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Monday, April 5, 2010
WND Ignores Gary Kreep's PAC Scam
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily loves Gary Kreep -- after all he's a birther lawyer who hates President Obama. Which is exacly why you will not see WND report on the fund-raising scam that is Kreep's political action committee.

Kreep heads the Republican Majority Campaign, which claims to have a goal "to elect an enduring Republican majority that will leave to future generations a stronger and more prosperous America" -- and which works out of the offices of Kreep's United States Justice Foundation. A few weeks ago, TPM Muckraker reported that while the Republican Majority Campaign, spent nearly all of the $1.7 million it raked in from conservative donors last year, less than 2 percent of that money went toward supporting candidates or independent political spending. Much of the money went to a murky Arizona telemarketing firm that has been linked to questionable PAC activities in the past.The PAC's main activity is soliciting donations to send faxes to Washington, an activity a campaign funding expert quoted by TPM Muckraker describes as legitimate but virtually worthless.

Kreep himself raked in about $60,000 from the group in 2009 for provinding "legal services."

Unsurprisingly, WND has not told its readers about the scam-like nature of Kreep's PAC. Instead, in the past month WND has reported on Kreep's latest birther-related activities and touted an ad attacking Sen. Harry Reid that Kreep's group issued. WND also promoted accusations by Kreep that allegations that two politicians were purportedly "offered jobs in return for dropping out of political races that challenge two U.S. Senate supporters of President Obama."

One more thing that WND won't mention in its role as Kreep's PR agent: Kreep and his USJF have previously represented WND in court, most notably in the Clark Jones lawsuit that WND ultimately settled out of court to avoid losing in the courtroom. Such non-disclosure is a violation of journalistic ethics that WND all too frequently engages in.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:50 AM EDT
NewsBusters Runs to Erickson's Defense
Topic: NewsBusters

Jeff Poor spent an April 2 NewsBusters post defending right-wing commentator Erick Erickson, who he claims is the victim of a "witch hunt" by "left-wingers." Poor complains that the Politico, in writing a story about Erickson, is "taking news tips from left-wing storefronts that have staked out RedState.com founder Erick Erickson's Macon, Ga. radio show on Newstalk 940 WMAC, to capture any sort of gotcha moment to embarrass Erickson. And all of this seems to have been spurred on by CNN's announcement last month that Erickson would be a network contributor."

The "left-wing storefront" term is a reference to Media Matters, which captured Erickson saying on his radio show saying that if a census worker demands that he fill out the long-form American Community Survey, he will "[p]ull out my wife's shotgun and see how that little ACS twerp likes being scared at the door." And the act of monitoring someone's radio show for "gotcha moments" is exactly how Poor's employer -- the Media Research Center, which is a right-wing storefront -- operates, so what is he complaining about?

Poor uncritically relayed Erickson's defense that his statement is being "misconstrued," though Poor doesn't explain exactly what is being misconstrued given the straightfoward clarity of Erickson's statement.

Poor also complained that the Politico "something of continuation of behavior" in Erickson's statement, "which Erickson has since apologized for on CNN's March 28 'Reliable Sources.'" Poor doesn't explain why anyone should take Erickson's apology for past statements (like calling retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter a "goat f***ing child molester") at face value, since 1) Erickson's continued employment by CNN likely hinged on the apology, and 2) Poor and his employer would never treat a similar apology from a liberal that way.

Poor then unsurprisingly launches into a double-standard complaint regarding liberal personalities. Of course, as an MRC employee Poor is pretty much the last person who should complain about double standards given the MRC's refusal to denounce the frequent anal sex references by Rush Limbaugh while criticizing others who make them.


Posted by Terry K. at 12:04 AM EDT
Sunday, April 4, 2010
WND Still Whitewashing Minutemen Extremism
Topic: WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily has a long history of whitewashing the extremist aspects of anti-immigration border patrol groups like the Minutemen. It does so again in a March 23 article by Drew Zahn on the dissolution of one of those groups, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps .

Zahn regurgitated the group's line that it was dissolving because it was "concerned that Americans have grown so angry over illegal immigration and border drug wars that violence may soon erupt." Zahn uncritically quotes group leader Carmen Mercer as saying, "This organization has grown too big for its own good; or rather, the problem has grown too big and serious for us to manage. I predict soon the violence will spill over the border (it already is) and I predict Americans, on their own, will lock, load and do what the feckless cowards in Washington refuse to do."

Zahn doesn't mention the fact that Mercer herself is responsible for encouraging some of that -- or that the backlash from it was a prime motivator for dissolving the MCDC.

As TPM Muckraker reported, Mercer sent out an email to MCDC members on March 16 -- a week before Zahn's article appeared -- in which she urged group members to come to the border "locked, loaded and ready." She added: "You are strongly encouraged to exercise your rights and duty as an American citizen to carry a long arm and if challenged use it to defend the United States of America."  Acording to the Arizona Daily Star, Mercer "received a more feverish response than she expected and decided the group couldn't shoulder the responsibility and liability of what could occur.

Zahn should have known about Mercer's remarks in writing his story. If he didn't he's a bad reporter. If he did and he chose not to report them, he's a dishonest one. Either way, he's a perfect WND employee.


Posted by Terry K. at 11:02 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, April 5, 2010 1:23 PM EDT
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily

To atone for his radicalism, Rev. Wright ended his sermon with the ubiquitous three points: 1) You are not alone; 2) God is at work on your behalf; and 3) You have nothing to be afraid of.

But of course, dear reader, America has quite a lot to be afraid of due to the shameful complicity and political cover up the liberal media provided Obama and his mentors, like Frank Marshall Davis, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn and Jeremiah Wright. We did not so much vote for a candidate in November 2008, but America voted for a revolution, a revolutionary hell-bent on deconstructing all that is good, honorable and patriotic; a fascist seeking to destroy America from within so as to remake this wonderful country into his own Marxist image.

[...]

If the Rev. Jeremiah Wright can proudly and repeatedly say, "God damn America" in a 2003 sermon while Barack and Michelle Obama likely sat applauding in the congregation, perhaps America will emphatically say, "God damn Barack Obama" in the presidential election of 2012.

-- Ellis Washington, April 3 WorldNetDaily column


Posted by Terry K. at 9:39 AM EDT
Saturday, April 3, 2010
For Sheppard, Anti-Obama Coverage Is 'Fair And Balanced'
Topic: NewsBusters

Noel Sheppard wrote in an April 2 NewsBusters post that the Orlando Sentinel "marvelously offered a fair and balanced report" on Jack Cassell, a Florida doctor who has declared that he will not treat people who voted for Barack Obama. But later in his post, Sheppard called this "an anti-Obama news report."

The fact that Sheppard considers "anti-Obama" news reports to be "fair and balanced" says pretty much all youneed to know about the research methods of NewsBusters and the Media Research Center.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:15 PM EDT
Cliff Kincaid's 'Homosexual Problem'
Topic: Accuracy in Media

Cliff Kincaid ratchets up his already prodigious hatred of gays in an April 2 Accuracy In Media "AIM Report."

In a section rehashing his previous paranoia about the "gay infiltration of the conservative movement," Kincaid once again defended "the Christian-dominated government in Uganda," which is "trying to prevent the spread of AIDS and protect traditional moral values by toughening laws against homosexuality" -- a contention we've debunked. Kincaid bizarrely added: "Under these "gay conservatives," if in power, one can imagine gay soldiers being deployed to overthrow 'homophobic' regimes."

In another section of the report, Kincaid again railed against "the gay infiltration of CPAC," then writes:

GETTING BACK TO THE HOMOSEXUAL PROBLEM, HOWEVER, IT IS VERY WORTHWHILE TO point out that the eminent historian Paul Johnson has something very important to say about this. His book The Quest for God laments that Western society made a huge mistake by decriminalizing homosexuality and thinking that acceptance of the lifestyle on a basic level would satisfy its practitioners. Instead, he wrote, "Decriminalization made it possible for homosexuals to organize openly into a powerful lobby, and it thus became a mere platform from which further demands were launched." It became, he says, a "monster in our midst, powerful and clamoring, flexing its muscles, threatening, vengeful and vindictive towards anyone who challenges its outrageous claims, and bent on making fundamental-and to most of us horrifying-changes to civilized patterns of sexual behavior." Today, this monster makes even more demands and inroads, especially into our government, as President Obama appoints subversives such as homosexual activist Kevin Jennings to the Education Department, and some poor mixed-up "transgendered" person to a post at Commerce. Plus, adding to our health care problems, he has lifted the ban on AIDS-infected foreigners from traveling to and living in the U.S. His gays-in-the-military proposal would not only make the Armed Forces a laughingstock but would end its value as a fighting force capable of defending us against foreign threats. Indeed, a homosexualized military could itself become a threat.

It seems that as much as Kincaid denies  that the proposed Uganda law would kill gays, he secretly likes the idea of such a solution to the "homosexual problem."

Kincaid concludes by invoking anti-gay hatemonger Scott Lively as a credible source on "how the Nazi party began as a private homosexual military force," suggesting the same thing will happen under the U.S. military if don't ask, don't tell is repealed. In fact, Lively's writing on gays and Nazis have been discredited; as Warren Throckmorton points out, it's an exercise in revisionism that takes "massive leaps of logic and fact ... to make National Socialism an invention of a cohesive homosexual plot."

The only one here with a "homosexual problem" is Kincaid.


Posted by Terry K. at 10:57 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, April 3, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
Ralph Peters Rants Against A Non-Existent Threat
Topic: Horowitz

Ralph Peters served up a special brand of crazy in an April 2 FrontPageMag article, ranting against giving "illegals" voting rights -- something nobody has proposed to do -- and illustrated with a picture of heavily tattooed gang members as an apparent illustration of the "illegals" who would purportedly be given those voting rights.

We have more at Media Matters.


Posted by Terry K. at 9:43 AM EDT
Friday, April 2, 2010
Keyes Tries to Decouple Citizenship, Eligibility Wings of Birtherism
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Alan Keyes writes in his April 2 WorldNetDaily column:

Obama pairs those concerned that he is a socialist with others, who he says (speaking with purposely deceitful inaccuracy) "question whether he is a citizen." Yet when accurately stated and understood, the real issue is not whether he is a citizen, but whether, in accordance with the terms of the U.S. Constitution, he is or ever could be president of the United States.

Keyes thus joins his WND boss, Joseph Farah, in deceitfully trying to change the language of birtherism by trying to decouple citizenship from eligibility. The problem, of course, is that claims that Obama is not an American citizen remain central to the issue, even in WND's own reporting.

It seems that by attempting to change the birther nomenclature Keyes, like Farah, is apparently conceding that Obama was born in the U.S.

Like Farah, Keyes has a little empire going, of which birtherism is a part -- on the front page of his Loyal to Liberty website, Keyes touts his appearance in WND's (falsehood-laden) birther video. Does Keyes have the integrity to tell the truth about what he truly believes, or will he hold back lest his empire get thrown into financial jeopardy?


Posted by Terry K. at 8:56 PM EDT
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily

In spite of all the mean, though true, things I say about Obama, I can't help feeling sorry for him. After all, his Kenyan father deserted him when he was just a baby. Then, because that had worked out so well, Obama's ditzy mother then married a Muslim and moved to Indonesia. Eventually, Obama and his mother were deserted by his stepfather, which led to Obama's mother dumping 10-year-old Obama on his white grandparents in Hawaii. It was there that young Barack took up basketball, marijuana and cocaine, while seeking out radicals, revolutionaries and Communists as pals and mentors.

The truth is, with that kind of dysfunctional background, Barack Obama could easily have turned out to be a serial killer. Still, one can't help thinking that if only he had, today he'd probably be in prison, instead of the Oval Office, and none of us would have to worry about what awful thing he's going to do next.

-- Burt Prelutsky, April 2 WorldNetDaily column

But if BHO truly has his mind set on establishing a dictatorship – and it is my personal belief that he does – it's too risky for him to wait for a runaway inflation as an excuse to call a state of emergency. He knows that as long as there is a semblance of a free market in place, producers will continue to push back against the economy-killing effects of his policies.

Thus, he needs another excuse to declare a state of emergency. In previous articles, I've mentioned a nuke exchange between Iran and Israel as one possibility. Another is civil unrest due to unemployment rates that could reach 25 percent or more in the not-too-distant future.

These and others still remain possibilities, but last week Glenn Beck came up with one that may be even more likely. Beck believes that Obama will continue to keep the accelerator pressed to the floor – amnesty for illegal immigrants, a cap-and-trade bill that will eliminate the U.S. as a global business competitor, and more – thus enraging an already angry public to the point of revolution.

In other words, purposely foment "civil unrest" rather than wait for something like unemployment or runaway inflation to make it happen. As Beck puts it, just continue to poke people in the eye, then use their predictable and justifiable backlash as an excuse to establish dictatorial powers.

I thought about this issue while attending the recent tea party outside the Capitol building in Washington. As I crossed Independence Avenue, I noted a somber-looking guard holding a Rambo-style weapon in his hands. I have no idea what it was, but there's no question in my mind that just one pull of the trigger could have rearranged the body parts of a large number of tea-party people.

[...]

Yep, I believe Glenn Beck might be on to something. But if the American public refuses to take the bait and doesn't resort to violence, BHO will have to go to Plan B to have an excuse to declare a state of emergency.

Having said all this, don't despair. No one, including myself, can predict the future with certainty. In a rapidly changing world, nothing is certain - which is why I don't make predictions; I just lay odds. And here are my odds based on what I know and see today:

  • The chances of a declared state of emergency and ensuing dictatorship prior to the 2010 elections: 25 percent

  • The chances of a declared state of emergency and ensuing dictatorship prior to the 2012 elections: 50 percent

  • The chances of the Republicans cutting back on major entitlements if they regain power in the 2010 elections: zero

  • The chances of the Republicans cutting back on major entitlements if they win the presidency and an overwhelming majority in Congress in 2012: 5 percent

Of course, I could be wrong about all this ... but what if I'm right?

-- Robert Ringer, April 2 worldNetDaily column


Posted by Terry K. at 4:06 PM EDT
More Anonymous Attacks From Aaron Klein
Topic: WorldNetDaily

A March 31 WorldNetDaily article keeps up Aaron Klein's long record of hiding behind anonymous sources to attack President Obama, this time claiming that "The Obama administration has encouraged "resistance" by Palestinians to protest Israel's presence in eastern Jerusalem" but citing only "a senior Palestinian Authority official" who spoke "on condition of anonymity."

We have more at Media Matters.


Posted by Terry K. at 12:00 PM EDT
CNS Attack on Obama Overtaken By Events
Topic: CNSNews.com

CNSNews.com thought they had it all worked out.

When it tried but failed to get an answer from the White House about whether President Obama would stop to view flooding in Rhode Island during a trip to Massachusetts for a Democratic fundraiser, it posted an April 1 article by Penny Starr and Fred Lucas in an attempt to paint Obama as insensitive:

President Barack Obama was scheduled to fly past flood-ravaged Rhode Island aboard Air Force One twice on Thursday as he traveled to Maine to give an afternoon speech lauding his health care bill, then to Boston for an evening fundraiser for the Democratic Party, and then back to Washington, D.C. late Thursday night.

Spokespersons for the Obama administration did not respond to CNSNews.com’s questions about the disaster, including why the president didn’t visit R.I., if he planned to do so in the near future and whether he could survey any of the extensive destruction caused by what the state’s governor is calling the worse flooding in 200 years.
 
Neither White House spokesman Nick Shapiro nor White House press office staffer Mora Mack responded to the questions asked via repeated e-mails.

[...]

In his speech in Maine, Obama did not mention the hardship faced by many of Rhode Island’s 1 million residents, but he did claim his health care law will help “struggling” small business owners “here in Maine and across America.”  

Their smear, it turns out, was a bit rushed. When Obama did, in fact, visit Rhode Island, CNS hurriedly added an editor's note to the article:

(Editor's note: Businessweek.com reported at 5:34PM EDT that President Obama had made an unannounced visit to Framingham, Mass., to discuss the flooding in New England with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.) 

Oops. Perhaps CNS shouldn't be so eager to smear.

Then again, CNS was able to keep another smear alive. Another April 1 article by Starr complained that FEMA administrator Craig Fugate "was in sunny Orlando, Fla., giving a speech" instead of going to Rhode Island. Starr did not explain what Fugate should be doing in Rhode Island, or why he must go to Rhode Island to do it instead of directing any needed federal operations from Florida.


Posted by Terry K. at 8:20 AM EDT
Erik Rush Derangement Syndrome Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Although he wasn't of the raggedy variety, Barack Obama's black nationalist-cum-Marxist worldview and his overview of America was the same as those urban communists I encountered in my youth, those of the same stripe as Van Jones and William Ayers. They -- like countless other uber-leftists who were insinuating themselves into the power structure at that time -- despised more or less everything about America, save for the opportunities it presented them personally. Obama, like his academic mentors and peers, pursued his education with an eye on power, taking advantage of metastasizing liberal ideals and newly initiated preferential policies.

In the "perfect storm" of a press saturated with insipid leftists, popular disgust with a politically enfeebled, free-spending Republican president, and a benefactor with almost bottomless pockets (in financier George Soros), this nebbish was able to capture the presidency. Surreal, but true.

I have previously discussed the phenomenon of the left having advanced a distorted vision of black Americans -- what I refer to as negrophilia -- which contributed to Obama's election to no mean degree. Add to this the depth of ignorance in which black Americans continue to be mired, wherein they continue to believe that opportunists like Sharpton and Obama are their benefactors, while conservatives and Republicans are demons from the foulest depths of hell. Millions remain unaware that one of the platforms upon which the Republican Party was formed and first ran was the abolition of slavery, and that the GOP also promoted the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which the Democrats filibustered. After its passage, segregationists in the Democratic Party co-opted the civil rights agenda and enrolled black Americans in the culture of dependency, ostensibly as "restitution" for their suffering.

When the left insinuated itself into the Democratic Party, they had a perfect model for the entitlement culture already in place, which they have attempted to expand to as many Americans as possible. Since the Civil Rights Movement, Democrats have propagandized and hampered black Americans, plying their leaders with a seat at the table, while they keep blacks stretched over a barrel with their cheeks spread.

One might say that the slave owners hijacked the Underground Railroad.

Now, black Americans are prepared to protect their oppressors and fight all comers in their defense, tooth and nail, blissfully unaware that their friends are their enemies, and their enemies would be their friends.

-- Erik Rush, April 1 WorldNetDaily column


Posted by Terry K. at 12:11 AM EDT
Thursday, April 1, 2010
We're Inciting Civil Unrest!
Topic: Capital Research Center

The Capital Research Center's Matthew Vadum takes to NewsReal to drop this bit of BREAKING NEWS:

Of course, the left, and in particular the George Soros-led character assassins at Media Matters for America (I mean you, Jamison Foser, Eric Boehlert, and Terry Krepel) are largely responsible for the civil unrest that is growing across America. Anyone who supported ObamaCare is responsible for the tide of discontent that now threatens to tear the nation apart.

And take notice, MoveOn, Jamison, Eric, and Terry, that the American people will not silenced.

This was posted March 31, so Vadum apparently does not mean this as an April fool. 

Before we take credit for being "largely responsible for the civil unrest that is growing across America," it's worth noting that I have one other thing in common with Messrs. Foser and Boehlert besides being Media Matters employees: We have all called Vadum out on his embarrassing, falsehood-laden rants.

Isn't it interesting that Vadum thinks people who have caught him saying stupid things are somehow more dangerous to the country than people who are, you know, actually committing civil unrest?


Posted by Terry K. at 8:57 PM EDT
WND, CNS Tout AAPS Lawsuit, Hide Group's Extremism
Topic: CNSNews.com

Both WorldNetDaily and CNSNews.com have promoted the lawsuit filed by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons against the federal government to overturn the health care reform law. Not only do WND and CNS fail to mention AAPS' right-wing political leanings, they also ignore its more controversial and extremist views, from Vince Foster conspiracies to defending a doctor who prescribed massive amounts of painkillers to patients, who would then abuse or resell the pills.

Further, the doctor who sent around a racist image depicting President Obama as a witch doctor to his fellow "tea party" activists, David McKalip, is a prominent AAPS supporter.


Posted by Terry K. at 5:22 PM EDT
Another Aaron Klein Hit Job
Topic: WorldNetDaily

A March 29 WorldNetDaily article keeps up his increasingly inaccurate witch hunt against Obama administration officials by smearing Donald Berwick, Obama's reported pick to run Medicare and Medicaid, as someone who "has argued for a 'radical transfer of power' in the health industry and claimed patients' quality of  care in the U.S. medical system is currently measured by the 'color of their skin.'"

Somehow, Klein couldn't find room to tell his readers the full truth about Berwick and his claim -- that life expectancy is, in fact, lower for blacks in the U.S. than for whites, and that even Republican Sen. Tom Coburn thinks Berwick is "more than qualified" for the position.

Klein is just one of the many reasons WND is little more than a journalistic joke.


Posted by Terry K. at 2:29 PM EDT

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