Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain, that is:

Tuesday morning seemed to bring the debut of yet another McCain-Obama flap – this time, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.

As she introduced her husband John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, at a campaign event, Cindy McCain told the crowd I “am proud of my country. I don’t know about you, if you heard those words earlier — I am very proud of my country.”

The comment seemed to be a response to a remark from Michelle Obama the day before. On Monday, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told a Wisconsin audience that “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback… not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.”

A couple of thoughts come to mind:

• Samuel Johnson had something to say about such banal platitudes.
  
• So did Mark Twain.
  

Maybe next CNN can wow us with some ace reporting on how a couple of kids at Mt. Spurr Elementary fought over a red bouncy ball at recess in 1980. It’d be at least as important as this story, and certainly more interesting.

Answer…

Then there is Oscar Howard, the superintendent of schools in Taylor County, who drove nine hours to a hearing last month at Everglades High in Miramar to state his opposition to evolution.

“I think they could be teaching a lie,” he said. “There’s not a place on me where they took the tail off.”

Question…

“What is Oscar Howard’s coccyx?”

Because it’s not like he’s using it these days…

Ben Stein’s work in his new controversial movie “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” has earned him praises and now an award from the intelligent design community.

The multi-talented star of his Comedy Central show “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” who is also known for his lead role in the film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” was named the recipient of the 2008 Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth, an award created to honor one of the founding fathers of the intelligent design movement.

The Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth?

Wow, put that right up on the mantle next to the Lynne, Britney, and Jamie Lynn Spears Award for Responsible Motherhood, would you?

Not that dishonesty and, oh, just making stuff up has ever been a problem for the intelligent design crowd.

It seems their God-given nature.

(Thank you, thank you).

Well, hello there, ladies*.

Hey, I say do whatever it takes to revive a career derailed by alcohol, drugs, and being a 24-7 party girl.

Especially if “whatever” involves Lindsay Lohan and some degree of (post-stick-figure) nudey-tationosity.

* Probably not safe for work. Or church, for that matter. But at home, alone? Oh yeah, brother. Oh. Yeah.

Sure, many of them are illogical (from the religious folks) or illiterate (see below).

In response to my post on how Welsh teenagers are idiots for engaging in copycat hangings, Darius contributed this bit of insight:

If you had anderstood ppl…you wodnt have put this site in!!!! Its not only about da fame nd regadnition, yes dat 2 but its 4 more…its about doing it 4 yourself!!!!!! its about living your life 2 da fullist , nd getting evering u desire.if ur done whats the point livig!!!! rather die happy nd proud then old nd wrimpled!!! anyways how long would smeone else take 2 make da impact these ppl made by doing smethin else…. think of it if u dare

Where to start?

Hmmm, it would seem that I missed the return of “Jericho” to the TV lineup the other night.

Happily, Amazon Unbox has it available for free right here.

Must go watch… back in a bit.

Update: And, helllooooo, they also have the Sports Illustrated 2008 Swimsuit video for free.

Jericho might have to wait.

For a good couple of minutes.

If that.

A little V-day gift to me from my friend Mr. Lady.

…for the University of Oxford’s Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science.

Sure, blogging here wore out his patience for the willfully ignorant and stubbornly stupid, leaving him an irascible scientist-cum-former-blogger, but I feel confident that such an honor would return him to his previous kinder, gentler, warmer, and fuzzier state of being.

If not, it’d be fun to watch anyway.

And, man, think of the chicks!

Hmmm, one wonders if those who defended pharmacists who refused to give out “the morning after” pill on religious/moral grounds will so quickly fall in line behind these doctors-to-be.

Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.

Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.

Universities and NHS trusts fear many more will refuse to co-operate with new Department of Health guidance, introduced this month, which stipulates that all doctors must be “bare below the elbow”.

The measure is deemed necessary to stop the spread of infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have killed hundreds.

Oh, please, as if MRSA is any match for the power of devout prayer. Pshaw! Silly infidels!

Here’s an idea: boot their silly asses out of the medical program.

(found via PZ Myers)

Roy Scheider had died:

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) — Roy Scheider, the actor best known for his role as a police chief in the blockbuster movie “Jaws,” has died. He was 75.

Scheider died Sunday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock, hospital spokesman David Robinson said. The hospital did not release a cause of death.

However, hospital spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said Scheider had been treated for multiple myeloma at the hospital’s Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy for the past two years.

If I were a believer, I could say something like “Heaven’s gonna need a bigger boat.” Maybe do a cartoon to go along with it. We’d all have a chuckle.

I wonder how long until some cheeseball editorialist does just that.

Alas, as an atheist, I guess I’m left with wishing the best to those he leaves behind.