] A trot through the blogosphere suggests that Stewart's
] hyper-sincere Crossfire turn may have cost him a few
] fans, even as it solidified his diehard base. I wouldn't
] be surprised if the news media's recent crush on Stewart
] -- the rave reviews of America, the high-profile
] journalists appearing on his show -- turned a corner
] after this. As America: The Book makes clear, nobody
] likes a civics lecture. But you'd be hard-pressed to ask
] for more entertaining television than Friday's live
] smackdown. Stewart's naked appeal to his hosts to "please
] stop, stop, stop. Stop hurting America," had a loopy,
] apocalyptic power. It burned a hole in the screen, like
] Peter Finch as the crazed anchorman in Network,
] bellowing, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it
] anymore."
]
]
] A while back, I called Jon Stewart the "court jester" of
] this election. But he may be more like the fool in King
] Lear, speaking brutal truth to a king who is already too
] far gone to hear it. Sure, Stewart's job is to make us
] laugh, not to lecture us. But as Lear's fool asked, "May
] not an ass know when the cart draws the horse?"

[ Yep. -k]

Stewart Caught in the Crossfire - Something actually happens on a talk show! By Dana Stevens

] Both parties have a right to expect a fair election
] result even if it is not always a favorable one. Tobin
] also said, "It is disappointing, indeed, to see the
] opposition party (Democrats) manipulate the court system
] in a blatant attempt to influence the election."
]
]
] What a mind-numbing hypocritical answer that is! Who is
] trying to influence elections, Mr. Tobin? Please do not
] insult us further.
]
]
] New Hampshire Democrat Party Chair Kathy Sullivan said,
] "The public should know Tobin's role in this, along with
] the roles of any other high-level GOP officials."
]
]
] Kathy and I have not agreed very often, but she is
] absolutely correct. We need the truth now to restore
] confidence in the coming election. She has a right to be
] angry. Can you imagine the Republican outrage if the
] Democrats had been guilty of similar conduct? Does a
] party that refuses to tell the truth before Election Day
] deserve our vote on election day?

[ The author is a Republican ex-senator from New Hampshire. Voter fraud *should* outrage everyone. You want to talk about an attack on america, forget Osama, Saddam, and Zarqawi and look hard at anyone fucking with your vote. -k]

Phone-jamming was an outrage : Republicans should speak out in anger

] Two newspaper reporters who went to see the Boss perform
] at a political fund-raising concert got in trouble with
] their own boss.
]
] ...
]
] Pioneer Press Editor Vicki Gowler wrote in a Sept. 27
] memo to staff that the paper's ethics policy bars them
] from activities that would conflict with their
] employment, including "concerts that are held as
] political fundraisers." Several other newspapers had
] issued similar warnings to reporters.

[ That doesn't really seem right. Being a reporter shouldn't bar you from expressing an opinion in a non-professional capacity, should it? If the reporter can't be objective in his work, that's a problem... if he goes home and donates 10,000 bucks to the RNC, whatever. What if they had gone to a Bush rally? A DNC dinner? Where's the line? -k]

Minn. newspaper suspends two reporters over political concert

] How's this for a feud that straddles the line between
] politics and entertainment: CNN's bow-tied conservative
] Tucker Carlson vs. "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.
]
]
] Carlson on Monday fanned embers still hot from their
] "Crossfire" confrontation, saying Stewart looked
] ridiculous during his CNN appearance and was a sellout
] for publicly backing Democrat John Kerry for president.

[ Waahhhh! Wahhhhhh! Carlson got his ass handed to him, and he just can't handle it. Begala did too, but he's apparently decided to shut his trap. Tucker whips out a standard Republican tactic -- if you can't win on substance, attack your opponents credibility, on whatever thin grounds you can, and repeat that you've won until the media echo chamber is in sync.

Whine all you want, Tucker, you lost. A lot. On your home court. Because, well, Jon's much smarter than you.

Jon showed up on Crossfire to make a serious point about the farce that major news media has become, to ask the hosts to take their responsibility more seriously. He got insulted for it, and then turned up the heat. Carlson apparently didn't know that heckling a professional comic is the surest way to get completely decimated -- he did, and so, he was. -k]

Tucker Carlson can't take the heat...

For that matter, it ought to be underlined that as bad as Saddam was, he was contained, and a contained Saddam is very likely to be better then anything else that we get out of that place regardless of how expedient it was to attack him.

[ I'm recommending this because it's well thought out and generally sensible. I cut out the above passage because it underscores something I've thought recently. Now that Bush has finally conceded (though in the least responsible way) that there were no WMDs, I've heard him say a few times that Saddam wanted them, and would pursue them as soon as the sanctions were lifted. It seems to me that the correct solution to *that* problem is to just *not* lift the sanctions. Which were working exactly as designed. As Decius says, he was contained. And now we're in a situation where the best strategists we've got are predicting best case outcomes which barely improve upon Saddam, and likely case scenarios that are almost certainly worse.

As Decius says, Kerry's not gonna have an easy time of it, and he'll probably be demonized no matter what choices he makes, but I'm at least confident he'll approach the issues with a measure of thoughtfulness that has been lacking in the current administration. -k]

BarlowFriendz: Exit Strategies

" During a question-and-answer period, someone says they'd once heard Johnston call for the execution of gays and lesbians. He vigorously denies the charge. Later, he tells me that the decision to put gays to death is a matter best left up to the states. "If we ever had a nation sufficiently Christian" to make homosexuality illegal, he says, imposing capital punishment for homosexuality would be a subject for "an in-house debate. There were capital crimes in the Bible, and that would be something debated." "

[ This shit gives me chills. What is it with people and unbridled hatred. And please, PLEASE, someone justify hate with something Jesus said. I fucking dare you. These people are as unchristian as they come, and if there's a hell, I think they've got their own little corner. -k]

Salon.com News | 'Homosexuals are hellbound!'

] State Rep. Shelley Vana was not so happy. She said the
] paper absentee ballot she was given at a Palm Beach
] County site was missing one of its two pages, including
] the proposed amendments to the state constitution. She
] said election workers were indifferent when she pointed
] out the oversight.
]
]
] "There was absolutely no concern on the part of the folks
] at the Supervisor of Elections Office that this page was
] missing. This is not a good start. If there are
] incomplete ballots out there, I can't imagine I would be
] the only one getting it," she said.

This is not a good start...

[ No indeed. I couldn't get to the linked article so I can't be sure if this was covered, but presumably an incomplete ballot like this one would end up being completely invalidated. So a missing second page may not merely be a partial disenfranchisment, but a total one. Regardless, this is completely unacceptable. -k]

Yahoo! News - Problems Crop Up in Fla. Early Voting

] Many Americans fear that a universal health plan would
] cost too much, even though the market system has already
] given the U.S. the world%u2019s most expensive health
] care. They fear the long waits they have heard about in
] Canada, even though comparable waiting times for tests
] and procedures are commonplace in many parts of the U.S.
] Lastly, they fear government-decreed rationing, even
] though health care is already rationed in the most
] inequitable of ways.

[ An interesting article in favor of single payer health care. I'm not sure what my standing is on this issue, but I know that there are areas of human activity that aren't well served by free market solutions. I'm pretty sure health care is one of them, but I'm interested in reading as much as possible. I think health care will emerge as the primary battleground in this country over the next decade, assuming we aren't overrun by Osama. -k]

Health Care Can Be Cured: Here's How (TIME Magazine) | Physicians for a National Health Program

Suprnova torrent of Stewart on crossfire. Currently very fast...

[ I'm gonna recommend this again because it's so damn good.

"It's not so much that your show is bad, as much as that it's *hurting america*." -k]

John Stewart Crossfire Torrent

The alternative to blind belief is not simply unbelief but a different kind of belief -- one that embraces uncertainty and enables us to respect others whom we do not understand. In a complex world, wisdom is knowing what we don't know so that we can keep the future open.

What Derrida Really Meant