How's this for breaking news? On July 20 the RJ sends an important "Flash" on unemployment. But, when you open the e-mail it talks about "free expression zones" at the Fremont Street Experience.

Hmmm. Do we get a job if we freely express ourselves in downtown Vegas?

This is a classic error the paper never corrects and never shines light on for its print-edition subscribers. But it goes to show that no matter what department we're talking about -- the RJ always finds a way to screw things up.

Someone at the RJ needs a better jolt of java.

"In the Supermarket Sampler column in the July 14 Taste section, there was a mathematical error in the review of Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee. Each packet contains 165-175 milligrams of caffeine, about the same as a cup of brewed store-bought Starbucks."

That's today's correction. We literally don't know how this error got made; who made it or how to figure out the "mathematical error."

Wow.

After that, it's nearly impossible to get through the RJ.

Nice coverage today though on a community effort to get the police off their backs in West Las Vegas.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/group-opposes-police-actions-99299599.html

Speaking of our rogue police.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/calvin-darling-settlement-with-las-vegas-police-approved-99244624.html

And John L. Smith touchingly tells it like it is.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/nevada-s-gop-could-learn-something-from-kenny-guinn-99299594.html

Laura Myers is so far up Sharron Angle's ass she can't begin to cover her fairly.

On Saturday there was the completely incomprehensible story about Angle's 70-minute sit down with the RJ's editorial board. http://www.lvrj.com/news/angle-offers-apology-to-unemployed-99160234.html

Thankfully the RJ has posted the entire unedited video of Angle's rambling, incomprehensible answers. http://www.lvrj.com/multimedia/UNEDITED-Sharron-Angle-speaks-with-the-Review-Journals-editorial-board-99161839.html

Of course, they also spruced up Angle for the main video that is edited. http://www.lvrj.com/multimedia/Sharron-Angle-answers-questions-from-the-Review-Journals-editorial-board-99152049.html -- apparently they hope people don't have 77 minutes to pore through the unedited one and see the truth for themselves.

We don't know what's more embarrassing in this video, Angle's grinning every time she talks herself in and out of position, or the RJ's editorial board questions.

Angle supposedly offers an apology to the unemployed for saying they're spoiled. Then she says she would have voted no on the benefits extension. But then she says people should stay on unemployment as long as they need to.

WTF?

Why does Myers give us three separate policy positions -- all on opposite ends -- as if that makes perfect sense for the candidate?

She does this either because she's lazy, or because she's covering for Angle.

On Sunday, Myers had to stoop to the blogosphere to cover Netroots Nation and RightOnline. http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid--angle-pitch-to-bloggers-99190569.html

She describes Angle as knocking her stump speech out of the park. Not how we saw her incomprehensible statements on bailouts and stimuli and Social Security. Again, no fact checking Angle. No checking Angle against previous statements or positions.

This is really lazy stuff. Now, what's out of Myers' control is really egregious Sunday.

The paper ran a mondo pic of Angle taking the stage at RightOnline. No pic of Reid mingling with lefty bloggers, hugging Lt. Dan Choi or talking to the big Netroots crowd. There is a picture of Reid with Oscar Goodman based on the mayor's bus tour Saturday.

So, getting back to the question of whether it's laziness or bias -- consider this -- Myers has bylines on stories that took place at the Rio, the Venetian and on a bus through downtown Las Vegas. She either is the most industrious journo in town, or she's getting fed stuff without disclosing who gave it to her.

We don't suspect that she wasn't in all three places, just that her description of Angle's speech at RightOnline is very odd.

Thankfully, both C-Span and Media Matters for America have Angle's speech on tape. I'll post the links as soon as they're public.

**

I think the RJ's correction Sunday is a local fuck-up of a wire service photo.

"A caption on a photo with a story about pay for elected officials in the city of Bell, Calif., in Saturday's Review-Journal contained an error. The city of Bell is in Los Angeles County."

Typically when the AP makes an error, the RJ says it was the AP's error.

Chalk this one up to the unidentified copy editor.

Finally we get to today's paper.

The political notebook is a strange animal today.

The first item is a fairly nice tribute to the late Gov. Kenny Guinn.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/millennium-scholarship-recipient-grateful-99219589.html

But then there's this curious "update" about Scott Ashjian.

We say it's curious because well, Ashjian has completely avoided media and, best as we can tell, hasn't done a thing to campaign for the U.S. Senate race.

So, why is the RJ trying to get an update from him?

To remind Sharron Angle's base not to vote for him.

The information about Ashjian's business practices, liens, taxes, etc. is perfectly valid, but drawn out of thin air like this, it simply shows the RJ will stop at nothing to help Sharron Angle.

Before we get to the horrors of today's RJ (and believe me, it's horrible), here's a look at the paper's Copyright Troll.

Our friends at Media Matters had a great spot on Nevada television focused on conservative bias in the media.

And of course, in the interview on Face to Face with Jon Ralston this week, there's plenty of discussion on Sherm Frederick.

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007200048

This is must-see TV, folks.

**

As for our own little conservative news outlet -- the Review-Journal -- nothing readable in there today.

Must have been a slow news day.

Laura Myers has gone to a reliably GOP company to give Sharron Angle a very lengthy tome about "repealing" the estate tax. http://www.lvrj.com/news/angle-pledge-to-highlight-family-s-estate-tax-plight-98905789.html

Thanks Laura. Sharron must be beaming that ear-to-ear grin. Is she also paying you, or, like most of the high-end taxes, doesn't that trickle down?

So, the Senate finally gets through to passing unemployment benes after a GOP-led month stall and the RJ sees fit to not cover it with its own staff.

Funny how that works -- give it the top of the fold and two local reporters when you think the GOP might win a fight. Then when the Democrats (not to mention, 20,000 out-of-work Nevadas who may actually have time to read the paper) win the RJ runs the AP story.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/bill-clears-senate-hurdle-98905749.html

John L. Smith takes the firefighter's union bait today. http://www.lvrj.com/news/firefighters--ad-attacks-rory-reid-for-mothballing-rescue-unit-98905784.html

The firefighters have a $2,600 ad buy which is designed to get media attention and help them in negotiations with the county. Smith jumped right onto it, as did Jon Ralston, who had Ryan Beamen of the union on his show Tuesday.

The RJ finally corrected its stupid poll coverage errors from the weekend. Well, it corrected some of them.

"In Sunday's story regarding a recent poll question that asked Nevadans if they agreed with a recent Supreme Court decision that expands free speech rights to corporations and unions, the name of University of Nevada, Reno political science professor Eric Herzik was misspelled. Also, the decision effectively scuttled a previous ban on corporations advocating for or against a candidate in their independent advertising."

We complained about those errors Monday. Glad someone's reading us and not just them.

These errors, as you'll recall, were in a piece by Doug McMurdo.

**

On Tuesday, the RJ was a  Lotsa-Correcta-Bear.

"In a Living story in Sunday's Las Vegas Review-Journal about local TV commercials that annoy R-J readers, the ads featuring the finger-pointing highway patrol officer do not belong to Ticket Busters, which is a division of the Richard Harris Law Firm. The commercials in question were produced by 702 TRAFFIC."

What a great topic for valuable Sunday Living space. We kid. Basically the RJ asks people what pisses them off and then doesn't correctly write who is responsible for pissing them off. Classic. This forgettable piece was by Corey Levitan.

The second of what were four official fuck-ups Sunday belongs to food critic Heidi Knapp Rinella, who might do better sticking to what the kids eat.

"In a story on childhood obesity Sunday, the name of registered dietitian Angelique Marquez was incorrect. And the Children's Heart Center Nevada is a private pediatric cardiology practice not affiliated with Sunrise Children's Hospital."

Finally, the RJ can't even print numbers correctly when they're e-mailed over on press releases -- no math involved. Clearly they aren't double-checking the right-wing candidates' math if they can't even type the numbers correctly.

This Heck error was from a Laura Myers story with the put-you-to-sleep passive headline: "Titus has Heck on her heels."

Laura Myers' panties are in a bunch.

The Review-Journal sued eight more websites on Friday, trying to squeeze money out of the Internets since the paper can't figure out a successful business model using the Web.

Righthaven LLC has now sued 34 entities whose websites posted Review-Journal articles.

Still no Danny Tarkanian suit -- is it because he'd counter sue. Among the newly sued are Republican political operative Ron Futrell, an ACDC bootleg site, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and the Marijuana Policy Project.

The RJ sues over sports articles, over housing articles and over political stuff. What brave defenders of the First Amendment.

Wouldn't the better model be to try to get more people to read the RJ online, not fewer?

At any rate, the Sun's Steve Green has been following this creepy development. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jun/05/8-more-websites-sued-over-r-j-copyrights-34-total/

In this story he details MPP's settlement offer -- as arbitrary a formula as the Righthaven's suit.

We wish there were an attorney out there who saw this the way we do (not that we really want to see anyone have to go to court over this). But this business model is desperate and demeaning. Sherm Frederick has said he doesn't want anyone to get his "product" for free.

Frankly, we don't know why anyone would want to pay for it.

Alas, the Righthaven saga continues, and the RJ news team has once again failed to disclose the paper's disgusting legal tactics.

On Sunday, three RJ reporters presented a generally fair and balanced look at Sen. John Ensign's ethical, legal and criminal problems. The main story, by Jeff German and Steve Tetreault, included information about and quotes from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. http://www.lvrj.com/news/ensign-tries-to-ignore-predictions-that-his-political-life-is-over-95716329.html

No disclosure that the paper has sued CREW over an Ensign article the organization posted online.

Carri Geer Thevenot also referenced and quoted CREW in her sidebar examining the legal strategy in the case. http://www.lvrj.com/news/prosecutors-could-charge-ensign-s-former-top-aide-95716364.html

Again, no disclosure.

No sunshine. No sanity. Just more of the same old business model.

It's no wonder the RJ hasn't been reporting on Sharron Angle's latest insanity this week. The paper was too busy trying to figure out how its darling candidate has fallen so far from grace so quickly.