News Junky

The Impossible Hamster

2011-09-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

HT David Roberts over at Grist and Treehugger: A Dialogue Economic Growth's Great Dilemma

I would hate it if scandal sunk any candidate

2008-03-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

I want us all to grow up and vote for the person who best reflects our positions on issues, who has similar priorities to ours, who will work to making America the America we want.

The Wright issue is a non issue to me. Never mattered at all.

The Hager issue is a non issue to me. McCain is courting the religious radical right as I would expect of the GOP.

The irrational hatred for HRC coming from both sides is very disturbing. Every time she claims she is the better candidate and would make a better president, there is a segment of Obama supporters who find that offensive (Duh. She's campaigning to win. That's the game one needs to play) and a bevy of "journalists" who will use any insignificant bit of fluff to discredit her.

The incessant parsing of each phrase uttered by each campaign to try to dig a scandal out of it is probably because juicy stories catch our attention, and it's actual work to analyze and compare the candidates positions, and to identify significant issues.

This swiftboat mentality was born GOP but has infected the progressive milieu.

The untouchable Mr Obama

2008-03-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Any attempt to openly discuss Obama's personal and character issues is met with "you are a racist!".
Any attempt to openly discuss Clinton's qualifications is met with "she's a liar"
This campaign is dirty, and the dirt is coming from the GOP and the Obama followers.
I've never seen anything like it.

Breaking News!

2008-03-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

HRC scammed Ohio. Proof? We don't need no proof.
We got this schedule here that says she attended a meeting. That's all we need.

Stop the world. I need very much to get off.

Big cars killing the planet

2008-02-02T11:07:00.001-08:00

I remember when the tide turned on smoking. In just a few years it went from acceptable to unacceptable.
Public sentiment made a huge difference. Pretty much anybody who could quit did, even though it's terribly addicting.

If that same public sentiment started to frown on or laugh at these people who have a car that's 3 times bigger and uses 10 times more gas than the rest of us, then moved on to the 2 times bigger and 5 times then...
We'd make a huge difference.

How to destroy a government

2008-02-01T20:29:00.000-08:00

Make them go broke trying to be something their not.

What caused the downfall of the Soviet Union? They spent all their resources to be a superpower and neglected everything else. It was the cause of their downfall. Reagan gets credit, and he did draw a line in the sand... but the USSR caused their own demise.

OK, so now OPEC is going to reduce production...just as our economy hits a bump! Cooincidence? I think not.
The US depends on that oil. Reduced production will wreak havoc with our economy. The price of everything depends on the price of energy. Stagflation. Remember the Carter years?

The writing is on the wall. We can read it and act, or pay the consequences of the (mostly) republican head in the sand syndrom.

You are warned.

Don't let hate skew judgment

2008-01-30T20:47:00.000-08:00

I read a sentence in a novel today... to not hate your enemy because it interferes with good judgment. Very astute observation.
Most of us define our enemies as those we hate.
Step back and look at what it is that defines an enemy... to me it's someone who means me harm. Hate has nothing to do with it.

Jobs

2008-01-29T22:42:00.000-08:00

Blue collar jobs that pay a living wage are a thing of the past. Service jobs that pay a living wage are being exported to India and China
What's left? Must we all become politicians?

Clintons

2008-01-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

Bill Clinton hammered the press today, but the press parse his words until the original meaning was lost.
Lou Dobbs (CNN) recognized what he was saying... other talking heads were too obtuse to understand. Dobbs gets it wrong now and then, but I admire his passion. He got it right this time.
Bill Clinton's remarks were right on. Love the guy. Love Hill too. Smart folks.

Odd thoughts

2008-01-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Two things we should have a "war" on:

Ignorance

The UN should create a high priority program, with lots of funding from the richer countries of the world, to end illiteracy. I heard that Pakistanis rely on TV for their information because they cannot read. The content there is strictly monitored. There are channels here in the US that are entertainment passing as news (e.g. Fox News). To insure everyone on the globe has access to the truth, lets teach them to read.

Injustice

Every month or so I see stories about some guy having spent decades in prison for a crime he did not commit. Congress should pass a law, with funding, that reviews every conviction of every major crime... including DNA testing. Now this is being done on a volunteer basis. Why aren't we making this an automatic, government sponsored, process?

Take Back the Fourth Estate

2007-08-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

Imagine that someone famous voiced deception and delusion on a daily basis. Then imagine that all the major news wires picked up his every utterance, and presented it as news. It then does not surprise that 30% continue to think it is news... worthy of believing.

If the MSM had been doing its job, Bush would have been impeached years ago. We need a grassroots movement to either boycott or educate the MSM. They need to understand which side of their toast is buttered. The big corporations (agenda and all) provide advertising dollars MSM relies on, but they advertise to sell stuff to you and me... so we can make a difference. Those that are propaganda machines? Let's put them out of business for good. Buy nothing advertised on Fox News, Mike Savage show, etc.
Starting as of now.

I've gotten tired of the news

2007-06-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know whether it's a change in me, or that hearing the same bad news every day about Iraq and the GOP shenanigans seems like reruns.

The story about the King Drew (now King-Harbor) hospital is a good illustration. This hospital has had these kinds of problems for years. All attempts to remedy the situation have failed. Nothing makes a difference.

Our problems are an elephant in the livingroom, but we are impotent to fix anything.

I don't like that feeling. This gives me insight into why people tune out current events. They feel impotent.

As a child of the '60s I'm not used to feeling that way. Then we felt we could make a difference.

Another incident added to my growing sense of frustration. My tube of toothpaste was confiscated at Indianapolis International. It was fine going through the checkpoint at LAX, but was evidently a real no-no at INDY. Why? Don't all the screeners follow the same rules? I'm thinking these processes are defined by people of modest intellect, and enforced by folks who settle for near minimum wage.

In fact that's the bottom line. We are delegating huge responsibilites to folks who are just not up to the task. Bush is the best example of it.

Perhaps we should just let it all fail and start again.

The Impossible Conundrum

2007-06-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

George's find of the day... Right On!

How to package an entertainment program that resembles a real newscast...

Today’s television news theocracy is steeped in mythology and palliatives that encourage a let’s pretend attitude toward news programming that creates an impossible conundrum.

The Impossible Conundrum June 11th, 2007
by Robert Butche

The fall of the fourth estate

2007-06-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that MSM was ruined by the OJ trial. They had such riches delivered to them by this fiasco that they all grew lazy. They expected good stories to drop in their lap.
And since then, real news has taken a back seat to this kind of tabloid sensationalism.

They’re treating us like mushrooms. Keeping us in the dark and feeding us shite.

—————————————
…the mass media. What are they? They’re huge corporations, massive corporations, linked up with even bigger corporations. They sell audiences to other businesses, namely advertisers. So when you turn on the television set, CBS doesn’t make any money. They make money from the advertisers. You’re the product that they’re selling, and the same is true of the daily newspaper. They’re huge corporations, selling audiences, potential consumers, to other businesses, all linked up closely to the government, especially the big media. What picture of the world do you expect them to present? - Noam Chomsky, Sparrow Talks with Noam Chomsky
——————————-
“I deplore… the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them… These ordures are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food. As vehicles of information and a curb on our funtionaries, they have rendered themselves useless by forfeiting all title to belief… This has, in a great degree, been produced by the violence and malignity of party spirit.” –Thomas Jefferson to Walter Jones, 1814. ME 14:46

Religion

2007-05-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Every one of those who take everything in the bible literally... enough to ignore all the science that debunks such a view... I ask:

>Do you believe in electrons?

>Do you own a microwave oven, telephone, cell phone, TV, computer, car?

>Do you believe in genetics?

Poll: 1 of 3 Americans Say Bible Should be Taken Literally

It seems such people, if they answered honestly, select science using the cafeteria plan. Fields such as biology, geology, astrophysics are rejected, while other fields are embraced. It also seems they are selective about what in the bible to take literally: Literal interpretation

I got a kick out of this site:
Evolution, a Fairytale for Grownups .
Do these people think that since they're created in God's image, God has no more imagination than they? That would make God very dull indeed.
From this site:

"If evolution were true, the fossil record should be littered with countless examples showing many different transitions leading up to the millions of species of these complex creatures. YET WE DO NOT HAVE A SINGLE EXAMPLE! NOT EVEN ONE! The remarkable completeness of this vast portion of the fossil record thwarts evolutionists from cooking up "transitionals" because speculation is not so easy when you have entire specimens. There is not the wild guesswork inherent when dealing with willy-nilly fragments of a tooth here, a leg bone there."

Huh?
Did God create the teacup poodle? Or don't dogs count? (And why didn't Adam have a dog?) We have living genetic variations, either purposeful or spontanious, all around us.

Did God create the TRex and then change his mind? Or did he just decide to let them become birds?

And what does this say about the US?
U.S. Lags World in Grasp of Genetics and Acceptance of Evolution

What's more important?

2006-10-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

A) Our administration heard dire warnings from the CIA that Al Qaida was in the advanced phases of planning a huge attack two months before 9/11 and didn't do anything about it.

B) Congressional leaders knew that a congressman has been having cybersex with teenage pages for the last 5 years and didn't do anything about it.

I pick A.

I seem to be the only one.

I hope Americans are not as stupid as the Republicans think they are

2006-09-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

The GOP seems to be proud they passed laws that blatantly violate the Constitution and the Geneva Convention.
And they think they'll win votes from Americans because these laws "prove" the GOP will be better at protecting America than the Democrats.

Insane.

Why Fox News ratings are high

2006-09-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

With America split between Democrat, GOP and independent affiliations... why does Fox News get such good ratings?

I'm wondering if thinking folks are fed up with the TV news... and getting their news via blogs etc. Leaving the intellectually lazy to watch TV and boost ratings for programs that feed them opinion as if it was news.

PS
It just occurred to me that we've lost the distinction between opinion and truth. The global warming 'debate' pits consensus interpretation of accumulated data with rogue scientists who, despite the data, voice a contrary opinion. Fox, being fair and balanced thinks it's viewers need to see both these sides. They ought to invite the Flat Earth Society on their shows too, in order to be consistent.

What did all the Iraqis die for?

2006-09-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Is there a cause that the survivors can believe made these deaths worthwhile?
Estimates are as high as 100,000 innocents dead at the hands of GWB.
Will the mothers, fathers, sons and daughters of the dead ever forgive us?

Bush contradicts Pentagon

2006-09-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

Iraq on brink of civil war: Pentagon report
Bush: Iraq has not fallen into civil war

I predict his two terms will be known as the Bush era (like the McCarthy era). His presidency will be summed up with terms like incompetent, arrogant, insanely stubborn.

He and the tragedies he has spawned will be described as what happens when Americans stop thinking for themselves and instead buy the lines of infotainers like Rush and Hannity.
He is what we get when our "free press" drops the ball... over and over and over again.
He is what we get when we fail to protect our rights at the polls.
He is what we get when we mix religion with government.
He is what we get when people think with their hearts or wallets and ignore their brains.

Some "right wing" commentators belong in straight jackets

2006-08-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

Savage for sure. But there are others.
Some pretend to know stuff they don't (Savage claims that because he's a scientist he can expose the bogus claims of renown meteorologists about global warming).
Many (e.g. O'Reilly ) hate the ACLU, but were it not for the right to free speech and the ACLU's protection, they'd not be on the air. O'Reilly ridicules the French for not supporting Bush in his war on Iraq. We should all remember France helped us win the Revolution and gave us the Statue of Liberty.
One claimed the refugees from New Orleans are destroying Houston. Some blame the victims that New Orleans is slow to rebuild.
Some think all Muslims are terrorists.
And they invent a bogyman who is everything they hate, and name it Liberal. Who does that serve?
If they cared about their listeners would they feed them this spew?

They are the equivalent of Tokyo Rose... seeking to destroy civilized thinking and action.

A decent analogy?

2006-08-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

If the highways are the blood vessels and the power grid the nervous system... how would you rate the health of your community?
Here in Southern California, I'd say the patient is in critical condition.

It's not just journalism

2006-08-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

Nobody is as interested in doing as good a job as they used to.
Can you imagine building the Golden Gate Bridge today?

Global warming gets real

2006-07-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last week's heat wave in SoCal was unusual for it's humidity and duration.
But there was more than that going on. This heat wave was virtually global.

'Greenhouse gas emissions raise the likelihood of heatwaves like this one,” said Dave Griggs, a Met Office representative on the Joint Scientific Committee for the World Climate Research Programme. “By 2040 this will be just an average summer and by 2060 it will be a relatively cool one.”' Heatwave with a global grip

It is happening so fast! Perhaps we can't adapt?

And still there are some who mock Gore for the "Inconvenient Truth".

What will 120 degree summers do to the housing market in Southern California? Hello Seattle!

Exit polls

2006-07-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to remind readers that exit polls that are inconsistent with the election results are a red flag for corruption if they happen in eastern Europe but no where else.
You buy that?

Bush diplomacy

2006-07-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

Perhaps someday "Bush diplomacy" will be defined as the opposite of diplomacy.
He's really made a mess of it hasn't he?

For an excellent example of "Bush diplomacy" read North Korea Know-Nothingism by Eric Alterman

Views from the right on the Hamdan case

2006-07-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have read what several of the right wing blogs have to say about the SCOTUS decision on Hamdan (June 29th).

A common gripe is that the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA) forbade the Supreme Court from reviewing these cases, and that Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution allows Congress to restrict what the Supreme Court may or may not rule on.
here

SCOTUS rejected that argument on the grounds Hamdan was already pending when DTA was enacted, and unless DTA addressed existing cases explicitly, they were excluded from the act.
This was to avoid a more far reaching decision, that would have ruled whether Congress had inadvertently and unconstitutionally suspended the writ of habeas corpus via DTA.

Another argument is that the courts are second guessing the presidents reasonable interpretation of international law.
I believe the courts said (5 to 4) that the president's interpretation is unreasonable on the face of it. So I don't see any traction in that point.
I would hope that everybody agrees that the president is to be held accountable and is not omnipotent?

Attacks on the character of the five is not rational debate. Unfortunately some right wing blogger have nothing better to offer. You guys are emotional worm cans. Please, let you brain do at least some of the work.
here

Others seem to interpret the ruling as invalidating our war on Terror. That's a knee jerk panic reaction. Relax and do your homework.
here, here and here

And many see the ruling for what it is.
here and here

And special kudos here

I suggest the right wing join the left and celebrate this ruling, because it reinforces separation of powers and the rule of law. It is very narrow in scope... and even provides guidance to both Congress and Executive to remedy the situation lawfully.
If you are really wanting Bush to be dictator of America, then, and only then, this ruling would be a setback.

As for the left thinking Bush has been slapped down? No, I don't think so. Although it does reinforce the 2004 decision here that AUMF and Article II do not give Bush a blank check.

Also read Slate for an overview of blogger reactions.

A new enemy?

2006-06-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a strongly worded dissent from Thursday's ruling and took the unusual step of reading part of it from the bench — something he had never done before in his 15 years. He said the court's decision would "sorely hamper the president's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy."

Supreme Court blocks Bush, Gitmo war trials By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

But there is nothing new about Terrorism

"Modern Terrorism: The beginnings of modern terrorism may go back to the mid 19th century when a Italian revolutionary, Carlo Pisacane theorized that terrorism could deliver a message to an audience and draw attention to and support for a cause. Examples of early modern terrorism are the Klu Klux Klan, which formed to try to dissuade reconstructionists after the Civil War, and the Young Bosnians, which had Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914, leading directly to the outbreak of World War One. It wasn't, however, until the 1960's that terrorism as we know it today came into prominence. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and other terrorist groups used attacks against civilian populations in an attempt to effect change for religious or ideological reasons. The most infamous incident of that time period occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, when a Palestine terrorist organization held eleven Israeli athletes hostage, who were then killed along with the terrorists during a rescue attempt."
A Concise History of Terrorism

What are we fighting for?

2006-06-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

The Republican talking point seems to be that Bush, as Commander in Chief, is free to fight the War on Terror any way he sees fit.

But what are we fighting for?

Is it solely to save Americans from another attack? Is that all? Are we willing to kill the patient (America) to cure the disease (Al Qaida)?

"The troops here and across the world are fighting a global war on terror. The war reached our shores on September the 11th, 2001. The terrorists who attacked us -- and the terrorists we face -- murder in the name of a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises all dissent. Their aim is to remake the Middle East in their own grim image of tyranny and oppression -- by toppling governments, by driving us out of the region, and by exporting terror."
- Bush in a recent National Address http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050628-7.html

Bush, given his blatant disregard for our form of government and our Bill of Rights... is guilty of the very thing he says the terrorists are guilty of. The attack against the Free Press is only one of the most recent demonstrations of that fact.

Do we have checks and balances anymore?

2006-06-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Senator considers suit over Bush law challenge

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | June 28, 2006

read the article

Some things I took away from this article:

Most Republicans in the Senate seem loath to enforce what our founding fathers envisioned as a system of checks and balances that would prevent tyranny.

If well qualified lawyers can disagree on what the law means, the law is too ambiguous. We should fix that. Any lawyer imparting partisan politics as expert opinion should be disbarred.

Reinforced opinion that Bush really wants to be a dictator, and appears to be succeeding.

Bush and the Law update

2006-06-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to
http://atrios.blogspot.com/

Must reads:
Bush’s signing statements: Constitutional crisis or empty rhetoric?

And if this isn't trying to destroy our system of government I don't know what is... here are a couple... but they are all horrifying.

"March 9: Justice Department officials must give reports to Congress by certain dates on how the FBI is using the USA Patriot Act to search homes and secretly seize papers.

Bush's signing statement: The president can order Justice Department officials to withhold any information from Congress if he decides it could impair national security or executive branch operations.

Dec. 30, 2005: US interrogators cannot torture prisoners or otherwise subject them to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

Bush's signing statement: The president, as commander in chief, can waive the torture ban if he decides that harsh interrogation techniques will assist in preventing terrorist attacks."

There's more... read it all:
Examples of the president's signing statements

Americans think Dems have no clear plan for Iraq

2006-06-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

"Asked if Bush and his government had a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq, more respondents said no than yes: 67-31 percent respectively in the Today/Gallup poll, 64-35 percent in the Post/ABC survey.

Democrats, however, fared just as poorly. Sixty-eight percent said the Democrats had no clear plan for handling Iraq, while 25 percent believe they do. The Post/ABC survey put it at 71 to 24 percent." more

Why do you think people believe Dems don't have a clear plan? Because the GOP keeps telling them the Dems have no plan?
Or are Americans so stupid that two plans with modest differences presented to and rejected by the Senate is the same as "no clear plan"?

Or is it that the two plans presented by Kerry/Feingold and Levin/Reed (calling for different time tables) were not 100% supported by the Democratic membership of the senate? Is it that the public wants the Democratic party to be sheeple like the Bush supporters?
Read a decent Fox article here

I really want to know why Americans think the Dems have no clear plan.

Bush and the Law

2006-06-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

Bush evidently believes laws are for other people... and do not apply to him.

This has been going on for the entire Bush presidency. Do you think broadcast media will pay attention?
How many Americans understand what is going on? How could they unless they really work at getting the news?

"WASHINGTON — A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?

Not necessarily, according to the White House. A law is not binding when a president issues a separate statement saying he reserves the right to revise, interpret or disregard it on national security and constitutional grounds." more

"For the first five years of Bush's presidency, his legal claims attracted little attention in Congress or the media. Then, twice in recent months, Bush drew scrutiny after challenging new laws: a torture ban and a requirement that he give detailed reports to Congress about how he is using the Patriot Act." more

Only a lawyer could fully understand the signing statement below. Hardly conducive to transparent government.
Basically states (among other things) that "enemy combatants" detained on foreign soil have no due process rights.
President's Statement on Signing of H.R. 2863

"The first president to issue a signing statement was James Monroe.[2] Until the 1980s, with some exceptions, signing statements were generally triumphal, rhetorical, or political proclamations and went mostly unannounced. Until Ronald Reagan became President, only 75 statements had been issued. Reagan and his successors George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton made 247 signing statements between them. As of 2006, George W. Bush, the current President, has issued over 750 signing statements. [3]" more

Update on the 500 WMDs found non-story

2006-06-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

Fox called Santorum on it.
Video

But it's like closing the barn door after the horses are out.

FoxNews - prime example of pseudo journalism

2006-06-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

FoxNews has so little respect for the consumers of their products they'll feed them noxious waste products.
Fox news is to journalism what the old west medicine show is to Mayo Clinic.

Of course they couldn't do it without the help of people like Santorum. He is a person entrusted to govern in the name of we the people. Instead he choses to deceive and manipulate... providing the impetus of the story.

"Reading from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, Santorum said: "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.""
Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq

Neither are trying to inform us. Both are trying to manipulate us. How many readers are going to process the meaning of "pre-Gulf War" to alert them that the headline is a lie? My hope is all. I am an optimist.

Is it possible that there are some FoxNews listeners who could be "saved" given the truth?

Know Hope

2006-06-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

EVANS AND SMITH GET IT RIGHT!

Can we wake up the MSM to their responsibility? Stay tuned.

Dems have no plan

2006-06-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

We hear this all the time.

I think this perceptions is because the Democrats have too many plans. Democratic congress people are a diverse lot. Democrats are tolerant of people formulating their own opinions based on their experience, including those in office.

Democrats will never goose step to a single drum as the GOP does.

And that is a good thing.

The GOP is to McDonald's as the Democrats are to a Family owned restaurant

This study not covered in MSM

2006-06-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

But it is relevant to those of us who vote based on real issues.

Jonathan Chait: Your silence is deafening, conservatives

"A FEW WEEKS ago, I wrote a column about a paper that decimated the conservative worldview. The study, by William Niskanen of the Cato Institute, found that the conservative "starve the beast" strategy does not work. Indeed, since 1981, he found that tax cuts tend to produce more spending, while tax hikes produce less."

LA Times Article here

And here is Mr Niskanen's report

Thanks George.

Must read

2006-06-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

Media Matters- by Jamison Foser
Weekly Part 4: where do we go from here?

While the focus of the above article is on concerns of "progressives", it should also be a concern for conservatives. The issue is whether the Fourth Estate is doing its job. Accusations of bias are flying all around us. Some folks have stopped believing the press altogether.

Has the Fourth Estate lost it's credibility?

MSM priorities

2006-06-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Evidently the sham debate about Iraq pullout time table is big news. The fact that the vote ran counter to American's wishes is interesting though. Majority wants Iraq pullout date set

Stories of abuses of detainees committed under the Bush leadership has been spotty.
You'd think these incidents were isolated spikes in an otherwise acceptable conduct of a war.
But in the background these investigations have been going on for years in relative secrecy... and even promises to share findings with the American people go unfulfilled... unless prodded by FOIA.
Pentagon details U.S. abuse of detainees

While not putting undue emphasis on these abuses is the right thing to do... it is also incumbent on AP, Reuters etc. to not put undue emphasis on obvious political manipulations such as the so called debate held in the House Friday the 16th of June 2006.

Let's see how long the "abuse" story remains highlighted v.s. the sham debate story.

The MSM can inform, or it can manipulate. Currently I think it is a tool for the Government... instead of a tool for the People.

Liberal issues

2006-06-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

The MSM seems to treat all environmental concerns as liberal concerns.
Don't conservatives love their kids? I think they do. So how can they justify labeling environmental laws as liberal? Liberal is now a term present day conservatives (PDC) have hijacked to mean anything they don't like.
Can they be so blind that they can think "My kids will be safe because (fill in the blank (eg Global warming)) is a liberal concept"?

My take is that the PDC is so intent on supporting business they forget that they and their families are also vulnerable to the damage we are doing to the ecosystem. Being rich won't save them. Or us.

Main Stream Media ignores "free press" expulsion from Gitmo

2006-06-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

What's up with that?
Ok, so they had some spin to excuse them. I don't buy it. Do you?
Raw Story Article

The truth is out there. Can we get there from here?

Quote of the day

2006-06-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.
--Aldous Leonard Huxley

What would Thomas Jefferson think of our press today?

2006-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

"The most effectual engines for [pacifying a nation] are the public papers... [A despotic] government always [keeps] a kind of standing army of newswriters who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, [invent] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper." --Thomas Jefferson to G. K. van Hogendorp, Oct. 13, 1785. (*) ME 5:181, Papers 8:632

What has become of investigative journalism? We seem besieged by infotainers masquerading as journalists and political pundits.

We need a serious number of news junkies like me to sift through the thousands of stories posted via the internet every day and elect a few as worthy of the term journalism. Anybody with me?