Unlike the 53-state commission, where members were nominated by regional blocs, the council's 47 members were elected by the U.N. General Assembly, a change which proponents say makes it more difficult for rights violators to win a seat.

Unfortunately, the story doesn't mention the fact that several members of this "new" Council are some of the worst human rights abusers in the world today.

The divine Trinity - "Father, Son and Holy Spirit'' - could also be known as "Mother, Child and Womb'' or "Rock, Redeemer, Friend'' at some Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) services under an action Monday by the church's national assembly.

Delegates to the meeting voted to "receive'' a policy paper on gender-inclusive language for the Trinity, a step short of approving it. That means church officials can propose experimental liturgies with alternative phrasings for the Trinity, but congregations won't be required to use them...The assembly narrowly defeated a conservative bid to refer the paper back for further study.

MRC intern Eugene Gibilaro found that on CBS’s Sunday Morning yesterday, movie critic David Edelstein politicized his movie review of "The Lake House." Edelstein discusses time travel movies and describes the plot of "The Lake House," as:

"I even loved the incredibly dumb time travel romance "The Lake House," where Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock send letters back and forth between 2004 and 2006."

Seems Edelstein couldn’t resist the opportunity to interject his political philosophy into the review as he alluded to the 2004 election and the fact that he believes George Bush and the Republican Party stole Ohio:

It's not especially newsworthy that Connie Chung and Maury Povich's Saturday program on MSNBC, which debuted in January, has been canceled. Perhaps no more newsworthy, but definitely more amusing, is that on the show's final episode this past weekend, Chung, as she danced on top of and around a piano, bade her audience farewell in song, to the tune of "Thanks for the Memories." (Hat tips: Drudge and NRO's The Corner.)

To be fair, Chung sings better than Elaine Benes danced. That said, watch this and you'll appreciate Bob Hope (not to mention Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys) more than you ever did before. (Monday's New York Post printed some of her lyrics.)

Video clip (3:00): Windows Media (2 MB lower quality at 81 kbps), Real (5.4 MB at higher 225 kbps quality) or MP3 audio (930 KB)

In the New York Times, a Sunday story from Berkeley, California on the closing of a legendary local bookstore carries a surprisingly old refrain. Reporter Jesse McKinley found that some leftists are still blaming Ronald Reagan for the business slump on Berkeley's main drag, Telegraph Avenue, right there in the first paragraph:

Depending on whom you ask, the reason Cody's Books is going out of business is either because of the City of Berkeley, the homeless, the University of California, the war in Iraq, Ronald Reagan, the Internet or the lack of short-term parking.

Reagan? Even now, after his death? Blaming Reagan for every negative social event was common liberal-media sport in the 1980s and 1990s, slowing a bit with the onset of Reagan's Alzheimer's disease. McKinley comes back around to the Reagan-bashing arguments at the story's end:

In "Superman Returns" (written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story they cooked up with Singer), the caped crusader for truth, justice, etc.(Brandon Routh) returns to crime-ridden Earth after a five-year detour amid the remains of his home planet. [emphasis mine].

Is "American way," so much harder to right than "etc."?  Was this a cost-cutting measure, saving 8 characters?

More on this on my blog: http://pete-puma.blogspot.com/2006/06/superman-does-not-stand-for-etcetera.html.

Reports Hollywood Reporter:

Former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather's departure from the network where he worked for the past 44 years could be finalized as soon as Monday (June 19), and he already might have landed another gig.

HDNet chief Mark Cuban confirmed Friday that he and Rather are discussing a deal that would have Rather anchoring a one-hour weekly interview/newscast on the high-definition premium channel.

New York Times reporter Eduardo Porter wrote a special frontpage Father's Day story on why illegal immigrants are just like the rest of us.

Pretend Pundit has the details.

The illegal immigration issue threatens to hurt Democrats in the fall 2006 elections, so The New York Times has delivered a very special -- front page, above the fold -- Father's Day article that will no doubt serve as talking points for many left-leaning "civil rights" groups, such as the ACLU.

The New York Post reports that the former head of Disney, Michael Eisner--who now hosts his own CNBC show--grilled television preacher Pat Robertson on social issues during a taping of "Conversations With Michael Eisner" that will air Tuesday night:

Television preacher Pat Robertson was a little irked after being challenged by Michael Eisner, the former Disney boss-turned-talk show host, on several topics, including whether or not Jewish people go to heaven.

Robertson, who most recently made headlines by claiming to have leg-pressed 2,000 pounds, had his p.r. handler e-mail CNBC executives last week following a taping for "Conversations With Michael Eisner," according to network sources.

Karl Rove's accusation that Democrats, particularly Senator John Kerry and Congressman John Murtha, want to "cut and run" from Iraq enraged and baffled CBS's Bob Schieffer, as evidenced by how he repeatedly raised the quote on Sunday's Face the Nation. With his first guest, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, Schieffer read to him how Rove charged that "Democrats 'are ready to give the green light to go to war, but when it gets tough, when it gets difficult, they fall back on that party's old pattern of cutting and running. They may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be with you for the last, tough battle.'" Schieffer demanded: "What pattern is he talking about? When have Democrats been cutting and running?" Schieffer followed up: "But are you comfortable with characterizing the Democrats as people who want to cut and run?" Later, with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who appeared with Democrat Joe Biden, Schieffer again cited the quote and then expressed his displeasure: "He's talking about two men who were wounded in combat when he says that. Is that really, is that really fair?"

In her latest column, Ann Coulter says it's sad that so many people are trying to make money attacking her new book "Godless," and ignoring the godless-liberal parts, as if that's hardly worth disputing any more. The column ends by citing how the MRC has the goods on an uncivil liberal media, citing some golden oldies:

In precisely five minutes on the Media Research Center's Web site, I turned up some random examples of the sort of civility we got from the MSM before the alternative media allowed conservatives to be heard, too. These are all-new quotes I've never even seen before. There are about a hundred more in my book "Slander."

On Ronald Reagan: "I predict historians are going to be totally baffled by how the American people fell in love with this man (Ronald Reagan) and followed him the way we did."— CBS News White House reporter Lesley Stahl on NBC's "Later With Bob Costas," Jan. 11, 1989

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If there were great news out of Iraq, which media outlet would be the least likely to report it?

a. An anti-American news network from Qatar

b. A terrorist-run television station in Lebanon

c. The New York Times

d. The Washington Post

If you answered “a” or “b,” you were contradicted by last week’s coverage. Some absolutely magnificent news did come out of Iraq last Thursday, yet, hard as it might be to believe, subscribers to The New York Times and The Washington Post would have been better off visiting the websites of the anti-American television network Al-Jazeera, or the Hezbollah-run television station Al-Manar if they wanted to find out about it.

The following are the surprising opening paragraphs of Thursday’s report by Al-Jazeera.net – a media outlet never shy about its hatred for America or its support for Islamic terrorists – in a story amazingly titled “‘End’ of al-Qaeda in Iraq,” and containing information that neither The Times nor The Post shared with their readers:

The three broadcast networks have focused growing attention on inflation recently – 42 stories since early May. CBS anchor Bob Schieffer declared on June 14 “Well, it is back, inflation, that is.” The following day, ABC’s Bill Ritter cautioned, “everything from mowing the lawn to joining a gym could cost you more money.”

Yet, when positive inflation news was announced just hours later by the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, ABC didn’t even bother reporting it on its evening news program. Meanwhile, the other two broadcast networks paid inflation relatively little notice compared to their other stories that night.

On June 15, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke told Chicago’s Economic Club that higher energy costs haven’t had a big impact on other prices, and there are even signs that such pressures may be waning. The stock market exploded on the announcement with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by almost 200 points, or 1.83 percent – its best one day showing since April 2005.

Rather than welcome the news after focusing on the evils of inflation, the networks paid little attention. ABC’s “World News Tonight” didn’t even report Bernanke’s statement about inflation. This was particularly odd as “Good Morning America” just hours a few earlier did a rather lengthy segment on the issue.

GMA’s Ritter began with a gloomy introduction:

Over the weekend in Columbus, Ohio, American Episcopalians elected a female as a new presiding bishop for America, Katherine Jefforts Schori of Nevada. The news media greeted this in typical terms: female bishop (no liberal ideology listed) selected, angering church "conservatives." (Ann Curry did that on NBC this morning.) Dig a little deeper, and find that of course, the new bishop delights the libertine left, as the Washington Post reported Monday:

The Rev. Jennifer Adams, who presides at Grace Episcopal Church, which is deemed "gay friendly" by the Grand Rapids, Mich., branch of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, described Jefferts Schori at the convention as "a woman of integrity, consistency and faith. I have no doubt her election as presiding bishop will be a gift to our church."

Liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas ("Daily Kos") appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources yesterday (Sunday, June 18, 2006). Host Howard Kurtz asked Kos about a comment he made on his blog a couple of years back. In April 2004, in a thread about the coverage of the brutal murders of four Americans in Fallujah, Kos posted a comment in which he wrote (bold mine), "I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them."

Know what the problem is with the Bush administration? They take terror threats too darn seriously. And that causes a 'backlash.'

At least, that's the claim of author Ron Suskind, who was on the Today show this morning to discuss his recently-released book, 'The One Percent Doctrine'. Suskind is a former Wall Street Journal reporter. Those who might think that would indicate a conservative bent should be aware that, perhaps more than at any other paper in America, there is a remarkable contrast in the political leanings of the news and the editorial operations of the WSJ. Yes, the editorial page is keenly free-market conservative. But as per a 2004 study, the Journal's news operation is 'the most liberal of all 20 news outlets [studied]', more liberal than even the New York Times.

To paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy: if you're an American who wants marriage to be reserved exclusively for one man and one woman . . . you might be a yahoo!

Don't believe me? Ask liberal Newsday columnist Ellis Henican. He appeared on Fox & Friends First this morning to debate radio talk show host Mike Gallagher on a variety of topics, including the Democrats' recently announced six-point plan to be implemented should they take back the House in the November elections.

Gallagher argued that this was something the Dems cooked up on the spur of the moment, frustrated by the good news for the Republicans generated by the killing of Zarqawi, the exculpation of Rove and other events.

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