Have you seen the front page of HuffPo yet today?  They point to a Media Matters article catching Faux "news" distorting the photographs of 2 NYT reporters, Jacques Steinberg and Steven Reddicliffe:

During a segment in which Fox & Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade labeled New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe "attack dogs," Fox News featured photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered -- the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of Reddicliffe's hair moved further back on his head.

Now, we all know that Faux "news" is a propaganda outlet for the GOP; we all know that this is Standard Operating Procedure for any propaganda outlet.  However, this does NOT mean that we are to ignore them for doing it!  It's time to expose them for the Frauds they truly are.

I've had enough of their tactics, and I'm going to fight back from now on!

Please indulge me this caveat before I begin:

It's a Saturday night.  My husband is working, my children are in dreamland, and I'm kickin' back and catching up on some 'tivo' recordings.  Friday night's KO is what's on pause as I type.  Of course, only Keith could inspire me enough to interrupt my evening to type a diary on DKos.  ;-)

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At my point of stoppage of Friday's "Countdown", KO was interviewing Howard Fineman about the Dems' re-introducing the SCHIP Bill and how it's passage (and the act in general) pissed off georgie to the point where he appeared petulant during his "statement".  That made me laugh, actually, because we've been discussing his toddler-like "attributes" for years now here on DKos and elsewhere among the Tubes.

Anyway....

What caught me was when Fineman began talking about how the Dems are "deathly afraid" of the "raising taxes" meme that always comes from the righties, like clockwork.  It really got me thinking about why the Dems continue to take ownership for such a blatantly disingenuous attack.  I thought, 'Why don't they just don't come out and say, "We don't want to RAISE taxes!  We want to RE-ALLOCATE them!"'

Gosh, how I would LOVE to hear our Democratic Presidential Candidates, as well as all of our other contenders down the ticket, say this!  

While I was sitting in the dentist's office yesterday afternoon, I was trying like hell to focus on anything but the root canal on my upper molar that was underway.  That damn drill drives me nuts!  I feel like I'm being forced to hear nails down a chalkboard when that thing goes to work!

Anyway, I digress.  The distraction that worked best for me, aside from an ipod filled with music that was loaned to me, was thinking about how the Dems could really, honestly, passionately, and spiritedly separate themselves from the republiCons that are running.  And I came up with this.

Admittedly, I am not the savviest of users of the DKos search engine for previous diaries.  But I did one, and did not see anything about this story.  Given the latest horrors bestowed upon us by the cowardly ones of our Party, I thought I'd share this little nugget:

Las Vegas (NV) – In a sweltering hot parking lot, a young woman clutches her purse and runs to her car, chased by dozens of people.  But she’s not being robbed because the mob in pursuit - a strange mix of Defcon attendees, press and security personnel – just want pictures and video of the undercover reporter that’s just been outted by Defcon officials.

I recently started a new job.  It's a good job, and I'm happy to have the employment.  Thing is, the "making new friends" thing has really made me open my eyes.  Given the fact that my Kossacking has made me much more politically astute, I forget that there are others that walk among us not knowing a single thing about our government and the political demons who've bullied & sullied their way to the higher ranks of governance for our entire country.  

I forget that so many people simply don't know what's going on:  They don't even know the name "Jack Abramoff" or how Cheney organized the "energey meeting" behind closed doors and refuses to disclose a single thing that was discussed there.  They don't know anything about the CNMI or any other things that have been blatantly obvious to us all here at DKos for a number of months, and in some cases, for years now.

The other day, I was face to face with one of these folks.  I was floored at the gross ignorance that was bestowed upon me.  It literally rendered me speechless.

Last Thursday, as I was driving home from a job interview, I was loyally listening to NovaM Radio.  A woman called in to tell the host, Jeff Farias, that she had just gotten home from jail.

She was arrested and held for 9 hours for playing her radio (Air America / NovaM Radio) too loudly.

She's also legally blind.

Did I also mention that when the police let her go, it was 3am?  

Editor's Note:  My original title was "A New Name For GWB: Leroy Jenkins".  It was basically laughing at how this website takes a scene from an online game and compares this rogue player to Bush.  It was for a little comic relief, originally, but too much is going down this weekend for it to garner much attention.  [The original diary is still here and will be featured in blockquotes so you can separate my update.]  Then I got to thinking about this as a television commercial.  I think it would be a huge hit, maybe even worthy of Super Bowl ad-time, if one of "our" advocacy groups could pay the ad-cost, and also break through the corporate media blackout.  Please read along and let me know what you think. :-)

A lot has been discussed about the Religious Right (or, better yet, Wrong) and how they've become more and more audacious in pushing their radical "agenda" for control over our Society.  My husband (an alpha geek) just discovered this little gem on Slashdot (News for nerds, stuff that matters) and just knew that we would have a field-day with it (pathetic as it is).  

The blockquotes I have within this diary are taken off of the source website, richarddawkins.net

Update:
Some latent editing of my original diary led me to chopping off some details.  The main student here is named Matthew LaClair.  The teacher is from a town called Kearny in New Jersey.  Oh, and Matthew's Dad is the one who provided the info for Mr. Dawkins.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today is a great day for America!  We all have been pondering, wondering, ranting, raving, and simply trying to figure out just what is going on over at Air America Radio.  Over the past few years, that network has undergone many transformations, some good and some horrendous.  What immediately comes to mind is the fact that they purged their "cast" of very incredible talent; most recently, Mike Malloy.

The firing of Mike came as a huge blow to many of us loyal listeners.  His ability to say just what we've been feeling was cathartic for a great many of us.  When he was pulled off the air without so much as a warning, we were stunned; and his silence was deafening.

From time to time, we here at DKos get to talking about our "Civic Duty".  But, just what IS that "duty"?  I mean, yes.  We pay taxes.  That is clearly a "civic duty".  A great many of us here also consider voting to be a Civic Duty; but, just how many Americans truly feel that duty?  And in reality, how many of them actually ACT on that sense of duty?

With our country in so many quandries, I truly feel that we're collectively sitting at the cusp of major change, both at home and abroad.  And now, I feel, is the time to truly put "Civic Duty" into real, honest, action...and I have a proposal.

I also feel that, if proposed correctly, legislating Civic Duty would benefit Democracy as well as "The American Way".

Please, let me explain:

Did you just hear that?  I'm amazed.  John Laesch just got himself a HUGE endorsement in Randi Rhodes, LIVE, on her show!

Here's the skinny:

Randi's show "theme" today was, as usual, republi-con corruption, scandal, and sexual perversion / deviency.  Of course, during the discussions, the Foley scandal(s) came up as did Denny-boy Hastert.

Suddenly, a woman FROM Denny's district called in.  She was griping about what a loser Denny is and all that.  Randi asked if there was a Democratic challenger to Denny and the woman didn't know (nor did Randi)!!!

Hello All,

Here I am running after my children during their "fall break" with Air America Radio blaring in the background....and I hear Peter B. Collins on AAR Phx say that Mother Jones is reporting that Dennis Hastert had a private "prayer meeting" with a pastor in whom Denny confided that he will STEP DOWN!

Well, suddenly, the world seemed to stop (or at least start moving in ultra-slow motion).  I ran to my 'puter, pulled up Mother Jones, and WaBAM!  There's the article!  So, I'm sharing it with y'all.  Snippets below:

More after the flip:

Many of you know that slashdot is a widely popular website.  They accumulate millions of hits each day, and there are all kinds of discussions that take place there.  My husband is an avid reader, and he just sent me this link via email.

Basically, it tells about someone who put a message on their luggage calling the head of the TSA an idiot, and was detained as a result.  He's a frequent flyer that has grown impatient with the new airport security policies.  While attempting to go through airport security in Milwaukee, he had a 25 minute delay.  The slashdot post is below the fold:  

Alright.  Usually when polls come out, especially online polls, I vote them but don't care too much about the results.  To be honest, I consider many online polls to be a basic battle between us liberal blogs and the wingnut sites.  No real validity to them.

HOWEVER...

This one is different.  Vote(dot)com is going to be sending the results of their poll on whether WJC "did enough" to catch bin Laden and al Qaeda directly to him!  I think the least we can to is show our support for him by going over to this poll site and work our magic.

Taking a break from DKos for a bit today, I went over to FDL for a bit.  Given that they're really on top of the Lieberman/Lamont front, I wanted to get their take on what we've been discussing here at DKos.

Little did I know that I would come across a diary TRex wrote:  
"Why It Matters".  

It's a diary from August 9th, but I had missed it.  And I didn't know what I was getting myself into until I couldn't stop reading it....and I'm beside myself right now.

I have my own business (it happens to be a fundraiser, for anyone interested in AZ).  Today, I went into Tempe to deliver some information about my service to a High School.  While driving down Rural Road, I noticed a whole lot of large signs for various politicians...

But one stood out to me.  It was the sign for JD Hayworth.  Why would a sign for such a blatant rubber stamp political shill GWB wannabe be so "attractive" to me, you may ask?  I'll tell you why:

I first learned of the Leadership Institute when Jeff Gannon / James Guckert was "outed".  According to his bio, he apparrently attended this "Institute", which is where he earned his "esteemed" Journalism "degree".

During that time, my AAR station carried the Ed Schultz Show, and he telephoned this "institute" live and on the air.  He questioned the woman who answered the phone about their institution, and she said that they've graduated 40,000 people and have placed them into places of "import" throughout the media.

We're talking ALL media...not just faux news...

Well, I figured that if we're going to REALLY learn about what "they" have constructed over the last 3 decades, somebody had to delve into this place to see just WHAT they are up to...

I'm not very "savvy" at the research thing, but to get things started, I did a google search...It is my hope that the DKos community geniuses will find this worthy to further expose...Here's what I've got so far (below):

Okay, so I was driving in my car earlier today, and Randi Rhodes came on the radio.  I rarely catch her show at the onset, but today I'm glad I did.  In fact, what she had to say just about made me drive off the road!

Direct from the Randi Rhodes Website:

In an odd twist, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Nevada alleges that before you buy Bush's BS about gay marriage you should know about his own bisexual past.  In a press release, Leola McConnell invites you to read her account of this...

As the blockquote above states, Leola McConnell is currently running for Governor of Nevada as the Democratic candidate, which makes this all-the-more interesting...given her allegations and what it could mean to her political career...[[Please!  Read On!!]]