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Micaiah2004
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Would The Last Honest Reporter Turn on the Lights?

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Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?

by Orson Scott Card

October 20, 2008
An open letter to the local daily paper -- almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

The goal of this rule change was to help the poor -- which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house -- along with their credit rating.

They end up worse off than before.

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Sen. Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting subprime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay entitled "Do Facts Matter?" (http://snipurl.com/457to): "Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury."

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?

Now let's follow the money ... right to the presidential candidate who is the number two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae.

And after Fred Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one presidential candidate's campaign actually consulted him for advice on housing.

If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was.

But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an "adviser" to the Obama campaign -- because that campaign had sought his advice -- you actually let Obama's people get away with accusing McCain of lying, merely because Raines wasn't listed as an official adviser to the Obama campaign.

You would never tolerate such weasely nit-picking from a Republican.

If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles, you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically selfish and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including Obama.

If you who produce our local daily paper had any personal honor, you would find it unbearable to let the American people believe that somehow Republicans were to blame for this crisis.

There are precedents. Even though President Bush and his administration never said that Iraq sponsored or was linked to 9/11, you could not stand the fact that Americans had that misapprehension -- so you pounded us with the fact that there was no such link. (Along the way, you created the false impression that Bush had lied to them and said that there was a connection.)

If you had any principles, then surely right now, when the American people are set to blame President Bush and John McCain for a crisis they tried to prevent, and are actually shifting to approve of Barack Obama because of a crisis he helped cause, you would be laboring at least as hard to correct that false impression.

Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That's what you claim you do, when you accept people's money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie -- that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad -- even bad weather -- on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth -- even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

Because that's what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth even when they don't like the probable consequences. That's what honesty means. That's how trust is earned.

Barack Obama is just another politician, and not a very wise one. He has revealed his ignorance and naivete time after time -- and you have swept it under the rug, treated it as nothing.

Meanwhile, you have participated in the borking of Sarah Palin, reporting savage attacks on her for the pregnancy of her unmarried daughter -- while you ignored the story of John Edwards' own adultery for many months.

So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know what honesty means?

Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?

You might want to remember the way the National Organization of Women (NOW) threw away their integrity by supporting Bill Clinton despite his well-known pattern of sexual exploitation of powerless women. Who listens to NOW anymore? We know they stand for nothing; they have no principles.

That's where you are right now.

It's not too late. You know that if the situation were reversed, and the truth would damage McCain and help Obama, you would be moving heaven and earth to get the true story out there.

If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its lending practices.

Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which put our nation's prosperity at risk so they could feel good about helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama's door.

You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis. You will tell the truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.

This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.

If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe -- and vote as if -- President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis, then you are joining in that lie.

If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats -- including Barack Obama -- and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants were Republicans -- then you are not journalists by any standard.

You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a daily newspaper in our city.




"It's not the thinking that makes the money; its the waiting"--J.Livermore
"Being wrong isn't a choice, but staying wrong is"--S.Stewart
"What everybody else knows, is not
worth knowing"--G.M.Loeb

"...mastery is something a man never stops seeking to attain." M. Musashi

http://adserv.honoluluadvertiser.com/multimedia/UntilThen.swf
http://00f2630.netsolhost.com/farewellmarine.html

Old Post 10-26-08 10:25 PM
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TheBuzzard
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All hail the Rhinoceros Times!

Old Post 10-26-08 11:55 PM
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tdbabe
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.....and that's NOT crap. Disprove it please.

Old Post 10-27-08 12:04 AM
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TheBuzzard
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Disprove what?

Old Post 10-27-08 12:24 AM
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tdbabe
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Buzzard......you just seem to fly in here and spread the word "crap" around in other people's threads. If you think it is truly as you say, then why not offer up something to the contrary, in other words, disprove what you don't agree with.

Nothing wrong with a healthy debate. But "crap"?....c'mon.




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Old Post 10-27-08 12:39 AM
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TheBuzzard
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You're right!

I "just seem to fly in here and spread the word 'crap' around in other people's threads."

It's stupid, and I promise not to do it again.

Old Post 10-27-08 01:33 AM
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Bytore
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Tdbabe, I love you deeply as any soul would, but I fear you are Republican. lol!!!

Things get very testy, and both sides are always right!

The key to winning any argument, is the vote.

I'm not a Democrat. Man, I would vote Ron Paul in a second of time!!! I live in Canada! I cannot!!! lol!!!

SliPKnut was correct. It's all B.S.

If Obama wins, America will not fall apart and be invaded by terrorists. Ain't gonna happen.

The powers above him, will not let that happen.

Yes, there are powers above him. Not god. lol!!!

A military machine, possibly the best ever invented when tuned on a goal. I think what is happening is people are realizing this. Al and his buddies winning, in your dreams!!! No relation to Al a la me here! lol!!!

Well, you know what I mean. : )

So it becomes a moot point. They move to next level of voting...


Which would be, killing the corruption around us. Every now and then, other parties get in because corruption gets too strong. It's not a vote against all that is good, it's a vote against all that is bad.


The other party gets corrupt too. Just takes 4 years! lol!!! Then Republicans back in!!!

The cycle is never ending, it's amazing we survive it and remain a free society. I think that is why we must vote, keep corruption levels balanced!!!

I suffer from apathy though, sometimes I don't vote. Or wager. I would rather have a beer and watch the nonsense on T.V...

We can bet it though. Put down the beer, it's time to bet!!!

ROFLMAO!!!

I'm a hopeless gambler...




"Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you
And the space he invades, he gets by on you..."

RUSH

Old Post 10-27-08 06:22 PM
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tdbabe
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Have no fear my friend.




Please view this site. Donations of any kind are always appreciated by these brave people.

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America is not at war. The U.S. Military is at war. America is at the Mall. If you don't stand behind our troops, PLEASE feel free to stand in front of them!

Remember, Freedom isn't Free, thousands have paid the price so you can enjoy what you have today.

Old Post 10-27-08 07:18 PM
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Bytore
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I fear your Indy pick mostly! lol!!!

Tempted to plunge Indy!!!




"Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you
And the space he invades, he gets by on you..."

RUSH

Old Post 10-27-08 07:21 PM
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tdbabe
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LOL!!!! You should fear my pick......plunge away!

Statwise, in the yppt category, Tennessee is light years superior to Indy this season.....however, their strength of schedule thus far is NOT....about 5 points below Indy (if you consider that kind of stuff).

I am considering the Over though as a contrarian type play.




Please view this site. Donations of any kind are always appreciated by these brave people.

http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm

America is not at war. The U.S. Military is at war. America is at the Mall. If you don't stand behind our troops, PLEASE feel free to stand in front of them!

Remember, Freedom isn't Free, thousands have paid the price so you can enjoy what you have today.

Old Post 10-27-08 07:45 PM
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Bytore
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Fear makes me plunge! lol!!!

If wrong from the get go, I lose $1.50 a share. If right, I only win about $1 a share. However, I hold the upper hand, cuz the machines talk to me... : )

I'm thinking $200 on the game. Big trade plunge for me. Quite frankly, I get bored not plunging. lol!!!




"Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you
And the space he invades, he gets by on you..."

RUSH

Old Post 10-27-08 08:33 PM
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Bytore
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I also think passing is the defining stat Tdbabe. All Indy on that part.

Tough plunge!!! Worse than cold water that looks warm!!! lol!!!




"Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you
And the space he invades, he gets by on you..."

RUSH

Old Post 10-27-08 08:36 PM
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tdbabe
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Tennessee is a 2nd quarter team, Indy is a 4th quarter team......so far.

I wouldn't up the ante on this game my friend, as far as betting.....the dust hasn't settled yet.




Please view this site. Donations of any kind are always appreciated by these brave people.

http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm

America is not at war. The U.S. Military is at war. America is at the Mall. If you don't stand behind our troops, PLEASE feel free to stand in front of them!

Remember, Freedom isn't Free, thousands have paid the price so you can enjoy what you have today.

Old Post 10-27-08 08:54 PM
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Bytore
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I lost $150 on my first plunge if Indy. Took me 6 weeks to win it back!!! lol!!!

So yes, I will be careful... : )




"Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you
And the space he invades, he gets by on you..."

RUSH

Old Post 10-27-08 09:16 PM
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tdbabe
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Dems have focused on destroying Gov. Palin with lies, lies, and more lies. They must really fear her. Journalism is down the toilet......this election year proves it. It's time to get real people in the big house.....and she fits that bill.

Better call Joe the Plumber.




Please view this site. Donations of any kind are always appreciated by these brave people.

http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm

America is not at war. The U.S. Military is at war. America is at the Mall. If you don't stand behind our troops, PLEASE feel free to stand in front of them!

Remember, Freedom isn't Free, thousands have paid the price so you can enjoy what you have today.

Old Post 10-28-08 04:14 AM
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Bytore
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Seriously Tdbabe, I saw an interview with Palin, and thought she was the actress on Saturday Night live!!! lol!!!

I was tired a bit, and thought it was a clip from the show. She is funny. She cannot talk can she... : )




"Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you
And the space he invades, he gets by on you..."

RUSH

Old Post 10-28-08 04:35 AM
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tdbabe
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She was on SNL last week.....maybe you saw THAT show?




Please view this site. Donations of any kind are always appreciated by these brave people.

http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm

America is not at war. The U.S. Military is at war. America is at the Mall. If you don't stand behind our troops, PLEASE feel free to stand in front of them!

Remember, Freedom isn't Free, thousands have paid the price so you can enjoy what you have today.

Old Post 10-28-08 05:37 AM
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Bytore
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It was before that show. I missed that one. Good???

I don't really watch T.V. when I am plunging bets! lol!!!

I'm spreading the word of "Uriah" today.

Us Catholics get these urges see, not all sexual. Except for the priests! lol!!!

"Behave your mind Tore!!!"

That is God talking to me. I better just play a song here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jglp5Na6x68




"Today's Tom Sawyer, he gets high on you
And the space he invades, he gets by on you..."

RUSH

Old Post 10-28-08 04:21 PM
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