Keith Olberman has a very insightful commentary on the recent “strategy” of the Clinton campaign. I suggest taking the 10 minutes to watch it.

As I’m sure all of you already know, New York Governor Elliot Spitzer decided to have a little fun with a prostitute… resulting in his resignation. What have we learned from this ordeal?

Those who most vigorously preach against something are likely doing it themselves.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Ted Haggard: This evangelical preacher was notorious for condemning homosexuality. He once said “we don’t have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity. It’s written in the Bible.”

Clearly this man believes that homosexuality is wrong. Clearly he is a hypocrite. In early November, 2006 the American Evangelical Church forced Haggard to step down from his position due to “sexually immoral conduct”. Turns out he slept with a male prostitute and did a bunch of meth.

Am I surprised? Nope.

Larry Craig: Former Idaho Senator Larry Craig, was a staunch opponent of gay rights. He voted against every legislation that attempted to improve equal rights for homosexuals.

Clearly this man too believes that homosexuality is wrong. Shocker, clearly he’s also a hypocrite. In late August 2007, Sen. Craig pled guilty (only to try and later retract his plea) to soliciting sex in the men’s room of the Minneapolis Airport. And claiming a “ wide stance” didn’t do much to help him.

Surprised? No again.

Elliot Spitzer: The current (though not for long) Governor of New York and former New York State Attorney General companied on the promise of cleaning up crime in his home state. He even brought down several prostitution rings in Staten Island.

Clearly this is a man of principals and morals. Yet again, clearly he’s a hypocrite. Early this week Spitzer admitted to hiring a prostitute. I’m sure he was really just doing research to figure out how to best bring down this prostitution ring. Or maybe not.

Other notable hypocrites:

Florida House Representative Bob Allen.
Florida Congressman Mark Foley.

Feel free to post more hypocrites in the comments.

Thanks to the Facebook news feed, I learned today about an amazing service that provides micro-loans to those who need them.

Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. By choosing a loan on Kiva, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the entrepreneur you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

I think this type of service is incredible and has the power to change the world. Donating $25 is trivial for many people, but the benefit conferred by the loan can be mammoth. My biggest problem was figuring out who to lend to. There are currently 103 loans that still need to be completed totaling about $670,000 in needed financing. Choosing just one (or two or three) is not easy. Everyone has a compelling story, and everyone clearly needs the money. How does one choose? (that was rhetorical…I wish I could answer that question).

I managed to finally pick someone, but I did feel a bit overwhelmed. This, of course, is a classic JDM problem, choice overload. With so many “attractive” options, I was overwhelmed and almost differed the decision to later (which, as we all know, significantly decreases my likelihood to contribute at all). I plan on contacting Kiva and suggesting that they include a “we’ll choose for you” option that randomly (or by some other means) picks who to lend to. I suspect this will significantly increase their conversion rate.

In any case, this is an amazing project and I strongly support it. You can learn more about it here or you can loan some money to Jenesta Baigana of Tanzania in her attempt to purchase more livestock.

Edward over at Junk Charts has an excellent post detailing how Congressman Jim Saxton of New Jersey, mis-represented the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report’s claims about the tax burden that the middle class is currently facing.

I will let you read Edward’s explanation for the details, but the basic idea is that by only showing the above chart, Congressman Saxton was hiding a large part of the story. Basically, the windfall that Saxton claimed the middle class received was nothing special…everyone experienced it (as can be seen in the graph below…thanks Edward). He also failed to point out that, while the middle class might be paying less in taxes, they are also earning considerably less than they used to be. So while their appears to be a benefit, their’s actually a loss.

Tisk tisk Congressman Saxton. You should know better than to try and sneak one past the blogsphere. Thanks again to Edward for his excellent analysis.

With the President’s approval rating not going anywhere, it seems appropriate to ask why? Thanks to the folks at needfornews.com I have my answer in the form of “ The 50 Dumbest Things George W. Bush Has Ever Said - NeedForNews.com.”

My favorite will always be #6: “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on –shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” –Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002.

Here’s the corresponding video.