WHAT A DISGRACE

Raging drunk slashes Muslim cabby: cops

Michael Enright, 21, of Brewster had a lot to drink and got in a cab. He asked his cabby “if he was a Muslim and exchanged pleasantries in Arabic before going berserk and slashing the driver’s neck and face through the taxi’s partition, police said. He has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime for the attack, in which he allegedly shouted, ‘This is a checkpoint, motherfucker! I have to put you down!’”

Michael spent five weeks embedded with Marines in Afghanistan (he returned in May) and has done work for Intersections International, “a non-profit group that supports the mosque and ‘promotes interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural cooperation, specifically with our Muslim brothers and sisters.’”

The Post is quick to point out that “Tuesday’s stabbing must be taken for what it was: the act of a disturbed individual who is now in custody” and not “evidence that the debate over the Ground Zero mosque is getting out of hand” (from the editorial The Cabby Attack). Jonah Goldberg concurs with his The Islamophobia Myth: Taxi stabbing proves little.

Do you suppose anyone at the Post appreciates the irony in their insisting that we not hold an entire group of people (those against Park51 — which is still not a Ground Zero mosque) accountable for the actions of one man (replace “those against Park51″ with “Muslims” and “one man” with “nineteen men”)?

Folks on the right have already started floating the idea that Michael did this to gain sympathy for the pro-Mosque crowd. What a disgrace.

Timbaland (the music producer, not the boot) was distraught over the loss of his $2,000,000 watch (sadly, not a typo), which had been stolen “by a close associate.” So he took off in his Escalade and texted (to someone — great reporting, Post!) that he was “near a cliff and ‘tired of the stress.’” His family called the police, who used a helicopter to locate him. They “determined he was not a threat to himself.”

“Later, Timbaland phoned Ryan Seacrest’s radio show to say he had not been suicidal.” Until he phoned Ryan Seacrest’s radio show.

Did I mention that Tiger Woods and his wife are divorced? Well, they are. Elin gets $100,000,000 and shared custody of the kids, Tiger gets boners for skanks.

Approval has been granted for the skyscraper that will be erected on the former site of the Hotel Pennsylvania (15 Penn Plaza).

Which means I’ll have to redo my tramp-stamp tattoo of the New York City skyline for a third time.

Buried in Churlie Hurt’s latest fellating of the Tea Party is this: “Okay, so maybe [Sarah] Palin scares us a little bit. This is understandable.”

Baby steps, Churlie.

List of people/things that Mandrea spits venom at today: Tiger Woods, Chris Simms (son of Phil), Brad Pitt, Eliot Spitzer and the madam who provided him with Ashley Dupre (though she doesn’t mention Ms. Dupre), and people who are against the construction of the Islamic cultural center 15 Penn Plaza.

Today’s expensive full-page, full-color BP ad focuses on Economic Investment and Environmental Restoration. There’s a photo of a old White guy walking with a Black woman in a pink shirt with a BP logo. They’re both staring at the ground. We can’t see what they’re looking at, but it’s safe to assume it’s oil and/or dead things.

Money well spent, BP.

Over on page 30, there’s a small piece titled ‘Drunk’ desecration at mosque. It begins, “A drunk barged into a mosque last night and shouted anti-Muslim slurs as he urinated on prayer rugs, cops and witnesses said.” The man (Omar Rivers) was “very intoxicated” and called the worshippers “terrorists.”

And yet the Post saw fit to put quotation marks around the word drunk. And drew no connection between this act of vandalism and the battle over Park51. Classy.

First Churlie Hurt disses Sarah Palin, now comes the editorial John McCain: Where He Belongs.

“Arizona Republicans soundly renominated John McCain for a fifth term in the US Senate over a Tea Party-backed GOP challenger. Yes, McCain’s an ideological drunken driver. But it was a wise choice. To be sure, McCain had to hustle aggressively to score this primary win — discovering new enthusiasm for conservative positions on illegal immigration, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and cap-and-trade. That’s nothing to be proud of… But America is a safer place with John McCain in the Senate.”

What next? An article on how Ken Mehlman has finally admitted that he’s gay?

(Not in today’s paper, probably not in tomorrow’s either. But he totally is.)

The Yankees lost last night, but so did Tampa Bay. The tie remains until at least tomorrow night (we both have today off).

Is Manny Ramirez headed for the Chicago White Sox? Maybe!

Linda Stasi is livid (livid, I tell you!) because Sunday’s episode of Mad Men included a scene where young Sally Draper (played by 11-year-old Kiernan Shipka) masturbates. “This is an 11-year-old child whose life has been compromised by being made to feign masturbation on national television! It’s like starring in a training film for pedophiles.”

That’s exactly what it’s like, Linda. I give your hyperbole three stars.

The weekend is a mere 29.5 hours away! And that means Let’s Have A Ball is only 55.5 hours away! And the Friends with a Benefit show is… on Sunday night (I don’t feel like using a calculator).

If you haven’t bought tickets yet, please do. If you haven’t spread the word to every New Yorker you know, please do.

Here is the linky-poo.

See you all tomorrow!