In proclaiming truth, Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias has suggested that the principles and concepts postulated on the level of more formalized expressions of thought must often be exhibited in a more literary or artistic manner in order to permeate the broader popular culture. Tim LaHaye attempts to accomplish this by taking the ideas he first elaborated in Mind Siege: The Battle For Truth and translating them into the novel The Mind Siege Project.

In The Mind Siege Project, a group of high school social studies students set on a boat trip on the Chesapeake Bay for a lesson in diversity and moral relativism. The class ends up learning that these ideas have dire consequences not considered in the more sedate setting of academic discussion.

Readers will be both amused and irritated at the hypocritical nature of contemporary understandings of tolerance as exposed by LaHaye and coauthor Bob Demoss. The shortcomings of this widespread ideology are laid bare in the group sessions where the facilitator sponsoring the field trip in the name of diversity upholds the rights of the individual when it comes to abortion but flat-out tells a student whose missionary parents were murdered overseas that they more or less got what they deserved.

ABC "Nightline" reporter Dave Marash gets a little overwrought in saluting the end of his (and Ted Koppel's) era on the late-night ABC beat:

"I am deeply endebted [sic] to ABC News for giving me 16 years in 'professional Heaven,' Ted Koppel's Nightline. My debt to Ted himself, and to executive producers Tom Bettag and Leroy Sievers is even greater, for the opportunity to travel the world, learn from it and report on it, with some nuance and detail. If news were a religion, Reality would be its diety [sic], and Ted, Tom and Leroy were resolute in building a broadcast which consistently served its audience by serving Reality. Nightline subordinated, or at the very least, harmonized, personality and style to an aggressively transparent presentation of the complexities and complications that define the Real World Out There. Truly, Nightline has been a 'first draft of history,' not of Page 6." (For non-vets of the New York Post, that's their gossip page.)

Earlier today, TimesWatch made a run (with help from bloggers EU Rota and Cori Dauber) at a tendentious New York Times editorial claiming Bush "misled Americans" about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and terrorist connections. Now the White House itself has gotten in on the act, dissecting Tuesday's lead editorial, "Decoding Mr. Bush's Denials," piece by piece.

To the paper's charge that foreign intelligence services did not suupport U.S. intelligence, the White House rebuts:

"But Even Foreign Governments That Opposed The Removal Of Saddam Hussein Judged That Iraq Had Weapons Of Mass Destruction."

This morning while some in the mainstream media continued their attacks on Pat Robertson and conservatives the Associated Press joined in by characterizing the death of Dr. Adrian Rogers, one of the most loved and influential pastors in America, as one who led the “conservative takeover of the faith.”

The Associated Press also focused on what they (the media and liberals) see as a negative influence from Dr. Adrian Roger's life.

News Flash: Scandal-plagued left-wing radio network pitches the New York Times and obtains hoped-for "good press."

Radio host Brian Maloney, who broke many of the stories this summer on the financial scandal at Air America, wonders "was Sunday's upbeat New York Times piece on Air America hosts Rachel Maddow and Randi Rhodes at least partly the result of a 'pitch' by the liberal radio network's public relations department?....After receiving a document-backed inside tip, the Radio Equalizer is investigating whether Air America's Jaime Horn convinced New York Times reporter Susan Brenna to write a self-serving piece on Air America's female hosts."

Maloney obtained an email allegedly from Horn to some fellow Air America Radio staffers, subject line: "Good press is on the way...I hope!" Horn certainly wasn't wrong about that, as the paper lauded the "rising stars" of Maddow and Rhodes.

For more bias from the New York Times, visit TimesWatch.

MRC analyst Mike Rule reported the liberal commentary of actress/comedienne Nancy Giles appeared again on CBS's Sunday Morning with that old reliable liberal target, the Rev. Pat Robertson. (I doubt Ben Stein will appear on CBS for a rebuttal on this topic.) To Giles, there were only two approaches to teaching evolutionary theory: teaching Science, or "dumbing down young minds" with a little time exploring the intelligent-design theory:

"According to Pat Robertson, televangelist,God got mad when those good citizens of Dover, Pennsylvania voted out their school board for wanting to teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in the school's science classes. Those citizens decided they want science taught in those science classes, not religious theory. So Pat Robertson says, no more God in Dover, and he beamed that message on his show, 'The 700 Club,' to an audience of about 1 million people in the United States and in 70 different languages around the world. Nice. Why does Pat Robertson's God want to keep American students way behind the world in learning Science? Dumbing down young minds in an area in desperate need of bright, innovative thinking."

Katie Couric snapped at Majority Leader Bill Frist on this morning's Today show. Today brought on Sen. Bill Frist to discuss his and Senator John Warner's proposed strategy for leaving Iraq. Clearly hoping for an "Even Republicans are opposed to Bush's polices," moment, Couric was dismayed when Frist, instead, offered a plan very similiar to the administration's goals. A disappointed Couric jumped on Frist:

Couric: "Let me ask you about this proposal. Other than parroting the goals of the White House can you explain to the American people specifically what you want this proposal to do?"

In an article entitled "Credibility lapse threatens job security for McClellan," PR Week reports that two years ago White House press secretary Scott McClellan "flatly denied from the podium that Karl Rove and Lewis 'Scooter' Libby were involved in the leaking of CIA officer Valerie Plame's name." But after special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation revealed some involvement, "the White House press corps has adopted a seriously aggressive posture in questioning McClellan's credibility."

McClellan's situation is so bad that "Washington oddsmakers are now keeping a close eye on McClellan."

One White House correspondent who wanted to remain anonymous "predicts McClellan, who replaced Ari Fleischer as press secretary in summer 2003, will soon be leaving his post. 'I'm expecting very big changes,' the correspondent says."

Gaggle is a daily comic strip about the Washington press corps and Larry the press secretary. Larry deals with the shenanigans of reporters who couldn't imagine anyone voting for a Republican.

Click here for instructions on running Gaggle daily on your own site. There's also an archive of previous toons available here.

In August 2005, the Associated Press was put on notice by readers and editors that the stream of negative AP reports from Iraq needed to be balanced with positives from Iraq. The AP responded by posting FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) on their website explaining how the war is covered. Based on a review of Associated Press articles in October 2005, the FAQ’s should be renamed the “falsely answered questions”.

The AP claimed their stories focused on “political developments in Iraq, writing daily about both political success and stalled efforts”. Based on Internet searches, the AP published approximately 207 articles about the war in Iraq during October 2005. Out of the 207 articles, 127 began with negative titles. In addition, titles of 65 articles referred to deaths in Iraq.

Before the first ad break on Monday's World News Tonight, ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas plugged an upcoming story: "When we return, the home school student charged with murdering his girlfriend's parents. A small town, and a community of home-schoolers, are shattered." ABC reporter Nancy Weiner, in the subsequent story about how 18-year-old David Ludwig allegedly murdered the parents of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Kara Borden, and then fled with her from Pennsylvania to Indiana where he was arrested, outlined the home-schooling connection: “The Bordens, devout Christians, home-schooled all five of their children. Kara and David met through a group of home-schoolers.” Weiner portrayed the murders as ironic: “Many parents choose to home school their children to have more control over their upbringing and avoid exactly what happened here." (Vargas reminds me of journalists who report how an “SUV” hit someone, instead of referring to a “car” or “vehicle.”) Can you imagine Vargas ever citing “the English as a Second Language student charged with murder”?

Weiner, however, allowed a Lititz, Pennsylvania resident to point out how “this could happen to any family whether you're home-schooled or not.” Weiner also noted that “many home-schoolers resent the criticism that they are removed from society."

Video of the Vargas plug, in Real or Windows Media. Plus MP3 audio. (Partial transcript follows.)

All the networks jumped on the revelation Monday, that in applying for a job with Ed Meese in 1985, Samuel Alito boasted of his belief “the constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.” Of the broadcast network stories, CBS's Gloria Borger and Bob Schieffer, however, displayed the most interest in the concerns of “moderate” Republicans and whether the disclosure could block his confirmation. After a soundbite from an former clerk to Alito that Alito's “personal beliefs are irrelevant when he's working on a case," Borger ran a clip from marginally Republican Senator Susan Collins and then fretted: “The document raises new questions for Collins and other Republicans about whether Alito still holds the view that the right to an abortion is not guaranteed in the constitution." Schieffer soon asked Borger if this means Alito is toast: "Gloria, give us a bottom line here quickly. Does this mean that Judge Alito may not get confirmed after all? A lot of people thought he was headed toward confirmation." Borger tried to rewind Schieffer's proposition, but again emphasized the worries of “lots” of moderate Republicans: "I think this makes the path a little bit more rocky, Bob. There're going to be lots of moderate Republicans asking lots of tough questions. We just don't know where it's going to end up yet." (Full transcript follows.)

Washington Post reporter Dana Priest is casting herself as some kind of detached third party, as expressed in Howard Kurtz's column on Monday about her Nov. 2 story exposing a secret CIA prisoner detention program:

Says Priest: "My overall goal is to describe how the government is fighting the war on terror, and that gets you right to the CIA. This is a tactic. People can read it and decide whether that's good or bad."

Priest is a citizen of the United States, not a neutral observer from the planet Zorac. She has taken sides in a policy dispute, having decided either that this classified program isn't generating valuable intelligence or that protecting our country from terrorist attack is less important than human rights violations that may be attached to it. There might be something admirable about her actions if she owned up to them.

Did Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia tip off our enemies in the Middle East in early 2002 that President Bush was readying to invade Iraq?

Bill Bennett, in a new article at National Review Online, is questioning a possible "prewar intelligence giveaway" in light of remarks that Sen. Rockefeller made to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday on November 13, 2005. In responding to a question that Sen. Rockefeller himself "hyped" intelligence, here's what the vice chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence told Wallace (emphasis mine):

ROCKEFELLER: ... I took a trip by myself in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq — that that was a predetermined set course which had taken shape shortly after 9/11.