Free Republic

Last Friday, I posted "Update to Public School Library Propagates Falsehood that Governor Palin Banned Books." I went step by step and day by day through my battle to correct the record and emphatically declare that Sarah Palin never, ever banned any books. At that point, I was turning it over to the public who had voiced a desire to step in and hold the school accountable. No longer was I going to stand between anyone and their efforts to see this wrong corrected, which I had done while I attempted to right this wrong. I am not sure who,...

In any event, other than David Axelrod’s assertion on November 23rd that Obama and Blagojevich discussed the Senate succession, no independent reporting found thus far puts the two of them on the phone together or in the same room strategizing on Obama’s replacement. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that such a meeting took place — it would make sense, politically, for Blagojevich to consult Obama on potential candidates even if Blagojevich wasn’t corrupt — but people will have to look harder for evidence.

Cheney won't take back Pelosi comment 24 minutes ago Vice President Dick Cheney refused Friday to take back his charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record)'s opposition to President Bush's Iraq war buildup is playing into the hands of the al-Qaida terrorist network. "If you're going to advocate a course of action that basically is withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, then you don't get to just do the fun part of that, that says, 'We'll, we're going to get out,' and appeal to your constituents on that basis," Cheney said. The vice president had voiced the...

<p>WE'RE RELUCTANT to return to the subject of former CIA employee Valerie Plame because of our oft-stated belief that far too much attention and debate in Washington has been devoted to her story and that of her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, over the past three years. But all those who have opined on this affair ought to take note of the not-so-surprising disclosure that the primary source of the newspaper column in which Ms. Plame's cover as an agent was purportedly blown in 2003 was former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage.</p>

Ooops! We all make mistakes. But some mistakes are bigger than others. Here's an example--when a newspaper prints incorrect information. Newspapers frequently run corrections and retractions. But you usually have to search for them. Well, Regret the Error lists corrections, retractions and clarifications printed in newspapers around the country. It also includes a short commentary. Sometimes the mistakes are humorous. But I [Kim Komando] don't visit the site to gloat over others' mistakes. I read it because it makes me feel a little better about some of the mistakes I've made.

August 24, 2005 U.S. Representative John Linder 1026 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: 770-232-3005 Fax: 770-232-2909 Copy: Neal Boortz, WSB Radio, Dr. Dale Jorgenson, Harvard University Dear Representative Linder: I wrote to you two days ago regarding what I consider to be serious misrepresentations of the Fair Tax plan contained in your book, “The FairTax Book”. On page 2, you state “Let’s agree up front that this book is about honesty” and I intend to hold you at your word. Since that time, I have been in contact with Dr. Jorgenson in an attempt to clarify his...

FAIRTAX UPDATE There is no doubt that the story of H.R. 25, the FairTax, has been pushed into the background by the Katrina disaster, and perhaps that is as it should be. When hundreds of thousands of people are suffering as they are in the aftermath of Katrina, that is the story. The FairTax is, however, still on the minds of the political class in Washington DC. Congressman Linder tells me that the Republican leadership is more than impressed with the success of The FairTax Book. They have been receiving a steady stream of phone calls, emails, faxes ... and...

bureau's take on: The Fair Tax Bill, Newt in 2008? More....

Dear Editor, I've just read a new best-seller, which I highly recommend to you and your readers: "The Fair Tax Book, Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS." The co-authors are "reformed lawyer" and syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz, and Congressman John Linder, R-Ga. Linder is also the principal author/sponsor of The Fair Tax Bill (H.R. 25), currently before Congress. In the interest of brevity (the book is only 180 pages, by the way), I'll quote from the back of the dust jacket. "What the Fair Tax will do for America: eliminate the income tax and the...

NEW YORK (Money magazine) - If you don't care much for talk radio, or you don't live in the South, the name Neal Boortz might not ring a bell. But pay attention: Around 4 million people nationwide catch his radio show. It's No. 1 in Boortz's home market of Atlanta and ranks first or second in numerous smaller cities in red states. His 180-page polemic for radical tax reform, The FairTax Book, made its debut at No. 1 on the New York Times' bestseller list in August. When Boortz came to Jacksonville for a book signing at a downtown hotel...

THE FAIRTAX --- STRAIGHTENING OUT SOME CONFUSION When Congressman Linder and I were busy researching and writing The FairTax Book we knew full well that it would one day become the focal point for those opposed to this tax reform idea. We tried, therefore, to make sure that our numbers and claims were correct and consistent with the research that went into the drafting of HR 25. On review, and after reading the critiques of opponents to the FairTax plan, we have concluded that there is one element of the FairTax that could have been present with more clarity in...

Arutz-7 has learned that the captions on pictures posted on this site on July 4th indicating that a photographer was staging a photo of the wounded Arab in the Muwasi incident were not accurate. Arutz-7 originally received the photos and the misinformation about them from another large Hebrew website - but later learned that the photos were extracted from a video showing the Arab falling and the photographer extending his arm to assist him. Arutz-7 deeply regrets this error. Arutz-7 stands by its stories indicating that incident was not a "lynching," and that it did not occur the way in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Guantanamo detainee who told an FBI agent in 2002 that U.S. personnel there had flushed a Koran in a toilet retracted his allegation when questioned this month by military investigators, the Pentagon said on Thursday. "We've gone back to the detainee who allegedly made the allegation and he has said it didn't happen. So the underlying allegation, the detainee himself, within the last two weeks, said that didn't happen," chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told a briefing. An FBI document, dated Aug. 1, 2002, contained a summary of statements made by the detainee in two...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Guantanamo detainee who told an FBI agent in 2002 that U.S. personnel there had flushed a Koran in a toilet retracted his allegation when questioned this month by military investigators, the Pentagon said on Thursday. "We've gone back to the detainee who allegedly made the allegation and he has said it didn't happen. So the underlying allegation, the detainee himself, within the last two weeks, said that didn't happen," chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told a briefing. An FBI document, dated Aug. 1, 2002, contained a summary of statements made by the detainee in two...

The Guantanamo detainee who told an FBI agent in 2002 that U.S. personnel there had flushed a Koran in a toilet retracted his allegation when questioned this month by military investigators, the Pentagon said on Thursday. "We've gone back to the detainee who allegedly made the allegation and he has said it didn't happen. So the underlying allegation, the detainee himself, within the last two weeks, said that didn't happen," chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told a briefing.

Newsweek floundered in journalistic purgatory over the weekend, unable to confirm or completely retract the "Periscope" item from its May 9 issue that incensed rioters in Afghanistan and Pakistan; 16 people died in the melees. I wonder why Newsweek wasn't more skeptical about Quran-desecration charges. Muslims so venerate the Quran that they are outraged if anyone touches one without first washing their hands, let alone put it into a dung-hole. Compare the ubiquity of the toilet story with other kinds of Quran desecration. In my Nexis sifting I found only a handful of examples from the last 25 years: A...

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A group of Afghan Islamic clerics have deferred a call for holy war against the United States over a magazine report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran after the report was retracted. The clerics in Badakhshan province said on Sunday the United States should hand anyone guilty of desecrating the holy book to a Muslim country for prosecution in three days or they would declare jihad, or holy war, against the United States. But Newsweek magazine, which first ran a story in its May 9 issue saying U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a...

Newsweek retracts story but the liberal media says it's probably true anyway and points the finger at the bullies in the administration. Newsweek has rejected the resignation of Michael Isikoff, which is probably the correct thing to do. Although the fabricated story was written by Isikoff, it was Newsweek that published the libel and it is Newsweek that is responsible for the deaths in Afghanistan. But all the big shots at Newsweek were innocent. In the case of the Koran item, Newsweek Managing Editor Whitaker said he did not see the final version because he was traveling on personal business....

Newsweek magazine and reporter-writers, Mark Isikoff and John Barry forgot the most important and one of the oldest clichés in the business, “You can’t unring a bell.” They also forgot one of the most memorable slogans in WW II, “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” As a result, over 15 people are dead in Afghanistan and many hurt. Riots continue in Muslim countries. All this is due to that fact that Newsweek reported that U.S. investigators found evidence that interrogators had flushed a copy of Muslim's holy book down a toilet in an attempt to rattle detainees. Just the thought that it...

BROWN: From New York is the author of today's note in Newsweek, the magazine's editor, Mark Whitaker. For the record, a spokesman for the Pentagon declined an invitation to join us.Mr. Whitaker, why did you decide to retract the story? MARK WHITAKER: Well, I think we had already made clear that we thought that we had made a mistake in the fundamental aspect of the story that everybody's concerned about, which is that we had firm evidence that an internal military investigation into the situation at Guantanamo Bay had uncovered Quran abuse........................snip MARK WHITAKER: Well, certainly I think we feel...

Newsweek magazine issued a retraction Monday of its report on the desecration of the Quran at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The report -- which stated that American interrogators put copies of the Quran on toilets or in one case, flushed one down a toilet -- was blamed for anti-American riots, which eyewitnesses said left at least 15 people dead.

The White House earlier Monday had called on Newsweek to retract its story as the Bush administration continued to deal with fallout from the anti-American protests in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. The magazine's initial report, appearing in its May 9 edition, alleged that U.S. interrogators had flushed a copy of the Quran down a toilet, which incited widespread, week-long anti-American protests in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries, in which at least 15 civilians were killed and dozens more injured. The magazine on Sunday acknowledged errors in its report and expressed regret for the violence that followed its publication, but stopped...

In an apology to readers this week, Newsweek acknowledged errors in a story alleging U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran. The accusations, which the magazine vowed to re-examine, spawned protests in Afghanistan that left 15 dead and scores injured. Responding to harsh criticism from Muslim leaders worldwide, the Pentagon promised to investigate the charges and pinned the deadly clashes on Newsweek for what it described as "irresponsible" reporting. "We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Editor...

Newsweek Magazine printed a report in their May 9th issue that U.S. interrogators have been desecrating the Koran in Guantanamo Bay… only to now say, “Oops, we’re sorry, that’s unconfirmed....” ......In Afghanistan alone, there have been 16 deaths and over 100 injuries related to riots in protest against America arising from the Newsweek report.... “But where’s the bias? It was just a mistake that they went to print with allegations…” some liberals might argue. But we have seen this before. This is another example of when a media outlet wants something to be true and is hell bent on reporting...

Per Fox News...

Ok, so the School Board website had a wrong e-mail address for Del Parker (the Treasurer). That individual took it upon himself to pretend to be a member of that board and respond with inflammatory things. Because that e-mail was on the website, it was assumed that the person was legitimate. It wasn't. The school board isn't pleased, I'm not pleased and a retraction is up. My mistake.

The Boston Globe told readers in an editor's note published Friday that portions of a story it ran on a seal hunt off Newfoundland and Labrador were fabricated by a freelance reporter who was not at the scene.

LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The BBC apologised on Saturday for erroneously reporting that U.S.-led and Iraqi forces may be responsible for the deaths of 60 percent of Iraqi civilians killed in conflict over the last six months. The British broadcaster said on Friday in broadcasts and a news statement that its Panorama investigative show would air a report on Sunday citing "confidential" records from Iraq's health ministry to support the contention. Iraq's health minister said the BBC misinterpreted the statistics it had received and had ignored statements from the ministry clarifying the figures. "Today, the Iraqi Ministry of Health...

Mention was made on a previous post (Mark Yannone-Libertarian or What ?) of a letter published by Arab News,entitled "World's Nightmare". Re-checking this morning,at the request of Mr. Yannone,I find the letter was written by a different contributor,and that Mark Yannone had nothing to do with it. There was a letter written by Mr. Yannone,that was published on this date,but the subject matter was different.My apologies to Mr. Yannone for this error !

If you think that comparing Evangelical Christians to the Taliban sounds extreme, you might just be a normal American. But if you think that the comparison is valid, you might just be a supporter of North Carolina Senator Julia Boseman. In fact, Boseman’s supporters have just launched a new website making that very comparison. Even worse, they go on to say the following of both Republicans and Christian Fundamentalists: “Hate is their currency. Ignorance is their sacrament. Racism is their communion.” Julia Boseman’s attacks on Evangelical Christians began months ago in one of the most disgraceful episodes of political passive...

Dear Jonathan Garthwaite: I have some pretty bad news and some really bad news. First the pretty bad news: I have not yet completed the follow-up to my recent article "Religious discrimination at the University of Georgia"I know that the article was due this week and I am truly sorry. The delay has something to do with the really bad news: Mike Adams, Townhall.com, and a few other sites that reprint my column have been threatened with a lawsuit by newly elected North Carolina State Senator Julia Boseman. On November 9th, Boseman threatened us with a lawsuit for defamation of...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- A former soldier who accused American troops of committing war crimes in Vietnam has recently come forward to recant those charges. Steven J. Pitkin appeared at the "Winter Soldier Investigation" conducted in Detroit in 1971 by former Navy Lieutenant John Kerry and his group, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, but now says that his statements were coerced. In a sworn affidavit on August 31, 2004, Pitkin said that he rode in a van with John Kerry, a national leader of the VVAW, Scott Camil, and others from Washington, DC to attend the conference. The event was...

Published: September 03, 2004 10:00 PM EST NEW YORK The Associated Press changed "boos" to "ooohhs" Friday afternoon in reporting on President George Bush's first statement to supporters on the heart ailment that has befallen former President Bill Clinton. In a dispatch sent to subscribers in early afternoon, the AP reported that when Bush, at a campaign rally in West Allis, Wisconsin, told the crowd that he wished to send Clinton his "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery," the audience "of thousands booed. Bush did nothing to stop them." Pretty damning, except that AP soon changed its story,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 - A commercial by a group of veterans accusing Senator John Kerry of exaggerating his decorated Vietnam War record was strongly challenged Friday by Democrats as new questions arose about the claims of one of the men calling Mr. Kerry a liar in the advertisement. The Boston Globe quoted the man, Lt. Cmdr. George Elliott, retired, who as Mr. Kerry's commander in Vietnam had recommended him for a Silver Star, as recanting a recent sworn statement that he did not believe Mr. Kerry deserved the decoration because of allegations that he earned it by shooting a fleeing,...

CNN had egg on its face yesterday after being forced to retract a report that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had approved a form of torture know as "water boarding" for al Qaida prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. The tactic involves strapping a detainee to a board and dunking him in water to the point where he believes he is drowning. But in testimony yesterday before the House Armed Services Committee, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz publicly chastised the network for the bogus claim: "I'd like to clarify at least one thing that's been seriously misreported for almost the last 24...

<p>Early detractors of Mel Gibson's hit film, "The Passion of the Christ," are backing away from their critical remarks after the movie grossed a record-setting $26.6 million on its opening day.</p> <p>"The Passion," which opened Wednesday on 4,643 screens at 3,006 theaters, set a record for the biggest opening day for a movie released outside the summer (May-August) and winter holiday months (November-December).</p>

Alabama commander regrets Bush comments National Guard boss says he couldn't recall if president attended meetingsBy Jim Cummins Correspondent NBC News Updated: 5:34 p.m. ET Feb. 11, 2004DALLAS - The flap over President Bush's military service in the Texas Air National Guard really comes down to what he says he did from May 1972 to May 1973 and evidence and recollection from that time. Now, the military officer at the center of the row regrets he ever got involved. advertisement Much of the controversy stems from an article in the "Boston Globe" during the 2000 election when the commander of...

Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean was forced to retract comments yesterday where he warned against prejudging the guilt of 9/11 terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, prompted by NewsMax.com's coverage of the story. "As an American, I want to make sure he gets the death penalty he deserves," Dean hastily told the Associated Press, hours after NewsMax called attention to his bizarre comments to the Concord Monitor, which posted its interview with the leading Democrat earlier in the day. In remarks that went unnoticed till late Friday, Dean had told the New Hampshire paper, "I still have this old-fashioned notion that...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 24 — Military officials retracted a report today that two American soldiers had been slashed in their throats in an attack Sunday in the northern city of Mosul. A military official here, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the two soldiers had died of gunshot wounds to the head and that their bodies had been pulled by Iraqis from their car and robbed of their personal belongings. The military official said that contrary to some reports, the men had not been beaten by rocks or mutilated in any way. The victims, both soldiers of the...

The Photo that Started it All On the day the Intafada broke out, Tuvia Grossman was riding a taxi to visit the Western Wall. He was unwittingly thrust into the international limelight -- and nearly killed in the process. Updated May 2002 On September 30, 2000, The New York Times, Associated Press and other major media outlets published a photo of a young man -- bloodied and battered -- crouching beneath a club-wielding Israeli policeman. The caption identified him as a Palestinian victim of the recent riots -- with the clear implication that the Israeli soldier is the one who...

Poland: French Missile Report Was Wrong By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 12:43 p.m. ET WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- After a protest from French President Jacques Chirac, Poland said Saturday it had been mistaken in reporting that its troops found new French-made anti-aircraft misiles in central Iraq. Chirac swiftly denied selling Iraq weapons in violation of the U.N. weapons embargo against Saddam Hussein's regime. The claims, he said, ``are as false today as they were yesterday.'' An aide to the Polish prime minister said an initial report that the Roland missiles found by Polish troops days ago were produced in...

The New York Times issued a defacto retraction on Saturday after misreporting two days earlier that Arnold Schwarzenegger once said he admired Adolf Hitler for what he did with his power. In early Friday editions, the so-called paper of record quoted the California gubernatorial front-runner as saying, "I admire [Hitler] for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it." Schwarzenegger's critics used the toxic quote to suggest he approved of the Holocaust. But an actual transcript of outtakes from Schwarzenegger's 1975 bodybuilding classic "Pumping Iron" shows that what the actor actually said was exactly the...

On Thursday, August 7 at the end of a column of miscellaneous corrections, the New York Times published this small bombshell: Editors' Note An article on Sunday about attacks on the American military in Iraq over the previous two days, attributed to military officials, included an erroneous account that quoted Pfc. Jose Belen of the First Armored Division. Private Belen, who is not a spokesman for the division, said that a homemade bomb exploded under a convoy on Saturday morning on the outskirts of Baghdad and killed two American soldiers and their interpreter. The American military's central command, which releases...

Editors' Note An article on Sunday about attacks on the American military in Iraq over the previous two days, attributed to military officials, included an erroneous account that quoted Pfc. Jose Belen of the First Armored Division. Private Belen, who is not a spokesman for the division, said that a homemade bomb exploded under a convoy on Saturday morning on the outskirts of Baghdad and killed two American soldiers and their interpreter. The American military's central command, which releases information on all American casualties in Iraq, said before the article was published that it could not confirm Private Belen's account....

Freeper OldFriend reports that he called Durbin's office and read the following statement to an aide: ========================================= UNITED STATES SENATOR ILLINOIS DICK DURBIN P R E S S R E L E A S E -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release Contact: Melissa Merz (202) 224-7028 December 17, 1998 DURBIN STATEMENT ON MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAQ I fully support President Clinton and our national security team's decision to take swift action against Saddam Hussein. The attack against this dictator should come as no surprise. The record clearly shows that he has harassed American and United Nations inspectors, ordered the destruction of important...

THE BBC has admitted that it had made "slips of the tongue" in describing its source for bitterly contested allegations about the intelligence dossier on Iraq released by the Blair Government last September. The BBC acknowledged that a number of journalists, including defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan, made errors when claiming the stories were based on an "intelligence source" when, in fact, David Kelly, who committed suicide last Friday and has subsequently been revealed by the BBC as its source for claims the dossier was "sexed up" by Downing Street, was a Ministry of Defence consultant. A BBC spokesman said on...

<p>A letter to the editor of The Washington Times, purported to be from a senior U.S. diplomat with scathing criticism of the Foreign Service for lack of loyalty to the Bush administration, was exposed yesterday as a forgery.</p> <p>Wesley Pruden, the editor in chief of The Times, said the newspaper learned "from the highest level at the State Department" that the letter was a hoax and the newspaper fully accepts "as true that the ambassador was not the author of this letter."</p>

<p>A letter to the editor of The Washington Times, purported to be from a senior U.S. diplomat with scathing criticism of the Foreign Service for lack of loyalty to the Bush administration, was exposed yesterday as a forgery.</p> <p>Wesley Pruden, the editor in chief of The Times, said the newspaper learned "from the highest level at the State Department" that the letter was a hoax and the newspaper fully accepts "as true that the ambassador was not the author of this letter."</p>

PRESIDENT BUSH last week retracted a statement he made in his State of the Union address alleging that Saddam Hussein had sought uranium in Africa. Among Democrats, who are treating the revelation as manna from Heaven, some are dealing with it more responsibly than others. Those who are basing their Presidential campaigns on convincing the American people that Bush tricked them on Iraq are barking up the wrong tree and are going to find themselves lost and alone when nothing falls from the branches. The whole accusation that Bush misled the public into believing that Hussein was pursuing nuclear weapons...

<p>"If I promise you the Moon and the Stars, Would you believe it?</p> <p>Games people play in the middle of the night" - Alan Parsons Project, "Games People Play"</p> <p>The recent fiasco experienced by the New York Times over the creative writing exploits of Jayson Blair should have served as a warning to journalists to be careful over the information they publish. A news outfit depends upon its credibility, just as surely as our society depends upon news reporting in order for people to make judgments over their own governance. Yet it appears that some lessons are not easily learned, as was recently demonstrated by some events which are to this moment still unfolding.</p>