Gallup: Little Confidence in Newspapers, TV News

Back in April we witnessed the media during one of its worst times when, right after the Boston Marathon bombings, we saw headlines on April 17 like, “Official: Suspect in Custody in Boston Bombings” and “Suspect Nabbed in Boston Marathon Bombing.”

Neither headline was true. In the rush to be first, they failed in one major area: Being accurate. The suspect was actually “nabbed” two days later.

Now we find a new poll from Gallup telling us “Americans’ confidence in newspapers fell slightly to 23% this year.” Confidence peaked for newspapers back in 1979 at 51%.

If you believe in television news, guess what – the confidence in television news is also sitting at 23%. It peaked at 46% back in 1993, according to Gallup.

So, as Gallup puts it, “Fewer than one in four Americans confident in newspapers, TV news.”

Ouch.  Continue reading →

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Cheney Speaks…

Former Vice President Dick Cheney appeared on Fox News Sunday yesterday (15 months after his heart transplant) and it was a pretty interesting interview conducted by Chris Wallace. You can read the transcript HERE or watch the interview HERE.

Before he was Vice President, he was the Secretary of Defense when I served in the military. Many people either love him or hate him, but I have always respected his opinion and his leadership. Sadly, Dick Cheney would be a little too moderate for the far-right fringe people who have taken over the Republican Party.

Cheney was asked his opinion about Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old contractor who reportedly released details about National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programs. Cheney said, “I think he’s a traitor. I think he has committed crimes in effect by violating agreements given the position he had.”

He also said he was worried that he may have more information to disclose that would harm America.  Continue reading →

The Sunday Message

I’m already there
Take a look around
I’m the sunshine in your hair
I’m the shadow on the ground
I’m the whisper in the wind
I’m your imaginary friend
And I know I’m in your prayers
Oh I’m already there

-“I’m Already There” by Lonestar

Happy Father’s Day 2013!

A special thank you goes to those fathers who can’t be with their children today because they are standing watch and protecting us. God bless you.

Hey fathers – this is YOUR day. Congratulations. The late Jim Valvano once said, “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”

Amen to that.

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Caught My Eye…

Welcome to Friday and to Flag Day 2013!

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Today is also a big milestone here at The Western Word – it’s the 150th “Caught My Eye!”

If you are a first-time visitor, this is my weekly column where I take a quick look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week. Often I throw in some sarcasm and poke fun at people just to make you smile.

Today I write about Sen. Tester betting the farm, keeping the ICBMs warm, looking for Shannon, School bus drivers, Barry Beach, Rep. Trent Franks, Sen. McCaskill gets tough, Palin and FOX News, internships, the U.S. Army, Making Montana Proud, father’s day cards, and much more!

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Thursday Numbers…

Thanks for stopping by The Western Word for this week’s edition of “Thursday Numbers!”

If you are a new visitor, this column is where I take a look at the numbers that are in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary (sometimes laced with just a little sarcasm).

DISCLAIMER: By reading this column you may be able to use the information to impress your family, friends, and co-workers. Consider this your warning.

This week I write about the “Cruise” music video, Twitter followers of CBS, unemployment, deaths in Syria, Stapleton’s goal, the Freemen standoff, an American Flag, arrested in Chicago, my Spotify playlist, the 406 area code, Top 25 Shows, Thursday Numbers milestone, partisan gridlock, Spurs/Heat, Miss Montana, VA in Montana, confidence in Congress, Internet sales tax, school levy, and much more so read on!

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$1.01 a Month

While I was reading my Great Falls Tribune early Tuesday morning, out fell a couple pieces of propaganda from the Pro and Con forces regarding the upcoming vote on the Great Falls Public Schools levy. The election is June 25. The ballots were mailed this week, and I received mine Tuesday afternoon.

Basically, to me, it all boils down to this: Do you support public education or not? It really is that simple.

Let’s take a closer look at the flyers and the views from the pro and con forces!

What I took from the anti-levy group’s glossy flyer was that if you are highly-educated and make a decent salary from your public schools occupation, you can get your name plastered on a flyer from people who look down upon you for being successful. To the folks who had their names listed in the flyer, congratulations for being successful in life.

Citizens1Citizens2

The anti-levy folks also throw in some conspiracy ideas and other items that have no reason to be tied to a school levy vote. Their flyer contained way too much information and probably found a trash can quickly in most households. It reminded me of something I would receive from a dark money group. The cost of creating the flyer, printing it, and distributing it was probably more than it would cost the anti-levy folks to actually support the levy.

On the flyer they stated, “For more information, go to conservativenewsmt.com.” So I did. At that website, I was informed I needed to go to gfteapartypatriots.com/local which is a Tea Party website.

Wonderful – and here I thought Tea Parties were for little girls and their imaginary friends…

The pro-levy folks had a pretty informative flyer that was easily readable and contained enough information that readers did not feel they needed to take a seat and grab a cup of coffee before reading it. The website listed on the flyer contained about all the information and answered many of the questions I had, such as how does Great Falls compare to other AA school districts in Montana on spending per student? The answer is “Great Falls spends the lowest per student of all AA districts,” plus Great Falls “students are challenged by poverty more than other AA districts” which I did not know.

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According to the levy supporters it will cost you about a dollar and a penny per month on a home with taxable value of $100,000. Their website dispels many of the arguments from the anti-levy folks, so if you have any questions, go HERE. Continue reading →

Losing Jets and Jobs

A few days ago the Great Falls Tribune published a story titled, “Mission change progresses for Montana Air National Guard” (MANG) in which we learned that the F-15 Eagle jets at the Montana Air National Guard are on schedule to leave Montana this summer, and C-130 cargo planes are due to arrive later in the year, possibly in the October – December timeframe.

In other words, it looks like the MANG will be without any planes for at least a few months. Montana military supporters should be nervous as we play the bureaucratic waiting game, possibly waiting for the leftovers from the Department of Defense.

When this is all completed, apparently this will be the first time the MANG will be without some variation of a Fighter jet since 1947. 1947 was the first year of Meet the Press and Howdy Doody (which to some is probably the same thing).

So, Montana is losing their J-E-T-S. Jets, jets, JETS! They are supposedly being replaced with cargo planes. Some people I’ve visited with about the loss of jets and the gain of cargo planes look like they have that gagging feeling in their throats when they say, “C-130.”   Continue reading →