Soapbox

The Truth Is Out There

Poor Dispatch. A lot of letters have appeared lately accusing the paper of having a pinko-liberal, do-gooder bias. I would just like to refute that. As evidence I offer two stories that you have NOT run in the Dispatch this week, but would have if it was indeed a liberal rag.

The first is the fact that Don Rumsfeld has decided to address the issue of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib directly by…making sure there is no record next time.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/23/1085250873479.html

"Mobile phones fitted with digital cameras have been banned in US army installations in Iraq on orders from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Britain's The Business newspaper reported yesterday.
Digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones with cameras have been prohibited in military compounds in Iraq," it said, adding that a "total ban throughout the US military" is in the works."

Another story the Dispatch didn't run is the revelation that the Bush re-election campaign out-sourced its calling center. Yes, in an era when thousands of Americans have been out of work for so long that even many Democrats would gladly take a job calling people to ask for donations for the president, 125 people in India were hired for this task, presumably because they were cheaper and didn't make any pesky demands for health insurance, etc.
Both Moveon.org and the Center for American Progress carried this story:

WASHINGTON – May 21 – The Bush Administration has taken its strong support for outsourcing even further than once thought, opting to move its key political operations offshore. Specifically, the Hindustan Times of India reports that over a 14 month period in 2002 and 2003 when the Republican Party was playing up patriotism, the fund-raising and vote-seeking campaign for the Republican Party was done, in part, by two call centers located in India.

I have also seen no mention of the story out of New Mexico on the school that has banned poetry as an un-patriotic, anti-American activity,

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPN62051504.htm

Nor have I seen any tables comparing the costs of past wars to this one. Our current estimates place the cost of Iraq II, the sequel at $152 bill. and climbing while the total cost of WW 1, adjusted for inflation, was only $190 bill.! (Business weekly online, DEc. 2003) or of Roger Morris's open letter to the diplomatic staff of the state department.
Morris, you may recall, was the Nixon staffer who resigned when the decision was made to invade Cambodia in violation of peace negotiations he was conducting. He urges all current staffers to realize that the Bush administration is clearly not going to listen to their opinions and that they, in good conscience, need to resign also.
Nope, not a word about that. If it weren't for the internet, Columbus would never know.

I am not trying to say that I feel the Dispatch should be a liberal paper, nor do I accuse the Dispatch of being a shameless shill for the conservative movement either. I actually think the Dispatch makes an effort to try to be more balanced than in years past, and I applaud this. I also understand that there is not enough space to run every story.
My point is only that the paper need not feel stung by silly conservative critics. You have a looong way to go before you become a liberal mouthpiece.