Posted on 07/26/2005 11:33:42 AM PDT by kristinn
Liberal blogger Eric Brewer, who writes for the blog BTC News, wrote that a 'reporter' for Air America radio has been given a White House press pass.
Brewer says he met the new 'reporter' while going through security to cover yesterday's White House briefing by Scott McClellan.
The Air America reporter is identified as a lawyer from Aptos, California named Paul Sanford. A quick search shows that Mr. Sanford does have a law practice there, but according to his Website he does not have an education in journalism. However, he is a law professor which might explain his erudite debut question to the White House press secretary:
"There has been a lot of speculation concerning the meaning of the underlying statute in the grand jury investigation concerning Mr. Rove. The question is, have the legal counsel to the White House or White House staff reviewed the statute in sufficient specificity to determine whether a violation of that statute would, in effect, constitute treason?"
McLellan responded,"I think that in terms of decisions regarding the investigation, those are matters for those overseeing the investigation to decide."
Sanford is mentioned in a July 15 article in the Monterey Herald here: KOMY will feature six hours of programming from the liberal Air America broadcast network. The new lineup will include Franken, author of "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" and "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations"; commentator Randi Rhodes; Alan Colmes; and Santa Cruz lawyer and Democratic Party activist Paul Sanford, who will be involved with programming 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day.
Hmmm....Democratic party activist.....Mr. Sanford will be right at home in the White House press corps.
"Barney Frank still has a job despite his aides."
It's spelled AIDS. ;)
First, it was San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom greenlighting gay marriage and Ralph Nader announcing that he's running again for president that were being touted as election-year wedgies.
And now it's self-professed atheist Rev. Dr. Mike Newdow's arguments for deleting "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance that are being viewed as the next potential election-year bombshell--at least that's the tip from Santa Cruz-based law professor Paul Sanford, who'll be holding Newdow's hand, so to speak, on March 24, when Newdow will appear before the U.S. Supreme Court to argue that his daughter should be able to attend school "free from daily theistic indoctrination, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution."
As Sanford points out, the way the pledge is currently worded, by the time kids graduate from high school, they'll have recited "under God" an amazing 2,350 times. All of which, Sanford says, adds up to a walloping dose of indoctrination--or humiliation, embarrassment and ostracization, depending on what a kid decides to do about the pledge.
"What choice does a third-grader whose parents believe that a monotheistic approach has devalued humanity--and as such is morally abhorrent to them--have when faced with the extraordinary pressure within elementary school to conform?" Sanford asks. "Especially given that their teacher is required by law to lead the class in the pledge, which includes the words, 'under God.' Expecting young school kids to leave the room, sit down or simply not say these words puts them in a horrible position, while denying them a way to express their patriotism."
Nüz could also argue that asking people who aren't old enough to vote to make daily expressions of patriotism is also indoctrination, but that would be just silly, now wouldn't it?
Anyway, Sanford believes that "if four justices, or more, agree with Mr. Newdow's position, then the next day the president will stand in front of the American flag and ask for another constitutional amendment, to put God back in the Pledge."
But can Newdow win? That question certainly got a little more interesting when Justice Antonin Scalia, in a delicious case of duck hunters getting their just deserts, had to recuse himself from the case after he criticized the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals for ruling in Newdow's favor--criticisms he made at a Religious Freedom Day event sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. The Knights are of course the very same organization that led the campaign to add "under God" to the pledge in 1954, at the height of McCarthyism.
Fifty years later, the number of adult Americans who are godless has grown to 14.1 percent, according to the latest American Religious Identification Survey, which assumedly means that the other 85.9 percent are under one god or another, though which one is a can of worms the conservatives don't want to get into.
All of which leads Sanford to believe that if Newdow prevails, "a substantial number of people in every community across America, including Santa Cruz, will be outraged and polarized in the same way they are around gay marriage and abortion--while topics like world hunger, poverty and war on Iraq won't be being discussed."
> All the WH has to do is check out the threads and give the press pass to a Bushbot Freeper (pick me! pick me!) instead of a Tancredo Freeper and we'll be all set.
LOL! The talk radio "echo chamber"'s not allowed, just the porous border Bushinators...
bttt
He's already there among the presstitutes.
They aren't protected. Axis Sally was imprisoned after WWII and Lord Haw Haw was hanged.
Propagandists for the enemy can be traitors to America and prosecuted as such. Treason is defined in the Constitution.
Whatever. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that soliciting is currently illegal, so I can't see why I should get all that worked up defending a guy who, by all rights, should probably be under indictment at the moment.
30 days of Abu Ghrab "US is bad" stories could have at least been BALANCED by a report of what went on at Abu Ghrab under Saddam. Or do you agree with Teddy Kennedy that Abu Ghrab just reopened under new management with the same policies?
Do you agree with the reporter who cried at the press conference after the Gitmo-koran story, "What do you want us to do, write positive stories about the US military?"
Whether I agree with one spin or another is neither here nor there - Jeff Gannon is damaged goods, and I'm not losing any sleep over what happened to him.
Let's look at your record including any suppressed charges.
After all, no criminals accused or convicted should be permitted on this forum by your decree.
Fine. I got a speeding ticket in 1994 for 75 in a 55. There ya go.
After all, no criminals accused or convicted should be permitted on this forum by your decree.
What on earth are you talking about? Who said anything about permitting people on this forum?
Having people with dark pasts on FR could taint this forum. Let's throw out the baby with the bathwater.
While we're at it, kick Rove and DeLay out. They are tainted and bad for PR for the Republicans.
If you wanna get all maudlin about it, be my guest. In the mean time, I think I'll remind everyone else that Guckert resigned from Talon and left the WH press corps on his own, once his past came to light - nobody kicked him out of anything. Maybe if he didn't want those sorts of things discussed, he shouldn't have splashed his nutsack all over the internet in the first place. Just a thought.
Would you care to make any corrections to the initial article on this thread. The story was picked up from a blogger who claims to have met you at the White House.
But I'm sure that French reporter for NBC, monsieur David Gregory, will speak up, yeah.
From Weegee: Barney Frank still has a job despite his aides.
Barney Frank has aids? Who knew?
I never identified myself as part of Air America. It was a misunderstanding. I do have some interesting tales...
Paul
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