Shame, shame, shame

The National Post today sank about as low as a newspaper can go, essentially constructing a sensational and emotionally-charged story out of little or nothing, upsetting millions all over the world and probably making it much harder for a peaceful outcome with Iran to be achieved.

It did it by exploiting the Holocaust, no less.

I speak, of course, of its shocking front-page story today, Iran Eyes Badges For Jews. (The link now seems to have died. But here's a matcher from the Jerusalem Post and another one from the right wing NewsMax.)

Writ large across six columns, with a poignant black-and-white photo of an unnamed Hungarian Jewish couple (c. 1944) wearing their Nazi-imposed yellow stars, the story has made world news. Of course, it has exploded through the blogosphere, giving the right wingdings new reason to call for a war on Iran. See here and here and here and ... you get the point.

And no wonder. The photo, which dominates the page, evokes every horrific memory of the Holocaust while the accompanying report paints a terrifying picture of a regime ready to single out non-Muslims the way gays in Hitler's Germany were forced to wear pink triangles and Roma brown ones. Here's a chunk of it, which I post here since the original online version has been vapourized. (The only reason I still have it on my screen is because I meant to blog this earlier today but, as the developments kept rolling in, I decided to wait. I never closed the window.)

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."

Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."

The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.

"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."

Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."

Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year.

It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.

Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran's small pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities -- the country is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim. "They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.

The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Scary stuff no? Which is why Prime Minister Stephen Harper jumped to condemn the news.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was quick to condemn Iran on Friday for an anti-Semitic law that appears not to exist.

Harper seized on a newspaper report that said Iran's hardline government would require Jews and Christians to wear coloured labels in public.

The prime minister couldn't vouch for the accuracy of the newspaper report, but he added that Iran was capable of such actions and compared them to Nazi practices.

"Unfortunately, we've seen enough already from the Iranian regime to suggest that it is very capable of this kind of action," Harper said.

"We've seen a number of things from the Iranian regime that are along these lines . . .

"It boggles the mind that any regime on the face of the Earth would want to do anything that could remind people of Nazi Germany."

Thank God it appears not to be true.  The Post has backed away from it, with this online story by Chris Wattie, who wrote the original. Pay special attention to the third paragraph.

Several experts are casting doubt on reports that Iran had passed a law requiring the country’s Jews and other religious minorities to wear coloured badges identifying them as non-Muslims.

The Iranian embassy in Otttawa also denied the Iranian government had passed such a law.

A news story and column by Iranian-born analyst Amir Taheri in yesterday’s National Post reported that the Iranian parliament had passed a sweeping new law this week outlining proper dress for Iran’s majority Muslims, including an order for Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians to wear special strips of cloth.

Just for the record? I doubt Wattie had any choice in writing the story. I have reason to believe that this came from above.

Sources say that the Taheri commentary page submission -- still online -- was the start of the story. That's because, I'm told, it was sent ahead of time to the Simon Weisenthal Centre which was justifiably outraged and then alarms elsewhere. The Post then had what appeared to be a legitimate story which it torqued out of all proportion.

Here's a bit of Taheri's ''commentary."

While the Iranian economy appears to be heading for recession, one sector may have some reason for optimism. That sector is the garment industry and the reason for hopefulness is a law passed by the Islamic Majlis (parliament) on Monday.

The law mandates the government to make sure that all Iranians wear "standard Islamic garments" designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions reflected in clothing, and to eliminate "the influence of the infidel" on the way Iranians, especially, the young dress. It also envisages separate dress codes for religious minorities, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who will have to adopt distinct colour schemes to make them identifiable in public. The new codes would enable Muslims to easily recognize non-Muslims so that they can avoid shaking hands with them by mistake, and thus becoming najis (unclean).

Who flagged the Taheri's op-ed to the SWC? Unconfirmed word is, it was Taheri himself.

And who is Taheri? (See one of the comments in my Global Issues post below.) According to his column's tagline:

Iranian author and journalist Amir Taheri is a member of Benador Associates.

And who are Benador Associates?

Oh just your typical right-wing war-mongering PR agency, that's who.

Daily Kos has more.

Meet Eleana Benador, the Peruvian-born publicist for Perle, Woolsey, Michael Ledeen, Frank Gaffney and a dozen other prominent neoconservatives whose hawkish opinions proved very hard to avoid for anyone who watched news talk shows or read the op-ed pages of major newspapers over the past 20 months. Also found among her client list are other major war-boosters, including former New York Times executive editor and now New York Daily News columnist, A. M. Rosenthal; Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer; the Council on Foreign Relations' resident imperialist Max Boot; and Victor Davis Hanson, a blood-and-guts classicist and one of Vice President Dick Cheney's favorite dinner guests.

Doubts have been cast on the story all day, starting with a radio report on AM 940 Montreal.

(I)ndependent reporter Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli Middle East expert who was born and raised in Tehran, says the report is false.

"It's absolutely factually incorrect," he told The New 940 Montreal.

"Nowhere in the law is there any talk of Jews and Christians having to wear different colours. I've checked it with sources both inside Iran and outside."

"The Iranian people would never stand for it. The Iranian government wouldn't be stupid enough to do it."

And from there it just snowballed.

Here is Liberal Catnip, which has a photo of the Post's front page today.

This story spread like wildfire throughout the blogosphere today amid fears that the world might have another Nazi Germany situation on its hands and it was all the work of one reporter who failed to get any official confirmation of its veracity.

Now that Rush Limbaugh, who has millions of radio listeners, has also picked it up, it's going to require a tremendous amount of effort to get the real truth out there that this has been debunked.

It certainly didn't help that Canada's Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, commented on the story without verifying it with his official sources as well. Instead, he only added fuel to the fire. That was extremely irresponsible and is definitely not what you'd expect from a world leader.

The National Post owes Canada and the world an apology and Chris Wattie should be fired.

Peace, Order and Good Government, Eh? has more.

There are obviously a fair number of people who are in a hurry to create a crisis where Iran is concerned. And there are obviously a lot of people who have already forgotten the con job that was pulled in the run up to the invasion of Iraq and the role that expatriates played in the propaganda. Either that or they'd like us to forget.

I wonder if we have our newest zombie lie -- a story that won't die no matter how often it's debunked.

It would appear so.

What a shameful, shameful episode.

UPPITY DATE: Canadian Cynic is tracking how the right wingnuts who jumped all over this are not backing off it, even though it's not true.

UPPITIEST DATE: The Star's John Goddard will have more in tomorrow's paper. (link) Just for the record, the Post's editor-in-chief Doug Kelly did not return John's repeated calls.

Hat tips to VoxPopGirl, reader Dana O'Still, Robert McClelland and Meaghan Walker-Williams for the links.

Comments

[Jim Trautman]

No surprise about what the National Post is up to and Mr. Harper. He is being looked upon by the White House as one of the main spokesperson to assist in making sure a war with Iran happens. This week alone Judith Miller appears, unconfirmed sources indicate that Iran has more and higher grade material than was thought. Gee, need it come from Niger or Washington's other great friend Pakistan. In Washington there is now in operation a new Iran bureau which is a carbon copy of the old Iraqi bureau in the run up to that war. All the players and pieces are in play and the war will come sooner rather than later. It is a hot fact in Washington that the Congress at least by the fall if not sooner will ask Iranian exiles to appear before various committees to give the goods on the horrors in Iran. Of course all will be paid handsomely and be represented by Hill and Knowlton. Hey, truth does not come cheap.Almost every day in one of the Middle Eastern press a story appears of how the Kurds are being shelled or attacked from across the Iranian border.
As side issues for all the beating of the chests of generals how far did it go that Rumsfeld would be forced to resign. Dead issue. The Senate committee sits and drowls over the intelligence of General Hyden. This at the same time that he continues to spit in their faces about the illegal operation he was part of. He with a straight face says he is not beholden to the Pentagon. The hearings are a joke and he will be confirmed. Forgotten the legislation that was passed in 1947 that outlines the distribution of power in the CIA between the military and civilian control.
No, As Sherlock Holmes stated "the games afoot".
Watch how quickly Mr. Harper continues to be a champion of Mr. Bush and with Blair beyond damaged goods to carry anything forward - becomes the main driving force for action against Iran. Of course the words will be terrific - how Canada has been a force for good and therefore we must take action.
The wonderful thing about a professional army is the political and economic elite never have to worry about deferrments. Problem though as the auditor general pointed out people are joining the military, just like in the states. Reason times are to good and to many other jobs available, so create a little economic turmoil.
What is forgotten and not to rain on any WW II vets, but the depression was still on and joining the military in WW II was one of the few jobs available. People should read the book Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambroise. For a war book there is no rah-rah we are fighting for freedom. It is a very realistic account of the war and why men fought and the anger in many by the end of how they had been used.

[Rob]

Great post.

I was going to make the exact same post on my blog, but I knew you'd do it first so I didn't bother. :)

The front page of this National Post edition belongs in the 21st-century neo-conservative warmonger propaganda museum. The Post ought to be ashamed of themselves for this journalistic crime, and they need to run a front-page apology in tomorrow's rag. Maybe something with a headline like, "FINE, IRAN ISN'T NAZI GERMANY; now stop calling us the Nazi Post!"

[Jay Currie]

The deal is apparently that the Iranian Parliament adopted some sort of guideline for "Islamic Dress".

Making this page one without at least checking to see if there were forms of dress for Jews, Christians and Bahá’í (which for some years was a shroud optional situation in Iran) just pulls the Post into the muck.

Amir Taheri is, however, somewhat more credible than, say Jason "24 business hours" Leopold so paying some attention would make sense.

[Stephen Reeves]

Thank God, it was the Post that wrote this, so we could all get mad.Next they will be saying that in Iran, women are forbidden from going to soccer games, and have to cover themselves up, or that some naughty journalists who ask too many questions are being locked up.
I was surprised at that story, and figured that they would not dare even if
Ahmadinejad does say some strange things these days, after all the Taliban tried it,
but my Iraniam collegue at work said yesterday, the Iranian authorities would not dare try that, the people would not stand for it.
What is surprising is not that the usual Right wing suspects got all excited, (what do you expect), but the Left stayed silent on the matter,as they tend to be on much to do with Iran,after all Iran is anti_-American and therefore beyond criticism.
As for Harper, well I would rather he stood up for minorities in other countries, rather than stay silent, even if he jumped in a bit too quick.I know for sure the NDP would have stayed silent.(Notice their silence on Dafur until recently now that they figured out they can use Dafur an excuse to get troops out of
Kabul).

[arthurdecco]

Remember my comment that referred to "Zionist Jews" in charge of our news delivery as being the ones responsible for the slanted and distorted coverage in the Middle East that set off a shit storm of controversy a few weeks ago, right here on your blog, Antonia?

Here's Exhibit "B" in the case. Or Exhibit "ABC0001459305463", as it were.

"What a shameful, shameful episode." posted by Antonia Z.

I couldn't agree more.

So how do we prevent this from happening again? Are there any penalties that could be used against this disgusting rag and it's venal ownership?

[The Surly Beaver]

Oh dear, it looks like Antonia decided not to do her homework and just run with her prejudices.

Well, before putting words in the Prime Minister's mouth, perhaps you should check and see what he said. The first I learned of this story was when I was watching the John Howard/Stephen Harper and Prime Minister and they were asked about this story by a reporter. Both leaders prefaced their remarks on the subject by stating that they did not know if this was true. Yes Harper did say that the Iranian regime was capable of such an action. I don't think this is an incorrect assessment, given the Iranian president's repeated promises to nuke Israel. Also, I recall reading a few years ago that Hindu Afghanis living under the Taleban regime were required to were special clothes denoting their religion, so it doesn't stretch the imagination that Iran could pass such a law either.

[sooey]

maybe canadians should ask that a room be reserved in the canadian museum for human rights - for journalism ethics. having said that - let's hope iran doesn't read the natpost, um... either, and get any ideers. but, geez louise - is harper at least paying canwest? cripes, those loser ndippers should promise to build an izzy statue on parliament next go-round...

[cf_bernadotte]

What I find interesting is the lightening speed with which this story was debunked. I only heard about it early yesterday evening. I was pleasanty surprised to read John Goddard's pretty thorough slam-dunk of it in this morning's Star(I was equally pleased to read Mitch Potter's piece on collateral damage in Gaza, which is way under-reported IMO).

Contrast with the media's response five years ago to the story that 'thousands' of Palestinians were dancing in the streets upon news that the twin towers had collapsed. I've never been able to find any proof of that, yet it went pretty much unchallenged, and a lot of Americans believe it to this day.

I guess we have the blogosphere to thank...

[Jon]

This is laughable.

I propose that newspapers who fall for right-wing PR spin campaigns (swift boats and the like) should be required to print the words "WE PRINT LIES" in red 200-point Franklin Gothic Heavy on the front page above the fold for each issue published in the following month.

If found guilty of falling for left-wing or progressive or mamby-pamby centrist PR spin campaigns, the words will instead read "WE GOOFED" and they'll be printed in green instead.

[OracleOfOttawa]

"and probably making it much harder for a peaceful outcome with Iran to be achieved."

A "peaceful outcome" you are indeed optimistic.

The current Iranian administration has made their intentions towards the State of Israel quite clear:

"Israel should be wiped off map

The Iranian leader's remarks were made during a convention entitled "A World Without Zionists."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3159691,00.html

One web site has posted an extensive list of the Iranian President's comments in regards to Israel and Jews:

http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Semitism_International/ahmadinejad_words.htm

[Maz]

Jewish voices have, for now years now, been raised in protest over the crass commodification of the Nazi Holocaust. The late Lord Immanuel Jakobovits, Britain's onetime chief rabbi, for example, deplored how it had become "[A]n entire industry, with handsome profits" going into the pockets of sundry profiteers [Jerusalem Post. 26Nov87, p. 1]. In an essay in Tikkun [“Resistance to the Holocaust,” May 1989], Phillip Lopate wryly observed: “Sometimes it almost seems that ‘the Holocaust’ is a corporation headed by Elie Wiesel, who defends his patents with articles in the Arts and Leisure section of the Sunday Times.” Ann Charney, in the Letters section of New Yorker magazine [19Jul99, p. 8], far less diplomatic after the Wilkomirski hoax was exposed a decade later, cited “the increasingly rapacious nature of the Holocaust industry” and the morphing of painful memory into “a highly profitable enterprise.” While National Post will, like most Western publications, fret about the rise of brazen Holocaust denial across the Islamic Crescent, it has in fact joined forces with those Muslim skeptics by helping to foster the kind of cynicism that robs the history of the World War Two Jewish tragedy of its instructive and cautionary value with a trumpeted but bogus story of badges for Iranian Jews.

[JimBobby]

Whooee! "Zombie lie," I like that.

Two things that hit me 'bout this here story was that Harpoon gets his intel from the National Posterboys an' that he believes everything they say. D'ya figger Stevie reads the paper hisself or does he do like Dubya an' have his news served up by axe-grindin' gophers?

I reckon us boogers oughta be bookmarkin' this here boog story o' yores, ToniGal. Every few months when the zombie lie jumps up, we can send everybuddy back here t' see what gullible dumbasses they are.

Yores trooly,
JimBobby

[Diana-Marie]

Yikes, we know circulation isn't the best at NP but really ....! Is it perhaps that many factions are just foaming at Iran's defiant refusal to be servile and NP wanted to do its bit for the cause? :)
Come to think of it, it's this type of story that ends up in the legendary 'Saddam was behind 9/11' category .........
Well, at least we know Harper doesn't bother to wait for facts before assuming the doom position.

[Bill-Muskoka]

Well, seems the neo-con war mongers are starting the big propaganda drive to justify public support to engage Iran in open war?

Is anyone actually surprised by this? I am not.

Note the continuous build up over Iran as a focal point for the next country to be 'liberated' by the Bush/Cheney World Domination League. (They really wanted to do it to North Korea, but darn that BIG, MEAN Rotweiller CHINA is too darn close for comfort!)

IMO the tactic is worse than DISGRACEFUL!

Tip of the hat to the ADL for denouncing the story as false they get 1200 attaboys for integrity!

[cf_bernadotte]

Bernie Farber, head of CJC, was (predictably) quick off the mark on this story.

In the version posted at Free Republic(http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1634857/posts), he is quoted as saying he was "stunned" by the measure and called it "state-sponsored religious discrimination".

Odd. I have no recollection of Bernie ever expressing similar outrage over the differential treatment of Israelis and Arabs in the West Bank...

[Elvid]

....and Iranian state media respond...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aD9nbnnIbZSQ&refer=top_world_news

...The report was described by Iran's local state media as a failed ``campaign lead by a Zionist newspaper.''....

....if all the religious minorities (Jewish, Bahais, Christians, Zoroastrians) had to worry about was wearing badges...especially Bahais during the past 27 years..by the way, not so long ago that Jews had to wear yellow badges in Iran...less than a hundred years ago..practice ended by the Shah's father...

[Bill-Muskoka]

I find it very noteworthy that, as of this posting, Al Jazeera has NOT put this debacle online for readers to see!

Maybe they have more journalistic integrity than many who jumped on the Dutch cartoon debacle, eh?

[Douglas W. Campbell]

"Israel must be wiped off the map." -- that's another lie. This phrase was never used by Ahmadinejad, as Juan Cole explains in this post: http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/another-fraud-on-iran-no-legislation.html

Oh, and Antonia, if you're using Firefox there's a good plugin called ScrapBook which will copy the entire contents of a web page into a local folder. Handy if you're reading the National Post ;-)

[Antonia Z.]

Just had a boo at Warren Kinsella's coverage of The Post's screw-up.

Always expecting the best of people, I had hoped to find a measured critique, as he is now its media critic. (Not a position I would like to find myself in, believe me.) But I was disappointed.

I decided to post his entire commentary below since, last time he blogged rather nastily about the Star and me, the bit mysteriously disappeared the next day.

That's a no-no in bloggerdom. It's supposed to be all about transparency, the transparency the MSM lack. You leave your mistakes up and you correct them for all to see -- unless you're forced to remove something because it's libellous or hate speech.

Kinsella never plays by the rules, does he?

I guess that's what makes him so adept at nasty politics. Didn't he write a book about dirty tricks?

Nobody can run a smear campaign like he can, I am told. And, of course, as a lawyer, he knows just when to stop short of libel. For example, he would not call people ''anti-Semitic'' even though he might mean it over and over again in repeated allusions.

Anyway, here's his post, in full:

May 20, 2006 - Sigh. Anti-Post screecher Zerb - you know, the gal whose paper previously achieved journalistic distinction for declaring the Blue Jays "racist" - has popped a head valve over the Chris Wattie Iran story in this week's Post. Qu'elle suprise.

Unlike Zerb, whose every waking hour seems to spent in Asper (and sometimes Israel) bashing, I will wait for all the facts to be in on this one. But permit me to say that her comparative silence on Iran's declared intention to "wipe Israel off the face of the Earth," a little while ago, was noteworthy. (And when Iran says something like that, is requiring Jews to wear identifying bits of cloth such a stretch?)

All I will note, instead, is that one of Zerb's researchers for her post on the Post is that piece of human garbage named McClelland - you know: the guy who writes "fuck the Jews" on his web site. And who Zerb quotes approvingly all the time.

I'd ask "who should be ashamed now," but there's no point, is there?''

[pogge]

JimBobby wrote:

"Whooee! "Zombie lie," I like that."

Credit where credit's due. I stole it from Atrios.

[Antonia Z.]

Getting a lot of emails today from people who don't want to post comments -- including Post reporters who are appalled at what their paper did.

Thought I would share this from a U.S.-based journalist, whose name and affiliation I have removed.

----------------------------------------

I did a lot of research on the Iranian badge story yesterday, in the course of which I spoke with experts on Iran, all native Iranians, who monitor the country closely. The badge story is absolute bunk.

I came out with a lot more information about Iran than I went in with (obviously :-) It's not this monolithic Great Satan -- the picture I got was of a vibrant, fluid culture, and, as one expert on Iran pointed out, the government pays for non-Islamic religious schools for Jews, Christians and Zorastharans, as well as other sects. Although he did say that Ba'hais were somewhat persecuted.

These experts weren't people who loved the mullahs, or Ahmedinejad, in fact one had most of his family killed by the mullahs during the Revolution, but the Iran they told me about is not the land of abayas, dogma and endless prayer that our government and media would have us believe, it is a land in search of freedom.

By demonizing a country which Americans conveniently know nothing about, the U.S. and Israel are setting us up for World War III and basically killing the enormous movement within Iran that wants freedom from the mullahs.

This is all my opinion, I AM NOT speaking as a representative of ......., just as someone who spends my days, and often nights, reading foreign wire services and speaking to experts.

Hope this helps.

Best,

[Ti-Guy]

"Qu'"elle dommage.

[Christian Conservative]

Hey Zerb, I'm one of the "right wingnuts" you so eloquently refer to, who was listed by Canadian Cynic. I had indeed made a retraction to my post on the Post's story before your article was published... as you were awaiting a retraction from me as I was incorrect, can I expect a retraction from you as you were incorrect?

As for Warren... he's probably waiting until Thursday for more info to come out... and in time for his next piece in the Post.

[jrobertfleming]

if this story does indeed turn out to be unfounded, it is not the product of a jew conspiracy, as has been alledged here.

as the extensive and paranoid dossier presented here indicates, it has traveled from pro-democracy activists in iran, to iranian dissidents in north america, to conservative activists who are sympathetic to both israel and the iranian student democracy movement. this gathering sentiment on the center-right, tirelessly advanced by ledeen, amongst others, sees western solidarity with iranian dissidents as a viable alternative to the implications of big stick diplomacy.

the implication that this possibly unfounded story is part of a jew conspiracy to nuke iran pre-emptively is both ignorant and vulgar.

some right-wing blogs may end up with some egg on their faces, but all, i'm sure, will deliver retractions and apologies if that turns out to be the case.

they can do so knowing at least that they aren't the rankest of hypocrits. those would be the screeching sissy-taunters i'm seeing here. such people compell me to bring up an incident which occurred not so long ago.

a graduate student at uc dartmouth told two professors of his that something strange had happened when he had ordered a copy of mao's little red book through the inter-library loan system. he told them of how the book was delivered to his home by dhs agents, who questioned him. these agents told him of a book watchlist. the agents also wore black suits and sunglasses. later, one professor mentioned the incident on a radio program. the story was picked up by the boston globe and another paper. it even made its way into sen. ted kennedy's statements on the floor.

it turned out to be a complete fabrication. progressives responded in either of two ways: 1) they claimed the story to be "fake but accurate," or 2)they just kept on telling it.

the worst part is that the only reason the veracity of the story was called into question by establishment journalists and leftist bloggers in the first place, is because the american library association was vocally upset by the implication that they'd cooperate with federal investigators. were it not for the stink they made, if it were only the administration's policies and the federal agents who were being libeled, the hoax incident would be a staple of every progressive senator's speech to this day.

considering this story in contrast with the iranian yellow swatch story, another difference in how the two are being handled here which jumps forth, is that the journalists involved chose to close all investigation of the dartmouth incident and protect the identity of the hoaxer. they even went on to portray this probably 24 year-old grad student as too "frightened" to withstand the abuse of further scrutiny of his deliberate, premeditated attempt to poison the national discourse with meme warfare. rather than being outraged at being used by a confidential source to advance a lie, journalistic professionals were sympathetic in this case.

i'm sure that any probing half as rigorous as what has been undertaken in the progressive bloggers on the iran story would reveal that he is a member, perhaps coordinator of, the campus "world can't wait" campaign of the "revolutionary communist party," whos members often institutionalize themselves on campuses as members of the young social democrats. now, if i was paranoid fantacist i could trace the chain of command from its racist grassroots (neonazis are a "hidden" element of the antiwar movement) to its disturbingly radical mainstream groups, to its moneyed elite of benefactors/controllers at the tip of the pyramid, such as the maccarthur foundation, who monetarily sponsors rcp initiatives like the "bush crimes commission," which is associated with a number of prominent progressive congressmembers like john conyers.

but it takes a focused paranoid rage which is more commonly found on the left for such things to emerge.

the ucdartouth story isn't uncommon, either. there is the alicia hardin story, in which a girl wrote racially threatening letters to interracial couples on campus as a ploy to frigten her parents into pulling her out of school. the story had a two-week news cycle, inflated by jesse jackson's choice to intervene against the white supremacism obviously running amok there. when it was revealed to be a hoax, there were no apologies. instead, jackson boldly declared that the *real* issue was that a climate of white supremicist hate was evident in the way that the hoax was considered believable by the people who trumpeted it.

unbelievable.

much like the mock self-rightiousness here.

[Robert McClelland]

I wonder if the timing of this story and Harper's quick response to it has anything to do with this recent notice that appeared a day or two before the Post story.

"Welcome to the office of the Trade Commissioner Service in Tehran.

Effective immediately, we will limit our encounters with Iranian officials to the Kazemi case, Iran's human rights record and Iran's nuclear non-proliferation performance. No visits or exchanges by Iranian officials to Canada will be permitted, nor will Canadian officials engage with Iran, except relating to these issues."
http://www.infoexport.gc.ca/ie-en/Office.jsp?oid=283

"the guy who writes "fuck the Jews" on his web site"

Somebody shoud point out to the netkook that he's now written that phrase more times on his blog than I have on mine. I have to wonder why he does that if the phrase upsets him so much. Anyways, Worn should be more concerned about who is whispering what into Peter Kormos' ear.