Greetings and Felicitations,

The answer to your question is simple. The media is controlled by the advertisers and they really don't want the American populace to know what is really going on. In truth, neither does the average American. They want to know that they can still get their entertainment and that is all they want. Those of us who pay actually pay attention aren't as influenced by "happy feelings" as the average American.

Sincerely Yours,
C. David Neely

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The media is profit driven, and the MSM is now part of larger conglomerates with all kinds of other financial interests. This makes them particularly susceptible to political pressure and it makes them fear political retribution.

So you get FOX which blatantly supports the party in power, look for a big lineup change as contracts expire over the next few years, and look for a tone down in rhetoric, as the Dems take over the reins of power.

The rest of the media has tried to steer a middle course that offends no one, and have ended up not as truthful as the media was in the days of Cronkite and Murrow, but there are still patches of accuracy in the media. McClatchy, formerly Knight Ridder, has been there with stories before the invasion of Iraq from their pentagon sources that stated there was no evidence of WMDs in Iraq, and that there were no ties between Saddam and 9/11.
The truth is out there if you look.

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

If the Christian God is real then there's only one. If He's not, then the pastor's prayer was futile.

Just so you know, you're talkin' to a pagan here. My own religion includes polytheism, but it's not followed by the guy we're talking about. (Besides, I recognize a Unity underlying not only the Gods, but the universe.)

I'm only going by the fact that this pastor is supposed to be Christian, and Christianity includes certain doctrines, such as monotheism. It also excludes the notion that any mere mortal can know with certainty the will of God. The notions that this pastor is putting forth are, by Christian standards, absurd -- and those standards apply because he is a Christian.

Edit: One thing to add. The common atheist/agnostic conception of God/the Gods as ideas about which we can have no certain knowledge is one I don't agree with, in that it treats them as literal concrete ideas, rather than what they are, which is poetic metaphors. The reality of which they are a metaphor (which can't really be stated exactly, but which I can come fairly close to by calling it the Cosmos as a whole) requires that certain metaphors work better than others. The metaphor of a bunch of very humanoid deities bonking on each other and fighting for dominance is very primitive, very simplistic, not enlightening in the least, and thus not at all useful from a religious or spiritual standpoint.

As a concrete, literal concept, no conception of God/the Gods describes reality. None of them are literally real as things out there in the universe that one can observe or measure. The reality they possess is metaphorical, as poetic keys to the meaning of life and to spiritual connection with the cosmos. There are good metaphors and there are not-so-good metaphors. This pastor's metaphors suck swampwater.

Um, me and few million Christian Socialists and liberals would disagree with that part about 'willing to use religion for political purposes'. In fact, the separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution owes far more to Baptists and other denominations than to atheists or Deists.

Whether it is 'despicable' or not is, of course, entirely a personal opinion, usually based on vindictive ignorance.

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"The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does, what problems this really solves." - Ludwig Wittgenstein

"A day without sunshine is, you know, night."- Shannon

Was this McCain's pastor? Was this McCain's church of 20 years? Where is your outrage over Rev. Wright, who WAS Obama's pastor, close friend, spiritual advisor for DECADES.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

What's there to be outraged about? Wright was right. You have to put it into context.

Are you upset cause he said "God damn America?" If so...too bad. America isn't perfect, its perpetrated a LOT of evil in its time. Some of which was done in the last 8 years.

BTW, this thread wasn't addressing Wright or anyone specific, just the general reluctance by the media to call it like it is.

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Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can't understand.
Cardinal de Retz

"My mother would have said that a woman voting for John McCain
is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." - Cecile Richards, TX