Media Research Center and FAIR

Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) mainly focuses on a diversity in the press, they deliver the news honestly without censoring anything. They tend to incorporate their own opinions into the article they are writing while being completely honest. They also tend to provide constructive critique along with using sarcasm when it comes to covering different issues or news. FAIR believes that it is necessary to have an "independent, aggressive and critical media" in order to have a successful democracy, this is why they provide their news in a straightforward way without censoring anything. They cover all sorts of news without being biased and criticize the different actions that politicians have taken as well as headlines that have made the news recently. In one of their articles they criticize the New York Times for using words in one of their health care articles that are intended to send a political message about what policy ideas are wise and which aren't. 

When it comes to the Media Research Center, they mostly focus on having a more conservative view on different topics and also provide counter arguments that are presented with a more liberal view. The also criticize past actions that have been taken that they believe should have been approached with a different view, like in one of their articles where they criticized Larry King for asking former Miss California Carrie Parjean many questions because she doesn't believe in gay marriage and has expressed many conservative views. They believe it wasn't right for him to ask her so many questions because they think the only reason he was persistent was because she has expressed in the past many conservative views. They tend to feel as if people with conservative views are attacked by a person with a more liberal view. 

Political Cartoons

The political cartoon illustrated by Trever is criticizing the health care reform because it is causing the unemployment rate to increase and the economy is just going down the drain. He is pretty much blaming the high rate of unemployment on health care because of all the time that is being spent to fix it instead of focusing on other important issues. As politicians continue to fix health care the economy and unemployment rate keep suffering. They are currently only focused on health care forgetting and almost ignoring the suffering economy outside the whole health care issue.

Eagen is criticizing the war because eve

n though the U.S. is wiling to help, the Afghans aren't really grateful because

 they still hate the U.S. They only want to be "friends"and form a "lasting friendship" when they find it convenient. They don't care about what the U.S. does all they want is for additional troops without thinking about what the consequences are. The U.S. is willing to actually provide all the necessary help their government and people might need but they don't care about where the help comes from, they only care about when they will be getting that help. 

The Obama administration is so focused with health care that it's forgetting or ignoring the fact that the economy can't afford it right now. It's necessary to first focus on the economy because that is the only way it can achieve a successful health care reform. Health care reform has been pushed for so long ignoring the fact that the country has other more important issues that need to be solved and health care is being placed atop all of those issues.  The main focus so far has been on health care without realizing that we can't afford it.

After having a war for so long many innocent soldiers have died because more and more troops are being sent to fight. The number of troops that are being requested keep increasing and as a result more innocent lives are being lost on the battlefield. The problem in Afghanistan is like a never ending problem because the U.S. is pretty much in a hole. It's going to take a long time to help and fix the Afghanistan government. 

Obama Wants Change in War Plans

President Barack Obama isn't planning on accepting any of the Afghanistan war options proposed by his national security team, he instead wants revisions that would clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn the responsibility of the government back to the Afghans. Military officials said Obama has asked for a new strategy and is resisting Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recommendation for more troops. Obama was considering options that include adding an additional 30,000 or more troops to take on the Taliban in main areas of Afghanistan and make time for their small forces to take over. The other options were troop increases from a small number to the 40,000 that the U.S. general in Afghanistan wants. The Obama administration wants to make it clear that U.S. commitment in Afghanistan is not open-ended because the war is now in its ninth year and is claiming the lives of many Americans at a rapid pace as a result of the Taliban being in control in many parts of the country. Military officials believe one approach is a plan that would add 30,000 or more troops adding onto the 68,000 already in the country. They describe this plan as "half and half" because half would be fighting and half would be training and "holding ground" so the Afghans can regroup. Officials believe Obama is considering possibilities for military expansion and that his decision will cover changes that are beyond adding more troops. Training and partnership operation with Afghan forces would be part of that effort even though expansion of better trained Afghan forces has always been part of the U.S. objective and the key to an eventual allied exit from Afghanistan.  

Creating Jobs

With unemployment rising and expected to hit the double digits soon when lawmakers run for reelection next year, President Obama urged his economic advisers to come up with ideas that would create new jobs when he met with business executives, labor officials and economists. Obama is concerned that the stimulus legislation passed in February won't do enough to turn things around. Obama promised his administration won't rest until they succeed in "generating the jobs that this economy needs." He finds it extremely necessary for his administration to do something about the job losses because of the severity in the number of jobs that were lost earlier this year, he believes it will take "some bold, innovative action" on everyone's part including his own and Congress. Panel members told Obama that the administration should focus on three areas when creating jobs: exports, infrastructure and energy-efficiency technology. While Obama talks daily about green jobs and environmentally friendly technology, one panel member argued that such a transition won't benefit the country unless certain policies make companies become more competitive. General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt told Obama that the industries that made jobs grow in the past 2 decades aren't reliable to do that as the economy recovers. And when it comes to exporting, the US economy is way behind competitors, but he believes that the US could actually create between 3 million and 5 million jobs by simply doubling exports. 

Unpopular Biden

Biden's popularity has decreased in the past year with a recent poll this week showing that a favorable opinion of Biden has dropped by 42% and 40% of Americans view him unfavorably; this has been his worst evaluation since the national convention. Pollsters and experts wonder what the decrease in these numbers reveal about the public's feelings on Biden and his expanding role in the government as vice president or if it's simply exaggerated by Obama's high popularity and the state of the economy. Gallup Poll Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport thinks this is a "fascinating and important question" because he hasn't been in the news with any sort of highly negative coverage since he was first sworn in and there hasn't been any type of scandal that he's been involved in. When comparing Biden with other vice presidents like Al Gore and Dick Cheney, Joe Biden is far less popular than both of them were in the first year they took office. But many observers believe that Biden's decrease in popularity is just a reflection of Obama's decline in the polls, something that was expected and even though Biden’s press coverage has been for the most part favorable he can't avoid being "playing second fiddle" to the president leaving him with a very little amount of opportunity to boost his ratings. If the people are unhappy and the government isn't doing so well, they tend to blame both the president and the vice president and as a result the president and vice president become less popular. With the economy in terrible shape this year, pollster Scott Rasmussen believes that people should focus more on important issues instead of focusing on ratings. Instead of caring more about who is more popular people should instead be more interested in what exactly the president and vice president are doing to help the nation.

New Regulations

More than 70 million Americans who have health insurance through their jobs could experience higher costs or denials of certain coverages under a plan that is making its way through Congress because large employers that assume the cost and risk of health coverage for their workers wouldn't have to follow the same rules and restrictions that would be imposed on health insurers in a measure that has already been approved by the Senate Finance Committee. Large companies who already offer their workers coverage are really trying to keep the status quo and protect themselves from the new regulations and requirements in the health measure that is still being negotiated by the Obama administration and Democrats. Despite President Obama's promise that people will no longer experience being denied insurance because of a health condition or facing limits or high costs for simple services and treatments, a large number of workers wouldn't enjoy the same guarantees as others. Several big business groups have already joined together as the National Coalition on Benefits to maintain their special status that take on the risks and costs associated with insuring their own workers. They want to continue extending health insurance to their workers without insurance regulations like governing what services must be covered and regulations that decide when a person can be denied coverage. Firms that already offer coverage provide generous benefits and are already subject to certain federal requirements, most of them cover anyone regardless of their medical history or health status. But many lawmakers still believe they should follow the same strict requirements that health insurance companies would have to follow under the new system. They believe many workers would actually end up with really high health expenses if the companies don't follow these new rules.

Never Ending War

President Obama's war council is planning a new role for Pakistan in the 8 year war against al-Qaida, after concluding that there is no way the US can win in Afghanistan or succeed in the war against al-Qaida without the cooperation of Pakistan. President Obama planned many meetings with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to discuss the "unpopular" war in Afghanistan, including a meeting on Friday where they might finally decide how many more troops would be needed to fight in this war after many more troops were requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the number isn't exactly known, but it is estimated to range from 10,000 to 40,000 combat troops. A senior pentagon believes that the Obama administration's delay in deciding on a strategy for the war has caused European allies to postpone deciding how much more money should be provided for the war. Obama's national security team marked the 8th year anniversary with a three-hour session in the White House basement. Obama and his aides are proud of recent successes against al-Qaida through targeted missile strikes and raids in Pakistan and elsewhere; he believes that as a result, al-Qaida has "lost operational capacity." The Pakistani government has demonstrated a new willingness to fight extremists, but these operations are causing problems and controversy throughout Pakistan. Gen. McChrystal's request for additional troops will determine what the Obama administration decides and what happens next.