FOX: STILL MAKING PEOPLE STUPIDER

Dear Fox Nation:

President Obama gave a 26-minute speech on Libya two nights ago. How much longer do you plan to leave this up on your front page?

Why, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to gull people who didn't notice that the speech took place, just to keep them maximally angry at the president.

****

And when I heard the news that the FDA was revisiting the question of whether artificial food colorings cause hyperactivity in some children, I wondered what the reaction of the right would be. I should have known Fox Nation wouldn't let me down:

I really don't know about the science of all this, and I see that many scientists themselves think the theory is absurd, but it appears that all the FDA wants to consider is whether a warning label might be appropriate -- hardly a crackdown -- and has made no decisions yet:

...on Wednesday and Thursday, the F.D.A. will ask a panel of experts to review the evidence and advise on possible policy changes, which could include warning labels on food.

...staff scientists from the F.D.A. wrote that while typical children might be unaffected by the dyes, those with behavioral disorders might have their conditions "exacerbated by exposure to a number of substances in food, including, but not limited to, synthetic color additives."

...the agency is not asking the experts to consider a ban during their two-day meeting, and agency scientists in lengthy analyses expressed skepticism....

The F.D.A. scientists suggested that problems associated with artificial coloring might be akin to a peanut allergy, or "a unique intolerance to these substances and not to any inherent neurotoxic properties" of the dyes themselves....

But Fox would probably be delighted if its mouth-breather audience turned this issue into the next anti-lightbulb-fascism crusade.

And that's appropriate, right? Hey, I know drugs for ADHD are expensive and occasionally fatal to children, but so what? If it's a choice of helping parents find a possible non-drug solution or stoking more Obama-hate, isn't it obvious we should choose the latter?