More than 2.5 million people read pages of Think Progress every month. Quite a staggering number, and something free-market minded Americans should pay close attention to.

While some in mainstream communication realms might not see this as a significant story, many more of us are starting to uncover the dark agenda that drives the left wing propaganda machine at Think Progress.

What are the Origins of Think Progress?
Here is what we know…

1) Think Progress is a Project of The Center for American Progress Action Fund
The Center for American Progress Action Fund is a “progressive” think-tank. Their “partner” is The Center for American Progress, a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue code.

The Center for American Progress is ran by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta. That’s right… Think Progress is essentially a tool of the Clinton machine.

In fact, George Soros and Halperin recruited Harold Ickes — chief fundraiser and former deputy chief of staff for the Clinton White House — to help organize the Center.

With this in mind, it’s interesting to notice the Center’s use of Think Progress to attack John McCain, when they won’t lift a finger to send negative attention to Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

So much for “non-partisan”.

2) The Bloggers are Far Left Operatives
Faiz Shakir, the editor at Think Progress, is also the Research Director at the Center for American Progress. Faiz has previously worked as a Research Associate for the Democratic National Committee, as a Legislative Aide to Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and as a communications aide in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Managing Editor for The Progress Report and Think Progress at the Center for American Progress. Terkel also worked in the Office of Liberal Democrat Senator Charles E. Schumer.

Also working as editors/writers/bloggers for Think Progress are Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin J. Armbruster, Ali Frick, Matthew Duss, Brad Johnson, Sarah Dale and Igor Volsky.

Not surprisingly, every one of the above individuals are on the payroll of either the Center for American Progress or the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

3) New Sub-Blogs ATTACKERMAN and WONK ROOM
Wonk Room is pretty much ran by the same ilk that edit the main Think Progress site. But Attackerman has a different background when it comes to blogger-in-chief. As Konservo points out, Spencer Ackerman runs Attackerman, supposedly covering National Security Issues. As Konservo mentions, Ackerman works for The Washington Independent, who, ironically is owned by the Center for Independent Media.

The Center for Independent Media is ran by a group of wealthy tech liberals and Democrat party operatives/campaign consultants. These folks aren’t messing around either. As mentioned above, the groups involved in this progressive/liberal ring of propaganda sites are also tied to Media Matters, the Soros funded liberal attack machine.

Just how active and aggressive are these groups in using the internet to spread their agenda? According to Shot in The Dark, the Center for Independent Media has been working to hire liberal/progressive bloggers in the state of Minnesota. An e-mail sent out via the Center for Independent Media makes it clear that the Soros machine is hiring a left wing army aimed at bringing free-market/limited-government advocates to their knees.

Read the full e-mail here.

Have no doubts, Think progress is not independent, not non-partisan, and not in any way a center of the political isle source of information. Instead, the site is a vessel through which the Soros money machine can funnel its left wing agenda.

Eddie Wong takes over the effort to convert the immigration station – often called the Ellis Island of the West – to a place where visitors can learn about the history of immigration to the western United States.

“I’m delighted to be the new executive director, particularly since my own father passed through the immigration station as an immigrant to the United States in 1928,” said Wong, 57. “The preservation and restoration of the Angel Island Immigration Station will allow the site to take its rightful place as one of America’s most important historic landmarks.”

The barracks are undergoing a $15 million restoration and there are plans to reopen them to the public in the spring of 2009, complete with interpretive exhibits.

This isn’t huge news by any means, but we here at Left Watch always try to keep an eye on the movements of those heavily involved in the far left money machine.

Wong previously served as a media and social justice investment consultant to the Democracy Alliance, a network of progressive donors. He was also the executive director of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association from 1996 to 2006. Prior to that, he worked as the western regional director of the National Rainbow Coalition.

While the article does a good job of making sure it includes reality… specifically that left wing factions of American politics are spending massive amounts of money, I disagree with a lot of its base argument.

For example:

Financed by many of the nation’s wealthiest investors and business leaders, as well as millions of small donors, these organizations are responsible for a flood of political attack advertising. Their work threatens to drown out the traditional voices of the Republican and Democratic parties and undercut the presidential candidates’ efforts to control their own messages.

For one, I believe the “message” is as diluted as possible in order to ignore the real issues and flood the public with non-essential BS. I also believe the two party system has corrupted American politics, and reform is badly needed.

There for, I’m personally not against the idea of American entrepreneurs spending money on reforming the political landscape. However, I am against the constant attacks from the left screaming that “the right is rich and we are not”, when the left is spending just as much, if not far more than the right.

In Stealth Campaigns, it is made clear that far left groups such as Democracy Alliance are pumping huge amounts of money in to American politics.

Read the rest here.

It’s well worth the read and comes loaded with good information.

Points expanded on include:

-Billionaires for Big Government
-Origins of the Democracy Alliance
-Speed Bumps on the Road to Socialism
-DA Finances
-Selected Grant Recipients

Prepare to become red in the face and click here

WASHINGTON (AP) — The term of choice in political giving these days is straight out of the world of finance — donors have become “investors.” Now, liberal California venture capitalists have come up with the natural corollary — political “mutual funds.”

The new venture, being launched Monday, is the work of Andy and Deborah Rappaport’s New Progressive Coalition, a San Francisco-based organization they like to call the Charles Schwab of politics.

Through a rigorous vetting system, the coalition identified 37 Democratic-leaning organizations and distributed them among three funds. The idea is to guide potential contributors through the myriad liberal causes and groups that dot the political landscape.

That’s right, they see politics as an investment. Meaning, they actually want to control government. And if you think Democracy Alliance is sitting this effort out… think again.

The effort is part of an evolution in liberal giving, where donors big and small are looking to organizations with proven track records or long-term missions instead of funding new, fleeting groups that disappear at the end of an election cycle.

A coalition of top dollar Democratic donors — the Democracy Alliance — met in Washington this month to hear formal presentations from established political groups eager for a share of the tens of millions of dollars the alliance is expected to have at its disposal.

The alliance, whose membership is by invitation only, has helped finance such Democratic-leaning organizations as the New Democratic Network, Media Matters and the Center for American Progress. These are high-profile operations, some with big budgets, that seek to influence the political debate in Washington.

Similar efforts are under way in a handful of states, modeled after a Colorado coalition of wealthy donors who helped raise funds for state legislative races. Donors and strategists recently met in New Mexico to create interest in similar funding organizations to assist liberal and Democratic-leaning organizations at the state level.

Gag.

The Washington chattering class has this fidelity to certain norms for, you know, political discourse. But let’s be straight about it. In a democracy you have to be able to question the uniformed military. We appreciate their service. We honor their sacrifice. But, especially for the generals, there needs to be accountability for their actions…
[S]ome people probably won’t like the ad, but they probably hate the war in Iraq more…If it was just a soft step, no one would have heard about it.

You know, let’s be clear. The ad did not call General Petraeus a traitor. It said, “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” It had posed a question about whether or not the general in his testimony was going to betray the confidence of the American people.

Which makes it even more interesting that Democracy Alliance, the left wing money machine, is bringing Matzzie on as an advisor. And not just any advisor…

Tom Matzzie has been hired to run a new effort for 2008, which he has described in an e-mail as a $100 million-plus venture organized around “issues and character.” Matzzie is leaving his post as the Washington director of Moveon.org to take the job. He did not return an e-mail seeking comment on his new position.

The news of Matzzie’s hiring comes roughly two weeks after a group of the largest donors in the Democratic party gathered in Washington to discuss where they’ll put their money during the 2008 race. One of the attendees — Hollywood producer Steve Bing — is said to be one of the leading financial forces behind the organization Matzzie has been hired to head.

Sounds like the left is looking to move even more to the left, and they’re doing it with a powerful money machine running the back end.

We had better start paying attention and fast.

When Taco Bell heir Rob McKay and his fellow “investors” gathered in Washington this month to fund start-ups, they weren’t looking for the latest idea hatched in some tinkerer’s garage.

Instead, the investment partnership known as Democracy Alliance, a group that includes filmmaker Rob Reiner and billionaire George Soros, were looking to be angels to political start-ups. In the 2008 election, their millions could be part of the new thing in politics.

Some major political players are expected to shift their money away from traditional campaign entities in favor of an old standby: the nonprofit. By giving to nonprofits, donors are unfettered by contribution caps that apply when they give directly to candidates. They also can be assured of anonymity.

The law allows nonprofits to be “very aggressive politically, while shielding donors from disclosure,” former Federal Elections Commission Chairman Michael E. Toner said. “That is a very attractive combination.”

Read the rest