The Washington Post does live chats every week day to discuss everything from politics to American Idol.  After a very big win by Obama in North Carolina and a close loss in Indiana who do you think the Washington Post recruited to discuss the results?  What independent minded and non-partisan pundit would be the best person to discuss with the public his take on the nomination process?

I have read several thoughtful diaries about Obama's chances in PA.  As with other state's primaries, the predictions are all over the place.  There is the  pessimistic and the hopeful as well as the action oriented.

I have been optomistic because of all the wonderful diaries about the Obama rally in Philadelphia but after reading an article in the Washington Post today, I think I am going to have to side with the more pessimistic predictions.

Tonight I went to an organizational meeting for Obama in Raleigh, NC here.  I was alerted to this event through a diary here on Dailykos.  After checking out the link in the diary I wrote the address down and told myself I should go.  So after work I drove to the address and found a place to park in the parking deck.  I only had an address and didn't realize the place I was looking for was a restaurant.  So I just started following the many other people walking in that direction.

I read a recent diary about facebook that got me worried and sent the link to my three 20 something children who have used facebook almost since its inception.  My youngest wanted to write a response so she registered then realized she couldn't post for 24 hours.  I told her I would post it for her and here it is in its entirety.  Whether we agree or disagree I think it is important to hear what young people are thinking.

A new Osama Bin Ladin tape is being breathlessly reported on CNN and MSNBC under "Breaking News" banners.

CNN reports:

I hope by now that everyone here at Dailykos knows about ABC's fake terrorism expert Alexis Debat. He was caught only after a story in a French publication with Debat's byline was based on a fabricated interview with Barack Obama.  It snowballed from there.  Many articles pushing war on Iran have been sourced by Debat including the chilling "three day blitz" on Iran story written by Sarah Baxter for the Times Online.  That particular story was picked up and quoted everywhere including many alarmist diaries here on Dailykos.  Everyone from the AP to the BBC seems to have been taken in by this guy.  Is that why the traditional media wants this story buried?   There is more...

Two years ago the blogging community gave a collective thumbs down to the
NY Times decision to hide it's most read columnists behind a subscription.  $50 a year!  No way!  For a while various websites posted the hidden columns, but even that was shut down when those sites were threatened with lawsuits.

I have been following the developments in the case of Alexis Debat, an ABC terrorism consultant who has been outed as a fake.  This story was originally broken at Rue89 and has since been investigated by foreign affairs expert Laura Rozen.  I have lamanted the lack of traditional media attention, although the NY Times has reported on it in the business section.  For those who are following the story I thought I would add a few more links that you may be interested in.

I am a little puzzled why this story has not gotten more play but I would like to again bring it up for discussion.  I wrote about the outing of fake terrorism expert Alexis Debat here.  I hope everyone will take a look and check out the links.  Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post wrote:

Alexis Debat, a former French defense official who now works at the Nixon Center, published the interview in the French magazine Politique Internationale. He said he had hired a freelance journalist to conduct the interview, in which the Democratic presidential candidate supposedly said that Iraq was "already a defeat for America" that has "wasted thousands of lives." Debat said he had been unable to locate the intermediary, and the Obama campaign says no such interview took place.

I am not a great diarist so I hope I can do this subject justice.  I first read about it from a link on Buzzflash.  

Alexis Debat, ABC Terrorism expert and Nixon Center Fellow has been exposed as a fake. His downfall seems to have been precipitated by Debat writing an article on Obama based on an interview that never took place. The facts are slowly trickling in but a number of blogs are digging and Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post wrote about it today.  

Alexis Debat, a former French defense official who now works at the Nixon Center, published the interview in the French magazine Politique Internationale. He said he had hired a freelance journalist to conduct the interview, in which the Democratic presidential candidate supposedly said that Iraq was "already a defeat for America" that has "wasted thousands of lives." Debat said he had been unable to locate the intermediary, and the Obama campaign says no such interview took place.

 

Short diary but I thought it was something that people should hear about.  I will put up a link as soon as I see one on the CNN website.

Nuclear warheads were in the air over the united states for 3 1/2 hours last Thursday.

Update:  MSNBC has a video of the story up, but no text so far.

Update 2:  (h/t Oreo) Here is the link to the Army Times article.

CNN is reporting that the Fed is making the rare move of cutting the discount rate for banks to 5.75.  

I just need to get this out and maybe others feel the same way.  So here is another open thread about Va Tech and thoughts for the families in this time of tragedy.

Update 1 - Shooter was just confirmed to have graduated from Westfield, my daughters highschool.  Two of the victims were also Westfield grads. What a terrible day for Westfield.  Tragic.

An exclusive from the Huffington Post begins

Air America Radio, in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings since October, will be rescued at the 11th hour by Manhattan real estate developer Stephen L. Green.

Major General Caldwell (the IV!)the US Military spokesman in Iraq wrote an editorial in the Wash Post.  If you wonder why the US has failed so miserably in Iraq, Caldwell is a perfect example why.  The entire editorial is here.

I have started and stopped this diary a few times (and lost it once).  It is hard to describe the eerie feeling I got while reading this article in the Washington Post.  Students in a Mongomery County, MD school are being made to wear color coded identifiers!

Have you ever wondered how people can think so differently?   Why is it that most of us here on Dailykos can look at a certain set of facts or situation and come up with a totally different explanation than say the people who post on Redstate?  I went to visit my (liberal) son at college over the weekend and a conversation we had led me to write this (my first) diary that might shed some light on this dichotomy.