OBAMA JUMPS INTO RACE DEBATE ...

It is pretty unusual for a presidential candidate to get involved in local primary politics. But the exception recently has been Barack Obama. For some reason, he has felt the need to jump into a racially tinged debate in Tennessee.

A brief set up ... Rep. Steve Cohen is a Democrat, who is the only white congressman representing a majority black congressional district in Tennessee. Then there's Cohen's opponent Nikki Tinker who is black. Tinker has been running television ads featuring Cohen alongside a hooded Klansman. There is absolutely no alleged connection whatsoever between Cohen and the Klan .. it only exists in Tinker's adds. Another ad scolds the Jewish congressman for "praying in our churches" while voting to oppose prayer in schools.

Obama originally said he would not comment on the ads. Then he releases this statement, "These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee ... It's time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country."

Don't you think that Obama could have been a bit more forceful here? I mean, No mention of race. However, why did he feel the need to comment? Has he become the Messiah on all things race-related? I suppose that is what they mean by a post-racial candidate.

Boortz, Hannity Uncensored SAVE THE DATE: Neal Boortz and Sean Hannity will be together, on-stage and uncensored in Atlanta on September 5th, the day following the Republican National Convention! Make plans to attend and buy tickets! Get the details!

FINALLY

Fox News Channel ran a story this morning about those evil oil companies and their profits. What set this story aside was that they actually brought up profit margins! They explained that many other industries had higher profit margins but were not being targeted by politicians. The story also explained that the oil companies don't really set the price of gasoline. That would be dictated by the price of crude oil more than any other factor.

Darn those right wing zealots at Fox News.

MORE TURBANS IN A WAD

Here's a real shocker ... the Arab world is outraged! This time they have their turbans in a wad over a Nissan commercial which is being aired in Israel. View the ad here. In the commercial, Nissan brags about the fuel efficiency of one of its new cars. Then it shows a pack of angry Arab Shieks, who start attacking the car and complaining that Nissan is going to cost them millions of dollars in oil money. The ad ends with a voiceover saying, "When you consume the least fuel, it's obvious they won't like you in the oil emirates."

Apparently the Arabs are mad because they have been stereotyped. Now Saudi Arabia, along with other oil producing Arab countries, is threatening to boycott Nissan. What else is new? They want an apology from the company. I hope that Nissan does not give in to their demands.

KATRINA VOLUNTEER ARRESTED

Have you all been following this story? Rhonda Tavey lives in Houston, Texas. After Hurricane Katrina, she was passing by the Astrodome in Houston where many of the Katrina refugees had evacuated. Rhonda stopped to volunteer. That's where she met Erica Alphonse, the 22-year-old mother of the five children, ages 3 to 8. She's 22. She has five children. Do the math. No mention of a baby daddy. (Keep in mind that we only have one side of the story, so far.) So Rhonda took the family into her home. She cared for the children and apparently opened up bank accounts for them. The mother, Erica Alphonse, was described by Rhonda as a "neglectful mother who often went for weeks without seeing her children."

Something happened recently that caused Rhonda to take the kids and run away. Rhonda's daughter said the incident had to do with money. She says that Erica knew the children had bank accounts ... she had been stealing bank statements ... and demanded her right to the money. When Rhonda refused, Erica apparently pulled a knife on her. Then Erica said that her boyfriend would be coming to "take care of us." This is when Rhonda packed up the kids and left.

Now Rhonda has been arrested and charged with five counts of kidnapping. The children have been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.

A FAILURE OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

A British academic is fed up with students' inability to spell correctly. So he has come up with another plan ... accept "variant spellings" as legit.

Ken Smith, a criminology lecturer at Bucks New University, says, "Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I've got a better idea ... University teachers should simply accept as variant spelling those words our students most commonly misspell."

To get the proposal started, Smith has put together a list of common misspellings that should immediately be accepted: "ignor," "occured," "thier," "truely," "speach" and "twelth.'

Translation: If a student simply can't come up with the right answers ... start accepting the wrong answers as right. That solves your problem. American education at work.

As a side thought, maybe we do need this center.

BACK TO SCHOOL

A nice back-to-email from a worthy (?) parent:

Subject: Government Schools and the Right to Vote
Name: Trenton

Message:
Hey Neal,

Well, I just attended a "meet and greet" at my daughter's 4th Grade class at a Cobb County school (government I might add) and decided to look though the Social Studies Book. And on page 541 I found the "right to vote". Gee, I didn't know we had a right to vote. I think I'll send a letter to the publisher and find out just where they found this "right to vote". Government schools - gotta love 'em. I think it's really time for school vouchers.

Thanks for the email .. .but I have a question. Why are you sending your child to the government to be educated? Isn't this exactly what you expected?

We welcome your back-to-school emails.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

This came from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation this morning. It's from a British TV show called "Yes, Prime Minister." Watch this excerpt about school choice. Absolutely priceless.

They executed a vicious killer in Texas this week. The so-called "International Court of Justice" ruled that US courts should review this monster's conviction. The Texas courts told the ICJ to, in effect, mind their own business. Now ... you have to ask yourself, what would have happened if Mr. "Citizen of the World"; The Chosen One, were president? Would the precedent be set for giving the ICJ final appeal power over our domestic courts? Read this Investor's Business Daily editorial.

Obama is truly embracing his populist rhetoric right now. The people will just eat up his "energy rebate" plan ... those evil oil companies.

Do you remember the story from yesterday where Mexican soldiers held a U.S. Border Patrol agent at gunpoint ? Now it is being called a "misunderstanding."

A man in Florida is being held on charges of threatening to assassinate Barack Obama.

Here's a little more on John McCain's "Jobs for America" plan. Almost as good as Paris Hilton's energy plan.

A black magazine tries to paint the Obama's as "just an average American family" ... even though they live in a gated community in a $1.6 million home.

This is just the information you need in order to determine who gets your vote ... John McCain and Barack Obama weigh in on their pop culture icons.

19 people were crammed into a Suburban in Arizona which crashed, killing 9 people. And ICE has to investigate whether or not this was a human smuggling vehicle?

This is great news: Suddenly being green is not cool any more.

Meanwhile, one German town is requiring that all residents put solar panels on all existing homes that undergo renovations or get new heating systems or roof repairs.

Defrauding tax payers out of millions of dollars of health care services by recruiting homeless patients for unnecessary medical services ... that was one man's scheme in Los Angeles.

Republicans in Oregon are going to propose legislation to combat text messaging by sexual predators.

See what happens when you leave things up to the private sector: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen helps unveil new school for students with autism.

A man is now claiming discrimination because he was turned away from a nightclub because of his tattoos.

Oops. Greyhound has had to scrap an ad claiming "There's a reason you've never heard of 'bus rage'" after one of its passengers beheaded a fellow passenger ... and ate his flesh.

A grandmother has been arrested for driving around a grocery store parking lot with three-year-old granddaughter on the roof of her car. The woman says she was "driving at 'snail-speed' and holding the child's leg."

A New York man pleaded guilty to murder, but only after the judge agreed to let the man have KFC chicken, Popeye's chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, carrot cake and ice cream during his life sentence.

Yesterday on the Information Overload Hour, Belinda and Cristina had never heard of crotch-less pantyhose. Naturally, one of our astute listeners found an example.

Hey look, there's a whole web store for lardasses! Maybe this is insensitive, but if you need a double wide beach chair, we probably don't want to see you on the beach.

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