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Today was a same-old, same-old day in California.For the second year in a row, a state official has proposed eliminating the former Golden State's "welfare-to-work" program, which the rest of us know as "welfare," or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Last year, it was left to a spokesman for the state's Department of Finance to bring out the idea. This year, Governor Arnold…

On Friday night's edition of Inside Washington, NPR legal reporter Nina Totenberg twice used the term "spectacularly successful" to define Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Host Gordon Peterson asked her what "we" know so far:We know she was a spectacularly successful dean at Harvard Law School where she was the first female dean -- that she just moved the place, got it really moving again…

On Friday’s Countdown show, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann used his "Worst Person" segment to slam Oklahoma’s Republican Senator James Inhofe as a "homophobe" who is "making a jackass out of himself" in opposing an end to the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy on gays in the military.Referring to people who oppose allowing those who are openly gay to serve in the military, Olbermann suggested such a way…

Another sycophantic book about President Barack Obama, another showcasing of it by NBC News. Five weeks after three NBC News shows featured David Remnick to promote 'The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama,' Friday's NBC Nightly News aired a first-person recitation, from Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, of a laudatory anecdote about Obama told to him by self-interested members of Obama's staff…

Handy rule of thumb when watching MSNBC's Rachel Maddow -- the more earnest her claim, the less likely it's true. Hardly ever fails.Most recent example -- Maddow on Wednesday talking about congressional hearings on the Deepwater  Horizon oil spill coinciding with senators Kerry and Lieberman introducing so-called "climate change" legislation (formerly known as cap and trade, formally called the…

Headline News talk-show host Joy Behar was hailed in an interview on The Daily Beast site by Kevin Sessums, whose credit line explained was the author of a childhood memoir called Missisippi Sissy. Sessums endorsed the view that Behar is like legendary newscaster Edward R. Murrow for hounding John McCain on ABC's The View: SESSUMS: But Frank Rich in his Sunday New York Times column called you the…

MSNBC's Alex Witt on Friday featured a rabidly anti-Sarah Palin journalist to explain why the former governor spoke at a National Rifle Association conference. Asked to comment, Cathy Areu, a Washington Post magazine editor, derided, "Oh, my God! She is such a fear-monger and really just appeals to this group of people who likes to hear all of these crazy comments." Areu first drew fawning…

In a Friday article for Yahoo! News, reporter John Cook revealed FBI documents that detail allegations that former CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite offered CBS News resources to transport fierce Vietnam critic and Democratic Maine Senator Edmund Muskie to a Florida anti-war rally in November of 1969. (h/t TVNewser)According to Cook, the FBI files describe how "Cronkite encouraged students…

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Friday cited a new poll and marveled to viewers that Barack Obama "is largely escaping blame for his handling of the [oil spill] crisis." (Note the passive way he framed that sentence.) Reporter Jake Tapper discussed the government's reaction to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He proclaimed, "[Obama] is said to be angry and disappointed, not…

Believe it or not, there are some who still fail to grasp the notion that the legacy media are overwhelmingly liberal. They act shocked when the media do what they usually do -- toe the liberal line -- and search in vain for some way to explain the apparent bias."Does the Media Care About Unemployment?" asked Kevin Drum, a writer for the liberal Mother Jones. Drum postulated that that "the media…

Friday's "Yeas and Nays" gossip column in The Washington Examiner reported that despite his suspension by MSNBC, anchor David Shuster is still playing on the "Original Peacocks" softball team of WRC (NBC's local affiliate). An anonymous player claimed:"One funny thing is he has his own uniform, while the rest of the teams play in shorts and T-shirts," a player from an opposing team told Yeas…

When inflation is considered, 2010 tax revenues will be 61 percent higher than 1980.