Remember those 655,000 "excess deaths" in Iraq?

[L Day]

Izzy, that "liberal media" myth has been debunked many times over the years,...

Absolute, utter, and complete bull shit. I can't imagine why you think it's wrong for me to provide links that support my argument. Do you really think I'm going to try to support yours? There actually has been good scholarly work done on this subject. The results might be somewhat surprising.
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucl ... elNum=6664

Here's some of the actual scoring, with 100 being most liberal and 0 being most conservative.
Here’s a run down on how top media outlets scored:



Wall Street Journal 85.1

New York Times 73.7

CBS Evening News 73.7

Los Angeles Times – 70.0

CBS Early Show – 66.6

Washington Post – 66.6

Newsweek – 66.3

NPR Morning Edition – 66.3

US News and World Report – 65.8

Time Magazine – 65.4

NBC Today Show – 64.0

USA Today (the country’s No. 1 newspaper, in terms of circulation) – 63.4

NBC Nightly News – 61.6

ABC World News Tonight 61.0

DrudgeReport 60.4

ABC Good Morning America 56.1

CNN with Aaron Brown 56.0

News Hour with Jim Lehrer 55.8

Fox News with Brit Hume 39.7

Washington Times 35.4

A paradox, noted Barro, was that the major media is even more biased to the left than Democratic members of Congress.


“Thus,â€

[L Day]

Larry, I'm not sure how "Far Left" is any less a pejorative and general statement than Left. What does "far left" even mean anyways?

If you don't know the difference between left and right, I can't help you. I do not consider the description of political beliefs, either on the left or the right as pejorative, in any way. I will confess that I believe that the "far left" and the "far right" are largely populated by ideological wingnuts.

That said it is not the right that accuses the U.S. of:

Imperialism
Genocide
Carpet bombing innocent civilians
Marines murdering civilians in cold blood
655,000 civilians dying as a result of U.S. action in Iraq
Etc.

All those claims are false. And they're all made by my friends on the left. They deserve to be called out on it. That's all. I never said lefties hate our country, or that they are "commies". I just said they smear our country. I think it makes them feel like they have a stake on the moral high ground.

[charlie]

I understand Left and Right in terms of political leanings. I do not appreciate it as a noun. I also don't understand how a link to one story can effectively be used to indict everyone on the "left". Another of many improper uses, which makes it largely a corrupt term in my view. Is that opinion complete "bullshit?"

I'm not saying there aren't liberal "news" leanings out there. I'm say there are also conservative "news" sources as well and it's not a static thing. Same study next year will likely provide different numbers. NPR Morning edition is in there, but no other radio shows? In my experience radio is one of the most conservative "news" sources out there, with the notable exception of NPR.

But, we can agree to disagree on that. Thankfully I get most of my news from international sources and what was referenced as the most centrist sources in that article.

I have no problem with your links, I generally read them and have learned something as often as I've dismissed them as not-centrist.

Regardless, how ever the "Left" smears this country if I hear one more person accuse me of disrespecting our troops because I happen to not be a conservative I'm going to explode. In uncharacteristic hostility, Fuck you and everyone else who consistently makes that accusation. It pisses me off more than just about anything and it's pervasive.

I'm willing to bet I know just as many service personnel, active and retired, as you and I value their path no less than you because I tend to not vote republican. If I weren't 4-F don't think for a second I wouldn't have already served for 15 yrs, of course that's only if my voting record didn't disqualify me from serving.

Do not use the stupid arguments as fuel to disregard the smarter arguments from the similar side. If we get nothing else from this conversation, I hope you reevaluate that assumption.

[michaelarmand]

Wall Street Journal the most liberal? And the drudge report is on the liberal side as well?

Something is wrong with that analysis Larry....

[L Day]

Not really, read the whole article. The Wall Street Journal has a conservative editorial page, but the news side is decidedly liberal. At one time I would have said that Drudge was quite biased toward the conservative side, but I've noticed the shift. At a score of 60.4 the bias is rather slight.

[woodchuck008]

Does anybody else feel their skin just crawl when Rush Limbaugh snarls out the dirty word 'liberal'? I never knew it was a dirty, filthy word until I heard good ole' Rush 'explain' how it is worse than being the devil himself. I think about every 5th word out of his mouth is 'liberals' or in reference to them. Agree with L Day that either far left or right spokespersons are usually wingnuts.

[Crankmas]

what is depressing is that its easy to dismiss the far side of either school of thought but that the venom has slid to the middle ground, of course the left has their hollywood and other entertainment lets give ourselves an award show where they can spray their shit to an adoring audience with no one present to call them on their shit, same with radio talk shows that lean right, I believe every president we've ever had felt the weight of the office and often can't reveal the whole story for a variety of reasons, it is sad that the discourse has taken such a negative twist, I know I add to it but mostly in jest, in the end we're all in it together- except Sean Penn he is above all of it- just axed him

[TradWanker]

If you have never carried a weapon in defense of this country, you have no right to an opinion about war.

[L Day]

While only those who have gone to war know what it's really like, your statement is simply not true. Everyone has a right to their opinion, and everyone has a right to express their opinion. But facts are facts, and everyone doesn't have a right to their own facts. I think it is especially egrigious for a supposedly serious academic, someone who should be seeking the truth, to just make shit up.

[Xtant]

Everyone can have an opinion on war. It affects everybody whether they have a weapon in their hands or not. It is expensive and a burden on the finances of this country. It affects the world's public opinion of us. You can certainly have an opinion without having served...