Buck Naked Politics

A Musical Interlude: "Dancing with Tom DeLay" (Celebrating The Hammer's "Dancing with the Stars" Debut)

Bill Maher's New Rules: "The Obama Birthers, the 9/11 Truthers, and the moon landing deniers must merge their theories"

Jump for it!

Needful Diversions: A Parrot Pets a Kitten

Via.  You'll be petted with a claw and like it, have I made myself clear?
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Cat and parrot

Needful Diversions: French Bulldog Fosters Baby Tiger

C'est adorable!  It's not every day that you get to see a French bouledogue playing with un petit tigre.  After the jump....

Needful Diversions: The Return of Sonya, the Slow Loris

by Damozel | Tummy tickles and loris grinz, after the jump.  Refreshing!   

Needful Diversions: Baby Porcupine Eats a Banana

That's it:  a baby porcupine eating a banana....after the jump.  You won't be sorry.  There will be squeaky little hiccups and smacking sounds.

Needful Diversions: Improbable & Probable Friendships (Video)

by Damozel | After the jump, a soothing slide shows of inter- and intraspecies love connections that may give you hope for our own. 

Needful Diversions: Gangsta Teletubbies

by Damozel | Yes, it's an oldie but a goodie. Pop lock n drop it!

Needful Diversions: British Spongebob ("Sailor Mouth")

by Damozel | Hilarious parody by one creative Spongebob-lovin'  British genius (who, as he says, is really really British).  Warning:  the Brit version (naturally) contains explicit language not found in the original.  After the jump!

The Daily Show: John Oliver Asks Why Proponents of the Large Hadron Collider Want to Destroy the Earth; Plus (Bonus!) The Large Hadron Collider Rap

image adapted from photo, The Large Hadron Collider, by Mark Hillary, used pursuant to CC license  

by Teh Nutroots | The Daily Show's wily Brit, John Oliver, wants to know why anyone would want to recreate the Big Bang; thinks he knows what a kelvin is; and is pretty certain that Walter Wagner is on to something when he says there's a one in two chance that the LHC will convert the earth into a black hole.  He asks, because somebody's got to:  "Why the fuck would you recreate the big bang? Does that not sound a bit fucking dangerous?" 

Colbert Report: Donkey Flu Claims Specter as Victim

"Nation:  Republicans tried to fight off donkey flu, but their white cells weren't strong enough....although they were very, very white."  See Colbert's report after the jump:

Big Tent O' Snark: Obama's Obamamania?; The GOP Digs for the Pony; Scenes from Lindsay Lohan's Coloring Book; Bill Clinton Steps Up; Asshattery; Optional Education; and The Bad Palin Lolling on a Bearskin

photograph "zirkus-circus" by Thomas Totz, used pursuant to Creative Commons license

by Teh Nutroots | Obama Celebrates Himself. Fausta comments on Obama's method of celebrating his first 100 days:   

Obamamania or overkill? President marks his first 100 days in office with THREE HUNDRED photos… all of him

But are they autographed?

The Specter Defection:  Good for the GOP!  Or so they keep trying to convince themselves.  Thers, quoting Sen. John Cornyn, says:

Good Bloggin': What Would Reagan Do (About Waterboarding)?; Torture Then & Now; the Great UK Experiment; Progressive Role Model of the Day; Ross Douthat, & Whither the GOP's Wretched Excesses?

photo "victoria" by addedsparkle (Jennifer), used pursuant to CC license

by Teh Nutroots | Great stuff, this.

WWRD?  Oy, Republicans!  Torture: What would Ronald Reagan do?  MEC at Mercury Rising says:

During the Reagan Administration, the Department of Justice prosecuted a Texas sheriff and three deputies for waterboarding suspects to obtain confessions, and won convictions. The sheriff was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and the deputies to 4 years.

The jury in the Texas case rejected the arguments that the torturers “didn’t know it was illegal” and were only following orders.

Sing Along: "Zombie Banks -- They're Dead but They Just Don't Know It'

Via Politics After 50. "This is a song I will be singing for a while, not just because it's funny, or true. But because it's snappy," she says. It is snappy.  But the footage is so true it's terrifying.  Incidentally, Paul Krugman has to be the only economist ever to be so widely celebrated in song...

Sing along right after the jump:

At Last, an Explanation for Cheney & Rove: Balzheimer's Disease?

"Dick Cheney and Karl Rove suffer from an illness that gives them the balls to attack the Obama administration" by calling for greater honesty and transparency from our government.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Balzheimers Disease
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"Frumpy" Scottish Singer Blinds the Swimmers at the Shallow End with Her Talent

detail from "Sirens", Burne Jones, via Olga's Gallery

by Damozel | Amusingly, those who believe that only those who can claim to be "the total package" deserve fame or admiration, are shocked -- shocked I tell you! -- that 47 year old Susan Boyle managed to enchant the judges of the Britain's Got Talent and everyone on the internets with her amazing voice. 

I love to hear media hairdos exclaiming over how "interesting" it is that even the likes of Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan know a remarkable talent when they hear it.  "You look lovely Susan," burbles one of them because what higher praise has life to offer?  (PS. I can't stand the song from Les Miserables she sings in the first clip, but if you scroll down after the jump, you can hear her unleash that voice on "Cry Me a River," a song that is worthy of it.)   Lovely or un-, after years of caring for her late mother, and now that she's in her late forties, she's suddenly the gal everyone wants.

Best O' the Daily Show: Investment Banks, the DoD's New Budget, & "Queer Eye for the Hawkeye"

The difference between an investment bank and a Ponzi scheme explained....

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
William Cohan
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Jon:  "Is our economy tinkerbell?  Will it die if we stop clapping?"

Republicans Have a Better 'Plan': Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, a Budget with Imaginary Numbers, & Some Boffo Charts!

by Damozel | It's like the GOP is going out of its way to become a caricature of itself. Dave Weigl (Behold, Charts!):

An anonymous official quoted in Politico’s story on the House GOP budget plans said, “We need to hold something up and say, ‘Here are our charts. Here are our graphs. It’s real.”

So that's what they did: Unleash Hilarious ‘Road To Recovery’ Plan On Embarrassed Public. And we in the public especially like their health care graphic.  It is choice.

"Hey Paul Krugman" (A Song)

"We need you on the front lines/not just writing for The New York Times"

Jim Cramer and Jon Stewart on Jim Cramer

by Damozel | Cramer is annoyed with Jon Stewart, among others.  You will want to read this 6-page piece(though maybe not all on the same day). It begins, "Suddenly, bloggers, opinion people, columnists and, yes, pundits who haven't paid attention to anything I have been saying or writing for the past 18 months are all over me." (emphasis added)   Well, what TV personality  wouldn't be annoyed by 18 months of inattention?  Jon Stewart, ever fair and balanced in the manner of Fox News, apologizes and puts his remarks in context:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

In Cramer We Trust

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