The Southern Illinoian: Greenies, government, media bias ... where should I start?

Column in The Southern Illinoian by Jim Muir on Thursday, June 29, 2006.

Column Originally Posted here. The Southern Illinoian website: http://www.thesouthern.com/

Working with a decreased amount of space these days and with a lot still on my mind, let's run the gamut this morning and look at a variety of topics.

Look out - here come the Greenies.

Earlier this week a full field of statewide Green Party candidates filed nominating petitions with the state board of elections in an effort to gain a spot on the November ballot. It takes 25,000 signatures and the Greens reportedly have turned in 35,000 signatures and feel confident they've surpassed the legal limit required by the state for a third party to be placed on the ballot.

Admittedly, I don't know a lot about the Green Party but I plan to find out more in the coming months. Even with that lack of knowledge the announcement that a third party will be on the ballot excites me for a variety of reasons.

First, Carbondale attorney Rich Whitney is the Green Party gubernatorial candidate and I find it refreshing that a person who lives in, works in and understands Southern Illinois could have an impact on a very important election.

Secondly, I've already grown tired and bored with Gov. Blagojevich and challenger Judy Baar Topinka beating the bejiggers out of each other with negative campaign ads ¦ and it's not even the Fourth of July yet.

That brings me to the real point I want to make about Whitney and the Green Party.

Whitney has sent letters to both the Blagojevich and the Topinka campaigns requesting that he be included in all upcoming debates. From my little corner of the world I would encourage Blagojevich and Topinka to grant that request. In fact, I can't think of a single reason why either candidate would try to silence him. That is, unless they were concerned that instead of slinging mud he might have a real plan for the state and solutions to the innumerable problems that currently exist.

After listening to the same rehashed rhetoric from Republicans and Democrats I see Whitney's grassroots campaign and long shot candidacy as a breath of fresh air.

One final word to Rod and Judy: Set the third microphone up and turn the volume up loud. In fact, put Whitney in the middle and we can label the first debate: "A Rose Among Thorns."

And speaking of the gubernatorial race ...

I see an alarming trend taking place in state government these days where every press release that's issued by a department head turns out looking like it was written by Blagojevich's public information director.

Let me explain.

Last week I pointed out the comments of Jack Lavin, the director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. You'll remember that Lavin took exception to some comments I made about the unfriendly business climate in Illinois possibly being a factor in Whirlpool pulling up stakes and heading to Ohio. Lavin fired off a letter to the newspaper that contained one paragraph about Whirlpool and four paragraphs touting the accomplishments of Blagojevich.

A few days after that column ran I received a press release from Roger Walker, director of the Illinois Department of Corrections. The press release was about union employees picketing about understaffing problems at prisons statewide. The press release contained four paragraphs and once again the first paragraph (actually two sentences) dealt with safety concerns in the DOC while the last three paragraphs read like a Blagojevich campaign brochure. In those three paragraphs Walker talked about school funding, health care for kids, inherited deficits and of course the fact that taxes have not been raised.

Considering the information I've received from front line correctional officers I speak with regularly - the people who guard the worst of the worst inmates - it seems to me Walker's time would be better served taking care of the multitude of problems that exist in the department of corrections rather than being a chorus boy for the governor.

There are those who want to believe media bias does not exist, that it's a fictional creature created by right wing extremists. To that group I say 'au contraire.'

A recent Associated Press story about global warming provides yet another example of how something as seemingly harmless as a headline in a story can alter the perception of that story.

The story in question contained a headline that read: "Scientists OK Al Gore's global warming movie for accuracy."

If a reader stopped after reading the headline it could be surmised that scientists universally agreed with the accuracy of the movie. Once inside the story the writer states that in reality 19 climate scientists were asked and agreed with Gore's findings.

The misleading thing about the story is that the AP chose to totally ignore the fact that scores of scientists have vehemently disagreed with the findings in the movie and in fact many have been outspoken critics. Consider the comments of Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University in Australia.

"Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention," Carter said. "The man is an embarrassment to U.S. science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of who know but can't state publicly that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science."

Despite the slanted story, let me say once again that global warming is a theory, period. And for every scientist you point out who agrees with that theory, I can show one who doesn't.

JIM MUIR column runs every Thursday in The Southern Illinoisan. He can be reached at (618) 525-4744.