Trey Parker and Matt Stone of the hit Comedy Central series “South Park” were recently interviewed during MTV Networks Television Critics Association tour as reported by Reuters, and the irreverent duo made some interesting statements about episodes of theirs that have been censored: “The creators of ‘South Park’ lambasted Comedy Central Thursday for removing an episode that lampooned Scientology and Tom Cruise from the network's repeat schedule and for blanking out the image of Muhammad during another.” Parker said, “‘So there are two things we can't do on Comedy Central: show Muhammad or Tom Cruise.’”

The article elaborated:

On Thursday night, and then again on Friday night, anchor Brian Williams gave time on the NBC Nightly News to highlighting Valerie Plame Wilson's lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby and top Bush advisor Karl Rove. On Thursday, Williams framed the story from Plame Wilson's agenda, reporting her “cover was blown after her husband criticized the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction,” and relayed how her lawsuit says Cheney, Libby and Rove “all conspired to discredit, punish and seek revenge against the couple and claims their constitutional and legal rights were violated.” Rove's denial then got five words.

On Friday night, Williams heralded how “today we heard Plame speak in public for the very first time. She told reporters in Washington she and her husband filed this lawsuit with quote, 'heavy hearts.'" Viewers then saw a clip of Plame slamming her targets: "I and my former CIA colleagues trusted our government to protect us as we did our jobs. That a few reckless individuals within the current administration betrayed that trust has been a grave disappointment to every patriotic American." (Transcripts follow.)

Why anyone ever bothers using an AP/Ipsos poll result to "prove" anything is beyond me. It has been well documented by multiple sources that this France based polling company habitually over samples Democrats in their polls and this particular poll is no different.

But, here is the AP wire headline screaming that "Americans want Democrats in Power" in their latest poll.

WASHINGTON - Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.

Original AP caption: "Former CIA officer Valerie Plame, center, and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, left, take part in a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington."

Surely, no one in the U.S. media could have a kind word to say about Hezbollah, the radical Palestinian terrorist group that decades ago seized southern Lebanon as a base for anti-Israeli operations — including the rocket attacks now indiscriminately harassing Israeli towns and cities — and which has killed hundreds of Americans in various hijackings, kidnappings and bombings over the years.

Well, in fact there have been those in the American press who’ve tried to downplay Hezbollah’s perpetration of terrorist acts, including the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks that killed 241 Marines. Even since September 11, 2001, a few journalists have tried to argue that Hezbollah could plausibly be seen as freedom fighters resisting Israeli authority.

Another friend sent a giggle with the HBO press release on Spike Lee's forthcoming Katrina documentary. Is Spike Lee seeking a "wide range of opinions"? Bayou Buzz has details, including this piece of the press release:

Lee and his team selected nearly 100 people from diverse backgrounds, representing a wide range of opinions, to be featured in the film, including Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Harry Belafonte, Wynton Marsalis, CNN´s Soledad O´Brien, Terence Blanchard, Rev. Al Sharpton, Wendell Pierce, Sean Penn, Kanye West, local media and other New Orleans residents.

It might be a pretty big event: It "will have a world premiere August 16 in New Orleans before a potential 10,000 people. The premiere in New Orleans will be one year after the Hurricane Katrina disaster. On Wednesday, Aug. 16, Acts I and II will be presented free of charge before a potential audience of 10,000 people at the New Orleans Arena."

The line between old-fashioned objective reporting and opinion writing is blurry enough on the big subjects like the war on terrorism and the economy, but in entertainment journalism, it’s becoming nearly impossible to differentiate between the two, especially since those who deliver this product don’t, and won’t.

Take it from me: This is a rough neighborhood to work in if you are lobbying for decency and family-friendly programming on television and regularly deal with the entertainment press. In the daytime, you’re working with reporters you assume are dedicated to telling the story in an objective and balanced manner. But when they go moonlighting on more opinionated Internet web logs, entertainment reporters often make it clear that the concept of upholding decency is a bad joke.

In a poll of only "registered" voters, the Associated Press warns that "Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November."

Right On has an analysis of the poll.

The latest poll from the AP tells us that “Most Americans Plan to Vote for Democrats”. According to the poll, registered voters are tired of a Republican Congress and are willing to reverse control by a margin of 3 to 1.

The AP polled 789 registered voters which side they would vote for and of those questioned, Democrats were chosen 51 to 40 percent.

There’s a problem with such polls though… registered voters do not always vote, ESPECIALLY during mid-term elections. The same problem occurred in 2004 when registered voters were polled and a comfortable lead for John Kerry was projected. If you’re going to poll people for an accurate sampling, poll LIKELY voters. States keep voting records… you find people with a reliable record of voting and you poll THEM. Those are the people who you will see in line on voting day. Just because you’re registered, does not mean you will vote.

Most NBers are likely unfamiliar with the name Eric Boehlert. He is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine that used to write for Salon, and has a book out called “Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over For Bush.” In it, he accused the media of actually having a pro-Bush bias in a book that the Washington Post’s Book World comically declared was “written as though a cadre of Bill Clinton's defenders were its editors.”

Well, Boehlert is at it again, this time claiming at Huffington Post that “the Arab-Israeli conflict is told in the United States mostly through the eyes of Israelis, and that's especially true on cable news channels.”

Boehlert’s angst stemmed from watching CNN on Thursday after reading a Reuters article about 53 Lebanese civilians being killed in an Israeli attack, “a fact that struck [him] as central to the unfolding story” in the Middle East:

A colleague forwarded a press release from MTV titled "MTV News Presents: Iraq Uploaded To Air Friday, July 21st at 8PM (ET/PT)." The special will show how soldiers "document war" in Iraq and share it on the Web, but watch out for that "mujahideen" perspective:

In this half hour special report, MTV News’ Gideon Yago delves into this technological and social phenomenon [of soldier-made video] emerging from the front lines in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Through short videos on user generated content websites, OIF troops provide an unvarnished and unrefined perspective of the violence of combat, the relationships of men in uniform and the reality of war. “MTV News Presents: Iraq Uploaded” will air on Friday, July 21st at 8PM (ET/PT).

Time magazine has hired another liberal blogger in its ongoing effort to make the balance of its conservative vs. liberal bloggers as balanced as its news reporting. Not only that, their new blogger is a fan of Bush conspiracy theories.

AllahPundit writes at Hot Air:

This makes three bloggers writing for Time now: Marshall, Wonkette, and of course St. Andrew.

St. Andrew being the “conservative.”

Remember when WaPo hired Ben Domenech and the left wet its pants for days over the fact that they hadn’t hired a left-wing blogger to balance him out? When does Time sign Captain Ed or Josh Trevino to balance out Marshall?

Historical revisionism…describes the process that attempts to rewrite history by downgrading, denying or simply ignoring essential facts.[1]

A recent article in U.S. News & World Report employs two common myths to explain why pro-gun groups allegedly wield too much political power:

Saul Cornell of Ohio State's Second Amendment Research Center, says polls consistently show broad support for gun control. What gives the gun lobby strength, he says, is that supporters see gun control as a make-or-break issue. With that passion comes money. Gun-rights groups contributed nearly 14 times as much as gun-control groups in the 2004 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.[2] [Emphasis added]

Somebody please tell me what is funny or - more importantly - true about this cartoon.

Is this really the view of Dan Wasserman and by extension the paper that employs him - the Boston Globe? Do Wasserman and the Globe really believe that, in his heart, President George W. Bush is a torture-master of medieval proportions? Do they truly think that only international agreements and court decisions stand between him and the barbarous flaying of prisoners?

The cartoon is presumably referencing a recent Supreme Court decision that ruled against the administration's use of military tribunals for the trial of Gitmo detainees.

A Friday editorial, "Chained to the Ballot," applauds a U.S. District judge for keeping former House majority leader Tom DeLay on the ballot for the upcoming congressional election, calling DeLay’s failed attempt (he will appeal the ruling) a "gambit" and "final power play," as well as "bait-and-switch politicking."

"The former House majority leader Tom DeLay, master practitioner of tooth-and-claw politics, finds himself in a predicament. He’s been cast adrift somewhere between Texas and Virginia after a court struck down his parting Congressional gambit.

The numbers are starting to come out for newspaper earnings. Take a wild guess.

• The Tribune Company lost 62 percent of their earnings.
• McClatchy kept earnings about the same though they lost almost 5 percent of their circulation.
• Media General lost 47 percent from a year ago.
• Gannett lost 8.3 percent.

Of course, none of the papers will admit that their bias and reportage are to blame for their problems. Instead it is all the fault of Internet activities, Craigslist, the uncooperative entertainment and auto industry, and a "weak operating environment." Leave it to journalists to blame even thier financial problems on the environment.

I would highly suggest any newspaper publishers wanting to save their papers take a tip from my recent Newsbusters post on the real problem.

This well publicized poll "found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule." I'm calling bullshit on this right now. My prediction is that the GOP WILL NOT lose EITHER HOUSE in November. (ok, maybe some seats, but... FORGET IT, I'M STICKING TO MY PREDICTION!) This poll/agitprop is designed so that the future accusations of voter fraud (against the GOP) will have more credence. ----- "All the polls showed the opposite and so they must have cheated!" This is SOP for the left and like many policies/functions on the left, this actually hurts the very people it wishes to help; namely the Democrats because then they go and get depression and BDS, etc.

So, there's another AP-Ipsos poll. And it says, now, in July, 4 months before the election, that the Democrats are leading on the generic congressional ballot question. The AP, being the fine news organization that it is, is, of course, covering this hot news story. In a calm, fair and balanced manner. As their analysis shows.

With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule...

Now, maybe, just possibly, they did ask people whether "profess[ed] a desire to see Democrats wrest control" of the congress. But the poll itself is apparently not yet publicly available, and I'm extremely skeptical. I do believe that they asked fewer than 800 registered voters, and the Democrats led on the generic congressional ballot question. An unbiased news organization would recognize that that fact doesn't come close to justifying the prose with which they began their report.

Let's touch base, briefly, with reality. The Democrats holding a lead in the generic congressional ballot question 4 months before an election is neither unprecedented nor indicative of a likely Democratic takeover of congress. In July of 2004, before the Democratic convention, the Democrats held a 9-10 point lead in the generic congressional ballot question. In November of 2004, in an election that was surely successfully "nationalized," the Republicans won 52% of the two-party vote, and 53% of the seats in the House Of Representatives. In September of 2002, the Democrats still led the Republicans by 5 points on the generic congressional ballot test, 46-41. Results? Republicans take 53% of the congressional vote and 52% of the seats. The Democrats led by 7 points in July of 2000 - the Republicans held the congress. In late August of 1998, the AP found the Democrats up by 6 in a poll of likely voters - the Republicans held the congress.

Israel might be defending itself on two fronts this morning, but that might not be enough. The Today show was attacking on at least three. And in a brief-but-telling moment, Andrea Mitchell gave away the blame-Israel game with a spontaneous shake of the head.

Here's the gist of Today's reporting:

• Israel's offensive against Hezbollah is based on a 'pretext.'
• The Bush administration has dropped the diplomatic ball. It should have sent higher-level people in to mediate sooner. In the meantime, despite the concerns of America's European allies, the Bush White House has given Israel a dangerous 'green light' to attack.
• The Bush administration is not responding effectively to the crisis because it is 'overwhelmed' and spread too thin by involvement elsewhere.
• With ghoulish glee, Today wasted no time speculating on the possibility of $100/barrel oil resulting from the heightened tensions.

The latest e-mail from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is signed by Rep. John Murtha, in which he repeats the Karl-Rove-air-conditioned-fat-backside line he used on the Olbermann hootenanny on MSNBC. (Maybe that works with liberals, but ahem, isn't Murtha's backside fatter than Rove's?) Rest assured, this lame appeal to put the Democrats back in the majority won't have Rove in a murderous dither:

To all the Republicans who sit in their air-conditioned offices and talk of the courage it takes for them to keep young kids in harm's way - I say enough. Karl Rove talking about "cutting and running" while he sits on his big, fat backside-saying "stay the course." I say enough! That's not a plan! We've got to have a new direction, and it's clear we need more Democrats in Congress to get that done.

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

In March 2004, when the Bush campaign ran ads showing a brief image of a flag-draped body being removed from the World Trade Center wreckage, the media played up charges by Bush critics that the President was exploiting 9/11 for political purposes. When Republicans recently criticized Democrats for an ad that included images of flag-draped coffins of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, most of the media ignored the controversy, but not MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. The Countdown host instead weighed in taking the side of Democrats. Olbermann portrayed Republican criticism of the ad as "rock throwing" by those living in "glass houses" while putting no burden on Democrats to be consistent with their criticism of the Bush ad two years ago, as he relayed the Democratic argument justifying the ad: "Democrats say the Republicans erased the line years ago." (Transcript follows)

No doubt you've seen countless examples of newspapers pining for open government, sunshine laws and freedom of access to court documents. That's fine when you're a journalist chasing evil corporations and big government, but as we all know journalists don't play by the same rules as the rest of us.

The Missoulian was caught cheating their carriers out of money rightfully owed. No one doubts that -- they have settled in the class action lawsuit. But don't bother asking by how much they cheated their own employees, the enforcers of transparency won't talk about it. One might then ask a carrier, but the terms of the settlement are confidential. A good reporter would then turn to the court documents but the newspaper "also took the unusual step of requesting that the entire court file be sealed, which request the court granted."

How can we know if the carriers are making "a living wage?"