"I still don't understand why anyone spends money on a paper copy of a newspaper if they've got it all free on social media?"

No reason they should! They might still buy newspapers, if the reporters were allowed time to collect information, reflect and give the readers an intelligent analysis of, say, what this means to them.

But there is no way any reporter engaging in these multimedia acrobatics can do that. The Journal-Register chuckleheads, and to a large extent their cousins at Gannett, have been striving for years to create and publish newspapers for people who don't like to read.

However, they seem not to have figured out that people who don't like to read don't want to read anything. Meanwhile, they are alienating their core readership and making themselves irrelevant.

We are, meanwhile, becoming a nation of people increasingly worried about our future and ignorant of how the system works.

But don't despair. We are updating our Facebook statuses constantly!

Rumor Debunking Dep't: To continue the theme of pleading for responsible journalism, I want to say firmly that there is absolutely no proof that Mu'ammar Gadhafi is making his scurrilous broadcasts from the basement of Kwame Kilpatrick's Dallas home.

Nor can the persistent reports be verified that the former Libyan strongman, now using the former spelling of his name (Khadafy) and the former Detroit mayor have formed a partnership.

The rumor that they already have a multinational alliance called "K&K Unlimited," whose motto is "Screw 'em, kill 'em, steal their money," has no known basis in fact, and should never be repeated by any responsible journalist, no matter what the context.

Nor should any reporter worthy of the name repeat the allegation that the Kwame-Khadafy axis is being secretly funded by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to embarrass the Democrats.

All that is, in fact, reliably known and relevant to the average taxpayer is that both Mu'ammar and Kwame are having sex with Natalie Holloway — and responsible publications should leave it at that.

> Email Jack Lessenberry