Iraq war was more important than killing Bin Laden.

More than eight years later after we've all been lectured on patriotism by Dick Cheney, Foxnews and the Bush cronies, new report just came out that the mastermind of the September 11 (Usama Bin Laden) was within our grasp but there was not enough forces to go in for the Kill.

Bin Laden had written his will, apparently sensing he was trapped, but the lack of sufficient forces to close in for the kill allowed him to escape to tribal areas in Pakistan, according to the report.

Not only did the Bush administration lied about the Iraq war, but they also endangered the security of the country by ignoring the real threat. Where was the media for the past eight years on this report? What has happened to investigative journalism? This is another example of a media bias, if this was under a Democrat, it would have been investigated, the media continues to prove their conservative bias even though most people are made to believe that the media has a liberal bias.

While Bin Laden was within grasp, Cheney and Bush were busy plotting on a no bid contract for Haliburton.....they not only take us into a unnecessary war (paid for by borrowing money from foreign countries) but they also put a debt burden on the coming generations. The pity conservatives (tea baggers) were not outraged about any of that.

To all those who have been claiming that Bush kept the country safer in the last eight years, it is clear that your ideology has replaced common sense and also, it shows a disregard for the security of the nation for the sake of ideology. I can remember when Liberals were called Anti-Americans because they questioned the Iraq war, they were asking the administration to focus on those who attacked the country but they were dismissed by the media because their views was not popular. If petty "dictators" in Africa could be put on trial for war crimes for murders that a a fraction of the people killed in Iraq....shouldn't the same world court rules also apply to Bush? All evidence shows that the Bush administration committed a war crime and they should face the full extent of the law in my view....no world leader should be allowed to abuse their power.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/29/bin.laden.2001/index.html

Media Obsession with Palin!!

No one knows where the media obsession with Palin will lead her, many speculate a 2012 run for Presidency, while others are confused of her intentions. Not long ago, the media was bashing the President for over-exposure, they complain that he is everywhere and doing everything but how come that same standard does not apply to Palin? I am sick of seeing or even reading anything she says, I personally feel like she's dumber than a kindergarten drop-out and I do not mean that as a slight to conservative Women, even though most appear to just be echoing what their husband or daddy tells them. Palin has been all over the place, selling books and bashing the Obama administration.....I am not sure if there has ever been any Vice-Presidential candidate that lost and can not swallow the loss.....the best way to show her anger is to undermine the winner? What happened to waiting for re-election period? She has an opinion on anything, eventhough, she hardly makes any sense. I guess she gets a pass because she's apparently "hot", and that is what Republicans seem to look for in a woman (good looks and dumb..check Foxnews women)...they perfectly suit each-other.
The media would not be obsessed over Palin if she was smart because that would be deemed boring, they seek drama and Palin provides that for them. I have heard the argument that she was a former governor but I also remind people that it was in Alaska and the people living in Alaska are mostly value voters...she seem to do good among the crowd that believes they are on God's side....God must be pro-life (but God wanted first babies sacrificed to him in the Bible), God created us as we are (Evolution is meaningless)...I have never seen a group using God's name to promote their selfish agendas like the Palin group. They claim to be getting back to Reaganomics and social conservatism....Under Reagan, the economy was horrible, Reagan was not as good as conservatives would like people to believe, he was simply a likable guy, political empty suit with no substance.
I have something in common with Palin though, we both cannot get a good hold of the English language. It is funny when I was reading comments by Palin fans on her Facebook page....almost all of them are asking people to pray that God derail Obamacare...Apparently, they believe God is a capitalist and he would not want everyone of his human creatures to have equal access to health-care.

The media needs to stop treating Palin as if she's something special, and the media needs to stop making dumb politicians that cannot process information to simply say anything and get away with it. Lately it seems like Palin and Bacchman are trying to out-Palin eachother because they know the media swallows up their junk and put it out there as if it is legit. The whole "death panel" thing surprised me, do we even need to pay attention to baseless accusations that Palin spews? It is about time that people stop paying attention to self absorbed politicians....she apparently retired from governorship because of a "higher calling"...Boi can this lady not get away with anything simply because she's "hot"...... not?

Politico:RNC insurance plan covers abortion

The Republican National Committee’s health insurance plan covers elective abortion – a procedure the party’s own platform calls “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.”

Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna. Two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion.

Informed of the coverage, RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho told POLITICO that the policy pre-dates the tenure of current RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

“The current policy has been in effect since 1991, and we are taking steps to address the issue,” Gitcho said.

Leading up to passage of the House health care reform bill last week, 176 House Republicans joined 64 Democrats in voting for the so-called Stupak amendment, a measure that prohibits federal funds from being used to buy health insurance that covers elective abortions.

A spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee – the campaign arm for the House Republicans – said it does not include coverage for elective abortions in its employee insurance policy.

“The policy does not cover abortions unless the life of the mother is in danger,” the NRCC spokeswoman said.

According to several Cigna employees, the insurer offers its customers the opportunity to opt out of abortion coverage – and the RNC did not choose to opt out.

Cigna spokesman Chris Curran declined to discuss the specifics of the RNC’s plan, saying it’s against company policy to reveal even the identities of its insured. But he said that Cigna’s products “are designed to meet the requirements of our individual employer clients. Employer clients are informed of the services covered and it is their choice to decide which benefits meet their needs.”

There is no indication that any RNC employee has used the abortion coverage, but Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said it’s “no surprise” that the RNC is offering it.

“It’s an employer that wants to provide standard health benefits for its employees,” she said. “That’s why the Stupak amendment goes too far in taking away benefits that women have today, and that’s why women won’t allow the Stupak amendment to become law.”

The Stupak amendment, named for sponsor Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), was adopted by the House before it passed the health care bill on Saturday night. It prohibits a government-backed health care plan from offering abortion services and bans the use of federal subsidies for individuals to buy into health care plans that provide abortion coverage.

Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona was the only House Republican who did not vote in favor of the amendment. He voted “present.”

While 64 Democrats voted for the amendment, the majority did not – and the Democratic Party’s 2008 platform says the party “unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay.” The Democratic National Committee provides abortion coverage to its employees, the committee said.
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Kinda ironic, if you cannot even practice what you preach....I guess the conservatives need some soul searching after-all. The press tend to pay little attention to things like this and everyone keeps calling the media, liberal? stories like this show how the media has a conservative bias and are more relentless towards liberals. All the hoopla about pro-choice seems to only be a problem when it's on the liberal side.

Conservative media hypes Obama's "insensitivity"

At the rate conservative media is going, pretty soon, they will blame Obama for the birds flying inappropriately over the white house. I find it despicable that for all that happened in the past week in fort hood, the conservative media still would be looking to blame the President for something instead of supporting him at a time of somber news for our soldiers and the American people. There is time for everything, it did not take an hour after the President delivered his remarks and condolence to the families, and fellow soldiers of the victims, when the conservative media pounded on him, they described the President as “wildly disconnected and inappropriately light” they are indirectly claiming that the President did not care for the dead and almost seem to be saying the President could care less if American soldiers are killed. It is very careless for conservatives to be dividing the country for political gains, if you can’t even support the President at a time of grief; it proves how the love for ideology surpasses the love of the country for conservatives.

Are people as offended as the media potrays?

Just checking mediatakeout.com for my daily dose of entertainment news. I came across a headline "BLONDE DALLAS COWBOY CHEERLEADER GOES TO HALLOWEEN PARTY WEARING BLACKFACE . . . TAKES PHOTOS AND CHEESES IT UP WITH SOME OF HER AFRICAN AMERICAN FRIENDS" as you can see in those pics. I do not think that black folks care or neither find it offensive that people paint themselves black....why would anyone think it's offensive or condescending to be black? well, the media atimes put out news to control our reactions, I believe news like this are often reported to control people's reaction and attitudes. The model wanted to be lil wayne for her Halloween, she's having fun and for the media to portray her in a way that make people think she's a racist is just crossing the line in news reporting. I also think most Americans are not as racist or racially insensitive as the media often portrays. If people cannot even have fun with each other how can they understand each-other? I am not blaming the media for causing people to be racist, but I think the more emphasis the media pays to racial division further divides people. I am also amazed how the media keeps talking about the "white" mayor about to be elected as next Atlanta mayor, I and most blacks are voting for her, not because she's white but because we agree with her vision for Atlanta and it annoys me every time they emphasize her race and make it seem like her election is a victory for white and not for the whole atl people.

The most trusted name in news..

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
For Fox Sake!
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I think Jon Stewart is hilarious, I also think he exposes how pathetic and hypocritical Foxnews are. Most of the things they are outraged about under Obama, they defended under Bush. You cannot be pro-government for 8 good years, then all of a sudden be the voice of the "people". It's funny how conservatives point to MSNBC as the liberal wing, truth is MSNBC do not make things up, MSNBC do not also pass nonsense out as news. The whole school kids brouhaha was manufactured by FoxNews just to make Obama seem like he was indoctrinating school kids, they never went to that length under Bush. I think that the Foxnews organization is bad news for this country, and they would do anything to promote their agenda even if it means the country collapses. Their mission is to destroy America in my view.....If their owner was an American I believe he would care more about the things they do, but since he's Australian, I personally think he is conspiring to divide and destroy this great nation. I mean why else would someone employ Neo-Nazi to be a major part of his organization? They sound like nationalists which is why I think people fall for the things they say, but the truth is, they are anything but patriotic.

USTREAM is pretty cool.

Agnew meets Palin


Pretty cool way to connect with your favorite celebs, politicians,friends and edit videos.

During the 2008 United States presidential election, USTREAM was used by nearly all the candidates to get out their message, and also allow voters to ask political questions.Mike Gravel was the first candidate ever to stream an alternate debate on Ustream that allowed him to respond to all of the questions being asked, as well as comment on the responses from the other candidates throughout a nationally televised debate.

Taliban on Youtube

FoxNews is "not a News Channel"

I have not watched the Foxnews Channel for some years now, but I occasionally come across snippets of their shows on youtube. I do not think the Obama admin gains anything from constantly bashing Foxnews because, if they claim that FoxNews is maligning the Obama Administration, it seems they are also doing the same to Foxnews and looking childish everytime they whine about Fox. Foxnews is a conservative channel, no doubt, they have a large audience and it will be a big mistake if the Obama admin continue to ignore them in my opinion. Fungai mentioned in class lastweek that since he's been watching Foxnews, he could not find one good thing they had to say about Obama. I believe that the people that watch Fox also don't want to hear anything good about Obama to begin with, same goes for Liberals that watch MSNBC expect to have their views reinforced. I have often called Foxnews W.E.T(white entertainment channel) sort of like the B.E.T, because their programs is mostly focused to conservatives, and most happen to be White. People need to accept Fox for what it is and stop acting like it's a camouflage for something else, plus the Obama admin needs to stop whining about Fox news and find avenues they have something in common rather than continually looking as if they cannot stand a different point of view.

Gay protests ignored as balloon boy/interracial marriage license denial gains coverage.

CNN is doing anything and everything possible to get attention these days, their wall to wall coverage of the balloon boy and their online front page coverage of the interracial couple denied license in Louisiana is just an example of how the media sometimes are ratings oriented. The Gay marriage protest drew thousand of protesters to Washington D.C but was largely ignored by virtually all the media outlets; however the balloon boy story, which is turning out to be a hoax was given wall to wall coverage. Virtually all the Media gave coverage to the story, none wanted to be left behind, and they followed the balloon and provided minute by minute coverage of the balloon, the boy and his family. Another news that caught my eye was the marriage license that was denied to an interracial couple in Louisiana, apparently the media find it important to report on one Justice of peace’s opinion on interracial marriage.I Personally do not waste my time on people like that and also, I think the story is not newsworthy simply because there are many Justice of peace out there and the couple could have simply seek out someone that will grant them a license instead of making a big deal out of it.
I am aware that Gay rights are not popular among many Americans, but why is the media blatantly ignoring them? How can people get educated on issues important to the gay community if the media continue to act as if they’re a fringe group that does not deserve any attention? Even though I am a Liberal, I do not like the idea of gays in the society but I will confess that I do not know any gay person and I am not well educated on their issues…..I grew up in a society that you probably get killed if you’re gay and I neither knew the meaning of gay nor did I know that humans could be homosexual till I was about 17 years old here in the United States. I for one would like to watch the gay protests and understand what the fuss is all about but I could not find any outlet willing to give them coverage. I find myself guilty of following the balloon boy story because I find the story fascinating and almost missed class to follow the story….All in all, I think the media continues to do a disservice to people by jumping on news that are catchy but unworthy while ignoring news that maybe helpful but unpopular.

Now, that's Fairandbalanced

I can't believe that someone on Fox News will see past politics.

Concerned Americans

Bad, Bad Media

Whether we like it or not, the media shapes what we find important. As we discussed in class, the main reason people supported the Iraq war was because the media made people feel as if that war was important to our safety. The war became the most important issue to people. The media manipulates our thought process by making some things feel important than others, and we tend to put aside our needs and believe that things will be ok once the issue the media is focused on is solved. But once their story is losing steam, they jump on something else as if it is the most important thing to us. The election 08 is a good example, at some point; some people actually said that the Rev Wright issue was more important than the economy in helping them decide who to vote for. If you ask most Foxnews audience what they find important, they would most likely make you think investigating ACORN is more important than Health Care reform. As we continue to seek objectivity from the media, shouldn’t we also seek relevant stories? What is lost in the objectivity debate is the kind of stories that should be reported on. We are in two wars and amid a recession created by the financial crisis. Amazingly, you will hardly find any media sources except for the internet that is monitoring the financial institutions; neither is anyone paying attention to the wars. The media continue to say that the public is losing support for the wars, why won’t we? They continue to make those wars irrelevant by not constantly reminding Americans of why we are in those wars. Also you might even be surprised that the financial institutions are back to their old practices, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/returning-to-their-old-ha_b_216642.html) but many Americans today are outraged at government spending, taxation, ACORN and not even a bit concerned about those institutions that got us in the economic situation we are in the first place, why? Because certain media outlets have made it a habit to seek more viewers and sponsors rather than report on issues that really affect every American. If you have reporters such as Glen Beck revving up disgruntled Americans and telling them their problems is big government spending, while stoking racial rhetoric and in the process, gaining audience, why would other reporters find it in their interest to report important issues? We the people continue to allow the media to control our thinking and interests by continually paying attention to things that don’t matter. It is also worth mentioning that educative issues such as global warming, American history, and community outreach are less popular among Americans and the media, you will hardly find people to discuss relevant issues with, but many people can discuss, dancing with the stars, Flava of love and other reality shows all day.

Gadhafi.

Gadhafi's speech to the UN was long, boring and a lot of rantings. He doesn't advocate for anything, but had a million complaints. I am still not sure why the press gave him attention...even Fox carried the whole speech.
I find it amusing that he will praise Obama, seek a investigation into Kennedy's murder and then complain about jet lag. Surprisingly the press seems infatuated with him...he's almost like a hated celebrity.....and not a tyrant that he is. Gadhafi's act is similar most third world leaders, they've been blaming the West for decades, they bank in billions while their citizen's starve. It is understandable that the American press is free to do whatever they want, but should the press be free to help people like that spread propaganda's? He even suggested that Swine flu is a doing of capitalist's..so that they can sell drugs and make profits.

.....Mainstream V. Conservative media.

9/14-9/18 .
Mainstream media:

Monday - President's address to Wall street.

Tuesday - Health Reform

Wednesday - Baucus Plan/Annie Le murder

Thursday - Lab tech arrest in le's murder/Insurance malpractice/Medal of honor for fallen American Hero (you all need to check that inspiring/heroic story of Sgt. Jared Monti)

Friday - falsely accused rape victims treatment/ Swine flu vaccination/Yale suspect


Conservative media:
Monday - Acorn

Tuesday - White student beaten up on school bus/black congressman invokes kkk on Joe Wilson debate

Wednesday - Jimmy Carter claims racist tone against Obama.

Thursday - Obama's concession to Russia on missile defense/More Acorn/Iran's capability to make nuclear weapon

Friday - Michele's Healthcare pitch to Woman/Gadaffi,Ahmadinejad and Chavez visit to NY for UN conference

There is a stark difference in stories prioritized by the Conservative or the mainstream media. The conservative media put more emphasis on polarizing issues such as race, patriotism and foreign governments that are "un-American" but the mainstream media put most of their emphasis on domestic issues, mostly issues that directly affect the American people. Although the mainstream media may seem more boring, they are more objective in their news coverage. The conservative media is very passionate about their coverage....mainstream seems unorganized because they take on too many news stories at the same time.

Referenced media - Fox, Cnn, Abc, Cbs, Drudgereport, Politico and Huffingtonpost.

Tea party protest and the media.

Tens of thousands of protesters showed up to show their anger against government spending, taxes and several other concerns they have about the country’s direction. Amazingly, with that much people protesting, several media outlets paid little to almost no attention to the protesters. C-Span and Foxnews were the only media outlets, which gave some coverage to the event. CNN and MSNBC opted to show the President’s health-care rally in Minnesota. Another thing that caught my eye was the media coverage. MSNBC dismissed the protesters as right wing cronies who have been hyped up by Foxnews and conservative talk radio. A guest on MSNBC said it was a racial issue, she said those protesters are Foxnews viewers, people who did not vote for the President in the first place and folks that agreed with Glen Beck that Healthcare coverage for all is Obama’s reparations for black people. CNN had a hard time covering the event; protesters continually disrupted their coverage of the events. What was clear about the event was that majority of them are Foxnews viewers and most of their resentment has nothing to do with Healthcare, taxation or the government. Foxnews had Glen Beck on to cover the event, he described the protesters as patriotic Americans, people fed up with their government and he had everything good in this world to say about them. Liberal leaning media were more likely to look for extreme signs, diversity of the crowd and the rhetoric of the speakers but conservative leaning media drummed up criticism of the government and pointed to the protests as an indication that Americans are fed up of the government.
Although the tea party lacked a clear message, the protest was peaceful and insightful- some accused the government of spending too much, some complained about their taxes (even though people are actually paying less taxes under Obama), some complained about the health-care as government take over, some held signs mocking the president and some are just there to cheer on. Several conservative leaders attended the tea party protest.

A liberal's view of the Conservative media and Van Jones.

President Obama’s green jobs Czar, Van Jones resigned in the midst of outrage over his past inflammatory statements. He was linked to a fringe group called the ‘truthers’, which promoted a conspiracy theory that the Bush administration had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks. The ‘truthers’ group wanted the congress to investigate that theory. He claims that he wanted it investigated, so it can put an end to the rumors going around that the Bush administration had any previous knowledge of the attack. He later apologized for his involvement.

The coverage given to Van Jones previous speeches is a perfect example of the conservative media’s obsession with a mythical liberal media. Foxnews reporter, Glen Beck gave the Van Jones story more coverage than the death of Edward Kennedy. Drudge Report complained that ABC, CBS, CNN and some other media outlets are not giving it enough coverage. The conservative media seem to be more ratings oriented; they rarely or never put any emphasis on poor Americans, problems in urban areas, people without health-care, war coverage and soldiers dying in the war. They are more likely to focus on speeches made by controversial figures, birthers, promoting racial fears, and people calling the President names such as Racist, socialist, un-American and communist.

The so-called liberal media outlets did report on the story, but in contrast to the conservative media, they did not set aside a whole segment of their news coverage towards the story. Foxnews took out snippets of the speeches and report it as news, which reminds me of their obsession over Reverend Wright. Conservative media rarely ever report news in a context, they spun the speeches of Van Jones and Wright to make it seem like they have some hidden hatred for white people, they are pro-socialist, and they are anti-Israel or basically un-American. Not long ago, one of those conservative pundits called a fist jab by the President and his wife, a terrorist fist jab. It’s sad when the only way to promote your agenda is to pick or destroy people’s character and name.

What the conservative media understands is that African Americans often have different experiences in America, experiences which give them a different point of view and outlook on life. However, they use those different points of views as a political tool to get White audiences, promote racial fears and to promote their conservative views. I know many southerners that call themselves conservatives but do not even support the ideology. The point is, conservatism as promoted by the media to often mean pro-white, maybe anti-abortion and pro-guns.

My view of the conservative media will probably be different from someone that supports their agenda, but the fact remains that conservative media make news of stories that are irrelevant to the average American. Van Jones has done more for ordinary people in his short time working for the white house that any of the Foxnews hate mongers has ever even think of doing. They bank in millions off disgruntled audiences while promoting agendas that make more and more ordinary American’s life more miserable.

Some of the statements made by Van Jones and Wright are beyond pathetic, they don’t reflect the thinking of most African Americans, and the conservative media continue to do a disservice to the people by putting so much emphasis on news like this and creating an atmosphere where race plays a dominant role in politics and issues that really matter to average Americans are put on hold.

Edward Kennedy

As a liberal and an African American, Edward Kennedy is a hero to me and the ideology I support whole heartedly. However, I am not too intrigued about his personal life and the things he got away with in life. If Edward was the average Joe, he would probably serve some time in Prison for the Chappaquiddick incident because, his story just does not add up. He did get two months in jail (suspended), and that is the joke of it all, considering a life was taken due to his recklessness. He left the scene without calling the cops, leaving his female counterpart to drown/die without seeking any help. I personally believe that he was drunk and he did not call the cops for that reason.
Just like everywhere else is the world, there seems to be two set of law and order in America, one for the rich and fortunate, another for the poor and average Joe. If another senator not named Kennedy had done the same thing, it would have been the end of his political career, but in this case, the Kennedy name was enough to get him out.
I applaud Kennedy’s stance and legacy of promoting civil rights, Women’s rights and Health care for all, his story is that of redemption. In spite of all his achievements, I can’t help but think that other people out there, who could have redeemed themselves and fight for public good would not have their chance after a “mistake” simply because their name is not Kennedy.