CNN has apparently bumped Michael Moore for Paris Hilton. I’m glad CNN has its priorities right.
You can read about it here.
I’m not even sure how to best express my anger and disgust at what is going on here. Are they showing us what we want to see or are they trying to tell us what we should want to see? The chicken and the egg…
Here‘s an interesting opinion piece.
Stewart reported on his program how Tony Snow made a boldfaced lie in a press conference in saying the firings of several U.S. attorneys had nothing to do with politics. In a split screen, one box had Snow in a March 15 press conference saying, “It’s pretty clear that these things are based on performance and not on some sort of attempt to do political retribution.”
They played the tape from last Wednesday’s briefing. A reporter asked if the firings were based on performance, not politics, as he had said. His response: “No…we have never said that.”
What’s more troubling than blatant mistruths coming from the White House is learning of them from a comedy show – because, besides Stewart, only a Washington Post columnist and a few others outside the mainstream media reported this.
I find Jon Stewart to be an excellent news source – and am constantly let down by our standard News men and women who fail to ask the tough questions, or even do the most basic homework before an interview.
From a recent gallop poll:
The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. This suggests that when three Republican presidential candidates at a May debate stated they did not believe in evolution, they were generally in sync with the bulk of the rank-and-file Republicans whose nomination they are seeking to obtain.
Americans who say they do not believe in the theory of evolution are highly likely to justify this belief by reference to religion, Jesus Christ, or the Bible. Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between high levels of personal religiosity and doubts about evolution.
You can read the report and analysis of the data here.
People who aren’t willing to accept the theory of evolution as the best explanation for life on earth should not be allowed to vote. Or hold office. Or waste anyone’s time by participating in public discourse.
Religious people like to site ‘facts’ that they can interperate to back up their beliefs, but always argue strictly against anything that refutes them. I hold firm on my position that unless you accept all science you shouldn’t be allowed to accept any science, since the same methodology and reasoning is applied to one subject as another. Therefore a religious person should not be able to use terms like ‘gravity’, ‘cells’, or ‘planet’.
Among the scientific community (you know, those guys who know what they’re talking about when it comes to science) evolution is not in question. All of the supposed scientific arguments against it can be, in a matter of seconds, shot down by any serious scientist.
All that being said, why oh why is the republican party so insistent on ignorance as the best virtue any man can have?
While greeting the overly enthusiastic crowd in Albania, someone stole President Bush’s watch. Here‘s a link to a danish newspaper with a video.
The BBC is reporting that this year’s turnout at the Sao Palo, Brazil gay pride parade was higher than last year’s record of 2.5 million people.
You can read about it here.
It’s the largest pride parade in the world – and I imagine that it is one hell of a party.
There has been an excessive amount of news coverage this last week about the man who had a drug resistant form of TB and who made a couple of transatlantic flights.
The one thing I did learn though is that while TB is all but eradicated in the United States; in Africa it is the leading cause of death among those infected with HIV/AIDS.
I don’t know what I have to say about that that already hasn’t been said.
Just an interesting FYI though.
From the NYT:
WASHINGTON, June 4 — If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts.
That, in essence, was the decision on Monday, when a federal appeals panel struck down the government policy that allows stations and networks to be fined if they broadcast shows containing obscene language.
I’ve always seen the issue of vulgarities on TV less of a free speech issue and more of a ‘since when is it the US government’s responsability to raise your children or protect you from any arbitrary thing you find offensive?’ issue.
I don’t watch a lot of TV, but when I do I find censorship diminishes the experience.
Fear of Ignorance
Recent Comments