Reliable sources report

As forecast by the Institute for Quantum Bogodynamics at MIT, the recent election was accompanied by a massive uptick in the ambient bogon flux, resulting in an unusual incidence of blather, disinformation and hoaxes throughout infospace. Of note today is the revelation that the source of reports that VP candidate Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent and could not name the nations that comprise North America was a McCain advisor named Martin Eisenstadt (bogus), Sr. Fellow of the Harding Institute (nonexistent). MSNBC ate it up with a spoon.

And they're not alone. Eitan Gorlin and Dan Mirvish, the hands within the Eisenstadt sock-puppet, have been taking in bloggers and journalists for over a year. Their creation posted pro-Giuliani campaign rants on YouTube, advocated for a casino in Baghdad's Green Zone, and outed Joe the Plumber as a relative of Charles Keating. Among the egg-faced were the Los Angeles Times, New Republic and Mother Jones.

People are hungry to believe, and never more so than when new "information" reinforces what they already believe. Some people will carry to the grave their belief that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, others that Bush operatives planned 9-11.

We might expect a more skeptical treatment from the press, and to their credit they have quashed some of the most egregious disinformation to blight the political season. But BS receptors seem to be wired into even the brightest of brains. Believe me--I'm a blogger, too.