Good morning . . .
"60 Minutes Wednesday" earned a reputation for not carefully investigating claims before trying to sway a presidential election. After the failed attempt by Dan Rather and Mary Mapes, you would think the stories on the program would not demonstrate the lack of ethics or standards at the failing news division.
Reporter Steve Hartman provides short, light-hearted stories at the end of each episode. On the April 27 edition of '60 Minutes Wednesday' Hartman presented a piece on yard sales. In the beginning of the story, Hartman went to a few yard sales, bought a few pieces of junk and was inspired to have a '60 Minutes Wednesday Yard Sale.' So far, so cute.
At Hartman's yard sale he put out so,e "boring personnel booklets" including a CBS News Standards booklet. Throughout the "sale" segment he focused on the booklet which had a post-it note saying "never used." He showed the booklet to a potential buyer saying, " This is the standards we work by. That book's never been used.
While Hartman and the producers at '60 Minutes Wednesday" may have thought it was funny, it demonstrates the basic problem at CBS News, ethics and standards are not part of their work. Does this surprise anyone?
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The US House passed a bill Wednesday that will make it more difficult for girls under 18 to get an abortion by traveling to another state. The bill passed by a bi-partisan vote of 270-157.
The Child Abortion Notification Act will make it illegal to transport a minor across state lines to get an abortion if it is done to evade a state parental involvement law, unless a state court issues a waiver.
The new law will require doctors to notify a parent before performing an abortion on a minor who is a resident of another state, unless the patient has a waiver from a state court in her home state. In cases of sexual abuse, the doctor is required to contact the state's child welfare agency.
A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate, but is being blocked by Democrats.
House Passes Parental Notification Bill -- 04/28/2005
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A source in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-TN) office announced that a press conference will be held today to discuss a plan to resolve the partisan battle over judicial nominees.
The Frist plan will allow Democrats to debate each judicial nominee, but he stands firm on the demand that each nominee brought to the Senate floor receive an up-or-down vote.
It is likely the Democrats will reject this proposal.
Earlier in the week, Frist and the White House rejected a plan from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that would have the President withdraw the names of several "controversial" nominees in exchange for floor votes on two nominees.
It appears that the "constitutional option" to change Senate rules to ban filibusters for judicial nominees is still the most viable option to end the stalemate.
Frist Set to Give Democrats Judges Offer: Sources - Yahoo! News
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A prosecution witness in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial may have helped the defense more than expected.
Michael Jackson's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, told the court that the videotape she made praising Jackson was not scripted.
She admitted that she was handed some questions, but did not look at them because she did not want people to think it was rehearsed. She could not explain why the taping took nine hours allowing for extensive editing to make Jackson look as good as possible.
In a dramatic turn during her testimony, Rowe said that Jackson was "her friend" and she wanted to get "reacquainted" with the aging pop star and their children.
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More later.
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