This is a smart, smart pick for a reason that has nothing to do with Judge Sotomayor's abilities as a jurist. After the 2008 election, when the GOP lost huge ground with Hispanics, the last thing they needed was to give the frothing, foaming faction of the party (read: the loudest faction) a chance to Latin-bash. But thanks to B. H. Obama, here it is.

The result will be totally predictable: the batshit crazy wing of the Repugnant Party will pull out the racist hate (because that is the only card they have to play) and all the moderate horses and king's men in the shrinking GOP center won't be able to mollify the angry Spanish-speaking electorate, who will doubtless regard Sotomayor as a heroine of the first order.

Outcome: Further alienation of 12% of the population and a further receding of the GOP into the footnotes of political history as it gets its collective ass handed to it in 2010 and 2012. Brilliant strategic nomination.

...looks more like Buddha to me.

You mean to tell me an adult working at a newspaper—supposedly a source of information—couldn't connect those dots? That's pathetic.

Sullenberger signed a $3.5 million publishing deal with HarperCollins. So much for Simon-purity. Nothing wrong with it, mind you, but nobody is immune to the narcotic of public adoration and big money for it.

The party of fear and hate.

Doesn't sound great for a bumper sticker, I'll grant you, but that seems to be all they have left.

...he does. Because Cheney hates that his experiment to destroy the Constitution and bring about a neocon Fascist state failed. He hates America because America finally sees him for the monster he is. Of course he craves another attack.

Now, can somebody drive a stake through this vampire's heart, assuming they can find it? Please?

We just relocated to a new part of the country, and yesterday, my wife went to see her new primary care physician, just to get acquainted and get a new scrip for her asthma medication. The doc took a look at this health woman who was coming in not for treatment of an illness but for preventive information, and said, "You mean you're not here because you're sick? You're well, and you're here because you want to stay well, and you already have a plan for your asthma? Woo-hoo!" The doc actually did a Homer Simpson.

That speaks volumes. I'm self employed and one of the reasons my family can afford a good health plan is because we carry a $5K deductible. The reason we can do that is because we practice preventive care and take care of our health. It's essentially a bet that we won't get sick (or get struck by lightning or attacked by a bear, which we don't really have control over so why worry?). We eat right, exercise, take supplements, keep stress down, etc. Since 70% of disease in this country is related to lifestyle — heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, etc. — doing those kinds of things keeps us from having to spend a fortune on medical care. More importantly, as we age and our daughters grow up, those practices increase the odds that we will stay out of the hospital for decades.

So where is the talk of personal responsibility in all this? Where are the demands that Americans participate in lowering healthcare costs by getting their fat asses off the couch and on the Stairmaster? Where is a graduated tax system that pays for public insurance by levying a flat tax on all adults and then giving everyone a chance to reduce that tax by improving certain key health markers like blood pressure and cholesterol? Why are we only talking about supply and not demand?

Um, no. He should be impeached. It's not so much that he was the latest pol to engage in a sordid affair and lie about it. That's the District of Columbia pastime, after all. It's that he abdicated his office and no one knew where the chief executive of the state was. That shows horrific judgment. What if there had been a natural disaster? What if there had been need to deploy the SC National Guard?

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, governor.

The other trick going on here under our noses is the bait and switch: politicians playing at faith while using it as a tool for power. What astonishes me is that more of the conservative faithful choose not to see that their pious leaders are mouthing Christian slogans for one reason: to curry political favor. If you believe that any person of faith is about what he or she does, not says (as I believe), then these people are the ultimate thieves of their followers' good faith in them. They are liars to themselves and the people who support them. If you're going to be a whoring husband or train station homosexual stall bait, at least own up to it.

Hannity, TrAnn Coulter, Bill O'Falafel and the rest will never, ever hold these wet wicks accountable because in the end faith is just another sucker's game to win votes. All that matters is who gets the power. That's all that ever will matter.

...when you are allowed to believe that your shit doesn't stink and your audience worships your every move. I expect that in the near future Rush will spend an entire show farting into the microphone and blame Obama for his gas.

Wait, he already does that. Never mind.