May 21, 2002

A Watered Down Story In his article about the Palestinian village of Beit Furiq lack of a reliable water source, Paul Koring places the blame on Israel and Israeli settlers without hearing from them, as a result this one sided story fails to be informative to the reader. It states that the nearby Israeli settlements of Itamar and Eilon Moreh receive water by a pipeline but does not say where the source of the water is leaving it to the reader to perhaps incorrectly assume it comes from the West Bank. In a similar fashion, the article quotes the village’s mayor as saying these settlements "have swimming pools with enough water to satisfy Beit Furiq for two or three months" and uses these words as a subtitle but provides no backing for this claim. The article also states that the Israel military is refusing the village permission to drill a deeper well. There is no indication if this is true, or what the Israeli position on the matter is; only what the villagers state. Overall if the author wishes to write an article from one side’s point of view and not check if what they say is true, it should be labeled as an opinion piece, not a news report. 11:59:15 PM

The Globe and Mail covered the United Jewish Appeal Walk for Israel in Toronto 11:52:04 PM

Canucks in Kandahar (for now) The Government of Canada announced today that the main force of Canadian troops in Afghanistan would leave in August, as their tour of duty would not be extended. Due to a shortage of troops, other Canadian units would not replace them at this time. A return of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at a later date is possible. The Joint Task Force 2 commando team and the Canadian naval task force in the Indian Ocean would remain a part of the war effort. 11:15:23 PM

Given his opposition to the Google Doodles, I doubt Dave Winer is a fan of its current Dilbert theme. It is somewhat tacky mixing your main corporate identity with another product. 11:07:11 PM