Gary Pearce Falls Prey to a Journalist-Censor's Catch-22...

polifrog



Gary Pearce, over at Talking About Politics, references Tom Fetzer's use of the phrase "idiot bloggers" and his own experience in censoring commentary...

I’m sure Tom Fetzer wasn’t talking about Carter and me last weekend when he urged North Carolina Republicans to ignore “idiot bloggers".

But I’m sure he was talking about the idiots who virtually hijacked our blog last year with attacks on Fetzer and other candidates for GOP party chair.

It got so bad Carter called me one day and asked if I minded him censoring the most libelous and mean-spirited stuff. No problem, I said. I love when Republicans fight, but I was embarrassed by it.

I was curious about what Fetzer could have done to be the victim of "libelous and mean-spirited a stuff" from within his own party. But, sure enough, when I searched Talking About Politics for "Tom Fetzer", the search only returned three links and nothing of the attacks on Fetzer referenced by Gary.

I am left wondering how Gary Pearce finds the journalistic authority to pin the descriptions "libelous and mean spirited" on "idiots" when he can point to no proof of such libel or even of the events described.

It appears that Pearce has fallen prey to a journalist-censor's catch-22.

I don't question Gary Pearce and Carter Wrenn's right to to censor comments on their own blog, but It seems to me that if one chooses to censor comments on their blog one should be held to the repercussions of that censoring. In this case, not being able to reference the comments or events censored.

It can be difficult to play both censor and journalist simultaneously.

On the other hand, the events could quickly be uncensored thus returning the supporting material.



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Carter Wrenn and Bernie Reeves Disrespecting Privacy: MBA

  polifrog


In recent months Carter Wrenn has been more interested in making attacks on Bill Randall than doing his homework. As a result he embarrassed himself with a poor description of the Fair Tax as pointed out by Polifrog in this thread.

Now Carter Wrenn has a new line of attack and it appears "Bernie's friend", as Cater Wrenn refers to the individual who has been busy verifying Randall's MBA, has done quite the investigation of Randall this time around, but have Carter Wrenn  and Bernie Reeves done their due diligence?

According to Carter Wrenn:

Bill Randall says he has an MBA from National Louis University, but National Louis University says he doesn’t.

Wrenn's proof can be found here.

But...

According to the National Student Clearinghouse web site's terms and condition  from which Carter Wrenn's proof originates:

FOR DEGREE AND HISTORICAL ENROLLMENT VERIFICATIONS

Individuals, employers, employment agencies, background screening firms, and similar organizations and entities that act on behalf of these organizations are eligible to request verification of specified degree and enrollment information through the Clearinghouse ("Requestors").

Acting as agent for educational institutions, the Clearinghouse agrees to verify an individual's degree and other educational achievements, including dates of attendance, in a post-secondary educational institution in accordance with this Agreement. In order to verify a subject's dates of attendance, degrees, and other educational achievements, the Requestor must certify that the student has applied for or received products, services or employment that depend upon verification of degree and/or enrollment.

Polifrog wonders just what products, services or employment is dependent upon Bill Randall possessing an MBA. We know those who hold a seat in congress are not dependent on having  an MBA to hold their seat, and a seat in congress is the employment Bill Randall seeks. Just how were the requirements above met by "Bernie's friend" so that he could gain access to Randall's records?

According to Carter Wrenn, "Bernie's friend"  is the recipient of his proof from the National Student Clearinghouse. In that reply from the National Student Clearinghouse "Bernie's friend",  is named as Kent Clizbe (kent@cameronhalifax.com) and that it was  he who requested Randall's MBA information from the National Student Clearinghouse.

Under what authority  did Kent Clizbe request this information? Polifrog doubts the existence of such authority in this instance and,in fact believes it likely that Kent Clizbe abused his privileges as a "Requestor".

Simply put, the above conditions that were agreed to by Clizbe for retrieving Randall's school records from the National Student Clearinghouse were probably not met by Clizbe.

Polifrog also was curious if the odd name "Clizbe" was real. As it turns out, the name is real, and the fact that it is odd is convenient. With the name and e-mail address supplied by Carter Wrenn, Polifrog commenced with some mild google-fu...

This is Kent Clizbe:
On this page the name and e-mail (bottom) match those on the National Student Clearinghouse e-mail provided by Carter Wrenn. Also provided on the page is a photo and a short biography. He has been or is a head-hunter for Cameron Halifax Associates. This is not a surprise considering the information he handed over to the Reeves campaign.

Clizbe is employed by or owns Cameron Halifax.  The first thing listed on Cameron Halifax's website is their commitment to:

The highest level of service. Utmost confidentiality.

Apparently this "utmost confidentiality" does not apply to individuals named Bill Randall or  is it intended to cover the actions of Kent Clizbe. So, not only did Kent Clizbe not have authority to retrieve Randall's MBA information from the National Student Clearinghouse, but he violated Cameron Halifax Associates' confidentiality by passing it on to the Reeves campaign. For its part, the Reeves campaign seems to believe that laundering ill-gotten personal information through Kent Clizbe protects the campaign from the acquisition of improperly acquired personal information.


So there it is.  The information flowed from the sullied hands of Kent Clizbe, a self described "ex-CIA operations officer" with a history of working intelligence positions and, like Bernie Reeves, is an author and media friend,  to the hands of Carter Wrenn and to what has become a political attack machine, the Reeves campaign.  And why?

To attack a private citizen by the name of Bill Randall. Remember Joe the Plumber.

Polifrog hopes, though, this is not an example of governance by Bernie Reeves.

Finally, this is without question another embarrassment  for Carter Wrenn.

The  Cabal

Carter Wrenn (top left), Bernie Reeves (top right) and Kent Clizbe (bottom)





Edited for clarity.
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A Response to Carter Wrenn's Fair Tax Attack on Bill Randall (NC-13)

polifrog


Carter Wrenn' question to Randall.
And related tread here.

Mr. Carter,  prefaced his question by enlightening his readers to his lack of knowledge regarding the Fair Tax.  He then expects his readers to give credence to his question regarding Randall's stance on the Fair Tax. 

Fail 1.

On the other hand, if we were to ignore the idiocy in the question's preamble and focus just on the question we find that Mr.Carter is guilty of parsing words in an effort to make a political attack. 

Mr Carter makes the false assumption that eliminating the IRS equates to the elimination of the tax collection/enforcement arm of government. No one (Randall included) is arguing that there should be no tax collecting arm of government, but it serves the interest of Carter Wrenn to set up the question as such.   With this straw-man argument in place he plays politics and attacks Randall.

Fail 2.

This is a flawed question and as such is an embarrassment to Wrenn and it is  in his interest for it to be retracted.

Question to Carter Wrenn:
Why do you embarrass yourself with questions that are based more on the ends(political attacks) than proper educated argument?




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