Month: August 2009
FactCheck.org Derides Vapid Health Care Email
Even FactCheck.org has had it with the level of inanity coming from opponents to health care reform. The normally dispassionate site is addressing a ridiculous email (which so far, I haven’t gotten, praise Allah!) written by a rightwing blogger who posts the famous “Joker” picture of Obama on his home page.
It’s clear from the tone of FactCheck’s response that even they consider these lies over the top.
‘This chain e-mail shows evidence of a reading comprehension problem on the part of the author’
Our inbox has been overrun with messages asking us to weigh in on a mammoth list of claims about the House health care bill. The chain e-mail purports to give “a few highlights” from the first half of the bill, but the list of 48 assertions is filled with falsehoods, exaggerations and misinterpretations. We examined each of the e-mail’s claims, finding 26 of them to be false and 18 to be misleading, only partly true or half true. Only four are accurate…
This chain e-mail claims to give a run-down of what’s in the House health care bill, H.R. 3200. Instead, it shows evidence of a reading comprehension problem on the part of the author.
Ouch, FactCheck! But right on. We also like what they had to say about the ridiculous nod-nod-wink-wink campaign against ACORN. ACORN is an advocacy group for the poor that mainly deals with such issues as predatory lending but was portrayed as something else entirely during the last election. The misrepresentation evidently continues in the notorious email.
It claims that a section about “Community-based Home Medical Services” means “more payoffs for ACORN.” ACORN does not provide medical home services. The e-mail interprets any reference to the word “community” to be some kind of payoff for ACORN. That’s nonsense.
If you got the email, get over to FactCheck.org. Hit the “Share” icon at the top of the page and send the assessment to whoever sent you that piece of rubbish, and everyone else on their address list as well.
Quote du Jour
The NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida are very pleased with Governor Crist’s appointment of George LeMieux as Florida’s new junior U.S. Senator. George is rated “A” by the NRA and will be a strong supporter of the Second Amendment in the U.S. Senate. Gun owners can count on George LeMieux to fight to protect freedom and the Second Amendment.
— Marion Hammer, executive director of the Unified Sportsmen of Florida and past president of the National Rifle Association, in a statement released following Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointment of former Deputy Attorney General George LeMieux to the United States Senate.
Tewspaper Is Not the Future of Newspapers, Right?
So there’s this new online newspaper that has no reporters, no editors, no fact-checkers and no advertising salespeople. Local versions of it are available in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas and Los Angeles. It sends specially programmed robots out over Twitter to glean pertinent tweets and posts them automatically with the originally links intact.
It apparently has at least one human staff member, a guy named Jared to whom you are supposed to direct any “feedback” you’d like to share.
It’s called Tewspaper.
So this is it — the end of the newspaper as we know it, right? Well, not exactly.
See, despite the fact that it uses robots instead of reporters, there’s a good reason why it exists in those five cities — they all have robust newspapers that have embraced the online distribution system pretty aggressively, creating a ready inventory of localized content on Twitter. The upshot is, without real newspaper reporters posting tweets about their stories along with links to the online versions, Tewspaper could not exist.
So instead of replacing newspapers, Tewspaper serves as a kind of RSS feed of capsule summaries (less than 140 characters) of newspaper content. Indeed, it’s a shame the newwspapers didn’t think of it first — they might have been able to monetize the linkbacks. Oh, well ….
Breaking: Florida Gov. Picks Senator to Replace Martinez
U.S. Senator-in-waiting George LeMieuxI knew it! I was saving the latest edition of George LeMieux’s email newsletter, which talked about his readiness to be the next U.S. Senator from Florida, because I had a feeling Gov. Charlie Crist would pick his safe old chum for the job. And he did. Crist’s former chief of staff, campaign manager, and one of the countless people on Karl Rove’s bad list, is in.
In the newsletter, LeMieux made it clear he wanted the job of replacing Mel Martinez, who announced he would step down as soon as a successor was tapped.
Who will Governor Crist appoint to the United States Senate? It’s the question everyone’s asking, so while we sit back and wait for the announcement (some sitting more anxiously than others!), here’s the answer to the question we should also be asking – Why does the Governor get to choose?
Le Mieux went on to explain how it came to be that governors get to select Senate replacements, then added:
What should we expect from LeMieux? Like his former boss Crist, nothing much.
The opportunity to receive an appointment to the U.S. Senate is the opportunity of a lifetime. The Governor has many outstanding current and former public servants to choose from, and we should find out this week who will represent Florida in Washington.
As we noted in an earlier column, Charlie, who is currently running for this very Senate seat, had to pick someone he could trust not to run against him in 2010. Whoever he put in as a placeholder would be an incumbent should they decide they like the air in Washington. But confidence in LeMieux’s loyalty to his old boss seems well-placed.
Mormons Posthumously Baptize Notorious Killers
Mass murderers and serial killers are among the millions of deceased who have been posthumously baptized in temples owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). These names include the modern-day dictators and mass murderers — Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Mao Zedong. Other multiple murderers have been posthumously baptized in Mormon temples, like prolific serial killer, Ted Bundy.
Bundy, who was once a Mormon, is one of the most infamous serial killers in U.S. history. His primary occupation in life was the murder and mutilation of young women. He also engaged in necrophilia, which is a sexual attraction to corpses. Bundy destroyed many innocent lives — and his victims may have numbered over 100. Nevertheless, Ted Bundy was baptized by proxy on May 28, 2008, in the Jordan River, Utah, (LDS) Temple.
Responsible Christians Should Sign Up for Post-Rapture Pet Care
As they are being drawn up into the bosom of the Lord at the time of the Rapture, what do you think will go through the mind of Christians?
- How will I locate my wife on Heaven’s alabaster avenues?
- Did I turn off the coffee pot?
- Oh no! What will happen to Rover and Fluffy??!!
Well, worry no more, Christians! There is help for your pets after the Rapture in the form of Eternal Earth-Bound Pets USA:
You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved. But when the Rapture comes what’s to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.
We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you’ve received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.
We are currently active in 20 states and growing. Our representatives have been screened to ensure that they are atheists, animal lovers, are moral / ethical with no criminal background, have the ability and desire to rescue your pet and the means to retrieve them and ensure their care for your pet’s natural life.
It’s relatively inexpensive ($115 per first animal, $15 for each additional pet), but it’s only good if the Rapture occurs within 10 years.
The service is not available in Florida yet, and I admit I was tempted to take out a franchise. But then, when I thought about it, I decided my post-Rapture time would probably be better spent girding my loins for Armageddon.
Quote du Jour
Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope.
— Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), quoted by the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Sanford Holds News Conference in Front of Busy Street, Parking Lot
I’m watching MSNBC right now as GOP S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford is holding a news conference to criticize his lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer, also a Republican, for suggesting that Sanford should step down in light of his extramarital affair and allegedly improperly traveling on private planes, etc.
Has Sanford never heard of stage management? Rather than holding the conference with the dome of the state capitol or the governor’s mansion as a background, there’s a busy street so close behind him that his statements are practically drowned out by the passing cars.
There was some anticipation in the media, we can assume, that Sanford was going to announce that he’s stepping down. Instead, he just held forth against Bauer, accusing him of using the publicity to set up a run for Congress.
Sheesh.
Liberal U.K. Tamiflu Policy Could Lead to Resistant Flu Worldwide
Date: Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009
Source: The Guardian [edited]
The [U.K.] government rejected advice from its expert advisers on swine flu [influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus], who said there was no need for the widespread use of Tamiflu and suggested that the public should simply be told to take paracetamol. An independent panel set up by the Department of Health warned ministers that plans to make the stockpiled drug widely available could do more harm than good, by helping the flu virus to develop resistance to the drug. But ministers pressed ahead with a policy of mass prescription, fearing the public would not tolerate being told that the millions of doses of Tamiflu held by the state could not be used during a pandemic, one of the committee members has told the Guardian [newspaper]. “It was felt … it would simply be unacceptable to the UK population to tell them we had a huge stockpile of drugs but they were not going to be made available,” Professor Robert Dingwall, a member of the Committee on Ethical Aspects of Pandemic Influenza, said. Today [16 Aug 2009] one of the country’s foremost flu experts called for the national helpline to be shut down to stop hundreds of thousands of doses of Tamiflu going out in an unregulated way, which could render it useless when a more dominant strain returns in the autumn.
