Free Republic

(CBS) There's no question that the Tea Party has become a potent political force in a little over a year. A CBS News poll says one in five Americans support the movement now. Republican Scott Brown's victory in the January senate election in the Democratic stronghold of Massachusetts symbolized tea party clout. "Tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken," Brown said the night he was elected to fill the seat vacated by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. But while Republicans initially welcomed the Tea Party, in recent weeks the embrace may be a bit too close for comfort, CBS...

NEW YORK--Conservative and religious groups that have long complained about the irreverent treatment of Christianity on Comedy Central have a new target: an animated series about Jesus Christ living in modern-day New York. It's unclear whether the show — one of 28 projects the network listed last month on its slate of potential programs for the coming season — will ever make it out of script development. But that hasn't stopped a coalition of media watchdog groups from launching an effort to persuade advertisers to boycott the project, if it ever comes to fruition. Here's a description of the show...

CBS News: "It's been ten years since that oddly public passionate kiss at the Democratic convention. That was followed by Gore winning the popular vote for President but losing the electoral vote. Family friend Sally Quinn says that may have done the marriage irreparable harm."

If you have an inkling that Americans are in a BAD MOOD in regards to what is going on in the beltway, chances are, you COULD BE RIGHT. According to a CBS News political poll: “Opinions of both parties, meanwhile, are at or near historic lows: 55 percent of those surveyed hold unfavorable views of Republicans, and 54 percent hold unfavorable views of Democrats. The president’s job approval rating has fallen to 47 percent, and, perhaps more crucially, Americans no longer say he shares their priorities for the country.

Television's champions for the season that concludes Wednesday will be familiar: the CBS network and Fox's "American Idol" juggernaut. CBS' status as the nation's most-watched prime-time network for the seventh time in the past eight years isn't in doubt. The network averaged nearly 2 million viewers a night more than Fox, the second-place finisher, in results through Sunday night, the Nielsen Co. said. Fox's "American Idol" was the nation's favorite program for the seventh year in a row. The show's Tuesday edition averaged 24.9 million viewers, and Wednesday had 23.4 million. Next came ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" at 19.7...

""This video was shot by the local parish government in South Pass. When we [CBS] tried to reach the beach covered in oil, a boat with BP contractors with two Coast Guard officers on board told us to turn around under threat of arrest. "This is BP's rules, not ours." We spoke to Coast Guard officials today. They say that they are looking into it.""

Kelly Cobiella reports that a CBS News team was threatened with arrest by Coast Guard officials in the Gulf of Mexico who said they were acting under the authority of British Petroleum.

CBS is giving seven of its old shows the heave-ho to make room for new fall fare with a shake-'em-up schedule for the 2010-11 season.

Deacon Greg Kandra was an interesting presence on the CBS staff in the Katie Couric era. He edited her blog Couric & Co. as he was ordained a Catholic deacon in 2007. At his Beliefnet blog The Deacon's Bench, he responded to the blog Creative Minority Report claiming Couric is a modern Margaret Sanger, the controversial eugenics-endorsing founder of Planned Parenthood. (The label came from Couric's recent subsidize-the-contraceptives commentary.) I expected Kandra might offer some defense to the CBS star. Instead, Kandra wrote: CMR calls Katie a "modern Margaret Sanger." I know what CMR is talking about. And boy, do...

Many conservatives still have not forgiven Walter Cronkite for editorializing in early 1969 that the Vietnam War would end in a “bloody stalemate,” encouraging the S to abandon the fight at a time when the Communists appeared ready to throw in the towel. If a recently-released FBI file is true, Cronkite may have gone farther than editorializing. According to an FBI informant, Cronkite offered advice and CBS resources to assist the anti-war activists, including a helicopter to fly Edmund Muskie to a protest that CBS would then cover: Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite allegedly collaborated with anti-Vietnam War activists...

Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite allegedly collaborated with anti-Vietnam War activists in the 1960s, going so far as to offer advice on how to raise the public profile of protests and even pledging CBS News resources to help pull off events, according to FBI documents obtained by Yahoo! News. The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, say that in November 1969, Cronkite encouraged students at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., to invite Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie to address a protest they were planning near Cape Kennedy (now known as Cape Canaveral). Cronkite told the group’s...

If you ever wonder why politics in the State of Illinois is such a bucket of worms, you need look no further than the shot a CBS Chicago bureau producer fired at Republican US Senate nominee, Mark Kirk the other day. Said CBS producer, Ed Marshall told Kirk in front of a live mike; "Channel 2's made a decision. We're really not going to cover the Senate race if it consistently, only in your terms, is about Broadway Bank. The bank's been taken over by the government, Alexi's been pilloried. Tell me: what is your campaign going forward? What are...

Michael Wolff: CNN + CBS = Less Than Zero Michael Wolff May. 7, 2010, 10:00 AM Bill Carter, the New York Times’ hoary television reporter, in his story the other day about partnership talks between CNN and CBS, treated both networks as though they were august news organizations, instead of ruined artifacts of a former age. Carter’s is yet another an example of the illusion the news media somehow successfully maintains about itself—about its importance and permanence and, even, the awe with which it is regarded—in the face of all evidence to the contrary. As it happens, CBS—“once the home...

Comedy Central might censor every image of the Prophet Muhammad on "South Park," yet the network is developing a whole animated series around Jesus Christ. Jesus-south-park As part of the network's upfront presentation to advertisers (full slate here), the network is set to announce "JC," a half-hour show about Christ wanting to escape the shadow of his "powerful but apathetic father" and live a regular life in New York City. In the show, God is preoccupied with playing video games while Christ, "the ultimate fish out of water," tries to adjust to life in the big city. "In general,...

The Chicago way I suppose....in politics and in the media. Check out some of the stories the CBS station in Chicago did on the Abramoff story and his connections to the GOP a few years back. DeLay Tried, Failed To Aid Abramoff ClientVanity Fair: Bush Joked With AbramoffGOP Politicians Dump Abramoff DonationsTop Lobbyist Abramoff Makes A DealIn one story they write: His ties to GOP congressional leaders and the White House pose a particular problem for Republicans. More here. All legitimate stories about a topic that should be covered by the media. But now a story about a Democrat candidate...

A new poll conducted by CBS News and The New York Times has found that 77% of Catholics who attend Mass weekly say that “the Vatican’s handling of recent child sex abuse reports” has had no effect on how they “feel about the Catholic Church.” An additional 12% of practicing Catholics say that they have a more positive feeling about the Church as a result of the Vatican’s handling of the scandals. The survey of 1,079 adults was conducted between April 28 and May 2. Results were released on May 4. 88% of Catholics-- practicing and non-practicing-- report that the...

Should the U.S. abandon efforts to increase offshore oil drilling?

In her "notebook" last evening, CBS' Katie Couric went after anonymous online "trolls and haters" in support of civility in website comment sections. Video below:

I don't post many vanities, so I hope folks won't be too hard on me for this. I don't watch television. Sports, just a little NFL, but nothing else. I don't have cable. And I definitely don't watch news, morning, evening or night. Not CBS, not NBC, not ABC, not even Fox. My wife and I happened to be in Phoenix last Friday (4/23) where there was a demonstration against the new illegal immigration legislation. I watched some of the news, because we were in a hotel room with cable and a large LCD, and they showed images of the...

The NCAA plans to expand the men's basketball tournament from 65 to 68 teams beginning next year and announced a new, $10.8 billion broadcasting deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting on Thursday that will allow every game to be shown live for the first time. The three-team expansion is much more modest than 80- and 96-team proposals the NCAA outlined just a few weeks ago at the Final Four. The move coincides with the new, 14-year broadcasting arrangement that interim NCAA president Jim Isch said will provide an average of $740 million to its conferences and schools each year. The...