What a shockingly bad lede from A.P. this is:

The U.N. nuclear has found traces of uranium enriched at an Iranian site to a level that is slightly closer to the threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says in a report that its experts have found particles enriched up to 27 percent. That is higher than the 20 percent declared by Iran and closer to the weapons-grade material used in the fissile core of such missiles.

Argh, Iran has stepped over the line! Panic! Start the bombing right now!

Oh wait:

The restricted report says Iran explains the find as a technical glitch. The agency says it is assessing that explanation and has asked for more details, while analysts and diplomats say Iran’s version sounds plausible.

Even David Albright, no stranger to concocting scary Iran stories himself, admits that the trace amounts found are almost certainly a quality control issue and are "embarrassing but not nefarious". Cancel the bombers!

George Jahn, who leads reporting on Iran for the A.P. and wrote this piece, has a long history of banging war drums at every opportunity and a track record of revealing spanner-in-the-works scoops sourced to "an official of a country tracking Iran's nuclear program" which is a "member of the International Atomic Energy Agency" - that is, Israel. Others like the team of man-Judys at the NYT, Broad and Sanger, or Reueters' Deihl, are hardly any better. They usually force themselves to get the truth in there somewhere, but they'll spin it as negatively as possible.

When reading Western media on Iran, it's best to remember the Spanish-American War and that Pullitzer was one of the pioneers of yellow journalism.

But...we should definitely fear Iran's Oompa-Loompa engineers.

Let's take the last first. Apparently the Great Pacific Plastic Patch, where ocean currents collect discarded plastic junk, has been misrepresented by use of a photo from Manila Harbor, which shows a guy paddling a boat through a layer of garbage, mostly plastic. According to Scripps Institution marine biologist Miriam Goldstein, who has actually been there, it's not like that. The plastic is there, but it's in much smaller pieces and more spread out. The danger to fish and birds, often exemplified by a cut-open stomach crammed with plastic, may be overhyped too. Read the whole thing.

That's the pretty interesting, if simplistic, question posed by The Atlantic:

Not everyone is thrilled by the prospect of radical life extension. As funding for anti-aging research has exploded, bioethicists have expressed alarm, reasoning that extreme longevity could have disastrous social effects. Some argue that longer life spans will mean stiffer competition for resources, or a wider gap between rich and poor. Others insist that the aging process is important because it gives death a kind of time release effect, which eases us into accepting it. These concerns are well founded. Life spans of several hundred years are bound to be socially disruptive in one way or another; if we're headed in that direction, it's best to start teasing out the difficulties now.

The results of this poll sort of reflect my own feelings and experiences with Facebook:

According to a new AP-CNBC poll, 57 percent of Facebook users say they never click ads or other sponsored content when they use the site, with another 26 percent saying they hardly ever engage in such activity.

While the company makes money, in part, simply by displaying sponsored content, user clicks are a critical part of an advertiser’s calculus when gauging how effective those ads are and how much they’re willing to pay for them. In the first quarter, Facebook generated 82 percent of its $1.06 billion in revenue from advertising sales. In the company’s online IPO pitch to retail investors, CFO David Ebersman says the company is working to make ads “more relevant, more social, and more engaging” as it looks to grow.

Some may think Barack Obama's hand was forced.

Some may think it was a cynical ploy to garner Gay Money campaign contributions or to pander to the youth vote.

Some may simply shoot themselves and the right wing in the foot, talking about distractions that their own party has raised in the middle of a recovery.

After reading this column, I have to scratch my head a little.

Check out Chuck Todd, NBC's chief White House correspondent, openly speculating that President Obama is going to embrace same-sex marriage because he needs money from gay people. "Gay money in this election has replaced Wall Street money," he reported. NBC's David Gregory agreed. For some reason, neither man seemed to think this theory reflects poorly on the president.

Tom Friedman seems set to prove he's worthy of Atrios' honor. His latest column advocates a third party run for president by Mike Bloomberg, a man who doesn't want to run and one with no chance of winning. Why? Because Tom believes in the tyranny of that same Buffet-Rule-hating fictional moderate middle that Bill Keller does. What a wanker.

And Tom, didn't you or your editor catch yourselves at this line?

We need to weatherproof our American house — and fast — in order to ensure that America remains a rock of stability for the world.

Can you weatherproof a rock, more than it already is I mean? Can someone please drop a house, or even a rock, on this mixed metaphor?

I'm struck by the diversity of comments here with regards to an interview given by the new Miami Marlins manager, Ozzie Guillen.

Guillen committed the nearly unpardonable sin of having kind words to say about Fidel Castro and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

A little background. The Miami Marlins baseball team opened a new stadium this season, right smack in the heart of Little Havana, la communidad el Norte for Cuban refugees. This casts an intriguing light on what Guillen said, for it's the older Cuban-Americans who have a problem with it, while later generations are more "Who's Castro?"

In the course of my infamous college career, I held many majors. One of the fun ones, one I wish I had stuck with, was journalism.

I went to college in the glory days of journalism: Reporters had just brought down a war machine, reporters were just about to take down a President.

Reporters were doing their jobs. Gathering facts, not repeating talking points. Investigating to see if there was a "there" there, and then writing stories that fit the facts, not just parroted position papers.

Think of the world-altering stories that came out in that time frame: the Pentagon Papers, the scandals at Willowbrook and other homes for the developmentally disabled (it was still ok to call them "retarded" back then), and of course, Watergate.

Y'know, the idiot numbnuts on the right ought to learn to shut up and not reflexively defend the white half of a murderous bastard against the black kid:

Sanford police Sgt. David Morgenstern on Wednesday confirmed that the video being shown by ABC News is of Zimmerman. The 28-year-old's head and face are visible throughout and he is dressed in a red and black fleece jacket. Police are shown frisking Zimmerman whose hands were handcuffed behind his back. They then lead him into a police station.

Unwittingly, George Zimmerman's lawyer may have done his client more harm than good here:

It has come out that the unarmed teenager was suspended from school, and is accused of beating up the man who then shot him dead.

Martin's parents claim authorities are now trying to sully their son's reputation, after his tragic shooting.

There were several protests Monday in Sanford, where Martin, 17, was shot by George Zimmerman.

State and federal investigators were to be back at it Tuesday, reviewing the original controversial police investigation that's sparked a firestorm.

On the face of it, this seems like a particularly silly story, unless you're the parent or friend of one of the dead girls:

Time travel TV series have come under fire since two schoolgirls in East China's Fujian province killed themselves on Thursday after leaving notes saying the suicides could help them travel back to ancient times.

The two girls, Xiao Mei and Xiao Hua (not their real names), were fifth-grade classmates at a primary school in Zhangpu county, Zhangzhou.

On Thursday afternoon, Xiao Hua realized she lost the remote control for a rolling door at her house. She was worried and told her friend Xiao Mei.

With the Rush Limbaugh mess percolating in the back of my mind as I surfed today, one of my news feeds presented

Nasty People in the Media...
followed by
Upper Class People...
followed by
Lower Classes...

Andrew Breitbart is dead.

I'm not going to bore you with "say something nice," because I can't.

I wanted to. I wanted to find something to hang a hat on to be magnanimous. I wanted to think about his wife and kids, and to offer up my small slice of compassion and support in their loss.

And then I thought, "Shirley Sherrod had a family. A family she worked hard to support at a job that paid a decent wage and offered nice benefits to make up for the fact that she was not allowed to ask for a raise or more vacation or any of the countless hundreds of things people in the private sector can get."

Usually, when someone from the *koffkoff* loyal opposition dies, I can find something in my heart to say that's nice, or I'll just shut up.

Andrew Breitbart died last night.

Journalism is the better for it.

The Wall Street Journal suggests that big banks should be broken up. Citing the inadequacy of the Volcker Rule in the Dodd-Frank bill now wending its way through Congress, the Journal states any real reform should include "a Congressional plan either for allowing large banks to fail or for breaking them up."

Horrors! Nationalizing banks? The Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal?

More astounding: Jamie Dimon, the head of JP Morgan Chase Bank and an proud 1%er (he once claimed to feel safer in Lebanon than amongst the Occupy Wall Street members) is for raising his own taxes:

I'm involved with a great new piece of progressive infrastructure, We Act Radio, which has finally brought progressive radio back to DC. We just launched, so I humbly ask that you please help us keep it growing by going and checking out our lineup, featuring syndicated mainstays as well as our own produced shows, such as that of Emmy Award winning newsman David Shuster. Thanks :).

Mass media, media, mass communications, journalism, news, radio, television, newspapers, movies, film, labor, downsizing, corporations, profits, corporate profits,

by WALTER BRASCH

The Reduced Shakespeare Co. cleverly and humorously abridges all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays to 97 minutes. Short of having a set of Cliff’s Notes or a collection of Classic Comics, sources of innumerable student essays for more than a half-century, it may be the least painful way to “learn” Shakespeare. The critically-acclaimed show, in addition to being a delightful way to spend part of an evening, is a satiric slap upside the head of the mass media.

Meet Richard Florida (pronounced "Flo-rid-DUH," unlike the hip hop artist).

Even with the president’s approval rating showing signs of life and the Republicans busily bashing themselves over the head — “one is a practicing polygamist and he’s not even the Mormon,” retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently quipped about her party’s two frontrunners — America continues to track right, according to polling data released by the Gallup Organization last week.

Even rock ribbed conservatives are teasing about her "special status".

They interview candy

One down, for now. One to go.

I have mixed feelings about this issue. On the one hand, as an original content provider, I'd like to think my rights are protected to do with my art and writing as I see fit.

Let me put this in an analogy to better sum up that sentiment. Say I buy a bowl for my breakfast at work. I store it in the communal kitchen so I can grab it anytime I want some soup or oatmeal.

Cahal Milmo and James Cusick | London | December 17

The Independent - Scale of Scotland Yard inquiry suggests a scandal to rival phone hacking by newspapers

The police investigation into computer hacking on behalf of newspapers is examining nearly 20 machines seized from private investigators and other individuals, suggesting that hundreds of individuals were targeted, The Independent can reveal.

A small Scotland Yard team of eight detectives and support staff is examining an archive of hundreds of thousands of messages and documents from the machines, amid suggestions that the number of victims of computer hacking on Fleet Street's behalf could eventually rival the total targeted in the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

. . . to my 'office' NPR's Morning Edition regaled me with a story about Hasbro's new spinning top. NPR has gone so downhill it's not even remotely funny. They have, literally, seven minutes to get my attention in the morning and this was what they chose? A toy story? It's one thing to tell me news about maybe how toys are made in China, but a marketing piece meant to sell me stuff?

Raw Story, By David Edwards, December 11

Conservative columnist David Frum, who was speechwriter for former President George W. Bush, blasted Fox News on Sunday for creating an “alternative knowledge system.”

In an article published by New York Magazine in late November, Frum had argued that conservative media like Fox News and talk radio “immerse their audience in a total environment of pseudo-facts and pretend information.”

In an appearance on CNN Sunday, Frum cited claims made on Fox News that President Barack Obama was proposing a “new Christmas tree tax,” something that was found by both The Florida Times-Union and PolitiFact Oregon to be not true.