More Odds and Ends

I found some more BS in the headlines today and thought I'd share some of them.

Droughts will double to hit half the world by 2100

According to the story and the main scientist quoted, these predictions are based upon insufficient data over too short of a period and that the definition of a drought could mean anything from car washing restrictions to not enough water to survive. But it does make for an inflamatory headline.

George Clooney Wants to Outwit Paparazzi

"Here is my theory on debunking photographs in magazines, you know, the paparazzi photographs," Clooney says in the November issue of Vanity Fair, on newsstands Oct. 10. "I want to spend every single night for three months going out with a different famous actress. You know, Halle Berry one night, Salma Hayek the next, and then walk on the beach holding hands with Leonardo DiCaprio."

Perhaps he should have had this interview with OUT Magazine. It sounds to me like the women are just a cover for his gay activities. But I really don't mind this level of idiocy coming from Clooney. As long as he's staying busy trying to "outwit" some cheesy photographers, he's not out spewing his liberal brand of political bullshit.

NewsHour' faulted for lack of diversity

PBS' NewsHour tilts too heavily toward Republican white men in its sources and needs to do a better job promoting diverse points of view, a watchdog group said in a report issued on Tuesday.

Two-thirds of the partisan sources appearing on Jim Lehrer's nightly newscasts between October 2005 and March 2006 were Republican, and 82% were men, said the liberal advocacy organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.

The show works hard to reflect diversity, PBS spokesman Rob Flynn said. But with Republicans in power in both the White House and Congress, it's only natural that they will be seen more in a news program, he said.

FAIR's researchers found minorities used as sources 15% of the time, even though they make up 31% of the population.

This one is almost too dumb to comment on. We are talking about the news here, not some poli-sci experiment. If the news is being reported about the people making it, whose fault is it that a low percentage of minorities are being used as news sources. Maybe they aren't in the center of things during that news cycle. So What?

As long as these "watch dog groups" exist a larger problem will also exist. These people are the racists that they claim everyone else is. We have people dying in Iraq and others being uprooted by hurricanes and other people suffering in countless ways. But these people will never see the humanity first. They will always try to spin the news into a devisive racial incident for their own political purposes. That, ladies and gentlemen, is Racism.