Election Friday "What the Hamster?"

In honor of the upcoming crowning...er...I mean "election," I thought I would devote today's What the Hamster? to the 2008 Presidential Election/Anointing:

1. Hang Palin in Effigy, Get Attention. Hang Obama in Effigy, Get Arrested. Showing again how white guilt is playing into this election, some yahoo in LA (go figure) did a Halloween display featuring a Sarah Palin mannequin hanging from a noose. Said Delbert Dillweed, "It's a harmless work of art." However, Delbert was "convinced," by the Mayor of LA that his taste in art had a lot to be desired so he took it down. Meanwhile, at the University of Kentucky, two people were arrested for hanging an Obama effigy from a tree. Oh but THAT'S different say officials citing our past hobby of hanging black people. UK President Lee Todd said the effigy violates the university's code of ethics, and Fischer faces punishment that could include expulsion.
"As outrageous and offensive an act as the effigy was, I truly believe it has mobilized our campus, the community and the state in an effort to battle racism," Todd said Thursday.

Yes, because it was solely due to Obama's race that he was hanged in effigy. Jeez, people GET OVER IT ALREADY.

2. Cross Obama and Get Your Entire Life Scrutinized. Shades of the Clinton regime. Poor old Joe the Plumber (aka Sam Wurzelbacher) had his background checked by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Why? Because according to Helen Jones-Kelly, director of this department, "The checks were run after the news media reported that Wurzelbacher was considering buying a plumbing business with more than $250,000 in annual income, Jones-Kelley wrote.

"Given our understanding that Mr. Wurzelbacher had publicly indicated that he had the means to purchase a substantial business enterprise, ODJFS, consistent with past departmental practice, checked confidential databases ," she wrote.

"Not surprisingly, when a person behind in child support payments or receiving public assistance is receiving significant media attention which suggests that the person appears to have available financial resources, the Department risks justifiable criticism if it fails to take note and respond," Jones-Kelley wrote.

Of course, the fact that she donated $2500 to the Obama campaign had absolutely nothing to do with it.

3. Iraqis and American Ex-Pats in Israel Want McCain. Go figure. Couldn't be 'cause both these groups know that Obama would sell them down the river, could it?

4. Obama's Aunt Lives in a Boston Slum. We'll if he treats his family this way, how will he treat the rest of us? Uh...here:

Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Obama's best-selling memoir "Dreams From My Father," lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston.

A second relative believed to be the long-lost "Uncle Omar" described in the book was beaten by armed robbers with a "sawed-off rifle" while working in a corner shop in the Dorchester area of the city. He was later evicted from his one-bedroom apartment for failing to pay $2,324.20 in bills, according to the Boston Housing Court.

The press has repeatedly rehearsed Obama's extraordinary odyssey, but the other side of the family's American experience has only been revealed in parts. Just across town from where Obama made history as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, some of his closest blood relatives have confronted the harshness of immigrant life in America.

Speaking outside her home in Flaherty Way, South Boston, on Tuesday, Onyango, 56, confirmed she was the "Auntie Zeituni" in Obama's memoir. She declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election.

"I can't talk about it, I just pray for him, that's all," she said, adding: "After the 4th, I can talk to anyone."

Nothing like putting a gag order on your poor family member. Hey Obama, is she getting a tax cut or will you let her stay in the slums of Boston?

5. Betrayed By an Ally. Not technically election related but it still made me say what the #$@. Apparently, our "good" friends, the Italians, tipped off the Libyans the day before Ronald Reagan ordered airstrikes against that country for suicide attacks it launched against Americans in German and Italian discos in 1986. Apparently, the Italians didn't approve so they betrayed us. I'm thinking if we get word of an impending attack on Italy, we don't tell them. The bastards.