One thing that truly boggles the mind, besides the success of CBS's "Two and a Half Men" and the fact that not every stripper you come across accepts money for sexual favors, is the commonly regurgitated theme that Barack Obama had at one time received a "free ride" from the news media. Sure, he was a relatively new face in politics and people desperately wanted to know more about the Junior Senator from Illinois, but don't confuse that with the media ever being in the tank for Obama. Because to the trained eye nothing could be further from the truth. For one thing, like most star black athletes who are called "disruptive" when they publicly call out teammates, when their white counterpart is described as "showing leadership" for doing the exact same thing - I noticed that Obama was immediately a victim of the "adjective game" by many in the mainstream media. If Hillary was telling a group of supporters that she was the only candidate who could reform health care because of her years of experience on the matter, or if John McCain expressed in some interview how he was best positioned out of all the candidates to protect America based on his foreign policy credentials - both of them, more times than not, were characterized as being "confident". Obama on the other hand, exuding the same levels of confidence when talking about his ability to bring people together, or how he is the only candidate who can beat McCain come November, is often characterized as "arrogant" or "cocky". Out of the three remanding candidates, Obama is the only one I've ever seen described as "whining" when he responds to attacks, just further outlining how many people are truly threatened by an assertive black person.(See Michelle Obama). Then there was Farrakhan. You know what, they'd only ask a black guy to disassociate himself from a person who he has never had a personal relationship with - I'm fully expecting Tim Russert, during one of the presidential debates when Obama takes on McCain to ask Barack - "Do you denounce and reject the support of Malik Jenkins, who lives off of 11th and Grand, you know - the one that lives right next to the Stop-N-Go? He has said some questionable things.." In 2000 and 2004, there were more prominent religious leaders who thought that homosexuality sparked national disasters than you could shake a stick at - scores of evil malcontented bastards who thought a church podium masked their verbal venom - most of those bottom feeders supported Bush wholeheartedly, and he was neither asked to denounce nor reject them by Mr Russert.

But something I've also noticed, a Hillary Clinton campaign tactic that has been embraced by the press for the most part, are all the faux scandals invented to sink Barack Obama's path to the nomination. I've rated a few of them for you on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the most ludicrous. Enjoy.

Kinder-gate: Right before the Iowa caucuses, after realizing that her "I'm not going to attack my opponents" stance was about to fail miserably, Hillary Clinton's campaign tried to paint Obama as deceitful based on one of his kindergarten essays entitled "I want to be president" - a complete contradiction to his claim that his presidential aspirations were only a couple of years old.

HumanityCritic's Non-Scandal rating: (9) Sometimes people need to eliminate "yes men" from their inner circle and surround themselves with people who will tell them the truth when ideas truly suck, (See Tyler Perry and Lil Wayne) - granted, I'm an Obama supporter, but this was a bit of a stretch. A Pilate's stretch.

Reagan-gate: In an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal right before the Nevada caucuses, Obama said the following about Ronald Reagan: "I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it."

HumanityCritic's Non-Scandal Rating: (5) Sometimes I feel that Obama should be more Jay-Z and less Talib Kweli in terms of occasionally dumbing down his rhetoric, he's an extremely thoughtful politicians who intellectually approaches problems - which is great for all the true thinkers amongst us, but its an absolute nightmare when stupid people and disingenuous political opportunists still exist. In the context of the interview, he was saying that he will be a transformational figure like Reagan - in a sense that Reagan got democrats to vote against their best interests, Obama feels that he could garner republican votes in the exact same fashion. But of course Hillary, and to some extent John Edwards pounced - because saying something nice about a man I once characterized as the "antichrist" does score you some cheap political points.

Snub-gate: During President Bush's last State of The Union address, as Hillary Clinton reached her hand out to Sen. Edward Kennedy - Obama was photographed with his back to the junior Senator from the state of New York. Hence, "Snub-Gate".

HumanityCritic's Non-Scandal Rating:(8) If there is one thing we have learned about Obama during this primary season is that he isn't petty. He has maintained, at least publicly, a level of respect for Hillary despite Bill's race-baiting, Hillary's shifting argument that Florida and Michigan should be counted - along with her incoherent claims that small states, states with black people in them, and caucuses don't count. That's what makes this "scandal" ridiculous.

Copy-gate: In response to Hillary Clinton's claim that all Obama could do is give speeches, he forcefully responded with what is now characterized as the "Just words" speech - an oratory that borrowed some of the same lines that his friend Deval Patrick once used. Naturally, Hillary Clinton charged Obama with plagiarizing.

HumanityCritic's Non-Scandal Rating: (6) For one thing, how is it plagiarism if the guy you borrowed from is a friend of yours who also gave you permission? Even though on one level I think it was clumsy of Obama, but still - the guy wrote two books and writes most of his speeches, I don't think he needs any lectures from a woman who used a ghostwriter to pen her latest book.

Wright-gate: Do I really need to go into detail about Reverend Wright? What, have you been living under a rock? Bloody fucking savages.

HumanityCritic's Non-Scandal Rating: (8) Without going into detail about how phenomenally lame guilt-by-association games came be, lets obliterate one of the widely regurgitated republican talking points on the matter: Talking Point: "How could Obama spend 20 years in that church, listening to that hateful language?" The problem with that, when you have more evidence that the man regularly gave inclusive sermons about love and the greatness of god as opposed to the couple of youtube clips that Sean Hannity probably masturbates to when Mein Kampf isn't readily available to him - its just a logical leap of Bob Beamon proportions to clumsily come to the conclusion that Obama heard anything but uplifting messages while he sat in the church pews. Its kind of like angrily confronting Jerry Seinfeld on the street after Michael Richards'(Kramer) videotaped racism and say: "How could you Jerry? How could spend all those years with Richards, hanging out, rehearsing, all of those episodes - sitting through his bitter brand of racism?" Come on. Besides, and this is just a hunch mind you - I feel that the only people upset about the Rev. Wright situation, are people who were never going to vote for Obama in the fucking first place.

Bitter-gate: At a fundraiser in San Francisco, Obama said the following: "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

HumanityCritic's Non-Scandal Rating:(10) I contend that the media, as well as the GOP, are making a huge mistake by acting as if the current political temperature is the same as it was back in 2004. People are really struggling out there, and if the media thinks that a minor gaffe is going to doom someone's presidential aspirations, or if the GOP feels that calling someone a "liberal" or "elitest" will clear the path to the presidency - they are in for a rude fucking awakening. Hillary's promoting of said republican talking point is just a Hail Mary pass in a campaign that has already shown itself to be a political JV team. That being said, what Obama said was true - people do cling to worthless wedge issues when everything else in their lives is bleak.