Not a bad deal for Kwame considering the fact that he was facing two felonies that cost the city $8.4 million.

Quoted: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Resigns in Plea Deal, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice and will step down as the mayor of the nation's 11th-largest city as part of a plea deal in a sex-and-misconduct scandal that has plagued the Motor City for months.

Ouch, it must suck to have your VP vetted by the media.

Quoted: He (McCain) has even gone so far as to publish "pork lists" detailing these financial favors.Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin. McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002...Wasilla received $11.9 million in earmarks from 2000 to 2003.

Ouch. Not exactly a ringing endorsement from a family member.

Quoted: Meanwhile, Palin's mother-in-law, Faye Palin, told a New York Daily News reporter that she didn't agree with Sarah on everything and hadn't yet decided how she would vote. She added: "I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative. Well, she's a better speaker than McCain," Faye Palin said with a laugh.

also worth noting is her response (in a different article) to the question of whether or not she was ready to be President Palin should something happen:

Quoted: "I am ... I am up to the task, of course, of focusing on the challenges that face America," she answered, and that was all she could say on her behalf on this question. Then she abruptly shifted to how her candidacy would help Alaska. "And I am very pleased with the situation that I am in, when, when you consider the situation now that Alaska will be in. And that is Alaska, and Alaskans will be allowed to contribute more to our great country and they'll be allowed to do that because I -- if we're elected -- will be in a position of opening the eyes of the country to what it is that Alaska is all about and what Alaska has to offer. So, I am happy to and very honored to be asked to do this. I know it's going to be great for Alaska."

Alaska.

Let me rundown the list of why this pick is a disaster for John McCain:

- 44 year old first term governor 2 years on the job
- currently in the midst of an abuse of power scandal where she used the influence of her office to try to get a state police officer fired
- Palin passed windfall profits taxes against any oil company operating in Alaska. Exactly the kind of tax McCain has been blasting Obama for suggesting for the last 3 months.

- Previous job was mayor of Wasilla City, AK (pop. 5,000)

I am not sure what legs McCain will have left to stand on to criticize Obama. And can you imagine what the Vice Presidential debates are going to look like? Biden v. Palin. Unthinkable.

Also worth noting is this doozy from Palin back on August 1, RE: The Vice Presidency:

Quoted: As for the prospect of her being vice president, Palin told Kudlow that she could not answer the question of whether she wanted the job “until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day.

But in her defense, she is Governor of the state with three electoral votes and she has five kids, one for each year John McCain was a POW.

Quoted: Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has chosen Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. She would be the first woman to serve on a Republican presidential ticket.

Quoted: There’s nothing surreptitious about the message of Boston rap trio East Coast Avengers’ new single. In “Kill Bill O’Reilly,” the lyrics call for the Fox News star to “be hanged like Benito Mussolini and otherwise killed.”

Keith Olbermann, care to comment?

Quoted: “Gentlemen, I’m the last person to disagree with you on the chicken hawk, lying coward, sexist, racist, needs a face-lift, whore stuff, but you really need to re-cut this track,” Olbermann said addressing the Avengers last week on his MSNBC show “Countdown.” “Nobody’s life should be threatened, not even in the hyperbole of the moment. Beside, you are rappers. You have better ethics than Bill O’Reilly does. Live up to them. Don’t live down to him. Word to your mother.”

lulz.

Good lord what a disaster.

Quoted: Sen. John McCain threatened on Tuesday to cut short a speech to union leaders who booed his immigration views and challenged his statements on organized labor and the Iraq war. “If you like, I will leave,” McCain told the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, pivoting briefly from the lectern. He returned to the microphone after the crowd quieted. “OK, then please give me the courtesy I would give you.”

Check out this excerpt.

Quoted: But he took more questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan. McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain’s job offer. “I’ll take it!” one man shouted. McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. “You can’t do it, my friends.” Some in the crowd said they didn’t appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic.

I'll pick lettuce for $50 an hour.

They're GRRRRR-Eight!! Of course you can probably set your watch by the backlash of health experts criticizing Phelps for choosing to encourage childhood obesity by endorsing a sugared cereal. Personally, I never liked Wheaties anyways.

Quoted: Kellogg Co. announced today that the winner of eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics will be featured on upcoming boxes of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. The boxes are expected in stores by mid-September.

This is a weird little story about some spring training clubhouse fun that evidently created some hurt feelings.

Quoted: In 2003, a rap lyric during a spring training skit led to three Tigers prospects being released. Two found their way to the majors -- one faced the Tigers this past week -- while the third only has regrets.

I am sure Al Gore has some advice for Bill and Hillary on what to do when someone's extra-marital affair ruins your shot at the Presidency.

Quoted: Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year, insists a top Clinton campaign aide, making a charge that could exacerbate previously existing tensions between the camps of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.