If you had any doubt that the mainstream American press has all but abandoned its primary responsibilities, you need only look at the way the "Baloon Boy" family played them like a fiddle. And to hell with fact-checking (except of course, when someone on Saturday Night Live does a skit that dares to poke fun at their idol, Barak Obama - then, by God, the folks at CNN are on the case).

But not here - despite the mounting evidence that the entire story might be a hoax, the likes of Wolf Blitzer and Meredith Vieira were falling all over themselves to give face-time to this pathetically dysfunctional family.  Even after the six year old boy actually threw up on two TV shoes - likely betraying his anguish at being forced to continue the fraud - the media farce continued. And now that the father faces potential criminal charges, don't be surprised by daily updates of the case.

Now, it's bad enough that we have  people like the Heene family who seem so obsessed with "being on TV" that they will do anything, even emotionally abuse their own children, to get in front of a camera. But we also have the media themselves, who are willing participants in the lunacy as long as it gets ratings. And then there are those who stay glued to their TV's watching this crap...and ensuring that more such nonsense will likely follow.

This sad state of affairs didn't happen overnight - it's been brewing for some time. But the real seismic shift to "reality" television began with the O.J. debacle. From the absurd (and pointless) "bronco chase" footage to the endless coverage of the trial, a wife-beating murderer got many times more coverage than the assassination of President Kennedy.

But perhaps more disturbing than any of this silliness are the recent attacks by the Obama administration on a free press - specifically, FOX news. Apparently, decades of ever-increasing left-wing bias on the part of the real propagandists (the mainstream outlets like ABC, CBS, and CNN, and the now openly expressed liberal-advocacy journalism of MSNBC) is not sufficient for Obama's taste. No, he wants every news outlet to goose-step to the the (Democrat) party line.

Unless you've been living in a cave (and/or getting your "news" exclusively from CNN and MSNBC) listening to one of Obama's mouth-pieces accuse FOX news of  "bias" is so laughable as to be almost beyond comprehension. Talk about the "pot calling the kettle black" - even the most cursory investigation shows time and again the depth and breadth of the mainstream media's collusion with Democrats on virtually every issue.

Whether refusing to run stories of horribly vicious crimes (because the perpetrators turn out to be "minorities") or openly cheer-leading for "gun control" laws, the mainstream press has all but abandoned its role as the "watchdogs" of the government - on the contrary, they are using their soap-boxes to actively lobby on behalf of Obama's socialist policies, including government run health care.

Then there is their glaring double-standard on covering scandals. If it's a Republican, even an unknown city council member in some tiny town in Idaho, well then, that's "worthy" of wall-to-wall coverage (including the "panel" discussions, complete with dour-faced head-nodding), along with the relentless repetition of the word REPUBLICAN in every story. But if it's a Democrat at the center of some particularly ugly controversy, even a high-profile figure like a Senator, Governor, or a former presidential candidate (John Edwards), then it is suddenly "old news" or, at best, unworthy of more than a passing mention (all reference to Democrat Party affiliation carefully deleted, of course).

The Obama Whitehouse is awash in tax-cheats, worshipers of Mao Tse-Tung, and those who believe that American parents should be limited by the government to one child (a la Communist China) and that the elderly should be allowed to die rather than "unfairly" consuming limited healthcare resources. Then there is Obama's "Safe Schools" Czar who once counseled a teenage boy (who was being sexually solicited by a 40-something man) to "use a condom."  But if you get your "news" from the "Obama Media" then you probably can't name even one of these ethically bankrupt political hacks.

Given such slanted reporting, it should come as no surprise that, by merely refusing to go along with the left-wing bent, and daring to present genuinely balanced analysis, FOX News becomes, in the deeply distorted view of extremist liberals, a "right-wing" organization. Yet to the dismay of the Obama administration, a growing number of Americans (not just conservatives) have begun to notice the bias in mainstream outlets, and have been looking for an alternative. As a result, FOX has been growing by leaps and bounds - FOX News now has a larger audience than all of the other cable news outlets combined, and they keep on growing - closing in on even the old stalwarts like ABC and CBS.

Naturally, this shift is seen as a threat to Obama's (and Democrat's) hegemony in the control of what the public sees and hears. And not only do they attempt to conflate commentary shows like Glenn Beck with actual news programming, FOX's critics have sunk to simply making things up. The outlandish liable against Rush Limbaugh (repeated by CNN, MSNBC and others, even after it was revealed to be a complete fabrication) is emblematic of their hysterical fear - and hatred - of any dissenting voice.

FOX is seen as almost treasonous by the liberal faithful. As it is, any liberal who dares to step off the Democrat plantation will be turned on with vitriolic anger - but being associated with FOX News, even for an avowed liberal, will practically invite a left-wing lynch mob. There is no better example of this than the recent interview between FOX News liberal commentator Juan Williams, who is black, and left-wing talk show host Warren Ballentine, who is also black.

When Williams backed Ballentine into a corner - exposing Ballentine's blatant lying about conservative icon Rush Limbaugh - Ballentine reacted by telling Juan Williams to "go back to the porch" - a nasty "Uncle Tom" reference. Worse, not only did Ballentine fail to apologize for this ill-mannered smear, he actually bragged about it on his radio show. And they attack FOX News?

Talk about media madness...