Laurel wreath and Scientology/Richard Ailes and The Heritage Foundation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_wreath
Excerpt:
In some countries the laurel wreath is used as symbol of the master's degree. The wreath is given to young masters in the graduation ceremony of the university. The word "Laureate" in 'poet laureate' refers to being signified by the laurel wreath. The medieval Florentine poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri,^{[dubious – discuss]} a graduate of the Sicilian School, is often represented in paintings and sculpture wearing a laurel wreath.


http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/04/heritage-s-luce-award-goes-to-fox-chairman-ailes (Roger Ailes gets Luce Award from Heritage Foundation)
Excerpt:
Past recipients of the Luce Award include Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher; philanthropists Richard and Helen DeVos; and two celebrated brothers – William F. and James L. Buckley.
The Heritage Foundation is the nation’s most broadly supported public policy research institute, with more than 710,000 individual, foundation and corporate donors. Founded in 1973, it develops public policy solutions that advance free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional values and a strong national defense.

http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?2,1189647,1193077
Excerpt:
Has Roger Ailes been keeping tabs on your phone calls? A disgrunted former Fox News producer claims he has the capability thanks to a secret "brain room" that the network uses for "counterintelligence and black ops."

Actually, "disgruntled" is an understatement. Dan Cooper, who was fired from the Rupert Murdoch-owned channel shortly after its 1996 launch, has an ax the size of Paul Bunyan's to grind.

Potentially the most explosive among Cooper's many lurid claims, assuming anyone believes them, arises from his account of how his agent, Richard Leibner, dropped him as a client. Leibner did so, asserts Cooper, under pressure from Ailes, who had discovered that Cooper was an anonymous source for a New York magazine story about him, written by ex-Republican David Brock.
And how did Ailes learn that?

Certainly Brock didn't tell him. Of course. Fox News had gotten Brock's telephone records from the phone company, and my phone number was on the list. Deep in the bowels of 1211 Avenue of the Americas, News Corporation's New York headquarters, was what Roger called The Brain Room. Most people thought it was simply the research department of Fox News. But unlike virtually everybody else, because I had to design and build the Brain Room, I knew it also housed a counterintelligence and black ops office. So accessing phone records was easy pie.

[www.portfolio.com]

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/5/16/123025/506
Excerpt:
Mon May 16, 2011 at 12:30:25 PM EST

Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy DeVos, Building Mercenary Army in UAE
The Prince and DeVos families are at the intersection of radical free market privatization and the Religious Right, and have made an enormous impact on the current political atmosphere.  Erik Prince played a significant role in privatizing military functions while his older sister Betsy is at the helm of a movement to privatize public schools. The billionaire brother/sister duo are also vice presidents of their parents' foundation which is one of the major funders of Focus on Family and Family Research Council and array of missionary organizations and right-wing think tanks.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heritage_Foundation
Excerpt:

History

The Foundation wields considerable influence in Washington, and enjoyed particular prominence during the Reagan administration. Its initial funding was provided by Joseph Coors, of the Coors beer empire, and Richard Mellon Scaife, heir of the Mellon industrial and banking fortune. The Foundation maintains strong ties with the London Institute of Economic Affairs and the Mont Pelerin Society.
With a long history of receiving large donations from overseas, Heritage continues to rake in a minimum of several hundred thousand dollars from Taiwan and South Korea each year.
In autumn of 1988, the South Korean National Assembly uncovered a document revealing that Korean intelligence gave $2.2 million to the Heritage Foundation on the sly during the early 1980s. Heritage officials "categorically deny" the accusation.