Four Newsy Bits

1. Bill O'Reilly suddenly settled the sexual harassment lawsuit lodged against him by his former producer, Andrea Mackris. When she initially made her allegations in the lawsuit, O'Reilly promptly countersued, citing extortion. He was quite bellicose in his denials.
I guess once he heard himself on tape talking like a pervert, he decided to swallow his foolish pride, drop his countersuit and pay up. He said he did it "to shield his loved ones."
I have heard of men naming their penises and balls before, but calling them "loved ones" is a new one on me.
2. When confronted with the news that hundreds of tons of explosives were missing from an ammo dump, Bush implied that they probably went missing before he directed American troops to invade Iraq.
The NY Times reports today a videotape shows a huge supply of explosives still at the Al Qaqaa munitions complex nine days after the fall of Baghdad.
Bush says under his leadership, we will be safer.
One pound of the same type of explosives can blow a huge commercial airliner to smithereens, as was the case with the airliner that exploded over Lockerbee, Scotland.
Commander in Chief Bush's troops lost track of 380 tons, enough to blow up every airliner in the world.
3. John Zogby, president of polling company Zogby International, said to The Daily Show's Jon Stewart last night that Kerry would be our next president, based on his company's latest polling results. He seemed as certain as I am, but he used his decades of polling expertise, as opposed to my political instincts as a journalist.
4. The Internal Revenue Service is planning to review the tax exempt status of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.) because its chairman Julian Bond made a speech in July that included statements critical of George W. Bush.
In an interview Thursday, Bond defended his remarks, saying they focused on policy, not politics.
"This is an attempt to silence the N.A.A.C.P. on the very eve of a presidential election," he said. "We are best known for registering and turning out large numbers of African-American voters. Clearly, someone in the I.R.S. doesn't want that to happen."
Bond, who has been chairman of the N.A.A.C.P. for six years, said he knew of no other time the I.R.S. had challenged the 95-year-old association's tax status on political grounds.
Now...why would Team Bush want to punish the N.A.A.C.P. after Bush has shown such warm regard for colored people?