MRC Issues Not-So-Special Report On 'War on Christmas' Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center apparently decided it wanted in on some of that sweet (if bogus) "War on Christmas" action.
Thus, we have a Dec. 11 MRC Culture & Media Institute "special report" by Paul Wilson titled "Taking Christ out of Christmas." And he does all of the usual whining and self-victimization you'd expect:
Secularist Grinches have long sought to obscure “the reason for the season.” But censorship of Christianity is increasingly a media mission for all seasons; Christians are pressured to hide their public faith under baskets. From the media-driven assault on Christian restaurant Chick-fil-A to increasingly snide commentary masquerading as journalism, the media are increasingly pushing for a public retreat from religion.
And it’s working, at least according to one study. In October, Pew reported that a fifth of the American public, and a third of adults under 30, have no religious affiliation. And 88 percent of those people aren’t interested in belonging to a church.
[...]
The media, government, and schools, pushed by secularist groups, aim to litigate, browbeat, and photo-shop Christianity out of the public sphere. Christmas remains their most high-profile target, but increasingly, it’s an all-weather campaign.
As we all know, the MRC's "special reports" tend to be less than special, and that's the case here. Not only does he try to baselessly link isolated incidents, he even drags in criticism of Chick-fil-a because its president "spoke in favor of traditional marriage." Actually, Chick-fil-a has done a lot more than that, but Wilson won't tell you about it.
We'll outsource the rest of our criticism to Jon Stewart.
WND Columnists Blame Everything But Guns for Newtown Massacre Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily columnists have been quick to assign blame for the Newtown massacre -- making sure to exclude guns, of course.
Joseph Farah blames "secularism" and removing prayer from public schools (which isn't exactly the case -- school-sponsored prayer was banned) for this:
What should we expect when we not only prohibit weapons of self-defense in our schools, but when we banish the Creator from them?
Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decisions that removed prayer from the public schools of America. Just look what has happened since. It’s not that God is exacting punishment on America as a result. He is giving America over to the desires of its wicked heart.
We are reaping the seeds of the whirlwind we ourselves planted.
It’s not that America’s highest court chose neutrality with respect to religion, as Justice Potter Stewart, the lone dissent on one of those key cases wrote. It’s that the court chose “the establishment of a religion of secularism.”
Secularism is indeed a religion. It places its faith in the hearts of men, rather than in the heart of a loving God who wrote the highest laws, those that guide the universe and offer the only path to salvation and eternal life as well as blessings in this one.
No amount of gun control can save us from ourselves. In fact, it can only quicken the judgment that is already upon us.
The vast majority of Americans allowed a few militant, narrow-minded activists to effectively exclude the calming, moral, motivational and spiritual guidelines for healthy living from the daily environment of our children.
We let them shut God out of our schools and out of the very lives of countless young kids.
With what predictable result? In just the last few years, unprecedented in our history, our schools are hotbeds of drug usage and trafficking, guns and violence, rampant sexual immorality (some involving teachers with students), increasing required subject matter teaching kids all manner of things that the Bible condemns. And we don’t see the connection?
And the quality of the education itself is declining in shocking, undeniable ways. Of course, how could it be otherwise, in such a rudderless, polluted environment? While parents send their children to school, hoping they’ll come back alive.
Boone also makes the libelous accusation that Kevin Jennings, former safe school czar, is a "pedophilia advocate."
William Murray -- son of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who led efforts to remove state-sponsored prayer from schools -- takes much the same tack, also blaming churches for being too wimpy:
My mother, atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, fought to make the public schools the armed camps they are today by removing prayer, the recognition of the authority of God. In 1962 and 1963, I was attending an all-boys public high school in downtown Baltimore, Md. The school was a magnet school before the term even existed and was intended to prepare young men for college, majoring in science and engineering. There were 1,800 teenage boys in the school, and there was not a cop in the building – ever. The doors were unlocked and often the un-air-conditioned rooms had open windows. There were no metal detectors, no picture IDs, and students went in and out the doors on the honor system.
[...]
In the vast majority of America’s public schools, the authority of God has been replaced with the authority of the iron fist of government. Morals? Without the authority of God, there are no morals, and none are taught in the public schools today. The ethics that are taught are situational, perhaps the same situational ethics that led to the logic that caused the tragic shootings in Newtown.
This condition exists in the schools and the society in general because of a failed church that is splintered and weak.
A large advertising sign near my home reads, “A church for those who don’t like church.” Translation: “No condemnation of sin here – we have coffee latte and great music.”
Barbara Simpson blames anti-depressants, even though it hasn't been made public what, if anything, the shooter was taking:
While not giving specific details, police are investigating allegations that Lanza suffered from a personality disorder and had anger issues, perhaps had Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.
This raises an issue that every anti-gun partisan chooses to ignore: the effect of anti-depressants on the human brain.
We’ve become a society where even basic human reactions to life situations are diagnosed as “syndromes” or “illnesses” and, of course, the solution is drugs.
We know anti-depressant drugs literally change the chemistry of the brain, often leaving the individual a shell of themselves and with dangerous tendencies.
They are the SSRIs – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors – Prozac, Paxil, Luvox and Zoloft. They’re casually referred to as “chemical babysitters,” dispensed like water when the natural rambunctiousness of children bothers adults. It “quiets kids down,” makes them easily controlled, and often puts them at the edge of homicide or suicide or both.
Just read the package insert warnings on those commonly used drugs.
Doubts? Look at the drug connection in other horrific killings: Columbine, Kip Kinkel, Colorado, Tucson and too many others to recount.
If Lanza was being “medicated,” it raises the issue that guns aren’t the problem, prescription drugs are, and so are the doctors who prescribe them.
Simpson apparently doesn't understand that antidepressants are not a treatment for autism, though it has been used (to questionable effect) to treat some of the obsessive-compulsive that has ben associated with autism.
Penny Starr devotes a Dec. 14 CNSNews.com article to uncritically repeating accusations made against Planned Parenthood by Karen Handel, former executive with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which generated controversy when it (briefly) cut off funding to Planned Parenthood. Starr makes no mention of those who have disputedclaims Handel makes in her book.
Starr keeps up CNS' longtime deception of stating that Planned Parenthood has received “government health services grants and reimbursements” totaling $487.4 million and "performed 329,445 abortions" without mentioning the pertinent fact that government money does not pay for abortions, per federal law.
Then Starr adds, for no apparent reason: "Planned Parenthood’s Form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service for tax year July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011, shows Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards’ salary, benefits and compensation totaled $420,153."
Starr is silent, however, on what Handel made at Komen. According to the Washington Post, Handel's boss, Nancy Brinker, made $417,000 in salary in 2010, and paid 50 top executives more than $100,000 each.
Starr seems like she's trying to hide something. But she is an anti-abortion activist, not a real journalist, so it's not so surprising that she'd try to protect Handel.
Obama’s policies in furtherance of his vision – as clearly laid out during the campaign and even more so during these “fiscal cliff” negotiations – left unchecked will complete the fiscal destruction of the nation.
So if you insist, don’t call it intentional destruction. Call it, euphemistically, “the intentional fundamental transformation of America that will necessarily destroy her.”
This just in: The Secret Service, backed by the District of Columbia Police Department, is battling thousands of protesters outside President Barack Obama’s 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue “palace,” prompting the socialist “leader to leave the building. Officers fired tear gas at up to 10,000 demonstrators angered by Obama’s November … decree that expanded his powers. ‘The people want the downfall of the regime,’ the demonstrators chant. ‘Our marches are against tyranny and the constitutional … decree, and we won’t retract our position until our demands are met.’”
The protests against Mr. Obama never happened. The train of abuses and usurpations did. I switched the lead characters in a Reuters lede describing the ongoing unrest in Egypt. I substituted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s name with Obama’s.
Our complaint, filed on behalf of presidential candidate Virgil H. Goode Jr. and Alabama citizen Hugh McInnish, seeking to force Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman to verify that Obama was eligible to be placed on the state’s presidential ballot – after she told our clients that she would not – was filed Oct. 12, 2012, with enough time for the court to rule that the state had an affirmative duty to determine – given the sworn affidavits from Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his investigator Mike Zullo and renowned investigative reporter and author Jerome Corsi – whether or not Obama is a natural born citizen as is required by the U.S. Constitution. As set forth under oath in these affidavits, there is credible evidence, which was incorporated into the complaint and a simultaneously filed motion for summary judgment, that Obama’s claimed long-form birth certificate, produced by the White House years after the issue of his place of birth was first raised by none other than his 2008 presidential primary opponent Hillary Clinton, is altered, forged and fraudulent.
The art of jiu-jitsu is to use an opponent’s weight and strength to your advantage. I believe we can further choke the life out of Obamacare by using this martial arts technique.
President Barack Obama is the most divisive man to ever occupy the White House –period! Yet, 95 percent of black Americans worship him as if he’s the messiah. Why?
Actor and comedian Jamie Foxx recently took the stage at the Soul Train Awards and told the audience, “Thank God, and our lord and savior, Barack Obama!” Foxx called on the audience to stand up and clap for Obama. His outrageous remarks were broadcast on national television, yet not one nationally known black leader repudiated Foxx.
Now, Mr. Obama will be inaugurated for a second term. Check his father’s nationality – and the Constitution’s residency requirement for the president. Surely the U.S. Supreme Court justice should know this.
Finally, your reliance on the courts to sort out disputes between co-equal branches of government is – pathetic. The courts have no authority to order the executive or Congress to do anything, as you well know. So why bother? Do you think we are fooled?
Impeachment is your remedy. We would suggest simultaneous indictments against Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama, in combination with at least a four-year investigation. Due to the seriousness of the charges and the propensity to flight, both Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama would need to be held in confinement during the investigation. Given this regrettable state of affairs, Mr. Boehner, as the speaker, would have to assume the duties of the executive during the interim.
I could continue to think that “Underground” is a dumb undergraduate poem about apes that step on figs – and be denounced as a racist – or I could interpret it as an allegory – and be denounced as a conspiracy theorist.
If I assume, however, that Obama is the sophisticated author the literary world insists he is, I can only interpret the poem as allegory. What is more, we know from his memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” that the young Obama would have identified with the Palestinian cause.
At Occidental, Obama tells us, he and his radical pals discussed “neocolonialism, Franz (sic) Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy.” Given these interests, an allegory on Palestine would seem to have been well within his ideological wheelhouse.
If the poem is interpreted as allegory, it would seem that these war-like apes, the Jews of Israel, are exploiting, even despoiling the land in which they have settled. Note that the apes both “eat” the figs and are “stepping on” them.
MRC Complains, But Doesn't Disprove Topic: Media Research Center
Kyle Drennen devotes a Dec. 13 Media Research Center item to complaining that NBC's Chuck Todd said that Susan Rice withdrew her name from consideration to be secretary of state because she was the "victim" of "conservative outlets who were making her the center of the Benghazi story."
Does Drennen offer any evidence to counter Todd's assertion? No. He's simply complaining that Todd made what is apparently an accurate observation.
Consider this another example of the MRC attacking people for telling the truth.
Scott Lively Defends Uganda's Anti-Gay At WND Topic: WorldNetDaily
Scott Lively declares in a fallacy-filled Dec. 12 WorldNetDaily column:
Now that Uganda’s so-called “kill the gays” bill has been revised to drop the death penalty and reportedly add provisions for prevention and therapy for homosexuality, I think there may be room for tentative support in the Christian community in the West, even though it retains jail terms for offenders.
In fact, as we've noted, it's far from clear that the death penalty provision has been removed.
Lively goes on to rant about how good it is that Uganda wants to make homosexuality illegal:
Just because secular humanist America began to decriminalize sexual sins in civilian law starting in the early 1960s doesn’t mean criminal sanctions against homosexuality are “un-Christian.” Indeed, given the enormous damage to our culture from the so-called sexual revolution, it was obviously a big mistake for us to have done this. Knowing what we know now, it is arguably more “un-Christian” to support the status quo than to support a return to the legal framework of the 1940s and ’50s regarding sexual misbehavior.
But homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda; this proposed law merely ratchets up the penalties. Nevertheless, Lively claims:
Second, in all the media-driven hysteria about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill, one glaring fact has been consistently omitted (despite my having pointed it out to nearly every “journalist” who has interviewed me). The fact is, Ugandan law is typical of most African law in that it tends to be very harsh in the letter, but very lenient in the application. I doubt very much that anyone arrested under the new law (if it passes) will receive anything close to the jail terms allowed for in the bill.
So, shouldn't Uganda enforce the laws they already have instead of expanding the penalties? Lively is silent about this.
He is not silent, however, about how much he hates gays and doesn't understand sexual behavior:
Third, and most importantly, there is one easy, guaranteed method of protecting oneself from ever being subject to the anti-homosexuality law in Uganda: Don’t commit sodomy! We all seem to forget, in the dense propaganda haze of American popular opinion, that homosexuality is defined by voluntary sexual acts. Homosexuals are no more compelled to commit sodomy with each other than a married man is compelled to cheat on his wife.
Lively concludes his column this way:
However, since I didn’t write the Ugandan bill and have no power to redraft it on my own terms, and since the alternative to passing this bill is to allow the continuing, rapid, foreigner-driven homosexualization of Ugandan culture, I am giving the revised anti-homosexuality bill my support.
What Lively doesn't mention is that he did, in fact, influence those who did write the bill by pushing his anti-gay activism inside Uganda.
Terry Jeffrey's Bogus Employment Stats Busted Topic: CNSNews.com
On Dec. 7, CNSNews.com editor in chief Terry Jeffrey published an article claiming that "Seventy-three percent of the new civilian jobs created in the United States over the last five months are in government, according to official data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
CNS’ Terence Jeffrey arrived at the figure by comparing the change in the total number of people employed in June through November to the change in the number of people employed in government jobs over the same period. “These 621,000 new government jobs created in the last five months equal 73.3 percent of the 847,000 new jobs created overall,” he concluded.
Why five months? It’s sort of an unusual amount of time to look for a trend, if you think about it. Why not six? Looking at the very same data tables Jeffrey links to in his post, it’s clear he cherry-picked June as the start date because it had the lowest number of government jobs all year, thus making the increase through November look bigger.
[...]
If Jeffrey had started his analysis from the beginning of the year, he would have seen that government employment is actually down for the year, from 20,583,000 in January to 20,559,000 in November. But an honest look at the numbers would conclude they fluctuate significantly month-to-month with no clear trend in either direction.
Jeffrey has not yet issued a correction -- his article remains unadulterated as if it was true.
WND's Farah Trusts His Pollster Way Too Much Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah uses his Dec. 7 WorldNetDaily column to tout a poll commissioned by WND purporting to show "what Muslim-Americans really think," the results of which, in Farah's opinion, "were eye-opening and alarming. They should be to every American who believes in the U.S. Constitution and Judeo-Christian morality."
Farah goes on to toss out a point of argument: "Now, maybe you question the authenticity or reliability of this survey. Maybe you think it was biased." He then calls his pollster, Fritz Wenzel, a "respected pollster."
Farah, of course, doesn't tell his readers that Wenzel is an ethically challenged pollster who asks biased questions. Right Wing Watch sums up the case against Wenzel:
The polling firm gave Todd Akin the lead in his Senate race (he lost by 16%), claimed Mitt Romney and Republican Senate candidates would win in Ohio and Virginia (they lost) and promoted birther conspiracies. The firm even alleged that polls showing President Obama ahead were skewed to favor Obama (they weren’t) because they employ biased college students and intentionally ignore Tea Partiers. After the election, the firm’s head said Obama only won because his supporters are dumb.
Despite relying on the results from such an unreliable pollster, Farah nevertheless trusts them enough to use them as a basis for arguing for cutting off immigration of Muslims to America:
Americans have reason to be concerned about continued immigration of Muslims into the U.S. when so many already here, including those who have established citizenship, have values and beliefs that stand in stark contrast to the Constitution sand the values and beliefs that shaped it.
Already, massive immigration of Muslims has changed the very character of much of Europe, where special Shariah courts have been established, creating societies with entirely different legal standards.
Do we really want that for America?
In fact, we need to ask ourselves how many people who took oaths to uphold the Constitution to obtain their citizenship really meant it. Is that standard sufficient for Muslims, who are encouraged by their faith to deceive if it furthers the cause of Islam?
NewsBusters Insists 'Lie of the Year' Is 'Technically True' Topic: NewsBusters
The Media Research Center's war on facts continues in a Dec. 13 NewsBusters post by Ryan Robertson, in which he ludicrously insists that Mitt Romney's campaign claim that Chrysler would move Jeep production from the U.S. to China -- chosen by PolitiFact as its "Lie of the Year" -- was "technically true."
How does he do that? By ignoring all the false stuff.
Robertson quotes only the statement from a Romney ad saying, "Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt Romney will fight for every American job," which he said was "simply and factually stated." But Robertson conveniently ignores the fact that the context of the ad implies that Chrysler would move Jeep production out of the U.S., which was denied by Chrysler itself.
Robertson then laughably claims that "Romney did exaggerate a bit when he said 'all' production was moving to China." If by "exaggerate a bit" Robertson means "make a statement with no basis whatsoever in fact," then yes.
All year, the MRC refused to apply its $5 million "Tell the Truth" campaign to Republicans, so it's not surprising that Robertson takes the next step and pretends that Republican lies are really the truth.
WND Article On 'Biased' Curriculum Was Discredited Before It Was Written Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Dec. 13 WorldNetdaily article by John Griffing begins scarily:
In the 70 percent of Texas public schools where a private curriculum has been installed, students are learning the “fact” that “Allah is the Almighty God,” charge critics of a new online curriculum that already is facing condemnation for its secrecy and restrictions on oversight.
[...]
Now come concerns about what critics describe as a definitively pro-Islam bias.
The critics say the studies border on proselytizing.
Not only is Griffing's article completely false, it was discredited a full two days before WND published it.
Griffing cites only unnamed "critics" of the curriculum, called CSCOPE; in fact, his source is a chain email fearmongering about it. Griffing made no apparent attempt to contact Texas school officials for a response.
If he had bothered to make this basic journalistic effort, he would have learned that school officials looking to that chain email he put so much faith in, and found it to be without merit.
The Dallas Morning News reports that one education official gave the members of one Dallas-area school board that had received the chain email "a 72-page handout listing every religious reference in the CSCOPE curriculum, from kindergarten to high school."
Christianity got twice as much attention in the curriculum as any other religion. Islam was a distant second.
The Red Crescent and Boston Tea Party reference mentioned in the email were nowhere in CSCOPE’s curriculum, although they may have been in the past.
If there was any Islamic bias in CSCOPE it was “bias against radical Islam.”
In other words, the exact opposite of that Griffing claimed.
Griffing also claims that CSCOPE's study of Islam "includes information on how to convert, as well as verses denigrating other faiths," and that it describes Allah as "the Almighty God" and "alone is the Creator" but makes "no mention of his documented sex activities with a child or his penchant for beheading entire indigenous people groups [sic]".
Since Griffing is merely repeating what he read in a chain email, he offers no context for which these statements allegedly appear.
Griffing goes on to assert that the CSCOPE curriculum treated the Boston Tea Party "as a terrorist act on par with the 9/11 attack." That's not true either. The handout includes an explanation of the Boston Tea Party exercise from the creators of CSCOPE:
As Americans, we of course know that the Boston Tea Party was a courageous and patriotic event in our history, celebrated as one of the most important acts leading to thte American Revolution. According to the writer [of the Boston Tea Party activity], the intent was to have students hear a random news report from an unidentified source claiming the event to be an act of terrorism -- writing it froma completely different perspective that the one embraced by our great country today.
Additionally, it is important to note that an "Engage" activiity is meant to "hook" the students and set the stage for thte rest of the lesson. The writer stated that this was an attempt to engage students with an activity on perspective over the topic of terrorism. The activity was meant to show student how the same act can be viewed differently, depending on one's perspective. The Boston Tea Party is an example of how an act of patriotism to American could be perceived differently by an outside party, specifically the King of England at the time.
Griffing -- described only as "a frequent contributor to American Thinker" -- wrote a thoroughly discredited article that, if he cared anything at all about journalism, he should have known was discredited before he even set fingers to keyboard. And if WND cared anything at all about journalism, it would have done some due diligence and some basic research before publishing it. This lack of even the most rudimentary fact-checking has burned WND in the past.
AIM's Kincaid Thinks Conservatives Should Emulate British Hate Group Topic: Accuracy in Media
Cliff Kincaid uses his Dec. 10 Accuracy in Media column to argue against Republicans embracing gay marriage, claiming that the British offer up an alternative:
This British Conservative Party has watered down traditional conservatism to such an extent that some conservatives have formed an alternative, the English Defense League (EDL), which has spawned the British Freedom Party.
This group has been strongly attacked in the media, here and abroad, as “far-right” or worse. But I had the opportunity to meet their leaders, Kevin Carroll and Tommy Robinson, at the 9/11 conference in New York City sponsored by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer which was designed in part to organize resistance to global Islam and safeguard our right of free speech against the advance of Sharia, or Islamic law. You can watch the speeches by Carroll and Robinson and draw your own conclusions. Carroll and Robinson want a patriotic alternative to the British Conservative Party that will promote traditional values.
As Right Wing Watch points out, the EDL is "strongly linked with violent actions and whose members terrorize Muslims and often espouse Nazism." So, yeah, "Far-right" seems pretty accurate. Of course, Kincaid thinks the white nationalist American Renaissance is a perfectly fine source on issues of race, so his perspective is a tad skewed.
Kincaid goes on to lament how EDL officials have been arrested:
American conservatives and their media should take a hard look at what is really happening in Britain. We had to turn to a relatively new conservative channel in Canada, Sun TV, for important news and information about how Carroll and Robinson and their supporters are being targeted by the “conservative” government there. Carroll was actually imprisoned for exercising his political rights. Robinson is still in prison on charges that he entered the United States illegally and has sent Pamela Geller a letter about his plight, which is published on her website.
Richard Bartholomew details that Robinson -- who has a long criminal record that would normally prevent international travel -- used a passport with a namethat was neither his real name nor his nom de plume of Tommy Robinson. Carroll was arrested along with 53 other EDL members as part of a police sting relating to a "planned disturbance," which sounds a litle more serious than Kincaid's benigh description of "exercising his political rights."
WND Still Pushing Dubious Voter Fraud Claims Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has its voter fraud story and is sticking to it, no matter how discredited.
A Dec. 10 WND article by James Simpson purports to examine possible evidence of voter fraud in the presidential election. He begins by ranting that "members of the president’s team did everything possible to rig the game in their favor" while "Democrats and their media allies also engaged in what has fairly been described as a dishonest and 'vicious' campaign to discredit the Republican nominee while steadfastly shielding the administration from its many scandals." So Simpson is clearly predisposed to declare anything and everything as evidence of "voter fraud."
He begins with the already-discredited claim about precincts where Obama won nearly all of the vote. Unsurprisingly, Simpson fails to note the precincts where Obama received no votes as evidence of voter fraud.
After running through a laundry list of items that are mostly isolated examples of things, some of which have nothing to do with the election like bashing Motor Voter laws, Simpson concluded:
So is vote fraud real? Yes. Did it occur in this election? Yes. Was it enough to steal the election? In reality, although no single instance or aspect of vote fraud was likely enough to tip the election for Obama, the aggregate of their corrupt activities – including illegal campaign donations, taking advantage of states without voter ID requirements, military ballots delivered too late, as well as the laundry list of elements identified in this report, may well have been.
Election 2012 provides a powerful justification for, at a minimum, enacting strong voter ID laws throughout the nation and a repeal of the most anti-Democratic voting legislation ever written, the National Voter Registration Act.
In short, Simpson found what he wanted to find, thus fulfilling his preconceived notions.
Meanwhile, Molotov Mitchell's weekly WND video repeated many of the same allegations, ignoring exculpatory evidence as Simpson did. He added a couple new ones though, such as complaining that some Colorado counties had more registered voters than residents -- which, of course, proves nothing except possibly an out-of-date voter list. Mitchell thundered, "Counties like San Miguel reported that they had 140 percent voter registration. It's a miracle. Just guess who won San Miguel County."
That allegation is bunk as well. Mitchell is referring to a RedState article on the subject; the response from county officials was that “San Miguel County is a resort community. Many young people come here to work for a season or two and then move on," as well as "senior citizens who “leave during large parts of the year, causing a (non-forwardable) mail ballot not to reach them."
RedState sums it up this way: "San Miguel County has a total population of 7,359 with 19.2 percent of the population below the voting age, making the highest possible number of registered voters 5,946. If the census numbers are to be trusted, that results in the possibility of up to 2,390 individuals on the voter rolls who should not be."
But let's look at the vote totals for San Miguel County: Approximately 4,100 people voted, far short of both the number of voters on the rolls as welll as the number of possible voters.
So, no voter fraud. But claiming that it happened, regardless of the facts, is what WND is paying people like Simpon and Mitchell to do.
NewsBusters Bummed That Mocking Transgenders Is No Longer Acceptable Topic: NewsBusters
Geoffrey Dickens laments in a Dec. 12 NewsBusters post:
Two veteran DC area sports talk radio hosts, ESPN980's Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban, were suspended, on Tuesday, for making fun of Gabrielle Ludwig, a 6-6, 50-year-old former male college basketball player, who came back to play the woman's game.
Dickens defended the suspended hosts by claiming they were merely using "the kind of lockerroom jocularity typical of sportstalk radio. Apparently that mockery drew the ire of LGBT activists."
So the Media Research Center's anti-gay agenda includes pro-mockery.
WND Taking Shots At Rick Warren Again Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has had it in for pastor Rick Warren for quite some time. Warren and WND editor Joseph Farah have tradedpotshots for years, with a brief interlude of nice-ish articles about him seemingly done in an effort to get Warren off his back.
Now, WND has decided to take another shot at Warren. A Dec. 11 article by Drew Zahn tells the story of a man who "left his position as a Microsoft executive to launch a thriving megachurch in Arizona and travel the world with evangelical superstar Rick Warren to train others in the methods of 'The Purpose Driven Life'" who is accused of telling a woman in his church "to have sex with him with 'God’s approval' and divorce her husband."
Needless to say, Zahn makes no effort to contact this pastor or any of his possible supporters for their side of the story; instead he quotes an anti-Warren activist who complains that "Warren has built his organizations upon secular business management philosophies rather than the foundation of Jesus Christ."
Also needless to say, Zahn waits until the 12th paragraph of his 14-paragraph story to note said anti-Warren activist conceding that "In all fairness to Rick Warren, there is no direct connection between him and what this pastor is being sued for regarding sexual exploitation."
MRC's Bozell Claims Media Censored 'Union Violence' -- But Steven Crowder Is Censoring Too Topic: Media Research Center
In a Dec. 12 Media Research Center press release, Brent Bozell complains that the TV networks "deliberately ignored widely available footage of Fox News Contributor Steven Crowder being punched in the face by a union member." Bozell further huffs:
The pro-union broadcast networks are deliberately censoring footage of thuggish union violence directed at conservatives. If a Tea Partier had physically assaulted a liberal journalist or ripped down a structure occupied by a liberal organization all on video, the footage would be broadcast on an endless loop. ABC, CBS, and NBC have a responsibility to the American people to expose what’s really happening in Michigan. Their double standard is absolutely outrageous.
Both Steven Crowder and Americans for Prosperity should press charges on the parties responsible for these assaults, and they should be prosecuted. ABC, CBS, and NBC may be willing to turn a blind eye to union violence, but the unions are not above the law.
But it appears that "widely available footage" was selectively edited to remove Crowder's apparent provocation of the union member.
The New York Times reports that a version of the video released to Fox News' Sean Hannity shows " the man who punched Mr. Crowder being knocked to the ground seconds before and then getting up and taking a swing at the comedian." The Times adds:
There is one more anomaly in Mr. Crowder’s edit of the footage shot by his associates. The still frame he used for the clip’s title image on YouTube, which offers a much clearer image of the man punching him, was obviously shot by a second camera, from an entirely different angle than the rest of the footage he presented of the man hitting him. If Mr. Crowder wants to clear up the mystery of exactly what happened just before he was punched, it might make sense for him to release any footage of the incident shot from that second angle.
Additionally, there are reports that Crowder was deliberately trying to provoke a confrontation and "wasn't going to go home until he got punched."
Will Bozell and the MRC demand that Crowder clear up any confusion and tell the full truth, or will they continue to promote a selectively edited video that is not an accurate representation of what happened?
