We've been watching Fox News tonight to see how some of their "fair and balanced" analysts would respond to the fact that John Kerry won their own poll by 2 points! I opend up the potato chips and got ready for the show. I knew that this would be real entertainment We used Brit Hume's "Special Report", since he is their big gun. The fun reved up when Fred Barnes tried to spin the new cell phone polls to Bush's favor and then the real fun begun...

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You have to see it to believe it. The written word will not do this kind of comedy justice.

He says the Fox News Poll is nonsense! Kerry leading by 2 points."Who believes that! Nobody believes that! The pollsters don't believe that!"

I almost fell off my couch. The chips caught in my throat.

He goes on to say that Fox should have "thrown that poll out!"

I slipped into unconsciousness for a moment.

Barnes said the best polls are... the ones that show Bush is leading!(I made the last part up) He'd rather use an old poll that shows Bush up by three. Then he criticizes the Gallop poll, because they feel that the undecided voters are leaning toward Kerry. He quotes Mathew Dowd, from the Bush campaign as his source disputing that data.

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I went to the Arlen Specter/Joe Sestak Q&A panel today at Netroots Nation that was led by our own Susie Madrak. Specter answered questions about why we should trust him since he switched parties and he made his case. He's a skilled politician and did a pretty good job trying to defend his lefty creds. We didn't act like the Beckerwocky teabaggers do and he was treated with dignity, even if most of the audience supports Joe.

When he was questioned about Chuck Grassley's ""We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma" he adamantly said Grassley was wrong and he said he would speak to him later today. I yelled out "call him now!" and several other audience members also yelled the same thing. I waved my phone and said, "You can use my cell phone!" He said he would call him right away.

I followed him to the back of the arena and a bunch of us surrounded him as he made good on his promise. He tried to reach Grassley, but got no answer. As he was leaving, I was able to ask Specter if President Obama should kick Grassley out of the negotiating position he has for spreading egregious statements and falsehoods about health care.

Specter said that we shouldn't kick Grassley out of the Finance committee because senators are wrong at times, but he promised to stay after Grassley. I think Obama should have Baucus kick him out of the negotiating process because he's violated his duty by spreading lies about a health care bill he's trying to legislate over.

UPDATE:

John Amato: Senator, one more quick question. I'm John Amato of CrooksandLiars. Does Senator Grassley's irresponsible statements and the fact that he's on the committee that's negotiating for this health care bill, doesn't that disqualify him, in other words, shouldn't Obama say, why should I even have him at the table if he's going to make such outrageous statements?

Specter: Does it disqualify him, no. When he made that statement, it's wrong. If you disqualified every Senator who is wrong about something, there wouldn't be any Senators.OK?..

Well, now Specter and Grassley are involved in a Twitter war:

Well, Grassley never picked up. So Specter tweeted all about it.

And Grassley is not pleased.

And in a narrow sense, Grassley's right. He didn't use the term "death boards" or "death panels." He said "There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life. And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear.... We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

But in the broader sense, Specter's got Grassley pegged.

Citizen journalism rocks! We proved that once again.

Wow, I'm dizzy right now. My whole house just shook and then starting swaying. Damn...It felt like the one up in the Bay area in '89. Not as violent as the LA quake in '94, but after you've been through a few they are pretty scary...I doubt there was any damage caused by it, but I bet a lot of people are shaken up. My cell phone is not working. Signal won't go through...It had to be bigger than a 5.0.

The aftershocks are coming soon....It's reported as a 5.8.

Oliver Willis: Obama - Let's talk about 9/11

Political Animal: Blackwater patriots want lawsuit decided under Islamic law.

Chris Floyd: Mad Men: Patholgy, Pretense and Power

Corrente: National Fourth Amendment Defense Day

The Satirical Political Report: Citing 'change over 'experience,' an angry electorate also seeks to replace God.

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: Obama smear merchant welcomed at National Press Club, gets arrested...Media Hall of Shame...Ambush Makeover... MSNBC hosts McCain backer to discuss offshore drilling, but did not mention his former post as energy lobbyist...Putting the "Me" in Memorial...Things we don't see...Ben Stein, liar...Only the cell phones of the Iraqi people record life in Baghdad...Racial fun with Sean Hannity...Fox anchor claims Iranian missle could be fired into the US...Another lesson in Tim Russert's death...Brit Hume loves him some Obama/Muslim smears...Manufacturing differences between McSame & Bush...The press needs to get off the stage...Searching for the source of a bogus story...

I'm glad I'm not the first to ask...Digby made that suggestion when the President endorsed McCain. He really seems to have mentally checked out, my friends. Hat tip for the following clip to Paul D., who writes: "Here is a cell phone video of President Bush singing about Scooter Libby and Mike "Heckuva Job" Brown. It kind of reminds me of how he made the joke about not being able to find the weapons of mass destruction. This guy doesn't seem to take his serious failures very seriously..."

Mark Moford at CommonDreams.

(Side note: I just love this one weird little cognitive study sent to me by a friend recently; it claims that spending a mere 20 seconds on a cell phone will disrupt a child’s ability to learn for up to two hours. I mean, wow.

I do not exactly know what this means. I do not know if, after saying hi to grandma on the Nokia, the kid starts drooling and stuttering and suddenly wants to vote for Mitt Romney, or if she suddenly can’t walk, or learn advanced calculus, or solve world hunger.

What the study fails to mention, of course, is that watching five minutes of “American Idol” will set your kid’s brain back six years, or that bible camp will likely stunt genital development for 20 years, or that joining the Republican Party will turn the dial of your kid’s planetary awareness to that of a bedwetting homoerotically repressed 11-year-old boy, and lock it there for life. Maybe that’s an upcoming study).

In other news:

Be sure to re-visit the 10Questions website and vote for or submit the question you would like the candidates (of both or either party) to answer.

You've got to see Chris Jordan's work.

Image above shows detail of blocks made of blocks indicating the number of US children without health insurance.

From Running the Numbers, an American Self-Portrait:

This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 426,000 cell phones retired every day. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. My underlying desire is to affirm and sanctify the crucial role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

Chris promises to add pieces as they are completed; well worth the bookmark.

Remember the story of the three Muslim men who were arrested because they bought cell phones? How many days of coverage did that non-story rate? Now how much airtime has this story gotten?:

Birmingham (AL) News:

Simultaneous raids carried out in four Alabama counties Thursday turned up truckloads of explosives and weapons, including 130 grenades, an improvised rocket launcher and 2,500 rounds of ammunition belonging to the small, but mightily armed, Alabama Free Militia.

Six alleged members of the Free Militia also were arrested by federal authorities and are being held without bond.

Investigators said the DeKalb County-based group had not made any specific threats or devised any plots, but was targeted for swift dismantling because of its heavy firepower. The militia, which called itself the Naval Militia at one point, had enough armament to outfit a small army.

"We classify these groups as violent and anti-government," said Jim Cavanaugh, who supervises the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operations in portions of the South. "They stockpile things and live off a fear, a paranoia they're going to need weapons and explosives because some event is going to happen when they will need them."

Um, how about we classify them as Domestic Terrorists? I don't know about you but violent, paranoid and heavily armed people near me would be terrifying. As Barbara at Mahablog says, it's a real relief to find out these guys aren't Muslims, huh? Otherwise they might be dangerous or something.

Just to muddy the waters even further as to who is and who isn't a terrorist, the US released suspected Cuban airline bomber Luis Posada Carriles and refused to extradite him as requested to Cuba or Venezuela where he is to stand trial for the deaths of the 73 people on board because....wait for it...the 79 year old will certainly be executed for his role in terrorist acts.

Carl Forti, the Communications Director for the NRCC is hanging it up after they got their heads handed to them in November. via email:

Tomorrow is my last day at the NRCC. It has been a pleasure working with you for the last 7 ½ years. Not sure what is next for me yet, but in the meantime if you would like to reach me, my cell phone number will remain the same (XXX) or you can reach me at my personal email address:

Here's a few of his greatest hits..

“There is not a big anti-incumbent movement building out there. This is a snapshot in time that doesn't mean a lot.”

“I don't think you can find any Republican in the country who wouldn't be ecstatic to go to a fund-raiser with the president or vice president and have their picture taken. They are still a huge draw.”

Ney has maintained his innocence, that he was duped. If Bob Ney is running for re-election, he'll have our full support.”

Continue reading »

TalkLeft: No terror connection in Michigan cell phone case...

AGITPROP: Be very afraid...

Larry Beinhart: Republicans are bad on National Security. America is the only nation on the planet that kindly informs bombers, hijackers and berserkers the days on which they wont be monitored. You’ve got to get up pretty early in the morning to get a jump on George Bush’s team.

earthfamilyalpha: Blogging with the Prez

Newsie8200's Penndit: Newsie's got an excellent roundup of her own...

Watching America: Translated foreign news not available in English anywhere else reflecting how the rest of the world perceives the USA.