I don't think I'm overreacting to say this -- oh, go blow it out your ass, Kate.

"Rape culture?" We don't have a "rape culture." Rape is, in fact, universally reviled in our culture. In fact, that's your point -- that rape is so universally reviled that Roethlisberger should have been excoriated and denounced in the press before even a single fact was in, because rape is just such an evil thing. That we should believe his accuser -- even if her story entirely doesn't add up, just because rape is so bad that we have to make sure no one is ever discouraged from reporting it.

Well, yeah, it is an evil thing -- and reviled by virtually everyone in this supposed "rape culture" of ours. We despise rapists so much, in fact, that reporting false rape charges against someone is greatly harmful to them. Under those circumstances, it doesn't require a "rape culture" to decide to use discretion and get the facts before convicting someone in the press. It just takes a tiny little measure of journalistic ethics.

First, a caveat -- as a conservative, I have some significant concerns about what health care reform is going to look like -- though it can't be too much worse than what we have now. So I'm optimistic, but cautious.

But...man, this is why the Democrats lost elections for so long, and why they'll start losing again if they don't get their act together. The current Republican party is out of power because it's full of utter whack-jobs who were only effective at pushing ideologies. The Democrats were supposed to offer an alternative -- but instead it looks like the Democrats just aren't effective at pushing...anything. Sure, they're not nutty like the current Republicans -- instead the Dems are just scared of their own shadow.

You have 60 votes! You could pass...anything. All you have to do is be willing to be tough from time to time -- crack a few skulls, throw your weight around. Act like you're in charge. Govern.

Instead, you're begging the Republicans to throw you a bone, hoping they'll let you sneak in one or two concessions. You don't need them to throw you a bone! You're the big dog now -- start acting like you know what you're doing. If you don't, in two years, the party will be back to the days of Mike Dukakis riding around in a tank.

And, look, I'm conservative -- I don't want you guys to go nuts passing all sorts of costly programs or anything. But you do have to govern -- this country is better off with leadership (of any political stripe) than without. And you can't govern cowering in a corner.

Man, grow a pair.

Most of the 7 of 9 were appointed back before the Republican Party went all-out, Gonzo the blue muppet crazy. Roe v. Wade stands because "conservative" didn't necessarily mean "idealogue" until recent years.

Why no tort reform during the 6 years when Republicans were in power? Because Jesus didn't tell them to pass tort reform, I guess. Like I said, ineffective.

Yep...that worked like a charm with the 9/11 conspiratologists. After we held that commission to report on exactly what happened, complete with great detail and a public report, they all shut up and went...

Hey, wait a minute! That didn't work at all! Actually, that gave the nutjobs something else to comb through for "evidence" of a "conspiracy" (with these people, gratuitous scare quotes are appropriate) -- and more fake "facts" they could put on their websites to support it. So, yeah, let's jump through this hoop again -- since FactCheck's jumping through the same hoop was insufficient. And let's make sure the panel is impartial -- meaning made up of Orly Taitz (or whatever that dentist/lawyer's name is), Rush Limbaugh, and three of the nuttiest whack-jobs we can find. Yeaaaah, good luck with that.

Well, it makes no difference, but let's look at this seriously as a biblical question...

What Jesus was saying to his followers was that he had great power from God, because he "was watching as Satan fell from heaven like lightning." (He continued: "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will by any means harm you.")

So "I was watching as Satan fell from Barack, like, Obama." But why was Obama carrying Satan around? Or maybe that means that Obama is heaven, which Satan is known to have fallen from? Or maybe Obama is without sin, having dropped Satan? And why was Jesus talking like a valley girl?

Nah, it's nonsense.

(And, yes, I acknowledge that translating a verse from the original Greek, which supposedly itself translated something someone said dozens of years earlier in Aramaic, into English and then plugging in faux-Aramaic words in place of their supposed equivalents in English is...unlikely to be accurate. Just playing along with the claim.)

To continue our serious consideration of this question, let's look at another translation:

Teh Sevinti Lolcats Coems Bak

17 An sevinti lolcats coems bak all happi and sez "Boss! Even debils did wat we tel dem! Srsly!"

18 An Jebus sez "I seed Basement Cat git pwned an fall from Ceiling liek laitnin.

19 D00dz, I gibs u powr to stepping on snakiez an skorpeunz an not git bited.

20 But stead of be happi cuz ov dat, be happi dat ur naems iz writtn in Ceiling."