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I have ads on my site directing people to where they can purchase Palm's and accessories. Suppose when MS adds their links, they take the reader to the Microsoft store where they can buy PalmPC's and Windows products.

Sounds kinda like what some TV networks have done/are doing with stuff like baseball games and the 2000 New Year's Eve thing: editing over billboards and other posted advertising shown on screen (even on live TV) and replacing them with fake billboards for their own network and other advertisers. I don't remember how much of an uproar there was when that happened; I wonder how much this will get.
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I couldn't agree more. Call me sappy, but reading a story like this is a really uplifting thing for me. Everyday it seems that I wake up to a new injustice. A CIPA, a UCITA, a CPRM, a new report on money in politics ignored by M$NBC because they helped put the money there, lives ruined in a drug war, lives taken in a legalized cartel. The frustration builds until it seems hopeless -- and then it's all erased by one day in a story like this one.

Anyway, enough with the mushy stuff, I just hope I'll be first in line.

I don't see how a capitalist news media can lean right or left; they lean towards whatever is profitable. Writers aren't going to spontaneously conspire to lean towards anything, but the higher-ups that ultimately decide what goes in and what stays out are driven by greed. I wouldn't consider any of the corporate media to be reputable. But anyway, the Post is owned by News Corp and the Fox Entertainment Group, which most people seem to think is inherently untrustworthy.

I don't doubt the validity of this story, but people should pay closer attention to the news sources they put so much trust in. Coincidentally, the advert for tonights local news in Charlotte NC is an investigative report on possible UFO visits.

Unfortunately, such a law has no chance of even making it to the floor until someone rich and powerful like a Supreme Court nominee's surfing habits are made public.

There was a large boycott on the company in the early 90s. GE practiced censorship at NBC during this time in regards to the matter. I honestly can't remember all of what the boycott was about.

They also show up on the 10 worst corporations of 1994, and 1992, and 1991. I think they've fallen off since then because nuclear issues aren't a big deal now. I'd be more concerned about other weapons dealing, but I really don't know how GE markets their weapons, or what kind they make.

Those 10-worst lists also note that GE has consistently practiced fraud and bribery in their dealings with the government. Considering military spending is currently up, while any need for a military is significantly down, I imagine fraud and bribery is more powerful than ever among military contractors. OTOH, bad as those things are, it's only money and greed, not like having people assassinated or anything (like Shell).

The money should come either solely from the public, or yes, even from taxes. As it's been said, PBS is important to American citizens. Our taxes pay for this, when they should be paying for this. What could PBS do with $150,000,000,000 a year, I wonder? I can't tell you whether corporate sponsorship is an influence on PBS or not, but when it comes to MSNBC and other stations of that ilk, you'd have to be a fool to think it doesn't -- it most certainly does. And it will most certainly do the same, to PBS sooner or later, as it has before.

What news outlets do we even have left that aren't touched by some corporate influence? Not many, it seems. C-Span, I guess.

I'd mod you up another point. The good thing about Slashdot is that -- unlike Fight Censorship and some other places where the overly-political like Jamie can try to cram crap down our throats with relatively-little consequences -- the readers can slap back. Look at the top comment, and yours, and we all see that Jamie just got intellectually-slam-dunked.

Just think of what would be possible if this happened to Dan Rather, whenever he injected leftwing bias into a story! There'd be no more need for the right-wing MRC, a compendium of bias these days. There'd also be little need for the far-less-relevant (um, the problem is not FOX, it's how bad NBC, ABC, CBS & CNN suck as journalists-of-the-left at being rational) but-at-least-they-TRY left-wing group "FAIR." As an interesting experiment, do what I've done, and subscribe to both sites' email alerts. While the MRC (and FAIR, come to think of it...) have a blind eye to stories about the tax-and-spend war on (some) drugs, the MRC makes a generally better logical case for leftist bias in the media, despite things like a repetitive format & slightly-worse editing.

You may not want to insult journalism, but you've not lived in my shoes for the last 48 hours. I think an insult or two might help matters, but I'll stick to facts if I can. Journalism ISN'T all that hard of a job to do correctly. Actually, sitting around and writing "professionally" can be pretty cushy. I know, because I've done it (right) before, sometimes in my spare time. (We can start with duh-file crap like reading a story BEFORE attempting to write an accurate headline, but on second thought, don't get me started).

Slashdot is an incredible site, and the moderation system - albeit imperfect - makes it an incredibly interesting phenomenon, but your comment and others demonstrate that Slashdot editors lack even a shadow of the ideological diversity of their audience. Higher salaries won't cure that, different hiring policies (and possibly LOWER salaries) might (and no, I'm not available to write Slashdot stories or anything else, if that's what you think I mean).

Anyway, the bottom line is that your comment is a well-spoken one, and I encourage moderators to note your admirable logic-over-emotionalism. Thanks.
JMR

Speaking, as always, for myself.

Really? Do you fail to note the incredible 90+% of media is controlled by 6 companies in the US? The news outlets that are being bought by the likes of Disney and GE? That the editor of the LA Times talks about taking a bazooka to the wall between marketing and editorial? Advertisers making demands to content providers?

Documenting the corporitization of the media and the risks to society that entails is beyond the scope of this comment :) However, that Mr. Shirky can so easily dismis these concerns without even acknowledging these issues gives me pause. If you'd like to learn about the corporitization of the media I suggest you check out Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Manufacturing Consent (documentary) by Noam Chomsky, and Rich Media, Poor Democracy by Robert McChesney.

On the topic of the media and Seattle protests, the mainstream media did not cover globalization issues at all prior to the protests. Virtually, all coverage of globalization was confined to the business pages for whom the terms of globalization were already written. There were no discussions of human rights and labor issues of globalization. Activists organizing for Seattle recognized this and saw the need to create their own media. Hence, Indymedia was born and now there are 40 spread throughout the world.

Indymedia - become the media

Really? Do you fail to note the incredible 90+% of media is controlled by 6 companies in the US? The news outlets that are being bought by the likes of Disney and GE? That the editor of the LA Times talks about taking a bazooka to the wall between marketing and editorial? Advertisers making demands to content providers?

Documenting the corporitization of the media and the risks to society that entails is beyond the scope of this comment :) However, that Mr. Shirky can so easily dismis these concerns without even acknowledging these issues gives me pause. If you'd like to learn about the corporitization of the media I suggest you check out Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Manufacturing Consent (documentary) by Noam Chomsky, and Rich Media, Poor Democracy by Robert McChesney.

On the topic of the media and Seattle protests, the mainstream media did not cover globalization issues at all prior to the protests. Virtually, all coverage of globalization was confined to the business pages for whom the terms of globalization were already written. There were no discussions of human rights and labor issues of globalization. Activists organizing for Seattle recognized this and saw the need to create their own media. Hence, Indymedia was born and now there are 40 spread throughout the world.

Indymedia - become the media

In their minds, copying music means less money, (that has proved otherwise as napster's growth has meant an increase in CD sales) whereas smoking marijuana is a personal freedom, which, if decriminalized, would give profits to no major corporations until it was socially accepted.

Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/

For some really interesting discussions on media integrity and vested interests, though, check out FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). They are definately the standard and best source for this sort of coverage.

Try some of the publications that dedicate themselves to exposing poor reporting, or at least making a living doing good reporting that the other ones miss: Salon Magazine might just pick this /. story up on their own... Romenesko's Media News... Brill's Content... Reason Online... USC's Online Journalism Review... FAIR

Try some of the publications that dedicate themselves to exposing poor reporting, or at least making a living doing good reporting that the other ones miss: Salon Magazine might just pick this /. story up on their own... Romenesko's Media News... Brill's Content... Reason Online... USC's Online Journalism Review... FAIR

"There are more American Indians alive today than there were when Columbus arrived or at any other time in history. Does this sound like a record of genocide?" (Told You So, p. 68)

According to Carl Shaw of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, estimates of the pre-Columbus population of what later became the United States range from 5 million to 15 million. Native populations in the late 19th century fell to 250,000, due in part to genocidal policies. Today the U.S.'s Native American population is about 2 million.

Both of these are pulled from FAIR's 1994 article, "The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error," which can be found here

deserves pity.

That's an old, old piece of insightful commentary from the Republican School of Deep Thoughts. Go here for the origin of this "expert" opinion, and an explanation of the facts.

One thing I've found a bit funny is that a lot of Americans get their facts on evolution, global warming, etc. from politicians and ideologues (be it from the left or right). This leads to considerable distortion and bad decision making.

Sadly, the state of science and math taught in public schools doesn't help either, generating further generations of easily misled masses.

Aaa-hAHAHahaHAhAHAHHAaaa!! (tenticals waving wildly) Always twirling, twirling, twiirrling!

The St. Louis polls are now officially closed. The reason the judge here upheld the decision to keep them open until 10, because the elections were so screwed up! There were countless people who have put in a change 6 month-6 YEARS ago, that weren't able to vote due to state screw-ups!!! And the REPUBLICAN(t's) are calling the very idea of bending the rules (because of gov't screw-up) an evil Democratic plot to try to get more votes! Boy, are they afraid of what the people think! I bet they're also really afraid of having an idea like the IRV system established... The Muppets explain IRV!

I was voting with my girlfriend at 3945 Flad in St. Louis, MO, finishing up around 5 minutes to 7 when I heard workers in the gymnasium aruguing loudly "They ain't making us stay open 'till 10!" and so forth from a few of them (but not all). Two African-American males were turned away at 6:59! They mentioned to us that Bush had better not win, and I hope they're right. On TV, I'm now watching two head Republicans (Senator & Ms. Chairman) and they are really worked up in a frenzy yelling how great it is that the 3 federal judges overturned the local (and more in tune with the cirmumstances) judge's motion to keep the faulty polls open late. I can't believe the "lady" is so arrogant to not see another side of the story - it's clear she doesn't feel sorry for the polls not operated properly, giving good reason to allow everyone to make an important choice. How many votes have been killed?

http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.fair.org/
http://www.nader2000.org/

http://www.billionairesforbushorgore.com/

However, Websense is guilty of generalizing in their categorization. ESR's home page is categorized as "hacking." When I checked it later from another location, it appears that there is nothing even marginally illegal on ESR's page or linked to by it, but it does have the word "hacking" in there somewhere, albeit in the old-school context of "clever programming."

I have seen other generalizations in categorizing, including Freedom and Accuracy in Reporting, and ironically the Bill of Rights being blocked as "activism." This is a form of soft censorship, in that Websense dodges the accusation since the decision to block is on the part of the administrator, and the administrator dodging the blame because they did not make the categorization, and it's an all-or-none deal.

Exactly how many of Agre's examples were actually in quotes. There is a difference between saying:

Al Gore said that he invented the internet.

and:

Al Gore said "he invented the internet". The first is paraprasing. The second is quoting. In the first example, you can argue about the accuracy of the paraprasing; but, you can't claim it is "fabricated" since it is a paraphrase of his actual "took the inititive in the creation of the internet" quote.

In the second case, you can say that the quote was fabricated. Many examples that Agre uses are in the former rather then the later category.

Are there examples of this happening to Republicans?

I saw something similar on tonight's PBS program about the Clinton-Lazio race. During their debate, Lazio said that Buffalo's economay "turned the corner". Clinton and some newspapers in upper New York pillored him for claiming that Buffalo's economy was doing great.

Check out AIM and FAIR. Both organizations have the same goal: disclaim inaccuracies in the medias reporting. One comes from the conservative viewpoint, the other a liberal viewpoint. It is interesting reading to compare to their two sites since they never complain about the same stories.

The only thing I can think of worse than another useless royal (or in JFK Jr's case, semi-royal ;) celebrity expiring would be if another kid miraculously survived escape from Cuba.

Folks, the media is big business, and like the rest of them values profit far, far higher than any political bias. Like most huge corporations they throw money at both, increasingly centrist, political parties while marginalizing far left or right views. The total lack of coverage of the protests in Philly and LA glaringly make my point.

-Peter

-Peter

Yes, the Establishment. The handful of media corporations that overwhelmingly produce the content most seen in the world.

No one is stoping them, after all the USA is a Free country. If they want to get their message out they can.

Pray tell me how one gets one's message out as much as, say, Rush Limbaugh, when the big players in the media systematically refuse to carry your message.

That is not my website. It's a website I link in the URL field of my User Info page. Many people in /. link to pages which are not their website.

I'll put it another way. Doubtless that when David Duke was running for political office, the New York Times, a reputable and responsible, jornalistic institution, discovered, and reported on, Duke's history as a klansman.

Do you think for a second that The New York Times called Duke a "white racist bigot", despite the fact that that is what his clan membership implies?

No, because they don't consider him to be one of the bad guys. The media prints false accusations all the time, but mostly against leftists groups and persons. Check this page.

[ad hominem and appeal to emotion] immediately invalidate your arguement and cause you to lose

You are not applying this correctly. If ad hominem and appeal to emotion are all you base your argument on, then you don't have an argument. However, if one provides an otherwise valid argument, the fact that one has used these things do not invalidate it. Of course, it is not a very friendly and/or corteous thing to do. Which, since you have accussed me publicly of being a troll, I have taken the liberty of not being.

Oh... and I *DO* know what a tautology is... CompSci majors ARE required to take BOTH Digital Logic AND Discrete Structures, last I checked. I got A's in both...

Obviously, you've (a) forgotten whatever they taught you, (b) thought they taught you tons of logic, while you were only given a trifling. I repeat, I have *taught* logic. I have studied First Order Logic, Dynamic Logic, Modal Logic, Hybrid Logic, Type Theory, Model Theoretic Semantics, Substructural Logics, Feature Logics, and some more. At grad level. I'd advise you to not take my knowledge here for granted.

A tautology is any expression which will ALWAYS evaluate to 1
[...]
Granted, an actual proof is much more complex than above, but that IS just sophomore level DigiLogic/DiscStructures to know that a single exception DOES disproove a tautology.

This is a completely erroneous thing to say. If you disprove a statement, then it wasn't a tautology to start with.

One counterexample is enough to disprove any statement. But if a statement is a tautology, no counterexample can exist.

If you know of a grad level DiscStructures or DigiLogic class that can demonstrate an instance where a tautology holds even when it evaluates to 0 in ANY case, I'd like to hear about it.... School AND professor, if you please, and the CS text that would print such a thing. Every prof at MY school said such a thing was impossible, that if you could proove an instance where it resolves to 0, it is NOT a tautology.

Of course I do not know of such a thing. A tatutology is a statement that holds solely in virtue of the configuration of its logical constants. A tautology does not evaluate to 1 by definition.

Let's go back to where this started. You said you had given a "counterexample to my tautology", and thus, you had proven me wrong. Well, if whatever I said could be disproven, then it was not a tautology. Since I made only failsifiable statements in my previous posts, then I said no tautologies.

And the statement you were trying to disprove had a quantifier "most". To disprove such a statement, a single counterexample is not sufficient, except in the case the domain of quantification contains 2 or less individuals.

Well, how many of those journalists may actually be government agents? The US military has proven links to the US media: look here for a story on Army propaganda personnel working at CNN. Surely there are CIA people working in all major media outlets.

But for what purpose simple journalists would have it?

Maybe to report on it? Gee, I though that was what journalists in a country that prides itself on its "free press" (but really has a handful of megaconglomerates pushing their interests with their media possessions) were supposed to do.

How can you trust an organisation you tacitly admit picks and chooses it's stories not necesarily on the basis of newsworthyness, but on the basis of what they (corporate interests... liberal my rosy red ass) want us to know. The buyer beware aspect of online, 'open' news is there but at least the 'buyer' can, and is encouraged to, research the thing himself rather than relying on the word of some pompous ass on the evening news backed not by an interest in the truth but an interest in the bottom line.

How can you trust an organisation you tacitly admit picks and chooses it's stories not necesarily on the basis of newsworthyness, but on the basis of what they (corporate interests... liberal my rosy red ass) want us to know. The buyer beware aspect of online, 'open' news is there but at least the 'buyer' can, and is encouraged to, research the thing himself rather than relying on the word of some pompous ass on the evening news backed not by an interest in the truth but an interest in the bottom line.

Mainstream economic reporting about the "boom economy" and other issues often reports material in a critical and unbiased way. Not to mention that in this so-called "boom", median real wages for U.S. workers are less than they were when Richard Nixon was president.
Economic news is presented with a bias towards the investor class and a bias against people who work for a living. And even if you own stock or have a 401k plan, the majority of middle-class and upper-middle-class people depend on their wages and their salaries and do not live off of the profits of their investments. This gives us very different economic interests than the very rich. Mainstream economic reporting does not often speak to our interests, and often contains misleading distortions to serve the interests of the rich.
As an antidote for this biased reporting, I recommend "Economic Reporting Review", an e-mail publication that looks at mainstream economic reporting and points out the distortions and the real facts. It is a joint project of Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting and the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Here is a relevant excerpt about the over-valued stock market:
...the current price to earnings ratio for broad market indexes such as the S&P 5000 is more than 30 to 1. This is more than twice the historic average. The Congressional Budget Office projects that corporate profits, after adjusting for inflation, will decline by approximately 4.0 percent over the next ten years. This implies that stocks are over-valued by close to 50 percent.
Hope you find this useful!

The federal government had NO LEGAL AUTHORITY to do what they did

Of course they did - the INS has automatic custody of any person that enters this country w/o proper documents (such as a visa). They temporarily released Elian into his Miami relatives' custody, but revoked that after (1) his actual father arrived in the US and (2) the relatives' home was found to be an unhealthy environment for Elian. The great-uncle was required by law to return Elian to the INS (and properly notified), but refused to do so.

I think Janet Reno showed great restraint in continuing the negotiations with this de-facto kidnapper even after the INS had obtained a legal search-and-seizure warrant. Remember, just because Rush Limbaugh says something doesn't make it so!

being discussed on traditional media rather than just on the Internet alone.

You think that there is a 'traditional media' anymore? You fool. What was previously the 'traditional media' has been absorbed by the AOL-Time Warner-Military conspiracy. Are you aware that CNN, part of this so called 'Traditional Media' and a key part in the AOL-Time Warner supercorporation used military-grade psychological warfare during the Kosovo conflict? I didn't think so. The so called 'Traditional Media' is a massive government propaganda machine designed solely to allow the government to justify continued funding to the military. In return, the military will wage war on third world countries if the government needs to cover its tracks (Chinagate, Monica, etc), and the media justify it by using irrational logic combined with propaganda and subliminal messaging.

I ask that you not refer to this conspiracy as 'Traditional Media', but refer to it as 'the conspiracy that seeks to control the minds of American civilians by any means necessary'. Therefore, your last paragraph would be better stated as:

I'm glad that this is being discussed on the conspiracy that seeks to control the minds of American civilians by any means necessary, rather than just on the Internet alone. If enough people listen to that propaganda output center and if we can put "The Slashdot Propaganda Show" or something on it, we can get our message about freedom out. I personally haven't listened to the government conspirators or the propaganda, though the propaganda looks interesting with or without misused victim of the conspiracy Neal Stephenson.

Sorry, looks like I messed up one of the links:

Government PSYOPS story from FAIR can be found here, and a second source from counterpunch can be found here. I also note that the PSYOPS officers were working in the CNN Newsroom during the Kosovo War. This does not bode well for objective reporting from conglomerate corporate sources during time of war.

• The Global Media Giants: The nine firms that dominate the world
  
• Corporate Ownership Matters: The Case of NBC"
  
• Media Monopoly: Long History, Short Memories -- ABC Was Born Out of Fear of Media Consolidation"
  

• The Global Media Giants: The nine firms that dominate the world
  
• Corporate Ownership Matters: The Case of NBC"
  
• Media Monopoly: Long History, Short Memories -- ABC Was Born Out of Fear of Media Consolidation"
  

• The Global Media Giants: The nine firms that dominate the world
  
• Corporate Ownership Matters: The Case of NBC"
  
• Media Monopoly: Long History, Short Memories -- ABC Was Born Out of Fear of Media Consolidation"
  

• The Global Media Giants: The nine firms that dominate the world
  
• Corporate Ownership Matters: The Case of NBC"
  
• Media Monopoly: Long History, Short Memories -- ABC Was Born Out of Fear of Media Consolidation"
  

• The Global Media Giants: The nine firms that dominate the world
  
• Corporate Ownership Matters: The Case of NBC"
  
• Media Monopoly: Long History, Short Memories -- ABC Was Born Out of Fear of Media Consolidation"
  

• The Global Media Giants: The nine firms that dominate the world
  
• Corporate Ownership Matters: The Case of NBC"
  
• Media Monopoly: Long History, Short Memories -- ABC Was Born Out of Fear of Media Consolidation"
  

• The Global Media Giants: The nine firms that dominate the world
  
• Corporate Ownership Matters: The Case of NBC"
  
• Media Monopoly: Long History, Short Memories -- ABC Was Born Out of Fear of Media Consolidation"
  

You seem to have upped the number of major networks from 3 to a whopping 5... and I can't seem to figure out what the 5th is... the WB? Do you feel that you are effectively *defending* what the media would have us believe is diversity? The FCC regulation you speak of is clearly outlined in the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, in which the federal government considerably relaxed ownership coverage rules (hint: this means *fewer* viewpoints hitting the 'airwaves'). Anyway, you might be surprised to discover just how few control what so many see. Visit the Fairness In Accuracy and Reporting web site for some interesting insight into how incestuous the media actually is. And if you can get your hands on FAIR director Jeff Cohen's book "Unreliable Sources", do so. It's somewhat dated (early 90s?), but still a must read. I know I must sound like some sort of conspiracy theorist, but FAIR does their homework and presents all of the facts. Once you read up, you'll find yourself asking "why would the media possibly work any other way?" with, unfortunately, no good answer. It's all about money, which is good... but at the cost of honesty, which is not. Sorta creates paralles with the LinuxOne thread, although this makes LinuxOne seem not-so-scary.

This is off the original topic but I'm responding to this one post.
Check out Cato's opinions, but be aware that Cato represents corporate-style libertarianism.
In this article by the media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, you'll see that Cato is funded by big oil, pharmaceutical, tobacco, and other big corporations including .... MICROSOFT!!! (check out the list in the article).
I recommend the foreign policy sections of Z Magazine's web page for analysis of defense matters and to learn what ordinary people are doing for peace.
Still, when people say that it is good to cut defense spending and stop imperialist military actions, I will agree with them, right or left.
These conservative think-tanks get quoted all the time in the media, without mentioning who their funding comes from. One of their latest projects is to "reform" Social Security. This means to convince people that Social Security won't be there for them when they retire and that we need to be able to invest the money in the stock market instead. The major funding comes from ... surprise, surprise ... brokerage groups, who want to cash in on the increased commissions. Here is a great article from The Nation about this issue.

Here's a fairly good analysis of what's been happening with PBS PBS Fact Sheet, especially as it relates to the cutting of government funding.

But don't you think this could a disturbing precedent? Part of the appeal of the web is the "you CAN get there from here" mentality. And you should be able to do it without getting preached at. Sure, this is probably harmless- but think about the way media companies tend to operate- I bet that within a decade or so, if major regulatory efforts aren't made (and they probably wont be) most major search engines will have parent company owners. Lycos could easily end up part of Viacom. When searching for another media company on Lycos, would you really want a sales pitch thrown back at you, and a long maze to navigate before finding your link? This is another rumble of something big- will the ethos of the web survive under corporate ownership? If the journalistic integrity of most modern multinational/subsidiary/commercial press orgs is any indication- it'll definately suffer FAIR ain't the best themselves, but they have the right idea...

There are plenty of bogus personal injury lawsuits out there. (I was hit by one myself after a fender bender a few years back, and despite the utter lack of any real case on the plaintif's part my insurance company decided it was cheaper to settle than go to court.) But the McDonalds coffee lawsuit wasn't one of them.

The fact is, the government and corporations have LONG been stepping and crushing people, but it's always been the poor. No one cares about the poor! Now they're invading your space. The middle and upper middle class. Crushing your rights and freedoms. Recently large numbers of people have been protesting things like the G8, and in November, the WTO in Seattle. University students protesting against sweatshop labor. Thousands and thousands of people. And they're all involved in these things DESPITE the fact the corporate media never mentions them at all. Somehow, people are fed up and have discovered ways on their own, to try to fight back. Right now the largest community run microradio station, KPFA, is protesting against Pacifica because Pacifica wants to sell KPFA because of it's large audience! People have been outraged and massive protests have been going on there.

Our government hasn't just now decided to become corrupt, it has long been so. it is just now invading the "freedoms" of the middle/upper class of the country, where as before it was only hurting the voiceless poor and people of other countries (and still is I might add).

From killing off native americans in the past and now, to using slave labor in the country, and now using slave labor in third world countries, raping the earth's resources for profits and to feed our addictive consumption rates, suppressing the rights of women, and long promoting right-wing Christian fundamentalism...how can it not be clear the US isn't perfect like they lie and make you believe? The US is f-cking evil...and if you don't believe me now, you will soon enough...when they limit your freedom, or put you away.

http://www.savepacifica.net
http://www.infoshop.org
http://www.protest.net
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.zmag.org
http://www.fair.org
http://www.foodnotbombs.org/
http://jya.com/crypto.htm
http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointel.htm
http://www.urban75.com
http://www.oneworld.org
http://www.mediafilter.org


There you go. Arm yourself with information. Don't believe the world is perfectly all right. Now apparently the short-sighted people are beginning to see they were wrong. Don't think you're alone for thinking something is wrong, there are millions out there who know it already. From those educated on the subjects, to those experiencing the abuses caused by this horrible corporate owned world, and their servant governments.

Ask your Grandma what here childhood was like

Ummm, talking to my mother and some of her much older friends this certainly is not true. I've never had call to break anyone's fingers to dissaude them from bothering me, my mother has. As much as people like to pretty up the past and say we were so civilized, we've always been violent. As far as the people ranting about violence in schools, I have news for you the violence in schools has declined over the past 20 years. Check out an article at FAIR . There is a lot of good information out their if you ignore the TV News. I'll see if I can find some decent books of statistical analysis on this. I know there are a couple, but I can't get to the list I have them on at the moment.

I'm not saying society is perfect, I'm just saying their is a lot of misinformation out there. I agree with you that a 12 year old shouldn't be watching this film. I like south park, I don't find it objectionable, but I don't think it's for everyone. I find many things on prime time television much more offensive (at least in terms of insulting my intelligence) than SP. That is why I no longer own a TV. I won't go off on a rant about the rest of your postings, I thought they were well thought out and had some good points. I just really dislike whenever people go "The good old days were so wonderful, not like today". my $0.02

I believe the stories about Bush's affair, but it was in poor taste to try to make it into a campaign issue, since FDR, JFK, and Eisenhower (his affair took place before he was in office) were let off the hook until well after the affairs occurred - in fact, they were all dead before their sex lives became public knowledge.

And what about all these allegations of the Chinese stealing our technology? And these allegations that the Clinton Administration did nothing for over two years upon learning of it???? Coincidence???? I don't think so.

The guy was a Reagan-era hire, wasn't he? And hadn't he already done enough by the time Bubba came to town to warrant arrest? The fault may lie with the various FBI directors, rather than any president.

See? I told you I could do better than just the liberal media (though they *are* liberal).! :-)

That's nothing compared to the various Murdoch connections, the Starr/Olson connections, the Starr/Goldberg connections, the Dwayne Andreas Bal Harbour mafia... There's a big vacuum in Big Media where liberal or left-wing views should be (e.g. the moderates who populate "the left" on Crossfire are a mush-mouthed nonentity). I think the liberalness left when Dan Schorr went to NPR; apparently nobody bothered to turn out the lights :) The vast majority of journalists frame a story from a conservative point of view. If you want to see the (often vast) difference between mainstream media and left-of-center views, check out FAIR and their ERR, or even the unfortunately-named World Socialist Web Site, which, despite its name, covers some of the nooks and crannies overlooked by the Big Boys. And then go wash their lefty ick off of you :)

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I believe the stories about Bush's affair, but it was in poor taste to try to make it into a campaign issue, since FDR, JFK, and Eisenhower (his affair took place before he was in office) were let off the hook until well after the affairs occurred - in fact, they were all dead before their sex lives became public knowledge.

And what about all these allegations of the Chinese stealing our technology? And these allegations that the Clinton Administration did nothing for over two years upon learning of it???? Coincidence???? I don't think so.

The guy was a Reagan-era hire, wasn't he? And hadn't he already done enough by the time Bubba came to town to warrant arrest? The fault may lie with the various FBI directors, rather than any president.

See? I told you I could do better than just the liberal media (though they *are* liberal).! :-)

That's nothing compared to the various Murdoch connections, the Starr/Olson connections, the Starr/Goldberg connections, the Dwayne Andreas Bal Harbour mafia... There's a big vacuum in Big Media where liberal or left-wing views should be (e.g. the moderates who populate "the left" on Crossfire are a mush-mouthed nonentity). I think the liberalness left when Dan Schorr went to NPR; apparently nobody bothered to turn out the lights :) The vast majority of journalists frame a story from a conservative point of view. If you want to see the (often vast) difference between mainstream media and left-of-center views, check out FAIR and their ERR, or even the unfortunately-named World Socialist Web Site, which, despite its name, covers some of the nooks and crannies overlooked by the Big Boys. And then go wash their lefty ick off of you :)

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Ah, but do you know how many BILLIONS of dollars are given to major US companies via corporate welfare tax writeoffs? Over $125 billion a year, that's how much.

If you're going to be irritated at unfair government policies, don't get mad at researchers and software developers, get mad at corporations who have custom-written loopholes written into the tax codes just for them.

'S what I think.

For a bit more (scary) info, look at:http://www.fair.org/media-beat/981126.html