Man, I met up with my brother right after he had finished filming this.  He said it was probably the saddest thing he’s ever had to film.

This is the 30 minute special that Barack Obama aired last night across the major networks.

I came across this at work this morning.  Wow, he isn’t even in office yet.  Link related.  Pics are related too.

Daniel Cowart

Paul Shlesselman

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jsCEnrVzDQoU5tg63njLNy0UTDNAD94330J00

By LARA JAKES JORDAN – 29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents have broken up a plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives said Monday.

In court records unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn., federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school in a murder spree that was to begin in Tennessee. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of ATF’s Nashville field office, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

The men also sought to go on a national killing spree after the Tennessee murders, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.

“They said that would be their last, final act — that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama,” Cavanaugh said. “They didn’t believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying.”

An Obama spokeswoman traveling with the senator in Pennsylvania had no immediate comment.

The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond. Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.

Attorney Joe Byrd, who has been hired to represent Cowart, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.

Cowart and Schlesselman are charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president.

The investigation is continuing, and more charges are possible, Cavanaugh said.

The court records say Cowart and Schlesselman also bought nylon rope and ski masks to use in a robbery or home invasion to fund their spree, during which they allegedly planned to go from state to state and kill people.

For the Obama plot, the legal documents show, Cowart and Schlesselman “planned to drive their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows.”

“Both individuals stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt,” the court complaint states. “Both individuals further stated they knew they would and were willing to die during this attempt.”

Cavanaugh said there’s no evidence — so far — that others were willing to assist Cowart and Schlesselman with the plot.

He said authorities took the threats very seriously.

“They seemed determined to do it,” Cavanaugh said. “Even if they were just to try it, it would be a trail of tears around the South.”

Associated Press writer Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

Ashley Todd

Meet Ashley Todd, a McCain-Palin campaign volunteer claimed she was attacked by a mugger who she said carved a “B” into her cheek with a knife.  She claims that a black male mugged her at the ATM.  During this “muggery” the  black male became enraged when he noticed her McCain bumber sticker, punched her in the back of the head, knocked her to the ground, and said ”you are going to be a Barack supporter”.  He then proceeded to cut a backwards “B” into her cheek.   She now admits to making up the story and police say Todd now faces charges of filing a false police report and possibly other charges.  Wow.

I can’t believe that she tried to use the Susan Smith defense.  But then again, given the tone of the McCain campaign, I actually can.

Here is a little /b/ mock-up that I did.  Pretty much sums up the last debate, at least how I see it.

Joe The Plumber

This is the Comment of the Week, something that I’m going to start blogging.  Have you ever read the comments to a news story or article and thought to yourself, “damn, that was a good comment”?.  Well, I do.

THE FOLLOWING COMMENT WAS POSTED ON WIRED.COM IN RESPONSE TO THE “McCain’s VP Wants Creationism Taught in School” ARTICLE.  

Posted by: Laura | Aug 29, 2008 12:18:21 PM“

Do you like my Fox -esque title?  I call it Hannitizing.  That’s when you put a question mark behind an innuendo to make it appear as if you’re posing a genuine inquiry.

Fair and Balanced?

Remember when the church that Barrack Obama attended in Chicago was under scrutiny?  Remember when Fox ran a “news” segment in which they were trying to explain to their viewers the habitat of “black churches”?  If you’ve seen it, remember the tone of that segment?  How it was as if they were reporting on a species of animal in the wild, a narrative to a panoramic?  I do.  I remember it because it stood out to me as something indigestive.  I couldn’t believe the tone; more than the misinformation, more than the underlying message of racial divide – specifically the feeling that they needed to present and explain to their constituency how one race worships differently than theirs, the blatant condescension; yes, the tone was even more indigestive than those things.  Why?  Because it’s the tone that I consider the metric for determining motive.  Tone sets the stage and is present from the time the curtains open until way past the denouement.  Tones in our society and media have become contrapuntal; while I agree that independent and free moving ideas and dialogue are important to a democratic society, I also believe it can be a very dangerous thing.  Especially if the audience can’t understand a motive because they can’t hear the tone.

Summary from Media Matters:

Jerome Corsi’s appearance on the July 20 edition of The Political Cesspool Radio Show – during which he promoted The Obama Nation and criticized Sen. Barack Obama — was streamed “Live” on the self-described “White Nationalist” and “White Pride” website Stormfront.org. Prior to Corsi’s appearance on the July 20 broadcast, host James Edwards claimed that “most Jews … regard[] Jews and whites as two different races,” and co-host Winston Smith repeatedly referred to Obama as a “mulatto.”

Below is a screenshot of a google cache of the website:

Jerome Corsi White Pride

Here is an audio clip courtesy of Media Matters:

Jerome Corsi\’s 20 July 2008 appearance on \”The Political Cesspool Radio Show\”

You can check out the full scoop on this at Media Matters.

Now I hope everyone can see exactly what the quality of the Fox News and ultra-right wing constituency really is.

. A new national study by the Pew Research Center shows that 12 percent of the country still believes Obama is a Muslim. ANP takes a look at this recurring theme as reflected in the media.