STAN'S BLOGS

[I make arguments for both sides before I choose a position; and only really need to choose a firm position on election day] Most of what I hear about politics, and have heard since the late '60s, both from those on the "left" and those on the "right" is one-sided, straight-across-the-board, all-or-nothing hyperbole—" Bush is a liar," " Hillary 's an idiot," " conservative s are moral," " liberal s are smarter." On and on go the iterations of talk radio and TV pundits, newspaper and WebNews writers, college professors and activists. Then come the expected, usually unsupported, reiterations at the street level: colleagues, coworkers, friends and relatives. That's fine if your only goal is to promote your own extremism to the demise of all else, but what about the rest of us that choose the truth regardless which side it falls on. Is it really intelligent to totally approve of or dismiss absolutely everything about

[I scan newswire of websites daily using a "back door approach" and search engine technology for a better balance of reports] I'm a journalist . A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues and people. As a journalist, I'm expected to report in the most objective and unbiased way to serve the public good. And I do my best to explore, expose, explain and present both sides of every issue to fulfill my commitment to journalism. Along with mining the Web for news and information, I sometimes go out into the field and explore issues in person to further develop my experience of a topic. My eventual goal is to do on location reporting for a well known Web site or local newspaper when I'm strategically positioned to cover a story better than the mainstream journalists. My goal is to add something, show a different slant or bring attention to a story, not to restate what's alrea

I've been a radio talk show junky since the very early '70s when Mick Martin, Charlie Weiss (high school classmate) and Travus T. Hipp (Sunday night talk host, most of the '70s) hosted the first, Sacramento area, freeform station KZAP FM . I listened intently when local, nutrition guru Cary Nosler (Captain Carrot) popped up on KCRA AM and couldn't wait for the late night discussions of Art Bell and his phalanx of scientists on KSTE AM . I was there for the KFBK-AM debuts of Christine Craft and Morton Downey Jr., and then Rush Limbaugh in 1984 when he returned to radio as a talk show host here in Sacramento, CA. These days I work my way around the AM dial daily to the likes of "Armstrong and Getty," "Al Franken and Laura Flanders," "Randi Rhodes," "Sean Hannity," "Michael Savage." I like radio and I like politics, and it doesn't get any better for talk radio junkies than today's superstar line-up! But I'm ha

I began my fascination with urban hiking in the mid '80s after moving in with a room mate whose middle-class neighborhood home was located near a recreation, wilderness greenbelt in Roseville, CA. I was starting an overall health improvement kick, which then included a few miles of alternate running and power walking. Looking for a route to execute my every other day session of the "then" unnamed exercise I found a trail leading into the adjacent greenbelt that meandered for a mile and a half through an isolated wooded area and along shallow Linda Creek. The RPW exercise, soon to be coined "urban hiking," was transformed from a grueling routine into a looking forward to, peaceful and mind-expanding activity over the next few weeks. I was steadily increasing my physical endurance, lowering my heart rate and finding the quiet solitude a positive break from my hectic, inner city business day. Wild life and interesting insects flitted in and out from between the Val

[My response to the PBS WideAngle program "Future of Lebanon"] This is an amazing, politically and culturally charged story about democracy's reemergence in pre-April 2005 Syrian dominated Lebanon. Former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, Lebanon's best-known politician, was murdered February 2005, on Valentine's Day, in a massive car bombing. The Cedar Revolution was born! The "Cedar revolution" (in reference to the tree that is Lebanon's national emblem), "people power" or "mini Ukraine": The popular protests that brought down Lebanon's cabinet on Monday have been described with grand words, around the world as well as in Lebanon. It has also been referred to as "the Gucci revolution, not because anyone was dismissive of the demonstrations, but because so many of those waving the Lebanese flag on the streets were very unlikely protestors. There were girls in tight skirts and high heels, carrying expensive leather bags