Bias in the press, anyone?

The 'hospital wars' are still going on. But here's something new: The CEO of Crestwood is leaving in May for a job in Florida.

The Huntsville Times reports (link):
'Brad Jones, the fast-growing hospital's CEO since December 2001, said Monday that he is resigning to become vice president of operations for Health Management Associates Inc., a for-profit hospital chain based in Naples, Fla.'

Did you catch that? Mr. Jones is going to work for ANOTHER hospital... that makes money.

Here's my question to you: What difference does it make that the hospital where Mr. Jones will soon work is for-profit or not?

Here's the answer: NONE.

Even mentioning that the hospital is 'for-profit' adds NOTHING to the story... except to influence the reader that Mr. Jones only works for hospitals that turn a profit.

How many times have you ever heard about a coach leaving a team to go work for another team that's 'for profit?'

Bias, anyone?

A new poll shows that...

How many times have you heard that a new study or poll shows that the great state of Alabama has ranked dead last (or near dead last)?

Whether it's education, teacher salaries or highway safety funding, you name it and chances are that Alabama is somewhere in the back or near the bottom.

When I hear about these studies or polls or read about it in some editorial, my first inclination is: So what?

My second thought is about the actual study or poll. Usually there's a motive behind it and the results.

If Alabama widget makers feel they aren't paid enough, they can hire a firm to put together a study that shows that they aren't paid enough. Then they'll push for legislation forcing them to be paid more... at YOUR EXPENSE.

Here's my question to you: If you put 50 multi-millionaires in a room, one of them is going to be ranked #50. Hopefully your first reaction to that is simply, 'So what?'

'Poor' In America

If there's one thing I loathe seeing on the network news, the newspapers and the like, it's stories of 'the poor' people in this county.

Here's why: Most poor people HAVE GOT IT MADE.

The living conditions of many of America's 'poor' people is greater than that of upper class people in other countries. Walter Williams said it best. If the good Lord came to you and said he was going to send you to live a life of poverty and gave you a choice of what country to live in, where would you pick?

Exactly.

Being 'poor' in America is more a state of mind than anything else. If you are determined to be 'poor,' you are going to have to work at it. Seriously.

Here's what you do to be poor and continue living in a life of poverty in America:

1) Earn minimum wage for the rest of your life. You can do this by job hopping and finding new work every 2-3 months. Since many businesses offer raises after 90 days, you can avoid this by NOT working there for any duration.

2) Start a family that you can't afford to raise with someone you aren't married to. Self-explanatory.

3) Live beyond your means. Simply put, buy everything you want and make the minimum payments for the next 84 years. New car? Buy it! The payment is only x amount a month! Buy a HUGE tv and get every cable channel you want!

4) Save NOTHING. Rely only on social security to fund your golden years.

Doing those 4 things will help ensure a life of misery and poverty in the greatest country in the world and turn the American dream into a nightmare.

What poor people need is something that no one can give them.

Random Thoughts on Don Imus...

Here's the actual dialogue from the Don Imus show last week:

Imus: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --
McGuirk: Some hard-core hos.
Imus: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man...

You know the aftermath.

Imus suspended.
But not now. The suspension starts in a few days, of course. AFTER the charity work is done.
Advertisers on the show pull their money and run.
Imus is then fired.

My thoughts on the matter (not that you asked, but you did come to my blog):

1) All the focus is all on Imus, while his co-host/sidekick/producer, Bernard McGuirk, has quickly evaporated into the second gunman on the grassy knoll.

Who referred to the Rutger's basketball team as 'ho's' first?
Answer: Bernard McGuirk.
Media attention: None.

Who was reacting and REPEATING what McGuirk had just said?
Answer: Don Imus.
Media attention: All.

2) There is a difference between 'ho' and 'whore.' Referring to someone as a 'ho' is offensive and mildly insulting... but usually also meant to be taken in a jestful manner as well. Calling someone a 'whore' is an attack on that person and their character. Had Imus referred to the team as 'whores,' I'll bet the rent money he would have been gone before the close of business that day. And in a hospital no later than 7pm.

3) After playing basketball for an hour in a championship game, even Daddy Warbuck's hair would have looked 'nappy' I'm sure. Whatever that means.

4) It's my belief that Imus was delivering the line tongue in cheek. I don't know what's in his mind or his heart. Neither do you. And neither does Al Sharpton.

Private Property Rights

When you own something, you can do what you like with it, as long as it doesn't interfere or violate anybody else's rights.

Not so in Athens, Alabama.

The city has passed an ordinance making it ILLEGAL keep a vehicle on your property that isn't able to move under its own power. Those in violation can face a fine anywhere from 100-500 dollars... and even jail time!

It's being called the 'junk car' ordinance.

The purpose is to clean up yards and neighborhoods that look, well... 'trashy.' Afterall, who wants to live next door to someone who has a junkyard in their front yard?

I don't. Do you?

Probably not. But we don't get to decide how ours neighbor live and maintain their home and its appearance. We can't choose our neighbors nor can we dictate how they live their lives. Besides, someone having a defunct car parked in their front yard (or back) doesn't interfere or violate anybody else's rights.

You may not like it. But you may not like the way your neighbor trims his bushes once a month either.

The real travesty in this new ordinance is that those in violation can be face a YEAR IN JAIL if convicted.

Wouldn't you sleep better in Athens knowing that the streets are safer with all of those 'defunct car owners' behind bars?

Afterall, it just looks trashy.

Money For Nothing?

You work and keep what you earn and I'll work and keep what I earn. You are not entitled to what I've earned just as I'm not entitled to what you've earned. What's yours is your and what's mine is mine.

Sound like a fair deal?

Not so fast. Especially if you're a politician in the Alabama Legislature.

The Alabama State Senate Majority Leader, Zeb Little, has introduced a bill that would GIVE 36,000 dollars a year to former Governor Guy Hunt who is battling lung cancer.

Hunt doesn't have much time left on this Earth, but that's not the point.

The real issue is quite simple: Legalized theft performed by the state legislature.

What right does one person have to another person's property? If you said (or screamed) 'none,' move ahead 2 spaces.

Now let's ask it another way: Would a person have the right to another's property if our government said otherwise or tried to arrange the transaction?

Move ahead 2 more spaces if you said no!

In a truly free society and country, people are not enslaved or forced to work for others. No one can stake a claim to what does not belong to them.

Unfortunately, we are not truly free.

'Big' Press

Sometimes the press uses silly terms to describe things going on in the news. You've probably heard the term,'If it bleeds, it leads.' That means that murders, shootings or stabbings will find their way to the frontpage or be the first thing you hear about on the news.

The press also uses the same old cliches to describe these stories. For example, when there is a shooting,you may hear a reporter say that 'shots rang out.' After a devastating disaster, families will try to 'pickup the pieces of their shattered lives.' The neighbors are also always going to be 'shocked.' You could almost make a drinking game out of watching the news!

Another example of silly cliches the press uses is their description of the tobacco and oil companies.

Both are described as nothing more than 'big.'

When gas prices rose to more than three dollars a gallon and oil companies were reporting 'record profits' (remember, profit = bad & greedy), the press was quick to demonize them as a whole, calling them 'big.' You probably heard this line a few times: 'Another record for big oil, as profits soared...'

(What you didn't hear is that government's taxes on a gallon of gasoline are greater than the oil companies'profit off the same gallon! But nowhere did you hear about 'big government.')

It's become so ridiculous that sometimes reporters will talk about 'big oil' like it's a living, breathing, being!

'It depends on big oil.'
'What will big oil do?'

R.J. Reynolds & Philip Morris are tobacco companies that get the label in the news as 'big tobacco.'

These terms are absolutely ridiculous. If the press is going to put the label on the oil and tobacco companies,why not put it on others?

Water would be a perfect example. At Costco, you can purchase 35 bottles of water for less than five dollars. The price per unit is about 13 cents. If you were to sell those bottles of water for a dollar each, the mark-up is more than 750%!

Should the press demonize people who sell bottled water as 'big water?' Trying to use that term would get a journalist laughed out of the newsroom.

So should using 'big tobacco' and 'big oil.'