OnThisDay: May 12
1777 - First ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi in the New York Gazette)
1932 - Body of kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh was found in Hopewell, NJ
1932 - "Goofy", aka Dippy Dawg, first appeared in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney
1937 - King George VI's coronation in Great Britain
1963 - Race riot in Birmingham, AL
1982 - US Football League formed
1993 - Last broadcast of "Cheers" on NBC-TV

TOPIC: Election 2008 - Fair & Balanced Coverage?

Don't hold your breath! The Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC), along with their socialist cousins (MSNBC and CNN) will be banging the drums loud and hard for liberal candidates. What ever happened to the days of Walter Cronkite -- the days when the news was reported without editorializing, without the evening anchor controlling 100% of the content and without bias that smells as bad as Michael Moore's armpits?
BTW, if you're a very left-leaning person, the cartoon above shows a caricature of Mr. Moore leaning to the left. You may not be able to see that as the drawing may look like Moore is "straight up". LOL!

Addendum: 5.10.07: U.S. Launches Probe of Moore's Trip to Cuba

TOPIC: NBC's Heroes - How do you stop an exploding man?
I am a big fan of NBC's new drama series, HEROES. The plot twists and turns and zig-zags all over the place. The characters, created by Tim Kring, are interesting and the story-telling is superb. I haven't enjoyed a TV series this much since Quantum Leap aired.
Unless you've been living under a rock since this past September, you've probably heard something about Heroes. Since there literally dozens of fan sites, I won't bore you with the details. What am I doing with this post if offering *my* list of specials -- the characters who have powers. This is the most complete list on the Internet. In fact, some of the Heroes forums' members have taken my list and either copied it or adapted it into "specials lists" with varying amounts of detail. Nonetheless, I'm proud to offer the most complete Heroes specials list available. BTW, I host this list on my favorite Heroes forum, titled appropriately, Heroes-Forum.com.
The List is regularly updated HERE. Without further adieu, the most complete "specials" list from the NBC televisions series, Heroes:

Edit version: 03.06.07

Updated List of "Special" People:
Brian Davis - New York, NY (deceased)
Gabriel Gray - New York, NY (aka Sylar)
Claire Bennet - Odessa, TX
Peter Petrelli - New York, NY
Micah Hawkins - Las Vegas, NV
Name Unknown - Barstow, CA (deceased)
James Walker - Los Angeles, CA (deceased)
Theodore "Ted" Sprague - Los Angeles, CA
Charlene "Charlie" Andrews - Midland, TX (deceased)
Sarah Ellis - (aka Eden McCain) Los Angeles, CA (deceased)
Shanti Suresh - India (deceased)
"the Haitian" - Haiti
Hana Gitelman - Missoula, MT
Claude "Raines" - New York City, NY
Meredith Gordon - Kermit, TX
Dale Smither - Montana (deceased)

Original Computer List:
Felipe Acorra - (deceased) (or Felipe Acera - Tapei)
D.L. Hawkins - Las Vegas, NV
Byron Bevington - Marshfield, VT
Niki Sanders - Las Vegas, NV
Daniel Buzzetti - Greeley, CO
Isaac Mendez - New York, NY
Tracy Chobhan - Frostburg, MD (or Tracy Chobham)
Nicholas Datre - (deceased)
Paula Gramble - Monteith, IA
Curtis Hovsopian - Grant Pass, OR
Nathan Petrelli - New York, NY
Noel Menzles - (deceased)
Penkala Burton - Albert Lea, MN
Teresa Hue Pham - Shreveport, LA
Matthew Parkman - Los Angeles, CA
Hiro Nakamura - Tokyo, JP
David Berman - New York, NY
Leonis Pinkham - (deceased)
Adam Soo Hoo - Kailua, HI
Linda Tavara - (deceased)
Norman Ventris - (deceased)
Sparrow Redhouse - New Mexico
Amid Halebi - Los Angeles, CA

Partial names seen on computer list:
Michelle Valcan
Candace Wilmer
Harry Fletcher
Ethan Kint... - (deceased)
Abu Aswan (- Cairo, Egypt)
Frank Cavanaugh - (deceased)
Diego Vel... - (deceased)
Jess Murph... - (deceased)
Sue Lander...
Pam Green... (or Pan Green - deceased)

Specials List from Dr. Chandra Suresh's files, (NBC) map & notebook:
13yo Colombian Female - Maraba, Brazil
22yo Malaysian Female - Palu, Indonesia
Sanjog Iyer (Male) - Mandras, India (or Sanjop Iyer)
87yo African Female - Botswana
??yo American Female - Connecticut, USA (Red hair, 1978)
??yo American Male - Mexico (Transportation)
??yo American Female - California, USA (Blonde hair, 1988)
Rebecca Finder
Arthur Dowland
Zane Taylor - Virginia Beach, VA (deceased)
Elena LaCarte

Possible "Specials" or "Heroes":
Molly Walker - Los Angeles, CA

Pictures/pinpoints on Suresh & Sylar maps:
= Pictures: =
20ish Female - Canada
50ish Male - South America
20ish Female - Vietnam (South Pacific Airlines employee)
30ish Female - Northern Greenland
Dark-skinned Female - Texas
30ish Male w/ glasses - New England area
= Pinpoints: =
NOTE: Some of the pinpoints are clearly in bodies of water.
Therefore, pinpoints do not necessarily indicate the location of "specials".

"Non-specials" who are now deceased:
- Multiple "Linderman hinchmen" (Murdered by Jessica)
- Mrs. Walker (James Walker's wife / Murdered by Sylar)
- Mr. Deveaux (Simone's father / Died of illness)
- Two police officers (FBI HQ / Murdered by Sylar)
- Aron Malsky (Linderman attorney / Assasinated by Jessica)
- Simone Deveaux (Accidentally killed by Isaac)

Names in BOLD are "heroes" we've met.
Info in BROWN taken from NBC's Chandra Suresh map.

PROVEN: The computer screen does NOT show the entire list Chandra Suresh had compiled.
HOW: 1) Mr. Bennet enlisted Eden McCain to remove Claire's name from Suresh's "list".
2) We saw Chandra Suresh's notebook, listing unnamed persons not shown on the computer generated list that Mohinder found.
3) Mohinder Suresh tells Nathan that Peter is on "the list", yet we do not see Peter's name on the computer screen.
4) Mohinder Suresh tells the FBI agent (on the phone) that James Walker is on "the list", yet we do not see his name on the computer screen.

Watch Heroes on NBC each Monday night at 9:00pm ET -- and again Fridays at 7:00pm on SciFi Channel.

TOPIC: Liberal Bias in the Media -- PROVEN
I'm not a big John Gibson fan, but his latest My Word notes something The Sope-Bocks has been saying since Day One (post regarding this bias are here, this one and one other). Here is the transcript from Gibson's MyWord:

"I have long thought the mainstream media is decidedly left wing. Now there's proof. The Center for Media and Public Affairs did an accounting of the network newscasts from September 5 thru October 22 and found an overwhelming liberal bias. On the "Big Three" network newscasts, the audit showed a clear jihad against the Republican Party. Only 12 percent of election stories that aired on NBC, ABC, or CBS could be regarded as remotely "favorable" to Republicans.
In contrast, as The Washington Times put it this morning, "Democrats basked in glory." The study showed that 77 percent of news accounts in the six-week period offered favorable evaluations of Democratic candidates and lawmakers. Robert Lichter, director of the CMPA, said: "The numbers are pretty striking. The coverage has become a referendum on Republican leadership."The killer stat from this study: Midterm elections in 2002 warranted only 35 stories from the "Big Three." Midterms in 2006 got 167 stories, and 77 percent were pro-Democrat.
Now, we've known for many years that reporters, editors and news executives are overwhelmingly liberal or Democrat. There really isn't much point debating that anymore. But what's changed here — this time around — is the willingness to come out of the closet. Instead of just tilting left in the story while pretending to be objective, the mask is now off.
The mainstream media, typified by the "Big Three," is rooting for the Democrats to win, and slant coverage to make it happen. They want to make sure the conservative argument is shouted down, buried and made entirely disreputable. They do it with coverage: story selection, interview selection, sound bite selection and snarky scripts, and lead the viewers to their network conclusions that were set in stone at the 9:00 a.m. meeting.
These are people who think so little of their own vaunted tradition of objectivity that they are willing to throw it all away just to see their favorites win an election. And why is that? It all comes down to Bush. It all comes down to the huge number of elites in this country who think it is their duty to bring the Bush era to an end, to bury it, and marginalize anyone who says Bush was really right all along.
Stand by. More of this is coming, especially if the Democrats win and they get subpoena power. This is what they have been living for.
That's My Word." -- John Gibson

What EVERYONE needs to key on from the transcript is this: "The mainstream media, typified by the "Big Three," is rooting for the Democrats to win, and slant coverage to make it happen. They want to make sure the conservative argument is shouted down, buried and made entirely disreputable." Bernard Goldberg was an award winning reporter for CBS -- and has written a book about the left leaning bias of the mainstream media. It's a very good read for anyone questioning the validity of bias claims.
This morning, Jennifer Harper, of The Washington Times, penned an article regarding the same study. Here are a couple of good quotes:

• CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric (aka Katie Communist), for example, said yesterday that 2006 would prove a "wave election, where public dissatisfaction changes the political environment" and "incumbents are washed away."

• On NBC, Brian Williams led a report from Ohio with the phrase, "Could this red state end up going blue?"

• ABC News' Jake Tapper also showcased Ohio voters, saying they showed "an extra layer of disillusion with the Republican Party."

Like negative campaign ads, negative news reports may have a destructive rebound effect on a fickle viewing public. "For the past week, the mainstream media has run story after story about the nastiness of this year's campaign ads -- perhaps as a way to distract our attention from their own dirty tricks," observed Stephen Spruiell of National Review Online yesterday.
"Viewers can get sick of negative TV coverage. They consistently rate the news coverage as one of the worst parts of a campaign, specifically citing negative content," Robert Lichter (Director of the CMPA) said.

TOPIC: Talking Veggies Stir Controversary at NBC
I just read a stirring FOXNews.com article. Here is the article... along with my comments and a public statement from Big Idea:

Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber always had a moral message in their long-running "VeggieTales" video series. But now that the vegetable stars have hit network television, they can't speak as freely as they once did, and that's got the Parents Television Council steamed. The conservative media-watchdog group issued a statement Wednesday blasting NBC, which airs "VeggieTales," for editing out some references to God from the children's animated show. "What struck me and continues to strike me is the inanity of ripping the heart and soul out of a successful product and not thinking that there will be consequences to it," said L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council. "The series is successful because of its biblical world view, not in spite of it."
That's the signature to VeggieTales. VeggieTales is a collection of animated home videos for children that encourage moral behavior based on Christian and biblical principles. More than 50 million copies have been sold since 1993, according to Big Idea Inc., which produces the series. Two weeks ago, NBC began airing 30-minute episodes of "VeggieTales" on Saturday mornings. The show was edited to comply with the network's broadcast standards, said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.
"Our goal is to reach as broad an audience as possible with these positive messages while being careful not to advocate any one religious point of view," she said. "VeggieTales" creator Phil Vischer, who was responsible for readying episodes for network broadcast, said he didn't know until just weeks before the shows were to begin airing that non-historical references to God and the Bible would have to be removed. Had he known how much he'd have to change the show — including Bob and Larry's tagline, "Remember kids, God made you special and he loves you very much," that concludes each episode — Vischer said he wouldn't have signed on for the network deal.
"I would have declined partly because I knew a lot of fans would feel like it was a sellout or it was done for money," he said, adding that "there weren't enough shows that could work well without those (religious) references." All programs set to air on NBC must meet the network's broadcast standards, said Alan Wurtzel, a broadcast standards executive. "VeggieTales" was treated the same as any other program, he said. "There's a fine line of universally accepted religious values," he said. "We don't get too specific with any particular religious doctrine or any particular religious denomination." Vischer said he understands the network's position. "`VeggieTales is religious, NBC is not," he said. "I want to focus people more on `Isn't it cool that Bob and Larry are on television.'" Marks said the network is "committed to the positive messages and universal values" of the show and expects "VeggieTales" to continue airing.
But Bozell isn't satisfied. "If NBC is so concerned about that four-letter-word God, then they shouldn't have taken `VeggieTales'," he said. "This just documents the disconnect between Hollywood and the real world."

I completely agree with Bozell. The signature of Veggie Tales is the Christian message. That message is the reason Veggie Tales has been so successful. It's sad that NBC regularly allows words like b1tch, @ss, d@mn, and even the f-word now and then. BUT, God and His Holy Word are not allowed. How ludiscrous!
Big Idea seems to think otherwise. A statement on their website says,

"When we were presented with the opportunity to reach a mass television audience, we knew that certain religious references would not be allowed on a children's block under current TV network guidelines. And we recognized that we were not going to change the rules of network television overnight. In light of this, 'Can Big Idea continue to fulfill its mission of enhancing the spiritual and moral fabric of society through creative media?' became the question we had to answer. Can VeggieTales make a difference on Saturday morning? We think so."