If you gave a Tea Party and no one came, would it still be news? If, on the other hand, Koch Industries and the RNC gave a Tea Party and a handful of people came, would it still be news? Or would reporting it three or four times a day make it news?

Shoq and StopBeck pointed me to something I hadn't noticed: CNN is serving as a built-in PR machine for the Tea Party Express.

Since the kickoff of the TeaParty Express Tour, CNN has embedded a small press corps in their custom-painted "CNN Express" press bus for the sole purpose of following teabaggers around the country , reporting 3-4 times daily on the activities of the corporate-funded, RNC-connected Tea Party Express.

This clip from Wednesday boggled my mind. You can see how few there are at this rally, but watch as Ali Velshi and Ed Lavandera turn it into a "movement".

LAVANDERA: But these other rallies that have take been place in St. George, Utah, in Phoenix, and in Salt Lake City, now in Grand Junction, have had -- one of the ones we went to had close to 2,000 people. The last couple that we've been to have been around 500, a couple hundred people or so. This one's a little bit smaller.

They are packing up here shortly and headed to Denver tonight, so we'll see how that works. Some of these other rallies have been held during the days, so obviously people have to work and that sort of thing. But in Denver, it will be an interesting one to check out. It will be after work, and see what kind of turnout that they draw there.

The organizers here maintain that they are very happy with the turnout that they've been getting, but I think as they push forward and move closer to Washington, D.C., the numbers and the intensity of the turnout --

VELSHI: Yes.

LAVANDERA: -- will be important to keep an eye on just to get a sense of how much people are engaging and joining into this effort.

VELSHI: All right. Well, maybe when you get closer to Washington, D.C., do you mind if I join you for a couple days? I'll come on the bus, ride along with you.

In one short clip, we have two reporters apologizing for low turnouts, promising more, and watching for it to grow as it gets closer to "Washington, DC". Nowhere do they mention how the Tea Party Express is funded or who the major players are. It begs the question: If CNN weren't embedded with the Tea Party Express, would we call it a 'movement'? Who is the story? TPE, or CNN's invention of the TPE?

The Tea Party Express is not -- I repeat -- NOT a grass roots movement. It's a professionally coordinated corporate PR effort funded and founded by professional PR hacks, principally from the firm of Russo Marsh & Rogers (also known as King Media Group) in Sacramento, CA.

New FEC disclosures have just been filed, so let's have a look at the money trail.

The TeaParty Express is primarily a Howard Kaloogian project. Howard Kaloogian was featured in an earlier Crooks and Liars report on paid agitator Deborah Johns and in this report about bus tour co-sponsor, the BusBank, who was found negligent and responsible for the deaths of 23 passengers.

Or maybe you recall Kaloogian as one of the architects of the Gray Davis recall/Arnold Schwarzenegger coup of 2003.

According to the most recent Tea Party Express FEC disclosures (PDF), employees of the Tea Party Express include Mormon mom Tiffiny Reugner, Amy Kremer, former Tea Party Patriot, Marine Mom Deborah Johns, and Joe Weirzbicki. These are the paid hacks comprising the face of the "Tea Party Express" campaign.

The newcomer to the Tea Party Express group is Frontline Strategies and Media, LLC. A visit to their website is, well...interesting. It's a shell site, with a front page and a lot of "coming soon" pages underneath. The domain frontlinestrat.com was registered in June, 2008 to Brent Lowder. Brent Lowder is COO of the California Republican Party.

California Department of Corporations lists Frontline Strategies and Media LLC's primary contact as Eric Beach. And look what Eric Beach's bio on Mercury Public Affairs says:

Mr. Beach's political background is extensive in California. Prior to becoming Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Beach was Campaign Director for Bill Jones for United States Senate in California. During California's historic recall, Mr. Beach served as a senior staff member for Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful run for Governor in California and as a member of the California Gubernatorial Transition Team.

If it isn't already obvious what a sham this outfit is, it should be now. It's probably not much of a surprise either, but tell me this: Where does CNN ever disclose the nature of this "movement" or who is behind it? Look at the transcript up there. It says "organizers". It makes it sound like a bunch of really committed citizens got together and are taking the country by storm. A real American grassroots movement!

CNN's decision to embed themselves in the Tea Party Express Great American PR and Propaganda tour while failing to specifically report who sponsors and orchestrates these events points to the bankruptcy of our corporate media and their willingness to mislead viewers about what they are doing and why they are there.

This isn't just my usual round of press indignation. These people have ruined California and left a leading-edge state in a pile of dust and rubble. Now they want to do it to the country, and they've enlisted CNN to help them. It's just one more reason to dump CNN.

Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus from Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg

From the YouTube description:

In 1968 Gainsbourg had written "Je t'aime, moi non plus", an explicitly erotic song which he had recorded with Brigitte Bardot. After the pair's relationship had ended, Bardot begged Gainsbourg not to release the recording as a single and Gainsbourg, the perfect gentleman, respected her wishes. However, in 1969 Jane recorded the notorious song as a duet with Gainsbourg and it appeared on the pair's joint album "Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg".

When "Je t'aime moi non plus" was released as a single later that year it caused an absolute scandal. Indeed, Gainsbourg's erotic lyrics and Jane's passionate whispering totally outraged public opinion. The international press attacked the song's "lewd" message, radios banned it from their playlists and the Vatican went so far as to issue a statement condemning the immoral nature of the song. In short, "Je t'aime moi non plus" benefited from a huge amount of free publicity and rocketed straight to the top of the charts, selling around a million copies in the space of just a few months. Needless to say, Gainsbourg and Birkin became the most scandalous couple of the year and their relationship became the subject of intense media scrutiny.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Scarce)

You may know of Phil Kline by his numerous appearances with Bill O'Reilly and his constant attacks on Planned Parenthood. You'd think he would have won his election against Paul Morrison because of all the free publicity, but he got defeated. Anyway, it looks like he's been caught being a crook and a liar.

The KC Blue Blog has more:

KCTV 5 Exclusive 8 month investigation into Johnson County DA Phil Kline has uncovered major news that is likely to force the DA to resign or be removed from office...read on

Here's more info on Kline....

Funny Email of the day

I usually don't bother posting nasty emails or comments like Malkin and Coulter do-but this one had me rolling.

"So, John I guess I've figured you out. I wonder if the rest of your poster's really know who you are, what your about and who you really work for. They will know very soon whom you work for John. You work for the Government. You allow all these anti-war, anti-Bush posts at C & L for the sole purpose for these posters to be rounded up later and arrested.

That free publicity about C & L was just to get more people at your site. We are on to Mr. Amato, if that is your real name, and very soon you will be exposed for the fraud that you are."