The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

It really amazes me the kind of BS people will believe simply because they want to believe it. Case and point - a political chain email. If you've received one concerning President Obama, there's approximately a 90% chance that it's at least partially false (around a 70% chance that it's completely false). That trend continued with the latest such email I came across. It's been updated over the years, but I was fortunately able to come across a detailed analysis of all the email's claims so I didn't have to do the job myself. The fact-checker is Matthew at Barnson.org, who I will be using as my reference to keep a running tally of the accurate and inaccurate claims (his full analysis can be found at this link - http://barnson.org/node/1880). Without further ado, here's the chain email: "QUIT BASHING OBAMA - by COL. ROBERT F. CUNNINGHAM and PATRICK RISHOR, The Gilmer Mirror Quit trashing Obama's accomplishments. He has done more than any ot...

Far too often than I'd like to admit (or believe), I run into poll results that prompt me to facepalm myself so hard, I wind up leaving a mark on my forehead which gets asked about for the rest of the week. I read one such result just today. In a newly released poll by St. Leo University, it was found that more people believe Fox News to be a reliable source on climate change than President Obama. That's right; while 17% believe Fox is a reliable source on the topic, just 11% believe the president is. Here are the full results with regard to that question: "Which of the following do you trust as reliable sources of information about global climate change? Check all that apply." 1) Non-government scientists and educators: 45% 2) Environmental groups: 33% 3) Mainstream media such as U.S. newspapers, broadcasters, and online media such as CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, Associated Press, New York Times : 22% 3) Scientists and Cosmos TV series host Neil deGrasse Tyson: 22% ...

I really don't want to jinx the early spring-like weather we're having across the country, but based on the fact the next week and a half here in central Ohio is supposed to be in the 50s and 60s, I'd like to believe that spring is here and the groundhog was wrong yet again. As a child, I didn't really think a great deal about holiday traditions. However, the older I get, while I love spending time with family, friends, and loved ones over the major holidays, the more I think about some of these traditions, the more I have to roll my eyes, and mumble to myself, "Wow, we've really celebrated that for all these years?" On Christmas, we celebrate Jesus' birthday by placing a bunch of wrapped gifts under a tree and exchanging them while listening to music about a big jolly old man named Santa Claus and his reindeer, even though Jesus wasn't actually born on December 25th. On Easter, we celebrate Jesus' supposed rise from the dead by filling bas...

If there was any doubt that Fox News is a right-wing propaganda machine, Scientific American editor Michael Moyer recently placed those doubts to rest. Moyer was asked to discuss the future of science and technology on Fox & Friends . With regard to the experience, Moyer wrote the following in a blog published by Scientific American : "About the only interesting thing that the scientific community is sure will happen in the next 50 years is that climate change is going to get worse, and that we're going to have to deal with the impacts. So I put that as one of my talking points." He then claimed that a producer of the show told him to not discuss climate change during the segment. Moyer also stated this in his blog: "I found the tone and topics of coverage while I was sitting in the green room this morning to be not something that I wanted to be a part of in the future. I didn't realize that the drumbeat of conservative propaganda was so ubiquitou...

I shouldn't be surprised by this, but am still disappointed. According to a new study conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists, here is how accurate the three major cable-news channels are when it comes to climate science: 1. MSNBC: 92% accurate, 8% misleading 2. CNN: 70% accurate, 30% misleading 3. Fox News: 28% accurate, 72% misleading For as awful as I think Fox News is, not even I expected those horrific numbers. Going further into detail regarding Fox News, the report also stated the following: - "Fox News covered climate science 50 times in 2013. Of these segments, 28 percent were entirely accurate, while 72 percent included misleading portrayals of the science." - "More than half of Fox's misleading coverage (53%) was from one program, The Five, where the hosts often instigated misleading debates about established climate science. In general, Fox hosts and guests were more likely than those of other networks to disparage the study of clim...

A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece about the Atlanta Braves and how I wasn't buying into the hype surrounding the team just yet, which was largely due to the off-season acquisitions of B.J. and Justin Upton. While I praised the team's pitching, I made note that the team's make-up offensively concerned me. The team lost their three most consistent hitters from a year ago in Chipper Jones, Martin Prado, and Michael Bourne, and replaced them with three talented, but inconsistent and strikeout-prone players in B.J. Upton, Justin Upton, and Chris Johnson. While Johnson and Justin Upton have played well to this point in the season, B.J. Upton has struggled quite considerably. Dan Uggla, Andrelton Simmons, and Jason Heyward are all off to slow starts as well. Brian McCann and Freddie Freeman are out with injuries, and Heyward has just been added to that list. However, even with all these problems on offense, the team started off with a Major League best 12-1 record. I then wr...

In light of the Newton, Connecticut tragedy late last year, the country has debated guns more frequently than Snoop Dogg has gotten high. While I think it was about time the country stopped seemingly ignoring gun violence and started talking about the issue, in the end, I don't think the majority of such conversations have been very productive. While I definitely do support some gun control measures, so the NRA can label me as a "crazy, left-wing, anti-gun, circus freak" or whatever they'd like, I do try to understand others' arguments, no matter how different from mine they may be. However, when it has come to far-right anti-gun control arguments, I've only run into two: 1) "Guns don't kill people; people kill people" and 2) "The 2nd Amendment of the Constitution says, 'A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'" I've w...

I know I've said this before, but I think weatherpeople are the luckiest people in the world. They make, on average, over $90,000 a year to be wrong 99% of the time. My birthday was this past Thursday and the present I received from my girlfriend were two tickets to the Muse concert tomorrow night in Columbus. I had checked out the forecast all week and the weatherpeople were calling for a high between 36 and 38 degrees with a chance of flurries on the night of the concert. This was their prediction through yesterday. When I checked this morning, they drastically altered their forecasts to read as follows: Winter storm watch, with 4-8'' of snow from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon, and sleet mixed in for good measure. There's already talk about the concert being canceled or postponed due to the altered forecast. What do these people get paid for anyway? Within 12-24 hours, they go from, "It'll be an average late winter day, without much to wor...

I both love and loathe many holidays. I love them for the simple fact they can provide me with a day off, and also give me an excuse to spend time with extended family. However, when thinking about the traditions of many, I have to scratch my head, and ask, "Why?" Groundhog Day is such a day for me. It gives me a reason to spend time with family and watch the film by the same name for the 37th time. However, what does this holiday revolve itself around? A groundhog, based on whether or not the sun is out at that time of the day, predicting whether or not we'll have an early spring. What is the groundhog's rate of accuracy? Just 39%. The groundhog is wrong 3 times out of every 5. That's worse than most meteorologists...barely. I don't know what's sadder, the fact we celebrate a day looking to a groundhog for all the answers regarding when spring will start, or that I'm seriously wondering if the groundhog's forecasts are more accurate than our act...

Have a crazy uncle who seems to constantly send you political chain e-mails, mainly revolving around President Obama, which can be debunked within 30 seconds via Snopes.com? I know some people like that. I'm THAT guy who takes those 30 seconds to search Snopes.com and provide the link to the sender to illustrate that the claim or story is false. This happened just yesterday when an old very conservative friend of mine shared the following story on Facebook: "CLASSROOM SOCIALISM Is this man truly a genius? An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, 'Okay, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan'. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fai...

Denver Broncos' quarterback, Tim Tebow, led his team to a 38-24 win over division rival Oakland yesterday. In the game, Tebow completed 10 of 21 passes (47.6%) for 124 yards (5.91 p/att) and 2 touchdowns. He also rushed for 118 yards. Yes, the Broncos won and Tebow didn't lose the game for his team, but to say he won it for the team would be quite misleading. Midway in the 3rd quarter, Denver trailed Oakland 24-14, before Matt Prater kicked a 43-yard field goal to close the gap to 7 at 24-17. Tailback Willis McGahee then galloped 60 yards for a score to tie the contest. Receiver Eddie Royal returned a punt 85 yards to put the Broncos ahead for good and McGahee added a 24-yard run to sea the deal the now 3-5 Broncos. McGahee finished with 163 yards on 20 carries (8.2 p/). Quan Crosby added two solid kick returns of 66 yards total (33 p/) and the Broncos were helped by Carson Palmer's 3 interceptions. So, was Tebow somewhat effective, especially in comparison to last week...

So, after Denver Broncos' starting quarterback, Tim Tebow, led his team to a 4th quarter comeback against the winless Miami Dolphins a week prior, he made his second start of the season yesterday against the now 6-2 Detroit Lions and the outcome was completely different. In his first start of the year, Tebow was ineffective for about 3.5 quarters, only playing well for the final few minutes of the 4th quarter. This was the case again yesterday against the Lions, but unlike the previous week, Tebow's effective last half quarter came in garbage time, when the Lions gladly sacrificed yards for time, as they were up 6 touchdowns (45-3) at that point in the game. So, even with how awful Tebow's numbers are from yesterday's game, they should actually be a heck of a lot worse. Again, like I say with all young, inexperienced quarterback, we should all give Tebow some time to get in more reps, improve and see what his long-term value at the position is or could be. On the da...