More Bad ReportingBlogging

Matt Leingang has written an article about binge drinking in Cincinnati. That is fine. I have no problem with the article, except no where in the article does he define what was considered binge drinking by the study. I looked in a sister article on the topic and found nothing.

Matt might have looked for something like this note on the Rutgers Journal of Studies on Alcohol's website.

Binge drinking has been defined by some temperance movement activists as 5 drinks in a night for men and 4 for women. That has become a common definition by many in the media who are often too lazy to a little research on the internet. I found the above page in a 10 second search using Google.com. Don't you think Matt might have spent that time? Better yet, do you think Matt did spend that time and his editors stupidly cut that part out? That is possible. The bias and/or stupidity of editors often outweighs that of the reporter.

UPDATE: Yes, I missed it. Yes, I was careless. Yes, I apologize to Matt.

Now, one critique that I honestly think threw me for a loop. Matt switched between using numbers in like "20" and 8.8" to using the word "five." Is that an excuse? Well, not much of one. I do still hold my opinion that the story should have held some critical opinion that disputes the study, which frankly is not worth the paper it is printed on, mostly because it defines "binge" drinking on such a narrow view that it holds no meaning.

Personal Jesus

The shot of the week goes to Greg Korte who wrote about theCincinnati Human Relations Commission:

"Councilman Sam Malone is performing his personal audit of the organization."

Nice to see Councilman Malone has found way to express himself to someone who really cares. If he would only do this more often and just keep his findings to his personal committee, we all might sleep better at night.

Hmmmm

Can we say Flip-Flop? Wow, a politician changing his mind based on political pressure. What a shocker.

Nader-Kerry Deal?

Rumor or Truth? Via TPM.

Kentucky Theocracy

Kentucky's Brand of Theocracy is on the march in Lexington. I really don't get why people cheer when people try to ban Gay Marriage. Why are the so gleeful? I guess doing their "religious duty" is what drives them into emotional fits. The only thing missing in this article is the fact that most of the Democrats in Kentucky's Statehouse would not favor Gay Marriage; just don't want to ban it outright in their Constitution. A technical difference that is political fodder, but not a substantive variation.

Pols on Movies

People get pissed when Movie Stars give their political opinions. Why then are we forced to hear about politicians given their opinions on a movie? I was pleased to see actually that most of those asked about the movie, which was the Passion by the way, had not seen it. That included well the more moderate Republicans and the Democrats. Chabot and Bunning made it into a big deal. Gee, now who is using religion and the "scriptures" for political gain?

Blog Round Up

Wes Flinn has info on some domestic spying up in Dayton.

Greg Mann comments on Bronson's latest column, and agrees. No, I have not seen the flying monkeys yet.

Matt Sledge has a future after 97X. I don't know if all the peanuts in the world would tell us what we be the new format of 97.7.

Mike at Rantophilia comments on Safire and his attempt to be a moderate on the Pledge issue.

Mark at the Rambler has an update on featured Dinosaurs.

SadGirlSeven just might have a thing for Anderson Cooper of CNN.