Guess What, Another Obama Smear

Thanks, Jake Tapper of ABC news for getting to the bottom of the latest Obama's a Muslim smear. This is especially noble because you don't strike me as an Obama supporter. You could have ignored this story but instead you did your journalistic duty and set the record straight.
Quickly, the story goes like this. The Jerusalem Post reported, Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. As you can imagine it soon showed up on conservative and other blogs who ran with the Muslim background aspect of the report and then it found it's way to Fox news on June 16th. Brit Hume said, "Barack Obama is a practicing Christian, married in a Christian church, whose children were also baptized in that church. His campaign has emphasized his faith in part to dispel what the campaign calls an online smear campaign which contends among other things that Obama was raised a Muslim. There is even a statement on his official campaign website reading quote, Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian. But Obama's half brother is not so sure. Malik Obama tells the Jerusalem Post that, if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background."
The problem is that Malik Obama never said that. ABC news got a hold of the audio interview and there was no such thing said. The Jerusalem Post has removed the story from it's website.
I'm not exactly sure why I feel so compelled to stick up for Barrack Obama, especially when I see him smeared. I think that part of it is that in the past it seemed that if one politician didn't come through then the next one probably possessed a similar set of skills and all the other attributes, that in my eyes, this country stands for. But now so much has changed and the stakes are much higher. At the same time the probability has never seemed lower that someone could rise through the ranks with the important qualities necessary to improve things.
I view Jon McCain as a good man but I am not sure he comprehends the degree of the problem. Regardless of which patriotic coat you wear most would agree that the U.S does not hold the same place of power it previously did. World wide envy has resulted in the closing of the gap. After all haven't we been in the business of spreading our secrets to success like democracy, human rights and capitalism so the world could catch up? Well it's happening and I don't think the old guard likes it much.
In these marketplaces things are far more efficient these days and the smart guys are the ones who know that strength means something different than it once did.

Missing Tim Russert

I'm crushed. I'm not sure there is anyone beyond who I know and love whose death could rattle me more than Tim Russert's. I adore him, and having tea with him every Sunday morning was pure pleasure.
There is no replacement. The bull pen is empty. The TV journalism reservoir is nearly dry.
I do get the vast majority of my news from the print guy's. The Warren Strobel's or Jonathan Landay's of the world keep me informed, but Sunday morning the television is king. It's a mindless sort of intravenous way to be royally fed the news.
So, looking forward, who will those people of interest meet with each weekend? There is Andrea Mitchell, whom I deeply respect, yet still insufficient for the role. Chris Mathews? His looming threat of running for political office turns me off. Who's left? Who has the footwork to dazzle a guest into parting with information that reveals more than their projected self? I can't come up with a single name. The extra sleep will do me some good.

Mr. Russert, may you be a half hour in heaven before the devil knows your dead.

Obama-Biden Ticket

Just going to rattle off some stuff here because I don't have much time. Senator Obama, I predict, will convince Senator Joe Biden to become his running mate. How's that for a prediction. Maybe wishful thinking but there is a radiating simpatico there that I can't ignore. There is a no-nonsense directness they share that appeals to me. I may be repeating myself but there is an old Italian saying that goes something like, "between to say and to do is half an ocean." I see them, shirt sleeves rolled up, filling and placing the sand bags trying to save the town rather than working hard to avoid work like so many do. That's my dream ticket anyway.
Next, Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion fame who I admire, endorsed Senator Obama. Great news.
And finally a little joke. Funny to me anyway. I was in a local plant nursery yesterday and was waited on by my favorite Brooklyn, New York born clerk. One of those guy's who just puts a smile on your face when you see him. We were talking about this and that when I spotted some containers with some live snails inside that were for sale. I asked him about them and he said, " yeah, ya put dee's in da god'n and day eat da bad snail eggs, and da debris and udder stuff." He seemed a little strained having to explain this to me which green-lighted me to bust him a little bit so I said, wow you know a lot about these, you have some at home? They eat debris? and he says, yeah, da bree cheese. He claimed it with a high five and we laughed.

My Kind Of Endorsement

Another interview and another attempt to reveal Bob Dylan as an alien life form took place in Denmark recently. I guess for some people ridiculing a smart guy is an easy way to feel smarter. Why Bob Dylan can't simply be accepted for what he chooses to reveal of himself will always be a mystery to me.
But why I really bring this up is that he said some nice things about Senator Obama in the interview. He Said, "Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval, poverty is demoralizing. You can't expect people to have the same virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there right now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up... Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is , so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to."This is according to the UK's Times Online.
I think I've mentioned before that I value Bob Dylan's opinion. Not as worship as many others have over the years but for his intelligence which can't be ignored. He doesn't seem to "tilt the windmill" so to speak, indicating that his thoughts are directed from within. This reliance is preferable to dependence on external forces for ideas. One only has to listen to him or read his lyrics to understand this.