(Daniel Schorr - one of the cornerstones of CBS News in the 1950's and 60's)

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Schorr, like all the correspondents during that great age of reporting at CBS News, was the cool observer who reported and never spun, sought answers and shared a vast amount of knowledge. His was one of the many voices that came to be trusted in times of uncertainty.

And it was during the Cold War that Schorr had some of his greatest moments. In 1962, when tensions between the West and the Soviet Union were at their highest, Daniel Schorr reported on the newly constructed Berlin Wall, taking a crew to East Berlin in search of answers.

The result was the CBS Reports documentary Berlin: Wall of Shame, which aired on January 4, 1962. A vivid picture of just how bad relations had become between East and West.

It is doubtful we'll see or hear his kind again anytime soon. It is a tragedy that no heir apparent is on the horizon to take his place. More tragic that CBS News has become a lifeless shell of its former self. It is probably the time his words of calm and his keen observations are the most needed.

But all we can do at the moment is be reminded and perhaps strive.

RIP - Daniel Schorr.

(The Battle Of Britain had begun)

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I'm not sure which is redlining higher, my irony or my outrage meter:

The man who killed Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller has filed a petition complaining that his rights have been violated and asking to be released from custody.

Scott Roeder, 52, of Kansas City, criticized the judge, the jail, prosecutors and his lawyers in a habeas corpus petition filed in Sedgwick County, Kan. A hearing is scheduled for June 4. Such a petition requires a judge to determine whether a person has been imprisoned lawfully and whether he should be freed.

Roeder was convicted of first-degree murder in January and sentenced April 1 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years. That case is under appeal.

In the 24-page petition, Roeder said the judge’s imposition of a $20 million bond “along with a suggestion that I might enact ‘more’ violence if I make bond demonstrates heightened disregard for the presumption of my innocence.” He also said that after his arrest, the judge “made a public spectacle of me, forcing me to appear on television without the assistance of counsel or court clothes.”

Roeder complained that the names and addresses of his visitors and correspondents had been made public by the jail “and that some of these have been subjected to questioning by the police power as a consequence.”

Roeder said prosecutors had “made libelous allegations against me.” For example, he said, Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston told the judge that a reasonable person would believe that he had engaged in “alleged acts of American terrorism.”

Roeder argued that he should be released because his attorneys “disparaged me in public behind my back” and deprived him of a fair trial. Roeder also complained that he wasn’t allowed to use a necessity defense, arguing that killing Tiller was justified because he was saving the lives of unborn babies.

I'm sure that Dr. Tiller would like to have not had his civil rights violated too. And not liking being called a "domestic terrorist"? All I can tell you is if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

I'm trying something new this week, a roundup of News as presented by media outside the U.S. - I've been complaining a lot lately about how our current state of Mainstream Media gives virtually no useful information on what's happening in the rest of the world, let alone our own country. So I thought I would give this a try. If it works, I'll make this a regular Friday feature.

First off - jumping up to the north of us, a program from the CBC called The Current and an interview with fellow Canadian David Frum on April 1st, regarding his "Waterloo" editorial and the resulting fallout.

(David Frum - Well . .I had no idea he was Canadian, did you?)

Q:"Were you pushed, or did you jump?"

Frum: "I was jumped. . . I mean pushed."

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Next up - via BBC's Africa Service, Africa Today covering the recent developments in Niger after their coup and demonstrations in Somalia.

(First the coup and then the crackdowns)

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From the Al Jazeera Listening Post, a report on the rift in U.S.-Israeli relations this week with the recent construction going on in Gaza and the various reactions from our State Department and the Israeli cabinet.

(File under: Awkward Photo ops)

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ABC Radio National in Australia and their Correspondents Report, featuring a segment on Thai protests and the threatened arrest of an American journalist covering Human Rights violations in Indonesia.

(The continuing protests in Thailand - almost a daily occurrence)

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This week, being The Pope wasn't all it was cracked up to be as BBC Radio 4's morning program Today reported on Monday the ongoing calls for his resignation. Also, first reports on the Moscow Subway bombing and China's purchase of Volvo.

(Pope Benedict and the old "what did he know and when did he know it")

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Again from the BBC, reports and eyewitness accounts of the Moscow Metro bombing and the upcoming British elections.

(Moscow Metro - ugly and getting uglier by the minute)

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And finally, for our Russian friends (or those of you who are brushing up on your language skills), a special report from Moscow Radio on Monday morning of the Moscow Subway bombing as it was unfolding. It's all in Russian but the seriousness and the devastation crosses all language barriers.

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So that's a taste of what the rest of the world was listening to this week. Actually, you can too. It's all on your computer, either via Podcasts from iTunes or casual browsing to whatever streaming audio sources you can look up via Google. It's all there and you can check it out. Getting information about what's happening in the world around you is essential. If you can't find it where you live you have to find it where you can. There's too much going on not to know about it.

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(G-7 London Summit - even the protests were anemic)

With the G-20 Summit fading from view, I ran across a roundtable discussion of the recently ended G-7 Summit from June 10, 1984. Very tame by comparison to recent Economic Summit meetings, certainly the last two.

But back in 1984 it was all about the Cold War, with sprinklings of the state of the world economy kept off to the side.

Reagan was facing an election year and polishing up the Shining City was at the forefront.

During this Face The Nation program, Leslie Stahl asks several European correspondents their take on the meeting just ended.

Peter Jenkins (Political Editor – The Guardian): “There’s a suspicion now isn’t there, that what we’re seeing now is a President running for re-election and when he’s re-elected he may revert to the true Ronald Reagan. Now I don’t happen to think that will be the case, because I think that he will get sort of locked in to the new policy lines that he’s developing. But I think quite a few European people will reserve judgment until they see what Ronald Reagan looks like on his second Inauguration day."

And of course the interview with Assistant Secretary of State Richard Burt wasn't going to veer off course, despite hints from Stahl that all was not harmonious among the G-7.

Showing cracks in the facade just wasn't going to happen.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Bill W)

Comedy gold at the TV and Radio Correspondents Dinner.

"That's odd. I wonder why there's a cardboard cut out of Mitt Romney behind me."

Actually, that's the funniest part. That should tell you something.

(h/t My Left Nutmegger for the vid)USA Today:

President Bush welcomed the press back to the White House this morning before he cut the ceremonial ribbon and invited correspondents to ask questions that he had no intention of answering.

"Let me cut the ribbon ... and then why don't you all yell simultaneously -- really loudly -- and that way you might get noticed. I'll listen, internalize, play like I'm going to answer the question and then smile at you and just say God, thanks, thanks for such a solid, sound question," Bush said at the end of his remarks.

And that would be different from other Bush pressers...how?

President Bush's monologue from the Radio & Television Correspondents Association Dinner.

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"I'd like to thank the Radio and TV Correspondents Association for providing dinner tonight. And I'd like to thank Senator Webb for providing security.

Not as funny as MC Rove IMO. Full transcript here.

Breaking: A Message from Bill Keller

Check out this memo from Bill Keller at The NY Times to his staff in it's entirety that I have verified from three sources. He touches on many subjects and especially Judy Miller. He rails against her behavior and his own sloppiness in investigating her. Keller also discusses shield laws within the confines of newspapers and their reporters. The NY Times reporting on WMD's is addressed and hasn't that been the real story behind all of this?

Keller: excerpt: "As you can imagine, I've done a lot of thinking -- and a lot of listening -- on the subject of what I should have done differently in handling our reporter's entanglement in the White House leak investigation. Jill and John and I have talked a great deal among ourselves and with many of you, and while this is a discussion that will continue, we thought it would be worth taking a first cut at the lessons we have learned.

I wish that when I learned Judy Miller had been subpoenaed as a witness in the leak investigation, I had sat her down for a thorough debriefing, and followed up with some reporting of my own. It is a natural and proper instinct to defend reporters when the government seeks to interfere in our work. And under other circumstances it might have been fine to entrust the details -- the substance of the confidential interviews, the notes -- to lawyers who would be handling the case. But in this case I missed what should have been significant alarm bells. Until Fitzgerald came after her, I didn't know that Judy had been one of the reporters on the receiving end of the anti-Wilson whisper campaign. I should have wondered why I was learning this from the special counsel, a year after the fact. (In November of 2003 Phil Taubman tried to ascertain whether any of our correspondents had been offered similar leaks. As we reported last Sunday, Judy seems to have misled Phil Taubman about the extent of her involvement.) This alone should have been enough to make me probe deeper.

Condi and the Latte Defense

Condi Rice was on The Factor last night and had this little repartee with Bill O'Reilly:

Download | play -WMP

Download | play -QT

Bittorrent -WMP

Bittorrent-QT

O’Reilly: The truth of the matter is our correspondents at Fox News can’t go out for a cup of coffee in Baghdad....

Rice: Bill, that’s tough. It’s tough. But what — would they have wanted to have gone out for a cup of coffee when Saddam Hussein was in power?

Bill: No, no-but after three years you expect a little security in the country...

Condi: ...there is security...

Bill: They can't get coffee...