If you thought that you were going to escape being greenwashed by simply changing the channel for NBC's "Green Week," think again. Now you can't even wile away your time reading a good ol' fashioned thriller. Stephen King's new book, "Under the Dome," depicts a small city on the brink of an environmental disaster (that is, if it can survive the murders, arson, and corruption, of course).

Set in fictional Chester's Mill, Maine, the 1,000+ page tome (King's longest since "It") details the demise of a small town that mysteriously becomes stuck under an invisible, impenetrable dome.

The town faces such King clichés as deception, rape, and drug addiction, but it also discovers that it's on the fast track to environmental doom. The book review by Kevin Kelly of Mercury News describes the town's desperate situation.

"You can't see the dome - until it becomes smudged on the outside by the accumulation of smog and things running into it and leaving stains," he said. "With no steady influx of new air, Chester's Mill begins to smell like a locker room and plants start dying, and as the dome becomes more and more smeared with grime from the outside world, the temperature inside climbs."

Profits, not the killing of unborn children, are the "real immorality" of abortion, according to "View" panelist Joy Behar.

Behar expressed her unique view of morality during  the Nov. 3 "Hot Topics" discussion about Abby Johnson, a Texas Planned Parenthood director who resigned from her post last month after seeing an abortion on an ultrasound.

Johnson explained to the local Texas CBS affiliate that Planned Parenthood had been pressuring her to focus on abortion, not pregnancy prevention because abortions brought in more money than family planning services.

ABC's "View" host Barbara Walters brought up Johnson's story, calling it "controversial" and Behar quickly denounced Planned Parenthood for making money off abortions. She called it "gross" and "obnoxious" before she stated, "I don't see abortions as a profit-making industry. I think that that is the real immorality of it."

So Whoopi Goldberg is a fan of the "We Report, You Decide" school of TV journalism. Who knew? Unfortunately, her choice of "fair and balanced" news icons leaves much to be desired.

With Rush Limbaugh now out of a group vying to purchase the St. Louis Rams, the continued smearing from ABC's "The View" on October 15 constitutes a late hit.

Whoopi Goldberg said that Limbaugh was dropped as a potential buyer because they're not "pleased" with him: "It actually might not be about conservativism. This one might be personal." She also claimed that Limbaugh is "part of the mainstream media."

Joy Behar added that Limbaugh likes to "be the victim" and, making Limbaugh owner of the St. Louis Rams would be like "making Michael Vick own the American Kennel Club."

On Oct. 13 "The View" hosts reacted to the news that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had ruled out a future run for the presidency. "Hillary Clinton told Anne Curry that she will not be making another run for president of the United States, saying she loves her job as Secretary of State and is looking forward to retirement at some point ... Ya know, that kind of made me sad," Whoopi Goldberg lamented.

 

Sherri Shepherd called Hillary "victorious" - "an inspiration to women" - and equated the news of her retirement with "being hit in the pit of your stomach" and "deflating a balloon."

"Because - not ever calling Hillary Clinton a quitter, but it's something - even when she pulled out, I felt sad," Shepherd said. "Because as a woman, you just look at Hillary as, ‘You don't quit. You always keep going' ... The fact that she's saying, ‘I think I'm going to stop and retire,' it's just like, no, Hillary!"

Rachel Campos-Duffy, former reality-TV star and current blogger for Anderson Cooper's AC360 blog, was Elizabeth Hasselbeck's fill-in on today's edition of The View.  As a conservative fill-in, she did not disappoint.

Before diving into the meat of the blog, however, we at NewsBusters would like to congratulate her on this bit of news [emphasis mine]:

RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY: Thank you. And, yes, I found happiness after all. And the news is, because I've never come on "The View," as Joy knows, without announcing a pregnancy. And I am having a sixth child and I'm three months pregnant.

That is wonderful news - congratulations to her and her husband Sean.

Now, containing our pro-life glee for a moment, the Viewettes transitioned from a conversation about Campos-Duffy’s happy home life to a discussion of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize win:

Update at bottom (2:03 p.m.): Beck fires back

It's just what the primetime cable news lineup needed - another hour-long program tilted toward left-of-center politics with character assassination on conservatives.

CNN Headline News debuted its "The Joy Behar Show" on Sept. 29, which included appearances by lefty comedian Jeanane Garofalo, CNN's Jack Cafferty and actress Bette Midler. Garofalo doubled down on her low regard for conservative 9/12 and tea party protesters, labeling them as racists. Cafferty went after President Barack Obama for his disregard of the carbon footprint his lobbying efforts in Copenhagen for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

However, actress-turned-Vegas entertainer Bette Midler went straight after former CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck. She was prodded by host Joy Behar, who mentioned Beck as someone who is encouraging a breakdown in so-called "political discourse."

The View's Whoopi Goldberg yesterday offered the most outrageous and despicable defense of child rapist and Hollywood director Roman Polanski yet: "It wasn't rape-rape." That's right. Goldberg tried to claim that Polanksi drugging and having sex with a thirteen year old girl, who repeatedly uttered 'no' to the predator, does not qualify as 'actual' rape (video embedded below the fold).

Polanksi apologists have tried since he was arrested in Switzerland Sunday to excuse his actions on the grounds that he was traumatized by his horrible experiences as a Jew in Nazi-occupied Poland or that he has endured enough punishment since his conviction in 1978. But Goldberg's defense is so far the most insensitive, oafish attempt for an excuse yet (video embedded below the fold):

On September 25^th "The View's" Sherri Shepherd asked Michael Moore, "How do you feel about Obama's health care plan?"

Moore responded, "Aw, geez. I feel so bad for this guy. I mean - I - ya know, he's out there all alone; nobody's got his back. The other side they're out there angry, organized."

Nobody's got his back? Really? Let's take a look at the numbers.

In August, the Business & Media Institute examined 224 stories about health care on the three broadcast networks' morning and evening shows that aired between Jan. 20, the date of Obama's inauguration, and June 24, the night of ABC's prime time town hall special on health care.

The networks favored proponents to critics by a margin of more than 2-to-1 (243 to 104).

“In Denmark – my favorite country – they are the happiest people in the world,” declared Joy Behar on “The View” September 23^rd. They’ve come a long way since Hamlet.

 

Why are the Danes so contented? Could it be all that Havarti and herring? The satisfaction of knowing that their ancestors plundered and pillaged the entire North Atlantic?  No. According to Behar, the Danes wear the smile of socialism.

“The reason that they’re so happy is because they don’t worry about health care,” she explained. “They don’t worry about sending their kids to college because everything’s paid for.”

It appears Behar was referring to the 2008 World Values Survey that asked 350,000 citizens of 97 different countries two questions:

"She is fearless. There's an intelligence there as well as the humor," insists Barbara Walters about none other than, wait for it, "The View" co-host Joy Behar.

Washington Post's Howard Kurtz relayed that gem in his Style section front-pager, "Oh, Joy! Gift of Gab Gives Host New Gig," about Behar's new primetime gig on HLN (formerly known as CNN Headline News).

Yes, this is the same Joy Behar who:

The ladies of ABC's "The View" on Thursday spoke out against Republicans who "have always felt that there was something a little off about ACORN," and said the embattled community organization needs to be given a second chance because "the Republicans aren't going to take care of [the poor]."

Sure...who cares that they're advising people how to set up child prostitution rings, cheat banks, and evade taxes if they're helping the poor?

Of course, nobody on the panel pointed out that the Democrats currently control both Chambers of Congress as well as the White House.

Alas, facts are never important to these folks when they get on a roll (video embedded below the fold with rough transcript, h/t our dear friend Ms Underestimated with assistance from Jeff Poor):

See? It really does pay to be a Bush-hating conspiracy theorist.

Just ask The View's Joy Behar who just landed herself a job as the host of her own program on HLN, the network formerly known as CNN Headline News.

Even though this is clearly a joke, I kid you not.

Just try to keep a straight face as you read the following Associated Press report (h/t Big Hollywood):

There's no consensus yet about the wisdom of a Spanish toy company making a doll that simulates breastfeeding. If consensus does eventually solidify, hopefully it won't be around Joy Behar's take. For "The View" host, the doll is a direct attack on feminism.

The doll, Baby Gloton ("gluttonous baby"), is sold with a halter top for the owner to wear, embedded with computer chips where a woman's nipples would be. When held to the chest, the baby moves its lips and makes a sucking sound. When moved away, the baby cries or can be "burped" like a live baby would be after a feeding.

"You know, to me, it's like programming little girls for their future. You know, just in case you want to have a career, no," Behar stated in her opposition to the doll. She offered her own experience as proof of this "programming." "I always played with dolls so when I became a woman I wanted a baby. But I think that had to do with that," Behar explained.

It is not often that the women on “The View” are silenced by their own guest, but Michelle Malkin did exactly that when she appeared on the show August 2. Malkin’s new book, “Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Kronies” was bound to be attacked by the left-left leaning panel of “The View,” but Malkin did not give them an opportunity.

Malkin dominated the conversation from the beginning with facts and examples. When asked by Elisabeth Hasselbeck about the corruption her book uncovers, she had several examples. “I scoured from top to bottom,” and started to list some of the more known corruption scandals within the Obama administration, until Joy Behar interrupted and asked, “And there was nothing like that in the Bush administration?”

A 72-year-old woman wants a baby and plans to have one via in vitro fertilization. The women on “The View” have conflicting feelings about it.

“72-year-old Jenny Brown has spent almost $50,000 on in vitro fertilization because she is determined to have a baby, saying her age doesn't matter because a mom can die at any age and she's fully prepared for the hard work of motherhood,” Whoopi Goldberg explained on July 15, the same day the Associated Press reported the World’s oldest mom died and left behind two-year-old twins.

As if the ABC filibuster for ObamaCare wasn’t enough. The network, at it again, plugged Obama’s universal health insurance on “The View” with a huge assist from the editor of Fortune magazine.

The June 26 episode of program was a special, “Bank on The View: How to get a Job,” and was supposed to highlight what industries were hiring and offer tips to successfully find a job. Yet Joy Behar unabashedly used the show to promote Obama’s overhaul of the healthcare industry, even when it wasn’t the topic.

Andy Serwer, the editor of Fortune magazine, was in the midst of a discussion about the jobs available in the health care industry when Behar interrupted him and pointedly asked, “If Obama can push a healthcare, single-pay or whatever he’s trying to do, through, will that alleviate the problem, do you think?”

What problem Behar is referring to is unclear, since Serwer was speaking of the jobs available. But to Behar it was the perfect time to slide in support for Obama’s plan, even though she is not even sure what it entails.

The ladies of the ‘View' cannot seem to make up their minds. After Sarah Palin released her response to the tasteless David Letterman joke about her daughter, Joy Behar made an astonishing comment June 15 in support of the Vice-Presidential nominee: "You know, I have to say that I'm on her side this time. Not because I didn't think it was sort of ok because comedians make jokes. But as a parent, as a mother, she's no dummy. She's going for the jugular. And I would, too. I would, too. As a mother, I would do it."

If you had watched the View from last week this statement would come as a surprise. During the discussion on the same topic, Behar was the only one on the show defending Letterman and his comments. She supported the joke by explaining that Sarah Palin "traipse the kid [Bristol Palin] out" and that she's "a walking punch line!"

Joy Behar apparently has a thing for waterboarding and conservatives. ABC’s “View” co-host interrupted a serious June 11 discussion about hate crimes in America, with talk of, well, more waterboarding. In this case, the suspect in the Holocaust museum shooting.

 “You know they say he’s the lone gun man he’s acted alone and everything…but do you think that Cheney should have him waterboarded to see if there’s anybody behind this?”

The reaction of the crowd was mostly silence, with a splatter of awkward laughs.

With recent anti-Semitic remarks, Whoopi and Joy finally condemned Reverend Wright, while Joy ludicrously denied ever supporting President Obama’s former pastor. On the June 11 edition of "The View," Joy Behar logically concluded Wright is indeed an anti-Semite and even branded the reverend "evil."

When Elisabeth Hasselbeck noted such comments are on par with Wright’s past ravings, Behar immediately countered "no one liked him on this panel." While Joy may not have been Wright’s biggest cheerleader, she has attempted to justify Reverend Wright’s extreme remarks even labeling Wright’s "God Damn America" sermon "righteous," spinning an anti-Italian slur as a "compliment" and refused to "sit in judgement" over Wright’s sermons "because I’m not black."