The Daily Show once again proves that it is one of the few news programs putting real time and resources into calling candidates out on their bullshit, carving up political expediency like a Bushido blade on a tofurkey.

Here, Jon Stewart, some great writing, and some clever editing dismantle the newly revised openness both candidates share on offshore oil drilling as a solution to the energy crisis.

Thanks to Engelbert for the tip

My friend’s co-worker actually received this at her work e-mail address. From a vendor. Isn’t that crazy? Someone she barely even knows - someone who means to do business with her - is sending her this filth. The person who sent this must think everyone’s on the same page when it comes to race-hating. Which is scary, because it leads me to believe that everyone around this person is on the same page.

I’ve never seen this particular e-mail before. I think the subject line is trying to be clever or something with the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner reference, but it seems the person who wrote it didn’t quite understand what s/he was referencing.

And the photo attached to the e-mail (a huge attachment, I might add - shown below) works hard to be beyond offensive. It manages to evoke the painful image of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, poke fun at African-American culture, depict Black Arabs as dirty and dusty, suggest dark-skinned people are nothing but animals (who can miraculously survive packed so closely together) AND drum up the newfound American fear of refugees.

I.e., These people are taking over our glorious country! And Obama’s their main man! So if he gets elected, they’re all hear to stay. Forever. Regular Americans will become the second-class citizens!

Sick and sad.

This piece was originally posted on Ryan’s blog Cheap Thrills.

Answers and sources after the jump! (Spaces not word-length sensitive!)

1) From Democracy Now!: “In ________, three major hospitals are being accused of using homeless people to defraud millions of dollars from government programs. On Wednesday, FBI agents raided the hospitals and arrested two suspects, including the CEO of __________Hospital. Prosecutors contended the hospitals submitted phony ________ bills for hundreds of homeless patients…”

2) From BBC World News: “Andrea Pininfarina, head of a world-famous Italian car design group, has been killed in a road accident. Mr Pininfarina was riding a scooter which was hit by a car on the outskirts of Turin early on Thursday. He was 51. He was chief executive officer of the family firm Pininfarina, which has designed sports cars for _______ _______ ________ & _________. ”

3) From the NY Times: “Construction has been banned” in _________” since July 20; factories with noxious emissions were closed all across the city. The scores of unfinished buildings that dot the skyline, their facades cloaked in ________ banners, are a testament to the boom interrupted.”

4) From Slate: “__________is this summer’s precise equivalent to Superbad: a Judd Apatow-produced buddy comedy directed by a proxy from the indie world… “

5) From LiveScience: “A group of scientists studied thousands of pottery shards from sites all over the Near East and the Balkans….found that ______ was already being used and processed by societies there by the seventh millennium B.C….”

More…

Grace Jones is releasing her first album in 18 years, called Hurricane. This is the first single, “Corporate Cannibal.” What was that about mellowing with age?

Grace Jones - Corporate Cannibal

How does McCain plan to decrease urban crime? Implement a stronger sense of policy and urban planning? Adopt children and then lie about it? No, let’s NUKE THE CITIES. On Monday, Sen. McCain flowed some sweet poetry on the matter:

Sen. John McCain: “And some of those tactics, very frankly—you mention the war in Iraq—are somewhat like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment, and then they cooperate with law enforcement.”

You CLAMP down? Shock and Awe 2k9? You “obliterate” and leave? How are criminals kept “under control?” Waterboard Watts?

It’s interesting how why McCain is comparing a fabulously tragic example of our military strategy in Iraq, and a prime example of foreign policy failure and and making a larger fool of himself by saying we should use these strategies in the United States.

It’s so easy to use overarching, broad military terms to describe how to battle crime. But where are the specifics? Where is the ingenuity, carefully crafted policy, and  the effort not to resort to guerrilla urban street-crime warfare? Why implement fear into a city’s residents rather than bottom-up change?

More…

Columnist Robert Novak retired this week after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Novak was known for his scoops and inside sources during his 45-year career as a syndicated columnist. Whether you thought he was a crony for conservatives or a or an unmatched political reporter, most would agree the lifelong journalist never shied away from causing a stir.

Though most known for outing former CIA operative Valerie Plame and penning the column that labeled 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern as the candidate for “abortion, amnesty and acid,” Novak also criticized the Bush Administration’s “logic” leading up to the Iraq War.

Novak himself admits in his book, aptly titled Prince of Darkness, that his gig wasn’t conducive to making friends, but we were still surprised to be so hard-pressed to find kind words in response to the conservative columnist’s “dire” diagnosis—especially after the outpouring of support that came from all sides of the political spectrum in the wake of veteran newsman Tim Russert’s unexpected death.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt was one of the few public figures to send his condolences publicly.

“Bob Novak doesn’t read stories in the paper, he breaks them. And over the last 25 election seasons, his track record of reporting and commenting on the American political landscape has never failed to demonstrate keen insight and a peerless political acumen.”

Here’s a flashback to a 1986 episode of “Crossfire” in which Novak and musician Frank Zappa go head to head on the topic of censorship.

[Hat Tips: Gawker and P+P's own Brian Frank]

The You Could Be On Mad Men Contest: make the best 1-minute video and get flown out to L.A. for a walk-on role in a future episode of the show. Great use of user-generated video.

But also, some of these entries are freaking crazy! It’s like, either the actors takes themselves way too seriously (umm, what’s up with all the camera cuts here?), or they just kinda suck,

OR

they make a mockery of the whole thing. Like this one (clip below), by Victor Fischbarg. He only has 2 votes so far, so he probably won’t get very far. But dude. Come on. The hand? That’s awesome. You’ll win my eternal admiration if you can find a more craptacular character rendition.

This post originally appeared on Ryan Barrett’s Cheap Thrills.

You know what would be really novel? If Johnny Depp played someone normal. You know, like a regular guy. A dad. A car salesman. An accountant. Anything that doesn’t involve huge piles of black eyeliner, a bad Anna Wintour bob, razors as murder weapons, scissors, or shaving his head and acting like he’s taken LSD and PCP with a hit of heroin, would be a massive stretch for Mr. Depp.

We’re out of luck. He’s already signed up to be the Mad Hatter in an Alice in Wonderland flick, and the newest news coming across the wire is that Johnny boy is up to be the Riddler in the next Batman flick; Phillip Seymour Hoffman is being courted to be the Penguin (though methinks Danny Devito did a fine job in the last go-round). Of course, Angelina Jolie is clawing the walls to play Catwoman. That’s another one that’s unbelievably hard to imagine.

Batman sequel to The Dark Knight: Johnny Depp to play The Riddler? - Telegraph

Gassy Breaking News: The air still sucks in Beijing.

Protesty Breaking News: Cyclists backpedal, apologize.

Dopey Breaking News: The Russians are still cheating.

Politico Breaking News: When it comes to raising money, Obama’s just like the rest.

Fiscally Sound News: McCain likes fiscal conservative superstar David Walker.

Overexposed Breaking News: People are sick and tired of hearing about youknowwho.

Iraqi Breaking News: Iraq has a surplus of reconstruction money, yet we’re still footing the bill.

“I’m, like, totally ready to lead.”

This is just one of many choice quotes from this very choice, funny, self-aware video from Miss Hilton. I won’t ruin it for you but the best part comes in about one minute in.

So, reader poll: How many people think she understands what she’s saying?