Isn't this special.

Australian Immigrant Rupert Murdoch owns Times of London, the British publication that first published about Obama's 'Auntie Zeituni'.

Rupert Murdoch owns Fox News, that "fair and balanced as long as it's talking about extreme right-wing politics" network.

The Congressional Black Caucus is currently considering a partnership with the conservative cable news channel, Fox, to broadcast the CBC's Presidential debate; more details are here and here.

OutFoxed has put together a stunning video compilation of just how exactly Fox portrays African-Americans.

Long story short: Fox is not an appropriate partner for Democrats in general and black Democrats in particular; by working with that conservative channel, we legitimize their vicious, un-American, anti-American propaganda, and that just won't do. So please, if your Member of Congress is a member of the CBC, give them a holler. Contact info after the jump.

[Update]: ThinkProgress reports that the CBC will partner with CNN. Good work.

[Update 2]: ColorOfChange.org notes that the CBC is still talking to Fox. Keep calling.

I have discussed the craziness and duplicity of the denial lobby before (e.g. here). And I have been just beginning to discuss the need to move on, to evolve the discussion, from a supposed "debate" over whether global warming is happening (it is!) to a discussion of solutions. Personally, I do hope to help evolve the discussion. But sadly, the denial lobby continues its supid, suicidal crusade against science.

The latest salvo of the denial lobby was in England, though I am starting to hear eager references to it here in the US from our own denial lobbyists. On Thursday the 8th, the London TV Channel 4 aired a program titled "The Great Global Warming Swindle". This program turns out to be largely devoid of integrity and intelligence and, to quote two climatologists commenting on Real Climate, "it just repeated the usual specious claims we hear all the time." This program is just one more pack of denial lobby lies.

Today's the day we Raise New York. See you there or live, online, right here.

The New York Times: A New York jury handed down a death sentence in a Federal case.

Also in the Times, the battles between the governor and the status quo.

The Albany Times-Union has the budget breakdown.

Molly Ivins has passed away at age 62; The Texas Observer pays tribute to a remarkable woman.

In The Washington Post, traitor Bob Novak warns the republican party about the voters.

Capitol Confidential: Zing! Craig Johnson shoots down Maureen O'Connell.

Robert Greenwald takes a sharp knife to the tattered reputation of David Brooks, pointing out that the latter is both consistently wrong and in a tiny minority.

And lastly, Michael Arcuri votes for, among other things, increasing Pell Grants and spending more money on veterans' health care. And here the nation was breathlessly waiting for action on flag-burning and gay marriage.

This comes from Bob Fertik, our friend at Democrats.com. Seems the media jumped on a story about terrorists coming into the US on student visas. This is expected to be something Bush focuses on in his misState of the Union message and is the latest attempt by Bush to boost his sagging popularity (now finally dipping below Nixon's lowest low) using fear. There are two problems with this. First, people aren't turning to him and trusting him when he whips up the fear machine. They actually realize that if they are still afraid, it shows he has failed. But more importantly, it seems the whole story is based on one single document that has been unsubstantiated. This is reminiscent of the use of false intelligence reports to claim that Iraq was getting enriched uranium from Africa which was used as a (false) excuse to justify invasion. That was also unsubstantiated rumor.

So here, in Bob Fertik's words, is the scoop:

Empire Zone does a nice job of summarizing Glenn Beck's musings on drowning New York City.

According to a CNN transcript of the program “Glenn Beck on Headline News,” when it was suggested that a hurricane could cause a 20- to 25-foot storm surge in New York City, Mr. Beck said, “Actually, that would clean the streets out. It might not be bad.” Liberal blogs have cried foul, noting that studies show such a storm would cause “heavy loss of life.” One local blog’s summary: “Glenn Beck wants to kill you.” (It should be noted his show is based here.)

So you have to wonder: why aren't people talking about this? And why does the man still have a job?

As the Zone notes, it's the liberal blogs, pretty much alone, that are talking about this; certainly not the rightwing blogs (who are more interested in hysterically yapping about war with Mexico and muttering darkly about their crypto-terrorist luggage). You might think that those folks would occasionally wonder if their allies aren't bigger threats than whatever it is that they exercise themselves over so loudly and often. But that would require a bit of critical distance from the rightwing Kool-Aid, and that's a step none of these folks seem ready or able to take.

The lamestream media are predictably dismissive of today's announcement of a Presidential bid by John Edwards (or so it seems to me), perhaps because they've already decided that Hillary and Obama are the only games in town. My private theory to explain this is simple: journos are lazy, and 'Is the country ready for a black/female President?' stories are so simple they practically write themselves. Hence, they have more time to spend on expense reports and cocktail party chit-chat.

The real news, of course, is that Hillary labors under the widespread perception that she can't win/stands for nothing/will say whatever you want to hear/polarizes (one which I share), and that sheer politeness is all that is keeping the subterranean chatter about Obama's thin résumé quiet, for the moment.

By a simple process of elimination, that leaves Edwards as the guy to beat. Clark never quite caught on with the rank and file (for reasons which elude many), Kerry had his chance (and has that unfortunate foot-in-mouth problem), Gore seems sincere about not running, Vilsack is in fourth place in his native Iowa, and Mark Warner, ah, Mark Warner. Biden and Dodd are lovely Senators; Richardson may be laboring under too-high expectations.

Tonight on "Scarborough Country", conservative commentator Joe Scarborough mused that the hosts of "The View" were "moving to the left in order to get better ratings."

To the left? For better ratings? Ain't that sweet!

From The New York Times comes this op-ed purporting to be news coverage of the Atlantic Yards dispute:

Sheldon Silver could always just say no.

That is the nightmare facing Forest City Ratner, the real estate developer whose $4 billion Atlantic Yards project must now be approved by an obscure state oversight board on which Mr. Silver, the state Assembly speaker, controls one of three votes.

Over three years, Forest City has assembled an astonishingly wide and deep political coalition behind the Brooklyn project, ranging from outgoing Gov. George E. Pataki to Acorn, the liberal advocacy group for low-income people. The developer has endured thousands of pages of studies and reviews, staged hundreds of meetings and hearings, beat back lawsuits and persisted in the face of a growing and energetic coalition of opponents and critics.

There's more, after the jump.

A terrorist attack occurred on 9/11/2006 in Davenport, Iowa, on the 5th year anniversary of the terrorist attack on the city where I live. And I heard nothing about it. And Homeland Security seems to have ignored it. Why?

Simple: the attack was done by a right wing white guy targeting a woman's health clinic.

From the Quad Cities Times:

A Michigan man described as a bookworm by relatives has wandered the Midwest since August, looking for a medical clinic to attack with his 2004 Saturn compact car, authorities said.

It was dawn Monday when David Robert McMenemy approached Edgerton Women’s Health Center in Davenport, which he mistakenly believed provided abortions.

He entered the center’s driveway off East Rusholme Street and then took a few moments to turn and configure the car to face straight into the lobby, Davenport Fire Marshal Mike Hayman said.

The 45-year-old crashed the Saturn into the central lobby, coming to rest at the counter. When the car did not immediately burst into flames as he may have expected, police said he took gasoline that he had poured into a Gatorade bottle and spread it over the interior. “I lit it,” McMenemy told investigators, and he exited the structure to surrender himself to startled Davenport firefighters....