Free Republic

Melissa Harris-Lacewell: His Resignation As "Green Jobs Czar" Is A Setback For Environmental Justice In March, I wrote here on The Notion in celebration of the appointment of Van Jones. I am both politically committed to and academically interested in issues of environmental justice. Jones' appointment was a clear victory for the EJ movement. The modern environmental justice movement emerged more than three decades ago. Its fight has been centered on two important issues: the disproportionate impact of local decisions that site polluting industries and undesirable land uses in poor and minority communities, and the damaging health effects of urban...

On Tuesday, FNC's The O'Reilly Factor hosted FNC analyst Bernard Goldberg as the former CBS News correspondent highlighted a story recently posted on his Web site, BernardGoldberg.com, in which he complains of how little mainstream media attention was given to the fact that former President George W. Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam as part of his service in the Texas Air National Guard, but that he was turned down because other pilots were more experienced, and that CBS News producer Mary Mapes, even though she knew this part of the story before the report aired, did not include...

Back in April, when the debate over torture was roaring, Jon Stewart invited Cliff May, a national-security hawk and former spokesman for the Republican Party, to come on The Daily Show and defend waterboarding. May was hesitant. He thought Stewart would paint him as a crazy extremist. The audience would jeer. It would be a disaster. "I was apprehensive about going on, even though I've been on TV for a dozen years," says May. "A lot of my friends told me: 'Don't do it. You're meat going into the sausage factory.'" But May had a change of heart after soliciting...

WASHINGTON – Walter Cronkite is dead at 92 – but most Americans, many of whom considered him "the most trusted man" in the country during his reign as CBS News anchor – still don't know what motivated him and how he secured such an influential and lofty position. He was like a grandfatherly institution in the early days of TV. People believed him. Uncle Walter wouldn't lie, America believed. Thus, when he gave his opinions, they had impact. One example was his report on the Tet offensive in Vietnam, which is credited with swinging the tide of opinion against the...

When Jeff Goldblum passed away, a little bit of all of us died. I will be missed. He couldn’t have said it better. Words can’t describe the great loss we felt when we heard actor Jeff Goldblum had passed away. Luckily he visited the set of The Colbert Report to help us put his death into perspective. In this hilarious video, Colbert takes some time during his show to remember Goldblum, after it was reported that he died in New Zealand while filming a movie. Even when Goldblum himself comes to prove that he is indeed alive and well, Colbert...

VH1 comedian Chuck Nice appeared on Tuesday's "Today" show and compared Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to the sexually transmitted disease herpes. He mocked, "But, Sarah Palin to the GOP, this is what I've got to say, she is very much like herpes, she's not going away." The "Best Week Ever" host amazingly preceded his comments by instructing the show's hosts and his fellow guests, who were there to discuss news events in the 10am hour of the show, "...Please don't take it the way it sounds." Amazingly, no one on the program really challenged Nice on his ugly remark. NBC...

Video here. Letterman jokes that, during the Yankees game this weekend, her daughter was "knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

In the two weeks since Newsweek has redesigned, the magazine’s editors have sent out a statement that they intend to sever any and all connection to the turgid, dusty newsweekly of yore. And Jon Meacham, the magazine’s editor, is trying to recapture that age-old magazine editor’s trick for his newly conceived book: buzz. For the next issue that hits newsstands on June 8, Comedy Central funnyman Stephen Colbert will be Newsweek’s guest editor, The Observer has learned.

Monday, April 13, 2009 BREITBART: Jon Stewart and Kumar go to D.C. Andrew Breitbart On Tuesday night I was bestowed the honor of being ridiculed on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. The segment in which I was featured had Mr. Stewart mocking those of us who dare criticize the new president. In the era of Obama, mainstream American political humor is now officially on the defensive. Stewart lumped me with Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican — a cross section of people you might expect to be critical of an administration implementing...

Lara Logan was named chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News in June, and now this - the journalist just gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Logan and her husband, Joseph Burkett, welcomed Joseph Washington Burkett V to their family on December 29. The birth of their child is a pleasant chapter in a romance marked by scandal. Though both Logan and Burkett were separated from their respective spouses when they met, the relationship that began in Iraq in 2007 caused a flurry of tabloid commentary. The front page of the New York Post featured a story calling Logan...

Sway: Our next question is from Matt from Iowa: "If your desire is to spread the wealth around, what incentive is there for me to try to work hard? If I am only going to get more taken away from me, the more money I make, why wouldn't I just slide into a life of relaxation and let rich people take care of me? And a lot of people are asking similar questions, and I wanted you to specify. What does this mean exactly?" Obama: What is amazing to me is this whole notion that somehow everybody is just looking...

John Stewart made clear which candidate he’s supporting Tuesday night at the Project ALS benefit at the Waldorf-Astoria. The Daily Show star responded to host Ben Stiller’s comments that he can’t choose sides due to his position on television saying, “Oh, I think it’s pretty clear. Neither of them is perfect, but if you, out of nowhere, are going to grab a woman out of the woods and make her your vice presidential candidate, what can I do?” “[Sarah Palin] is like Jodie Foster in the movie Nell, ” Stewart continued. “They just found her, and she was speaking her...

EXCLUSIVE: LETTERMAN MOCKS MCCAIN CANCELLATION Wed Sep 24 2008 17:41:58 ET David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy. Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?" Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the...

(NEW YORK) They scold us for “being unfair,” remind us to “ask all the candidates the same questions,” and occasionally, they boo us. From Canton to Colorado, some of the tens of thousands of people attending Sarah Palin’s rallies regularly take it upon themselves to give the media a piece of their minds. So I thought it only fair to turn the microphone around, and give a handful of rally attendees a chance to air their grievances about the way in which the media has covered the Republican vice presidential nominee. Watch the video below:

If his aim was to be noticed by America, Russell Brand more than achieved his goal last night as he ranted that President Bush was a “retarded cowboy” while hosting the MTV awards. The British comedian, who is a virtual unknown in America, left the crème of the music world stunned as he championed Barack Obama, ran down Bush and made lewd jokes about the Christian pop band Jonas Brothers. Ignoring the renowned patriotism of Americans, Brand told the Hollywood audience they must vote for Barrack Obama “on behalf of the world”, before insinuating that America had lower standards than...

While the majority of Thursday’s CBS Early Show coverage of Sarah Palin’s convention speech was positive, at the top of the 8am hour, co-host Maggie Rodriguez talked to Palin’s sister, Heather Bruce, and asked: "There's been a lot of talk this weekend about family, talk that family is off limits in a campaign. Yet we see your sister with her kids, introducing them, showing them on camera, and she even mentioned you in her speech last night. So the question is, is it okay to use family in a campaign when it benefits the candidate and not okay when it's...

Did anyone else see the Letterman Show tonight, Friday 8/15: when actor Ben Kingsley walked out to great applause, he walked up to Dave Letterman and said "God Bless American Enthusiasm!" and then repeated himself, "God Bless American enthusiasm!" Except CBS simply filtered out the word "God." Both times. Watching closely, I know I saw Kingsley's lips form the word "God" both times, his lips were clearly moving before I heard "...Bless American enthusiasm!" I thought I was imagining things, but it happened a second time!

I am the entertainer, and I know just where I stand - only I am a celebritard and I don't why I stand there. http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19893326&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday overturned a decision to fine CBS Corp (CBS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) television stations $550,000 for airing a brief breast flash by pop singer Janet Jackson during the 2004 Super Bowl broadcast.

The three network anchors will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week for Barack Obama's trip, adding their high-wattage spotlight to what is already shaping up as a major media extravaganza. Lured by an offer of interviews with the Democratic presidential candidate, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric will make the overseas trek, meaning that the NBC, ABC and CBS evening newscasts will originate from stops along the route and undoubtedly give it big play.

On Wednesday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Julie Chen teased an upcoming segment on Barack Obama: "...during the long primary season, we all learned a lot about Barack Obama. He is a Senator. He's a Harvard grad. He's a husband. And he is a father. But this morning, you're going to learn five things you probably don't know about Barack Obama." Later, in David Letterman style, correspondent Jeff Glor introduced the story: "...here are the top five things you likely don't know about Barack Obama." Among those things, were important facts such as "Number four -- in addition to enjoying basketball...

Friends at Black Rock say Looney Liberal Leslie Moonves may be on his way out the door at CBS. Moonves has overseen a number of CBS fiascos including The Demise Of The Dan (which Rather is about to play out again in a NY courtroom), the hiring of Ratings Remover Perkie Katie Couric as well as very bad ratings for the nightly entertainment (?) block. And of course, most important of all, stock prices are locked in deep declining do-do. Supposedly Moonves has lost the faith of Summer Redstone, and when you lose the faith of His Grace, The Chairman,...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. --Wading back into the Democratic presidential race, billionaire businessman Bob Johnson said Monday that Sen. Barack Obama would not be his party's leading candidate if he were white. Johnson's comments to the Charlotte Observer echoed those of former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. She stepped down as an adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton last month after saying Obama wouldn't be where he is if he were white. "What I believe Geraldine Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called `Jerry Smith' and he says I'm going to run for president, would he start...

60 Minutes on Sunday night ran back-to-back interview segments with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and while Steve Kroft's session with Obama provided a friendly forum in which Kroft admired how “through twelve long months of mind-numbing, muscle-aching, adrenaline-fueled monotony and exhaustion, there has been barely a misstep” by Obama, it was devoid of anything approaching the giddy girl talk about mainlining coffee and high school boys Katie Couric put into her segment with Clinton. Couric set up the story by trumpeting how Clinton “remains focused, energized and anything but defeatist.” She soon wondered: “How do you do it? I...

A CBS producer was arrested Saturday after deputies say he attempted to arrange sex with 11-year-old girl by communicating with undercover investigators posing as the fictitious girl's father, authorities said. Daniel J. Barron, 56, a 15-year producer with CBS News who lives in New Jersey, allegedly told an undercover St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office detective to bring his 11-year-old daughter to the Fort Lauderdale hotel where he was staying while in town to cover Sunday's Miami Dolphins game, according to an arrest report. Barron allegedly told the undercover detective, whom he met Saturday afternoon in an America Online chat room...

MTV has recently rolled out "Think MTV", a new community interaction site oriented toward student activism. Imagine "Facebook" with a social-activism orientation. Exploring the site quickly reveals that MTV's notion of social activism has a decided liberal tint. The home page lists a dozen major areas for potential activism. Click on "Politics" and -- what do you know! -- the first photo that pops up is one of John Edwards looking pensively toward the future. Three videos on political themes are displayed. The only one by a named author is by . . . Kanye West. Other celebrities involved with...

This is from the aftermath, the post show wrap-up last night after the Logo network’s forum, the human rights campaign and the Democrat candidates. This is comedian and actor Alec Mapa giving his analysis of the performances last night of the Democrat presidential candidates. Click Here to listen to "Super Fabulous Analysis"

On Monday, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, got some good news. Convicted last month of lying to investigators and obstructing inquiries into the leak of former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, Libby learned he wouldn't have to serve his 30-month prison sentence — and had President George W. Bush to thank. The president commuted Libby's sentence, a move that falls just short of a full pardon (see "President Bush Commutes Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's Sentence In CIA Leak Case"). While largely expected, Bush's decision was met with praise from conservative activists and sparked...

I hate what’s happening to Katie Couric. If, for instance, you’ve been in a supermarket checkout line recently, you’ve seen her face plastered on the cover of the National Enquirer, next to a headline that declares that bad ratings and backstabbing have demoralized her so much she wants out. True or not, such Enquirer stories are indicators in their own way (of someone’s wish fulfillment, if not necessarily hers). You can’t call Couric blameless for the rain of ill-will she’s now enduring. She’s been in media all her adult life and she knows full well that few worlds fulminate with...

"CBS Evening News" executive producer Rick Kaplan has also come out to slam Dan Rather for his sexist comment that CBS' Katie Couric has "dumbed down" and "tarted up" the news biz with her tenure on CBS' nightly news broadcast. But, a little investigation shows that only two years ago Kaplan praised Rather as the "gold standard" of news anchors at an awards ceremony for Rather's "retirement". So, which is it, Mr. Kaplan? Is Rather a jerk, or is he the best there is? Today, Fox News' Roger Friedman reports that Kaplan thinks that Rather should just shut up and...

Daily Show, albeit liberal, always good for a chuckle

Congressman Ron Paul will be a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" tonight at 11:00 pm ET. The third GOP presidential debate will be held tomorrow night at 7:00 pm ET in New Hampshire. CNN will broadcast the debate with Wolf Blitzer as the moderator.

<p>Actually this list itself ain't bad, it's just most of the songs that are sh***. But not all, of course -- there's plenty of yacht rock to love. And who better to rank these tunes than VH1? There must be some holdovers from before the celebreality pox. Tomorrow night, Video Hits 1 will air their televised countdown of the Top 40 soft rock tunes, but go ahead and take a gander now and see if they hit the Marx.</p>

Put aside for a minute the chuckles over a leftist magazine, dedicated to the poor of the earth and the worship of Mother Earth, holding a cruise for the rich on a big, polluting cruise ship. Guess who's coming to dinner on The Nation's Tenth Annual Seminar Cruise? Mary Mapes, touted on the Nation Cruise website as the "Peabody Award Winning Former CBS News Producer." It should read: "Phony Document Specialist/Celebrated Smearer of Bush's National Guard Record."

CBS Poll: 76% Say War's Going Badly Record Number In CBS/NYT Survey Say Getting Involved In Iraq Was A Mistake Complete Poll Results: President, Congress And The War in Iraq CBS News Interactive: Bush's Approval Ratings (CBS News) NEW YORK As President Bush and Congress hammer out an Iraq war funding bill, a CBS News/New York Times poll shows the number of Americans who say the war is going badly has reached a new high, rising 10 percent this month to 76 percent. Nearly half of all Americans (47 percent) say the war is going very badly, while just 20...

I hadn't planned on writing another column about Hillary Clinton, but the one I wrote last week has been so widely misunderstood that I feel compelled to do so. To recap, I said that no Republican can win the presidency next year. If one accepts this premise, then if follows that it is in the interest of conservatives to support the most conservative Democrat running for that party's nomination. I went on to say why I think Hillary Clinton may be the most conservative Democrat. To begin with, it is obviously not impossible for a Republican to win next year....

CIA TENET: BUSH ADMIN USE OF HIS 'SLAM DUNK' COMMENT TO PUSH WAR WAS DISINGENUOUS, DISHONORABLE AND RUINED REPUTATION AND CAREER Thu Apr 26 2007 14:11:35 ET Ex-CIA Director George Tenet says the way the Bush administration has used his now famous "slam dunk" comment Ð which he admits saying in reference to making the public case for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq Ð is both disingenuous and dishonorable. It also ruined his reputation and his career, he tells Scott Pelley in his first network television interview. The interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, April 29 (7:00-8:00...

<p>They say they are not disloyal. They say they are not shirking their duty and that they do not oppose war. But over 1,000 active-duty and reserve members of the U.S. military are against the war in Iraq and have said so in an unusually public way -- by petitioning Congress last month. Several of them appear to explain their actions in a Lara Logan report to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday Feb. 25 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.</p>

Pasadena -- Katie Couric's going to the Super Bowl. The "CBS Evening News" anchor will contribute a feature to CBS' four-hour Super Bowl pregame show on Feb. 4, the network said on Thursday. She will also anchor the evening news from Miami, the site of the big game, on the Friday before the game. There's precedent at other networks for the news anchors to be involved in sports coverage, including Brian Williams and Couric during NBC's Olympic broadcasts, said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports. "It is the biggest event of the day and it makes sense for...

Unlike its network rivals, CBS News did not break into its programming for a special report on former President Ford's death, instead running a printed "crawl" at the bottom of the screen with the news. CBS said Wednesday it is bringing Katie Couric home from an overseas vacation to anchor the "CBS Evening News" on Thursday and any ceremonies for Ford over the weekend. News of the 93-year-old ex-president's death broke shortly before midnight on the East Coast, and during prime time Tuesday in the West. Terry Moran, already at work on ABC News' "Nightline," anchored a special report, and...

CBS Discourages Religion in Christmas A segment of "The CBS Early Show" today, hosted by Rene' Syler, included a list of "do's and don'ts" for holiday gift giving. She and her guest said it was "a bad idea" to send Christmas cards with religious themes, or with religious messages. I thought Christ was born on this day and is the basis for the holiday celebration of Christmas. Apparantly they have lost touch with reality. Please send a feedback comment email to the show if you feel compelled to do so. Here is the link: http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedback/fb_news_form.shtml

Remember the "Arab street," that riot-in-the-road featuring flammable Israeli flags, Saddam Hussein posters, clenched fists and chants threatening "Death to America"? The street may have lacked pavement and a fire hydrant, but it had beaucoup television cameras. Flames, clenched fists and death threats -- a heart-pounding collage of sensational imagery and rhetoric. What more could a TV exec need to attract audience eyeballs? Recall the talking heads who told us in 1990, after Saddam invaded Kuwait, that "the Arab street" was going to rise en masse, as an ur-proletariat, which would support Saddam against the West. If you need documentation,...

Judge Sides With Original Supernova In 'Rock Star' Suit Ruling requires Tommy Lee's band to change name following show's finale. David has defeated Goliath. According to a Tuesday (September 12) ruling by San Diego Judge John Houston, the producers of CBS' "Rock Star" are going to have to come up with an alternate name for Supernova, the band made up of Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee, Voivod's Jason Newsted and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke. Last month, the original Supernova — an Orange County, California, punk trio — filed for a preliminary injunction in San Diego's U.S. District Court...

Katie Couric slimmed down in the blink of a CBS eye. Tiffany Network officials admitted yesterday that an airbrushed photo making the bubbly broadcaster appear several dress sizes smaller appeared in its promotional magazine "Watch!" The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor said she didn't know about the digitally doctored photo until the September issue of the quarterly glossy landed on her desk. "I liked the first picture better because there's more of me to love," the 49-year-old former NBC "Today" show host said, laughing off the manipulated publicity shot.

Confirming weeks of rumors, CBS has revealed the identities of the twenty castaways who will be competing in this fall's Survivor: Cook Islands and announced that the castaways will -- in what the show's producer and host both acknowledge to be a controversial move -- initially be organized into four tribes divided along ethnic lines (African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and White.) "We're going to take some heat for it," Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett acknowledged to People about the segregated tribe decision that will no doubt give the thirteenth edition of the long-running reality series -- which will also include the...

(AgapePress) - Barna Research in 2002 revealed that less than 10 percent of teens believe that there are such things as moral absolutes to guide their actions. These teens were initiated into this "value-free" environment by their parents -- adults who believed in moral absolutes made up only 22 percent of the research sample. So perhaps it is fitting that My Super Ex-Girlfriend and John Tucker Must Die were released as this summer's one-two PG-13 punch. If we are going to encourage a new generation of morally ambivalent teens, after all, we need to make sure they can attend...

PASADENA, California (Hollywood Reporter) - The creators of "South Park" lambasted Comedy Central Thursday for removing an episode that lampooned Scientology and Tom Cruise from the network's repeat schedule and for blanking out the image of Muhammad during another episode. "So there are two things we can't do on Comedy Central: show Muhammad or Tom Cruise," Trey Parker said during the MTV Networks portion of the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour. Parker and Matt Stone said they had no doubt that the "Trapped in the Closet" episode was yanked as a result of Cruise's starring this summer in "Mission:...

NEW YORK - Dan Rather, the hard-charging anchorman who dominated CBS News for more than two decades but whose final months were clouded by a discredited story on the president’s military service, is leaving CBS after 44 years, the network announced Tuesday. The 74-year-old Rather has complained of being virtually forgotten at CBS Corp. since his exit as anchor last year, six months after the story on President Bush’s military service aired. He has said he is considering an offer to do a weekly show at the HDNet high-definition network. “There will always be a part of Dan Rather at...

CBS/AP) An Iraqi man who was one of the first people on the scene of the U.S. airstrike targeting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said he saw American troops beating a man who had a beard like the al Qaeda leader. The witness, who lives near the house where al-Zarqawi spent his last days, said he saw the man lying on the ground near an irrigation canal. He was badly wounded but still alive, the man told Associated Press Television News. U.S. troops arriving on the scene wrapped the man's head in an Arab robe and began beating him, said the local...

(CBS) A new CBS News poll shows that almost all Americans believe in God or some higher power and more than half pray often and consider religion an important component of their daily lives. Eighty-two percent of poll respondents said they believe in God, with nine percent saying they had faith in some sort of higher power or spirit. Doubt about the existence of God was highest in the "young" demographic as well that of political independents, those living in the West, people who live in big cities and men. Fifty-nine percent of Americans indicated that they pray often and...