I guess there are different levels of truisms. Or at least realization of them.

I've come to accept ...kinda ...that the news is biased, but I guess I never realized how biased. Every day, I see more and more examples, more and more egregious, so I guess I don't actually realize the full extent yet.

For example, take this piece: Report: U.S. drones spying on Iran.

Now, maybe this is true, maybe it isn't. It appears that the Pentagon is denying it while senior staffers are confirming it and even giving dates. It's kind of unimportant. The issue is the reaction. Have you met any Americans pissed off about this? Turn it around -- suppose Iran started flying unmanned vehicles over New Jersey to gather intelligence. Do you think Americans would be upset about it? If so, why is their reaction different when the target is Iran?

The answer I'd get from my right-leaning friends (and they're getting shorter in number every day) is that Iran is a menace and so this is a response to that menace. I guess who qualifies as a "menace" is very much a matter of one's point of view. Do the countries that consider Bush a threat to peace get to fly their planes over U.S. airspace now? Seems awful might-makes-right.

That's my rant. My tendency lately is to switch all foreign relations country names around and see if my reaction is the same. It never is. The conclusion is that we are either spasmatically altrustic or we're hypocrites. You can guess which theory I'm going with.

Talked to my daughter tonight. Explained that the reason I've missed visits is due to her mom's demand that visits happen where I used to live. I phrased it in a "if I dropped you off in New Hampshire, where you used to live, wouldn't that be a bit strange?" way. She seemed to understand. I already emailed the mother to explain that visits will happen where I live now or she can explain to her daughter why she refuses to send her here, despite my offer to make up the difference in tolls, gas, even paying her for her extra drive time.

I'm still pretty bent that I bend over backward to accomodate the most ridiculous demands and then get blamed for missing visits due to conflicting logistics of those demands.