Conservative Media DIstortion

But I Still Keep My Subscription 

Solidarity Walker

I spent the majority of my last two weeks canvassing outside of my county in two of the most historical elections in Wisconsin's history. Many of you reading this are probably saying something like, "Well  he should be working for a cause." or "That Steve, he just likes to talk." or "It's about time he gets off his ass and does something." I'm sure many of you may be saying something quite different as well. If a common Wisconsin media outlet were to have covered me here's likely what the "story" would say: 

Headline: Dem Canvasser Makes Little if any Impact in Recall Races

On Saturday, May 21, over 600 people arrived at the Northern Wisconsin Fairgrounds in Chippewa Falls to spend a day listening to and sharing their progressive ideas at the first annual Fighting Bob Fest North event. Although there were several "headline" speakers such as: Former US Rep. Dave Obey (D), US Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Wisconsin State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D) and John Nichols of The Nation; one would hardly know it by reading or watching the local media. The Chippewa Herald newspaper did cover the event, but none of the Eau Claire broadcast or newspaper organizations bothered.

I hope that people who are observing what is taking place in Madison understand that this is more than a budget fix. This is a direct assault on the working class and poor of the United States. The media has often been complacent with the objectives of big business because they are big business. This complacency included the practice of constant attack on all unions both subtle and obvious.

One would think that after the lack of perspective by the MainScream media in our run-up to the war in Iraq, that at least the New York Times or the Washington Post would get it right on this part of the planet. 

I find there's barely a mention of the reasons why North Korea took action against South Korea this week. Does that mean they didn't have reasons? Of course not. So report on those reasons and let the readers decide.

Instead there is only story of the weirdo and his son trying to lead North Korea down the path of assured destruction. Granted he's strange but what do you think the average global citizen thought of Dubya?

Get the facts folks and take off your US Press filters when you research this story. See my related links below to get the rest of the story. -saw-

With the election over, it’s time to move on to new things, and the folks at the Campaign for America’s Future have asked me to do some writing about Social Security, which sounds like some big fun, so here we are.

We’re going to start with some reasonably simple stuff today, just to get your feet wet; by the time we get a few stories down the road there will be some complicated economic analysis to work through—but let’s begin today by looking a bit south.

Those who support privatizing Social Security in this country often point to Chile as an example we could follow, and that seems like a good place to get the conversation going...so set your personal WayBack Machine to Santiago, May, 1981, and let’s see what we can learn.

 UPDATE: Equally unreliable Rasssmussen poll says Feingold and Thompson in a dead heat for US Senate. WPRI had Tommy up 12%.

Wisconsin's Pretend Research Institute (WPRI), the right-wing propaganda machine, is trying to defend itself against recent bad publicity suggesting its polls -- or the way it reports results -- are slanted to fit their world view: WPRI Poll Tracks Consistently with National Polls:

Today, NBC and the Wall Street Journal released a poll that details public opinion regarding the health care bill before Congress, the public’s views of the direction of the country, and other national issues. The NBC/WSJ poll tracks very closely with the WPRI poll we released late last week. To wit:

•In the WSJ/NBC poll, 48% of the public opposed the health care bill currently before Congress, while 36% labeled it “a good idea.” In the WPRI poll, 37% favored the plan and 55% opposed it.

•In the WSJ/NBC poll, President Obama’s approval rating was 48%. In WPRI’s poll, Obama’s approval is 49%.

•In the WSJ/NBC poll, 33% of Americans believed the country was headed in the right direction, while 59% believed the country was on the wrong track. In the WPRI poll, those numbers are 34% and 59%, respectively.

All of that proves exactly nothing, of course. Are we to believe that the opinions of Wisconsin people are exactly the same as those across the country?

Tradewell is on the bleeding edge of criticism that our military is leveling against its Democratic commander-in-chief.

From the Times report Monday (Bumiller): "Last week the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., gave voice to the concerns of those in the military when he issued a terse statement criticizing Mr. Obama’s review of Afghan war strategy. 'The extremists are sensing weakness and indecision within the U.S. government, which plays into their hands,' said Mr. Tradewell’s statement on behalf of his group, which represents 1.5 million former soldiers.

This week's cause celebre in the Wisconsin Rightysphere appears to be alleged email improprieties on the part of Tony Evers and Jeff Dieckert.  Starting off with a barrage of claims on the part of Mari Belling on the radio, there've been allegations that Tony Evers has had campaign discussions with Dieckert on government email. 

Now of course, Belling has not appeared to have actually released the documents in question, so at the moment we have his word for it.