On Friday night, CNN viewers were treated to the special "Keeping Them Honest: The Truth About Global Warming," which took time to examine nine "alleged inconsistencies or exaggerations" in Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," as enumerated in a ruling by a British judge. Host Miles O'Brien also interviewed a member of the IPCC, the group which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Gore, in the form of a scientist who has challenged Gore's views on global warming. O'Brien, who a week earlier had tagged dissenters with such labels as "dead-enders" and "a very small fringe," on this show suggested that people who are "skeptical" about global warming are "in the dark," and presented what he called "surprising" polling data showing a substantial number of Americans have doubts about global warming theory. (Transcript follows)

Mitt Romney

Giuliani Speaks at the Values Voter Summit

www.frc.org

www.joinrudy2008.com

If you are old enough to remember how badly the press corps treated vice president Dan Quayle -- you might recall specifically that they made fun of how he once spelled potato(e) -- you will understand why ABC's Political Radar blog is trying to associate Fred Thompson with Dan Quayle in theirs headlined, "Fred Thompson's Quayle-Hunting?" They mean the association to be a detraction, something with which they can smear Fred Thompson as he makes his run for the White House.

But, their obvious ulterior motives aside, this attempt to associate Quayle and Fred doesn't even make much sense. In fact, the whole story is not only a ho hum incident in light of American history, but the fact that they are associating Quayle and Thompson has no teeth to it.

As the Iraq war continues, the vitriol from the left is getting even more hostile.

In fact, just days after a long-time member of Congress stood on the floor of the House claiming the president is amused by American soldiers having their heads blown off, media writer and Fox News contributor Neal Gabler strongly implied that he'd like the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol to go to Iraq and die.

Here's the partial transcript of this unbelievable moment in television history from Saturday's "Fox News Watch" (h/t Hot Air, video available here):

During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. -- United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec. 171

Turns out that not wearing a flag lapel pin isn't the only way Barack Obama chooses to show he's a different kind of Democrat.

Have a look at the photo from the October 1, 2007 edition of "Time." It shows Obama, Hillary and Bill Richardson at the Steak Fry of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on September 17 in Indianola, IA during [according to the photo caption] the National Anthem. Richardson and Clinton have their hands on their heart. But not Obama. Does he perhaps believe that, like wearing the flag pin, the hand on the heart isn't "true patriotism"?

View video of anthem-playing here, showing that Obama never placed hand over heart. Warning: prepare ears for fingernails-on-blackboard rendition of anthem.

We had been warned that the Mexican Government was possibly increasing their attempts to assist illegals in breaking the law, now this: "The Mexican Consulate in Texas, which has been at war with Irving city officials over their crackdown on illegal aliens, says it now wants to send mobile units into the city to deliver identification cards to try to save the illegals from arrest."

This is a continuing example of a foreign government openenly subverting U.S. Law inside the U.S.

See article here: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58249

(Article from "World Net Daily" website; 20 OCT 2007 Article entitled "No ID? No Problemo! Mex to deliver badges", author not listed)

HBO's Bill Maher is in trouble with the extreme left-wing of this nation - which, coincidently, represents the vast majority of his fan-base! - for refusing to believe the Bush administration had anything to do with taking down the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

In fact, last month on "Real Time," he dedicated an entire "New Rule" to this matter stating, "Crazy people who still think the government brought down the Twin Towers in a controlled explosion have to stop pretending that I'm the one that's being naïve."

On Friday's "Real Time," the Truthers struck back by infiltrating his audience, and interrupting the show for several minutes. The fracas resulted in Maher actually going into the crowd several times to assist security in removing the offending parties, and finally saying (video available here courtesy our dear friend Ms Underestimated, viewers are forewarned about the presence of vulgarity):

The Saturday New York Times story on Rush Limbaugh’s eBay auction misconstrued his "phony soldiers" comment in the opening – and mysteriously, allowed Limbaugh to make his point about how it was a literal meaning about men who falsified a combat history, in paragraph 12. Stephanie Strom’s story began:

After Rush Limbaugh referred to Iraq war veterans critical of the war as "phony soldiers," he received a letter of complaint signed by 41 Democratic senators. He decided to auction the letter, which he described as "this glittering jewel of colossal ignorance," for charity, and he pledged to match the price, dollar for dollar.

Later in the piece, Strom added context, quoting Harry Reid, but only vaguely summarizing Limbaugh, without even using names like "Jesse Macbeth."

He predicted that the sale’s success would anger one signer of the letter, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, whom Mr. Limbaugh calls Dingy Harry.

As reported by NewsBuster Richard Newcomb, an interesting clash between the anti-war group Code Pink and the pro-military Move America Forward occurred at a United States Marines recruitment center in Berkeley, California, on Wednesday.

Although one of the local newspapers did a fairly balanced report of the confrontation - including quite surprisingly beginning the piece "Flag-waving demonstrators far outnumbered a group of peace advocates" - the Bay Area's CBS-TV affiliate, KPIX, painted quite disparate pictures of the leaders of the organizations involved.

In particular, MAF's Melanie Morgan was depicted as an evil, intransigent warmonger after she was asked the following (video available here):

Why do they do this? Why does she feel the need to bring sexuality into this? Everything is activisim now.

 I hate liberals and I now hate J.K. Rowling... what a stupid woman.

 All Liberals must be defeated and taken out.... of any place of power.

There is no place in this world for Liberals.... they must go.

Given his show's modest ratings, it's unlikely that Keith Olbermann would be in a position to make a multi-million dollar donation to charity anytime soon. But let's imagine he did. Do you think that, in a segment on a related subject, NBC might find a moment to mention Olbermann's generosity?

So do I.

But "Today" managed to get through its report this morning about Rush Limbaugh's auctioning off of the Harry Reid letter . . . without mentioning that Rush has publicly pledged to match the $2.1 million winning bid.

View video here.

As media induced warm-mongering heats up across the globe, Europe is about to take climate change hysteria to a new level by requiring cigarette-style health warnings about carbon dioxide emissions in advertisements for new cars.

I kid you not.

As reported by The Times Saturday (h/t Marc Morano, emphasis added):

On Friday's "20/20," ABC's John Stossel presented the views of scientists who dissent from the Al Gore view of global warming, including two former members of the IPCC – the committee which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Gore. These scientists disagreed with the selection process of the committee's members and some of its conclusions. The ABC host disputed some of the claims in "An Inconvenient Truth," and even presented the view that increased carbon dioxide levels are the result of global warming, rather than the cause, as he took on Gore's famous graph from the movie. Stossel: "But the real inconvenient truth is that carbon increases came after temperature rose -- usually hundreds of years later. Temperature went up first. I wanted to ask Mr. Gore about that and other things, but he wouldn't agree to talk about this." Video of the segment can be seen here. (Transcript follows)

On Thursday, for the first time in American history, a state denied an electricity producer a construction license for a coal-fired power plant due to manmade global warming fears. As ominously reported by the New York Times Saturday (emphasis added):

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Thursday turned down a permit for twin 700-megawatt coal-fired generators that a group of electric cooperatives is seeking to build near Holcomb in southwest Kansas. The ownership and the electricity would be shared by 67 cooperatives in Kansas and neighboring states.

The department's staff had recommended issuing the air quality permits, but Roderick L. Bremby, the secretary of the department, said in a statement, "I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing."

As the Washington Post reported Friday, this decision has disturbing national implications (emphasis added):

With Rutgers upsetting USF Thursday, it seems a metaphysical certitude that this crazy season of underdog victories will continue. With that in mind, here are the games that could produce surprises:

Without appearing to suck up to my dear friend Blonde, I think Florida beats Kentucky. They've had a good week off to prepare, and from what I've read, have had strong practices during this period. By contrast, after a win like Kentucky had over LSU Saturday, it can be tough to have focused practices, which often leads to a disappointing letdown. I like Florida here to right its season with a win today.

I predicted last week that Oregon State could beat my Bears (full disclosure, this is my alma!) as I had been told that Longshore's injury was more serious than being reported. As such, I'm concerned that UCLA could also upset Cal today destroying what prior to last Saturday evening looked like a miracle season.

Colorado has a real shot at beating Kansas in Boulder today. I think the Buffalos are a much stronger team than their record shows, and now that the Huskers have fallen off the cliff, a win today makes their whole season thereby setting them up nicely for 2008.

Not much of an upset call here, but Illinois at home should beat Michigan.

*****Update: Florida beat Kentucky. UCLA beat Cal (sigh).

For general debate and discussion. Possible talking point: the stock market had an awful week capped by yesterday's huge selloff. Part of Friday's move was ignited by famed hedge fund manager Julian Robertson who told CNBC's Erin Burnett (video available at link), "I think we are going to have a doozy of a recession."

Is he right, or is the market predicting another economic downturn that won't happen?

Al Gore: He Speaks for Us All

It would be quite the understatement to say that members of the media approved of Al Gore's Nobel Prize win. Sam Donaldson lauded Gore for doing something "very important." Cokie Roberts justified the former vice president's inaccuracies by claiming that even if it was propaganda, Gore made an important issue popular. Over on CNN, reporter Miles O'Brien, once again, declared that the debate over the subject is over.

The Great 'Prophet' Spoke From on High

Speaking of CNN, Margaret Carlson, a former panelist for the cable network, declared Gore's victory to be a "wonderful thing." The former Deputy Washington Bureau Chief for Time magazine also complimented the former VP for doing "a great thing" and referred to him as a "prophet." Just how do these journalists maintain such professional objectivity?

In a bigtime case of the pot calling the kettle black, liberal talk radio host Ed Schultz is attacking the credibility of Air America radio host Randi Rhodes concerning her highly dubious story about her non-mugging last Sunday outside an Irish bar in New York. Brian Maloney of the Radio Equalizer has been on top of this Randi Rhodes "mugging" story from the beginning. Maloney yesterday highlighted the credibility problems of Rhodes' lame explanation on the air Thursday of her non-mugging:

Newspapers are supposed to be so much better at television at providing hard facts and context to today’s news. That’s not what the Washington Post did on Saturday in a snarky Style section article on Rush Limbaugh raising $2.1 million on eBay (and donating the same amount) to a worthy charity auctioning off Senator Harry Reid’s snotty letter to Clear Channel Communications denouncing Rush Limbaugh’s remarks about phony soldiers like Jesse Macbeth.

Neely Tucker’s short piece failed to explain the context of (a) what Rush originally said on the air about phony soldiers and (b) what Reid’s letter to Clear Channel said about they should "publicly repudiate" Limbaugh for his comments. The Post tried to discount the whole affair as "petty bickering about patriotism" and "grandstanding." Here’s the whole (brief, context-challenged) article, that came with a "Limbaugh Spins Reid's Letter Into Charity Gold" headline: