NBC Cuts "Madonna on the Cross" Scene

As a direct result of you, me, and 750,000 other concerned Americans, NBC has decided to cut a scene showing Madonna on a cross. The scene was to be part of a two-hour special about Madonna's "Confessions" tour.

Scheduled to air Nov. 22, the video of the song "Live to Tell" will show other shots while Madonna is on the cross but will still show her walking away from it at the end of the song.

One of the most troubling parts of this news piece is the fact that Madonna is defending the scene saying it wasn't meant to be "anti-Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous".

Thanks for the read.

http://today.reuters.com/news/home.aspx

CBS: Seriousness to GOP Oil Conspiracy?

Here's a news story from yesterday's CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. The Bush administration is somehow manipulating gas prices just in time for a mid-term election.
Karic ponders, "Is this an election year present from President Bush to fellow Republicans?"

Reporter Anthony Mason narrated the story and touted, "a recent poll found 42 percent of people actually believe the Bush Administration is has deliberately manipulated the price of gas to affect the election."

I found Mr. Mason's use of this undocumented poll a bit perplexing and decided to do a bit of research. Here is a CNN poll claiming, "the graduation rate at four-year public institutions fell to 41.9 percent in 2000." The same percentage as people (gasp) who believe Bush is manipulating the silly rules of supply and demand. And unlike the CBS News poll, I'll cite mine:
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2001/fyi/teachers.ednews/08/15/college.dropout.ap/

Once again, statistics can say whatever you want them to say.

Thanks for the read.

Dow Hits New High, Nears 12,000

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 95.57 points today to close at 11, 947.70. The rise was fueled by good news from Costco and McDonalds.

"Everyone's big concern has been that the economy has been riding on the back of the consumer and that high gas prices would get them to stop spending, but at least we know that they are still going to McDonald's and Costco" said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Co. in Chicago.

Also gaining today was the S&P 500 Index by 12.88 points to hit 1,362.76. That was a new 5-year high. The Nasdaq also turned in a positive by 37.91 points to 2,346.18.

Thanks for the read

www.today.reuters.com

CNN's Turner: I haven't made up my mind on war

CNN founder Ted Turner made statements unbecoming for an American news outlet. This video was on C-SPAN2 and is currently viewable on You Tube.
He said:
“There are a lot of things about this war that disturb me.
And one of them is that the attitude that was well-expressed by our president
He said either you’re with us or you’re against us
And I had a problem against that, because I really hadn’t made my mind up yet.
You know, what if you haven’t really made up your mind yet?
What if you’re thinking about it, doing some studying, doing some reading?
Because it’s an important decision to go to war or not to go to war.
I mean either you’re with us or you’re against us, that’s pretty black and white.”

This whole absolute truth and right vs. wrong thing is so hard to understand, isn’t it?

Thanks for the read.

www.youtube.com

Liberal Bias in Polling?

Another blatant example of liberal bias in polling! Shocking, no? The established Gallup Poll has succumbed to posting half-truth headlines to its own polling to promote a liberal agenda.

Misleading is an article titled, "Perception That Media Are Too Conservative Up Slightly Since 2001". This istrue but read the sub-headline: Still, Americans most likely to tell Gallup the news media are too liberal.

Here is a 2nd example of how this story is distorted: "more than 4 in 10 saying too liberal, 19% too conservative, and 33% just about right." The statistic for liberals is the only statistic not only not given as a percent, but also not given as an exact figure either!

Folks, always, always know exactly what a poll is both saying and asking its respondents. Anyone can make a statistic appear to support ANY position.

Thanks for the read.

www.galluppoll.com