Welcome to The Now

Dave has a very interesting post where he ends with, "It's no wonder the nation is in decline (and don't let anyone tell you it's not); it's not just our citizens that are bankrupt." But my friends, it's not just Hollywood that's suffering, oh no; it's also our government : We've gone from being able to articulately argue key differences in ideology while still maintaining the long-term goal of getting something -hell, anything- accomplished to the verbal equivalent of pounding our chests and flinging poo.   And people wonder why education is being mocked and attacked now.

Stolen from Dave .

I'm stealing this one from Dave .

Because see: we have the alternate reality and then the actual reality. Here's TPM take on last night's primary elections : In Kentucky, the national Republican Party backed the wrong candidate in not one but two primaries. The Democrats managed to hold on to Rep. John Murtha's old seat in Pennsylvania. And while Sen. Arlen Specter is no longer a Republican, his defeat by Rep. Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary means the GOP nominee will face, perhaps, a much stronger opponent than the beleaguered Specter would have been. It was a rough night for the Republicans. No one suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune more than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. His hand-picked candidate was trounced by tea partier Rand Paul in the Kentucky Senate primary. McConnell's pick, Trey Grayson, only got 35% of the vote despite his party's backing. Grayson even lost in his home county . Got that? The GOP establishment picked losers who lost. Yes, Arlen Specte...

Dave, I know this hurts , but you have to consider that anyone willing to do this should have no problem paying for a 911 emergency (especially if they have a big family): VILLE PLATTE, La. - A Louisiana woman has pleaded guilty to selling two children for a cockatoo and $175 in what her attorney called an attempt to do a good thing that went wrong. "It was a really clumsy attempt at an adoption proceeding," said Steve Sikich, attorney for Donna Louise Greenwell of Pitkin. "She was trying to help the children and get them situated." [SNIP] Investigators said she called Paul J. Romero, 46, and Brandy Lynn Romero, 27, of Evangeline Parish early last year after seeing a flyer they posted offering a cockatoo for sale, and offered to deliver the children for about $2,000. When the Romeros said they could not afford that, a deal was stuck for the bird, valued at $1,500, plus cash. Greenwell had custody of the children for more than a year before meeting the Romeros, Siki...