Should people with this much influence be more careful about what they’re pushing? Reading a bad book she pushed is one thing, ruining your life with hormone therapy is another… Kudos to Newsweek for this one.

Newsweek: Live your best life ever

Isn’t this great? And wouldn’t you like Katie Couric to carry a tune?

And while we’re laughing at Auto-tune, here’s Baby T-Pain:

Ride a bike, Ride a bus, Ride a skateboard or just walk it! In New Zealand it’s just a fun thing passed on by word of mouth. In China, they’re actually enforcing it by closing streets to vehicles, allowing only pedestrians and cyclists from 7am to 7pm.

It’s a shame in Auckland we’re divided by the large, vehicle only bridge but it seems that some people are finding ways to still have fun regardless.

Also, don’t forget this Friday… International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Yarrr!

From the Article:

At least 50 people have lost their sight after staring at the sun hoping to see an image of the Virgin Mary, according to reports.
…
Forty-eight cases of sight-loss, allegedly caused by photochemical burns on the retina, have been recorded at St Joseph’s ENT and Eye hospital in the region since Friday.

Despite warnings, and the potentially harmful effects of their actions, believers are allegedly still flocking to a hotelier’s house in Erumeli near where the divine image is said to have appeared.

Might just be one of those days…

This morning, Keith delivers a severe fisking to the Greens and other cheese-mongers with the morning milk.

Trumping the Herald’s “28% price rise”, Jeanette Fitzsimons has taken whinge-mongering to new heights with her claim that there has been 60% rise in the price of milk (and that Fonterra and the supermarkets are to blame).

It’s not true. It’s really, really not true.

According to StatsNZ’s Food Price Index, the average price of 2 litres of milk in April 2008 was $3.22. The price in April 07 was $2.62. That gets us to 28% — let’s chalk that other 32% up to rounding error, eh? But how about we look over the slightly longer term?

2008: $3.22
2007: $2.62
2006: $3.15
2005: $3.12
2004: $2.96

Even ignoring the fact that Fitzsimons pulled the 60% figure out of her compost heap, her claim is still fundamentally bullshit. If we choose *any* point of comparison other than 2007, the current price of milk is completely and utterly un-goddamn-remarkable.

There needs to be more of this kind of fact checking to keep our politicians honest. Unfortunately, this kind of analysis frequently gets swept under the rug and doesn’t get to the people that were influenced, further adding to the axiom “A lie can run around the world before the truth gets it’s boots on”.

This is the work the mainstream media should be doing. This is the job of a journalist or a reporter to fact check information before they regurgitate party press releases to the people in extenso, not the job of a blogger with the reach of a small-town rag.

Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on “Good Morning America” Tuesday. ABC News’ Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.

“I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” Clinton said. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”

Hat-tip: Kiwiblog