Dan, I'm going to disagree with you. The major media in this country are right wing; as Republican as it gets. They care about making money, period. They know that the typical American cares more about what their local sports team did yesterday, or what their favorite movie star did today, or the puppy that was found in a culvert in East Bucksnuts, Pennsylvania, than how their legislators voted. And they play to it. Why? Because if they covered the ins and outs of the legislative process they'd A.) lose their market share, particularly from the Smackdown! constituency; and B.) get their advertising revenue yanked by the companies that bribe legislators into passing crappy laws that would get people pi$$ed off if brought to light. Laws like this one.
This paint sale thing is not about some huge Big Brother government interference in our hobbies; it's about funneling money to an industry -- an industry which no doubt has kicked considerable money to legislators to get the law passed. It's about capitalism, not communism.
We passed from a democratic republic into a capitalist oligarchy with the advent of post-Nixon campaign finance reform laws, which legalized bribery under the guise of "free speech." Corporations are considered "persons" under an obscure set of rulings starting in 1906 (Northwestern Life Insurance vs. Riggs) and apexing after WWI (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood), and they are the "people" that rule; they rule by paying legislators to pass laws that put money in their pockets. Capitalism now means the best government money can buy. And the major network news programs have devolved from the watchdogs of corruption into little more than public relations firms and bulletin boards for the corporations that make the laws. I'm glad to see left-wing talk radio -- even though I disagree with a lot of it -- just to see that there's a more middlecentric view being espoused.
Yes, middlecentric. I live in Seattle, where the "left-wing" view isn't remotely as left as people get around here. Al Franken is a moderate in our book.
I'm proud as hell to be an American. There are countries where you can't have the discussion we're having without being shot dead in front of a cheering crowd for it.