In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.1
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.2
A screaming comes across the sky.3
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.4
All this happened, more or less.5
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.6
Citations:
1. God, The Bible
2. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
3. Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
4. Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
5. Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
6. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Egyptian Pro-Reform Leader Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei; Foreign Policy Roundtable: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Tom Friedman (New York Times), Author Robin Wright, Jeffrey Goldberg (Bloomberg View), Andrea Mitchell (NBC News) and Chuck Todd (NBC News); Domestic Policy Roundtable: Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), David Brooks (New York Times), E.J. Dionne (Washington Post) and Eugene Robinson (Washington Post).
Face the Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX); Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA); Roundtable: Amy Walter (Cook Political Report), David Rohde (Reuters), Michael O'Hanlon (Brookings Institution) and John Dickerson (CBS News).
This Week: Former President George W. Bush (R); Former First Lady Laura Bush; Foreign Policy Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Martha Raddatz (ABC News), David Ignatius (Washington Post), and Michael Rubin (American Enterprise Institute); Domestic policy Roundtable: George Will, Cokie Roberts (ABC News), Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile and Rick Klein (ABC News).
Fox News Sunday: Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN); Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI); Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R); Roundtable: Brit Hume (Fox News), Nina Easton (Fortune), Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey; Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); Christiane Amanpour (CNN); Fareed Zakaria (CNN); Former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Ned Walker; Former National Intelligence Director John Negroponte; Middle East Analyst Shibley Telhami; Reliable Sources: Errol Louis (CNN); Jackie Kucinich (Washington Post); Josh Rogin (Newsweek/Daily Beast); Ken Blackwell (Family Research Council); Michael Moynihan (Newsweek/Daily Beast).
Note: "Reliable Sources" will be guest-hosted by John Avlon.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will present a special "Night at the Movies" featuring: an interview with actor Hugh Jackman; interviews with director Steven Spielberg, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; and, an interview with actor Daniel Craig and producer Barbara Broccoli (preview).
On Comedy Central...
"The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" were in reruns this week, so there are now new videos to share.
Instead, here's "Daily Show" guest host John Oliver reporting on the greatness of America.
And Stephen Colbert standing up against Michael Bloomberg's attacks on the 4th of July.
Note: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will be airing reruns this week.
Elsewhere...
On "Fox and Friends," Jesse Watters argued that Sam Adams was founded as a Christian beer. Or something.
"When political correctness takes over the beer advertising industry, the terrorists have won," said [Jesse] Watters, who is better known for his job as a producer on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News show. "I mean, this is absolutely outrageous!"
"You know, maybe it's because Sam Adams was the tea party guy — he started the Boston Tea Party — maybe the tea party's being targeted here," he added.
Meanwhile...
Mike Huckabee ventured down the slippery slope. 
"If we're determined to change the definition of marriage to accommodate how people feel and what they wish to do because of their mutual consent, then we should immediately release those incarcerated for practicing polygamy or bigamy," Huckabee said. "And, frankly, let's make all consensual adult behaviors legal, whether prostitution, assisted suicide, or even drinking 16 ounce sodas in New York City."
Huckabee said he was on the "right side of history," arguing that gay marriage is "newer than Google or the iPod … and the first nation to even codify it into law didn't do so until the year 2000." He also said that the issue "is not equality, but sameness."
And in other news from the culture wars...
"The Long Ranger" made the baby Jesus cry. 
In an interview with The Christian Post, Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Coalition and Editor-in-Chief of Movieguide, attacked [The Lone Ranger's] "strong mixed pagan, revisionist, politically correct worldview."
"The government is bad – the army is killing Indians – the bad guy is a businessman, the military-industrial complex is bad," he explained, finishing the list with a notable exception – "the Christians are not always bad."
Nevertheless, "the pagan elements triumph because you’re looking at it from Tanto's [sic] point of view." He used "pagan" as a generic term for non-Christian, unidentified spirituality. "It's not Buddhism, it's not Hinduism, it's a mishmash."
"There's a lot of humor in the film, much at the expense of some of the Christians," he added, also mentioning the villain "who prays in the name of Jesus before he goes off slaughtering people."
THE END
- Trix
