Whew! And we're not even to the Michael Jackson Necrophiliacs' Convention

Even as the Palins send out their lawyer to snarl at anyone who dares write about why she might have resigned, Mickey Kaus finds fourteen potential reasons. Jay Newton-Small has only five and since he has a hyphenated name he has to be liberal and you can diss them all. Waldo's sticking to his guns: it's coz Trig is Mark Sanford's baby. But the birth certificate has been altered. Birthers are strangely silent.

Becker and Posner debate why we need the Senate filibuster. Posner even wonders why we need the Senate.

Benjamin Schwartz, considering what sounds like a book on a par with Robert Caro's The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, reviews a history of California from World War II to the beginning of the 1960s.

Here's a family values scene to warm the cockles of Daniel J. Cassidy's acid-poached heart: an unmarried, high school droput dad posing shirtless with his spawn for a magazine, in order to peddle his book deal( the boy must be amnesiac: he had to tattoo his girl's name to his finger and now he's got his surname on his arm):

We thought Bristol had the kid as part of her good mom/abstinence campaign. What gives?

From Limbaugh to National Review, the "bend over and take it like a man from the big Negro" trope seems to define the GOP:

When do we just rebrand them Know-Nothings v.2?

Don't ask, don't tell: mental illness no bar to service in our military. Just don't be autistic and gay.

Palinistas acting out: Secesh Texas Guv Perry and Senator John "I can see how somebody would want to stalk and murder a federal judge's family" Cornyn got booed at a tea party. Wussies!

Ben Smith has an interesting counterpoint to Our Lady of Wasilla's "people have been mean to me" trope from last August:

NEWSWEEK: Sarah Palin, you are a Republican and a conservative one at that. It's unlikely that you and Hillary would agree on too many issues. But, yet, as a woman, chief executive—someone who's been through the grinder—when you look at the coverage and you listen to the conversations, what do you see?

Sarah Palin: Fair or unfair—and I do think that it's a more concentrated criticism that Hillary gets on so many fronts; I think that's unfortunate. But fair or unfair, I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it, really. You have to plow through that and know what you're getting into. I say this with all due respect to Hillary Clinton and to her experience and to her passion for changing the status quo. But when I hear a statement like that coming from a women candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or a sharper microscope put on her, I think, man, that doesn't do us any good. Women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country, I don't think it bodes well for her, a statement like that. Because, again, fair or not fair it is there. I think it's reality and it's a given, people just accept that she's going to be under a sharper microscope. So be it. Work harder, prove to yourself to an even greater degree that you're capable, that you're going to be the best candidate. That's what she wants us to believe at this point. So it bothers me a little bit to hear her bring that attention to herself on that level.

Harare Grocery: still comatose but with occasional random eye movements. The Schiavos urge not pulling the plug.

The Conservativist- laudably- has more on the backstory of the Young Republican bigot Audra Shay. Now let's see you tackle Uber-bigot and Civil Rights Commission advisor Daniel J. Cassidy, who spews way more poison daily and lives right here in South Carolina. If you want to clean house, get out the big broom.

Boy Fogle is still a link that appears to be broken.

Anaconda's saying nothing interesting. Wesley Donehue's apologizing for running a crappy blog. It's really pretty simple- as we've said before, they are all getting overextended.