Who's IndyMedia working for? [View All]

As you probably know, IndyMedia is a network of "independent media," with outposts across the U.S. and in other nations. I'm not all that familiar with it, and most IndyMedia branches may be on the level. However, I've made several observations that I find disturbing.

A couple very corrupt left-wing Seattle operatives - the Green Party of Seattle's Brita Butler-Wall and columnist Geov Parrish (The Seattle Weekly, Eat The State) - appear to be very close to the IndyMedia's Seattle branch.

After Paul Wellstone was killed, I created a website as both a tribute to Wellstone and a discussion of "political plane crashes." Geov Parrish ran straight to IndyMedia and dashed off a piece blasting all the loony conspiracy theorists who suspected Wellstone may have been assassinated. One of his colleagues wrote a similar piece.

That's BS! No one said Wellstone WAS murdered, but many people SPECULATED. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it would have been utterly stupid to not ask questions.

I've noticed another thing about IndyMedia and Eat The State - http://www.eatthestate.org/: They aren't designed to be of much use to researchers. There's tons of good information on both sites (though I've also discovered lots of propaganda ot EatTheState). But how much work would it take to create a simple REFERENCE SECTION???

It appears to me that some of these sites just like to shoot the sh*t and, in some cases, overwhelm visitors with information and pictures. Look at Seattle IndyMedia's website, at http://seattle.indymedia.org/

Sheez, how can anyone wade through all that stuff? I'm not saying it isn't useful information, but they ought to have prominent link at the top labeled REFERENCE. Otherwise, I feel like a roadrunner on speed when I visit that site.

Some jerk who calls himself Troy Prouty* (he spells it with an asterisk) was giving me a lot of crap on a local chatboard when I was running for public office. One day, he sent me the following private message:

"There is this group in Seattle that know how to handle certain people that might get in the way.. I don't even have to say a word.. One day the person is there - The next day they have never been born - Get my drift?

"I might know some of these people - or I might not."

Prouty claimed to be affiliated with the Seattle IndyMedia, and it appears that there IS a Troy Prouty IndyMedia connection - though I haven't verified that it's the same Troy Prouty.

I'm absolutely positive that Geov Parrish is corrupt, but I haven't yet investigated IndyMedia in great depth. I just wondered if any others have noted anything suspicious about it, or do you think it's a reputable organization?