Sunday, April 27, 2008

A Quick Passover of the Week

Hillary Clinton said this week she is ahead in the popular vote, because she counts the results of the Florida primary, where neither she nor Obama campaigned, and the Michigan primary, where Obama wasn't even on the ballot. Why stop there? Hillary should also include in her vote total, all of Bill Clinton's votes from 1992 and 1996, since she would like us to believe she was co-President during those years anyway.

Barack Obama was interviewed on Fox News Sunday. I thought Chris Wallace treated him fairly, but I question Fox's decision to run Arabic subtitles during the interview. Obama said that when he talked about bitter people who cling to religion and guns, he was referring to the staff of Fox News.

Condoleeza Rice condemned Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas as "not helpful". She said meeting with Hamas undermined the Administration's Middle East policy of doing nothing.

J Street, a progressive alternative to the American Israel Public Action Committee (AIPAC)opened their office in Washington this week. The building has no lobby.

Israel rejected a Hamas offer of a six month cease fire as "a game". As if a game is a bad thing. You have to be alive to play a game, which is a much better idea than killing innocent people on both sides.

The Justice Department told Congress that American intelligence operatives can legally use interrogation methods prohibited under international law, to thwart a terrorist attack. Or what they think is a terrorist attack. Or just to torture an Arab guy who was imprisoned for no reason. When asked if this violated the Geneva Convention, President Bush said he didn't see why the US had to follow what "a bunch of Swiss guys at a meeting think we should do".

Vice President Cheney said not only does he wear an American flag pin, but that he would gladly use it to torture someone with.

Wrapping up the week on a non-political note, I'm off to Las Vegas to perform my Standup for Peace show with Dean Obeidallah at UNLV. I like to play the quarter slot machines, and the way the real estate market is going, if I win ten quarters that would be enough to buy a condo in Las Vegas.

And I hope you had a nice Passover, even if you don't celebrate Passover. All holidays exist whether or not we acknowledge them. Which won't help me get booked at any atheist comedy shows in the near future. I'm personally glad Passover is over. I was going through leavened bread withdrawal.