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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Weirdest Worldnutdaily Headline Ever

Posted on: April 3, 2009 9:30 AM, by Ed Brayton

Here's a just plain weird headline from the Worldnutdaily:

worldnetdaily headline12.jpg

Do you pay your electric bill to Obama? Or Osama? That's just bizarre.

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Comments

Um, what?

Seriously, there's syntax there, but no content. Help me out.

That said, if someone is selling good $99 solar panels, I'm interested. My most recent estimate to do the house was $38,000.

Posted by: Ranson | April 3, 2009 9:36 AM

Any idea if these solar panels are being subsidized by the Obama "tax-and-spend"/"socialist"/"communist" stimulus? It would be ironic if they were.

Posted by: Umlud | April 3, 2009 9:44 AM

If WND keeps this kind of thing up, you'll run out of superlatives very soon.

Posted by: MikeG | April 3, 2009 9:44 AM

Wow, Obama can make wingnuts go green? I'm impressed. I thought they hated the environment and wanted to destroy it. I guess they hate Democrats even more than they hate the environment. But if it works, I guess I shouldn't care why it works, right?

On the other hand, are they still paying (non-democratic) Saudi Arabia and others for gas for their vehicles? They don't strike me as the type that use plug-in electric cars.

Posted by: catgirl | April 3, 2009 9:45 AM

What's the over/under on them surpassing the "weirdest headline ever"?

Posted by: Tunde | April 3, 2009 9:55 AM

Well Catgirl, the problem is that saving the environment is against God's Plan™, that alone is proof positive that he's a Communist Atheist Muslim™ (to be listed as CAM), if he wasn't he would let the world end as predicted in the Bible. So what's really happening is that he is forcing these poor good Christians to adopt strategies to avoid his CAM plan to take over the world that, at the same time forces them to violate God's Plan™. They would be faced with quite a conundrum normally, but now it's even worse because he's taxing them and forcing them to pay into his CAM plan.

Did I miss anything?

Posted by: dogmeatib | April 3, 2009 10:00 AM

Here's some good news.

Same-sex marriage now legal in Iowa

In a precedent-setting ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court today upheld a lower court decision legalizing same-sex marriages in Iowa.

The unanimous court decision is expected to carry national implications as Iowa becomes the first Midwest state to grant full legal standing to gay and lesbian couples and only the third state nationally to confer marital status beyond traditional one-man, one woman unions.

"We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective," the opinion stated. "The Legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of people from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification."

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090403/NEWS/704039928/1001/NEWS

Posted by: JED | April 3, 2009 10:14 AM

I can just see the War Room over at WND right now:

"Aoooogah, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaooogah--FAGALERT, FAGALERT. The Obama electricoup was just a ruse (not that it's not 1000% true--no hyperbole) to distract us from Iowa being taken over by teh GAY. Deploy all HAZGAY teams immediately, deploy all HAZGAY teams immediately, in JESUS name."

Posted by: democommie | April 3, 2009 10:20 AM

The ads at Wing Nut Daily reflect the overall gullibility of their target audience. Someone who's willing to believe all the idiotic shit that Joseph Farah spouts would have no problem believing in magical de-toxifying pills or survivalist bullshit.

Posted by: Wes | April 3, 2009 10:34 AM

As irrational as this headline is, it is based on a false assertion spread by the GOP by both its formal (e.g., Ryan, Boehner, Steele) and informal leaders (e.g., Hannity, Limbaugh). It is their mutation of the cap and trade proposal in Obama's budget proposal; where they ignore the receipts which are imposed on cap and trade while dishonestly focusing exclusively on the expenditures.

Conclusion: The GOP is approaching WND, soon this might be valid logic: GOP = WND.

Posted by: Michael Heath | April 3, 2009 10:35 AM

Why do I get the feeling that the $99 "self made" solar panels will consist of pieces of cardboard wrapped in tin foil?

Posted by: peaches | April 3, 2009 11:19 AM

I don't know if this is related - it is pretty close to April 1st, but many, many years ago Popular Electronics Magazine had an April Fools joke about putting some beach sand, arsenic and phosphorus on a cookie sheet and baking it in your oven at 500 C to make your own solar cell!

Posted by: KeithB | April 3, 2009 11:24 AM

WND certainly hates liberals, gays, democrats, muslims, scientists and whole host of other groups. They write passionately (and often pointlessly) about and against issues favored by these groups but after a while, all but the most insane must see through a headline like this.

I'm thinking if you DO pay Obama for your electricity, the local utility is going to turn off your power for non-payment pretty soon.

Posted by: MikeMa | April 3, 2009 12:05 PM

Peaches, that will only be the construction design IF it's sort of hat-shaped...

Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | April 3, 2009 12:16 PM

democommie:

"Aoooogah, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaooogah--FAGALERT, FAGALERT. The Obama electricoup was just a ruse (not that it's not 1000% true--no hyperbole) to distract us from Iowa being taken over by teh GAY. Deploy all HAZGAY teams immediately, deploy all HAZGAY teams immediately, in JESUS name."

And take off every Zig for great justice!

Posted by: phantomreader42 | April 3, 2009 1:15 PM

phantomreader42:

What you say?

Posted by: Benjamin Geiger | April 3, 2009 1:33 PM

Ed, don't you come out with a headline of "Weirdest Worldnutdaily Headline Ever" every few days, or is it just my imagination? These people are living proof of Poe's Law.

Posted by: Paul Lundgren | April 3, 2009 2:18 PM

Benjamin Geiger:

What you say?

You have no chance to survive make your time

Posted by: phantomreader42 | April 3, 2009 2:48 PM

Am I the only one who thinks WingNutDaily would make more sense if run through an Engrish translator?

All your base are belong to us!

Posted by: phantomreader42 | April 3, 2009 3:12 PM

Speaking of ironic subsidies: I wonder if the Ronald Reagan Corridor here in central Indiana will get funded by federal funds for shovel ready projects. They've been working on it in blocks for almost a decade, as money has rolled in. It's totally shovel ready. The irony demands federal funds!

Posted by: MarkusR | April 3, 2009 3:23 PM

So it looks like the next time some scumbag energy CEOs try to rig the price of electricity, the Dubya-Nut-Daily are getting ready to blame Obama for it. Given that the same wingnuts tried to blame Obama for high gas prices before he was even elected, I'm not at all surprised. It never ceases to disgust me what eager corporate tools these so-called Christians are.

I wonder if the Ronald Reagan Corridor here in central Indiana will get funded by federal funds for shovel ready projects.

Sure, why not? And don't forget to fund the renovation of that huge plaque that says "Government is not the solution, government is the problem."

Posted by: Raging Bee | April 3, 2009 3:32 PM

I believe the "paying Obama" rhetoric is in reference to this story on WND: Energy costs being bumped $2,000 per household:

The vice president for an energy research center says the administration of President Barack Obama is working now on what could end up being the biggest levy ever in the history of the United States, a tax that is expected to cost $2,000 per household.

The ironic thing is that this is about a tax on carbon emissions. And the ultimate point of such taxes? To make people pay the true costs of energy in order to encourage societal change in the direction of using cleaner energy alternatives. And WND defiantly reacts to this by... promoting a cleaner energy alternative.

Rage on Farah, rage on!

Posted by: jpf | April 3, 2009 4:07 PM

Do you pay your electric bill to Obama? Or Osama?

You mean they are not the same?

Posted by: ??? | April 3, 2009 4:42 PM

Cthulhu bills me each month for not grilling me on his barbeque.
As for Obama, don't you know he provides free electricity to everyone who prays five times daily by kneeling in the direction of certain unnameable city in the Middle East?

Posted by: llewelly | April 3, 2009 5:43 PM

I really coulda sworn that the last time I paid my electric bill the check was written to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. DWP seems also to think that I'm a customer of theirs. Why, just last night when i got home from work I found a bag with the DWP logo on it sitting in front of my door. Inside were two free CFL bulbs, also with the DWP logo.

Posted by: Ktesibios | April 3, 2009 7:07 PM

Again, that WND article I linked to above is what WND is talking about with the "paying Obama for electricity" line.

The claims being made in it (a tax levy of $2,000 per household) is coming from the Institute for Energy Research, which SourceWatch describes as:

The Institute for Energy Research (IER), founded in 1989 from a predecessor non-profit organisation, advocates positions on environmental issues which happen to suit the energy industry: climate change denial, claims that conventional energy sources are virtually limitless, and the deregulation of utilities.
It is a member of the Sustainable Development Network. The IER's President was formerly Director of Public Relations Policy at Enron.

In other words, a rightwing think-tank/propaganda mill working in the interest of energy companies.

Whether what they are saying is true or just propaganda, it's funny that their scare-mongering is resulting in the promotion of exactly the sort of behavior (using solar power not purchased from an energy company) that environmentalists would approve of and that would ultimately hurt energy companies.

Posted by: jpf | April 3, 2009 7:26 PM

Actually, the ladies at the Georgia Power customer service windows are very nice and I always feel a little better about my bill after I've paid them.

Posted by: Jon Lester | April 3, 2009 7:55 PM

I tried to use the Generalissimo Google™ automatic translation, but it can't do Gibberish→English. So I settled for English→French and back to English, and for the link mentioned above, got this (slightly edited):

Energy costs will hit $ 2000 per household
Researcher says tax can never be to perceive the United States
Posted: 02 April 2009
The Vice President for Research Center on Energy wrote to the administration of President Obama is now working on what could eventually be the largest collection of the history of the United States, a fee would cost $ 2,000 household.
“The cost of energy will increase, consumers and businesses and all those who drive a car, heating his home, goes to work that uses energy, should pay more, either through job loss or the actual cost of electricity by about $ 2,000 per year,” said Dan Kish, Senior Vice President of Policy at the Institute of Energy Research.
Kish, who has over 25 years of experience on Congressional committees, was interviewed by Greg Corombos Radio America / WND […]
He explained how much income Obama wants his proposal to tax carbon emissions and what it means for ordinary Americans.
Kish, who worked as chief of staff for the Republicans of the House Resources, said the proposed budget to Congress a “room” for the president of the request for about $ 650 billion over the next 10 years in energy taxes, but he said the administration has shown flexibility on this, believing this could go up to $ 1.9 billion.
“We might as well call a tax,” he said.

The amusing thing is that seems to more understandable than the original: It clearly makes the point the original is tinhat foilland gobbledygook.

Posted by: blf | April 4, 2009 2:30 AM