Beck’s Dec. ’09 Fusion magazine: A rehashing of old falsehoods
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on December 24th, 2009 5:45 am by HL
Beck’s Dec. ’09 Fusion magazine: A rehashing of old falsehoods
Glenn Beck’s Fusion magazine claims to provide its subscribers with “the latest perspective on what is happening in our world, coupled with [Beck’s] personal thoughts as ‘work in progress’ as well as cutting edge comedy and satire.” But the December 2009 issue of Fusion simply rehashed many of the falsehoods, smears, and hysterics promoted by Beck and others in the right-wing media throughout the previous year.
Fusion misleads on 2009 stimulus and omnibus spending programs
documented. Wayne State University, which received the grant, posted a press release announcing the award on November 5, 2008.
Criticized “tattoo removal programs in California” is an “anti-crime program” reportedly praised by law enforcement officials. As Greg Sargent 100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion.” But as Media Matters noted, Coburn’s reported on November 27, “Since 1994, ACORN … has received about $53 million in federal aid.”
Beck previously claimed ACORN would receive billions of dollars from stimulus. As Media Matters has documented, on the May 6 edition of his Fox News program, Beck repeated the false claim that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act had “guaranteed” “ACORN, or groups like them … billions of dollars to buy more votes for the party that helps them the most.” Media Matters has noted that the stimulus bill does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding; ACORN itself has said that it is ineligible for the funds in question and has no plans to apply for them.
Investigation of ACORN videos found no “pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff.” As Media Matters noted, in his “Independent Governance Assessment of ACORN” report, former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger (D) found “no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers”:
While some of the advice and counsel given by ACORN employees and volunteers was clearly inappropriate and unprofessional, we did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff; in fact, there is no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers. Instead, the videos represent the byproduct of ACORN’s longstanding management weaknesses, including a lack of training, a lack of procedures, and a lack of on-site supervision.
Fusion repeats right-wing hysteria over Obama’s back to school speech, video of children singing about Obama
The “So Sayeth the Shepherd. So Sayeth the Flock” graph of Fusion‘s “Year in Review” feature read:
The MSM dismissed the concerns of parents about Department of Education back-to-school lesson plans that would have brainwashed children across the entire country into becoming little community organizers. Even now, reporters continue to disregard creepy examples of liberal indoctrination in the classroom, including the disturbing video of a kindergarten teacher in Burlington Township, New Jersey who changed the words “Jesus loves the little children…” to make her young students praise and glorify “Barack Hussein Obama,” for we “all are equal in his eyes.” Apparently, not all types of prayer have been banned from public schools.
Beck and right-wing media previously spread hysteria over Obama’s back-to-school speech. As Media Matters previously documented, numerous conservative media figures baselessly accused Obama of trying to “indoctrinate” America’s children with his back-to-school speech encouraging students to succeed and persist in their studies. Discussing a bas-relief supposedly representing Mussolini, Beck himself said: “Gee, who’s having indoctrination next week? Oh, yeah, that’s right, the president — completely unrelated. This represents, at the time this was made, Mussolini. This was Mussolini. By the way, the artist that made this — his son, ironically and tragically died fighting the army of Mussolini years after this was made.”
Education Secretary Duncan: Obama speech “about persisting and succeeding in school.” In an August 26 documented, conservative media figures fearmongered about the Burlington Township school video, in which children sing a song about Obama, with Beck saying, “This is indoctrination. This should horrify the American people.”
District superintendent: Song is from Black History Month activity, and the “recording and distribution of the classroom activity was unauthorized.” The Burlington Township school board superintendent local and national media outlets noted that Fox News was a driving force behind the tea parties and numerous reports quoted participants saying they were driven to the protests by Fox.
Beck and his organization promoted 9-12 rallies. Beck founded the conducted campaigns to turn out their supporters to events on health care reform. CPR reportedly “documented, conservative media advanced the claim that the Obama administration was targeting conservatives simply because they disagree with administration policies and proposals, citing a Department of Homeland Security noted that the DHS report on right-wing extremism cited a 2008 FBI report titled “White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel since 9/11.” The FBI’s Counterterrorism Division determined with “[h]igh confidence” that “[m]ilitary experience is found throughout the white supremacist extremist movement as the result of recruitment campaigns by extremist groups and self-recruitment by veterans sympathetic to white supremacist causes.” The 2008 report further stated that a “review of FBI white supremacist extremist cases from October 2001 to May 2008 identified 203 individuals with confirmed or claimed military service active in the extremist movement at some time during the reporting period,” and that “[a]ccording to FBI information, an estimated 19 veterans (approximately 9 percent of the 203) have verified or unverified service in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” In its April 7 assessment, DHS stated, “Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists. DHS/I&A is concerned that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities.”
Beck’s magazine ignored previous DHS report on left-wing extremism. On January 26, DHS issued a report titled “Leftwing Extremists Likely to Increase Use of Cyber Attacks over the Coming Decade.” The report concluded that “a number of emerging trends point to leftwing extremists maturing and expanding their cyber attack capabilities over the next decade with the aim of attacking targets in the United States.”
