WND Plays With Numbers To Pretend Anti-Boehner Campaign Is Successful Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah's money-making operation to remove John Boehner from the House speaker position is going ridiculously well, if you believe WorldNetDaily's propaganda:
A pile of letters as tall as an 11-story building has been prepared for delivery to GOP House members when they convene in January, urging them to remove Speaker John Boehner from leadership, just as a retiring congresswoman is calling on her former colleagues to “draw the line” with President Obama.
Only three days after the launch of the “Don’t be Yellow: Dump Boehner Now Campaign,” more than 350,000 letters have been ordered.
At about two inches per 500-page ream, that’s a pile almost 117 feet tall – all to get the attention of GOP members who have it within their power to pick new leadership for the House and Senate for the next two years.
WND's playing up of the total number of letters obscures the actual amount of people taking part. Divide 350,000 letters by the 246 Republican House members who will receive them, and you get approximately 1,422 people who have paid WND $29.95 for the privilege of sending those letters.
Add up those numbers, and WND has seen more than $42,000 in gross revenue from this operation. It will not cost WND anywhere near that much to print and send those letters, resulting in a healthy profit for WND.
WND is sending those letters in bulk to the House Republicans, which saves money. A typical box of paper holds 10 reams, or 10,000 pages. At this point, House Republicans will receive only about three reams worth of letters -- less than half a box.
WND's manipulation of numbers lets Farah pretend he's a political player, and let someone else pay for his activism in the process.
CNS Still Thinks Spending Federal Money On Gays Is A Waste Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com used to have a "Waste Watch" section that seemed disproportionately focused on federal spending on LGBT issues. "Waste Watch" is gone, but CNS still thinks spending money on gays is a waste.
And CNS' Melanie Hunter is on it with a pair of articles over the past week:
Both articles ended with Huinter noting that she attempted to ask the respective project leaders for the grants how they were "an effective use of taxpayer funds" -- which clearly indicates that she doesn't think it is, though she never explains why.
Apparently, in CNS' right-wing world, any federal spending on gays is axiomatically a waste.
WND Promotes Anti-Gay Billboard, Won't Tell Readers It's Bogus (And The Model Is Gay) Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Dec. 15 WorldNetDaily article by Jack Minor promotes the "nobody is born gay" billboard paid for by the group Parents and Friends of ex-Gays (PFOX). Minor does a fine job of pushing the group's (andWND's) anti-gay agenda, declaring that "The proposition that sexual orientation is changeable destroys the reason for that minority and protected status, as it becomes nothing more than a lifestyle choice then."
As is usual for WND, Minor can't be bothered to talk to any critic of the billboard (he stole a quote from a critic from someone else's news story). He does, however, make sure to talk to a former PFOX official who asserts that "There is zero evidence that a person is born a homosexual."
Minor failed to do something else as well: acknowledge the fact that the billboard itself portrays a false image.
The billboard purports to depict identical twins, one who is gay and one who isn't. In fact, the images are stock photos of the same person, a model who -- wait for it -- is gay.
The model, Kyle Roux, denounced the use of his image in an anti-gay campaign: "It just seems there’s no place in today’s world for an organization that is promoting this as a deviant or distasteful lifestyle because I’ve lived my life openly gay and happy."
News of PFOX's bogus billboard broke two days before Minor's article was published, but Minor makes no mention of it even though his article is about said billboard. Such hiding of inconvenient facts is just another reason why nobody believes WND.
MRC's Graham Declares Walker 'Molotov' Gaffe To Be 'Tiny' Topic: Media Research Center
When it was revealed that Republican Wisconsin Go. Scott Walker had wished "Molotov" instead of "mazel tov" to a Jewish constituent, the Media Research Center's Tim Graham knew he had to spring into damage-control mode to tamp the controversy.
Thus, Graham wrote a Dec. 14 NewsBusters post whining that " the liberal media will reliably leap on any tiny gaffe that liberals can locate." Graham also quoted a writer for the right-wing Watchdog.org (whose ideology Graham failed to identify) saying basically the same thing.
By contrast, the MRC worked hard to get another tiny gaffe some media traction.
During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama said at one point that he had visited 57 states. Since then, the gaffe has been referenced dozens of times at NewsBusters alone, many of thosecomplaining that the "liberal media" didn't report it, which obviously means the media was protecting Obama.
It seems that Graham has a double standard on gaffes. After all, it's unlikely that any MRC outlet would have reported on Walker's gaffe for any other reason than to dismiss it.
WND's Kinsolving Makes Dumb Argument About Ban On Gays Donating Blood Topic: WorldNetDaily
Les Kinsolving keeps up his rampant homophobia, and also demonstrates once again he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, in his Dec. 15 WorldNetDaily column:
A Health and Human Services advisory panel has recommended that the current policy on Men-Who-Have-Sex-With-Men – which bans men as blood donors if they have had sex with a man since 1977 – be changed.
This panel recommends that this be changed to 12 months after the last sexual encounter. That simply raises what is a life-and-death question: Since when has AIDS been found to last only 12 months?
Actually, the point of the 12-month deferral period is to allow sufficient time for HIV to develop in a possibly infected person.
Can Kinsolving really be that ignorant? Apparently so.
CNS Adds Right-Wing Bias To Another AP Headline Topic: CNSNews.com
When the Associated Press sent out its Dec. 15 article on Dr. Vivek Murthy's Senate confirmation as surgeon general, it carried the headline "Senate approves Obama pick for surgeon general."
But that headline wasn't partisan enough for CNSNews.com, which changed the headline to read "Senate Approves Young Gun-Control Activist As Surgeon General."
CNS has a long, disturbing habit of adding right-wing bias to otherwise fair and balanced AP articles.
NEW ARTICLE: Bob Unruh's Parade of Lies and Misinformation Topic: WorldNetDaily
By WND editor Joseph Farah's own standards, he must fire his news editor for his plethora of dishonest reporting. But Unruh remains on the job. Read more >>
Sharyl Attkisson Reciprocates The MRC's Love Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center has been showing the love to former CBS correspondent Sharyl Attkisson for her anti-Obama reporting and general move to the right (which the MRC denies). Now Attkisson is showing some love right back.
A Dec. 13 NewsBusters post by Scott Whitlock highlights an interview Attkisson conducted with Rush Limbaugh's newsletter (her latest connection to right-wingers, which is more evidence of Attkisson's rightward shift, yet unremarked upon by Whitlock):
Regarding the selection of liberal vs. conservative watchdogs as sources, Attkisson noted, "In fact, I've never heard reporters treat the conservative media watchdogs as if they're providing neutral information that should be paid attention to. Only the liberal side."
Neither Whitlock nor Attkisson will admit it, but that's likely because conservative media watchdogs like the MRC have proven themselves incapable of providing neutral information. As we'vedocumented, the MRC's so-called "research" is so skewed and narrowly tailored to produce only results that reinforce its "liberal media" narrative that it simply can't be trusted.
By comparison, Media Matters (the liberal media watchdog to which Attkisson is surely referring) committed the offense of discrediting her shoddy reporting. Despite attacking Media Matters as partisan and inaccurate, Attkisson has never disproven the factual nature of what Media Matters has written about Attkisson's work.
Of course, Whitlock doesn't mention any of that either, chossing instead to rehash Attkisson's dubious claim of her computers being hacked.
For example, the bill prohibits Obama from spending a penny to carry out regulations that would effectively prohibit incandescent light bulbs in the United States.
A statement by the House Approprations Committee says that the bill includes a "provision prohibiting funding for the Administration’s onerous 'light bulb' standard, which prevents incandescent bulbs from being manufactured or sold, despite a continued public desire for these products.”
An "explanatory statement" posted on "Bills to be Considered on the House Floor" says: "The agreement includes a provision regarding prohibiting funds to implement or enforce higher efficiency light bulb standards."
Congress apparently is not worried that Obama will veto the bill and shut down the federal government in order to continue his administration's policy on incandescent light bulbs.
But Obama did not create or sign the policy that mandated more efficient light bulbs. As the San Jose Mercury News details:
The 60- and 40-watt light bulbs that have been used in America for more than a century are being phased out as of Jan. 1, as part of a federal law banning their production in favor of more energy friendly bulbs like halogen or fluorescent.
Production of the 100- and 75-watt incandescent light bulbs stopped last year.
A lot of people seem to think this is President Obama's fault.
[...]
But unless they're joking, they are mistaken. President George W. Bush actually initiated the ban when he signed the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007.
The Washington Post gave Mitt Romney three Pinnochios for falsely claiming that the light bulb efficiency standards were Obama's doing.
Also, contrary to Jeffrey's assertion, the new efficiency standards doesn't actually ban incandescent bulbs. As Popular Mechanics details, no particular type of bulb was banned, but standard incandescent bulbs are so inefficient -- converting only 5 to 10 percent of the electricity it consumes into light -- that they will need to be upgraded or replaced by other forms in order to meet the standard.
Jeffrey doesn't explain why he thinks such energy-wasting bulbs should remain in production.
WND's Farah's Plan To Stop Boehner: Send Me Money! Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah wants to oust John Boehner as House speaker, and he wants you to send him money in a futile effort to do it.
In his Dec. 15 column, Farah touts the "hundreds of emails demanding to know how to dump the one I call 'Barack Obama’s No. 1 enabler.'" The column then becomes a sales pitch:
Of course, the only way to effectuate the unseating of Boehner is to convince the majority of House Republicans that it is not only the right thing to do, but also in their own best interests. I really believe we can do that.
The only problem we’ve had in the past is the direct communication between the people and the lawmakers.
Yes, they have phones, but the lines get jammed, and there really is no methodology for calculating the calls that come in, the ones that go unanswered and translating them into numbers every member can appreciate and evaluate.
Yes, there are fax machines, but there are limitations there, too. They run out of paper. The faxes end up in the garbage. The speaker himself has the power to prohibit any collation, meaningful reports and tabulation. And, most importantly, no members ever see what the avalanche of paper looks like during the entirety of the campaign.
Yes, there is mail, but there are more problems than you know with it. All mail needs to go through a screening process outside the Capitol. It causes long delays. And how difficult is it to send a letter to all 246 Republican members of the House? How expensive and time-consuming would that be?
My plan doesn’t involve any of those traditional lobbying methods. It’s been tried before with amazing results. It reaches all those who need to get it in hard copy form with guaranteed delivery to their individual offices, personalized to them and by the sender. It’s cheap, effective and sends a powerful message that cannot be ignored. It’s even been tested.
One such campaign by WND resulted in 9.5 million letters delivered to members of Congress – the historic “pink slip” campaign.
The message all members receive in the letters is succinct, persuasive, professional, civil. And they are delivered by Federal Express, if you can believe it, for maximum impact.
AND WHEN YOU SEND ONE, YOU SEND IT TO EVERY REPUBLICAN MEMBER OF THE HOUSE – INCLUDING JOHN BOEHNER!
That’s 246 different letters, with different names and addresses and different destinations all for the one price of $29.95 – and they’re sent by Fed Ex! Try to top that. It’s just not something individuals could ever do.
[...]
For WND’s part, we do all the heavy lifting. We buy the paper. We print the letters. We pay for delivery. We measure results. We gather and chronicle responses and feedback from members. We work the media. We organize the press conferences. We spearhead the campaign on your behalf.
Your only obligation is participating by paying a nominal amount that covers our mailing and handling expenses.
Just compare the price and time commitment of an individual participating in this campaign versus a do-it-yourself effort or one of the old-fashioned fax or phone campaigns. There’s simply no comparison in price, time commitment and, most importantly, effectiveness.
As we've documented, WND has made some serious coin from its readers off previous letter campaigns, and there is no evidence that they work. Even Farah won't claim that; he claims only that "this approach prompts members to talk about the boxes of letters that are coming into their offices each day" -- again, something that doesn't translate into anything productive, let alone achieving the goal of the campaign.
Once again, Farah is turning politics into yet another opportunity to fleece his readers. How cynical and money-grubbing can he be?
MRC's Graham Shocked That Movie Reviewers Reviewed A Film They've Seen Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's Tim Graham has been in the right-wing media outrage business for so long, it seems he's incapable of recognizing fair journalism for what it is instead of through his jaundiced partisan lens.
In a Dec. 13 NewsBusters post, Graham expresses surprise that "liberal papers" the Washington Post and the New York Times would pan the new film "Exodus: Gods and Kings" by criticizing the decision to have God portrayed by a "terrifying" child. His headline: "Even Liberal Papers Pan Bratty Pre-Teen God In New Moses Movie 'Exodus: Gods and Kings.'"
Graham seems to forget that genuine movie reviewers employed by legitimate news outlets generally try to review films based on their merits, not according to their rigid personal belief system.
We saw the latter at work earlier this year when the MRC's Katie Yoder attacked the film "Obvious Child" fior being a romantic comedy centered around abortion -- a film Yoder proudly proclaimed she never watched before trashing it.
Apparently, Graham favors Yoder's approach and would rather people write about films based on what they read on the Internet about them and spare themselves the effort of actually seeing it before offering an opinion.
Indeed, Graham provided no evidence that he has seen "Exodus." Are we surprised? Nope.
WND's Klein Still Using Palestinians To Forward His Anti-Palestinian Agenda Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein, it seems, is still counting on his sources to be as stupid as he thinks they are. He writes in a Dec. 9 WND article:
While the White House has dismissed as “unfounded” reports the Obama administration is contemplating sanctions on Israel, the Palestinian Authority told WND it is already receiving signals the U.S. president may not support Israel at the United Nations and in the international community.
A senior PA negotiator, speaking on condition his name be withheld, said that despite the Obama administration’s public protestations, the U.S. made no private protests recently over a Palestinian plan to seek recognition of a state at the United Nations and in international bodies.
The Palestinian claim contrasts with media reports last month that Secretary of State John Kerry called PA President Mahmoud Abbas to warn him the U.S. would sanction the Palestinians if they continue their attempt to seek unilateral recognition in international organizations.
“There have been no talks of any real U.S. sanctions on the Palestinian Authority for unilateral recognition,” said the PA negotiator.
In addition to his old tactic of citing an untraceable anonymous source to attack the Obama administration, Klein is invoking another old tactic: using a political enemy as a proxy in his anti-Obama agenda.
Remember, Klein is a sympathizer of the extremist right-wing movement in Israel founded by Meir Kahane, which among other things calls for the expulsion of all Arabs from israel. The U.S. considers the movement, which has been known under such names as Kach and Kahane Chai, to be a terrorist organization.
Klein is not a neutral reporter, and there's no reason for Palestinians to trust him, given his record of using Palestinians to further his personal anti-Palestinian agenda.
Again, Klein seems to be counting on Palestinians being ignorant of his agenda. That seems like a dangerous game to play, even for a committed activist like Klein.
Newsmax Plays Class-Warfare Card on Obama Kids Topic: Newsmax
James Morrison snarkily writes in a Dec. 11 Newsmax article:
While many public school students complain about lunchtime mush that meets White House calorie guidelines, President Barack Obama's daughters are dining on gourmet meals at a posh private school in Washington.
School kids have been moaning about tasteless fare local governments adopt to comply with first lady Michelle Obama’s war on the waistline and posting photos of the mystery meals online.
The Sidwell Friends School, the $36,000-a-year private academy attended by Malia and Sasha Obama, also posts its menus on the Internet.
The Daily Caller discovered that Sidwell students eat well.
Thursday’s lunch included: potato sausage soup, firecracker slaw, California chef’s salad, all natural Jamaican jerk chicken wings, sweet potato black-bean bake, sauteed local greens, gemelli alfredo, and slice pineapple.
Morrison's reference to "gourmet meals at a posh private school" got further emphasis in the headline, which screamed "Obama's Daughters Enjoy Gourmet Lunches at Posh School."
Morrison doesn't explain why he has chosen to make such a blatant class-warfare-based attack on the Obama daughters.
WND and Operation Rescue's Anti-Abortion Book Tanks Topic: WorldNetDaily
A few months back, we reported on WorldNetDaily's then-upcoming book by Operation Rescue's Troy Newman and Cheryl Sullenger, which claims to be a "practical manual" that teaches people "what you can do to help close your local abortion clinic and make America abortion free."
A little over two months after its release, the book appears to be a flop. At this writing, Amazon.com ranks the book at No. 360,486 in sales -- an abysmal showing for a book out for less than three months.
Perhaps people didn't want to read a book by authors with anti-abortion violence in their pasts. In 1988, Sullenger was sentenced to three years in prison for conspiring to bomb a California abortion clinic, and Scott Roeder -- who murdered Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller in 2009 -- had contacted Sullenger and Operation Rescue several times seeking information about court hearings involving Tiller, and Sullenger's phone number was found on a note inside Roeder's car when he was arrested. Roeder has also claimed he ate lunch with Newman and Sullenger several years before he murdered Tiller.
Further, Ms. Magazine reported Roederʼs claim that Newman said it “wouldnʼt upset” him if Tiller were murdered, as well as Roeder's claim that he was an active and regular participant in Operation Rescue events with "donation receipts, event T-shirts and a signed copy of Newman’s 2001 book, Their Blood Cries Out, to prove it."
While Newman has denounced violence and Sullenger claims regret for her role in the bombing plot and insists that she "has openly denounced violence as a means to stop abortion," the fact remains their organization is linked to the Tiller murder and Sullenger remains a convicted felon.
In their book, Newman ahd Sullenger throw Roeder under the bus, calling him "creepy" and a "quiet loner" and claiming that Sullenger "was uncomfortable with him for reasons she couldn't quite pinpoint" and promotes Operation Rescue's statement on Tiller's death as "carefully worded and tasteful." They failed to explain the full extent of their contacts with Roeder. Newman also complains that "the abortion crowd never lets [Sullenger] forget this admitted mistake she made decades ago."
Perhaps such dishonesty about their actions and their links to Roeder's murder of Tiller are the main reason why Newman and Sullenger's book has tanked.
P.S. WND actually hired a lawyer (surprisingly, not Larry Klayman) to send us a cease-and-desist order for reporting accurately on Sullenger and Operation Rescue. We declined WND's request on numerous grounds, among them that it was objecting to alleged behavior WND itself regularly engages in on its own website. We have heard nothing from WND's lawyer since.
MRC Thinks 52% Supporting 'Gun Rights' Is 'Massive' Topic: Media Research Center
The headline on a Dec. 11 Media Research Center item by Scott Whitlock blared, "ABC, NBC Skip Poll Finding Massive Support for the Second Amendment." But the poll is dubious and didn't indicate "massive" support.
As Whitlock goes on to note, the Pew Research poll in question found that 52 percent of Americans support "gun rights," while 46 percent support "gun control." Two points over 50 percent is hardly an indicator of "massive" support.
Whitlock also fails to mention the issues with the poll itself, presumably because it fits the MRC's pro-gun narrative. As Media Matters pointed out, the poll's choice between "gun rights" and "gun control" ridiculously oversimplifies the national debate over guns, as if the two were mutually exclusive.
Whitlock also didn't mention that even the conservative Washington Times article about the poll upon which he based his item quotes "gun control supporters" pointing out that specific measures such as expansion of background checks have much wider public support than Pew's "gun rights" question -- around 90 percent. Wonder why he wouldn't report all the relevant facts?
Joseph Farah's money-making operation to remove John Boehner from the House speaker position is going ridiculously well, if you believe WorldNetDaily's propaganda:
CNSNews.com used to have a "Waste Watch" section that seemed 
A Dec. 15 WorldNetDaily 
When it was revealed that Republican Wisconsin Go. Scott Walker had wished "Molotov" instead of "mazel tov" to a Jewish constituent, the Media Research Center's Tim Graham knew he had to spring into damage-control mode to tamp the controversy. 
Les Kinsolving keeps up his 
The Media Research Center has been 
For a guy who runs a so-called "news" organization, CNSNews.com editor in chief Terry Jeffrey has a 
WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah wants to oust John Boehner as House speaker, and he wants you to send him money in a futile effort to do it.
The Media Research Center's Tim Graham has been in the right-wing media outrage business for so long, it seems he's incapable of recognizing fair journalism for what it is instead of through his jaundiced partisan lens.
WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein, it seems, is still counting on his sources to be as stupid as he thinks they are. He writes in a Dec. 9 WND 
A few months back, we 
The headline on a Dec. 11 Media Research Center 
