At a press conference during his visit to New Delhi on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asked what he thought the result of the U.S. presidential election would be, replied, "We don't interfere in the other countries' affairs but we think that the American nation seek profound changes in their country."
Ahmadinejad's answer was the second reported instance in which a high Iranian official, when asked about the U.S. presidential contest, has used the word "change" or "changes" in his answer.
Experts on Iranian political discourse believe that the officials' choice of words is intended to be a reference to Democratic contender Barack Obama's campaign theme, "Change We Can Believe In," and to thereby signal that relations between Tehran and Washington will improve if Obama is elected. Obama has stated his willingness to meet with Ahmadinejad.
[...]
At a Tehran press conference on March 10, 2008, an Iranian reporter asked Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, vice minister of foreign affairs of Iran and spokesman of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which U.S. presidential candidate Iran would support. Hosseini replied, "Iran would not support any candidates in the U.S. presidential campaign."
He continued, "But the nations of the world are fed up with America's warmongering policies and we demand these change."
Observers in Tehran note that Hosseini has a reputation for choosing his words carefully. An Iranian analyst said, "Hosseini is considered an expert on American affairs. He would not have used the word 'change' unless it was his intention to signal that the Iranian regime prefers that the next U.S. president be Mr. Obama."
Note that there is no named source -- the "Experts on Iranian political discourse," "Observers in Tehran" and the "Iranian analyst" are all anonymous, if they exist at all. Newsmax is hiding behind this anonymity to make a claim it has no factual evidence to support: that Iranian leaders explicitly support Obama.
Also note the stilted writing style (such as full dates), which strongly suggests Newsmax copied this from some unknown source. It may have come from a spam email for all we know; Newsmax has treated spam as fact before.
And you thought Aaron Klein's Obama smears lacked substance ...
Clinton Derangement Syndrome Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
But try to imagine Hillary Clinton as president – and Bill as first lady. The toxic cultural/governmental environment would be almost beyond imagination with the elevation of "the queen of darkness" as "father of our country."
You could expect a radical increase in shocking, self-destructive and criminal acting-out by lost souls lashing out blindly in a desperate expression of revenge toward the contemptible society that could dare elect such a person as president. Perhaps a huge upsurge in mass shootings, such as we've seen recently. Or maybe more "bug-chasing" – that's where people actively try to get infected with AIDS. Maybe homegrown suicide bombers committing horrific terrorist acts – not for Allah, but just for kicks, for non-specific revenge against the human race. No one can say what form it will take, but expect more and more weird, destructive behaviors designed for maximum shock.
Of course, nobody would be able to prove any cause and effect. But remember these words: Elevating a person like Hillary Clinton to the presidency of the United States will unleash hell in America in a way very few of us can even comprehend, let alone remedy.
Joseph Farah Disingenuousness Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
How can you tell when Joseph Farah is being disingenuous? His lips are moving.
Farah's May 1 WorldNetDaily column is a big steaming pile of disingenuousness (in a long line of such). In it, he points out that "It's probably no secret to anyone who reads my column regularly that I will not be voting for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for president," then explains why he won't be voting for John McCain.
Why is this disingenous? Because Farah's and his website are doing McCain's dirty work for him.
WorldNetDaily has been a constant parade of outright lies, guilt-by-association smears and discredited Dumpster-diving against Obama and Clinton. But it has offered nowhere near the same scrutiny of McCain -- indeed, we can't recall the last negative story WND wrote about him.
If "there is simply no reason for me to support McCain," as Farah claims, why isn't WND hammering him to the extent it is hammering Obama and Clinton?
For Farah to claim that "John McCain won't get any help from me" is nothing less than a lie. With WND's continual attacks on Obama and Clinton -- and its comparable kid-glove treatment of McCain -- Farah is behaving like he's on McCain's payroll.
More Dishonesty From Matt Barber Topic: CNSNews.com
Remember how professional gay-basher Matt Barber likes to spread lies and misinformation about gays? Well, here's another example.
We've previously noted the gay-bashing ("Homophobia: the rational fear that 'gay sex' will kill you!") in a Barber op-ed reprinted a couple weeks ago by CNSNews.com and WorldNetDaily. Barber also wrote:
To the consternation of "gay" activist flat-earthers and homosexual AIDS holocaust deniers everywhere, one such study, conducted by pro-"gay" researchers in Canada, was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, or IJE, in 1997.
While the medical consensus is that smoking knocks from two to 10 years off an individual's life expectancy, the IJE study found that homosexual conduct shortens the lifespan of "gays" by an astounding "8 to 20 years" – more than twice that of smoking.
"[U]nder even the most liberal assumptions," concluded the study, "gay and bisexual men in this urban centre are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871. … [L]ife expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men."
As blogger Jon Rowe points out, this study took place before newer medications for AIDS victims were introduced. Further, the authors of that IJE study issued an update in 2001:
[I]t appearsthat our research is being used by select groups in US andFinland to suggest that gay and bisexual men live an unhealthylifestyle that is destructive to themselves and to others. Thesehomophobic groups appear more interested in restricting thehuman rights of gay and bisexuals rather than promoting theirhealth and well being.
The aim of our research was never to spread more homophobia,but to demonstrate to an international audience how the lifeexpectancy of gay and bisexual men can be estimated from limitedvital statistics data.
[...]
In contrast, if we were to repeatthis analysis today the life expectancy of gay and bisexualmen would be greatly improved. Deaths from HIV infection havedeclined dramatically in this population since 1996. As we havepreviously reported there has been a threefold decrease in mortalityin Vancouver as well as in other parts of British Columbia.
This update is mentioned nowhere in Barber's op-ed. Indeed, we find nowhere on the CWA website where Barber or any other CWA official notes the 2001 update (though there are plenty of references to the original 1997 study).
Who's surprised? We're not. After all, CWA hired Barber knowing what it was getting, which makes the entire organization just as intellectually dishonest as Barber.
Meanwhile ... Topic: WorldNetDaily Ed Brayton details the lies and distortions in an April 15 WorldNetDaily article on a custody case involving lesbian parents. Add this to the long list of such falsehoods WND won't be correcting anytime soon.
Disclosure Missing In Intra-Conservative Attack Over McCarthy Topic: Accuracy in Media
When Ronald Kessler wrote an April 7 column criticizing his fellow conservatives for their revisionist history on Joe McCarthy, we wondered how his buddies would take it. Not well, it appears.
An April 29 Accuracy in Media column by Wes Vernon bashes a retooled version of Kessler's column, which appeared in the April 22 Wall Street Journal. Vernon called Kessler's claims "well wide of the mark" and an effort to "distort and beat down history." Vernon claimed at one point, "That so many wildly inaccurate assertions would appear in just this one article is breathtaking."
Missing from Vernon's column is a little disclosure: He is the former Washington correspondent for Newsmax, a job currently held by Kessler. Is there maybe a little professional jealousy at work here?
Kessler's Conversion to McCain-Fluffer Almost Complete Topic: Newsmax
Ronald Kessler is completing his transition from Romney-fluffing to McCain-fluffing. From his April 30 Newsmax column:
In contrast to its suppression of what [Rev. Jeremiah] Wright said at the press club, the Times ran a 1,397-word story over the weekend insinuating that there was something improper in the fact that the beer distributorship owned by McCain’s wife Cindy has provided his campaign with a jet plane at low cost. The story never answered the question, So what?
Given Senator John McCain’s signature stance on campaign finance reform, it was not surprising that he backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets. The law, which requires campaigns to pay charter rates when using such jets rather than cheaper first-class fares, was intended to reduce the influence of lobbyists and create a level financial playing field.
But over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.
[...]
Because that exemption remains, Mr. McCain’s campaign was able to use his wife’s corporate plane like a charter jet while paying first-class rates, several campaign finance experts said. Several of those experts, however, added that his campaign’s actions, while keeping with the letter of law, did not reflect its spirit.
The "so what?" Kessler seems to have missed: McCain's a hypocrite. He refused to follow a law he supported.
How does Kessler square his newfound sycophancy of McCain with his previoushatred of the guy? Probably because that's what he's being paid to do.
New Article: A Tale of Two Falsehoods Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah is quick to demand a retraction and apology for an incorrect claim made about him -- but WND typically takes months or even years to correct the false claims it makes, when it bothers to correct them at all. Read more >>
CNS Ignores Peter Paul's Felonious History Topic: CNSNews.com
An April 29 CNSNews.com article by Fred Lucas rehashed once more "Hollywood businessman" Peter Paul's lawsuit against the Clintons but failed to mention Paul's long felonious history. This is suprising (or maybe not), since Lucas has previously (if incompletely) noted Paul's rap sheet.
Lucas also uncritically passes along Paul's spin:
Paul has said the motivation for his lawsuit was to provide compensation for his business. However, he said he also oped the lawsuit would expose the illegal fundraising as well, which he believes law enforcement has ignored.
Lucas doesn't mention that the "business" for which he wants to provide "compensation" -- Stan Lee Media, for which Paul no longer works -- is the same one in which he orchestrated a $25 million stock-manipulation scheme, to which he pleaded guilty. Lucas also doesn't mention that another motivating factor in Paul's pursuit of his lawsuit is a desire to reduce his sentence on the stock-fraud charge.
Lucas also never asks the obvious question: If one of Paul's main motivations is to "expose the illegal fundraising," why hasn't Paul been charged with illegal fundraising? Or is his Clinton lawsuit a way to keep that from happening?
Is WND Rooting for Riots Over Book Cover? Topic: WorldNetDaily
We've previously noted that the only reason for WorldNetDaily to put an image of the prophet Muhammad on the cover of its new WND-published book "Why We Left Islam" is to be provocative (and, of course, boost sales of the book over the ensuing controversy). Indeed, WND is practically begging for Muslims to riot over the cover, and it makes the point that it's the first U.S. book to put Muhammed on the cover every chance it gets.
Could CAIR's attacks of the book and its Muhammad cover incite a violent reaction? In Muslim countries around the world, mullahs and government officials have demanded that books dealing harshly with Islam be banned and their authors condemned to death. In 2006, the infamous Danish cartoons lampooning Muhammad instigated riots.
[...]
"If Muslims rioted around the world after a Danish newspaper published a political cartoon making fun of Muhammad, what will they do in response to this book?" wonders [WND editor Joseph] Farah, himself a former Middle East correspondent of Lebanese and Syrian ancestry.
Shorter WND: Pleeeeeeze can there a violent reaction to our hatchet-job book? Pretty pleeeeeze?
An April 29 CNSNews.com article by Susan Jones regurgitates the Republican National Committee's attacks on an ad by the Democratic National Committee highlighting John McCain's statement that the U.S. needs to maintain a military presence in Iraq for "maybe a hundred" years. Jones not only fails to give the DNC an opportunity to respond to the attack, she also ignores that McCain has flip-flopped on the idea of a military presence in Iraq based on its presence in Korea.
After repeating McCain's statement from the New Hampshire town hall meeting from which his "maybe a hundred" statement claim that "we've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so," Jones adds, "McCain repeatedly has clarified that he does not foresee 100 years of U.S. combat in Iraq -- just a lengthy post-war troop presence."
In fact, on the Nov. 27, 2007, edition of PBS' "Charlie Rose," McCain was asked by Rose if South Korea "is an analogy of where Iraq might be ... in terms of an American presence over the next, say, 20, 25 years, that we will have a significant amount of troops there." McCain replied, "I don't think so." Rose then asked: "Even if there are no casualties?" McCain replied, "No. But I can see an American presence for a while. But eventually I think because of the nature of the society in Iraq and the religious aspects of it that America eventually withdraws."
Isn't that flip-flop newsworthy to Jones and CNS? Doesn't that, as well as the DNC's response to the RNC's complaints that Jones failed to obtain, fall under CNS' stated mission to "fairly present all legitimate sides of a story"? Regurgitating press releases is a pretty sure sign that you're not.
An April 29 WorldNetDaily article touts WND founder Joseph Farah's appearance at the Southern California Strategic Perspectives Conference in May. It also touts the appearance of other speakers, including Walid Shoebat, who it described as having "participated in acts of terror and violence against Israel" and led a "life of violence and rioting in Bethlehem and the Temple Mount" before "realiz[ing] that everything he had been taught about Jews was a lie."
The article makes no mention of the growingcontroversy surrounding Shoebat's claims to have been a terrorist -- even his own relatives doubt the claim. Shoebat has even bizarrely threatened libel lawsuits against those who report that he wasn't a terrorist.
That's particularly ironic, because the theme of Farah's talk at the conference is "What the 'news' is not telling you."
WND Still Won't Report Homeschoolers' History of Abuse Topic: WorldNetDaily
An April 29 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh on the California homeschooling court case controversy stepped gingerly once again around the issue of the dysfunctional family at the center of the case.
Unruh stated only that "The original opinion arose from a dependency case brought in juvenile court." But as we've documented, Unruh and WND have long refused to tell readers the details of the family at the center of the case -- specifically, that the father has a long history of abusing his children while the mother stood passively by, as documented by the dependency court. Further, the dependency court has documented the shoddy home education the parents were providing the children.
Given WND's longtime salaciousness toward sexual matters in public schools, its squeamishness about delving into the sordid details here is a little odd. But as we've previously noted, Unruh and WND are apparently willing to condone child abuse in the name of protecting homeschooling from its perceived enemies.
Trippany Pleased That BBC Echoes Conservative Smears of Hillary Topic: NewsBusters
An April 29 NewsBusters post by Terry Trippany states: "The mainstream media types appear to have turned on Hillary Clinton as of late, with the BBC likening her to the knife wielding Alex Forest played by Glen Close in the 1987 movie Fatal Attraction." Trippany then called the smear a "breakthrough."
What Trippany doesn't mention is that the "Fatal Attraction" smear of Hillary originiated on her side of the aisle, with conservative Monica Crowley and conservative-leaning Andrew Sullivan both peddling it earlier this year. So why shouldn't she be happy that the smear has migrated to a wider audience?
We suspect that Trippany is absolutely ecstatic that an NPR reporter also joined in repeating the smear.
Farah Sorta Defends Polygamist Cult -- Again Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah's quasi-defense of the polygamist cult in Texas continues in his April 29 column, in which he again tries to change the subject from sex crimes to government overreach.
While insisting that "I don't approve of this cult. I don't approve of polygamy. I don't approve of child brides," Farah again seems willing to condone it all, claiming, "The chances are very good there would be more evidence of child sexual abuse in government schools than has been produced at the Yearning for Zion Ranch." He listed such benign evidence previously made public about the cult, such as "disturbed bed linens" and "12 of the kids have chicken pox" without mentioning a story on WND's own front page: that 31 of the 53 teenage girls in the cult that the state took into custody either have been or currently are pregnant.
Farah then rattles off some statistics:
According to the experts, 62 percent of girls are sexually abused by the age of 18 – outside the YFZ Ranch.
According to the experts, 31 percent of boys are sexually abused by the age of 18 – outside the YFZ Ranch.
According to the experts, most rape victims are under 12 years old – outside the YFZ Ranch.
Huh? Who are these "experts" Farah is citing? He doesn't say. Perhaps because they don't exist.
According to the National Institute of Justice, one out of three females and one out of five males have been victims of sexual abuse before the age of 18 years; among females, almost 30 percent of all forcible rapes occur before the age of 11 years. All of these numbers are much lower than the ones from Farah's "experts."
Farah claims to "believe in the rule of law" and not to "approve of polygamy." But polygamy is against the law in all U.S. states. Therefore, on that count alone he should be applauding the breakup of a polygamist cult. But he's not.
Why? As we previously theorized, Farah is willing to condone the abuse of the cult's children to prove a larger point about parental rights, just as he has turned a blind eye to the abused children in the California family at the center of a homeschooling lawsuit WND has turned into a cause celebre.
Which is to say, he doesn't actually believe in the rule of law after all.