Shame On Google

For a while, this blog had ads on it, served by Google's Adsense system. It doesn't anymore, and I have removed Adsense from every site I work on. Why? Because Google was using my sites to press its political agenda.

Ads appeared on my site constantly which bashed President Bush. The appearance of these was astounding to me because the point of Adsense is supposed to be that ads are served based on the text of the site. The text of this site is centrist. I don't think Bush is all that bright, but I don't think he's the devil either. However, ads from what I can only classify as liberal wacko groups kept appearing here. There were never any conservative wacko ads, which would have at least balanced things out, although I would have preferred to have no wackos advertise on the site.

According to Google, these ads were fine. It's perfectly okay to advertise on Adsense if you're blasting the Republicans. However, you can't blast Moveon.org. Moveon has been attacking Susan Collins, but she was refused the right to advertise her side of the fight. Google put their agenda over the rights of their advertisers.

What happened to don't be evil?

Has The Nobel Committee Lost Their Minds?

Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming. Now let's forget for minute that even the scientists who worked on the movie with him have questioned the results. Forget that their is still considerable scientific disagreement on the findings. What makes me think the committee has lost their minds is: this has nothing to do with world peace.

Al Gore has done nothing to promote world peace. He has promoted his ideas on climate change, but that's not peace. George Clooney did more for peace by trying to bring world attention to the situation in Darfur. Where is Gore's contribution to world peace?

The Nobel Committee has tarnished its name by giving the award to someone who has clearly not earned it. This isn't the Nobel Prize For Community Service or the Nobel Prize For Environmental Sciences. This is the Nobel Peace Prize. Gore should never have been considered because his actions have had nothing to do with peace.

NABJ Blasts Imus, Again

The National Association of Black Journalists released a statement yesterday, arguing against Don Imus' return to the radio.

"NABJ remains outraged after the racially inflammatory insults made by Don Imus last spring. He used his free speech to broadcast hate speech. To put him back on the air now makes light of his serious and offensive racial remarks that are still ringing in the ears of people all over this country," said Barbara Ciara, NABJ president.

"It seems inconceivable that less than a year after Imus was dismissed from CBS Radio and MSNBC for his vicious insults upon the Rutgers women's basketball team, that Citadel Broadcasting would consider putting him back on the air," said Ernie Suggs, NABJ's Vice President of Print.

So it seems inconceivable to let Imus speak, even though they admit he has the right of free speech. Of course it wasn't inconceivable for Jesse Jackson to continue speaking after he referred to New York as "Hymietown". It seems the NABJ is all for free speech, except when they don't like it.

Perhaps they should spend less time complaining about what others say and more time promoting the achievements of their members. Surely they have members that could stand as role models. You want to fight racial stereotypes, promote non-stereotypical achievements. Showcase the intelligent writing of the NABJ members. Show that blacks can succeed in whatever field they choose. Stop playing to the lowest common denominator and shine a spotlight on the highest.

As for Don Imus, like it or not, we have free speech in this country. If the NABJ doesn't like it, they should start by muzzling Jackson and Sharpton.