The election is not as in the bag as people say

Both the Pew poll and the Harris poll are back to calling the race a dead heat. Funny, since the Bush supporters I deal with at my job are saying that the election is "in the bag" and "not even worth worrying about."

There is a strangeness to them that has nothing to do with politics, but more that they don't think there is a difference between facts and opinions, unless they come from a news sourse they disagree with. Faux News could say that Bush heals the sick with the touch of his hand, and they'd believe it without questioning. CNN could show Bush strangling a baby while burning a flag, and they'd say it's some digital trick.

However, Kerry is finally starting to show some fight. In his speech to the National Guard yesterday, he said:

"[The president] did not tell you that with each passing day, we're seeing more chaos, more violence, more indiscriminate killings. He did not tell you that with each passing week, our enemies are getting bolder — that Pentagon officials report that entire regions of Iraq are now in the hands of terrorists and extremists. He did not tell you that with each passing month, stability and security seem farther and farther away... You deserve a president who will not play politics with national security, who will not ignore his own intelligence, while living in a fantasy world of spin, and who will give the American people the truth about the challenge our brave men and women face on the front lines."

With Iraq falling further in chaos, and Afghanistan slipping further out of control, he needs to HAMMER on this. Keep telling the truth and don't get distracted with who did what 30 years ago. The economy is shifting to a anti-middle class, low wage, service economy, bankruptcies are at their highest level ever, and the budget is primed to explode just as baby boomers retire. Who cares if they were ribbons or medals?

This is not a done deal, and Kerry only has to keep telling the truth to win. Bush is not running on his real record, but the perception of him as a person...because his record is one so bad that he should be behind by 10 points. The reason he's not is because Kerry has a poor campaign staff, and Bush's is brilliant and lives to hold power.

At this point, it seems like Bush wants it more, and last time, that was enough to win. We'll see if history repeats itself.

Blogging

I said that I was going to try to blog on a daily basis on my main page, and while I am getting no comments, maybe if I blog more, more people will start to notice the damn thing. Even though everyone on the planet HAS a blog, and some pyscho fuckers have blogs and on-line journals. That's writing time away from the novels and other stuff that I really should spare, but, what are you going to do, as the wisest man of them all (Homer Simpson) says.

I have been reading a lot about "the power of blogs", which strikes me as a bit silly. ANYONE can publish a blog. If I can do it, anyone can. If I say that the Bush Documents are REAL because I have a typewriter that uses superscript in my basement that I bought from an old Army post, does that make it true? Does it make it worth reading? Obviously, people are so enamoured of the whole idea of citizen news reporters that they are forgetting that news is more that just saying "Someone said this and this is what I think of it." News is facts, and the careful examination of the facts to make sure that they ARE facts.

The state of news in the US is easily at its worst since the robber barons of the early 20th Century when people would use newspapers to inflame the public for economic and political purposes. For a time, there was a feeling with newspapers that they were the beacons of truth, they would give people facts and dig for the real story. That changed after Watergate, mostly because you had a new crop of politicians wjho decided that that would never happen again. They shut down access, used leaks as strategy and reduced reporters to guys who simply print press releases.

Now, it's even worse, partly because the right wing has made BILLIONS of dollars by claiming that reporting facts is "liberal" and doing what you are told is news. I swear to whatever power I believe in at this moment that if Bush came out tonight in a speech and claimed the world was flat, the story would read:

Bush calls shape of Earth into doubt.

Last night, President Bush laid out his agenda to prove that the world is flat. He showed a lot of evidence that has not been seen before, and told a large crowd of supporters that he would not longer allow the scientists to lie to the American public about such important things. "It's you world, and you need to know what it looks like!" Bush said.

Scientists are disputing Bush's claim, saying that his evidence is flawed and showed their own evidence. This situationh will continue to be discussed by both parties and shows a division in the American Public

The story should read:

Bush Says world is flat.

President Bush claimed the world is flat in a speech last night before a hand picked crowd of supporters. This claim is totally unsupported by all known facts, and after examining Bush's evidence, it has been found lacking by experts in the field.

But it won't.

On another website related bit (yeah, I'm SO meta about it all), I have the July comics reviews done and am working on the graphic novel reviews yet to do, so they will both be up tomorrow, as the first Weekly News Update I have REALLY liked in a while. I might also hide the links to the on-going novel here in my blog just to give people something extra for reading this...especially since I'm only going to post the first chapter in a place that most readers can find it.

I haven't done a "Droning" for quite a while, mostly because there are so many people pissing and moaning on the internet that for me to do it, it either seems outdated or like I'm just part of the chorus. However, I'm starting to get revved up again about doing them, so I should have one out within a week or so. I am getting SO PISSED about the Presidential Campaign that I don't know how much longer I can just by and watch it.

Is that enough of a post for you?

Radio Waves (washingtonpost.com)

Radio Waves (washingtonpost.com): "Air America got its first 'book' -- the three-month Arbitron ratings -- in late July and exulted. In New York, its flagship WLIB generally trailed the leading talk station WABC in the 25-54 demographic but beat out rival WOR. Rhodes's afternoon show outdrew conservative stalwarts Bill O'Reilly, Bob Grant and Michael Savage, though not WABC's Sean Hannity. It was a strong debut.

Moreover, Air America got even higher numbers among 18-to-34-year-olds. 'Amazing stat,' marvels Rhodes, who did top Hannity in that group. 'Nobody on AM gets 18-to-34-year-olds.'

The Media Audit, a ratings company, surveyed New York listeners for Air America and found an affluent, ethnically diverse young audience, more female than is typical for talk, that gardens, works out at health clubs, disdains SUVs, attends concerts -- and votes. (Almost 11 percent self-identified as Republican, nearly 19 percent as independent.) 'Most stations would kill for this kind of launch,' said Media Audit executive Mike Bustell.

Consequently, commercials for blue-chip advertisers like Ford, Home Depot, Charles Schwab and American Express were increasingly joining the ads promising to help listeners lose weight, improve vocabularies and grow hair.

The ratings in Portland, so far the only other city with ratings, were even more dramatic: Air America affiliate KPOJ had suddenly jumped to the highest-rated commercial talk station in town from 8 in the morning to 10 at night among 25-to-54-year-olds. In her time slot, Rhodes's show was tied for first among all commercial stations -- AM and FM, talk and music."

A GREAT start for the new network, and the show this article highlights (Randy Rhodes) has become my favorite. I download it, listen to it at the gym and don't feel like I'm trapped in a country of gun nuts and psycho hillbillies.

Of course, I still don't have a lot of time, but I'm actually planning on updating the website tonight. So, all summer's worth of news will be up, and the comics will be up tomorrow.