WH Staffers caught impersonating Secret Service agents-Again! +Update on the D3 Case

Do you Remeber the Denver Three?  Those three Ordinary folks folks who were thrown out of a Bush Rally because they committed the horrible crime of having the wrong Bumper Sticker on their car ?   Well they are back in the News again it's bad news for the White House

As you may recall,   The person who threw them out of the rally, and threatened to arrest them  falsely claimed to be a Secret Service Agent (Thereby committing a federal Crime).  You may also remember that the Whitehouse described the culprit only as  a "local volunteer".  Then they refused to any more questions from reporters or Lawyers for the D3.

There have been two big new developments in the case this week:


 a Secret Service investigation has positively identified  the mystery man  as a WH Staffer, thereby proving the WH lied to protect him.  

But that's only the begining of the Bad news for the WH.   This story now goes beyond the "one misguided staffer" excuse  because, 2 MORE  WH staffers  have been caught red-handed doing it AGAIN this week!:

 

Let's Start with Further Proof that Scotty MC'C is a Lying weasel: (these days that's the Liberal blogger's equivalent of pre-warm-up stretches):

When Asked about the Man who committed several crimes and blatantly violated the Denver Three's civil rights  to boot (42 USC$1983 is the phrase that Pays here.)

  Scotty the Weasel would say only this:

  MR. McCLELLAN: ... My understanding that a volunteer at this event -- and let me -- I need to back up before that. We use a lot of volunteers at events to help us in a number of different areas because you obviously have -- you tend to have a lot of people come into the event, a lot of logistical support that you need, and so we do rely on volunteers to help in a lot of different ways at events.

Now, in terms of this issue, my understanding is a volunteer was concerned that these three individuals were coming to the event solely for the purpose of disrupting it.

Got it?  All nice and Clear now?  The offending goon was merely an overzelous local yokel.  Case closed.   Except, well, not so much.  

as the Denver Post is reporting The "overzealous yokels" in question refuse to say who they worked for when asked by the D3's lawyer:

 In their lawsuit, Weise and Young claim that White House event staffers Michael Casper and Jay Bob Klinkerman detained them and ejected them from the event at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum. However, Casper and Klinkerman say they don't need to reveal whom they worked for because of a "qualified immunity."  { I've frankly never heard of such a thing in a civil lawsuit before; I strongly suspect they made it up}

And of course that sort of gives away the store because why would a mere Volunteer have "qualified immunity" to refuse to reveal who it was they weren't working for? But lest there be any doubt, A new Secret Service report confirms their employment:

A White House staff member was responsible for asking three people to leave President Bush's town-hall meeting in Denver a year ago, a U.S. Secret Service agent said during an internal investigation of the event.

 

So much For Scotty McC's "Magic Volunteer" theory,  as the report now makes clear, WH staffers paid for by you and me are impersonating Law-enforcement personnel for the purpose of policing presidential rallies to ensure the ideological purity  of attendees.  In other words, The Bubble is tax-payer funded.

Not only that, but apparently, lying to people at Random about who they are and who they represent is Far from being a fluke or an aberration these days.  As This story in the Mississippi Sun Herald makes clear, Impersonating Secret Service agents, and even Journalists is now SOP for WH Staff:

There was a whirlwind of activity in the days prior to President Bush's arrival at a home on the beach in Gautier last week,...The reason for all the fuss was kept a secret even from the family that received Bush. They didn't know it was prelude to a presidential visit until the day Bush arrived.  But one part of the preparation for the President's arrival involved two government agents posing as journalists.

Well they STARTED posing as journalists but the two men, Really WH PR staffers were so inept they couldn't  even decide who they were impersonating:

 Jerry Akins, who received Bush, mentioned that on the Friday before Bush arrived, two men approached him identifying themselves as members of the media.

He said the men told him they were with Fox News out of Houston, Texas, and were on a "scouting mission" for a story on new construction. ....But after the president left Akins' home, the two men again approached Akins and let him know they were not media after all, but were with the governmental entourage.

Akins said the two showed him blue porcelain lapel pins that contained the Presidential seal and another government official confirmed the two were with the government entourage and not the media. Akins assumed they were Secret Service agents...Akins said he saw no problem with what happened, and agents laughed about their fooling him.

Well I'm glad  they had themselves  a hearty chuckle over these whacky hijinks.    Mr. Akins may have seen nothing wrong with their actions I'd be a hell of a lot more irate (not mention litigious) if I found that unspecified government agents had gained access to MY house under false pretenses.  

What strikes me most is how utterly stupid and unnecessary the  subterfuge was.  It's almost as if lying is a reflex that they fall into by default.   What would have been so hard about identifying themselves properly at the outset and told the homeowner what they were doing?  After all Mr. Akins appears to have been delighted to have W. visit

There are longstanding rules about government agents not impersonating Journalists, (not even on NOC)  and they exist for very good reason.   Such impersonations not only destroy the credibility of journalists, but they can also make their job a lot harder by reducing the willingness of people to trust them and endanger their lives by causing them to be seen as potential agents of an enemy and therefore a target.   That the WH staffers would violate them, more of less on a lark, lets you know how callously  the current WH disregards any law they find inconvenient

Book Those Neo-Nazi Nymphet Rockstars! Anatomy of our broken news media

For a Snark addict like myself, this is a story that's got it all: Twin blond 12 year old WhitePower rock-stars, White supremacist Record Moguls, A white-trash catfight that involves a former Playboy Playmate and the Stupidest Sentence Ever Uttered by Human Vocal Cords.   The  Problem is, as I prepared to do a fun little "let's all point and laugh" diary about this Article, I was struck by a deadly serious realization.   The fact that I'm even know about these girls   illustrates every damn thing that is wrong with what we derisively call our modern "news Media".

But, I'm getting ahead of myself,  and there is a bit of Pointing  and laughing (or screaming) to be done so that the sheer awfulness of the media treatment of this story can be properly appreciated.

So let's begin at the beginning.  Meet Lamb and Lynx Gaede; Neo Nazi Rockers and  the scariest twelve year old girls you'll ever meet:



These creepy little moppets together form the band Prussian Blue, the Teeny-pop sensation of the Hate-rock world. The twins got their start as Nazi-Rockers at the tender age of 9 years old, being discovered by a real celebrity of the Neo-Nazi World.  Let's call it their Aryan Idol moment:

The origins of Prussian Blue date from a 2001 National Alliance event ..There the girls met William Pierce, who ran the group, long the nation's foremost neo-Nazi organization. Pierce, ...the pseudonymous author of The Turner Diaries, a notorious work of speculative-race-war fiction that reputedly inspired Timothy McVeigh.... At Eurofest the twins sang an a cappella rendition of Brutal Attack's "Ocean of Warriors" (Men and women of valor / Willing to die to reach Valhalla...). Recognizing in these two dirndl-clad moppets a PR dream come true, Pierce suggested that they record a CD for ...Resistance Records..

But being only nine they new very little about music(hey it didn't stop Bittney or Jessica so why should it slow them down?), and so needed a year to learn how to actually sing and play instruments.   But they were quick studies and after a crash course in music a studio was booked and a record was born:

They recorded "Fragment of the Future". The album includes a cover of "Panzerlied," an old Wehrmacht battle hymn (featuring a rhythm track of marching jackboots), and "The Lamb Near the Lane," a folksy collaboration between Lamb and convicted Order thug David Lane, who, [is] sentenced to 190 years on charges of racketeering and civil rights violations. "Sacrifice," is Lamb's baby. She wrote the music and the words, which pay homage to her personal heroes, including Bob Matthews and Rudolph Hess.

On "Victory Day," , the girls apply their tremulous voices to a heartfelt ode to "a great war, a bloody but holy day."

Sadly there was no follow-up to their smash debut effort.   Mr. Turner passed away and Manager Mom April had a falling out with the his  successor at Aryan Nation Inc. It seems that while She apparently had no problem with her pre-pubescent daughters being pen-pals with incarcerated violent felons, she still had her standards.   Lynn was reportedly scandalized to discover that the New Boss'  Ex-Playmate (Erika  Snyder)girlfriend  had stripped for black men early in her career.  She And tried force an emergency board meeting to wrest power away from them, but insttead she was booted from the label.  

The Equal oppurtunity Stripper, Erika, for her part, "seriously questioned"  April's  commitment to Sparkle Motion The White Power Movement.   As Erika later said, in an aneurysm- inducing sentence,:  "A lot of people get into Racism for the Wrong reasons".  

(Thus Louis Black's immortal Sentence "If it weren't for that horse..."   has finally been surpassed for utter mind-boggling stupidity)

 Well whether she's a racist for the right reasons or not, April  has taken great care that her home schooled daughters have learned their catechism of hate properly.  Listen to then expound on Political science:

"People want to depict everything that happened in World War II Germany as marching around killing Jews," April says. "They don't want to understand how the whole ideology of National Socialism is really a beautiful thing. I mean, it really is."

History and Current events:

The Gaedes don't really believe all those stories about the Holocaust. ...

Concentration camps? Sure, but only because the Jews were working against the interests of the state, just like what the American government did to the Japanese and is doing now to Muslims. "I don't deny that Jewish people died and were rounded up and put into camps," she elaborates. "But I don't think it's as drastic as they say." Gas chambers? April and the girls aren't buying it.

and Moral Philosophy:

I'm sure the Germans killed a lot of people," April concedes. "But Stalin killed a lot of people, and the U.S. government killed a lot of people, too. Look, the lies concerning Adolf Hitler have become so bizarre. But think about it: He was a human being. Even if you believed in the Final Solution, he'd still be a human being. The man's been vilified.

If you have the stomach for it, there's a lot more of the same spew in the article.  Suffice it to say these girls are the frighteningly  happy and freshly scrubbed  product of a seriously twisted upbringing.

And that, Dear Reader is where the Media gets involved and makes things so much worse.   You see,  this is the part of the story where Lamb and Lynx go from being obscure teen idols of the New Hitler Youth set, to legitimately famous media-made celebrities.   How?  

They got on TV dummy.

First it was a Primetime Live: Story  That had all the depth and context of an "Action News 5 special report":

Thirteen-year-old twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede have one album out, another on the way, a music video, and lots of fans.

They may remind you of another famous pair of singers, the Olsen Twins, and the girls say they like that. But unlike the Olsens, who built a media empire on their fun-loving, squeaky-clean image, Lamb and Lynx are cultivating a much darker persona. They are white nationalists and use their talents to preach a message of hate.

(Can't you just hear the synthesizer riff in the background turn Dark and disapproving?  And don't you just know the Correspondant will come on after the segement and talk to the Anchor with a brow  furrowed by Deep Concern? )

Basically  the piece was standard bit of Phone-it-in  TV Newsmag reporting.  

 First they get their facts wrong:

Known as "Prussian Blue" -- a nod to their German heritage and bright blue eyes --

No Sorry the real reason is far darker and more offensive:

 the name Prussian Blue refers to a chemical residue that Holocaust deniers claim should have been detected in greater concentrations on the walls of the gas chambers if all those rumors of Zyklon B were true.

Just a leetle Different No?

Then they run the Disapproving Quote from a talking head:

"It really breaks my heart to see those two girls spewing out that kind of garbage," said Ted Shaw, civil rights advocate and president of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund -- though Shaw points out that the girls aren't espousing their own opinions but ones they're being taught.

and then a touch of False Equivalency lest they be accused of , ya know, having an opinion  on whether racism is right or wrong:

On that point, April Gaede and Ted Shaw apparently agree.

"Well, all children pretty much espouse their parents' attitudes," she said. "We're white nationalists and of course that's a part of our life and I'm going to share that part of my life with my children."

See? She's Not a monster.  In her heart she's merely a Good Mom.  

In the wake of this interview of course, the Geades were shunned by their community and took a good long look at the twisted creatures they had allowed themselves to become.  Meanwhile the rest of the Media, sensing, not a whit of actual news value in this story, and having national and international crises to cover,  ignored it completely.

Yeah. Right.  As IF.

Primetime mainstreamed us!" April marvels. "I don't think a white-pride band has ever gotten this kind of media attention before. I mean, these two girls have become some of the most powerful people in white nationalism."

Can You say "val-i-dation"  I though you could. Instead of perhaps forcing April to confront how badly she had poisoned the minds of her offspring and warped their childhoods; Primetime Live's little puff piece had bestowed upon this twisted little clan the secular imprimatur of Celebrity.   They MUST be good people, since after all they're famous.  The reaction from the rest of the media pack didn't help puncture that feeling either.  No sooner had the Phosphors faded off the TV screen, that the producer pack started calling and sucking up:

The morning after the Primetime debut, the Gaedes' phone wouldn't stop ringing.. "The call-waiting was like beep-beep-beep," April reports. "Every single news thing that you've ever heard of called us."

In the Carny Sideshow that passes for the Mainstream Media these days, it seems these two particular freaks we a must have:

Dr. Phil's people left a message, she says. And Paula Zahn's. Newsweek. Good Morning America. Elle Girl. The Los Angeles Times.

booker for Maury even sent Flowers,though the Gaedes would really fall for something like that. April ignored them all, planning to lie low for a while.

She relented only for Teen People (the girls begged her), especially after, she says, someone at the magazine offered to do an "as told to" piece that April could see before it went to press.

YEP. you read that right,  Teen People, apparently running low on Hunky guys they could profile to sell zit cream, decided to  essentially violate all rules of journalistic ethics and offer to  do a "fluff job " (in the porn industry sense of the word,) on a pair of Pre-teen Hatemongers.

Of course it wasn't all ego-stroking and roses.  There was some negative reporting:

The news wasn't all good, however. April's ex-husband Kris Richard Lingelser was soon enjoying a bit of limelight, too, telling Inside Edition he was planning to sue for custody of his daughters.{Though strangely no one asked him where his outrage at thier upbringing  was before there were TV cameras to talk to}  

 Then the Teen People story was killed after the terms of the offer were reported in the press.

Apparently there still IS a bit of vestigial shame left somewhere at People-at least when they get caught.

Ironically in the midst of all this adulation, like the deluded Wignuts of Freeperville April STILL thinks she's the victim of media bias:

April doesn't expect a fair shake from the mainstream press. Jews are disproportionately represented in the media, she says. But all publicity is good publicity.

That last sentence,  to sum up this overly long rant is the key to understanding the probably terminal sickness that now afflict our Mainstream Media outlets.  They aren't even trying to inform anymore, they are even attempting to explain.  Why Should they bother when Titillating and scandalizing is so much easier?   A good shocking segment on photogenic Neo-Nazis will put far more eyeballs on the screen than an investigative piece on faulty intelligence that took three weeks to piece together.

 Worse yet, the  the more a story is hyped the better it is for all involved.  Each successive story gets a hype boost from the one previous, while requiring little or no original reporting.  This virtually guarantees a Pack mentality among reporters and producers.  Watch the Hype machine in motion:

1)    An enterprising Primetime Live identifies these girls as the prefect target of a fluff pieces and shoots the story, slaps a quick edit on it and airs it; but only  (after endless "you won't believe this" promos running during other TV  Shows.  

2)    Seeing the segment;  a hack  Teen People editor, senses a trend  decides that the girls are a "must have" and offers the mother any deal she wants just so long as he gets the story to slap on his front page to leverage the exposure they got on ABC to sell his magazine.

3)    After the mini-scandal about People's obsequieos offer to the twins gets leaked;  Inside Edition sees its chance, and dispatches a reporter to grab a few disapproving quotes from the father which they can run as "a world wide exclusive".

4)    Some other media Outlet now has Free reign to run a "controversy erupts around Nazi-Singers" ( no need to give any more background than that since at this point they are already almost a household name, at least to Daytime TV watchers)

5)    Finally we come to one of the bigger daily or newsweekly rags who have an actual journalistic reputation to protect, but who also desperately want 'in' on this story.  At this point in the Story Cycle, they can go all _meta and do a story on the controversy about whether the Teen Nazi Story is being over hyped by the media.

6) Whereupon ABC news gets to do a follow up piece....

You get the idea .   And what makes matters worse is, Like April Gaede, the subjects of these stories quickly become media Savvy enough to realize their value to the media outlets and start demanding concessions to further promote their agenda and celebrity.    ABC et al wanted a titillating Freak show to put on during sweeps, and they Mom obliged, knowing she'd get what SHE wanted too: a a wider audience for her messages of hatred and intolerance, and Free marketing for her kids.

In fact, capitalizing on their fame,  Prussian Blue is working on another album, but they are keeping the  location secret because they have had a few threats of violence lately.  As mom April says:

"You wouldn't believe how intolerant some people can be"