In contrast to the hickish tea partiers and “all their blather,” here’s how the the more politically sophisticated among us operate to effectively advance a cultural conversation. Note the clever use of visual / iconic adianoeta, which in this instance works to gently nudge readers toward an unspoken (yet somehow inevitable) association between reactionary movements peopled by Jesus-pimping proto-Klansman, and the social practice, enjoyed by many in the gay community,

“Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn / Next stop is Vietnam, uh, say, the King Sooper’s parking lot off Route 16…?” Michael Barone on the Tea Party movement: Like the antiwar activists of 40 years ago, the tea partiers include many good citizens moved to political involvement because of intellectually serious concerns about public policy. Similarly, they include a much smaller number of cranks, conspiracy theorists and congenital

Because nothing says “equality” and “fairness” in the field of telecommunications quite so much as handing out managerial positions based on, you know, proof of cooter: Deutsche Telekom AG said Monday it will introduce a quota for female managers, with a target to fill 30% of upper and middle management jobs with women by the end of 2015. That would compare with only 13% in 2008, the company said. Deutsche

     “Excuse me, sir,” an old man smelling of bacon and (perhaps) haddock, “but you wouldn’t happen to have some spare change, would you?”      He’d stumbled toward me from an alley alongside the Cricket store. His beard was the color of dishwater, and some sort of grease kept it matted down in patches like worn carpet. “No, man. Sorry. Who carries change anymore?” I tried looking him in the eyes —

From CNN, “Democrats soften pledge for three-day posting of health bill”: House Democrats appear to be softening their pledge to allow the public 72 hours to review the health care reform package online before a House vote. “We will certainly give as much notice as possible, but I’m not going to say that 72 hours is going to be the litmus test,” said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Friday. “The

Bring on the bread and circuses! Republicans now expect Democrats to pass health care through the House with a trick only Capitol Hill could dream up: approving the Senate bill without voting on it. Democrats will vote on a separate bill that includes language stating that the original Senate bill is “deemed passed.” So by voting for the first bill — a reconciliation measure to fix certain things in the

HM: “You ever hear that song about the meatball that rolled off the table and into a bush? That was me. Though it helped that the bush in question was already wet as a canoe bottom. So I can’t take all the credit…”

— A caffeinated, piping hot beverage Party that the mainstream press can get behind! Meet the “Coffee Party.” Whose most important redeeming quality seems to be, well, that they bill themselves as “an answer to the Tea Party, a year-old protest movement that’s steeped in fiscal conservatism and boiling-hot, anti-tax rhetoric.” And what is that “answer”? A gathering together of salt of the earth folk like John Purser, a “humble”

Backlash against Colorado lawmakers — who joined New York, Rhode Island, and North Carolina lawmakers in an attempt to tax online merchants like Amazon into “fairness” — has been fairly loud, as such things go, and my sense is that all but “progressives” (and state reps with a D in front of their names) are none too fond of the new laws, which won’t generate any more revenue for the

Or, more directly, “How ObamaCare is killing free trade”. (This latest installment of “I told you so” brought to you by protein wisdom. Who told you so.)