Dogvane is absolutely right. The Republicans have absolutely no fear of the Democrats -- and they never will until the Democrats act like they were elected by a majority of the population. Democrats act like they snuck in by a statistical fluke, and are in constant danger of losing their grip.

History has taught us that they're right -- that the only thing Americans hate more than a party of crazed partisans is a party of wimpy incompetents. So, soon enough, the Dems' unwillingness to actually grab the reins and govern will bite them. If they don't want that to happen yet again, the solution isn't to be friendly with people who aren't being friendly back. It's to get in there and throw your weight around.

Come out with a united front that says "We did everything we could to allow the Republicans to have a voice. Instead of participating in government, they acted like children -- screaming, ranting, and lying. We asked them nicely to at least stop lying, but they're just liars. That's what they do - lie. So we finally realized that you can't deal with people who simply can't tell the truth. So now we're done trying to coddle them -- if they don't want to play, they don't have to. They can take their ball and go home. The adults in the room are going to pass healthcare. The adults in the room are going to talk about these issues like adults. The Republicans are free to scream, moan, cry -- whatever they like. We don't care -- we tried to listen, they didn't want to deal, so now they can go sit in a corner and scream at themselves. But, look, while they're doing that, we are going to pass healthcare, and we are going to try to fix this country -- so if you want input in what that looks like, come vote for us and we'll do it. If you instead want to whine and moan about how you're 'losing your country' or whatever else you want to whine and moan about, go whine and moan with the other children. We may the only ones serious about governing anymore, but we're going to do it anyways -- and if you don't like it, you can kiss all 60 of our asses."

Or lose the next election. Your choice.

This should be required reading for any of the Town Hell people. (Not that it would make a difference -- they're cheering for a team, not supporting a logical position.) Christ, even as a Daily Mail reader this makes me want to move to England.

By the way, I (unlike NYC Girl (or whatever her name is)) am a New Yorker -- and we don't consider it polite to step over someone who is dying on the sidewalk. We consider it the height of rudeness to die IN OUR GODDAMNED WAY. Move over, there, pal -- can't you see it's a fuckin' sideWALK! It's not a sideSTAND, not a sideSIT, and defifuckinly not a sideLAY-DOWN-AND-DIE-RIGHT-IN-MY-WAY! (Fuckin' tourists.)

Seriously, though -- great article.

If I were a consumer of pornography *cough* *cough* I wouldn't mind condoms in the slightest. Do whatever you need to do to be safe. It would not kill my (hypothetical) interest at all to see a performer do something that I (and many, if not most other people) consider an integral part of sex.

But I'd have a hard time mandating condoms in the face of negative feedback from the performers. If they find condoms uncomfortable, painful, and potentially dangerous (if, say, the risk of one of the resulting bacterial infections turning bad outweighs the relatively small risk of contracting HIV), then we shouldn't be trying to mandate them.

There is probably no better-educated group of people on the topic of sexuality and STDs than those who make their living doing the nasty. I'm all for them choosing condoms if it's the right choice for them, and would support that choice 100%. But I'm against having people from the outside -- who lack the knowledge and insight of the actual performers -- telling them how to be safe.

has anything involving the Republican Party been anything other than a scorched earth campaign? Health care -- Nazis! Election -- Look, a terrorist! Appointing a moderate-left Justice -- Racist!

This is more of the same. But investigating American mistakes does not make you unamerican. Taking a long, hard look at ourselves makes us a better country, and it's an utterly appropriate thing to do.

I've wondered this for a long time -- why does the current Republican Party oppose trying to improve the country? Why are "good choices" so antithetical to their agenda? Why is accountability bad? It's not because they're conservative -- Edmund Burke would not have approved of bad government for the sake of politics. It must be something else -- but other than cheap politics, I have no idea what it could be.