Fox News Loosing Clout?

This is an important point at the center of the brouhaha over the republican partisan nature of Faux News:

[T]he money people are noticing the animosity against Fox News, and realizing that the Fox News brand isn’t necessarily something their clients should want to be associated with.

The corporate world is cautious about politics, and they don’t like to get in the middle of political spats.  They prefer their politics quiet and out of site.  It’s probably just better for them to put their ads on CNN and MSNBC, and leave Fox News for the penis pills and the like.

Bless His Heart Indeed

"Bless your heart." I love hearing the phrase… here’s how the Urban Dictionary defines it:

1.	bless your heart
	1: phrase used by Southern women to excuse themselves for speaking ill of someone else. 2: an expression of sympathy or pity. 3: a polite way to respond to an ignoramus, particularly male, who showers upon you flattering but unwanted compliments. 1: "She’s as ugly as a mud-fence, bless her heart." 2: "Well, bless your heart, that must have been terrible!" 3: drunk fella: "I think you’re beautiful! Even if you were ugly, I’d STILL think you were beautiful!" recipient: "…bless your heart."
2.	bless your heart
	A polite way to say "go to hell" a: *gives the finger* b: Bless your heart!

I specially love hearing the phrase when delivered to conservative blowhards. Here’s Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright delivering a much deserved "Bless your heart" to über-conservative Sean Hannity of Faux News:

Video courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

Jewish Americans Strongly Opposed to the Iraq War

Based on mainstream media (MSM) coverage and on comments by the religious right (read republican party), one gets the sense that the Jewish public is supportive of the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq and of its other policies in that region of the world. Of course, as with anything that comes out of the right wing (read republican party) and its supporters in the MSM, the facts demonstrate a liberal bias that simply don’t support the claim.

The Gallup Poll is reporting: Among Religious Groups, Jewish Americans Most Strongly Oppose War — opposition goes beyond Jewish Americans’ political affiliations.

That bears repeating, because of how it refutes what seems to have been the conventional narrative over the past couple of years, that is: the right wing’s (read republican party) claim that Jewish Americans are abandoning the Democratic party (and their commitment to Progressive values) and joining the republican party due to Bush’s Middle East policies, including the Iraq war. So lemme repeat the Gallup Poll headline and quote from their poll: Among Religious Groups, Jewish Americans Most Strongly Oppose War.

PRINCETON, NJ — An analysis of Gallup Poll data collected since the beginning of 2005 finds that among the major religious groups in the United States, Jewish Americans are the most strongly opposed to the Iraq war. Catholics and Protestants are more or less divided in their views on the war, while Mormons are the most likely to favor it. Those with no religious affiliation also oppose the war, but not to the same extent that Jewish people do. The greater opposition to the war is not simply a result of high Democratic identification among U.S. Jews, as Jews of all political persuasions are more likely to oppose the war than non-Jews who share the same political leanings.

Gallup’s findings:

United States Made a Mistake in Sending Troops to Iraq,
by Religious Affiliation, 2005-2007 Gallup Polls

Of these major religious groups, three show more opposition than support for the war:

• Jewish people oppose the Iraq war by a better than 3-to-1 margin, 77% to 21%. 
• Americans without a religious preference are twice as likely to oppose (66%) as to support (33%) the war. 
• Catholics are somewhat more likely to oppose (53%) than to support the war (46%). 

[...]

[C]loser analysis of the data show that Jewish war opposition goes beyond their basic political leanings. Jewish people are more likely to oppose the war than non-Jews of the same political persuasion. For example, 89% of Jewish Democrats oppose the Iraq war, compared with 78% of all non-Jewish Democrats. 

For the full poll visit the Gallup Poll.

Say No to Faux News

There’s been a lot of discussion lately in grassroots blogs about how politically tone deaf some in the establishment Democratic party seem to be about the Republican Noise Machine, and its main TV propaganda arm: Fox News.

Even after Faux News has gone after Democratic party candidates in the past, the Nevada Democratic party has made a deal with Faux News to carry one of the early nomination debates. And more recently Faux News has gone after Sen Obama, a leading presidential candidate, Robert Greenwald has more:

Earlier this week it was announced that FOX would host a Presidential Primary debate for the Democratic Party of Nevada. This farce must be stopped. FOX cannot be allowed to pretend for one day they are a news organization.

If you are thinking, ‘why bother? Who cares? No one believes or listens to what FOX says,’ I have two words for you — Swift Boat. Keeping the Swift Boaters alive was FOX’s main contribution to the 2004 elections. FOX’s bias does not just reach those who knowingly tune in to the likes of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. Other media become influenced by and pick up stories from FOX. Thus, the bias spreads like a cancer — destroying honest news coverage.

Mainstream Media Bias: NY Times at it Again

Just another example in a long list of mainstream media bias against opposition to Bush’s Iraq war:

A Divided House Denounces Plan for More Troops

That’s the NY Times headline covering the recent Democratic Party resolution rebuking Bush’s Iraq war escalation. Here’s the bias, as others have commented:

That would be the New York Times editorializing in its news story about yesterday’s House vote on the Iraq escalation. It gets even more ridiculous in the lede:

A sharply divided House of Representatives passed a resolution on Friday formally repudiating President Bush’s decision to send more than 20,000 new combat troops to Iraq.

Never mind that there were 17 Republicans voting against their own President and with the Democrats. On any other vote that would have been called "bipartisan."