We spoke on December 3rd to Spencer Ackerman who is an accomplished journalist who blogs at firedoglake.com along with his own blog http://toohotfortnr.blogspot.com/.  Spencer has been to both Afghanistan and Iraq several times and provides an on-the-ground perspective as to what is working and what is not in both war zones.  In our conversation we discuss how foreign policy and national security priorities might shift in an Obama adminstration relative to what we've seen for the better part of the last decade under President Bush.  In our conversation we also touch upon US foreign policy towards Pakistan and what steps may make sense for the US to pursue.  Again, we had a wide ranging discussion on foreign policy which is an incredibly timely topic given recent events.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Spencer as much as I did.

You can check out Doug's blog at: http://toohotfortnr.blogspot.com/

Your host: Vipul Vyas

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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We had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Clemons of thewashingtonnote.com.  As many may already know, thewashingtonnote.com is very popular blog that looks at complex domestic and foreign policy issues from a progressive yet practical perspective.  Steve has many accomplishments and has access to some of the most influential policy makers in DC.  As such he is a wealth of insight in terms of both what are thought leaders thinking AND in terms of what concepts and innovative policy thinking has the most currency.  In our interview, we specifically focused on how Obama's foreign policy may be consistent with or part ways with past adminstrations.  We also touched on the topic of Pakistan and how US policy towards South Asia may change in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Steve as much as I did.

You can check out Doug's blog at: thewashingtonnote.com

Your host: Vipul Vyas

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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We had the pleasure of sitting down with Doug Ross and discussing some of his interests.  Doug is a pretty insightful guy with a wide range of interests.  We discussed media bias, the election, and a range of issues during our conversation.  Doug's blog at http://directorblue.blogspot.com/ definitely gives the liberal side of the aisle "the business."  He takes a pretty detailed view at what the campaigns are saying and more interestingly sometimes what they are not saying as well.  Sprinkled in the midst of that Doug's political commentary, you'll also see a lot of discussion regarding wide ranging topics from cars to technology.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Doug as much as we did.

You can check out Doug's blog at: directblue.blogspot.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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Joanne was a veteran reporter with the esteemed San Jose Mercury News.  After leaving her journalism career, Joanne began to more deeply explore a subject she periodically covered as a journalist.  That subject was education.  Joanne has looked at the imperative to improve the country's education system from a variety of angles.  With her wealth of research, exposure, and insight; she was able to walk us through the good, the bad, and the ugly of the current state of the educational system.  We also, fortunately, learned a bit about what we can do to improve the state of affairs with the country's educational system.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Joanne as much as we did.

You can check out Joanne's blog at: joannejacobs.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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We had a blast speaking to Mike Finnigan of Crooksandliars.com and Warner Todd Huston of Newsbusters.org.  We discussed how the media may have played a role, if any, in the 2008 election.  Mike was in rare form and Warner and I had a good time keeping up with him.  Of course, Warner felt the treatment of Palin was especially abusive.  Mike, as you might have guessed, didn't entirely agree.  Listen in and decide what you think.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Mike and Warner as much as we did.

You can check out Mike's work at crooksandliars.com; you can check out Warner's work at Newsbusters.org

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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We spoke to Mike over at Zonitics regarding left-wing bias at the national level and when it comes to Arizona politics specifically.  We also discussed the election, global challenges to the US, Iraq, Iran, and China…as you can tell, it was a pretty wide ranging discussion.  Mike pointed to an interesting an emerging trend around blogging at a more local level and with regard to more local and regional issues.  As the national level blogosphere gets crowded with the much anticipated 2008 presidential election, many folks are starting to focus more on their local communities where they hope to have a greater impact.  Mike is one of those folks. 

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Mike as much as we did.

You can check out Mike's blog at: zonitics.blogspot.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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David Axe, our intrepid freelance war reporter, is off to Somalia to better understand the emergence of piracy off the Horn of Africa.   David has been on previous podcasts and has an impressive body of knowledge based on real world experience in some of the world's most war ravaged locations.   This is David's second trip to Somalia, and we catch up with him just before he left for the Dark Continent.   On this podcast we discuss the emergence of piracy off the coast of Africa and how this location has now surpassed piracy around the waters of Southeast Asia.   Given that David has also spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan as a war reporter, we touched on these two conflicts as well.   We discussed the seeming conclusion of the Iraqi civil war and new approaches being contemplated in Afghanistan.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with David as much as we did.

You can check out David's blog at the aptly named: warisboring.com site

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To discuss proposition 8 we had to insightful guests.  Supporting the proposition we had Craig DeLuz of RedCounty.com and in opposition to the proposition we had Bob Brigham from Calitrics.com.  Both provided great and new perspectives on what define the debate for and against this proposition.

We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.

You can get more information on California Proposition 8 and the California Constitution in general at the following sites:

Proposition 8: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_8

California Constitution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Constitution

The sites that Craig and Bob write for are Redcounty.com (from the right) and Calitrics.com (from the left).

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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As the election draws to a close, understanding the issues is important for any voter making a serious decision.  In this podcast we speak to one of our long time users and contributers Marlowe.  You can see Skewz filled with his many submissions and insightful comments.  Marlowe has expertise in the health care space and has many years of industry experience to guide a discussion about the 2 candidates fans.  As we draw to the last days of this election, the debate over the economy and health care are increasingly important.  Undecideds and those who are not fully committed to a specific candidate will likely find this podcast instructive.  Marlowe is an advocate of McCain health care plan over that of Obama.  Conservative principles guide Marlowe's perspective along with a wealth of industry knowledge.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Marlowe as much as we did.

Again, you can check out his posts and submission on Skewz.  Marlowe's profile page can be found at: http://www.skewz.com/user/profile/Marlowe

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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We had a good conversation with Vik Rubenfeld of BigPicWeblog.com.  Vik has been blogging now for a number of years and did a variety of pioneering work with Pajamas Media which is a conservative consortium of blogs and news sites.  Vik discussed media bias and the evolution of the the conservative blogosphere.  Given Vik has been working in the domain for some time now, he had a lot of interesting insights as to how the medium has evolved.  In addition, Vik discussed the various reasons voters should really think twice before voting for Senator Obama.  The dicussion was lively and we learned more about the Obama-Odinga connection which has not been substantially covered in the media.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Vik as much as we did.

Again, you can check out his blog at: bigpicweblog.com

Vik also provided us with substantial support material for the Obama-Odinga discussion.  Here is some of his additional commentary and web links:

Obama and Raila Odinga

 

Add to that list the Marxist Raila Odinga, leader of the socialist "Orange Democratic Movement" of Kenya, and former candidate for President of Kenya -  on whose behalf Obama personally campaigned in 2006 .

This was not Mr. Odinga's first brush with notoriety. Like his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the main opposition leader in the 1960s and 1970s, Raila Odinga is a Marxist. He graduated from East Germany's Magdeburg University in 1970 on a scholarship provided by the East German government. He named his oldest son after Fidel Castro.

 

Raila Odinga was implicated in the bloody coup attempt in 1982 against then-President Daniel Arap Moi, a close ally of the United States. Kenya has been one of the most stable democracies in Africa since the 1960s. The ethnic cleansing earlier this year was the worst violence in Kenya since that 1982 coup attempt.

 

Mr. Odinga spent eight years in prison. At the time, he denied guilt but later detailed he was a coup leader in his 2006 biography. Statue of limitations precluded further prosecution when the biography appeared.

 

Initially, Mr. Odinga was not the favored opposition candidate to stand in the 2007 election against President Mwai Kibaki, who was seeking his second term. However, he received a tremendous boost when Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Kenya in August 2006 to campaign on his behalf . Mr. Obama denies that supporting Mr. Odinga was the intention of his trip, but his actions and local media reports tell otherwise.

 

Mr. Odinga and Mr. Obama were nearly inseparable throughout Mr. Obama's six-day stay. The two traveled together throughout Kenya and Mr. Obama spoke on behalf of Mr. Odinga at numerous rallies.  In contrast, Mr. Obama had only criticism for Kibaki. He lashed out against the Kenyan government shortly after meeting with the president on Aug. 25. "The [Kenyan] people have to suffer over corruption perpetrated by government officials," Mr. Obama announced.

 

"Kenyans are now yearning for change," he declared.

 

There it is again: Obama says "change" and he means change to a leader who supports Marxism. Obama supported Odinga, the self-admitted leader of a bloody coup.

By the way, Odinga leads a party that is guilty of mass-murder - just in case you're interested in that little detail of a man Obama supported politically. That's the kind of change Obama supports in Africa. After losing the election, Odinga called for demonstrations. Mass murders followed:

About 50 parishioners were locked into the Assemblies of God church before it was set ablaze. They were mostly women and children. Those who tried to flee were hacked to death by machete-wielding members of a mob numbering 2,000.

 

The 2008 New Year Day atrocity in the Kenyan village Eldoret, about 185 miles northwest of Nairobi, had all the markings of the Rwanda genocide of a decade earlier.

 

By mid-February 2008, more than 1,500 Kenyans were killed. Many were slain by machete-armed attackers. More than 500,000 were displaced by the religious strife. Villages lay in ruin. Many of the atrocities were perpetrated by Muslims against Christians.

 

The violence was led by supporters of Raila Odinga, the opposition leader who lost the Dec. 27, 2007, presidential election by more than 230,000 votes. Odinga supporters began the genocide hours after the final election results were announced Dec. 30. Mr. Odinga was a member of Parliament representing an area in western Kenya, heavily populated by the Luo tribe, and the birthplace of Barack Obama's father.

 

While this was going on, Odinga said, "I think they are ready to come to the table. Our people will continue to protest." ( See this link to a Canada Free Press article with video  - see 2:56 in the video).

Odinga "became popular with the country's poor, by pledging to distribute the wealth more evenly." (3.:40 in the video). (That should remind you of Obama.)

"Odinga vowed to end Kenya's cooperation with the United States in the War on Terror." (5:31 in the video). Remember - Obama campaigned for this guy.

Video of Obama campaigning beside Odinga, on behalf of Odinga, starts at 6:38 in the video.

American Liberals: given that Obama campaigned on behalf of Odinga - a Marxist, a murderer as the leader of the bloody coup attempt, and a leader of genocide - is it possible that Obama has the same values that you have; has the same goals for America that you have; is it possible that you can vote for such a man?

Vik has researched this discussion topic extensively as you can note from the previous comments.

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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Discussing election fraud, voter fraud and the Acorn scandal

Site metioned http://videothevote.org/

Check out our previous interview with brad. Also full of great information the US elections.

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.comOr you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526.  If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in. And remember...to get all sides of the story, visit SKEWZ.comFollow us on Twitter.com/SKEWZ to get live updates of show releasesTheme music by 2012

Just as with our last podcast, it's not easy to find out what's really happening in some situations.   The Iraq war is a difficult to cover conflict so it's great to get a perspective from an Iraq who lived in Baghdad during the invasion and for sometime after the invasion for a perspective on the Iraq war and current ground level conditions.   Omar provided us with just that rare to find insight.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Omar as much as we did.

Again, you can check out his blogs at: iraqthemodel.blogspot.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

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For some subjects we have to rely on our US-based media outlets for information.   The Israel-Arab conflict is one of those issues.   Omri Ceren provides us an Israeli perspective on that conflict as well as the regions other destabilizing force- Iran.   Omri provides us with an insightful discussion and fresh perspective that is not so easy to obtain from within the United States.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Omri as much as we did.

Again, you can check out his blogs at: mererhetoric.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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We had a particularly insightful conversation with Marc Danziger of windsofchange.net and armedliberal.com .   Marc had well informed perspectives on a range of domestic policies issues and was clearly someone who was not simply dogmatic in his viewpoints.   His comments were extremely measured and based on considered thinking versus just talking points.  

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Marc as much as we did.

Again, you can check out his blogs at: windsofchange.net and armedliberal.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

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We had a fun conversation with Dan Riehl of riehlworldview.com .   Dan has been blogging for sometime now and we discussed the current election along with conservative politics in general.   Dan has a lot of well thought through and insightful perspectives on a range of topics.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Dan as much as we did.

Again, you can check out his blog at: riehlworldview.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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We had a great conversation with Darleen Click of Protein Wisdom.  Darlene provided insights from a libertarian to right-leaning perspective on a range of topics including politics at the local level.  We also learned a bit about the Protein Wisdom blog which unlike many sites doesn't look to push people from different political perspectives away. The site is fairly inclusive and full of insightful thinking that is not overly dogmatics.  Darleen was an absolute pleasure to speak to. 

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Darlene as much as we did.

Again, you can check out her blog at: proteinwisdom.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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We had a great conversation with John Hawkins of RightWingNews.com.  John had some great perspectives on the nature of media bias – especially left-wing media bias.  We also discussed the upcoming election and how the blogosphere was playing a significant role in determining the topics that were being discussed in the election news cycle.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with John as much as we did.

Again, you can check out his blog at: rightwingnews.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

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We had an insightful conversation with William Katz of urgentagenda.com.  Bill has had such a rich and varied set of experiences that's amazing he's done it all in one life time.  He's worked for the CIA, written for the Bob Newhart show, been an interviewer for the Tonight Show, and published 10 books among just a few of his accomplishments.  On top of that, he's attended some of the best universities in the land.  William spoke to us about his thoughts on the modern conservative movement and his own movement from the Democratic to Republican party over the years.  Bill has some particular expertise with regard to foreign policy issues given his work with the Central Intelligence Agency.  As such, we had an amazingly broad discussion about politics.  We recorded this podcast just prior to Barack Obama picking his vice presidential running mate Joe Biden.  We wished we had gotten this podcast out a little sooner, but the discussion was so wide ranging given Bill's ability to speak on almost any topic that his points are as true 10 days later as they were just prior to the Democratic convention.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Bill as much as we did.

Again, you can check out his blog at: urgentagenda.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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We had an insightful conversation with David Axe of warisboring.com.  David is a freelance journalist that blogs and writes also for WIRED magazine and focuses on coverage of war zones.  His mantra is that "David Axe goes to war so you don't have to."  We certainly appreciate his efforts to get into the details of what is actually going on in complex war zones.  David is currently focused on the conflicts raging in Africa but spent time talking to us about his experiences in Iraq and his observations about Afghanistan.  David provides some incredibly interesting perspectives on what is happening in with the surge in Iraq.  He also shares some very interesting prescriptions for how to deal with the new troubles emerging in Afghanistan.

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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Unfortunately we had some technical issues at the very beginning of the interview. Luckily the anoying clicks end only 45 seconds into the interview. From that point on, there was no problem.
Here is a trascript of the noisy part: (in reply to interview question which is clear)
Actually, after the Iraq war I started spending all my
time in the comments section of the Iraqi blogs..
After the liberation there were pro-liberation Iraqi
bloggers - several of them - who started blogs.
And there was an intense debate in the comments
section of those blogs.

In our efforts to get perspectives from all around the world, we spoke to Paul Edwards who to get an Australian viewpoint. Paul is a strong supporter of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq and also supports potential upcoming military action against Iran. Paul has spent considerable time communicating with Iraqi bloggers in Iraq to understand the mood in the country. He feels there is a strong, though small, community of secular Iraqis that are ideal for the West to partner with. Paul believes that the US is a beacon of hope for the globe that can lift the shackles of oppression around the earth. He feels that the US has largely acted selflessly and that it should continue to emancipate people who are subjugated by ruthless dictators and governments that are not representative of the will of the people or do not have an ideology that promotes free thinking. The perception that President Bush does not have strong supporters outside of the US is dispelled by our conservations with Paul.

You can check out Paul's blog at:
http://antisubjugator.blogspot.com

Paul refers to a few subjects that may be of interest to listeners:

We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com .

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Steve refers to a few historical events which you can get more information on through the links below:

National Energy Program: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Energy_Program

Sponsorship Scandal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponsorship_scandal

Provincial Transfer Payments: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equalization_payments

We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com
Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 to listen in.

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We had an entertaining conversation with Mike Finnigan of "Mike's Blog Roundup" of the site CrooksandLiars.com.  Mike actually helped to come up with the name for the site.  Some years ago, Mike used to have a personal distribution list called Crooks and Liars that was inspired by what he perceived as the many con men on the right.  When John Amato started his site, he worked with Mike and used the Crooks and Liars name with Mike's blessings.  Crooks and Liars pioneered the use of video snippets early on before it became easy and in vogue to do so.  That innovation really generated loyalty within the liberal corners of the blogosphere. 

Mike reviews a variety of sites regularly to come up with his blog roundup which chronicles the best liberal blog commentary on the Internet.  Mike's scan ranges from the large blogs to more issue specific sites such as the pumphandle (at http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com). 

Mike spoke with us extensively about the myth of liberal media bias.  He suggested that the media just peddles the lowest consumable crap and that's the only true bias.  He points to the allegedly liberal New York Times Iraq war coverage prior to the invasion, the paper's treatment of Al Gore in 2000, and other anecdoates to illustrate that the paper is not as liberal as some would like to suggest.  Mike points to the Daily Howler for a good review of media quality (at: http://www.dailyhowler.com).  Mike also discusses the rise of right wing think tanks and AM talk radio as exclusive bastions of right-wing thought.  He feels that once the Fairness Doctrine evaporated, so did a lot of good journalism. 

Mike also suggested a couple of books to check out.  They are:

Neil Postman's How to Watch TV News and Amusing Ourselves to Death.  Both can be found at Amazon.com.

You can check out Mike's Blog Roundup at CrooksandLiars.com

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com

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Theme music by 2012 

We had an interesting conversation with Warner Todd Huston of Newsbusters.org.  Newsbusters.org is a well known media bias watch dog site that focuses on liberal media bias.  The site is part of the Media Research Center.  Newsbusters.org is an outgrowth of other long standing media projects.  Warner has been blogging for newsbuster.org for some time and has a great deal of insight on how the media has evolved in the US since the inception of the Republic.  We talk about the early days of the pamphleteers to the modern concept of 'objective jounalis' which gained popularity only after World War II.  Warner notes that we may now be going back to an era where the media is more in its natural state.  We also discuss the declining quality of journalism...and, of course, we discuss how the media is covering the presidential campaign.

You can check out some of Warner's work at: 

www.newsbusters.org

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com. 

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

And remember...to get all sides of the story, visit SKEWZ.com

Follow SKEWZ on Twitter.com to get live updates of show releases

Theme music by 2012 

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We had an insightful conversation with Kevin Williamson of the National Review.  Kevin has been a media blogger with the National Review since the beginning of 2008.  Kevin talked to us about the causative factors of media bias.  Some of the ideas he described are surprisingly simple but nonetheless powerful.  He explained how many journalist simply have similar backgrounds and are based in similar social circles which reinforce established thinking.  this thinking is often upper middle class and skewed leftward. We also discuss areas where the media just gets in wrong in terms of trying to interpret events or subjects with a significant lack of expertise.  This issue is especially relevant with regard to topics such as economics.  We also explore how the US media attempts to cover international news and often fails to detect trends and provide insights on emerging patterns that the US public never gets the chance to examine.

You can check out some of Kevin's works at: 

http://media.nationalreview.com/

Kevin refers to a few subjects that may be of interest to listeners:

Pakistan's ISI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_Services_Intelligence

United States-India Nuclear Deal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States-India_Peaceful_Atomic_Energy_Cooperation_Act

We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.

Comments can be sent by email to blog@skewz.com . 

Or you can drop us a voicemail at 646-495-9203 extension 62526. 

If you don't have time to download the podcast and would like to listen to it over the phone (and if you have an unlimited plan or plenty of minutes to burn) you can dial 712-318-9952 (not a toll-free number) to listen in.

And remember...to get all sides of the story, visit SKEWZ.com

Follow SKEWZCAST on Twitter.com to get live updates of show releases

Theme music by 2012 

We discussed a range of topics with Mike Hendrix of ColdFury.com.  Mike lives in Charlotte, NC and started the blog right after 9/11.  In fact, he registered the domain name on the 9/14/2001.  Mike used to live in New York City and is a professional writer.  He was a self-professed liberal through college and up to the first Gulf War after which he started to share more in common with the conservative perspective of politics.  We talked to Mike about what he likes to read to better cultivate his opinions and what he finds too biased.

Mike gave these recommendations for sites to check out for a conservative perspective:

windsofchange.com

instapundit.com

conservativehq.com

pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/

He sometimes also checks out Andrew Sullivan's blog though he believes Sullivan has moved too far away from traditional conservative perspectives.

Mike espouses a 'conservatarian' philosophy w