Topic: WorldNetDaily
How closely did WorldNetDaily's Jerome Corsi work with the supposedly independent "cold case posse" that looked into President Obama's "eligibility"? He has co-written an e-book on the investigation with a member of the posse.
An Arizona TV station reports (h/t Dr. Conspiracy) that Corsi, along with posse member Mike Zullo, issued a e-book on the investigation, on sale for $9.95, the same day the investigation results were announced. Corsi and Zullo will split the proceeds from the book, for which Sheriff Joe Arpaio wrote the introduction.
According to Corsi, he and Zullo get to keep the money because neither of them are paid members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. However, the posse operates under a nonprofit 501(c)3 structure for which WND has been soliciting donations. Corsi didn't explain why the book's proceeds shouldn't go toward the nonprofit group instead of the authors -- after all, the posse structure made this money-making opportunity possible for Zullo and Corsi.
Of course the book is for sale at the WND online store. Interestingly, the book shares the same title -- "A Question of Eligibility" -- as a wildly inaccurate video WND produced a couple years ago compling its birther conspiracies. As of this writing, WND is trying to dump the video for 99 cents.
If Corsi's presence at the March 1 press conference announcing the posse's results (which essentially channeled WND's conspiratorial work) didn't set off alarm bells, the fact that he was writing the book with a member of the posse as the posse was conducting its investigation should set them off. This further demonstrates the highly inappropriate relationship between WND and the posse, which appears to have tainted the results.
The fact that Corsi is now trying to cash in on his unusually close relationship with the posse provides further evidence that the posse is nothing more than a WND-controlled proxy whose sole purpose is to give the air of legitimacy to WND's birther conspiracies and to make money for WND and Corsi.
Meanwhile, as the posse's so-called results collapse under actual research, Dr. Conspiracy asks some important questions about this relationship that WND and the posse need to answer. Among them:
- Was Jerome Corsi deputized by Maricopa County, or did he sign an affidavit under oath and penalty of perjury as to his examination of files at the National Archives? If not, why not?
- Did WorldNetDaily, Jerome Corsi, or Joseph Farah contribute funds to the CCP?
- John Woodman, the author of a book analyzing claims about Obama birth certificate images, offered on two occasions to assist the CCP. Why was he ignored?
- What exactly was the role of Mara Zebest in the production of the CCP report?
- What exactly was the role of Jerome Corsi in the production of the CCP report?
- Why was Mark Gillar, a well-known anti-Obama partisan, chosen to narrate the six short videos that constituted most of the posse’s presentation? Why were the videos posted to Gillar’s “TeaPartyPowerHour” YouTube account, the links to which were included in the sheriff’s press release? And did Gillar help make the videos as well?
We add another question: How much money has WND raised for the posse, and how much of it has WND skimmed off for its own use? (WND has stated that "A portion of all contributions will go to support WND’s efforts.")
In short: This thing stinks to high heaven, and the smell starts at the top: Joe Arpaio, Joseph Farah, and Jerome Corsi.
UPDATE: Phoenix New Times reports that the posse's report is, for all practical purposes, the same thing "nationally recognized computer expert" Mara Zebest claimed eight months ago about the PDF of Obama's birth certificate released by the White House. WND's Corsi, of course, promoted Zebest's claims then. Zebest was in attendance at Thursday's posse press conference.
