October 25, 2004 – 11:06 pm
I heard a radio interview today from a former FOX news journalist who was ordered to use the term “homicide bombers” instead of “suicide bombers” so as not to generate any sympathy towards the cause of the freedom fighters - oops, I mean terrorists. Maybe this doesn’t seem weird to someone who has had the misfortune of getting used to hearing the heavy FOX slant on many issues, but to me it just stood out like a sore thumb. Anyway, FOX chose to no longer employ the guy after he refused to comply, so he went on to leak a lot of other similar types of orders which came down regularly within the FOX organization, most of which put a decidedly right-wing spin on the issues.
BTW, I downloaded a great video of John Stewart on the show “Crossfire” letting them know just what kind of a disservice FOX (and, to a lesser extent, most mainstream media) has been doing to the world of “journalism”. It’s pretty big, so I won’t post it here, but if you search around you can probably find it. It’s worth watching.
October 25, 2004 – 7:52 pm
I kept hearing on the radio all day today during the local news about police advising people about those small motorized cycle things. I don’t know what the big deal is and why they seem to be on a campaign to get rid of them, but they were sure to mention that the police wanted everyone to know two things:
- You still need a special motorcycle license to ride them, just like a normal motorcycle
- They are not legal to ride on the streets, only on “private property”.
This seemed kind of weird too. If you can’t legally ride them on the streets at all, then why bother saying you need a license? If you are riding on private property they can’t tell you that you need a license, can they?
October 22, 2004 – 10:17 am
Emma didn’t want to go get doughnuts this morning because she didn’t want to miss the Twilight Zone on TV.
October 21, 2004 – 3:28 pm
I bet it really pisses of all those “freedom-fry” eating France-haters out there that out of the two companies that supply our flu vaccine (US owned/British based “Chiron” and “Aventis-Pasteur” of France) it wasn’t the French one that screwed up and caused this season’s shortage.
Not only did they do the morally right thing even under tremendous pressure and criticism from the US (and have now been proved correct re: WMDs), but they also produced every drop of flu vaccine that we Americans will get this year. Hurray for them!
In a related story, so much for opposing drugs from Canada.
October 19, 2004 – 5:41 pm
Everyone should be required to renew their license every 2 years by taking a driving test which includes driving on wet surfaces. Maybe then i wouldn’t be posting this while stuck in traffic undoubtedly caused by somebody that doesn’t know how to deal with a little rain.
October 19, 2004 – 11:22 am
While both candidates say that they oppose the draft, I have yet to hear how they will avoid it, and I’d like to know. Unfortunately, I suspect that they are just being misleading, since neither of them favor withdrawing from Iraq. Just given the numbers and the fact that they’re already having to force people to stay in for longer than they’ve committed, how else will they sustain the military presence in the middle east, which they both support, without forcing new people in?
And, yet again, where is the major media, who should be going after this question with unrelenting follow up questions, instead of being content with the non-answers we’ve been getting?
October 19, 2004 – 9:11 am
I know they’ve always done it, but it just doesn’t seem right for newspapers to endorse political candidates. I’m fine with celebrities doing it, since they are entitled to have their personal opinions and air them however they want to, but I think you should expect “news” sources to be unbiased when it comes to these things. Of course, they usually are not, but they don’t have to be so blatant about it. The job of any media (tv, radio, news, etc.) should not be to support any particular side, but to ask tough questions of both sides equally. Unfortunately, they’ve neglected the latter and chosen the former.