For WND's Klein, Obama-Hate Doesn't Take A Holiday Topic: WorldNetDaily
Aaron Klein is so filled with hatred for Barack Obama that he not only penned a book filled with specious guilt-by-association attacks, he took time out of his holiday weekend to spew a even-more-desperate-than-usual Obama smear. A May 31 WND article by Klein begins:
The group behind the Gaza flotilla that engaged in deadly clashes with Israeli commandos today counts among its top supporters the friends and associates of President Barack Obama, namely the founders of the Weather Underground terrorist organization, William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, as well as Jodie Evans, the leader of the radical activist organization Code Pink.
[...]
Ayers and Dohrn were close associates for years with President Obama, while Evans was a fundraiser and financial bundler for Obama's presidential campaign.
Klein is simply lying to your face. Ayers and Dohrn are not, and never were, "close associates" of Obama, no matter how many times Klein says it.
Klein's attempt to directly link Obama to Evans is even more specious -- he claims she was"a fundraiser and financial bundler for Obama's presidential campaign," but in fact, as Media Matters details, all Evans apparently did is pay $30,400 for tickets to a VIP dinner where she talked to him for a few minutes.
Klein manages to be even sleazier than his attacks on Elena Kagan. But such sleaze is what WND is paying for.
WND's Washington Rants Against 'Liberal-Fascist Axis' Topic: WorldNetDaily
EllisWashington has been reading too much Jonah Goldberg and watching too much Glenn Beck.
Washington's May 29 WorldNetDaily column is a screed about "the Liberal-Fascist Axis," echoing Jonah Goldberg's faultytome "Liberal Fascism." Like Goldberg and Beck, Washington focuses on George Bernard Shaw's apparent embrace of fascism, as if this was relevant to today. Indeed, nothing in Washington's column is terribly relevant, and his final paragraph is merely a tacked-on attempt to make it so:
America, for over 100 years we have been in the midst of a radical progressive revolution. The progressive movement is the apotheosis of the Liberal-Fascist Axis. President Obama and his legions of socialists are openly fascist in their politics, policies and worldview. They will never stop in their efforts to weaken or destroy Christianity and capitalism and to bring America to her knees before the international community – until they either succeed, or until We the People say "enough!" rise up in righteous indignation and vote this Manchurian president out of office in 2012.
Washington offers no evidence that Obama is "openly fascist" or is out to "weaken or destroy Christianity and capitalism." It's just a lazy attack -- just as lazy as Washington's failure to recognize, much less condemn, the fascist leanings of his idol, Michael Savage.
(Speaking of which: How come Washington is no longer calling himself "authorized biographer for the conservative intellectual Dr. Michael Savage"?)
WND's Unruh Again Misleads About Pelosi Flights Topic: WorldNetDaily
A MAy 27 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Urnuh uncritically repeats misleading claims by the right-wing Judicial Watch about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's airplane flights:
For example, a receipt for "in-flight services" for the House speaker included a list that looked like a dream order for a wild frat party: Maker's Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey's Irish Crème, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey and Corona beer.
It was only part of the more than $101,000 taxpayers paid for "in-flight services" for Pelosi's trips on Air Force jets over a two-year period, the Judicial Watch report said.
[...]
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Judicial Watch, which investigates and prosecutes government corruption, show Pelosi incurred expenses of some $2.1 million for her use of Air Force jets for travel over a recent two-year period.
"Speaker Pelosi has a history of wasting taxpayer funds with her boorish demands for military travel," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said at the time his organization's report came out. "And these documents suggest the speaker's congressional delegations are more about partying than anything else."
Pelosi recently joined President Obama on a Judicial Watch list of Top 10 corrupt politicians because of her "sense of entitlement," the group said.
In fact, the Judicial Watch report obscures the fact that many of those Pelosi-related flights were not solely for flights involving herself or her family but, in fact, congressional delegations organized by Pelosi's office. Unruh joined in the obscuring; it's not until the end of the article that he makes it clear that these are CODELs and not personal trips by Pelosi.
Unruh similarly obscured the facts when Judicial Watch first released its attack on Pelosi in January.
Meanwhile ... Topic: Newsmax
Have you ever wondered what Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy's daily media diet is? The Atlantic Wire has the answer. Shocker: He reads a lot of conservative newspapers and websites!
In a May 29 NewsBusters post, Noel Sheppard claimed it was "an absolutely astounding thing" that Chris Matthews would endorse a clip of Rush Limbaugh "lampooning former President Bill Clinton." Sheppard adds: "But what got into the Hardballer not only offering praise to a man that he routinely expresses contempt for, but also doing so when the object of his disaffection is mocking Bill Clinton? Shocking to say the least."
As with many things Sheppard has expressed shock over, this is not shocking at all. As we've detailed, Matthews regularly bashed Clinton when he was president -- and Sheppard's MRC bosses loved every minute of it. But when Matthews applied that same sort of scrutiny to President Bush, the MRC no longer wanted anything to do with him (even though Matthews also favorably likened Bush to Atticus Finch and Winston Churchill and also claimed that he sometimes "glimmers" with a "kind of sunny nobility."
The CMI's Gay-Counters Topic: Media Research Center
Richard Nixon had his Jew-counters. The MRC's Culture & Media Institute has its gay-counters.
We've previously noted CMI's obsession with quantifying the Washington Post's coverage of gay-related issues; for instance, it used a very narrow definition to declare that the Post "[q]uoted supporters 10 times more often than opponents" on the subject of gay marriage. That obsession continues in a May 27 article by Alana Goodman:
In an effort to remain politically correct, The Washington Post has bungled the coverage of two major murder cases in Washington, D.C. – all because of a squeamish editorial policy regarding when it’s appropriate to mention an individual’s homosexuality in a news story.
Just weeks after coming under fire for hiding slain principal Brian Betts’ sexual orientation from readers, the Post has been caught similarly downplaying or ignoring the fact that the three defendants in the Robert Wone murder cover-up trial are gay.
Since Wone’s murder in August, 2006, more than half of the Washington Post’s articles and columns on the case – 61 percent (22 out of 36) – have neglected to mention the sexuality of the accused parties.
Many of the Post articles on the case refer to defendants Joseph Price, Dylan Ward, and Victor Zaborsky as simply “housemates.” In fact, the three were engaged in a romantic polyamorous relationship when their friend Robert Wone was stabbed to death one night at their Dupont Circle home.
While it may be irrelevant to many news stories, it is impossible to fully understand the Wone case without information on the sexual orientation of the three defendants. It establishes the prosecution’s main argument: that Price, Ward and Jaborsky were intimate, romantically linked lovers who would protect each other at any cost – even if that meant covering up their friend’s murder.
Goodman also references CMI's previous gay-counting efforts, huffing that "the Post extensively covered the legalization of gay marriage in D.C., with some critics referring to the paper’s coverage as celebratory."
Of course, under the same argument or relevance, it would be equally essential for Goodman and CMI to fully and factually states their hatred for gays in every gay-related story they publish -- but then, it is pretty self-evident.
Kincaid Spews More Anti-Gay Hate Topic: Accuracy in Media
Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid expands on his most recent anti-gay tirade focusing on repeal of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy with a May 27 column -- with the inflammatory headline "Saving Soldiers from Gay Death" -- insisting that there is "substantial evidence that admission of open and active homosexuals would put our troops in further danger through exposure to tainted blood."
The Pentagon understands that 19,000 soldiers already have HIV/AIDS and that some — if not most — came down with the deadly disease through prohibited gay sexual conduct. It is common sense that opening the ranks to open and active homosexuals would only increase this problem.
Here’s another critical fact that a comprehensive review would disclose –there is no blood test that can be guaranteed to screen HIV and other deadly diseases out of the blood supply once the gay males, who are currently prohibited from donating blood, are welcomed into the services.
Kinacid seems to be assuming that all gay men who acknowledge that they're gay are all automatically graced with HIV.
Kincaid also engages in personal attacks on anyone he perceives as supporting DADT repeal. Wriing that "The Washington Post has editorialized in favor of a quick congressional vote" on DADT, Kincaid claims that "One of the Post’s leading editorial writers, Jonathan Capehart, is a homosexual activist who used to cover gay sex clubs."
As we've detailed, Kincaid's hatred of gays is more than a little pathological, to the point of endorsing a proposed Kenyan law that would provide for the death penalty for merely being gay.
Also, here's the picture accompanying the promotion of Kincaid's column on AIM's front page:
One has to wonder about the kind of secret homoerotic fantasies Kincaid engages in that would make him choose that photo.
CNS Falsely Claims Kagan Stopped Harvard From 'Requiring' Constitutional Law Topic: CNSNews.com
A May 28 CNSNews.com article by Pete Winn claims that as head of Harvard Law School, Elena Kagan "moved the nation’s premier law school away from requiring the study of U.S. constitutional law towards the study of the laws of foreign nations and international law." Winn uncritically quoted Robert Alt, senior legal fellow and deputy director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation, saying, "My understanding is that she instituted three new courses to the required curriculum and, in so doing, got rid of a requirement to take constitutional law."
In fact, as Media Matters reports, constitutional law was never a requirement in the first place, and the new curriculum did not come at the expense of constitutional law:
In fact, the curriculum changes Kagan instituted as dean, which were unanimously approved by the Harvard Law School faculty, added "new first-year courses in international and comparative law, legislation and regulation, and complex problem solving" and condensed the "traditional first-year curriculum (contracts, torts, civil procedure, criminal law, and property)."
Kagan didn't "drop" or "replace" con-law, it wasn't required in the first place. Prior to her deanship - in 2001 and 2002, for example - a constitutional law class was not required. Harvard Law JD degree requirements included "required [first-year] courses in Criminal Law, Contracts, Civil Procedure, Torts, and Property," "Legal Reasoning and Argument (LRA)," "a first-year elective course; a course in professional responsibility; fifty-two credits in second- and third-year elective courses; and a satisfactory piece of written work." As is the case now, courses in both the second and third year were all elective.
Furthermore, Kagan's addition of a 1L "Legislation and Regulation" requirement, was designed, in part, to "naturally lead into, and enable students to get more out of, advanced courses in the 2L and 3L years, on legislation, administrative law, a wide range of regulatory subjects (e.g., environmental law, securities law, telecommunications law), and constitutional law."
Oops.
The original headline of Winn's article got it wrong as well, claiming, "As Dean, Elena Kagan Moved Harvard Away From Requiring Law Students to Study Constitutional Law." The headline now reads, "As Harvard Law Dean, Kagan Did Not Require Study of U.S. Constitutional Law But Did Require Study of International and Foreign Law" -- no longer outright false but still misleading, since there was never such a constitutional law requirement.
WorldNetDaily vs. WorldNetDaily Topic: WorldNetDaily
In his book "The Manchurian President," WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein writes that there is "no convincing evidence that [Barack] Obama was born in Kenya." Yet WND has repeatedly suggested that Obama was born in Kenya and even promoted a fraudulent "Kenyan birth certificate" for Obama.
But despite that deviation, Klein closely adheres to WND birther doctrine on other "eligibility" issues.
The third rationale is a much more sinister raison d'être: Obama and his Marxist minions rely on crises; they would like nothing more than to see civil unrest break out along our southern border. The radicalization of young Americans of Mexican descent by the radical left, the ongoing tolerance of radical activists, educators and politicians and a press that does nothing but exacerbate the situation is a recipe for civil unrest.
Between the cultural balkanization that has taken place and the frustration of border-state residents who realize they've been sold out by a complicit government, pockets of violence could very well erupt, and soon. This will intensify the cries of racism from far-left activists, amplify anger on the part of border-state residents, and the hostilities would likely snowball.
If this happens, the federal government will be "compelled" to intercede to keep the peace – just as the government of the Soviet Union wound up doing for 70 years in Eastern Europe.
[...]
As President Obama delivered his florid commencement speech before the graduating class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point last week, it occurred to me that our president is sort of a hip, black Svengali. Don't listen! I wanted to yell, lest all who heard might become transfixed, and finally, irreversibly hypnotized.
And how amusing, I thought. … The lifelong communist who managed to ascend to the presidency of the United States, advising the graduating class of a military academy that America had "outlasted communism." A calculatedly disarming maneuver, or simply reinforcement of the Obama mythos that he is still the emissary of long-awaited hope and change?
While some Americans remain mesmerized, and many are still at risk, remember that these numbers are dwindling. The number of those who are dedicatedly working to break the spell and reverse the damage increases daily.
Simple Answers to Simple Questions Topic: NewsBusters
Media Matters' Simon Maloy asks the important question, "Is Tim Graham really this stupid?"
Given that the issue involved is Graham is scowling in a NewsBusters post about Michelle Obama liking a Washington restaurant despite the fact that Bill Ayers appeared there once -- as if a person's presence in the restaurant somehow bespoils the food being served -- the answer is, apparently, yes.
For the last year, Fox News host Glenn Beck has used his mega-platform to warn that our president is deeply tied to and backed by a fringe, anti-American extremist nexus.
For his groundbreaking work, Beck has been called a liar, conspiracy theorist, fear-mongerer, hater, racist and even just plain nuts.
"I defy those who doubt Beck's central thesis to read my new book, 'The Manchurian President: Barack Obama's ties to communists, socialists and other anti-American extremists,'" says Aaron Klein, the book's author.
With nearly 900 footnotes, "The Manchurian President" factually proves in black and white that Beck has been right all along, says Klein.
[...]
"I believe this book is crucial to Americans from across the political spectrum," says author Aaron Klein, "including mainstream Democrats who should be alarmed that their party has been hijacked by an extreme-left fringe bent on permanently changing the party to fit its radical agenda.
"Meanwhile, those who criticized Beck for his arguments owe the television and radio personality a resounding apology," Klein said.
Of course Klein would suck up to Beck -- Beck’s commentary has often echoed Klein’s reporting.
In his book, Klein and co-author Brenda J. Elliott take much of the credit for exposing the “radical” connections of Van Jones that were later “picked up” by Beck:
In April 2009, Aaron Klein reported at WorldNetDaily that Jones was a founder and leader of the communist revolutionary organization STORM -- Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement.
[...]
The mainstream media predictably ignored the Jones revelations -- right up until the moment of his resignation on September 5, 2009. Much of the investigation into Jones had been conducted over the Internet, including reporting by Aaron Klein, Brenda J. Elliott, and Trevor Loudon, a New Zealand blogger. Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck picked up the reports and released new information for weeks, until Jones was forced to step down. [Pages 153-154]
Klein’s boss, WND editor Joseph Farah, was a little less shy, declaring that Klein “broke the first major story on Jones who was identified as a self-described radical communist and ‘rowdy black nationalist’ who said his environmental activism was actually a means to fight for racial and class ‘justice.’ "
What’s going on here is a bit of circular logic -- Klein is claiming that his book proves Beck right, even though Beck’s attacks are based in part on Klein’s own reporting.
Klein seems to like this kind of circular logic, since he uses it elsewhere in "The Manchurian President." As we’ve noted, Klein uncritically promotes the conspiracy theory that Bill Ayers “may have ghost-written” President Obama’s book Dreams From My Father. The two sources Klein bases this claim on are WND columnist Jack Cashill and biographer Christopher Andersen. But Andersen was basing his claim in part on Cashill’s conspiracy theories, something Klein does not acknowledge in his book. (Nor does Klein acknowledge that Andersen walked back the claim in a CNN interview, stating that "I definitely do not say [Ayers] wrote Barack Obama's book.")
Klein’s fawning over Beck may have an ulterior purpose -- to get Beck to acknowledge Klein’s book or, even better, to invite Klein on his show to discuss it.
Klein is certainly not afraid to suck up when it suits him. When Klein was criticized in 2006 for falsely implying that Fox News paid a $2 million ransom for the release of two Fox News journalists who had been kidnapped in Gaza -- Fox News chief Roger Ailes told the Drudge Report, “The story is absolutely 100% false” -- Klein was quick to insert some serious sucking up to an attempt to defend himself: “I cannot stand idly by while others misrepresent and falsify my words to wrongly smear America's best cable news network.” Klein made sure to add, “I have enormous respect for Ailes.”
Since then, Klein hasmadeseveralappearances on Fox News and Fox Business. It seems Klein is hoping to work the same magic with Beck -- and sell a few more books in the process.
Terry Jeffrey starts his May 26 CNSNews.com column by claiming, "Dr. Donald Berwick of the Harvard Medical School does not like free enterprise, but he does like rationing."
But Jeffery offers no evlidence that Berwick "like[s] rationing." Rather, he's merely echoing CNS' previous attacks on Berwick, which take Berwick out of context and ignore the fact that insurance companies are already rationing health care.
Ruddy: 'Gold Has Become An Enemy of The State' Topic: Newsmax
Christopher Ruddy runs to the defense of Glenn Beck and Goldline in his May 26 Newsmax column:
Congressman Anthony Weiner’s inane attacks on Glenn Beck and the gold coin dealer Goldline make me think there is some other agenda at work.
Though Weiner has named Beck and the company he endorses, Goldline, he has also made clear that Goldline is just one of several gold coin companies overcharging customers. He argues that, if investors were able to smelt their gold coins, the actual value of the pure gold metal itself would be far less than the cost of the coins — sometimes as much as half the cost companies like Goldline charge.
Weiner’s view is naïve and ignores the fact that many of these coins have intrinsic value as a collectible, just as an antique would.
Those who own such gold coins — I am one — recognize the value of the coin is not just in the gold. Imagine saying an antique car that sells for $250,000 is really worth about $500 — because that’s the actual value of the metals that make up the car if it were ever junked.
First, that's a misleading attack on Weiner's report. The melt value is only one aspect Weiner examined; his report also pointed out that Goldline's retail prices on coins are as much as 102 percent above those of competitors for the exact same coins.
Second, Ruddy fails to disclose that Goldline is a Newsmax advertiser, most prominent as the sponsor of the commodities ticker on its MoneyNews front page.
Ruddy goes on to mount a larger defense of gold as an investment, despite its status as an "unproductive asset":
Why the worry over gold coins?
Just turn on the TV and listen to the flood of ads selling such coins. Tune in to the radio and hear the same. Upscale malls now have kiosks for individuals to cash in gold. Gold is all the rage — and its price of around $1,200 an ounce is hitting new highs.
Gold has become an enemy of the state.
It is an enemy because it is an ancient store of value. It even can act like a currency. In fact, as currencies lose confidence, as we have seen with the dollar and the euro, investors often buy gold.
But unlike many other investments, gold is an unproductive asset. It sits in your home, in a bank vault, maybe buried in your backyard. Meanwhile, even cash in the bank is not idle, as banks lend against your deposit.
Economic activity is spurred, unlike a stagnant gold investment.
The surge in the price of gold is a bad omen for the U.S. economy. It is also a vote of no confidence in President Obama by the investor class.
Gold purchases undermine the strategy of Obama and the Fed, both of whom are trying to inflate the currency. But, as Milton Friedman so artfully explained, simply printing money does not cause inflation. Inflation is caused when too much money actually goes into circulation and is used in the economy over a period of time. This is called the “velocity” of money.
And, like any good fearmongering gold hawker, Ruddy makes sure to mention that Franklin Roosevelt "confiscated almost all privately owned gold, including gold coins."
Ruddy and Newsmax have a long history of hyping gold to fearmonger people into buying their financial products.
