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I found Obama’s health care presentation so impressive — so much command of the issues — that it had me worried. Seriously, it’s really good to see how much he gets it. Update: So Howard Fineman was unimpressed. And Fineman knows presidential greatness when he sees it: He’s the Texas Ranger of the world, and wants everyone to know it. He’s the guy with the silver badge, issuing warnings to the cattle rustlers.

Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri....called Obama "humble" and "as red, white and blue as you can possibly get." "He doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills," Obama said, summarizing what he views as the attacks against him. "I have not done all the full research on this, but the family legend is that Wild Bill Hickok, he's a distant cousin of mine," Obama said. "I don't know if it's true, but that's the legend, so we're going to research that because I'm ready to duel John McCain on taxes, right now, right here."

An alert reader wrote in just a little while ago to let us know about something he'd spotted on Fox News Wednesday afternoon. During a segment discussing conservative attacks against Michelle Obama, the wife of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, the network described the former as "Obama's baby mama."

On This Day In History July 21, 1865: Wild Bill Hickok fights first western showdown In what may be the first true western showdown, Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in the market square of Springfield, Missouri. Hollywood movies and dime novels to the contrary, the classic western showdown--also called a walkdown--happened only rarely in the American West. Rather than coolly confronting each other on a dusty street in a deadly game of quick draw, most men began shooting at each other in drunken brawls or spontaneous arguments. Ambushes and cowardly attacks were far more common than noble showdowns....

Director Uwe Boll challenges critics to a brawl New York: German horror film director Uwe Boll is so angry after receiving bad reviews that he is challenging critics to a filmed fight. According to imdb.com, Boll has made a few movies based on video games and says he wants to fight his critics in a boxing ring. Boll is particularly upset with an online petition, which has 13,327 signatures of people requesting him to stop making movies. Boll has invited director Quentin Tarantino to join the fight and wants to film the fight and show it on the Internet. He...

THE CEO OF Intel said that an advert AMD took out today challenging it to a dual core dual quite spoilt his cup of coffee. The advert, in broadsheet the San Francisco Chronicle, challenges Intel to match it on performance for dual core chips. But Paul Otellini, CEO pf Intel turned down the challenge with some disdain, refusing to pick up the gauntlet the chipsters threw down. We’ve often noted the resemblance of both Intel and AMD to the Tweedledee and Tweedledum characters in Alice through the Looking Glass. These brave warriors were forced to live a sort of mock...

Youths arrested for violating 116-year-old dueling law Two groups of youths who fought each other in pairs to settle a dispute have been arrested for bodily injury and dueling, a practice outlawed in Japan in the 1880s, police said. Arrested were 12 youths aged between 15 and 17 from Yokohama and the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Six of them were first-year high school students and the other six had just graduated from junior high school. Investigators said they gathered in a park in Tokyo's Setagaya-ku at about 8:50 p.m. on March 11 to settle trouble over the sale of a motorcycle,...

Mr. Chris Matthews Host, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews 400 North Capitol Street, Suite 850 Washington, DC 20001 Dear Chris, We understand that you will be airing tonight on Hardball, the famous segment from the Republican National Convention in which former Senator Zell Miller challenged you to a duel. It was a dramatic moment in television and we’re so pleased that you have been able to use the segment as a promo to boost the show’s ratings for the last 9 months. We are even more pleased that you will be playing it again tonight as it will be a...

Two far-right Austrian Freedom Party members have fought a duel after one claimed the other had offended the honour of party mentor Joerg Haider. Heinz-Christian Strache, 35, gave an impassioned speech to the party faithful in Salzburg where he compared Haider to a "crazy dog" barking at the moon. But Salzburg doctor Roman Strassl, also 35, confronted Strache afterwards - and the pair had a heated exchange with both refusing to back down. The row continued for several hours - and only ended when Strache threw down the gauntlet at 2am - demanding they use swords to settle the debate...

The most heartening language trend of 2004 was the revival of the old-fashioned insult. When MSNBC's Chris Matthews, sitting in the safety of his studio, had some tough questions for U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., after Miller's over-the-top keynote address at the Republican National Convention, Miller went all Aaron Burr on him: "I wish I was over there, where I could get a little closer into your face. . . . I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel." Miller was giving away about 20 years and 90 pounds to Matthews. But...

Taser sues N.C.-based rival over advertising Associated Press Posted on Tue, Dec. 21, 2004 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Taser International Inc. has filed a lawsuit against North Carolina-based rival Stinger Systems Inc., a rival maker of stun guns, alleging false advertising and unlawful patent marketing. On Tuesday, Taser said Stinger claims to be certified by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and that its gun was the first ATF-certified weapon. Scottsdale-based Taser said the ATF does not certify stun guns, it regulates them, and also said it now owns a product that has been regulated by the ATF since the...

Two centuries after their famous forebears met on the banks of the Hudson, the Hamiltons and the Burrs are still at it."LOOK AT THIS," said Antonio Burr. "Look at what they're selling." Standing in the gift shop of the New-York Historical Society on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Burr held a magnet to the light. On it were portraits of his ancestor Aaron Burr, the third vice president of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, whom Vice President Burr killed in a duel 200 years ago. Each man's portrait stared coldly at the other's.It was...

When this country was founded, men sometime engaged in the duel, a point of honor. It was a given…if one thought his honor had been questioned; he had the right to challenge the alleged offender to a duel, and sometimes take the life of the person questioning his honor, or loose his instead. Society examined this practice, and decided that it was not in the best interests of most citizens for this process to continue. States passed laws to limit the duel and, although there was no federal statue passed, by the early 1800s, the practice had been made illegal...

Zell-Mathews duel coming up on MSNBC now

Costco, Wal-Mart duel in political arena Warehouse-store giants give money to opposing parties By MICHAEL FORSYTHE AND RACHEL KATZ BLOOMBERG NEWS Executives at Costco Wholesale Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., competitors in the $76 billion U.S. warehouse-club market, have taken their rivalry to a new level: national politics. Costco Chief Executive Officer Jim Sinegal, 68, is a Democrat who says President Bush's $1.7 trillion in tax cuts unfairly benefit the wealthy. He opposed the Iraq war and supports Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts for president. And he's the only chief executive of a company in the Standard & Poor's 500...

After two centuries, it's still a sore point. Descendants of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr will reenact the nation's most famous duel when they meet today in Weehawken, N.J., on the 200th anniversary of that sordid event. Alexander Hamilton, a brilliant secretary of the treasury under George Washington but his career on the skids, took one bullet in the midsection from a dueling pistol fired by his bitter foe, Aaron Burr. The mortally wounded Hamilton fell to the ground and died the next day at age 50. Burr, 48, was unscathed. Burr, an equally brilliant politician and vice president under...

Keith Meyers/The New York Times Against the Manhattan skyline, a bust of Alexander Hamilton stands near where Aaron Burr shot him on July 11, 1804, in Weehawken, N.J. WEEHAWKEN, N.J. - It has been 200 years, minus a few days, since Vice President Aaron Burr fatally shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel here. Weehawken and the duel have been tied together in an often-uncomfortable knot ever since. While neighboring Hoboken is known as the birthplace of Frank Sinatra and, some say, the game of baseball, the duel of July 11, 1804, continues to serve as Weehawken's main claim to...

Col. Burr arrived first on the ground, as had been previously agreed: when Gen. Hamilton arrived the parties exchanged salutations, and the seconds proceeded to make their arrangements. They measured the distance, ten full paces, and cast lots for the choice of position, as also to determine by whom the word should be given, both of which fell to the second of Gen. Hamilton. They then proceeded to load the pistols in each other's presence, after which the parties took their stations. The gentleman who was to give the word...then asked if they were prepared; being answered in the affirmative,...

While discussing the duel proposed by Iraq between Bush and Saddam, host Kuby stated "Mayebe we will get lucky and get rid of 2 threats to world peace" Comments to the show welcome: http://www.msnbc.com/news/CURTISKUBY_Front.asp?0si=-&cp1=1