It's day two of our C&L '09 fundraiser. We're reaching out to our readers and asking for your help so that the MSM and Corporate media do not overrun the blogosphere with Villagers. With ad revenues way down and the corporate elites funneling in millions of dollars to compete with us, it's going to be hard for all blogs to thrive and survive.

David Neiwert, who is the best expert we have today on right wing hate talk radio and hate groups, has become the managing editor of C&L.

Jane Hamsher writes:

There are lot of people on TV saying irresponsible things about the shooting at the Holocaust museum (one mentioned the "Obama effect," as if this was something that Obama's election precipitated).

If any TV bookers are looking for someone knowledgeable to speak on the subject, they should call David Neiwert. David blogs at Orcinus, he's the managing editor of Crooks & Liars, he's an expert on the subject and the author the new book The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right.

David actually predicted something like this in the book. You can find more on the book here on David's book salon, which was hosted by Digby.

If any media folks need contact info for David, drop me a line.

Thanks, Jane, for your kind words about David. He'll be on the air this morning on MSNBC and has been a great addition to the site. Our initial goal is to reach at least $50,000, and the target is to get up to and beyond $100,000. Day I of the donation drive: C&L's Donation Drive '09: Please help save blogs before we're overrun by the corporate media was awesome. Yesterday we had over 200 people donate and hit the six thousand dollar mark, which was really a great start. I know this will take time and energy. I'd like to pay more money to the people that help make C&L a good blog and I do need to hire a few more bloggers and staffers because the workload is so tremendous.

I'll write more about this in the next posts, so please, donate if you can. You can also use snail mail to make your donation.

For Snail Mail:

Crooksandliars.com

P.O. Box 66310

Los Angeles, CA 90066

A St. Paul police officer who was dragging an alleged protester down the street was jumped from behind by what I'm assuming is another protester. The officer quickly sprays the surrounding onlookers who are not involved in the incident and is forced to retreat and loses both men in the process. The angle of the video doesn't show what the alleged protester had done to prompt the officer to drag him down the street.

Note: In posting this video I am not advocating attacks on police, or violence of any kind. But as I heard someone say yesterday, the Denver police prepared for protests, the St. Paul police prepared for the Apocalypse. Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher have been documenting the searches and seizures on peace groups. And the Minnesota Independent documents a 17 year old peace protester and community organizer who was beaten and pepper sprayed by the St. Paul police.

Bloggers Amanda Carpenter (Townhall.com) and Jane Hamsher (firedoglake.com) discuss John McCain, his inability to control North Carolina Republicans over their ads against Barack Obama, Cindy McCain, the "Sugar Momma Express" and ANWAR. Open Thread below...

John has been saying that the press has been giving McCain a pass for a long time now, as has Digby and many, many other bloggers.

Will Bunch and Jane Hamsher give their takes on EschaCon'08...

From Stranahan.

Cenk Uygur and Wes Clark Jr. will be liveblogging the primary in conjunction with Brave New Films, with guests like Robert Greenwald, Jane Hamsher and Eric Boehlert.

Open Thread...

Today at 5 PM Eastern/2PM Pacific, Firedoglake will host a live discussion with Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine -- “the gripping story of how America’s ‘free market’ policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.” Jane Hamsher will host the conversation.

Everyone is invited to the conversation – bring your questions and thoughts and join in.

Bradley Whitford: No More Dirty Tricks! Here's the RSVP page. The call starts at 4PM PST.

On Monday, September 24, from 4-5 p.m. PDT join Bradley Whitford of "The West Wing" fame, bloggers Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake.com and John Amato of CrooksandLiars.com, plus California pollster Ben Tulchin of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for a special conference call hosted by Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign.

This video was filmed at the Blogger party at Steve Audio's a few weeks ago. I've signed on to be part of the Courage Campaign's effort to stop the Swiftboat loving lawyers plan to screw with California.

Jane: "On Monday there’s going to be a conference call at 4pm PT/7pm ET with Bradley Whitford that is open to anyone. You can RSVP at the Courage Campaign’s website."

We would like to invite you to a special Courage Campaign conference call this Monday, September 24, with Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing"), Jane Hamsher (firedoglake.com), John Amato (CrooksandLiars.com) and Ben Tulchin, California's pollster for Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.

...and the WSJ actually interviewed a few real bloggers to respond. To my delight, they asked Jane Hamsher to weigh in and she wrote a brilliant piece:

During the '90s, railing at the TV set was the isometric sport of the silent majority. Progressive political junkies watched in isolation as the Washington Post prominently printed one Whitewater story after another as if they originated on tablets of stone rather than the fax machines of Arkansas political operatives. Many people felt like they were the only ones who scratched their heads in wonder that it all made no sense, recoiling in horror as a slick PR operation rapidly escalated from the realm of lazy, spoon-fed journalism to the constitutional mockery of the Clinton impeachment.

That isolation ended with the advent of the progressive blogosphere, which acts as a virtual water cooler for those who not only want to rail at the TV set, they want the TV set to listen. Probably nothing better contrasts the pre- and postblogospheric worlds than the Whitewater and CIA leak stories...read on

Many thanks Jane for listing C&L as one of your favorite blogs. I'm honored to be mentioned with the wonderful Digby and the hysterical Tbogg...I'm sure the WSJ gang will get a kick out of reading C&L...

The News Blog:

Steve Gilliard, 1966-2007
It is with tremendous sadness that we must convey the news that Steve Gilliard, editor and publisher of The News Blog (www.thenewsblog.net), passed away early this morning. He was 41.

To those who have come to trust The News Blog and its insightful, brash and unapologetic editorial tone, we have Steve to thank from the bottom of our hearts. Steve helped lead many discussions that mattered to all of us, and he tackled subjects and interest categories where others feared to tread.

Our hearts and prayers go out to Jen and Steve's family. This is big loss for all of us.

Update: John Amato: "Steve was a great friend to me. We emailed often and he was incredibly kind and helpful to me when I first started blogging. His writing style was fierce, but his soul was gentle. He will be missed and my thoughts and prayers go out to Jen and his family. You always knew where you stood with Steve."

Jane Hamsher has more ...