Three Stories: Have You Heard Any of Them?

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Three huge stories broke last week. Here's a brief rundown on each one:

First, The Salem Broadcasting Network, home of such conservative talk show hosts as Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt, was accused of shifting funds from a Boys and Girls Club to its own coffers, to the amount of well over nine hundred thousand dollars. There are allegations that both Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh may also be involved in the incident. This shifting of funds apparently caused the bankruptcy and closure of the charitable facility. To date, there has been no apology from Salem, or any of its on air voices. Also, there is no evidence that the amount has been paid back. The scandal appears to be widening.

Second, Senator George Allen (R-VA), often mentioned for the Republican Presidential nomination, loaned $470,000 to a Union President with whom he was having an affair. Reports indicate that Senator Allen forgave the loan recently, while toying with the idea of running for Governor of his home state. The same Union has recently endorsed Allen for Governor. Both Allen and the female union President deny any connection between the forgiveness of the loan and the endorsement...

And finally, a significant report on voter fraud, intimidation and suppression in the 2004 election was released on August 2nd. The report, released by the bi-partisan American Center For Voting Rights, shows widespread intimidation of Kerry voters in the days before the election, including paid Republican operatives slashing the tires of Kerry's "Get out the Vote" vans the night befor the election in Milwaukee. Also reported was the fire bombing of a local Kerry Campaign headquarters in Philadelphia. The report details multiple convictions in many states of Republican operatives related specific voter intimidation charges. There is little evidence of the kind of widespread voter suppression and abuse charged by either the RNC Chairman at the time, or the current chairman however.

Why have you not heard of any of these stories, unless you read the much maligned alternative media? How could such scandals not be on the front pages of the New York Times each and every day? Why have there been no "special reports" hosted by Peter Jennings, Brian Williams, and whatever Dan Rather replacement is at CBS right now? Because each and every one of the scandals involve Democrats, not Republicans.

The radio network involved in the ongoing scandal is of course Air America, the left's answer to conservative talk radio. And the Senator involved is not George Allen, but Jon Corzine, the Democrat Senator from New Jersey. You may have seen them together last year on the Sunday morning talk shows. Both Senators Allen and Corzine ran their party's Senate re-election campaigns in 2004. And, the widespread voter fraud, intimidation and suppression was done by Democrats, not Republicans. Let me repeat that, since you won't hear it anywhere else. NOT REPUBLICANS. Or conservatives, to be more accurate.

If any of the above scandals involved the Conservatives I mentioned above, does anyone seriously question how much coverage it would have received? Had the report found Republicans engaging in organized voter fraud, wouldn't ABCCBSNBCCNNMSNBC have wall to wall coverage of the horror? They don't, though. Because it isn't Republicans, but Democrats convicted. Over and over, across the country, Kerry supporters engaged in active voter suppression and intimindation of Bush supporters.

Who hasn't heard of Rush Limbaugh's drug problem? It was story number one for days. Yet the Air America story has yet to be mentioned by the MSM. Any question why?

If you need more evidence of Journalism's left leaning bias, go here. The page chronicles poll after poll showing the ongoing lack of balance in newsrooms across the country, and the increasingly out of touch journalistic community.

But bias occurs on both sides. Everyone knows that. I mean the conservatives have FoxNews, and The Washington Times, and talk radio, right?

Wrong! If you combine all the so-called "new media" sources together, they don't hold a candle to the coverage, or non-coverage, provided by the MSM. The reality remains that a vast majority of Americans get their news from the very MSM sources that are most biased while claiming to be objective.

Well, so what? Does it really matter? Oh yes, it matters alot. A free press is the only non-governmental industry specifically named in The Constitution. The Founding Fathers understood clearly that the only way for a people to remain free was to remain informed. Journalists are supposed to fulfill that promise. As you can see from the three examples above, they are failing miserably.

Aren't you really just whining about life being "unfair?" Whining? Nope. For years, conservatives have known the bias of the MSM, and the control they had over the national agenda. Conservatives were forced to the back of the Journalistic bus, brought out only as token talking heads when needed.

That control is threatened today, threatened by the very forum you are reading. Blogs, and their older companion Talk Radio, have begun to shift the agenda. Dan Rather and CBS found that out the hard way, trying to influence an election with forged documents. Jordan Eason and CNN found out the same thing when Mr. Eason tried to run from some foolish, anti-American remarks. And most recently, my very own Senator Dick (D-IL) found out that the agenda had changed when he compared American soldiers at Gitmo to Nazis and Stalin and Pol Pot.

Yet, the biased agenda, and the denial, by the MSM continues. But it no longer continues in the darkness. Thanks to the power of the blogosphere, The Media Research Center , and such books as Coloring the News, Bias, Arrogance, Weapons of Mass Distortion and Blog, the MSM can no longer get away with their bias unchallenged. And the denials of such MSM journalists like Eric Alterman can't sweep away the reams of documented evidence. In fact, such denials in the face of the truth of liberal bias only make "journalists" like Alterman look increasingly out of touch with the "fly-over" country that used to buy his paper.

Three stories. Thanks to the New Media, they can be kept hidden no longer.

Updates:
Here's an update on the Air America scandal since I wrote this post for Balance of Power.
The Corzine scandal, and the deafening silence of the MSM on the voter report continue.

Mark - Liberty Just In Case


Well, I must begin by saying these HUGE stories seem to have eluded me in my sometimes 3x daily viewing of the news! *insert tongue in cheek laughter here* Wow... that one time you miss the news, three huge stories break?!?

I agree with Mark, in so far as the media is no longer portraying the full of the news but spinning with bias. That is as far as I will go with it however, because the problem is NOT a new problem and it was NOT contrived by the liberal media either. The ability to 'create history and have it say what you would have it say' is nothing new my friends. "History is written by the victors"

I must be missing something in this article Mark, because while your links supported your claims, I did not see the original news story links that were misinforming?? For example: You said that The Salem Broadcasting Network was accused yet the only links were on the Air America. Where was the accusation involving Salem Broadcasting Network--do you have an additional link that I am not finding here? You said that it was reported to be Senator Allen (R-Va) but your link showed it being a different Senator?? Where is the original that reported Senator Allen? Or was that a bit of sarcasm and tongue in cheek humor?

Anyway, back to these three HUGE news pieces:

Regarding the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club/Air America scandal:

Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club is a United Way funded Agency in New York. As such it is responsible for the appropriate use of funds and for making accurate report of all expenditures.

While there are those that might "zone in" on Air America and their lack of repaying funds--perhaps we should be looking at why in the WORLD was a United Way funded agency giving away money to anything or anyone that had nothing to do with the Boys and Girls of the Borough that they served? If this funded agency has been closed then good! GOOD! Obviously they are in desperate need of closure as they have lost site of those whom they are to serve and the proper usage of the funds that were allocated to them. The bigger problem here is (to my eyes) not that Air America got the money as it is--where was the oversight of allocations in a United Way funded agency? Where was the President or Accounting Dept in all of this? Once again, it is yet ANOTHER case of big business and government making sure that the disadvantaged of America get a bit more disadvantaged by the closing of an Agency that was meant to serve.

As to if a Senator bought a house for his mistress who happens to be a Union President--whoop de doo--its not the first time that its happened and it won't be the last I'm sure. Without the Unions in their corner, no candidate has much of a chance in an election. That has been going on since near the turn of the century when the Unions began. Once again, not a huge story and nothing new really.

The third story as to Voter Intimidation, I did take the time to read the report and was very sickened by its contents. I don't care WHO the candidates are: Republican or Democrat--tampering with the vote is an offense that should be punishable to the MAXIMUM. But... I would like to add the following to the dialogue:

http://www.iwilltryit.com/fixed1.htm

This might be of great interest to some, who would like to believe that it is "impossible" to tamper with voting machines. Either way it only supports my own thoughts that we need to get back to a true vote, by secured ballot and/or election reforms.

Now, in my view, the news is to report what is news. Who will determine what is news? Who fact checks? What news agencies are willing to go to the line to report the news, even when Washington is attempting to censor the news? Those are the large questions in my mind. The Media is far too controlled by big money and personal agendas to accurately report much of anything anymore. The Mom and Pop Newspapers did and are still reporting the news in what I consider to be a more ethical fashion.

Why are we not hearing more about things like plans being made for war with Iran?

http://www.globalnewsmatrix.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1981

Why are we not hearing about those that want to repeal Amendment 22 to our Constitution?

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HJ00024:@@@X

Why did Halliburton sell nuclear reactor components to Iran if we are so worried about their nuclear capabilities and production?

http://worldnewstrust.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=919


Why are we not hearing about how the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is going against organizations like the Colorado American Indian Movement and the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center?

http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18862&c=206


The news is slanted right now to the extent that whomever has the highest $$ and he who has the most powerful friends wins the cover-stories. Those that report the news as it is—well-- they end up printing retractions or cooling their polished pumps in the pokey for saying what the higher ups don't want to hear.

And "history is written by the victors" my friends... that is why the blogging has a huge responsibility to report it as it is, without fear. Because it is obvious that the mainstream media and those that are apparently 'vertically challenged' (i.e. leaning way left or way right) have their own agendas to follow, and reporting the ACTUAL NEWS is not part of that agenda.

Nariel - Ancient Eyes for Current Times


Let me start by saying, I share Mark's angst over the lack of coverage of stories that had they been perpetrated my Conservative, would have lead the evening news. Anyone that thinks the Media does not have bias has not been paying attention. I really can't blame you though if you do, when I was a liberal I didn't notice it either, the news always seemed to agree with me, and I got allot of what I thought from the news. Only when I stopped doing that and started to think for myself did I become a conservative.

I found an article the other day that illustrated my point very well.

Sometimes liberal bias reflects a conscious choice by the reporter or editor. Sometimes it stems from mere laziness; it can take a lot of work to produce balanced news stories on a consistent basis. And a reporter under deadline pressure may just not understand the conservative viewpoint well enough to explain it in his story. So if the conservative expert he called doesn't call back in time, that perspective won't make it into the story.

But none of these are valid excuses. A reporter's job is to present a balanced story. (Of course, the reporter who tries but fails because he's just so rushed and can't get a conservative to comment deserves more understanding from you than the reporter who never bothers to call a conservative and regularly writes or broadcasts biased stories.)

As you read, listen and watch news stories you probably already notice stories that you think are biased. To see if they really are biased, you need to determine if the story falls into at least one of several forms in which bias occurs:

Types of Bias: Descriptions and Examples of Each

• Bias by commission
  
• Bias by omission
  
• Bias by story selection
  
• Bias by placement
  
• Bias by the selection of sources
  
• Bias by spin
  
• Bias by labeling
  
• Bias by policy endorsement or condemnation
  
• More Than One Type in a Single Story
  
• What Isn’t Bias

It goes on to quite fairly show what bias is and what causes it, both ways. Allot of what I read though leads me to believe that most bias is unintentional in nature and simply boils down to fast passed sloppy journalism. Enough intentional bias does occure however to be conserned about it. These biases are plain to see, and the main way to combat them is to admit it exists and to get your news from more than one source. Watch / read a conservative rag (Foxnews) and then a liberal one (CNN), and maybe throw in a foreign one as well (BBC). After all of that, think for yourself what sounds reasonable, because the truth lies somewhere in between.

Zaphriel - Birth of a Neocon

Playing the game of partisan politics: good for America, or an irresponsible practice?

We respectfully ask that you read the entire post before commenting the first time, but for your convenience we have put a jump to the comments section right here, so that you can easily find them.

You see it on TV, and you see it in the bloggosphere; a clearly divided America where the right-wing bloggers and talking heads are all saying the same thing, day after day; and of course the same goes for the left-wing bloggers and talking heads. There are somehow always two points of view represented ONLY on each issue and everybody's on the same page, playing the "game" together; echoing their party's talking points of the day. It's freedom of speech, but is this good for our country?

Well, I don't think it IS good for our country; I think it's irresponsible, and I believe it harms America terribly. You cannot convince me that 200,000,000 Americans all believe one way on each issue while 200,000,000 other Americans feel exactly the opposite way. Yet, in the bloggosphere, and in the Mainstream Media, that is exactly how it is portrayed to be. Why do we allow the MSM and a small group of people in the RNC, and a small group of people in the DNC have their say with an automatic "Yes, we agree with you!" from the most outspoken from within their bases? We shouldn't, but we do.

So, why DO we give these people this much power? What entitles these people to be held to such a high level that we must sometimes violate our own common sense to echo their words day after day, week after week, year after year? In my opinion, it's all smoke and mirrors and the outspoken amongst us are wasting our true speaking and writing talents to promote the thoughts and ideas of so few people at the political "top".

The bloggosphere is full of extraordinary talent. People who are capable of reaching, and relating to every walk of life within America are selling the extremism of a rich and powerful few instead of simply voicing their own, independent thoughts and ideas. All the former does is continue our enslavement to the two-party system that has grown corrupt and a slave to big oil, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and other monopolies. Why do we bloggers fall for it when damn near NONE of us really want to see this Governmental "status quo" root itself in any more firmly than it already is?

I just do not GET it. Are we really THAT easy to manipulate? As I surf though the bloggosphere, if I didn't know any better; I could easily come to the conclusion that 90% of the political bloggers out there are nothing but a bunch of "Sean Hannity's" and "Howard Dean's" out there who are incapable of independent thoughts and ideas. The only thing I can figure out is everybody's afraid of getting "de-linked" by their buddies and buddettes if they voice an indepent point of view on a political issue. I refuse to waste my time reading their drivel.

In my opinion, we bloggers have a responsiblity to clean up the two-party system if we're going to keep it. Either that, or give voice to some of the third parties out there if they're correct in your own PERSONAL opinion. The DNC, and the RNC are NOT such perfect organizations that they deserve ANYBODY'S blind support.

Why is it asking too much for me to challenge the bloggosphere to remain as a place for fresh ideas to be expressed? We have collectively, both left and right, made a great impact upon our Government and the MSM to this point. But now, if you read the newspapers and then surf through the bloggosphere, you pretty much see the same issues and the same points of view being mirrored by both. We're getting complacent at a time when we were STARTING to take this country back. We cannot sit back and rest on our laurels. We MUST continue to put the pressure upon our Government, the RNC, the DNC, and the MSM. This is NO time to let up!

I appeal to ALL of my fellow bloggers, regardless of your BASIC ideological leanings, to remain INDEPENDENT and to express your individuality on your blogs. Please have the courage to speak out against your party if you disagree with the particular issue, or with one of your party's leaders. When a blogger DOES have the courage to do this, I appeal to the rest of you to encourage them to continue voicing their independent opinions on the matter, and do NOT de-link them. Independence and individuality are what our Founding Fathers were all about, and exactly what makes America so great. Do not just toss it into the garbage so you can remain popular within your small circle of bloggosphere influence.

We bloggers have made a difference. We can continue to make a difference. We can fix the problems in our country. We can put the power of the major parties back into the hands of the People, but it won't be easy, and it WILL take courage. You have the 1st Amendment at the tips of your fingers, so exercize it. EXERCIZE it! There is no "exercizing" going on if you are simply cutting and pasting, and putting your own "in-harmony" spin to your favorite party's talking points memos.

Just say "NO" to being a "talking points memo zombie".

Carl - The Gun-Toting Liberal


I could not agree more with GT's post. Anyone who has been over to Liberty Just in Case knows that while I'm unapologetically a Christian conservative, I'm no one's talking point zombie.

I began blogging as a way to not get fired for sending emails at my job. It worked, up to a point. I missed The Great Internet Purge, in which several employees were fired. I got off with a warning, sort of a bad mark on my "permanent record" right there next to kissing a girl named Sharon in front of the whole Kindergarten class, but that's another story...:-)

Blogging was fun, and I didn't take it seriously. It was just a way to keep my friends up to date on stuff I read. No big deal.

Then came September 11th. Watching people jump to their deaths rather than face a burning hell. Watching the towers fall, and the Pentagon attacked. And realizing, for the first time in my adult lifetime, my country was at war.

Blogging is still fun, but now its also deadly serious. Bloggers have changed the nation. Bloggers have uncovered media scandals. Bloggers have influenced elections. And bloggers have held the MSM, and both political parties accountable...perhaps for the first time in our history.

Hugh Hewitt, in his book Blog, compares the rise of the blogs to the invention of the printing press. I believe he's right. For the first time, people don't have to trust good 'ole Walter Cronkite for their news. They don't have to believe Peter Jennings, or Brian Williams, or Rush Limbaugh, or anyone else about what's happening in the world. You can go to a blog from Iraq, written by an Iraqi. You can read a blog out of Iran, written at great personal risk to the blogger. There's even a blog, specifically designed to protect fellow bloggers in totalitarian countries.

The world has changed. And its changed because of folks like us, sitting in our basements typing away. And I believe the world is better for the change. The folks that have controlled the keys to the information kingdom, aren't real thrilled. But their discomfort is part of the fun. As GT often says, Blog On!!!

Mark - Liberty Just In Case


Partisan politics is perhaps the greatest evil of political thought. In
ancient Rome, it divided first the Republic then later the Empire along
economic lines, forever driving a wedge between true compromise and fringe,
biased policies in government. Today, the same stands true of the politic
Americana. Will we compromise or will we suffer the torrents of government
by indignant disagreement that brought low that ancient society on whose
institutions we base our government?

In modern America, both citizens and politicians alike have forgotten or
choose to ignore the teachings of history, even those of the leaders who led
us into the gift of independence from tyranny. George Washington said, "They
[political parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and
extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the
nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising
minority of the community." He warned us so because he knew that political
extremism is the only true fruit of partisanship. After all, such
partisanship was much more obvious and prevalent in those days. The
Revolutionary War was a war between Loyalists (to the crown) and Separatists
(those loyal to America). Sadly, even the warning of our greatest leader was
not enough to make us do right.

As if to add insult to injury, the Civil War should have reminded us once
and for all why partisan politics is so deadly. It wasn't a war over slavery
as soo many believe. It was, if we are honest, a war between Democrats and
Republicans over two opposing lifestyles. While Republicans today take
potshots at Democrats for being the "Party of Slavery", they were themselves
no less guilty of immorality in their then northern lifestyle. After all,
the industrial north was the land of massive factories, low wages,
relentlessly long work hours and infamous child labor. In effect, both
parties went to war with one another to fight each for a cause that was not
pure. This should have shown us once and for all that political parties are
an evil blight upon the land. Yet, even this was not enough to wash clean
our land of justifying blame by placing it on the opposition.

There really isn't much more to say about partisan politics. It's wrong and
it shouldn't be allowed to continue but what can we do about it? Too many in
our country are more loyal to their Party than to even their local sports
teams. How do we combat that kind of fanaticism? The answer is that we must
fight with every bit of resolve we can muster. We must not be afraid to
ridicule both parties for their fallacies and place the blame for their
mistakes firmly where it belongs: in the laps of the parties' leadership and
those voters who support them. Why should we allow ourselves to fall under
the control of Communists or Fascist-Reactionaries? We shouldn't, that's all
there is to it. Honor George Washington's wishes and we will honor
ourselves. God bless!

Joseph - The Independant Liberal


I agree with Carl. Speak your mind. Don't follow blindly. Stand for something you believe in. I will disagree right now with Bush's stance on border control, and I'll say he could do more for the environment. I have a few qualms with the Patriot Act, etc. I believe in the possibility of evolution. What else would you like me to say that strays from my party line talking points? I'm divided on stem cell research. I identify with a lot of libertarian ideas. I don't like big government. Both parties are corrupt. I think I appear a rightwinger just because I oppose almost everything the left has to say. Not always, but more often than I disagree with the right. All in all however, I'm an individual that speaks their mind. I'm an independent that will base my decision on the issues that matter to me, and not on talking points.

Jay - Stop the ACLU


I agree with Gun Toting Liberal that partisan politics is a real problem in our society today. When the large groups- the RNC and the DNC- conspire to think for a whole cross-section of people (largely whom they are out of touch with for the most part) the problem only grows larger and persons like myself, find that they are part of a minority of independent voices that are rarely heard in the rabble of the nation's political arena.

It used to be so simple really: If you were a business man or part of corporate America, you pretty naturally voted Republican. If you were middle class, blue collar folk, Union folk, you were Democrat.

When I entered the voting portion of America at age 18, I was Democrat because my father was. My father was a Union man and I remember well Reaganomics and how it shut down a large part of northern New Mexico's building and mining and forced us to leave our home to find work to keep our family afloat. A stark lesson I learned then about Big Government and its trickle down lesson to the "little guys". I remember being beneath voting age but actively campaigning for Mondale/Ferraro in the first election that I really sat up and took notice of. Ferraro was a woman that supported the right to choose and it was the first time I was confronted with the question:
"What do you do if you really like a candidate but one issue they stand for you personally oppose?" To me, I figured it this way: You can't have it all. You have to look at the majority of what you stand to gain and the minority of what you might stand to lose and ultimately choose. It was however, an election to remember for me.

When I registered to vote for the first time I registered as a Democrat. Why? It had little to do with partisan politics but because I learned early on that the Republicans were not for the blue collar man and I didn't want to see MORE families go through what mine went through in the 80's. It was fairly simple back then.

Now.. I look at our elections and political processes in a whole new way. I don't see it from the partisan ideology that I once did. Nothing is as cut and dry as it once was. I look at the bickering and squabbling and elections that seem to not 'jive' and I think to myself that the voice of lil ol' Mr. and Mrs. America just isn't being heard anymore. When the polls say one thing and the end results come out totally different, we have to stop and say.. okay... WHY? Why if over 1/2 the nation says "NO" to something, is it going on anyway?

I agree that "partisan think" no longer works and I believe that the voices of the people once again need to be heard in our country. I believe that the independent thinkers, problem solvers, dreamers and believers need to retake this nation and move it away from the Big Voices of Big Money and put this nation back on track, because I believe it is going astray.

The DNC and RNC do not speak for me. In truth, they probably never have! When a Bill can be passed that limits MY freedoms, has the potential to change time and seasons, to remove my ability to purchase natural supplements and herbs, to track me in my own homeland then I know that neither party in Washington is speaking for me or even LISTENING to me. When I write to Congressional Leadership and receive back form letters without having ever been truly recognized for my voice to them, its time to ask ourselves “Why are these persons even IN Washington? They don’t care about my opinion, they are not public servants—they are servants of themselves and their own personal agendas!”

I believe that we need to limit these people in their ability to serve us for such long periods of time and we need to get some fresh people on Capitol Hill, that still have the courage and tenacity to speak and be HEARD. I believe we need to get away from the Big Partisan Politics and move back to the real counts of the real voices. Old fashioned election by ballot system and a hand count. It may seem undoable but nothing is undoable if we apply the stick-to-it initiative that this nation once had. We need to come back, America—back to our roots. And as for me and my blog—we will continue to speak the truth as we see it.

Nariel - Ancient Eyes for Current Times