Fairly Unbalanced: The State of the Modern Mainstream News Media

The internet, if it can survive as a free and neutral venue for the exchange of ideas, will be the salvation of us all.  Imagine a time before the web, when the only sources of information were newspapers, radio newscasts, and more recently network news.  Now we can have direct reports from bloggers who were on the scene, or instantaneously discuss the discrepancies between different networks’ coverage of an event with people all over the world.  We can access news reports from foreign news agencies such as the BBC, and get an outsider’s prospective on American politics and news events.  Unfortunately all this progress has not worked to reduce bias, inaccuracy, and sensationalism on the part of American cable news, but has rather worked to increase it.  To maintain their dwindling audiences, the networks have had to cater to their ideological bases and play up controversies and scandals to grab ratings, rather than striving for objectivity and rational discourse.   I would like to take some time to expose the bias, journalistic laziness, and irresponsibility of two major news networks.

First, permit me to turn my wrath on Fox News.  I will admit that they are just as unprofessional, sensationalistic, and biased as any other large news company, but this story just grates me.  You can find it online at:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/07/wikipedia-purges-porn/

The long and the short of it is that Fox did a story where they discovered-shock and horror!-that there were sexually-explicit images and images depicting the naked human form on Wikipedia pages concerned with sexually-explicit topics and human anatomy.  Allow me to dissect some of that article:

“These images were and in some cases still are easily accessible to anyone, including school children, many of whom receive unfiltered access to Wiki projects in schools across the country.” (more…)

On Healthcare Reform and Tort Reform

Author’s Note:  I’d have commented on this all much sooner, but computer issues and other personal matters have delayed my completion of this entry.

It’s been quite an eventful couple of weeks in the world of politics. President Obama signed into law the healthcare bill which the House had passed the prior weekend, and that Thursday the Congress approved the “fixed” version of the bill which removed the so-called “Cornhusker Kickback”- extra $100 million in Medicaid funds for Nebraska-but kept other special deals for other states.  Twelve states are already set to challenge the bill’s constitutionality.

Now, I’m not going to attempt a point-by-point dissection of the bill, nor am I going to address its many flaws.  For an article which does a good job of that, see “20 Way ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms” by David Hogberg.  The latest Forbes also has a good article on all the taxes that Obama and the Democratic Congress have enacted, or will enact in the future, and I recommend that everyone read it, lest they be fooled by the oft-used talking point, “But Obama has actually cut taxes for most Americans!” Rather, I will simply go through what I think would have been better solutions and address the issue of Tort Reform, which has so often been brought up as a possible fix (or part of one) for the Health Care issue.  (more…)

The Arrogance of Power

The nuclear option has been decided on. President Obama and the Democrat majority leaders in Congress have decided to use the parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation to pass their unpopular health care reform bill, a bill that the Republicans oppose, a bill that some liberal Congressmen oppose for not being liberal enough, and a bill to which the majority of the American people, according to most polls, are vehemently opposed.

Here, you can see a compilation of leading Congressional Democrats lambasting the procedure… when Republicans tried to use it back when they had the majority and the Democrats tried to filibuster every bill and nomination they could. Pot, meet kettle.

My favorite quote is the one by Harry Reid. The “arrogance of power” is an apt summation of the main problem facing the United States; it is applicable to not just our politicians, but the unions and big business. (more…)

Happy New Year To All

Well, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. I’ve been back in the States for little over a week now, and boy is it good to be home.

Ireland can be a great place, and a shitty place.  More than anything it is different: different from what anyone from America, but especially sunny SoCal, is used to.

The sight of the full moon in the clear winter sky can be breathtaking, but even when enjoying that beauty I’m tortured by cold.  I was in New Jersey this last weekend to take the LSAT, and it snowed while I was there, but even that wasn’t as cold as the Dublin night in December.  The wind, the far northern latitude, the long nights, and proximity to the ocean all combine to create a feeling of chilling sensation that is umatched by anything I have ever felt.  It’s like the wind is cutting through my flesh and bones, down to my very marrow, when I’m wearing anything less than a heavy woolen peacoat, sweater, cap, scarf, gloves, and thermal underwear. (more…)

Obama as Bad as Bush?

“I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption, joint efforts to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces so that the Afghan people can provide for their own security.”
-President Barrack Hussein Obama

You just have to love how Obama stands by his principles! Ahmadinejad steals an election in Iran, and the most “the greatest orator of our time” can manage is a tepid wag of his finger. The people of Honduras peacefully (and by legal means) expel a Castro-Chavez-wannabe for trying to illegally alter the constitution, and Obama cries bloody murder. And now the Afghanistan re-vote, called because of rampant fraud in the first one, is cancelled, giving Karzai the presidency once more (and less democratic legitimacy than George W. during his first time), and Obama is all smiles and praises. Finally, when a Muslim Army Major kills a dozen people, rather than focusing his whole speech on it, he gives it a passing mention, after an off-script “shout out” to a man he claimed had won the Congressional Medal of honor, but who had, in fact, actually won the Medal of Freedom; it’s surprising mistake for Obama to make, especially seeing as he was the one who presented him with the medal. [1]I tell you, this guy is already as disgraceful as George Bush, and it’s only his first year! (more…)

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