No Wiz at Wizbang

I am growing tired of playing nice in the face of Wizbang's continued casting of aspersions on my intellect and ability to read and comprehend in the face of my pointing out their ridiculous posting re the NYT's coverage of the Baby 81 affair. Not to mention being cast as a "whiny liberal" in comments here by Paul, when nothing could be further from the truth. Also see here. From my mail bag and comments:

Paul: WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG
Please learn to read.
The Times claimed there was daily coverage in Sri Lanka when there was none.

Paul: So, I've read your rant, it made no sense and you were demonstrably clueless. Now if you have a point, I'll entertain it, but so far all I've heard you do is whine because I'm conservative.

Kevin: Well you're wrong about the Duluth News Tribune...  In case you weren't paying attention that's content from the NYT by the author in question.

Let me assure both gentlemen I am indeed paying attention and their defense of their poor work is growing laughable. It appears they don't even understand what it is they write, let alone the NYT's. If this is indicative of the "new media," one might be better off going back to CBS for heaven's sake. At least they were accountable to someone. Absent a large blog picking this up, I guess Wizbang or any other new media blog can write any tripe it chooses and go unquestioned.

I recall Kevin going on about not wanting to be known as a blogger after the success of memo gate. He better stick with blogger, and lackadaisical one at that, because his conduct and response doesn't come anywhere near what would be expected of a decent journalist.

First Paul totally misunderstands a NYT's piece which mentions the broad coverage of the issue in the Sri Lanka national media, because, you know, the USA must be the only place with a national media, right? And when called out on it he purports to know what is in the Sri Lanka media on a daily basis. That prospect is laughable on its face given that he can't even interpret the NYT's correctly.

Let's see - a landmark legal development in the country, a baby that survives the tsunami alone waiting in the hospital to see if his natural parents will show up and claim him through DNA testing, and several local parents with missing or deceased children filing through the hospital with the desperate hope of finding their own lost child?? No, Paul, no reason to presume that would be all over the Sri Lanka media, now is there? I can't believe you would even invoke such a lame defense.

Below are any number of links and mentions, many precluding the 1-26-05 Times report that prove Paul and Wizbang did no real research and basically plagarized an entire article from another source because it fit their agenda of attacking the Times. I'd love to see the Times take a fall - but all this kind of BS from a Wizbang does is arm the liberals to dismiss genuine attacks when they are warranted by casting them as just more right wing BS. The only conclusion from this affair so far is, goodbye new media - hello new mediocrity.

Over 60,000 Google hits for Sri Lanka Press and Baby 81, few of which even mention the Times - gee, this must all be their fault.

To Paul and Kevin, stonewall if you want, slinking off that way might let you slide. But don't either of you dare question my intellect, comprehension and capabilities. Trust me, I don't care how many people read your blog, neither of you are close to being armed well enough to win that battle.

This is a historic case in Sri Lanka Moahaidein said, adding that it was the first time that genetic finger-printing was used in the island to establish biological parents. Amid keen interest in the "miracle" baby, a magistrate ordered the tests to prove the child's parentage

The battle over Baby 81 - so named because he was the 81st admission to the hospital the day the tsunami struck - has become a symbol of the anguish of thousands of families who lost children in the disaster. Eight other women had also claimed the boy, but the Jeyarajahs were the only ones to file a police report and pursue their case.

Posted on Wed, Feb. 02, 2005 AP

In a drama that has captured worldwide attention, a judge in Sri Lanka ruled Wednesday that a couple must undergo a DNA test to prove they are the parents of the 4-month-old tsunami survivor known as "Baby 81." After the ruling, the distraught couple stormed into the hospital where the infant is being held, screaming "Give us our baby!" They were briefly held by police, then released.

Sky TV Jan 16-2005 12:37

AP Jan. 14, 2005 - The infant dubbed "Baby 81" nurses from a bottle of milk and kicks playfully at a pink blanket as nine desperate, heartbroken women quarrel over him all claiming he was torn from them by the tsunami.

Jan 16 Guardian Unlimited

At Kalmunai Base Hospital in Ampara in Sri Lanka last week an infant dubbed 'Baby 81' was kicking playfully at a pink blanket as nine desperate, heartbroken women quarrelled over him, all claiming he was theirs - torn from them by last month's tsunami.

Unicef says preliminary data indicate that nearly 1,000 children were orphaned by the tsunami in Sri Lanka alone, and another 3,200 lost one parent.

One man standing outside the nursery at Kalmunai Base Hospital last week threatened to kill himself and his wife if they were not given the baby. A woman at the hospital said she would kill the doctors if he is not returned to her.

The infant, bruised and covered in mud but otherwise healthy, was brought to the hospital hours after the tsunami struck Kalmunai, a remote town in eastern Sri Lanka populated by Muslims and Tamils. It was partly cut off after a major bridge was swept away by the waves.

He was given the label because his real name is not known and he was the 81st admission that terrible day, officials said. Now, nurses in the hospital are competing to take care of the infant, according to doctors. They have put a mottu on his forehead - a black stain to ward off evil. And the nurses are not the only ones vying for him. 'Parents who have lost their children come every day to the hospital to check,' says Dr K. Saseenthirian. 'Some go back, and some stay and claim that the baby is theirs.'

'Most of the parents who came and claimed that this is their baby are really believing that this is their baby,' Dr K. Muhunthan, a consultant obstetrician, told Sky TV last week. 'Maybe they are not lying, because they have lost a baby of the same age and all the babies they look at look like their own child.'

Newspapers and Magazines, Sri Lanka

Results 1 - 10 of about 61,300 for Sri Lanka Press Baby 81

Comments

[chrys]

Important for this day:

http://wordpark.com/blog.html

[Eric]

C'mon, Dan, Wizbang? Is that what you've set your sights on? I am banning you from WTW until you try to start a war with Michelle "Terri Schiavo Who?" Malkin.

Wizbang...heh, indeed

Wizbang, Not Blogrolled By David Limbaugh Since 2004

Why, yes, I am tooting my own horn

[Broke, Sticky And Confused]

And, coming from an expert in the field, that was a mighty fine example of link whoring, Chrys. But if you really want to get ahead, you need yourself a Link-Pimp, like Beth.

[Beth]

Dan, I love your guts in taking on the Big Blogs™! You've raised an important point--just because a blogger on "our side" says something doesn't mean it should be taken as gospel. I missed the Baby 81 thread over there (and honestly missed this dust-up until now, been busy with Terri-blogging, UNLIKE THE BIG BLOGS).

Pretty ridiculous that you'd be accused of being against conservatism just because you found a factual error at Wizbang. Maybe Paul should get down in the trenches with the rest of the blogosphere and read the pulse? I'm getting pretty disgusted at some of these Big Bloggers™ and their apparent blindness to the rest of the world. Inside the Beltway mentality, so to speak.

Honestly, I do read Wizbang and enjoy it (although not as often as I read you, obviously), but Paul ought to take his punches like a man and not get so defensive about it. If the facts are wrong, they're wrong, and calling you ignorant or not conservative denigrates his integrity--which is MUCH worse than getting something wrong, which can be easily corrected or whatever.

Final note: who the fuck is Vince Aut Morire and why would he think I'm link-pimping???

[Ron]

"I recall Kevin going on about not wanting to be known as a blogger after the success of memo gate."

I recall that too and have read them skeptically ever since. High traffic blogs, as I stated elsewhere, are not granted immunity from fisking just because they're high traffic. Dan a liberal? That's the dumbest remark I've heard to date.

[Gordon]

Paul @ Wizbang also had a run in with David Anderson of ISOU who is one of the most easygoing guys on the 'sphere.

Seems to be something of a hot-tempered jerkwad. Don't burn anymore effort on him.

[Kevin]

Ron you recall wrong. That was Paul. As I recall it was filed under satire or humor.