Bob Unruh writes in a March 20 WorldNetDaily article:

Not even one person in 10 believes Barack Obama has shown that he is eligible to be president of the United States, according to a stunning new scientific poll that also reveals political Independents have less tolerance than even Republicans for his efforts to obfuscate the issue.

"The shocking result in this survey is that just 9 percent said they believe Obama has met the requirements to prove he was born in the United States and is therefore qualified to be president," said Fritz Wenzel, chief of Wenzel Strategies, which conducted the assessment.

The problem with this "scientific poll"? Wenzel did not ask whether people "believe Obama has met the requirements to prove he was born in the United States and is therefore qualified to be president." Wenzel is extracting his claim from one response to the question, "What is your view of lingering questions about Obama's eligibility to be president?" and he is ignoring the 32 percent who said that the questions are not valid.

Here are the questions Wenzel did ask:

• Are you aware of questions raised about Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility for the office of president?
• What is your view of lingering questions about Obama's eligibility to be president?
• President Obama has refused to release his educational records, which could prove or disprove whether or not he was born in the United States as required by the Constitution. What is your opinion of the fact Obama has not released his educational records?
• Some states have drafted legislation requiring candidates for president to prove that they were born in the United States and also meet all other constitutional requirements to be qualified to serve as president of the United States. Do you support or oppose such state legislation?

By throwing in the claim that "President Obama has refused to release his educational records, which could prove or disprove whether or not he was born in the United States as required by the Constitution," Wenzel has arguably skewed his poll.

Of course, Wenzel has a history of skewed polling for WND.

Posted by Terry K. at 11:00 AM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

Tim Graham's eagle eye for people insufficiently hateful of gays finds a new target in Chris Matthews. Graham writes in a March 18 NewsBusters post that Matthews "stepped away from any sense of neutrality by serving as Master of Ceremonies at the 19th Annual Dinner of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which has long agitated for a repeal of any limitations on open homosexuality in the U.S. military."

Because the presence of the right's chief bogeyman can't be ignored, Graham conspiratorially adds: "Naturally, sponsors include the Open Society Institute of George Soros." What does that have to do with anything? Nothing, of course.

Posted by Terry K. at 10:46 AM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

On top of his current Obama derangement, Larry Klayman is a Clinton Derangement Syndrome sufferer from way back. That flared up again in his March 19 WorldNetDaily column, in which he rehashes the goofy yet hoary claim that the Clintons had dozens of people killed:

During the so-called "Clinton years," when I took the testimony of nearly everyone in the White House, it became well-known that Hillary Rodham Clinton was in effect the operational chief of the administration and its "hit man" – the evil point person for destroying adversaries – and head of the "War Room," which also comprised James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. Hubbie Bill was the "creative genius," not only with regard to foreign policy, but literally with regard to "domestic affairs." Just ask Monica Lewinsky and the cigar industry. But there is one statement I will always remember: "Hillary rules the school," testified to by Linda Tripp, the former assistant to mysteriously deceased Hillary law-firm partner and Clinton Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster – giving a new meaning to the French expression "femme fatale." As also suggested during the testimony, Vince was the "love slave" who "watered Hillary's office plants" and may have died for being honest and not wanting to go along any longer in helping her execute evil deeds. Over 80 material witnesses and others "died" during the Clinton years, and poor Vince was only one of them.

This, of course, is followed by a bit of Obama derangement:

With this resumé, it's no wonder Barack Hussein Obama was fearful to have Clinton nominated as his vice presidential candidate in 2008. Hillary would only have been a stone's throw away from the Oval Office, and the "mullah in chief" obviously did not want to encourage his own "unfortunate accident." Instead, knowing that Hillary would always covet the presidency, Obama sought, European style, to co-opt her – that is, draw her into his inner circle to contain her by naming her secretary of state.

It seems Klayman actually believes Obama was born in Kenya, and he's counting on Hillary to prove it:

In 2011, it may be passé for Hillary to get rid of people by having them disappear. But with Obama there is an easier way that I suspect may, in this age of "civility," be the femme fatale's new modus operandi. I have come to conclude, through sources close to Hillary, that she herself may again be working on the so-called "birther" issue, which she first raised during her 2008 presidential campaign. For if Hillary can finally obtain proof positive that President Obama was born in Kenya, and not in Hawaii as he claims, then she will not have to send him on a day trip to Fort Marcy Park to retire him as president. What could be cleaner?

That's right -- Klayman just said that Hillary will try to prove Obama isn't constitutionally qualified to be president so she doesn't have to kill him.

Posted by Terry K. at 1:03 AM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

The U.N. has no authority, legal or ethical. Any legislator who votes for further funding for that perverse institution has blood on his or her hands.

-- Ben Shapiro, March 17 column, published at CNSNews.com

Posted by Terry K. at 10:51 PM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

Noel Sheppard's propensity for using variations of "smackdown" is not the only headline cliche he embraces at NewsBusters. Here's his history of using "school" over the past six months:

Eleanor Clift Schooled On Egypt By Entire McLaughlin Group

National Review's Salam Schools Andrew Sullivan on Conservatism, Palin and the Tea Party

Tony Blankley Schools Ed Schultz and Bill Press on Which Side Uses Violent Political Rhetoric

Medved Schools Schultz and Press on Tea Party and Obama's Tax Cuts

Condoleezza Rice Schools Katie Couric on Why U.S. Invaded Iraq

Michael Moore Schooled On 'Real Time': Anti-Obama Sentiment Isn't Racist

Charles Krauthammer Schools Carlson and Krugman on Raising Social Security Retirement Age

GOP Strategist Schools Matthews: Palin's Resumé Just As Strong As Obama's Was

George Will Schools Christiane Amanpour On Campaign Spending

GOP Strategist Schools Matthews: 'Palin's Had A Lot More Experience Than Obama'

George Will Schools This Week Panel on Tea Party Causing GOP Civil War

Sounds like someone could use a thesaurus.

Posted by Terry K. at 11:39 AM EDT

Updated: Sunday, March 20, 2011 11:40 AM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

Sure, Glenn Beck is best known these days for dubious accusations and wild conspiracy theories, but don't tell that to WorldNetDaily's Robert Ringer, who writes in his March 18 column:

Though Beck is a multi-faceted individual, his greatest talent is that he's a master teacher. His Fox News shows are like going to college, but learning things they don't teach at the most expensive campuses in the country.

And therein, I believe, lies the crux of the problem. Beck is too good of a teacher, something Will Durant warned about when he said, "Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn." Most Americans are not yet ready to accept the truths Beck teaches, so they find it easier to dismiss him as a doomsayer or conspiracy nut.

[...]

The bottom line for me is that Glenn Beck is still the most remarkable person on television, and I'm hoping he stays with Fox. But if the powers that be ever did insist that he put a more positive spin on his show (i.e., that he lie to his viewers), I believe his sense of honor would compel him to leave Fox. Beck is on a mission, and I think purity in thought, speech and action are nonnegotiable with him.

Beck already lies to his viewers on a regular basis, so Ringer's a little late on that prediction.

Posted by Terry K. at 11:30 PM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

A March 17 Newsmax article by Chris Gonslaves details Dick Morris' allegation that "The New York Times is politicizing its powerful best-sellers rankings to keep conservative authors who contribute to Fox News off of the most influential part of the list." It's a powerful allegation, but it lacks substance.

Morris' specific complaint is that new books by himself, Mike Huckabee, and Frank Luntz -- "all Fox News contributors," he points out -- appear on the Times' how-to book list instead of the main nonfiction list. Not only does he offer no evidence of liberal books appearing on the nonfiction list instead of the how-to list, he ignores the fact that the subtitle of his new book is "How to Defeat Obama and Repeal His Socialist Programs," which sure sounds like a how-to title. He also fails to offer sales figures that would prove his point.

It's also undermined by the fact that, as Gonslaves points out, 'The Times doesn't seem to have a problem with conservative authors in general," as evidenced by the presence of books by George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Scott Brown on the nonfiction list. Of course, those, unlike Morris' book, are narratives, not how-to books.

When Huckabee's book popped up on the nonfiction list the next day, Newsmax immediately took credit for it, with Gonslaves touting the change in a March 18 article and how it came "one day after Newsmax detailed complaints that the paper was politicizing its best-sellers rankings to the detriment of Fox News contributors." Needless to say, Gonslaves offered no evidence of any link, merely embracing the correlation-equals-causation fallacy.

In a separate article, Gonslaves trotted out Morris' reaction to the change, in which he insisted that "the New York Times is playing favorites, which is almost worse than consigning all of the conservative books to the How To list in the first place." Again, Morris offers no actual evidence to prove his point.

Posted by Terry K. at 12:31 AM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

For to grasp the reason this homogenous society's culture has endured, one would have to juxtapose it with balkanized America, a country riven by feuds and factions courtesy of state-imposed tribalism (multiculturalism and mass immigration). Far better to crank things up by pursuing the partial meltdown, full meltdown or core meltdown angles.

Most members of the meltdown media have been schooled in activism, not in journalism. To them, every news story becomes, reflexively, a cause – a reason to "educate" and promote "awareness," rather than to report the facts. That so many of our news outlets settled on identical front-page, or pixelated, leads is unsettling.

As a consequence of this pervading groupthink, we have not seen nearly enough of how impressively the Japanese people are coping, how calm and courageous they appear in interviews. When CNN's international correspondent alluded to "scenes of hardship," the camera cut to a shelter. The images were heartbreaking, to be sure. But, unlike those taken during Katrina, there was much to inspire in Japan. One saw rows of neatly laid-out mats. The elderly had been snugly tucked in clean blankets. Kids, faces covered with masks, were sweeping the floors industriously.

In other footage, lines of people snaked around the neighborhood, waiting patiently, sometimes for days, to purchase food and water. The individuals interviewed were grief-struck, but they held it together. Nobody was screaming for government aid. There has been no menace or murder on what remains of the streets of Sendai city.

Accustomed as I am to seeing abreacting Americans or unhinged Haitians, these sights astounded me. My heroes have always been in the Greek tradition. This makes the silent, stoic, refined Japanese my heroes.

-- Ilana Mercer, March 18 WorldNetDaily column

Posted by Terry K. at 1:59 PM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

Frankly, I'm afraid to say anything about Muslims. Why? Because they kill people.

-- Victoria Jackson, March 18 WorldNetDaily column

Posted by Terry K. at 1:13 PM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

High on the list of radio shock jocks that MRC chief Brent Bozell despises are Opie and Anthony. Bozell attacked the duo in a 2002 column after one particularly egregious stunt:

Now here's something that doesn't happen every day: radio shock jocks are having to absorb some shock of their own. Greg Hughes and Anthony Cumia, known in 18 markets as the envelope-pushing "Opie and Anthony," were fired by Infinity Broadcasting for encouraging a Virginia couple to have sex inside St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City while producer Paul Mercurio gave listeners the pew-rocking play-by-play on his cell phone.

This unusually offensive prank – carried on as worshipers came to this hallowed house of God to celebrate the holy day of obligation marking Mary's assumption into Heaven – prodded even the usually comatose Federal Communications Commission to announce it would move swiftly to investigate whether it violated federal rules against broadcasting "indecent" material.

[...]

Before this pratfall, Opie and Anthony were best known for encouraging women to show their breasts in public on "Whip ‘Em Out Wednesday." Their last straw came as part of a promotion listing 54 risky locations for couples to have sex, offering the winners a trip to the Samuel Adams brewery for pitching woo in public. Isn't that a nice commercial tie-in? "Have our nice premium-brewed Sam Adams. Drink enough of these beauties and you too might have your judgment so impaired you try to get in on at a church – with our compliments."

[...]

The transcript of the 14-minute stunt has the cackling co-hosts claiming that "obviously everybody knows...they're just simulating the acts...right?...They wouldn't be stupid enough to actually have [inaudible] sex in a church? Right?" How pathetic that these drive-time dimwits would bail out on the people they encouraged into this shameful behavior by lamely insisting they didn't really mean to encourage cathedral copulation. And how pathetic then that Infinity's action – dead-right as it was for one day after years of profiting from wrong – somehow tries to flush out the labor without taking any blame as management.

This only underlines everything that's wrong with this brand of autoerotic audio. These stations pile up millions of listeners – ten million for Opie and Anthony – by pushing every sexual button. Then they hide behind the teasing fakery of it all – you weren't really scandalized, because it's only radio, and you can't see if we're making it up or not. 

Bozell railed against Opie and Anthony again in 2007:

If you thought the radio airwaves would suddenly turn nicer in the wake of the Don Imus firing, think again. The shameless shock jocks Opie and Anthony have succeeded in ramming through whatever wall of post-Imus politeness was constructed with a grotesque routine on XM Satellite Radio that played – for laughs – the idea of raping the Secretary of State.

On a satellite-only segment promoted on the Opie and Anthony website as “uncut, uncensored, and totally filthy,” this duo laughed as a character named “Homeless Charlie” described how he would like to “[F-word] that [B-word].” The hosts giggled and said “I just imagine the horror in Condoleezza Rice's face.... as she realizes what's going on...as you were just holding her down and [F-word] her." They continued to laugh as “Charlie” sickly imagined punching Rice in the face and raping Laura Bush “to death.” Opie and Anthony then suggested he add Queen Elizabeth to his list of victims.

Ask yourself this very simple question: How does the Imus “ho” comment match on the horror scale with this rape-and-murder gag?

So it was with no small degree of surprise to us that on last night's edition of Fox News' "Hannity" -- in the segment immediately after Bozell did his usual liberal-media-bias schtick -- Sean Hannity brought on his "Great American Panel" which included ... Anthony Cumia.

Will Bozell publicly criticize Hannity for giving this offensive shock jock a forum on a highly rated cable TV show? We'd be shocked if he did.

Why? First, Hannity and Bozell are buddies, and any criticism would likely jeopardize Bozell's weekly slot on his show. Second, Cumia used his appearance to spout right-wing talking points, attacking President Obama for purportedly not acting presidential enough. Asked by Hannity if Obama will be re-elected, Cumia responded, "I sure hope not."

This, by the way, is not the first time Cumia has appeared on the "Hannity" panel; he's been on at least once before. And in 2004, Hannity had Opie and Anthony on his radio show to tell their side of the story on the cathedral sex incident.

Bozell is simply too gutless and too beholden to his right-wing agenda that he will toss away his claimed principles on radio decency to tolerate a serial violator of those principles as long as he's parroting the right talking points and he gets to be TV every week.

Posted by Terry K. at 12:28 PM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

Is there no news story or disaster WorldNetDaily is too shameless to try and cash in on? Apparently not.

A March 17 WND article proudly announces that "the WND Superstore has committed to holding steady on the price of the RADSticker, even though demand, literally, has exploded." As the name suggests, the RADSticker is a sticker that detects radiation levels. The article goes on: "During times of catastrophe, the smallest act of preparation could make all the difference for you and your loved ones."

WND editor Joseph Farah, that shameless huckster himself, is even trotted out for an endorsement:

"Why resign yourself to the notion that in the event of a nuclear disaster – accidental or intentional – you and your family must perish?" asks Joseph Farah, founder and CEO of WND. "As I've written before, as devastating as radiation is, it actually dissipates quickly, often within the first 24 hours. Beyond the blast, essential to survival is being able to immediately ascertain the radiation risk levels and determine what medical treatment – if any – you would need. There's nothing that you can carry on your person that accomplishes this feat quite like this amazing little device."

Nothing like trying to make money off a disaster.

Posted by Terry K. at 1:41 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, March 18, 2011 1:43 AM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

For a demonstration of what happens to the brain after prolonged exposure to Obama derangement, look no further than Erik Rush, who writes in his March 17 WorldNetDaily column:

Obama didn't even spend his formative years in the U.S.; his teenage years (in Hawaii) were whiled away under the tutelage of Davis, who hated America and was a Communist Party operative in both in Chicago and Hawaii. Obama attended Harvard and allegedly Columbia, and ultimately moved to Chicago to learn how to "be black" and pursue Saul Alinsky's Marxist model of community organizing.

Um, Erik? Don't know if you've heard, but Hawaii is part of the United States.

Rush also plucks out of context a claim in a New York Times article that Obama said 'it would be so much easier to be the president of China" because "No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao's words in Tahrir Square," claiming that the statement shows "this is the sort of power he truly craves." In fact, the full context of the statement shows that it was in reference to the scrutiny Obama faces while trying to balance the demands of citizens in the Middle East with the United States' own interests.

Nevertheless, Rush rants that Mao Zedong "slaughtered 70 million people to get the other 700 million to fall in line. How wonderful it would be if Obama could only operate entirely without restraint!"

Rush might want to consult a doctor to get treatment of his Obama Derangement Syndrome.

Posted by Terry K. at 3:21 PM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

The Media Research Center doesn't like it when a gay person appears on TV or other media without being immediately denounced for their "lifestyle," and that also appears to go for anyone who won't denounce gays.

In a March 15 NewsBusters post, Ken Shepherd complains about a Time magazine interview with Jay Bakker, the "tebellious son of infamous 1980s televangelists" Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker who is leading a new ministry. What's the problem? Time reporter Amy Sullivan, Shepherd writes, "seems to sympathize with if not outright agree with Bakker's take on how Scripture can justify his stand on homosexuality" and "failed to critically evaluate Bakker's claims or present challenges to Bakker's theology from within the mainstream of orthodox Christian thought."

Shepherd didn't mention, however, that Sullivan described Bakker's "stance urging full acceptance of gays and lesbians in Christian churches" as "controversial."

Shepherd grouses about Bakker's view on leading a church that accepts gays and lesbians: "If God accepts sinners 'just as [they] are' how does that square with biblical and traditional Christian teaching that followers of Christ are to forsake sins such as homosexuality in obedience to Christ as Lord and Savior?"

Shepherd goes on to rebut Bakker's religious views as depicted in the Time interview, but it seems that Shepherd's real problem is that Bakker was allowed to express them in the first place.

Posted by Terry K. at 10:51 AM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink

Those of you of a certain age may remember the Dickie Goodman comedy records in which he spliced pop songs of the day with narration to tell something far different than what those songs were about.

That's pretty much what Molotov Mitchell did in his March 16 WorldNetDaily video in which he purports to interview President Obama. We won't get into it -- it's as lame as that setup sounds -- except to note that, unlike Mitchell, Goodman was trying to be funny and not operating out of hatred.

Posted by Terry K. at 1:53 AM EDT

Share This Post

Permalink