TODAY'S TOP FIVE: A Phony Reporter/Male Prostitute of Truth in a White House Press Corps of Lies.
If This Means No More Late Night Cinemax Porn, Then I Will Be Truly Radicalized Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) now says he wants laws applying decency standards for broadcast TV and radio to cable TV and satellite radio. "Cable is a much greater violator in the indecency area," Ted says. Now, I know what you're thinking: Congress doesn't have the power to regulate cable or satellite media, right? Apparently, that's in doubt. The "get government off our backs" Republicans are mulling a court challenge that would enable them to extend the same standards to cable and satellite that broadcasters have to abide by. But don't worry, because Ted assures us that "No one wants censorship." Well, I guess that takes care of my concerns.
You've Been Struck By a Smooth Criminal Here at the MLWL, we've held off from posting about the trial of Michael Jackson, but the "strong hints" coming from his lawyer that he's going to take the stand and testify on his own behalf have forced our hand. As annoying as celebrity show trials are, come on: that would be the most entertaining court testimony in years!
Journalism Ethics, Boston Globe-Style By the shores of Gitchee Gumee, by the shining big sea waters, strode the mighty Hiawatha and...his ethically-challenged blogging habits? That's Hiawatha Bray, thanks very much, technology reporter for the Boston Globe who apparently spent much of his free time in 2004 posting comments on web logs proclaiming his support for George Bush and trashing the "moronic" John Kerry. Ah, but who cares, right? I mean, he covered technology - indeed, he covered the ways in which technology affected the campaign, writing at least three major articles about Kerry and Bush while simultaneously proclaiming his love for Bush and hatred for Kerry. Newspaper reporters have been fired for less since the advent of blogging; such concerns are why people on this very blog use pseudonyms. Let's see if the Globe has the balls to fire Bray.
The Daily Mayhem: Iraq Edition Barwiz Mahmoud Marwani, one of 20 judges on the tribunal trying Saddam Hussein's case in Iraq, was assassinated outside his home in Baghdad on Tuesday. The judge and his son, a lawyer, were shot dead by gunmen as they left their home. Also on Tuesday, two separate car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital killed 13 people. On Monday, a car bomb killed 125, the worst such attack since the fall of the regime two years ago.
Choking on the Rottenness of It All A federal panel of three judges has overturned a multi-million dollar verdict won by victims of torture in El Salvador. A previous federal jury had awarded more than $54 million to the three victims - a church worker, a doctor, and a professor - after they proved their case against former generals in the Salvadoran government who now live in the United States. The appellate court that overturned the ruling did not contest the claims of the victims - but said there were no "undue circumstances" preventing the victims from filing suit before the statute of limitations passed. Nice.
-Consider Arms
