Today's (Wed. August 3, 2005) Los Angeles Times has a story about a child-support lawsuit in Oregon between a woman and the (Catholic) Archdiocese of Portland. Although the article states, "liberal and conservative Catholics around the country are decrying the archdiocese's legal strategy," the Times delivers unequal treatment to Catholic individuals and lay groups when labeling whether they are "conservative" or not.

For instance, from the article (emphases mine):

• "'On the face of it, [the argument] is simply appalling,' said Michael Novak, a conservative Catholic theologian and author based in Washington, D.C. ..."
• "William Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights based in New York ..."
• "Robert Royal, president of the Faith & Reason Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. ..."

The only "liberal" tag in the article is made when referring to "the National Catholic Reporter, a liberal weekly newspaper." At least they got that one right!

Ever since last Friday, when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that he would support loosening restrictions on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, the "mainstream" media has become absolutely giddy over the prospect of George W. Bush bowing to political defeat on the issue.

This is no surprise, however, since most journalists generally support left-wing sociopolitical policies (just ask them) and tend to go out of their way to report on stories that are potentially harmful to the Bush Administration, like the fake Bush National Guard scandal, the fake Gitmo torture scandal, and the fake Valerie Plame/Karl Rove scandal, just to name a few.

Of course, they also tend to ignore news that most folks would consider favorable to Dubya and his crew, like the fact that the economy is doing very well, and that our military is making unprecedented strides toward the democratization of Iraq and Afghanistan, in spite of a concerted effort by liberals (like themselves) to prevent that from happening.

Sunday's 60 Minutes closed, as usual, with a crabby commentary by everyone's favorite curmudgeon, Andy Rooney. His kvetch of the week had to do with how much people incessantly using cell phones annoys him.

Now, perhaps in a spirit of corporate synergy, today's Against the Grain column by CBS News's Dick Meyer happens to be about how much people incessantly using cell phones annoys him.

At one point Myers defensively insists:

Contrary to what you undoubtedly think by now, this column is much,
much more than just a misanthropic, Luddite rant by a cranky
middle-aged white man. This is a genuine public service.

I'm sure Rooney tells himself the same thing, except for the "middle-aged" part.

In 2003, Mike Paranzino, a conservative activist, organized BoycottCBS.com in response to the Tiffany Network planning to air a horrendously biased (not to mention poorly acted) miniseries on Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Paranzino and others were successful in getting CBS to drop-kick the dramatic monstrosity to a sister cable network Showtime.

Fast forward to today, and CBS and Paranzino again cross paths, but this time on more amicable terms. Today's edition of The Early Show featured a now-retired stay-at-home dad. Correspondent Tracy Smith reported the feature. No mention was made of Paranzino's fight with CBS, although his career as a political activist was mentioned in passing.

Despite assertions otherwise, the liberal media in general and the AP specifically continue to make Supreme Court nominee John Roberts’ Catholic faith an issue. In a piece called, “Roberts, Catholics at center of scrutiny,” they titularly admit it.

Richard N. Ostling’s first paragraph:

If John Roberts is confirmed, he will be the fourth Roman Catholic on the Supreme Court, an all-time high that is focusing attention on how faith might influence law on the high court.

When is a baby a baby? Apparently for the media not when in the womb, even if that child is "planned and wanted" as former Clinton Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders was wont of saying. Reporting on the recent birth of Susan Anne Catherine Torres, the daughter of Virginia woman Susan Torres, who suffered a stroke resulting in brain death in May, CBS Early Show correspondents used medical jargon to refer to baby Susan when she was as yet unborn:

CBS
The Early Show
3 August 2005 (Wednesday)

Julie Chen, co-host, from Los Angeles studio: "In Virginia, a remarkable delivery, as we noted, a woman who had been brain dead for nearly three months gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday. CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras reports."

Thalia Assuras, narrating taped video, the opening seconds of which were not heard: "...May, the day before Mother's Day, but even in death, the 26-year old gave life again Tuesday by Caesarean section, to one pound thirteen ounce namesake Susan Anne Catherine Torres, a sister for brother Peter."

Jason Torres, husband: "I just hope they see it as the last beautiful act from their mother."

Assuras: "Husband Jason Torres spoke to CBS News in June about his decision to maintain his wife on life support at the Virginia Hospital Center at Arlington, Virginia, until the fetus reached viability. The minimum of 24 weeks in the womb for survivability was surpassed in July."

CBS News isn't alone. The Associated Press and Reuters (yeah, the same guys who call terrorists "militants"), also insisted on the term fetus to describe baby Susan when she was yet unborn.

The Pentagon has admitted an "egregious" fault in using the same quote from an anonymous Iraqi in two press releases 11 days apart.

Besides one brief mention last week, however, there's been no comment from the New York Times, which is rather surprising -- or perhaps not, given the Times' own quote-recycling history.

Ken, it's sad to see coverage of embryonic stem cell research in general, which often omits is that the embryo is currently destroyed before the stem cells can be extracted. All the sympathy is expended on the Cody Unsers, who we recognize as fully human, but the embryos don't even have a cute ultrasound picture to show us they're fully human.

This is a public service since the only people besides me who saw Tucker Carlson’s “The Situation” on MSNBC on 1 August, 2005, were probably an Irish Setter and three bowls of goldfish. Carlson introduced the subject that Atkins International, the company founded by Dr. Robert Atkins, had just filed for bankruptcy. Dr. Atkins had died 17 April, 2003, in a coma after striking his head in a fall outside his office.

Mort Zuckerman, publisher of “U.S. News & World Report” and “The New York Daily News,” was on the program, and responded as follows:

“I think the Atkins family never got over the fact that, when he died, he had gained something like hundreds of pounds, or he weighed, I don‘t know... He just had ballooned. Well, he was 250, 300 pounds....