Quick update on one of our favorite charities, ThanksUSA, which provides education scholarships to families of troops through a nationwide treasure hunt.

ThanksUSA is having a Benefit Concert on Saturday, July 26, 2008, at 7:00 pm at the historic Warner Theatre in Washington, DC. VIP Reception starting at 5:00 pm.

The major performers for the concert are Stephen Cochran, a former U.S. Marine and rising country star, who will perform alongside international recording artist Mylin, whose father served in the U.S. Navy.

The show is produced by National Events Inc. Media partners include WMZQ radio, NBC4 television, Capitol File magazine, and Military Times Media Group. American Airlines is the official airline for the concert.
ThanksUSA is a non-partisan, national nonprofit that provides need-based college, technical and vocational school scholarships to the spouses and dependents of military personnel from all the service branches. Over the past two years, ThanksUSA has awarded over 1,350 scholarships to recipients from all 50 states and Washington DC.

And a special opportunity for readers of Extreme Mortman — if you buy/sell three tickets, you get the fourth one free, just by mentioning Extreme Mortman. If you’re interested, just drop a comment below with your e-mail address.

Yeas & Nays has this wonderful item today:

“Star Wars” creator George Lucas used his expert opinion to compare some of his famous characters to famous politicians Tuesday morning.
…
Lucas did, however, have one definitive answer: Barack Obama would most certainly be a Jedi. “I would say that’s reasonably obvious,” he said.

Reasonably obvious indeed.  And here’s the photographic evidence.

Poor Ralph Nader.

You know things are bad when this happens:

Trial lawyers have stopped contributing to one of Nader’s long-cherished pet projects, a museum of tort law, which he wants to build in his home town, Winsted, Conn.

The problem might be, instead of charging an admission fee, the museum just sues you.

Our good friend and fellow fan of political comedy Daniel Kurtzman has this article in the New York Times:

The Other Math: How the Democratic Race Was Really Won.  This year’s Democratic nominating process was so convoluted and arcane, who could possibly make sense of it? Here’s how the outcome could have been determined with just as much accuracy and without the affliction of 21 election nights:

Click here to read the hilarious piece.

Dan edits the Political Humor page of About.com.  He is author of the books “How to Win a Fight With a Conservative” and “How to Win a Fight With a Liberal.”

Today’s New York Times:

Justice Department officials illegally used “political or ideological” factors in elite recruiting programs in recent years, tapping law school graduates with Federalist Society membership or other conservative credentials over more qualified candidates with liberal-sounding résumés, an internal report found Tuesday.

New York Times, March 24, 1993:

Attorney General Janet Reno today demanded the prompt resignation of all United States Attorneys, leading the Federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia to suggest that the order could be tied to his long-running investigation of Representative Dan Rostenkowski, a crucial ally of President Clinton.

Personnel changes?  No. The front page.

Three stories on today’s Washington Post front page ambitiously feature prominently one of life’s most elegant words: ambitious.

This:

In an ambitious maneuver to help restore the Everglades, the state of Florida has struck a tentative deal to buy U.S. Sugar Corp. for $1.75 billion and turn many of its 187,000 acres of farmland into reservoirs.

And this:

One of the most ambitious pay-for-performance initiatives in Washington area schools is drawing strong teacher interest and local union support even though many national labor leaders have long asserted that it is unfair to link teachers’ paychecks directly to their students’ test scores.

And this:

In a speech in Santa Barbara, Calif., McCain (R-Ariz.) vowed to “put the purchasing power of the United States government on the side of green technology” by buying fuel-efficient vehicles for its civilian fleet of cars and trucks and by retrofitting federal office space. The pledge comes months after Obama (D-Ill.) outlined a more detailed and ambitious proposal on the subject, virtually ensuring that the next administration will take significant steps to lower the government’s output of energy and pollution.

Can’t wait to see tomorrow’s front page word-of-the-day.

While we learn that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will appear jointly Friday in New Hampshire in a town called Unity, we learn this about the third branch of government, Bill Clinton:

Two weeks after his wife ended her White House bid, former Democratic President Bill Clinton offered a faint voice of support for Barack Obama — through a spokesman.

Presumably, if Bill Clinton were to endorse Obama in person, it’d have to be done in another battleground state, Pennsylvania, in a town called, well…

Can’t help but wonder what other seal designs Barack Obama’s campaign had in mind.

Well, maybe Leonard Downie wasn’t that soft after all.

How fun to read this in Howard Kurtz’s story today:

More recently, Downie decided in 2004 to publish the F-word after Vice President Cheney used it in a dust-up with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

The F-word?  You mean, Frak?

It’s been a while since Arlo Guthrie has made an appearance in these parts — actually, it’s been NEVER — so why not mention him today?

From today’s Concord Monitor:

In their first joint appearance since their epic primary battle ended this month, former rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will unite Friday in Unity, a tiny New Hampshire town blessed with an apt name and an even more apt electoral record: Each candidate won 107 votes in Unity in the January presidential primary.

Obama, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, will join former candidate Clinton in an event called “Unite For Change,” according to his campaign. The visit will be a big deal for Unity, a no-traffic-light town with a population of 1,652. According to local recollection, no presidential candidate has ever visited Unity, which hasn’t expected a crowd so big since Arlo Guthrie came to town in 1979.

The only question: can Obama give a speech in less time than it took Guthrie to sing the epic-length “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”?

Warning — watch this only if you have abundant free time.