If A Tree Falls and Nobody Hears It...

Leftist media bias is so systemic as to have become uncontroversial - even the mainstream media are now forced to admit that something is amiss.  When members of the media donate 100 times as much money to Democratic candidates as to Republicans (excluding Ron Paul and Guiliani, liberal stalking-horse and liberal favorite respectively), something is seriously amiss.

The American people have realized this, and are reacting accordingly.  For example, after Obama's recent European Victory Tour and its accompanying media love-in, his polling scores are now... down.  The message from the media, so manifestly twisted, is being ignored or rejected by a growing portion of the American public.

Alas, the true strength of media bias is not in its portrayals of the news.  Even the least politically aware viewer can smell a rat when a broadcaster admits to feeling "thrills up my leg" when a partisan politicians speaks.  No, the most critical weapon of the biased liberal news is not the ability to twist news; it lies in the power to decide what is news.

And on that note, we turn our attention to the House of Representatives, which is currently not in session.  Last Friday, using its customary procedures, the House passed a motion of adjournment for its regular August recess.  Your elected servants are now off to their home states for a month of rest and/or local politicking, having put the nation's troubles to rest.

Or so you would believe if you were watching the news - if, indeed, the news even bothered to mention something so mundane as a Congressional adjournment.  The reality, as witnessed by (but, alas, only by) hundreds of visitors in the galleries, was quite literally as different as night and day.

Recall for a moment that polls are showing today's outlandish gas prices to the Number One concern of the voting public.  President Bush has rescinded the executive order banning offshore drilling of American oil to increase the supply and lower the price.

The only thing standing in the way of this much-needed action is a Congressional moratorium.  Its removal, and immediate action to "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" is supported not only by a majority of the American public but indeed by a majority of citizens of the states off whose coasts the drilling would take place, namely California and Florida.  Yet the Speaker of the House, San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi, long beholden to extreme environmentalists who are quite happy with the ever-increasing gas prices and positively giddy at the pain inflicted on "greedy" Americans, refuses even to allow a vote on the subject.

With Congress having done nothing whatsoever to address the most pressingly urgent national crisis of the moment, a month-long paid vacation seems inappropriate.  Congressional Republicans have been screaming about this for some weeks now; being in the minority, they can (and have) prevented most other business from being done, but are not able to effectively enact actual solutions.  Come the scheduled day of departure, the Democrats couldn't even be bothered to finish out the workday; they gaveled a recess at noon, over furious Republican objection, and headed for their idling limos outside.

A group of Republican congressmen did not.  Instead, they stayed put in the House of Representatives, declaring that the American people deserve to have their concerns voiced in Congress whether the Democrats like it or not.  They began delivering speeches and petitions demanding immediate relief.

Then the lights went off.  And the sound system.  And the TV cameras.  And the Capitol Police were sent in to clear the hall.  All these matters are under the direct control of Nancy Pelosi, and the government employees mostly obeyed her will that the Republicans not be so much as seen nor heard.

Fortunately, the Capitol Police recognize a higher authority of the law, and would not remove the representatives nor their "guests" who have the right to be in the chamber.  But with no lights, sound, or cameras, there can be no C-SPAN.  One would think a vigorous protest on the very floor of the House of Representatives, under the soft glow of emergency lighting and flashlights, might be of some interest to other news reporters - but not one felt it worth their attention on that day.

Was the event reported online?  On the news?  In the newspapers?  No.  Thus far, the only account stems from this online Politico report, and reaction on conservative talk radio and other blogs.  Even the Drudge Report's headline news on the subject failed to get a reaction from the major media.

Today, various blogs report the House Republicans are back at it - back in the House of Representatives, reading letters from constituents, excoriating the refusal of Democrats to allow Americans to make use of our own resources - in short, doing all the things that you'd expect a political opposition party to be doing.

Are they?  Apparently the only way for us to find out would be for us to drive down there ourselves and look.  It certainly isn't on the TV, newspapers, or major news websites, not even a hint.  Even Drudge has dropped it.

Those same blogs report that the Republican leaders plan to continue this for the entire month of August.  Will we hear even a peep on the news?  If not, did it even happen?