Moments ago on CNN Headline news, the blonde anchorwoman reported that Morgan Freeman had gotten into a terrible car crash in which his car had flipped over several times. She said that the actor was in serious condition in a Memphis hospital... and that he was currently appearing in "The Dark Knight", which she mentioned is in theaters "now".

CNN, and the Batman movie franchise, are both owned by Time-Warner. She did not issue any kind of disclaimer about the movie being produced by her network's parent corporation. This is a classic example of the corporate media using the news (including a terrible tragedy) for the profit of its other product lines. (See also the Iraq War and General Electric)

RETRACTION: When I searched Google for this, I found nada from America, but when I specifically tried "Fox News Edgar Mitchell" I found it.
So, no media blackout, just a UFO story like any other. Sorry to waste peoples time (I am not a believer in this stuff but I like to read about it sometimes).

Two days ago (July 23rd), a respected NASA astronaut, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, said in an interview in Britain's Kerrang! radio (a rock music station), that "I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real."

He continued: "It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it."

You'd expect tabloids to be interested in this kind of news, and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. certainly was - the story was printed in Britain's Daily Mail and Austrailia's Daily Telegraph. But given that the astronaut was American, why not print it in the New York Post? Why no mention on Yahoo News' "Odd News" feed?

More below the flip.

cross-posted at Election Inspection

Swing State Polls, below the flip, divided into 3 catgories:

Defense: States Kerry won (CT, MI, MN, NH, NJ, OR, PA, WI)

Red-to-Blue: States Kerry lost where Obama is winning or tied (CO, IA, MO, NM, OH, VA)


Frontiers: States where Obama is close behind McCain (AK, GA, FL, MS, NV, NC, ND)

The summary: Obama 317, McCain 221 if Obama wins Ohio; Obama 297, McCain 241 if Obama loses Ohio.

cross-posted at Election Inspection

Swing State Polls, below the flip, divided into 3 catgories:

Defense: States Kerry won (CT, MI, MN, NH, NJ, OR, PA, WI)
Red-to-Blue: States Kerry lost where Obama is winning or tied (CO, IA, MO, NM, OH, VA)
Frontiers: States where Obama is close behind McCain (FL, MS, NV, NC, ND)

The summary: Obama 317, McCain 221.

cross-posted from Election Inspection

Obama is faring pretty well against McCain. Below the flip, we'll take a look at swing state polling.

The summary: Obama 317, McCain 221.

cross-posted at Election Inspection

Dick Bennett hates the fact that his outfit, ARG, is the least reputable of all the major pollsters. Their reputation is so bad that Real Clear Politics won't even count them in their average. We've pointed out before how miserably wrong most of their polls have been. So it's hard not to laugh when Bennett says something really stupid like this.

Check out the crazy quote below the flip.

Now that the nomination is wrapped up, who do you want to be the Vice Presidential nominee? If I left off your favorite choice, tell me in the comments.

I'm assuming no one's going to be begging for Evan Bayh.

The last time I did one of these was back in January, and it was tied between Clark and Webb.

cross-posted from Election Inspection

Seriously? Is this actually possible? This is what ARG shows for Montana and South Dakota:

ARG: South Dakota Primary 5/31-6/1, MoE +/-4%
Clinton: 60%
Obama: 34%

ARG: Montana Primary 5/31-6/1, MoE +/-4%
Clinton: 44%
Obama: 48%

The Montana result is improbable enough, but the South Dakota poll is either the most stunning upset of the entire election cycle, or the most bone-jarringly wrong poll in history. I've never seen a poll - even an ARG poll - this astronomically far away from the expectations going into a primary. I don't even know what to say - I want to believe ARG is just a terrible pollster, but even if they were off by 20 points, it would still be a stunning upset. I give up! SUSA, Rasmussen, I beg you, save me from this insanity!!!

Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio is scum, but his opponent, Bill O'Neill is a Vietnam veteran we can really get behind. Summary of this Diary:

1. Support Bill O'Neill, winner of Election Inspection's Memorial Day Donor Bomb contest to support a veteran running for Congress.

2. Why O'Neill is good for Veterans, Labor, Civil Rights, Small Business, and restoring the rule of law.

3. The sordid tale of GOP Rep. Steve LaTourette, a phony moderate, a corrupt scumbag who is literally in bed with his lobbyist, and a toothless ethics chair who made a mockery of the job and was still yanked by Tom DeLay for the smallest ounce of insubordination.

Please donate to Bill O'Neill for Memorial Day! Let's give our veterans and the families of the fallen a congress that understands them and will vote to end the Iraq War.

Dick Morris thinks Obama is wrong on Iran. Yeah, the guy who's been wrong about everything and writes for NewsMax thinks he should be giving Obama foreign policy advice.

If you want to know who Dick Morris is, and why us Obama supporters should never listen to him even when he's criticizing Hillary Clinton, read on. If you want to understand why Obama's Iran policy is going to be more effective at encouraging political reform in Iran than Bush's isolation policy, read on. And if you want to read a good, old-fashioned blogosphere SMACKDOWN of a Media Blowhard Who Really Deserves It - Read on!

cross-posted from Election Inspection

Someone over at TPM invited guesses at who could fill various Obama cabinet positions. This is a subject I’ve been thinking about for a long time. So, here are my picks — but I’m no Jim Johnson, so don’t call me out for not vetting these ideas fully! Constructive criticism, and your ideas, will be appreciated.

Follow below the flip!

cross-posted from Election Inspection

Election Inspection's final predictions:

Indiana:
X Stryker: Clinton will win Indiana by 4%-10%, with a median of 6.5% and a net delegate gain of 4.
Elliot: 3.4% win for Clinton and a delegate tie.

North Carolina:
X Stryker: Obama will win North Carolina by 7%-17%, with a median of 12% and a net gain of 11 delegates.
Elliot: Obama wins by 18.8% and a 15 delegate net gain.

Final polls and analysis below the fold. Feel free to add your predictions in the comments!

cross-posted from Election Inspection

Here it is, today's Rasmussen Pennsylvania poll!

Rasmussen - PA 4/20 MOE +/-4%
Clinton: 49%
Obama: 44%
Not sure: 7%

Below the flip, the rest of the polls this week with trending, my analysis, and prediction.

cross-posted from Election Inspection

Below the flip, a rundown of the latest polls in Pennsylvania and North Carolina with predictions, plus Indiana, Kentucky, and South Dakota polls too.

Below the fold, compiled from Swing State Project, are fundraising totals for Democratic and Republicans running for Senate and House races across the USA. They are arranged in alphabetical order by state, from Alabama to Nebraska. The rest are posted on my blog, Election Inspection.

The bottom line? We did good this quarter.

Below the flip is an IM conversation with a very ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton. He does not represent the average Clinton supporter. He is a real person and this is a real conversation. We shall call him... "Tim" (not his real name). I've also replaced my real AIM screenname with a facsimile.

Note: His language is so profane, I have decided to apply asterisks to it. I recently found that DailyKos is blocked at my place of business now due to "profanity". That is a shame, and BTW I checked, freeperville is not blocked, go figure.

cross-posted at Election Inspection

If there is one myth I've heard passed around that is desperately in need of puncturing, it is the myth of the "Asian Vote". Hillary's victory in California was attributed to her large margins with both Latinos and with "Asians". And many pundits, including noted idiot Dick Morris, think Hillary has a good shot at winning Hawaii due to the fact that "Asians" are in the majority in Hawaii.

Bullshit. There is no Asian vote.

Read below the flip for more.

cross-posted at Election Inspection, written by my associate skywrnchsr

Things are heating up down south in New Mexico and even the wind driven snow and ice falling in Pennsylvania today can’t cool off the great news Democrats have at the filing deadline today. [note - this post was written yesterday]

The turmoil in New Mexico continues with all 4 seats up for election this year open.  All 3 of the Congressman from this state are running for the open Senate seat which has created a free-for-all at the Congressional level in all 3 seats.

Race-by-race analysis below the fold.