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Associated Press, Factcheck.org Expose McCain's Lies

The current national furor over the lies coming from the McCain-Palin camp reached a ridiculous level today when Factcheck.org had to call the campaign out for distorting the non-partisan's correction of Internet rumors about Palin—because McCain ran an ad that dishonestly said Factcheck said the Obama campaign told the lies, not anonymous Internet users. Uh, big difference. Factcheck.org today:

Equal Voice for America's Families

An employee of the Mississippi Workers' center for Human Rights invited me the attend a convention in Birmingham this past Saturday called Equal Voice for America's Families, which was sponsored by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. The convention took place simultaneously in Birmingham, Los Angeles and Chicago with a satellite feed connecting all three locations. A total of about 15,000 families participated in the event overall.

NPR's Juan Williams Credits JFP During Interview On Seale's Acquittal

During a 5-minute interview with NPR's Renee Montagne this morning, Juan Williams alludes to the Jackson Free Press' award-winning investigation leading up to James Ford Seale's conviction last June. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Seale's conviction on federal kidnapping charges on Sept. 9, citing that the statute of limitations had already run out.

‘Reformer' Palin Billed State for 312 Nights Spent at Home

The Washington Post is reporting that Gov. Sarah Palin and her family haven't been conservative with their expense reports in the year+ she as served as governor of Alaska:

Benefit for Serenity Lane(Child with Luekemia) Tues. Sept 9th 8pm @ Electric Cowboy

You guys know Im all about the kids!

I was asked by friends of the mother of young Serenity Lane to perform at a benefit on her behalf tomorrow. Im appealing to the entire JFP nation to open your hearts and simply show up! If you have kids as I do, I KNOW each and every one of you would want others to assist you in your time of need. Serenity needs valuable, almost life-saving procedures that cost a LOT of money. Without it, who knows what could happen. It has put upon my heart to appeal to all of you to come and donate to the cause. There will be great entertainment and your cover will go to Serenity's family for here medical expenses. Its THAT important. Ive even put aside my disdain for that damn rebel flag and my personal ban of patronizing any place that flies it to do this. So if I can find the time and heart...YOU CAN TOO.

10,000 Protesters Barely Make the News

In 2008 at the St. Paul Republican Convention, police arrested 818 protesters, which was less than half of the number arrested at their 2004 convention. Minneapolis had more than 3,700 well-trained, well-armed police officers on the street, and police and FBI raided suspected anarchists prior to the event.

Are Obama and McCain ‘Virtually Tied'?

I saw this notion pop up in another thread here on the JFP site and I thought it was worth a little more examination. (With apologies to Donna, this is pretty much all "horserace.")

84,000 Jobs Slashed in August

August Unemployment At Five-Year High

NPR reported this morning on last month's unemployment figures and updated numbers for June and July. Verbatim from their Web site:

Grand White Party

Saddest of all is that the Republican Party has essentially made no strides on race issues, as was in shocking evidence last night as Sarah Palin, Rudy Guiliani and Mitt Romney threw red meat, and belittlement of Obama, at an extremely white crowd. The Washington Post called it today in this story, In a More Diverse America, A Mostly White Convention:

Why Is Sarah Palin Sneering So Much?

Quite frankly, I'm shocked. I expected a speech from Palin that would make Americans who'd never heard of her last Friday *like* her. She's just sneering over and over agaon. I'm truly shocked at the level of nastiness here. There's a belittling tone here that I'm not used to hearing on a national stage. It feels very FOX News, and the room loves (and their return sneers reflect it), but I don't see how it plays to people who aren't going to vote for McCain already. And it could turn some off. Is she going to belittle world leaders she doesn't agree with? Weird. And puzzling.

Palin's Alaska: Funded by Oil Profits Tax

If Sarah Palin gets past this press cycle and remains the Vice Presidential nominee on the GOP ticket, there might be one interesting item from her brief tenure as governor of Alaska that would be worthy of discussion on the national stage -- her state's windfall profit sharing from oil leases. It turns out that every person who has lived in Alaska for over a year gets a $3,200 payout from the government thanks to taxes on oil companies; a family as large as Palin's would receive over $22,000 a year.

Is Palin a ‘Reformer'?

Word is that Sarah Palin's speech tonight will focus on being "a reformer." Thoughts?

(No sex-pregnancy-abortion scandal talk on this thread, please. I'm trying to break them up to make conversation talk easier.)

WAIT: Isn't It ‘Sexist' to Criticize Female Reporters!?!

It's call-the-messenger-sexist time. After keeping embattled running mate Sarah Palin under wraps since Monday, and canceling a CNN interview due to Campbell Brown asking about Palin's foreign policy expertise, McCain campaign today blamed the media for pursuing questions about Palin's background and said that the criticism of her is sexist. Read more at Politico:

"Voice of God" Don LaFontaine, Dead at Age 68

The movie-trailer king, Don LaFontaine, was a voiceover artist known for his baritone voice and the phrase, "In a world..." From the LA Times:

Bristol Palin, Unmarried and 17, Is Pregnant

The drama is coming fast and furious from the abstinence-only McCain-Palin campaign today. The Washington Post is reporting:

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