Tidbits and Cat Treats — Five Questions Edition

By Miss Kubelik

Can we nominate U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner as our Person of the Year? PURR!

And while we're at it, can we take just a moment to imagine how Republicans would have reacted if nearly every Democrat in the House of Representatives voted against a bill to help the 9/11 first responders? Goodness gracious. We cats didn't know that our furry little heads could spin that fast.

Can it be possible that right-wing scum Andrew Breitbart is seeking an audience with Shirley Sherrod? He must be scared of her lawsuit. Don't give him the time of day, Shirley!

Are we surprised that the cops in Oregon have closed the massage therapist's case against President Gore? Not! And here we were just wondering where that silly story had gone.

Are we glad that President Obama celebrated the success of the auto bailout and stuck it to the Republicans today? As the famous quitter from Alaska would say, you betcha.

It's Been 10 Days, and Andrew Breitbart Still Hasn't Apologized to Shirley Sherrod

But, grand news: She's suing his fat Republican ass. O joy!

Canadian Census Humour? Count Us In!

By Sniffles

What is it with right-wingers and the census? We cats don't understand what could possibly be so sinister about counting people. In America, the teabaggers' antipathy to the census is made even more hilarious by the fact that it's mandated by the very Constitution that they claim to love so madly and deeply.

In Canada — the country that conducted the first modern census in the western world — the right-wing minority Tory government has also, inexplicably, made counting its citizens suddenly controversial. About a month ago, citing a host of vague, stupid reasons, the Harperites announced that they were making Canada's mandatory long-form census voluntary in 2011. (What on earth good would a voluntary census do?) And they've run into a storm of protest as a result.

We cats are tired of people running government when they clearly don't believe in it. We saw how well that worked during eight years under Bush and Cheney.

But looking on the bright side, the Canadian census flap is a another excellent opportunity for humour, as our neighbors to the north spell it. We cats PURR at the creators of this amusing take on a Stephen Harper version of the long-form census. For a better look, read it here.

No Peace for the Peace Prize

By Baxter

Whew. If you're a police officer in the state of Arizona, you've got to be celebrating. Because thanks to a federal judge in Phoenix, you will not have to ask people you stop for speeding or other minor offenses for their "papers" tomorrow. That was a close one!

We cats have never understood why the teabagger crowd, which hates government so very, very much, is willing — nay, thrilled — to have an unfettered police state when it comes to dealing with illegal immigration. It's just one of their many inconsistencies which fascinate us.

Take the Nobel prizes, for example. We were led today to an interesting article in Newsweek about so-called "Thirteenthers." It's a long, hairy story, and you know how much we cats hate hairballs. But to summarize, right-wing Iowa Republicans who despise Barack Obama — sorry, is that redundant again? — want to "restore" a never-ratified 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment would have prohibited American citizens from accepting titles or honors conferred by foreign states.

Iowa Republicans who worked a little-noticed "Thirteenther" plank into their absurd state party platform last month were, apparently, registering their disgust with President Obama's recent Nobel Peace Prize. (They didn't care that accepting the amendment now would call into question the legitimacy of all subsequent Constitutional amendments. It's a little matter of how many states are in the union at the time an amendment is put to a vote, and thus how many are required for ratification. But, never mind.)

The whole "Thirteenther" thing is just one more example of how off-the-deep-end the right wing has become since they got their butts kicked at the ballot box in 2006 and 2008. But it intrigues us cats since we believe it begs the larger question of Republican antipathy to the Nobels.

We're sure that a search on Free Republic or any of the right-wing sites would reveal unceasing condemnation of Alfred N. and his pesky prizes — but most particularly of the one for peace. After all, look at all the notorious lefties who've won it lately: President Obama in 2009, Al Gore in 2007, Jimmy Carter in 2002 and the much-despised U.N. in 2001. And before that, dangerous characters like Nelson Mandela (1993), Willy Brandt (1971), Martin Luther King (1964), Lester Pearson (1957) and Jane Addams (1931) were honorees.

Of course, the Nobel Committee is not a foreign state, so the teabagging Iowa Republicans are, um, kinda all mixed up. But you can be sure they'd be singing a different tune if the peace prize had gone to Ronald Reagan in 1990.

Meanwhile, can we nominate U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton for a Nobel Peace Prize? Just wondering.

Memo to the Obama Administration: You Could Learn Something from the NHL

By Zamboni

Now that we've had a week to reflect on the Shirley Shirrod situation — an eon in the Internet age, we know — we cats have something to say.

Actually, to ask.

It's this: Why did the Agriculture Department sack her so quickly? Why didn't they just suspend her immediately, with pay, pending an investigation? That's what the National Hockey League would do.

Heck, a Philadelphia Flyer can take his stick and try to decapitate an opponent — with malice. And the immediate consequence? He'd be suspended until the League office could do their... well, their officious thing. In Ms. Sherrod's case, she'd have been completely exonerated within 24 hours. Which would have meant simply this: no need to fire her.

Very disappointing behavior on the part of the so-called good guys.

Here's the deal, Obama gang: It was always combat. But even though you've won the White House, it's still combat. Let's act that way, okay?

It's Been Six Days, and Andrew Breitbart Still Hasn't Apologized to Shirley Sherrod

Shall we keep a running count?

We cats vote yes — although we fear that all nine of our lives (and maybe more) will pass before that disgusting Republican race-baiter does the right thing.

(P.S.: "Republican race-baiter"? Redundant, no?)

Rush to Judgment, Harper Style

By Miss Kubelik

We cats are disgusted that the Obama Administration caved so quickly — and so needlessly — on Shirley Shirrod's alleged "racism."

But at least the Sherrod farce has been exposed — and, we hope, eventually will be put right. We can't quite say the same for what's going on north of the border, though.

Mind you: We're not saying that Helena Guergis is a Canadian Shirley Shirrod. Quite the contrary, in fact: The American we're most tempted to compare Guergis to is the famous quitter from Alaska. Guergis is a light-weight former beauty queen who, like Sarah Palin, was catapulted into a position which she did not deserve and which was far beyond any real ability she may or may not have possessed.

But back in April, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper booted Ms. Guergis from the Tory caucus and stripped her of her ministerial portfolio. And we still don't know exactly why.

There were allegations that she had helped her husband, a former MP, develop a fraudulent business scheme; there also were allegations of cocaine and other drug use.

Yet now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has closed their investigation of Guergis and her husband. But she's still banished from Harper World. Why?

"It appears that the Prime Minister overreacted based on the flimsiest of evidence," said one MP. Sound familiar?

We cats are no fans of Helena Guergis. But we're shocked that Stephen Harper has not been taken to task for his silence on why he sacked her. Unlike the Sherrod drama, the Guergis affair has taken — amazingly, in this age of the Internet — three months to unfold. Why is Harper not pressed for an answer?

Last of the Murrow Boys

By Sniffles

The knowledge that Daniel Schorr graced this planet for 93 long years is satisfying, but doesn't erase our sadness at his death.

His dedication to freedom of the press and his refusal to be cowed by those in power made him a true American patriot. Our country is a better place because Daniel Schorr was born, lived and worked here.

As for us, our Saturday mornings will be the poorer for his loss, and we will miss him.

Mistakes Were Made

By Baxter

Shall we all pile onto the Shirley Sherrod story? Although we cats usually try to talk about topics that aren't being discussed absolutely everywhere else, we'd be remiss if we didn't comment on this one. And we have just a few things to say.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appropriately groveled this afternoon. He deserved to. But in today's political environment it was also an act of rare courage. Why? Because in addition to apologizing profusely and offering Ms. Sherrod another job, he took questions from real-live reporters. That's more than Sarah Palin, Rand Paul or Sharron Angle would do.

If Shirley Sherrod can be offered a new job at Ag, why can't she have her old one back? Just wondering.

Finally, the next time FOX "News" and repulsive Republican bloggers try to gin up a fake "you gotta fire this person in the Administration" story, they need to be told to go fuck themselves. Got that, Democrats?

Idaho GOP at Teabaggers' "Beck" and Call

By Zamboni

So the Senate has finally voted to give relief to unemployed Americans — thanks to Robert Byrd's successor from West Virginia, who helped Democrats overcome heartless Republican obstructionism today. And Elena Kagan is one step closer to her new job. (The nuts posting at Free Republic must be foaming over Lindsay Graham's vote as we speak.) But our thoughts this afternoon bend toward the great state of Idaho.

Why? Because the teabaggers there are draping the GOP with the most delicious albatross ever.

See, a mental case — coincidentally named "Beck" — is so mad that he's been denied victory in recent Republican state primaries that he marshaled his forces at the recent GOP state convention and rammed through a bunch of teabagger changes in the state party platform. Based on an extreme interpretation of states' rights — the kind "that plunged the nation into [the] Civil War," according to one Constitutional expert — the platform now "urges Idaho to seize federal land, recommends ending popular elections of U.S. senators and sings the praises of gold and silver — an inflation hedge to U.S. Federal Reserve-issued greenbacks."

Beck and his fellow extremists may be celebrating, but the state and national GOP should be bracing for a huge migraine. That's because, as reported by Yahoo news, the platform also requires that in 2012, "all Idaho GOP primary hopefuls will be asked to pledge support for the party platform or declare where they disagree [with it]. Beck says it should help voters identify those officials who aren't really Republicans."

As Flounder said during the wrecking of the homecoming parade in the movie "Animal House," "This is SO GREAT." Democrats shouldn't pop the cork yet, but they can start chilling the champagne.

Rabid teabagger litmus tests! What could be better? And let's not stop at the state level. The Idaho Republican Party should make all the 2012 GOP Presidential wannabees subscribe to this platform. We can't think of any better way to keep Republicans from enjoying the support of their extremist base without having to disavow the reprehensible views that that base holds.

"Leading the way," indeed! We cats PURR.

Captain of the Clouds

By Miss Kubelik

Tomorrow is George McGovern's 88th birthday, and he's planning to celebrate it by skydiving.

Perhaps now the nation will finally realize that George McGovern is a genuine war hero. See, his interest in jumping out of a plane is partly due to his service in World War II.

That's right. Our 1972 Democratic nominee — relentlessly demonized by Republicans as a traitorous antiwar peacenik and a girly man — was a highly decorated B-24 bomber pilot in "The Big One." In the words of the National World War II Museum, McGovern "flew 35 missions over enemy territory from bases in North Africa and later Italy, often against heavy anti-aircraft artillery, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross for saving his crew by landing his damaged bomber on a British airfield on Vis, a small island off the Yugoslav coast."

Of course, you never heard about any of this when he was running for President, because Senator McGovern thought it would be in bad taste to brag about his war exploits.

But it's 38 years later, and we cats are under no such constraints. So we will brag for him. We've had our disagreements with Senator McGovern since 1972, but one thing's for certain: He puts Republican chickenhawks to shame.

Happy birthday, Senator. We cats PURR.

(PHOTO: Layne Library, Dakota Wesleyan University)

Tidbits and Cat Treats — Earthquake Edition

By Sniffles

This morning's 3.6 earthquake in the Washington, D.C. area wasn't serious enough to rouse us cats. But these news stories have grabbed our attention.

So the famous quitter from Alaska and the man who secretly hates her but who's been too chicken to admit it are publicly feuding now. How interesting that they're finally willing to break Ronald Reagan's famous 11th commandment. In Palin's case, though, we're sure it's because she can't count to 11.

We cats are repelled by the hateful anti-immigrant list that's making the rounds in Utah. First because we can't understand how the teabaggers' obsession with immigration is driven by anything but racism. And second because if the information was leaked from the Department of Workforce Services, as it appears it may have been, someone needs to be frog-marched off to jail.

We are equally repelled that Republican plagiarist Scott McInnis could get paid $300,000 for stealing other people's work. We cats not only blog for free, we would never dream of plagiarizing. Disgusting.

Finally, something we find amusing, although not necessarily surprising. Right-wing nutcase Sharron Angle has fallen behind Harry Reid in the polls. This is a race that was still supposed to be tight. We can only guess that this is what happens when teabaggers are outed for the extremist fools that they are.

Wall Street Reform Passes, Goldman Sachs Ponies Up, Oil Leak Stopped — What's Next, An Earthquake?

As a matter of fact, yes. But we cats slept through it.

Tea Baggage

By Baxter

While the mainstream media focus on the woes of the Democrats, let us cats take a moment to assess the state of the GOP.

And our diagnosis, folks, is not so good. When is the Republican establishment — not to mention the media talking heads — going to realize that the teabaggers are a threat to the Grand Old Party?

Sure, the establishment GOP boys have had some successes this year. They got their preferred candidate in the Iowa governor's race, and in two of three targeted Congressional races in Virginia. They got the mean girls, Whitman and Fiorina, nominated in California. But here are some warning bells that should be going off at 310 First Street, S.E.:

• The establishment lined up behind Charlie Crist in Florida, and he couldn't even make it through the primary.
• They didn't want Nikki Haley in South Carolina.
• They didn't get their candidate in ID-1.
• They didn't get their candidate in the Kentucky Senate race.
• They didn't get their candidate in the Nevada Senate race.
• They didn't get their candidate for Governor of Texas.
• They might not get their candidate for Arizona Senate.
• They probably won't get their first choice for the Connecticut Senate race.
• They might not get their candidate for the Alaska Senate race.

What has to trouble the GOP establishment is this: Much of this teabagger insurrection is taking place in the only areas of the country in which the Republican brand still has any value — the bitter, white, gun-clinging South and West. The rise of the teabaggers shows that the Republican Party is losing control of their base — not only ideologically, but geographically.

We cats, of course, PURR.

Lest We Furr-get: "Support the Troops" Edition

By Zamboni

We Democrats have long suffered under GOP accusations that we "don't support the troops." It was a convenient smear for Republicans to use if, say, we happened to oppose invading a country that didn't attack us on September 11, 2001.

Meanwhile, the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived — despite having dodged the draft with spotty service in the National Guard — and the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived (If Indeed He Were a Person) — despite getting five Vietnam-era deferments because he said he had "better things to do" — never hesitated to use members of our Armed Forces as props for their campaign events, and, at the same time, allowed veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq to languish in shameful conditions at Walter Reed.

This is the 21st-century definition of chutzpah.

Well, those awful people are out of power, and today we cats came across another reminder of how much better things are now.

President Obama announced over the weekend that the government will make it easier for vets to claim federal benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder. It's just another frustrating hurdle removed for our men and women in uniform— many of whom Bush and Cheney threw into harm's way on a lie.

We cats also think it's really cool that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who will confirm the new policy today, is the guy who was fired by the Bushies because he dared to tell the truth about their feckless plans for Iraq.

How nice to have "support the troops" actually mean something for a change. We cats PURR.

Just Desserts in the Desert

By Miss Kubelik

We cats have never had much use for John McCain. But we've been giving him a bit of thought lately.

Specifically, this: Can you imagine how different our domestic political situation would be today if John McCain had truly been the maverick he claimed to be, and accepted John Kerry's delicate overtures to run with him in 2004 on a fusion ticket? Can you imagine if they'd won? Instead of Halliburton Man and Alfred E. Neuman for another four years, we could have experienced the dawn of a whole new era of bipartisanship.

But, back to reality — and look what's happened since. McCain staggered into a worthless Republican nomination in 2008. And then he proceeded to demonstrate that, over a near-decade of nurturing his Presidential ambitions, he had not devoted a millisecond of thought to what it actually meant to be President — by picking an utter incompetent to share the ticket with him.

He lost. Convincingly and humiliatingly.

And now? Now, McCain finds himself in his first seriously contested Senate race in we don't know how long, running against a corrupt, consumer-fraud-supporting, megalomaniac know-nothing. To whom, despite the polls we've seen, we cats think he could actually lose. (This would, PURR, put the seat in play for the Democrats. More on why we think that could happen in a later post.)

If he does lose his primary next month, for all his allegedly vaunted decades of public service, John McCain's legacy will be — oh, gosh, where do we start? 1) Keating. 2) Palin. 3) J.D. Hayworth. A far cry from what it could have been, had he listened to his fellow war hero John Kerry in 2004.

Should all this occur — a very big "if," we realize — most MSM talking heads would no doubt call it an American tragedy.

Of course, since we will never forgive him for foisting the famous quitter from Alaska on us, we cats think that John McCain deserves to go down in ignominious defeat. But it is a tragedy for the country that this tremendously inadequate posturer and lecturer brushed off John Kerry and helped guarantee the rank partisanship that rules today.

Bob Inglis Mans Up

By Sniffles

There have been times that we cats have heard words that should have been spoken by prominent Democrats.

Last night, for example. Keith Olbermann took teabagger mental case Sharron Angle to task on her no-abortion-even-in-cases-of-rape-and-incest stance. "I can't imagine many Nevadans, many Americans, many human beings," he said, "as cold and as callous as to agree with this sick, sick woman."

Bravo, Keith. Would that some members of our team would say stuff like that. After all, what are they waiting for? How much farther off the deep end can the GOP go?

But wait — Olbermann's just been trumped. And by a South Carolina Republican, no less. Take a look at what recently defeated Congressman Bob Inglis had to say about the state of his political party.

Re the famous quitter from Alaska: "There were no death panels in the [healthcare] bill... and to encourage that kind of fear is just the lowest form of political leadership. It's not leadership. It's demagoguery."

Re Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh: "I think we have a lot of leaders that are following those [television and talk radio] personalities and not leading. What it takes to lead is to say, 'You know, that's just not right.'"

Re racism at the heart of Republican/teabagger opposition to President Obama: "I love the South. I'm a Southerner. But I can feel it."

Finally, Congressman Inglis had this to say about his party's contribution — or lack thereof — to the political discourse. "I think what we're doing is dividing the country into partisan camps that really look a lot like Shia and Sunni. It's very difficult to come together to find solutions."

Wow. We cats PURR — and at a guy we never thought would earn our uniquely feline approval. In our humble opinion, Democrats should have been out swinging with this kind of truth-telling long ago. As for the other side, of all the elected Republicans who could have finally spoken up, who knew that Bob Inglis would be da man? Will other Republicans —the semi-reasonable ones, the mavericky ones, the ones who secretly hate Sarah Palin — follow him? Hm. We certainly hope so, but as far as well can tell, the silence is still deafening.

Meanwhile, we eagerly await the teabaggers' anti-Inglis fury. Something tells us we won't have to wait too long.

UPDATE: Nope, didn't take long at all. The fur is flyin' over at Free Republic. "You lost, you little turd. Get over yourself." "Sorry, Bobby, but you lost because you are a RINO!!!" "He's just shilling for a job now in the White House." "Just another idiot in the wrong party."

Most of the vitriol is over the nonexistent death panels. Nobody is addressing Inglis' claim that the teabaggers are racists. Interesting!

Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean They Aren't Out After You

By Baxter

Heard about the "Senators' death hoax"? Seems that news releases were sent out the other day announcing that Pat Leahy, Dianne Feinstein and Frank Lautenberg had all died. It soon became clear that the "news releases" were fakes.

Lest you be tempted to laugh this off as a holiday weekend prank, we cats have some stern words for you.

Senators Leahy, Feinstein and Lautenberg are all — you guessed it — Democrats. For varying reasons, they're all betes noires of the nutbags on the right. Therefore, as far as we cats are concerned, there's only one explanation for this macabre oddity.

It's a sophisticated, well-planned, secret right-wing campaign to signal the teabagger death squads to employ Sharron Angle's famous "Second Amendment remedies" against designated lefties. Once the press releases are decoded by the Freeper true believers, they'll know the time and place of the hits they've been assigned.

Is this a joke? Yes. Is it possible that the Republican Party's mental-case base has gone so far off the deep end that the joke isn't funny? You betcha.

(IMAGE: "A Christmas Carol," 1984)

Jindal Packs Heat for Jesus

By Zamboni

Confession time: We cats rarely step inside a church. Unless one is temping as a polling place, we'll usually only pop in for a stray wedding or a funeral. But we sure as heck won't be visiting any houses of worship in Louisiana any time soon.

That's because Republican Governor Bobby Jindal just signed into law a bill that allows his constituents to carry guns to Sunday services.

We wondered at first why in the world anyone would need a gun in church. And then we remembered the late Dr. George Tiller. Although it's the one argument about this repugnant law that almost makes sense, we somehow doubt that Governor Jindal had abortion doctors' self-defense in mind when he signed it. Sigh — you think we'd learn to stop expecting Republicans to be logical and consistent.

Then, while we were HISSING over this story, we cats noted by sheer coincidence the following small news item from Canada: "Montreal Police Getting Firearms Off the Street." How refreshing. See, Canadians think that taking guns away from people is progress.

D'accord!

(IMAGE: We have no idea how to credit this picture, but we don't know whether to laugh about it or cry.)

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut

By Miss Kubelik

Since nobody has an institutional memory any more, we cats will remind everyone of when Michael Steele ran for the U.S. Senate.

The time: 2006. The place: Maryland. Back then, very few people had ever really heard of this fool named Steele. He had held one statewide office in his career — lieutenant governor. (And by the way, his 2002 running mate, Bob Ehrlich, has tossed his hat in the ring for governor again this year. The state of Maryland should hold him accountable for ever thinking that Steele was qualified for anything.)

The reason we cats raise this now is that we'd like you to all think back and remember how enthusiastic the Republicans were about their Maryland Senate candidate in '06. Heck, Karl Rove had lobbied him to run in the first place. And Rove wasn't the only one. Liddy Dole, Kenny "Light in the Loafers" Mehlman and The Worst Person Who's Ever Lived (If Indeed He Were a Person) all thought that Steele represented an exciting, diverse and — most important — victorious future of the Republican Party. "We have a huge and important opportunity to offer people real choices," little Kenny burbled.

Of course, Steele got his butt kicked in November that year, as did the rest of the GOP — including his fellow minority "bright lights" Lynn Swann and Ken Blackwell. In 2008, it was more of the same. So we find it incredibly interesting that the Republican talking heads are back at it again in 2010. Except this time the empty-suit candidates (some of them, out-and-out wackos) go by the names of Paul, Angle, McMahon, Scott, Kirk and Haley.

The lesson du jour? The Republicans are great at spinning their new nutcases as the real deal, and the media invariably fall for it. But sooner or later, these GOP rookies' inner wackiness will out. After all, early in his 2006 Senate run, Steele had to apologize for comparing stem cell research to the Holocaust.

If there's one thing we cats know about leopards, it's that they never change their spots.

Words of Wisdom for a Bush-Free Fourth

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

—Benjamin Franklin

If A = B and B= C, then A = C

By Sniffles

If Michael Steele hasn't been in a coma since, oh, September of 2001, we cats can only assume that he's, um, really stupid.

What a trifecta of Republican screw-ups. (Oops, we mean, "accidentally saying what they really believe.") First Joe Barton apologizes to the rapists of the Gulf. Then John Boehner compares the near-financial-meltdown of 2008 to a tiny ant. Now, RNC chair Michael Steele says — well, you know.

But goodness, that last one's a stunner. It's not just that, if the tables were turned and a Democrat had uttered such foolishness about Afghanistan, right-wingers would be calling him a traitor who hates our brave men and women in uniform. It's also that William Kristol has called on Michael Steele to resign.

Now, mind you, Bill Kristol is the highly pedigreed son of famous neoconservatives. He grew up at an erudite family dinner table. Which is why his admiration of the famous quitter from Alaska has always been so surprising — she's not known for her intellectual depth.

So, allow us cats the following bit of logic.: Bill Kristol, who thinks Sarah Palin is competent enough to be President of the United States, also believes that Michael Steele is too incompetent to chair the crummy old RNC.

Wow. Our minds would reel, except we're too busy PURRING.

Celebrate Freedom, Ban a Poltroon

By Baxter

On this Canada Day, we cats would like to salute the widely held notion of Canadians as a fundamentally decent, civilized people.

Because what more evidence could you have than the University of Ottawa's barring Ann Coulter from speaking on their campus?

Now, now. If you're tempted to get up in arms about how a free society and, especially, a university should tolerate all opinions and welcome all points of view, hang on a sec. We think that university president Allan Rock pretty much slayed the thought that Coulter could add anything valuable to the public square.

"Ann Coulter is a mean-spirited, small-minded, foul-mouthed poltroon," he wrote in an e-mail to his vice president and provost. "She is an ill-informed and deeply offensive shill for a profoundly shallow and ignorant view of the world. She is a malignancy on the body politic. She is a disgrace to the broadcasting industry and a leading example of the dramatic decline of the quality of public discourse in recent times."

Wow. Rarely have we encountered such an elegantly worded smackdown. Especially one that so neatly embodies Canada's reputation as a nice nation, easily shocked by the crass, the coarse, and the craven. Would that us folks south of the 49th Parallel could adopt some of those fine Canadian qualities.

In short, freedom also means freedom from hate speech. We cats PURR. Happy Canada Day.

The Only Way John Boehner's Analogy Works

Now, this is an ant.


(IMAGE: "THEM!", of course.)