Lowell Ponte writes in his March 11 Newsmax column:
The official unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent last Friday, the lowest rate since December 2008.
Numbers buried in the government's fine print, however, suggest that the economy might still be sinking, not recovering.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says we added 236,000 jobs in February, yet the number of unemployed who stopped looking for a job and statistically disappeared increased by 296,000 — 60,000 more than found work.
This is what created the illusion of a falling jobless rate while real joblessness increased and grew more desperate.
Altogether, 89,304,000 adult Americans as of February were classed as "not in the labor force."
Ponte is comparing apples and oranges -- the BLS counts the number of jobs added and the number of people not in the labor force in different ways, so one number has no corellation whatsoever with the other.
Further, the BLS defines "not in the labor force" very broadly -- essentially, everyone over 16 and not in an institution -- and includes many other people than those who "stopped looking for a job," including students and retired people who were never looking for work.
Ponte also calls the U-6 rate -- typically a higher number than the U-3 unemployment rate because it counts the underemployed and those discouraged from seeking a job -- "the official jobs number," even though the U-3 rate is equally as "official."
WND's Elmore Misleads In Fearmongering Over Ammo, Armored Vehicle Buys Topic: WorldNetDaily
In the midst of a fit of hyperbolic Obama derangement in which he declared that "the story of Hugo Chavez is one that parallels Barack Hussein Obama’s disastrous but popular rule over the American people," Phil Elmore delivered the following whopper in his March 6 WorldNetDaily column:
Remember, too, that Obama’s Department of Homeland Security – which has classified anyone who might vote against Obama as a potential domestic terrorist – has just purchased 2,700 armored vehicles and is stockpiling more than a billion rounds of hollow-point ammunition. Make no mistake: These vehicles and this ammo have no military application. They exist solely for domestic pacification.
In fact, the 2,700 armored vehicles are being purchased by the Marine Corps, not DHS. And while DHS is buying more than a million rounds of ammunition, much of that purchase is spread out over five years and will be used for training purposes for agents under its purview, including ICE. More than 90 federal agencies and 70,000 agents and officers used the department's training center last year.
In a March 11 NewsBusters post, Ken Shepherd claims that CNN "laments" that a judge overturned a New York City law banning soft drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.
How does Shepherd know the feelings being imparted by a CNN "breaking news" email? He doesn't, of course -- he's merely running the email through his own filter of right-wing bias. But he claimed that "rather than couch the stay on the new regulation as a victory of individual liberty, the editors described the ruling as 'a setback for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has backed several laws aimed at improving the health of New Yorkers.'"
Of course, it's an unambiguous fact that the law being overturned is a setback for Bloomberg, and stating so does not impart bias. Declaring the overturning "a victory of individual liberty," as Shepherd demands CNN do, on the other hand, is very much a biased statement.
In short: Shepherd wants us to believe that 1) he can read the mind of a writer of breaking-news emails, and 2) that Stephen Colbert's maxim that the reality has a liberal bias is correct yet again.
WND Baselessly Blames Obama for 'Lurch Toward Transgenderism' Topic: WorldNetDaily
Under the headline "Lurch toward transgenderism pushed by Obama," Michael F. Haverluck writes in a March 7 WorldNetDaily article:
The expression “boys will be boys” is no longer true at dozens of America’s universities who are offering sex change operations with paid tuition fees. Instead, “boys will be girls” more accurately portrays the thinking behind the new health coverage policies at many of America’s elite colleges, which, according to the host of the nationally syndicated radio show “Line of Fire,” reflect the agenda pushed by the Obama administration.
Michael L. Brown, host of Line of Fire, said in a WND interview that universities routinely teach that gender is a matter of mind, not physical assignment at birth, so it’s changeable.
And President Obama has been helping spread that idea.
“Without a doubt, the president and his administration have been real game changers, not so much in changing public opinion from scratch, but rather in hastening the progress of LGBT activism,” said Brown.
“What has surprised me is to see how some religious leaders are now caving in because of the president’s public stands. Before Mr. Obama was elected, I warned my radio listeners that he would be the most radically pro-gay president in our nation’s history, and in that respect, he has not disappointed us.”
But at no point do Haverluck or Brown offer any specific example of Obama pushing a "lurch toward transgenderism." Instead, Haverluck rants that Yale University is considering covering gender-reassignment surgery and that other universities do the same thing, and that schools are "seeking to normalize homosexual and transsexual behavior."
In other words, just another day in WND's anti-gayagenda.
MRC Wants You To Trust The Discredited John Lott Topic: Media Research Center
Liz Thatcher used a March 6 Media Research Center Business & Media Institute item to complain that USA Today highlighted a study claiming that gun violence costs $12 billion a year. Thatcher attacked the group funding the study as having "left-wing inclinations" as well as being "financially connected to left-wing donor George Soros."
At no point did Thatcher offer any evidence challenging the study's results.
Thatcher went on to complain that did not mention "how many lives have been saved because of guns," concluding:
Or, USA Today and other media outlets could heed the advice of economist and gun advocate John Lott. In an op-ed published on Mar. 5 for National Review, he charged that a little less media coverage of mass shooters could be helpful for public safety, something PIRE loves to talk about. “We should be trying to deprive these killers of what they crave: attention and easy targets,” he wrote.
Lott is a thoroughly discredited gun researcher. And Thatcher wants us to take the advice of him over that of a group whose research she can't even disprove? That's rich.
Les Kinsolving Retires From Asking Stupid Questions At White House Topic: WorldNetDaily
We wondered why we haven't heard any whining for a while about how shabbily any given White House press secretary was treating WorldNetDaily's Les Kinsolving.
Turns out there's a reason for that: Kinsolving has retired from the White House press corps.
Kinsolving revealed his retirement in his March 5 WND column (though it doesn't appear he will be retiring from his other gigs as a WND columnist and Baltimore radio host). But he's whining on his way out that press secretary Jay Carney hadn't called on him since July 26 "despite my being second in seniority to Connie Lawn." He went on to huff that "I have never experienced such oral censorship."
As we've pointed out, Kinsolving has not earned the respect he demands. He's right-winghack and raging homophobe who whines every time his biased shenanigans get any pushback. His employer, meanwhile, is so amoral that it publishes lies and smears about Obama and his administration and violatesjournalisticethics on a depressingly regular basis. Why should the Obama administration take questions from a heavily biased "reporter" who works for an organization that is seeking no less than the personal and political destruction of Barack Obama?
Then, as if to prove the point, Kinsolving spends the rest of his column repeating right-wing talking points about Obama's allegedly prolifigate spending.
Kinsolving's insistence on invoking his seniority shows us he cares more about status than reporting the truth. His employment by WND demonstrates he doesn't care about the truth at all. He will not be missed, except as someone whose bias made him an object of ridicule, and his departure will make room for a real journalist in the White House briefing room.
AIM's Kincaid Desperately Tries To Paint All Gays as Marxists Topic: Accuracy in Media
Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid is a fairly notorious gay-basher -- so much so that he promoted the proposed law in Uganda that would permit the death penalty for mere homosexuality -- so pretty much all you need to know about where he's going in his March 6 AIM column is contained in the first two paragraphs:
The term “gay conservative” is being used by some news outlets in connection with the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and whether certain homosexual groups should be invited to appear. There is no such thing as a “gay conservative,” unless the term “conservative” has lost all meaning. But there is a homosexual movement that has its roots in Marxism and is characterized by anti-Americanism and hatred of Christian values.
Two of this movement’s members, Bradley Manning and Floyd Corkins, have recently been in the news. Manning betrayed his country in the WikiLeaks scandal, while Corkins has pleaded guilty to trying to kill conservative officials of the Christian Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.
You can figure it out from there. Spoiler: Kincaid keeps bashing gays.
Pat Boone is a longtime birther and Obama-hater, so it's no surprise he would keep up the Obama-hate. But he's also decided to ignore the reality of the wholesale abandonment of birtherism -- even by the main outlet that publishes him, WorldNetDaily -- if his March 8 WND column is any indication, in which he adapts "The Emperor's New Clothes" to shoehorn Obama into it:
At his first public appearance, to the shock and anger of the emperor, a young lad named Bob said loudly, where millions heard him, “The emperor is naked! He’s lying to us! Why is he doing this?”
And rather than being shocked into silence, increasing numbers of previous supporters began yelling questions at the startled, suddenly embarrassed ruler.
“Why are you keeping all your early school, passport and travel records sealed permanently, so that we can never know how you came to this position? And whether you are actually, legally entitled to rule over us this way?”
“Your Highness, since no hospital in this country claims you were born there, why do you not produce an actual birth certificate or some verifiable proof of your citizenship, as the Constitution demands? What’s with your Social Security and Selective Service numbers, that first belonged to other people?”
And immediately another voice cried out, “Yeah, you told us on national TV you were putting a copy of your birth certificate on the White House website, making fun of anybody who doubted you. But when we went there to look, we found a photoshopped creation, a fraud, not a copy of anything! Just something you had somebody make up! You think we’re too dumb to notice, or afraid to do anything about it! Why are you doing this to us, to our country?”
Ah, so much fail. First, Obama "early school, passport and travel records" are "sealed permanently" to the same standard as every other U.S. Citizen.
Second, Kapi'olani Medical Center in Honolulu has acknowledged that Obama was born there, as demonstrated by its publication of a letter from Obama stating he was born there.
Third, Obama did release a birth certificate. In fact, he released two.
Fourth, the idea that Obama's birth certificate is a Photoshopped fraud has been discredited by John Woodman, among others.
Boone, it appears, still isn't about to let the facts interfere with his Obama-hate.
CNS Misleads on Non-Working Americans Topic: CNSNews.com
The headline of a March 8 CNSNews.com article by Elizabeth Harrington blares, "Record 89,304,000 Americans 'Not in Labor Force' -- 296,000 Fewer Employed Since January."
But that's highly misleading. As even Harrington points out, this number includes "people who have retired on schedule, taken early retirement, or simply given up looking for work." But even that doesn't tell the full story about the number, which is the total number of working-age people who aren't in the work force, which is not the same thing as being unemployed.
As the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines it, "not in the labor force" means "persons aged 16 years and older in the civilian noninstitutional population who are neither employed nor unemployed in accordance with the definitions contained in this glossary. Information is collected on their desire for and availability for work, job search activity in the prior year, and reasons for not currently searching."
But Harrington's story got promoted by the Drudge Report, which appears to be a higher goal at CNS than accurate reporting.
Under the headline "ABC makes whopping on-air blunder," a March 5 WorldNetDaily article highlights "WND has found" that a map aired by ABC misidentified Iraq as Iran, to which Klein adds, "Does ABC News know where hot spots Iran, Iraq and Syria are located?"
Funny, we don't recall Klein being bothered by an even more whopping on-air blunder, which misidentifed Iraq as Egypt.
Or when Fox labeled Utah as Nevada, and Vermont as New Hampshire.
Then again, Klein is the same guy who, after falsely suggesting Fox News paid a ransom for a kidnapped reporter, issued a suck-up piece insisting that "I am horrified people have falsified and misrepresented my article to attack Fox News" and that "that "I have enormous respect for [Roger] Ailes."
CNS Freaks Out Over Dem Congresswoman's Statement First Popularized By Grover Norquist Topic: CNSNews.com
A March 7 CNSNews.com article by Eric Scheiner highlights a statement by Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) told a TV station in Milwaukee that "Many Republicans see this as a first down payment on their ultimate desire to just shrink the size of government, so much so, that you can drown it in a bathtub."
Scheiner doesn't mention, however, that a conservative said it first.
Grover Norquist originally what Moore said almost verbatim: "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."
The clear motive for Scheiner highlighting this was to set Moore up for mockery by CNS readers, as the vulgar, hateful rants in the comments demonstrate. But has Scheiner ever highlighted Norquist's originial statement, let alone treat it as ridiculous?
WND Misleads About Linking Abortion, Birth Control to Breast Cancer Topic: WorldNetDaily
Garth Kant writes in a March 4 WorldNetDaily article:
They’re the carcinogens you won’t read much about in the establishment media: birth-control pills and abortion.
The evidence linking hormones and breast cancer just keeps pouring in. What kind of hormones? Those found in birth-control pills and those associated with abortions.
The prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported Feb. 27 the rate of metastatic breast cancer in women ages 25 to 39 nearly doubled between 1976 and 2009, from 1.53 to 2.9 per 100,000.
Kant then reports on claims by right-wing groups that blamed the increase on birth control and abortion:
The American Council on Science and Health calls the increase “slight.” But Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, points out there has been no corresponding increase in older women.
Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, said it was “utterly stunning” that JAMA lead author Rebecca Johnson’s team called the increased incidence in advanced cancers among young women “small.”
“That’s a nearly doubled increase in the incidence of a disease with a mean five-year fatality rate of 69 percent,” she said. “By contrast, the mean five-year fatality rate among women with breast cancers that have not spread to distant sites is 13.2 percent.”
And what distinguishes the younger women from the older? The sexual revolution, says Orient.
“Young women in huge numbers have taken higher doses of hormones than their menopausal sisters – in birth-control pills,” she said.
In 2005, the World Health Organization classified oral contraceptives as Class-1 carcinogens, one of only about 100 substances found to be “carcinogenic in humans.”
But the JAMA study made no determination of reasons for the increase -- which, in fact, is "small" since what was discovered was an increase of 1.37 cases of breast cancer per 100,000 population.Kant and his right-wingers also fail to acknowledge that the increase might be attributed in part to increased screening.
Kant continued:
Orient said at least 29 studies have shown a significant increase in breast cancer in women who have had an abortion. She said many studies indicate abortion may increase the risk of breast cancer by an average of 30 percent.
Orient says women “at the very least lose the protective effect of the first full-term pregnancy if they abort their first baby.”
She thinks women should be informed about the growing evidence linking abortion and breast cancer. Even if they do have an abortion, she said, they could at least be extra-vigilant and get early screening.
In fact, the National Cancer Institute says that "the evidence overall still does not support early termination of pregnancy as a cause of breast cancer," and the American Cancer Society says that "the scientific evidence does not support the notion that abortion of any kind raises the risk of breast cancer or any other type of cancer."
Kant couldn't be bothered to report any of those facts, but he did report someone's baseless speculation that "major research institutes have denied any link between abortion and breast cancer because the issue has been 'politicized.'"
Newsmax Misspells Conservative Jewish Leader's Name Topic: Newsmax
A March 7 Newsmax article by Bill Hoffman informs us that "Malcolm Hoenline," the head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said that newly appointed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is a "Jackie Mason on steroids." Hoffmann uses the "Hoenline" spelling all the way through his article.
Actually, his last name is spelled Hoenlein. He's a right-leaning Jewish leader to whom former Newsmax writer Ronald Kessler turned for more unequivocal Obama-bashing after he got busted for taking liberties with the words of a less conservative Jewish leader.
It's quite a blunder for Newsmax to misspell the name of a prominent Jewish leader, especially in the headline.
Erik Rush Endorses Armed Overthrow of Obama Topic: WorldNetDaily
On Jan. 6, 2013, Nathan Haddad, a former Army staff sergeant and decorated combat veteran, was selling some gun magazines when he was arrested for violating a new New York state law prohibiting possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. Haddad was charged with five felonies.
The officers who arrested Haddad, and those prosecuting him have shown themselves to be enemies of the Constitution and the people of the United States of America. Officials who enforce immoral laws are no better than Hitler’s Gestapo. Where, pray tell, do they plan to draw the line at what unlawful decrees they will and will not uphold?
Very soon, we are likely to hear of an individual who, upon being contacted by law enforcement, winds up in a firefight with them over their enforcement of newly implemented gun-control measures. Law-enforcement officers may be wounded or killed, as might our citizen. If arrested, he or she will be a political prisoner. This will be the final nail in the coffin for legal firearms ownership in America, as the government and the press will capitalize upon this event (and perhaps similar others) to prove once and for all that all gun owners are potential psycho cop killers.
Why does the government (and the Obama administration in particular) want Americans’ firearms? Because they know that they are already guilty of prosecutable crimes and are planning many more. They know that they represent precisely why America’s founders put the Second Amendment in the Constitution in the first place, and that they already merit being removed by force of arms. They simply want to disarm Americans before a preponderance of us come to that realization and respond accordingly.
(In fact, the large-capacity magazines Haddad was arrested for possessing have been illegal in New York since 1994, and were not made illegal under the recently passed gun-control law.)
NEW ARTICLE: All The MRC's Hacks Topic: Media Research Center
Bob Woodward's claim that a White House official intimidated him was discredited, but the Media Research Center keeps pretending it remains undisputed fact. Read more >>
We wondered why we haven't heard any 
Pat Boone is a longtime 
