Syndicate Will Look Into Alleged Coulter Plagiarism On Its Own

Editor and Publisher ^ | July 6 06 | Editor and Publisher

[churchillbuff]

Universal Press Syndicate issued a statement this afternoon saying it might look into the plagiarism allegations against Ann Coulter in two possible ways.

"We'll see what we can find on our own," said Kathie Kerr, the syndicate's director of communications, noting that Universal would use the information referenced in Sunday's New York Post article. That story quoted John Barrie, creator of the iThenticate plagiarism-probing system, who said he had easily found several examples of alleged plagiarism in Coulter's new "Godless" book and in her Universal columns from the past year. Several blogs had earlier found these and other examples.

Kerr added that Universal may also use a plagiarism-finding tool from Barrie's company.

The Universal spokeswoman said Barrie has yet to return her call (he hasn't returned E&P's calls either), but added that she did hear from a sales-division person at the iParadigms company with which Barrie is affiliated. Kerr said she was told that iParadigms wasn't sure if it "could provide the same information about Coulter as was given to the Post," but that the syndicate "could subscribe to the service that provided the information" to that newspaper.

"This tool is a service sold through subscription on LexisNexis," said Kerr. "We use the research tool on LexisNexis quite a bit. The plagiarism tool is called Copyguard and is about a year old. We'll want to set up a trial period and of course get pricing on this tool, but it sounds like something that would benefit us. I don't know how long it will take to get a trial period set up."

Universal syndicates Coulter's column to more than 100 newspapers.

[gcruse]

"I would be very pleased if Ann did this on purpose"

Spin, spin, spin.

If this were Al Franken under the microscope, the Coulter apoplogists would be screaming "Plague, plague!"

[grey_whiskers]

The thread was pulled at the time of the bannings.

Well that just *sucks*.

[tallhappy]

RWP was too abrasive,

Yes. Abrasive is an understatement and does not reflect the depths of his animosities and dishonest vitriolic attacks on people.

but he helped weed out intellectual sloppiness on the threads.

No. He was incredibly intellectually bereft. He never put forth a thought that was his own. For example in the last comment to me you were trying to use slinky dog analogies to explain collision theory. That is creative and indicates an understanding of the subject at a high level.

The so-called Right Wing Professor did not do such things and gave me the impression he was unable to. When such limitations in his understanding, articulateness or attempted-to-be-imposed authority he became "abrasive".

If he was kicked it was because he could be very "abrasive", not because he was rather dim and unimaginative.

Also, false advertising ceases to be overlooked over time. There was nothing right wing about the right wing professor.

[tallhappy]

Two things. This is well stated and obvious to you or me or anyone not biased or irrational.

Who, though, is hyping Coulter's plagiarism? None other than our own "Right Wing" Professor.

You were saying about him...?

Two, I still don't know exactly what "molecular collisions" is. Were you in chemistry or physics department?

[FredZarguna]

I very much doubt even the powerful Apple could copyright the letter 'i'...

Given Apple's "progressive" history, I doubt very much they'd object to anybody attacking a conservative, but as for the ridiculousness of trying to copyright use of the letter "i", let's not forget that this is the outfit that wanted to sue M$oft for a "look and feel" infringement of a user interface they didn't even invent.

[grey_whiskers]

I disagree--he was not intellectually bereft, be he did not like to discuss anything scientific or technical except in a more formal way suitable for a peer-reviewed journal.

I don't know whether (Ivy-League PhD that he was) he was no longer able to resort to populism, or was simply unwilling. If unwilling, that could have been from professional pride or from wanting to keep his faculties 'honed'.

I do agree that his hair-trigger was set off by people not understanding things on his terms, the first time he said them.

Also, false advertising ceases to be overlooked over time. There was nothing right wing about the right wing professor.

Well, anyone who claims to be a conservative who exults in trashing Coulter might need to re-apply for conservative credentialing--unless they are critiquing her *methods*.

Oh--and if they are a male, they probably need to put in for some Viagra as well. :-)

PS--I hung out in the chemistry department, but 'molecular collisions' are part of a larger field called 'Chemical Physics', as in The Journal of Chemical Physics--you can find spectroscopy, fluorescence, and other goodies in there as well...

Cheers!

[RonDog]

See also, from luckydawgnews.com:

COPYCATTY COULTER PILFERS PROSE....or maybe not

A ran across this article at the NY Post claiming that Ann Coulter plagiarized parts of her latest book - "Godless".

Conservative scribe Ann Coulter cribbed liberally in her latest book, "Godless," according to a plagiarism expert.

John Barrie, the creator of a leading plagiarism-recognition system, claimed he found at least three instances of what he calls "textbook plagiarism" in the leggy blond pundit's "Godless: the Church of Liberalism" after he ran the book's text through the company's digital iThenticate program.

This Barrie guy is the president/CEO of a company called iParadigms. This iThenticate program is a product of this company.  The chairman of iParadigms is Steven Berger.

I did a little digging on Berger and came up with this.

Contributor	Candidate or PAC	Amount	Date
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	$4,400 primary	11/08/05
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	$500 primary	05/16/05
BERGER, STEVEN BERKELEY, CA 94705 NYF PROPERTIES INC	KERRY, JOHN F (D) Senate - MA FRIENDS OF JOHN KERRY	$1,000 primary	05/05/05
Berger, Steven Mr Jr Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	$250 primary	12/02/04
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	JENNINGS, JON PAUL (D) House (IN 08) FRIENDS OF JON JENNINGS COMMITTEE	$250 general	10/25/04
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	MURPHY, LOIS (D) House (PA 06) LOIS MURPHY FOR CONGRESS	$250 general	10/25/04
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	WETTERLING, PATTY (D) House (MN 06) PATTY WETTERLING FOR CONGRESS	$250 general	10/25/04
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	ROSS, DAVE (D) House (WA 08) FRIENDS OF DAVE ROSS	$250 general	10/25/04
Berger, Steven Mr Jr Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	$250 general	10/25/04
Berger, Steven Mr Jr Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	$250 general	10/25/04
Berger, Steven Mr Jr Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	$250 general	10/25/04
Berger, Steven Mr Jr Berkeley, CA 94705 NYF Properties Inc./Management	MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	$250 general	10/25/04
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 iParadigms LLC/Manager	MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	$1,000 primary	08/05/04
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 Nyf Proprties/Executive	KERRY, JOHN F (D) President JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC	$1,000 primary	03/31/04
Berger, Steven Berkeley, CA 94705 Nyf Proprties/Executive	KERRY, JOHN F (D) President JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC	$1,000 primary	03/03/04

Source on Berger donations - Newsmeat

.

Every book that Ann Coulter has written brings out the left wing moonbats and cries of plagiarism.  This time is no different, with one exception.  These 2 particular moonbats, Berger and Barrie, are killing 2 birds with one stone.  They can trash Coulter on behalf of their DNC masters and get free PR to sell their dubious product. 

This non-story is also an example of how lazy the media is.  Nowhere in the press is it mentioned that the people at iParadigms are left wing, MOVEON types with an axe to grind.  It took me a whopping 10 minutes to find out this info. 

Coulter must have really hit a nerve with the liberals.  They are pulling out all the stops to destroy her credibility, although this latest attempt to smear Coulter borders on lame.

Better luck next time lefties...

Posted by Chris on July 6, 2006 10:27 AM

[tallhappy]

be he did not like to discuss anything scientific or technical except in a more formal way suitable for a peer-reviewed journal.

That's ludicrous. He was a one subject obsessive. Every thread every post he made was about that.

[gcruse]

Dang, Ron, it looks like I was wr....
Hey, wait a second. After doing some checking, I found out this guy Chris is a conservative! Well, using his logic that he "may have an ax to grind" I am forced to dismiss his entire argument, as he dismisses iParadigm. It's only logical, neh?

[RonDog]

LOL!

Or, as AnnaZ reminded me on the OTHER thread:

To: RonDog

Whether they are moveon lefties or free-wheeling lefties matters not, and would mean nothing if the charges were true.

The charges are pathetic lame-ass nothings however -- not unlike the chargers -- and that's all that counts.

54 posted on 07/09/2006 1:28:04 PM PDT by AnnaZ (I think so, Brain, but if we give peas a chance, won't the lima beans feel left out?)

[gcruse]

Actually, Ron, it's just like poker. The cards speak for themselves regardless of the dealer. I look at the examples and see unattributed lifting. How much fuss to make is another thing, but the lifting is there, IMO.

[JCEccles]

RWP was too abrasive, but he helped weed out intellectual sloppiness on the threads

Except, of course, his own.

His own intellectual sloppiness was legendary. In his own case he came across as thinking that emotional heat was a substitute for intellectual rigor.

I find it interesting, but hardly surprising, that the most zealous FReeper critics of Coulter are true believers in the Church of Darwin.

One may disagree with another person about many things, but don't tell a parent her child is ugly or a true believer his religion is false.

[RonDog]

I understand.

Still, one man's "unattributed lifting" is another man's "restatement of facts."

It would be difficult -- for ME -- to restate the facts in most of those alleged "unattributed liftings" in a manner that would NOT be conceived as such.

For example, here is some of the alleged "plagiarism" -- from the barking moonbats:

Here's Coulter from Chapter 1 of Godless:

The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River in Maine, was halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant previously believed to be extinct.

Here's the Portland Press Herald, from the year 2000, in its list of the "Maine Stories of the Century":

The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River, is halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant believed to be extinct.

How would YOU restate those same facts, WITHOUT using very similar words?

[gcruse]

Hey, are you trying to make a Creationist out of me? ;)
There's no way that those two paragraphs would be assembled without one of them lifting from the other.

Given the facts but not the words, no two writers in the world would come up with the same choice of descriptors. No way.

I realize from your profile page where your heart lies, but what you've shown me, if not footnoted or attributed, is wholesale cut and paste.

[1L]

Plagarism means the passing of another's work as your own. I seriously doubt Coulter having a viewpoint so similar to planned abortionhood and some idiotic article attempting to argue the opposite of what Coulter argues so as to pass these opposite views as her's.

If she's using it as text to be refuted, its fair use, and if Barrie and his idiot friends don't know what that is, they shouldn't be quoted by anyone.

[RonDog]

Given the facts but not the words, no two writers in the world would come up with the same choice of descriptors. No way.

O.K., let's see YOU do it. :o)

You now have the facts, from the Portland Press Herald (in my post #193):

The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River, is halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant believed to be extinct.

Please re-state those precise facts -- in a way that could not be considered as "unattributed lifting."

[gcruse]

There will be facts included in one article that would have been left out of the other. If you want me to do a rewrite of a standing article, it proves nothing, but here goes.

An appearance by the Furbish lousewort, long thought to be extinct, has stymied the mighty Upper St. John River hydroelectric project. The proposed Dickey-Lincoln dam's $227 million construction has been put on hold.

[RonDog]

Thanks for humoring me. :o)

Still, I will bet that the folks at iParadigms would consider your paraphrase "plagiarism" as well.

[AnnaZ]

As I just posted to you on the other thread:

Still, the fact that Ann's accusers are barking moonbats should at least cause one to "consider the source" of those charges.

Certainly, but it's still meaningless. The facts of the charge are all that counts. (And here they don't count for shi...)

Or perhaps the charges against Michael Bellesiles should have been ignored because the loudest complaints came from pro-2A groups? I don't think so.

[GOP_Raider]

... a source of nothing but embarrassment.

Kinda like what your parents say about your mediocre existance. They must be so proud.