This story appears in the "News" section of my local paper this morning.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/oct/18/expired-cuts-may-expire-jobs-end-of-bush-tax-to/
Note the headline: Expired Bush-era tax cuts may expire Ind jobs: report
...and the first paragraph says this: A conservative think tank claims Indiana's 8th Congressional District could lose as many as 1,556 jobs annually if Congress fails to extend the George W. Bush tax cuts to small businesses and those earning more than $250,000 per year.
But wait! The next paragraph says this! But conclusions by the Council of Economic Advisers and the Congressional Budget Office run counter to the claims in the report.
From there, the story tosses around conflicting claims, first that permitting the tax cuts to expire would cost individual households $4,260 in disposable income and raise federal taxes within the district that includes Evansville by $704 million.
Then we read that extending the Bush tax cuts will "probably reduce income relative to what would otherwise occur in 2020" because of increasing debt.
Since neither side bothers to show their work, or provide the figures that lead to their conclusion, I'm calling them both bullshit. No surprise there. But what about the frickin' HEADLINE?
Is there no obligation to print headlines that actually sum up what is in the story? What's wrong with Opinions differ on the effect of ending the Bush-era tax cuts?
Or better yet, We, on the news desk, have no frickin' clue what this story says
What's worse is that most news articles are written in a pyramid style. The first paragrah is what the newspaper wants the reader to read. It used to be that the first paragraph contained the base facts and the body the details...just in case. That's info from a previous life, as it was told to me. Apparently studies were done which indicated that a large number of people don't read past the first paragraph. Now I wonder if times have changed and they don't read past the headline.
I agree that this is NOT how are media is supposed to work...but this is nothing new. I recall several such assinine claims durng the Bush years...I'm not saying this is right, because it is CLEARLY wrong, I'm just sayin this is nothing new.
Soething is going on behind the scenes at the Courier Press. Yesterday for th efirst time I can remember they endorsed a Republican candidate Larry Buschon. The biggest issue I have with Buschon is you can rearrange the letters in his name to spell "Bush Con"! Very scary isn't it?
Well, nothing is going on at the Washington Times-Herald, Lester. This is today's lead story:
http://washtimesherald.com/local/x356195146/Washington-man-arrested-for-shoplifting-at-Walmart
Note the second sentence, where the type reads He was charged with driving without never being licensed ... (emphasis mine)
And it gets better. According to the story, the guy lives on S. George St. As Lester and I know, George St. runs east and west.
Now, the question we must ask is this? Did the paper screw up? Or did this absurdity come directly from the police report? Because, Coyote knows, nobody at the WT-H ever proof-read anything in the past five years.
:finger01: :nocomment::Asshole!
I read about that Olympic runner, LaShawn Merrit, who was suspended after tests revealed he had DHEA in his blood. Merritt blames the over the counter penis enlarging compound he had been taking for the results. I don't know if it's just me or if anyone else will get a laugh out of his comment:
"To know that I've tested positive as a result of a product that I used for personal reasons is extremely difficult to wrap my hands around."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/olympic-400m-dope-cheat-lashawn-merritt-blames-penis-growth-pill/story-e6frexni-1225940685359 (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/olympic-400m-dope-cheat-lashawn-merritt-blames-penis-growth-pill/story-e6frexni-1225940685359)
While I am on the subject of penis enhancement, there are cases where some men would like to have just the opposite. Someone who cannot make up their mind is Allen (or Helen) Finch who had one operation to go from male to female, then another to go back. A sex change is a pretty serious step, I think a guy should be committed before he has his penis cut off.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/high-court-rules-for-sexchange-super-appeal-20101020-16trw.html (http://www.smh.com.au/national/high-court-rules-for-sexchange-super-appeal-20101020-16trw.html)