media bias

Anyone who doesn't think there is a media bias either doesn't watch the news or is biased themselves. But for all those who think conservatives are just a bunch of cry babies when it comes to the news, it is time to go to the research.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism has the raw data on just how bias the media really is. This non-partisan research group reveals with numbers what conservatives have known intuitively for decades. What the chart below makes obvious is that the media's reporting of Obama is mostly favorable while for McCain it is overwhelmingly negative.


Between September 8 and October 16th the media had a field day. The report shows that, "For Obama during this period, just over a third of the stories were clearly positive in tone (36%), while a similar number (35%) were neutral or mixed. A smaller number (29%) were negative."

It also shows that, "For McCain, by comparison, nearly six in ten of the stories studied were decidedly negative in nature (57%), while fewer than two in ten (14%) were positive."

This isn't the opinion of conservative talk radio. This is based on non-partisan factual research.

Here is another chart showing the way two very different outlets covered the same stories. MSNBC could be renamed the Obama network. And Fox News is much more favorable to McCain than the rest of the media outlets. Even still, if you look below at Fox's chart for Obama, it almost looks identical to their chart for McCain. Maybe this is what fair and balanced looks like?



The numbers for NBC aren't as bad as MSNBC and CNN is kind of down the middle. CNN tends to be just as negative toward McCain as the average of the rest of the media. They aren't as biased as MSNBC. That would be tough to accomplish. But the stats don't lie. They are overwhelmingly favorable toward Obama and negative toward McCain. And if you think it is just the networks, think again. The newspapers are in on it too. Just check out the chart below.


The bias in the media is not up for debate any longer. It's not an opinion. We have the hard data to back up what many conservatives have known for years. The media will always lean left.

There are many more charts and much more data at The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. If you want to learn more about the bias in the media, go to their site and read their latest report called "The Color of News."

post-oil

It is not likely that the oil our earth holds will last another century based on our increasing addiction to it. What will happen in the future is that our grandchildren will read about the days when the whole world was run on oil. They will be stunned. They will ask themselves, "How could grampa have lived like that?"

The history books in our great-grand children's history class will mark the time when humanity entered a time called "the post-oil era". Things will be run off of natural gas, solar, electric, wind and nuclear power. But there will be no oil to speak of. Even now oil companies are transitioning into "energy" companies. They see the writing on the wall even if they can't let go of the black gold just yet.

There was a time before the telephone, and now we live in the cell phone age. There was a time before computers, and now we are right in the middle of the information age. There will be a time when there is no more oil to speak of and our addiction to it will finally end.

The post-oil age will be a time of extensive advancements in renewable sources of energy. It will change the economic landscape of our world. The oil rich nations will lose their economic power. Those nations who developed alternative energy technology early in this century will be the ones who thrive.

My hope for America is that we begin a 12 step program to free ourselves from oil addiction within the next decade. If we keep waiting for the well to run dry, it will be too late.

final debate

Well the final debate before the election happened last night. I have only seen clips of it online because I couldn't watch it live. But I did find the conversation on abortion particularly interesting.

McCain supports a pro-life position and is a strong supporter of adoption. He and Cindy have an adopted daughter themselves.

What was interesting to me was Obama's position. He is obviously pro-choice. But he said he would be willing sign a bill that outlawed "late-term" abortion so long as it had a provision for the health of the mother. When Obama is President, the pro-life movement should take advantage of this and see if he actually will stick to his word. The big question is what does "health of the mother" include?

What is likely to happen is that a bill will get presented to Congress that would outlaw late-term abortion nationwide. Then, over disagreements on the fine print on what "health of the mother" means it will either not pass or will get vetoed by Obama. This is exactly what happened to the partial-birth abortion ban when Clinton was in office. The bill passed Congress and Clinton vetoed it because he wanted a provision for the "health of the mother."

Here is a quote describing this incident from the Guttmacher Institute:

"A bill to ban the procedure except when it is necessary to save a woman's life was adopted by the U.S. Congress but vetoed by President Bill Clinton in the spring of 1996. The Senate, but not the House of Representatives, lacked the two-thirds of votes necessary to override the veto. Following the veto, President Clinton, surrounded by several women who had undergone D&X to terminate wanted pregnancies that had gone seriously wrong and threatened their health, announced that he would have signed the measure if it had contained an exception to preserve the woman's health as well as her life."

We definitely want to preserve a woman's "life." Even Congress could agree that late-term abortions would be legal if it threatened the mother's life. But what does it mean to preserve her "health." Anytime a women gets pregnant, her health is in jeopardy. "Health" is such a vague term that could include anything.

It's not "healthy" to have high blood pressure and acid reflux, yet many, if not most, pregnant women experience both. So if a woman has a "late-term" pregnancy and her blood pressure goes up, would she be able to have a "late-term abortion" to preserve her "health?" You can see how that language opens the door for anything. McCain rightly pointed this out in his rebuttal of Obama's position.

I applaud Obama's willingness to try to reduce unwanted pregnancies and his willingness to be open to outlawing late-term abortion. But having a provision in the law that uses the language of "protecting the health of the mother" needs to be more specific or it just ends up opening Pandora's box.

stick a fork in 'em

Well, the VP debate was fun to watch. Palin held her own and didn't embarrass herself. But I think most people agreed that Biden came across as much more Presidential and knowledgeable about the issues.

McCain needed a game-changing-type showing from Palin. And though she did well, at best she kept the poles the same. The problem is that in all the poles, Obama is ahead in the swing states. Add to this the economy being in the toilet and you can pretty much see the writing on the wall for the Republicans.

While the next 5 weeks will be full of negative ads and lots of pundits giving their sage wisdom to us poor idiots that make up the masses, they won't do anything to change the momentum of this election. It would behoove anyone who doesn't know Obama well to begin to study up on his plans and policies. He will be our next President whether you vote for him or not.

Stick a fork in the McCain/Palin ticket. They are done. I believe McCain did his best at running for President. He has served his country well for nearly his whole life. But serving as President will not be an honor/burden that he will ever receive.

It's been a fun election year. History has been made by both parties. And now it's as good as over. Congrats Obama! I won't be voting for you come November. But I will pray for you when you take office in the White House. I will pray that you will be the best President that you can be and that God will sustain you through the hardship that is the American Presidency.