True to the saying "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished", I continue to be punished for trying to be a good citizen.  One of the more recent examples is a battle with the  San Jose Mercury News.
 Back in April a high school student came to my door selling newspaper subscriptions.  He said he was trying to get a college scholarship, as he was planning on attending UCBerkeley starting this fall.  He said it was only a trial subscription, for which I could get my money back if I cancelled after a certain date.  Against my long standing pledge to never subscribe to print newspapers again, I caved.  It was supposed to be for a good cause, that came back to slap me in the face.
 When the specified date in May passed, I cancelled with the SJMN.  But after a month I still had not received a refund, so I called again.  This time I was told I would receive the refund (a smaller amount than I was told at the time I cancelled) in two weeks.  That was on June 20.  More than two weeks have passed, still no refund.

In a Belfast courtroom Thursday, a judge acquitted electrician Sean Hoey, accused of the 1998 bombing that killed 29 people in Omagh, Northern Ireland.  But while coverage of the story in Northern Ireland, Ireland and the UK focused on DNA evidence, police incompetence and the legacy of past terror incidents, many American newspapers had a different agenda altogether.  The Oregonian and other news outlets instead chose to turn the Omagh verdict into anti-abortion propaganda.

That’s the headline in the San Jose Mercury News today. I’ve got news for you, Mr. President: Just having you in the oval office is torturing a lot of us.

Okay, okay. I suppose that, by some tortured logic, it may be true what you said: "This government does not torture people." True. Technically. If guns don’t kill people, then probably the government doesn’t torture them, either.

I was looking at the San Jose Mercury News website. Not sure why, because I already read this morning's dead tree and they don't update very often during the day.

And I found a link I hadn't expected to.
Bill, life will change in Hillaryland (free registration required).

I had read this godawful thing in print, and I'm surprised no one else here has diaried about this column yet, it's a slimy hit piece about the Clintons.

But the really surprising thing is the byline:

By Joe Blow
San Jose Mercury News

Cross-Posted on Jerry's Blog
-----

After an incredible whirlwind weekend in which dozens of volunteers walked neighborhoods at 12 events across the district and Jerry McNerney was greeted last night by over 200 supporters on the Klamath Ferry in Stockton, the best news of all came early this morning.

Jerry McNerney just received another huge newspaper endorsement, this time from the San Jose Mercury News. This significant development follows last week's endorsements from the Modesto Bee and The Independent (serving Pleasanton).

The Merc, one of the largest newspapers in California and read by thousands of voters throughout the 11th Congressional District, did not mince words, calling Richard Pombo "a national disgrace to the Republican Party."

More below the fold...

Thank you San Jose Mercury News editorial board and Keith Olbermann.

In order of when I came across each and giving credit where such is due, here are two fervent examples of mainstream media members speaking of reality. The first is an editorial in the San Jose Mercury News (which I've taken the liberty to print in its entirety--sorry) in which George Bush is called a liar.

yes, the worker-friendly buyout of Knight-Ridder -- or at least the 12 K-R papers new owner McClatchy wants to unload, including the San Jose Mercury News and the Philadelphia Inquirer -- is still alive.

According to a FAQ posted yesterday on the Newspaper Guild's knightridderwatch.org site, the 12-paper employee buyout proposal is being backed by Yucaipa Companies, a pro-union private equity firm based in Los Angeles, and owned by major Democratic philanthropist and "supermarket magnate" Ron Burkle, 53.

Burkle is "very active in Los Angeles civic affairs, as well as state and national Democratic politics," he is No. 112 on Forbes' list of wealthiest Americans, and he "counts former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore and civil rights leaders like the Rev. Jesse Jackson among his friends and business partners." (btw, he doesn't have a college degree, starting as a stock boy in his dad's small grocery store).

My oh my. What is the United States to do in Iraq?

There are no easy answers, of course, mostly because of the this: the combination of foolhardy ignorance of and malignant indifference to reality by the Bush Administration from the get-go. But the issuance of the usual 'spin' emanating from the White House and the habitual swallowing of such by too many in the American media only worsens the situation.

The reality is, as Dan Sneider states below, the recent Iraqi election, in and of itself, meant very little. The outcome was known beforehand, despite the heartiest of wishes, prayers and bribes by the powers-that-be in D.C. that the secular political entities of Ahmed Chalabi and Iyad Allawi somehow gain a major parliamentary.foothold.