If you ever had any doubts about the media

Here's the ultimate proof of how much the mainstream media has stopping caring about their jobs. This article was posted on Yahoo News (via AP) prior to the live debate at 9PM tonight ( I cought it about 15 minutes prior, but according the time stamp it had been up over an hour). Click on the screen shot below and notice past-tense nature of the wording in the first few paragraphs.




























They could have at least waited until the debate started to post the article to make it a little less obvious.

Berkeley protesters spend 18 months atop trees

Check out this article, here are a few of my favorite lines.

"Protesters howled, flung excrement and shook tree branches as campus-hired arborists cut supply lines and removed gear."

"Campus officials ended up giving up the water without concessions; protesters declined to yield their urine.
"

Full Article

"Hail to the Dancer in Chief"...How Very Droll

Worst Theory Ever

I just recently became aware of this. Whoever dreamed this up had too much time on their hands, or was incredibly stupid. I'm supposed to find it amazing that that "20 - United States of America - 20" contains the characters needed (although we're subbing a zero for an O) to spell Osama ?

Admittedly I'm not sure if this was actually originally intended as a conspiracy theory, or if it was just someone dicking around and decided to post it online.

Here's a link explaining the whole thing in more detail.

Surgery on girl raises ethical questions - Yahoo! News

By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer Fri Jan 5, 1:04 AM ET

CHICAGO - In a case fraught with ethical questions, the parents of a severely mentally and physically disabled child have stunted her growth to keep their little "pillow angel" a manageable and more portable size.

The bedridden 9-year-old girl had her uterus and breast tissue removed at a Seattle hospital and received large doses of hormones to halt her growth. She is now 4-foot-5; her parents say she would otherwise probably reach a normal 5-foot-6.

The case has captured attention nationwide and abroad via the Internet, with some decrying the parents' actions as perverse and akin to eugenics. Some ethicists question the parents' claim that the drastic treatment will benefit their daughter and allow them to continue caring for her at home.

University of Pennsylvania ethicist Art Caplan said the case is troubling and reflects "slippery slope" thinking among parents who believe "the way to deal with my kid with permanent behavioral problems is to put them into permanent childhood."

Right or wrong, the couple's decision highlights a dilemma thousands of parents face in struggling to care for severely disabled children as they grow up.

"This particular treatment, even if it's OK in this situation, and I think it probably is, is not a widespread solution and ignores the large social issues about caring for people with disabilities," Dr. Joel Frader, a medical ethicist at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, said Thursday. "As a society, we do a pretty rotten job of helping caregivers provide what's necessary for these patients."

The case involves a girl identified only as Ashley on a blog her parents created after her doctors wrote about her treatment in October's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The journal did not disclose the parents' names or where they live; the couple do not identify themselves on their blog, either.

Shortly after birth, Ashley had feeding problems and showed severe developmental delays. Her doctors diagnosed static encephalopathy, which means severe brain damage. They do not know what caused it.

Her condition has left her in an infant state, unable to sit up, roll over, hold a toy or walk or talk. Her parents say she will never get better. She is alert, startles easily, and smiles, but does not maintain eye contact, according to her parents, who call the brown-haired little girl their "pillow angel."

She goes to school for disabled children, but her parents care for her at home and say they have been unable to find suitable outside help.

An editorial in the medical journal called "the Ashley treatment" ill-advised and questioned whether it will even work. But her parents say it has succeeded so far.

She had surgery in July 2004 and recently completed the hormone treatment. She weighs about 65 pounds, and is about 13 inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter than she would be as an adult, according to her parents' blog.

"Ashley's smaller and lighter size makes it more possible to include her in the typical family life and activities that provide her with needed comfort, closeness, security and love: meal time, car trips, touch, snuggles, etc.," her parents wrote.

Also, Ashley's parents say keeping her small will reduce the risk of bedsores and other conditions that can afflict bedridden patients. In addition, they say preventing her from going through puberty means she won't experience the discomfort of periods or grow breasts that might develop breast cancer, which runs in the family.

"Even though caring for Ashley involves hard and continual work, she is a blessing and not a burden," her parents say. Still, they write, "Unless you are living the experience ... you have no clue what it is like to be the bedridden child or their caregivers."

Caplan questioned how preventing normal growth could benefit the patient. Treatment that is not for a patient's direct benefit "only seems wrong to me," the ethicist said.

Dr. Douglas Diekema, an ethicist at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, where Ashley was treated, said he met with the parents and became convinced they were motivated by love and the girl's best interests.

Diekema said he was mainly concerned with making sure the little girl would actually benefit and not suffer any harm from the treatment. She did not, and is doing well, he said.

"The more her parents can be touching her and caring for her ... and involving her in family activities, the better for her," he said. "The parents' argument was, `If she's smaller and lighter, we will be able to do that for a longer period of time.'"

CNN

Here is a case and point of why I hate the mainstream media. CNN yesterday was talking about a cruise ship that had 2 "outbreaks" of a virus on board within the last year. They said that they had hired more cleaning staff and doctors for it's next voyage. The "reporter" at the desk was giving tips on "How to Keep Yourself Healthy on Your Next cruise". This same person asked the guy in field how common this virus was. He then responded that this was a very common virus and not at all exclusive to cruise ships. He then went on to say that 1 in every 12 people in the United States contract this virus every year and the symptoms are much like the flu. He was then asked what the ratio of people getting sick on cruises was, to which he responded about 1 in 100. They both then chuckle about how they suppose the media was just blowing this out of proportion because it happened on boat.

So, did you catch that? You're LESS LIKELY to contract this virus if you're on these cruise ships. You're LESS LIKELY to contract this virus if you're on these cruise ships. You're LESS LIKELY to contract this virus if you're on these cruise ships.

CNN having this info before hand, decides to put this shit on the air anyway. Then, the reporters admit that it isn't newsworthy. And yet, it fucking made it on the air. This isn't the first time I've heard of illness on ships cause by virus contraction, and I'm going to go ahead and guess that over the past 18 months that this has been a "story", news organizations have had these same statistics.

So what we have now are people thinking that these ships are just disease vessels when their own kitchen is probably far more unhealthy. I'm gonna bet that the people running the cruises are swept up in the same paranoia hence the added cleaning and doctor staff. Or maybe they are aware of the reality but are just appeasing public idiocy induced by irresponsible "reporting".

Iraq war spawned terrorism, radicals: U.S. report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
Iraq war gave birth to a new generation of Islamic radicals and the terrorist threat has grown since the September 11 attacks, according to a U.S. intelligence report cited in The New York Times on Saturday.
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A National Intelligence Estimate completed in April says Islamic radicalism has mushroomed worldwide and cites the Iraq war as a reason for the spread of jihad ideology, the newspaper reported.

"The estimate concludes that the radical Islamic movement has expanded from a core of Qaeda operatives and affiliated groups to include a new class of 'self-generating' cells inspired by al Qaeda's leadership but without any direct connection to
Osama bin Laden or his top lieutenants," the newspaper said.

The Times cited more than a dozen U.S. government officials and outside experts with knowledge of the classified document.

It is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by U.S. intelligence agencies since the war began in March 2003 and represents a consensus view of the 16 U.S. spy services.

"According to reports, this intelligence document should put the final nail in the coffin for
President Bush's phony argument about the Iraq war," Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts said.

"... The fact that we need a new direction in Iraq to really win the war on terror and make Americans safer could not be clearer or more urgent -- yet this administration stubbornly clings to a failed 'stay-the-course' strategy."

Some of the estimate's conclusions confirm predictions in a January 2003 National Intelligence Council report that said a war in Iraq might increase support for political Islam worldwide, according to the newspaper.

"It also examines how the Internet has helped spread jihadist ideology, and how cyberspace has become a haven for terrorist operatives who no longer have geographical refuges in countries like
Afghanistan," the Times said.

The National Intelligence Council, the main strategic think tank for the U.S. intelligence community, is in the early stages of preparing a new national estimate on Iraq in response to requests from leading Senate Democrats, including Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) of Massachusetts, intelligence officials said.

(Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington)