Bob Harris is a former writer for National Lampoon, a comedian, and a five-time Jeopardy winner. He just posted at his blog his extraordinary analysis of the final episode of "The Sopranos" which aired last Sunday.

Though some of his insights were discussed in a previous Open Thread, there are many tremendously compelling observations for your entertainment pleasure. Enjoy.

On Friday's Good Morning America, ABC reporter Dan Harris relayed the news that Bill Clinton and Al Gore are now very rich men. But he couldn't do it without mangling a fact or two. Harris began:

"Think about it, when Bill Clinton and Al Gore both left the White House, they both had some serious financial problems. Now they both have some serious cash. President Clinton left power in 2001 dogged by legal bills. But last year, he made more than $10 million in paid speeches, according to new federal filings released by his wife’s presidential campaign."

When Bill Clinton left the White House, his wife had already agreed to an $8 million book advance. If the Clinton marriage means their assets are held in common, it couldn't accurately be said Clinton "had some serious financial problems" with the legal bills. Harris also ignored the Clintons had a multi-million-dollar legal defense fund to defray costs. Listen to NBC's Andrea Mitchell touting Bill's big $12 million book deal in August 2001:

Its hillarious to see the democrats just tremble in fear of being asked to appear in a debate on the fox news channel.If you can't stand up to to Fox, how are you going to lead soo many people in america from the oval office?Chris Mathews can shoot his big mouth off on CNN and Jack cafferty also.Let Bill O'reiley or Hannity&colmes ask some of these do-nothing liberal democrats who can't seem to get anything passed or done in congress, except slam Bush and our troops.Let Sean Hannity ask em' a few questions...fear can't govern our nation.

Better stow all that needs to be stowed, sports fans, for this is guaranteed to evoke uncontrollable fits of laughter.

Looting Hamas militiamen apparently broke into former Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat’s home and stole his – wait for it! Wait for it! – Nobel Peace Prize.

Honestly, there’s no way you can make this stuff up.

The Jerusalem Post reported the excruciatingly delicious irony Saturday (emphasis added):

Something interesting is happening between the new and old media: the more Democrats move to the left to please liberal bloggers, the more mainstream press members express disdain.

On Wednesday, following in the footsteps of the Washington Post’s David Broder and Time’s Joe Klein, and just days before Democrat strategist Bob Beckel, NBC’s Tim Russert jumped on the “Netroots Are A Danger to Democrats” bandwagon.

Appearing on Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes,” Russert seemed incredibly at ease with both co-hosts as he made statements that had to shock conservative and liberal viewers alike.

Hannity set up the first interesting exchange thusly (video available here):

On Thursday, Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds was curious how quickly Israel would be blamed for Hamas’ activities in Gaza, with the answer expeditiously coming from the Boston Globe.

Well, CNN’s Jack Cafferty one-upped the Globe Friday by actually blaming Hamas' takeover of Gaza on – wait for it! – President George W. Bush.

Color me unsurprised.

In his normal spot on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Cafferty exhibited some of the most extraordinary Bush Derangement Syndrome yet as he blamed every problem in the Middle East on the current White House (video available here):

 In yet another example of either Castro-philia or ill-informed gullibility by a member of the press, this time from CNN's Larry King, who fell for the propaganda of Hollywood, leftists and Fidel Castro who portray the oppressive Communist dictator in the media as a Communist--uh, strike that--socialist Sheriff Andy Taylor, who is so beloved by his “constituents,” that he is never challenged and doesn't need to take basic security precautions.

On a June 14 encore of a Glenn Beck show which originally aired May 17, the “Larry King Live” host responded to Beck's question which asked who King wished he could have interviewed. King answered Pope Jon Paul II and Fidel Castro. King didn't seem to want to interview Castro to discuss the brutal hold that he maintained on the island, now supposedly passed on to his brother Raul, or his relationship with Hugo Chavez, another civil rights-crushing dictator, but because he's so popular and, apparently, doesn't need bodyguards (from CNN transcript, bold mine):

KING: And the guy I`d like to do is Castro, because he fascinates me.
BECK: Better hurry on that one.

KING: I know. When you -- we`re getting close. When you can run a country for more years than anybody ever ran a country in this century, the 20th century until now, you`ve got to -- there`s got to -- somebody likes him.

It's become fashionable of late among a certain contingent of lefties to try to "seize back" masculinity from the right. You know, what with huge problem Democrats have getting men to vote for them.

There are a few Democratic men who can lay claim to being masculine but it's funny when those who certainly are not attempt to play the role of manly man. If you feel like a laugh this weekend, head over to Ace of Spades HQ where our friend Ace catches a gay liberal blogger denouncing the insufficient masculinity of right-leaning pundits.

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs pointed out an interesting situation developing in war-stricken Gaza that will likely put America’s anti-Israel press in a peculiar position (emphasis added):

According to the international left and the paleo-right, Israel is a fascist apartheid state, a brutal occupier, universally despised by the oppressed Palestinian people.

So where do the oppressed Palestinians look for sanctuary, when the terrorist government they elected begins the inevitable slaughter?

The extraordinary answer was contained in the caption to the Associated Press picture above right (emphasis added):

On Thursday's The O'Reilly Factor, during his show's regular "Talking Points Memo," FNC's Bill O'Reilly attacked NBC News/MSNBC for its Iraq war coverage, listing several examples he found worthy of criticism, and defended himself against accusations that some of his recent comments about his show's level of war coverage were insensitive to U.S. troops. O'Reilly: "The latest NBC News indignity is trying to convince their few viewers that Fox News is negligent because we don't cover every terrorist incident in Iraq. Somehow we're insulting military families if we don't run in the explosion du jour."

The FNC host was likely responding to comments MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams made while guest hosting on Tuesday's Scarborough Country in which Abrams took exception with the way O'Reilly worded his rationale for not covering the violence in Iraq more throughly. Abrams: "But today's big loser, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who insulted our troops and our intelligence today when he said that it does not, quote, 'mean anything,' when a bomb goes off in Iraq. It was part of a horrible effort to undermine a new study that shows Fox covers the Iraq war far less than MSNBC." (Transcripts follow)

What are your three favorite political books? Why?

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a Democrat strategist chiding a senior Democrat official, and claiming that liberal bloggers have “much too much influence over” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada).

Yet, that’s what happened Saturday when Fox News' Catherine Herridge invited Democrat strategist Bob Beckel and Republican strategist Rich Galen on to discuss recent events on Capitol Hill.

To set this up, Herridge said (video available here courtesy of Allah at Hot Air):

Imagine if your stomach will let you the following: As the final contestants are about to give their bids during the Showcase Showdown, the host says, “So, did you know that President Bush was involved in bringing down the World Trade Center on 9/11?”

That’ll surely help ratings, won’t it?

Well, if game-show host Bob Barker gets his way, that’s what fans of “The Price is Right” could be seeing on a television near you weekday afternoons.

As reported by the Associated Press Saturday (emphasis added throughout):

Over the years, former Time columnist Barbara Ehrenreich has made some truly preposterous assertions in her many books and articles.

However, this piece might go down as her most insipid.

Writing for The Nation on June 12, the mother of Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks stated the following (h/t NBer misterbill, emphasis added throughout):

Undocumented workers shouldn't be fined; they should get a hefty bonus!

Want to check that link to make sure I’m not lying? Go ahead. While you’re doing that, be advised – Barbara wasn’t done:

How many times have you read a quote from a major political figure that included words like “uh” or “um?”

Not often, right? Typically, journalists omit such disfluent pauses when citing America’s leaders in order to not make them look foolish.

After all, the vast majority of people commonly use such utterances to fill the silence as they assemble their thoughts. But, you rarely see them left in an article unless it’s part of a verbatim transcript.

Sadly, NBC’s Tracie Potts didn’t give Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-California) such respect Friday in her article about the immigration bill before Congress (emphasis added throughout, h/t NB reader Mike Hatmaker):

Happy Saturday.

In a rather soft boiled story on West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd's dotage and his uselessness as an able bodied member of the Senate, at 89 he's currently the longest serving Senator in American history, the AP did the right thing in reminding the readers that Byrd was once a member of the Klan. Yet, they had to go and ruin the truth by claiming that Klan members are "certainly conservative."

In fact, this AP story amazingly tries to make it seem as if Byrd had only late in life become that member of Congress that has been "endeared" to "many liberals", hinting that it only just dawned on him after 53 years in the Senate to become a liberal. The AP imagines that Byrd somehow "remade" himself into a liberal over the Bush administration's Iraq policy, as if he never was one before that.

The Networks ‘Lame’ Argument

On June 12, all three morning shows parroted DNC talking points and declared President Bush a "lame duck." "Good Morning America" solemnly noted that the phrase would likely follow Bush throughout his trip to Capitol Hill. (Apparently this is the theory that if the networks say something enough, everyone will believe it.)

Please Don’t Be Mad

Speaking of "Good Morning America," co-anchor Chris Cuomo conducted a groveling interview with Michael Moore in which he backtracked from calling the liberal filmmaker’s new movie a stunt. "Look, I like the stunt," he corrected.

Sorry, Jack

Apparently CNN’s Jack Cafferty is having a Vietnam flashback. He recently lemented that anti-war protestors aren’t "tearing up college campuses."

Fred Thompson's latest ABC column comments on a situation that would be funny if it weren't so sad:

..... One of the strangest examples (of "political correctness has crept into the halls of academia") comes from Marquette University in Wisconsin -- where a Dave Barry quip was banned. Last fall, Ph.D. student Stuart Ditsler printed out a short blurb from one of Barry's humor columns and stuck it on his office door. It read, "As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government." Of course, anybody who has ever heard of Dave Barry would know that he wasn't exactly suggesting insurrection.

The head of Marquette's philosophy department apparently didn't get it. He took down Barry's words and issued a statement that included the words, "while I am a strong supporter of academic freedom. I'm afraid that hallways and office doors are not free-speech zones." Since then, the Marquette philosophy department has stuck to its stance that Barry's words are "patently offensive," despite the fact that lots of other doors had slogans pasted on them.

As is often true in situations such as these, there's a lot more to the story. In this case, a little digging reveals not only a hypocritical academic mindset, but also shows that the next generation of journalists is on track to be even more biased than the current crop.

Rest in peace Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, and Diggem the Frog as the latest victims of the New World Order.

Kellogg's has announced its classic sugary cereals will no longer be marketed towards children.

Ironically, the very same nutrition-crazed mothers with the sunken eyes that look so weak that they couldn't do a stitch of housework backing these measures ate the very same things in their childhoods and now want to deny this pleasure to their own offspring.

Interesting how it is alleged that these cartoon characters spark childhood obesity while a trio of animated condoms on the UN payroll or those Viagra and Valtrex commercials with the couples pawing all over each other strolling down a seculded beach don't titilate baser desires.

by Frederick Meekins

Clay Waters of Times Watch alerted me to a new item in the Shameless Hillary Department: Ben Smith at Politico.com reports Mother Teresa's missionaries have protested Hillary's use of a photograph of her waving next to Mother Teresa in a Hillary campaign video, in which the announcer said: "Hillary in effect, was the face of America, in Africa, in India..." The picture was used as the words "in India" were narrated. Will the rest of the media follow up on this story?

The head of a politically conservative Catholic group, Fidelis, said he brought the video to the attention of Sister Nirmala, Teresa's successor at the Superior General of the India-based Missionaries of Charity. Fidelis president Joseph Cella called it "wholly inappropriate, disrespectful and disturbing that Hillary Clinton shamelessly exploited Mother’s image as a political tool."

(If these reference links do not work, since I cannot find the link symbol on this page, I shall endeavor to post them as a response to this article.)

Mexican Land Claim Not Exactly Pure as the Driven Snow, Either. (Part 1)

We all know the U.S. stole a lot of native land. There is no denying it or even trying to excuse it. We also know the U.S. took a lot of “Mexican” land also. I was getting all wrapped up about this latter land grab for a while after looking at some of the Current Mexican Separatists claims. Then I stumbled on a few things that made me realize that much of the Mexican “We are the original owners of the American Southwest ” Land Claim is Not Exactly Pure as the Driven Snow, Either.

Exhibit A: A study of the Alamo during the Spanish and Mexican period in which the Coahuiltecan Indians lived at the Alamo, but others, including Apaches and Comanches, were hostile to it, indicating all Indians did not accept the Spanish / Mexican Authorities. (Mexico achieved its independence from Spain in 1821 and thus inherited European Spanish Land claims, irregardless of the native tribes.)

On Friday evening, the CBS Evening News and ABC's World News with Charles Gibson offered opposite views on whether the recently released inflation figures for May should be viewed as good or bad. While CBS News anchor Russ Mitchell referred to "inflation alarms" going off, leading to higher interest rates that are "hitting [home] buyers hard," ABC News anchor Gibson characterized inflation as "under control" as he conveyed that the report "eased worries" and set off a stock market rally.

Below are transcripts of relevant portions of the CBS Evening News and ABC's World News with Charles Gibson from Friday June 15: