TO CHECK or NOT TO CHECK

I would certainly concede that to check all the facts listed in all of the LTEs the PDN receives is indeed a task. And sometimes the way things are stated it is difficult to say whether they are a statement of fact or an opinion. However, your newspaper claims to factcheck every LTE printed. You are not doing that and to claim something and not do it is dishonest. I particularly notice erroneous statements about the Elwha since I have studied that situation for years and untrue statements are obvious to me. I am also a student of history (Recent examples were LTEs by David Jenkins and Jim Taylor which I brought to your attention) Friends of mine with expertise in different areas have mentioned quite a few others.

There are only two policies I can conceive that would be honest in this regard:

1- Actually fact check every LTE whether or not you politically agree with the author - or

2- Factcheck none of them and simply print a disclaimer saying “Facts and opinions are those of the author and are not necessarily approved by the Peninsula Daily News”.

Your present policy of selective fact checking while pretending to do all, compromises the integrity of your newspaper.

Note

The above was submitted as an LTE to the Peninsula Daily News on July 5^th. It was never printed or even acknowledged - not surprising since they seem to have instituted a policy of not acknowledging anything I write and this is criticism of a basic policy.

That policy permits lies to be printed as long as they are attributed. One recent lie printed stated that Israel evicted 70,000 palestinians when Israel became a nation and that they must allow the return of those people to achieve “peace”. The writer attributed this to Jimmie Carter in a book he wrote. But, retelling a lie does not make it the truth (in spite of Dr. Goebbels statement to the contrary) I never read his book but Jimmie is a notorious Jew and Israel hater, so I assume he did print that lie in his book. Only, being old and a student of history, I remember the facts. When Israel was declared a country, surrounding Arab nations attacked. Radio broadcasts from those nations advised Arabs living in Israel to move out of the way as their armies moved in to kill all the Jews, promising the fleeing Arabs would then be allowed to return and take all the assets of the dead Jews. Some Arabs heeded the message, some did not. But nobody was evicted except perhaps some individuals who ‘s personal behavior caused their expulsion.

Those 70,000 (estimated) who left were put in camps supported by the UN (read that US tax dollars) and since the Arabs failed to destroy Israel, they never got to return. Instead, with nothing to do but breed, they are now some five million people - all taught to hate Israel. None of the Arab nations have ever assumed any responsibility for them.

Arabs who did not heed the radio broadcasts and stayed in Israel are citizens with all the rights and privileges of Israeli citizens to this day and some have been elected to the Israeli Knesset. If the Muslims succeed in destroying Israel, those Muslim Israeli citizens will be massacred along with the Jews. Such is the nature of the Muslim religion.

There is absolutely no way the tiny state of Israel could survive the influx of five million enemies. Once again, Israel is being advised to commit national suicide.

So much for the PDN’s “Fact Checking Policy”.

Marv