Which coups count?

Ethan at My Heart's in Accra muses on the wildly differing international reaction to the protests in Iran, the coup in Honduras and coup in Niger.

Admissions race

I know some people are upset about the influence peddling scandal at the University of Illinois but they really ought to chill out. At least they weren't using race as a factor in their decisions. That would be horrible! University admissions should only take into account meritocratic virtues. I'm sure the children of people with campus buildings named after them and the Division I hockey players I went to college with would heartily agree!

A lie is half way around the world before...

This piece from North Country Public Radio talks about how opponents of the climate change bill in Congress are quoting statistics from an MIT professor.

Problem is that according to that professor, the numbers they're using are wrong.

The disinformation being peddled by Republicans, libertarians and other opponents of the bill is almost 10 times higher than what the MIT professor being misquoted actually found.

The academic told Republicans they were using an inaccurate figure but they continue to do so.

Maybe global warming is exacerbated by the hot air spewed by some of its Deniers.



Note: Interestingly this piece followed another story in which a citizen that she "[has] to listen to conservative radio to get facts." Not sure if facts should be put in 'air quotes.'

Union Yes

Bob over at Planet Albany, normally a staunch conservative in the culture wars, reflects on the dangers of union organizing and the costs of not having a union.

Not as important as the fate of Michael Jackson's monkeys and other exotic pets, according to CNN this afternoon, but still worth a read.

Another success story of industrial 'agriculture'

Check the ground beef in your freezers. More details here.

Are there any adults in the house?

The New York state senate no longer has the monopoly on idiocy among public 'servants.'

I'm not sure which is more absurd:

An out-of-control baseball parent in Ballston Spa abusing his position as sheriff's deputy to try to get a teenager prosecuted* for kicking a baseball helmet after being punched in the stomach during the 'sportsmanship' post-game handshake...

or...

The fact that the Clifton Park town board has managed to turn a park playground into an ideological battle.

Wonderful role models for Our Children.



*-Fortunately the charges were dismissed and denounced by the district attorney.

Puppet masters or puppets?

For weeks, media outlets in New York have been indignantly bashing the state senate for the embarrassment they've been heaping on the state... and themselves.

Just Google 'farce new york senate' for an idea.

The news media has been self-righteously huffing and puffing about senators' refusal to do that most grotesquely overused and underapplied of phrases: the people's business.

And rightly so.

So what have these courageous local media crusaders on behalf of (hold hand over heart) public service been giving us in the last few days: front page and lead stories on a national entertainer. Prominent and numerous.

This is in addition to the saturation coverage that can already be found on the cable 'news' channels.

So it begs the question: are the media the puppet masters, as critics so often claim, or the puppets?

And if the latter, who has their hands up their backsides?

As much as I'd like to believe otherwise (and trust me, I would), opinions like this on the essential role of local newspapers are becoming harder and harder to sustain with each passing infotainment orgy.

If humans were only as honest as our ancestors...

I was listening to this story about a monkey giving his liquefied opinion of the Zambian president's remarks and wondered if we had any simians in the Bronx Zoo we could send to the next New York Senate press conference.