Current Affairs

Sounds like some of the Iranian nutjobs were trained on Madison Avenue:

One of the things debaters learn is to limit the scope of our claims. If we argue narrow positions, we can more often escape without challenge, then keep widening the positions we want to defend. It would be a poor tactic, for example, to argue that a politician is mentally ill and should be locked up because the potholes on Oakdale Drive were two weeks late getting filled. It would also be foolish for someone on the other side to argue that people complaining about potholes are selfish racists who don't care if people in poor neighborhoods get fed as long as their own street is smooth.

Those of us in the media provide a valuable public service by warning people of things that could harm them. But sometimes we, er, overwarn. Remember the West Nile virus and all the stories in the local news about how scary things might get? Didn't exactly pan out, which would seem to require followups that the danger wasn't as great as forecast.

You probably know the guy on the left, and possibly the one on the right, but how about the one on the bottom? Hint: For all three, think "war."

Well, screw those silly American people; they should have known better anyway. What is George Bush going to do about getting the kitties and doggies out of Lebanon?

Being poor sucks, what a shock:

People with lower socio-economic status appear to age faster than their better-off counterparts, British researchers said on Thursday.

Oh, yeah, this will catch on:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- It's a quasi-social-networking site for teens designed to allow them to "express their individuality," yet it screens all content, tells parents their kids have joined and forbids users to e-mail one another. Oh, and it calls users "hubsters" -- a twist on hipsters that proves just how painfully uncool it is to try to be cool.

The Hub is where teens can go and register to become 'Hubsters' -- Wal-Mart's ideal of a hipster.

You've read the stories about middle school students who work an hour or two on a soup line to better understand the poor or even camp out overnight so they can empathize with the homeless. Don't worry that their time is being wasted -- this is actually good career training if they asprire to carry on the work of Morgan Spurlock.

I'm just as shocked as the rest of you at President Bush's use of language. As many know by now, an open microphone at the Group of 8 meeting caught the president in some unscripted and blunt talk. He was heard saying this to British Prime Minister Tony Blair:

"See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over."

Well, here's a shock:

Without realizing it, people will perceive things according to how they want to see them, a new study suggests.

Our tax-funded research strikes again.