WorldNetDaily lovestouting meaningless opt-in polls that affirm its political agenda, even though they are not a reflection of reality because they are easily manipulated by committed activists.
WND does so again in a Jan. 2 article that echoes its hatred of House Speaker John Boehner, reporting that "participants in an unscientific poll on the Drudge Report were rejecting Boehner as a future speaker of the House by a more than 6-1 margin. There were 269,001 votes against him and 40,516 in favor, an 85 percent to 15 percent margin."
The article doesn't mention that the only people who actually voted on who would be House speaker are members of the House, making any sort of poll on the issue, scientific or otherwise, utterly meaningless. WND also fails to examine what the Drudge Report's tone has been toward Boehner, which could have slanted its readers' preferences.
WND's article carried no byline. We wouldn't want our names on such an article either.
CNS' Big Boehner Scoop Goes Bust Topic: CNSNews.com
Ron Meyer ("press secretary and spokesman for American Majority Action") dropped a bombshell in a Jan. 2 CNSNews.com blog post:
I have confirmed with a group of Congressmen that House Speaker John Boehner will not be reelected Speaker tomorrow.
He will either resign or be forced out tomorrow.
Only 17 members are needed to block Speaker Boehner's election tomorrow. A Speaker needs an absolute majority of all votes cast for a specific person.
If no one has a majority, the House is speakerless. I've confirmed these rules with the House Parliamentarian.
So much fail here. Let's start with his version of the election process. It's unclear where he gets the idea that "Only 17 members are needed to block Speaker Boehner's election," since all members of the House vote on the speaker. And it's simply false that the House would remain "speakerless" if no one gets a majority -- if Wikipedia is to be believed, votes are held repeatedly until one candidate has a majority.
If that wasn't enough, Meyer's post got overtaken by events. Boehner won on the first ballot, with three votes more than he needed to reach a majority.
If Meyer or CNS had any sense of shame -- or journalism -- corrections would be issued.
Aaron Klein Anonymous Source Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Jan. 1 WorldNetDaily article by Aaron cites "knowledgeable PA sources" to claim that "Leftist U.S. Jewish groups working with the far-left Israeli Meretz party were behind a recommendation that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas publicly threaten to dismantle the PA."
Given that Klein regularlyattacks the PA -- it's sarcastically called a "peace partner" when Klein is outlining the PA's alleged links to terrorism -- it's unlikely that he has any genuine contacts within the PA, unless he's still counting on his ideological enemies to be so stupid as to not realize he's using their words against them.
However, since Klein is invoking his usual practice of untraceable, unconfirmed anonymous sources, we'll never know for sure. Indeed, Klein's article is so sketchily sourced that he can't even identify the "leftist U.S. Jewish groups" that are purportedly working with the purportedly "far-left" Israeli party.
NewsBusters Unhappy That News Is Presented As News Topic: NewsBusters
The Media Research Center's anti-gay agenda rears its ugly head again in a Jan. 2 NewsBusters post by Ken Shepherd complaining that gay marriage becoming legal in Maryland was treated as the major news that it is by the Washington Post, which includes much of Maryland in its circulation area:
Most of the January 2 front page for The Washington Post was devoted to the resolution of the so-called fiscal cliff, but editors made sure to leave space for a gauzy 33-paragraph story entitled "History at the altar: Maryland sees wave of same-sex weddings as law takes effect."
By contrast, an uplifting story involving a non-controversial religious tradition in African-American churches was shuffled to the bottom of page A2, despite the tremendous historical significance of the 2012 New Year's Eve "watch night" celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Shepherd seems to have missed that the Emancipation Proclamation happened 150 years ago, while legalization of gay marriage is a breaking news event. But Shepherd still wants to lecture us on how breaking news should be ignored if it doesn't jibe with his religious views:
The African-American church tradition of "watch night" is a thoroughly patriotic celebration that can be appreciated by non-Christian Americans even though at its heart, the service is a religious one.
Rather than bringing all Post readers together to ring in the new year with front-page real estate devoted to the intersection of American history with the African-American spiritual traditions, the paper's editors elected to highlight same-sex unions which are still opposed by most religious faiths, including a great number of observant African-American Christians.
Apparently, the expansion of civil rights is not "thoroughly patriotic" as far as Shepherd is concerned. Or some people's civil rights are more newsworthy than others.
WND's 'Reza Kahlili' Turns In Another Unverifiable Story Topic: WorldNetDaily
"Reza Kahlili" is a pseudonym for a self-proclaimed former CIA agent hired by WorldNetDaily to write attacks on Iran, most of which are on the fantastic side and attributed to unverifiable anonymous sources.
That's something to remember when reading Kahlili's Jan. 2 WND article:
Iranian scientists, working under orders from the radicals running the Islamic regime, have genetically altered microbial agents in a nightmarish scheme to bring the West to its knees.
According to a source in the Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit with knowledge of Iran’s microbial research and development, the scientists, with Russian and North Korean help, currently possess eight extremely dangerous microbial agents that, if unleashed, could kill millions of people.
As reported exclusively on WND on Dec. 16, the source revealed the existence of a plant in Marzanabad, Iran, where 12 Russian and 28 Iranian scientists are working on microbial agents for bombs. At that time, the source disclosed that Iran was working on 18 agents, with four completed. He has now provided information that with work at two other plants, Iran has created a total of eight microbial agents, with research on insects to be used as the vector to infect the societies of its enemies.
The eight agents are anthrax, encephalitis (the blueprint of this virus, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, was provided by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an agreement two years ago with the Islamic regime), yellow grain (developed with the help of North Korea), SARS, Ebola, cholera, smallpox and plague.
Iran, with North Korea’s help, has genetically altered the smallpox virus that makes current vaccinations useless against it. And research at two facilities that act as drug companies but are fronts for the deadly research shows insects can be used as the vector to carry plague, infamous as the “Black Death,” according to the source.
Needless to say, Kahlili offers no proof that any of this is actually happening. The claim about smallpox is particularly suspect because naturally occuring smallpox was eradicated in 1977 and the only place the disease exists is in two highly secure laboratories in the U.S. and Russia.
There are many reasons nobody believes WND, and outlandish claims made by a pseudoymous "reporter" citing anonymous sources is just one of them.
Brent Bozell Invents An 'Obama Culture' Topic: Media Research Center
The theme of Brent Bozell's Dec. 28 column is the purported "Obama culture," and he begins with a massive leap of logic:
The year 2012 was a depressing time for people who are already pessimistic about the state of our common culture. Conversely, the re-election of Barack Obama, in large measure made possible by the heavy financial support of Hollywood, projects the optimism of the cultural Left. They anticipate increased blue-state voting patterns in favor of gay "marriage," legalized pot, gun regulations, and what next? Legalized prostitution? Euthanasia subsidized by Obamacare?
Only in Bozell's fevered brain can one make a direct line from gay marriage to state-sponsored euthanasia.
Bozell also name-checks purported avatars of the "Obama culture," but only one has any connection to Obama, and all of them came to prominence under previous administrations, most of them Republican:
Roseanne Barr's eponymous sitcom began in 1988, during the Reagan administration.
Howard Stern similarly gained national prominence as a radio DJ during the Reagan years.
Seth MacFarlane's first show, "Family Guy," began in 1998, during the Clinton administration, but after it grew popular in reruns and DVD sales, Fox brought back the show in 2004, during the Bush adminisration.
Bill Maher has the only indirect link to Obama that Bozell cites (donating $1 million to Obama's super PAC), but like Barr and Stern, his career began during the Reagan years.
So much for that "media research" Bozell's Media Research Center does...
My friend, Don Melquist, otherwise known as the Pride of Green Valley, Ariz., recently pointed out to me what a huge role bossy black women have played in Obama’s life. The ladies include Oprah Winfrey, Susan Rice, Whoopi Goldberg, Valerie Jarrett and Michelle Obama. But, it occurred to me that he has also surrounded himself with bossy Jewish men, such as Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod and George Soros, and assorted bossy ne’er-do-wells, such as Bill Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis and Jeremiah Wright. Whoever it was who first observed that when you lie down with dogs, you’re very likely to get up with fleas, must have had someone very much like Obama in mind.
Much has been said and written about Barack Obama’s self-absorption.
I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to offer up an amateur diagnosis of narcissism in his case.
Everything is about him.
Bill Clinton suffers a similar, lifelong chronic case of egomania and self-centeredness.
But to listen to Barack Obama drone on and on about himself at the funeral of Sen. Daniel K. Inouye was almost embarrassing to the point of pity.
Like many people in the age range of Barack Obama and me, Inouye, the late senator from Hawaii, first came to our attention during the Watergate hearings. And, again, for people like Obama, it’s all about him – even at someone else’s funeral.
In his 1,600-word speech, Obama used the word “my” 21 times, “me” 12 times and “I” an incredible 30 times.
Obama is certainly aware that perhaps a majority of self-respecting black people would normally avoid association with the rappers, pop tarts and pimps with limps with whom he fraternizes. So who better to legitimize them – and shepherd black Americans through the gates of hell – than someone of high station who at least passes for a black American?
Since the 2008 election of Barack Obama, I have talked with countless white people at speaking events around the country and on my radio show who have fractured relationships with black friends because any criticism of this president by a white person is deemed to be rooted in prejudice. Whites are confounded by the anger of blacks over honest policy disagreements and observations about Obama. It’s so bad that most whites have shut down or walk on eggshells when issues of race come up.
Some of us sigh over the embrace of evil and the smear campaigns against goodness. What do we do when “right” did not win in November, but we are stuck with a greatly compromised leader of the free world? He’s not a straight-shooter, but a man who lacks character, who collaborates with baby-and-man-hating feminists, sexual deviates, Marxists, jihadists – radicals whose legacy has never been anything but heartbreak, tears, financial ruin, even death.
It’s true that God may have a plan. That plan looks like it’s going to include an ample dose of tough love judgments for America, some delivered through Barack Obama’s foolishness and wickedness, and yet we must trust the Lord and still bear it.
Barack Hussein Obama, whom Time magazine has labeled the “Architect of a New America,” has been known as America’s most biblically hostile president. He has placed himself above We the People time and time again, as if to say we derive our rights from Obama instead of God.
Obama has personally attacked biblical values, the bedrock of our republic, over 50 times since he took office.
Day by day, Obama’s tyrannical measures are beginning to take shape. And what should America expect from one who is at war with God?
Obama is like a nasty, vengeful creature from Bizarro’s World, the cube-shaped fictional planet in the DC Comics universe. He could be “Bizar-Ro-Bama,” an effeminate villain who engages in double-speak, lies and misdirection.
And scarier still is the tenuous status of Jews in America. It’s hard not to draw parallels to persecuted Jews in once-friendly nations and their subsequent persecution, expulsion and slaughter. To think that Poland was once the Israel of Europe. Millions of Jews made Poland their home and had a long history there of over a thousand years. And in three short years … complete annihilation.
German Jews, meanwhile, were so very vested in the motherland they considered themselves Germans before Jews. They were war heroes for Germany in World War I.
How long do Jews have in Obama’s America? How long before we can’t walk down the street with a kippah or a Star of David? This is already reality for Belgium Jews, Swedish Jews and French Jews. Large portions of Norway are already Judenrein.
In recent months, there were two presidential elections of historical importance. In Egypt, they had their first ever democratic election for president. It was won by Mohammed Morsi over Ahmed Shafiq.
Here in the United States, we had our 55th presidential election, and re-elected a man who had inherited a bad economy and made it worse; insulted our friends and coddled our enemies; and spent most of his time golfing, throwing parties and taking vacations. As if that weren’t bad enough, he compounds his sins by insulting Republican congressmen for no better reason than that they’re Republicans and refuse to rubber stamp his fiats.
[...]
For me, as frightening as it is to realize that a slim majority, but a majority nonetheless, of the American electorate would vote for a schmuck like Obama, I can at least make sense of it. After all, between those who voted for him because they share his pigmentation, those whose votes were bought and paid for with our tax dollars and those who thought they were voting for Osama bin Laden, it figures he could eke out a victory. But how do you make sense of the nearly 2 million people who didn’t vote for either him or Romney.
Clinton-Hater Graham Offended By Criticism of Clinton-Hating Topic: Media Research Center
Tim Graham devotes a Dec. 29 NewsBusters post to being offended that Politico published an article headlined “When will the right start hating Hillary Clinton again?” Graham's initial response: "The snarky answer: it stopped?"
Well, Graham certainly hasn't, lashing out at Politico for not hating Hillary as much as he does:
As usual, the liberal media sets the table, and then expects everyone to eat off of it. The media wanted Hillary to be an utterly uncontroversial Secretary of State, acquiring only more political power and gravitas. Haberman, like the others, portray it as politically stupid to focus on Hillary's "fading" failure in Benghazi. None of them ever cared about the sprawling conflict of interest of the Secretary of State having an ex-president husband with a "global initiative" soaking up donations from foreign countries and lobbying interests.
Graham fails to mention that both he and his employer, the Media Research Center, have been major cogs in what Politico called "the anti-Hillary Clinton industrial-entertainment complex." MRC chief Brent Bozell headlined a notoriously mean-spirited farewell to President Clinton at the end of his presidency, and Graham and Bozell co-authored a factually flawed attack book on Hillary during her 2008 presidential campaign.
After calling the Politico article "anti-conservative," Graham whined: "This is why Politico is a liberal joke." If Politico is so liberal, why does the decidedly not-liberal Drudge Report like to link to it?
Vox Day Has Had Enough, Quits WND Column Topic: WorldNetDaily
Vox Day is pulling the plug on his WorldNetDaily column, and he uses his final column to declare it a failure:
Given that my primary goal in writing this column was to convince the American people to aggressively defend their God-given, Constitution-guaranteed liberties, I have to conclude that the most honest way to describe it is 11 years of unmitigated failure. I’m not ashamed of that, nor do I consider the effort wasted. But, at the end of the day, American freedom has been yielded.
Day's definition of "freedom" is notably lacking when it involves women. He doesn't like that women can vote, considers women's rights "a disease that should be eradicated," and has warned men not to marry "career" women because they have a bad habit of having their own thoughts. He has also endorsed the lament that marriage no longer means "an expectation of regular sex" for men.
Let me be clear and assure everyone that I have joined neither the IMF nor a revolutionary militia. I have simply reached a point in my life where I wish to focus my writing on novels such as “A Throne of Bones” rather than political commentary. And I am deeply appreciative of Joseph and Elizabeth Farah, WND and the commentary editors for permitting me to write so freely on these pages for so long.
As the title suggests, Day's book is an apparent attempt to ride the "Game of Thrones" bandwagon.
And Day manages to end his column without telling his readers who he really is: Theodore Beale, son of former WND financial backer (and current convicted felon) Robert Beale.
WND Laughably Honored For 'Trustworthy' News Topic: WorldNetDaily
Nobody believes WorldNetDaily these days, so WND must take affirmations of its so-called reporting where it can get it. Thus, we have a Dec. 31 WND article trumpeting how some website nobody's ever heard of is proclaiming WND to be "trustworthy." No, really:
An independent news organization has named the Drudge Report and WND among the “most trustworthy news sources” for 2012, citing Drudge as the “top-trusted site for millions” and WND for “continual commitment to the truth and top-notch journalistic practice.”
The list of the top news sources, where WND was second only to the Drudge Report, was announced today by the Discerning Times at Enumclaw.com, an online source that bills itself as a “Small Town Newspaper, Big Time News.”
The Christian organization said it based its decision on several factors, including the news reported “results from the fullest research possible” and that news “will be reported without favoritism.”
Other factors include an emphasis on beneficial news, the appropriate use of photographs “with due consideration for personal dignity” and that “no specific political viewpoint will be represented.”
The Discerning Times’ Thomas McGee told WND the news site’s operation consistently offers “fast, balanced, and reliable news.”
The Times noted that candidates were evaluated on reliability, accuracy, quality, balance and reach. Those factors represent concerns for “consistent, regularly updated delivery of news,” “well-rounded stories which focus upon facts rather than gossip or hearsay,” “informative, well-written pieces over sheer quantity,” “stories reported aside from bias or agenda” and “strong authority and readership.”
“With a continual commitment to the truth and top-notch journalistic practices, WorldNetDaily has time and again exposed corruption in the media and politics while maintaining good journalistic practices,” the evaluation concluded. “WND clearly differentiates when they’re reporting news and providing commentary or opinion.”
Not only does the Discerning Times, aka Enumclaw, appear to be not terribly discerning, they apparently have never read WND.
WND maintains "good journalistic practices"? Really? If it was, it would have reported that Jerome Corsi's birther conspiracies have been repeatedly discredited. But it hasn't.
"Continual commitment to the truth"? When WND's own editor can't stop telling lies, you know what a wildly inaccurate statement that is.
"Differentiates when they’re reporting news and providing commentary or opinion"? When you're reporting only one side of a story, as WND frequently does, isn't that the same as erasing the dividing line between news and opinion?
Then again, the Discerning Times also has an article its website asking the question "Is Starbucks A Cult?" So, yeah, not exactly the most qualified to determine the trustworthiness of news sources.
Great Moments in NewsBusters Self-Unawareness Topic: NewsBusters
Jeffrey Meyer devotes a Dec. 28 NewsBusters post to complaining about "Al Sharpton's 'Revvie Awards' where Democrats were honored and Republicans skewered for an hour on Wednesday night." He goes on to grouse: "Plenty of ridiculous titles were heaped on Republicans, including the 'This Dud's For You' award, the 'Empty Chair' award, and the 'Blueberry Pie Lifetime Achievement' award."
Meyer has apparently never read his employer's website, which includes the following categories for its year-end "Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting":
The Throwing Granny Off a Cliff Award
The Obamagasm Award
The Ku Klux Con Job Award
Let Us Fluff Your Pillow Award
The Audacity of Dopes Award
The Barbra Streisand Political IQ Award for Celebrity Vapidity
Are those really any less ridiculous than what Sharpton came up with? In fact, one could say that Sharpton was taking notes on award names from the MRC.
Perhaps Meyer can do a comparison of the two and inform us which is the more riduclous.
WND Fearmongers About Smart Meters Topic: WorldNetDaily
There are many reasons nobody believes WorldNetDaily, and one of them is its penchant for silly one-world-government fearmongering. Take, for instance, its recent three-article series about smart meters from electric utilities.
Steve Elwart kicked off the first article in the series by complaining about cost, asserting that "a smart meter program may take decades before it pays for itself." Elwart let no electric utility representative respond to the charge. Elwart also warned of nebulous "other purposes" for which utilities can use the information gathered from smart meters.
Elwart's second article highlighted "The potential danger to the physical health of a homeowner," citing cases in which a smart meter caught fire. Again, Elwart failed to allow any utility company to respond to the criticism.
Elwart's final article cranks up the fear to warn around purportedly dangerous radio waves emanating from the meters:
Smart meters have been associated with privacy issues, data security issues, and fire safety issues, but the biggest danger from RF (radio frequency) meters may be from the signals they give off while reporting their data to the central utility office.
A study conducted by the industry group, the Electric Power Research Institute, concluded that in their tests the radio frequency emissions of smart meters are well within federal safety guidelines. A Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) study titled, “Summary Discussion of RF Fields and the PG&E SmartMeter™ System” concluded that smart meters are “are in full compliance with Federal Communications Commission regulations by a very wide margin.”
But are they? Many people would disagree.
Of course, Elwart does not cite "many people," only a few. And he fails once more to allow any utility representative to respond to his fearmongering.
WND Names Roberts A 'Benedict Arnold' Over Health Care Ruling Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily had a massivecase of John Roberts Derangement Syndrome when the chief justice cast the deciding vote in favor of the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reform. WND has decided to relive that derangement by giving Roberts its "Benedict Arnold Award," as described in a Dec. 26 article:
He single-handedly delivered the swing vote to approve Obamacare and perhaps even crushed the American health system that has been the envy of the world.
WND has selected U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. for its first-ever Benedict Arnold Award.
“There are lots of bad guys out there who would qualify as ‘Villain of the Year,’ but precious few candidates for the ‘Benedict Arnold Award,’” explained WND Vice President and Managing Editor David Kupelian. “Benedict Arnold, after all, was a good guy; he was an American general in the Revolutionary War who fought valiantly on behalf of the Continental Army – that is, until, for reasons yet unknown, he defected to the British side and betrayed the cause he had formerly served.”
Kupelian added, “That pretty much describes Justice Roberts, who gained the enthusiastic support of conservatives and other Constitution-lovers by virtue of his earlier rulings and judicial temperament, and yet betrayed that trust in a devastating way. And we still don’t know why he did it.”
Kupelian apparently didn't read Roberts' ruling, in which he explained his reasoning.
Colin Flaherty Race-Baiting Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
Colin Flaherty begins his latest race-baiting article at WorldNetDaily by asserting, "People who say racial violence is 'random' either do not know what the word means, or they are not telling the truth."
Of course, Flaherty doesn't know what the word means either. He has been touting an "epidemic of hundreds of cases of black mob violence," as if all crimes committed by two or more blacks were committed by a "mob" and all crimes committed by blacks against whites are "racial" -- as he has been doing for months at WND.
After detailing the latest bit of "black mob violence" he's obsessing over, Flaherty asserts: "If race had no role in this crime, the chances of four black people randomly gathering and randomly selecting a white person are estimated at 1.7 out of 10,000." Flaherty does not explain how he concocted such a statistic.
The way normal people like police define "random" is a single isolated crime . Flaherty has invented his own meaning to suggest that all blacks nationwide are actively conspiring to rob and murder white people, which he must know is not true.
Then again, he's too busy portraying all blacks as violence-prone thugs.
NewsBusters Obsesses Over David Gregory's Gun Magazine, Ignores Dick Armey's Gunman Topic: NewsBusters
NewsBusters has been a bit obsessed over NBC's David Gregory displaying a high-capacity magazine for an assault rifle during a recent edition of "Meet the Press," in apparent violation of law in Washington, D.C, where the show is taped:
Tom Blumer wrote that "it would also be interesting to know if Gregory's possession of an AR-15 magazine or his showing it on the air violated any of NBC's corporate policies." He later chortled that Gregory "is under investigation by the Washington, DC Metro Police in connection with his apparent brandishing" of the magazine.
Blumer later discussed "the latest turns of events in the David Gregory Meet the Press magazine brandishing incident."
Matt Hadro complained that Howard Kurtz came to Gregory's defense over the "stunt."
But there has been no mention at NewsBusters or any other Media Research Center website of a Washington Post story about rampant infighting at the right-wing group FreedomWorks. The article begins with an account of how FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey entered the offices with a gun-wielding assistant with the goal of taking control of the group:
Richard K. Armey, the group’s chairman and a former House majority leader, walked into the group’s Capitol Hill offices with his wife, Susan, and an aide holstering a handgun at his waist. The aim was to seize control of the group and expel Armey’s enemies: The gun-wielding assistant escorted FreedomWorks’ top two employees off the premises, while Armey suspended several others who broke down in sobs at the news.
Gregory brought only a magazine without a gun attached. Armey brought an actual guy with an actual gun. And the MRC is more concerned about Gregorty? Shouldn't they also be asking if Armey violated the law as well?
(Armey has denied knowing that his assistant had a gun on him, and that if he did, it was concealed.)
The MRC giving a pass to a right-wing activist for possible gun violations while bashing a non-conservative for committing a less henious offense is par for the course. Remember that MRC chief Brent Bozell couldn't be bothered to offer any substantive criticism of Rush Limbaugh's misogynistic tirades and even launched an "I Stand With Rush" website in response to the criticism he was afraid to make.
