Archive for October 13, 2009
A Game Of Dodgeball, Anyone?
by John Weckerle
Yesterday, we published an article in counterpoint to an October 9 article by Chuck Ring at GadaboutBlogalot.com, which claimed that West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd had obtained a budget earmark for a nonexistent company. We researched the company, contacted them to confirm that they existed, and found that the company had been bought two years earlier, and had begun operating under the parent company’s name this past July – after the earmark request had been submitted. In light of the inaccuracy of the original report by Gadabout-Blogalot.com and the referenced biggovernment.com “Pork Report,” we decided to follow up on the other supposed transgressions in the “Pork Report,” and published our findings.
Apparently, we struck a nerve. An article appeared at Gadabout-Blogalot.com in response this morning. (We will note here that Mr. Ring did not directly reference our article, and referred instead to “another blogger.” This is a breach of etiquette for which we have criticized one of the local newspapers, and we hope that we will not see it again from Gadabout-Blogalot.com.) Inexplicably, Mr. Ring stated that his article had not misrepresented the situation, but by way of providing support to the argument referenced a blog post that demonstrated that his article had done just that. Specifically, the article disclosed that the company did, in fact, exist; that it was named Information Management Corporation at the time the earmark was requested; and that it changed names after Senator Byrd’s request for the earmark. »» A Game Of Dodgeball, Anyone?