The sale of Dow Jones to Rupert Murdoch has generated an enormous amount of angst among the journalistic communities (and the left, but that's another story). - Stephen Brainbridge (SB)Another reason why SB is no true conservative. Anyone who understands the value of a free and functioning press to a democratic republic (let alone takes note of the special prominence given to free speech in the first amendment) has reason to be concerned about the media. The only thing possibly more funny than this lecture on the supposed triviality of the media is "kill all the lawyers first".
To pretend that journalists are primarily in the entertainment business is simply to show a misunderstanding of the business, both in content and as a business model. There will always be a market for hard news. What's more, it also shows a lack of interest in the history of journalism and how the current journalistic models won out over rival conceptions.
Perhaps SB's been influenced by the Fuax News channel or the Hewitt trance and his mind cannot free itself from their wholesale embrace of Pottersville.
NOTE TO BRUCE/ERIC on taxes
Some users, like me, read from top-to-bottom and have no way of keeping track of a non-treaded conversation that reads from bottom-to-top.
ECONOMIC WINDFALL
Frankly, this sounds good to me. I think we need a few years of sober economic management that is grounded in the real world. This used to be what the Republican Party stood for. - BruceWhoa, big fella! You're not off the hook that fast, to dump the nation's fiscal problems on the next group. The GOP could face-up to their debt-spending ways right now if they wanted to. There are appropriation bills going through congress, to which Bush could attach a tax increase to pay for the "supplemental" war that has been running for four years on an empty tank. What's more, he's still got 531 days in office and can put the required revenue enhancements in his next budget, too.
