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There’s going to be plenty of time to score political points on this. Osama bin Laden is going to be dead forever. Osama bin Laden is never coming back.
Rachel Maddow • Discussing attempts in the news media to tilt the facts of the Osama bin Laden raid to suit certain political themes, in her appearance on The Daily Show last night. Maddow is spot on in this analysis, for a very good reason — it’s demonstrably obvious that news agencies since bin Laden’s death don’t have a conclusive, clear view of exactly what went down. This is borne out by the wild conflicts and discrepancies in reporting various details of the operation since word broke on Sunday. Maddow, to her credit, has done two episodes of her show post-bin Laden, and both were earnestly refreshing in acknowledging that waiting for verifiable fact is more useful than rushing to make the story sound cooler, or fit into a political narrative. source

Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

Yo, Charles, what happened? The New York Senator, who is Jewish, woefully misinformed a Orthodox Union crowd by saying that most Palestinians don’t support a two-state solution in Israel. Actually, they do. By using this train of thought, he gets to this conclusion: “Since the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, while certainly there should be humanitarian aid and people not starving to death, to strangle them economically until they see that’s not the way to go, makes sense.” It’s no Helen Thomas-level gaffe, sure, but what an awful justification. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

one The swine flu virus was first isolated in 1930; this is not a new type of virus.
two The virus transferred from pigs to humans because it mutated.
three You can’t get swine flu from eating cooked pork or handling uncooked pork.
four Swine flu symptoms are essentially the same as regular flu strains.
five The last outbreak of swine flu happened in 1976. One died. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

one The holiday was invented by monks in the 11th century as a way to control laborers.
two Daylight Saving Time used to start on April 1st every year until it was staggered in the 20th century.
three The pulling of tricks on April Fool’s Day is a strictly Euro-American tradition.
four Families in some Asian nations celebrate by exchanging small, handmade gifts.
five In 2004, Monaco banned the holiday after a failed trick left three people dead. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

Have a happily green holiday. Here’s some facts and trivia on St. Patrick’s. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 15:52