Shooting fish in a pork barrel

Everyone should recognize the biases of different organizations. I think both Civitas and BlueNC are pretty clear about their agendas. Everyone should have an eyes open approach to material they produce on account of this.

Now if we could just get Ryan to lay out the biases of this blog's sponsor we would be able to approach the material here with the appropriate scepticism.

Being a veteran of flame wars from too many unproductive discussions at Ed Cone's blog, I should have known better than to engage. For future reference, this response should suffice.

Cheers!

Lying about people now gets them angry enough to respond. What a shocking development you have stumbled upon.

Judging from the howling I have obviously struck a nerve.

This is laughable. Go back and re-read what I said Lance. Anglico isn't just another rich white man. He is a very rich white man (monied elite of Chapel Hill) who, just like Art Pope, uses his money to influence and manufacture opinions (i.e. "framing") for public consumption. Sorry the truth hurts but I can assure you I am not angry. Nice try at "framing" though.

I wonder. Would you be considered the equivalent of the Stage Manager? The parallels are striking.

Interesting. I don't recall ever saying that BlueNC was non-partisan. That's just plain silly.

I did say - again and again - that Kirk Ross is a professional journalist who was invited to have front-page privileges at BlueNC. That is a matter of fact. But perhaps you can't tell the difference between a person and a website, which could explain some of the challenges you're having out here on the Tubes. That's okay, though, don't worry. It does take some gettin' used to. :)

By the way, I'm hosting a fundraiser for Larry Kissell at my "lakeside estate" (heh, I love that!) on June 10th. Hope you can come!

James

PS Thanks for all the plugs. As a little ol' start-up website, BlueNC needs all the publicity it can get. And since we don't (1) enjoy tax-exempt status like our friends on the Dark Side, and (2) don't get our "reports" published like clockwork by the News and Observer, we really do need to pinch our pennies and hustle day-in and day-out. So really, thanks, Bubba!

James' financial contributions to BlueNC are in the very low three digits, and they roughly equal mine. So if Protzman is BlueNC's Art Pope, who am I? And do you really think there's no practical difference between a few hundred bucks a year and a few hundred thousand a month?

Or maybe you mean that BlueNC is a front for James' political views in much the same way that Pope's organizations are fronts for Art's? That's very much like saying that the N&O opinion page is a front for the N&O's editors. If there's no pretense, there's no front. Contrast that to Pope's mouthpieces.

And what's with the request for our combined income? Do you mean the income from BlueNC? None of the owners of BlueNC LLC have received any distributions, so that would be, on a personal level, zero. Or are you referring to our non-BlueNC income? If so, why?

HH, you managed to pack a number of really ridiculous statements into just a few sentences. You either (i) have no idea what you're talking about, (ii) have no idea what "modus operandi" means, or (iii) (and I suspect this is the case) know that what you're saying is nonsense and what MO means and you're just out to make a personal attack. James is so up front with his personal beliefs that it strikes me as almost unbelievably lazy or in terribly bad faith to base your attack on falsehood and innuendo. Truly - is there nothing that James has actually said or done that will serve as a basis for your anger?

Why do our incomes matter? For the record, I'm a stay at home mom and I have yet to draw a paycheck. I write as The Southern Dem on BlueNC and am part of the front page team. How would my lack of income have anything to do with BlueNC's operating budget?

Darn, A, $50/month? I guess that new server isn't free, huh?

dammit, where is my $50,000 a year for writing on BlueNC? Oh, wait. That's right, no one there gets paid to lie, they just write the truth for free. Day, night. Right, wrong.

Nobody argued that BlueNC is non-partisan. BlueNC threshes the grains of what passes for truth in the political aisles of Variety Stores to separate the chaff being purveyed as edible fodder.

gregflynn

You don't know how thrilled I am to read your wonderful words.

Truth be told, I spent my formative years, lo these many decades ago, as an idealistic young man working hard, I mean working really, really hard, so that one bright and shining day in the not-too-distant future I could grow up, and maybe, just maybe, with a little bit of luck and some help from Above, I would follow in the glorious footsteps of the Puppetmaster and his Daddy. You've given me hope, for the first time in a long time, that I may soon achieve my childhood dreams. Bless your heart. You are a good soul.

Anglico, nice try. Now how about providing folks with your annual combined income? Ooops! :-)

BlueNC is a Protzman front like Civitas is a Pope front. The political philosophy may be different, the modus operandi is effectively the same.

Oh really? Anglico argued that BlueNC was non-partisan when Kirk Ross was denied access to the press box at the NC legislature. Now its proud of its partisan nature? You guys do exactly what you accuse Art Pope of doing.

Wealthy individual. Yes. That would be your dear Anglico. You know, the one who hosts those ritzy fund raisers at his lakeside estate in Chapel Hill for the likes of Mike Easley, John Edwards, etc. Big time politicians and high profile Democrats know who to turn to in Orange County for money. Anglico needs to wake up and smell the humus in his backyard. While his political beliefs are different, he behaves no differently than his arch rival Art Pope. Proof? Go read any one of his numerous potty-mouthed rants posts on BlueNC.com or EdCone.com.

But back to the topic. Faux journalism is exactly what is going on at BlueNC and all of the Pope funded outlets. Pope uses "newspaper articles and actual scientific studies to assert facts, and give their opinions as opinions" also. So what? It is still biased drivel being passed off as "journalism". There is no denying this fact.

Thank goodness for grown-up journalists like those at the News and Observer who strive to provide honest and complete reporting.

BlueNC is funded by wealthy individuals? Thats news to me.

The individual writers of BlueNC use newspaper articles and actual scientific studies to assert facts, and give their opinions as opinions. Go forth and back up your assertions please.

edit- I should add that BlueNC is proud of its partisan nature, while Civitas is a supposedly nonpartisan organization.

Monthly operating budget of Art Pope's Puppetshow: $300,000+
Monthly operating budget of BlueNC: $50

Faux journalism is faux journalism. It is always biased and facts are always optional. It doesn't matter if it is the Civitas Institute or BlueNC, they both manufacture opinions for their respective wingnuts audience. Both are funded by wealthy zealots individuals with their own agenda ... none of which has anything to do with the "common good" which they both purport as their primary interest.

I highly recommend that you stop talking now. A quick glance through your April poll makes me wonder if your questions were written by Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh. Im having trouble figuring it out.

I hope that Civitas will go grab some credibility before attacking the News and Observer's.

Many, if not most, respondents are not following the budget battle that closely. You could easily run a poll that said the budget would help build museums, give counties Medicaid relief, etc., and get the exact opposite result.

North Carolinians may indeed dislike the temporary taxes, special projects and the budget itself, but this poll doesn't definitively prove that. 

For the record, here are the other two questions:

"Even though North Carolina will have a $1.1 billion budget surplus this year, the state House has continued $300 million in temporary taxes in order to increase spending over the $1.1 billion surplus. Do you approve or disapprove of this action?" Approve: 13, Disapprove: 70, Not Sure: 17

"Some people say the extra $300 million in taxes will be used to increase funding for education. Others say the budget already has provided for education and these funds will actually be used for the type of pork barrel projects described above. Which do you believe?" Approve: 22, Disapprove: 59, Not Sure: 19.

I like the newfound openness on pseudonyms, but who is Burwell Stark? 

The three questions were referenced, they just werent printed.

It isnt biased to mention the surplus. That isnt the problem here. The question doesnt ask what people believe the money will go towards. It tells them factually incorrect things and then says "is this good or bad".

"It's not fish in a pork barrel, my friend, its the fact that North Carolinians like neither pork nor "temporary" taxes"
How do you know what people in this state like or not?

And by the way, we don't say this: "it has a poll showing voters do not support the state budget." We say we have a poll that shows voters do not suppor the continuation of the temporary tax. Your lead is more than a little mendatious, itself, Ryan.

There were three related questions in this poll. Why not tell the whole story? That is: why is it 'biased' to mention a $1.1 billion surplus? Why is it biased to ask people what they believe the money will go towards? While the drag-racing museum has been dropped, have you seen all the other pork in the budget? It's not fish in a pork barrel, my friend, its the fact that North Carolinians like neither pork nor "temporary" taxes. -Max Borders (not burwellstark)

saying that poll is a little skewed is like saying the Pope is a little Catholic.

The N&O repeatedly relies on them. How can they be biased???

100% of those interviewed said Civitas is a right-wing partisan opinion-manufacturing organization that should have its non-profit status revoked.

Thanks and props to lefaim and biwilson for saving me some keystrokes.

Loaded questions. So why does the News and Observer keep publishing their slanted polling?

A skewed poll from Civitas??? Ive never seen that before, except of course for every poll they have ever done.