eye on the news

[writerspleasure.livejournal.com]

Obama May Reconsider Military Tribunals for Guantanamo Detainees, Reports Say - remember how it was the outrage of outrages, the next step to dictatorship? remember how it was destroying us in the eyes of the world because of its intrinsic evil?

- http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/military-tribunals-return-guantanamo-bay-detainees/story?id=12732138

some other quick media points:

- total silence/lack of follow-up about gore's divorce
- total silence/lack of follow-up about hawaii's long-form birth cert flip flop - and now it turns out they're not allowed to release "personal information" - media doesn't point out obama could authorize release of everything [n.b. i'm not a birther]
- remember a thing called the stimulus? how's that working out? how much debt is it leaving us burdened with?
- there's a new congress in - what are they doing? notice how the breathless attention to every little thing the preceding congress was doing is gone?

this is what the media does: selective attention. when a more-statist/left thing is being discussed, the door is open and minds and eyes are open. news flows. when a less-statist/right thing is being discussed, the door is shut and the flow halts; at most there's a stiff and distant "objectivity" quite different from the warm and emotive tone used about things that fit the media bias. (no doubt this holds true for right-biased media, such as they are.)

the merchant marine argument

[writerspleasure.livejournal.com]

the latest in touting and crowing: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/founding_fathers_favored_gover.html

[ ooh! one professor - an associate professor ... he talks about "tea party types" - no bias there ]

history's refutation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Merchant_Marine#History

! again

[writerspleasure.livejournal.com]

News Alert: Tea Party Supporter Chosen to Lead New Hampshire Republicans - Jack Kimball, a Tea Party activist who ran for governor of New Hampshire last year, was selected on Saturday to be the new chairman of the Republican party in the state. He defeated Juliana Bergeron, who had the backing of John H. Sununu, the former governor and departing party chairman.

With the state's first-in-the-nation primary just over a year away, Mr. Kimball's victory could further strengthen the role of Tea Party members and possibly influence how presidential candidates approach the state in the coming months.

Traditionally, party chairmen in New Hampshire remain neutral in presidential primaries. But Mr. Kimball said recently that the new party chairman should let presidential candidates know that New Hampshire Republicans want their party to "get back to its conservative values and stay there."

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na

Sandy Rios' "Judge John Roll Was a Hero: Why Didn't We Know This?" commentary

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

Sandy Rios wrote a nice send-up about Judge John Roll's heroic final moments on Townhall. She also asks a worthy question in that, with the media lulz, the murder libel on Palin, we, as a nation, nearly forgot about the judge, didn't we? Well, I don't plan to forget him, so feel free to spread Rios' column, as far and wide as you can or want to. It is something profound to consider for the new week ahead, as we move forward.

Link: http://townhall.com/columnists/SandyRios/2011/01/21/judge_john_roll_was_a_hero_why_didnt_we_know_this