Man who made up yellow ribbon story invited to White House as an Iraq expert

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Many of you will recall that, a few weeks ago, there was a “news report” released stating that Iran had passed a law that would require Jews to wear yellow ribbons and othe ron-Muslims to wear various ribbons or badges. After the story made the rounds of blogs and message boards, it was revealed that it was a fabrication of Amir Taheri, who started the rumor in an op-ed piece in a Canadian newspaper.

The upshot? Taheri was invited to the White House as an “expert” to give his opinions to George W. Bush on Iraq. According to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, the group held an “interesting discussion that touched upon cultural issues, on political issues, on the state of affairs in Iraq.” Snow stressed that the experts gave Bush “honest opinions.”

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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