One word: Oprah! The "queen of daytime television" will announce today she's ending her show in 2011. This is huge! Now, in case you're a little slow, let me connect the dots and tell you what's really going on here. Just this week, Sarah Palin goes on Oprah to plug her book Going Rogue even while insisting that 2012 is "not on my radar screen right now," which is what all candidates for president have to say in 2009. Oprah is all charming, as usual, and gets her biggest audience in two years! Then, just a few days later, Oprah announces that she will be leaving her show after 25 years to "start her own cable channel." Coincidence? This could really only mean one thing: Palin-Winfrey 2012! You heard it here first.

I'm sure there are skeptics out there. Yeah, Oprah endorsed Barack Obama during last year's campaign. But whatever. Remember how she didn't go out and stump for him, except, like, once? It's obvious now that this is because she is a secret political admirer of Sarah Palin. And Michelle Obama knows it (see picture).

Also, put yourself in Palin's place. Who else would you pick to be your vice presidential running mate? John McCain? He's too old, and he obviously held her back last time. Mitt Romney? Not until he changes his hair, and that doesn't seem imminent. I suppose Todd, the ex-First Dude, is a possibility. Sarah does say in her book that "God and Todd" got her where she is today, and it's not like she can put God on the ticket. Anyway, Oprah makes total sense.

In other news, NASA has confirmed that the world is not ending, at least not on Dec. 21, 2012.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, there is a shortage of canned pumpkin.

Two-thirds of American Santas are fat—and they want a swine flu shot.

Happy Friday! And catch up with me on Twitter!

Photo by woohoo120, Creative Commons Attribution License

And so, 365 days after Barack Obama was elected the country's first African-American president, Whitehead suggests it's time for a little oversight in the form of a new government position: secretary of postracial affairs. He selflessly offers to serve his country in that capacity himself.

He writes:

Call me presumptuous, but I’ve already bought three-by-five cards and jotted down notes. To wit: Sociologists say that racism is a construct, which means that our predicament is what we in the business world call a “branding problem.” Time and time again, attempts to reduce a wildly diverse community to an ineffectual blanket term have yielded diminishing results. “Colored” lasted 82.3 years, “Negro” less than half that. “African-American” was challenged by “People of color” after an even shorter reign. May I suggest “People Whose Bodies Just Happen to Produce More Melanin, and That’s O.K.,” or PWBJHTPMMATOK? It’s factually accurate, non-threatening and quite pithy. The N.A.A.C.P. says it’s on board if we pitch in for changing the letterhead.

Pop culture is the arena for our hopes, our fears and our most cherished dreams. It is our greatest export to the world. That’s why as your secretary of postracial affairs I’ll concentrate on the entertainment industry.

Some changes will be minor. In television, “Diff’rent Strokes” and “What’s Happening!!” will now be known as “Different Strokes” and “What Is Happening?” Other changes will be more drastic. “Sanford and Son” trafficked in demeaning stereotypes. In these more enlightened times, everyone knows that one person’s “junk” is another’s compulsive eBay purchase. A more postracially robust version features Sanford père as the genius behind a community-based auction site, with his son, Lamont, the reluctant Webmaster. Think of the opportunities for fleet-footed banter and sophisticated, pun-based aperçus. Like “Frasier,” but postracial.

Secretary Whitehead, get to work!

Happy NaBloPoMo! Or for the less tech-savvy: National Blog Posting Month. Apparently, there are bloggers who have vowed to post every day for the month of November! Don’t worry, slacker-bloggers with other responsibilities—City Desk has plenty of posts to go around. That’s what interns are for.

The New York Times is asking readers to look back at the year since President Barack Obama’s election and sum up their mood. As of Tuesday night, Democrats are “hopeful,” “proud,” and “thankful.” Republicans are “suspicious,” “depressed,” and… “unsurprising.” Please assign grammar lessons to those unsurprising Republicans. Also, Republicans can add some new words today after last night's election returns. Bob McDonnell!

At 12:01 a.m., the National Park Service debuted its new online lottery for the National Christmas Tree ceremony tickets. There are some 10,000 tickets available, and the lottery closes Friday. On the plus side: No more fending off tourists and huddling in the cold for hours to see a tree lit. On the downside: Did anyone actually think this through? Thousands upon thousands logging into one government-run Web page? I’d start bundling up the kiddies.  

The Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that D.C. is home to some of the nation’s lowest and highest unemployment rates. In September, unemployment in Ward 8 was at 28.3 percent, while Ward 3 was at 3.2 percent.

But more important, there is apparently a good reason the elevators are always broken in my dorm: All the tuition money went to former George Washington University president Stephen Trachtenberg. The average university head takes home around $359,000 a year. Trachtenberg received $3.7 million a year for his 19 years—$2 million more than any other university president. Unsurprisingly, on Tuesday 66 percent of NBC Washington readers were “furious.” And 6 percent marked their reaction as “thrilled.”

Were these the same 6 percent “furious” Obama is holding babies?

According to the blogger at 14^th and You, someone broke into her car—apparently to steal an ice-scraper and some mid-Atlantic maps. It’s a tough time to be a NaBloPoMo’er.

Prince of Petworth has a post bemoaning a certain dog walker. Apparently, “at 14 dogs at a time, this isn’t attention or exercise for your dog. Just a factory.” Besides doing some intense division concerning poops per minute, commenters also said the following:

“Kudos, dogwalkerman.”

“With the success of “Nanny Cams”, now comes “Dog Walker Cam.”

“I recognize a couple of these dogs…the owners pay $20 a day. Oh are they going to be pissed.”

“Prince of Petworth, you should become a dog walker on the side to supplement your meager blogging funds!”

And that’s the roundup. I'm locking my car and stealing some puppies.

Image: Web shot of New York Times page

Instead of getting mad, Vivas got even. So just as the Scandinavians were doling out the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, Gingrich was being named "Porn Fan of the Year."

Politics played a role in both awards.

From the top: Vivas was contacted last month by American Solutions for Winning the Future, Gingrich’s D.C.-based PAC, and was told the former Republican Revolutionary wanted to honor her as the group's “Entrepreneur of the Year” for 2009.

At that time, Gingrich associate Joe Gaylord wrote to Vivas that “Newt’s Business Defense and Advisory Council” wanted to "dine privately" with her on the evening of Oct. 7 at the "historic Capitol Hill Club" in “recognition of the risks you take to create jobs and stimulate the economy.”

But then Gingrich found out about Vivas' entreporneurial background: She creates all sorts of stimulus as president of  Pink Visual, a California-based distributor of adult movies.

And given Gingrich's presidential aspirations, he got clammy about spending quality time alone with the auteur behind such titles as Anal Devastation, Couples Seduce Teens, Brazen And Unshaven, Double Penetration Tryouts, Wife Switch Volume 7, Desperately Seeking Cock (stop me if you've heard of any of these movies before) Monster Cock Junkies, House Wife Bangers, Memoirs Of A Gusher, Teen Anal Pounding, Pure Cherry Girls, Teens For Cash, and Spit Swappers.

So Gingrich rescinded the invitation to Vivas about the same time Washington City Paper reported on the scheduled date. Gingrich spokesman Dan Kotman told me, “We have notified Allison Vivas that the notice she received was sent by mistake."

I asked Vivas yesterday how she spent the time she would have spent dining with Gingrich at the Capitol Hill Club.

"I sat down with the executive team here and created a special honor to bestow upon Newt: "Family Values Porn Fan of the Year, 2009," Vivas responded via e-mail. "We worked on the plaque design [seen above], an event schedule, a notification to fax to his office – and of course, a letter we'll send rescinding the offer after he receives it."

Vivas also prepared an excuse to give Gingrich when she retracts the Porn Fan of the Year trophy. She'll say it was all a mistake, as he told her about the entrepreneur award, and add that the honor "was intended for members of our MilfSeeker.com Web site, and not for fans of our WifeSwitch DVD series."

What possibly could she mean? Oh, right...

Incidentally, the Taliban are also disappointed in the Norwegians:

"We have seen no change in his strategy for peace. He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP....

"When Obama was elected president, we were hopeful he would keep his promise to bring change. But he brought no change, he has continued the same old strategy as (President George W.) Bush.

I don't mean to further offend the sycophants on the prize committee, but I have to say, the Taliban kinda sorta have a stake in this. Granted, they are shitty and stupid and regressive. But they're also getting bombed and shot by USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Happy Hump-Day! I can see you slumping over and sleeping at your desk, so I’ve helpfully ended each news-blip with a BOOM, in honor of the Black Eyed Peas, Brett from FOTC, and the DC Metro transit system. Stay awake! Boom!

For those metro riders who have finally managed to assuage their fears of track-jumpers and crashed cars—stop reading. Prince of Petworth reports that there was more trouble on the red line yesterday. One witness said his car had “a series of explosions, with little fire and sparks everywhere.” Another mentioned a “loud BOOM!” and a decent cloud of smoke at Metro Center. And before that fiasco, the car reportedly stopped to let a sick passenger off the train. Coincidence? Metro says the train “lost one of its collector shoes”. My theory is that there was an X-Men/Heroes/Men in Black character on the train who beat up an invisible bad-guy, and than erased everyone’s memory. Draw your own conclusions. Boom!

Get ready for the same-sex marriage debate to take the District by storm—D.C. Council member David Catania introduced the bill on Tuesday. Somewhat diplomatically, the bill doesn’t require religious organizations to actually perform the marriages.  There will be a public hearing in October, and a preliminarily vote in December. Although same-sex marriages valid in other states have been recognized here since July, it’s hard to predict which way the wind will blow. Regardless, everyone is going to get drenched. Boom!

According to POLITICO, President Barack Obama has reaffirmed that the White House Olympic office will remain open, even though the US isn’t forecasted to host the Olympics until 2020—at the earliest. Okay, I know it probably isn’t logical, but just remembering President Obama skulk out of Copenhagen makes me hear small violins playing. It’s small consolation. Thoughts? Boom!

Winter is creeping up on fall--but don't panic. There's still plenty of time to dive into some cider-drinking, pumpkin-picking, plaid scarf fun: the Maryland Renaissance Fair is going on until Oct. 25, the Maryland Celtic Festival is coming, or you could even go metro-accessible camping like these sprightly college kids. Boom!

And finally, even Enya couldn’t calm down spa-goers in Bethesda when an 82-year-old woman plowed into a salon. According to WUSA, emergency responders believe the woman mixed up the accelerator and the brake. Boom—okay, not appropriate. Luckily, no one was seriously injured.

Don’t you feel awake now? Washington City Paper: Stronger than your morning coffee.

Photo by KM Photography, Creative Commons License

President Barack Obama, accompanied by the first lady, stopped by a Habitat for Humanity project today on 54th and Clay Streets NE near the Richardson Dwellings.

Here's the pool report, filed by Anna Fifield of Financial Times:

The president and Mrs Obama on Friday afternoon went to a Habitat For Humanity housing project in Deanwood, north-east Washington DC.

They visited a three-home development that will be completed at the beginning of next year.

Kent Adcock, the Habitat chair, took them on a tour of the project then they went into one of the houses, where they helped to paint the living room.

Mr Obama used a roller to paint a wall while Mrs Obama took care of a corner with a brush. The paint was a shade called 'cool platinum'.

"How are we doing over there?" Mr Adcock asked.

"I don't think you're going to have to re-do it," Mr Obama said. "After we're gone you'll be saying 'that wall is really messed up'."

The volunteers painting with the Obamas were:
Julie Bindleglass and Shakria Cannon-Moye, both GW students;
Logan Sheehan and Andrew Modley of Americorps;
Teresa Hamm and Bart Thornburg of Habitat for Humanity

Crowds of people gathered on the street near the house, cheering and yelling "We love you Obama".

The visit seems to have been kept a mystery to local politicos. Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander says she was unaware of the visit. It is not clear whether Mayor Adrian M. Fenty was there. He has no events on his public schedule today.

UPDATE, 5:30 P.M.: Ruth Samuelson has oh so much more at Housing Complex.

Photo courtesy of D.C. Habitat for Humanity

"All Hands on Deck," Chief Cathy L. Lanier's unconstitutional excuse for setting up roadblocks and checkpoints, is done--but not because it violated the Fourth Amendment. No, AHOD is dead because "police union officials have long decried the AHODs as essentially a publicity stunt that generate goodwill for politicians at the expense of rank-and-file officers."

Christ almighty: "We'll stop this thing we're doing that's illegal, but only because the people we've asked to do it ARE TIRED OF DOING IT SO MUCH. " If you're disappointed that AHOD is kaput--and at least one of you is--then you obviously never had anything to hide and are probably an incredibly boring person.  The rest of us will be celebrating the return of our right to no unreasonable searches and seizures at an undisclosed location. ORWELLIAN SAPS ARE NOT INVITED.

ACORN workers did a bad, bad thing in Baltimore. Some folks at Big Government (another project by conservative maestro Andrew Breitbart) visited ACORN's offices posing as a pimp and prostitute in search of cheap housing for 13 El Salvadoran girls, who, the BG pair implied, would be underage prostitutes. ACORN had a lot of good ideas for them, including tax evasion. Check out the transcript.

Annnnnd a wingnut from Falls Church brought his shotgun to the Capitol during Obama's health care speech. Look, here's a message from one gun lover to another: We don't need this. "We" as in gun lovers, "we" as in emotionally neutral defenders of the Second Amendment, "we" as in the people who manage to detest big government without scaring other people. I don't think y'all represent the rise of the militia movement, I just think y'all are dumbasses. So cut it out and save that shottie for the gobbler in your backyard back.

It was also, some hold, racist - at least on a subconscious level. An online commentary by the Project on Race in Political Communication, called "The Racial Context for Joe Wilson's Outburst," which has been twittering around a good bit, makes the case.

We do not assert that Joe Wilson is a bigot; his personal racial attitudes are, perhaps ironically, beyond the scope of this incident. Rather, the consistent branding of President Obama as "other" by his opponents has created a context within which it is perceived that Obama need not be treated as other presidents have been treated. The creation of that "otherness," while possibly motivated by racial animosity, is certainly rendered more effective as a result of the deeply held negative predispositions about African Americans.

This will be dismissed outright by many - and by that I mean many white people - on the grounds that race is too often and too readily invoked as an "excuse," including in many a case where it has no place.

It is absolutely true that just because someone opposes Obama, criticizes Obama, disagrees with Obama - even shouts out "You lie!" to Obama - that doesn't necessarily mean he is a bigot with a Confederate flag in his living room who hates that this country has a black president. And the authors of the article - Stephen Maynard Caliendo, associate professor of political science at North Central College in Illinois, and Charlton McIlwain, associate professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University - rightly point that out, even while themselves embracing certain stereotypes about "white privilege" and the "myth of the black character."

But it is also true that dismissing race outright - not just in this case, but as part of the whole birthers "controversy," the education speech "controversy," and other "controversies" yet to come - would be entirely naive. We are not a "post-racial" nation, period. And if Obama's election was supposed to prove that we are, in many ways it has shown just the opposite. Google "Joe Wilson and racist." Or "Obama and racist." When nothing comes up, we'll be there.

If Caliendo and McIlwain are right, there is a problem. If they are wrong, there is a problem, because a lot of people feel they are right. So I suppose we will have to have a lot more Beer Summits either way. And even if Joe Wilson was just being rude, maybe he should attend, along with all the people who consider him racist.

Below, we break down some of the key language in his "stay in school", "work hard," "listen to your parents," "be responsible," "do something with your life," "education" speech, available at whitehouse.gov, though, on second thought, don't click  there, as it might launch some kind of White House-concocted virus into your computer that will then send radical messages into your brain.

When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. Indonesia! Barry wasn't born in the U.S. after all! And he's Muslim! We've been saying these things all along!

But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. "Something important." See, that's just code for his radical agenda.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. Government takeover not just of health care, but of your thinking!

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels probably practiced writing in English class, too, and look what they came up with: the Communist Manifesto!

There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. This, obviously, is why he hates white people.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. A reverse psychology way of getting kids to smoke pot.

The story of America isn't about people who quit when things get tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. He said revolution!

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. He gets polite at the end here to try to fool you into thinking he is an upstanding, moral man. So transparent.

Enjoy your day today, the country goes to hell from here.

The Associated Press reports that Costco has pulled the African-American version of the "Cuddle with Me, Doll with Plush Monkey" after receiving complaints about its possible racist connotations. The white and Hispanic Lil' monkeys are still available (not racist), as is the black doll cuddling a panda (also not racist).

"We are sensitive to any complaint that a product we carry would cause discomfort to any segment of our membership," Costco CEO Jim Sinegal said in a statement. "As soon as it became clear to us that this toy item was offensive to some of our members, we decided to remove it from our warehouses. We don't believe there is room for argument in matters of this type, even though it was an honest mistake, made while we were attempting to do the right thing."

This is the latest in a string of monkey references whose propriety has been debated: There was, if you recall, the New York Post cartoon back in February that depicted a crazed monkey, shot and bleeding on the ground, as the author of the economic stimulus bill, which was either a. a "clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut" and a broad mockery of Washington’s efforts to revive the economy, as the Post's editor-in- chief, Col Allan, said at the time, or b. a racially-hateful depiction of Barack Obama as a primate, as the Rev. Al Sharpton insisted.

(It could also have been c. a really dumb cartoon that kind of didn't even make sense and was in bad taste beyond any discussion of race, given that the crazed chimpanzee had actually killed a woman.)

It might be noted that George W. Bush was often compared to a monkey himself, given the way he, well, looked like a monkey. Someone even started a website asking "Bush or Chimp?" that posted pictures of the two, side by side. That, of course, was not racist.

• Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) held a town-hall meeting in Hillsboro, MO yesterday.  Or rather, she tried to hold a town-hall meeting and was met with so much anger about health care reform that she took to disciplining the audience.  Video of her questioning the audience's rudeness is here, but McCaskill also tweeted her feelings about this great day in America.
• At another town-hall meeting in New Hampshire, President Obama spent time addressing the concerns of citizens who are wary of the new health care plan.  Unfortunately, this guy couldn't be assuaged, so he decided to show up with a (legal) gun strapped to his leg. Chris Matthews is ready to tear William Kostric a new one but apparently the gun was more for show than actual use and according to Kostric, no one from New Hampshire was alarmed.
• With the death of Eunice Kennedy Shriver yesterday morning, newspapers are reporting that the Kennedy era is really over.  A year ago, the same newspapers reported this news when Senator Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with cancer, which they also reported ten years ago after the death of JFK Jr. The Post attempts to clarify what is meant by the end of the Kennedy era but the more pressing question is which Kennedy will carry on the legacy.
• The staff of DCist has officially jumped on board the DC Voting Rights bus. Literally. Editor Martin Austermuhle is not a US citizen, so he can't vote anyway, but he lent his image to a new bus campaign sponsored by I-Am-DC.  Look for his poster on your favorite Metrobus and then consider joining the cause, so that maybe a person who can vote in the District can be the next spokes-model.
• And finally, after the death of John Hughes on Friday, the supposed inspiration for Ferris Beuller is coming out of the woodwork. Edward McNally went to high school with Hughes in the suburbs of Chicago and apparently caused some trouble with his friends as a teenager, but that's less important.  In this essay, McNally pays tribute to a friend and encourages everyone to live just one day as Ferris did.  Apparently, this is a tactic used by many trial attorneys.

Enjoy the day and bring an umbrella, City Deskers!

While we're on the topic of elevating abusive cops above world leaders, I've got two more candidates for future beer summits--and one of 'em's local!

In Mobile, Alabama, cops tazed and pepper-sprayed a deaf man with a mental age of 10 because he spent too much time in a dollar store bathroom:

Love...says he was not feeling well and was in the bathroom for about a half-hour before the police "throw poison under the door." Soon they broke into the bathroom, he recalled in an account he wrote for his family, and "the police get the tazz three strings in my stomach, chest and hand and hit my head." Later, he says, "I saw police laugh at me."

According to Jacob Sullum at Reason, the cops arrested Love even after they learned he wasn't the average vagrant.

And according to HuffPo's Arthur Delaney, D.C. cops recently pulled a Gates-like stunt on U Street:

[Tuma] told the Huffington Post that in a loud sing-song voice, he then chanted, "I hate the police, I hate the police."

One officer reacted strongly to Tuma's song. "Hey! Hey! Who do you think you're talking to?" Tuma recalled the officer shouting as he strode across an intersection to where Tuma was standing. "Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?" the police officer said, according to Luke Platzer, 30, one of Tuma's companions.

Tuma said he responded, "It is not illegal to say I hate the police. It's not illegal to express my opinion walking down the street."

According to Tuma and Platzer, the officer pushed Tuma against an electric utility box, continuing to ask who he thought he was and to say he couldn't talk to police like that.

Tuma was arrested for disorderly conduct.

In fact, all three men–Gates, Love, Tuma–we’re charged with disorderly conduct. How many of them are going to sip beers in the garden behind the White House? The mentally disabled deaf man? He wouldn't have much to say. The loud-mouth gay guy? He had it coming. And Gates? Well duh! He’s already famous!

And a little side note to Warren Goldstein at HuffPo, who frames white privilege by talking about how he almost house-sat the wrong house but wasn't arrested when a patrol car showed up because he is white: You were spared arrest, Mr. Goldstein, not just because of your skin color, but also because you were polite. Authority demands respect, and when you give it, authority rewards you by not arresting your ass on bullshit charges.

More beer summits!

That would require ditching the property's current name: 14th and Girard Park. Prosaic, certainly, but a name's a name, and tossing away a historic moniker to honor the latest hot thing is not a good precedent to set.

So what is the provenance of the name Girard?

Reader and local historian Scott W. Langill writes in, having done a spot of research:

I found a 1941 Washington Post article that reported that Harvard, Girard, and Kenyon streets were named for universities at a time when nearby University Place was the site of George Washington University. The earliest reference I could find in the Washington Post to "Girard Street" was in 1880....So evidently Girard Street/Park is indirectly named for Stephen Girard.

Girard College, as it happens, isn't a postsecondary institution, but a primary and secondary institution in Philadelphia serving kids from poor single-parent families. Girard the man was an early 19th-century financier who died the richest man in America, but gave nearly all his fortune away after death. Also, Wikipedia notes, Girard was influential in moving more governmental functions from his hometown of Philly down to Washington.

Worthy of a park naming, no?

Public domain photo of Stephen Girard, hosted at Wikipedia

Child porn, compulsory abortions, and Obama birthers after the jump.

• David Malakoff, a former science editor at NPR who was found to have downloaded and viewed child pornography on his work computer, was sentenced yesterday to "five years probation, a fine of $5,000, 600 hours of community service, and he will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years," according to the Examiner. U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle saw something in Malakoff that judges don't see very often in these cases: A person worthy of her sympathy and mercy. "In explaining the exceptional step of sentencing below the guidelines," wrote the Examiner's Scott McCabe, "the judge said Malakoff had already thrown away a successful career and has to live with the stigma of being a sex offender for most of the rest of his life. But the strongest argument for the lesser sentence, Huvelle said, was that Malakoff had been raped as a 9-year-old boy and he had looked at the child pornography over five hours last year to relive his own rape." Malakoff lucked out; most victims of pedophilia who perpetuate the cycle of molestation and assault as adults--even through a proxy like child pornography--end up behind bars.
• Another good one from the Examiner: David Freddoso reported earlier this week that John Holdren, President Barack Obama's science czar, "approved of and recommended compulsory sterilization and even abortion in some cases, as part of a government population control regime" in the late 1970s. Freddoso's proof? Ecoscience, the book that Holdren co-authored with fellow Malthusians Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich. If the horrific significance of this is lost on you, dear reader, please surf your uninformed ass over to Wikipedia. Or better yet, search Google using the terms "China" and "one-child policy."
  
• In other batshit-crazy news, the Washington Independent's Dave Weigel reports that the birthers are at it again: "Six months into Obama’s presidency, after scores of embarrassing legal defeats, and even after tussles between the attoneys who’ve turned frivolous lawsuits about the president’s citizenship into full-time jobs, the cottage industry of conspiracy theories about the president’s birth shows no signs of disappearing...The urban legend has become too pervasive for Republicans to avoid. In February, Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) introduced a much-mocked bill that would require presidential campaigns to provide “a copy of the candidate’s birth certificate.”...As of July 15, nine fellow Republican members of Congress were backing the bill." The upside folks is the more time spent fighting or promoting a contentious, bither-sponsored bill amounts to less time spent TRYING TO TAKE AWAY OUR GUNS/JOBS!

That's all for me. See U next week!