Saturday, January 27, 2007

Donald Betts is more than one lawmaker?

Liberal activist/Lawrence Journal-World reporter Scott Rothschild has a story in the January 27, 2007 issue of the J-W with this headline:

"Lawmakers disagree with troop increase"

The story is about Donald Betts, an ultraliberal state senator from Wichita, filing a resolution that would "put Kansas lawmakers on record as being opposed to Bush's call for 21,500 more troops to be sent to Iraq."

In addition to Betts, the article mentions just one other lawmaker, State Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence. However, Schmidt did not say that he disagrees with the troop increase.

Given this, the headline should have been "Lawmaker disagrees with troop increase."

UPDATE: Rothschild served as president of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Topeka as recently as 2005. He continues to be a leader with UUFT. The Unitarian Univeralist Association president, Rev. William Sinkford, on January 11 published an open letter in which he opposed President Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 more troops to Iraq. He also accused the president of betraying patriotic Americans.

This is yet another case in which Rothschild has reported on an issue that his organization has openly taken a stand on. Kansas Media Watch is currently compiling additional examples and will present a report to legislators in Topeka next month.

Rothschild's reporting presents a huge conflict of interest that calls the Journal-World's credibility into question.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

The Lawrence Journal-World on January 1 published an AP article with the headline "Going Green." The article was primarily about environmentalist Laurie David telling us how to save the world by, among other things, using compact fluorescent bulbs and pulling the plug on electronics and chargers.

David, the wife of Seinfeld's Larry David, has been known as a hypocrite on the environmental issue for at least two years now. Even the ultraliberal Eric Alterman dicussed this hypocrisy in a September 2004 Atlantic Monthly piece called "Gulfstream Liberals." It seems that Mrs. David dislikes flying on commercial airlines and prefers private jets. As the New York Times noted in August 2004, "Compared with the average Gulfstream jet, a Hummer H2 can seem downright fuel efficient."

David also has a Tudor mansion home in the Pacific Palisades. As someone with a carbon footprint larger than King Kong's footprint, David's advice to the rest of us is laughable. The Journal-World should have known better than to share this woman's hypocrisy with its readers.