After leading with the terrible toll of deadly “super-cell” storms with tornadoes which struck Missouri and Alabama on Thursday, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric's mind turned to global warming as the potential cause. She asked “CBS News weather analyst” Bryan Norcross, working out of the network's Washington bureau: “Bryan, I understand people have been asking you this all day” -- probably CBS News staffers in the DC bureau -- “Does this have anything to do with global warming?”

Norcross, a “hurricane specialist” for the CBS-owned Miami station WFOR-TV channel 4, rejected the premise: “No, I don't think so. This is just part of this extreme situation we've had this winter -- very warm, very cold -- and so the extreme weather continues and it turns out the United States is just about the only spot in the world that has a lot of these kinds of super-cells, just not normally this time of year.”

Late Night with David Letterman hasn't aired since August of 1993, when Letterman moved his show to CBS, where it was re-named Late Show with David Letterman. But in reporting on Thursday's CBS Evening News about how John McCain announced on Letterman's show Wednesday night that he is running for President, Couric led into a clip of McCain by relating: “John McCain is in. As first reported here last night, the Senator made it official during the taping of Late Night with David Letterman.”

The Late Night show title remains the property of Couric's employer for nearly two decades ending last year, NBC, with Conan O'Brien's name attached for the past 13-plus years -- as in Late Night with Conan O'Brien. BTW: CNN's Anderson Cooper will be one of O'Brien's guests Thursday night and ABC's Bob Woodruff will be on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Rich Noyes, Director of Research at the Media Research Center and Senior Editor of NewsBusters, appeared at about 5:37pm EST Thursday afternoon on The Big Story with John Gibson on the Fox News Channel. He addressed the liberal bias at NBC News and how, after a ratings slide that has left NBC Nightly News in second place behind ABC's World News, NBC is replacing the Executive Producer of the newscast, the New York Times reported.

Rich raised how ABC's World News, but not the NBC Nightly News, aired a story important to pro-lifers about the survival of the earliest-born ever premature baby, coverage detailed in this NewsBusters item. Gibson asked about the role of controversy over William Arkin, the NBC News military analyst who called troops in Iraq a “mercenary force” and scolded them for daring to criticize Americans for saying they support the troops but not the mission.

Video clip (3:28): Real (2.6 MB at lower-quality 100 kbps) or Windows Media (6.8 MB at higher-quality 256 kbps), plus MP3 audio (1.2 MB)

Last week, the Senate Ethics Committee exonerated former Virginia Senator George Allen on charges that he failed to report stock options he earned during the time he served as a director of a biotech company. As Cal Thomas throughly documented in his current column, this determination of innocence has gone little noticed by the mainstream media. The accusations, however, which were made last October during Allen’s heated, and ultimately unsuccessful, reelection campaign, were heavily covered.

As noted by CNSNews.com, the charges, first reported by the AP, were picked up and editorialized in several prominent Virginia papers. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee even used the claims in an ad for Allen’s Democratic opponent James Webb. (See above picure) Not so coincidentally, Senator Allen ended up losing his pivotal Senate seat by around 8000 votes. So the question is, now that it turns out the media hyped faulty accusations, where does Senator Allen go to get his reputation and his Senate seat back?

In his March 1 column, Cal Thomas commented on the shoddy coverage by the liberal media [emphasis added]:

After some very controversial remarks on Wednesday’s edition of The View comedian and neoconservative Dennis Miller appeared on Thursday. After discussing John McCain’s announcement and the recent feud between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Miller joked about Nancy Pelosi’s rapidly blinking eyes, leading Barbara Walters to defend her as "terrific." Miller also debated Rosie O’Donnell on the finer points of the Patriot Act. The exchanges are below.

Joy Behar: "How about Nancy Pelosi, what do you think of her?"

Dennis Miller: "Well, listen. If they pick her as the VP, I’m not going to be able to watch State of the Unions. Because if she is back there like, with the blink- it looks like she was signaling the Carpathia that she hit an iceberg or something."

Explaining how Hillary Clinton isn't as popular with African-American voters as Bill was, MSNBC's Chris Matthews pointed to the former president's verbal skills as one of the reasons why when he proclaimed: "There are times when he sounds like Jesus in the temple." Matthews made that observation during a discussion with the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson where both cited Bill Clinton's performance at Coretta Scott King's funeral as a prime example of Slick Willie's oratory abilities. The following exchange took place about 30 minutes into last night's Hardball: 

Eugene Robinson: "I mean, it's the one memorable speech from, from that funeral."

Over at National Review Online Jay Nordlinger is praising a national media outlets for its reporting from the United Nations. The UN is not exactly a hot or hostile beat for liberal media outlets, who seem to like the intentions of the UN, and never seem to worry much about the follow-through. Oil-For-Food fraud? Yawn. Sexual harassment by UN brass? Yawn. This story is more pedestrian, about how "multilateralism" can often break down into a moral void.

I wanted to be super-sure that you saw this highly revealing article about the United Nations. It’s by Edith M. Lederer, the excellent U.N. correspondent of the Associated Press. 

The United States criticized the United Nations for refusing to list a panel it organized Tuesday entitled “State-Sanctioned Mass Rape in Burma and Sudan” on a U.N. Web site.

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations arranged to hold the panel on the sidelines of the annual two-week meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women which this year is focusing on discrimination and violence against women. It will include presentations about rape and sexual violence in both countries.

But the U.N.’s Meeting Services branch objected to the title, which was published in the U.N.’s daily journal last Thursday, because it “would be perceived as offensive to named member states,” according to a letter to the U.S. Mission obtained by the Associated Press.

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So far, there has been a complete media blackout to the story of the BBC and CNN reporting, prior to the collapse, that buildings 7 had collapsed. As well, BBC claims to have LOST their tapes from 9/11. If this is true, that means that the BBC has broken british law since every citizen of the UK pays a tax for their existence thus they have certain rules and guidelines to abide by.

However, message boards, blogs, and popular "vote" sites such as digg.com have exploded with questions from millions who knew something was fishy with WTC 7. Even those uninitiated with 9/11 truth and those who disagree with it, are thrown for a loop and admit to not understanding how this could have been reported if their was not prior knowledge that WTC 7 was going to be demolished.

BBC Media Mgt Policy: http://911blogger.co...

BBC Slammed Over Pathetic Response to Building 7 Controversy

Prison Planet | February 27, 2007

The BBC are getting slammed by respondants to the head of BBC World News Richard Porter's pathetic attempt to dismiss questions about the Building 7 controversy, in which a BBC correspondent reported the collapse of WTC 7 before it happened on 9/11.

RELATED: BBC Responds to Building 7 Controversy; Claim 9/11 Tapes Lost

24 comments were posted at the Editor's Blog website by 7:27PM UK time, just a couple of hours after the rebuttal was posted. Here are those 24 comments pasted in their entirity - every single one slams the BBC for their inadequate explanation of the controversy and others asked how the BBC somehow lost tapes containing footage from the most important event in world history since World War 2.

According to the Times, the most recent four-month period, boxed in red below, represents a manufacturing recession; The Times has already declared it ("For Manufacturing, a Recession Has Arrived"; link may require registration):

But the following periods boxed in orange from 1995-2000 did not:

Any questions?

This news out of Canada should give Americans an idea of just how out of control the reporting and the hysteria surrounding global warming has gotten: “A former Canadian defense minister is demanding governments worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change.”

To put this in its proper perspective, it seems quite unlikely that America’s media will cover a recent National Geographic article concerning the possibility the sun is much more responsible for climate change than man as reported by NewsBusters Thursday.

However, it is almost a metaphysical certitude that this absolutely insane UFO story from Agence France-Presse will get attention from a media clamoring for anything that promotes more global warming hysteria (emphasis mine throughout):

Two reports from earlier this week, one that warned of a "likely recession," and another that flat-out declared a non-existent "manufacturing recession," have to make you wonder, especially considering a positive report from the real world that came out earlier today.

First -- On Monday, the Associated Press turned murky comments by Alan Greenspan into "Greenspan warns of likely U.S. recession." Hundreds of papers, including The Washington Post, published the headline online and in print. Only a day later, AP issued a "never mind" report (”Economists: Recession unlikely”).

Second -- On Tuesday evening, the New York Times (may require registration), in an article by David Leonhardt, declared:

For Manufacturing, a Recession Has Arrived

The nation’s manufacturing sector managed to slip into a recession with almost nobody seeming to notice. Well, until yesterday.

Wall Street was caught off guard when the Commerce Department reported yesterday morning that orders for durable goods — big items like home computers and factory machines — plunged almost 8 percent last month. That’s a big number, but it really shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise. In two of the last three months, the manufacturing sector has shrunk, according to surveys by the Institute for Supply Management that have been out for weeks.

It sure looks as if Leonhardt was engaging in wishful thinking:

Today is the first day of the CPAC conference. Several of the MRC and NB staff will be in attendance. Stop by the MRC booth and blogger corner and say hi if you're around.

This year the Media Research Center marks 20 years of busting liberal media bias. Today's Washington Times took notice, with a profile of the MRC by reporter Robert Stacy McCain entitled "Keeping the press honest."

You can find the article online here and here (printer friendly version).

Here's an excerpt:

Six silent television screens are tuned to six different channels on the third-floor offices of the Media Research Center in Alexandria, producing a discordant TV tableau. On a recent afternoon, one screen shows a woman crying on the "Dr. Phil" show, while on another screen, director James Cameron is promoting a documentary that purports to show the tomb of Jesus.

It's all in a day's work for the center, whose red-bearded founder, L. Brent Bozell III, chuckles cheerfully as he guides a visitor on a tour.

In a nearby room, he points to row upon row of archived video recordings of news broadcasts, dating back to the founding of the conservative media-watchdog group two decades ago. In another room, banks of computers hum away, digitally recording the day's news from every U.S. network.

"I think, in one sense, you could say we've exceeded all expectations," says Mr. Bozell, whose organization will celebrate its 20th anniversary March 29 at its annual gala banquet.

It was “Miller Time” again on the “O’Reilly Factor” Wednesday night, and though the boys got off to a slow start, they finished quite strong.

This increasingly popular Fox News segment featuring comedian Dennis Miller and host Bill O'Reilly focused on the Oscars, Al Gore, the New York Times, and the recent virtually unreported ACLU controversy.

With that in mind, here are some of the highlights for your viewing and entertainment pleasure (video available here courtesy of our friend Ms Underestimated):

What is it about the New York Times where they can't stay above their talking points even when trying to interest the people in a higher level of political discussion and debate?

The Times was bemoaning the current sad state of political discourse amongst political candidates today (and rightfully so, I might add) in a story reporting the interesting extended debate between Newt Gingrich and ex-Senator Mario Cuomo sponsored by New York's Cooper Union Hall, the great room in which Abraham Lincoln first came to national prominence prior to his running for president of the United States.

MRC President Brent Bozell just appeared on "Fox & Friends" to address the Discovery Channel's decision to air "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" on March 4. The documentary, produced by filmmaker James Cameron, claims to have found a tomb bearing the remains of Jesus Christ, but archaeological experts dispute Cameron's claims.

Video clip (3:43) Real (2.71 MB) or Windows (2.27 MB) plus MP3 (1.06 MB)

Bozell argued: "The Discovery Channel calls itself, bills itself, as the number one network of nonfiction on television today. The only problem being, this [documentary] is fiction. There is nothing accurate about this piece of nonsense that's going on the air. As a matter of fact, it is not — it's being denounced not just by all manner of religious scholars, but the scientific community has denounced this.

Ever since the new Defeatocrat party took control of our Congress less than two months ago, the snarling anklebiters who make up its support base have allowed their irrational hatred for the Bush administration to propel them to new heights of lunacy, and it doesn't look as if they're going to be piloting the starship moonbat toward planet reality anytime soon.

Of course, there has never been a time when the word rational could have been used to accurately describe this particular generation of leftists, however, with each passing day it's becoming more and more difficult to refer to them as anything but a gaggle of frothing nutjobs.

If the truth be known, I'd rather be locked in a room with a few dozen hysterical 5-year-olds for a week than spend half an minute listening to the sort of mindless gibberish that routinely flows from the mouth of Cindy Sheehan. Unfortunately, the Jurassic media feels the need to report every idiotic phrase uttered by that brainsick rube, while virtually ignoring the opinions of the most honorable people in America; the men and women of our armed services.

Ever since the new Defeatocrat party took control of our Congress less than two months ago, the snarling anklebiters who make up its support base have allowed their irrational hatred for the Bush administration to propel them to new heights of lunacy, and it doesn't look as if they're going to be piloting the starship moonbat toward planet reality anytime soon.

Of course, there has never been a time when the word rational could have been used to accurately describe this particular generation of leftists, however, with each passing day it's becoming more and more difficult to refer to them as anything but a gaggle of frothing nutjobs.

If the truth be known, I'd rather be locked in a room with a few dozen hysterical 5-year-olds for a week than spend half an minute listening to the sort of mindless gibberish that routinely flows from the mouth of Cindy Sheehan. Unfortunately, the Jurassic media feels the need to report every idiotic phrase uttered by that brainsick rube, while virtually ignoring the opinions of the most honorable people in America; the men and women of our armed services.

An absolutely startling report about climate change was published Wednesday in National Geographic which stated “the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun” and not by man.

Unfortunately, as this goes counter to the position of an alarmist media and their seeming field general, Dr. Global Warming aka Al Gore, it seems quite unlikely that these revelations will be covered in today's papers or evening newscasts.

Regardless, the earth-shattering piece began (emphasis mine throughout):

Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.

The article marvelously continued: