We haven’t been paying much attention to all the resume-padding going on among candidates this year — then again, we haven’t been reminded before of our favorite Game Show God. Meet Colorado GOP gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes:

A statement he wrote on his campaign website that was later removed said: “At one point in my 2 years there I was place (sic) undercover by the Kansas Bureau of Investigations (sic) to gather information inside a bookmaking ring that was also allegedly selling drugs. I got too close to some significant people in the community who were involved in these activities and abruptly was dismissed from my position. I was blindsided and stunned to say the least.”

So was the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, who can’t find any record of Maes in the archives.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Maes backs off claims of undercover police work [Denver Post, via TPM]

Update via TBD, 5 pm ET: “Police shot the suspect. His condition is not known. The three hostages are safe.”

At 5:30 pm, NBC is reporting that the suspect is dead.

Previously…

“A man possibly armed with explosives took at least one hostage Wednesday at the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Maryland, police said.” [CNN]

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Vanity Fair’s piece on Sarah Palin is worth the read, and quite scary.  The article contains much you probably already knew (Palin:  greedy, secretive, not that smart, kind of a bitch), but with some nice new details that probably fit your expectations, unless you’re someone who has deluded yourself into thinking she’s a strong, generous, articulate leader.  For example, she’s a bad tipper:

Of the many famous people who have stayed at the Hyatt in Wichita (Cher, Reba McEntire, Neil Young), Sarah Palin ranks as the all-time worst tipper: $5 for seven bags. But the bellhops had it good in Kansas, compared with the bellman at another midwestern hotel who waited up until past midnight for Palin and her entourage to check in—and then got no tip at all for 10 bags. He was stiffed again at checkout time. The same went for the maids who cleaned Palin’s rooms in both places—no tip whatsoever.

There’s also information about the lady’s domestic altercations with Todd: Read more »

Now that Talibunny-endorsed Joe Miller is the official Republican Senate nominee from the Great State of Reality-Television Casting, we thought we’d rectify an earlier omission and present for your viewing pleasure one of the more fascinating extended Northern Exposure references from the 2010 campaign season.

It’s been a long day, a long week, a long month, and a long fucking summer and year for your correspondent SFL.

The drumbeat of sad news stories, Sarah Palin mosque antics, Glen BecKKK rallies, and rising unemployment has totally harshed my mellow, and not even Sheryll the Dog is cheering me up.

So when I saw this headline tonight on the San Francisco Chronicle‘s website, I had to laugh because the joke just wrote itself.

Cougar killed near Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto Read more »

Slate columnist Christopher Hitchens was lucid enough this week to point out that Glenn Beck’s weekend tantrum on the mall was expressive of white terror at being overwhelmed by growing populations of non-whites. Hitchens observed of the crowd’s pathetic attempt at rousing solidarity:

The numbers were impressive enough on their own, but the overall effect was large, vague, moist, and undirected: the Waterworld of white self-pity.

White Fright [Slate]

That’s all true but misses the most important aspect of the of the teabagger festival of hate and rage:

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Oh, and let’s call this a Mission Accomplished Again Open Thread while we’re here.