A Michigan state senator, wants the state to be able to “register” journalists who can show themselves to be of “good moral character.”

By this means, he seems to believe, the general public will find it easier to wade through the chaff and find the real news, the straight scoop and the true poop, as it were.

A recent study reportedly turned up a pretty strong correlation between the number of books in a home and the academic achievement of the children of the home.

But what conclusions do we take from this?

Here with a great example of how science, the social sciences, and journalism all differ.

Last Friday evening the local news show on my usual television channel led off with coverage of Tiger Woods’ statement of apology for his misbehavior. I don’t know why his remarks were thought to be of particular interest to viewers in the greater St. Louis area.

Then came the network news show – the one that tells us about the great happenings across the nation and around the world – and, sonofagun, if it didn’t lead off with coverage of Tiger Woods’ statement of apology for his misbehavior.

No one on this blog has so far dug into the most important issue facing the world today.

No, not global warming, with or without anthropogenic implications or the usual postcolonial South-North blackmail. And No, not war; there are only a couple of them going on right now, and compared to wars past they are both rather dinky affairs, though not to those directly engaged in them.

No, the burning question is …

“Woods is a good role model … Woods never does anything that would make himself look ridiculous.”

From the cover story “10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger” in the just-released January issue of Golf Digest, which went to press in mid-November, weeks before the Tiger Woods scandal broke.

When my son came home from work he immediately asked me what news there was of “the kid.” “What kid?” I said. “The one in the balloon, of course!”

And so he told me the tale from out of Colorado.

In my delusional state – which one of these days, I have no doubt, will be noted in an edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and given a Latin name meaning something like “psychosis resulting from prolonged disconnection from media” – in that pitiable state I had missed the story that, I afterwards learned, had gripped a nation, even the world.

Here’s a roundup of interesting items spotted on the Web …

What’s the tie between explorer Robert Peary and 9/11?

And was it the chicken or the egg that really came first?

If Afghanistan’s tribalism and ethnic divisions pose the largest challenge to a successful nation-building effort, then critics should make that argument.

What they shouldn’t do is make analogies on the simple basis that the U.S. struggled in Vietnam then and is struggling in Afghanistan now.

Due to variations in ethnic make-up, geography, political culture, and political loyalties, Vietnam and Afghanistan could not be more different from each other. Thus, different strategies are called for and separate historical lessons need to be drawn.

Get ready for a shock, fellow Americans – for two shocks, actually. You may find it difficult to credit what I am about to tell you about two popular political commentators on television. But it’s true, so help me. We’ll get to them right after this word.

Facetiousness …

I know nothing about the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill recently passed by the House of Representatives beyond what I read in the papers, and from what I read it would appear that most of the folks who voted for or against it are in roughly the same position.

They didn’t read it.

They all appear to have decided how to vote based on how others voted: “If he’s for it, I’m against it,” and vice-versa.