Roland Martin of CNN took the fight to Sarah Palin in our interview with him at the RNC. As you can tell, he was not playing around:




Young Turks Interviews at RNC

Last night, CNN's anchors appeared to be so into the sound of their own voice that they fell minutes behind PBS and other stations. And they kept complaining about all the things the Democrats weren't doing (talking about McCain and Bush, for example), when behind them, in speeches they were talking over, Democrats were doing just that.

If you have to fill 24 hours, wouldn't you show Claire McCaskill's speech, in which she went after John McCain, rather than blathering about the absence of John McCain attacks?

More accurately, Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) clowned himself. But he did such a poor job, even Wolf Blitzer had to challenge him and show that his argument made no sense. First, watch how Gov. Sanford mumbles, bumbles and stumbles through this interview:





Now, as to the real point -- there is no difference between John McCain and George Bush on economic issues. John McCain agrees with 98% of the policies that got us into this mess in the first place.

They fundamentally don't believe in government regulation. That is a radical position (a sensible position is that we need some regulation, enough to check the excesses of an unfettered market without over-regulating industry). When it comes to financial institutions taking great risks for short-term pay-offs and then dumping their mess on the American taxpayer if it goes wrong, we need more regulation to make sure they can't do this.

If they want to take all this risk and then when they get burned, we don't bail them out, then fine. But if it's going to be my money that bails them out, I'm not going to sign-off on excessive risk for excessive short-term profits when we have to deal with the long-term pain. This is highway robbery. It's also socialism for the rich.

If you're a middle-class working family, Republicans throw bootstraps at you and say you need to pick yourself up off the ground. They offer no government assistance under the guise of the free market. But if the top banks get in trouble, the free market is out the window and here comes government welfare to save the day for rich folks.

Funny how that works. Unless you're insanely wealthy or directly benefit from these anti-free market practices of the Bush administration (no-bid contracts to favored military suppliers is another example), you'd be crazy to vote for another Republican.

Watch Young Turks on You Tube

Anderson Cooper has had some birthday week. On primary night, there was the now-famous punch-drunk exchange on CNN (above): Donna Brazile said, "Anderson, I'm not your boo." To which he responded, "I want to be your boo!" Everyone busted out laughing, prompting him to confess to not knowing what the word meant.

Then last night, there was another awkward moment (video here). Erica Hill played a clip of him calling the Wii (pronounced "whee") a "why-ee," and then gave him one. He half-heartedly stepped up and down on the workout pad, seeming mortified. But cut the guy some slack; he's probably still suffering PTSD from his 2004 birthday, in which he was attacked by clowns. Happy birthday, Anderson!

We've always found those Anne Geddes baby-as-hors-d'oeuvre art books at our doctor's office terrifying. We know she's trying to make them look pure and simple and beautiful, but they always wind up looking to us like something out of Gourmet.

But this worshipful CNN video, narrated by a man who seems like a parody of Britishness ("from flowerpots to fairies, bees to butterflies, she captures these tiny little tots in a truly artistic way"), argues for her as one of the leading photographers of our time, an artist (unlike those pesky "Magnum" high artists) "universally appreciated."

You know it's going to be a good day when the headline delivered from CNN is, "God Says Chaos Coming."

"The Lord was saying that there's going to be violence and chaos in the world," Robertson said on his "700 Club" news-and-talk show.

Jesus H Christ! Oh, it's just Pat Robertson, being his usual zany self. I want to ask Americans, why do reputable international news organization, such as CNN, broadcast his predictions each year? Is it out of respect? mockery? what? Don't tell me people take this guy seriously?

In Canada we don't broadcast the message of Benny Hinn every New Year. Why does the AP, major American networks and dozens of American newspapers choose to spread this preachers message, every year, it's obviously designed to scare Christians.

Evangelism will increase because more people are going to be seeking God as the chaos develops, he said.

Last year Robertson predicted a major terrorism attack in America. The year before that he said a massive tsunami would devastate the American coastline. I wonder if Christians can think of better role models for their faith, perhaps...maybe...Jesus?

/More Super News clips.

Australia became the 174th nation to sign the Kyoto Protocol as world leaders are in Bali this month for an 11 day climate change conference. Still three of the worlds biggest polluters are still skeptical: China, India and the United States.

Australia's brand new PM, Kevin Rudd signed Kyoto shortly after being sworn into office.

Here is a quick video from CNN introducing the Bali climate change conference.

No, not questions for CNN's second "groundbreaking", "revolutionary", "never-been-tried-before" CNN/YouTube debate, scheduled for tonight.

The questions here are the ones you really want to ask. Welcome to the historic, visionary, can't-believe-this-is-happening MoRocca180/YouTube forum in which you, the ordinary person, get to ask any CNN anchor any question you've ever wanted answered.

Watch - and if your question wasn't asked, ask it in the comments section. Meanwhile I'll work on getting straight answers. (And I hope to be as successful as CNN was with the Democratic candidates!)

CNN has been touting its program "God's Warriors," hosted by Christiane Amanpour, and I see that the network is re-airing the three-part series this week. The program is skillfully done, and precisely for this reason it illustrates the deep bias that passes for "news" and "news analysis" in our time. Bias is most effective when it is not obvious but rather built into the assumptions of a program. Here's what I mean.

Imagine if CNN were to do a ten-part special on "Atheism's Warriors." The theme of the broadcast is the tens of millions of people killed by atheist regimes in our lifetime. The program begins with Christiane Amanpour noting how ironic and absurd it is that atheist pundits and ACLU lawyers wail about the crimes of religious regimes, crimes often stretching back five hundred or a thousand years, while these same gurus seem unmoved by the much more bloody legacy of atheist regimes of the twentieth century. Then follows a grisy account of the mass murders of Mao in China, Stalin in Russia, the Nazi regime in Germany, Pol Pot in Indochina, and so on. The special concludes with a focus on Fidel Castro and Kim Jong-Il, atheist dictators still alive and still killing people in the name of the atheist paradise.

Haven't seen that one on CNN? Neither have I. It's because the mainstream media have blinders on and cannot see the world in this way. Instead the producers and writers and anchors are much more alarmed about "God's Warriors." Now if they focused their critical lens on the Islamic radicals, this would be appropriate. Who can deny that Bin Laden and Ahmadinejad and Hamas and the others do what they do in the name of religion? CNN's ploy, however, is to give equal time to "Jewish fundamentalism" and "Christian fundamentalism" and "Islamic fundamentalism" and thus implicitly convey the message that all three are equally dangerous.

But this is absurd. Let's just consider the analogy between Christian fundamentalism and Islamic fundamentalism. Who is the Christian equivalent of Bin Laden? There isn't one. Where is the Christian theocracy in the world today that is doing to its people what the mullahs in Iran are doing? It doesn't exist. Where are the Christian groups that are, like Hamas and Hizbollah, killing large numbers of innocents in the name of God? While violence in the name of Islam has unquestioned support in a substantial segment of the Muslim community, where are the Christians who are cheering the bombing of abortion clinics? Basically CNN has to go into the wilderness to find crackpots and then slyly suggest that these are the Christian equivalents of the holy warriors of Islam. The whole equation of contemporary Christianity with Islamic radicalism is a bogus enterprise from start to finish.

By all means watch "God's Warriors," but watch it as a case study in media distortion and media bias.

Time for schools to dust off their Smokey the bear PSA film rolls and start educating kids about forest fires again.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (the politician, not the actor) declared on TV that he would "hunt down" whoever was responsible for the fires. One of them was started by a little boy with possibly no affiliation with Al Queda (as Jon Stewart mocks Fox News.)

I'd like to know more about this kid, who is definitely is the ultimate example of bad luck - imagine having this looming over your conscience for a week. Did he come forward? How exactly do detectives connect a 38,000 acre fire back to a kid playing with matches? I don't watch CSI, so I don't have a clue. Fingerprints? Squirrel tipped em off? If you can find a more informative article about this, let me know.

"Our arson explosive detectives, in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Fire Department investigators, immediately began their investigation, and during the course of the investigation, it led to a juvenile suspect," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Tony Moore told CNN's "American Morning" Wednesday.

"After talking with that juvenile, he admitted to playing with matches, and accidentally starting the fire in that area," he said...Read more on CNN...

If the world is a stage, then Stephen Colbert is the best actor. Here is a fine interview for which Colbert was able to shake himself out of character.

Tip to Onegoodmove.org for the clip.
Two Minutes in he mentions he did a bit for ABC...Here it is.
Rasmussen Poll has Colbert sitting at 13% in the Presidential Poll.
ABC Reporting on how Colbert's campaign may be illegal.

Watch CNN and you will be able to witness the fury of mother nature. Right now California is experiencing a wildfire that has killed two people, forced over 500,000 to evacuate and destroyed over a thousand homes.

Flip the Channel to CNN Headline news and you will be able to witness the douchebaggery of Glenn Beck.

On the October 22 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, host Glenn Beck stated, "I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today." Beck continued: "There are a few people that hate America. But I don't think the Democrats are those. I think there are those posing as Democrats that are like that."...Read More on Mediamatters.org...

So just remember when you are channel surfing for news and you stumble upon CNN Headline news, you could be getting your information from a douche.

Mitt Romney was asked a difficult question from medical marijuana user Clayton Holton while on the campaign trail. Below is video of the incident as presented by CNN.

"I have the support of five of my doctors saying I am living proof that medical marijuana works," Holton told Romney.

CNN's Jack Cafferty has been out plugging his new book "It's getting ugly out there." Here is a segment from CNN that first aired last month titled "The Government's Top Ten Dubious Accomplishments."

Cafferty was also on TDS last night for those interested in hearing what he has to say, and if you still like his style, check out this small collection on Videosift.

Bill Clinton speaks out about the ridiculous and disingenuous Senate and House votes condemning the General Petreaus MoveOn.org ad.