Oh, how I love the political drama that arises with the nomination of a new Supreme Court Justice. Such classics like Robert Bork whose nomination was so disastrous that a verb was created to describe it (“borked,”follow the link if you don’t know, it ain’t good), Clarence Thomas who graced America with the only R-Rated hearing discussing squirrel genitals, and G. Harrold Carswell who just so happened to be a white supremacist (whoops) – oh the entertainment.

Once again, Illinois State Senators are calling for our good friend Roland Burris to exit stage left. One imagines a Dem Party master of ceremonies furiously giving the neck slash signal to end dear Roland's dance routine, but he just keeps twirling away and starts to remove items of clothing.

I love it when men pontificate about what is wrong with women. Really (not really). I mean it (I don’t mean it).

Love. It.

That’s why I was so pleased to see Ross Douthat’s New York Times column today in which he discusses a new paper that a couple of economists have written, detailing how American women are less happy today than their 1960s counterparts (and also less happy than men).

Memorial Day is a day that we honor our troops and their sacrifices. However, I think we should also take some time to shame some of the people that put them in harms way by enabling war profiteering for an ill-conceived war. After all, putting outmoded neocon foreign policy ideals and the pursuit of money in front of your own soldiers is something these people should be ashamed of.

This Bill Moyers interview is a must-watch for anyone who cares about meaningful healthcare reform:

Washington's abuzz about health care, but why isn't a single-payer plan an option on the table? Public Citizen's Dr. Sidney Wolfe and Physicians for a National Health Program's Dr. David Himmelstein on the political and logistical feasibility of health care reform.

Orlando posed a puzzler yesterday: if you shut the Camp Delta prison, what do you do with inmates who have committed no known war crimes or acts of terrorism, but who still pose a security threat? How do you keep them from taking up arms or otherwise waging jihad against the U.S. and its allies?

It's triflingly simple: Ask them to promise not to.

"Huh?" I can hear you all saying. "That's crazy talk, acanuck. What's to stop them from breaking their word?" Well, first of all, the concept of "parole" has an honored place in Arab and Muslim history. It resonates.

Right after the election was over, I started a series of posts called Stuff I Learned, about the history of American presidents, as I read a book called The American Presidency. I didn't get very far into the book, and now I can't find it. I'm not all that worried about finishing, not being a fan of non-fiction.

So, at least for now, I won't be sharing with you the stuff I learned about American history. Instead, I'm hoping you'll share with me stuff you already know, because I'm confused.

I don't think that many people would be all that shocked or alarmed if I were to write that politics can be downright silly at times.  Even so, creative legislators continue to come up new tactics that seem to defy all logic.

We’ve had quite a month in South Bend. When the President accepted the invitation to speak at Notre Dame’s commencement ceremony, the media jumped all over the supposed re-ignition of the abortion debate. 

Nancy Pelosi ought to be ashamed of herself for daring to suggest that the CIA has ever done anything untoward, much less that they have misled Congress.  The CIA is 100% on the up-and-up.  They have never bungled analyses, been involved in drugs or arms t

May 13, 2029

Twenty-six years after invading Iraq, the United States closed its military bases and evacuated the last American soldiers from Iraqi soil.

In an address to soldiers at Fort Bragg, President George Prescott Bush praised the U.S. military for accomplishing the mission that his uncle, former President George W. Bush, had set before them in 2003.

Happy Train Appreciation Day!  Oh, you didn’t know it was Train Appreciation Day?  Neither did anybody else and it was this past Sunday, so don’t feel bad if you missed it.  Apparently, Congress regularly passes resolutions establishing pseudo-holidays and resolutions of support for all sorts of things that are either: a) insignificant; b) blatant pandering to special interests; or c) down right non-sequitur.

In a comprehensive study, voting experts recently conducted a series of interviews, polls, and focus groups to find out why American voters turned away from Republicans in 2008. While many reasons were cited, analysts observed a clear consensus among swing voters who had voted for President George Bush and other Republican candidates prior to 2006 but changed to Democratic tickets in the past two years.

I want to marry gays.  I really do.  If it were legal to do so in my state, I would become an ordained minister to join a gay couple in holy and legal matrimony.  I view it as a benchmark of American progress.  It would be a fine example of the reason prevailing against rhetoric, because reasonably LGBT folks should be able to marry and enjoy all the benefits that heterosexual couples do. 

Why should gay marriage be legal?  Because the arguments against it are so asinine they make neocon political ideals look logical, or even moral.

Sometimes, I get confused when people use slang or terms of art. I’m more of a straightforward, un-fancy communicator. I’m ashamed to admit it might be something I have in common with our former president—although I tend not to make up my own words.

Something I am less ashamed to admit is that I don’t always follow some of the terms bandied about on the blogs. One of those terms is “strawman.” I’m from the Midwest. Out here, strawmen live in fields and they don’t generally talk, which makes it difficult for them to participate in arguments.

May 6, 2029

President George Prescott Bush signed into law a ground-breaking automobile subsidy that will pay the United States' last remaining automaker, General Chrysford, to build cars that will be shipped straight to the scrapyards. The Automotive Repurposing Act is designed to help the Big One survive a global glut of automobiles that has driven the price of cars below the break-even point. Lisa Lemmon, the CEO of General Chrysford, has lobbied hard for the bill and argued in a recent USA McNews editorial that the auto company could not survive without assistance:

Today is the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, brought to you by the Candies Foundation.  Yesterday, the Candies Foundation announced teen-mom/example-that-abstinence-only-doesn’t-work, Bristol Palin, would be it’s new ambassador.  This is the most ironic spokesperson since Stephen Hawking did a Nike cross-training commercial. I mean, come on!

In the press release announcing the ambassadorship, Palin said "If I can prevent even one girl from getting pregnant, I will feel a sense of accomplishment."

In these times of intense political discourse (or non-discourse if you're so inclined) it's nice to be reminded why you love this country: our civil liberties.

Many people don’t realize that our most sacred freedom in America isn’t explicitly mentioned in the Bill of Rights, nor in any Supreme Court brief.  Yet, it is inherent in the theoretical underpinnings of this country’s Constitution; it’s the freedom of stupidity - perhaps the most widely used liberty.

I've always been a "the more, the merrier" type of person. So, I think Arlen Specter's decision to switch his party affiliation is a great. Sure, he's made the switch out of pure political survival: he can't win a Republican primary in Pennsylvania next year. But so what? We've got conservative Democrats already. They're a pain in the ass, but they're our pain in the ass.