Biases

By Bobby Chang

Search Engines and Political Bias. While searching for the blog of Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann, I typed her name in a Google search. The first site that it pointed was a left-wing site that is committed to defeating Mrs. Bachmann in 13 months at the 2010 Congressional Elections. Seems editors want people to toss her out for being on the nose in political issues when the editors want more of the fringe Left in control – they'd want a two-thirds supermajority to pass treaties that surrender sovreignity to other nations. It reminded me of a Democrat political trick in 2000 in South Carolina when liberal leaders decided to cybersquat political opponents by buying domain names of potential opponents so that if you typed their name, you would instead receive a pro-DNC site designed to promote the agenda of the incumbent liberal, James Hodges, who won his election by promoting the expansion of state government with a state-run gambling operation “for the children,” for which the Palmetto State is still hurting today, as the falsehoods of promoting education has resulted in bad schools that many industries will not come to the state, as gambling as a virtue has replaced study, as money has been used to purchase new leftist books and push other teachers' union causes that keep dumbing down schools.

State-Run Gambling, Casinos, and Pete Rose. The idea that a state-run “casino” “for the children” is a virtue has created a sad state of affairs where promoting gambling has become the state's most important ideal, as states envision the state “casino” the biggest revenue maker in the state, more than any industry. What is even worse is we see state-run “casinos” advertise at sports stadia and both radio and television broadcasts across the country alongside Indian and regular casinos. Wasn't it twenty years ago Pete Rose was banned from baseball for his involvement in betting on his own team, and ninety years ago eight members of the Chicago White Sox were involved in a betting scandal at the World Series that would take 86 more years before they won another championship? What would it say today if Pete Rose is banned from the Hall of Fame for betting on his own team, but today's baseball teams are advertising state-run and private casino gambling in the ballparks? A visit to Turner Field on Peachtree Weekend this year proved my worst fear, as I observed the first-base side of the stadium had advertising for an Indian (or as G. Gordon Liddy says, aborigine) casino. Why are stadiums advertising for state-run or other forms of casino gambling when players are told they cannot participate in gambling events?

Media Bias. The Miss America Organisation announced Rush Limbaugh to be a judge at the 2010 pageant, set for January 30 (8 PM EST, TLC). Something just doesn't cut it with it being in Las Vegas, just like the NHL Awards (moved from Toronto) or the NASCAR Sprint Cup banquet (moved from New York). I'm sick of seeing Las Vegas get everything and it seems we are now seeing how gambling is a virtue since Las Vegas is the capital of major events. The Las Vegas Sun even wrote some politically charged leftist slants in the article discussing the rumours. Of course, Mr. Limbaugh as a judge at the pageant should be different than what happened when the Trump Organisation, General Electric, and Vivendi's Miss Universe organisation had when Mario Lavandeira posted a loaded question at the pageant in order to give people who opposed his deviancy agenda a zero. It just doesn't look right to see Miss America held in “hype week” (the week before the Super Bowl) on a basic cable channel in Las Vegas. I miss the days of it being held in September in Atlantic City just two weeks after the Sprint Cup race in September in Florence*.

Speaking of Loaded Questions. A report on The O'Reilly Factor noted Harry Connick Jnr had criticised a “minstrel” show on Nine's Hey, Hey, It's Saturday (Australia) by putting a zero score on the performer. The “minstrel” show in Australia had a group perform in blackface to a Jackson Five routine and one “whiteout” artist performing similarly to the late Michael Jackson in a tribute to the performance on the show many years earlier. What they did not know was they had a Louisiana native as a judge who has learned the minstrel shows are not norms in the States, and they learned cultural differences mattered. And as for Michael Jackson, I cannot believe the local downtown group has a “Michael Jackson tribute” concert set Tuesday, and a dance troupe will have a “Thriller” dance for their Halloween show. Give me a break, I'm tired of the Michael Jackson worship!

Stupid Advertising. An ad that appeared on certain ESPN Web sites posted by the Homestead-Miami Speedway for NextEra Energy Resources SpeedJam (a Grand-Am and IRL race weekend) this weekend has a static image with the IRL logo and the phrase “Sexier Drivers” for people to buy tickets to the event. Here we go again, another group advertising “sex sells” by making a clear reference to all three women of the Indy Racing League, two of which have made risqué pictures, and the third (in her full Nomex uniform) presenting an Indianapolis 500 Showcase (including doing her own speaking parts) on her home-state The Price Is Right (The host and announcer are both from the Cleveland area).

Thought Crimes. The Congressional supermajorities have decided that thought police deserves to be in the Defense Authorisation Bill for Fiscal Year 2010. I've seen this trick before, used on the minimum wage increase of 40% that has caused this economic crisis, and now they are trying to make “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” protected classes, this in essence making child molesters a protected class, and to make the preaching of God's Word a crime if the pastor makes an attempt at saying the truth of sexual deviancy. We've engrained a generation of youth into the idea that alternative lifestyles are legal, and now we are doing everything to push their lifestyles. There will be a similar tactic in another authorisation bill to force us into state-run Communist-style inefficient “health care” that will create rationing and inferior care. And don't forget about the support of ACORN, who stole Norm Coleman's legitimately won seat in the Senate and handed it over to Al Franken to help create the No Debate No Discussion Obama Is The Gospel Congress that makes too many Southern states irrelevant.

Pink Sunday. To a man, pink symbolises either intimidation or their cars. The former was used by Hayden Fry at Iowa by painting Kinnock Stadium's visiting locker room pink, and today has become part of sports lore. Some coaches thought pink would intimidate an opponent, so they would paint (as some stadia have done) the visitor's hallway or locker room pink. The latter is a reference to the “drag racing for pink slips,” (vehicle titles were printed on a pink slip of paper), and led to the inspiration of the title of the illegal street-style drag racing Pinks franchise, and also Gas Money (where the actual retail price of the car is on a pink slip) on The Price Is Right.

Now churches are promoting October 25 as “Pink Sunday” for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, an organisation that has drawn the ire of this blog in the past. At a prayer meeting Wednesday night, we were informed of the Pink Sunday gimmick, wanting everyone to wear pink. When the younger generation is familiar with just tee-shirts of every sports team is suitable church clothing, they will not have any problem fitting with the “in” crowd with pink tee-shirts, especially in a society that believes suits are out and there should be no dress code..

But to betray Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is something I cannot find myself supporting, and having associated myself with the South Carolina Citizens for Life since college, including two National Right to Life banquets, and having met Kathy Troccoli, Steve Mosher, Olivia Gans, Norma McCorvey, Jill Stanek, Vera Lord, Duncan Hunter (senior and junior), Jennifer O'Neill, Wanda Franz, and other champions of the pro-life movement in my twelve years of association with the SCCL and NRLC, I cannot understand why churches think Pink Sunday should be supported when it goes against the Sanctity of Human Life, but considering the day is no longer observed by the White House of Congress, what gives when we're promoting Planned Parenthood at churches but not the Sanctity of Human Life?

* NOTE: Darlington Raceway is in the eponymous Florence suburb, and part of the Florence-Myrtle Beach television market.

The New Media Reform

By Bobby

Media reform is a huge issue now with liberals and the Triple Crown. Here's my top Obama Media Reform Rules.

1. News Corp (Fox News, the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal) and The Washington Times will lose their seats in the White House Press Room and be replaced by Glamour magazine, Al Jazeera, MTV and its homosexual network (where the President allowed a debate, but not Fox), and a member of the Office of Media Control.


2. An attempt to pull an RCTV on the Fox News Channel and Business Network will take place. (RCTV was a private channel in Venezuela seized by Chávez. The signal was given to government propaganda.)


3. The Media Ownership Reform Act, including a Fairness Doctrine, will be cleared, and media policies of Obama will be in play. Fox News Radio, Premiere Radio Networks (Rush Limbaugh, Michael Weiner, Ph.D., Laura Schlessinger), Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and other conservative radio sources will be bounced off-air, replaced by a new wave of music as selected by ACORN and other "community leaders" which will be able to determine what radio groups will have licences. News/talk radio will be seized and replaced with these inferior stations as federal media policy outlaws news/talk radio.


4. The new MORA will also include regulation of satellite radio and cable television to ensure their agenda is the only one permitted. This includes cable and satellite carriers being asked to carry an Obama Channel (see Dish Network).


5. The Office of Media Control will ensure Glenn Beck will not be permitted on television once it voids Glenn Beck's contract with Fox News as part of pulling its licence. (Many journalists have a noncompete clause in their contracts prohibiting them from appearing on a rival station for a time after their contract expires; Jim Gandy (Columbia) and both Bill Walsh and Warren Peper (two different stations in Charleston) were barred from being on-air in those markets when they were bounced from popular stations; both signed with rival stations in the same market to appear after their noncompete expired.)


6. Religious broadcasters will be banned unless approved by the OMC. The Emergent Church (a liberal church that doesn't teach the Bible) will be permitted.


7. MOVEON.ORG will be given propaganda rights to spew propaganda to block Fox News, including hijacking the Fox News Web site, which will be approved by the OMC.


8. Federal media regulators will allow green earth agenda people to order a block on the Fox Broadcast Network on February 15, forcing a 2-hour program promoting liberal propaganda at 2 PM, and a 4-hour Live Earth rebroadcast to air at 4 PM. This will block Fox's broadcast of a major prime-time sporting event scheduled that day (the Daytona 500) and be mandated as part of new federal orders.


9. Radio broadcasts of Händel's Messiah will be purged and replaced by broadcasts of the latest Kwanzaa special promoting Communism. (See Ann Coulter's column about Kwanzaa.)


10. Anyone who spews anything against the Office of Media Control will have their broadcast licence pulled on the spot.

The History We Forget

By Drew

What with the Vice Presidential debate this evening, it seemed like a good time to remember that Sarah Palin is not the first Vice Presidential candidate to come under intense scrutinty - although she might be the first to suffer the kind of character assassination she's endured at the hands of the leftist media and bloggers. The MSM might have you believe that no running mate has ever been so seriously questioned. This is a convenient hook for them. But, of course, it lacks historical perspective.

Back in 1952, the young Richard Nixon, running mate of Dwight Eisenhower, was the subject of a headline in the New York Post: "Secret Rich Men's Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary." Many Republicans urged Ike to drop Nixon from the ticket. The result was called "The Checkers Speech."

Part 1:

Part 2:

You can read more about the background of the speech here. The upshot is that the speech was an enormous success, Nixon remained on the ticket and complied a long (albeit not always glorious) history in national politics, and the Checkers Speech became a part of American history.

That is of course, except for the times when the MSM finds it convenient to forget about it.

Doing Justice to the Justice

By Mitchell

C.J. is the gossip columnist for the Star Tribune (also known as the worst major metropolitan newspaper in America). Judging by her Sunday column, she also fancies herself something of an expert on politics. Witness this, regarding CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin’s appearance in Minneapolis last week:

Toobin is author of "The Nine: The Secret World of the Supreme Court," which is getting good reviews. However, if you only have time to read something shorter from Toobin, make it "UNFORGIVEN: Why is Clarence Thomas so angry?" in the Nov. 12 New Yorker magazine.

After reading it in the company of a source, I wondered aloud if someday Americans would find out that Thomas was off his rocker the whole time he was a Supreme. "Don't we already know that?" the source said.

Funny, but we were thinking the same thing about C.J. . . .

For a more balanced (and more educated) perspective on Clarence Thomas, check out Thomas Sowell’s article at NRO. In particular, savor his comment about “the cardboard image created by the media,” since we get so much of that kind of writing courtesy of the Star Tribune.

Get the Lead Out

By Judith

Much has been discussed in recent months about the amount of lead in different items - especially children's toys - made in China. I don't have any answers, just questions. For example:

Is there more lead in toys now than there used to be?

How much lead was in those now-antique, quaint, metal toys from Victorian times?

How much lead was in the toys that kids of my generation used to play with 40 or 50 years ago?

Were the window sills we all teethed on as toddlers painted with lead?

If there was more lead then than now, why aren't we all driveling idiots, or dead?

Is there more lead allowed in items used in other countries, and, if so, why aren't they all driveling idiots, or dead?

Does more research need to be done on the amount of lead that is risky and just how it affects us?

Is lead the alar (remember Meryl Streep wailing about "the children"?) of our day?

Is the lead scare politically motivated because all these things are made in China?

See, I don't have answers, but maybe the questions are enough for now.

If It's on the Web, It Must Be True

By Mitchell

The big news in sports today is not that Isiah Thomas was found guilty of sexual harrassment. No, the big news is that, according to CNN, there's apparently a new NBA team we weren't aware of, and in the Big Apple, to boot.

It's a team called the New York Nicks (short, one presumes, for Nickerbockers). Is this team owned by Nickelodeon, perhaps? Or maybe, because the team isn't very good, it's their way of saying they aren't worth a plugged nickel.

This obvious typo in the headline has been changed since the initial posting, but thanks to the miracles of technology, we were able to capture the original screenshot:

It probably didn't long for the editors to find this, although I'm somewhat at a loss as to why they didn't catch it in the first place. But, harking back to what Steve wrote about a couple of weeks ago (the "debarked" dog), it really gives you confidence in our media, doesn't it?

Just the Facts...Please

By Steve

All of us who play around with putting words on paper (or Word document) know that it’s not an exact science. We shy away from being too critical of others trying to make a living doing the same. But there do come times when you have to say something, especially when you find it in a newspaper that is supposedly doing straight journalism.

Case in point. Our local Strib ran a story (as I read it in its online version) on Tuesday. A sad, gruesome account about the disturbed man who admitted in court to killing a pet dog and taking part in the beheading of the poor animal. Horrible stuff, but could and should be reported, if only to show that there are shreds of justice and decency left in a pretty tattered world.

Then the story gets just weird, in terms of its description, anyway. The perp is in court, admitting to his heinous act. But we don’t just get the facts, we get much more. Here is the exact copy as it appeared yesterday in the Strib story:

“His voice — hoarse, slightly high-pitched and almost too soft to hear — was reminiscent of a debarked dog.”

What the... a “debarked dog???” In an apparent, close to nauseating, attempt to call forth the spirit of the deceased animal, we get what sounds like a high school sophomore’s attempt at Edgar Allen Poe knock-off.

I tried to be fair, thought maybe I was missing something, looked up my Merriam-Webster and found the only thing close to that word has to do with getting off a ship. I’m still open to correction, let me know if I’m still missing it.

As you can see from the online version that appears today, the "debarked dog" comment is nowhere to be seen. Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed something was amiss.

Wordplay aside, what happens in this sentence is much more serious. We’re supposedly reading a newspaper account of a court-room scene. We end up with a weird editorial phrase that just makes you wince.

As my wise colleague said, “if you’re going to editorialize in a news story, at least make it well written.” That is strike one, strike two, Star-Tribune.