judges to immigration reform, Soros has exerted his power over the nation’s liberal political elite.
The Kochs have been labeled as everything from “Tea Party puppeteers” by New York Times columnists Charles M. Blow to industrialists that “help keep the Tea Party movement well-caffeinated,” and vilified for their extensive giving to conservatives. But Soros has fondly been described as a philanthropist. The media fail to note that Soros has outspent the Kochs in individual-funded political activity.
See also: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/09/opensecrets-battle—koch-brothers.html
Then there is more:
- $400 Million to Manipulate Higher Education: Journalists who thought the Koch brothers were dominating college funding with a mere $7 million should check out Soros. He’s given more than 50 times more and even helped establish his own university, Central European University, which teaches his own bizarre political/social philosophy of “open society.”
- The “progressive” Bard College in New York is a favorite of the Soros family. With more than $70 million in funding, Bard is the prime example of what Soros aims to achieve with his university funding. He gave an entire department for his now ex-wife Susan Weber to run after she was turned down for the job she really wanted. Bard celebrates left-wing causes and encourages students to go out and become activists for their own favorite causes.The grants to Bard College show exactly what type of efforts Soros gives to in order to train student activists. Programs at Bard include a Palestinian youth group, an initiative to educate prisoners across the country, and various other groups for “community service and social action.” The school received $76,792,265 in gifts and commitments from Soros since 2000. From 2000-2010 they were granted more than $16 million with an additional $60 million in funding added to their endowment by Soros in 2011. Soros was quoted in The New York Times, “as a general rule I do not support higher education in the United States.” Soros continued that the grant will “help Bard in its efforts to transform liberal education and bolster critical thinking worldwide.” While this is inherently false seeing as Soros gave more than $100 million to U.S. universities, it still highlight the fact that the programs at Bard are well representative of his views.
- Imagine the hysterical fits from the liberal bloggers and the main stream media if one of the Koch brother’s wives did such a thing!
- All of the Ivy League universities, along with a variety of state schools, private institutions, and even religiously-affiliated institutions are funded by Soros. These grants went a documentary on the War on Terror from Harvard to studying race and ethnicity at Ohio State University.Every one of the Ivy League colleges and universities received funding from Soros. More than $15 million was granted since 2000 to promote specific programs that line up with the Soros ideology. Columbia and Harvard were the real winners, receiving more than $8 million and more than $5 million respectively. Dartmouth bottomed out with a mere $3,000 with Princeton following at $36,000. All of the other institutions received over $200,000.Nineteen schools received more than $1 million from Soros. Central European University and Bard College led the pack followed by Columbia, the European University at St. Petersburg, and Indiana University.
Money from Soros goes to everything from general operating funds to specific pet projects that influence the local community and the world. Whether it’s a top ranked university or a religiously-affiliated one, Soros has managed to find a left-wing cause to back with the help of his foundations.
- Global Scandals Largely Unreported: Soros has admitted to helping start revolutions, funding radicals and attacking national currencies. His insider trading conviction in France cost him $3 million and has been upheld by European courts repeatedly. His foundations have been opposed by nations around the globe, yet almost the only negative press he has received on ABC, CBS and NBC was linked to a sex scandal with a 28-year-old Brazilian actress.
- Political Contributions to Most Major Liberal Politicians: Soros has personally funded some of the top names in America’s left from Barack Obama to Nancy Pelosi. Soros donates hundreds of millions to politically active liberal organizations as well. He’s even given $500,000 to the allegedly neutral Center for Responsive Politics, which is the source for much of the information on political donations.
- More Than Half a Billion Dollars to Finance the Left: George Soros aids hundreds of left-wing groups in America each year under the auspices of his Open Society Foundations. Since 2000, Soros has given more than $550 million to liberal organizations in the U.S., underwriting every major liberal initiative – pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-gay marriage, pro-drug legalization, pro-union, pro-government-funded media and even attacks against the concept of free elections and voting for judges.
Recommendations:
The Business and Media Institute has several recommendations for news outlets on how they can improve their coverage of George Soros and his foundations.
- Do Some Genuine Journalism and Investigate Soros: George Soros is the embodiment of media bias. While the American media obsess about almost any action of the libertarian Koch brothers, they all-but ignore his one-man quest for global power. Soros has given more than $8.5 billion to his Open Society Foundations, leaving an imprint on more than 70 nations. Any business, organization or individual with that kind of financing and international reach is ripe for investigation. It’s time journalists did some digging on their own.
- Treat Public Figures Equally: If someone on the left squawks about Charles and David Koch, journalists from some major news organizations jump to write about it. But criticisms of Soros, his business practices and even his conviction seldom get noted by the media. Journalists should treat all public figures equally.
- Don’t Ignore Soros Connections to Major News Events: Newspaper front pages are filled with protests, complaints and supposedly grassroots initiatives that are easily tied to Soros – through the Center of American Progress and other entities he funds. But that connection is almost never made made. Journalists ignore obvious funding connections and sometimes don’t even check connections openly made on organizational websites. It’s the job of news to show when organizations are blatantly working together toward an end and to show the obvious ties these groups might share. (MRC)
The full report: http://www.mrc.org/special-reports/special-report-george-soros-godfather-left
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