reply to post by semperfortis
You do mean ... Passionate LIBERAL thoughtless discussion, right? I have been a news hound for more years than I care to recall and I have NEVER been
able to stomach the blatant, unrelenting Liberal drivel . . I can see a Liberal thinking it is news, funny, but I can understand it..

Liberal? I have come to believe it is genetic. By age 19 I was subscribing to The Nation. And to other high achievers, like The Reporter, a bi-weekly
of the highest journalistic quality. Over the years I have subscribed to The Manchester Guardian Weekly by air, from England. In those halcyon days of
the printed word, Alistair Cooke was its Foreign Correspondent in the US. It was odd to read better informed, more accurate analysis of current events
in America in an English weekly paper but still timely as it arrived by Tuesday covering the previous week.
Once upon a time the WSJ gave its restive left leaning staff members an opportunity to show what they had. The result was a weekly, The National
Observer. Printed Saturday AM and delivered on Monday. It got raves from critics for its penetrating insights. None of the bland filibuster material
to be found in the WSJ. That one written by the same people who either read or wrote Annual Reports. After a short 2 year run, the WSJ withdrew the NO
because the WSJ’s mostly RIGHT wing advertisers and readers did not want the WHOLE story. At least not in print with the imprimatur of the WJS
hidden in the ownership information section. Dow Jones. It gave the lie to the WSJ which unlike the NYTimes, reported only HALF the news fit to print.
The New Republic back then was half left but today, it has morphed into a libertarian-style advocacy journal rather than a NEWS reporting vehicle.
I was lucky to be born in one of the FEW American cities with ta GOOD daily newspaper. The Louisville Courier-Journal. Despite having been bought by
the Gannett (USA Today) chain, they have let it run in its traditional way, a premo news gathering organization that knows hype from ripe. There are
not a dozen papers equal to the CJ in America. Over my lifetime I’ve read between 1,500 and 3,000 books. I’ve subscribed to at least 20 first
class magazines like the Scientific American, Harper’s, the Atlantic Monthly and Newsweek. I have read English car mags, Auto and CAR and off and
on, The Economist. Road & Track. Car and Driver. The monthly Science, Discovery and once to Foreign Affairs Quarterly. I once possessed the entire
first 10 years of the then quarterly Biblical Archeological Review. But, I say all that only to say that I try to be “widely read” so that I can
(I hope) detect falsehoods or slants early on. To learn popular "code" words or "loaded" words.
Liberal? To me, ‘liberal’ is a synonym for ‘empathy.’ If you can’t feel the other person’s hurt, you can’t be a liberal. And that trait
is more and more being shown to be genetic. But that’s me. Born this way. "Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen." ("Here I
stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."). Martin Luther.
en.wikipedia.org...
PS. I am currently reading “The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11" by Ron Suskind, 2006.
[edit on 05/05/2008 by donwhite]