“I read the news today, oh boy...”

After a bit of a hiatus, an occasional feature is back.

• Yesterday, on NBC’s Meet The Press, senator and former Presidential candidate John McCain (R-AR) was able to cough up a defense of former running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. This includes the usual she’s-not-quitting-she’s-going-in-a-different-direction spin. Click here, and try to stay awake.

• Meanwhile, north to Alaska, the New York Times stays in business long enough, to report that the road to Palin’s resignation may have begun when she was first nominated. The piece cites “missteps and ignored advice” while also noting David Letterman’s completely tasteless sexual jokes about her 14-year-old daughter. (What? He meant the 18-year-old daughter? Gee, that’s different.)

• If you’re a Kennedy, and you can’t keep your mouth shut about Catholic teaching and practice, you can be recognized as an instant expert on the subject, no matter how ill-informed you truly are. This is how former Maryland Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was able to claim, in a recent Newsweek article, that the President knows more about Catholics in America than the Holy Father, and could teach him a few things. Uh-huh.

• Charles Lemos of mydd.com wants an explanation: “Leon Panetta was sworn in as Director of the CIA on February 20, 2009. Why did it take four months for subordinates to inform the CIA Director of an on-going program?” Well, Chuck, first you gotta convince a guy who comes into a job thinking he knows all the answers before he’s asked all the questions, that you are worth a few minutes of his time. This involves, but is not limited to, getting through the people in his immediate circle. And to think it only took four months.

• On a more serious note, the Associated Press reports that a bank robber on parole, in Saginaw, Michigan, was caught with the goods, after he hitched a getaway ride with an undercover police detective. Maybe he didn’t have enough for a cab.

• Finally, WCBS-TV in New York City reports, that a 15-year-old girl fell into an open manhole on the sidewalk while text messaging. Because the workers failed to put up adequate warning signs and orange cones and the usual barriers, her family won a court settlement. The Moderate Voice says: “Yes, she should have had the common sense to be watching where she was walking, but the law is the law.” I gotta remember that the next time I'm texting my pals about what Bobby said to Suzie in the lunchroom when Timmy wasn’t looking. OMG!
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