Sunday, July 23, 2006
Coulter, 9/11 & Katrina
I'll get the Coulter out of the way first.
The Rude Pundit points to a column written by Bill Nemitz of the Portland Press Herald on Coulter and plagiarism called "Wonder how Ann Coulter fills her books?." It's a fictional phone call with Shrill Voice (aka Ann Coulter) since the paper wasn't able to contact the alleged plagiarist.
Me: Oh . . . hello, Ms. Coulter. This is the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. We're calling to ask why your new book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" includes a sentence that matches almost verbatim one from our newspaper.
SV: Who is this really? Is that you, Al Franken?
Me: No, ma'am. It's true. You see, back in 1999, we asked our readers what they thought were Maine's top news stories for the 20th century. One ballot entry went like this: "The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River, is halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant believed to be extinct."
SV: So what?
Me: Well, on page 5 of "Godless," you wrote: "The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River in Maine, was halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant previously believed to be extinct."
SV: You lobotomized little liberal media creep. Are you calling me a plagiarist?
Me: Excellent question. But after much deliberation, the consensus here is that lifting one factual sentence out of a daily newspaper isn't really plagiarism.
SV: Hallelujah. Now bug off.
(By the way, The Rude Pundit found that lifting before anyone else just a couple days after Godless was released)
Coulter didn't just lift one sentence from the Portland Press Herald, however.
From my Raw Story article "More examples of 'possible plagiarism' from Coulter's 'Godless' book":
In the second chapter of Godless (page 55), Coulter employs language similar to a December, 2004 article written by Gregory D. Kesich for the Portland Press Herald on convicted killer Dennis Dechaine, but offers no citations for her summation of the case.
Coulter: "The case began in 1988, when Jennifer Henkel returned to her home in Bowdoin, Maine, to find her baby alone and her twelve-year old babysitter Sarah Cherry missing.”
Kesich: "The case against Dennis Dechaine began on Wednesday, July 6, 1988, when Jennifer Henkel returned to her home in Bowdoin at 3:20 p.m. to find her front door open and her baby sitter missing."
Coulter: "Henfel found a notebook and a car repair receipt with Dechaine’s name on it in the driveway."
Kesich: "Outside she found a little loose-leaf notebook and a car repair bill with Dechaine's name on it."
Coulter: "She had been stabbed repeatedly in the throat and head, and strangled with a scarf."
Kesich: "She had been raped with sticks, strangled with a scarf and stabbed repeatedly with a small blade around her throat."
Coulter: "The rope used to bind Cherry was later demonstrated to be part of the same rope that was found in Dechaine’s truck."
Kesich: "The rope used to tie Sarah was made of the same material as a yellow plastic rope found in Dechaine's truck."
9/11
From my RS article "Oliver Stone 9/11 movie being marketed towards conservatives, evangelicals":
Oliver Stone's soon-to-be-released film about two New York City Port Authority police officers who were buried in the rubble in the 9/11 attacks is being marketed towards conservatives and evangelicals by Paramount Pictures, RAW STORY has found.
"Paramount Pictures is in the midst of a campaign to win over conservatives and evangelicals to support Oliver Stone's new movie, "World Trade Center," writes Robert B. Bluey for The Right Angle at Human Events Online. "A private screening of the film last night in Washington, D.C., brought out big names on the right, and similar events are planned nationwide before the film opens on August 9."
"The conservative and evangelical outreach is being directed by Greg Mueller and his firm, Creative Response Concepts," writes Bluey.
According to a Salon report written two years ago, Creative Response Concepts, which is run by two former communication directors for Pat Buchanan, has represented such clients as "the Christian Coalition, National Taxpayers Union, Media Research Council and Regnery Publishing," and also did some work for the Swift Boat Vets against John Kerry.
Full Raw Story article at this link.
Katrina
From my RS article "Colorado state rep blasted for linking 'black culture' to Katrina woes in email":
"State Rep. Jim Welker is once again drawing criticism for forwarding an e-mail in which black conservatives and religious leaders blame 'black culture' for problems surrounding Hurricane Katrina," according to a Rocky Mountain News article.
Welker forwarded an article from the conservative Cybercast News Service called "'Black Culture' Blamed for Hurricane Katrina Woes," to his constituents.
"Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city of New Orleans, some prominent black conservatives and religious leaders blame cultural problems among African Americans, not the government, for 'the great breakdown witnessed during and following' the natural disaster," wrote Alison Espach for CNS.com.
....Welker told the Rocky Mountain News that he wasn't racist, but he refused to apologize for forwarding the article.
"I have black people who work for me," Welker told Rocky Mountain News. "Some of my good friends are different colors."
Full Raw Story article at this link.
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