Random Thoughts From Marybeth

First the Loaves, Now the Fishes (Or How to Befuddle Newsweek)

Yesterday I had to take Trevor to the doctor. As I was waiting, I was reading an article in Newsweek about the concern that all the abandoned swimming pools in New Orleans would be a breeding ground for hugh numbers of mosquitoes. The article talked about how one solution has been to put a larvicide into the pools. What caught my attention was their surprise at a second solution. One group is providing small fish that eat the mosquito larvae. The fish will survive in poor conditions and would, I presume, be self-maintaining. The group providing the fish and the volunteers to distribute them is headed by Pat Robertson (this is the part they found surprising.)

Did Newsweek take a satirical article that said Robertson said that Katrina was "God's way of expressing its anger at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for its selection of Ellen Degeneres to host this year's Emmy Awards" seriously? (I know that Robertson has said some odd things but in this case what was reported appears not to be true.) Are they unaware of the help that Christian organizations have provided to hurricane victims?

Not surprisingly, Newsweek's inclusion of an opinion in a news article isn't a bit surprising.