Sen. McCain’s campaign of disdain for America’s symbol of freedom rolls on. Another day, another missing flag pin on his lapel:

I’m looking forward to Fox News devoting an entire piece of airtime to this important issue on tonight’s broadcast so the American people can finally learn the truth about how this tells us everything we need to know about what kind of President John McCain would be.

For the record whenever Sen. McCain appears at his next debate I fully expect the moderators to spend a significant amount of time asking him why he wasn’t wearing a flag pin on his lapel today.

I mean, this is important stuff, right?

Having two nieces who are at the age where Hannah Montana rules their lives, I noticed the “controversy” surrounding the girl who plays the character on TV, Miley Cyrus, showing off a shoulder in the latest issue of Vanity Fair with some amusement.

Reading about it today in this AP piece, I had to laugh after reading the following statement from a Disney press release:

The Disney Channel, which airs Cyrus’ TV show “Hannah Montana,” was also critical of Vanity Fair.

“Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines,” a network statement said.

…because doesn’t everyone know it’s Disney who gets to deliberately manipulate the 15 year old girl to sell magazines!?! …and clothes, and concert tickets, and makeup, and posters, and TV shows, and shoes, and CD’s, and on and on…

How dare Vanity Fair try to move in on their turf?

Another “McCain moment”:

Yet on the issue of New Orleans, it’s still unclear how different McCain and Bush actually are. Speaking about Katrina, McCain, like many other Republicans, has trashed the administration’s handling of the storm and has vowed to prevent similar catastrophes. “We can never let anything like that happen again,” McCain told reporters on board his Straight Talk Express earlier this week.

The senator won’t present his own plans for recovery, at least not today. Asked earlier this week if he thought the Lower Ninth Ward should be rebuilt, McCain shrugged, considering the question for several seconds. “I really don’t know,” he finally said. “That’s why I am going … We need to go back to have a conversation about what to do: rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is.” – Newsweek

Just another example of Sen. McCain “misspeaking” I guess. Or does was his answer really, “I don’t know”? Whatever it is!

More importantly, can the cable news networks spend the next four days examining how “I don’t know” is just another elitist euphemism – because elitists love euphemisms! – for “I don’t care”?

And then maybe we can engage in a week long national conversation to question his “electability” and how maybe, just maybe, Mitt Romney doesn’t seem that crazy anymore in retrospect…

If you have old computers, TV’s, or other electronic gear that you’ve been wanting to dispose of there is a free electronic recycling event this weekend for City of Milwaukee residents at the Italian Community Center.

Simply dumping electronic waste in the garbage is bad for the environment since many electronic devices contain heavy metals that leak into the ground water supply and pollute it. Please take this opportunity to properly dispose of all those old computer parts and spare TV sets you have laying around the house!

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 26
WHERE: The Italian Community Center, South parking lot, 631 E. Chicago, Milwaukee

I’ve personally got a car load of old computer parts that I’ve been waiting to get rid of and am thankful to have the chance to properly get rid of them.

The question of “Why can’t Obama close the deal” has been brought up numerous times by pundits and talking heads alike since the Pennsylvania primary, which is a question I don’t totally discount.

My question is, with a 20%+ lead in the polls only a few weeks ago, and all of the bad press Sen. Obama has been getting during that time, why can’t Sen. Clinton herself “close the deal”?

Cutting a 20% point lead down to 8-9% in a month is no small task.

I know it’s fun and easy for the media, and especially those who earn their living on talk radio to pile on and everything, but I think it’s an interesting question to ask.

More so, with the incredible amount of negativity between the two Democratic candidates and the plush coverage Sen. McCain has been getting since he locked up the GOP nomination, why can’t he close the deal and pull ahead of either of the Democratic candidates in general polling?

Right now he’s coasting but he still can’t pull ahead of Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton in national polling.

With no opponent, good coverage, and the Democratic candidates going negative on themselves, why isn’t he pulling ahead?

Why can’t he “close the deal”?

And he’s still got nine months to dig himself even further into the history books:

President Bush has set a record he’d presumably prefer to avoid: the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll.

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.

The previous record of 67% was reached by Harry Truman in January 1952, when the United States was enmeshed in the Korean War. USA Today

Clearly another example of the liberal media at the USA Today piling on someone history will eventually proclaim as a misunderstood man who made the hard decisions necessary to keep America safe.

Seriously though, I’m really pleased that with numbers like these John McCain is positioning himself as the candidate who will carry on the legacy and policies of GWB.

Next up for President Bush: Longest time spent with a sub 50% approval rating of any President.

Tony Snow? At least Ari Fleischer would lie to you honestly.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former White House press secretary Tony Snow will join CNN as a conservative commentator beginning Monday.CNN.com

When was the last time you ever heard of a major TV news network hiring, and then touting in any way whatsoever, a liberal commentator?

I mean, never mind hiring on Tony Snow of all people as a commentator. It’s just the sheer disregard for even pretending anymore to have objectivity from CNN.

Closer to the home front, this plays out the same way. Ever notice how the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an all out branded “conservative” columnist, but not a “liberal” one to balance it out?

This time it’s Robert Reich, former Sec. of Labor for President Bill Clinton:

My avoidance of offering a formal endorsement until now has also been affected by the pull of old friendships and my reluctance as a teacher and commentator to be openly partisan. But my conscience won’t let me be silent any longer.

I believe that Barack Obama should be elected President of the United States. – Robert Reich

Inside baseball to be sure, but it’s significant that another former member of Bill Clinton’s cabinet has chosen Sen. Obama over Hillary Clinton. After all, these are some of the people who know her best, they should be solidly on her side.

I was talking over the whole delegate situation and my confidence that Sen. Obama would eventually win the nomination with some friends earlier in the week, and I’m only growing more convinced that the closer we get to May the steady trickle of endorsements and super delegates announcing their support for Sen. Obama will continue to grow into an all out tsunami of support.

Not that this is news to anyone who lives and drives a car in Milwaukee, but it’s significant none the less:

Motorists in the Milwaukee area gasped at the figure $3.59 per gallon at more than a dozen stations, while the average for the area hit $3.51 and broke the $3.50 barrier for the first time, AAA of Wisconsin reported. The previous record average in the Milwaukee area was $3.49, set on May 24, 2007. JS Online

First off, motorists in the Milwaukee area have been gasping a lot at the price of gas before today’s record.

It’s also interesting to see the establishment media is finally starting to catch on to the fact that high gas prices translate to a drop in consumer spending which translates into fewer jobs.

I bet a lot of people who want to save money on high gas prices but never paid attention to the debate about quality transit in Southeastern Wisconsin are wondering when the cost of mass transit went through the roof while the number of routes and quality of service plummeted.

Another example of why mass transit is important to metropolitan areas.