While driving back from my classes on Wednesday, I was listening to a report on the Energy Bill, then before Congress, on NewsRadio KNX 1070. This “news” station included two perspectives on the legislation, the first, a lengthy commentary from a spokesperson for an advocacy organization who faulted the bill, referring to it (three times by my count) as lining the pockets or the oil companies. The second perspective came from Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, also an opponent of the legislation. (He was among only 19 Democrats (along with 6 Republicans and one Independent) voting against the legislation.) The “news” station did not include a perspective (at least in the segment I heard — about 7 PM PST) from proponents of the bill.

And yet the bill was quite popular in Congress; today, it cleared the Senate by a vote of 74-26. The margin in the House was 275-156. More than half of the Senate’s Democratic caucus (25 of 44 Senators) voted in favor of the legislation.

As a popular bill was heading toward passage in Congress, a bill which the president favors, a “news” station only saw fit to broadcast the views of opponents of the legislation. This is not the only time when we see our mainstream media broadcasting one perspective, usually a perspective at odds with that of President Bush. Powerline reports that a reporter got himself in hot water for “criticizing the performance of his media colleagues in Iraq.” Mark Yost merely noted that the media coverage of the Iraq war “ignores positive changes” in that recently-liberated land.
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Well, I noted last Saturday that I would not be able to blog as regularly as I would like, but didn’t think I would go so long without posting altogether. So much was my absence noted that Bruce wondered if maybe he should issue an Amber Alert. After an unusual first few weeks of July, I find myself returning — and with more energy — to my more productive patterns of past months, so should be blogging at full steam next week.

July turned out to be more hectic — in a great number of ways — than I had anticipated. Not only did I spend a good deal of time working at Outfest, LA’s gay and lesbian film festival, where I am a senior volunteer/theater manager, but I also found the topic for my paper on Carl Jung & Anti-Semitism so fascinating that I ended up over-researching. And I went through some personal stuff, a process, which, while it did not lend itself easily to blogging (at the time), will certainly help me write at a deeper level in the coming days — or so I hope.

Not only did I fall behind in blogging here, but I also fell behind in reading for my classes and missed a lot of summer movies. Well, I’m now beginning to catch up in all endeavors and hope to blog up a storm in the next few days. And as always, I welcome your suggestions of topics on which you would like me to blog.

-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Well, gang…. I never made it to Boise. Long story.. but I wound up in San Diego a day earlier than expected. Two words: United Airlines (see posting below).

Anyway, I haven’t had much sleep all week so I’m cranky. And though I’m supposed to be taking a vacation day today….. I’m not.

So the space here is all yours today. Just please be nice to each other.

Have a great weekend.

-Bruce (GayPatriot-Temporarily-West) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com