The Phony 'Dutch Disease' Debate

The Globe and Mail believes it's 'conventional wisdom' that Canada is suffering from 'Dutch Disease,' the supposed economic malady of a high oil-backed dollar eroding manufacturing exports. Of course, as always with reporters, saying something is 'conventional wisdom' is just a way of describing their own opinions.

What makes the entire fusillade of 'Dutch Disease' news stories so dishonest however, is that the benefits of domestic oil production are never mentioned. If a high dollar is hurting manufacturers in Ontario, aren't high gasoline taxes and massive green energy subsidies for completely failed technologies hurting them too? Imagine the advantages Canadian manufacturers would have if those taxes and subsidies were eliminated.

Make Up Your Mind Already

Why you should ignore almost every 'study' in the press. Within less than a month we get:

1. A study showing that people with religious faith lack logic, and the non-religious are more logical.
2. A study showing that the non-religious are more driven by emotion than the religious.

In the real world, these two findings would be considered contradictory. You would at least think some reporter would remember the earlier study and refer to it. But nope.

Coming soon, a study showing the non-religious are better looking and have fresher, mintier breath.

Stupidity Doesn't Lose Its Glamour

It's not surprising that the Toronto Star runs an editorial praising the Occupy movement without mentioning the myriad deaths, sexual assaults and millions of dollars in property damage.

But it is amazing that they think the political pendulum has been "stuck at the far right for a decade." Is it the unprecedented spending spree by every Western government that makes them think this? The incredible deficits? The hundreds of thousands of pages of new regulations?

Sigh.

Great Minds Think Alike

As the province of Alberta heads to the polls, voracious news junkies will want to know just what the various journalistic voices across the nation have to say.

1. The National Post says the Wildrose is an 'upstart party.'
2. CBC News says that Wildrose is an 'upstart party.'
3. CTV News say that Wildrose is an 'upstart party.'
4. The Toronto Star thinks the Wildrose Party is an 'upstart.'

So, if you are news junkie, you won't learn much about the election, but you will learn reporters know how to read a memo.

The Fifth Column

Evidence of communist sympathies at The Globe and Mail.

Global News Can't Get a Few Simple Facts Right

It's almost impossible to count all the errors and omissions in this 'timeline' of the Trayvon Martin case provided by Global News. But here goes, in order:

1. The 'stand your ground' law has nothing to do with the case. Zimmerman claims he was knocked to the ground and pinned down. In other words, he had no option to retreat anywhere. His story falls under the rubric of a standard self-defence case.
2. Zimmerman doesn't simply 'claim' to have acted in self-defence. Eyewitnesses support his story and the physical evidence - mud on the back of his coat, a bloody nose, and contusions on the back of his head - back up his story.
3. The timeline refers to a 'possible racist remark' on the 911 tape when this has now been discounted by just about everyone, including the prosecutors.
4. The security tape mentioned at March 28 of the timeline was first reported to show no injuries to Zimmerman. But later and most detailed analysis shows it did.

After this point, it gets too boring and complex to recount all of the problems with the timeline. The whole thing is so random and slapdash one wonders if it was written by an intern, or the president of the news division's niece.

Sounds Like Homophone

Toronto Mayor is again getting it from all sides (pun intended) for his announcement that he will not attend the city's Gay Pride Parade for the second year in a row.

But if Rob Ford is horrible and evil for not attending the parade, what should be said of all the media outlets that don't show images from the parade? Sure they show a few carefully chosen images to make the Pride seem as vanilla and harmless as possible. They never show images like this one.

Why won't the media show these images? They can't argue the images are obscene, since these images come from a public event which they support. So do they believe gay culture is wrong? Shameful? And while Rob Ford has refused to go to the parade for only two years, they've refused to show accurate images of the parade for over thirty years.

Shouldn't they condemn themselves?