I think I finally found a good use for Twitter. I proudly announce the launch of the JaySeverinTwit. Follow me!

Jay Severin thought it would be fun to invite Marisa Tomei, Tatyana Ali, and Frances McDormand — all of them “Hollywood hags,” in his opinion — onto his show and ambush them with hostile questions about Barack Obama. Tomei and Ali were no-shows, but McDormand called in as scheduled and beat the crap out of Severin on the air.

Severin’s plan was to queue up a bunch of sound bites from Michelle and Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright, and Bill Ayers and have McDormand respond to them. Severin’s argument was “if these are the beliefs of people Obama associates with, then how can we trust him with our country?” McDormand was completely unruffled and landed one body blow after another. She pointed out that:

• If one is going to judge a presidential candidate based on associations, it probably makes more sense to consider the candidate’s choice of running mate than anything else.
• The person on the ballot is Barack Obama, not Wright, Ayers, or anyone else.
• Five-second sound bites are probably not the best things on which one should base a meaningful conversation.
• Anyone, including McDormand’s father (a minister), can be made to sound radical with sound bites taken out of context.
• If we are interested in exercises in defamation of character, all we need to do is check out Jay Severin on Wikipedia.

McDormand had clearly done her homework and was ready to rumble. Severin was flustered, interrupted his guest repeatedly, and wound up the show by disconnecting the call and proclaiming victory. It was a joy to listen to. Thank you, Frances McDormand. (P.S. Loved you in Fargo.)

Well, he didn’t say that exactly. What he said is that early voting is “anti-Constitutional.” He said that having to vote in a specific place on a specific day is a good way of making sure that only committed voters vote. It’s a way of keeping out the “riff-raff.” You know, riff-raff like military personnel on active duty overseas, firefighters and medical professionals on 24-hour shifts, anybody who works hard enough to earn a vacation, students at out-of-state schools … in other words, the dregs of our society.

That’s what you meant, right Jay?

A Facebook friend of mine recently pinged me with a question regarding Barack Obama’s eligibility to be President of the United States. This question stems from a lawsuit filed by Philip J. Berg, the fundamentals of which are summarized in this video (use hyperlink if video does not appear embedded below).

(I’m sure there are other copies of this “film” on YouTube that are of better quality, but this is the one I was referred to and I’m sure as hell not going to waste my time searching for better ones.)

For those of you not foolish enough to spend 10 minutes watching this nonsense, the thrust is as follows:

1. Barack Obama was not born in Hawaii, as his campaign web site states, but rather in Kenya.
2. Even if he had been born in Hawaii, he would have had to renounce or revoke his citizenship in order to attend school in Indonesia.

I am not a lawyer, but here is my take on this:

1. Even if the Obama campaign is lying and he was not born in Hawaii, he is still a natural-born citizen. His parents were married when he was born (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1729524-3,00.html). A child born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent acquires U.S. citizenship at birth. (http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html).
2. The stuff about Obama losing his citizenship by going to school in Indonesia is HIGHLY speculative, and I seriously doubt that U.S. law allows a non-citizen step-parent to irrevocably revoke a minor child’s citizenship. And given John McCain’s own questionable claim to natural-born citizenship, I’m sure that all reasonable people would agree to a “good-good” settlement of this matter.

Let’s not have to have this argument again. Let’s approve the “Schwarzenegger Amendment” and move on.

Didn’t have the recorder set up for this one so I can’t provide the full transcript, but on Wednesday, October 15, between 3:30 and 4:30 pm, Jay Severin made a couple statements that are – to use one of his favorite terms – demonstrably false.

Lie #1: Barack Obama’s plan for higher taxes only for those making $250,000 or more would apply to any small business with more than $250,000 in gross receipts.

Truth #1: The $250,000 level refers to personal income. While it’s true that small business EARNINGS are treated as wages for sole proprietorships and S-corporations, the amount of gross receipts has nothing to do with income tax calculations. This is spelled out clearly on Barack Obama’s web site:

As a small business owner who claims small business income on your individual tax return (whether through a sole proprietorship, partnership, or S-corp) you pay individual income taxes only on your net income — or profit — and not on your firm’s gross revenue. Accordingly, when Obama says that he would roll back the Bush tax cuts for all couples earning more than $250,000 a year, these income figures include only net income that a small business owner takes home. Because net income is usually far lower than gross revenue, even if your revenue is above $250,000 you are still likely to get a tax cut under Obama’s tax plan.

For more details on Obama’s tax plan, check out this fact sheet.

Lie #2: Barack Obama has refused to release his birth certificate.

Truth #2: His birth certificate is also on his web site. And now it’s on my web site, too:

So what’s your defense, Jay? That Barack Obama is putting false information on his web site and that no other major media outlet has called him on it? I don’t think so, Jay. Stop lying.

Pandora rules. But recently it’s been flipping out on me. I’d say about 20% of the songs I’m listening to don’t play all the way through. Pandora either jumps to a new song or stays quiet until I give it a virtual kick in the pants. It’s a known issue, but one that is rather hard to troubleshoot. I’m not gonna fret about it, though. Free music is free music.

Question 1: What must this feel like?

Question 2: What, Bruce, you don’t have your own songs memorized?

For the story behind the photo, see the Barack Obama blog.