FREEDOM EDEN

Great Circus Parade: The Last?

2009-07-13T00:38:00.001-05:00

The return of the Great Circus Parade to the streets of Milwaukee was absolutely glorious.

It was a perfect summer day for the spectacular event. Perfect.

While Milwaukee's media gave the Great Circus Parade glowing coverage, I've been truly annoyed by the idiocy of the suggestion that the 2009 parade may be the last.

It's an absolutely ridiculous proposition. NUTS!

On TMJ4, Tom Murray said in his report, "And as thousands and thousands watch this parade go by, the question: When, if ever, will it come back again?"

On FOX 6, Jeremy Ross gave a recap of the parade. He said it was "a display not seen or photographed in Milwaukee in six years. And there's no telling when they'll ride through these streets again, due to a slumping economy and lack of corporate support."

Katrina Cravy followed up with this: "Well, the parade will not be back next year, but was today the grand finale?"

On WISN 12, Mike Miller said, "The Milwaukee tradition goes back more than 30 years."

That's true. It is more than 30, but the first parade was held in 1963. Would it have been that difficult to do the math? The tradition goes back significantly longer than 30 years.

But I digress.

Miller said, "It's the first Circus Parade in six years, and because of funding problems, it could be the last."

Unless a giant meteor hits the earth or there's a global nuclear war, in effect, unless the world blows up, this is NOT the final Circus Parade to be staged in Milwaukee.

I don't know why the media have been throwing out the possibility that the Circus Parade may never return, never again.

It's crazy. Of course, it will be back. It may take years, a decade, a generation. Who knows?

But it will be back. That's certain.

Death, taxes, and the Great Circus Parade.

Obama, American Catholics, and the Pope

2009-07-12T06:20:00.001-05:00

According to Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Obama better represents Catholics than the Pope.

Wacky?

Absolutely.

Surprising?

Not at all.

Many Catholic Democrats, as well as Catholics with other or no political affiliations, routinely ignore Catholic doctrine.

For Newsweek, Kennedy Townsend writes:

Pope Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama meet for the first time, an affair much anticipated and in some circles frowned upon by American Catholics in the wake of Obama's controversial Notre Dame commencement speech in May. Conservatives in the church denounced Obama's appearance as a nod by the premier Catholic university to a conciliatory politics that heralds the start of a slippery moral slope.

In truth, though, Obama's pragmatic approach to divisive policy (his notion that we should acknowledge the good faith underlying opposing viewpoints) and his social-justice agenda reflect the views of American Catholic laity much more closely than those vocal bishops and pro-life activists. When Obama meets the pope tomorrow, they'll politely disagree about reproductive freedoms and homosexuality, but Catholics back home won't care, because they know Obama's on their side. In fact, Obama's agenda is closer to their views than even the pope's.

WHAT?

"Catholics back home won't care, because they know Obama's on their side."

That's a problem.

Kennedy Townsend concludes with this incredible statement:

The pope has a lot to learn about Catholic politics in America. Barack Obama can teach him.

"Catholic politics in America" isn't the concern of the Pope.

The Holy Father is the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, over a billion Catholics.

Obama sat in the pews of Jeremiah Wright's church for twenty years. He joined Wright's church and abandoned it out of political expediency. Obama is hardly a man worthy of representing Catholics on matters of faith.

And yet we're supposed to buy that Obama better represents American Catholics?

It all depends what the meaning of "better represents" is.

I think it's accurate to say that Obama better represents the views of lapsed Catholics.

I think Obama is the one who has a lot to learn. Pope Benedict can teach him.

Flynn and McBride: E-mail

2009-07-12T06:02:00.001-05:00

I'm more than a day late on this story, but I want to comment on it anyway, mainly because it reveals how incredibly tabloid some Milwaukee media outlets are becoming.

What is with Dan Bice and the Ed Flynn/Jessica McBride affair? What's his problem?

Now he's pouring over 217 e-mail messages between the two.

Doesn't he have anything better to do? Guess not.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Police Chief Edward Flynn and journalist Jessica McBride traded an astounding 217 messages over four months on his city e-mail account, newly released records show.

In the e-mails, the pair proved chatty and friendly.

McBride offered opinions about local radio talk show hosts such as Charlie Sykes, and Flynn discussed how Mayor Tom Barrett greased the skids for his appointment. The two talked about actors and actresses, comedians, TV shows and movies, along with local politics.

McBride also took the unusual step of keeping the chief apprised of many of the twists and turns while someone edited her glowing Milwaukee Magazine profile of Flynn.

But the e-mails on his public e-mail account — released by the city in response to an open records request — fall short of the steamy and graphic exchanges the two had in handwritten letters and private e-mails. No Quarter first reported on those exchanges last month.

"At this rate, you need a Chardonnay not a coffee anyway," McBride wrote Flynn at his office on April 26 in response to his request for coffee with her. "Or a strong whiskey. Or a Guinness. If you had a Guinness with (Ald.) Bob Donovan, you can have one with me."

That’s about as flirtatious as the public e-mails get. That one also marks one of the final exchanges between the two on Flynn’s account at the Milwaukee Police Department.

Last month, Flynn, 61, apologized for the extramarital affair without mentioning the 39-year-old journalist’s name, asking the city for its forgiveness. Outside of answering a question or two at a press conference, he has largely kept quiet about the relationship.

The chief has moved from his East Side condo, where the relationship began.

McBride, by contrast, has been more combative, emphasizing that affair began in early May, a couple of weeks after the magazine article appeared in print. She is married to former Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher.

A former Journal Sentinel reporter and conservative talk-show host, McBride is a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a weekly columnist for the Waukesha Freeman and faculty supervisor for Frontpage Milwaukee, an online paper that covers many topics including MPD.

At the start, Flynn and McBride’s e-mail messages were detached and professional.

But the journalist quickly began filling Flynn’s e-mail account with her thoughts and opinions. For instance, on Jan. 1, she expressed frustration with a negative Journal Sentinel editorial despite a drop in city crime. "Sometimes I wish I was writing a column, not a feature story," she wrote.

This has really become weird.

Bice seems disappointed that the new information "[falls] short of the steamy and graphic exchanges the two had in handwritten letters and private e-mails."

Creepy.

This is such gossipy crap. It's not investigative reporting. Bice is like a gossip columnist. He seems bent on humiliating McBride and doesn't appear to mind humiliating Flynn.

Why else would Bice be printing parts of their e-mail exchanges, ones that drop names, like Charlie Sykes, Tom Barrett, Lena Taylor, Jim Doyle, John Chisholm, and Jon Stewart? Yes, Jon Stewart.

TMJ4 also did some similar cherry picking on its breathless report, "New E-Mails Shed Light On Chief Flynn Affair."

Chief Flynn was also candid about his opinions involving politics and other city and county officials. He tells McBride that he has been pushing for the Mayor to support a concealed carry law to allow the public to carry concealed weapons.

He also takes a jab at Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. In a March 16, e-mail exchange, McBride asks Flynn about his response to a question about the early release of inmates. Flynn responds, "I was trying not to become embroiled in any reflexive "outrage" (per the always outraged sheriff)."

How do such details "shed light" on the affair that's newsworthy?

They don't.

Perhaps Bice could post the "astounding 217 messages" online?

Even better, the Journal Sentinel could print them in a special section.

David Brooks' Inner Thigh and a Republican Senator (Video)

2009-07-11T00:01:00.002-05:00

David Brooks made a rather shocking revelation on Friday.

At a dinner, Brooks allowed a Republican senator to keep his hand on Brooks' inner thigh "the whole time."

The "whole time"?

I guess the senator didn't need to use both of his hands during dinner. I suppose he didn't have to cut his meat or anything.

Although he refused to reveal the senator's identity, we do know that Brooks didn't insist that the senator remove his hand.

What kind of a wuss is Brooks?

Doesn't he know that if someone touches him inappropriately that he should tell a trusted adult, like a parent or a teacher?

Either David didn't mind that his inner thigh was being groped by this unnamed senator or he needs some remedial training on how to deal manage such a situation.

Another possiblity is that Brooks' story is a complete fabrication or at least an extreme exaggeration.

Here's the video.

Transcript

NORAH O’DONNELL: What, what’s happened?

DAVID BROOKS: You know, all three of us spend a lot of time covering politicians and I don’t know about you guys, but in my view, they’re all emotional freaks of one sort or another. They’re guaranteed to invade your personal space, touch you. I sat next to a Republican senator once at dinner and he had his hand on my inner thigh the whole time. I was like, ehh, get me out of here.

JOHN HARWOOD: What?

BROOKS: I can only imagine what happens to you guys.

O’DONNELL: Sorry, who was that?

BROOKS: I’m not telling you, I’m not telling you. But so, a lot of them spend so much time needing people’s love and yet they are shooting upwards their whole life, they’re not that great in normal human relationships. And so, they’re like freaks, they don’t know how to, they’re lonely. They reach out. I’ve spoken to a lot of young women who are Senate staffers and they’ll have these middle age guys who are sort of in the middle of a mid-life crisis. Emotionally needy, they don’t know how to do it and sort of like these St. Bernards drooling everywhere. And you find a lot of this happens in mid-life and among very powerful people who are extremely lonely.

O’DONNELL: Can I ask one other question David? Do you think, what about female or women politicians? Are they dignified and are there examples of when they have not? Or does it tend to be the men who less dignified?

BROOKS: Yeah, I think that’s mostly a matter of genetics. I do think that... I do think there’s loneliness.

O’DONNELL: That was just a softball, David, and you really hit it very well.

BROOKS: Yeah, I wish I could think of sort of St. Bernards, sloppy women who are licking their aides, but but no, I can’t think of any.

HARWOOD: I’m not going there.

O’DONNELL: Did you have a couple drinks at lunch, David? I mean, this is clearly...

BROOKS: No, you’ve hit me... I’m trying not to be too dignified and stuffy.

O’DONNELL: Well, David Brooks as always, thank you very much. That was a lot of fun. You may not have gotten best column of the week, but you got best appearance of the week, certainly.

Very weird.

Obama, Michelle, and the Pope

2009-07-10T13:12:00.010-05:00

Barack and Michelle Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI today.

The Obamas tower over the Pope, but Obama didn't bow before him with they met. After all, it's not as if the Pope is King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

From AP, here's Raw Video: Obama Meets with Pope Benedict XVI

Note that Obama does give a very respectful nod to the Pope, but he makes a similar gesture when acknowledging photographers.

In any event, Obama definitely did not bow from the waist like he did for King Abdullah.

Look at what Michelle is wearing.

US first lady Michelle Obama, leaves the Vatican after a meeting Pope Benedict XVI with President Obama, Friday July 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

She looks like she's going to a funeral. Nonetheless, it is appropriate for her to wear a dark color and cover her arms and head.

When Laura Bush met the Pope in Rome, she also wore black and a veil, though her veil was lighter, more airy, and less like a nun's habit.

Read how the Lefties mocked Laura Bush over her outfit when she met the Pope. Interesting, isn't it?

They dissed her for exhibiting her "Goth look."

She was called "Darth Vader in drag."

One person said, "They Need to Send Her Back to the Factory in Stepford for Refurbishing."

Another said, "Laura looks like she just received word that she's not going to heaven."

Another declared that her outfit is "as black as her soul."

Mrs. Bush was also called a "stupid bitch" and a "low class twit" and a "slob."

Needless to say, I'm sure Michelle won't receive the same criticism.

Hypocrites.

ABC Declares St. Obama Innocent

2009-07-10T12:57:00.004-05:00

Jake Tapper and the Good Morning America crew are helping Obama out, trying to help him retain the "Perfect Husband" title.

ABC declares St. Obama innocent, though they don't cut French President Nicolas Sarkozy the same slack.

Tapper writes:

President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy trade places on a dais with "Junior G8" delegates.

On first glance, the snapshot appears to show President Obama caught in a moment of less than lofty analysis. But upon looking at the video, the moment might seem to appear quite innocent -- one of those times when a picture can be misleading. The president was on a higher step and was stepping down -- so he looked down to assure his footing as the woman was walking up the stairs.

Although: not everyone agrees. Judge for yourself.

Doyle, the Circus Parade, and PETA

2009-07-10T05:19:00.000-05:00

According to the "Order of march for the Great Circus Parade" in downtown Milwaukee on Sunday, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and his wife will be participants. They are scheduled to be in the Patriotic Section of the parade.

Patriotic Section

11. #400 GCP introductory wagon pulled by four Chestnut Halfingers Teamster: Dave & Margaret Kraus of Stratford, Wis. Topriders: Circus World performers Los Antons and Duo Fusion.

12. 50-State Flag Unit from Great Lakes Recruiting Station

13. Navy Band Great Lakes: marching band from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Ill.

14. Patriotic Section leaders on horseback, heralding the Star-Spangled Section: Jean Olson & Tracy Auch

15. Villa Louis vis-à-vis from the Wisconsin Historical Society Site. Passengers: Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle & First Lady Jessica Doyle. Carriage team by Dean Achenbach, of Prairie du Chien

PETA isn't happy that Doyle will be taking part in the parade.

From PETA's Action Center:

On July 8, 2009, PETA sent a letter to Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle urging him to agree not to participate in The Great Circus Parade on July 12, 2009. A recent report by Wisconsin Radio Network mentioned the governor's plans to be part of the parade. The Great Circus Parade is just one part of a week-long 50th anniversary celebration of Circus World Museum, a museum that honors circuses that have abused animals for hundreds of years.

In our letter, we urged Gov. Doyle to consider the plight of the elephants with Kelly Miller Circus, who will be performing at Circus World Museum's Festival Showgrounds, and watch video footage of Carson & Barnes Circus, the current supplier of elephants for Kelly Miller's shows. The undercover video footage shows Carson & Barnes animal care director Tim Frisco as he viciously attacks terrified elephants with a bullhook—a sharp, steel-tipped device that resembles a fireplace poker—and an electric prod. Frisco instructs other trainers to hurt the elephants until they scream and to sink a bullhook into their flesh and twist it. Frisco also cautions that the beatings must be concealed from the public. A U.S. District Court judge described this video as "troubling" and noted that it depicts conduct that violates the federal Animal Welfare Act.

Gov. Doyle should not be using his elected office to promote an industry that forces animals to perform confusing tricks under the threat of punishment and spend their lives confined to cages or chains.
Please ask Gov. Doyle not to participate in The Great Circus Parade.

Please send polite comments to:

The Honorable Jim Doyle
Governor of Wisconsin
Madison Office
P.O. Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707
608-266-1212
608-267-8983 (fax)
governor@wisconsin.gov

PETA offers a message to send to Doyle.

*Recipients - Jim Doyle

* Subject - Boycott Circuses and Events That Use Animals

Dear [Decision Maker], (Note: That would be Doyle. He's the decider.)

Please reconsider your plans to participate in the Great Circus Parade on July 12.

Kelly Miller Circus is scheduled to appear at the event beginning on July 8. You might be interested to know that Kelly Miller is currently leasing elephants from Carson & Barnes Circus. Undercover video footage shows Carson and Barnes' animal-care director, Tim Frisco, viciously attacking terrified elephants with bullhooks (sharp, steel-tipped devices) and electric prods. In the video, Frisco instructs trainers to hurt the elephants until they scream and to sink a bullhook into their flesh and twist it.

A U.S District Court judge has described this video as 'troubling' and noted that it depicts conduct that is in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

Animals used in circuses are routinely abused and are forced to perform tricks--under the threat of punishment--that are meaningless and confusing to them.

Please cancel your plans to participate in The Great Circus Parade and boycott events that use animals in the future.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

On July 8, RaeLeann Smith, Circus and Government Affairs Specialist, sent this letter to Doyle.

She and her PETA cohorts want Doyle to cancel.

Smith asks Doyle to contact PETA.

"Can we please hear from you about this urgent matter?"

I wonder if Doyle has contacted the group regarding "this urgent matter."

He certainly isn't going to back out. I'm sure PETA knows that as well. I expect Doyle to be smiling and waving to the crowds on Sunday as he makes his way along the parade route in Milwaukee.

I assume that most parade-goers will respond politely enough to the governor.

With PETA, success is measured by how much media attention members can muster rather than actual results.

TMJ4: Flynn's Affair and Crime Stats

2009-07-09T05:24:00.001-05:00

TMJ4 continues to focus on the affair Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn had with journalist Jessica McBride.

On the 10:00 PM newscast, rather than highlight the fact that crime is down in Milwaukee by 15% in 2009, the first order of business for TMJ4 was the affair.

That is bizarre.

TMJ4 is veering more and more toward TMZ type news.

Aaron Diamant covered the story.

Police Chief Ed Flynn is for the first time answering questions about his affair.

He first admitted to the affair last month, but Wednesday he spoke about it for the first time with reporters.

More than two weeks after the news broke, a Wednesday press conference about the city's falling crime rate is where the Chief finally decided he'd answer questions.

TODAY'S TMJ 4 reporter Aaron Diamant asked, "There's been some questions raised about the affect on credibility and your ability to lead the department. Your thoughts on that and where you go from here?"

To which Flynn replied, "As I said two weeks ago, I've apologized to my family, I've apologized to the Mayor, to the command staff, the members of my department and the residents of this community. On the private side of my life, I'm working hard to restore my credibility, and my family is the most important credibility right now."

Clearly, the last few weeks have been rough, but Flynn still maintains the affair happened off the clock, and never affected his job as the city's top cop.

"Publicly, my responsibility is to focus on the challenges that confront this city in terms of crime, fear, and disorder, and that's what I'm devoted to doing."

As for a citizens group led by organizer Lamont Harris, that says the Chief violated ethics rules and a state law by having the affair, Flynn says, "I haven't been contacted by any community groups. There's a community individual, who's got a perfect right to access the system as any other citizen does, and that's their right and they'll engage with the system, and the system will play out how it plays out. I can't control that."

Technically, adultery is against the law in Wisconsin, though it's almost never prosecuted.

TMJ4 video here.

The crime stats in Milwaukee were secondary, reported almost as an afterthought.

What's really strange about this is that the press conference was held to announce the crime situation in the city. Is progress being made?

Instead of that being the big news, TMJ4 chose to trumpet the FIRST TIME Flynn spoke about the affair ahead of the crime story.

That was a very poor decision.

Sleazy.

Bill O'Reilly, Al Sharpton: Michael Jackson Strange?

2009-07-09T00:28:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, Bill O'Reilly had a discussion with Al Sharpton about Michael Jackson's "strangeness" and the accusations made by Rep. Pete King.

Video.

Transcript

BILL O'REILLY: The Michael Jackson situation yesterday at the memorial service in Los Angeles -- Al Sharpton said this:

AL SHARPTON: Michael made us love each other. Michael taught us to stand with each other... I want his three children to know, wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with.

O'REILLY: With us now is Reverend Sharpton. Nothing strange about Michael Jackson? All that plastic surgery, altering his face and all of that. The hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on prescription drugs. In vitro on white kids, you know, when you're black man. Nothing strange about it?

SHARPTON: Well, no.

O'REILLY: You don't think any of that's strange?

SHARPTON: First of all, you could probably have a large percentage of Americans that have had plastic surgery.

O'REILLY: Not like that.

SHARPTON: Well, maybe he had more resources. Maybe a lot of this is exaggerated. Let's deal with the issues. The issue is that it is totally irresponsible for a lawmaker to disregard the law. Charges were made against Michael Jackson. A mostly non-black jury... he talks about nine out of ten, let's try twelve out of twelve in a jury said he was not guilty of child molestation. That's all. And it's as reckless and irresponsible to say he's a child molester as it would be for me to come on here and say Dick Cheney shoots his friends hunting.

Pete King, Bill O'Reilly: Michael Jackson (Video)

2009-07-09T00:25:00.000-05:00

Rep. Pete King is not backing down in any way from the extremely harsh statements he made about Michael Jackson, calling him a "pervert," a "child molester," and a "pedophile." He did, however, clarify that what set him off was the saturation coverage of Jackson's death.

Last night, King discussed his remarks with Bill O'Reilly.

Video.

Transcript

BILL O'REILLY: Now the top story tonight -- the growing racial controversy over Michael Jackson. While millions of Americans have watched the coverage of Jackson's death, millions of Americans are also fed up with the glorification of the man. Leading that charge is Congressman Peter King of New York.

(video clip)

PETER KING: This guy was a pervert. He was a child molester. He was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what's it say about us as a country? I just think it's too... We're too politically correct. No one wants to stand up and say, 'We don't need Michael Jackson.'

O'REILLY: Well, joining us now from Washington is the controversial Congressman King. All right now, ...Congressman Bobby Rush from Illinois, and Hazel Dukes, and NAACP officials imply you're a racist. What say you?

KING: That is absolute nonsense. I stand by everything I said. There's absolutely nothing racist or racial in any of the words I used. You know, Bill, I was on your show over seven years ago. I was the first Catholic politician in the United States to call for the resignation of Cardinal Law as archbishop of Boston because he had failed to go after the child molesters in the clergy in Boston. This past weekend Bob Herbert of the New York Times, an African American columnist, said that behind the facade of Michael Jackson is the horror of child abuse.

I don't see how pointing out a person's horrible record when it comes to misusing and abusing children, how that becomes racial in any way. And also, I'll say this, there's an ironic point. On Sunday, the New York Times editorial, which it's very seldom the Times has something good to say about me, where they praised me and John McCain because for five years we've had a bill in Congress, which looks like it's going to go through this year, to give a presidential pardon to Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion. And we're doing that because his prosecution was racially biased against him. It was racism. And John McCain and I have spoken out against that. I certainly get no votes in my district for that. So I think, you know, my record is clear. I just think that people raising this issue are absolutely phony. And it's really, it's wrong.

O'REILLY: It is wrong. I agree. I've know you for a long time. You're not a racist. And Mr. Rush and Ms. Dukes are cheap for playing that race card against you. But the timing of what you said, what you said was harsh. It was harsh, and you know, the man has died. He has people who love him. In hindsight, might you have waited a week?

KING: No, Bill, because this had already gone on for nine or ten days. And I guess what put me over the edge was I spent the whole Fourth of July with veterans, and cops, firefighters at different parades in Wantagh and Massapequa Park, as you would say, being with the folks. And there was such a resentment building up, people saying, 'Why is this guy getting all this adulation?'

OK, he was a good singer. He was a good dancer. But why, why is he getting all this coverage? Why is the nation stopped for Michael Jackson? So I went to the American Legion hall on Sunday. I was with somebody on my staff. We had a video camera, and I said, 'Hey, I'm gonna say what's on my mind.' We posted it, and the reason I was harsh, if you want to call it that, is I had to cut through this ten day cacophony of glorification, this onslaught, where he was being made out to be a saint or a hero, whatever. So I wanted to get right to the point. That's why I said strip aside the psychobabble. This man was a child molester, and he was, by his own admission, he slept with young boys. I mean, you know you walk to a neighborhood and you say to someone, 'If a grown man sleeps with young boys in his bed, is he a pervert?' 99 out of 100 people will say yes.

O'REILLY: All right. Let me play devil's advocate here. Let me play devil's advocate here, because I want to be fair and I think that you know that we are fair here. Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges. He did settle a civil suit, but settling something doesn't mean you're admitting anything. It just means you wanna get it out, all right? You want to get rid of it. The people who know Jackson well say he is the product of an arrested development, that he is a child, or was a child, in his own mind. And I think that speaks to the way he conducted his life. He was not an adult in an emotional way. He himself says that he slept with children. He admits it, only because he loved them and wanted to be close to them, and that there was no sexuality involved. That's what Jackson is on the record as saying. So is it fair to say if he's not convicted in a court of law, is it fair to say he was a child molester?

KING: Bill, I would say an adult male who sleeps with young boys is a child molester. If nothing else, he's molesting and abusing their psyche. How are those children going to possibly grow up normal after spending nights in bed with Michael Jackson?

So, I would say also there's not a daycare center in the United States that would be allowed to hire him. Would anyone, and even of my critics, would they allow their child or their grandchild to be in the same room with Michael Jackson, to be alone with Michael Jackson?

You know, again, we have to strip away a lot of it. There's a difference between a criminal conviction and admitted conduct. I went back and I read all sorts of columns, those articles by Maureen Orth, detailing the way he had all these alarms in his bedroom in his mansion. And he had those alarms on when he was with these young boys. It was a deviant lifestyle.

And to, listen, if Michael Jackson had died and he got one or two days of coverage, that would have been fine. But the way it went on and on, with this wall-to-wall, round the clock coverage, and the same time we have Americans dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have the president in Russia trying to negotiate arms control, nuclear arms control.

To me, it was a real reflection on the culture of our country. And I really, you know, you talk about a culture war, Bill. This to me, I think the media and the political class and the elite class failed. They have... our culture... Pat Moynihan's book about defining deviancy down, there can't be much more down than what Michael Jackson did with young boys and yet we exalted that over the last ten days, two weeks, and it was wrong.

O'REILLY: Why do you think the media played him as a hero?

KING: Perhaps it was political correctness. They get caught up in this Hollywood swirl, and it just sort of fed on itself. And I guess no one wanted to just acknowledge the fact of what his record was all about. And so I just think that it was really a terrible failure by the media, by the elite. And I was saying what millions of Americans really felt.

O'REILLY: All right. Thanks for being a standup guy and coming in, Congressman. We appreciate it.

Sarah Palin, Michael Jackson, Al Sharpton: Conspiracy Theory

2009-07-09T00:05:00.000-05:00

Callers to talk show radio shows can say crazy things.

When this happens, if the host has any credibility, he or she will immediately dismiss the wacky theories and statements as ridiculous.

When a woman called in to Al Sharpton's radio program, she had something crazy to say. Sharpton, however, let her statement stand as legitimate.

Brian Maloney, The Radio Equalizer, writes:

[A] caller to Al Sharpton's radio show yesterday appeared absolutely serious in suggesting a Palin-led plot to get Michael Jackson.

...Hey, there are always nutty callers out there, right? And occasionally, they sneak past call-screeners and reach the airwaves.

What's different here, however, is Sharpton's willingness to entertain the possibility, rather than dismiss it outright.

Transcript

FEMALE CALLER (31:50): He (Michael Jackson) is truly the soundtrack of my life. I also have a theory about Sarah Palin as well and I’m going to put it out there on radio, hopefully someone can investigate.

But, I think maybe she did something to Michael Jackson. Maybe there’s a scandal there. Maybe she’s stepping down because something’s about to come out. I don’t know, but I’m gonna just put it out there on your show so we’ll see.

SHARPTON: All right, thank you for your call, Ashley. That’s interesting. I’ll put it out, we’ll see. I don’t know.

Audio.

That is insane.

Sharpton should be ashamed of himself.

I know that's too much to ask.

Letterman and Sarah Palin: CREEPY

2009-07-09T00:03:00.000-05:00

David Letterman's relentless mocking of Sarah Palin has become worse than stale and boring and stupid and not funny.

It's become creepy.

The guy will not let up.

From the Washington Post:

David Letterman, who famously feuded with and then apologized to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin over a joke he made about one of her daughters and a New York Yankee, hasn't let up, coyly asking on his show Monday night, "Something I said?"

A lawyer who helped Palin set up her political action committee told The Post that that joke, in fact, had helped persuade her to step down. Here's the clip:

On Tuesday, Sarah Palin was the subject of Letterman's Top Ten list.

Wednesday, Letterman included more Palin "jokes" in his monologue.

I wouldn't know if Letterman has been regurgitating this crap every night. I stopped watching his show regularly when he stopped being funny, almost a decade ago.

On Wednesday's show, Letterman was talking about Palin's fishing trip with reporters earlier this week.

Letterman said, "Is it just me or is anybody else having naughty thoughts about Sarah Palin in those waders?"

If that's not an exact quote, it's close.

YUCK!

I mean, that is not entertaining. "Naughty thoughts"?

It's creepy, really creepy.

Afterward, Letterman contorted his face and said something to the effect, "I'll just apologize now."

Not funny.

Where's the National Organization for Women? Why are these alleged feminists silent on the relentless abuse of Sarah Palin?

Letterman also did a "joke" about Al Franken. He said that Franken was a comedian and now a politician. With George W. Bush, it was the other way around.

Oh, God.

Not to excuse Letterman for delivering this worn-out, monotonous material, but he does have some fringe Leftist writers, like Bill Scheft.

From Brent Baker, NewsBusters:

The proudest moment in his career, Late Show writer Bill Scheft boasted at a Friday comedy writer panel held at Washington, DC's Newseum, was when he got David Letterman to try to undermine guest John McCain's Bill Ayers talking point by raising McCain's relationship with G. Gordon Liddy -- as if a political dirty trickster were the equivalent of a terrorist involved with bombings which killed people, could have killed hundreds more if his attempts worked and remains unrepentant. At the event, organized by the Writers Guild of America, East, and shown Saturday night on C-SPAN, Scheft declared of his effort to discredit an anti-Obama point: “I'm more proud of that than any single joke that I've written.” That earned applause from the audience.

Later, to a chorus of “yeah” from other writers on the stage representing The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Late Night, as well as another Late Show writer (Tom Ruprecht, who is in front of Scheft in the screen shot, the best I could get), Scheft insisted the only reason the comedy shows don't make fun of President Barack Obama is because he's “a little too damn competent and we ain't used to that.”

Earlier in the day, some of the participants delivered stand-up acts and DCRTV.com's “page 2" recounted this “joke” from Scheft: “Former Vice President Dick Cheney -- I actually don’t have a joke here, I just like to say former Vice President Dick Cheney.”

Scheft, a writer for Letterman since 1991, at the May 8 event:
The moment that I am most proud of having been on the show is when we had John McCain on after, you know, he, you know, bolted on us to go save the economy. When he came back to the show, and he was, at the time he was out on the campaign trail beating the Bill Ayers drone. And I gave Dave a note before we went on about McCain's relationship to Gordon Liddy. And, in the middle of the interview, McCain starts talking about Obama palling around with terrorists and Bill Ayers.

And I stand under the spiral staircase on stage and I was just standing there going: “Liddy, Liddy, say Liddy, please say Liddy, please say Liddy.” And Dave said, “Well don't you have a relationship with G. Gordon Liddy?” And you just saw, you know, whatever chip was left in McCain's head just kind of, phhh, and “well I, you know, I know him.” “Well, didn't you go to a fundraiser, didn't you attend a fundraiser at his house?” “Well I.” “We'll be right back.” Which is the great thing that a host can do, you know, “we'll be right back.”...I'm more proud of that than any single joke that I've written.” [Applause]

....

It's not because he's black and it's not because we're afraid. It's just that he's, just so far, just a little too damn competent and we ain't used to that. [multiple panelists say “yeah.”]

Scheft considers the Liddy thing as his greatest career achievement?

No wonder Letterman's "comedy" sucks with writers like that.

What's weird about Letterman, among the many things that are weird about him, is how sensitive he is.

The Cher incident comes to mind.

From People, 1986:

Who gets to Letterman? Cher. When she appeared on the show for the first time in May, Letterman asked her why she'd been reluctant to be a guest. Cher replied, with a straight face, that she thought he was an "asshole." The audience roared, but Letterman was discombobulated and never recovered for the rest of the evening, even though Cher slipped him a note that read, "Dearest David, you're not an asshole, love, Cher." "It did hurt my feelings," Letterman admits. "Cher was one of the few people I've really wanted to have on the show, and then she calls me an asshole. I felt like a total fool, especially since I say all kinds of things to people. I was sitting there thinking, 'Okay, Mr. Big Shot, can you take it as well as you can dish it out?' "

All these years have passed, and Letterman is still dishing it out.

He hasn't mellowed in his old age. I think he's grown more bitter.

He's not funny. He's mean.

Obama's Tax Pledge: UNREALISTIC

2009-07-08T17:11:00.003-05:00

Reality is setting in.

From Stephen Ohlemacher, the Associated Press:

PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama tax pledge unrealistic

President Barack Obama promised to fix health care and trim the federal budget deficit, all without raising taxes on anyone but the wealthiest Americans. It's a promise he's already broken and will likely have to break again. Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress have already increased tobacco taxes — which disproportionately hit the poor — to pay for extending health coverage to 4 million children in working low-income families.

Now, lawmakers are looking for more revenues to help pay for providing medical insurance to millions more who lack it at a projected cost of $1 trillion over the next decade.

The floated proposals include increasing taxes on alcohol, which could raise $62 billion over the next decade, and a new tax on sugary drinks such as soda, which could raise $52 billion.

Senate Democrats this week pretty much rejected a proposal by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., to tax health benefits, an idea that Obama repeatedly criticized during the presidential election campaign but has refused to take off the table.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said negotiators are still looking for revenue alternatives. Asked during an interview with The Associated Press if they included tax increases on families with incomes less than $250,000 a year, Schumer said, "There are lots of things on the table now."

Slowly, the Democrats are easing in the reality that Obama's tax pledge was total crap.

..."The administration has an extremely difficult educational problem on its hands," said Henry J. Aaron, a health care expert at the Brookings Institution. "They understand that at some point tax increase are going to be necessary across the board.

"Yes, for the middle class, too," he added.

Obama made a firm tax pledge during the presidential campaign, repeating it numerous times in the weeks and months leading up to Election Day: no tax increases for individuals making less than $200,000 a year or couples making less than $250,000.

"Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes," Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year.

But less than a month after taking office, Obama signed an expansion of child health care financed by 62-cent tax increase on each pack of cigarettes.

Obama also signed an anti-smoking bill in June that grants authority to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. To pay for the new program, a fee is being imposed on the industry — and presumably passed on to consumers — estimated to generate more than $5 billion over the next decade.

While not directly increasing taxes, a House-passed version of Obama's plan to reduce greenhouse gases blamed for causing global warming would similarly increase American families' home energy bills by $175 a year on average, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

...The math illustrates how difficult it is to raise enough money to pay for expensive programs, when tax increases are limited to the wealthy.

"We're living in an era, over a period of 20 years or more, in which the idea that tax rates would actually be boosted is unutterable," said Aaron, the health care expert. "That has to stop."

And there it is.

How does it feel, Obama voters?

You were duped. You bought into Obama's promises, his lies.

How does it feel?

"And I can make a firm pledge: under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase - not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

--BARACK OBAMA, firm pledge-breaker, liar

Greenpeace Banner, Mt. Rushmore

2009-07-08T14:02:00.001-05:00

Greenpeace has defaced Mt. Rushmore with a huge banner.

Activists added Obama's face to the monument, suggesting that he can secure his place there by addressing global warming.

From the Washington Post:

Greenpeace activists draped an enormous banner next to the carved stone faces of Mount Rushmore today, calling for more-aggressive action to fight climate change.

The banner showed President Obama's face -- Greenpeace said it was an unfinished portrait, implying that Obama's legacy was in question -- and the words "America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming."

A trio of climbers unfurled it about 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, over a rock face next to the image of Abraham Lincoln on the far right side of the South Dakota landmark.

Less than two hours later, a Greenpeace spokesman said all three, plus eight other Greenpeace activists at the site, had been taken into custody by park authorities.

Patty Rooney, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, confirmed that there had been arrests. Rooney said prosecutors had not yet decided what charges activists would face.

Rooney said that park service workers had not been able to take down the banner, or assess any damage to the 67-year-old monument, because high winds made those tasks difficult. She said that the first task for park workers would be "getting our people safely up there, and getting them [the Greenpeace activists] safely down."

Ahmadinejad Can't Kill a Fly

2009-07-08T13:54:00.000-05:00

A televised speech by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was interrupted by a fly.

Ahmadinejad doesn't have the killing skills of Obama.

Unlike Obama, he was unable to get "the sucker."

Maureen Dowd and "Sarah's Secret Diary"

2009-07-08T13:47:00.006-05:00

Maureen Dowd is obsessed, as are many on the Left, with Sarah Palin. She is absolutely obsessed. Maybe possessed is a better term.

What will it take for the Left to let Palin go? An exorcism? It's as though Palin has embedded herself in their souls and taken over.

I guess they see Palin as a very powerful woman and a very threatening woman. Dowd certainly wouldn't bother to devote column after column to trashing a bimbo.

In her column in today's New York Times, "Sarah's Secret Diary," Dowd exercises her Harlequin romance novel skills. Again, Dowd plays as the pulp fiction princess, a frustrated novelist.

Dowd writes:

Dear Diary,

I know. Incredibly lame.

No one understands me. It’s like I’m speaking some Eskimo dialect or something. Andrea Mitchell follows me all the way to Kanakanak Beach and I get a French manicure and set up this huge photo op for her, even though she spooked the salmon.

Todd and me are in our cool fishing bibs. Piper’s helping out on the boat. It’s an amazing day that shows how our Creator favored my beloved Alaska, gatekeeper of the continent, and makes a great shot for all the network reporters up here to milk. This progresses me away from my image as some kind of flaky “rogue diva” and back to my image as a tough huntin’ and fishin’ gal.

But Andrea makes such a darn big deal about how I’m quitting in the middle of my term.

“You’re not listening to me!” I snap.

She says maybe I didn’t want to go back to the nitty-gritty of Alaska politics after the bright lights of the national campaign.

“The nitty-gritty, like, you mean, the fish slime and the dirt under the fingernails and stuff that’s me?” I said. Awesome response, huh?!!

It’s the same old double standard. I am not one of those who would whine and cuss. It’s just not how I’m wired!!! But the minute I start to whine and cuss, the mainstream media totally misunderstands my verbiage and the combination of things that brought me to this place of knowing. And I know that I know that I know those crappy bloggers will put out more confliction stories.

I keep explaining what impacted me, but everyone seems more confused and ironic than ever. What is it about average, hard-working Americans like me that Americans can’t understand?

I love Alaska too much to waste any more time on her Bridge to Nowhere. I need to be able to go forth out there and fight for what is right. And what is right is for me and my First Dude to take that big fish run to the White House.

So people should stop being so stinkin’ mean to me because this is a goal-setting thing, a full-court press, a sub-four marathon. Karl Rove thinks I’m not prepared for the national stage??? Pundits think I should read a book before I write one??? Man, I feel a grizzly rising up in me!!!

Every mom we know multitasks. And I am one to believe I can use an all-of-the-above approach, too. I can abandon Alaska and ambition myself for the presidency. I can get bored with my job and fight apathy. I can take the easy path out to work hard on a path for fruitfulness. I can move on selfishly and call it altruistically. I don’t need a title now when I can shake up the good ol’ boys and get a better title in the end.

Actually, this isn't the stuff of a Harlequin romance novel. It's not like pulp fiction. This column is far less sophisticated.

This pretend diary has all the depth of a child lashing out in a tantrum.

I wonder if Dowd wrote mock diaries of her junior high and high school nemeses.

Her column reads like the spiteful mockery spewed by a really mean girl.

Rather than write a straight analysis, Dowd takes shots at Palin's life, her family, and her intelligence.

It's pathetic. It's not clever or insightful. It's all very weird.

You didn’t really think I was going anywhere, did you? I’m one of Google’s hot trends. We’re doing a fund-raising push this week on SarahPAC to destroy Obama’s attempt to destroy capitalism. And forget about Obama’s youth revolution. I posed for a cheesecake shot in Runner’s World with short-shorts and a crumpled American flag that’s destined to be on the bedroom wall of every conservative 12-year-old boy. It’s the metaphor, stupid! Heck yeah, I’m running! As I learned when I was a beauty contestant — flags and gams show you it’s about country.

And before you say anything though about the glam shots of me stretching and preening on the waterfront in my cute running outfits, don’t bother. That would be a sexist double standard.

Nobody said anything when Obama walked around in Hawaii without his shirt, showing off his washboard abs. Well, maybe they did, but I betcha they say more about me because, of course, we know by now, for some reason, a different standard applies to my decisions.

It’s just like when Obama, the One Who Must Be Obeyed, said his family was off-limits so everyone left them alone. But they never left mine alone. Thank goodness for that though because we hate being out of the limelight! It was a blast to see Bristol with my grandbaby Tripp on the cover of People as the ambassadress of abstinence!

Good grief. This is really nasty.

It's very clear that Dowd has no respect whatsoever for Palin. None.

Is it Palin that Dowd disdains or is it people like Palin?

Whatever, it seems that Dowd just isn't happy unless she has someone to hate with every fiber of her being.

I think it's possible that the Leftists hate Palin more than George W. Bush. That's saying a lot.

It’s the same different standard with the dirt-digging behind these frivolous ethics complaints. As I told the reporters who chased me up here, if I were in the White House instead of Alaska, the Department of Law down there would look at some of the things that we’ve been charged with and automatically throw them out. Later, the media brats began making a big, fat ugly scene about there being no Department of Law in Washington.

I say, tell that to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan who are risking their lives to protect our system of laws. How sad that the unpatriotic, godless media picking away at me will never understand it’s about country.

It’s about me running the country.

It’s about me running.

It’s about me.

The media doesn’t get Sarah Palin. I hear planes buzzing. Oh, no!! Have they all left?? Even that Time reporter who I showed how to smoke salmon???

Obviously, Dowd has issues. It's sad.

Instead of making Palin look bad, I think this column boomerangs on Dowd.

This column is a cry for help. She needs to talk to someone about her inner torment.

Perhaps Dowd keeps her own secret diary, Are You There God? It's Me, Maureen.

Mark Benson's Letter, Gene Mueller

2009-07-08T06:24:00.003-05:00

Mark Benson, convicted murderer of Jennifer Bukosky, her unborn child, and her 10-year-old daughter, Courtney Bella, wrote a letter to 620 WTMJ's Gene Mueller.

Apparently, Benson thought that was a good way to get some things he wants to say out to the public.

He was right.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Mark Benson, 56, penned the letter on June 18, two days after he entered no-contest pleas and was convicted in Waukesha County on three charges of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and two counts of causing injury while driving intoxicated.

Benson will be sentenced Aug. 10 in the deaths of Jennifer Bukosky, 39, of the Town of Oconomowoc, her unborn child, and her daughter, Courtney Bella. Also injured in the April 25, 2008 crash were Bukosky’s son, Zachary Bella, then 12, and a family friend, Deborah Gibbs, then 10.

From 620 WTMJ:

Mark Benson is speaking through a letter that he wrote to Newsradio 620 WTMJ's Gene Mueller. Benson was Gene's doctor; he operated on Gene's knee in the mid '80s.

In his letter, Benson references a blog post that Gene wrote shortly after the crash in which Gene described the Mark Benson he knew. Benson writes that the posting meant so much to his family.

Benson starts off the letter taking the blame for the crash. "I am 100% at fault and responsible for the tragic motor vehicle accident that resulted in the deaths of Mrs. J. Bukosky, her unborn infant, and her daughter Courtney Bella as well as serious bodily injury to Miss Deborah Gibbs, injury to Zachary Bella," Benson wrote.

Benson goes on to say that he thought he was legally allowed to drive on the day he smashed into Bukosky's car. Benson writes that when the judge revoked his license after a 3rd OWI, "I was told that I could not drive without a valid occupational license." He says he wrongly assumed that an occupational license he had was valid.

"I wish to HELL the judge would have taken my license (occupational) and car keys and said 'walk home a--hole!' It would have served me well," Benson wrote.

Yeah, Benson claims to be 100 percent responsible for the crash when he, the good doctor, took away the lives of three people; but he goes on to say that the judge should have taken his license and car keys away.

It sounds like Benson is spreading the responsibility around.

In his letter, Benson writes that on the morning of the crash he took prescribed medicine before having an MRI, meeting with doctors. Later in the day he says he had an epidural at a hospital. That was a few hours before the crash.

Benson says, "I simply don't understand how i can be charged as an intoxicated driver by a cop who sees me 3.5 hours post-accident! When this same cop testified under oath that he could not testify on whether I would be impaired one hour after he saw me or one hour prior."

Benson writes that after the crash, "the paramedics let me help them get the little boy out of the car!" Benson is likely referring to Zachary Bella. He is Jennifer's son. Zachary survived the crash.

It's pathetic that Benson claims not to have been impaired at the time of the accident.

According to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A crime lab report submitted as evidence during Benson's preliminary hearing this morning showed he had Ambien; Xanax, which is used to treat anxiety; and oxycodone, a painkiller, in his system when his SUV slammed into Bukosky's car April 25 at a traffic signal in the northbound lane of Highway 67 at Pabst Road in Oconomowoc.

"We obviously think he was impaired.... The one in particular that we believe to be a high amount is the Ambien. They're all significant, but we believe that to be a very high result for the Ambien," Assistant District Attorney Kevin M. Osborne said after Benson's preliminary hearing.

As a doctor, Benson should know better than trying to ignore this crucial evidence. A lab report of what was in Benson's system at the time of the accident carries more weight than the judgment of a police officer without medical training.

Benson should know that prescription drugs have the capacity to impair one's functioning. The fact that he was mixing prescription medications makes them no less dangerous.

He also should know that a paramedic on the scene of such a horrific accident, trying to save lives, would allow Benson to assist. Moreover, Benson doesn't say how he assisted the paramedic, nor does he detail how beneficial his assistance was. I doubt that Benson did anything significant, requiring a high level of functioning, if he did anything at all.

...He ends the letter by writing, "thanks for reading my feelings of remorse, horror, & sorrow."

Does Benson mention how he was returned to jail about a week after Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis made the terrible judgment to reduce his bail? No, he leaves that out.

Benson didn't adhere to the conditions of his bail. He landed back in jail after it was discovered that he violated the terms of his release.
He was returned to the jail March 17 after he was accused of receiving a package of prescriptions from a second pharmacy and having firearms. His bail conditions require him to get prescriptions from a single pharmacy as a way to monitor drug use and prohibited him from possessing firearms.

I don't take that behavior to be indications of his "feelings of remorse, horror, & sorrow."

I consider his actions to be those of an individual that poses an extreme danger to the public.
_________________

From 620 WTMJ:

Mark Benson's handwritten letter to Gene Mueller

Transcription of Mark Benson's handwritten letter to Gene as prepared by his attorney's office

It's weird that Benson indicated that the letter was "CONFIDENTIAL." It certainly doesn't seem that he wanted the information in his letter to remain "confidential."

He asks Mueller to "shed some light" on his side of the story, seeing Mueller as a nonjudgmental figure.

He's using Mueller as a go-between to get his message out. Of course, Mueller and 620 WTMJ are making the most of Benson's letter, pimping and promoting it.

On his blog, Mueller writes:

You'll hear it Wednesday on Wisconsin's morning news. I'll read it in it's entirety in the 5:00 hour, and again at 7:30. We'll have reaction. We'll give you background and context. You'll also be able to read it for yourself online.

Quite the scoop.

Also, notice how sloppy Benson's handwriting is. The letter looks like a rough draft. It's as if he wrote it while under the influence.

Crystal Keith Sentenced

2009-07-08T05:52:00.002-05:00

Finally some closure, though I do find closure to be overrated.

Crystal Keith was sentenced yesterday for the beating death of her nephew, 13-month-old Christopher Thomas Jr., and for torturing his 2-year-old sister.

She was the foster parent of the children. At the time she murdered and tortured them, she was acting as their mother.

It's hard to believe that any "mother" could do what she did to those little ones.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

[Crystal] Keith, 25, betrayed little emotion throughout most of the sentencing hearing, in which Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Patricia McMahon ordered her to serve the maximum penalty: 50 years in prison and 25 years of extended supervision.

"If this case doesn't deserve the maximum penalty, then I don't ever want to see the one that does," McMahon said before announcing the verdict.

...Keith's stoicism broke as she spoke to McMahon.

"I apologize for my wrongdoing," she said, her voice muffled by tears.

"I take responsibility."

Keith also said, "I was just trying to help."

What?

Help?
[Keith] said she choked him, hung him upside down and pressed his head on the floor. At some point, the infant's eyes rolled back into his head and he began to vomit. He stopped breathing. She then stuck the handle of a hairbrush down Christopher's throat, she said, in order to revive him.

The boy died the next day at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. He had suffered blunt-force trauma to his head, had a broken right arm, bruises on his thighs, throat and neck, multiple scalp injuries and a lacerated tongue. Keith described to police a number of beatings she had given the child since he began crawling.

Keith also told police she began abusing the boy's 2-year-old sister in June, the complaint states.

That's not "helping."

Video shows Keith reading her remarks, expressing her remorse. I'm not convinced that her words are heartfelt or even her own.

Christopher died Nov. 11, one day after being viciously beaten by Keith. His sister survived months of torture, even as Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare caseworkers repeatedly visited Keith's home.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams said the suffering endured by Christopher and his sister defies description.

He said, however, that he hoped the case would accomplish several things.

"I hope it will bring reform to the foster care system," he said.

"I hope and I pray that the system can be overhauled so that this case will never happen again."

And, Williams said, he hoped Keith's punishment would deter child abuse.

"If someone thinks of killing or abusing a child in the future, they will realize they are going to prison for a long time."

I doubt that Keith's sentence will deter others from committing such abuse.

Anyone capable of doing what she did is probably not paying attention to the news or aware of this case.

However, hopefully Christopher's death will prompt decent people to realize that the system is in serious need of dramatic overhaul.

Keith killed him, but many in the system are responsible for failing to protect Christopher.

Christopher L. Thomas Jr., 1, plays at his West Allis foster home in 2008. (Photo courtesy of Robert J. and Darlene M. Logan)

Letterman: Top Ten Messages on Sarah Palin's Answering Machine

2009-07-07T23:08:00.005-05:00

TOP TEN MESSAGES ON SARAH PALIN'S ANSWERING MACHINE

10. "Hi, it's George W. Bush. Why didn't anyone tell me resigning was an option?"

9. "It's John McCain--Why did I call?"

8. "Mark Sanford here. Ever been to Argentina?"

7. "I'm calling from Geico to see if you want to renew your dogsled insurance"

6. "It's Letterman. We still cool?"

5. "McCain again. Still no idea why I called"

4. "Hi, it's the dry cleaner. Having trouble getting caribou blood out of your Prada jacket"

3. "Hi, it's Sarah...Oops...Dialed my own number"

2. "Schwarzenegger here. If you want a job, California could use a new governor"

1. "Hey, it's McCain. Who would've thought you'd retire before I did"

It must have been tough for Letterman to not slam Palin's daughters. Miraculously, he managed to control himself and leave her children alone for a change.

Instead, Letterman opted to ridicule McCain.

That Letterman is so hilarious, isn't he?

What a tired, old hack!

Speaking of hacks, I was watching Conan O'Brien's monologue. I saw him do a Sarah Palin joke that also mocked McCain.

He said that McCain was shocked to hear that Palin was resigning as governor of Alaska. O'Brien said McCain was also shocked to learn that television is in color.

Yeah, I never get sick of hearing those "McCain is old" jokes. So funny.

O'Brien followed the lame Palin-McCain thing with some jokes about Obama's trip to Russia, but the jokes were not at Obama's expense.

Both O'Brien and Letterman refuse to make fun of Obama.

SO BORING!
_____________________

Letterman knows what jokes work?

Yeah, that joke about 14-year-old Willow Palin, "One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez," worked out so well.

Magic Johnson, Michael Jackson, and Kentucky Fried Chicken

2009-07-07T16:00:00.001-05:00

At the memorial service, Magic Johnson shared a funny story about Michael Jackson.

Johnson went to Jackson's home to discuss being in a video, "Remember the Time."

MAGIC JOHNSON: So I went over to his house to have dinner. The chef came out and said, 'What would you like?'

I said, 'Some grilled chicken.'

So as we begin to talk about the video and what he wanted me to do, the chef brought me out the grilled chicken. But he brought Michael out a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

And I went crazy, like, 'Wait a minute! Michael, you eat Kentucky Fried Chicken?'

That made my day. That was the greatest moment of my life. We had such a good time sitting on the floor, eating that bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Al Sharpton: Michael Jackson and Obama

2009-07-07T15:50:00.001-05:00

Obama can thank Michael Jackson.

Without Jackson, Obama wouldn't be the president of the United States.

At least that's the way Al Sharpton sees it.

From Politico:

Speaking at Michael Jackson’s memorial service Tuesday, the Rev. Al Sharpton gave the entertainer credit for creating an environment in which Barack Obama could be elected president.

“It was Michael Jackson that brought blacks and whites and Asians and Latinos together. It was Michael Jackson that made us sing ‘we are the world,’” said Sharpton.

“It was that comfort level that kids from Japan and Ghana and France and Iowa and Pennsylvania got comfortable enough with each other so later it wasn't strange to us to watch Oprah on television,” the reverend continued. “Those young kids grew up from being teenage comfortable fans of Michael to being 40 years old and being comfortable to vote for a person of color to be the president of the United States of America.”

“Michael did that,” Sharpton said. “Michael made us love each other.”

Michael Jackson's Daughter (Video)

2009-07-07T15:49:00.003-05:00

Michael Jackson's Daughter, 11-year-old Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, addressed the audience at the end of the memorial service for her father.

Because of the media circus surrounding Jackson's life and death, the cult of celebrity, and fame and notoriety and all that stuff, I think that what's lost in all of the coverage is that Jackson was a human being -- a son, brother, and father.

He leaves behind family and friends who love and miss and mourn him.

His daughter's words and tears served to humanize the "event" of Jackson's death.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

"I just wanted to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much."

Whatever you think of Michael Jackson, I don't see how you can't be moved by this little girl who lost her daddy.

Michael Jackson and "7"

2009-07-07T15:40:00.000-05:00

From TMZ:

Get ready to have your mind blown. Ready? Here we go ...
-- Michael Jackson signed his will on 7/7/02.

-- Michael Jackson's memorial was on 7/7/09 ... exactly 7 years after the will was signed.

-- Michael Jackson's two biggest hits -- "Black & White" and "Billie Jean" -- were each #1 for 7 weeks.

-- Michael Jackson's three biggest albums -- "Thriller," "Bad" and "Dangerous" -- each produced 7 top 40 hits.

-- Michael Jackson was the 7th of 9 children.

If you're looking for lottery numbers tonight, we recommend something with the number 7 in it.

Michael Jackson Memorial Service: Quotes

2009-07-07T15:32:00.000-05:00

Here are some quotes from the Michael Jackson Memorial public service at the Staples Center today:

(Reuters) -- Pop star Michael Jackson, who died on June 25, was remembered at a public memorial service on Tuesday at the Staples Center sports arena in downtown Los Angeles, featuring performances by Mariah Carey and Stevie Wonder.

Here is a sampling of quotes from the service:

* Motown Records founder Berry Gordy:

"Michael Jackson went into orbit and never came down. Though it ended way too soon, Michael's life was beautiful. Sure there was some sad times and maybe some questionable decisions on his part, but Michael Jackson accomplished everything he dreamed of."

"The more I think about Michael and talk about Michael the more I think that 'King of Pop' is not good enough. I think he is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived."

* Singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson:

"I never thought I'd be here today. This is my little brother over there (in the casket) and you just don't think that you're going to ... live to see him gone. But he will never really be gone. He is going to live forever and ever and ever and ever.

"The world will never, ever forget Michael Jackson. I love you my brother. I celebrate your life. I'm proud I had the chance to know you."

* Actress Brooke Shields, a longtime friend of Jackson:

"Whenever we were out together and a picture was taken there would be caption of some kind, and the caption usually said something like, 'an odd couple' or 'an unlikely pair.' But but to us it was the most natural and easiest of friendships."

"I was 13 when we met and from that day on our friendship grew. Michael always knew he could count on me to support him or be his date, and that we would have fun no matter where we were. We had a bond."

* Martin Luther King III:

"On June 25th, because he was the best, I believe heaven and earth did pause indeed to say of Michael Joseph Jackson, 'Here lived a great entertainer who did his job well."

* Rapper and actress Queen Latifah:

"Somehow when Michael Jackson sang, when he danced, we never felt distant. Michael was the biggest star on Earth."

* Civil rights activist Al Sharpton:

"I want to say to Michael's children, there wasn't nothing strange about your daddy, it was strange what your daddy had to deal with. He dealt with it anyway. He dealt with it for us."

* Singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder:

"This is a moment I wished I wouldn't live to see ... As much as we may feel that we need Michael here with us, God must have needed him far more."

* Former basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who spoke alongside Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant:

"I want to thank Michael for opening up so many doors for African Americans, to be on daytime shows, late night shows. He allowed Kobe and I to have our jerseys in peoples homes across world, because he was already there and he opened all those doors for us."

Obama and Meeting Michelle

2009-07-07T15:21:00.003-05:00

Is Obama forgetful?

Is Obama a liar?

Either way, it's bad.

From Politico:

Husbands of the world rejoice!

President Barack Obama, who has seemed to set an impossibly high bar for many men when it comes to dealing with their wives, has finally stumbled — and in a very public way.

“I don’t know if anybody else will meet their future wife or husband in class like I did, but I’m sure that you’re all going to have wonderful careers,” he said as he warmed up the audience before delivering a commencement speech at an economics school in Moscow Tuesday.

Obama seemed to be playing off an introduction that referred to him meeting his future wife, Michelle Robinson, while he was a student. But the truth is that the couple met not “in class” but at a law firm in Chicago, Sidley Austin, in 1989. Obama was a summer associate (essentially a legal intern) there and Robinson was an attorney completing her first year at the firm. Both attended Harvard Law School, but Michelle graduated in the spring of 1988, while Barack Obama did not arrive at the Cambridge, Mass., campus until that fall.

It was unclear what prompted Obama’s confusion or lapse of memory, though he does have the excuse of jet lag. It was about 4 a.m. in Washington as he spoke.

Jet lag is no excuse.

You don't forget when you met your spouse.

What's with "Husbands of the world rejoice"?

Are husbands across the country, and possibly the world, really threatened by the greatest husband of all time, Obama?

That's nuts.

I'm sick of hearing about how Obama has set the bar SO high for husbands everywhere, as if Obama is considered the perfect mate.

Ridiculous.

I suppose that Chris Matthews thinks of Obama as a perfect husband. Most likely, he gets a thrill up his leg when he thinks of Obama and Michelle.

But not everyone has put Obama on that pedestal.

I guess it shouldn't be surprising that Obama said he met Michelle in class when he didn't. The guy doesn't know how many states there are in the U.S.

Video.