Seems like everyone's following the lead of our flip-flopping 2008 presidential candidates -- from Columbia University president Lee Bollinger reversing course and bad-mouthing his guest, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Verizon changing direction and allowing NARAL to send pro-abortion text messages to its (Verizon's) customers after all. Is a national trend forming? Susannah and Bob discuss in the latest "Running Gags"!


Merci to my muse for mentioning both news stories.

For all of you who have followed along with us....I didn't write these, don't know who did, but I think they're wonderful. If we can't laugh at ourselves, then life is just no fun! Enjoy...

Some guy bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: "Free to good home. You want it, you take it". For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too un-trusting of this deal. It looked to good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: "Fridge for sale $50". The next day someone stole it.

Caution! . . . . . These people vote.

=======

While looking at a house, my brother asked the real estate agent which direction was North because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, "Does the sun rise in the North?"
When my brother explained that the sun rises in the East, (and ha s for sometime), she shook her head and said, "Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff"

She votes!

In a development sure to be viewed as a turning point in the Iraq war, karate champ turned actor turned Fox News talk show host, Chuck Norris has just headed over to set things straight in Saddam Hussein's old stomping grounds. He'll be covering the conflict for World Net Daily. Well, hold on to your hat, two things have already become apparent to Chuck:

The "surge is working" and "morale is up--way up!"

Why we didn't think of sending Chuck sooner is a mystery to me. Hell, we probably just should have sent him in alone back when this whole thing began. Consider his qualifications:

That's not a typo. Hip-hop star 50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson, appears to be leaning toward Hillary Clinton for president. In an interview with fans that ran in Time magazine, the rap mogul was asked the one question that it's safe to say all of American has longed to know the answer to:

Q: Are you endorsing a particular candidate in the '08 election?
A: No, but I like Hillary. I think she was already our President once. [Laughs].

That's funny stuff. No word on who Kanye West is endorsing . Someone who cares about black people. Probably a Democrat. Could be Hillary, John Edwards, Mike Gravel. Hell, a lot of people would seem to fit the bill on that one. As for Barack Obama, he's doing just fine in terms of the hip-hop vote. Asian American rapper Jin has even written a song about him, "Open Letter 2 Obama."

"B-Rock," as he's known in some circles, has also graced the cover of Vibe, a place you won't see Hillary any time soon. What does it all mean? You guessed it. Slow news day. Now let's play count the racist remarks left in the comment section!

Former liberal-turned-Conservative-turned-liberal "Progressive" again David Corn's Media Matters is a bit of a joke as they daily try to spin every thing Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh say into proof that they're racist, xenophobic and whatever else libs believe as gospel. Check out the list of liberal all-stars that write there and tell me if you think they're unbiased in the least. The fact that Corn wrote a screed against Hillary Clinton that sold tons and then when things started getting tough on the Conservative side wrote a screed against the right says all you need to know about his character and opportunism.

Now they've compiled a breath taking report that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the media is not liberal but leans conservative. The fact that this has been debunked didn't stop the Media Matters folks from wasting time and energy.

The entire piece can be shown wrong by their listing Cokie Roberts, David Broder (who will forever be considered a "centrist" because he attacked the liberal bloggers) and Tom Friedman as "centrists". The only place Tom Friedman looks like a "centrist" is in the New York Times, a paper that runs him twice a week.

Wednesday marked the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The storm devastated the city of New Orleans, along with many other places on the Gulf Coast. John Edwards used New Orleans to launch his 2008 presidential campaign, while fellow Democratic hopefuls Sen. Chris Dodd and Gov. Bill Richardson criticized the Bush administration's response to Katrina during the South Carolina debate. President Bush spoke in New Orleans on Wednesday and sounded encouraging, but the situation seems anything but. Much of the city is still devastated, and tax breaks tied to Katrina are helping investors develop luxury football condos near the University of Alabama. Bob and Susannah discuss Katrina in the latest "Running Gags"!

Merci to my muse for the idea...

To quote the '80s classic, it's "Goodbye to You" for former "Bush's Brain" Karl Rove. (How appropriate that the band's name was "Scandal.") Bob and Susannah discuss Rove's legacy in the latest episode of "Running Gags"!

Do President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney deserve impeachment? Is their direction of the Iraq war mere bungling, or something more sinister, and does it warrant action by Congress? Susannah and Bob discuss in the latest episode of "Running Gags"!

The Washington Post got a twofer out of Hillary Clinton's breasts. First, staff fashion writer Robin Givhan wrote a July 20th piece that took the former first lady to task for giving a speech on the floor of the Senate while displaying what Givhan considered an inappropriate amount of cleavage:

She was talking on the Senate floor about the burdensome cost of higher education. She was wearing a rose-colored blazer over a black top. The neckline sat low on her chest and had a subtle V-Shape. The cleavage registered after only a quick glance. No scrunch-faced scrutiny was necessary. There wasn't an unseemly amount of cleavage showing, but there it was. Undeniable.

Oh no! An undeniable V-shape. Run for your lives! In response, the Clinton campaign sent forth outraged letters deriding the column:

Would you believe that the Washington Post wrote a 746-word article on Hillary's cleavage? Apparently, it was showing when she gave a speech in the Senate about the skyrocketing cost of higher education. Now, I've seen some off-topic press coverage--but talking about body parts? That is grossly inappropriate.

The letter also asked for contributions.

Next up, you guessed it, the Post went back to the trough for more, and media columnists Howard Kurtz and Anne E. Kornblut penned a piece on the call and response, essentially attempting to contextualize and excuse Givhan's initial article. Givhan, we were assured, had also written about Nancy Pelosi's love of scarves, and Dick Cheney's ill-advised, informal parka during an Auschwitz visit. Mind you, she has never directed her reader's attention to a male candidate's erogenous zones, but that's probably just a coincidence:

Politicians often rip the media over what they see as unfavorable coverage, hoping to score points against an unpopular institution. But the cleavage letter is undoubtedly a first in the annals of campaign counterpunching.

A whole lot of nothing going on here. Mild cleavage, a mild double-standard, a mild controversy, and some truly half-hearted journalism from Kurtz and Kornblut. Just another day in Washington.

...what would you do? Would you report to the draft office, or try to avoid military service because of the Iraq War? Bob and Susannah discuss their feelings in the latest episode of "Running Gags"!

Al Gore's dream is about to be realized; tens of today's star musicians, as well as some has-beens and a few unknowns, will play a series of rock concerts to end global warming. He must be proud.

The stars will align and use megawatts of fossil-fuel generated electricity to show us rabble that we must do more to save the environment. I, for one, will listen to Al Gore and not turn on my TV during th entire show. I may miss acts like the Chili Peppers, who I like a lot, but I want to conserve some electricity.

I will also miss Yusuf (formerly Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens) and that would be a shame. The man is a full-on inspiration with his peaceful lyrics:

"The Jews seem neither to respect God nor his creation. Their own holy books contain the curse of God brought upon them by their prophets on account of their disobedience to Him and mischief in the earth. We have seen the disrespect for religion displayed by those who consider themselves to be 'God's chosen people.'...There will be no justice until all the land is given back to its rightful owners... Only Islam can bring peace back to the Holy Land."

Oops, that wasn't from his lyrics, that was his thoughts on Israel. Old Cat has become a pretty virulent critic of anything he considers un-Islamic.

From King Arthur to Indiana Jones, adventurers have long sought the Holy Grail. Seems Ann Coulter is seeking a Holy Grail of her own ... namely, the Holy Grail of the ultimate insult. Find out more in the latest "Running Gags"!

While it's nice to have entertainers like Toby Keith raising troop morale through USO concerts abroad, what happens when our servicemen and servicewomen face adverse circumstances after returning home? Given what the BBC calls our "sluggish economy," and dismal care at Walter Reed, it seems that homefront morale should be of concern to the 2008 presidential candidates. Should they take a page from FDR and call for more benefits under the GI Bill? Bob and Susannah discuss in the latest episode of "Running Gags"!

A three-year struggle to defend gay marriage in Massachusetts ended – at least for the moment – on Thursday, when the state legislature voted against a ban on gay marriage.

Supporters of gay marriage have been portrayed as ignoring the wishes of "the people" by using the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court, and state legislators, to circumvent the popular will. Still, we should remember that the popular will has also been used to back odious causes in the past ... and as for "the people" being solidly against gay marriage, why did so much anti-gay lobbying funds come from Dr. James Dobson's Colorado-based Focus on the Family?

Bob and Susannah discuss the results of Thursday's decision in the latest episode of "Running Gags."

Thanks to my muse for suggesting I write about this issue ... and to my Ohio source for mentioning the out-of-state cash contributions in an e-mail several months ago.

It's a win for NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX, and a loss for the FCC and the Bush administration. Yesterday, a federal appeals panel struck down the current government policy of fining stations that air shows that contain bad words. And the logic it used is priceless:

If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same fleeting contexts.

The lesson here? Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Mr. Bush was caught on videotape last July using a common vulgarity that the commission finds objectionable in a conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. Three years ago, Mr. Cheney was widely reported to have muttered an angry obscene version of "get lost" to Senator Patrick Leahy on the floor of the United States Senate.

The verdict comes as a relief to network executives. Now, the next time a camera inadvertently broadcasts the president or vice president letting fly with such an unholy expletive, these television stations won't have to pick up the tab.