Post Links From Fox News that Don't Show Too Much Bias

[RBS]

Maybe you can find a couple.

Well, maybe this doesn't qualify, but here's the very first headline story on the website right now:



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144479,00.html

Saturn Pictures Show Orange Surface

Saturday, January 15, 2005 PHOTOS Click image to enlarge STORIES • First Images of Saturn's Moon Displayed • NASA Launches Comet-Busting Spaceship • Spacemen Lost Weight Due to Food Rationing • Russia: No More Free Rides for Astronauts • Cargo Ship Docks at Space Station • Probe Headed to Saturn's Moon • Craft Launches Probe to Explore Saturn's Moon DARMSTADT, Germany — New, refined pictures from Saturn's moon Titan (search) released Saturday show a pale orange surface covered by a thin haze of methane and what appears to be a methane sea complete with islands and a mist-shrouded coastline. Space officials worked through the night to sharpen the new photos taken by the space probe Huygens (search), which snapped the images Friday as it plunged through Titan's atmosphere before landing by parachute on the surface. Many scientists at the European Space Agency (search) center in Darmstadt, Germany, looked tired from their overnight work but were still clearly elated about the successful arrival of data from Huygens the day before — a major triumph for the European space program. "The instruments performed brilliantly," said John Zarnecki, in charge of the surface instruments. "We can't find a single missing data frame. The link and the quality of the data was absolutely superb." Officials played back sound gathered from Huygens' microphone at the surface — a whooshing noise they did not identify. But the center of attention was the pictures. One shot taken from an altitude of 10 miles showed dark lines that suggested stream beds carved by liquid flowing into a dark area suspected to be a sea of liquid methane — with light areas in the dark that could be islands. "It is almost impossible to resist speculating that the flat dark material is some kind of drainage channel, that we are seeing some kind of a shoreline," said scientist Marty Tomasko from the University of Arizona, head of the camera team. "We still don't know if it has liquid in it." Titan's notorious haze — which has kept astronomers from getting a better picture through telescopes — is obvious in the two refined images shown Saturday. An image taken on the surface shows chunks of what scientists say looks like water ice scattered over an orange surface overcast by methane haze. On Friday, the chunks were described as boulder-sized, but overnight examination showed they are much smaller and simply look big because they are close to Huygens' camera. Deep shadows and depressions around the chunks suggest they could have been surrounded by liquid at one time, scientists said. Titan is the only moon in the solar system known to have a significant atmosphere. Rich in nitrogen and containing about 6 percent methane, its atmosphere is believed to be 11/2 times thicker than Earth's. Shushiel Atreya, part of the group studying the atmosphere, said the instruments revealed "a dense cloud or thick haze approximately 11-12 miles from the surface." "Presumably there is a reservoir of methane on the surface," Atreya said. The surface itself appears to be "material which might have a thin crust followed by a region of relative uniform consistency," Zarnecki said. "The closest analogues are wet sand or clay." The $3.3 billion Cassini-Huygens mission to explore Saturn and its moons was launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in a joint effort by NASA, the ESA and the Italian space agency. Huygens was spun off from the Cassini mother ship Dec. 24. Titan is the first moon other than the Earth's to be explored. Scientists believe its atmosphere is similar to that of early Earth's and studying it could provide clues to how life arose on our planet. The heart of Huygens' mission was its 21/2-hour parachute descent, during which it also sampled the atmosphere and deployed a microphone to gather sounds. Scientists want to know whether Titan has lightning and if it has the seas of liquid methane and ethane that have been theorized. Both ethane and methane are gases on Earth, but are believed to exist in liquid form on Titan because of high pressure and extreme temperatures of minus 292. After entry into Titan's atmosphere, Huygens shed its wok-shaped heat shield and deployed a series of parachutes. The data were transmitted back to Cassini, which relayed them to Earth. Titan's images came streaking across the cosmos Friday, and scientists grew increasingly ecstatic with the scenes from the probe, named after Titan's discoverer, the 17th-century Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens. "I think all of us continue to be amazed as we watch our solar system unveil," NASA science administrator Alphonso Diaz said Friday as the extraordinary images were displayed on screens at mission control in Darmstadt. "It challenges all our preconceptions that all these planets are static places."

Here's the second, perhaps more along the lines of what you were looking for:


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144477,00.html

Abbas Sworn In

Saturday, January 15, 2005 PHOTOS Click image to enlarge STORIES BACKGROUND • Sharon Cuts Contact With Abbas • Five Israelis Killed in Gaza Homicide Attack • Abbas Eager to Resume Peace Talks • Israel Asks Russia Not to Sell Syria Missiles • Sharon Gov't Survives Test; Clashes Kill 6 • Sharon Calls Abbas to Congratulate Him • Pro-Pullout Gov't OK'd in Israel RAMALLAH, West Bank — Mahmoud Abbas (search) was sworn in as Palestinian Authority president on Saturday and started his job facing two crises: Israel cut contacts with him until he reins in militants and two top election officials resigned amid allegations of irregularities in the vote that brought Abbas to power. In the Gaza Strip, six Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire in two separate incidents Saturday, two days after Palestinian militants killed six Israeli civilians at a Gaza cargo crossing. The renewed violence dampened expectations — fanned by the election victory of the moderate Abbas — that the two sides could break out of their deadlock after more than four years of fighting. In his inaugural speech in Ramallah, Abbas said he extends his hand in peace to Israel, called for a cease-fire and said he was committed to the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. However, he made no direct mention of how he would deal with the militants — the most pressing item on his agenda. Abbas said only that he would enforce the rule of law and "deepen the dialogue" with various Palestinian factions, an apparent reference to his attempt to negotiate a cease-fire with militants. Abbas did not refer to Israel's decision to suspend contacts until he takes action against the armed groups. Israel announced the boycott Friday, in response to the attack on the Gaza crossing, with one Israeli official saying the gunmen had apparently set out from a Palestinian Authority base. Israeli officials welcomed Abbas' call to end violence but said he must now translate that into action. Abbas struck a largely conciliatory tone Saturday, saying Israelis and Palestinians are "destined to live side by side and to share this land." He condemned all violence, including the Gaza attack. He called on Israel to halt military operations, including targeted killings of wanted Palestinians. "We are seeking a mutual cease-fire to end this cycle of violence," he said. He said the Palestinians are ready to meet their obligations spelled out in the road map, and that Israel must do the same, including halting Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza. However, the road map also calls on the Palestinians to disarm militants, a step Abbas is unwilling to take. He has said he would try to persuade, but not coerce, the armed groups to halt attacks. After the Gaza crossing attack, Israel warned that Abbas is quickly running out of time. Abbas, meanwhile, suffered another blow when two top election officials resigned Saturday over allegations of voting irregularities in the Jan. 9 presidential vote that brought Abbas to power. The officials, Ammar Dwaik and Baha al-Bakri, said they had been pressured by Abbas' campaign on election day to abruptly change voting procedures. "These pressures and threats lessened the degree of the integrity of the election, even though overall it was free and fair," said Dwaik, the deputy chairman of the commission. In new violence Saturday, six Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire. Near the Gaza-Egypt border, an Israeli tank fired shells and machine guns, killing two Palestinians and wounding 10. Among the injured were four children under the age of 16, two of them in critical condition, hospital officials said. The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear. In Gaza City, Israeli troops moved into a neighborhood to stop what the army said was Palestinian rocket fire on the nearby Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, witnesses said. The army said troops shot at militants who fired anti-tank rockets. Militant groups sent mixed messages in reaction to Abbas' speech, saying they reserve the right to continue attacks, but also that they believe they can reach a deal with the new Palestinian leader. Members of militant groups have suggested that a truce is possible if Israel guarantees it will halt military operations. "Regarding the issue of resistance, it will continue until the Israeli attacks come to an end and its army gets off our land," said a spokesman for the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group with ties to Abbas' Fatah movement. The spokesman only gave his name as Abu Mohammed. Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said Abbas offered an olive branch to the Israelis. "I hope they will have listened carefully and they will reconsider their position and come back to the negotiating table," Erekat told reporters in Ramallah. The Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, praised Abbas' call to end violence. "But of course Israel waits for that statement to be implemented as policy," Regev said. "We understand that he can't do everything on day one, but we hope he will start." Dwaik and al-Bakri, the election officials, said they hoped their resignation would serve as a warning that such irregularities could easily be repeated in legislative elections in July. The officials said they did not believe the change in voting procedures significantly altered the outcome of the vote. Abbas won 62.3 percent of the votes. During the presidential election, polls were to have stayed open for 12 hours, until 7 p.m. However, several hours after polls opened, turnout was relatively light, a cause of concern for Abbas, who was the front-runner but needed a decisive victory to win a mandate for peace talks with Israel. During the meeting of the Central Election Commission that day, shots were fired at the panel's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Election officials said at least one of the gunmen was a member of the Palestinian intelligence service. In the end, the commission decided to extend voting by two hours and to allow voters to cast their ballots in any location, not only in their hometowns. The change enabled thousands of members of the security forces, most of them Abbas supporters, to cast ballots near their posts, rather than traveling to their hometowns. "I was personally threatened and pressured," Dwaik said. "I am therefore announcing my resignation publicly, so that everyone knows that in the upcoming legislative election, this could happen again.

[RBS]

You win a prize, Scott!

For both stories, or just the first one?

How about this one on Michael Moore?:



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144489,00.html

High School Rejects Moore from Hall of Fame

Saturday, January 15, 2005 PHOTOS Click image to enlarge STORIES • Moore Controversy at People's Choice Awards • Breakouts Top People's Choice Awards • Young Buck Charged in Vibe Awards Stabbing • 'San Andreas' Hijacks Gaming Awards • Usher Dominates the Billboard Awards • 'Joan,' 'Raymond' Win Family TV Awards • Kanye West, Lil John Top Source Awards DAVISON, Mich. — Oscar on the shelf or not, Michael Moore (search) is not getting much respect at his old high school. Despite his fame and many honors, the filmmaker has been rejected all four times that he has been nominated for Davison High School's Hall of Fame. "Would you want him as a role model? Would you want your son or daughter to be like him?" asked Don Hammond, a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee. "I haven't talked to anybody yet who's for him. The word to describe Michael Moore is embarrassing. He embarrasses everybody." Ryan Eashoo disagrees. The 1997 Davison High (search) graduate has spent 80 hours in the last two weeks and $600 of his own money trying to get Moore elected. "We've been blacklisted," Eashoo, 25, told the Detroit Free Press. "I'm a huge Michael Moore fan. He's a great producer, great filmmaker, always sticking up for minorities. He's kind of an underdog." So far, Eashoo has 300 signed nominations of Moore. His goal is 2,000 by Feb. 1. The committee meets Feb. 11 to choose its inductees. Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" (search) attacked President Bush's rationale for the war in Iraq and accused him and his administration of fostering fear for political gain. Moore spent the weeks before the election traveling across the country to urge Americans to vote Bush out of office.

Uh-oh, this one may get the fire started, RBS:


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144355,00.html

Court Rejects Challenge to Inaugural Prayer

Saturday, January 15, 2005 PHOTOS Click image to enlarge STORIES LINKS • Inauguration Prayer Ban Decision Expected Friday • Gov't Fights Atheist Suit Banning Inauguration Prayer • Atheist Challenges Pledge Again • House OKs Bill Limiting Pledge Rulings • Atheist: Pledge Decision Hurts Parental Rights • House Condemns Pledge Ruling • Federal Court Lets Pledge Ban Stand WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday rejected a challenge brought by atheist Michael Newdow (search) to stop the invocation prayer at President Bush's second inauguration. On Thursday, Newdow told U.S. District Judge John Bates that having a minister invoke God in the Jan. 20 ceremony would violate the Constitution by forcing him to accept unwanted religious beliefs. But one day later, Bates ruled that Newdow wouldn't get far in his legal challenge and noted the absence of a "clearly established violation of the Establishment Clause." Click here to read the Memorandum Opinion in Newdow v. Bush (FindLaw pdf). "Moreover," the judge said in the ruling, "the balance of harms here, and particularly the public interest, does not weigh strongly in favor of the injunctive relief Newdow requests, which would require the unprecedented step of an injunction against the president." The government had asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (search) to dismiss the current lawsuit, saying the invocation had been widely accepted for more than 200 years old. The court on Friday said it doesn't have the power to order the president not to speak at his own inauguration and the act of ordering the president not to permit an invocation and benediction — which Newdow sought — would be one and the same. Newdow argued he would be harmed as someone attending the inauguration by being forced to listen to sectarian and specifically, Christian, prayer. The court said that harm is simply too small to warrant its involvement in the matter. Also, the court said Newdow really doesn't have the legal standing to make this request since he sued over inauguration prayers in 2001 and lost that case in two federal courts. Appearing on FOX News' "Hannity & Colmes" late Friday, Newdow continued to trumpet his cause. He said that reciting prayers at the inauguration violates the rights of atheists because it undermines equality. "How can you say it's equal to say to some people that they have to listen to other people espouse religious dogma in the name of the government?" he said. After his first inaugural legal attempt, Newdow became famous in 2002 for his unsuccessful attempt to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. Two ministers delivered Christian invocations at Bush's inaugural ceremony in 2001, and plans call for a minister to do the same before Bush takes the oath of office again next week. In court this week, Newdow argued that the prayers violate the constitutional ban on the establishment of religion. "I am going to be standing there having this imposed on me," Newdow told the court by phone on Thursday. "They will be telling me I'm an outsider at that particular moment." Newdow also argued that taxpayer-financed inaugural ceremonies cannot be a platform for "the coercive imposition of religious dogma," adding that the president intended to "use the machinery of the state to advocate his religious beliefs." Bates questioned both sides vigorously at Thursday's two-hour hearing, but said he doubted a court could order the president not to include a prayer when he takes the oath of office. "Is it really in the public interest for the federal courts to step in and enjoin prayer at the president's inauguration?" Bates asked. Bates also questioned whether the lawsuit should be thrown out because the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (search) ruled last year that Newdow did not suffer "a sufficiently concrete and specific injury" when he opposed prayers from being recited at Bush's first inauguration. Newdow said his case is different this time because he actually has a ticket to attend the inauguration. He said being there live is different than four years ago, when he planned to watch the ceremony on television. Justice Department lawyer Edward White scoffed at that claim, saying the issues in the two cases are the same and that Newdow still has not shown how he would be injured by hearing the prayer. In an interview published in Wednesday's Washington Times, Bush, who converted from Episcopalianism to Methodism and prays daily, tried to dispel perceptions that he is advocating his beliefs or imposing them on anyone. "I think people attack me because they are fearful that I will then say that you're not equally as patriotic if you're not a religious person. I've never said that. I've never acted like that," he said. Inaugural references to God date back to George Washington's inauguration in 1789. Christian prayers within the ceremony began with Franklin Delano Roosevelt's second inauguration in 1937. Government attorneys defending the continued use of prayer said in court papers that "there is no reason to reverse course and abandon a widely accepted, noncontroversial aspect of the inaugural ceremony." In court Thursday, they added that Supreme Court precedent allows state legislatures and Congress to open each workday with prayer. Newdow countered that legislative sessions are quite different from taxpayer-financed public ceremonies. A large part of next week's inaugural ceremonies is being paid for with private donations, though the federal government is picking up the tab for construction of the viewing stands and security. In 2002, the 9th Circuit ruled in Newdow's favor concerning the "under God" phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance. It agreed that the phrase, added to the Pledge in 1954, was an unconstitutional blending of church and state. In June 2004, however, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision on a technicality, essentially sidestepping the core issue. It said Newdow could not lawfully sue on behalf of his elementary school-aged daughter because he did not have custody of the girl and because the girl's mother objected to the suit. Newdow re-filed the Pledge suit in Sacramento federal court earlier this month, naming eight other plaintiffs who are custodial parents or the children themselves. FOX News' Major Garrett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Anything yet?

How about this one?:


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144488,00.html

Bush: Social Security To Go Bankrupt

Saturday, January 15, 2005 STORIES BACKGROUND • Transcript: President's Radio Address • Bush Pressures Congress on Social Security • Bush Promotes Social Security Revamp • Bush Vows to Step Up Social Security Reform Push • Dreier Calls for New Social Security Cards • Bush Aide Calls for Social Security Reform • Bush Expected to Unveil Social Security Plan • GOP Vows Big Changes at New Congress WASHINGTON — President Bush (search) said Saturday that Social Security "is on the road to bankruptcy" and will be unable to pay promised benefits to future generations, raising the stakes in a major political battle with Democrats. Bush used his weekly radio address to try to build support for his plan to allow workers to divert part of their Social Security (search) payroll taxes into private investment accounts. Democrats accuse him of exaggerating the problem to sell a plan that would scale back Social Security. Bush said the cost of fixing the system grows larger each year, and he quoted Social Security trustees as saying that waiting just one year would add $600 billion to the price of a solution. "If we do not act now, government will eventually be left with two choices: dramatically reduce benefits or impose a massive economically ruinous tax increase," the president said. "Leaving our children with such a mess would be a generational betrayal." According to experts, in the year 2018 Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes. In 2042, it will be able to cover only about 73 percent of benefits owed, unless changes are made. Democrats countered Bush's arguments in their address an hour later. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (search) of Michigan said her party is waiting for a detailed proposal from Bush. But she said one White House memo suggests he wants to cut benefits for future workers by up to 45 percent. "The benefit cuts would apply to all seniors — even those who choose not to invest in privatized accounts," Stabenow contended. Social Security does face long-term challenges, she said, but private investment isn't the answer. "America's insurance policy was never meant to be a privatized 401(k)plan or a high-risk investment," she said. "It was meant to be the secure foundation for your retirement." Stabenow said Congress should promote savings by individuals to supplement Social Security. "Too few Americans are saving for their future, and we must address that," she said. Bush said the system is sound for people nearing retirement and current retirees. "But for younger workers, Social Security is on the road to bankruptcy. And if we do not fix it now, the system will not be able to pay the benefits promised to our children and grandchildren," he added. Bush said earlier this week he wants Congress to approve major changes before the end of May, but he has not offered any details of his plan for private investment accounts. Democrats say the model most often described would cost more than $2 trillion over the first decade alone and hasten the program's fiscal problems. The White House is considering letting workers divert up to two-thirds of the 6.2 percent paid in payroll taxes into investment accounts, up to perhaps $1,000 to $1,300 a year, administration officials have said. Bush said a child born now could expect less than a 2 percent return after inflation on the money they pay into Social Security. "A conservative mix of bonds and stocks would over time produce a larger return," he said. Democrats disagreed. "Rather than averting the so-called 'crisis' it decries, the administration's plan will create a crisis where currently only a challenge exists," said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., added: "The kind of plan the president supports only achieves solvency for Social Security through massive cuts in guaranteed benefits. Private accounts actually weaken the solvency of the program." In remarks Friday to members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Joshua Bolten, the president's budget chief, said the 70-year-old program has failed to change with the times. The number of workers paying Social Security taxes has shrunk compared to the number of retirees whose benefits they are supporting, yet more than 20 tax increases in recent decades have not fixed the imbalance, he said. "All these tax increases did was push those problems out to be solved another day," Bolten said. "That day has arrived."

I feel like I'm really letting you down, RBS.

I'll stop there for now so that you, thelil, Goodz, Beefy, whoever can browse these articles and point out their obvious bias.

[RBS]

My thread title was tongue-in-cheek, Scott. Just like your posts.

Booyakashah!

Good answer.

[Rob C]

Scott, four of the five stories you pasted are AP stories that happen to be carried on foxnews.com. Just sayin'.

Originally Posted by Rob C

Scott, four of the five stories you pasted are AP stories that happen to be carried on foxnews.com. Just sayin'.

Very good, Rob. But what are you saying? The AP is biased.

Those are the stories you find on Fox News' website.

Now, please explain the bias to me again.

Hell, for that matter, just point out how biased the Fox News story above is.

I'll post more links and stories here as the new week progresses. And maybe thelil will put his money where his mouth is and take up my challenge in another thread.

I'll even throw in another twist to this thread. If there is anything story in particular that you want to see the Fox News "version" of, just let me know.

[Rob C]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

Very good, Rob. But what are you saying? The AP is biased.

Those are the stories you find on Fox News' website.

If the AP is biased, why were you giving those AP stories as examples of unbiased stories? I'm confused. Yes, you find these on Fox's site. You also find AP in the NY Times, and pretty much every other news outlet. My point is, those aren't "Fox" stories.

But whatever, media bias is something that can't be proved one way or the other because it's always in the eye of the beholder, so who cares.