Tidbit from TPM:

Rev. Johnson is insinuating that if the Stricklands really weren't gay, why, they'd file a lawsuit and go to court so they could prove it and clear their good name. Until that happens, Johnson says, he's "withholding judgment" on the Stricklands' sexuality.

The Columbus Dispatch has more:

In an interview Thursday, Johnson perpetuated the rumor by suggesting that the Stricklands file a lawsuit and go to court to prove they are heterosexuals. If Lankford's claim is untrue, Johnson said, "It's slanderous and they've got a case. I'm withholding judgment until the facts are in."

When it comes to the Stricklands' sexual orientation, it appears that for some Ohio Republicans, the burden of proof lies with the Stricklands.

Enjoy this interview on religion with the very Reverend Coultergeist. Some highlights (in no particular order):

When you say that most liberals don't believe in God, what is your evidence? According to a Fox News poll last year, 92 percent of Americans believe in God. And nearly half of Americans voted Democratic in the 2004 election. So doesn't that suggest that most liberals do believe in God?

First let me say that I think it's terrific to hear a journalist citing a Fox News poll as authoritative evidence and would like to encourage this development. I don't say “most liberals don't believe in God”; I say liberalism is a godless religion. Some liberals don't understand the underlying religious dogma and principles of liberalism--if they did, they would flee the building.

You write: "Liberalism is a comprehensive belief system denying the Christian belief in man's immortal soul." Yet our Beliefnet polls show that 58.7% of Democrats believe in life after death. Doesn't that disprove your statement?

No, I think it proves it--58.7% of all Democrats? That's pathetic. Also, you forgot to ask them the follow-up question: Is that because you hope to come back as a snail darter?

You devote four of your eleven chapters to evolution, and say that Darwin's theory of evolution is "about one notch above Scientology in scientific rigor." So what do you think really happened? Did God create the world in six days? Did he create each species separately? Did he set a chain of causation in motion? Did he "cause" evolution in the sense that all the species are related to each other but God guided their descent?

These are unanswerable questions--except the latter. God did not "cause" evolution because evolution doesn't exist. Thus, for example, He also didn't "cause" unicorns. My faith and reason tell me that God created the world and I'm not particularly interested in the details. I'll find out when I meet my Maker.

And the most disgusting one of all:

While I agree with you that the "Jersey Girls" turned themselves into political opportunists, one of your statements about them does strike me as over the top: "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much." By contrast, you admit the genuine nature of Cindy Sheehan's grief, even though you're pretty hard on her--and you haven't been criticized for what you said about her. Is there anything you've said about the 9/11 widows that you wish you hadn't said?

Well as long as you bring it up, I think Cindy Sheehan is enjoying the celebrity status her son's death afforded her too. Thanks for pointing that out--I'll correct it in the paperback edition.

There are many, many more for your jaw-dropping pleasure.

Commenter Lady Phoenix shares an article she dug up from 2002 on the completely benign, not racist at all don’t be silly ‘tar baby’ phrase (emphasis added): 

“It’s as if you called an Italian, ‘Mafia,’” said Dr. West.  “It carries the same connotation.”

The truth is a lot harsher than that, maybe too painful for some victims to fully internalize. Tar Baby is definitely not the equivalent of Mafia.  Mafiosi are men—often powerful, decisive men.  Some are very rich men.  Whatever their vices, they are viewed by other men as human beings.

There is no white equivalent of Tar Baby.  America reserves its subhuman slurs for Blacks and Indians. 

Tar Babies are racist inventions, conjured up for the purpose of dehumanizing African Africans.  It matters not one bit that Uncle Remus tales have roots in African folklore.  Slavery reduced Africans to chattel, conveniences available to serve white people’s purposes.  Over the centuries, white Americans have made full use of these privileges. 

More from the Center for the Study of Really Obvious Things in a joint collaboration with the No Duh Coalition of America:

On Monday, Hope Hartman, a spokeswoman for Disney’s ABC television network, said the company was dropping its plans to produce a Holocaust-themed miniseries in collaboration with Mr. Gibson.

“Given that it’s been nearly two years and we have yet to see the first draft of a script, we have decided to no longer pursue this project with Icon,” Ms. Hartman said, referring to Mr. Gibson’s production company.

She did not connect the project’s termination to Mr. Gibson’s remarks. But his statements had already attracted sharp criticism from some who argued that he should be disqualified from moving ahead with the series, despite having apologized for several anti-Jewish statements.

“I don’t think he should be doing a film on the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who had previously criticized what he saw as anti-Semitic overtones in Mr. Gibson’s hit, “The Passion of the Christ.” “It would be like asking someone associated with the K.K.K. to do a movie on the African-American experience.”

Here’s an exercise in media spin for ya:

Governor Mitt Romney yesterday apologized for using the expression ``tar baby" -- a phrase some consider a racial epithet -- among comments he made at a political gathering in Iowa over the weekend.

"The governor was describing a sticky situation," said Eric Fehrnstrom, the governor's spokesman. "He was unaware that some people find the term objectionable, and he's sorry if anyone was offended."

Sorry, but “tar baby” isn’t a phrase that some consider a racial epithet – it is a racial epithet. And a particularly ugly one at that. So what’s worse: that the governor of one of the least diverse states in the union is an unhinged bigot, or that he is so far out of touch that he honestly as no clue that people might have a problem with his choice of words.

Question number two: can anyone provide me with an example of this phrase being used in any benign context – either the way he claims to be using it or otherwise?

UPDATE: after reading the article further, it makes the following claim (verified by a Google search):

A definition from Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary traces the expression to the tar baby that trapped Br'er Rabbit in an Uncle Remus story by Joel Chandler Harris, which became popular in the 19th century. The dictionary now defines the expression as ``something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself."

So, ok … we have one instance from a vernacular used almost 200 years ago. Anybody have anything more recent? Now taking comments.

The latest alert system from Tom Ridge: 

Kudos to Peteykins.

According to an unreleased report by the House Judiciary Committee, the Bush dissemblistration may have violated as many as 26 statutes:

The laws implicated by the Administration’s actions include federal laws against making false statements to congress [sic]; federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other government employees; Executive Orders concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence; federal regulations and ethical requirements governing conflicts of interest; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; communications privacy laws; the National Security Act; and the Fourth Amendment.

TPMmuckraker reports that:

On their face, the laundry list of alleged wrongs form a natural basis for impeachment proceedings -- but Conyers has insisted he has no intention of rushing to impeach. No, a slow walk to possible impeachment (preferably down a path that includes months of hearings) is more what the would-be chairman envisions, he has said.

Excellent (insert Simpson’s Mr. Burns fingers here). Don’t just fire the guy, that would only make him a martyr to the Right Wing fringe for the next 50 years. Instead, let’s let him spend several months explaining to the country in precise detail how he has systematically destroyed the Democratic structures central to the mythology of our collective civic narrative until even the crazies can no longer hide their heads in the sand. When the truth comes out, maybe we could finally move forward.

Just in from the Center for the Study of Really Obvious Things: Roberts and Alito mislead us in the Senate confirmation hearings.

DoubleSpeak shares this Argus Poll that in South Dakota, “47 percent of voters polled would vote to reject the ban, compared with 39 percent who would vote to keep it. Another 14 percent were undecided.”

Safehaven at My Left Wing posits the slow yet undeniable crash of the NASDAQ market. In other news, the GDP report predicts a full-blown U.S. recession by the years end. Oh, and the rest of the planet ain’t lookin so hot either. Gee, did this happen the last time we tried trickle-down economics? And the time before that? And the time before that?

For my fellow nerdlings, ready the photon torpedoes and enjoy this study on the effectiveness and efficacy of sci-fi space-based weaponry.

Bush is openly egging Israel on, calling a broader war in the Middle East an “opportunity.”

As Ohio swiftboater suggests Ted Strickland (and his wife) are gay, a new reports shows how rampant institutionalized homophobia in the military has cost us 11,000 critical soldiers, including many Arabic speakers.

After deriding the lack of privatization in the Big Dig for years, lo and behold, it isn’t government but rather everyone’s favorite war profiteer emerging as the responsible party in the collapse. On the other hand, it is the federal government responsible for hiding and attempting to deceive auditors responsible for investigating the massive overspending in Iraq.

Oops, looks like those pesky laws might just get somebody in trouble for recent war crimes. Better change the rules before someone (white) gets hurt. Oh, and while you’re at it, better go ahead and expand the Gitmo detention center while you’re at it. It’s good to be the King.

Finally, enjoy this utterly brilliant piece from Krugman on the MSM’s complete impotence to penetrate the dissembling from Team Chimpy.

DKos has promised to inundate us with fun CT-primary goodies over the coming week. I thought these photos comparing the respective Lieberman and Lamont rallies just about says it all:

And Joe-boy:

Look into my eyes … notice any salty discharges for poor old Joe?