In this corner, Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry himself. And in that corner, the self appointed guardian of America's black population, Spike Lee. It's shaping up to be a battle royale, folks, with Lee rabbit punching the aging action star while Eastwood uses his smarts and experience to deliver a knock out blow.

In round one, Lee came out swinging at Director Clint Eastwood's WWII films, "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," claiming that Eastwood "erased the role of black GIs from history." Lee tried on his self-righteous air of moral certitude and labeled Eastwood a racist. "Many black veterans who fought in Iwo Jima were hurt that there was no representation of them in both of those films," Lee said in an interview in Rome last year.

But not to fear for Eastwood losing the bout, as he is about to show us all that Spike Lee doesn't have what it takes to go toe to toe with a master.

Anyone wishing to understand why leftist bias pervades US "mainstream" media reporting will benefit from reading Steve Boriss's May 18 column ("Is the Associated Press Good for America?") at Pajamas Media.

Boriss quickly runs down the history, and gets right to the point: The self-described "not-for-profit cooperative" has a history of acting as a monopolist:

This should evoke spirited discussion on a long weekend: according to Politico, GOP strategists think McCain will win in a blowout. Details below the fold (emphasis added):

In America, you need to show identification to buy alcohol, get into a bar, or apply for a job. Yet, for some reason, liberal media members think that Republicans who advocate voter ID laws do so exclusively to prevent Democrats from going to polling booths.

Such was clearly evident Friday evening when Bill Moyers discussed some recent Supreme Court rulings with CNN and New Yorker magazine's legal affairs analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Better strap yourself in tightly, for the following from "Bill Moyers Journal" on PBS is guaranteed to offend all that actually believe voter identification should be required in every state (video embedded right):

"100 percent abortion ban no exceptions" this statement will doom any chance he has ever so please stop the talk.

**Video below the fold**

The Hill is reporting that Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) told an audience at a town meeting that the Democratic Party was basically lying when they said they'd stop the war if they were elected as the majority during the 2006 midterms. One would think that such an explosive admission would be all over the news? Amazingly, this news is rather hushed.

In an August, 2007 video posted on You-Tube on May 22nd, Kanjorski is seen saying that Democrats "stretched the facts" when they said they would stop the war after winning the majority.

It's a happy Memorial Day from the Associated Press as they inform that nation that a few Marines involved themselves in a "shooting spree" in Afghanistan. Yes, the AP makes it seem as if our Marines began "firing indiscriminately at vehicles and civilians" during a March 4th altercation near Nangarhar province. But, a closer read finds a far murkier story and one that seems to say that our Marines didn't go wild but that they thought they were under attack. Whether the Marines were right or wrong about being attacked is the real question at the end of the day. But whatever the case, right at the outset the AP presented the incident as if the Marines were in the wrong.

Even the headline casts the Marines actions in the negative: "Afghans appalled Marines not charged in killings." No benefit of the doubt there. In fact, the whole first half of the story explores the charges against the Marines before a single word in their defense appears.

In an attempt to explain how race will impact Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama's run for the White House, Newsweek has created a "Racial Resentment Index" exclusively for white people without measuring such biases of non-whites.

Apparently, it's only important to Newsweek to identify if racism is a factor in why whites prefer Republican presidential candidate John McCain and not if racism is a factor in why blacks support Obama.

Such can be read between the lines in the article published Friday entitled "The White Stuff: A new NEWSWEEK Poll underscores Obama's racial challenge" (emphasis added, picture courtesy Getty Images):

Cindy McCain, the wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, released a summary of her 2006 income tax return Friday prompting media members to quickly make negative comparisons between what she revealed and what Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) wife disclosed to the public in October 2004.

Most notable was the New York Times which in characterizing Teresa Heinz Kerry's 2003 income as being less than Cindy's in 2006 completely ignored its own October 16, 2004, article revealing as much as $50 million Teresa made in "trusts of which she is the beneficiary" not included in her personal tax filing.

Isn't that convenient?

Let's begin our examination with Saturday's Times piece (emphasis added, h/t Redstate, picture courtesy AP):

For several months, NewsBusters has been reporting the new horror movie genre "Global Warming's Gonna Kill You!"

Entering the fray is M. Night Shyamalan, the writer/director of 1999's smash hit "The Sixth Sense."

Set to open coincidentally on Friday, June 13, "The Happening" is Shyamalan's move "to milk global warming for all the terror and despair it's worth."

So say USA Today's "Weather Guys" (emphasis added, trailer embedded right):

Perhaps, Americans aren't the only ones who have an irrational view of the person who holds the highest political office in their country. After reading this New York Times article, it looks like the French might be suffering with Sarkozy Derangement Syndrome. Here's a quote from the article:

The passion has soured, said Eric Empatz, editor in chief of Le Canard Enchaîné, a weekly newspaper that combines satire and investigative reporting. “This obsession of the French with Sarkozy has turned, and turned negative,” Mr. Empatz said. “The obsession continues, just as passionately, but now it’s negative. In that, too, it’s like a bad love affair.”

It's a huge weekend for sports fans:

• The Granddaddy of all races, who'll win Indy tomorrow?
• Can the Celtics actually win one on the road?
• Do the Spurs have a prayer heading home?
• Is this the best NHL final matchup in decades?
• Lefty's looking good at the Colonial.
• Baseball union agrees to new drug testing policy.
• Will Federer finally win at Roland Garros?
• NASCAR Sprint Series continues at Lowe's on Sunday.

Did I miss anything?

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: What the heck was Hillary talking about (video embedded right):

My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it.

Do you find these comments offensive? Do you think there was any implication to the possibility that Obama could be assassinated? Does this show a woman so "consumed by raw ambition to where the possible assassination of an opponent is something to ponder in a strategic way?" Is this the end of her campaign? Or, do you think this is much more innocent than Obama-loving media -- that have been trying to push her out since Iowa -- are claiming for their own political interests?

..... But Misses Chance to Refute "Jobs Slashed" Claims.

It's good to see that someone else is on the case of the recession-obsessed Associated Press, particularly reporter Jeannine Aversa. But even the estimable James Taranto, in his Best of the Web column yesterday, let Aversa's most obvious and repeated error go by without comment.

Aversa started out her report yesterday ("When economy revives, how will we know?") by presuming to speak for all of us, and tinged it with a bit of brattiness:

With any luck, the second half of this year will be better than the so-far rocky first half. The Federal Reserve chief hopes that is the case. So does President Bush.

For the rest of us mere mortals, it feels like the pain is getting worse.

When the economy begins to snap out of its funk, how will we know?

Taranto pounced:

In stark contrast to the global warming alarmists, hurricane forecasters have now become almost comically vague in their forecasts. The problem for the hurricane forecasters is that their predictions can be checked for accuracy just months after the initial forecast.  While global warming alarmists feel free to predict disaster years into the future, hurricane forecasters are now forced to be very very cautious, especially in light of their highly inaccurate 2006 hurricane season predictions.

On the heels of the very active 2005 hurricane season which many blamed on global warming, forecasters didn't even wait for 2006 to begin before issuing a forecast in early December 2005 which predicted a very active hurricane season:

Just days after the official close of the busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record and with one hurricane still churning in the Atlantic, the first 2006 forecast is out already. To the surprise of no one it predicts an active season.

The 2006 forecast calls for:

My circle of friends lost a fine man, a husband and father of several children, to brain cancer not long ago. He fought with courage and optimism, and received fine treatment, but the disease simply proved too strong. I sympathize with the plight facing Ted Kennedy, his family and loved ones. I'd add that in the course of the current coverage, I've learned of Kennedy's admirable history of extending kindnesses to many, putting him in something of a different light for me.

That said, I cannot help but comment on Bob Herbert's NY Times column of this morning, Tears for Teddy. The gist is that this is but the latest of many challenges that Kennedy has faced. And it's certainly true that the senator's life has been touched by more than its fair share of tragedy.

Even so, read this line, the one the Times placed on its op-ed web page to promo the column, and see if the same thing doesn't come to your mind as did to mine:

The press will tell you that this is Senator Kennedy’s toughest fight. I don’t even know if that’s true. Who knows what the toughest fight has been for someone named Kennedy?