Monday, October 11, 2004

The bizarre tale of Scott, "Brad," Indymedia, the FBI and Promptergate (4 UPDATES)

Promptergate just may have received confirmation from a source within the Republican party. More importantly: The FBI may have illegally tried to track down the leaker.

The story, I am sorry to say, is complex. You can find a preliminary version on the Is Bush Wired site. However, since that site is often unreachable (due, some say, to outside attack -- though the likelier culprit is high traffic), I will summarize as best I can -- and then we'll take a look at the latest twist.

Our story begins on the anti-globalization Indymedia site run out of Portland. Before proceeding, let us pause to note two facts:

1. Indymedia did breakthrough work on this story.

2. The FBI recently seized the Indymedia servers run by Rackspace, a web hosting company. (See updates!)

Back to our tale. Indymedia offered this post from a man claiming to be Brad Menfir:

I have contacts within the Republican Party. I was told by Scott Zale, a Republican operative in eastern Tennessee that he knows it to be a fact that Bush was wired. He said that within the Bush campaign, there are certain mid-level staffers that have leaked this tidbit because it was just "too fantastic to ignore."

Zale told me that the transmission device is popular with other high profile officials in the Bush administration. It helps everybody stay "on message." Zale said that Bush was only fed ready responses to just certain types of questions. He didn't know which questions those were but admitted that Bush just sounded(to him)to be more articulate at certain "opportune" times.

Zale confided that he was told that the president wore a loose fitting jacket during both debates. The device protuded because Bush has a tendency to hunch over and shrug his shoulders a lot.

This is a true story as it was told to me. If you want to know more, please contact Scott Zale at the Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters in Knoxville, Tn. Thanks.
Is Bush Wired confirmed that a Scott Zale worked, occasionally, in the Knoxville Bush/Cheney office.

Later, a man claiming to be Scott Zale wrote to Indymedia, asking "Please shut down this blog." (Well, he did say "please!")

Scott -- if he truly is Scott -- wrote that the man who called himself "Brad Menfil" is actually someone else, someone he would not name.

Scott then made this striking statement:
The Knoxville Times called me at 6am this morning asking me to confirm or deny the "Bush is Wired" story they read here at Portland IMC. My immediate response was, "What is the Portland IMC?" and I then I issued a "no comment". Other than that, I did say that "Brad Menfil" is not a real person.

Please stop speculating about this. Our president is a great man and can only get hurt by this. I suspect this isn't going to go away and I regret anything that I said to "Brad" that may contribute to downfall of a great man and president.

Please drop this for the good of our country. We have bigger problems and should not be distracted by matters that don't ultimately determine the measure of an honest man. I want to say that the right answers are what matter most, not whether or not those answers were "fed" my someone else. President Bush is a good messenger regardless.
Obviously, these words do not read like a denial of Promptergate. Quite the opposite!

Later -- on the same Indymedia site (and I don't think this part of the tale has reached "Is Bush Wired" yet) -- we got this noteworthy comment:
Scott Zale is right, "Brad Menfil" is not my real name and I didn't hear this story from him, he heard it from me. Sorry Scott.

I do work for Bush-Cheney and I can only say that the substance of my first posting is correct, even though I used a fake name. I hope everybody understands why I would do this.

I got a call from Scott this morning (actually, about 10 minutes ago). He said that he had been contacted by ABC and Fox after his own posting.

I don't share his belief that ignoring this would be good for the country. I'm sorry I involved Scott and didn't have enough courage to use my real name. I hope the truth gets out and Scott is absolved.

Thanks for reading this, "Brad Menfil."
My gut tells me that something real lurks beneath the surface of these posts. But: These revelations seem almost too convenient. How could ABC and Fox find "Brad" so easily when Brad is not even his real name? How could journalists find Scott Zale when I have yet to do so (and I have tried)?

I'm wondering, in short, whether we're witnessing the set-up for one of those spectacular Rovian bank-shots.

On the other hand -- if "Brad" and Scott are legit, then we have a fairly good explanation as to why the FBI seized the Indymedia servers. The information on those servers would give away the identity of "Brad."

Of course, if the FBI seized "evidence" merely to aid the Bush campaign -- well, we would now have a huge story.

For now, let us presume that the real Scott Zale wrote to Indymedia. And let us further presume that Mr. Zale gets the chance to read these words. I have this response:

Yes, Scott, you're right. This country does have massive problems. There are those of us who sincerely believe that your candidate has made those problems worse.

And that is why we need to know everything we can about the man chosen to deal with those problems. We need to know about his health. We need to know if he plays the electoral game fairly, or if he feels that the ends justify any means. We also need to know about -- let us speak frankly -- his intellectual limits.

We need to know if the man in charge is really in charge.

So my attitude toward "promptergate" is precisely the same as yours would be if you discovered that Bill Clinton had worn such a device. I am honest enough to admit that, if the shoe were on the other foot -- that is, if the Democratic president were incapable of speaking for himself -- the Republicans would have a legitimate gripe, and grounds for an investigation. Can you be honest enough to confess that we Democrats, and all other Americans, have a legitimate need for answers from George W. Bush?

Can't you cast off the partisan blinders and try to see this matter objectively?

UPDATE 1: This story just became even weirder. Remember when Scott Zale said that he had been contacted by the Knoxville Times? Well, we now have reason to question whether such a periodical even exists.

True, they have a web site. They say that the are up to issue #173. But...

The text presented on this site may well be cobbled together from clips taken from other sources. The contact info remains mysteriously absent. There is no listing for "Knoxville Times" on any of the "yellow pages" directories that I have consulted. Directory Assistance has no listing for any entity in Tennessee calling itself the Knoxville Times. (What kind of newspaper keeps its phone number a secret?) And sources at the major Knoxville papers told Is Bush Wired that they've never heard of the thing.

Either the Knoxville Times is a small start-up operation (not impossible), or the tale of Scott and Brad just became very fishy indeed.

Did I say "fishy"? Maybe I should say "spooky"...

UPDATE 2: The BBC reports that the court order to seize the Indymedia servers was issued last Thurday. "Brad" made his Indymedia debut on Saturday. So the chances of "Brad" being the target now seem small. But why did the FBI go to such lengths?

UPDATE 3: Register.com confirms a reader's information that the home of the "Knoxville Times" website is -- in Australia.

Spookier and spookier. I don't know whether to say "G'day" or "Howwwwwwwww-DEE!"

UPDATE 4: Nobody named Zale in Tennessee (with a listed number) knows of a Scott Zale. The only evidence of his existence comes from the Knoxville Bush/Cheney headquarters -- which, as some of you may recall (and as a sharp-eyed correspondent reminded me), recently made the news in another context: On October 5, an unknown assailant in a passing vehicle shot up the office. The Bushites blamed those bloodthirsty Democrats, of course.

But, but, but...

This shooting incident mirrors one which occurred at Bush headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina. In that case, however, we have the proven involvement of Phil Parlock -- serial hoaxer, far-right activist, and all-around asshole.

Both of these shooting incidents carry the strong aroma of greasepaint. As in: Theatrics. Humbug. Staged illusion.

Odd, isn't it? G.O.P. central in Knoxville is home to both a questionable shoot-em-up and the "Scott Zale" yarn. Coincidence?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/images/20020809-1_ranch8-515h.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/images/20020809-1_ranch4-765v.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/images/20020809-1_ranch5-729v.html


Looky, everything matches up ... our boy is wired ... or is he listening to NPR? I think these images are harder for the WH to deny as a concept, that they use these type of devices.

Anonymous said...

Those are earplugs, commonly used in high noise environments, and easily obtainable off-the-shelf.

Anonymous said...

and the pack on the back?

Anonymous said...

I wonder why an australian company would publish an internet paper (knoxvilletimes.com). Actually it is rather many internet news sites since the same owner owns the afghanistansun.com, the africaleader.com and the albuquerqueexpress.com

http://www.whois.sc/knoxvilletimes.com

majqa said...

Kind of strange that a ... paper ... in Knoxville appears to be operated out of a different country. Here's the WHOIS record:

Server Used: [ whois.bulkregister.com ]

www.knoxvilletimes.com = [ 64.39.237.38 ]

Mainstream Capital EC
PO Box 71
Milsons Point New South 2061
AU
Domain Name: KNOXVILLETIMES.COM
Administrative Contact: :
John Mcevoy: jmcevoy@bigpond.net.au

Mainstream Capital EC
PO Box 71
Milsons Point New South 2061
AU
Phone: : 61 413 592 865
Fax: : 61 2 9251 4686
Technical Contact: :
John Mcevoy: jmcevoy@bigpond.net.au

Mainstream Capital EC
PO Box 71
Milsons Point New South 2061
AU
Phone: : 61 413 592 865
Fax: : 61 2 9251 4686
Record updated date on: 2004-08-06 18: 21: 30
Record created date on: 2003-08-19
Record will be expiring on date: 2005-08-19
Database last updated on: 2004-09-20 19: 17: 52 EST
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.100.COM 64.39.236.50
NS2.100.COM 64.39.234.98
Register your domain name at http://www.bulkregister.com

Anonymous said...

Friends...

Google's last cache of this knoxvilletimes.com site shows it as under construction ("check back soon") and Yahoo also has a cache, and in that one the google adwords credit is in Italian(!), bizzare. In any case, this is obviously not a local paper that does any real reporting of it's own. It's an online blog that frames the dailynews.com for editorials and links to a real local paper for local news (knoxnews.com owned by scripps). It claims to be a local paper with an international perspective, which allows it to pull in free international news by rss. In any case... no credibility.

Did it ever occur to you that even if you do get a confirmation that Bush is wired, they will claim it's just for security and that it is never used to give Bush a brain.

Short of a confession by Karl Rove, this is a dead end. Get out and get out the vote.

Sheryl C.

Anonymous said...

I was contacted several months ago by someone from the "Knoxville Times".

It was in the context of "censorship" by Amazon of customer reviews of Bill Frist's vanity publication, "Good Families Beget Good Families".

Amazon received complaints about a number of prankish reviews of Frist's book by an assortment of left-leaners. Because I had saved many of the funnier reviews, I posted an email address in yet another 'review' and told readers that I'd mail them the list of the censored reviews if they wished.

One of the first requests I got was from someone claiming to be a reporter at Knoxville Times who wanted to know what had been censored. I simply sent him the list and thought no more about it. Never saved the emails but I am not mistaken about the correspondence.

Anonymous said...

This .pdf I found on google mentions the Times...

[PDF] InfoWar: Cyber Terrorism in the 21st Century
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
... The Knoxville Times reports that “Cyber Attacks are Real and Constant” because
“Many groups around the world both envy and dislike the United States ...
www.giac.org/practical/GSEC/Michael_Ratledge_GSEC.pdf

Anonymous said...

What's this:

I-L raided by FBI
May 6, 1999, 13:30
Author: WHiTe VaMPiRe

Iron-Lungs and dk were raided by FBI officials Tuesday morning. They had all their computer equipment confiscated. Legion2000.org is also down, it was replaced with a form Web site, and it is possible that this machine was also confiscated.

They were taken into custody and then later released for allegedly braking into 45 military servers, and 17 NASA servers. In addition, they allegedly compromised various gov.uk, gov.se, and gov.au servers.

I-L and dk are members of such organizations as HcV, Forpaxe, 12x, and #feed-the-goats.

Project Gamma was unable to contact I-L for specifics on the matter. HNN has spoken to I-L and verified the claims dk was unavailable. This has supposedly been reported on in the Bristol Herald Courier and the Knoxville Times. Possibly, even the Myrtle Beach Times. We have yet to be provided with these articles.

Project Gamma will keep you up to date with the latest news regarding this. We are currently in search of more details.

(Contributed by p3te-0)

Related links:
# Legion2000.org

www.projectgamma.com

http://www.projectgamma.com/news/archive/1999/may/050699-1330.html

Anonymous said...

This site states the Times as a newspaper in Capital City - Nashville
http://www.bownet.org/grade8/History/Map_Proj/tennesee/TNAT4b.html

John Edward Sebastian said...

Living in Knox county just outside of Knoxville I can assure you that I have never heard nor seen a "Knoxville Times" Just to make sure I had not missed a copy I asked about and no one else has seen such a paper.

By the by I'm Libertarian myself don't understand why either man has an ounce of support so that makes me a rather unbiased observer who is just curious as to WTF is going on.

I can tell you from personal experience that there are republicans here who will stoop to just about any tactic no matter how base.

Anonymous said...

Confirming the DNS information:

Domain Name: KNOXVILLETIMES.COM
Registrar: BULKREGISTER, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.bulkregister.com
Referral URL: http://www.bulkregister.com
Name Server: NS1.100.COM
Name Server: NS2.100.COM
Status: ACTIVE
Updated Date: 06-aug-2004
Creation Date: 19-aug-2003
Expiration Date: 19-aug-2005

Administrative Contact-
John Mcevoy: jmcevoy@bigpond.net.au
Mainstream Capital EC
PO Box 71
Milsons Point, New South 2061
AU
Phone- 61 413 592 865
Fax- 61 2 9251 4686

I made several searches in the Australian Securities and Investment Commission National Names Registry. Notably, the following information:

Name MAINSTREAM CAPITAL PTY LTD
ACN 093 458 032

ABN 16 093 458 032

Type Australian Proprietary Company, Limited By Shares
Registration Date 23/06/2000
Next Review Date 23/06/2005
Status Registered
Locality of Registered Office Bondi Junction NSW 2022
Jurisdiction Australian Securities & Investments Commission

Main Business Location
State: NSW
Postcode: 2060

This is in line with the postal code referenced in the WHOIS information; their localities are virtually identical.

During my investigations, I also came across a PRWeb press release (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/7/prweb141120.htm, "LookSmart Search Results to Feature On 100.com") mentioning John McEvoy and Mainstream Capital EC. It appears now that they are headquartered in
Bahrain, while the company director is located in Australia - a most unusual setup. It should be noted that the US embassy is in the same locality; it is certainly possible that there is a Republican affiliation, though McEvoy vehemently denied such a link, charging that the Knoxville Times is merely a clearing house for local and national news; such feeds may well be directly accessible to prominent Bush associates.

At the very least, it is possible that two scams have collided; at most, insinuation of a potential link between the Republican scam and a serious violation of journalistic ethics.

Anonymous said...

Great Blog! I wanted to share this with you. Are you tired of the Internet Marketing Rat Race? based business home recruiting start


Check this out when you have time :-)

Anonymous said...

came here strangely searching for search engine in uk

to my suprise your here.

Good blog maybe you should add some search engine in uk stuff on it might top your rankings, also when u search for search engine in uk on this other search engine it dont show?

Maybe you should add it search engine in uk

search engine in uk