Kud
os to lawnorder 's excellent diary,
Keith Olbermann: It's Berkeley vs Caltech http://dailykos.com/story/2004/11/18/1859/7077
And thanks, lawnorder, for making reference to my own diatribe against the the November 11, 2004 Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (VTP) report entitled Voting Machines and the Underestimate of the Bush Vote" http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/14/03617/399
There are three associations connected with the Caltech/MIT VTP that I find unsavory.
- MIT political scientists Charles Stewart and Stephen Ansolabehere both received Fellowships at the rabidly right wing Hoover Institution freeper factory, funded by just about every rich wingnut foundation in existence.
- Caltech political scientists Ramon Michael Alvarez and Jonathan N. Katz received John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Fellowships. The Olin Foundation spends millions a year to promote conservative programs in the country's most prestigious colleges.
3)
David Baltimore is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations
Now grab your tin-foil hats, we're going for a ride!
The information about the political scientists is readily available in their online Curriculum Vitae:
http://web.mit.edu/cstewart/www/vita.pdf
Charles Stewart was a 1989-1990 National Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
http://web.mit.edu/polisci/research/ansolabehere/sda_cv.pdf
Stephen Ansolabehere was selected a National Fellow by the Hoover Institution in 1993.
He was also awarded Olin Research Associate, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University 1987-88.
He was also awarded Carnegie Scholar 2000-01
http://www.hss.caltech.edu/vitae/alvarez.pdf
Ramon Michael Alvarez was awarded:
U.S. Department of Defense, "Evaluation of the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting (SERVE) Project", DASW01-02-C-0027, ($236,140), May 2002 - October 2002, Principal Investigator.
Carnegie Corporation, co-principal investigator, 2000-2001. Project title: "MIT-Caltech
Voting Technology Initiative" ($450,000).
He was also awarded a John M. Olin Faculty Fellowship, 1994-95 ($45,000).
http://jkatz.caltech.edu/documents/jk_cv.pdf
Jonathan N. Katz received a John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Fellow, 1999-2000 ($110,000).
Now lets take a lok at the Hoover Institution and The Olin Foundation:
About Hoover Institution
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/hoover.php
Founded in 1919 by Herbert Hoover, the Stanford University-based Hoover Institution is one of the country's oldest research institutes. With eight fellows on the Bush administration's Defense Policy Board (DPB), as well as several current and former associates like Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice serving in the country's highest policy-making posts, the influence of Hoover is difficult to overestimate. Hoover DPB members include Richard Allen, Martin Anderson, Gary Becker, Newt Gingrich, Henry S. Rowen, Kiron Skinner, and Pete Wilson. (7)
Hoover's connection to the Bush administration and its hardline defense policies has been a source of continuing controversy at Stanford. According to journalist Emily Biuso, in early 2003, various campus groups organized a series of protests calling for Hoover's ouster from the university, which donates about $1 million to the institution every year. (3)
According to the Foundation Center, Hoover's $25 million annual budget is funded largely by a mix of conservative and corporate foundations, including Archer Daniels Midland, Bradley, Earhart, Donner, ExxonMobil, Ford Motor, General Motors, Proctor & Gamble, and Scaife.
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?157
The Media Transparency's list of private foundation donors who pumped in $ 19,112,746 from 1995-2002 reads like a Who's Who of the right wing bagmen with Richard Mellon Scaife leading the charge having singlehandedly donated almost $9,000,000 over that period.
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/scaifeaggregate.php
About Richard Mellon Scaife
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/scaife/scaife.php
Hoover Institution: Board member
Heritage Foundation: Trustee
Scaife Foundations: Chairman
Tribune-Review Publishing Co., Inc.: Owner
In his hilarious 2003 book Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them), Al Franken argues that the abusive tone of rightwing zealots like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter can be traced back to Scaife, and in particular to one episode in 1981 when Scaife verbally assaulted a reporter. When the reporter, Karen Rothmeyer of the Columbia Journalism Review, asked Scaife about his funding of conservative groups, he replied, "You fucking communist cunt, get out of here." Franken writes that Scaife "went on to tell her that she was ugly and that her teeth were 'terrible.' Of Ms. Rothmeyer's mother, who was not present, he said, 'She's ugly, too.' Sensing that it was time to wrap up the interview, Ms. Rothmeyer thanked Scaife for his time. He bade her farewell with a cheery 'Don't look behind you.'" (4)
"That's the funny thing about tone," Franken continues, "It's so subjective. Usually, I find it's enough to call someone a 'fucking communist cunt,' without having to gild the lily by disparaging her teeth and issuing veiled threats."
http://www.mediatransparency.org/funders/scaife_foundations.htm
Scaife Foundations
Financed by the Mellon industrial, oil and banking fortune. At one time its largest single holding was stock in the Gulf Oil Corporation. Became active in funding conservative causes in 1973, when Richard Mellon Scaife became chairman of the foundation. In the 1960s, Richard had inherited an estimated $200 million from his mother, Sarah. Forbes magazine has estimated his personal net worth at $800 million, making him the 138th richest person in the U.S. He controls the Scaife, Carthage and Allegheny foundations. In 1993, Scaife and Carthage reportedly gave more than $17.6 million to 150 conservative think tanks. As of December 31, 1992, Scaife assets were $212,232,888 and Carthage assets were $11,937,862.
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/scaifeaggregate.php
Top 12 Recipients by amount granted by the
Scaife Foundations
Name Total
Heritage Foundation, The 20,696,640
Free Congress Foundation, Inc. 15,662,000
Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, Inc. 9,336,000
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace 8,818,900
Center for Strategic and International Studies 7,603,000
Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Inc. 7,479,800
Carnegie Institute 7,176,375
Judicial Watch 6,740,000
Brandywine Conservancy, Inc. 6,442,000
Landmark Legal Foundation 5,260,000
Center for the Study of Popular Culture 5,250,000
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research 5,201,000
The rest of the crew of private funders of the Hoover Institution
http://www.mediatransparency.org/funders/bradley_foundation.htm
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee, WI
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/recipientsoffunder.php?providerID=13
Earhart Foundation
http://www.mediatransparency.org/funders/smith_richardson_foundation.htm
Smith Richardson Foundation
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/recipientsoffunder.php?providerID=15
Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/recipientsoffunder.php?providerID=16
Jaquelin Hume Foundation
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/recipientsoffunder.php?providerID=19
William H. Donner Foundation
And last but not least the John Olin Foundation is also a hearty supporter of the Hoover Institution
http://www.mediatransparency.org/funders/john_m_olin_foundation.htm
About the Olin Foundation
The New York-based John M. Olin Foundation, which grew out of a family manufacturing business (chemical and munitions), funds right-wing think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research, and the Hoover Institute of War, Revolution and Peace. It also gives large sums of money to promote conservative programs in the country's most prestigious colleges and universities.
Financed by the Olin chemical and munitions fortune. Assets estimated at about $90 million. Gives about $3 million a year to conservative advocacy groups. Supported right-wing causes for many years, but became more focused in its grantmaking after William Simon took over as president in 1977. Simon was followed by Michael Joyce, who left Olin in 1985 to lead the Bradley Foundation. Simon is now Olin's president again.
--The Feeding Trough Financed by the Olin chemical and munitions fortune. Assets estimated at about $90 million. Gives about $3 million a year to conservative advocacy groups. Supported right-wing causes for many years, but became more focused in its grantmaking after William Simon took over as president in 1977. Simon was followed by Michael Joyce, who left Olin in 1985 to lead the Bradley Foundation. Simon is now Olin's president again.
--The Feeding Trough
In the event that you think there's no strings attached to all the at money the Olin Foundation throws at certain Universities, check this story out:
Research conducted by John Lott, a John M. Olin Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, purporting to show that relaxed concealed weapons laws reduce crime has been the subject of severe criticism not just for its methodological shortcomings, but also for its funding source. These questions have focused on the ties to the firearms industry of the funder of Mr. Lott's fellowship, the John M. Olin Foundation.
There are significant links between the John M. Olin Foundation and the Olin Corporation, which owns Winchester Ammunition (the largest producer of ammunition in the U.S. and the manufacturer of the infamous "Black Talon" bullet). Olin Corporation at one time also owned Winchester Firearms, a trade name which it now licenses out. Winchester Ammunition stands to reap financial gain from the increased sale of handgun ammunition generated by the passage of lax concealed weapons laws.
http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/display_recipients_by_olin_total.htm
Top 12 recipients by amount granted by the by the John M. Olin Foundation
- Washington University 20,582,686
- Harvard University 19,197,286
- University of Chicago 18,656,346
- Yale University 14,185,747
- University of Rochester 9,725,230
- Heritage Foundation, The 8,020,835
- Stanford University 7,942,023
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research 6,832,124
- George Mason University 6,365,824
- Harvard Law School 5,545,345
- Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace 4,880,660
- Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc. 4,489,500
Finally I'm almost relunctant to bring up David Baltimore. He's a regular conundrum wrapped in an enigma if ever there was one. One one hand he's a legitimite Nobel Prize winning, full blown genius. On the other hand, he quite posssibly has some serious character issues:
The Baltimore Affair
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041031/news_lz1v31betray.html
The episode was turned into a brilliant book, "The Baltimore Affair," by sociologist and science historian Daniel Kevles. For some reason, Judson now wishes to revisit it.
The background is simple enough. While he was at MIT, one of Baltimore's collaborators in another lab was accused by a research assistant of having produced bogus data for an important research paper about immunology. Baltimore was named as a co-author of that paper. Kevles documented the tortured path of the ensuing scandal as a way to explore the sociology of science and, in the end, he sided with Baltimore and his collaborator, who were both eventually exonerated.
But Judson is unsatisfied. "The Baltimore affair achieved fragrant notoriety," he writes, "and the stink has lingered." The whistle blower has "remarkable strength of character," the trial that exonerated Baltimore was "badly bungled," the verdict was "dubious," "and over it all the grimly intransigent figure of David Baltimore."
and
http://mindgallery.com/hiddenroom/outbreak.html
Baltimore's view of Iminishi-Kari throughout the affair followed a sinuous course. One assumes that as co-author he originally believed in the veracity of Imanishi-Kari's data. Soon after the trouble started, in a letter to Herman Eisen, chairman of the MIT investigating panel, he disowned Imanishi-Kari but said that any warnings about the paper would be delivered privately. then, in testimony before John Dingell's committee he disowned his letter to Eisen, and reaffirmed his faith in Imanishi-Kari. When ORI said that she had forged data Baltimore said he had placed too much trust in her, and when the United States Attorney in Baltimore MD failed to indict her Baltimore's public faith in Imanishi-Kari began to recover. He changed sides four times in all. Imanishi-Kari affair
David Baltimore and the Council on Foreign Relations:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/8425/TRI-CFR.HTM
I don't know what to make of this so I'm just going to lay it out. Google "David Baltimore" + CFR and I guarantee you'll get all the links you need to convince you Dr. Baltimore is a member of the select and secretive club.
He's there there in the Education- College and University Presidents section, down near the end of the list just before two Presidents of Stanford, home of the Hoover Foundation and universally favored donee of right wing foundations.
EDUCATION:
College & University Presidents:
Robert H. Edwards, Bowdoin College -- CFR
Vartan Gregorian, Brown University -- CFR
Hanna Holbom Gray, University of Chicago -- CFR
Joseph S. Murphy, City Univ. of NY -- CFR
Michael I. Sovern, Columbia Univ. -- CFR
Frank H.T. Rhodes, Cornell University -- CFR
James T. Laney, Emory University -- CFR
Rev. Joseph A. O'Hare, Fordham Univ. -- CFR
Thomas Ehrlich, Indiana Univ. -- CFR
Steven Muller, Johns Hopkins Univ. -- CFR
Alice S. Iichman, Sarah Lawrence College -- CFR
Edward T. Foote, II, University Of Miami -- CFR
S. Frederick Starr, Oberlin College -- CFR, TC
Joseph Duffey, Chans., Univ. Of Mass. -- CFR
John M. Deutch, Institute Professor, MIT -- CFR, TC
Lester C. Thurow, Dean, Sloan Sch., MIT -- CFR
Bernard Harleston, City College of NY -- CFR
John Brademus, New York University -- CFR, TC
Wesley W. Posvar, University of Pittsburg -- CFR
Harold T. Shapiro, Princeton University -- CFR
Charles W. Duncan, Jr., Chmn, Rice University -- CFR
Dennis O'Brien, Univ. Of Rochester -- CFR
David Baltimore, Rockefeller University -- CFR
Donald Dennedy, Stanford University -- CFR
Richard Wall Lyman, Pres. Em., Stanford -- CFR
Hans M. Mark, Chancellor, Univ. of Texas -- CFR
Robert H. Donaldson, Univ. of Tulsa -- CFR
Stephen J. Trachtenberg, George Washington Univ. -- CFR
William H. Danforth, Washington University, St. Louis -- CFR
John D. Wilson, Washington & Lee University -- CFR
Nannerl O. Keohane, Wellesley University -- CFR
Another curiosity is the name of former Brown University president, Vartan Gregorian, sitting at the beginning of the list. Vargan Gregorian is currently the President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York which is one of the main founder's of the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project.
http://www.carnegie.org/sub/about/vgregorian.html
The Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation handle most of the private funding of the project.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/voting-1001.html
http://www.carnegie.org/cgi-bin/grantsearch/grantsearch.pl?term=voting&type=all&Search=Searc
h
Grantee Name:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Approval Date:
2/1/01
Grant Amount:
$253,000
Grant Duration
(in months):
10
Purpose:
for a joint project with the California Institute of Technology to plan the development of new voting technologies and systems
Program:
Strengthening U.S. Democracy
Web Address:
http://www.mit.edu
Grantee Name:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Approval Date:
10/11/01
Grant Amount:
$200,500
Grant Duration
(in months):
15
Purpose:
For disseminating the results of a joint project with the California Institute of Technology to develop model voting systems
Program:
Strengthening U.S. Democracy
Web Address:
http://www.mit.edu
Grantee Name:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Approval Date:
6/12/03
Grant Amount:
$273,200
Grant Duration
(in months):
21
Purpose:
For a joint project with the California Institute of Technology to explore the challenges and opportunities of Internet voting
Program:
Strengthening U.S. Democracy
Web Address:
http://www.mit.edu
As it happens the Carnegie Corporation also is one on the largest funders of the Council on Foreign Trlations
http://www.capitalresearch.org/search/orgdisplay.asp?Org=CFR100
http://www.carnegie.org/cgi-bin/grantsearch/grantsearch.pl?term=Council+on+Foreign+Relations&typ
e=name&Search=Search
Well it'd getting late and I have to work tomorrow. I'll leave it to you to make what you will of this. Personally I think somethings starting to smell rotten in Denmark around here.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be ready to take on the Department of Defense funding issue.