The online gamer zine Gamer Revolution notes that Thompson has taken offense to an AIM buddy icon posted on a sister site depicting a gruesome death for Thompson (well, as much as you can depict one in a buddy icon). Even though it was removed from the site per a cease-and-desist letter from Thompson, that wasn't enough. Thompson is demanding the arrest of the zine's president because the removal of the icon "constitutes an admission of guilt."
The zine concludes that Thompson is "a litigious, headline-hungry lunatic who routinely exhibits a startling lack of common sense." Sounds about right.
Updates Topic: The ConWeb
-- NewsMax punts, runs only an AP article on the demise of its beloved Counter Clinton Library. Did NewsMax Media or Christopher Ruddy donate to it? Time to hunt down those donation records, since it was a 501(c)3 group that had to report donations to the IRS.
-- NewsMax also continues lying about Jamie Gorelick, ignoring history of "wall."
-- More whitewashing of Jeanine Pirro's 32-second gap, this time for CNSNews.com's Rich Galen: "I don't blame Ms. Pirro for that gaff [sic]. I blame the staff and the environment which we have created around public officials."
Karla Faye Tucker, Meet Bernie Ebbers Topic: The ConWeb
Is WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers too good of a Christian to be in prison?
That's what Matt Friedeman seems to hint at. An a July 15 AgapePress column, Friedeman argues that one reason Ebbers shouldn't be serving a 25-year prison sentence for orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud, the largest in U.S. history, is that he is "a man who could still contribute much, given the opportunity."
What Friedeman doesn't explicitly say is that Ebbers is an evangelical Christian. As CBC notes, he was regarded as the ultimate Christian businessman, helping raise $1 million for his church Easthaven Baptist, along with tens of millions for the building fund of his alma mater, the Southern Baptist-affiliated Mississippi College.
Friedeman writes that "If America's judicial system understood punishment, restoration and restitution (Christian principles, all)," it would acknowledge that "Mr. Ebbers is of no danger to society." One might argue that swindling thousands of people out of billions of dollars constitutes some danger to society. Heck, even evangelical, WorldNetDaily-linked Business Reform magazine backed off its claim that Ebbers was the top Christian entrepeneur (though not before deleting the article making that claim from its database).
It's a bit reminiscent of the Karla Faye Tucker case, in which Pat Robertson and other evangelicals argued against the execution of the woman who killed two people with a pick ax because she became a Christian while in prison.
The point is that typically law-and-order evangelicals seem to think that evangelical Christians who commit crimes should receive lighter sentences merely by dint of being evangelical Christians. But if these criminals were truly Christian, would they be committing crimes in the first place?
One-Source Wonders Topic: The ConWeb
Is the mainstream media picking up bad things from the ConWeb?
WorldNetDaily and NewsMax, with reporters such as Jon Dougherty, have been specialists in running articles that feature only a single source advancing a particular (usually conservative) point of view. But as Atrios notes, both the Washington Post and Roll Call agreed to publish articles about Republican policies or decisions that didn't contain reaction to those decisions as a condition of publication established by Republicans.
When the ConWeb runs one-sided articles (usually copied from press releases issued by conservatives), rarely do they follow up the article to report the other side. Heck, it took CNSNews.com a week to allow Paul Begala to deny CNS' claim that Begala said that Republicans were trying to kill him.
Coulter Caught Plagiarizing Again? Topic: The ConWeb
Raw Story reports that Ann Coulter has been caught in wholesale cribbing from conservative magazines to pad a recent column.
She has done this before, as ConWebWatch has suspected.
New Article: Playing the Plame Blame Game Topic: The ConWeb
To no one's surprise, the ConWeb regurgitates Republican talking points in defense of Karl Rove. Read more.
ConWeb Job-Hopping Topic: The ConWeb
The latest addition (near as we can tell) to the list of recent ConWeb job-hoppers is Sherrie Gossett.
A longtime correspondent for WorldNetDaily, she spent the past several months as an associate editor at Accuracy in Media's "AIM Report." As a byline this week reveals, Gossett is now a staff writer for CNSNews.com. A July 7 AIM article still lists her as an employee, however, so she may have just dumped the WND gig. (WND, NewsMax and CNS have historically not shared reporters.)
As one might surmise by her ConWeb history, Gossett can be counted on to reflect that bias. ConWebWatch has noted her twice -- in 2004, when she launched a biased attack on an error by the Boston Globe, and earlier this year, when she helped advance WorldNetDaily's baseless speculation about who killed a Coptic Christian family.
ConWeb Unity Topic: The ConWeb
One sidebar aspect of today's attacks that the ConWeb is in lockstep with: WorldNetDaily and CNSNews.com were quick to report Israel's denial of reports that it had advance knowledge of the attacks; NewsMax repeated CNS' item.
O'Connor Roundup Topic: The ConWeb
How did the ConWeb initially cover Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement?
WorldNetDaily: Its initial story puts ConWeb balance into play; its look at "activists gearing up for a fierce confirmation battle" quoted four conservatives and one ACLU representative who focused on "individual liberties," not exactly a liberal position.
CNSNews.com: Pounded out eight stories. The stories that focused on liberals' views tended to promote more alarmist statements (featuring "ominous vacancy" in a headline, another headline misleadingly claiming that Sen. Ted Kennedy "Threatens to Oppose Supreme Court Nominee" when that statement is qualified in the story's lead) than those that focused on conservatives' views.
Another story engages in some subtle bias by portraying conservatives as concerned about "sanctity of life, the family and the Ten Commandments" and "the rule of law and the Constitution." Writer Susan Jones then adds "Likewise, liberal groups want a nominee who will protect their interests" and lists comments regarding abortion, gay rights and the environment. A man-on-the-street piece, surprisingly, was not only not conservatively slanted but actually leaned liberal; five people expressing support for a liberal nominee were quoted, compared to three expressing support for a conservative nominee.
NewsMax: Almost all Associated Press wire copy, except for a press release from the Republican National Committee. And, of course, renewed sales plugs for the issue of its magazine on the Supreme Court (one topic: "Why a top constitutional scholar is arguing that Bush should “pack” the Supreme Court").
Today's ConWeb Rewritten Press Release Roundup Topic: The ConWeb
Today's ConWeb stories that began life as a pressrelease from a conservative legal group:
Totally Manchurian Topic: The ConWeb
Media Matters notes the following quote from Jay Severin about Hillary Clinton:
She's absolutely sociopathic. And she has a 50-50 chance of being the next president of the United States, save McCain. She's the Manchurian candidate.
New Article: The Post-Mortem on the Post-Mortem Topic: The ConWeb
The ConWeb figures out how to go into attack mode on the Terri Schiavo autopsy report -- even bringing that "Nobel Prize nominee" doctor out of mothballs. Read more.
The Patty Murray Treatment Topic: The ConWeb
Is the ConWeb giving Sen. Richard Durbin the Patty Murray treatment?
Murray is the senator from Washington state who, in 2002, suggested that Osama bin Laden had support in the Islamic world because he had built schools, roads and day care centers, and wondered why the U.S. hadn't done the same thing to build goodwill. The ConWeb -- WorldNetDaily in particular -- twisted this comment (which occurred on the heels of the uproar over Sen. Trent Lott's comments about Sen. Strom Thurmond) into a claim that Murray was praising bin Laden; NewsMax started calling Murray "Osama Mama." Meanwhile, a Republican congressman who actually did whitewash the Taliban faced no criticism from the ConWeb.
It looks like the ConWeb is trying to do the same to Durbin, taking his comments likening treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the torture regimes of Nazis, Soviets and Pol Pot. Mostly, the ConWeb has ignored his specific allegations of abuse and tried to distort Durbin's comments as a condemnation of all U.S. military personnel.
A couple of examples:
-- A June 17 NewsMax article goes after Sen. Pat Leahy for defending Durbin by claiming that "I'd be very careful about taking quotes off the Wall Street Journal editorial page." NewsMax's response: "urbin's quotes, however, didn't appear in the Wall Street Journal, but were instead first covered by its sister web site, OpinionJournal.com." It's a distinction without a meaningful difference; the WSJ editorial page runs OpinionJournal.com. It also noted "Durbin's characterization of GI's as 'Nazis.'" Another June 17 article insisted that Durbin claimed that "U.S. troops at Guantanamo Bay conducted themselves like 'Nazis.'"
-- A June 18 WorldNetDaily commentary by Robert Knight downplays allegations of abuse: "Mr. Durbin might have been carried away after hearing about some of the techniques used to break the terror suspects, such as playing loud rap music, making them stand naked, lowering the temperature and so on. But so far, not one prisoner at Guantanamo has perished, nor has any suffered any permanent physical harm." Knight also calls Durbin hypocritical because he "smeared good Americans" at Gitmo while opposing a law banning so-called "partial-birth" abortion."
-- A June 17 Media Research Center "Media Reality Check" claimed that Durbin "wildly" made his accusations, called them "absurd" and "crazy," and insisted that "the issue is really moot." A June 17 CyberAlert called Durbin's remarks "outlandish" and complained that the networks didn't give them enough attention.
New Article: Can't Stop Won't Stop Topic: The ConWeb
The lying, that is. NewsMax and WorldNetDaily take a few more whacks at Jamie Gorelick without telling readers the truth about the "wall" she allegedly created. Read more.
Schiavo Scorecard Topic: The ConWeb
The early summary of ConWeb coverage of Terri Schiavo's autopsy report:
WorldNetDaily -- In keeping with its longstanding biases, its initial article fails to report medical examiner's conclusion that Schiavo was indeed in a persistent vegetative state or significance of finding that her brain was half the weight of a normal brain.
NewsMax -- Article claims that "Although millions of Americans watched Terri Schiavo follow people and objects with her eyes as they moved about her hospital room, the doctor who conducted the autopsy reported that she was blind." Also promoting Michael Schiavo-bashing book by Mark Fuhrman.
