L.A.'s right-wing City Council

For all the supposed broadmindedness of America's major cities, you'd think Los Angeles would have at least one progressive member on its City Council.

But much like how Congress has maybe a dozen reliably liberal members at most, Los Angeles City Council has not a single one.

Yesterday, City Clowncil unanimously passed a resolution urging the city's school system to make it mandatory for students to wear uniforms.

This despite the fact that California law - as well as the First Amendment and the U.S. Supreme Court's Tinker v. Des Moines ruling - prohibits public schools from requiring uniforms. The California statute says public schools must allow students to opt out of uniform policies.

Why is this such an important issue? Unfortunately, groupthink in our schools lays the foundation for molding our children's minds into cheap, docile cogs in the corporatist tire. Uniforms stifle out-of-the-box thinkage.

The media continues to ignore the report that revealed that uniforms are made in abusive sweatshops.

If there is one issue where we haven't yet been able to prevail, it's our fight against public school uniforms. You'd expect the Republicans to favor uniforms, but we'll prevail sooner if the Democrats add a plank against uniforms - and if they hold candidates to this plank. Our side will win in the end. That's the natural order of things. Better now than later.

I also plan on submitting a model federal statute based on the California law requiring an opt-out. We'll see which lawmakers are willing to sign on.

(Source: http://cbs2.com/local/City.Council.passes.2.1291978.html)

Oscar invents grouch computer ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

As 'Sesame Street' celebrates its 40th anniversary, I've noticed that Google has included Big Bird's legs in its logo the past couple days.

But nobody can beat the ol' Osk!

Why, back in 1984, Oscar the Grouch invented a grouch computer. It was a computer that displayed grouchy messages:



The grouch computer is believed to be a direct ancestor of Windows 98, judging by how Windows 98 seemed to lapse into a flickering blue screen of death if you typed too fast or had more than 2 applications open at once.

However, the grouch computer looked uncannily like an Atari 800 with wrinkled paper grocery bags or potato sacks wrapped around it.

Oscar, you are a hero to us all!

Right-wing school board member loses reelection bid

Meet Jennifer Miller, a member of the Mason, Ohio, school board.

I profiled Miller before because (among other things) she demanded that creationism be taught in public schools. She also threw a big shitfit during a school board meeting.

Later, Miller filed a frivolous RICO suit against ACORN.

Yesterday, however, Jennifer Miller lost her reelection bid. Yes, she utterly lostimated.

If a movement conservative can be defeated in suburban Cincinnati, it bodes ill for them everywhere.

Another program closed!

Good news, good news, Boss!

Another youth confinement program is closed - and hopefully it'll stay that way.

A months-long state investigation of Mount Bachelor Academy near Prineville, Oregon, revealed child abuse, neglect, and major violations of state licensing rules. This "therapeutic boarding school" for troubled teens has now been immediately closed by Oregon's human services bureau.

This closure is only on a temporary basis for now, but it may become permanent.

The probe found 9 substantiated acts of child abuse or neglect. As an example of this, teenagers at this "school" were required to make self-degrading comments out loud in front of peers, or forced to engage in "sexualized role play."

But Mount Bachelor is seeking a restraining order to stop the state from closing it.

"The industry" may not be beaten yet, but it's feeling the heat.

(Source: http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=11438297)

Bank seizes wrong house

Big banks are so eager to repossess houses, that they no longer even bother to make sure they have the right home!

In Wheelwright, Kentucky, a man arrived home recently to find his house in shambles. The locks were changed, and the home was heavily damaged. The damage is so severe that he can't use the house.

His home had been repossessed by Bank of America - apparently in a foreclosure. It turns out though that Wank of America had the wrong house. The man did not have any business relationship with this bank.

And now the bank won't pay for the damage - so he's suing the bank to court (as I always say). The suit also names the agents hired by the bank to seize the house.

There ought to be some stiff criminal charges too.

(Source: http://www.floydcountytimes.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Man+sues+after+bank+takes+wrong+house%20&id=4217211&instance=lead_story_left_column)

Well, Creigh Deeds was about useless

Well, what did the DLC learn from yesterday's election?

Anything?

GOP becomes third party in yet another city

This time it's Albany, New York.

In Albany's mayor election today, the Republican candidate finished third - with only 7% (!) of the vote.

This election was won by a Democrat, while the Working Families party (which usually runs to the left of the Democrats) came in second.

Democrat wins congressional seat in California

"You had a bad day...The camera don't lie (except in Virginia)..."

This contest isn't a Democratic pickup, because this seat was Democratic anyway, but in any event...

The Democrats have now won a special election for a House seat in California. This win was by a smashing double-digit margin.

This too was an election that the Tea Party whack-a-doos pointed to as a possible Republican pickup. Well, this shows the BTPers who's boss, doesn't it?

GOP finishes third in congressional election

Rural upstate New York joins San Francisco and East St. Louis in the growing list of places where the Republicans are now literally a third party.

In the special House election today in northern New York to fill the seat vacated by right-wing Republican John McHugh, the GOP has just finished in third place - in what has long been a heavily Republican district. In second place is a buffoonish nobody named Doug Hoffman - the candidate of New York's Conservative Party. In fact, Republican candidate Deirdre Scozzafava was trailing so badly in polls that she effectively quit her campaign on Saturday.

Even the right-wingers are abandoning the Republicans now???

Who do the Republicans have left? The GOP had been bleeding support since 2005, and now even the conservatives have abandoned them too?

For the record, the Democrats really didn't even have a candidate running in this election. Instead they ran one Bill Owens (not to be confused with the right-wing former Colorado governor of the same name), who isn't even a registered Democrat and opposes health care reform. Nonetheless, Owens won - giving the Democrats another net gain in Congress.

What's really interesting about the Republicans' bad showing is that this is just going to encourage the Republicans to move further right to recoup the losses on that end. And this will just alienate everyone else even more.

If there ever was a circular firing squad, it's the modern Republican Party.

GOP wins one (for once)

Guess which one?

Chris Christie, naturally. Yes, the guy we've laughed at the most.

Of course, this wasn't without draining a substantial portion of the Republicans' war chest and basically making Christie look like the fool he is.

Democrats win Cincinnati too!

The Democrats don't seem to be having many problems in major cities today.

Cincinnati has reelected Democratic Mayor Mark Mallory by a smashing double-digit margin.

What's particularly amusing is that the Tea Party screwballs pointed to the Cincinnati contest as a sign of a possible Republican resurgence.

Some resurgence, huh?

Fifteen years ago, Cincinnati was the most Republican major city in America. Now the GOP can't even lose by less than 10%?

Of course, the national media is completely ignoring this contest, because the Republicans in this contest are getting their asses handed to them.

Charlotte elects Democratic mayor

Sorry about the delay, folks. I spent most of the evening battling browser lock. Anyway...

The polls in much of the country are closed now, and I've got a result in that I didn't even see coming: Charlotte (North Carolina's largest city) has elected a Democratic mayor. After a string of right-wing Republicans, this is the first Democratic mayor Charlotte has had in 22 years.

Are the Republicans even still a party in any city with over 300,000 people?

If Sue Myrick wasn't living, she'd be spinning in her grave.

So this is what America's come to, huh?

Is America still the land of the free?

If I'd known the country would ever come to this, I would have climbed into bed years ago and lived out my days reading maps and listening to old 'American Top 40' reels.

Now an article in the Tulsa World reveals that Oklahoma authorities are now requiring anyone who buys over-the-counter allergy drugs to submit their birthdate.

What's really chilling is this sentence in the article: "A birth date is now required, in addition to a full name and a state-issued identification number."

State-issued identification number? Just to buy an over-the-counter drug that had no restrictions 5 years ago?

Really? This is what the supposed freest nation on the planet has come to?

Authorities' excuse is that this new measure will halt sales to people using fake ID's. But if people are using fake ID's, how will the new rule help? Besides, you didn't even need an ID to buy this product until just a few years ago!

You may be asking how government officials stay in power despite being so inept that they think they need to implement this measure. But the more serious question is why we live under the delusion that we have so much freedom when you get carded for Sudafed?

(Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=17&articleid=20091103_11_0_hrimgs642658)

Maniac who deliberately hurt cyclists convicted

During a glut of deliberate assaults on bicyclists not long ago, I believe I touched on an incident in Los Angeles in which a motorist deliberately injured 2 cyclists. While driving on a narrow road last year, the driver intentionally slammed his car's brakes while traveling in front of the cyclists - which flung the cyclists into his car.

Now the 60-year-old doctor has been found guilty of all 7 counts stemming from the case.

Any creep who'd try to injure cyclists by suddenly braking in front of them is a menace to society. I hope this sorry excuse for a man gets 10 years (the maximum sentence allowed).

And since he's a physician, I hope he gets his medical license revoked. Something tells me he violated the Hippocratic Oath when he injured those bicyclists.

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cyclist3-2009nov03,0,761131.story)

Medical marijuana raids continue despite new guidelines

BushAmerica means less regulation of Big Business but more regimentation of personal conduct.

When the Obama administration issued new guidelines requiring federal authorities to keep their mitts out of medical marijuana usage in states where it's legal, I was skeptical that these relaxed guidelines would even be followed. My fear was that the malicious prosecutions and raids would continue despite this order.

Guess what? They have.

Joseph Russoniello - a Bush-appointed federal prosecutor for northern California - boasts that the raids will continue. Guidelines be damned.

Why isn't Russoniello being kicked to the curb? He should be fired instantly for not following the law.

If I was President, do you think I'd tolerate a federal prosecutor disobeying the law after new guidelines were issued about this very thing?

The DEA of course is so corrupt that DEA agents are probably selling all the marijuana it finds during these raids - then seizing it again and reselling it.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/inthemission/detail?entry_id=50860&tsp=1)

Chris Christie threatened with suit for stealing Monty Python bit

It's bad enough that this crooked loser wants to be Governor of New Jersey. But how in the holy high hell did he get to be a U.S. Attorney - or any attorney?

GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie is now facing a lawsuit threat from Monty Python because he stole one of their sketches to use in a campaign ad.

If Christie is such a great legal eagle and all, why doesn't he understand copyright law?

Always look on the bright side of losing elections, Chris.

(Source: http://www.indecisionforever.com/2009/11/02/monty-python-threatens-lawsuit-against-rep-chris-christie-or-how-to-tell-copyright-infringement-from-quite-a-far-way-away/?xrs=)

The scattered shards of Jim Traficant's career

Jim Traficant was a Democratic congressman from Ohio some years back.

Years ago, I had some degree of approval of Traficant thanks to his economic populism he displayed at the time. As a Youngstown area sheriff, he was one of few law enforcement officers bold enough to exercise his choice not to enforce foreclosures.

But his congressional career ground to a halt after his bribery conviction. By that time, Traficant had become such a self-caricature that his congressional webpage featured an animated picture of himself in which he appeared to be jacking off.

Since being released from prison, Jim Traficant has gone totally bonkers. In fact, he was headed that way even before his conviction.

In September, Traficant appeared on MSNBC's 'Hardball' and delivered a tirade that was virtually indistinguishable from a right-wing talk radio rant.

Traficant boasted about speaking at the right-wing "anti-tax" Tea Parties - yet demanded that the federal government institute a 25% sales tax, as advocated by the FairTax cult.

The FairTax is a hallmark of a thoroughly washed-up politician. Regardless of what the politician's ideology was at their peak, all such political figures seem to conclude their public lives with FairTax nonsense emanating from their lips.

Typically, ineffective politicians do this. A true statesperson does not.

While it's clear Jim Traficant's political career is over, he's actually threatening to run for Congress again. "I'm 25 years old, I'm eligible to run," said the 68-year-old Traficant.

Whatever, Jim.

(Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27505.html)

Vatican joins War on Halloween

I had involvement with the Catholic Church for a majority of my lifetime - but I have to admit that this story proves the complete irrelevance of the Church's bureaucracy.

Either that, or it makes the bureaucracy much more of a threat to the public's freedom than before. After all, there are a few individuals in this fine land who have no grasp of separation of church and state, and they believe religious doctrine should be reflected in government policies.

The Vatican has now condemned Halloween. The Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, calls October 31 "anti-Christian" and charges that Halloween is based on an evil "undercurrent of occultism."

The Vatican warned parents not to allow their kids to go trick-or-treating or wear Halloween costumes.

If any American jurisdiction still honors "values voters", I wonder if Halloween won't be completely outlawed in these areas after the Church's official condemnation of Halloween is read.

I take it very seriously when there's a risk of religious bodies imposing their beliefs on an unwilling public. I've seen what this disregard for separation of church and state can do, and I refuse to live by the rule of anyone who disregards this constitutional concept.

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6467253/Vatican-condemns-Halloween-as-anti-Christian.html)

Free speech denied to animal rights activists

In BushWorld, accusing someone of terrorism is a fatal charge - especially when the First Amendment is only a memory.

In America's Lost Decade, folks have been arrested in the United States for distributing news stories that the government took exception to. So who's surprised when someone is arrested for "terrorism" just because of speech?

Animal rights activists face particular scrutiny for their speech.

As corporations abuse animals to test cosmetics and other goods, these companies assert that they have a "right" to disregard animal welfare. But nobody can dare to challenge them without risking hard time.

The elder Bush signed a 1992 law designed to suppress what was previously regarded as animal rights activists' free speech. The younger Bush expanded this law in 2006. This statute prohibits acts that were previously legally protected, if these acts cause even an economic loss for targeted companies. This law has even been interpreted by some observers to bar animal rights groups from secretly videotaping companies' abuses.

Some have even speculated that this law might be used to go after folks who disrupt illegal enterprises like animal fighting.

You don't have to do anything violent to be prosecuted under this law. You don't even have to engage in any property damage to be prosecuted under this law.

All you have to do is engage in speech. Even speech that does not encourage illegal activities is targeted. Animal rights activists have been imprisoned under this law just for speech that advocated activity that was previously legally protected.

Corporations that abuse animals may have more protections from peaceful opposition than any other industry in America. And it's even worse that these firms have exploited fear of terrorism by saying that nonviolent animal rights activists are terrorists. Indeed, lobbying for the current law was bankrolled by Big Business.

Astonishingly, a recent court ruling upheld the convictions of animal rights activists under this law - even though the speech they were prosecuted for did not threaten any individual and did not encourage violent crimes.

It's even more astonishing that the laws apply specifically to animal rights activists - and no other cause. The Tea Party crowd can get away with far more than what animal rights groups can do before any law starts to kick in.

Former bishop charged with child porn

A former Roman Catholic bishop in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is in heaps and heaps of trouble.

The recently retired bishop has been charged with distributing and selling child porn, after border agents say they found kiddie porn on his laptop.

At the time of his resignation, he was overseeing a multimillion-dollar settlement that was awarded to victims of clergy sex abuse that took place in his diocese.

(Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bishop+facing+child+porn+charges/2051473/story.html)

Week 12 of POOP

Three months and counting, Google. Three months and counting.

Google's heavily touted post removal page is still down, and its help forum is still asleep - as evidenced by their failure to clear away all the spam.

So last week, I had no choice but to mail Google a DMCA takedown notice to force it to remove my copyrighted works that reappeared.

Don't get me wrong: The DMCA is horseshit. But since YouTube (which Google owns) accepts fourth-party DMCA takedown complaints by corporations that have no connection to the "infringing" material, it'll be interesting to see if Google complies with my demand to take down my copyrighted posts.

Google's stated policy is to respond to every DMCA complaint. I mailed my letter on Wednesday, so they'll probably get it by Thanksgiving. Then we'll know whether the DMCA only protects corporations and not individuals in the world of Google.

Comcast taking over NBC?

If the FCC doesn't put its foot down, we're doomed.

Comcast is the cable TV giant known for its shitty service and for trying to move channels to tiers that reach fewer viewers if the channel is perceived as not toeing the right-wing party line. Thus, Comcast gives Fox News Channel preferred treatment over competitors.

But now it's believed that Comcast is on the verge of buying most of NBC. Under this deal, Comcast would own a majority of NBC Universal.

Granted, this blog has already blackballed NBC because of MSNBC's hit piece against the Obama campaign in which it stupidly doctored a Michelle Obama speech. Although this hoax was of such poor quality that it rivaled that of a grade school student making a fake report card on an old dot matrix printer, the network's intent to derail Obama was clear.

Even without any political bias, Comcast's attempted takeover of NBC should still be ruled out of bounds. For one thing, having a cable TV company own a network is a clear conflict. For another, FCC policies are supposed to guarantee a "diversity of voices" - not concentration of the media into fewer hands.

In the meantime, the FCC also needs to split up other network ownerships that would have been illegal before the disastrous Telecommunications Act of 1996. For instance, CBS owns half of CW. Before 1996, it was illegal for 2 networks to be co-owned. The other half of CW is owned by...Time Warner - yes, another cable giant. Fox owned MyTV, whose ratings were so dismal that it recently left the network biz.

Indeed, News Corporation - which owns Fox - has even been a potential bidder to buy NBC!

If the FCC won't rein in media consolidation, what good is it?

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/business/media/02nbc.html)

Introducing the Fascism Advisory System!

Through most of the Bush era, Fox News Channel was eager to remind us of the latest terror alert level issued by the government.

Even Tom Ridge later admitted that the color-coded system was used for political purposes.

Now we take exception to the America-haters in the Bush White House who exploited this system.

I've developed something called the Fascism Advisory System. It's a color-coded scale to show what the current threat of fascism in the United States is.

Right off the bat, you may notice that I've corrected the reversal of blue and green that plagued Bush's chart. (Green should be betwixt yellow and blue.)

Right now, the Fascism Advisory System is at yellow - which means elevated but not extreme. Sadly, yellow is as low as it would have ever been in my adult life. It would probably be at red for 10 of the past 15 years.

The current ranking of yellow takes into account the predicted results of tomorrow's elections - which wouldn't have much of an effect on this system anyway, since this is an off year in most of the country.

Jan's pee-colored glasses

Since this is a weekend, you need a break from the serious political items that usually people this blog.

So how about a humorous 'Brady Bunch' parody?

I've created this parody by dubbing humorous dialogue into a brief scene in an episode of 'The Brady Bunch' that first aired in 1971:



That episode was the one in which Jan ruined the portrait by crashing her bike into it while not wearing her glasses. Yes, the magic word was used.

This was the same episode in which Alice the housekeeper bubbled.

Never trust the Tea Parties

Never trust the filmy morons behind the ongoing Tea Party movement.

I never did, and this story shows why.

Just now, the head of the Cincinnati chapter of the BTPers posted a comment on one of my entries about the Tea Parties last month. He accuses me of deleting his earlier comment on another entry. "Hmm... looks like my comment disappeared," he complains.

You can read his complaint here:

http://onlinelunchpail.blogspot.com/2009/10/btpers-duck-and-run-cloud-of-sawdust.html

Guess what? Despite what he claims, I never deleted his original comment. In fact, it's still up as I write this, and you can find it here:

http://onlinelunchpail.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-surround-them.html

Making false accusations of deleting posts is what the BTPers have stooped too? Kind of reminds you of the old Internet flamewars of yesteryear, doesn't it?

If I erased his post, why is it still up? Because I never erased it! The Tea Partiers have nothing to go on, so they just make up shit.

And you wonder why I say they're not to be trusted? This shows the type of dirty tricks they engage in - and I'm on to them.

For the record, I have no interest in participating in a "bloggers' roundtable" organized by these liars - in which they'll be the ones controlling the flow of ideas.

Chris Christie abused office (imagine that!)

The scandals keep coming for Chris Christie, Republican gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey.

Back in 2006, Christie - then a U.S. Attorney under Bush - used his office in an attempt to wreck Bob Menendez's Senate candidacy. The subpoenas Christie issued have yet to result in a single conviction - which indicates Christie's actions were politically motivated.

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether a political figure being targeted by another political figure is guilty of what they're accused of doing. I've had experience with politicians in my own community going out of their way to let me down and trample everything I stand for just as they were being targeted, so it's hard for them to find much support. In this case, however, it's clear that Christie was abusing his office.

But that's old news for many.

Now there's further evidence to show that Christie considered his office to be just a vassal state of the GOP, as phone records reveal ongoing interactions between Christie's office and State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, a member of his inner circle.

Other phone records suggest Christie leaked information about subpoenas of 3 Democratic lawmakers. Such a leak would be a crime on Christie's part.

Some corruption-fightin' machine, huh?

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/31/799152/-NJ-Gov:-More-Evidence-Christie-Abused-His-Office-As-U.S.-Attorney)

Candidate threatens to evoke Tenth Amendment against EFCA

Has any member of the right-wing brain trust even read the Tenth Amendment?

The Tenth Amendment protects state and personal autonomy from federal power grabs. If a state wants to use its power to protect the rights of its citizenry, it may.

This should have been useful for fighting the Bush regime's "preemption" fetish, in which Bush tried using federal force to gut state laws on things like consumer protections or other regulations on Big Business.

The Tenth Amendment does not prohibit federal laws that safeguard constitutional rights or legally protected activity, or pose no threat to state autonomy.

But don't tell that to Ken Cuccinelli II, the extremist nut who's running as the Republican candidate for Virginia Attorney General.

A word about Virginia Democrats: They're so inept that they can barely win a statewide election even when victory seems like it should jump right in their laps. Although President Obama won Virginia, the Democrats at the state level are an illegible mimeograph of the Republicans. So the GOP's bullshit goes largely unchallenged in Virginia.

Cuccinelli says that if he's elected, he's going to use the Tenth Amendment to pull the state out of the Employee Free Choice Act, a proposed federal law that would make it easier for workers to unionize.

Seriously. He really did say this.

He actually thinks he can allow his state to defy a perfectly legal federal law that protects perfectly legal activity (namely, unionization).

Cuccinelli also attacks the Democrats for supporting "heavy regulation" - but in the same statement, he pledges to protect Virginia's draconian work-for-less law.

If anything is excessive regulation, it's work-for-less laws. These laws hamstring unionized workers by forcing them to subsidize nonunion labor.

Ken Cuccinelli sounds like he wants to turn the Old Dominion into his personal right-wing fiefdom where he can defy any law he doesn't like.

Wal-Mart company towns try to ban book

Some have called Cincinnati a company town, as there has been little tolerance for criticism of the region's corporate powers. Speak ill of a Cincinnati corporation, and notice the scowls and irritated sighs that follow.

But this may be nothing compared to what befalls those who dare to criticize Wal-Mart in northwestern Arkansas.

The region around Bentonville, Arkansas, is in effect a company town commandeered by Wal-Mart, which is based there.

Now a new book - 'Boom Town: How Wal-Mart Transformed An All-American Town Into An International Community' by Marjorie Rosen - is under fire in the area's so-called public libraries.

Library trustees in Bentonville and Rogers have canceled appearances by Rosen because they consider the book too "inflammatory" against Wal-Mart. This despite the fact that the book actually takes a somewhat positive view of the embattled retail giant.

President Kennedy once said that libraries should be open to all - except the censor. The last place a censor should be is on a library's board of trustees.

(Source: http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=7fe6b71a-7a88-40de-bb9e-51ef0320418b)

Magic gum balances itself on thumb (Bubble Gum Weekend)

Since this is Halloween weekend, there's sure to be lots of gum in circulation - giving you uncontrollable fits of laughter.

But what can be funnier than Freshen-Up - the amazing gum with a liquid center known for its free road atlas offer?

Absolutely nothing!

I vaguely recall this 1979 commersh that showcased an amazing magic property Freshen-Up purportedly had:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJND-CL3YkQ

According to this ad, packs of Freshen-Up could magically balance themselves on the tip of your thumb.

However, I believe I tried balancing packs of this brand o' BG on my thumb when I saw this commercial. All that happened was that the pack of gum fell on the floor and risked being gobbled up by the family canine.

I had no trouble balancing a yardstick on my thumb, but a tiny little pack of gum just couldn't cut it.

Can I sue Freshen-Up for false advertising?

New York Post launches hit piece on Corzine

The New Jersey gubernatorial race may be one of few bright spots for Republicans in the Northeast - but there's no doubt that only the right-wing media has made it competitive.

Republicans are building their campaign against Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine (pictured here) on assailing the nonexistent "robbing of the suburbs" and on touting GOP candidate Chris Christie's record of fighting corruption (even though Christie fixed traffic tickets and was part of the crooked Bush regime).

Christie is an arrogant little prick, but the media has downplayed his videotaped statement in which he smugly defended his life of privilege.

The election is so close that even something Corzine has nothing to do with can cost him - and it has. The media tried to link Corzine to a major New Jersey corruption scandal, even though none of the officials who were nabbed were members of his administration.

The New York Post - a Rupert Murdoch publication - is like a print version of Fox News Channel. They've been in the tank for Christie all along.

The tabloid's bias continues, as the Post has run a story claiming that a Corzine campaign official was arrested on drug charges.

But this turned out to be complete fabrication. The man who was arrested had no connection with the Corzine campaign or the New Jersey Democratic Party whatsoever. The New York Post lied outright.

Thankfully, the New York Post doesn't have a reputation as being the region's "intelligent" paper. The Post is not only right-wing but also features splashy, sensationalistic headlines - instead of smart coverage of serious stories. So most of its readers were probably Christie backers anyway.

The most serious political corruption in modern New Jersey history may be what's to come Tuesday: Even with the GOP's decline, don't think that even the Garden State doesn't have corrupt Republican exurban county bosses. Seven of the state's 21 counties went GOP in the 2008 presidential election.

If there's one thing that's ruled out, it's Chris Christie winning the election without it being rigged to the point that even Boss Hogg would blush. If the GOP gets lucky Tuesday, I'll be at the forefront of the inevitable effort to make sure Christie faces a recall election.

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/31/799117/-Bogus-NY-Post-Hit-Piece-on-Corzine)