Unbelievable--Even for Fox News

This started with a conversation I had with a GOP co-worker who only gets her news from FOX. Now, far be it from me to tell folks who vist this website that Fox News is (gasp!) not "fair and balanced". But this takes the cake.

Last Thursday, March 27, the top news of the day was the break of the cease fire and the extreme violence that occured in the Green Zone. (Inconsiderate insurgents---ruined Bush's and McSame's speeches today on how great the surge was working). But those who get their news from FOX didn't know anything about it. My co-worker was trying to convince me that the surge had worked and the violence had ended.

I said "don't you watch the NEWS???" She doesn't. She watches Fox.

So I went online in the evening to check out what I found. I went to legitimate news orgs. websites, and then I went to FOX. Unbelievable what I saw. Let me show you.

Here are the screen captures from two legitmate sources and one from FOX. As you can see by the dates and times, I took each one around 7:45 pm (give or take a few minutes) last Thursday:

CBS News:

(Headline on the "deadly Shiite clashes" and the curfew that had to be imposed. Picture was of Shiite insurgents.):



CNN:

(Headline on embassy lockdown and the deadly fighting. Picture of massive plumes of smoke and helicopters around embassy.):



I didn't want to use up memory, but I can tell you that MSNBC, ABC News, and all other mainstream news featured this story on their front page.

And then there's FOX.

NOTHING on the attacks. NOTHING!! Nothing on the embassy lockdown. FOX readers only got to read the "important" news. At the same time as the screen captures for the legitimate news orgs, the big news on Fox was of Obama's former paster's retirement home:

FOX:
(Headlines: Rev. Wright's Dream Home, Michelle Obama's comment REVISTED. Picture of home being built).


Some dream home, huh? Looks like a normal house--something not fit for the pets of Pat Robertson, John Hagee, or Falwell. FOX "News", desperate to keep this Rev. Wright controversy alive, allowed this and a rehashed story on Michelle Obama, as well as a story on the Clinton/Superdelegate fighting, to be the stories of the day. There was a small mention of the Iraqi meltdown, but I really had to look for it. (I even had to use their search engine).

It is beyond the pale to understand how anyone can look at this and argue that Fox has no agenda. This is just one instance, the movie "OUTFOXED" documents hundreds of them. But I'm angry that so many Democrats still treat Fox as a regular news outlet and agree to do interviews with the filth that works there.


PS- In fact, go to FoxNews RIGHT NOW. Go on, I'll be here. And then compare to CNN.com. Notice anything? That's right It's the same deal right now. (As of 6pm 3/30)

Play the Redistricting Game

FairDistrictsFlorida.org is a nonpartisan state committee working to reform the way our state draws Legislative and Congressional district lines by establishing constitutionally mandated fairness standards.

They have drafted two amendments to the Florida Constitution which it plans to put on the 2010 ballot through the citizen initiative process that would establish fairness standards for use in creating legislative and congressional district boundaries.

No matter which party has control of the legislature, that party's main goal is to protect its majority and the seats of its incumbents. This is called partisan political gerrymandering. It is like allowing the fox to guard the henhouse!

Our present system is one of the worst in the country. It permits politicians to choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives. Legislators use sophisticated computers, voter registration data and past election returns to predict how particular voters will vote in the future--then they place just enough of those voters to create Districts they can win. They don't even have to connect!!!

And we get options like this:



You can put an end to this stupidity and have real representation. Visit the group's website, play the redistricting game, and most importantly, sign the petition.

How We Can Lose 2008

From the Orlando Sentinel:

I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone could even consider [Barack Obama] presidential material at this early stage of his life and experience. God help us all.

Are some people so brainwashed that they forget that months after Hillary Clinton denied knowledge of their whereabouts, the Rose Law firm legal records that were the subject of a grand-jury investigation suddenly appeared in the WH living quarters?

When it suits you to twist facts.. I have a real problem with that. [Electing Obama] would be like electing another george bush.

...the polarizing nature of Clinton will drive uncommitted voters to vote for John McCain.

Back and forth. The people hitting aren't Republicans. They are all Democrats. I know this because I took them from letters touting their support for the "other" Democratic candidate. Yesterday was even worse--one Dem voter said that if her candidate didn't win, she would have an "honorable" choice in McCain.

That's the point. All of these are on the editorial page--bashing Clinton or bashing Obama. NO ONE attacks John McCain. He gets to play above the fray.

This is from one venue from a mid-size city, Orlando, Florida. But this is playing out everywhere. These editorials have nothing on the venom between Obama and Clinton supporters on Democratic blog sites.

Scroll down and count the front page stories examining our primary GOP rival on DKOS and MYDD. More telling--Look at the Recommended diaries! I have counted up to four anti-Hillary diaries at one time. Right now there is at least one. If you are a Hillary supporter, don't worry--the same ratio applies to MyDD for anti-Obama diaries. (Right now, in fact, ALL of the Recommended diaries on MyDD are anti-Obama!)

How many anti-John McCain diaries are there on these sites? Count them. None. NO ONE attacks John McCain. He gets to play above the fray.

So where does one go to see anti-McCain diatribes? Not the MSM, they are busy covering the slugfest between our candidates or between FL/MI swing voters and other Dems. Not the liberal blogs, they make the reddest GOP hate blogs blush with their venom for the "other" Dem candidate.

The conservative blogs, FAUXNEWS, the MSM, radio talk shows, the liberal blogs, and almost every other venue has this in common--bash the Democratic frontrunners.

NO ONE attacks John McCain. He gets to play above the fray.

Never mind that he said he wants to keep us in Iraq for "10,000 years" at a cost of $12 billion and 60 soldiers lives a month. Never mind that he will appoint a right-wing nutjob to the Supreme Court, making this branch of government a permanent arm of the GOP. Never mind losing our freedoms and privacy.

WE lost the first two Bush terms in 2000 and 2004 because of a bad election and fear-mongering respectively. This time, for the third Bush term, we will have no one to blame for losing 2008 but ourselves.

At Least Crist's Dermatology Assistant Wasn't a Horse Judge

I know, he has great skin. But that's not what this is about: A lot of people are floating governor Crist as a name McCain may wish to consider for veep. McInsane may not know the difference between Al Qaeda and Iran, but even he should know what's wrong with this picture.

Let's play a game. Who is the most qualified to head up the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), the most important job concerning our public employee's labor relations and union issues, (for which we are facing serious challenges right now), which requires a thorough understanding of labor law and unions.

Here are the candidates. Keep in mind they are all vying to replace an attorney who held this post for 33 years and has extensive experience in this area. GO pick one and see if you come up with the same decision as Crist:
1. Jonathan Oliff, attorney with an Bachelor's in business who specialized in labor law and employment law for the past 5 years. He graduated cum laude from FSU law school in 2001.

2. John Beeman, veteran law enforcement officer who is the current union head of the Fraternal Order of Police local. He has 20 years experience working with unions.

3. Sara Gonzalez, a young dermatology assistant who has an undergrad in biology and a master's in physician-assistant studies. She left the qualifications section of her application almost completely blank.

Before you vote, let me remind you that the Florida governor is a Republican. Also, although I'm sure Charlie will insist this was complete coincidence and played no part in his decision, I should mention that choice #3 is the wife of Crist's general counsel, Jason Gonzalez, (who already rakes in $130,000 a year).

Give up? Yeah, you knew where this was going.

With a straight face, Crist announced yesterday that Sara Gonzalez was the best choice. She had an "advanced degree" and besides, he likes having "new blood in the administration".

(That's the type of thinking that lets horse judges head major departments).

What do the current commissioners of PERC think. Charlie Kossuth:

You need to be acquainted with the law and be a lawyer. She will be completely lost.

It's not like she won't have help people. As head commissioner, she will have the ability to bring in additional highly-paid staff.

According to Charlie Kossuth, she is choosing a general counsel to help her. This individual will make even more than her salary, so the taxpayers will be footing over $200,000 for these two people.

And, according to Kossuth, this person she is considering also doesn't know anything about labor law.

I think it's great. In fact, I encourage all of you reading to contact the governor and thank him for his brave choice: Click here

Look on the bright side: at least she will be able to help Charlie with his perpetually tanned skin.

Happy Anniversary: 5 Years of Bush's War

U.S. Fatalities: 3,990
U.S. Casualties: 40,229
Iraqi Fatalities: Unknown
Iraqi Casualties: Unknown
Cost: $504,000,000,000.00


5 Year Anniversary of what Donald Rumsfeld said would last "6 days" or "6 weeks"--but he really doubted "6 months".


And we are told to rejoice because the "surge is working".

Stop and think for a moment.

If someone told you 5 years ago today that in 2008--5 years later:

-we would be spending over 12 billion a month with no end in sight
-the Iraqi troops would STILL not be able to handle their own security and STILL don't have enough trained soldiers! (Cripe! I was ready at 6 weeks after boot camp! 5 years is one hell of a long boot camp!)
-the Iraqi Parliament would not meet any benchmarks and still would be no closer to having a functioning, noncorrupt government
-and, by the way, the reason to go to war (WMD)was proven to be a lie by this administration
--troops would only be killed at an apparently acceptable rate of 30+ a month (but that is good because they were being killed at a rate of 60 a month!)


Would you be saying--HELL YEAH! Let's do this!

Now, even knowing these facts, would you still think this was a good idea. Bush and McCain still do. And McCain said he wants to keep this going for "100" or "10,000 years".

My only question is this: when are they going to erect a monument to Bush in downtown Baghdad that we were promised?

No Way to Avoid Brokered Convention: By the Numbers

Here are the options:

• Do not seat Florida or Michigan
  
• Seat them based on the elections that have taken place. Don't assume Obama gets the 55 Michigan uncommitted delegates.
  
• Seat them based on the elections that have taken place. Give Obama the 55 Michigan uncommitted delegates.
  
• Split the Florida and Michigan pledged delegations 50/50. Superdelegates are free to vote as they wish.
  
• Split Michigan 50/50 including supers. Give Florida pledged delegates 1/2 vote, but based on January election. 1/2 vote for superdelegates also. This is supposedly under significant discussion.
  
• Florida and Michigan hold new elections.
  

The guys at 2008 Democratic Convention Watch blog ran the delegate numbers for every option proposed. Check it out.

Bottom line: Unless one of the nominees drops out before the Denver convention, it is going to be months of hitting back and forth until the floor vote in August.

Just like us Democrats. Take an election that should be a shoo-in and manage to screw it all up. Why do we love to shoot ourselves in the foot? The only saving grace is that the GOP is sooooooooo corrupt and soooooooooooo incompetent and soooooooo bankrupt (morally and fiscally) that that alone may save our butts from the fire. Maybe.

Don't be Black and Missing

I still hear about Jon-Benet, Jennifer Kesse, and Natalie Holloway. But recently, a young and pretty black co-ed was kidnapped. Chioma Gray.

You can help:

Re-Vote in FL only would have benefited Obama

Who would a re-vote have helped:

Not Hillary. She already had good will by saying she would not punish 3 million swing voters by the actions of their GOP-controlled state legislature. Polls show her winning FL handily.

Not McCain. He has the most to gain by Florida being disenfranchised.

Only Obama would have gained. He refused to campaign here, but agreed to take money from some big state donors. If the delegates are seated, we all could have moved forward. But he is in trouble here. And this is why it matters:

In order to win an election, you need two out of the big three swing states: Ohio, Florida, and/or Pennsylvania. Right now, Obama loses Pennsylvania and Florida. He was creamed in Ohio by Hillary, although the latest poll shows him barely holding on against McCain.

Obama is ahead right now because of his risky strategy to win traditionally red states, like North Dakota and Virginia (which hasn't voted Dem since Lyndon Johnson!!) If anyone can do it, Obama can. But it's going to be tough.

I think both are historic, strong candidates and will support whomever the nominee is. I can tolerate Obama losing in FL and MI because people think he's inexperienced or some other reason--what I can't tolerate is him losing the election because people here punished him because of this foolish delegate fiasco.

If it comes down to FL, as in 2000, I don't want to lose this to John McCain. I don't want to lose the Supreme Court for an entire generation, or be stuck in Iraq for, as he says, "10,000" years. What I really don't want to say is "I told you so".

Breaking: God DOES Talk to Bush!

Reasons why the Primary Democratic Fight is GREAT for our party!

The "liberal" media I keep hearing about, (which is overwhelmingly owned by conseravative corporations no less), is telling me that the Democratic Party is in real trouble. The RNC is apparently writing these talking points for them because the outlets I watch or read are very similar--except for Rush Limbaugh who just said that America would not vote for a woman and a black guy. (Great analysis, Rush).

Lucky for us, Rush is wrong. Survey USA just released polls in all 50 states of potential head to head matchups between John McCain and BOTH Hillary and Obama. The results: Both CANDIDATES cream McCain.

So how exactly is this a disaster?

The GOP factions, including the base of the party, can't stand John McCain. Even if they "hold their noses and vote for him", as expected, they will NOT be in full force like they were for their idiot messiah Mighty W. They will not knock on doors, they will not work phones, and they will not donate cash.

Cash--there's something else to talk about. Obama raised a record $55 MILLION for February! An all time high!!! He broke Kerry's previous record of $44 million, but as someone from DKOS correctly pointed out, that was after he cinched the nomination. Obama is still in a highly competitive race with another DEM. In other words, party supporters haven't even consolidated behind ONE candidate!! (Also, Obama raised more than 90% from donations of under 100 dollars!--NICE!). Hillary--not too shabby. $36 million.

McNasty? After Bush's mighty endorsement and after he has sealed the nomination---$12 mil. Yep, that's excitement.

Oh, and did I mention the record turnout for our primaries!?! In Virginia, for example, Obama received 619,000 votes--more than all of the GOP candidates COMBINED!! If that happens in a red state like Virginia, imagine the turnout in real swing states!

We have two great, historic candidates that Americans are excited about!! And this fight is great for us. Why?

1. They are staying in the news and will continue to stay in the news because the DEM competition is where the action is. The GOP race is over. McCain has to say nasty things to try to get anyone to pay attention to him.

2. The lengthy competition is also great because it is building the state parties GOTV mechanism in preparation for the general election. I am thrilled because Ohio and Pennsylvania play crucial roles, and the Hillary and Obama factions are building extensive networks and operations to win the primaries in those states--which will be ready to go come November!

3. Since the GOP does not know who will be our candidate, they don't know where to fight. In Survey USA, they both beat McCain, but they both BREAK OFF different swing states. For example, Hillary wins Florida handily, but Obama takes Virginia. This also has the added bonus of #4.

4. Both candidates are criss-crossing the nation hitting McCain. Ask anyone in a fight, 2 on 1 is tough. As long as Barack and Hillary can focus on themselves and McCain, and NOT bash each other, either one will be ready to claim the mantle and win victory in November.


SO we have our candidates getting all of the attention, building extensive operations in every state, each getting record fund-raising and record voter turnout (many who are voting for the first time!), and each criss-crossing the country taking swipes at a weakened McCain. Oh yeah, and both are kicking the crap out of him in head to head match-ups.

So, what's the disaster I've been hearing about??

Prediction for the Democratic Primary

If I haven't said it already, it's going to be Barack Obama. Hillary is suffering from Rudy syndrome. Rudy was leading nationally, the large states, and the swing states. The only states he was behind in were the early states. He figured they wouldn't matter. He figured wrong.

You can't lose 6 states in a row and think that it won't have an impact on your campaign. I don't get the psychology, but that is precisely why states don't want to go last.

Hillary hasn't lost 6 in a row. She's lost 11 in a row. Obviously that has had an effect. Add that to the fact that the more people hear Obama, the more they like him. The more they hear Hillary, the less they like her. Since Iowa, she always starts with big leads, then loses those leads at the election.

Texas will be no different. Her last debate showed her whining about getting the first question, her negative ads are turning Democrats off (the phone call ad smacks of GOP ridiculousness), and worst of all, she is actually threatning to sue the Texas Democratic Party over their primary/caucus system. The VoteMaster from electoral-vote.com thinks she is bluffing, since suing them would "complicate the election, lose the nomination, come off as a whiny sore loser, shred her repeutation, and end any chance she could be the nominee in 2012 if McCain wins in 2008." But this begs the question: Why is she doing it at all? Texas is not going to change their system days before the election--especially since Hillary had no problem until now--with all polls showing her narrowly losing Texas.

Barack has grown in popularity and has handled the attacks from McCain and Bush with class. I personally can't believe Bush had the gall to say anything to Obama on Iraq. He just invites people to poke fun at him for his tremendous incompetence that unleashed this disaster to begin with. Note to W: worry about running the country and less about running McCain's campaign. The best thing you can do for McCain is NOT try to help. On second thought, go campaign with him. :)

Barack Obama will win Texas and barely will win Ohio. Once that happens, Hillary will move to Mike Huckabee status and continue to lose states, including PA in April. I predict that she will drop out at that point and that we will not be subjected to a brokered convention.

One year ago I predicted McCain would win the GOP primary, let's see if I'm right on my predictions for the Dem primary.

Congrats Sasso!

If a Dem can win a heavily GOP-gerrymanderded district, then this is a good sign for Democrats to come in November. It was close (obviously) but the good people of FL-32made the correct and obvious choice.

Congratulations Tony Sasso!