NewsBusters Condones Death Threats? Topic: NewsBusters
An April 18 NewsBusters post by Noel Sheppard claims that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann "wrongly" named Michelle Malkin the winner of his daily "Worst Person in the World" segment for posting the names and phone numbers of University of California-Santa Cruz students who protested military recruiters on campus. Sheppard claimed that "What Keith conveniently failed to inform his viewers was that these phone numbers were actually part of a press release by the organization responsible for the protest," adding that "these names and phone numbers are still available at a number of left-wing websites."
While Sheppard fulminates about "the atrocious e-mail messages and threats that Malkin herself has been receiving all day for posting this previously made public information at her website," Sheppard does not condemn the death threats issued against the students as a result of Malkin posting the students' addresses.
The Daily Les, 4/17 Topic: The Daily Les
Les Kinsolving once again brings his creepy obsession with non-heterosexual sex into the White House briefing room. Today's question:
KINSOLVING: Since this morning's annual White House Easter Egg Roll welcomed everybody, including those wearing rainbow leis promoting their sexual orientation, will next year's event include all sexual orientations, including those wearing arm bands proclaiming that pain is pleasure, or not?
Softball Interview Watch Topic: Newsmax
In an April 17 NewsMax article, Dave Eberhart does a delightfully softball interview with Jack Kemp. How softball is it? This is the first question: "Sir, you are a man of many accomplishments. What's the source of your energy and inspiration?"
CNS Champions Disgraced Hansen-Bashing Ex-NASA Spokesman Topic: CNSNews.com
George Deutsch is back, and this time he's leaking documents.
An April 17 CNSNews.com article by Marc Morano plays enabler to the former NASA spokesman's crusade against NASA scientist James Hansen. "Deutsch provided Cybercast News Service with agency internal documents and e-mails detailing the frustration among NASA public affairs officials over Hansen's refusal to follow protocol when it came to granting media interviews," Morano reported. Nowhere in the article does Morano explain under what authority an ex-NASA employee has to release internal NASA documents for the sole purpose of attacking a current NASA employee.
Deutsch resigned his job in February after it was revealed that he did not graduate from college as he had claimed on his resume. As he did in a March interview, Morano gives Deutsch another opportunity to explain that away: "I had more credits than are required to graduate, but I needed one math class," Deutsch said.
Unsurprisingly, it's a one-sided attack, filled mostly with Deutsch's Hansen-bashing. Morano claims at the end of the article that "several phone calls to Hansen's office seeking comment were not returned."
P.S.: Morano unquestioningly reported Deutsch's claim regarding his instistence while at NASA that the word "theory" be attached to "big bang": "Deutsch said he was simply making recommendations to comply with Associated Press style." That's false; as Deutsch himself wrote in a memo, it was about a lot more than style. As the New York Times reported:
The Big Bang is "not proven fact; it is opinion," Mr. Deutsch wrote, adding, "It is not NASA's place, nor should it be to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator."
It [Deutsch's memo] continued: "This is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most."
CNS Peddles False GOP Immigration Spin Topic: CNSNews.com
An April 12 CNSNews.com article by Susan Jones passed along a statement from House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist attacking Senate Democrats, "making it clear that it was Democrats who insisted on making unlawful presence in the United States a felony rather than a misdemeanor." But neither the statement nor CNS' attempt at a "clarification" tells the truth about the issue.
To Hastert and Frist's statement that "there were 191 House Democrats who voted to oppose House Republican efforts to reduce the crime of unlawful presence in the United States from a felony to a misdemeanor. Instead, they voted to make felons out of all of those who remain in our country illegally," Jones added only, parenthetically, "Some conservative Republicans also favored making unlawful presence a felony."
A "clarification" later added to the article states that "a majority of House Republicans wanted to elevate the violation to a misdemeanor; but Democrats proposed making it a felony -- to undermine the entire bill by making it appear too harsh, according its sponsor, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.)."
That's false. Sensenbrenner himself put the felony provision in the bill at the beginning, and it was passed by the House in December in that form with only 36 Democrats supporting the bill. Thus, it is Republicans who are flip-flopping on the issue after negative public reaction and trying to reduce it to a misdeameanor; Democrats oppose criminalizing it at all (it's currently a civil violation), plus they're not terribly motivated to help save the Republicans' bacon.
Neil Young, Has-Been Topic: Newsmax
Who thinks Neil Young is a has-been musician who hasn't had a hit in 30 years? Why, NewsMax, of course.
In an April 15 article on Young's upcoming album, which features the "somewhat less than creatively" titled "Impeach the President," NewsMax claims: "Some say Young, who hasn't had a major hit since his 1972 chart-topper, 'Heart of Gold,' is looking to revive his career by bashing Bush." No word on whether the "some" who say that exist outside of NewsMax's offices.
Depicting Neil Young as desperate for a hit single appears to be the biggest ConWeb musical misinterpretation since Accuracy in Media declared Rufus Wainwright a "mainstream" artist.
Disclosure! Topic: WorldNetDaily
In a turnabout from its longtimelack of disclosure of its personal and business interests in the people it covers, an April 16 WorldNetDaily article on Sen. Tom Coburn properly includes the following sentence: "Coburn is the author of the WND Books title 'Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders into Insiders.'”
Good job, WND! At least one employee there seems to have some awareness of journalistic ethics ('cuz it sure isn't Joseph Farah).
David Kupelian, Victim Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's David Kupelian gets to play the victim card via the Alliance Defense Fund's latest cause celebre.
According to an April 14 WND article, the ADF has glommed onto the case of a Ohio university reference librarian, Scott Savage, who purportedly faces a investigationfrom the school for suggesting Kupelian's "The Marketing of Evil" and three other right-wing books for a recommending reading list for students. In typical WND fashion, its article ventures little beyond the ADF press release and other ADF-supplied materials -- nobody from the school was contacted to comment for this article. While WND does add a quote from Kupelian on the controversy, he fails to address a major criticism of his book as described in the article -- that his description of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey as a "full-fledged sexual psychopath who encouraged pedophilia" is a "factually untrue characterization of Dr. Kinsey and his work." Remember, Kupelian has made a big deal out of claiming that "to date, no one has actually identified a single factual error" (italics his) in his book.
The article also calls "The Marketing of Evil" a "best seller" but offers no evidence to support it; we don't recall seeing it on any best-seller lists, nor do we recall WND promoting such "best seller" status other than at WND's own store -- hardly an accurate indicator of such a status.
Quote of the Day Topic: CNSNews.com
With the unprotected, sieve-like U.S.-Mexican border in play for all those willing to cross, it is a certainty that al Qaeda terrorists have crossed along with the massive Mexican incursion.
It is just as certain that a 100,000-person marching mob will have at least one al Qaeda terrorist marching in lock-step and ready to light the fuse that will ignite the mob to burn the city, causing far greater property damage and repercussions than 9/11.
Undisclosed Logrolling Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
An April 14 WorldNetDaily article by Aaron Klein repeats "popular radio host" Rusty Humphries' views on the planned Israeli withdrawal from much of the West Bank. Nowhere in the article does Klein disclose that he has been a frequentguest on Humphries' show and has conducted joint interviews with him. WND editor Joseph Farah has also served as a guest host of Humphries' show.
New Article: The Evil of Marketing Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's David Kupelian engages in some less-than-honest methods to promote his book "The Marketing of Evil." Read more.
NewsBusters Misleads on Fitzgerald Correction Topic: NewsBusters
In an April 13 NewsBusters post, Clay Waters claimed without supporting evidence that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's correction of a claim in a court filing that Iraq was "vigorously trying to procure uranium" was a "key judgment" of a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate that "Scooter" Libby is accused of leaking (turns out it's not a "key judgment") "refutes the thrust" of a New York Times article first describing the contents of Fitzgerald's filing.
But Waters' claim is misleading, given that Libby still leaked what the original Times article described as an "exaggerated account of the intelligence conclusions" by not also leaking that State Department intelligence officials considered the uranium allegation "highly dubious." And considering that Libby was specifically authorized to leak this claim, somebody certainly considered it a "key" finding.
Lack of Disclosure Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
An April 13 WorldNetDaily article by Ron Strom featuring investigative journalist Jayna Davis' comments about a proposal for congressional hearings on the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing fails to disclose that WND published Davis' book on the bombing.
Ann Coulter, Loss Leader Topic: Newsmax
NewsMax is selling copies of Ann Coulter's upcoming book for the below-rock-bottom price of $4.99. And there isn't even an apparent gimmick attached, beyond its usual one of throwing a few free issues of its magazine in hopes that you'll forget to unsubscribe and thus be charged $39 for a full subscription.
Somebody wants to dump a whole buttload of copies of this book -- Drudge is reporting an initial print run of 500,000.
NewsMax Rehashes Stale Oreo Claim Topic: Newsmax
In an April 13 article, NewsMax once again falsely claimed that Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele, who is running for a Senate seat, was "pelted with Oreo cookies during a speech." In fact, there is little evidence to support the claim that Steele was "pelted" with Oreos (which allegedly occured during a debate, not a speech as NewsMax claimed).
