And then there’s the Senate. The filibuster, that piece of procedure that allows one person to bring proceedings to a grinding halt, in theory protecting us all from the tyranny of the majority, has been used at least 154 times in this session of the Senate. It tends to get the filibusteree’s name in the papers.

Take, for example, Senator Jim “Oh hai! Iz an obstructionist dickwad!” Bunning. Senator Bunning has decided to take a “stand” against extending unemployment benefits, including COBRA benefits and Medicare payments, apparently just because he can. This has been going on since last Thursday.

“One single Republican senator is standing in the way of unemployment benefits for 400,000 Americans,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said on the Senate floor. She said Bunning’s stand is also blocking COBRA health insurance benefits to 500,000 Americans, forcing doctors to take a 21 percent cut on Medicare reimbursement rates and preventing the extension of critical highway funds.

“One single Republican senator has put posturing before people, politics before families and point-scoring before the needs of struggling Americans,” she said. “The American people are sick of this, and the backlash to the blockage of this bill is evidence of that.”

Not only is Sen. Bunning angering Senate Democrats, he is proving to be an embarrassment to his own party as well.

Bunning objected to a request from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to pass a 30-day extension of the measures, then defended his stand in a debate with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). Other Republicans sought to use the Senate’s morning business period to change the subject, but several Democrats hammered away at Bunning’s use of Senate rules to prevent approval of the stopgap legislation since Thursday.

Yes, and Sen. Collins isn’t the only Republican who’s angry about this. Honestly, the man should be ashamed of himself, even if he’s older than my dad and isn’t running for reelection. He truly doesn’t care about the rest of his party and their chances in November.

On second thought, keep it up Senator Bunning. November is getting closer every minute.

UPDATE: Yesterday afternoon Sen. Bunning finally gave up, the bill finally came up for a vote, and (surprise, surprise) passed by 78-19.

Murtha represented a small, poor district in western PA for 44 years. He was also Chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, and a Vietnam veteran who often spoke out in support of our troops. Say what you will about him, but he was never afraid to say what was on his mind. He also made sure to look after the groups of people he thought were important – particularly his constituents. He will be terribly, terribly missed.

The Super Bowl is a huge, huge extravagnaza, designed to attract football fans and their helpless victimsfamilies who are also watching. The two big non-football draws are the halftime show (fscking hell, did it have to be The Who???) and the commercials. The commercials are largely ignored at Chez Evil, mostly because that’s when we’re either on the phone or in the kitchen. Except for this year.

CBS has decided, in their infinite wisdom, to allow this commercial/PS announcement sponsored by Focus on the Family (sorry, I don’t link to those people; Google it) and featuring Tim Tebow, star quarterback of the Florida Gators, and his mother. It’s another spin on the classic “pro-life”/anti woman argument against abortion: A young woman had the choice to abort her unborn fetus or not. She chose not to, and that baby became…Ludwig van Beethoven/Barack Obama/George Washington/fill-in-the-blank-with-your-favorite-famous-person-here. This time it happens to be Tebow. As of today, CBS still plans on airing the commercial during the game.

If you recall, a couple of years ago the network turned down a commercial sponsored by the United Church of Christ which featured an inclusive (ie. not hostile toward LBGT people) message. At the time, the reason they gave for their decision was, “We don’t air advocacy ads.” I think that’s a fine policy. It’s a very sensible policy. I also think that in this instance it should be strictly adhered to, and the commercial should be removed from the lineup for the broadcast.

Actually, none of our teams made it to the Super Bowl this year. Not even to the playoffs almost two weeks ago. So we might settle for a nice Cajun dinner and a couple rounds of Call of Cthulhu.

Now we know. Fox News Channel announced yesterday that former Gov. Palin would be their latest, um, expert political commentator and host of a new show, “Great American Stories”.

Anything I say right now would be an incredibly cheap, low shot (and oh so tempting). So I’ll just say that I wish her and her family the best of luck in New York and her new career.

There’s not much to see, really. It was a black doll, apparently with President Obama’s name written on it, hanging from a noose in front of a sign that reads: “Plains, GA. Home of Jimmy Carter, our 39th President”. The Secret Service is currently investigating this incident.

I wish I could say that this was a one-off incident. I wish that there were a bigger uproar, especially from those “patriotic” ultraconservative white Americans who claim to not see someone’s race. For what it’s worth, here’s merely the latest example of an elected conservative political official’s, um, open-mindedness. Not that I’m saying that the vast majority of the unprecedented number of threats against President Obama and his family are based solely on race. I’m just sayin’.