You know what really bugs me? Headlines like:
3 Canadians among victims of tsunami
I think that’s incredibly crass. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives in that disaster. I don’t get why the media has to play up the local angle of a tragedy like that. Doing that makes it sound like some peoples’ lives – the people who live in this particular plot of land – are somehow worth more than all the others, and that’s pretty sick.
Time Magazine named President George W. Bush “Person of the Year” and praised him for “reframing reality to match his design.” [CBS News] Fourteen U.S. Marines were convicted of abusing Iraqi prisoners, including one soldier who used an electronic device to make a detainee “dance.” [New York Times] The ACLU circulated memos, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, that suggest President George W. Bush directly authorized torture against detainees in Iraq.[ACLU] A new species of monster cockroach was discovered in Indonesia. Adoptees and adoptive parents were calling on Fox TV to stop the broadcast of a game show called “Who’s Your Daddy,” in which an adopted woman has to pick her biological father from a line-up; she wins a prize if she picks correctly.[Reuters] A 9.0 magnitude earthquake created a tsunami that ravaged south and southeast Asia, as well as parts of Africa.[NYTimes] The wave reached from Somalia and Kenya to Malaysia. Thousands of fatalities were reported in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.[Wikipedia] Three-story waves washed sunbathers into the sea, carried away snorkelers, and swallowed up Hindu ritual bathers celebrating Full Moon Day. A prison in Sumatra was torn open by the tsunami, and hundreds of inmates fled. [NYTimes] Entire towns were turned into rubble. Corpses hung from trees and fences, and the rotting bodies of humans and animals threatened to pollute water supplies.[Reuters] It was difficult to bury the dead for lack of dry ground.[MSNBC] The earthquake was the largest since 1964, and slightly altered the rotation of the earth.[NYTimes] Studies showed that the terminally ill do not, as is commonly believed, hold on to life until major events, like birthdays or holidays, transpire. Rather, they simply die.[Reuters] Other studies found that half of American food goes to waste. NASA announced that a 400-meter asteroid had a good chance of striking the earth in 2029.[NASA] Director Oliver Stone blamed audiences and the critics for the box office failure of “Alexander.” [New Age Media Concepts] Krispy Kreme Doughnuts announced that it has bad credit and that the Atkins diet was not to blame. [The New York Times]