Free Republic

There are glimmers of hope for Democrats battling to retain control of Congress in this fall's elections, with the party holding a slender edge in public trust for shepherding the economy and small gains in those saying their finances are healthy, according to a new poll. The reeling economy remains the American public's top concern, according to an Associated Press-GfK Poll conducted earlier this month, making public attitudes about it crucial for both parties' hopes in November. The good news for Democrats: By a slim margin (47% to 42%), people trust them more than Republicans to guide the economy. And...

Reporting from Tyre, Lebanon -- Hiba Qassir dreams of making movies. She's ambitious and precocious enough. At 18, she's taught herself how to edit video and sound on a computer, and has her sights set on directing gripping social and psychological dramas. But if the movie business doesn't work out, that's OK. She has other dreams: perhaps to become a cop or a pilot. Or maybe a suicide bomber. "Martyrdom is the shortest way to heaven, and the history of martyrdom is not like any history," Hiba says. "It made victory. We wouldn't have achieved victory without these martyrdoms."

Afew weeks ago, John McCain made a little joke at his wife's expense. Referring to her alma mater -- Cindy McCain is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she was a cheerleader and sorority sister -- he called it "USC, the University of Spoiled Children." It's not an original joke, of course -- it's been around for ages, possibly even as long as John McCain himself -- but it said a lot about the man who wants to be president. ...Visit any college classroom -- at the University of Spoiled Children, Harvard, Yale, Puget Sound, doesn't matter...

A Los Angeles Times story about a brutal 1994 attack on rap superstar Tupac Shakur was partially based on documents that appear to have been fabricated, the reporter and editor responsible for the story said Wednesday. snip Reporter Chuck Philips and his supervisor, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, issued statements of apology Wednesday afternoon. The statements came after The Times took withering criticism for the Shakur article, which appeared on latimes.com last week and two days later in the paper's Calendar section. The criticism came first from The Smoking Gun website, which said the newspaper had been the victim of...

Those of us on the right side of the political spectrum are so very aware of media bias that we are always shocked when our friends and associates on the left fail to recognize or acknowledge it. Recently, I had an exchange with an L.A. Times editor who insisted that his newspaper set the absolute standard for honest and objective reporting. I asked him how it was, if that were the case, that among my wide circle of acquaintances, I didn’t know a single liberal who thought the Times was conservative and didn’t know a single conservative who wasn’t convinced...

As the insults flew and the protest reached a boil, Joseph Turner couldn't help but smile. The 29-year-old head of the upstart Save Our State organization had come to Baldwin Park to pick a fight over illegal immigration. He had led a band of like-minded souls into the heart of the city to protest public art they deemed "seditious and anti-American." Part of a monument at the Metrolink station is inscribed "It was better before they came," interpreted by some as a barb at whites who displaced California's Mexican residents in the 19th century. They got all of the fight...

Today's Tribune announcement of a 5.5% circulation drop at the LA Times appears to contradict numbers reportedly posted at the LA Times website:

-snip- The president continued to defend his own service, saying, "On the other hand, I served my country. Had my unit been called up, I would have gone." Those remarks came as statements concerning Bush's National Guard service by former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes were publicized. Barnes said he was "more ashamed at myself than I've ever been" because he helped Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas National Guard so they could avoid serving in Vietnam. "I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard … and I'm not...

In an election year, it is the front pages of the nation's major papers that set the tone for how political stories are covered. The Los Angeles Times is a major player in the election by any reckoning -- and the decisions it makes about how to place stories on its front pages help determine how the public thinks about politics

The following is a short excerpt of a much larger article entitled "The Times Faulted for Downplaying Secession". Note the part where the Managing Editor says that the succession movement should not be treated as cartoon characters (which is the manner that they treat the religious right). What gall!! ___________________________________________________ The tone of Times coverage was sometimes derisive, as when a veterinarian serving on the Local Agency Formation Commission, the entity charged with determining whether to put secession on the ballot, was described in a 1999 story as "a horse doctor." Secession proponents are still outraged by the tone of...