New study shows FOX is biased

via AmericaBlog

Big surprise there.

Fox News was the most one-sided of all major outlets....

There are clear differences between Fox versus its cable rivals. Fox News stories contain more sources and reveal more about them than those of its competitors, but its stories are also more one-sided and are more opinionated.

Indeed, Fox journalists offer their own opinion in seven out of ten stories on the news channel, versus less than one in ten stories on CNN and one in four on MSNBC.

via Josh Marshall:

www.stopfakenews.org

On Sunday, March 13th, The New York Times broke a major story outlining how the Bush administration has used millions of dollars of taxpayer money to produce and disseminate fake news programs that support a partisan political agenda.

These government-produced segments have frequently aired on broadcast TV stations across the country without proper disclosure.
Not only is this unacceptable, it is also illegal.

Fill out the form.

We see it all the time in Washington: if Republicans don’t like the rules, they try to change them--like the time House Republicans changed the rules so their beloved Tom DeLay could keep his leadership post should he be indicted in Texas.

Now a state senator in Nevada is trying to change the law to benefit her own wallet. According to the Reno Gazette Journal, Senator Sandra Tiffany "has introduced legislation that would allow her to run an online auction business for surplus government vehicles without obtaining a state permit."

Republican lawmaker, used care saleswoman—it’s hard to trust either one, much less a person who is both.

Is Mansquito the worst horror movie title of all time?

We have other plans for Mansquito as well.

via NY Times Magazine: AARP's Antagonist

Sens. Ben Nelson & Lincoln Chafee appeared on Meet the Press, and discussed Social Security.

Download | play

transcript

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut debated Social Security on Late Edition

Download | play

Dodd seems to have a firm grasp on the issue, and exposes the problems that Trent Lott and the Republicans have over Social Security. He easily explains a solution to Social Security without private accounts.

Dodd:...It's dead on arrival...It's not just democrats that you mentioned, there's a lot of republicans who will never vote for this, and that's why this president hasn't even put it on paper yet, will all due respect to a democratic proposal, where's the presidents?

If you just reduced the president's permanency of the tax cuts from over 11 trillion dollars to 9 trillion over the next 75 years, pick up 2.2 trillion dollars, you've solved the solvency problem..

Notice the rhetoric has changed now from the republicans. No mention of "we are in a crisis" and Social Security is going "bankrupt."

'It's Human Carnage'

via JSonline: Tragedy puts spotlight on small, obscure church

A man neighbors described as quiet and devout opened fire Saturday on a group of men, women and children attending a weekly church service at a Brookfield hotel, killing eight people - including himself - and seriously wounding four others.... " 44, of New Berlin, was suffering from depression and was upset about a taped sermon he had heard a couple of weeks before by one the church's chief evangelists, Roderick C. Meredith. "

Meredith, the church's presiding evangelist, warned in a February sermon of the urgent need to prepare physically and spiritually for the "end time," according to a text of the sermon on the church's Web site.

The serman was emailed to me. Are You PREPARED? By Roderick C. Meredith... "I also want to strongly encourage our subscribers—especially the Americans—to prepare for a financial emergency that may strike our nation within a very few years. Although I am certainly not a financial expert, I do have access to many very reliable news sources. Right now, more and more news reports are warning of an impending financial collapse that may devastate the United States within the next several years! Note carefully a few highlights from a September 12, 2004 article by Carolyn Lochhead in the San Francisco Chronicle:

The long-term budget projections are just horrifying,’ added Leonard Burman, co-director of tax policy for the Urban Institute. ‘I’ve got four children and it really disturbs me. I just think it’s irresponsible what we’re doing to them.’ …. So each of us should carefully consider what lies ahead, and get our own financial house in order....read on

What roll has this speech played in Ratzmann's actions? The "end times" prophecies are prevalent in many religious doctrines and booksales are through the roof in tackling this subject right now. It seems common practice for religious leaders to talk about government policies, candidates and judicial nominees to their congregations in a way that I have never seen before. As the days go on, hopefully Ratzmann's rampage will be just part of the lunatic fringe. Let's hope.

(update:

Terry Ratzmann's Homepage

It's called carnivorous plants. I believe this is his page) hat tip danny

Shiite-Kurd Talks Collapse

via the All Spin Zone

I'm not quite sure why anyone thought this "coalition" thing was ever going to work anyway. And for my money, as long as convicted con man and Jordanian fugitive Ahmed Chalabi is still in the game, the whole thing remains a Negroponte-controlled farce.

From Reuters:

Talks between Kurdish leaders and a Shiite bloc to form the next Iraqi government have collapsed three days before the country's first fully elected parliament meets, senior politicians said today...

...Ahmad Chalabi, a leading member of the Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, returned empty-handed on Saturday from a trip to Iraqi Kurdistan to try and save the proposed Kurdish-Shiite alliance.

...Kurdish politicians went further, saying the Shiite alliance was trying to blame them for the crisis that has paralysed decision-making in a country plagued by guerrilla bombings and starved of investment needed for rebuilding.

Meanwhile, the bloodbath continues.