The ad begins with the announcer telling us that Obama "worked his way through college and Harvard Law."  Actually, Obama took out loans to get himself through college, as we heard in a 60-second ad his campaign began running last month.  We don't know how much assistance his family provided.

But "worked his way" through college and law school?  The only back-up the campaign provided for this claim was a quote from Obama's book "Dreams from My Father" having to do with a construction job he had one summer while he was in college, and an article mentioning his job as a summer associate one year at a big Chicago law firm.  We asked campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor if Obama held jobs during the school year, or other summer jobs, but he said only, "He had the two jobs I told you about."  Unless Obama had a good bit more employment than his spokesman was able to describe for us, it's a real stretch to claim he "worked his way" through school.

A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.

Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.

The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

The advert has upset Muslims because dogs are considered ritually unclean and has sparked such anger that some shopkeepers in Dundee have refused to display the advert.

Dundee councillor Mohammed Asif claimed the postcard, advertising Tayside Police's new non-emergency telephone number, could offend some Muslims because it features a black German shepherd dog sitting in a police officer's hat.
. . .
But Mr Asif's comments have won little support among the public or Dundee's Islamic community.

Last night Mahmud Sarwar, trustee of the Scottish Islamic and Cultural Centre and the Dura Street mosque, appealed for calm.

He said he had no problems with the postcard and called on homeowners and local businesses to display them as it is in the public interest.

I've not heard anything about that from members of the community," Mr Sarwar said.

When she arrived in Congress last fall, Rep. Laura Richardson sought out a vehicle that would match her newfound status.

She settled on a 2007 Lincoln Town Car - the choice of many representatives who lease their vehicles at taxpayers' expense.  But hers was distinct: at $1,300 a month, it was the most expensive car in the House of Representatives.

When you break it out by individual companies, you find that employees of Goldman Sachs gave more to Obama than workers of any other employer.  The Goldman Sachs geniuses are followed by employees of the University of California, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, National Amusements, Lehman Brothers, Harvard and Google.  At many of these workplaces, Obama has a three- or four-to-one fund-raising advantage over McCain.

DURHAM -- Allegations that a local Democratic official and her husband were involved in satanic rituals that included shackling people to beds, caging them and depriving them of food and water have horrified county party leaders.

Joy Johnson, 30, a third vice-chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party and vice chairwoman of the Young Democrats, was charged Friday with two counts of aiding and abetting.

Late last year, top Bush administration officials decided to take a step they had long resisted.  They drafted a secret plan to make it easier for the Pentagon's Special Operations forces to launch missions into the snow-capped mountains of Pakistan to capture or kill top leaders of Al Qaeda.

Intelligence reports for more than a year had been streaming in about Osama bin Laden's terrorism network rebuilding in the Pakistani tribal areas, a problem that had been exacerbated by years of missteps in Washington and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, sharp policy disagreements, and turf battles between American counterterrorism agencies.

The new plan, outlined in a highly classified Pentagon order, was intended to eliminate some of those battles.  And it was meant to pave a smoother path into the tribal areas for American commandos, who for years have bristled at what they see as Washington's risk-averse attitude toward Special Operations missions inside Pakistan.  They also argue that catching Mr. bin Laden will come only by capturing some of his senior lieutenants alive.

"I want you to think about this," Barack Obama said in Las Vegas last week.  "The oil companies have already been given 68 million acres of federal land, both onshore and offshore, to drill.  They're allowed to drill it, and yet they haven't touched it — 68 million acres that have the potential to nearly double America's total oil production."

Wow, how come the oil companies didn't think of that?

Perhaps because the notion is obviously false — at least to anyone who knows how oil and gas exploration actually works.  Predictably, however, Mr. Obama's claim is also the mantra of Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, John Kerry, Nick Rahall and others writing Congressional energy policy.

Progressives for Obama resembles a Who's Who of SDS luminaries.  In addition to Hayden, Rudd, and Davidson, the group includes Bob Pardun, SDS's education secretary during the 1966-67 school year; Paul Buhle, a radical professor who has recently attempted to revive SDS; Mickey and Dick Flacks, red-diaper babies who helped craft 1962's Port Huron Statement, a seminal New Left document; and SDS's third president, Todd Gitlin.  Age and experience have mellowed some of the SDSers in Obama's camp.  Gitlin, for instance, has evolved into a respected Ivy League professor and milquetoast liberal.  But others still glory in a past that can only damage Obama's future.  The aging New Left still practices a therapeutic politics that places a higher value on feelings of personal liberation than on restrained pursuit of political aims.

This Think Progress post is a lie.  At best, the story is that McCain doesn't remember the last time he pumped his own gas.  Even that is a non-story, since nobody pumps their own gas while on the campaign trail.  Someone ask Obama when he last pumped his own gas.

If one thinks of simply in terms of saving trouble and plans one's home as ruthlessly as one would plan a machine, it is possible to imagine houses and flats which would be comfortable and would entail very little work.  Central heating, rubbish chutes, proper consumption of smoke, cornerless rooms, electrically-warmed beds and elimination of carpets would make a lot of difference.  But as for washing-up, I see no solution except to do it communally, like laundry.  Every morning the municipal van will stop at your door and carry off a box of dirty crocks, handing you a box of clean ones (marked with your initial, of course) in return.  This would hardly be more difficult to organise than the daily diaper service which was operating before the war.  And, though it would mean that some people would have to be full-time washers-up, as some people are now full-time laundry-workers, the all-over saving in labour and fuel would be enormous.  The alternatives are to continue fumbling about with greasy dishmops, or to eat out of paper containers. (p. 828)

Even as Antoin "Tony" Rezko's fate continued to hang in the balance at his political corruption trial Thursday, his legal peril grew with the revelation that he's wanted in Las Vegas for skipping out on large gambling debts.

The insider in the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been charged with passing bad checks written to cover debts at two casinos, authorities said. A warrant has been issued for Rezko's arrest, they said.

Officials in Nevada said Rezko bounced $450,000 in checks at Caesars Palace and Bally's Casino in a four-month stretch in 2006, a period when he was known to be under investigation in Illinois and at a time when his financial empire had crumbled.
. . .
But the Las Vegas development is the first indication that gambling is part of his financial trouble.   In addition to the criminal charges accusing him of writing the bad checks between March and July of 2006, another casino, the Bellagio, filed a civil complaint that year saying he owed them $331,000.

The summer job market for teens is suffering along with the rest of the economy.  And those jobs will be harder to find this year for the poorer kids who need them the most as laid-off adults compete for work at the lowest rung.