February 21, 2011 by uswgo
Original article link http://www.federaljack.com/?p=20226
Author: Brian D. Hill
Ref # is the reference number of a valid source and quoted reference located below the article.
After my investigation of Righthaven, Stephens Media, and WEHCO Media, I now have certifiable proof and evidence to back up my suspicions that Righthaven is really a strong-arm law firm by a super rich, political influential, and law breaking Stephens Family to target Freedom of Speech. I found out that Righthaven is in business partnership with a multi-billion dollar family that has ownership and influence over the nations weekly news papers (Ref 8, Ref 5, Ref 1), Cable TV systems (Ref 8), operated one of the country’s largest outdoor advertising businesses with 13,000 billboards (Ref 8), has also invested in Natural Gas and Oil companies (Ref 9), and also has power and influence over political including Federal elections over both political parties (Ref 2).
So the very people that are behind the law firm Righthaven’s (LLC) frivolous lawsuits, mostly filed against political sites and bloggers (Ref 10), are connected with a very wealthy family, known as the Stephens Group, also working under Stephens Media (Ref 9), and they have the money and power to influence Politics on the Federal Level, and a 1993 Fed Inquiry reported by the NYTimes (Ref 2, Ref 3, Ref 4, Ref 11) brought out that they had influence in campaign money for Presidential Administrations.
Stephens Group (Ref 3, Ref 4) had also violatedthe Glass Stegall Act a 1933 Federal law, and the family members and family trusts that control the brokerage firm held about two third of stock in the Stuttgart bank. Stephens Media also had a joint venture with WEHCO Media (Ref 1) and a newspaper partnership with Medianews and Gannett. All three newspaper organizations WEHCO Media, Stephens Media, and WEHCO Media are all affiliated with Righthaven to sue bloggers and non profit entities such as care2 and others. So there’s no doubt that Stephens Group and Stephens Media are one of the most powerful, most influential in American politics, most rich in America (Mutli-billionaire wise), and violated laws and somehow are still working in America and possibly the world.
Also many bloggers believe that since that they have settled out of court, and rid their sites of infringing content that they are safe from a court trial and domain seizure by Righthaven but that is not the case because they may be future targets again under Righthaven since Stephens Media keeps buying more newspapers and may one day sue bloggers over Associated Press quotations and maybe even Reuters quotes.
So Righthaven may be the strong arm of Stephens Inc. under a guise to silence Free Speech and Free Press so that they can continue to influence and control politics and who gets elected as President of the United States of America and is a cause for concern. No super rich family should ever control who gets elected as President or even in the House of Representatives or even our Senate of these United States. It’s basically common sense that political elections needs to be a open field and not dictated by Billionaire families and bankers.
References:
Ref 1. Quoted from Wikipedia:
The company is also a partner in the California Newspapers Partnership with MediaNews and Gannett. The company also formed in November 2009 a joint venture with WEHCO Media, Inc. in Arkansas.
Ref 2. Quoted from the NYTimes:
…And for decades he has maintained close ties to Presidential administrations of both political parties.
Ref 3. Quoted from the NYTimes:
Not until March of this year, however, did the Fed decide that “Stephens family members and trust holdings violate the Glass-Steagall Act,” the 1933 Federal law, according to Mr. Knight.
Ref 4. Quoted from the NYTimes:
He said family members and family trusts that control the brokerage firm, Stephens Inc., hold about two-thirds of the stock in the Stuttgart bank.
Ref 5. Quoted from Wikipedia:
In September 2009, Stephens Media and WEHCO Media Inc., owner of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, announced plans to combine their newspaper operations in Northwest Arkansas and operate as a single company. The venture was approved in November 2009 by the U.S. Justice Department and a new Arkansas Limited Liabilty Company, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC, was formed.
Ref 6. Quoted from Wikipedia:
The company was formerly called Donrey Media Group, which was founded by Arkansas media mogul Donald W. Reynolds and based in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Reynolds died in 1993. The company was then sold to the Stephens family of Arkansas, best known for their investment banking business Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
Ref 7. Quoted from WEHCO Media Inc.:
In the 1960’s, Walter Sr. wanted to invest in the cable television business.
Ref 8. Quoted from Answers.com:
After his friend Roy Park converted his newspaper company, Park Communications, to public ownership in 1983, Reynolds stood as the only sole owner of a major newspaper chain in the United States. He owned seven homes by the mid-1980s, including his primary residence on the outskirts of Las Vegas, a $20 million, 80-acre estate. Donrey Media, after decades of expansion, owned 54 daily newspapers in 15 states, including the company’s flagship newspaper property, the 110,000-circulation Las Vegas Review-Journal. The company also owned numerous weekly newspapers, cable systems with nearly 100,000 subscribers, seven radio stations, a television station in Reno, Nevada, and operated one of the country’s largest outdoor advertising businesses with 13,000 billboards. The company was based in Las Vegas, but maintained its financial headquarters in Fort Smith, Arkansas. By the time Reynolds celebrated his 80th birthday in 1986, Donrey Media was generating roughly $300 million in annual revenue, contributing to Reynolds’s personal net worth of nearly $1 billion.
Ref 9. Multiple Quotes from Stephens Group website (Stephens Group is apart of Stephens Media):
Atlantic Oil Corporation: Atlantic Oil Corp., based in Denver, Colorado, owns natural gas reserves with its primary holdings in South Texas. The Stephens family took the company private in 1983.
Energy Transfer Partners L.P.: Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) engages in various natural gas operations, including gathering, processing and pipeline transportation. ETP is also the fourth largest retail propane distributor in the country. The company was formed in January 2004 when the retail propane operations of Heritage Propane Partners, L.P. were combined with the natural gas midstream and transportation operations of Energy Transfer Co., a Stephens family investment. (NYSE: ETP) (www.energytransfer.com)
JOG Capital Inc.: Based in Calgary, Alberta, JOG Capital is private equity firm that specializes in Canadian oil and gas companies. (www.jogcapital.com)
North American Energy Partners, Inc.: Based in Acheson, Canada, North American Energy Partners provides mining and site preparation, piling and pipeline installation services to oil and natural gas, petrochemical and other natural resource companies operating in western Canada. (NYSE: NOA) (www.naepi.ca)
Spitzer Industries, Inc.: Spitzer Industries, Inc. is a leading custom fabricator of specialized equipment and systems, pressure vessels and other custom weldments. Spitzer fabricates products for oil and gas production, subsea oil and gas tie-back, ASME Code pressure vessel and other segments of the energy services industry. Spitzer serves an international customer base from its headquarters in Houston, Texas. In December of 2007, Spitzer acquired Curtis Kelly, Inc., a Houston based company specializing in design and fabrication of large vessels and other process equipment. In conjunction with this acquisition, Spitzer acquired access to the former Brown & Root Deck Building, a premium facility on the Houston Ship Channel. In April of 2008, Spitzer completed its acquisition of Orizon Industries, Inc., another Houston area company which specializes in heavy industrial steel fabrication. These acquisitions quadruple Spitzer’s fabrication capacity and will expand the company’s presence in the subsea, deepwater production, and petrochemical/refining markets. (www.spitzerind.com)
Ref 10. Quoted from Righthaven Victims Blog which tracks all the lawsuits thrown by Righthaven (very credible blog that lists all the various site operators and posters being sued by Righthaven):
December 2010 Victims (Older and non current but should be referenced):
David Burnett, Clayton E. Cramer and The Armed Citizen thearmedcitizen.com
Matt Drudge and DrudgeReportArchives.com drudgereportarchives.com
America’s Independent Party of Iowa and Thomas Hoefling aipnews.com
Paul Anthony Parson americangunowners.net
Josephine Franklintherightwingwarriors.wordpress.com
Free Republic, LLC, James C. Robinson and John Robinson freerepublic.com
Inkonet Networks, Inkosonic Networks, Antonio Larosa and Sonicvibes Entertainment, LLCwnytruthers.org
There are probably even more political sites I have missed but these are all I can find under such short time.
Ref 11. Quote from NYTimes then Rense.com proves that the Stephens Inc. group had influence on both the Left and the Right of the political spectrum:
But never has the nexus between the Stephenses and Washington been as tight as it is now. No group raised more money for the nascent Clinton Presidential campaign.
The Bahrain deal was brokered by David Edwards, a close pal to Bill Clinton and a former employee of Stephens Inc. Shortly after Bush sold his stock
George W. Bush, however, worked wonders for Harken Energy Corp. before the stock collapse. Using the Bush family name, he managed to bring much-needed capital investment to the struggling firm. George W. Bush traveled to Little Rock, AR, to attend a meeting with Jackson Stephens – a powerful Arkansas tycoon who help bankroll the state campaigns of young Bill Clinton. He first gained political prominence as a fund-raiser for President Jimmy Carter. Stephens was also deeply involved in the BCCI scandal by helping the corrupt bank take control of First American Bank in Washington, DC.
Jack Stephens didn’t need an introduction to young George W. Bush. Mary Anne Stephens, his wife, managed Vice President George Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign in Arkansas. Stephens Inc., the well connected brokerage firm owned by Jack Stephens, donated $100,000 to a Bush campaign fundraising dinner in 1991. When George W. Bush won the contested Florida election in 2000, Jack Stephens made a substantial contribution to the Bush inauguration. Recently, former President Bush played golf on April 11, 2001, with Jack Stephens at the Jack Stephens Youth Golf Academy in Little Rock. The former president told Stephens, “Jack, we love you and we are very, very grateful for what you have done.”