I’m getting sick of media bias
I'd been wondering how the other networks would spin Obama's Fox News interview (in which he ignored, evaded, and fumbled his way through the questions)... now I know.
I just saw the NBC4 local news bit (yes, the press is covering the press... as if there's nothing else to talk about), and they only talked about Obama getting interrupted by the Fox News interviewer (who was interrupting because Obama was trying to avoid answering the questions he was asking by changing the subject). Yet again, I have no faith in the media delivering unbiased news coverage. Fox leans a bit too far to the right, but the rest tend to lean so far left they're practically horizontal.Whatever happened to dispassionately reporting the facts and letting the viewers/readers decide their own opinions?
And to make things worse... they spent more time on the story about Sandra Bullock's marital problems than they did on the hard news of the health care reform debate. Seriously? For those who wonder why I'm not working as a newspaper editor anymore, this is why.
This is why I’ve grown disillusioned with mainstream news
Searching through the news on teh Interwebs, I came across this little gem:
Man In Court For Allegedly Having Sex With Underage Teen
CORPUS CHRISTI - A man accused of having sex with a 14-year-old Aransas Pass girl that he met online appeared in court Monday.
Former NAS Military Police Officer Matthew Craig Ramirez, 29, appeared in court for a motion to revoke his bond after it was brought to prosecutors attention that Craig had violated his pretrial conditions by going to a nightclub.
In court, prosecutors were unable to prove that, so Craig will remain on electronic monitoring until his trial, which is set for October.
Corpus Christi police found the 14-year-old girl who claims she had sex with Craig at his home back in march. Craig was later arrested at the base and is still facing criminal charges and military discipline.
Ho. Lee. Crap. That story is bad. Terrible. Horrible. And I'm not talking about the content; no, the actual prose of the story is an atrocity in and of itself. I'm so disturbed by the horrendous grammar, the egregious punctuation, that I feel the need - no, the compulsion - to edit (and in some places, completely rewrite) the damn thing. So, here it is:
Accused pedophile appears in court
CORPUS CHRISTI - A man accused of having sex with a 14-year-old Aransas Pass girl that he met online appeared in court Monday.
Matthew Craig Ramirez, 29, a former NAS Military Police Officer, appeared in court following allegations that he had violated his pretrial conditions by going to a nightclub. Prosecutors were unable to prove the claim, however, so Craig will remain on electronic monitoring until his trial, which is set for October.
The girl, who claimed she had sex with Craig, was found at his home in March by Corpus Christi police. Craig was later arrested at the base and still faces criminal charges and military discipline.
That last pair of sentences was particularly egregious, and I'm not even sure that I interpreted them correctly. Did they actually find her at his home in March (which is supposed to be capitalized, btw), or did they find her and she later claimed that she had sex with the guy at his home in March? That, more than anything, makes this "story" a journalistic atrocity.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-18
- Finally watched the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. WTF? Klaatu as interstellar Greenpeace?! #
- @dannymcguffin You do realize that they make screens for your windows to keep the bugs OUT, right? in reply to dannymcguffin #
- Sitting at Starbucks, paying $8 for Internet & waiting for my group to get here so we can get ourselves ready for the midterm tomorrow #
- Today, amazingly, was fairly productive. Did some gaming, studied for the midterm, did laundry, even got my pirate on and watched Trek XI #
- Midterm debate for English 103 went OK. Speech class in 30 minutes, w/ midterm on Wed; my speech is on zombies in pop culture! #
- @BadAstronomer Let's just ignore the half-dozen instances during TNG when Troi tells Riker she never kissed him with a beard before. in reply to BadAstronomer #
- Bleh. Not feeling up for class this morning. Overslept, running late. #
- Rather surprised that I got an A on my last English paper (the one I turned in late). I didn't put as much into it as I should have. #
- Off to school again in about 15-20 minutes. Midterm for Speech class today. "Zombies in pop culture." Hope I do it justice. #
- Accidentally deleted midterm for Speech 10mins before class while trying to print... Tried undelete but no luck. Prof gave me an extra day. #
- Reading: Glitch hits Visa users with more than $23 quadrillion charge - http://bit.ly/2i4BF #cnn #
- Got an A on my speech! #
- Figures. Get an A on the midterm, and find a dead battery in my truck. Waiting for a jump start #
- Battery was fine. The starter on the other hand... Push started the truck to get home but need to get it fixed asap #
- Dammit. Replaced the solenoid relay and it STILL won't start, even though everything seems to indicate that's the problem. #
- Can't wait til it hits its optimum orbit. (via @BadAstronomer) Apollo landing sites imaged by LRO! Incredible images! http://tr.im/sOCn #
- Went to a baseball game with Darren & Chris; minor league team, the OC Flyers. Had a good time, planning to do it again Wednesday. #
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Why Prop 8 being upheld is a bad thing
It was with dismay that I read the headlines this morning, which informed me that the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8. The proposition, which barely passed with a simple majority vote, banned same-sex marriage in the state of California. The arguments against the proposition's passage include the fact that it contradicts the equal protection clause in the state constitution, as well as the assertion that Proposition 8 revised the constitution, rather than simply amending it.
Gay marriage aside, I have several problems with this turn of events. Effectively, we've been shown that a simple majority vote can eliminate the rights of a minority group, the state constitution's equal protection clause be damned. Secondly, this shows that only a simple majority is needed to rewrite the state constitution. California has been shown to be nothing less than a tyranny of the majority. If they (voters) can deny one group (gays) from exercising their rights (marriage), then what is to stop them from doing the same to other groups? Equal protection apparently isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Let's repeat that statement, replacing groups and rights: "If they (voters) can deny one group (non-whites) from exercising their rights (owning property), then what is to stop them from doing the same to other groups?" Do we see now how bad this is?
Highway to Hell: The Rise and Fall of the Somali Republic
This is the third and final paper I had to write for my English class. The assignment was, effectively, to write a history paper with a personal interview and research to support that interview. For mine, I interviewed my friend, Darren, who served in Somalia while he was in the Army. I’d initially intended for the paper to focus on his time in Somalia, but it quickly morphed into the history of Somalia from WWII to the present.
Everything You Know Is Wrong: Abrams Takes Us Where No Trek Has Gone Before
Director/Producer JJ Abrams has taken Star Trek where it hasn’t gone before by taking it back to where it all began. Surprise; he rebooted Star Trek while no one was looking, and not only did he do it well enough that many casual fans–let alone the general public–won’t even notice, he managed to do it in-continuity with the Trek that had gone before, thanks to a clever plot involving a time-traveling villain who actually succeeds in carrying out most of his goals before he can be stopped, forever altering the history of Star Trek that has been built up over the past four decades. From this point on, as the film makes painfully clear, anything goes.
Victory for free speech
An appeals court in California has upheld that Blogs can be just as legitimate a news source as more traditional media outlets, and are thus also entitled to the same protection under the law. Thankfully, someone actually read the Constitution (specifically, the First Amendment).
Glad I’m not British
Y'know... I said this years ago when the British government outlawed and seized everyone's guns... it was just a matter of time until they went after swords & knives...
Federal agency makes mockery of responsibility
Tales of deception, thievery and corruption seem to be a constant in Washington, especially in recent years. Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under a congressional microscope, with $45 million reported missing.
Help feed my caffeine addiction
I am reading
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Random Quote
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
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- So apparently my school is streaming my graduation this morning at http://t.co/j2bir62y
- So this is happening now http://t.co/B1flb6l4 http://t.co/qHMyUhFU http://t.co/XzmFvrfq
- Done with school. About to see Avengers with a few friends...
- Just turned in my final paper. Tomorrow morning, I graduate. It still doesn't feel real yet.
- 3 classes done: 1 grade posted, 1 known, & waiting on the 3rd. Final paper for 4th class due tomorrow. Graduation in 26 hours... Bring it.