World Net Daily has done it! They've finally proven that President Obama was, in fact, born in Kenya:

The document lists Obama's parents as Barack Hussein Obama and Stanley Ann Obama, formerly Stanley Ann Dunham, the birth date as Aug. 4, 1961, and the hospital of birth as Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya. Read on...

There's just one teensy little problem here -- The Republic of Kenya didn't exist until 1964 -- three years after Obama's birth. Right wing blog Little Green Footballs is calling this a hoax, but leave it to the nutbags at Free Republic to take the debunked myth to a whole new level. See, the whole thing ties into the divorce of President Obama's parents!

Judge Samuel P. King who granted the divorce – last I heard was retired and alive (for now) in his 90s in Hawaii -- MAY or MAY NOT have asked to see the Marriage Certificate. BUT, I bet Judge King asked to see Obama JR's Birth Certificate to confirm Ann's claims that Obama SR was in fact the father. That is “standard” policy to have a Birth Certificate in case the mother asks for child support from the father (or Welfare) later after the divorce. Judge King probably told Ann to produce a birth certificate before or at trial, which would have been sometime in mid- to late-February 1964 HAD Obama SR answered his notice that was sent to Cambridge.

When Judge King wrote the order on Jan. 23, he had his clerk notify Obama SR via what's referred to as a "knock and nail". That is, the postman leaves the notification on the door for (generally) 10 days and retrieves it after that time passes -- signed or unsigned. That order was sent on Jan. 23 via airmail from Hawaii and was probably posted on Obama SR's door Jan. 27-28. Read on...

Nevermind the fact that Barack Obama's birth announcement appeared in two Hawaiian newspapers in 1961. Hell, even Karl Rove says it's likely a forgery. You can be sure the Fox News gang will be running with this story, but will CNN's Lou Dobbs continue to go down the Birther path that's killing his ratings and embarrassing the entire network?

Wait, isn't President Obama the Antichrist? My brain hurts. If I could speak directly to every Birther face to face, this is what I would say.

Video Clip O' Humor

The Daily Show : This Week Injustice!

Arnold signs the necrophilia law, Gay divorce and Congressman Edward Shrock's famous phone message!

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From my pal Lisa Derrick: Family Values? Red States Lead in Divorce, Teen Pregnancy and Online Porn

What is astounding is the New York Times chart which takes politicians out of the mix and breaks it down into the values that the Right espouses: Anti-divorce, anti-porn and anti-teen sex. Well gosh, even with my admittedly and embarrassingly bad math skills, it's clear that eight out of the ten states with highest rates in the categories of divorce, teen pregnancy and online porn usage were states where McCain came out ahead in the 2008 election.

Ahhhh, help...we need more teabaggers to save us...

I know several couples right now who would break up in a minute if they had any equity left:

Chalk up another victim for the crashing real estate market: the easy divorce.

With nearly one in six homes worth less than the mortgage owed on it, according to Moody’s Economy.com, divorce lawyers and financial advisers around the country say the logistics of divorce have been turned around. “We used to fight about who gets to keep the house,” said Gary Nickelson, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. “Now we fight about who gets stuck with the dead cow.”

As a result, divorce has become more complicated and often more expensive, with lower prospects for money on the other side. Some divorce lawyers say that business has slowed or that clients are deciding to stay together because there are no assets left to help them start over.

“There’s an old joke,” said Randall M. Kessler, Ms. Needle’s lawyer. “Why is a divorce so expensive? Because it’s worth it. Now it better really be worth it.”

In a normal economy, couples typically build equity in their homes, then divide that equity in a divorce, either after selling the house or with one partner buying out the other’s share. But after the recent boom-and-bust cycle, more couples own houses that neither spouse can afford to maintain, and that they cannot sell for what they owe. For couples already under stress, the family home has become a toxic asset.

All Spin Zone: America, 2008. Just like any other authoritarian regime.

Foolocracy: C&L contributor, Blue Gal, tipped me to this along with the observation:"Your typical Republican candidate. Way old and can't seem to keep it in his pants. Admits he wasn't good to his seven kids or three wives, but endorses tougher divorce standards."

The Carpetbagger Report: Fox News or Crime Family extortionists? What's the G.D. difference?

Huffington Post: GOP looks to redistrict itself back into power

iCrew: A new site where creative people help each other out. Writers, filmakers, musicians, craftsmakers, and anyone else who'd like to use "the wisdom of crowds" to do things better, faster, and more participatively should find iCrew an exciting and useful resource.

Our friend Tammy Booth, better known as Blue Girl, Red State, has won a scholarship to the Netroots Nation bloggers convention that is being held in Austin later this month. She's trying to raise some money toward the train ticket and living expenses while in Texas. Times are tough, but kick in a few bucks if you can via Paypal over at her site.

  Anyone who has dipped a toe in the wild and woolly currents of politics in the last thirty years should be familiar with the name of Richard Mellon Scaife.  As partisans go, there isn't anyone else willing to put so much of their money where their ideologies drive them, $340 million by some estimates.

Among the right-wing organizations substantially funded by Mr. Scaife are the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, Judicial Watch, Cato Institute and a working group within his American Spectator publication called the "Arkansas Project," whose specific aim was to locate and create dirt on the Clintons in order to smear them, in hopes of removing Clinton from office.

Those rumors around Vince Foster's suicide lay squarely on Scaife's lap. During the 2004 election cycle, Scaife had his targets set directly on the Kerrys (and specifically Teresa Heinz Kerry), devoting a considerable sum to breaking open records to find dirt to smear the Democratic candidate through his wife.

Which makes this news story all that much more schadenfreude-licious.  Scaife is going through divorce proceedings from his wife, one that has provided lots of fodder for the gossip pages with arrests for trespassing, accusations of abuse and dognapping, of all things.  At issue now is how much of Scaife's fortune is owed to his wife, and guess what?  What's good for the right wingnut gander is apparently not good for the rest of geese.  Scaife wants his records sealed and rival paper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to return documents.

Mr. Scaife's attempt to make court documents inaccessible is unusual for the head of a news organization. Historically, newspapers and television stations have fought for greater rather than more restricted access. In fact, Mr. Scaife's Tribune-Review joined other organizations in seeking to unseal the estate records of the late Sen. John Heinz during the presidential campaign of Sen. John F. Kerry, who is married to Sen. Heinz's widow, Teresa.[..]

Mr. Scaife's attorneys say the Post-Gazette article describes "at length various highly confidential and personal matters contained in the record, none of which have any news value nor are legitimate subjects of public scrutiny."

Karma, baby...

On CNN Newsroom this morning, hosts Heidi Collins and Tony Harris were covering the incident at George Allen's speech yesterday, where blogger and constituent Mike Stark was physically assaulted by apparent members of Allen's staff. During their reporting they continually referred to Stark as a "protestor". This video also contains a different angle of the attack as well as better audio:

Download | play - WMV Download | play - MOV

At the end, Heidi Collins says: "The really scary thing I saw though - because you just don't know who you are dealing with anymore - because he had a backpack on". Of course only suspicious people would be wearing a backpack (or carrying luggage) in a place like a HOTEL!

Instead of CNN reporting off of what sounds like talking points from the Allen campaign, why don't they actually report and try to get Stark's side of the story. Here is a letter Stark has written, talking about what happened:

My name is Mike Stark. I am a law student at the University of Virginia, a marine, and a citizen journalist. Earlier today at a public event, I was attempting to ask Senator Allen a question about his sealed divorce record and his arrest in the 1970s, both of which are in the public domain. His people assaulted me, put me in a headlock, and wrestled me to the ground. Video footage is available here, from an NBC affiliate.

I demand that Senator Allen fire the staffers who beat up a constituent attempting to use his constitutional right to petition his government. I also want to know why Senator Allen would want his staffers to assault someone asking questions about matters of public record in the heat of a political campaign. Why are his divorce records sealed? Why was he arrested in the 1970s? And why did his campaign batter me when I asked him about these questions...Read On

INTEL DUMP: One month after his tour in Iraq, military advisor Phil Carter writes in today's NYT: "Our choices in 2006 are not as good as our choices were in 2003; we cannot simply stay the course now and hope for victory."
BlondeSense: Nobel Prize links poverty reduction to peace

Liberal Country Fan : Sarah Evans bails out of 'Dancing With the Stars' in the wake of scandal..seeks divorce from GOP "Christian" hypocrite

A Tiny Revolution: There are only so many ways to persuade yourself it's okay to kill others

Blah3: Bunker mentality...

Bob Geiger: A stellar sampling of the week's editorial cartoons

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: America's Least Wanted.. Blue Collar Politics Blog... Johnny and All of His Pants... Florida Republican Crime Watch

I wonder where Chris Matthews buys his Jekyll and Hyde elixir, because that stuff would really sell in a big way. It has got to be some kind of mixture which includes Sterno and Mad dog 2020. One day he's a Dick Morris impersonator and the next he actually makes sense.

Like this: "Newt Gingrich as a reformer? I mean, I guess I remember --I said the other night it reminds me the line about Doris Day, I knew her before she was a virgin."

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

The media is trying to transform Newt back into a person who can be a champion of moral values after he left the Hill in disgrace. Well with the Andrea Mitchell's of the world saying things like:

MITCHELL: Newt Gingrich is a reformer. Well he actually, in fairness to Newt, he was a reformer when he created the Republican revolution.

MATTHEWS: We do remember. But we also remember some of us with even short memories remember why he left, why he‘s no longer speaker. I mean, it wasn't like he left because he had been canonized. He had a few problems.

MITCHELL: There were a few problems there as well, but he has completely changed his image. There‘s so many acts in American politics, he has reinvented himself and he is now becoming one of the standard bearers of lobbying reform as he travels around this country and today in a Washington news conference"

Oh Andrea, wasn't Newt the man who informed his first wife, Jackie Battley, that he wanted a divorce just as she had received a diagnosis of cancer? Then he cheated on the "cheatee" Marianne Ginther, telephoning her in Ohio during Marianne's mother's birthday party to inform her that he didn't want her as his wife any more during Clinton's problems.

I know we've all made mistakes, I certainly have, but isn't it a little unsettling that suddenly Newt is trying to regain some credibility as a man of high morals and the press is jumping in feet first? It reminds me of a guy who loves to make strange telephone calls to young assistant's which include loofah's and falafel's.

Update: Jane at FDL says: " The notion that the temperate puritans of the GOP are now going to clean up Dodge having caught their first fetid whiff of Tom Delay's imprudence is a real knee slapper.--There is not one member of the GOP in any position to be on a high horse over this one....read on

Michelle responds to John Cole : "Unhinged critics have gone ballistic over the fact that I linked to this news, which was first broken by another site called Dang If I Know over the weekend. In response, this blogger spewed profanities left and right."

Cole replies: And quit pretending you are just breaking the news of her divorce. You are breaking the news of her divorce as an active attempt to discredit her. Have some decency. Try, just once, to be better than Chris Lehane."

Dc Media Girl has her say: Michelle Malkin has demonstrated, clearly and concisely, what I was trying to point out below: That these wingnuts will say anything and stop at nothing to win, while putting on a great show of taking offense when the shoe is on the other foot...read on.

Mykeru has some advice for her husband: "Dude, one day she's going to snap. Sleep with one eye open."

While Greg at the Talent Show has the pay-per view event of the month going on: Michelle vs. Michelle.

Ezra Klein: Malkin's got one year left. She's got a story to write, a soldier to understand, and a body of statements to defend. Her husband can take care of their kids for awhile, it's time for Michelle to fulfill her responsibility to her country, to the truth, and to those who want a serious counterattack on Cindy Sheehan...read on

For some reason Michelle has to bring Air America in all of this because you can smear two for the price of one. Most 24/7 shows are doing segments on her, but apparently they don't count in MalkinWorld. She complains that Randi Rhodes wants to go to Crawford. Why no mention of another "lower being" Mike Gallagher? He just drove down there to drink a glass of lemonade, chant an imbecilic mantra, have a photo-op, figured thirty minutes was a real protest and drive away before one of the neighbors filled his bus with buckshot.

From the right The Political Teen joins in.

La Shawn Barber writes: Lay Off Cindy Sheehan

This is getting uglier by the minute as Bill O'Reilly pitted the step mother of Dolores Kesterson's son against his own mother. Bill had another "%^^&*(&*^" moment when he asks her who raised him. Newshounds has the wrap up on it.