Homeland Security chief to speak
It's official. You can get your duct tape refunds Downtown on Wednesday.

Peter Bronson's Good Old Boy Network
In today's Enquirer Peter Bronson is off attacking Miami University and the Miami Student, the campus newspaper, for firing Aaron Sanders after he wrote a column for the newspaper. The column criticized a teacher and a film shown in a class at Miami. Peter is really not being honest with who this student is. This student is the chairman of the College Republicans of Miami University. Peter wrote a column using Sanders as the main source last fall in a campaign to get FOX News included in the campus cable system. Peter and this student obviously are working “in cahoots.” Peter wants to help out a fellow right-winger, and at the same time put forth his ideological agenda.

Peter obviously cares nothing for promoting good journalism, especially when it conflicts with his chance make a fellow paleo-conservative into a victim in the faux war with academia. Peter illustrates his agenda with this quote from his column:

They said he did not see the movie before writing about it. But that's true for most reporting. Sanders didn't claim he saw it - he indirectly quoted students who did.

Has Peter given up journalism? Peter says that most reporters would not see a film before they reported it, which is true, when talking about reporters. They can report that a film was shown. It would be very subjective to report that “some” people were offended by the film. That point could be made in a column as this student did, but would it be good journalism without seeing the film first? A column is at its core an opinion, not an unbiased news story, but good columnists generally do not report false or misleading facts. If this student columnist did not see the film, how good a columnist would he be if reported someone else’s opinion of the film instead of his own? I would say he would be a bad columnist who is making grossly biased argument that is not worthy of a college student. It was a political tactic made by a political party. This student is not a journalist, he is a politician, all be it a junior one. I have no doubt he will be a paid staffer for a conservative politician as soon as he graduates, and Peter cries for him because his editors have chosen to edit him out of the newspaper. Well, Peter was concerned about this being a learning tool. I would argue Mr. Sanders has learned a lesson. That lesson clearly is don’t abuse your position. Write an honest story, don’t write a bad column to put forth your agenda. Instead, write a good column, and hope it puts forth your agenda. Playing fair in writing and politics is something I advocate to all, but I guess the ends matter more to Peter than the means. If Peter can “save our souls” by establishing a theocratic state, I would think he would be happy as a clam.

UPDATE 02/18/2003: Miami's newspaper currently does not have a website, but I think the Sanders column can be read here.

AUSTRALIAN BLOGGER Tim Blair considers Bush a "relatively moderate" Christian. I wonder who he thinks qualifies as a conservative Christian. In this case I think Tim's perspective is thrown off by the Pacific Ocean. Bush is not the most conservative Christian, but he is in that camp. Bush is an evangelical Christian, and even though that group is growing, it is not mainstream, which is another word for moderate in my experience. Now in this post Tim is making some kind of contextual comment to refer to Bin Laden's past, which I don't dispute, but the context of Bush is off. Bush is far more likely to push American Christianity to the right, than to the middle, which is where he was raised. Bush is more of a potential parallel to Bin Laden's slide to extremism, than a contrast.

The White Death has Gripped the City!
Do to weather conditions; Cincinnati Blog is on Plan 9, from outer Space.

GOP rules with no minorities, few women
Other news today: Fire is hot, snow is cold, sex feels good, and the CCV is a theocratic fascist group.

TBOGG suggests new a new hair style for Congressman Steve Chabot who is head and shoulders above the rest of the country in sucking up to the religious right, especially those living on the west side of Cincinnati.

Colombia, U.S. Search for Americans in Jungle
This story is over 24 hours old and got almost no coverage. Why is the anarchy better known as Columbia not getting attention from both the government and the media?

1 murdered American and 1 murdered Columbian and 3 more Americans missing and presumed to be kidnapped, and this barely makes the TV news? No video is why and this shows the single biggest bias in Television journalism: video rules. If there is film, there is drama. Drama sells. Information does not sell. Viva TV!