Rush to the rescue
After the Humane Society of the United States expressed disappointment that President Obama selected a purebred Portuguese water dog for his family over a pound puppy, conservative talk radio titan Rush Limbaugh recorded two public service announcements to promote the animal rescue group.
The Humane Society issued a press release that noted purebred dogs are available in shelters and worried about “the faddism when it comes to pet-keeping in the movies, and we may see that scenario play out in the case with the first family’s selection of a Portuguese water dog. There are reputable breeders of these dogs, yet sadly we expect disreputable puppy mill operators to start producing them as well, intent on cashing in on the heightened awareness of this breed.”
Mr. Limbaugh then swept in to promote the Humane Society’s work. The first spot raises awareness about the group’s work with law enforcement agencies against animal-cruelty crimes, like dogfighting. The other has a religious angle where Mr. Limbaugh discusses the moral obligation to be good stewards of God’s creatures.
Lucky SEALs?
MSNBC host Chris Matthews wanted to know whether reporters would note the “luck” involved with the Navy SEALs killing three Somali pirates with three clean shots.
“People who have a reputation for luck are easy to follow into battle,” Mr. Matthews said earlier this week in a segment of his “Hardball” show with NBC’s Chuck Todd. “People with a bad reputation or with those who - clearly bad luck don’t get followed into battle. Is the luck of this, with the three snipers - the snipers hit the three targets just directly and lethally - going to be part of this story, just the fabulous execution, literally, of these pirates?”
Mr. Todd replied, “Well, let’s remember what you hear a lot of folks say about luck is that you got to work hard in order to get to a point where luck goes your way. It’s not as if you get lucky when … you’re not prepared for something. … Obviously, these Navy SEALs, they trained for this.”
Lay down the law
The Rev. Al Sharpton is planning a trip to Arizona to demand that immigration hawk and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio step down for purportedly profiling black and Hispanic Americans.
“Arpaio needs to be confronted; he needs to be removed,” Mr. Sharpton has told reporters. “We also need to suspend the law that he is using. We must stand with our brown brothers and sisters.”
Sheriff Arpaio has become a national figure for forceful immigration control tactics, using the government’s 287(g) program that empowers state and local authorities to enforce federal immigration law. He has also raised tent cities to house illegal aliens and required inmates to wear pink underwear.
And Sheriff Arpaio isn’t scared.
He wrote an open letter to the reverend that said, “You can parachute into town, stomp your feet up and down and hold more press conferences against me - that is a hallmark of democracy too - but you will not stop me, nor slow me down for one second, from doing what is right.”
Hot on YouTube
A frumpy 47-year-old Briton named Susan Boyle who lives alone with her cats is now a YouTube.com sensation after stunning the notorious “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell with a bring-down-the-house performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables.”
Before she sang, Mr. Cowell rolled his eyes at her and asked pointed questions about her age and why her dream to become a professional singer hasn’t worked out yet.
It didn’t rattle her a bit. Ms. Boyle delivered a performance that nearly brought the three-judge panel to tears. Then, the clip was uploaded to YouTube, where it has received nearly 6 million views.
Ms. Boyle sang the challenging song earlier this week on “Britain’s Got Talent,” an across-the-pond version of “America’s Got Talent” and part of the Cowell empire along with “American Idol.”
• Amanda Carpenter can be reached at 202/636-4883 or acarpenter@washington times.com
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