There's this little thing called a fact that is apparently very hard for the Review-Journal to understand.

There's also this little thing called honesty that can't be found anywhere near the paper's lead columnist.

First, the recap:

Norm Clarke -- Official Corrections -- zero. Number of errors buried in his columns -- 3.

Uncorrected errors -- at least one. We notified them Saturday and a political story about a school board candidate is still uncorrected.

Official corrections -- 4.

Here's the down-and-dirty on it. It's a lot of copy, but the RJ screwed up a lot.

Clarke, the worst correction offender from 2009, was a weekend triple threat to repeat his title. We showcased his Friday correction burial already.

His new ones both stem from his Sunday column.

The entire lead item Sunday comes from him screwing up a previous column. Las Vegas Elvis apparently called for a correction and Clarke talked him into allowing the correction to run as an actual new item. http://www.lvrj.com/news/stories-different-for--elvis---landlord-86746042.html

The relevant part is here: "Garon, dubbed the "Official Elvis of Las Vegas" by Mayor Oscar Goodman, called Friday to say he didn't agree with the wording in the item, specifically that he had rent issues and that he was "asked" to leave the Regency Towers at Las Vegas Country Club."

So, Jesse Garon gets his correction how? By Clarke airing his dispute with a former landlord as a "new" item, and the lede one to boot.

There's also a bad factual error in this column, which we see Clarke correcting today, in a self-deprecating, but no less insidious, way.

"Speaking of that faulty memory of mine, saloonkeeper Henry Poreda at Sonny's Saloon on Industrial Road pointed out, in a kind way, that in Sunday's column I had Richie Sambora as a drummer for Bon Jovi, instead of Tico Torres. Poreda knows this "because Richie and Tico played my club in Mercerville, N.J., every Wednesday for over a year prior to hooking up with Jon Bon Jovi. Richie's band was called The Next. I paid them $150 per night, and that included their sound man ... ah the good ol' days."

Calls for corrections don't have to be "gentle." And the Review-Journal should start correcting Norm where it corrects the rest of its mistakes. We know this may need to space issues on the digest page, but it's the right thing to do.

**

The uncorrected error comes from the oft-corrected James Haug. On Saturday, Haug reported about a former teacher, Ron Taylor, who was the subject of a critical website during his past bid for the school board. http://www.lvrj.com/news/former-teacher-honored-at-nellis-for-heroism-during-vietnam-war-86692687.html

Taylor thinks he was the subject of a malicious attack. This is how Haug describes Taylor's quote.

"Swift Boated? Absolutely," said Taylor, referring to the 2006 commercial that criticized the record of the Democratic presidential nominee. "It was John Kerry all over again."

Last we checked presidential elections were every four years and Kerry was on the ballot in 2004.

Alas, no correction Sunday or Monday. Maybe somebody will read our e-mails by today and run a correction Tuesday. What a 24-hour news operation!

And while we're on the Haug item we thought we'd point out a big problem with the RJ's online redesign. If you want to find the Haug story, printed Saturday, you have to look on Friday's list of stories. Why? Probably because that's when he filed it. If you click the Saturday option, you'll find the Sunday stories, too.

This is not only very confusing for users, it's an easy way to hide errors.

**

Now, a look at the actual corrections.

On Sunday, the Review-Journal had to correct a story that has generated national attention.

"A story in Saturday's Review-Journal about an Islamic advocacy group's complaint against the Henderson Police Department contained an error. The seven Muslim men who were detained Dec. 20 while praying in public were dressed in street clothes."

The original story,  by Mike Blasky, said the men were dressed in traditional religious garb.

This is a story about racial profiling and a national group's formal complaint against the Henderson PD for detaining "suspicious" men simply because they were praying.

It may, in fact, be odd to see men praying in a gas station parking lot. Assuming racial profiling is alive and well, it would be a lot easier for a police officer to detain someone dressed like Osama bin Laden for "suspicious" activity.

The RJ missed this story when it occurred in December, and now can't get it right when it's gone national despite them.

On Saturday, there was another Correction Trifecta.

"In a story in Friday's Review-Journal about a travel promotion bill signed by President Barack Obama, The Associated Press made an error in interpreting U.S. Travel Association numbers. The study said overseas travel to the U.S. would have produced an estimated $509 billion more in spending and $32 billion more in direct tax receipts during the decade had the U.S. kept pace with the 31 percent growth of overseas tourism that the rest of the world experienced. Overseas travel to the U.S. declined 9 percent from 2000 to 2009, equivalent to 2.4 million visitors."

While we don't discredit the RJ for AP errors, we ask this question -- why is the state's largest newspaper relying on the AP for news about the most important piece of legislation to the state's biggest industry?

Imagine if the Detroit Free Press let the AP cover Cash for Clunkers.

The other errors Saturday just don't add up any way you look at them.

"A table in Friday's Business section incorrectly reported losses at the Las Vegas UP Employees Credit Union. The credit union lost $56,000 last year and lost $78,000 in the fourth quarter."

How does someone lose more in a quarter than they do in a whole year? Apparently by having a profit in the third quarter. Don't know how that was possible either.

Maybe the RJ could send John G. Edwards off to really scour the books there. Smells bad, especially since they called for a correction to his table.

The other Saturday correction makes you wonder why the paper actually does restaurant reviews.

"The address for Elements Kitchen & Martini Bar was unclear in Friday's Neon. The restaurant is at 4950 S. Rainbow Blvd."

Heidi Knapp Rinella raved about Elements and gave it her highest grades for food, service and variety of menu. Although she had the address correct, the accompanying info most readers actually get through was wrong. That, Knapp Rinella, assures us was an editing mistake.

Perhaps the restaurant wanted the RJ to actually tell readers where it was in a way it could use to market Elements.

Bet they'll even advertise.

With no disrespect intended toward the excellent criticism Knapp Rinella offers, this correction leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

**

Wow, all that correcting doesn't even give us space to rip the Sunday Opinion page.

The RJ has now done its fourth piece on Scott Ashjian. http://www.lvrj.com/news/tea-party-hopeful-ashjian-gives-voters-third-choice-86816842.html

This one ran section front with a photo, apparently to cover the paper's bases. The Sun on Friday had an excellent piece examining Ashjian's potential political liabilities. But Kristi Jourdan's report did nothing to advance Patrick Coolican's report in the Sun, and still continues to spread the unsourced rumors.

"Ashjian already has faced backlash from skeptics in the Tea Party movement throughout the state and elsewhere who have called his campaign a ploy by Reid to split the conservative vote."

If you're going to write that paragraph, it takes very little additional space to name someone.

The other political story in the very thin, wire heavy March 8 RJ is simply embarrassing.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/nevada-in-afl-cio--firewall--86816847.html

The lede item in this notebook, written by Benjamin Spillman and Steve Tetreault,  is a direct copy of a political blog that ran SIX DAYS AGO in the Wall Street Journal.

This item was appropriate to blog about on Tuesday or Wednesday. Without more reporting, it's completely useless six days later.

Ironically, RJ Editor Thomas Mitchell on Sunday bemoans more sources for news with less information.  http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/more-sources-for-news--but-less-knowledge-86746352.html

Maybe he should read his paper more closely.