Not Even Trying Anymore

Fox News likes to claim that it's "fair and balanced," but anyone who spends any time watching it knows that it's about as fair and balanced as a Stalinist show trial. Still, every once in a while, they do something that makes you wonder if they're not even pretending to be fair anymore.

This time, it was a report which aired on Tuesday's edition of America Live, making the startling claim of "a massive stretch of Arizona now off limits to Americans. Critics say the administration is, in effect, giving a major strip of the Southwest back to Mexico."

When the item was posted at Fox Nation with the headline, "Obama Gives Back Major Strip of AZ to Mexico," the usual suspects let fly:

• "I cannot believe how absolutekly pisssed I am. We have this half arsed POTUS in training who will NOT guard and protect the borders of our Republic, as in the oath he took. How effin dare he ? He should be thown out of office and sent out on a rail. He GIVES UP on protecting our nation? What an effin waste of our trust and money. Impeach this S ofa B"
• "Typical, Obama 'The Commander Chicken in Chief' surrenders to Mexico! We must put the Army on the southern border and support the troops with a few AC 130's all aiming south and what ever else it takes to 'Take Back that part of America!'"
• "Enough is enough! American Patriots, this a call to action! Screw everyone else saying violence is not the answer. If the government will not protect this country then it is time for us to rise up and protect our country! I will not stand here and watch foreigners take over this country! No more power to the government it is time for the power of the people! Grab your weapons and defend our border! Lets set an example that no government will forget! Awake the sleeping giant once again!"

And so on. But - surprise, surprise! - the story is fake.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service determined that a 3500-acre strip of land on the southern edge of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, directly adjacent to the Mexican border, was no longer safe for visitors. (It is not, as Fox claimed, "north of Tucson, eighty miles away from the border.") And so they posted a closure notice:

The situation in this zone has reached a point where continued public use of the area is not prudent. The Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge has been adversely affected by border-related activities. The international border with Mexico has also become increasingly violent. Assaults on law enforcement officers and violence against migrants have escalated. Violence on the Refuge associated with smugglers and border bandits has been well documented. Many of these activities are concentrated at, or near, the border. The concentration of illegal activity, surveillance and law enforcement interdictions make these zones dangerous.

Oh yes, and this was more than three years ago.

If you look at the PDF file's properties, you'll see the file was created (and last changed) on October 23, 2006. Which means the area was closed to visitors more than two years before Obama was elected. The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a statement confirming that the closure was issued at that time. Not only that, Fox's scary film clips of Mexicans climbing over the border fence are also from late 2006.

So why is Fox trumpeting it now? Three guesses, and the first two don't count. They did it because there's a Democrat in the White House, and any attack, no matter how phony, is acceptable.

Now I don't know about you, but I was shocked - shocked! - to learn the story is a lie.

So, to sum up, no one (especially not President Obama) is giving any territory to anyone. The strip of land has not been handed over to Mexico. The area was closed years before Obama became president. And Fox News is once again pushing a completely false story for purely political reasons.

One wonders if Fox's viewers will ever figure out just how badly they're being played for suckers.

Something in the Water

There must be something in the water down in South Carolina for so many politicians to have gone off the deep end. First there was Governor Mark Sanford hiking the Appalachian trail, then there was Rep. Joe Wilson shouting, "You lie!" at President Obama during an address to Congress, then there was Lieutenant Governor André Bauer comparing poor kids getting school lunches to stray animals, then there was State Senator Jake Knotts calling not just Obama but also GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley a "raghead."

And now we have Alvin Greene, the official Democratic nominee to take on Senator Jim DeMint in the November election. He has no website, no campaign manager, no yard signs, no nothing - and somehow managed to get 59% of the vote in last week's primary. When he went on TV in the aftermath of his surprise win, Greene appeared to be drunk, on drugs, or otherwise out to lunch. It was so ridiculous that CNN's Don Lemon actually told Greene, "Honestly, you don't sound okay" and asked if he was "mentally sound."

Oh yes, and he's under investigation for allegedly showing porn to a student at the University of South Carolina. (As Jon Stewart pointed out, "Most senators don't sexually harass college girls until they get elected.")

This has become a complete circus, and the Democrats are crying foul. Greene, they insist, is not a real candidate but a Republican plant, designed to give DeMint a DOA opponent this fall. Possible, given the bare-knuckle nature of South Carolina politics, but that doesn't quite make sense.

After all, even if Greene is a barely-there front man, you'd think he would have done something to ensure his nomination. By all accounts, Greene did nothing - no campaigning, no voter outreach, no press interviews. All he did was put up the $10,000 filing fee - and even that's suspicious, considering that he's unemployed and lives in his father's basement. And even if he was a plant, nobody made Democratic voters pick him over "establishment" candidate Vic Rawl, who had everything Greene did not, starting with a website. Greene's only advantage appears to be that his name was listed first on the ballot.

So is this an example of Republican sabotage, a testament to the ignorance of South Carolina's electorate, or both? Rawl is fighting the primary result, ensuring that this story isn't going anywhere.

See How Well It Works?

There is an old joke in which someone buys a very expensive object which he is told will keep away dragons. When someone else points out that there are no dragons, he smugly replies, "See how well it works?"

Rex Duncan is an Oklahoma state legislator, and takes his job very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he is determined to protect his state against even imaginary enemies. Make that especially imaginary enemies.

You see, back in February he introduced a constitutional amendment which would prohibit state and local courts from considering Islamic religious law (also called Sharia law) when making decisions: "The courts shall not look to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures. Specifically, the courts shall not consider international law or Sharia Law." The amendment was passed overwhelmingly last month and will be on the ballot this fall for voter approval.

Good heavens, sounds like it's really needed out there - except that American judges don't use Sharia law in their deliberations. They never have. And they never will. In our secular legal system, judges don't use any religious law to decide cases.

But that hasn't stopped Duncan. Going on MSNBC a few days ago to defend the ballot measure, he found himself unable to point to even a single instance where a judge has used Sharia law to decide a case. "It has not [happened]," he admitted before recovering and larding on the fear: "It's a growing threat, frankly, and this again is a preemptive strike. They understand that this is a war for the survival of America. It's a cultural war, it's a social war. It's a war for the survival of our country."

Less than one percent of Oklahoma residents are Muslim. And even if the hardest of the hardcore think applying Muslim religious law wholesale is a great idea, that leaves a whole lot of Muslims, not to mention a whole lot of non-Muslims, who realize it's a terrible idea. But that doesn't matter to Duncan and his fellow fearmongers, who see a golden opportunity to whip up political support while demonizing a religious minority.

(And is it just me, or do all these people who use fear and loathing against Muslims fall silent when extremists demand that legislatures pass and judges enforce laws according to Christian religious doctrine? Just sayin'.)

So Duncan, following in the footsteps of so many other political snake-oil salesmen, is selling the people of Oklahoma an object guaranteed to keep away Sharia law. After all, see how well it works?