Free Republic

The Media's Top 10 Worst Economic Myths of 2009 From jobs 'saved or created,' to stimulus saving the economy, to 'deficit neutral' health care reform; here are ten biggest stories the media got wrong this year. By Julia A. Seymour Business & Media Institute 12/9/2009 12:18:20 PM Each year the Business & Media Institute looks back on the year's news and selects the top 10 worst economic myths. Here is our 2009 list: 10. CBS, NY Times Support Ecuadorian Shakedown of U.S. oil company 9. Media Fail to Scrutinize Obama’s Job Claims 8. Government Stimulus is the Answer to Our...

My attempt to squash your romantic view of Thanksgiving! Mayflower Myths:The reason that we have so many myths associated with Thanksgiving is that it is an invented tradition. It doesn’t originate in any one event. It is based on the New England puritan Thanksgiving, which is a religious Thanksgiving, and the traditional harvest celebrations of England and New England and maybe other ideas like commemorating the pilgrims. All of these have been gathered together and transformed into something different from the original parts. James W. Baker Senior Historian at Plymouth Plantation. There are more at the link...

When it comes to maintaining your car, misconceptions abound. And even the best intentions can lead you to spend more money than necessary or even compromise your safety. Here are a few common car care myths that can do more harm than good. Myth: Engine oil should be changed every 3,000 miles. Reality: Despite what oil companies and quick-lube shops often claim, it’s usually not necessary. Stick to the service intervals in your car’s owner’s manual. Under normal driving conditions, most vehicles are designed to go 7,500 miles or more between oil changes. Changing oil more often doesn’t hurt the...

This documetary will challenge the global warming myths of Al Gore. By no means will I suggest this film is a documentary without bias, but if you think Al Gore’s “documentary” was without bias you may be nuts. Tonight at 8 p.m. ET is the online live premiere of Not Evil Just Wrong. The film reveals the true cost of Global Warming – re-branded “climate change” – hysteria.

On the June 3, 2009 Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, host Rachel Maddow cited a false quote attributed to Rush Limbaugh in which the radio host supposedly said he wanted to award Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassin the Medal of Honor. Since Limbaugh expressed interest in becoming part owner of the St. Louis Rams in October, several MSNBC hosts have repeated that and other false quotes. Reacting to Limbaugh calling then Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a racist, Maddow declared: “When you get called racist by the guy who says the assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. should get the...

The President of the United States recently told the United Nations that "global warming" poses a threat to national security and may engender conflicts as populations are displaced by rising sea levels, droughts, floods, storms etc. etc. etc. However, it is now clear that there is no basis for the notion that the barely-detectable human influence on the climate is likely to prove a threat to climate, still less to national security. The first principle to which any national security advisor must adhere is that of objective truth. Though he must have an understanding of politics, he is not a...

Statistics, even at their best, don't tell a whole story. A variety of people employ medical statistics dubiously to push pet causes. A perfect example: infant mortality statistics. The officially reported U.S. infant mortality rate has been indisputably high compared with similarly industrialized countries since at least the 1920s. That fact has led to public health officials in the U.S. to conclude the rates are "caused" by poorly distributed health care resources and can be "solved" with a socialized, government-run health care system. However, there's a basic problem with the numbers: Different countries count differently. According to the World Health...

"Once upon a time . . . " Sometimes it seems that news reports about guns or gun owners should begin with that phrase. Those four short words would inform readers that while the story to follow will be presented as fact, it is really fiction, or better said, a myth or a fable. Unfortunately, non-truths, through constant repetition, have come to displace facts in the public dialog about guns in America. Some of these fables, as many fables do, started out with a grain of truth, but were later misrepresented and twisted to serve a particular political purpose. Others...

White House adviser David Axelrod is going to try to start his own viral e-mail responding to attacks on Obamacare. It will include responses to eight “myths” about Obamacare, and since I know all of you come to IMAO as your primary news source, I obtained those myths and the White House’s response so you can see them here: MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT OBAMACARE MYTH: Obamacare will institute “death panels” to judge who should live and who should die. FACT: People deciding who will live and who will die will be single Obama-appointed bureaucrats, so no panels are involved.

She doesn't want your frosty public stares; the whispers behind her back; the lament that she's been degraded by her father. What the Muslim high school senior wants you to understand is that she doesn't wear the hijab, the head scarf worn by Muslim women, because she is submissive. "It represents beauty to me," says Abdelaziz, the 17-year-old daughter of two Egyptian parents living in Old Bridge, New Jersey.

The URL will take you to SEIU healthcare page. Posted here is the private email I received this afternoon. Dear Axxxxxx, Join the CallYou're invited to join Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius this Friday, August 7th at 2:30 pm EDT, for an exclusive 'myth-busting' conference call with SEIU members on health care reform. RSVP for the call by clicking here. Right now, opponents of health insurance reform are spreading lies, fabrications and blatant distortions to scare the American people. The myths seem to multiply daily. You've probably heard them yourself, or fielded questions from concerned friends and...

This country’s Founding Fathers were racist, sexist white men whose opinions don’t matter in today’s world -- unless they can be used to bolster liberal talking points. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers by Brion McClanahan smashes those misguided notions by re-examining the men who helped forge this country’s government without falling back on postmodern spin. Founding Fathers is a painstaking look at how the country began, where the Founders stood on key issues like freedom of religion, as well as how they came to their political philosophies. It also details the spirited debates behind some of the...

Chapter 4 of my book, titled, "An Inconvenient Hoax," systematically exposes and confronts all the most current science fiction being shoved down our throats by the Luddite absolutists and pseudo-intellectual scam artists of the left. It is devastating. Unsurprisingly, there is a flurry of new data pouring in even further confirming how utterly baseless this invented Green Scare really is, now even from Obama's own people. Much like the Swine Flu and about a gazillion other contrived alarmist fantasies from decades past (breast implants, Alar, the Millenium bug, DDT, etc.), public faith in the environmentalist religion is consequently fading, and...

Last month, the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization affiliated with George Mason University, released "Science Suppressed: How America became obsessed with BPA," a report which accuses the media "of ignoring the extensive research of respected scientists and major health agencies in the United States and around the world, which found BPA was not only safe but played an important role in ensuring food safety."   It also confirms what countless previous studies have said; BPA is safe. If you're unfamiliar with Bisphenol A (BPA), it is a chemical used to make lightweight, versatile, durable, high-performance plastics.  It's...

Erin Pizzey is a genial woman with snow-white hair, cherubic cheeks, and an easy smile. It wasn't always that way. The daughter of an English diplomat, she founded the world's first shelter for battered women in 1971. To her surprise, she discovered that most of the women in her shelter were as violent as the men they had left. When Pizzey wrote a book revealing this sordid truth, she encountered a firestorm of protest. "Abusive telephone calls to my home, death threats, and bomb scares, became a way of living for me and for my family. Finally, the bomb squad...

Washington Times - Letter to the Editor 6/7/95 - Arlington Thomas Colton Ruthford During the past several months in the American press, the Democrats have frequently denounced the Republicans as Nazis due to their attempts to control runaway federal spending. How very ironic. I remember the Nazis. Let me share a little about them and recall some of their exploits. First of all, "Nazi" was gutter slang for the verb "to nationalize". The Bieder-Mienhoff gang gave themselves this moniker during their early struggles. The official title of the Nazi Party was "The National Socialist Workers Party of Germany". Hitler and...

As the USA population is now firmly under One-Party rule, it becomes even more essential that the truth is disseminated to the people—for as long as will be allowed. Scientists have been opposing the global warming hype since it was first introduced by the United Nations and, then, former US VP Al Gore. These scientists were then threatened with the loss of both their jobs and credibility if they continued to speak out against the fraudulent concept; a concept that was brought to bear so that “wealthy” Western populations (most specifically the USA) could be relieved of their money via...

Latter-day Saints love the Bible and believe it as scripture. Indeed, Joseph Smith went so far as to say that we are the only people who truly believe it as it is written. Modern, sectarian Christians hang Bible verses like ornaments on an artificial tree constructed of man-made creeds, ignoring the passages which conflict with or contradict their doctrines. In the process, they have allowed a number of myths about the Bible to be promulgated because it serves their own ends. The following eight myths are summarized from "Here We Stand" by Joseph Fielding McConkie (1995, Deseret Book) McConkie is...

Polar bears are not dying out and Turkey Twizzlers are fine, according to a new book from scientists wishing to challenge science "scare stories" Contrary to widely held belief, polar bear populations are rising, according to the scientists It is widely thought that the polar ice caps will melt, causing sea levels to rise, resulting in the loss of cities along the coast, as well as a the majority of polar bears. And if global warming does not kill us, then obesity or heart disease will thanks to an addiction to junk food and salt. But a new book, compiled...

With Father’s Day almost upon us, expect a host of media stories on men and family life. Some will do a good job of capturing the changes and continuities associated with fatherhood in contemporary America. But other reporters and writers will generalize from their own unrepresentative networks of friends and family members, try to baptize the latest family trend, or assume that our society is heading ceaselessly in a progressive direction. So be on the lookout this week for stories, op-eds, and essays that include these five myths on contemporary fatherhood and family life. 1. THE ‘MR. MOM’ SURGE Open...

Since the landmark 2008 ruling in DC v. Heller, the courts have recognized what we have always known, namely that the right to keep and bear arms is a specifically enumerated, individual right, on par with freedom of speech and religion. Given this judicial environment, if we allow the government to impose a prior restraint upon the 2nd Amendment, then the 1st is no longer inviolate.

‘But the New Testament does not make a big deal out of the Age of the Earth…’ by Peter Milford ... The issue of the age of the earth parallels circumcision. In my experience, the first response from Christians who do not accept the age of the earth that the Scriptures indicate, is to say something like “The New Testament does not make a big deal out of the age of the earth” or “It is not the purpose of the Bible to give the age of the earth”. Their point is that (1) the issue of the age of...

It pains me to have to do this. It truly does. But you need to know. There are no super heroes. There never were any. And while we know that there are no super heroes, we also know that there definitely are monsters. Oh yes. They walk amongst us every day, watching us the way that wolves watch over the flock. And we live in constant fear of the day that their gaze flicks to us.

Terrible lizards trapped by terrible Flood Tas Walker A trail of fossilized claw marks found in northern Spain reveals the desperation of animals struggling to escape drowning in the Genesis Flood. ... That the footprints were preserved at all indicates the dinosaurs were engulfed by abnormal conditions. Today footprints are quickly obliterated, especially on a beach or in a strong current. But in the sandstone in Spain even the delicate features of the scratches were preserved, which means that sediment covered the tracks (and the ripple marks) soon after the dinosaur struggled past...

In his first full-length American radio interview, Adnan Oktar, pen name Harun Yahya, a Muslim, Turkish intellectual posit the theory that the source of terrorism, including Islamic terrorism, is Darwinism.

CBNNews.com - CROSSROADS BIBLE COLLEGE, Ind. - Darwin's book on human evolution, The Descent of Man, revealed him as what John West calls "a virulent racist." "He did write extensively about how evolution by natural selection creates unequal races, and that in the evolutionary scheme of things, blacks are the closest to apes," he explained. West is the author of Darwin Day in America. "It's not just residual racism," he added. "He's using his scientific theory as a justification for racism and countless scientists after Darwin latched on to that." Hosea Baxter directs reconciliation ministries at Crossroads Bible College. He...

... The tree-of-life concept was absolutely central to Darwin's thinking, equal in importance to natural selection...Without it the theory of evolution would never have happened. The tree also helped carry the day for evolution. ... For much of the past 150 years, biology has largely concerned itself with filling in the details of the tree. "For a long time the holy grail was to build a tree of life," says Eric Bapteste, an evolutionary biologist at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, France. A few years ago it looked as though the grail was within reach. But today...

Every time a newspaper or magazine announces that it is taking a survey to determine who Americans regard as their greatest president, it is almost a foregone conclusion that Abraham Lincoln will wind up at the top, perhaps sharing space with George Washington. Oddly, Lincoln was probably one of the least-well-prepared presidents we have ever elected: he had no administrative or managerial experience whatsoever. He had served one term as a Representative in Congress in 1848, but he had never been a cabinet officer or a governor or even mayor of Springfield. And to the dismay of those who tried...

It’s happened again. My most quoted article, “What’s Up With White Women?” has been cited in another new book: Michael Medved’s The 10 Big Lies About America: Combating Destructive Distortions About Our Nation (Crown, 2008). I was tipped off by a friend who was reading the book. Here is what Medved wrote: An American Indian academic and musician named David A. Yeagley (an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation) tells a sobering story about one of his students at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City. A “tall and pretty” girl with amber hair and brown eyes, she spoke out in a class...

As the year draws to an end and President Bush enters his final month in office, there is much commentary about the Administration's record over the past eight years. Unsurprisingly, many of these stories assail and distort the President's record and recycle myths and unfounded allegations that have been leveled for the better part of his two terms. Historical accuracy requires a response to the litany of attacks leveled against President Bush, and while there's not enough space to respond to all of them, here are five of the most egregious:

Many supposed holiday hazards are as innocuous as a tepid mug of apple cider. A review article in the current issue of the British Medical Journal cites five fears that can officially be crossed off the holiday worry list.

My parents used to tell me many ouvroustories to scare me into doing as I am told.  And I’m not alone; almost all of us have heard some of these myths. Who knows, perhaps some of us still believe in them. Some of these myths may have some truth to them; some may be total hogwash. What is surprising, is that so many have survived until today.I spent a while reading up on the more common myths, and found seven with which to entertain you.Myth: Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death Fact: Spooky, yes, but it is not...

The 2008 presidential election ended less than two weeks ago, but the mythmaking machine has already begun to churn. President-elect Barack Obama transformed the face of the electorate! The Republican Party will be a miserable minority in Congress for the next century! Cats and dogs are now living together! Below we explode the five biggest myths that have already sprung up around the election that was. 1. The Republican Party suffered a death blow. SNIP 2. A wave of black voters and young people was the key to Obama's victory. SNIP 3. Now that they control the White House and...

There Something About Sarah.

NEW YORK, (AP) -- MSNBC was the victim of a hoax when it reported that an adviser to John McCain had identified himself as the source of an embarrassing story about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the network said Wednesday. David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a Fox News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent. Eisenstadt identifies himself on a blog as a senior fellow at...

The current financial crisis has revived powerful misconceptions about the Great Depression. Those who misinterpret the past are all too likely to repeat the exact same mistakes that made the Great Depression so deep and devastating. Here are five interrelated and durable myths about the 1929-39 Depression:

One of the great things about America is that you don't have to come from a royal house to be a leader. You don't have to be born to a wealthy dynasty. We like to say that anyone can become president. When we consider candidates for high office, we look to see how their lives link to the sweat and hardship, difficulty and victory, struggle and overcoming that formed our nation. If some candidates have led a soft life, we'll listen politely when they describe their parents' or ancestors' struggles. If they have no relatives with stirring stories of triumph,...

WASILLA, Alaska- Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn't fully support her and...

• "Even if drilling works, it'll take a decade or more for the oil to flow." This is quite an argument coming from the Democratic Party, which has made keeping oil off the market a linchpin of its energy policy for decades. If President Clinton hadn't vetoed the idea of drilling in ANWR back in 1995, we'd have that oil on the market today. Ditto if Congress had approved ANWR drilling in 2002, when President Bush requested it. Even so, the larger point is false anyway. New oil will be flowing in some cases within three to four years, according...

Gun Facts version 5.0 is now available A new version of Gun Facts is now available, both as a free e-book and as a printed version. Gun Facts debunks all common gun control myths. Organized by gun control myths and with over 480 detailed citations, firearm policy wonks can rapidly refute the Brady Campaign, the Violence Policy Center, the Legal Community Against Violence, and other cauldrons of canards. Gun Facts 5.0 has 94 packed pages of information. Gun Facts is grouped into chapters on common gun control topics (assault weapons, ballistic finger printing, firearm availability, international, etc.) which make finding...

VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania: As the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift approaches, recycled myths about its accomplishments drop from the sky like candy into the waiting arms of Americans hungry for a foreign policy alternative to endless war and secret torture. But politicians and pundits looking for a humanitarian policy to win the world's hearts and minds should look back to the airlift with caution. Sixty years after British and American planes began to fly supplies to West Berliners facing a Soviet blockade, even the faux news program "Colbert Report" has reprised the Cold War refrain that the airlift saved the...

1. A vice presidential candidate should win his or her home state for the party. It probably hasn't made much difference to the outcome since 1960, when Lyndon B. Johnson helped put Texas in John F. Kennedy's column 2. Ideological and regional balance are vital to a ticket. This assumption, too, was once valid but no longer holds. In the 19th century, the heyday of political machines, voters felt a strong allegiance to one party or the other, and a race's outcome was determined by how well the 3. Reaching across the aisle to form a bipartisan ticket would be...

Everyone’s heard these medical myths, and your mom (and maybe even your doctor!) may have been guilty of spreading a few of them: High blood pressure causes headaches. High blood pressure usually has no symptoms. Neither does it cause dizziness, although dizziness is a common side effect of treatments for high blood pressure. Women should examine their breasts. Research shows that routine breast self-examinations aren’t sensitive enough to detect many lumps, and may subject women to increased anxiety. It’s dangerous to mix alcohol and antibiotics. Alcohol doesn’t interact with antibiotics. Metronidazole (Flagyl) is an exception, however, and can cause vomiting....

The Unreal Ronald Kessler by: M. Stanton Evans, May 06, 2008 Herewith a letter sent to The Wall Street Journal a week ago in response to the recent anti-McCarthy article by Ronald Kessler....(snip)I have held off on circulating this letter until The Wall Street Journal had ample chance to run it....(snip) Like many other critics of Joe McCarthy, Ronald Kessler would be more persuasive if he knew something of the subject. Kessler’s Journal essay ("The Real Joe McCarthy," April 22), attacking the Wisconsin senator and taking a sidewise shot at my recent book about him, is an odd amalgam of...

For years, Texas has been planning a privately financed super turnpike from Mexico to the Oklahoma border. But like rush-hour traffic, the plan for a Trans-Texas Corridor is only inching along. "It ran into a firestorm of controversy in Texas,� said Neal McCaleb, a former Oklahoma transportation secretary. Critics have a wide range of concerns about the corridor, which has a key stretch that would parallel Interstate 35. (Another stretch would extend from the Texarkana/Shreveport area to Mexico.) Particularly upset are landowners who may be in the corridor's path. The Texas Transportation Department calls many concerns myths. The department says,...

Myth One: Airline mergers cause big job losses. Reality: Bankruptcies and high oil prices have caused significantly more job losses than mergers. Record fuel prices have led to the shutdown or bankruptcy filings of five U.S. carriers. Myth Two: This deal will jeopardize employees' benefits.Reality: The merger will create a financially stronger airline, better positioned to protect jobs, compensation and benefits. The transaction will make employee pensions and benefits more secure. Myth Three: Prices will go up as a result of the merger.Reality: In this industry, prices are set by market forces and competition. There is very little overlap between...

Sent: Friday, March 14, 2008 4:20 PM Subject: CLOSED Congress Session Last Night: Only 4th Time In 176 Years ! SPECIAL "CLOSED SESSION" OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSSED A LOT MORE THAN THE PENDING SECURITY SURVEILLANCE PROVISIONS! This was only the fourth time in 176 years that Congress has closed its doors to the public. What was it that they were discussing that they do NOT want us to know about? Word has begun leaking from last nights special, closed-door session of the United States House of Representatives. Not only did members discuss new surveillance provisions as was the...

Three months ago, at a birthday party, I met a dour young man wearing a “9/11 was an inside job” T-shirt. I’d already been noticing a lot of “inside job” stickers and graffiti around town, and now, faced with a real-life Truther, I found that I couldn’t stop staring at him: He was at a celebration of a friend’s life and he was wearing a shirt announcing that nearly 3,000 American citizens were killed by our own government. It’s easy to dismiss a guy like this as a lone wolf, but he’s actually not alone: A 2006 Scripps Survey Research...

As the Bush administration winds down, neoconservatism has become the most feared and reviled intellectual movement in American history. The neoconservatives have become the subject of numerous myths, mostly spread by their numerous detractors. They're seen as dangerous heretics by livid liberals as well as by traditional conservatives such as William F. Buckley Jr. and Patrick Buchanan. So "neocon" has become a handy term of condemnation, routinely deployed to try to silence liberal hawks such as Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut or right-wing interventionists such as former deputy secretary of defense Paul D. Wolfowitz and the former Pentagon official Richard...

As a Swede I get to hear a lot of the myths of how wonderful a country Sweden supposedly is — the "prosperous socialism" it stands for, a role model for the rest of the world. For instance, quite a few friends from around the world have commended me on Swedish recycling polices and the Swedish government's take on coercive environmentalism. The way it has been presented to me, Sweden has succeeded with what most other governments at best dream about: creating an efficient and profitable national system for saving the environment through large-scale recycling. And the people are all...