While I hate to harp on the kind folks at (un)Sound Politics (um, not really) I thought it only fair to follow up on a post the other day in which I take (u)SP’s Jim Miller to task for taking the Seattle P-I’s David Horsey to task for his final “Burning Question” column.
Horsey asked his readers if our understanding of the world was made better or worse by the “unfiltered cacophony of opinions” that is the blogosphere, and in attacking Horsey as an anti-free speech elitist, Miller made a strong argument (by example) for the latter. But to add irony to irony, only one day after arrogantly defending the superiority of us bloggers, Miller writes a post in which he authoritatively cites Amir Taheri, an Iranian journalist known for making shit up about the Iranian government.
Over on Effin’ Unsound (a must read for local connoisseurs of political snark,) theHim thoroughly undresses Miller in a line-by-line deconstruction. It’s hilarious. And instructive.
Editorial: Congressional agenda
Democrats can do lots of damage in 100 hours
The Detroit News
Tsk, tsk, those nasty, “rightwing”, UNION DETROITERS… it seems not all is well in la-la-liberal land!
“ Democrats promise to make the nation dizzy with their speed of action this week. We hope they don’t make the nation nauseous as well. “
Washington Times reports: A Republican lawmaker familiar with both the McDermott and Conyers ethics flaps said Democrats on the Ethics committee blocked action against their colleagues.”
The dems will be “better on ethics” HOW??
A culture of corruption!
Dear AlBore, Mayor Nickels and Mr Sims,
Plague of rats is blamed on mania for recycling
ps, in light of the new demoRAT majority, that could be the best headline of the year!
This is absolutely horrible Goldy! Jim Miller is relying on a Iranian journalist — Amir Taheri — who is actually opposed to the glorious Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Taheri goes so far as to accuse the Iranian government of Holocaust denial, threats against Israel and anti-Semitism! What vile and terrible slander!
We should be thankful to courageous bloggers like David Goldstein and David Duke, who have the courage to stand up and defend President Ahmadinejad. Here is a quote from David Duke on December 11, 2006 at the Holocaust Conference in Tehran, Iran:
“I and all the conference participants must be especially thankful to the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has had the knowledge, the foresight and the courage to convene this conference to offer free speech for the world’s most repressed idea, Holocaust revisionism. We must remember that the main themes of this conference as stated by Iran’s President are the vital human right of freedom of speech and the condemnation of the shameful imprisonment of European scholars and academics who simply dare to state their opinions of historical events that occurred over 60 years ago.”
http://www.davidduke.com/gener.....#more-1532
Maybe Goldy should write a few articles for David Duke’s blog. Duke claims that he is not anti-Jewish, but merely anti-Zionist. And he does actually have a few self-hating Jews write articles in support of his positions.
Wonderful job Goldy! I wonder if your distant relatives who were killed in the Holocaust by the Nazis would share your views on this matter?
So there are Iranian jouranlists who make stories up too…. WELL, CBS probably has a spot for him, or maybe the NY Times…..
I am shocked to hear that in the middle east there are journalists who make sh** up…I mean Al Jazeera (sp?) is known for it’s quality work right?
We should just let the Faux News team take over the Iranian journalists’ jobs. After all, the “WE DISTORT, WE DECIDE” team is expert at lying for the GOP. Why not extend their reach to America’s OTHER enemy, Iran?
Richard @4,
So… you’re saying that because Taheri opposes the Iranian government and rightly exposes them as Holocaust deniers, we should just simply ignore the fact that he has been caught making stuff up, and just accept him as an authoritative source because, hell… we generally agree with him?
Such journalistic rigor.
But to add irony to irony, only one day after arrogantly defending the superiority of us bloggers, Miller writes a post in which he authoritatively cites Amir Taheri, an Iranian journalist known for making shit up about the Iranian government.
And, almost simultaneously, the “self-correcting blogosphere” of the right was humiliated by the confirmation that Jamil Hussein does indeed exist.
http://sadlyno.com/archives/4735.html
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2007/01/oops.html
http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2007.....alker.html
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.....phere.html
Goldy @ 7
I certainly wouldn’t say that Taheri has made stuff up. I looked over the stories about the proposed religious dress code law and Taheri’s article, and I don’t see that Taheri is guilty of any deliberate deception.
The Iranian parliament has certainly been considering a religious dress code law, which would require distinctive dress for Muslims, who constitute 98% of the Iranian people. And there apparently has been some talk of also requiring distinctive dress for religious minorities — specifically Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Obviously, the distinctive dress for religious minorities is extremely unpopular (even in Iran, but definitely worldwide), so the Iranian government is extremely unlikely to adopt this idea (at least not in the near future).
I see this as both a “trial balloon” and disinformation by the Iranian government. By leaking this questionable information to a journalist such as Taheri, the Iranian hardliners could see what international reaction would be. The international reaction was terrible, so now they deny that such a plan ever existed (just like they deny the Holocaust ever existed). They kill two birds with one stone, by reacting with mock outrage against Taheri and their other international opponents who had denounced the religious minority dress code.
Once the Iranian government supposedly discredited Taheri and their other opponents, they felt confident enough to go forward with other aspects of their anti-Jewish agenda. Such as their Holocaust denial conference in December 2006 in Tehran.
Amazingly effective strategy. I didn’t see Goldy complaining one iota about last month’s Holocaust denial conference. But he is still outraged at Taheri for publishing a story back in May 2006 about a religious minority dress code that the Iranian regime has not adopted (yet).
Hey Pope-A-Dope – in case you missed it, the voters rejected you for what, the 15th time recently? When will it dawn on you that nobody gives a good golly fuck what you think?
Wingnuts are liars and (u)SP is merely a megaphone for the insane right. This is news?
P.S., I’m not implying some (u)SP posters are insane — I’m SAYING it … explicitly, point-blank, upfront, however you want to verbalize it. For example:
Congratulations Speaker Pelosi, now let the bombs fall where they may. My prediction: terror attack on domestic soil passenger aircraft within the next six months. Casualties in the 2-300 range. And, unfortunately, maybe that’s just what we need. It’s obvious people don’t remember what happened 5 years ago.
Posted by FullContactPolitics at November 8, 2006 10:52 AM
http://blog.usefulwork.com/cgi.....ry_id=7430
Richard Pope @ 4, let me see if I understand what you are saying.
You believe Goldy is antisemitic or anti-Zionist because he links to the post of someone criticizing Miller, who is trying to make a silly argument about Iraq (Miller never mentions Iran), because the author of the article who Miller cites was born and raised in Iran (even though he left Iran in 1980 and now works for Benador Associates, a Neocon PR firm in London); and, even though the Iranian’s New York Post article is about Iraq, not Iran, by dissing someone of Iranian descent Goldy automatically supports anyone that that Iranian dislikes, and therefore loves Ahmadinejad, and therefore, Goldy is a Holocaust denier and is politically aligned with David Duke?
Did I get your chain of reasoning down correctly, Richard?
Darryl @13,
Not only that, I killed Jesus. At least that chain of reasoning is pretty straight forward.
And, to add still more to the pile-on of right-wing blogger stupidity, it turns out that the “Kerry Spurned by Troops” story is a lie too:
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe....._witnesses
Richard, I am SO glad I didn’t vote for you as a judge if that’s how you reason.
Taheri and Judy “Queen of Fucking Iraq” Miller should probably compare notes.
Wait, why does Goldy claim all the credit. I am Jewish. I killed Christ! I agree with Goldy’s post. So, by Richard Pope logic, not only am I a Jew hater, but, in addition, I hate Christians too (based on my killing of Christ).
This comment was typed in the comfort of my home office in beautiful Washington State. Where I live. In my house.
Goldstein
Why do you, Roger Rabbit, the him, Harry Tuttle, and all your other wank job friends have such a hardon for Stefan and Sound Politics?
Michael
Environmentalists really want to know
I certainly wouldn’t say that Taheri has made stuff up.
I would, and so would many others. In fact, he appears to be Iran’s answer to Jayson Blair.
http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2007.....st-no.html
The Left-Over’s Lament
Snot, Snot, Snot.
It’s all I’ve got.
So I expound pretentious rot.
My mind’s tied up in a Gordian knot
Though empty as a vacant lot.
But all that’s in my big blind spot.
It’s such a blot
This dext’rous plot
To thwart my lot
to be a big shot.
D’oh! Purblind clot!
I plain forgot!
They know my lot
‘sa bad plague spot.
Besides this snot
I’m full of “shot”.
I should go squat.
But I cannot.
Michael McGinn @ 18,
“Goldstein Why do you…have such a hardon for Stefan”
Maybe its because Stefan bought him a beer?
Darryl @ 13
I don’t see how any of this has anything to do with Amir Taheri’s ethnic or national origin, or how long he has lived outside of his country of origin.
Goldy says, and I quote, that Taheri is a “journalist known for making shit up about the Iranian government”.
If you follow the links provided by Goldy — and you have to click at least three times — Taheri is accused of being overzealous in denouncing the Iranian regime for Holocaust denial, threats against Israel and anti-Semitism.
http://thejewishweek.com/news/.....rtid=12511
Apparently, the dispute was over what Iranian lawmakers were going to include in some legislation regarding a religious dress code. The legislation seems to require Muslims to wear particular styles of “Islamic” dress. There may have been some talk of religious colors to be worn by Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. These latter provisions don’t seem to have made it into the legislation, but Taheri apparently got this information incorrectly in an article that he wrote.
In any event, the Iranian regime is rather notorious for its Holocaust denial, threats against Israel and anti-Semitism. So if someone incorrectly reports that Iran is considering legislation to require Jews to wear yellow, that is hardly “talking shit” about the regime.
It would be like accusing someone of “talking shit” about Nazi Germany, just because they related something about soap bars being made from Jewish fat. Apparently, the Nazis never did actually make soap bars from Jewish fat, so that would be incorrect. But the Nazis did kill five or six million Jews, not to mention millions of other folks, subjugated their own nation and many others, and started an extremely aggressive and destructive war.
If you do a Google search for Jewish soap bars, you will find several Holocaust denial groups who basically say that Jewish groups are “talking shit” about the Nazis by making up the “Jewish soap bar” stories. So when someone accuses Taheri is “talking shit” about the Iranian regime, I would think that such an accuser would like to minimize the Holocaust denial, threats against Israel and anti-Semitism by the Iranian regime.
Goldy @ 14
I am sure that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sympathetic to nutcases who blame Jews for killing Christ. After all, he had a lot of them — folks like David Duke — invited to his Holocaust denial conference in Tehran last month.
So am I “talking shit” about Iran or Ahmadinejad for criticizing the Holocaust denial conference that they held last month?
My Left Foot @ 17
So you actually LIKE Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? After all, he is currently an enemy of George W. Bush. And the enemy of your enemy must be your friend? Does the fact that Bush and his supporters are criticizing Ahmadinejad make these criticisms false, just because you don’t like Bush?
Why aren’t you on vacation? Can’t you afford one?
Richard Pope @ 22
“I don’t see how any of this has anything to do with Amir Taheri’s ethnic or national origin, or how long he has lived outside of his country of origin.”
Goldy’s post has almost nothing to do with Taheri, either. He is simply a footnote to further criticize Jim Miller.
“Goldy says, and I quote, that Taheri is a “journalist known for making shit up about the Iranian government”.”
He is known for making up shit about the Iranian government. That is a fact, even if you don’t agree that Taheri is guilty of any deliberate deception. I mean, you do agree that he is known for several incidences of alleged fabrication, right?
“If you follow the links provided by Goldy — and you have to click at least three times — Taheri is accused of being overzealous in denouncing the Iranian regime for Holocaust denial, threats against Israel and anti-Semitism.”
Ummm…there are more charges of “making shit up” than that, including a newspaper retraction and apology.
conyoufirst @ 25:
Moe-ron:
Let me catch you up. I am retired. The rest of my life will be a vacation. I have the time and means to do, pretty much, as I please.
I know this is a foreign concept to you, but if you work hard, dedicate yourself to insuring your future and if you make smart choices, you too can retire at 47. (that was two years ago, dimwit).
Until then, shut the hell up, fucktard!
Thanks Darryl, I was about to point that out to Mr. Pope. Apparently, Taheri still stands by his original reporting, which should make it even worse for someone to trust his reporting now. Did any of these clowns learn anything from Ahmad Chalabi?
MY LEFT FOOT WHEN YOUR WIFE RUNS OUT OF TRICKS YOU WILL HAVE TO GO BACK TO WORK
29
Not sure what you are getting at here. Perhaps you would like to explain this comment to me in person? If so, just tell me where and when to meet you.
Hugs and Kisses!