At the risk of being branded unpatriotic, I bring you this bit of humiliating news.

While the amount of time Americans spent sitting in front of the tube rose by 3 minutes last year (clocking in at a cool 4 hours and 28 minutes), we only came in second place.

The Japanese broke 5 hours.

We’re bragging that we finished the Tour de France and the Japanese are Lance Armstrong.

I can only hope this lapse is about TiVo. Maybe we are watching more television, but watching it faster.

Either way, there’s no time to rest.

Several months ago, Tony Blankley of the Washington Times described George Soros as “a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust.”

While surviving the Holocaust would have to be considered a pretty worthy goal for a Jew in Europe during WW2, I hardly think the rotund and disturbingly squirrelly Blankley meant this as a compliment.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that Blankley and several other similarly minded nutjobs were suffering from a severe Nazi fetish.

A few weeks ago, Blankley compared the Schiavo case to the medical punishments doled out by torturers at the concentration camps.

Not obscene enough for you?

Well take a look at this excerpt from a recent Moonies Pamphet Washington Times editorial that Blankley was plugging on the radio:

There aren’t many border-control success stories these days, but Arizona’s Minuteman Project is quickly becoming one. For observers wondering how average Americans can contribute meaningfully to homeland security, the Minutemen are becoming something of a model. If a comparison to Britain’s World War II civilian spotters seems far-fetched—the spotters were private citizens, often over the age to serve in the military, who watched for Nazi planes and helped British forces score some considerable successes—the difference is one of circumstance. That’s something for President Bush and the open-borders crowd to think about.

So let’s make sure we understand the metaphor here. If the Arizona Minutemen are the British spotters, then that makes the Mexicans – who are risking their lives so they can work in American fields and kitchens for a few bucks an hour so they can send a little dough to the relatives back home – the Nazis.

Not every event or political debate in human history has a side that qualifies as the Nazis. It’s really time to drop the comparisons. It’s idiotic from the extreme left or the extreme right. And it’s time to stop glorifying morons like Blankley on the television airwaves just because he takes an extreme position on every topic.

Tap into the First iPod and take a look at the presidential playlist:

In addition to My Sharona, a few country stars, John Hiatt (a favorite of mine) and Van Morrison, W also has been known to crank a little John Fogerty (Centerfield, not Fortunate Son).

Update: Were the songs ripped off? Boing Boing is on the case.

What would it take for internet users to basically get used to spam? Something worse of course.

Enter phishing:

1. A hacker in California steals your credit card number from a corporate database.

2. The hacker posts a message on an underground Web site looking for help getting money off the card.

3. A Russian partner takes your credit card number and uses it to order a laptop online.

4. The laptop is delivered to a “drop” in the U.K., and it is resold.

5. The proceeds are sent back to the Russian partner, minus the reseller’s cut. The Russian partner sends half to the hacker and keeps the other half.

And, 6. Suddenly a Viagra ad doesn’t seem like that big of an inconvenience.

It seems to me that financial institutions and the government should be doing a lot more to inform internet users and warn them not to fill out information or open attachments except in cases when they are absolutely sure who the message is coming from.

There are some technical fixes coming soon, stay tuned.

Carville on Rove:

The truth hurts, and it pains me to say this, but Karl Rove is the pre-eminent political strategist in the U.S. today. Last August I went on the record as saying that if Rove managed to help George W. Bush win a second term in office, it would constitute the signature political achievement of my lifetime. Well, he did. And it is.

Well, what does that say about JC (James Carville) and the rest of the pack?

Rove deserves a ton of credit, but since this is pretty bold statement, it’s worth examining it some.

First, I wonder if the fact that Carville and the other Dem brains thought that a W second term was such a long shot is an indication that they were underestimating him once again and therefore misreading the race and the will of at least half of America (which would make effective messaging impossible)?

Second, is there a baseball metaphor here? When you are having a debate over the best players of all time, most of the time is spent comparing the eras and trying to figure out who played the best against the best competition. Is there a possibility that the homerun hitting Rove has been playing in an era of steroids, a juiced ball and bad pitching? In other words, is he that good or are the Dems just that bad?

The President Preacher:

“There is no doubt in my mind there is a living God. And no doubt in my mind that Lord, Christ, was sent by the Almighty. No doubt in my mind about that.”

And you thought he never gave off the cuff press conferences…