Aaron Klein's Strange Connection To Journalist Attacked in Egypt Topic: WorldNetDaily
As WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein sides with a dictator, that dictator's supporters are beating up and detaining journalists. And it turns out one of those attacked journalists has a previous connection to Klein.
Olaf Wiig is a freelance cameraman who regularly works with Fox News, and he and Fox correspondent Greg Palkot were severely beaten by pro-Mubarak supporters. In 2006, Wiig and another Fox News reporter, Steve Centanni, were kidnapped in Gaza and held for two weeks before being released.
As we detailed at the tine, when Klein reported on the story for WND, he claimed that a $2 million ransom had been paid for the reporters' release, and he suggested that Fox News had paid it. Fox News was quick to shoot down that claim, which led to much huffiness on the part of WND editor Joseph Farah insisting that Klein had never made such a claim. That's only technically true; while Klein did not assert that Fox News had paid a ransom, nowhere did he state that it didn't.
Klein, meanwhile, followed up with a column that was part defense ("No source stated or implied the money came from Fox News") and part suck-up ("I cannot stand idly by while others misrepresent and falsify my words to wrongly smear America's best cable news network").
The suck-up worked -- Klein has regularly appeared on Fox News and its Fox Business sister network since that time, most recently on Jan. 31 pontificating about Egypt.
It's incredibly ironic that a news cameraman whose kidnapping Klein misreported on has been attacked by a dictatorial regime Klein is helping to cling to power.
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch Topic: Accuracy in Media
Ironically, the only actual and natural ally the U.S. has in the Middle East, Israel, has been beaten about with Obama’s absurd demands that it not construct new housing in its own capitol, Jerusalem.
In the first two years of Obama’s presidency, it has become obvious to everyone, friend and foe alike, that he is anti-Israel. Perhaps he was trying to signal some kind of accommodation with Iran? Or maybe he just doesn’t like a Jewish presence in the Islamic Middle East?
[...]
The problem, of course, is that we have a President who is intellectually, emotionally, philosophically, and in all other ways not up to this crisis.
WND Hides Full Story On Planned Parenthood Videos Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Feb. 4 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh uncritically touts the dubious entrapment videos made at Planned Parenthood clinics by anti-abortion activist Lila Rose with the headline "Sex-trafficking ring cover-up documented in 2nd video." But Unruh doesn't report what Planned Parenthood did after the events depicted in that second video.
As Media Matters notes, following the meeting with Rose's band of entrapment artists, Planned Parenthood reported the conversation to the FBI. Rather than report that, though, Unruh uncritically repeated Rose's unsupported attacks on Planned Parenthood.
Telling only one side of the story is not journalism -- but then, WND doesn't do journalism.
John Lott's brief Feb. 1 Newsmax column asserts that "Virtually no criminal guns are obtained from gun shows" and "Background checks do not stop criminals from getting guns." The FBI begs to differ.
CNS' Latest Gotcha Question Is False Topic: CNSNews.com
Nicholas Ballasy -- the CNSNews.com ambush reporter who we last saw getting pwned by Barney Frank -- tells about his latest gotcha attack in a Feb. 1 article:
Four senators who say they want to cap federal spending over the next 10 years declined to say whether they would support cutting the wages of even a single federal employee.
Federal workers in 2009 made an average of $123,049 in salary and benefits, which is more than twice the average of $61,051 that workers made in the private sector, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
But the idea that federal workers make twice as much as private-sector employees is not a meaningful analysis. FactCheck.org points out two serious flaws with the BEA analysis Ballasy is citing:
The BEA figure is inflated by including compensation that is actually paid to benefit retirees, not just for current workers. The figure is at least several thousand dollars too high, by FactCheck's calculations.
The average federal civilian worker is better educated, more experienced and more likely to have management or professional responsibilities than the average private worker.
Further, according to FactCheck, other studies have found that while lower-skilled federal workers make more than private sector workers (but not as much as the flawed numbers Ballasy cites), high-skilled federal workers make less.
WND Keeps Shilling For Its Favorite Dictator Topic: WorldNetDaily
The Mubarak mouthpieces at WorldNetDaily are apparently all in for their favorite dictator -- and the unsubstantiated sources it's relying on to push its attacks on President Obama.
A Feb. 3 article by Bob Unruh keeps up the attack by repeating a pair of unverified claims:
There have been reports that Barack Obama's administration secretly met with the Muslim Brotherhood to discuss the future of Egypt after President Hosni Mubarak and that Washington has told the Egyptian army it should remove Mubarak from office.
The first is from an article by Aaron Klein whose only source is an anonymous "Egyptian intelligence official" who can be presumed to be working for the Mubarak regime.The second comes from DEBKAfile, which -- like Klein -- cites no on-the-record sources.
The Jerusalem-based DEBKA is considered a sympathizer of right-wing Israeli politics, which like WND wants to see Mubarak stay in power. It's also known for peddling false rumors alongside whatever scoops it manages. Further, DEBKA used to have a business arrangement with WND, which sold DEBKA's intelligence newsletter through its online store and publish regular articles based on DEBKA claims.
Unruh then repeats some random columnist for an Egyptian paper mouthing the Mubarak -- and WND -- line that Obama has an agenda of subversion against Israel. WND picked that up from a group called MEMRI that is known for selectively translating Arabic media and for having, yes, a bias toward rifht-wing Israeli politics.
Indeed, MEMRI offered no translation of the entire column cited by WND, and Unruh filled out his article from other columnists MEMRI offered translations of.
This gives us further insight into WND's fealty toward a dictator -- it's following the orders of right-wing Israelis. As we know, Klein is fond of Israeli right-wingers -- has repeatedlyparroted the right-wing Israeli line and even whitewashes far-right Israeli extremists. He has even proclaimed his admiration for extremist activist Meir Kahane, who advocated expelling all Arabs from Israel and whose Kach party (and its successor Kahane Chai) has been outlawed in Israel for its connections to violence.
If Klein is so cozy with such violent extremists, why would he lead WND in cozying up to a brutal dictator?
By the way, here's the fruit of Klein's propping up of Mubarak: the long list of journalists who have been threatened, attacked or detaining while covering the unrest in Egypt. And here's the video of CNN's Anderson Cooper and his camera crew getting attacked by Mubarak supporters.
Does Klein have a conscience? Does he remain so blinded by his hatred of Obama that he doesn't whose blood ends up on his hands in the process of feeding that hate? OR does he think the journalists who have been attacked in Egypt deserve it?
It's time for Klein to explain why he is so actively working against America -- and for WND to explain why it's paying Klein to do so.
WND Publishes Homophobic Screed By 'Pink Swastika' Author Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has already embraced the discredited anti-gay book "The Pink Swastika," even as editor Joseph Farah baselessly insists it hasn't been. So it's a very short leap for WND to print anti-gay screeds by the book's author.
And that's just what WND does. Here's Lively's homophobic rant regarding Uganda:
Uganda is being murdered. The nation once was called "The Pearl of Africa" by Winston Churchill, a lush and beautiful country as fertile as the Nile Delta. It is the nation that retained its self-rule through centuries of African colonialism, the society that survived even the atrocities of the cannibal cultist Idi Amin, the culture that has been thriving in Christian revival for over a dozen years.
This great and honorable nation, alone in Africa to have all but conquered the scourge of AIDS through abstinence, and whose first lady led a holy gathering of thousands of believers on the eve of the millennium, dedicating her homeland "to Jesus Christ for a thousand years," this Uganda, a shining light in the Dark Continent, is being murdered.
The murderers are the lavender Marxists, the now-global network of sexual revolutionaries bent on remaking the entire world in their own perverted image, whose juggernaut has toppled even once-mighty Britain, crushing under their lavender boots after eight centuries the symbol of its Christian power: the Magna Carta, whose first principle had proclaimed "The English church must be free!" These revolutionists of Sodom, who march triumphantly through all the major cities of the Western world to flaunt their defeat of moral law, and who hold both Hollywood and the heart of America's president in their iron grip, these very same zealots have fixed their malevolent gaze on Christian Uganda.
Lively is reportedly one of the inspirations behind a Draconian anti-gay law in Uganda, which would permit the death penalty for homosexuality. Accuracy in media's Cliff Kincaid and WND's own Molotov Mitchell have defended that law while peddling the lie that it doesn't kill gays for being gay.
Lively also defensively weighs in on one of the apparent fruits of the homophobic sentiment he's whipping up there, the murder of Ugandan gay activist David Kato:
Ugandan homosexual activist David Kato was recently beaten to death with a hammer, a horrific crime. These very media have rushed eagerly to judge this a hate crime and to blame those, like me, who have spoken against homosexuality in Uganda. It is the central (but patently false) narrative of the left that all criticism of homosexuality leads inevitably to violence and murder. Yet the killer has now been caught and confessed that he was a live-in male prostitute who murdered Kato for failing to pay him as promised. The "gay"-hate narrative has failed, the Ugandan rejection of "gay" culture has been vindicated, and the finger-pointing media have pulled quietly back into the shadows – for now.
That explanation for Kato's death is what Ugandan police are claiming, but Reuters reported that Ugandan police have offered no evidence to back up their claim, and some have noted that police may try to cover up a motive of homophobia in Kato's death to protect the Western aid upon which the country relies.
The disregard of human life if that human is homosexual is the agenda WorldNetDaily has signed onto when it partnered with Lively. Is WND comfortable with that?
Graham Prematurely Gloats Over Alleged NPR Errors Topic: NewsBusters
Tim Graham uses a Feb. 1 NewsBusters post to gloat over NPR purportedly getting things wrong in its coverage of the hoax video pushed by anti-abortion activist Lila Rose conducting a sting against Planned Parenthood clinics. But is NPR really as wrong as Graham claims?
Graham writes:
The headline was "Group Behind ACORN Undercover Videos Sets Up Planned Parenthood 'Sting.'" Yes, "sting" may be what you call it when liberal journalists take a hidden camera to expose malfeasance, but if the videographers are pro-life, the word goes into quotes. Peralta began: "The same group that went undercover at ACORN offices back in 2009 is now going after Planned Parenthood." Wrong.
NPR was forced to correct: "An earlier version of this post stated Live Action was associated with James O'Keefe. They are not, and O'Keefe was not a part of this undercover video."
While it appears that Live Action did not conduct the ACORN stings, NPR overstated its correction. Live Action is very much associated with O'Keefe -- Rose collaborated with O'Keefe to devise the scheme to entrap Planned Parenthood clinics using the same methods O'Keefe used to entrap ACORN and participated in some of those early entrapment efforts, and Live Action's newsletter, the Advocate, lists O'Keefe as an adviser.
Graham then notes that NPR is calling Live Action a "conservative group," which he (and Rose) insists is misleading: "Political reporters may find it natural to assign pro-life activists to the right, but not only are there pro-life Democrats and even pro-life socialists -- there's the problem that political reporters almost never describe 'abortion rights' groups as liberals."
Of course, generally speaking, it is hardly inaccurate to assume that anti-abortion groups like Live Action as "conservative," given that opposition to abortion provisions is a central part of Republican politics. Rose has provided no evidence that she is not conservative in her politics or that her motivation comes from anything other than a right-wing viewpoint, so until she does, the description of her group as "conservative" should stand.
WND Keeps Up Whining That Gibbs Didn't Answer Question That Wasn't Asked Topic: WorldNetDaily
WND keeps up its record of complaining that Robert Gibbs didn't answer a question that wasn't asked with a Feb. 1 article:
Barack Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, has let pass an opportunity to explain what the president believes about state legislatures whose members are working on requirements for presidential candidates to be required to document their eligibility under the U.S. Constitution.
The question was going to be raised at yesterday's press briefing by Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House. However, Gibbs declined to recognize Kinsolving, and dozens of other reporters on hand, for any questions.
[...]
He also wanted to ask whether placing at the head of the Democratic National Committee Paul Gaspard, "a Saul Alinsky-inspired ACORN operative," was representative of the president's national tone.
As we've previously noted, Kinsolving has not explained why a right-wing hack like himself working for a so-called "news" organization whose only real mission these days is to destroy a sitting president by any means necessary (treason, anyone?) is entitled to ask questions every day of the White House press secretary, no matter how biased or stupid.
CNSNews.com's selective obsession with the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan continues like clockwork with a new article by Edwin Mora detailing how many were killed in January.
Also, as usual, the word "Iraq" does not appear in the article. Thus, when Mora writes that last year "was the deadliest year of the war for American troops" in Afghanistan, it lacks the context of the fact that it's still far lower than the casualty rate in the peak years of the war in Iraq.
And when Mora writes that "approximately one American soldier has died in Afghanistan each day since Obama officially became president," you don't learn that an average of approximately two soldiers died every day of the Iraq war under George W. Bush's leadership.
WND, Klein Collaborate With Mubarak Regime Against Obama Topic: WorldNetDaily
Who knew that WorldNetDaily hates President Obama so much that it would provide anti-Obama propaganda to a brutal, repressive dictator? And that it would be proud to do so?
Top members of the Egyptian government say they feel betrayed by President Obama, charging that he is acting against American interests.
"Mubarak's regime feels Obama is pushing the advancement of the Muslim Brotherhood against U.S. interests," said WND's Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter Aaron Klein. "They are genuinely trying to understand why Obama is seemingly championing the anti-regime protests."
Klein said that a top Egyptian diplomat with whom he has developed a rapport over the last few years asked him earlier this week to explain Obama's motivation to support the opposition to Mubarak.
"I told him none of this should be a surprise," said Klein, "that the Obama administration has developed an extensive relationship over the last few years with allies of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"That my investigating has proven that Obama has been closely associated throughout his political career with radical-left elements who have long petitioned for policies many believe are aimed at weakening the American enterprise both domestically and internationally."
"The Egyptian diplomat seemed surprised," said Klein. "I told him this material was thoroughly documented in my latest book."
The diplomat said he would deliver the book, which was co-authored by Brenda J. Elliott, to senior officials in Mubarak's embattled government.
That's right -- WND is apparently giving copies of Klein's factually flawed smear book to a foreign government that currently in the midst of brutally suppressing freedom-seeking protesters.
Klein has already declared his allegiance with the Mubarak regime by granting them anonymity in order to smear Obama with unsubstantiated allegations. Of course he's more than happy to give him some of his propaganda.
Of course, when Klein puts his propaganda in the hands of foreign powers with the express purpose of destabilizing the the leader of the country he purports to be a citizen, he is also harming America itself by creating anti-America animus in an Egyptian regime where there was relatively little.In other words, that makes Klein not just anti-Obama but anti-America.
It's doubtful that Egyptians see any meaningful difference between Bush and Obama. Once Klein's propagandacirculates around the dying Mubarak regime, he will have created a new American enemy.
Klein is so blinded with rage in his hatred for Obama that he's apparently willing to destroy America in order to destroy the president. And his employer is all too happy to see this happen -- and make it happen.
The ultimate consequence of Klein's propaganda mission is that he's collaborating with brutal foreign governments to harm America. Some might call that treason.
P.S. WND columnist Barry Farber is fully on the repressive-regime bus, declaring in his Feb. 2 column, "I have no difficulty throwing democracy under the bus in the case of post-Mubarak Egypt."
New Article: WorldNetDaily's Whitewashed Poster Boys Topic: WorldNetDaily
The people WND is portraying as champions of its favorite causes have histories of abuse, racism, and more that it doesn't want you to know about. Read more >>
Will NewsBusters' Sheppard Renounce Limbaugh? Topic: NewsBusters
Noel Sheppard used a Feb. 1 NewsBusters post to go on a tirade about Rachel Maddow falling for a claim on a satire website, then noting in her apology that the claim wasn't much crazier than what comes out of Glenn Beck's mouth:
And that was Maddow’s explanation for getting duped by a satirical website: in her view, conservatives – especially Glenn Beck – are saying all kinds of crazy things. As a result, it’s become difficult for her to know what’s real and what’s a spoof.
If this is the case, then maybe she should stop reporting on what conservatives are saying.
If she can no longer discern between fact and fiction, serious commentary and satire, she can’t possibly be trusted or taken seriously about anything, for who knows what her next source will be and whether or not it’s actually legitimate.
Maybe more importantly, how can anyone on television – Rhodes scholar or not! – be deserving of the public’s trust if she blames her own mistakes on others not at all involved in her program?
By this same standard, Sheppard must denounce his fellow conservatives -- in particular Rush Limbaugh -- for making the same excuse in treating a satirical article as fact.
In 2009, a blog post circulated purporting to offer quotes from Barack Obama's college thesis. Limbaugh, Fox News' Fox Nation website, and anti-Muslim blogger Pam Geller, among others, breathlessly repeated the quotes. After it was debunked as satire, Limbaugh declared he didn't care if the quotes are fake because "I know Obama thinks it."
So when can we expect Sheppard to assert that since Limbaugh can't discern between fact and fiction, he can’t possibly be trusted or taken seriously about anything, for who knows what her next source will be and whether or not it’s actually legitimate? Don't count on it -- Sheppard isn't interested in the truth.
Another Anti-Gay Rant By WND's Kinsolving Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's Les Kinsolving unleased yetanotherhomophobictirade in his Feb. 1 column, in the form of "imagined letters of gratitude" to the White House for allowing "no limitation at all regarding who any Americans love" and still serve in the military.
The letters start with someone who wants to serve in the military with his horse "whose nuptials were solemnized by a Massachusetts notary public who must remain anonymous (as must Mable and I)," and ends with, "We who have suffered rejection, denunciation and prosecution due to our sexual orientation of necrophilia rejoice in your announcement that "no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love." We hope for your assistance in making it possible for our orientation to serve in hospitals and in the Graves Registration Command," with stops at pedophilia and polygamy.
Kinsolving concludes by asking, "Do any of these four other alternate sexual orientations have anywhere near the HIV/AIDS and syphilis rates – or the hundreds of thousands of deaths – as this nation's homosexuals?"
Why does Kinsolving spend so much time obsessing over what pedophiles and necrophiliacs think? Is there something he wants to tell us?
