Associated Press

An overlooked quote by a Michigan teenager picked up by the Associated Press regarding the murder of pro-life activist James Pouillon illustrates why many in the media are ignoring this story.:

Later on Friday students outside the high school said Pouillon was a fixture there and regularly held graphic signs of aborted fetuses.

"I can see someone spitting on him or punching him, but shooting him is pretty stupid," said 16-year-old Curtis Wisterman.

The New York Times Company is burning full blast towards oblivion and if they don't figure out a way to pull out of their death spiral soon it won't be pretty. In fact, in the first quarter of 2009 the Times lost an incredible $74.5 million which was far far beyond what analysts had predicted. Here's how the Times describes it's own deterioration:

The New York Times Company reported a first-quarter loss of $74.5 million on Tuesday, compared with a loss of $335,000 in the period a year ago, as it joined the roster of newspaper companies recording the steepest advertising declines in generations.

Advertising revenue at the company’s publishing segment fell 28.4 percent in the quarter, including an 8 percent decline in Internet advertising at the News Media Group.

[...]

The Times Company’s total revenue of $609 million, down 18.6 percent from $747.9 million in the first quarter a year ago, fell more than $20 million short of analysts’ projections.

Of course this abysmal performance is already being spun by the Times itself and the Associated Press as nothing more than a result of a shift in marketing and the poor economy:

In a move strikingly similar to Canada's inquisition of Mark Steyn a Dutch court has ordered that Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders be prosecuted for expressing his belief that there is a clear connection between Islam and violence. Wilders is the creator of a movie titled "Fitna" which seeks to "stop Islamisation" and "defend our freedom". He has also equated the Koran to Hitler's infamous Mein Kompf. Apparently those are both criminal acts in the Netherlands nowadays.

Here's how the BBC described the court's order:

The three judges said that they had weighed Mr Wilders's "one-sided generalisations" against his right to free speech, and ruled that he had gone beyond the normal leeway granted to politicians.

On Saturday, the Associated Press published an article that not only questioned the rationale behind President Barack Obama spending huge sums of money on his inauguration while the economy is in the middle of the worst recession in decades, but also noted how critical some were four years ago of how much President Bush was spending on his second inauguration.

Interestingly, NewsBusters Senior Editor Rich Noyes, in a piece that was linked by the Drudge Report Wednesday, wrote about how the AP bashed Bush for his inaugural spending four years ago but was arguing for extravagance now.

Do you think the AP noticed?

Here's what Matt Apuzzo wrote Saturday in an article titled "Obama Hosting Pricey Party in a Dicey Economy":