Lindsay Beyerstein

Money doesn't buy happiness, but it's nice to find that out for yourself. Rumor has it lobbyists will represent anyone for the right price. Anyone? Journalist Ken Silverstein, the author of Turkmeniscam: How Washington Lobbyists Fought to Flack for a Stalinist Dictatorship, wanted to find out for himself. Lobbyists are notoriously secretive about their work. Obviously, they weren't going to divulgue their high-priced secrets to a report. So Silverstein contrived a simple but elegant ruse to get into the inner sanctums of the Washington lobby establishment: posing as a potential client.

A mercenary firm in Oregon offered to provide "security" on election day in case voters "get out of control," Danger Room reports

Al Franken has been the target of some of the ugliest political ads of 2008, courtesy of the Republican National Senatorial Committee. This one really takes the cake. The voiceover claims that Franken "humiliates minorities", "demeans women", "writes pornography", and "laughs at the disabled," amongst other defects. Life imitates art, I guess. Here's a transcript of a Saturday Night Live sketch from the 1990s featuring Al Franken as a political analyst discussing negative ads on the fake news broadcast "Weekend Update with Norm MacDonald":

The Hill reports Joe Lieberman's days as chair of the powerful Homeland Security Committee may be numbered as senate Democrats plan a massive reshuffle in the event of an Obama victory and significant Democratic senate pick ups. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii would probably take over from Lieberman as chair of the Homeland Security Committee.

The hoaxster who scratched a "B" into her own cheek and claimed that a fictional black Obama-supporting thug did it now blames the media for blowing her politically-motivated hate crime into a political firestorm: "She just opened up and said she wanted to tell the truth," Bryant said, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "She was upset with the media for blowing this into a political firestorm."

Two years ago, South Dakota voters rejected a near-total ban on abortion in their state. On November 4th, they will vote on a slightly less extreme version same bill. The bill would outlaw all abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life or health of the mother was at stake.

Young Political Majors is a GOP-linked consulting firm that has been accused of tricking California voters in to registering as Republicans under the guise of signing a petition to get tough on child molesters. Maybe YPM signature gatherers are just doing what ACORN reps probably did--artificially inflating their registration totals in order to get paid.

John McCain literally rolled his eyes when Barack Obama mentioned murdered union organizers in Columbia in his answer to a trade question during last night's presidential debate.

Barack Obama and John McCain will face off in Long Island tonight in the final debate before the presidential election. McCain has one last chance to reestablish himself as a viable candidate and reverse his steady decline in the polls. In the spirit of bipartisanship, The Jed Report has produced a helpful debate prep video for John McCain.

Sarah Palin replaced Alaska's public safety commissioner with a man she knew had been accused of sexually harassing an employee. An independent investigator concluded last week that Palin abused her power as governor by orchestrating a pressure campaign to fire her ex brother-in-law, state trooper Mark Wooten. Palin allegedly fired Alaska's esteemed public safety commissione, Walt Monegan, because Monegan refused to fire Wooten.