Openly dishonest, brazenly partisan:

if you think expanding a program by $3.9 million instead of $5 million counts as cutting funds, you’re qualified to work for one of America’s most esteemed newspapers.

Assholes. They'd be worthy of respect if they were only open about their ideology. As it stands, the media is worthy only of contempt.

Progressives react badly to conservative voices on NPR:

The problem with many liberals is that while they say they espouse tolerance, love for your fellow man, and discussing problems instead of resorting to fisticuffs, when they’re actually expected to “walk the walk,” things get ugly. To them, just listening to conservative ideas is akin to Dracula finding out about a nationwide tainted blood supply. It’s painful when liberals realize that not everyone thinks the way that they do: that there are unenlightened souls out there who don’t recycle, who go to church once in a while, who respect our military, and who don’t think that the sun shines out of Barack Obama’s nether regions. So, being the enlightened, progressive types that they are, instead of listening respectfully to what the other side has to say — and possibly learning something new — they stick their fingers in their ears, chant “I can’t hear you,” and complain to the person in charge about how awful the experience was.

It’s sort of like the people who believe that vandalizing and bombing military recruiting stations is a great way to get their message of peace out to the masses.

The only reason my wife and I subscribe to the Grand Rapids Press is for the Sunday grocery ads. And the only reason that we get the Press during the week is because the practically pay us to take it. I have no idea how they're making money, and I highly doubt their claims about increasing circulation. (If the claims are true, my guess is that they're true because they, well, give the paper away.) These thoughts pop to mind as I read this stinging editorial on the gradual demise of another hometown paper, the Kansas City Star:

The Project for Excellence in Journalism began its 2006 annual report by asking, "Will we recall this as the year when journalism in print began to die?" The answer preceded the question. A business that exists solely to give credibility to a minority point of view just isn’t a smart proposition. The Pitch, KC's left-wing tabloid, already does a better job reaching the Star’s market than the Star does, and they do it for a lot less money. Meanwhile, newsroom Darwinists can look past the Pitch to craigslist.com and see the local paper of the future.

So conservatives worked up over the Star’s coverage or its editorials or its story selection or its letters column should just take a shower, pop a soda and relax. A friend of mine, the late George Leinwall, a Joycean scholar and a bibliophile, once advised me against wasting energy on getting angry at a guy who had done me wrong. “His punishment,” Leinwall said, “is his life.” Same with the Star, except for the "life" part.