Oreogate, Part 2
Topic: Newsmax
NewsMax used a Nov. 28 article to repeat the dubious claim that Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele was "pelted ... with Oreo cookies during a 2002 campaign debate."

As we've noted, there is no evidence to indicate that Steele was "pelted" with Oreos during the debate. Steele himself is on record as saying only that a single Oreo rolled to his feet during the debate.

The Enforcer
Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily is apparently going to be the enforcer of conservative correctness, at least as far as demanding usage of the term "Merry Christmas" over "Happy Holidays" is concerned. A Nov. 29 WND article blasts Fox News, a longtime promoter of such holiday correctness, for using the word "holidays" when it allegedly should have used Christmas.

WND was in the forefront of this battle last year when it recycled press releases from conservative legal groups promoting a so-called "war on Christmas."

NewsMax Endorses Torture
Topic: Newsmax
A Nov. 29 NewsMax article wants to make Sen. John McCain into the poster boy for torture, claiming that he is being hypocritical in calling for the U.S. to stop using torture techniques. Why? When McCain was held prisoner in North Vietnam, "some of the same techniques were used on him. And -- as McCain has publicly admitted at least twice -- the torture worked!"

NewsMax adds: "That McCain broke under torture doesn't make him any less of an American hero. But it does prove he's wrong to claim that harsh interrogation techniques simply don't work."

Does NewsMax really want to go on record as endorsing torture? Apparently it does.

New Article: The Heart of Whiteness
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Anthony LoBaido's WorldNetDaily articles on South Africa lament the demise of apartheid and, er, whitewash the violent history of the pro-apartheid mercenaries he hung out with. Read more.

ConWeb Cunningham Coverage
Topic: WorldNetDaily
We've already detailed WorldNetDaily's miniscule coverage of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's guilty plea and resignation. How's the rest of the ConWeb doing?

NewsMax: Associated Press article, but it's on the site and linked in the top-of-page "Breaking News" box.

CNSNews.com: Outside link, but it's the top headline.

NewsBusters: A post by Paul Chesser plays the false-equivalence game by suggesting that coverage of Cunningham should be equal to that of another congressman who resigned for lesser crimes (channeling $100,000 for personal use vs. Cunningham's taking $2.4 million in bribes).

No Coverage
Topic: WorldNetDaily
For a "news" operation that purports to be "a watchdog exposing government waste, fraud, corruption and abuse of power," WorldNetDaily has been strangely reluctant to delve into the misdeeds of Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. While WND has promoted Cunningham's work in trying to save a cross sitting on public land, it has devoted absolutely no original coverage to questions involving a defense contractor who paid an inflated price for Cunningham's house (which the lobbyist later sold at a loss), or that Cunningham's Washington residence is on a yacht owned by the contractor.

Now that Cunningham has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion, what does WND do? Keeps its record of no original coverage perfect by relegating Cunningham's plea to an outside link on its front page.

UPDATE: WND changed to a different wire story upon Cunningham's resignation from the House, but there is still no original coverage, and the linked article resides well down on WND's front page, below an article on the scant turnout at a book-signing session for Cindy Sheehan's new book. That's what WND considers bigger news than a corrupt congressman's resignation.

Non-Disclosure
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Craig Smith's Nov. 28 WorldNetDaily column is essentially a commercial for Smith and his company, Swiss America Trading Corp. In it, Smith touts his prediction about "the ongoing bull market in gold" and how
"it is still a 'golden' buying opportunity."

Nowhere is it disclosed that Swiss America is in the business of trading precious metals such as gold, meaning that Smith has a vested personal interest in writing about the subject. Of course, Smith's affiliation with Swiss America wasn't even disclosed on his WND column bio until ConWebWatch pointed it out.

Then and Now
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Political snitches monitor sermons

At least two organizations are monitoring the content of Sunday sermons by U.S. pastors and threatening to report churches to the Internal Revenue Service if they hear political messages they deem inappropriate under federal guidelines on tax-exempt status.

-- WorldNetDaily article, July 23, 2004

College students bombarded with the personal political views of their professors are being urged by talk-show host Sean Hannity to fight back with hard evidence of purported indoctrination.

[...]

"Get your little tape recorders if legal, and I want you to start recording these left-wingers. Bring it to this program and we'll start airing it every single time on this program. I'm sick of this indoctrination. I'm sick of this left-wing propaganda."

-- WorldNetDaily article, Nov. 28

WND's Elephant
Topic: WorldNetDaily
The David Ludwig case -- in which a homeschooled student is accused of murdering his girlfriend's parents -- is turning into the elephant in WorldNetDaily's room. A Nov. 25 WND column by Ilana Mercer addresses the case while keeping WND's record intact by never once mentioning that Ludwig and his girlfriend -- of whom Mercer writes, "The two had been involved in an intense sexual relationship. They were hopped-up on feelings of uniqueness and had a heightened sense of being misunderstood" -- were homeschooled.

New Article: Joseph Farah, Terrorist Sympathizer
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Guest author Eric Goodwin asks: Why is WorldNetDaily treating as fact a right-wing group's highly dubious claim that communists want to take over South Africa and kill all the white people, while ignoring the fact that this very same right-wing group was charged with trying to instigate its own takeover of the country? Read more.

The Return of Buckwheat
Topic: Newsmax
NewsMax loves to try and create controversies where none exist. One notorious example is its attempt to paint Dan Rather as a racist for saying of CBS officials who caved to pressure from conservatives in forcing Rather to report on the Gary Condit non-story that they "got the willies, they got the buckwheats."

NewsMax is at it again, demanding in a Nov. 23 article that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama admit his "mistake" in "endorsing and raising campaign funds for notorious one-time Ku Klux Klansman, Sen. Robert Byrd."

NewsMax has a bit of a complex about Byrd, interjecting his 50-year-past Klan membership at every possible opportunity, as ConWebWatch has detailed. Of course, NewsMax gives much gentler treatment who former segregationists who became Republicans, most recently defending Strom Thurmond, who ran for president on a pro-segregationist Dixiecrat ticket, as a better person than Byrd because Thurmond wasn't in the Klan.

Look for NewsMax to drag this irrelevant issue out against Obama at regular intervals in the future.

Sex on the Brain
Topic: WorldNetDaily
More evidence of WorldNetDaily's obsession with teacher-student sex: today's WND poll asks, "What's your opinion on the reported rash of women having sex with students?"

And still no WND mention of the fact that an alleged killer was homeschooled. Last time we check, killing people was more serious offense than illicit sex.

Galen vs. Reality
Topic: CNSNews.com
"There was outrage on the floor of the House over the whole thing [the House of Representatives vote to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq] which was, again, characterized as calling Mr. Murtha a coward which I do not believe any Member of Congress did."

-- Rich Galen, Nov. 21 CNSNews.com column

"A few minutes ago, I received a call from Colonel Danny Bubp, Ohio representative from the 88th District in the House of Representatives. He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do."

-- Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), on the House floor

Poll Numbers
Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Nov. 22 WorldNetDaily article makes an unusually big deal out of the removal of an "unfavorable" poll from Rep. John Murtha's website after it allegedly showed support for views other than Murtha's plan to begin withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. WND implies that the poll is an accurate reflection of public sentiment, but as we've noted previously, opt-in polls like Murtha's are not accurate and are easily manipulated.

While WND cites a Free Republic thread as a source for the poll's results, it doesn't note that another Free Republic thread encouraged Freepers to vote in that poll, thus manipulating and skewing those results.

Of course, WND has its own history of not dealing well with "unfavorable" poll results -- by taking its poll offline for nearly two months, as ConWebWatch has noted.

Another WND Obsession
Topic: WorldNetDaily
On today's WorldNetDaily front page, there are four links to articles about teachers accused of having sex with students. WND regularly notes these cases, presumably to support its case of how evil public schools are and how homeschooling is the only answer (as WND editor Joseph Farah has regularly preached).

But to our knowledge, WND has never reported that David Ludwig, the Pennsylvania teenager accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend's parents then fleeing with her (which may or may not be a kidnapping), was homeschooled.