I always use the following economics 101 arguments when discussing raising the minimum wage:

• At the very least, increased wages will only increase the cost of goods for everyone and therefore negate the intended benefit to those working for minimum wage, which is to increase their purchasing power.
• Some businesses, however, may not have the luxury of simply raising their prices.
• Those businesses will be forced to either stop hiring - definitely a bad thing.
• Or, they will be forced to reduce their profit (I know that's a bad word for some people).
• Some businesses operate on a very thin profit margin. They may actually be forced to close their doors.

But Betsy Newmark has a great post that adds some very good information on the subject. I really hadn't appreciated just who it is, exactly, that works for minimum wage. I guess I just accepted the inference that it was poor people trying to raise a family on low wages.

Maybe, as with most subjects, there's more to it than that.

That's the way it was billed Tuesday night, July 18, 2006. As the lead story on CNN's top 3 prime time shows, CNN Senior International Correspondent, Nic Robertson, was given the headline-grabbing lead story for each of the flagship shows.

First, Wolf Blitzer, on The Situation Room gave Robertson's report top billing calling him the bravest and best war correspondent in all of journalism. Immediately following The Situation Room, Paula Zahn, on Paula Zahn Now also gave Robertson's report top billing. Naturally, on the next show, Larry King Live, CNN's Larry King did exactly the same thing.

I fell asleep before I could see Anderson Cooper 360. So I don't know if Anderson Cooper followed suit or not.

So what, exactly, was this ground-breaking scoop that could only be uncovered by CNN?

The report consisted of Nic Robertson following a Lebanese man around a neighborhood in southern Lebanon that had been bombed by Israel. Breathlessly they ran through streets and allies with microphone and camera as the Lebanese man shouted, "Where is the U.N.? Where is the International Community?"

Robertson was quick to remind the man that these were civilian neighborhoods, not military installations as Robertson himself repeated often in his report. A quick aside: How many of us thought Hezbollah was a military establishment? I always thought they were a terrorist group that hid among - that's right - CIVILIANS!

As Robertson credulously pointed out - often - that these were indeed civilian neighborhoods (with fine-print-speak that he hadn't had time to investigate the site himself), the Lebanese man grew ever increasingly angry at - you guessed it - ISRAEL.

It wasn't until the third or fourth showing of this footage did CNN allow the viewers to see this Lebanese man vowing to fight Israel to the death and that "they" would, "Never give up! Never give up! Never give up!"

For this, Wolf Blitzer dubbed Nic Robertson the bravest war correspondent on earth.

This same segment was aired again at the top of the Paula Zahn Now show. However, and to her credit, during a live interview with Robertson following the report, Paula Zahn asked Robertson how he could be sure he could trust this Lebanese man as a news source.

... Deer-in-the-Headlights look ...

Nic Robertson finally sputtered on about having seen the rubble himself and not seeing any military equipment. He reminded the viewers of his vast experience with scanning rubble in war zones. But he never answered the question about this Lebanese man. Zahn didn't follow up on it, either.

Next was Larry King Live. Of course Nic Robertson's story of the evil Israelis bombing innocent civilians was again the lead story. As is his M.O., Larry King asked zero probing questions of Robertson.

But then a funny thing happened. Larry King segued into a report by Christiane Amanpour by lauding the efforts of Nic Robertson in his hit piece on Israel. As Amanpour commented on Robertson's report, she let slip an interesting tidbit of information that the viewers had heretofore not been informed of - but of course most of us already knew.

This Lebanese man was a Hezbollah Media Representative!

That's right. This "civilian" who was so outraged with Israel's actions is one of Hezbollah's press agents. You remember Hezbollah? Evidently CNN doesn't. They're the ones who attacked Israel and got this whole mess started.

Do you think Hezbollah would like to paint Israel as the bad guys? Of course they would. That's what they've always done. The only thing they need is a willing dupe who will swallow and regurgitate whatever Hezbollah feeds them.

Let's see...

Who could possibly be so easy?

Yes. Of course. CNN!

They've been Ho's for tyrants and terrorists for decades. They've been so loose with their morals for so long they've reached the place where they can't say no.