In disturbing news this week...

Rensselaer County officials in upstate New York accidentally on purpose sent out absentee ballots with "Barack Osama" printed on them.

Rensselaer County is the only county in New York that prints ballots in-house, a practice commissioners are now reviewing.

McCain, please save us from your followers.

Shouts of "traitor," "terrorist," "treason," "liar," and even "off with his head" have rung from the crowd at McCain and Sarah Palin rallies, and gone unchallenged by them.

Speaking of John McCain, he is one mean, angry little man.

In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.

I bet that guy who used to leave anonymous comments here about "President John McCain" is feeling pretty stupid right about now.