While scientists in Great Britain try to get the documentary “The Great Global Warming Swindle” edited to fit their agenda as reported by NewsBusters, Swedish television will air the unedited program Friday.

As NewsBusters reported about this documentary when it was first broadcast in England last month ("Swindle" video available here, emphasis added):

With American media falling all over themselves in unbridled adoration for soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore while they generate totally unwarranted hysteria over climate change, it seems impossible to imagine a televised documentary debunking the junk science surrounding this issue.

This raises an obvious question:

Web use has become such a widespread phenomenon that for next year's presidential election, Yahoo is set to host the first-ever online presidential debate.

Unfortunately, all of the web media sources it's chosen to partner up with are liberal leaning. David All explains:

When mega-giant Yahoo! decides to play in the political sandbox, I’m going to pay attention. Yahoo! is currently ranked number one in Alexa.org’s Top 500.

So when it was reported this week that Yahoo! had partnered with Slate, Huffington Post, and PBS's Charlie Rose to host the first-ever online Presidential debate, as a conservative Republican, I immediately felt a curling in my stomach [...]

For a crowd that was very insistent that America "move on" from the issues surrounding the impeachment of Bill Clinton, you'd think the far left would give it a rest when it comes to the subject of the lead-up to the Iraq war. It doesn't take much digging to conclude that whatever false intelligence the Bushies believed, the Clintonites did as well--as did the rest of the western world.

But the left, especially the loony left, is like a bulldog once it gets an idea into its head. The latest variant of this intellectual virus is that not only did President Bush "lie us into Iraq," the American press enabled, both willingly and unwillingly, his "lies." The argument is nonsensical, especially the part about how hard-core liberals like Pinch Sulzberger (and his newspaper which hasn't endorsed a Republican since Eisenhower) would actually advocate for a war launched by a Republican.

Aside from its factual erroneousness, however, there is another big problem with this argument being made by the media left: it flatly contradicts what they say about the press when it comes to the media's gross lack of ideological diversity.

I am new here and wanted to get some background on some past history.
I also think this may provide some humor and cathasis.
I propose a forum on some of your 'favorite' posters.
Each will have the opportunity to post a name of their 'favorite'
Others can then reply with comments and vote on:
ORC a particularly bothersome and persistent troll
TROLL our garden variety
GREMLIN wannabee troll

Assume for a second that you were a pro-environment presidential candidate that believed in anthropogenic global warming.

Would you be trying to demonstrate that energy conservation and reducing carbon emissions were not just so many words in a stump speech, but something you truly believed in?

Would you also expect that an impartial press might be analyzing your activities to make sure they accurately reflected the green position you were preaching?

Apparently, if you were Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, or Joe Biden, this would not be much of a concern. As reported by the Associated Press (emphasis added):

ABC's Jake Tapper concluded his Thursday World News story, on the House and Senate Iraq funding bills which include timetables for the withdrawal of troops, by adding a gratuitous zinger about President Bush's much-derided “Mission Accomplished” speech. Noting how Democrats intend to send their final conference bill to the President on Tuesday, for an expected veto, Tapper helpfully pointed out how that “just so happens to be the fourth anniversary of the President's 'Mission Accomplished' photo-op aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.” Tapper then bore in, asserting, “of course” that “would be an uncomfortable reminder of everything in Iraq that remains unaccomplished.” War supporters would see it as a reminder of how the Democratic effort to show they support the troops remains unaccomplished.

Tapper's spin matched the second paragraph of a story, by Jonathan Weisman, on the front page of Thursday's Washington Post: “Democrats hope to send the measure to the White House on Monday, almost exactly four years after President Bush declared an end to major combat in a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. That would be a particularly pungent political anniversary for Bush to deliver only the second veto of his presidency.”

“Exclusive” hype. Three weeks and three days after ABC's World News led with an "exclusive" about how Iran could have a nuclear weapon in two years, the CBS Evening News on Thursday led with an “exclusive” about how Iran could have a nuclear weapon in three years. Will NBC soon tout an “exclusive” about Iran getting a nuclear weapon in four years?

Katie Couric announced at the top of Thursday's newscast, “Tonight, a CBS News exclusive: U.S. intelligence now believes the Iranians may be within just three years of building their first nuclear weapon.” David Martin reported the subsequent story. Back on April 2, ABC anchor Charles Gibson trumpeted “an alarming acceleration of Iran's nuclear program. Iran could have material for a bomb in two years. A Brian Ross exclusive.” Ross soon explained how “in the last three months Iran has more than tripled its ability to produce enriched uranium -- meaning, according to weapons experts, that it could have enough material for a nuclear bomb within two years...” (April 3 NewsBusters item)

Sports fans checking the box scores this morning got a lesson in "transsexualism" when they opened the LA Times. Mike Penner, one of the paper's sports writers, announced in his column he is taking a few weeks off. When he returns he’ll be known as Christine Daniels.

The column detailed Penner's 40-year struggle with “transsexualism.” He said that “extensive therapy and testing” show that his brain was “wired female.” He defended the “medical condition” as “widely misunderstood” and a “natural occurrence.”

As part of his tour of public-broadcasting publicity spots, PBS omnipresence Bill Moyers appeared Wednesday morning on radical-left Pacifica Radio’s "Democracy Now" program with Amy Goodman, a show Moyers celebrated at a radical "media reform" conference in January by suggesting he had a private "fantasy" about Goodman, that every PBS station would put her on their air. They referred to him as "legendary." Goodman played large chunks of the Moyers PBS special "Buying the War" in advance, and Moyers uncorked a series of left-wing howlers for her.

The mainstream media were cheerleaders for Bush. "Pro-war pundits" need to be banned from TV, put in a "penalty box." Implausibly, he claimed his documentary "talks to people on all sides of the story." Jon Stewart is the "Mark Twain of our day." Dan Rather is an "honest man" but at CBS, he was a "good man caught in a rigged system," contained by corporate owners at Viacom who voted Republican. And, weirdest of all, Moyers claims he and PBS "serve a sort of centrist role," and PBS needs to break free of control from Congress. Let’s take the Moyers claims one at a time.

A troubled newspaper industry is beset with a raging journalistic debate around using the Internet to bolster the bottom line for the nation's broadsheets.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Faced with declining circulation, many U.S.
newspapers are trying to engage readers by allowing them to respond to
news stories online. But the anonymity of the Internet lets readers
post obscenities and racist hate speech that would never be allowed in
the printed paper.

LaShawn Barber lays out her thoughts in an April 26 post to her eponymous blog, suggesting that newspapers are misguided to attempt to co-opt the blog format. Rather than allowing anonymous comments that can encourage trolls that cheapen honest debate and discussion, Barber suggests another strength of the blogosphere that is easily adaptable to newspapers' online versions.:

On Thursday’s "Good Morning America," ABC reporter Lama Hasan asserted that, according to a new study, generous welfare and low expectations make the people of Denmark the happiest in the world.

In addition to paying "astronomical taxes," Hasan noted that "psychologists say Denmark’s secret lies in a culture of low expectations." Hasan also compared the Danes to status seeking Americans:

Hasan: "So, any pleasure on any day seems like a kind of gift, a sweet surprise. Unlike Americans, Danes are not always comparing themselves to others and asking for more. It seems that everywhere you go in Copenhagen, you stumble on the satisfied. Having a generous welfare system that provides security and comfort doesn’t hurt."

With Rosie O'Donnell on her way out of "The View," could Joy Behar be seeking to establish herself as the show's dominant voice of vulgarity?

Commenting on a videotape of President Bush doing an impromptu dance with a West African troupe on the occasion of Malaria Awareness Day, with the First Lady in attendance, Behar said the following:

THE VIEW CO-HOST JOY BEHAR: Laura looks like she's starting to drink. Did you see her? She's like stoned.

View video here.

Note that while Mrs. Bush isn't visible in the clip shown here, the First Lady was indeed in attendance at the malaria event and Behar had obviously viewed an extended clip.

Update: Related items listed at bottom of post.

On Thursday’s "Good Morning America," Dr. Tim Johnson proved, yet again, that even ABC’s medical expert can spout liberal talking points. Johnson appeared on GMA to tout a universal health care plan by the "two old war horses," Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy and Democratic Congressman John Dingell. (ABC didn’t mention their party affiliation.)

Johnson described the plan as "bold" and "politically brilliant." Additionally, he rhapsodized about its liberal sponsors, saying that Dingell and Kennedy are "trying to do what I think is the right thing." GMA co-host Robin Roberts introduced Johnson by noting just how excited the medical expert was over the legislation:

Leave it to NBC's Today show to find the downside of a booming stock market. Playing the class envy card Today co-host Matt Lauer teased a story on a widening gap between rich and poor as he incredulously asked the audience: "Do you feel like you're working harder and harder these days just to stay financially afloat while fat cats get richer and richer?" Lauer, not exactly a pauper himself, then threw it to CNBC's Scott Cohn who claimed: "Not only are the rich getting richer they're leaving everyone else behind. In fact the last time the rich were this much richer than everyone else was the Great Depression."

Cohn did mention the wealthy are giving more to charity but only highlighted liberal billionaire Bill Gates' good deeds.

New New York Times reporter Alissa Rubin issued another ideological piece from Baghdad, "Frustration Unites Sunni and Shiite in Opposition to Baghdad Wall," for Sunday's front page.

Rubin's piece reads more like one of the Times' liberally slanted "news analysis" pieces then straight reporting, and sounds a lot like the Times' hand-wringing coverage of another protective "wall," the one separating Israelis from Palestinians who threaten suicide bombings. And Rubin brought some Steven Erlanger-style moral outrage to her story -- the horror of waiting in line.

"The unexpected outcry about the proposed construction of a wall around a Sunni Arab neighborhood has revealed the depths of Iraqi frustration with the petty humiliations created by the new security plan intended to protect them.

The April 26 edition of "The Early Show" reported on Rosie O’Donnell’s departure announcement with a very positive portrayal of "The View" co-host. Although reporter Jeff Glor briefly noted, with a sound bite, that Rosie has "gone after President Bush," they completely ignored her many controversies including September 11 conspiracy theories, Iran’s British hostage conspiracy theory, anti-Asian remarks, anti-Catholic remarks, and downplaying the terrorist threat several times.

The story included her famous feud with Donald Trump and the rest a puffy piece on the far-left personality. Glor interviewed two Rosie fans who said "she makes the show" and that Rosie is "talented" and "honest." Paraphrasing television critic Michael Schneider, Glor added that added that "O’Donnell turned ‘The View’ into the hottest show on daytimes TV." The entire transcript is below.

Update below: Related posts.

On CNN's "American Morning" today, senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta warned of proposed cuts to a Federal program. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is under assault by - you guessed it - George W. Bush.

According to Dr. Gupta:

Since WIC was founded over 30 years ago, thoughts on nutrition have changed. See, the problem then was malnutrition, not obesity. So most WIC vouchers are for cereal, breads, crackers, milk products. Checks for force (sic) fresh fruits and vegetables don't exist.

So last August the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to add produce to the voucher system, to give clients a more balanced diet. They're expected to be available next year. But some say that might not happen, because WIC is on the chopping block, slated for a $145 million cut in President Bush's 2008 budget.

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

Hard-left radio talk show host Stephanie Miller will be filling the Don Imus morning-radio-simulcast gap on MSNBC next week from April 30 to May 2. On her show Thursday morning, she was joking to her male sidekicks about what can be said on MSNBC: "You can't call me a whore. I can call myself a whore." It is in a sense, like Old Home Week, since she co-hosted the CNBC program "Equal Time" with Bay Buchanan for a while ten years ago.

The buzz from Jossip is "according to someone with a vested interest in seeing her succeed, 'the network is hoping to build Stephanie into a major face of the network.'" As for her politics and more about her radio show, see her Progressive interview: "I love Russ Feingold. I love Barbara Boxer. And Howard Dean and John Conyers."

On Thursday’s "Good Morning America," ABC reporter John Berman discussed Rosie O’Donnell’s departure from "The View" and described the comedienne as "something of a pioneer."

The piece, which was extremely favorable to Ms. O’Donnell, omitted her well documented 9/11 conspiracy theories and also portrayed Rosie as someone who broke ground for women:

John Berman: "Plenty of people didn't like her opinions, not to mention her behavior. But she was provocative in a way that, in the past, that had been the domain of male shock jocks."

Linda Stasi (Columnist, New York Post): "I think she’s a pioneer for television, because we're not used to bad girls. We're not used to bad girls who are bad in a smart way, as opposed to bad because they're taking off their clothes."

Ian over at Hot Air posted this early this morning. The portion in bold is his emphasis:

Covering the burial of a Blue Angels pilot who crashed his plane last weekend, Fox News anchor Shepard commented on the flag draped coffin shown on screen. Smith compared the showing of this pilot’s flag draped coffin to the flag draped coffins troops are laid to rest in. He used the death of a pilot to bash an administration war policy.

[...]

SHEPARD SMITH, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: “This is a scene we are not accustomed to see during war times. They don’t allow us to see the victims — uh, heroes who died for us in Iraq. We don’t get to see their caskets come back. It’s a wonderful honor to be able to pay tribute to this man in this way. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were able to do this with the hundreds upon hundreds who have died for us in Iraq?”

Laura Ingraham made great fun on her radio show Thursday morning of Larry King's CNN interview with John McCain on Wednesday night. The 73-year-old talk show host suggested that McCain was too old to be president for more than one term. Ingraham joked that King looks like "a skull with suspenders," and he's undermining McCain's vitality:

JOHN MCCAIN: Can I mention that -- that hike around the rim of the Grand Canyon, it was wonderful. It was exhilarating. It almost killed me.

KING: Don't do it again. How old are you, Senator?

JOHN MCCAIN: We're going to do it again.

KING: How old are you now?

JOHN MCCAIN: Seventy. I'll be 71.

KING: Does that mean if elected, this is a one term presidency?

Republican Senator and presidential candidate John McCain appeared with his wife on the April 26 edition of "The Early Show" to discuss the war in Iraq and his presidential campaign. Host Harry Smith wondered if the "‘straight talk express’ is going off the road." Why? McCain dared to cite some progress in Iraq.

Smith also asked McCain if he still would have started the war in Iraq, knowing the information that is now know.

"Let me ask you this. Knowing what we know now, that there were no WMD's, that there really were no connections between Iraq and Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, would you still --would you have still started this war with Iraq?"