Letters, we get letters, we get stacks and stacks of... ok, it might not be piling up in the corners, but the number of emails that show up in the in ye olde email box can be daunting.  While many of the letters are thoughtful and insightful, others are simply chock full of nutty goodness.  This is especially true of the attack waves sent by the fighting keyboardists at the urging of their favorite talking head.

A decade ago, UC Riverside physicist John Baez developed the crackpot index to help when sorting letters sent to universities that promised to revolutionize science.  His index (which was referenced in the Netroots Nation science panel by Ed Brayton) includes such items as 5 points for each mention of "Einstein," and 20 points for comparing yourself to Newton.

To bring the same sort of order to the missives that arrive at this site each day, here's the Daily Kos equivalent.  

The Wingnut Index

5 points
Each use of "Democrat Party."
Each use of "liberal elite."
Each declaration that kos readers should "leave America."

10 points
Each use of the phrase "hate site."
Each mention of Nazis, Commies, Reds, brownshirts or stormtroopers.
Each blind repetition of phrases provided by your close pal Bill, Rush, or Sean.
For contending that liberals are aiding terrorists.
Each time the writer insists that the recipient is "going to burn in hell."
Each physical threat to the recipient.

15 points
Including "San Francisco" in letters that have nothing to do with San Francisco.
Discussion of water / food additives and their feminizing effect on the men of America.
Insisting that liberals "want America to lose."
Each alternate theory for the death of Vincent Foster.
Each alternate theory for the death of Ron Brown.
Each alternate theory posed to replace evolution.
Each explanation for why global warming is a hoax.

20 points
Each use of "DemocRAT Party."
Each time the writer wishes the recipient would burn in hell.
Asserting the recipient belongs in Gitmo.
Each physical threat to the recipient's family & pets.
Each use of the term "Darwinism."
Each use of the term "algore."

25 points
Wishing on the recipient death, cancer, a stray bullet, or a visit from Bill O'Reilly.
Each use of "clearly" or "obviously" appended to any of the above. (i.e. "Since you liberals clearly want America to be defeated by the terrorists, obviously you belong in Gitmo" makes for a 70 point sentence.)

30 points
Each loving description of the torture the author would love to inflict.
Letters written IN ALL CAPS.

50 point
Each serious, affirmative use of the term PUMA.
Sending a letter complaining about how kos is censoring you because you can't post thirty seconds after registering.
Sending a letter complaining about how kos is censoring you, when you've been booted by the community for 101 crappy comments.
Sending a letter complaining about how kos is censoring you, when you haven't bothered to register at the site.

100 points
Each use of the word "Bush" in association with "unrecognized genius."

Special awards are given for creative use of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.  (i.e. "u LIBURrrLLS, R D SuXeS!?!" hits none of the categories above, and yet, still has the toasty zing of nuttery.)

For those people still wondering how they might most curry favor with Bill O'Reilly by telling him about the mean, mean words they sent this way, don't think of these scores as restrictions on your speech -- think of them as a challenge.

Senator Obama has had an amazing week outside of the U.S. He's helped to renew optimism and sense of mission in our brave men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and the commanders(not that they were deficient in either but a little boost never hurts) while meeting with the leadership of both of those countries as well as the leaders of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians.  All parties seemed to have gotten a genuine boost from his visit with some uneasiness being assuaged and relationships being built.  All the leaders seemed genuinely pleased and impressed with Senator Obama who did a wonderful job or representing the US Senate to the Middle East.  He then gives a thoughtful and moving speech in Germany reminding both us and our European allies of our common strengths and beliefs, opportunities to improve and our historic partnerships in both war and peace that helped reshape the world for the better without coming across as petulant, arrogant or pandering.  All in all it was a wonderful blend of statesmanship, patriotism, diplomacy and character that to be frank, our allies have seen all to little of from us (if at all) for these past 7.5 years.

More below the fold

Jesse Taylor at Pandagon had a remarkably insightful piece today about the wingnut carping over the Barack Obama speech in Berlin, the media reaction, and his popularity generally.  I really think this is important to understand.  The right has always held a goal of minimizing political participation; normally this is done through voter suppression, onerous voter ID or ballot access laws, and generally disenfranchising those for whom it is hardest to engage in the process.  Now they've taken it a step further, basically planting the seed that ANY participation whatsoever, not just voting but showing up for a rally or working a phone bank or donating money, is toxic and inherently fascistic.  Because their deficit in this election year is enthusiasm, they're trying to make such support and excitement untenable.  Behold:

I hate to waste a diary entry on this, but there is something on MSNBC First Read that smells very Swift Boatish.

Some right wing assholes are digging around for Obama's senior thesis from Columbia.  They of course are convinced his secret plot to overthrown the United States and send all white people to the moon or some shit like that is there.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/...

Anyway, that it is on NBC's website means a lot of people are going to see this.

More after the jump:

Since we've all been following this breathlessly, just waiting for our candidate to be exposed for the Manchurian Al-Qaeda communist that he is, I thought I'd provide a quick update.

Last week, over at noted drunken harpy Pamela Geller's web site, they found some guy named techdude who had a mutilated rabbit hung from his front door to do some analysis, and OMG THE KERNING DOESN'T MATCH!!!@!! If you follow the link, there's a bunch of stuff he claims about EXIF data and compression level differences after heat map analyses, which is over the head of 99% of the people who read Atlas Shrugs and can't be independently verified anyway. But it sure got them blog readers all worked up.

On 24 July 2008, Barack Obama will deliver a speech at Berlin’s Siegessäule. This is expected to be a major international event and an excellent opportunity for Obama to address Europe at large regarding his views on the relationship between the U.S. and world. The Obama campaign, hoping for an enthusiastic crowd, has printed fliers to promote the event. Apparently, that was an intensely evil thing to do.

As we all watch the election slowly unfold, it's important to keep your eyes wide open. Kos and the diarists here are terrific, but it's a very good idea to look at some of the right wing blogs to see what "the opposition" is saying. You get a better chance of seeing whether you are or are not in an echo chamber, can occasionally find some good writing, and might even learn a thing or two.

A caveat: I voted for Bush the last two elections. This year, I finally saw how utterly bankrupt the Republicans are in terms of ideology, and I'm hanging my hopes on Obama and a better way. But that doesn't mean I erased my old bookmarks... feel free to use a convert's old tricks.

Here are they are, then: some of my favorite right-wing blogs. Some are good for "enemy research"; some are just good reading for the non-political topics that come up; and some are just nifty. Browse around. It's a big Internet. The more you listen, the more you learn.

A caveat before you good exploring The Dark Side of the Force: Don't troll. Just don't. It's not worth it, really. I'm entirely convinced that no one has ever won an argument, ever, on the Internet... and honestly, in the end, it's just tacky. Read. Don't write. Be respectful of the other guy, and treat them as you'd like to be treated.

I searched and found only a brief comment on this, but I think it needs more attention. Anyone aware of a 'new media' convention happening in Austin this weekend?

It's easy to get bored of political writing. It usually takes the form of airbrushed policy hackwork that you could as easily read on a FAQ or on Wikipedia, or someplace else where you don't have to endure subscription nags or the pretext of topicality. Happily, "Obama, Shaman" by Michael Knox Beran is just the opposite: a piece of unintentional art whose hypotheses reveal so much about the psyche of the author that the subject itself practically vanishes. This isn't about Obama the man. It's about Obama the idea, and why the author is terrified of the Left. Beran conveys the conservative nightmare with surprising, perhaps unintentional expressiveness.

Yesterday I posted a diary which discussed a P. Z. Myers article that denounced the overreaction to a college student stealing a communion wafer.

Today, Dr. Myers is receiving DEATH THREATS and is the target of a campaign to get him fired over writing this article

So...among the top 10 workplace irritants, where does the e-mail bully rank?

I have said person easily in the top five. And in an election year? Probably the number one most irritating workplace person.

What is an e-mail bully? Well, 999 times out of 1000, as near as I can tell, it is a Republican wingnut who has just discovered cut and paste and right wing talking points and has no qualms about flooding the "send all" portion of Outlook with proof of his/her new mad skillz.

Just the other day I was thinking: If Obama wins the election in a landslide (we can hope!) it wouldn't surprise me if the truly hardcore wingnuts start spreading the rumor that he's the Anti-Christ. It would be their last-ditch smear against a popular Democrat with widespread support, and a natural evolution of their he's-a-secret-Muslim-terrorist smear campaign.

Well, turns out they've already beat me to it.

Via Sadly No, I just came across a hardcore religious wingnut who is already claiming that yes, Obama is the Anti-Christ.

Without sarcasm or humor, but entirely seriously.

The only reason I bring this up on Daily Kos is because I feel that we as Democrats need to be prepared for absolutely ANYTHING being thrown at Obama by the wingnuts. Even something you think would be so ludicrous, so vile, and so insane as to be unthinkable. They WILL say it.  The rumors and the smears WILL go out.

And we need to be ready to confront them.

Oh, the moaning and beating-of-chests I am hearing from the wingnuts I work with.  

Environmentalists are Gaia's priests, instructing us in her proper service and casting out those who refuse to genuflect... And having proclaimed the ultimate commandment — carbon chastity — they are preparing the supporting canonical legislation that will tell you how much you can travel, what kind of light you will read by, and at what temperature you may set your bedroom thermostat.  -Charles Krauthammer

That's the quote that David Huntwork leaves us with in his screed entitled The coming fascist state.

His scary head shot aside, Mr. Huntwork's "column" is really frightening.  Thanks to the Intertubes wingnuts like Mr. Lurch Huntwork now have a medium to spread their lunatic notions far and wide.  

Follow me after the fold for some choice bits and contact info so you can send this 'conservative activist' a nice note.

There's no beginning to what Dick Morris knows about politics, so it's surprising then that the good people over at Rasmussen polling are giving him room to vent. He also has another new book out at the moment, which I didn't pre-order months ago and am keenly looking forward not to reading the future. But let's look at his latest column, just for shits and giggles.

Hey kiddies! Well this is one of those diaries that I thought we can make into a game since I've nothing of interest or even substance to contribute (and it's Sunday so nothing new is going to be put out there) and I feel like we should have a little fun. Okay that and I got the inspiration at a recent comment I made on a diary.

Shortly after Larry Sinclair's video first appeared on YouTube, I became his nemesis. It was then that Sinclair began spreading lies about me, too.

This picture will make sense by the end of this diary: