In today’s Washington Post On Faith section — a prominent feature of WaPo’s website — you’ll be heartened to know that the mainstream media is helping to educate us all about the roots of our next President’s name. To wit:

Barack Obama shares with past American presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, Zachary Taylor, and Benjamin Harrison, the distinction of a notable biblical namesake.

More after the fold.

"And that prince who bases his power entirely on...words, finding himself completely without other preparations, comes to ruin."

***

Dear Media Types With Time To Fill:

When, after tonight's acceptance speech, you hear the Republican Party spokespeople and read the Republican Blogs and see the Republican Party strategists talking about the "set" Presidential Nominee Barack Obama spoke in front of tonight at Mile High Stadium... about how "it looks a lot like the White House"... about how "presumptive" it is... about how "like the Germany trip" it shows us X or tells us Y or means Z about Barack Obama... I want you to close your eyes and turn on your inner political translator, so that you hear the deep, sad, denotative meaning behind the words they are saying.

I was unable to watch last night's speeches live last night. I caught part of Biden's speech on the radio as I drove home. It pained me to miss the festivities. Pained me even more to wade through all the punditry when I hit the bed to catch Bill Clinton's performance.

Last night, I conducted the last of five, two-hour resume-writing workshops for teens and adults at Oak Cliff's Hampton-Illinois branch of the Dallas Public Library. Over the last five weeks, I've had the privilege of meeting and working with about 20 total adults of every race, from every walk of life, pull together and package the details of their experience, skills and job history to begin yet another job search.

Last night, six "repeat customers" came to take advantage of our last session.

More below:

By now, most of us have seen, read or pored over Joe Biden’s excellent speech lat night.  And in hammering home the major differences between McSame and Obama when it comes to major decisions, Biden hit on a theme that could be absolutely devastating to McCain over the next few months.

John McCain was wrong.  

The beauty of this is that (1) it is accurate, (2) it puts McCain on the defensive, (3) it is simple to repeat and (4) can be applied equally to domestic and foreign policy matters.  There are a number of different frames to use with respect to McCain – and while many are good, they also haven’t stuck.  This is partially due to the faux image that McCain has spent years building up virtually unchallenged by the corporate media (thankfully that is starting to change a bit recently).  But it is also due to the fact that it isn’t always easy to find something that sticks well.

Yeah, vets74 beat me to it. But I said I would, so here it is.

Note to the AP: This is being done from home, on my own time. Any contact with my employer over this will be viewed as harassment and referred to legal counsel. You are, however, free to roll up an account here and rebut this diary directly. In fact, I encourage you strongly to do so.

I was inspired by Granny Doc's excellent diary "Taking down the AP" this morning to tell you all something that you might not know about the Associated Press.

   As a news consumer, your reasons for disliking the AP are many: slanted reporting, incomplete coverage, sloppy fact-checking, lack of original work, Rupert Murdoch's involvement, etc.

   But what you might not be aware of is this: Many newspapers dislike the AP as much as you do, but for different reasons.

Oh, here's my permission to reprint.

Full disclosure:  This is not a political diary and, as such, may not fit within the scope of Daily Kos.  But, I feel compelled to share my supposed-"expertise" here with my fellow Kossacks.

So, I come here for the same reason I did yesterday morning.  I posted a diary Wednesday morning on Tropical Storm Gustav.  I am a meteorologist whose occupation is forecasting, with a focus on forecasting Atlantic tropical cyclones.  With that, "after the jump", as I did yesterday, I want to give interested parties the latest on the threat of Gustav...

Hurricane Gustav is headed in a straight line for New Orleans and I can tell you first-hand that the hydraulic pumps don't work.  Who manufactured the defective pumps? Moving Waters Industry (MWI), which is owned by J. David Eller, who was once a business partner of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. (From 1989 to 1993 the two operated the company Bush-El, which marketed MWI pumps.)

Lots more after the jump.

Well, it appears as though some in the MSM are starting to exit the "straight talk exress".

In a new Time interview with John McCain, done on board his campaign plane, James Carney and Michael Scherer highlight the fact that "Candidate McCain" is a far different man than "Senator McCain". John Kerry made the right call last night in separating the two men in his speech.

Also, to use the word "prickly" in describing McCain's attitude in the interview speaks volumes. When I hear that word, I think irritable and spiteful. Exactly what that wrinkly, old white guy has become since transforming into "Candidate McCain".

Here is the article: McCain's Prickly TIME Interview

How's this for another kick to working Americans who are struggling to get by?  According to the guy that helped develop McCain's health care plan, no Americans should be considered uninsured.

His logic?  Anyone who can get into a hospital emergency room is able to access health care, and therefore shouldn't be considered uninsured.  His solution to the health insurance crisis is simply to define the problem away.

I'm speechless.

John Kerry just explained not only why I'm a Democrat, but why I don't trust Republicans on ANYTHING -- including their so-called strength: "national security".

For the first Goddamn time in eight years.

I may be a little older than some of you.

I remember November 1963.

I remember Martin Luther King Jr.

I remember Bobby Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy.

Now we'll all remember Denver, August 27th, 2008.

Some--just a tiny few of the millions and millions of shoulders upon whom Barack Obama stands.

Martin Luther King Jr.

"We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop."

Martin Luther King
April 3, 1968

Readers of my old blog, the Whiskey Bar, probably know I have had a long and conflicted relationship with the Democratic Party -- one that generally ranges between reluctantly supportive (on the really good days) to utterly disgusted (most days).

To compare it to a bad marriage would be an insult to unhappy couples everywhere.

...and found me crying about half an hour ago.

I stood in the middle of our living room with tears in my eyes and running down my face.

(continued)

Whoo-Hooo!

I always love this. It's important to keep up to date on which people, places, and phenomena the respective Great States are proud of.

Until and unless we get an official thread for this, let's liveblog the incredibly suspenseful action from Denver.

N.B.: Live stream available at c-span.org. Grab it while you can; I don't think this will last much longer.

The original of this diary got chopped because AP sicced a thug on droogie and threatened him through his employer. The GBCW diary, today, recounts what happened. Well, Hell, my uncle did two+ years in Germany after WW II de-Nazifying 'em, so the least I can do is to follow suit.

And BTW: if any of you dkos folks find yourselves joining the military, you'll take an oath to defend the Constitution. Too bad we don't all take that oath as part of citizenship.

I was inspired by Granny Doc's excellent diary "Taking down the AP" this morning to tell you all something that you might not know about the Associated Press.

As a news consumer, your reasons for disliking the AP are many: slanted reporting, incomplete coverage, sloppy fact-checking, lack of original work, Rupert Murdoch's involvement, etc.

But what you might not be aware of is this: Many newspapers dislike the AP as much as you do, but for different reasons.

Diggit ? Cindy, what's a Diggit ? Diggit Link....

And here is the explicit permission to reprint droogie's original.

I thought, with Labor Day weekend coming up, what better time to share this clip of John McCain?

In this video, Senator McCain verbally attacks a construction worker who dares to question McCain's claim that migrant workers earn $50 per hour picking lettuce.

I've read a few diaries complaining about the coverage of the Convention, and part of the criticism is the TV celebrities think it's all about them.  From what I saw, the celebrities reminded me of a pre-game or half time football show with Howie and Bradshaw.  There was no game, just their opinions and jokes about a game.

I'm no celebrity and I'm sure it comes with the territory.  It's a hard job, although it pays quite well.  And I like Olbermann and Maddow and a few others.  But I see a diary on the Rec list by Keith Olbermann about his issues with the NY Post.  Maybe on another day, it'd be all cool.  Hey, Keith's on our side.  And the NY Post sucks.

But today an African American will be nominated for President by a Party that prior to the Civil War accomodated slavery and, under Woodrow Wilson, segregated the civil service.  It's also a Party that fought in the 1960s to bring civil rights to all.

This is truly historic.  There should be diaries about Barack Obama on the Rec list.  It's his day.    

KO has a good correction to my title in the Update, which I adopted in part in the Updated version.

More, after the fold