Follow them at @SenJohnMcCain and @Sn00ki – if you have a strong stomach. For what it’s worth @Sn00ki is the more conservative of the two.

On a recent trip to the Martial Arts Center of Excellence (MACE) at Marine Corps Base Quantico, UFC fighters Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Gabriel Gonzaga, Marcus Davis, and former Marine Brian Stann, along with UFC president Dana White, experienced some of the Marine Corps’ rigorous martial arts training.

These elite cage fighters learned that the physical and mental demands required of elite war fighters are only met by those dedicated enough to become part of the Few and the Proud.

Related:
Marine Corps Martial Arts Program

Brought to you by the same folks who created the Tiger Woods accident recreation. This is, on many levels. a frightening turn for journalism but it’s just too funny to pass up.

Members of the pop-punk band discuss their music, new album and their support for the troops.

Some All-Army Boxing Gold Medalists wish the U.S. Army a happy 235th birthday from Fort Huachua. You can follow Army athletes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ArmyAthlete.

There’s more on the new CD at Queensryche’s site. Music site JAMSBIO has developed a very cool community driven site for the album that allows their users to share their own stories and honor friends and family who’ve served.

Paul Newman was claimed by cancer this morning.

The compassionate one shows his true colors:

Sometime you really have wonder at what cost some are willing to see their political ideology advanced.

To liberal documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, the bounds are seemingly endless. Moore has made a recent career out of attacking President George W. Bush, bashing conservatives and criticizing business. His latest outrage occurred on MSNBC’s August 29 “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and when he commented about the coincidental timing of an unfortunate disaster – the potential for Hurricane Gustav to make landfall at the beginning of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

“I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven,” Moore said, laughing. “To have it planned at the same time – that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for day one of the Republican Convention, up in the Twin Cities – at the top of the Mississippi River.”

The language is NSFW so use headphone is you’re at work. Stick with the video through the song for more insane commentary.

She could whip up Poulet Rôti blindfolded and then kill you with it – 47 different ways:

Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world.

They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt.

The full secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives.

Dan Ackroyd probably feels lucky to be alive this morning but luckily, for him, Julia was more Q than 007:

Julia Child started out at OSS Headquarters in Washington, working directly for General William J. Donovan, the leader of OSS. For a year, she worked at the OSS Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section in Washington, D.C., where she was a file clerk and also helped in the development of a shark repellent to ensure that sharks would not explode ordnance targeting German U-boats.

So she wasn’t quite the super spy but her patriotism and service are still notable and worthy of respect.

Related:
The National Archives
Office of Strategic Services (Wikipedia)

John McCain’s team continues to deliver the funny. Yes it’s silly, but then so is the notion of an unaccomplished junior senator running for the presidency.

Publicist Danica Smith says Bernie Mac died early Saturday at a hospital in the Chicago area of complications due to pneumonia.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body’s organs, but he had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently had been hospitalized and treated for pneumonia.

The reports, just a few hours ago, seemed hopeful:

Comedian Bernie Mac is making a good recovery from pneumonia and should be released from a Chicago, Ill., hospital within the next few weeks, his representative has confirmed.

Unfortunately, his passing comes shortly after his excommunication by the messiah.

Also Blogging:

Michelle Malkin
That’s a real shame–he was only 50, and I always liked Bernie. He was low key and funny, and he also signed a Hollywood anti-terror petition, owned guns, and thought movies should leave all that skin to the imagination. He tangled with the Obamessiah last month, too, and got thrown under the bus.

You know, it’s actually funny. It’s just that don’t know what to think about the fact that her energy policy actually makes sense. Of course, McCain has been saying essentially the same thing:

The strategy I propose won’t be another grab bag of handouts to this or that industry and a full employment act for lobbyists. It will promote the diversification and conservation of our energy sources that will in sufficient time break the dominance of oil in our transportation sector just as we diversified away from oil use in electric power generation thirty years ago; and substantially reduce the impact of our energy consumption on the planet. It will rely on the genius and technological prowess of American industry and science. Government must set achievable goals, but the markets should be free to produce the means. And those means are within our reach.

…There is much we can do to increase our own oil production in ways that protect the environment using advanced technologies, including those that use and bury carbon dioxide, to recover the oil below the wells we have already drilled, and tap oil, natural gas, and shale economically with minimal environmental impact.

A post on LiveLeak contains the lyrics:

I’m back on it like I just signed my record deal
yeah the best is here, the Bentley Coup paint is dripping wet, it got sex appeal
never should have hated
you never should’ve doubted him
with a slot in the president’s iPod Obama shattered ‘em
Said I handled his biz and I’m one of his favorite rappers
Well give Luda a special pardon if I’m ever in the slammer
Better yet put him in office, make me your vice president
Hillary hated on you, so that b^$&%* is irrelevant
Jesse talking slick and apologizing for what?
if you said it then you meant it how you want it have a gut!
and all you other politicians trying to hate on my man,
watch us win a majority vote in every state on my man
you can’t stop what’s bout to happen, we bout to make history
the first black president is destined and it’s meant to be
the threats ain’t fazing us, the nooses or the jokes
so get off your ass, black people, it’s time to get out and vote!
paint the White House black and I’m sure that’s got ‘em terrified
McCain don’t belong in ANY chair unless he’s paralyzed
Yeah I said it cause Bush is mentally handicapped
Ball up all of his speeches and I throw em like candy wrap
cause what you talking I hear nothing even relevant
and you the worst of all 43 presidents
get out and vote or the end will be near
the world is ready for change because Obama is here!
cause Obama is here
The world is ready for change because Obama is here!

Those lyrics won’t sit well with most Americans. Luda is bringing more harm than good to the campaign (not that I have a problem with that). Obama’s people seem to agree:

“As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to,” said spokesman Bill Burton. “This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics.”

It’s their first USO tour but it sounds like it won’t be their last:

After the performance, Sevendust let a soldier from the crowd come up on stage and smash a guitar. They also gave him one of their guitars and gave other servicemembers a set of bongos and another guitar, practically giving away their entire set of instruments. “I think they were awesome,” said Air Force Capt. Vanessa Mahan, 455th Aerial Expeditionary Wing. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a hardcore band here, so it’s kind of refreshing. “

The band gave thanks and saluted the servicemembers for serving in the military.

“If it wasn’t for you guys over here, [the Taliban] would be over there, [in the United States],” Lajon “LJ” Witherspoon, Sevendust’s lead singer, said during the performance.

The band stuck around to ensure everyone who wanted an autograph, a free copy of their new CD or a picture with the band got one.

The members of Sevendust said they plan on doing another USO tour in the future.

“This, to us, has been the best thing that’s ever happened in our lives,” Witherspoon said. “As soon as you guys will have us back, we’ll be back.”

There’s more on the band at Sevendust.com.

According to a news release by the company’s founder Joe Francis, Girls Gone Wild will soon release videos of Spitzer’s prostitute, Ashley Dupre, letting it all hang out during spring break in 2003, long before she became famous for bringing down the New York governor.

“We have hours of footage of Dupre including her in some very interesting sexual situations,” Francis said

Paris, you’re going to have to step it up. She’s got a reality show in the works too:

Dupré, 23, has been developing an unscripted show with production execs at L.A.-based Handprint Entertainment, the same company that has managed the careers of Nicole Richie and Pamela Anderson, a source told E!

One of the concepts being considered is a dating format, E! reports.

“They’re talking to MTV about Ashley being the next Tila Tequila,” a source close to the project told E!

What? Even Tila Tequila isn’t skanky enough now?

Mac introduced Obama for the $2,300-a-head fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago and opened with his typical humor.

“My little nephew came to me and he said, ‘Uncle, what’s the difference between a hypothetical question and a realistic question?’” Mac told the crowd, “I said, ‘I don’t know,’ but I said, ‘I’ll tell you what you do. Go upstairs and ask your mother if she’d make love to the mailman for $50,000.’”

The joke continued with the mother saying she’d sleep “with anyone” for $50,000 — and then continuing to include Mac’s daughter hypothetically answering the question in the same way.

“Hypothetically speaking, we should have $100,000. But realistically speaking we live with two hos,” Mac said delivering the punch line that solicited a few hecklers in the political crowd.

Obama wasted no time throwing Bernie Mac under the bus:

“We can’t afford to be divided by race. We can’t afford to be divided by religion, or by region or class. Or by gender. That means, by the way, Bernie you got to clean up your act. This is a family affair. … I’m just messing with you,” Obama said.

The Obama campaign was equally quick to distance themselves from Mac’s off-color comments, with Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying, “Sen. Obama told Bernie Mac that he doesn’t condone these statements and believes what was said was inappropriate.”

Obama and his friends have progressed, regressed rather, from “Sweetie” to “Ho” in just a few weeks.

Update:
Bernie Mac was funny after all:

At another point, Mac joked he was “born and raised” a Democrat and would continue to be, but “I’m a Republican at tax time” — a feeling that no doubt will be reinforced by an Obama administration, which plans a variety of tax increases on upper-income Americans to support programs like expanding health insurance.

Workers at the Stray Cat Bar tell KSLA News 12 they asked Brolin, his co-star Jeffrey Wright, and about five other crew members to leave the bar twice.

When they didn’t leave, they say bartenders called downtown police who responded just after two in the morning.

Police reports list officers arresting a 29-year-old Eric Felland for remaining in the bar, resisting arrest, and public drunkenness. Officers say five others who were hanging out with Felland, including both 40-year-old Brolin and 42-year-old Wright, interfered with the arrest. Police charged them with just that — interfering with an officer.

A man who works the graveyard shift at a nearby downtown business says he saw most of the incident, where he claims there were at least four police cars and several bicycle police on scene.

“I’ve seen my share of disturbances and for the most part the cops just send them on their way, but that was the first time I’ve seen that many people at once get escorted into cars, I mean I think it was getting to the point where the cops were checking with each other to see who had room to put [people] in,” said downtown worker Anthony Thompson.

The movie that they were working on also sounds like a crime in progress:

Stone has said the film, which will focus on the life and presidency of Bush, won’t be an anti-Bush polemic, but, as he told Daily Variety, “a fair, true portrait of the man. How did Bush go from being an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?”

He fought valiantly:

Snow, who had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for a recurrence of the disease, left his White House job September 14, 2007, and joined CNN in April as a conservative commentator.

President Bush said Saturday that he and first lady Laura Bush were “deeply saddened” by Snow’s death.

“The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character,” the president said in a statement.

“It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day.”

In 2007 Tony wrote eloquently about the role faith played in his approach to life, and death, after being diagnosed with cancer:

It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up—to speak of us!

This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God.

What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We don’t know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us, each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place—in the hollow of God’s hand.

James Joyner has rounded up tributes from around the blogosphere.

George passed away from heart failure Sunday evening. He was best known for a brilliant breakdown of seven words:

When Carlin uttered all seven at a show in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested for disturbing the peace, the AP reported. The comedy sketch prompted a landmark indecency case after WBAI-FM radio aired it in 1973.

The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices ruled on a 5-to-4 vote that the sketch was “indecent but not obscene,” giving the FCC broad leeway to determine what constituted indecency on the airwaves.

“So my name is a footnote in American legal history, which I’m perversely kind of proud of,” Carlin said. “In the context of that era, it was daring.”

“It just sounds like a very self-serving kind of word. I don’t want to go around describing myself as a ‘groundbreaker’ or a ‘difference-maker’ because I’m not and I wasn’t,” he said. “But I contributed to people who were saying things that weren’t supposed to be said.”

They’re still the seven words that are not safe for work so use caution when playing the video.

Shocking and sad news from NBC:

The New York Times is reporting that NBC Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert has died from an apparent heart attack. They are citing family reports. He was 58-years-old.

Russert collapsed at work:

Tim Russert, NBC’s Washington bureau chief and host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” has died after collapsing at NBC’s Washington news bureau.

Russert had just returned from a family vacation:

The network said Russert suffered a heart attack while at work and could not be revived. He had just returned from a family vacation in Italy to celebrate the graduation of his son, Luke, from Boston College.

His final story was posted on MSNBC shortly before his death:

It’s amazing how much the Internet has changed our lives. People get emails that make accusations without foundation and they are circulated around the country within seconds and suddenly become topics of conversations around water coolers or in lunchrooms.

The MSNBC story:

He was “one of the premier political journalists and analysts of his time,” Tom Brokaw, the former longtime anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” said in announcing Russert’s death. “This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice.”

Thoughts from the Mars Phoenix team via Twitter.

Condolences to his colleagues, friends, and family. I’ll update as additional details emerge.

Video:
Tom Brokaw’s announcement

More on Russert:
Wikipedia Bio
NBC Bio

A diverse, multi-national, group of men came together and found common ground in the shared realization that cheerleaders are hot:

After the push-up contest was finished, the cheerleaders performed another routine, and then they picked 10 servicemembers to join them on stage for a game of “Cheerleader Says,” modelled after the classic children’s game “Simon Says.”

Once again, the stage was speckled with an array of U.S. uniforms, and a Polish soldier also joined the ranks. The Polish soldier and two U.S. soldiers were eliminated in the first round. Two airmen and two more soldiers fell in the second round. Four rounds later, a tie was called as Army Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Winger and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Billy Grant refused to be outsmarted.

A fair mix of rivalry and camaraderie added to the evening’s excitement, one coalition NCO said. “I like American football; it is tough, yet fun. This is like the feeling of the people here — keyed up and still having fun,” French army Sgt. Domera Phelippon said. “I know the Minnesota Vikings because I saw them on TV. Still, I didn’t imagine the cheerleaders would be this pretty. I am glad I came.”

We’d probably do just as well to replace the entire State Department with some sort of Cheerleader Diplomatic Corps.

I love Bjork:

“Did she really just say that?”

That was the question on the lips of my fellow concertgoers at the rousing March 2 Björk show in Shanghai, after the Icelandic singer’s finale performance of the track “Declare Independence.” An impassioned, angry anthem from the recent Volta, the lyrics—“Don’t let them do that to you,” “Protect your language,” and “Raise your flag”—were given an extra charge when, while the backing brass band lulled, Björk whispered close to the microphone, “Tibet, Tibet.”

Such a direct call for Tibetan independence is a shocking gesture by a visiting artist to China, which has ruled its westernmost region since 1951. Although activists argue that Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is the rightful ruler, such discussion is taboo. Indeed, state-run media did not report on Björk’s verboten murmurings, though Chinese language message boards lit up. One typical fan, as translated by the media source, Danwei, asked, “Wow, the nerve! Where’d she get the courage to do this?”

China, as you can imagine, is not happy:

A statement by China’s Culture Ministry said Bjork’s outburst “broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people’s feelings.”

Bjork shouted “Tibet!” after a passionate performance of her song “Declare Independence” on Sunday. The outburst drew rare public attention inside China to Beijing’s often harsh rule over the Himalayan region.

The statement, posted on the Culture Ministry’s Web site, also said “there is no country that admits that Tibet is an ‘independent country.’”

Shanghaiist has a roundup of reactions.

These people are seriously unhinged. They remind me of the Lyndon LaRouche supporters who used to leaflet my neighborhood near Johnson Space Center in the 1980′s.

Some say O’Reilly threw a punch while others say he pushed Nicholson. Either way, it sounds like things got ugly in Nashua New Hampshire:

The incident was triggered when O’Reilly–with a Fox News crew shooting–was screaming at Obama National Trip Director Marvin Nicholson “Move” so he could get Obama’s attention, according to several eyewitnesses. “O’Reilly was yelling at him, yelling at his face,” a photographer shooting the scene said.

O’Reilly grabbed Nicholson’s arm, said “move” and shoved him, another eyewitness said. Nicholson, who is 6’8 said O”Reilly called him “low class.”

Secret Service agents came after O’Reilly pushed Nicholson and the agents flanked O’Reily.

Nicholson claims that O’Reilly shoved him several times:

An aide to Barack Obama said talk-show host Bill O’Reilly shoved him several times at the rope line after a campaign event today.

Marvin Nicholson, Obama’s trip director, said the commentator from Fox News Channel pushed him and called him “low class” after Nicholson refused to get out of the way of his cameraman’s shot.

“I’ve worked two campaigns, and I’ve never had a member of the press lay hands on a staff member before,” Nicholson said.

The Factor should be a hoot.

Update 4:47 PM CST:
Gateway Pundit has a photo of the standoff.

Update 4:30 PM CST:
Added video of an O’Reilly interview. Bill’s version is that he “gently removed” Nicholson because he was blocking the Fox camera.

Others Blogging

Firedoglake
Jonah Goldberg predicted it. Glen Reynolds nodded in sage assent. The campaign of Barack Obama will inevitably lead to violence on the campaign trail. ” I seriously think certain segments of American political life will become completely unhinged,” said Goldberg. We scoffed. And yet — it has come to pass

Crooks and Liars
SO BillO thinks he’s above the rest of the press corp and caused a violent incident. FOX calls Marvin —Obama’s body guy. The guy that is always beside Barack Obama. Is Bill O’Reilly going to be stalking any of the Republican candidates today?

Daily Kos
Funny how a big bully like Bill O’Reilly thinks of a taller guy doing his job as “low class.” To the point: Obama refuses to play O’Reilly’s rigged game, and the animosity dates back over a year.

The New York Observer describes the unusual video:

In the vid, Mr. Beck, unshaven and emotionally on edge, speaks directly to the camera for more than seven long minutes about his recent surgery (for what? it’s unclear), how it went awry, and how he was left on the brink of suicide as a result. Mr. Beck, while tearing up at times, called the weekend hospitalization “one of the darkest moments” of his life, spoke of “drug-induced” visions, and said the experience could have been a scene from the horror movie Saw.

“By Saturday night, if they would have come into the room with a handgun and said, ‘okay we can give you some more medication or we can give you this handgun, and you can go ahead and blow your brains out’ I would have honestly taken a handgun at that point and ended it,” said Mr. Beck.

I guess we’ll learn more once he gets back to work:

Well it all started out fine. How it all ended with me in the hospital for 5 days and sent home with patches they give people (I found out later) who are at ‘end of life’ for pain is a journey I would like to forget, but know I won’t anytime soon. Today, New Years Day, is the first time since Christmas that I have been able to even attempt to play with the kids so, needless to say, I am not going to make it back for broadcast this week.

We should see Glenn back on air Monday.

Others Blogging:

Hot Air
He’s always been the “eccentric” of the conservative punditocracy. This won’t do anything to change that. Poor guy; sounds like a bad acid trip with stabbing pain on top.

Gawker
We wish him a speedy recovery, obv, and are excited to see what his righteous, Raymond Chandlerian doctor-hatred will bring forth when he returns to the air. Also we are very seriously (or perhaps ghoulishly) curious as to what the hell this is all about.

“Over time, however, the endless war in Iraq began to play a role in natural selection. Only idiots signed up; only idiots died. Back home, the average I.Q. soared.”

Visit Right Wing News for another 39 obnoxious quotes from the likes of George Soros, Scott Ritter, Ray Nagin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Joy Behar, and others.

A sad story – if it’s true:

Actor Owen Wilson was hospitalized after attempting suicide, sources tell the NATIONAL ENQUIRER and Star magazine exclusively.

Wilson was transported to St. John’s hospital in Santa Monica , Calif. on Sunday, August 26, by ambulance. Sources tell the ENQUIRER and Star that he sliced his left wrists and took an indeterminate amount of pills.

He was discovered by a family member who summoned help.

Police and an ambulance responded to a 911 call from Owen’s house around noon on Sunday.

Luke Wilson’s suicide attempt scene in The Royal Tenenbaums comes to mind.

The political left and the political right are going to meet on Fox’s “24″ this coming season.

Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo, an outspoken liberal, is set to co-star on the conservative-leaning real-time drama, whose co-creator/executive producer Joel Surnow jokingly describes himself as a “right-wing nut job.”

On the Imagine TV/20th Century Fox TV series, Garofalo will play a government agent who is part of the team investigating the crisis befalling Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and company in the upcoming season.

I expect Garofalo’s character to be as shrill, preachy, deluded, and downright annoying as the actress herself. I couldn’t see her taking this role unless the producers agreed to let her be the voice of dissent that serves to balance Jack Bauer’s aggressiveness. Well, screw that. “24″ became a hit because it’s a rare escape from politically correct moonbattery. These producers are just adding more suck in a cynical (and largely uninteresting) attempt to create controversy. No thanks.

Others Blogging:

Blogs.4Bauer
Was Carrot Top busy?

Blue Star Chronicles
I don’t think even the looney left watch Janeane Garofalo in anything. Does she even have an audience? I know I can’t stand to watch her in anything. I’d rather get my teeth drilled.

Political Vindication
WTF!!!! First we here that the global warming fraud is going to be introduced into the mix, now it’s Janeane Garofalo… are you frickin kidding me? Garofalo is not even worth the toilet paper I waste in my bathroom. You guys over at Fox are breaking my heart.

Axis of Right
They’re supposed to be trying some new things this season to keep it fresh since Season 6 ended with a thud, but their fixes sound very PC, confusing, and certainly not encouraging to fans like me. Maybe next season will be great, but it’s increasingly looking like the shark will have been sufficiently jumped by season’s end.

Dan Rhiel
I could tolerate 24 going carbon neutral as part of Fox’s corporate nonsense, but Janeane Garofalo?? Janeane Garo-friggin’-falo … because of a lackluster season? Garofalo couldn’t add luster to a car finish with wax and a wet Tee shirt. Stick a fork in 24, it’s done.

“Sean Penn is in Venezuela,” Chavez said over national television. “I spoke with him by telephone and will see him” tomorrow.

“He came by himself on a commercial airliner,” he said. On Tuesday, Penn “walked the neighbourhoods of Caracas,” Chavez said.

He said that tomorrow, the 2003 Oscar-winning actor of “Mystic River” visited Barlovento, 100 kilometres east of Caracas.

Penn “is moved by his conscience, in search of new pathways,” Chavez said.

Snuggling up to Chavez is profitable – dictators know how to handle friends and enemies:

Chavez also recently welcomed US actor Danny Glover to Venezuela and gave him 18 million dollars to finance a film on Haitian independence leader Toussaint Louverture.