WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.discussed
In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.
The contract with Mr. Williams and the general contours of the public relations campaign had been known for months. The report Friday provided the first definitive ruling on the legality of the activities.
Lawyers from the accountability office, an independent nonpartisan arm of Congress, found that the administration systematically analyzed news articles to see if they carried the message, "The Bush administration/the G.O.P. is committed to education."
The auditors declared: "We see no use for such information except for partisan political purposes. Engaging in a purely political activity such as this is not a proper use of appropriated funds."
The report also sharply criticized the Education Department for telling Ketchum Inc., a public relations company, to pay Mr. Williams for newspaper columns and television appearances praising Mr. Bush's education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act.
Public - Fri September 30, 2005 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Gallery Talks
Remote Viewing Artists: Steve DiBenedetto
In Steve DiBenedetto's paintings and drawings, swirls, tendrils, lattices, and vortices crisscross, interweave, sever, and re-form, resulting in topsy-turvy underworlds that disturb almost as much as they enchant.
Gallery Talks: Remote Viewing Artists Join these exhibiting artists as they discuss their process, ideas, and approach to art making.
These Gallery Talks are free with Museum admission, which on Fridays from 6 to 9pm is pay-what-you-wish.
Gallery Talks
Remote Viewing Artists: Steve DiBenedetto
In Steve DiBenedetto's paintings and drawings, swirls, tendrils, lattices, and vortices crisscross, interweave, sever, and re-form, resulting in topsy-turvy underworlds that disturb almost as much as they enchant.
Gallery Talks: Remote Viewing Artists Join these exhibiting artists as they discuss their process, ideas, and approach to art making.
These Gallery Talks are free with Museum admission, which on Fridays from 6 to 9pm is pay-what-you-wish.
trailer for The Shining cut as a romantic comedy.
DeLay indicted on criminal conspiracy charges, will step aside as majority leader.
May he be the first in a long line!
May he be the first in a long line!
first giant squid to be caught on film
the bunny is kind of funny.
wong kar wais in the mood for love has its premiere on ifc tonight at 9, replays at 1am.
There's little of what Susan Sontag, referring to photojournalism's relationship to war, called "the photography of conscience." There's no Goya, nothing wrenching or ravishing. Mumford obviously cares about the troops, but his drawings have an academic, bleached-out detachment. The work is attentive but not insightful, detailed but not affecting. You never get the feeling he's examined the moral ambiguity of war, the guilt, adrenaline rush, deprivation, or self-gratification of it. The pictures are proficient but impersonal.
don adams dead at 82
99 cent store cartoon dvd thread
brooks dowd and freedman on meet the tim (wnbc) next
per cnn: levee breach at industrial canal in NO
correctiion: officials now calling it an "over topping" and workers are working on it in lower 9th ward - water rose 5-10 inches in 5 min. levee is broken.
-also : problem western side chintillie (sp?) west NO
correctiion: officials now calling it an "over topping" and workers are working on it in lower 9th ward - water rose 5-10 inches in 5 min. levee is broken.
-also : problem western side chintillie (sp?) west NO
donahue on oriley like white on rice
the chris rock produced show premieres on UPN at eight tonight. got good marks in the reviews.
19 hours to get from houston to austin by car
my mom in dallas happens to have her sister in town, they were heading out for batteries, water and wine. hope theres someone around for jim louis's mom. tell her to call my mom if need be.
my mom in dallas happens to have her sister in town, they were heading out for batteries, water and wine. hope theres someone around for jim louis's mom. tell her to call my mom if need be.
this thing on john lenons jukebox on ch 13 is great. i think thats leiber and stoller they're talking to.
dylan
sept. 26, pbs
sept. 26, pbs
8 pm tonight gilmore girls - second show this season
the devil wears prada is shooting on my block today. no anne hathaway or meryl streep sightings to speak of.
