Liz Sidoti is perhaps the best example from today's news cycle of how badly some of our paid AP journalists suck.

http://mediamatters.org/...

Alt. Title: WaPo "Fact Checker" Should Give Self 3 Pinocchios or Where in the World is Buchenwald?

Can you be a "fact checker" when you cannot get your own facts right?  Can you take someone to task for their knowledge of history and geography when yours is equally bad?  These are questions that should be asked of the Washington Post's "Fact Checker" Michael Dobbs after his glib and insensitive hit piece on Obama where he himself gets his own geographical facts wrong.

Many of you have probably already seen this faux controversy worked up in the news about Obama confusing Auschwitz with Buchenwald when discussing his great uncle's military service and role in liberating the concentration camps on Memorial Day.  Dobbs, weighed in on this faux controversy and originally gave Obama 4 Pinnochio's.  That's right, he ranked it as high as Tuzla.

Though it's hard to believe, especially after the seemingly endless coverage about Obama's CHURCH, the Muslim smear emails are STILL circulating.  I just got another one today.

While I have no way of knowing where the first emails came from, I can tell you who is responsible for spreading them.  

I'll tell you how I know after the fold...

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."
--Hillary Clinton, speech at George Washington University, March 17, 2008.

Heavy gunfire, no greeting ceremony? rushed to our cars? Yeah.... that's the ticket! It's looking more and more that Sinbad was right, and Hillary was at best - confused, misinformed... you could even say frantic, about something Sinbad was taking in stride.

Also read: this Washington Post Fact Checker story on this

Did you know that in his short time in Washington, Obama has passed legislature that his colleagues have called "historic"?

Did you know that, unlike Hillary -- who admitted that her health plan might reach into your paycheck if you refuse to pay -- Obama believes all Americans are responsible enough to decide to pay for themselves... and that he has a plan to cover the people who might refuse to pay for care, even though they can afford it?  

Did you know that a media analysis has revealed that Obama’s speeches contain just as much specifics as his opponents’?

All these questions, and more, are explained via the link below – with links to newspaper articles, video footage, and other reliable sources to confirm the facts.  

   "Senator Obama has some questions to answer about his dealings with one of his largest contributors, Exelon, a big nuclear power company. Apparently he cut some deals behind closed doors to protect them from full disclosure in the nuclear industry."
   --Hillary Clinton, ABC-Politico Forum, Feb. 11, 2008.

This is a very serious charge.

The WashingtonPost.com's Fact Checker blog looked into this charge and found it lacking substance.

cross posted in my blog.

In virtually every speech since Iowa, Hillary has accused Obama of being against the Patriot Act, then voting to re-authorize it as soon as he was a Senator.

And while that is one of the things in Obama's record that I am less than content about, it is important to note that her accusations are not 100% accurate.

The Patriot Act was passed on October 25, 2001, a month after September 11. Only one Senator had the cahones to vote against it, and it wasn’t Hillary; it was Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin (D). Sen. Mary Landrieu was the next closest thing to a Nay vote by refusing to vote on the bill.

Why blogging was best in 2007.

Kos seems to think that his site is infested with a horde of group-thinking hamsters. How did he reach this strange conclusion?

The obvious answer is Maccabee, and we might as well stick with the obvious, because this isn't really a subject that has much depth.

But why didn't kos notice the purported horde before? This is a real mystery!

In the age of "truthiness" from our politicians and lapdog media, there's something going on here in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area that is truly revolutionary.  On of oure local newspapers, The St. Petersburg Times, has launched a new project to expose the honest-to-goodness truth, or lack thereof, in the 2008 presidential campaign.  It's unlike anything I've seen in a major newspaper, and a look at their dismantling of a recent Rudy Guiliani claim shows why.

Don't retreat or be stupid; this site has pull with its collective intelligence. That is why this site is a harbinger at the moment.. it has traction because of intelligent people who participate, share and contribute to making it a relevant go-to site. The post by Maccabee had 1372 comments when it was "dissapeared".  Markos, came on and blasted this audience for lacking skepticism and falling for the story after it received criticism elsewhere. Daily Kos site has been attacked by conservatives for its outrageous nature and I'm sure Moulitsas is sensitive to this.  However, the high number of comments for both stories indicate a sensitivity to a war with Iran, concern about rumors and legitimate information, political games and the way a large influential site can monitor itself to keep relevant.  It was an interesting development that unfolded. .

Digging deeper about the (possible) Iran War, propaganda campaign rumors and getting more information from (thoughtful) others highlights a deeper issue of new media integrity and relevance and community and the search for  TRUTH.

News of University of California Santa Cruz computer scientist Luca de Alfaro's Wikipedia trust-coloring system revived - and improved - an idea I've been playing with: automated reputation-management for politicians. The idea is to make the concept of honor meaningful again, by creating new social rewards and penalties for behavior that affects the rest of us. (It could, of course, also be applied to journalists, corporate leaders or other public figures.)

One of the most frustrating things about the Traditional Media is their penchant for citing incomplete statistics.

Whether it is political polling, economic news, or medical reporting, the typical Traditional Media story provides no context, no basis for comparison, making the "new numbers" meaningless to the vast majority of readers.

I would like to encourage DailyKos diarists to try to do better.

Could it be possible?  Has the earth reversed on it's axis?  Has that hot place down below sudden gone stone cold?

The idea that Michael Moore would voluntarily return to CNN following his being sandbagged, not just once - but twice by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta seems far less plausible than the above.

Just look at what Moore had to say about CNN on July 14th...

Michael Moore won this war, with CNN grossly distorting Moore's figures, turning his $251 Cuban health spending into $25.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta also lied about his source's credentials:

I am posting images that can be used by anyone to illustrate blog entries about the people depicted. This is an ongoing project. You can find all the images at my Photobucket collection. It is my hope that people will use them to illustrate blog posts and comments.

I will be glad to consider any requests.
This image was requested by Kos user left my heart.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Scrubs the Facts

[Click here for larger image]

Lies, Sighs and Politics

June 8, 2007

By PAUL KRUGMAN

In Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate,
Mitt Romney completely misrepresented
how we ended up in Iraq.

Later, Mike Huckabee mistakenly claimed
that it was Ronald Reagan’s birthday.

Guess which remark The Washington Post identified
as the "gaffe of the night"?

So, yesterday, the following diary appeared.

Army Pvt. John Doe*, a soldier from City, State, who was kidnapped in Iraq in May has been confirmed killed by the US military. I'm getting this news directly from Pvt. Doe's family; I don't think it's hit the wire yet. From my understanding, he was executed on video.

John was only 19 years old. He joined the Army right out of high school because he wasn't sure of what to do with his life and thought that the military would give him some direction. He spent much of his spare time noodling around in front of his computer.

John could easily be the neighbor kid, your brother, or your son. Tomorrow his family (people just like you) are going to have to force themselves to get out of bed and face the first of many bleak days. This isn't a statistic, it is an agrievous loss. I don't care how many have died, one more does make a difference.

*Name changed for privacy purposes.

What followed next was THE low moment for me in my time at Kos.