Tap, tap, tap. Is this thing on?

Hey there, internet. I'm still here, though I've missed a few opportunities for posts lately:

This past Monday was Dyngus Day, which is awesome in its own right (especially if you are, like me, from western New York). And now, it's become famous for making Anderson Cooper giggle like a little girl, and then apologize for seeming to be kind of a dick about Dyngus Day.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the launch of Apollo 13. The 6-day voyage, intended to land on the moon, went horribly wrong two days in and then turned into a rescue mission. It's hard to imagine what those four days of not knowing if the crew would survive could have been like (though the film account makes a good attempt at it).

And then there was the great mole story over on Gawker. Part one introduced the Fox Mole. The second installment commented on a Thin White Line and Billy O'Reilly. Fox launched a mole hunt. And then they nailed him (he was a producer). And I think now is maybe when the real story begins to unfold...

Link To My Lou!

Back, by popular demand...

• You have to watch this video to the bitter end to catch the real money quote (after a bunch of clips of Fox"News," talking heads discussing quid pro quo with regard to the two journalists who were just released from Korea, thanks to Bill Clinton's efforts, there appears a photo of Oliver North):

You mean kinda like a quid pro quo like an American government would sell arms to an outlaw regime to secure the release of hostages, and then take that money to fund a bloody Central American war, and then have this guy lie to Congress about it? Because if that's the kind of stuff you're worried about, you should really ask that guy about it, 'cause he's got a show on your fucking network!

• Web of Deception has the dirt on so many people you know and love (to hate?). Who knew that Lou "I'm not a racist!" Dobbs pays so little tax on so much property in New Jersey!

• Speaking of Lou... On the Birthers: the stupidity of this "controversy" might be merely amusing, if it weren't for the way the Republican party still coddles scary racists. But then again, maybe Barack Obama is the anti-christ and maybe he does want to kill Sarah Palin's baby.

• Why am I keeping my fingers crossed (while eating well and exercising every day)? Because I have United Health Care insurance, so if I get sick (or pregnant, god forbid!), I might just be screwed. But then again, I'm one of the lucky Americans, because I have coverage.

• The Republican response? Obstruction. Violence. Fakery (to put it nicely). Stupidity. Incoherence. But no real plan for fixing health care. But then again, the blue dog democrats aren't exactly moving things along either (and where's Obama?).

• And, while we're at it, why do these people freak out when they hear the truth? Stupid is as stupid does.

• On the lighter side, check out this interloper squirrel.

Scary Video

This video clip was posted by Norm at One Good Move because the crowd was chanting a colorful phrase about Fox "News" -- but I think the really funny (scary?) part wasn't the crowd, but the half-witted reporter sent in by the supposed news channel. Griff Jenkins, in Denver to see the protests, said he "got ahead" of -- no kidding! -- the "marching thing," and then proceeded to dance around in the crowd with his Fox "News" microphone, asking the protesters, "what are you upset about?" And when people reacted with predictable hostility, he exclaimed, "he refused to speak to me! These people say they believe in freedom of speech but I got roughed up a little bit trying to get some questions in there."

Watch the video. I'm not making this up! The Republican "news" channel actually showed up to do a story about how everyone at the Democratic convention hates Barack Obama,* threw a blockheaded reporter into the midst of a crowd of they called "leftist protesters," and then they pretended to be surprised because these people didn't want to talk to him! And as protester after protester uttered the same phrase in response to his shrieking, the reporter asked them "do you not believe in freedom of speech?"

Since when does believing in free speech mean you're required to talk to every idiot who pushes a microphone in your face? I'm not sure where poor Griff was educated, but apparently he skipped a few classes along the way... There's a fundamental misunderstanding there, and to expose it, let's strip it down to the bare bones:

Fox Dude: Hello. Will you answer some questions?

Protester: No!

Fox Dude: Ack! You don't believe in free speech!!!!

It's a non sequitur.

Putting guys like this on TV is one reason Americans are getting "stupider." Is Fox leading the charge in this effort?

*OK, that's an exaggeration, but does every Republican love John McCain? No (hello, Huckabee). So, why do they think it's breaking news if a few Clinton supporters aren't wild about Barack Obama?

First Convention Night

I'm eating and arugula and spinach salad with some squash soup (how elitist is that, huh?!?) and tuning into the beginning of the convention coverage. There's a great lineup for the evening, and while I'm watching, I'll be tossing out a few links from the weekend:

• Tennessee Liberal Blogosphere Weekly Roundup: Biden Edition!
• Dobson on McCain.
• Save the dates! The debate schedule has been announced!
• Majority of U.S. Voters Open to Electing Gay President.
• McCain to announce VP pick on Friday.
• Things Obama needs to do.
• John McCain's devolution on abortion.
• Faux Outrage™, or Whither GOP concern trolling?

Quote of the Day

I spoke to a lot of journalists about how I should speak up here. And all the journalists said "Craig, Your duty is to speak truth to power. That's what you do, you hold the truth up for everyone to see, that's your job." I'm sorry. I don't see it that way. That's your job. You're journalists. I'm a late night television show guy. I make up crap that isn't true then I say it on TV. I'm like Fox News. I'm not a journalist.

-- Craig Ferguson at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner

{{{sigh}}} I think maybe the United States has, with the obvious exception of Helen Thomas, the dumbest press in the free world.

Did Murdoch's News Corp. ask Regan to lie about Kerik affair to protect Giuliani?

That's what she claims.

Republicans Attack a Little Kid!

The right wing noise machine is now swiftboating a 12-year-old. They've even called his home and harassed his family. And Michelle Malkin (famous plagiarist) even showed up in person! How scary is that?

(UPDATE: if you're wondering why the right wing is going after a kid, here's a theory, and here are some more thoughts about the ugliness.)

Fortunately, some kids are ready for them.

And in the meantime, the Bush administration is doing what they can to help out Al Qaeda:

Unbelievable. Seriously. Leaking national security info to Fox News and destroying a year-long surveillance of Al Qaeda should put someone from the Bush Administration in jail. We are in greater danger because of the continued incompetence of George Bush and his minions.

Again.

Will the Democrats Betray Us?

Here's an excerpt from Frank Rich's column. You'll find the whole thing after the jump.

You can't blame the public for changing the channel. People realize that the president's real "plan for victory" is to let his successor clean up the mess. They don't want to see American troops dying for that cause, but what can be done? Americans voted the G.O.P. out of power in Congress; a clear majority consistently tell pollsters they want out of Iraq. And still every day is Groundhog Day. Our America, unlike Vietnam-era America, is more often resigned than angry. Though the latest New York Times-CBS News poll finds that only 5 percent trust the president to wrap up the war, the figure for the (barely) Democratic-controlled Congress, 21 percent, is an almost-as-resounding vote of no confidence.

Last week Democrats often earned that rating, especially those running for president. It is true that they do not have the votes to overcome a Bush veto of any war legislation. But that doesn't mean the Democrats have to go on holiday. Few used their time to cross-examine General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on their disingenuous talking points, choosing instead to regurgitate stump sentiments or ask uncoordinated, redundant questions. It's telling that the one question that drew blood — are we safer? — was asked by a Republican, John Warner, who is retiring from the Senate.

Bill O'Reilly's Hail Mary

This gave me my morning chuckle. I think Sweet Jesus, I hate Bill O'Reilly, International broke the story, but it's already spread far and wide:

Republican Child Predator Labeled 'Democrat' on O'Reilly Factor

If O'Reilly (or even Fox"News") had an credibility, this would be upsetting, but since they don't, it's just funny, and speaks loudly of their realization that their party leadership's behavior was indefensible. And since their viewers continue to bail like rats from a ship, all they have left are the willfully ignorant anyway.

UPDATE: the AP has followed suit! Is this a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (tinvrwc)!?!??

Enabling Sexual Predators -- Who's On Board?

Fox"News"? The White House?

To say that their attempts to coverup and, even worse, to rationalize a sexual predator's behavior are disturbing is to make a dramatic understatement.

I'm very worried about some of these people -- especially the ones who claim some ownership over "family values" and then demonstrate a complete lack of insight into what that phrase might really mean away from the cynical political stage that gives them the public's ear. If these politicians and pundits and talking heads don't, for example, understand the difference between preying on children and an affair with a consenting adult, can they be trusted to behave appropriately around, or on behalf of, our kids?

Meanwhile, Brit Hume of Fox News Sunday can't fathom the difference between Bill Clinton's extramarital affair with a consenting adult and the sicko criminal behavior of a dirty old Republican Congressman who preys on kids.

Hume said that while Foley is now "in total disgrace in his party," Clinton's "inappropriate behavior toward a subordinate [didn't] even cost Bill Clinton his standing in his party."

Clearly, Mark Foley's behavior has been disgusting. But are these men who dissemble on his behalf really any better? People talk about the Republican Culture of Corruption (before Foley, we saw Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Tom DeLay and Rep. Bob Ney go down in flames), but this takes the unsavory factor to a whole new level.

UPDATE: House Speaker Dennis Hastert has pulled mention of protecting children in cyberspace off of his web site. What is the message he's trying to send?

Stuff You Shouldn't Miss

A lot's been going on all weekend. President Bill Clinton, once again, showed us that he's an unbelievably brilliant man. I wish everyone who gets sandbagged by the slezoids at Fox"News" were equipped to respond extemporaneously with this much composure and smarts ("WJC" is Brother Bill and "CW" is Chris Wallace, who as it turns out, is Clinton's bitch).

WJC: [...] So you did FOX's bidding on this show. You did you nice little conservative hit job on me. But what I want to know..

CW: Now wait a minute, sir --

WJC: [..]

CW: I asked a question. You don't think that's a legitimate question?

WJC: It was a perfectly legitimate question. But I want to know how many
people in the Bush administration you've asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked 'Why didn't you do anything about the Cole?' I want to know how many you asked 'Why did you fire Dick Clarke?' I want to know."

Democratic California Governor candidate Phil Angelides wants to pull the California Guard out of Iraq.

In the meantime, Bush has made the world a much, much more dangerous place, according to government intelligence. But we already knew that, didn't we?

And speaking of the Chief Weasel, the little pansy is peeing his pants over the prospect of actual oversight by Congress, so he's trying to legislate himself a preemptive pardon.

More ports, Fox, Santorum, Harris, Forests and Tunes!

Oh, boy. Turns out this ports scandal is scalable.

A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported.

In other news...

When you read the phrase or hear someone say "fair and balanced" in reference to Fox"News," do you laugh or cry? Surely there is no one left on the planet with a cable tv subscription who doesn't believe that Fox is little more than a propoganda arm of the RNC. Well, they've moved the goalposts yet again, folks. Now instead of just reading White House press releases, the Fox "News" team is actively out there campaigning for republican candidates.

And speaking of Santorum, the republican party's paragon of ethical conduct has gotten himself into the kind of trouble that only Tom DeLay (and the uber-sleazy and shameless US Chamber of Commerce) would be proud of. It turns out that besides accepting special treatment at banks, our little Ricky has been lining the pockets of his aides with money that was supposed to go to charities.

But in today's republican party, the sleazoid olympics are only just getting started! The American people are having a hard time deciding if Katherine Harris is really evil or unbelievably stupid, but one thing's for sure: Jeb, Karl, et al are through dealing with this particular campaign bus whore. So much for family values.

Closer to home, Bush wants to sell off some of Tennessee's forests to reduce the deficit. Hey -- here's an idea, George: how about you cut back on the millionaire tax cuts and corporate welfare instead of selling out what little wilderness we have left for a few bucks? What's next? Selling our ports to the highest bidder?

Ooops.

Sigh. Well, just for fun, go see what was Billboard's #1 song on the day you were born, or graduated from high school, or whatever...

UPDATE (Feb. 28th): Well, it looks like the answer in the Katherine Harris conundrum is a) really evil. For b) unbelievably stupid to still be an option, we'd have to upgrade it to stratospheric levels of stupid, since it would seem that ooops, I did it again might be appropriate background music for this revelation:

But long before any of us had heard of "butterfly ballots" or "hanging chads," Harris was known for something else: accepting illegal campaign contributions. As a candidate for the state Senate in 1994, Harris received more than $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions from an insurance company she subsequently helped by introducing legislation that would have hurt one of its competitors. Harris said back then that she had no idea that the contributions she was getting were illegal, and her office seems to be making a similar suggestion this time around.

Stick a fork in her inflatable boobs. I think she's done.

Cheney to Come Clean

Hee hee. Not really. First the news out of the White House said that Cheney was going to make an appearance at 2pm today to explain how he shot a man and then appeared to attempt to cover it up.

But then we learned that he's only filming an interview at 2pm -- it won't actually run until 6pm, allowing plenty of time to clean it up before it is aired. And the interview won't be with an actual news outfit, but rather with Fox"News" -- the propaganda arm of the White House. Further, the time won't be spent in an actual interview, but instead, Brit Hume, who started out his career as a journalist, but has since become a full-blown ideologue and admistration apologist, will lob pre-approved softballs at Cheney.

In other words, while the "interview" might qualify as entertainment, it is unlikely to be actually newsworthy.

Oh, yeah -- and Bush was either in on the attempted cover-up, or he's not even in the loop. As Scott McClellan clearly knows, there's no good option there.

Novak goes to Fox

Robert Novak, Douchebag of Liberty and poster child for dentugrip adhesive, has finally responded to the call of the mothership. The pottymouth has been in limbo since CNN suspended him after he walked off the set in a snit during a live broadcast some months ago. Today Fox"News" announced that they have, appropriately, hired the famous traitor to do... well, something. No word yet on whether Roger Ailes is going to force Novak to get plastic surgery, or if that was just a special rule for Greta... (via Pensito Review)