connecting*the*dots

Al Franken is a fucking warrior for the truth — from his dedication to battle the system’s misinformation on Air America to walking into classrooms, teaching our youth to be aware of the snakes in the media by using long division.

Literally.

In one brilliant scene, he exposed Brit Hume’s bullshit statistics regarding the safety in Iraq compared to the yearly homicide death count in California, by simply dividing the death tolls by taking the populations of each territory. .002745 is not greater than .25 (my figures might be off).

Talk about proving why math matters to kids.

Nick Doob & Chris Hegedus’ God Spoke is an amazingly revealing peek into Franken’s life and social periphery. His devotion to family and friends (from his father and wife to Paul Wellstone) is a revealing exploration of his character, providing a glimpse into his inspiration to both participate and live in a fair, democratic Republic.

And of course, the guy is simply funny as hell. One of the greatest moments of the movie came when he and Ann Coulter engaged in a debate, on stage, before a live audience. The moderator asked Ann who she would choose to be if she could be anyone throughout history. Her response? Twofold: Sen. McCarthy because of his ability to expose Democrats as communists and FDR, so she could revoke The New Deal.

Hsss’s from the Austin audience filled the theater.

Al’s choice? Hitler, so he could revoke the holocaust, WWII, etc. In-the-moment fucking brilliance that brought down the house I tell you.

He’s running in 2008 for a Senate seat in Minnesota. I can’t wait to see his first debate (if his opponent doesn’t duck and hide that is). Keep on keeping on Al, and don’t ever change to win an election.

We need more people like you willing to take politics back to the people while staying real.

So the right wing fanatics over at the Media Research Center have started their own Media Matters for America with a few "subtle" differences:

1. Newsbusters is going after a "Liberal media bias," while Media Matters goes after "Conservative misinformation in the media." The difference between bias and misinformation is huge, with the former being a caddy conversation while the latter is fact based.
2. Apparently, comedians and actors are going to be held to the coals in this revue of bias

Look out Al Franken, David Letterman and George Clooney, you’d better stick to a serious discussion of the news, brought to you straight from the Fox Broadcasting Channel. No sarcasm, sardonic humor, satire or narrative stories about actual historical figures, or the Newsbusters are going to bust your ass!

How much do you want to bet that each of these losers have toy Ghostbuster hearses resting on top of their cubes. They probably had a launch party in full Egon Spengler gear with DJ Don “My Wife Is Still Hot” Surber flipping 8-Tracks.

Check out Al taking out a Colorado Righty. Okay, okay, it’s only a bit for his new book, "The Truth (with jokes)."

You gotta love a bookstore with a sense of humor.

(forwarded by blather)