Friday Mashup (3/28/08)

What a great “two-fer”: the newly named “Washington’s Crossing VA Cemetery” is finally a done deal (congratulations to all on both sides of the aisle who finally sealed it once and for all) and former Alabama governor Don Siegelman (pictured) is a free man pending the appeal of his bogus conviction (h/t The Daily Kos).

Also, Sen. Bob Casey did a good deed today in bucking much of the state PA party brass (including Gov. Rendell) by supporting Barack Obama (here – another h/t The Daily Kos). Now, Mr. Casey Jr., prove House Minority Leader John Boehner (pronounced bo-ner) and his toady Kevin Smith wrong for believing you will “cave” on FISA (here).

This tells us that “Straight Talk” McCain released his first general election TV ad (and by the way, I don’t think it’s necessarily “news” when a candidate of any political stripe releases a TV ad).

However, this tells us that McCain chose not to publicize his Vietnam War experience in the 2000 election; much of it was in captivity of course (it also notes the ad that aired at that time where he juxtaposed his imprisonment with Hillary Clinton’s advocacy for funding a museum to commemorate the Woodstock concert in 1969 – gotta hand it to “Senator Honor and Virtue”; he sure has figured out how to toss red meat to “the base”). And by the way, McCain criticized John Kerry for publicizing his own wartime service in the 2004 presidential election, saying it was “clearly a tactical or strategic move.”

And of course, as noted here, McCain has accepted financial help from the Swift Boat liars for this election cycle even though he denounced them in 2004, which is typical for a campaign finance criminal in my view, which McCain clearly is.

Update 4/8/08: Here's a related "blast from the past."

The quarterly donation cycle is coming to an end, so if you are able and/or willing, please donate to the candidate of your choice; your humble narrator did so on behalf of Patrick Murphy at the Black Sheep Tavern in Philadelphia last night – a splendid time was had by all for a great cause.

And if somehow John Edwards happens to be reading this, might I put forward the notion of an endorsement for Barack Obama over the next day or so? I’m sure that would give a last-minute spike to the cash flow. Thanks.

Update 3/29/08: Well, this would explain a thing or two (h/t HuffPo - as I've said, Hillary is the best candidate, but her campaign has been another story).

Finally, screenwriter Abby Mann (who wrote the 1961 film “Judgment at Nuremberg” for which he won an Oscar, among other film and TV efforts) has died at the age of 80. As this BBC remembrance tells us…

After receiving the Oscar in 1962 he said: "I believe that a writer worth his salt at all has an obligation not only to entertain but to comment on the world in which he lives, not only to comment, but maybe have a shot at reshaping the world."

Would that we all should be so successful.