**WARNING** ** **SHAMELESS RANT** ** **WARNING** *** *** **WARNING** ** **SHAMELESS RANT** ** **WARNING**

yesterday, our nation's president banned the fox news channel from the press room. the big news outlets - abc, nbc, cbs, cnn - all stood together and said if fox cannot participate, then they will not either. sounds brave, but then one must consider that the expenses of white house news coverage are split 5 ways between these big outlets, so really... the other 4 don't want to lose fox's money. okay, maybe that's a bit cynical. maybe they were standing up for fox's right to participate simply because that is the right thing to do.

i don't care if you agree with fox news or not. i do care if you agree with our nation's president. because agreeing with banning opposing points of view is agreeing with shutting out voices of american citizens. it's agreeing with putting a lid on free speech. the message is that if you do not agree with the administration that's currently in power, you will not be allowed to participate. this is not amusing. this is not something to be taken lightly or to be brushed off. the party line of the admin is that fox news is not like other news channels - fox news is the op-ed arm of the republican party. okay, fox is conservative, no doubt - but... an arm of the republican party? c'mon. where's the evidence of this? fox news is a conservative voice. the republican party is a conservative party. it DOES NOT FOLLOW from this that fox news is an arm of the republican party. c'mon! nbc is a liberal voice. the democratic party is a liberal party. is nbc an arm of the democratic party?