Global warming is contributing to an unusually harsh typhoon season in China that started around a month early and has left thousands dead or missing, government officials and experts say.

"Against the backdrop of global warming, more and more strong and unusual climatic and atmospheric events are taking place.

Citing a tip from a reader, Dr. Rusty Shackleford of The Jawa Report emailed me to point out what appears to be more shenanigans in the ongoing fauxtography/staged news scandal.

According to the AP, two Fox employees, one being reporter Steve Centanni, were kidnapped by Palestinians in Gaza earlier today. Fox is barely speaking about this at all, and I'm tending to think it's to keep it out of the spotlight while negotiations are on-going. Only Jennifer Griffin would mention this as she was interviewed from Kiryat Shmona (video link by MsUnderestimated) this afternoon. God speed and I hope for a quick release of these hostages. My prayers are with the entire Fox family now, even though the lunatics over at DU are voicing their "wishes" about who they wanted it to have been.

Well, we have the MSM's drum beat slogan firmly established. It is increasingly being used time and again since the British uncovered their terror plot last week. Republicans are merely "using" this whole terror thing as a tactic to get votes.

It couldn't be that we REALLY face terrorism, that is is something to be worried about and discussed seriously, right?

Nah, it must just be a dirty GOP trick!

Today, CNN has posted a story from their senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, titled "Can the GOP use the terrorism issue to win -- again?, Suspected plot to blow up airliners puts issue front and center."

Um, no, your blather puts the "issue front and center", Mr. Schneider!

Interviewing 9/11 Commission members Gov. Thomas Kean and Rep. Lee Hamilton on yesterday's Meet the Press, NBC's David Gregory repeatedly pushed his guests to admit Iraq was a distraction from the war on terror. Both Kean and Hamilton gave carefully-worded but clearly affirmative responses to Gregory's question but Gregory, substituting for Tim Russert, kept pushing for a harsher assessment of the administration. Gregory opened the segment reciting the cover of Newsweek: "Welcome both. Let me show you the cover of this week's Newsweek magazine. The banner headline: ‘Terror Now: A Plot Against Airlines, Bin Laden At Large, Iraq in Flames. Five Years After 9/11, Are We Any Safer? Governor Kean, are we?"

After a discussion about al Qaeda, Gregory prompted Kean: "Governor Kean, has that [Muslim] radicalization gotten worse since the 9/11 attacks, and why?" Kean cited a number of reasons including high-unemployment, poverty, U.S. support of Israel and the Iraq war. Out of that list, Gregory jumped on Iraq, as he launched into a barrage of anti-Iraq war questions:

According to Reuters photographer Zohra Bensemra, an elderly injured woman lies injured in the ruins of her house, awaiting rescue as Bensemra snaps these pictures.

Let's for a moment try to look past the staging elements that we've become accustomed to searching for over the past weeks.

Ignore for a moment the fact that a wounded elderly woman in a bombed out building is unlikely to be in the kind of physical condition needed to drag several pristine sofa pillows through the rubble and make a bed out of them. Look past the fact that she, in her weakened condition, has found a nearly spotless black blanket in the fine gray dust of a bombed out building to cover her legs against the 80 degree cold. Ignore the conveniently-placed bottled water she somehow found intact and had for the middle photo only.

President Bush spoke at the State Department this afternoon, and on MSNBC’s "The Most" the graphic on screen was very telling of how the media have covered Hezbollah as it read:

"Breaking News, President Bush: ‘Hezbollah hides behind innocent civilians.’"

It is common knowledge that one of the tactics used by terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, is to hide among civilian populations in order to either reduce the risk of reprisal or to ensure that if there are repercussions from their attacks, that innocent civilians are killed as well. This is a deplorable tactic but hardly breaking news.

When talking with someone who isn't especially political or is left-of-center about the topic of media bias, I will occasionally hear the argument that the media's political orientation doesn't really matter because most people are skeptical of what they hear on TV and elsewhere. In the modern age of low voter turnout, anti-advertising advertising, and the permanent campaign, people are smart enough not to take in any media message without several large grains of salt.

Non-intelligent people don't make this argument in my experience. Only smart people do.

Unfortunately, not everyone is smart. Many people continue to be very impressionable as adults, especially to mass media like television and movies, as demonstrated in this post from the Dummie Funnies, a blog run by NewsBusters user pjcomix which monitors the loonybin known as Democratic Underground.

Stand by for some really great laughs on Sunday, November 5. Some Dummies, taking their cue from the movie, "V For Vendetta," are actually planning to gather in front of public buildings around the country wearing dopey Guy Fawkes masks as you can see in this THREAD titled, "Remember, remember the 5th of November....". Yeah, that's just the ticket, DUmmies. Leading into the midterm elections, make complete FOOLS of yourselves. This doesn't totally surprise me since the DUmmies instantly took to this fantasy flick in which Britain is ruled by an EVIL rightwing regime. The DUmmies have fantasized themselves in the masked hero's role in opposing that regime (which they have transferred to the EVIL Bush regime). So let us now watch the DUmmies once again make laughingstocks of themselves in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent, looking for a V For Vendetta Halloween costume at the Dollar Store, is in the [brackets]:

Medical reporter Robert Pear for some reason covers Saturday's anti-war protest in Lafayette Park ("Rally Near White House Protests Violence in Mideast").

"Thousands of people rallied near the White House on Saturday to protest what they described as Israeli aggression in Lebanon and the United States' unwavering support for Israel."

It may not be his normal beat, but Pear proves he has what it takes to cover political stories for the Times -- an apparent deep need to portray any group of Muslims, whether terrorist suspects or anti-war activists, as "diverse": "The diverse crowd included many Arab-Americans and Muslims, college students and families, as well as veterans of prior demonstrations against the war in Iraq."

The annual Harris poll of the trust garnered by each profession is out. As usual, journalism nears the bottom of the list, 16 out of 22, lower than the president and lower than another target they like to attack, business leaders.

"Would you generally trust each of the following types of people to tell the truth, or not?"

Doctors
Teachers
Scientists
Police officers
Professors
Clergymen or priests
Military officers
Judges

The following is cross-posted at MRC's BusinessandMedia.org:

Nearly two week ago, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell suggested hard-line Communist Raul Castro really did have a soft spot for capitalism.

"Raul has been in charge of the military and the economy,” Mitchell explained to the August 2 “Today” show audience, calling Fidel’s younger brother “politically hard-line but more open than his brother to free enterprise, including foreign investment.”

She might be on to something, after all.

“Federal prosecutors in Miami were prepared to indict Raul Castro as the head of a major cocaine smuggling conspiracy in 1993, but the Clinton Administration Justice Department overruled them, current and former Justice Department officials tell ABC News,” ABC’s Brian Ross and Vic Walter reported on August 14.

The caption for the left picture reads:

An Israeli soldier flashes a V for victory sign after receiving orders to stop firing into south Lebanon, along the Israel-Lebanon border, in the early hours. Faced with another Middle East crisis, American Jews have rallied to collect donations for Israel, although some in the community argue that funds should also be sent to war-ravaged Lebanon for aid its reconstruction.(AFP/David Furst)

And on the right, we're treated to:

Lebanese children sit atop a pick up truck as they flash V-signs and wave Hezbollah flags as hundreds of cars with displaced Lebanese returning to southern Lebanon, wait in line to pass the destroyed bridge of Zahrani that was attacked by Israeli warplanes during the month-long operations, south of the port city of Sidon, Monday, Aug. 14, 2006. Thousands of cars flooded Lebanon's bombed out highways heading south within an hour of a U.N. cease-fire taking hold, and Lebanese army troops scrambled to repair roads in time for the deluge of refugees returning home. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Ok. So there's nothing unusual about having a war in which both sides claim victory, and in a conflict that's as long-running as this one, I don't think we can expect anything different. But notice the differences in these photos: The Israelis are portrayed as dark, ominous invaders claiming victory, presumably against a civilian populace.

Fast and furious, the media composes, and the blogosphere disposes:

Photographer Alleges Unearthing of Bodies (from Little Green Footballs; HT e-mailer LG)

A portion of the photographer's comment (it appears that Denton's original is gone, but that another commenter reposted it within his own comment; scroll down to "Andy Levin Fri Aug 11 09:54:08")

i have been working in lebanon since all this started, and seeing the behavior of many of the lebanese wire service photographers has been a bit unsettling. while hajj has garnered a lot of attention for his doctoring of images digitally, whether guilty or not, i have been witness to the daily practice of directed shots, one case where a group of wire photogs were coreographing the unearthing of bodies, directing emergency workers here and there, asking them to position bodies just so, even remove bodies that have already been put in graves so that they can photograph them in peoples arms. these photographers have come away with powerful shots, that required no manipulation digitally, but instead, manipulation on a human level, and this itself is a bigger ethical problem.

It's been 18 years but the media still can't get over Michael Dukakis' defeat to George Bush and the Willie Horton ad they blame for that Bush victory. On this morning's Today NBC's Ann Curry brought on psychologist Jeff Gardere to discuss a new study that showed how emotions can overtake logic in decision-making. Curry introduced the segment: "Have you ever been accused of thinking with your heart and not your head well if so a new study reports your just like everybody else....This is just the latest biological evidence to suggest that next time you make a bad choice maybe you really can blame it on your emotions." Just seconds later NBC's producers ran the Horton ad as Exhibit A of emotions leading to the "bad choice," of voting for Bush.

In an article on Fidel Castro, his health, and his visit from Venezuelan Fidel fan Hugo Chavez, the Associated Press noted that "birthday articles in state-run newspapers extolled his virtues." The implication is that state-controlled papers aren't apt to be truthful, much less objective.

So what's the AP's excuse? In the very same article, AP reporter Anita Snow informs us that:

"News of Castro's illness made Cubans uneasy about the future, but a series of upbeat statements from government officials have helped calm a public facing up to the mortality of the island's longtime leader. 'What happiness I received!' exclaimed resident Margot Gomez after seeing Sunday's newspaper during a morning walk in Havana. 'Long live Fidel and long live the revolution! He knows what to do to convert setbacks into victories!'

On this morning’s "Early Show" on CBS, Tracy Smith, co-host of the "Saturday Early Show," served as a substitute co-host. Ms. Smith interviewed Evan Thomas, assistant Managing Editor of "Newsweek" magazine regarding the potential political impact the foiled London terror plot may have. As such, Smith suggested the Republicans are losing ground on the issue of terrorism and seemed hopeful that Democrats would be able make it one of their own issues, and even pounded her fists on the table to emphasize her point.

After talking with Mr. Thomas about airport security measures and how another terrorist attack can be prevented, Ms. Smith changed the subject to the politics and noted that President Bush hasn't received a bump in the CBS poll after the London terror arrests:

The subhead in this Time magazine article promises enlightenment, but fails to deliver: "Why do so many young British Muslims turn to violence against the land where they were raised?"

Unfortunately, Time's leftward slanted editorial policies don't allow an honest answer. Rather than exploring the root causes of Islamic radicalism, which is, after all, the root cause of British Muslim radicalism, Time offers a sterile hodgepodge of random observations and politically correct standbys; they actually cite "disaffection" with Britain's foreign policy, as if that were a cause rather than a symptom of the disease.

Buried within the article is the symptom that identifies the illness:

Last week, I documented here the way CNN leaned over backwards for balance in a story. In the wake of the Seattle Jewish Center shooting, it equated the fear of Jewish-Americans of similar incidents . . . with the fear of Hezbollah supporters of being unfairly accused.

Although it wasn't nearly so egregious, Fox News Channel's Anita Vogel [seen here in a file photo] just engaged in some over-reaching herself in the name of balance. She narrated an otherwise solid segment on 'fauxtography' and other ways in which the media and Hezbollah supporters manipulate the news. The segment included an interview with star blogger Charles Johnson, founder of Little Green Footballs, who played a key role in outing the smoky Beirut-skyline bit of fauxtography.

But then, searching for balance where there really is little or none to be had, Vogel claimed that the Israeli government also manipulates the news:

"But we need to keep in mind, there are other ways foreign governments control the media. The Israeli government exercises control over the media during wartime, like prohibiting them from reporting on real-time rocket strikes and places in northern Israel where officials are visiting due to safety concerns."

This is just surreal:

The caption reads:

Lebanese civil defense rescuers, try to remove two blanket-wrapped bodies, found trapped under debris and concrete of the destroyed buildings, attacked late Monday by Israeli airstrike, in the southern Beirut suburb of Chiah, Lebanon, Tuesday Aug. 8, 2006. The raid on the Muslim southern suburb next to a Christian neighborhood killed at least 15 people, police officials said. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The bodies were found already wrapped in blankets under the debris of the building.

Thousands of Muslims in Dearborn MI are rallying for Hezbollah and it seems that the mainstream media is not interested in reporting the news.       Dearborn MI Muslims Rally for Hezbollah  http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/16597.html.       

NPR has a story http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5627457  Lebanese-Americans Are Angry and Anxious the story theme is New Support for Hezbollah and "The terrorist here is the Bush administration."       

As this column has oft chronicled, for the MSM gas prices are on a one-way escalator, a moving Stairway to Heaven in which prices are always "soaring."  Fairness thus obliges us to report an exception to the rule on today's Good Morning America.  An ABC expert actually informed us that gas prices are steadying and might even - ready? - go down.

MRC's Business & Media Institute has been tracking the MSM's slanted coverage of oil and gas.  Here's a recent example.  Hat tip to MRC's Ken Shepherd.

Even in its tease at the top of the show, GMA hinted that this might not be your typical gloom-'n-doom gas-price story: "Coming up, we have pain at the pump. Gas prices. With all this unrest in the Middle East and now new terror threats what will this do to the price of gas? You might think that prices automatically go up. But you may be surprised."

Maruan Awad Muhareb. Adham Abdelhamid Othman. Louai Abdelhamied Othman. 

Now you know the names of the three men arrested over the weekend, suspected in a plot to blow up the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas.

You wouldn't have known either their names or backgrounds had you relied on the Today show this morning for the information.  According to the wife of one of the suspects, the men's families come from Jerusalem.

According to NBC reporter Janet Shamlian, who narrated a segment on the situation, those facing terrorism charges are "three Texas men." 

Were New York Times columnists Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert hangin' in the Hamptons this weekend? Exchanging ideas at a chic cocktail party with ocean views? You might think so, judging by their columns this morning in which they sound such similar themes.

Compare Krugman: "The Bush administration and its allies in Congress saw the terrorist threat not as a problem to be solved, but as a political opportunity to be exploited."

With Herbert: "Will [Americans] continue to fall for the political exploitation of their fears of terrorism?"

Other annotated excerpts, first from Herbert's column, Aiding Our Enemies [subscription required. Note to readers: despite my reluctance to patronize the NY Times, I broke down and subscribed over the weekends. I