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Chaldean Volunteers Sought for Refugee Assistance

Michigan, USA - Sister Beth Murphy, the Volunteer and Community Outreach Coordinator of the Refugee Services Office in the Archdiocese of Detroit is looking for two dedicated volunteers who can assist their staff with the important task of helping Iraqi refugees adjust to life in the United States.

Chaldeans are invited to this uplifting and rewarding opportunity of sharing their gift time and talent for the benefit of the hundreds of refugees who are arriving in the Detroit Metro Area. The Office of Refugee Services has already resettled more than 700 refugees this year, improving the quality of life for many Chaldeans. The office anticipates another 200 refugees by the end of this year.

The Archdiocese of Detroit is looking for fluent speakers in English and an office assistant to help with clerical work. Both positions require less than a few hours a week.

Filed in: Living & Lifestyle, Career & Education, Community & Culture, Chaldean Justice League By Huda Metti

Despite Criticisms of Alienating Christians Iraq Presidency Approves Provincial Election Law

Sulaimaniyah, IRAQ — Today, Iraq's three-member presidency council approved a delayed provincial election law, amidst strong criticism of legally marginalizing Christian representation in the country. “Again, Iraqi Christians are dealt a devastating blow,” says Issam Najed. “America’s revolution was ignited over taxation without representation. In Iraq, Christians are given no representation in the direction of their country.”

"I think that some political groups are pushing the remaining Christians to leave Iraq," worshipper Afram Razzaq-Allah said after services at a Catholic church in Baghdad. "They want us to feel that we are no longer Iraqis." Native Americans can empathize with the indigenous people of Iraq. Iraq's leaders feigned seeking safeguards for small religious communities in this mainly Muslim country as Christians protested parliament's decision for minority representation on provincial councils.

Filed in: Law & Order, Community & Culture, Government & Society, World News & Odds 'N' Ends By Amer Hedow

Church for Chaldeans in Tbilisi (Tiflis) Georgia Grows

Tbilisi, GEORGIA - The world sat on edge as a democratically sovereign country of Georgia was invaded by the Russian military. It has come to be known as the 2008 South Ossetia War. While the country fights for independence, the people of Georgia turn to their faith for solace and prayer of peace. One Chaldean church begins to grow and offer Georgian Chaldeans as well as non-Chaldeans comfort

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River. The city is the size of Michigan and with a little more than a million people. Chaldeans are to be found living all over the world, more is being learned about the Chaldeans of Georgia.

The indigenous Iraqi Catholics have been present in Georgia since the middle of the 18th century and currently number around 7,000 members, living in various different cities in this country.

Filed in: Religion & Spirituality, Community & Culture, Chaldean Churches By Neda Ayar

Sour Milk Campaign in California Begins

California, USA – “The entire Milk Day movement is based on fallacies, is offensive, and every Chaldean around the world should contact Governor Schwarzenegger and tell him to veto this bill. Again, they are attempting to shove immorality down our throats,” declares Jonathan Shayota.

Gina Ateek agrees that, “AB 2567 needs to be vetoed.” The California bill is now awaiting Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature that would designate May 22nd a day to celebrate homosexuality. “Unless the governor receives 1 million phone calls requesting the bill be vetoed,” says Ateek. “Everyone with a phone should call 1-916-445-2841, then press 1,2,1,2 to record a no vote for this bill.”

Filed in: Community & Culture, Government & Society By Huda Metti

10 Tips on How to Handle Chaldean Family Business Conflict

Chaldean family businesses present a unique set of conflict resolution strategies at the workplace. Conflicts at home or at the business, whether they’re interpersonal or purely business, are an unavoidable fact of the Chaldean family business life.

But a disagreement doesn’t have to end with hardship and hurt feelings. Employing smart psychology can help younger Chaldeans handle conflict wisely with their seniors and end up with a solution that works best for everyone.

Dr. Nabil Rafou, a Chaldean social psychologist who is an expert in conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation and leadership, shares some of the tactics that work among Chaldean family businesses. “These ten tips work particularly well given the Chaldean cultures blended history,” Dr. Rafou says.

Filed in: Career & Education, Community & Culture, Business & Finance By Ray Yono

Chaldeans Fondly Remeber Tel-Kepe

Located a little more than 10 miles or 15 kilometers from Mosul there stands a, “Hill of Stones.” For many Westerners this would seem to be an uninspiring and gloomy place to live. However, to many Chaldeans the rich and fertile land of Tel-Kepe (Telkaif), Iraq was once a wondrous place of adventure, peace, and communal living. In contrast to its name Tel-Kepe (The Hill of Stones) the region was quite fertile making many Chaldeans rural farmers living off the land and mastering the science of agriculture in some of the harshest of conditions.

A very high majority of the inhabitants of Tel-Kepe were Chaldean Catholics. Indigenous people of the region who were converted to Christianity by Mar Addai and Mar Mari, disciples of St. Thomas and later merged with the Roman Catholic Church in the seventh century.

Filed in: Living & Lifestyle, Community & Culture By Huda Metti

2008 Yaldo Family Reunion Highlights

Michigan, USA - On July 27, 2008 over 1200 Yaldo guests attended the 1st Annual Yaldo Family Reunion. The Yaldo family gathered at the Saint George Chaldean Camp in Brighton, Michigan. The heart and soul of the 1st annual Yaldo reunion began with the hard work invested by the dedicated volunteers, which was headed by Father Basil Yaldo.

The Yaldo family originated from Telkaif, Mosul, Iraq. A great number of the Yaldo family migrated throughout the cities in Iraq. As the years progressed the Yaldo family began to settle in the United States. In fact, an ever-increasing number call areas of Metropolitan Detroit home today. The new generation has been successful in reaching high educational attainment. They carry many successful positions such as doctors, lawyers, business entrepreneurs, accountants, engineers and so forth.

[To browse the photo album or watch the video, you must be a registered user of www.CHALDEAN.org and logged in.]

Filed in: Sports, Art, and Entertainment, Community & Culture, Camp Chaldean By Camp Chaldean

Chaldean Campers Prepare for the Feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Virgin Mary Celebration August 13 & 14

Michigan, USA - St. George Camp Chaldean in Brighton, Michigan invites the Chaldean faithful community to freely join their friends and family for a two-day camping celebration of the Feast of The Assumption of our Blessed Virgin Mary. The celebration begins on Wednesday, August 13 and concludes on Thursday, August 14.

As one big family the community comes together to celebrate this inspirational event. The camp features a tent-city for guests to pitch a tent, boating, scenic nature trails, DJ music, food, and most importantly on Thursday, a Mass led by His Excellency Bishop Ibrahim Ibrahim. Mass begins at 6 p.m. sharp. Prior to Mass, church choirs will lead pilgrims in prayer songs. After Mass a candle light prayer precession march will occur.

Overnight Guests are reminded to bring tents, lawn chairs, barbeque grills, towels, and other camping related items. Over 100 picnic tables are available, indoor bathrooms, warm showers, and hot food will be available for campers.

For more information please call 1-888-822-CAMP or e-mail CAMP@chaldean.org.

Filed in: Religion & Spirituality, Community & Culture, Camp Chaldean, Chaldean Churches By Camp Chaldean

CYD-2008 :: Sunday, Augsut 17 From 2 pm - 8 pm

Chaldean Youth Day (CYD-2008) is Sunday, August 17! Hundreds of Chaldean young adults will converge on Camp Chaldean for a day of fun, food, and festivities. Hang-out. Chill. Picnic. Play. This event is free for those 35 and under. Anyone over 35 the cost is $45,000 per person.

This is a non-alcoholic camp. Bring your own lawn chairs. Bring food coolers if you like. Food and beverages will be available. Games. Competitions. Prizes. Boat Races. Water-balloon wars. Tug-A-war. Sports. Bring your own BALLS. Best of all bring some biceps, brains, and bounce.

The event is sponsored by the St. George Chaldean Camp Council in partnership with Chaldean youth groups, which include but are not limited to, the Chaldean Church Sports League, Chaldean Teens Coming Together, Chaldean Youth Bible Study, Chaldean Loving Christ, Jesus Christ University, Chaldean American Professionals, Chaldean Football League, Chaldean Basketball League, Chaldean Hockey League, Chaldean American Student Association, and Chaldean Church Youth Choirs.

You have been told! Someone post this on MySpace, Facebook, and whatever other social network you freaks got going!

Filed in: Sports, Art, and Entertainment, Community & Culture, Chaldean American Student Association, Camp Chaldean, Chaldean Church Sports League, Chaldean Churches, Chaldean American Professionals By Camp Chaldean

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Media Propaganda, coruption, and conspiracy

Chaldean Justice League has noticed an ongoing and orchestrated bias in media. Presenting information in an unfair and unjust way seeds a mindset that bears the fruit of injustice. The propaganda used by the media has been recorded and captured by the Media Research Center.

We share their findings with the Chaldean community as a demonstration of media propaganda and the injustice born of such fraudulent journalism. The covert attempt to change the will of the people through propaganda is in itself corrupt.

Katie Couric Pushes Joe Lieberman to Atone for Attacking Obama
With "Any Regrets?" as the on-screen heading, Katie Couric pressed "independent Democratic" Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to atone for campaigning with unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate John McCain and criticizing eventual winner Barack Obama. Couric's first question in the interview excerpt aired on Wednesday's CBS Evening News: "Do you feel as if you owe President-elect Obama one?" Couric next pushed Lieberman to take back an attack: "You said, on whether Senator Obama is a Marxist, you said quote: 'It's a good question to ask.' Are you sorry you said that?" Couric proceeded to relay another Democratic complaint/aspersion against Lieberman: "What really irritated -- even enraged -- some Democrats was your speech at the Republican National Convention. Did you understand at the time how nervy that might seem to some Democrats? How inappropriate?"

Alter: Don't Let Bill Clinton's 'Very Positive' Work Deny Hillary
On Tuesday's Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter couldn't imagine why anyone would see conflict-of-interest troubles if Hillary Clinton becomes Secretary of State while her husband the ex-President has a sprawling international foundation with its mitts in a long list of countries. Alter insisted all of Clinton's work is "very, very positive. It's been for great causes around the world."

CBS: Obama Inauguration Tickets 'Almost Impossible to Get'
At the top of Wednesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Julie Chen declared: "...it may be the hottest ticket in the country right now, a ticket to Barack Obama's inauguration in January. Millions are expected to try and watch the swearing in. But we're going to show you why tickets are almost impossible to get." The 2008 April Fool's edition of the Media Research Center's Media Reality Check featured a fictional quote from Early Show co-host Harry Smith: "CBS's Harry Smith sounded like a teenage groupie on the April 1 Early Show: 'Obama's rock star status is reaching historic levels. His rallies attract more fans than a Hannah Montana concert and seats are impossible to get. Believe me I've tried.'" Chen later introduced a report on the Obama inauguration by proclaiming: "Inauguration fever is sweeping Washington. The city's mayor believes 3-5 million people may turn out to witness President-elect Obama's swearing-in." However, in the report, correspondent Thalia Assuras talked to Howard Gantman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Inauguration, who predicted a much smaller turnout: "We've printed 240,000 tickets. So that's a minimum, we expect at least that many people. For this event, we could see half a million, some projections have come in for a million or more."

Not the 'Hot Seat;' ABC Tosses Softballs to Liberal Sam Champion
On Wednesday's Good Morning America, ABC weatherman and global warming alarmist Sam Champion went on the "hot seat," a week-long segment on the show designed to force the hosts to answer supposedly tough questions sent from viewer e-mail. However, he ended up fielding softballs such as "Sam, are you really a morning person?" Co-host Diane Sawyer did read one challenging question: "We know you're Mr. Eco-Friendly and you do everything right in the green way. But Anita from upstate New York wants to know what's your biggest offense? Anti-green offense?" After denying being an eco-elitist and asserting, "There's no perfect," Champion admitted: "My biggest offense?...I'm trying to quit using the plastic water bottle. But I don't always have that reusable water bottle with me." Of course, considering that the segment was designed as a "secrets revealed" piece, there were a number of tough questions that Sam Champion could have been asked, but wasn't. For instance, on January 31, 2007, the liberal meteorologist hyperventilated about global warming next to a graphic that screamed: "Will Billions Die from Global Warming? New Details on Thirst and Hunger." Maybe someone could have suggested that was a slight exaggeration?

No Tears For National Review
The liberal crocodiles at The New York Times are shedding tears for National Review magazine. The headline of media reporter Tim Arango’s piece is “At National Review, a Threat to Its Reputation for Erudition.” It is a curious topic for the Times, which usually treats the idea of intellectual conservatism as oxymoronic.

Holder Hailed, But in 2000 Ashcroft Marked as Sop to 'Far Right'
Eight years ago when incoming President George W. Bush named Senator John Ashcroft as his choice for Attorney General, the broadcast network evening newscasts applied ideological labels and highlighted opposition to him from liberals, but Tuesday night with President-elect Barack Obama's pick of Eric Holder for the same position, the anchors avoided any ideological tags or controversies and hailed him as an "historic" pick which fulfills Obama's promise of "diversity."

Matthews: 'Too Much Time Between Elections and Taking Over'
MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who conceded the obvious to Jay Leno that "I'm partial" to the "remarkable political reality" of Barack Obama, on Tuesday's Tonight Show regretted Obama cannot be inaugurated sooner than on January 20. "The President looks like he's already in the locker room with a towel around his neck. It looks like he's taken off," Matthews complained before insisting "we need a President pretty soon." The host of Hardball fretted about the long wait to get Obama into office, warning: "I'm getting worried because it's about another couple of months before we get a President and I'm worried about this country falling between the cracks because we've got one President who's sort of already retired and we got another President who's politely tip-toeing around the job. Who's leading us right now? It scares me." After a quip from fellow guest "Larry the Cable Guy," Matthews reiterated his point: "I think we've got too much time between elections and taking over."

CNN Labels Catholic Cardinal's Criticism of Obama a 'Diatribe'
On Tuesday's Situation Room, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer referred to a Catholic cardinal's criticism of Barack Obama's abortion position as a "scathing rant" and a "diatribe." A CNN graphic also used the "scathing rant" term, and Blitzer later referred to the cardinal's words as a "blistering rant." All three of these terms came during Blitzer's promos for a report by CNN correspondent Brian Todd, which focused on recent comments made by Cardinal James Francis Stafford, who referred to Obama's pro-abortion stance as "aggressive, disruptive, and apocalyptic." Just before the top of the 5 pm Eastern hour, Blitzer gave the following promo for the segment: "Also, a scathing rant against Barack Obama from a rather surprising source, a Roman Catholic cardinal -- the story behind his diatribe against the President-elect." Ten minutes later, the CNN anchor gave another promo for Todd's report, in which he stated that the cardinal unleashed "a blistering rant on the President-elect."

NY Times Contends Dan Rather Correct on GOP-CBS Conspiracy
New York Times media reporter Jacques Steinberg's Monday story on disgraced former CBS anchorman Dan Rather's lawsuit against his old company, "Rather's Lawsuit Shows Role of G.O.P. in Inquiry at CBS," lauded Rather as still clever like a fox: "Using tools unavailable to him as a reporter -- including the power of subpoena and the threat of punishment against witnesses who lie under oath -- [Dan Rather] has unearthed evidence that would seem to support his assertion that CBS intended its investigation, at least in part, to quell Republican criticism of the network." Not really, Steinberg painted a flattering picture of Rather as a veteran journalist who still has his chops, even when pursuing a ludicrous lawsuit that's cost him much of whatever respect he'd still retained after CBS dropped him from the anchor chair.

CBS's Smith on Obama: 'Can a Guy Who's Cool Be President'?
On Monday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith touted the latest issue of GQ magazine, in which Barack Obama was named one of the publication's Men of the Year: "As If being elected President isn't a high enough honor, Barack Obama is now the quintessential 'GQ' guy." Later, Smith talked to GQ deputy editor Michael Hainey and asked: "Is there -- is -- do you have this little bit of a sense, can there be -- can a guy who's cool be President of the United States?" Hainey replied: "No. I think, I mean JFK was cool. I mean, you know...And I think, yeah, Reagan was cool. I mean it's that sense of how you define 'cool,' I think. And it's -- it's a real chemistry, that's what people are reacting to." Hainey explained: "Well, you know, it's interesting, we had Ted Kennedy write the piece for us in the magazine about the Senator. And as he said it, you know, the torch has been passed to a new generation...It really is, I mean, he's young, he's vibrant, he's vital, like all those qualities of a 'GQ' guy."

Chris Matthews: Obama's Administration 'Historically Wondrous'
On his syndicated Chris Matthews Show on Sunday, Chris Matthews discussed President-elect Barack Obama's ability to enact his campaign agenda as well as the state of the Republican Party with a panel of other newsmakers, including Erin Burnett of CNBC and Michele Norris of NPR. Matthews excitedly declared that "the American people voted for change, they voted for Obama" and hopefully wondered if the President-elect would "come in with loud music" and "do big stuff on infrastructure, on stimulus, on getting the economy going." Matthews also deemed Obama's administration, which hasn't taken office yet, as "historically wondrous" and pondered who would become the "chief jeer leader" of the new administration and "dump on the parade every day"

CBS: Will We Get 'Bipartisan McCain' or 'Conservative' McCain?
In a story on President-elect Barack Obama's Monday meeting with Senator John McCain, CBS's Dean Reynolds listed some "areas of potential cooperation," but he worried: "Will it be McCain the bipartisan maverick who reemerges in the Senate or the campaign conservative who might want to join fellow Republicans in frustrating the new President's plans?" Reynolds then turned to the Politico's Jim VandeHei, a veteran of the Washington Post, who assured viewers McCain will want to "fix any damage that he did during this campaign" -- presumably a reference to McCain going to the right -- by returning to his old Senate ways journalists liked: "This is a man with a very rich appreciation for history and his place in history and I think he'll want to, you know, fix any damage that he did during this campaign by ending on a high note in the Senate."

NBC's Today Show Begins Annual Global Warming Scare Week
The full Today show cast went to "The Ends of the Earth," as a part of NBC Universal's "Green Week," all in an effort to, once again, do the bidding of the likes of Al Gore, to create hysteria about global warming. With live reports from Matt Lauer worrying about reefs off the coast of Belize, Meredith Vieira fearful about drought conditions in Australia, Ann Curry watching the snow caps melt on Mt. Kilimanjaro and Al Roker troubled by glacier extinction in Iceland, the cast pushed the green agenda throughout Monday's Today show. Co-anchor Vieira, near the top of the show, set the table for her cast mates this way: "The warnings are stark. A vortex of trash twice the size of Texas, toxins bleeding into the ocean, rivers that can not reach the sea, species lost forever. Clouds, rain, storm's fury borne of the ocean, slowly drown distant nations. Islands disappearing and in their wake, a new kind of refugee, so far away and so close to home. Throughout our planet and within our bodies, water flows. We cannot survive without it. Yet, 1 billion people don't have enough. Our new thirst may fuel wars. Is water the oil of tomorrow?"

ABC Devoted 64 Minutes to 'Pregnant Man' Story Since March
Since March 26, ABC News has devoted nine segments or 64 minutes to the "pregnant man" Thomas Beatie, including three stories in the last four days on either 20/20 or Good Morning America. On Monday, GMA weekend anchor Kate Snow invited Beatie, who was born a woman but kept her reproductive organs after having transgender surgery, to discuss the autobiography "Labor of Love," which recounts the author's first pregnancy and now another. Snow announced that Beatie would be appearing "to tell us what his definition of family and fatherhood is all about."

New President = New Rules
After years of bashing George W. Bush, MSNBC's Chris Matthews declares his approach to covering Barack Obama next year, and it doesn't sound like hardball: "I want do do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work....It is my job. My job is to help this country." Meanwhile, reporters are gleeful that Obama won the election, with CBS's Byron Pitts declaring that America is now "a more perfect union," even as Time's Nancy Gibbs glows that Obama is a "prince....born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope." And, after 22 months of fawning coverage, a Reuters headline declares: "Media bias largely unseen in U.S. presidential race."

CBS's Kroft Pushes Obama to See U.S. in 1930s-Like Depression
60 Minutes viewers got better economic rationality Sunday night from President-elect Barack Obama than from the journalist who interviewed him. CBS's Steve Kroft proposed: "People are comparing this to 1932. Is that a valid comparison, do you think?" Obama didn't accept the comparison: "Well, keep in mind that 1932, 1933 the unemployment rate was 25 percent, inching up to 30 percent. You had a third of the country that was ill housed, ill clothed..." But Kroft wouldn't let go of trying to paint the America of 2008 as dire as 1932. Eight minutes later in the interview, when Obama related how he was reading briefing papers and had read about Abraham Lincoln putting political rivals in his cabinet, Kroft returned to the Depression: "Have you been reading anything about the Depression? Anything about FDR?"

Howell: 'Most Washington Post Journalists Voted for Obama. I Did'
A week after Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell agreed with readers who saw "a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama" in the paper's campaign coverage, Howell this Sunday admitted she voted for Obama and "bet" that so did "most" in the Post's newsroom: "I'll bet that most Post journalists voted for Obama. I did. There are centrists at The Post as well. But the conservatives I know here feel so outnumbered that they don't even want to be quoted by name in a memo."

ABC's Cuomo Has Few Follow-ups for 'Campaign Boogeyman' Ayers
Good Morning America news anchor Chris Cuomo on Friday conducted an interview with former bomber William Ayers that qualified as neither a softball or a grilling of the ex-domestic terrorist. Although he did challenge Ayers, he didn't interrupt when the Chicago professor insisted that America fought a "violent terrorist war" or when the '60s radical characterized the U.S. government as murdering thousands "every month" during Vietnam. Additionally, the online version of the ABC story referred to Ayers as a "campaign boogeyman," while co-host Diane Sawyer in an introduction for the piece defensively explained: "The name of Bill Ayers, William Ayers, was used as kind of a political weapon by the Republicans." During the segment, Cuomo even editorialized that Ayers is now a "respected professor" at the University of Illinois. Respected, perhaps, by leftists and radicals, but many Americans still hold great anger towards Ayers and his terrorist group the Weather Underground.

Chris Cuomo Hits Ayers on Bombings; Skips Specific Victims
In part two of Good Morning America's Friday interview with former bomber William Ayers, news anchor Chris Cuomo did challenge the ex-'60s radical on whether or not he was a terrorist. But after Ayers contended "It's not terrorism because it doesn't target people. It doesn't target people to either kill or injure," the journalist failed to offer specifics that would refute that point. Cuomo could have easily cited the example of John Murtagh. He was a child in 1970 when the Weather Underground, founded by Ayers, placed multiple bombs, one underneath the gas tank of the family car, at the home of his New York judge father. However, while not pressing Ayers on specific victims, he did skeptically wonder: "How can a sophisticated academic like yourself believe that the inherent recklessness of exploding bombs that you know too well killed three of your own- you know the potential for deadliness there."

CNN's Quest: Europe 'Starving' for Obama, Want Bite of Hillary
During Friday's Situation Room, CNN correspondent Richard Quest predicted that the international community would react favorably if Hillary Clinton would become the next Secretary of State: "Absolutely amazed, outstanding reaction -- I've little doubt. Remember, Hillary Clinton is an international superstar, known around the world. There would be some reservations, bearing in mind everyone saw the bruising Democratic primary....But no question, the gravitas -- the authority that she would bring would be welcomed around the world." He later made a bizarre analogy about European reaction to the election of Barack Obama: "You're talking about people who have been like starving men, who have suddenly been given a food [sic] and a meal and it tastes brilliant to them."

So Eager for Obama Neuharth Wants Inauguration Moved to December
"People who elect a new President are eager for the change to take place. The sooner the better," USA Today founder Al Neuharth argued in his Friday column in which he asked, coincidentally just a week-and-a-half after Barack Obama's election: "Why wait until late January to turn the Oval Office over to a new President elected in early November?" He proposed: "We should move the President's inauguration up to the first Tuesday in December, one month after the election." After all, "the time lag" is "too long in these modern times when crises need the earliest possible attention."

Now CBS News Frets Gas Prices Are Too Low
After spending much of the spring and summer hyping the dire consequences of rising gas prices, CBS on Thursday night decided the plummeting cost of gas at the pump is really bad news. Noting that "crude settled at about $58 a barrel today, that's about $90 less than it was in July," fill-in CBS Evening News anchor Harry Smith warned "that comes as a mixed blessing." Reporter Mark Strassmann found an ecstatic man paying less than $2.00 a gallon, but Strassmann spoiled the mood: "Low gas prices are also bad news and the lower prices go, the worse the news gets." An "oil analyst" explained: "This is just a reflection of the poor state of the economy and the oil market is reflecting this global slow down." Strassmann soon fretted over how "it's also a grim time for alternative energy champions" and "sinking oil prices could" hurt "plans to develop alternative sources of energy or fund green developments."

Newsweek's Meacham Snidely Suggests McCain Weighed Offing Palin
Appearing on Thursday's Today show, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham suggested Sarah Palin needed a "Berlitz" course in foreign policy and even snidely implied John McCain, like President Andrew Jackson before him, may have wanted to shoot his vice president. Meacham, who was also plugging his book on Jackson, noted to Today co-host Matt Lauer that Jackson once threatened the life his own vice president, and postulated that maybe McCain may have considered that as an option. Lauer: "He's also a guy who threatened to kill his own vice president, isn't he?" Meacham: "He did. Which a McCain/Palin thing-" Lauer: "But we don't hold that, it doesn't make him a bad guy." Meacham: "I don't know if Senator McCain has thought that, along the way."

Thomas: Obama Election Shows American People 'Fair and Balanced'
Liberal-media legend (and long-time UPI White House correspondent) Helen Thomas returned triumphantly to the White House briefing room Wednesday after a bout of bad health, and the blog Fishbowl DC has video of an interview with reporter Ken Herman of Cox Newspapers. When Herman asked (superfluously) who she voted for, Helen said Obama. Why? "Because I really thought he was a great gift to democracy that it would show the American people were fair and balanced, and honorable, and understood [it] didn't make any difference in terms of race, color, creed and so forth."

Shipman Skips Voucher Hypocrisy in Fawning Story on Obama Kids
In a story about to which private school President-elect Barack Obama will send his children, Good Morning America reporter Claire Shipman on Wednesday mostly glossed over the obvious point that the Democrat likely won't be putting his daughters through the D.C. public educational system and also ignored his opposition to vouchers. Instead, she fawned that "the D.C. social world is obsessed with where these new, coolest kids on the block will wind up."

ABC's Terry Moran Gushes Over 'Obama Cool on Display'
Nightline co-host Terry Moran fawned over every detail of Barack Obama's White House meeting with President Bush and insisted that that since the President-elect arrived wearing sunglasses, this meant that the "Obama cool [was] on display." Moran, who has regularly gushed over every aspect of Obama's election and transition, narrated the Democrat's interactions with the current President. As video of Bush and Obama played, he breathlessly related: "You could see the power shifting though. Look at Obama putting his arm on Bush's back, letting the President go first." Moran awkwardly brought up the issue of past commanders in chief who owned slaves and asked: "And you had to wonder that if in fact the [White House] is haunted, what the spirits of those former Presidents, many of whom were slave owners themselves would have made of what happened there today?"

Chris Matthews: Palin 'Talking About God,' is 'Troubling'
After airing an interview clip of Sarah Palin telling Fox News' Greta Van Susteren that she was looking for guidance from God about running for national office again, an appalled Chris Matthews called it "troubling," when he let loose this rant on Tuesday's Hardball: "Is this commentary about theocracy and going to God for approval? We've been through that with President Bush who said he, 'didn't take advice from his father, he got it from another father.' And we've been through this sort of Joan of Arc period. Are we gonna get another piece of this where God's leading candidates to run for President? I mean that sort of keeps us out of the conversation doesn't it? I mean, seriously, I mean God is telling her to run? And she's saying it openly on a secular television show? This isn't the religious hour....Talking about God, in a political setting is troubling to a lot of people. If you're talking about a big tent, this looks more like the church tent, not the big tent."

Time Magazine (Again) Impatiently Declares 'End of Reagan Era'
Once again -- perhaps this time hoping that they are right -- Time magazine has ostentatiously declared: "The End of the Reagan Era." In the November 17 "commemorative edition," the magazine features a piece by historian Richard Norton Smith explaining how "the Age of the Gipper ends with Obama's election." But we've seen this movie before. Back in 2006, Time's Joe Klein enthusiastically suggested the Democrats' midterm election victory marked "the end of the conservative pendulum swing that began with Ronald Reagan's revolution." Before that, in 1993, a Time cover story proclaimed that Bill Clinton was "Overturning the Reagan Era," complete with an upside-down picture of Reagan.

ABC and NBC: Can't Afford Health or Heat...in Liberal Hub of Boston isplay'
There's economic trouble in the land with people unable to afford proper health care or heat for their homes ABC and NBC contended on Wednesday night. And where did the network journalists travel to find the heart-rending anecdotes of people in pain thanks to the awful Bush economy? Some Republican area with harsh conservative politicians who have slashed government funding to the poor? No, to Boston, a veritable liberal nirvana of big government for decades, the home of John Kerry, with a Democratic Mayor in a state with an Obama ally, Deval Patrick, as Governor. ABC's Gigi Stone looked at how "many Americans" supposedly now "find themselves...forced to choose between short-term survival and long-term health." She asserted: "Doctors here in Boston say they're seeing an increasing number of patients who cannot afford the most basic preventive health measures." So much for the wonders of the Bay State's mandatory health insurance law. NBC anchor Brian Williams acknowledged "record levels of government help available" for heating bills, yet "communities around this country are worried people will simply not have enough money to keep warm in the cold winter during this cold economy." Michelle Kosinski showcased a Normandy veteran in Boston who "sometimes" can't afford to eat.

CNN: Conservatives Partially to Blame for Murders of Illegals?
In the 3 PM EST hour of Wednesday's Newsroom program, a report by CNN correspondent Joe Johns, along with a subsequent interview by anchor Rick Sanchez, raised the implication that anti-illegal immigration rhetoric, particularly from conservatives, might be partially to blame for a spike in so-called hate crimes against Latinos. During a clip in Johns' report, which was about the recent murder of an immigrant from Ecuador by teenagers, columnist Ruben Navarrette speculated that "[w]hen people go out on the airwaves or in print or at the stump as a politician, and they beat that drum, they shouldn't be surprised. At the end of the day, many people out there, and particularly young people, who are very impressionable, think, 'Hey, you know what? This is one group we can do this to.'" At the end of his report, Johns added that "[t]he question that's already being raised by activist groups in the newspapers is whether anti-immigrant rhetoric has created a climate for this kind of thing."

BDS Gone Loony: Actor/Playwright Blames Bush for Writer's Block
Catching up with some pre-election whining, as James Taranto highlighted Friday in his "Best of the Web Today" compilation, character actor/playwright Wallace Shawn "blames President Bush for wrecking his love life and causing writer's block." Shawn, a short man with a distinctive voice you'd recognize from his many guest roles on TV shows (IMDb page), from Murphy Brown to Law and Order: CI (screen shot is from a 2006 episode of that NBC drama), complained to the Times of London: "Bush has openly mocked law and proclaimed a certain pleasure in sadism and exulted in holding prisoners and mistreating and torturing them, really. Of course this affects one emotionally: my emotional life has been very strongly affected by the fact that Bush was president and my writing life is affected by my emotional life."

Chef: 'On Behalf of All the People of England, Congrats' on Obama
No place is safe from expressions from foreigners pleased by Barack Obama's election. On Monday's Late Show, in the midst of demonstrating how to prepare a recipe for squid, British chef Jamie Oliver paused to tell David Letterman: "Can I just say, on behalf of all the people of England, congratulations on your new President. We like him very much." Letterman replied: "Oh, that's nice to hear. Thank you very much."

Time: Obama a 'Prince' Like Jesus Born of 'Imagination and Hope'
Warning its readers to "be prepared to gag," the "Scrapbook" page of this week's Weekly Standard magazine recited "some of the worst over-the-top reactions to The One's ascendance," starting with Time's Nancy Gibbs who opened this week's cover story by comparing Obama with Jesus: "Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope..." In the November 17 issue, she heralded (citing his full name) the greater meaning of Obama's victory: "Barack Hussein Obama did not win because of the color of his skin. Nor did he win in spite of it. He won because at a very dangerous moment in the life of a still young country, more people than have ever spoken before came together to try to save it. And that was a victory all its own."

NBC News Sells Commemorative Obama 'Yes We Can!' DVD
Right before the 9:35am segment on Monday's Today show, a commercial from NBC News aired announcing a special DVD on Barack Obama's life story for sale on its Web site. What is particularly odd is that a news organization would actually use Obama's own campaign slogan to title the DVD, and if memory serves there was no special DVD offered for George W. Bush's inauguration. How much time will the DVD devote to such gaffes as Barack's "bitter" quote or Michelle's "For the first time...I'm proud to be an American," quote as well as any Jeremiah Wright/Bill Ayers mentions compared to any time given to NBC's own Chris Matthews and Lee Cowan "thrill" moments?

Stephanopoulos: 'Impossible' Not to Be Excited by Obama Win
Former top Democratic aide-turned journalist George Stephanopoulos appeared on Friday's edition of the Oprah Winfrey Show and agreed with the host that it was "impossible" not to feel exuberant when Barack Obama was declared the winner on election night. Stephanopoulos also repeatedly admitted that he fervently believed all along the Democratic candidate would defeat Senator John McCain. Stephanopoulos' wife, actress Ali Wentworth, also appeared as part of the show's weekly "Oprah Fridays Live" series and asserted that in the spring she asked her reporter husband: "Is Obama going to win? Is Obama going to win? He said, 'Yes. He's going to win.'"

Reuters Laugher: 'Media Bias Largely Unseen in Presidential Race'
File under: Don't believe your lying eyes and ears. Barely two weeks after a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey determined that "by a margin of 70%-9%, Americans say most journalists want to see Obama, not John McCain, win on Nov. 4," as even 62 percent of Democrats recognized how journalists hoped Obama would be victorious, Reuters set out to prove any and all favorable Obama coverage had nothing to do with liberal bias. In a November 6 dispatch, "Media bias largely unseen in U.S. presidential race," Steve Gorman of the Los Angeles bureau focused his story on undermining the "perception that mainstream news organizations routinely gave Obama preferential treatment en route to his election as the first black U.S. president." Gorman contended: "But media scholars, including a former top aide to McCain, disagree. They said campaign coverage often did lean in Obama's favor, though not -- as many conservatives have suggested -- because of a hidden liberal agenda on the part of the media. Instead, academic experts said, Obama benefited largely from the dynamics of the campaign itself and the media's tendency to focus on the 'horse race'..."

Colby King on GOP's Make Up: Nationalist Party of South Africa
Washington Post columnist Colby King charged Friday night that a look those who attended McCain-Palin rallies -- presumably meaning all-white -- versus those who went to Obama events, plus a "look at the census projections and what do you see? The Nationalist Party of South Africa."

ABC Allows Jeremiah Wright to Spin Himself as Victim of Media
Good Morning America co-host Diane Sawyer on Friday uncritically highlighted an address given by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright on Thursday and parroted his talking points about being a scapegoat. In a tease for the segment, she recited: "Reverend Jeremiah Wright is now speaking out again. He says he was turned into a weapon of mass destruction." Regarding his speech, given in a church in Milford, Connecticut, Sawyer blandly added that Senator Barack Obama "distanced himself from Reverend Wright during the campaign and labeled some of his sermons divisive." She then proceeded to play a 47 second long clip of Wright complaining that the media intended to use his sermons to destroy Obama. An ABC graphic almost apologetically read, "First Comments From Rev Wright: Media's 'Weapon on Mass Destruction'"

CNN's Campbell Brown: 'Right-Wing Rage' at Obama Victory
CNN anchor Campbell Brown introduced a segment on Thursday's Election Center program by contrasting the "[p]eople all over the world dancing in the streets" over the election of Barack Obama to the "really, really angry" reaction of conservatives, which she then labeled "right-wing rage." A graphic with the same label flashed on-screen, accompanied by a picture of Obama smiling. During the segment, which aired just after the bottom-half of the 8 pm Eastern hour of the CNN program, CNN correspondent Joe Johns played an audio clip of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh as an example of such "rage." Limbaugh, who reacting to the appointment of liberal Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel as Obama's White House Chief of Staff, called Emanuel a "good old-fashioned Chicago thug, just like Obama is a good old-fashioned Chicago thug," and gave an anecdote about how Emanuel used a steak knife to demonstrate his own anger towards Bill Clinton's enemies after the 1992 election. Johns' reply after the clip: "So if you were thinking the country is now unified, think again. There are still deep divisions."bama benefited largely from the dynamics of the campaign itself and the media's tendency to focus on the 'horse race'..."

ABC's Claire Shipman Bizarrely Spins Rahm Emanuel as 'Centrist'
Good Morning America reporter Claire Shipman continued a time honored media bias tradition on Friday when she mislabeled Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's newly selected chief of staff, as "centrist." Emanuel, who was elected to Congress in 2002, has a lifetime American Conservative Union score of 13. In 2006, his rank was only four. In contrast, the House member's average from the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action is a very high 96. And yet, Shipman erroneously asserted: "More than anything, the 48-year-old Illinois representative is a pragmatic, centrist politician who likes to get things done. Clearly, Obama wants the same thing." So, can Americans expect Obama to be the same type of "centrist" that Emanuel has been?

On Friday Night, ABC and NBC Fail to Correct Obama's 'Seance' Gaffe
Friday night stories on ABC's World News and the NBC Nightly News ran a clip of President-elect Barack Obama's gaffe at his press conference in which he related he had talked to all of the "living" former Presidents, as "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances." But both newscasts failed to note it was Hillary Clinton, not Nancy Reagan, who reportedly had seances in the White House. ABC's Jake Tapper called Obama's comment "a lighter moment" while NBC's Lee Cowan described it as "the only awkward moment of his first meeting with the press." FNC's Jim Angle, however, managed to point out in his 6 PM EST story: "It was actually Hillary Clinton who was reported to have engaged in seance-like sessions in which she communed with the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt."

CBS's Smith: 'Will Obamas Return to Camelot in the White House?'
Continuing the narrative of Barack Obama as John F. Kennedy, on Friday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith described how: "As the nation prepares for President-Elect Barack Obama to move into the White House, many Americans can't help but draw similarities between him and the late President John F. Kennedy." Co-host Julie Chen earlier teased the segment: "The new first family has been compared to JFK and Jackie and their young children. Can the Obamas bring that 'one brief shining moment,' that was known as Camelot, back to the White House?" Smith narrated the segment, which juxtaposed images JFK with Obama: "It was a presidency filled with idealism, glamour, and excitement...A young Senator had been elected to lead his country. Now 47 years later, America has chosen another young Senator." Smith went on: "And the similarities are striking...."

CNN's Rick Sanchez Urges Obama to Bring Back FDR's WPA and CCC
President-elect Obama's economic plans aren't left-wing and government-centered enough for CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, who about 20 minutes after Obama's Friday afternoon press conference shared his personal suggestion for another WPA (Works Progress Administration) and/or CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), two government make-work programs from the 1930s. To a guest who lived through the Depression as a child, Sanchez proposed: "I'm thinking WPA, I'm thinking it may be time for Americans to do something like that once again because there's so many people unemployed and there's so much that needs to be done in this country." With another guest in the same 3:30 PM EST segment, Sanchez cited energy requirements and wondered: "Isn't this the kind of need that could be met by American workers if the government created a WPA or CCC plan?"

Matthews: 'I Want to' to Enable a 'Successful' Obama Presidency
If anyone actually expects the media to confront President Obama with the same adversarial approach that they used with President Bush for the past eight years, they're likely going to be disappointed. Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Thursday, Hardball host Chris Matthews announced that he now sees his job as doing everything he can to make the Obama presidency a success. "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work," Matthews declared to the astonishment of host Joe Scarborough, who asked him if that was really the job of a journalist. "Yeah, it is my job. My job is to help this country," to "make this work successfully, because this country needs a successful presidency more than anything right now," Matthews insisted.

Chris Matthews Cheers on Hardball: 'The Excitement Begins!'
Sounding like a voice-over on a movie trailer for an upcoming action blockbuster starring Barack Obama, Chris Matthews greeted viewers of Thursday's Hardball with this exclamation: "The excitement begins! Barack Obama makes his first major appointments." Matthews then continued his giddiness, a little later in the show, when he raised up an electoral map, published in the New York Times, that featured a "sea of blue" for Obama and hailed: "This is maybe the best map ever seen!"

Fineman: Obama's 'Excellence,' 'Changing Everything as He Moves'
Catching up with Newsweek's Howard Fineman on Wednesday's Countdown, he came across as a parody of an in-the-tank for Barack Obama journalist as he gauzily proclaimed: "Obama's changing everything as he moves. His victory speech last night in Grant Park...was so memorable on so many levels." Asked by host Keith Olbermann to predict "an overarching theme" for Obama's appointments, such as "competency, bipartisanship, diversity, newness," Fineman went beyond Olbermann and trumpeted: "Well, it's going to be all of those. But I think, if you had to pick one, it would be excellence. Barack Obama is a guy who appreciates excellence and focus. He's a guy who appreciates results."

CBS's Harry Smith on Obama Win: 'I Wept Tears of Joy'
At the very end of Wednesday's CBS Early Show, an emotional Harry Smith declared: "I don't know how else to say this -- I grew up in a household that was not racially neutral. I grew up in a household where racial epithets were used commonly and with vigor. To see the difference in this country, in a country that I grew up in, so many people have said this is not something they thought they would ever see in their lifetime, and I wept tears of joy last night." Co-host Julie Chen observed: "You have tears in your eyes right now, Harry."

Harris: 'We're Having Something of a National Moment' Over Obama
According to Good Morning America reporter Dan Harris, "No matter how you voted, it's hard to deny that we're having something of a national moment right now" over the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. The ABC correspondent appeared on Thursday's show to explain how the national and international celebration for the Democrat's victory was continuing. In a tease for the piece at the top of the show, co-host Robin Roberts bubbled that the President-elect "woke up to a chorus of worldwide approval." (At no point did any of the journalists question whether foreign approval over an American president was a good thing or not.) Harris did allow that Obama wouldn't receive a "permanent honeymoon," but co-host Diane Sawyer closed the segment by cooing, "I was saying, my sister in France has people coming up to her and saying, American? Obama!"

Giddy on MSNBC: Olbermann Compares Obama Election to Moon Landing
Just after MSNBC declared an Obama victory in the 11pm hour Eastern time on Tuesday night, the liberal network's tributes to the history (and the defeat of prejudice and the "right wing") flowed naturally. Keith Olbermann proclaimed: "You've seen those videotapes of Walter Cronkite, the night that man landed on the moon for the first time, when Neil Armstrong stepped out, and he could just barely get out monosyllables. Politically, that's what this is. This is man on the moon."

CNN's Frank Sesno Labels Rahm Emanuel 'Center to Center-Right'
Beware the tendency for media liberals to paint the new Team Obama as a surplus of centrists. Just after 8:30 AM EST Thursday on CNN's American Morning, Frank Sesno declared that Rep. Rahm Emanuel, projected as Obama's chief of staff, is seen as "on the center to center-right." But that's not what his congressional voting records suggest.

America Matured by Choosing Obama,' Makes 'A More Perfect Union'
The broadcast network evening newscasts on Wednesday night all marked Barack Obama's victory with stories on celebrations around the world, the joy expressed by African-Americans and how newspapers sold out as people cheered in the streets. NBC anchor Brian Williams hailed: "As one columnist put it, America matured in 2008 by choosing Barack Obama." CBS, however, aired the most triumphant story. Though Ronald Reagan earned nearly 59 percent of the vote in 1984 and George Bush captured more than 53 percent four years later, an awed Byron Pitts began by proposing about Obama's win with 52 percent: "When was the last time our nation cheered this much?" Pitts proceeded to cite anecdotes about several people, black and white, who saw vindication in Obama's victory, including two women at "a suburban home in Iowa. Iowa, the state that first bought into Obama's audacious hopes and where a life-long Democrat like Deb Tekippe and a life long Republican like Brenda Myer made a toast with champagne." He concluded: ""We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union." That's what the Constitution says. Last night, all across America for so many people, that's how it felt. A more perfect union."

ABC: McCain 'Distorted' Obama, Palin an 'Empty Designer Suit'
Examining "what went wrong" with John McCain's campaign, ABC's David Wright charged Wednesday night that by asserting Barack Obama would "be redistributionist in chief" McCain had "distorted Obama's policy positions" (how that was a distortion Wright did not say) and painted McCain as a hypocrite for having "mocked Obama as an empty-headed celebrity" before "he created a celebrity of his own," Sarah Palin. While "many were impressed" with her, Wright snidely contended "plenty of others came to see Sarah Palin as an empty designer suit." In castigating McCain from the left, Wright failed to offer any conservative critiques, such as McCain's lack of consistent conservative positions to contrast himself with Obama. "If Barack Obama was driving the Cadillac of campaigns," World News anchor Charles Gibson quipped, "John McCain was driving one that seemed in constant need of a tune-up and by the end it simply ran out of gas."

Weir Glows Over Obama's 'Transcendent' Night of 'Communal Joy'
Good Morning America reporter Bill Weir gushed on Wednesday morning about the "transcendent" reaction to Senator Barack Obama's presidential victory. Discussing Tuesday night's jubilant crowds in New York City, where the ABC program is produced, Weir described the "melting pot of communal joy." Weir enthused that the celebration was "the kind not seen on New Year's Eve or championship parades. At the crossroads of the world, voices from around the world shouted of the greatness of America." He added: "When the announcement was made, literal dancing in the streets...And people were locking in embraces, watching the speech there as well."

CBS on Obama: 'New Era,' 'Privilege,' 'Breath-Taking,' 'Euphoria'
The co-hosts of Wednesday's CBS Early Show used as many glowing adjectives as they could think of in reporting Barack Obama's election to the presidency, with Harry Smith leading the way: "America votes for change. Barack Obama elected the 44th President of the United States after a decisive victory over John McCain. The nation opens a new era, a powerful moment in history." Maggie Rodriguez described what it was like to be at Obama's victory speech in Chicago: "I have to say that to be here last night for that moment was to live history, it was a privilege...the sea of waving American flags and feeling the euphoria and the emotion that was emanating from that crowd here last night...a chilling victory speech, it -- it left people here just speechless, it was breath-taking."

ABC's Jim Sciutto: Obama Has 'Captured the World's Heart'
Good Morning America foreign correspondent Jim Sciutto rhapsodized about international reaction to Barack Obama's victory on Wednesday and described the President-elect as "the winner who's capturing the world's heart." Sciutto described much of the foreign response with the phrase "only in America." Then, taking a shot at President Bush, he added: "That's what we keep hearing in so many places around the world, a sense that Barack Obama embodies the American dream, a dream that, frankly, has been tarnished overseas in recent years by a very unpopular war in Iraq, a very unpopular president in President Bush." After highlighting the joyous reaction around the world, Sciutto summed the glowing critique up by reading an e-mail from an Italian woman received in ABC's Rome bureau. He recited, "Dear friends, your country has renewed faith that all is possible. Welcome back, American dream."

Teen Pregnancy and TV
The Washington Post announced an important new study from the respected Rand Corporation on its front page on November 3. Teenagers who watch a lot of television featuring sex talk and sex scenes are much more likely than their peers to get pregnant or get a partner pregnant, according to the first study to directly link television programming to teen pregnancy.

MSNBC Trumpets Obama's Win: 'This is What the World Wanted'
At about 2:50 AM EST Wednesday morning, MSNBC went live to NBC News reporter Dawna Friesen in London for world reaction to Barack Obama's election and she triumphantly declared: "It's not an overstatement to say that this is what the world wanted. Poll after poll done in countries around the world over the past few months has showed that people wanted Barack Obama to win." After blurry video of Kenyans dancing and singing a song which "had only two words, 'Obama' and 'miracle,'" Friesen held up the front page of London's left of center The Independent and explained how the newspaper's headline "dubbed" Obama "The history man." She also decided to highlight: "The diplomatic editor of The Independent interestingly writing that now is the time to undo the damage done by George W. Bush. I think much of the world does see this as really turning a page, moving on from George Bush. And the diplomatic editor says there's a global yearning for a seismic shift in American foreign policy."

ABC News Reporter Steve Osunsami Chokes Up in Joy for Obama's Victory
At 11:49 PM EST Tuesday night, live from Morehouse College in Atlanta, ABC News reporter Steve Osunsami choked up and came near tears as he recalled how "my father used to tell us that there's no way this country would elect a black President," but "this evening, the country has proved my old man wrong -- and we're the better for it."

Oprah Exclaims: 'I Haven't Seen This Sense of Unity Since 9/11'
In an interview from Chicago's Grant Park taped shortly beforehand and aired on ABC just past 10:30 PM EST/9:30 PM local time, an excited Oprah Winfrey told Good Morning America's Robin Roberts: "I haven't seen this sense of unity since 9/11, really, really, and 9/11 was this tragic experience that brought us all together and now we're all brought together in the name of hope. Not since 9/11 have I experienced anything even kind of close to this."

Mitchell: 'Centrist' Obama Will Rein in Congressional Liberals
During live coverage on Tuesday's Today show, of Barack Obama voting in his home state, Andrea Mitchell postulated that he will have to confront a "liberal" Congress because Obama, himself, is a "centrist." The Senator with the most liberal voting record, according to Mitchell, will be the one to "rein in expectations from an empowered liberal majority in the House and Senate."

Williams: Joe the Plumber Was Silly, a 'Rat Hole of Distraction'
NBC anchor Brian Williams appeared on the Tavis Smiley show on PBS on Monday night and trashed Joe the Plumber's anti-tax cause as a silly issue, not a serious question about the redistribution of wealth: "Look at how our attention was able to get pulled into pigs and lipstick and plumbers. We got a plumber who's the third member of the GOP ticket, in effect, and that's, it's all of our fault, yes, and there will be time to bloody our own backs with chains, but it's also the sorry state of our discourse as if, Tavis, we don't have enough serious issues to concentrate on." Williams added: "I think we may find out it was a movement year, we may find out we all had to step aside and just let it happen, and we may decide we went down too many rat holes of distractions on our way there."

Matthews Before Vote: We're 'Leaping Towards Something Better'
On his syndicated Chris Matthews Show on Sunday, the conspicuously pro-Obama MSNBC host announced how he expected that "election night is going to be emotional for all of us....Particularly if it goes in that historic direction, it's going to be very emotional for everybody. I mean, everybody." A few minutes later, in his closing commentary about the election, Matthews (a potential Democratic Senate candidate in 2010) offered a not-very veiled endorsement of Barack Obama, suggesting his election would mean a "leap towards something better and uniting our country as never before in our history."

Obama-Brokaw? Caroline Kennedy: Anchor Made Obama's Short VP List
In a Thursday night appearance on the PBS show Charlie Rose, it was revealed that the Democratic ticket could have been Obama-Brokaw. Rose reported: "I think it was Caroline Kennedy who said that when they have the short [running mate] list for Barack Obama, there was a name down there somewhere?" Tom Brokaw replied: "My name was on it." Rose pestered Brokaw to go into public service after his latest NBC stint ends: "There comes a time, you are reminding me of a conceited anchorman who once said to raise your right hand to enlist." Brokaw didn't utterly reject the idea of serving a new administration: "I understand the need to step up from time to time, and if the right opportunity came along, I would certainly be willing to take a good, hard look at that."

Surprise: Liberal NY Times Columnist Kristof Sees Media Bias
Nicholas Kristof, the occasionally iconoclastic liberal columnist for the New York Times, does it again with an Election Day post at his nytimes.com blog. The topic: Liberal bias. Surprisingly, Kristof basically assents to large swathes of the conservative argument: "But on the social issues -- gun control, abortion, gay marriage, religion -- I'm not sure we're that even-handed....Journalists move easily in the world of business Republicans, less easily in the world of Evangelical Republicans. So that makes it easier to slip into caricaturing social conservatives at times, and we should try harder to avoid it."

NYT: McCain's Insults and Threats, Defending Obama's Ties to Wright
Highlights from the MRC's TimesWatch site on liberal bias in the New York Times this week: "Obama Wins IN, VA, NH, NM? Bad for McCain. McCain Wins PA? Anti-Obama Racism," "One Last Biased Glance Backward Before Election Day," "Did McCain Really 'Tolerate Insults and Threats' of Obama?" and "One Last Time: Defending Obama's Ties to Jeremiah ('God Damn America') Wright."

ABC's Whoopi Goldberg, Like Wright 'I Cussed Out This Country'
Whoopi Goldberg, in defending Reverend Wright, admitted to, at times "cuss[ing] out America." On the November 4 (Election Day) edition of ABC's daytime show The View a conversation about Sarah Palin's clearance in the "Troopergate" probe quickly morphed into a fight (three on one) over Reverend Wright. In justifying Wright's "God damn America" remark, Goldberg confessed: "I have been guilty of cussing this country out because we have not always shown our best and put our best foot forward."

Couric Delivers One Last Pre-Election Fawning Obama Interview
Just as with all his previous interviews with the broadcast network anchors, Barack Obama had nothing to fear from his final pre-election sit-down, this time with CBS's Katie Couric, who laughed along with him about being a "nervous wreck" on election day, raised Jeremiah Wright not to press him about Wright's incendiary anti-American rants but to ask if the McCain campaign had given its "approval" to a state party to raise the topic, and concluded by fawning: "If things go your way on Tuesday and you become this nation's first African-American President, what will that mean to you personally?" Instead of hitting him on how much the decision by the McCain campaign and the news media to drop Wright helped him avoid a subject that would have hurt in swing states, she treated Republicans as the miscreants: "The Pennsylvania Republican Party is starting to run an ad in that state which features your former minister, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, saying quote, 'God damn America.' Do you think they would have run that ad without the approval of the McCain campaign?"

GOP Palin Critics 'Intellectual,' Palin Backers 'Knuckle-Draggers'?
During a roundtable discussion in the 3 PM EST hour of Monday's Newsroom program with conservative talk show host Martha Zoller and left-wing host Mike Malloy, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez strangely differentiated between "intellectual" conservatives who are "not so crazy" about Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and social conservatives who "love" her. Sanchez then described Zoller as a "mix" of the two. Later in the segment, Malloy opined that Sarah Palin "brought out the crazy people. That's what the Republican base is. The Republican base are people who don't want the queers to get married. They don't want a woman to have a right to privacy. They want to do away with capital gains taxes, which has nothing whatsoever to do with their life. What Sarah Palin did was bring out the knuckle-draggers, the mouth-breathers..."

CBS's Early Show Touts Those Who Punked Palin with Prank Call
On Monday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith talked exclusively to two Canadian comedians, Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel, who prank called Sarah Palin: "Pranksters pulled a fast one, over the weekend, on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Comedians from Canada posed as French President Nicolas Sarkozy." Smith asked later asked them: "Did you get the sense when you were on the phone with her, did she have any idea what was going on?" Trudel replied: "No...She was as gullible as Britney Spears. She -- there are only two people that we pranked that never caught on that it was a joke and that we had to explain it to them at the end. Sarah Palin and Britney Spears. And Britney Spears could not ever be President of the United States but Sarah Palin could." Audette added: "But they're both good looking...at least." Smith agreed: "That accounts -- that does account for something."

Sawyer to Caroline Kennedy: How Excited Are You About Obama?
Good Morning America co-host Diane Sawyer prompted Barack Obama supporter Caroline Kennedy to gush about just how excited she was over the Senator's possible victory. Sawyer also probed for scintillating details, such as wondering: "Where are you going to watch [the election returns]?" Regarding the Kennedy daughter's endorsement of the Democratic presidential candidate, Sawyer gushed: "So, do you feel that what you wrote has been fulfilled? And that you do have a sense of excitement that people told you they felt with your father [John F. Kennedy]?"

MSNBC Replays McCain SNL Skit 11 Times, Skips Parody of Olbermann
MSNBC's Morning Joe and MSNBC News Live on Sunday and Monday repeatedly played clips from Sen. John McCain's appearance on the November 1 edition of Saturday Night Live for a combined total of 11 times. One MSNBC host, Alex Witt, on Sunday, even claimed: "We're gonna have a lot of clips of that for ya so you can be smiling through this morning." However, MSNBC did not show even one clip of Ben Affleck's impersonation of Countdown host Keith Olbermann from the same broadcast. Many of the hosts and contributors expressed that they thought McCain was funny during his SNL appearance, probably because he was making fun of himself and his campaign. But apparently MSNBC didn't want its viewers laughing and smiling at SNL's imitation of Olbermann which cast him as pompous and dishonest.

NBC's Brian Williams Empathizes with the 'Human' in Obama
Just as he did in two earlier interviews with Barack Obama when he held up magazine covers and asked Obama to glow in the moment, in an excerpt from this week's session with Obama aired on Friday's NBC Nightly News, Williams cued up Obama with another visual image -- this time holding up a photograph of Obama in sandals in Honolulu when he went for a walk after visiting his dying grandmother -- to empathize: "The human in you, and the husband and father and grandson must want to just bust out sometimes, or disappear, if you can't go for a walk like that?" Back in January, Williams held up a Newsweek with Obama on the cover and wondered: "How does this feel?" In May, he held up a Time magazine cover with Obama's picture and presented it to him: "Have you yet held this in your hands?"

ABC's Claire Shipman: Women 'Lust' After 'Rock Star' Barack Obama
Good Morning America reporter Claire Shipman on Friday asked the author of a new biography on Michelle Obama how the candidate's wife deals with her husband being "lusted after by all of these women out there" on the campaign trail. While talking to "Michelle" author Liz Mundy, Shipman cooed: "And, of course, it's wonderful, but not always easy when your husband becomes a political rock star overnight." As though the ABC correspondent were reading from a press release, she opened the segment by fawning: "And over the years, Michelle Obama in her personal journey has achieved a remarkable feat. She's carved a role for herself a path that both embraces and transcends race." Later, Shipman insisted: "An incredible journey that even more than her husband's is emblematic of the country's racial transformation." At no point, did Shipman, who once rhapsodized about the "fluid poetry" of the presidential candidate, discuss any of Michelle Obama's gaffes during the 2008 campaign, such as her famous comment in February that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country."

CNN's Carol Costello: ACORN 'Committed to Registering Minority Voters'
On Friday's American Morning program, CNN correspondent Carol Costello referred to the liberal organization ACORN as merely "a group committed to registering minority voters," and highlighted how it's "trying to quiet what it calls 'hysteria,' coming from conservative circles" who "charge it's...guilty of voter fraud." The on-screen graphic accompanying her report, which was the last full segment during the 6 am Eastern hour of the CNN program, exclaimed "ACORN Fight Back: Says Conservatives Creating 'Hysteria.'"

Meacham: Obama's 'Freedom from Want' Is 'Very Conservative'
Newsweek editor Jon Meacham brought his professorial tones to National Public Radio on Wednesday and Thursday's Morning Edition, discussing the Obama and McCain memoirs and what they say about the candidates. The oddest moment came in Wednesday's chat on Obama, when NPR anchor Steve Inskeep raised Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms -- freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear, by which FDR meant global arms reductions. Inskeep explained: "Obama seems to suggest that while they are all important, that freedom from want and freedom from fear are the things that have to come first." Meacham agreed that these liberal conceptions of freedoms are more important, but stressing them is a "very conservative" argument coming from Obama: "Yes. If you are hungry, you're not that interested in freedom of the press. If you are impoverished, you are interested in keeping yourself warm against the cold, and it's harder to think in Jeffersonian rights-of-man terms. Once those first two freedoms are secured, the others tend to follow. It's a very conservative argument that without order, nothing else is possible."

Studies: No Doubt About It: All But Fox News Tipping Obama's Way
Yes, the media are rooting for Barack Obama. Two studies out in the past couple of days show that it's not just conservatives who see a strong tilt by journalists in favor of the Democrats: A nonpartisan media monitoring group and a liberal-leaning research organization both confirm the pro-Obama, anti-McCain bias of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC. In reports last week, the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) and the Pew-funded Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) found the most balanced campaign coverage was on the Fox News Channel, although PEJ claimed FNC's balance was actually a right-leaning bias, since it deviated from the "norm" of other big media.

If Only Journalists Voted: Presidents Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry...
Going into Tuesday's election, polls show Democrat Barack Obama with a modest lead over Republican John McCain, but one group whose support of Obama should not be in doubt is the national media. Surveys of journalists conducted over the past three decades show the media elite are extremely consistent in choosing Democratic candidates on Election Day. If only journalists were permitted to vote, we would never have had a President Reagan or a President Bush, but would have instead faced Presidents McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis and Kerry. It wouldn't have been close.

96% of Slate Staff to Vote for Obama; 55 Obama to One for McCain
A beyond overwhelming 96 percent of the staff of Slate.com, the online news magazine site owned by the Washington Post, plan to vote for Barack Obama. A Tuesday posting, "Slate Votes: Obama wins this magazine in a rout," reported 55 staff members plan to cast their ballot for Obama, a mere one person will vote for John McCain, the same number (one) who support libertarian Bob Barr. Another staffer replied: "Not McCain." It's hard to imagine such left-wing uniformity isn't matched at many other media outlets. In a Wednesday posting, Slate Editor-at-Large Jack Shafer (the Barr backer) quipped: "I doubt that Obama will garner 96 percent even in his home precinct of Hyde Park."

NBC's Brian Williams Empathizes with the 'Human' in Obama
The supposedly objective news media have showered Barack Obama with fawning press coverage throughout his campaign for the White House. This special Campaign 2008 Notable Quotables review compiles journalists most adoring pro-Obama quotes, from Time's Joe Klein gushing that the liberal Senator "seemed the political equivalent of a rainbow -- a sudden preternatural event inspiring awe and ecstacy," to CNN's David Gergen applauding Obama's convention speech as "a symphony" and "a masterpiece," to MSNBC's Chris Matthews announcing how listening to Obama made him feel "this thrill going up my leg."

Chaldean Justice League

The Chaldean Justice League (CJL) is a group of concerned Chaldean community leaders working to address issues of injustice. The CJL invites any Chaldean to join the league and assist in challenging unfair policies and practices.

CJL Efforts:

Miller Boycott (Program Ended): Organize efforts to boycott Miller brewing company for their support of anti-Christian hate groups.
Chaldean Business Discrimination (Program Ongoing): Organize businesses to address unfair municipal or vendor practices relating to permits and product purchasing.
Christmas Scrooge List (Program Ongoing): A program to provide information on businesses that refuse to acknowledge Christmas while using the holy day as a means to entice shoppers.