New Article: Penny Starr's Anti-Abortion Crusade
Topic: CNSNews.com
The CNSnews.com reporter is so biased on the subject that she thinks Harry Reid is a baby-killer, yet she's allowed to report on the subject anyway. Read more >>

Meanwhile ...
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Both WorldNetDaily and CNSNews.com published Pat Buchanan's screed against the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, in which he lashes out at Congress for doing its job, likens gays to child molesters, and proved himself to be outside the American mainstream on the issue. Media Matters' Jamison Foser has more.

Let WND's Loving Portrayal of Terrence Lakin's Martyrdom Begin
Topic: WorldNetDaily

A couple days ago, we described how Joseph Farah and WorldNetDaily must be happy would-be birther doctor Terrence Lakin has been convicted and imprisoned by the military for disobeying order, since he feeds WND's birther fanaticism much better in prison than as a free man.

As we predicted, WND is getting serious about portraying Lakin as a martyr.

A Dec. 20 article by Brian Fitzpatrick described how "as Dr. Terrence Lakin was being processed at the Fort Leavenworth military prison Monday morning, well-wishers were bombarding Army authorities with requests for clemency." The article provided an address to send Lakin cards as well as listed the phone number for the Army public affairs officer to "the 'Convening Authority' over the former lieutenant colonel's court martial," whom a Lakin supporter encouraged like-minded birthers to "call, write, email and fax" because he "has the authority to accept or reduce the sentence handed down by Lakin's court martial panel, or to order Lakin released." Of course, Fitzpatrick made sure to include contacts for donating to the "Terry Lakin Action Fund."

Fitzpatrick followed the next day with an article quoting the Army public affairs officer asking people to stop calling him and pointing that out he and the "Convening Authority" are the wrong people to contact. Fitzpatrick includes the email address of the defense counsel the public affairs officer said to contact.

Farah, meanwhile, was burnishing Lakin's martyrdom credential in his Dec. 21 column, complete with biblical imagery and a sneering glance at gays:

Terrence Lakin was not allowed to speak up in his own defense. He was not permitted to use the power of discovery to prove his innocence. He was not granted the right to introduce evidence.

He was an innocent lamb led willingly to slaughter.

That a man like this, committed at all costs to the integrity of the Constitution and to truth, would be sentenced to prison and discharged from the military he loved while the Congress of the United States votes to allow open homosexuality in the armed forces says a great deal about the state of our nation.

Farah leaves out the little matter that Lakin isn't "innocent" -- there's no question Lakin committed the crime of disobeying orders that he was accused of. He was merely prevented from getting into the birther stuff because it's irrelevant to the immediate matter of whether he disobeyed orders. As we noted earlier, it's an issue of maintaining the system of military discipline that Farah has yet to address.

Farah goes on to spew more hatred at the president:

Beginning in a few short weeks state legislatures will come back into session in 50 states.

In several of those states you will see bills introduced to require future presidential candidates to prove their constitutional eligibility to get on the ballot.

When you see that happening, it will spell the beginning of the end of Obama's charade.

I no longer believe it is likely that Obama can pass that test.

If he could, why wouldn't he just release it? Would he really let a man like Terrence Lakin go to jail when he could prevent it so easily? If he could, what kind of a man is Barack Obama?

If I'm right about these moves in the state legislatures, Obama will have a choice to make in 2012. If he wants to seek re-election, he will have to produce the evidence so many of us have longed to see. Or, he will have to forgo his ambition and not seek re-election. If he chooses the latter path, you and I will know why. Remember, it will not be because of any of the excuses he offers. It will not be because he wants to spend more time with Michelle and the kids. It will not be because of a mysterious health concern. It will not even be because his popularity ratings are so low – though I have no doubt they will be.

It will be because he can't or won't prove his own constitutional eligibility.

Let's hope his successor has the decency to offer a full pardon for the man who stood up and tried to get the truth out two years earlier – Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin.

But not before Farah and WND milk Lakin's martyrdom for all it's worth.

Gotcha Fail: Rep. Frank Turns Tables on CNS
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com has a habit of springing loaded questions on members of Congress. For example, it asked Obama administration official John Holdren to explain something he wrote in a book published nearly 40 years ago.

Apparently feeling confident (and sufficiently homophobic), CNS decided to target Rep. Barney Frank with a question about the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell -- specifically, whether he thought gay and straight soldiers should shower together. This was based on a statement calling for a ban on separate showers from the Pentagon’s report on the impact of repealing DADT that CNS had previously singled out.

Frank saw this coming from a mile away. As CNS reporter Nicholas Ballasy slowly got out the words “shower with homosexuals,” Frank let out an exaggerated gasp and responded, “What do you think happens in gyms all over America?” After calling it a “silly issue,” Frank added, “What do you think goes wrong with people showering with homosexuals? Do you think it’s the spray makes it catching? ... We don’t get ourselves dry-cleaned.”

Frank then turned the tables on his interviewer by quizzing Ballasy: “I know you’re looking for some way to kind of discredit the policy. Do you think that gyms should have separate showers for gay and straight people? I’m asking you the question because that’s the logic of what you’re telling me. You seem to think that there’s something extraordinary about gay men showering together. Do you think gyms should have separate showers for gay people and straight people?” Ballasy wouldn’t answer, insisting that he was “just quoting the recommendation.” Frank responded: “Don’t be disingenuous. You’re quoting those you think may cause us some problems. You’re entitled to do that, but you shouldn’t hide behind your views.” Frank again asked the question of Ballasy, who again wouldn’t answer, trying to change the subject: “So that’s the question you would pose to people who have an issue with that part of the report, the recommendation?” Frank made his point one more time, and that’s where the CNS ends the video.

The CNS article on Ballasy’s gotcha interview ignores how Frank saw through his tactics, instead playing up the irrelevant point that Frank opposes opposite-sex soliders showering together. But give credit to CNS for posting the video of Frank using its reporter’s gotcha tactics against him -- and thus providing other politicians with a how-to manual for the next time CNS pops up out of nowhere to fire a loaded question.

(Cross-posted at Media Matters.)

NewsBusters Claims 'Errors' In Fox Study, Doesn't Cite Any
Topic: NewsBusters

a Dec. 20 NewsBusters post by Lachlan Markay carries the headline, "'Study' Claiming Fox News Viewers 'Misinformed' Is Fraught With Errors." But Markay doesn't identify any actual errors.

The study in question is by the University of Maryland's World Public Opinion project, which examines misinformation in the 2010 midterm elections. Among its finding was that, as summarized by the project:

Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely), most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points), the economy is getting worse (26 points), most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points), the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points), their own income taxes have gone up (14 points), the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points), when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points) and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points). The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those who did not watch it--though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican.

Rather than identify "errors," Markay attacks a couple of the study's premises. First, he's indignant that anyone would trust the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office regarding whether the stimulus created jobs. He insists that "CBO's numbers have no basis in reality, as I have reported a number of times before. They are based on models that assume stimulus spending will create growth and employment, and hence the success of this particular stimulus package is predetermined. The blind faith the study puts in CBO's numbers suggest that it is quite eager to pass them off ipso facto as truth. That says a lot about WPO's perspective on the issue, and their politics generally."

That's not an error.

Markay goes on to quote Baltimore Sun quibbling that the study assumed that an "informed" person "is essentially someone who agrees with the conclusions of experts in government agencies." That's not an error either; that's a question about methodology.

Still, the UMD study's methodology is much more rigid than any given study done by the parent of the blog where Markay posts.

Les Kinsolving's Anti-Gay Derangement
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily's Les Kinsolving has a longstanding obsession with gay sex, and it shows up again in his Dec. 21 column, in which he once again indulges in his paranoiac reasoning that repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell will allow necrophiliacs into the military:

Will the incoming House of Representatives – which is so overwhelmingly Republican – vote to repeal the repealing of DADT? And will the 2012 election remove a number of U.S. senators who voted for repeal? Or, if they fail to do so, what if an amendment is then introduced to provide armed forces recruitment of all sexual orientations rather than confining such recruitment to homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals?

Since practicing non-monogamous homosexuals have this nation's highest per capita rate of AIDS, why should they be recruited but not other alternative sexual orientations?

sadomasochists
exhibitionists

polygamists

polyandrists (women with multiple husbands)

pedophiles

transvestites

necrophiliacs (sex with corpses)

coprophiliacs (those sexually aroused by feces)

urophiliacs (those sexually aroused by urine)

zoophiliacs (practitioners of bestiality)

incest practitioners

klismaphiliacs (sexually stimulated by enemas)

Kinsolving goes on to approvingly quote founder of WND's favorite gay-haters, MassResistance, calling Sen Joe Lieberman a "shameful disgrace and embarrassment to orthodox Jews everywhere" for "desecrat[ing] the holy Sabbath to go to work – the U.S. Senate – and vote to force the U.S. integration of homosexuality into the U.S. military."

NewsBusters Likens School Obama's Kids Attend to South's Segregation Academies
Topic: NewsBusters

Private schools that cater to the children of the wealthy and prominent are exactly the same as the Southern private academies founded by whites in order to skirt public school integration? That's what Mark Finkelstein wants you to think.

In a Dec. 21 NewsBusters post, Finkelstein writes of an exchange on "Morning Joe":

Eugene Robinson took the lead in belting [Haley] Barbour for sending his children to private schools in Mississippi rather than to local public schools attended by black children.  Joe Scarborough chimed in with his Mississippi-childhood recollections of such post-integration private academies springing up.  Mike Barnicle did his bit, contributing the tale of whites in South Boston pulling their kids out of integrated public schools in favor of parochial and private ones.

One thing was missing from the conversational mix, however: any reference to the tradition of Dems in DC--from Bill and Hillary, to the Gores, to of course the Obamas--sending their kids [or in the case of the Bidens, grandkids] to tony private schools like Sidwell Friends rather than to the heavily African-American public DC schools.

Finkelstein is ignoring a whole bunch of inconvenient facts here. First, Sidwell Friends was founded by Quakers -- not known for their virulent racism -- in 1883. There is no evidence whatsoever that it was founded in opposition to any effort to desegregate schools.

By contrast, the history of private academies is very a reaction to integration. According to Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP, responding to Barbour's remarks about how the White Citizens Council in his hometown of Yazoo City, Miss., managed to keep school integration relatively peaceful:

In fact, if you look at Yazoo City, their approach to integration was very similar to other communities across the state, where the parents pulled their children out of the public school system so white children would not have to attend an integrated school system. ... They established a private segregated academy which still exists today. The majority of the white citizens of Yazoo County and Yazoo City still do not allow their children to attend public education today. That trend happened as a result of the civil rights movement and full integration, and that the struggle that blacks had across the state was the same in Yazoo City as it was across the state.

In citing only Democratic politicians, Finkelstein also conveniently igmores that the children of Republican politicians, like Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, also attended Sidwell.

In playing his elitist card, Finkelstein is also suggesting that the Clintons and Gores  -- and, bizarrely, the Obamas -- are racist for sending their children to Sidwell. That's dumb even for Finkelstein, who's best known for speculating that Matt Lauer's checkered scarf was a declaration of support for Palestinians and complaining that a soccer ball looks suspciously like the Obama campaign logo.

Newsmax: Obama Wants START Ratification to Justify Nobel Prize
Topic: Newsmax

Beneath the veneer of respectability Newsmax has been trying to build over the past few years is a seething hatred of liberals that has been part of its DNA since its founding by Christopher Ruddy as an outlet dedicated to attacking President Clinton. That hatred pops up every once in a while, such as when columnist John L. Perry advocated for a military coup to solve the "Obama problem."

It has popped up again in a Dec. 20 article by David Patten, which cites "some observers" claiming that Obama's push on the START treaty means he "may be trying to justify the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded just nine months into his presidency. Patten's apparent inspiration was a New York Times blog post calling the START vote Obama’s "hope of living up to that expectation" of the Nobel.

As is his wont, Patten quotes only right-wing "critics" of Obama speculating on this pressing issue:

• "Author, columnist, and national security expert Andrew McCarthy" said that Obama should proceed with a treaty “on the basis of his own merits and what it might do for our security, rather than fixing his place in history.”
• Dick Morris isparaphrased as saying that "he believes Obama is more interested in bolstering his standing with his party’s left wing than in proving he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize."

In his attack on START --  Newsmax has issued a separate editorial opposing it -- Patten fails to report the fact that the entire U.S. military leadership, led by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, supports ratification.

Patten also utterly fails to demonstrate that Obama would not be pursuing START ratification if he had not received the Nobel. That idea is belied by the fact that the New York Times blog post Patten cites as justification for his article points out that Obama signaled his pursuit of START ratification well before he received the Nobel:

Just three months into his presidency, Mr. Obama made the audacious pledge to pursue “clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”

Even then, he understood how dramatic a promise he was making. He declared himself “not naïve” and said he understood that such a result would not be achieved quickly, perhaps not even in his lifetime.

But he outlined a series of steps that he would take, including an effort to seek ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and aggressive new approaches to stopping the spread of nuclear material that could be used by rogue nations or terrorists to create nuclear weapons.

And, he said, he and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia would complete a new strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty by the end of the year. He promised it would be “legally binding and sufficiently bold” and would set the stage for further cuts.

This is nothing more than a biased hit piece on Obama. But that's what Patten does.

AIM Starting “Center for Investigative Journalism”
Topic: Accuracy in Media

Accuracy in Media -- known in recent years for little beyond Cliff Kincaid’s homophobic rants -- has launched the “AIM Center for Investigative Journalism,” headed by, you guessed it, Cliff Kincaid.

Now, Kincaid isn’t exactly known for anything remotely resembling journalism; while he has a college degree in it, it’s not what he has spent his career practicing. In addition to the above-linked homophobic rants, Kincaid has embraced birtherism, smeared Ted Kennedy by claiming he likely engaged in “a drunken orgy” on the night of the Chappaquiddick incident, and speculated about Hillary Clinton’s supposed lesbianism. He’s also shown a tendency to ignore facts that conflict with his far-right agenda.

As far as AIM’s own respect for journalism is concerned, one need only look to the AIM website’s publication of a blog post falsely smearing Obama administration official Kevin Jennings as a “pedophile” who is “teaching 14-year-old boys the dangerous sexual practice of 'fisting.' “ AIM had no choice but to delete the post and apologize, but not before spreading even more smears about Jennings.

So, yeah, the idea of Kincaid leading something related to “investigative journalism,” and AIM operating it, is pretty much a joke.

(Cross-posted at Media Matters.)

Chuck Norris: Obama Wrong About Christmas
Topic: WorldNetDaily

If it's Chuck Norris, it's another anti-Obama freak-out. This time, in his Dec. 20 WorldNetDaily column, he's complaining that Obama is not mentioning God nearly enough for his taste and getting Christmas all wrong.

Regarding Obama's remarks at the lighting of the national Christmas tree that the message of Christmas is that "no matter who we are or where we are from, no matter the pain we endure or the wrongs we face, we are called to love one another as brothers and as sisters," Norris huffed, "I don't know what Bible the president is reading, but the Christmas message is not about civil rights or social justice and welfare." And when Obama later said the Christmas message is that "we are called to love each other as we love ourselves. We are our brother's keeper and our sister's keeper," Norris lost it:

President Obama, I hate to burst your community-coordinator caring bubble. But, while a critical part of Christ's adult message, 30 years later after his birth, was in fact "love one another," the story of Christmas is not about mutual or reciprocated love, but God's love for helpless sinners. Franklin Roosevelt even said in his Christmas Message, 1942: "I say that loving our neighbor as we love ourselves is not enough – that we as a nation and as individuals will please God best by showing regard for the laws of God."

Let me allow the angel, who spoke these words to Jesus' earthly father Joseph in a dream, explain it as he did 2,000 years ago: "Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Or as the angel foretold to the shepherds in the field: "Today in the town of Bethlehem a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."

Mr. President, with Christmas just a few days away, it's not too late to ante up and get it right. You might have the best opportunity in some years as your weekly address this week falls right on Christmas morning. In fact, I think I'll even put a pause on my family's reading of the biblical Christmas story in expectation that you'll set the mood by reading it!

Of course, Obama has an entire nation of people of many faiths to speak to. Norris only has a tiny audience of like-minded right-wing Christians. A president needs to be inclusionary; Norris does not. Too bad Norris doesn't see the difference.

MRC, WND Officials Sign On To Anti-Gay Campaign
Topic: Media Research Center

Right Wing Watch has published a list of signatories to the Family Research Council's "Start Debating/Stop Hating" campaign, which puts said signatories in league with groups -- among them the American Family Association and Liberty Counsel -- who support the outlawing of homosexuality, the criminal punishment of gays, and a purging of gays from public office.

The list of signatories reveals some names familiar to ConWebWatch readers. WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah is a given, of course, considering his regular freak-outs over the issue. His birther compatriot Floyd Brown of the Farah-founded Western Journalism Center has signed as well.

The Media Reseach Center has a large contingent as well, and not just chief Brent Bozell: news analysts Kyle Drennen, Matthew Balan and Matt Hadro have also signed on.

Also signing is Washington Examiner editorial page editor Mark Tapscott.

Perhaps all of these signatories should be quizzed as to whether they endorse all of the Draconian anti-gay actions endorsed by the "pro-family" organizations they claim to supportby signing onto the "Start Debating/Stop Hating" campaign.

Is WND Happy Terrence Lakin's Life Is Ruined?
Topic: WorldNetDaily

In Terrence Lakin, Joseph Farah and WorldNetDaily now have their birther martyr.

Lakin's perceived martyrdom -- and that's exactly how Farah perceives it; as far as he's concerned, Lakin is "upholding the oath he took as a commissioned officer to support and defend the Constitution" -- is the inevitable result of WND's birther obsession, a falsehood-laden obsession that in all likelihood led Lakin on his odyssey.

Once Lakin signed onto the birther agenda, he became part of WND's machine -- a WND search turns up 55 articles referencing him. Farah was not shy about incorporating Lakin into his agenda; his status as, in Farah's words, "an Army doctor and Bronze Star recipient" served as a golden opportunity to bring some respectability to WND's obsessive cause.

WND was even setting Lakin up to be the birther martyr. WND managing editor David Kupelian wrote in October:

Meanwhile, we're about to witness the spectacle of a true patriot, a decorated military physician who wants nothing more than to save more lives and continue to serve his country, a man of admirable conscience and backbone, being court-martialed and sent to Fort Leavenworth prison as a sacrificial lamb because the "judge" – just like the establishment press and so many others for whom Obama is "too big to fail" – is fearful of "embarrassing" the president.

Of course, the inevitable happened: Lakin pleaded or was found guilty on all charges. He was sentenced to six months in military prision, will be dismissed from the Army, and will miss out on the full military pension he was two years away from earning.

In short, Lakin has ruined his life.

In the end, though, Lakin ultimately backed away from his view, admitting that "I chose the wrong path," adding, "I am extremely sorry for everything that has come of this. ... As a military member, I was wrong."

Will Farah and WND view this as cowardice or a deathbed conversion upon realizing the enormity of the extent his buying into the birther obsession has destroyed his life? That remains to be seen.

WND is also hiding the true nature of how things went down for Lakin. For example, the Associated Press noted that Lakin's defense attorney, Neal Puckett, called Lakin the "victim of an obsession," and that he was naive in trusting the poor advice of a previous civilian lawyer. 

You won't find that in WND's account of Lakin's sentencing, though. Instead, Brian Fitzpatrick reported that "Many observers were disappointed by the defense strategy of portraying Lakin as a victim of the so-called 'Birther' movement." Fitzpatrick did not explain what he defined as "many."

Of course, WND loved quoting that previous civilian lawyer, Paul Rolf Jensen -- his name comes up in 17 WND articles.

Meanwhile, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said:

Think about the implications if he [Lakin] was even allowed to raise this issue. The military operates under a system of discipline, of orders. If every military officer or enlisted person who got an order could question whether the president was really the president, discipline would disappear overnight. You have to have a system of discipline, and that is just simply -- can't be a question that's on the table that military officials or officers are allowed to raise.

WND has never addressed this question.

Nevertheless, Farah and WND now have their birther martyr. Of course, he's really a victim whose life has been ruined due to their obsessive hatred of President Obama.

Will Farah apologize to Lakin for destroying his life? Don't count on it -- he's too busy projecting.

As far as Farah is concerned, it's all Obama's fault. On Dec. 9, Farah wrote that Lakin could be a free man if only Obama would be a"compassionate humanitarian" and release his birth certificate. Of course, Farah embraces the conspiracies his website has promoted in doing so:

Obama has compassion for the worst kind of terrorists and murderers, but he can't find an ounce of compassion for Lt. Col. Terry Lakin. Does that make sense?

What are the secrets contained in that birth certificate? Was Obama an overweight child? Was he born prematurely? I mean, come on, this is a birth certificate!

More likely, the birth certificate contains information that would absolutely undermine and contradict Obama's entire life narrative as he defined it (or Bill Ayers did) in his celebrated book, "Dreams of My Father."

Maybe his parents weren't who he claimed them to be.

Of course, that wouldn't disqualify him for office. In fact, Obama would likely have a better case of proving eligibility if that were the case. But how could he explain that? It would mean Obama's compelling life story was all a work of fiction – not just most of it, as has already been established, but all of it. Even the title of his book would be a lie. Even his name would be a lie.

That would be pretty shocking.

But would a truly compassionate man let another good person go to prison to cover up his secret?

Or maybe, just maybe, Obama wasn't born in the U.S. at all. Maybe that laser-printed short-form "certification of live birth" is a fabrication, something Obama's parents or grandparents obtained to bestow "anchor baby"-style American birth rights upon the little boy.

In reality, Farah is the one who's not compassionate. Why would he want Lakin to be free? Lakin is worth more to him as a prisoner. After all, it feeds the birther conspiracy, and Farah makes more money.

WND Publishes Falsehood-Ridden Anti-Gay Screed
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily is calling in the big guns to bolster its anti-gay agenda -- the notorious gay-hater Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association. WND published a Dec. 18 column by Fischer full of false and misleading claims.

Fischer's column is an attack on the Southern Poverty Law Center for listing the AFA as a "hate group" for its anti-gay activism The column was originally published in a longer form elsewhere, and the WND version contains the same falsehoods as the longer version, which the SPLC has already debunked.

Fischer's column focuses on the SPLC's 10 myths about homosexuality spread by anti-gay organizations like the AFA and his shoddy attempts to debunk them. For instance:

The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals do not molest children at higher rates than heterosexuals. But according to the Journal of Sex Research, they do. Roughly one-third of all sex offenses against children are carried out by homosexuals despite the fact they comprise just 3 percent of the population.

In fact, as the SPLC notes, the Journal of Sex Research article to which Fischer is referring actually concludes that homosexuals were not any more disposed to pedophilia than heterosexuals. Fischer presumes that every case of men molesting boys is committed by a "homosexual" man, even though most pedophiles have no sexual interest in adults of either gender, meaning that terms like "homosexual" and "heterosexual" don’t apply at all.

Fischer then writes:

The SPLC falsely claims that same-sex parents don't harm children. But according to an Australian sociologist, children raised by homosexual parents did worse in nine of 13 academic and social categories compared to children raised by heterosexual married couples. 

In fact, according to the SPLC, the Australian study Fischer is citing was described by one official as "a perfect example of almost everything that you can do wrong with methodology."

Fischer writes:

The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals live just as long as heterosexuals. But the International Journal of Epidemiology says homosexual behavior knocks "8-20 years" off normal life expectancy, and a gay activist group in Canada, the Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition, declares that the "health issues affecting queer Canadians include lower life expectancy than the average Canadian."

As we detailed when WND's Molotov Mitchell cited it, the study published by the International Journal of Epidemiology is irrelevant to today; it examined data "obtained for a large Canadian urban centre from 1987 to 1992," and the life expectancy differential was specifically attributed to losses "due to HIV/AIDS," for which treatments were in their infancy and not widely available. The SPLC notes that the authors of the study updated it in 2001, pointing out that advances in treatment of HIV-AIDS even at that point had significantly improved the expected longevity of those infected, which would inevitably narrow any gap between gay and straight life spans caused by the disease. The authors also rejected the attempts of anti-gay organizations to construe the 1997 observations to justify denigration of gays.

Fischer writes:

The SPLC falsely claims that homosexuals had nothing to do with Nazism. But William Shirer, author of "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," said, "But (in) the brown-shirted S.A. … many of its top leaders, beginning with its chief, Roehm, were notorious homosexual perverts." Noted German historian Lothar Mochtan conclusively proves that Hitler was a homosexual himself, and says that he "allowed the persecution of gays in order to disguise his own true colors." Nazi hunter Elie Weisel said that homosexual pedophilia was common in the concentration camps, saying of Auschwitz, where he was imprisoned, "[T]here was considerable traffic in young children among homosexuals here." 

In fact, the idea that Nazis promoted homosexuality is discredited by the fact that gays were sent to concentration camps and Nazi Germany instituted a death penalty for homosexuality. Fischer convienently fails to mention that Hitler had Ernst Roehm and other members of the SA executed in part because of their homosexuality, during what is known as the Night of the Long Knives.

Fischer writes:

The SPLC falsely claims that hate-crime laws will not lead to the jailing of pastors and others who criticize homosexuality. Tell that the grandmother in Philadelphia who was thrown in jail and faced 47 years in prison for doing nothing more than standing on a public sidewalk and declaring the truth about homosexuality during a gay pride parade. 

As we've detailed, Arlene Elshinnawy, the "grandmother in Philadelphia" Fischer is referring to, never seriously faced "47 years in prison" -- even the prosecutor said they most they would get was a year's probation, and the charges were ultimately dropped. Further, Elshinnawy did much more than "stand on a public sidewalk"; she and the street preacher she was in thrall to, Michael Marcavage, tried to demonstrate in front of a stage performance at a gay festival and were arrested only after they refused to go to an area on the edge of the event.

We could go on, but Fischer has so utterly discredited himself we don't need to. WND has also disgraced itself -- and demonstrated just how anti-gay it is -- by publishing it. 

Will WND let the SPLC respond to the column on its commentary pages so its readers know the truth? We shall see.

CNS' Misleading Anti-Gay Gotcha
Topic: CNSNews.com

The overly long headline pretty much says it all on the Dec. 17 CNSNews.com article by Dan Joseph: "Sen. Durbin Ducks Question of Whether He Accepts Judgment of Marine Commandant That Lifting the Ban on Homosexuals in Military Will Cost Marines' Lives."

Yep, it's another CNS gotcha question.

The question regards repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, and CNS is referring to comments by Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos that “Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines lives. That’s the currency of this fight. I don’t want to lose any Marines to the distraction. I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center] with no legs be the result of any type of distraction."

In focusing only on Amos' comments, CNS takes it out of the context of the hundreds of other military and Pentagon officials that have endorsed repeal of DADT.

Plus, as Salon.com's Alex Pareene points out, Amos is likely speaking more from his views as an evangelical Christian than his military experience in opposing gays in the military, plus the idea that Marines will lose legs as a result of DADT repeal is nonsensical: "That's what he thinks is going to happen, right? A Marine will just be so inattentive that he'll forget to keep his legs attached to himself? Because that interpretation is actually less insulting to the Marines than thinking that gay people will make them less effective in actual combat situations."

A Republican senator, meanwhile, gave the CNS-acceptable answer and got better treatment than Democrat Durbin.

CNS Ignores Controversy Surrounding Ariz. Sheriff
Topic: CNSNews.com

Susan Jones devoted a Dec. 16 CNSNews.com article to opining by Pinal County, Ariz., Sheriff Paul Babeu over the shooting death of a Border Patrol agent in Arizona and his complaining that federal officials are ignoring him. But Jones ignores that Babeu has faced criticism over his actions regarding one of his deputies who claims he was shot by drug smugglers.

As TPM documented, many questions have been raised about what happened to the deputy, Louie Puroll. While the case helped launched Babeu into national prominence, he has made questionable and exaggerated claims about the case, only some of which have been walked back.

Babeu had previously cleared Puroll after an internal investigation, but after Puroll allegedly threatened a reporter who has been looking into the shooting incident, Babeu suspended him earlier this month.

No original CNS article addresses the controversy surrounding the Puroll shooting. CNS editor in chief Terry Jeffrey wrote a column in May portraying the Puroll shooting as an example of how "President Obama and Congress are failing in their most fundamental duties." (He spells Babeu's name wrong in the process, but this was before Babeu became a favored CNS source). An Oct. 15 article by Penny Starr reference the shooting but not the controversy that had been raging over it. CNS did publish an Associated Press article on the reopening of the case in October, but it has yet to acknowledge the most recent twists in the case regarding Puroll's suspension.