The number of embedded reporters in Iraq has plummeted 74 percent over the past nine months, from 219 in September 2007 to a low of 58 in June, as U.S. troop casualties have plunged, according to Department Of Defense data analysis by CNSNews.com Staff Writer Kevin Mooney. U.S. casualties were down 84 percent in May and 75 percent in June from year-ago numbers, for example.

The number of embedded reporters peaked in September 2007, the month Gen. David Petraeus testified in Congress that the surge strategy was working and that violence was decreasing in the country. Immediately following Gen. Petraeus' testimony came the largest single-month drop off in embedded reporters in October -- from 219 to 78.

At the time, Petraeus's testimony was met with derision by some prominent Democratic members of Congress. "The reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief," Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y), then a presidential candidate told him. "In any of the metrics that have been referenced in your many hours of testimony, any fair reading of the advantages and disadvantages accruing post-surge, in my view, end up on the downside."

A Bible quote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi often uses to justify her environmental agenda doesn't exist, biblical scholars tell CNSNews.com reporter Pete Winn. Pelosi last cited the fictional Bible passage two days ago to commemorate Earth Day. In her April 22 news release, Pelosi said, "The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.'"

A professor at Yale Divinity School tells Winn it’s not even a close paraphrase of anything in the Bible, and a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary says Pelosi’s Bible quote is completely "fictional." A Roman Catholic doctor of scripture adds that it can’t be found "even in pieces or bits." In addition to her recent news release, Pelosi’s "verbatim" citing of the quote goes back to at least 2005, Winn’s research shows the mistake repeating:

– A 2005 Christmas message to the U.S. House.

– A 2007 speech to U.S. House Science and Technology Committee.

– A 2007 Earth Day message.

When the left-wing media wants something, the Constitution apparently becomes irrelevant. Take the latest attempt by Congress to give congressional representation to the District of Columbia, which fell three votes short of moving to a full Senate vote Tuesday.

Check the establishment media, and you'll have no trouble finding stories decrying the plight of the taxed, but unrepresented, citizens of the District and touting the importance of giving these poor (mostly Democratic) souls representation. Finding stories raising the question of whether or not it's constitutional to do so is another matter.

So, 10 of the 11 New Jersey officials arrested last week on bribery and corruption charges were Democrats? Where's the establishment media outcry about a Democratic "culture of corruption" in the state?

A criminal probe targeting elected officials operating at most levels of government in New Jersey resulted in the arrest of 11 public officials and one private citizen last week. All 12 suspects have been charged with taking cash payments in exchange for influencing the distribution of public contracts, according to the criminal complaints. As part of the investigation, the FBI created an undercover insurance brokerage firm to offer bribes through undercover agents. The suspects are accused of accepting payments ranging from $3,500 to $32,000.

Although the scandal has been widely reported, a Nexis search indicates the establishment media have been unwilling to link the alleged criminal infractions with the Democratic Party. A Nexis search by CNSNews.com shows more than 30 media citations using innocuous phrases such as "public officials" instead of "Democratic Party officials" or a similar label.

Fox News is using its mighty power to bully the mainstream media into promoting yet another war, left-wing activist/filmmaker Robert Greenwald and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are warning. Claiming that "Fox wants war with Iran," Greenwald is urging other news networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN -- "not to follow Fox down the road to war again."

Again?

Greenwald and Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) are touting a new viral ad campaign for the filmmaker's anti-Fox video "exposing" what Fox News supposedly is doing. According to Greenwald, Fox News engaged in "daily fear-mongering" in the days leading up to the war with Iraq, serving as a media cheerleader for the U.S.-led war.

A Kansas court of appeals has ruled that it's illegal for an illegal alien to enter the country, but not illegal for an illegal alien to be in the country if the illegal alien can illegally make it past the Border Patrol without getting caught.

Huh? What? I like to think I can wield the mighty power of semantics with the best of them - but, huh? What? I thought the "illegal" in illegal alien spoke for itself. Apparently not.

Ruling that it is illegal to enter the country without the proper documents and permissions, but it is not necessarily illegal to be in the country if you don't get caught upon entry, the court threw out the sentence of an illegal immigrant who pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and endangering a child.

Starbucks shops across the U.S. today are hosting global warming discussions in 60 cities nationwide - and touting a new global warming movie by the studio that distributed Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

The new movie, "Arctic Tale," which follows a polar bear and walrus "as their beautiful icebound world" "melts beneath them." will be promoted during today's Starbucks "National Day of Discussion" at stores nationwide.

"We can spark discussion on this issue and impact change from right inside our stores," Starbucks Entertainment president Ken Lombard says.

So, a new survey shows that only 22% of consumers think they can make a difference regarding the environment – and that they’re far more knowledgeable on the subject than typically thought. You'd think that'd be news, given the way the mainstream media seems to love proclaiming man's suicidal assault on Mother Earth. Apparently not, if you trust Lexis or Google News to track media coverage.

So, why haven't the left-wing media's Big Guns been reporting the story? Perhaps, it's because the findings suggest that consumers aren't as "green" (in either sense) as they'd like the public to believe.

Four firefighters who say there were forced to participate in San Diego's "Gay Pride" parade and subjected to "vile sexual taunts" have filed a complaint and plan to sue the city.

According to the Thomas More Law Center, four firefighters were forced to participate in the parade against their will and were "subjected to vile sexual taunts from homosexuals lining the parade route." According to the complaint filed with the city, the firemen of Engine 5 told their chief they did not want to appear in the parade but were told the morning of the parade that they were under orders to participate.

The Young America's Foundation (YAF) is being threatened with legal action for including Robert Spencer, the author of several books on terrorism and Islam, in its line-up of speakers this week in Washington, D.C.

Spencer spoke Thursday afternoon at George Washington University as part of YAF's 29th National Conservative Student Conference. His topic was entitled "The Truth About the Council on American Islamic Relations." This same organization, CAIR, demanded that YAF either withdraw its invitation to Spencer or take alternative steps to prevent any false remarks from being made.

"We will not be intimidated by radical Islamic thugs," a YAF spokesman said. "Not only will we let Robert Spencer speak, but we will invite even more people to hear him. We are not going to fluctuate the conference just to suit their demands."

Everybody's got an opinion about what should've been done, and what needs to be done, about North Korea's nuclear weapons tests - especially, newspapers. An article by Susan Jones of CNSNews.com recaps how papers are blaming Bush and China, and providing foreign affairs advice about how to defuse the situation.

The establishment news media places too much emphasis on the negative events happening in Iraq, so Defense Department employees need to side-step the media and get a positive message out to the American people, said Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

According to an article by www.CNSNews.com, Pace was asked by a soldier what the department is doing to confront what the soldier called the "negativity in the press [that] is absolutely detrimental to the morale of our forces."

He said the limited coverage now tends to focus on what "captures people's attention" and "not the schools being built."

He said the military is finding ways to have soldiers bring good news about the war directly to the American people. "One of the things we've changed," Pace said, "is as troops come home ... they are given the opportunity to take an extra day or two of leave if they will stay at home and just talk to their local communities, not from a script ... [but] tell the people in their hometown what their experience was like."

Soldiers and others from DoD, according to Pace, have the responsibility "to be very open, forthright about not only the bad, but the good and to present it in a way that our fellow citizens can understand and accept."

The New York Times and Washington Post are now attacking provisions of a defense appropriations bill that would ensure that military chaplains can pray in accordance with their own personal beliefs (i.e., pray in the name of Jesus). A Times editorial calls the bill “an attempt to license zealot chaplains to violate policies of religious tolerance.”

A Washington Post article goes a step farther – calling for calling for a “no prayer” policy at public events, according to an article in CNSNews.com, saying the “best resolution” (to its perceived problem) is to “discourage prayer…as inherently and unnecessarily divisive.”

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has released its list of media and elected “elitists” who are doing the most to prevent passage of meaningful immigration reform. This “motley crew” of media organizations that promote “unfettered immigration” and are completely out of touch with public opinion include (who else?) the New York Times and the Washington Post…and, even the Wall Street Journal.

There is “no other domestic issue where there is this gap between the elite and public opinion,” CIS Director of Communications John Keeley told CNSNews.com in an interview discussing CIS’s list of open border elitists.

To hear the establishment media tell it, the American public is unanimously against U.S. troops being in Iraq and the war against terror. We hear about every ragtag, fly-by-night anti-war group’s activities, no matter how small the turnout or ineffectual the impact.

Conversely, three Conservative activist groups unite to announce that they’ll converge on Washington, D.C., Sept. 22-23 to show their support for the war in Iraq and the soldiers fighting it, and it’s virtually impossible to find media coverage of the event.

Cindy Sheehan’s latest Washington, D.C. protest is being sponsored by the International Socialist Organization. In "Camp Democracy," Sept. 5-21, Sheehan will broaden her scope from mere anti-war activism to advocating on behalf of other "progressive" movement causes like immigrants’ rights and organized labor, reports CNSNews.com Staff Writer Nathan Burchfiel:

After wrapping up the second annual "Camp Casey" protest in Crawford, Texas, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan will travel to Washington, D.C., to kick off a 17-day protest and conference aimed at ending the war and "righting injustices."

Ms. Magazine is inviting girls and women who’ve had abortions to submit their names for publication, to sign a pro-abortion petition to the president that the magazine will deliver and – of course – to donate money to the publisher’s pro-abortion advocacy campaign.  If that’s not media bias, what is?

The magazine’s promotion celebrates 33 years of abortions since Ms. Magazine first printed a petition in which “53 well-known U.S. women declared that they had undergone abortions—despite state laws rendering the procedure illegal.” 

Monisha Baisal of CNSNews.com also has a report on Rabbi Aryeh Spero's Caucus for America protesting in front of the New York Times building yesterday to voice the nation’s outrage at the newspaper’s publication of classified details of the government’s bank tracking of suspected al Qaeda members. If only the establishment media had given the event the same level of coverage it gives even the lamest PETA publicity stunt.

Saying the Times is jeopardizing American lives because it “wants us to lose [the war on terror]," the protestors called for the Times to be prosecuted for espionage, as well as for patrons to cancel their subscriptions.

When President Bush has an accidental slip of the tongue, the establishment media makes it a front page headline, but when the chairman of the Democratic National Committee says something outrageous in prepared remarks, they all suddenly experience hysterical deafness. 

Yesterday, DNC Chairman Howard Dean called the 60’s “the age of enlightenment” and called for a return to the morals of that era during a press conference.  Not only did Dean praise an era best known for sex, drugs, racial strife, and declining church attendance, he even had the gall to hypocritically condemn giving power and authority to the government.

So, where’s the media outcry when liberals resort to “hate speech?” First, Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, drops the “F-bomb” in a profane verbal assault on two employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs at a press event. The AP made a passing reference to the incident, then quickly removed it. No one else in the establishment media saw fit to report the story, or call for an apology (or even an explanation) from Filner.

Now, the website of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), who charged last March that the Capitol Police harassed her because she is "a female black Congresswoman," uses racial slurs, calling a fellow black female Democrat an “Oreo” and white Republicans "good ol' boy cracker-crats” having a “hootenanny.” Again, where’s the media outcry against the public, political use of these hurtful racial epithets?