Earlier today, Jon Ham’s column on media bias made it into Rush Limbaugh’s formerly nicotine-stained fingers, and now I’ve come across another story that illustrates Ham’s point. This one’s from The News of Orange County and it’s a story about the Orange County school board’s approval of a $21.2 milllion budget that reflects an 18 percent increaseover the previous year’s budget. The request now goes to the county commissioners. Note, however, that the headline positions the budget as being driven by “critical needs.” What’s more, the second paragraph again refers to “critical needs” without explanation or attribution. In other words, the paper just presumes that (1) the needs exist and are legitimate, (2) the needs are not only legitimate, but critical too, and (3) there’s no need to explore that point since all reasonable people must agree that more government is better government. After all, it’s for the children.