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Rush Limbaugh Incorrectly Claims President Obama ‘Plagiarized’ Him During UN Speech

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» 136 comments

Right-wing radio giant Rush Limbaugh claimed, on his radio show today, that President Obama “plagiarized” a column that Rush had written in 1988 during a portion of his speech before the United Nations general assembly today. Limbaugh accused the President of cribbing the line “Peace does not mean the absence of war” from him “verbatim.”

As is so often the case, though, Rush is horribly, horribly wrong. Obama’s actual quote, though, hews closely to a source that may (or may not) surprise his supporters.

Give Limbaugh credit, though, he does cop to a haphazard writing process that resulted in his “35 Undeniable Truths” column way back in 1988, but he gets President Obama’s quote wrong:


Now, before I get to what the President actually said today, it’s worth noting that Limbaugh’s quote is hardly original. In fact, it dates back to 17th century Dutch philosopher Baruch (I’m not kidding) Spinoza, who said, “Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.”

Rush can hardly be accused of “plagiarism,” though, as variations on this theme are common throughout history. Rush’s list is, itself, a blunt satire of Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths, which is fitting, since Limbaugh’s quote is also rather similar to one from the current Dalai Lama: “Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold.”

Barack Obama’s speech before the UN General Assembly, though, contained the following quote, which, while similar to Rush’s (and Baruch’s), is definitely not verbatim: (transcript via email from The White House, emphasis mine)

The men and women who built this institution understood that peace is more than just the absence of war. A lasting peace — for nations and for individuals — depends on a sense of justice and opportunity, of dignity and freedom. It depends on struggle and sacrifice, on compromise, and on a sense of common humanity.

That quote sounds a lot more like this quote:

“Peace is more than just the absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom. And true peace dictates the recognition of human rights.”

The source of that quote, of course, was Ronald Reagan.

Really, though, these are all variations on a theme that can be “plagiarized” in the same sense that a knock-knock joke can.

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  • Glutton

    Translate Rush speak: “I loved Obama’s speech!”

    That’s the closest thing to a compliment (by Rush standards) I have ever heard Rush give any Democrat.

  • NomoBeeHO

    Rush is usually right.

    Tommy Christopher, not so much.

    Nice try, MEDIAite.

  • Broadhorizons

    Plagiarizing Rush would first require a severe drug addiction, a trophy wife, a racist outlook, and gluttony beyond belief.

  • Willy

    You forgot to mention President Harrison Ford’s quote from a speech he made at the beginning of Air Force One, “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice.”

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PRFNURP4H43DGLWZ3YWKKZJU5U Papa Lazarou

    Please provide a legitimate citation to your allegations of racism … or shut up with your pathetic talking points.  As for the rest of your post, you just sound like yet another jealous hater.  Get your own “trophy” wife if it bothers you so much, loser.

  • Anonymous

    Rush is usually right.

    Only in the mind of a Dittohead. Dittoheads believe Rush when he says that he’s “documented to be almost always right, 98.6% of the time”.

    A person would have to be a total moron to buy that nonsense. It’s “snake oil”, and it’s provable.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUT2TATEV3OHGQ7HZRYN472XVM Felix

    Tommy is on his usual “Conservative Watch” expedition. Looking for ALL things evil and erroneous.

  • http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

    Rush Limbaugh make a mistake… really?? He must have taken one too many pills before he made that accusation!!

  • mac691

    So the real issue here is not that Obama plagiarized, but the person from whom he plagiarized?  That’s your point?  Wow, Tommy, you are really reaching to protect your messiah!

  • Anonymous

    Pheeew! Thank nature’s god for Media Matters.

    Limbaugh’s outlook on race, our President, and “Halfrican Americans”…

    http://mediamatters.org/research/200910130049

  • mac691

    It would also require having held a real job, making scads of money, not by stealing from someone else’s “stash” but from the hard work and fruits of your own labor, in addition to not being a crybaby and blaming everyone but the man in the moon for the bad outcome from your own policies.

  • mac691

    Perhaps Obama snorted one too many “lines” before he made the speech without attribution.

  • http://twitter.com/lizmckenzie55 Liz McKenzie

    Why don’t they post a real picture of what this morbidly obese piece of s.hit looks like???

  • http://twitter.com/lizmckenzie55 Liz McKenzie

    You’re thinking of Todd and Sarah and their 50 gallon drum.

  • WKW

    So you mean to plagiarize Obama would require cocaine, community organizer shakedowns, a dead homosexual lover, and Karl Malone for a wife?

  • http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

    Checkmate!!

  • http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

    Nice!!

  • mac691

    Oh brother are you two idiots twins or something?   You are comparing an unsourced comment from a plagiarist discredited author with an admission by Obama?   You people on the left are members of a cult, and not a very smart one at that.

  • mac691

    Gee, I didn’t know you took time off from licking Soros’ balls to type a comment.

  • Anonymous

    Rush is usually right that is true but I don’t like him. A personality thing I guess. One of the things I don’t like is he is always saying someone plagiarized him when the truth is what he said and they said has been said before by many. Rush can’t claim this one as his own.

  • Anonymous

    I agree. I’m burned out to that photo of him at the peak of his 2009 weight loss “ruse”. They should use his current, daily, Dittocam photos. He’s the posterboy for GOPster gluttony. I say that those Dittocam photos are “news”. He has them on the front page of his site. They are ”news” Mediate. Use ‘em. Get some cajones.

  • http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEED81431F935A35750C0A9619C8B63 Community Organizer

    Boy Rush must feel foolish, Obama had actually plagiarized a different conservative.

  • mac691

    Too bad Rush can’t be svelte and muscular, kinda like Michael Moore, right?

  • Pit Boss

    *Dildohead

  • Michelle

    Barry, you are no Ronald Reagan, so stop pretending you are by stealing his words.  Pathetic.

  • Anonymous

    Mr. OxyContin should do something useful and interview Palin and find out if she is still considering running for President.

  • Brincar

    RUSH IS RIGHT…THAT OXY IS SOME GOOD STUFF

  • Sharpo

    unfortunately, WKW has never done anything of value in his life that anyone would try to plagiarize.

  • Sharpo

    mac691 won’t mention the fact that it’s in the book and gonna be true. otherwise the authori would be sued out of existance.

    mac691, why are you a coward?

  • Sharpo

    mac691 only wishes that he was rush limbaugh thin.

  • Sharpo

    so this weekend, i’ll come over, shave you,. give you a nice runway.

  • Anonymous

    RACIST !!!

    *Drink*

  • Anonymous

    Palin Derangement Syndrome !!!

    *Drink*

  • Anonymous

    RUSH IS FAT !!!

    *drink*

  • Anonymous

    Failed shaving joke !!!

    *drink*

  • mac691

    Sharpo, your ignorance about the laws governing defamation is incredible.  The “public person” defense means that the person committing the libel is essentially immune from a successful suit.   And, a coward?  WTF are you talking about?  Are you 8 years old?   Infantile rant.

  • mac691

    Sharpo:  When do you graduate from 4th grade?

  • Michelle

    The sad thing is the guy obviously thinks he’s funny.  He couldn’t be more wrong.

  • mac691

    Sharpo:  for your next retort, perhaps you should try “Oh Yeah?!!?”

  • Vmaxglen

    YOU are a LIAR! I heard him this afternoon and he did not say VERBATIM! Rush is by far more correct than anyone in media. Case in point…obama administration.

  • Marlowehessnews

    This “incident” only shows how ignorant this Rush really is. I bet he had that column of his ghostwritten anyway. But to be THAT ignorant about the discourse of peace and war across time – and to believe he had invented some witty language himself ahead of world’s greatest thinkers – is simply megalomania in him speaking. An ignorant asshole.

  • Michelle

    If you had ever see Rush give a speech, you’d know he doesn’t need a ghost writer.  Unlike the teleprompter king, Barry, he is firm in his convictions enough to know he won’t accidentally tell you what he really thinks and wants. 

  • Anonymous

    Well, only if you have no idea whatsoever what plagiarizing means.

  • Anonymous

    How is that racist? Racial, yes, as it relates to race. But how is it racist?

  • Anonymous

    mac691 won’t mention the fact that it’s in the book and gonna be true.

    You, dear child, are a retard who wouldn’t know the truth if it molested you.

  • Super Liquidator

    real nice

  • ozonator

    People people people, Looter Limbaugh can now become the head of Florida’s National Guard, even with a  morano-pilodinal cyst, to use all the winning ‘Nam experience and ignoring photos of the sex tours to Joplin, Haiti, Jindalstan’s Dry Prong, and Uranus.   

  • Anonymous

    My God.

    You’ve really got that ( obama monkey ) on your back, and bad.  

    You really need to seek help now for your habit because 15 months is going to fly by, then what? 

    Your going to have to quit ‘ cold monkey ‘, and that’s never a good thing.

  • Larjames

    How did I know, even before clicking, that this would be a Tommy Christopher column?

  • Anonymous

    Peace is hard, man!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1741063132 William G. Abraham

    Has Tommy Christopher ever neglected his wifely duties for Obama?

  • Anonymous

    Actually, the point is not that the President restated a 350 year old idea from Spinoza. (Reagan/Noonan refashioned old quotes, btw.) The funny part here is the ego-maniacal accusation from Limbaugh that the President must have been “plagiarizing” Limbaugh, a shock-jock. Not referencing former President Ronald Reagan’s speech, certainly. Or Spinoza. Or the Dalai Lama.
    (Rush gets $20 million a year. You think he could do some research from time to time.)

  • Anonymous

    Can’t blame him, It’s the drugs talking. 

  • Anonymous

    So, did Peggy Noonan– er, Ronald Reagan “plagiarize” Spinoza?
    I think the point is that the quote/idea is old enough to be a proverb. Obama didn’t need to “plagiarize” a shock-jock. (And Limbaugh should probably do some research before throwing accusations around, but hey, that’s show business.)

  • Anonymous

    Leave Joe Biden out of this. A plagiarist penis… Like Mike Barnicle…

  • Anonymous

    Race “baiting” the American public to argue about “racial” topics, is just a clever way to incite racist conversation by the general public.

    THE EIB: NOT RACIST, BUT #1 WITH RACISTS

    Mr. Limbaugh is nudge nudge, wink winking America to be divided… by race. That is the cloaked behavior of a ”racist“.

  • TruDat

    Wow, you had to go back to the 17th Century in your attempt to discredit a man you envy.

  • TruDat

    If only you were that ignorant you might be pulling in $30 million a year instead of posting on an obscure website.

  • TruDat

    It’s a lib; they always revert to their true nature.

  • TruDat

    You can find Tommy’s picture on the Intenet; Google him.

  • http://twitter.com/Good_Lt Good Lt.

    If Rush is never right ever becuase he did drugs (seems to be the theme around here), then logically, Obama is always wrong becuase he dealt and snorted coke at some point in his life.

    The left’s rules. Not mine.

    Rush was also being facetious, Tommy.

    You’re just pissed that Rush came up with parts of that speech decades before President Downgrade did.

    I now expect a full column from you bashing President Obama for saying there were 57 states, and a dissection of how wrong that is.

  • KjshaRK

    Rush said something stupid ? Boy, that never happened before ! Must be a slow news day.

  • SlyFox

    So when did making $30 mil a year, having a trophy wife, a full belly, and overcoming an addiction become such a sin in America? There is not a man in the world who would not want a piece of that pie…you all are just jealous. Me thinks thou dost protest too much…

  • Yukon Jack

    Tommy Christopher’s every article – judging by ‘his’ terminology – is clearly ghost-written by some low-grade hack from MediaMatters.

  • Hugo Daun

    And let’s not forget how much the EIB(Egocentric Impotent Blimp) enjoys the underage sex industry .

  • Anonymous

    and what’s your excuse?

  • Anonymous

    and what’s your excuse?

  • Anonymous

    like your hero, mikey moore?  with the black hooded sweatshirt and red baseball cap.  now he’s someone to be proud of.

  • Anonymous

    I love how the mere mention of Rush Limbaugh and/or Sarah Palin gets you libs burning up the keyboards!  LOL.  You are all so small.

  • Anonymous

    As soon as I seen this headline I said to myself that this is from Tommy-suck-up..and I was right..lol

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FSPIVAFYI672OH5NOKVRTEZA4U MadCharles

    Cute William.
    Obama sounded like plagiarism to me. Not surprised .

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FSPIVAFYI672OH5NOKVRTEZA4U MadCharles

    Cute William.
    Obama sounded like plagiarism to me. Not surprised .

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VZEJCZUH7VHS7ABDCP5LYHM4GE William Robert

    Drug addiction, overcome. Trophy wife?, seriously? He is not a racist. His discipline  in reducing weight is admirable and very has been very successful. Do your homework before the hit the keyboard.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Gregory-Smith/100001741334953 Gregory Smith

    Come on, Mediaite, stop kissing Obama’s ass! Even if you’re right about Limbaugh, the president’s speech is hardly original and hardly groundbreaking! 

  • Anonymous

    Rush Limbaugh is an enemy of the United States.

  • Dicken’s Cider

    Apparently I plagiarized Rush when I was in eighth grade in 1968.  During the Vietnam war I wrote an essay for my American Civics class and wrote those very words.  If I came up with them in eighth grade, I’m sure many others have too. 

  • Dicken’s Cider

    Though I usually reserve personal comment for those I’ve sparred with before, I’ll make an exception in your reprehensible case.  You are indeed an asshole!

  • Dicken’s Cider

    At least he did, what’s your excuse?

  • Anonymous

    98.6% is the favorite percentage of the votes Iranian and Arab dictators get at elections. Odd part, a segment of their population believes the numbers.. not unlike the dittoheads believing Rush’s survey results conducted by a company hired by… Rush

  • Anonymous

    Oxycontin addict !!!

    *drink*

  • Anonymous

    Mr. Oxycontin !!!

    *drink*

  • azgrandma

    He couldn’t possibly do that because I don’t think she has memorized the magazines or newspapers that she reads, and name a founding father?  She is still searching for our ally North Korea on the globe!  And that “not never” to do with Libya – guess only she can do “not never”  He could interview her while she is sitting between seanie and gretie – guess that might work. Hey it took her half the term of her governorship to decide to quit so be patient!

  • Charles Martin

    Tommy, swear to God, you need a vacation.  It was sarcasm  Limbaugh does the sarcasm thing a lot.

    Here, read this “How Things Work” on sarcasm.  Life will be better.  Seriously.

    http://people.howstuffworks.com/sarcasm.htm

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUT2TATEV3OHGQ7HZRYN472XVM Felix

    Yep, it used to happen on Air America all the time. Still happens on NPR and MSNBC or wherever Jeanne Garafolo finds a mike. But, who’s counting, anyway.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUT2TATEV3OHGQ7HZRYN472XVM Felix

    Obama has admitted to smoking marijuana, snorting cocaine AND abusing alcohol… and HE made it all the way to Dear Leader! Funny how Libs never seem to comment on that tidbit… I guess there’s hope for us all.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUT2TATEV3OHGQ7HZRYN472XVM Felix
  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUT2TATEV3OHGQ7HZRYN472XVM Felix

    and let’s not forget how much Obama enjoyed getting high on drugs:  http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2007/11/20/4438981-obama-speaks-on-past-drug-use

  • Anonymous

    Tommy, I beg to differ. Limbaugh did not “incorrectly claim”. He intentionally lied. And like this is a first. C’mon Tommy, there’s gotta be better stuff to go with out there than anything this gasbag says.

  • Anonymous

      What an anal lingus little serf you are. ooh he makes $30 million! So you love him?!  And all the other Biillionaires you want to help while you beg for scraps from the ‘trickle down theory’ you so masochistically support.
       Yes um Masser! What a pitiful slave you are. A ‘patriot’ too I’ll bet though unlike me ( 9 years proud service in the Air Force) you are probably a blow hard loser who’s never seen any action or achieved anything.
       Suck it up! You know I ‘m right and all you losers out there. Get a life and support this country. DO something usefull instead of spewing your racist hate immaturity that the lowlifes with no self esteem confuse with ‘manliness’ and patriotism on this excuse for a newsite!

  • http://www.facebook.com/mitchell.s.gilbert Mitchell S. Gilbert

    What a shameless narcissist Lumpa is!  He really thinks he matters in this world.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3JU6RVBLAKGR6HKK5OKTLU2DR4 pat

    Ah….Limbaugh was having a bit of fun.
    The author of this piece is a dolt.

  • Anonymous

    What an anal lingus little serfs you Beck Supporters are. ooh he makes $30 million! So
    you love him?!  And all the other Billionaires you want to help while
    you beg for scraps from the ‘trickle down theory’ you so masochistically
    support.
       Yes um Masser! What a pitiful slave you are. A ‘patriot’
    too I’ll bet though unlike me ( 9 years proud service in the Air Force)
    you are probably a blow hard loser who’s never seen any action or
    achieved anything.
       Suck it up! You know I ‘m right and all you
    losers out there. Get a life and support this country. DO something
    usefull instead of spewing your racist hate immaturity that the lowlifes
    with no self esteem confuse with ‘manliness’ and patriotism on this
    excuse for a newsite!

  • Sarge

    I don’t know him so I can’t really say. 

  • tjproudamerican

    All you have to do to get comments is criticize a fat, addled, hedonistic drug addict on his fourth Family Value’s wife or the Quitter in chief and her Alaskan Hillbilly family of grifters and millionaires making their money by being famous for giving birth out of wedlock and then preaching abstinence. The saddest conformist ever are fans of these two materialistic hypocrites, whose idea of work is getting their fans to pay them over and over for stale tired opinions that the fans have already memorized

  • tjproudamerican

    …and the fans of the idiot Alaskan Ice Queen and her Obese Florida blunderbuss counterpart ALWAYS attack the reporter.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/LP2JJRVULA72IP6GOYRMSP5QHE rowley

    Rush:
    99.6% accurate

  • http://www.facebook.com/aio.seven Aio Seven

    I heard Sarah also sorted some off a big black bone.

  • Anonymous

    Did Michael Moore lie, incessantly, to the American people, for more than a year, about how he lost weight using an already dangerous diet?

  • Anonymous

    And, an incessant liar about his FATNESS. Have another.

  • Anonymous

    If Obama plagiarized, then so did Rush, so did Reagan, and so did the Dalai Lama.

    What a bunch of plagiarizing bastards! Needing to go back before the founding of the country to find something worth saying!

  • Anonymous

    Sarcasm, I hope?

  • Anonymous

    He may not have lied about his weight loss. But he lied in every documentary he ever produced. Did he even lose any weight?

  • Anonymous

    Now the Simpsons are calling Rush a racist? You have to be kidding me.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bruce.kennedy3 Bruce Kennedy

    “As is so often the case, though, Rush is horribly, horribly wrong…”

    ‘Nuf  said.

  • Anonymous

    But [Moore} lied in every documentary he ever produced.

    If that’s true - that Moore’s documentaries are nothing but lies – then you should be able to prove it with ease.

    Take your time.

  • Bob

    And, as Al Franken pointed out, it’s just so easy to quote Rush lecturing everyone on self-responsibility and restraint, and then type “STOP EATING!”

  • Bob

    Good thing he’s not playing the GOP drinking game. If he downed one every time they invoked Ronald Reagan, or said “Obamacare,” he’d be dead of alcohol poisoning.

  • Bob

    as opposed to the calm, adult-like way conservatives react when they hear the words “President Obama.”

  • Anonymous

    I said…

    Race “baiting” the American public to argue about “racial” topics, is just a clever way to incite racist conversation by the general public.

    THE EIB: NOT RACIST, BUT #1 WITH RACISTS

    Mr. Limbaugh is nudge nudge, wink winking America to be divided… by race. That is the cloaked behavior of a “racist“.

    The ever brilliant Todd comes back with…

    Now the Simpsons are calling Rush a racist? You have to be kidding me.

    Not quite, Todd, but we’re all quite used to your constant confusion, in here. That Simpsons observation, was made about FOX News.

    http://i.huffpost.com/gen/221265/SIMPSONSFOXNEWS.jpg

    Your Dittoheaded conflation of that Simpson observation, proves that the habitual liar Rush Limbaugh, and the Unfair and Unbalanced FOX News, are “birds of a feather”.

  • Anonymous

    Looks like you are doing the race baiting here. I think you are either an overt racist or a closeted one.

  • Anonymous

    It takes a lot of Santorum too get a head that size that far up there.

  • Anonymous

    Exactly my point, the Simpsons made exactly the same comment about Fox News. Now you are projecting the comment to Limbaugh, and doing a poor job of it.

  • Anonymous

    My words are there, for your analysis. If you think that I am “projecting”, and that I am the “racist”, use my words, make your case. Otherwise, you might want to stop embarrassing yourself.

  • Anonymous

    You did the “projecting”, stupendously.

  • Anonymous

    You are seemingly focused on calling people racists. I am not embarrassed, however you should be.

  • Anonymous

    I am focused on the truth. Please, present your case that proves that I should be “embarrassed”.

  • Anonymous

    I need present nothing, you have done all the work for me.

  • Anonymous

    I need present nothing, you have done all the work for me.

  • Anonymous

    What did I project from one to something else? Once again you prove you are an idiot.

  • Anonymous

    You didn’t – this guy pulls this on people when he can’t formulate a convincing argument. I agree with your assessment, he’s a real pip.

  • Anonymous

    Treason_Detector,
    You are “focused on the truth”? Not quit. Deism and Spinozism are not the same, they were both popular during the 18th Century. Yet you attribute Einstein  comment about Spinoza’s god to him being Deist. That is not the truth, Einstein was Jewish.
    You think that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have committed Federal Felonies, related to Title 18 and the statutes contained in Chapter 115. Yet in the past 23+ years that Limbaugh has been on the Radio not one United States Attorney, Attorney General, or District Attorney has filed charges against him. Why, because he is protected by the First Amendment, as the Case law attests. yet, you have decided to ignore all of it. That is you rejecting or turning away from the Truth.

  • Anonymous

    I said…

    I am focused on the truth. Please, present your case that proves that I should be “embarrassed”.

    doodadio said…

    I need present nothing, you have done all the work for me.

    They call that red herring argument. The intellectual coward’s way.

  • Anonymous

    This is the first reference to the Simpsons in this thread.
     

    Now the Simpsons are calling Rush a racist? You have to be kidding me. – ToddScheller

    The “projection”, like I said, was yours.

  • Anonymous

    This is the first reference to the Simpsons in this thread.
     

    Now the Simpsons are calling Rush a racist? You have to be kidding me. – ToddScheller

    The “projection”, like I said, was yours.

  • Anonymous

    Yet you were the one quoting a phrase from a Simpson episode, not me. I just was aware of the source. The fact that you were not man enough to name your source is not my problem.

  • Anonymous

    Treason_Detector,
    You need to study fallacies some more. According to the Nizkor Project a Red Herring is “a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue.” http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/red-herring.html
    Since doodadio presented No topic and refused to rise to your bait, there is not fallacy that he committed, further proof that you are an idiot.

  • Anonymous

    Want proof that Micheal more lied? No problem.
    In Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore misused video of Iraq war vet. Sgt Peter Damon.  NY Post: GI’s Big Fat Suit vs. Moore; Seeks $85M for ‘Lying’ 9/11 Clip May 31, 2006 by Jennifer Fermino.
    David Kopel found 59 deceits in the same film, and released Fahrenhype 9/11 to refute it. A pdf of the 59 deciets can be found on the internet.
    Sicko:
    Moore praises the Canadian Health care system, the same one that caused the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador to come to America for Heart Surgery, because minimally invasive surgery is not covered in Canada. WaPo: Canadian official has heart surgery–in the U.S. by Jennifer Huget, February 25, 2010.
    Capitalism: a love story:
    His expert? Actor Wally Shawn. At least Actor Ben Stien actually has a degree in economics, and was an economist for the Department of Commerce. Shawn has a degree in History, he never completed his studies in economics.
    Bowling for Columbine:
    1 & 2) Moore attributes and ad seen in the Movie to G.H.W. Bush’s campaign, the truth is that the ad as used is a edit of one from Bush and one from an independent. In it the Moore adds the subtitle “Horton released. Then kills again.” Horton’s charges were Aggravated Assault and rape, not murder for his second arrest.
    3) Moore’s assertion: The NRA is callous to tragedy, and held a rally in Denver to protest the Columbine tragedy.
    Fact: The Denver Annual mMeeting was announced years prior to the Columbine tragedy.
    Fact: The NRA canceld all events other than the members voting meeting in Denver, the laws of the state (NY) where the organization is chartered required that the meeting be held. 
    Fact: The speech from Charleston Heston used in the Movie did not happen in Denver, but Charlotte, NC.
    Fact: The rest of the speech by Heston is heavily edited to change the theme, inculding removing Heston’s comments as the canceling of events. David T. Hardy Bowling for Columbine: Documentary or Fiction?
    Good enough for you?

  • Anonymous

    Are you speaking to me or making a general presentation to your Media Matters pals?

  • Anonymous

    It isn’t a red herring if it is true.

  • http://www.thefriendcenter.com/ SoThere

    dood, this guy is a comedian, right?

    “TMP”

  • Anonymous

    I am afraid he is serious. Seriously deranged if he thinks he can lie to and about me and get away with it.

  • Anonymous

    Treason_Detector,You are “focused on the truth”? Not quit. Deism and Spinozism are not the same, they were both popular during the 18th Century. Yet you attribute Einstein  comment about Spinoza’s god to him being Deist. That is not the truth, Einstein was Jewish. – ToddScheller

    I can’t find that comment in my archived comments, but it certainly sound like me.

    Here’s that famous quote again…

    I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings. – Albert Einstein

    Your effort to draw some huge distinction between Deism and Pantheism is laughable. There are minor differences, but they are subtle. Even Einstein, in all his brilliance, had trouble explaining those subtleties.

    He tried once, saying…

    “I’m not an atheist. I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying laws but only dimly understand these laws.” – Albert Einstein

    By that statement, it appears that Einstein wrestled, a bit, with Spinoza’s form of pantheism.

    And, with these Einstein quotes, it’s obvious that Albert was very close to agreement with the “Nature’s God” Deism of the primary Founding Fathers.

    “Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of Nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being.” – Albert Einstein

     

    “The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.” – Albert Einstein

    “It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.” – Albert Einstein

    “A man’s ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” – Albert Einstein

    “I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.” – Albert Einstein

    “I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.” – Albert Einstein

    “The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly in the rampant growth of the so-called Theosophy and Spiritualism, is for me no more than a symptom of weakness and confusion. Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning.” – Albert Einstein

    “I am fascinated by Spinoza’s pantheism, but I admire even more his contribution to modern thought because he is the first philosopher to deal with the soul and body as one, and not two separate things.” – Albert Einstein

    And, finally, as concerns your jubilation that Einstein was “Jewish”. Many “Jewish” people are not believers in Judaism…

    “I am a determinist. I do not believe in free will. Jews believe in free will. They believe that man shapes his own life. I reject that doctrine. In that respect I am not a Jew.” – Albert Einstein

  • Anonymous

    You think that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have committed Federal Felonies, related to Title 18 and the statutes contained in Chapter 115. Yet in the past 23+ years that Limbaugh has been on the Radio not one United States Attorney, Attorney General, or District Attorney has filed charges against him. Why, because he is protected by the First Amendment, as the Case law attests. Yet, you have decided to ignore all of it. That is you rejecting or turning away from the Truth.

    Moot points, all.

    Limbaugh’s violations of Title 18, Chapter 115 statutes didn’t begin until President Obama was elected. The evidence of violations, that I list, only began occuring within the last year, or so.
    The Brandenburg case, that you keep referencing, actually helps make my case…

    “…Whitney has been thoroughly discredited by later decisions. See Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494, at 507 (1951). These later decisions have fashioned the principle that the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.

    I think the advocation of Presidential assassination qualifies as “lawless action”, don’t you Todd?

    The only real question is, is the “lawless action” that Limbaugh advocates, imminent? Maybe it’s time for the United States Attorney General to put  that question to the test, and let the Supreme Court decide whether “imminent” means, “just a matter of time”.

  • Anonymous

    Treason_Detector,
    They are only moot because you refuse to accept the fact that you are wrong.
    Where has Limbaugh advocated for the Assassination of a sitting President? Prove it or move on.
    For AG Holder to put that test to Limbaugh he would also have to put that test to the New Black Panther Party, something that he has failed to show the testicles to do.
    Again you get your definition of imminent wrong. Merriam-Webster: Ready to take place; especially: hanging over one’s head <was in imminent danger of being run over>

  • Anonymous

    Treason_Detector,
    Since you are apparently to stupid to make a cogent argument as well as find your own comments, I will provide you a link: http://www.mediaite.com/online/internet-repulsed-by-herman-cains-911-singalong-video-featuring-twin-towers-attack/#comment-307781964
    Once again you avoid the Fact that Deism and Spinozaism are not the same thing. Now take your left hand extend the thumb and index finger in an L and place it to your forehead.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5SKINGUXRIXANJBTBC7PIKMUBQ Ali

    This man simply doesn’t cease to amaze me. What a douch!

    http://academicplagiarism.com

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