The RAnts of RA

Dear Friends of Liberty,

All over the United States, Libertarians who conquered whatever ballot access hurdles they made third parties face, are now finding that they still have only a third-class status, with that status enforced by one group: the Media.

In Texas, James Werner, LP candidate for Governor, was denied access into a debate organized by Belo Corp. They allowed 4 people, including gadfly Kinky Friedman, to debate, so the old argument that “3’s a crowd” couldn’t be used this time. He’s now moving forward on a lawsuit.

Bob Smither Campaign

Also in Texas, Bob Smither is running against a Democrat and a write-in Republican in Tom DeLay’s former Congressional district. He’s the only candidate on both the Special and General elections ballots. According to both MSNBC and the New York Times, Smither doesn’t even exist, but the write-in sure does. Luckily, the locals do know he exists, because he’s walking the district, working hard, and quickly gaining steam in that race.

Bruce Guthrie Campaign

In Washington State, Bruce Guthrie, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, mortgaged himself to the hilt to the tune of over $1 million dollars for his campaign to meet debate requirements, and while the Media sponsors did finally agree to let him debate, it was touch and go there for a while, they still wanted to deny him equal access. It took over $1 million on the table to even raise the question of having a fair debate.

Bill Peirce Campaign

In Ohio, Gubernatorial candidate Bill Peirce’s campaign staff, in response to the Media locking him out of the debates, has resorted to wearing chicken suits in order to get any sort of press attention at all.

Phil Maymin Campaign

In Connecticut, Phil Maymin, candidate for the 4th District’s congressional seat, had a stellar showing in a 3 way debate, but pollsters won’t include his name in their polls since he’s gotten very media play, and the Media ignores him, since they, in turn, claim that they have no polling data supporting him.

This trend continues all over the country, in almost every race where we have a stake. This isn’t new, of course. In 2004, my friend Michael Badnarik, LP Presidential Nominee, partnered with Green Party Nominee David Cobb, and they got arrested the night of one debate between Bush and Kerry, right in front of the debate hall. Still, none of the major media even covered the story. A search on CNN.com that same night found zero articles on “Badnarik,” because they had never covered him or his campaign.

Barry Hess Campaign

Here in Arizona, I’m in the debates, and I’m holding my own…. in fact, some say I’ve won both debates so far. It has become clear that my true opponent in this race is neither Janet (D) nor Len (R). It’s the second hand reporting and coverage of the debates, primarily by the newspaper of record, the Arizona Republic, that distorts our message, and attempts to marginalize any prospect of 3rd party gains, but most importantly, violates the inherent right of the voters to judge for themselves by having all of the facts to consider.

The AZ Republic wrote, “Don’t blame yourself if you haven’t heard of Hess or much about his politics.” Somehow, it’s supposed to be our fault when they refuse to give fair and equal coverage to all candidates on the ballot. You see, since Libertarians stand on principles, and refuse to take so-called “clean” election funding (which is out of the pockets of taxpayers), we are not “legitimate” candidates, running “real” campaigns. Never mind that they ignore all of our outreach events (or report them as only taking place at “gun shows”). Never mind that they ignore endorsements, fund-raisers, press releases, and all of the other tools that we use, the same as the other candidates. Somehow we just aren’t campaigning ‘hard enough’ for them to take notice.

The actions of the AZ Republic, a big corporate media player, owned by Gannett, are unconscionable.

Other Libertarian candidates across the state are also suffering at the hands of the Republic, including Richard Mack, who is the only anti-war candidate in that race for Senate. The same ‘skewing’ happened with some of the Republican Gubernatorial candidates in their primary, and guess what? Some of those candidates are now openly endorsing me over the Republican who won the primary, and they are joining our complaint about media bias on the record, and on streaming video for all to see.

I’m tired of it, I’m sick of it, and I’m fighting back. Effective immediately, our campaign will be attacking public enemy #1, the true opponent of ‘clean elections’ and an informed electorate, the Arizona Republic and their biases in reporting the facts.

Today marks the start of a new Hess For Governor campaign fund raising effort to raise at least $25,000 to purchase radio and print ads specifically attacking the blatant and shameless media bias of the AZ Republic, Arizona’s “newspaper of record.” Please contribute to this, and help us.

Proceeds from this fund raising drive will be used to purchase spots in reputable media sources that have fulfilled their civic and moral duty to completely, accurately, and fairly report on the race for Governor of Arizona. These funds will not be used to attack the position or programs of Governor Janet Napolitano (D) or Challenger Len Munsil (R). The ads will specifically target the media bias of the Arizona Republic, and how it has abused the right of the public to have all of the facts about all of the candidates; not just those that support the Republic’s own editorial biases and its desire to steer government policy and public opinion.

Now is the time to step up to the plate. I need your help. We need to send a strong message to Big Media that we aren’t afraid to go after them directly, and no longer play along, just waiting for them to throw us a bone once in a while.

On Nov 7th, every voter in Arizona will have 3 choices for Governor, not 2.

Our goal: We will make sure they know which reporters can count to 3, and who just stops at 2. (Sometimes, they’ll count to 2.1, or 2.5, and then tell us we’re lucky they even mentioned us.) If you want to know what sort of radio and print ads we’ll run, it’ll be that simple a message:

We trust the voters to count to 3, but the Arizona Republic stops at 2. Wonder why?

If you are not convinced, go to the website and watch the two debates so far, and then compare what you see in the debates to the reporting the AZ Republic and others have done about it… Then please donate so we can go on the offensive against the real enemy of Libertarians: Media Bias.

Help us to send a strong message to the Media giants that “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!” Donate now. Even a small donation will go a long way in paying for print and radio ads. If you’d like to donate matching funds, Make a matching Donation. We know that the community can generate major funds when the cause is a good one.

As always, I remain at your service–

Barry Hess

Vice Chair of the Arizona Libertarian Party, and Candidate for Governor.

Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana with a vengeance, leaving thousands homeless and the news wire was ablaze with reports of victims and rescue efforts.

The many ghastly images displayed by news sources can stir up a torrent of emotions in those who find it difficult to imagine the horror of living in a city 80% under water, without basic necessities.

Stranded Pets

Even more horrific is the thought that many viewers are more concerned with the plight of the many animals caught in the aftermath of the hurricane, than concern for the loss of human lives and those who remain – left to survive in the disaster area.

News accounts displayed shots of dogs stranded on roof tops and our hearts went out to them. I’ve heard many lament about those poor animals and how they would love to travel to New Orleans to help them, yet those same people show very little concern over people facing those very same living conditions.

I love animals the same as the next person but I can’t begin to put them in the same category with people in need. How can we have such compassion for pets and livestock, yet ignore women and children in need of basic necessities?

Residents Looting

While the thought of looting in the areas stuck hardest by Katrina is disturbing and certainly not to be condoned, the news reports are more than a little worrisome. A recent article by World Net Daily
reported that, “Fox News reported a local McDonald’s restaurant also was looted with residents stealing burger patties and buns.” While this is certainly newsworthy, I must admit, the first thought that came to my own mind was “So what?”.

Without electricity and refridgeration the food being stolen is going to go bad, someone may as well get some use out of it. McDonald’s will be forced to throw out the burgers and the buns. The losses will be turned over to their insurance company. What’s the big deal?

I guess the big deal is that McDonald’s spent millions of dollars in advertising over the last year and Fox News wants to keep a happy customer by keeping McDonald’s name in the news.

The fact is the entire city is a disaster area and people must eat to survive. Many have elderly to care for and children to tend to. Perhaps, McDonald’s would prefer they resort to measures taken by others in harrowing circumstances. I’m reminded of the Donner Party’s passage over the Sierra mountains in the dead of winter and how many died along the way. The survivors of the party told tales of living off human flesh in order to sustain themselves through the harsh winter.

I wonder if people living off human flesh to survive this disaster would make headlines in the news? After all the media showed many dead just lying in the street because there is no way to bury them.

I read another account about how some local charities were breaking into area restaurants in order to feed the droves of people searching for food and shelter. The article seems to think that was just fine but citizens doing the same thing were looters and vandals.

It’s comforting to know that some police and rescue workers are sticking to the important job of saving people’s lives instead of going after “looters”. If emergency services were in place, as they should have been – prepared to mobilize immediately, to assist those stranded by Katrina, most of the looting could have been avoided.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

ASPCA Assists Animals Affected by Katrina

Animal lovers will be happy to know that the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) will be granting $1,000,000 to animals affected by Hurricane Katrina. Over the past two days, the ASPCA has received nearly $400,000 in donations for help and in-kind aid to help the animals affected by Hurricane Katrina and is on track to raise more than $750,000 with its board of directors allocating an additional $250,000.

The ASPCA estimates it will take millions to effectively re-build the local shelters and provide the necessary animal assistance to the local companion animals including basic necessities.

by: J. Matt Barber

Even today obstinate, lumbering, big-media dinosaurs inhabit and roam the vast terrain of Paleolithic journalism. Theirs is a rapidly dying breed, having succumbed to stubbornly self-inflicted wounds of poorly camouflaged liberal bias – all this, lending credence within conservative circles to the popular ‘pea-brain’ hypothesis.

Among the future-fossils are nearly all major print publications and broadcast news networks, to include: the New York Times (all the news that’s fit to slant), the LA Times (Arnold Schwarzenegger will grope your Aunt), the Washington Compost, CNN – and forget me not to throw inthe pitifully dwindling regal “big three” – NBC, CBS, and ABC (Sorry, just read Green Eggs and Ham to my three-year-old).

Through the process of journalistic evolution, ancestors of the big media dinosaur slithered to land long ago from the deep primordial sludge of liberal ideology. The following are among the more prominently evolved species:

Dan-Rather-raptor (rãp ´tðr)

noun: of, or relating to leftist class of clever, ancient, cold-blooded reptilian with sharp teeth and little regard for objectivity; carnivore – primary food source: conservative Republican presidents [syn: Document-Daddy-Dan]

Tom-Brokawntosaurus (brôkãwn′t º-sôr′ãs)

noun: large, North American herbivorous dinosaur hailing from the Dakotas, noted for slanted, partisan, slurred speech pattern; lives in denial (not the river) of own liberal bias [syn: Tom-Broke-jaw]

Conservatives have been grumbling for decades about the “liberal mainstream media.” Through both act and omission, the media’s reporting on the events of our day, arbitrarily deemed newsworthy by the New York Times, enters our homes through the prism of a demonstrably leftist worldview.

Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs

It would seem that most in the press report the news in a manner intended to impress both one another, and other likeminded cultural elites. They clearly strive for the coveted “attaboy” from within their tightly knit fringe fraternity – They’re one big slaphappy family – not a single red-state redneck among them.

With a nepotistic pat on the back here, and a self-aggrandizing Pulitzer there, these dyed-in-the-wool liberals do their thing, perhaps naively buying into the fiction that they truly are “objective.” But, as they report, that dyed wool begins to bleed a pinko shade of blue-state blue, irreparably staining the story, and further damaging their credibility as an un-biased news source. They report – They decide.

With his number-one best selling book Bias, Bernard Goldberg, a CBS insider with nearly 30 years experience as a correspondent, caused a firestorm of controversy (particularly within the mainstream media) when he exposed the liberal man behind the objective mask.

It was the first time a relatively prominent media insider had broken ranks in such a fashion. Goldberg provided the world with a consolidated collection of his own personal experiences, and testimonials from his former colleagues, offering irrefutable evidence of left-wing media bias. Many of those experiences involved Goldberg’s friend and colleague, Dan Rather. For the aforementioned grumbling conservatives, it was nice to be proven right.

Goldberg’s book helped to make permanent within popular lexicon, the term “liberal media bias.” He was branded a traitor, and blacklisted from traditional journalism. The media loves a whistle-blower, so long as they’re not targeted by said whistle.

Just prior to last year’s Presidential election, Bernie was vindicated. Rather-Gate -the forged Bush National Guard documents – you remember the scandal  – CBS ran with an old recycled story that was to prove President Bush had been derelict in duty relative to his Air National Guard service some thirty years agoand, by God, they had the documentary evidence to prove it!

Only problem the story wasn’t true. Rather relied on forged documents that, if vetted by a public school third grader with just below average intelligence, would have been discounted and discarded, thereby killing the story.

Oh, but how they wanted it so! Would, that it could have been true! CBS News and Dan Rather could taste a John Kerry victory.

A few enterprising web-bloggers determined within hours of the dinosaurs’ airing of the doomed story, that the documents were blatant forgeries.

With the benefit of hindsight, no doubt Danny boy would prefer that he’d stuffed the forged documents in his pants (a la Sandy Berger), taken them with him on his morning constitutional to the little-anchor’s-room, and made more appropriate use of the paper upon which the crude fraud was crafted. But, to his retrospective chagrin, such was not the case.

There was an investigation – four lower level CBS News lackey scapegoats were fired and thrown to the rabid conservative wolves – Rather suddenly decided it was time to retire. “Liberal bias” will now and forever be affixed as the centerpiece of his legacy, and the reality of that same bias in the larger media is both verified and permanently secure.

Enter the new media – the Fox News Channel, talk radio, Internet web-bloggers. It’s a beautiful thing to watch the free market at work. Good old fashion capitalism has broken-up the longstanding media monopoly.

“But what about journalistic integrity? What about accountability?” the dinosaurs groan – this from the same media moguls who, for so very long, had their way with the truth in a vacuum entirely devoid of accountability. Finally, people are pointing out that the emperor has no clothes (Chris Matthews, for the love of all things sacred, put some on)!

But, as with every vacuum, something must fill the void. The new media has stepped up to the plate – it’s their turn to take a swing. The Fox News Channel arrived on the scene with a revolutionary new media concept – “fair and balanced” reporting. In contrast to the dinosaurs, Fox presents both sides of an issue – “We report, you decide.” They’ve taken off like gangbusters and lead the pack, having lapped the other cable-news networks several times over.

Not unlike the dinosaurs, talk radio King Rush Limbaugh and his heir-apparent Sean Hannity are biased (from a conservative perspective of course). The difference is that they don’t claim to be anything but. Full disclosure enables their listeners to consider the words they hear, weigh those words against the speakers’s admitted bias – and to then decide for themselves what is, or is not credible – there’s your accountability.

Web-bloggers and other pajama pundits also share accountability. Oh, sure they can publish anything on the Internet – but for every falsehood, there are a hundred fellow web-bloggers eager to point it out. In fact, it’s the web-bloggers of late who have, in large part, been responsible for holding the mainstream media’s feet to the fire. As singer/songwriter Johnny Lang put it … “it’s been a long time coming.”

So, as the big-media Dinosaurs die off one by one – the catastrophic meteor to blame for their impending extinction is their own damning construct – their transparent liberal bias. That bias is now, and will continue to be the fossil fuel driving tomorrow’s new media – a new media whose long awaited arrival, and much needed influence has already begun.

J. Matt Barber is a non-practicing attorney, an undefeated heavyweight professional boxer (Matt “Bam Bam” Barber), and a jazz drummer in Chicago, IL. In addition to his Law Degree, Barber holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from Regent University. Matt is a Contributing Editor for The Conservative Voice, and a contributor to a number of other top conservative publications.

Copyright © 2005 by J. Matt Barber