ABC's World News with Charles Gibson on Thursday night hyperventilated over “breathtaking profits” for ExxonMobil, how the company made “more in 30 seconds than many families earn in a year" and how “just” $4 billion went to exploration while $6 billion went to “enriching” shareholders. But ABC never cited the company's quarterly profit number -- which at $10 billion matches $4 billion plus $6 billion and means 40 percent went for exploration.

Reporter Betsy Stark asserted: "The earnings reported today are astounding. In three months, Exxon earned $114 million a day, $80,000 a minute. Or, look at it this way: In 30 seconds, the ExxonMobil corporation makes about what an average American family earns in an entire year." (ABC charges more for a prime time ad than many families make in a year, but it's an equally silly comparison. A better one: Charles Gibson earns more in a day than most make in a year.) Stark fretted that “Exxon said just $4 billion went to exploring for new sources of oil. But $6 billion went to buying back its stock, enriching its shareholders.” How awful. But those two expenditures match the total of Exxon's profit, a number Stark conveniently failed to report verbally or on screen. Stark concluded by noting how “Democrats denounced" the profits announced by oil companies. Well, Stark and ABC certainly advanced the Democratic agenda. (Transcript follows)

Former CNN and MSNBC political commentator and long time leftist writer, Bill Press, had to admit he was taken in by an old internet hoax today.

As reported by NewsBusters, Press citied the results of a study by the "Lovenstein Institute" that placed president George W. Bush at the bottom of all the modern presidents in IQ scores. Unfortunately for Mr. Press' commentary, however, there is no such organization as the "Lovenstein Institute". It is an internet hoax that lefties so love to cite.

However, Press's apology sure didn't seem like much of an apology. On the "Parting Shot" section of his Blog for his Sirius Radio show, Press, in essence, said he was wrong but is still right about how dumb Bush is.

Not only is America in a quagmire, but Israel is, too. Via Hot Air, here's the first few grafs of a Salon reprint of a Der Spiegel article headlined "Is Israel Facing a Quagmire?:"

On the map the war looks so straightforward. An Israeli commander has marked Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon red for the purposes of our briefing -- lately practically all of the towns north of the Israeli border are colored red. Marked with blue crosses are the strategically important positions, mostly crossroads, now controlled by Israel. "Now we have to just go in and deal with the Hezbollah boys," the commander, who asked not to be identified, said. "There isn't much more to say." [...]

The mission, christened "Just Reward," now appears much more difficult than was first thought -- above all in terms of casualties. Since the small targeted ground operations began Israeli soldiers have been dying on a daily basis in heavy firefights. Wednesday was especially bloody. In an attempt to take the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbail, as many as 14 Israelis lost their lives.

Military analysts and politicians talked confidently at the beginning of the mission of targeted, surgical assaults against Hezbollah and an estimated conflict duration of about a week. Now Israel is increasingly preparing for a long war.

U.N.-beat reporter Warren Hoge forwards without question a U.N. smear against Israel in “U.N. Says It Protested to Israel for 6 Hours During Attack That Killed 4 Observers in Lebanon.”

“The United Nations said Wednesday that its top officials in New York and its officers on the ground in Lebanon made numerous calls on Tuesday to the Israeli mission and the Israeli military to protest repeated firing on its outpost in Lebanon where four unarmed observers ended up being killed.

“Jane Holl Lute, the assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, said at an emergency meeting of the Security Council that over the six-hour period in which the United Nations’ warnings were being conveyed to the Israelis, the observation post at Khiam, in southern Lebanon, continued to come under fire.

“The firings persisted even after rescuers reached the hilltop site, she said, and in all it was subjected to 21 strikes, 11 of them aerial bombardments and at least 6 artillery rounds.

“She described the observation post as ‘well known and clearly marked’ and added that no Hezbollah activity was reported in the area.”

Over at the MRC's BusinessandMedia.org today I wrote about ABC's Lisa Stark picking up a Kaiser Fmily Foundation study of how food companies mix advertisements in with kid-friendly online games as marketing gimmicks on their Web sites.

Here's a taste:

...rather than presenting the development as a safer Internet pastime for children then chatting with complete strangers or looking up pornographic Web sites, Stark suggested the advertising development is a danger to children that needs to be regulated.

"On television, there are regulations on marketing to kids, a limit on the amount of ad time on a children’s show for example, but online, it’s wide open,” complained Stark, who went on to conclude her story lamenting the trend was “only likely to get worse.”

Time magazine's online operation announced today that it has promoted former liberal blogger Ana Marie Cox to be its Washington editor. Previously, she was the founder of the airhead politics blog Wonkette. Before that, she worked for the liberal magazine Washington Monthly.

Thus far, Time's online stable includes not one conservative blogger. At present the self-described politically neutral magazine employs Joshua Marshall, Andrew Sullivan, Cox, and its White House correspondent Mike Allen, not one of whom is a conservative much less a Republican. So how is it that Time can get away with this?

UPDATE 07-28. Aww, how cute. The uberkewl Dave Weigel, one of the men who now run a site named after a woman, defends mommy:

Isn't it generally assumed that when two countries are at war, that it is the right and duty of those countries actually in the conflict to decide when that war might be over and how it is prosecuted? Certainly other nations might attempt to diplomatically intervene to help resolve the crisis but, when all is said and done, isn't it still the duty of the warring parties to arrive at their own conclusions?

Not according to The New York Times. The Times has pronounced it the duty of the "World Powers" to end Israel's security measures in Lebanon as if neither Israel nor Lebanon have a thing to say about it.

Naturally, it's all the USA's fault that they couldn't agree on a policy, too.

World Doesn't Respect Bush 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/26/opinion/polls/main1838662.shtml

Check it out.  Read the headline and what is the first thought that pops into your head? 

Poll: World Doesn't Respect Bush60% In CBS/NY Times Poll Say President Not Respected By Foreign Leaders

My first thought is that a poll of foeirgn leaders said they don't respect President Bush.  Fair enough.  I know these polls taken are to make news and the questions are asked to get the answers to bash-Bush.  BUT, this is a poll of AMERICANS asking the question what do you think world leaders think?  Isn't this hearsay?  I mean, polls have sunk to a new low.  This is simply absurd. 

During the ’90s, many conservatives referred to CNN as the “Clinton News Network.” In an op-ed published Thursday by FrontPage Magazine, radio talk show host Michael Reagan coined a new term for the cable news outlet that might come into vogue: the Terrorist News Network.

At issue for former President Ronald Reagan’s son was a story written by NewsBuster Rich Noyes on July 19, with a follow-up on July 24. Reagan began: “On July 18, CNN correspondent Nick Robertson aired a report from Beirut. Throughout his entire report on ‘Anderson Cooper 360,’ Robertson accepted uncritically the claims of a Hezbollah ‘guide’ about what he was seeing.” After quoting much of Noyes’s initial report, Reagan pointed out:

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=34307

The news source is from The Register, an extremely liberal news site known for posting nonsense.

Considering that the US made the internet, graciously allowed other nations to plug-in and then graciously gave other nations their own TLDs, the idea of ceding control to anyone is ludicrous, especially after the Bush administration made it very clear that it was not going to allow the Internet to be another Panama Canal and resolved this matter months ago.

Still does anyone know if this is true? I am asking because stupider things have happened.

Glen Carvin writes in the Miami Herald about what really went on when Keith Olbermann did a Nazi salute while holding up a Bill O'Reilly mask. The TV critics naturally got a kick out of seeing their most-hated TV personality lampooned as a Nazi.

What actually happened (and is verified in a transcript of the session prepared by NBC) is that Olbermann, onstage, was kidding around about a mild controversy about whether photographers would be permitted to cover the Saturday breakfast.

''So we thought we'd help you out, those of you who needed a good photograph of -- '' and he held up the O'Reilly mask, over his face. The critics laughed.

''And, of course, there's a more familiar one,'' Olbermann said, keeping the mask in place while shooting his arm up in a Heil-Hitler salute. The critics laughed again. ''With that bit of structured comedy out of the way, I suppose there's some questions,'' Olbermann said, and the press conference began.

It is safe to assume that few Americans are going to forget the Muslim outrage a few months ago over cartoons of the prophet Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper. Well, the Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday (hat tip to NRO Media Blog) that a Norwegian newspaper published the cartoon to the right depicting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a crazed Nazi prison camp commandant:

Invoking a scene from the film Schindler's List, one of Norway's largest newspapers recently published a political cartoon comparing Prime Minster Ehud Olmert to the infamous commander of a Nazi death camp who indiscriminately murdered Jews by firing at them at random from his balcony.

The caricature by political cartoonist Finn Graff appeared on July 10 in the Oslo daily Dagbladet.

Think this created riots and death threats in Norway? Hardly:

At a press conference for TV critics, FNC and Fox affiliates chief Roger Ailes announced he will be unveiling a syndicated morning news show next January. Now Fox fans will be able to get their fix without cable:

Ailes and Fox are gearing up for a yet-to-be named morning show that will air after the local news broadcasts. Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy of the Fox News Channel will host the 9 a.m. offering, which will focus on light, entertaining fare when there's little hard news.

The morning show will launch in January and will go up against the final hour of a Couric-free "Today" and newly formatted "Regis and Kelly," with a little less Regis Philbin. Since September, Philbin has been doing four days a week instead of five.

The Andrea Yates jury spent 36 days listening to testimony and argument, trying to get inside the mind of a woman who had drowned her five children. But with just one sentence, ABC's Chris Cuomo accorded us a stunning look inside the mind of a certified MSMer: sympathy first, last and always for the accused.

Commenting on the not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdict, Cuomo had this to say:

"Ironically, treatment might be the harshest punishment for Yates, because she has said the healthier she becomes, the more pain and regret she's able to feel."

Last Friday, the Colorado Muslim Society held a prayer service cum press conference to attack Israel for defending itself, and to defend terrorists and jihadists for attacking Israel. Among the participants was one Raeed (also Raed) Tayeh, apparently representing the Muslim American Society. Here's how the Rocky described Mr. Tayeh:

Raeed Tayeh, who will lead today’s event, is former head of the public relations office of the Muslim American Society, a national civil rights group. He also served as a speechwriter for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, D-Georgia. His articles have appeared in major newspapers and magazines, and he has been a guest speaker on several radio and television programs including, "The O'Reilly Factor." Tayeh is also the author of "A Muslim's Guide to American Politics and Government."

I glad the reporter from the Rocky knew how to type, so she could transcribe this from the press release word for word. Either that, or she can cut-and-paste with great aplomb, with the same great skill I used to bring it to you. Actually being a reporter, and finding out something about her subject seems to be beyond her, at least when she's on deadline.

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

On Wednesday's CBS Evening News, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin could have cited a letter (PDF of it) to President Bush from Congressman Ike Skelton, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, about how "nearly every non-deployed combat brigade in the active Army is reporting that they are not ready to complete their assigned wartime mission." But instead, when asked by anchor Bob Schieffer about the “strain” on troops longer deployments in Iraq will cause, Martin cited the left-wing's favorite Democrat as his authoritative source: "Congressman Jack Murtha said today Iraq has drained the Army to the point now that the vast majority of combat brigades in the U.S. and Europe are rated at the lowest level of readiness."