David Kirton’s DIshonest Reporting

Media 6 Comments

All morning, Rawlco Radio’s CKOM has been playing hourly newscasts by David Kirton. His reporting is often tainted by editorial comment; this morning he’s characterizing Conservative Jason Kenney’s remarks that gays have always had the right to marry in this way;

“Jason Kenney MOCKED same sex marriage….”

Emphasis his. Now, considering that Kenney said nothing less factual or more “mocking” than judges who have ruled against same sex marriage in their decisions, the question arises as to whether Kirton is simply too lazy to bother with basic fact checking, or whether truth takes a back seat to his own bias?

When Dogs Attack

Dogblogging No Comments

Via Cosh, a bizarre blog entry from a woman who is agonizing over having put down their English Setter after it put 40 stitches in the face of her husband. The post is too lengthy to fisk in its entirety, but I’ve chosen some key points; (note: link now dead)

Since late last summer Pony snapped twice at children who approached her unexpectedly when she was lying down, and once at me when I was wrestling with her on the floor. Until the first incident last August, we had been completely certain that she was flawlessly trustworthy with children and adults alike, and we’d taken her into the homes of friends who had children and encouraged kids in the park to pet and play with her if they showed an interest.

I wish I had a quarter for every time I witnessed completely clueless people encourage strangers to approach dogs that were telegraphing that they really would rather they didn’t. If you’re a typical pet owner with your first or second dog, there’s a 95% probability that you miss or misinterpret most of your dog’s communication signals.

We told people about the breed and that Pony was tolerant and good-natured (if a bit aloof in comparison to a Retriever or a Labrador), and they should have no qualms about approaching and touching her whenever they liked. When she barked and scratched at our friend’s son last summer it was an enormous shock and completely rattled our foundation of trust in her.

The dog was an English Setter. English Setter colour is “extreme white”, with coloured ticking in a genetic pattern that resembles that of the Dalmatian. This is important – the all-white colouring is thought to be the result of a gene that creates a deficiency of neural crest cells, which differentiate to function in several ways – some important, some not. One of the important functions is the development of the brain and nervous system. The least important function is to produce melanocytes, the cells that create pigment in the skin and coat. If the neural crest cell deficiency is extreme, the dog will be unable to create significant areas of pigment, resulting in white hair coat, with pink skin underlying it.
Why is this relevant? Because if there aren’t enough neural crest cells to produce pigment creating melanocytes, there may not be enough for the development of nerves required for normal hearing. This problem is so well known that many breeders test hearing (BAER testing) as part of the veterinary screening protocol before sale. For this reason, it is suspected that (like Dalmatians, Jack Russel Terriers, white Bull Terriers, etc.) that a percentage of English Setters are deaf, or partially deaf. (Which may explain why they seem so tolerant of their own incessant barking.)
So, go back to the top and reread the comments about the dog’s snapping when being approached unexpectedly – the context changes a little. Later in the post, she describes the dog’s “hairy eyeball and some serious stubbornness”. While it’s quite possible that this dog had normal hearing, it is not unexpected behavior from a deaf dog.
Then, she made another innocent error – she consulted “dog experts”.

Continue reading →

CNN Reliable Sources: Jordan Discussed

Media 7 Comments

A transcript worth reading. Jeff Jarvis (Buzzmachine) does the blogosphere proud, as expected.

JARVIS: We didn’t fire him, the bloggers. CNN did. I agree it doesn’t fit the crime, because we don’t know the crimes that are in CNN’s heart here. Something else happened here that we don’t know. The story’s not over. We have to see that transcript from Davos. There’s no reason for that to be hidden still, and CNN has to realize that they have to tell us more of what’s going on.
The problem here is that by just asking for the truth, knocking at the doors of the news temple and saying, tell us what’s go on, we’re being portrayed as a lynch mob. We’re not. We’re citizens wanting to know the truth. It used to be the job of journalists to report that. So let’s get to the truth, let’s get to the facts. I think if Jordan had come right out and said, I’m sorry, I blew it, I was wrong, I didn’t mean to say that, he wouldn’t have made any more friends that he has now, but he still would be at his job.

The NYT is unhappy and shows it by lashing out at bloggers with manipulative editing. Which of course, means it’s business as usual.

When Dogs Attack

Dogblogging 18 Comments

Via Cosh, a bizarre blog entry from a woman who is agonizing over having put down their English Setter after it put 40 stitches in the face of her husband. The post is too lengthy to fisk in its entirety, but I’ve chosen some key points;

Since late last summer Pony snapped twice at children who approached her unexpectedly when she was lying down, and once at me when I was wrestling with her on the floor. Until the first incident last August, we had been completely certain that she was flawlessly trustworthy with children and adults alike, and we’d taken her into the homes of friends who had children and encouraged kids in the park to pet and play with her if they showed an interest.

I wish I had a quarter for every time I witnessed completely clueless people encourage strangers to approach dogs that were telegraphing that they really would rather they didn’t. If you’re a typical pet owner with your first or second dog, there’s a 95% probability that you miss or misinterpret most of your dog’s communication signals.

We told people about the breed and that Pony was tolerant and good-natured (if a bit aloof in comparison to a Retriever or a Labrador), and they should have no qualms about approaching and touching her whenever they liked. When she barked and scratched at our friend’s son last summer it was an enormous shock and completely rattled our foundation of trust in her.

The dog was an English Setter. English Setter colour is “extreme white”, with coloured ticking in a genetic pattern that resembles that of the Dalmatian. This is important – the all-white colouring is thought to be the result of a gene that creates a deficiency of neural crest cells, which differentiate to function in several ways – some important, some not. One of the important functions is the development of the brain and nervous system. The least important function is to produce melanocytes, the cells that create pigment in the skin and coat. If the neural crest cell deficiency is extreme, the dog will be unable to create significant areas of pigment, resulting in white hair coat, with pink skin underlying it.
Why is this relevant? Because if there aren’t enough neural crest cells to produce pigment creating melanocytes, there may not be enough for the development of nerves required for normal hearing. This problem is so well known that many breeders test hearing (BAER testing) as part of the veterinary screening protocol before sale. For this reason, it is suspected that (like Dalmatians, Jack Russel Terriers, white Bull Terriers, etc.) that a percentage of English Setters are deaf, or partially deaf. (Which may explain why they seem so tolerant of their own incessant barking.)
So, go back to the top and reread the comments about the dog’s snapping when being approached unexpectedly – the context changes a little. Later in the post, she describes the dog’s “hairy eyeball and some serious stubbornness”. While it’s quite possible that this dog had normal hearing, it is not unexpected behavior from a deaf dog.
Then, she made another innocent error – she consulted “dog experts”.

Continue reading →

Adscam: Deep Throat Still To Testify

Radioactive 3 Comments

Via a reader tip, Greg Weston has a tantalizing preview in today’s Toronto article that may help explain why Chretien went to such lengths – at obvious risk – to discredit Gomery. With the official prime ministerial “mea no culpa’s” on the record, the real testimony is yet to come.

SOMETIME OVER the next month, the Gomery commission of inquiry will hear the testimony of an extraordinary witness — a Montreal ad man whose key role in the sponsorship scandal arguably deserves a national standing ovation. He is the whistleblower of AdScam, one of the honest few on the inside of the sponsorship fiasco who saw wrongdoing and did something to stop it.
Over a period of almost five years, he has secretly steered select journalists, forensic auditors and now police investigators to many of the key needles in the AdScam haystack — the fraudulent deals, the money trails, the missing documents from hundreds of advertising and sponsorship contracts.
As he said to me with sincerity over lunch once: “At one point I looked at what was happening and decided I did not want my kids to grow up visiting me in Bordeaux prison.
“At the same time, I have no desire to become silt in the St. Lawrence, either. I have some real fears for my safety.”

Don’t be surprised if the Libranos turn up the heat to have the Inquiry terminated.

Flashback On Media Corruption

Media 3 Comments

In the wake of Eason Jordan’s departure from CNN, this flashback from New York Times correspondant John Burns exposing the deep corruption in the media. With a near certain attempt underway by some in the mainstream press to transform Jordan from conspiracy theorist and propogandist into a “victim of the right wing blogosphere”, Burns’ words bear repeating. Originally published in September of 2003.

Terror, totalitarian states, and their ways are nothing new to me, but I felt from the start that [Iraq] was in a category by itself, with the possible exception in the present world of North Korea. I felt that that was the central truth that has to be told about this place. It was also the essential truth that was untold by the vast majority of correspondents here. Why? Because they judged that the only way they could keep themselves in play here was to pretend that it was okay.
There were correspondents who thought it appropriate to seek the approbation of the people who governed their lives. This was the ministry of information, and particularly the director of the ministry. By taking him out for long candlelit dinners, plying him with sweet cakes, plying him with mobile phones at $600 each for members of his family, and giving bribes of thousands of dollars. Senior members of the information ministry took hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes from these television correspondents who then behaved as if they were in Belgium. They never mentioned the function of minders. Never mentioned terror.
In one case, a correspondent actually went to the Internet Center at the Al-Rashid Hotel and printed out copies of his and other people’s stories — mine included — specifically in order to be able to show the difference between himself and the others. He wanted to show what a good boy he was compared to this enemy of the state. He was with a major American newspaper.

Read it all.

Spanking Spector

Media 23 Comments

When a distinguished author, one-time Chief of Staff to Brian Mulroney, and Globe and Mail columnist finds himself in the midst of a flamewar with a lowly “potty mouth” blogger, what does he do?
Why he does what any trained journalist and former Ambassador to Israel would do! He draws on his formidable academic credentials and experience to rally his loyal supporters.
Screenshot of comments thread:


mww_spector.jpg

It’s just too bad that he didn’t enhance those impressive credentials in dead tree journalism with a few courses in web administration.
Screenshot of comment admin page:
spector.jpg

I sure hope Warren Kinsella doesn’t hear about this…
(Out of respect for the owners of the Shotgun, I won’t link to the thread, though I have saved it for future reference, if required.)

A New Record

Uncategorized 11 Comments

I purchased a 350 g bag of Dad’s Goodie Rings (chewy, chocolatey cookies made with oatmeal, peanut butter and coconut) at Wal-Mart just under 23 hours ago. All that remains is a sad, crumpled yellow carcass and the empty husk of a cookie tray.
If I could just spread Cheeze Whiz on these things, they would qualify as “Nature’s Most Perfect Food”.

Root Of Terrorism

Roadkill 7 Comments

This article won’t bring any surprises for anyone familiar with Islamic terrorism, but it’s not often you hear a Saudi admit it.

Countering the assertion of many in American academia, a Saudi official said extremist teachings, not poverty or unemployment, are the root causes of terrorism in the kingdom, the homeland of billionaire Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.
At a news conference in Riyadh, Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi blamed the spread of terrorism on the “indoctrination that teaches young people they can kill justifiably” and training in Afghan camps, reported Arab News, an officially sanctioned Saudi newspaper. […] “I am not aware that somebody has been driven to terrorism simply because he could not find a job.”

Well, unless they’re in Quebec, and used to work for Wal-Mart. (Wal-Mart Store recieves bomb threats) Though, this may also be due to indoctrination of a leftist form of fantasy ideology known to some as Militant Unionism;

The union representing workers at Wal-Mart’s only unionized store in North America say they are going to continue trying to negotiate a first contract, even though the store is being shut down.
[…]
Henri Masse, the president of the Quebec Federation of Labour, said they still have a right to have a collective agreement imposed by an arbitrator.

Masse added that successful arbitration with a closed Wal-Mart store was likely to serve as a jumping off point for talks with Eatons, Woolco and Canadian Airlines.
See also: Colby’s perplexedness.

Most Probably Will

Political Animal 2 Comments

Andrew Coyne returns to the blogosphere, with a much more sensible and browser friendly Blogger software. Today he summarizes the Adscam testimony of Chretien and friends, with a lengthy list of the things “we are asked to believe….”

We are asked to believe that the politicians responsible for a program that was conceived in secret, that appeared in no budget document, that was never divulged to Parliament and of which even cabinet ministers were unaware, should have been surprised to learn that bureaucrats answering to them were allocating millions of dollars in secret, without invoices or receipts.
We are asked to believe, last, that Paul Martin did not know about the existence of the unity reserve until 1996, three years after he had been named Finance Minister; that he did not know what it was used for, ie sponsorships, until some years after that; and that he did not know about the abuses that went on under the program until some years after that. And yet, ignorant as he was as to either the purpose or results of the program, he immediately signed off on the Prime Minister�s request for funds, without question.

If past history is a guide, most probably will.

They Shoot Journalists, Update: Self Inflicted

Media 12 Comments

Breaking news via Drudge – after nearly two weeks of blogosphere driven pressure to keep the story alive, CNN’s Eason Jordan has finally resigned;

CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amidst a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq.

Early reaction from Powerline, who predicted on Feb.7th that “Eason Jordan is finished”;

I don’t know, of course, what tipped the balance, but I wonder whether it might have been this: Larry Kudlow’s interview with three influential Senators, George Allen, Jeffrey Sessions and Norm Coleman, all of whom knew about the story, in contrast with many “mainstream” reporters who have been asked about it in recent days, and were incensed by it. This detail may have been telling:

Senator Coleman was not ready to open up an investigation, but he indicated it was worth looking at.

Senator Coleman is, of course, the Chairman of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Larry notes that these and other Senators had to get their awareness of the Jordan affair through blogs.

James Joyner has been compiling a list of blogger response.
update
Howard Kurtz finally writes the column he should have the first time round, though still highly sympathetic to his co-worker at CNN.

Your Tax Dollar Gone Awol

Little Known Facts 2 Comments

Greg Weston, in the Ottawa Sun reminds us over the past ten years, $9.1 billion has been shovelled by the Federal Government into “independant foundations” which are out of the reach of both the Access to Information Act, and unbelievably – the Auditor General. Weston reassures;

“But not to worry — our money is in the good hands of foundation boards packed with qualified Liberal appointees. “

Auditor General Sheila Fraser is expected to raise this issue again next week – just as she does every year, where it registers barely a blip (if that) in media coverage.
My advice? Print your report on golfballs, Sheila, so that the idiots behind the cameras and microphones know it’s important.

Gwynne Dyer’s Unbroken Losing Streak

Insufferable Twits 16 Comments

The latest in the continuing “If Gwynne Dyer Looks Into The Face Of Victor Davis Hanson He Will Burst Into Flame” series, this quote from his new book Future:Tense;

The United States needs to lose the war in Iraq as soon as possible. Even more urgently, the whole world needs the United States to lose the war in Iraq. What is at stake now is the way we run the world for the next generation or more, and really bad things will happen if we get it wrong.

Ah. Very thoughtful of him.
Amazon shows a November 2004 publication date. That’s the problem with books dedicated to current events – they have to be in to the publisher before anyone really knows the final chapters. In Dyers case, it hardly matters – he soldiers on, gifted with a knack for historical subjectivity and emboldened by a nearly perfect record of failed prognostications of military disaster.
Indeed, there is a case to be made for following Dyer’s analysis very carefully, and then, assuming the opposite will occur. He’s that good.
Speaking of Mr. Hanson, he does a tidy job wrapping up the “Dyer-isms” of the failed, frustrated left in this post of a few days ago. No one is spared.
(Via a reader, who pointed the way to the story and Damian’s take on it.)

Tommy Douglas, Not Dead Enough

Great Moments In Socialism 11 Comments

I’ve often said that best thing that could happen for both Saskatchewan highways and health care is for the Premier to have a heart attack 80 miles from Regina. Or, as my brother points out – until every hospital patient were required to survive 2 hours on a vibrating gurney before receiving treatment, there is no such thing as “equal access” to health care in this province.
Today’s Great Moment In Socialism;

A critically ill man who needs a life-saving heart transplant was forced to travel 12 hours in an ambulance to Edmonton because no planes were available, the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region said yesterday. On Feb. 3, a Regina man was loaded on the health region’s advanced life-support vehicle, which can transport up to 16 patients at one time.
Along with the patient were a perfusionist, respiratory therapist, surgeon, nurse and two paramedics, along with high- tech medical equipment. Twelve hours and 900 km later, the man arrived in Edmonton, where he was still waiting for a transplant yesterday.
Glen Perchie, executive director of emergency services for the health region, said they had to use the ambulance because there were no airplanes available when the patient had to be transported. Perchie added that the health region explored “every option available” with Saskatchewan Health and with other provinces.

Well, every option outside of asking if there was a plane in Edmonton that could come get him.

However, Leslie Beard, vice-president of public affairs for Edmonton’s Capital Health region, said planes are usually available.
“The bottom line is that if Regina or anyone else out there … do not have an aircraft in their community, what they do is phone (the equivalent to Alberta’s provincial flight co-ordination centre) … and we have reciprocal agreements in place, we immediately send out planes,” Beard said yesterday.
The medical team shrugged off the long bus ride.

I’m sure they did. Maybe next time they can all make the trip without being paid for travel time, and we’ll see how long the laisser faire attitude lasts.

Perchie said the patient was kept alive by the Extracorporeal Life Support machine, which is used when the heart can’t pump blood through a patient’s body. The patient’s blood goes through the pump, which transfers it to a machine which adds oxygen to it and then the blood goes back into the patient’s body.
Perchie said this is the first time the region used its vehicle to transport a patient needing a heart transplant outside the city.

No doubt. Usually they just warehouse critically ill patients in filthy wards and ignore them until they die.

QOTD

stuff 3 Comments

Still spending much of my time at the shop, on the bike-that-never-ends…. the first five pieces are now basecoated, though, so there’s light at the end of the tunnel. (When painters tell you that automotive painting is 90% prepwork, it is not exaggeration.)
QOTD from a radio dj this morning, in a discussion about the latest round of NHL talks, and the impending season cancellation;

“Gary Bettman is the Jack Kavorkian of the NHL”

Better yet, he managed to segue into that from a report on the health of the pope.
This guy should get into blogging.
Carry on in the comments sections, kiddies. I’m too busy to watch what’s going on at the moment, but if I come down there and finding someone’s being writing on the walls in crayon, theres going to be hell to pay.
(I really ought to start a category on “solvent blogging”. Heh.)
Back to the booth.

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