Morning News Round-Up

We read the annoying things in the news overnight, so you don't have to have your head explode.

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Former House Majority Leader To DeLay (R-TX) says that among God's many other responsibilities, the Almighty also took time out to write the U.S. Constitution.  "I think we got off the track when we allowed our government to become a secular government,” DeLay explained on the Global Evangelism Network.  "We stopped realizing that God created this nation, that he wrote the Constitution, that it’s based on biblical principles.”

Assuming Mr. DeLay got his facts and religion right, that would mean the Supreme Being supported black people being worth less than a full white man.  And that women shouldn't have the vote.  On the other hand, it would also raise question to the Lord's infallibility, since so many Amendments have had to be written to correct oversights in the original document.

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Former rock personality Ted Nugent apologized several days after saying that President Obama was...

Oh, who cares what Ted Nugent says, even if he apologizes.  The fact that it took him so long shows how meaningless it is.  The fact that so many far right personalities even slammed Nugent and left him dangling, which likely forced him to offer his apology, shows how meaningless it is.  The fact that we can count on Ted Nugent trying to get crazed attention soon enough again and say something else sick and pathetic shows how meaningless it is.  The fact that it really doesn't matter what Ted Nugent says about anything political shows, ultimately more than anything, how meaningless his "apology" is.  And what it is that he said in the first place.

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On the other hand, the always whimsical Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said, "I'm not going to apologize" for controversial comments (the polite term), telling an Iowa newspapers that "What I've said is objectively true."

What he said -- which to Mr. King is "objectively true" -- is that for every illegal immigrant "who's a valedictorian" there are 100 times more who are "hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert."  What it turns out is even more objectively true is that Steve King doesn't understand what "objectively true" actually means.

It is unknown whether Ted Nugent called up Rep. King and said, "C'mon, Steve, apologize.  It's the right thing to do.  Trust me, I know."

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Producer Harvey Weinstein acknowledges he made a big mistake with the film, August: Osage County, which he believes in large part is responsible for the movie only getting two Oscar nominations and not faring well at the box-office.  "I do think we paid a price critically by rushing for Toronto," he said, referring to getting the film into the Toronto Film Festival rather than allowing the director more time to work on it.

Personally, I think the bigger problem was that the film he released was 90 minutes shorter than the Pulitzer Prize-winning play had been on stage, a full 40% shorter, ripping the guts and most of the interest out of it.