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Media for Democracy -- a non-partisan citizens' initiative to monitor mainstream news coverage of the 2004 elections and advocate fair, democratic and issue-oriented standards of reporting. The project links voters with more than 100 independent media reform groups in a targeted campaign to prevent the types of media mistakes -- such as early, erroneous and politically biased projections -- that plagued the 2000 election. Brought to you by Mediachannel.org, who recently called primary coverage "Electotainment."
posted by amberglow at 9:24 PM PST - 2 comments

The next American Idol, William Hung...
posted by Macboy at 6:45 PM PST - 21 comments

Former Davenetics publisher and CSPAN fanatic Dave Pell is now blogging at Electablog. After a couple years of earnest "soapbox 'n rants" style of political blogging, it's nice to see political-themed sites with a sense of humor and humility popping up (like wonkette as well, mentioned last week).
posted by mathowie at 4:46 PM PST - 3 comments

Confessions of a Car Salesman Edmunds.com sent one of their writers to work at two car dealerships for a month or so at each to find out just how the stereotypically sleazoids learn to be so slick and annoying yet ultimately successful--at least most of you have bought a new car at least once, right? (Lengthy, not necessarily breathless prose can be shortcircuited if you skip to the lessons learned page.)
posted by billsaysthis at 4:19 PM PST - 30 comments

"If you don't do as I tell you, I'll personally take you out in the woods and shoot you." A top federal security official at the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport angrily threatened to "shoot" baggage screeners and financially ruin their families if they did not do their jobs to his satisfaction, airport employees have told the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general.

All jokes about bombs, guns and killing will be taken seriously?
posted by busbyism at 1:44 PM PST - 24 comments

Georgia considers banning 'evolution' OUTSTANDING! Nice work guys. Meet the new south, same as the old south?
posted by asparagus_berlin at 12:20 PM PST - 87 comments

CBS adds secret performer for Super Bowl halftime show. "[A]bout 2,500 youngsters from area schools will pour onto the field to create a festival concert atmosphere..." Let me guess... Michael freakin' Jackson?
posted by johnnydark at 12:14 PM PST - 59 comments

Four Corners - A Literary Excursion Across America "There is no experience that compares to being on all fours in four states at once while waving ones behind toward a blinking camera. Even Columbus would have appreciated this." Good reading here.
posted by WolfDaddy at 11:34 AM PST - 1 comments

US elections: the world-wide vote.
"In November 2004, U.S. citizens will elect their new President. The outcome of these elections directly influences the lives of citizens around the world. Theworldvotes.org seeks to apply new technologies to provide citizens around the world with a voice in matters that affects us all. Ensure that your voice is heard by registering electronically and add momentum to a worldwide drive to establish global democracy."
Noble sentiments, but isn't this an admission of submission to the empire? A surrender of sovereignty? A call for a new Caracalla's edict? Is this a good idea both for the US and the "rest of the world"?
posted by talos at 11:13 AM PST - 31 comments

Attack of the Seven Teen Girls from Petaluma! Well, maybe not that title, but the story of teenage girls spending two years to convince developers to build a multiplex in their hometown would have made a great '80s teen flick. Armed with binders of business plans and black-and-white skirt suits, they succeeded, and broke ground Thursday. All because they were sick of asking Mom for rides.
posted by marzenie99 at 11:01 AM PST - 13 comments

Why yes, I would like to rip my Lancaster County Prison CD. Viking Components invents a whole new form of spam, courtesy of Amazon's Guides feature. [more]
posted by staggernation at 10:34 AM PST - 9 comments

The Museum of Fred. Online gallery of art collected from thrift stores.
posted by plep at 9:52 AM PST - 2 comments

Sworn virgins. "A sworn virgin is called such because she swears—takes a vow under the law of the Kanun—to become a man. From the day she takes this vow (which is sometimes at a very early age), she becomes a man: she dresses like one, acts like one, walks like one, works like one, talks like one, and her family and community treat her as one. She is referred to as he. He will never marry and will remain celibate all of his life." If you find this stuff intriguing, by all means read Alice Munro's great short story "The Albanian Virgin" (from Open Secrets, 1994); you might also want to check out A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture, where there's much more cultural weirdness, and Edith Durham's classic High Albania (online here), from which I first learned of these mannish gals. Oh, and there's a movie!
posted by languagehat at 9:47 AM PST - 15 comments

Forget the Super Bowl. In Philadelphia all eyes are on the Wing Bowl, where 20,000 (often) drunk (mostly) men filed into the Wachovia Center beginning shortly after dawn this morning, a workday, to ogle thong-clad Wingettes and cheer on the eaters. This year's winner: Sonya Thomas, a 105 lb. woman, who knocked off 2-1 favorite and four-peat reigning champ El Wingador by gobbling 167 buffalo wings in 34 minutes. The event is huge. Miss Thomas is not.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:16 AM PST - 16 comments

The Mischke Broadcast — T.D. Mischke, or more affectionately known as Tommy among his regular callers is a radio personality like none other. Found on KSTP 1500 in the Twin Cities from 10pm to midnight, he keeps the evening hour uniquely his own. [RealAudio ahead] He sung an interview to Gordon Lightfoot tune, breaks out into rap about kidneys in India and pretends to be a long lost golfing buddy. He gained noteriety in broadcasting by showing up to work only to have two hours of dead air. Who makes you believe in great radio?
posted by pedantic at 9:11 AM PST - 10 comments

Splat the Nazi [Edutainment gone awry?]
posted by shoepal at 9:03 AM PST - 6 comments

Click and drag the red block, avoiding all the blue blocks as long as you can.
posted by Orange Goblin at 8:46 AM PST - 24 comments

kenya (note: flash)
posted by donth at 7:29 AM PST - 11 comments

It has been said that reality is all about perspective -- a camera is a pinhole view of the world that frequently filters out much of the story. With that in mind, check out this video of the familiar "I have a scream" speech by Dean. I'm no Dean supporter, but from down in the trenches it doesn't look nearly as bad as it played on TV. Obviously the video you've seen on the news has the best part and the audience noise turned down, but from this vantage point, the speech almost seems appropriate for the crowd and the moment (but was still a lapse in judgement to forget cameras were rolling). I hope this isn't too subtle of a point -- forget all the politics involved -- this is a fascinating look at a familiar scene that was looped for the past week, but from an entirely different perspective and a different story emerges. [via Vidiot]
posted by mathowie at 7:08 AM PST - 51 comments

In Defense of Ikea and Starbucks. "[If] you're so desperate for your own soixante-huit moment that you can sit there with a straight face and tell me that you're being oppressed by flat-packable pine furniture with goofy pseudo-Scandinavian names, I'd advise you to spend a few days working with child slaves in the Sudan, or something." MeFite adamgreenfield pleads for "a little sense of scale."
posted by Vidiot at 6:33 AM PST - 85 comments

Three Blind Phreaks, See How They Scam ... The Badirs pulled off Mamet-worthy phone cons, employing cell phones, Braille-display computers, ace code-writing skills, and an uncanny ability to impersonate anyone from corporate suits to sex-starved females. On the phone, the brothers morph into verbal 007s, intimidating men, seducing women, and wheedling classified information from steely-voiced security personnel [...] An intense cat-and-mouse game developed: the Badirs on one side, with fraud investigator David Osmo and prosecutor Doron Porat on the other [...] his car's GPS system and email were repeatedly hacked. "There was a message waiting for him with his password in it," says Ramy, sounding quite pleased. "After that, he changed his password every hour before giving up on email altogether and using a typewriter."
posted by Blue Stone at 6:11 AM PST - 7 comments

Dont forget to duck! ..... (link to wmv movie file)
posted by MintSauce at 3:30 AM PST - 8 comments

Garth Marenghi is a sculptor of nightmares, is the only person you'll ever meet who has written more books than he has read. Now you can see the return of his Cult '80s TV show. If you only get to see one TV series from the UK this year, and if you dare, then vist the Dark Place.
posted by seanyboy at 2:09 AM PST - 17 comments