This is CNN

I get a huge chunk of my news from the Internet, and for many years, my first stop in the morning has been CNN.com. But over the last couple of years, the website has begun straining the definition of the word "news." It's still possible to find out the latest headlines there, but the content of the site has been steadily declining. Here's a selection of their front page stories as I write this:

18-wheeler falls off ramp onto car.
Waiting? Left in the dark? Fire the doc?
Teen suspended for selling fancy sammies.
Bees attack pair as TV station tapes it.
Sleazy outcome from TV show confessions.
House full of feces, filth may be leveled.
Hapless robbers target biker meeting.

Ted Turner is spinning in his grave. Or would be. If he was dead.

See, Not Everyone in Florida is Nuts!

Florida decided today to use the word "evolution" in their state school standards. No word yet on what they're going to do about "physics" or "trigonometry." As a sop to creationists, the words "scientific theory" will be placed in front of the word "evolution" wherever it appears in the standards. This will only placate those creationists who don't understand what the word "theory" means. Which, apparently, is all of them.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Says "F@#k Due Process"

Since I've moved to Monticello, I've had the joy of dealing with a newspaper delivery man who brings a wad of wet newsprint any time there's a heavy rain. This is not always a bad thing. In today's Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the editorial writer seems to be railing against the idea of trial by jury. Persons accused of terrorism, according to this screed, do not merit due process, or a trial, or protection from cruel and unusual punishment. They should be assumed guilty, then reduced to a smudge on the pavement by a car bomb. This is better than the alternative--if captured, the editorial writer sarcastically states, they might be waterboarded.

Why couldn't it have rained today?

Everything You Need To Know About the 2008 Presidential Election

h/t to Max Brantley at the Arkansas Blog.

Happy Darwin Day!

I'd wanted to come up with a lengthy, brilliant post celebrating the 199th anniversary of the birth of the founding father of evolutionary biology, but time just doesn't permit me to do so. So with a hat tip to PZ Myers at Pharyngula, here's a Darwin Day greeting card for you.

John McCain is Jean Le Bon!

Michael Kenney at Quiblit.com introduces us to the man who would lead us into the Hundred Years War.