Varnished

Saw JUNO a couple of days ago. Did the critics?

"She goes to the local abortion clinic but finds the place disgustingly casual (they hand out flavored condoms), and she decides to carry the baby to term."

"Antenna aquiver for false notes, she checks in at the abortion clinic and doesn't like its casually clinical attitude. So she checks out the alternative press and finds an ad placed by a couple seeking adoption."

"Juno thought about getting an abortion, but couldn't do it—the clinic was too drab, its patients too hopeless, its receptionist too thoughtless . . . she just can't be bothered to stick it out in the most depressing waiting room on earth."

" . . . for reasons that aren't clear to anyone . . . Juno can't terminate the pregnancy."

I'm 100 percent for abortion rights, but the reasons all are clearly in the movie.

Good idea, wrong question.

Presidential Phoenix John McCain was asked if he would veto tax increases*. Not one to miss a softball he said, "Yes."

Problem is that it only reinforces the public misperception that taxes are the problem. The much, much better question is, "would you veto any bill that increased spending?" A "Yes!" to that is something to get excited about.

OK readers, for the 154th time, revenue is only part of the problem, it the spending stupid.

*Bonus points if you picked up the subtle bias of the questions.

From Chris Wallace, "As president, will you veto any tax increase passed by a Democratic Congress?"

From Bob Shaffer, "Let’s just say that you do become president and a Democratic congress raises taxes. What would you do? Would you veto it?”

Not just congress folks, the Democratic congress. Lousy liberal media and their pro-Democratic agenda.

Fair and Balanced?

Media quick hit. Here's Fox's Rupert Murdoch in a moment of honesty,

Asked if his News Corp. managed to shape the agenda on the war in Iraq, Murdoch said: "No, I don't think so. We tried." Asked by Rose for further comment, he said: "We basically supported the Bush policy in the Middle East...but we have been very critical of his execution."

I wasn't there, so I don't know the parameters of the question, or if this quote is taken out of context, but given the long history of debate on the topic of media bias on this blog, especially from a liberal slant, I thought this quote was interesting.