...American University professor W. Joseph Campbell, whose new book Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism flattens established myths that you were brought up to believe were true: that Orson Welles sparked a national panic with his 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast; that the New York Times suppressed news of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba at the request of the White House; that Edward R. Murrow destroyed Sen. Joseph McCarthy; that publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst told an illustrator, "You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war," before the Spanish-American war started;

and more [including ...] it has long been an article of faith that President Lyndon B. Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America," or something like that, after watching the February 1968 CBS News special about the Vietnam War in which well-respected broadcaster and host Walter Cronkite described the conflict as "mired in stalemate."

That alleged line from Lyndon always struck me as a little too good to be true, and tracking it back, it appears to have shaky origins with Halberstam.  Edward Murrow was better than most probably but almost always turned into a fearless hero on the McCarthy case, which he was not, and he had his pre-Barbara Walters moments with that embarrassing show Person to Person, plus his close ties to the US military over the years.  

The great American writer left instructions not to publish his autobiography until 100 years after his death, which is now

Exactly a century after rumours of his death turned out to be entirely accurate, one of Mark Twain's
dying wishes is at last coming true: an extensive, outspoken and revelatory autobiography which he devoted the last decade of his life to writing is finally going to be published.

Sestak's charge is a serious one that could potentially involve criminal conduct on the part of someone in the administration. And Sestak, while not offering any new details, is standing by his story. "Something happened last July before I got in the race," he said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program March 9. When he was asked about it on the radio program, Sestak continued, "I answered it honestly; I just said yes, but I didn't go beyond that. And actually, Joe, I don't think I should. That's politics." Just to clarify, Sestak said, of the radio interview, "They said to me, have you been offered a job not to get in the race, or to get in the race? And I said yes."

Not only is the charge serious; Sestak himself, with his long career in the Navy before winning a seat in Congress, is a serious source. On March 8, at a health care event in Pennsylvania, President Obama referred to Sestak as "somebody who rendered outstanding service to our nation before he was in Congress."

And yet, after an initial denial, the White House spokesman hasn't been able to muster any comment on the allegation. Gibbs has not repeated the denial, hasn't issued a new one, and has now dropped any pretense of checking on the story. How long will the Sestak Stonewall continue?

I know I should be happy that I don't get patted down and they forget to tell me to remove my shoes, and they are sitting there joking around with us.  But I forgot to take off my watch, belt, and earrings, I set off the alarm, and I was the first one who noticed...

scotusblog

NFL case re anti-trust.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has knocked down his leading Republican challenger, paving the way for a potential fall fight with a tea party favorite who may be easier to beat.

On her website -- full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors -- Angle declares: "Like a soldier going to war, I am fighting for my country, the Constitution and a free society."

She wants to privatize Social Security; cut federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars; build nuclear power plants inside Yucca Mountain; abolish the federal income tax and institute a "simpler, fairer, flatter tax system"; "defund Obamacare"; pull the United States out of the United Nations; ban nearly all abortions; get rid of the Energy and Education departments as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and remove all campaign finance restrictions, requiring instead immediate reporting of donations.

anyway, its come to this:

Rand Paul: Another High Tech Lynching

These wan domestic squabbles are merely prelude to the movie's major plot development. Samantha is approached by an Arab sheik to devise a PR campaign for his business enterprises, and he offers to fly her and her three gal pals on an all-expenses-paid luxury vacation to Abu Dhabi. (These scenes were filmed in Morocco.) Even in an escapist fantasy, the spectacle of women sinking into this billionaire's paradise at a time of widespread economic hardship initially seems creepy and off-putting. Soon, however, their Arab sojourn takes unexpected turns. First of all, Carrie encounters her old flame, Aidan (John Corbett), at the spice market, but even more importantly, she and her friends run up against the puritanical and misogynistic culture of the Middle East. The rather scathing portrayal of Muslim society no doubt will stir controversy, especially in a frothy summer entertainment, but there's something bracing about the film's saucy political incorrectness. Or is it politically correct? "SATC 2" is at once proudly feminist and blatantly anti-Muslim, which means that it might confound liberal viewers.

Sugar Equivalent: Two 7-ounce canisters Reddi-wip

Sunkist (1 bottle, 20 fl oz)

Sugar Equivalent: 6 Breyers Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches

a new report released last week by the National Workgroup for Safe Markets, a coalition of more than 17 public and environmental health groups, shows that bisphenol-A  is present in most food preserved in cans (not just in the lining of the cans themselves, where it is used to protect food from corrosion and bacteria). BPA, as the chemical is also called, has been linked to a range of ills including cancer, infertility, and obesity.

Mike Schade, a co-author of the study, told AOL News that "real-life meals involving one or more cans of food can cause an individual to ingest levels of BPA that have been shown to cause health effects in laboratory animal studies."