Barack Obama last night gave his top ten campaign promises on Letterman. But, that's not why I tuned in and it's not the clip below. Right after Obama, T.J. Miller came on.

T.J. was promoting the new movie he is in, Cloverfield -- and his fondness for drinking. He's also Marmaduke in Carpoolers, the slacker son who prances around in his underwear, which I wrote about here. Why am I writing about T.J? Because I carpooled him from 1st grade to high school and I'm excited to see him on Letterman. He really was a very funny kid and it's great to see him now all grown up -- well, sort of grown up.

And if you must see Obama's top ten list, it's here (followed by T.J. in the same clip.)

I'm working most of the day, so here's a place for those of you who want to discuss news and issues other than the presidential election.

Speaking for me only.

As I have seen the context of Barack Obama's infamous remarks regarding the GOP being the party of ideas, I believe I was unfair to both Barack Obama and TPM. While I do believe Barack Obama does too much unity schtick and is entirely too easy on Republicans and their ideas, the context of his remarks makes his statement much more defensible than I originally thought.

Below the fold is the relevant portions of the text:

Some things I'm glad I read today:

• BeliefNet has a new interview with Barack Obama about his religion and multi-culturalism.

• Eric Boehlert at Media Matters on the blogosphere's role in the Tweety Effect. Jane Hamsher says, More Boehlert, Less Bai. And Atrios adds,

  "It is encouraging that occasionally "The Left" can make some noise and actually get a response. A few years ago it just felt like we were just screaming into the vacuum."

• Crooks and Liars and Gleen Greenwald on the new FISA shenanigans.

• Sunday Times of London columnist Matt Rudd criticizes travel to the United States:

  "Traveling to the US offers experiences like nowhere else on earth...Nowhere else can a visitor expect such a spirit-crushingly frosty reception. A preflight e-interrogation, epic queues at immigration, thin-lipped questioning from aggressive border guards, and an outside chance of a rubber-gloved rectal rummage are all part of the fun. So, if Chertoff & Co. want to tighten Fortress America further, it's time we considered other more welcoming holiday options. Such as Iran or North Korea."

• The New York Daily News reports 20 of Brooklyn's drug cops have been suspended for taking "sex, drugs and cash from junkies and dealers." More here.

More...

South Carolina Democratic Debate Transcript: Final Portion (Part !V)

MALVEAUX: Congressman Clyburn earlier said today, "I think he can afford to tone it down." Is there a risk that he is overshadowing
your message and your voice?

CLINTON: Well, I think that he is very much advocating on my behalf, and I appreciate that. He is a tremendous asset. And he feels very strongly about this country and what's at stake and what out future should be.

More...

Just in from CNN: Here's the transcript of the first set of zingers between Hillary and Obama. I'll fix the spacing later.

More....

24's Kiefer Sutherland left the Glendale City Jail after serving 48 days for his latest DUI conviction.

Sutherland -- the star of Fox television's drama, "24" -- has spent his sentence cleaning sheets, pillowcases and blankets on laundry duty, Balian told The Associated Press on Friday.

"He was very humble, never complained," Balian said. "He didn't give us any problems at all."

Here's a short video of Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee sharing a pew and singing today at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Here's a live-stream of the service which is still going on. Clinton acknowledged Huckabee in his remarks:

He acknowledged a litany of people, before beginning his remarks on MLK, including his “fellow Arkansan, and a competitor for the presidential nomination. Governor Huckabee welcome.”

” We worked together for several years on something that concerns everybody in this church: trying to turn the tide on childhood obesity, and childhood diabetes,”Clinton said.”A good man.”But he also said that they didn’t agree much on anything.

I hope we all take a few minutes today to reacquaint ourselves with the extraordinary wisdom, vision and passion of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Some of my favorites:

• A one-minute video that features excerpts from Dr. King's 1967 speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence , April 4, 1967, Riverside Church, New York City, amidst images of King, Vietnam, Bush, Iraq and more.

• Letter From Birmingham Jail (pdf), April 16, 1963

• I've Been to the Mountaintop: April 3, 1968. Dr. King's last speech, the day before his assassination, in support of the striking Memphis sanitation workers.

No word yet on how this will affect the striking Hollywood writers, but the film and TV directors have settled with the motion picture industry.

Hollywood’s movie and television directors agreed Thursday afternoon to a new contract with production companies. The accord would appear to send a none-too-subtle message to striking screenwriters: This is not the time to get hung up on new media.

Some deal terms below:

No blogging for me today. 5:00 am wake-up calls just don't agree with me and before court this morning, I had a 6:00 am conference call that lasted over an hour.

This thread is for those who want a break from all the primary and election coverage. What else is going on out there?

I'll be in court most of the day and off-line. For those looking for a place to share news and thoughts about matters other than the presidential race and politics, here's a thread for you.