Anecdotally, these findings hold true for my family: firstborn; The L.A.W. is a flippin' genius. Amongst my acquaintances, her mental faculties are second only to those of The Professor, himself his parents' firstborn.

Lies, Damned Lies, and the News
I am inveterate channel surfer, and last night during a commercial break in the season finale of Stargate Atlantis I embarked upon my customary survey of that most alluring of prizes, What Else Is On. Here in Fort Worthless, Fox News is the next station below the Sci Fi Channel, 54 to Sci Fi's 55. I find Fox News distasteful, but I'd watched the better part of The Daily Show the previous evening, I felt inclined to give Fox a chance to restore the balance of recently ingested propaganda. To my delight, I saw the bearded visage of Frank Gaffney, a fellow with many interesting opinions. He was talking about a television documentary, originally commissioned by PBS, that was soon to air on the Fox News Channel.

The documentary, originally titled Islam Vs. Islamists, has a premise behind which I think we can all stand: to throw a spotlight on the vast majority of Muslims in the West - the United States, Canada, and Europe - who oppose, vociferously, the hijacking of their religion by terrorists like Osama bin Laden and Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. PBS refused to broadcast the documentary on the grounds that it is "extremely one-sided." (Here are Mr. Gaffney's thoughts on the matter: censoredlink.) High holy hell, has anyone at PBS every actually watched Frontline or NOW, formerly NOW with Bill Moyers? Al Sharpton isn't as implacably opposed to George W. Bush specifically and the Republican Party generally as is Bill Moyers! I have not yet seen Islam Vs. Islamists; so, I cannot say whether it is a documentary or warrants labeling as propaganda, but to air the extraordinarily polemical NOW and then refuse to air Islam Vs. Islamists on the grounds that it is "one-sided," that, treasured readers, is the height of hypocrisy and a perfect example of the pervasive liberal bias possessed and promoted by the grandees of the fourth estate.

The former Islam Vs. Islamists will air tonight under the unfortunately reactionary title Banned by PBS: Muslims Against Jihad (I approve of the second part, but the first, though 100% factually accurate, seems petulant; then again, no one has ever accused Fox News of taking the moral high ground or acting with excessive decorum). My curiosity has been piqued. Additionally, I find PBS's double-standard infuriating and I will watch Muslims Against Jihad as a small act of protest; if PBS is as "public" as you say, you hypocrites, everyone should be allowed to use it, not just your political chums and fellow travelers.