Jackson Free Press

While eating the other day, I noticed your paper lying above the garbage can. And after reading it, I put it where it belongs: inside the garbage can.
I have never read a more biased, liberal, conservative-bashing piece of literature in my life. The "Boneqweesha Jones, Ghetto Science TV" is absolutely the most repulsive piece of writing I have ever read. Talk about playing into stereotypes. I am aware that all I had to do was put the paper down and not read it, but it was so untrue, biased and fit for the liberal agenda, I couldn't believe it was still in circulation.

I asked the lady behind me, "Have you read any of this crap?" She responded something to the effect of, "Would you expect anything different from far-lefties?" I laughed and realized she was absolutely correct. This is typical behavior.

One thing's for certain, I'll never get that 15 minutes of my life back that I spent reading your crappy paper.

Rudy Allen
Brandon

Overhaul Health Care
Our present health-care system is in dire need of an overhaul. Health-care costs and insurance premiums are rising much faster than household incomes. The recent Clarion-Ledger coverage of Mississippi's median income (Nov. 3, 2008) highlights the mounting economic concerns of many in this state. An inevitable result of those concerns is the growing numbers of citizens who are forced to skip or delay needed care to keep food on the table or pay mortgages. As a cardiovascular researcher, educator of future health-care providers and volunteer for the American Heart Association, I know all too well the importance of having quality health care.

Only comprehensive health-care reform will provide all Mississippi residents with the high-quality, affordable coverage we need and deserve. The American Heart Association notes that in order to reinvent health care, prevention is key. We can reduce the burden of heart disease, stroke and other chronic illnesses with plans that include coverage for preventive benefits to help us monitor risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and lack of physical activity.

Our incoming president and local officials need to consider the challenges facing heart-disease and stroke patients as we struggle to find quality, affordable care. They, and those who elect them, have the power to change the system into one that helps prevent disease as well as treat it.

Robin Rockhold, Ph.D.
Canton
For more information visit American Heart Association

Ax the Electoral College
This election cycle, American voters in more than two-thirds of our nation are again ignored while intense big-name personalities plead to a few states for their votes. Why aren't "big guns" coming anywhere even near Mississippi for presidential political rallies? I hate the electoral college and want it changed. The National Popular Vote Bill would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states. I encourage your readers/elected representatives to support nationalpopularvote.com. At least 1,181 state legislators currently endorse the bill. Let's ax the Electoral College and force candidates to court the popular vote. That way they must spend time and money for the big numbers and the Jackson area would have rallies we could attend.

Mrs. Kelly Jacobs
Hernando

Previous Comments

ID

140654

Comment

What more can anyone expect from stankin' Rankin county. The paper isn't racist, southern and backward enough for him. He was likely born about 100 years too late.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-13T13:32:24-06:00

ID

140655

Comment

What about the fifteen minutes Rudy spent writing the letter? Can he get those back? Because I wouldn't mind if he got those back. Seriously.

Author

Lori G

Date

2008-11-13T13:35:26-06:00

ID

140659

Comment

The best part is that Mr. Allen thinks that viewpoints other than his don't have the right to exist. Attitudes like this is why Mississippi has long lost many of its best and brightest. The letter was hilarious—the office was in stitches—but I do feel sorry for him.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-13T14:23:50-06:00

ID

140660

Comment

For someone like Rudy Allen who hates the JFP, he sure did care enough to write a letter. I think we're working on him.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-11-13T14:31:01-06:00

ID

140662

Comment

Rudy is in deep thought about seeing his southern fortress or way of life come tumbling down. He no doubt longs for the time granddaddy and daddy enjoyed. I hope he joins us on the happy and diverse train to true freedom and away from the shackles holding him backs, and not the boys recruiting from Slidell, LA., becuase once the initiation process starts they don't allow any turning back. Thes guys need some new ammmunition bad. No one is buying that bias media crap any more. Nor is anyone buying the demonization of liberals anymore for our eyes have seen the dastardly works of the all to common republican and conservative predator.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-13T14:49:13-06:00

ID

140671

Comment

Buying media bias? I was sure it was given away at no charge. I have read more than once from Ms. Ladd's own keyboard that the staff at the JFP doesn't even pretend objectivity. While it is refreshing to hear the truth every so often from those in the press. It does make one wonder if an objective source of news exists anywhere.

Author

WMartin

Date

2008-11-13T17:38:04-06:00

ID

140672

Comment

What bias? I don't see any.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-13T17:47:25-06:00

ID

140674

Comment

There's no such thing as an objective source of news. Period.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-11-13T17:55:21-06:00

ID

140676

Comment

What bias? I don't see any. Yea Walt, this from the guy who thinks the only two choices are be a liberal or join the Klan... lol.

Author

WMartin

Date

2008-11-13T18:26:29-06:00

ID

140677

Comment

You're right, Tom. Any journalist or news outlet that claims to be "objective" is lying. We are biased toward the truth and real facts, and we don't split the truth into two fake "sides" to pretend we're objective. We report the truth and let the chips fall where they may. Ask all the *Democrats* I've pissed off over the years.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-13T18:28:08-06:00

ID

140679

Comment

Speak for yourself, WMartin. Surely, you know I wouldn't let you speak for me. I'm more complicated than you'd ever imagine. You been reading too much of your own posts or associates' views. I'm a complicated man who no one understands but his woman, John Shaft.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-11-13T18:31:13-06:00

ID

140680

Comment

"There's no such thing as an objective source of news. Period." Perhaps in today's climate yes -- i have heard a couple news pieces about news moving to the internet and how that fractures the sources of that news and thus allows people to often read things that they only agree with. I worry about this trend and I think that it is perhaps one of the reasons this country is becoming more and more fractured. Reading only things one agrees with tends to limit the scope of one's thinking. I pick up the JFP and I know it will be left leaning--exactly the point the writer of that letter was making. I watch Fox news knowing that it will be right leaning. For y'all or fox to pretend otherwise is just ludicrous. I listen to NPR when i want to hear the full story. The point is that we are all capable of reading things that we disagree with and should do so because it challenges our view points and broadens our thinking. I do mourn the loss of the line between news reporting and news commentating. I do think that a nearly objective view is possible when writers and editors are disciplined enough to be aware of their own bias and are able to attempt to correct for it -- NPR does a great job of being as objective as possible, though certainly reporter's view points do seep through sometimes. But they do do a great job of CLEARLY distinguishing between news and opinion. I mourn that the line has become so blurred that most people are not aware that there is a difference.

Author

djames

Date

2008-11-13T19:52:52-06:00

ID

140681

Comment

djames writes: "Perhaps in today's climate yes -- i have heard a couple news pieces about news moving to the internet and how that fractures the sources of that news and thus allows people to often read things that they only agree with." No, that's not what I mean. I mean there's no such thing as an objective source of news. Never has been, never will be. We're all affected by our limitations as observers. You heard the story about the blind monks and the elephant? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Men_and_an_Elephant It goes for news, too. Some stories are more based on vettable facts than others. Some stories are more obviously slanted than others. But no story is ever objective. The best we can do is call a story fair. And even then, we're making a subjective assessment based on our own observations. My experience has been that most mainstream news outlets have a discernible centrist bias--they don't want to offend anyone so they take a bias straight down the middle, which is also a bias. Fox News drifts right and the New York Times drifts left, but drifting to the center is no less biased. AAN papers tend to follow an old-school muckraking code of investigative journalism that is intrinsically left-leaning in most cases. This doesn't mean that AAN papers are more biased than conglomerate papers. It means that it's a different bias. And it doesn't mean that AAN papers lie more often than mainstream dailies; they may lie less often. They may also choose to pursue stories that the dailies don't pursue, and the decision to not pursue a story (or to pursue it) is, yes, a bias. Writing from the left is biased. Writing from the right is biased. Writing from the center is biased. Trying to appear biased is biased. Trying to appear unbiased is biased. Human existence is biased. Matter and the space we occupy in space time is itself an intrinsic bias. Life is a bias. Death is a bias. We can't escape biases. Even God, according to every major world religion, is biased. We can be ethical, tell the truth as best we can, try not to spin things or leave out facts in a misleading way. But we can't be objective. That's why we need a lot of news sources. Right now we don't have nearly enough, not even with the blogosphere.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-11-13T20:44:43-06:00

ID

140683

Comment

I understand your point. But i must protest a little bit -- BTW, this conversation has gotten considerably more philosophical than I first intended. Certainly there are some things that exist the way they exist despite who is looking at them. These are the facts, and despite how relatively we look at the world, certain things must exist outside observation. Bias is created because things appear differently to different people. Based on our prior experiences and our genetics and our methods of thinking, the way we experience the world is different. Thus bias exists because the way that we all interpret events has to be put in the context of who we are. But facts are facts -- data is data. It is in the interpretation of data and -- is often the case with news organization-- in which data to present and which data to hold back that bias comes into play. I would much rather see the raw data and draw my own conclusions rather than read someone else's interpretation of that data. In other words, despite how many blind men touch the elephant, it is still an elephant.

Author

djames

Date

2008-11-13T22:27:27-06:00

ID

140684

Comment

For y'all or fox to pretend otherwise is just ludicrous. I'm certainly not pretending otherwise. The JFP is a progressive newspaper. But, within that, we tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may. (Ask those pissed-off Democrats.) What I don't agree with is a left-right spectrum, but that's a different topic. The right defines the left and vice versa, and that's not very useful to anyone. NPR is not objective, but in general it's good journalism with a whole lot of commentary. A journalist cannot be objective because we pick and choose what goes in our stories. That part is subjective. And NPR doesn't go around calling itself "objective"; never trust anyone who does. We can strive to be fair, however, and give people a chance to respond to the facts we present if they will. Fake objectivity tends to give shortshrift to the fakes and too much weight to the excuses. That's a huge danger to our democracy. The key is devotion to investigative reporting with a whole lot less obsession with where one partisan or another thinks you sit on a fake left-right spectrum.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-11-13T23:25:25-06:00

ID

140685

Comment

The only bias-free news source is apophatic nothingness. Of course, by asserting this I am also asserting a bias. But then I never claimed to be a living embodiment of apophatic nothingness, did I? ;o)

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-11-13T23:31:34-06:00