NPR joins ACORN as Schiller and Schiller get O’Keefed

Perhaps the best thing about NPR's current embarrassment is that, pretty soon now, no one will have to explain anymore that Vivian Schiller and Ron Schiller are neither married nor related. V. Schiller was, until today, the CEO of NPR. R. Schiller was, until recently, President of the NPR Foundation. He resigned to take a job at the Aspen Institute but that job is now toast as well.

Schiller and Schiller got sacked after they got O'Keefed. In case you haven't heard, James O'Keefe, the young gotcha film maker who exposed the dubious culture of ACORN, pulled a similar trick on NPR. From the Daily Caller:

In a new video released Tuesday morning by conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe, [Ron] Schiller and Betsy Liley, NPR's director of institutional giving, are seen meeting with two men who, unbeknownst to the NPR executives, are posing as members of a Muslim Brotherhood front group. The men, who identified themselves as Ibrahim Kasaam and Amir Malik from the fictitious Muslim Education Action Center (MEAC) Trust, met with Schiller and Liley at Café Milano, a well-known Georgetown restaurant, and explained their desire to give up to $5 million to NPR because, "the Zionist coverage is quite substantial elsewhere."

Both the edited version (above) and an unedited version of the video are available online. Three things that happen on the video did Schiller and Schiller in.

First, R. S. doesn't seem the least bit disturbed that he is talking to a front for the Muslim brotherhood, the mission of which is "to spread acceptance of Sharia across the world", nor that one of his hosts talks about "a little bit less Jew influence of money into NPR." Quotes from Powerline.

Second, R. S. says a lot of very nasty things about Republicans in general and Tea Party people in particular. From the Daily Caller:

The Republican Party, Schiller says, has been "hijacked by this group." The man posing as Malik finishes the sentence by adding, "the radical, racist, Islamaphobic, Tea Party people." Schiller agrees and intensifies the criticism, saying that the Tea Party people aren't "just Islamaphobic, but really xenophobic, I mean basically they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people."

Third, R. S. says that NPR would be better off without federal funding at the very moment that NPR is fighting to keep its federal funding.

Conservatives are all over the first item, but I find it underwhelming. Maybe R. Schiller shouldn't have accepted the dinner invitation until the MEAC was better vetted, but he wasn't in a position at that table to do the vetting. As for not objecting when their hosts said objectionable things, I'm sorry but that is what fund raisers are supposed to do. You aren't there to educated or correct a potential donor. Remember what was said later, when your organization has to decide whether to accept the donation.

The second item is much more troubling for what it says about the culture of NPR executives. R. Schiller is deeply contemptuous of about half of all Americans. The Tea Party people are White, middle-America gun-toting, seriously racist people." Like the President's infamous remark about "clinging" to guns and religion, this is apparently what a lot of liberals say when they think there is nobody in the room except them. It is what R. Schiller really thinks and I am guessing it is what V. Schiller thinks. R.S., to be sure, thinks of himself as part of a small elite surrounded by, well…

Schiller decried U.S. media coverage of Egypt's uprising against former dictator Hosni Mubarak, especially talk of the Muslim Brotherhood's influence on the protests and future of Egypt. Schiller said that is what he is "most disappointed by in this country, which is that the educated, so-called elite in this country is too small a percentage of the population, so that you have this very large un-educated part of the population that carries these ideas."

Is that what most of the executives at NPR think about most of their fellow Americans? That question is one that neither Schiller could survive as NPR executives. As for the new job that is no longer open to R. Schiller, I note that the Aspen Institute is devoted to "open-minded dialogue."

Comments

[Stan Gibilisco]

It's way past time that my tax dollars stop supporting a left-wing propaganda outfit. Either they shape up, or else they join the private-enterprise fray. I'd prefer the former ...

I spend more listening to National Public Radio (NPR) and South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB) than I spend listening to any other radio station (except possibly KBHU, "The Buzz" from Black Hills State University). Hey, it's the Chameleon Underground I dig.

I can listen past the bias and glean useful information from NPR. For example, I first heard about the impending trouble with Countrywide Home Loans back in 2007 while listening to the news on NPR. As a result, I paid off my mortgage -- got out of Dodge before the hurricane hit.

Nevertheless I took offense at NPR's relentless hammering on President Bush and his administration. They seemed to relish the delivery of each and every blow. One could feel the venom oozing out of the speaker cones. They have directed no such fury at our current President or his administration, rarely offering up any criticism at all.

I would like to see NPR and SDPB continue to receive public funding, but subject to the condition that their programming truly represent a "fair and balanced" approach (thereby living up to that mantra, unlike a certain private institution which I shall not identify), with the left and the right equally represented, as well as what remains of the political center.

Maybe an annual public review, some sort of citizens' panel or commission, could oversee NPR and every state's public broadcasting system, to make certain that the "average bias" of their programming more or less coincides with the "average bias" of their listening audience.

[BillW]

I wouldn't care if NPR did a 180 and recast themselves at the Sarah Palin fan club. There is no reason for the federal government to be in the radio or television business. There may have been justification long ago to provide television and radio to rural locations unserved by the private sector, but there is no shortage of information available today. Shut 'em down.

[larry kurtz]

Turnabout is fair play. When Scott Walker gets indicted for conspiracy and gets ten years as Ted Kaczinski's boyfriend the worm will have turned.

[BillW]

May be Larry, but it looks like a sure thing his prison guards will be non-union.

[larry kurtz]

One person's redeemer is another's serial murderer.

[larry kurtz]

$41 billion a year in subsidies to Koch and the oil pigs: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0309/Budget-hawks-Does-US-need-to-give-gas-and-oil-companies-41-billion-a-year

[George Mason]

NPR does not have to be shut down, but taxpayers do not have to fund it. Let the people who watch it pay for it just like every other media outlet. If MSNBC can stay on the air NPR should have no problem. For years we have heard NPR state, as Schiller did, that only a small part of their funding comes from the federal purse, but as soon as the strings pull the purse shut we hear a different story. So now is the time to learn the rest of the story(with apologies to Paul Harvey).

[larry kurtz]

You smug stupid white fuckers make me puke.

Standing Rock, Pine Ridge, the Rosebud, the Crow, the Northern Cheyenne, the Lower Brule, the Rocky Boys, the Navajo, the Tohono O'odham: Two and a half MILLION descendants of people abused for centuries by white Overlords rely on public media to make informed decisions about their childrens' futures.

[larry kurtz]

Cokie Roberts for CEO!

[BillW]

Really Larry,

My son in law was born on the Rosebud reservation and runs a horse farm in Illinois with his Mexican born wife. The only interaction they have with public radio and television is when their sons watch Sesame Street. Are they the sort of "smug stupid white fuckers" you are referring to?

[larry kurtz]

Another example of a trophic cascade. My rich guys against yer rich guys. The publicist for NPR (whoever she is) deserves a huge bonus for staging a big shakeup during Spring fundraising and after the election of a murder of Beckian crows to the US House.

Have no fear, one of my rich guys will rearm NPR, Bill.

[BillW]

Ya see, Larry, a young man born on the reservation can listen to you, declare himself to be a victim of something that happened to his great-great grandfather, and wait for someone to give him a handout out of remorse or pity for those past wrongs. You and NPR will give him plenty of moral support while he wastes his life away waiting for someone else to carry his load.

Or he can turn off NPR, get off the res, go to work, find a good woman to partner him through life, raise a family and make a good living.

I recommend the latter. So far it has worked out pretty well for my son-in-law.

[larry kurtz]

In '97, I had my first of 6 seasons as Mother Ginger in the Black Hills Dance Theater's production of the Nutcracker; Vanessa Short Bull danced the Sugar Plum Fairy. On opening night, her dad brought her likely centenarian grandmother backstage before the show to watch her warm up.

That was all it took for me to understand how public media funds bridges.

This, too, will pass.

[Tom]

KB:

The ACORN video from James O'Keefe was discovered to be a "severely editted" lie.

http://gawker.com/#!5508190/okeefe-and-breitbart-acorn-videos-severely-edited

And also O'Keefe is a criminal because he tried to tamper with a Democratic congresswoman's phones.

You're a smart guy, Ken, so you should be more skeptical about anything coming from O'Keefe.

[larry kurtz]

Here's a little grist for the mill, my rich guys win: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/03/ceo-3-10-2011.html

[Jimi]

"no one will have to explain anymore that Vivian Schiller and Ron Schiller are neither married nor related."

Ouch!

[Jimi]

"You smug stupid white fuckers make me puke"

Well at least you feel the same way we feel about you...Fair is Fair!

"Two and a half MILLION descendants of people abused for centuries by white Overlords rely on public media to make informed decisions about their childrens' futures."

Kiss my ass you Racist Pig!

[George Mason]

From Larry we get the same attitude as from the people at NPR. They feel no obligation to be civil or engage in intelligent discourse. What they do not understand they hurl insults at. BTW the same media available elsewhere is available on the reservations. If the people on the reservations are relying on NPR to make decisions about their lives it explains a lot about reservation life.
Jimi, your remark is insulting to our porcine friends.

[duggersd]

Tom, here is a link if you care to spend the time to "judge for yourself". http://www.theprojectveritas.com/nprjudge
No, I have not watched it. I have read about it. I have read from people who have that it the editing is not unfair.
Also, he is not a criminal unless being guilty of a misdemeanor makes you a "criminal". And your characterization of "he tried to tamper with a Democratic congresswoman's phones" is not really accurate. But then who cares about the details?

[Miranda]

Larry: I generally enjoy your posts, but I think that in this case your comment is as despicable as you make out the rest of us to be. Implying that native Americans are unable to listen to anything but NPR is absurd and insulting.

Implying that all white people are the same and that what they are all horrible is just as bad. Some white families weren't anywhere near the incidents you mentioned. Much of my family, for instance, was still in Czechoslovakia. Are they suddenly guilty because of the color of their skin?

[BillW]

Give Larry a break guys

In watching my young grandsons argue over some toy or who gets to decide what to watch on TV the one on the losing end inevitably resorts to name callig as a last resort.

Grandson #1 "You got to play with the toy all day yesterday and Mom says it's my turn"

Grandson #2 "Well ... well ... well ... well, you're a big poopy-head"

When Larry or Donald call us names (i.e. "stupid white fuckers") it is merely their way of ackowledging intellectual defeat.

[larry kurtz]

Thank you for your candid rejoinder, Ms. Flint; although we had not yet had the pleasure of your sublime countenance. We watched Emma Thompson in "Wit" last night and it piqued my own repressed allegorical and absurdist John Donne.

Let me rephrase: smug stupid MALE white fuckers

[Miranda]

Tom: It's interesting that you use Gawker as your source. Gawker's slogan is "Today's gossip is tomorrow's news." It is little more than a gossip blog. One notes that there was enough truth in O'Keefe's report to cause the Schillers to resign.

Larry: Thanks, I think! But now it's racist AND sexist!

[Stan Gibilisco]

Larry:

Me, smug? Check.
Me, stupid? Check.
Me, male? Check.
Me, white? Check.
Me, a f***er? Not since 1998 when the T went low.

[larry kurtz]

Sounds like you guys have a ton of snow, Stan. Been skiing?

[George Mason]

Larry; Stupid white *******? The only poster's picture I have seen on this site is KB's. You are demonstrating the liberal bigotry that is so common today. If someone professes conservative ideas or principals they (he) must be white!
Of course a black man (or red or yellow or brown) who professes any philosophy other than hard left isn't really black (or red or yellow or brown) is he Larry.

[larry kurtz]

Here's the second tape, Ken. Let's get through it and move on: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/10/134433473/second-secretly-recorded-tape-emerges-in-npr-sting?ft=1&f=1001

[Stan Gibiliscso]

Larry, we have about two feet of snow on the ground yet, with much higher piles of course.

They say our snow pack is above normal this year, but it seems like a normal winter to me.

We've had unusual cold snaps this year. At my location it rarely gets below zero. This year we've gone down to minus 10 three or four times.

[larry kurtz]

Were you in Lead in '05 during the back-to-back 6 footers, Stan?

[BillW]

Boys and girls:

Looking over the comments string I think we need to play nicer in the future or Ken might not let us back in his sandbox without adult supervision.

[Atlanta Roofing]

Can't wait to see what else he's got on tape. There must be a reason while Schiller resigned. It's fun how he puts out the tapes slowly, to allow the target to respond with lies to each tape, only to be uncovered by the next

[Stan Gibilisco]

Larry, I recall one storm, I think in 2005, where we officially got 59 inches of snow in less than 48 hours. That was the first and only time I've ever seen wind blow snowflakes straight down at gale force.

We've had a couple of four-footers since 2005. One year we had three three-footers in the month of March.

I lose track of which year is which, anymore. I moved to Lead from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in March of 2004.

Wisconsin -- Now there's some story, eh! All I can say with certainty is, "The Pack is back!" As for Madison's goings-on, it's a vivid example of legislative Bratwurst being made. I can see both sides of the issue. I don't know who is more wrong.

More on topic for this thread, I can see both sides of the "Islamophobia" issue. I think the American public has a dangerous, latent prejudice that will flare up with ugly force should we see a massive attack from their radical quarter -- and it will come not only from the Tea Party.

I try to keep my own mind open and my own heart clean. Beyond my soul, I lack control.

[Ken Blanchard]

To all: I would like to see us argue without personally insulting each other. Even if I don't want Larry to kiss me, I love him and all of you. I would especially like to see us refrain from hurling profanities at one another.

However, I am all about freedom of speech and thought. Within reason, I am not about to shut anyone down.

Stan and BillW: I am inclined to think that public funding for NPR is too problematic to continue. That means I side with Bill. It is not realistic to expect that NPR will become reasonable and fair, and it is a bad idea for government to police NPR's content. In spite of NPR's political corruption and blatant bias, I listen to it almost on a daily basis. Maybe it can somehow become more responsible.

Larry: I am with you on one thing. I think Cokie Roberts would be a perfect CEO for NPR.

[larry kurtz]

Yet South Dakota's legislature overwhelmingly upholds the funding for Bill Janklow's idea of public broadcasting.

What a weird planet.

[larry kurtz]

What about the argument that the relationships public broadcasting has at the grassroots in the universities and their communities are bridging the vast classroom that is the media, Ken? Here is the very core of your stupid state's history of then-Educational TV and radio:

http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/bios.html

[larry kurtz]

What about the Stars and Stripes? Should it get public funding? http://www.stripes.com/

[BillW]

Interesting clip, Larry. No wnder you want to keep guys like Ken Bode alive and well on NPR.

You can read his anti-abortion, anti-Fox News rant here: http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/display.php?id=32

... and this guy is supposed to be the ombudsman - laison between academia and public broadcasting? He is the poster child for the blatant bias on public broadasting, and the very reason why it is going to be defunded.

Stars and Stripes is an internal publication of the military, and your comarison is a ludicrous apples and oranges. Stars and Stripes shpuld not be defunded, nor should the monthly newsletter for the Forestry employees.

Don't be silly Larry ... if you can help it

[BillW]

correction ... it is an over the top PRO-abortion rant the public broadcasting guy cuts loose in the link above

[larry kurtz]

Breaking: the President defends CPB in his press conference!

[BillW]

Breaking: The Presient also announces that domestic oil drilling is at its highest in 7 years in the US of A in order to get gas prices down

Another case of idyllic liberal theory - along with the Gitmo backtrack - running smack dab into the wall of reality

[larry kurtz]

Glenn Beck is a poopy-head.

[Jimi]

BillW,

"The Presient also announces that domestic oil drilling is at its highest in 7 years in the US of A in order to get gas prices down."

Our Man-Child Leader blatantly lied again. It's not that he didn't get the facts right...He lied, because he knew what he said was incorrect.

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/11/obamas-curious-claims/

[Jimi]

Larry,

"the President defends CPB in his press conference"

Of course he did....why would somebody talk bad about a propoganda machine that help put you in power, and is willing to go the great lengths to keep you in power?

[Jimi]

Larry Kurtz a.k.a. "Poopy Brains"

[Tom]

It looks like this video was editted to make NPR look bad after all.

http://wonkette.com/440468/glenn-becks-website-reveals-npr-lunch-video-was-edited-to-ruin-npr

I may have gone too far calling O'Keefe a criminal, but he's definately a liar.

[William]

Tom,

Given the comments that were made, even with editing, the comments are damning. If they weren't, NPR would not have reacted the way it did.

Public media is mature enough to stand on its own, let the public fund them with their donations, not the taxpayer through the force of the Federal government.

Good programming provided by public broadcasting will remain available, it's viable on its own merits and will find a supportive audience. Lousy, overtly biased programming will be picked up by MSNBC.

[Corey Mondello]

Only the elimination of all conservative Christians will allow all Americans to be free and the world to no longer have to live in fear of the U.S.A.'s imperialist, terrorist holy war. The conservative ideology has never helped mankind in any way, it has not only never helped mankind in anyway, it has oppressed, murdered, raped and killed all those in it's way to gain power. History shows us this. Fact shows us this. James Madison, the "Father of the U.S. Constitution", along with many founders of this country, regardless of their religious or non-religious affiliations, knew keeping politics and religion separate not only preserves each, but helps them flourish: "The number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church and the State."

[Dave]

From NewsCorpse.com

Serial liar and video manipulator, James O’Keefe, is taking an odd approach to his his defense on charges of making unlawful, recordings. The charges were filed in California in a case involving former ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera, who was falsely portrayed in a heavily edited videotape as assisting O’Keefe’s phony prostitution ring when, in fact, Vera was skeptical from the start and notified the police immediately after O’Keefe left his office.

Now O’Keefe’s lawyers are claiming that he was within his rights to surreptitiously record the conversations citing MTV’s Punk’d as a precedent. This is so stupid that I have to wonder if Ashton Kutcher is providing O’Keefe’s legal defense team.

A team of four lawyers is defending O’Keefe on a pro bono basis in the suit filed by one of O’Keefe’s targets, and they’re citing everything from the writings of James Madison to Ashton Kutcher’s MTV show ‘Punk’d’ to a Woody Allen segment on ‘Candid Camera’ to claim O’Keefe’s ACORN sting is protected by the First Amendment.

***Do O’Keefe’s lawyers know that Punk’d was an entertainment program that deliberately misled its victims with the intent of embarrassing them for the shock value? Perhaps they do because that’s a pretty good description of what O’Keefe’s Project Veritas does.***

There are, however, a couple of significant differences between Punk’d and Project Veritas. For one, there was no malice or harm intended on the part of Kutcher & Co. They even included friends and family of the subjects in the ruse. Also, *** Punk’d always obtained signed releases from their subjects giving permission to release the videos prior to broadcasting anything. That’s a step O’Keefe conspicuously neglected.***

Perhaps the most notable assertion in this line of defense is that it is an admission that O’Keefe is not a journalist, as he likes to portray himself. That is, not unless he thinks Ashton Kutcher is following in the footsteps of Edward R. Murrow. ***By aligning himself in sworn legal documents with a comedy show that features purposeful deceit, O’Keefe is undercutting any claim he may have had to First Amendment protections for the press.***

Nice work punk.