Romney votes "aye" on more homeschooling

Mitt Romney recently proposed a tax break for parents that homeschool their children, which, as this article points out, takes another step toward eroding our public school system.

Though I'm not sure how much effect this would have — I'd wager that sending kids to private school over public school is a more likely option than homeschooling — this is a personal choice these parents are making. Maybe the argument goes that the parents have to buy books and spend their time teaching their children, but there is free education (or rather, manditorily tax-paid education) already available.

The piece is relatively inflammatory, and it's not difficult to see where the author's sensibilities lie, mentioning where education falls in an increasingly free-market agenda:

“That there are other non-market considerations in educating our children, such as creating community, bridging races and classes, or inculcating American values, is irrelevant to the GOP and its amen corner: test scores are the only good in the market for education.”

However, I don't see where his argument is that valid, as it seems to me that homeschooled children would be less adaptable to the working world, as they'd be mostly sheltered from the cultural interaction he mentions in the above quote.

I'm up in the air about this one: Parents should have the right to homeschool their children, and therefore, should they have to pay taxes for the schools they're not using? At the same time, this could be abused for tax break purposes, and I'm way too supportive of the social benefits public schools provide to be in support of something that could be a negative educational experience for many kids.

I'm not really sure what I think would happen here, so I'd like to open the floor on this one: Where do y'all stand on this?


In other Romney news, he’s scheduled to give his big speech on Mormonism this Thursday. Surely I will have an update for you on Friday.

Suburban Paris riots and the (lack of) religious element

Reuters posted an intriguing story yesterday about riots in the Parisian suburbs, and corrected an often quickly judged assumption that the unrest is caused solely by Muslims.

The article is long, but pretty self-explanatory, as its author runs down how absurd it is even to call these "Muslim neighborhoods," as the poor suburban areas represent a multitude of less-than-affluent French citizens, and more particularly, the rioters specifically are not identifying themselves — i.e., not just shying away from identifying themselves as Muslims, but not identifying themselves at all.

The writer's personal disclosure (which I always appreciate):

"I’m the Reuters religion editor and I live in Paris. In 2005, when Nicolas Sarkozy was putting out the story that Muslims fundamentalists were behind the rioting, I went out to the suburbs and found the people out there weren’t buying it. This time around, there is not even any suggestion from anybody here that religion has anything to do with it. If I thought it did, I’d write about it."

Effectively, then, the point goes to show that regardless of the rioters' religious or cultural affiliation, there are plenty of other issues present in the Parisian suburbs. However, many people would love to lay the blame on "those unruly Muslims," just like many factions would like to blame all crime in the urban United States on young African-American men. This article is just a nice reminder that there are plenty of other factors in play here; most notably, economic class usually trumps all else.

Update: Oral Roberts' presidential resignation

A continuation to my story from yesterday covering the recent resignation of Oral Roberts University president Richard Roberts:

In an unsurprising move, Roberts claims that God asked him to resign from the position, to which, appropriately, he conceded.


From the article:

“Roberts has previously said that God told him to deny the allegations. The week the lawsuit was filed, Richard Roberts said that God told him: ‘We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not. This lawsuit ... is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion.’

On Wednesday, Roberts said God told him he would "do something supernatural for the university," if he stepped down from the job he held at the 5,700-student school since 1993.”

I hate to be a cynic when it comes to people claiming divine revelation, because I simply can’t prove (nor do I want to) what God may or may not be saying to them. But this challenges the view of an infallible God – why does it seem like He can’t make up His mind a lot of the time? Why would God have waffled on this, originally telling Roberts to deny the allegations of defrauding a spiritually-charged organization dedicated to the Lord's name?

However, at the same time, it appears the university has received a fortuitous gift in concert with the resignation: $70 million from an Oklahoma businessman. This clearly fits into Roberts' revelation that God would do something for the university if he resigned. Or, a faithful philanthropist wanted to help the university out of the $50 million in debt Roberts helped accrue, and made sure he was gone before making the donation. Either way.



POSTSCRIPT: In line with my previous coverage of the recent Senate investigation into several megachurch preachers, here’s an ironic (or telling) addendum from the second article (links to my former stories where appropriate):

“Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, recently announced a Senate investigation into whether six celebrity preachers violated their organizations’ tax-exempt status by living lavishly on the contributions of small donors.

Three of the six are members of the Oral Roberts board: Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn and Fort Worth-area evangelist Kenneth Copeland.”

Abu Dhabi Bails Out Citigroup

The Abu Dhabi Investment Fund, the sovereign fund of that oil-rich member of the UAE, has invested $7.5 billion into Citigroup; the huge stock purchase will help the bank to offset its huge expected losses.

In other financial news, S&P says that US home prices fell 1.7% this quarter, and are down 4.5% from a year ago; although the meaning of these declines (the sharpest since S&P began keeping the index in 1987) is not completely clear, Robert Shiller, Chief Economist of MacroMarkets LLC now puts the odds of the US going into recession at 50%.

Megachurches play key role in local economic development

Like this is any surprise. . .

This New York Times article from last Friday explains something that is not terribly shocking to any of us here at the Quail and abroad, as we've been covering the vast depths of American Christianity's bottom line for several weeks running now.

In this context, the story leads with an inspiring anecdote from Anchorage, Alaska, where a megachurch is supporting strong development in the community.

I think this can be wholly positive, and there's no question that a church's place — according to Christian belief — is to support the community. However, as we've been discussing here previously, where is the line drawn between Church and State, and more importantly, between God and Mammon?


From the article:

"Indeed, some huge churches, already politically influential, are becoming catalysts for local economic development, challenging a conventional view that churches drain a town financially by generating lower-paid jobs, taking land off the property-tax rolls and increasing traffic.

But the entrepreneurial activities of churches pose questions for their communities that do not arise with secular development.

These enterprises, whose sponsoring churches benefit from a variety of tax breaks and regulatory exemptions given to religious organizations in this country, sometimes provoke complaints from for-profit businesses with which they compete — as ChangePoint’s new sports center has in Anchorage.

Mixed-use projects, like shopping centers that also include church buildings, can make it difficult to determine what constitutes tax-exempt ministry work, which is granted exemptions from property and unemployment taxes, and what is taxable commerce."

In any case, this is not necessarily problematic from a business standpoint. The "for-profit" companies can be pissed all they want, but the name of the game is competition, and the churches have a leg up on them from a tax-break standpoint. From this perspective — and I don't think anyone would deny this — these churches are capitalistic geniuses.

However, is that the message these Christians want to send?

"The church’s leaders say they hope to draw people to faith by publicly demonstrating their commitment to meeting their community’s economic needs.

'We want to turn people on to Jesus Christ through this process,' said Karl Clauson, who has led the church for more than eight years."

Looking at this statement, it appears that there's cut-throat competition in the spiritual market as well. Again, there has been a longstanding relationship between American Protestantism and the capitalist economics — numbers of saved souls and accumulation of (rapidly decreasing in value) paper being the abstract indicators of wealth, respectively — and these kind of endeavors only seem to be merge the two realms further.

Is China's Economy Really Approaching Super Power Status?

The Financial Times doesn't think so; new research by the Asian Development Bank shows that China's economy is both smaller and poorer than previously reported. From the article:

"The results tell us that when the World Bank announces its expected [Purchasing Power Parity] data revisions later this year, China’s economy will turn out to be 40 per cent smaller than previously stated."

Read the whole article for an explanation on what Purchasing Power Parity is, why it is a good gauge of an economy's size, and why it shows that China's economy is smaller than expected.

Along with their growing ecological nightmare, news that China's economy is nearly half the size that was being reported is further evidence that the Chinese are no closer to eclipsing the American market than the Japanese were in the 1980's. Phew.

An insider's perspective on "The Church Business"

Recently, I've been posting heavily on Senator Charles Grassley's (R-Iowa) recent inquiry into several major religious figures across the country.

The latest update is here, which outlines the specific points that Grassley will focus on in his investigation:

“Ken Behr, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, told Church Executive, a business magazine for larger and mega churches, that Senator Chuck Grassley is likely to probe into concerns over excessive compensation, income unrelated to the business purpose of the ministries, and perks or what is known as ‘excessive benefit transactions.’”

And now, as a Pasty Quail exclusive, a friend of Greg's has had some personal experience with one of the pastors in question, Bishop Eddie Long from Lithonia, Ga. (pictured here)


Following is Matt Tripp's account of Long's persona, which, after reading the story, you'll agree is literally larger than life:

"Your commentary regarding the business of church reminded me of my personal experiences with "Bishop" Eddie Long. Short version: The dude is a crook, flat out. Before law school, I worked at Preferred Jet Center at McCollum Field in Kennesaw. Long's salary, house and cars made the news. What the AJC didn't tell you about was Long's airplane. He has a Gulfstream II hangared at PJC. What does a pastor need a jet capable of flying internationally for? Well, he purportedly has a "ministry" in the Bahamas. Conversations with the flight crew, however, revealed these were more vacations than "mission trips." I've attached a picture of his airplane...note the New Birth logo on the tail.


A couple of oddities about Long:

1. Long requires his flight crews to be completely African-American. Now, one can hire whomever one wants as an employee, that's fine. But his aircraft is managed by a charter company, who provides the flight crews. As a result, they have to juggle their crew schedule to make sure his plane always has black pilots when he's using it.

2. In addition to my fueling and towing responsibilities as a lineman, part of my duties at Preferred were to load luggage, valet cars, etc. Not in the case of Long. We were the "invisible help" when he was around. We were not to touch anything belonging to Long such as his luggage and his personal vehicles. Nor were we to approach Long or speak to him. He is the only client I have ever had who a rule forbidding us to talk to him. I've spoken to Steve Spurrier, Sylvester Croom, Tommy Tuberville, numerous CEOs, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Burt Reynolds, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, and even Mariah Carey. All were more approachable than this supposed man of God. He even has a security detail. Really, the only other person that ever came into PJC with a similar level of security was Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

3. Speaking of the car, I never saw the Bentley. Whenever he came to the airport, he always arrived in a DUB Chrysler 300C Hemi. Long required that his vehicle be kept in the hanger and not in the long-term parking lot. PJC's insurance forbids vehicles inside the hangar (in order to prevent damage to aircraft). Yet Long's vehicle was always accommodated (only one specific employee of the charter company was permitted to drive it...this proved to be a bit problematic when we had to move it to rearrange aircraft and this employee wasn't at work). The kicker is, Long is the only person who ever requested hangar space for his vehicle. PJC's long-term parking lot routinely had Range Rovers, Maseratis, Ferraris, Porsches, BMWs and Mercedes stored in it...but his POS Chrysler had to be kept inside. Go figure."

Pretty intense stuff. Many, many thanks to Matt for his readership and his willingness to disclose this important information with regards to this story.

Romney spends subtle amounts of money on television advertising

In the Pasty Quail spirit of updating previously reported news, Mitt Romney is spending $85,000 a day on TV ads, putting his total to $10.2 million at this point.

I reported a story on how much would be spent for the election, and it looks like that figure should be no problem.

Maybe I'm just not watching enough TV, or the right channels, but I haven't seen any Romney ads. I guess they're focusing more in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but I want in on this action too. There's going to be nothing better than a bunch of ads showing Hillary in devil horns.

How To: Make a lot of money from the Internet

Unfortunately, by posting this I'm probably precluding The Pasty Quail's opportunity to set up a crooked charity organization, but I think this is pretty important news.

The website FreeRice.com is actually a legitimately good charity. For every simple vocabulary word you guess, they'll donate 10 grains of rice to undernourished people.

Well, The PC Spy enlightens us all by mentioning that FreeRice is not a registered charity, and though, as it did on Sunday, the site donated about 2,700 kg (approx. 6,000 lbs.) of rice, the rest of its money is profit.

However, at the current rate, PC Spy estimates that the site's entrepreneur could be raking in more than $150,000 a day in internet advertising. After the cost of rice, which stands around $1,000 for that 6,000 lbs., that's a pretty hefty sum.

Again, I don't want to diminish the good deeds that FreeRice is doing. But this is reminiscent of my recent coverage on The Church Business, seeing people help many others while ultimately helping themselves at the top of the ladder.

Is there anything wrong with what FreeRice and the Rolls-driving church pastors are doing?

Follow-up on The Church Business: Creflo Dollar publicizes his church's earnings

Last week I posted an article on the The Church Business, which covered specifically a probe into the exploits of several preachers from the Atlanta area as well as other news regarding the marriage of Christianity and free market capitalism.

As an update to that story, Creflo Dollar, the pastor of World Changers Church International in College Park, Ga. (and pictured here), announced his church's earnings this weekend, which checked in around $69 million in 2006.

The article here brings in the perspectives from both sides of Senator Charles Grassley's probe into Dollar's income.

As many of us know, "the government treads carefully when it comes to walking in religion’s orchard. The federal government does not tax ministries." By not taxing ministries, it certainly makes embezzlement a relatively simple task. While ostensibly, there should be a level of trust associated with a preacher, as Dollar seems to imply, the law in this case — appropriately — trusts no one and is searching simply for information:

"Grassley said his probe has nothing to do with religion. 'I’m not interested in doctrine, just the tax laws,' he said. He has looked at the high-roller lifestyles of TV ministers and wonders whether church leaders are using the breaks given to them to enrich themselves."

Justifiably, "Dollar said he understands the senator’s worries but is concerned at the same time about the government sticking its nose into religion’s business. Dollar said he is having legal experts look over the senator’s request."

I think this is perfectly plausible; Dollar not only does not take a salary from the church, but he also has investments in other lucrative interests. The point the article seems to say, though, that the vast wealth of some of the largest U.S. churches seem focused on something other than God, saying:

Dollar is particularly concerned the government may be trying to divine what people can or cannot believe. And Dollar believes in prosperity.

The six religious broadcast empires under the gun all preach and teach forms of a gospel that justifies the accumulation of money and material goods as one sign of God’s blessing. It includes benefits like health, a good family life and benevolence toward others.

"It is an American-born faith that mixes Christianity with capitalism, individualism and materialism," said Shayne Lee, a Tulane University sociologist who studies megachurches and religion.

It became popular in the 1980s, with Reaganism, a rising stock market, growing middle class and consumerism.

As early 20th century sociologist Max Weber once aptly observed (as well have many others), the capitalist drive to accumulate wealth supports a Protestant work ethic that seeks God's favor with a similar zeal.

In this respect, preachers proposing that wealth is a reflection of spiritual health has been around for centuries. Yet, tithing to support the church has been around for all ages, and with all the excess money that people have at their disposal, is it surprising that these churches make a lot of money? Especially since the church runs without government support, it needs to be upheld by its parishioners.

Everyone rails Scientology because it's "only a scam," and people have to pay money in order to receive "higher revelations." Yet, as I've reported from time to time — Tom Cruise notwithstanding — Scientology has helped many people. The question is: Do they just look crazy because they are up front about running their church like a business?

EDIT/UPDATE: Here are some more links on Grassley's probe, including someone railing on Scientology! (that's kind of funny)

Also, see here to read about the whole story again, and here for more information on televangelist Kenneth Copeland's private jet.

Deep Breath: News Dump

As I've been having trouble getting my synapses to fire all day long, hopefully my thoughts conveyed themselves well in my previous post. I have another one online, so hopefully that will make its way up today. In the meantime, here are some new news items and some leftovers for your early afternoon perusal.

- Possibly of highest importance, the Canadian Dollar is now at $1.10. Shit. In fact, there’s a lot more going on with the dollar, and here are a BUNCH of economic issues.

- From the world of film, here's a review of the new Bob Dylan flick. If it's anything like any other Dylan film, it should be pretty awesome.

- Floating in the abyss of the weird, Scientologists are being harmlessly useful.

- Finally, in lighter news, Disney's Michael Eisner calls the Hollywood writers' strike "stupid." Hmmm, is that because they're trying to take money from you that's rightfully theirs? Incredible.

The Church Business

Yesterday, I mentioned the spiritual dilemma of one of the largest megachurches in the U.S., which displayed a unique change of heart from one of the chief purveyors of American Christianity's love affair with capitalism. Though pastor Greg Hawkins' statements may send his community up in arms (what do you say when your pastor admits he's been incorrectly preaching to you, and you've believed everything he's said?), I admire his honest attempt to be a beacon for the Lord, and reevaluate himself where he sees issues with his ministry — for better or for worse.

On a slightly related topic, I have a couple more stories regarding the other side of church doctrine, the one that is after the bottom line.

First off, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that U.S. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa is probing several preachers across the nation (two of which are in the Atlanta area), all "known for preaching that financial blessings are part of Christian life." This invocation is not terribly uncommon; however, Grassley's inquiry comes in context with these preachers' propensity to live well beyond the means of their congregations.

For example, Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Ministry in Lithonia, Ga., already was investigated by the AJC, which ran a story in 2005 "that looked into Long's founding of a charity that paid the minister more than $3 million over a 3-year period, bought him a $1.4 million house and paid for the use of a $350,000 Bentley car."

Other stories of the like fit in here, and it raises the question of where all the money these churches are making goes. Clearly, there is much charitable work being done, and obviously, much of the capital goes into improving church facilities (see the sprawling campus of Marietta, Ga.'s Johnson Ferry Baptist Church for an example); however, much of that money often goes into the pastor's pocket.

While I do hope that these allegations are untrue and that they are isolated cases, the cynic (some might call it realist) in me believes that these investigations are occurring with legitimate cause. These large churches, especially in affluent areas, make ungodly amounts of money (pun intended), and under the whole "separation of Church and State" premise, many of the church leaders sneak their way around paying taxes.


Moving westward, New Life Church in Colorado Springs — famed parish of the notorious Ted Haggard — is in rebuilding mode in the wake of Haggard's homosexuality scandal.

Basically, Haggard was one of the chief voices in American Evangelicalism, consistently decrying homosexuality as well as dealing with other moral/political issues, until he was mired through the outing of his relationship with a male prostitute in addition to his penchant for methamphetamine use.

Yesterday, The Colorado Springs Gazette reported on New Life Church a year after Haggard's dismissal.

Immediately following the scandal, "active membership dropped from 14,000 to 10,000 and donations to the church dipped by 10 percent. Layoffs hit the church’s staff. The church has withdrawn from the national political scene. And New Life members say their swagger is gone, replaced by humility."

However, since Haggard's replacement at the top of the church hierarchy, New Life is back on its feet: “Sunday attendance has jumped from 6,000 to 7,500 since [new pastor Brady] Boyd was named senior pastor in August, and thousands attend high school groups, college groups or small groups throughout the week. Giving is growing, now down about 8 percent to 9 percent from its peak. The church has a $12 million operating budget and 150 full-time staff members.”

In other terms, these situations are quite reminiscent of the famous Enron scandal — or any other large corporate misdeed, for that matter — and the key point in these news items are their financial ramifications. The way in which these churches are represented paints a picture not of a house of worship, but simply a corporation with a corrupt leader.

This, then, begs a question that is commonly overlooked in our capital-obsessed media: what does this do to spirituality in these congregations? If financial success is preached as a sign of Godly favor, how does the revelation that this success has not been legitimate for some of these pastoral figures affect the beliefs of the masses?

"The Office" Writers Speak About The Strike

From the video: "We're supposed to get 11 cents for every 200 trillion downloads" - Mike Schur

PetroChina Becomes World's Most Valuable Company

The day after its stock was made available for trading on the exchange in Shanghai, the price nearly tripled, raising the company's valuation to $1 Trillion dollars and making the Chinese energy giant the world's most valuable company. Even though PetroChina has only a quarter of the revenue claimed by Exxon-Mobil (the largest US company, valued at a sneeze-worthy $488 Billion dollars), it is now valued higher than the entire Russian stock market; PetroChina is worth more that Exxon-Mobil and General Electric combined.

However, PetroChina's stock fell more than 8% on Hong Kong's index, and some speculators are classifying this huge valuation (55 times earnings, to be precise) as a stock market bubble; Warren Buffett said two weeks ago that Chinese share prices have risen too fast. Analyst Larry Grace, with Kim Eng Securities Co. in Hong Kong, had this to say:

"Production is static with limited upside for the next three to four years... As for the downstream, the price controls and overall regulatory trend limit the company's earnings."

Image depicts a PetroChina Filling Station; click to enlarge.

Smart Car USA! I'm all over it.

When I returned from Europe, I mentioned my deep infatuation with the Smart Car, which, at the time was not available in the U.S.


Well, apparently now it is. Here's a classic video demonstrating its deceiving spaciousness by fitting NBA player Udonis Haslem into it.



Haslem, just for reference, currently plays for the Miami Heat and is a former Florida basketball star famous for once throwing a basketball at a UGA fan’s head during warm-ups. I saw it happen, and it hit the kid dead-on from about 40 feet. Though I didn’t like him at the time; it’s still pretty awesome.

Anyhow, I know the car’s a glorified scooter, but this is still pretty awesome.

Happy Halloween!! Now give us your money.

It just so happens that the state of Iowa has decided to begin taxing pumpkins, just in time to reap the benefits of decorative pumpkin distributors.


Understand that I emphasize decorative because the new tax only applies to pumpkins not intended for consumption. Take that, holiday commercialization!! (although, now that I think about it, it seems that people could take advantage of this and say they were selling them for "pumpkin pie")

Anyway, take this with a grain of salt, because I don't make enough money to dislike taxes, but according to the interesting stat below, I can see why Iowa would want to do this:

"Nationally, U.S. pumpkin sales in 2006 were valued at $101.3 million, with 90 percent of the country's pumpkins grown within a 90-mile radius of Peoria, Ill."

With Peoria just down the road a spell from Iowa, the state just want to make a quick buck. However, jacking up taxes on the stressed American farmer might not be the best way to do this. Then again, I'm not an economist. I'd love some weigh-ins from my friends more knowledgeable in this regard.

No Religion = More Money?

Except in the U.S., apparently. So, here are some really loaded statistics showing the relationships between abundancy of religion and amount of wealth per capita in various countries around the world (note: pretty graphs involved!!).

Thankfully, the article does not make a strong attmept to analyze these stats too deeply, because drawing a direct correlary between the two overlooks waaaay too many other factors. Effectively, then, the stats do their job and raise provocative thoughts regarding the connections between religion, economics, and politics. Enjoy!

CHEAP AIRFARE!

Now that I have your attention, this post is a reference guide to finding the cheapest airfare. After that misleading "now that I have your attention," it's not what you thought this post was going to be about, was it?



As Hebbard mentioned recently, commercial airline flight is ridiculously safe, which is comforting for people like me with mild control freak symptoms and medium anxiety issues. However, that doesn't mean that it's cheap, nor does it mean the airlines will charge you appropriately either way. Hopefully these can be useful.

Does money buy happiness?

Newsweek has put together a thinkpiece on this very question, and appropriately, it's relatively inconclusive. I think happiness isn't something definable in general economic terms, but hey, it's fun to try.

Here's my favorite counterargument to the notion that more money means more happiness:

"According to standard economics, the most important commodity you can buy with additional wealth is choice. If you have $20 in your pocket, you can decide between steak and peanut butter for dinner, but if you have only $1 you'd better hope you already have a jar of jelly at home. Additional wealth also lets you satisfy additional needs and wants, and the more of those you satisfy the happier you are supposed to be.

The trouble is, choice is not all it's cracked up to be. Studies show that people like selecting from among maybe half a dozen kinds of pasta at the grocery store but find 27 choices overwhelming, leaving them chronically on edge that they could have chosen a better one than they did."

Being overwhelmed by choice can be disconcerting, and on top of that, when you have an unlimited amount of money to spend, there are unlimited number of things you need to buy. That, and you find a lot of misers out there, intent on making money only to have it, and hoarding it drives them insane (or just working that much). Either way, the article is an interesting topic to ponder.

Real Estate on the downward spiral in So. Cal./Poor News Reporting

I've got a dual head-scratcher for you:

First, apparently the housing market in LA — and especially its surrounding suburbs — is pretty seriously on the decline. Working for a commercial real estate publication for the past 3 years, I've come to find interest in these kinds of business trends, and I thought that a massive decline in residential real estate in one of the most expensive markets in the U.S. might be an interesting scoop.

But, I must disclose, this is not the real story here. I’ve been using Drudge Report for the past couple days or so, and overall, I’ve been mighty satisfied with the breadth of information he disseminates. However, last night I found this link, which ostensibly covers the LA housing decline. I was interested in the headline, but there was shit for information in this Reuters story (and in the Yahoo! News story that mimicked said “report”). Does this count as reporting news?

I understand that Reuters and Yahoo! have a lot on their plates, but you must hear about it from somewhere. There are no supporting statistics to contextualize the headline in either blurb, and in fact, it turns out (as I had suspected) that the information given is misleading when compared to the LA Times report (which I spent time digging around to find). I can’t necessarily trust everything that says either, but I’d imagine that it might have a better beat on the local market than an international news conglomerate.

I'm not huffy because I had to do some extra work; in fact, I feel a little bit accomplished. I'm not irritated at Reuters or Yahoo! either, though it does confuse me how they come to publish a story with such a dearth of information. Why put it up at all? And finally, while I'm not upset with Drudge, I'm a bit wary of his decision to post an article with such an obvious lack of substance.