TV News LIES

Among the many promises made in its just-approved takeover of NBC Universal, Comcast Corp. pledged to sustain and even add hundreds of hours to the news and public affairs programming at the 10 TV stations NBC owns around the country.

As a baby step in the right direction, NBC should start by putting in the garbage-disposal all those no-calorie "news" segments about, for example, "The Biggest Loser," "Law & Order," "America's Got Talent" and movies from Universal Pictures. Convert those time slots, instead, to some meat and potatoes coverage about what's happening in our neighborhoods, our schools, our city halls.

Several US policy practitioners, academics, former government officials and journalists have in a letter to Barack Obama urged the US president to support the upcoming United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

"The time has come for a clear signal from the United States to the parties and to the broader international community that the US can and will approach the conflict with the objectivity, consistency and respect for international law required if it is to play a constructive role in the conflict's resolution," read the letter published in the Washington Note, a popular political blog, on Wednesday.

Newly energized by their success in November’s midterm elections, conservative legislators in dozens of states are mounting aggressive campaigns to limit abortions. The lawmakers are drafting, and some have already introduced, bills that would ban most abortions at 20 weeks after conception, push women considering abortions to view a live ultrasound of the fetus, or curb insurance coverage, among other proposals.

In Florida and Kansas, legislators plan to reintroduce measures that were vetoed by previous governors but have the support of the new chief executives, like ultrasound requirements and more stringent regulation of late-term abortions.

A former U.S. congressman was among a group of American attorneys accompanying former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier as he spoke in the country's capital Friday.

Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr said he is not serving as Duvalier's attorney, but is in Port-au-Prince to consult, assist and be Duvalier's voice to the international community. Barr represented Georgia's 7th District in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, and was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in 2008. He currently practices law and runs a consulting firm based in Atlanta.

A key congressional oversight committee announced today that it was opening an investigation into the basis of a decision by the Pentagon's health plan to deny a type of medical treatment to troops with brain injuries.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., the chairman of the subcommittee on contracting oversight, said she wanted to examine a contract issued by Tricare, an insurance-style program used by soldiers and many veterans, to a private company to study cognitive rehabilitation therapy for traumatic brain injury. Such injuries are considered among the signature wounds of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract, the network said Friday night. “This is the last edition of Countdown,” Mr. Olbermann said at the end of his program. “Let me thank my gifted staff here, and just a few of the many people who fought with me and for me.”

In a statement, MSNBC said it “thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

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TVNL Comment: This is step one.  Comcast now owns most of NBC, and will replace every progressive voice on the network.  Wait and see who is next.

Government officials are investigating an apparent increase in fever-related seizures in young children after they got a flu shot. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said there have been 36 confirmed reports of seizures this flu season in children ages 6 months through 2 years.

The seizures occurred within one day after they were vaccinated with Fluzone, the only flu shot recommended in the United States for infants and very young children. Ten of the children were hospitalized, but all recovered.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development unveiled a series of proposed rules on Thursday designed to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals from discrimination when applying for federal housing assistance.

The HUD proposal marks the latest in a string of Obama administration attempts to enhance gay rights through federal regulation, which may offer a way forward for advocates who worry that legislative efforts have little hope of success this year.