Free Republic

The founder of the online encyclopedia written and edited by its users has admitted some of its entries are 'a horrific embarrassment'. What did our panel of experts think of the entries for their fields? Mike Barnes on the Steve Reich entry Factually, the entry on the composer Steve Reich is sound. All the facts that I have cross-checked were correct, but some of the writing is unhelpful. Take the first line of the entry: "Reich is popularly regarded as repetitive and minimalist, but in some works deviates from a purely minimalist style, which shows some connection to Minimalism and...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

Here is the list so far for sponcers to this hate America fest: ANSWER Code Pink UFPJ NION Al Awda World Workers Party Ruckas Revolutionary Communist party Moveon.org ACORN Campus Antiwar Network International Socialist Org Greens Party Muslim Student Association CPUSA

At its 20th anniversary dinner, Accuracy in Academia will make its first annual presentation of its Little Churchill awards, named after Ward not Winston, for dubious academic achievement. Just as the colorful Ethnic Studies professor has distinguished himself for calling the victims of the World Trade Center attacks of 9-11-01 Little Eichmanns, thus comparing them to the notorious Nazi from the Second World War, so too have a host of academics distinguished themselves by their ethnic sensitivity in an age of "tolerance." But Ward Churchill's achievements do not end there. He has also produced scholarship that either already appeared elsewhere...

Several bloggers have drawn attention to a strange lead in a Washington Post story about the Terri Schiavo autopsy results. The June 16 Post story by David Brown said that "Terri Schiavo died of the effects of a profound and prolonged lack of oxygen to her brain on a day in 1990, but what caused that event isn't known and may never be, the physician who performed her autopsy said…"

Foreign media urged to take just attitude towards China www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-16 18:45:45 BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhuanet) -- International media should abide by the principles of objectivity and justice when they report news stories about China, said a senior official with the State Council Information Office (SCIO) here Monday. China is unsatisfactory about some foreign media's news coverage on China, which was biased and exaggerated, Zhao Qizheng, head of the SCIO, said at the Fortune Global Forum round-table meeting for cultural issues, which was held on Monday in Beijing. Some of the media took rumors as official information when theyreport on...

The Huffington Post, an Internet blog that debuted May 9 after a campaign that would have delighted P.T. Barnum, makes me nostalgic for the good old days of journalism. It isn't that its founder, Arianna Huffington (who named it for herself in true Hollywood "enough about me, not what do YOU think about me" fashion) doesn't have every right to join the increasingly clogged blog superhighway. Rather, this blog has an agenda and speaks mostly to people who already believe what most of its writers say. In The Huffington Post, the musical genius Quincy Jones explains that Michael Jackson's problem...

Three ancient Romanian maps bolster accuracy of “Persian Gulf” name VIENNA (IRNA) -- Three ancient maps kept in a Romanian academy confirm the accuracy of the name Persian Gulf to denote waters off the southern coast of Iran, said an Iranian embassy official in Bucharest Friday. Speaking to IRNA, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that researches made by the Romanian academy uncovered a map called "Asiac Nova Descripto" dating back to 1584 in which the Persian Gulf is historically referred to as "Mar Mesendin Ol Sinus Persicus." The Romanian academy is one of the most important...

Sen. Clinton strikes out The day before former President Clinton's library was dedicated in Little Rock, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democrats' front-runner for the party's 2008 presidential nomination, gave Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren her first sit-down interview since her party got pummeled in the last election. If Mrs. Clinton aspires to become president, it would be helpful for her to get her facts straight. The junior senator from New York could begin by settling upon a consistent explanation for what happened to her party on Nov. 2. From one moment to the next in the interview, Mrs....

Accuracy in Media (AIM) founder Reed Irvine must have flashed one of his signature grins on September 21, 2004. While Irvine, felled by a stroke is missing from AIM action, the “Can Dan” campaign he launched against Dan Rather some 16 years ago, found new life. AIM members, staffers and supporters gathered outside the CBS News offices in Washington, D.C. to call for the firing of Dan Rather in the wake of the CBS News anchorman’s use of forged documents in a story designed to smear President George W. Bush. . . . . . At the anti-CBS protest, several...

How Liberal is John Kerry? A new RNC ad claims Kerry is "the most liberal man in the Senate." Actually, his lifetime rating is 11th or lower, depending. October 19, 2004 Modified: October 19, 2004 Summary A Republican National Committee ad released Oct. 16 claims that Kerry is "the most liberal man in the Senate." It's true that vote rankings by the politically neutral magazine The National Journal rated Kerry "most liberal" in 2003 and in three earlier years during his first Senate term: 1986, 1988, and 1990. But over his entire career the Journal ranks Kerry the 11th most...

Ah, the omnipresent poll. The media punditocracy is addicted to using polls to tell us what "the American people feel" (never think) about everything from a president's so-called approval rating, to how a candidate's chances stack up against others in a race, to our "feelings" about various policy and social issues. Although the public has absolutely no way to evaluate the vast majority of polls for accuracy, most of us simply accept them as incontrovertible indicators of truth. Why? The answer probably is because we're told that polls are "scientific" since they use statistical-type analysis, and most of us tend...

When asked what is the most important part of any news story, Joseph Pulitzer replied, "Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy." I've always thought that whether it's selling newspapers, a documentary, a speech to the Rotary Club, or used cars, if you want to have viewers tomorrow try deceit, if you want to have viewers ten years from tomorrow, try honesty. I have read about as much as anyone on the subject of the Bush National Guard memos. In fact, starting today I'll stop the reading. The excellent discussions and technical research presented here and now in several major news sources leaves very...

The mainstream media is ignoring promising news about adult stem cell researchMEDIA BIAS is alive and well and busily promoting the brave new world. I personally experienced the phenomenon recently when I participated in an educational symposium in Frankfort, Kentucky (along with Drs. David Prentice and John Hubert). Our purpose was to provide empirical and moral support for pending state legislation that would outlaw human cloning in Kentucky. (Similar laws have already passed in Michigan, Iowa, North Dakota, and Arkansas.) We spoke about regenerative medicine (using cellular treatments to repair injured or damaged organs), the science of human cloning (how...

Carl Limbacher, noted commentator, NewsMax contributor and author of blockbuster book, Hillary's Scheme, will be the featured speaker at a luncheon sponsored by Accuracy in Media. Date: Tuesday, October 21; Time: Noon; Location: Women's National Republican Club, 3 West 51st St., NYC; Cost: $35.00 RSVP: Lori Hopkins (202)364-4401,#110 E-mail: Lori.Hopkins@aim.org

Meet Joe Dirt Stuart K. Hayashi In 2001, comedian David Spade came out with a movie titled "The Adventures of Joe Dirt." It now appears that the film was about Joe Conason, the author of "Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth" and an editorialist for the liberal-biased Salon.com. In the person of Brad Pitt, you've already Met Joe Black. Now Meet the Real Joe Dirt. His book purports to expose how right-wingers harness the corporate media to brainwash society. Instead of demonstrating such, however, Joe is too busy flinging his Dirt around. In two...

GENEVA — It’s a question that few people have the insight to answer: Is television’s “The West Wing” an accurate portrayal of life in the White House? The answer is yes, at least according to Hobart and William Smith Colleges President Mark Gearan. Gearan was the White House communications director during President Clinton’s first term. Gearan came to Geneva in 1999, just as the drama starring Martin Sheen went on the air, and he says he has been asked questions about the show ever since. Some of his former colleagues are coming to Geneva next week for a discussion on...

January 3, 2001PRESIDENTIAL POLL PERFORMANCE 2000The accuracy of the election projections based on the pre-election polls of 2000 was surpassed only by the polls of 1976 and 1960, according to a study release today by the National Council on Public Polls. This year's final polls had an average error of 1.1 percentage points on the estimates for George W. Bush and Al Gore. The error on the third place finisher, Ralph Nader, was 1.3 percentage points. These results were based on the work of 10 polling organizations that used traditional methods for conducting their polls. Poll Bush/GoreError NaderError Harris Poll...