http://www.lies.com believe nothing... Sun, 04 May 2008 11:02:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en From Timothy Noah in Slate: Hillary Clinton, Fairy Princess: Here's a rule I would like every political reporter, campaign official, TV talking head, and politician in the United States to follow. Go ahead and say, if you like, that Hillary Clinton retains a serious chance of winning the Democratic nomination. If ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/05/04/noah-does-the-math-on-hillarys-chances/ So, after watching a ton of citizen-produced 30-second Obama ads at MoveOn, I think this is my favorite: http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/04/29/obama-in-30-seconds/ Apologies, lies.com. I have been neglectful lately. To tide things over until I can obsess properly, I bring you: Portland Prom Prank Probed. As the parent of an almost-17-year-old, I can't condone the sentiment. But as a former wiseass, I appreciate the concept and execution. http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/04/24/the-portland-prom-prank/ The same pattern has repeated itself throughout the primary campaign: Hillary's people look for whatever they think they can hit Obama over the head with, no matter how logically suspect it is, no matter how weak an argument it amounts to, no matter how hypocritical it makes them. Their attitude ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/04/14/obama-on-hillarys-bitter-politicking/ Here's a YouTube video of Barack Obama questioning Condoleeza Rice during her Senate confirmation hearing in January 2005: It does a good job of demonstrating that aspect of Obama that I got from listening to his podcasts: That he's smart, and thinking on his feet, and that three years ago ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/04/09/obama-vs-rice-january-2005/ To lighten up your weekend, I offer the following stories I noticed this morning on BoingBoing: To The Stoner Who Works At Cottage Inn Pizza From Craigslist, an anonymous stoner expresses his thanks to the similarly baked employee at the local pizzeria who took his order for the Best Pizza Evar. I ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/04/05/netkooks-saturday-stoner-pizza-delivery-thanks-and-the-will-you-marry-me-patent-application/ Spencer Ackerman has a good article in The American Prospect on the likely direction that a President Obama would take in terms of US foreign policy: The Obama Doctrine. An excerpt: "There is a popular notion that Democrats have to try to appear like Republicans to pass some test on national ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/04/03/ackerman-on-the-obama-doctrine-me-on-the-rational-underpinnings-of-obamamania/ Yesterday was the Collin County Democratic caucus -- ours was held a day after most Texas counties held their caucuses as Collin County, without exaggeration, did not contain a venue large enough for the expected turnout on the scheduled March 29th date. And turn out we did: about ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/31/the-curious-caucus-experience-2/ No time to obsess right now, but this was too much in the lies.com sweet spot for me to pass it up. From The Smoking Gun, a story about how imprisoned con-man James Sabatino apparently gamed the LA Times into reporting fabricated news: Big Phat Liar. MARCH 26--Last week's bombshell Los ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/26/the-smoking-gun-on-james-sabatinos-la-times-con/ Honestly I wasn't expecting much from Obama's speech today on race, assuming that he would attempt to distance himself and Clinton from their respective supporters that have been trying to turn this into a racial election, in one direction or another. As it turns out, Obama takes this moment -- at ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/18/obama-speaks-truth-to-race/ I don't want to get pigeonholed as a Hillary hater. But the following just happens to be the thematically-connected material that strikes me as lies.com-significant lately: From my hero, Mark Kleiman: Too late, the truth about NAFTAgate. Short version: score one for Hillary, as a false-to-fact smear against Obama gets cemented ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/12/fact-checking-the-hillary-campaign/ I like Jonathon Schwarz a lot. Here he is talking about Hillary's 2002 speech condemning Saddam Hussein (delivered in the run-up to her Sure, George, Go To War vote in the Senate), but talking in a larger sense about politicians' lying and the social underpinnings of it: The Monster(s) Speak(s). In ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/10/schwarz-on-hillarys-2002-saddam-speech/ Intelligence is sometimes overrated. Stupidity can be a great source of truth, not to mention (black) comedy. In that vein I give you the Michael Scott of US television "journalists": Tucker Carlson. You have to sit through a commercial to view the video at that site (which is why I didn't ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/09/greenwald-on-carlson-on-peev-on-power-on-clinton/ Over time I've become less and less interested in fisking (which I'm using here to mean the process of dissecting a dishonest online argument by posting a response that plows through it a sentence or two at a time, interjecting criticisms), but with that said, this piece by libertarian Julian ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/09/sanchez-on-continetti-on-congress-on-fisa/ Just submitted via the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund's contact page: I really liked your youtube video featuring the audio of the Oklahoma state legislator making the homophobic comments. (Well, I was appalled by it. But I like that you're helping to publicize it.) I'm trying to figure out why you would ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/07/gay-lesbian-victory-funds-were-listening-video/ Two district conventions were held together in the fire station a mile or so from my house this evening at 7pm. This isn't the kind of event I would have predicted I would be spending an evening on a couple years ago even, but having spent so much time ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/04/the-curious-experience-of-caucusing-in-texas/ The Texas Democratic primary is a pretty strange hybrid of general voting and caucusing -- and it's not even that simple. But Texas Democrats -- normally drowned in either red-statedom or late-primary irrelevancy -- should take note that not only has the close Clinton/Obama race put them in a ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/03/03/texas-democrats-count-for-once/ We have Onan to thank for bringing my attention to this one: My Favorite Liar. As the quarter progressed, the Lie of the Day became more subtle, and many ended up slipping past a majority of the students unnoticed until a particularly alert person stopped the lecture to flag the disinformation. ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/02/26/kai-changs-favorite-liar/ Some totally good news, for once. Black Mountain were on Conan last night. I cannot say enough good things about these guys, check it out. Clip http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/02/26/black-mountain/ When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or, when your elevation of an incompetent tool who de-emphasizes counterterrorism and surrounds himself with people whose main qualification is that their sense of personal loyalty is absolute, even if their intellectual gifts and track record of past accomplishments leave something to be ... http://www.lies.com/wp/2008/02/23/gop-goes-to-the-fear-well-again/