I know that this will want you to dig deep, and make a contribution to their plight in this Christmholiday season.

It’s getting so that journalists can no longer afford to live in New York. Maybe they should drive a bus instead. Given the quality of much of their output, many of them are sure overpaid for what they’re doing now.

Continues. And yet they won’t call it by its true name:

Five men of Middle Eastern descent were yesterday arrested in Brighton-le-Sands after their mobile phones were confiscated and found to have messages that incited violence. Among the many phones confiscated yesterday one contained a text message which said: “Wake up, wake up oh lion of lebanon. Retaliate, take action … Show them we have awoken we will meet at Brighton and together exterminate the enemy of Cronulla. Send this to every lion of Lebanon.”

Well, at least they’re willing to say that they’re of Middle Eastern descent. But why can’t they use the “M” word? This is about “Arabs.” If I were a Lebanese Christian, I’d be outraged, and sending nasty letters to the editor about this broad-brush treatment.

I’ve also declined offers of money to write specific pieces, even though I agreed with the sentiment. I just didn’t feel comfortable with it. I’m disappointed to hear about Doug Bandow.

But what would be the problem with this: someone with an axe to grind approaches me to write a piece on a topic for compensation. I say that I don’t do that kind of quid pro quo, even though I agree with the subject. But I do have a tip jar, and can point it out to them. If I write the piece that I want to write (perhaps partially based on material provided to me by them), and they like it sufficiently to make a donation of an amount of their choosing, is there anything wrong with that? The only way I’ve been influenced is by the idea of writing the piece in the first place.

Where is the line crossed? Only when there’s an explicit quid pro quo, in which one is being a stenographer in exchange for an agreed-upon amount?

Check out the subhead at the WaPo:

Iraqi Vote Draws Big Turnout Of Sunnis
Anti-U.S. Sentiment Is Motivator for Many

I’m not a smart enough Googler to figure it out, but how did the press coverage of Saddam’s “election,” in which he won 99% of the vote, compare to today’s? Which did the MSM think the bigger story, and by how much?

[Update on Friday morning]

Little Green Footballs has an example.

[Update at 9 AM]

Here’s a roundup from last January of how credulous many in the media were about Saddam’s “election”:

While the network news gurus have spent weeks questioning whether Sunday

A journalist on the scene in Mosul gets it:

I still haven

Mudville Gazette is calling for corrections:

THE PRESIDENT: How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We’ve lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq.

Today’s headlines? “Bush says 30,000 Iraqi civilians dead in war.”

Emphasis mine. Also, I wonder if the president misspoke. Is he including all the foreign fighters in that count? If so, they’re not even Iraqi citizens, let alone civilians.

This is how urban legends get started, and you can be sure that it will now become part of every lefty playbook. And don’t expect a correction.

Virgin Galactic announced that they are opening a spaceport in New Mexico with $225 million in state money. They are also reported by BBC Radio, Forbes, AP and others to have 38,000-40,000 people who have made a deposit. Ned Abel Smith of Virgin Galactic confirms that in fact that 39,000 is just the number of people on their mailing list, not the number of depositers. This is not the first media exaggeration of Virgin Galactic’s prospects. On the other hand, with Virgin Skill’s vendor for Virgin Galactic Quest, Fun Games selling to Liberty Media for $390 million with $13 million in revenue and no profit, maybe Virgin Galactic Quest will be worth more than Virgin Galactic. (BTW, Smith said that they are probably delaying launch of Virgin Galactic Quest until the new year, but it is “ready to go”. They don’t want to crowd their spaceport announcement.) Check out Virgin Galactic’s new logo.

Torah Portion says that Stephen Spielberg is no friend of Israel:

For some time I’ve asked this question – would Leon Uris get “Exodus” to the screen in this climate? I keep coming up with the same answer. No! Things have changed and not only for movies but for books as well. Again, personal experience, as with my latest, “The Bathsheba Deadline,” that’s running as a serial on Amazon.com. Lucky for me that Amazon.com came along, the largest of them all put together.

But not so fast. The novel was turned down by a dozen New York publishers for being too pro USA and much too Jewish, too pro-Israel. One top publisher said it plainly, or half plainly: “I really got caught up in your novel; enjoyed it very much; powerful stuff. But I will not make an offer, and I think you know why.”

Yes, I knew why and I know why.

In (where else?) Al Jazeera West:

The documents inspired intense U.S. interest in the buildup to the war