Does Google’s Personalized Search Present Me Web Pages Slanted in Favor of Environmentalism?

Do you ever wonder how Google customizes/personalizes your search results based on what it thinks you want to know?  If I’m ordering a pizza in Santa Ynez, California, it’s true that I probably don’t want to see listings for Italian restaurants in Omaha or Buenos Aires, so I suppose there’s some value there.   But I’m very concerned that I’m not getting a fair representation of the news, because Google (I understand) is shaping what it’s showing me based not only on my location, but on my previous searches as well. 

It’s true that I read a great deal about environmentalism, the shenanigans of the oil companies, the value of renewable energy on a planet whose climate is changing, etc., and that I watch clips from Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.  Does Google conclude that I don’t want to hear about conservative points of view?  I certainly hope I’m not being shut off from these perspectives; they are important to me.

I bring this up because I’ve seen a ton of lampoons on Cliven Bundy over the last couple of days.  I know Colbert is having an absolute field day chopping Bundy up into little pieces (and, more to the point, Sean Hannity along with him), but is this story really as newsworthy as my version of Google would suggest?

I’d be just as happy finding my own take on world events; I’d rather a machine not do that for me.