Darragh Murphy is so angry at Barack Obama, she not only founded pro-Hillary Puma PAC in early June, she also donated $500 to John McCain.

In 2000.

Although the PTO is not yet aware of her temporal transportation breakthrough, evidence of its existence can be found at the FEC, where two bloggers independently discovered records of the five-Benjamin throwdown to McCain’s primary campaign against George Bush.

Murphy is understandably incensed that somebody violated her stealth tech company’s NDA:

“Thank you as well for reminding me that I DID EVERYTHING I COULD in 2000 to prevent GEORGE BUSH from becoming the Republican nominee, including donating money to McCain’s campaign and voting for him in the Republican primary here in Massachusetts because I was confident that my hero, AL GORE, would win the primary for the Democrats.”

The self-described lifelong Democrat must also be concerned that a competitor has stolen one of her time-machine prototypes, since no record of any other political donations by her can be found. Not in 2000, not in 2004, not in 2008.

Some observers have proposed an alternate theory: Murphy is a longtime McCain supporter who conceived and executed a brilliant Black Ops maneuver to take advantage of dissension among Soccer Moms. But skeptics consider that too far-fetched to merit consideration.

Puma PAC’s founder Darragh Murphy (hearts) John McCain [Rumproast, June 25]

PUMAs are Swiftboats [Pandagon, June 28]

PUMA De-Fanged on Hardball [AOL Political Machine, Aug. 15]

Reading through the Obama campaign’s 40-page response to Swift Boat II: Barackolypse Now, we’re rather disappointed with the quality of the calumny. There’s nothing your idiot relatives haven’t already warned you about in forwarded emails — the madrassa, the drugs, assorted radicals and militants, Rezko — plus an odd diversion into Kenyan politics which would bore us even if true.

However: Did you know that Barack Obama shamelessly plagiarizes the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries?

In a section on borrowed lines from movies, Corsi wrote, “Obama has repeatedly used the words bamboozled and hoodwinked in framing his argument that the truth has been hidden from voters.”

What makes this noteworthy is the full page devoted to addressing this slur, with seven examples of contemporary usage, including Jesse Jackson Jr. (“We’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, run amok and led astray by Al Jolson politics before.” — Pop taught you well, kiddo) and Ray Nagin. Which we’re sure will come in very handy the next time you’re challenged to defend Barry’s use of haolebonics.

The book debuts at the top of the Times “nonfiction” list this week, and while purchasers may be hoping to be goshbustified by a sockdolager, we suspect instead they’ll be hornswoggled by a scalawag absquatulating with their hard-earned skrilla.

Obama campaign issues rebuttal to book’s claims [AP]

Unfit for Publication [Obama campaign]

You give us the first, we’ll think about the second.

Colin Powell: Will he or won’t he publicly back Barack Obama? [LAT]

Everything you need to know about Olympic badminton. (Sorry, couldn’t find anything to match the swimmers.)

Bach’s big booster: His dad will watch S.F. badminton star go for glory [SFGate]

Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms defy the odds [Times UK]

Facing a Constitutionally imposed deadline of January 20 to declare martial law or get out of Dodge, the Bush Administration has launched a government-wide mandate to undermine any laws it has not yet ignored.

“This one’s tough,” said a harried DoJ lawyer, speaking on background. “There’s not much left.”

Insiders were shocked that the Endangered Species Act had lasted this long, and blamed Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for not dispatching it sooner. Kempthorne finally got around to knocking off bald eagles and polar bears Monday night, allowing federal agencies to skip scientific review and decide for themselves whether running an Interstate through Yosemite was likely to cause problems for non-voting rodents.

“Look, we’re busy figuring out how to stripmine Yellowstone,” said Kempthorne. “Cut us some slack.”

The new Suck or Die Initiative aims to secure George W. Bush’s place in history as not merely the worst but the most destructive U.S. president, amid concerns that a McCain Administration may challenge his standing. The initiative follows recent revelations that Bush included a signing statement with his oath of office.

Bush to relax protected species rules [AP]

U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices [DoE]

You’ll pardon our sheltered upbringing, but we didn’t know there was a “Black National Anthem,” and apparently it’s not Les McCann singing “Compared to What.”

It’s official name is “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” originally a poem by James Weldon Johnson, and first sung in 1900 on Lincoln’s Birthday by a choir of 500 children at the segregated Jacksonville, Florida, school where Johnson was principal.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.

Sounds really nice when Aretha does it, but then so does everything.

Johnson’s brother Rosamond wrote the music, and the song was an instant inspirational hit. By 1919, the NAACP had adopted it as its official anthem, and it was revived during the civil-rights movement. In 1990, it was entered into the Congressional Record as “The African American National Hymn.”

Oh, and if you sing it instead of the Star-Spangled Banner before a Denver mayoral speech, you’ll get hate mail and death threats.

Rene Marie talks about death threats since ‘anthem switch’ [News2 Denver]