Media Bias Is Real

This should shock no one - a study has revealed that American mainstream media is almost universally biased to the left.

"While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left."

"Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal. Only Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter."

"The fourth most centrist outlet was "Special Report With Brit Hume" on Fox News, which often is cited by liberals as an egregious example of a right-wing outlet. While this news program proved to be right of center, the study found ABC's "World News Tonight" and NBC's "Nightly News" to be left of center. All three outlets were approximately equidistant from the center, the report found."

And for those who'd complain the study itself is biased, two points: First, the study comes to us from UCLA. While UCLA doesn't have as liberal a reputation as say, Berkeley, UCLA is hardly considered a bastion of conservative thought.

Secondly : "The researchers took numerous steps to safeguard against bias — or the appearance of same — in the work, which took close to three years to complete. They went to great lengths to ensure that as many research assistants supported Democratic candidate Al Gore in the 2000 election as supported President George Bush. They also sought no outside funding, a rarity in scholarly research."

It's a fascinating look into what the average American thinks about newsworthy topics, and what actually gets reported...

Facing Boycotts... from Stupid Folks.

Note: Usually, I try to avoid religious topics, for some pretty obvious reasons. What I have to say is usually controversial enough - I don't need to recklessly throw fuel on the fire just for fun and giggles. But on this one, I couldn't resist.

A group of religious protesters demonstrated outside a Wal-Mart superstore Saturday, hoping to turn away customers by calling attention to the retailer's decision to use "happy holidays" rather than "merry Christmas" in its seasonal advertising.

(OK - so some folks are upset, and a number of conservative Christian organizations are organizing petitions and boycotts... check.)

Ready for it? Here's the kicker:

"About 50 protesters took part in Saturday's demonstration, organized by religious leaders. Dick Otterstad of the Church of the Divide donned a Santa Claus costume and greeted shoppers with the message: Don't forget about the meaning of Christmas."

Wow. I'm shaking my head here. Talk about not thinking through your optics, folks.

Why are some people black, others white?

Yes - it's a racial thing. :)

Forget about societal impacts, prejudices, or what we term 'racism.' The question is WHY some people are different colours.

Scientists have been asking the question as well. And it appears the lowly zebrafish may have an answer.

After all - some fish are white, some golden, some brown, yet they're all the same species. Scientists think they've isolated the gene that causes colour differences, and have tracked it back to humans as well.

I'm sure this may raise a number of future ethical quesions about race and the aforementioned societal impacts. Through genetic manipulation, will white parents be able to produce black children? Vice versa?

Personally, I default to the verse I learned in Sunday School... "Red, Yellow, Black and White... all are precious in his sight..."

The Worst Ecological Threat to Humanity? Yeah, right...

The 157 signatories to the Kyoto Protocol have agreed to hold future talks on post-2012 reductions in greenhouse gases.

Some people hail it as a broad step to secure the future, others are laughing it off as yet another waste of time and effort.

All I know - the hot air generated by 157 political delegations is a more acute threat to the world's environment than the emissions they're discussing.

The rhetoric is awesome. Canada's Environment Minister, Stephane Dion, claims the agreement is momentous: "You have upheld the trust the people of the world have placed in us," he said. "Facing the worst ecological threat to humanity, you have said: the world is united and together, step by step, we will win this fight."

Excuse me - the 'worst ecological threat to humanity?' Wow. That's ballsy.

Greenhouse gas emissions are more of a threat than the bubonic plague, influenza, or the lack of clean drinking water?

If Dion is serious about change instead of just making political points, he can address what concrete steps the Canadian Government will be taking in the future.

But he won't. Because aside from a few publicly funded commercials, they've done nothing. Which is partly why emissions are 24 per cent above 1990 levels. (Kyoto calls for six per cent reductions for Canada from 1990 levels by 2012 - meaning he has to bring total emissions down 36% - over a third - in only six years.)

'Threat to humanity?' Who knows. Maybe.

'Ridiculous hypocrisy and political doublespeak?' Absolutely.

The Wheels Start Coming Off for Tamiflu

For several months, we've heard story after story about flu pandemics. Governments across the globe were preparing for the onslaught of avian influenza. And the big winner in the flu craze has been Hoffman-LaRoche, makers of Tamiflu.

The UK government ordered 15 million doses of Tamiflu stockpiled, under the assumption it was the only drug capable of fighting avian flu. Hoffman-LaRoche and internet pharmacies have made millions as people fight to get their hands on the drug.

This may start to change. Proving that fear of the unknown is perhaps as dangerous as the unknown itself, medical professionals are starting to discover that Tamiflu... doesn't work.

The World Health Organization has acknowledged Tamiflu has not been "widely successful in human patients," but said it believes it would have been more effective in many Asian countries if it had been used earlier in the illness.

This story is very much developing...

No GMO Ban in Prince Edward Island.

... and sanity prevails across the land. Amen.

Not to be melodramatic (well, at least OVERLY melodramatic) but Prince Edward Island has come to their senses, smartened up and will not be the first province in Canada to ban genetically modified organisms.

The fight over GMO foods is hardly over, but at least the largest potato growing region in Canada (and one of the largest in North America) won't be bathing in their own stupidity and banning a product which has, effectively, been proven safe.

Crazy Hurricanes not caused by global warming.

Well - it doesn't get much more succinct than this - NOAA, the organization responsible for tracking Atlantic Hurricanes, says the increased number of storms is NOT due to global warming.

It's rather based on something called the tropical multi-decadal signal, which "presents itself in weather events around the world, including Atlantic hurricane variability."

It doesn't get more mainstream than beer...

If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, let me encourage you to visit the "Bioproducts" section of this site.

As a HUGE believer in the potential of biotechnology, I'm kind of tickled to be working with Ontario Agri-Food Technologies at sharing a few of the neat stories that we come across. As we find a neat story about a new bioproduct or novel application, it gets added to the site. If you're interested in finding out more about that particular technology, there's a search function so you can bring up past stories.

One of the cooler stories I've come across in the past month involves the absolutely exploding demand for ethanol - a naturally derived ethyl alcohol bioproduct - driven in part by high petroleum prices.

What's the primary indication that ethanol has gone mainstream?

When Coors got into the mix.

There is a TON of money being invested into these new products and technologies. Yet, so far, no one has looked into the relative risks associated with turning agricultural producers into chemical or fuel producers.

Yet....

Alarm over dramatic weakening of Gulf Stream

"The powerful ocean current that bathes Britain and northern Europe in warm waters from the tropics has weakened dramatically in recent years, a consequence of global warming that could trigger more severe winters and cooler summers across the region, scientists warn today."

If I didn't know better, I'd say someone has been watching too much of "The Day after Tomorrow," where the same scenario causes a mass ice age to hit the civilized world.

It's a scenario designed to drive panic into the hearts and minds of Britains electorate - witness, "If the current remains as weak as it is, temperatures in Britain are likely to drop by an average of 1C in the next decade, according to Harry Bryden at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton who led the study. "Models show that if it shuts down completely, 20 years later, the temperature is 4C to 6C degrees cooler over the UK and north-western Europe," Dr Bryden said."

Yet - here's the clincher, folks - selected quotes from the SAME article (emphasis mine):
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- Although climate records suggest that the current has ground to a halt in the distant past, the prospect of it shutting down entirely within the century are extremely low, according to climate modellers.

- According to climate modellers, the drop in temperature caused by a slowing of the Atlantic current will, in the long term, be swamped by a more general warming of the atmosphere.

- "If this was happening in the absence of generally increasing temperatures, I would be concerned," said Dr Smith
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You know what happens when a 4 year old starts desperately looking for the monsters in her closet? She's likely to find them.