art's blog

In progressive circles Fox News is widely despised -- they are now the most popular cable news channel, but most of their programming features a blatantly conservative perspective.

Imagine my surprise then, when I came across this Fox News article on Dick Cheney.  It seems almost, what's the word... 'unbiased?'  Perhaps even 'fair and balanced' (Fox News has been sued for false advertising for using that slogan). 

A few months ago, the mainstream media refused to touch the Rove-gate scandal, and if conservative outlets like Fox picked it up it was only to call the whole thing nonsensical sour grapes from liberal whiners.  In this article, the reporter seems ready to hang Cheney, Rove, and Libby out to dry.  Read More »

This week I will post opinion pieces about each of three propositions that are on the ballot in the California Special Election.  First, I recommend a 'no' vote on Proposition 74.  Proposition 74 would lengthen the probation period for K-12 public school teachers from two years to five years. 

Proposition 74 would further hamper efforts to hire great new teachers.  In the private sector, employees typically have a 90-day probation period.  After that, employers need to document performance problems, and give employees a fair chance to improve their performance before firing them.  In public schools, teachers go through two years of probation.  Teachers who are performing poorly can still be fired even after their probation period is over, just as employers in the private sector can fire employees who perform poorly after a probation period. If we really want to attract more good young people to pass up high-paying jobs in the private sector to become teachers, Proposition 74 is not the way to do it.  Read More »

I think I may have watched my last episode of The West Wing.  It just doesn't hold my interest anymore.  I only started watching the show last season, but I borrowed the first three seasons on DVD from the library, so I had some context. 

While some people disliked the campaign trail theme, that was interesting for me because I volunteered on a political campaign for the first time last year.  This season there has been a lot of campaign stuff, but the suspense is gone; since they are spending so much time on Santos and team, it seems a forgone conclusion that they will make him the winner, even though they show him as down in the polls by nine points.  Read More »

JibJab, the guys who made a name for themselves creating a cartoon that poked fun at John Kerry and George Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign, now have a new piece that disses Wal-Mart.  Funny, but in a sad sort of way.

On a related note, I received this email from an organization promoting a "No Wal-Mart" shopping pledge:

Please alert your community!  Co-op America has launched a "No Wal-Mart" holiday pledge and we want you to be involved!  Our web action can be found at http://www.coopamerica.org/takeaction/walmart/  Read More »

The Washington Post and others reported today on news that major printer manufacturers are embedding secret codes in color printer output that can be used to trace the printed materials back to their source. 

Apparently this has been going on for at least 10 years, though very few people know about it:

It's unclear whether the yellow-dot codes have ever been used to make an arrest. And no one would say how long the codes have been in use. But Seth Schoen, the EFF technologist who led the organization's research, said he had seen the coding on documents produced by printers that were at least 10 years old.  Read More »

For those of you in California, if you are interested in volunteering some time to join teachers, firefighters, nurses, police officers, and health care workers in voter education efforts related to the November 8 special election, BetterCA.com is a good place to start.

As usual, we encourage you to post your opinions here as well.

New poll numbers are just out from the Pew Research Center:

Should Harriet Miers be confirmed to the Supreme Court? Yes = 33%, No = 27%, No opinion = 40%. 

These numbers are much lower than for John Roberts.  Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed look less favorably on Miers because she has no judicial experience, 35% were less favorable because she was the president's personal attorney.  Forty-one percent say that President Bush offers important jobs to his friends more often than other presidents.  Read More »

If you thought the Utah rave story was a sign that the country is turning into a military state, you will enjoy this story.  A high school student in North Carolina was turned in to the Secret Service by a Wal-Mart photo lab employee.  His crime?  In his roll of photos he had a photograph of his hand doing a thumbs-down sign next to a photo of George Bush. 

Turns out the student had been given an assignment to do a photo essay illustrating rights protected under the Bill of Rights.  He created a the poster in his photograph to illustrate his right to dissent.  Wal-Mart called the Kitty Hawk Police, the police turned the case over to the Secret Service, and the Secret Service investigated and turned in their "evidence" to the U.S. Attorney's office.  Read More »