theseminal.com — An anonymous Republican Senator has placed a secret hold on the Open Government Act. Ironically, the purpose of this act is to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act. This post explains a plan to use the power of the Internet to determine which Senator is at fault. The American people deserve to know. Digg: Let's get to the bottom of this.
May 27, 2007 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountMay 27, 2007
Damn, I deleted the extra "can" twice, the site never accepted the changes. Probably early-onset dementia.
vicar8May 27, 2007
Well, tomorrow is Memorial Day (generally a slow news day beyond the traditional gravestone shots of veterans and parade footage). Traditional media bias is liberal and against the Republicans (full disclosure - I am a Republican, but my Scottish heritage genetically craves a good brawl). Submit a one page fax (or email) to the assignment editor in news organizations where Republican Senators have been elected and present them with a series of questions (3 to 5 questions) that shape the story as if this Republican Senator is trying a Senator Palpatine trick to prevent open governance by the people (oblique reference to Star Wars...and 30th anniversary of the release of this movie).Suggest that the reporter talk with a Democratic Congressional Representative from the same state (they usually lust for the opportunity to become a Senator themselves) to elicit their opinion about this anonymous hold technique. Also suggest that the news organization solicit the viewing audience to answer a poll on their website (using a super-easy tool like www.acepolls.com...I have no personal or professional interest in this resource...I only wish that I had developed it first...) on their opinion about using anonymous hold techniques.The end result is a series of stories that can be gathered and broadcast during a slow news day or Tuesday (most likely if either Congressional personnel aren't available). Then, you can get on C-Span either tomorrow morning or Tuesday morning and get the political junkies all wound up about this story. Ask the moderator to solicit a Congressional Representative to explain the concept of anonymous hold.Any success can be shared in this comment post, so we can collectively watch the fireworks together...Here's a potential question to start off the process:Is Senator (insert name here) attempting to outlaw (insert his/her gender here) constituents' democratic rights to uncover classified information by derailing the Open Government Act?While I am not an attorney, the intent behind this question is similar to a prosecuting attorney putting a married man (defendent) on the witness stand in a jury trial and asking, "Mr. Smith, did you stop beating your wife yet?" The married man's attorney should object to the question, and the prosecuting attorney would withdraw the question - but once the question has reached the ears and minds of the jury, it cannot be withdrawn...and other questions raised during the session should start to build a bias against the married man...They could even interview a local expert on constitutional law to have them explain the anonymous hold technique, and if the Senator is unavailable for comment or rebuttal, they can state so at the end of the package ("We'll stay on top if this breaking story, back to you in the studio.")Since news gathering organizations have forsaken real investigative journalism for gossip reporting, the story could be spun into a subsequent MOTS package (Man On The Street):Reporter approaches a man on the street - "Senator (insert name here) may be attempting to outlaw your democratic rights to uncover classified information by derailing the Open Government Act. How do you feel about that?Man on the street - "I've never trusted Senator (insert name here) and it wouldn't surprise me if they tried to outlaw the Constitution - I think we should throw Senator (insert name here) out of office!"Now, the news organization has two or more packages that they can stretch over the course of a couple days - it is still possible to get a bump in the May sweeps (ratings season techniques). They can reference the Washington Post story indicating that intelligence reports generated before the start of the Iraqi War predicted the problems that we are now experiencing, and ponder out load, "Is Senator (insert name here) making an effort to prevent other embarrassing information from becoming public?"And that's how you start a news juggernaut...throw some blood in the water and step back...
riverside71May 28, 2007
wasting your breath pal.. let the nanzy panzies write their letters, protest e-mails and anti-war processions... I for one will be a good comrade and obey our current government and all future north american union governments and eventually the supreme Zionist government for stupid goyim all the world over.. we deserve to be led by our elite Jewish masters.. they played it well and won.. Game Over.
riverside71May 28, 2007
can we at least recognize who is doing us harm? these corporations are run by people.. they aren't giant robots on a rampage.. but whenever someone tries to put names to our enemies, we all have to be PC and crybabies and start throwing around accusations of anti-semitism etc
plinkoticMay 28, 2007
Which speaks volumes about how you constantly post, good sir :D...Aaaand beaten to it by Aiken. Alright, well, has anyone called him a f**ktard yet? No?Ahem.
andrewmiMay 28, 2007
...in cornfields and cow poop
independentsamMay 28, 2007
Computer neophyte that I am, I have no idea why the majority of my post did not appear. It was in the submit comment box with what was postedDear Senator Thomas,According to the Seminal website: "An unidentified Republican Senator placed a secret hold on the Open Government Act, a bipartisan bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, thereby preventing the Senate from acting on the bill this week.Senator Patrick Leahy, a cosponsor of the bill, made the following comments on May 24th:Regrettably, an anonymous Republican hold is stalling this important Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, legislation, needlessly delaying long-overdue reforms to strengthen FOIA and to protect the public’s right to know. It is both unfortunate and ironic that this bipartisan bill, which promotes sunshine and openness in our government, is being hindered by a secret and anonymous hold. This is a good government bill that Democrats and Republicans alike, can and should work together to enact. I hope that the Senator placing the secret hold on this bill will come forward, so that we can resolve any legitimate concerns, and the full Senate can promptly act on this legislation."If this is true, would you please let me know if you were this Senator? Also, would you please advise me if you have ever placed a secret hold in your time as a Wyoming Senator? Respectfully submitted, Sam ----------Gave my address
independentsamMay 28, 2007
Humble apologies. Computer neophyte that I am, I did not realize that it takes time for a full post to materialize.
swrostmoreMay 28, 2007
Does the identity of the anonymous GOP senator even matter? He is undoubtedly yet another a lackey for the guys at the top, just carrying out his orders. Who has the most to lose from government transparency? Nobody files FOIA requests for the type of petty theft that senators perpetrate. However, there are certain "state secrets" (the Cheney Energy Task Force, for one) that would make certain people look very bad if the public was allowed to know about them.
kulpotMay 28, 2007
that's right !
kolecoMay 28, 2007
This is so inspirational!
stuckinok06May 30, 2007
Here are the results from the dumbass OK senators:Called Sen. Imhofe at ~10:10 May 30.The person who answered the phone (I didn't get her name) said that she thinks they "can't tell us because of the nature of an anonymous hold." She wasn't sure, however, and transferred me to Erica Brittell (sp?) who could answer the question. Erica was not at her phone and I left a message.Called Sen. Coburn at ~10:15 May 30.A girl named Jessica answered the phone and looked up the information for me. She confirmed that Coburn did NOT place the hold on the bill. She also mentioned that someone had called her about this yesterday. Good job! Jessica also said that she "cannot find the person who can tell if he (Coburn) supports the bill or not." I left a message for this person to call me back.So that leaves 1 out and 1 suspicious. I'll update again when I hear back. I'm also posting this on digg.Thanks for the alerts!