Lie de Jour

Commitments to books – two are complete, one is on an early February deadline – have meant little attention to this personal blog.

I’ve been thinking. I keep seeing and hearing things that are just absolutely wrong. It drives me crazy, and that’s a particular problem in a presidential election year.

They’re frauds. Some big, some small. Lies. Some big, some small.

So, I think I’ll launch a “Lie de Jour.” I’m not going to argue at length – if you believe some of this crap, well, you’ll probably just keep believing it.

And don’t take that “de Jour” thing literally. Here’s the first.

Yesterday, the New York Times trumpeted, with photos and with about the front page territory they gave to 9-11, Iraq Vets Charged with 121 Murders.

Fine, but do the numbers. That’s about the same proportion as the general population, and one fifth - yes 20% - of the homicide rate for the demographic most similar to Iraq vets - males 18-34. It’s “front page stuff” why?

A sidebar says Iraq Vets at fault in 25 traffic accident deaths. That’s also way less than the expected incidence in a similar population. What makes that rate a story?

Has the great paper run out of “...news that’s fit to print?” Has its research failed? Math challenged? An agenda? Or perhaps they’re just plain stupid.

There’s the lie – or stupidity – of the day.