George Soros, the radical, far-left billionaire, with a long history of antipathy toward American interests, now sits on a U.N. panel charged with organizing a $100 billion wealth transfer from the developed world to the underdeveloped world in the name of environmentalism. News of his involvement here is buried away in a NYT report but it should be the lead sentence.

Developing countries must help combat the many challenges associated with global warming, according to a United Nations (U.N.) panel. That is assuming all concerned parties accept the premise of catastrophic human induced climate change and the New York Times certainly does. The price tag has been fixed at $100 billion and the villain here is of course the United States, which refuses to comply with anti-emissions regulations.

It’s a familiar script that is wearing thin. The alarmist rationale has been dealt serious setbacks in recent months thanks to updated research and the growing “climategate” scandal. But international bureaucrats and transnationalists opposed to America’s free market system remain undeterred in their course of action.

Last December, “international leaders” agreed that it would be necessary for the developed world to fork over 100 billion by 2020 during the Copenhagen climate summit. But the methodology and details of this transfer remain a point of consternation and contention. The U.N. panel has just released a report that offers up some suggestions.

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There is some good reporting here that flushes out engaging personalities from the across the country who are determined to make a stand on behalf of liberalism and the Democratic Party. But the double-standard is evident. Tea Party activists do not typically receive congenial coverage. The NYT, which is often so certain of lower attendance figures for right-leaning rallies does not have any hard numbers or facts, to account for the numbers its cites…

There are no official figures given by the National Park Service of the Washington D.C. rally held this past weekend that included liberal activists from across the country.  The event sponsored by Viacom’s Comedy Central Network was widely viewed as rejoinder to the rally Glenn Beck of Fox News held at the Lincoln Memorial in August.

The “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” did not include any Democratic politicians and instead featured Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, two left leaning political satirists. The article does a good job of flushing out some of the key personalities and reporting on clever messaging. It does not fixate on the attendance, which would be fine, if the NYT did not go to such great lengths to dismiss turnout figures for Beck’s rally.

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On the surface, it is very easy for readers to sympathize with financially stressed families that may be evicted from their homes. But emotional appeals should not serve as a substitute for reporting on the economic consequences of government intervention that will cost prospective homeowners over the long-term…

News reports that personalize the misfortunes of individuals who have been identified as potential new constituents for the political class make for highly effective yarns. Here the New York Times takes up the case of Nicholle Bradbury, a resident of Denmark, Maine, who cannot keep up her mortgage payments and faces a potential eviction. On the surface, there is good cause for sympathy.

Questions have been raised about the paperwork and methodology associated with Bradbury’s case. She has also lost her job and her husband can no longer work for health reasons. The family, which includes two teenagers, lives on welfare and foodstamps  according to the report.

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Several paragraphs down into a report on the “One Nation” rally readers finally learn that liberal activists could not match the crowds Glenn Beck attracted to the Lincoln Memorial in August. The key sponsors of the event, which include organized labor, are permitted to offer up factually dubious quotes without any criticism or examination.

Left wing activists who organized the “One Nation Coming Together” event at the Lincoln Memorial earlier this month as a rejoinder to Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally fell flat in terms of attendance, energy and enthusiasm. Even the New York Times was forced to concede that liberal demonstrators could not match attendance figures for Beck’s Aug. 28 rally also held at the Lincoln Memorial. The first few paragraphs are sympathetic and supportive of “One Nation,” which was funded and supported by organized labor.

“More than 300 groups organized Saturday’s march to build momentum for progressive causes like increased job-creation programs and to mobilize liberal voters to flock to the polls next month,” readers are told. “The rally’s sponsors, including the N.A.A.C.P., the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Sierra Club and the National Council of La Raza, said they also hoped to demonstrate that they, not the Tea Party, represented the nation’s majority.”

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Thanks to Glenn Beck of Fox News, more Americans are becoming acquainted with the Progressive Era and its separation from the founding period. But Beck and others do come in for some sharp criticism from the left in an online forum hosted by the NYT that analyzes conservative criticism of President Woodrow Wilson…

An online discussion entitled “Hating Woodrow Wilson” hosted by The New York Times is being used by the left as a way to attack and sully Fox News personality Glenn Beck who has been sharply critical of the former president and the progressive era in general. But it does offer a number of engaging nuggets that are worth reviewing.

Some of the liberal commentators make the point that Beck and company are too fixated on Wilson and do not take into proper account the progressive contributions of Teddy Roosevelt and others. The discussion does open some worthwhile historical considerations that serious thinkers on both sides of the political spectrum should peruse.

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