Fox News, The Most Trusted Source for Opinion
In the day and age of the 24/7 news cycle, Fox News appears to be the strongest network on cable. In a recent Public Policy Polling poll that received attention from Politico, it was revealed that Americans trust Fox News over any other source.
From what I read however, it is unclear if the pollster took into account that certain programming is biased and other programming is not on the Fox News Channel. I wonder if they took that into account as well with the other networks that were included in the poll.
There are many programs that I enjoy on Fox News, but I take into account that I am listening to a host’s opinion, rather than unbiased journalism. I would never use the term “News” to describe Sena Hannity’s program or Red Eye. And similarly, I would never apply that description to Keith Olbermann’s show or Rachel Maddow.
I wonder if the PPP poll factored in that the news and opinion shows are different from each other.
The State of the Union
From an undisclosed location outside of D.C., I will share my thoughts (like anyone actually cares) on the State of the Union speech that is upcoming this evening.
For starters, this may be the lamest event of the year. Politicos all week have been in almost near frenzied excitement over this speech. Why? We all know the current State of the Union. It isn’t like Obama is going to reveal state secrets or anything close to interesting.
As well, why does anyone care about this? This is nothing but a television show of government assembling in the same room for an hour to listen to the obvious. If my memory serves me well, nothing is accomplished by this speech. I could be wrong, but when has anything earth shattering ever happened in a State of the Union address?
Perhaps I’m cynical, but I see no reason to get excited over this trivial affair. I will instead attend a George Mason basketball game and delight in sports rather than watch Obama use nice rhetoric to describe the past year and the coming year.
A friend told me earlier today that he feels that he has to watch it to be a part of any discussions with fellow politicos tomorrow. Because everyone will be discussing it, he must be informed. I will not watch this and still be as informed.
Liberty Reads for January 27, 2010
Scott Brown, Establishment Clown
Do The Economics of Coercion Make Sense?
As someone who has refused to fly since Christmas due to the unnecessary restrictions that are now placed on me, I found this article interesting. I have also enjoyed driving much better as my mode of transportation for travel. My only movement restrictions are self imposed. Wilt Alston wrote a great piece at Campaign for Liberty that everyone should read.
From C4L:
“The federal government fined three airlines $175,000 Tuesday for stranding passengers on a plane overnight at the Rochester, Minnesota, airport in August.” ~ Gary Stoller, from the USA TODAY
Almost everyone who has ever flown on a commercial flight in the U.S. has found themselves sitting on the tarmac, waiting to take off or waiting to arrive at a gate and deplane. Sometimes these waits can get long. Sometimes they can get really long. I suspect, however, that no matter your horror story, you have not been stranded on a plane as long as the folks on the Continental ExpressJet flight in Minnesota in August of 2009. There’s long and then there’s all night long. Ouch. (Can a brother get a pillow?)
There is much for the student of government inefficiency to learn from the comedy of errors that led to that debacle. Certainly, the advent of increased airport security, courtesy of the TSA, in the post-9/11 world in which we live, can be blamed to some extent. Without misplaced reliance upon draconian and poorly-conceived security screening procedures, this event would not have happened.
Liberty Reads for January 26, 2010
I’ve been extremely busy over the past couple of weeks, so we will resume Liberty Reads today and hopefully go uninterrupted for a while.
A Brief Explanation of Corporatism
Why Did the “Stimulus” Fail to Help the Economy?
Ron Paul’s State of the Republic:
Liberty Reads for January 12, 2010
Government-Subsidized Risk Is a Bad Idea
Can the Government Keep us Safe?
Is there a Bubble Forming in China?
Campaign Public Financing: Umm… Bad Idea
Creatures from the Conservative Id
Ron Paul: Why the Fed Likes Independence
In a Voluntary Society, Order Emerges Naturally
Last week, I had the pleasure to go skiing for several days at the Wintergreen Resort in Virginia. While out on the slopes, I noticed something that might serve as a good example of how order emerges out of what would appear to be chaos.
When I first began to ski (which I hadn’t done since I was 10, and wasn’t exactly an expert), I was nervous that I would collide with other people on the more elementary slopes where I started. After a few good runs down the hill, I started to notice that everyone was watching out for themselves on the hill to avoid collisions and other skiing disasters.
The slopes had several sections that would merge into one central area. People would be skiing in to the elementary slopes at high speeds from the more advanced hills. However, I saw almost no accidents! And, there was no one there policing everyone on the hills.
How could this system possibly work, one might be wondering?
Liberty Reads for January 11, 2010
Buy American? Then Why Not “Buy Virginia”?
The Planning States of the 1940’s
Does the Government Own the Whole Economy?
Keeping the Tea Party On Track
Great post by Arnold Kling over at Econlog. People take for granted that it is very important to keep the tea party movement pure and not to allow those who do not truly support the free market and liberty to take it over. The Contract with America is an example of good intentions bad execution. The public choice inside of me says that the incentive structure inside of Congress is to rob the people and to ignore campaign promises. If this is so then how can we combat that? Enjoy:
“The Bush Administration, particularly in its final year, discredited the Republican Party as a proponent of free markets. What should come next?
One idea, promoted at Cato by Brink Lindsey and Will Wilkinson, is liberaltarianism. The idea is to approach liberals and say, “we’re with you on social issues and we’re also dovish on foreign policy. Let us persuade you that markets are good for the economy.”
The problem is that liberals tend to affiliate themselves with Harvard types, and Harvard types believe that they are smarter than markets. And, at this moment in history, the Harvard narrative is that the financial crisis was caused because of blind faith in markets regulating themselves. According to this narrative, the election was a mandate to Harvard to deal with huge market failures in finance, health care, aggregate demand (hence the stimulus), and climate/energy. Based on this narrative, Harvard is absolutely committed to expert control over the economy, liberaltarians be damned. Read the rest of this entry »
