NewsBusters' Double Standard on Spinning a Tragedy Topic: NewsBusters
A Sept. 1 NewsBusters post by Lachlan Markay predicted that "the left will be working overtime in the next few days to spin ... any way they can" the hostage crisis at the Discovery Channel headquarters, claiming they won't highlight "the radical, militant environmentalism he espoused, and that "anti-war groups" make "similar claims."
Markay doesn't mention that NewsBusters leads the way in doing this kind of spin.
In a May 31, 2009, post, Tom Blumer touted a LifeNews.com article claiming that Scott Roeder, shooter of abortion doctor George Tiller, "appears to have an affiliation with extremist political groups but not with the mainstream pro-life movement." Blumer similarly insisted that "George Tiller's murderer was not affiliated with the prolife movement."
Except, of course, that he was. As we detailed at the time, Roeder had numerous contacts with mainstream anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, and Randall Terry, for years considered a mainstream figure in the pro-life movement, tacitly endorsed Roeder's shooting of Tiller.
Similarly, a June 11, 2009, post by Noel Sheppard insisted that James von Brunn, who shot and killed a guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, was "hardly conservative" even though, as we noted, he held such right-wing views as Obama birtherism and hatred of the Federal Reserve (views also held by WorldNetDaily).
Why doesn't Markay want others to do what NewsBusters has done?
Conflict of Interest: WND Writer Promoted Author Whose Book She Edited Topic: WorldNetDaily
When we wrote our blog post on WorldNetDaily pretending that attendance at Glenn Beck's rally last Saturday was racially diverse, we noted that one of the articles was written by Anita Crane, a name we didn't recall seeing on a WND byline before (though it turns out she has written twoprevious articles for WND, and she is identified in a 2006 WND article as "editor of Celebrate Life magazine").
Now we know a lot more about Crane -- and one of the people she wrote about.
A Sept. 1 Southern Maryland Online article focuses on local author Ron Miller, who was quoted extensively in Crane's article, which also made sure to mention Miller's new book, "Sellout: Musings from Uncle Tom's Porch." The Drudge Report linked to Crane's WND article, and sales of Miller's book spiked on Amazon.com, he said.
The end of the article includes the following note:
Note: Ron volunteered that the article on WorldNetDaily which mentioned him was written by the woman who edited his book.
That's right -- Anita Crane featured an author whose book she edited in her WND article. Of course, neither she nor WND disclosed this, even though she had previously promoted Miller's book on her personal website by describing herself as "Ron's editor and contributor."
WND has a longhistory of violating journalistic ethics by failing to disclose its personal and financial interests in the subjects and people it writes about, so it's probably not surprising that Crane thought she could get away with it too.
A freelancer like Crane perhaps shouldn't be looking to WND as guidance for ethics, since its endemic ethical lapses may very well keep her from getting further freelance work (from publications other than WND).
New Article: More Than An Endorsement Topic: Newsmax
Not only did Newsmax slant its coverage of the Republican primary for Florida governor in favor of Bill McCollum and against Rick Scott, Newsmax CEO hosted a undisclosed fundraiser for McCollum -- all on top of Newsmax's editorial endorsement. Read more >>
Molotov: Obama's Going to Hell Because He's 'Pro-Sodomy' Topic: WorldNetDaily
Apparently feeling left behind by his wife's recent outbursts of hate, Molotov Mitchell brings the rage in his Sept. 1 WorldNetDaily video, in which he purports to explain -- as the "flag-waving, Bible-thumping enemy" of the "liberal media" -- why people think President Obama is a Muslim and not a Christian:
If Obama is indeed a Christian, as he has claimed many times, then he should be promoting Judeo-Christian values and opposing evil as it is defined in Scripture. The Bible instructs its readers to define a tree by its fruit, and Obama's fruit is blood-drenched and fatal if consumed.
According to Christianity, those who pervert the faith and lead others to hell by justifying and promoting their sinful lifestyles will end up in hell themselves. And if hell is a manifestation of you reaping what you have sown in sin, I shudder to think of what Obama's pro-abortion, pro-sodomy eternity could look like.
Did we mention that Molotov hates gays (despite claiming to have them as friends, which we somehow suspect is no longer the case after he endorsed the proposed Kenyan law that would kill people for being gay)?
But he wasn't done with the hate -- he still had to mock Obama some more:
Let's get one thing abundantly clear -- Obama's no Muslim. I mean, the guy doesn't pray to Mecca, he denies Islam, he eats barbecue, his wife wears the pants in the house. The guy is about as Muslim as Brad Pitt is Buddhist.
But after dropping charges against confessed terrorists, holding iftar dinners to kick off Ramadan on multiple occasions, and promoting the 9/11 Islamic victory screw-you-New-York mosque, he might as well be Muslim. Seriously, Barry, you're halfway there. Now grow a beard and cover up your woman, you swine-eating apostate.
To push the hate even further, Mitchell puncuated the idea that Obama's "wife wears the pants in the house" with this image:
WND Columnist Portrays Obama As Forrest Gump Topic: WorldNetDaily
Christopher Grey decides to use his Aug. 30 WorldNetDaily column to portray President Obama as Forrest Gump, and the results are about what you'd expect:
Hello America, My Name is Barack Gump.
Some people think I was born in Hawaii. Others think I was born in Indonesia. I really don't know, but I'm glad that I stayed in America. Indonesia is a scary place, and I never could have been president over there. I never really knew my father. My mother said he was a great man. My grandparents didn't think so highly of him. I really don't know, but I wrote a book about him.
Some people say I'm black. Others say I'm mixed race. Some people say I'm not black enough. Others say I hate white people. My mother didn't like white people even though she was white. My grandparents didn't like black people even though liked me. I really don't know what I think, but I used a lot of drugs in high school trying to figure it out. White girls always liked me, but I didn't really like them.
[...]
So I'm doing everything I can to make sure that the Republicans take back control of the House in November. That way I can have somebody to campaign against. I can get back to doing what I know how to do. That is, I give speeches and win elections. Maybe the Republicans can even figure out how to fix the economy, and then I can take the credit for it. It's like my mother always said, "Barry, you can't trust anybody in this world. You've just got to believe in yourself. Good things will happen for you because people like you." My mother was a smart woman. Now I need to go have a cigarette and relax with my best friend, the teleprompter. All this talking about serious stuff is stressing me out.
Wash. Times Sells for $1; Will Bozell Snark About it? Topic: Media Research Center
When the Washington Post Co. sold Newsweek magazine to Sidney Harman for $1 and assumption of debt, the Media Research Center issued a statement by president Brent Bozell being all snarky about it:
There's something entirely believable about the Newsweek sale. A left-winger pretending to be centrist sold it to another left-winger pretending to be centrist. Newsweek is a dying magazine because no one wants to read their left-wing propaganda masquerading as 'news.' The $1 price tag, then, is probably just about right.
U.S. News is now reporting that News World Communications is selling the Washington Times to founder Rev. Sun Myung Moon for, yes $1 and assumption of debt.
We'll be keeping an eagle eye out for Bozell's comment that the price is probably just about right, given that the Times is a dying newspaper because no one wants to read their right-wing propaganda masquerading as "news."
D.J. Dolce 'Joke': Coulter Paid '30 Pieces of Silver' to Speak at GOProud Topic: WorldNetDaily
D.J. Dolce continues her painfully unfunny "comedy" stylings in her latest WorldNetDaily video:
Ann coulter has been axed from speaking atWorldNetDaily's Taking Back America conference due to a prior agreement to speak at a gay Republican conference called -- get this -- HomoCon. Homocon is not to be confused with ComicCon, although women find the terms interchangable.
Even more surprising was Coulter's speaking fee: 30 pieces of silver.
OK, that was too harsh. She was paid 10 gold coins from Goldline.com.
Now we know why Molotov Mitchell married Dolce -- she hates gays even more than he does.
Newsmax's Hirsen Promotes Misleading Auto Worker Claim Topic: Newsmax
Noting a made-for-cable movie about the financial crisis based on a book by the New YorkTimes' Andrew Ross Sorkin, James Hirsen writes in an Aug. 31 Newsmax "Left Coast Report" item:
Although Sorkin appears to fit in quite well with Hollywood liberalism, he once argued for a government-sponsored bankruptcy for General Motors. In a Nov. 17, 2008, Times column, Sorkin wrote: “At General Motors, as of 2007, the average worker was paid about $70 an hour, including health care and pension costs.”
This caused ever-irritated Keith Olbermann to place Sorkin in his MSNBC “Countdown” show’s “World’s Worst Person” segment.
I wonder if this means there’s a smidgen of hope for objectivity in the flick.
Hirsen didn't mention why Sorkin's claim got singled out by Olbermann -- because it's highly misleading.
As FactCheck.org points out, automakers didn't actually get "paid $70 an hour" even including health care and pension costs -- wages averaged only $29 an hour, and adding health and pension gets you to only $55 an hour. The rest was benefits paid to retirees, not to current workers.
WND Still Hiding Key Klein Statement on Obama Birth Topic: WorldNetDaily
Why is WorldNetDaily so afraid of a simple sentence?
An Aug. 30 WND article asserts that, according to Aaron Klein's Obama smear book "The Manchurian President," "While there is no evidence he was born overseas, President Obama has not released sufficient documentation to prove his place of birth."
But Klein's book also states, on page 70, that "the authors find no convincing evidence that Obama was born in Kenya, nor that his birthplace was any place other than Hawaii, his declared state of birth."That statement is missing from this WND article.
This is not the first time WND has deliberately omitted this statement from Klein's book because it conflicted with WND's birther agenda. As we detailed, WND also omitted the statement in an July 27 article making a similar argument about Obama's birth.
What is it about this single sentence by Klein that makes Joseph Farah and crew so afraid? Is it that if it is repeated, it undermines WND's entire birther agenda?
Vox Day: If Obama's So Smart, Why Didn't Do Well on PSAT? Topic: WorldNetDaily
The very smart Vox Day decides to play stupid in his Aug. 30 WorldNetDaily column, sneeringly referring to Barack Obama as "President Soetoro" and snarking, "I wouldn't be astonished to be informed that Barry Barack Soetoro Obama Hussein Soebarkah's real name was Henry Smith. Or, for that matter, Hasan al-Mansoor."
Day then decides to beat us with his brain and pass judgment on the intelligence of Obama:
Setting aside the obvious lunacy of accusing someone who believes that Bill Ayers was Soebarkah's ghostwriter of being a birther or thinks that Soetoro was the beneficiary of some extraordinary affirmative action in getting into both Columbia and Harvard Law despite being an exchange student who didn't score well enough on his PSAT to qualify for National Merit– the correct terms would be "authorer" and "colleger," respectively, there remain a remarkable number of questions about the man who has managed to destroy the Democratic Party's electoral chances faster than George W. Bush eviscerated the Republicans.
[...]
There is the question of his intelligence. That he is inarticulate does not mean he is not highly intelligent; many very smart people find it difficult to communicate with those whose IQs are 75 points lower than their own. However, one of the few things we do know about Soetoro is that he attended an elite school in Hawaii where all of the students take the PSAT. In fact, Punahou is famous for the number of National Merit Award winners it produces. In 2010, it boasted 25 National Merit semifinalists out of the 425 students in its senior class, a rate nearly six times higher than the national average.
Since we know Obama was not recognized by National Merit, we can be assured that he possesses a sub-Mensa standard IQ. For this and other reasons, I have estimated that Soebarkah's IQ is in the 115-120 range.
Day (aka Theodore Beale) must be smarter than all of us -- his Mensa membership is listed on his bio. (Though he's not so smart to actually know for sure whether Obama's school made all students take the PSAT at the time Obama was there.)
After all, who but a very smart person like Mr. Day would design an 18-button mouse?
NewsBusters Touts Irrelevant Media Donation List Topic: NewsBusters
An Aug. 27 NewsBusters post by Lachlan Markay touts a Washington Examiner column by Mark Tapscott claiming that, in Markay's words, "of the roughly $1.15 million network TV employees gave to political candidates in 2008, a full 88 percent of it went to Democrats."
As an attempt to counter News Corp.'s $1 million donation -- which Tapscott's effort, and Markay's promotion of it, surely is -- it's a meaningless, apples-and-oranges comparison.
As Media Matters points out, Tapscott's search paramaters include numerous people who have nothing to do with producing network news products. For instance, Tapscott listed one Democratic donor as a "CBS 'journalist,' " when in fact he's a CBS Sports contributor who serves as a college basketball analyst, where the pro-Obama bias being suggested is not a factor.
Further, donations by a company (i.e. News Corp.) and a company's employees are not comparable, and 2008 was a historic year in which Obama broke fundraising records, so comparing 2008 donations to News Corp.'s 2010 donation is especially meaningless.
Nevertheless, Markay insists, "Though the numbers are striking, the imbalance is not altogether surprising. But they do help to put in prospect the left's righteous indignation over the political activities of Fox News's parent company."
No, they don't -- it's just anotherpatheticattempt by the NewsBusters and its MRC parent to spin away the News Corp. donation.
WND Can't Tell Difference Between Election, Coup Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's promo for the latest issue of its Whistleblower magazine -- "BATTLE PLAN: Strategies and tactics for overturning Obama's socialist revolution" -- carries the headline: "Palin, Beck, Hannity, Morris, Gingrich on ending Obama coup." That headline also appeared on the front page:
Of course, there was no "coup" -- Obama won an election that no one has credibly claimed was stolen, and he most certainly was not installed by a military takeover, the traditional definition of a coup.
Given howlittle WND regards facts as they apply to Obama, it's no surprise Joseph Farah and crew can't comprehend the definition of simple words.
While opinion polls showed that a majority of Israelis viewed Bill Clinton as a true friend, the same cannot be said for President Obama. In fact many see him as – ta da – a closet Muslim. Living around millions of Arab Muslims all of their lives, Israelis recognize the chief characteristics of many of Muhammad's followers. Told by their parents and imams from birth that they are the unique Chosen People of Allah – not the rejected Jews or idolatrous Christians – pride is one of those recurring traits among Muslims. Many would cite its cousin, arrogance, as another.
[...]
No doubt Obama's mother came from a European Christian heritage. But her son chose to marry an African-American woman and have children of color. In other words, he ultimately identified more with his father, from African Muslim stock, than he did with his white Christian mother from Kansas. Psychologists point out this is a natural process for most male and female children. The main role model as they mature into adulthood is the parent of their own sex.
In his 1995 memoir, "Dreams From My Father," Obama relates at great length his 1988 conversion at Jeremiah Wright's church. The one person left out of the retelling is Jesus Christ.
Obama hears the name "Jesus" being shouted and sung at church, but nowhere in "Dreams" does Obama have anything to say about the man or his mission.
[...]
For Obama, secular humanism with a third-world, anti-American twist has always trumped Christianity. This is evident in his discussion of Hawaii's heroic Christian missionaries.
Writing six years after his alleged conversion, he cites as the missionaries' contribution to Hawaiian culture only "crippling diseases."
Obama may not be the first politician to use Christianity as a voter registration tool – Bill Clinton comes to mind – but on the question of Obama's true faith, "Don't know" is the smart answer to give a pollster.
So what did we learn with the "victory" of Ben Quayle? Simply put, the next crop of Republicans in Congress – typified by a brain-dead, immature 33-year-old who will now be the next congressman from Arizona (as District 3 is solidly Republican) – will not be the solution to the country's ills. And the Republican Party as a whole is not the solution since the establishment still rules. Indeed, its abject failure to lead the nation effectively, competently and honestly during the Bush years is why we now have a "Muslim," anti-Semitic, anti-Christian socialist like Barack Hussein Obama in The White House!
The French Revolution is not some bygone series of unfortunate events. The same depraved spirit that gave humanity Darwinian evolution, the genocide of Marxism and Hitler's anti-Semitic, anti-Christian pogroms is now being manifested in the Age of Obama through utopian socialism, welfare-state progressivism and liberalism.
Like the atheists and secular humanists of the Age of Enlightenment, Obama arrogantly decreed that America is no longer a Christian nation. He is evidently dismissive of America's constitutional principles and clearly hates the historical role America has played in the world, which places him at constant odds with American constitutionalism and exceptionalism. Obama hates our Judeo-Christian heritage and detests America's historical allies.
If a self-proclaimed non-Muslim president would fight repeatedly for Muslims' religious rights to the degree that our president has, don't you think "a committed Christian" president would at least fight once for any antagonistic oppression of Christian faith and practice, too? Yet, on no occasion since taking office has President Obama stood up publicly for a single Christian individual, group, church, act or event, whom or which was being opposed or oppressed by others.
All of it makes me ponder the application of the verse in the biblical book of James, which says, "Faith without works is dead."
Even more apropos might be Quran 4:76: "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah."
AIM's Kincaid Defends Bringing Up Obama Baptism Issue, Denies He's Asking for Proof Topic: Accuracy in Media
In his Aug. 24 Accuracy in Media column, Cliff Kincaid makes a big deal out of a purported lack of evidence that Barack Obama was ever baptized as a Christian, claiming that "being a Christian is not just a function of attending church services. Rather, it is related to being baptized. Did this critical development occur in Obama’s life?" Kincaid goes on to quote a columnist who asked, "Where is the baptism certificate? We do not see one because there was no baptism."
Of course, this is nothing more than yet another effort to denigrate Obama as an "other"; Kincaid goes on to quote people who are "adamant that Obama is a Muslim, based on the fact that his birth father was a Muslim and that there is no evidence that Obama ever specifically rejected Islam."
In his Aug. 27 follow-up column, Kincaid defends bringing up the baptism issue, whines that he's being supressed for asking about it, and also denies that he's asking for proof:
The questions that have been offered by Accuracy in Media concern Obama’s claims about being baptized in the Christian faith. AIM believes that politicians should be held accountable for the claims they make about themselves, even on personal matters of religious faith.
Obama’s aides have claimed the President is a committed and practicing Christian and that he was baptized in Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ. But he has gone to church only a few times since he became President.
“We understand that these are contentious times,” say the Christian leaders, “but the personal faith of our leaders should not be up for public debate.”
However, the First Amendment expressly permits not only freedom of religion but freedom of the press.
The Christian leaders say, “We believe that questioning, and especially misrepresenting, the faith of a confessing believer goes too far.” They do not identify who has misrepresented Obama’s faith.
[...]
AIM also wants accountability. What AIM has done is quote directly from Obama’s books about his spiritual and political journey. We have pointed out that Obama’s claim about his own baptism, as reported in his second memoir, The Audacity of Hope, is subject to interpretation because of the lack of detail about how and when he was baptized and by whom. It appears, based on information provided by Obama’s own church, that Obama was describing how he became a member of that church.
Obama’s claim of being baptized is presented in the context of discussing the fact that he was not born and baptized a Christian. He describes his Muslim father and grandfather and attendance in a Muslim school as he was growing up. Obama acknowledges that, before he joined Wright’s church, some people regarded him as a Muslim. Wright himself dabbled in Islam before establishing his church, Obama concedes.
The proof of the baptism claim is precisely what is lacking in his book. There is no need or demand for a baptismal certificate, but there is no detail about the ceremony, other than talking about a walk down an aisle and a profession of faith, and no information about who performed the baptism and who attended. Traditionally, water is used in such a ceremony. There is no reference to water in Obama’s book.
To add further to the mystery, AIM cited evidence that Christian baptisms were not required to join Wright’s church, which emphasized liberation theology, and that Muslims were permitted to join and not disavow their faith.
[...]
Claims about a baptism cannot be taken at face value, especially because his statements and actions as President have led so many to believe he has a pro-Muslim bent. These have led to the perceptions, captured in the public opinion polls, that Obama may not be a Christian.
The controversy will not go away just because a few religious leaders demand that the media stop covering it.
If Kincaid is claiming there's "no need or demand for a baptismal certificate," why is he raising the question? Because he hates Obama, that's why. That makes him someone who can't be trusted in discussing such things since his agenda is to destroy, not illuminate.
Tancredo Falsely Attacks Islamic Center Imam Topic: WorldNetDaily
In his Aug. 28 WorldNetDaily column, Tom Tancredo falsely attacks Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who wants to build an Islamic center near the Ground Zero site in New York, asserting that Rauf "has connections to Hamas and other radical organizations" and has made "statements in defense of al-Qaida."
In fact, Rauf has no "connections to Hamas," and he has never defended al-Qaida. Tancredo did not indicate what evidence he has to support his claims.
