It’s been a crazy week, and it’s only Wednesday! Since their election on Friday, Iranians have been burning up the Twittersphere, drumming up support abroad and organizing protests internally. Why has Twitter suddenly gone political? Finally appreciating the service, Ted exposes his luddite roots, and Teresa helpfully explains why Twitter is so difficult to block, even in a country like Iran. (It’s basically impossible to stop people from sharing information on the Internet.)

So will people start relying more on Twitter for their news? Is this a shift for journalism? Can citizen journalists do a better job of covering things like the Iranian protests? CNN and the rest of the MSM certainly could’ve done better this weekend – check out the #CNNfail hashtag or the anger during the #140conf in New York – but couldn’t professional news organizations be doing more to use services like Twitter? The wisdom of the crowd is great, but who’s going to fact check all the information coming out of Twitter? Couldn’t it be the MSM interpreting and confirming this massive output of information?

Most of us are aggregators and distributors on Twitter anyway, and that shouldn’t be confused with actual in-depth, critical, original journalism. It’s like a game of “hot potato” with information. Some people cast this as MSM vs Social Media, but that’s a false argument, as our Prez likes to say. Aren’t Twitter feeds, Maegan suggests, just like AP/Reuter wire services in some ways?

We also talk President Obama’s lame attempt to appease the gay community, which sounds more like a fundraising stunt than anything else, and that ridiculous Letterman-Palin feud over the last week. (Does anyone even care about the Alaskan Governor anymore? If we stop talking about her, will she cease to exist? Kind of like Alf?)

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.

As the recently released film, “The Soloist,” has focused the country’s attention on the hidden beauty in Los Angeles’ Skid Row, music photographer Scott Schultz has taken things a step further by embedding himself within the community, where he discovered a thriving scene of artists – songbirds and warblers alike – making the most of their situation at Skid Row Karaoke. After months of visiting with residents and participating in their performances, Shultz has begun a photo essay for LARecord.com which shows the faces of poverty in a new light. Schultz joins hosts Ted and Maegan to share the story of how he discovered this group of people who gather each week in the basement of a church to sing, dance, and take their minds off their troubles. (Since the last time they had updated music was in the mid-90s, it’s not surprising that the most popular song is Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West.”)

The pictures, which can be seen here, are inspiring and remind us that Skid Row is more than just a street corner where people with bad luck end up. It’s a community, with photography groups, basketball clubs, and other organizations. The big question is, can these images, and The Soloist, change people’s perception of homelessness or inspire them to take action?

Schultz encourages anyone interested in donating new karaoke tunes or heping out in another capacity reach out to him at scott@larecord.com. He also recommends visiting the Downtown Women’s Center or Food Not Bombs.

In other news we discuss the gossip surrounding Jon Huntsman, the GOP Governor of Utah, who was named Ambassador to China. He’s a telegenic figure, a moderate and popular Republican, and a possible threat to Obama in 2012, so is this a shrewd move by the President, eliminating a major challenger? Is he the best person for the job? (Who cares? What are his politics? That’s FAR more important than qualifications!) Could this work against Democrats in the long run, elevating Huntsman and giving him real foreign policy credentials for a 2016 run? And why is Huntsman agreeing? A curious situation, all around.

Maegan also addresses a new study released by the Center for American Progress, showing overwhelming support for progressive issues among younger voters. It’s from a liberal think-tank, so you have to take it with a grain of salt, but still, it’s an interesting development. And finally, the first Twitter lawsuit has emerged, where a conservative blogger, #tcot founder Michael Leahy, is suing someone for tweeted libel because she mocked his tax situation. If successful, it would set a huge precedent for online rights, and Maegan and Ted ponder its possible ramifications on the online world for both “citizen” and “real” journalists.

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.

With Supreme Court buzz dominating DC, gender issues are suddenly back in style despite the President’s recent declaration at his 100 Days press conference that protecting abortion rights was not a high priority on his agenda. Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, joins us for a fascinating discussion about equality in Obama’s alleged post-gender, post-race administration. Is this really a new era? Maegan wonders if we’re perpetuating tired, unnecessarily adversarial talking points from the 1960s and stalling our progress on womens rights in general. Should we reframe our approach to the issues? On the SCOTUS front, Teresa asks why it is assumed that a male judge can’t understand the same issues with the same “empathy” as a female judge. If we want smart, competent judges, why does it matter what gender they are? Is this all just the result of a generational gap in which there’s a disconnect on the part of younger, privileged women from the realities of history? And for the Grand Finale: What of the possibility of a gay or lesbian appointment, or selecting someone who isn’t a member of the “intellectual elite?”

Speaking of misogynist, homophobic culture wars: Ted, Maegan and Teresa also tackle the fascinating issue of the Ms. California and her eyebrow-raising stance on marriage rights. While you were looking at her boobs, Carrie Prejean apparently thought it was OK to share her opinion, but was it in an appropriate context? Do the promoters of the contest have the right to strip her of her title for making these statements, or are we just a masochistic nation that loves to persecute pretty blonde girls, as Britney Spears suggested in her cover of Bobby Brown’s “My Perogative”?

Oh, and this weekend there’s a tiny little thing called the White House Correspondents Dinner, with host Wanda Sykes and possibly President Obama. (Gay women are taking over the world, it seems!) Should we really be cracking light-hearted jokes about the dilapidated state of our union these days, and is it appropriate for the MSMers to be so chummy with people in power? (We hear Judy Miller has awesome seats in the coat room this year.)

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.