My new column is up, building on this post about the bogus Koran-burning “hate crime” in Blacksburg, Va. Wanted to call your attention to the conclusion:

The grievance-mongers’ continued failure to act responsibly and with due skepticism when these cases arise is expected. But the mainstream media’s failure to put its America-bashing instincts in check is intolerable. Instead of providing readers with information about many cases of so-called Muslim hate crimes that have turned out to be fraudulent since Sept. 11, the Washington Post quoted the usual suspects and editorialized in its June 17 report that “The Koran burning comes at a time of particular sensitivity. The U.S. military recently confirmed five cases of U.S. personnel mishandling the Muslim holy book at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, acknowledging that soldiers and interrogators kicked the Koran, got copies wet, stood on a copy during an interrogation and inadvertently got urine on another one.”

Over the Independence Day weekend, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Colbert King added fuel to the fire, hysterically listing this now-debunked Koran-burning incident as evidence of rampant anti-Muslim bias in America.

Will Colbert King and the boys and girls crying wolf calm down and acknowledge the truth about the Muslim hate crime that wasn’t? I doubt it.

I e-mailed Mr. King asking whether he would be incorporating the new information about the case in a future column. He responded briefly that he would “check it out,” but has yet to respond further.

On the news side, it appears the Washington Post did not bother to assign one of its reporters to follow up (staffer Jerry Markon wrote about the incident on June 17). Instead, the paper ran an AP wire story on the website yesterday afternoon.