The Stuff I Didn't Get To -- 10/18/07

Blackwater's Zeppelin -- handy if you need it

-The weirdest fact I've heard all day-
Private mercenary force Blackwater USA owns Zeppelins. Seriously. It's hard to think of a situation where you'd say, "You know what would be really handy here? A big freakin' blimp." But, in case anyone ever has that thought, they've got them.

Now all Blackwater president Erik Prince needs is a steam-powered submarine and he's Dr. Loveless from Wild, Wild West. (Blackwater USA)

-"Success" is defined differently for D-listers-
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden is sending out a press release about his rocket-like rise in a new poll from Iowa. Titled Momentum +2, the release tells us that Joe's gone up two percent in the latest numbers.

The problem; this puts Biden at 6 percent total. Wow. The best possible spin I can put on this is that Joe's up from 4 percent -- which happens to be the margin of error for the poll. This proves undeniably and scientifically that someone in Iowa is for Biden. The previous poll couldn't say that with any certainty.

In other words, Biden's support is no longer immeasurable. Clearly, the man's on his way to the White House. (The Plank)

-Speaking of D-listers-
Kansas presidential hopeful and bona fide religious whackadoodle Sam Brownback is bowing out of the '08 race. According to the report, "Money was a main reason for his decision, said one person close to Brownback who requested anonymity because the candidate had not yet announced his plans."

Likely story.

It's more likely that Brownback saw Biden's incredible rise in the polls, then saw that icon of truthiness Stephen Colbert had thrown his hat in the ring, and ran like cheap mascara. The nation really dodged a bullet there... (AP)

Griper Blade: The Incomplete Story

It is on a small hill about four miles outside Weimar, and it was one of the largest concentration camps in Germany. And it was built to last. [STATIC] I asked to see one of the barracks. I was told that this building had once stabled 80 horses. There were 1,200 men in it, 5 to a bunk. As I walked down to the end of the barracks, there was applause from the men too weak to get out of bed. It sounded like the hand-clapping of babies. As we walked out into the courtyard, a man fell dead. Two others, they must have been over 60, were crawling towards the latrine. I saw it but will not describe it.
--Edward R. Murrow, 1945, broadcasting from Buchenwald Death Camp, Germany

The idea of the "objective" reporter is a recent development, historically speaking. Edward R. Murrow wasn't the objective observer. Whether reporting from the rooftops on the London blitz or from the newly liberated Buchenwald, Murrow's reporting was emotionally charged -- and opinionated. It was Murrow who said, "We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home," and stood up to Sen. McCarthy.

Today, the objective repeater of facts has replaced the crusading journalist. Except when the facts are problematic. Today's news media are so afraid of perceived bias that they report things that aren't factual and give them the same weight as fact. Global warming deniers and creationists are given time in the news, in order to tell "both sides of the story." But there's only one side to these stories and this supposed "other side" is pure horsecrap. The only reason that we don't often hear from Holocaust deniers and people who think the world is flat is because those particular groups of nuts haven't dropped the bucks on high-powered PR firms. Pay someone a million and you'll be a talking head on CNN, arguing that the sun orbits the Earth or that the greatest threat the US faces today is a middle eastern third world nation and its WMD.

This is what FARK founder Drew Curtis refers to as "equal time for nutjobs."

...in some cases there flat-out isn't another side. Take moon landings for example. Any time moon landings are mentioned in the media, they always have to go get a paragraph of comment from the nutjobs who think the moon landing was faked. This is not up for debate; the moon landings happened. Equal Time for Nutjobs is the kind of article that gives equal time to a group that doesn't quite deserve to have its voice heard...

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