Unusual News
More Americans Want Bush Investigated Than Believe in Evolution
Even as Americans deal with the pressures of two wars and a struggling economy, a USA Today/Gallup Poll found that about two-thirds of those surveyed are in favor of investigating some of the Bush administration’s tactics that may have been illega... read more
For 18-29-Year-Olds, TV is Fading in Importance
A recent Pew Research study shows that, unlike older generations, Americans aged 18-29 are just as likely to get their news from the Internet as from television. In general, 70% of Americans consider television a major news source and 40% cite the... read more
Obama Press Conference 3 Grade Levels Higher Than Bush
Mark Nicholas of PoliticalBase.com compared the transcripts of President Obama’s first presidential press conference on Monday with the first one that former President George W. Bush conducted back on February 22, 2001.
Nicholas copied the tra... read more
The Bright Side of Global Warming
The dangers of global warming have received a great deal of attention, but the alarming trend does have certain potential advantages. One example is taking place in the Arctic, where the rapid melting of polar ice has introduced the possibility th... read more
Iraq’s First Western Tourist
Writing in The New York Times, Stephen Farrell and Alissa A. Rubin report the case of Luca Marchio, who showed up in Baghdad and Falluja as Iraq’s first Western tourist since the U.S. invasion in 2003. A 33-year-old from Como, Italy, Marchio obtai... read more
Dingell to Set Record for House of Representatives Longevity
On Wednesday, February 11, Rep. John Dingell Jr. (D-Michigan) will break the record for the longest time served in the House of Representatives: 53 years 61 days. Since it was created in 1789, 10,631 Americans have served in the House of Represent... read more
Unsolved Homicides Playing Cards
In 2005, Tommy Ray, a special agent in Polk County, Florida, made decks of playing cards with information about local unsolved crimes. He passed out the decks in the Polk County jail, hoping that prisoners would gossip and reveal clues to these co... read more
France Challenges Michigan over 330-Year-Old Sunken Ship
On September 18, 1679, the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle sent a crew of six to sail his ship, Le Griffon, from Washington Island in Lake Michigan to Niagara with a load of furs and other goods. Although its fate is still ... read more
Rejected Budget Amendments of Interest
We are so accustomed to thinking of amendments to spending bills as examples of waste and corruption, that it’s easy to forget that some rejected amendments are worth considering or are, at the very least, of interest. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Califo... read more
America’s Worst CEO
Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain has become the most visible symbol for all the Wall Street excesses that the financial crisis has exposed; in the words of Zachary Roth of Talking Points Memo, “not just greed, but callousness, obliviousness and... read more
Nevada Brothels Ask to be Taxed
Whereas most industries complain about getting taxed too much, Nevada’s brothels are actually asking to pay taxes. The 25 legal brothels in the state currently generate a $50-million-a-year industry that pays significant amounts of tax to the rura... read more
Black and White Unite…After 48 Years
On January 23, 2009, two white people and five black people sat in resolution at a table at the Old Town Bistro in Rock Hill, South Carolina. But 48 years ago, on January 31, 1961, these people met under very different circumstances. Elwin Wilso... read more
Interior Department Challenges White House…to a Basketball Game
At a welcoming ceremony with the rank-and-file at the Department of the Interior, the new Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, fielded questions, while sidestepping the controversial issue of whether he would support the Bush administration’s last-min... read more
Good-Riddance Party for Labor Secretary Chao
The vast majority of Americans who go to work at the Department of Labor do so because they want to protect the rights and safety of workers. So it was a bitter blow for Labor Department employees to have to spend eight years taking orders from El... read more
Getting Serious about an NCAA Football Playoff
In times of economic difficulty, many people find solace in entertainment. In the sports world, Barack Obama stirred interest with his explicit support for creating a playoff system for college football’s Division I. He told “60 Minutes,” I’m goin... read more
Oops! A Look Back at Media Views of Iraq War “Success”
As the presidency of George W. Bush draws to a close, it is worth reviewing one of the lowlights of media coverage of the Bush II era. In 2006, FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, compiled a list of quotes from media pundits about the Iraq War... read more