New York Times - Uncredible

At one time the New York Times was what they claim to be on their banner, "The Paper of Record." That must have been a long time ago because for at least that last 15-20 years the NYT has simply been a leftist publication which lacks any credibility with the majority of Americans. Very few Americans take the NYT seriously any more and they have good reason not to.

To prove that thesis, if the majority of Americans believed in what the New York Times wrote they would never have elected George W. Bush for a second term. The NYT was leading the charge for the Democratic Party to do as much as they could to discredit Bush and influence the electoral process. If you agreed with the NYT you had to vote for Kerry. It didn't happen. In fact, Bush won by a much larger margin than the last election (thankfully) and gained the most votes of any US President in history.

Has the NYT learned from their mistakes? Of course not. Until you replace the Paul Krugmans, Maureen Dowds, and other leftists from the ranks of writers for the NYT and replace them with journalists on both sides of the political spectrum you will continue to have the politically correct garbage and inaccurate reporting you have now. That is not going to happen anytime soon or possibly ever. They have made their bed and they are comfortable in it.

Yes, the paper of record is now the paper of distortion. Read it at your own risk.

CNN - US Military Targets Journalists

Eason Jordan, one of the senior news executives of CNN, believes that the US military is deliberately targeting particular journalists in Iraq. He said this at an international conference. Here is a portion of an article written about the meeting by a reporter who was there and heard the comments.

During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience.

This is how over-the-top the mainstream media is in their beliefs about conservatives and the US military. This is a clear demonstration of the contempt the media has for the brave men and women who are risking their lives for our protection in Iraq. This CNN executive is not only denying their sacrifice, he is demonizing our soldiers and Marines by accusing them of deliberately murdering journalists.

There is absolutely no excuse for his behavior nor is there any reason that the other MSM stations are not even mentioning what Jordan said. Fox News was the only one to mention it but only once. Bloggers are covering it and CNN has issued a quasi-apology about being misunderstood. Sure.

Anyone who still believes the mainstream media is objective and unbiased must also still believe in the tooth fairy.

CNN's rating have been dropping like a rock over the last few years while Fox News Channel has been surging ahead. Ted Turner was so upset about it that he referred to the Fox News staff as "Nazis." I think it is becoming obvious to everyone why CNN is failing and Fox News is winning. Eason Jordan and his like at CNN has just shown us again why we should never tune in to CNN.

Martha Stewart and Ethics

I have just read that Martha Stewart will be hosting a new Apprentice show with the full blessings of NBC, the TV network who is broadcasting it. This is a woman who has been found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements. Oh well, I guess no one is perfect. Of course she should be honored by getting her own Apprentice program.

What is the message this sends to our young people about ethics?

If you think about that question very long the answer is obvious. It tells our young people that whether or not you are ethical doesn't matter as long as you have enough money, power or at the very least, friends in high places. In the general sense, it makes us appear hypocritical if we advise them not to lie or cheat. I agree that anyone who serves their time for a crime they committed should not be hounded for the rest of their life for it. On the other hand, they should not be glorified as a shining example of womanhood right after they get out of prison either.

I admire what Martha Stewart did in building her business and achieving great financial success. That is what makes her crime so stupid, she didn't need the money. I don't admire Martha Stewart for sitting on the Board of Directors for the New York Stock Exchange and then engaging in illegal activities to try to keep from losing some money. She knew better and did it anyway.

A recent study showed that 75% of high school children had cheated on their exams in school. This was up from 25% in the sixties and 50% in the eighties. The trend is certainly not going in the right direction. We encourage children and young people to lie, steal and cheat because when certain adults do it we either rationalize their behavior or say it is no big deal. Until we change our treatment of those in high places who are unethical, our own message of ethics will be diluted to the point of being ineffective.

Unless we start showing that we take ethical behavior seriously and that it does have long-term negative consequences, our young people will continue to cheat to get ahead. The message we definitely should not be sending them is that if they are unethical enough, they may get their own national TV show.