Free Republic

MSNBC obliterated the notion of separating cable-news hosts and their political activism when the network brass gave Rev. Al Sharpton a nightly show two years ago. It was just another day at the office when Sharpton held a rabble-rousing rally for Trayvon Martin in the afternoon and then covered it on his show hours later. But Saturday's rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial celebrating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington was the most dramatic conflict of interest yet. Sharpton organized the rally (with Martin Luther King III), and MSNBC aired huge chunks of it...

Imagine if all the hospitals, schools, churches, and government buildings that appear on online maps were nothing but blurs. That would not only reduce the usefulness of things like Google Maps and Google Earth, but it would be a huge undertaking for Google and would probably violate the First Amendment. But that's exactly what California Assemblyman Joel Anderson, a Republican from El Cajon, is proposing in a measure dubbed "AB-255." The measure would apply to Web site operators and online services that make "a virtual globe browser available to members of the public" and fails to define what that is....

Family is on the way, peaceful in the swamp. God bless all of you, my friends.

In Albany, Rape, Punch-Outs, and Shutdowns Are All a Baffling Blur Fri Jun 27,12:24 PM ET By Wayne Barrett Village Voice Writer Lost in the media bombast about the Albany rape arrest of Michael Boxley, chief counsel to Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, were the surprising comments of state Democratic chair Denny Farrell, who also heads the powerful Assembly Ways and Means Committee. In an appearance on NY1 on June 12—a day after the arrest—Farrell tried to parrot the silver line, insisting that he "shouldn't be making any comments" and that this was now in the hands of the criminal justice...

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States has come up against resistance from a new quarter as it considers plans to take military action against Iraq -- British rock bands. The campaign started last week with dance music trio Massive Attack signing up for the "Stop the War" campaign, headed by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament pressure group, and Tuesday it was taken up by "Britpop" icons Blur and rockers Elbow. "The pressure needs to be put on (Prime Minister) Tony Blair ( news - web sites)," Elbow lead singer Guy Garvey told Reuters Tuesday, referring to Blair's refusal to rule...