merlinski

I just got back from seeing this movie for the second time in 3 days, and it is already one of my favorites. From the spot-coloring to the girls (all top notch, especially Alexis Bledel who plays Becky) to the insanely sweet comic book style, this movie kicked ass. Anyone else seen it?

I'm sick and tired of hearing conservatives whine about the so-called liberal bias in the media. It seems like it is everywhere these days, editorial sections, the internet, even mainstream media conservatives themselves. I want to have a nice, clean, poll/debate over whether you believe there is a liberal bias in the mainstream media. Here's my opening argument:

When you talk about mainstream media, you're talking about major Newspapers/magazines, TV Channels, and the Radio. The most common examples are these:
Newspapers:
New York Times
Washington Post
LA Times

TV:
CNN
Fox News
ABC
NBC
CBS

Radio:
Limbaugh and his ilk
Air America
NPR

The primary reason for a conservative outcry about liberal bias is criticism of President Bush. Now, I think that this premise is, in itself, a ridiculous idea. Look at the Bush presidency as of now, and the potential scandals/stories that could have been big negative points but weren't:
Revealing a NOC CIA Agent
Lying in the State of the Union
WMD's
I'm ignoring the stuff like the entire Iraq war because I think these examples are enough for now. Now, none of these things were turned into big scandals. Obviously, there were stories, but nothing approaching the outcry over Clinton, which I'm getting to next. Clinton lied under oath about recieving a blowjob in the oval office. This was enough to have the media hound him for 1.5 years. Bush has lied, and his lies have lead to deaths or putting people in danger, yet the media has not seized upon this. I'm not suggesting a conservative bias (yet), I'm just saying that there have been more opportunities for a big scandal under Bush that haven't been fully explored.

Now, lets look at some statistics. During the 2000 Presidential Race, the New York Times, the most popular target of the liberal-bias outcry, ran twice as many positive stories about Bush as they did about Gore, and fewer negative stories. Why would a liberal-leaning paper do this?

CBS refused to air a Moveon.org political advertisement during the Superbowl. Why would a liberal station do this? Answer: they wouldn't.

The fact is that the mainstream media (CNN, New York Times, ABC/NBC/CBS) aren't liberal, they are by-and-large neutral. People see attacking Bush as a liberal bias, but these same soures attacked Clinton even more, for lesser offenses. It's not a matter of political bias, its a matter of a bias towards a story. I personally think that they could have gotten more out of the Bush presidency, but reporters asking tough questions isn't bias, it's reporting.

Ok, now lets look at the conservative media, primarily Fox News.

Obviously, Rupert Murdoch (founder of Fox News) is a political conservative (he's funded many conservative think-tanks and consistently makes large donations to conservative causes). When he created the Fox News Network, he put Roger Ailes at the head of the station. For those of you unaware of him, Ailes is a Republican Campaign Consultant and Executive Producer of Rush Limbaugh's show. This is the man who, when he came to Fox News, asked all the current employees whether they were liberal or conservative. Fox News has two major shows that it airs regularly other than the news, which are Hannity and Colmes and The O'Reilly Factor. The "liberal" Colmes is actually a moderate who consistently praises Bush, and Sean Hannity is the most conservative man in the mainstream media today. Bill O'Reilly claims to be an independent, but is actually a registered Republican.

Studies found that people who watched Fox News as their main news source were much more likely than the average american to have one of these misconceptions about the war:
1. We have found WMD's
2. There was a direct link between Saddam and Al-Qaeda
The more Fox News a study participant watched, the more likely they were to have a misconception.

So what you have here is a mainstream media with no bias, and Fox News with a conservative bias. The only consistently liberal media source is Air America Radio, which is only available in a few cities as of now. I don't see how you can extract a liberal bias from that.

I know some of you are convinced that all political conversation ends bad, but I'm really itching to have some political conversation on the boards. So lets try to keep this clean.

I want to know who on this board would or will vote for Bush in the coming election. I'm going to vote Democratic, for the following reasons:

Bush lied to the American Public in his state of the Union address.
Rumsfeld made untrue statements and then lied about every making them.
The entire administration took the country to war under false pretenses.
Bush promised the troops they would be in Iraq for less than a year and now is breaking that promise.
Bush cut combat pay in half during the occupation.
The Administration promised to hand over power to the Iraqis on June 30th but is now stepping back from that promise.
Bush insists that the war was a success, but people are still dying every day in Iraq with no end in sight.
Bush insists that the Iraqis want us there, but the country is already on the verge of civil conflict, and the one thing that unites them is hatred towards US occupation.
The Administration is trying to find Iraqis that will praise america to deceive the american people.
Bush used 9/11 and the patriotic spirit afterwards to further his own political agenda (Iraq).
Bush deliberately misled the American people, using the media to create the appearance of a link between 9/11 and Iraq.
The Administration made several mistakes and might have prevented 9/11 but refuses to take any accountability.
The Administration lied about warnings of terrorist attacks in an attempt to cover their own asses.
Bush used 9/11 to enforce a series of laws encroaching on the civil liberties of US citizens.
They will not back down from these laws, but instead choose to continue to imprison US citizens without charging them with a crime.
The Administration called any opponents of their actions unpatriotic, including Max Cleland, who was a Vietnam vet who lost 3 limbs in the war.
Bush spent billions of dollars on the war but refused to raise taxes to pay for it because he was afraid of political repurcussions.
Bush cut taxes but increased the size of the government, creating massive deficits that will take years to repay.
Bush hasn't created one new net job in his entire term as president.
Bush used the "No Child Left Behind" Act to cut funding in school districts that need it most.
The Administration applied an educational plan that failed in Texas to the entire Nation.
Bush tried to make a constitutional amendment just because he disagreed with a sexual orientation.
Bush refuses to testify before committees or hold more than 1 press conference a year because he's afraid of hard questions.
Bush takes more vacation time than any other president before him, even when the country is in the midst of a war he created.
Bush uses the war he created to justify the deficits he also created (but before the war).
The Administration completely destroyed any international allies we had, even ones who were initially part of the coalition of the willing.
The Administration also cut into areas under environmental protection in order to satisfy energy interests.
The Administration refuses to disclose Cheney's relationship with Enron and other energy giants.
The Administration gives an excessive number of no-bid contracts to Cheney's company in Iraq.
Bush, and everyone else in his administration, lie through their teeth to cover their mistakes.

I don't know about any of you, but I think Max Payne was one of the coolest computer games ever. And the sequel is coming out tomorrow. Who else is planning on getting it.

Also, has anyone else downloaded the Kung-Fu mod for Max Payne? It's unbelievably cool.

Ok, we all know that SentinalofNight is a fan of bringing up 9 month old topics. But just fucking ignore him already, yelling at him obviously doesn't work so wait until cxwq bans his ass. Replying just encourages it.