Wow, this is depressing.

Prominent scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is going to have a few things to write about this incident. And well he should.

Another one for the "Really?" file.

It's bad enough that three policemen, at the wrong house, looking for three white prostitutes, tried to arrest a 12-year-old black girl as one of their suspects, and beat her so that she had to be hospitalized and suffered ear drum injury.
But then, instead of apologizing to the traumatized girl, who's still having nightmares about the incident two years later, they try to sue her and her father for assaulting a public servant, because they tried to fight back against the ridiculously bungled arrest by plain-clothes policeman who just jumped out of an unmarked van and began attacking the girl, who had stepped out of her home to turn on a breaker switch.
The first case was a mistrial, and the new case it set for February.
WTF, Galveston, Texas? Really?

And with just one week left...

... it's time for the weird-shit phase of this two-year campaign season.
OK, I should say the weirder-shit phase.

McCain volunteer faking ATM mugging/"B for Barack" knife attack.
I'm sure the McCain folks are going, gee, thanks, Ashley; that really helped. (She's sure not Bush's Ashley.)

I mentioned this earlier as only a rumor, that some evangelicals actually believe that Barack Obama is the anti-Christ. But, no, sadly, it's more than a rumor. In fact, it's even made its way into Snopes.

And then, beyond weird, into scary. I just hope these loser kids are an anomaly.

Well, that explains her success...

Sarah Palin has apparently been witchcraft-proof since 2005.

Quote du Jour: Semi-anonymous California Motorist

from Reuters:

U.S. motorists brave Mexico border violence for fuel

"It's worth taking the risk even with the violence," said a retired California engineer named Terry, who declined to give his surname, as he filled his red Ford pick-up truck in Tijuana, over the border from San Diego. "I know they could kill me or kidnap me, but the cost of filling my tank in the United States is just too much," he said.

WTF? I thought for a second I was reading The Onion. I've heard a lot of people bellyaching about the price of gas since it passed the $4 mark, and I've done some bellyaching about it myself, with good reason, especially knowing how little the oil companies are suffering in all of this, but saving $100 a month is worth the genuine risk (based on the recent travel advisory for border areas like Tijuana) of being kidnapped or murdered? Some people are just much, much braver than I am.

Mika B. to Terry McAuliffe: Put the Bottle Down...

OK, yeah, regardless of what Hillary says tomorrow night or the day after in New York, it looks like it's pretty much over, judging by this appearance from legendary optimist Terry McAuliffe on "Morning Joe."

Despite my official conversion to Obamamania, I'm gonna be sad to see her go. It's been a hell of a ride, and the eulogy is gonna be tough to write.

But with all the slip-ups McCain's been making lately (as in being off by several thousand on the number of troops in Iraq) it's time to focus on Dems vs. 'pubs again and get on with this thing.

Mike Gravel is Delightfully Insane

from Reason:

Mike Gravel Crosses Over

Thanks a lot, Sarah Khawad...

... secretary at Unity High School in Khartoum, obviously no fan of teddy bears or at least one of her colleagues. Now you have your 15 minutes of international fame.
People are silly.
Free the teddy bear lady! In the name of sanity.

Maybe I spoke too soon...

... about giving FEMA the benefit of the doubt. I hadn't realized that Tuesday's "news conference," at which Deputy Administrator Harvey Johnson talked about lessons learned from Katrina being applied to the wildfire response, was held with FEMA staffers pretending to be reporters, since none of the real reporters could make the briefing that was held with only 15 minutes prior notice.

Is it sympathy for the devil to just feel sorry for these guys?

I mean, the guy in that photo is no Dana Perino. Poor dude; he obviously never got fashion advice from Naomi Wolf on how to pick a power suit. Maybe he should just stay out the press conference business, especially the deciding-whether-to-hold-one-even-if-no-one's-there part.

Paulison spoke confidently of the response itself in an interview with NPR.

As long as they do their job, I guess that's what counts. But then I'm only a blogger with a snarky (and sometimes overly generous) opinion. Hell hath no fury like a press corps implied to be irrelevant. We're going to be hearing about this one for awhile.

The Furry Demographic

Well, Tom Vilsack already won my heart (if not my primary vote) with the "Aflac" gag on The Daily Show, but this (almost) clinches it.

I'm not kidding. He gets points for this (with me.)

Thanks to Wonkette

If you're in the market for a psychologist...

... in a few years, please beware.

Ted "Completely Heterosexual" Haggard and his wife are so impressed with his three-week "psychological intensive" that they're seeking online master's degrees in psychology themselves.

This somehow annoys me on so many levels, I won't even begin to enumerate them.

(I know that to be "fair and balanced," I should comment on the Gavin Newsom story as well, but it depresses me beyond the point of remark. However, that's not to say the two are equivalent. Lefties just don't have quite the sense of mind-blowing irony that the Right does when it comes to their scandals.)

Holiday Wish List: Talking Dr. Laura Doll

Because it's not enough to listen to her show faithfully every day (yes, you do detect sarcasm.) I must carry around a beaming, Barbie-sized replica to enlighten my day with chestnuts like:

"[Don't] argue with me. It makes me testy."
"[Is] this the hill you want to die on?"
"I am my kid's mom."
and
"Now, go do the right thing."
Click to listen.

Ted Haggard quote du jour

"I am a deceiver and a liar."

There was more to Haggard's Swaggart-esque (ooh, alliteration) public confession, but I think that snippet pretty much says it all.

Quote du Jour: Ted Haggard

"Don't let any substance determine how you live your day."

-- from his book The Jerusalem Diet: The "One Day" Approach to Reach Your Ideal Weight--and Stay There

Not bad advice...ahem.

You can't make this stuff up...

"The Rev. Ted Haggard said Friday he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a male prostitute. But the influential Christian evangelist insisted he threw the drugs away and never had sex with the man."

Oh, well, in that case...