Your tax dollars at work.

Doubting the authorship of the Wasilla Wahabist and her Fred Hiatt enabling.

Rick Miller performs Bohemian Rhapsody with what he describes as the 25 most annoying voices in music.

What’s on your mind?

The new leaflet from British National Health Service geared for school age kids boldly states:
An orgasm a day keeps the doctor away…Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes’ physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?
Steve Slack, director of the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health at NHS Sheffield, one of the pamphlet’s co-authors:
believes that as long as teenagers are fully informed about sex and are making their decisions free of peer pressure and as part of a caring relationship, they have as much right as an adult to a good sex life.
Of course they do, and hopefully this leaflet–or others–emphasize how to have a caring

As a good number of you now know, our very own Marcy Wheeler (aka “emptywheel,” “a blogger,” or “guest”) stunned the nation Monday with her graphic (and by “graphic,” I mean “accurate”) description of the act that transfixed the Republican Party for the better part of the Clinton Administration. That would be the blowjob (or “blow job,” if you will).

Marcy’s plain speakin’ ways caused MSNBC’s on-air hosts, Tamron Hall and David Shuster, to gasp audibly and offer a flurry of apologies on Marcy’s behalf. But it seems that the cat was already out of the bag, or the tweet was already out of the. . . oh, you get the idea.

In the end, if the women in this country see that Rep. Wasserman-Schultz was simply protecting her right to be a part of leadership and vote for a crappy Kent Conrad co-op plan that leaves them out in the cold, they’ll know that she actually was drawing a line in the sand — they just get to stand on the other side of it.

America’s favorite bloodsport — scandal — has thrust the Family, the subject of my 2008 book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, back into the news. Lucky for me, the revelations of Senator John Ensign’s and Governor Mark Sanford’s sex scandals — and their links to the Family — come just as the book is being released in paperback. At first, I was reluctant to comment — what’s a sex scandal compared to the real business of the Family? Not cover-ups for congressmen but the projection of American power through the lens of piety and the sacralization of free market fundamentalism.

Then Mark Sanford invoked King David as a justification for staying in power, an unorthodox reading of scripture I was familiar with from my time as a member of the Family. In short, Sanford was telling the public that he’s governor not because they elected him but because he was chosen by God. That, to me, is a lot more disturbing than the news that he has a libido.

I’m worried about the way that Sotomayor answered a question on “unreasonable search and seizure.” But I’m heartened by her answer to a Korematsu question.

According to the video above, lobbyists pay $3500 apiece for those seats.  To companies that hire the homeless.  Anyone who thinks it’s not important for supporters of affordable healthcare to be there should consider how very important it is to those trying to kill it.

I’ll be there, along with nyceve and Hilda Sarkisyan.   If you’re in the DC area we hope you’ll join us.

If you can’t be there, you can help by contributing to the fund we set up to pay for expenses like bringing Hilda to DC.

The House released its health care reform bill today and will begin simultaneous committed markups later this week. First impression: it’s a stunning reform package, with lots of good worthwhile features.