McCain's own right reverend
Has it been 70 days since John McCain sought and received the endorsement, which he continues to embrace, of the Rev. John Hagee, who has called the Roman Catholic Church the "great whore" and said Hurricane Katrina occurred because "New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God"?
Not that anyone is counting.
News Item: Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, a bankroller of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, offers $1 million to anyone who can show that the group made false claims.
News Item: John Kerry accepts the challenge, telling Pickens in a letter that "I trust that you are a man of your word" and that the $1 million would go to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.
News Item: Pickens starts changing the conditions of the offer.
It has been 175 days since Pickens and the Swift Boaters chickened out.
And counting.
N.T., a Chicago reader, regarding QT's incomplete attempt to sum up modern presidential politics with a limerick, writes:
Hill's last-chance campaign remains manic,
Says Obama's no cause for real panic.
The ship's listing and leaning,
But she hopes for the gleaning
Of new scandals to Wright the Clintanic.
And is there a reason MSNBC kept switching back and forth Wednesday afternoon from an interview about the Hillary Clinton campaign and coverage of a giant sinkhole in Daisetta, Texas?
QT News You Can Use:
Sir Ian McKellen wants you to know that in the Macbeth soliloquy "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow . . ." the important word for an actor isn't "to-morrow" but "and."
News Item: "James Lee Woodard walked out of a Texas prison last week after 27 years behind bars. The state now agrees that Woodard was wrongfully convicted in 1981 of killing a girl he had been dating. Woodard is the 17th man from Dallas to be exonerated by DNA . . ."
Again, the case for capital punishment.
If we put more of these innocent people to death immediately, think of all the time and expense that could be saved.
QT Worldwide Man-Bites-Dog Pinpoint Locator:
Nothing lately, but a man punched a camel on Sunday in Vallejo, Calif.
QT Summer Travel Advisory:
• • The Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison has opened an exhibit of Chris Farley artifacts.
• • Forty-nine days remain until the Central Nebraska Ethnic Festival in Grand Island.
Al Gore when asked if he would rule out becoming a compromise Democratic presidential candidate:
"In a year of remote contingencies, that's about as remote as you could possibly imagine."
Oh, he's ready, all right.
QT Economic Indicator of the Week:
Corporate defaults are occurring at four times last year's rate.
Jeff Biske, a Bolingbrook reader, writes:
"Recently I was looking at a painting of Jesus and saw an image of a burned frying pan. Is it time to panic?"
Almost.
News Item: "Police arrested Kooki the Clown on five felony charges . . ."
There is probably an interesting story behind that.
Today's Birthdays: U.S. Post Office, 214; "Look Back in Anger," 52.
QT Grammar R Us Seminar on the English Language (cont'd):
George Brickner, a Bartlett reader, regarding the difference between cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons, writes:
"I recall from grade school many years ago that another name for a tropical cyclone is a 'willy-willy.' Apparently, it's an Australian term for wind storms from dust devils to cyclones."
QT has checked the National Hurricane Center's rotating list of Australian cyclone names, so be warned:
Australia is 48 storms away from Willy-Willy Willy.
Of all the hundreds of storm names on all the regional lists, by the way, from Fred and Bruno to Abaha and Walaka, there is no place anywhere in the world for a storm named Bob.
