I love the closing line from the AP story: "Giuliani was mayor of New York during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."

Really? He was? I had no idea.

This probably wasn't Rudy's idea directly. But his supporters were just picking up on Rudy's campaigning and the only thing they know about Rudy: 9/11, 9/11, 9/11.

The amount was not "an unfortunate choice," Rudy. That makes it sound accidental. It was deliberately chosen by people representing and supporting you. And their representation of you was accurate.

"The scary thing about this is he clearly meant well," writes wendyxc.

Indeed.

Has O'Reilly never seen black people before? Was this like a trip to the zoo for him? Watch how the negro interacts with its own kind. How it adjusts to an outsider entering the group. Its language and dietary habits.

And O'Reilly, like certains portions of America, just doesn't get it. In one breath, he says everyone is alike regardless of skin tone and that we should live in a color-blind society. If you're a black person who does otherwise, you're just lazy, bitter and unable to think for yourself.

But he also says,

I don't think there's a black American who hasn't had a personal insult that they've had to deal with because of the color of their skin. I don't think there's one in the country. So you've got to accept that as being the truth.

If this is the truth (and I think it is), we don't live in a color-blind society and maybe a little bitterness is justified.

O'Reilly seemed to be trying to "build bridges," sadly, but all he did was reinforce what many believe already: Black people have had a rough time but they should just get over it because the country fairly distributes opportunities for all. And if you don't succeed, it's your own damn fault.*

*This charge, incidentally, is also leveled at other minorities, women and the poor.

Because we ignore him at our peril. He represents a certain sector of the American public and is influential. Bill O'Reilly by the numbers:

• Winner of 2 Emmy awards
• His books include:Culture Warrior, The O'Reilly Factor for Kids, Who's Looking Out For You?, The No Spin Zone, The O'Reilly Factor and Those Who Trespass--all best-sellers.
• His weekly column is run in dozens of newspapers.
• "The Radio Factor" is carried on over 400 radio stations.
• "The O'Reilly Factor" has at least 2 million viewers.

Too often, we dismiss our enemies or people we disagree with when we should be watching them carefully. Because the O'Reillys of the world are influencing politicians and voters.

http://www.billoreilly.com/

Years ago, I got a copy of my file through the Freedom of Information Act. One page. Almost everything except my name, blacked out.

Was this pre-9/11? Because, if so, you'd be lucky to get that much info now. In December 2004, I submitted a FOIA request to the FBI regarding a family member's 1960s activities.

My request is still pending.

Freedom of Information, my a$$.

It's not an offensive question. An offensive question would be, having not seen the draft speech, "Do the speech writers have to include phonetic spellings in the President's copy of the speech because he has hard time with pronunciation?"

Look, not all of these leaders' names and their countries' names roll off the tongue if you're not linguistically inclined. It's not a big deal. Just friggin' admit it.

Of course, they can't admit it because 1) the White House admits nothing and 2) it would play into notion that the President is an illiterate, marshmallow-mouthed boob.

"M-Fer, I want more iced tea"

Let's start t-shirt production now.

The only people who should use condoms are those with HIV? Kee-rist!! What a dipshit!

Any other sexually transmitted disease or infection is "mild enough" to be just desserts for having sex. Pregnancy also falls under the "just come-uppance" category. But HIV? Well, HIV is too harsh a punishment and can potentially be spread to innocents through non-sexual contact.

It's about justice, people.

According to an Army Times piece, spouses of wounded soldiers are struggling to take care of them. Sarah Wade worked as a waitress in a Chapel Hill restaurant but commuted three times a week to Walter Reed to be with her husband Army Sgt. Edward Wade. Sgt. Wade has shrapnel wounds, infections, breaks and fractures, and traumatic brain injuries.

Sarah Wade was fired by her employer because she was missing work and "had a lot going on in her life." The limited Family & Medical Leave Act doesn't cut it for military families trying to take care of their wounded family members.

We're failing our soldiers from start to finish. We send them off to war without adequate armor. When they come home with brain damage, they don't get sufficient care. This forces their families to pick up the slack in care while simultaneously navigating the disability reimbursement system. And then these same family members lose their jobs because they're caring for their loved ones.

This is absolutely unacceptable. Planning for the wounded is part of planning for war (or it should be). But why should we be surprised? The Bush Adminstration hasn't exactly been known for their careful war planning. Or rather, they carefully planned to take us to war, but didn't plan for goals, strategies and potential outcomes.

http://www.armytimes.com/benefits/family_resources/military_familyleave_070925w/

with the posters thus far. You're presumably winning a chance to do Katrina clean-up and volunteer work. Not the same thing. I'd be curious to see a copy of the email, though.

On a related note, this also plays into the whole celebrity-volunteer culture. Volunteering is cool because Julia Roberts does it! So does Sean Penn! And Angelina Jolie! I'm glad celebs are using their fame to create some positive change but sometimes, there seems to be a certain exploitative, suffering-of-others-as-a-backdrop-for-my-own-awesomeness air about it.