Gotta love the Brits
Exhibit A on why tabloids aren't so bad: ["Saddam in secret negotiations with US: newspaper"]. The only difference between American and British tabs is that the Brits often talk about political issues in the tabs while in the states, the tabs are obsessed with celebs. The Brits are obsessed with celebs too, but not like we are. Also, I would be remiss not mentioning that there are half naked young women in most Brit tabs, whereas in the states we have to make do with Britney and Madonna necking.

Hightower goes local
Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower has been getting his columns published locally of late. Here is one from the Metrowest Daily News: ["The children left behind"]. I also published one in The Winchester Star a few weeks ago. His new book, "Thieves in high places," is sitting on my coffee table waiting to be opened. Soon, I promise.

Media reform conference
There is a media reform conference planned for Nov. 7 to Nov. 9 in Madison, Wis.: ["The National Conference on Media Reform"]. It caught my eye since it was linked on CommonDreams.org so I checked out the site. Interestingly enough, there are a whole slew of guests and all of them are liberal Democrats, progressives, or socialists. Almost no conservatives or moderates have been asked to be involved in the conference. Why is this? Are there no conservatives who think there are problems with media concentration? I would contend there are conservatives worried about media concentration. Charlie Reese of the Orlando Sentinel, Nat Hentoff of the Village Voice, or Christopher Hitchens are just a few libertarian commentators who could have been invited for balance. There are conservative watchdog groups, although most believe that all reporters are liberals; whereas progressives believe the media is too corporate. In some ways, both are right. But without a balance in the guests invited to speak, this conference will do nothing to fix anything and will probably become a liberal bitch session. And again, more preaching to the converted.