New Conservative Entertainment Network "RightNetwork" Launches

Originally posted by WTFover
George Soros.

moveon.org

Organizing for America.

.

His donations to MoveOn were measly compared to actual grassroots donations. He is by no means a controller of MoveOn. He's simply one of the few very wealthy progressives and he decided that Bush needed to be defeated and prevented from gaining office at any personal cost. Soros said he was willing to spend all his fortune, if necessary, to prevent Bush's victory. And I think most people would side with Soros in retrospect...

Originally posted by NoHierarchy
His donations to MoveOn were measly compared to actual grassroots donations.

You made that connection. Not me. Besides, Soros has contributed to many more liberal organizations than just moveon.

Soros said he was willing to spend all his fortune, if necessary, to prevent Bush's victory.

Well, I guess he is just a liar then, isn't he? Bush was elected and re-elected, yet Soros still has billions and is living life on a much grander scale than the majority of Americans.

Anyway, I suppose it is alright to have liberal websites, supported by wealthy people, but not for conservatives.

Typical, but not worth my time to argue further.

Originally posted by WTFover

Originally posted by NoHierarchy
His donations to MoveOn were measly compared to actual grassroots donations.

You made that connection. Not me. Besides, Soros has contributed to many more liberal organizations than just moveon.

Soros said he was willing to spend all his fortune, if necessary, to prevent Bush's victory.

Well, I guess he is just a liar then, isn't he? Bush was elected and re-elected, yet Soros still has billions and is living life on a much grander scale than the majority of Americans.

Anyway, I suppose it is alright to have liberal websites, supported by wealthy people, but not for conservatives.

Typical, but not worth my time to argue further.

You certainly made a connection between Soros and MoveOn... and I know where that argument typically leads. I was just clarifying the relationship for you from what I've researched.

I can see how you'd feel there is hypocrisy in approving of wealthy liberal contributions and not conservative ones, and certainly there may be to some extent. However... I think the difference between wealthy Liberal and wealthy Conservative agendas is colored by exactly what they support. The majority of the wealthy seem to be conservative and actively push the right-wing to hand THEM subsidies, tax breaks, de-regulation, free markets, control/influence/positions in government, etc. And they've been met with great success simply because of their ability to move/shake with their wealth. This shows a selfish interest in furthering one's, already considerable, profits/power. Whereas when a wealthy Liberal supports Liberal causes, it seems to be a stepping OUTSIDE of that conflict of interest in order to simply do what's right. Now I'm not saying wealth conservatives are all evil schemers (though some certainly are, I'm sure) nor am I saying that they all aren't trying to do what's right... However, I view them as a demographic, and as Bush said, "my base". Wealthy businessmen/women are simply lobbying for what will benefit them the most, as every other group does. The problem I think most people have with that is- the vast majority of Americans aren't wealthy, nor can/will most people become wealthy, and thus are not properly represented by wealthy interests; also such political conflicts of interest have lead to bribery and a breakdown of government assistance to other LARGER portions of society which actually NEED the help far more than the rich or corporations/banks do. To further expound- such conservative (or neo-conservative) agendas have lead to a sort of self-fulfilling system... a system that artificially provides ITSELF with the need for plutocracy and/or adoption of trickle-down economics. Essentially, when large economic entities and/or the wealthy control our government/economy, they can create an artificial scarcity of viable possibilities WITHIN those systems, limiting the options of the public to a manufactured inevitability. Essentially, via de-regulated/subsidized plutocracy we're given false choices in our very own Democratic/Representative government.

reply to post by NoHierarchy


Tides Foundation And The Tides Center

* Net Assets: Tides Foundation - $142,007,356 (2006); Tides Center - $43,969,744 (2006)
* Grants Received: Tides Foundation - $68,725,557 (2006); Tides Center - $49,859,754 (2006)
* Grants Awarded: Tides Foundation - $67,319,624 (2006); Tides Center - $5,566,058 (2006

Established in 1976 by California-based activist Drummond Pike, the Tides Foundation was set up as a public charity that receives money from donors and then funnels it to the recipients of their choice. Because many of these recipient groups are quite radical, the donors often prefer not to have their names publicly linked with the donees. By letting the Tides Foundation, in effect, “launder” the money for them and pass it along to the intended beneficiaries, donors can avoid leaving a “paper trail.” Such contributions are called "donor-advised," or donor-directed, funds.

Through this legal loophole, nonprofit entities can also create for-profit organizations and then funnel money to them through Tides -- thereby circumventing the laws that bar nonprofits from directly funding their own for-profit enterprises. Pew Charitable Trusts, for instance, set up three for-profit media companies and then proceeded to fund them via donor-advised contributions to Tides, which (for an 8 percent management fee) in turn sent the money to the media companies.

If a donor wishes to give money to a particular cause but finds that there is no organization in existence dedicated specifically to that issue, the Tides Foundation will, for a fee, create a group to meet that perceived need.

Media Matters

“Media Matters for America, the group headed by conservative turned liberal writer David Brock, has changed course on its stated association with billionaire liberal financier George Soros.

After initially claiming on Dec. 1, 2004 that “neither Media Matters nor its president and CEO David Brock has received any money from Soros or from any organization with which he is affiliated,” the group is no longer disavowing any connection with groups “affiliated” with Soros.

The Media Matters shift came after Cybercast News Service questioned the group’s financial ties and demonstrated that there were numerous and extensive links between Media Matters and several Soros “affiliates” like MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress and Soros ally Peter Lewis.

Media Matters for America (MMA) spokeswoman Sally Aman responded to Cybercast News Service’s questions with an e-mail. “In response to your query regarding donor funding Media Matters for America has never received funding directly from George Soros,” Aman stated, no longer denying any relationship with organizations affiliated with Soros.

She went on to reference the “early support from Moveon.org, and the New Democrat Network,” that Media Matters had received.

Soros and his foundations have had a hand in funding such noteworthy leftist organizations as the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy; the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center; the National Organization for Women; Feminist Majority; the American Civil Liberties Union; People for the American Way; Alliance for Justice; NARAL Pro-Choice America; America Coming Together; the Center for American Progress; Campaign for America's Future; Amnesty International; the Sentencing Project; the Center for Community Change; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Human Rights Watch; the Prison Moratorium Project; the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement; the National Lawyers Guild; the Center for Constitutional Rights; the Coalition for an International Criminal Court; The American Prospect; MoveOn.org; Planned Parenthood; the Nation Institute; the Brennan Center for Justice; the Ms. Foundation for Women; the National Security Archive Fund; the Pacifica Foundation; Physicians for Human Rights; the Proteus Fund; the Public Citizen Foundation; the Urban Institute; the American Friends Service Committee; Catholics for a Free Choice; Human Rights First; the Independent Media Institute; MADRE; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Immigrant Legal Resource Center; the National Immigration Law Center; the National Immigration Forum; the National Council of La Raza; the American Immigration Law Foundation; the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee; and the Peace and Security Funders Group.

Apart from the more than $5 billion that Soros' foundation network has donated to leftist groups like those listed above, Soros personally has made campaign contributions to such notable political candidates as Charles Rangel, Al Franken, Tom Udall, Joe Sestak, and Sherrod Brown.

The Tides Foundation promotes a multitude of leftist agendas, as evidenced by its assertion: "We strengthen community-based organizations and the progressive movement by providing an innovative and cost-effective framework for your philanthropy." Among the crusades to which Tides contributes are: radical environmentalism; the "exclusion of humans from public and private wild lands"; the anti-war movement; anti-free trade campaigns; the banning of firearms ownership; abolition of the death penalty; access to government-funded abortion-on-demand; and radical gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans gender advocacy. The Foundation is also a member organization of the International Human Rights Funders Group, a network of more than six-dozen grantmakers dedicated to financing left wing groups and causes.

Immediately after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Tides formed a "9/11 Fund" to advocate a "peaceful national response." Tides later replaced the 9/11 Fund with the "Democratic Justice Fund," which was financed in large measure by the Open Society Institute of George Soros, who has donated more than $7 million to Tides over the years. Reciprocally, the Tides Foundation is a major funder of the Shadow Party, a George Soros-conceived nationwide network of several dozen unions, non-profit activist groups, and think tanks whose agendas are ideologically to the left, and which are engaged in campaigning for the Democrats.

Tides also set up a Peace Strategies Fund and an Iraq Peace Fund, the latter of which has granted money to such groups as MoveOn.org, the National Council of Churches, the Arab-American Action Network, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the pro-Castro groups United for Peace and Justice and Center for Constitutional Rights. In addition, Tides funds “A Better Way Project,” which coordinates the activities of United for Peace and Justice and the Win Without War Coalition/Keep America Safe Campaign.

Tides and the organizations it supports interact closely with one another on a regular basis. For example, Drummond Pike sits on the Board of the Environmental Working Group along with David Fenton, founder of Fenton Communications.

Recent recipients of Tides Foundation grants include: the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute; the American Civil Liberties Union; the ACORN Institute; the Agape Foundation; Alliance For Justice; American Family Voices; the American Friends Service Committee; the American Immigration Law Foundation; the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; Amnesty International; the Border Action Network; the Brennan Center for Justice; Campaign for America’s Future; the Center for American Progress; the Center for Community Change; the Center for Constitutional Rights; the Center for Reproductive Rights; Changemakers; the Children’s Defense Fund; Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington; the Council on American-Islamic Relations (as revealed in FrontpageMagazine); Democracy Now!; Earth Day Network; Earth Island Institute; Earthjustice; Environmental Defense; Environmental Media Services; the Environmental Working Group; Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting; the Feminist Majority Foundation; Free Press; Funding Exchange; Global Exchange; Grantmakers Without Borders; Grassroots International; Greenpeace; Human Rights First; Human Rights Watch; the Immigrant Legal Resource Center; Institute for America’s Future; Institute for Policy Studies; Institute for Public Accuracy; the Israel Policy Forum; the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy; the Jane Addams Peace Association; the League of Conservation Voters; the League of United Latin American Citizens; the League of Women Voters; the Liberty Hill Foundation; MADRE; Medecins Sans Frontieres; Media Matters for America; Mercy Corps; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Mexico Solidarity Network; the Middle East Children’s Alliance; Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet; the Ms. Foundation for Women; the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty; the National Council of Churches; the National Lawyers Guild; the National Network of Grantmakers; the National Organization for Women Foundation; the National Wildlife Federation; the Natural Resources Defense Council; the Nature Conservancy (of California and of New York); the New Israel Fund; the New World Foundation; Nonviolent Peaceforce; the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; Oxfam America; the Pacifica Foundation; Peace Action; the Peace Development Fund; People for the American Way; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Planned Parenthood; the Ploughshares Fund; Population Connection; the Progress Unity Fund; Project Vote; the Proteus Fund; the Public Citizen Foundation; the Rainforest Action Network; the Rainforest Alliance; the Rockefeller Family Fund; the Ruckus Society; the Sentencing Project; September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows; the Sierra Club; the Shefa Fund; Sojourners; the Threshold Foundation; TrueMajority Action; Trust for Public Land; the Union of Concerned Scientists; USAction; Veterans For Peace; Waterkeeper Alliance; the Wilderness Society; Witness For Peace; Women's Action for New Directions; and the World Wildlife Fund.

Tides also runs a tax-exempt “alternative media source” called the Institute for Global Communications (IGC), a leading provider of Web technology to the radical left.

Between 1993 and 2003, at least 91 foundations made grants to the Tides Foundation. These included the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Arca Foundation; the AT&T Foundation; the Barbra Streisand Foundation; the Bauman Family Foundation; Ben and Jerry's Foundation; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the Blue Moon Fund; the Bullitt Foundation; the CarEth Foundation; the Carnegie Corporation of New York; Changemakers; the ChevronTexaco Foundation; the Columbia Foundation; the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the Energy Foundation; the Fannie Mae Foundation; the Ford Foundation; the Foundation for Deep Ecology; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; the Heinz Family Foundation; the Hoffman Foundation; the Homeland Foundation; the Howard Heinz Endowment; the J.M. Kaplan Fund; the James Irvine Foundation; the JEHT Foundation; the Jenifer Altman Foundation; the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; the Joyce Foundation; the Lear Family Foundation; the Liberty Hill Foundation; the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; the Ms. Foundation for Women; the Nathan Cummings Foundation; the New World Foundation; the Open Society Institute; the Pew Charitable Trusts; the Ploughshares Fund; the Proteus Fund; the Public Welfare Foundation; the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund; the Righteous Persons Foundation; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Roberts Foundation; the Rockefeller Family Fund; the Rockefeller Foundation; the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy; the Stern Family Fund; the Stewart R. Mott Charitable Trust; the Summit Charitable Foundation; the Surdna Foundation; the Threshold Foundation; the Turner Foundation; the Vanguard Public Foundation; the Verizon Foundation; the Vira I. Heinz Endowment; the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; and the Woods Fund of Chicago.


The Tides Foundation and Tides Center also receive grants from the U.S. federal government. Between 1997 and 2001, these grants included the following: $395,219 from the Department of Interior; $3,350,431 from the Environmental Protection Agency; $3,487,040 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development; $208,878 from the Department of Agriculture; $39,550 from the Department of Energy; $93,500 from the Small Business Administration; $10,986 from the Department of Health and Human Services; and $84,520 from the Centers for Disease Control U.S. Agency for International Development.


www.discoverthenetworks.org...

reply to post by infolurker


I've heard this before, specifically from the insane rantings of Glenn Beck.

Still though, regardless of a progressive agenda of the Tides Foundation (which is actually quite diverse in what it supports)... I still don't find such information alarming at all. The sorts of things the Tides Foundation helps support seem to be pretty reasonable causes without some shadowy agenda. The Tides Foundation is pretty open about supporting causes which benefit people, fight for peoples' rights, protect the environment, and encourage participation in communities and Democracy.

On the Tides Foundation, as excerpted from SourceWatch:

It awards grants in the following issue areas:
-Civic Participation
-Economic Development
-Economic and Racial Justice
-Environment
-Environmental Justice
-LGBTIQ Communities
-HIV/AIDS
-Native Communities
-Progressive Media, Arts and Culture
-Violence Prevention
-Women's Empowerment and Reproductive Health
-Youth Organizing and Development

Seems just fine and dandy to me.

Also, there is a concerted effort to "defund the left" by right-wing/industry think-tanks. When you get down to it and brush aside political battles it's confusing and frustrating that right-wing/industry groups are trying to prevent support for such "left-wing" causes, there are actually some really decent/effective things being done by many various activist organizations to actually help people.

More info:

SourceWatch: Tides Foundation

SourceWatch: Conservatives target the Tides Foundation

SourceWatch: Intimidating foundations

SourceWatch: Intimidating public interest groups

Snopes: Tides Foundation


To be honest, I see this as an ideological battle. Attempts to spread fear/disinfo about groups like Tides seem to be part of an agenda of free market corporatism and plutocracy, and I am vehemently opposed to that.

As a hopefully future intern at the Koch Charity foundation, you people don't know what the # you're talking about. In any case, now there will be 2 right wing networks...and about 8 left wing networks. It's almost even.

"Current TV" is ran by Al Gore and has a clear agenda...don't see people up in arms about it.

Koch mainly deals with organizations such as Reason, Cato, FEE, etc.

www.sfexaminer.com...

reply to post by NoHierarchy




Well of course the leftists are benevolent and the rightys are evil corporations right?

That is what you just said with this comment isn't it?

No, conservative people that do not want a globalized communist system are just evil right?

No, libertarians that want to keep the property they purchase and the labor they create to be theirs, not the collective are just evil right?

No, the true anarchists not the socialist impostors, that believe government control of everything to be bad, are just evil right?

Here is the thing, if you socialists wanted to make things voluntary, everything would be fine.

BUT NO, you have to steal everyone's property, steal everyone's labor for your machinations.

Can we not just get along? Will you folk just take that gun barrel away from my head? Would you please keep your hands out of MY pocket? NO?

Thought not. To those with their eyes open, know that those on the left are the tyrants. So sorry, not falling for it.

Originally posted by yellowcard
As a hopefully future intern at the Koch Charity foundation, you people don't know what the # you're talking about. In any case, now there will be 2 right wing networks...and about 8 left wing networks. It's almost even.

"Current TV" is ran by Al Gore and has a clear agenda...don't see people up in arms about it.

Koch mainly deals with organizations such as Reason, Cato, FEE, etc.

www.sfexaminer.com...

edit on 13-9-2010 by yellowcard because: (no reason given)

You should actually try watching CurrentTV... a good chunk of it is entertainment, and pretty damn good at that. There are few commercials and the actual content is run by young journalists, 2 of whom were arrested/detained in North Korea (and released after a visit by Clinton) very recently. The content is of pretty decent/honest quality, these journalists actually practice REAL JOURNALISM! Go figure... not the kind of inane fluff you see on MSM.

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower
reply to post by NoHierarchy

 

Well of course the leftists are benevolent and the rightys are evil corporations right?

That is what you just said with this comment isn't it?

No, conservative people that do not want a globalized communist system are just evil right?

No, libertarians that want to keep the property they purchase and the labor they create to be theirs, not the collective are just evil right?

No, the true anarchists not the socialist impostors, that believe government control of everything to be bad, are just evil right?

Here is the thing, if you socialists wanted to make things voluntary, everything would be fine.

BUT NO, you have to steal everyone's property, steal everyone's labor for your machinations.

Can we not just get along? Will you folk just take that gun barrel away from my head? Would you please keep your hands out of MY pocket? NO?

Thought not. To those with their eyes open, know that those on the left are the tyrants. So sorry, not falling for it.

God... if that's not a laundry list of straw-men, I dunno what is.

Haven't these points already been addressed with you in other threads?

It's funny how this thread has now turned into left vs. right, whereas soficrow's previous thread about related issues, turned into communism vs. capitalism!

The title of the thread can dictate so much (as it should). While it's nice that people are trying to stay on topic (sort of), to me it seems that the real issues are sometimes bigger than what team you're on.

If most of us reading this are not part of the "elite", we're not mega-wealthy, etc., then wouldn't you think we should have more in common? And yet, it seems that you don't have to be super wealthy to be "conservative", and you don't have to be "poor" or minority to be liberal.

It almost seems like there must be something more going on than mere self-interest. Or does it just appear this way?

So, what of "propaganda"? If we get back to the topic, and we're talking about a new "conservative" network that will now begin painting part of our landscape, what will "change" really, and will it be for better, or for worse?

And what about when "conservative" is supposed to morph into the "next" thing? Or what about when "liberal" is scheduled to morph into it's "next"? Oh yeah...And what about when our master's decide they're supposed to meet in the middle?

Well, for those of us who are beyond "republican" or "democrat", and have seen they are merely sides of the same coin, it's pretty obvious we need to get past these labels (enough of us at least). Otherwise our masters will just continue to lead the herd by red leash today, and by blue tomorrow.

But nothing will really change, until we do.

JR

Originally posted by JR MacBeth
...to me it seems that the real issues are sometimes bigger than what team you're on.

So, what of "propaganda"? If we get back to the topic, and we're talking about a new "conservative" network that will now begin painting part of our landscape, what will "change" really, and will it be for better, or for worse?

...for those of us who are beyond "republican" or "democrat", and have seen they are merely sides of the same coin, it's pretty obvious we need to get past these labels (enough of us at least). Otherwise our masters will just continue to lead the herd by red leash today, and by blue tomorrow.

But nothing will really change, until we do.

Thanks JR. ...more than anything - my concern is 'new age' marketing and propaganda, internet variety. Especially the effects of marketing Trolls, as outlined at the beginning.

The power of "personal contact" marketing via social networking is unprecedented - and something we need to recognize, understand, and defend ourselves against - whichever 'flavor' we're smelling.

reply to post by soficrow

The power of "personal contact" marketing via social networking is unprecedented - and something we need to recognize, understand, and defend ourselves against

I know I'm behind the times, but I have a confession to make, and with red cheeks, I humbly kneel before the public now, and admit my crime:

FaceBook scares me!

Seems like everyone I know is there, and I'm still the old-fashioned hold-out. I just don't get how "privacy" evaporated overnight?

What ever happened to the insidious "anonymous" internet? Yeah, that's an extreme, but isn't FaceBook an extreme in the opposite direction?

And Twitter?? Sheesh. I'm a caveman. But then, it took me a while before I got a cell phone.

JR

Originally posted by JR MacBeth
reply to post by soficrow

 

The power of "personal contact" marketing via social networking is unprecedented - and something we need to recognize, understand, and defend ourselves against

I know I'm behind the times, ...
FaceBook scares me!

Seems like everyone I know is there, and I'm still the old-fashioned hold-out. I just don't get how "privacy" evaporated overnight?

What ever happened to the insidious "anonymous" internet? Yeah, that's an extreme, but isn't FaceBook an extreme in the opposite direction?
...

Ditto. But I just woke up and realized what an unbelievably powerful marketing tool the well-placed troll can be.

Check my 2nd post above, re Marketing Troll training. And remember, ideas are products too.