Funny Video: Midday News Train Wreck

An 11am newscast on Channel 10 in San Diego gets off to a terrible start in what may be the worst minute of tv news since the “boom goes the dynamite” guy.

Stay classy San Diego, stay classy.

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Watch: Political Attack Ads, Circa 1800

According to ReasonTV:

Have this year’s negative political ads really “taken dirty to a whole new level,” as CNN’s Anderson Cooper frets? Is a “return to civility…a relic of a bygone era,” as President Barack Obama laments?

Er, not exactly.

If anonymous political speech, the other widely decried villain of this political season, helped found the United States, attack ads are as American as apple pie. If you fancy yourself a patriot or a history buff, you will most certainly approve this message, which is taken from statements made by, for, and against the nation’s founders.

For links to those stories and historical sources of the statements made in the video go here

In WTF News: Pentagon Burns Thousands of Copies of Army Officer’s Memoirs

According to Fox News (published September 25, 2010):

The Pentagon  has burned 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer’s memoir Operation Dark Heart, his book about going undercover in Afghanistan.

A Department of Defense official tells Fox News that the department purchased copies of the first printing because they contained information which could cause damage to national security.

The U.S. Army originally cleared the book for release.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency attempted to block the book about the tipping point in Afghanistan and a controversial pre-9/11 data mining project called “Able Danger.”

In a letter obtained by Fox News, the DIA says national security could be breached if “Operation Dark Heart” is published in its current form. The agency also attempted to block key portions of the book that claim “Able Danger” successfully identified hijacker Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Specifically, the DIA wanted references to a meeting between Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, the book’s author, and the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, removed. In that meeting, which took place in Afghanistan, Shaffer alleges the commission was told about “Able Danger” and the identification of Atta before the attacks. No mention of this was made in the final 9/11 report.

“Dr. Philip Zelikow approached me in the corner of the room. ‘What you said today is very important. I need you to get in touch with me as soon as you return from your deployment here in Afghanistan’,” Shaffer said.

Once back in the U.S., Shaffer says he contacted the commission. Without explanation, the commission was no longer interested. An inspector general report by the Department of Defense concluded there was no evidence to support the claims of Shaffer and others. But Fox News has obtained an unredacted copy of the IG report containing the names of witnesses, who backed up Shaffer’s story when contacted for comment…

Read the full Fox News article here

Just in case you refuse to read anything from Fox News, read CNN’s version of the story here.

Update: The Department of Defense spent more than $47,000 to have 9,500 copies of Dark Heart burned.

Update: A kindle version of the book is available but it has already been redacted.

Our two cents: The Pentagon loves the smell of censorship in the morning.

Good Idea: Journalism Warning Labels

According to the label’s creator Tom Scott:

It seems a bit strange to me that the media carefully warn about and label any content that involves sex, violence or strong language — but there’s no similar labeling system for, say, sloppy journalism and other questionable content.

I figured it was time to fix that, so I made some stickers. I’ve been putting them on copies of the free papers that I find on the London Underground. You might want to as well.

If you want to make your own, Tom has helpfully provided a PDF template for Avery’s Letter-size 5160 labels or equivalent. (A4 13 x 5 sheet template is also available.)

Infographic: Google’s Data Removal Service

click the image for a larger version

According to Good Magazine (published July 20, 2010):

Google compiles and holds vast amounts of the world’s data. It’s supposed to be totally private but sometimes governments need that information for investigations, and they request it from Google (or its subsidiaries like YouTube, Blogger, or Orkut). Other times, governments find a piece of data offensive or erroneous, and request that Google remove it from its database entirely. The search giant makes all these requests public. This is a look at which countries ask Google for the most information on its users, which ask Google to remove the most information, and how often Google gives information.

The infographic was designed by MGMT design.

posted by: Brent Carter