Ban Extended to LTE?

I had reported earlier that the Lawrence Journal-World began banning certain conservatives from its online forum. After reports that conservatives were having their letters to the editor rejected, I e-mailed Ann Gardner, the J-W's editorial page editor, and asked if the ban had been extended to the submission of letters to the editor. Her failure to respond would appear to indicate that it indeed has.

Being Frank About Franking

The Lawrence Journal-World on August 12 ran an article with the headline "Opponent questions Ryun’s energy mailing." According to the article, Nancy Boyda, the Democrat challenger to Rep. Jim Ryun, took issue with Ryun sending a "mass mailout at taxpayer expense." The mailout concerned energy issues.

"It’s just wrong that he uses taxpayer money for a political campaign,” said Boyda “It’s just a political piece.”

"The card also was sent right before the deadline that prohibits the use of franking for mailouts in the 90 days before an election," noted reporter Scott Rothschild.

Rothschild made no mention of Rep. Dennis Moore, the Democrat representing the Kansas Third, doing a similar mailout "right before the deadline." That mailout also concerned energy issues. The Kansas Meadlowlark has posted Moore's postcard.

Boyda can be expected to criticize Ryun's franking while conveniently ignoring Moore's franking. She's a desperate policitican looking for any excuse to smear her opponent. However, an objective newspaper would have taken the effort to look into the franking privileges of both incumbents. The Journal-World did not, and has not, done that.

Journal-World forum bans conservatives

In August, the moderators of the Lawrence Journal-World forum began banning conservative posters, ostensibly due to "habitual name-calling and harassing." According to Dan Cox, director of new media, yours truly had "historically been a great example of someone who gets into intense ideological arguments but maintains an honorable level of civility." Nevertheless, I was banned after "name calling with another poster that we had banned earlier for the same thing and then brought back after he had agreed to abide more by the site's use-policy."

The poster who was banned earlier claims that he spent time in prison after killing someone. The same poster habitually calls conservtives evil fascists and calls into question their character. My sin was merely asking him why, considering a background that he himself shared with other posters, he feels comfortable passing judgment on others. Other conservatives were banned for similar "sins."

Meanwhile, one liberal poster who strongly implied that Attorney General Phill Kline molests his own daughter has been allowed to continue posting on the Journal-World forum. Another liberal poster actually broached the topic of my dead brother in an attempt to "harass" me. She has yet to be banned.

Cox was asked to explain the blatant double standard, but did not respond.

If the Journal-World cannot run its forum in a fair and balanced manner, then it is time for Cox to shut it down.

Dennis Moore viewed as "moderate to conservative"?

In an article written after the August 1 primary election, Lawrence Journal-World reporter Scott Rothschild wrote that incumbent 3rd District Congressman Dennis Moore “is viewed as a moderate to conservative Democrat.”

Each year the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), “America's oldest independent liberal lobbying organization,” ranks members of Congress and assigns each member a Liberal Quotient (LQ). ADA considers scores from 40-60 as “moderate” ratings. ADA has never assigned Moore a rating within that range.

Moore has been in the House since 1999. During that year, ADA declared Moore a “House Hero” after the organization assigned him a perfect LQ of 100. Meanwhile, the overall average LQ for Democratic House members that year was 88. In fact, Moore’s LQ has been higher than the overall average LQ for Democratic House members in four of the seven years ADA has rated his votes.

Moore’s average LQ for the seven years ADA has rated his votes is 85. The overall average for all Democratic House members during those seven years is 85.7. Does anyone view the average House Democrat as “moderate to conservative”?

The Journal-World will have many more articles concerning Rep. Moore between now and the general election in November. If labels must be used, shouldn’t Moore be characterized as a “liberal Democrat”? After all, the Journal-World notes that its goal is to “provide fair, accurate and honest information to the community.”