Back when our military failed to find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, The New York Times apologized to its readers.

Why?

Before the war, the paper wrote article after article -- relying on both government and non-government sources -- that assumed the presence of stockpiles. Three of its reporters even wrote a book called "Germs," in which they discussed Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological programs.

But when the stockpiles failed to appear, the paper felt used, manipulated by the "devious" Bush administration. It promised its readers greater skepticism, more scrutiny, and no more at-face-value acceptance of assertions by the Bush administration. "The problematic articles varied in authorship and subject matter," wrote the Times in 2004, "but many shared a common feature. They depended at least in part on information from a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles bent on 'regime change' in Iraq, people whose credibility has come under increasing public debate in recent weeks. … Administration officials now acknowledge that they sometimes fell for misinformation from these exile sources. So did many news organizations -- in particular, this one." Quoth the Times, "Nevermore"!

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But with hard-left Democratic President Barack Obama and large Democratic majorities running both the House and the Senate, the mainstream media -- the ones that felt used and manipulated by the Bush administration -- now purr like a contented kitten after a hearty meal.

During the debate over the $787 billion stimulus package and while preparing his budget, the President projected an average unemployment rate for 2009 of 8 percent. It now stands at 9.4 percent. Where's the criticism about "rosy scenarios"? The Chinese show more concern than do our media about our exploding debt, deficit and impending inflation and high interest rates -- given our unprecedented spending/borrowing/printing of money.

The President recently repeated the assertion that the stimulus package already "created or saved" 150,000 jobs and that going forward, the package expects to "create or save" 600,000 jobs by the end of summer. How does one prove a job "saved"? And how many jobs are lost by transferring money from a taxpayer to a beneficiary?

The government now puts itself in charge of everything from running large companies, such as General Motors, to determining compensation for businesses under government control. Presidents Reagan and Bush-41 each appointed one "czar" -- a "drug czar." Clinton added two more -- a "health czar" and an "AIDS czar." George W. had four -- dropping the "health czar" while adding one for national intelligence and one for cybersecurity. Obama has -- so far -- appointed some 15 "czars," including a "technology czar," a "car czar," a "pay czar" and a "Great Lakes czar." Objections or concerns about an unconstitutional seizure of power, anyone?

Where are the stories reminding us of the smashing job government does in running Amtrak or the post office? Continued...