Everything You Need to Know About Your American Media in Three Stories (Updated):
1. From a transcript of Contemptuous Sneer of Justice with Nancy Grace on CNN's HLN (or, you know, "Headline News," or "exploitative trial coverage deluxe") on the day that Casey Anthony was found "not guilty" of killing her daughter:
"(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP [of the two-year old doing two-year old things])

"G. ANTHONY: A beautiful little girl who not only meant the world to me, but meant the world to my family. And so many of you that never got a chance to actually hug her.

"CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY`S MOTHER: Caylee is watching over all of us.

"(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

"GRACE: Let's stop and remember Marine Corporal Christopher Leon, 20, Lancaster, California, killed Iraq. Awarded Purple Heart, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medal, Combat Action Ribbon."

[Note: a photo of Leon was shown]

"Loved writing songs, hanging out with his niece Hannah, working out, eating healthy. Favorite meals, protein drinks, chicken, and salads. Favorite music, rap. With a big heart and a big smile, leaves behind grieving mother Kathy, grandmothers Rita and Sue.

"Christopher Leon, American hero.

"Thanks to our guests but our biggest thank you is to you for being with us. We will see you tomorrow night. We`ll be here, outside the Orlando courthouse, and the final chapter where in our own way we seek justice for Caylee."

The entire hour had been devoted to dissecting the verdict, but, hey, at least they squeezed in a dead soldier. That'd be after they mourned a girl who died three years ago and predicted what happens next for the woman who had been acquitted in a local, Florida trial that probably would have taken three days had it not been for the slavering vultures like Nancy Grace who humped Caylee Anthony's skeleton like it was made of ratings dildos and brought undue attention to it. But, hey, look: we honored a soldier for a second.

By the way, the Rude Pundit doesn't really know jackshit about the whole case and doesn't give a monkey fuck beyond the abstract "dead child make feel sad." But he happened to be in a bar that had Grace's show on the TVs, and he saw a photo of Caylee Anthony with words across it that read "Caylee would have been 6 on August 9...She would have loved swimming" and horseback riding, maybe, he can't remember exactly. Probably ice cream, too.

And the Rude Pundit thought, "Huh. How do you know that she wouldn't have been a horrible little bitch who hated doing anything and made everyone miserable?" See? You can make up fake futures, too.

2. According to the magical Nexis machine, in the past week, Fox "news" has mentioned, on air, the horrific scandal involving dead children, soldiers, and terrorism victims, and its parent company, News Corp a grand total of just once, on Bret Baier's comedy hour of alleged news, and just to say that Rupert Murdoch's son is shutting down the News of the World because its employees bribed cops and hacked into phones of dead kids. The story lasted about 30 seconds.

CNN has been all over the controversy, which has resulted in the arrest, among others, of a former official for David Cameron. MSNBC has at least spent a little time. But, as with most things, Fox viewers are blissfully unaware. (By the way, we're at the tip of the huge iceberg of awfulness involving one of the largest media companies in America and its CEO, who is, you know, a naturalized American. One would think that the American media would be all over this.)

Update: Apparently Fox "news" has been reporting today on the scandal. Looks like Murdoch gave Ailes the thumbs up. That's today. Prior to that, nearly nada.

3. There's this line from an NPR report on the debt ceiling debate: "[T]here was a palpable sense that a panic point had arrived and that both sides were preparing to take a path to a budget and debt-ceiling deal that would put them at odds, gently speaking, with their bases — from Republican Tea Partiers to Democrats in the MoveOn.org crowd."

Making MoveOn.org equal to the Tea Party is like making Martin Luther King equal to the KKK. Sometimes, really, the scales can't be balanced, no matter how hard you try.