By Mark Powell

Just got a mass email from Rob Kall, executive editor, publisher of OpEdNews.com:

Nice to start the new year with this news: OpEdNews Ranked Among Top 100 Blogs Overall

OpEdNews is Bold and Daring: The Way Progressive News Should Be (LOL)

Consider the top 15 articles at the site for the past week:

#1 12/30/2010: America's Gulf: New Report Says It's Dying by Stephen Lendman
#2 12/28/2010: Rove Might Be Trying To "Pull A Siegelman" With Julian Assange by Roger Shuler
#3 12/28/2010: Is an economic collapse being prepared? If so, for whose benefit? by Richard Clark
#4 12/27/2010: FROM MIDDLE CLASS TO SLAVE CLASS - COURTESY OF THE FED, THE WHITE HOUSE, CONGRESS AND THE BANKERS. by lila york
#5 12/27/2010: THE U.S. STOCK MARKET IS RIGGED by lila york
#6 12/23/2010: Pentagon's Christmas Present: Largest Military Budget Since WW II by Rick Rozoff
#7 12/31/2010: Obama's Outrage: Rage Against Russia, Silence at Indian Injustice by Chris Floyd )
#8 12/28/2010: 2011 by paul craig roberts
#9 12/26/2010: Have You Been Fooled: These Dirty Pharma Marketing Tricks? by Martha Rosenberg
#10 12/27/2010: 2011: A Brave New Dystopia by Chris Hedges
#11 12/27/2010: Obama Year Two: Continued Betrayal and Failure (Part I) by Stephen Lendman
#12 12/29/2010: America Has Gone Away by paul craig roberts
#13 12/31/2010: Capricorn Solar Eclipse, January 4, 2011 by Cathy Lynn Pagano
#14 12/26/2010: The psychological, cultural & societal disintegration of America under post-industrial capitalism by Richard Clark
#15 12/26/2010: Welcoming the Summer Soldier: Suppressing Dissent in America by David Model

Bold and Daring, not really. Thought Provoking, not a chance. The same old rant that everyone else publishes, for sure.

Of the top 15, Rob had the “courage” to publish, almost every one is replete with negativity and a Corporatocracy rant. The identical rant that we are bombarded at every other alternative news and opinion website, 24x7 (except, of course The Peoples Voice, currently featuring Thought Provoking Articles):

What we aren’t getting that they have, that we deserve but they won’t give us because life isn’t fair. And don’t forget the world is full of a bunch of greedy bastards who run the corporations that don’t care about anything but profits.

I recently submitted Baron Otto Von Bolschwing, SS Veteran of Eichmann's "Jewish Affairs", an article written by Katherine Smith.

The reason Dr. Smith is not submitting is because she was banned for being too bold and daring.

I found this out quite by accident. I, like a lot of others who read her articles at OpEdNews, noticed when you search her titles, the google results tell you her articles have been scrubbed from the site:

OpEdNews - Article Missing ?- 2 visits ?- 10/22/10
Opednews.com Progressive, Liberal United States and International News ...
www.opednews.com/.../Don-t-Leave-Home-Without-T-by-Katherine-Smith-101009-779.html - Cached

I contacted Dr. Smith and she confirmed that all of her submissions, consistently in the top 10 by page views, have been scrubbed (except one) from the site. She also confirms that she is banned.[1]

Katherine writes Thought Provoking articles which she confirmed every one that was published at OpEdNews was in the top ten.

The one article that as of today is still on the site, is one that was submitted by another reader at the site, Elizabeth Mandrell:

Why was I born? Why are we here?
Promoted to Headline (H3) on 8/2/10:
By Katherine Smith, PhD Posted by Elizabeth Mandrell

Therefore on 12/23/2010, I submitted Baron Otto Von Bolschwing, SS Veteran of Eichmann's "Jewish Affairs", by Doctor Katherine Smith. [1]

My subterfuge of changing the authorship from a PhD to a physician apparently worked.

Within hours, without any promotion by the site, Baron Otto Von Bolschwing went to the Number 1 most viewed on the site, and stayed there for 48 hours. Considering the competition and title weren’t very interesting, staying on top for 48 hours was very unusual.

A few days later I submitted the sequel, The Nazi & Jewish Affair to Remember (November 2010) and I was banned.

What this proves without a doubt is that the readership at the OpEdNews is hungry for thought provoking content. Why won’t Rob Kall give it to them?

Mark Powell is an professor of Middle East Studies at California State University in Long Beach California.

Endnote:
[1] The story of her banning is interesting. She might post it later.

In case OpEdNews reads this post and retaliates, the three articles mentioned above can be read at The Peoples Voice.
Baron Otto Von Bolschwing, SS Veteran of Eichmann’s “Jewish Affairs”
The Nazi & Jewish Affair to Remember (November 2010)
Why was I born? Why are we here?

The articles below are no longer available at OpEdNews but searching the title will link to other sites that published the same content.

OpEdNews - Articles - Author's Page for Katherine Smith Articles - Author's Page for Katherine Smith...www.opednews.com/author/author52168.html - Cached
OpEdNews - Article: Dog Spelled Backwards is God: A Psychohistory ...For OpEdNews: Katherine Smith - Writer. Did you ever wonder why our pets are so happy and we are so sad? Here is a picture of them worshiping me. www.opednews.com/.../Dog-Spelled-Backwards-is-G-by-Katherine-Smith- 101023-352.html?... - Cached
OpEdNews - Article: Don't Leave Home Without Them Oct 11, 2010 ... Do Animals Have Cognitive Maps? Andrew TD Bennett believes there is no conclusive evidence to prove that animals have sensuTolman, ...www.opednews.com/.../Don-t-Leave-Home-Without-T-by-Katherine-Smith- 101009-779.html - Cached
OpEdNews - Article: Breaking News: Nikola Tesla Testifies at NY ... Sep 11, 2010 ... The following transcript is truth disguised as fiction, because truth is stranger than fiction. All the information herein, is taken from ...www.opednews.com/.../Breaking-News-Nikola-Tesl-by-Katherine-Smith- 100911-322.html -
OpEdNews - Article: Want to find real community in the United States? Aug 26, 2010 ... For OpEdNews: Katherine Smith - Writer. Go to Portland Oregon. Across the USA, from New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state to Portland, ... www.opednews.com/.../page.php?f...Katherine-Smith... - Cached
OpEdNews - Article: Why was I born? Why are we here? Aug 2, 2010 ... 'Are we all aimless beings, mere products of chance, here merely to consume, grind out a living and die? Or is there some bigger purpose ..www.opednews.com/.../Why-was-I-born-Why-are-we-by-Katherine-Smith-P -100801-782.html - Cached
OpEdNews - Printing: Pictures Prove Mini Nukes Caused 9-11 Devastation Sep 28, 2010 ... Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/Diary/Pictures-Prove-Mini- ... By Katherine Smith. ...www.opednews.com/populum/print_friendly.php?p... - Cached
OpEdNews - Article: Waxman, Waters and Iran, Connect the Dots Aug 29, 2010 ... By Katherine Smith (about the author) Page 1 of 4 page(s) ... Ethics Committee formally brought a case against Congresswoman Maxine Waters, ... www.opednews.com/.../Waxman-Waters-and-Iran-C-by-Katherine-Smith- 100829-336.html - Cached

Why won’t Rob Kall give it to them?

P.S. Go ahead and cross post this as a diary and in the forums and if you have a similar experience with OpEdNews, email Katherine, mandrell2010@gmail.com

Or better yet send an email to rob@opednews.com and ask him why he won’t give his readers what they want?