North Dakota: Fargo Forum Not Correcting Smears Against Sarah Palin

A reader sends this in about Fargo Forum columnist Jane Ahlin’s column from last Sunday:

…is anyone going to challenge Ahlin on her column last Sunday about Palin. I have e-mailed her and Jack about getting the facts. Of course I will not get any response. I sent along statements from fact check to disprove what Ahlin stated. I believe that Far Left [Forum opinion editor] Jack [Zaleski] is in charge of the editorial page. Anyway Ahlin states that Palin cut funding for a home for unwed mothers, when it fact it was raised from 1.3 million (previous year) to 3.9 million. Of course Ahlin knows this but since Palin cut the requested 5 million to 3.9 million she cut funding. Also, a very serious allegation is made when Ahlin states that Palin tried to get books at the city library banned and tired to fire the librarian because she refused to ban books. This all seems to be attributed to an untrue e-mail, originating from an Alaskan critic of Palins.
What do you know about all of this??

What I know is this
First, the charge that Palin cut funding for a home for unwed mothers is false. She increased, as the reader notes, to $3.9 million/year. A near tripling in funding.
I also know that the claim that Palin wanted books banned is also false. The list of books Palin allegedly wanted ban that Ahlin’s claim is based on contained books that hadn’t even been published yet as of the date Palin supposedly wanted them banned.
Finally, I know that the folks at the Fargo Forum (particularly those writing on the opinion page) generally aren’t interested in fair and honest reporting. Granted, Ahlin was writing an op/ed and is entitled to her opinions about Sarah Palin, but facts are facts and lies are lies. The Forum should issue a correction (they haven’t to my knowledge) as the claims Ahlin makes in her column have long since been debunked.
But to date no correction has been issued, and I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for one.
It probably wouldn’t hurt to ask, though, so here is Jane Ahlin’s email address (as provided at the bottom of her columns): {encode=”janeahlin@yahoo.com” title=”janeahlin@yahoo.com”}. A polite email asking her to please try to be honest when writing about Republicans in the future probably wouldn’t hurt.

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  • http://Array dirl126

    Well…isn’t that against the law?
    Somebody go get em.

  • http://northerngleaner.blogspot.com/ Gene

    I believe the Forum needs to be shown up for the liberal rag it has become.

    This is an issue that requires direct communication.

    No letters to the editors. Blogstorm them.

    Several of the writers on SA have their own blogs. Me included.

    Time to take them to task for the open warfare they have commenced against Sarah Palin with outright lies and fabrications.

    Believe me, the world reads this stuff and if enough say enough there will be ink (not blood).

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    It is not against the law.

    However what newspaper buyers are willing to buy is the truth. When the paper starts lying they start losing readers.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    The Forum’s not worth using to line a bird cage anymore.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    It seems to me that the lives and rights of a mother and her unborn baby are intertwined while she’s carrying.

    In that case I would be unwilling to deny a rape victim any option. At that point her life has been traumatized and not having an option doesn’t seem right.

    On the other hand in other cases the babies right to life ought to outweigh the mothers right to live her life as she wants.

    It’s not an easy thing to balance but it should fall within the purview of state’s legislative powers.

    Just my opinion and I can respect others opinions as well.

  • SC

    A recent Rasmussen Survey discovered that by a 10 to 1 margin, the public believes that the media is trying to hurt Sara Palin. In other words 10 out of 11 people polled believe the media is trying to hurt Sara Palin. The Forum would have to be included in this group. It’s sad.

  • http://2mdh.blogspot.com/ C. Y.

    So where is the ND GOP? They should either be writing letters or organizing a grassroots effort to counter the BS.

    Gary Emineth, State Chairman

    Curly Haugland, State Committeeman

    Connie Nicholas, State Committeewoman

    information@ndgop.org

    Where are you?

  • http://forums.kikizo.com/ Eddie_the_Hated

    Ahlin’s argument is one of emotion, not logic. The real debate is not over whether or not 14 year olds should be forced to bear the children of rape (how many women even get pregnant from rape in a given year? It’s got to be an astronomically low number).

    Here ya go Rob.

    “”The rape-related pregnancy rate among women of reproductive age was 5 percent per rape or 6 percent per victim. From these data, it can be estimated that 32,101 rape-related pregnancies may occur each year among American women over the age of 18 years.”"

    And that’s a very generous estimate. I’ve heard estimates as low as 1 percent.

    What many emotionally charged arguments pushed forward by pro-abortion (I refuse to call it pro-choice) lobbyists and legislators fail to realize, is that a pregnancy is not some mechanical procedure that consistently follows the same set of simple rules. There is a complex cocktail of hormones in a womans body that have to reach precise levels for the woman to retain pregnancy, and emotional and physical trauma upset those hormones (which is why prengancy per rape statistics are so low).

  • http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

    The forum is also in the Tank for NOBAMA, no one should be shocked at this one.

  • halatbis

    I sent e-mails to Ahlin and Zaleski about their articles. Ahlin’s was full of every inuendo and liberal left ravings. Zaleski took a shot at Palin because he made an unfavorable report on Obama–so to be fair he had to put in a shot at Sarah.
    I think we ought to encourage the left wing nuts and Dems to keep shooting off their mouth–they are helping voters see what nutcases they really are.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    If that life is sacred and endowed with rights as a human being than it’s sacred, and the means of its creation are irrelevant.

    I respect that position and would hope a rape victim would feel that way as well.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

    I’m tired of seeing this dopey criticism about Palin:

    A candidate — who would have a 14-year-old child raped by her stepfather or even her own father, forced to carry a pregnancy through to term and go through childbirth — is “proud” of her daughter’s “decision.” (Do they teach irony in “abstinence only” classes?)

    There is no irony there because her daughter does have the decision in her hands. What we have in Palin is a woman who is pro-life recognizing that the law says that Bristol can make the decision to abort. She, in turn, praises her daughter Bristol for keeping the baby.

    What, about that situation, shows any irony whatsoever?

    Do they teach logic in “journalism” classes? Apparently not.

  • Neiman

    It seems to me that the lives and rights of a mother and her unborn baby are intertwined while she’s carrying.

    In that case I would be unwilling to deny a rape victim any option. At that point her life has been traumatized and not having an option doesn’t seem right.

    That philosophy means that it is right to allow the mother to consciously execute an wholly innocent human being in her womb, because of the crime of a sleazy pig rapist. The only substitutionary death of an innocent human being that was ever morally acceptable was Jesus Christ and He willingly died for others, while this innocent child in the womb had no rights to say yes or no. Hardly, just but I guess it will be nice to know murderers, rapists and others can make other people pay for their crimes in the future.

  • sc

    Let’s keep the focus on the topic which is “the smearing of Palin by the forum”. What does pro-life or abortion have to do with this topic?

  • http://www.valleydeals.com/cgi-bin/board2/YaBB.pl Kevin

    Jane just writes these columns so they count for her “publish or perish” requirements at her second fat pension (after the pension she has in the bag from Concordia) gig at MSUM.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com robport

    who would have a 14-year-old child raped by her stepfather or even her own father, forced to carry a pregnancy through to term and go through childbirth

    I’m tired of seeing that argument myself. Rape is a terrible thing, and getting pregnant from a rape is even worse. But why does that justify murdering the child?

    What did the unborn child do?

    Ahlin’s argument is one of emotion, not logic. The real debate is not over whether or not 14 year olds should be forced to bear the children of rape (how many women even get pregnant from rape in a given year? It’s got to be an astronomically low number). The debate over abortion is over when life begins.

    And logic, not to mention science, tells us that life begins at conception and is a continuum of growth and development until the time of death.

    Which should come from natural causes, not a doctor wielding the implements of abortion.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com robport

    I disagree, Whistler. If we say that life begins at conception (and I think that’s what all who think abortion is wrong think) then how can you say that life isn’t worth protecting even if it is the result of rape?

    If that life is sacred and endowed with rights as a human being than it’s sacred, and the means of its creation are irrelevant.

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