"You've heard of the wonders our land does possess...

it's beautiful valleys and hills, the majestic forests where nature abounds, to love every nook I take pills." State Song of Idaho.

NOTE: I managed to derail this discussion of the usual request for more conservative columnists when I quoted a bit of Dan Cooper’s new book “Naked Launch” covering his part in the start-up of FOX News. The discussion is edited. Go to: http://www.caos.us/2008/01/naked-launch-prologue.html. One of these days I must learn how to do the "link" thing.

Story published at magicvalley.com on Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Community deserves more conservative columnists
I'd like to second the letter in Friday's paper commenting on the liberal slant of the opinion columns.

It seems most columns come from either The New York Times, The Washington Post, or the Los Angeles Times, the most liberal rags in the country. Already most of the "news" items are from the Associated Press, a very slanted news agency. Maybe the United Press is no longer available and you have no choice, but you really ought to read other national papers for your opinion pieces. JOHN THIEBERT

Community Speaks
Story Commenting Forum

Tom Young (id:bluedarter) wrote on Jan 31, 2008 4:41 PM:
"The reason people enjoy Fox News is because all the OTHER news channels have a decidely, blatant, liberal bias.

I appreciate them telling the other side of the news stories...
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Jason Ramsey (id:JRMadness) wrote on Jan 31, 2008 9:44 PM:
"So, the fact that Fox calls themselves "fair and balanced" when they've been everything but for years doesn't bother our conservative friends at all? The fact that they have acted as the propaganda arm for a brutally dishonest administration, thus becoming brutally dishonest themselves, doesn't slightly turn your patriotic gut?...Fox is in for a verrrry uncomfortable next few years. Here's an article that will give even more detail. There's a great bit about a Fox "reporter" getting caught in two lies in a single day, then getting caught in a third lie he was trying to use to escape the first two.
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200801290001?f=h_column
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Sharon Metcalf (id:sleight47) wrote on Jan 31, 2008 10:49 PM:
"No (Tom), the reason they irritate me so much is that I have a great respect for truth which, if ever adopted by FOX, would defeat their purpose...they appeal to people either too busy/lazy/ignorant to test the veracity of their "reporting" and simply swallow it to be repeated later. You know, like those sheeple who say things such as, "all the OTHER news channels have a decidely (sic), blatant, liberal bias" despite having no such evidence.

The other side of the news stories?...How can you have two sides to a story that never existed until it squirmed its way up from the murky, hate-filled depths of either the White House or some reporter pandering to the White House...
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Grant Uptain (id:95164) wrote on Feb 1, 2008 5:10 AM:
"John, allow me to tack into the wind and say the community has a dearth of liberal news...Did you read “The New Times” when “Pulitzer Prize winner Judith Miller’s series of exclusives about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq—courtesy of the now-notorious Ahmad Chalabi—helped the New York Times keep up with the competition and the Bush administration bolster the case for war. How the very same talents that caused her to get the story also caused her to get it wrong? When the Vice President needed more proof to invade Iraq, who did he call upon? When the Vice President needed more evidence to support the need to invade Iraq, who did he go to? Why he went to his plant in “The New York Times.”

(I) notice that you do not define a conservative or a liberal. You just get out Daddy’s old blunder buss and fire away. Ain’t it fun!
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Jared Asay (id:axisofjared) wrote on Feb 1, 2008 9:55 AM:
" "Reality has a well-known Liberal bias"
-- Stephen Colbert "
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Tom Young (id:bluedarter) wrote on Feb 1, 2008 5:13 PM:
" Jason - Media matters.org...are you serious??

Their own website: Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting CONSERVATIVE misinformation in the U.S. media. Their contributors are all Democrat Operatives:

Eric Boehlert is the author of Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush. David Brock is the author of four political books, including The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy. Eric Burns...recently served as the communications director for the House Rules Committee and ranking member Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY). Prior to that, Burns was the primary spokesman and a senior adviser to Rep. Chris Bell (D-TX). Scott Collins...He has also worked for the Clinton-Gore 1996 Committee. Ben Fishel has worked as an intern in the offices of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY).

Do I need to go on?? You hack on Fox News, but cite a source that is equally biased.”
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Jason Ramsey (id:JRMadness) wrote on Feb 1, 2008 8:13 PM:
"Tom, did you read the article, or just see the "media matters" in the link and head to everythingrushandhannitysaysisright.com and dig up names? Fox is the media arm of a failed administration and is about to be the media arm of a splintered party. Those are facts and no amount of spin can fix it. Seriously, the part about the lying Fox "reporter" is a scream. Take a peek."
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Grant Uptain (id:95164) wrote on Feb 2, 2008 5:20 AM:
" Tom speaks barrels of "Truthiness." "
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(Submitted this a.m.) Sharon Metcalf
Tom, do you actually read what you write?...To compare an organization that attempts to correct some of the mountain of misinformation/lies shoveled down our throats in the past 7 years with one of the main shovelers is positively farcical.

Are you really saying that Media Matters is corrupt because it consists of Democrats? Gosh, I guess we should have waited for some Republican to be knocked off his/her horse, suddenly remember his/her widely touted dedication to the Lord, and immediately issue corrections.

From the Center For Public Integrity, Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith report:
“President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq...an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”

“It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to Al Qaeda. This was the conclusion of numerous bipartisan government investigations, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (2004 and 2006), the 9/11 Commission, and the multinational Iraq Survey Group, whose "Duelfer Report" established that Saddam Hussein had terminated Iraq's nuclear program in 1991 and made little effort to restart it.”

“The massive database...juxtaposes what President Bush and these seven top officials were saying for public consumption against what was known, or should have been known, on a day-to-day basis. This fully searchable database includes the public statements, drawn from both primary sources (such as official transcripts) and secondary sources (chiefly major news organizations) over the two years beginning on September 11, 2001. It also interlaces relevant information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches, and interviews.”

WMD is just one among thousands of examples of outright lies (also known as propaganda) that this administration blankets American citizens with in order to push their agenda.

This is my gift to you, Tom. If you look up the members of every single organization or media group referenced in the CPI database, it ought to keep you busy for a very, very long time.