More Media Bias?

"GOP senators sidestep harsh criticism of Sotomayor

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 18 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Leading GOP senators on Sunday offered more subtle criticism of the first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court, but passed up the chance to stifle racially charged critiques of Sonia Sotomayor by some fellow Republicans.

The party out of power in Washington is struggling to develop a unified political strategy to oppose the Supreme Court nominee. "

But further in the article the following quotes are reported:

"I definitely think we need to have the respectful tone and we need to look at the record," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Hispanic-heavy Texas. "We need to have the responsibilities that have been put on us by the Constitution taken very seriously."

"She brings a form of bigotry or racism to the court," Limbaugh said on his radio program last week.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday refused to criticize that remark, although he said it doesn't represent his view.

"I think that she is a person who believes that her background can influence her decision. That's what troubles me," said Sessions, R-Ala. Although he would prefer that they not call Sotomayor a racist, he said, "people have a free right to speak and say what they want and make the analogies that they want."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also a member of the Judiciary Committee, said that he doesn't think Sotomayor is a racist. However, Graham, who is white, said she should apologize for comments that suggest "all the hardship she has gone through makes her better than me."

Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate and a Judiciary member, declined to call Sotomayor a racist.

"I'm not going to get drawn into characterizations before I have even met her," Kyl said.

Short of saying that anyone that uses the word racist when describing Judge Sotomayor should be arrested what more can five Republican Senators do 'to stifle racially charged critiques'?

Should the Senators even be trying to stifle free speech?

With 59 Democrat votes in the Senate (60 if the Minnesota election is settled in favor of Al Franken) I don't think there is any doubt that Judge Sotomayor will be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. To suggest that the Republican party is trying to oppose the nomination as stated in the second paragraph is ridiculous. President Obama will have his nominee confirmed, but it is the role of the Senate to 'advise and consent' not just roll over and say 'Yes, Sir'.

Abortion Doctor Murdered

Dr. George Tiller, described by the Associated Press as a prominent late-term abortion provider, was murdered today. Dr. Tiller is known for being a large contributor to HHS Secretary Sebelius when she was governor of Kansas, and he is also known for being acquitted earlier this year on 19 violations of Kansas law related to abortions he provided.

Although I am on the opposite side of the abortion debate from Dr. Tiller, I find it to be a sad day in Kansas. Murder is not a justifiable crime. May his family find peace.

TGIF

Where did the phrase TGIF come from? Wikipedia says it was started by an Akron, Ohio disc jockey in the early 1970s.

Using my critical thinking skills, and wikipedia's lack of citation, I tend to doubt that as the source.

There is a 1978 disco theme movie by the name Thank God Its Friday that won an Academy Award for Best Song in 1979. (Donna Summer perf0rming Last Dance). Not a movie I remember.





Enjoy the weekend!!

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First Amendment

The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The first ten amendments to the Constitution are also known as the "Bill of Rights" and refer to the rights of the people not the rights of the government. The founders of this country had just fought a war to throw off the tyranny of the King of England and wanted to ensure that the government being established did not end up being as oppressive as the one discarded.

The House of Representatives has passed legislation (HR 1913) to increase the penalty for a violent crime if it was motivated by hate. I don't understand how Congress can legislate away 'hate'. I understand things people say can be offensive. I have been offended at times and have probably also been offensive, but how can Congress label one set of values (and thoughts) as hateful and illegal and still be within the first amendment? Is punishing motives in addition to actions a form of thought control? Is it more acceptable to beat someone up as long as it is done with love?

I have always thought that the freedom of speech leads by a natural extension to a diversity of ideas, thoughts, and expressions. Just because there is diversity, not every thought will be of value or even for the betterment of society as a whole, but the founders wanted to provide an outlet for minority opinion that could not be suppressed by the majority. This would include speech that would be offensive to the majority of the people.

If the government begins to criminalize some speech as hateful, we have lost freedom and will loose diversity. If you think diversity is bad, then hate speech legislation is good way to limit diversity. I am ok with it as long as everyone thinks like me. (NOT!)

What is your opinion?

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Critical Thinking

Are critical thinking skills still being taught?

Has the 24 hour a day news cycle reduced journalism to being a race to being the first with a story, without concern that the facts may be incorrect?

I read a story on-line recently, but can't locate it for a link, about a 22 year old who added a non-existent quote to a wikipedia page about a recently deceased musician. He wanted to see how quickly false information would travel on the web, and get into mainstream reporting.

A number of newspapers pulled the quote from wikipedia and ran it in their obit articles. Wikipedia pulled the quote from its article because the quote had no citation. (Similar to this blog entry).

An interesting development would have been if the quote creator had used the newspaper's use of his wikipedia quote as the citation to put the quote back on the wikipedia page. And the circle would have been unbroken. But he choose not to complete the deception. He left the quote off the page once it was pulled by wikipedia.

The 22 year old fessed up to his experiment about month after it had taken place. He was waiting to see if any of the newspapers would discover their error. They did not.

The whole point of this entry is to point out that just because something is on the web, in the newspaper or on TV doesn't mean that it is a fact. Fact checkers no longer exist, and I am not sure they ever did exist except in the realm of our expectations.

What is a person to do?

Be a little skeptical. Does what you are reading seem reasonable based on what you already know? Are there other possibilities to what has been reported?

Did I just make all this up? You will have to make a judgement.

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Infomercial

Swine Flu Update

The media is still hyping the swine flu. Bloomberg.com is now reporting that the 'swine flu is spreading more widely than the official numbers show.'

Uh? What is the basis for the report, other what Bloomberg wants to report? Does Bloomberg now collect medical statistics from seven continents?

'Forty-three countries have confirmed 12,022 cases, including 86 deaths, according to the World Health Organization’s latest tally. ..... The Geneva-based agency is asking vaccine makers to prepare for large-scale production of an inoculation for swine flu, while also ensuring adequate supplies of a shot for seasonal flu, which kills an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people worldwide each year.'

Am I missing something?

Swine flu has killed 86 people and a normal seasonal flu kills a half of a million people, and the media covers the swine flu story like it could be the end of humanity as we know it.

The Dept of Health and Human Services is ready to spend $ 1 billion to get a stockpile of swine flu vaccine to treat 20 million people. The last time the government pushed a swine flu vaccine on the public (in the early 1970s) people died from a reaction to the vaccine.

What is wrong with this picture? (I mean the media picture, not the one in the upper right corner).

Cat Yodeling

Something a lot lighter in temperament than recent blog entries:

Memorial Day

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Choices

An interesting video about choices we make:

Memorial Day

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Has Memorial Day become just another Monday holiday?

Did you know this day started after the Civil War?

When I was a younger man, I saw a movie that was set in 1888, and one of the main characters always referred to the conflict as the war between the states. When asked why he didn't call it the Civil War, he replied that there was nothing civil about war.

The most often quoted number of deaths in the US Civil War is between 600,000 and 700,000. The death toll in this single war equals the total US deaths in all other wars combined. (WWI US deaths - 116,000, WWII US deaths - 400,000, American Revolutionary War - 25,000, Viet Nam - 58,000, Korea - 37,000). At the time of the war between the states the US had only fought the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. I can't even begin to imagine the impact so many deaths had on the US society and culture.

I hate reducing war deaths to numbers, each life lost is some one's son or daughter, husband, wife, father, mother, brother, or sister. The numbers are really not the way to record the loss from a war. Each life is sacred and a lost potential. It is numbing to think of the number of deaths.

Worldwide deaths from WWI and WWII are 15,000,000 and 55,000,000 respectively. Adding the Russian Civil war (9,000,000) and the reign of Stalin terror (20,000,000) the death toll from just these four 20th Century events approaches 100,000,000 people. Include the Chinese revolution, Asian conflicts, and African conflicts the total death toll reaches close to 200,000,000. Two hundred million deaths in 100 years.

The 20th Century has to be one of the deadliest centuries in recorded human history. Be thankful that you lived through all the carnage.

Take time this weekend to give thanks for your life and remember those that have given their lives for your safety and freedom.
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Abortion

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If you don't believe that human life begins at conception, then the abortion debate really has no meaning.

If you do believe that human life begins at conception, but still think a woman have a right to choose the death of the child, I don't know how to respond to that belief.

If you took the time to view the 'world clock' on the May 6th post, you would see statistics for worldwide deaths. As of this morning, (May 22) YTD worldwide deaths were 23,553,000. This includes deaths from disease and injury. Deaths from abortion are not included in the death total but would add an additional 16,063,000 deaths.

On an annual basis in the US, about 1,200,000 abortions are performed. Worldwide that number jumps to 50,000,000 (fifty million) abortions per year.

My point is, in 4 years 200,000,000 (two hundred million) abortions are performed worldwide or as many deaths as 100 years of war in the bloody 20th Century.

President Obama has said he wants to reduce the number of abortions, so he must not think that they are morally neutral.

A question I have to ask is how many times has the cure for aids or cancer, the solution to the energy crisis or a world peacemaker been destroyed in the mother's womb?

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The World Clock

An interesting site is the world clock.



It not only tells the time but has statistics on world population, births, deaths, illnesses (and it is not tracking swine flu), crime, environmental, energy, crime and a few others.



It has given me additional perspective about the world around me. Give it a try.

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Cinco de Mayo

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Who can forget today is Cinco de Mayo?

It is like the 4th of July holiday in that the holiday names the date, but unlike the 4th of July Cinco de Mayo does not celebrate the Mexican independence day which is September 16th.

Cinco de Mayo celebrates a victory of Mexicans over occupying French troops in the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Celebrating independence or not, it is a good excuse to eat Mexican food and drink a margarita.

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Swine Flu

With all the news hype about the swine flu, I began to wonder ....

From a USA on-line report dated May 2nd - "Tests had confirmed 397 cases of Influenza A H1N1, or swine flu, in Mexico as of Friday night, up from 312 on Thursday night, Health Secretary José Córdova said. The number of deaths rose from 12 to 16."

I heard a report that there have been a total of 1,000 cases reported world-wide.

The world has a total of 6.742 billion people. So a total of 1 in every 6,742,000 people has the swine flu. The odds of getting hit by lightning in the US in a given year are 1 in 400,000. The odds of getting hit by lightning in your lifetime are 1 in 5,000.

Why isn't Vice President Joe Biden warning everyone to avoid the great outdoors for fear of lightning. Instead he is telling us to avoid confined spaces, the exact opposite of what would probably be the best protection against lightning, a greater threat than swine flu.

What is he trying to do, get us all killed?

From Voice of America News:
"U.S. officials worry that, even if the virus' spread is eventually contained, it could re-emerge months from now during the northern hemisphere's winter flu season, when more than 30,000 Americans die each year from common influenza.

The Obama administration says it is laying the groundwork to develop a vaccine against swine flu, although no decision has been made on large-scale production of such a vaccine."

"Even if the virus' spread is eventually contained"?? - is there an expectation or possibility that the virus will spread totally unchecked through the entire world population?

Why does the media continue to hype a story and not put out the facts?

Why does the government join in?

What is your opinion?

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Mayday, Mayday, Mayday

Mayday, mayday, mayday - the international voice distress call.

This blog is one month old and in danger of death.

It has been fun while it lasted, but it is becoming very dry and lifeless.

Unless someone can give me a reason to continue, we may be at the end.

Please respond.