The latest direct-mail fundraising letter from Walter Cronkite for the liberal Interfaith Alliance begins with the ludicrous sentence: "When I anchored the evening news, I kept my opinions to myself." (SURE you did.) It continues: "But now, more than ever, I feel I must speak out. That's because I am deeply disturbed by the dangerous and growing influence of people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on our nation's political leaders."

What? Robertson and Falwell, "growing influence"? They may have seemed like the top dogs in the religious right when Cronkite retired from newscasting in 1981, but the growing-influence train has passed them by. (Do they believe Robertson calling for the head of Hugo Chavez is an act destined to cause "growing influence"?) Cronkite's little note has another Robertson and Falwell mentions and two mentions of the Christian Coalition, which is a mere shell of its former self after being picked apart by the Federal Election Commission in the 1990s.

Harlingen, Texas, August 30, 2005: The Miami Herald had another Abu Ghraib story this past Saturday. In an Associated Press article by Charles J. Hanley, the headline announced, “Abu Ghraib general describes her Iraq tour”

The article’s opening paragraph reads, “Iraqi prisoners could lift their doors right off their hinges. One senior sergeant whiled away his evenings blasting grazing sheep with a guard tower machine gun. U. S. commanders didn’t bother telling their troops they’d be stuck in Iraq for months more than advertised.”

It next goes on to explain that the only woman commanding general in the war zone, prison chief Janis Karpinski, has written a candid portrait of an often dysfunctional Army.

This was printed in one of those major daily newspapers that so proudly proclaim they support the men and women in uniform. If they are so supportive, why are stories on the degradation of prisoners in Abu Ghraib featured in print over and over again, and the heroic exploits of those in uniform seldom reported?

Elisabeth Bumiller's at it again...

As Brit Hume pointed out in his FOX News broadcast today,  the NY Times reported that the President said protesters like Cindy Sheehan were weakening the United States and emboldening terrorists. Here's NY Times writer, Elisabeth Bumiller's, direct quote:

"Mr. Bush has been careful not to go on a direct attack against a publicly grieving mother like Ms. Sheehan, and has pointed out that he met with her once already, in 2004, and that he has sympathy for her and her right to protest. Still, he said last week that protesters like her were weakening the United States and emboldening terrorists, and vowed that he would not immediately withdraw all American troops from Iraq, as she has demanded."

In the 5pm EDT half hour of CNN's The Situation Room today, Jack Cafferty used the hurricane as an excuse to trash President Bush for being on vacation, as if the location of Bush, who already authorized federal action, has any impact on that federal response to the devastation. Cafferty asked host Wolf Blitzer: “Where's President Bush? Is he still on vacation?”Blitzer answered that “he's cut short his vacation. He's coming back to Washington tomorrow.” Cafferty snidely contended: “Well, that would be a good idea. He was out in San Diego, I think, at a Naval air station giving a speech on Japan and the war in Iraq today. Based on his approval rating in the latest polls, my guess is getting back to work might not be a terrible idea.”

Full transcript of the exchange, between Cafferty in Manhattan and Blitzer in Washington, DC, follows.

Given the “so what?” and “You better be quiet or its off to a reeducation camp with you” response I’ve gotten from even a number of so-called “Conservatives” regarding the Harry Potter craze and reports of Lois Lane’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy, I guess what I am about to describe is considered OK now as well.

I first heard of this listening to an episode of Kevin Swanson’s Generations Radio archived at SermonAudio.com. Doesn’t take a theological genius to realize that the Episcopal Church is a joke, but this is taking things to a whole new level.

On May 22. 2005, a so-called “Clown Mass” was held at Trinity Church in New York City where these buffoons made a mockery of the Lord’s Supper. With sodomites infesting the ranks of this harlot denomination, certainly puts the term “assclown” into an entirely different context.

Another week, another opportunity for NPR's Nina Totenberg to discover that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts is conservative and to caution us about it anew. On Inside Washington over the weekend, she warned that "if he's as conservative as his papers reflect, his nomination will dramatically change the direction of the court." Seconds later she made clear she is sure that he's going to be a "very conservative" justice: "I have no idea what kind of justice he's going to end up being, except for the fact that I'm pretty sure he's going to be very conservative." A week earlier on the same show she declared that after reviewing memos he wrote while working in the Reagan White House counsel's office, "he is much more conservative than I ever would have guessed."

In recent weeks, Totenberg has tagged Roberts as "very conservative," "very, very conservative" and "very, very, very conservative," as well as "a really conservative guy," "a hardline conservative" and "a clear conservative," to say nothing of being "a conservative Catholic." Four weeks ago on Inside Washington she asserted that she "was actually quite surprised at how, how very, very conservative he was."

Full CyberAlert article follows.

Good day everyone.  I don't know about any of you, but I have had a variety of feelings on the Sheehanigans in Crawford, Texas.  When this whole fiasco started, I felt for Cindy.  I did not support her cause, but I felt that she was in desparate need of mental help:  She was a mother distraught by her son's death.  Who wouldn't be?  As events unfolded and the right "smeared" Cindy,  my feeling about her modified to dupe of the left, still distraught mother.  Now, I'm tired of it.  I have absolutely had it with the media painting her as a grieving selfless mother.  I catch up and the Huffington Post every day, just to see the story book Cindy is writing.  I'm tired of reading, "It was so wonderful to be with so many friends..." and how magical the candle light vigils are.  Gag me. I can't take the media's abstract portrayal of Cindy Sheehan as a benevolent mother who wants to save the world from the imperialistic USA and it's emperor, George W. Bush.  In reality, I see her as an obessive socialist/pacifist, who believes that war is always wrong, that all wars are pointless and not worth fighting for (BTW, if someone could write a dialog between Cindy and George S. Patton if he were still alive, I'm sure everyone would get a kick out of it).  And to hate your country so badly and then try and say she supports the troops is pure crap.  I have had it with the media portraying her as an authority on military action, politics, and patriotism.  Patriotism is supporting your country, or working to change it, patriotism is NOT deliberately trying to undermine the military by providing propoganda to the enemy, we call that treason.  I am not directly calling Cindy a traitor, but consider what her actions do to troop morale.  Would you still consider her a Loving mother or a Kool Aid drinker?

In DVD's I have of the classic Max Fleischer Superman cartoon's, Lois Lane is depicted as the embodiment of American femininity as she carries herself simultaneously with spunk and lady-like decorum.

As the foremost expression of American popular culture, the changes in Superman over the years can be used to map the extent of the nation's moral decline.

For example, in the current Smallville series, the females of this subset of the DC comics universe no longer adorn themselves like the classy dames of the 1940's or even with the elegant look of Margot Kidder or Annette O'Toole in the movies of the 1980's but rather drink and whore around with the best of them all the while leaving little to the imagination as to the appearance of their bellies and lower backs.

The media has shamelessly ignored that most of the Catholic priests accused of sexual misconduct with young boys are homosexual or have homosexual tendencies. Few priests have accosted women or girls. (PLEASE don't call me a gay-basher: I'm addressing a media-bias issue here, not a lifestyle!)

Elite media report the so-called the church's pedophilia problem as though it involves numerous priests, but this is not true. Approximately 400 allegations were made against priests nationwide in recent years and many of those making such claims know that the cases are so old (up to 50 years ago) that accusers face little chance of prosecution for filing false charges; some will likely even receive out-of-court settlements.

Consider, too, that even if half of the claims are true, then 200 cases represent less 0.5 percent of all U.S. priests, whose numbers total about 45,000.

The right-wing echo chamber in this country would be amusing if it wasn't so alarming. A bunch of sheep spouting the day's talking points hardly qualifies as "debate". Bozell, et al are really only paranoid followers with little or no rational, intelligent points of view. (although it is fun when we find out Limbaugh is a junkie and Bennett can't stay away from the slots!) A mindless, talentless, tasteless, useless bunch. Maybe Hannity will get caught with his hands in Michael Reagan's pants! 

Today’s Boston Globe op-ed page carries a blast of propaganda so undiluted it makes you look around blinking and wonder how you strayed into a teach-in. "Katrina’s Real Name," by Ross Gelbspan, author of "The Heat Is On" and "Boiling Point," builds on a rhetorical trope: The "real name" of various disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, "is global warming."

"When the year began with a two-foot snowfall in Los Angeles," Gelbspan begins, "the cause was global warming." My mother lives in L.A. I think she would have mentioned it.

"When 124-mile-an-hour winds shut down nuclear plants in Scandinavia…" "When the worst drought on record triggered wildfires in Spain and Portugal…" "When a lethal heat wave in Arizona kept temperatures above 110 degrees and killed more than 20 people in one week…" "Culprit…villain…blistering…heartbreaking…terrifying…" Like Ol’ Man River, Gelbspan just keeps rolling.

A just-released Washington Post/ABC News poll strongly suggests that American attitudes toward the war in Iraq have not been changed by the recent activities and exorbitant press coverage surrounding new anti-war idol Cindy Sheehan:

The survey also suggests, however, that Sheehan's anti-war vigil has failed to mobilize large numbers of Americans against the war. If anything, her opposition has done as much to drive up support for the war as ignite opponents, the survey found.

Eight in 10 Americans--including overwhelming majorities of Democrats, Republicans and political independents--say Sheehan's protest has had no impact on their attitudes toward Iraq. While one in 10 say she has made them less likely to support the war, the same proportion say she has made them more likely to back the conflict.

Yet, what is peculiar about this release is its absence from today’s Washington Post print edition.  The results were posted at the WaPo website at 7:00AM eastern time, and, conceivably were given to the editors too late to make this morning’s paper.  However, one wonders if these numbers had shown huge movements in public opinion as a result of Cindy and Company’s protests if this would have been headline news today.  Moreover, it shall be interesting to watch how prominently these numbers are displayed in tomorrow’s paper if at all.

If you only got your news about Hugo Chavez from the Today show you could only assume that he's a sweetheart of a guy. To date Today show has yet to fully report on, shall we say, Chavez's bad side. On this morning's Today at 8:11 am, Natalie Morales offered no context in her anchor brief about Reverend Jesse Jackson's trip to Venezuela.

Natalie Morales: "The Reverend Jesse Jackson is praising a plan offered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Chavez says he will offer the U.S. cheap heating oil for poor communities as well as cooperate with U.S. anti-drug efforts. The two men are meeting in Caracas. Jackson has called on President Bush to condemn remarks by Pat Robertson who suggested Chavez should be assassinated."

I think it's fair to say the only conclusion a devoted viewer of Today can come away with is: Why is Pat Robertson picking on this guy? Why that Hugo Chavez is a friend of the poor and an ally in the war on drugs!

Radio Equalizer has an interesting compilation of various media outlets who reported on the number of pro- and anti-war protestors in Crawford.

Little Green Footballs highlights these two pictures from Crawford, each with Cindy Sheehan praying with Al Sharpton.

The first picture shows the version you'll see on most of the networks, the second picture shows the actual event.

Moment 1:

Moment 1 zoomed out:

The Hollywood Reporter says the president of CBS News, Andrew Heyward, thinks hiring an ombudsman is "a risk."

The ombudsman will be a "kind of media reporter, mostly focused on CBS News, reporting and writing about how the news is gathered, produced and placed." He will write a blog that is meant to go "behind the scenes"

Their new blogger is Vaughn Ververs, former editor of the "Hotline" political report. He does not answer to Heyward, but rather to someone outside the news division, CBS Digital Media head Larry Kramer.

Although Heyward thinks it's a risk, he's all for it.

"I'm banking on the fact that people will also see how much effort we make about being fair and being ethical."

Matching NBC and MSNBC stories from last Thursday, on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show over the weekend, Matthews touted Cindy Sheehan as representing a “tipping point” on Iraq analogous to Walter Cronkite’s 1968 on-air lecture about Vietnam. Matthews set up his lead topic: “Next stop, Saigon? This month a watershed moment of defeatism over Iraq. Senators are getting quiet and polls are sinking. Then a tipping point [footage of Cindy Sheehan]. An anti-war mother of a fallen soldier becomes an emblem of anger and national frustration. It reminds many of another clear tipping point from another war." Matthews then played a clip from Cronkite. On last Thursday’s NBC Nightly News, Carl Quintanilla trumpeted how Sheehan has “dominated headlines, mobilized protesters” and made “it safe, her supporters say, to voice doubts about the war, just as Walter Cronkite did on the Evening News in 1968.”

Full CyberAlert item follows. For all the items in today’s MRC CyberAlert.

Today the Washington Post's Peter Carlson "celebrates" the 10th anniversary of The Weekly Standard magazine, puckishly noting that it "is a truly excellent right-wing warmongering magazine, no matter what your political persuasion might be."

Carlson unearths a bit of prescient "warmongering" to demonstrate the WS's reach: "Without a doubt, the most important idea yet advanced by the Standard came in the essay 'Saddam Must Go,' written by Kristol and Robert Kagan and published in November 1997. The idea was: Hey, let's invade Iraq, conquer Baghdad and overthrow Saddam Hussein for expelling American weapons inspectors. At the time, nobody paid much attention to the suggestion. But five years later, President Bush dusted off the idea and ordered the Pentagon to execute it. And, as we all know now, it worked perfectly. Or maybe not. You make the call."