Ralph Nader apparently gave the students at my journalism school a gift... copies of Eric Alterman's book What Liberal Media? in their mailboxes. Apparently he just called up Richard Roth, one of my professors, and said he'd be sending over 1,200 copies of the book. A columnist for The Daily Northwestern smells something fishy, though I think he might be reading a too much into this.

Did Nader have an ulterior motive for giving me a book that obviously has an agenda? Probably, but that in and of itself didn't appear that threatening to me. I can deal with people telling me what to believe politically.

It's the free gift part that sometimes gives me problems. For example, several weeks ago, I took a tour of the Miller Brewery in Milwaukee, Wis. The tour, along with the beer samples, didn't cost a cent.

I wondered why Miller wouldn't charge for the tour. That is, until I realized that immediately following my visit, I purchased Miller High Life.

Woah buddy, just because you get a free lunch doesn't mean you have to eat there again! Nader clearly wants to promote his ideology among journalists. So he sent some j-school students a book. This shouldn't change anyone's opinion unless the book is persuasive and someone decides to read it.