9. desember 2003

Today's stupidity in the Norwegian press I normally pass over all the nonsense I read in the Norwegian press for my blogging. Today I think I'll just make a little summary of international news misrepresented in our press because Norwegian journalists are entirely clueless. Most of these stories are not of major consequence, but they are actually representative for the quality, or lack thereof. The story that really caught my attention this morning was the news in practically all Norwegian newspapers that the UN is predicting a massive growth in human population over the next centuries. For example, Dagbladet writes that "in what the UN calls a theoretical 'worst case scenario' and which presumes the birth rates across the world remain as they are today, the population will increase to a whooping 134 trillion" though admitting it was a "very unlikely outcome." In fact, it was none of the kind. It was an illustration intended to make it obvious that birth rates necessarily are going to change in the future, and the UN did not present this as any of the scenarios. It is not "unlikely" but impossible: If, for the sake of illustration, the fertility of countries is kept constant at 1995-2000 levels, the world population soars to 244 billion by 2150 and 134 trillion in 2300, a definitely impossible outcome. In fact, as WaPo reported, the UN really expects the population growth to decline, and the human population has probably doubled for the last time. This has been known for quite some time, though not among Norwegian or BBC journalists. Here is the UN report. In another case, Norway's biggest newspaper VG reported that the dog Buster had "been honoured with the English award the Victoria Cross, a high military distinction, for having saved the lives of soldiers and civilians in Iraq."  Of course this was nonsense. A VC is Britain's highest award, given for extreme bravery, and for this reason it is usually awarded posthumously. If you receive it and live to tell, a general has to salute you even if you are a private. It is only given to humans (d'oh!). Buster the snuffer dog (pictured with handler Sgt Morgan) had really received the Dickin Medal, instituted by veterinarian charity PDSA. It is sometimes called the animal's Victoria Cross, and the British newspaper headlines fooled the ignorant Norwegian journalist. The story about Bush's thanksgiving turkey being a decorative plate not for eating has been all over the press and blogsphere for some time. Today the Norwegian press discovered it, and it got a prominent showing, since it can be spun into another anti-Bush story. One culpit as I see it for the sad state of Norwegian journalism is the news agency NTB, which constantly feeds the wire with nonsense. Sometimes NTB manages to create news out of thin air and create national debates, too. PS: Priorities and Frivolities shows how the BBC's reporting on the UN population report was strange enough. It's scary that the Norwegian newspapers were much worse! 10:59:26 PM    comment []  trackback []

Arrest related to death of "God's banker" Roberto Calvi, chairman of the Vatican-related bankrupt Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanged under a bridge in London in 1982, and his death has been prominent in every Vatican-related conspiracy theory ever since. His death was first ruled suicide, then open, and now the police has arrested a 42-year old woman in relation to the old case. I guess that means they consider it likely he was killed. 8:28:23 PM    comment []  trackback []

The humanitarian case for the Iraq war Some leftists have argued that the humanitarian argument for deposing Saddam Hussein is an afterthought war proponents came up with when WMDs failed to turn up. That is not at all correct. This search in my blog, for one, should reveal a number of occasions I argued this point before, during and after the major combat phase. On February 15, I wrote about Tony Blair's poignant observation that there would be no protest march for the victims of Saddam: Tony Blair responded to his critics with a passionate speech about the cruelty of Saddam Hussein's regime, arguing that that the inaction the marchers want would continue to see the Iraqi people starving, being tortured and killed. The humanitarian thing to do, he further argued, was to remove Saddam Hussein from power and commit to rebuild Iraq. On March 18, I compared the French and German opposition to the Iraq war with its support of the war against Yugoslavia (both suffered the lack of a clear UN RC mandate), and asked: Is the humanitarian arguments against ousting Saddam Hussein any weaker than those against Milosovic? Is the Iraqi regime less of a threat to its own population, or its neighbours? On March 19, I quoted British Labour MP Ann Clwyd, who made a comprehensive humanitarian case for the war. The London Times article linked is no longer freely available on the Net, but there are lots of copies available: "See Men Shredded, Then Say You Don't Back War." The humanitarian argument for the Iraq war is no afterthought. 6:58:58 PM    comment []  trackback []

Xmas terror "An Austrian trade union has claimed the repetitive playing of Christmas carols in department stores is nothing short of "psycho-terrorism" for its sales staff." (Sky News) In that case, Wham's Last Christmas is a WMD. 4:56:31 PM    comment []  trackback []

Moscow blast "botched suicide attack" Russian officials describe the bomb blast that killed five people in central Moscow as a probably botched suicide attack. Allegedly, two female suicide bombers had attempted an attack on the state Duma, but may have triggered the bombs too early by mistake. At first it was speculated this may be a crime-related explosion, but both the police and the FSB now refer to the incident as a terrorist suicide blast. 2:51:58 PM    comment []  trackback []

Geek porn Well, it's not my habit to link to sexually explicit material here, but I just have to make an exception for this fine example of geek porn, sorry pr0n. Naughty Ascii art was a common form of entertainment for geeks in the late Jurassic, but it took the modern age to bring us the Ascii art movie. No, it is not really work safe. You have been warned. 4:19:35 AM    comment []  trackback []

Gore to endorse Dean Howard Dean is to get the endorsement of former vice president Al Gore, which will be a huge boost for Dean's candidacy. I think it will take a major misstep for Dean to not become the democratic party presidential candidate now. Howard Dean, ready for prime time or not, here he comes. 2:35:30 AM    comment []  trackback []

— Saddam killed 61,000 in Baghdad alone Saddam Hussein's regime may have killed around three times as many Baghdad residents as previously estimated, if we are to believe a recent Gallup poll of the Iraqi capital. By asking a representative number of people if they had experienced a member of their household being executed by the regime, they arrived at a conclusion that 61,000 people in Baghdad were killed by the regime. The method is not exactly without error sources, but it may still provide a useful pointer to a reality we will probably never fully know. Still, the most brutal excesses of the Saddam regime were atrocities against Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south. The U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq has said that at least 300,000 people are buried in mass graves in Iraq. Human rights officials put the number closer to 500,000, and some Iraqi political parties estimate more than 1 million were executed. How on earth can anyone say that the removal of this monstrous regime was a crime? When we have hundreds of thousands marching in the streets to preserve this regime, to allow Saddam to continue to fill up mass graves for decades to come, then a moral compass is sorely lacking in old Europe. 12:47:20 AM    comment []  trackback []

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