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November 12, 2005

Where Can We Get the News Around Here?

The Shameless Media: Reporting Only the News Fit to Ignore

Human Rights Watch came out with a detailed study of abuses by insurgent groups in Iraq this week titled: A Face and a Name: Civilian Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq. Yes, the study does propose that our military actions and presence are encouraging the insurgent's to commit human rights violations. The portion of the report regarding U.S. And Iraqi government forces, weakly and foolishly suggests that were we nicer to the insurgents they might be nicer in return. However, the report is very clear in detailing the war crimes being committed by the insurgents and completely debunks the “freedom fighter” justification brought to us by Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore and company. The media, always quick to make front page headlines denouncing what they decry as U.S. atrocities has made not a peep regarding this report. But we have no bias in the mainstream media...

You Don't Have to Take Sides to Report the News

The media, particularly our local Cape Cod Times, seems to be under the impression that reporting a news story is the equivalent of choosing sides. If they disagree with something, they simply do not report it. In this effort, they often cover lackluster stories while ignoring more substantial events. On October 2nd, more than 2,000 pro-life supporters (including people from the Cape) rallied on Boston Common and more than 50 pro-choice demonstrators held their own counter protest. We had no reports of this news in our local rag. Apparently a few people promoting gay marriage is more worthy of coverage. This same anti-wind farm newspaper also insists on calling a contractor interested in the Cape Wind project a “Big Dig” contractor. The only connection the contractor has to the Big Dig is that he purchased a company a year ago that worked on it. Were they reporting the news rather than editorializing it, we would not have had to do our own “Big Dig” for this pertinent information. Every day the Cape Cod Times gives us their own version of the “Big Dig” as they shovel more onto the pile. Nope, no bias there either...

No Republican Left Unindicted

This week, the Government Accountability Office ruled that the Education Department had violated the government’s publicity or propaganda prohibition when it created reports trying to counter the National Education Association's efforts to squash the No Child Left Behind Act. It was not that long ago that prominent Democrats were crying foul that this bill had been plagiarized or stolen by President Bush. Isn't it funny that when a Democrat comes on board with a Republican bill, they are being bipartisan, but when a Republican pushes a bill that is considered worthwhile they have plagiarized it. Suddenly, after the bill passes, and having been trumpeted by those on both sides of the aisle (our Senator Kennedy included), those who championed it and many educators immediately commenced to demonize it.

The spin on this bipartisan bill as an unfunded mandate with impossible to meet demands has been forwarded by the anti-Bush crowd, and the mainstream media follows the anti-Bush crowd like its shadow. What they fail to mention is that this bill's purpose was simply to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary School Education Act of 1965 (something we have done repeatedly since its creation). The new guidelines put forth in The No Child Left Behind plan aim to reverse the growing trend of high school graduates who currently have to take job applications home for someone else to fill out for them. No Child Left Behind is making our states hold schools accountable for the competency of their students. The purpose of the bill and the bipartisan, American ideals behind it seek to insure the future of our country through the education of our children. That the administration had to promote such an idea is the sad story. Covert propaganda? What is covert about fostering the education of our young people?

If $240,000 of our tax dollars should not have been used to promote the education of our children, I can certainly come up with a thousand more ways I would rather my taxes were not wasted. The National Endowment for the Arts would be a fine example of this. I am far more offended by much of the “art” my tax dollars are supporting than any media campaign promoting education. Let private demand drive the output of art, not my tax dollars. Our elite local representative, Senator Edward “Left Said Ted” Kennedy added his two cents about this “investigation” that he spearheaded: “The taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign coming from the White House is another sign of the culture of corruption that pervades the White House and Republican leadership.” Culture of corruption indeed. The only thing that has been corrupted is the liberal left's sense of right and wrong. I consider the investigation of this promotional material a bigger waste of my tax dollars than the offense itself. How much did this “investigation” cost?

The quote of the week comes from a teacher of ethics at the Poynter Institute (a school for journalists). Aly Colon applauds the Government Accountability Office's finding as it helps to reinforce a standard that “whatever information is presented to the public is done in the most transparent way possible.” I could only laugh when I read that one.

The news we are getting lately is exceedingly transparent- a transparent effort by elite liberals to further their own agendas. They wonder why we have lost faith in mainstream media.

Related article: Probe finds Education Department broke propaganda rules , AP.

Originally Posted: October 5, 2005, Cape Cod Today

Posted by capecodcyclist at November 12, 2005 08:56 AM

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