If you're like me, you get a lot of nutcase, lying political-type e-mails. I'm not talking about the kind that try to build a rational, fact-based case for some viewpoint. I get those too and often find them of interest. But I'm talking here about the kind wherein someone just plain lies about what's in a bill and/or offers demonstrably-phony quotes. That kind.

I'm sure there are left-wing ones but I only seem to receive the right-wing variety. Usually, they're quickly deleted but if you want to respond to them, Media Matters has a service for you. They are, as you probably know, a Liberal watchdog group. They've set up a section of their website that gathers such e-mails and offers up polite responses you can send. They include links to news sources that aid with the debunking, just in case the person who sent you the e-mail is one of the rare ones who can be convinced their facts are in error.

If someone out there can point me to a similar site that debunks lying left-wing e-mails (and does so without citing Michelle Malkin as an unbiased source), let me know.

Just to review: A week or so ago, the two men vying for the presidency of the Writers Guild were engaged in a slap-fight, calling each other liars and making it look like our union was rupturing from within. Over at her much-read blog, Nikki Finke posted every accusation…which is fine. She covers industry news and this is industry news.

Wednesday night at a Candidates Forum at the Guild, all the quarrellers hugged and kissed and said it was all a misunderstanding. I haven't seen Nikki Finke post a word about that yet.

In fairness, her site has recently undergone a software makeover and posting was limited for a few days there. But it's back and she's reporting the box office grosses for Labor Day Weekend. When is she going to get around to mentioning that the candidates are no longer standing behind some of those accusations she previously disseminated? Since members are filling out their ballots at the moment, it's kind of newsworthy.

I wonder what percentage of the people who are saying that Barack Obama is a lying, Socialist, illegal alien are folks who, not that long ago, thought the Dixie Chicks should be deported for saying they were ashamed of George W. Bush.

In-flight wi-fi service seems to be the coming thing…and at least one airline (Jet Blue) is experimenting with making it free. For the ones that charge, the rates look like they'll be around $5.95 for short flights and $12.95 for flights of three hours or longer. Obviously, this is fine for those who need it, and perhaps there'll come a time when I will. But there are also times when it's kinda nice that for the length of your flight, your phone is off and nobody can reach you…

The acclaimed play August: Osage County by Tracy Letts is coming to Los Angeles. It'll be at the Ahmanson Theater starting next month and spilling over into the following month.

Why am I telling you this? Because I have two tickets for it I can't use, on account of I'm going outta state for the Mid-Ohio-Con. They're pretty good seats — center of the second row of the mezzanine — and they're for October 6, a 7:30 performance. Anyone wanna buy 'em off me for the face value price of $120?

You see the guy on the left in the above photo? Never mind the clown on the right. That's me. But the guy on the left is Chuck McCann, one of the funniest and most creative humans in this hemisphere. For those of you who remember Chuck's legendary kids' show on local New York television in the sixties, no more need be said. The rest of you came to know him from his movie roles, his hundreds of TV appearance, his commercials, his cartoons, his…oh, heck. If you told me that Chuck had donned a tu-tu and danced the Swan with the Joffrey, I'd hesitate to dismiss it as unlikely. The guy's done everything…and judging from the fan worship I witnessed this year at Comic-Con, most people know that.

But what they might not know is that today's his birthday. So…much affection and a big, candle-studded cake to one of my favorite people.

It's also the birthday of another one of my favorite people, cartoonist supreme Scott Shaw! But we have a one-birthday-post-a-day rule here. So sorry, Scott. Maybe next year.

Recently here, I mentioned that if you wanted a region-free DVD player, Walmart has a model — the Durabrand — that'll play just about anything and which sells for peanuts. I don't have one of these but a number of my friends have bought 'em and liked 'em.

And now they may have to send them back. Here's the notice of a product recall due to a fire hazard.

Our pal Jim Brochu is playing Zero Mostel in our nation's capitol. The Washington Times likes him.

The warring factions in the current Writers Guild election seem to have buried all hatchets, done a big group-hug and decided that it was all a silly misunderstanding that shouldn't get in the way of Guild Solidarity. Good for them, good for us. I am back then to voting for Elias Davis, though I must say that it wouldn't bother me if his opponent, John Wells, was victorious. And since I've now filled out my ballot, that's it as far as I'm concerned.

Speaking of Jerry Lewis — as I was in the wee small hours of the morning — his annual Labor Day Telethon is this weekend. As usual, it'll be different lengths in different cities. I'll be receiving two separate feeds on my little DirecTV satellite dish. KCAL, the Los Angeles affiliate, is running it from 6 PM Sunday night through 5 PM on Monday for a total of 23 hours. WGN in Chicago is running it from 8 PM Sunday night (L.A. time) 'til 9:30 AM when they stop for a baseball game. They resume with Jerry whenever the game ends, which TiVo says will be 12:30 PM and then it runs 'til 5 PM. Assuming the game is three hours, that's 18 hours. The San Francisco station, which I can't get on my satellite, is only running eight hours.

The P.R. handouts seem to have stopped describing the telethon as being any particular length. Last year, they said it was 21 and a half hours but KCAL ran a 23 hour version and WGN aired 18. Since large chunks of the overnight programming are reruns from earlier in the telethon, it can be almost any length, and I have no idea how many hours they actually do.

Announced as performers are Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Tony Orlando, Charo, Wynonna, Train, Bo Bice, Terry Fator, George Wallace, Lee Greenwood, Three Dog Night and many more. Betcha Dolly, Reba and maybe a few others aren't there on stage but instead pre-taped special numbers as part of concerts they were doing somewhere. There will be a tribute to Ed McMahon which will be repeated several times during the show.

A friend of mine tells me that this year, Jerry doesn't want any men on the stage with him; that all his co-hosts will be women like Nancy O'Dell and Jann Carl. But all the publicity still mentions Tom Bergeron as a co-host so I don't know what that means.

I'll tune in. I'll send some money. But I'll probably find myself waxing nostalgic for the day when it was a much bigger show with much bigger guests.