For 10 years now, I've been championing the Internet.
As a pioneer in the New Media, I believe it has provided a leveling of the playing field for entrepreneurs like me to provide good content to millions efficiently and inexpensively.
But, I've got to tell you, you can't believe everything you read on the Internet.
You've got to use common sense and discernment in sorting out the good from the bad.
Today, I'm going to give you two illustrations of "the bad."
They are, in alphabetical order, Snopes and Wikipedia.
I know. I know. Some of you are shocked to hear Snopes is not the last word on truth – that it is not the bible of rumors and urban legends.
Let me give you a recent example of the twisted sense of reality that exists in the land of Snopes.
I wrote a story a few weeks ago on the mania to phase out incandescent light bulbs, replacing them with compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs. The story was so good, if I do say so myself, it was picked up internationally.
Everything in the story is 100 percent accurate and truthful – and not a word of the original ...   more »

Did you notice the European Union celebrated its 50th anniversary this month?
I don't know about you, but I distinctly recall the launch of the EU in 1993 – 14 years ago. How is it that a 14-year-old government is celebrating its 50th anniversary?
It's an important story – especially for Americans who don't believe there is a real threat of or planning for a future North American Community confederating the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Today, the Europeans proud of their regional government achievement see the real birth of the EU dating back to the 1957 Treaty of Rome, involving only six countries for the purpose of pooling their steel and coal resources.
The idea was to make it impossible for another internecine European war to take place because no one nation could dominate the industries of these strategic commodities. They also believed it would spur economic development.
It was, in modern parlance, a primitive free trade agreement – much less sweeping in scope than the North American Free Trade Agreement adopted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico just over a decade ago.
But the Euro-elite understand it was this baby step in the direction of integration that set the ...   more »

Despite questions about the country's readiness for a black president, Barack Obama will win the race for the 2008 White House if he connects with Americans, his wife Michelle Obama told "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts in her first major morning television interview.
"I think that the American people ... are ready to have somebody that they can believe in and that they can connect to," Obama said in an interview that begins Tuesday. "And I think that if Barack does what he's supposed to do and this campaign is ... run well, and he can be clear and articulate in his message, ... he'll be the next president of the United States and ... we will be swearing him in in '08."
Michelle Obama contends that Americans want a new approach to politics that only her husband can offer.
"I think that people are tired," she said. "They're tired of ... the same old kind of politics. People want a new tone to politics. People want to feel hopeful. People are tired of the fear-mongering. And Barack is really the only candidate, in my view, in this race at this time who offers that approach."
Michelle Obama waved ...   more »

By Stephen Dinan and S.A. Miller
May 21, 2007
Fewer than 20 senators are publicly committed to supporting the immigration deal that hits the Senate floor today while nearly 40 are already opposed or have serious concerns, underscoring how difficult it will be for President Bush and his allies to craft a coalition that can pass the bill.
    A Washington Times survey of Senate offices and public comments after the deal was announced Thursday found an additional 32 senators who said they cannot even take a position yet -- a result of the fact that the deal was written in secret by a dozen senators and the Bush administration, wasn't even finalized until yesterday and still hasn't reached many Senate offices.
    "I did not agree to any immigration deal and was not part of the negotiations," said Sen. Jim Bunning, Kentucky Republican and a likely opponent. "From what I have heard about the bill, it gives amnesty to the estimated 12.5 million illegal immigrants in this country."
    Senators will be asked to make their first vote on the measure today, on whether to begin debating the bill. It will require 60 votes to pass, and leaders of ...   more »

The bipartisan immigration "reform" legislation pushed by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and Jon Kyl and others, applauded by Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, and Carlos Gutierrez, the secretary of Commerce, is a disaster in the making. That is not so slowly becoming abundantly clear.
    It's a disaster for national security, for keeping Islamist jihadists out of the country, for exploding the costs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, for preserving the rule of law, and for that quaint principle called national sovereignty. From the details that have leaked out thus far, the legislation, which provides amnesty for nearly all of the 12 million (or maybe even 20 million) illegal aliens already here, would swell the size of the welfare state in a way we haven't seen since Lyndon Johnson imposed his Great Society on us four decades ago. Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who is likely to lead the fight to save the nation from this disaster, and Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation will reveal at a press conference this morning the details of just how expensive it will be. We're talking trillions of dollars -- that's not millions or even billions -- over the ...   more »