Debunking b.s. on Obama

A very good friend of mine sent me an e-mail on Obama the other day, rife with outright falsehoods and half truths. But, before I get to that, I'll quickly lay waste to one of the biggest canards making its way around the Internet, that Obama doesn't say the Pledge of Allegiance, and/or he doesn't/didn't put his hand over his heart during the Pledge.

The following footage is often cited, or a still photo from the following footage...

First of all, I always thought that you recite or sing along to the national anthem, and remove your hat, not put your hand over your heart. Now that I think about it, I sometimes do, and I sometimes don't. Does this mean that I don't love my country? Please.

As far as Obama not reciting the Pledge, check out the footage below...

So much for Obama not saying the Pledge. Did he hold his hand over his heart? I can't tell from this footage, and quite frankly, I'm not too interested. Would it bother me if he doesn't? A little, but certainly not enough that I wouldn't vote for him.

As far as the criticism that he doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin, that's beyond absurd. I hate to bring up any Nazi Germany reference in a political discussion, but it's apropos here. To me, anyone who thinks a politician is required to wear an American flag might just as well believe our elected politicians must wear red arm bands, and, well, you can see where this is going.

In short, there are about a million other, more important things that we should be occupying our time with right now than questioning either candidate's patriotism.

One quick cartoon for your Friday

As we head into what might be Hillary Clinton's final weekend of being an '08 presidential candidate, I thought I'd kick off your Friday with a pretty amusing cartoon I found on Slate yesterday.

Enjoy - I'll have lots more posted this weekend.

A great site for political junkies

[Click map to go to the site]

Since the primary drama will soon be at an end on the Democratic side of things, and McCain is certain to be the GOP nominee, it's time to mention one of my favorite sites from the '04 election, the Electoral Vote Predictor. This site is one of my few favorite memories from the '04 presidential election (and there aren't many); it's updated daily, and contains polls from a variety of sources, including Gallup, Zogby, Quinnipiac University, Mason-Dixon, Rasmussen Reports, etc.

The site is run by a Democrat, but it does not take an overly partisan tone at all. If you are looking for a similar site run by a Republican who has devoted his life to Jesus, you can go Here. However, I assume that since you're reading this blog, you aren't interesting in going down that road.

You might be wondering, how did EVP do in 2004? For a discussion about the site's '04 predictions, polls and results, click Here.

From now until the '08 election, which is a mere 250 days away, you can find the current predicted electoral vote, as well as the projected make up of the Senate and House, on the left side of the CMB homepage.

The lunacy & stupidity of Glenn Beck

I try my hardest to never hate anyone - it's the way I was brought up. But, with the poisoned political atmosphere these days, especially among the moronic political talking heads on TV, I find it harder and harder to not despise the intolerant rubes on the right.

There is no better, shining example of this than CNN's Glenn Beck, the hate monger who once called Hurricane Katrina survivors "scumbags," and who also once said he "hates" 9-11 families, is the embodiment of why I'm politically active, and why we can never give up the fight against xenophobic, anti-government zealots.

I'm constantly reading blogs on both sides of the political aisle to shape and even modify my opinions, and one of my favorite blogs is Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World. A few days ago, he had a short but sweet post about Beck. I can think of little to add, so here it is...

The World According to Glenn Beck

Obama will move us to One World Government in the blink of an eye, and environmentalists are Nazis.

Glenn Beck also spends a lot of time mocking people who — in his phrasing — say "help me, government, help me, I'm scared!" — (i.e., people who believe that government programs to help the needy are actually a good thing.)

That's when he’s not saying, in all seriousness, "Please build a fence along the Mexican border, government, I'm scared!"

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a one reason why I read the This Modern World blog every day, and why Tomorrow's comic strip is my favorite, ever.

Oh yea - and Beck is the #1 reason (but there are many others) why I've refused to watch CNN for years now. Talk about being a Fox News wanna-be. Glenn Beck? The network couldn't do any better than that? I guess CNN said to itself, "We can't catch up to Fox, so we'll try to beat Rupert Murdoch at his own game." Cool - now there are two major cable news networks that I won't watch. It makes choosing where I get my news on TV pretty easy.

Nader is on McCain's Christmas card list

This one about sums it up. A few days ago I wrote about how I had no problem that Ralph Nader is entering the race. All in all, having more candidates is a good thing, but don't think for one second that John McCain isn't loving the fact that a siphon of Democratic presidential votes has entered the race.

Working through technical glitches

For those of you having trouble loading the homepage, please be patient - I'm working through it. It's a problem with Adobe Flash Player. You may get an error about a script problem. If you press "Dismiss All" or something similar in an error box that may pop up, you can still view the site. I'm not an html technical expert, but I'm learning. For now, my best method is process of elimination. I should have things running normally in a day or two.

Thanks for your patience, and of course for dropping by CMB.

Check out this great book site

My friend Beth recently told me about a great Website where people can share reviews and ratings of books, goodreads. As I review books, I will post my reviews on there (and of course, on here). You can also find many of my old book reviews on my goodreads profile.

If you scroll down the left side of this page, you'll find a mini-screen that contains books I've reviewed. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Barack-stabber: Pic of Obama w/turban from Clinton camp?

This one seems low, even for the Clintons (if indeed they are behind it). It seems a picture of Barack Obama wearing a turban has been making its way around the Internet, stoking the fires of intolerance among some who believe Obama is a Muslim, is Un-American, blah blah blah.

Obama cried foul, claiming it came from Hillary Clinton's people, or at worst, Hillary supporters. Hillary denied the charge, saying "I don't know what the controversy is - people wear these things when visiting Africa all the time. It's a show of respect to your hosts."

Fair enough, but we've seen this political trick many times before - publicly denounce it, and in private, do high-fives with your advisers.

I've always been a big admirer and supporter of the Clintons, but I wouldn't put it past them to do it, especially since Hillary's campaign is on life support. The Clintons fight hard, and they are well steeped in political trench warfare.

Either way, Obama has a right to be outraged, especially when conservatives, as well as supporters of the GOP, take great pains to mention Obama's middle name, Hussein. Here's hoping voters see right through it. So far, they seem to be.

More Obama lies coming up when I have more time to write.

What cut-ups: O'Lielly & Newt blast NYT

I almost laughed myself silly when I saw this footage - Newt Gingrich and Bill O'Lielly castigating the New York Times for its report on John McCain's alleged improper relationship with a lobbyist.

My favorite part: BOR intoning that "these people [The New York Times] aren't being honest, they're not reporting the news, and we have to stop this. Make them the villain, and that will galvanize people around John McCain."

Someone, anyone who works for Fox News bitching about another media outlet "not reporting the news" is akin to Dick Cheney complaining about the federal government's awarding of no-bid contracts.

I can't neglect to mention Gingrich's claptrap, either, including "a massive tax increase" and neither Obama nor Clinton being amenable "to making English the official language" of the United States.

I seriously doubt that the average Fox viewer, much less the drones who watch BOR, will even take the time to look into exactly what the candidates said, but both have proposed rolling back the tax cuts for people who earn over $250,000. Good. If Newt wants to call that a "massive tax increase," that's fine by me. But people need to know where that increase is going, and to whom.

When I first heard Gingrich say that, I almost jumped out of my chair with an "A-ha!" moment. You see, this is the exact strategy that Bush employed when he gave the rich the ill-advised tax cut back in '01. All but the most far-right thought that those tax cuts were a bad idea - even the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated at the time that the cuts would blow a massive hole in the budget.

Fast forward seven years, and of course, people like Gingrich and O'Lielly count on the fact that most people haven't paid attention. Quite naturally, it's the Democrats who are pointing out that these idiotic tax cuts can't continue (oh yea, along with two wars that are going to cost us an estimated $2 trillion), and here's Gingrich and other Repubes on TV harumphing about Democrats' "proposing a massive tax increase," when they never should have been cut in the first place.

The whole issue of English being the official language of the United States is about 787th on the list of things that should be debated in this campaign. To me, it's just a rather sad, transparent attempt by far-right, xenophobic Repubes to discriminate against immigrants.

Think I'm going too far? This is the same Republican Party that wants to have discrimination put into the Constitution by banning gay marriage.

h/t to C&L for the video

Nader is in

It's official - Ralph Nader has declared his candidacy for president in '08. I'm a little torn this time - normally, I used to trash him because he severely hurt the Democratic nominee's chances of winning a close election. It's no stretch to say that because of him, we are preparing to bid farewell to Our National Embarrassment, W, instead of President Gore after eight years. (Okay, the Supreme Court and Bush's '00 and '04 election day treachery aside.)

However, this time around, I have to say I don't mind Nader running - people should have a choice of candidates, and I like that fact that he'll be available as a protest vote. I'm a liberal, but that doesn't mean the Democratic Nominee automatically gets my vote. I like having choices, and Nader offers one. Will I vote for him? Almost certainly not, but if I became very unhappy with the Democratic Nominee, I'd consider it.

From today's Meet the Press...

RUSSERT: Will you run for president as an Independent in 2008?

NADER: Let me put it in context, to make it a little more palatable to people who have closed minds. Twenty four percent of the American people are satisfied with the state of the country, according to Gallup. That's about the lowest ranking ever. Sixty-one percent think both major parties are failing. And according to Frank Luntz's poll, the Republican, 80 percent will consider voting for an independent this year. Now you take that framework, of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized, disrespected and you go from Iraq to Palestine to Israel. From Enron to Wall Street. From Katrina to the bungling of the Bush administration to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts, getting a decent energy bill through and you have to ask yourself, as a citizen, should we elaborate the issues that the two are not talking about? And the...all the candidates, McCain, Obama and Clinton, are against single-payer health insurance. Full Medicare for all. I'm for it. As well as millions of Americans and 59 percent of physicians in a forthcoming poll this April. People don't like Pentagon waste, the bloated military budget, all of the reports in the press and the GAO reports. A wasteful defense is a weak defense. It takes away taxpayer money that can go to the necessities of the American people. That's off the table, to Obama and Clinton and McCain. The issue of labor law reform: repealing the notorious Taft-Hartley act, that keeps workers who are now more defenseless than ever against corporate globalization from organizing to defend their interests. Cracking down on corporate crime. The media—the mainstream media—repeatedly indicated how trillions of dollars have been drained and fleeced and looted from millions of workers and investors who don't have many rights these days.

~~~
Other than the Frank Luntz reference, much of what Nader says makes total sense to me. I hope his voice raises many issues in the campaign that otherwise may not have been raised.

More from Friday's Real Time

I took off on a rant earlier today about the lies and distortions that Rep. Jack Kingston and former Bush speech writer David Frum were spewing on Real Time Friday night. Certainly not unexpected, but what creased me was how Maher just sat there on his hands. He put up a bit of a fight, but most of the time, he just swallowed his tongue. C'mon Bill, you're just a bit better than that.

Some of my particular favorites...

Kingston: "If you want to talk about change, McCain is the candidate of change..."

Perhaps Maher gave him a bong hit backstage before the show started.

More Kingston: "What left-wing interest group has come out against Hillary or Obama. They've got all the usual suspects; the unions, and all the wacko environmentalists..."

That's just the sort of contempt for the environment that Bush has made de rigueur among Republicans. When will voters make the GOP pay the price? Polls clearly show that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of tougher environmental regulations. I guess we have to wait for a new president. Even McCain would be better than Bush in this area. (Wouldn't he? Please? He couldn't possibly be worse, could he? Let's hope we don't find out.)

What's more, I guess I missed the memo that candidates' qualifications hinge on how many normally friendly interest groups come out against them. Asinine.

Even more Kingston: He refers to McCain as having bona-fide bipartisan credentials. I have to give McCain credit here - he has worked with Democrats on a number of important bills. This is one of his strengths.

But to suggest that Obama and Hillary have not worked together is flat-out false. And I laughed out loud at this Kingston comment: "I have served with both of them," implying that he knows them personally. First of all, I don't know how well he knows either one of them, but they are both U.S. Senators, and Kingston is in the House. That's not serving with either one of them.

Kingston, Part IV: "[McCain] wants to win the doggone war and bring the troops home."

Really? Is this the same McCain who said that our troops could end up being in Iraq for over 100 years?

I can't leave out Frum, either: "I think that the day is going to come, if Obama becomes president, a year or two into his administration, when people are trying to remember what went so terribly wrong, they will look back to that line of Hillary Clinton's about the difference between "'making speeches and making changes.'" Frum was referring to Clinton's assertion earlier recently that Obama is good at giving speeches, but not bringing about change.

The irony is not lost on me that Frum is putting Obama down for making speeches and not doing much about it. Isn't that the embodiment of what the Bush Presidency has been all about? This guy has given more lip service to more problems in this country, and done so little. What's more, Frum spent a great deal of time putting those words into W's mouth.

I also got a kick out of Frum's putting Obama down for his "windy cascades that he goes into..." Again, coming from a speech writer, that's the height of hypocrisy.

h/t to Crooks & Liars for the video clip

Weekend Cartoons

It's been a long time since I posted an edition of Weekend Comics, so it's time to restart that tradition again. Here's a pretty big group of great ones I've seen in the last few weeks. As the nominees are determined and the fall election draws nigh, and the campaign no doubt gets uglier and uglier, the cartoons only promise to get better. Hey, at least we'll get something good out of all the mud slinging.

I'm not so sure that the McCain "scandal" that the New York Times broke will lead to anything, but McCain isn't so independent from the lobbyists as he would have you believe (or his press coverage, for that matter). After all, his national campaign manager is a former lobbyist.

Huckabee just won't go away, and that has to annoy McCain. It's all academic now, but Huckabee remains available as a protest vote to conservatives.

This is exactly what a good political cartoon should do - say a whole lot with very little. This one does just that, although I don't believe the base will just sit idly by as the Democrats breeze right into the White House.

Obama is raising some serious campaign cash - over $1 million per day in the last month. Like Howard Dean in '04, Obama is the king of Internet fundraising. While Hillary has lots of corporate backing and a cache of big-name donors, Obama has a wealth of smaller donors giving him millions, and also the fundraising lead vs. the Clinton political machine.

March 4 - Ohio and Texas, really is Hillary's last stand. Everyone knows that she's a long shot even with victories in both states, but without those two, she's toast. Not only that, but she has to win BIG on March 4, because they are not winner-take-all contests.

This one about says it all - the sand is disappearing right beneath Hillary's feet, which is a stunning reversal of fortune - it wasn't all that long ago that she was all but considered the inevitable nominee.

The economic stimulus package is the biggest joke I've seen since the last one in the spring of 2001, when taxpayers received checks in the mail. At least then there was no war on, no crushing deficit like we have now, and also not the two wars we are fighting now. Make no mistake - refund check you are getting in the mail is NOT a tax cut, but a tax deferral. The US is so far in debt, we actually have to borrow the approx. $170 billion to give to taxpayers, in the pathetic hope that people go out and spend something to stimulate the economy. This is the best our leaders can do? This is their big plan to stimulate the economy? If so, we're probably all screwed. The rebate checks are a pathetic, transparent attempt for politicians to be able to go back to their constituents and say, "See, we did something!" What they won't tell you is that all of the money they are giving us now will have to be paid back, with interest. But, the politicians who just passed the stimulus package won't pay the consequences when the bill comes due - they will be long gone by then.

I laughed with irony at Bush last week, licking himself all over with self-congratulatory blarney over what the US has done for Africa during his administration. What he failed to mention, and what the MSM failed to call him to task on, is that the Bush administration refused any funds to any country for family planning programs (Read: condom distribution). Too bad family planning programs are one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of AIDS in Africa. But then again, this is the same Bush administration that thinks its multi-billion dollar abstinence program will prevent horny teens in the US from having sex. Call that, and Bush's African policy, two more failures.

I was just telling one of my good friends who lives in Detroit over the weekend that what's happening to the Big Three in Detroit is equal parts sad and tragic. There's no reason that Detroit can't again take the lead in innovation. Just think of the billions that can be made with new, non-combustion engine technologies over the next 50 years. Detroit's ability not only to adapt, but take a leadership position, will determine if the Big Three survive as they are now.

This one speaks for itself. I'm pro gun rights, mostly, but our laws have to have reasonable safeguards in place. Quite frankly, our government has not done a good enough job in protecting the innocent, who are dying by the thousands at the hands of handgun violence.

Put simply, Bush backed the wrong horse in the War on Terrorism. Pakistan right now seems to be a breeding ground for terrorism operations, and neither Musharraf now nor the Bush administration seem to be inclined to do much about it.

The wiretapping laws in this country are a disgrace, and a direct assault to our civil liberties. I don't reject the need for wiretapping to find and root out terrorists, but what I do have a problem with is inadequate oversight; a concern not shared by Congress or (Surprise!) the Bush administration.

We continue to get screwed at the pump, with no end in sight. We really do need to quickly and radically transform our energy policy if we hope to remain any sort of first-rate of economic power this century.

We lost the moral authority on torture and human rights years ago under this administration.

This one hits the nail right on the head - our civil liberties continue to get stomped on, all in the name of "keeping us safe." Bill Maher had a terrific point about this on Friday night, when David Frum, a former Bush speech writer, puffed out his chest by saying that there hasn't been an attack since 9-11. I loved Maher's response: "Well, I wrote my green socks again this week, and I still didn't get cancer." Well said.

Roger Clemens is a disgrace, but the even bigger disgrace is that our legislators in Washington don't have anything better to do than talk about steroids in baseball.

This is yet another story that goes virtually unreported in the press - the willful neglect of a major city by our government, the Bush administration. Democrats certainly deserve some blame, too; I haven't heard anything about Democrats wanting to help the people of New Orleans in any massive, significant way.

Our food supply right now is about as safe as, our water supply, our ports, our airports and planes, and our infrastructure. Sigh. But, we really need another tax cut, and we really have to make permanent all of the tax cuts that Bush gave the overwhelmingly wealthy earlier this decade. Right?

New book: McCain's free ride in the media

A new book, Free Ride: John McCain and the Media, is due out on March 25. This one just shot up on my '08 reading list; the authors, David Brock (of Media Matters fame) and Paul Waldman discuss the free ride that McCain seems to be getting thus far from the press. I certainly agree with the book's premise; this trend doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon.

As Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone sagely said recently on Bill Maher's show, (I'm paraphrasing), you can label or call yourself just about anything, and the press will go along; run any shit up the flagpole, and the press will stand and salute it. And he's right. How did McCain get the reputation of being a Straight Talker? Because he painted it on the side of his bus. All of his lies and inconsistencies go unreported at worst, or vastly under reported at best. You cannot hear a story about McCain these days without hearing "straight talker" and/or "maverick."

Joe Connelly of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently wrote a pretty good column about McCain's free ride . In reads, in part:

McCain is allowed to dominate any and every issue on which he chooses to cross the aisle in Congress. He is omnipresent on Sunday talk shows.

Between 1997 and 2006, McCain had 135 appearances as a guest on Meet the Press, This Week and Face the Nation, far more than runner-up Joe Biden, with 91. McCain was usually able to hold forth alone rather than sharing the stage.

The favorable press coverage has airbrushed McCain's temper and remarks that would get any other politician in trouble.

It was, after all, McCain who referred to Leisure World as "Seizure World." He once joked: "The nice thing about getting Alzheimer's is you get to hide your own Easter eggs."

Connelly couldn't be more correct. Whenever you hear McCain call someone "my friend," you know he's pissed. And who could forget his stupid joke about "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," in a pathetic parody of a Beach Boys song? I can take a joke as good as the next person, but what kind of message does it send the rest of the world when a leading politician for president in this country makes such flippant, churlish jokes about bombing Iran, an idea which many war mongers in this country openly support?

Anyway, the premise of the book sounds like a good one, and a largely unexplored one at that. You can read more about the book or pre-order a copy from Amazon Here.

h/t Crooks & Liars

Note to Fox News: don't do jokes

Check out what Frank Luntz, the right-wing hack and Fox contributor, had to say after the Hillary Clinton / Barack Obama debate last week. I know it's a joke, but really? Funny how I don't hear jokes like that on other networks. It's typical of the misogynistic jokes and coverage that Hillary Clinton has had to endure since her time as first lady. That issue is bigger than Hillary, too; no woman should have to endure this kind of garbage when aspiring to our nation's highest office.

Once again, why Bill Maher insists on having this guy on his show is beyond me. He even goes so far as to call him "Our good friend Frank Luntz." Get real, Bill.

Michelle Obama is un-American! Riiight.

Did anyone catch the latest useless media sensationalization of the '08 campaign? In case you didn't, it was Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, had this to say this past week:

For the first time in my adult life, I'm proud of my country, and not just because Barack is doing well, but because America is crying out for change.

Not surprisingly, her entire quotation wasn't played on every network that I saw. What was replayed was simply, "For the first time in my adult life, I'm proud of my country." I guess playing the whole thing wouldn't have fit the profile of Obama's wife being "un-American" or worse, depending on where you get your commentary.

I don't happen to agree with Michelle Obama - in my adult life, I've been plenty proud of my country on a number of occasions - 1992, when Bill Clinton defeated who was thought to be an unbeatable incumbent president - George H.W. Bush; how America pulled together in the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; when America played a key role in toppling Slobodan Milošević; American resolve following the 9-11 attacks; and many others. But, quite frankly, I haven't felt this disenchanted with our government in my lifetime, so I can totally relate to what Michelle Obama said. In 1992, I couldn't wait to vote against President Bush, because I felt he was so out of touch, but that was it - I didn't revile and despise Bush Sr. nearly as much as I do his son.

Of course, the hysterical right, including John McCain and his wife, Cindy, jumped all over the Obamas as if they had just spit on, burned and shredded the American flag. With glee.

I don’t know if you’ve heard those words, but I’m proud of my country!" intoned Cindy McCain a short time later.

Well, good for you, Cindy - not all of us feel that way.

Going back to the ridiculous, disgraceful spectacle that was the Clinton Impeachment in 1998-1999, I haven't felt all that wonderful about our government. In fact, since President Bush ascended the throne courtesy of the Supreme Court in '00, the only time or incident I can point to with pride is our nation's resolve following 9-11.

Does that make me un-American? I surly don't think so. What it makes me is angry, very angry, and I'm ready to do something about it during the '08 election, just as I did in '04.

Great TMW 'toon

[Click for larger image]

I haven't posted one of his cartoons in a while, but Tom Tomorrow really hit the nail on the head this week. As his blog notes, did anyone really honestly believe that the GOP fools at bottom of the political barrel, a.k.a. the GOP hate mongers Ann Coulter, Bill O'Lielly, Sean Insanity and Rush Limbaugh, were all really going to sit on the sidelines and not support McCain vs. Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? Yea, sure.

They may not love McCain, but they certainly aren't going to sit idly by as one of the aforementioned Democrats makes a spirited run for the White House. It's going to be a very ugly campaign indeed, and some of the b.s. has already begun. The latest New York Times report about McCain having an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist just gives the far-right blowhards an excuse to half-heartedly get behind Judas John's candidacy.

Bill Maher: better than ever

Bill Maher's HBO show, Real Time With Bill Maher, has been better than ever. I've been watching him for years, but quite frankly, since the presidential primaries began, his show has been mandatory viewing. Frankly, it's my favorite political show on television; even better than Countdown With Keith Olbermann, and not for a reason you might think.

I like Maher because he has guests on his show who disagree with him, and usually what viewers are treated to is reasonable political debate among those who disagree. And, you get lots of laughs, too. Take a look at his always funny and sage New Rules from last Friday's show, and you'll know what I mean. (And this wasn't even one of his best New Rules segments, either.)

Maher's show this past Friday had a more conservative lineup than is his norm, and there was plenty of dissent, disagreement and debate, and I thought a few pieces of it were worth noting. Two of Maher's guests were of the very conservative stripe: David Frum (right), a former speech writer for President Bush, and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA). These two guys unleashed a number of whoppers that are worth mentioning.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with these two, Frum is the genius who is loosely credited with coining the term Axis of Evil (originally he wrote, in the spirit of the Christian Right, Axis of Hatred.) He most recently signed on to become Rudy Giuliani's chief foreign policy advisor for his presidential campaign back in October. I guess with all Rudy's, ahem, success, Frum's got plenty of time on his hands now. As for Kingston, this guy is a piece of work. When Democrats took over the House in the fall of '06, it was announced that the House would be working five days a week. An outraged Kingston, according to WaPo, whined, "Democrats could care less about families" and that they "damage families." Aww, poor baby - a five-day work week!

As much as I love Maher, he really needs to rethink who he invites on his show. Not long after Friday's show began, Kingston (left) took it upon himself to question Obama's patriotism by citing the thoroughly debunked story that "Obama didn't put his hand over his heart during the pledge of allegiance" as if it were fact, and also by further denouncing him for "not wearing an American flag lapel pin." Are you kidding me? What's worse, Maher just made a joke about it and let it go. C'mon Bill - strap a set on and let this guy have it. (More very soon on the Obama Pledge of Allegiance lie in a separate post.)

I'm already sick and tired of hearing both Obama's and Hillary's patriotism being questioned. What kind of country do we now live in where a presidential candidate now has to wear a flag lapel pin, or he or she is painted as being unpatriotic. Kingston's lapel pin comments could be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard come out of someone's mouth on a political talk show.

Kingston also poked fun at the fact that both Obama and Clinton have pledged to meet with America's enemies, saying words to the effect that "Barack Hussein Obama" planned to go around the world and "hug people like Raul Castro." Notice the reference to Obama's middle name, Hussein. Yet another pathetically sad attempt to smear Obama.

Things also heated up quite nicely when the subject of McCain's military service came up. In the judgment of many, myself included, McCain is to be commended for his military service, including his suffering as a POW for over five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp. As admirable as it was and is, that alone does not qualify him to be president, especially when he rattles the war swords about once a week. When Maher said this on Friday, Frum jumped all over him. The exchange:

Frum: "Are you suggesting that it's going to be a good line of attack that McCain and his family have served the country [in the military] for too many generations?"

Maher: "No, but I don't think it's a good thing when someone thinks it's a natural state to be at war. And I do think he believes that."

Amen to that. Foreign policy is supposed to be McCain's strong suit, but so far I haven't heard anything to indicate that that reputation has been earned.

If anything, McCain has made himself look downright foolish, if not a hate monger, but saying things like our troops could end up staying in Iraq "for 100 years" and that he hopes Fidel Castro dies soon. I guess that's what you'd call Straight Talk, huh, Maverick?

It also annoys me to no end that Maher constantly has GOP hack pollster Frank Luntz (right) on the show, too. This Fox Noise Channel regular is more irritating than an IRS tax audit, yet Maher continues to bring him back. I think it's letter writing time to let Bill know that Luntz is taking away from his show, not adding to it. (More on Luntz shortly in another post, too.)

However, Maher has other regulars on who are every bit as good as Luntz is bad, though. His new semi-regular correspondent is noted author and Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi. This guy is a rare reporter who gives is to you with the bark off - he's not afraid to take shots at anyone who he feels is a phony. I'm currently reading his latest book, Smells Like Dead Elephants. I'll write a review when I'm done.

Anyway, the show, on balance, is terrific - check it out on HBO every Friday at 11 p.m. EST.

Fox & Friends gets zapped

I got a kick out of this one - yesterday morning on Fox & Friends, Comedian Lee Camp got a few seconds that probably ruined Rupert Murdoch's day. Take a listen to the short clip above.

Well done, Camp, well done.

Late President's Day cartoon

I forgot to post this last week, but close to a week later, it's still funny. I enjoyed my day off last Monday, but considering the state of politics in America today, I certainly didn't reminisce or wax poetic about the current occupier of the White House. I only thought about two things on Monday - how long until we again have a legitimate president, and how sick and tired I am of all the President's Day sales.

Give your bumper '08 attitude

I've mentioned this site before, but it's worth mentioning again, because it's got some great new stickers for the '08 campaign. Click on the image above to take a look at some of the new ones for all of the remaining candidates - McCain, Hillary and Obama. The anti-McCain ones are totally money - I ordered a few earlier today. Even though I don't agree with them, I have to confess that the Hillary stickers are pretty funny.

If you have an appetite for anti-Bush stickers, this is your place to go, too. Half the time, I just click on the site when I need a good laugh.

Anyway, no matter your political persuasion, you'll find something on the site you'll like. Tell 'em CMB sent ya. :o)

This one about sums it up...

Sadly, this is how a majority of Americans seem to view the world these days.


I got a kick out of it, too, but it's also disconcerting. The part about where cameras are from is true enough, though. Japan sure has making them down to a science.

Sage words from Dr. Randy Pausch

My very good friend Colleen sent me this the other day, and it really gave me a new perspective on life. The above clip is the farewell lecture given by Dr. Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, when he said goodbye to his students. Pausch is dying of pancreatic cancer; he only has months to live. Recently, he retold his last lecture on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Take 10 minutes out of your day and give this one a listen. It sure put things into perspective for me today.

Thanks for sending it, Colleen.