"Over the last few weeks, 24-hour news networks have done little to find out what John Kerry did in Vietnam, but they have provided a different kind of public service: their examination of his war record in Vietnam illustrates once again just how perfunctory and confusing cable news coverage can be. Facts, half-truths and passionately tendentious opinions get tumbled together on screen like laundry in an industrial dryer - without the softeners of fact-checking or reflection."

The article begins to derail after that point, taking due time to trash Fox News, question Bob Dole's credibility, and try to paint CNN as being anything other than the "Clinton News Network." That's almost besides the point, however. The problem is that The New York Times is guilty of many of the same crimes, with the difference that they have the time to give their spin a particular polish. Increasingly, "All the News That's Fit to Print" provides a context to its coverage that is selective so as to paint a less than open portrayal of the events or topics covered. Sometimes, the bias is via omission or story placement; the stories with Conservative spin don't make front page.

The liberals in my social circles mock me for preferring USA Today, like I'm stupid for reading the paper with the colorful diagrams. Personally, I prefer to have the newspaper share me the facts and I'll figure out the context for myself. As soon as a newspaper/news station/magazine becomes so presumptuous as to tell me how to think, I no longer have a great incentive to continue with their product. And on the off chance you're wondering, no I'm not telling you how to think; when you started reading my daily blog you knew it was a daily source of opinion. It's when mediums of supposed fact feel fit to inject their feelings on the topic that I get all hot and bothered. My views lean towards the Left, too, but I just can't stand how they operate. The Republicans may be sleazeballs, but at least they're honest about it.

I went close shopping with my mother and my friend. After an agonizing day across two shopping malls, I came home with the requested three shirts and an "In-Between" jacket for college. I'm still not sure what the hell is between a spring jacket and a winter jacket, but the Woman seemed satisfied. My friend and I lost my mother at my house and I drove to Thatcher Park, got gas, and then we hit the Funplex across the river. Her grandfather had passed away the night before. It was a bizzare afternoon.