Searching for LaRouche under the bed Options

[Herschelkrustofsky]

The "LaRouche 1" ArbCom case established that "Original work which originates from Lyndon LaRouche and his movement may be removed from any Wikipedia article in which it appears other than the article Lyndon LaRouche and other closely related articles," and that "Wikipedia users who engage in re-insertion of original research which originated with Lyndon LaRouche and his movement or engage in edit wars regarding insertion of such material shall be subject to ban upon demonstration to the Arbitration Committee of the offense."

Ah, but what constitutes "Original work which originates from Lyndon LaRouche and his movement"? This phrase has acquired a remarkably elastic definition. Consider this quote from Pope John Paul II, removed by Will Beback as "LaRouche-sourced material," although there is no source cited. Presumably most pronouncements by the Pope get published by the Vatican, although we don't know in this case.

Increasingly, "Original work which originates from Lyndon LaRouche and his movement" has been taken to mean "opinions with which LaRouche might conceivably agree." Aside from Will Beback/Willmcw/User2004, the other hyper-vigilant defender against creeping LaRouchism is User:172, who waged a mammoth battle at the article "Privatization" to prevent inclusion of material on a conference on the privatization of national security functions ( see the lengthy debate on the talk page.) !72 argued that the material ought to be deleted because it sounded like something LaRouche might consider to be important. My edit, which triggered a revert war by 172, was sourced to the Princeton University transcript of the conference proceedings.

Recently, User:Tsunami Butler made a fruitless appeal to the ArbCom, which included an entertaining sampler of recent complaints on Will Beback's talk page. Predictably, this was ignored by the ArbCom.

In the course of the discussion, however, Will Beback announces his latest exploit, which I tracked down to the ANI archive. Will reverts two edits: one edit, in article "Laissez-faire," mentions George Schultz and Milton Friedman as laissez-fair advocates that went so far as to call for drug legalization. This edit was sourced to the Wikipedia articles on George Schultz and Milton Friedman, and sure enough, they did that. However, Will Beback pounces, calling it a "LaRouchism." Similarly, in the article "Free Trade," Will Beback comes to the rescue against an edit which references Henry Carey and Friedrich List, and includes a quote from William McKinley -- "remove LaRouche concepts," he writes. He also threatened to ban HonourableSchoolboy for that one.

So now, if you are an admin and you want to ban someone, you can accuse them of holding an opinion similar to one of LaRouche.

[Daniel Brandt]

John Train, according to his Who's Who in America (1984-85) entry, was "Founder, mng. editor Paris Review, 1952-54."

Paris Review, according to The New York Times, December 26, 1977, p. 37, was founded and funded by the CIA. Other founders of Paris Review were Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton, both witting CIA agents. By 1987 John Train was president of the Afghanistan Relief Committee, which received money in 1985 and 1986 from the National Endowment for Democracy. NED was created by Congress to funnel money to foreign groups so that the CIA wouldn't have to create so many fronts and that kept getting exposed.

For Chip Berlet to even attend the John Train meetings about LaRouche, and rub shoulders with all those high-level spooks, indicates to me that he is in bed with them.

Yet good ol' SlimVirgin wrote on January 6, 2005:

There's no evidence that Roy Godson is an intelligence operative and the weasel catch-all phrase "representatives from intelligence-linked funding sources" is typical Brandt and typical LaRouche.

Holy crap. Even a publication by Political Research Associates, Chip Berlet's propaganda factory, concedes that Godson is spook-connected:

The Consortium is directed by NSIC Washington director Roy Godson, a consultant since 1982 to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, which oversees covert operations. He has also been a consultant to the National Security Council. The Consortium engages many current and retired intelligence agency employees.... (The Coors Connection by Russ Bellant, 1990, page 48, preface by Chip Berlet)

One might expect Chip Berlet to correct SlimVirgin's obvious error, but no, it serves his purpose in this case so he lets it go. It's all propaganda for Berlet and SlimVirgin, which means that it's all in the service of a higher purpose. Facts cannot be allowed to get in the way of the mission.