Posts Made By: James Brown

A movie sponsored by MoveOn saying Fox is biased is silly. Equally hilarious is Rush saying that the N.Y. Times is lefty biased. I hope you all see the irony.

All of these bias arguments seem to boil down to what I will call (with all due respect for the departed) Dimitri's first axiom: "If you agree with me you are intelligent. If you disagree you are biased, lying and/or stupid"

All media outlets are biased to some degree. Bias is (in my opinion) partially a reflection of the belief system of the owners, management and staff of a given outlet, and partially market positioning. Some outlets like Rush and Air-America are very up front with their biases. Others like the Times and Fox are not so up front.

I think that everyone would acknowledge that the subtle "slant" of news stories (not editorials mind you) given in the Times is relatively to the left of that given in Fox. But both outlets claim the other is biased. They are both correct based upon where they stand. One of them may be correct depending on where you stand. It is a lot like special relativity.

Prudent consumers must acknowledge that all media is biased to some degree and filter accordingly. -Jim-

"One of my favorite starting points for backpacking... is Pinedale Wyoming which now has oil rigs lit-up like christmas trees in the backyard of the national forest...so much for dark skies... Bush, the oil companies favorite son at the helm..."

Come on people, this is not a simple George Bush is evil issue!

I am highly conflicted about this topic because I know and love the Pinedale area as well as anyone who does not live there full time. I have backpacked out of Pinedale for a week or more at least every third year since 1978. I do not like looking at wells either, however:

1. The people of Wyoming have every right to make a living. Many locals support this industry. (Others do not.)

2. The wells in Pinedale are predominantly gas wells. This is the clean and environmentally friendly way to heat our homes. Also, and this part really bugs me, this gas market has been developed because of the needs of California.

Foreign natural gas is extremely difficult to transport via ship, and thus, very expensive.
This is why the major gas fields in Wyoming, known as the Pinedale/Jonah Fields, laid more or less undeveloped after their discovery for more than decade. The field which represents more than 20% of all gas discoveries in the US over the past few years is finally being developed to its potential only because the completion of a major pipeline from Pinedale to the California markets. A visit to Pinedale this week would literally find traffic jams in the little town of about 5,000. The traffic jams are drilling rigs being hauled to the fields during the seven month drilling season before further drilling is shut down during the winter breeding season for the migrating wildlife.

http://wais.stanford.edu/USA/usa_052204.htm

I am going to get agitated if I hear many more Californians bitching about other Western States environmental practices. I’m not trying to pick on Rod here. He probably doesn’t know where the Pinedale gas is going. But California does not allow energy production in their back yard, yet they sure consume a lot of it. Their needs are arguably trashing a place I love. That being said, I think that the commercial desires of the locals trump the environmental desires of the out-of-state people like me in this case. And it hurts me in a deeply personal way. I remember Pinedale when it was a wide spot in the road.

I will tell you how to solve the Pinedale problem (and I recognize that I am being irrational here, but I am pissed :C ). Cap all pipelines leading into California, and let them freeze to death if they don’t produce their own energy!!!! Our consumptive society is not W’s fault. You want to know who to blame for Pinedale…. Look in the mirror.

- Jim -

Rod:

Do you have a source for the story you relate. It sure does sound like an urban legend to me.

All you lefties will appreciate the "King George - Off With His Head" graphic here:

http://www.killradiorevolution.com/

Jim

"It works with the religious right, it works with neo-cons, and it works with the ignorant... just as it worked in 1930's Germany.

Those who choose to ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

That is some world class hyperbole, Kevin. It makes me wonder where I fit in (As a Bush voter in '04.)

I'm definitely not the religious right. I don't think I am a neo-con (as you guys define it anyway.) I know I'm not a starving German peasant circa 1930. I guess that leaves me as (drum roll please.....) Ignorant! - Jim -

He has about 15 cows total, a couple of little ones, and 2 younger bulls that stay on the outside! Jim

"The Times notes,"Bush happily benefits from the slime his supporters are spreading but refuses to take responsibility for it or to call point blank for it to stop"

I assume the Times also called Kerry a coward because he happily benefits from the slime his supporters are spreading but refuses to take responsibility for it or to call point blank for it to stop? :S

Yeah right! (how pathetic of the Times...)

Caveat Emptor!

- Jim -

p.s. The following links are representative un-denounced pro-Kerry 527 type slime, (this is the way politics is done nowadays folks, sad but true). Caveat Emptor!

The rule I see is as follows (you may quote me):

Anything a third party group says in an ad, is categorically "hogwash." (You all know the word I was thinking when I typed "hogwash".)

But don't expect your favorite candidate to denounce it!

If a candidate says something substantive in an ad, check the facts.

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=258

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=254

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=236

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=218

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=201

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=183

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=182

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=151

Synfuel, Hydrogen, Oil shale? There will be lots of alternatives that are not price competitive now. Necessity is the mother of invention! - Jim -

Maurice, although I don't disagree with the modern stuff in your post, the following historical statement is incorrect:

"but the US had simply cowered in their holes, refusing to do anything about a real threat to the world."

Yes, there was strong post WWI isolationist sentiment in the US in 1939-1941, however FDR knew war was inevitable, and he finessed the Lend-Lease program through Congress in March 1941. This politically risky act allowed the US to directly support the British, and ultimately the Soviet and Chinese militarys before and after 12/7/42.

By allowing the president to transfer war matériel to a beleaguered Britain—and without payment as required by the Neutrality Act of 1939—the act enabled the British to keep fighting until events led America into the conflict. It also skirted the thorny problems of war debts that had followed World War I.

Lend-Lease brought the United States one step closer to entry into the war. Isolationists, such as Republican senator Robert Taft, opposed it. Taft correctly noted that the bill would "give the President power to carry on a kind of undeclared war all over the world, in which America would do everything except actually put soldiers in the front-line trenches where the fighting is."

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_052600_lendleaseact.htm

- Jim -

Ok, all of you make a good point that rhetorically and on the merits the debate last night was a tie. (your biases show too you know )

But who besides us political junkies cares about that?

Let me ask you (rhetorically) which party is dancing in the streets this morning, and which party is soberly talking about a tie on the substance, or instead picking apart Bush's eye tics? At this stage in the game it is all about picking up 4-5 points among the apathetic who will actually drag themselves out to vote.

- Jim -

Guys, I also would like to add, aside from my main point above, that the following quotes from Ellen's commentary are interesting:

"There can be no corrections without any mistakes. Just more of the same."

Parroting one candidate's patented (even overused?) "talking point zinger" hardly qualifies as insightful commentary.

"Another Missourian, Mark Twain, is credited with saying that denial -- da Nile -- is not just a river in Egypt. This election year it runs through the heartland"

This one is more subtle. I read it as an insult to midwestern voters who are voting for the president. Remember that this line was published by a Boston Globe columnist. I am sure it plays well with her core audience. How many papers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and other absolutely key heartland states run her column though? That kind of comment could bring out the Bush vote in the critical midwestern battlegrounds.

- Jim - (formerly of the midwest)