Posted on 04/12/2006 12:39:53 PM PDT by freemarket_kenshepherd
It was déjà vu on ABC News as “World News Tonight” repeated a February 24 New York Times attempt to discredit philanthropist Boone Pickens. Reporter Brian Ross even used the same lawyer linked to George Soros, the liberal billionaire who went head-to-head with Pickens in the 2004 election.
[...]
Ross’s story bashed Pickens for using a tax deduction Congress set up to encourage Hurricane Katrina relief donations – a deduction even ABC had previously encouraged its viewers to use. Ross pointed out that “Congress never specified the contributions had to go to Katrina relief in order to qualify.” That didn’t stop him from sarcastically noting that “none of Pickens’ $165 million went to Katrina victims, unless they were golfers in Oklahoma.”
But Pickens did contribute millions of dollars to Katrina relief – a fact that chief investigative correspondent Ross glaringly omitted from his story.
[...]
Pickens’ giving wasn’t the only omission in Ross’s story. The “former IRS official” ABC interviewed about the Katrina tax deduction was Marcus Owens – the same source who appeared prominently in the Times story. Owens revealed in an interview with the Free Market Project in early March that his firm has done work for Soros.
Owens was asked follow-up questions after that Times piece appeared. He became cautious when Soros’ name came up, saying his law firm “has done work for him in the past” and Owens would “prefer not to say” whether it was he personally who had done that work.
Soros funded ads attacking President George W. Bush, while Pickens helped support the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that questioned Democratic candidate John Kerry’s war record. Neither the Times nor ABC included Owens’ connection to Pickens rival Soros.
(Excerpt) Read more at freemarketproject.org ...
But ABC had no problem when Slick and Her Heinous took deductions for donating their filthy underwear. Nor did they have a problem when Al Bore couldn't scrape together more than $350 for charity one year from his $197,000 income.
Is this the same Pickens who has ads on the radio claiming we “can’t drill our way out of this,” and pushing windpower, et al?
Yes, it is: http://www.boonepickens.com/
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