October 27

CNS reports this move by 109 city mayors to limit gun control. The thing I am I like most about their stance is the opposition to H.R. 5005, which would restrict access to gun trace data. This is actually the type of gun control (...gun law enforcement is probably a better way to say it...) I could possibly support.

And, not really surprising anyone, the mainstream media (specifically the networks CBS and NBC) have come out saying there is a conspiracy to control gas prices. What I'm wondering, along with a lot of others, is why the MSM has said nothing about the bankrupcy and mis-management of Air America--given the amount of fanfare it received from every major network at it's start up. Meanwhile, ABC is sending mixed signlas. There is thie report from from the Note which delineates how biased coverage is to set up--deliberately positive coverage for liberals/Democrats, and deliberately negative or non-coverage for all conservatives/Republicans. And, at the same time, ABC's Mark Halpern admitted there is media bias towards the left! Here's the text of the October 24 broadcast of The O'Reilly Factor on FNC.

Speaking of manipulating things, the NY Times ran an article on a New Campaign Tactic to manipulate Google data.

The project was originally aimed at 70 Republican candidates but was scaled back to roughly 50 because Chris Bowers, who conceived it, thought some of the negative articles too partisan.

The articles to be used “had to come from news sources that would be widely trusted in the given district,” said Mr. Bowers, a contributor at MyDD.com (Direct Democracy), a liberal group blog. “We wanted actual news reports so it would be clear that we weren’t making anything up.”

Each name is associated with one article. Those articles are embedded in hyperlinks that are now being distributed widely among the left-leaning blogosphere. In an entry at MyDD.com this week, Mr. Bowers said: “When you discuss any of these races in the future, please, use the same embedded hyperlink when reprinting the Republican’s name. Then, I suppose, we will see what happens.”

An accompanying part of the project is intended to buy up Google Adwords, so that searches for the candidates’ names will bring up advertisements that point to the articles as well. But Mr. Bowers said his hopes for this were fading, because he was very busy.

(...and I'm supposed to believe the liberal left are a bunch of really good guys and gals?...) I'll refer everyone, once again, to this article by Robert Cox about the Left's control of the internet portals. Should we be surprised at ideas and actions like this? NOT!

Back to Iraq and things military, there was an article in The Boston Herald discusses the growing restrictions of MilBlogging, and the new book The Blog of War. Yes, I do understand the need for security checks on information (...I'm former military...remember my profile?...). But, I also know the military tends to go too far before it even considers getting it right. For a good discussion of this, visit Blackfiveand read this. There are some good references and discussions linked in it.

From Afghanistan, there was this frightening bit of media news. A BBC reporter actually embedded with the Taliban. The US military won't allow media embeds, but the Islamic terrorists and insurgents will? (...talk about a PR problem of massive proportions!...) Not that this type of coverage by the BBC should surprise anyone. The Daily Mail recently reported BBC stars as admitting to their bias.

There was one bright spot, however. CNN and NPR announced they will not be airing promos for the movie “Death of a President”—a fictional look at the possible assassination of President Bush.
(…now, if they were only this way more often…)